Guild Wars 2

Right now AF is pretty much gated through staff, TU, and very minor physical dmg. If not running staff or TU you are lucky to get get enough AF in a team fight to go avatar. To remedy this I think some other things should contribute to AF.
Here are some ideas:
1. Condi Dmg
2. Regen and/or Signet of the Wild
3. Pet dmg (this one could be a bit OP if not worked out correctly but just an idea)

Edit: Thank you! Changes are great.

Signet of the Wild as well as Regen would both be OP. Basically if each tick of healing from either of those sources charged your Astral Form it would instantly be the absolute most optimal way of gaining Astral Force.

That being said, no interaction at all between the two probably isn’t the healthiest thing either.

There should never have been Astral Force to begin with.

No other profession in the entire game is forced into using a specific weapon and to a lesser extent a specific heal just to use their freakin elite profession mechanic except for us. It’s NOT okay.

• Zerker’s new mechanic offers some improvements for all warriors and doesnt require a torch just to use that new mechanic.
• Same can be said for reapers, many of whom dont use GS.
• Same can be said for tempests, many of whom dont use Wh.
• Same can be said for DD, many of whom dont use Staff.
• Same can be said for scrappers, DH’s, and heralds, all of whom use their new weapons because they WANT to, not because they NEED to just to use their mechanic.

Access to class mechanics should not be gated behind a single weapon or heal choice, period.

jewishjoyride.4693:

Signet of the Wild as well as Regen would both be OP. Basically if each tick of healing from either of those sources charged your Astral Form it would instantly be the absolute most optimal way of gaining Astral Force.

That being said, no interaction at all between the two probably isn’t the healthiest thing either.

Not if they scale it to be less than healing.

Peter.9406:

jewishjoyride.4693:

Signet of the Wild as well as Regen would both be OP. Basically if each tick of healing from either of those sources charged your Astral Form it would instantly be the absolute most optimal way of gaining Astral Force.

That being said, no interaction at all between the two probably isn’t the healthiest thing either.

Not if they scale it to be less than healing.

Here’s what would actually happen if they made Astral Force build with ticks of Regen. And please keep in mind I am not a dev and this is only conjecture. You’d likely see astral force generation nerfed for healing and damage, to cover the fact that Druids have more ways to build it.

I get that Regen is one of the things that base Ranger has very easy access to. And this is one area where Druid really doesn’t interact much with base Ranger. But currently the mechanic is pretty straight forward. Druid works best when you are both supporting your allies with heals and doing damage.

jewishjoyride.4693:

Peter.9406:

jewishjoyride.4693:

Signet of the Wild as well as Regen would both be OP. Basically if each tick of healing from either of those sources charged your Astral Form it would instantly be the absolute most optimal way of gaining Astral Force.

That being said, no interaction at all between the two probably isn’t the healthiest thing either.

Not if they scale it to be less than healing.

Here’s what would actually happen if they made Astral Force build with ticks of Regen. And please keep in mind I am not a dev and this is only conjecture. You’d likely see astral force generation nerfed for healing and damage, to cover the fact that Druids have more ways to build it.

I get that Regen is one of the things that base Ranger has very easy access to. And this is one area where Druid really doesn’t interact much with base Ranger. But currently the mechanic is pretty straight forward. Druid works best when you are both supporting your allies with heals and doing damage.

In my original post I said and/or regen. You make a good point regen is readily available, but I dont think making Signet of the Wild contribute to AF would be too bad. Either way condi dmg should be included to the dmg formula for AF regen.

just regenerate astral force over time. No need of a specific weapon or skill, no need of big groups of allies/enemies, no need of farming astral force before fight.

I think its fine as it is. Make it grow faster/easier and it will become OP. Then we just get more heavy handed nerfs.

I have a Reaper. I love my Reaper. I shelved my Necro ages ago because it felt lacking.

That said, I also shelved my Ranger for the same reason. I was actually excited about Druid, though, and wanted to play a WvW healbot with it. Then HoT came out and I got to play with it (because I never trust what we see in beta) and was disappointed. It went back on the shelf.

It went back on the shelf solely because getting and maintaining AF is simply not worth the payout, especially when I can directly compare a Druid to my Reaper and LF is SO MUCH EASIER to both obtain and maintain. At least 3 trees have some form of beneficial effect on LF… Druid, none.

I see no reason not to have it generate at a steady rate over time. It’s simpler and more predictable for the player, and easier to balance for the developers. CAF does not need multiple hard gates on usage.

Astral Force just needs to be removed from the game entirely (or go up at a set rate per second).

Tbh guys, Astral Force (AF) should be maintainable simply by healing others. so if i jumped into it, I should see it slowly go down but… I should be able to build more AF by healing others, that way I am healing when it is needed and need to choose when to dip in and out otherwise my AF will be depleted for when i do need it. but in a prolonged fight, druids will falter due to the building of AF once it has gone is not fast enough.

Yakubyogami.7586:

especially when I can directly compare a Druid to my Reaper and LF is SO MUCH EASIER to both obtain and maintain. At least 3 trees have some form of beneficial effect on LF… Druid, none.

That is because Reaper was created with Necro in mind and creating synergy between them, while Druid is a healer strapped into the Ranger.

