Guild Wars 2

Madtavish.9037:

I slightly worried about the clunkyness/bugs that are bound to come from interaction between Hunter’s Verdict and Renewed Justice. I fully expect Renewed Justice to also reset Hunter’s Verdict and it to be patched. What I am more worried is a following scenario: Tether two enemies with Justice. Kill one and refresh your Justice. How does the UI react? Can throw a second justice to stack even more burns (as it was possible all these BWEs)? Or do I have to use Hunter’s Verdict to use my second Justice? Or does the UI flip into Justice and doesn’t allow usage of Hunter’s Verdict until I land the second justice? What if I want to pull and reapply the tether (for the Big Game Hunter trait)? I am worried how will this particular interaction work and that it will take some of the tactical choices you can make due how the UI will turn out.

The way I see it is you:

1. Throw out SoJ.
2. Tether foes.
3. SoJ flips to HV
4. Activate HV which pulls your foes to you.
5. Flips back to SoJ which is still on CD
6. Kill foe recharging SoJ
7. Again throw SoJ out
8. Tether foe
9. SoJ flips to HV which is still on CD.
10. Tether expires HV flips back to SoJ

Overall I would prefer HV to have same base CD as SoJ making it less chunky. This would mean normal SoJ recharge & use would also enable HV use on each successful SoJ throw.

These are great changes Karl. Well done.

These are some minor points that might need to be addressed:

• I am looking forward to try Hunter’s Verdict. Have you thought about it how it would work in combination with some other traits? For example, when you pull an enemy with Hunter’s Verdict while you have Heavy Light (knock back) traited the enemy will be pulled towards you and then knocked back again. Is this too much CC? Or should the knock back perhaps be removed or put on the Longbow skill #3 Deflecting Shot (they have the same cool down).

• Like others have said, the Purification trap is not something I would use over Shelter. Simply because a trap is not the right utility to use when you need to quickly react to heavy incoming damage. Why not let this trap work the opposite? When deploying Purification, while standing inside, the trap will give regeneration as long as no enemy triggered it. On trigger give it a small HP boost.

• Good work on Fragments of Faith and some other traps! They are definitely more versatile now that it delivers some sustain.

• Are there any core changes coming still? I added some feedback in your last thread regarding a few utilities and traits that need some love. Unfortunately I don’t see any results here!

Good luck with the remaining few days towards the expansion!

I like those changes but we also need:

- Purification trap need to swap heals and its a purification so it purifies 2 conditions when put down trap.
- Virtue of resolve still needs evade (THIS IS A MUST)
- Hunters verdict cd decreased to 30 sec

and I think thats it and worth trying.

Karl McLain.5604:

Hi all,
Here’s a list of new stuff we’ve got going as we draw closer to launch. Traps are gaining a functionality and are branching out just a tad bit, granting boons to the guardian when the trap is triggered.

I was hoping for some fields, but boons are solid and will certainly promote the synergy with Altruistic Healing.

We’ve also been evaluating a secondary ability for Spear of Justice, which will pull all tethered enemies toward you, should you desire. In testing with the interaction of Radiance’s Justice refresh mechanic, we felt like this would blow out in quite a few scenarios. Thus, the cooldown of this secondary is separate from Justice itself, allowing for adjustments more freely. Renewed Focus does recharge this ability.

• New skill: Hunter’s Verdict
• Hunter’s Verdict: Pull all tethered enemies to you, breaking the tether. This ability’s cooldown (40s) is separate to that of Justice.

Wow. That’s a really flexible with maximum player-agency version of the concept people have been throwing around. I think that’s gonna to be a constant counter-argument against the people who insist ‘traps are useless’ like it’s a mantra that has to be repeated over and over (hint: they aren’t).

• Procession of Blades: Increased damage per attack by roughly 20%. This trap now grants Fury for 8 seconds when triggered.
• Dragon’s Maw: This trap now grants 10 stacks of might for 8 seconds when triggered.

These two being used in conjunction giving both traps and the DH 8 seconds of might/fury is going to officially be known as “The Death Sentence”.

You heard it here first .

• Fragments of Faith: Fixed this trap striking multiple times. Base damage has been reduced by 40% and is no longer unblockable. This ability is now instant and breaks stuns, as well as granting 3 stacks of stability for 5 seconds when triggered. note: The design of this trap is moving back toward its defensive nature and has much more functionality than before, thus the reduction in overall damage.

Outside of it’s brief buggy period it’s purpose was always defensive.

Just checking, when you say “This ability is now instant and breaks stuns” you mean when placed? Because if what I’ve always said was the best of the bunch just became an insta-cast stun-break, I may swoon.

• Test of Faith: This ability is now instant and grants protection for 6 seconds when triggered. Additionally, it now strikes enemies for 66% of its full damage when it triggers.

Looks like the runt of the litter is finally finding it’s legs. While I won’t likely use it with Longbow, melee trappers may find this a good tool to work a fight in close and punish foes whose nerve breaks and who try to run.

• Light’s Judgment: This trap now grants Swiftness for 10 seconds when triggered. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 30.

