Guild Wars 2

Star Ace.5207:

I will probably be irrationally hated on for this, but my concern about F2 skills is that when the skill is “too good”, it can virtually make most other pets obsolete and will call for major nerfs to itself, or buffs to the others (would it be easier to buff other pets to match, or to nerf the “overly meta” one?) While some pet types have been wildly favored over the years, there has usually been a safe # of player preference/choice in the matter.

Even if we had no control at all over the smokescale, it’s still a decent PvP pet. It’s bad for PvE, but since it can actually land its attacks on players and has some CC, it’s not bad for PvP. It’s more than other pets have terrible AI than smokescale is much better.

Earix.5684:

LughLongArm.5460:

Players that claim otherwise are welcome to “control” smoke field not on F2 with the same methods they ask as to control assault.

Please go tame a smokescale and come again in this thread. Your post only shows that you have NO clue how it works.

LughLongArm.5460:

The drama was created by players asking for the roll-back, creating this topic 5 min after the patch released, probably before even giving the new version a try. The other players that liked the change only started to react only after Irenio CalmonHuang said he will look into it, getting overwhelmed by the amount “drama”.

That’s your opinion and again, very wrong.

LughLongArm.5460:

Among the players the supporting assault staying on F2 are some the most veterans rangers on this forum, top pvp players and twich streamers, I’m sure they have a very wide view of the ranger profession.

LOL, worst argument ever. Who are the most veteran rangers? We all started on headstart. But obviously some learnt more from the game that others #teamsmokefield. You might consider spending less time on this forum and playing more Guild Wars 2.
Top PvP players? Ranger? Really? Who? lol
Twitch streamers? Was it some cleavage on cam? Seems like a huge… expert lol

This thread is getting more and more ridiculous.
I know you don’t want to lose your might stacking exploit but come on lol

Obviously, you are not a very mature judging by your “LoL” adding to every sentence.
Probably also not suited to appreciate a valid argument.
But its all good, its not you I’m trying to convince, you are actually very much irrelevant.
I’m here just to give A.net the support to maintain the situation as it is , you are the one trying to change it so the convincing and making good arguments is on you.
So by all means, go back to the game and enjoy your tamed smokescale with assault on F2.

I preferred the smoke cloud on F2. I do a lot of wvw, both in zergs, and in guildies roaming parties. I don’t choose my partners, it’s whoever is around at the time. Having an on demand aoe stealth out of combat is a great asset, and if my ranger can carry it, that’s incredibly useful when i’m paired with an ele, a guard or a warrior. An additional burst is just an exercise in min-maxing. As is the smoke cloud for tanking. I’ve got burst pets, and i’ve got tanky pets. I don’t have an aoe stealth option.

The way i see it, the current smokescale is a boring yet statistically better pet. Min-maxers will love it. To me it’s a major yawn. Not to mention it’s ugly to boot. I’d take the additional tactical option any day.

kevvy.5081:

Snip

Yes, this is exactly what this all is about.
Some people like yourself will prefer it the former way (the rest would like it with assault).
Both sides are correct and there’s no huge difference when one thinks of which side to please with good news.

At the end of the day, one side will have to stay disappointed. And I can guarantee that if they swap it back – the exact same variation of this topic would appear to demand swapping it back again.
That’s how people are.

It’s also correct when people wanting assault throw words back at people like Firelysm who strictly forces them to control pets through “1st ability after entering combat”. Because he can be the one to control cloud just the exact way – to keep the pet on passive the whole time and send him in only when he wants the field and use ambients for ooc.
He asked people who wanted to use pet’s burst (damage) to stop dealing damage at all until they want to use the burst – which doesn’t make sense. So it’s right if people ask him to keep using the Field on ambient creatures ooc – which doesn’t make sense.

And that’s nothing else but reading his own words transformed by the other side.
Look, I don’t really care which side is going to be “victorious”. I like both variations and I can manage myself to still make use of both of them regardless of the version.
I was just saying that most of the arguments were not thought over and didn’t make sense in larger picture.
But it kept getting stranger and stranger after I repeatedly said I’m not a fan of either, and you two kept looking at me as “Assault fan” saying stuff that looks exactly the same for Assault fans variation.

