Guild Wars 2

SnowHawk.3615:

Sylvari.

………….

SYLVARI

S-Y-L-V-A-R-I

seel-vahr-ee

Also “Maverick” (not “mavarick”) and “Van Gogh” (not “Van Go”, which is kind of hilarious)!

My belief is that it’s Caithe; story relevance and newest and most original race used in the game (kind of, at least vs. races present in GW1). Plus it’s a pretty cool piece.

Wethospu.6437:

Is Warrior just a pet without a Ranger?

This made me laugh out loud (I have a cold), log onto the forums, and post this reply to show my appreciation of how funny I found it.

Thank you, my day was made.

I think devs really need to be given awareness on how most players feel about Elite skills at the moment.

As a Sylvari Ranger who played a LOT of GW1 rangers I feel largely underwhelmed by the lack of both quantities of Elites to choose from and frustration in how long their cooldowns are.

At the moment there are TWO viable Elites (RaO, Entangle) the rest are simply never worth using.

Weres my Magebane Shot and Elite Traps?

I enjoy seeing small but important fixes like we have during the past few days spread out over a number of small patches!

Please keep this up ArenaNet! I for one do not mind waiting half a minute extra per game-launch if fixes for urgent/non-urgent bugs is what I’m downloading

This was awesome.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Casey.9687:

RyuDragnier.9476:

To be perfectly honest, I’m actually far too lazy to change up my skills from Healing Spring to Troll Ungent. I tend to forget I changed them, and end up surprised when I remember I changed them in the heat of battle. I’ve gotten killed quite a few times due to that.

People usually die with Troll Ungent because they use it when they need to actually heal, you should use it before you have to actually heal. If im goin against a high dps foe i throw up troll after a couple hits.

I usually die during that switch because I’m either fighting a warrior, or I’m fighting in a zerg and just had multiple stacks of debuffs thrown on me. I immediately using the button to attempt to set down a Healing Spring to take off the debuffs, only to realize when I don’t see the field that I changed out the healing skill. I’ve actually had debuffs outdamage what Troll Ungent can heal…

Dont expect heals to heal ridiculous amounts without healing power.

Im sure you either had 25 bleed on you or kept attacking while confused to oblivion.

Solid Gold.9310:

I think you need to get to level 80 and the higher end zones and WvW before you make a statement like that.

Then you’ll start to see how rubbish the pet is and how the Ranger is lacking and lacklustre in all aspects.

Way to encourage a player who seems to be enjoying the class. No one likes a Moody Mandy.

OP:

Rangers arent as bad as people make them out to be, sure there are bugged traits and ridiculous traitlines, silly utilities and mediocre elites. More classes than the Ranger suffer from those issues

Silverkung.9127:

Pneg.7302

Yes I agree with P.arrow merge with Q.draw.
but my guess concept for use this Traits is we need to shoot pierce.
Then next victim should get some X-addtion for it.
“Yes,I pirece those 5victim in 1shot!!And they got xxx haha!!”
Feel like this lol~

BTW thank you for your comment

Oh I see! That sounds very cool though, skilled positioning = reward right? I second your suggestion sir!

Agadar.4931:

I’d sooner trust the wiki than some random guy on the forums.

Thank you!

Quote:

Player gains 133 healing per 2 seconds, no benefit from healing power.
Pet gains 125 healing per second, no benefit from player’s or pet’s healing power.

Oh, the number was a tidbit sarcastic, sorry.

But the general idea makes sense though?

Detharos.3157:

Greetings all. After reading concerns about the threats of pierce in dungeons, and the desire to have it toggled, I have another suggestion/idea of how it could be managed. A functional item could be made to fit in the unavailable offhand weapon slot when the bow is equipped: arrow heads. There could be different arrows equipped alongside the bow to determine its firing properties. (Ie. Piercing arrow head, Standard(default) arrow head, Ricochet arrow head (bounce to 3 targets like the axe), or other such arrow head equipment to change the properties of how the longbow arrows behave when they hit their mark.

