Yes, more Pet Suggestions...

Give us a day or two and everyone will be trying to copy our build.

Okay I should have written a couple of weeks . Hard to convinve 7 people to give pets a chance. Here's the result.

2) agreed
3) agreed
5) I think it only does that if you have the skill comfort animal equipped.Try revive animal.
6) agreed
7) agreed
8) It already heals the pets
9)maybe

Yep beastmasters are lacking.Also I noticed today they didn't have a PvP character with the charm animal skill equipped.I remember they used to have one, bring him back!!!!!!!!

Thomasuwoo. well i'll be totally honest. i never, ever thought it could be done. most of my friends said the same. the first pic u presented from the arenas shook us up a bit but we figured that in the arenas anything crazy would work. now this. my only wish is that i couldnt see the other players faces when they lost to a BM team. frankly i'd be in total shock. congrats and yes i've already shown my guildies the pic. ironically enough the post before i posted your pic said, "... it is highly unlikely a build of this sort would work." congrats!

Hi, I'm currently playing a Mo/R that travels around with a pet. Most of skill slots are dedicated towards monking, but I got two skill slots for my pet, Charm Animal and Ferocious Strike with a BM skill of 10. He feeds me energy and adds to the offense of the team so I like em. Plus once I get some juicy sustained enchants I'll probaly start bringing along symbiosis too. That said here's what I agree with.

What I want is a "Mimic" command. So I can tell my pet, "hey you I want you to follow the W/Mo and attack his target." I think this would be a big help for any body who wants a pet but is a class that doesn't always attack the called. I'm thinking mesmers, rangers that want to spread around conditions, curse necros, and monks like me that are often too busy healing.

Agreed, while I sympathise with those who see the balance value in having a drawback like this to prevent people from just taking 3 points in BM and slapping Charm on thier skillbar, there is already a drawback. The fact that a pet with 3 BM is useless (becuase attack power scales with ranks in BM) and they a wasting a valuble skill slot on a useless pet.

This also really hurts the archetype I'm trying out. Mo/R beastmaster (I thought a build based on St. Francis of Assisi would be cool). This aspect of pets really shuts out people from trying this combination and I think that's wrong. We should be encouraging more new,wierd, and uncommon builds.

If you want a drawback to replace the blackout then, IMO just scale more things about your pet with BM level like (HP, AC, ect) then those people taking pets with 3 BM got a really dead skill in thier toolbar. And if they want to shoot themselves in the foot, so be it.

I'd like to add to the suggestions:

(1) create a separate skill bar for the pet, with at least 3 slots in it. That way your character can at least use the secondary skills sometime.

(2) create a way to buy additional armor - in the later stages of the game, the pet dies too quickly & really needs this.

Thanks Jason J. We're always looking for flexible and crazy players for new builds. If you're intereted send me a pm. Gimme a PM if you're looking for a differnt party in the Tombs some time.

1. This would unbalance the pets in my opinion. They are already powerful.
2. A few patches ago they wern't infused and as such went down like (Insert hooker refernce here) to the mursatt. Try now. They can take much more of a beating now.

I like that idea. I'd also like it if otugys Cry would get idle pets to attack the target of said skill.

On the blackout. It's only 4 secconds when the pet is killed. However it's 8 when you res it with comfort animal. I reccomend that you don't res mid fight if you can help it or have somebody with revive animal res him. Remeber that you can use comfort animal to heal your pet and prevent him from dying in the first place.

First of all, I want to say this is one of the best suggestion threads I've read, and I've read 14,593 of them.

This week.

Seriously, I love the basic ideas, the additional input, you guys are great! There are other good threads on the subject, too, but I'm going to reply to each point here, just as a form of update.

Thought you'd like that. I sure did!Couldn't agree more. A Beastmaster who is suddenly beast-less is like forcomg a swordmaster to fight with a putty knife instead of his sword. Yes, exactly. There are a couple more elsewhere in the thread that ought to be considered, as well. I was so pleased when call target came in, but we do need more and better commands, and don't worry, everyone on the team is aware of it.
Here's where I'm not sure. I see value in it, but maybe in a balance sense it's necessary. I wonder about a compromise where you don't need to have Charm Animal equipped, but if the pet dies, you cannot res it in that mission. That would free the slot but not make it without cost. On the other hand, that's a high price to pay for a single death. I agree there may be a better way here, so keep the ideas coming on this particular aspect, too.As stated in this thread, having your pet die has to hurt in some way. But yes, it's costly in PvP, which is why you see so few (any?) beastmaster PvP specialists. It's my dream that someday, Rangers with pets will be truly viable in PvP, as I know they are in cooperative play.

