Guild Wars 2

Protective Ward:
GM VIII 12

When you receive damage nearby foes are weakened and you gain protection

So in the live stream it was listed as a 6 second weakness, and an 8 second protection, with a 12 second ICD. If this is in fact the final version, I would be baffled….

however, as many of you know, they went on to say that the Protection may in fact be for the pet only…..bleh.

That being said, I very much want this trait to stay as is, but with some numbers tweaked. I think we all know that the current (possibly place-holder) version is too strong (maybe some disagree with this?). At the same time, how super underwhelming as a GM would it be, in a line of other, already fairly underwhelming GMs, if in fact only the pet received protection.

So what should this trait be?

It would still be a very strong trait even if only pet gets protection.

1. There is no “chance to grant” on hit. You just get it every 12s when hit.
2. Weakness is a very strong condition.
3. Weakness helps cover your other dps conditions from being cleansed.

Protection to the pet?^ What’ s the logic in it ?^
If the protection goes to the ranger ok it’ s a good trait.
If not…It’ s useless. I will never spend an entire specialization line for it..

The weakness is the point. Weakness functions similar to protection in that you get hit by glancing blows…

weakness is strong, but if you are hit and it procs and no one is around you to receive the weakness (so literally any ranged attack) , all you get out of a GM trait is 8 seconds protection on the pet? that doesn’t sound too GM worthy to me.

And its not necessarily super useful in a zerg cuz it will just hit random people and be cleansed fairly quickly, and do nothing against CC.

Its decent on point in pvp, but just that, decent, not great like a build defining gm trait should be. .

Yup, weakness is essentially a 25% reduction in damage, plus it has the added bonus of reducing your foes endurance regen by 50% too.

So, a 50% uptime of 25% damage reduction is a 12.5% reduction in damage. But it works even better in reality against burst skills. Plus your pet gets 80% up time of Protection and mostly likely the reduction from the weakness too.

It’s a powerful trait, that’s for sure. It would be cool if the Ranger got something other than the weakness, but its good as is.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Yup, weakness is essentially a 25% reduction in damage, plus it has the added bonus of reducing your foes endurance regen by 50% too.

So, a 50% uptime of 25% damage reduction is a 12.5% reduction in damage. But it works even better in reality against burst skills. Plus your pet gets 80% up time of Protection and mostly likely the reduction from the weakness too.

It’s a powerful trait, that’s for sure. It would be cool if the Ranger got something other than the weakness, but its good as is.

everyone is saying how strong weakness is, and I agree, but literally any class that is not right on top of you, it will do nothing against. We have to be hit for it to proc, meaning its easier to predect and counter with ranged attacks.

Hell even a thief will just go right into stealth, cleanse it, and be right back on top of you with a backstab 3 seconds later.

Now if the weakness activated from our own attacks I would say its strong.

For me mate It’ s not a good trait.
That specialization line itsself isn’ t strong at all unfortunatly.

But if the thief has to go back into stealth to cleanse it, or break off in any way, it has done its job, if he tries to continue attacking through it, he does little damage, either way the trait passively reduces the damage you take either by forcing a cleanse or weakness effects.

If it also applied just a few seconds of Protection to the ranger, it would be great. So it has the same function as Nature’s Protection, but with the weakness and modified CD. That is what I would like to see. Currently I think its probably the best GM in NM.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Yup, weakness is essentially a 25% reduction in damage, plus it has the added bonus of reducing your foes endurance regen by 50% too.

So, a 50% uptime of 25% damage reduction is a 12.5% reduction in damage.But it works even better in reality against burst skills. Plus your pet gets 80% up time of Protection and mostly likely the reduction from the weakness too.

It’s a powerful trait, that’s for sure. It would be cool if the Ranger got something other than the weakness, but its good as is.

In reality it works just as statistically. Because as you say “it works better on burst skills” – it “doesn’t work on burst skills at all” at the same time since it’s a 50% chance.

And reducing mere autoattacks while being blown by burst skills is as unrewarding as rewarding is reducing exactly the burst ones. There’s no “works better in reality”.

