Guild Wars 2

I would like to point out as well since I havent seen that its been getting the attention that it needs that some of the traits for Soulbeast need to get look at IMO like:

Twice as Vicious DISABLING a foe increases your damage and condition duration by a mere 5%. I dont see where this is coming from, Spellbreaker should have this trait with their role being the anti mage, being able to daze and shut them down completely yet we have this as a Grandmaster thats not worth it. ANet is confused with the role of Soulbeast clearly, a little too much of everything again with no clear direction on where they want to take Ranger with this specialization. Its called specialization for a reason, granted that Anets direction is merging for Rangers then let that be the case.

Proposed change

a.) Twice as Vicious merging with your pet deals # damage within 360 radius. Gain fury for 6 seconds.

b.) Twice as Vicious merging with your pet enhances your bond, grants 10% damage and condition for 6 seconds.

c.) Twice as Vicious merging with your pet slows and bleed foes that it passes thru and apply conditions to nearby foes when you meld.

d.) Twice as Vicious merging with your pet blind and dazes foes that it passes thru and apply conditions to nearby foes when you meld.

e.) Twice as Vicious merging with your pet grants barrier (10% of your pets maximum health) kitten you necro. LOL

PLS note passes thru meaning the moment when your pet turn into a little green wisp when you go Beastmode

OPPRESSIVE SUPERIORITY pls clarify, for our PVE lads this is pretty much useless. Bosses health is around millions so youre basically going to be using this during the last 5 seconds of the fight? lol. Should change to percentage, but still pretty weak though even if IMO.

AEFA.9035:

…
OPPRESSIVE SUPERIORITY pls clarify, for our PVE lads this is pretty much useless. Bosses health is around millions so youre basically going to be using this during the last 5 seconds of the fight? lol. Should change to percentage, but still pretty weak though even if IMO.

It is percentage based, to be otherwise it would be utterly useless. There is a reddit post where some guy tested it if you are interested.

Pirax.6172:

In my opinion Soulbeast should be quicker and with more evading abilities. Main hand dagger is too slow.

It’s slow, no evade, and very long cd non-existent gap closer that take ages to cast.

Aomine.5012:

Pirax.6172:

In my opinion Soulbeast should be quicker and with more evading abilities. Main hand dagger is too slow.

It’s slow, no evade, and very long cd non-existent gap closer that take ages to cast.

IMO i think the dagger skills are OK, its just the role of it that needs some tuning. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dagger. Self preservation. WTF.

Soulbeast Feedback

Dagger Skills

• Dagger #1: Chain is too slow. Power scalings and condition durations are also too weak.

• Dagger #2: Has no purpose other than being a slightly stronger auto-attack. Give this skill some identity, and buff both its power scaling and number of conditions while on it.

• Dagger #3: Since the quickness-granting portion of this skill can be dodged/blocked/blinded etc, and it barely does damage, 15 second recharge is too long – 10 seconds seems more reasonable.

Overall the weapon is extremely lacking in both design and balance.

Stances

• General: Stances’ effects should be applied to the pet as well.

• Bear Stance: Way too strong vs conditions, but otherwise it’s too weak. Buff the base heal and reduce the condition cleanse per second by 1 condition.

• Dolyak Stance: Possibly a bit too strong, but that depends on if the stance trait get the buffs it needs.

• Griffon Stance: Needs a massive reduction to its cooldown, it won’t ever see use at a 45 second cooldown.

• Moa Stance: Seems fine, though the 66% boon duration increase might be a bit overkill.

• Vulture Stance: Given you get either Might or Poison application, a 6 second duration is too short.

• One Wolf Pack: The duration or the power scaling needs to be increased, currently it does not even come close to the other 2 elites.

Design-wise the stances are good, but they need some balancing.

Traits

• Fresh Reinforcement: This trait needs to be a minor trait; swap it with the Twice as Vicious Minor trait (that one isn’t worthy of being a grandmaster trait anyways), and give the pet the Ranger’s boons on exiting Beastmode. Currently the fact that the pet loses its boons when going in and out from Beastmode discourages us from using the feature.

• Live Fast: This trait’s effects need to be applied when the skill is used, not afterwards. It won’t feel smooth to use otherwise.

• Unstoppable Union: Currently the only good (balance and design-wise) mayor trait.

• Furious Strength: Standard damage-boosting trait, otherwise solid and thematically fitting. Might be more fitting as a Major trait – maybe swap it with Second Skin or Essence of Speed.

• Second Skin: Remove the restriction of needing the protection boon, they rarely synergize anyways. (Consider swapping with Furious Strength)

• Essence of Speed: Remove the ICD, the Ranger doesn’t have access to enough quickness granting sources for a cooldown to be warranted. (Consider swapping with Furious Strength)

• Predator’s Cunning: Give it a 1 second ICD and change it to steal health on attacking a poisoned target, not when applying poison. Currently it’s way too reliant on Dagger main hand and having a lot of poison in the build (and even then it’s too weak of a Master trait).

