Ranger comment and question.

I didn't play the warrior but I did play the ranger last BWE. And I think I understand your reason for liking the sword combos more. The bow weapons for rangers aren't bad, but they lack some "spirit" (or maybe style). The greatsword and 1H sword on the other hand have plenty of it. The moves look smooth, and they have some of the best animations in the game. Each skill has its place and they don't feel like they overlap too much. Warriors probably have more flashy and better looking bow animations than rangers. The only reason I was sticking to pure bows was because I want to play an archer class, and not some kind of skirmisher.

As for ranger pets. Last BWE their damage output was rather high (maybe too high even); even unspeced my pet would often be the biggest damage contributor. Survivability was a bit more of an issue, but I found that between the heal and the ability to swap pet in emergencies I was fine most of the time. The pet AI is still rather horrible, but after playing a minionmaster having some form of control over my pet was already an insane improvement, so it somehow bothered me less than it should have.

I actually hadn't tried the sword and Greatsword skills.  I think I'll have to give them a try this time.

I really liked the axes.  They weren't for a long range kind of thing, but I did like them over shortbow for a mid range weapon set.  Axe/warhorn is actually what I tended to use mostly, switching between that and long bow.  I'd start with longbow and switch into the axes when they got closer, but I didn't know even a tenth of what I know now, and so this upcoming BWE is really gonna be like my first, in a sense.

I didn't have much of a problem with the pets, but again, I didn't understand the whole "You should be swapping them out" kind of thing.

As a result, I'd say don't tie yourself down to a single set.  At least play all weapons to the point of opening them all up, and get a feel for what they can do that way.

Also, don't be too distracted by your pet dying.  Its gonna happen, I'm thinking, no matter that you actually catch on to the fact that you have to swap them out.  They are gonna die a lot as you learn to use the mechanic of swapping them in and out, triggering their special attack and using the attack and guard options to send them out and pull them back.  Don't get discouraged as they keep dying.  First of all, you are still learning to use an additional set of commands that you probably haven't really used before much.  GW2 has a very micro-managed pet element.  You cant just set it and forget it.  Also, as you gain levels and being to open up attribs and traits and such, your pets actually get more usefull and far less squishy....or so I understand :)

I'd say play to at least level 15.  If by then you still can't stand it, then consider changing, but you really need to get beyond level 11 to start using traits, and at least lvl 15 to be able to start reaping benefits from them.

That's my opinion, at least.

Galen

I had a lot of fun playing the Ranger over the last BWE.

The pet AI is the only thing that lets the class down.  Having it standing next to you when you are clearly engaged in combat is no help, neither is having it run off to fight some mob that you targeted earlier, but had to change due to event/combat priorities changing.  Hooray for my pet bringing some adds to the fight!!

I do agree that there is still a problem with the pet AI, especially in its attack mode, but I will say that I believe the pet was a bit less squishy this time.  

Of course, I was a bit dissapointed in the loss of the Drake Mastery Trait skill, since I like my Drake pets, but oh well.  I'll get used to it.

Galen

I played swapping a couple bears out.  They lived longer than I did, and made spectacular tanks.

For someone who wants to skirmish, it would probably make more sense to use one of the range pets, like that Devourer, or the spiders.  Since they'll be out of the fight, survivability shouldn't be an issue.

Yeah, I tried the bear tank last BWE and liked it quite a bit. That beasty did live longer than I did on a couple of occasions and saved my ass tanking while I was downed. I can say I won a couple of tough fights only because I had my bear pet tanking. Like others have said, though, the AI is an issue. Damn pets can charge off and pull adds like nobody's business.

And is it just me, or did you guys find yourself shooting arrows at mobs you hadn't even targeted this past weekend? I found that really frustrating. Kept having to apologize to the friend I was playing with saying, "I swear I didn't pull that!" And he was all, "Yeah, right." 

So far, I'm feeling the Ranger with a combo of long bow and sword/warhorn. I switch off between the two and it works spectacularly. I was kicking ass and taking names the last BWE. 

The long range adds and such are a bit annoying, but it is part of the playstyle.  You don't have to have targeted an enemy to fire off your skills, and when using bows or axes (mid range weapons) this can mean that if your skills are backordered, if you will, you will kill the guy you had targeted and then the other skills, instead of just closing out, fire off in whatever direction you are facing, making it extremely easy to accidentally pull a mob you didn't even know you were facing.

I tried the bear and he is a massive trooper.  Love to stomp around with him.  I still like the look of my drake pets, though.  What can I say, I like big lizards :)

In addition to that, I find their breath skills are pretty good and, if you use the pet swapping, they can last a good long time.  Not as tough as the bear, but their breath, when it actually fires off, is actually pretty killer.

I didn't get to play much with my devourer, so I can't really talk about how well it is, but I must admit I like the idea of doing combos with your pet.  That is major cool.

Galen