Guild Wars 2

The more I hear about Revenant, the less interested I am in ranger. The prospect of having a ton of versatility like being able to “tank”, heal, support, dps… All wrapped up in one profession sounds great. In addition to that, they will have weapons and abilities that function much better on the battle field, and the prospect of having higher base damage, a nifty ranged hammer with attacks at 1200 that hit 5 targets (that is superior to our longbow even with 1500), and a total reliance on self instead of a pet that contribute very little in most situations and ends up doing nothing because they have empty health bars in any type of challenging content.

If you look at what is being introduced with hot… 1 new profession, 9 elites, tons new skills, traits and stuff… It’s pretty disheartening that things like the Rangers pathetic damage, mostly useless pet, “wonky” sword that is more often than not detrimental to use, bleed restrictions on short bow, rooting axe 5, uninspiring dagger…. have all been left to rot because it’s seemingly too difficult or beyond the scope of development to fix or improve… But hey, we have a 1500 range long bow and rapid fire right???

Sorry to by so cynical, but I hope the ranger is improved sooner than later instead of the emphasis be on Druids and dragon babies to placate ranger players. I believe a first good step would be to review damage values and burst numbers because in practice (aka on training dummies and AI) the pet is ok, but in every other area of the game we are damage deficient.

As things currently stand, I see better alternatives to Druid healing because stack-buff-spam is still the prevalent form of high end gameplay and other profession have access to heal abilities. Also, I foresee the only real highlight to being a ranger/druid will be the occasional “look at my cool self healing” bunker 2.0 ranger videos popping up once in a while…

Idk, you think I’m wrong?

Edit- I feel bad that Irenio adopted this mess, but hopefully we can get some real improvements soon, not soon™…

After running some numbers and looking at various builds I believe in high end meta PvE builds that druid will be meta for healing in raids, and as group support for buffs in 5-man fractals. They have the potential to buff every members dps by over 40% alone in a group, that is better than the warrior is able to do. Futhermore, sinister ranger is still VERY high dps and in high level fractals will shine still.

For core ranger in sPvP/WvW – I do believe they will not be viable in any situation with everything that is entering the field. They lack real burst damage and sustain damage due to pets locking away a good portion of their damage. As I have proved in videos I posted before dodging pet damage is very simple and easy to negate them. Pets are mostly a none factor in 90% of all situations. Until the multiple issues that plague pets are fixed core ranger will always be behind the curve in sPvP and WvW.

Kitty.1502:

They have the potential to buff every members dps by over 40% alone in a group

Could you provide some more information on how you got 40%? Does this include the new grace of the land trait? Because if so, you are sacrificing 100% of your own dps to stay in CAF

Photinous.4628:

Kitty.1502:

They have the potential to buff every members dps by over 40% alone in a group

Could you provide some more information on how you got 40%? Does this include the new grace of the land trait? Because if so, you are sacrificing 100% of your own dps to stay in CAF

You can get the 5 stacks in under 2 3/4 seconds, so do it while might stacking, and then every 8 seconds.

But everything:
-Glyph of Empowerment 10%
-Grace of the Land 15%
-Frost Spirit 7%
-Spotter 5%
-Sun Spirit variable between 5~10%

revenant looks more OP than it is

its got powerful abilities that are somewhat limited by the energy mechanic

right now its suffering from the grassisalwaysgreener effect but we’ll see how it works out in practice

Swagger.1459:

If you look at what is being introduced with hot… 1 new profession, 9 elites, tons new skills, traits and stuff… It’s pretty disheartening that things like the Rangers pathetic damage, mostly useless pet, “wonky” sword that is more often than not detrimental to use, bleed restrictions on short bow, rooting axe 5, uninspiring dagger…. have all been left to rot because it’s seemingly too difficult or beyond the scope of development to fix or improve… But hey, we have a 1500 range long bow and rapid fire right???

Pet’s are getting improvements (like not dying in PvE) and I still don’t see a problem with having 6500 DPS self-buffed.