I was rather implying that if you want the smoke field – you should go for bulletproof arguments that do not go both ways (because frankly, suggesting that you cannot use it as “1st ability in combat” is laughable to most of us.)

Reasons why Smoke Field:
- ooc use
- synergy with Signet of Renewal and Empathic Bond
- active tanking mitigation game-style
- utility use for highly organized PvP game-style
(I’ll leave PvE skipping out because Rangers are terrible atit due to pet. You really need to have a dedicated stealther that can save the group in case you catch combat)

LughLongArm.5460:

Obviously, you are not a very mature judging by your “LoL” adding to every sentence.
Probably also not suited to appreciate a valid argument.
But its all good, its not you I’m trying to convince, you are actually very much irrelevant.
I’m here just to give A.net the support to maintain the situation as it is , you are the one trying to change it so the convincing and making good arguments is on you.
So by all means, go back to the game and enjoy your tamed smokescale with assault on F2.

“lol” = it made me laugh because the end of your post was ridiculous. “There are top PvP players, twitch* streamers and most veteran rangers to back me up”. You are embarrassing yourself here.

We (in favor of the reversal) have already provided good arguments. Even Irinio has agreed to investigate this. All you are saying is: “there is no debate I and a lot of top well known players (who are they again?) are supporting Smoke Assault on F2, so we must be right”. Then you say “The End.”

lol.

Tragic Positive.9356:

…
- synergy with Signet of Renewal and Empathic Bond
…

(I’ll leave PvE skipping out because Rangers are terrible atit due to pet. You really need to have a dedicated stealther that can save the group in case you catch combat)

Never thought of the EB/SoR synergy, that is pretty nice actually, either way.

Perma tonics are available cheaply, to skip a Ranger should have one at all times.

I really like the current way it is. Please do not change it back. It is perfect now.

kevvy.5081:

Tragic Positive.9356:

EDIT:
if they went for real reasons why to bring the Field Back I would definitely go with this:
“We need a pet with on-demand damage mitigation for pet-tanking options”
Yes – that is an amazing argument that clearly shows how having field on F2 is more useful because it gives something that Assault does not.

After a good night sleep, I can see there’s no point to being hotheaded, so I apologize to you and others if I made a huge wall of text that may have not been needed.

Having the field for mitigation purposes is also something I want as on demand under my control. Not In PvE or PvP but in WvW where I spend the rest of my time in. Assault has good 2 sec which is immediate, but the field lasts 5 sec although it would be most effective if the enemy or the smokescale doesn’t go outside of it.
Both sides have merit of course. But because I have further reasons as explained in posts before than that for the smoke field, that is what I want for my F2.

Smoke field in PvE and WvW have great uses, even if it means having me press K, swap pets, F2 and swap pets again. That’s not too hard for me and is a complete workable tool that’s not too hard to put off like it sounds.
Counter argument would be, why don’t I come in with my fully geared Thief or Engineer? Well, Ranger is my main atm. If I didn’t have smoke field, I’m still not going to change to Thief or Engineer for the sake of it if there are other Thief/Engis in the group I’m hanging out with. But if I did have a choice to apply that smoke field through my Ranger, even if there was a Thief/Engi, I can help augment any down time the Thief/Engi might experience because that is always possible. Having the option to provide a smoke field when no body has it or as a supplementary addition to what the group has, that is something I would love to be able to do.

If the group I’m with could really use some smoke fields and no one was a Thief or Engineer? I will swap of to one of mine because even if smokescale had smoke field as F2, the others do a better job of it, I won’t argue that because that’s the truth. Smoke fields in general are hugely desired over mesmer’s Veil and it would be a great option to have for the Ranger. Not because I value smoke field and would like Ranger to be able to perform as well as a Thief, but because I love playing Ranger and would like to be able to have the option to have a smoke field under my resume. That’s a completely selfless legit thing to want as a Ranger.