Protection would do exactly that. Reduce the statistical damage (burst included) by 25%. If that part goes away, most of potential from HotS expansion concerning ranger disappears.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

But if the thief has to go back into stealth to cleanse it, or break off in any way, it has done its job, if he tries to continue attacking through it, he does little damage, either way the trait passively reduces the damage you take either by forcing a cleanse or weakness effects.

If it also applied just a few seconds of Protection to the ranger, it would be great. So it has the same function as Nature’s Protection, but with the weakness and modified CD. That is what I would like to see. Currently I think its probably the best GM in NM.

for a SA theif, going into stealth is nothing, and the cleanse is instant. No resources wasted. Hit you with another backstab 3 seconds later. In my mind, the trait did nothing in that scenario. After specializations, every thief will use SA cuz now they have 3 lines to trait into and not tied to stats any more

That is right, I was more thinking along the lines of the skill being wasted if it glances and not the outright damage and also since I was talking about total uptime and it works out to be a 12.5% reduction, whereas you can get a 50% chance to get a glancing blow which would help more with burst than sustained. But yes, you’re right, statistically it works the same all the time.

I hope the Ranger gets the protection, it would make it a very nice trait and totally make the NM line, as currently I only want FortBond out of it.

it will be perfect if the prot applies to ranger, and not the pet.

Zatoichi.1049:

for a SA theif, going into stealth is nothing, and the cleanse is instant. No resources wasted. Hit you with another backstab 3 seconds later. In my mind, the trait did nothing in that scenario. After specializations, every thief will use SA cuz now they have 3 lines to trait into.

Yeah, SA got a giant buff too. They still have to use initiative to regain stealth, it will take them time, you can interrupt, open a gap or be ready to dodge the next BS, or they may miss the weakness and have the damage reduced. If you allow the thief to BS you, then stealth and BS you again in 3s, no traits were going to save you.

Against a good thief, even Nature’s Protection won’t help as he will just draw it out, then stealth again and BS.

The loss of Nature’s Protection from NM is HUGE and I’m thinking that some of the Protection will have to apply to the Ranger as it is really the only trait we have that prevents us being 1 shot by thieves everytime when playing glassbow.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

The loss of Nature’s Protection from NM is HUGE and I’m thinking that some of the Protection will have to apply to the Ranger as it is really the only trait we have that prevents us being 1 shot by thieves everytime when playing glassbow.

not really. now we’ll have Oakheart Salve and Barkskin. Barkskin will make the opener weaker, and -5% damage taken with perma regen is probably better. this is in addition to prot from dodge rolls.

for glassbows, Barkskin will be huge. and I think they will make Protective Ward apply to the ranger. it would make sense.

For a glassbow, barkskin will only halve the first 3036 damage to 1518, which will be gone in the 1st hit from a thief. It won’t stop a thief 1-shotting you from initial burst.

It is a decent trait, but 90% is too high imo.

It all adds up though, -5% from OHS is nice too as we can keep Regen up more now, plus (hopefully) the protection from PW. PW is just like Nature’s Protection, with the weakness added and NP seems to be missing, perhaps that is a change.

Leaving glassbow in a pretty nice place with MM, WS and NM as its traitlines, a lot tankier than before.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

For a glassbow, barkskin will only halve the first 3036 damage to 1518, which will be gone in the 1st hit from a thief. It won’t stop a thief 1-shotting you from initial burst.

It is a decent trait, but 90% is too high imo.

It all adds up though, -5% from OHS is nice too as we can keep Regen up more now, plus (hopefully) the protection from PW. PW is just like Nature’s Protection, with the weakness added and NP seems to be missing, perhaps that is a change.

Leaving glassbow in a pretty nice place with MM, WS and NM as its traitlines, a lot tankier than before.

I’d say the trait is now more powerful then before … Especially for the Glassbow.
What the trait does is reducing the initial burst by 50%. In theory, it doesn’t reduce 1518 …
It reduces the DAMAGE RECEIVED by 50%, when above 90%… So if you get hit by 10K damage attack – it will be reduced to 5K. Which is much more than you currently see it =)

This trait will give the Zerk build the much needed time to react to ambushes. It’s much better than you think.

