Guild Wars 2

Anet, with all of the upcoming changes to traits for the new core specializations, a lot of traits are going out of the window. most of the changes i can agree with, but one specifically bugs me as you’re getting rid a very good trait. grandmaster worthy to me, even. I am talking about the trait Hide in Plain Sight. Me and many other rangers i know would be very sad to see this trait completely go, it may not be used by very many players mainly due to the fact that everyone likes to run whatever is meta, but for us other players that enjoy the awesome utility this trait has to offer, it sucks to see Anet has no plans to keep it in the core specialization for ranger. Hide in Plain Sight really helps us very squishy longbow rangers get out of some sticky situations where we would probably just die instantly without it. Hoping Anet considers keeping Hide in Plain Sight, Relek

It was a … Fun trait, I give you that.

I remember a time when I made a WvW build with siamoth, Trapper runes, Longbow and hide in plain sight. So many frustration on the enemy side. They had to target all over and over and over again. It really was hilarious to see players target my pet out of rage.

It should be added to Shared Anguish, which somehow went from Adept to Master without any buff.

The only problem is that Shared Anguish has a 60s cooldown, but Hide in Plain Sight has a 30s cooldown.

So either the cooldown should be lowered to 30s, or the stealth should be 6s to compensate.

Very strange to see it go, especially because they only recently buffed it to allow movement while camouflaged. Why spend time on it if you’re going to remove it later anyway?

Holland.9351:

It should be added to Shared Anguish, which somehow went from Adept to Master without any buff.

The only problem is that Shared Anguish has a 60s cooldown, but Hide in Plain Sight has a 30s cooldown.

So either the cooldown should be lowered to 30s, or the stealth should be 6s to compensate.

Very strange to see it go, especially because they only recently buffed it to allow movement while camouflaged. Why spend time on it if you’re going to remove it later anyway?

Right?! I was so happy to see the buffs, knowing that i didn’t have to stand there playing possum til they somehow forgot where they CC’d me? Lol, at any rate what you’re suggesting sounds fine. I don’t care how it would be incorporated into the new core traits (as long as it’s reasonable) as long as we could still have access to it…

In my opinion the 6 sec CD of HiPS glued to Shared Anguish would be grandmaster worth.

If it was just glued together (3sec stealth) and HiPS would be 60 sec CD – I wouldn’t really mind. That would be adequate for a master tier. 60 sec. CD is around adequate.

It’d be nice to have to chose one of 2 minor traits between every 3 major trait, like 2-3-2-3-2-3 because the way it is now there’s “only” 27 possibilities per tree and most of them are not viable so more like 10 possibilies. Builds are more fun now lol

Agreed that Hide in Plain Sight should be added into Shared Anguish. As for the duration of Stealth, it can remain the same. Tacking on Hide in Plain Sight would be icing on the cake, so (to me) there’s no need to compensate.

In my opinion…
… Half of the choices we can make …

Are like an ethic quiz. Of course you can choose each of the 3, but I mean come on, everyone knows the correct answer.

Half of the traits are just not in line with efficiency/power/reward/whatever you call it. They are just not worth when compared to other choices of the 3.
The trait lines themselves are fine… But we all know that:
Marksmanship= Beast Master’s bond(Call of the Wild), Signet, Remorseless
Skirmishing= Quick Draw
Wilderness= Condi Cleanse
Nature Magic= Protective Ward
Beast Mastery= the only balanced traitline where you have to make a choice

I hope they’ll do some maths to adjust the traits post-update. Some traits are just unattractive and inefficient at the same time. They might have been attractive if they were more powerful. But currently… No one’s ever going to use any ress trait or Soften the Fall.

That’s what most people are guessing. They release the new traits and system for core specs soon, players test, give feedback, and they will tweak just before the xpac.

Also, every class has those downed/fall damage/res traits. Rangers just happen to have an extra res trait =/ At least Soften the Fall is taken by people that zerg WvW sometimes. Trapper’s Defense on the other hand… ugh.

Tragic Positive.9356:

In my opinion…
… Half of the choices we can make …

Are like an ethic quiz. Of course you can choose each of the 3, but I mean come on, everyone knows the correct answer.

