Guild Wars 2

This Sunday’s Arrow to the Knee podcast, in response to the upcoming April 15th patch, is going to be geared towards helpful tips for rangers in PvP.

This will include helpful tips during battle such as positioning and in combat tips for fights to go your way, as well as tips for building and knowing which roles your build plays on a team.

So remember to tune in! We will go live around 1pm PST (4pm EST).

Channel: http://www.twitch.tv/soacgaming

By which roles your build plays on a team do you mean the new GM traits? or whole traits in general?

Can you also give some insights to new players as to which runes and sigils to possibly use for these new upcoming changes? ex: double sigil runes on SB (air/fire) cause SB has one of the fastest firing rate in game making on crit or on hit sigil preferred paired with survival of the fittest.

maybe some theorycrafting team play builds other than Spirit Rangers.

Thanks JC!

AEFA.9035:

By which roles your build plays on a team do you mean the new GM traits? or whole traits in general?

Can you also give some insights to new players as to which runes and sigils to possibly use for these new upcoming changes? ex: double sigil runes on SB (air/fire) cause SB has one of the fastest firing rate in game making on crit or on hit sigil preferred paired with survival of the fittest.

maybe some theorycrafting team play builds other than Spirit Rangers.

Thanks JC!

That’s exactly some of the stuff I had in mind. And as far as roles go, I’ll give a general example as to not divulge the whole podcast, but things like, especially in Solo Q, people tend to try to force you to backpoint bunker when a typical carrion/forge ranger build is much more a teamfight build than it is a bunker, and is disadvantaged in common matchups like Hambow Warriors and Engineers that definitely have the edge when trying to take a point in a 1v1 against you.

Or in a more general sense, if you’re running a zerker build, your goal isn’t to facetank on a point in PvP, it’s more oriented towards roaming and damage support.

Things of that nature. And we’ll do our best to cover everything!

jcbroe.4329:

AEFA.9035:

By which roles your build plays on a team do you mean the new GM traits? or whole traits in general?

Can you also give some insights to new players as to which runes and sigils to possibly use for these new upcoming changes? ex: double sigil runes on SB (air/fire) cause SB has one of the fastest firing rate in game making on crit or on hit sigil preferred paired with survival of the fittest.

maybe some theorycrafting team play builds other than Spirit Rangers.

Thanks JC!

That’s exactly some of the stuff I had in mind. And as far as roles go, I’ll give a general example as to not divulge the whole podcast, but things like, especially in Solo Q, people tend to try to force you to backpoint bunker when a typical carrion/forge ranger build is much more a teamfight build than it is a bunker, and is disadvantaged in common matchups like Hambow Warriors and Engineers that definitely have the edge when trying to take a point in a 1v1 against you.

Or in a more general sense, if you’re running a zerker build, your goal isn’t to facetank on a point in PvP, it’s more oriented towards roaming and damage support.

Things of that nature. And we’ll do our best to cover everything!

I Didnt know people actually use spirit ranger to decap recap contested or taken point in pvp by their own? Lol. Rangers really need a legit play by play on how to use these builds. also please end the argument in the forums like WS gm being worthless. Wthhhh? Like wthhhh!!? Are they serious?

AEFA.9035:

jcbroe.4329:

AEFA.9035:

By which roles your build plays on a team do you mean the new GM traits? or whole traits in general?

Can you also give some insights to new players as to which runes and sigils to possibly use for these new upcoming changes? ex: double sigil runes on SB (air/fire) cause SB has one of the fastest firing rate in game making on crit or on hit sigil preferred paired with survival of the fittest.

maybe some theorycrafting team play builds other than Spirit Rangers.

Thanks JC!

That’s exactly some of the stuff I had in mind. And as far as roles go, I’ll give a general example as to not divulge the whole podcast, but things like, especially in Solo Q, people tend to try to force you to backpoint bunker when a typical carrion/forge ranger build is much more a teamfight build than it is a bunker, and is disadvantaged in common matchups like Hambow Warriors and Engineers that definitely have the edge when trying to take a point in a 1v1 against you.

Or in a more general sense, if you’re running a zerker build, your goal isn’t to facetank on a point in PvP, it’s more oriented towards roaming and damage support.

Things of that nature. And we’ll do our best to cover everything!

