Guild Wars 2

rhael.6317:

Hi,

I posted my own experience that’s echoed by a bunch of posters here, specifically about rooting the #2 skill. Plenty of folks chimed in on Reddit. Please remove the root on bow #2!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3gaey2/dragonhunter_beta_sadness/

But LB#3 and LB#4 Line of Sight are bigger issues than the root on #2 o_o

Sorry, but this looks like you’ve done a terrific job of doing absolutely nothing that anybody asked for. Please try again.

The thing I see with the Dragonhunter compared to the other announced elite specs is that its current abilities lack synergy with the original guardian traits. For example, the traps are decent but they need more effects to justify taking them over medi or shouts. Traps on the surface look like symbols, so keep the name of traps but add maybe a trait where traps get symbol like effects. For example, traps once activated become symbols that way we get benefits from the zeal line and other traits that effect symbols.
One last thing that could also work is if traps had a passive effect while set. For example, the set trap could pulse boons to ourselves or nearby allies when we stand on them, (until triggered of course) that way the Dragonhunter could still provide alittle support as well have some kind of self sustain.

Karl McLain.5604:

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Karl, I’ll be honest, I don’t think increasing the damage values of a defensive skill like that is the right way to go. I feel a much more interesting approach than just turning it into another damage skill with some flavor would be to play more with the projectile blocking part of it, making it a truly unique tool for the dragonhunter, and something with more purpose in the skill bar than “that skill you fire when on cooldown for some extra damage”.

I suggested a few pages back that the skill had a larger collider (like, far larger than it is currently), and moved slower, in order to function as a projectile deflection skill better. Currently, the skill’s projectile deflection function might as well not be there, due to the size and duration of the projectile (similar to how zealot’s defense is hardly ever used as anything other than point blank DPS, but i digress). Another poster suggested making it comparable with the mesmer shield skill (minus the part where it winds back to the player, of course). I feel that even if that meant a significant cooldown increase, it would be worth it, just to have a cool, unique and functional skill that serves as more than just DPS (after all, true shot already covers that).

As someone who plays a Guardian and a Mesmer, I feel like Deflecting Shot could use a better mechanic, akin to that of Tides of Time.

Add in an extra effect with it (i.e., if a shot is deflected, the target gets Slowed for 3s) – make it worthwhile to use. As it stands now, it’s not even worth using because projectile speeds in this game are extremely fast and when someone is on top of you – Mesmer Mirror Blade – you’re not going to deflect anything.

The concept of adding a range defensive option is a good start but the skill mechanic needs a drastic change.

Karl McLain.5604:

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Get rid of the roots on Guardians! I can safely speak for all Guardians in that we’d be willing to give up damage if you took away the rooting on True Shot. We’re supposed to be a mobile class, why are you putting restrictions on this?

phokus.8934:

We’re supposed to be a mobile class

since when? guardian has always been one of the most notoriously slow classes in the game.

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization. Here’s a few more changes we’ve been playing with for the longbow.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Sounds like a step in the right direction. I didn’t expect the additional changes that soon. Thank you for listing these, Karl.

Also, any word on possible virtue changes? :P

BrunoBRS.5178:

phokus.8934:

We’re supposed to be a mobile class

since when? guardian has always been one of the most notoriously slow classes in the game.

Slow, yes. Mobile, no, not at all.

@Karl

These would be a great start and, really, those address my biggest complaints for Longbow. Now, I do tend to agree: Deflecting Shot could use some mechanical love like these other folks are recommending…

I would propose the effect have roughly the same speed as Staff #2 (same animation/travel path as Deflecting shot has currently) with 120 radius which deflects projectiles and punishes the attacker (a very brief 1s burn for each effective deflect.) There are some situations that you could punish say, a ranger who decides to Rapid Fire and gets a very large burst of burning damage, but otherwise it is fairly mild.

