Guild Wars 2

Editing this entirely after further testing. So, it seems that Astral Force can now generate with the following:

• Regeneration
• Signet of the Wild
• Natural Healing (trait)
• Runes and Food that give health over time (such as Dolyak runes and Mango Pies)

I initially thought it was a passive generation added but it was actually generating from my pet healing from Natural Healing!

Heals that do NOT generate Astral Force:

• Spirit of Nature (thanks to Vendetta for pointing this out)
• Invigorating Bond (trait)
• Self-applied Heals and Regeneration by the Pet (such as “Bite” from Bears)
• Pet Heals (such as Harmonic Cry)

Thanks to everyone testing, confirming, and posting what does and does not contribute to astral force generation as of the 11/17 patch.

I’d also like to point out that Spirit of Nature still does not build AF.

Good catch on that one, Vendetta! Added some stuff on the list that I’m still testing out.

Appears to be only regen. Fortifying bond didn’t do anything

Mcrocha.3891:

Appears to be only regen. Fortifying bond didn’t do anything

As noted in the OP, Sig of the Wild builds AF whilst at full health, so it’s basically perma +3% AF a second just by having it on your bar.

Fern Hound’s F2 does regen AF.

Daharahj.1325:

Fern Hound’s F2 does regen AF.

Ah, you’re right! The bar increase was extremely subtle until I tried it in a group of people. Editing that in. Thanks!

Vendetta.1958:

Mcrocha.3891:

Appears to be only regen. Fortifying bond didn’t do anything

As noted in the OP, Sig of the Wild builds AF whilst at full health, so it’s basically perma +3% AF a second just by having it on your bar.

Sounds like something that will be hotfixed within 24 hours, I can’t imagine they’re going to leave that in?

It does seem pretty silly, given that the only good reason they had to nerf staff auto was that you could build AF at full health OOC by standing on top of your pet or an ally and spamming staff 1.

Well let’s just say AF is NOT an issue anymore. At all.

Generation is in a good spot thanks to these changes.

Now, for the love of Melandru, please fix Celestial #5 in PvE.

Vendetta.1958:

Mcrocha.3891:

Appears to be only regen. Fortifying bond didn’t do anything

As noted in the OP, Sig of the Wild builds AF whilst at full health, so it’s basically perma +3% AF a second just by having it on your bar.

Ye I know. I said regen works. SotW is considered regen apparently because it is considered hps, same with natural healing. Heals like fortifying bond do not appear to work.

Very very good new!!!

Shiren.9532:

SotW likely won’t stay because of how quickly it charges (both the pet and the ranger likely tick it twice) but given how strong regen will be (have you tried traited Healing Spring – the duration is insane!) it likely won’t matter.

I hope it stays, but they are going to have to tone it down a lot OR consider it an alternate source of regen, and not let them both stack like they currently do.

Really hope this is intended but I doubt it, prolly get patched tomorrow or this evening

does the water spirit heal on hit recharge AF yet?

Nice to have Dev respond to this change so we don’t get our hopes to high and have them crushed.

I did feel AF generation was rather slow, maybe they felt we should be able to use our new Elite Spec more often like other classes. If they did intend this change be ready for nerfs to AF skills, mainly the Daze.

If you really wanna cheese it, or you don’t wanna run any of those traits/skills then mango pie, rejuv boosters and the relatively useless dolyak runes all work (the former 2 only being available in PvE/WvW)

Sol.4310:

Nice to have Dev respond to this change so we don’t get our hopes to high and have them crushed.

inb4 “Whoops sorry guys, that’s totally not supposed to be happening. We’ll hotfix this right away for you.”

Substance E.4852:

Sol.4310:

Nice to have Dev respond to this change so we don’t get our hopes to high and have them crushed.

inb4 “Whoops sorry guys, that’s totally not supposed to be happening. We’ll hotfix this right away for you.”

We’ll see. The Regen change is strong, but then regen is a boon and subject to boon mechanics. Mesmers, Necros, and revenants are all fairly proficient at boon counterplay.

It’s toooooo strong now, just take Natural Healing + We Heal As One! and you can build full AF in under 10 seconds……

Not sure what to say maybe nerf the amount of AF you get from Healing. I do like the idea of being able to build it differently now.

Question! Why should it matter how fast we gain AF? There is still a 10s icd. Or did the devs think AF use should only be optimal with staff use?

Sol.4310:

It’s toooooo strong now, just take Natural Healing + We Heal As One! and you can build full AF in under 10 seconds……

Not sure what to say maybe nerf the amount of AF you get from Healing. I do like the idea of being able to build it differently now.

Its to strong,… but really, you take natural healing just for astral force. Natural healing is useless compared to the other traits you can choose. Aoe-Weekness helps alot in teamfights and i prefer the greatsword because fury and cd-reduction is still stronger. I dont care if astral force is ready within 9 or 13 seconds. And come on, under 10 seconds… . You care about it while you know that af has an cd of 10 seconds.
An stunbreak and an fullcondicleanse between 10 and 32 seconds (depending on the situation, allies around, enemys around etc.) should bother you more. And this trait is a adept trait. Maybe we should change it with grace of land, so we must choose between druid clarity and ancient seeds.

Before the patch druid clarity was fine. You could not spam it because you had to wait for the moment, when your team needed the avatar healing. Thats not necessary anymore. Avatar is ready in teamfights every 10 seconds.

