Beta Weekend Druid Feedback Thread
@discussion on spirits in raids (this thread moves fast!)
while it would be nice to get some synergy between spirits and druids (despite no elite specs having specific traits with their core class utility skills), the idea that spirits were bad in raids is downright false. Your tanking player decides where the boss moves and can keep your entire party within the large radius of the spirit effect. The spirits also did NOT die from aoe damage during the raid. I found that they almost always lasted their entire duration unless a seeker passed directly over them.
side note – I used both sun spirit and frost spirit to great effect during the raid boss encounter. With frost spirit and glyph of empowerment you are adding extremely strong damage support to you team as it is extra multiplicative modifiers – rangers/druids are the ONLY class that can bring this kind of damage support to the team, making them highly desired for sustained party damage. These two skills alone could probably make a second druid, not using a staff, a strong party pick.
If damage does get added to celestial form can it be good damage. I was having a good time using invis plus celestial to get heals off without getting focused. Please don’t turn this into another ranger trap type of damage, just enuf damage to break stealth but not enuf to actually be worth losing stealth (Rune of the Trapper anyone?).
Also the staff 3 skill is clunky at anything less than max range, if this is intended to prevent just healing at your feet maybe make the healing scale with distance (like longbow auto). This is so that I can still use the ability as decent mobility to get to ally/foes without having to get ‘stuck’ for the animation to finish.
Main Class – Ranger [Bezerker/Trapper Hybrid]
Main Mode – WvW [Gate of Madness]
Oh, and just to be clear, Druid was in every single group that beat the first raid boss.
That’s a fact.
It was the only healer of choice. No other healer could have done the same. If Druid is nerfed then we are screwed. So please just buff other healers and put a cd on Cele Avatar, so the class is not just immune to condi (lol) and it may really be “burst” and not “sustained burst”.
Kidel, from what I recall, at least one of these groups said that having a Druid was nice, but not necessary. Nor would I want a dedicated heavy-healer to be necessary for raids. This is why I have consistently argued for versatility in Druid, at the expense of base healing.
Additionally, some of Druid’s functionality came from bugged behaviors in the raids. Spirits and pets did not take damage from many attacks, and they counted as “players” for the lightning orb AoEs. Once these bugs are fixed, Druid’s support will be significantly reduced (as a Druid singlehandedly could spawn spirits on top of the lightning orb AoEs, recall their pet, and keep their party from wiping).
@discussion on spirits in raids (this thread moves fast!)
while it would be nice to get some synergy between spirits and druids (despite no elite specs having specific traits with their core class utility skills), the idea that spirits were bad in raids is downright false. Your tanking player decides where the boss moves and can keep your entire party within the large radius of the spirit effect. The spirits also did NOT die from aoe damage during the raid. I found that they almost always lasted their entire duration unless a seeker passed directly over them.side note – I used both sun spirit and frost spirit to great effect during the raid boss encounter. With frost spirit and glyph of empowerment you are adding extremely strong damage support to you team as it is extra multiplicative modifiers – rangers/druids are the ONLY class that can bring this kind of damage support to the team, making them highly desired for sustained party damage. These two skills alone could probably make a second druid, not using a staff, a strong party pick.
Roxtar, unfortunately spirits and pets will become less useful in raids. They were not taking full damage during this raid, which is likely a bug that will be fixed for HoT. Guardian summons similarly were not taking damage. While the raid boss can be kited, he has a large AoE “rain” attack, pulses AoE damage (from what I remember, as well as the blue orbs that deal damage), and splits into three separate aspects during the fight—any of these will make quick work of spirits. Additionally, because of skill effect caps (5 allies), spirits (and pets) may be healed at the expense of team members, should they be in range. Also remember that frost spirits do not stack (the buff is applied randomly to allies, rather than, say, prioritizing subsquad members, and spirits do not “detect” which allies already have the buff, resulting in overlap), and that Glyph of Empowerment at the moment is limited by quite a small range that is centered on the Druid, forcing potentially dangerous stacking during raid bosses if you want to use it (not to mention that the effect is somewhat lackluster).