These could be purchasable items available to all rangers over time (In all likelihood you’d start with a default arrow head and have to obtain others through karma purchase or some other method.)

This would probably be the easiest way to default pierce and make room for new traits on our bows whilst still enabling pierce to be “turned on or off” simultaneously.

Now, while arrow heads sound like a generic thing, I’d prefer them to be ranger specific if implemented though. Or at least for the piercing arrow heads to be limited to rangers only. The GW2 statement of what a ranger is made it clear that in addition to the presence of the pet, rangers in this game are supposed to excel at use of bow and arrow.. its pretty disheartening if a thief can use a bow more skillfully/with greater ingenuity than a ranger.

This has to be brought to attention. We need a sticky summarizing the most popular suggestions to the Ranger!

Silverkung.9127:

— Malicious Training; Should not just effect the Rangers pet, but also the Ranger.
Agree with this

— Piercing Arrows should mirror the Warriors Crack Shot; "All arrow attacks pierce targets. Longbow & Shorbow skills recharge 20% faster.
No CD20%faster it same as quick draw My guess is every pierce next targer
Must add more XXX.
Ex.Long bow every hit get vulnerable and pierce more target add more vulnerable.(max5)
1st target get 1vuln ,2nd got 2vuln,3rd 3vuln… 5th target got5vuln…10th target 5vulnerable…(Max5).
Ex.Shot bow add1%condtion duration/1%cri per pierce.(max5)

— Pet’s Prowess; Pets do 30% more damage on critical hits. Rangers do 10% more damage on critical hits.
When pet cri add 3stack of might 1fury to master 5sec.
(Make master pround on pet brave fight master will be fire up!!)

— Companion’s Might; Critical hits grant Might to the Ranger, and the Ranger’s pets.
YES AGREE

— Quick Draw; Entering combat with a Longbow, or Shortbow gives the Ranger 1 seconds Quickness. Note: Similar to the Rangers “Opening Strikes”.
2sec will be better 1sec it just nothing and get old 20%CD-bow is suit for concept

— Expertise Training; Pets and the Ranger deal extra condition damage.
No idea for this

— Hide in Plain Sight; Applies stealth for 5 seconds rather than camoflage, allowing the Ranger to move after the CC effects have expired.
I not like to share same word as thife camoflage is good for us ranger.

— Concentration Training: Boons applied by the Ranger, and the Rangers pets last longer.
Agree

— Master’s Bond; Your pet has a bond with you that increases its stats by 10% of the Rangers stats.
Very very agree

Weapon Changes

— Shorbow bleed effect should not require you to flank.
Not agree we not fight with brawn we should fight in best position not shot to da face.Then we should flank shot for bleeding.

— Longbow auto attack needs to be FASTER.
Less obstruction please…

— Axe “mainhand” attacks should be 1000 range, rather than 900 range, and damage should be increased by 5%.
range900 is ok for this but add+5%atk is good.
Need axe flying movement when throw to enemy face faster is best.

— Axe “offhand”, Whirling Defense should allow the Ranger to move, just like Dagger Storm allows the Thief to move. The radius of Whirling Defense should be increased by 50%, and damage increased by 5%.
Range50%+ Whoa u will pop like gardian big bubble?No not agree with this…
but
Agree with walk-movement,+%Dmg,less CD.

— Torch; Bonfire needs a damage increased by at least 50% on its physical damage.
Not agree It’s good by themself.

— Sword auto attack should be revisited, and made more fluid.
No idea for this.

I think he wants Piercing Arrows to merge with Quick Draw. Having a trait that does the same as something else plus some more would be strange.

