Guild Wars 2

PLEASE DO NOT SWITCH IT!

Instead, make a new pet with a smoke field.

I love the F2 change. It allows me to have my pet chase down low hp enemies that are trying to escape. Do not switch it!

Tragic Positive.9356:

Firelysm.4967:

snip

There’s only one flaw in what you are saying.
… You can control a smoke field if you can use your pet correctly just the way you can control the assault.

There’s no difference.
The difference is that you can use field out of combat and assault you cannot.
From this perspective it makes better use of having the field.

From PvP where we Rangers have most of our DPS stable – having an on demand burst is just as important. Some players will have different play-styles and search for key elements somewhere else and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Having your pet missing the right time for assault can mean loss of 4K burst. And for that I’m fine having it the current way. If we get smoke-scale, I’ll change my builds so that I maybe get to play around blinding styles more.
I’m fine with both of them and both make sense.

From PvE it doesn’t matter at all because it’s not your job to bring smoke field so you just might have it random and you want the pet to use assault as often as possible – so having it on random makes no difference as having it on demand.

All this topic is a pure matter of crossed opinions. Both are correct.
If you want to argument it with something solid you have to state statistical amounts of players (newbies included) or support your statements somewhat like I did
(out of combat use that promotes having on demand smoke field).

That’s incorrect.

You can control smoke assault, but you cannot control smoke field on passive, i’ll drop you two examples why one way works and not the other way around:

Example F2 is smoke field:
I keeping pet on passive few seconds, making player unable to respond, you drop F2 poison field, blast it or leap through it, then send my pet to attack. As soon as you are in Assault range, you press F1 again, your pet performs Assault. This way you used F2 smoke field efficently and smoke assault perfectly landed every single damage, pets next attack will be knockdown, and potentially you can deliver a lot more damage, since pet cannot decide for smoke field in that time frame. Your pet rotation with this setup is 100% efficient.

Example F2 is smoke assault:
I keep pet on passive, make player unable to respond again, you drop F2 to burst that target, as soon as your finishes F2 ability, it will cast smoke field and lose 3 seconds of potential attacking while casting that field. Instead of smoke field you could knockdown or hit your target with 2x auto attack, which can hit your target for another 3,5k damage if both hit, but since your pet did cast field [it always does] it will make you miss that time frame. Keep in mind in 3 seconds player is long far away from your pet making him kite your enemy, you lose extra 10 seconds for that matter. Good job Mr.Tragic you just lost a full rotation, potential of more then 3k damage, and 0 pressure because of one skill that barely hit 4k. Congretz.

Your build now has no diversity, no support chance in any type of environment, and your pet is 50% of combat duration runnin while it should be hitting.

CUZ kitten LOGIC, people only want that 4k burst that’s all, and what they don’t know they lose a lot more then 4k burst+cc+pressure

You forget that PvE is not only Open world Mr.Tragic.

• PvE standards meet WvW
• PvE standards meet Fractals
• PvE standards meet Raids
• PvE standards meet Dungeons
• PvE standards meet OpenWorld

Sometimes you have to see bigger picture, if you can’t see it on your own, i’m here to help you out Mr.Tragic. And also, please, if you don’t support your team on open field, that doesn’t mean that i shouldn’t. Right?

I get the feeling a lot rangers didn’t play the smokescale in its original form live nor in beta. Exactly what Firelysm said. +1 Not even a question.

Do not underestimate the power of a pet teleporting to the target and not having to chase it down. We lose a lot of DPS when the pet is busy simply trying to reach the target.

More than you know.

Firelysm.4967:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Firelysm.4967:

snip

There’s only one flaw in what you are saying.
… You can control a smoke field if you can use your pet correctly just the way you can control the assault.

There’s no difference.
The difference is that you can use field out of combat and assault you cannot.
From this perspective it makes better use of having the field.

From PvP where we Rangers have most of our DPS stable – having an on demand burst is just as important. Some players will have different play-styles and search for key elements somewhere else and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Having your pet missing the right time for assault can mean loss of 4K burst. And for that I’m fine having it the current way. If we get smoke-scale, I’ll change my builds so that I maybe get to play around blinding styles more.
I’m fine with both of them and both make sense.

From PvE it doesn’t matter at all because it’s not your job to bring smoke field so you just might have it random and you want the pet to use assault as often as possible – so having it on random makes no difference as having it on demand.

All this topic is a pure matter of crossed opinions. Both are correct.
If you want to argument it with something solid you have to state statistical amounts of players (newbies included) or support your statements somewhat like I did
(out of combat use that promotes having on demand smoke field).

That’s incorrect.

You can control smoke assault, but you cannot control smoke field on passive, i’ll drop you two examples why one way works and not the other way around:

Example F2 is smoke field:
I keeping pet on passive few seconds, making player unable to respond, you drop F2 poison field, blast it or leap through it, then send my pet to attack. As soon as you are in Assault range, you press F1 again, your pet performs Assault. This way you used F2 smoke field efficently and smoke assault perfectly landed every single damage, pets next attack will be knockdown, and potentially you can deliver a lot more damage, since pet cannot decide for smoke field in that time frame. Your pet rotation with this setup is 100% efficient.

Example F2 is smoke assault:
I keep pet on passive, make player unable to respond again, you drop F2 to burst that target, as soon as your finishes F2 ability, it will cast smoke field and lose 3 seconds of potential attacking while casting that field. Instead of smoke field you could knockdown or hit your target with 2x auto attack, which can hit your target for another 3,5k damage if both hit, but since your pet did cast field [it always does] it will make you miss that time frame. Keep in mind in 3 seconds player is long far away from your pet making him kite your enemy, you lose extra 10 seconds for that matter. Good job Mr.Tragic you just lost a full rotation, potential of more then 3k damage, and 0 pressure because of one skill that barely hit 4k. Congretz.

Your build now has no diversity, no support chance in any type of environment, and your pet is 50% of combat duration runnin while it should be hitting.

CUZ kitten LOGIC, people only want that 4k burst that’s all, and what they don’t know they lose a lot more then 4k burst+cc+pressure

You forget that PvE is not only Open world Mr.Tragic.

• PvE standards meet WvW
• PvE standards meet Fractals
• PvE standards meet Raids
• PvE standards meet Dungeons
• PvE standards meet OpenWorld

Sometimes you have to see bigger picture, if you can’t see it on your own, i’m here to help you out Mr.Tragic. And also, please, if you don’t support your team on open field, that doesn’t mean that i shouldn’t. Right?

This. Exactly. This.