(edited by Scrimschaw.5784)
Yes I got the boss through all his phases and it seemed a little strange that spirits didn’t seem to die to the lightning orbs ‘rain’. That was the only aoe that I feel should have killed spirits. Many of your other concerns could be fixed by better placement and positioning of spirits and allies.
The lightning counting allied summons is gimmicky and a major issue. Hopefully fixing this bug will not cause all summons to take damage, but I don’t think this one bug is grounds to say “the lack of damage to summons was a bug.” Unless a dev specifically mentioned that was the plan.
Many of the skills the vale guardian used intentionally seemed to target only players, such as the seekers, lightning, and blue orbs. This seemed purposeful, but I know there’s a history of incredibly obvious things being ‘bugs’ (RIP power block).
There will generally always be melee burn phases to bosses and that’s where I think GoE is going to have a rightful place. If it gets buffed, all the better. Also spirits buff in a predictable way – the closest allies to them. Good positioning and teamwork will not make spirit buffs overlap.
overall – good positioning and play should be rewarded, and I hope that they do not add massive damage to allied summons. Other than the lightning count issue, nothing about summons is particularly overpowered.
Yes I got the boss through all his phases and it seemed a little strange that spirits didn’t seem to die to the lightning orbs ‘rain’. That was the only aoe that I feel should have killed spirits. Many of your other concerns could be fixed by better placement and positioning of spirits and allies.
The lightning counting allied summons is gimmicky and a major issue. Hopefully fixing this bug will not cause all summons to take damage, but I don’t think this one bug is grounds to say “the lack of damage to summons was a bug.” Unless a dev specifically mentioned that was the plan.
Many of the skills the vale guardian used intentionally seemed to target only players, such as the seekers, lightning, and blue orbs. This seemed purposeful, but I know there’s a history of incredibly obvious things being ‘bugs’ (RIP power block).
There will generally always be melee burn phases to bosses and that’s where I think GoE is going to have a rightful place. If it gets buffed, all the better. Also spirits buff in a predictable way – the closest allies to them. Good positioning and teamwork will not make spirit buffs overlap.
overall – good positioning and play should be rewarded, and I hope that they do not add massive damage to allied summons. Other than the lightning count issue, nothing about summons is particularly overpowered.
I find it unlikely that pets and summons won’t be damaged by the AoEs in the final version of the raid, if only to prevent cheese build compositions from succeeding. It wouldn’t be good if raids could be accomplished with, say, a large group of tanky, boon-ripping, condition-dealing minion-master necromancers (with a side of blood magic for sustain), weapon-summoning guardians, DPS phantasm mesmers (who can additionally trait into Healing Mantras for support, if they so choose), or even elementalists with glyph summons.
**Tested only in PvE.
I was able to have plenty of fun using the cele form, healing, and damage without using a staff. I really enjoyed figuring out that by using healing spring and landing combo finishers with my weapons and pet’s skills, I didn’t need to use the staff to charge up the cele form. Of course when I tested the build with the staff it pretty much had 90% cele form upkeep. I am also concern that the healing power baseline is too good.
The staff for me felt a bit clunky at first, once I got the positioning down is felt a lot better. Auto, skill 2, 3, and 5 were good (3 being the best, LOVED IT). However the ground targeting for skill 4 was too small and with skill effects and particles in combat it was hard to see where it was going (maybe give it the same look as warrior’s greatsword 3?) Final note for staff, I am not a fan the skill animation for the auto attack. I think it would look better if skill 3’s and the auto’s animations were switched.
The glyphs of equality, tides, and empowerment felt good for what they did and their recharge times; however the glyph of empowerment in cele form, I didn’t noticed when I used it properly due to the crazy high baseline healing. The gylphs of rejuvenation, alignment, and unity I didn’t like that much. Rejuvenation, compared to the current heals, seems to lack flavor and there isn’t any effect/combo with the pet. Alignment seemed weak in the conditions it applied, there is already so much cripple rangers have, I think the skill could use an additional condition. Unity, I love the idea both in normal and cele form, but even with its low recharge time the range is too small. (Normal form) It is way too easy for enemies to walk out range. I prefer elites to change the tide of a battle, have powerful, meaty effect with long recharge time to balance their effects. The skill just felt too spammy, it didn’t really helped if I used it or not.
Oh, and just to be clear, Druid was in every single group that beat the first raid boss.