Half of the traits are just not in line with efficiency/power/reward/whatever you call it. They are just not worth when compared to other choices of the 3.
The trait lines themselves are fine… But we all know that:
Marksmanship= Beast Master’s bond(Call of the Wild), Signet, Remorseless
Skirmishing= Quick Draw
Wilderness= Condi Cleanse
Nature Magic= Protective Ward
Beast Mastery= the only balanced traitline where you have to make a choice

I hope they’ll do some maths to adjust the traits post-update. Some traits are just unattractive and inefficient at the same time. They might have been attractive if they were more powerful. But currently… No one’s ever going to use any ress trait or Soften the Fall.

yep. i don’t even see zerglings using those traits… but even some of the core specialization minor and major (even some of of the grandmaster traits) are lackluster and aren’t gonna be chosen over others. that’s the way things usually are but there are other traits that we would like to see go before Hide in Plain Sight.

Tragic Positive.9356:

In my opinion…
… Half of the choices we can make …

Are like an ethic quiz. Of course you can choose each of the 3, but I mean come on, everyone knows the correct answer.

Half of the traits are just not in line with efficiency/power/reward/whatever you call it. They are just not worth when compared to other choices of the 3.
The trait lines themselves are fine… But we all know that:
Marksmanship= Beast Master’s bond(Call of the Wild), Signet, Remorseless
Skirmishing= Quick Draw
Wilderness= Condi Cleanse
Nature Magic= Protective Ward
Beast Mastery= the only balanced traitline where you have to make a choice

I hope they’ll do some maths to adjust the traits post-update. Some traits are just unattractive and inefficient at the same time. They might have been attractive if they were more powerful. But currently… No one’s ever going to use any ress trait or Soften the Fall.

I mostly agree. I still think LTW is competitive. piercing is important and I believe +10% speed on AA and more frequent RF are overall better than +25% damage every now and then for those who want a long range assassination build

Skirm – I agree quickdraw is best, but theyre moving LOYF down to adept and buffing MDG and making it GM; we’ll have to see new MDG; also they better make something out of Strider because it’s not competitive with quickdraw

Wilderness – totally agree here, wilderness knowledge and this entire trait line is pretty much mandatory for all rangers; poison master could be interesting, but WK is too good

I also hope they redo the math on some of these to make them competitive. for example Strider’s Defense could easily open up a sword build if they just got rid of the silly RNG projectile destruction and gave us a flat -10-15% damage taken while in melee range.

if invigorating bond and empathic bond were merged, it would be a competitive GM.

if Predator’s Onslaught was changed to +20% damage on the debuffed targets, it would be competitive

etc.

A lot of the traits have a place somewhere in some game mode. Such things such as Remorseless might be taken more than Predator’s Onslaught in PvP, but will also probably rarely be taken in the PvE scene. As far as I see things, the only traits that don’t really have a place anywhere are: Trapper’s Defense, Healer’s Celerity, and Nature’s Vengeance.

Mercy Rune builds on any class were never a thing, save for those few persons that like to only res, an old Master tier Spirit trait bumped to GM that was never buffed with non-moving Spirits has less use than before, and laying a trap to res.

Only the WS GM slots are messed up since Poison Master is practically locked between 2 condition removals, and between the two, WK seems to be the better choice for the majority of people.

On the note of Strider’s Defense, it can’t have the RNG of projectile destruction taken away without an ICD added. Defensive -% damage traits tend to lie within defensive lines with other classes, Skirmishing is themed to be offensive in Anet’s eyes. It’s fine where it is. As for Predator’s Onslaught, only suggestion I’ve seen that would be a sensible buff was to make the damage % increase depending on the debuff.

With how Anet themes their traits, 10% across the soft CCs is fine, and a 20% increase towards dazed and stun targets is the only acceptable way without making the trait too powerful.

I think Predators Onslaught needs either to be merged with Predator’s Instinct or extend the durations of the conditions/effects that trigger it.

I like Strider’s defense now, 50% chance is great, I just wish it was a chance to block and not destroy. The only drama is it is competing with Quick Draw…

but what projectiles are you destroying exactly? only ones worth mentioning are from other rangers, but theyre neutralized with a few simple evades. I don’t feel projectile destruction is useful at all, unless rifle warriors and pistol thieves all of a sudden become a thing. imo, it’s a useless bonus maybe worthy of a master in current form.

but if they gave us a flat defense bonus while smacking something with a sword, then id consider it.

Please Arena Net do not.. do NOT remove this trait. People still use this trait and it helps a lot. I’v played ranger from day one of release and even during beta. Removing this will not only make people upset, it will break the ranger that is still somewhat weak. This is a PLEA to not remove this useful trait. PLEASE KEEP THIS TRAIT (Hide in Plain Sight).

