Guild Wars 2

Taken from https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Dec-10th-Balance-Preview/first#post3133133

Ranger:
For the ranger, we’ve adjusted the placement of some traits so that rangers should have more build combinations. For example, by swapping Nature’s Vengeance and Spirits Unbound so that rangers can have spirits follow you in tier 2, players can now opt out of the higher damage output from spirits and still have options elsewhere. We also brought up some Marksmanship and a Skirmishing trait to make power specs more appealing. We feel like rangers also currently have too much endurance regeneration through traits. Due to this, we’ve made adjustments to Wilderness Survival traits, and we’ve also brought down the passive of Sun Spirit and the active effect for Storm Spirit.

Long Range Shot. Increased the damage at 500 range by 20%.
Long Range Shot. Increased the damage at 500-1000 range by 15%.
Marksmanship V – Predator’s Instinct. Increased the threshold from 25% to 50%. Increased the Cripple Duration from 2s to 10s. Increased the cooldown from 15s to 30s.
Marksmanship VI – Beastmaster’s Bond. Decreased the cooldown from 90s to 60s.
Skirmishing XII – Moment of Clarity. Stun Duration increased from 50% to 100%.
Wilderness 5 Natural Vigor. Reduced the increased endurance regeneration from 50% to 25%.
Wilderness VIII – Oakheart Salve. Decreased the recharge of this trait from 20s->15s
Wilderness XII – Bark Skin Increased the damage reduction from 30% to 50%.
Nature Magic I – Circle of Life. Cleared up the text of this trait to clearly identify that it happens when downed, not defeated.
Nature Magic V – Strength of Spirit. Increased conversion from 5% to 7%
Nature Magic IX – Two Handed Training. Added the following functionality to this trait. Greatsword and Spear attacks have a chance to grant Fury on hit. 50% chance. 3s Fury. 10s cooldown.
Nature Magic X – Enlargement. This trait now uses Signet of the Wild to trigger. This reduces the cooldown to 60 seconds and allow it to interact with the Signet of the Beastmaster and Signet Mastery traits.
Nature Magic VII – Nature’s Vengeance. Moved to Grandmaster Tier.
Nature Magic XI – Spirits Unbound. Moved to Master Tier.
Beastmastery VI – Mighty Swap. The might from this trait is now applied to you and your pet.
Sun Spirit. Reduced the passive burning from 3s to 2s.
Storm Spirit. Reduced the damage from the Call Lightning skill by 33%

Longbow auto attack buff thank GOD. Spirit nerfs are significant but definitely don’t ruin their viability.

Mmm, not so sure about the natural vigor change however. Rangers are squishy as it is if not bunkering. But it doesn’t god kitten matter cause all I see is BUFF!

FINALLY! I really apreciate this Anet!
This is a well needed buff I was waiting for!

It´s the first step in the right direction!

MY BODY IS READY! The natural vigor change makes me iffy, but more than a few of the rest of the changes, SO MUCH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

Wilderness XII – Bark Skin Increased the damage reduction from 30% to 50%.

I’m already running Bark Skin, so I like this.

Zoia.3678:

Wilderness XII – Bark Skin Increased the damage reduction from 30% to 50%.

I’m already running Bark Skin, so I like this.

It also means our survivability isn’t taking as much of a hit with the change to natural vigor. It’s actually evening out a bit.

kitten , I love LB buff, but this endu regen will hurt…

lol, I must admit

I about kitten myself when I read this

Skirmishing XII – Moment of Clarity. Stun Duration increased from 50% to 100%.

then I realized it was just for stuns lol

Can’t see myself investing 30 points for natures vengeance. The 2 handed training change is good tho. That will free up a fair amount of precision points to go somewhere else.

I’m not understanding the Enlargement change, not sure what they mean by that information.

Mighty Swap granting Might to me also is interesting.

Makes Boon Duration more interesting.

Lol fury on greatsword swings, I like

@ xsorsus
Indeed, enlargement is intriguing.

Active condition removal ?

Chokolata.1870:

Active condition removal ?

Its just a preview mate. Hopefully there will be more changes to come.

Yea, we need better active condition removal, simply watch my duel video with Faux to see how it can easily screw us over by having our Pet die.

