Guild Wars 2

Go!

Looks like a great start on many needed changes! Question: Are the signets actives changing (other than that they affect master and pet)?

http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/c/4743783
Ranger section starts @22:10

Changes:

• Removed Signet of the Beastmaster
• Signets affect pets and rangers by default
• Replacing Signet of the Beastmaster is Predator’s Onslaught: 10% additional damage by ranger (5% for pet) on enemies that suffer from movement-impeding conditions. (Cripple, chill, immobilize.)
• Read the Wind: Attack speed increased by 10%
• Strider’s Defense: Increased the chance to block projectiles to 20% from 15%
• Beastmaster traitline Master traits now affect ALL pets, not just particular pet lines
• Longbow → Long Range Shot: Short range (17% damage increase), mid range (7% damage increase), long range (unchanged)
• Longbow → Rapid Fire: Reduced cast time from 5 sec to 2.5 sec
• Longbow → Barrage: Reduced cast time by 0.5 sec
• Greatsword → Power Stab: 10% damage increase
• Greatsword → Maul: Increase number of targets hit from 3 to 5. Increased range from 150 to 220.
• Greatsword → Swoop: Evades on attack portion of the animation
• Greatsword → Counter attack: cast time reduced
• Greatsword → Hilt bash: Stun/daze duration has been increased from 1 sec to 1.5 sec
• Sick ’em → Increased time on reveal to 6 sec
• Entangle: Decreased CD to 60 sec. Decreased duration from 20 sec to 5 sec.
• Axe → Ricoshae: Might on hit (including bounces) 3sec
• Axe → Path of Scars: Velocity increased by 20%
• Black Bear and Polar Bear: Strikes but can now be blocked or evaded (so it can work with BM Master traits)

Edited first post with notes from the Skill Bar segment

SafiMoyo.5130:

• Axe -> Ricoshae: Might on hit (including bounces) 3sec

ricochet
also, might play axe again, looks interesting :o

Sarrs.4831:

SafiMoyo.5130:

• Axe -> Ricoshae: Might on hit (including bounces) 3sec

ricochet

;( I knew I was going to get that one wrong.

There seemed to be implication that other pets would also be receiving the same treatment that brown/polar bear received.

Overall I found these changes very nice, and some of them unexpected. I didn’t like using axe before, as the auto attack always felt wrong with the weapon. But now, it seems like a perfect change. I think I’ll be packing up my shortbow for this one.

I don’t think the new Beastmaster Master traits have won me over yet, but they’re a start. It’ll be fun theory crafting in the least.

These changes are amazing. I may pull out my Ranger again once these hit.

Great changes. Some major quality of life changes that were very needed.

Looks kitten good tbh.

Greatsword buffs are nice – hands down my favourite ranger weapon. Might have to recreate my ranger to try these things out.

Awesome!

Getting to use those signet actives, and being able to pick any pet for the BM master traits, are nice ranger QoL changes.

Stunned by how much damage got added to the longbow. And so much for forgiving about range, which I like (felt lonesome to stay so far from other players in a fight all the time). Still not the versatility of the shortbow, so they retain different roles.

The new grandmaster trait gives melee rangers a bit more bite.

Signet+shout builds could be nice to try out.

Love the maul change, will be like the guardian sword where you can step back from melee opponents and still hit.

Wonder how my ranger will be able to survive against GC longbow opponents. Signet of Stone perhaps.

Will be nice that SotH doesn’t need to be traited for the juicy extra damage – especially for maul.

Moving Remorseless into Skirmishing would really help synergize these LB changes. Or move Read the Wind to Skirmishing.

Great changes for ranger. Congrats

The dev’s really should rethink that Rapid Fire change. I swear they never test or play with maxed WvW specs. The initial burst from LB is going to too high.

But, I have two LB Ranger’s already soooo…. I guess I should be happy.

DeWolfe.2174:

The dev’s really should rethink that Rapid Fire change. I swear they never test or play with maxed WvW specs. The initial burst from LB is going to too high.

But, I have two LB Ranger’s already soooo…. I guess I should be happy.

Using zephyr along with rapid fire and the new read the wind trait will be huge since you get 10% attack speed from RtW and a rapid fire that will complete in around 1s to be followed by long range shots that complete in under half a second each.

Ladies and gentle men, we asked for power burst, we got power burst.

made me start lvling ranger, in 2 months i should have enuf skillpts to unlock all traits!

DeWolfe.2174:

The dev’s really should rethink that Rapid Fire change. I swear they never test or play with maxed WvW specs. The initial burst from LB is going to too high.