If you can’t play a ranger properly then don’t play one. Or if you do play one the wrong way – don’t claim statements that you can’t support with facts.

Kitty.1502:

After running some numbers and looking at various builds I believe in high end meta PvE builds that druid will be meta for healing in raids, and as group support for buffs in 5-man fractals. They have the potential to buff every members dps by over 40% alone in a group, that is better than the warrior is able to do. Futhermore, sinister ranger is still VERY high dps and in high level fractals will shine still.

For core ranger in sPvP/WvW – I do believe they will not be viable in any situation with everything that is entering the field. They lack real burst damage and sustain damage due to pets locking away a good portion of their damage. As I have proved in videos I posted before dodging pet damage is very simple and easy to negate them. Pets are mostly a none factor in 90% of all situations. Until the multiple issues that plague pets are fixed core ranger will always be behind the curve in sPvP and WvW.

Read carefully.

His main complaint comes from ranger being shifted to Druid entirely as a mean to justify all the ranger’s stuffs leaving to rot, like sword, axe (both main and offhand have problems), warhorn (4), and stuffs.

They’d now focus on polishing Druid so ranger would become a true support class, while giving up other aspects of ranger because “Hey, now you have Druid to use over those crappy stuffs! Why not use Druid?”

Aomine.5012:

Kitty.1502:

After running some numbers and looking at various builds I believe in high end meta PvE builds that druid will be meta for healing in raids, and as group support for buffs in 5-man fractals. They have the potential to buff every members dps by over 40% alone in a group, that is better than the warrior is able to do. Futhermore, sinister ranger is still VERY high dps and in high level fractals will shine still.

For core ranger in sPvP/WvW – I do believe they will not be viable in any situation with everything that is entering the field. They lack real burst damage and sustain damage due to pets locking away a good portion of their damage. As I have proved in videos I posted before dodging pet damage is very simple and easy to negate them. Pets are mostly a none factor in 90% of all situations. Until the multiple issues that plague pets are fixed core ranger will always be behind the curve in sPvP and WvW.

Read carefully.

His main complaint comes from ranger being shifted to Druid entirely as a mean to justify all the ranger’s stuffs leaving to rot, like sword, axe (both main and offhand have problems), warhorn (4), and stuffs.

They’d now focus on polishing Druid so ranger would become a true support class, while giving up other aspects of ranger because “Hey, now you have Druid to use over those crappy stuffs! Why not use Druid?”

Seems like he was complaining about druid being made useless too, as long as core ranger. I just provided various druid and core ranger specifics that are still decent. Though I do agree with the premise that core ranger needs a lot of love.

Shoe.5821:

revenant looks more OP than it is

its got powerful abilities that are somewhat limited by the energy mechanic

right now its suffering from the grassisalwaysgreener effect but we’ll see how it works out in practice

this is a huge understatement. the Herald was completely broken in the hands of competent players during BWE3, and sadly I haven’t heard of any incoming nerfs to the herald or the chrono (btw have you at all witnessed what the herald can do when played by an expert?). but mark my words right here, herald and chrono will be totally OP in all aspects of pvp, and we will likely have to sit through an entire pvp season with these two as “required” top dawgs…with their perma blocks and insane damage.

regarding OP’s concerns, the few rangers that are left in the competitive pvp environment will have to be very creative with their new tools, as per usual. while other elite specs will be able to whip up various OP builds without much sense or effort, we’ll be scrounging for crumbs in our druid trait line to make LB, staff, and GS work.

more specifically, we are in a dire need of reworking more than half of our weapons that essentially hit like noodles, that have been left in the dust 3-4 metas ago when they could have been somewhat useful. and more than half of our utilities that are completely useless (spirits, half of the shouts, half of the signets, two survival utilities, and a few of the signets; not to mention most of our pets with overly situational ai-controlled abilities and f2’s).

I think our current devs may be up to the task, but we will have to wait a while indeed. in the meantime, I will be making a rev myself, and enjoying my druid casually in its limited role.