Tragic was trying to say s/he enjoys blobbing, open world events in zergs, and karma train nothing wrong with that, but that’s why s/he thinks on the way s/he does. I totally understand him/her. Nothing matters in this type of things except DPS and dmg on demand when it doesn’t matter when to release just to deal dmg . Now i see the clear picture.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Perma tonics are available cheaply, to skip a Ranger should have one at all times.

Any self-respecting player – let alone a ranger – should have the Endless Mystery Cat Tonic. It turns you into a random cat. Random cat. That’s you now. A random cat. That can stand on its hind legs to scratch with its front claws. Or pounce. Or take a cute pose and pop pink love hearts. It’s, like, the best item ever in the history of RPGs, and i include pen and paper. For crying out loud, people are gushing now about a tiger pet, but i was already using my tonic to be the tiger pet of my ranger guildies. Ha!

If you don’t have the Endless Mystery Cat Tonic, you disgust me.

Firelysm.4967:

…
Now i see the clear picture.

You always did.

For the general population smoke assault on F2 is the better decision. For top tier PvP either is situational. It is a real shame we can’t control every pet skill.

Eurantien.4632:

For the general population smoke assault on F2 is the better decision. For top tier PvP either is situational. It is a real shame we can’t control every pet skill.

Exactly opposite, F2 smoke field you meant to say, while majority even expressed that in poll.

Firelysm.4967:

Eurantien.4632:

For the general population smoke assault on F2 is the better decision. For top tier PvP either is situational. It is a real shame we can’t control every pet skill.

Exactly opposite, F2 smoke field you meant to say, while majority even expressed that in poll.

He meant to say exactly what he said , and Eura is actually the creator of this thread and top level PvP player, So this coming from him says a lot.

If I were a complete casual that didn’t care about fields. I would prefer F2 as smoke assault. 366 comments =/= 7 million of the accounts that are out there.

I would prefer smoke cloud on F2 because the pros/cons of the F2s I think smoke cloud has more pros. The dream, and preferred quality of life, is to not JUST control these “3rd pet skills” through skill cancelling but to be able to control them through the push of a button! I just don’t see how it isn’t a quality of life issue. We wouldn’t have these problems. We wouldn’t have to cancel tail swipes, or canine knockdowns, or bird swiftness.

This thread is a great example of why we should have this control.

Eurantien.4632:

If I were a complete casual that didn’t care about fields. I would prefer F2 as smoke assault. 366 comments =/= 7 million of the accounts that are out there.

I would prefer smoke cloud on F2 because the pros/cons of the F2s I think smoke cloud has more pros. The dream, and preferred quality of life, is to not JUST control these “3rd pet skills” through skill cancelling but to be able to control them through the push of a button! I just don’t see how it isn’t a quality of life issue. We wouldn’t have these problems. We wouldn’t have to cancel tail swipes, or canine knockdowns, or bird swiftness.

This thread is a great example of why we should have this control.

We absolutely should have control over which of our pet’s skills is useable as the f2. We should also be able to turn off skills from our pets’ skill sets. Until then, however, I would prefer to err on the side of utility skills on the f2, and DPS skills as AI-controlled.

That’s weird, why would they make the smoke be a random attack that it does.

Doesn’t make sense.

LughLongArm.5460:

He meant to say exactly what he said , and Eura is actually the creator of this thread and top level PvP player, So this coming from him says a lot.

Actually, he is making a point about this:

Eurantien.4632:

This pet was amazing. Was its damage too high? Yes. But what is it that really made this pet good? The smoke field. So, by nerfing the damage by 50% (which, I can live with) AND removing the ability to call on the smokefield when needed is asinine. Smoke field should, without a doubt, be the F2 for this pet.

For the general population, maybe Smoke Assault is better. But for those of us in the know about our rangers and druids, we understand why the ability to choose Smoke Screen is better in a pinch.

As Terminal suggests, having the pet randomly stop attacking to drop Smoke Screen doesn’t make sense . . . especially when you can have Smoke Assault all the time on a shorter cooldown.

Hopefully, this will be addressed and fixed soon.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Hopefully, this will be addressed and fixed soon.

And then only 9 other pet families to go.
… Yay.