Wish the rest of the people who played this class weren’t complete kittenes.

@Firelysm

You don’t use semi-tanky pet for Dungeons, Fractals or Raids. You go for highest DPS since they take 95% less damage. Which leads me to Open World or WvW that I both agreed on.

Once you take a pet with Toughness you risk aggroing and having him killed that results in loss of DPS.
Having Felines now results in higher DPS of both stats and Survival uptime.

Another issue I had when I read through your reply.
… How does Smoke Cloud stop your pet from attacking for 3 seconds when it’s cast time is 3/4 seconds?

Everything else I agree on.

Tragic Positive.9356:

You don’t use semi-tanky pet for Dungeons, Fractals or Raids. You go for highest DPS since they take 95% less damage. Which leads me to Open World or WvW that I both agreed on.

No one said anything about using smokescale as part of the infight pet in dungeons/fracs/raids except you just then. But hey while you’re on that point, we use them for smoke field, and if desired let it use smoke assault because that’s the first skill they always use when it’s off cooldown, then swap and stay on feline rest of the way.

Once you take a pet with Toughness you risk aggroing and having him killed that results in loss of DPS.
Having Felines now results in higher DPS of both stats and Survival uptime.

You’re right. In fact, felines like Tiger has best DPS and it’s F2 is a leap and gives 10sec fury so it’ll connect as long as it’s in range which is a better use in PvP. Because after smokescale’s F2 spike DPS, it’s AA is weaker, has less crit chance and wastes 2-3 seconds every 16-20seconds when it uses smoke field. You put a whole lot of face value into that 4k burst in the right time and completely disregard the rest of the DPS that this pet is able to put out. It’s like saying ‘well look at this pet, it gives us a 4k on demand dps at ONLY the cost of half the dps of that of a feline, and that’s so useful!’. /smh

Another issue I had when I read through your reply.
… How does Smoke Cloud stop your pet from attacking for 3 seconds when it’s cast time is 3/4 seconds?

Everything else I agree on.

It casts it, then stays in it doing nothing for 1 second due to after action delay, which many pets have. I tested it and it’s about 2 seconds of inaction from the moment it uses smoke field at the start of the fight so maybe not 3. Then it has to move toward your moving opponent creating more delay. It’s a complete waste of time.

Lets talk about PvE, since that’s where you put your argument against the smoke field as F2. Why can’t the rangers have on demand 5sec smoke field? It’s completely viable, and in most cases, allow the ranger to effectively do most of the job that a Thief has to do, if there were no Thief/Engineer in the group. Not our job? Well, it’s not our job blasting Fire field yet that’s what most of us do pre-fight to help build might with or without ele/ps war. Your point of ineffective use of smoke field under control of Ranger vs. that of a Thief/Engineer doesn’t make it 100% useless. It’s a smoke field. Blast it for stealth with your party mates. It’s completely viable.

I won’t argue that the Assault maybe has it’s use as F2, but then the smoke field as passive has to go away or if it has to say, then smoke field has to be F2 because the pet is completely backwards in its current state.

Most of us Rangers having a source of smoke field however, is so valuable that we would rather have Assault take a backseat being a passive skill or nerfed to hell for all we care.

Hence all these posts. If its smoke cloud skill had a light field then we’d still rather have it as F2, because it’s still a waste of time under it’s passive AI care – but won’t also object to having it deleted as well. But we’re talking about a smoke field and we DO have a big use for it, which makes it worth fighting for to keep it as F2.

I’m actually okay with smoke-field not being the F2.

@kevvy

I do understand. But you misunderstood one part. I never said a thing for PvE → that was an environment others brought up and I replied to.
I only said that for PvE the assault makes no difference to be F2 or passive.

For PvP (which I believe is the main ground of use) – the burst is just as much as the smoke field and having either one or another to be F2 is equivalent. There are 2 completely different game-styles that people can prefer or might not – having all this discussion pointless. Those were my comments.

About the aftercast: I believe that goes for X+1 other pet families. Even Auto-attacks have after-casts. Maybe not really 1 whole second but half of it definitely.

Currently the main reasoning for and against F2 Smoke Cloud:

• For
  PvE:
  Utility that will never beat other classes
  Prevention against random spoiling of one of the 72 other fields present in a fight.
  Prevention of auto-use for better DPS (that increases pet survival, so it’s debatable) while having much lower DPS and pet isn’t supposed to DPS anyways.
  PvP:
  Having on demand utility that you cannot make much use of as a ranger.

• Against
  PvE:
  No idea, probably controllable ability chaining for maximizing the burst as a pet with low DPS.
  PvP:
  On demand burst that every single PvP build makes use of even though you can semi-control it regardless.

For I can tell this whole topic has been made a much worse drama than necessary. You will not be using the pet for PvE if you are playing to succeed and you make use of both scenarios equally in PvP. Why all the fuss about such a change?

Go boycott against kittened features like 5 new pets pushing 30 others into uselessness never to be used again. Or traits like Honed Axes (joke of a Grandmaster) or Predator’s Instinct.
Like… The important stuff!

Tragic Positive.9356:

Currently the main reasoning for and against F2 Smoke Cloud:

• For
  PvE:
  Utility that will never beat other classes
  Prevention against random spoiling of one of the 72 other fields present in a fight.
  Prevention of auto-use for better DPS (that increases pet survival, so it’s debatable) while having much lower DPS and pet isn’t supposed to DPS anyways.
  PvP:
  Having on demand utility that you cannot make much use of as a ranger.

For someone advocating for fair views for each side, you’re pretty obviously biased for Assault as F2. But lemme correct the list for better unbiased neutral view :

- Utility that will never beat other classes <- You really want to start comparing a Profession’s pet’s utility, to another profession? What even is the point of this sentence? Come up with a better argument and don’t use belittling scrutinizing comments other players have made, it makes you look immature.
Correction: On demand 5sec smoke field for party/self to blast to skip mobs in dungeons/fracs/other pve content. On demand smoke field for projectile combo for blinds. If that’s not a perfectly usable utility in of itself, you’re having a laugh.

- Prevention against random spoiling of one of the 72 other fields present in a fight.
72?
Another immature patronizing comment with the number 72, but I’ll move on. If there is a chance of a mechanism to spoil a part of game play as an unintended side affect, then you can label it ‘random’ but what needs to be corrected, needs to be corrected. Why give it a blind eye?

-Prevention of auto-use for better DPS (that increases pet survival, so it’s debatable) while having much lower DPS and pet isn’t supposed to DPS anyways.