• Eternal Bond: At least double the heal, and give it the Resistance boon alongside the Protection. Since we should be striving to not have this effect proc, make sure it’s actually noticeable and impactfull when it actually does proc.

• Leader of the Pack: Needs to either reduce Stance cooldowns by 20% + increase duration by 25%, or just increase their duration by 50%. Currently it’s far from grandmaster tier, and has no purpose unless in larger groups (it doesn’t need to be a support-only trait in this case).

• Oppressive Superiority: With its restriction, the numbers are simply too low for a grandmaster trait. Just under-performing slightly for a grandmaster trait.

The traits are almost all in a horrible state.

Beastmode F3 skills

• Primal Cry: Increase the Vulnerability duration and/or damage+bleeding. The cast time could also be shaved off a bit. It currently doesn’t have even close to the impact of the other 4 Beastmode abilities (which all seem to play out fine). Also, change the underwater version to have the same cast-time.

• Prelude Lash: Only slightly lagging behind the other Beastmode F3 skills. Consider making it unblockable, or increase the damage and/or immobilize duration.

• Worldly Impact: Should probably be changed from a leap finisher to a blast finisher.

Beastmode F3 skills are overall extremely well implemented, though, it’s the only thing that seems well made with the Soulbeast.

I’m not posting anything of value with this particular post, I’m just making sure it stays in a place where the devs can see it since the forum search function is buggy and they NEED to capitalize on our feedback.

In case people missed it, there is an official feedback topic here:

http://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Feedback-Path-of-Fire-Elite-Specialization-Preview-August-18-20/first

Lord Snow.3257:

Soulbeast Feedback

Dagger Skills

• Dagger #1: Chain is too slow. Power scalings and condition durations are also too weak.

• Dagger #2: Has no purpose other than being a slightly stronger auto-attack. Give this skill some identity, and buff both its power scaling and number of conditions while on it.

• Dagger #3: Since the quickness-granting portion of this skill can be dodged/blocked/blinded etc, and it barely does damage, 15 second recharge is too long – 10 seconds seems more reasonable.

Overall the weapon is extremely lacking in both design and balance.

Stances

• General: Stances’ effects should be applied to the pet as well.

• Bear Stance: Way too strong vs conditions, but otherwise it’s too weak. Buff the base heal and reduce the condition cleanse per second by 1 condition.

• Dolyak Stance: Possibly a bit too strong, but that depends on if the stance trait get the buffs it needs.

• Griffon Stance: Needs a massive reduction to its cooldown, it won’t ever see use at a 45 second cooldown.

• Moa Stance: Seems fine, though the 66% boon duration increase might be a bit overkill.

• Vulture Stance: Given you get either Might or Poison application, a 6 second duration is too short.

• One Wolf Pack: The duration or the power scaling needs to be increased, currently it does not even come close to the other 2 elites.

Design-wise the stances are good, but they need some balancing.

Traits

• Fresh Reinforcement: This trait needs to be a minor trait; swap it with the Twice as Vicious Minor trait (that one isn’t worthy of being a grandmaster trait anyways), and give the pet the Ranger’s boons on exiting Beastmode. Currently the fact that the pet loses its boons when going in and out from Beastmode discourages us from using the feature.

• Live Fast: This trait’s effects need to be applied when the skill is used, not afterwards. It won’t feel smooth to use otherwise.

• Unstoppable Union: Currently the only good (balance and design-wise) mayor trait.

• Furious Strength: Standard damage-boosting trait, otherwise solid and thematically fitting. Might be more fitting as a Major trait – maybe swap it with Second Skin or Essence of Speed.

• Second Skin: Remove the restriction of needing the protection boon, they rarely synergize anyways. (Consider swapping with Furious Strength)

• Essence of Speed: Remove the ICD, the Ranger doesn’t have access to enough quickness granting sources for a cooldown to be warranted. (Consider swapping with Furious Strength)

• Predator’s Cunning: Give it a 1 second ICD and change it to steal health on attacking a poisoned target, not when applying poison. Currently it’s way too reliant on Dagger main hand and having a lot of poison in the build (and even then it’s too weak of a Master trait).

• Eternal Bond: At least double the heal, and give it the Resistance boon alongside the Protection. Since we should be striving to not have this effect proc, make sure it’s actually noticeable and impactfull when it actually does proc.

• Leader of the Pack: Needs to either reduce Stance cooldowns by 20% + increase duration by 25%, or just increase their duration by 50%. Currently it’s far from grandmaster tier, and has no purpose unless in larger groups (it doesn’t need to be a support-only trait in this case).

• Oppressive Superiority: With its restriction, the numbers are simply too low for a grandmaster trait. Just under-performing slightly for a grandmaster trait.

The traits are almost all in a horrible state.

