Lets start with 2 simple fixes for ranger pets.

[Dakiaris.2798]

The first would be to fix the animation bugs that are described here

The second is to just add a 10% stat scaling to the minor trait for the beast mastery tree is the first.. Everyone knows our pets do crap damage but giving just a little scaling will go a long way to helping that issue.

[Dadnir.5038]

The animation bug aren't easy to fix as for stat scaling it isn't going to do any good to the pet.

What the devs could do to improve them:

- Allowing the player to forbid the pet from using specific skills. It would improve some pet playability (For example, being able to prevent birds from using screech would improve their ability to stick to the target. Preventing devourer retreat would make the devourer "better" at keeping your foe where you want it to be.)

- Giving cleave to more pet AA would also make things way better as well (I think bears, boars and wiverns are good candidate).

- Soulbeast have access to some of the pet skills, right? I'm all for the pets to have the same version of those skills that the soulbeast have in beast mode. I mean bird with 1200 range swoop and almost instant screech, 1 second shaved on bristleback rain of spike  cast time, 3 second cast time shaved on devourer retreat, ... etc. That would make the pet 100% nicer to play than any buff to their stats or animation bug fix.

- Core pets could also afford a shave on the cast time of some of their F2 skills.

Edited October 24, 2021 by Dadnir.5038

[Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582]

59 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

The animation bug aren't easy to fix as for stat scaling it isn't going to do any good to the pet.

What the devs could do to improve them:

- Allowing the player to forbid the pet from using specific skills. It would improve some pet playability (For example, being able to prevent birds from using screech would improve their ability to stick to the target. Preventing devourer retreat would make the devourer "better" at keeping your foe where you want it to be.)

- Giving cleave to more pet AA would also make things way better as well (I think bears, boars and wiverns are good candidate).

- Soulbeast have access to some of the pet skills, right? I'm all for the pets to have the same version of those skills that the soulbeast have in beast mode. I mean bird with 1200 range swoop and almost instant screech, 1 second shaved on bristleback rain of spike  cast time, 3 second cast time shaved on devourer retreat, ... etc. That would make the pet 100% nicer to play than any buff to their stats or animation bug fix.

- Core pets could also afford a shave on the cast time of some of their F2 skills.

I think that is a better idea than a stat buff.

But I'd just remove the animation and cast time for swoop making it a shout, in effect. I think a base speed buff would be good too. The pets in GW1 had a +25% base speed buff and they could keep up with and attack moving targets a lot better. 

[anduriell.6280]

1 hour ago, Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

I think that is a better idea than a stat buff.

But I'd just remove the animation and cast time for swoop making it a shout, in effect. I think a base speed buff would be good too. The pets in GW1 had a +25% base speed buff and they could keep up with and attack moving targets a lot better. 

Stats and speed from BM should become baseline, i've been saying that for years... BM should bring more interactions when casting the F2s and swapping pets instead giving base stats the pets are required to have.... 

[Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582]

5 minutes ago, anduriell.6280 said:

Stats and speed from BM should become baseline, i've been saying that for years... BM should bring more interactions when casting the F2s and swapping pets instead giving base stats the pets are required to have.... 

Yup, been saying base speed buff the same as GW1 since... GW1.

[InsaneQR.7412]

Pretty much all core pets would need a huge balance pass and bug fixes in regards of boon and stat interactions. Its weird old spaghetti code that got ignored for years and band aid fixed with new actually good pets.

 

Improvememt on core pets reliability and utility would make pet diversity better and the mechanic as a whole more enjoyable IMO.

[Yazkin.6179]

It would be nice to split pets into ranged/ melee choices with skills and skins being selectable choices instead of just a bunch of more useless pets that'll never see the light of day because they're unviable. 

 

Or just make pets more of an attachment to rangers, that stick to their target and have no HP. Killing the ranger kills the pet. This would make it more cosmetic and a unique source of damage to bring it more in line with other dps

[Mr Pin.6728]

If I recall correctly the devs have stated something about ranger pets and open world mobs sharing a tree. Meaning directly tweaking pet stats buffs etc would also directly affect the open world mobs. They have stated that's why they are reluctant to adjust them too much as they fear it could cause unbalance in the greater open world. At least that is the explanation I remember from years ago around HOT's launch.

[Yazkin.6179]

9 minutes ago, Mr Pin.6728 said:

If I recall correctly the devs have stated something about ranger pets and open world mobs sharing a tree. Meaning directly tweaking pet stats buffs etc would also directly affect the open world mobs. They have stated that's why they are reluctant to adjust them too much as they fear it could cause unbalance in the greater open world. At least that is the explanation I remember from years ago around HOT's launch.

Then all the more reason to rework ranger pets from the ground up.  Being unable to really touch them because of bad code makes them a nightmare to balance effectively

[Mr Pin.6728]

Oh, I would agree with you there. I just don't think they have the manpower to sink into unraveling that mess. That or they don't see the return in the time that it would require. Or both.