Guild Wars 2

IMO ranger weaknesses are AOE and support. Traps and spirits are terrible in wvw so I’d like to see rangers become a viable class in zvz and gvg.

Have to admit I’m already a little disappointed the pet is still compulsory.

thefantasticg.3984:

trapper = condi = bleh

Until the condi cap is removed I’ll never end up running a condi build on anything… except an Engie since that’s the only thing I see them being good in, but that’s only if there’s not another in the party already tossing conditions in.

that is not true if you look futher away you will see that is not the only thing that engi are good in and they can outdps most of you team members in your own exotic bezerker gear. (Tip its all about rotation)

Short of reworking the pets and the sword auto attack (look, you can leave the stupid locking leaps…just make all stages of the attack cleave to some degree at least and make #2 and #3 absolutely instantly cancel the leaps and dodge immediately), right now ranger is as perfect as it’s going to be for me.

By process of elimination:

Sword – DPS, survivability to some extent
GS – Cleave, Burst damage and mobility
Axe – Beast master, ranged aoe (lol)
Short bow – Long range condition
Long bow – pew pew pew (anything more left to say?)

The only think a staff can be without making something else obsolete would be some sort of support/aoe soft cc weapon. Due to this being the case and us not getting an awesome melee bostaff (Martial Mastery) like weapon I would request Anet to give us lootstick. I would totally be okay with re skinned guardian skills.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

RoyalPredator.9163:

= Just wanted to leave a sidenote: Pets should follow (& maybe reveal somehow) stealth enemies… they have senses what we don’t (why we can’t get it?!)… =

not to mention stealth should interrupted on taking damage anyway…

We already have thaat. It’s called Sic ’em. On the right power build a ranger has no problem with stealthers anymore. On condi.. well on condi a ranger never had problems vs any class anyways…

@Yelloweyedemon.2860:
Sick’em never works – at least at me. It just supposed to block the stealth but doesn’t reveals. #DontAskMeToUseCondiBuildForAFairFight:)

@Viking Jorun.5413: IMHO it won’t be a problem unless user knows what stealth is for.
But they can make a rule like stealth only falls off when taking x% damage of base health after its applied.
Don’t get me wrong, but this mechanic is the most overly exploited – there are builds where the thieves do serious damage while evading all time and just disappearing.

Y’know, when I apply LB stealth, its terribly delayed, and gives a LOT of time to my enemies to start an autolocking skill/spell on me. But when I encounter these thieves, their stealth falls off a second+ later before game allows me to target them at all.
Something is really wrong with the current stealth mech.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

RoyalPredator.9163:

= Just wanted to leave a sidenote: Pets should follow (& maybe reveal somehow) stealth enemies… they have senses what we don’t (why we can’t get it?!)… =

not to mention stealth should interrupted on taking damage anyway…

We already have thaat. It’s called Sic ’em. On the right power build a ranger has no problem with stealthers anymore. On condi.. well on condi a ranger never had problems vs any class anyways…

@Yelloweyedemon.2860:
Sick’em never works – at least at me. It just supposed to block the stealth but doesn’t reveals. #DontAskMeToUseCondiBuildForAFairFight:)

@Viking Jorun.5413: IMHO it won’t be a problem unless user knows what stealth is for.
But they can make a rule like stealth only falls off when taking x% damage of base health after its applied.
Don’t get me wrong, but this mechanic is the most overly exploited – there are builds where the thieves do serious damage while evading all time and just disappearing.

Y’know, when I apply LB stealth, its terribly delayed, and gives a LOT of time to my enemies to start an autolocking skill/spell on me. But when I encounter these thieves, their stealth falls off a second+ later before game allows me to target them at all.
Something is really wrong with the current stealth mech.

Sic’em works, you just need to apply it before the target goes in stealth, it also has 2000 ranger. LB3 apply stealth only when the arrow stuck the target, much like C&D.

Bakabaka.6185:

thefantasticg.3984:

trapper = condi = bleh

Until the condi cap is removed I’ll never end up running a condi build on anything… except an Engie since that’s the only thing I see them being good in, but that’s only if there’s not another in the party already tossing conditions in.

that is not true if you look futher away you will see that is not the only thing that engi are good in and they can outdps most of you team members in your own exotic bezerker gear. (Tip its all about rotation)

I guess so few know this rotation… are you counting in condis for this DPS? I do like that they can dang near instantly put 15 stacks of vul on a target.