My response below. Thought I would share on this thread too.

I play a raw damage ranger focusing on marksmanship and skirmishing. I love:
a) Changes to Long Range Shot
b) Marksmanship V- Predator’s Instinct.

The unintended consequence is that you now have too many must have options in the marksmanship line and the potential solution is that you should offload a few to skirmishing adapt.

The missing trait change is tied to giving us out of combat swiftness to free up a pvp and wvw slot versus taking Signet of the Hunt.

Explanations:

1) The issue of an overloaded marksmanship line.

Right now you have for Tier 1 +10% damage and the new Predator.

Tier 2 Piercing Arrows or Spotter and Eagle Eye. So often you wind up going grandmaster in marksmanship to fit in that third trait.

Could you move a trait like piercing arrows to the skirmishing adept line? Or replace Trapper’s Instinct with the new Predator’s Instinct?

2) The issue of lack of out of combat speed.

For PvP and WvW, rangers often take Signet of the Hunt just to keep up out of combat. That is a whole slot for out of combat movement. Could you make a simple change to tail wind and make it apply swiftness even when we are not in combat much like the engineer’s speedy kits? Doesn’t need to be a trait you choose because the buff ONLY occurs out of combat (and allows us to travel at a good speed when not in a group).

Other Stuff:

1) Nature IX Two Handed Training is supposed to help give us fury but we have lots of options for fury (almost as many as we had for endurance regen). One of the most common is the 9 seconds on weapon swap. GS is often used with a LB in a power oriented build. You range then swap/leap/maul. So for a longer fight you might get a bit of fury with the new trait. Might be better to provide might upon a crit and change the cooldowns. Not bad, but you might want something other than fury.

I don’t understand your note on Nature X at all. Can you explain?

Mighty swap only applies the might to the ranger and not the condition damage? Would be more versatile if it did both. You tend to one one or the other (condition v raw builds).

The longbow change is good. I was hoping they’d do something with the auto attack on greatsword. It’s pretty weak and the chain resets too quickly. The fury on the trait is nice, but the cooldown trait is still way better for greatsword because most of the damage comes from maul.

I really hope there are more weapon changes in store. I’m still not seeing enough reason to use Remorseless or Moment of Clarity. Without any real burst skills other than Maul and off-hand Axe, a player is forced to swap weapons to deliver any burst and/or use the hilt+maul combo. This is fine if the class received a trait to reduce the cooldown on weapon swaps, but we don’t.

I’m also VERY disappointed to see nothing about Signet of the Beastmaster. I can see no justification for why we need to invest 30pts in a tree just to use our signets?!

What I think is really interesting?
Doubling of stuns and dazes.
Almost permanent 105 power boost with mighty swap
Crippling enemies for 10 seconds when at 50% should be quite good.
Having moving pets for only 20 pts in nature which might make a number of viable builds open up. Gives us a fair bit more defense actually.

Bombsaway.7198:

What I think is really interesting?
Doubling of stuns and dazes.
Almost permanent 105 power boost with mighty swap
Crippling enemies for 10 seconds when at 50% should be quite good.
Having moving pets for only 20 pts in nature which might make a number of viable builds open up. Gives us a fair bit more defense actually.

I do like that we don’t need a 30pt trait to move the spirits, but will anything change? A lot of the strength in the spirits now post nerf is in Nature’s Vengeance so you’d still likely go 30 pts for a spirit build :/

Is it JUST the stun duration going up to 100% or stun and daze? That should be asked.

Some decent changes to ranger which needs the most help but your still not hitting some of the core issues the class has. The pet ai is terrible in wvw. It doesn’t listen it goes off into a zerg and dies always. The f2 ability activates 2-10 seconds after I hit the f2 key. The pet doesn’t attack while chasing somebody one of the biggest problems.

Other than the bad pet ai some other much needed changes are the auto attack chain on main hand sword roots us in place please please change this. Hornet Sting takes to long before you evade backwards. The class needs a utility that gives us stability without having to have singet of the beastmaster trait. To many of our traits/skills/utilites give the near useless pet boons instead of us. Change fortifying bond so that any boon our pet gets is shared with us and make it a grandmaster trait instead of nature’s vengeance. Last shouts need some love sic em is to gimmicky guard is only good if it gives you regen from nature’s voice but my above fortifying bond change would help it give you protection. Protect me needs a cooldown decrease and search and rescue just needs to be reworked.

