Guild Wars 2

So, after revisiting traps since the last patch dropped, and in playing my other classes, it has become clear (even more clear than it already was) that traps just don’t make the cut in the current metagame, with their only redeeming quality being that it they are some of the best AoE skills the ranger has access to.

There is just no reason to use traps over other options if you’re looking at a team composition, and the only reason to use them solo is to make up for the AoE that isn’t really all that available to the ranger class otherwise.

So a very simplistic (compared to moving trap traits around or etc) change that would fix a whole lot of different concerns in one would be this:

-Increase the base direct damage done by traps
-Make them scale decently well with power
-Make Frost Trap pulses do damage

Really, this would address a whole slew of issues at once. Without feeding the “condi meta” (more prevalent in a tpvp setting than anywhere else), traps would be a better option, and without moving them out of Skirmishing, they could become a viable addition to a power based build.

For instance, currently, Flame Trap does 73 direct damage per pulse. With the change, the new flame trap, at it’s base value, would do something like 273 direct damage per pulse, and then have a power scaling introduced to that number, on top of traps ability to crit (obviously this isn’t a balanced to perfection example, but the point still stands).

With just that small handful of changes, I do believe that build versatility would open up around Traps a lot better, especially by being beneficial to both the different types of damage in the game, as opposed to the current iteration of traps only reaching their full potential through condition damage.

Would anybody else be on board with making traps do better direct damage, and scale with power?

While I wouldn’t cry if traps got better power scaling, I have a hard time envisioning a power trap build.

Well it isn’t necessarily just for power builds. Running a rabid trapper would be much more beneficial than it is currently because now you would have traps doing a actually helpful amount of direct damage on top of the condition damage output it has.

Basically, I was trying to think about what made Engineer grenade kit feel so much better and stronger than ranger traps when using the same gear, since Engineers Grenade kits have less/equal (with Incendiary Ammo and bleed crit procs) condition output, and what I realized is that when comparing the two, grenades do a ton of direct damage, compared to traps.

Now, I do get that they are different utilities entirely, but it just sort of clicked that if ranger traps could do better direct damage, then they would be more valuable to the Skirmishing trait line, and more usable across the different build setups. Every other utility we have can be valuable for both condition damage and direct damage setups, while traps are the only ones that favor a particular setup.

So, to me, it kind of just makes sense if we’re looking for a quick fix that brings up a currently underused (in the tpvp format which is what the balance devs seem to keep the closest eye on) and/or lackluster utility, AND make it viable for a multitude of builds without having to do any serious trait juggling.

That’s sorta the thing though, neither are actually utilities really. They are weapon attacks disguised as utilities, just ours are horribly inefficient on slot usage :P

Like I said before, I’m totally fine with making trap power scaling actually worth something… I just don’t think it would actually do anything in the grand scheme of things.

Like power scaling or not, a trapper build is still a build without stunbreakers and immunities and junk. It’s a build without utility slots. Even with power scaling, I don’t think it would be enough to make traps outweigh that downside.

Really, the more I look at traps and how skills are setup in GW2, the more I think they should just all be on their own weapon or kit or whatever, like Necro staff or Engie Grenades.

Well the comparison that is most accurate, and the one I was trying to avoid, is Necro Wells. More than anything, including trait functionality, traps and wells are very similar, but wells are more viable just because they do more damage in a larger radius, with better effects, but on a longer cooldown, which is why I was avoiding the comparison because then the argument can be made that if traps were stronger they would need longer cooldowns haha.

But if Traps could be made as strong as necro wells in terms of total damage output, I think that it would be a good direction. In fact, they might end up being too strong haha.

Still, I see your points and I’m not disagreeing. I just took the current situation and found the quickest fix I could think of in order to improve traps, as I’m sure it would take much much longer to work out how to move traits around, or how to make traps into a new weapon set or kit, or etc.

It would be nice to see some sort of progress on issues like this before the end of the year. Once CoD Ghosts comes out, I doubt I’ll have any reason to even play GW2 anymore, if the patches keep going the way they have. So it would be nice to see a nice, quick, efficient patch addressing balance to maybe redeem the games value for me, personally.

Wells have like, actual utility too though, on top of their attack functions. Heck one of them is an actual stun breaker if I remember right. Like, a friendly well will get people to huddle around it for it’s effects. When was the last time you’ve seen people gather around a frost trap for safety.

You know as well as I do that ANET doesn’t roll that way with changes. There are dozens of things that could be changed with a number fix in the database, but haven’t been touched since release, because… /shrug

Like, look how long it took to get proper tool tips on trait lines. Not functional mechanical changes, tool tips. There is some major traffic jam road block when it comes to changing stuff in the game. Don’t know where/who/why, but it’s there.