Guild Wars 2

This thread is intended as a place to be creative and share what you think would make the ranger skill set better. It is not a place to whine about the current skill set or plead to Anet about skill changes. Anet is of course free to take inspiration from here but it is still their game and therefore their choice.

When i say “make the skill set better” I mean more fun, not necessarily more balanced. After all, balance is mostly a matter of number tweaking, and that can be done after implementation and testing. In other words: balance is not the main concern of this thread (dont take that to mean you should invent the i-win-button as a new skill though).

So what are your thoughts? I’m sure a lot of you out there have a completely different view on what the ranger could do to make it more fun. Contributions and player-to-player feedback about the new skills/changes posted are both encouraged (don’t dare to hope for dev-to-player feedback, but it certainly would be nice too ).

Enough intro, let’s get to it!

My main redesign thoughts:

• A skill that simply delivers damage is boring. I will attempt to redesign any skill that doesnt provide depth beyond making the red bar go down.
• Most classes, including the ranger, lack interaction between skills. It’s good that the skills work individually and dont require a certain skill to precede them. However, i believe you can get the best of both worlds.
• It’s very uncommon to change the character animations when performing skills in post-production (patches). I’m therefore retaining the look of each skill when redesigning, while still making its mechanics more interesting and fun. Adding effects and sprites is a simpler matter however so that is something i’ll be using.

Longbow

Verdict: Quite a boring weapon currently. Has 2 abilities that only deal damage, 1 of which has the extra mechanic of being range dependant though. Some skill interaction within the bar could spice things up

Changes:

• Rapid Fire
  “Fire multiple arrows at your foe. If the last arrow hits a target, you gain Focus. Focus enhances your other Longbow abilities:
  -
  Long range shot: flies faster and does 150% damage
  Hunter shot: Shatters on impact, damaging and causing vulnerability to nearby foes
  Point blank shot: The focused force of this ability destroys weakened enemies, causing massive damage to foes under 30% health
  Barrage: Arrows land with increased force, scattering dust around their impact. Causes a smoke cloud [combo field: smoke] in the area of effect that blinds foes.
  -
  Using any ability affected by Focus consumes the effect, otherwise lasts 10 seconds”

Greatsword

Verdict: Pretty cool weapon. Maul and the first 2 attacks of the chain suffer from being simple damage though. Interaction between the chain and Maul could make both more interesting

Changes:

• Maul
  “Bleed your foe multiple times with a mauling strike. Gains additional effects when used as part of the Slash chain.
  Slash -> Maul: Bear down on the target, Immobilizing it for 2 seconds.
  Slash -> Slice -> Maul: The force of your slash projects a blade of wind forwards, damaging and blinding foes in its path for 1 second.
  Slash -> Slice -> Power Stab -> Maul: Smash your sword into the ground with increased power, damaging and bleeding nearby foes. [Combo Finisher: Blast]”
  Notice how the current animation of Maul can remain unchanged, only new effect sprites for the wind blade and a blastwave for the smash have to be added.

Shortbow

Verdict: I really like the feel of this weapon and therefore i’m only making small adjustments to add extra tactical depth.

Changes:

• Poison Volley
  “Fire a spread of five poison arrows. Each arrow leaves a trail of poison behind it [Combo Field: Poison]”
• Quick Shot
  Add [Combo Finisher: Leap] to this to allow a weakness combo with the new poison trails among other things. Reuse the programming behind the mesmers Phase Retreat leap finisher.

Sword

Verdict: Nice weapon. Nothing further.

Warhorn

Verdict: Really uninteresting weapon. Provides a standard buff and a standard damage with no depth or special mechanics at all. Desperately needs some tactical elements.

Changes:

• Hunter’s Call
  “Call hawks to swarm your foe. Lasts 3 seconds and deals damage over time. Dazes the target for the full duration if the foe is not attacked. Attacking the target causes the hawks to flee in a frenzy, dealing the remaining damage of the ability instantly but ending the daze effect.
• Call of the Wild
  “Grant fury, might, and swiftness to yourself and nearby allies. Also resets the cooldown on Hunter’s Call”

Torch

Verdict: Bonfire gives you a combo field, thats pretty much the only marginally interesting thing about this weapon.

• Throw Torch hereby renamed Beacon
  Throws your torch at the target location, creating a fiery beacon that grants Protection and Vigor to allies in its area [Combo Field: Light]. Throwing your torch into a Bonfire will also reignite it, refreshing its duration.

Axe – Offhand

Verdict: Kind of like this one, mostly cause of the awesome animation on Whirling Defense. Mechanics do leave a bit to be desired but its not bad. Just gonna throw an idea out there for good measure though.