Heh, heh, hehhh. Stealth-reliant Thieves thought the pain was over when Fragments got debugged…

• Purification: This trap now grants regeneration for 10 seconds when triggered.

Outstanding. My biggest problem with this skill during the BWE3 is it’s so big and so fast in a melee furball that I’m reluctant to cast it until my life is a little on the low side. Having a lingering heal component makes it much easier to accept a little bit of overhealing. With the right traiting and gear this could lead to near 100% regen up-time in a brawl.

Some sort of cleanse (on cast or on trigger) would still be welcome and fit the skill’s name, but I’d be willing to take my chances with this skill as it is now. I’ve never had a problem getting people or NPCs into my traps.

• Pure of Sight: This trait now grants bonus damage of 7% from 0-600 range, 13% beyond 600 range.

Part of me wants to complain this is still a minor trait. Then the part of me that maths tells that other part to shut the hell up because that’s one of the best damage boosting traits in the game allowing melee trap-setters to beat down while enabling snipers to aim for the pink mist.

Once again, thanks for the constructive feedback through the beta weekends.

That is a LOT of good stuff and makes comparisons to the all-mighty meditation utility line a lot closer thing I feel. So I’m not trying to be churlish when I say I’m down to two items left I have to ask for attention to~

• Hunter’s Ward (“cages!”). I still feel three ticks of damage before caging is too much telegraphing. Two ticks first — even at the loss of some damage — will help make this skill a terrifying control threat on the battlefield.

• Spirit Weapons. These need help in their own right and have for years now. Doubly so now that we have a ranged spec where these could truly shine. Please review the health/toughness curves because testing them out they are crazy OVERpowered at low levels and too fragile at endgame. I also implore you – unify their mechanics with Necromancer minions: Let them last until destroyed, then go on cooldown. Yes that means the two utility weapons (bow/shield) will probably have to proc less often. And finally, please let us know if their forced-agro behavior is deliberate. I’ve single handedly beaten a veteran 2/3s to death from melee range building agro, summoned a spirit sword and had it take agro before its first swing. What is going on?!?

Cheers,
-Karl

Is it the 23rd yet? Is it? Is it? Is it? Is it? Is it NOW?

So excited .

Karl McLain.5604:

Hi all,
Here’s a list of new stuff we’ve got going as we draw closer to launch. Traps are gaining a functionality and are branching out just a tad bit, granting boons to the guardian when the trap is triggered.
We’ve also been evaluating a secondary ability for Spear of Justice, which will pull all tethered enemies toward you, should you desire. In testing with the interaction of Radiance’s Justice refresh mechanic, we felt like this would blow out in quite a few scenarios. Thus, the cooldown of this secondary is separate from Justice itself, allowing for adjustments more freely. Renewed Focus does recharge this ability.

• New skill: Hunter’s Verdict
• Hunter’s Verdict: Pull all tethered enemies to you, breaking the tether. This ability’s cooldown (40s) is separate to that of Justice.
• Procession of Blades: Increased damage per attack by roughly 20%. This trap now grants Fury for 8 seconds when triggered.
• Fragments of Faith: Fixed this trap striking multiple times. Base damage has been reduced by 40% and is no longer unblockable. This ability is now instant and breaks stuns, as well as granting 3 stacks of stability for 5 seconds when triggered. note: The design of this trap is moving back toward its defensive nature and has much more functionality than before, thus the reduction in overall damage.
• Test of Faith: This ability is now instant and grants protection for 6 seconds when triggered. Additionally, it now strikes enemies for 66% of its full damage when it triggers.
• Light’s Judgment: This trap now grants Swiftness for 10 seconds when triggered. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 30.
• Purification: This trap now grants regeneration for 10 seconds when triggered.
• Dragon’s Maw: This trap now grants 10 stacks of might for 8 seconds when triggered.
• Pure of Sight: This trait now grants bonus damage of 7% from 0-600 range, 13% beyond 600 range.

Once again, thanks for the constructive feedback through the beta weekends.

Cheers,
-Karl

I really like the direction of these changes Karl. But I would still propose the following:

Wings of Resolve
Remove the immobilise on activation, not after (similiar warrior’s sprint on the warrior’s discipline traitline).

Defender’s Dogma
Kinda underwelming, maybe replace it with something else?

Heavy Light
I think this needs some improvement. For a grandmaster trait it is underwelming. If enemies stay above the range treshold this GRANDMASTER trait does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. How to fix this? Add a 20% cooldown reduction for bow on this trait! Wouldn’t be OP at all since this is a grandmaster trait, and right now it just sucks, sorry. Other weapons also have a 20% reduction, so why not the same rules for bow?

Dragon’s Maw
Damage still seems kind of low for a elite. Does it damage more the one foe? i can’t remeber. Maybe that would help?

Misc
I really think it wouldn’t hurt to see a movementspeed trait (I know it has been said a million times already, but I feel it really fits the Dragonhunter). Maybe replace defender’s dogma with this?

