Soulbeast is really core ranger

I have always had some dislike for ranger at high end PvP. That really comes down to one thing, pets.

First off pets can die, and when not running soul beast when your pet is dead that's a huge decrease in our potential.

Second, at high end PvP sometimes you gotta make things happen in less than a second. Need an interrupt, need it now? Good luck trying to get your pet to CC in that second. Sure, you can skill cancel your pet but in a heated fight when there is so much going on you are not going to reliably be able to get that CC that fast when you need it. And hey, if your pet is dead anyway then it doesn't matter.

Now 1v1 it's a lot easier to control pet skills but not 100% reliable. These issues with pets and their responsiveness helps keep ranger out of high end PvP.

I've always argued to allow us to control all of our pet skills (always been said that's too hard for new players!) meanwhile we have firebrands and tempests and holo smiths and mirages with way more complex class skills. If we could control all pet skills we could actually have a shot at being competitive without a handicap.

Essentially, soul beast allows us, in a way to control pet skills more reliably. We can 1. Meld which allows us to take over and 2We can meld to prevent the pet from wasting skills until we need them (by unmelding).

In the end, I feel that soul beast is the class mechanic that core ranger always should have had. That or let core ranger control all pet skills!

Thats where you're wrong. The Pet defines Core Ranger...... not the swords, or the Axe, or the bows. Not the spirits, the wilderness skills, traps, or shouts. Neither the traits nor the trench coats. It is, has been, and always will be the Pet that does whatever it feels like, and makes up 25% of our damage balance. Everything it was ever meant to be, was a vehicle for an AI companion that somehow has even less AI then the mobs its fighting. That is the class's purpose- to show case our glorious pets, and talk about pets all day like the Ogres.

@starlinvf.1358 said:Thats where you're wrong. The Pet defines Core Ranger...... not the swords, or the Axe, or the bows. Not the spirits, the wilderness skills, traps, or shouts. Neither the traits nor the trench coats. It is, has been, and always will be the Pet that does whatever it feels like, and makes up 25% of our damage balance. Everything it was ever meant to be, was a vehicle for an AI companion that somehow has even less AI then the mobs its fighting. That is the class's purpose- to show case our glorious pets, and talk about pets all day like the Ogres.

That's like exactly what he said though.Soulbeast is kinda the workaround for not being able to control our pet skills, which ranger should really be able to.Not that i think this is any kind of solution. Ranger should be able to control all it's pets skills period. But for now soulbeast is all we fot to reliably use our pets skills when we need them. Sadly.

Edit:Nvm somehow failed to notice the pretty obvious sarcasm

I am the core ranger, soulbeast is for wannabe's :)

@PaRaPhReNiA.8763 said:I am the core ranger, soulbeast is for wannabe's :)

Brrrrrrookeeeennn, man!

I've always believed that Ranger and pet should share the same health pool to "solve" pet death, which is a system that alot of games use..but it comes with the need to have some kind of AoE protection so they don't take double damage from being two viable targets.

+1 for being able to control all pet skills, though. (But I still think Soulbeast is a terrible elite.)

@"Hannelore.8153" said:I've always believed that Ranger and pet should share the same health pool to "solve" pet death

That would be horrible in this game.

WAT?

A core ranger does 800 dmg on NPCs with Iron Hide on full exotic zerker gear with skill 1 longbow.

Hey, awesome to hear your perspective fleshed out. I remember you saying something along these lines when I asked you in a match what your thoughts on soulbeast are, but without the extra detail. I came to the same conclusion on my own, but where you are looking at specific mechanics, my thought process has been more focused on general aspects of the game. Considering pretty much pvp only, HoT as an expansion introduced new playstyles for classes, and by extension even opened up new roles for classes to fill. PoF on the other hand seems like it was mostly about giving classes the tools to succeed in roles they were traditionally associated with. There are some details and nuance that get sort lost when you look at anything like this, but then again it's hard to deny; pre HoT ranger had LB/GS where LB range was abused for its ability to +1 fights, and then SW/T A/D condi duelist, which could win a 1v1 against any meta build(though wasn't really worth it for other reasons); Druid got it's best mileage from side noding but that was because of how much toolkit you had vs. core; Soulbeast now allows ranger to again run LB/GS and plus fights, get decaps, etc...though with a more robust toolkit and higher damage, and soulbeast again hands ranger players a build that can win a 1v1 against any meta build (and is worth running).

@"Eurantien.4632" said:

First off pets can die, and when not running soul beast when your pet is dead that's a huge decrease in our potential.

This right here on it's own makes soulbeast worth it. We are no longer locked out of our "class mechanic."

Not sure what "higher tiers" of pvp count as. I've spend the vast majority of my time in plat 1, with a decent chunk in low plat 2 as well. I rarely find my pets dead, and have practiced accounting for pet cast/projectile times when it comes to landing those pesky beast moves. Are we talking high plat 2/plat 3 tier? If so, in those tiers do people in spvp actually succeed often at killing both pets?