I enjoy your way of describing effects of traits and skills as if you were the one who made them work the way they do.

jkctmc.8754:

Some of the issues with a Ranger as I see it, and would greatly improve the class are as follows:

Pets

— F2 abilities are very slow to cast, with very long recast times. As it is now, landing a Howl, or a Breath Weapon is near impossible for moving targets. They should be instant cast.
— Pets just are not smart. The Mesmers illusions are a lot smarter. If someone steatlhs on a Ranger pet, he stands there saying; “duh”, and will not react once they come out of stealth, but a Mesmer’s illusions will wait for the target to unstealth, and IMMEDIATELY go after them.
— Pets are extremely squishy, even with 30 in Beastmastery. The only solution to this I can think of is make them immune to AEs, or take 50% less damage by AEs.

Trait synergy, and/or uselessness. Here are some of the changes I think need to happen.

— Malicious Training; Should not just effect the Rangers pet, but also the Ranger.
— Piercing Arrows should mirror the Warriors Crack Shot; "All arrow attacks pierce targets. Longbow & Shorbow skills recharge 20% faster.
— Pet’s Prowess; Pets do 30% more damage on critical hits. Rangers do 10% more damage on critical hits.
— Companion’s Might; Critical hits grant Might to the Ranger, and the Ranger’s pets.
— Quick Draw; Entering combat with a Longbow, or Shortbow gives the Ranger 1 seconds Quickness. Note: Similar to the Rangers “Opening Strikes”.
— Expertise Training; Pets and the Ranger deal extra condition damage.
— Hide in Plain Sight; Applies stealth for 5 seconds rather than camoflage, allowing the Ranger to move after the CC effects have expired.
— Concentration Training: Boons applied by the Ranger, and the Rangers pets last longer.
— Master’s Bond; Your pet has a bond with you that increases its stats by 10% of the Rangers stats.

Weapon Changes

— Shorbow bleed effect should not require you to flank.
— Longbow auto attack needs to be FASTER.
— Axe “mainhand” attacks should be 1000 range, rather than 900 range, and damage should be increased by 5%.
— Axe “offhand”, Whirling Defense should allow the Ranger to move, just like Dagger Storm allows the Thief to move. The radius of Whirling Defense should be increased by 50%, and damage increased by 5%.
— Torch; Bonfire needs a damage increased by at least 50% on its physical damage.
— Sword auto attack should be revisited, and made more fluid.

Please add your ideas here as well.

Great summary. All of these changes would greatly improve how Infeel about playing Ranger in both PvE and PvP!

MyGWAccount.7325:

tldr

They don’t pierce on default.

But there was a suggestion on a thread wanting this, and it was quite popular.

I second the OP on this though.

See topic.

A 25% ratio scaling would be appropriate would it not?
Thoughts from fellow Rangers?

The hilarity if they were to nerf all AoEs except Barrage and then proceed to buff the thing.

This post is impossible for me to comprehend.

And I really tried!

nerva.7940:

Durzlla.6295:

nerva.7940:

they said they were reworking shouts and spirits. what did we get?

- sic em slightly buffed
- +15% proc chance to spirits

lolzworthy.

This isn’t blizzard who just super buffs/nerfs things until they finally (never) get it right, anet fine tunes things very, very, very, slowly until it’s at their liking, so we’re likely to see a few more buffs to spirits and shouts before they’re in a good place…

Btw, S&R got buffed in both your pet gains 50% speed increase approaching the target, and it heals for more health than it used to, so SHUSH since you clearly aren’t paying attention to buffs.

horribly useless outside of dungeons. all shouts are useless in spvp. putting one in your utility slot, instead of a signet, trap or survival skill, is an autoloss. guard and sic em have a place in wvw. i do pay attention, but prefer not to be ignorant.

Theres nothing wrong with Sick Em in sPvP Burst builds. How is putting that skill in your bar an “autoloss”?

Also, Negative Nancys are the worst man. Geez give them a break.

How does AoE being, supposedly, “nerfed” (how is unannounced adjustment a “nerf”?) affect Rangers to ANY extent?

