ArenaNet:Skill feedback/Ranger/Charm Animal

145.94.74.23's Issue -- 09:56, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
Discussion
 * Issue
 * Pets are really cool, but have little uses except for pure Beastmasters.


 * Suggestion
 * Allow this skill to resurrect your pet in PvE as well. Many players would like to use their pet more often, but it will always cost them at least 2 skill slots. A simple change (only in PvE!) could grant them their wishes, making it still less powerful than the Asura Summons. Something along the lines of:

"Skill. Charm target animal. Once charmed, your animal companion will travel with you whenever you have Charm Animal equipped. If you already have a pet, this resurrects your pet at 10% health."

This would allow players to bring along their beloved pet just for fun.

Issue: Players can only have one pet and would like more.

Suggestion:

Charm Animal should have a physical component in the inventory. This would be something like a summoning stone. The player uses it in conjunction to charm an animal and then can keep the stone to use at will with out equipping charm animal itself freeing a skill slot. Beast mastery attributes are needed and would dictate the animal characteristics as usual and all skills that normally apply would apply as before except charm animal is not constantly needed to use the pet.

Storage for such pets could be additional storage space OR simply an icon in the Hall of monuments (a feature already implemented) a player can retrieve to use as a summoning stone once established in the Hall of Monuments. The icon remains in the Hall after retrieval the player simply gets a summoning stone that cannot be put in storage.

Pros: Frees up a skill slot and allows players to have more than one pet as long as they bring the summoning stone for that pet(only one pet can be summoned per player in an explorable area). Opens possiblilty of "hot swapping " pets in explorable areas.

Cons: The Charm Animal skill taking up that slot was probably a game balancing issue. However since summoning stones are already introduced this issue is moot. "Hot swapping " pets in explorable areas may still be a game balancing issue. Storage space gives server issues. Icon in Hall means additional code.

Pets should not take up a quarter of your skill bar

 * Issue
 * Bows have been nerfed out of existence and pets are inviable in everything except gimmick builds, promoting RaO, scythe gimmicks, and pack hunter builds.


 * Suggestion
 * Remove Comfort Animal and merge it in with Charm Animal. Change it to reward healing pets instead of blindly resurrecting them. "Skill. Heal your pet for (a bit more than current) health, or resurrect it with (current health) and this skill is disable for 20 seconds."

Pets should not take up a quarter of your skill bar 2

 * Issue
 * Bows have been nerfed out of existence and pets are inviable in everything except gimmick builds, promoting RaO, scythe gimmicks, and pack hunter builds.


 * Suggestion
 * While Comfort animal should remain a fast nonelite rezz with high health, comfort animal should be changed in both PvE and PvP WHILE having a pet to: "Skill. Resurrect your current animal companion with 2...24% of its maximum health."

In PvE you easily have the time to cast a slow, expensive rezz which restores little health. If you can pull off a 6 second rezz in PvP you deserve it. In both cases, the pet is relying on monk heals afterwards if you don't bring comfort animal or a heal spell with you. So it's balanced. --62.158.98.173 11:32, 29 July 2009 (UTC)