Guild Wars 2

What a great idea to remove something partly unique to the ranger (spirits) and add it to the most controversial thing the ranger has (pet).

Specific Game Mode
PvX

Proposal Overview
Axe skills need redesign

Goal of Proposal
Make dual axes more useful.

Proposal Functionality

Skill 1: Ricochet- No changes.
Skill 2: Splitblade- Will now cripple or chill.
Skill 3: Savage strike- Ranger leaps forward to remove a boon. Savage retreat- Ranger moves backwards and inflict weakness. This is the opposite of Mainhand sword.
Skill 4: no change
Skill 5: Move while channeling.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Beastmastery & Pets:

1. Pets need stat scaling.
   1. Stats could scale based on the Ranger’s stats and the pet’s family, with a weight on specific stats based on the individual pet
   2. Beastmastery should improve the pet stat scaling.
2. Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics.
   1. Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target.
3. Pets can’t keep up in combat.
   1. Melee range should be increased to 600 to accommodate the “run>stop>begin attack>cancel attack>run>stop” type mechanics you see throughout the game.
   2. Increase pet movement speed by 10-15%. Replace Agility Training with Vigorous training
   3. Pets have a hard time sticking to their target because they can’t attack and move at the same time. Increasing their speed could help increase their damage by just allowing them to keep up with their target.
   4. Allow pets to attack while moving.
4. General QoL changes.
   1. When the pet is stowed, the Ranger should gain “aspect of the <pet name>” effect which provides unique buffs based on the pet family and specific pet.
5. BM trait changes
   1. Signets should always affect the Ranger and require a beastmastery trait to also affect the pet.
   2. Use new UI symbols for each pet type and combine Rending Attacks, Stability Training and Intimidation training into one trait.
      1. With these traits the way they are, it discourages mixing pets and hurts build diversity.
   3. New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).
      1. Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons
      2. Gives Rangers a good option for mobile condi removal.
   4. New trait: Grand Master: Camaraderie: When you swap pets, the inactive pet gains the same boons as the active pet (boon values are capped).
      1. Counterplay – if you swap when your pet is dead, there are no boons to copy.

First of all, i think the issue with pets dying to aoe could be fixed very simple. If the pets dodged with the ranger the ranger would be able to avoid damage. Either this should be done simultaneous or the pet could have a seperate command. Or perhaps this could be done through a mastery.

The second think. For buffing the pet swap i think it would also require some counterplay in terms of interupting the swap, ie. if the pet has to run back to the ranger before it is swapped out, or if you cannot swap while stunned/dazed. Otherwise i think this would quickly become too strong as a player with good reactions would barely ever lose his pet.

[Part1/2] sorry for this long post but it needs to be done.

Hey everyone,

I’ve tried to summarize most of the feedback we’ve been getting. Most of this are the big points that are being made and the high level with a few smaller suggestions and tweaks for inspiration.

Now, many of you might disagree with some of the feedback that others have been giving, but if you guys are going to take the time to write it, we’re going to take the time to read it.

These are some of the notes that I’ve been passing around to the balance team. Please know that this is not all of the feedback we’ve seen from you or from this thread.
….

Thats a huge list, that addresses the main issues, but I think some of the numbers are to big.

PvX:
General

1. Spirit changes sounds good to me, but if you keep the spirit effects, you should look at sun spirit and change the on hit to on crit. Else this is perma burning with only 1 damage stat.
2. Heals are fine more or less, the only heal that is really bad is heal as one, this should (as some said before) revive the downed pet.

Beastmastery & Pets:

1. Stat scaling is a good point, the final numbers would be very interesting, also that beastmastery increase the scaling sounds good.
2. AoE damage reduction is also good for WvW and dungeons
3. Pet range is a thing that really scares me, 600 melee range is way too much, moa morph give the pet 230 (if tooltip is correct) and this helps the pets alot, so 300 range should be max.
4. I’m not a friend of perma stow, but if the pet is stowed, the bonus should be less than the 30% damage increase of the pet, the ranger is still a pet class and should be the strongest build with pet.
5. BM trait changes
   1. I think that signets should allways effect both, the ranger and his pet, but a grandmaster trait in BM should increase their effectiveness.
   2. Some condi removes are good on the ranger, he has really few. Most of them just push them on his pet, and to be honest, letting your pet die as BM isnt the right way to deal with conditions.
   3. Camaraderie sound great, for a Grandmaster trait.
   4. what I miss in here, are changes to masters bond (II). The stacks should only get lost if the pet dies or gets perma stowed. Because right now, you get punished for swapping your pet before it dies.

weapons:

1. Longbow: I dont like the hard CC effect you are going here, an AoE soft CC weapon would fit better I think.
2. Shortbow: I dont think burning is needed here, if torment, then cripple needs to go. Confusion only on s5 if interrupted, would be ok.
3. Sword: S2 the jump doesnt need to be reversed, the strength of the sword was, that you cant get away from it in melee range, but kiting was its weakspot. With this change, the sword would become a melee weapon you cant get away from. Only S1 dodge problem should be fixed.
4. Warhorn: S4 please dont. The ranger doesnt need to do everything, with one single weapon. I would love to see a blind effect or confusion added to the skill. This would make a lot more sense.
5. Torch: S4 sounds legit. S5 is a combo field, that synergieses well with other weapons, it doesnt need a blind maybe a slightly bigger radius.
6. Axe: I dont think, that the axe (mainhand) should be a power weapon, with bleed on S2 and chill on S3, it would be a great melee/shortrange condi weapon, which the ranger has no access to. Reduce damage of S1 and add a bleed would be the better solution.

Skirmishing:

1. remove traps: thank you, finaly.
   1. Dont swap the stats, move them to wilderness survival, maybe spike trap on revive to nature magic.

[Part 2/2]
PvE
Beastmastery&Pets

1. should be fixed with AoE damage reduction
2. Companionship: Why PvE only? Please dont split traits/skills too much.
3. IV: 30 health really? thats weaker than necromancers vampiric traits and they suck.

General:

1. Group utility: Dont overdo it. With all those changes above (spirit changes, and more damage,…) should be the first step to go and if thats not enough, you can still add something, but dont make rangers godlike, especially if you rebalance it only after 3 month.
2. Shouts: Those shouts are called spirits right now, with the aura change, they should be more viable then.

Marksmanship:

1. III Will anyone notice this 1% or did you miss a zero here? 7-10% crit damage increase would be more realistic.
2. IV merge it with the effect of beastmaster’s might
3. VII spotter is fine, the 600 range on it is the problem, while using a bow.
4. Hunter’s Tactics: isnt needed, and really 3%? hope you will nerf other classes too then.
5. IX 1% isnt enough, because it only effects the pet, 5% if only the pet or 2% for ranger and pet.
6. X makes no sense at all, short bow is a condition weapon, damage increase doesnt effect it, but range would be fine. btw, why the range nerf to 200?
7. XII why? This is a big NERF! you gain 5 stacks out of opening strike and it can be reseted by killing enemies or stealth. And now an ICD? please dont.

Skirmishing

1. I dont think so, its not CC traitline, its a damage traitline. For movement we have wilderness survival, CC should be put into the defensive traitlines with the traps and so on.

PVP

1. As said above, Mainhand condition weapon would make it more viable than another low range power weapon.
2. Pet should be fixed with the stat scaling.

My Final thoughts:

• With the pet scaling, the pets should apply their own conditions, right now, the conditions they apply use the condi dmg of their master. Making stat boosts for the pets useless, when it comes to conditions or boons. Power, vita and toughness seems to work.
• And please dont split the skills between gamemodes, there is a problem with stats 30% more offensive stats in WvW, defensive ones stays the same (+food). This should be addressed before splitting skills
• ever thought about introducing a rifle as ranged single target weapon? this could fix alot of problem with current Longbow design.

New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).

Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons
Gives Rangers a good option for mobile condi removal.

Why does ranger design and suggestions always treat the pet like a secondary factor even when it’s a suggestion for a trait specifically dealing with said mechanic?

The pet swap mechanic should be about accessing and interacting with your pets. For the pet mechanic to have meaning, it has to be designed so that the ranger is engaging with what the pet does not what the swap does.

I was sad when quickness was removed from pet swap because it was quite powerful and the BM line became completely unappealing for me. Part of me was happy because I hated that the game encouraged me to swap pets for reasons completely unrelated to the pet. If I am going to use a pet swap, why should it be for a reason other than my intention to interact with and utilise the pet?

Removing conditions on pet swap is going to lead to rangers caring less about what the pet does and more about having an on demand condition removal. You might argue it’s an interesting choice – help yourself or potentially swap to a less useful pet but I would argue that it actively designs against the class mechanic, it uses a pet mechanic for a reason that has nothing to do with the pet and the drawback of that design is that the pet might be less desirable than the one you previously had in the fight.

Scenario: I’m pressuring the engineer on home but I’m taking too many conditions. I am using my jaguar for DPS but I have a wolf on swap for its F2 skill. I swap to the wolf so that I can cleanse some conditions and buy myself more time, but now I don’t have jaguar DPS (the wolf also has to get back into range). I don’t need my wolf’s knockdown now (he uses it anyway) and I don’t need his howl. If I get downed or want the fear on swap later on, I can’t access it because I wasted the swap to cleanse a condition.

A trait like this actively designs against the pet as a mechanic (and cynicaly views pet swap as a generic resource and not as it’s true purpose – a pet mechanic). It hinders pet performance by getting you to make pet resource choices for non-pet gameplay. This will just exasperate pet issues and hinder design which tries to best focus on how to utilise the pet and not exploit mechanics tied to the pet for non-pet reasons.

Specific Game Mode

PvX

Proposal Overview

Preparations!

GW1 preparations: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Preparations

Adapt them to GW2 style, a few examples:

Read the Wind: Preparation. (10 seconds). +X damage. Your projectiles move twice as fast.

Apply Poison: Preparation. (10 seconds.) Your next X physical attacks inflict Poisoned condition.

Kindle Projectile: Preparation. (10 seconds.) Your next X projectile attacks inflict burning.

Ignite Projectile: Preparation. (10 seconds.) Your arrows deal +x damage to target and foes adjacent to target. Blast finisher.

Troll Unguent: Change to preparation. Add: Your next X attacks remove 1 condition.

You can only use one preparation at same time (no stacking problem).