Barrage?

That is all.

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Protect Me is counter-productive.

ArenaNet tells us to use pets, micro them and have them live through a battle.

Adds Protect Me.

Pet dies.

There are so many flaws to this skill, not just balance wise, but concept wise.

This is exactly what i’m getting at with why it’s a horrible skill.

I don’t think what you’re suggesting is the answer though, it still seems to damage your pet (who already has lots of problems staying alive during most scenarios). Id like to see something in the line of a “as One” type of skill. Like your suggestion, but going both ways or such (your pet transfers 50% of the damage done to it to you and vice versa).

Not sure how that one would work, i was trying to keep the skill on the same lines as how it is now (sacking your pet to keep yourself alive) and with the way i suggested it’d certainly do that, but your pet wouldn’t be punished as badly from doing it…

I’d -prefer- if they just sacked the skill all together and we got a skill closer to the lines of Otyughs Cry from GW1 where it gives defense and offense to your pet (can’t work exactly the same because in GW1 it buffs their armor and makes your pet unblockable).

Ah I see,

well then we differ on that point.

I think the skill itself and the purpose it serves has no place on a Ranger skill bar. There is simply no way that I’d like to use a slot on a skill that doesn’t serve an actual purpose with regard to increasing the Ranger/Pet synergy. This skill makes me go “Ooooh allright Ill just have to kill you then”, but I really dont want to kill the pet. At all.

Oh neither do i, i’d rather they just scrap “Protect Me!” and add in another skill to take its place, as you said it just flat out goes against ranger. I really hate the skills (and traits) that essentially throw your pet under the bus for the good of the ranger, like Empathetic Bond and Shared Anguish, i mean for kittens sake, i thought we were supposed to be bonded with our pet not trying to sac em at every chance we get!

Ditto!

Make us and the Pet an awesome duo!

Aquaman + household cat = not an awesome duo.

I think we need another “As one” skill myself, maybe prot + Retal + Might on both the pet and ranger for a short duration? I think that’d be slightly fitting for “Protect Me!”

PS: That’s literally off the top of my head so don’t be all “Zomg blah blah blah!”

Yeah something in that manner, things that benefit both the Ranger and the Pet should be commonplace in my opinion.

Right now it seems like things aren’t allowed to be beneficial for one of the two without punishing the other.

Also; Zomg blahblabhbha!

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Protect Me is counter-productive.

ArenaNet tells us to use pets, micro them and have them live through a battle.

Adds Protect Me.

Pet dies.

There are so many flaws to this skill, not just balance wise, but concept wise.

This is exactly what i’m getting at with why it’s a horrible skill.

I don’t think what you’re suggesting is the answer though, it still seems to damage your pet (who already has lots of problems staying alive during most scenarios). Id like to see something in the line of a “as One” type of skill. Like your suggestion, but going both ways or such (your pet transfers 50% of the damage done to it to you and vice versa).

Not sure how that one would work, i was trying to keep the skill on the same lines as how it is now (sacking your pet to keep yourself alive) and with the way i suggested it’d certainly do that, but your pet wouldn’t be punished as badly from doing it…

I’d -prefer- if they just sacked the skill all together and we got a skill closer to the lines of Otyughs Cry from GW1 where it gives defense and offense to your pet (can’t work exactly the same because in GW1 it buffs their armor and makes your pet unblockable).

Ah I see,

well then we differ on that point.

I think the skill itself and the purpose it serves has no place on a Ranger skill bar. There is simply no way that I’d like to use a slot on a skill that doesn’t serve an actual purpose with regard to increasing the Ranger/Pet synergy. This skill makes me go “Ooooh allright Ill just have to kill you then”, but I really dont want to kill the pet. At all.

Oh neither do i, i’d rather they just scrap “Protect Me!” and add in another skill to take its place, as you said it just flat out goes against ranger. I really hate the skills (and traits) that essentially throw your pet under the bus for the good of the ranger, like Empathetic Bond and Shared Anguish, i mean for kittens sake, i thought we were supposed to be bonded with our pet not trying to sac em at every chance we get!

