A substantial update to the disappointing ranger pets

[Snowskau.4369]

I'm sure we've all spent time thinking about would-be improvements to the games we play. Having spent so much time in a game we tend to think more about the annoying parts we want gone. The ranger's pets have been a letdown since day one: far less interesting and interactive than in GW1, pet mechanics and their customization are extremely limited and boring. You "tame" them just by pressing F, you get only the most rudimentary control in combat, and changing their names is the only other thing to do. With set stats and abilities (unlike in GW1; likely for purely PvP counter-play purposes) the majority of them are left completely irrelevant in any relevant content. Want to use the alpine wolf so you can run around with Diefenbaker? Enjoy your worthless 3s of chill. Really like the cheetah? Have fun with your worthless swiftness. If you want to stay meta for PvE there's only about 6 to choose from - and only 2 or 3 for your role.

I like to think up patch notes for the issues I have with my games and I've decided to post one this time. Hopefully it spawns some good discussion (we can always dream they make a difference, right). Seeing the large overhaul to mesmer phantasms, it's surely not completely unlikely.

With so many great creatures in this game I often wish I could run around with some I currently can't, so:

The following creatures can now be tamed by a ranger:From core Tyria:

• Jungle Skelk
• Reef Skelk
• Brackish Skale
• Bog Skale
• Jungle Raptor
• Eagle Raptor
• Crested Raptor
• Black Raptor
• Vulture Raptor
• Rock Dog

From the Heart of Maguuma:

• Rolling Devil

From the Crystal Desert:

• Sand Lioness
• Sand Eel
• Sand Shark
• Mountain Hyena
• Spotted Hyena
• Scaled Drake

The creatures would be given abilities and attributes relative to their species or breed.

Another update is to the ranger's F1 skill, giving the ranger more (much needed) control of their pet:

• Without a selected target, the ranger's first profession skill will work as a ground target ability with a range of 1500 and orders their pet to move to and remain at the designated spot. Moving past a range of 3000 will cause the pet to return to it's master. The pet can also be recalled using the F3 skill or by ordering it to attack a target. If it's target entered stealth, it will resume attacking once revealed.

The biggest overhaul would be to pet customization. It should be very important to note that any following changes apply exclusively to PvE: PvP has set attributes and abilities for gameplay purposes and it shall remain this way.

• Special pet food can now be crafted by chefs, traded, and used to alter the attributes of your pet in PvE only. Available is a variety of attribute archetypes for just about any role. (Stout, deadly, supportive, etc.)
• A pet's active F2 ability can be swapped to that of another within the same species in PvE only. For example, the alpine wolf may use the timber wolf's Terrifying Howl, but not an ice drake's Frost Nova.

The changes may not make all of the pets relevant to the PvE endgame but it sure would give players a whole lot more choice in their animal companions. Bringing the companions you want may no longer be completely counter to your chosen specialization.

[Dragonzhunter.8506]

@"Snowskau.4369" said:

The following creatures can now be tamed by a ranger:

I don't get it ... you wish? I mean "The following creatures would be nice to be tamed by a ranger are" or you know already what the new patch will give us and you said "can now be tamed ..."

The other players who talked about pets they said every time that those are their proposal, and they didn't use word like "can now" ...

[Snowskau.4369]

@"Dragonzhunter.8506" said:

I don't get it ... you wish? I mean "The following creatures would be nice to be tamed by a ranger are" or you know already what the new patch will give us and you said "can now be tamed ..."

The other players who talked about pets they said every time that those are their proposal, and they didn't use word like "can now" ...

They're speculative and imaginary patch notes, I though that much was clear :P

[Wondrouswall.7169]

I don't get it either. These don't do anything really. F2 swapping doesn't make some pets better, it's just a roundabout way to have the better F2s paired with favorite pet skins. Sure, pets could still use improvements, but its down to the point where some need it more than others (specifically those in core).

Also, ain't nothing wrong with walking up to a pet a charming it with a single button press either. The more annoying issue is having to gather pets before hitting up WvW when they could all be unlocked like in PvP, especially for WvWers without expansions and Living Stories.

If I were to hope for some pet improvements in upcoming patches, it would be with some (reasonable, I think) adjustments like below. Nothing too drastic other than how Forage would function like the older version of Thief's Steal. Other additions would raise effectiveness without power-creeping them over the already used pets while creating more options. If those would ever happen, I'd be elated to no end.

