Guild Wars 2

I just tried out the nonexistent druid specialization and must say, it’svery cool. Do you like it as well?

EthanLightheart.9168:

I just tried out the nonexistent druid specialization and must say, it’svery cool. Do you like it as well?

Enjoy it now, you know it will be nerfed soon enough.

I think druid is in a very good spot, the transition from vanilla ranger to druid is very smooth and fluid as you don’t really even feel the difference.

It needs to be kittening good, PvP is imposible this weekend on a ranger becuase of all these elite specs and their obvious power creep messing everything up.

Ventari 2.0, calling it now

The great thing about playing the non-existant druid specialization is, that – compared to other specializations – you still earn loot and achievements.

Clearly overpowered and unfair – but as we all know this follows rule #2 of MMOs:

“Exploit early, exploit often.”

I love it. Aspects work nicely and caught me by surprise. The Pet aspect is by far the strongest, forcing pet mechanics onto another player, and by killing it, you disable all of their [F] skills for 60s.

The Ranger aspect is pretty OP imo and needs toning down. Using it makes targets unable to dodge while executing an attack and drops their power coefficients significantly.

The 3rd aspect isn’t much to write home about. It just buffs underwater speed and damage. Kind of confusing to use the Aqua aspect in the new area but any oasis I could find wasn’t deep enough to swim in. I also tried jumping into a Tempest’s water overcharge to see if it would proc but it wouldn’t, so I reported it as a bug.

Overall, pretty satisfied. Can’t wait for the next elite spec!

I hate it. It didn’t address any of the things we wanted. Weh weh weh, rip GW2, Anet losing a customer here, no inclusion of shopping list of changes (or if it does and I didn’t notice, the spec is too necessary and a band-aid for a broken blahblahblah)

Also the name is so stupid (isn’t every character in this game a druid, really? Druids are basically gardeners and we’re all going off to fight an army of plants)

Just finished running around on my new druid. The bear and feral cat forms were fun (and pretty OP – perma stealth on cat?) but there was a stupid fat owl-thing form that shot lasers that was clearly some sort of joke by the devs. Also, the beta zone (some place called Asswrath, no idea why) actually seemed to have much worse graphics than anywhere else I’ve seen in game, and no waypoints at all. Clearly still a lot of work to be done there. I frankly question whether it’s ready for primetime, it really doesn’t look like it’d ever be popular in its current state.

I was just really upset that the underwater form wasn’t a shark with a laser beam on it’s head… Instead they gave us a friggin sea bass. Who the heck wants to be a sea bass?

Puck.9612:

I was just really upset that the underwater form wasn’t a shark with a laser beam on it’s head… Instead they gave us a friggin sea bass. Who the heck wants to be a sea bass?

I’d prefer sea lead guitar but this is meant to be a support spec. =P

Edit Comparison skills not strong tonight

I hate the druid spec. Just one pet for the whole jungle, kitten -.-

Guys, just remember this is for everyone to test out the Druid and ANet will tweak some numbers to make sure we’re good to go on Oct. 23.

So I just finished my first round of BWE Druid testing, and all I’d say is that whatever we can do, HERALD DOES IT BETTER.

Also got kicked from 70 dungeons and my pet still stands still to cast underwhelming F2s

I’ ve tried out the non existant druid spec. And i can say everything else is better

Is this real life? We have more access towards actual group buffs, giving more of a reason to bring a Ranger? Oh my lawd. Although, would have to agree that herald does it better sadly. Also, expect a nerf since people will realize we got something good again :/

as of right now, druid is in a far better spot than berserker. Pet does more damage than all the burning it can muster, and it has more aoe.

druid is on chronomancer level

I found druid interesting. I was able to tame the from people of verdant brink. Which made fighting the mordremoth much easier, when I could turn the whole jungle against them. I did find they our dodges could use some work, the new aspect based dodges are interesting, but dodging like a bird wasn’t awe inspiring. Maybe give the dodges the warrior gs5 animation. I also found that sacrificing my pet in a blood ritual to be a strange mechanic and felt more in line with necromancer magic. Please consider censoring the actual sacrifice. It would also be nice if we didn’t need to use off-hand dagger for the ritual, I’d like to use the staff I was given to beat the pet for the ritual. It may not be as quick, but at least I get to make good use of the new weapon.

