Guild Wars 2

Just another Druid thread to speculate on utilities and staff (and potentially existing, if they change them too) weapon skills for the specialisation. What would you really like to see?

I’d personally love either a staff skill or a utility that allowed you to teleport to your pet or swap places with it, similar to a necro… Either that or some kind of other blink teleport skill. I’d also love to see the ‘aspect of the pet’ forum idea come to fruition with Druids.

Id like to see few skills/utilities :

Vines wall – creates a wall of vines that prevents enemies from cross it, 5000 HP once the viens are destroyed the wall vanishes.
Spring of life – Healing skill with water field, little initial heal, cure conditions, low cd (10s?)
Osmosi – Takes conditions from allies and redirect them to the closest enemy.

I think there will be a sort of shapeshifter.
Id like to see something, that i can use spirits. In my opinion spirits are far too weak and uninteresting mechanic.
Summon more pets (temporarily) could be another interesting mechanic for a druid.

Would like to see:
Shapeshifts as utility skills. Like turning yourself into a drake to be a frontline AoE bruiser, or spider for ranged combat, CC and traps, or a stealthy jaguar, or a supportive fern hound or raptor.
An elite that summons multiple animals, preferably CC and support animals.

The druids had a “caretaker of maguuma” feel at times. So I’m hoping that suggests party support and not another control weapon, exactly what I want to get for my ranger. I might just be misremembering the druids for the benefit of my hopes for Heart of Thorns.

My "personal list’

Field spell that continuously reduces enemies movement speed while there inside it (cant be cleansed. Requires you to actually leave or wait out the skill)

A delayed plant based healing spell. (requires you to precast it. non destroyable. Heals for quite a bit in an aoe. Heavily telegraphed though so enables counterplay in attempts to pull/push you away form the heal. Instant cast deployment. ground targeted up to 800 range) edit: Potentially cleanse conditions in an aoe in 3 pulses before the heal kicks in.

A “ground spike” vine spell utility. Target enemy has roots shoot from the ground and impales them. Doing steadily greater damage the longer there on it for 5 seconds. can be destroyed by other players. Target is stunned unless they have a stun break or teleport ability to get off of it)

A “blade grass” type spell which causes steel like plants to sprout from the ground. Dealing raw damage (non condi) as they move through it. But dealing no damage if they stand still. Sort of like a physical field effect form of torment based on power.

For an elite id definetly want something that either has the potential to completely lock down a location or have wide area support ability.

I think id prefer "vine prison: Lock the target area in a ring of vines. Targets inside must destroy the vines themselves before being able to escape or engage and enemy outside the ring. Vines count as physical objects and cannot be run through with stability (it IS a kitten elite after all. as well as being killable)

Perfect for duo play. If your fighting something you cant quite crack. Lock them inside and have your elementalist friend drop an icebow 4 inside the ring with them…welcome to hell..plant style.

HotHit.6783:

The druids had a “caretaker of maguuma” feel at times. So I’m hoping that suggests party support and not another control weapon, exactly what I want to get for my ranger. I might just be misremembering the druids for the benefit of my hopes for Heart of Thorns.

I wouldnt say your misremembering. But druids in most games have three roles. First is Selfless buffer: Precast long duration buffs outside of combat and use really strong short duration buffs on other players DURING combat.

SelfISH buffer: Precast buffs on yourself and use active buffs on yourself to cause extremely high single target damage for a short time. In many games fighting a druid with all of his buffs on was considered an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Edit: Example. In neverwinter nights 2 there is a prestige class called a storm caller. Most storm callers were druids. They had the ability to give themselves EXTREMELY powerful buffs which made them almost impossible to fight at clonse range. Having someone who could strip buffs or perform illusion based skills were almost mandatory to countering them.

Control Supporter: Using a mixture of defensive cooldowns and control skills druids in other games have some of the BEST crowd control in the game. Being able to effectively hold multiple targets for short times on short cooldowns. Skilled druids could hold down multiple key targets in pvp (sleeping the healer. rooting the peeler. And slowing the dpsers.) all while being tanky/sneaky enough to get away with it.

Im not saying this games druid will be like ANY of them. Thats just what ive seen them used as in most fantasy games that had the archetype.

Shadelang.3012:

HotHit.6783:

The druids had a “caretaker of maguuma” feel at times. So I’m hoping that suggests party support and not another control weapon, exactly what I want to get for my ranger. I might just be misremembering the druids for the benefit of my hopes for Heart of Thorns.