That’s a fact.
It was the only healer of choice. No other healer could have done the same. If Druid is nerfed then we are screwed. So please just buff other healers and put a cd on Cele Avatar, so the class is not just immune to condi (lol) and it may really be “burst” and not “sustained burst”.Kidel, from what I recall, at least one of these groups said that having a Druid was nice, but not necessary. Nor would I want a dedicated heavy-healer to be necessary for raids. This is why I have consistently argued for versatility in Druid, at the expense of base healing.
Additionally, some of Druid’s functionality came from bugged behaviors in the raids. Spirits and pets did not take damage from many attacks, and they counted as “players” for the lightning orb AoEs. Once these bugs are fixed, Druid’s support will be significantly reduced (as a Druid singlehandedly could spawn spirits on top of the lightning orb AoEs, recall their pet, and keep their party from wiping).
Are you denying that druid kept a group of 10 people hp full alone?
I still remember the druid in the first kill video saying “I’m just spamming heals on the boss”
Oh, and just to be clear, Druid was in every single group that beat the first raid boss.
That’s a fact.
It was the only healer of choice. No other healer could have done the same. If Druid is nerfed then we are screwed. So please just buff other healers and put a cd on Cele Avatar, so the class is not just immune to condi (lol) and it may really be “burst” and not “sustained burst”.Kidel, from what I recall, at least one of these groups said that having a Druid was nice, but not necessary. Nor would I want a dedicated heavy-healer to be necessary for raids. This is why I have consistently argued for versatility in Druid, at the expense of base healing.
Additionally, some of Druid’s functionality came from bugged behaviors in the raids. Spirits and pets did not take damage from many attacks, and they counted as “players” for the lightning orb AoEs. Once these bugs are fixed, Druid’s support will be significantly reduced (as a Druid singlehandedly could spawn spirits on top of the lightning orb AoEs, recall their pet, and keep their party from wiping).
Are you denying that druid kept a group of 10 people hp full alone?
I still remember the druid in the first kill video saying “I’m just spamming heals on the boss”
…My apologies, but is this somewhat of a non-sequitur? I never denied the helpfulness of Druids in the raids, I was merely repeating what those who had completed the raids had said about the Druid. (Additionally, I feel like a playstyle that consists of “spamming heals on the boss” is not exactly more skillful, diverse play than the ‘zerker meta that it replaces.) Anyway, perhaps I’m tired and missing your point?
Oh, and Irenio has stated that the base Druid heals will be nerfed, so Druid will not be quite so far ahead of other classes without speccing into Healing Power. Irenio has also stated that he is looking into Celestial Avatar Form generation and tweaking it, though he has not revealed any details.
Oh, and just to be clear, Druid was in every single group that beat the first raid boss.
That’s a fact.
It was the only healer of choice. No other healer could have done the same. If Druid is nerfed then we are screwed. So please just buff other healers and put a cd on Cele Avatar, so the class is not just immune to condi (lol) and it may really be “burst” and not “sustained burst”.Kidel, from what I recall, at least one of these groups said that having a Druid was nice, but not necessary. Nor would I want a dedicated heavy-healer to be necessary for raids. This is why I have consistently argued for versatility in Druid, at the expense of base healing.
Additionally, some of Druid’s functionality came from bugged behaviors in the raids. Spirits and pets did not take damage from many attacks, and they counted as “players” for the lightning orb AoEs. Once these bugs are fixed, Druid’s support will be significantly reduced (as a Druid singlehandedly could spawn spirits on top of the lightning orb AoEs, recall their pet, and keep their party from wiping).
Are you denying that druid kept a group of 10 people hp full alone?
I still remember the druid in the first kill video saying “I’m just spamming heals on the boss”…My apologies, but is this somewhat of a non-sequitur? I never denied the helpfulness of Druids in the raids, I was merely repeating what those who had completed the raids had said about the Druid. (Additionally, I feel like a playstyle that consists of “spamming heals on the boss” is not exactly more skillful, diverse play than the ‘zerker meta that it replaces.) Anyway, perhaps I’m tired and missing your point?
