Guild Wars 2

Hey there, ^^
just real quick: To all the complaining rangers “No ranger love. Once again neglected”… Are you serious? Sure we had less of those whiners atm, but still, of aaaallll classes, ranger has the by far most interesting new traits. Not neccessarily strong, but interesting and playstyle changing.

That being said, let’s dive in. I will mostly comment on those that I would like to see adapted. However, the “how would I change them” will be below the general examination.

Tl;dr: There is none. However, most will probably find the proposals more interesting. They start post 3 in the middle.

If you do not know all the Traits, here is the Dulfy Link:
Profession Trait changes.
_

Marksmanship:

Minors:

• Unchanged. Good as a base for the line.

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Adept

• Enlargement:
  It’s not really bad… but below 25%? Also Predator’s Instict is also Threshold based. Many people hate health Thresholds, so I wouldn’t put two of them in the same tier of Traits.

• Predator’s Instict:
  Solid Trait. Not much to say here.

• Call of the Wild:
  OMG I love this trait xD Looking forward to play with that.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Master

• Beastmaster’s Might:
  This one will be very interesting and opens up alot of play for Signets. I really like it, but I am nearly afraid of it being too strong for a master. There is some really nasty PvP you could do with this.

• Steady Focus:
  Basic and just strong.

• Moment of Clarity:
  Generally a cool trait, I am just not sure if it should belong in Marks Master.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Grandmaster

• Predator’s Onslaught:
  I really like the change for Daze and Stun. It opens the Trait up for other weapons and combos.

• Remorseless:
  This. Yeah it isn’t the highest possible dps, but OMG you can make cool builds with this thing. Whoever thought of this thing, you are my hero xD I want a (Power, Condi, Fero) now and just crit with massive Opening Strikes in solo PvE ^^ with condition application. So cool!

• Lead the Wind:
  Good thing all those traits got merged. Also, it is not required for LB play because of the new baselines, but still adds a good flavor to LB. Really good execution here. Open to more styles and new builds.

Skirmishing:

Minors:

• Very Strong minors. Also cool synergies with many builds.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Adept

• Sharpened Edges:
  Sounds good xD Nice and easy.

• Most Dangerous Game:
  While this certainly needs tweeking, I actually really like the concept of it. However the idea of changing it with (Light on your Feet) (as it was suggested in the stream) would destroy shortbow. So don’t do that xD More later.

• Trapper’s Defense:
  While some call it interesting for WvW, it is still horrible. No matter how you wanna see it. It adds nothing or close to nothing. However, with a few tweeks, it could be really fun.

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Master

• Primal Reflexes:
  Sure, why not. Looks solid.

• Spooter:
  Awesome, just as before.

• Trapper’s Expertise:
  Depends really on how traps will work in the future. Could be great as is, but could also be not strong enough for traps to be very viable. I guess only time will tell.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Grandmaster

• Quick Draw:
  Sooooooo cool concept. Allows alot of play and actually affects the way of play A LOT! Like it xD

• Light on your Feet:
  Same here. Very cool concept. Changes affect playstyle alot and is a solid trait.

• Strider’s Defense:
  While I still am not the biggest fan of %-based blocking, it is a lot less random now and also changes playstyle and is certainly a strong trait. I am looking forward to trying this out xD

Wilderness Survival:

Minors:

• Very defensive solid Minors.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Adept

• Soften the Fall:
  Meh, it is a Utility trait you pick if you wanna jump down somewhere. So yeah. I’d maybe change sth, but idk.

• Ambidexterity:
  I like it, that this affects bot skills. However, I already miss Off-Hand training here. xD Would add something small here.

• Expertise Training:
  Not bad, not great. Maybe a bit boring, but not every trait can be extremely cool ^^

- – - – - – - – - – -

Master

• Oakheart Salve:
  I like how it got changed. Pretty cool defensive Trait.

• Peak Strength:
  Scholar rune. xD Really strong, not much else to say.

• Shared Anguish:
  While I always found the trait interesting, no one will ever take Shared Anguish over Oakheart Salve here. Atleast I can’t see why you would do that. This need something more.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Grandmaster

• Empathic Bond:
  Strong, but I still don’t like the concept of shoving cholera or ebola down my pets’ throat.

• Wilderness Knowledge:
  Affects Gameplay and buil style, is strong and works great with many builds. xD Great one.

• Poison Master:
  I still don’t feel like I got enough Poison to really make this really potent. Still good and interesting trait, but not reeeaaally my cup of tea.

Nature Magic:

Minors:

• I always loved the Minors in this line. And now I do even more.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Adept

• Bountiful Hunter:
  Many people ignore the “and your pet” part of this skill, which puts it into a good spot in my opinion. Good %-based damage with interesting mechanic and not just plain boost.