Why not halve the prot duration and apply it it both ranger and pet? You’re already in nature magic, so the pet will get the prot twice while you get at least a smidgen

Ghotistyx.6942:

Why not halve the prot duration and apply it it both ranger and pet? You’re already in nature magic, so the pet will get the prot twice while you get at least a smidgen

I was thinking exactly the same thing myself.

I’m almost sure ranger will get some prot out of it. They deleted Nature’s Protection so it makes sence we will get the prot uptime another way.

has anyone maybe thought hey, beastly warden would work great with this trait, even if it only gives protection to your pet, and they are forced to attack your pet? I’m pretty that’s called SYNERGY

Beastly warden synergy would be if we had some way to apply confusion.

I didn’t think about ranged attacks, that does pretty much negate the benefits. Might be better if they flipped it…protection to ranger and pets next X attacks inflict weakness.

Tragic Positive.9356:

I’d say the trait is now more powerful then before … Especially for the Glassbow.
What the trait does is reducing the initial burst by 50%. In theory, it doesn’t reduce 1518 …
It reduces the DAMAGE RECEIVED by 50%, when above 90%… So if you get hit by 10K damage attack – it will be reduced to 5K. Which is much more than you currently see it =)

This trait will give the Zerk build the much needed time to react to ambushes. It’s much better than you think.

If it does indeed reduce the entire amount of damage taken while you are above 90%, not just 50% of the amount to take you to 90%, then yes, it would be quite good.

Tradewinds.5792:

has anyone maybe thought hey, beastly warden would work great with this trait, even if it only gives protection to your pet, and they are forced to attack your pet? I’m pretty that’s called SYNERGY

sure, but if ranger gets protection, so does pet through fortifying bond. Synergy still in tact.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

I’d say the trait is now more powerful then before … Especially for the Glassbow.
What the trait does is reducing the initial burst by 50%. In theory, it doesn’t reduce 1518 …
It reduces the DAMAGE RECEIVED by 50%, when above 90%… So if you get hit by 10K damage attack – it will be reduced to 5K. Which is much more than you currently see it =)

This trait will give the Zerk build the much needed time to react to ambushes. It’s much better than you think.

If it does indeed reduce the entire amount of damage taken while you are above 90%, not just 50% of the amount to take you to 90%, then yes, it would be quite good.

im pretty sure its a 50% damage reduction, so 6k backstab goes to 3k, so long as you are above 90%. it doesn’t need to be any better than 90%, cuz after initial burst (that’s already reduced) you can just heal back up to above 90% again and the trait is once again active, reducing yet another burst. A great time to do great sword block as well.

Gotejjeken.1267:

Beastly warden synergy would be if we had some way to apply confusion.

I didn’t think about ranged attacks, that does pretty much negate the benefits. Might be better if they flipped it…protection to ranger and pets next X attacks inflict weakness.

that works for me

Definitely the trait to take. Combine this with certain other traits, and you’ll have permanent damage reduction up all the time. Don’t forget those traits and items that increase boon duration too.

Tradewinds.5792:

has anyone maybe thought hey, beastly warden would work great with this trait, even if it only gives protection to your pet, and they are forced to attack your pet? I’m pretty that’s called SYNERGY

It’s not really that synergistic. Taunt makes the foe run at and then attack its TARGET with only AA’s, that may not be the pet at all, or it may be, but if you are using a bow or are not damaged, then it gets no Prot because you take no damage to trigger. One is triggered from damage to the Ranger and the other is triggered by you using an F2 skill.

An example of synergy would be Wilting Strike and Beastly Warden. Not only does the foe only attack it’s TARGET with AA’s, but with the weakness, they will do even less damage.

I dunno Heimskarl. I watched the video where Anet devs and play testers were trying out Stronghold and when someone playing the Revanant used a taunt it looked very much like it pulled the victim’s targeting to the taunt user.