I’m hoping the Druid gets plenty of self/group stealth, but would also like to keep (Hide in Plain Sight).

mistsim.2748:

but what projectiles are you destroying exactly? only ones worth mentioning are from other rangers, but theyre neutralized with a few simple evades. I don’t feel projectile destruction is useful at all, unless rifle warriors and pistol thieves all of a sudden become a thing. imo, it’s a useless bonus maybe worthy of a master in current form.

but if they gave us a flat defense bonus while smacking something with a sword, then id consider it.

I feel like it was redesigned for PvE players, where it will be the clear choice. Damage boost on our highest DPS weapon AND projectile hate for some encounters? No-brainer, really.

Agree, though, it’s PvP applications will still be limited.

Sevans.4619:

mistsim.2748:

but what projectiles are you destroying exactly? only ones worth mentioning are from other rangers, but theyre neutralized with a few simple evades. I don’t feel projectile destruction is useful at all, unless rifle warriors and pistol thieves all of a sudden become a thing. imo, it’s a useless bonus maybe worthy of a master in current form.

but if they gave us a flat defense bonus while smacking something with a sword, then id consider it.

I feel like it was redesigned for PvE players, where it will be the clear choice. Damage boost on our highest DPS weapon AND projectile hate for some encounters? No-brainer, really.

Agree, though, it’s PvP applications will still be limited.

It reduces the damage and adrenaline gain on a shoutbow AA by 50%! DD Ele loses 50% of fire/water AA damage, sceptre also, thief now has 50% less effective headshots and shadowshots, Mesmer sceptre/Staff, engineer rifle & pistol, turrets, all Ranger bow, axe and spider/devourer attacks. Surely there are more.

To have immunity to 50% of all projectiles is awesome! It’s not effective for the ones you evade, nothing is effective except evade, if you actually evade the projectile. It is effective for the one’s you do not see coming or cannot evade due to lack of endurance or w/e.

To say something about Strider’s defense.

I think the trait is powerful. I really do. 50% projectile denial uptime is huge. Whichever way you look at it. It’s just that you won’t squeeze a benefit of it all the time, just like reflects don’t work against melee attacks. People tend to lean towards flashy mechanics that you can see, control and they change your way of play.

Strider’s defense on the other hand is a passive. A very powerful passive. There are times where you want to play a melee ranger that will create the Whirling Defense every other second. Think of it exactly that way. The trait creates a whirling defense for a second every 2nd attack (RNG, I know right) which is supper powerful.

But it isn’t flashy. That’s all there is to it.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Sevans.4619:

mistsim.2748:

but what projectiles are you destroying exactly? only ones worth mentioning are from other rangers, but theyre neutralized with a few simple evades. I don’t feel projectile destruction is useful at all, unless rifle warriors and pistol thieves all of a sudden become a thing. imo, it’s a useless bonus maybe worthy of a master in current form.

but if they gave us a flat defense bonus while smacking something with a sword, then id consider it.

I feel like it was redesigned for PvE players, where it will be the clear choice. Damage boost on our highest DPS weapon AND projectile hate for some encounters? No-brainer, really.

Agree, though, it’s PvP applications will still be limited.

It reduces the damage and adrenaline gain on a shoutbow AA by 50%! DD Ele loses 50% of fire/water AA damage, sceptre also, thief now has 50% less effective headshots and shadowshots, Mesmer sceptre/Staff, engineer rifle & pistol, turrets, all Ranger bow, axe and spider/devourer attacks. Surely there are more.

To have immunity to 50% of all projectiles is awesome! It’s not effective for the ones you evade, nothing is effective except evade, if you actually evade the projectile. It is effective for the one’s you do not see coming or cannot evade due to lack of endurance or w/e.

No doubt that in theory it is extremely strong, but unless you’re cleaving a downed body I don’t see it being as effective in practice.

I wonder if it’ll still proc without needing to make contact with an enemy, because then it could make sword the ultimate get-away weapon.

Tragic Positive.9356:

In my opinion…
… Half of the choices we can make …

Are like an ethic quiz. Of course you can choose each of the 3, but I mean come on, everyone knows the correct answer.

Half of the traits are just not in line with efficiency/power/reward/whatever you call it. They are just not worth when compared to other choices of the 3.
The trait lines themselves are fine… But we all know that:
Marksmanship= Beast Master’s bond(Call of the Wild), Signet, Remorseless
Skirmishing= Quick Draw
Wilderness= Condi Cleanse
Nature Magic= Protective Ward
Beast Mastery= the only balanced traitline where you have to make a choice

I hope they’ll do some maths to adjust the traits post-update. Some traits are just unattractive and inefficient at the same time. They might have been attractive if they were more powerful. But currently… No one’s ever going to use any ress trait or Soften the Fall.

