Guild Wars 2

You removed them.

To someone with a focus on conditions and not power or critical damage, condition damage accounts for the majority of the damage dealt by the rifle. At just above 1500 average Bleed damage per tick upon achieving a sustained rate, this most certainly outperforms 300 direct physical damage on critical hit (all these numbers, taking level 80 enemies into account).

That’s 83% of the damage dealt by the rifle skill you changed. A 20% increase in the base damage of this skill doesn’t make up for that. This turns the rifle useless to everyone who specializes in conditions.

This also means conditions-but-not-power-oriented people must find a weapon to replace it, as it no longer serves its original purpose. The problem is, it doesn’t exist.

The bow is not a suitable replacement, as it doesn’t fulfill the same role. In terms of condition damage, the bow is a low yield area conditions weapon, not a high yield single target conditions weapon. Need I remind you that the Burning condition does not stack in intensity, that Combustive Shot is only useful against static targets and that the Fan Of Fire burn effect lasts too little time to be worthwhile against a single target, unless the three arrows strike said target at point blank range to maximize duration? The Pin Down skill does not make up for this, as it doesn’t deal sustained condition damage because the cooldown is such that it cannot be stacked. Pinning someone within the Combustive Shot area is not always possible (or desirable) in the case of some enemies -particularly powerful and large targets against which the rifle was effective- and even this “pin down in the fire” combo still does not make up for what the rifle could do.

In short, bow Burning damage skills last too little time, deal too little condition damage against single targets, and are only useful at short range, or against static targets. The bow is a hybrid weapon best used against multiple targets, for creating combos, and in conjunction with control skills. It is not for single targets, unlike the rifle.

The bow fulfills an entirely different role than the rifle did. As a result, Warriors no longer have specialized single-target ranged conditions functionality. The rifle no longer fulfills this role. The bow never fulfilled this role. You have effectively crippled a class.

Why did you not add a new weapon with very low base damage that could deal Bleed through means of its attack chain? Alternatively, why not make a new weapon specifically oriented for direct damage, single target attacks? No one would have lost anything if this had been the case.

do we have to remind you…sword bleed > rifle bleed. Sword also has torment…

For someone specializing in conditions you sure have a funny way of showing it.

Charr Guardian.1497:

You have effectively crippled a class.

A bit over dramatic there, if anything, a small niche “build” got removed. Still, I feel for you since obviously you felt it was fun for you.

It’s fairly obvious the only reason rifle had bleeding on AA was to make use of the bleed orientated traits in the Arms tree (where you find the only rifle orientated trait as well), not because it was meant as a condition weapon, the hallmarks of the rifle are volley and killshot, power based abilities.

That being said, like you suggest, a new ranged weapon (xbow perhaps) could fit the role of a condition based, “precision” weapon for warriors.

Hey, at least you’ll still be able to do that extra 20% damage when someone else with a condition spec attacks your target, since they will contribute to the condition cap and you will both be operating at a severely reduced capacity.

I’ll accept that warriors’ ranged single-target conditions have been nerfed with this. Now, do all the other classes have strong single target/AoE melee/ranged power/crit/condition combinations; combined with the warrior’s innate tankiness and simplicity?

I thought not. The class needed toning down.

With all the warrior changes you can hang up that rifle now. It’s been nerfed into oblivion. Even Kill Shot is a PITA with the crazy adrenaline drain that happens now while not in combat.

GOSU.9574:

With all the warrior changes you can hang up that rifle now. It’s been nerfed into oblivion. Even Kill Shot is a PITA with the crazy adrenaline drain that happens now while not in combat.

True, sadly. I finally gave up on my rifle warrior and have been on my necro ever since.

Removing the bleed and changing the adrenaline made rifle useless. It was made to open with a killshot on unwary targets and to keep the option open on a miss or block. Now, however, I think anyone who enjoyed rifle warrior is now rerolling ranger.

And rangers dont need to stand still for three seconds while praying for the opponent not to have aegis.

Worst nerf since the destruction of 14/14/14/14/14. RIP in Pepperonis m8.

Curious what build you were working with to make condi Rifle a thing.

Personally, I felt a power/condi hybrid build felt quite punishing in early PvE and PvP, primarily to take advantage of team-based buffs like extra might and fury. A pure condi ST rifle sounds like it could apply constant pressure (or at least it did), but that sounds extremely niche, especially for a Warrior.

It’s been a while since I dusted off my Warrior but I have to say, it’s a heck of a lot of fun (the hybrid build) to unleash 15+ stacks of bleeds in an instant or punish those who blow all their cleanses/keep pressure on someone who can cleanse with just straight damage.