Karl McLain.5604:

Xsorus.2507:

I’m not understanding the Enlargement change, not sure what they mean by that information.

Mighty Swap granting Might to me also is interesting.

Makes Boon Duration more interesting.

Nature Magic X – Enlargement. This trait now uses Signet of the Wild to trigger. This reduces the cooldown to 60 seconds and allow it to interact with the Signet of the Beastmaster and Signet Mastery traits.

Harro Terravos! This trait is now basically the active portion of Signet of the Wild, meaning it can be reduced with Signet Mastery and will also apply to the ranger when Signet of the Beastmaster is equipped and Might if you have Beastmaster’s Might equipped.

-Karl

Interesting, thanks for the clarification

Karl McLain.5604:

Xsorus.2507:

I’m not understanding the Enlargement change, not sure what they mean by that information.

Mighty Swap granting Might to me also is interesting.

Makes Boon Duration more interesting.

Nature Magic X – Enlargement. This trait now uses Signet of the Wild to trigger. This reduces the cooldown to 60 seconds and allow it to interact with the Signet of the Beastmaster and Signet Mastery traits.

Harro Terravos! This trait is now basically the active portion of Signet of the Wild, meaning it can be reduced with Signet Mastery and will also apply to the ranger when Signet of the Beastmaster is equipped and Might if you have Beastmaster’s Might equipped.

-Karl

Karl, great change dude. Rock on!

Depending on what a PvP team is using the ranger for, spirit builds may still be prevalent, but they could switch to a Settler’s setup with 0/0/30/20/20 and bring the strength of what the BM build used to bring to a fight with the team support the a spirit build has. Storm Spirit may or may not be dropped in this situation due to the lack of Nature’s Vengeance, and builds would probably run Sun/Stone/SotW with DPS pets, Mighty Swap, and Vigorous Training for more dodging, since vigor will likely be more important for rangers now with a decrease in the traited endurance regen.

Changes are meh. LB auto gets little love on lesser ranges and that’s okay. But for the rest, nothing really appealing to me.
Predator Instinct may look good on paper but… Honestly, 10 second cripple on 30 sec cd isn’t that great choice, especially when you have Malicious Training in the same line. MT is far greater if you use spiders/dog because of godlike long immobilizes. 10 second cripple will be cleansed in 2-3 seconds and you’re left with nothing. 4 second cripple on 10 second cooldown may be really good, but in current state…meh.

We still lack at core. No movement imparing effects quick cleanse, no active condition removal, no changes to make pets more tile and controlable, both bows are still meh in depth and viability.
Not really impressed

Thank you, ANet. Thank you!

I can’t wait to try this out.

Yea agreed, still need to go 30 deep in WS for any viable build against top level/competitive players. Still no active condition removal.

Longbow still will be used by people running bear pets and nothing else because it’s utter garbage. Some changes to traits never used before, and not even after the patch.

Spirit builds will still be strong in tPvP and still dictate the class being OP in every aspect of the game even though that build and playstyle only works in PvP because your job is to hold a point.

Etc Etc

Nothing really impressive overall

jcbroe.4329:

Depending on what a PvP team is using the ranger for, spirit builds may still be prevalent, but they could switch to a Settler’s setup with 0/0/30/20/20 and bring the strength of what the BM build used to bring to a fight with the team support the a spirit build has. Storm Spirit may or may not be dropped in this situation due to the lack of Nature’s Vengeance, and builds would probably run Sun/Stone/SotW with DPS pets, Mighty Swap, and Vigorous Training for more dodging, since vigor will likely be more important for rangers now with a decrease in the traited endurance regen.

0/0/30/30/10, nature’s voice instead of nature’s vengeance and swap storm spirit for guard to give AoE perma regen and swiftness with that settler’s healing power. As well as passive spirit buffs.

Chokolata.1870:

Active condition removal ?

We’ve already got 2.5 of those. (Evasive purity is the .5)

I am in the same boat as LB changes are cool to see but still meh. Ranger’s problem still stem from these major issue.