The other solution could be, in my opinion, that you reduce the number of the removed conditions, maybe to 4 or something like that.

To our dev: Thanks for your work. Synergy with regen is great and i finally see some connections to the core ranger, especially nature magic, beastmastery and wilderness survival.

Sol.4310:

It’s toooooo strong now, just take Natural Healing + We Heal As One! and you can build full AF in under 10 seconds……

Not sure what to say maybe nerf the amount of AF you get from Healing. I do like the idea of being able to build it differently now.

We sure are used to not be good or have things easy.
A necro/reaper also can build life force VERY fast and imo DS/RS is much stronger since it last for more, gives many more tools and it is an extra life bar.
IMO the current state of AF generation seems balanced, we have the 10s CD to enter CAF again, we lose 1/2 of our AF if we leave early, and AF doesn’t count as 2nd life bar.

Don’t get me wrong I was all for improvements to AF I felt it was weak in its current state, but now feels like its to strong.

I believe it’s great for PvE and WvW and I shouldn’t just base the new AF gain on PvP alone.

In current state ranger Druid seems OK, even though we got a Staff1 huge nerf.
Of course if AF gains with Regen, SoW and other shources, then I can’t complain.

Sol.4310:

It’s toooooo strong now, just take Natural Healing + We Heal As One! and you can build full AF in under 10 seconds……

Not sure what to say maybe nerf the amount of AF you get from Healing. I do like the idea of being able to build it differently now.

It’s not too strong, CA shouldn’t need to be charged up in the first place.

Seems like it was changed / fixed or is it just me?

jewishjoyride.4693:

Substance E.4852:

Sol.4310:

Nice to have Dev respond to this change so we don’t get our hopes to high and have them crushed.

inb4 “Whoops sorry guys, that’s totally not supposed to be happening. We’ll hotfix this right away for you.”

We’ll see. The Regen change is strong, but then regen is a boon and subject to boon mechanics. Mesmers, Necros, and revenants are all fairly proficient at boon counterplay.

True but we didn’t have that much trouble generating while in combat before anyway.

We also spam regen much faster than anything can strip it outside of a S/D thief and the signet and trait regen can’t be removed at all.

Is this a bug or a buff?

The devs give us crumbs and some of you seem like it’s a box of cookies…

How about they force an entire specific build, armor set, weapon set, runes and sigils on us so we can fully play how they want.

kiwituatara.6053:

Is this a bug or a buff?

No clue until a dev comments on it or it gets patched out.

I’m going to lean toward a bug but Anet has been pretty bad about documenting patch changes lately so it could go either way.

It’s clearly a bug, waiting for a fix asap.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Well let’s just say AF is NOT an issue anymore. At all.

Elxdark.9702:

It’s clearly a bug, waiting for a fix asap.

Let me guess, another “ranger main”?

Confirming,

Rune of the Dolyak DOES generate astral force.

And man, SotW + Rune of the Dolyak + Natural Healing = Holy Astral Force Generation BATMAN

ProtoMarcus.7649:

Confirming,

Rune of the Dolyak DOES generate astral force.

And man, SotW + Rune of the Dolyak + Natural Healing = Holy Astral Force Generation BATMAN

Not really.

Anyone tried mango pies

Yup it’s also working with food. This is hilarious.

Updating the list. Thanks for those testing out foods and runes!

Eggyokeo.9705:

Anyone tried mango pies

Yea mango pies work

I have to say. This fixed the problem I had with druid. Namely the over reliance on a few key mechanics to generate astral force.

Even if they take most of these away and make it so that its just regen it would make my playstyle fit the druid role alot more readily. I can only hope that was the intended part of this.

If this was a bug and the regen gets taken away in the morning. Im gonna be pretty sad haha.

With SotW itll constantly keep my AF up 3 4 seconds before my CA form can be used again. Without SotW one is dependant on doing damage and healing to get enough AF, a few times i couldnt before CA form is up, though healing spring is amazing for doing that. I also found sitting in staff way better than to my other zealot sword warhorn.

SotW is really strong though, i hope they dont nerf it as it covers an important utility slot

I’m hoping Natural Healing and SoTW are intended. I don’t think runes and food should recharge Astral energy though.

neat…can see some are working to get basic functionality nerfed…thanks.

Relshdan.6854:

neat…can see some are working to get basic functionality nerfed…thanks.

Haha yeah. Few wanted to find legit ways to AFG before and just wanted to cry and cry that it was impossible. Now they bend over backwards trying to exploit all this stuff. Anet just sitting back and watching to see what is done and will start nerfing.

Knowing Anet, in a hotfix in the next few days they remove AF generation on all forms of ‘hp regen’ (not just the boon). I already transferred my gear to another profession in anticipation (The launch nerfs were already bad). That, and that druid feels useless in Raids, GG anet.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

Knowing Anet, in a hotfix in the next few days they remove AF generation on all forms of ‘hp regen’ (not just the boon). I already transferred my gear to another profession in anticipation (The launch nerfs were already bad). That, and that druid feels useless in Raids, GG anet.

And here i thought druid looked very much mandatory in raids

Daharahj.1325:

Elxdark.9702:

It’s clearly a bug, waiting for a fix asap.

Let me guess, another “ranger main”?

No but I do play ranger a lot and if you can’t see how wrong and strong is this “new” regenration then there’s no point of talking about this.

fix forum bug……………………..