Hmmm... I'm on the fense on this one, too. There's that "cost thing" again. If you have what can be a very powerful ally, I think there need to be balancing effects as a form of "payment" for it. But yes, many is the time I've hoped for auto res for my pet. I did Althea's Ashes too soon; I had not leveled enough, really, but I was stubborn. I think it took nearly two hours, and ressing George and trying strategically to use him, with a second Ranger/beastmaster doing the same, was darned challenging. I was nearly ready to bag it, but in the end we completed that mission and it's the one of which I am most proud.

Yes. And no. Yes, we should show the damage that the pet is inflicting (and tied to the "commands" that we should add, the combination will be most helpful and effective!). No, we are not trying to hide anything. Honestly I'm not sure why it doesn't show, and honestly, I believe that someday it will.

Ok, umm, embarrassment time: I was not aware that HA didn't work on pets! I haven't been using it at present, but for goodness sake, I used it religiously during alpha. I was absolutely amazing at a three-skill combination that meant that my pet rarely died and my teammates, many of whom poo-poo'd my skill choices, turned into believers when they say the combo's effectiness. Now, I am miffed to hear that HA isn't effective on pets! You sure about this? I am going to try it as soon as I'm done with this post. I have to say that I think that this may not be a design decision, this may be a bug! (I seriously will be asking about this on Monday! Humph!!)

Quote:

9) More pet attack skills.

I personally think there are enough choices, but why don't we see if some truly unique additional ideas can come out of this discussion.

Actually, implementing these could take quite a bit of effort, which is why it wasn't done in an update. However, don't let that sadden you. I was speaking to James Phinney on Thursday, and we got into a discussion about pets, and James did say that pets are on the improvement list, and that everyone on the team agrees that they could be better. I wouldn't give up George for anything, even now, but the concept of pets will be expanded and improved.

Please keep the ideas coming!

Well that one can be laid to rest!

Definitely agree with that one!

I agree with this one. The more commands the better. Many threads have been posted with suggested commands to enhance the intelligence of the pet.

I kind of agree with this as well. At least to the point of making it one slot. Or making Charm Animal unnecessary to have with you at all times to keep your pet with you and have Comfort Animal instead. Either combining them into one skill or making Charm necessary only for charming the animal and Comfort required for using the animal would be great. That leaves a skill slot open for better use. Having a skill slot taken up just so you can HAVE your pet with you is a waste.

I completely disagree with this. Your pet is supposed to be a part of you. A trusted companion on the lonely ranger road. It's supposed to hurt when it dies. You SHOULD be disabled when it dies. You should be glad it's for as short a period of time that it is.

I'm on the fence with this. It would be nice. The pet IS part of the party but on the other hand it isn't. It's also an issue of being hurt when the pet dies. Having to find it and res it is all part of being a ranger. A part of the angst

I do agree with this. I know my pet is better at dealing damage than I am. I'd love to see how much.

I know that some monk skills work on pets and some don't. That's part of the game. What really makes me wonder is that my Comfort Animal skill doesn't work on other pets. Why can't I heal other Ranger pets?
What, 9 isn't enough? I suppose we could have more but how many ways are there to bite, claw, tear and kill?



Now, for my suggestions.

I've suggested on other threads pet colors, armor, collars and commands.

1. Pet colors are to give the pets individuality. I'm not suggesting purple, green, orange and aqua. Just natural colors, maybe stripes. I suggested this awhile ago and got mixed reviews. Either drops of special paints to color existing pets or capture special colors in the wild.

2. Armor/collars to boost attributes. Many people have suggested armor and collars, even runes to boost attributes. I don't want to give a wolf a bear's defence abilities but make a wolf's defence better than most wolf's for example. This also would go towards making the pet more interactive and giving it more individuality.

