Guild Wars 2

In a previous skill and traits change livestream, you guys mentionned ‘Not making them mobile but bad but make them static and good’ (or something along those lines)

Some changes, both core and traited are potentially interesting, but spirits as announced still don’t offer anything interesting enough to be part of most ranger’s skillbar.

The first pretty heavy nerf is the new cooldown: going from 20s to 30s (and untraitable)

That’s a 50% increase in CD, which is ENORMOUS. I know CD is always part of balance against the skill’s utility/effect, but at 30s CD, it’s just too high. 25s sounds reasonable OR spirits could have ‘unique’ CDs, then again all depends on how they’re tweaked.

Now on the rework, I really appreciate the boons granted by spirits when traited. I believe it was suggested a few times and it has enormous potential. The problem is, 1s boon on a 3s interval is not the best idea if it’s the same for ALL spirits.

I understand (and I hope) boons vary from spirit to another, and I believe the boon duration should vary from boon to boon. Here are a few suggestions about the boons, the spirits and the durations:

SPIRITS AND THEIR BOON (when traited)

• Water Spirit
  Boon: Regeneration
  Duration: 2s on 3s interval
  Reasoning: All about healing/life sustain. Downside is that paired with Spirit of Nature, the ‘healing/regeneration’ concept can get redundant. Or not.

• Frost Spirit
  Boon: Fury
  Duration: 1.5s on 3s interval
  Reasoning: Frost spirit seems to be about damage, and while might fits more with Sun, fury is another damage-related boon

• Stone Spirit
  Boon: Stability
  Duration: 1s on 3s Interval
  Reasoning: The ‘on hit’ passive effect is already protection, so it would’ve been redundant. Another concept would be to change the ‘on hit’ passive to a condition applying effect, such as 2 stacks of bleeds for 3s on target, and make the boon Protection for 1 every 3s

• Storm Spirit
  Boon: Quickness or Swiftness
  Duration 1s every 3s or 3s every 3
  Reasoning: Lightning is quick and deadly. Now the swiftness on hit passive effect is near useless in combat situation. The on hit effect could be switched to a condition applying effect, such as 2 stacks of vuln for 3s, and the boon effect could be quickness for more offense and utility or swiftness (to fit themativally)

• Sun Spirit
  Boon: Might
  Duration: 3s every 3s
  Reasoning: It’s pretty much a no brainer, as might is often associated with fire/sun. Also the duration would grant might for the duration of the spirit/when in range, which adds a bit more utility than 1s of might every 3s…

• Spirit of Nature
  Boon: Resistance or Stability
  Duration: 1.5s every 3s (for either boon suggestion)
  Reasoning: *IF Stone Spirit gets the protection boon (and new bleed condition as on hit passive effect) Stability is a good boon for this elite spirit, in theme with the Signet of the Wild which also grants stability. Alternatively, the new Resistance boon could be extremely interesting with this spirit, as it’s an alternate life sustain boon, and is thematically linked with the active effect of the spirit which removes conditions.

(to be con’t)

Con’t

The next concept is the more ‘offensive’ aspect of the spirits. While the previous suggestions were about the

Team/support aspect, this section is about the offensive aspect of the spirits.

This section will suggest changes to ‘On Hit’ Passive effects

SPIRITS AND THEIR ‘ON HIT’ EFFECTS

• Water Spirit
  On Hit: Heal
  Reasoning: Fits perfectly with the spirit’s theme/fine as it is

• Frost Spirit
  On Hit: either keep the current 10% dmg bonus, or change it to 2 stacks of vulnerability for 3-5s. In group, that can go up to 10%+ which is almost similar to the actual effect
  Reasoning: This spirit’s theme seems to be related to damage and/or making the enemy vulnerable

• Stone Spirit
  On Hit: either keep the current ‘Gain Protection’ effect or change it to 2 stacks of bleeds for 2-3s
  Reasoning: Similar to the previous spirit, if the protection boon aspect is changed, bleeds are often linked to earth/stones

• Storm Spirit
  On Hit: either change the swiftness effect to Quickness (and suggested boon on trait to swiftness) or apply 1-2s of weakness
  Reasoning: Seems to be on the defensive theme; one of the only reason to gain swiftness when in combat is to ‘evade’ the combat. Weakness on a foe is somewhat of a ‘defensive’ condition as the incoming damage is lowered.

