Guild Wars 2

Again, still not sure about that. I feel that Anet would not attempt something like this due to the reason Pink pointed out and because it collides with their concept of what Alexander brings up about taming pets in the wild.

Then, there’s the fear of bad implementation. That point Zenith mentioned about pet names saving – I can imagine such a fiasco if Anet decided to do something like this. Imagine when you change pets you had to drop down and click 5 times for each pet you wanted to change. It’s not the right thing to do to shun an idea for the reason of faulty execution, but it’s safe.

I don’t know about that. Pink’s point is valid. It’s a small factor but one people take into account when they see our pet.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Please stop calling for removal of the AA evade for more damage. Go play Warrior GS if you want that. Ranger GS/spear are the only weapons in the game with this excellent damage mitigation and other utility.

Remember when the evade on the chain was almost removed because Jon Peters thought it was too RNG? Glad it didn’t happen.

jcbroe.4329:

Well some additional information that I unfortunately don’t have any direct sources for is that in the super early phases of the game, rangers were only designed with having 3 pets in mind (still 1 active at a time).

Additionally, an old elite skill (I believe it was an elite) named Alpha Strike called out all of the pets to the combat field at once.

List of Historical Skills
Alpha Strike

Wanna know a sad thing? Originally, it was planned for us to have [Dust Trap] and some of the past iterations of skills were pretty decent.

For fun, a list of old traits. Glancing over the list, some of these made their way into the current form of Ranger. Specifically, concepts of [Deadly Poisons] (before March 2012) was (re)introduced as [Poison Master] and [Call of the Hale and Wild] is part of [Windborne Notes]. Could we possibly see some of these concepts revived and/or revised for Druid traits? Who knows!

List of Historical Traits

Fun stuff to sift through, and the old Beta traits that affected pets make me wish some of those became baseline. Like Devourer auto attacks pierce, Spiders and Jellyfish cause vulnerability on all attacks, and possibly a rework of [Canine Training] as a new form of [Stability Training] so pet [F2] commands grant allies Stability.

Anyways, that was entertaining. Cheers.

Knowing our luck, we would get something weird like a mobile field of trees and shrubs that block incoming projectiles.

Zenith.7301:

This is the problem with a competing pvp versus pve population, what pvp people find valuable is completely worthless to a pve crowd.

Pretty much.

Alexander.6250:

That would be pretty usefull, but I doubt it will be implemented like that since pets also have their own skillset that complements their stats. Also it would kinda take the fun out of searching and taming new pets, something I really enjoyed when I just started playing.

Another way to diversify stat choices would be to make every pet have unique stats. Example: different color moa’s would have similar but different stats, ranging from more tanky to more dps stats. This way it would also be easier to add new pets to the game (otherwise every stat combo variant would require an entire new family of pets)

I agree with this. That would be a subtle improvement for pets with each one not only offering something unique with their [F2] command, but some with different stat layouts.

Also, I’ve been riding that train with other Rangers like Holland that want Alpha Training merged with Opening Strikes and Fortifying Bond moved to Beastmastery.

Well this got off-topic fast.

Last I checked, GS vs a dual Sword Mesmer hits pretty hard.

At least it doesn’t hit like a wet noddle :P. Also, no. A damage buff on the auto attack would not improve the weapon. Reduced cast times on moves like [Maul] and the kick-portion of [Counterattack] would. GS auto seems (for the most part) fine.

Doubt Anet would allow Rangers to have more group utility. In their eyes, Pets and Spirits provide that. As for the list, I’m surprised reworking “Most Dangerous Game” isn’t on that list, especially when there was a thread that lasted for quite a while with people proposing suggestions.

Just as surprised people want “Bark Skin” reverted as there are people out there that like the new version, let alone, want it to “synergize” with MDG.

Would be best if Anet allowed a buff icon to show up on our UI when a pet trait is ready, like Engineer’s “Streamlined Kits.” Other traits are fine without it though, like Protective Ward. I don’t care to see if it’s active or not. Pet [F2] commands are handled by the player though, so knowing when Taunts or Heals are ready would be a nice QoL add-on.

A few stuff on that list, sure. A lot of stuff on that list, no.

Guess that will be a point of future Elite specs. Don’t want to play that way? Pick another spec. Beats re-rolling, I guess.

Yeah, a standardized range of 600 for pets’ traits, skills, or both, is something that would be a nice QoL change for pets. The devs always say they experiment with playing around with these values, more so than ever with the Elite Specs.

Wonder if they will take another round in the future to look back again on the core specs…

Knighthonor.4061:

when was all this said? have a link?

You’re welcome to sift through the past. A red-post from Karl also shows that a suggestion lead to the design of Poison Master.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/cdi/Collaborative-Development-Ranger-Profession/first

Edit: Someone beat me to it

Appreciate the re-quotes from the Devs on regards to Aspects. Even though I was present during the Ranger CDI, I felt there was no need to post anything about this. It’s nice that Anet took that suggestion and later utilized it for an Elite Spec, but I am more apt to wait for the reveal and test it during a beta test.