Add a new grandmaster trait to survival:

Trait XIII: When you use a preparation skill, you apply the effects to all nearby allies as well.

Goal of Proposal

Improve power builds (Kindle Projectile), and condition builds(Apply Poison) without using pasive skills (spirits).

Improve party support sharing preparations like Troll Unguent

Ltomato.8649:

Specific Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
Potential Longbow Skill Changes (non-overhaul)

Goal of Proposal
Many players feel that the Longbow is an underwhelming weapon. I am offering some non-overhaul skill tweaks, since I (as someone who has put waaaay too much time into longbow ranger) believe that the basic design mechanics of the longbow are sound, unique, and engaging.

Proposal Functionality
s1- Long Range Shot: Increase projectile speed to allow more reliable hits against enemies, as this is a targeted skill and very easy to walk out of the way of at > 1200 range. Doesn’t need to be undodge-able, just more reliable.
: Alternatively- Decrease channel time. The skill would feel more reactive and less “clunky”.

s2- Rapid Fire: Decrease channel time by 1 second while maintaining the damage output. This would make the skill a bit more of a burst of damage, as well as maintaining a higher concentration of vulnerability. (Low cooldown and still comparatively long channel time to damage still allows this to be considered “sustained damage”)

s3-Hunter’s Shot: In addition to current functionality, add 1/2 second of evade on use. This would give the skill more of a use of an escape, providing a better feeling of reactionary dodging.
: Alternatively- In addition to current functionality, add Apply Revealed on target on hit. This would allow Rangers to effectively counter stealth.

s4- Point Blank Shot: Unblockable/Unreflectable. Makes this skill more of a failsafe, and actually effective against enemies that are looming in upon the ranger that may be reflecting projectiles or have some sort of block. Cooldown could be increased to 15 seconds to counteract a very powerful skill.
:Alternatively- Increase base range to 1200. Makes a little less sense since it’s no longer “point-blank”, but maintains the range as other longbow attacks, making it less clunky to use.

s5- Barrage: Buff into more of a projectile storm than an AoE, ala Ice Bow’s skill 4. This would increase damage and enemies affected, which seems fitting for its long cooldown and rooted channel.
:Alternatively- Allow movement while channeling. Evens out the risk/reward balance for using the skill.
:Alternatively- Immobilizes enemies hit by the first barrage or entering the AoE for 1 second. Makes the skill more useful even if the entire channel isn’t launched.

Associated Risks
The skill additions I’m suggesting are very strong. The Longbow is currently still underestimated, and too much tweaking could easily push it over the edge. Just two or three of these suggested skill additions would improve longbow ranger quality of life greatly.

All of them might be a bit much, but very, very fun.

These would also impact PvP and WvW, especially s3 alternative and my suggestions for s5.

I like this guy. Most of these Rangers posts under the impression that the class is just pure useless when they post in CDI. Been reading your post, good stuff. Though LB 4 CD increased to compensate I dont agree on, this is our only gap increaser in game. If LB auto is changed sure. Was thinking ANet should lower CD from this skill actually. I love point blank, using this after your auto animation is just too good plus the the knock back. I do agree this should be on a 1200 range though. Good stuff

How I imagine Ranger’s after this CDI is implemented !http://0-gate.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/super-buff-dude-1024x575.png!

Vamp Rook.7835:

Specific Game Mode

PvX

Proposal Overview

Preparations!

GW1 preparations: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Preparations

Adapt them to GW2 style, a few examples:

Read the Wind: Preparation. (10 seconds). +X damage. Your projectiles move twice as fast.

Apply Poison: Preparation. (10 seconds.) Your next X physical attacks inflict Poisoned condition.

Kindle Projectile: Preparation. (10 seconds.) Your next X projectile attacks inflict burning.

Ignite Projectile: Preparation. (10 seconds.) Your arrows deal +x damage to target and foes adjacent to target. Blast finisher.

Troll Unguent: Change to preparation. Add: Your next X attacks remove 1 condition.

You can only use one preparation at same time (no stacking problem).

Add a new grandmaster trait to survival:

Trait XIII: When you use a preparation skill, you apply the effects to all nearby allies as well.

Goal of Proposal

Improve power builds (Kindle Projectile), and condition builds(Apply Poison) without using pasive skills (spirits).

Improve party support sharing preparations like Troll Unguent

Lol. Thought youre going to revised Wilderness Survival trait with your post, been wanting for someone to look into that trait if Traps do move. Preperations are always a good choice heheh. good stuff

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

Serbaayuu.3051:

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. General QoL changes.
   1. When the pet is stowed, the Ranger should gain “aspect of the <pet name>” effect which provides unique buffs based on the pet family and specific pet.

Please don’t do this. When I make my build and play the game, I want to select a pet and work alongside it to succeed. I don’t want to select a static buff that’s just going to sit there.

And no, it will not be “optional”. I foresee a future where rangers who use pets instead of the Aspect Of the _ will get auto-kicked from most elitist parties.

Despite this isn’t the perfect way to go in my opinion too, there are some things to keep in mind.

1. If this aspect will be better or worse than the pet depends on the balancing
2. We get kicked out of elitist parties anyways

Your absolutely right on #2 we get kicked anyway, however saying that I think we would get into more groups if we actually managed to be able to be on par with other classes dps, sustained or not. I just wanna play with the cool kids but cause I’m a ranger im not allowed too.

Shiren.9532:

New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).

Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons
Gives Rangers a good option for mobile condi removal.

Why does ranger design and suggestions always treat the pet like a secondary factor even when it’s a suggestion for a trait specifically dealing with said mechanic?

The pet swap mechanic should be about accessing and interacting with your pets. For the pet mechanic to have meaning, it has to be designed so that the ranger is engaging with what the pet does not what the swap does.

I was sad when quickness was removed from pet swap because it was quite powerful and the BM line became completely unappealing for me. Part of me was happy because I hated that the game encouraged me to swap pets for reasons completely unrelated to the pet. If I am going to use a pet swap, why should it be for a reason other than my intention to interact with and utilise the pet?

Removing conditions on pet swap is going to lead to rangers caring less about what the pet does and more about having an on demand condition removal. You might argue it’s an interesting choice – help yourself or potentially swap to a less useful pet but I would argue that it actively designs against the class mechanic, it uses a pet mechanic for a reason that has nothing to do with the pet and the drawback of that design is that the pet might be less desirable than the one you previously had in the fight.

Scenario: I’m pressuring the engineer on home but I’m taking too many conditions. I am using my jaguar for DPS but I have a wolf on swap for its F2 skill. I swap to the wolf so that I can cleanse some conditions and buy myself more time, but now I don’t have jaguar DPS (the wolf also has to get back into range). I don’t need my wolf’s knockdown now (he uses it anyway) and I don’t need his howl. If I get downed or want the fear on swap later on, I can’t access it because I wasted the swap to cleanse a condition.

A trait like this actively designs against the pet as a mechanic (and cynicaly views pet swap as a generic resource and not as it’s true purpose – a pet mechanic). It hinders pet performance by getting you to make pet resource choices for non-pet gameplay. This will just exasperate pet issues and hinder design which tries to best focus on how to utilise the pet and not exploit mechanics tied to the pet for non-pet reasons.

Basically ^^^ cleanse on pet swap looks is nice but think about your damage having your pet out i believe in battle is more important. This gameplay would make pets more desirable to dismiss.

There’s a lot of changes in that list Allie came up with, that are frankly oped..

Shortbow for example with Burning/Confusion/Torment..

Just no..

No…

Allie Murdock.8152:

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

Akisame.9508:

Thank you for the summary post, however, I did not see anything in there pertaining to WvWvW. We still have the problem of them dieing way to fast in zerg vs zerg. And we also have the large issue of us loosing 30% of our damage when defending or taking a keep/fort because pet’s will not scale up or down the walls. This includes the birds which will not fly up or down the wall to attack the targets. The only way I can see to combat this would be to have pets like all over class mechanics, an addition to our damage, not taking away from our damage. For instance, warriors get to do 100% of their damage and if they have full adrenaline they do an extra 15% damage. Ranger should be set up the same way with pets. Ranger’s should have 100% control of their damage and the pet, while alive, should be able to deal an extra 15% damage. If the pet is dead then it deals no extra damage like warriors with no adrenaline will deal no extra damage. We will still have the problem of the pets not being able to hit a moving target but at least the ranger will no longer have this handicap on them.

+1 #15characters

That’s because most of the suggestions I saw regarding WvW were either labeled PvX or WvW/PvE so I just put it under PvX.

Pls, do something with LB.

Proposal :

• Let us see what damage pet does

Goal of proposal :

• Let the Rangers have a better idea of their pet’s contribution to a fight.

Functionality

• Add the pet’s damage in the combat log, in the same format as “you dealt X damage to abc”, so “[name of pet] dealt X damage to abc”

Risk:

• Some may find it clutter the combat log
• Other?

I think such a change would allow rangers to get a better feel of the pet being part of their class.

On a side note, is there a reason for alterations not showing in the log?
My opponent apparently sees them in their log (one told me I didn’t apply much conditions with my condi build), but I don’t?

Terravos.4059:

There’s a lot of changes in that list Allie came up with, that are frankly oped..

Shortbow for example with Burning/Confusion/Torment..

Just no..

No…

I think its a list of stuff to discuss for Anet, not a list of changes that are coming.

afoot.6932:

Suggested changes sound great, except for the removal of spirits. Spirits add a lot of roleplaying flavor to rangers. Removing spirits would take the profession from having nature based cantrips to having no spellcasting ability whatsoever. I’d hate to see that roleplaying affordance be removed, as it’s one that I find particularly attractive about the ranger class.

A previous poster suggested making spirits non-targetable, which sounds much more promising to me. Instead of having their own life bars, let the ranger’s health determine when the spirit dies. So when the ranger’s health drops below a certain threshold, the spirit dies, or perhaps automatically triggers its AoE activated skill. For example, if a ranger casts Sun Spirit, you’d still get the spirit following you around, but it’s not targetable. Instead, the spirit dies when you get the ranger below, say, 50% health, at which point solar flare automatically activates and blinds nearby foes. Since spirits are tied to the vitality trait line, this change makes even more sense.

Furthermore, in PvP or WvW, changing spirits to behave this way would be better than removing spirits and putting the buff on pets, since the spirit following a ranger around is a much better visual indicator that a spirit buff is in play.