I’m just wondering why can’t we really have the pet management we need. Neither of these discussions or problems or lack of PvP representation or PvE hate would be that bad if AI didn’t ruin our life so much.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Hopefully, this will be addressed and fixed soon.

And then only 9 other pet families to go.
… Yay.

I’m just wondering why can’t we really have the pet management we need. Neither of these discussions or problems or lack of PvP representation or PvE hate would be that bad if AI didn’t ruin our life so much.

And the ridiculous excuse of being confusing to newer players will not stand either, they can just add AA toggles to the pet skills, so if people want to control them, they can just toggle the AA bind a key to it.

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

You guys are crazy. I see daily complaints about pets being worthless… we FINALLY get a solid f2 burst that can be used very reliably, and now you want them to switch it to a fairly worthless smokefield? Seriously now.

Please don’t change it, the smokescale and bristleback is one of best things to happen to the ranger.

naediian.8569:

You guys are crazy. I see daily complaints about pets being worthless… we FINALLY get a solid f2 burst that can be used very reliably, and now you want them to switch it to a fairly worthless smokefield? Seriously now.

Please don’t change it, the smokescale and bristleback is one of best things to happen to the ranger.

But you wont lose the burst damage. The smokefield is only useless if you don’t know how to use it. Besides autocasting the smokefield is a dps loss and a liability in organized groups.

Nothing’s changing, folks.

Not the Smokescale F2. Not the Lingering Light overkill.

Nothing.

Unless they find something else we have that’s useful.

kzar.3079:

naediian.8569:

You guys are crazy. I see daily complaints about pets being worthless… we FINALLY get a solid f2 burst that can be used very reliably, and now you want them to switch it to a fairly worthless smokefield? Seriously now.

Please don’t change it, the smokescale and bristleback is one of best things to happen to the ranger.

But you wont lose the burst damage. The smokefield is only useless if you don’t know how to use it. Besides autocasting the smokefield is a dps loss and a liability in organized groups.

Don’t even try. At least he’s not using a brown bear anymore.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

kzar.3079:

naediian.8569:

You guys are crazy. I see daily complaints about pets being worthless… we FINALLY get a solid f2 burst that can be used very reliably, and now you want them to switch it to a fairly worthless smokefield? Seriously now.

Please don’t change it, the smokescale and bristleback is one of best things to happen to the ranger.

But you wont lose the burst damage. The smokefield is only useless if you don’t know how to use it. Besides autocasting the smokefield is a dps loss and a liability in organized groups.

Don’t even try. At least he’s not using a brown bear anymore.

You sound like a real nice guy.

Back to the topic on hand… you wouldn’t lose overall damage (assuming they don’t nerf it again) but you would lose the ability to use that damage on demand. I’ve seen the use cases, including the videos posted, and its not worth losing one of the best abilities for reliable on demand pet damage.

naediian.8569:

Back to the topic on hand… you wouldn’t lose overall damage (assuming they don’t nerf it again) but you would lose the ability to use that damage on demand. I’ve seen the use cases, including the videos posted, and its not worth losing one of the best abilities for reliable on demand pet damage.

It’s a DPS loss because right now the smokescale is casting a useless AI smoke field when you want it to be attacking. If smoke field is the F2, that’s the highest possible DPS because smoke assault will be used on recharge, plus you turn a useless skill into an amazing skill. It’s a win win for everyone.

naediian.8569:

You guys are crazy. I see daily complaints about pets being worthless… we FINALLY get a solid f2 burst that can be used very reliably, and now you want them to switch it to a fairly worthless smokefield? Seriously now.

Please don’t change it, the smokescale and bristleback is one of best things to happen to the ranger.

Smoke field is not useless. It’s situational. Just for the correctness.
Just like the F2 burst. You will not lose anything regardless of your F2 and you can still use both abilities. The difference is the amount of situations you can make use of the “on demand” where smoke field outperforms assault.

If we are talking about efficiency – I have no idea. I’m currently playing around the burst it offers – since I have no choice. If they swap it back – I’ll be using the utility a smoke field offers. That’s just how it goes.