In my opinion, the current iteration, while certainly skillful, is severely lacking in equivalent reward. I’d like to see the delta between the two shift heavily into rewarding while still requiring good timing to truly shine. So, given the ability to construct moving combo fields on entities now (Berserker Warhorn, Revenant Hammer, etc) it seems feasible that you could do this without any major programming hoops too.

I dunno, you guys are on top of it! I’m not gonna armchair design too much! I look forward to spending a bit more time with the DH when BWE2 hits!

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization. Here’s a few more changes we’ve been playing with for the longbow.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Some great changes! Super glad to get updates on this stuff. Thank you!

(I’m not sure what everyone’s issues with being rooted is, I never found it to be an issue during the weekend and found it a good trade off for some pretty great damage on a low cool down. Unless you tried to use it when the enemy was right up next to you??)

There we go. Better, but there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Good longbow changes.

For trap synergy with longbow, if you’re not going to make them ground targetable, then I’d suggest adding a mobility option in the traits. I think the knockback and cripple traits could be bundled together in the grandmaster, and then add the 25%movement speed option somewhere.

Been quiet so far but after letting BWE and dragon hunter to sink in i feel that its time to write some feedback.

I also read in the necro forum that other stuff than elite specializations also where under review, like their scepter and axe so i will adress other issues as well. DH isnt a stand alone traitline.

My feedback has its background in Tpvp and WvW mostly.

As you read thru this wall of text you will find that i added a lot of healing (self and party) but read to the end before you judge. Im trying to adress what i think is the main flaw with guardian. One or two traitlines being mandatory due to lack of survivability. Im looking at you, valor and virtues.

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization. Here’s a few more changes we’ve been playing with for the longbow.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Bow
Good changes besides Deflecting Shot. The thing/flaw with this skill isnt related to damage mainly, its the mechanics that makes it no fun and very luck based.

One way to go would be to make it channeled over lets say 3 seconds and during that time it blocks projectiles in a wider area while dealing damage in the same area. Since DH is about support at range (as i have understood it) a healing component would be nice. Let it also heal in the same area.

An even more appealing option would be to make Deflecting Shot a teleport with lets say 900 range. But hoping for this much needed addition might be a bit overoptimistic.

Cooldowns are nice in the bow with the exception of skill 5. Reduce it dramatically. Also reverse how it works, the fence has to be setup at the start of the skill. The number of times we put empty garden fences due to the order of effects is astounding. While garden fences are pretty thats not what the game is all about.

In a perfect world the auto should be a 3 step chain with each step applying a short lasting condition, cripple being one of them. The arrow shouldn’t be forced to bounce to apply cripple.

Virtues
Make virtues instant with DH, with no exception. In wvw and pvp anything but instant is a nerf to the original virtues. Increase the range on Wings of resolve. Make shield of courage to block ALL attacks.

Reduce CD on all virtues, 20/40/60 should be baseline

Traps
Make traps ranged and instantly placed. Not as baseline. Here you have Hunters fortification which is just awful that could be replaced with the new trait, “Master Hunter”, which allows for ranged traps and also have a self centered aoe heal, 1,5k.

Swap places on Dulled Senses and Virtuous Action. Seriously if you want to play bow you shouldn’t be forced top play with the new virtues. It reduces the fun and diversity. Several weapons can knockback so dulled senses isnt weapon specific and hence perfect as a mandatory minor trait.

Traits for DH
Heavy Light and Dulled Senses are two traits that m,ust be used together. This reduces diversity. The above suggested change to Dulled senses would solve this with minimal effort.

Hunter determination is a gimmick and non supportive. Change it so every time true shot is used allies in its path, 180 on each side of the trajectory, receives stability. Now we are talking back line support and a need for positioning.

Piercing light shouldn’t apply bleed, it should apply burns. Bleeds are for rangers and burns are thematically for guardian.

Merge Big Game hunter and Virtous Action and make the new virtues add 5% damage with no prerequisite.

Pure damage traits show a lack of imagination. Replace big game hunter with something fun that actually changes gameplay.

Vanilla weapons
Mace
Increase speed on step 3 in the chain, its clunky.

