Curse

JMadisonIV · Jul 29, 2005, 02:07 AM // 02:07

Hey all, I am a Mesmer/Ranger.

my biggest dilemma when trying to decide what I want to do with my character is Pets.

I am assuming that I am only going to have enough attribute points to invest in ONE Ranger secondary line, while rasing fast Casting, Domination and either Illusion/Inspiration(unsure yet).

My debate is between Wilderness Survival and Beast Mastery.

I've determined that I want to be a Mesmer Spellcaster and not an Archer, so I'll focus on Wilderness Survival mainly from the Ranger side. but the downside is, I'd have to invest in Marksmanship as well in order to use a decent Bow, taking away attribute point from other Mesmer areas.

But, I could also just invest full-fledged into Beast Mastery, use a Staff/Wand and just basically be a Mesmer with a Pet, which is what I've been doing for the past few levels.

my issue with that is, in order to do this, it takes half of my Spellbar. Res Signet, Charm Animal, Comfort Animal, and an Attack/Ability of my choice. leaving only 4 spots for actual Mesmer Spells.

my question is, do the Pets eventually get strong or tough enough to warrant using half of my spellbar on?

or am I worrying about nothing here, and investing in Marksmanship won't take anything major away from my other attributes?

Iraqalypse Now · Jul 29, 2005, 02:36 AM // 02:36

Pets are worth it if you have 2-3 skill slots left over after making an illusionary weaponry mes/ranger with Tiger's Fury (beast mastery linked attack speed buff).

Drakron · Jul 29, 2005, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Pets are not worthy it.

First the post above fails to mention you need one skill just to bring the pet, then you need a skill to heal and resurrect the pet leaving just 6 skills left and we have not yet come to pet special attacks.

But that is not the reason pets are not worthy, when a pet dies you get 8 seconds of disabled skills and the same happens when you ressurect the pet so for 8 seconds you are completly unable to use skills, seeing you are playing a mesmer that is something I dont think you want to happen.

Also here are the biggest reasons why pets are not worthy it, when the party dies you get res at a portal but the pet body stays were it died amd you have to there and res it, likely the pet is surrended by the mob that kill you so have to kill then without the pet and then res it, pets also have a very anoying leveling system were the pet only gains XP from kills so the pet ends up being to be "leveled" to fill the level gap, to add assault to injury pets are also restricted to lv20 and became useless around the time you hit the desert.

Even a beastmaster have issues with how pets currently are handled in the game.

Darc.Syde · Jul 29, 2005, 03:28 AM // 03:28

ive found a use for a pet in 4vs4 team arena.

its a Smiting spin off; basic characters are a R/W with a pet, tiger's fury, snares, etc, 2 El/Mo Smiters, one gets on pet and the other on the R/W, and a Mo/X remover.

we went on a 29 win streak with it. it's pretty fun.

Syno Nym · Jul 29, 2005, 04:15 AM // 04:15

And there is one BIG problem you forgot to mention about pets... Their IA is as bad as Stefan's or Little Thom's...

Most of the time, they take 1-2 seconds to react when you decide to hit a target, and 1-2 seconds to pull back. Moreover, they're easily stucked. If a warrior blocks the way to the monk with his body, the pet will just wait for him to move, as every warrior NPC...

Arri · Jul 29, 2005, 05:04 AM // 05:04

I think you mean AI

Yukito Kunisaki · Jul 29, 2005, 07:38 AM // 07:38

If you get the right skills and points, your pet can add a fearsome dps onto the playing field.

Feral Lunge, causes a long lasting bleeding. Disrupting Pounce [or something like that] does interrupts. Never a bad thing to interrupt eh? Predator's Pounce is my choice over Comfort Animal. Spam dat stuff... Calls are crazy too. Call of Haste is a 30s. frenzy for your pet with sprint built in... 0_0. Call of Protection makes your pet harder to kill so spamming Predator's Pounce stacked with Call of Haste/Protection means your enemy is going to be dealing with problems.

The excessively long list of pet skills means if you center your character around your pet, you can actually get a pet set of skill around 5-6 and have 2-3 character self skills for yourself to use.

I've seen some devastating pet builds out there but it's true, you sacrifice a lot to make the pet work.

ElderAtronach · Jul 29, 2005, 07:43 AM // 07:43

If you've ever seen a message saying The Pet Build's team has won a battle in the Hall of Heros... it's no joke. They really do have an all ranger team, all with pets... and no monks.

stefan16 · Jul 29, 2005, 10:59 AM // 10:59

we fought them once, they rush to the guildlord immediately, and they lost big time

Tellani Artini · Jul 29, 2005, 01:59 PM // 13:59

Pets are nice for ranger primaries. For a Me/R, they're pointless. Fast casting does nothing for pet skills.

rii · Jul 29, 2005, 02:35 PM // 14:35

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=35972

Thats what i intend to run when ive got all the skills, and from it i have a feeling ill like pets

ComMan · Jul 29, 2005, 05:45 PM // 17:45

The guys who tested pets came to the conclusion that at 16 Beast Mastery they do 110% damage, as opposed to weapons which do 115%. So right off the bat you're getting ripped off.

Secondly, they waste at least 2 skill slots, a ton of attribute points, and you run the risk of having your skills disabled.

Third, they can not walk around rocks or trees. They also can not cross all bridges...some bridges are just too tough for them.

Fourth, pet attacks are delayed by 2-4 seconds, so disrupting lunge is entirely worthless (especially compared to Distracting Shot).

Fifth, They can not change targets on command. They'll keep attacking that smite monk with his Shield of Judgement and Zealot's Fire until they die.

I'm tired of listing reasons why they're terrible. It's been covered time and time again. They're just bad.

Cymboric Treewalker · Jul 29, 2005, 06:45 PM // 18:45

I agree... Pets in WoW were much better. You could tell them to attack... you could make them defensive... you could make them agressive...

AI for pets in GW is just plain awful. I would love to see them give you two extra PET only slots or something to make them more viable and allow you to toggle their stance - agressive, normal, or run-away-passive.