Aomine.5012:

His main complaint comes from ranger being shifted to Druid entirely as a mean to justify all the ranger’s stuffs leaving to rot, like sword, axe (both main and offhand have problems), warhorn (4), and stuffs.

this is absolutely correct. as I called it (when Colin said during an interview that core profs WOULD be getting the same treatment as elite specs), core profs and their mechanics got left in the dust by the new tech. I mean, look at the intuitiveness and smoothness of the staff and the druid trait line, compared to offhand axe, warhorn, and a slew of useless GM’s.

mistsim.2748:

Shoe.5821:

revenant looks more OP than it is

its got powerful abilities that are somewhat limited by the energy mechanic

right now its suffering from the grassisalwaysgreener effect but we’ll see how it works out in practice

this is a huge understatement. the Herald was completely broken in the hands of competent players during BWE3, and sadly I haven’t heard of any incoming nerfs to the herald or the chrono. but mark my words right here, herald and chrono will be totally OP in all aspects of pvp, and we will likely have to sit through an entire pvp season with these two as “required” top dawgs.

regarding OP’s concerns, the few rangers that are left in the competitive pvp environment will have to be very creative with their new tools, as per usual. while other elite specs will be able to whip up various OP builds without much sense or effort, we’ll be scrounging for crumbs in our druid trait line to make LB, staff, and GS work.

more specifically, we are in a dire need of reworking more than half of our weapons that essentially hit like noodles. and more than half of our utilities that are completely useless (spirits, half of the shouts, half of the signets, two survival utilities, and a few of the signets; not to mention most of our pets with overly situational ai-controlled abilities and f2’s).

I think our current devs may be up to the task, but we will have to wait a while indeed. in the meantime, I will be making a rev myself, and enjoying my druid casually in its limited role.

Revenant would also be 100% needed in Raid too, not just Druid.
In fact they’d be needed in larger quantity than Druid. (Maybe 4 of them at least)

They currently have the 1st~2nd highest dps in the game with sword + Shiro, provide MOBILE boons, and have some crucial tools to stay alive on their own. (Herald and shield)

I don’t know what they did to smokescale and testing for sPvP was not possible so far but if they keep it approximately where it was then I actually think it starts to be fair to have less damage on the ranger himself.

This thing feels like the perfect pet and the other new ones are basically atleast on dog level aswell.

the new f2 for the bristle does something like 5k in pve. so with 25 might stacks, we’re talking 10k. but likely they will nerf it. that smokescale attack looked pretty broken. 8k without crits or might.

mistsim.2748:

the new f2 for the bristle does something like 5k in pve. so with 25 might stacks, we’re talking 10k. but likely they will nerf it. that smokescale attack looked pretty broken. 8k without crits or might.

I would not call anything broken before you actually played it versus other players. That wvw video someone posted here? You can do the same thing with drakes if you commit all your high cooldown utility skills to it and have opponents that cannot dodge or avoid damage.

Bristle doesn’t seemt that good at applying damage to players to be honest. Have to play it myself first. This seems like very avoidable damage. For smokescale a large amount can also be dodged but the pet as a whole is just a good package.

Well, the only leg one has to stand on is that the Rev had 3 full beta weekends whereas the Druid 1. Mathematics or statistics aside, the odds favor the Druid being broke upon release. If not broke, seriously obvious that the single weekend of beta play hurt it. The developers would also have to ignore the obvious and have a blind eye to its state.

The only question is, will it be on the OP side of broke or the unplayable side. June 23rd patch bugs and balance issues along with the few previous do not shed any positive light on the current state of the game.

But…as one person said, if you can’t play the ranger with the cards dealt then don’t and re-roll/re-tomb to the grass is greener camp. You are not losing any money. Who knows, maybe you will have some fun…

Rev is the “Jack of all trades and master of none” I know that saying is thrown around a lot but other classes have been refined into more specific roles now. (Engine, who previously held this title iirc is now more damage/utility ie combo field bro) Ele is support/healer/damage I think… ugh…

Druid will surely be a better healer. We’re kinda the “raid healer”, we dish out the big stuff and pet dps.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Swagger.1459:

If you look at what is being introduced with hot… 1 new profession, 9 elites, tons new skills, traits and stuff… It’s pretty disheartening that things like the Rangers pathetic damage, mostly useless pet, “wonky” sword that is more often than not detrimental to use, bleed restrictions on short bow, rooting axe 5, uninspiring dagger…. have all been left to rot because it’s seemingly too difficult or beyond the scope of development to fix or improve… But hey, we have a 1500 range long bow and rapid fire right???

