Guild Wars 2

So, the Ranger Podcast on http://soacgaming.com/ is back up and running!! I plan on using this thread as the General “go to” thread for the podcast, so if you have any comments or ideas, or if you’d like to volunteer someone as a guest on it by all means post it here!!

The podcast will be every other (for the moment) Friday at 11am PST, after we get in the groove of things we’ll be making it every Friday, but for the moment it’ll be every other.

First things first though! Is there anything you guys specifically would want us to talk about? If there is totally let us know!!

EDIT: The Podcast will now be Sunday at 1pm PST, not Friday at 1pm PST, we hope that you will be there with us Live so you can give live feedback as we do the podcast!

I’d say wait for the patch to drop (assuming its this tuesday) and discuss the changes that are made, assuming the balance previews was intended to preview the patch that is dropping that day.

Nice to say that the ranger podcast is back!

We were hoping to do that… but we kinda wanna plan B incase they’re like “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Nothing happened!!”

I can’t wait to sit down and listen to this tonight. I find myself agreeing with your posts a lot, so it should be fun.

Plan B should be an in-depth discussion on pets and pet usage while impersonating Elmer Fudd.

jcbroe.4329:

I’d say wait for the patch to drop (assuming its this tuesday) and discuss the changes that are made, assuming the balance previews was intended to preview the patch that is dropping that day.

Nice to say that the ranger podcast is back!

This isn’t the balance patch right, I’m assuming that is way off in the distance?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on our pet related traits. As pet AI is not getting fixed anytime soon, what other options you guys see as improving rangers (aside from more reliable F2).

The patch on tuesday, is, from what i can understand and tell from the READY UP podcast, going to contain that which they spoke of.

However, nothing is certain before the patch hits the servers, so time will show.

Sube Dai.8496:

jcbroe.4329:

I’d say wait for the patch to drop (assuming its this tuesday) and discuss the changes that are made, assuming the balance previews was intended to preview the patch that is dropping that day.

Nice to say that the ranger podcast is back!

This isn’t the balance patch right, I’m assuming that is way off in the distance?

There wasn’t any specification that I’m aware of.

I’d like to at least see the changes to crit damage and all of the runes/sigils happening, but again, zero clarity from ANet.

The only thing I have to go on is ANet specifically stating during the livestream that this next patch is the “living world patch,” which does make me doubt whether we’ll see any significant balance changes, but at the same time, it’s all just speculation.

They could have at least tried to give a projected ETA like saying something similar to “yeah, we’re working hard to get these changes in for next patch day, but it isn’t a guarantee since we are still ironing out specifics for things and don’t want to make hasty changes that might disrupt the game more than improving it.”

Anyhow, @Durz, I’d say for a plan B, discuss the current state of the ranger and where it is excelling and lacking, and then get peoples opinions on what they think the biggest improvements to the class should be, and what they hope will be in the next patch. Metagame debates could be a part of the conversation, for example, in PvP, the spirit build is an apex predator build, but mostly due to how strong of a utility the Elite Spirit is. Without the elite spirit, it would be hard to see rangers even being part of the PvP metagame. Etc etc etc, I know you get it lol.

jcbroe.4329:

Sube Dai.8496:

jcbroe.4329:

I’d say wait for the patch to drop (assuming its this tuesday) and discuss the changes that are made, assuming the balance previews was intended to preview the patch that is dropping that day.

Nice to say that the ranger podcast is back!

This isn’t the balance patch right, I’m assuming that is way off in the distance?

There wasn’t any specification that I’m aware of.

I’d like to at least see the changes to crit damage and all of the runes/sigils happening, but again, zero clarity from ANet.

The only thing I have to go on is ANet specifically stating during the livestream that this next patch is the “living world patch,” which does make me doubt whether we’ll see any significant balance changes, but at the same time, it’s all just speculation.

They could have at least tried to give a projected ETA like saying something similar to “yeah, we’re working hard to get these changes in for next patch day, but it isn’t a guarantee since we are still ironing out specifics for things and don’t want to make hasty changes that might disrupt the game more than improving it.”

