Ranger

[Centaur]

According to Eric Flannum we have some things to look forward to:

Ranger info is coming soon. And we have seen your frustration about lack of info and will be trying to do something about it. Note: this doesn't mean we are announcing beta or the final profession this week, but we will be trying to keep you updated more frequently.

[Salx55]

Any info is good info!

[Elevate]

Wow...I just read all about the mesmer....i'm thinking i may not play a ranger afterall. At least now i can finally choose a profession for sure, now that all eight are known.

[Elevate]

However, thinking of rangers, i've been meaning to vent. i'd want to have the ability to tell my pet to stay, or go to a specific location and stay, and then have aggro be a behavior selection so that my brave pet could guard an area for me while i do other things. i don't think we can do this based on that last update a while back about the re-worked ranger pets.

[Centaur]

No, I don't think pets can be completely controlled... like you could heroes in GW1. And I believe that's intentional.

[Scarsdale Punk]

I know a lot of people are unhappy about not being able to control their pets. Who wants to rely on AI? But I rather prefer it this way. I'm one of those guys that would rather not have a pet at all. But since I'm compelled to use one I'd rather not have to micromanage it. I've gotta concentrate on running circles around the bad guys!

[Centaur]

Well, they have already made some changes to the pet system. See this thread for more details...

[Scarsdale Punk]

Yeah, that was kind of my point. There's no need to micromanage your pet. We get a few basic commands and a couple of attacks. The depth of the mechanic comes in the variety of pets you choose to slot and how you switch them during combat.

[jodiaz]

I think they should put a feature so u can choose whether to micro your pet or run it on "auto-pilot". I can think on many situations where one may not have time to control your pet and need to focus on your alt (being outnumbered), and other situations where microing your pet may be crucial (using your pet same way tank runs around to get aggro).

[Ruse]

Jodiaz, that's already pretty much how it works now. From the wiki:

The ranger has access to an interface which provides basic information and management of companion selection. Companion control during play is governed by the use of the function keys:

• F1 commands the active pet to attack the current target.
• F2 activates the species-specific skill of the active pet.
• F3 determines the current behavior of the pet.
  
  Active — Attack what I am attacking.
  Passive — Don't attack.
• F4 calls the alternate animal companion to become the active pet.

You might also be interested in the pet section on this official blog post.