Shield
Just fix it, there is tons of feedback, just use it.

Focus
Excellent design and fun

Greatsword
Remove the root on the symbol

Hammer
Implement the same QoL changes that you added to warrior hammer. Its very difficult to understand why guardians didnt get the same changes when the animations were the exact same. With the tin foil hat on one might think that guardians deserve less of Quality of Life. :-)
Increase speed on step 3 in the chain and remove one tick on symbol of protection.

Staff
Remove the root on Empower

Sword
Remove the short root at the end of the animation on skill 2. In persue you dont actually blink to the opponent if he runs away from you but land just out of range due to the freeze.
Remove the root on #3

Scepter
What ever projectile speed you find good on the LB should be on scepter 1. They have the exact same issues and deserve the exact same solution.

Torch
The changes you brought in the new traits made this weapon really nice and powerful.

Vanilla Virtues
Decrease CD on all of them. 20/40/60 sound fair.
Increase the passive effect on virtue of resolve by a fair amount.

Vanilla Traits
Zeal
Move all symbol traits to Honor. We are talking about maximum 2 symbols in two different sets and in order to play a symbol build you need to invest in two different traitlines.
Zealous Scepter could add a projectile speed increase (if a change to baseline speed is over powered even though prefered) and should add a cool down reduction to scepter.
Zealous Blade should heal on all weapon attacks not just GS.

Radiance
Perfect inscriptions isnt strong enough to encourage signet builds. Add that the passive effect of the signet is maintained while the signet is on cool down AND 1,5k aoe heal when using a signet.

Valor
Make altruistic healing also heal allies in 600 radius. Atm its not on par with Monks Focus and it tries to offer the same thing, self healing. Making it a purely supportive trait would make it more balanced with Monks Focus.
Remove internal cd on might of the protector. It was fine before and it would be fine now.

Honor
Buff Selfless Daring. We loose out on 300 in healing with the new traitsystem so add 300 healing as baseline to Selfless Daring.
Condipressure just increases in this game. Make Pure of Voice remove 2 conditions (So its at least better than the trooper runes that everyone can have.) and add a 1k self centered aoe heal with the same radius as the shout.
Writ of Persistence. Increase baseline size on all the symbols, skills should work without traiting, and increase the healing dramatically from the trait. Anet has claimed the guardians is about area control and symbols could be such a tool if there were sustain in them.

Virtues
Move Glacial Heart to T2 Valor. Its fits better there (being one of the best AH weapons) and its also a huge nerf to hammer to let Glacial Heart compete with Supreme Justice and Absolute Resolution.
Battle Presence should allow for the passive effect of Virtue of resolve when is its on CD.

Why all the healing
The thing is that Valor in particular is to strong compared to the other lines when it comes to offering sustain. This makes meditations almost mandatory even though AH builds in some scenarios can compete. And both of these are found in valor.

Add to that that most of the condi removal and stun breakers are found in virtues. This leaves us that most if not all competitive tpvp and wvw build must contain these to full lines.

The solution isnt to nerf MF and AH but to add sustain in other lines, open up for more diversity in build. If the added survivability was added mainly to utility skills there wouldnt be any stacking of skills (limited number of utility skill) and even though all this healing was added the effective amount of healing wouldnt increase. Just diversity in how you could apply the healing.

I have excluded spirit weapons in this review since i have given up on them completely and also consecrations. The reason i excluded consecrations is that they are both offense and defense and i couldn’t come up with an easy fix. Consecrations are also in virtues and could fall under the increase of the passive resolve if it was buffed adequately.

An other solution would be to add 5k health and nerf AH and MF to the ground.

Thank you! Finally some well-deserved changes. For once I don’t disagree with anything. I hope the traits and Tempest get a similarly adequate treatment.