Ditto!

Make us and the Pet an awesome duo!

Aquaman + household cat = not an awesome duo.

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Protect Me is counter-productive.

ArenaNet tells us to use pets, micro them and have them live through a battle.

Adds Protect Me.

Pet dies.

There are so many flaws to this skill, not just balance wise, but concept wise.

This is exactly what i’m getting at with why it’s a horrible skill.

I don’t think what you’re suggesting is the answer though, it still seems to damage your pet (who already has lots of problems staying alive during most scenarios). Id like to see something in the line of a “as One” type of skill. Like your suggestion, but going both ways or such (your pet transfers 50% of the damage done to it to you and vice versa).

Not sure how that one would work, i was trying to keep the skill on the same lines as how it is now (sacking your pet to keep yourself alive) and with the way i suggested it’d certainly do that, but your pet wouldn’t be punished as badly from doing it…

I’d -prefer- if they just sacked the skill all together and we got a skill closer to the lines of Otyughs Cry from GW1 where it gives defense and offense to your pet (can’t work exactly the same because in GW1 it buffs their armor and makes your pet unblockable).

Ah I see,

well then we differ on that point.

I think the skill itself and the purpose it serves has no place on a Ranger skill bar. There is simply no way that I’d like to use a slot on a skill that doesn’t serve an actual purpose with regard to increasing the Ranger/Pet synergy. This skill makes me go “Ooooh allright Ill just have to kill you then”, but I really dont want to kill the pet. At all.

Silvanus.5821:

There are so many other flaws with the pet (and with the class in an extend) to worry about “Protect Me”. If you would like to use it at its full potential use a tanky pet (doesn’t really have to be a bear just make sure it’s not a feline) or combine it with signet of stone or beast-master trait investment. Also, just because you use “Protect Me” doesn’t mean you have to stay there taking all the hits; act as you would act without the skill.

There is no doubt that the skill was meant to be used with bears or at least with tanky pets (even the icon is a bear). Bears have a skill that mitigate all damage.

Last, you can always take a bear in one slot and a DPS pet in another slot and switch in between according to the cool-down of your “Protect Me”.

At least make Shouts adapt to what kind of pet you are you using then like Elementalists do with Glyphs and attunements. There should not be a “use this pet” req. on skills rendering them otherwise useless.

Your response to this seems crazy.

Durzlla.6295:

Pneg.7302:

Protect Me is counter-productive.

ArenaNet tells us to use pets, micro them and have them live through a battle.

Adds Protect Me.

Pet dies.

There are so many flaws to this skill, not just balance wise, but concept wise.

This is exactly what i’m getting at with why it’s a horrible skill.

I don’t think what you’re suggesting is the answer though, it still seems to damage your pet (who already has lots of problems staying alive during most scenarios). Id like to see something in the line of a “as One” type of skill. Like your suggestion, but going both ways or such (your pet transfers 50% of the damage done to it to you and vice versa).

Wall of text, but after skimming through the ones you suggested alterations for I can’t say any more than that I agree in full on which Traits are lacking.

One should not have to let out a “do I have to?” when selecting some traits. Where’s the fun in feeling like you must pick a, to be honest, really crappy trait in order to reach a mediocre one?

Even our “good” traits are severly lacking in afterthought..
i.e. Evasive Purity removes only the two rarest conditions in the game.
i.e. Empathic Removal?(30 Wilderness) is awesome! BUT! It kills your pet!
i.e. Signet of the Beastmaster! Would’ve been great if the CDs on signets weren’t averaging 90 seconds!

The list goes on.

