Guild Wars 2

This is the first time I post something like this, but these are my real feelings and I can’t resist more. I will try to be constructive, this is not a rage post.

I think Anet laughs at us. The new ranger trait and especially the context accompanying it (the explanation text of the trait and the recent ranger CDI) disappointed me by new limits.

Ranger: Read the Wind
Ranger: Your arrows are swift and deadly, but in some scenarios they are not as fast as they need to be and your enemies can dodge them easily. With Marksmanship’s new Read the Wind, your longbow arrows will fire at twice their base velocity, allowing for supreme accuracy at long range.

Swift and deadly. Sure? This is just hilarious. I think a lot of rangers feel hurt by this affirmation.
If they were swift… why the new trait? but I agree with that our arrows are deadly… deadly for us! Not a better way to get killed that trying to kill somebody with longbow. It’s poor damage (close fights in many situations and many gap closing skills in all classes), retaliation and projectile reflections skills (new possibilities here for engineers with the new turret reflecting trait, this is a indirect nerf for the ranger) made this weapon a really poor choice.

Longbow has 3 problems
- 1. Slow moving arrows. The new trait show that you are aware of this big issue but the new trait is not going to solve this due the second problem:

- 2. In marksmanship there are too many bow traits and we can’t equip them at the same time. In master and grandmaster we have 5 traits that all ranger should have the possibility to equip:
VII: Spotter (not strictly a bow trait, but with the ranger lack of ways to help party this is a must).
VIII: Piercing arrows.
X: Eagle eye.
XI: Signet of the beastmaster (another big ranger problem here, why we have to use grandmaster traits to use our utility skills?)
XII: Remorseless.
but we only have 2 spaces for them! With the new grandmaster trait this problem is aggravated.
Some of these traits should be baseline or merged.

- 3. Poor bow skills, specially barrage (roots yourself, long cast, poor damage, long cooldown, easy to evade). Too much has been argued in the CDI about longbow skills.

About all this problems was argued in the recent CDI, but what was the first change we get? a trait that ruins the possibility to get a nice way for fixing the #1 longbow problem. This is extremely disappointing.

Also, there is unfair that with the new announced traits other classes get new things but rangers only get a “weapon fix”.

Solution for traits:
- Read the Wind should be baseline, no doubt here.
- Merge Piercing Arrows with Quick Draw. Warriors have exactly this same trait on rifle.
- Merge Opening Strike with Alpha Training. Move Precise Strike to minor master and move Remorseless to minor grandmaster. Opening Strikes traits are too weak, we get no benefit from them without Remorseless.
- Move Spotter to Skirmishing major adept. It grants precision, so has a lot more sense to have it on skirmishing (the precision and critical damage line). This is a great trait to help party, where the ranger is too weak, so have an easy access to this trait will make rangers much more reliable in groups.

Honestly, no one in the CDI suggested “Read The Wind”. I think it was something in the pipeline for Rangers back from 2013 that finally saw the light of day.

Nothing from the CDI can yet be implemented… Development and testing takes time, more than the time window between CDI and patch…

I hope that the Longbow skills get a direct +20% to projectile speed (for all rangers) and then this trait is a multiplier on top of that…

the world is very very terrible. It is only one of the coming 5 GM of the ranger. so enjoy the time until the 15. april and don’t cry about ONE ADDITIONAL trait. everybody cries. the thieves, the guards, the engineers… and u was able to complain/improve/propose at the ranger CDI …

I’m calling it now!

Other four GM traits that Ranger will get is worse than “Read the Wind”

gawker.8340:

I’m calling it now!

Other four GM traits that Ranger will get is worse than “Read the Wind”

I second that.

I’m pretty sure this change was suggested long before the CDI and the possibility of the other 4 GM traits being spectacular does nothing to address how Read The Wind is the exact polar opposite.

Tetsuyja.7805:

the world is very very terrible. It is only one of the coming 5 GM of the ranger. so enjoy the time until the 15. april and don’t cry about ONE ADDITIONAL trait. everybody cries. the thieves, the guards, the engineers… and u was able to complain/improve/propose at the ranger CDI …

This is not simply one additional trait. Is a trait designed to solve a problem. And no doubt it was the worst way to solve the problem.