Oh, and Irenio has stated that the base Druid heals will be nerfed, so Druid will not be quite so far ahead of other classes without speccing into Healing Power. Irenio has also stated that he is looking into Celestial Avatar Form generation and tweaking it, though he has not revealed any details.
Don’t bother argue with Kidel.
To him, raid is everything that matters(he himself said it).
He wants to steal Druid’s healing and attach it to his Revenant, that’s all.
I also questioned him about: in those team that beat raid in first Beta, do they not see Ele and Dps revenant in all teams that beat raid too along with Druid? Why pinpointing on those team all have Druids, while ignoring the other classes’ effort of dps class/ group buff class (they basically have perma 25 vulnerable 25 might perma quickness, none of them from Druid), which is equally as important?
He yet rephrase he doesn’t care because he only wants Ventari to shine. He wants to play healer Revenant as effective as Druid, (he said 80% of Druid’s effectiveness, which can basically replace Druid entirely). Basically he wants Druid to be easily replaceable. (Even if Druid only needed in one mode of the game, which is raid)
See this thread for reference.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/revenant/How-can-Ventari-compete-with-Druid/page/3
I would also like to argue that it’s just Beta, and people only play Raid for a few times at max, so they’re unfamiliar with the attack pattern and need more healing to cover up their mistake. What will happen if after HoT out for some time, and people get good and no longer make mistake, that less healing is required?
(edited by Aomine.5012)
Oh, and just to be clear, Druid was in every single group that beat the first raid boss.
That’s a fact.
It was the only healer of choice. No other healer could have done the same. If Druid is nerfed then we are screwed. So please just buff other healers and put a cd on Cele Avatar, so the class is not just immune to condi (lol) and it may really be “burst” and not “sustained burst”.Kidel, from what I recall, at least one of these groups said that having a Druid was nice, but not necessary. Nor would I want a dedicated heavy-healer to be necessary for raids. This is why I have consistently argued for versatility in Druid, at the expense of base healing.
Additionally, some of Druid’s functionality came from bugged behaviors in the raids. Spirits and pets did not take damage from many attacks, and they counted as “players” for the lightning orb AoEs. Once these bugs are fixed, Druid’s support will be significantly reduced (as a Druid singlehandedly could spawn spirits on top of the lightning orb AoEs, recall their pet, and keep their party from wiping).
Are you denying that druid kept a group of 10 people hp full alone?
I still remember the druid in the first kill video saying “I’m just spamming heals on the boss”…My apologies, but is this somewhat of a non-sequitur? I never denied the helpfulness of Druids in the raids, I was merely repeating what those who had completed the raids had said about the Druid. (Additionally, I feel like a playstyle that consists of “spamming heals on the boss” is not exactly more skillful, diverse play than the ‘zerker meta that it replaces.) Anyway, perhaps I’m tired and missing your point?
Oh, and Irenio has stated that the base Druid heals will be nerfed, so Druid will not be quite so far ahead of other classes without speccing into Healing Power. Irenio has also stated that he is looking into Celestial Avatar Form generation and tweaking it, though he has not revealed any details.
Don’t bother argue with Kidel.
To him, raid is everything that matters(he himself said it).
He wants to steal Druid’s healing and attach it to his Revenant, that’s all.I also questioned him about: in those team that beat raid in first Beta, do they not see Ele and Dps revenant in all teams that beat raid too along with Druid? Why pinpointing on those team all have Druids, while ignoring the other classes’ effort of dps class/ group buff class (they basically have perma 25 vulnerable 25 might perma quickness, none of them from Druid), which is equally as important?
He yet rephrase he doesn’t care because he only wants Ventari to shine. He wants to play healer Revenant as effective as Druid, (he said 80% of Druid’s effectiveness, which can basically replace Druid entirely). Basically he wants Druid to be easily replaceable. (Even if Druid only needed in one mode of the game, which is raid)
See this thread for reference.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/revenant/How-can-Ventari-compete-with-Druid/page/3
I would also like to argue that it’s just Beta, and people only play Raid for a few times at max, so they’re unfamiliar with the attack pattern and need more healing to cover up their mistake. What will happen if after HoT out for some time, and people get good and no longer make mistake, that less healing is required?
