Do the higher level ranger pets play differently or are the pets all the same?  I mean what is the difference between the Dire Wolf and say the Raptor.  I never got a chance to get my Ranger that high so I am very curious.

I am wondering the same, I was a bit let down by the wolf while it does nice dmg, it really pales in comparison to the pig for questing and leveling tho.

I am also curious to what combos ppl have picked I have gone Ranger/MM/Bard but at the end of the day I felt that Bard while you get some nice buffs it didnt feel as usefull wondering what other ppl have picked.

Good question. Ranger seems to be somewhat dependent on a pet, so it would be logical that there is some more interesting pet features later on.

I will say that the Boar is ten times more useful than the dire wolf, at least in my experience.

Also I didnt get to see the shadow stalker and I am wondering how good that is.

Originally posted by rav3n2

I am wondering the same, I was a bit let down by the wolf while it does nice dmg, it really pales in comparison to the pig for questing and leveling tho.

I am also curious to what combos ppl have picked I have gone Ranger/MM/Bard but at the end of the day I felt that Bard while you get some nice buffs it didnt feel as usefull wondering what other ppl have picked.

I used a Sabo-Ranger-Bard combo that really rocked.  The pig tanked perfectly while I set death upon my foes, and when I got the second slot opened I made it Bard-Sabo-Ranger so I could get the speed boost for running around.

Lemme remind you hunters seem somewhat funny in PvP, see em' having sprint, slows and all sort of fun stuff while the other classes have nothing lol. :)

This is entirely speculation, but if the ranger class is anything like the necromancer tree then it probably relies on the pet to do a good portion, if not majority, of it's damage. Moreover, the necromancer had pets that were each good for a specific thing, they had a tanking, nuking, and melee specialized damage types. I would suspect that the ranger is based around a similar principle.  

I'm guessing that the ranger has 3-4 pets that each have a particular role, and are useful in different situations, what those roles are I haven't a clue, but I also know that the higher i went up in the necromancer tree the more complicated my pets became.  

For example, my summon: skeletal horror spell summoned a pet with 2 abilities, and was pretty weak. It was the pet that was default for the class and obtainable without putting any points into the tree. Now after I devoted 21 points I got access to summon: skeletal zealot that dealt a lot more damage, and used a few of my abilities to enhance it's own damage, it had 4 abilities, dealt more damage , and had a lot more survivability than the skeletal horror. But it was the primary melee damaging pet.  The zealot still didn't compete with my tanking pet at the same level as far as holding agro.

So I guess my answer is that the higher pet's maybe more beneficial to you, or they may not. It's all going to depend on your play style, and what you are looking for in a pet. 

i only got up too haveing the pig and the wolf, but i too found the wolf rather useless. he had 300 points less armor, and wasnt any tougher in dealing damage. i found that by specing ranger with the assassin and nigtblade trees allowed me to have a pet, dps and stand on my own and fight effciently if i had to.  just offering up my op.

Marks/Assasin/Ranger is a good way to go, the pets don't seem to be all that different. Spec heavy into Marks and Assassin and a few points into Ranger and you will have powerful ranged, prettty good melee if  you get into trouble, and you can stealth. Alot of the Assasin buffs also proc with ranged weapons as well.

Originally posted by Teala

Do the higher level ranger pets play differently or are the pets all the same?  I mean what is the difference between the Dire Wolf and say the Raptor.  I never got a chance to get my Ranger that high so I am very curious.

Pets have maximum levels so certain pets will become useless as you level.

I tried a Ranger / Markman / Nightblade combo and I got to about lvl 15 (while playing several other characters).  Now for skills I focused (this beta - on a new server)On pet health then working my way up to bleeds and getting a damage bonus off them.  When I got to the Wolf I found that I needed to change my tactics.  As the wolf would not hold aggro to keep the mobs at range. 

What I then chose to do was work on my Nightblade skills for up close damage.  And that worked out well.  But I'm still interested in several other souls... Its just that for Release I seriously doubt I'll go with Marksman.  They would be great if you have another player to hold aggro at range.  But you loose all of their skills, but one, when a target gets within "close combat" range.

Instead I'll go with Ranger First, then one of the Melee DPS souls (like Nightblade), then Sabo... That will still give me a pet, but I'll have better skills for close range.  And once I get up so I can get a Blood Raptor I can go back and get a new Role to use MM.  When I'm sure my pet will hold aggro.

Originally posted by Cannyone

I tried a Ranger / Markman / Nightblade combo and I got to about lvl 15 (while playing several other characters).  Now for skills I focused (this beta - on a new server)On pet health then working my way up to bleeds and getting a damage bonus off them.  When I got to the Wolf I found that I needed to change my tactics.  As the wolf would not hold aggro to keep the mobs at range. 

What I then chose to do was work on my Nightblade skills for up close damage.  And that worked out well.  But I'm still interested in several other souls... Its just that for Release I seriously doubt I'll go with Marksman.  They would be great if you have another player to hold aggro at range.  But you loose all of their skills, but one, when a target gets within "close combat" range.

Instead I'll go with Ranger First, then one of the Melee DPS souls (like Nightblade), then Sabo... That will still give me a pet, but I'll have better skills for close range.  And once I get up so I can get a Blood Raptor I can go back and get a new Role to use MM.  When I'm sure my pet will hold aggro.

Yeah I found this to with Marksmean. Great DPS but crappy for solo. I was thinking Marksmen for PvP build and Ranger or one of the melee for PvE solo. Probably back to Marksman for Dungeon and grouping.