I say, just learn to adapt and seek the next variation of a build. Keep suggesting improvements, but no point in being bitter about it.

TexZero.7910:

do we have to remind you…sword bleed > rifle bleed. Sword also has torment…

For someone specializing in conditions you sure have a funny way of showing it.

Do I have to remind you, that the sword is a close quarters weapon and not a RANGED SINGLE TARGET weapon, as I clearly stated in the title?

And yes, I use dual swords too. For close quarters.

Leo G.4501:

I say, just learn to adapt and seek the next variation of a build. Keep suggesting improvements, but no point in being bitter about it.

The bitterness results from the fact that it is not an improvement when you take away something that isn’t wrong. This, along with many other things, could have been easily solved by providing new, extra alternatives instead of performing a major overwrite of something had been in place since beta and remained unaltered thus far, for the sole reason that it worked properly and hence did not require an overwrite.

This development philosophy is wrong. You do not solve one problem by exchanging it for a different problem. You do not increase the quality of a product by overwriting its initial features, with new features that may or may not be desirable for some of the end users, instead of adding features that will please even more users.

This trend is becoming more and more noticeable in many aspects of the game. It almost makes me feel as if ArenaNet changed management.

Wrong forum buddy.

main hand sword is as useless as it can gets tbh.

Charr Guardian.1497:

TexZero.7910:

do we have to remind you…sword bleed > rifle bleed. Sword also has torment…

For someone specializing in conditions you sure have a funny way of showing it.

Do I have to remind you, that the sword is a close quarters weapon and not a RANGED SINGLE TARGET weapon, as I clearly stated in the title?

And yes, I use dual swords too. For close quarters.

Looks at longbow >.>

NinjaEd.3946:

Charr Guardian.1497:

TexZero.7910:

do we have to remind you…sword bleed > rifle bleed. Sword also has torment…

For someone specializing in conditions you sure have a funny way of showing it.

Do I have to remind you, that the sword is a close quarters weapon and not a RANGED SINGLE TARGET weapon, as I clearly stated in the title?

And yes, I use dual swords too. For close quarters.

Looks at longbow >.>

Did you not read my post, and everything I said about the longbow?

Maybe they dont want none but they could remove the extra adrenaline gain and restore the bleed but meh I’m low on expectations at this point.

LB is chosen for CI and support,condition war just happen to benefit more of it then power. Still great for hybrid tough.

Why are you (the players) justifying a game alteration with “Oh, it was just a niche build.” or “There’s other options like the bow, despite being sub-par in comparison for the desired effect.” and even “So what if they got rid of the rifle conditions, that’s what the swords are for” acknowledging the removal, and not putting second thought to the aftereffects. You think that anyone will just pick the “TOP BUILD: COOKIE CUTTER” in the comment sections, and assume everyone wants to be identical? Instead of adding content to fill desired spots, they are robbing Peter to pay Paul. Because its easier to adjust a few stats, than to add a whole new deal. Its lazy. It’s sickening. Even after all the money they’ve carried to the bank from the gem store.

Might be because, you know…. If you were using the rifle for bleeds you probably need to re-roll anyway as that is not its primary or intended function.

if I would get only $1 for every single irrevelant whining post from Warriors on teh forums, then Bill Gates would be my servant.

I didn’t like the change to the warrior’s rifle auto attack.

The bleed in the auto attack had great synergy with the Arms trait line. Invest 5 points and get both crack shot + deep cuts. Bleeds last now 50% longer (more from strength line + consumables + sigils + runes if needed). Attack of opportunity does 10% extra damage for all bleeding targets. Crack shot is really great trait for mere 2 points. I wish they would revert the changes to rifle #1.

They should also reduce the damage multiplier of kill shot by 33% and reduce its activation time by 33% as well. Kill shot can literally one shot enemies, especially in WvWvW zerg setting or even in small scale, assuming either stunning, immobilizing or kill shot from stealth. Ally (thief) can group stealth several killshot warriors and trust me, the enemies go down instantly from very far range. The problem with killshot is it’s very long animation. It is very easy to avoid in 1 vs 1 situations, making the warrior usually just lose his adrenaline. For the previously mentioned reasons the extremely high (3.25x) damage multiplier should not stay the same if the activation time is reduced. I would still rather have a bit weaker kill shot, if I can activate it faster and get a more reliable burst + condition removal.

Now after the September patch every other profession feels much weaker at long range compared to a LB ranger, but I guess that was intentional.