Reelix.6319:

Ranger main here (1k+ hours on my Ranger)
> Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes.
Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do.

Simply making them non-targetable would have the same effect…

> Give them something similar to shouts.

… Spirits?

Shadowbane.7109:

What a great idea to remove something partly unique to the ranger (spirits) and add it to the most controversial thing the ranger has (pet).

Reelix and Shadowbane further emphasize why keeping spirits as non-targetable but visible entities linked to the player’s health would be a good idea.

AEFA.9035:

Ltomato.8649:

Specific Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
Potential Longbow Skill Changes (non-overhaul)

Goal of Proposal
Many players feel that the Longbow is an underwhelming weapon. I am offering some non-overhaul skill tweaks, since I (as someone who has put waaaay too much time into longbow ranger) believe that the basic design mechanics of the longbow are sound, unique, and engaging.

Proposal Functionality
s1- Long Range Shot: Increase projectile speed to allow more reliable hits against enemies, as this is a targeted skill and very easy to walk out of the way of at > 1200 range. Doesn’t need to be undodge-able, just more reliable.
: Alternatively- Decrease channel time. The skill would feel more reactive and less “clunky”.

s2- Rapid Fire: Decrease channel time by 1 second while maintaining the damage output. This would make the skill a bit more of a burst of damage, as well as maintaining a higher concentration of vulnerability. (Low cooldown and still comparatively long channel time to damage still allows this to be considered “sustained damage”)

s3-Hunter’s Shot: In addition to current functionality, add 1/2 second of evade on use. This would give the skill more of a use of an escape, providing a better feeling of reactionary dodging.
: Alternatively- In addition to current functionality, add Apply Revealed on target on hit. This would allow Rangers to effectively counter stealth.

s4- Point Blank Shot: Unblockable/Unreflectable. Makes this skill more of a failsafe, and actually effective against enemies that are looming in upon the ranger that may be reflecting projectiles or have some sort of block. Cooldown could be increased to 15 seconds to counteract a very powerful skill.
:Alternatively- Increase base range to 1200. Makes a little less sense since it’s no longer “point-blank”, but maintains the range as other longbow attacks, making it less clunky to use.

s5- Barrage: Buff into more of a projectile storm than an AoE, ala Ice Bow’s skill 4. This would increase damage and enemies affected, which seems fitting for its long cooldown and rooted channel.
:Alternatively- Allow movement while channeling. Evens out the risk/reward balance for using the skill.
:Alternatively- Immobilizes enemies hit by the first barrage or entering the AoE for 1 second. Makes the skill more useful even if the entire channel isn’t launched.

Associated Risks
The skill additions I’m suggesting are very strong. The Longbow is currently still underestimated, and too much tweaking could easily push it over the edge. Just two or three of these suggested skill additions would improve longbow ranger quality of life greatly.

All of them might be a bit much, but very, very fun.

These would also impact PvP and WvW, especially s3 alternative and my suggestions for s5.

I like this guy. Most of these Rangers posts under the impression that the class is just pure useless when they post in CDI. Been reading your post, good stuff. Though LB 4 CD increased to compensate I dont agree on, this is our only gap increaser in game. If LB auto is changed sure. Was thinking ANet should lower CD from this skill actually. I love point blank, using this after your auto animation is just too good plus the the knock back. I do agree this should be on a 1200 range though. Good stuff

I like this guy too.

Ltomato’s proposed changes are far simpler and direct than most of the “re-invent the wheel” suggestions regarding LB. And btw, to me, the whole, “more damage the farther you are concept” is IMO nuts.

LB 1 does not need (or should have) an added CC component, but rather, and as suggested, a slightly faster reliable-consistent-and flat damage component. Also, the much maligned LB 2 is actually near perfect – it does not need to be re-invented, the problem is the channel time and CD. I also like Ltomato’s LB 3 alternate suggestion of, “In addition to current functionality, add Apply Revealed on target on hit.” The only suggestion I did not like was LB5 – personally I would love to see it have a 3-sec retaliation added so it becomes the ranged version of Axe 5.

Great suggestions Ltomato, +1

Hi Allie!

Thanks for summing up what you have been discussing internally.

Allie Murdock.8152:

PvX
General:

1. Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes.
   1. Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do.

I personally like the idea since it would make it more important to actually kill the pet instead of completely ignoring it. However, I do see two issues. First, how would you visualize a pet having several spirits active? It might actually be necessary to limit the pet to one active spirit because otherwise it would be impossible to predict what is going on. Second, linking Spirits to the pet will be very bad for Rangers who want to play as Archers since they are most likely not affected by the Spirits when the pet is too far away.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Beastmastery & Pets:

1. Pets need stat scaling.

I personally would appretiate that.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics.
   1. Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target.

I myself made a suggestion for limiting damage on pets. However, I am against one thing. Immunity to one shot mechanics should only apply to PvE. If, for example, a Warrior decides to kill off the pet with Kill Shot he should be able to. I’m also not sure if it reasonable to include cleave attacks for a damage reduction.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. Melee range should be increased to 600 to accommodate the “run>stop>begin attack>cancel attack>run>stop” type mechanics you see throughout the game.
2. Increase pet movement speed by 10-15%. Replace Agility Training with Vigorous training

600 range could be too much but I agree in general.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Weapons:

1. Ranger weapon sets are currently lacking in focus and should be redesigned so that weapon selection synergizes with specific playstyles.
   1. Longbow: Reward max range and synergize with pet.
      1. Vulnerability instead of damage increase with range (s1), cripple (s2), immobilize (s3), knockdown (s5)

So this would make the LB a single target CC weapon or is the knockdown supposed to happen when using Barrage? I feel a bit uneasy when considering the range the LB has. One additional CC (Cripple/Immobilize) could be enough to make a difference. Two additional CCs might be too much for every scenario besides zerging.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. Shortbow: Condition Damage
   1. Burning (s3), Torment (s4), s3 should be s5 w/ leapback + confusion

I personally feel that this would be way too many different conditions on one weapon. I can see #4 applying Torment instead of Bleed but everything else feels a bit too much. I also would be disappointed if #5 would no longer Daze. Daze + Confusion on the other hand does not make any sense.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. Sword: Power
   1. Dodge overrides animation (s1), s2 jumps reversed (first goes in, second goes out), s3 cast time reduced to better time evades

I personally enjoy jumping out and then back in on #2. Reversing the jumps will make it a lot easier to abuse #2 for disenganging (e.g. creating a gap) and I don’t feel that this is what this skill is supposed to do. #3 could indeed need a shorter cast time.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. Warhorn: Group/Pet buffs
   1. s4 gives Protection, Regen and Vigor to nearby allies

I personally would not like that due to two reasons. First, it would basically be a better version of Hold the Line (Guardians) with a shorter cooldown plus Vigor. That just feels inappropriate. Second, I’d rather see Shouts being reworked to grant more group/boon support rather than overloading one single offhand weapon with it.

Something I would prefer:
WH#4 remains the same but also grants Fury to nearby allies.
WH#5 now grants Vigor instead of Fury to nearby allies.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. Torch: Condition application
   1. S4 sets location of target on fire (small aoe), s5 causes burning and blindness

T#4 can indeed need some improvements but I doubt that another fire aoe will make it more desirable. I also feel extremly uneasy when thinking about yet another evasive class having a blinding aoe.

Something I would prefer:
T#4: Blind, burn and weaken one single target.
T#5: Remove 1-2 conditions on impact or remove 1-2 enemy boons on impact.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Skirmishing:

1. Remove traps from this line.
   1. They simply do not make sense here, because they are largely condition based but skirmishing is the crit line. That, or swap the stats of the skirmishing line altogether.
2. Improve traps in terms of utility, damage and group oriented play.
   1. Give Rangers the option to fire off traps manually.

I personally do not like the idea of firing Traps manually. While it would be nice, for example, when stacking might, it feels more appropriate for an Engineer than for an Ranger to trigger a Trap this way.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Wilderness:

1. Wilderness experts should be the masters of poisons. Therefore, Rangers should have the most potent poisons available.
   1. Rangers should be given some trait options to improve poison in various ways (extended duration, improved healing suppression, higher damage values, bonuses against poisoned foes, etc.).

I personally would like a bonus against poisened foes. But that is where it ends. I just see the Thief to be a more appropriate class to have improved Poisons while the Ranger feels more like a class who is more resistant to Poison.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. VII. Spotter – Should be moved to Skirmishing as Gradmaster minor.

It might fit into Skirmishing statwise but moving it there would take away a support option for Archers or power Rangers. I’d rather see it being a Marksmanship GM Minor (remove Alpha Training, making it innate, move Precise Strikes down to the Master Minor).

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. X. Eagle Eye – Include shortbow. Provides 200 range and +5% damage on longbow and harpoon gun. (no range bonus for shortbow)

I’m a bit confused by this and how it is meant. Include Shortbow for the additional damage? Probably won’t make a difference. I’d rather see the damage bonus being removed and the Shortbow being included for the addtional range.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. XII. Remorseless – Next attack applies 3 stacks of vulnerability for 6s. 16 sec cooldown

Extremly underhwelming for a GM Major and as people pointed out probably not even an improvement to its current state.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Skirmishing:

1. Should focus on weapon swapping, stuns, dazes and mobility in combat.

Yes please! At least one more trait on the Master level which emphasizes interrupts would be great. I personally really enjoy such a playstyle.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

4. No other classmechanic sets yourself on a disadvantage to justify itself.
5. The pet will never be a reliable damagesource. Therefore, make it additional.

I quote your post because I highly disagree.

First, people need to give up on the ‘Give me 100% damage and make the pet additional’ demand. It is not going to happen as long as the Ranger is the assigned pet class. It is a design decision ANet made if you like it or not. You will have to get over it. Repeating related demands does not contribute anything constructive and productive.

That being said, I already pointed out earlier that there are several other class mechanics which come with disadvantages if you like to admit it or not. Your fourth statement is just not true.

Especially Mesmers are in a very similar situation as Rangers are when it comes to baseline damage and pets. While their class mechanic are Shatters they are linked to Clones and Phantasms. This means that Mesmers as well have a comparibly low baseline damage when excluding the Illusions/Shatters. However, the Mesmer class also shows that an AI heavy class mechanic can work. While an AI is unlikely to reach human capabilities any time soon it still can be reliable. I therefore also disagree with your fifth statement.