I wouldnt say your misremembering. But druids in most games have three roles. First is Selfless buffer: Precast long duration buffs outside of combat and use really strong short duration buffs on other players DURING combat.

SelfISH buffer: Precast buffs on yourself and use active buffs on yourself to cause extremely high single target damage for a short time. In many games fighting a druid with all of his buffs on was considered an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Edit: Example. In neverwinter nights 2 there is a prestige class called a storm caller. Most storm callers were druids. They had the ability to give themselves EXTREMELY powerful buffs which made them almost impossible to fight at clonse range. Having someone who could strip buffs or perform illusion based skills were almost mandatory to countering them.

Control Supporter: Using a mixture of defensive cooldowns and control skills druids in other games have some of the BEST crowd control in the game. Being able to effectively hold multiple targets for short times on short cooldowns. Skilled druids could hold down multiple key targets in pvp (sleeping the healer. rooting the peeler. And slowing the dpsers.) all while being tanky/sneaky enough to get away with it.

Im not saying this games druid will be like ANY of them. Thats just what ive seen them used as in most fantasy games that had the archetype.

I very much agree with this.

A good while ago (maybe 5ish years now?) I played an mmo called Grand Fantasia. The game as a whole was pleb as anything, but the class system and combat was incredibly fun to play (Check out ‘grand Fantasia classes’ on Google to get an idea of what you could become).

Anyway, I played an acolyte which later specialised into a sage and then a mystic, which was the Druid equivalent. Gameplay as a sage was incredibly diverse. In normal human form you could heal, buff, and self-buff, as well as being offensive. On the other side, you could unlock different animals that you could transform into (e.g. Stealth wolf for DPS gameplay, eagle for mobility and support, and gorilla for tanking and support). It’s been so long since I played that they’ve probably added way more content since. Although it’s by no means a top level mmo, I think the gw2 team could take a lot from what each class can do on that game. Gw2 in comparison offers a limited amount of skills per profession.

I hope they will change our class mechanism

Anet probably got everything worked up already, so the wish list has nothing to do. But they could change the spirits so they work like minnions – follow in default and die when killed, not on 60 second cooldown. Of course that would mean changing the the lesser elementals and spirit weapons to work the same, so people who play elementalits and guardians won’t feel omitted.

McWolfy.5924:

I hope they will change our class mechanism

They will add a new class mechanic for each specialisation, yes so don’t worry :P

EDIT: or thoroughly change the existing ones, I forget which…

Staff skills to have at least 2 temporary summon spirit skills. Spirits that will not die in 2 hits, and would actually provide decent support. (not like everything except frost one….)

Utilities: Summon weapon – Whip. Works like an ele conjure weapon, 20 charges- no traits for it. Skills for it, 1 pull, 1 ST burst, one AoE burst, and 2 nature like buffs.

no more summons

How nuts are we allowed to get?

The auto attack is you summon a ‘spirit wolf’ at your feet that runs at super speed toward a target for 3 seconds with a .75 second cast time. This way you can have multiple wolves out at once. These wolves just attack for a low amount of damage and cause 1 second of bleed per hit. The idea being that if you use the staff at max range, you’ll only ever hit the target with 1 wolf once. But if you use it at minimum range, you could have up to 3 wolves on the target chomping away.

A staff skill that casts a single target root that does some upfront damage, immobilizes for 4 seconds, and applies a 6 stack of bleed for 8 seconds.

A staff skill that spawns 3 seedlings at about 600 units away from the druid at random locations. These seedlings slowly drift toward the Druid for 8 seconds before they die. If they touch an enemy they stick to them and cripple them. If they touch the druid they sprout immobilizing anyone they were on for 2seconds and explode dealing some damage and cause bleeding. If the seedlings touch you, they are blast finishers.

A staff skill that allows you to grow up to 5 little trees with 5k health each. They have a very small ae that pulses causing 1 bleed a second. A new signet or utility skill can be used to detonate these little trees.

An elite skill that immobilizes you and makes you immune to damage for 4 seconds. During this 4 seconds a giant tree grows around you. After 4 seconds it becomes a large area water field for 8 seconds. At any point the Druid can activate the tree, causing it to fall down in whichever direction the Druid is facing launching up to 5 foes away from it and becoming a temporary impassable object with 10k health. If the Druid doesn’t knock it over, after 8 seconds the tree disappears into a lot of leaves that slowly fall to the ground. These leaves cripple all enemies and give allies regen.

