Guild Wars 2

I’m going to disagree. These proposed changes would upset the balance and dynamics of the current game. It really WOULD redefine the combat system completely. I understand there are some skills that we do not like and that we feel X weapon should do Y.

But you cannot please everyone. Your changes would tick off just as many people as it would make happy, worse it would be toxic for the game in the long run via both balance issues and serious dynamic changes.

Every weapon has it’s niche currently. Some tweaking needs to be done but just because things are not useful to you doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t like it. Kind of like Guardian. I agree it needs a different “flavor” of ranged damage because the two available have very odd feels to them. Fact is however scepter and Staff can current serve just fine as ranged damage options.

Warrior doesn’t necessarily have superior options. It has straight forwards options that are easy to use and focused 100% on damage. As the game matures more people will appreciate what Guardian ranged has to offer.

Since I noticed Guild Wars 2 did not have a fully pet based class (Ranger/Necro are partially pet based. Summoner would revolve around pets) I figured I’d throw out an idea. I tried to keep in tune with the Guild Wars 2 level of play and complexity best I can, but I cannot speak for lore. Why now? Because this is the kind of thing that would go into an expansion. Let me know what you think about these ideas for possible skills.

Summoner

The Summoner is a practitioner of magic that manipulates the forces of life and death to summon potent allies. While a reasonably capable magic user in their own right the summoner’s true strength lies within their potent minions. The summoner is most vulnerable when their pets are down as they require some time to recover before they can be called on once more.

Class Mechanics:

Summoners have a pet bar similar to the Ranger. Note: A summoner can be traited in such a way as to do mostly personal damage with little reliance on the pets, but the vast majority of summoner specs will have a moderate to large pet focus.

Life/Death “Focus”: F1 and F2 with main pets not out. All main pets must be dismissed before you can change “focus”. There is 15 second cooldown before you can switch again. Life/Death Focus determines pet summoned along with main hand weapon and the weapon skills available to you.

Pets: Pet type is determined by your main hand and whether or not you are in Life or Death “attunement” for lack of a better term. Once summoned this is replaced with a control bar just like the Ranger pets. Pets can be dismissed. Pets have a cooldown upon dismissal. Pet cooldown only applies individually to life/death pets so in a pinch you can switch “focuses” and get pets out again in a hurry.

Weapon play styles: Currently my idea is to have weapon switching active. But this could be taken away if more pet control or some sort of special pet/summoner functionality was given in return.

Daggers: Swarm weapon. Close range “Swarm Pets” that are weaker individually. Good damage, good vs single target foes, bad vs AOE’s. (Life: Giant Bee’s, Death: Skeletons) 3 pets summoned at one time. Reviving a swarm pet revives all nearby swarm pets. Swarm pets also revive approximately 50% faster than other pets as they are expected to die much more often. Closer range weapon skills.

Axe: Close range offensive with a single Well rounded pet. (Life: Wolf, Death: Zombie)

Offhand dagger: primarily offensive. Offensive buffs or dumbfire pets.

Scepter: Mid ranged with tank pet and more utility (Life: Treant, Death: Bone Golem)

Focus: Utility/buff (Life: more defensive/healing/utility, death more mixed support/offensive)

Staff: Ranged pets/spells. (Life: Dryad, Death: Lich)

Trait paths:

Life – healing + life based minions
Death – Condition Damage + death based minions
Summons – A focus on the pets/defensive
Balance – Support/utility
Wrath – Power/direct damage foucs

Healing Spells:
Life: Tree of Life (area of regen)
Death: Unholy Totem (area of lesser regen and life steal)
Quick Recovery: Applies regen to all permanent pets that are out.

Utility spells:
Melee Summon: (Life: Alpha Wolf, Death: Zombie)
Ranged Summon: (Life: Nymph, Death: Skeleton Archer)
Mass Summon Temporary pets: (Life: Small Spider swarm, Death: Plague Rats)
Area damage: (Life: Carrion Creepers, Death: Locust Swarm)
Ground Targeted Ring Wall: (Life: Thicket, Death: Unholy Ring)
Immobilize: (Life: Tanglethorns, Death: Grasp of the Dead)

Elite:
Massive Temporary Area Summon: (Life: Wolf Pack, Death: Zombie Horde)

Large AOE Damage Spell: (Life: Wrath of Vines, Death: Cloud of Decay)

I hope I’m not stepping on the Ranger’s or Necromancer’s toes too much. But I believe this would have a decidedly different play style. Especially if you allowed for supportive pets as well.