What is optimum rotation for good engie DPS? I don’t play my engie much. Was thinking about Sinister gear on it for using it in dungeons…

thefantasticg.3984:

Bakabaka.6185:

thefantasticg.3984:

trapper = condi = bleh

Until the condi cap is removed I’ll never end up running a condi build on anything… except an Engie since that’s the only thing I see them being good in, but that’s only if there’s not another in the party already tossing conditions in.

that is not true if you look futher away you will see that is not the only thing that engi are good in and they can outdps most of you team members in your own exotic bezerker gear. (Tip its all about rotation)

I guess so few know this rotation… are you counting in condis for this DPS? I do like that they can dang near instantly put 15 stacks of vul on a target.

What is optimum rotation for good engie DPS? I don’t play my engie much. Was thinking about Sinister gear on it for using it in dungeons…

this will help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYWpstTq528
In the beginning it might be uneasy, but you will get use to it, if you use it several times and you will love the output.

sminkiottone.6972:

Sic’em works, you just need to apply it before the target goes in stealth, it also has 2000 ranger. LB3 apply stealth only when the arrow stuck the target, much like C&D.

Thank you saving me to suffer that skill. So Sic’em DOES NOT work.
Having to use it BEFORE the target uses stealth when the skill is for REVEAL stealthed targets is just the definition of broken.

anduriell.6280:

sminkiottone.6972:

Sic’em works, you just need to apply it before the target goes in stealth, it also has 2000 ranger. LB3 apply stealth only when the arrow stuck the target, much like C&D.

Thank you saving me to suffer that skill. So Sic’em DOES NOT work.
Having to use it BEFORE the target uses stealth when the skill is for REVEAL stealthed targets is just the definition of broken.

Your mistake, the skill is not ment to reveal, always read the skills carefully guys, it say REVEALED, which is an effect:

Revealed “ You cannot stealth." — In-game description.

Seeing a lot of “physical” abilities like thorns, bleeds etc. Those would be great, but I’m also hoping for a “bigger picture”, broader spectrum of abilities for the Druid based on the original theme on Druids both historically and in fantasy.

The power to not only control plant nature, but nature on a larger scale. Why not control the sky, the sun and the moon, too? And tie it in with the cc people are asking for – the power to control the nature of people/animals.

These don’t just have to be on the staff, but could be the extra utility skills.

- Moon energy in the form of DAZE , removes condition on allies
- Sun energy in the form of FIRE , gives might to allies
- Sky energy in the form of LIGHTNING , gives healing to allies
- Plant energy in the form of thorns/BLEEDS , gives regen to allies
- Humanoid energy in the form of CONFUSION , gives quickness or swiftness to allies.

Now it may be OP to have both occurring in one skill slot across the board, but it could be broken up between a staff skill and utility skill.
I.E. Moon energy on the staff may Daze enemies, and remove conditions on allies; BUT Sun energy on the staff could cause fire to enemies while a Sun utility skill gives might and something else to allies.

Hope this may inspire more discussion…

sminkiottone.6972:

anduriell.6280:

sminkiottone.6972:

Sic’em works, you just need to apply it before the target goes in stealth, it also has 2000 ranger. LB3 apply stealth only when the arrow stuck the target, much like C&D.

Thank you saving me to suffer that skill. So Sic’em DOES NOT work.
Having to use it BEFORE the target uses stealth when the skill is for REVEAL stealthed targets is just the definition of broken.

Your mistake, the skill is not ment to reveal, always read the skills carefully guys, it say REVEALED, which is an effect:

Revealed “ You cannot stealth." — In-game description.

Ok, so this shout is less than useless. Could be a waste of a precious skill slot as well.
6 secs of “ You cannot stealth." it is just a joke for the perm-stealth thieves (the only class that actually uses stealth).

anduriell.6280:

sminkiottone.6972:

anduriell.6280:

sminkiottone.6972:

Sic’em works, you just need to apply it before the target goes in stealth, it also has 2000 ranger. LB3 apply stealth only when the arrow stuck the target, much like C&D.

Thank you saving me to suffer that skill. So Sic’em DOES NOT work.
Having to use it BEFORE the target uses stealth when the skill is for REVEAL stealthed targets is just the definition of broken.

Your mistake, the skill is not ment to reveal, always read the skills carefully guys, it say REVEALED, which is an effect:

Revealed “ You cannot stealth." — In-game description.

Ok, so this shout is less than useless. Could be a waste of a precious skill slot as well.
6 secs of “ You cannot stealth." it is just a joke for the perm-stealth thieves (the only class that actually uses stealth).

6s of revealed is not useless, if used at the right time it’s a death sentence for most heavy stealthers, but it is not an “I win” button. It’s very good against thiefs; PU mesmers; engis and other rangers.

Cravex.5670:

Seeing a lot of “physical” abilities like thorns, bleeds etc. Those would be great, but I’m also hoping for a “bigger picture”, broader spectrum of abilities for the Druid based on the original theme on Druids both historically and in fantasy.

