Guild Wars 2

I know this is a unformatted wall of text.. please don’t let that dissuade you. Simply out of time atm.
The goal of this post is to bring Druid more into a synergistic relationship with Ranger rather than its current stand-alone complex. The two ways to do this are to change the Druid and the Ranger. Let’s first start with Mechanics as this is really what defines each specialization. A huge problem with the preliminary Druid concept is the complete lack of Ranger pet mechanics being involved. The Druid feels simply slapped on as an afterthought to the current mechanic. This is unhealthy for both the Elite and Core specializations. The following series of proposed changes is aimed to remedy this problem.
1.) Pet damage and healing is also included in Celestial Avatar force generation.
2.) Your pet also enters Celestial Avatar form and gains the same benefits/traits. (Does not overwrite skills. Simply visual. Gain benefits from possible traits such as Druidic Clarity and Celestial Shadow)
3.) Whenever an Astral Wisp hits a pet its Active ability (F2) recharges faster. (This gives a nice bonus to pets that stay in the fray. It also combos with the GM trait Lingering Light giving it a little added flare to summoning an Astral Wisp around yourself as well.)
4.) Solar Beam grants might to pets for a short duration. (Maybe this for just a little extra “Umph” to the skill. Doesn’t have to be might. Unsure.)
5.) Vine Surge also grants protection to your pet if it hits it. (This skill can remove snares from pets and allies but pets can always benefit from a little something extra and vines blocking some blows for them while they charge sounds thematically feasible.)

Now that adding in pet synergy has been covered let’s look at some skills for both Druid and Ranger that could use some love. This will focus on Utility Skills as there is a usual lack of actual utility built into a lot of these skills.

1.) Druid- Glyph of Tides: reverse the knockback/pull effects between the forms. (You don’t want to be pulling foes while in healing mode. You want to keep them away.)
2.) Druid- Seed of Life: Grants protection before exploding. (This gives the skill a way to act as sudden damage mitigation before acting as a burst heal. Could be a cooler effect like “When summoned allies evade the next attack” or something. Anything that acts as a quick defense.)
3.) Druid- Glyph of Alignment: Add functionality; Recharges faster after successful evades. (This Glyph is rather lack-luster and simply provides very little actual utility which is a VERY common problem with Ranger Utility Skills. Giving this skill something like recharging much faster after evades gives synergy to the rest of the evade heavy Ranger abilities and dodges but also bring the skill into a new position where skilled players can activate it much more frequently which could synergize very well with Verdant Etching for these players.)
4.) Druid- Glyph of Empowerment: Grants Might (3), Fury, and Quickness to nearby allies for a short duration. // Celestial Avatar Grants Stability (5) to nearby allies instead. Recharge increased to 40s. (This skill provided rather nominal damage and support bonuses in either form. Redoing the skill entirely and giving it useful and needed boons in both forms but increasing the recharge to compensate gives the skill purpose.)
5.) Druid- Natural Convergence: Grants stability to user while channeling. (Similar things have been given to other skills like this and it further aids in the proposed “Get out of the way” feel of the skill.)
Lastly a few traits should be changed to draw the druid and Ranger closer together and build the last bit of synergy.
1.) Ranger- Switch Honed Axes with Empathetic Bond. (This opens up more build options for the Core and Elite Specialization by spreading out the Condition removal Traits.)
2.) Druid- Merge Natural Mending with Lingering Light. (Lingering Light is thematically an interesting trait but ultimately lacking in effectiveness especially when considering healing allies further away from you. Merging Natural Mending makes it a great Healer oriented GM.)
3.) Move Natural Stride to GM minor. (This gives the trait a nice and desired minor spot.)
4.) Add Master trait- Druidic Retribution; Whenever you immobilize a foe weaken them and gain (2s) Fury. ICD 10s. The effect occurs on every foe immobilized at once. (This new trait is aimed at opening up a slightly more selfish but still defensive path for the druid that combines very well with both other Ranger and Druid traits.)