Wow, I actually really like the new additions.
Hunter’s verdict in particular was going to save me a lot of weapon swapping to use GS 5 to pull enemies into traps, and I think I can live without 25% passive movement now because now I have an innate way to do so. The traps themselves got the attention I was hoping for and I can’t wait to get my hands on the new versions. (I’ve always loved the concept of being a trapper)

However,
My criticism remains with Purification. Please consider moving the regeneration to the activation rather than the trigger so the guardian has a little more of a guaranteed return from the ability.

Regeneration on the trigger is putting even more weight on— what in my opinion is— the wrong side of the ability. It’s just more would-be healing you need to force an enemy into the trap to receive. I could understand if condi removal or conversion was on the trigger; for that kind of perk to require a bit more effort from the player. But regen on the trigger doesn’t at all address the reliability issue that’s likely going to keep me and most other guardians from ever slotting this ability over more reliable options.

Other than that, keep it up, I like where this is all going!

Nike.2631:

• Spirit Weapons. These need help in their own right and have for years now. Doubly so now that we have a ranged spec where these could truly shine. Please review the health/toughness curves because testing them out they are crazy OVERpowered at low levels and too fragile at endgame. I also implore you – unify their mechanics with Necromancer minions: Let them last until destroyed, then go on cooldown. Yes that means the two utility weapons (bow/shield) will probably have to proc less often. And finally, please let us know if their forced-agro behavior is deliberate. I’ve single handedly beaten a veteran 2/3s to death from melee range building agro, summoned a spirit sword and had it take agro before its first swing. what is going on?!?

Just wondering how could Spirit Weapons play if their cast time & CD functioned similar to Traps. As with their timed nature they feel like a similar gameplay to traps. They could then still keep current skill strength due to them still being timed but play smoother with greater timed summoned & less time on CD. This would allow for pre-combat summons with a higher chance of being able to re-summon if caught out & the ability to re-summon more easily in combat.

Also like Traps they might need that little bit more… Boon access or something like it.

Defender’s Dogma should be changed to benefit Hunter’s Verdict in some way.

Fragments of Faith should be triggered from allies not enemies, fully commit to its defensive nature. Same for Purification.

What are others thoughts on replacing Defender’s Dogma with Zealot’s Aggression?
I feel this would make a better DH minor.

I like the overall changes Karl but Hunters Verdict has a way too high Cooldown for 1 simple pull, I would match it up with Spear of Justice and would male DH really enjoyable, also SoJ is really hard to hit.

With this CD i couldnt even pull a ranger because the controll effect is transferred to the pet.

With this high cooldown its clunky and not enjoyable at all

snoow.1694:

I like the overall changes Karl but Hunters Verdict has a way too high Cooldown for 1 simple pull, I would match it up with Spear of Justice and would male DH really enjoyable, also SoJ is really hard to hit.

We basically just stole Scorpion Wire with no additional cost to ourselves. Only our Scorpion Wire pulls multiple foes if we line up the initial shot right. If there’s a case for something-for-nothing to be even better, I’m willing to wait until we’ve actually played with it a few weeks on live.

Really nice changes but the current virtue mechanics are really bad. Especially f3, having that interupted puts it on a full 75s CD without getting any of the virtue benefits, and the same with f2, it gets put on full CD without the heal/regen. Maybe make f3 instant cast and f2 an evade while leaping that would help with the DH sustain alot.

Arnath.2319:

Defender’s Dogma should be changed to benefit Hunter’s Verdict in some way.

Fragments of Faith should be triggered from allies not enemies, fully commit to its defensive nature. Same for Purification.

This ^

Looking at rangers one of the things that made healing spring great was that it was triggered by allies.
Now that it can only be triggered by enemies very few want to use it.

Same goes for purification.
It should also…. you know purify the guardian by removing some conditions……

As for defenders dogma. It should reduce the CD of justice by 1 second per block & hunters vindication by 2-3 seconds per block. with no internal CD.

This would make it rather nice, especially for builds built around blocking.

Short of that however a complete rework of the skill is all that would save it.

As for zealot’s aggression, it really should be merged with big game hunter. As is zealot’s aggression discourages the use of justice.
Merging them would give you a benefit to justice no matter how you use it.

pretty good changes for traps so far,
but please consider a condition cleanse on Purification.

I believe Bulwark needs to be baseline and F3 still needs a slight cooldown reduction.
Evade on F2 needs to happen, it’s very unreliable in PvP situations otherwise.

If Bulwark is made baseline you have an open slot for a new trait:
Trappers Speed: Gain 25% movement speed while having an active trap.

Nike.2631:

We basically just stole Scorpion Wire with no additional cost to ourselves. Only our Scorpion Wire pulls multiple foes if we line up the initial shot right. If there’s a case for something-for-nothing to be even better, I’m willing to wait until we’ve actually played with it a few weeks on live.

I wonder whether we can pull tethered thieves in stealth. Imagine throwing Spear of Justice on a thief, he stealths, you put down the Light’s Judgement trap and pull him to reveal him. We can already pull stealthed enemies with Binding Blade so I imagine it could also work with Hunter’s Verdict.

Regarding Bulwark as just a size & duration enhancement I find it fairly plain. As DHs are supposed to be more aggressive could you look at the addition of reflect providing that more offensive skill feeling.

