Guild Wars 2

I’m playing my ranger with a Conditions build and I’m realy enjoying it.
With this post I don’t ask for more dps, juste more fun.

1) The best way to maximise conditions damage is the use of Traps, but Traps don’t trigger on yellow name things like :
- Dragons
-Training dummies
- Items that have to be destroyed for quests
- Some boss like the last boss of “Sorrow’s Embrace (story)” or the last boss of "Citadel of Flames (explo, the pilar)…
- Some ennemies like the Hands rising out of the grouds in Orr…

2) Good weapons for Conditions Damage seems to be the combo ‘Short bow and Axe/Torch’.
Short Bow is ok for me.
Axe/Torch have good conditions skills but each one have a Cast Time, and traps have a Cast Time too.
The time taken to cast all your Conditions Skills (the 3 Traps, 2 torch skills, and the axe conditions skills) prevent you to use your auto-attack for a long time. This is a loss of some dps that most of others builds are not confronted to.

3) The best Trait to upgrade Traps is “Trap Potency” (Traps recharge 20% faster and trap’s conditions last twice as long).
In a Condition Build you want this Trait. But why is it in the Grandmaster part of “Skirmishing” ?
You have to spend 30 points that will upgrade your % critical hits and damage crit but Conditions don’t crit.
Read again the 2) and you’ll see that whith almost no auto-attack and direct attacks, you’ll almost never be able to perform critical hits.
My competences points feels wasted in “Skirmishing”, and they cry because they can’t fully upgrade “Marksmanship, +% to condition duration” and “Wilderness Survival, +conditions damage”.

Please share your opinion about The Conditions ranger
I say it again but I’m not asking for more dps but more fun for the Condition ranger !

I agree that it’s kind of annoying for a condition build to have Trap Potency be a grandmaster trait in the precision/critical damage trait line. On the other hand, having precision and critical damage in the same line is really convenient for direct damage builds.

Simply swapping Trapper’s Expertise and Trap Potency out of the Skirmishing line and into the Wilderness Survival line would be a boost to condition rangers and probably not hurt anyone else. That way, trap builds could just go 30 in Wilderness Survival, probably 20+ in Marksmanship for condition duration and just ignore Skirmishing.

I’m not sure which two WS traits would be most logical to move to Skirm, though. I’m not really sure if it matters anyway. It’s not like rangers have a ton of really compelling or interesting traits.