The power to not only control plant nature, but nature on a larger scale. Why not control the sky, the sun and the moon, too? And tie it in with the cc people are asking for – the power to control the nature of people/animals.

These don’t just have to be on the staff, but could be the extra utility skills.

- Moon energy in the form of DAZE , removes condition on allies
- Sun energy in the form of FIRE , gives might to allies
- Sky energy in the form of LIGHTNING , gives healing to allies
- Plant energy in the form of thorns/BLEEDS , gives regen to allies
- Humanoid energy in the form of CONFUSION , gives quickness or swiftness to allies.

Now it may be OP to have both occurring in one skill slot across the board, but it could be broken up between a staff skill and utility skill.
I.E. Moon energy on the staff may Daze enemies, and remove conditions on allies; BUT Sun energy on the staff could cause fire to enemies while a Sun utility skill gives might and something else to allies.

Hope this may inspire more discussion…

Ohhh yeah!!

Well… Rangers aren’t elementalists.
We should get these powers from spirits of nature,… something native american way.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Well… Rangers aren’t elementalists.
We should get these powers from spirits of nature,… something native american way.

That’s more shaman than druid, though.

Heres my post from a year ago on what a druidic staff ranger powers could be:

Kilger.5490:

Had a thought of something unique… All ground targetted aoe nature type effects, either like wells or channeled

1 auto = energy attack, every third attack entangles (kind of lacking in long range disables)
2 Monsoon = Enemy range reduced to 25% + water field + dps (water fields valuable to groups)
3 insect plague= dark field + torment (we could use some torment)
4 Plant door = similiar to necro flesh worm except you teleport when you cast and in your place a plant tree thing, which grants aegis to allies, clears 3 conditions on user and aoe attacks nearby enemies for dps + chance to knockdown + whirl finisher (need an escape and some condi removal)
5 Lighting Storm = Raw aoe damage, blast finisher on creation, chance to stun on crit (damage, nuff said)

Just some thoughts for a unique role. Thinking this gives cc and aoe damage, both very desired.

(edited in what I was going for with the ideas)

They seemed to be listening so you never know!

Kilger, I like the direction you’re going; you’re running parallel to my reasoning, which hails from original Druid lore.

The icon of the druid hails from the Celtic tradition, not Native American. The celtic priests/historians/mystics were called…druids. They were said by the Romans in history to have called forth lightning storms when the Romans tried invading Britannia for the first time. It was some of the most horrific power the Romans had seen.

Druids were close to all nature, not just plant life, and based their events off the Sun & the Moon (many of which we still follow today).

Druids aren’t elementalists, they are naturalists. They would work with the powers of the sun, the moon, the sky, the life force of flora and fauna. Yes that means some lightning and fire would be in there, as a result, which is alrdy parallel to nature spirits of sun, etc in gw2. The moon energy could be a theme not parallel to elementalists whatsoever…but remember, a druid is more of a priest/mystic/caster than a ranger, as has been established in many genre. So it’s ok that druid may do some faery fire, some lightning storms, some gusts of wind, call down storms of rock on their enemies. They just would never have the expansive powers in those categories that an elementalists has.

Most importantly: before someone argues that this is yes, a fantasy game, so why am I bringing up earth history? The answer is because the development team specifically chose to call it Druid — not shaman (native american), not skaald (norse), not sorcerer (Asia minor), etc etc.

I’m really hoping they are going to do more than give us cc in the form of mud/thorns, and reveal (very cool but highly situational). I hope they elaborate off of nature magic specifically – which is a prime specialty of a druid, and do branch out into moon, sky (storms, lightning etc), sun, and cc with plant and humanoid on mind…

/chugs a pint o’ mead

While Druids have some basis in real life, it’s safe to say they’ll follow the more traditional D&D/RPG elements of what a Druid is. Just like the Ranger class, while having a real world meaning, follows a more traditional D&D/RPG role.

It’s like the whole ‘Rangers are called rangers because they range’ argument. No one cares. Rangers follow a very specific archetype that’s common within the genre.

Druids will likely follow suit, and in the MMO genre Druids tend to be more support/healer archetype focusing on crowd control and conditions.

I agree…the last bit coincides with the ideas from the first post I made, mentioning conditions like bleed, burning, confusion and cc/condition of daze, along with the immobilization of thorns; as well as the healing and regeneration I mentioned. Heck, in my last post I mentioned some old standbys from AD&D like faery fire, lightning storms, etc.

