This thread is made in response the current speculation regarding the Druid elite specialization for the ranger. Specifically, what we know is that the Druid will add a new trait line, bring the staff weapon to the profession, change the way the profession mechanic (pets) works, and add a new class of skills to the profession.
This thread is focused on the last of those; the Skills
As I see it, there are five ways Arenanet can take this concept, and I’ll go over the pros and cons of each.
- Physical Skills
- Weapon Kits
- Consecrations
- Meditations
- Minions
(As a disclaimer, I am personally against Physical Skills, Kits, and Minions, but out of respect for those that might like these, I’ll attempt to keep my bias out of the following post.)
Physical Skills:
Taken from the Warrior profession, Physical skills are typically control oriented abilities focused around using your body in a way that typically isn’t covered by a more esoteric skill type or the use of a weapon. This includes kicking people and shoulder-checking them, but the Specialization changes brought Rampage into the list of Physical Skills, suggesting transformations are possible with this skill type. Druidic physical skills would likely be transforming body parts into animal or plant-based features and smashing someone with them, or transforming wholesale into an animal.
-Pros: Rangers are not lacking for control effects – the problem is cleaving control effects, rather than single-target. Hilt Bash, Point Blank shot, and Canine takedowns are all single target, though the introduction of taunt as a pet specific mechanic has helped alleviate this slightly. Physical skills would add that class of control to the Ranger.
-Cons: Rangers don’t need more control to be effective. In fact, many would claim more control effects for the Ranger would be a bad idea, and I don’t believe lack of control ever been a complaint people have leveled at the profession, given the myriad other problems Rangers suffer from. there’s also thematic concerns that this idea suffers from – druids in Tyria are humans that ascended to become nature spirits, rather than the animal transformers they are in other games and worlds. Transformations also typically rid you of your profession mechanic and weapons, obviating something like 60% of all Ranger traits.
Weapon Kits:
Weapon Kits as utilized by the engineer are types of weaponry that you can quickly swap between for different playstyles; for example, grenades, a mortar gun, and a flamethrower. These weapons replace the existing weapon the character currently uses. For the purposes of a druid, these would likely be, much like the physical skills above; transformations in part of in whole to an animal or plant for the purpose of changing playstyle.
-Pros: A variety of playstyles would certainly increase the versatility of the Ranger class as a whole. A healing kit, a control kit, a damage kit, a tanking kit, and a buffing kit would all be useful for expanding the repertoire of what the Ranger is capable of as a whole.
-Cons: Kits presented in this way follow the same thematic concerns that are present in the Physical skills entry. Aside from that, there aren’t a lot of gaps here; a healing and/or buffing kit could easily cover team support, and the other kits could be custom built to deal with the other issues druids suffer from, and kits don’t disable the use of a profession mechanic like transformations do. Of course, that bonus goes out the window if these “kits” are indeed transformations with the serial numbers filed off. On top of this, there’s some speculation that thieves are going to be getting weapon kits, and I’d be shocked if Arenanet doubled up on Skills.
(edited by Harnel.6810)