Eating my earlier words. Regen and SoTW now both charge AF. The only tangible nerf to AF gen was the change to Staff auto requiring a target. Well. I don’t mind. Having Druidic Clarity ready on cooldown is amazing. Nuff Said.

Well, how about a full condi cleanse, stun breaker as well as 3 seconds of stealth and superspeed every 10 seconds?
Somethings gonna get hotfixed, and soon…

OGDeadHead.8326:

Well, how about a full condi cleanse, stun breaker as well as 3 seconds of stealth and superspeed every 10 seconds?
Somethings gonna get hotfixed, and soon…

It is a matter of choice:
full condi cleanse, stun breaker (instead of healing allies when you use a heal skill or staff reduced CD + daze)
3 seconds of stealth and superspeed (instead of perma swiftness or glyph CD reduction + seed on glyph)

For a “selfish” PvP build is may be good, but for a support build it doesn’t even matter much.

I run LB/GS with my druid (dps not heals per se) and can build it up relatively well, but I generally cant go into avatar form twice in a fight unless it’s a long fight. Troll Unguent and dmg is pretty much my only source of AF I think.

Belzebu.3912:

OGDeadHead.8326:

Well, how about a full condi cleanse, stun breaker as well as 3 seconds of stealth and superspeed every 10 seconds?
Somethings gonna get hotfixed, and soon…

It is a matter of choice:
full condi cleanse, stun breaker (instead of healing allies when you use a heal skill or staff reduced CD + daze)
3 seconds of stealth and superspeed (instead of perma swiftness or glyph CD reduction + seed on glyph)

For a “selfish” PvP build is may be good, but for a support build it doesn’t even matter much.

Well yeah I was thinking in terms of pvp primarily, and that’s also the reason for the upcoming nerfs, which will come after this patch, one way or another.

Regen (on anyone you put it on) now charges AF. If you use WHaO /w BM trait it’s a full bar for 1 heal if you catch 1/2 allies with it.

aB EXT.1287:

Regen (on anyone you put it on) now charges AF. If you use WHaO /w BM trait it’s a full bar for 1 heal if you catch 1/2 allies with it.

or Healing Spring, but HS has nearly twice as long CD as traited WHaO.

Morwath.9817:

aB EXT.1287:

Regen (on anyone you put it on) now charges AF. If you use WHaO /w BM trait it’s a full bar for 1 heal if you catch 1/2 allies with it.

or Healing Spring, but HS has nearly twice as long CD as traited WHaO.

Fern Hound new meta

aB EXT.1287:

Morwath.9817:

aB EXT.1287:

Regen (on anyone you put it on) now charges AF. If you use WHaO /w BM trait it’s a full bar for 1 heal if you catch 1/2 allies with it.

or Healing Spring, but HS has nearly twice as long CD as traited WHaO.

Fern Hound new meta

I doubt it, I’ve nearly all time full Astral Force whenever Celestial is ready to use (not on CD).

aB EXT.1287:

Regen (on anyone you put it on) now charges AF. If you use WHaO /w BM trait it’s a full bar for 1 heal if you catch 1/2 allies with it.

2 Allies + Pet + rune of durability + WHaO + Timbering Sound = Full AF bar (without NM)

Maybe they should remove now, that we got 50% of AF if we leave Avatar earlier. I love the new changes, but im scared that the nerfhammer will hit us. Dont forget: Just with that we got a stunbreaker and a full condicleanse every 13 to 14 seconds. Or maybe increase the avatar cd a bit. Even 15 seconds would be strong (or even 20 seconds, pls dont throw stones at me ).

Edit: View from PvP and i main and love ranger since launch.

worminator.5174:

Or maybe increase the avatar cd a bit. Even 15 seconds would be strong (or even 20 seconds, pls dont throw stones at me ).

Edit: View from PvP and i main and love ranger since launch.

That would kill it for raids. You need your heals ready when an ally needs them. 20s would be far too much, 10 sec are ok.

Tornupto.2304:

worminator.5174:

Or maybe increase the avatar cd a bit. Even 15 seconds would be strong (or even 20 seconds, pls dont throw stones at me ).

Edit: View from PvP and i main and love ranger since launch.

That would kill it for raids. You need your heals ready when an ally needs them. 20s would be far too much, 10 sec are ok.

Ok, thats a point. Maybe in the last three ranger years i learned, that i cannot have something nice. Maybe they just reduce the number of conditioncleanse from 13 to 3 or 5 instead of touching the avatar cd. This would give a conditionbuild still a chance to outplay a druid.

worminator.5174:

Tornupto.2304:

worminator.5174:

Or maybe increase the avatar cd a bit. Even 15 seconds would be strong (or even 20 seconds, pls dont throw stones at me ).

Edit: View from PvP and i main and love ranger since launch.

That would kill it for raids. You need your heals ready when an ally needs them. 20s would be far too much, 10 sec are ok.

Ok, thats a point. Maybe in the last three ranger years i learned, that i cannot have something nice. Maybe they just reduce the number of conditioncleanse from 13 to 3 or 5 instead of touching the avatar cd. This would give a conditionbuild still a chance to outplay a druid.

I’d rather have Druidic Clarity (adept) swaped places with Grace of the Land (gm).
This way Druidic Clarity would be more balanced with new energy regen in PvP while still would be good enough to use vs heavy condi setups.

Any plain nerf to DC will make Druid food for Reapers again.