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization. Here’s a few more changes we’ve been playing with for the longbow.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Something for everyone in there – the changes to puncture shot (and symbol of energy) should make the posters who seem to want longbow to be scepter-with-faster-projectiles happier (and I don’t fully disagree with them, it was sometimes frustrating to chase after PvP enemies who ran past, not being able to punish them enuogh for being in your range), while the damage buffs to the less mobile skills should help the ranger-like feel of encouranging positioning over kiting and keep the feel of the longbow as a distinct weapon from scepter/staff (I enjoyed playing with longbow much more than with scepter, probably because of true shot and hunter’s ward).

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization. Here’s a few more changes we’ve been playing with for the longbow.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Cool changes! Especially to #1.
What about True Shot grants you 2s of Swiftness after you successfully hit a foe. Great for repositioning, you are root in place for 1s but after that you can easily change your position and channel this skill again and again. Ranger has Hunter’s Shot which allows him to get in stealth and repositon himself. Guardian needs it even more since #2 roots him in place. I mean it doesn’t need to be Swiftness. It can be Vigor or directly an Endurance.

#EDIT
This can be even added to the True Shot trait (the major master trait) – Hunter’s Determination.

If you really don’t want to give DH any Swiftness you can always borrow sth from Warrior’s trait line.
Hunter’s Determination.

• Stability for each foe you struck.
• Gain 3% increased damage for 5s after you successfully cast this skill. (stack up to 4 times).

Currently Longbow skill #3 (Deflecting shot) seems rather lackluster. It is meant to protect allies, and it can, but only ever so briefly!

Here’s a thought on how we could improve longbow 3: How about when deflecting shot is fired, it leaves behind a residual light trail (somewhat blurry/faint, but noticeable for sure) for a second or two that blocks projectiles? I was thinking something along the lines of elementalist focus skill #4 on earth attunement!

Increase the damage of deflecting shot, allow it to maintain its original projectile block/blind, and then it also leaves behind a line that blocks projectiles for a second or two. To compensate, the cooldown would be increased.

This makes it more powerful but not op, and allows it to better support allies as it was intended to.

Karl

When you get around to traits, can we please; PLEASE, PLEASE, get a 25% movement trait. Dragonhunter needs battlefield mobility and Guardian is the only class to not have access to this or perma swift.

I still see the longbow guardian has a silly name to it. hopefully we can see a change to it soon.

BrunoBRS.5178:

Karl McLain.5604:

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Karl, I’ll be honest, I don’t think increasing the damage values of a defensive skill like that is the right way to go. I feel a much more interesting approach than just turning it into another damage skill with some flavor would be to play more with the projectile blocking part of it, making it a truly unique tool for the dragonhunter, and something with more purpose in the skill bar than “that skill you fire when on cooldown for some extra damage”.

I suggested a few pages back that the skill had a larger collider (like, far larger than it is currently), and moved slower, in order to function as a projectile deflection skill better. Currently, the skill’s projectile deflection function might as well not be there, due to the size and duration of the projectile (similar to how zealot’s defense is hardly ever used as anything other than point blank DPS, but i digress). Another poster suggested making it comparable with the mesmer shield skill (minus the part where it winds back to the player, of course). I feel that even if that meant a significant cooldown increase, it would be worth it, just to have a cool, unique and functional skill that serves as more than just DPS (after all, true shot already covers that).

THIS!

BrunoBRS.5178:

Karl McLain.5604:

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Karl, I’ll be honest, I don’t think increasing the damage values of a defensive skill like that is the right way to go. I feel a much more interesting approach than just turning it into another damage skill with some flavor would be to play more with the projectile blocking part of it, making it a truly unique tool for the dragonhunter, and something with more purpose in the skill bar than “that skill you fire when on cooldown for some extra damage”.

I suggested a few pages back that the skill had a larger collider (like, far larger than it is currently), and moved slower, in order to function as a projectile deflection skill better. Currently, the skill’s projectile deflection function might as well not be there, due to the size and duration of the projectile (similar to how zealot’s defense is hardly ever used as anything other than point blank DPS, but i digress). Another poster suggested making it comparable with the mesmer shield skill (minus the part where it winds back to the player, of course). I feel that even if that meant a significant cooldown increase, it would be worth it, just to have a cool, unique and functional skill that serves as more than just DPS (after all, true shot already covers that).

