Soulbeast 'swap' needs fixing.

[Biff.5312]

I keep finding my pet 'deactivated' (for instance if I dismount or fall), and when I get hit or I enter combat, it considers 'activate pet' a swap, so I can't do it. Suddenly I spend half my time with no pet available to me.

[Jimbru.6014]

I've noticed that too, the pet being deactivated when I didn't actively do it. Definitely needs fixed if we're going to be doing this weird "no pet swapping in combat" thing now.

 

Which by the way: the whole "no pet swap in combat" thing makes about as much sense as a football bat, for two reasons. First that soulbeasts couldn't swap pets while merged anyway, second because of how often this game throws you into combat before you're ready -- which is like every third step, thanks to the ridiculously high density of trash mobs in most areas. So you find yourself suddenly in combat with either the wrong pet, or no pet at all. The bottom line is that it was a change for the sake of making a change, a just plain bad design decision, and IMHO it should be reverted.

 

Same with making Ele and Eng weapon swaps only OOC. There is no rational game balance reason behind it; it's just an artificial limitation somebody thought sounded good but doesn't actually affect anything positively. Give Engs and Eles full normal weapon swapping like everyone else already.

[Biff.5312]

Really what's the difference between no swapping in combat and just limiting us to one pet? But yeah this particular thing is making it impossible to even play properly.

[Hannelore.8153]

> @"Biff.5312" said:

> Really what's the difference between no swapping in combat and just limiting us to one pet? But yeah this particular thing is making it impossible to even play properly.

 

This is like asking "what's the difference for Ele and Engi to swap weapons out of combat instead of not". The second weapon set (and second pet for SB) still brings a necessary QoL that allows you to swap pets without an entire build loadout.

[Elden Arnaas.4870]

I'd change your title to something like "Soul Beast lack of pet swap causing bugs".(or something similar) IMO your original title could mislead the reader into thinking you didn't read the patch notes and don't realize SB isn't supposed to have pet swap now.

 

It seems to me like pet swap was always baked into Ranger, and removing/disabling it caused some unanticipated issues. One wonders why they didn't fix them before release. And why they didn't anticipate issues with a major class mechanic being changed. It seems like a far longer cool down on pet swap would have been an easier, less problematic change.

[Blindefender.9834]

I am also having the problem that when dismounting to start a battle, my pet will not be active and it seems to take several seconds to get it out. It really ruins my initial burst damage.

 

Moreover, I often play PVE SB with my pet out and swap back and forth, and merge/unmerge frequently during a tough battle. Some abilities provide a bonus for pet swapping/merging during a fight. No more I guess.

 

I like to solo tough enemies using a DPS pet and when that pet dies, I switch to a fresh tank pet, then kite and heal for a bit, then switch back later to continue the fight. No more I guess.

 

I assume these changes were needed for PVP type game modes. But for PVE, they are not needed or welcome, at least for my SB play style. I suppose I will be switching mains.

 

Don't really understand why PVP changes affect PVE?

[Mauzo.5469]

I've also noticed this. Particularly troublesome is that if I am on my raptor, and start engaging a bunch of enemies with a Tail Spin, my pet is not activated, and I can't activate her until I am out of combat! My workaround now is to switch to Soulbeast mode, and switch out as soon as I can. My pet then appears.

[casualkenny.9817]

sounds more like that old bug that they never bothered to fix, which has bigger consequence with the new change.

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Blindefender.9834" said:

> I am also having the problem that when dismounting to start a battle, my pet will not be active and it seems to take several seconds to get it out. It really ruins my initial burst damage.

>

> Moreover, I often play PVE SB with my pet out and swap back and forth, and merge/unmerge frequently during a tough battle. Some abilities provide a bonus for pet swapping/merging during a fight. No more I guess.

>

> I like to solo tough enemies using a DPS pet and when that pet dies, I switch to a fresh tank pet, then kite and heal for a bit, then switch back later to continue the fight. No more I guess.