Played 20+ matches today (speccing GM trait "Puppy Training). In PvE, I didn’t find it very useful, but it was great for +1ing fights in PvP. I waited on point (in Foefire) until the enemy d/d ele came to contest; when they were within F2 range, I popped Puppy Training and tamed their d/d ele onto our team. 6v4 for the next 45 seconds? I’ll take it. We ended up losing the game because it wore off when the ele was defending our lord alone.

Hahaha guys u made my day!

hi,

I like the brand new taming skill that allows you to tame other players! So far I’ve managed to tame 2 revenants 3 warriors 2 mesmers 2 necros 1 guard 1 other ranger (who himself tamed his best friend) 1 thief 1 engi and 857 eles.

I also enjoyed the staff abilities, I always wanted to have a “botanical garden mini set” when I was small (and very quaggan-like), now gw 2 offers me the possibility to summon flowers and trees without even lifting a finger (except for the one I use to cast the ability). These abilities are clearly meant for war, just as the name “guild wars 2” suggests, I liked how my enemies fled at the sight of my amazing “rose petal shower” (ability 3)

I also like the way this elite spec focussed massively on the already overpowered ranger pet! to buff the pet AI even further, they completely eliminated pet movement!! how awesome is that? I played some ventari revenant and had the time of my life (at least I thought so) but then THIS!

A ranger pet that works like a ventari tablet, it’s just magnificent!!! In fact, the “pet” was now renamed to “tablet”, which is nice. I then proceeded to use the ventari revenant “pet- tablet” that I tamed earlier in wvw,
(RIP far shiverpeaks bronze- veteran, 2015-2015)
because why have one “tablet” if you can have 2? (same goes for pharmaceutical dr?gs too it seems) (not sure if this can get me banned I hope not)

I also like how they addressed the sword auto attack issue by locking you COMPLETELY into it! this way you dont even have to ATTEMPT to dodge out, there is no way to stop autoattacking anyways! Instead , you can focus on more important things such as repeatedly hitting your head with a banana peel.

Finally, I also loved the new mosquito “pet-tablet” and it’s ability to sting your opponent.
The malaria debuff you may apply on them is fantastic for pvp!

See you next week for the next “non-existant druid review”!

have a blast

If you’re here Ethan, try and change the topic to something like:
[Feedback] BWE2 Druid Impressions

Impressions:

Mechanic
I am aware that this is a beta, but is the mechanic even finished and will it be ready for launch by October 23rd? The cast times on the pet mechanic are much too long to justify some (most) of the skill effects. Also, the pathing and general responsiveness is horrendous. The mechanic seems almost like starter area (in the base game) was tacked on to a class at the last second and then changed to an ally at the very last second.
Hopefully though, because this was just a beta, either this is just a temporary mechanic, or there will be a ton of changes and iterations to the AI and skill responsiveness and effects of the mechanic.

Traits:
Quite a few of these traits are served the injustice of being tied to these unfinished feeling utilities (more on that later). Additionally, certain traits, like giving a random chance to destroy projectiles to sword or making axe’s chill AoE, are incredibly basic, beta level traits that need some serious up-tuning in order to ever justify their slots. Also, there seems to be a whole ton of damage modifiers missing, especially when compared to every other class, and the class itself doesn’t exactly stack boons on itself or anything either. That is definitely something that needs to be looked at before the live version of the game.

Utilities:
So, there are Survival utilities, Signets, maybe a spirit or two for exclusively PvE, and then just garbage utilities, pure garbage. Traps will never make ranger compete against something like engineer who just facerolls out the same sort of conditions at a higher rate and intensity than ranger can ever hope to, and Dhuumfire Reaper is a nightmare of a condition spec, along with mesmer and really anything else with heavy condition oriented combat. Spirits are immobile and for some reason have active PBAoE effects which makes them terrible by design, and the passives aren’t worth the slot the skills take up. Shouts…. Just wow.
Good thing all of these utilities are still in beta, because ANet, you definitely need this time to make these utilities worthwhile.

