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Pet class advice needed questions for someone joining today.
calranthe
Member UncommonPosts: 359
Well I decided to grab a copy of GW2 it should arrive later today, I looked through some forums and need some advice.
Let me explain something though, I am not interested in pvp be it duel or WVWVW, I am not really interested in end game or uber loot, play a mmo for the journey from level 1-max for social and roleplay, I also spend a lot of time leveling on my own.
I do not mind how broken a class is at end game or how its min/max dps etc works out less than another class what I am looking for is advice on the ability to solo, have fun and interesting gameplay, as per my title I also prefer pet class.
If I went to the subforums I would have to post three seperate times that is why I am posting it on general.
Okay on to the questions
Necromancer, are its pets more like mobile dots or do you have control of them, can you use commands like follow/attack etc, if you make a minion master type of build is it viable from 1-80
Ranger, how does its pet mechanic work and once again how viable if you focus on your pets
Engineer, now I know it isn't a primary pet class but I do love the idea of putting down turrets etc even with the hassle of moving about, is it viable to create a turret build.
Is there anny other class that uses pets and any other advice that you can give me is gratefully recieved.
Comments
This is not a game.
Yeah but mesmers aren't really a pet class are they now? @OP, I would go for a Ranger if you're looking for a pet class. Necros have minions which they dispose of all the time and you can't control them. The minion AI is horrible too!
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
- Guardian has a few defensive summons like sword, shield and so on
- Necromancer has pets you can't command entirely but the pets itself have skills you can let them use like blinding enemies, rooting enemies, exploding on a enemy and so on. They come also with a Elite pet and the pets only dissappear after they lost all their health (not a time limit like with the summons of the other classes)
- Mesmers are using illusion pets, some are giving damage, others are only a distraction for the enemy and can be used in various ways after they spawned to add a status effect or damage on a enemy when you trigger them to destroy themselves on the enemy
- Engineer, the turrets are stationery but can be picked up again, the various kits like health kits, bombs, grenades are giving you extra skillsets that can be fun but petwise the turrets are also only controlable over a skill they posses like the minions of the Necromancer
- Elementalist, they have lesser and higher form of elementals they can summon for short times as also some elite pets they can summon for a short time aswell. The pets you are getting as elite depend on your race like Sylvari getting a huge tree spirit while the humans getting 2 hellhounds as example.
- Warrior, depending on the race you can call a worm, owl or a other creature to assist you in battle for a while
- Ranger, the only class that can actively let a pet attack, defend, be passive and follow or use a skill.
Every pet learns additional skills they use automatically in the battle too. A large pool of terrestrial, water or amphibic pets that are using different types of damage, status effects and so on.
Melee and Ranged types available.
You can have 2 active at a time and switch between them to combine their strengths in battle and if you command them properly they can survive battles and do a good amount of damage.
Hope that helps a bit.
A pet ranger is probably the most viable pet build and closest to traditional pet classes. However, even as a pet-focused ranger, you'll participate in combat actively and not just send your pet forward and let it kill everything.
Turrets and minions are pretty useless at the moment due to AI issues and poor overall effectiveness.
Lots of information, looks like Necro is out then and ranger does seem interesting.
Oh come on guys can you stop talking about OP or UP for a sec? That's not the question here.
@Calranthe Ranger is the best for you because you can actually find all the pets you want by exploring the world of Tyria and that is really cool in a "pokemon" kind of way, and really makes you want to go to all the nooks and crannies hoping to find a cool new beast. And then you can build strategies around the different pets you have.
As for soloing, it's just not exactly the same in GW2. Going all out solo is much easier when you outlevel the content by a bit (which is no problem since all the content is relevant at every stage, but when you are lvl40 in a lvl 20 area, you can really have a nice challenge but not too hard by doing events solo) and when you master the mechanics of kiting and dodging. If you ever heard about this game, you must have heard of all the talk about "real skills", well it's partly true: I'm not a great player, but after 80 hours in now when I make a character I can go to quite higher level zones because I know how to evade attacks and plan my battles with good strategies. And if you feel things are a little too hard, find another player and follow, and you'll be soloing in a kind of group, which is natural, really nice and rewarding.
So yeah, with just about any class, you can solo, and the ranger is great at it, because he has long-range, short range and animals, as well as good skills to get the hell out when things turn bad. But it might be a little rough at first, and staying cloe to other players is the way to go in that case. And the pet class is the ranger, the others are more like "summons" than anything else (you can't rename your minions, for instance)
Necromancer minions are more wild and fit more the survival theme.