But, I have two LB Ranger’s already soooo…. I guess I should be happy.

1v1, it’s going to hurt. But 10v10, it’s not strong enough. Unless you’re an incredible strategist, single target damage isn’t going to help in large fights.

Now if you bring piercing arrow and sacrifice some range or drop RtW, maybe rangers can find a spot in wvw. But then they won’t be as good 1v1.

I think it works out. (And dear god if that burst is reflected…)

Is that correct though or will QZ function like swiftness where the max attack speed will be 50% not 60%? In short I don’t believe the effects will stack although I could be mistaken.

Im looking forward to a lot of these changes, I do not however think anyone will be using Strider’s Defense though. Would be more interesting along the lines of “Weapon skills that block and evade now reflect projectiles” or “Autoattacks with melee weapons chain against projectiles, initial attack reflects projectiles” (meaning you get guaranteed reflect frames when you first swing but you have to to through a full chain to get to another reflect chance).

If any developer checks these forums and posts, then can I suggest this very simple change:
Increase the maximum number of targets for “Whirling Defense” (Skill #5; Axe Off-Hand) from 3 to 5, and either *slightly" buff the dmg or increase the number of hits.
I have a feeling it could become viable as a PvE-weapon with the next balance patch, but the 3-target limit is ridiculous.
However, if you have intentions of making it viable in PvE/WvW at the same time, just add a little mobility to the skill. Make rangers able to move at a slow speed, just like Whirling Wrath (Guardian GS #3 Skill). Yes, the animation would have to be changed, I suppose.

Oh man! Predator’s onslaught is going compliment our love of ice so nicely! And the signet changes will open up so many more builds withou the requirement to go 30 deep into power… And if you do, you can now pick Longbow skills without loosing SotS!!!

DeWolfe.2174:

The dev’s really should rethink that Rapid Fire change. I swear they never test or play with maxed WvW specs. The initial burst from LB is going to too high.

But, I have two LB Ranger’s already soooo…. I guess I should be happy.

Too high against what? The total damage hasn’t changed and it never hit like a truck against anything other than a thief in full glass.

If anything this will make it respectable, no where near broken.

Condition bunkers and PVT zerglings will still mostly shrug it off like they always have.

wow…..some decent and much needed buffs (to LB and Axe). very cool.

Question about Intimidation Training: Will this be an AoE cripple or will it depend on the pet?

SafiMoyo.5130:

Question about Intimidation Training: Will this be an AoE cripple or will it depend on the pet?

So far its depended on the pet. Canines were always an AoE cripple, but Spiders were single target, and their cripple stacked depending on how many stacks their F2 ability was. The Forest Spider is currently able to get 3 stacks 15-22.5 seconds of cripple (as well as their standard poison) if you take that trait, while the Jungle Spider/Black Widow can only stack 5-7.5 seconds (as well as their standard immobilize).

I’m not sure if that’s going to change, because if it does, the Forest spider will be pretty much useless, as its F2 only applies poison, that most of your weapons can do (and other spiders can do with one of their abilities anyways)

[quote=4238182;Chrispy.5641:]

Holy kitten. These are some amazing changes.

Jesus Christ I am in shock. A-net is balancing very well.

Substance E.4852:

Chrispy.5641:

I’m not sure if that’s going to change, because if it does, the Forest spider will be pretty much useless, as its F2 only applies poison, that most of your weapons can do (and other spiders can do with one of their abilities anyways)

I was under the impression that it already was.

You had an extra quote box in there. Now everyone can see your post!

The extra poison from the F2 is kind of pointless in almost all cases (and should be replaced with something useful), but it didn’t stop me from experimenting with the forest spider in an old build, only because of the extra cripple. I experimented with having the spider attack, then putting it on passive until the enemy was no longer crippled, then had it attack again. I was saving up those cripples and poisons for when the enemy didn’t have those conditions on them.

It had its uses, mainly for freaking WvW players out when they kept getting cripple after cripple (and poison after poison!), no matter how many times they cleared it. Made individual kills rather easy.

I still refrain from creating a ranger until i’ll be able to use Barrage as an autoattack.

I’m actually wondering about Intimidation Training in combination with Juvenile Eagle/Juvenile Hawk. 6s CD, reduced by Commanding Voice to 4.8 secs. Slap Malicious Training onto it and you’ll be laughing- Presuming your bird doesn’t die horribly, of course.

Sounds good, now buff Pig pets and it will be perfect.

Plz.