3. The commands mentioned here in this thread are more serious. Other people have mentioned fun commands like:

/roll: roll over
/beg: sit up and beg
/fetch: run and fetch an item, perhaps even some salvage, very useful

Why not make something fun as well as useful in the game. Everyone is looking to make the game more intense, more damage heavy. It still needs that bit of fun to keep it light.

i don't know if it was mentioned before, but i want a special Pet Window with pet's stats like level, health, damage etc.

Gold sinks: Items for pets.

I'm all over that one.

Well, actually by "9 Attack Skills", I meant ones that directly do damage. That isn't meant to say that all of them are meant for damaging purpse. Think "Distracting Shot" or "Sever Artery". But yes, I suppose there is enough.

Also, the "Heal Area" thing. That was an "oops" n my part. I meant "Heal Party", but now I see why it wouldn't work; the pet is an allience member, not a party member.

But I am quite pleased with the feedback, and it's reassuring to know that the people at A.Net have taken note of pet suggestions.

Yes, please don't give me a heart attack like that again. Count on it!

I agree with the original poster.
I have some comments regarding the "pet commands"

Modified the "Attack" pet command:
Attack: Charge targeted enemy and engage until received new orders.

Make the 'pet commands' to behave like "Shouts"
When I order my pet to attack a target, will have a dialog box appear up my head, just like "Shouts"

i.e:
Let's say my pet is called "Groooaaar",

When I selected a W/Mo named "Big Johnny", and used the pet command "Attack", a popup text appears on my head showing:

"Groooaaar, attack Big Johnny!"

Well, in the real world, we command animals by talking to them, I figured that it should be the same for Guild Wars too, if we are given the chance to command them.

Make Pet Attack Skills behave like "Shouts" as well?
It kinda make sense to have to 'shout' commands to your pet for them to do different stuffs, correct?
The text could be different for different animals, different pet attack skills etc. i.e:
Bestial Pounce: "Groooaaar, pounce on Big Johnny!"
Brutal Strike: "Groooaaar, strike Big Johnny brutally!"
Disrupting Lunge: "Groooaaar, disrupt Big Johnny!"
Feral Lunge: "Groooaaar, make Big Johnny bleed!"
Ferocious Strike: "Groooaaar, strike Big Johnny ferociously!"
Maiming Strike: "Groooaaar, maim Big Johnny!"
Melandru's Assault: ""Groooaaar, in the name of Melandru, attack Big Johnny!"
Predator's Pounce: "Groooaaar, bite Big Johnny!"
Scavenger Strike: <I'm outta ideas for this one>


In the future, would it be possible to implement Elite Beastmastery skills?
i.e: Elite Pet Attack skill etc

Cheers.

Yes, I love shouts. Next to my ranger I also have a Warrior character, and on that I equip as many shouts as possible, simply because I find the text bubbles during the fights pretty funny.

I don't understand: There already is an elite Beast Mastery skill, Ferocious Strike. This also is an extremely useful skill, because it basically gives you an unlimited supply of energy.

Oh, sorry, my bad, because http://www.guildwarsguru.com/skill.php does not state that skill as an elite skill. I am unaware of it.

So what do others think of 'converting' 'pet attacks' to behave like 'shouts'?

I am refering to the text bubbles that pops up.

Well, i don't have a problem with having to rez my pet at the shrine [with whatever penalty]. The issue is, your group is fighting a battle in front of seeker's passage, your pet dies, then your team dies. Entire team "warps" all the way to the nearest rez-shrine, which is like near Elonas Reach [other side of the map]. Guess where your pet is? (and i'm not even mentioned what happens when your pet gets killed on the Althea's Ashes "platform" with all the mobs around it...forgoet about ever rezzing it before the battle is over)

So i would suggest the following 2 possibilities:

a) A skill like rebirth with an entire map range, for pets [thus basically "teleporting" your pet to you, similar to being teleported to nearest rez shrine]. Make it an elite if need be [since there isn't any pet elites i'm aware of]. If my skills have to be disabled for 60 seconds, so be it, at least i can actually get my pet back.

b) Simply respawn pet like any other party member at rez shrine. I actually see no reason why the pet isnt getting rezzed when your entire team is getting a "free" rez [with death penalty obviously]. Why must there be a "payment" for a pet but not for team members? You died, pet died...team gets rezzed, pet not? Doesn't make sense.