Druids in most fantasy and mmo genres have traditionally been based off of history (with their own unique fantasy flare thrown in, which is what I am also hoping for here), so I agree with you there as well.

really good ideas. I feel Blizz really got the druid down beautifully. there was nothing like the feeling of logging on 7 years ago to play my moonkin, or feral druid.

not sure what Anet will have in store. they tend to put a different spin on things. unfortunately, spirits in GW2 look and feel just awful for example (wisps orbiting the ranger would have been a lot more appropriate). I hope they don’t stick to just plant magic/mud for the druid =\

I’ve only been playing ranger for a couple of months, but here’s what I’m hoping druid is like:
- Can use staff which has a lot of AoE, CC, condi and support (heal/protect) abilities
- Can still use all heal skills, utilities, and elites of regular ranger, but has one additional heal and elite and three new utilities to choose from
- Loses access to beastmastery trait line, but gets new traitline options
- Has some way to keep pet alive in a large fight – this is the only part of WvW that feels not viable with my ranger right now

What about something like these kind of staff skills?

1. AA: “shoot” fangs/eagle feathers/something at foe, with % chance of bleed/other condition.
2. AA2: Melee with the staff with animal-connected coreography (kind of Asssassin chain skills were used in GW1)
3. Branch Wall: Summoning a wall of spiked branch with HP which blocks projectiles and movement. Only Burning condition affects it, but Chill makes it “armored”.
4. V shape targeting: Knockbacks foes with a summoned wolfpack.
5. (“Well”) Cracks the ground, unmobiles/knockdowns foes and giving heal buff to allies.
   And then some nice ultility skills, such as
6. “Eagle Nest” which gives Swiftness and Quickness to allies passing by
7. something that makes a shield bubble, possibly hedgehog crawlings

Just quickie ideas…

Skill flavour: I’m guessing elemental and plant on the staff, and animal and plant on heal/utility/elite. Based on lots of existing utility skills being elemental while several weapon skills already do animal-flavoured magic (winter’s bite is the only elemental).

Staff: Support and AoE. Hoping it’s direct damage since axe/torch already provides condition AoE damage. And a direct heal somewhere since rangers can already provide constant AoE regeneration.

An animal transform skill somewhere isn’t all that unlikely. Would be nice with something to compete with sword DPS but which doesn’t lock you in place.

F1-F4: Maybe druid will get new F2s (maybe as spells even) with less damage focus and more support/CC?

nebelun.3594:

I hope we see more of the d&d druid/controller and less of the typical wow Druid.

Haven’t played WoW so don’t know what that druid is, but I’ve played neverwinter nights (D&D 3.5) and druid was my fav class there.

Vert.5041:

The only think a staff can be without making something else obsolete would be some sort of support/aoe soft cc weapon. Due to this being the case and us not getting an awesome melee bostaff (Martial Mastery) like weapon I would request Anet to give us lootstick. I would totally be okay with re skinned guardian skills.

Totally agree with you including the process of elimination, and a remodelled guardian staff would do just fine.

I’m assuming the staff got some aoe and support/cc abilities to it, all existing staff users in the game already got this to a certain degree. And the ranger certainly needs it. Wouldn’t even mind if a couple of the skills were reskinned skills as long as they will improve the ranger as a support class.

I’m more curious about what changes they will do the profession mechanic, or rather to what extent they will change it up. The pet stays, obviously. We didn’t need the alpine wolf to appear in the trailer to be sure of that. Any fundamental changes to the F1-F4 skills would affect our ability to control our pet, so.. Yeah, I have no idea what Anet is planning. I think the pet mechanic will somewhat limit what they can do to rangers regarding specializations unless they’re willing to fundamentally change it.

Lazze.9870:

I’m assuming the staff got some aoe and support/cc abilities to it, all existing staff users in the game already got this to a certain degree. And the ranger certainly needs it. Wouldn’t even mind if a couple of the skills were reskinned skills as long as they will improve the ranger as a support class.

I’m more curious about what changes they will do the profession mechanic, or rather to what extent they will change it up. The pet stays, obviously. We didn’t need the alpine wolf to appear in the trailer to be sure of that. Any fundamental changes to the F1-F4 skills would affect our ability to control our pet, so.. Yeah, I have no idea what Anet is planning. I think the pet mechanic will somewhat limit what they can do to rangers regarding specializations unless they’re willing to fundamentally change it.

I’m really hoping Anet took on that forum idea of the ‘Aspect of the Pet’ profession mechanic. Or at least something like it. We basically handed all the concepts to them on a plate. When Allie Murdock was still here, she loved the idea. However my only hesitation is that it did involve some element of perma-stowing the pet in exchange for an aspect, which I don’t think we’ll be given – especially as seeing the alpine wolf was advertised in the trailer – unless of course stowing the pet remains temporary but we get the aspect regardless?