Xelic.8674:

Sounds good, now buff Pig pets and it will be perfect.

Plz.

pigs are already the cutest pet, they cannot simultaneously be the cutest and the best

Just for clarity, does Read the Wind work with all weapons or just Longbow?

Ezeriel.9574:

Just for clarity, does Read the Wind work with all weapons or just Longbow?

Just longbow

These are some very promising changes. Still no 1h sword autoattack fix though
And Entange was more of a nerf.

I still cant see the place of a ranger in wvw

And being Bearbow is OP once again, i told you guys, i even once beat with an bearbow ranger, a another ranger, guardian and warrior at the same time.

McWolfy.5924:

I still cant see the place of a ranger in wvw

As long ranger got pet there never will be place for ranger in wvw

met.9653:

McWolfy.5924:

I still cant see the place of a ranger in wvw

As long ranger got pet there never will be place for ranger in wvw

As soon as rangers accept that ‘the lone ranger’ approach isn’t realy the way to go in WvW, and they effectively team-up… i am sure that the cries for a nerf to bow-powerrangers will be all over this forum…

Although a large victory for ranger (at last), I still feel like the opening strike mechanic deserves a rework. Like the signet of the beast master, you can’t take the full effect of opening strike without going to the GM trait (in this case, remorseless).

Hopefully they work on this soon as well as more active condition cleansing, but I’m definitely excited for the changes to power ranger.

Trollhammer.7439:

These are some very promising changes. Still no 1h sword autoattack fix though
And Entange was more of a nerf.

No, entangle is one hell of a buff. No one stayed in that entanglement for more than a few seconds, provided it didn’t miss and they weren’t stupid (and if they were stupid, you would’ve killed them anyway).

Now it has A. Better sync with on-use elite runes (such as rune of lyssa)
B. Better sync with survival of the fittest
C. Better general use for snaring/escaping

It’s just a much better skill now.

There wasn’t any mention of this, but will pets be receiving any tune ups? The last major patch was aimed to make them more responsive, but they are still arguably clunky. Maybe allowing them to attack on the move just like players.
Or maybe there’s a pet-system overhaul in the works?

They said that there were other small pet changes beside the bear F2’s, but didn’t show them. Probably because 5 minutes wasn’t enough time.

Chrispy.5641:

They said that there were other small pet changes beside the bear F2’s, but didn’t show them. Probably because 5 minutes wasn’t enough time.

lol anyone want to speculate on whether they are going to bump up the cooldown of Hawk/Eagle F2 to kill the perma cripple builds we’re all salivating over?

I feel like some other changes could be made on traits like predator’s instinct a 1 sec cripple every 3 sec would be much more reliable than a 10 sec cripple every 30 secs.

Good Rangers will absolutely obliterate people with these upcoming changes.

Average Rangers will be pleased that it’s now easier to pew pew things down.

Terrible Rangers will simply kill themselves quicker on the nearest source of reflect

It’s……going to be interesting

some changes will be nerfed anyway.

The Axe AA Might is in 1v1 okay, but probably too strong against mesmers, other rangers or all in all People with adds.
With just 3 Points in NM we are able to stack 25stacks of might in somehow 8s with just AA against more then one foe on our pet. Thats less effort for a big buff. While we can go full tank, our pet will do incredible dmg, even without Points in BM, but for big effort a 00635 trait build with some might runes and in theory any stats we want and we have an easy Job. Our sustain Comes from SoS what we can now use in any build for much more tankiness. Add “Protect me!” and we are almost unkillable.
i think anet should have added might on AA on first bounce with a longer Duration but no might on second or third bounce.

The Glassbow build will be incredible strong. Entangle the foe, RF him with SotW, maybe Barrage to Keep ur distance and AA him to death before he Comes too Close to u. Power Ranger evolves to Burst Ranger.
The most other Players will not handle it well because we are known as the “sustained dmg class”. They will QQ about and anet will Balance it out.

Of course a nice buff, but what it makes too strong is that the Strongest Signets ingame are now usable in General. i think that was a mistake.

Enlargement will be somewhat useful as a trait now I feel as it uses the signet.

SotW → Qz → Gf → #1 spam along with air and fire ( which also get the 25% boost ) will do huge damage but you blow two 60s cooldowns.
All classes have burst potential so I don’t see why rangers should be any different. Worst thing is a single dodge will now evade rapid fire as a while instead of the enemy needing two. Also because of the compounded nature reflecting it will now do huge damage and maybe even kill the ranger if glassy enough. It has counter play so I see it as being fine.