Plus it’d be a pretty useless taunt if it didn’t pull aggro to the user. Taunts have always been a way to pull attention to the user.

Ehecatl.9172:

I dunno Heimskarl. I watched the video where Anet devs and play testers were trying out Stronghold and when someone playing the Revanant used a taunt it looked very much like it pulled the victim’s targeting to the taunt user.

Plus it’d be a pretty useless taunt if it didn’t pull aggro to the user. Taunts have always been a way to pull attention to the user.

That’s why I find creative to ignore the aggro part, since that one works completely different in GW2. A Crowd Control of this sort – I like.

Yep, you are correct Ehecatl, the last time I read the wiki on Taunt it read as if the aggro went to the target and not the source of the Taunt, but now it is reading as the latter. So it will pull aggro to the pet.

That makes it even less synergistic with Protective Ward though and even more with Wilting Strike.

so unless they want us to have close to perma-protection through nature magic line, here are three proposed alternatives to protective ward which I like:

when you receive damage you gain protection (4 seconds). Your pets next attack inflicts Weakness (6 seconds) to foes within the area. 12 sec ICD

…….

when you receive damage within range (600) you gain protection (4-6 seconds) and foes around you are inflicted with Weakness (6 sec) (close to current version)

……

When you receive damage, foes around your attacker are inflicted with Weakness (fixes the ranged issue). You gain Protection (4 sec).

Last one is good

Hmm as someone hoping to invest in BM after this the protection to pet of natures ward is pretty nice. Ill be honest the weakness aoe from the ranger should work fine on MOST of the classes we actually have to be afraid of. Since there really isn’t anything besides other rangers we should have to worry about sniping us (inb4 rifle thief).

I don’t want to push for changes to early on before we actually get the trait. After all thats happened over the last month im worried theyl change it to be closer to what we desire and the internal cooldown will be increased or the durations will be massively reduced.

Id rather actually get my hands on and try this trait BEFORE we take it apart. Or else we run the risk of what we get in the end having less potential than what we already have. (OR it being massively overpowered becoming a mandatory trait for rangers and being used in literally every ranger build. Which would be obnoxious. Eles are already having to detox from there favorite traits. I don’t want that to happen to us.)

Shadelang.3012:

Hmm as someone hoping to invest in BM after this the protection to pet of natures ward is pretty nice. Ill be honest the weakness aoe from the ranger should work fine on MOST of the classes we actually have to be afraid of. Since there really isn’t anything besides other rangers we should have to worry about sniping us (inb4 rifle thief).

I don’t want to push for changes to early on before we actually get the trait. After all thats happened over the last month im worried theyl change it to be closer to what we desire and the internal cooldown will be increased or the durations will be massively reduced.

Id rather actually get my hands on and try this trait BEFORE we take it apart. Or else we run the risk of what we get in the end having less potential than what we already have. (OR it being massively overpowered becoming a mandatory trait for rangers and being used in literally every ranger build. Which would be obnoxious. Eles are already having to detox from there favorite traits. I don’t want that to happen to us.)

I see what your saying yes, but the general belief is that the trait that was shown during the live stream was not the final version, which is why we are discussing practical options for it. trying to provide balanced but good,GM worthy options for the devs just in case they are viewing.

and what we are afraid of depends on our current build, but in general we have to be afraid of mesmers and thieves for sure, in the case of Mesmer, they are ranged, and in the case of thief, they will cleanse it immediately through stealth with little investment.

if they leave it as is and let us “play test it” in game, people will cry nerf, ranger Op perma Protection weakness QQ, and then it will be nerfed into the ground harder than we could do prematurely.

Zatoichi.1049:

Shadelang.3012:

Hmm as someone hoping to invest in BM after this the protection to pet of natures ward is pretty nice. Ill be honest the weakness aoe from the ranger should work fine on MOST of the classes we actually have to be afraid of. Since there really isn’t anything besides other rangers we should have to worry about sniping us (inb4 rifle thief).