I agree with you. I think most of the Ranger community are also in agreement as to where the Ranger is lacking: support + control and AoEs in relation to both. The Druid archetype could potentially fill that void well. As long as we come away with at least one skill that is just as helpful as the Guardian’s 12-might-stack staff skill, then I’ll be at least a little satisfied.

I get the impression that the Druid is going to be a case of Anet getting it very right or very wrong. I think it says a lot that Anet decided to make the Druid the ‘pioneering’ specialization to showcase/confirm: it could imply that it’s the spec they’re most proud of/confident in. But we’ll see.

Any intel about plans to make Rangers a really viable archer class?
’cuz I meet hambow warriors doing more damage with bows sometimes

In a video you can see warriors with 2 adrenaline skills. So they are changing the core classes too. Maybe the druid get the current pet mechanic and the ranger get another. But i think every new ranger mechanic will be pet related in some way.

I’m thinking we lose the Pet’s F2 skill and maybe gain some passive bonus instead based upon the pet’s family? Or maybe we lose F2 but the Pet can’t die? I think that’d make a lot of people happy.

Although they might end up locking us to one pet or something for it not to die, instead of the F2 thing.

The “joke” is that AN won’t share us why they force us to use a very stupid AI pet in exchange of a LOT of our self-stat-values…
I wonder if any else professional developer team does this at all…

Atherakhia.4086:

Druids will likely follow suit, and in the MMO genre Druids tend to be more support/healer archetype focusing on crowd control and conditions.

Which means I’ll never spec to Druid because that means giving up DPS in a game all about DPS.

thefantasticg.3984:

Atherakhia.4086:

Druids will likely follow suit, and in the MMO genre Druids tend to be more support/healer archetype focusing on crowd control and conditions.

Which means I’ll never spec to Druid because that means giving up DPS in a game all about DPS.

You’ll still have access to your other weapon set probably.

thefantasticg.3984:

Atherakhia.4086:

Druids will likely follow suit, and in the MMO genre Druids tend to be more support/healer archetype focusing on crowd control and conditions.

Which means I’ll never spec to Druid because that means giving up DPS in a game all about DPS.

But if druid is about buffing, you will “gain” dps trough the buffing of your pet. I hope druid will be about buffing allies and debuffing enemies as it would perfectly fit the pet mechanic.

Klonko.8341:

But if druid is about buffing, you will “gain” dps trough the buffing of your pet. I hope druid will be about buffing allies and debuffing enemies as it would perfectly fit the pet mechanic.

Given the use of roots we’ve already seen in a trailer, i’m willing to bet it’ll be a mixture of bleeds, immobilize, and AoEs that buff allies, including our pets. not so much debuffing and buffing as it is control and buffinf, which is just as good, if not better depending on the situation.

Klonko.8341:

thefantasticg.3984:

Atherakhia.4086:

Druids will likely follow suit, and in the MMO genre Druids tend to be more support/healer archetype focusing on crowd control and conditions.

Which means I’ll never spec to Druid because that means giving up DPS in a game all about DPS.

But if druid is about buffing, you will “gain” dps trough the buffing of your pet. I hope druid will be about buffing allies and debuffing enemies as it would perfectly fit the pet mechanic.

New flash: pets can’t hit moving __it. So… No there is no “gain” of DPS. Not to mention I do way more DPS than my pet. Please exit stage right with that “buffing” pets to “gain” dps talk.

So being a druid as I hear is essentially choosing it in the trait specialization screen and putting points into it. So its not a complete class overhaul like I think some of you have come believe. This being said I don’t think they will gain any additional utility skills and I don’t think weapon skills will change; so you can probably still pull out a longbow with same skills. I do hope however choosing the elite spec will change my proffessikn name from Ranger to a druid.

I hear they are removing the trait to allow Ranger’s Spirits to go mobile. Can anyone confirm this? That being said I think the druid elite spec will allow the ranger to control spirits better as well as field utility with the staff. Not giving them new utility spells but enhancing spirit spells. Regardless on what they can do I plan on at least trying it out.

Klonko.8341:

thefantasticg.3984:

Atherakhia.4086:

Druids will likely follow suit, and in the MMO genre Druids tend to be more support/healer archetype focusing on crowd control and conditions.

Which means I’ll never spec to Druid because that means giving up DPS in a game all about DPS.

But if druid is about buffing, you will “gain” dps trough the buffing of your pet. I hope druid will be about buffing allies and debuffing enemies as it would perfectly fit the pet mechanic.

But my pet is usually dead within seconds in WvW.