Charr Guardian.1497:

NinjaEd.3946:

Charr Guardian.1497:

TexZero.7910:

do we have to remind you…sword bleed > rifle bleed. Sword also has torment…

For someone specializing in conditions you sure have a funny way of showing it.

Do I have to remind you, that the sword is a close quarters weapon and not a RANGED SINGLE TARGET weapon, as I clearly stated in the title?

And yes, I use dual swords too. For close quarters.

Looks at longbow >.>

Did you not read my post, and everything I said about the longbow?

I did and ignored it because as a warrior you already have the most weapon sets to play around with and dont need more or any revert to rifle. You have a single and aoe ranged condi application, not to mention rifle condi is not a build. If you rely on an aa bleed for your ranged “pressure” on a condi build I greatly question your build’s performance outside of light armor golems in the hotm.

Also why should a class with such strong defenses and already strong melee offense have high ranged pressure anyways? What else does warrior need to be playable?

You’re requesting a bad joke.

TexZero.7910:

Might be because, you know…. If you were using the rifle for bleeds you probably need to re-roll anyway as that is not its primary or intended function.

Actually, it was in the condition tree and apparently meant to work with sword builds. As it stands, it now has no link to the power tree at all and flat out doesn’t work.

As to its “intended” purpose being to deliver killshots or to deal high damage numbers….it never did either very well anyway, which was why nobody used it, especially after the move to ferocity. It was always a gimmick weapon that required very specific spec choices that often made you terrible at everything else.

The bleed removal was a very bad move, as it punished those people who actually made use of the weapon and offered them instead an item that had no synergy with their customary weapon sets or talent lines. It would be like “fixing” greatsword by giving it conditions – just not sensible or what anyone wants.

As an aside, they did choose to “fix” greatsword by giving it changes nobody wanted and a nerf to damage….so the whole attempt at altering warriors was just bad all round.

TexZero.7910:

Might be because, you know…. If you were using the rifle for bleeds you probably need to re-roll anyway as that is not its primary or intended function.

You just showed that you know NOTHING.

….the rifle was one of the best condition weapons in the game, the build was amazing. It worked, and how can you claim otherwise?

…I can only assume that it wasn’t popular because no one posted a vid of it on youtube, but it doesn’t change the fact that the longbow is a sad excuse for a ranged condi weapon.

…and that leaves the warrior without a ranged condition build.

Ezeriel.9574:

TexZero.7910:

Might be because, you know…. If you were using the rifle for bleeds you probably need to re-roll anyway as that is not its primary or intended function.

….the rifle was one of the best condition weapons in the game, the build was amazing. It worked, and how can you claim otherwise?

cuz no one ever ran it lel

Booms.2594:

Ezeriel.9574:

TexZero.7910:

Might be because, you know…. If you were using the rifle for bleeds you probably need to re-roll anyway as that is not its primary or intended function.

….the rifle was one of the best condition weapons in the game, the build was amazing. It worked, and how can you claim otherwise?

cuz no one ever ran it lel

Yeah I would like to see a video of someone playing a condition rifle successfully and well. I am sure if it worked as good as he suggest, that surely there is plenty of footage of it used well, he could link us. Consider my interest piqued.

dancingmonkey.4902:

Booms.2594:

Ezeriel.9574:

TexZero.7910:

Might be because, you know…. If you were using the rifle for bleeds you probably need to re-roll anyway as that is not its primary or intended function.

….the rifle was one of the best condition weapons in the game, the build was amazing. It worked, and how can you claim otherwise?

cuz no one ever ran it lel

Yeah I would like to see a video of someone playing a condition rifle successfully and well. I am sure if it worked as good as he suggest, that surely there is plenty of footage of it used well, he could link us. Consider my interest piqued.

I did see some footage 2 months ago, but the build didn t hit 1500 bleed a tick. Also he started with rifle and when the foe came closer he switched to s/s.

Rifle had the same problems that p/p has on thief. The auto attack was a bleed along with damage bursts. A rifle condi build is essentially only utilizing auto attack, while a power build could only utilize the burst. It’s bad design. Removing the auto attack bleed was the first step to fixing the rifle. From here, tweaks can be made to have proper ranged single target raw damage.

However, the longbow has always been superior in condi builds. Based on damage ticks alone, the burning from fan the fire and combustive shot, along with the bleeding from pin down are more than the rifle AA bleeds. There’s also 3 stacks of might, an immob, superior AOE damage and a much more reliable cleanse through burst. Bleeds can be supplemented through sword for a much better condi spread.