Anyhow, @Durz, I’d say for a plan B, discuss the current state of the ranger and where it is excelling and lacking, and then get peoples opinions on what they think the biggest improvements to the class should be, and what they hope will be in the next patch. Metagame debates could be a part of the conversation, for example, in PvP, the spirit build is an apex predator build, but mostly due to how strong of a utility the Elite Spirit is. Without the elite spirit, it would be hard to see rangers even being part of the PvP metagame. Etc etc etc, I know you get it lol.

we pretty much did that during the last podcast, and yes i say we. as i am co-hosting alongside durrz

I don’t have any better suggestions though lol. It isn’t like the game has really changed all that much since the last AttK.

Strategy/weapon breakdown maybe? Like, in general, how can a ranger be the best they can be in a dungeon as far as weapons/traits/utilities/pets? And then similar discussion about solo WvW, group WvW, and PvP?

I’m really not sure, and most everything I say is going to be a rehashing of sorts of old discussions and/or forum threads.

Maybe a pet tip discussion? Since lately, a lot of forum threads have thrown around the common “well only 5% of the ranger players know how to use their pets” argument against threads wanting to abolish the pet, maybe giving some tips to better control the pet are in order. When to swap, skill priority, using F3 to cancel cast and reset pathing, passive versus guarding pet benefits, and which traits benefit the pets the most (like agility training, very underused on people using melee pets without signet of the hunt).

Just trying to help as much as I can!

Currently listening to the previous podcast. The ambient music is killing me because I know it, but I don’t know what it IS! Is it from GW2? I feel like it’s underwater music or something.

As far as topics go, I’d like to second jcbroe’s suggestion for weapon strategy breakdown. Cover strengths, weaknesses and strategies of each weapon. Maybe the best game modes to use them in or sigils that complement weapons really well. Maybe break up podcasts into “Power Weapons” and “Condi Weapons.”

I dunno. I am not really familiar with the podcasts ankitten ot sure if they designed for beginners or experts or is it just for general ranger talk? Community talk? I can make more suggestions based on your answer to that.

Weapon Strategy is a great Idea, and one thing i can absolutely say i want to cover is how to use the pets better, i was watching sPvP hotjoins just a few moments ago and was literally screaming at my computer with how bad their pet management was… Totally wanna work on getting more rangers to use their pets properly!

As for the Ambient music it’s actually the music from Heart of the Mist, I was logged in GW2 during the podcast (had it minimized) didn’t realize It’d pick up the music at first lol, gotta say I really like the touch, gonna do that next time too!!

I think some people forget that F1 and F3 are also part of the class mechanic and should be used liberally. You’re right in that it’s a topic that needs to be covered.

Also, I listened to the entirety of the previous podcast. I really enjoyed it! Thanks for the link.

Very interesting..I wish i could see some dev dropping in and answer a few questions…
I really enjoyed Ready Up but i want to see an unplanned conv instead of a set up dialogue…

Me and durrz discussed doing a pet podcast, but we realized, that the many of you, would not believe that you can keep the pet alive for a LONG time, even in WvW zergs. We also realized that without making a proper video tutorial, those who need to learn how to use the pet, would blow us off as some random tools just spreading propaganda.

This is why the whole pet debate is a bit, debatable. Because we are unsure if we should do a full length pet video tutorial, or just go on yatting about it in the podcast.

The weapon usage theme could be fun. Ill wait and see what happens tomorrow. If they patch the Sword AA, then there will certainly be something to talk about

Dardamaniac.1295:

Very interesting..I wish i could see some dev dropping in and answer a few questions…
I really enjoyed Ready Up but i want to see an unplanned conv instead of a set up dialogue…

We considered to bring in a dev, however it isnt easy. We will try get ahold of a dev, but do not hold your breath for it to happen anytime soon™

Can’t listen to it for another week at least.

Sevans.4619:

I think some people forget that F1 and F3 are also part of the class mechanic and should be used liberally. You’re right in that it’s a topic that needs to be covered.