Howardjones.7645:

So being a druid as I hear is essentially choosing it in the trait specialization screen and putting points into it. So its not a complete class overhaul like I think some of you have come believe. This being said I don’t think they will gain any additional utility skills and I don’t think weapon skills will change; so you can probably still pull out a longbow with same skills. I do hope however choosing the elite spec will change my proffessikn name from Ranger to a druid.

I hear they are removing the trait to allow Ranger’s Spirits to go mobile. Can anyone confirm this? That being said I think the druid elite spec will allow the ranger to control spirits better as well as field utility with the staff. Not giving them new utility spells but enhancing spirit spells. Regardless on what they can do I plan on at least trying it out.

The devs seem to be keen on adding new things to existing classes, rather than working on previous skills. That said, yeah, slotting in a new trait line is how you get it – it won’t directly change your profession name, but you’ll always be able to say “i’m a druid” and everybody will know what you mean.

As far as the staff goes, I’ve no doubt that give the vines and overall nature-y feeling that is growth, we’ll be seeing lots of healing, control (binding roots!), and team buffs, alongside the pet being buffed in some way to allow for them to be more relevant.

But my pet is usually dead within seconds in WvW.

Then don’t let it traipse willy-nilly into a zerg. Or choose a tankier pet. Or spec BM for extra defense and toughness. Any combination of these will solve your problem.

in zergs, I think any pet with beastly warden from BM will be incredibly useful. it’s an aoe CC, so even if the pet dies after the cast, it still contributes.

As others have said it looks like it’ll be a control/support weapon, which I am fine with. I’d like it to open up a bunkerish area denial playstyle using vines and poisonous flowers to punish enemies in the area. What I’m really hoping for are more of out animal spirit skills like Maul or Serpent’s Strike. Those are my favorite ranger skills because of the neat animations.

I hope that staff will be mainly a hybrid utility weapon. That way power builds can make use of it for it’s defenses and crowd control skills and condition builds can use it to stack more bleeds/poison on the target for damage. Sort of like how Entangle is useful for both power and condition users because of how it functions as both a condition stacker and hard crowd control.

It would be pretty epic to lay down some vine fields that stop the enemy from pushing through so you can snipe them with your longbow or stack them full of conditions with your shortbow and the vines themselves.

Ehecatl.9172:

As others have said it looks like it’ll be a control/support weapon, which I am fine with. I’d like it to open up a bunkerish area denial playstyle using vines and poisonous flowers to punish enemies in the area. What I’m really hoping for are more of out animal spirit skills like Maul or Serpent’s Strike. Those are my favorite ranger skills because of the neat animations.

I hope that staff will be mainly a hybrid utility weapon. That way power builds can make use of it for it’s defenses and crowd control skills and condition builds can use it to stack more bleeds/poison on the target for damage. Sort of like how Entangle is useful for both power and condition users because of how it functions as both a condition stacker and hard crowd control.

It would be pretty epic to lay down some vine fields that stop the enemy from pushing through so you can snipe them with your longbow or stack them full of conditions with your shortbow and the vines themselves.

I have to agree, I am one of the rare condition rangers out there. If my current gear is adequate with the new druid play style it will make me happy happy. Definitely think CC we will see. I would also like to see a vine wall that acts similar to Guardians but maybe bleeds or poisons enemies when they touch it. Playing a druid may be the answer condition rangers have hoped for.

Personally, I hope that the Druids follow the more religiously devote to nature sorta theme that they are both in fantasy and in real life. I want them to have a mix of control and support (so you can focus a little bit on one more than another), but to predominantly be magical and aoe focused. Hell, if they give us shapeshifting (another very common archetype of druids) I would be ecstatic, but I personally don’t see that happening no matter how much I’d love it to happen.

Regarding the “Religious” aspect of druids, there’s a few things to keep in mind.

The first is that I can almost guarantee we’ll be learning to be druids from the Maguuma Druids, a group of human nature magic users. This is important because they didn’t become the first of some nebulous ‘druid’ concept – their tribe was called the Druids, even before they became one with the land. Their purpose is to slumber as arboreal spirits, and return to the world when the Maguuma jungle is in need; and Mordremoth definitely qualifies there. They achieved a zen state, but I wouldn’t say that’s religious.

The second is that three out of five races are non-religious, one to the point where they’ll punch you in the face if you suggest they’re worshipping something. The last two don’t worship nature – humans worship the gods, and while that might involve Melandru, a good amount of humans don’t even think the gods exist anymore. The norn worship the spirits of the wild, but even then that’s entirely different from worshipping nature. Giving religious overtones to this simply will not work, from a story and roleplaying standpoint.

Sylvari can, as a racial skill, already summon a druid spirit. What the bleeding hell does this mean for druids? Who the hell knows!