+1 THIS
The skill is too fast. We have AA and True Shot for damage.
This one should be the very slow projectile with a large collider, so that it can be actually used when you need reflect, without simply being “lucky”.

Or leave it fast and add a trail that lasts for 1 second, so that the trail can be used to reflect..

Finally!

But we could use some 25% moving speed while wielding Longbow.
And Virtues change.

And you almost fixed DH.

Those are pretty sweet improvements to the DH! I like them! Hope to see the same love for tempests soon.

Puncture Shot: Yes, please rework the cripple function. Requiring more than one enemy is really hurting the skill. Most PvP and a lot of pve scenarios often put you in a situation where you cannot utilize the skill in this form.

Maybe make it bounce up to 2 times and give it ‘’Cripple enemies with Burning or Bleeding with certain treshold’’ (3 stack burn, 2 stack bleed) ?

Deflecting Shot: I believe most people are complaining because of the speed of the skill and how you can’t fire it behind you. Skill is so fast that it can block very few projectiles.

Maybe add a small knock-back to compensate?

Please reconsider deflecting shot changes. Adding more damage to a utility skill is only going to make people spam it as soon it goes off cooldown instead of using for an actual reflect

There are several ways we could make it a bit more appealing, like reducing the speed of the projectile by about 50%.

Or it leaves a reflecting fire, ala Teragriffs that last for 2~3 seconds or so, reduce damage,increase cooldown and remove blind if this is too strong.

I’d love for Deflecting Shot to do no damage at all, but reflect projectiles instead (with a bit “higher” reflect range, I noticed to you can’t deflecting shot warriors longbow f1 for instance).
Also you should be able to fire behind you (just like Symbol of Energy now).

Would make it into a true skillshot and not just another spam on cd for more damage skill.

Don’t be fooled by +damage changes.

It’s a easy way to win people over.

Remember numbers can easily be nerfed post launched.

It’s the mechanics that need to change, the velocity changes are nice step.

Transparency at last! Keep em coming, Karl, you’re on a roll.

I still feel deflecting shot should have its defensive niche improved rather than turning it into an offensive skill to emphasize making the right choice of moves at the right time.

Aorin.9168:

Karl

When you get around to traits, can we please; PLEASE, PLEASE, get a 25% movement trait. Dragonhunter needs battlefield mobility and Guardian is the only class to not have access to this or perma swift.

^ This.

Remove Pure of Sight and give Longbow a 10% damage increase throughout.
I cannot NOT take the trait anyway, because it is Minor.
If you are going to make a mandatory damage boost, you might as well simply increase the base damage of the weapon by 10%, freeing the minor trait slot.
Or at least move Pure of Sight to become a Major trait.

Replace Pure of Sight with: Hunter’s Chase
You gain 5 seconds of Swiftness whenever you hit a foe beyond the range threshold(600 range). 5s cooldown.
This way, the Dragonhunter gets to “chase after/close-in to" the foe at range. The predator runs after the prey. It fits the Hunter theme very well, and also gives Guardians(Dragonhunters) some much needed mobility.
Also good synergy with Hammer#3(they get Immobilized, you get Swiftness and close-in faster).

or

Replace Pure of Sight with: Hunter’s Stride
You move 8% faster for each passive Virtue effect on you.
If you activate a Virtue, the passive is gone(and your Virtue goes on cooldown), so you lose 8% movement speed. But, this trait would also give 8% increased movement speed to allies when combined with Battle Presence.

Mesmers have their second Chronomancer Minor trait as 25% movement speed and every Mesmer unanimously agrees that this is the best trait addition they ever got. Guardian’s second Dragonhunter trait should also deal with increased mobility even if it is not passive or permanent.

Karl McLain.5604:

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage..