@ Karl Mclain:
Not related to the changes, but I have no idea how to get this across otherwise.

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have these kinds of threads more regular, and take the suggestions into account during the big skill balance patches?

Noah.4756:

Nike.2631:

We basically just stole Scorpion Wire with no additional cost to ourselves. Only our Scorpion Wire pulls multiple foes if we line up the initial shot right. If there’s a case for something-for-nothing to be even better, I’m willing to wait until we’ve actually played with it a few weeks on live.

I wonder whether we can pull tethered thieves in stealth. Imagine throwing Spear of Justice on a thief, he stealths, you put down the Light’s Judgement trap and pull him to reveal him. We can already pull stealthed enemies with Binding Blade so I imagine it could also work with Hunter’s Verdict.

Although this would be nice all they need to do is leave LJ & they can re-stealth within 1 second. For improvement I would like to see this apply the base reveal & just have it refresh it so it’s benefit last longer then 1 sec if they leave the trap or have it apply a 4 sec reveal when leaving the trap.

Tell every little cowardly Shadow’s Refuge Stealth Thief out there this:
Prepare to die!

1. Guardians originally has the Greatsword Binding Blade which can track a Thief even when they are Stealthed, followed by pull them if it lands. If played correctly, you could even pull the Thief out of Shadow’s Refuge and Reveal them.

2. Now Dragonhunter is given the Longbow Hunter’s Ward, which shows you the location of the Stealthed Thief because the barrier forms around them even if they are Stealthed. If they use Shadow’s Refuge, you use Hunter’s Ward right on top of it. If they do not move out of Shadow’s Refuge, they get caged in.

3. Dragonhunter also gets the Trap Light’s Judgment, which lands that sweet Reveal. If they Shadow’s Refuge, you just run in there and drop Light’s Judgment, which now only has 30s cooldown and can be traited even more.

4. Finally, the newest addition to the annihilation of Stealth Thieves is our brand new Hunter’s Verdict. You still need to land that Spear of Justice first, but if you landed it before they Stealthed, you get an easy free 1200 range Scorpion Wire style pull to bring them to your feet just like Binding Blade.

And all of these can be used together. You can pull someone into the range of Hunter’s Ward with Hunter’s Verdict. You can pull someone into Light’s Judgment too. You can drop Light’s Judgment right on top of where a Hunter’s Ward barrier has formed too.

docMed.7692:

Good changes overall and I’m glad to see blades get an overall damage buff (it needed it badly). The Dragon Maw change is also pretty godly.

My only quick adjustment I would recommend is rather than making tethered enemies pull to you (which is kind of the opposite idea of what we want as ranged dps) – why not make it immob for 2 sec?

You can immobilize foes with your SoJ. Just trait Wrath of Justice in the Radiance line and you are fine. Pull does not fit so good with rangeds combat, but it fits so well with traps.

I will feel like one of these guys here! ^^

But always keep in mind: Don’t cross the streams!

while Hunter’s Verdict is a nice addition there is still some issues plaguing dragon hunter which so far haven’t been addressed .

Defenders dogma: change to “thrill of the hunt” 25% movement speed whilst wielding a ranged weapon (staff/scepter/longbow) . It’s far better to have all professions with passive run speed increases rather then only one that doesn’t.

Puncture shot: remove the requirement for this attack to bounce to another target. This attack rarely bounces to another target due to the fact the 2nd target has to be behind the 1st, due to this fact puncture shot feels very lackluster. IT would be nice if puncture shot actually bounced twice not once also.

Spear of Justice (F1) : make the active inflict 2 seconds of cripple to every target it hits (initial impact) or allow the passive effect to still work after its been activated.

Hunter’s Ward: reduce cast time to 2 seconds and increase the cripple duration to 3seconds.

True shot: the root is a pain, but overall the lack of passive run speed is affecting us alot more.

Retribution (from radiance trait line) : change to 10% damage against targets with a condition on them. dragon hunter has a lot less ability to maintain retaliation then core guards but this trait also forces us to use the virtue trait line and it breaks the fundamental use of retaliation which isn’t meant to be spammed off cool down, its meant to be used a tactical counter to a large amounts of hits.

Tbh Karl giving ranger a taunt with 15s cd AND petswap while giving DH a simple pull with 40s CD which nearly never hits, is kinda rediculous. Decrease CD to 20s or match it up with Spear of Justice.

I have a suggestion for purification that I dont think I’ve seen around. The current problem with guardian is shelter is so strong most people wont take anything else. Usually shelter is used for its block in very critical moments in which, if you were to use the trap you most likely would get killed.
So my suggestion for Purification is: allow it to rally us if we’re downed. Let’s say you’re under heavy fire, you drop your trap and get the first small heal but there’s that pesky ranger rapid firing you. You go down before your enemy steps on the trap, but before they get to you, they trigger it, rallying you and giving you a massive heal. Similar to engineer’s AED, but more in line with the theme of guardian and “purification”.

Instant cast doesn’t sound very smart.

-The change to spear of Justice is very welcome.
-Traps are still traps thus useless.
-We still lack 25% run speed and the DH traits are rather weak, this is again a missed opportunity.

