Guild Wars 2

As the title suggests, I think Traps would be more useful if we could at least make them less reactionary by remotely detonating them by pressing the skill a second time after placing them. It makes sense for traps to be set off in this manner and could potentially be used to catch enemies who have been narrowly avoiding setting them off. Perhaps activating in this manner could provide some trade-off or alternate effect (nothing too difficult for the Devs) ?

Just food for thought. If you have other ideas (besides ground targeting) post them here!

EDIT: To make this whole topic more worthwhile.

I say no. Bombs, mines, ext. sure why not? But a trip wire or spikes? How do you remotely detonate those? The only I can see this working on is Shadow Trap, and it already does that.

Umm . . . what exactly is the difference between a mine and a trap in functionality? They’re designed to work in nearly the same way. As for Grenades and Bombs, they work on a timer . . . they don’t just sit and wait to be activated and will explode regardless UNLESS THEY ARE MINES/TRAP BOMBSso they wouldn’t even need this functionality. Not to mention that Tripwire is literally the only trap in the game that has an issue thematically because the spike traps pop up . . . you don’t fall into a pit filled with them (at least not in any animation I’ve seen). Your reasoning is a bit flawed and it sounds like you’re thinking only about the appearance of the traps instead of what they need mechanically in order to be effective.

I’m really only familiar with Ranger traps, so maybe other traps work differently, but…what would you do with remote-detonated traps? They already go off when someone walks into them, so what’s the advantage of detonating them early?

What would be the point? the traps activate when an enemy would walk over them. So if they were remote detonated also, it would still require the enemy to be over them. not much of a difference.

Chuck.8196:

What would be the point?

Don’t a couple of them make combo fields when they go off?

Palador.2170:

Chuck.8196:

What would be the point?

Don’t a couple of them make combo fields when they go off?

Sure do. but then its not a trap. its just a combo field. Seems like a waste to hope your 20% chance projectile gains a bit more condi as it pases through in that 4-5 secs its active.

Traps have larger areas when activated so being able to remotely detonate them would give Trap users a better shot at hitting enemies who do narrowly avoid them despite out best kiting efforts. Not to mention some Traps provide benefits like stealth, summoning companions, boons, combo fields, aegis, pull or even healing (for Dragonhunter and Ranger, that is) that we could still benefit from.

I’m not saying this would be a miracle fix by any means, but it would be a very small QoL change that would at least give Trap users a little more control.

Perhaps if the activated radius for traps was a bit larger than the standard 240 (like the Mark blast radius of 300) this idea might be more significant. Or perhaps activating them in this way could provide some sort of trade-off or alternative effect (nothing too demanding for the Devs)?

I’m really just looking for any ideas people might have for making them a bit more effective (other than ground targeting). I’m ready to try anything at this point!

Traps with trapper runes are a pretty powerful build for ranger, even if it does sacrifice stunbreakers to do so. I can clear a camp in wvw in record time, and set trap bombs for unwary players.

I’m not convinced by the need for remote detonation. If you’re worried about catching more mobs, it’s a matter of rounding up a few, then drop the spike trap to knock them up, so you can drop the others on top without interference. I very seldom waste a trap on single mobs in PvE.

It also doesn’t fit the flavor of traps. Traps are fairly basic contraptions to harm your opponent. remote detonation feels more technologically advanced, like mines. If you gave traps remote detonation, it would be a copy of the engies mines.

Only real purpose I could think this would be for the Ranger’s Heal trap that is a water field? Can’t really see any other reason for this….

Sure Engi’s Mines etc are remote detonate but those make sense and tbh make it a unique thing for that class. I guess adding this to traps of other classes may take some of that away?

Uden Reavstone.3426:

I say no. Bombs, mines, ext. sure why not? But a trip wire or spikes? How do you remotely detonate those? The only I can see this working on is Shadow Trap, and it already does that.

How do I summon minions, and create magic? How does my Spear stab hit 3 targets instead of one?

Okay, so with Traps as they are now the general consensus so far is that there’s little benefit to Remote Detonation, but what if, as I suggested, remote detonation resulted in an alternate effect (still within the theme of the trap, but not as strong as the Trap’s main focus) with a slightly reduced CD perhaps?

Regardless of the profession, Traps in this game (except for Wiretrap) require a good amount of suspension of disbelief to begin with because they can turn you invisible or were created with magic so I think obsessing over their realism is a bad idea. This is a fantasy game, after all. >.>