[PVE]
I don’t think people forget them. F3 didn’t work as well as it should have for the longest time. There was lots of complaining about it until it was fixed where it breaks animation to return. F1 doesn’t really matter unless the pet is on passive as they are going to auto attack your target anyway.

On the same token F1 and F3 are useless in melee if you and the pet are attacking the same target… and most of them time I use them to attack the target I am (before I pretty much ran them on passive all the time). Only time my F1 and F3 see any action is when I’m using a bow/axe which ain’t most of the time… unless… it’s tagging time.

Dardamaniac.1295:

Very interesting..I wish i could see some dev dropping in and answer a few questions…
I really enjoyed Ready Up but i want to see an unplanned conv instead of a set up dialogue…

I certainly see some devs having the huevos to drop in for a Q&A. What I don’t see them having is time. Also, they would need to do that with all other profs as well. But one can dream…

thefantasticg.3984:

Can’t listen to it for another week at least.

Sevans.4619:

I think some people forget that F1 and F3 are also part of the class mechanic and should be used liberally. You’re right in that it’s a topic that needs to be covered.

[PVE]
I don’t think people forget them. F3 didn’t work as well as it should have for the longest time. There was lots of complaining about it until it was fixed where it breaks animation to return. F1 doesn’t really matter unless the pet is on passive as they are going to auto attack your target anyway.

On the same token F1 and F3 are useless in melee if you and the pet are attacking the same target… and most of them time I use them to attack the target I am (before I pretty much ran them on passive all the time). Only time my F1 and F3 see any action is when I’m using a bow/axe which ain’t most of the time… unless… it’s tagging time.

Actually F3 is useful everywhere F3 clears your pets attack Que making the F2 guaranteed to Q next, very very useful for those, like myself, that like to be 5 moves ahead of their enemy, so I can get my wolf to fear exactly when I want him too, makes PvP significantly less frustrating!

Personally I’d like to see a discussion about pets, but not how to get them to work better, about the fact that the mechanic is admittedly broken.

Specifically, if it is a problem to fix, what can be done to mitigate the damage to the class, until it is fixed, and then if it cant be fixed, what can be done to permanently mitigate the damage done to the class?

This is current unbalance. The classes should be balanced. The questions that need to be discussed are how much of an impact is the broken pet mechanic, and what can be best adjusted to return balance?

I bet you would draw a good crowd with that.

Advanced tips and tactics is always a winner whether skills, combos, or how to use pets.

Oh! One of my favorite things to discuss when I was playing fighting games competitively were character match-ups. It’d be GREAT to talk about Ranger versus ??? class match-ups.

Tips versus each class, our weaknesses, strengths, etc.

Sevans.4619:

Oh! One of my favorite things to discuss when I was playing fighting games competitively were character match-ups. It’d be GREAT to talk about Ranger versus ??? class match-ups.

Tips versus each class, our weaknesses, strengths, etc.

Would be a good opportunity to also discuss ranger builds. I’ld be partial to a ranger builds section. Not just FOTM “META” but some non-standard.

Run a poll the week before and do a build review the following week…. AKA Engage the audience and increase traffic while also ensuring the content is of interest.

Arrys.7145:

Sevans.4619:

Oh! One of my favorite things to discuss when I was playing fighting games competitively were character match-ups. It’d be GREAT to talk about Ranger versus ??? class match-ups.

Tips versus each class, our weaknesses, strengths, etc.

Would be a good opportunity to also discuss ranger builds. I’ld be partial to a ranger builds section. Not just FOTM “META” but some non-standard.

Run a poll the week before and do a build review the following week…. AKA Engage the audience and increase traffic while also ensuring the content is of interest.

I would love to do this once the show gets a larger audience and gets rolling.

Durzlla.6295:

thefantasticg.3984:

Can’t listen to it for another week at least.

Sevans.4619:

I think some people forget that F1 and F3 are also part of the class mechanic and should be used liberally. You’re right in that it’s a topic that needs to be covered.

[PVE]
I don’t think people forget them. F3 didn’t work as well as it should have for the longest time. There was lots of complaining about it until it was fixed where it breaks animation to return. F1 doesn’t really matter unless the pet is on passive as they are going to auto attack your target anyway.

