Curse

torquemada · Feb 28, 2006, 04:24 PM // 16:24

Hmm, kinda reminds me of a role-play only district petition...wouldn't mind that one bit. But it would actually require much more PvE content (and moderators) then. Ah, whadda hell...

It would be kind of kewl to introduce elementalist familiars....it is known that every eccentric sorcerer of any value keeps one as a trusted companion (including myself and my hellkitty Shavo - guess where that name came from

) . They are able to deliver touch attacks and perform various actions, which could, thought out properly, improve ele's usefullness. IF ele was not intended as a damage dealer class...either that or I'm daydreaming in Toril once more

Yakumo · Feb 28, 2006, 04:32 PM // 16:32

I still have my Melandru's Stalker from Pre-Searing. Purely for her own safety, I rarely let her see the day of light and usually leave her behind. It pains me when I do that, but I think it's best. Being the curious cat she is, she always end up being hurt. I've lost count of the number of times when a Charr sparked her interest, and upon taking a closer look, she ended up being the target for their own amusement. Axes, blades, arrows, you name it, it was not a pretty sight. Countless Charrs were slaughtered in the long and necessary lessons that followed, yet they continuously failed to understand one simple concept, never mess with a ranger's pet!

Caged Fury · Feb 28, 2006, 04:49 PM // 16:49

I used to see my pet Dune Lizard "Newt" as just cannon-fodder, but after a dramatic spell in ToPK as a barrage/Pet ranger, I see Newt in a new light. A bad aggro of Banished Dream Riders resulted with the death of the entire team except Newt and myself. Went to res party members but when I got to casting range a rider came at me, I was hit by a Power Spike. While we exchanged hits, I got Empathy on me and stopped my attack. Rider continued to wand me. I went for a heal but CoF interrupted me. I was in bad shape and ran to make sure I didn't die and end the run for all of us. I ran behind a wall trying to heal while the rider tried to wand me through the wall. While this was happening, Newt was attacking the rider - doing little hits of 7-10. I held position as the rider ignored Newt's poor attempt to kill him, and remained focused on me. Big mistake on the rider's part because Newt kill him, and we got the party up and running again...HURRAY!

Mimi Miyagi · Feb 28, 2006, 05:35 PM // 17:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evil Hypnotist

...I'm sorry to say but if you aren't 100% Beastmaster or IWAY then pets aren't worth the space for 'Charm Animal' and 'Comfort Animal' on your skill bar once you are past Ascalon...

That's just an opinion. People are free to play the game however they like. Buying FoW armor is a waste of money (or 15K armor for that matter) yet people do it all the time. Pets are not the most efficient weapons in the game - minion masters (for example) simply outclass any pet ranger (actually outclass just about every profession dmg wise) no matter what evolution or level, or how many attrib points you have in BM. But that doesn't stop rangers from bringing their pets on missions, or use them as triggers for IWAY. A ranger with barrage, apply poison, kindle arrow, savage shot can output more damage than a Beast Master no matter what skills he brings.

But that doesn't stop rangers from bringing their pets.

Irrational? Sure. Inefficient? Sure. Does it matter? Nope.

Count to Potato · Feb 28, 2006, 05:47 PM // 17:47

The problem with pets is that beast mastery aint that useful.. only IWAY uses them. If there are any beast masters out there try making a solo build ive been thinking that you could do a five man solo for SF like keg farming but with pets.

Align · Feb 28, 2006, 07:00 PM // 19:00

Beast Mastery is quite capable, but it lacks healing and other means of letting you survive should the monster target you instead, which they do often enough to be fatal.
Skills that Factions will bring should solve this problem, though.

Rilder · Feb 28, 2006, 07:06 PM // 19:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Count to Potato

The problem with pets is that beast mastery aint that useful.. only IWAY uses them. If there are any beast masters out there try making a solo build ive been thinking that you could do a five man solo for SF like keg farming but with pets.

speak for yourself but i'm developing a GvG, HA build based entirely on pets and it doesnt use IWAY

Lord Iowerth · Feb 28, 2006, 07:59 PM // 19:59

I can hardly count the times i've been griefed by guildies for screaming "Mittens, nooooooooooo!!!!!" on vent when my pet dies