• Path of Scars
  “Throw your axe so that it returns to you, striking foes each way. If you are channeling Whirling Defense when the axe returns, it will instantly be thrown back out towards your current target”

Axe – Mainhand

Verdict: Never really liked throwing axes so i dont know what can be done here, just gonna say the weapon is very uninspired and pretty much steals all its skill mechanics from other weapons.

Dagger

Verdict: It’s an ok weapon, not very exciting but both attacks do have some mechanics to them. Will maybe add something here later.

Reserved for utility skill ideas.

I feel like the MH Axe should be a melee weapon and that there should be another ranged weapon added to take its place, like a boomerang or chakram.

I think main hand dagger could fit that role you are envisioning Einlanzer

Einlanzer.1627:

I feel like the MH Axe should be a melee weapon and that there should be another ranged weapon added to take its place, like a boomerang or chakram.

I am fine with axe, but I am supporting this for the sheer fact that I want to wield a boomerang or a chakram.

It seems like a lot of people don’t like the idea of throwing axes. I am not sure why. Some nice ideas, but hunter’s call does have certain depth to it that you are missing. It’s DoT that can’t be removed.

Oh, nice thread. It won’t have any effect on the actual game, but theorycrafting is always fun. Here’s my attempt.

Sword

Verdict: Interesting design, but lacks the ability to disengage quickly and has no gap-closer.

• Slash/Kick/Pounce: Retains it’s functionality, but can be instantly cancled by dodge rolling. You can move via WASD keys while performing Slash and Kick. If movement during Kick isn’t possible, I’d remove Kick and replace it with a second Slash attack/animation.

• Hornet Sting: Leap at your foe (combo finisher: leap), Range 600, cripples your target. Upon activation the secondary effect of this skill becomes available: Hornet Swarm.

• Hornet Swarm: Release a swarm of hornets to attack foes around you (effective radius 180?). Hornets harrass foes for 5 seconds, dealing damage and applying 1 stack of bleeding every second. Can be removed by dodge rolling. Would be very easy to implement. Just think of The Defiler boss from the forward/up path of the Twilight Arbor dungeon. Bee animations and effect already exist within the game.

• Serpent Strike: Great as it is. Just would increase the duration of poison from 6 to 8 seconds.

Warhorn:

Verdict: Pretty solid weapon. Only minor tweaks/additions necessary.

• Hunter’s Call: Retains it’s funtionality. Birds go for the eyes of your target. First strike applies blindness for 3 seconds.

• Call of the Wild Retain’s it’s funtionality. Applies 3 stacks of might instead of only 1.

Utility skills:

Intention: Making signets worth activating and to have the active mechanism affect both Ranger and pet, thus making the trait Signet of the Beastmaster obsolete. I always thought that Ranger utilities should affect player and pet simultaniously whenever possible.

Signet of the Hunt

• Passive: Remains as it is: +25% movement speed for you and your pet.
• Active: Grants swiftness to you and your pet for 10 seconds. You and your pet deal +25% damage for 10 seconds. (recharge 30 or 40 seconds)

Signet of Stone

• Passive: Improves toughness of the player by 100 and toughness of the pet by 300 at lvl 80.
• Active: Create a cloud of dust at your location (effective radius 360?) to blind foes around you for 3 seconds. Applies Protection to you and your pet for 6 seconds. (recharge 50 seconds)
  OR …
  Create a shockwave around you and your pet, knocking down adjacent foes.

Signet of the Wild

• Passive: Retains it’s original funtionality (Health regen for you and your pet).
• Active: Removes Immobilized and grants Stability for you and your pet for 8 seconds. Stunbreaker. (recharge 60 seconds)

Lightning Reflexes

• Retains original functionality. In addition it also breaks stun on the pet and grants the Evade mechanic for the pet (3 seconds).

Muddy Terrain

• application range increased to 1200. When created in a water field, its condition durations (immobilized and cripple) are increased by 100%.