These changes should bring the Druid up from what some may call an unappealing heal-bot to a supportive powerhouse. Coming up I will discuss Ranger Spirits themselves and how we can use that concept to further strengthen tie with the druid while also finally bringing this skills up to a competitive field.

Ranger spirits have long been what I can only describe as a nightmare. What follows is my personal recommendation for the skills based on current themes and past experiences. I think this is a chance for these poor set of skills to be reborn anew. Some things to note about these skills;
-1200 Range or Point blank
-Visually Orbit a small area or the caster
-Applies effects at set 3s intervals and immediately upon cast.
-immune to damage
-360unit radius passive
-15s duration

• Ranger- Sun Spirit: Functionality changed to; Summon a Sun Wisp at target location. Foes near the wisp burn and allies near it cause burning with their next attack. Active- Sun Wisp flies to your current foe and sacrifices itself in a blinding flash that leaves foes blind and vulnerable for a short duration. (The idea behind this skill is to give the ranger a way to apply heavy condition damage in an area while being able to sacrifice the area control when it seems the fight will move.)
• Ranger- Frost Spirit: Functionality changed to; Summon a Frost Wisp at Target location. Foes near the wisp become vulnerable and allies near the wisp gain might. Active- Frost Wisp flies to current target and explodes in a cold snap chilling nearby foes. (This works similar to Sun Spirit but works is a more power orientated setting.)
• Ranger- Storm Spirit: Functionality changed to; Summon a Storm Wisp around yourself that grants Swiftness to allies near it and damages foes near itself. Active- Storm Wisp flies to current target and burst into electricity damaging and dazing foes in a small radius. (Storm Spirit now acts as an pseudo aura around the Ranger that can be sacrificed as a ranged attack.)
• Ranger- Stone Spirit: Functionality changed to: Summon a Stone Wisp around yourself that grants protection to allies near it and cripples foes instead. Active- Stone Spirit flies under the ground beneath your feet and after a short delay the ground erupts upward grabbing foes and immobilizing and weakening them. (Gives the Ranger an option for a party supportive defensive skill that can be sacrificed at an opportune time to provide an escape or opening.)
• Ranger- Water Spirit: Functionality changed to; Summon a Water Wisp around yourself that periodically removes conditions and grants healing for you and nearby allies. Active- Water wisp splashes to the ground healing you and nearby allies leaving behind a water field. (This heal focuses on being a mobile but slightly weaker version of Healing Spring in terms that it doesn’t apply regeneration to you or allies and who’s water field is a much shorter duration making it more important to capitalize on timely.)
• Ranger- Spirit of Nature. Functionality changed to; Summon a Spirit of Nature Wisp around yourself that heals and removes conditions of yourself and nearby allies. Active- Send the Spirit of Nature Wisp out to target location before it sucks itself and up to 3 downed allies into the earth teleporting them to your location and exploding in one last large heal that instantly revives near downed allies. (Essentially the elite of Water Spirit that instead of creating a water field saves 3 allies and provides more HPS while active.)

Spirits as a whole have been such a huge nightmare for the ranger class and developers since day one but the Druid itself unknowingly held the answer. Wisps. Since the Druid did away with seemingly almost all traditional Nature Magic ties and became the far away end-all evolution of the trait line giving a tie back to the Core profession is a huge need. Without it the Elite specialization will forever feel like a stapled on limb. The answer to this is tying in a small Druid mechanic into the Core ranger mechanic which provides a thematic link between the two specializations while also finally providing a way for the poorly designed core Ranger skills to be extremely useful in solo and group setting which is currently a huge weakness for the profession.

Finally, as icing on the cake, redoing the Spirit trait to increase the utility of Spirit skills, a theme that Ranger GMs focus heavily on.
1.) Ranger- Nature’s Vengeance; Functionality changed to; Sacrificing a wisp gives you stability (1) and your pet quickness. Sacrificed Wisps recharge faster. (This revamped trait adds further utility to the spirit skills keeping that theme from other Ranger GM traits and provides the recharge cooldown as a reward for sacrificing.)