The Druids are much more likely to be teaching us druidic skills out of desperation than anything else. Mordremoth is a crazy threat, like all the Elder Dragons are, and spreading around their mojo is likely to be the only way they can see to really protect the jungle. Magic in Tyria is areligious – you don’t have to worship Balthazar to use elemental fire, you don’t have to worship Lyssa or Raven to be a mesmer or thief, and that means there’s going to be no religious aspect to the way druids work. It is, simply put, going to be a skill set for working with magic in a particular way.

Does that preclude the whole “Sun and Moon” concept? Not in the slightest. But it does make it much less likely, especially since the Druid Spirits are focused on the well being of the jungle, not on celestial bodies passing overhead.

I wonder if something like the original Otyugh’s Cry would work in GW2. Maybe instead of relying on creatures actually being there, it could summon some for a short duration, or make them spirit animals. It had the title of most useless skill in GW1 until it was changed, haha. But it fits the Druid theme imo. If you could make it work.

Ehecatl.9172:

What I’m really hoping for are more of out animal spirit skills like Maul or Serpent’s Strike. Those are my favorite ranger skills because of the neat animations.

I hope that staff will be mainly a hybrid utility weapon. That way power builds can make use of it for it’s defenses and crowd control skills and condition builds can use it to stack more bleeds/poison on the target for damage. Sort of like how Entangle is useful for both power and condition users because of how it functions as both a condition stacker and hard crowd control.

Same here, those animations are sweet as, although it does make you stand out quite a bit in WvW/PvP. Worth it imo hah.

I’m also hoping that it is a hybrid weapon, one or the other doesn’t really suit it imo and hybrid AoE is the way to go.

I am feeling crippling bleeds and poisons from the staff spells. If we take anything away from the rangers already nature themed spells, all use vines and root like animations. Healing Spring, entangle, entrap… As Harnel mentioned, the druids of maguuma and this dlc will focus on Mordremoth and plants are what he represents. There’s a pattern forming here. If the staff spells are anything but plant related it will blow my mind.

Edit: I decided to look at the chronomancer being one of the more developed spoilers to get an idea of what the druid spec will acquire. I originally thought it would just allow rangers to equip a staff with those weapon skills and new traits to adjust current skills. The chronomancer has a new healing skill as well as several new utility skills. This opens up new doors to what I had original thought. Even more excited to learn more of what the druid will offer.

Hopefully we get Confusion and Torment on the staff as well as bleeding and cripple.

I could see one of the skills Druids get being essentially an area of dazing smoke – target the area and a flower sprouts that sprays around spores. Whenever someone tries to use a skill in that area, they’re automatically interrupted (perplexity, go!). It’d be complete area denial without stopping enemies from passing through.

Harnel.6810:

Regarding the “Religious” aspect of druids, there’s a few things to keep in mind.

The first is that I can almost guarantee we’ll be learning to be druids from the Maguuma Druids, a group of human nature magic users. This is important because they didn’t become the first of some nebulous ‘druid’ concept – their tribe was called the Druids, even before they became one with the land. Their purpose is to slumber as arboreal spirits, and return to the world when the Maguuma jungle is in need; and Mordremoth definitely qualifies there. They achieved a zen state, but I wouldn’t say that’s religious.

The second is that three out of five races are non-religious, one to the point where they’ll punch you in the face if you suggest they’re worshipping something. The last two don’t worship nature – humans worship the gods, and while that might involve Melandru, a good amount of humans don’t even think the gods exist anymore. The norn worship the spirits of the wild, but even then that’s entirely different from worshipping nature. Giving religious overtones to this simply will not work, from a story and roleplaying standpoint.

Sylvari can, as a racial skill, already summon a druid spirit. What the bleeding hell does this mean for druids? Who the hell knows!

The Druids are much more likely to be teaching us druidic skills out of desperation than anything else. Mordremoth is a crazy threat, like all the Elder Dragons are, and spreading around their mojo is likely to be the only way they can see to really protect the jungle. Magic in Tyria is areligious – you don’t have to worship Balthazar to use elemental fire, you don’t have to worship Lyssa or Raven to be a mesmer or thief, and that means there’s going to be no religious aspect to the way druids work. It is, simply put, going to be a skill set for working with magic in a particular way.

Does that preclude the whole “Sun and Moon” concept? Not in the slightest. But it does make it much less likely, especially since the Druid Spirits are focused on the well being of the jungle, not on celestial bodies passing overhead.

When i said religiously dedicated to nature, I didn’t mean they were actually religious, but with how closely connected they are to nature and how they zealously they tend to defend it and the such that it may as well be a religion.