Few ideas:

1. Based on unyielding aura..or vengeance
a) If you bring Charm + Comfort, your pet is "Self-sufficient" and do not need a maintained "link" between itself and master [as currently the case].

b) If you DON't bring Charm [but any pet attack/skill, your pet will have to be "maintained" via an enchantment similar to the Monk spell Unyielding Aura. This Enchantment is -initially- automatically slapped onto you, it *might* require 1 pip of energy [debatable] AND enchantment can be stripped [very debatable too]. If the enchantment is stripped/lost the pet dies [just like unyielding aura], BUT the enchantment can be "regained" by rezzing the pet [ie. via comfort animal]. As you can imagine theres LOTS of "cost" possibilities involved with this, including
(a) Cost to maintain the enchantment
(b) Cost when loosing/reactivating enchantment [pet dying]
(c) RANGE of enchantment [just like mending, it may have a range, out of range = pet dies]
...and so on, i'm sure a nice balance between "an extra skill slot" vs "not having a fully independent pet" can be found?

2. Just move the "pet rez"-part from comfort to charm. Leave comfort a pure pet healing spell. [Thus you can open up a slot and rely on other means to heal pet,i.e. monk, wilderness survival etc..which can at least be used on teammates too].


PS: Unyielding Aura for those that do not know:

Anyone ever though of having a skill which uses the pet as a shield so when people try to hit you with certain attacks, the damage is transferred to your pet? Or maybe give the pet another skill which has the pet grab onto its opponent preventing it from attacking for 5 seconds or so...

I want to use pets so bad, but as has been stated by many, they are QUITE weak sometimes, and could be better. I'm just saying a ranger who sinks points into Beast Mastery should be level with anoyone else doing the same.

The main issue I have is that Charm Animal takes up a slot and does NOTHING when you allready have a pet. It could at least res the pet, then you could make comfort a proper healing spell but for pets only. I would personally like, also, having the pet come along when you have 2 or more pet skills in the line, but still having charm be the res - so you would probably still bring it.
On a final note, I know rangers are bound innately to thier pets, but Dwayna is a freaking GOD, and that's where the monk ressurection skills come from. I don't see why the monk res skills dont work on pets. Signets make since, but I have an R/Mo and it's silly that my Ressurection spell can res my party members but not my beloved pet. AT LEAST consider making it so that ressurection spells can res the spell caster's pet - In the R/Mo case perhaps my Ressurect can bring back MY pet but not my allies.

/Kneels down, Raises hands to the gods and says "Pleeeease, make it so...."

Incase you didnt relise.. You can add me to the list of believers..

Thank you for combining all *good* pet suggestions into one thread.

One very, very little thing I'd kinda like to see is pets showing in your party list in town, so if you get someone with a pet join your group, you'll know right away "oh look, he has a pet!" Of course this would be something to implement once pets become been a bit more useful, because if you did it right now it would just serve to prevent the few beastmasters out there from ever getting a group. "Oh look, a ranger with a pet, well pets sux so no thx" *kick*

Gaile Gray, Thomasuwoo here. Long time "We are for pets" promoter. Having run our pet build in the tombs and totaly tearing up with it I can understand why pet's cause the dmg they curently do. There are a couple of niggling things though that would be nice.
Someone mentioned it earleir but when your pets first engage they stay staic for an entire attack animation cycle before attacking. That is unless you have call of haste on. We've been trying to use muddy terrian to keep the pets in range of atatcking but because of this animation cycle problem unless we criplle the pets target they rarely land a blow.
Another thing that bothers us a little is the fact that the pets won't atatck unless you attack someone with a weapon so our warder has to constantly use his wand to get his pet to aggro a target. then all the target needs to do is move out of our warders agro circle (Might be a bit further on secconfd thought) and the pet returns idle. We tried using otugys cry to remidy this hopping it would get our pets to all focus on the one target (If this would have worked I can imagine the enimies terror when they saw that shout on them !) but it didn't work either. Not that we're complaining it gave all pets in the area 20 armour and that's not to be shunned at!