People who don't understand their usefulness need to have an experience like I had in RA yesterday: I was surreptiously "PWNT" by a R/Mo beastmaster using balths aura on the pet that was chasing me down ... I barely got a cripple off on the pet before I died, all the while being pet-attacked for high damage ... I was highly impressed. o_O

... and of course since it was random arena, I was not res'ed.

wiz12268 · Mar 01, 2006, 01:12 AM // 01:12

Well I am not sure what my pet's classification is. My ranger was the first toon I made back in late April early May, and "training" my cat wasn't something I understood. Still not sure how you get from playful, to hearty to dire. But I think mine was hearty when I switched names. Not sure if that evolves or not, but I solo a lot with him and he is definately tanking. But not sure what it takes to make a pet a "dire" versus one of the other classes. And I am noy switching him out now, I have had him forever, which sort of goes along with the whole point of the O.P.

I mostly see low 30's with with F.S. When I take barrage against similar monsters I get 35-45, plus life stealing (which is another issue, as you allude to) plus barrage hits more opponents. Maybe I didn't word it correctly. But switching one elite for the other even with 16 BM Barrage at "only" 12 causes more overall dmg than ferocious strike.

I never get into the math element. I have used the calculator, but not sure if damage is rounded up or down. I just go by how long it takes me to kill something and go from there. If one way is faster, then to me it is "better".

But needless to say, rangers are the most diverse class (for now) in the game. They can do pretty much what every other class can do, just not quite as good. They are defiantely jack of all trades, and the best "counter" class there is in the game, simply because they can counter every other class, while the other classes have their "favorite" counter class.

Most people just never look at the BM tree and see exactly what it can do. While everyone is looking for tanks, you can get a ranger with a high BM and a couple interupts and you have a warrior and a mesmer all in one, and one with a lot better armor, and who can stay further out of the fray. People need to look at that tree alittle more IMO. I still discover stuff just by fooling aorund, and I have had the game for 9 months now.

Align · Mar 01, 2006, 08:31 AM // 08:31

Ferocious strike nets you a goodly amount of energy however; even with zealous you're going to get 5 energy less than a FS, at best.

Raif · Mar 01, 2006, 08:38 AM // 08:38

there is only one true pet - OINK!
sigh if only he could be tamed

warthogs are the most fun, dune lizards next, then the icky spiders. the worst is wolf simply because the constant howling is so irritating

however, i would agree with the wish that once you charmed the animal you shouldnt always have to carry charm to keep that animal, surely it is a bond with one of melandru's creation and the ranger - buuuut i could see all the whining from the other classes over that one.

a BM with a candy cane bow is quite interesting too

KurtTheBehemoth · Mar 01, 2006, 11:17 AM // 11:17

I think Nooblets has a girlfriend. I was outside Beetletun the other day and Nooblets kept following this cute little lynx around. Then when i dropped a gruesome ribcage for Nooblets he shared it with the lynx. It was so sweet. He has been sneaking out of the Village at night to see his new friend I think. I was conscerned at first but then I realized that Nooblets is a grown cat and is probably just lonely because of all the quests I take him on. So now I just pretend to be asleep when he sneeks in the tent at nights. Oh, I hope Nooblets doesn't leave me I would miss him.

WasAGuest · Mar 01, 2006, 02:50 PM // 14:50

Gimme pet commands and a way to say "Nibbles fetch" and I would probably play with my pet more.

As it is, he just seems to block me, get in the way and generaly die too much... yea, I'm a bad BM, but I could be better if I had a way to actually use him and control him.

Jenosavel · Mar 01, 2006, 03:18 PM // 15:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by wiz12268

Well I am not sure what my pet's classification is. My ranger was the first toon I made back in late April early May, and "training" my cat wasn't something I understood. Still not sure how you get from playful, to hearty to dire. But I think mine was hearty when I switched names. Not sure if that evolves or not, but I solo a lot with him and he is definately tanking. But not sure what it takes to make a pet a "dire" versus one of the other classes. And I am noy switching him out now, I have had him forever, which sort of goes along with the whole point of the O.P.

I mostly see low 30's with with F.S. When I take barrage against similar monsters I get 35-45, plus life stealing (which is another issue, as you allude to) plus barrage hits more opponents. Maybe I didn't word it correctly. But switching one elite for the other even with 16 BM Barrage at "only" 12 causes more overall dmg than ferocious strike.