Still, every necromancer minion has a skill you can trigger.
GW2 is an action game though, so don't expect to sit back while your minions beat the game.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
I leveled up to 80 only using my minions as Necro and it was fun. It's true that you don't have commands such as "attack" "defense" or whatever but each pet will have a special skill, which you can use and that will cause your pet to attack the target, without you joining the attack.
The Flesh Golem will even attack on its own and if you use the traits to give your minions +50% HP and +30% attack, then he can actually solo most mobs without you giving any commands at all.
Ranger has some issues, but it definitely is the best pet class.
You can have 2 pets active at one time and you can swap them in combat. You can pick those 2 pets at any time outside of combat (even inside dungeons) for no price at all.
Those 2 pets you can choose from about 30 pets. Each pet is in different family out of about 10 families - that will set its attributes like power, toughness etc. and also 3 commands they do automatically. Each pet also has skill that ranger himself activates. As for those abilities, that's pretty much anything you can think. From charge, to different conditions, to healing, to knockdown etc. etc. So there is a lot of variety.
You can work with them with basic attack/come back/do not engage in combat commands. You as a ranger also have a few commands you can use in addition if you use certain utiilty skills. For example guard this area, find downed friend and help them get up.
Some pets are ranged, some are melee, so you can pick different pet for different situation (for example if you use melee pet at boss that uses heavy close range aoe, that's gonna kill that pet soon, ranged pet can work much better in such situation, on the other hand melee pets are much better at tanking). As for survival... if boss targets your pet directly, he would go down quickly. But if you play smart (especially in group), your pet can survive very well.
For me it's definitely fun class to play in PvE and PvP. It's probably rather simpler and more straightforward than say mesmer or elementalist, but that's my idea of fun nonethless
Maybe one thing that I should mention... Ranger in gw2 doesn't have much connection to his pet. I mean emotionaly. It's more like pet is just a tool, it's not like it's your trusted partner. I know that may seem irrelevant, but for person, that likes pet class, that might be very important
If you have any more questions about ranger, let me know
Ranger might be for you if you don't mind being less usefull than other classes.
Just a little warning that rangers have become the odd guy out in dungeons. Many people do not want a ranger in their group for dungeons.
Myself I don't take more than one ranger for dungeons since that will result in next to 0 AoE damage.
For exploring ranger's can cap different pet's all around the world. This can be quite a challenge if you decide to stay away from fansites.
Personally I have a level 80 ranger and I've pretty much not played it since I hit 80.
Necros are close to being a pet class, but IMO, minions aren't really pets. Your control over what they do is very limited. They have no passive modes, and thier AI is quirky. They do not always do what you want them to do. If you like the traditional pet class, then Ranger is your only real option.
As far as this game is concerned, they are the only worthwhile pet class.
The whole class revolves around summoning and destroying pets. Pets that actually work well, unlike the necromancers or rangers.
The summons you mention are not class related, but race.
The ones you described as Warrior skills are in fact Norn skills.
The Hellhounds are human as you mention, but any class.
The treants are Sylvari, but any class.
Asura can summon golems too.
It will matter when the OP goes to make a minion necro and then gets told to respec to marks repeatedly when they try to do dungeons.
Or is just generally unwanted as a ranger / engineer.
I play an Engineer primarily, but I don't use the turrets because even with the augmented health and toughness through traits, they seem to die too fast. The excetion is the healing turret, but I place it, get the dump heal, and pick it back up.
Ranger is the only real pet class in the game (controls for pet).
Also, GW2 is largely about learning how to master the combat system both solo and also in groups. The 1-80 journey is good, but I fear that it may go too fast for you. The endgame content is hard, but because of that I find it to be very rewarding.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Necromancer: Actually one of the strongest classes in the game, but the hardest class to play well. Minion builds are definitely viable, though I prefer not to use them. Minions in this game actually do hit HARD (they do a lot of damage), but unlike ranger you can't command them to attack / follow / passive unfortunately. However, each minion gets a 2ndary skill when spawned, which you can use to both direct their attacks as well as deal extra damage / control / utility. Minion masters can be incredibly difficult to kill, however they are vulnerable to heavy AoE damage. They also don't tend to do well in dungeons, due to minions both potentially pulling badly as well as not surviving enemy's attacks all that well (as enemies in dungeons do a lot more damage than in normal PvE). If you do go Minion Master, just be prepared to have to constantly resummon your minions, because they will die alot. Also, aside from the Elite (flesh golem) minions don't regenerate health passively, so you'll either have to heal them yourself (regen or Well of Blood) or be ready to recast them frequently.