As much as I would like to concept-craft, conception seems finalized on Anet’s part for what they want the Druid to be and have. All that is left is testing it for tweaking numbers and how skills and traits will function. Cheers, though.

I should have been more clear. I would not want both a condition conversion & Natural Healing merge. It would have to be one or the other, as in, condition conversion and stays in NM or merged as-is into NM. Even I understand we can’t have our cake and eat it.

Agreed that the range needs a buff as well. Possibly bump it to 600 instead of 360 to match Vigorous Training and the Fern Hound’s own [F2] since it benefits the most from IB.

Not sure about condition removal on IB. I’d rather see it convert a condition into a boon since NM trait tree is all about boons and support. On the side of balance, the heal would have to be reduced or removed as condition conversion is a powerful asset.

Then again, would be nice if IB was merged with Natural Healing in the BM traitline, as every trait that adds something to a pet’s [F2] command is focused in that line and that IB was once in as a GM trait.

Have to agree with Justine here. All of these traits would be a fine addition to the core Ranger traits in place of the lackluster ones. Also, keep in mind that Anet intends on keeping Elite Specializations on par with core ones while having them offer something unique that the class could/did not fulfill generally well or at all – so just having these traits in one line as an Elite spec goes past the intended point from the Devs’ perspective.

Would have been nice if more of the Shouts had a base bonus that can be further bolstered by hitting additional targets like “Nothing Can Save You!”

Like if “Your Soul is Mine!” gave a base Life Force of 5% and 3% per enemy struck and “You Are All Weaklings!” gave 5 stacks of Might as a base and 3 additional stacks per enemy struck. Augury of Death trait could use the same treatment, like a 15% base cooldown reduction and -4% for every foe struck.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

To make all pets viable and actually work; Increase melee attack range to 300. Increase base run speed by +20%. Decrease all non-attack cast times to 1/4s. Halve all attack cast times. Give pets the Playing Favorites mechanic as baseline. Done.

Pretty much this.

Just to recap on what Jon Peters touched up on when the Ranger main-hand sword was being discussed back in December about a year ago. These were his responses (in order).

1st Post

Main-hand sword
I just want to clarify for good that main hand sword is currently working as intended. All movement skills cannot be interrupted by dodging and this is currently intentional. It has a very specific play style, and I would like it to remain. I understand that rangers want a one handed melee option that is more mobile, but that will have to wait, as I know there are a mix of players who also like how this weapon plays and I do not want to take away one of the more unique playstyles that we have and replace it with something that is fairly common.

Thanks,

Jon

2nd Post

JonPeters.5630:

I just had a wacky idea that might make some aspects of MH sword less frustrating. I’ll test it out when I get in to work and report back.

Jon

3rd Post

JonPeters.5630:

P.S. I tried some stuff on MH sword but it was a marginal improvement at best. I’ll ping some programmers today about one other way we might handle it, but don’t hold your breath.

No more posts about sword afterwards.

Kaz.5430:

For those of you pointing out that giving the pet a non-interrupting evade boon could be abused, why not give the pet 0.75s of Signet of Stone (active) when the player dodges. That would allow the pet to attack, give it immunity to damage during the dodge duration, but still leave the pet susceptible to conditions and control effects.

That could work but there should to be an extra prevention like the evade frames/immunity ends if the player presses another command like F2.

Pets gaining distortion/evade frames while being allowed to keep doing what they are can be abused with F2s. It’ll be just another thing to add to the complaint list on the class and be nerfed. No thanks.

As other people have pointed out in other threads and suggested, “Playing Favorites” mistlock instability added to the pet is the best we can hope for.

Manen.7253:

I think Anet just combine the healing bombs into Bunker Down, too bad it isn’t no longer AOE heading.

Was thinking Anet should put Elixir Bombs where Bunker Down is and replace Takedown Round with Bunker Down. Just me though as I think Takedown Round is pretty “meh.”

My thoughts are reserved at the moment. Each are going to play and offer something different. Personally, I can’t make a full comparison until I see the Druid spec since it may offer traits that can augment the Ranger longbow play-style.

I like where this is going, especially moving Protective Ward in Wilderness Survival as I have seen others suggest the same. Since the focus on this discussion is about the Nature Magic traitline, what are your thoughts if Windborne Notes were to function like the old Quick Breathing trait of Warrior, where you and nearby allies would have 1 condition converted into a boon within earshot (or range) of using Warhorn skills?

Cheers for letting us know and giving the heads up for those that are/may be interested in crafting this Legendary.

Quarktastic.1027:

I’d rather they just give pets halfway decent AI and let them dodge on their own. Anet has proven that they can make enemies that are at least somewhat smarter than rocks.