In regards to that list bit: Some of this is about “ease of life.” Sure, when people get good at these raids and make less mistakes, less healing will be necessary. But that doesn’t mean people wouldn’t want a healer.
For a start, these raids (which are undeniably end-game content with some of them requiring full ascended armor) are 10 man groups. Finding 10 people all with full ascended (or near to it) will prove tricky at times, and you may find people will take whatever they can get (meaning you can play druid, be effective, and not get insta kicked)
secondly, when playing a game I don’t always want to be giving 100% focus in order to minimise mistakes. Having someone whose constantly keeping my health high leaves me free to relax a bit (after all, it is a GAME we’re talking about here) + it allows me or any other class to chill out when it comes to pumping support and focus more on dealing out as much dps as possible with their skill rotations and paying attention to the environment and whats happening around them.
There may also be times where you literally cannot avoid taking damage (again, this is the first wing of the first raid, and so we don’t know what arena net have in store for us). At this point, it may become clear that yes, Druid is absolutely necessary.
Don’t forget also that what’s been done so far is only raid wing 1. when the time has come when wing 1 is on farm then wing 2 or 3 will be the hard wing that will still need healing. Hopefully the final raid wing will be difficult enough that healing of some kind will always be required.
IMO to make Druid truly Support class he need to provide boons, at least supportive ones (stability, protection, vigor, etc). Also as a true Healer Druid need ability to quick revive allies, better with AoE (as a necro).
And please bring back mobility for spirits, that will synergies with support role.
(edited by Alarih.5279)
There may also be times where you literally cannot avoid taking damage (again, this is the first wing of the first raid, and so we don’t know what arena net have in store for us). At this point, it may become clear that yes, Druid is absolutely necessary.
AgitatedFox, I do not want Druid to become necessary for raids—perhaps I was unclear, my apologies. This feeds into the unhealthy “holy trinity” aspect that other games have, where you are forced to wait for a dedicated healer to join your party in order to succeed. This is the opposite of casual, and I have wasted a lot of my time doing this (I generally play tank). While raids themselves are not casual, I see no need to institute the waiting-for-healer game in GW2. GW2 has actively and deliberately moved away from the tank/damage/healing trinity and towards damage/support/control. Druid needs more diverse support skills to fit into the GW2 trinity.
What I want is for Druid to be USEFUL in raids, not required—but also useful in other parts of the game (which is 95+% of GW2). This includes DPS, which is useful in 100% of the game. It is unhealthy to pigeonhole one class into pure “support” (well, healing at the present moment) for raids—this feeds player animosity towards healers when groups wipe (which is hopefully unavoidable due to the difficulty level of raids).
Ultimately, I want Druid to be on equal ground with other classes in multiple aspects—not just “the best healer in the game”. There is limited space in raids, and given the high difficulty of raids, people will generally be running what is most optimized. If this ends up NOT including Druid, for one reason or another (active damage mitigation proves superior, other classes can heal adequately, etc.) we lose the entire purpose for our elite specialization. I don’t like betting, so I really don’t want Druid to put all its eggs in one basket.
The lack of a holy trinity has led to the DPS DPS DPS! meta. And at this point I really cant say which is worse. I want the Druid to be needed. Hell I want the Ranger to be needed in anything other then the almost mandatory No rangers !! on LFG.
I played the druid a bit over the weekend and wasn’t terribly impressed. It’s shoe horned into one role, healing. It doesn’t damage, doesn’t condi, just heals. While it was great at healing it seemed to struggle at clearing condis, especially on allies, but they could have just been me.
Shoehorning it into just healing makes it feel like a new profession rather than an elite specialization.
If ArenaNet felt raids or future content needed a dedicated healer they should have made an entire profession to do just that, not slapping an elite on a class that it simply has no synergy with.
Band of Exiles [BoE]
The other feedback threads seem to be full of feedback from people that didnt play Druid for healer purpose but for DPS role.
I suggest we continue both forms of feedback up to separate the two to make it easier to navigate.
BWE3 Druid DPS feedback
&
BWE3 Druid Healer feedback
Druid Healers post your feedback on your experience in the beta here to discuss.
I imagine that this will just get merged into the main Druid feedback thread but w/e.