You’re twisting words.
Correction: Prevention of passive use by the pet for incorrect use of smoke field at the wrong time. IF some players want to use it in a PvE content and the smokescale is nearing it’s death, that is when we should be able to make it use smoke field. That is how it increases pet survival, not whenever it wants to use it. That’s not debatable at all, unless you’ve missed out on a point you were trying to make.

-Having on demand utility that you cannot make much use of as a ranger.
Again, for someone who’s saying both sides have legitimate concerns, you seem to twist words in your biased opinions that isn’t even the case without making a case for it. As a Ranger, I can blast it 3 times using warhorn #5, staff #3 and CA #3. If I don’t have Druid spec or unable to use CA form, I still have 2 blasts. I can projectile combo through it for blinds. Why does it have to be restricted to the Ranger only to determine it’s value? In trash skipping contents, I’m always with other party members who have plenty of blasts.

For I can tell this whole topic has been made a much worse drama than necessary. You will not be using the pet for PvE if you are playing to succeed and you make use of both scenarios equally in PvP. Why all the fuss about such a change?

Go boycott against kittened features like 5 new pets pushing 30 others into uselessness never to be used again. Or traits like Honed Axes (joke of a Grandmaster) or Predator’s Instinct.
Like… The important stuff!

If this whole thread seems overly dramatic for you, it says much about your numerous posts here that shows you take part in it.
We will not be using the pet for PvE if we’re playing to succeed? Succeed in what? What are we trying to succeed for? We want play with our own desires with smoke field to use whenever we want. There is no successful game play. I didn’t realize there was a correct successful method of playing GW2!

I and other players have made valid claims in wanting smoke field as our F2. You keep misinterpreting those information.

So we are angry about this and this IS important to us. Why don’t you go boycott whatever you want to that matches your level of ‘important’ stuff? Seriously your smug patronizing comments are so obliviously obvious that it’s clear you’re trolling with your pitiful remarks and labelling it ‘fair view of both sides’. Go away and take your high horse with you.

@kevvy
You skipped my against list that is written with same “bias” as for list. Mature pick only what fits them so they can argue…?

Having a smoke field for skips with 2 ooc blasts only means you need a highly organized party in order to make that skip happen (you need like… 7 blasts?). With such an organized group of people you can might as well get one thief since Ranger’s Pet ruins a lot of skipping if you catch combat. Mature people know that.
Comparing a subpar class mechanic to the superior version of other classes used for same purpose is just in place. You still want this change just to be inferior.
How about starting a thread about Seed of Life (CAF #2), too? Because by trying to cleanse people you are ruining potential water fields that may kill them. We also need to fix Verdant Etching because that creates light field of the seeds even if you don’t want to cleanse and that needs to be corrected, too. “The logic”. I’ll wait if you’ll give the very same thing a blind eye if you are so serious about correction on every snowflake in the storm.

About my twisting words paragraph. You made an excellent point! Give it the same priority as Moa’s heal is. Keep the burst F2. That’s ideal solution. Sadly – it would make you drop your idea that you defend so aggressively.

About 2 blasts – that’s a lot of sacrificed potential for 4 seconds worth of stealth (2 needed for cast times). Compare it to thief who can leap-field for long stealth strategies or disengages. A druid wouldn’t achieve much with 4 seconds and cannot build around it unlike thief. It may be useful but not anywhere near meta.

Succeed in what? What are we trying to succeed for? We want play with our own desires with smoke field to use whenever we want. There is no successful game play. I didn’t realize there was a correct successful method of playing GW2!

I and other players have made valid claims in wanting smoke field as our F2. You keep misinterpreting those information.

So we are angry about this and this IS important to us. Why don’t you go boycott whatever you want to that matches your level of ‘important’ stuff? Seriously your smug patronizing comments are so obliviously obvious that it’s clear you’re trolling with your pitiful remarks and labelling it ‘fair view of both sides’. Go away and take your high horse with you.

Okay, I learned that you are most probably one of those players who will try to beat raids with power of friendship. Where shortbow thieves can DPS and mesmers can play nomad tanks.
You are rejecting efficiency. Doesn’t matter whether in game or outside. What am I successfully proving right now is that it doesn’t matter for you which is the right choice. Because your no.1 point of reasoning is having tanky pet in PvE where DPS is your goal (killing the target means succeed. Not knowing this is frankly sad).

You’ll keep making up illogical arguments and eventually degrade into offending people about age or what not only to prove how much you want that Smoke Field. Spoiler: the same thing is being done in 2 threads but for F2 burst.

Since I know it’s pointless – you don’t have to worry. I’m most probably not responding to this thread again.
I feel strange for trying to say that you guyz are right. Because the reasons why you want the smoke field are childish. Regardless of how correct it is to have Cloud on F2.

Tragic Positive.9356:

@kevvy
You skipped my against list that is written with same “bias” as for list. Mature pick only what fits them so they can argue…?

I did briefly go over that, but I am one of the smoke field voters. I was simply showing your flawed look to a side of your claim that you say is ‘fair’.

Having a smoke field for skips with 2 ooc blasts only means you need a highly organized party in order to make that skip happen (you need like… 7 blasts?). With such an organized group of people you can might as well get one thief since Ranger’s Pet ruins a lot of skipping if you catch combat. Mature people know that.

Need only 5 blasts. Highly organized? It requires a button or two to get off a blast. Mature people also know that rangers can also withdraw pet.

Comparing a subpar class mechanic to the superior version of other classes used for same purpose is just in place. You still want this change just to be inferior.

It’s not an inferior subpar class mechanic. It’s a smoke field. It’s not half a smoke field.

How about starting a thread about Seed of Life (CAF #2), too? Because by trying to cleanse people you are ruining potential water fields that may kill them.

Why don’t you? We’re making a case for a pet’s skill for F2 to be smoke field under manual control. If someone needs some blasting on water field, it doesn’t matter if CAF #2 has a light field for 1sec, the field underneath if it’s a water field will trigger healing blast. And that’s not even the point. I can control CAF #2. I want to control the pet’s smoke field. How are you not getting this?

We also need to fix Verdant Etching because that creates light field of the seeds even if you don’t want to cleanse and that needs to be corrected, too. “The logic”. I’ll wait if you’ll give the very same thing a blind eye if you are so serious about correction on every snowflake in the storm.

Now you’re going blatantly off topic. I can control my glyph usage anywhere, any time. This is not me giving a blind eye, this is you going off topic and calling it equally deserving of similar attitude towards.