Pet’s are getting improvements (like not dying in PvE) and I still don’t see a problem with having 6500 DPS self-buffed.

If you can’t play a ranger properly then don’t play one. Or if you do play one the wrong way – don’t claim statements that you can’t support with facts.

Sure, in pve… also, this post was made before the announcement.

Under the ideal set up vs a training dummy or stationary AI enemy, a pve ranger can really shine

I’m really trying to play this broken down and underperforming profession properly so please don’t lose faith in me.

When HoT hits I’ll get right to work on my Fact Finding Mastery Track, I promise!

Dojo.1867

I would not call anything broken before you actually played it versus other players. That wvw video someone posted here? You can do the same thing with drakes if you commit all your high cooldown utility skills to it and have opponents that cannot dodge or avoid damage.

Bristle doesn’t seemt that good at applying damage to players to be honest. Have to play it myself first. This seems like very avoidable damage. For smokescale a large amount can also be dodged but the pet as a whole is just a good package.

Smokescales unrelenting assault deals way more dmg than a drakes tailswipe (10k+ with zero! buffs), instant 750 range teleport, can’t be avoided by kiting, can’t be interrupted or blinded, can’t be fully avoided by a dodge roll.
To deal massive dmg with a drake (or other “old” pets) you have to use multiple cooldowns to stack dmg modifier, their dmg can be easily avoided by walking, dodging, blind, cc, and sometimes the pet just wastes those modifier because it autoattacks instead of using the special ability. To deal lots of dmg with smokescale you have to do … nothing. Or maybe just use Sick’Em, and enjoy 15k+ burst dmg.
I have tested the smokescale by myself against other players and i would call it op.

It’s understandable that you may not like the direction that the ranger is taking. That is ALWAYS an issue with new expansions in MMOs; things need to change in order to keep the game feeling diverse, and there’s no guarantee that it will change in a way that you like.

However, giving yourself over to sensationalism doesn’t really help you or the direction of the class. Despite the fact that the druid is focused on healing, it adds a new dynamic to rangers in PvP scenarios, and if ANET has their way, will add a new dynamic to the true end-game PvE (raids). Ranger damage is still good, in all areas of the game; Pets are being worked on as we speak, having already received non-targeted damage resilience.

I primarily play sPvP and organised WvW and I have no immediate intention of playing a +healing druid. I will be playing it for the extra utility it provides via. AOE dazes (you can almost permanently daze a group for the duration of CA), AOE superspeed + stealth, extra CC (Ancient Seeds) and group health sustain. The staff also provides some awesome utility via immob, 1200 range mist form/blink and a projectile block. I am not short of QQ, by any means, but this elite spec really got me excited about the game again.

Druid is unlikely to be in high demand for current PvE content, and that’s okay, it is a zerk fest. It has been stated many times that the elite specs were intended to provide an alternate style of play (though I’d agree that some may feel like a straight upgrade at a glance), and Druids are looking to be very attractive for content that is actually challenging by modern MMO standards.

In short, try to keep in mind that just because the class didn’t evolve in a way you wanted, that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty more people who are happy with its progress. If you think the Revenant will work better for your needs then play that instead.

That is your choice to make.

We are humans and it is in our nature to like different things. All will play their desired classes based on individual factors.

Swagger.1459:

Sure, in pve… also, this post was made before the announcement.

Under the ideal set up vs a training dummy or stationary AI enemy, a pve ranger can really shine

I’m really trying to play this broken down and underperforming profession properly so please don’t lose faith in me.

When HoT hits I’ll get right to work on my Fact Finding Mastery Track, I promise!