Spirits:

• Spirits become indestructible.
• they are stationary, unless you pick the trait Spirits unbound, which should be a tier 2 major trait in my opinion, rather than a grandmaster trait.
• the secondary effect that becomes available once you planted the spirit no longer affects the area around the spirit. In exchange the spirit lends its strength to the Ranger to perform the nature ritual. The active effects of spirits (Solar Flare, Cold Snap, Call Lightning, Quicksand and Nature’s Renewal) are ground targeting skills that the Ranger can apply in a 900 range around him, as long as the Ranger is within range of the spirits.

well, i’m one of the rangers that thinks “ranger should be a bowman class, not a warrior class or a beastmaster class”, and this are my propositions:
(sorry, my english is very limited)

weapons:

GreatSword

• slash-slide
  I will add an strike on the autoattack sequence, to force the evasion on the fourth, leaving more time (1 sec?) of vulnerability to be hit.
• maul
  This skill should daze or stun for 1 second
• swoop
  Reduce range of the jump to 600, like range of midranged weapons

Shortbow

• CrossFire
  Give shortbow a chance of 50% of giving bleeding without flanking. Soloing is very difficult to flank.
  Reduce the damage of shortbow 10% to compensate the bleeding
• Poison volley
  it needs something to be more useful, maybe a reduction from 5 to 3 the arrows but giving it one more second of venom

Longbow

• Long range shot
  It need to redefine ranges and value of damages:
  first range, from 0 to 600, at damage that gives now from 500 to 1000
  second range, from 601 to 1200/1500, at damage that gives now from 1000+

Utilities
Spirits
needs to be undestructibles and untargetables and follow the player (this means that one spirit trait will lose be free)

Signets
*Signet of stone
It should give the same thoughness that gives the same signet on other players, 10 + player level, reaching 90 on lvl 80
Pet should have 110 of thoughness extra with this signet

traits
Should have a revision to adapt to player, not to pet, and, especially, redesign the skirmishing traitline

• Malicious training
  It don’t match 100% on the marksmanship trait, could be a beastmastery trait
• Beastmaster’s Might
  Should be a beastmastery trait
• Spotter
  Should be a skirmishing trait
• Beastmaster’s Bond
  It don’t match 100% on the marksmanship trait, could be a beastmastery trait or skirmishing trait
• Eagle Eye
  Shortbow should have the same benefits here of the longbow
• Signet of beastmaster
  Well… if class is named “Ranger”, why the “main grandmaster signet” is called with beast?

• Pet’s prowess
  should be a beastmastery trait
• Companion’s Might
  Should be a beastmastery trait
• Carnivorous Appetite
  Should be a beastmastery trait.
• trap potency
  Should be a master tier and, being a condition focused, it should be on wildenrness survival or maksmanship
• trappers defense
  being a condition focused, it should be on wildenrness survival or maksmanship
• Sharpened edges
  Reducing the chance of giving bleeding to 20% but increasing the bleeding duration to 3 or 5 secs

• Spirits unbound
  Spirits should move itselfs without a trait. This trait could increase the trigger to give the boon to player (from each 15s to 10s)
• Nature’s bounty
  ampliate this effect to regeneration given by anything, not only the self applied

• Rendering attacks, Stability training, intimidation training and vigorous training
  this should be only 1 skilltrait, having all the effects described for each pet but losing one traitslot only

Gaiyeerishima Cat.1082:

It seems like a lot of people don’t like the idea of throwing axes. I am not sure why. Some nice ideas, but hunter’s call does have certain depth to it that you are missing. It’s DoT that can’t be removed.

Sorry, I’m nitpicking, but it can be LoS’d.

On topic, it’s not a guide, article or video guide, but the discussion seems ok want me to include it in the compilation thread?

err wait that’s still not on topic :-S

Sword
Remake Kick into a punch in the face.
Pounce become a 20% leap finisher.

Longbow
Long range shot fire rate increase to 1/sec.

Axe
Do not need to face the enemy to throw it.(like Path of scar)
Whirling defense become like counter attack. When being hit, it block the damage and reflect projectile for 3 sec. Also deal tons of damage like counter attack.

A trait that make shout revive pets.
A trait that stealth spirit upon summon for 20 sec.
A trait that make the pet share it’s special boon with ranger.(Include Bloodthirst from Crippling Shot ,Sick’em, Stealth,Rampage as one etc) 15 sec CD.
Now can stow pet while in combat to act as an evasive for pet.

If they really wanted trait flexibility they should have added in innate cleansing to each class.

Right now the majority of the best specs just chase down the best way to cleanse from traits and leave utilities to fill the rest of the gaps in what the class needs. Its an utterly terrible setup…

Something like 5-15 point minor traits are the main source of cleansing, so every spec gets at least a base form of condition removal to be occasionally expanded upon by major traits and utilities.

About redesigning/improving shouts …
Here’s what I came up with when I thought about it: (bearing in mind the changes to signets and other utility skills I already posted)

Intention: Shouts should affect both Ranger and pet and should be centered around additional mechanics for the pet. Ranger shouts don’t affect other allies besides the pet.