About my twisting words paragraph. You made an excellent point! Give it the same priority as Moa’s heal is. Keep the burst F2. That’s ideal solution. Sadly – it would make you drop your idea that you defend so aggressively.

Another off topic remark. I don’t care that the assault is being a passive skill. I care that the smoke field is being a passive skill. Who cares about heal? You’re arguing the wrong thing here, try to understand that.

About 2 blasts – that’s a lot of sacrificed potential for 4 seconds worth of stealth (2 needed for cast times). Compare it to thief who can leap-field for long stealth strategies or disengages. A druid wouldn’t achieve much with 4 seconds and cannot build around it unlike thief. It may be useful but not anywhere near meta.

I won’t argue with that. I’m not saying Rangers should replace Thieves. I’m saying with access to smoke field, a ranger in party can act as a secondary stealth provider. You keep making this about just the ranger only. You’re just so shortsighted with that and keep saying that’s the basis of determining the effective use of smoke field under ranger’s care. It’s for everyone else as well. And that’s my point. I don’t give a kitten about smoke field that only my ranger will be able to blast. Who in their right mind will?

Okay, I learned that you are most probably one of those players who will try to beat raids with power of friendship. Where shortbow thieves can DPS and mesmers can play nomad tanks.
You are rejecting efficiency.

Then say efficiency. Efficiency does not mean successful play. Blasting smoke field outside a battle to skip past mobs – what the kitten does that have to do with dps? Why are you bringing DPS all over a sudden in the use of smoke field?

Doesn’t matter whether in game or outside. What am I successfully proving right now is that it doesn’t matter for you which is the right choice.

It does matter. Who blasts smoke field during battle? Who said that’s what we want?

Because your no.1 point of reasoning is having tanky pet in PvE where DPS is your goal (killing the target means succeed. Not knowing this is frankly sad).

What? Are you even reading properly? When have I ever said having a tanky pet in PvE fight? I don’t want that stupid kittening smokescale during fight. I want tiger and Jaguar. It’s you who keeps making your point about PvE revolving around the use of smokescale and it’s smoke field as F2 DURING battle. Succeed? In your last post you said having a smoke field is not success. Well having a smoke field has nothing to do with success or killing by what you said, so why are you linking the two? I never said I will use smoke field during a battle and somehow that helps me kill mobs. Please learn to read properly.

Good luck thinking you’re ‘successful’ with anything you’re saying, it only shows what a self-entitled king of the hill kind of person you are.

You’ll keep making up illogical arguments and eventually degrade into offending people about age or what not only to prove how much you want that Smoke Field. Spoiler: the same thing is being done in 2 threads but for F2 burst.

My arguments are solid, addressing each points and quite logical to even those with troubled minds. Saying that you are immature because of what you said has merit. You acted like a child. You get called on it. I don’t need to make my point by also saying that you are immature, but I said it because that’s what you were acting like.
I make points about smoke field with legit concerns. You keep twisting and saying that it’s wrong by using incorrect scenario that I never even mentioned. So yeah, talk kitten and you’ll be called out on those plain as simple.

Since I know it’s pointless – you don’t have to worry. I’m most probably not responding to this thread again.
I feel strange for trying to say that you guyz are right.

You never did, those that you think you did were only hid under scrutinized remarks such as ‘Utility that will never beat other classes’, ‘inferior’, ‘subpar’ amongst others. Don’t feel strange, we know you were making provoking biased points like a good troll you are.

Because the reasons why you want the smoke field are childish. Regardless of how correct it is to have Cloud on F2.

HAhahah… Wanting to blast outside of battle with party members is childish? Because that was my entire kittening point. Do stay away please troll.

Tragic Positive.9356:

… PvP player more definitely want the burst. PvE players want the field. But then again – you yourself said you don’t want that pet in PvE whatsoever. The only real and solid viable reasoning to have the smoke field is solo or WvW content.

I wouldn’t say that is correct. I think its far better for PvP than SA, because you can control the SA anyway. Although, the smoke field has more use for WvW than anywhere else, that’s why I want it on F2. As well as skipping in PvE and for more access to stealth in PvP. I already know I can control the Smoke Assault skill easily, so I want to have access to the Smoke Cloud skill easily as well, when I want it, which is mostly OOC or at particular moments in combat.

The smoke field in pvp is situational at best because your blast finishers will be used up elsewhere more often than not. For instance, u’ll always be blasting your water field to get more sustain as a druid.

I can see the smoke field being more useful for organized teams coordinating over TS or something. But this only affects like 2-3 rangers on these very forums.

Relshdan.6854:

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

Going to be investigating this. It may require some change to Smoke Assault, since the active skills are intended to be a little stronger than the passive skills.

lol…what’s to investigate?

you already nerfed smoke assault significantly (50% dmg reduction) and then made the pets smoke field uncontrollable, thus making it unusable in any thing other than solo roaming (since it will overwrite group-coordinated fields such as water and fire).

these types of changes you guys are making are just absurdly illogical.

i literally sigh every “new build in 10 minutes” notification…..because each one bring a “bull in the china store” nerf to ranger or druid.

why are other classes “shaved”, while rangers are decapitated?

kitten.

I’m assuming it wasn’t Irenio who did that?

Otherwise, as you rightly say, what would he need to “investigate”?

Read between the lines.

He’s telling us that there are class designers (i.e. him) and then balancers (or whatever they call themselves) and that the designers aren’t always consulted by the balancers, pre-changes/nerfs.

Must be extremely annoying to design something and then find out it’s been changed and/or heavily nerfed, without even being consulted.

Almost as annoying as playing Ranger, in this game… xD

mistsim.2748:

The smoke field in pvp is situational at best because your blast finishers will be used up elsewhere more often than not. For instance, u’ll always be blasting your water field to get more sustain as a druid.

I can see the smoke field being more useful for organized teams coordinating over TS or something. But this only affects like 2-3 rangers on these very forums.

If people do not have the tools to become better, they never will.

I like how everyone want’s it swapped back, then it gets red post and all the fake ranger players who don’t read the ranger forum see it and are like “we like it as is”

I really don’t see any argument for smoke assault on F2. It’s the same thing with birds (although you can force the F2 to be useful with traits.) Damage on F2 is low skill, low reward. Utility on F2 is high reward.

Furthermore, smokescale is barely a PvE pet. I see this focused around PvP, and giving us more options in PvE. Options, options, options.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

mistsim.2748:

The smoke field in pvp is situational at best because your blast finishers will be used up elsewhere more often than not. For instance, u’ll always be blasting your water field to get more sustain as a druid.