“General Bug Fixing, Polish, Balance, Performance, Etc.

As we continue to monitor Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ on live, we’ll keep pushing out bug fixes and polish and performance updates. We’ve reached a point where these will come bundled together in larger, less frequent updates as we prepare for the activation of additional expansion features. We’ll also be releasing limited balance updates to fix really key game-breaking issues. Once every quarter, we’ll release a new, major balance update to shake up the meta for the next quarter."ú

This is from the blog post, aka nothing will change for a LONG while

Sina.9208:

“General Bug Fixing, Polish, Balance, Performance, Etc.

As we continue to monitor Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ on live, we’ll keep pushing out bug fixes and polish and performance updates. We’ve reached a point where these will come bundled together in larger, less frequent updates as we prepare for the activation of additional expansion features. We’ll also be releasing limited balance updates to fix really key game-breaking issues. Once every quarter, we’ll release a new, major balance update to shake up the meta for the next quarter."ú

This is from the blog post, aka nothing will change for a LONG while

Sadly, you’re correct.

Unless it’s to nerf something we have that’s useful.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Can you even see past your own nose?

Or do I need to dumb down the reasons (AGAIN) why the smokescale change was inexplicably stupid?

I am against this because reverting it means that Smoke assault will be nerfed more.

oshilator.4681:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Can you even see past your own nose?

Or do I need to dumb down the reasons (AGAIN) why the smokescale change was inexplicably stupid?

the more you wear out your soft little finger pads, the better for me I guess. it’s obvious that me, and many others, don’t agree with you. so we’re just wasting our time deliberating. obviously the best solution is that our prof gets to select the smokescale variant.

runeblade.7514:

I am against this because reverting it means that Smoke assault will be nerfed more.

and this pretty much. at least right now we have a solid burst and on-demand might stacking available to us. it’s the extra oomph that rangers (condi and power) always needed offensively.

mistsim.2748:

oshilator.4681:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Can you even see past your own nose?

Or do I need to dumb down the reasons (AGAIN) why the smokescale change was inexplicably stupid?

the more you wear out your soft little finger pads, the better for me I guess. it’s obvious that me, and many others, don’t agree with you. so we’re just wasting our time deliberating. obviously the best solution is that our prof gets to select the smokescale variant.

Ah, that’d be a “No” to my first question, then.

And from what I’ve seen, the majority of folks here want the change reverted.

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Could say the same thing to you. Want DPS and shadowstep to your dying target to down them? Just get a Thief. Why play Ranger for that?

I am totally for additional pet control.

Give us 2 controlled pet attacks. Also they could always just allow people to rightclick the f2 to toggle autocast if they cannot handle it manually.

The ironic thing is that having only ONE controllable petskill makes it much HARDER to handle for people seriously playing ranger since you have to constantly cancel pet stuff to make them somwhat useful.

Sina.9208:

“General Bug Fixing, Polish, Balance, Performance, Etc.

As we continue to monitor Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ on live, we’ll keep pushing out bug fixes and polish and performance updates. We’ve reached a point where these will come bundled together in larger, less frequent updates as we prepare for the activation of additional expansion features. We’ll also be releasing limited balance updates to fix really key game-breaking issues. Once every quarter, we’ll release a new, major balance update to shake up the meta for the next quarter."ú

This is from the blog post, aka nothing will change for a LONG while

Sadly, I think the ranger/druid community expected this. But at least they stopped with the day-to-day nerfs.

Edit:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

This is not helpful nor constructive to the discussion. Please keep it civil.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Sina.9208:

“General Bug Fixing, Polish, Balance, Performance, Etc.

As we continue to monitor Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ on live, we’ll keep pushing out bug fixes and polish and performance updates. We’ve reached a point where these will come bundled together in larger, less frequent updates as we prepare for the activation of additional expansion features. We’ll also be releasing limited balance updates to fix really key game-breaking issues. Once every quarter, we’ll release a new, major balance update to shake up the meta for the next quarter."ú

This is from the blog post, aka nothing will change for a LONG while

Sadly, I think the ranger/druid community expected this. But at least they stopped with the day-to-day nerfs.