Overall DH feels very weak, traps are going to see little use outside spvp (even there its still a long shot), While bow is certainly better than Scepter, it is still over all a very weak power based ranged weapon, on a class with no run speed or dissengages.
Traits have little sinergy and are badly grouped together across the entire Guardian class, take Simbolic avenger and Writ of persistance, they are on 2 different lines and affect the same thing, before the trait changes they were on the same line.

To be short and blunt, the Guardian class is over all a complete mess and needs at the very least to have the traits re aranged and many completely re designed, and this messed up dessigned carried on onto the DH.

Many people with rose-tinted glasses on…
Hunter’s Verdict sounds amazing on paper or more like a 2nd Binding Blade. Not saying that’s bad because it’s great for guard to actually get some reliable CC.

On the other hand, sticking boons to traps doesn’t really help them. There’s a reason why traps are very niche… They don’t provide as good utility as the other skills across the professions that use them. Trap ranger is about the only one you’ll see occasionally in pvp due to them applying useful conditions and having decent damage.
Thief’s traps are redundant because what is provided by the traps can be reproduced in greater effect their other skills on shorter cooldowns, more damage,/utility, etc.

Traps need a bit more tweaking so that getting the heal, at least one utility or the elite is worth taking. Not good enough to take every place in your build. Was kind of funny fighting DHs that took all traps used them all and still couldn’t kill my bunker guard.

Pure of Sight being a straight up damage boost is very underwhelming and would seem to encourage double ranged builds… What about a temporary immunity to blind on CC with a small damage boost? Or just have more traits to work alongside or support our CC abilities? The daze on trap placement was a good idea so expand more on the CC!

Aight, the traps got some tweaks, respect for that.

Hunter’s verdict seems like a nice skill, can’t wait to try it out. Cooldown seems abit too high tho.

No 25% MS = I’m not gonna be playing dragon hunter much. It’s SOO boring being a snail or not being able to experiment with other runes.

No longbow/virtues changes = Kinda dissapointed, we didn’t ask for any major changes. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? :P

Hunter’s Verdict: Nice update, new mechanics! -
Procession of Blades: Cool, but it could be Whirl finisher.
Fragments of Faith: Amazing! I was asking for that break-stun.
Test of Faith: Okay
Light’s Judgment: It could be 15s to make 50% uptime swiftness. Nice to see the cool-down reduction.
Purification: I don’t like this trap.
Dragon’s Maw: Nice update, but I need to see in practice.
Pure of Sight: Nice update.

Please rework Defender’s Dogma to something more useful.
Invert Hunter’s Fortification to give 10% dmg reduction when you have conditions. It’s really hard to don’t have conditions on you.

Edit:
+ F2 with evade.
+ F3 instant.

Oh my.. Can’t wait to try those traps! Feels now we can rely on a full trap build? We’ll see after the update..! Also new skill! yay!

Btw, Karl, About Procession of Blades, the spin animation felt a lot slower in the last BWE, was that an intended change? also.. Whirl finisher plz? haha.

btw, Thanks guys for the constant updates on DH, much much appreciated!

Skyline Crash.6254:

im pretty sure he meant that it does 66% of the damage in the beginning as burst damage; the damage from them crossing isnt changed.

I definitely misread that! Thanks for catching it. That makes my opinion quite the opposite!

So let’s just think about how to compromise on the speed situation…

Generally Guardian needs to run Staff or Shouts to keep speed buffs up, but that makes it hard to do a “full trapper” DH build and keep the speed going.

Perhaps – if a trait could be moved or merged – you could have a trait which buffs speed while traps are down? Something like:

Trapper’s Retreat: Movement speed increased by 5% for each trap that has been set.

I’m not sure that fits with the “spirit” of the Guardian in the way it would be used in open world PvE, though…any thoughts or fixes to this idea?

Great changes here. I’m still waiting for traits to see some love though.

What about Hunter’s Fortification? The condition cleanse part did not work at all, did that get fixed? And about Fragments of Faith functionality, your character would only pick up the Aegis fragments, if you walk over it, when you keep standing on a fragment and lose an Aegis, you would not pick up the fragment, which made it very clunky to gather the fragments, sometimes you had to walk out of a fragment and walk over it again to pick it up, which costs a lot of time.

Great work, I am getting pretty excited for dragon hunter after hearing these changes. The only thing that really is missing is a 25% MS trait, Guardian is still the only class in the game without a signet or trait to boost base movement speed. Fingers crossed for a MS trait.

Been thinking about DH minors, Cripple & Reaper, Chill. When you select the Reaper because of the minors you know it’s all about Chill, & working with this condition. For me DH provide a new condition the core guardian couldn’t access before & yet unless traited for you would never know.

What I propose is to turn Dulled Senses & Zealot’s Aggression into the DH minors. This then SHOUTS OUT for all, DHs bring CRIPPLE to guardians. So like the Reapers & chill DHs are about access to cripple a new condition never before seen on guardians.