I can see the smoke field being more useful for organized teams coordinating over TS or something. But this only affects like 2-3 rangers on these very forums.

If people do not have the tools to become better, they never will.

oh they do, in the form of on-demand pet burst and might stacking which rangers never had.

Fluffball.8307:

I really don’t see any argument for smoke assault on F2. .

then you are blind, and/or ignorant. there are plenty of good arguments for it.

mistsim.2748:

then you are blind, and/or ignorant. there are plenty of good arguments for it.

Ok, I see one argument for it, and I find it weak enough to ignore. I’m surprised you of all people prefer smoke assault, I think the more “hardcore” posters prefer options over simple might stacking. I really just think in all 3 game modes utility far outweighs a mere damage skill.

As someone who was initially excited with having an on demand smokefield, I’m starting to see the benefits of having smoke assault on F2, at least for PvP. Aside from the might stacking, it makes our pets more useful in keeping tabs on the opponent.

For once, my pet isn’t being a useless kitten in Windmill at Kyhlo when faced with an opponent who can actually kite. Smokescale will actually teleport through the ground and even through the roof to chase down and opponent that’s low and trying to get away. All while I can sit and cap mid. I’ve been wanting for a way to make pets teleport for a while (was hoping for a revamp on Guard) and this is as close as I’ve seen it be.

Same for Henge in Forest. Someone teleports up the ledge and tries to run and reset? If you follow them, smokescale can teleport through the rocks and get to them. Just like how thieves can steal through the rocks. It’s pretty nice, and got myself a few kills that way.

Of course I’m still hoping Anet will give us the best of both worlds and give us a second pet with an on demand smoke field. Still waiting on my Juvenile White Smokescale…

The thing is all you listed, bloodpryrope, can be done with the damage skill on passive. The smoke assault is a good skill but it doesn’t need to be on demand, unlike the smoke field.

Fluffball.8307:

The thing is all you listed, bloodpryrope, can be done with the damage skill on passive. The smoke assault is a good skill but it doesn’t need to be on demand, unlike the smoke field.

Not necessarily. You’re going to want to save the teleport for when you really need it. Otherwise if it’s on cooldown, the smokescale will try to run around the map to get after the opponent and then it’ll go out of range and be unable to teleport to them, or just teleport back to you. And you want to use it when you know you’ll be able to oneshot them, otherwise you’re just wasting a cooldown on a player who’s going to be able to reset anyways.

…Unless you mean swapping from a different pet to the smokescale, in which case it’d might work, but that’s not always going to be ideal.

I do agree an on-demand smokefield provides better utility across multiple game modes, but I can see why some people are arguing strongly for Smoke Assault to stay. If anything we should be asking Anet to give us a second pet since I HIGHLY doubt they’re going to rework pets so we can select what skills they use.

bloodpyrope.8630:

Fluffball.8307:

The thing is all you listed, bloodpryrope, can be done with the damage skill on passive. The smoke assault is a good skill but it doesn’t need to be on demand, unlike the smoke field.

Not necessarily. You’re going to want to save the teleport for when you really need it. Otherwise if it’s on cooldown, the smokescale will try to run around the map to get after the opponent and then it’ll go out of range and be unable to teleport to them, or just teleport back to you. And you want to use it when you know you’ll be able to oneshot them, otherwise you’re just wasting a cooldown on a player who’s going to be able to reset anyways.

…Unless you mean swapping from a different pet to the smokescale, in which case it’d might work, but that’s not always going to be ideal.

I do agree an on-demand smokefield provides better utility across multiple game modes, but I can see why some people are arguing strongly for Smoke Assault to stay. If anything we should be asking Anet to give us a second pet since I HIGHLY doubt they’re going to rework pets so we can select what skills they use.

While I do agree with the second pet being ideal, is it realistic? Yes it would take 5 minutes to make & an hour to playtest, but they added no new pet in the 3 years the core game had…

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

mistsim.2748:

The smoke field in pvp is situational at best because your blast finishers will be used up elsewhere more often than not. For instance, u’ll always be blasting your water field to get more sustain as a druid.

I can see the smoke field being more useful for organized teams coordinating over TS or something. But this only affects like 2-3 rangers on these very forums.

If people do not have the tools to become better, they never will.

oh they do, in the form of on-demand pet burst and might stacking which rangers never had.

But we already had that with it previously as skill #3.

In my eyes, we gain nothing by having the SA as F2, yet we lose the utility of a Smoke Field.

Having the smoke field as #3 makes it far less useful, but having the Smoke Assault on F2 only makes it slightly better, since any Ranger who has played for a while at least knows how to use the pet to take advantage of skill #3.

My point still stands, unless they provide the tools for Rangers to up the skill level of their play, it will never happen. If they do not provide Rangers with tools that are different to that which we already have, the class will never improve. An on-demand smoke field was an excellent start to that and allowed many plays that were not previously possible, it made Ranger more valuble for WvW groups, Dungeon/Fractal groups and PvP teams because of increased options and possibilities.

Sina.9208:

While I do agree with the second pet being ideal, is it realistic? Yes it would take 5 minutes to make & an hour to playtest, but they added no new pet in the 3 years the core game had…

It’s not realistic. They nerfed Smoke Assault by 50%, they are not going to give us a 2nd Smokescale so that we can F2 it, then swap to the other Smokescale who will then use Smoke Assault immediately after.

Without any control over it, auto-casted Smoke Cloud IS COVERING OTHER FIELDS. It MUST be the F2 no matter what people think.
#inb4 Smokescale won’t be allowed by groups in its current form

Bump, we need the swap ASAP.

Earix.5684:

Without any control over it, auto-casted Smoke Cloud IS COVERING OTHER FIELDS. It MUST be the F2 no matter what people think.
#inb4 Smokescale won’t be allowed by groups in its current form

Bump, we need the swap ASAP.

manage your cooldowns, don’t cast Smoke Assault if u don’t want the smoke field, which is cast right after SA. pretty simple. smoke field covering other fields is a non-issue.

@kevvy
The whole problem is that you want yet another lackluster use of pet for nothing else but a single smoke field. And never use it again outside of parties.
Which means pet-swapping in and out and back again and repeat. That’s bad designed. Stealth in PvE is mostly for ooc skipping. Which would make it the same poor design as former warhorn before Call of the Wild buff (Now warhorn isn’t that bad even in combat).

And for PvP as I keep repeating:
It doesn’t really matter. It’s a matter of preference.