Honestly, the damage on True Shot is fine, my issue is with Hunters Determination. I’d like it if the stability from Hunters Determination was just baseline. As it stands, taking that trait feels like a waste to buff only 1 skill, (I understand that there are Virtue specific traits, but they synergise with each other, and you’ll always have access to virtues. Having a trait that buffs 1 skill on 1 weapon that you won’t necessarily be using all the time and will take up an entire weapon set just for that stability makes taking Hunters Determination very wasteful imo). I’d like to see Hunter’s Determination just be baseline for True Shot, which will open up that trait slot for something more interesting/useful.

Karl McLain.5604:

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

I don’t think this skill should be for damage. I’ve seen a lot of people have issues with the speed of the projectile making it difficult to actually use as a defensive projectile blocking skill. It doesn’t need more damage, it needs to move slower.

Other than that, <3 Dragonhunter

Ragnarox.9601:

Finally!

But we could use some 25% moving speed while wielding Longbow.
And Virtues change.

And you almost fixed DH.

Aorin.9168:

Karl

When you get around to traits, can we please; PLEASE, PLEASE, get a 25% movement trait. Dragonhunter needs battlefield mobility and Guardian is the only class to not have access to this or perma swift.

I would like at 25% movement increase when wielding a longbow as well.

I love the velocity increase. It only makes sense to me that as a skilled (dragon)hunter I would be able to target things and actually hit a moving target.

The other comments here about the deflect shot also sound really good too. Looking forward to playing with these changes!

For those wanting ground targeted traps…not going to happen. They took away Ranger’s ground target trap ability and no other traps in the game work that way. I think the place at your feet we have now works and you just have to think ahead.

Karl McLain.5604:

….

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

great. this is what people asked for. lets see in the next beta if this is enough to improve it. thank you

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

If the dmg is high enough to justify the root it will be a great risk vs reward skill. ty again

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

i dont feel like a dmg increase here is not needed. it should be more of a utility skill. dont buff the dmg but make it a bit bigger and make it reflect to reward getting projectiles with it. maybe even make it do less/no dmg but add the reflect

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

exactly what we asked for. ty

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

a few ideas for the still clunky virtues:
make F2 range to 900 ( to make it a great engage/disengage skill (this is what guardian lacks right now)
make f3 instant ( to allow stomps with stab)

Traits:
combine bulwark and hunters fortification
cripple on big game hunter
combine heavy light and dulled senses
trait to throw traps (or make it baseline)

Edit:

Soaring Devastation: Increased the duration of the immobilize from 1.5s to 3s

i feel like a 3 second immob on F2 is too long. make it 2 maybe

phokus.8934:

BrunoBRS.5178:

phokus.8934:

We’re supposed to be a mobile class

since when? guardian has always been one of the most notoriously slow classes in the game.

Slow, yes. Mobile, no, not at all.

hammer 5, staff 4, shield 5, sword 3. Gs4
guardian has alot of rooting skills. and this is fine if the payoff is there (in this case enougn dmg)

Deflecting shot have increased projectile speed and should leave a trail that destroys projectiles for 2-3 seconds.

Something like the trails in Tron from the Light cycles

https://youtu.be/kLWELFZ-XdM?t=62

It’s nice devs listen to our feedback, much love! ty Karl!

Karl McLain.5604:

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

What if instead of rooting you in place, it just deals bonus damage if you aren’t moving? That way the player can decide, “Do I want to keep moving and deal less damage, or am I in position I can stop and make a True Shot while standing still thus dealing bonus damage?”

Aiden.5072:

Karl McLain.5604:

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

What if instead of rooting you in place, it just deals bonus damage if you aren’t moving? That way the player can decide, “Do I want to keep moving and deal less damage, or am I in position I can stop and make a True Shot while standing still thus dealing bonus damage?”

i like this idea

Karl McLain.5604:

Symbol of Energy:… allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thank you so much! Also, thanks for updating us and keeping us know your changes will be incoming.