>

> I assume these changes were needed for PVP type game modes. But for PVE, they are not needed or welcome, at least for my SB play style. I suppose I will be switching mains.

>

> Don't really understand why PVP changes affect PVE?

So much this. For me, a ranger (soulbeast) main, this kills my profession in open world PvE. I do not understand the reason behind it. I know what they said, but I do not understand how this improves game play.

 

Additionally, when dismounting into combat, my pet isn't even available and there is nothing that I can do to enable it until the fight is over. This, to me, is not what was intended by this change so I'd consider it a significant bug.

 

Pet swap doesn't appear to be an issue when I toggle to druid, but then I can't do that in combat either.

 

Like you, I will probably end up switching my main which is really unfortunate as I mained ranger in GW1 and throughout all of GW2 to this point.

 

[ParadoX.3124]

Well now you know how it feels to play engi

[Blude.6812]

Thanks Andrew for ruining Ranger for me. Give me back my pet swap!!!!!

[Danikat.8537]

As someone else said this is an old bug which has now become a more significant problem. I'm not sure exactly what causes it but it seems to happen to me most often when I use the mounts engage skills, so I go straight from mounted with the pet hidden to in combat - the pet stays hidden instead of automatically reappearing like it's supposed to.

 

Before this change (and now on druids and core rangers) it's possible to get the pet back by clicking the unhide button (although that's still annoying because you can't keybind that, you have to actually click the button - especially annoying if you're using the action camera) but apparently that's considered swapping pets so on soulbeasts it won't work until you're out of combat, meaning you have to go through an entire battle without a significant part of your build.

 

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Blindefender.9834" said:

> > I am also having the problem that when dismounting to start a battle, my pet will not be active and it seems to take several seconds to get it out. It really ruins my initial burst damage.

> >

> > Moreover, I often play PVE SB with my pet out and swap back and forth, and merge/unmerge frequently during a tough battle. Some abilities provide a bonus for pet swapping/merging during a fight. No more I guess.

> >

> > I like to solo tough enemies using a DPS pet and when that pet dies, I switch to a fresh tank pet, then kite and heal for a bit, then switch back later to continue the fight. No more I guess.

> >

> > I assume these changes were needed for PVP type game modes. But for PVE, they are not needed or welcome, at least for my SB play style. I suppose I will be switching mains.

> >

> > Don't really understand why PVP changes affect PVE?

> So much this. For me, a ranger (soulbeast) main, this kills my profession in open world PvE. I do not understand the reason behind it. I know what they said, but I do not understand how this improves game play.

>

> Additionally, when dismounting into combat, my pet isn't even available and there is nothing that I can do to enable it until the fight is over. This, to me, is not what was intended by this change so I'd consider it a significant bug.

>

> Pet swap doesn't appear to be an issue when I toggle to druid, but then I can't do that in combat either.

>

> Like you, I will probably end up switching my main which is really unfortunate as I mained ranger in GW1 and throughout all of GW2 to this point.

 

There's two separate issues here - the intentional change which prevents soulbeasts from swapping pets while in combat and the unintended bug where pets aren't automatically unhidden when you enter combat and it's impossible to unhide them because the game considers that swapping.

 

The bug just needs to be fixed. It shouldn't be happening on any ranger regardless of specialisation. The intentional change doesn't need to be fixed because Anet intended it to happen, it's something we have to get used to, and it is actually intended to make soulbeasts worse.

 

Bear with me here: Anet never intended elite specs to be a straight-up improvement over the core professions, they're supposed to add more options, not simply be better than other specs. But for most of them that wasn't the case, so recently Anet have been going through and adding trade-offs - you gain something by taking an elite spec but then lose something else, meaning you have to weigh up the pros and cons and decide which is best for you. For rangers that's centred around pets. A while ago they changed druids so taking that spec makes your pet weaker - so there's a trade-off where you gain healing skills on F5 but lose some damage, making them more focused on healing. This is the trade-off for soulbeasts - they can merge with their pet to gain new skills but can't swap it in combat.