Ranger: Probably the most traditional pet class. Also one of the least played classes in the game. However, people often underestimate a Ranger's damage potential. Some of my friends can literally blow people up @ 80, about as fast as a shatter mesmer, without having to get up close to do the damage. Ranger's don't have as many viable builds as some of the other classes atm, but if you know what you're doing they can be very solo friendly. You'll still have problems against thieves / good eles & good mesmers.
Engineer: As you say, not really a pet class. Atm, their turrets really aren't worthwhile. Engineers tend to fall into the following builds: Barrage / Rifle burst damage, Flamethrower build, healing bomber build, elixir / toolkit support build. Engineers are very difficult to kill, but they will feel lackluster through most of the game.
Hmm I haven't been told to respec as a tanky Engineer when going into dungeons. I can usually get conditions off of group, provide good heals and AoE. DPS is not spectacular but normally there are others in the group who can put it down.
Not saying it doesn't happen, just havent had it happen to me.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
The elitism is there, just as the min/max groups are there, but as always it depends on who you run with. Using GW2lfg tends to help (at least a little bit), as most groups will say in the description if they are being ultra picky or not about members. Ultimately, the best thing to do is to find a good guild / group of people to play w/ anyway. In which case you don't have to worry about what Evil's talking about.
Realistically, the elitists in the game mostly overreact about this kinda crap. I've done most of the dungeons with a full group of nakeds just for kicks. Outside of a select few encounters in the game class doesn't really matter. It's really more about whether or not the group members know wtf they are doing.
A lot of people also assume that partying the (assumed) optimal group comps guaruntees a good run, which is absolutely untrue. All classes in this game are viable, but that won't stop ignorance =/.
This is good info
I agree with you that some people just need to be stat nerds lol.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
Lol aye, the funny thing is, a lot of times the 'stat nerds' get it wrong. They either A) follow top-end PvP teams and fail to understand that the decisions made in high-end spvp / wvw don't really effect the rest of the game, or
See some obscene burst damage (i.e. Warrior or Mesmer) and then assume that's always best.
Prime example is the Necro. A lot of players today STILL assume necros either suck, or are largely broken as a class. Most of these same players will point to a thief, or a warrior, or a mesmer as examples of solid damage.
Now, lets take warrior for example. As a DPS warrior, the most damage I've ever done with 100 blades was just over 30k damage (not counting special boss mechanics that artificially increase damage output). My auto-attack? ~3-4k. Good thieves can do ~24k dmg in a second or two with a burst combo, but it also has a cooldown and can't be spammed. Mesmers? Same deal, they can do ~20k dmg or so with multi-shattering, BUT all clones have to hit and there is a cooldown.
Well, what about necros? A good power necro can repeatedly hit a target for around 4-6k dmg once they get going. They can spike a target (if they have wells) for close to 20k dmg over a few seconds. They also have one of the largest health pools (alongside warrior) sitting at around 20k hp without even trying to boost vit. Additionally they have a 2nd health pool (death shroud) which effectively makes them invulnerable for a few seconds, making them one of the tankiest glass cannons in the game. When you do the math, you find that their damage (over time) is on par with the other 3 classes, they just lack the same burst everyone is so keen on. However, when played right, a necro can effectively negate all of the above 3 classes burst abilities, while all 3 of the above 3 classes have to put up with a constant (ranged) barrage of heavy damage.
Rangers & Engineers have similar examples. It's all about understanding class dynamics, and how each class functions. Often times, whether or not a class is considered 'viable' is determined by a VERY specific situation (i.e. tournament pvp, or CoF farming) which literally has no bearing on the rest of the game.
I got a guildie who plays a Ranger who is bent on maxing out magic find over all other stats. Youd think he'd be the last guy you would want in your groups. But he gets the job done, he knows the runs inside and out and knows every boss' mechanic and weaknesses and every group we've been in has always gone smoother then when he's not. And yet, I've also PuG'd CoF path 1 with players fully decked out in CoF gear who don't know they have to stand in their own flame cage to open the door to the final boss. (That one, I still can't figure out)
To say turrets and minnions are useless is either lack of knowing the profs. or just stupidity.
Howmany enemyes I have obliterated with my minnions and turrets... countless.