Search and Rescue

• pet gets 5 seconds of swiftness and protection upon activation and will immediately search and revive an ally nearby. Players get priority over NPCs. Revive speed is the same as that of a player. On a successful completion, both pet and revived ally gain 5 seconds of Regeneration. The Ranger will get an “I’ll avenge you!” bonus effect and deals increased damage (+ 20 – 40% ?) for as long as the pet is reviving. 90 seconds recharge.

Protect Me

• All damage you would take is redirected to your pet. Duration 6 seconds. Your pet gets Retaliation for 6 seconds and takes 50% (?) less damage. 60 seconds recharge.

Pin Down

• replaces “Guard!”. Your pet’s next attack knocks down target foe and applies Cripple for 4 seconds. Your next 3 attacks deal +30% (?) damage. 30 – 40 seconds recharge (?).

To the Limit

• You and your pet gain fury for 10 seconds. Command your pet to copy and perform its special ability. This skill won’t set the F2 skill on cooldown and can be used when F2 is still on recharge. 90 seconds recharge (?).

What do you guys think? Would that be viable? Please just consider the concept of the shouts rather than the exact numbers. The latter would be subject for balancing.

jubskie.3152:

On topic, it’s not a guide, article or video guide, but the discussion seems ok want me to include it in the compilation thread?

If you feel it fits your thread, you’re free to include it of course The more visibility this thread gets, the more great ideas we can gather up. Maybe we’ll even get a skill designer at Anet interested in something here someday * fingers crossed *.

Girion.5483:

…

I like all those ideas. Shouts are a bit lackluster right now and all your ideas seem more fun then the current implementation. One comment though: I doubt Anet will bring in voice actors for all the races to record new shout phrases at this point.

Girion.5483:

Please just consider the concept of the shouts rather than the exact numbers. The latter would be subject for balancing.

Indeed, as stated in the OP; try to keep this thread about changing the mechanics of skills, not tweaking numbers.

Girion.5483:

Sword

Verdict: Interesting design, but lacks the ability to disengage quickly and has no gap-closer.

Not sure what you mean by this. Hornet sting currently fulfills both these functions. If targeting a foe it provides a disengage and can be used as a gap closer towards a different foe. If you clear your target you can use the backwards roll as a gap closer (by turning your back towards the foe) and in the same fashion you can use the leap as a disengage. Clearing target can be bound to the keyboard by binding “Lock autotarget” (logical, i know).

Regroup Guard, Protect Me, Sick ‘em, and Search and Rescue as ’Pet’ Skills instead of Shouts then change the Shout Mastery to Companion Mastery.

Bran.7425:

Regroup Guard, Protect Me, Sick ‘em, and Search and Rescue as ’Pet’ Skills instead of Shouts then change the Shout Mastery to Companion Mastery.

How would you activate these pet skills though? GW2 follows a strict 4 special skills rule. And you still need attack, heel and swap pet available.

They would work the same as before, but would no longer be shouts and would share the same grouping as rampage as one.

So they would still be utility skills? What’s the point of them not being shouts then? Is it to have more traits affecting them?

I think they were made shouts as a after thought probably to justify those rune of the soldier existing. They only vaguely work in a similar way as the shouts of warrior or guardian.

If nothing else it would net Ranger a cool down reduction on Rampage as One.

Shathron.5790:

Girion.5483:

Sword

Verdict: Interesting design, but lacks the ability to disengage quickly and has no gap-closer.

Not sure what you mean by this. Hornet sting currently fulfills both these functions. If targeting a foe it provides a disengage and can be used as a gap closer towards a different foe. If you clear your target you can use the backwards roll as a gap closer (by turning your back towards the foe) and in the same fashion you can use the leap as a disengage. Clearing target can be bound to the keyboard by binding “Lock autotarget” (logical, i know).

Problem is that Hornet Sting gets queued upon activation and will wait until the current attack is finished (like Serpent strike), thus not resulting in an immediate evade. It does feature disengage, yes, but not a very quick one and in most fights you don’t want to roll back 400 units, because it’s likely to draw even more enemies. However, the skill I was referring to when I said the sword lacks the ability to quickly disengage was the #1 skill chain. It’s so frustrating when you hammer your direction keys to prompt a dodge roll, but you still suffer that major blow full force, even though you saw it coming and could have avoided it. I can see how this “glued to your face” mechanic can be useful in sPvP, but in PvE and especially dungeons it’s a huge liability and any Ranger bringing the one-handed sword into a dungeon must be fond of suicide :p. Now, I already hear that “simply switch off auto-attack mode” talk boiling up again, but to be honest, in my opinion switching off auto-attack on the #1 skill chain is in no way solving this issue, for, although you gain more control over your standard attacks, it greatly decreases your attack speed and in the long run hurts your finger joints when you’re forced to constantly smash one key repeatedly just to keep attacking.