I believe Pure of Sight could be adjusted into a major trait quite easily now making this an optional choice for players which would make many players happy. Defender’s Dogma could be added to Bulwark providing a more aggressive feeling for it which leaves one major trait which could have some mobility benefit. Again as DHs seems to be also centred around control:

Hunter’s Swiftness – Gaining swiftness (5 sec) when you control an enemy.

Elementalist’s : have signet of air
Necromancer’s :have : signet of the locust
Warrior’s: have warriors sprint
ranger’s: have signet of the hunt and now will have a 33% run speed trait from druid
Thief’s: have signet of the shadow’s
Engineer’s: have speedy kits
Mesmer’s : have time marches on from chronomancer
Revenant’s: have impossible odds from shiro legend and facet of elements from glint legend which results as 100% swiftness up time + super speed on the side.

All of the above come at very low cost cost for each to actually use, unlike guards which current must use staff, Save Yourselves and retreat.

Staff wastes an entire weapon slot, not to mention we are forced to stay stationary for 4seconds to receive the full amount of swiftness it provides.

Not sure how we’re meant to use traps for utility’s with dragon hunter when we’re still forced to use retreat and save yourselves for run speed. This also leaves with only one utility slot that has something we wanted to actually use for our build.

Overall guards are paying a much higher price for run speed compared to all other professions and this needs to be changed Defenders dogma is the perfect candidate to solve this problem since its basically a empty trait slot that does nothing for guards.

Change defenders dogma to “thrill of the hunt” 25% increased movement speed when using ranged weapons (staff/scepter/longbow).

maps like SW and Verdant brink are a utter nightmare to play in with no passive run speed. In wvw using retreat and save yourselves isn’t viable at all, using traveler’s runes isn’t a viable alternative either.

When 8/9 professions already have it there is no possible balance issues of giving guards the same thing, however now there is a balance issue by not. There is so many reasons to give guardian’s a passive run speed and almost no reasons not to.

wtfkirk.6549:

Great work, I am getting pretty excited for dragon hunter after hearing these changes. The only thing that really is missing is a 25% MS trait, Guardian is still the only class in the game without a signet or trait to boost base movement speed. Fingers crossed for a MS trait.

Regarding the 25% MS I would prefer increases to teleports, short duration swiftness & maybe super speed access which provide short bursts of movement for reposition in combat.

The only reason I would want 25% MS is for out of combat solo movement. I would prefer addition rune set options to the existing to provide this. Although only providing approx. 22% overall MS bonus if looking for another MS rune set option try taking Retreat & Runes of the Pack which is a more offensive option compared to Rune of the Traveller & Rune of Speed. Which can be used with any spec line or traits.

Also it can be noted when traited Retreat & Staff can already provide 100% swiftness uptime out of combat. The issues I see for most is although this can be achieved the build capable costs to much offensive damage for their liking.

Also if looking at the 25% MS as help for escaping instead of adding this could we look at allowing Merciful Intervention to be a targeted teleport. Make it so it functions like the Elementalist’s Ride the Lightning halves skill recharge if it heals an ally.

Karl McLain.5604:

Hi all,
Here’s a list of new stuff we’ve got going as we draw closer to launch. Traps are gaining a functionality and are branching out just a tad bit, granting boons to the guardian when the trap is triggered.
We’ve also been evaluating a secondary ability for Spear of Justice, which will pull all tethered enemies toward you, should you desire. In testing with the interaction of Radiance’s Justice refresh mechanic, we felt like this would blow out in quite a few scenarios. Thus, the cooldown of this secondary is separate from Justice itself, allowing for adjustments more freely. Renewed Focus does recharge this ability.

• New skill: Hunter’s Verdict
• Hunter’s Verdict: Pull all tethered enemies to you, breaking the tether. This ability’s cooldown (40s) is separate to that of Justice.
• Procession of Blades: Increased damage per attack by roughly 20%. This trap now grants Fury for 8 seconds when triggered.
• Fragments of Faith: Fixed this trap striking multiple times. Base damage has been reduced by 40% and is no longer unblockable. This ability is now instant and breaks stuns, as well as granting 3 stacks of stability for 5 seconds when triggered. note: The design of this trap is moving back toward its defensive nature and has much more functionality than before, thus the reduction in overall damage.
• Test of Faith: This ability is now instant and grants protection for 6 seconds when triggered. Additionally, it now strikes enemies for 66% of its full damage when it triggers.
• Light’s Judgment: This trap now grants Swiftness for 10 seconds when triggered. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 30.
• Purification: This trap now grants regeneration for 10 seconds when triggered.
• Dragon’s Maw: This trap now grants 10 stacks of might for 8 seconds when triggered.
• Pure of Sight: This trait now grants bonus damage of 7% from 0-600 range, 13% beyond 600 range.

Once again, thanks for the constructive feedback through the beta weekends.

Cheers,
-Karl

1. Awesome new addition to the Spear of Justice

2. Still not a huge fan of Procession of Blades. A mere % increase in damage isn’t going to help when it spins slowly and is easy to avoid.

3. Fragments of Faith: Could be neat, would need to test but this trait originally was utilized for its burst damage which has now been taken away. If the CD remains at 45 seconds, this will see little use.