Ision.3207:

AEFA.9035:

Ltomato.8649:

Specific Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
Potential Longbow Skill Changes (non-overhaul)

Goal of Proposal
Many players feel that the Longbow is an underwhelming weapon. I am offering some non-overhaul skill tweaks, since I (as someone who has put waaaay too much time into longbow ranger) believe that the basic design mechanics of the longbow are sound, unique, and engaging.

Proposal Functionality
s1- Long Range Shot: Increase projectile speed to allow more reliable hits against enemies, as this is a targeted skill and very easy to walk out of the way of at > 1200 range. Doesn’t need to be undodge-able, just more reliable.
: Alternatively- Decrease channel time. The skill would feel more reactive and less “clunky”.

s2- Rapid Fire: Decrease channel time by 1 second while maintaining the damage output. This would make the skill a bit more of a burst of damage, as well as maintaining a higher concentration of vulnerability. (Low cooldown and still comparatively long channel time to damage still allows this to be considered “sustained damage”)

s3-Hunter’s Shot: In addition to current functionality, add 1/2 second of evade on use. This would give the skill more of a use of an escape, providing a better feeling of reactionary dodging.
: Alternatively- In addition to current functionality, add Apply Revealed on target on hit. This would allow Rangers to effectively counter stealth.

s4- Point Blank Shot: Unblockable/Unreflectable. Makes this skill more of a failsafe, and actually effective against enemies that are looming in upon the ranger that may be reflecting projectiles or have some sort of block. Cooldown could be increased to 15 seconds to counteract a very powerful skill.
:Alternatively- Increase base range to 1200. Makes a little less sense since it’s no longer “point-blank”, but maintains the range as other longbow attacks, making it less clunky to use.

s5- Barrage: Buff into more of a projectile storm than an AoE, ala Ice Bow’s skill 4. This would increase damage and enemies affected, which seems fitting for its long cooldown and rooted channel.
:Alternatively- Allow movement while channeling. Evens out the risk/reward balance for using the skill.
:Alternatively- Immobilizes enemies hit by the first barrage or entering the AoE for 1 second. Makes the skill more useful even if the entire channel isn’t launched.

Associated Risks
The skill additions I’m suggesting are very strong. The Longbow is currently still underestimated, and too much tweaking could easily push it over the edge. Just two or three of these suggested skill additions would improve longbow ranger quality of life greatly.

All of them might be a bit much, but very, very fun.

These would also impact PvP and WvW, especially s3 alternative and my suggestions for s5.

I like this guy. Most of these Rangers posts under the impression that the class is just pure useless when they post in CDI. Been reading your post, good stuff. Though LB 4 CD increased to compensate I dont agree on, this is our only gap increaser in game. If LB auto is changed sure. Was thinking ANet should lower CD from this skill actually. I love point blank, using this after your auto animation is just too good plus the the knock back. I do agree this should be on a 1200 range though. Good stuff

I like this guy too.

Ltomato’s proposed changes are far simpler and direct than most of the “re-invent the wheel” suggestions regarding LB. And btw, to me, the whole, “more damage the farther you are concept” is IMO nuts.

LB 1 does not need (or should have) an added CC component, but rather, and as suggested, a slightly faster reliable-consistent-and flat damage component. Also, the much maligned LB 2 is actually near perfect – it does not need to be re-invented, the problem is the channel time and CD.

Great suggestions Ltomato, +1

Yeah, did you see that 3cc (or 4 forgot the number) proposal component on LB? Its ridiculous, what some of these players posts just to tweak Rangers and make them desirable. Agree with your posts as well, now, Barrage. I made a proposal about this and I believe 3 more Rangers somewhere in this forum, this for me is the most underused skill in LB kitten nal as of now IMO.

Should change:
1. Reduce cast time
2. Increase damage coefficient per arrows hit
3. Improve accuracy of arrows to make sure they hit and do damage. (IMO can be done by reducing arrows shot to 6 instead of 12, compensate by increasing damage for arrow see 2)
4. Most importantly allow Ranger to move while channeling skill. Reduce movement speed by 50% to compensate if needed.

Ision.3207:

AEFA.9035:

Ltomato.8649:

Specific Game Mode
PvE

Proposal Overview
Potential Longbow Skill Changes (non-overhaul)

Goal of Proposal
Many players feel that the Longbow is an underwhelming weapon. I am offering some non-overhaul skill tweaks, since I (as someone who has put waaaay too much time into longbow ranger) believe that the basic design mechanics of the longbow are sound, unique, and engaging.

Proposal Functionality
s1- Long Range Shot: Increase projectile speed to allow more reliable hits against enemies, as this is a targeted skill and very easy to walk out of the way of at > 1200 range. Doesn’t need to be undodge-able, just more reliable.
: Alternatively- Decrease channel time. The skill would feel more reactive and less “clunky”.

s2- Rapid Fire: Decrease channel time by 1 second while maintaining the damage output. This would make the skill a bit more of a burst of damage, as well as maintaining a higher concentration of vulnerability. (Low cooldown and still comparatively long channel time to damage still allows this to be considered “sustained damage”)

s3-Hunter’s Shot: In addition to current functionality, add 1/2 second of evade on use. This would give the skill more of a use of an escape, providing a better feeling of reactionary dodging.
: Alternatively- In addition to current functionality, add Apply Revealed on target on hit. This would allow Rangers to effectively counter stealth.

s4- Point Blank Shot: Unblockable/Unreflectable. Makes this skill more of a failsafe, and actually effective against enemies that are looming in upon the ranger that may be reflecting projectiles or have some sort of block. Cooldown could be increased to 15 seconds to counteract a very powerful skill.
:Alternatively- Increase base range to 1200. Makes a little less sense since it’s no longer “point-blank”, but maintains the range as other longbow attacks, making it less clunky to use.

s5- Barrage: Buff into more of a projectile storm than an AoE, ala Ice Bow’s skill 4. This would increase damage and enemies affected, which seems fitting for its long cooldown and rooted channel.
:Alternatively- Allow movement while channeling. Evens out the risk/reward balance for using the skill.
:Alternatively- Immobilizes enemies hit by the first barrage or entering the AoE for 1 second. Makes the skill more useful even if the entire channel isn’t launched.

Associated Risks
The skill additions I’m suggesting are very strong. The Longbow is currently still underestimated, and too much tweaking could easily push it over the edge. Just two or three of these suggested skill additions would improve longbow ranger quality of life greatly.

All of them might be a bit much, but very, very fun.

These would also impact PvP and WvW, especially s3 alternative and my suggestions for s5.

I like this guy. Most of these Rangers posts under the impression that the class is just pure useless when they post in CDI. Been reading your post, good stuff. Though LB 4 CD increased to compensate I dont agree on, this is our only gap increaser in game. If LB auto is changed sure. Was thinking ANet should lower CD from this skill actually. I love point blank, using this after your auto animation is just too good plus the the knock back. I do agree this should be on a 1200 range though. Good stuff

I like this guy too.

Ltomato’s proposed changes are far simpler and direct than most of the “re-invent the wheel” suggestions regarding LB. And btw, to me, the whole, “more damage the farther you are concept” is IMO nuts.

LB 1 does not need (or should have) an added CC component, but rather, and as suggested, a slightly faster reliable-consistent-and flat damage component. Also, the much maligned LB 2 is actually near perfect – it does not need to be re-invented, the problem is the channel time and CD.

Great suggestions Ltomato, +1

Some weapons need to change if Ranger is ever going to be able to contribute in large-scale WvW. It’s just a fact.

I know some people are attached to Longbow, but I personally feel like Longbow and Greatsword are our most awkward, ill-defined weapons. I’d also love to see ANet cut out some more succinct differences between MH Axe and Shortbow, but Allie has already commented on that in the summary.

The people who are defending spirits are also a mystery to me; it’s well-known in the sPvP community that spirits are ridiculously strong, and the fact that Rangers have such a powerful build available to us is holding the class back from reaching its true potential since ANet is scared to mess with it.

AEFA.9035:

Yeah, did you see that 3cc (or 4 forgot the number) proposal component on LB? Its ridiculous, what some of these players posts just to tweak Rangers and make them desirable. Agree with your posts as well, now, Barrage. I made a proposal about this and I believe 3 more Rangers somewhere in this forum, this for me is the most underused skill in LB kitten nal as of now IMO.

Should change:
1. Reduce cast time
2. Increase damage coefficient per arrows hit
3. Improve accuracy of arrows to make sure they hit and do damage. (IMO can be done by reducing arrows shot to 6 instead of 12, compensate by increasing damage for arrow see 2)
4. Most importantly allow Ranger to move while channeling skill. Reduce movement speed by 50% to compensate if needed.

I agree with most of your LB5 suggestions, but not the move while channeling one. I know that’s a popular idea, but IMO it’s a bit much IF the cast time is lowered and damage is increased as you propose. Instead of your number 4 suggestion I would go with a 3-sec retaliation added, so LB5 becomes the ranged version of Axe 5.

@Allie Murdock

As you said in you’re introducing paragraph from the summarized feedback, some people might disagree with the change you proposed. I’ll take my time to explain why i don’t agree to some points and won’t talk about the things that i find could work well if they are implemented. So this post isn’t just black since what i don’t mention is perfectly fine.

PvX
Weapons :

1. Ranger weapons sets are currently lacking in focus and should be redesigned so that weapon slection synegizes with specific playstyles.
– As good as the proposition seems, focusing the weapons too much will cause a decrease in build variety, rangers are one of the few class that can build hybrid power/condi, it would aslo caus armor sets like celestial that benefits from multiples sources of damage useless in the long run.

2) Shortbow : taking what i’ve said in consideration i fell shortbow should stay more hybrid than full condition, keeping good power ratios as well as some condition covers.

3) Sword : proposition are great except the reversal of s2, as said in the opening post ranger are a skirmishing class focused on sustained dps that has one of the best single target dps in the game. If we follow that rule s2 should stay as it is now because it is the only one handed ranger disengage.

4) Please don’t remove my birdies !!!!!!! or find a way to implement it somewhere else because it is taking away one of the ranger best buff, we’re here to improve the ranger not nerf it

Wilderness :

1. Wilderness experts should be the masters of poisons. Therefore, Rangers should have the most potent poisons available.

1. Rangers should be given some trait options to improve poison in various ways (extended duration, improved healing suppression, higher damage values, bonuses against poisoned foes, etc.).