Arsenic Touch.7960:

AoE abilities balancing

One of the issues brought up a lot in WvW./sPvP is AoE (Area of Effect). We feel like they are too strong at the moment and a lot of people in WvW are gaming the system using AoEs.
For people that don’t know – max targets for siege weapons is 50 while max targets for AoE is 5.
Reducing AoE effectiveness to bring them in line with the single target damage skills.
Major update coming to all the AoE skills – make classes that are good at single target damage stand out a bit more.
Same thing with dungeons – right now if you have a lot of AoE you can past encounters by just spamming AoE which is not what we want.

Yeah man. Guess we’ll have to ditch our traps and longbow? psh, who cares about barrage.

They are talking about AoE-skills that currently do too much damage measured proportionally against single target ones. Barrage acts mainly as a CC-skill, not as a nuke used to spike your way through “encounters”.

Protect Me is counter-productive.

ArenaNet tells us to use pets, micro them and have them live through a battle.

Adds Protect Me.

Pet dies.

There are so many flaws to this skill, not just balance wise, but concept wise.

Piercing Arrows are already causing aggro issues in dungeons as it is. If they were to make it default I’d have to abandon using bows for that sole reason.

At least ask for it be toggleable or something.

Has been bugging me for a long time now. Should be implemented ASAP.

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

Pneg.7302:

Well they DID admit they are aware of Signets and Shouts not being in par with most other professions last year. No more info on that since then, except for the supposed buffs of Sick Em and SaR.
However.. Issues such as senseless traitlines with no coherence or synergy, or even viable traits for that matter, is what bothers me the most. Thr majority of all traits are currently either bugged and or simply useless.

Not a red marker in sight the Ranger forum for quite a while now. Whered you go Colin? I know your reason for not posting is that you are working on changes, but honestly; posting a small reply to a yes/no question really doesnt take that long.

TLDR Sigh

Yea like 2 months ago. They shoulda fixed the obstruction bug by now also and yet they havent. Dont expect anything at all.

Im not expecting anything as long as we dont get any information on what theyre even thinking about fixing.

Seriously if the Devs arent giving us any info due to the community just getting angry about how minor they are (which is what has happened so far) the problem is kind of rooted in the changes being minor (as opposed to what we actuqlly expected based on Red Posts), not the community being “ungrateful” (although some people seem so overreact).

As stated before, Devs, give us what you have to offer as FAST as you can. I certainly dont need changes to come in bulks as they have done up to this point. Spread it out. And for the love of god let us know whats going on; work WITH us not against your customers/fellow players.

Im sure you guys know a lot of stuff regarding mechanics and technicalities, but as players we PLAY and EXPERIENCE the game without any development cycles in our backpacks, our views MATTER in different ways than yours as Devs do.

The neglection of the Ranger so far leaves me as an old GW1 player feeling kind of out of the loop.

Well they DID admit they are aware of Signets and Shouts not being in par with most other professions last year. No more info on that since then, except for the supposed buffs of Sick Em and SaR.
However.. Issues such as senseless traitlines with no coherence or synergy, or even viable traits for that matter, is what bothers me the most. Thr majority of all traits are currently either bugged and or simply useless.

Not a red marker in sight the Ranger forum for quite a while now. Whered you go Colin? I know your reason for not posting is that you are working on changes, but honestly; posting a small reply to a yes/no question really doesnt take that long.

TLDR Sigh

Ursan.7846:

So I’ve been playing around with Spirits for a while. Despite the community’s general (well-founded) disdain for them, I still think they’re pretty handy in a team situation.

I think what’s really important in using spirits is where you summon it. They’re fragile, so you need to find a good home to summon them in. Smartly placed spirits survive for a long time.

This is easier said than done, however, since when summoned, the spirit somewhat drifts to one direction and almost never ends up in the place you wanted it to be. This makes exact placement of a spirit incredibly difficult. There has been many cases in which I’ll try summon the elite spirit just outside a boss’s AoE circle in order to rez someone in a boss, only to see the spirit drift into the circle and die.