• Sun Spirit
  On Hit: Perfect as it is (Burn on Hit)
  Reasoning: Perfect as it is and thematically fits

• Spirit of Nature
  On Hit: Grant a random damaging condition for 2-3s (Bleed, Burn, Poison) – I don’t feel this spirit absolutely needs an On Hit Passive effect as it is already PRETTY powerful. Heal ticks per seconds + condi cleanse + revive + suggested boons when traited make it very solid. Then again, the new ‘dies on active’ mechanics to spirits slightly nerfs this elite spirit.
  Reasoning: This spirit seems to be linked to conditions, so an offensive equivalent sounds fitting

To be Con’t

Con’t

Finally, since the Spirits now die on active skill use, they could get tweaked on their ‘On Active’ effects, especially with the 30s cooldown (unless it is changed to a reasonable 25s)

An interesting concept could be to add a COMBO FIELD with a limited radius (200-240) at the spirit. Here we go.

SPIRITS AND THEIR ACTIVE EFFECT

• Water Spirit
  On Active: Player Heal + Burst AoE Heal (Keep it as it is now)
  Possible Field: Water 2s
  Reasoning: The active only needs some tweaks on its healing values since it can’t be casted more than one now, but the removal of the cast time is greatly appreciated. The water field is a no brainer

• Frost Spirit
  On Active: AoE Chill 3s (as it is)
  Possible Field: Ice for 2s
  Reasoning: Well balanced, the field fits with theme

• Stone Spirit
  On Active: AoE Cripple + Immob (as it is)
  Possible Field: N/A unless aNet introduces a new ‘earth field’ that is about bleeding (projectile/bolt) and protection (leap/blast)
  Reasoning: There aren’t any fields thematically fitting with it

• Storm Spirit
  On Active: AoE Thunderstorm + AoE daze (as it will be, thanks for the new ‘daze’ effect)
  Possible Field: Lightning Field for 2s
  Reasoning: Theme theme theme.

• Sun Spirit
  On Active: AoE Blind + Burn (as it will be, thanks for the new ‘burn’ effect)
  Possible Field: Fire Field for 2s
  Reasoning: Come’on… You know why…

• Spirit of Nature
  On Active: AoE revive + AoE condition cleanse (as it currently is, omnomnom)
  Possible Field: Light Field
  Reasoning: Light is about damage mitigation/condition management, as the Spirit of Nature is

Now, if they DO add combo fields, the 30s CD would be justified, as the utilities and effects would be absolutely

worth it. Combo Fields adds a lot of support, and as the spirits are supposed to be the support skills, it’s only fitting.

ArenaNet, I love the ranger spirits. But with the upcoming changes, I can’t exactly see how they’re worth using a skill spot on my skill bar.

Engineers have Turrets which have fields, varied traits, 2 ‘active’ skills ( skill bar + toolbelt)
Warriors have Banners which are indestructable bundles that can also be traited for boons (and offer excellent team support)
Rangers need something that’s a mix of both. Something that won’t die instantly (immobile on AoE = Super Quick Death) and offer something actually useful in relation to the effect and cooldown

Thanks for your time!

Nice post!, I’m looking forward to seeing what the devs did to the spirits.

I kind of dislike the whole direction they are taking with the spirits as it feels that it runs counter to the mobility focus of the game’s combat. As for what they said during the first livestream my first thought was ‘they (spirits) will be good at not moving and not much else’

’Let’s not make spirits move and suck but not move and not suck’

or something like that… They got nerfed more than anything (overall)

“Not sucking” isn’t really enough when you sacrifice stun breaks and condi cleanse.

Let’s see how long they live for. The increased CD seems crazy.

Balance Live stream tommorow on the gw twitch , on the last stream they were thinking about getting spirits to pulse boons so you may see somthing tommorow.

Frost Spirit should hold it’s unique DPS boost. If it doesn’t – the ranger will loose any place in PvE as it is.

Apart from that – ideas I like.

So based on the livestreams today

Water Spirit >> Regen

Sun Spirit >> Vigor

Storm Spirit >> Swiftness

Frost Spirit >> Might

Stone Spirit >> Protection

Spirit of the Wild >> Stability

I really wasnt too far off, but I do believe they should switch Sun and Frost spirit around, so it can thematically fit.

Also proc’ing the same boons as their passive effect is a but redundant, didn’t see if the passive changed. Also the streams showed 20s CD instead of 30s, is that final? It’d be great!

