Guild Wars 2

Its good and all that the F2 was changed back to the smokefield because the community called for it but I feel like that just made Smokescale really underpowered and too situational. Personally I’d rather be able to control a burst than be able to setup a smokefield that serves no purpose unless you run pet taunt or blast finishers. And now on top of that the Smoke assault received a Nerf to the number of Hits. The damage was already semi-lackluster and easy to evade large chunks.

Maybe I’m just good at keeping track of internal timers but I often will F3 my smoke scale right before smoke assault is back up so I can burst with it like a second later just by reengaging the smoke scale with the F1. That’s just from being aware from my pet swap CD since 20s = 20s and 16s is pretty close to 15s. Which I believe is something everybody can do!

Therefore, with smoke field on F2 you get way more control than ever before!

Also projectiles through smoke field = blind!

Seems you get everything this way

Eurantien. Come on. You can’t deny the overall burst dps of the pet has been lowered. With 2 less (potentially 10 less for the pet and a total of 4 less for you depending on what skills your using with it) stacks of might. Two less attacks making the chain easier to avoid. As well as lowered synergy with Sic Em.

Yes. The utility of the pet has been improved. However the potential of the pet has decreased. Especially for non druid builds.

I kind of think that it would have been nerfed regardless of the F2 change. People were hatin’ pretty hard on it still.

It also increases the synergy with sic em because now you can use sic em and then smoke assault, which you couldn’t do before + if you use sic em AFTER you use smoke assault it actually gets cancelled. So there was no smoke assault synergy with sic em before this change…

Unrelenting Assault will probably get nerfed as well.

It it had been nerfed in a way that didn’t harm its synergy with non druid builds that would have been one thing. Another base dmg nerf MIGHT have been acceptable (no pun intended) but even then the pet was no where near as out of balance as it was before.

Also. Irenio did state earlier that he would likely nerf smoke assault BECAUSE the f2s are supposed to be stronger than the non f2s. So it was brought down to balance for the potential of stealth. Not for the skill itself.

Edit: Also on the sic em function your dead wrong. Sic Em was fixed so that it no longer cancels. This was a strait nerf to shout builds. Not a buff. I should know haha ive been using shouts for years now -.-.

Oh, how nice. When did that happen?

That would mean no net synergy change with sic em then (besides the lower hits/damage).

Eurantien.4632:

Oh, how nice. When did that happen?

That would mean no net synergy change with sic em then (besides the lower hits/damage).

Happened with HoT. Actually thats a pretty big synergy change Eurantien. Its a damage loss of several thousand as well as might stack loss from other shout utilities.

This was actually pretty big for shout rangers.

All these nerfs… can’t wait for Overwatch.

Shadelang.3012:

Eurantien.4632:

Oh, how nice. When did that happen?

That would mean no net synergy change with sic em then (besides the lower hits/damage).

Happened with HoT. Actually thats a pretty big synergy change Eurantien. Its a damage loss of several thousand as well as might stack loss from other shout utilities.

This was actually pretty big for shout rangers.

You still get 25 might from it you just need like 1 more auto attack while in staff or something than compared to before.

Jasher.6580:

All these nerfs… can’t wait for Overwatch.

Completely different games.

Halo 5 is where it’s at by the way, but maybe that’s just me.

Anyhow, on-topic:

One way, I get damage I can control and a smokefield I can’t control, and the other way, I get damage I can predict and therein control and a smokefield I can control.

I’ll take the control please.

Also, fun fact, Smokescale overall DPS increases by giving the control of the smokefield to you (because now it’s AI won’t stop to do a non-damaging action that is also difficult to take advantage of when it happens randomly, as opposed to Smoke Assault working exactly like the canine knockdown and being extremely capable of controlled).

Eurantien.4632:

Shadelang.3012:

Eurantien.4632:

Oh, how nice. When did that happen?

That would mean no net synergy change with sic em then (besides the lower hits/damage).

Happened with HoT. Actually thats a pretty big synergy change Eurantien. Its a damage loss of several thousand as well as might stack loss from other shout utilities.

This was actually pretty big for shout rangers.

You still get 25 might from it you just need like 1 more auto attack while in staff or something than compared to before.

Haha POTENTIALLY yes. But thats not going to get back the 3-4k burst we lost off of the sic em combo. Yes it is indeed that big when might stacks are taken into account.

Also shout builds lack the lockdown of other builds so we really do need our burst to land exactly when we tell it to.

You know pet ai doesn’t always use skills on cooldowns. It might use it on cooldown often but there are cases where it ques up a different style of attack even when a better one is available. Ive already seen in pvp over the last 4 hours cases where I KNOW my pets smoke assault is off cooldown and yet it doesn’t use it for a good 5-6 seconds later because its trying to use its knockdown and the enemy is running around it. Thats extremely frustrating when your main burst option relies on your pet actually doing damage.