• Nature’s Wrath:
  Not enough information on this one yet. However, I just don’t like the idea of Power based on healing…. It feels…. off somehow. Pet stats sound interesting.

• Healer’s Celerity:
  Not really great, but alot better than Spike Trap. With small tweeks actually really cool.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Master

• Evasive Purity:
  Sounds solid. Bit of stuff removal and yeah. Cripple and Poison. Those things that normally linger for hours on you. xD

• Vigorous Training:
  Even though it is aoe Vigor, I don’t find this interesting enough. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good trait, but I feel you could make it more interesting.

• Windborne Notes:
  I really love the horn. However, that small recharge and some Regen won’t make me take this trait. Sorry ^^ This one should be spiced up.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Grandmaster

• Nature’s Vengeance:
  Really reeeeaaally depends on how spirits gonna change. I don’t feel like this would be enough for me to take this as a grandmaster, even if I run 3 spirits. Not adding health to their pool and it not being announced means they might not be possible to be killed at all? I dunno. If I would say I know this thing is bad or good, I’d be absolutely lying, for I have no idea.

• Protective Ward:
  I really really love this concept however, sorry… Is it just me or is this thing overpowered? Even if the Protection goes to your pet, 50% uptime aoe weakness without condi duration In comparably short intervals… Sounds a bit nuts to me xD

• Invigorating Bond:
  doesn’t feel substantial enough in my opinion. a bit heal on F2 isn’t something I will want on my Grandmaster. Not even alot of heal would make this interesting or that strong. However, there could be sooooo cool things with the F2 pet. Elaborating later on xD

Beastmastery:

Minors:

• I don’t find Instinctual Bond that interesting or potent, but the rest is cool.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Adept

• Companion’s Might:
  Basic pretty good trait.

• Rending Attacks:
  Well, and there I was being happy about sharpened edges activating on pet and player, which I love. This seems so redundant and useless. xD

• Resounding Timbre:
  Hm.. Not really bad, not really great either. I just feel you could do alot cooler with this ^^

- – - – - – - – - – -

Master

• Wilting Strike:
  Interesting concept, will be annoying to play with though xD “Change Target, F1, Change Target, F1 .. … ….”

• Two-Handed Training:
  Mimimi, whine, why is this in BM, mimimi… Come on get over it whiners. GS in BM makes sense, and axe even more. If they tweak the Adepts and Grandmasters a bit, it is great. Putting it in the Skirmishing or Marksman line as I saw ppl suggesting… srsly? Not happening, and I don’t want that either. xD

• Natural Healing:
  Actually more interesting than one might think. I like it. Also good it is a Master now.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Grandmaster

• Beastly Warden:
  Jup, like the sound of that, and makes perfect sense ^^

• Zephyr’s Speed:
  Although I don’t care about this trait too much myself, I find it to be a solid Trait. However, I feel like it could be alot more interesting without the Might and something else instead.

• Honed Axes:
  Ahahaha xD I love the small “Winter’s Bite is now Aoe.” flavor. The trait however isn’t really good enough. 150 Ferocity just isn’t that much. I still don’t know why Ferocity. Axe doesn’t feel critty.

Now that we talked about this, let me propose what I would change with these Traits. However, pls keep in mind this is whining on a high level pretty much. I srsly can’t complain with what they are doing all in all xD

Here a few things you might want to know:

G: General
T: Trait

Proposal T1 would then be the first Trait proposal.

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Proposal G1: (G for general)
Exchange places of Moment of Clarity and Predator’s Instinct.

Notes:
This proposal conflicts with proposal T1. Do not combine these.

Reasoning:

• Moment of Clarity is very situational.
• Also thinking about builds, I can see builds with Moment of Clarity and Beastmaster’s Might. It has less Trait conflicts in Adept
• Predator’s Instinct with Call of the Wild would also open up, which is cool

Negatives/ Reasons against:

• Moment of Clarity in Adept feels weird, because it affects gameplay so much.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Proposal T1: (T for Trait)
Make Enlargement (Adept Marks) apply Signet of the Wild if you cripple, chill or immobilize a dazed or stunned foe.

Notes:
This proposal conflicts with proposal G1. Do not combine these.

Reasoning:

• This would add alot to gameplay. Using those condition when you would normally try not to.
• It also ties into Predator’s Onslaught and Moment of Clarity or Beastmaster’s Might.

Negatives/ Reasons against:

• Can’t think of one right now. Maybe too strong? I don’t know. It has 60s internal cooldown though. Maybe up that in case.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Proposal T2:
Change Most Dangerous Game (Adept Skirmish) while <50% health into this:

• 1 Might on 4 sec Interval with 10s duration.
• Reduce recharge of weapon skills 10%

Notes:
Do switch this with Light on your Feet. You need to be able to take Sharpened Edges with Light on your Feet or SB will once again little use.