Bryzy.2719:

McWolfy.5924:

I hope they will change our class mechanism

They will add a new class mechanic for each specialisation, yes so don’t worry :P

EDIT: or thoroughly change the existing ones, I forget which…

I hope they will add the aspect thing. What i miss for a long time are the touch skills and the epic ranger stances and ahhh… the preparations

Hmm if the druid mechanic itself just becomes (get rid of the pet) ill be pretty disappointed. What im hoping we “lose” with the druid is the marksmanship line. I love having a ranged power based weapon for many situations but the longbow itself requires so many traits for it to be a viable weapon that it kills build diversity for me. Ive even taken to running a full melee power build in my prefered trait setup. I really enjoy using BM based builds. The number of really wierd combinations you can make. (Causing three heals to go off at the same time, Chaining stuns with knockdowns, repeated and dispersed soft CC application through intimidation training+ weapon skills.) have been far more entertaining to me than any other playstyle this game has offered me so far.

What id been hoping from the druid really is the ability to sacrifice pet swapping as a mechanic and grant a pet I can actually keep active…invest in…and rely on. Whether the druid gives me support abilities to keep it alive. Frees up trait points while still giving me a ranged option in the form of the staff. Maybe the ability for heal as one to actually revive a downed pet….<——— big issue for me.

Bryzy.2719:

McWolfy.5924:

I hope they will change our class mechanism

They will add a new class mechanic for each specialisation, yes so don’t worry :P

EDIT: or thoroughly change the existing ones, I forget which…

Druids are just as big into ‘Animal Companions’ as Rangers in most games; often more so. I really wouldn’t hold your breathes.

McWolfy.5924:

Bryzy.2719:

McWolfy.5924:

I hope they will change our class mechanism

They will add a new class mechanic for each specialisation, yes so don’t worry :P

EDIT: or thoroughly change the existing ones, I forget which…

I hope they will add the aspect thing. What i miss for a long time are the touch skills and the epic ranger stances and ahhh… the preparations

yeah sounds good, rampage as one should be a stance too. they should add preparations for sure, between thief poison and warriors stance in. It should effect our attack but also have the duration of a stance. If they do not add a long cast time to it, it prob also get a max number of hits like thief poison utilities.

It would be nice if you can spam a preparation utility but instead it has a long casting time, that can distinguish ranger more from other classes.
they should also add more elite skills with lower cooldown than 180sec.. in gw1 you do not even have a elite with that cool down and it does not have to be an OP elite but an elite that you can use in your rotation more often, something that you can really use in your playstyle. Not just a rage button. Thief seems to have one of 45 sec.
I would rather trade my rampage as one rage mode button of 180 sec cd for something like what thief has with 45 sec. maybe for gw1 Crippling Shot with 45 sec cd, broad head arrow, magebaneshot, strike as one or escape. If they add preparation glass arrows.

i’d like staff to be melee, with a mix of support/control with a power scale of necro dagger on the auto attack.

I’ve been requesting Druid type of skills since 2013. Especially since I have a Sylvari Ranger soon to be a Sylvari Druid.

1. Summon Ancestral Druid (Tier 2/3 (if there ever is a Tier 3 with the expansion) Elite Skill)
A. Lasts for 60 seconds. Cool down is 240 seconds.

• B*. General Skill (Spirit Orb Blast • Shoots a single orb from its staff every second on a single target at 900 range. Inflicts Poison upon hit. Does around 900 damage per hit and has a very small AoE upon impact 100 units. Has a low chance (10%) of shooting an orb that blows up on impact and scatters miniature orbs around the target for further detonation damage)

C. Special Skill #1 (Invasive Thorns • Summons a circle of thorns around the target and inflicts bleed and cripple per second. Bleed does 2500 damage by 7 seconds and cripples for 4 seconds on affliction. Thorns last 7 seconds and has a diameter of 450 units. Cool down is 15 seconds.)

D. Special Skill #2 (Seeds of Restoration • Druid throws 3 seeds near allies which sprout into healing pods that AoE heal allies for 340 HP per second and removes conditions every 5 seconds. Seeds explode after being destroyed causing around 3000 damage to enemies near it with a radius of 250 units. Proc’s when summoner’s health reaches less than 2/3. Healing seeds have a healing radius of 300 units and can stack healing if players are spaced in between seeds within said radius. Druid can also recover using this skill as well. Cool down is 20 seconds.)