Weapons:

• Longbow-Good weapon, ANet, you managed to get one right for this BWE. Don’t change a thing.
• Greatsword-The autoattack chain is awful, but the rest of the weapon kit is pretty decent, although hilt bash only reaches about 200 of the 300 range it lists. Fix this bug before Druid goes live.
• Axe-What is this weapon trying to be? It has range but can’t do anything at range, it has no conditions on autoattack even though the damage of this weapon is clearly favoring conditions, and the secondary effect on the axe is only as reliable as the mechanic, so aka, not reliable.
• Sword-This is a great weapon, outside of the ridiculous autoattack chain animation binding you. Does this weapon even need this sort of treatment? It makes it very clunky and hard to use, even after you get used to it, because you have to use it either situationally or all in.
• Shortbow- Horrible weapon. Outside of the autoattack and 5, the rest of the skills are boring, don’t really work well or add much to the ability of the weapon to do anything (shortbow 4 and the bleeds are so weak, this is just a beta issue right?). Good thing this is still beta, because this weapon needs a total overhaul.
• Torch – another thing done right. Don’t touch this weapon.
• Dagger – the third thing done right so far. Leave it as is.

Overall, my beta impressions of the Druid were not pleasant (sorry that I keep using Ranger and Druid interchangeably). Everything was clunky and seemed fairly duct taped together, especially the mechanic, without any sort of design goal or effort to make the skills functional and effective.

Hopefully, these things improve for Druid by the next BWE or by expansion, because they are otherwise pretty awful and should never make it to a live game in their current condition.

As a Guardian, listen to the man above me. Too kitten smart for his own good.

jcbroe.4329:

If you’re here Ethan, try and change the topic to something like:
[Feedback] BWE2 Druid Impressions

Impressions:

Mechanic
I am aware that this is a beta, but is the mechanic even finished and will it be ready for launch by October 23rd? The cast times on the pet mechanic are much too long to justify some (most) of the skill effects. Also, the pathing and general responsiveness is horrendous. The mechanic seems almost like starter area (in the base game) was tacked on to a class at the last second and then changed to an ally at the very last second.
Hopefully though, because this was just a beta, either this is just a temporary mechanic, or there will be a ton of changes and iterations to the AI and skill responsiveness and effects of the mechanic.

Traits:
Quite a few of these traits are served the injustice of being tied to these unfinished feeling utilities (more on that later). Additionally, certain traits, like giving a random chance to destroy projectiles to sword or making axe’s chill AoE, are incredibly basic, beta level traits that need some serious up-tuning in order to ever justify their slots. Also, there seems to be a whole ton of damage modifiers missing, especially when compared to every other class, and the class itself doesn’t exactly stack boons on itself or anything either. That is definitely something that needs to be looked at before the live version of the game.

Utilities:
So, there are Survival utilities, Signets, maybe a spirit or two for exclusively PvE, and then just garbage utilities, pure garbage. Traps will never make ranger compete against something like engineer who just facerolls out the same sort of conditions at a higher rate and intensity than ranger can ever hope to, and Dhuumfire Reaper is a nightmare of a condition spec, along with mesmer and really anything else with heavy condition oriented combat. Spirits are immobile and for some reason have active PBAoE effects which makes them terrible by design, and the passives aren’t worth the slot the skills take up. Shouts…. Just wow.
Good thing all of these utilities are still in beta, because ANet, you definitely need this time to make these utilities worthwhile.

Weapons:

• Longbow-Good weapon, ANet, you managed to get one right for this BWE. Don’t change a thing.
• Greatsword-The autoattack chain is awful, but the rest of the weapon kit is pretty decent, although hilt bash only reaches about 200 of the 300 range it lists. Fix this bug before Druid goes live.
• Axe-What is this weapon trying to be? It has range but can’t do anything at range, it has no conditions on autoattack even though the damage of this weapon is clearly favoring conditions, and the secondary effect on the axe is only as reliable as the mechanic, so aka, not reliable.
• Sword-This is a great weapon, outside of the ridiculous autoattack chain animation binding you. Does this weapon even need this sort of treatment? It makes it very clunky and hard to use, even after you get used to it, because you have to use it either situationally or all in.
• Shortbow- Horrible weapon. Outside of the autoattack and 5, the rest of the skills are boring, don’t really work well or add much to the ability of the weapon to do anything (shortbow 4 and the bleeds are so weak, this is just a beta issue right?). Good thing this is still beta, because this weapon needs a total overhaul.
• Torch – another thing done right. Don’t touch this weapon.
• Dagger – the third thing done right so far. Leave it as is.