Edit: And yes eurantien I know the method youv been spouting on how to trigger it. Ill tell you that 1: Isn’t 100% reliable and 2: Is a VERY kittenty method when your on a 10 second timer to get it to happen. Especially when your being smashed in the face)

Fluffball.8307:

Unrelenting Assault will probably get nerfed as well.

If they nerf Unrelenting Assault, it will become a DPS loss compared to the auto-attack.

Velimere.7685:

Fluffball.8307:

Unrelenting Assault will probably get nerfed as well.

If they nerf Unrelenting Assault, it will become a DPS loss compared to the auto-attack.

It probably should be, given the built-in evasion. Higher risk should always equal higher reward. Unrelenting Assault is low risk, high reward at the moment.

Shadelang.3012:

Eurantien.4632:

Shadelang.3012:

Eurantien.4632:

Oh, how nice. When did that happen?

That would mean no net synergy change with sic em then (besides the lower hits/damage).

Happened with HoT. Actually thats a pretty big synergy change Eurantien. Its a damage loss of several thousand as well as might stack loss from other shout utilities.

This was actually pretty big for shout rangers.

You still get 25 might from it you just need like 1 more auto attack while in staff or something than compared to before.

Haha POTENTIALLY yes. But thats not going to get back the 3-4k burst we lost off of the sic em combo. Yes it is indeed that big when might stacks are taken into account.

Also shout builds lack the lockdown of other builds so we really do need our burst to land exactly when we tell it to.

You know pet ai doesn’t always use skills on cooldowns. It might use it on cooldown often but there are cases where it ques up a different style of attack even when a better one is available. Ive already seen in pvp over the last 4 hours cases where I KNOW my pets smoke assault is off cooldown and yet it doesn’t use it for a good 5-6 seconds later because its trying to use its knockdown and the enemy is running around it. Thats extremely frustrating when your main burst option relies on your pet actually doing damage.

I know! It’s great! because it allows you to F3 and F1 in order to reset back to the smoke assault priority! Which allows for good burst control when the smoke scale has been out for awhile.

Scrimschaw.5784:

Velimere.7685:

Fluffball.8307:

Unrelenting Assault will probably get nerfed as well.

If they nerf Unrelenting Assault, it will become a DPS loss compared to the auto-attack.

It probably should be, given the built-in evasion. Higher risk should always equal higher reward. Unrelenting Assault is low risk, high reward at the moment.

I could accept that if they don’t touch Revenant’s overall DPS in any other way.

I much enjoy playing Revenant in Fractals of the Mists.

Eurantien.4632:

I know! It’s great! because it allows you to F3 and F1 in order to reset back to the smoke assault priority! Which allows for good burst control when the smoke scale has been out for awhile.

This guy knows what he’s talking about. He beat my 5-man queue in a match.

Eurantien.4632:

Shadelang.3012:

Eurantien.4632:

Shadelang.3012:

Eurantien.4632:

Oh, how nice. When did that happen?

That would mean no net synergy change with sic em then (besides the lower hits/damage).

Happened with HoT. Actually thats a pretty big synergy change Eurantien. Its a damage loss of several thousand as well as might stack loss from other shout utilities.

This was actually pretty big for shout rangers.

You still get 25 might from it you just need like 1 more auto attack while in staff or something than compared to before.

Haha POTENTIALLY yes. But thats not going to get back the 3-4k burst we lost off of the sic em combo. Yes it is indeed that big when might stacks are taken into account.

Also shout builds lack the lockdown of other builds so we really do need our burst to land exactly when we tell it to.

You know pet ai doesn’t always use skills on cooldowns. It might use it on cooldown often but there are cases where it ques up a different style of attack even when a better one is available. Ive already seen in pvp over the last 4 hours cases where I KNOW my pets smoke assault is off cooldown and yet it doesn’t use it for a good 5-6 seconds later because its trying to use its knockdown and the enemy is running around it. Thats extremely frustrating when your main burst option relies on your pet actually doing damage.

I know! It’s great! because it allows you to F3 and F1 in order to reset back to the smoke assault priority! Which allows for good burst control when the smoke scale has been out for awhile.

See my edit on the above post haha. I have seen the pet continue to attempt to use the knockdown several times in a row despite being out of range. It will run up instead of using smoke assault. Your method isn’t 100% guaranteed. And a shout rangers combo NEEDS that guarantee.