This. The AI of the Toxic Alliance Nightmare Court enemies that dodge is something I would like to see on pets.

All modes: Good? Yes. Viable? Yes.

Builds? Hiemskarl’s 40+ Builds Thread for all Modes

Pick your poison and have fun.

Yeah, would be OP in some aspects. EB wouldn’t be so bad currently if maybe a -% condition duration or damage was tacked on it, but that’s a band-aid fix.

Such debacles over a suggestion to make the counterattack kick portion to be under the player’s control instead of happening automatically when within range. If anything, the Rev off-hand sword block → counter function of giving it to the user to decide when or whether to use it is a step in the right direction on Anet.

Kinda wish they would add Torment on Signet of Spite’s active, possibly 2 stacks.

RevanCorana.8942:

Making our pet autoattack leap on each strike would be cool, but maybe too good.
It would also require lot of animation rework.
Making them able to move while auoattacking is simpler imo.

Would be the opposite. Moving while attacking would have more animation work put into it so pets don’t slide & shuffle constantly while on a target. Extending the range is the simpler solution, as long as it’s not a significantly large increase, the shuffle (as per Moa morph skills) are not as apparent and appear as leaps.

I recall another discussion based on this and I can only hope Anet goes back and changes the “block & counter” skills on other classes to function like the Revenant. Choosing when to use the counter attack portion on weapon skills is certainly better than having it automatically proc – unless reaction time and laziness is a factor :P

• Increase range on some melee pet attacks
• Increase number of targets on most pet attacks
• Reworked pet ratios to have more diversity
• Keybinds for Pet commands like Attack My Target & Return To Me
• F1 & F3 changed to the other 2 non-auto attack skills
• Default Healing Power, Ferocity, & Condition Damage added to some pets

That’s my list of what would (in my view) fix pets on a whole.

1. I have seen some wanting Fortifying Bond to become baseline, while others are fine with it as a trait but want it moved to Beastmastery. I fall into the latter where it would be nice to have it in Beastmastery, but I would not mind the former either.

2. Yes to increasing the attack range and baseline pet speed improvements. Not sure what the “sweet spot” would be. If Anet ever increases either or both; would be interesting to see the values they decide on.

3. Another function key would be nice, but I would rather have more keybind options for more pet control so, as you suggested, can have more of a pet’s skills available to us as profession mechanic function keys.

To me, commands such as “Attack My Target” and “Return To Me” should have been keybind options specifically available for the Ranger class, while F1-F3 represent the three unique skill sets of a pet.

I can already see it…

Ah, didn’t test it that far. Either way, it’s a decent workaround for those that use it until it is corrected.

If it’s possible, could you post this fix to correct Natural Healing in the main post? I found this out and posted it on the Ranger sub-forum and thought it would be of help here. Note that the fix is permanent once you do it, so no worries about having to redo these steps every time a player logs onto the game.

• Remove then reassign Beastmastery as a specialization.
• Assign [Natural Healing] trait.
• Enter combat and then swap pets.

This seems to help out Rangers that have issues with Natural Healing not working and it might have to do with Rangers that were affected by the trait bug of the initial 7/28 patch.

Cheers!

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I think an Elite trap kit would solve so many of Ranger’s lack of PvP Meta issues.

Man… I want Dust trap so bad back for the Ranger.

From my experience, I had to remove then reassign Beastmastery, assign Natural Healing, then Swap Pets while in combat for Natural Healing to correct itself. Once I did that after the hotfix, Natural Healing functions correctly when I log in.

Might be an issue if your Ranger was affected by the trait bug with the initial update (as mine was).

Are.1326:

Here you go . It might still need some time to prosses, also it only shows the Aim-assisted Rocket (I would have recorded the SD as well if I knew this would happenj). But the SD effect looks just like the auto attack, so you should get the idea.

Cheers, man. Thanks for taking the time to record and upload this.

Yes, there is a noticeable difference to damage and survival. As for the precision stat working, I have yet to test it.

Until we get a teaser tweet, there’s no assuring what it will be this week, if anything at all. On the flip side, I’m cool with a week without reveals as long as they are patching up bugs.

Are.1326:

After the second 28.07 patch (few hours before this post). The legendary effect from the Predator (maybe the quip as well, needs to be tested) on Static Discharge and Aim assisted rocket no longer applies. I have a recording on how it was yesterday pre-patch if anyone are interested.

I am interested. I held off making Quip for my Engineer when it was reported that the Legendary effects did not work on certain skills.

Something new to add to the list since 7/28 patch posted by kiwituatara in the Ranger sub-forum.

kiwituatara.6053:

[Throw Torch] cooldown is not affected by [Ambidexterity] trait. Both traited and untraited have the same 15s cooldown.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

while spirits are still 30s blows me away, though.

Spirits are still 20s, mate. Anet apparently heard our uproar when they announced it was going to be 30s and backed off lol.

Yeah, we won a battle!