I Didnt know people actually use spirit ranger to decap recap contested or taken point in pvp by their own? Lol. Rangers really need a legit play by play on how to use these builds. also please end the argument in the forums like WS gm being worthless. Wthhhh? Like wthhhh!!? Are they serious?

We’re trying to put an end to the blatant ignorance on the forums as much as possible xD, And from my experience everyone seems to think that if you use spirits you’re a bunker… which 9/10’s is horribly wrong… main reason i never spirit ranger in solo Q

God… these players must be so deep into that noobness level. No offense to anyone who are reading that are in that category. Lets give these players a hand for sure and lift them from the abyss. Lol!

AEFA.9035:

God… these players must be so deep into that noobness level. No offense to anyone who are reading that are in that category. Lets give these players a hand for sure and lift them from the abyss. Lol!

We’re trying but they’re kicking and screaming and trying to dive back in…

I’m excited about testing the new trait myself, but I can see why some people wouldn’t pick up Poison Master.

Poison Master
Poison you apply deals 50% extra damage. Poison your pet’s first attack when they are swapped to.

Cons
1. The damage
Lets assume you have 1500 condition damage. Regular poisons will tick for 234/s. With the GM trait, the poison will tick for 351/s. The difference in damage is 117/s and base damage of poison isn’t high enough for the +50% to matter. Heres the rule of thumb for +50% poison dmg: the extra damage is roughly equivalent to 1 stack of bleed.

Also, assuming how our pet works, even though your pet’s first attack poisons, the damage is based on the pets stats. The poison from the pet will do 80/s (or 115/s if +350 condi trait), and I doubt the +50% will apply to pet poison as well.

2. Permanent poison
You want permanent poison to reduce healing? Okay. But there are already alternative ways to perma-poisoning that doesn’t require a hefty 30pt trait: Sword/dagger, viper’s nest, 10pt malicious training, spiders, etc.

Pros
The only reason I would take up Poison Master is the ability to re-apply poison fast. There are a lot of condition clearing builds out there so this is quite important if you want to reduce healing. Also, the pathing for Serpent’s Strike and Stalker’s Strike is pretty poor and they miss occasionally, Poison Master will help you compensate for that.

kiwituatara.6053:

Also, assuming how our pet works, even though your pet’s first attack poisons, the damage is based on the pets stats. The poison from the pet will do 80/s (or 115/s if +350 condi trait), and I doubt the +50% will apply to pet poison as well.

This is a common misconception, it was stated in the Ready Up, IMMEDIATELY after they said the swap applies poison that it scales off YOUR condition damage, this gives you so much poison application that no matter how much they cleanse, and how much they beg to get unpoisoned they CANT.

Making poison essentially a 3 stack of permanent bleeding that reduces healing is invaluable.

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Also, assuming how our pet works, even though your pet’s first attack poisons, the damage is based on the pets stats. The poison from the pet will do 80/s (or 115/s if +350 condi trait), and I doubt the +50% will apply to pet poison as well.

This is a common misconception, it was stated in the Ready Up, IMMEDIATELY after they said the swap applies poison that it scales off YOUR condition damage, this gives you so much poison application that no matter how much they cleanse, and how much they beg to get unpoisoned they CANT.

Making poison essentially a 3 stack of permanent bleeding that reduces healing is invaluable.

Okay, got it. But the extra 50% of poison dmg is still equivalent to 1 stack of bleed, how did you get 3 stacks?

kiwituatara.6053:

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Also, assuming how our pet works, even though your pet’s first attack poisons, the damage is based on the pets stats. The poison from the pet will do 80/s (or 115/s if +350 condi trait), and I doubt the +50% will apply to pet poison as well.

This is a common misconception, it was stated in the Ready Up, IMMEDIATELY after they said the swap applies poison that it scales off YOUR condition damage, this gives you so much poison application that no matter how much they cleanse, and how much they beg to get unpoisoned they CANT.

Making poison essentially a 3 stack of permanent bleeding that reduces healing is invaluable.

Okay, got it. But the extra 50% of poison dmg is still equivalent to 1 stack of bleed, how did you get 3 stacks?

If ~100 damage is a bleed stack then poison being ~300 damage = 3 bleed stacks instead of the normal 2

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Also, assuming how our pet works, even though your pet’s first attack poisons, the damage is based on the pets stats. The poison from the pet will do 80/s (or 115/s if +350 condi trait), and I doubt the +50% will apply to pet poison as well.