YES PLS

PvE
Marksmanship:

7. XII. Remorsless – as a grandmaster tier it should be worth speccing into, the idea of applying vulnerability on a time base instead of a the beginning of the fight is great however the numbers listed are really sub par (3 stack for 6s every 16s for a grandmaster tier really ?). Either reduce the cd to 10 sec or increase the number of vulnerability.

Nature magic:
2. Weapon swapping should stay a skirmishing thing.

Everyone wont agree with me but feel free to tell me why and keep the good ideas coming. More importantly thanks the dev for taking the time to read everything.

Xaylin.1860:

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

4. No other classmechanic sets yourself on a disadvantage to justify itself.
5. The pet will never be a reliable damagesource. Therefore, make it additional.

I quote your post because I highly disagree.

First, people need to give up on the ‘Give me 100% damage and make the pet additional’ demand. It is not going to happen as long as the Ranger is the assigned pet class. It is a design decision ANet made if you like it or not. You will have to get over it. Repeating related demands does not contribute anything constructive and productive.

That being said, I already pointed out earlier that there are several other class mechanics which come with disadvantages if you like to admit it or not. Your fourth statement is just not true.

Especially Mesmers are in a very similar situation as Rangers are when it comes to baseline damage and pets. While their class mechanic are Shatters they are linked to Clones and Phantasms. This means that Mesmers as well have a comparibly low baseline damage when excluding the Illusions/Shatters. However, the Mesmer class also shows that an AI heavy class mechanic can work. While an AI is unlikely to reach human capabilities any time soon it still can be reliable. I therefore also disagree with your fifth statement.

Mesmer clones don’t share common mob AI. That’s why they work better.

2ndly, I have given up on getting Anet to see the errors of their vision of the Ranger and why my Ranger is regulated now to a mule and nothing more. Whether you like it or not the pet is a handicap. How anyone can put 1000 hours on a Ranger and not see that is a clear indication they see only what they want (wearing blinders/denialist because they want to play a pet class so bad no matter what and everyone should suffer for it too) and not the truth of the matter. Anet’s vision of a pet class has failed. It’s a band-aided mechanic. They will not put the resources into recoding the pets into it’s own AI to fix the issues because of the million things that would be broken. Allie has repeated Jon Peter’s point on that. So yeah, unlike my Mesmer or Guardian or Thief or Warrior or Engineer or Elementalist whose class mechanics work and I have never had issue with the Ranger pet will is a handicap. Thus, once you come to the realization of this fact, it is not unreasonable to want a way out of it.

Shiren.9532:

New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).

Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons
Gives Rangers a good option for mobile condi removal.

Why does ranger design and suggestions always treat the pet like a secondary factor even when it’s a suggestion for a trait specifically dealing with said mechanic?

The pet swap mechanic should be about accessing and interacting with your pets. For the pet mechanic to have meaning, it has to be designed so that the ranger is engaging with what the pet does not what the swap does.

I was sad when quickness was removed from pet swap because it was quite powerful and the BM line became completely unappealing for me. Part of me was happy because I hated that the game encouraged me to swap pets for reasons completely unrelated to the pet. If I am going to use a pet swap, why should it be for a reason other than my intention to interact with and utilise the pet?

Removing conditions on pet swap is going to lead to rangers caring less about what the pet does and more about having an on demand condition removal. You might argue it’s an interesting choice – help yourself or potentially swap to a less useful pet but I would argue that it actively designs against the class mechanic, it uses a pet mechanic for a reason that has nothing to do with the pet and the drawback of that design is that the pet might be less desirable than the one you previously had in the fight.

Scenario: I’m pressuring the engineer on home but I’m taking too many conditions. I am using my jaguar for DPS but I have a wolf on swap for its F2 skill. I swap to the wolf so that I can cleanse some conditions and buy myself more time, but now I don’t have jaguar DPS (the wolf also has to get back into range). I don’t need my wolf’s knockdown now (he uses it anyway) and I don’t need his howl. If I get downed or want the fear on swap later on, I can’t access it because I wasted the swap to cleanse a condition.

A trait like this actively designs against the pet as a mechanic (and cynicaly views pet swap as a generic resource and not as it’s true purpose – a pet mechanic). It hinders pet performance by getting you to make pet resource choices for non-pet gameplay. This will just exasperate pet issues and hinder design which tries to best focus on how to utilise the pet and not exploit mechanics tied to the pet for non-pet reasons.

the interaction for quickness was essentially the idea of you and your pet getting hyped when you see them again. I do understand your saying, though. but quickness on swap for both is pretty cool.

I think someone else had a good suggestion saying they should have an on swap skill as soon as you swap them in. This would be a simple means to give more control, and also more combos.

Ltomato.8649:

s4- Point Blank Shot: Unblockable/Unreflectable. Makes this skill more of a failsafe, and actually effective against enemies that are looming in upon the ranger that may be reflecting projectiles or have some sort of block. Cooldown could be increased to 15 seconds to counteract a very powerful skill.

From a PvP/WvW perspective I’m against this change. If someone makes the effort to counter hard CC he should be able to. Making it unblockable would make it the ultimate troll skill.

Tumult.2578:

This;

6.X. Eagle Eye – Include shortbow. Provides 200 range and +5% damage on longbow and harpoon gun. (no range bonus for shortbow)

Looks to be the end of the Shortbow. It will cease to be used. A Dagger can be thrown farther than a Shortbow can shoot. Without the option to increase range, and coupled
with these other changes, the weapon becomes pointless, reduces build options, forces players into maximum range or melee, and eliminates the “middle game” that is where a Ranger shines. That opportunity to prioritize targets on the fly and position properly, strike first, apply stacks, gain the next proper positioning for maximum damage, before or during closing, is the best way to make up for the fact that we are rooted with our best DPS weapon in melee , in medium armor.
The range loss has crippled the weapons effectiveness at this middle range where Rangers need it most.
I fail to understand why we can’t we have two ranged weapons, as Rangers, that work for long range, or, as a way to prepare for melee in medium armor, and have enough range available to accomplish it if we spec for it.

After the context you put it in, I can’t imagine why we couldn’t have shortbows range increased if a dagger can be thrown further than it….

Also please please please don’t remove the swiftness on warhorn call of the wild, its the only place we get swiftness from ( for a decent duration) outside rampage of one which has a 2 minute cooldown

Now we have a better base to discussion, this is my initial feedback from Allie’s summary.

Allie Murdock.8152:

PvX
General:

1. Remove spirits. They clutter up the map and provide less strategic value with target changes.
   1. Instead, apply an aura to the pet that does the same thing spirits currently do.
      1. Obviously, this would be a huge rework and would require changes to spirit traits.

Ideas to adapt the current traits related to spirits to the aura system:

• Spirits Unbound: untraited the spirit auras would be applied in the pet, traited it would be applied on the player.
• Vigorous Spirits: auras should be timed instead of have HP, that way the trait would increase the time the aura would last and the chance to trigger as currently is.
• Nature’s Vengeance: would keep the same but trigger the skill when the aura timer ends.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Beastmastery & Pets:

1. Pets need stat scaling.
   1. Stats could scale based on the Ranger’s stats and the pet’s family, with a weight on specific stats based on the individual pet
   2. Beastmastery should improve the pet stat scaling.

What I think that could be made is, reduce the base stats of the pets but maintaining the proportions of each pet family, and then a certain percentage of the status of the player would go to the pet, and each Beastmaster trait point would rise that percentage.
That way it would balance the case of bunker cond builds have pets with high raw power but the other way around doesn’t benefit that much from the pet.

Allie Murdock.8152:

1. Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics.
   1. Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target.
2. Pets can’t keep up in combat.
   1. Melee range should be increased to 600 to accommodate the “run>stop>begin attack>cancel attack>run>stop” type mechanics you see throughout the game.
   2. Increase pet movement speed by 10-15%. Replace Agility Training with Vigorous training
   3. Pets have a hard time sticking to their target because they can’t attack and move at the same time. Increasing their speed could help increase their damage by just allowing them to keep up with their target.
   4. Allow pets to attack while moving.

Some are great, some aren’t needed, would make pets kinda OP.

• The cleave damage could keep as is now
• The AoE damage reduction would be good or give pets aegis for 1 second when the player dodge, have both would be too much.
• Rising the pet melee range or add a pounce to the melee attacks would discard the need of rising the pet move speed.

Specific Game Mode
PvE/WvW

Proposal Overview
Potential Longbow Skill Changes (non-overhaul)

Goal of Proposal
Longbow is an underwhelming weapon. I am offering some non-overhaul skill tweaks, since I believe that the basic design mechanics of the longbow are sound, unique, and engaging.

Proposal Functionality

s1- Long Range Shot: Increase projectile speed to allow more reliable hits against enemies, as this is a targeted skill and very easy to walk out of the way of at > 1200 range. Doesn’t need to be undodge-able, just more reliable. Also, eliminate the scaled damage by distance, the DPS should be a flat consistent damage amount regardless of range.

s2- Rapid Fire: Decrease channel time by 1 second while maintaining the damage output. This would make the skill a bit more of a burst of damage, as well as maintaining a higher concentration of vulnerability. (Low cooldown and still comparatively long channel time to damage still allows this to be considered “sustained damage”)

s3-Hunter’s Shot: add Apply Revealed on target on hit. This would allow Rangers to more effectively counter stealth.

s4- Point Blank Shot: Leave it be – good skill as is.

s5- Barrage: Slightly increase damage amount per arrow, and add a 3-sec retaliation. In essence, LB 5 becomes the ranged version of Axe 5.

Associated Risks
None

PS: Some of these suggestions are mine, but most of it is basically a slight alteration of Ltomato’s earlier suggestion. Thank’s Ltomato.

Ision.3207:

snip

I just wanted to let you know what I adore your signature.

Flytrap.8075:

Ision.3207:

snip

I just wanted to let you know what I adore your signature.

Thanks, as I’m sure your compliment was given in an honest and mature spirit.

I was a hardcore WoW and Lotro WvW soloer/small group roamer for years. So I came to Gw2 to get away from having to grind/PvE for max stat gear over and over gain … and then … LOL

;-)

However, I despise the WvW zergball though, it reminds me so much of the mindless no-skill PvE zerg play. But to each his own, and everyone should most certainly be able play as they want.

thefantasticg.3984:

Mesmer clones don’t share common mob AI. That’s why they work better.