I can probably see why you feel distressed… But keep in mind that a certain class doesn’t have to hold the potential to everything.

There is currently no other profession capable of what druid can do in PvP. None. Potential to heal so many people up, keep permastunning people to death, while your Pet still deals those stable spikes of damage… That build is simply a king of PvP.

And, I’ll be frank, I don’t wanna everybody in PvP to be the same. Just like WoW ended up a disaster I’m afraid GW2 might too if they follow the same mentality.
I do not want Rangers to have all the mechanics as mesmer or Thief do. I don’t necessarily want all their boon strip or teleports.
I wanted Rangers to have a defined role. And now we finally have the best team-fighting disruption potential in the game, so far. Just as well as we have one of the best roaming escapes with staff-GS.

Or Ranged preparation for a huge spike with WHaO synergy.

Or simply toughness regen Beast Mastery bunker that I have been playing for past few weeks and I could hold my own against 2 people anyday.

Rangers are totally viable in terms of PvP at very long last. But what you are trying to say is true. We lack some of the mechanics that other classes posses.

But I’m fine with that. Because we can do something they can’t in return. And that’s something I believe it should be.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Dojo.1867

I would not call anything broken before you actually played it versus other players. That wvw video someone posted here? You can do the same thing with drakes if you commit all your high cooldown utility skills to it and have opponents that cannot dodge or avoid damage.

Bristle doesn’t seemt that good at applying damage to players to be honest. Have to play it myself first. This seems like very avoidable damage. For smokescale a large amount can also be dodged but the pet as a whole is just a good package.

Smokescales unrelenting assault deals way more dmg than a drakes tailswipe (10k+ with zero! buffs), instant 750 range teleport, can’t be avoided by kiting, can’t be interrupted or blinded, can’t be fully avoided by a dodge roll.
To deal massive dmg with a drake (or other “old” pets) you have to use multiple cooldowns to stack dmg modifier, their dmg can be easily avoided by walking, dodging, blind, cc, and sometimes the pet just wastes those modifier because it autoattacks instead of using the special ability. To deal lots of dmg with smokescale you have to do … nothing. Or maybe just use Sick’Em, and enjoy 15k+ burst dmg.
I have tested the smokescale by myself against other players and i would call it op.

Yknow, the fact that Anet doesn’t even let you use new pets in PVP, clearly shows that they’re well aware currently some of those pets are too strong.

How can you expect Smokescale to be the same as BWE3, consider how they always treat ranger? It’d 99.9999% get a huge nerf ofc.

Did they state somewhere, that pets not working in pvp was intended?

And of course i’m only talking about BWE3, since we don’t know, if/how the pets will change. But yes, i think (well, at least hope), they will nerf the smokescale. And then hopefully change/buff all those useless pets …

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Did they state somewhere, that pets not working in pvp was intended?

And of course i’m only talking about BWE3, since we don’t know, if/how the pets will change. But yes, i think (well, at least hope), they will nerf the smokescale. And then hopefully change/buff all those useless pets …

There’s a magic word called “logic”

If developers notice pet doesn’t work, they would have patch it asap since it’s not a difficult fix. They didn’t do so even when they clearly aware the issue, showing they didn’t intend to let you use them in PVP because they know some pets are over-toned.

We can always use our brain to figure things out. We don’t have to wait for Anet to say this, say that to know the data and how each skills/mechanic work. It’s not hard to notice Smokescale is stronger than every single pet in the game by a huge margin during BWE3

Yes, of course all bugs get fixed immediately …

Aomine.5012:

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Did they state somewhere, that pets not working in pvp was intended?

And of course i’m only talking about BWE3, since we don’t know, if/how the pets will change. But yes, i think (well, at least hope), they will nerf the smokescale. And then hopefully change/buff all those useless pets …

There’s a magic word called “logic”

If developers notice pet doesn’t work, they would have patch it asap since it’s not a difficult fix. They didn’t do so even when they clearly aware the issue, showing they didn’t intend to let you use them in PVP because they know some pets are over-toned.