What I keep saying over and over is that both sides are correct. Regardless of how many options I’d have with the smoke field – I wouldn’t use it because I can relog to my engineer.
And regardless of how nice of a burst I could do with having it on F2, I can do the same having it as “random” assault.

Both sides are nothing but “options”. Field gives options for utility. Assault for burst coordination (because controlling it from random bar means you cannot send him to attack until you go for the burst).

P.S. sorry I didn’t reply to most of your last message but I believe we would only go in circles and I would suck up too much of a space (while only the 2 of us would read that). I can go with private chat not to derail the thread, if needed.

Without any control over it, auto-casted Smoke Cloud IS COVERING OTHER FIELDS. It MUST be the F2 no matter what people think.
#inb4 Smokescale won’t be allowed by groups in its current form

Bump, we need the swap ASAP.

If it were me – I wouldn’t allow SmokeScale in group, either, regardless of F2. It’s a tank pet that does his job worse than Black Bear. Bringing it into parties means a burden by itself – which means you shouldn’t use it in combat for PvE anyways. If you mean solo-content – no one gives a snap and pet doesn’t overwrite anything. If you meant PvP – even druid overwrites the fields. And he is wanted in the party.

Tragic Positive.9356:

@kevvy
The whole problem is that you want yet another lackluster use of pet for nothing else but a single smoke field. And never use it again outside of parties.
Which means pet-swapping in and out and back again and repeat. That’s bad designed. Stealth in PvE is mostly for ooc skipping. Which would make it the same poor design as former warhorn before Call of the Wild buff (Now warhorn isn’t that bad even in combat).

And for PvP as I keep repeating:
It doesn’t really matter. It’s a matter of preference.

What I keep saying over and over is that both sides are correct. Regardless of how many options I’d have with the smoke field – I wouldn’t use it because I can relog to my engineer.
And regardless of how nice of a burst I could do with having it on F2, I can do the same having it as “random” assault.

Both sides are nothing but “options”. Field gives options for utility. Assault for burst coordination (because controlling it from random bar means you cannot send him to attack until you go for the burst).

P.S. sorry I didn’t reply to most of your last message but I believe we would only go in circles and I would suck up too much of a space (while only the 2 of us would read that). I can go with private chat not to derail the thread, if needed.

Without any control over it, auto-casted Smoke Cloud IS COVERING OTHER FIELDS. It MUST be the F2 no matter what people think.
#inb4 Smokescale won’t be allowed by groups in its current form

Bump, we need the swap ASAP.

If it were me – I wouldn’t allow SmokeScale in group, either, regardless of F2. It’s a tank pet that does his job worse than Black Bear. Bringing it into parties means a burden by itself – which means you shouldn’t use it in combat for PvE anyways. If you mean solo-content – no one gives a snap and pet doesn’t overwrite anything. If you meant PvP – even druid overwrites the fields. And he is wanted in the party.

The PVE players that want to change the F2 to be a smoke field, probably thinking on using it out of combat and replacing it with another pet before combat starts(not swapping- replacing), that’s how lame of a use they have for smokescale, smoke field and back to the kennel.

All of the “wanna be, play arounds” on how to use assault without it being F2 ability is a jock, exactly like me saying, you still ave a smoke field on demand just use it as pet first attack, if you want it out of combat kill an ambient, use staff 3(“druid/pet synergy”, lol) use items that get you in combat now press F1 on a blank sopt, BOOM, smoke field “on demand”.

LughLongArm.5460:

The PVE players that want to change the F2 to be a smoke field, probably thinking on using it out of combat and replacing it with another pet before combat starts(not swapping- replacing), that’s how lame of a use they have for smokescale, smoke field and back to the kennel.

All of the “wanna be, play arounds” on how to use assault without it being F2 ability is a jock, exactly like me saying, you still ave a smoke field on demand just use it as pet first attack, if you want it out of combat kill an ambient, use staff 3(“druid synergy”, lol) use items that get you in combat now press F1 on a blank sopt, BOOM, smoke field “on demand”.

That’s what I keep saying the whole time.
Both sides of the card are correct and hold the very same ground in this matter.

Yet, for some reason, Field defenders took it as an offense and kept talking how amazing it is to open pet panel > swap pets > activate Field > blast warhorn > blast Staff > burn 50% of astral Force for a single blast > ask 4 other people to blast, too > open pet panel > swap pets back > Stow pet > Pray you don’t catch combat from AoE (like Arah) so you don’t get kicked from party for your “options”.

Because that’s the only valid argument they talk about. They also said it’s better to have it in combat because… You can “delete” the ability from potential harmful use. While having the pet in combat in PvE is a bad decision regardless.

Simply understand that it doesn’t matter!
We won’t be asked to bring smoke-scale into PvE by anyone ever! If the only argument is that you want it – it makes you no right to claim yourself better than people who prefer control of their burst. Both sides are preferences. Not efficiency.

EDIT:
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

Tragic Positive.9356:

…
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

Assault gives evade, cloud gives condi immunity. Assault would be the better choice for a mitigation on-demand.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

…
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

Assault gives evade, cloud gives condi immunity. Assault would be the better choice for a mitigation on-demand.

Exacly, the insta cast 2-3 sec evade is superior for damage mitigation compared to 3/4 cast time smoke field. Don’t forget that in PVE pets got now 90% damage reduction while not being focused fired .

mistsim.2748:

manage your cooldowns, don’t cast Smoke Assault if u don’t want the smoke field, which is cast right after SA. pretty simple. smoke field covering other fields is a non-issue.

It just shows how clueless you are lol. Smoke field casts without SA.

Tragic Positive.9356:

If you meant PvP – even druid overwrites the fields. And he is wanted in the party.

Druid overwrites fields ? NO, druid provides water field on-demand. That’s the difference here. Smoke field has to be on-demand.

I loved the Druid in the Beta, Smokescale was amazing. Now we get it after looking forward to it and healing has been nerfed and so has the damage on the smokescale. So DISSAPPOINTING. Why do that? Rangers have wanted to be happy for so long, I quit playing my ranger for so long. After beta I couldnt wait to play her again. Its like a marketing come on. Show us the great, then NERF IT. I can see losing 25% damage on the pet, but come on! 50%????

LughLongArm.5460:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

…
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

Assault gives evade, cloud gives condi immunity. Assault would be the better choice for a mitigation on-demand.

Exacly, the insta cast 2-3 sec evade is superior for damage mitigation compared to 3/4 cast time smoke field. Don’t forget that in PVE pets got now 90% damage reduction while not being focused fired .

