Guild Wars 2

I feel both of these abilities, or at least one of them, should have a boon-stripping function.

WH has received incremental buffs over the last year, but its #4 is still a nearly useless ability that doesn’t even scale well with power. if Hunter’s Call is to remain a single target ability, it needs to have a significant effect on that target. instead of adding a generic condi component, as it channels, it should have a chance to strip boons, say 30-50% per hit. or a static number of, say, 3 boons stripped.

if Hunter’s Call does not receive a boon stripping function, it should turn into some sort of damaging and debuffing aoe skill. maybe the birds can attack 3 targets in a cone and blind them.

Barrage – because there are many arrows here, this ability could be traited to have a chance to strip boons. say 30-50% chance per arrow.

these changes would take care of WH, and add a little bit more depth to the CORE ranger profession.

Barrage arrows are just a visual effect. It actually just pulses damage to the 5 enemies closest to the center. Would be awesome if barrage behaved similar to ele’s Meteor Shower though.

And I don’t think boon stripping really works with the rangers theme. Maybe if Hunter’s Call applied weakness or periodic daze + vulnerability? That would make some sense considering the animation is birds pecking at the person’s head.

Quincy.5490:

Barrage arrows are just a visual effect. It actually just pulses damage to the 5 enemies closest to the center. Would be awesome if barrage behaved similar to ele’s Meteor Shower though.

Agreed. It would be so nice to have each arrow have it’s own impact.

As for boon strip on Hunter’s Call, maybe. I kinda wish they would improve Hunter’s Call before adding anything. It’s kind of sad how the 6th bonus of a rune (Mad King) is better than Hunter’s Call since it can attack multiple foes instead of just one.

ah good point. I was always confused about them being projectiles. so it’s a pulsing field basically.

I don’t really understand what the boon stripping “theme” is. it doesn’t really make sense on any profession other than the guardian himself. necros are masters of condis, yet they get to strip and convert boons.

boon hate is simply a thing introduced a few metas ago to counter d/d eles and guards, and to make pvp more enjoyable. conceptually I think it would work just fine on the ranger. we have quite a few weapons that are dead in the water right now, without a single useful function. just empty. so it’s a good opportunity. we need more boon stripping, especially with the herald coming our way.

mistsim.2748:

necros are masters of condis, yet they get to strip and convert boons.

Necros are masters of condition manipulation which is why they have such a vast amount of boon strip and corruption.

correct, condition manipulation. not boon manipulation.

boon stripping doesn’t really have a theme to it at all. thieves have it kitten .

Indeed, boon stripping doesn’t have a theme attached to it. Apparently, the class is either given it or not. As you pointed out, it doesn’t make “thematic sense” on thieves, either.

Bountiful Theft for example, so a thief can steal boons/enchantments? Okay. If that flies, then I guess they can add some boon strip to a trait to have pets remove boons from foes, or have a specific weapon remove boons.

Going back to your suggestion of Hunter’s Call, I guess that would be the odd-one-out since it hits multiple times. I know this sounds like a shot to the devs (it’s not), but they probably don’t know how to approach adding triggers to multi-hit attacks without getting into further complications.

Do they attach it to the first hit? The first strike that lands? Does it happen at set intervals? Does the intervals start on cast or when the first strike lands? A bit different than just laying down a static field that automatically pulse an effect.

Probably attach boon strip to something simpler. A trait, a shout, or weapon skill (that isn’t multi-hit). Either/or and even all of the above.

mistsim.2748:

ah good point. I was always confused about them being projectiles. so it’s a pulsing field basically.

I don’t really understand what the boon stripping “theme” is. it doesn’t really make sense on any profession other than the guardian himself. necros are masters of condis, yet they get to strip and convert boons.

boon hate is simply a thing introduced a few metas ago to counter d/d eles and guards, and to make pvp more enjoyable. conceptually I think it would work just fine on the ranger. we have quite a few weapons that are dead in the water right now, without a single useful function. just empty. so it’s a good opportunity. we need more boon stripping, especially with the herald coming our way.

In my opinion…

The thief’s shadowstep and stealth seem magical, and since the class is all about stealing, it kind of makes sense for them to be able to steal magic. Necros strip boons, which is in line with their corruption trait. Guardians are masters of boon manipulation so may as well be able to burn them away, if that makes sense. On mesmers it makes sense too. Engineers could use a gadget I suppose. I just don’t think it would make as much sense on a ranger or a warrior, because I’ve never thought of the nature manipulating, animal commanding ranger as one to strip a magical property from someone. Unless they got a pet that could do it with their F skill. And the warrior is a martial master, so giving them magic would be weird. Though something tells me they already have or will get a boon strip eventually.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Quincy.5490:

Barrage arrows are just a visual effect. It actually just pulses damage to the 5 enemies closest to the center. Would be awesome if barrage behaved similar to ele’s Meteor Shower though.

Agreed. It would be so nice to have each arrow have it’s own impact.

As for boon strip on Hunter’s Call, maybe. I kinda wish they would improve Hunter’s Call before adding anything. It’s kind of sad how the 6th bonus of a rune (Mad King) is better than Hunter’s Call since it can attack multiple foes instead of just one.

They should just make Hunters Call a cut/paste of the Mad king (6) bonus imo. Would be a massive improvement.

Either that or the other thing I’d like to see is it remain single target, but add a 1/2s blind per strike on it for burst shutdown utility.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

They should just make Hunters Call a cut/paste of the Mad king (6) bonus imo. Would be a massive improvement.

Either that or the other thing I’d like to see is it remain single target, but add a 1/2s blind per strike on it for burst shutdown utility.

Right? Literally both of those and Hunter’s Call would be SO much better. Though, I would really like it if Windborne Notes improved HC in some way as well. Even if it adds that regen to it.

I digress here, but traits like Windborne Notes & Honed Axes that affect/improve only one of a weapon’s skill set bother me because so much more potential is just left untouched.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Wondrouswall.7169:

Quincy.5490:

Barrage arrows are just a visual effect. It actually just pulses damage to the 5 enemies closest to the center. Would be awesome if barrage behaved similar to ele’s Meteor Shower though.

Agreed. It would be so nice to have each arrow have it’s own impact.

As for boon strip on Hunter’s Call, maybe. I kinda wish they would improve Hunter’s Call before adding anything. It’s kind of sad how the 6th bonus of a rune (Mad King) is better than Hunter’s Call since it can attack multiple foes instead of just one.

They should just make Hunters Call a cut/paste of the Mad king (6) bonus imo. Would be a massive improvement.

Either that or the other thing I’d like to see is it remain single target, but add a 1/2s blind per strike on it for burst shutdown utility.

Either of these things or just make it AoE ground target like barrage, but both of your suggestions fit better thematically and would probably be easier to just use the mechanic they already have from mad king.

Really…the LB already has crazy range, decent tracking, and stealth access. The last thing it needs is boon strip.

Something like OH axe getting it I could see. Pull + chance to strip a boon? Might be worth actually taking at that point. Still will be horrendous until they let us move while whirling…but I digress.

ok I will add that feedback to the other thread core profession thread, under OH axe. it fits way better on Whirling Defense

Hunters call could pulse blind, I mean your face is covered by angry birds.
Or it could have a chance to proc another hunters call on nearby targets up to 3?

or simple scale better with power.