Wilderness survival is so awkward that there’s 0 good choice in the adapt spot…
Maybe just remove that worthless revive trait and add Hide in Plain Sight in?

based on the current one, it proc when not hitting somethig…

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

It reduces the damage and adrenaline gain on a shoutbow AA by 50%! DD Ele loses 50% of fire/water AA damage, sceptre also, thief now has 50% less effective headshots and shadowshots, Mesmer sceptre/Staff, engineer rifle & pistol, turrets, all Ranger bow, axe and spider/devourer attacks. Surely there are more.

mesmers don’t use scepter, engies don’t use turrets, dd eles don’t really use AA (almost at all).

good point about adrenaline gain and headshot, and I forgot about engie rifle. so it’s more useful than I thought, but question is will I really ever use it over quickdraw? im going into skirmishing for damage, traps, and/or shortbow. quickdraw gives me so much utility and survivability I just don’t see myself picking anything over it, on any build.

the other major problem is that you only destroy these projectiles while “executing a melee attack”, meaning that if youre not spamming AA with sword in melee (which is suicidal in itself), you don’t get this benefit. overall it was very poorly thought out. in practice, it just doesn’t do enough for a GM

It takes too long to test but melee attacks can be considered even Maul, Serpent’s Strike Hilt Bash etc.

When the chance is 50% I’ll definitely get a see into it. But currently I might spend 20 minutes testing without a valid proof because of RNG. It’s something different from auto-attacks that are without a cooldown.

thanks for clarifying. I thought it was only when using sword. makes it ever so slightly more appealing. but if im going for a melee build…quickdraw is soooo strong.

Again, Strider’s Defense is more for PvE and dealing with a +1 that’s ranging you, be it another player or a summon of some sort (Thief Ambush add that spams Unload comes to mind). Though somewhat lacking in some modes, it has its uses in others.

I won’t probably use it much in sPvP even if I’ll dedicate myself to melee builds. Quick Draw is a clear answer.

But for WvW… I can see the efficiency rising up a bit. One way or another, it’s still to early to set a verdict. We all will have to wait and see.

Yeah. Even though Strider’s Defense competes with Quick Draw in the PvP scene, I believe other GM traits require more attention. At least SD has potential to shine in multiple modes, but Nature’s Vengeance and Poison Master appear to have little to no chance to see usage, save for Poison Master, which may find a small niche.

Also, just to get things back on track, yes. Hide In Plain Sight. Bring it back, Anet.

all i can say is striders is perfect for group fights example GS+S/A .

you can body block LTW arrows which will peirce past you even if you evade this could negate 50% of any Multi hit channels from other rangers too , protecting your team mate from a Powerful RF burst is very promising.

the trait will also let you Protect yourself from Gs > throw cripple reflects and path of scar Reflects .

people saying use evades vs those situations shouldn’t i’d only ever use my dodge or weapon evades while using striders if i was being hit by a Melee attack which is not prevented.

Gs+s/a just got more potent while defending itself from Ranged attackers and our own attacks.

RF from 800+ yards with quickness , quickly get the channel finished before the arrows hit the target swap to Melee and use Striders to prevent most of the reflected damage if they use a reflect or Mirror blade in the case of Mesmers dodging , its a viable and strong use of offense + defence at the same time .

its not so clear cut if you compair it to other GM traits as it really does define the build your using.

Hide in plain sight , i see no place for it .
1. we have enough stealths with huntershot + quickdraw
2. Saimoth (even if some of you disagree its still a good / great source of blind and stealth
3. it competes with too many other traits which could be more synergetic with many more builds apart from using it for full glass types which is its main use.
4. Remoresless no longer needs the stealth (though anet reverted it back to Camo after a few weeks finding it too stealthy with the other sources i listed , it was not very aragorn of the ranger to be a stealth play style)

not saying they will nor might bring it back, i just don;t see any stronger reasons why it should be Brought back.

Simply because several rangers were using the trait, it had a nice synergy with Shared Anguish and there was no reason to exterminate the trait in the 1st place.

The trait was used, the trait had it’s useful builds and was rewarding. It might not have been the most powerful trait in the universe, but then again, it’s like saying we don’t need Predator’s Onslaught because we have Peak Strength.

We might have the same mechanic somewhere else, but it doesn’t mean we might not welcome both.

its a very nice trait. I use it all the time on any power build i run with me ranger.