Celestial Avatar:
1. Skill 1 spam heal needs a larger AoE and insta-cast so there is 0 casting lag. The design behind this skill points towards it being our main burst heal ability with Lunar Impact being secondary. Add these changes and it will take that throne.
2. Skill 2 feels lackluster, however a larger AoE may fix this.
3. Skill 3 is great, I spent most of my time in CA waiting for this to come off cooldown.
4. Skill 4 also feels effective, don’t personally feel this needs improving. During BWE3 I ensured this was flicked on when waiting for Lunar Impact to come off cooldown.
5. Skill 5 I only used when others were on cooldown. Felt a bit redundant really, but I’ll admit I’ve not properly tested this skill.
There is more than enough healing feedback in the main thread so don’t worry. Irenio has enough to read and he is on top of things.
221 hours over 1,581 days of bank space/hot pve/lion’s arch afk and some wvw.
I imagine that this will just get merged into the main Druid feedback thread but w/e.
Celestial Avatar:
1. Skill 1 spam heal needs a larger AoE and insta-cast so there is 0 casting lag. The design behind this skill points towards it being our main burst heal ability with Lunar Impact being secondary. Add these changes and it will take that throne.
2. Skill 2 feels lackluster, however a larger AoE may fix this.
3. Skill 3 is great, I spent most of my time in CA waiting for this to come off cooldown.
4. Skill 4 also feels effective, don’t personally feel this needs improving. During BWE3 I ensured this was flicked on when waiting for Lunar Impact to come off cooldown.
5. Skill 5 I only used when others were on cooldown. Felt a bit redundant really, but I’ll admit I’ve not properly tested this skill.
Yes i agree with this.
CF 1 has that aftercast that messes this up. This need larger radius and faster cast.
The way the staff is held (like a hammer) looks too aggressive in contrast to the more elegant characteristics of the Druid, and feels like my character is about to hit somebody over the head with it. Would greatly prefer it if the staff was held like an Elementalist.
I 100% agree with this. It doesn’t feel right to be holding a non-melee staff like this, The attack animations are fine but it would be awsome if the staff was held in more of a “Magicky” way(more like an ele)
A general thing about Celestial Avatar and tagging mobs: If healing an ally near to a mob would contribute to tagging it for loot, that would be much better for healing-focused builds.
Positive outlook ends when, even after 3 years, you still get kicked out of a group when you want to to something as trivial as Sorrows Embrace or Citadel of Flame for being a Ranger.
Again, great addition to the thread about druid feedback.
Your comments are the same, 0 addition to the thread. Also we gave enough feedback, now it’s time for Irenio to give feedback to us about what’s changing, how its’s changing and when it’s changing.
Just think…
…if we could get feedback like this (example):
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Daredevil-updates-post-BWE-3-launch
*
Just think…
…if we could get feedback like this (example):
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Daredevil-updates-post-BWE-3-launch
Will never happen. Trust me.
Don’t even dream about it.
If you want that feedback, go play Thief, necro or revenant.
xD
It has been over a week since BW3. Is it too late to submit any suggestion?
I was on my Ranger again doing SW events. I was just thinking before I log off: how about pets do extra things when the Druid is in Celestial Avatar form? It could be as simple as having extra stats.
The reason I think of this is that I still against having offensive capabilities whilst in Celestial Avatar form. I think it should be pure supportive by way of heal and perhaps extra boons support. BUT I do agree having a little bit DPS might help a bit. So how about having extra stats, or something else, on the pets instead and let it do the DPS whilst the Druid is in pure support mode?
I think mostly this was not what we were expecting, the Ranger is seen as a ranged damage class, which it does fairly well.
During my time playing Druid I ended up with the petless bug, to be honest I didn’t miss the pet as long as in a group. Made a new Druid.
Some of the skills are a bit low on graphic pzazz, a tree would be nice instead of a flower. The beam seems understated, but that is fine in PvP or WvW, it means you get noticed less. It would be nice if this and some of the other skills were boosted a bit, particularly healing.
Time in celestial avatar form seemed a little short. It’s very difficult to get used to an alternate skills set if they vanish after a few seconds. I would suggest increasing the time to that of the Necro Death Shroud.
It’s good but the Ranger still really needs it’s melee combat buffed and this does nothing for fighting invisible enemies.