• Ranger has to trait 30 for condition removal and has little ways to remove conditions.
• Ranger has to trait 30 into most lines just to make Utilities worth putting on their skill bar.
• Pet attacks root them in place, making pet damage akin to a weapon sigil that procs 33% of the time.
• The “Master Archer” class is still lackluster at range in PvP because people gap close almost instantly and render the range builds useless.
• Pet F2 skills are qued behind a pets pathing AI it seems, either that or they are just plain buggy.

I do like the Unbound Spirits being moved and while I am happy Longbow got tweaked it’s still not where it needs to be.

Predator Instinct should be changed from cripple to immobilize (duration about 4/5s, cd 30s)

Also I feel like the change to Storm Spirit will make it less used in the long run in any serious game mode.

I do like that we don’t need a 30pt trait to move the spirits, but will anything change? A lot of the strength in the spirits now post nerf is in Nature’s Vengeance so you’d still likely go 30 pts for a spirit build :/[/quote]

I could see using just the 10% damage spirit and 7% conversion trait.

Eurantien.4632:

jcbroe.4329:

Depending on what a PvP team is using the ranger for, spirit builds may still be prevalent, but they could switch to a Settler’s setup with 0/0/30/20/20 and bring the strength of what the BM build used to bring to a fight with the team support the a spirit build has. Storm Spirit may or may not be dropped in this situation due to the lack of Nature’s Vengeance, and builds would probably run Sun/Stone/SotW with DPS pets, Mighty Swap, and Vigorous Training for more dodging, since vigor will likely be more important for rangers now with a decrease in the traited endurance regen.

0/0/30/30/10, nature’s voice instead of nature’s vengeance and swap storm spirit for guard to give AoE perma regen and swiftness with that settler’s healing power. As well as passive spirit buffs.

Good point. I hate using Nature’s Voice and Guard personally, but that looks really solid.

I’m still sad both of our ideas have to go 30 in WS though… that’s my only gripe right now.

Shinra.9348:

Also I feel like the change to Storm Spirit will make it less used in the long run in any serious game mode.

Ya I know jcbroe was arguing for this nerf just a few days ago. But I’m still confused as to why. I guess I never realized how strong a 3k attack to 3 enemies is on a 20s cooldown (just doesn’t seem that strong to me but I’m going to keep using it to try and see the level of OP. )

This is pretty much a traits patch. At least what they showed us was traits.

Bombsaway.7198:

What I think is really interesting?
Doubling of stuns and dazes.
Almost permanent 105 power boost with mighty swap
Crippling enemies for 10 seconds when at 50% should be quite good.
Having moving pets for only 20 pts in nature which might make a number of viable builds open up. Gives us a fair bit more defense actually.

The problem with stuns is that we only have 1 per weapon, and that usually gets eaten up by some defensive trait. The duration doesnt matter because no1 gets stunned in the first place.

Great, now I have to wait until December 10 to play this game again. Hope ANet doesn’t dissapoint.

Chopps.5047:

Shinra.9348:

Also I feel like the change to Storm Spirit will make it less used in the long run in any serious game mode.

Ya I know jcbroe was arguing for this nerf just a few days ago. But I’m still confused as to why. I guess I never realized how strong a 3k attack to 3 enemies is on a 20s cooldown (just doesn’t seem that strong to me but I’m going to keep using it to try and see the level of OP. )

The main issue with it was the ability to do that damage in something like Settler’s Gear, or basically, a bunker setup.

That being said, I do disagree with the way this is being handled in the preview. There is nothing wrong with that amount of damage, it just needed a power scaling factor.

Chopps.5047:

Shinra.9348:

Also I feel like the change to Storm Spirit will make it less used in the long run in any serious game mode.