We can always use our brain to figure things out. We don’t have to wait for Anet to say this, say that to know the data and how each skills/mechanic work. It’s not hard to notice Smokescale is stronger than every single pet in the game by a huge margin during BWE3

That’s because the smokescale and bristleback pets were originally designed for Revenant, so they will need to be toned down for ranger.

so ive been complaining about Rangers mechanics and such for 3 years now, but I disagree with this post entirely.

First, Rev is built to be VERY strong in 1v1 situations, but its hard counters currently by reapers, especially signet reapers. Chrono is the only profession close to OP right now.

Sinister Ranger for PVE is one of the highest dps specs right now and will only get better due to condi reliance.

Druid builds are going to bet meta for raiding. They amount of DPS buff they give to the party and healing is unheard of. Druid can actually completely replace warrior unless Berserker is completely buffed, because the DPS buff druid gives is beyond banners.

OPs description of what Revs can do and why theyre so good is a bit strange, because they do what Eles and Engis have been doing for 3 years. A strong argument can be made that Engi does almost everything better than a Rev tbh. Scrapper could possibly be one of the best pvp specs for both bunkering and pressure, power and condi…

Again, ive been anti Ranger for the most part for a very long time because I dont like Anets vision of the Ranger at all, but as of 10/23 they are in a GREAT place

Aomine.5012:

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Did they state somewhere, that pets not working in pvp was intended?

And of course i’m only talking about BWE3, since we don’t know, if/how the pets will change. But yes, i think (well, at least hope), they will nerf the smokescale. And then hopefully change/buff all those useless pets …

There’s a magic word called “logic”

If developers notice pet doesn’t work, they would have patch it asap since it’s not a difficult fix. They didn’t do so even when they clearly aware the issue, showing they didn’t intend to let you use them in PVP because they know some pets are over-toned.

We can always use our brain to figure things out. We don’t have to wait for Anet to say this, say that to know the data and how each skills/mechanic work. It’s not hard to notice Smokescale is stronger than every single pet in the game by a huge margin during BWE3

What makes you think the pets not being in PvP for the BWE was intended? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was just a bug and they didn’t bother fixing it right away because it wasn’t a bug that benefited rangers. There are still a ton of people dealing with the bug that doesn’t let them activate a pet in the heart of the mists.

“Anything” remotely tied to “perma” CC won’t last long.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Did they state somewhere, that pets not working in pvp was intended?

And of course i’m only talking about BWE3, since we don’t know, if/how the pets will change. But yes, i think (well, at least hope), they will nerf the smokescale. And then hopefully change/buff all those useless pets …

I don’t know what’s really wrong with all of this.

The pets are a part of Heart of Thorns. Do we have Heart of Thorns live already? We don’t. So we logically can’t use new pets. The reason why couldn’t we use them in BWE in PvP? I have no idea, it’s long past my interest since BWE is long over.

Why would people get so lost about such a logical trivial thing as this? I don’t really get this community from time to time.

You should think more about some abilities’ functionality. I don’t know… Like that Bleeding utility slot that deals zero damage and has 45 second cooldown. That utility slot that is single target, deals less damage than spike trap, presetting lasts for less time and doesn’t provide anything else. Yes, I’m talking about Sharpening Stone.
I haven’t seen anyone using this for ages. If I did, the person was in hotjoin.

What about Signet of Hunt that no one will ever use again? (you’ll either go for swiftness or for Druid).

Like… The important stuff I mean. There are so many topics to shout for and you guys decide for pets that aren’t even supposed to be available yet and are most probably going to be changed just as XYZ other things.
I … Just… Don’t… Get you.

Uhm, i was just responding to Dojo, who was talking about the smokescale. Why should i suddenly start to talk about Sharpening Stone or Signets or whatever?

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Uhm, i was just responding to Dojo, who was talking about the smokescale. Why should i suddenly start to talk about Sharpening Stone or Signets or whatever?

I was just responding to the reality that you are like 10th person that responded to pets over various topics. Which means you are not really like the 1st or last person to bring such a redundant matter as pets that are most likely going to be changed anyways.