Aiden.5072:

Karl McLain.5604:

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

What if instead of rooting you in place, it just deals bonus damage if you aren’t moving? That way the player can decide, “Do I want to keep moving and deal less damage, or am I in position I can stop and make a True Shot while standing still thus dealing bonus damage?”

This seems like a cool idea on paper, but it would be difficult to implement in a game with combat as quickly paced as this one. Either players would end up missing out on the bonus too often because they’d accidentally misstep or not stop running in time before casting, or the skill would have to deliberately stop you when initially being cast, which would break the flow of things and be almost as jarring as the skill is currently.

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization. Here’s a few more changes we’ve been playing with for the longbow.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Thank you Sir! I will definitely be testing these next beta. Looking forward to hearing from you again to know what else we can expect!

Black Box.9312:

Aiden.5072:

Karl McLain.5604:

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

What if instead of rooting you in place, it just deals bonus damage if you aren’t moving? That way the player can decide, “Do I want to keep moving and deal less damage, or am I in position I can stop and make a True Shot while standing still thus dealing bonus damage?”

This seems like a cool idea on paper, but it would be difficult to implement in a game with combat as quickly paced as this one. Either players would end up missing out on the bonus too often because they’d accidentally misstep or not stop running in time before casting, or the skill would have to deliberately stop you when initially being cast, which would break the flow of things and be almost as jarring as the skill is currently.

Hmm. I would prefer getting stability during the cast. So you’re really rooted and can’t be interrupted, helping to make the shot more “true.”

Anti.9156:

phokus.8934:

BrunoBRS.5178:

phokus.8934:

We’re supposed to be a mobile class

since when? guardian has always been one of the most notoriously slow classes in the game.

Slow, yes. Mobile, no, not at all.

hammer 5, staff 4, shield 5, sword 3. Gs4
guardian has alot of rooting skills. and this is fine if the payoff is there (in this case enougn dmg)

This is true, but the problem (to me) is that 40% of the new weapon skills have a rooting effect. Rooting is one of the least-fun mechanics used in GW2. The fluidity of combat is a huge selling point of GW2, and now the newest, “coolest” elite spec for guardians forces you to come to a halt twice during your rotation.

I’m sure there’s a chance I’m wrong, but are there any other weapons where two out of the five skills root you? This is a big tradeoff; kill your flow, reduce your fun, slow down an already-molasses-slow profession because the damage will be slightly boosted based off our feedback?

Nossir. I genuinely am uninterested in a weapon set that kills the joy of combat. Two roots is too many. One is grudgingly acceptable for the payoff (large AOE, just like Staff 5 in Fire for elementalist), but two skills moves DH into the “will not waste my time” category.

The changes are okay so far, but tbh there is a change which everyone wants. Make F3 again an instacast, cause we need it to finish peolple.

Also the LB is not the only thing that should get love. Many people say give them traits more love, but everyone ignores this. As many people say, they are boring and weak.

Some Examples for Traits:

1st When health is below 50% your Vortues get recharged. This would make people actually use the new elites.

2nd (and my favorite one) what about a trait which knocks down people on smite condition? This would benefit the control character of the dragonhunter and could be combined with other traits such as “smite on heal” a cool name would be “Dragons Stomp”

3rd What about giving the Dragonhunter an F4 virtue with a weak passive effect (10% movement speed increase or every third/fifth hit blinds the foe) and making the active an ground target port. Or what about making deflecting shot an ground target port just like the thiefs one with an high cooldown.

These are a few ideas i would love to see as Dragonhunter traits, since till now they seem really boring and makes the guard community think Arenanet doesnt care about Guards

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization. Here’s a few more changes we’ve been playing with for the longbow.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

definitely what we wanted to hear as far as true shot, puncture shot and symbol of energy. As stated though damage isn’t really the issue with deflecting shot though.

IMO it mainly needs to also be fired behind you “same issue as symbol of energy” and I think it might actually be more useful for deflecting if the projectile was maybe a little bigger but also moved slower like scepter projetile or orb of light speeds so you could run with it, and manuever around it keeping it between you and your enemy.

