Pets need an overhaul

I've been doing lots of experimentation with pets lately, and I'd like to lay out my ideas for a pet overhaul. I'll first list the major problems with Ranger pets:

1) Lack of control - Every other MMO has some sort of pet 'control' dialog that allows you to do several things, like control the aggressiveness of your pet, order the pet to attack a specific target, order the pet to become passive, order the pet to go to a specific location, order the pet to stay where he is, etc. These are BADLY NEEDED functions in Guild Wars. Heck, you have to call each and every target by shooting it with an arrow if you want your pet to actually attack. I should be able to have him in three modes: Aggressive (attacks any enemies that enter my aggro bubble, and after killing one foe will automatically attack the next closest foe in my aggro bubble), defensive (only attacks enemies that attack me, will run out, kill that enemy, and head back to me), and passive (pet does NOT retailiate if attack, he continues moving to the location that I ordered him to go to). It would be WONDERFUL if the pet's AI was updated as well to prefer attacking healers first, casters second, and so on when he is in the Aggressive mode.

2) Lack of knowledge of pet's condition - Why can't I tell when my pet has been hexed? Why can't I tell what conditions (if any) are on my pet? Why can't I see what buffs are on my pet, what my pet's current/max health is, current armor, what attacks he is performing, etc?

3) The timing of Beast Mastery skills is too difficult - If I target an opponent with the 'closest enemy' button, and I hit Predator's Pounce, why doesn't my pet run over and execute the move on the target? I should NOT have to use a bow in order to coax my pet into attacking. Furthermore, if I target an enemy, launch an arrow, and hit Predator's Punce *BEFORE* my pet engages the enemy, my pet may or may not actually execute the move. I've spent the energy, I've engaged the enemy, but my pet acts like he was AFK or something. Now I LOVE the concept of being able to 'queue up' my pet's moves, but if they overwrite like player attack moves, how am I supposed to know if I'm wasting energy? I suggest letting a pet actually queue up MORE moves than a player. Players can perform one skill/spell while another is 'queued'. Pet attacks are (by their very nature) delayed by 1-2 seconds. This makes for a natural disadvantage. Allow the pet to queue two Beast Mastery skills, so that he can be performing one move, and have two queued. Give us some sort of display in the 'pet window' to show us which moves are queued, and allow us to 'override' the queue in the same manners as players can - by choosing a different skill and casting it. Granted, that means the 10 energy I just spent on that move is utterly gone, but I see that as a valid tradeoff for the extra queue.

These steps would go a long way to making pets more useful and strategically valuable, and would reinvigorate Beast Mastery for Rangers. Furthermore, it would bring Guild Wars 'up to date' in the only major area where it falls FAR behind today's MMOs.

I second that.

Pet commands are much needed (as are henchy commands).
Queued pet attacks would also be nice.

I figured the folks at Arena.net would have figured out that pets are under-utilized (especially in PvP) for this very reason. That's why you only see IWAY builds that involve pets. If The Frog really wants the animal abuse to stop, you think he'd make having one around more useful than a 10 second health regen.

Noone has thoughts on these ideas?

I do! I do! I really want to control my pet. I actually thought of a good idea. A pet behavior window, you can choose various options for what your pet does. There would be 4 aspects to your pets behavior:

initiate attack:

agressive- pet attacks if an enemy enters its aggro range. (like a minion)

call- when you call a target, the pet attacks, you dont need to actually attack the enemy.

attack- when your attack hits, your pet starts to attack. (like pets now)

target change: (this doesnt apply if initiate attack is set to agressive)

delay- your pet still attacks previous target even though you changed. (like pets now)

obedient- pet changes target right when you do.

after death: (what pet does after you die)

revenge- pet keeps attacking the same enemy after you are dead.

protect- pet comes back to you and only attacks enemies that come close to you. (like pets now)

stance: (a little way to customize your pet)

berserker- pet attacks 10% faster but takes 10% more damage

default - no changes to stats

shield- pet attacks 10% slower but takes 10% less damage

What do you think of these ideas? It would be a way for a beastmaster to be happy about how their pet acts. I know when i play my beastmaster smiter, I want total control over my pet, but when I play my pve minion master I just want my pet to attack whatever, cause im not always targeting an enemy.

There should also be a keyboard button to call your pet and make it come to you.

I like the suggestions.

The only question I have is regarding the 'action after you die' portion.

Doesn't the pet die within a certain amount of time of your death? I can't recall if it works like this or I am confusing it with DAoC.

I doubt the stances would be implemented. Manipulating your pet's attack speed and damage is what BM skills are for.

While you may not be able to check you pet's AL or Current Health, all the rest of that can be seen.

Hexes are the purple-pink down arrows. I've yet to see a good hex, but health degen hexes turn the health bar purple. Any other hex will probably be worse than that.

Conditions are the dark down arrows. Poison turns the bar green, bleeding turns it pinkish. Anything else will be like blindness, weakness and the like. Assume it's bad, makes things easier.

The yellow up arrows are buffs. If you didn't cast one on your pet, then a team mate did. All it takes is one question, and you'll know what your pet has. Also, it could have been a friendly mob, in which case they cast it on everyone.

As for attacks, only the Black Bear has an attack of its own. Beyond that, it's the player telling the pet what to do. If you want to see this for yourself, just click on your pet while it's attacking someone. It's skills (if it even has any) will show up just like player and mob skills.

beyond that tiny detail, I also agree that pets need some work. They need to respond like the henchies do.

Pets don't die within a certain time of your death, someone can kill it, but it doesnt die automatically.

GUIs are kind of tough to put in. If they do add more control over you pet, more likely it will not involve a GUI. I think what would work would be to simply have a pet button, say 'B' or 'Left Shift'.

You target an enemy and press this button, your pet attacks that target. You target an ally and press this button, your pet attacks that ally's target. You target yourself or nothing and press that button, your pet yeilds and returns to you, ignoring the attacks of enemies until he gets to you or you issue another command. In addition, he does not attack until you use this button, telling him to attack. This allows you to pull without your pet ruining it.

Easy and simple control with 1 button. As an alternative, we could use the Charm Animal skill as this button. It's there anyway and does nothing. Why not use it as a command button?

That sounds like an efficient and typical solution, and I support it wholeheartedly.