Ya I know jcbroe was arguing for this nerf just a few days ago. But I’m still confused as to why. I guess I never realized how strong a 3k attack to 3 enemies is on a 20s cooldown (just doesn’t seem that strong to me but I’m going to keep using it to try and see the level of OP. )

I really feel like the 10% dmg from Frost needs to be on Storm and Frost needs a CC mechanic. I honestly don’t feel the need for the swiftness and I don’t think 3k to 3(not even 5) is worth bringing Storm on my bar for anything other than TPvP.

jcbroe.4329:

Eurantien.4632:

jcbroe.4329:

Depending on what a PvP team is using the ranger for, spirit builds may still be prevalent, but they could switch to a Settler’s setup with 0/0/30/20/20 and bring the strength of what the BM build used to bring to a fight with the team support the a spirit build has. Storm Spirit may or may not be dropped in this situation due to the lack of Nature’s Vengeance, and builds would probably run Sun/Stone/SotW with DPS pets, Mighty Swap, and Vigorous Training for more dodging, since vigor will likely be more important for rangers now with a decrease in the traited endurance regen.

0/0/30/30/10, nature’s voice instead of nature’s vengeance and swap storm spirit for guard to give AoE perma regen and swiftness with that settler’s healing power. As well as passive spirit buffs.

Good point. I hate using Nature’s Voice and Guard personally, but that looks really solid.

I’m still sad both of our ideas have to go 30 in WS though… that’s my only gripe right now.

Ya, I think this will be the strongest tanky/condi/support ranger build we’ve ever had. I also think it will be the lowest skill floor and the easiest to play of them yet.

@ Chopps. Imagine a 1 v 1 at a node. You have to fight on the node and the radius of the proc covers the node. However, since there is a pet, a ranger, and 2 other spirits (most likely) it is hard to see everything that is going on for most players. Therefore, you will likely be hit by the proc hitting you for 3k, then it dies to timer, or you kill it with some AoE cleave and don’t notice because of the hp pool/ you need to stay on point or are a melee class so you get hit for another 3k. You just ate 6k in a few seconds against a tanky/condi build so you have to worry about how much bleeds/burning you have on you, not to heal with poison, and pay attention/ dodge 5 things (sorta).

This may seem like balance around PvP but the same thing happens in WvW when roaming as well.

jcbroe.4329:

Eurantien.4632:

jcbroe.4329:

Depending on what a PvP team is using the ranger for, spirit builds may still be prevalent, but they could switch to a Settler’s setup with 0/0/30/20/20 and bring the strength of what the BM build used to bring to a fight with the team support the a spirit build has. Storm Spirit may or may not be dropped in this situation due to the lack of Nature’s Vengeance, and builds would probably run Sun/Stone/SotW with DPS pets, Mighty Swap, and Vigorous Training for more dodging, since vigor will likely be more important for rangers now with a decrease in the traited endurance regen.

0/0/30/30/10, nature’s voice instead of nature’s vengeance and swap storm spirit for guard to give AoE perma regen and swiftness with that settler’s healing power. As well as passive spirit buffs.

Good point. I hate using Nature’s Voice and Guard personally, but that looks really solid.

I’m still sad both of our ideas have to go 30 in WS though… that’s my only gripe right now.

Why not two handed training? Now you get fury on your greatsword. I actually kind of love the devs for this greatsword buff. It’s the coolest thing.

Chopps.5047:

jcbroe.4329:

Eurantien.4632:

jcbroe.4329:

Depending on what a PvP team is using the ranger for, spirit builds may still be prevalent, but they could switch to a Settler’s setup with 0/0/30/20/20 and bring the strength of what the BM build used to bring to a fight with the team support the a spirit build has. Storm Spirit may or may not be dropped in this situation due to the lack of Nature’s Vengeance, and builds would probably run Sun/Stone/SotW with DPS pets, Mighty Swap, and Vigorous Training for more dodging, since vigor will likely be more important for rangers now with a decrease in the traited endurance regen.

0/0/30/30/10, nature’s voice instead of nature’s vengeance and swap storm spirit for guard to give AoE perma regen and swiftness with that settler’s healing power. As well as passive spirit buffs.

Good point. I hate using Nature’s Voice and Guard personally, but that looks really solid.

I’m still sad both of our ideas have to go 30 in WS though… that’s my only gripe right now.