4. Test of Faith: If this activated when placed down and not when activated, I could definitely see people use it.

5. Light’s Judgement: Again, if this boon was given when placed instead of activated then I could see it MAYBE being utilized.

6. Purification: Needs a cd reduction and same stipulations changed for Test of faith and Light’s Judgement.

7. Dragon’s Maw: Still too Situational. Only affects one target and you give up WAY too much sustain from not taking RF.

8. Pure of Sight: Nice change but still a bit boring.

Other traits still need love and most traps are still underwhelming.

BUG FIX NEEDED:

Light’s Judgement and Dragon’s Maw

Both traps were not increased to 5 minute standard trap duration, and instead fade after 1 minute.

Please remember to fix these along with the other trap changes

FEEDBACK:

I’m really enjoying the above changes, but I still feel that Light’s Judgement needs more damage, a longer duration on the reveal, and maybe a brief Quickness tossed in to allow us to swiftly react to a stealth-ed character triggering it, maybe 4 seconds Quickness on trigger.

The Vulnerability on it is fine, but perhaps it could have no damage on activation, just vulnerability, and then 2 seconds later it deals a high burst of damage if the foe remains in the area? We lack a burst damage trap outside of Dragon’s Maw, and to a lesser extent, Test of Faith. Procession of Blades has the sustained damage covered well.

NEEDS TESTING/DEVELOPER CLARIFICATION:

Will Hunter’s Verdict pull foes through our traps with good positioning, and if so, will it allow us to pull a foe into Dragon’s Maw so that it can then pull them into its center, rather than it trigger during pull and the foe still end up at our location?

Example:

Foe is 1200 range, traps are placed at 600 range, and I’m obviously the 0 range point. If I pull a foes through all my traps, and Dragon’s Maw triggers, will the foe remain inside Dragon’s Maw (since it should be pulling them at this time) or will they be pulled through clear to me?

I sincerely hope the former is correct, and that pulling a foe through Dragon’s Maw leaves them in the trap!

Great changes! They’re not the changes I was hoping for, but I still like what we’re getting. I hope a lot of other players feel at least as happy about these changes as I do.

Thank you Anet for continuing the great work and effort. Even if some players aren’t satisfied, the efforts to listen to the community and work as best as possible with us is deeply appreciated.

Thank you for the update Karl!

I have a few questions though about Hunter’s Verdict:

-This first one is more a request than a question: Any chance we could get a more expanded description or tool-tip on hunter’s verdict? We theory-crafters are like dogs ready to go on a hunt, and telling us of this skill is like waving a nice juicy bone in front of our faces haha.

-Will the cooldown of it be affected by the reduction in virtue recharge rate from our virtues traitline?

-Will Renewed focus also renew Hunter’s Verdict?

I’m kind of surprised, these are really great changes. I should have actually posted about having a VoJ pull be separate from normal Spear. The cooldown seems a little long, unless virtue traits can reduce it. I’m not going to complain through.

Traps are looking fantastic. Instant? That’s crazy. Fragments of Faith is a great trap with its functionality. Test of Faith looks great, Procession of Blades looks alright. I think a whirl finisher and/or bleeding would be more useful than fury, but once again I’m not going to complain. Everything else not mentioned by name looks good. I like the direction we’re moving in.

P.S., 25% speed is 1) unnecessary 2) shouldn’t be on Dragonhunter or any elite spec

Another reason for a 25% trait is it also themes well with what dragon hunter is meant to be about, hunters must be fast in order to pursue their prey. A hunter is agile also again a 25% run speed trait falls into the dragon hunter theme perfectly.

I’ll mention again that removing defenders dogma and replacing it with a 25% passive run speed trait is the perfect solution to this problem

Blackdeath.2607:

Another reason for a 25% trait is it also themes well with what dragon hunter is meant to be about, hunters must be fast in order to pursue their prey. A hunter is agile also again a 25% run speed trait falls into the dragon hunter theme perfectly.

I’ll mention again that removing defenders dogma and replacing it with a 25% passive run speed trait is the perfect solution to this problem

I can see a theme tie but don’t believe this is the direction guardian & DH should be taken. A larger aspect of DHs are they are trappers, more along the line of stalking prey analysing their weakness setting up traps them luring them in to take them out.

The way I see it is players wanting 25% MS don’t want to require using Rune of Speed or Rune of the Traveller to gain this bonus, why? What is wrong with requiring a rune sets to get this bonus?

If this is an effect players want why not first look at the addition of different stat rune sets to provide this. Why must it be a skill or trait that provides it?

Okay this can be said the same way why require a rune set but I believe this is a reasonable question as of yet this has not been available to guardians.

Blackdeath.2607:

Another reason for a 25% trait is it also themes well with what dragon hunter is meant to be about, hunters must be fast in order to pursue their prey. A hunter is agile also again a 25% run speed trait falls into the dragon hunter theme perfectly.

I’ll mention again that removing defenders dogma and replacing it with a 25% passive run speed trait is the perfect solution to this problem

Trackers need to move fast to chase their quarry.
Hunters sit silently and still, waiting for their prey to walk into their trap (physical or effectual).