Overall, my beta impressions of the Druid were not pleasant (sorry that I keep using Ranger and Druid interchangeably). Everything was clunky and seemed fairly duct taped together, especially the mechanic, without any sort of design goal or effort to make the skills functional and effective.

Hopefully, these things improve for Druid by the next BWE or by expansion, because they are otherwise pretty awful and should never make it to a live game in their current condition.

I would have to say this also sums up on my thoughts for Druid this BWE

Jcbroe, you should start that thread and then we can all just quote you saying only;

This. +1.

Jcbroe please start that thread in the HoT forum and c/p what you wrote there. Then as Heim suggested we can all +1 it.

Hahaha alright guys, I’ll make that thread in the HoT forum right now!

Was going to spec for Druid, but then, the traits didn’t seem to synergize terribly well with the BearBow meta, so decided to stay competitive instead.

jcbroe.4329:

Hahaha alright guys, I’ll make that thread in the HoT forum right now!

I loved all the people trying to explain to you that they didn’t include druid in the BWE.

Druid elite skill: Become Moa.

I’m calling it!

Honestly hoping Anet takes this into consideration, since this is our only opportunity to get real change…

Aww, the thread in HoT subforum got locked

Wondrouswall.7169:

Aww, the thread in HoT subforum got locked

Didn’t take them long did it? Things happen quick when they actually read the forum.

I really don’t know why that topic got locked, I can’t see any reason besides “too much truth”.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Aww, the thread in HoT subforum got locked

Shows how much they care about feedback from the beta.

I’m more surprised it was locked and not moved to the Ranger sub-forum like most topics about the class posted elsewhere. >_>

Why leave a comment when you can just lock the thread :v

Not just locked either, but locked with no explanation as to why it was locked, no mail in my mailbox explaining it, and a complete and total lack on what possible rule on the forums it could have broken.

This thread is golden.

Btw, I’m calling it, our staff 5 will be “Become your pet; your pet becomes you.”

Puck.9612:

Who the heck wants to be a sea bass?

Is it an ill tempered sea bass?

Interestingly enough, some brave soul cross posted it to reddit, which has made the views spike lol.
Check it out: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3k54v7/druid_impressions_from_bwe2/

guys come on everybody knows that druid will be available for testing on October 23.

That thread gave me a good laugh while making solid points too, well done. It’s very silly that they closed it.

The druid thread was the greatest ranger thread since ranger haiku.

No fun allowed.

I am surprised at the speed they locked it. It was up what? Seven hours? I didn’t even have a chance to post in it.

Ehecatl.9172:

I am surprised at the speed they locked it. It was up what? Seven hours? I didn’t even have a chance to post in it.

Oh definitely, they locked it down fast. I don’t think they can delete it because it doesn’t actually violate code of conduct, and in the same sense, the provided no reasoning publicly or to me, and unless they did so without telling me; I haven’t received any points on my account for a code of conduct violation.

Locking it is actually the best thing for us they could have done combined with whichever commendable soul (I only know the reddit handle) cross posted it to reddit. Since the cross post and the locking of the thread, the locked thread itself has jumped from 2k views to 10k+ in just a few hours, and the conversation is now being seen by more people and continued on a much larger scale in a much wider community.

Cut off one head, and 2 shall take its place. Hail Hydra xD

Naturally. When I see a locked thread I always click on it out of sheer curiosity. I am sure many others do as well. When you lock a thread you’re making it stand out and ensuring more people will see it before it eventually gets lost on the old pages.

Not giving any sort of explanation was extremely poor form on Anet’s part. You should always explain why you’re locking something.

These amount of views…. viva la revolucion?

Probably not. Once it hits page 2 Anet will consider it swept under-the-rug.

That or core Ranger might get an actual rework, along with another fine tuning of other core professions (and elite specs) in another feature pack to seem fair shake up the meta.

LOL it has more views than the merged HoT price thread. The reddit community is really backing this. It’s really hard to put into words how much the ranger community appreciates the sheer visibility of the issues.

It’s been a memorable and enjoyable day