On the note of combining charm animal with comfort I had a thought. If you're going to make it so it can res your pet why not make it function as rebirth for pets with a longer cast time, higher recharge, and harsher penalties. So if your pet cops a few unlucky blows and hits the dirt after the fight you can res him, but like rebirth it's just not a good idea to do it in the thick of battle. At present we get one player to bring revive animal. If after the fight (We tombs with our pets) we're a couple of critters down and we need em back on their feet before we move onto the next battle we get that player to go reviving. It's like light of dwayna for pets with a longer cast time.

I'm all for improving pet's AI but be cautious in buffing them up, we're tearing up the tombs enough as is. The only team in there without a monk and able to outheal every team. If you've beaten us it's usually because you've ganked us. We've taken on 3 spikers at once and lived. Buff the pets if you will but just keep us in mind .

Just one last thing can we please have the option to dye our pets! Moa's look awsome as is but just imagine their horror when they see a bright pink one charging at them.

Oh no... I know I'm going to regret mentioning this and my pet mates are going to kick my arse....
But the pets are bugging with predatory season. They're not getting any hp from atatcking but players with pets whenever they are attacking are getting 2 predatory season bonuses! Our ranger/war with cyclone axe is tearing up. Just another side note with predatory season. is supposed to heal for 5 hp per hit and drop heals by 20%. This effects predatory season too! So each strike is only healing for 4hp! Was this ment to be this way or is it an unfactored byproduct?

Oh.... about pet's hp.... Either revive animal or Comfort animal is lying to us about the amount of HP it gives to your pet.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one suggesting this.

Im totally for animal dying...

You know how hard it is to see that darn BLACK widow spider sometimes?

I wanna dye mine green when i get him and call him a moss spider... WHICH IS ANOTHER SUGGESTION! MOSS SPIDER TAMEABLE!!!!!! *ALARMS GO OFF*

GOGO!

And yes, the pets lag and stand still for a whole attack cycle, i noticed that the moment i got my pet and it still irks me to this day x.x

I do wonder why moss spiders aren't able to be tamed. There are some 'green' ones presearing. They would make great pets. At least have one other kind of spider in the game with pet status. I wonder if it's a bug.

There is a spider with pet status.... its the black widow spider...

But... ITS IN UW >.< so you have to go through close to the whole game and ascend to even think about getting one.

I bet Anet was like.

"Spider will be a popular per, lets make it close to impossible to get one and tease everyone with a non-tameable green spider in pre-searing".

WELL YOU KNOW WHAT ANET!

I DONT WANT SOME UBER BLACK WIDOW SPIDER! I WANT A PIDDLY LITTLE BROWN SPIDER FROM PRE-SEARING! heck i'll make another character if they change that to tameable.

Edit: Or besides presearing they could throw a few in maguuma around the giant enemy spiders!!!

Edit: *dances to Haddaway - what is love* *nods head over and over like night at the roxbury* ~.~

lmao

I tried taming that little brown spider. I thought a necro with a spider would be awesome. A Maguuma would be great.

Rofl.

You're a legend, if you still have any openings in trying this build , add me please. In game name Onfire Of Phoenix.

Well, here is my suggestion for pet commands: i think they should be activated with mouse and not with keyboard or screen buttons. The idea is to double-click the mouse on target to make pet attack/come/stay... while holding some key like shift or anything like that. Just like the ctrl-doubleclick works for targeting. For example:

1) you hold shift and double click enemy: pet attacks that enemy
2) you hold shift and double click yourself: pet comes to you (and behaves like it usually does, follows you when you move etc)
3) you hold shift and double click pet: pet sits and stays untill you command him something else or get too far from him

Of course, if you don't target an enemy, your pet will still attack the one you are attacking.
I like the bubbles (shouts) idea which could also work with this - the bubbles could show up when you command, but that isn't necessary.
Instead of shift, any key could be used for targeting.
There could also be pet emotes like those already suggested. It would be REALLY COOL if your pet would be dancing with you (picture that ) or sitting when you are.
Suggestions and corrections are welcome.

don't pets work like henchies anyway? you can get henchies to attack by calling ( they run off on their own without you havein to aggro) and get them to come back (even if they are under attack) by calling that you are following yourself (not always but most of the time)

I agree with all of it too, Anet....... open your eyes here!