Edit: You should know this u.u I have hit you with the combo a few times (Seranas Windwake in game)

Hmm, I don’t think what you think is happening is happening. How would smoke assault get stuck behind the knock down when they have the same cool down?

I guess if you cancel the kd? or it never hits anything… but then you can still F3, F1 to make it work. I’m pretty sure I am reliably using F3/F1 to control smoke assault off CD

Eurantien.4632:

Hmm, I don’t think what you think is happening is happening. How would smoke assault get stuck behind the knock down when they have the same cool down?

Im assuming due to pathing. It likely believes its in range and ques the attack. It would mean the knockdown just has a higher base priority as long as its in range. And pathing issues would trick the pet into believing it IS in range. But without the coding in my hands and the knowledge to read it I probably can’t say for certain. I can only base it on my experience in game.

Also Im pretty kitten sure whats happening is whats happening haha. I probably know how to use pets better than most rangers in the game as im one of the only ones dedicated to a BM playstyle for a few years now. I was one of the people that tried to teach rangers how to actually use there pets. Mixed results obviously.

Edit: Im sure your right on that Eurantien in your edit of the previous post (could you place edit on it so It’s easier to see it was added afterwords? Its pretty confusing sometimes.)

As for canceling the kd. If I did it mid animation that would work. But the issue is that would still involve time wasted after I have already pressed sic em and have a limited time frame to get the entire f2 channel off. as well as follow up attacks to make use of the might stacks.

When I press sic em. I need the burst to start within the next second. That way I can safely copy the might and use it to supercharge its auto attacks for the following 5-6 seconds.

Hmm, I don’t know then. More reason to make all pet skills controllable!?!?!

A follow up on my previous post. Sic Em + Strength of the pack have limited up time. However this is the only time frame in which a shout ranger is likely to have the damage to burst through something like a druids sustain. Namely. Player burst+overcharged pet burst happening in a 10 second time frame. It also sets up the shout rangers dmg style for the next 15-16 seconds.

How well the combo works decides how much might you have and how much pressure you can put on/have put on.

Even a delay of 1-2 seconds is one or two might stacks you didn’t get. Which can make all the difference in a close fight.

Eurantien.4632:

Hmm, I don’t know then. More reason to make all pet skills controllable!?!?!

Oh ABSOLUTELY. If anet did that I would be the happiest person on the kitten planet.

I honestly was expecting full pet control to be the elite specialization. Isn’t that sad?

Haha nah I was hoping for it as well. If I could fully control my pet I would probably be looking for a PvP team. Im already kitten good at the class. The biggest issue is my playstyle relies on something I don’t have 100% twitch control over. Which is a no go in high end pvp /sigh.

I’ve played non-druid ranger trapper mainly for about 3 years. Responsive smoke assault(F2) + taunt was one essential tool to setup the coordinated trap burst reliably without old trap throwability (esp. against those guys with brain and all those stab/invuls/evasions etc., exact timing is hugely required for success). Now it’s gone.

For about smoke field, at least I could control random usage by quick F3 cacelling pet’s animation, but it never works for current non-F2 instant cast smoke assault. I’m not fan of passive mode, I prefer spam (with nice keybinds) F1, 3 to maintain my pet control. Thus, for my playstyle, this pet lost its one huge advantage.

Honestly, I wish I could manually control at least two of four pet skills. This change will solve most dumb AI problems imo.

While I miss the damage its a change for the better. Having a pet lay down a smoke field willy nilly would be another reason for people to shun rangers for.

Serraphin Storm.2369:

While I miss the damage its a change for the better. Having a pet lay down a smoke field willy nilly would be another reason for people to shun rangers for.

I completely agree. One of my guildmates mains a Ranger and now I don’t have to set my status to offline whenever he logs on to run dungeons and Fractals of the Mists anymore.

Velimere.7685:

Serraphin Storm.2369:

While I miss the damage its a change for the better. Having a pet lay down a smoke field willy nilly would be another reason for people to shun rangers for.

I completely agree. One of my guildmates mains a Ranger and now I don’t have to set my status to offline whenever he logs on to run dungeons and Fractals of the Mists anymore.

This just proves how broken ranger pets are. you either tell them not to take xyz pets or block/offline/ignore/don’t invite them to fun stuff

Pets should be situational. Otherwise, you end up with one that is BiS (BWE Smokescale) and nothing else compares.

The other pets need buffing, but everything should have a situational use and not just be super strong across the board.

Eurantien.4632:

I honestly was expecting full pet control to be the elite specialization. Isn’t that sad?

I was expecting our specialization to be elite.

But the recent nerfs took care of that.

(And before anyone asks/accuses, I was in favor of the smokescale’s F2 being the smoke field.)

So situational I no longer have a use for it.