On the same token F1 and F3 are useless in melee if you and the pet are attacking the same target… and most of them time I use them to attack the target I am (before I pretty much ran them on passive all the time). Only time my F1 and F3 see any action is when I’m using a bow/axe which ain’t most of the time… unless… it’s tagging time.

Actually F3 is useful everywhere F3 clears your pets attack Que making the F2 guaranteed to Q next, very very useful for those, like myself, that like to be 5 moves ahead of their enemy, so I can get my wolf to fear exactly when I want him too, makes PvP significantly less frustrating!

That bolded part… Sounds much more important for PVP than it does for PVE… which is why I put the [PVE] on my comment for context. In PVE damage mitigation through recalling the pet is the main function, IMO, of the F3. I say that because once you learn an encounter (the AI chain) so timing an F2 between mob AI interrupts is pretty easy… which is why I don’t need to use F3 to clear the que to use the F2… Pretty much you can just que it up and wait for it in 99% of the PVE encounters… especially dungeons because of defiance there’s no need for CC.

thefantasticg.3984:

Durzlla.6295:

thefantasticg.3984:

Can’t listen to it for another week at least.

Sevans.4619:

I think some people forget that F1 and F3 are also part of the class mechanic and should be used liberally. You’re right in that it’s a topic that needs to be covered.

[PVE]
I don’t think people forget them. F3 didn’t work as well as it should have for the longest time. There was lots of complaining about it until it was fixed where it breaks animation to return. F1 doesn’t really matter unless the pet is on passive as they are going to auto attack your target anyway.

On the same token F1 and F3 are useless in melee if you and the pet are attacking the same target… and most of them time I use them to attack the target I am (before I pretty much ran them on passive all the time). Only time my F1 and F3 see any action is when I’m using a bow/axe which ain’t most of the time… unless… it’s tagging time.

Actually F3 is useful everywhere F3 clears your pets attack Que making the F2 guaranteed to Q next, very very useful for those, like myself, that like to be 5 moves ahead of their enemy, so I can get my wolf to fear exactly when I want him too, makes PvP significantly less frustrating!

That bolded part… Sounds much more important for PVP than it does for PVE… which is why I put the [PVE] on my comment for context. In PVE damage mitigation through recalling the pet is the main function, IMO, of the F3. I say that because once you learn an encounter (the AI chain) so timing an F2 between mob AI interrupts is pretty easy… which is why I don’t need to use F3 to clear the que to use the F2… Pretty much you can just que it up and wait for it in 99% of the PVE encounters… especially dungeons because of defiance there’s no need for CC.

I know I do it in PvE but it’s more because I like to time my pets buffs to go off with their F2, EX: Jag Stealth + Sick’Em + SotH = really hard hitting Bite.

Then again I tend to not be in Melee too much because I don’t like being Melee in general, but I haven’t had too many issues with keeping my pet up in Melee because healing spring is an absolute monster.

Durzlla.6295:

Then again I tend to not be in Melee too much because I don’t like being Melee in general, but I haven’t had too many issues with keeping my pet up in Melee because healing spring is an absolute monster.

Exactly. I’m more in melee than I am in range. When I started to be mostly melee thats when pet dodging became a huge problem. Because I was no longer ranged I couldn’t recall the pet to mitigate damage because it would just sit right next to me in melee range doing nothing until I told it to attack or I used a weapon skill other than AA if it was on active.

Tumult.2578:

Personally I’d like to see a discussion about pets, but not how to get them to work better, about the fact that the mechanic is admittedly broken.

Specifically, if it is a problem to fix, what can be done to mitigate the damage to the class, until it is fixed, and then if it cant be fixed, what can be done to permanently mitigate the damage done to the class?

This is current unbalance. The classes should be balanced. The questions that need to be discussed are how much of an impact is the broken pet mechanic, and what can be best adjusted to return balance?

I bet you would draw a good crowd with that.