This would clear up your question about how the evolutions works. In short, though, Dire is the opposite evolution of Hearty, so if your pet is currently Hearty it has no chance of becoming Dire. The fact that it's Hearty is the reason you're not seeing much damage from it. Hearty pets trade in 15% of their damage for 60 extra hp.

I can understand why you wouldn't want to give up your pet though. When I first had to let my precious level 20 Hearty Stalker, Forest Child, go free it was terribly painful. In the end though, I've made a lot of new animal friends, and I'm glad I decided to try switching.

SilentAssassin · Mar 01, 2006, 03:54 PM // 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Son of Urza

Oh yeah, I remember that. Really irritating, pets could deal so much damage there, and they could get around the 4 people party size limit . . .

From the pet guide by Epinephrine and *someone else, forgot name*
There are several questions you should be asking yourself when taking a pet:
Is your BM above 10?
Do you have at least one pet attack on your skill bar?
Do you have at least one pet defensive skill on your skill bar? (Call of Protection, Otyugh's Cry, possibly Symbiotic Bond)
If you said no to one or more of these questions, you should probably leave the pet behind.

you are so darn wrong... what about barrage groups...
using pets as a defens is darn strong, you only need charm animal and comfort animal nothing more.

Dazzen · Mar 01, 2006, 08:51 PM // 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilentAssassin

you are so darn wrong... what about barrage groups...
using pets as a defens is darn strong, you only need charm animal and comfort animal nothing more.

Well, in that case it must be uber (never seen it in action yet

) but appart from a barrage group ? Seems very situational for me.

The tweak that could be nice is to have to ability to rez your pet using charm animal so it would merge with comfort and gives you an extra skill slot.

Count to Potato · Mar 01, 2006, 09:23 PM // 21:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teufel Eldritch

Because GW doesn't have a strong RP element & is geared towards PvP.

GW is supposed to be both PVE and PVP but it seems updates change PVP related skills

Count to Potato · Mar 01, 2006, 09:24 PM // 21:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rilder

speak for yourself but i'm developing a GvG, HA build based entirely on pets and it doesnt use IWAY

Plz message me when u get it im very interested

IGN Count to Potato or Potato to Count

wiz12268 · Mar 02, 2006, 12:14 AM // 00:14

Well I did a test last night to see what I was getting for damage.

Maxed out BM with "regular" attack no buffs at all I was getting 13-19 against griffens. With F.S. I was getting mid 40's with a peak of 47. So slightly more than I remember I guess. With the other general attacks I get mid 30's to 41 sometimes. So spamming those it does add up, but even so with a vamp and barrage it is slightly faster (for obvious reasons). The only thing is I do hae to switch to the Zealous on occasion to recoup energy, with the no barrage build I pump Expertise, so not only do I have FS, I am paying next to nothing in mana.

I have tried to get a balance but the skills just don't work. The toughest part of soloing is getting the aggro to stay on the pet, and hope nothing else comes in. He can take a griffon or two and a couple minos at once, but when one dies he breaks attack even when he is still getting hit. I think that is a change because he always got back in when he was hit before. Now I have to reengage for him to continue, before he runs back to me and gets me in the mix.

In any case it is something to do to break up the day. If I really want to go easy I will take Lina and go and I can do any map on the board. The drops are significantly lower, but it isn't a constant running around in circles trying to get my pet to get every monster on him.

But the new tombs run has defiantely brought a lot of pets out of the skill box. I have seen more level 5 and 6 pets this past week than I saw in playing with PUG teams for 6 months. But they level up fast, they just do not last long.

Actually I want to edit my above post. I got a couple low 50s tonight against the frosty griffons. Not sure if they have different AL or not? Also got some mid 60s against the heretics with FS, but as casters I would expect numbers like that. Even got in the mid to upper 30s against the boss griff that was there, Mesmer spawned that run.

Lowly Peasant · Mar 02, 2006, 04:34 AM // 04:34

I've noticed that when I run a pure BM build, the enemy hoards come after me as if I was holding a gear. It's as if the enemies are repelled by my pet and decide to kill me for even thinking about using BM...

I'd probably use BM more if they were to combine Charm animal with comfort animal or make it so if you carry Comfort animal you bring your pet and charm is only needed to capture a pet. Because as it is, I have to dedicate at least 4 slots to buffing my pet so it lives longer.