Beastmode F3 skills

• Primal Cry: Increase the Vulnerability duration and/or damage+bleeding. The cast time could also be shaved off a bit. It currently doesn’t have even close to the impact of the other 4 Beastmode abilities (which all seem to play out fine). Also, change the underwater version to have the same cast-time.

• Prelude Lash: Only slightly lagging behind the other Beastmode F3 skills. Consider making it unblockable, or increase the damage and/or immobilize duration.

• Worldly Impact: Should probably be changed from a leap finisher to a blast finisher.

Beastmode F3 skills are overall extremely well implemented, though, it’s the only thing that seems well made with the Soulbeast.

Saying Doyak Stance is strong even though it doesn’t even work in beta…
Do you really do the testing or just look at the stat and theory-crafting?

Bear Stance too strong? Have you see how Scourge perfomed in PVP back in the beta?
Even with Bear Stance you get melted instantly. One instant cast f1~f4 clicked and 5~6 condition applied to you immediately.
8 condition cleanse over 4 secs is not that much honestly, considering it has relatively long cd and the healing amount is lackluster.
Necro can transform all condition to other with a click of one bottom mind you.
Revenant can spam Resistance and ignore condition entirely, and that’s why they’re much better than Ranger when it comes to WvW.

Mao Stance need to grant some other more interesting buffs or it serves no purpose.
66% boon duration increase for 6 secs doesn’t mean that much..
Protect me is better than this because it breaks stun, so either add some additional effect to this skill or add in some other more impactful boons.

Aomine.5012:

Saying Doyak Stance is strong even though it doesn’t even work in beta…
Do you really do the testing or just look at the stat and theory-crafting?

Bear Stance too strong? Have you see how Scourge perfomed in PVP back in the beta?
Even with Bear Stance you get melted instantly. One instant cast f1~f4 clicked and 5~6 condition applied to you immediately.
8 condition cleanse over 4 secs is not that much honestly, considering it has relatively long cd and the healing amount is lackluster.
Necro can transform all condition to other with a click of one bottom mind you.
Revenant can spam Resistance and ignore condition entirely, and that’s why they’re much better than Ranger when it comes to WvW.

Mao Stance need to grant some other more interesting buffs or it serves no purpose.
66% boon duration increase for 6 secs doesn’t mean that much..
Protect me is better than this because it breaks stun, so either add some additional effect to this skill or add in some other more impactful boons.

I seem to have forgotten to add the line “~, but we would need to test it to find out whether or not it’s too strong” to the Dolyak Stance point. So, being forced to judge entirely from a theory-craft standpoint, it does look a bit too strong, especially so if my proposed changes to the stance trait goes through.

Bear Stance as a whole is not too strong, do note that I consider the base heal as lackluster as you do. I would like for this heal to be more reliable regardless of the damage type it faces up against, that was my main point (sorry if I didn’t make this clear). However, with my proposed stance trait change, the cooldown would go down to a more reasonable 20 seconds, and the number of condi-cleanse-pulses would go up from 4 to 5. With all things considered, would you trade 3 more condi-cleanses for 5 seconds shorter cooldown + a much stronger base heal? Yes, the other elite specs might be overloaded with condition application, but that’s probably gonna get nerfed. Nonetheless, we have access to a lot of condi-clear if the meta shifts heavily onto condition builds.

As for the Moa Stance, do remember that as long as we apply a boon to ourselves before the stance ends, we get the full +66% increase. So all the “more interesting boons” we apply during those 8 seconds – stability, resistance, quickness, Vigor etc. they will all have their duration massively increased, regardless of how short the stance itself lasts. I do agree that the boons granted from the skill itself is rather boring and useless (aside from the protection one, though, it’s a bit short in duration), it’s not like we are in shortage of fury as a Ranger, though, swiftness can be hard to get access to if running a survival build, so I’m not against having swiftness on this stance.

With this, do you think that PVE Power Ranger will pass from terrible to…. passable?

I made this video of stuff not going to bother typing all the info.

I’d like to yet again point out the fact that Taunt from Beastly Warden activates from the point where the Juvenile Cheetah was on when activating its F2, not the target location where it shadowsteps to. This needs to change for this pet.

Also, I would like Anet to stop splitting attacks like Savannah Strike into two smaller attacks just to cheat us on big hits from Opening Strike, it’s annyoing as hell when they do that for attack skills of this type.

Aldath.1275:

With this, do you think that PVE Power Ranger will pass from terrible to…. passable?

I think it’d be even worse with the introduction of Soulbeast.
You lose your pet which is like 2~3k of your dps and get one useful skill and some stat buff.

But that aside, power ranger is more convenient to use than condition ranger because you don’t need flanking and camping in one place to dish out damage.

However, ranger does have one of the worst dps in an organized set-up.
If you take away pet dps, the dps of ranger is atrocious in most cases.