No, they'll attack the first thing you attack with a basic attack (Ie, Wand, Bow, Srowd etc.) Not spells. They'll change target when you attack something else.if the targt moves too far away the pet will give up chase and mill around until you attack something again.

For my final character slot I decided to give a beastmistress a go, I'm only fairly new with her but I feel I've got enough experience to comment on some of the suggestions here.

Yes. A full out beastmaster/mistress I believe can get away with this usage of skill bar slots, but more diverse builds which by how the game mechanics works Guild Wars seems to promote suffer too much from this.

For a pet to be effective at least half your skill bar has to be devoted to it, which I believe to not be balanced with other characters. The minimum one could get away with would be charm animal and 2 attack skills. These attack skills would then have to be one of the 4 5sec recharge ones (scavengers/predators/disrupting/brutal) to maintain any kind of reasonable damage over time. You then can't inflict a condition yourself to use scavengers on, and if you're not going to be taking comfort animal then predators is fairly essential.

You are then screwed if your pet dies in battle (is bad enough in regular quests/missions but UW/FoW and it's really no fun), in PvE where renegade W/Mo's rule supreme this will no doubt be fairly often so you are forced to bring a pet revive as monk res's or signet don't work on your pet, and you're not going to find a group with another ranger with revive animal on him. I just can't see any way of cutting back from 4 skill slots just to keep your pet somewhat effective in the average pick up PvE group.

A warrior on the other hand, or a marksman can easily get away with using 3 skills to be an effective force (more so I believe than a pet with 4) on the field leaving much more option for diversity in other attributes.

You then still miss out on the bleeding/extra dmg combo of feral lunge and scavengers as with only 2 attack skills you can't get away with only getting 3 attack skills off in a 10 second period, also you don't get any usage of pet buffs (oltyugh's cry/call of protection/call of haste). Effectively anything that would make your pet as strong or stronger than for example a warrior or marksman without devoting more of you skill bar to your pet.

I like the idea suggested here by which charm animal is replaced by comfort animal after you have charmed a pet. Once you have gotten rid of your pet this skill return to comfort animal. This comfort animal must then be equipped at all times that you want your pet.

I don't agree with this, although being a beastmistress this would of course be very nice for me I believe the current system to be a suitable penalty.

Yes. Not much more to be said about this one, unless you want to strip a swordsman of his sword when he dies and has to run from the respawn to go and collect it before he can be effective again I don't see how this can be fair.

Definately, this is something I very much miss when comparing my beastmistess to my other characters. I like stats, I want to see if so and so skill I'm using is effective or whether I should be trying something else. I want to know if adding some buffs to my pet is making him do enough more damage for the extra skill slots/attribute points/energy costs are worth it. I would also like is as some feedback that my pet is actually doing something, rather than just relying on the attack animation which my view to often blocked to or is hard to see. Especially on some of the tougher baddies and when there are many players in your party using various skill I just have no idea whether my pet is being effective or not.

What if Charm Animal worked like Res signet for pets? A One off use that can be used on any allied pet once, unless recharge with a moral boost?

I just think they should combine charm and comfort into one skill. Easiest solution IMO.

if ANet thinks, this may become unbalanced, then what about this:
Combine Pet rezzing & Pet acompaning in an Elite Skill.
No pet healing, but saving up 1 skill slot for the cost of the elite.
I myself would not be completely satisfied with it, but it may be a compromise.


For the rest of the suggestions: I'm still desperatly waiting for the displaying of your pet's dmg...


Also for the statistic: The pet could show up in the Inventory Window (I) including all stats. So you can actually see you pet develop and not only the level and indirect the health when healing it.
I understand this will require a lot of changes and a major update, but the ranger is always special with his companion and therefor truly needs special care

The one that i really care about is the dispaly of damage dealt by your pet. I don't really know if my pet is effective or not (though i think they are better than bows for dmg dealing)

A bit overpowered though don't you think? The IDea about combining comfort and charm into an elite skill has merrit though.

Bumpity Bum Bum Bump

I agree with the original poster.

Pets are fairly good, but aside from the fact that you have to keep both it and you alive (taking at least 3 slots already from charm, comfort, and a self heal), they are just too damn stupid to be good. You have 5 slots left. Who cares? It's just going to run halfway across the arena, and sit by your corpse after you're dead.