Guild Wars 2

I really hope this isn’t the case; I genuinely like what Irenio has done with the Druid, but it’s still in the state of ‘potentially great’ whereas all other Especs have been great since the second or third beta weekends.

It begins with unnecessary, unannounced nerfs after having just 2 days to play the new profession during a BWE.

This is then followed by a few minor “buffs” (i.e. fixes) that barely scratch the surface of what the Druid/Ranger needs (though the pet/spirit damage one was particularly nice admittedly).

The thousands of pages of well-constructed feedback and solutions to virtually every issue Ranger/Druid has (which mostly just repeat the same few core problems) are looking like they’ll go unaddressed for God knows how long.

Anet have rarely tackled the core problems. The solutions have been staring them in the face from the forums for years but they’ve only ever skirted around them, patching things up here-and-there.

But it’s still very early days for the Druid. I’m glad that this time round we at least have a specific dev to reach out to. I hope that Irenio gets us off to a good start with Druid staff and trait fixes. E.g. Even just buffing staff 1, staff 2, staff 4, swapping Natural Stride with one of the minor traits and most importantly, reinstating astral force generation while out of combat would be a good start. I realise Irenio has been reading and is well aware of most of these issues, but just being ‘aware’ doesn’t cut the mustard for Rangers and Druids. I just hope awareness turns into actions, and that he makes the changes come to fruition sooner rather than later.

I think the only up side to all this, is that all the people who normally play other classes, but have recently rolled a Ranger, for Druid, will now see how Ranger is treated, firsthand.

Because, prior to this, we have been like the poor kid, who is bullied at school, because he/she is neglected at home.

“Home” being Anet, in this analogy.

It will be good for people, who didn’t care about the Ranger neglect, as they didn’t play one, to experience it first hand, on their Druids.

I expect they will just abandon Druid and go back to a more favoured class, but still.

Re. Irenio: sadly, it doesn’t really matter how much he is in our corner, if certain other devs (who have the final say) still want to keep Ranger down.

Tigaseye.2047:

Re. Irenio: sadly, it doesn’t really matter how much he is in our corner, if certain other devs (who have the final say) still want to keep Ranger down.

This was something that also concerned me but didn’t want to name names in the OP. We saw first hand the forced input of another dev in the form of a whacking great nerf before any consultation, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that same dev is hindering Ranger progress for the sake of his idea of “balance” behind the scenes.

Tigaseye.2047:

I think the only up side to all this, is that all the people who normally play other classes, but have recently rolled a Ranger, for Druid, will now see how Ranger is treated, firsthand.

Because, prior to this, we have been like the poor kid, who is bullied at school, because he/she is neglected at home.

“Home” being Anet, in this analogy.

It will be good for people, who didn’t care about the Ranger neglect, as they didn’t play one, to experience it first hand, on their Druids.

I expect they will just abandon Druid and go back to a more favoured class, but still.

Re. Irenio: sadly, it doesn’t really matter how much he is in our corner, if certain other devs (who have the final say) still want to keep Ranger down.

You’d think so but the general response I’m getting is “I don’t see nerfs oh look at all this awesome healing I’m doing!”.

Then we’re left to rot.