And about the gap-closer. Monarch’s Leap is a gap-closer, yes, but in order to get it you need to roll backwards first by activating Hornet Sting. I too use it mid-fight and not necessarily on the same target, but you cannot use it to open a fight and it’s easy to see it coming, because you’ll roll back first, so it’s difficult to take someone by surprise mid-battle. I’d rather have Hornet Sting be the jump forward and the following secondary effect Hornet Swarm like described above, thus removing the roll backwards from the #2 skill(s), which often has no place in tightly crowded PvE zones or elevated areas, where hitting Hornet Sting would catapult you down towards death.

When thinking of the Ranger sword I tend to look at the Warrior and Guardian sword, which are more fun in my opinion and for sure a lot easier to operate. I mean, yeah, Serpent Strike is a dam good skill both in design and funtionality and it’s pretty much the reason why I currently run the sword in open-world PvE, but Slash/Kick/Pounce and Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap definitely need improvement.

Ok, i see where you’re coming from. Still, i dont agree about Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap needing work. It’s a very versatile and well thought-out skill imo and changing it to your version would remove a lot of that versatility and uniqueness.

About the attack chain i agree it shouldnt root you and prevent dodging (i personally disabled auto-attack on this to make it less annoying, but as you said, that does come with a slight dps loss). At the same time though, i very much like the current animation and would hate to see it changed to solve the problem.

Well, I currently run Sword/Dagger as my main set in PvE (mostly Orr) and so far it’s fun, but often I find myself not using Hornet Sting, because I don’t really like rolling back so far, not knowing who else I’d pull or whether I might fall off that cliff or plank. I always prefer jumps and knock backs over roll-backs. Same counts for Acid Bomb on the Engineer’s Elixirgun or the Rocketboots utility. In fact, I almost exclusively use Hornet Sting to get out of the fray and switch to my bow. But I could also simply dodge roll backwards, which executes faster than Hornet Sting. For Hornet Sting to evade those big hit enemy attacks you need to be very experienced at timing. I’m guessing you are such a person who’s pro at dealing with the one-handed sword, but most players (including me) aren’t and I believe that each weapon of a certain class should be equally accessible to all players. I find it also difficult to create Leap finishers with Monarch’s Leap. Let’s say you put down Healing Spring or Flame trap and then use Hornet sting to roll away. You may throw a dagger or torch before jumping back in or hit Monarch’s Leap right away. However by the time you jump back towards your combo field, your target will have moved out of it, if you got the aggro. While if Monarch’s Leap was to be the first effect of this skill rather than the second, you could pull off that leap finisher right after you or someone else put down the combo field. I’d find that much more convenient and useful. Not to mention that I’m pretty fond of harassing foes with bees ever since I saw this used on the forward/up path in Twilight Arbor. =)

Not gonna go back and forth on this single skill for too long since it kinda derails the thread.

Anyway, i dont really use Hornet sting to dodge attacks. We already have dodge for that along with a 5 point trait that increases endurance regen by 50%. We also have evasion on serpent strike on the same weapon and if you’re running with dagger you got another evasion strike on that. Use shortbow or GS as your alternate and you got even more evasion skills, well you get the point

The main use i see for Hornet is quick positioning and disengaging to flee or switch target. Most mobs move fast enough to keep up with your dodging and hit you again when the dodge evasion is gone. With Hornet you always create a massive gap between you and your target, which is also perfect for setting up a bow kiting spree.

As for using Monarch’s Leap finisher i havent had the problem you describe much. I currently run with a melee pet and rolling out tends to make mobs switch agro to the pet and stay in the AoE. If they do keep agro on you, you can do 2 attacks from the 1-chain to get the short cripple then hornet, that should keep them in the area long enough. There’s also a massive amount of cripples/freezes/immobs from pets, utilities, alternate weapons and even elites to help you with that.

Bottomline: I think we can agree to disagree on this particular skill

I have this crazy idea for the longbow that I think is fun but im probably alone.
For Longbow skills 1,3 and 4 you can hold down the button so the shot is more effective.
Holding Down Skill 1 increases the range the arrow can go

Holding Down Skill 3 increases the # of vulnerability stacks and the range of the arrow

Holding Down Skill 4 increases the distance knocked back and the range of the arrow

Also, the greatsword block skill should allow you to move when you activate the throw that cripples