 

Ursines

• Bite range increased from 130 to 200.
• Polar Bear (F2) Icy Roar now encases foes struck in a solid block of ice for 1 second in addition to its current effects.
• Arctodus (F2) Rending Maul bleeding stacks increased per hit from 1 to 3 and condition damage increased from 400 to 1000.
• Murellow condition damage increased from 400 to 700.
• Black Bear (F2) Enfeebling Roar now inflicts 10 stacks of vulnerability for 10 seconds in addition to its current effects.

Felines

• Jungle Stalker (F2) Mighty Roar cast time reduced from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
• Sand Lion (F2) Blinding Roar cooldown reduced from 35 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Cheetah (F2) Savannah Strike now grants allies super speed for 4s instead of 2 instances of swiftness for 4 seconds.

Canines

• Alpine Wolf (F2) Chilling Howl now inflicts slow for 3 seconds in addition to its current effects.
• Hyena power stat normalized with other canines. Hyena ally summoned from (F2) Howl of the Pack power stat remains at 50%.

Avians

• Swoop vulnerability stacks increased from 1 to 4.

Devourers

• Twin Dart projectile finisher chance removed. Chance to inflict poison on-hit increased from 10% to 20% and pierces up to 5 targets.

Drakes

• Frost Drake (F2) Frost Breath chill duration increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds. Base damage per hit increased by 150%.
• Fire Drake (F2) Fire Breath burn duration increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.

Moas

• White Moa (F2) Icy Screech now grants nearby allies a Frost Aura for 4s in addition to its current effects.
• Harmonic Cry tooltip updated to display the correct icon and radius for the area of effect.
• Frenzied Attack range increased from 130 to 170.
• Black Moa (F2) Dazing Screech changed to use the same version as the Pink Moa. No more HoM advantage!

Spiders

• (F2) Venoms now inflict 1 stack of poison for 10 seconds baseline per hit in addition to their current effects.
• Cave Spider (F2) Weakening Venom vulnerability stacks per hit increased from 3 to 5.
• Forest Spider (F2) Deadly Venom now inflicts 1 stack of Torment for 5 seconds per hit instead of poison.

Wyverns

• Flame Wyvern (F2) Consuming Flame now pulses blindness for 1 second in addition to its current effects.

Porcine

• (F2) Forage no longer spawns items on the ground and instead flips over of the F2 icon for manual activation. Items last for 30 seconds before reverting back to the Forage beast ability. Forage cooldown begins after an item is used or disappears (small price to pay for such as QoL change).
• Boar (F2) Forage removed Throw Rock as a possible item. Skull Fear and Crack Skull remain to be CC-focused.
• Pig (F2) Forage removed Eat Egg as a possible item. Rangers don't use initiative. Healing Seed and Drink remain to be support-focused.
• Siamoth (F2) Forage removed Throw Feathers item. Now a 50/50 chance to gain stealth or all boons to remain unique-focused.
• Warthog (F2) Forage removed Throw Scale item. Throw Gunk and Venom Sack remain to be AoE condition-focused.

Traits

• Instictive Reaction: Power to Healing Power conversion for the pet increased from 7% to 14%.
• Taste For Danger: Vitality to Expertise conversion for the pet increased from 7% to 14%.
• Go For The Eyes: Reveals nearby targets (240 radius) for 5 seconds in addition to its current effects. ICD increased from 12 seconds to 20 seconds.

World versus World

• All pets will be available and unlocked for Ranger players in World versus World. This does not unlock pets for PvE.
• The Juvenile Wolf seems to have wandered off from all the fighting going on in the Eternal Battlegrounds. It's been rumored to have joined other wolves at a den near Altar Brook Vale in Queensdale.

[Darkened.4076]

I'm not against the idea of a total pet rework [Much like the recent Phantasm rework for Mesmer] - I would personally prefer [almost] total customization for pets or stat templates. F2 allocation is a really nice idea, but it would take a huge amount of re-work from a-net for it to make sense on pets [i.E can't really have a Dog flying in the air breathing fire].

However, something that came to my mind, was it would be fucking awesome if the pet had its own trait tree below the characters. 3 tiers like characters get, that allows further customization for the different game-modes PVE/WVW/PVP.