They should add bonus damage to arrows with this trait

Slow arrows are a problem with the class to begin with, you can avoid any damage done by a longbow ranger just by strafing. Making this trait, not a buff but more of a fix.
Instead of making this a trait, it should be added to all bow skills altogether.

What’s even more scary, is that this is a trait that shows off what “amazing” features are in store for the class’s.

gawker.8340:

Honestly, no one in the CDI suggested “Read The Wind”. I think it was something in the pipeline for Rangers back from 2013 that finally saw the light of day.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Ranger-Power-Ranger-Longbow-Needs-Change/first#post3485787
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Collaborative-Development-Ranger-Profession/page/44#post3729143

It’s something I’ve been talking about for Longbow attacks for a long while now. I never expected it to be a Grandmaster trait, but I also didn’t expect it to be twice as fast. While I’d prefer the arrow speed to be default, this will still be a pretty big buff to longbow rangers in WvW. No longer does the enemy need to stand perfectly still in order for your arrows to land! And if you’re running longbow, it’s not likely you’re using Signet of the Beastmaster, and Remorseless isn’t as useful in PvP as it is in PvE.

What I’m mostly worried about is that this is their first showcase trait. What does that say about the quality/status about the other traits?

The bow playstyle for Ranger just doesn’t work. In PVE bows don’t do enough damage, and in WvW all you need to do to render a bow ranger a free kill is to just get in his face.

gawker.8340:

I’m calling it now!

Other four GM traits that Ranger will get is worse than “Read the Wind”

I’m trying to think of bigger wastes of trait space and I really can’t think of any.

Unless this also makes all our mysterious “missed even though the arrow clearly touched the target 300 units away” and “obstructed” glitches magically go away, this trait will probably see about as much use as our water spirit heal.

Ltomato.8649:

And if you’re running longbow, it’s not likely you’re using Signet of the Beastmaster, and Remorseless isn’t as useful in PvP as it is in PvE.

I’m running Signet of the Beastmaster and a longbow in WvW. It’s quite useful to be able to stand there when the hammer train drops on me and take no damage from that to the point where I’ve given up Eagle Eye for it. I do a lot of defensive play and it, along with Rampage As One, are also quite useful for pushing through a zerg into a tower or keep under attack.

But let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that asking me to choose between Signet of the Beastmaster and Read the Wind is a fair choice to force me to make (choose signet or bow). The problem is that there are already 2 bow-related traits I’m not taking in the Marksmanship line (Eagle Eye and Spotter) because Piercing Arrows essentially gives me an AoE on closely packed opponents.

So Signet of the Beastmaster aside, this trait gives a bow ranger four very good choices for WvW (Eagle Eye, Piercing Arrows, Spotter, and now Read the Wind — though there may be others), of which they can only pick two. It would be nice if they combined piercing arrows with Quick Draw or some other trait (like they do for Warriors) and moved Spotter down to the Adept level or something like that, so someone wanting to fully trait for bow can actually get all of those traits.

roamzero.9486:

The bow playstyle for Ranger just doesn’t work. In PVE bows don’t do enough damage, and in WvW all you need to do to render a bow ranger a free kill is to just get in his face.

While I wouldn’t say they were great for dungeons (it doesn’t help that pets don’t do well against bosses spamming AoEs), I’ve done quite well as a Ranger in PvE. For the most part, one can keep NPCs at a distance. That doesn’t work with other players who are, as you put it, quickly in your face. Even standing on a cliff or wall is of limited use because to avoid being obstructed, you generally have to stand where you can be pulled down.

gawker.8340:

I’m calling it now!

Other four GM traits that Ranger will get is worse than “Read the Wind”

All is vain

We should just get “read the wind” as a buff for longbows that we don’t even have to trait for, instead of this “Trait this for your longbow so it can actually land hits in WvW”.

WatchTheShow.7203:

We should just get “read the wind” as a buff for longbows that we don’t even have to trait for, instead of this “Trait this for your longbow so it can actually land hits in WvW”.

There’s no way the trait is GM tier. I’d honestly consider the trait as an adept over signet cooldown reduction. It’s really not good enough to be anything but a minor adept trait though to be honest.

Well, they shuffle traits more often then they add them, so at least it’s “on the board” now.