I don’t see how having 1.25 seconds of prot or might for example every 3 seconds is in any way useful to us. because it stacks with other sources of these boons?

Yeah I really hope they tweak the boon’s durations…

• Regen should be 3s (perma regen, look at traited Warrior Banners)

• Might should be 3s ( perma 1 stack with base boon duration, I mean even 1 stack of might is kinda weak… Again, look at Warrior Banners, the Banner of strength is 170 power and 170 condi damage, equivalent to 5 stacks of might. Also, move this boon to Sun Spirit to fit thematically)

• Vigor should be 2s (And please give it to frost spirit)

• Swiftness should be changed to 1s Quickness on a 4s interval OR changed to Fury, 1s every 3s interval

• Stability should be 2s, as it is one stack OR 1s Resistance every 3s interval

ProtoMarcus.7649:

So based on the livestreams today

Water Spirit >> Regen

Sun Spirit >> Vigor

Storm Spirit >> Swiftness

Frost Spirit >> Might

Stone Spirit >> Protection

Spirit of the Wild >> Stability

I really wasnt too far off, but I do believe they should switch Sun and Frost spirit around, so it can thematically fit.

Also proc’ing the same boons as their passive effect is a but redundant, didn’t see if the passive changed. Also the streams showed 20s CD instead of 30s, is that final? It’d be great!

Wow, that is a real let down actually, I was really hoping for meaningful boons and not swiftness/might/regen/vigor.

mistsim.2748:

I don’t see how having 1.25 seconds of prot or might for example every 3 seconds is in any way useful to us. because it stacks with other sources of these boons?

I don’t get why they would do this either, it would be far more interesting, mechanic wise, and better if they boons were different.

Although, think of Frost combined with Fortifying Bond. Even without other might stacking, your pet will be at 25 stacks in… oh wait… Useless.

Changes;
Might to Retaliation or Fury for Remorseless synergy
Regen to Resistance
Swiftness to Quickness
Protection to Stability
Stability to Aegis

The boons have to be good enough (OP even) so that foes will have to destroy them from the field of play or they give a large advantage to you that can change the match.
This allows you to place them somewhere that an opposing player will need to leave a node or they will have to change tactics to deal with a spirit. Since you cannot move them anymore either, the range could be increased by 20% also.

Currently, these boons do not cut it, the only one worth using is Spirit of the Wild and it is elite.

I would actually prefer they be weaker and mobile, but that’s probably just me.

ProtoMarcus.7649:

• Might should be 3s ( perma 1 stack with base boon duration, I mean even 1 stack of might is kinda weak… Again, look at Warrior Banners, the Banner of strength is 170 power and 170 condi damage, equivalent to 5 stacks of might. Also, move this boon to Sun Spirit to fit thematically)

• Vigor should be 2s (And please give it to frost spirit)

If stuff is gonna “fit thematically”, giving vigor to Frost Spirit just for the sake of having a more fitting boon for Sun Spirit doesn’t make much sense either. Both of them should have offensively oriented boons. Might for Sun as it is condition oriented and fury for Frost as it is power based. I’m fine with switching those around if people want that. The base duration for whatever spirit that gives might needs to be buffed regardless, it’s pathetic compared to other classes that provides might generation through grandmaster traits.

Storm Spirit is still garbage in terms of boon application, both from passive and the trait. Is the active effect enough to consider it? Doubt it. Water Spirit is useless regardless.

The elite and the Stone Spirit seems fine, the latter basically just got a higher uptime of protection.

Yeah Fury for Frost was my original suggestion, would have excellent synergy with ‘Remorseless’ as well.

One other thing I noticed is that the on-hit effect can only trigger ONCE per interval. If we’re going to have an 8-10 second interval, why not just make the trigger chance 100%? At 75%, I’m pretty sure at least one of your many hits is going to proc.

Edit: forgot to mention, the spirits don’t give their buff until three seconds have passed AFTER summoning, so you can’t get the on-hit right away. Might be a glitch.

what i also noticed earlier before the 2nd patch was Frost Spirit has 75% trigger chance untraited….if you trait it with nature’s vengeance the tooltip says 70% trigger chance. oh and switching traits while frost spirit is active lets you get both buffs, so dungeon teams with 2 rangers could still use that to get both buffs i guess