I don’t want to push for changes to early on before we actually get the trait. After all thats happened over the last month im worried theyl change it to be closer to what we desire and the internal cooldown will be increased or the durations will be massively reduced.

Id rather actually get my hands on and try this trait BEFORE we take it apart. Or else we run the risk of what we get in the end having less potential than what we already have. (OR it being massively overpowered becoming a mandatory trait for rangers and being used in literally every ranger build. Which would be obnoxious. Eles are already having to detox from there favorite traits. I don’t want that to happen to us.)

I see what your saying yes, but the general belief is that the trait that was shown during the live stream was not the final version, which is why we are discussing practical options for it. trying to provide balanced but good,GM worthy options for the devs just in case they are viewing.

and what we are afraid of depends on our current build, but in general we have to be afraid of mesmers and thieves for sure, in the case of Mesmer, they are ranged, and in the case of thief, they will cleanse it immediately through stealth with little investment.

if they leave it as is and let us “play test it” in game, people will cry nerf, ranger Op perma Protection weakness QQ, and then it will be nerfed into the ground harder than we could do prematurely.

Oh I fully understand that. And im fine with that for the most part. My primary concerns are the suggestions that largely seem to shift the priority of the effects themselves. In its current form its quite decent for BM focused players (I fully know and understand we are the minority. And I won’t claim that shifts(or preventing a shift) should be done for the sake of that minority).

Offering a trait that will help mitigate initial burst (requiring them to condi cleanse to continue the burst properly. Buying you a couple seconds to react) while defending the pet in a way that enables it to keep attacking its previous target while you deal with the new threat. That duel play is a massive part of a pet focused playstyle after all. I suppose from my perspective its worrying seeing some of the suggestions coming.

Yes they would be better for the ranger themselves. But it seems that many forget about sustaining the survivability of the pet itself. In a “typical” gank situation in the gvgs im in and in the tpvp matches I run that burst combat usually lasts anywhere from 6-7 seconds. Normally your going to want to try to break out/outlast it yourself without pulling your pet off of your primary target (a typical longbow build will usually have a designated target low enough on health that a buffed pet is a considerable threat.) Natures ward goes a long way towards that. Allowing you to fight temporarily independently of your pet for a short time period without worrying about it being gibbed by a random meteor shower.

Its a functionality thats fairly unique among our trait setup. And im worried about losing it for a more selfish version.

@ Shade

Yeah I feel ya, BM focus players do have it tough, and I miss the old days of gw1 in that regard. but I think Anet has accepted, as you most likely acknowledge, along with the rest ranger community, the limitations of the pet as it relates to their code, and as a result, less and less players want focus placed on the pets because they are, as a result of the bad AI and coding, and lack of survivability in a evade-centric game, the biggest crutch of the ranger currently.

Perhaps this will change with the Druid though…

I will say this however, none of the changes listed in the thread would negatively impact the pet as all boons are shared with the pet through Fortifying Bond. If the rangers gets Protection, pet gets Protection.

Zatoichi.1049:

@ Shade

Yeah I feel ya, BM focus players do have it tough, and I miss the old days of gw1 in that regard. but I think Anet has accepted, as you most likely acknowledge, along with the rest ranger community, the limitations of the pet as it relates to their code, and as a result, less and less players want focus placed on the pets because they are, as a result of the bad AI and coding, and lack of survivability in a evade-centric game, the biggest crutch of the ranger currently.

Perhaps this will change with the Druid though…

I will say this however, none of the changes listed in the thread would negatively impact the pet as all boons are shared with the pet through Fortifying Bond. If the rangers gets Protection, pet gets Protection.

Boons are shared, but not their duration. The pet would only get 2 seconds of protection instead of eight seconds, which would dramatically decrease the amount of survivability this trait gives the pet. And as you said yourself, the pet’s ability to survive is already an issue. This trait could help keep the pet alive much longer while still providing solid defense for the ranger.

Personally I’d take this trait without getting eight seconds of protection for myself. I don’t need a trait to give me a near constant 33% damage reduction. The weakness application is more than enough to stop a thief from bursting me before I have a chance to defend myself, and this trait combined with Wilting Strike will give the ranger pretty high weakness uptime. Especially combined with mainhand axe.