 

I suspect this one is more annoying for more people than the change to druid because they were already pretty much used as a healer spec (except me, I used to play a damage focused druid in open-world PvE, and kept having to tell people I didn't have the right stats to be a healer). The change to druid convinced me to swap to soulbeast, which I hadn't really played much before. This change is making me consider going back to core ranger, but that is also a trade-off. I'm not sure which I'd miss more - the merged pet skills or pet swapping, I think I'm going to have to experiment to decide.

 

But if it's any consolation it's not unique to rangers - similar trade-offs are being added to all elite specs.

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> As someone else said this is an old bug which has now become a more significant problem. I'm not sure exactly what causes it but it seems to happen to me most often when I use the mounts engage skills, so I go straight from mounted with the pet hidden to in combat - the pet stays hidden instead of automatically reappearing like it's supposed to.

>

> Before this change (and now on druids and core rangers) it's possible to get the pet back by clicking the unhide button (although that's still annoying because you can't keybind that, you have to actually click the button - especially annoying if you're using the action camera) but apparently that's considered swapping pets so on soulbeasts it won't work until you're out of combat, meaning you have to go through an entire battle without a significant part of your build.

Thanks for the response. Spot on point, as always from you. ;)

 

> There's two separate issues here - the intentional change which prevents soulbeasts from swapping pets while in combat and the unintended bug where pets aren't automatically unhidden when you enter combat and it's impossible to unhide them because the game considers that swapping.

>

> The bug just needs to be fixed. It shouldn't be happening on any ranger regardless of specialisation. The intentional change doesn't need to be fixed because Anet intended it to happen, it's something we have to get used to, and it is actually intended to make soulbeasts worse.

Completely agree

 

> Bear with me here: Anet never intended elite specs to be a straight-up improvement over the core professions, they're supposed to add more options, not simply be better than other specs. But for most of them that wasn't the case, so recently Anet have been going through and adding trade-offs - you gain something by taking an elite spec but then lose something else, meaning you have to weigh up the pros and cons and decide which is best for you. For rangers that's centred around pets. A while ago they changed druids so taking that spec makes your pet weaker - so there's a trade-off where you gain healing skills on F5 but lose some damage, making them more focused on healing. This is the trade-off for soulbeasts - they can merge with their pet to gain new skills but can't swap it in combat.

Sure, I get that, but why should it matter in a non-competitive environment like OWPvE?

 

> I suspect this one is more annoying for more people than the change to druid because they were already pretty much used as a healer spec (except me, I used to play a damage focused druid in open-world PvE, and kept having to tell people I didn't have the right stats to be a healer). The change to druid convinced me to swap to soulbeast, which I hadn't really played much before. This change is making me consider going back to core ranger, but that is also a trade-off. I'm not sure which I'd miss more - the merged pet skills or pet swapping, I think I'm going to have to experiment to decide.

Right. I might go back to core or even stick with my own non-healing druid build. In all probability, though, I will end up switching to a different main. And that makes me disappointed.

> But if it's any consolation it's not unique to rangers - similar trade-offs are being added to all elite specs.

No, not really. :)

 

[Doo Lally.8594]

> @"casualkenny.9817" said:

> sounds more like that old bug that they never bothered to fix, which has bigger consequence with the new change.

 

I agree. I've had this bug on and off for several months but since the patch it 'seems' to be happening more regularly.

 

Hopefully they'll fix it but given that it's been around for a while I'm less than optimistic.

[Rasimir.6239]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > Bear with me here: Anet never intended elite specs to be a straight-up improvement over the core professions, they're supposed to add more options, not simply be better than other specs. But for most of them that wasn't the case, so recently Anet have been going through and adding trade-offs - you gain something by taking an elite spec but then lose something else, meaning you have to weigh up the pros and cons and decide which is best for you. For rangers that's centred around pets. A while ago they changed druids so taking that spec makes your pet weaker - so there's a trade-off where you gain healing skills on F5 but lose some damage, making them more focused on healing. This is the trade-off for soulbeasts - they can merge with their pet to gain new skills but can't swap it in combat.