I have two suggestions for this problem:

1. Make spirits ground-targetted. This way, you can precisely control where exactly to summon the spirit

2. Make spirits summon right ON TOP of you, instead of sliding after summoning to an area next to you.

Thank you for reading!

Good suggestion, maybe make it a Trait in Nature Magic similar to the trap one in WS?

Arsenic Touch.7960:

Bastionhawk.7120:

The name Ranger isn’t indicative of being ranged.

Anet’s definition of a ranger is indicative of it being ranged, so that’s all that matters.

Rangers are proficient with the bow. They rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature to slay their targets. Their loyal pets, which rangers tame and train, distract enemies while the rangers strike safely from a distance. As an adventurer profession, rangers wear medium armor

Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself. Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows. With traps, nature spirits, and a stable of loyal pets at their command, rangers can adapt to any situation

Their own definitions. So let’s stop the parroted “Rangers aren’t ranged” argument when clearly anet defines them as such. Which is where the largest issue comes from when people speak of the ranger.

Well their own definition is outdated, and I’d say so it was from the beginning. Why in the world would ANet define a class whose arsenal contains two main-hand melee weapons as “striking safely from a distance”?

Crazy talk.

On the other hand that’s the only thing in that statement that “forces” the defined Ranger to use a Bow (or Axe for that matter). They’re proficient with Bows, sure, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t with Sword and Axes and whatnot. Your post is kind of picky don’t you think?

But sure, I still don’t approve of them proclaiming Rangers “unparalleled archers”.

Give ANet a break
or don’t.

I’m really not sure.

There are none, the Jan and Feb patches were announced late 2012 with no major hints to what’s to be included. Pure speculation on players’ parts!

Pet rework:

• Pets take 50% decreased AoE damage.
• “Stay” command added, forcing the pet to stay in place (good dog! Voiceover needed).
• Stowed pets do not appear in combat and can only be stowed out of combat.
• Not all shouts need a target to be used. (Sick ‘Em etc.) (more of a bug fix than a rework?)

Changes:

Signets

Signet of the Hunt

- Signet Active: Your pet Stuns/Dazes/Immobilizes and applies Cripple on its next
attack. (still grants an Attack of Opportunity)

Signet of the Wild

- Signet Passive: Increased amount of toughness gained.
- Signet Active: Your pet is Invulnerable during the next few seconds.

Signet of the Wild

- Signet Passive: Gives you and your pet a chance of applying Protection to yourselves on Critical Hits.

Shouts:

Guard

- Grants your pet Protection and Retaliation for a few seconds.

Devs should read this.

ASAP.

raptor.1064:

It’s not a good buff because S&R is still a waste of a skill slot, making it suck slightly less doesn’t help

Read my post!

Dutch Master.7208:

So I think a really great tweak to the ranger class would be to change the way stow pet button works. I propose something like this:

Stow Pet – Pet no longer automatically comes out upon entering combat. While pet is stowed, Ranger gets +15% damage.

That’s basically it. I think this would encourage more/different builds and also solve a lot of problems people have with pets at the moment.

Well now I didn’t read the entire thread, only the author’s post, but this suggestion is not good at all in my opinion.
Anet really wants us to use the pets as much as possible, and this suggestion would just cause people to stop using a really cool mechanic in favor of some simple damage buff :p

I think a lot of the current pet-related issues are due to not only the lack of a reliable AI, but also the lack of letting the Ranger control the pet in a more specific manner. Things working like your suggestion, to some extent, “Guard!” and so on should really just be more F"x"-commands.
But I really dont think that this would be balanced unless it was a Grandmaster Trait in the Beastmastery-tree. It would fit great there in my opinion:

“Search and Rescue”

Adds a “Revive”-command to your pet. 60 sec cooldown..

Think of this as a way to avoid having to spend your precious Utility-slots on something that isn’t even close to being a reliable skill with a cooldown of 85 sec untraited.