Guild Wars 2

Is spotter bugged? The buff seems to randomly disappear …. especially in WvW. This happens even when they’re right beside me.

it only applies when the user who has the trait, is IN combat

It’s likely that in WvW it may also be hitting its limit of 5 on other players, and thus you are no longer getting the buff.

Like most buff sharing, even party members get no priority at all. You’ll be hitting 5 randoms (not necessarily including yourself either).

Thanks all. It was driving me crazy last night.

it only applies when the user who has the trait, is IN combat

Thanks. This is probably part of the reason why I wasn’t seeing it.

Deathspike.1870:

Like most buff sharing, even party members get no priority at all. You’ll be hitting 5 randoms (not necessarily including yourself either).

Crazy that my own party members don’t get some type of priority for the buff. Can a NPC steal it as well?

I’m certain players have priority over npcs, and I believe party members have priority, but I could be wrong on that.

ShadowLordX.5148:

I’m certain players have priority over npcs, and I believe party members have priority, but I could be wrong on that.

I was in a party of four players and none of them had the buff … even during combat. I used it before the recent patch and it worked. I’ll check it again tonight.

ShadowLordX.5148:

I’m certain players have priority over npcs, and I believe party members have priority, but I could be wrong on that.

From what I can tell in wvwvw, your own party members have no priority. It’s rare to see the icon for spotter EVER be up on my party members when we’re bopping about wvwvw. This implies that it’s being applied to other nearby allies.

The truly spooky bit? I’m not entirely sure that the ranger with the trait himself has any priority. I’ve had the icon missing from my own boon bar while in combat, then come back at the next engagement.

stale.9785:

ShadowLordX.5148:

I’m certain players have priority over npcs, and I believe party members have priority, but I could be wrong on that.

From what I can tell in wvwvw, your own party members have no priority. It’s rare to see the icon for spotter EVER be up on my party members when we’re bopping about wvwvw. This implies that it’s being applied to other nearby allies.

The truly spooky bit? I’m not entirely sure that the ranger with the trait himself has any priority. I’ve had the icon missing from my own boon bar while in combat, then come back at the next engagement.

It wasn’t on me as a buff at all last night or the night before.

Huh, just tested this, in a squad this time, with no other allies nearby. Best we could tell, nobody gets the buff. WTF?

stale.9785:

The truly spooky bit? I’m not entirely sure that the ranger with the trait himself has any priority. I’ve had the icon missing from my own boon bar while in combat, then come back at the next engagement.

This part is very true. It’s also true for spirit buffs, banners, and any other passive buff in general. Far too many times I’ve dropped a frost spirit in the middle of a zerg rush meta event and never once saw any benefit from it. And yes, it survived for its entire duration.

At the very least, these buffs should be given priority to the players that generate them. This priority should also extend to party members.

stale.9785:

Huh, just tested this, in a squad this time, with no other allies nearby. Best we could tell, nobody gets the buff. WTF?

It only works in combat.

It working in combat alone is not that disturbing, but I agree that you have to have highest priority, followed by party members. This is the same for other state sharing, such as using your Healing Spring and not getting a regeneration boon because other players are getting it. Similarly if I drop a Healing Banner as Warrior, it is quite possible I don’t get its benefits at all.

Quarktastic, the test WAS done in combat. Nobody got the icon for the boost, and I know that my own personal numbers weren’t boosted. This says that 1) the ranger using the trait isn’t a priority target for it, and 2) at least sometimes, it does nothing at all for anyone.

stale.9785:

Quarktastic, the test WAS done in combat. Nobody got the icon for the boost, and I know that my own personal numbers weren’t boosted. This says that 1) the ranger using the trait isn’t a priority target for it, and 2) at least sometimes, it does nothing at all for anyone.

Mine always works 100% of the time. Unless there are more than 5 people around. But then it still works, just not always on me.

Yeah, this 5+ thing needs to be fixed. Needs to have priority on yourself and your party members. Its so kitten annoying to use a Pet’s passive buff ability and since you are in a big group, you dont get the buff.

Re-ran the test, this time shouting out to people NOT in the squad we were in. Turns out, not only does it not prioritise the ranger, or his party – it’s completely random.

20 tests, in combat, in a full squad – only once did I have the boost on myself. 9 times someone in the squad got it, though not once was it 5 people.

Every other time, the people who responded as having the boost weren’t in the squad, nor were they particularly close to me – well outside of any reasonable range for the skill. Granted, 20 separate engagements isn’t exactly an exhaustive test, but still.. it shows some problems with implementation of the boost from the trait.

I have had it with four people in a party and no one had the buff at all … in combat and no one else around. It’s a super random buff.