Ehecatl.9172:

Personally I’d take this trait without getting eight seconds of protection for myself. I don’t need a trait to give me a near constant 33% damage reduction. The weakness application is more than enough to stop a thief from bursting me before I have a chance to defend myself, and this trait combined with Wilting Strike will give the ranger pretty high weakness uptime. Especially combined with mainhand axe.

However, this concerns the trait itself. Not the uptime you can get if paired with other effects such as weapons or utility skills.

While I agree with your points… I have to say that mathematically – that trait would be weak for being a grandmaster tier.
Rangers currently have no skirmishing boons or boosts that would provide them with casual durability. Signet of the Stone is on a way long CD to be counted, and so is Protect Me!.
With the protection we used to have in Nature Magic traitline gone – 8 sec protection is just about right alternative of giving us back the durability with a strength of a Grandmaster Tier.

The weakness alone can very easily be avoided, plus it’s a roulette rng.

You don’t have to apply 4s of protection to the Ranger, make it 4 applications of 1s and then the pet gets its 8s too.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

You don’t have to apply 4s of protection to the Ranger, make it 4 applications of 1s and then the pet gets its 8s too.

I would find this acceptable. I’m not strictly against protection for the ranger, I just want the pet to get that protection too so it can survive a bit longer.

Ehecatl.9172:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

You don’t have to apply 4s of protection to the Ranger, make it 4 applications of 1s and then the pet gets its 8s too.

I would find this acceptable. I’m not strictly against protection for the ranger, I just want the pet to get that protection too so it can survive a bit longer.

Im in general agreement with this on a playstyle level.

Ehecatl.9172:

Zatoichi.1049:

@ Shade

Yeah I feel ya, BM focus players do have it tough, and I miss the old days of gw1 in that regard. but I think Anet has accepted, as you most likely acknowledge, along with the rest ranger community, the limitations of the pet as it relates to their code, and as a result, less and less players want focus placed on the pets because they are, as a result of the bad AI and coding, and lack of survivability in a evade-centric game, the biggest crutch of the ranger currently.

Perhaps this will change with the Druid though…

I will say this however, none of the changes listed in the thread would negatively impact the pet as all boons are shared with the pet through Fortifying Bond. If the rangers gets Protection, pet gets Protection.

Boons are shared, but not their duration. The pet would only get 2 seconds of protection instead of eight seconds, which would dramatically decrease the amount of survivability this trait gives the pet. And as you said yourself, the pet’s ability to survive is already an issue. This trait could help keep the pet alive much longer while still providing solid defense for the ranger.

Personally I’d take this trait without getting eight seconds of protection for myself. I don’t need a trait to give me a near constant 33% damage reduction. The weakness application is more than enough to stop a thief from bursting me before I have a chance to defend myself, and this trait combined with Wilting Strike will give the ranger pretty high weakness uptime. Especially combined with mainhand axe.

ok so I was thinking the pet got 4 seconds of protection with fortifying bond, but it gets 2, and then does scale with boon duration (getting closer to 3 with minimal investment), but this is also the current version, which could see change potentially. Really, if you want closer perma protection on pet, you could just go additionally into WS, a fantastic trait line, for free dodge roll protection.

I also like the idea of pulsing 1 sec protection 4 times.

Zatoichi.1049:

ok so I was thinking the pet got 4 seconds of protection with fortifying bond, but it gets 2, and then does scale with boon duration (getting closer to 3 with minimal investment), but this is also the current version, which could see change potentially. Really, if you want closer perma protection on pet, you could just go additionally into WS, a fantastic trait line, for free dodge roll protection.

I also like the idea of pulsing 1 sec protection 4 times.

I find a protection that literally cannot be stripped too powerful.
… Why not make it that the trait gives X seconds of protection to the Ranger and Y-2 seconds to the pet? It isn’t that hard to think over.