Nope. That is not true. Same AI. They just work better because they are bount to one target and lack an AA. This results in them being more reliable at hitting the target. This also means that Ranger mechanic would be a lot better if the pet was better at actually landing an attack. So saying the pet mechanic is doomed to fail because of the AI is just wrong. Increasing the melee range, maybe the pet speed and making pets more durable against area attacks might actually be enough to make it work.

thefantasticg.3984:

So yeah, unlike my Mesmer or Guardian or Thief or Warrior or Engineer or Elementalist whose class mechanics work and I have never had issue with the Ranger pet will is a handicap. Thus, once you come to the realization of this fact, it is not unreasonable to want a way out of it.

Mesmers also got a rather low baseline damage because of Illusions. They also suffer when not using their Shatters. However, shattering Illusions has the same pathing issues like Ranger pets. They also suffer in scenarios with massive area damage like Rangers. There is a reason why you won’t see any Shatter Mesmer in larger scale fights. Elementalists and Necromancers also suffer from their class mechanic but due to different reasons. Suggesting that Rangers are the only class with flaws in their mechanic is just false and solely used to justify getting rid of it. Some people just don’t even try to make it work or simply don’t like pets.

Nevertheless, I can understand when people prefer getting rid of the pet. However, it quite obviously does not contribute anything to this thread when ANet clearly stated their position.

There has been alot of discussion concerning the placement of traps in the skirmishing traitline. Some argue that the precision given through Skirmishing is invaluable for trap builds (to which I agree) while others argue that the crit damage in Skirmishing doesn’t help trap builds (to which I also agree). There has also been some discussion about swapping stats for certain traitlines, I think these two ideas could work off of each other.

How about swapping the condition duration in Marksmanship with the crit damage in Skirmishing? This is a stat combination not seen in any other class and I think it would alleviate some of the grievances with trap builds while helping power-based builds, and maintaining the standard Survivalist traits taken. Condition based trap builds would receive better condition duration, whilst some power builds (such as Valk based builds) would receive a damage boost. Other standard power based builds would remain relatively status-quo as they usually take a healthy investment in both Marksmanship and Skirmishing.

Stat scaling based off of our gear could be a whole can of worms that ends up basically saying… if you want to run this kind of pet, you need to wear this kind of gear to get good scaling because of how weighting works. I’m kind of assuming that base stats would be adjusted down so that the overall scaled stats are not that much higher than what pets can achieve now through beastmastery. In the future, if you are wearing the wrong gear your pet could possibly have worse stats than it has now.

How can I even consider investing in ascended gear now if in the future my gear might suddenly be inappropriate for the pets I want to use? If I want to use all kinds of pets do I now need all kinds of gear to have decent pets? If certain stats are weighted to help certain pets more than others, that also affects skill choices…

Right now you can swap pets based on the situation but people don’t do it as much as they should because they have to rename their pet all the time and their pet may be tied to some traits. If pets are tied to your gear… ugh. If you bring one damage pet and one tanky pet, is one of them going to be terribad?

Are there any plans to give Ranger a CC/utility weapon so that we can actually support groups that we play with (WvW zergs immediately come to mind)? We are missing a weapon that provides AoE and support functionality and it’s a glaring design flaw.

I’d love to see Rangers be allowed to use staffs, seeing as we have a trait line that is literally called Nature Magic and ANet has not really tapped into the Druid role.

Ision.3207:

Thanks, as I’m sure your compliment was given in an honest and mature spirit.

I was a hardcore WoW and Lotro WvW soloer/small group roamer for years. So I came to Gw2 to get away from having to grind/PvE for max stat gear over and over gain … and then … LOL

;-)

However, I despise the WvW zergball though, it reminds me so much of the mindless no-skill PvE zerg play. But to each his own, and everyone should most certainly be able play as they want.

I was being completely genuine; it bothers me that ANet has deviated from a lot of GW2’s founding principles and I’m always happy to see that other players feel the same way.

As to your comment about zergball, I agree with you for the most part. I, like you, prefer roaming and havoc groups, but I think a good zerg-busting session every now and then can be a lot of fun. Nevertheless, I personally think that all professions should be 100% viable in every aspect of the game, so I’d love to see Ranger gain some increased capabilities in large-scale WvW since they are easily the most unwanted class.

Flytrap.8075:

Are there any plans to give Ranger a CC/utility weapon so that we can actually support groups that we play with (WvW zergs immediately come to mind)? We are missing a weapon that provides AoE and support functionality and it’s a glaring design flaw.

I’d love to see Rangers be allowed to use staffs, seeing as we have a trait line that is literally called Nature Magic and ANet has not really tapped into the Druid role.

Ision.3207:

Thanks, as I’m sure your compliment was given in an honest and mature spirit.

I was a hardcore WoW and Lotro WvW soloer/small group roamer for years. So I came to Gw2 to get away from having to grind/PvE for max stat gear over and over gain … and then … LOL

;-)

However, I despise the WvW zergball though, it reminds me so much of the mindless no-skill PvE zerg play. But to each his own, and everyone should most certainly be able play as they want.

I was being completely genuine; it bothers me that ANet has deviated from a lot of GW2’s founding principles and I’m always happy to see that other players feel the same way.

As to your comment about zergball, I agree with you for the most part. I, like you, prefer roaming and havoc groups, but I think a good zerg-busting session every now and then can be a lot of fun. Nevertheless, I personally think that all professions should be 100% viable in every aspect of the game, so I’d love to see Ranger gain some increased capabilities in large-scale WvW since they are easily the most unwanted class.

Well, well … will wonders never cease!

I like and agree with ALL of your above comments … from the Druidic Staff suggestion for Rangers, to your comments about Anet deviating away from Horizontal progression … as well as how zergballs can be fun at times (not for me, but to each his own) ,,,

Best of luck to you, along with a sincere internet handshake :-)

Take care.

I agree that there should be some more trait help for short bow, but I’m not sure that extending the range and damage of shortbow should be in the marksmanship line (adding to eagle eye).

It should be focused more on being a condition damage weapon… and could use some buffs in that regard. What about a trait in wilderness survival that extended shortbow range and made the auto-attack bleed the target regardless of positioning? Or, a trait in WS that extended shortbow range, and improved the applied poison in some fashion?

Traits that affect both bows don’t really make sense, since we want them to fill very different roles and be used with different builds. Differentiating them further is a good idea.

I also think adding torment to the #3 skill would be a perfect addition to short bow.

Xaylin.1860:

thefantasticg.3984:

Mesmer clones don’t share common mob AI. That’s why they work better.

Nope. That is not true. Same AI. They just work better because they are bount to one target and lack an AA. This results in them being more reliable at hitting the target. This also means that Ranger mechanic would be a lot better if the pet was better at actually landing an attack. So saying the pet mechanic is doomed to fail because of the AI is just wrong. Increasing the melee range, maybe the pet speed and making pets more durable against area attacks might actually be enough to make it work.

thefantasticg.3984:

So yeah, unlike my Mesmer or Guardian or Thief or Warrior or Engineer or Elementalist whose class mechanics work and I have never had issue with the Ranger pet will is a handicap. Thus, once you come to the realization of this fact, it is not unreasonable to want a way out of it.

Mesmers also got a rather low baseline damage because of Illusions. They also suffer when not using their Shatters. However, shattering Illusions has the same pathing issues like Ranger pets. They also suffer in scenarios with massive area damage like Rangers. There is a reason why you won’t see any Shatter Mesmer in larger scale fights. Elementalists and Necromancers also suffer from their class mechanic but due to different reasons. Suggesting that Rangers are the only class with flaws in their mechanic is just false and solely used to justify getting rid of it. Some people just don’t even try to make it work or simply don’t like pets.

Nevertheless, I can understand when people prefer getting rid of the pet. However, it quite obviously does not contribute anything to this thread when ANet clearly stated their position.

We’ll have to agree to disagree then. Read long time ago that Mesmer clones use seperate AI. Regardless, I still do not have issues using my class mechanic on the Mesmer like I do the Ranger. I also don’t have issues with the class mechanic on the Ele. I’m not sure what you’re doing on your Mesmer and Ele but I’m not having issues at all with their class mechanics. I also only play PVE/Dungeons. I don’t WvW or PvP. Pathing is not an issue on my Mesmer because I’m running mostly shatter build so as soon as I’m popping off clones/illusions I’m running them into the champ/legendary. Pathing hasn’t been an issue. When I hit F1-F3 they react instantly. There’s no wait. They instantly start moving. I don’t know what problems you are talking about on the Ele. The attunements changing when I hit F1-F4. The skills I use are F1-F3 and I don’t see any issues with the weapon skills tied to them. I’m not suffering using the class mechanic when I’m on my Ele. At all. I don’t have a necro and I refuse to have one so I can’t speak to that class mechanic.

It’s sad when 2/3 of the active Rangers I read on the forums and play with in game want an option out of using the pet a.k.a. perma-stow with or without buff. As it stands most of them use them as meat missiles because if you are melee (which those are the kinds of Rangers I play with) there aren’t enough tools available to micro manage the pet. That says something. I don’t see/hear anyone else wanting that of their class mechanic… Maybe thieves people want the initiative reworked because of being able to spam weapon skills but that’s just from the PVP side, not PVE/Dungeons.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, everything should take a back seat until the class mechanic is fixed or we are given the option to opt out beyond running on passive 100% of the time. That is the biggest problem with the class and until that is fixed we will be handicapped. Once the class mechanic is fixed or optioned out then we can start talking about fixing/band-aiding/tweaking other aspects of the Ranger… In my opinion, of course.

Xaylin.1860:

thefantasticg.3984:

Mesmer clones don’t share common mob AI. That’s why they work better.

Nope. That is not true. Same AI. They just work better because they are bount to one target and lack an AA. This results in them being more reliable at hitting the target. This also means that Ranger mechanic would be a lot better if the pet was better at actually landing an attack. So saying the pet mechanic is doomed to fail because of the AI is just wrong. Increasing the melee range, maybe the pet speed and making pets more durable against area attacks might actually be enough to make it work.

thefantasticg.3984:

So yeah, unlike my Mesmer or Guardian or Thief or Warrior or Engineer or Elementalist whose class mechanics work and I have never had issue with the Ranger pet will is a handicap. Thus, once you come to the realization of this fact, it is not unreasonable to want a way out of it.