Karl McLain.5604:

While the changes listed are the ones you’ll be seeing in the next beta weekend, we haven’t stopped making changes as we work to improve the Dragonhunter specialization.

Excellent.

Puncture Shot: Arrow velocity is slow! We’re looking at increasing it so that it’s less strafe-able. What we’ve got it at is ~66% increase, putting it at around Hip Shot (engineer rifle) velocity. We’re also looking at the base and bounce functionality.

Perfect — these may not be all that we want, but it’s definitely what we NEED. Looking forward to testing/playing with the new values.

(and not directly your department, I know, but please consider a more mystical FX projectile to cement that the Dragonhunter is not your ordinary archer. I’d still love to see their auto-attack leave trails behind the arrows more akin to the Guardian’s Focus #4 FX… Would look exceptionally awesome when you have the aether bow equipped as suggested by the class art)

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

I know a lot of people want it fully mobile, but I LIKE the trade-off of having to consider your placement carefully before pulling the trigger, rewarded by a shot that’s a BEAST.

Deflecting Shot: We’re looking at increasing the damage values of this ability, so that it has a bit more impact to it.

While I won’t say no to it being a non-stupid part of a damage rotation compared to auto-attacking, I do hope we can see something done to improve it’s usability as a weird counter-play anti-missile. Part of the problem is you have a ton of ranged attacks in the game that’ll drill right through it regardless, things like Mesmer GS #1.

Symbol of Energy: It’s really hard to place this in a position on allies/enemies without them being gone by the time the arrow gets there. Upping the missile velocity by ~60% and allowing it to be fired behind you.

Excellent changes. Bump up the size of the hotspot just a little and call it glorious.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

Looking forward to it. I don’t mind getting the changes in smallish chunks as long as we have a sense of communication.

It is good to hear from you .

I kind of want to see Deflecting shot act like that focus skill, shield of wrath, sort of. Creates a bubble shield around you when you fire it for a couple seconds. I don’t think it needs the exploding damage effect the shield gives, though.

phokus.8934:

Karl McLain.5604:

True Shot: To make this ability more rewarding for stopping you in place, we’re looking at further increasing the damage.

Thanks for your constructive feedback, everyone. I’ve got to head out for now. We’ll be back with more stuff, like traits, soon.

-Karl

Get rid of the roots on Guardians! I can safely speak for all Guardians in that we’d be willing to give up damage if you took away the rooting on True Shot. We’re supposed to be a mobile class, why are you putting restrictions on this?

Going to disagree:

1. We aren’t a mobile class
2. If you’re using LBow, then you’re not supposed to be in the thick of the fight anyways, so being rooted is less of a thing.

Turtle Dragon.9241:

Replace Pure of Sight with: Hunter’s Stride
You move 8% faster for each passive Virtue effect on you.
If you activate a Virtue, the passive is gone(and your Virtue goes on cooldown), so you lose 8% movement speed. But, this trait would also give 8% increased movement speed to allies when combined with Battle Presence.

I actually really like this suggestion.

1) It gives the dragonhunter some VERY needed ability to kite with the longbow (or I suppose around traps cough cough) and re-position between it’s post-up skills.
2) The tie-in with battle presence helps give it synergy with the core guardian lines which is something most of the traitline is desperately missing.
3) It’s not as much a mobility gain as the constant +25% move speed that other classes get, helping to keep the feel of guardian having to commit to a fight. Longer the fight goes on/the more virtues the DH invests, the less mobile or able to disengage they become.

My only preference would be to get rid of defender’s dogma instead of pure of sight. A block trait that refreshes F1 passive when there are none on the longbow seems like a really bad thing to stick as a minor. Stand in your traps and pop shelter. Great. Depend on mace/focus. Whatever. For most reasonable implementations of the DH it seems really out of place/borderline useless.

Your proposal would do a lot to help both trap/longbow focused dragonhunter playstyles. +1 for the suggestion.