The current Pet AI is intertwined with the monster AI. If they want to change the pet AI, they need to compensate by buffing the monster AI. Atleast that is what Anet has been hinting at in the past. If they buff the monster AI, they will have to rebalance all PvE builds across all professions to make sure everything works as it should, without certain professions getting slaughtered by the new improved NPC’s.
The way i see it, PvE is too easy, so it couldn’t possibly hurt that much to upgrade the AI. But then again, i am not part of the balance team nor the development team, so who knows how much problems they are creating for themselves by band-aiding/working around the issues of the current AI.

As for the Pet issues i would like to hear some opinions on some changes that i would personally like to see..
Jungle Spider

This pet has an totally fine F2 cause it applies on the next hit..
I would like to see every pets F2 works this way or in a similar way..Maybe something like Jaguars F2 too.
Also why stop on F2?
Every skill pet has may be transfered to Ranger by reworking them into passive auras or something..
Example: Spiders got an immob and a poison field that is uncontrolable..Make em passives auras that gives Ranger a chance to throw immob or a poison field with his next attack..

Not to be over critical, but I really don’t see the purpose of the devs doing a balance preview before a patch that isn’t going to contain the balance fixes that they are previewing. Especially as a company that “doesn’t believe” in giving ETAs, it only frustrates players.

I just don’t see why the balance preview couldn’t of waited until next Friday (aka January 31) since there is a bi-weekly developer stream now, so as to not unintentionally mislead community members by “rushing” to speak about upcoming balance changes with an inbound patch and no confirmations or denials about whether the balance will be a part of that patch.

That being said, how it relates to AttK;

It’s a shame there is no new balance patch for you guys to talk about, and there isn’t enough info out there about balance to even begin to “reliably” speculate about what incoming changes could be. I know that you guys will do brilliantly regardless.

Sorry that the majority of this post of mine is coming from a place of frustration. It’s just yet another disappointing PvE only patch day.

Well this patch is the first of the 4 “living story finale” patches, so I really wasn’t expecting much… That being said the runes and sigils are going to be a HUGE change for PvP and WvW and probably even PvE so I’m more than happy to wait, not to mention the amulets (especially if they include a power/precision/healing power one in PvP) are gonna completely ruin the current meta and flood it with new possibilities.

All that aside I think we will take the pause in balance updates to talk about the weapons a bit.

Durzlla.6295:

Well this patch is the first of the 4 “living story finale” patches, so I really wasn’t expecting much… That being said the runes and sigils are going to be a HUGE change for PvP and WvW and probably even PvE so I’m more than happy to wait, not to mention the amulets (especially if they include a power/precision/healing power one in PvP) are gonna completely ruin the current meta and flood it with new possibilities.

All that aside I think we will take the pause in balance updates to talk about the weapons a bit.

Yeah. I just don’t care about PvE is all. I don’t log in for PvE lol.

I can’t wait for the AttK though. Always looking to see if I can learn something new.

Man, I was checking the game release section on my phone at work all morning to see the patch notes and see what awesome balance changes were in store for the game.

Nothing. Nadda. Not even Ranger bug fixes. I want to cry. Somebody hold me.

Guess it’s a good thing you guys planned on a plan B! It’ll be interesting to hear what topic you choose.

It would be funny to talk for a few minutes about the patch. Which would basically be some quotes from the patchnotes, followed by 20 seconds okittenward silence each.

Durzlla.6295:

We were hoping to do that… but we kinda wanna plan B incase they’re like “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Nothing happened!!”

Aaaaaannnddd nothing happened :/

Hey Dunrz, what’s the lotto numbers this week? XD

On and more serious note, glad to see AttK back :-)

Durzlla.6295:

Well this patch is the first of the 4 “living story finale” patches, so I really wasn’t expecting much… That being said the runes and sigils are going to be a HUGE change for PvP and WvW and probably even PvE so I’m more than happy to wait, not to mention the amulets (especially if they include a power/precision/healing power one in PvP) are gonna completely ruin the current meta and flood it with new possibilities.

All that aside I think we will take the pause in balance updates to talk about the weapons a bit.