Mesmers also got a rather low baseline damage because of Illusions. They also suffer when not using their Shatters. However, shattering Illusions has the same pathing issues like Ranger pets. They also suffer in scenarios with massive area damage like Rangers. There is a reason why you won’t see any Shatter Mesmer in larger scale fights. Elementalists and Necromancers also suffer from their class mechanic but due to different reasons. Suggesting that Rangers are the only class with flaws in their mechanic is just false and solely used to justify getting rid of it. Some people just don’t even try to make it work or simply don’t like pets.

Nevertheless, I can understand when people prefer getting rid of the pet. However, it quite obviously does not contribute anything to this thread when ANet clearly stated their position.

30% of our raw damage is on our pet,and our skills have less damage coef. due to class mechanic, all other classes dont have this problem, you can you choose to use phantasm or not, but you are not penalized with 30% of your raw damage, pet should be a damage buff, not a damage debuff like is now.

REQUEST to everyone in the CDI

hopefully I can manage to do this without upsetting anyone to much
While I fully understand that people suggest things for their favourite build and weapon setup. And while I understand even more why people would suggest things they themselves have experienced as flawed or broken or just under par. I would love to press everybody on their heart to keep it at that, and not start suggesting HUGE changes to things they don’t use themselves.

Why not? Because then I wouldn’t have to point this out.

1. Axe: I dont think, that the axe (mainhand) should be a power weapon, with bleed on S2 and chill on S3, it would be a great melee/shortrange condi weapon, which the ranger has no access to. Reduce damage of S1 and add a bleed would be the better solution.

And yes that wasn’t really meant as serious, (and it was ‘whyyou’, because it mostly stresses my point also see ps. further down). Because from my point of view, as an Axe user pretty much since day 1, the shortbow is the clear medium range ‘condition meta’ skirmish weapon. And the Axe is just fine as a medium range crit.damage alternative. There is no reason for two medium ranged condition weapons, so why even suggest that? If you want more conditions on your axe use sharpening stone by all means…

Have you ever played Axes? Apart from the flat damage on them they are largely fine.
Could they be flavoured up? sure, the ‘big hit on first and then lesser damage on multiple others was ok with me. Or walking while channelling #5. Even changing that annoying theme breaking wintersbite into something else like a ’in/out’ to facilitate splitblade, I could live with…

But turning it into a copy of the Shortbow, with just different stuff on it, so you can integrate the Axe into your condi.build and benefit from swaps without changing your playstyle, and totally neglecting the possible uses for the Axe to people that actually USE them… well I personally find that somewhat saddening. You don’t see me suggesting to turn the shortbow into a powerbased crit.weapon, just because I don’t see myself using the SB in it’s current setup.

ps. Just to point out to Whyme that I am not targeting him specifically with this
I have seen more people suggest this and I scares me, especially if Anet goes by numbers. And I feel like none of these people actually play Axes, which makes me wonder, if you don’t have experience with them how can you suggest such changes? Would it not, by all means, be better to leave these suggestions to the Axe users instead?

And while I generally favour all opinions to voiced, and still do, I still think asking for this is not reducing somebodies elses right to voice their opinion. By all means see this as a counter argument to your suggested changes! But also, see this as a challenge to your own suggestions or as a way to temper your change enthusiasm. Look at the traits associated with the Axe, it is clear what its intended use is (with an axe in your main hand you do 10% more crit damage). So any suggestions along those lines, or any suggestions that improve ‘that’ kind of gameplay are welcome to me. Changing the Axe into something it is not, just because ‘you’ don’t see a need for it and never used it, well that i am having a hard time with…

Carighan.6758:

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

1. We get kicked out of elitist parties anyways

This would specifically be why I would not do something like it. ANet should not try to patch human stupidity. It’s not possible, anyhow.

If they could, posts like this would disappear… -.-

Carighan.6758:

This would specifically be why I would not do something like it. ANet should not try to patch human stupidity. It’s not possible, anyhow.

Stupidity is not the same than efficiency, when you do fractal/dungeons/content, you look for efficiency, and ranger is not the best class to fill that role.

Fozzik.1742:

I agree that there should be some more trait help for short bow, but I’m not sure that extending the range and damage of shortbow should be in the marksmanship line (adding to eagle eye).

It should be focused more on being a condition damage weapon… and could use some buffs in that regard. What about a trait in wilderness survival that extended shortbow range and made the auto-attack bleed the target regardless of positioning? Or, a trait in WS that extended shortbow range, and improved the applied poison in some fashion?

Traits that affect both bows don’t really make sense, since we want them to fill very different roles and be used with different builds. Differentiating them further is a good idea.

I also think adding torment to the #3 skill would be a perfect addition to short bow.

I, as a person who swaps weapons a lot, like the idea of having a trait that affects both bows (one less thing to go and change on a whim)… (especially if the trait can be swapped to an other one when not using bows)

With that kind of logic, one could say that the trait affecting sword/GS should not affect both because few people run both? Or we should have different traits for each different OH weapons, because players don’t use all of their OH weapons?

And, right now, i find SB better in Power/Crit build, than the slow-too-situational-LB, while still being good in condis builds (torment sigil :love:)

BUT if I am to be attacking a fortified/defended structure in WvW, the LB#5 is a must to kill the foe’s defense. And getting out of combat long enough to switch a weapon is already not easy, i often find myself short on time to change the appropriate traits…

(Edit : I have nothing against it being mainly a condi weapon -it would be nice to have one ranged and one melee weapons that are good for condis, and one ranged and one melee weapon that are good for direct damage… though such a direction would mess up many current builds and gameplay)

Arghore.8340:

REQUEST to everyone in the CDI

hopefully I can manage to do this without upsetting anyone to much
While I fully understand that people suggest things for their favourite build and weapon setup. And while I understand even more why people would suggest things they themselves have experienced as flawed or broken or just under par. I would love to press everybody on their heart to keep it at that, and not start suggesting HUGE changes to things they don’t use themselves.

Why not? Because then I wouldn’t have to point this out.

1. Axe: I dont think, that the axe (mainhand) should be a power weapon, with bleed on S2 and chill on S3, it would be a great melee/shortrange condi weapon, which the ranger has no access to. Reduce damage of S1 and add a bleed would be the better solution.

And yes that wasn’t really meant as serious, (and it was ‘whyyou’, because it mostly stresses my point also see ps. further down). Because from my point of view, as an Axe user pretty much since day 1, the shortbow is the clear medium range ‘condition meta’ skirmish weapon. And the Axe is just fine as a medium range crit.damage alternative. There is no reason for two medium ranged condition weapons, so why even suggest that? If you want more conditions on your axe use sharpening stone by all means…

Have you ever played Axes? Apart from the flat damage on them they are largely fine.
Could they be flavoured up? sure, the ‘big hit on first and then lesser damage on multiple others was ok with me. Or walking while channelling #5. Even changing that annoying theme breaking wintersbite into something else like a ’in/out’ to facilitate splitblade, I could live with…

But turning it into a copy of the Shortbow, with just different stuff on it, so you can integrate the Axe into your condi.build and benefit from swaps without changing your playstyle, and totally neglecting the possible uses for the Axe to people that actually USE them… well I personally find that somewhat saddening. You don’t see me suggesting to turn the shortbow into a powerbased crit.weapon, just because I don’t see myself using the SB in it’s current setup.

ps. Just to point out to Whyme that I am not targeting him specifically with this
I have seen more people suggest this and I scares me, especially if Anet goes by numbers. And I feel like none of these people actually play Axes, which makes me wonder, if you don’t have experience with them how can you suggest such changes? Wouldn’kitten by all means, be better to leave these suggestions to the Axe users instead?

Agreed, +1

(good post)

Axes as a group (mainhand and offhand together) are not condition weapons or power weapons, they are hybrids. And as such, they should not be pushed too far in either direction, but remain within the niche intended. That said, I think Axe 1 could use a small power increase to its direct damage.

Just as we are suggesting ways to improve sword and longbow, the dual Axe build should get a bit of love too (besides, I think dual axes, right after the archer/swordsman builds, are one of the iconic Ranger builds/looks that a lot of people desire).

thefantasticg.3984:

…

There might be some aspects which have an individual AI (attacks) but I highly doubt that they have a different AI besides that. Look at their pathing. It is the same (e.g. iLeap, Shatters). I’m not talking about the responsiveness when hitting F1-F4. Shatters only reliably hit your target when you are close to it. Some Illusions also suffer from slow projectiles which can be avoided (Staff Clones, iMage) which is exactly the same issue certain Ranger pets have. And let’s not talk about the broken iWarden.

As said, the issues Elementalists have are different than Rangers. It is more related to cooldowns and access to their skills which is limited due their attunement mechanic.

urdriel.8496:

30% of our raw damage is on our pet,and our skills have less damage coef. due to class mechanic, all other classes dont have this problem, you can you choose to use phantasm or not, but you are not penalized with 30% of your raw damage, pet should be a damage buff, not a damage debuff like is now.

Guess what: A pet class is supposed to have a certain amount of damage and utility linked to their pet. That is why they are a pet class. I’ve never seen this being any different in any MMO I played (DAoC, LotRO).

Mesmers are penalized in form of damage because of their class mechanic. You might want to check their baseline damage without Illusions or Shatters. I can not chose to not use it. I have to use it or I will be inefficient. This is quite obvious when looking at both PvP and PvE. In PvE everyone runs Phantasm builds because their damage would be too low otherwise. In s/tPvP most Mesmers run Shatter because their burst would be too low otherwise.

Elementalists are penalized in form of cooldowns and being locked out of skills.
Necromancers are penalized in a lack of damage mitigation outside of DS.

People really need to get rid of this damsel in distress behaviour.

Jocksy.3415:

I, as a person who swaps weapons a lot, like the idea of having a trait that affects both bows (one less thing to go and change on a whim)… (especially if the trait can be swapped to an other one when not using bows)

With that kind of logic, one could say that the trait affecting sword/GS should not affect both because few people run both? Or we should have different traits for each different OH weapons, because players don’t use all of their OH weapons?

And, right now, i find SB better in Power/Crit build, than the slow-too-situational-LB, while still being good in condis builds (torment sigil :love:)

BUT if I am to be attacking a fortified/defended structure in WvW, the LB#5 is a must to kill the foe’s defense. And getting out of combat long enough to switch a weapon is already not easy, i often find myself short on time to change the appropriate traits…

(Edit : I have nothing against it being mainly a condi weapon -it would be nice to have one ranged and one melee weapons that are good for condis, and one ranged and one melee weapon that are good for direct damage… though such a direction would mess up many current builds and gameplay)

If we follow your logic, why have weapon-specific traits at all? Why not leave the ultimate diversity and just have blanket traits that provide additional damage or conditions on all weapons?