Why not two handed training? Now you get fury on your greatsword. I actually kind of love the devs for this greatsword buff. It’s the coolest thing.

the greatsword buff is cool. but in terms of PvP, tanky condi ranger or full berzerker ranger are the only viable builds. And as berzerker ranger you need to stay range which means mainly using LB and GS only for burst. So you wouldn’t want a GS on a tanky condi build… unless you go power spirits…. interesting… but even then… you need empathic bond so nevermind.

Why you need empathic bond? I was thinking of all the times I went GS and LB and couldn’t get fury without a pet or a scarce 15 expended on skirmishing.

30 in marks and 30 in NM could be an interesting combination in my mind. You get the power and boon duration as well as a non-pet source of fury.

But you lose moment of clarity and crit damage and the fury from wep swap (which is usually 50% up time). And LB cooldowns. You need empathic bond because you wouldn’t really have condi removal/ sustain in a pvp environment.

Eurantien.4632:

But you lose moment of clarity and crit damage and the fury from wep swap (which is usually 50% up time). And LB cooldowns.

But you have a lot more power. Look at strength of spirit.

My personal preview of what these changes would cause in a PvP perspective:
Long Range Shot. Increased the damage at 500 range by 20%.
Long Range Shot. Increased the damage at 500-1000 range by 15%.
A well played player may be able to use longbow to some degree of effectiveness now. Mainly due to the 20% buff at the middle damage interval.

Marksmanship V – Predator’s Instinct. Increased the threshold from 25% to 50%. Increased the Cripple Duration from 2s to 10s. Increased the cooldown from 15s to 30s.
Conceptually good, but practically you will rarely ever see more than 5s of that cripple affect a player, much less a good player. Still, it may see some use now.

Marksmanship VI – Beastmaster’s Bond. Decreased the cooldown from 90s to 60s.
Better, but I doubt it will see much use still considering the poor up time and requirement for it to occur.

Skirmishing XII – Moment of Clarity. Stun Duration increased from 50% to 100%.
Hmm. Very hard to say how much this will affect the ranger. It will surely help those that bring this trait, but picking this trait up means 30 deep into a line that is pretty poor and we will still need to go 30 deep into wilderness survival for the condition removal.

Wilderness 5 Natural Vigor. Reduced the increased endurance regeneration from 50% to 25%.
A blow to the passive endurance regenertion no doubt. I’ll have to trait back into vigor for sure if I want to maintain my dodges.

Wilderness XII – Bark Skin Increased the damage reduction from 30% to 50%.
Fairly worthless. A ranger needs empathetic bond to stand a chance in almost any fight these days.

Nature Magic IX – Two Handed Training. Added the following functionality to this trait. Greatsword and Spear attacks have a chance to grant Fury on hit. 50% chance. 3s Fury. 10s cooldown.
Very interesting. I’m not sure. I see the benefits, but the rng makes this remind me of glacial heart. When you need it most, it seems to never occur. Then again, it is an added bonus to the trait that was never bad.

Nature Magic X – Enlargement. This trait now uses Signet of the Wild to trigger. This reduces the cooldown to 60 seconds and allow it to interact with the Signet of the Beastmaster and Signet Mastery traits.
Potentially a life saver. But has limited uses due to reactive bonus. Requires 50 trait points to have it affect you, which means you can’t bring empathetic bond. In other words, I would never use it in the current state of the game and the ranger profession.

Nature Magic VII – Nature’s Vengeance. Moved to Grandmaster Tier.
Nature Magic XI – Spirits Unbound. Moved to Master Tier.
An excellent change. I always felt that Nature’s Vengeance was very powerful and Spirits unbound was needed earlier. I haven’t considered the available builds for those willing to place 10 trait points elsewhere now.

Sun Spirit. Reduced the passive burning from 3s to 2s.
Storm Spirit. Reduced the damage from the Call Lightning skill by 33%
Really hurts the spirits to a point that I consider near worthless. Players will notice a severe lack in damage output with a spirit build now (which was needed, but I feel this is a bit harsh).

Yeah, I thought we decided long ago that Empathic Bond our only source of viable condition removal is the biggest thing that is killing build diversity.

I wish Karl would come back and comment on whether or not there is an internal discussion happening about this very problem (or perceived problem).

Bark skin fairly worthless, indoles?? Needs empathic bond?? No way guys. Branch out. It’s ok to let go of empathic bond, it really is.