Yeah, that’s the reason you don’t want assault on F2 for PvE, the smoke field is far better utility and the pet does not need the mitigation anyway.

Earix.5684:

Tragic Positive.9356:

If you meant PvP – even druid overwrites the fields. And he is wanted in the party.

Druid overwrites fields ? NO, druid provides water field on-demand. That’s the difference here. Smoke field has to be on-demand.

Druid uses Glyphs that overwrite fields if you use Verdant Etching (which most people do). See? You spoil your own fields.
Or do you want to tell me that water field is better defense than 4sec AoE daze or AoE knockback? (In case you say “don’t use Glyphs when they attack you and you need to heal”)

Same scenario. You have 1 field you want (water) and other random mechanic spoils it without you wanting it (light from seeds). And no one cares.
You don’t have people saying “Omg he spawned a light field! Let’s proc retal from it everybody!”.
It’s PvP. 90% of team-fight combos are random. Self-using or duels are completely different and are not a subject for balance.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

LughLongArm.5460:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

…
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

Assault gives evade, cloud gives condi immunity. Assault would be the better choice for a mitigation on-demand.

Exacly, the insta cast 2-3 sec evade is superior for damage mitigation compared to 3/4 cast time smoke field. Don’t forget that in PVE pets got now 90% damage reduction while not being focused fired .

Yeah, that’s the reason you don’t want assault on F2 for PvE, the smoke field is far better utility and the pet does not need the mitigation anyway.

You are misunderstanding the use that promotes the Smoke Cloud F2.
The only use of the tanky pet in PvE is that he has high Toughness and is a subject for Boss Aggro. Which means you can potentially use the pet for tanking. Where the pet receives 100% of the damage.

Plus:

• Smoke Cloud
  Create a cloud of smoke for the smokescale to hide within, evading and becoming immune to incoming conditions.

Cloud gives both evade and condi immunity.
The only use of PvE for your Cloud preference is that you intend to tank with the pet and have the control of damage mitigation. Not for the “utility”. And that is again a matter of preference.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

LughLongArm.5460:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

…
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

Assault gives evade, cloud gives condi immunity. Assault would be the better choice for a mitigation on-demand.

Exacly, the insta cast 2-3 sec evade is superior for damage mitigation compared to 3/4 cast time smoke field. Don’t forget that in PVE pets got now 90% damage reduction while not being focused fired .

Yeah, that’s the reason you don’t want assault on F2 for PvE, the smoke field is far better utility and the pet does not need the mitigation anyway.

You are misunderstanding the use that promotes the Smoke Cloud F2.
The only use of the tanky pet in PvE is that he has high Toughness and is a subject for Boss Aggro. Which means you can potentially use the pet for tanking. Where the pet receives 100% of the damage.

Plus:

• Smoke Cloud
  Create a cloud of smoke for the smokescale to hide within, evading and becoming immune to incoming conditions.

Cloud gives both evade and condi immunity.
The only use of PvE for your Cloud preference is that you intend to tank with the pet and have the control of damage mitigation. Not for the “utility”. And that is again a matter of preference.

Even for that, most agree that black bear is superior, but like I said, if your pet is being focused fired, you can F2 assault to minigate the damage.

Laniya.9520:

I loved the Druid in the Beta, Smokescale was amazing. Now we get it after looking forward to it and healing has been nerfed and so has the damage on the smokescale. So DISSAPPOINTING. Why do that? Rangers have wanted to be happy for so long, I quit playing my ranger for so long. After beta I couldnt wait to play her again. Its like a marketing come on. Show us the great, then NERF IT. I can see losing 25% damage on the pet, but come on! 50%????

The problem is, that Ranger in this game is like a watered down WoW Cata Hunter.

Hunters were a notoriously awful class, in Cata.

Not only that, but Anet gave all the things that made them slightly less than totally tragic to Mesmer, for some unknown (or unknown to me) reason.

Mages don’t have stealth, or a disengage, in WoW; but Hunters do (albeit a weaker, or slower moving version, in the case of stealth).

I don’t think stealth and disengage should, necessarily, be removed from Mesmer, as I don’t agree that Rogues/Thieves should be the only ones with stealth and I think they also need these things.

However, I do think they should be added as optional things, for Ranger.

But, as utilities (and possibly as weapon skills); not as unreliable pet abilities, that force you to use a certain pet.

Otherwise, we have pretty much nothing of any use.

It’s virtually all “do a bit more damage”, with the occasional “move a little faster” (unless anyone even breathes on you…), or “take no damage for a very short amount of time” on a long CD.

Practically useless compared with Mesmer.

LughLongArm.5460:

Even for that, most agree that black bear is superior, but like I said, if your pet is being focused fired, you can F2 assault to minigate the damage.

You can’t control Bear’s mitigation anyhow.
And we are comparing 2 sec evade versus 5 sec mitigation. Yes – I do hear you.
But the efficiency.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Earix.5684:

Tragic Positive.9356:

If you meant PvP – even druid overwrites the fields. And he is wanted in the party.

Druid overwrites fields ? NO, druid provides water field on-demand. That’s the difference here. Smoke field has to be on-demand.

Druid uses Glyphs that overwrite fields if you use Verdant Etching (which most people do). See? You spoil your own fields.
Or do you want to tell me that water field is better defense than 4sec AoE daze or AoE knockback? (In case you say “don’t use Glyphs when they attack you and you need to heal”)

Same scenario. You have 1 field you want (water) and other random mechanic spoils it without you wanting it (light from seeds). And no one cares.
You don’t have people saying “Omg he spawned a light field! Let’s proc retal from it everybody!”.
It’s PvP. 90% of team-fight combos are random. Self-using or duels are completely different and are not a subject for balance.

Mainly talking about WvW but still. Glyphs are on-demand, it’s not like if Verdant Etching was some random proc.

People do care in WvW, at least in guild groups. Water fields are not only blasted on repacks, some teams will play with it aggressively. Cover it and you will actually hear people yelling.

The game mixes PvP (sPvP, WvW, GvG) and PvE (solo, dungeons, fractals, events, raids), you have to think global when you adress that kind of matter.

Tragic Positive.9356:

…The only use of PvE for your Cloud preference is that you intend to tank with the pet and have the control of damage mitigation. Not for the “utility”. And that is again a matter of preference.

For PvE, I would only use the field for skipping, since the usual group I run with does not have an engineer or thief.

Same for WvW, we could group blast the field for stealth and leap it, so we could open in stealth. I really wanted to try out a group of dual staff condi druids with primal/seeds combo that could ancestral grace into a group, then swap to hydromancy staff and proc ancient seeds. The stealth was really required.