Probably because wed end up losing that aoe weakness proc. Which will do more agaisnt a thieves burst rotation than protection will (causing them to fumble is a higher damage reduction than protection they may just strip off).

Also with weakness hte worst that can happen is they go BACK into stealth to cleanse it. Buying you 2-3 seconds of not getting ganked. Worst that can happen with prot is they steal it when your trying to retaliate and suddenly your doing less damage.

Let’s also not forget that this trait is an AoE. It effects multiple foes near you. We’ve been discussing it as a dueling trait meant to protect us from getting jumped in a 1v1, but aren’t really considering the team fight applications.

Every 12 seconds the ranger will be passively applying weakness to any opponents in close range. While fighting on point this will effect anyone trying to pressure you off point. The enemy team will either suffer from a harsh DPS reduction or be forced to blow a cleanse every 12 seconds to keep the weakness off them. All while also greatly improving the pet’s ability to survive all the cleave and AoE being thrown about.

Shadelang.3012:

Probably because wed end up losing that aoe weakness proc. Which will do more agaisnt a thieves burst rotation than protection will (causing them to fumble is a higher damage reduction than protection they may just strip off).

Also with weakness hte worst that can happen is they go BACK into stealth to cleanse it. Buying you 2-3 seconds of not getting ganked. Worst that can happen with prot is they steal it when your trying to retaliate and suddenly your doing less damage.

You are overlooking the fact that Thieves are not the only class in the game.
Just as well the Glassbow Ranger is not the only build you can run.

Moreover… Did anyone say a word about the trait not giving weakness alongside the protection?

Tragic Positive.9356:

Shadelang.3012:

Probably because wed end up losing that aoe weakness proc. Which will do more agaisnt a thieves burst rotation than protection will (causing them to fumble is a higher damage reduction than protection they may just strip off).

Also with weakness hte worst that can happen is they go BACK into stealth to cleanse it. Buying you 2-3 seconds of not getting ganked. Worst that can happen with prot is they steal it when your trying to retaliate and suddenly your doing less damage.

You are overlooking the fact that Thieves are not the only class in the game.
Just as well the Glassbow Ranger is not the only build you can run.

Moreover… Did anyone say a word about the trait not giving weakness alongside the protection?

Haha I was just stating in reference to the builds that would actually find it a near mandatory trait. Most ranger condi builds ive seen don’t have TOO much trouble with being ganked. But your right thieves aren’t the only threat on the field. There just the threat that has been our iconic enemy since early game when almost the entire class saw rangers as “free loot bags”.

Shadelang.3012:

Haha I was just stating in reference to the builds that would actually find it a near mandatory trait. Most ranger condi builds ive seen don’t have TOO much trouble with being ganked. But your right thieves aren’t the only threat on the field. There just the threat that has been our iconic enemy since early game when almost the entire class saw rangers as “free loot bags”.

Hmmh… In reality, in my theory-craft I went through, GlassBow ranger would end up running Marksman, Skirmisher and Wilderness Survival (Bark Skin).

There is a possibility to run for the protective ward, of course… But I have a feeling that having bark skin and much needed condition cleanse from Wilderness Knowledge (former SotF) will help you survive the burst from Thieves and being caught of overall.

Thieves are enemies of everyone with less than 2200 Armor. But on one thing I couldn’t agree more. We really had it rough throughout such a long time. It would be nice to finally have a place of being the PvP predators, like Eles and Engies have been as far as I can remember.

And about the protection for the pet… I don’t know. It would definitely be fine to give them some but I personally do not feel the need… Has no one realized that pets are constantly dying from conditions, and not direct damage?
Yet, no changes addressed condition cleanse for our pets. <sigh>

Tragic Positive.9356:

Has no one realized that pets are constantly dying from conditions, and not direct damage?
Yet, no changes addressed condition cleanse for our pets. <sigh>

You have pet swap for that, its on a 15s CD if you spec into BM and is a complete cleanse. I don’t really think there is any need for pet to have any condition cleanses at all. All they really need is a reduction in the penalty for swapping from a dead pet.