And that I don’t realize how can abilities that have been mathematiaclly and experimentaly proven to be useless keep being ignored while stuff that everybody knows will change is the point number 1 to cry over.
That’s not you. That’s the community I’m so confused about.
If doubts about Ranger is the topic – why not as well include stuff that really is a reason to ponder about. Like… Having Tier 2 minor Trait in marksmanship a completely useless script that has no synergy with anything else, is weaker than the 1st minor trait and has literally no way to be refreshed in combat.
Yep, those are the Ranger Features to be concerned about. Not stuff that we know will be changed or stuff that has either already been solved (PvE damage reduction aka Ranger DPS increase to be on par with others) or is already a subject for change confirmed by some of the developers.

Maybe because ppl are tired of crying about stuff, which has mentioned over and over in the past without any changes. Or maybe because useless traits and skills are not only a ranger problem.

Oh, and they already confirmed to solve the problems of pets i mentioned? You know, stuff like lack of control and reliability? Link?

Btw, pet’s opening strike gets refreshed every time the ranger’s opening strike gets refreshed through remorseless. You could argue, that those minors are weak without the trait, but with remorseless they are not too bad.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Oh, and they already confirmed to solve the problems of pets i mentioned? You know, stuff like lack of control and reliability? Link?

Lack of control stays (but doesn’t hinder DPS anymore).
The rest of the question: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Juvenile_Smokescale

You’re welcome.

How does the smokescale solve the problems of the other pets? Or do new traits/skills make things like Sharpening Stone or Signet of the Hunt or other useless stuff suddenly usefull?

Well, we will see what direction things are headed on doomsday Friday…

UmbraNoctis.1907:

How does the smokescale solve the problems of the other pets? Or do new traits/skills make things like Sharpening Stone or Signet of the Hunt or other useless stuff suddenly usefull?

You are strongly contradicting yourself.
I won’t drag this further because it wouldn’t lead anywhere. You like to argue, not to search for solutions.

We’ll just have to wait and see. They are reverting some of the changes to WHaO, so we should be able to self stack might on any of our pets to 25 stacks when we want to burst. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but most of our pets can hit for 6-10K with that much might and a little help from traits and such. That’s the same as a Mesmer shatter and we might have a higher up time on those kind of attacks…

Archon.6480:

We’ll just have to wait and see. They are reverting some of the changes to WHaO, so we should be able to self stack might on any of our pets to 25 stacks when we want to burst. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but most of our pets can hit for 6-10K with that much might and a little help from traits and such. That’s the same as a Mesmer shatter and we might have a higher up time on those kind of attacks…

really never understand why people like relying on a mechanic that barely hits >.>

Kitty.1502:

Archon.6480:

We’ll just have to wait and see. They are reverting some of the changes to WHaO, so we should be able to self stack might on any of our pets to 25 stacks when we want to burst. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but most of our pets can hit for 6-10K with that much might and a little help from traits and such. That’s the same as a Mesmer shatter and we might have a higher up time on those kind of attacks…

really never understand why people like relying on a mechanic that barely hits >.>

It depends on what pet, where and how you are playing it as well as whom you are playing it against to determine whether or not the pet hits. Sometimes its rather effective, other times is horrendous.

Yeah, let’s plan our build around a heal to provide us much needed deepeesss… Not a heal when we need a heal…

i have to see yet if Irenio is working to fix ranger, but as right now my prediction is this one: Druid will lose it’s newness really quick and then will go back to complain how bad is the ranger and how useless is the druid that only heals.
Revenant will replace any spots the druid could get in the raids very soon. Druid will be like the ranger the class none uses except for casual farming.

I agree with the OP fully.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Kitty.1502:

Archon.6480:

We’ll just have to wait and see. They are reverting some of the changes to WHaO, so we should be able to self stack might on any of our pets to 25 stacks when we want to burst. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but most of our pets can hit for 6-10K with that much might and a little help from traits and such. That’s the same as a Mesmer shatter and we might have a higher up time on those kind of attacks…

really never understand why people like relying on a mechanic that barely hits >.>

It depends on what pet, where and how you are playing it as well as whom you are playing it against to determine whether or not the pet hits. Sometimes its rather effective, other times is horrendous.

but its unreliable that is the issue.