Thank you Karl!!!! All the changes are very nice and help to balance DH/make it viable.

Hunters Verdict is just awesome and makes the 3 virtues now a really well-measured package. The removed Insta-Cast on them can now be fully compensated by the additional functionality. Great work!

Anyhow, three issues I would love to see until HoT release:

Wing of Resolve: please let it be an evade, it is nearly impossible to leap inside a mass fight without getting an interrupt (anyhow leaving the fight is nearly always possible). It should also be a Leap Finisher.

Procession of Blade: should be a Whirling Finisher.

LB#5: please reduce activation time. In PvP it will be impossible to use this skill successfully when the features of the DH are more popular within the player community. What do you think about cast time 1 sec, and cool-down 90 sec? Even if it will be not available to often, at least when we decide to use it has a much higher chance to work.

Anyhow, big step in the right direction, thank you all!

lack of a 25% run speed trait for guards is really a deal breaker at this point. Anyone who is actually interested in balance between professions can see that if 8/9 have it already there is no issue in 9/9 having it.

A hunter cannot lay any traps for their prey if their forced to use non trap utility now can they?, Nor can they defend themselves properly in melee should someone get the jump on them because their forced to use staff just so they can have the same movement speed all other professions get passively. Not to mention that they will also have to means to escape the fight either since they wont have any movement or proper utility’s equipped either.

Staff is an aoe weapon used either in zergs whilst farming to tag mobs or a support/healing weapon, it should be used for those reasons not as a useless stat stick that gives us swiftness and takes away a more useful weapon from our build. Mesmsers are no longer forced to use focus for swiftness anymore so why should we be forced to use staff for the exact same reason.

retreat is at its most useful in dungeons for skipping trash but when we don’t need it in a dungeon we don’t use it and end up falling behind our party slowing the run down. retreat is downright useless in spvp, wvw again its useless as all our allies have passive movement speed already as its vital for a game mode such as wvw.

Save yourselves has always been a decent skill for a 10sec dps burn phase or as a condi clear for your party in dungeon runs and that is what it really should be used for not just for running around.

I am actually happy for mesmers thanks to the passive run speed trait from chronomancer they are now no longer forced into using focus when they dont want to and signet of inspiration can return to being used when the build actually requires it.

Rangers get the same deal now with natural stride from druid trait line, their no longer forced into using war horn for swiftness, in a way signet of the hunts active effect was rather poor for rangers.

all other professions have this way of freedom of choice but guards do not, 8/9 already have it so there isn’t a single balance issue by giving guards a 25% passive run speed trait to the dragon hunter trait line.

Despite the current flaws with puncture shots bounce requirement, the only thing real thing holding dragon hunter back is no 25% passive run speed trait.While the root to true shot sucks we can live with that but having no run speed trait and this root is brutal, however removing the root to true shot instead of a passive run speed trait would be a poor choice in terms of balance.

As for those who say all passive run speed trait’s should be removed that’s a truly terrible idea for all while everyone having a passive run speed trait is great for everyone.

In turn removing all skills that gave swiftness would also be a bad idea, as swiftness cater to those whose builds dont use the trait lines or signets that may give passive run speed.

Guilds wars 2 is meant to be a game about build freedom all professions should be able to chose between using passive run speed or swiftness ( or a combination of both if they desire) but should not be forced. 8 of 9 professions have this option 1 does not.

Defenders dogma needs to be changed to a 25% passive run speed trait.

Bezagron.7352:

Starting to find it very intriguing why a 25 % MS trait is an absolute requirement. As it’s not like we have other options to provide MS. Is a rune set, skill such a larger build cost them a trait? Players talk about a 25% MS skill or trait like there different, like there not costing a skill or trait slot that you would typically have something already slotted.

For me passive 25% MS has make swiftness next to pointless & the addition of super speed was like what the, wasn’t swiftness supposed to fulfil that function. I’ve come to accept super speed as it’s like the sprinter of movement & swiftness should be the marathon runner but funnly typically swiftness is left behind for passive 25% MS.

Now if passive 25% MS in that required why not make that the base movement speed. But them everyone would be complaining there slow again because everyone’s the same speed. Otherwise why not chase the addition of other stat rune sets that have a 25% passive MS instead of wasting it on a trait or skill which could provide so much more.

Okay have about this idea Remove all passive 25% MS* either change skill for the inclusion of swiftness or super speed which every makes more sense. Then have three game state modes:

• In combat - has the current combat speed
• Out of combat - has current out of combat speed
• Exploration - provides the passive 25% MS baseline. Requires uninterrupted out of combat movement of 30 sec. Stopping for 5 sec places you back to out of combat speed.

The time requirement on exploration is there to make it not so easy to disengage. So it still requires super speed, swiftness & movement skill to open up a large enough gap so this can come into effect. Keeping it at 25% MS is to still allows chasing someone down.

Great changes, can’t wait to try out test of faith (looks great for kiting away from melee) and dragon’s maw+procession of blades. The Purification buff increased the reward rather than reduced the risk… but with hunter’s verdict (which is not 100% reliable since you have to hit with a projectile first, but reliable enough) I guess you can get it to activate often enough.