> Sure, I get that, but why should it matter in a non-competitive environment like OWPvE?

Because even in cooperative open-world PvE you interact with other players, and professions/specs do have to have some semblance of balance to keep a level playing field. If one spec can just yolo through open world without much risk compared to others (while being played by players of comparable skill and game knowledge) that is a problem. It influences player perception of the "fairness" of the game, and it skews the effort to reward ratio drastically towards specific classes/specs. Both aren't healthy to a game that tries to promote a "play how/what you want for combarable rewards" environment.

[kharmin.7683]

> @"Rasimir.6239" said:

> > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > > Bear with me here: Anet never intended elite specs to be a straight-up improvement over the core professions, they're supposed to add more options, not simply be better than other specs. But for most of them that wasn't the case, so recently Anet have been going through and adding trade-offs - you gain something by taking an elite spec but then lose something else, meaning you have to weigh up the pros and cons and decide which is best for you. For rangers that's centred around pets. A while ago they changed druids so taking that spec makes your pet weaker - so there's a trade-off where you gain healing skills on F5 but lose some damage, making them more focused on healing. This is the trade-off for soulbeasts - they can merge with their pet to gain new skills but can't swap it in combat.

> > Sure, I get that, but why should it matter in a non-competitive environment like OWPvE?

> Because even in cooperative open-world PvE you interact with other players, and professions/specs do have to have some semblance of balance to keep a level playing field. If one spec can just yolo through open world without much risk compared to others (while being played by players of comparable skill and game knowledge) that is a problem. It influences player perception of the "fairness" of the game, and it skews the effort to reward ratio drastically towards specific classes/specs. Both aren't healthy to a game that tries to promote a "play how/what you want for combarable rewards" environment.

 

Ok, I understand that. Was soulbeast, pre-patch, in such a state? If so, I'd argue that a significant majority would be playing the profession. My experience hasn't shown that to be the case.

[Hashberry.4510]

I think the trade off concept is a clumsy approach and overdone, particular considering the existing trade off of losing access to the third core trait line. I can live with it though.

[Blude.6812]

Incredibly bad /poor/not tested/not wanted change for PvE. It seems to me that those in charge and those making the changes need to review their misguided changes to the game recently.

[LowestTruth.2635]

This bug is at least two years old. It's exacerbated by the fact that the workarounds (pet in slot 2, activate pet) no longer function because pet swap is disabled.

 

This should have been a requirement to resolve before making this change. It was easy to reproduce, reported regularly, and the workarounds were common knowledge (at least in my circle).

 

Edit: There is still one workaround that functions - merge before mount, un-merge when dismounted.

 

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/26175/pet-does-not-spawn-on-ranger-dismount

 

[magnusthorek.8027]

I also have this behaviour when unmounting ou, more specifically, when using Griffon engage skill (I didn't test the others). In the well known Flax farm in Verdant Brink, I glide a bit from Jaka Itzel Waypoint to give time for the game to actually load the mount (this is unacceptable!) then I hop on my Griffon and go all the way down with engaging skill 'til it hits the ground. On the ground, unmounted, my pet is gone and I have to manually call it or merging the soul.

 

If I had to guess I'd say this problem is related to Reaper's minions de-summoning them if you dismount and mount too fast, without waiting for the putrid animation.

[Substance E.4852]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> As someone else said this is an old bug which has now become a more significant problem. I'm not sure exactly what causes it but it seems to happen to me most often when I use the mounts engage skills, so I go straight from mounted with the pet hidden to in combat - the pet stays hidden instead of automatically reappearing like it's supposed to.