Swagger.1459:

Yeah, let’s plan our build around a heal to provide us much needed deepeesss… Not a heal when we need a heal…

risk vs reward

I had some other words in mind, but if that’s what you kids are calling it these days, then ok

anduriell.6280:

i have to see yet if Irenio is working to fix ranger, but as right now my prediction is this one: Druid will lose it’s newness really quick and then will go back to complain how bad is the ranger and how useless is the druid that only heals.
Revenant will replace any spots the druid could get in the raids very soon. Druid will be like the ranger the class none uses except for casual farming.

I agree with the OP fully.

I don’t see this happening at all. Druid/Ranger is a better healer and support character than Revenant/Herald and has decent DPS with Zealots gear and multiple unique DPS boosting traits and skills. They will be wanted more than Rev/Herald who can only either heal or DPS or support, not do all at once like Ranger can.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

anduriell.6280:

i have to see yet if Irenio is working to fix ranger, but as right now my prediction is this one: Druid will lose it’s newness really quick and then will go back to complain how bad is the ranger and how useless is the druid that only heals.
Revenant will replace any spots the druid could get in the raids very soon. Druid will be like the ranger the class none uses except for casual farming.

I agree with the OP fully.

I don’t see this happening at all. Druid/Ranger is a better healer and support character than Revenant/Herald and has decent DPS with Zealots gear and multiple unique DPS boosting traits and skills. They will be wanted more than Rev/Herald who can only either heal or DPS or support, not do all at once like Ranger can.

I think you meant Rev/Ventari if you’re competing healing.

If you mean Rev/Herald, they’re on another league, being a support class with top 2 dps. They’d be needed as dps + support class in one pack, meaning they’d be needed in larger quantity because they do top-noche dps while keeping up permanent 25 mobile might/fury/swiftness.

Druid will be needed in Raid true, but Revenant would be needed in raid as well, and probably in bigger quantity because you only need 1~2 healer in your team.

Actually, I meant Ventari/Glint Herald. Herald cannot maintain the boons from Glint and heal at the same time, Druid can. Not as much Might, but everything else as well as far superior healing.

Also, their DPS will drop significantly when maintaining those boons, because they will not be able to spam weapon skills.

Just wonder how many “oops so sorry” moments druids will be faced with when CA form is on its 10 second cool down and staff skills just won’t be up to the task

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Actually, I meant Ventari/Glint Herald. Herald cannot maintain the boons from Glint and heal at the same time, Druid can. Not as much Might, but everything else as well as far superior healing.

Also, their DPS will drop significantly when maintaining those boons, because they will not be able to spam weapon skills.

Still, i think Druid will not be needed because up to the last update although it gets much better (thank Irenio) still stays with the only heal no other kind of support theme.
Ranger does not offer much support in boons: Spotter and Frost Spirit (after last change with 95% damage mitigation) being all of them. The other spirits have too many conditions to apply the very short passive to be reliable, you will see.
In the raid in BWE3 I didn’t see anything that could make the Druid a must class, the players that needed that much healing are the ones that keep dying most of the time (aka L2P). Other classes can not heal as fast as the druid but they can heal fast enough. And bring more support (boons and such) and DPS to the team.

This is my opinion with the actual state of the core ranger, if Irenio is able to balance the class to be in line with the rest druid could be awesome.

Swagger.1459:

Just wonder how many “oops so sorry” moments druids will be faced with when CA form is on its 10 second cool down and staff skills just won’t be up to the task

Yeah, might even get rage kicked by noobs who can’t/ don’t bother to dodge/move, being called out “Useless healer who can’t do the job well!” because we couldn’t carry their incompetence of constant dying.

This has happened countless times in other MMORPG.
GW2 can be another one since they introduced trinity back again. We’ll see.