Guild Wars 2

RANGER SPIRITS
The reason that these skills are terrible at the moment is a combination of how their abilities only have a chance of activating and how all of their abilities are poor, “tack-on” effects that really don’t have any business in influencing battle or defining a build (this shallow skill style is really a plague on GW2, but for now let’s just focus on Ranger Spirits). GW1 Nature Rituals were good (when used) because they promoted build or team synergy. If a Ranger brought along a Nature Ritual, it was because that Ranger probably structured his or her build around that spirit. To that effect, I’ve completely redesigned the GW2 Ranger Spirits in order to make them into skills that actually drive synergy and define builds. Furthermore, I’ve seen examples of skill-based effects that imply that the sort of effects I’ve listed below are possible within the GW2 engine.

In the descriptions: spirit radius determines a spirit’s effective range (the area in which its abilities have an effect). Pulse describes the interval at which a spirit re-applies its effects on creatures within its range. Duration describes how long the spirit’s effects linger on a creature before being renewed by a pulse. Lifespan describes how long the spirit will be active on the battlefield before it dies automatically. Keep in mind that effects applied by Ranger Spirits are not boons or conditions and therefore cannot be removed by respective means which would remove boons or conditions.

Toxicity

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 60 seconds
• Creatures within Toxicity’s range take extra damage each second when suffering from poison or weakness.
• Damage: 200
• Toxicity duration: 3 seconds
• Toxicity pulse: 3 seconds
• Spirit radius: 600
• Lifespan: 60 seconds

Infection (Toxicity’s chain skill)

• Cast-time: 0
• Recharge: 20 seconds
• With your next attack, if you strike a foe that is bleeding, you also inflict poison.
• Poison: 5 seconds

Brambles

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 60 seconds
• Brambles damages and bleeds creatures that are interrupted or disabled within its range.
• Damage: 200
• Bleeding (3): 3 seconds
• Brambles duration: 3 seconds
• Brambles pulse: 3 seconds
• Spirit radius: 600
• Lifespan: 60 seconds

Tanglevine (Brambles’ chain skill)

• Cast-time: ¾ second
• Recharge: 45 seconds
• Immobilize your target. If your target was already crippled, you also knock down that foe.
• Immobilize: 3 seconds
• Knock-down: 2 seconds
• Range: 900

Winnowing

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 60 seconds
• Each time that you lose a condition, Winnowing deals damage to all foes within its range.
• Damage: 250
• Winnowing duration: 3 seconds
• Winnowing pulse: 3 seconds
• Spirit radius: 480
• Lifespan: 60 seconds

Read the Wind (Winnowing’s chain skill)

• Cast-time: ¾ second
• Recharge: 30 seconds
• Cast out a whirlwind that strikes foes in a line and returns to you. For each foe that you strike, you lose 1 condition.
• Damage: 150
• Range: 900

Zephyr

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 60 seconds
• Allies under the effects of Zephyr that successfully evade an attack also damage nearby foes and gain both swiftness and might.
• Damage: 150
• Damage radius: 240
• Swiftness: 5 seconds
• Might (1): 15 seconds
• Zephyr duration: 3 seconds
• Zephyr pulse: 3 seconds
• Spirit radius: 480
  *Lifespan: 60 seconds

Tumblegust (Zephyr’s chain skill)

• Cast-time: ¼ second
• Recharge: 45 seconds
• Evade backwards, gaining vigor and knocking back adjacent enemies.
• Vigor: 5 seconds
• Evasion: ¾ second
• Knock-back: 240
• Radius: 180

Energizing Wind

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 180
• Elite Spirit. Creatures within the range of Energizing Wind do not consume Endurance when dodging.
• Energizing Wind duration: 1 second
• Energizing Wind pulse: 1 second
• Spirit radius: 480
• Lifespan: 20 seconds

Nature’s Renewal (Energizing Wind’s chain skill)

• Cast-time: 0
• Recharge: 120
• Energizing Wind removes conditions and revives nearby downed allies.
• Revive percent per pulse: 20
• Pulse: 1 second
• Duration: 6 seconds
• Combo Field: Water
• Radius: 240

I experimented with spirits a while back in a melee build, only two problems,
1. They die too fast.
2. The functionality doesn’t out weigh them being killed in 2 secs.
Would rather see them as a aura as suggested above because currently they are effectively killable signets.
Or of not auras then have them as they are but increase their health to mimic the ranger’s but when they get hit they increase their chance to proc up to 100% for 5 secs then it drops back down.
I love the concept of them i really do but they really are boring and need to be traited to be useful which is a state they should be in before traited and traited just adds a flavour to it.
Spirits by default should have all the traits applied to it as a buff and replace current traits with…
1. Invigorating Spirit – When a spirit dies the ranger are healed for X health
2. Vengeful Spirit – When spirits are hit they are angered and become vengeful which cause them to attack the target (each spirit has its own attack, sun=burning, earth=cripple, frost=vulnerability, air=damage)
3. Spiritmaster – spirits no longer have a recharge but the cast time has been extended to 4 secs

Zeoli.3402:

I experimented with spirits a while back in a melee build

I was actually thinking how play would be affected if Spirit range increased to something absurd like 1200. GW1 Nature Rituals had huge AoEs with minimally invasive effects, but enough to change how battles were fought. In the cases of Toxicity and Brambles, I think a 1200 radius would work well since it affects both allies and enemies. The ones that affect only allies or the Ranger are probably best left with smaller AoEs.

Zeoli.3402:

I love the concept of them i really do but they really are boring and need to be traited to be useful which is a state they should be in before traited and traited just adds a flavour to it.

Mesmers are a very trait-dependent class, and it shows during the leveling process. It means that they are naturally weak without the direction that traits provide—as it should be with all classes honestly. Traits are build-defining options. Professions, pets or skills shouldn’t come with built-in buffs. That would make no sense. Yes, the traits could use some re-working, but the only direct buff that Ranger Spirits would need would be an increased area of effect that gives a Ranger some time and wiggle room to place bodies between a Spirit and an enemy while still remaining under that Spirit’s respective effect.

Furthermore, GW2 is a very fast game when it comes to pvp. A few seconds can determine a fight. This means that an AoE buff to Spirits would really be a huge buff because if an enemy really wanted to kill a Spirit—if he/she determined that a particular Spirit was enough of a threat—then that player would need to waste precious time swinging at that thing until it died. This not only gives the Ranger free attacks, but it also might drain an enemy dodge if the pressure is on high enough. Moreover, the spirit effects are effects that have a duration and are not dependent on the spirit after they are applied. This means that, despite a short duration, there is actually a time-window during which the Ranger can still exploit a spirit’s effects even though that it might be dead. I was actually thinking of widening that window in my skill descriptions (another buff), but I guess I’ll leave it for now.

Spirits unbound should do more, I think. Can you think of a single instance where you want a spirit beside you? Storm spirit swiftness / regen bunker is about all I can come up with.

Chopps.5047:

Spirits unbound should do more, I think. Can you think of a single instance where you want a spirit beside you? Storm spirit swiftness / regen bunker is about all I can come up with.

You’re still in the same boat as Zeoli above you. It’s no longer about making Ranger spirits or their related traits “do more;” it’s about making them do something completely DIFFERENT. Utility Skills are things that define and sharpen build concepts; they shouldn’t be stupid tack-on abilities that contribute nothing to your build except a chance of mediocre bonus damage. This is why I completely re-designed the Ranger spirits.

These would be great.