[PVE]
I think the PPHP set wouldn’t be too bad for Rangers… at least it would be better than many of the other sets of gear.

Of course, I don’t give a flip about PVP as I only log in for PVE and dungeons… So I don’t much care if any more or less stats make it to PVP.

Hear ye hear ye, episode 12 is up for grabs! What the guys lack on the shameless self promotion front, they make up for on the ranger know-how part.

Gotta love that paint art on the picture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y-26iSPA04

Lol I thought you guys would appreciate the high quality background picture xD.

Would like to announce that Jcbroe will be taking over as the new cohost and that we will be kicking the podcast back up on Friday the 28th, we will likely cover the discussion going on about rangers (the CDI thing we voted on) but if there’s anything else you guys would like to hear about give a shout!

If the CDI starts on Friday you guys will probably have about 12 pages worth of suggestions to talk through. Better make this a long one.

I dont know him just his builds i think it would be cool to have him on his builds have done great things for us rangers Faux Sheaux

nagymbear.5280:

If the CDI starts on Friday you guys will probably have about 12 pages worth of suggestions to talk through. Better make this a long one.

Nothing to worry about. Starting monday.

For those wondering why i “quit” AttK, its cuz A; i have a severe case of soar throat after a really bad case of influenza and B; because im fed up with GW2 and dont bother to play it that much.

So besides from forum lurking, i do not pay much attention to the state of the game anymore.

Prysin.8542:

So besides from forum lurking, i do not pay much attention to the state of the game anymore.

I wouldn’t be on this forum much either except my other forums are blocked on the company intrawebs

What time/date will the next episode go live. I feel there is pleanty to discuss.

nagymbear.5280:

What time/date will the next episode go live. I feel there is pleanty to discuss.

Hopefully today, but I’m getting my Internet changed so this may or may not have to be delayed depending on how long it takes….

I’ll post again when the next episode is up/if it gets delayed.

The new podcast is now live!! You can watch it now on the Twitch channel http://www.twitch.tv/soacgaming

You can also check our website soacgaming.com and it should be up there shortly!

I saw the post in the morning (in EU) and was surprised that this was still on page 1 on the ranger forums. I wonder if this is a general GW2 population thing or a ranger one.

Anyhoo, it was interesting to hear on the zerker longbow tpvp experience. I think that zerker longbow is not far away from being a decent point cap build. I would also love to see some poison mastery thing, but at the same time – as someone in the CDI pointed out correctly – even though rangers have a lot of access to poison, a lot of those come from pets. So the poison trait (if it gets introduced) would either need to have no ICD so we could capitalize on our poison fields, or it should apply to pet poison as well. S/d, sb might just be more interesting with a twist to it. Whatever that poison trait would be, it would be hard to capitalize on it on LB.

nagymbear.5280:

I saw the post in the morning (in EU) and was surprised that this was still on page 1 on the ranger forums. I wonder if this is a general GW2 population thing or a ranger one.

Anyhoo, it was interesting to hear on the zerker longbow tpvp experience. I think that zerker longbow is not far away from being a decent point cap build. I would also love to see some poison mastery thing, but at the same time – as someone in the CDI pointed out correctly – even though rangers have a lot of access to poison, a lot of those come from pets. So the poison trait (if it gets introduced) would either need to have no ICD so we could capitalize on our poison fields, or it should apply to pet poison as well. S/d, sb might just be more interesting with a twist to it. Whatever that poison trait would be, it would be hard to capitalize on it on LB.

Actually LB would be very easy to capitalize on it with if you’re running a pet with a poison field because you have 2 100% finishers for 4s of poison, + Rapid Fire which would net you a pretty good amount of poison.

Then there’s always runes and sigils to gain access to it, so if you WANTED it on LB it’d be doable.

That being said I do think that any “Poison Mastery” traits/buffs or w/e they are should also apply to our pet.

And as for Zerker LB ranger in tPvP, i feel like it’s already competitive, it’s just not used because people aren’t playing it right, most zerker LB rangers i see charge into like 900 range and start fighting and don’t really kite or utilize the stealth or KB very well.