Druids in GW absolutely fit the “religious” theme that druids in almost all games have, and charr and asura could very easily fit into the role as well. Keep in mind that your player character is NOT the stereotypical race character. If that were the case then Necro would be unavailable to norn, and warrior would be unavailable to asura, etc.

Again, keep in mind druids in most fantasy aren’t actual religious, most of the time they wont serve a deity or higher entity in any way, and those that do serve some sort of nature deity but it’s not a mandatory thing. Most of the time druids are just so in tune with nature they gain their magic from it (as do rangers). It’s religious in the same sense that being Buddhist would be religious.

Durzlla.6295:

Harnel.6810:

Regarding the “Religious” aspect of druids, there’s a few things to keep in mind.

The first is that I can almost guarantee we’ll be learning to be druids from the Maguuma Druids, a group of human nature magic users. This is important because they didn’t become the first of some nebulous ‘druid’ concept – their tribe was called the Druids, even before they became one with the land. Their purpose is to slumber as arboreal spirits, and return to the world when the Maguuma jungle is in need; and Mordremoth definitely qualifies there. They achieved a zen state, but I wouldn’t say that’s religious.

The second is that three out of five races are non-religious, one to the point where they’ll punch you in the face if you suggest they’re worshipping something. The last two don’t worship nature – humans worship the gods, and while that might involve Melandru, a good amount of humans don’t even think the gods exist anymore. The norn worship the spirits of the wild, but even then that’s entirely different from worshipping nature. Giving religious overtones to this simply will not work, from a story and roleplaying standpoint.

Sylvari can, as a racial skill, already summon a druid spirit. What the bleeding hell does this mean for druids? Who the hell knows!

The Druids are much more likely to be teaching us druidic skills out of desperation than anything else. Mordremoth is a crazy threat, like all the Elder Dragons are, and spreading around their mojo is likely to be the only way they can see to really protect the jungle. Magic in Tyria is areligious – you don’t have to worship Balthazar to use elemental fire, you don’t have to worship Lyssa or Raven to be a mesmer or thief, and that means there’s going to be no religious aspect to the way druids work. It is, simply put, going to be a skill set for working with magic in a particular way.

Does that preclude the whole “Sun and Moon” concept? Not in the slightest. But it does make it much less likely, especially since the Druid Spirits are focused on the well being of the jungle, not on celestial bodies passing overhead.

When i said religiously dedicated to nature, I didn’t mean they were actually religious, but with how closely connected they are to nature and how they zealously they tend to defend it and the such that it may as well be a religion.

Druids in GW absolutely fit the “religious” theme that druids in almost all games have, and charr and asura could very easily fit into the role as well. Keep in mind that your player character is NOT the stereotypical race character. If that were the case then Necro would be unavailable to norn, and warrior would be unavailable to asura, etc.

Again, keep in mind druids in most fantasy aren’t actual religious, most of the time they wont serve a deity or higher entity in any way, and those that do serve some sort of nature deity but it’s not a mandatory thing. Most of the time druids are just so in tune with nature they gain their magic from it (as do rangers). It’s religious in the same sense that being Buddhist would be religious.

I understand what you are saying. But I was also think religious hysterical too. Real druids what little we knew of them were very religious and made human sacrifices. The only reason we associate druids with nature is because they were of Celtic roots. I don’t even think there is evidence stating true druids were nature loving hysterics. Regardless I am happy with what modern media has done with the idea of a druid. Much more better this way in my mind.

Here is what I speculate. And it isn’t anything too shiny ( except for the unities)

How Druid Functions:

The Druid focuses on supporting your allies and your pet by keeping your enemies CC’d and enabling your pets to hit more accurately.

How class mechanic changes:

While playing as a Druid you gain the ability to train and equip additional pets found in the Maguma jungle! No new button functionality is added but these new pets have abilities that take advantage of the new and creative gameplay coming in HoT.

The utility we will get? Venom’s! Harness the power of nature to soft and hard CC as well as conditions like burning and bleeding

But unlike the Venoms for the thief and sharpening stone for the ranger which inflict conditions on your next X attacks, they will work more like Preparations from GW1 which when activated lets your attacks do X effects for the next X seconds to help keep your targeted foe crippled CC’d and overall miserable!

One thing to keep in mind is the Druid pets will automatically be weaker than Ranger pets.

hoT Rangers get a free 300 points of pet stat buff as per their current trait line 5.

Druids get 150 of this bonus and 150 of something else. Their pets will be noticeably weaker.

And they are getting a heal, 4 utility skills and an elite from a skill type they don’t have already, so they are NOT going to focus on anything Rangers already have like spirits, shouts, or traps. You can get those things using your 2 flexible specialization slots but the Druid line is going to be something new.