Reasoning:

• The trait gets more potent over time. It is, should be and should feel risky, but it shouldn’t apply the Might for a too short time frame.
• The recharge reduction stands in direct conflict to scholar rune and the other ranger scholar trait. -> Adds healthy diversity and playstyles and should not be overpowered.

Negatives/ Reasons against:

• Maybe overpowered. Would need playtesting. Also It wouldn’s feel so Adepty with this much impact on gameplay. It would make such a cool trait though.

Proposal T3:
Combine Trapper’s Defense and Healers Celerity. Change the Trap of Trapper’s Defense into Ice Trap. (Ice Trap needs a small buff itself, which I am hoping since for ever for.)

Notes:
-

Reasoning:

• Both traits were not strong enough as it stands.
• If the foe interrupts your healing, he has a longer cooldown or if he get pushed away, he is slower in walking. Much more variety and meaningful gameplay changes.
• Increased healing makes it more interesting as a kind of race.
• No damage on this trait adds to its healy flavor.

Negatives/ Reasons against:

• Shouldn’t be op, but maybe doesn’t feel like an adept trait? I think it would really fit well though.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Proposal T4:
Combine Soften the Fall and Shared Anguish into a Master Trait:

• When Taking falling damage, create a Muddy Terrain.
• Transfer incoming disables to the pet (60s cd)
• Second effect also takes falling knockdown into account.

Notes:
-

Reasoning:

• This would be so cool and open up alot of play. Being the one not knocked down when jumping and then even immobilizing/ crippling them.
• The whole falling knockdown part is very situational, so not that much stronger as Shared Anguish alone.
• Makes it a viable option. The other 2 master traits outshine Shared Anguish alone by far.
• Did I mention it would be fun and cool?

Negatives/ Reasons against:

• Hopefully not too strong. It just sounds fun in my head. Especially in WvW or also PvP.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Proposal T5:
Add Range/Radius increase for Torch and Dagger to Ambidexterity. (Like Off-Hand Training before)

Notes:
-

Reasoning:

• Torch and Dagger both feel a bit clunky as Off-Hands. The Torch aoe is so small (Even after increase) and Dagger 4 without Off-Hand Training has close to no movement.
• Adding the Range and Radius would just make the skills more interesting, not very much stronger. Thus balancing the Trait a bit out.

Negatives/ Reasons against:

• Could possibly be too strong? I don’t see it personally though.

- – - – - – - – - – -

Proposal T6:
Windborne Notes. Adding regen won’t make the Horn better for in combat situations. Instead:
A mob affected by Hunter’s Call get 3% more damage from all incoming sources for it’s duration. Unique Effect. So 5 Rangers shouldn’t be able to scale it to 15% (Needs tweaking on numbers. Basically 3 Vulnerability without adding to the cap)

Notes:
-

Reasoning:

• Warhorn always was an “Let’s just change before the fight and get buffs and change back” kind of weapon. With this, you could actually run Warhorn for Legendary mob encounters, Tequatl etc.
• Makes the weapon viable for other situations.

Negatives/ Reasons against:
- Probably a bit too Strong on 3 or 5%. I don’t really know what it should be. Would make the Warhorn more interesting in both PvE and PvP.
- The old version would probably be preferred in WvW

- – - – - – - – - – -

Proposal T7:
Make Honed Axes also increase the radius of A5 (Like Off-Hand Training before Change)

Notes:
-

Reasoning:

• With Off-Hand Training gone, I find this should either be baseline or rolled into this trait. The Axe reflect is too small and insignificant otherwise.

Negatives/ Reasons against:
- None

- – - – - – - – - – -

Proposal G2:
Do something with Rending Attacks. I don’t care what it is.

Notes:
-

Reasoning:

• It is only a bad Sharpened Edges atm

Negatives/ Reasons against:
- None

So, you miss our pet doing 5% damage on Predator’s Onslaught instead of the buff it got since now the ranger and pet will be doing 10% damage on movement-impending targets?

Wondrouswall.7169:

So, you miss our pet doing 5% damage on Predator’s Onslaught instead of the buff it got since now the ranger and pet will be doing 10% damage on movement-impending targets?

Ok, I am stupid xD I didn’t see the 10% also apply to the pet… I kind of overread that

The way Wilting Strike is worded gave me the impression that it worked on skills the player activated, though I suppose it could be pet activated too.

Either way you’ll benefit the most with a pet that uses an AoE F2. Wolf applying Weakness and Fear at the same time is pretty nice. Drake F2 bouncing to a group of enemies and spreading weakness is great too, especially since that pet already applies weakness with Tail Swipe. Combine that with the weakness on Winter’s Axe and you have a LOT of weakness up time on your opponent thanks to your pet.