The point is not to pigeon-hole, the point is to better define. There would be nothing stopping you from getting both eagle eye and the short bow trait if you are running a hybrid build with both bows (I actually enjoyed running a two-bow hybrid for quite a while in WvW).

Also, giving it its own trait means additional bonuses…like the ones I suggested. More bonuses = good.

Saying that you prefer SB in a power build because LB is clunky… the solution to that is obvious. They need to improve LB, not turn SB into a better choice for the same build.

In the interest of full disclosure, I run a trapper hybrid damage build (0,30,30,10,0) with short bow and axe/warhorn. I also enjoy switching to long bow at times, as well.

Ision.3207:

AEFA.9035:

I like this guy. Most of these Rangers posts under the impression that the class is just pure useless when they post in CDI. Been reading your post, good stuff. Though LB 4 CD increased to compensate I dont agree on, this is our only gap increaser in game. If LB auto is changed sure. Was thinking ANet should lower CD from this skill actually. I love point blank, using this after your auto animation is just too good plus the the knock back. I do agree this should be on a 1200 range though. Good stuff

I like this guy too.

Ltomato’s proposed changes are far simpler and direct than most of the “re-invent the wheel” suggestions regarding LB. And btw, to me, the whole, “more damage the farther you are concept” is IMO nuts.

LB 1 does not need (or should have) an added CC component, but rather, and as suggested, a slightly faster reliable-consistent-and flat damage component. Also, the much maligned LB 2 is actually near perfect – it does not need to be re-invented, the problem is the channel time and CD. I also like Ltomato’s LB 3 alternate suggestion of, “In addition to current functionality, add Apply Revealed on target on hit.” The only suggestion I did not like was LB5 – personally I would love to see it have a 3-sec retaliation added so it becomes the ranged version of Axe 5.

Great suggestions Ltomato, +1

Thanks for the feedback, guys! There are definitely a lot of other alternatives out there- For example, having Hunter’s Shot remove a boon in addition to its current functionality, or your suggestion with Retaliation, Ision!

Xaylin.1860:

Ltomato.8649:

s4- Point Blank Shot: Unblockable/Unreflectable.

From a PvP/WvW perspective I’m against this change. If someone makes the effort to counter hard CC he should be able to. Making it unblockable would make it the ultimate troll skill.

Definitely. It makes the skill extremely powerful. At the same time though, if you combo it using Hunter’s Shot’s stealth first (as is), it’s still fairly easy to get a free knockback. It already has a extremely quick cast time/tell, which is great. However, the issue I have is that being a ranged skill, the effort required to counter the skill is almost minimal for many classes. Just pop any reflection/missile deflection/prepared blocking. It will block all longbow attacks (barring barrage- hence my 2nd alternative to add an immobilize), which makes it less of counterplay against hard CC, and more of counterplay against ranged attacks in general. It’s definitely a tricky area. On the one hand, it wouldn’t be wise to add something that won’t have much counterplay. On the other, rangers need to be able to counter some things as well.

Another note- I don’t want to see every single one of my suggestions added- that would definitely be overbuffing the longbow. For example, immobilize on barrage and unblockable Hunter’s Shot should probably be exclusive, as together they would provide insane CC unheard of since hambow warriors (if even that much!)

There are tons of options to explore here! Thanks for the feedback!

Flytrap.8075:

I know some people are attached to Longbow, but I personally feel like Longbow and Greatsword are our most awkward, ill-defined weapons.

Haha! Where you you see awkward and ill-defined, I see “versatile” and “fun”! Longbow/Greatsword is my main weapon set that I use for general play. It’s definitely not the best for use in WvW, but I’ve had my share of contributions and epic fights!
The weapons might not have as much of a well defined role, but they have some really cool combinations together.

For greatsword, I’d definitely suggest a damage boost though. I understand that it’s a more defensive sustained damage type of weapon, but as it is, you’re literally better off in a lot of cases picking up a warrior’s banner for team support and more damage (I suggest Discipline, Tactics, or Warbanner for added Fury, Regen, or stability!). There’s a point when sustained damage becomes “damage outhealed by passive healing”, and outside of Maul, greatsword is still mostly under that level.

PvX

General:
Remove spirits. I think this is unnecessary. I think if you give them the ability to move by default, make them immune to damage and adjust the numbers to balance (perhaps getting rid of that pesky RNG aspect too) Spirits would be perfect. It wouldn’t solve the screen clutter but it would dramatically affect gameplay.

More than any class in the game, Ranger requires a significant investment in traits before a large number of their utility skills are even work slotting. Yes. We’ve been saying that for a year and a half. I’m curious to see what the devs think the solutions are.

Ranger heals should match their purpose more.
Reduce cooldown of Troll Unguent/add condi removal: Yes!
Increase radius of Healing Spring & increase cast time: Ok…sure.
Reduce cooldown of Heal as one or reduce cast time: Yes! Also make it revive a dead pet please.

Beastmastery & Pets:
Pets need stat scaling: YES!!!
Stats could scale based on the Ranger’s stats and the pet’s family, with a weight on specific stats based on the individual pet: Even better! It’s like you guys are listening.
Beastmastery should improve the pet stat scaling: I know right?
Pets should take less damage from AoE and one-shot mechanics. Now you’re just messing with me.
Pets should take 30% damage from AoEs, be immune to one shot mechanics and take 25% damage from cleaves when not the selected target. If this happens I’m naming my next kid Allie Murdock Community Coordinator
Pets can’t keep up in combat.¬ No, they can’t. We’ve been saying that!
Melee range should be increased to 600 to accommodate the “run>stop>begin attack>cancel attack>run>stop” type mechanics you see throughout the game. Good, this will help.
Increase pet movement speed by 10-15%. Replace Agility Training with Vigorous training If the above is added, with this, that may solve some of the problems.
Pets have a hard time sticking to their target because they can’t attack and move at the same time. Increasing their speed could help increase their damage by just allowing them to keep up with their target. So let’s make this happen.
Allow pets to attack while moving. I can’t even…the feels…if this becomes reality…

General QoL changes.
When the pet is stowed, the Ranger should gain “aspect of the <pet name>” effect which provides unique buffs based on the pet family and specific pet. I saw this in my dream. This would be one of the best things you could do for us.

BM trait changes
Signets should always affect the Ranger and require a beastmastery trait to also affect the pet. I just pooped my pants.
Use new UI symbols for each pet type and combine Rending Attacks, Stability Training and Intimidation training into one trait.
With these traits the way they are, it discourages mixing pets and hurts build diversity. Yeah, that would help BM builds, I like it.
New trait: Master: Cleansing Swap: When you swap pets, you lose 2 conditions (ICD of 10 seconds).
Counterplay – when ranger swaps pets, the pet loses boons
Gives Rangers a good option for mobile condi removal. Yeah that would be good.
New trait: Grand Master: Camaraderie: When you swap pets, the inactive pet gains the same boons as the active pet (boon values are capped).
Counterplay – if you swap when your pet is dead, there are no boons to copy. I think this was suggested once, seems solid. But I don’t know how game changing it will be.

Weapons:
Longbow: I liked many of the ideas on this thread and your summary. I would, however, echo what many have said that these changes don’t address burst abilities. You have an opportunity with KBS or Hunter’s Shot to add a high risk/reward bust ability in either one of those. Don’t blow the chance to add it with the other changes. I love the idea of a long cast time, high burst ability similar to the winter mayhem slingshot ability. Hold it down for increase range and damage, whamo, LB now has some burst to go with the utility.
Shortbow: I like where this is going. I would suggest, like my above LB suggestion says, add some increase damage to 3-5 abilities, right now there isn’t a lot of reason to no auto attack with the SB since the other skills are equal or lesser in damage. Even though it’s a condi weapon, there should still be bigger direct damage outside of AAs.
Sword:
Dodge overrides animation (s1), s2 jumps reversed (first goes in, second goes out), s3 cast time reduced to better time evades Yeah I think we’ve said this enough, I think y’all have said it’s a problem. If this is fixed you’ll hear a lot of happy cheers from us Power Rangers.
The jumps don’t need to be reversed on s2. s2 is fine and I like that it’s a good “Oh crap” button to get out of the way of big hits. I would just increase the damage of Monarch Leap so the sword has some burst better than the AA. Right now there’s no reason to work s2 into combat because you get better damage and utility on your AA.

Warhorn: s4 gives Protection, Regen and Vigor to nearby allies I’d love this, but even just adding a blind to it will make it worthwhile. Also cut the recharge rate by about 2-3 seconds. It’s too long now for just direct damage. If you add the buffs, I’d still reduce the cooldown.
Torch: S4 sets location of target on fire (small aoe), s5 causes burning and blindness Yes, 4 should cause an AoE burst when it hits and cause burning. 5 adding blind, and increase the duration of the fire. It really is way to short lived to be useful, especially when you compare it to other fields. If you add condi removal or regen you would probably turn Torch into something useful.

Skirmishing:
Remove traps from this line. Yes! That would be great.
They simply do not make sense here, because they are largely condition based but skirmishing is the crit line. That, or swap the stats of the skirmishing line altogether. Don’t swap stats, leave skirmishing Precision and Ferocity
Improve traps in terms of utility, damage and group oriented play. Vague. How? There’s been a ton of suggestions. Longer duration on combo fields, condi cleansing in field or buffs when in a field. Curious to see what devs like.

Wilderness:
Wilderness experts should be the masters of poisons. Therefore, Rangers should have the most potent poisons available.
Rangers should be given some trait options to improve poison in various ways (extended duration, improved healing suppression, higher damage values, bonuses against poisoned foes, etc.). Ok…I think one person suggested this. I wouldn’t be against it really but it wouldn’t be high on my list of needed changes. If this is where traps end up, and it becomes the condition trait line, then yeah…sure I guess.

PvE
Beastmastery & Pets:
Pets die easily in dungeons because they can’t dodge telegraphed skills. So give them a dodge.
New Grandmaster minor: Companionship – Pet gains +7% stats bonus from the player. No. Make this standard to the pet. Don’t make us trait to make our pets scale.