 

Sloppy coding from when they made it so mounting up no longer popped us out of beast mode

 

Hopefully this gets them to fix it finally but we may have to simply bite the bullet for a bit until they get around to it

 

The sparse occurrence of the problem means that even if they focus on the issue, it might not be easy to find and solve

[Dragonzhunter.8506]

> @"ParadoX.3124" said:

> Well now you know how it feels to play engi

 

What do you mean?!?!?! Do you want to say that after you dismount you don't have weapon skills active?

 

This:

@"Danikat.8537" "As someone else said this is an old bug which has now become a more significant problem. I'm not sure exactly what causes it but it seems to happen to me most often when I use the mounts engage skills, so I go straight from mounted with the pet hidden to in combat - the pet stays hidden instead of automatically reappearing like it's supposed to.

 

Before this change (and now on druids and core rangers) it's possible to get the pet back by clicking the unhide button (although that's still annoying because you can't keybind that, you have to actually click the button - especially annoying if you're using the action camera) but apparently that's considered swapping pets so on soulbeasts it won't work until you're out of combat, meaning you have to go through an entire battle without a significant part of your build."

 

explained clearly what it is about ...

 

@"ParadoX.3124" , next time before saying something, please read carefully.

[aikatara.3462]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"Blindefender.9834" said:

> > I am also having the problem that when dismounting to start a battle, my pet will not be active and it seems to take several seconds to get it out. It really ruins my initial burst damage.

> >

> > Moreover, I often play PVE SB with my pet out and swap back and forth, and merge/unmerge frequently during a tough battle. Some abilities provide a bonus for pet swapping/merging during a fight. No more I guess.

> >

> > I like to solo tough enemies using a DPS pet and when that pet dies, I switch to a fresh tank pet, then kite and heal for a bit, then switch back later to continue the fight. No more I guess.

> >

> > I assume these changes were needed for PVP type game modes. But for PVE, they are not needed or welcome, at least for my SB play style. I suppose I will be switching mains.

> >

> > Don't really understand why PVP changes affect PVE?

> So much this. For me, a ranger (soulbeast) main, this kills my profession in open world PvE. I do not understand the reason behind it. I know what they said, but I do not understand how this improves game play.

>

> Additionally, when dismounting into combat, my pet isn't even available and there is nothing that I can do to enable it until the fight is over. This, to me, is not what was intended by this change so I'd consider it a significant bug.

>

> Pet swap doesn't appear to be an issue when I toggle to druid, but then I can't do that in combat either.

>

> Like you, I will probably end up switching my main which is really unfortunate as I mained ranger in GW1 and throughout all of GW2 to this point.

>

 

 

Me too - so much this! I fight - or precicely fought - the same way as with my PVE SB, swapping between two pets (and the soulbeast mode sometimes) a lot in difficult fights. I also kept a CC pet as second to use when necessary. None of this works anymore. And the dismounting thing is just ... weird. It all really kills the profession in Open World PVE for me as well. I should switch mains too I suppose. But since my main is almost 6 years old... I really don't want to. Switching mains as I discover isn't easy for me. I'm attached to my main. I wish there was a way to switch classes for the first time I play GW2. If they would at least turn the druid into a viable PVE fighting class ... Sigh.

[AlexndrTheGreat.8310]

If your pet disappears you can simply merge and then unmerge and it will reappear

[Tazer.2157]

> @"Biff.5312" said:

> I keep finding my pet 'deactivated' (for instance if I dismount or fall), and when I get hit or I enter combat, it considers 'activate pet' a swap, so I can't do it. Suddenly I spend half my time with no pet available to me.

 

This is a result of Anet devs listening to the whiney pvpers about how op soulbeast was when it was a pet skil problem. This game has been on a decline for a while and from the looks of it, it is only going to get worse. The game devs need to first define each class and have each class fullfill a purpose. I do not see any changes to soulbeast as the devs are too busy making the community happy rather than actually thinking about class design.