ArenaNet talk:Skill feedback/Ranger/Animal Companions/Beast Mastery

From Guild Wars Wiki

Honestly, pets are fine in PvE as long as you're intelligent. I'd go so far to say that they're quite strong- I had a level 5 phoenix tank Ice Caves of Sorrow recently, quite useful considering it took at most, from a single hit, about 5 damage with the setup I was using. In PvP, these are also how they should be- I hate to say this, but go find some of the info on World of Warcraft beast hunters- do you really want pets to be autonomous death machines? They're strategic distractions, as it should be. --Kalas Silvern 09:51, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Why are you comparing this game to World of Warcraft?? They are two separate games and are designed by two different companies. That's nice you used your worthless level five pet phoenix and dedicating seven out of your eight skill slots to buff your animal companion which made your character worthless. Also why would you use a pet as a distraction, there damage is worthless and on player with a reasonable amount of intelligence is not going to waste their time killing it unless they want to instantly blackout your skills. If they were designed to be just a distraction, then why would they add animal companion attack skills that does plus damage on their attacks?William Wallace 10:51, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree with William that it is not fun having to invest so many skills to make the pet do anything, and I like the Wacraft beast hunter pets---they can customize their pet and have it be dangerous. Right now, if I took 7-8 beastmaster skills in Guild Wars, the pet can do a few tricks...but all I can do is auto attack, and the pet attacks so slowly that he still can't compete with a player. I still use it though because my moa is cool, but doing a pet shout doesn't have the control or power of a normal attack skill. - Elder Angelus 21:09, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Agreed, WoW does a much better job at this. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:72.71.231.88 (talk).

Charm Animal is one of the best skills in the game. You get another level 20 warrior on your team at the cost of one skill slot. ~Shard 21:37, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Shard so youre saying if you take 2 pet rangers you got like 4 positions into 1 ? :p (yess i'm being a !!! yes i know what you mean and i know youre right at it) Lilondra 15:49, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Playing world of warcraft, they do pets better. Just not in a style I think would be compatible with GW's attribute system. Best fix for pets is to fix ai- make them not take a second to register their target, let the ranger move around, etc. Also, condense some of the skills, or make them give diminishing returns at high att. levels, so you can invest in something else too. Overall, I'd say they're fine for pve if you're intelligent, but they could use a little (LITTLE) help in pvp. --Kalas Silvern 06:04, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

I find beast mastery rangers are quite well off if you only dedicate 4 or 5 slots to BM skills (ie. 4 pet only and Rampage as One or something). Then the last few slots are good for some damage or condition applying attacks. I used that kind of build to run some guildies through PvE and it worked out well, however in PvP it's still got a couple of kinks, but then again, so do most builds. Techie2200 16:18, 26 August 2008

Pets are only good for one thing: Tanking. You bring a full bar of 8 skills to create a tank when you have no warriors (or good warriors) available. Pets suck at DPS unless you bring 8 skills, and even then they barely have as much DPS as you would have if you just made a normal build yourself. The only reason pets see the light of day in PvE apart from tanking is for Barrage Pet rangers to bodyblock enemies. In PvP the are onyl ever used by wammos and to fuel IWAY (which sucks and is only used by n00bs)Crimmastermind 20:56, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Umm...try pvp someday. I think you'll change your mind about pets when you get molested by 6 level 20 warriors being safeguarded by the other 5 people on their 11-man team. ~Shard 04:08, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Pets are only OP when they are stacked (like hex stacking). By themselves, one pet isn't that powerful.Crimmastermind 04:15, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

But when stacked with Rampage as One Hammer Warrior and One Sword Warrior Both With Unremovable Sprint and Burst of Aggression, they're very overpowered. If RaO didn't exist, and expertise didn't make rangers the most efficient melee class, pets would be fine. ~Shard 04:20, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorry Shard, but you're the only one in this conversation who thinks that pets are okay, and probably the only person on the planet to call them overpowered. Calling them an extra 20th level warrior or a free tank is also rediculous. Thier DPS, their armour, their utility, even their general usefulness is nowhere near a warriors. You might as well call them a free caster - you wouldn't be more wrong. Bringing a pet would be a good way to ensure a party wipe in any elite area, if anyone would let you onto their team for an elite area with a pet - which they wont. 217.234.220.127 14:24, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

PvE != PvP. Beastmasters, particularly thumpers, are powerful in PvP because PvP is focused on single target damage. Beastmasters are weak in PvE because PvE is focused on multi-target damage. -- Gordon Ecker 01:46, 17 October 2008 (UTC)