For PvP, I really wanted to make use of the field for stealth combos.

It is the shortest CD smokefield in the game. Such lost potential, imo.

On the other hand, why do we even discuss where is F2 smoke field viable or not?

• Since it’s proven that if F2 is smoke field we can control assault.
• And if F2 is smoke assault, we can’t assure us controllable smoke field efficently.

The End.

To much drama, from people that don’t care about wider view on the class then just dmg.

Tragic Positive.9356:

This just implies that no one really needs the Smoke Screen.

You just said that. You don’t want that for PvE and you want it on demand so you don’t have to use it.

Holy crap, Tragic. You know perfectly well the benefits of having an on-demand smoke field both in and out of combat.

Lazze.9870:

…..the automatic field is a dps loss and a field that covers more important fields like the fire one. The F2 smoke field gives rangers an option. Just like it gave engies an option back in the days were thieves were the go-to stealth applier. .

This isn’t implying not wanting the smoke field at all. This is implying exactly what it says, that the smoke cloud being passive is a dps loss in combat scenarios. The smoke cloud being an F2 is not, and it also gives the ranger an utility option when you actually want a smoke field for stealth or blinds. Do I have to write that last part in caps for it not to imply that I don’t want the smoke field?

Just to be sure. I want the smoke field. On demand. For PvP, PvE and WvW. Clear? Good. PvP is my go-to game mode, so you might aswell toss that pve vs. pvp – smoke cloud vs. smoke assualt out the window. I prefer smoke cloud as F2 in all modes. Been doing bursts after pet swaps since launch, I can do that with the smokescale aswell. The smoke field as a passive however is just crippled compared to what it was.

Tragic Positive.9356:

EDIT:
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

After a good night sleep, I can see there’s no point to being hotheaded, so I apologize to you and others if I made a huge wall of text that may have not been needed.

Having the field for mitigation purposes is also something I want as on demand under my control. Not In PvE or PvP but in WvW where I spend the rest of my time in. Assault has good 2 sec which is immediate, but the field lasts 5 sec although it would be most effective if the enemy or the smokescale doesn’t go outside of it.
Both sides have merit of course. But because I have further reasons as explained in posts before than that for the smoke field, that is what I want for my F2.

Smoke field in PvE and WvW have great uses, even if it means having me press K, swap pets, F2 and swap pets again. That’s not too hard for me and is a complete workable tool that’s not too hard to put off like it sounds.
Counter argument would be, why don’t I come in with my fully geared Thief or Engineer? Well, Ranger is my main atm. If I didn’t have smoke field, I’m still not going to change to Thief or Engineer for the sake of it if there are other Thief/Engis in the group I’m hanging out with. But if I did have a choice to apply that smoke field through my Ranger, even if there was a Thief/Engi, I can help augment any down time the Thief/Engi might experience because that is always possible. Having the option to provide a smoke field when no body has it or as a supplementary addition to what the group has, that is something I would love to be able to do.

If the group I’m with could really use some smoke fields and no one was a Thief or Engineer? I will swap of to one of mine because even if smokescale had smoke field as F2, the others do a better job of it, I won’t argue that because that’s the truth. Smoke fields in general are hugely desired over mesmer’s Veil and it would be a great option to have for the Ranger. Not because I value smoke field and would like Ranger to be able to perform as well as a Thief, but because I love playing Ranger and would like to be able to have the option to have a smoke field under my resume. That’s a completely selfless legit thing to want as a Ranger.

Firelysm.4967:

On the other hand, why do we even discuss where is F2 smoke field viable or not?

• Since it’s proven that if F2 is smoke field we can control assault.
• And if F2 is smoke assault, we can’t assure us controllable smoke field efficently.

The End.

To much drama, from people that don’t care about wider view on the class then just dmg.

Nothing was proven nor it can be proven, assault on F2 is always better than assault not on F2, players that claim otherwise are welcome to “control” smoke field not on F2 with the same methods they ask as to control assault.
When F2 was a smoke field, assault also had OP damage so controlling it was unnecessary, and asking control on something so imba was unthinkable.

The drama was created by players asking for the roll-back, creating this topic 5 min after the patch released, probably before even giving the new version a try. The other players that liked the change only started to react only after Irenio CalmonHuang said he will look into it, getting overwhelmed by the amount “drama”.

among the players the supporting assault staying on F2 are some the most veterans rangers on this forum, top pvp players and twich streamers, I’m sure they have a very wide view of the ranger profession.

The End.

My 2 cents.

- Rename the pet to XXX Smokescale (where XXX is a sub type)
- Restore Smoke Cloud to F2
- Remove Smoke Assault skill and replace it with Shadow Step
- Add some damage or cc to the pulses of the Smoke Cloud
- XXX Smokescale now has Bite, Takedown, Shadow Step and Smoke Cloud
- Add a new YYY Smokescale family pet (where YYY is a sub type)
- Put Smoke Assault on F2
- YYY Smokescale has Bite, Takedown, Shadow Step and Smoke Assault

LughLongArm.5460:

Players that claim otherwise are welcome to “control” smoke field not on F2 with the same methods they ask as to control assault.

Please go tame a smokescale and come again in this thread. Your post only shows that you have NO clue how it works.

LughLongArm.5460:

The drama was created by players asking for the roll-back, creating this topic 5 min after the patch released, probably before even giving the new version a try. The other players that liked the change only started to react only after Irenio CalmonHuang said he will look into it, getting overwhelmed by the amount “drama”.

That’s your opinion and again, very wrong.

LughLongArm.5460:

Among the players the supporting assault staying on F2 are some the most veterans rangers on this forum, top pvp players and twich streamers, I’m sure they have a very wide view of the ranger profession.

LOL, worst argument ever. Who are the most veteran rangers? We all started on headstart. But obviously some learnt more from the game that others #teamsmokefield. You might consider spending less time on this forum and playing more Guild Wars 2.
Top PvP players? Ranger? Really? Who? lol
Twitch streamers? Was it some cleavage on cam? Seems like a huge… expert lol

This thread is getting more and more ridiculous.
I know you don’t want to lose your might stacking exploit but come on lol

I will probably be irrationally hated on for this, but my concern about F2 skills is that when the skill is “too good”, it can virtually make most other pets obsolete and will call for major nerfs to itself, or buffs to the others (would it be easier to buff other pets to match, or to nerf the “overly meta” one?) While some pet types have been wildly favored over the years, there has usually been a safe # of player preference/choice in the matter.