This is a common misconception, it was stated in the Ready Up, IMMEDIATELY after they said the swap applies poison that it scales off YOUR condition damage, this gives you so much poison application that no matter how much they cleanse, and how much they beg to get unpoisoned they CANT.

Making poison essentially a 3 stack of permanent bleeding that reduces healing is invaluable.

Okay, got it. But the extra 50% of poison dmg is still equivalent to 1 stack of bleed, how did you get 3 stacks?

If ~100 damage is a bleed stack then poison being ~300 damage = 3 bleed stacks instead of the normal 2

Got it. Thanks. Perma poison is already easy, but i think the fast re-apply-bility of the trait might make it worth taking up. Will malicious training increase the duration?

kiwituatara.6053:

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Also, assuming how our pet works, even though your pet’s first attack poisons, the damage is based on the pets stats. The poison from the pet will do 80/s (or 115/s if +350 condi trait), and I doubt the +50% will apply to pet poison as well.

This is a common misconception, it was stated in the Ready Up, IMMEDIATELY after they said the swap applies poison that it scales off YOUR condition damage, this gives you so much poison application that no matter how much they cleanse, and how much they beg to get unpoisoned they CANT.

Making poison essentially a 3 stack of permanent bleeding that reduces healing is invaluable.

Okay, got it. But the extra 50% of poison dmg is still equivalent to 1 stack of bleed, how did you get 3 stacks?

If ~100 damage is a bleed stack then poison being ~300 damage = 3 bleed stacks instead of the normal 2

Got it. Thanks. Perma poison is already easy, but i think the fast re-apply-bility of the trait might make it worth taking up. Will malicious training increase the duration?

No idea if it would or not, that will have to be (and will be) tested when the patch goes live.

I think that with Poison Master, there are lots of things that aren’t being considered in the scope of people claiming it to be a terrible trait.

For instance; how much condition damage you have to invest into a build to make poison do 50% more damage than it’s base to begin with. Poison does 84 damage at base, meaning that to make it do 50% more damage, you would have to invest about 400 points into condition damage. With 30 in Wilderness Survival, poison without Poison Mastery inflicts 114 damage. With Poison Master, it will inflict 171 damage, which is the equivalent of investing almost 600 condition damage.

That’s pretty a pretty significant increase. If anything, all the complaints are stemmed around the fact that it’s poison more than it is the trait.

The other nuance to Poison Master is that it means that essentially, in a condition build, you’re poison will ALWAYS tick first due to how condition intensity stacking works.

I mean, is it the end all be all for epic traits? Absolutely not. But it isn’t insignificant either. More than anything, it took a Grandmaster Trait slot that was previously a completely defensive option, and gave it an option for people who want to be more offensive, and it that regard, it should be considered a successful trait when it comes to at least promoting the idea of build diversity.

Now, is it as strong as my idea? My idea for a poison trait being: “Apply 3 stacks of bleed whenever you apply poison. 10 second ICD.” Well, probably not.

In general though, I don’t like the trait more just because it’s a “slot this for a flat bonus,” which I just don’t agree with design wise and wish more games would be more creative than that. I’d rather see those types of traits removed (you have a greatsword equipped, and with this trait, you’ll do 10% more damage with it, as another example) and incorporated directly into the base effectiveness of the weapon where need be.

In exchange, I’d like to see more traits the give what I’m going to call “effect procs.” Flanking bonuses, stun and CC bonuses, do more damage to foes with x condition for for every condition, do more damage when empowered by x boon or for every boon, etc. Additionally, just like I made into an example: “apply this when you apply something else, do this on interrupt,” etc type traits.

But that has nothing really to do with the AttK and is just my opinion as a long time “competitive” gamer that has certain preferences for games I would want to be super competitive with. I was telling one of the Guardian podcasters the other night that if it was up to me, I would remove precision and the ability to RNG critical entirely from the game if it was up to me, and replace it with only being able to crit under certain conditions, and then change all of the random precision procs into effect procs, since I truly believe that anybody that can win a fight because they built more into “please let this lucky proc carry me to a win in this fight where my skill otherwise might not be able to” stat is just taking away from the skill ceiling of an environment and makes games overall less competitive.

Again though, that’s more of a philosophical game design discussion that we probably shouldn’t have in this thread. I just wanted to get it out there, and I especially didn’t want to get set on a rant about it during a podcast, so it’s better to do it here I guess haha.