Guild Wars 2

We all know the drill. Core ranger is boned when it comes to defending against condi pressure, just slightly north of thieves’ situation. All due to his two best condi remove traits being mutually exclusive. That’s bad, unhealthy, and completely illogical. One look at grandmaster traits in beastmastery and wilderness survival can tell you something is wrong. Dead wrong.

Common sense would suggest the following movements of certain grandmaster traits:

empathic bond wildreness survival -> beast mastery
honed axes : beastmastery -> skirmishing
most dangerous game skirmishing -> wilderness survival

Emphatic bond is a pet dependant trait, so obviously beast mastery is the line for it, not wilderness survival.

Honed axes is a condi mainhand weapon trait. How is that related to the pet again?? Move it to skirmishing that is the perfect place for condi weapon traits.

Most dangerous game is not completely out of place in skirmishing, but since it’s a trait that requires good management of your hp to benefit from, moving it to wilderness survivial that is focused around damage reduction (protection on dodge, endurance regen, survival skills boost including troll unguent) is the logical choice.

Do that and it’ll all click a lot better if you ask me and give core ranger a fighting chance, rather then being absolute bottom of barrel profession without their elite spec.

Wouldn’t that leave Honed Axes competing with Quick Draw, meaning it’d just be sitting there unused almost always.

So same as always if you ask me

Swapping the placement of these traits will not be considered a fix, as the traits themselves are still lackluster.

It’s part of the best PVE damage build the class has so /shrug.

Not a significant part. The trait does not change how axe stacks might. With it or without it might stacks will flow the same. Also ranger is not picked in pve content for his power damage which at best is still lacking, but for his support or condi damage.
All the while in spvp and wvw core ranger would gladly get even a 10% damage shave off for reliable condi cleansing.

You…can’t move honed axes like that. If I’m in skirmish I’m taking either light on your feet or quick draw. If anything place it somewhere in the master line, or better yet, roll it into ambidextrity.

They won’t move EB because it’s too strong with Wilderness Knowledge. Yes it kills the pet bit bring a tank one and you have 3 conditions gone every 10s. To make it even better maybe add some resistance gain to it or something.

I agree about MDG that trait is AWFUL.

I don’t see how it would make ranger op, given how many core classes have way better condi cleanse options then ranger.

Sure we got other sources but they’re all extremely niche (in spvp at least).

Elite spirit that can cleanse 5 condies and ress once per 2 minutes at best.
Bear pet which in spvp does not exist because 2 condies every 25s are not worth giving up on pets that do decent damage and/or cc.
Signet of reneval passive is so bad it’s not funny, while active has a nasty cooldown.
Healing spring cleanses one..that’s right…just one condi per cast.

And in spvp you will get a lot more conditions then these paltry skills can handle, not to mention some of them can mess your build hard. That’s why the only 2 condi cleanses for core ranger that matter are the trait ones, and in some builds the signet active.

But currently it’s just one trait as they’re mutually exclusive and the “poor cousin” options above. Not looking good if you ask me.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I don’t see how it would make ranger op, given how many core classes have way better condi cleanse options then ranger.

You can’t have that line of thought anymore, not since e-specs. Regardless of whether a player has the expansion or not, moving Survival of the Fittest into Wilderness Survival was a necessary evil when Druid was developed.

That move makes core Ranger stronger, sure, but it also strengthens Druid. The only changes that can be made are ones that detach itself empowering Druid, which is difficult in its own right.

Those 3 traits serve better under a rework. Regardless of how unrealistic or out-of-reach that may sound, it’s one that will ensure a healthier competition among their respective GM tiers.

Otherwise, Rangers and Druids will most-likely receive nerfs due to being able to slot Wilderness Survival, Empathic Bond, and Druidic Clarity – and Anet always nerfs in pairs.

We’re talking WS condition removal being reduced from 2 to 1 and possibly lowering the amount of conditions removed from DC from 13 to a lower number, or worse, losing 1 condition at 3s intervals while in Celestial Form as “compensation”.

Anet could care less if a core Ranger can slot only WS & EB.

Good suggestions.

Wondrouswall.7169:

ZeftheWicked.3076:

I don’t see how it would make ranger op, given how many core classes have way better condi cleanse options then ranger.

You can’t have that line of thought anymore, not since e-specs. Regardless of whether a player has the expansion or not, moving Survival of the Fittest into Wilderness Survival was a necessary evil when Druid was developed.

That move makes core Ranger stronger, sure, but it also strengthens Druid. The only changes that can be made are ones that detach itself empowering Druid, which is difficult in its own right.

Those 3 traits serve better under a rework. Regardless of how unrealistic or out-of-reach that may sound, it’s one that will ensure a healthier competition among their respective GM tiers.

Otherwise, Rangers and Druids will most-likely receive nerfs due to being able to slot Wilderness Survival, Empathic Bond, and Druidic Clarity – and Anet always nerfs in pairs.

We’re talking WS condition removal being reduced from 2 to 1 and possibly lowering the amount of conditions removed from DC from 13 to a lower number, or worse, losing 1 condition at 3s intervals while in Celestial Form as “compensation”.

Anet could care less if a core Ranger can slot only WS & EB.

The whold e-specs are the problem here. Many of them “fix” the core professions, rather then having said core professions fixed on their own, and their e-spec properly adjusted to that change.

As a result core professions are not only boned in their respective weaknesses (such as cc for necros or condi cleanse for thieves/rangers), now they’re now double boned because elites brought even more cc/condi/power damage to deal with.

But that’s no excuse for a-net. Not everyone ended up this way. Take a look at warrior. Berserker line is sweet and offers a lot, yes, but removing it does not break the profession. The “must have” line is defense, available to all warriors, and the dreaded resistance boon, which is the bane of condi classes without solid boon removal was added to core warr, not berserker. You can have a reasonable core profession and an elite that does not twist your arm to slot it.

And then we go to druid – simple trait which removes 13 condies and breaks stun on CA entry makes core ranger wanna kill themselves, as they’d have to walk on their ears, choosing dedicated pets, traits, runes and skills to catch up to such condi removal power that a single druid trait offers. And let’s not get started on what happens once you enter CA and it’s skills go into use…

Wondrouswall.7169:

and possibly lowering the amount of conditions removed from DC from 13 to a lower number, or worse, losing 1 condition at 3s intervals while in Celestial Form as “compensation”.

That would be both a nerf (mostly and nerf!) and a buff at the same time, depending on the situation.

It’s true that elite specs are power creep despite being marketed as alternate builds. It’s also true that EB has never been particularly good or balanced, as its one of the only traits I can think of that actively damages the profession mechanic.

Druid is bad enough being the healing spec as its already so good in a lot of situations that fixing core ranger seems almost impossible because then Druid becomes OP.

The answer IMO (and probably exactly what they will never do) is move some of the Druid capability out to other trait lines. Keep something like CA/Staff as a Druid only thing, however move some of the other healing / utility around to make core ranger not seem like a total waste.