• E*. Special Skill 3 (Ancestral Wrath • Fury, Might, Stability, and Quickness are granted to the Ancestral Druid. Fury, Stability, and Might lasts for 20 seconds, and Quickness lasts for 6 seconds. Skill procs when Druid has 25 seconds left until it disappears.)

2. Healing Skill – (Symbiotic Blessing • Player is healed 650 HP every time pet takes damage. Pet gains protection buff that lasts for 3 seconds on hit. When player is attacked, pet is healed 950 HP. Player gains protection buff that lasts for 3 seconds on hit. Symbiotic blessing lasts for 12 seconds.)

Substance E.4852:

Bryzy.2719:

McWolfy.5924:

I hope they will change our class mechanism

They will add a new class mechanic for each specialisation, yes so don’t worry :P

EDIT: or thoroughly change the existing ones, I forget which…

Druids are just as big into ‘Animal Companions’ as Rangers in most games; often more so. I really wouldn’t hold your breathes.

Yeah well we know from the trailer at least that druids will still be using the pets, but one of the devs definitely said the mechanic will be different between the druid and the ranger. I’m not sure how different but hopefully we’ll get more info soon, ‘cos I’m on tenterhooks here…

I’d like some good ranged semi spammable aoe for tagging on the staff, some decent mobility and maybe some stealth. Thanks.

Nah, most probably they will get rid of the longbow because the community complains, and give more support and sustain abilities. New fantastic weapon will be staff.

It is still missing the classic support class “healer” so i guess druid will be that one. That’s not actually bad, the druid could use the pet to avoid direct fight against aggro or other players while shots support spells all the time. Although i hope the fix the shameful pet’s A.I. before that.

If they do this the pet has to be an enemy to have in consideration not like now that is just a joke at best.
If not this will be a complete failure.

Bee’s lots and lots of Bee’s! Seriously I would love to see either a number one that bounced like the Ele Staff Air #1, only maybe applying Bleed or Poison, or an AoE field off ornery insects that applied Poison or bleed. Then I’d be happy.

I would love to see some healing and boon giving powers for team play. I know guild wars 2 player hate healers… everything should be zerker..(based on thats all I see people wanting in the group finder) but I love supporting others. Above a healing spring was mentioned. I would love that and perhaps a condition over time aoe bee attack. Like summoning a hive or something. Anything with flowers and I am happy too.

A weapon/utility skill for a friendly pull, similar to the Priest (WoW) & Medic (Wildstar).

Thanks to that_shaman and WoodenPotatoes for all the work put into the tooltip builder.
http://tooltips.thatshaman.com/

I would give it 5 seconds flat before someone uses that on people in a jumping puzzle…

Sirius.4510:

I would give it 5 seconds flat before someone uses that on people in a jumping puzzle…

It works well in other games, and to be more specific would only work with friendly players in party.

Plant turrets everywhere.

Turrets would have essentially an inverse of the engi mechanic. In stead of amplifying the turret for a burst of increased function, you’d burst the turret to “hide” it, burrowing it under the ground to heal itself until you’re ready to grow it again, and re-growing would cast a one shot AoE when it comes up.

Plant turrets would be primarily defenseive, using effects that target allies in stead of enemies, with perhaps one AoE turret that is offensive (the elite?)

So, where the engi uses turrets primarily to keep enemies down and protect a ranged firing position, druid would use his to keep allies up and reingforce a melee fighting position.

Basically, Engis want to stand inside their turret bunker, but druids would want to stand outside of it, letting their pet and allies dish the damage and keeping them up with supportine staff skills. You’d also have the base spec’s bow and melee options if you want to go melee in the turret field.

That’d get me to dust off my ranger again. I used to love spirit spam solo ranger/rit

I’d like to see a 1200 range targetable Teleport on a 15s cooldown to replace Swoop, so I can run Staff instead of Greatsword. It would allow for better positioning without losing map travel speed.

It shouldn’t do anything else. No damage, no boons, no condi clear, nothing. Just a 1200 range teleport on a low cooldown.

Something like mass reveal or an aoe that destroys all clones/illusions which try to enter (like they do with our projectiles) >:)