For now.

True.

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Because I like Ranger more? Stealth is already an established ‘thing’ for Ranger, too.

kevvy.5081:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Could say the same thing to you. Want DPS and shadowstep to your dying target to down them? Just get a Thief. Why play Ranger for that?

Yup, want burst? Play thief. Or Revenant. Can do this all day.

kevvy.5081:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Could say the same thing to you. Want DPS and shadowstep to your dying target to down them? Just get a Thief. Why play Ranger for that?

the Smoke Assault F2 is just more user-friendly. druids right now don’t need more utility. they need more damage if anything.

mistsim.2748:

kevvy.5081:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Could say the same thing to you. Want DPS and shadowstep to your dying target to down them? Just get a Thief. Why play Ranger for that?

the Smoke Assault F2 is just more user-friendly. druids right now don’t need more utility. they need more damage if anything.

I’m beginning to doubt you’ve even played Druid.

oshilator.4681:

mistsim.2748:

kevvy.5081:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Could say the same thing to you. Want DPS and shadowstep to your dying target to down them? Just get a Thief. Why play Ranger for that?

the Smoke Assault F2 is just more user-friendly. druids right now don’t need more utility. they need more damage if anything.

I’m beginning to doubt you’ve even played Druid.

Not being a brain-storming type doesn’t mean he wasn’t playing one.
… But you got a point. Druid is currently the best unique-DPS buffing aspect in the game.

Spotter (7,5% crit), Frost Spirit (7,5% Raw Damage), Glyph of Empowerment, CAF 15% boosting and out of CAF Verdant Etching glyph interaction (Heal + Empowerment).
And can bring 25 Vuln.

There’s nothing on par with it, yet. Argument of “druid needs more dps” is not really correct.
A PvP cleric BM is something completely different. That’s what I’m currently playing around where burst timing is crucial. That’s my preference.
If I had smoke field I’d be playing much more interesting hybrid s/wh + shortbow blinder. That would be amazing, I have to admit. It’s a pity I haven’t got to play it on live and on beta only.

Tragic Positive.9356:

oshilator.4681:

mistsim.2748:

kevvy.5081:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Could say the same thing to you. Want DPS and shadowstep to your dying target to down them? Just get a Thief. Why play Ranger for that?

the Smoke Assault F2 is just more user-friendly. druids right now don’t need more utility. they need more damage if anything.

I’m beginning to doubt you’ve even played Druid.

Not being a brain-storming type doesn’t mean he wasn’t playing one.
… But you got a point. Druid is currently the best unique-DPS buffing aspect in the game.

Spotter (7,5% crit), Frost Spirit (7,5% Raw Damage), Glyph of Empowerment, CAF 15% boosting and out of CAF Verdant Etching glyph interaction (Heal + Empowerment).
And can bring 25 Vuln.

There’s nothing on par with it, yet. Argument of “druid needs more dps” is not really correct.
A PvP cleric BM is something completely different. That’s what I’m currently playing around where burst timing is crucial. That’s my preference.
If I had smoke field I’d be playing much more interesting hybrid s/wh + shortbow blinder. That would be amazing, I have to admit. It’s a pity I haven’t got to play it on live and on beta only.

And that’s the whole point. The smokefield being on the F2 brings a lot more options to the table.

oshilator.4681:

Tragic Positive.9356:

oshilator.4681:

mistsim.2748:

kevvy.5081:

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

This is the main reason I wanted Smoke Cloud on the F2.

why? just get a thief.

Could say the same thing to you. Want DPS and shadowstep to your dying target to down them? Just get a Thief. Why play Ranger for that?

the Smoke Assault F2 is just more user-friendly. druids right now don’t need more utility. they need more damage if anything.

I’m beginning to doubt you’ve even played Druid.

Not being a brain-storming type doesn’t mean he wasn’t playing one.
… But you got a point. Druid is currently the best unique-DPS buffing aspect in the game.

Spotter (7,5% crit), Frost Spirit (7,5% Raw Damage), Glyph of Empowerment, CAF 15% boosting and out of CAF Verdant Etching glyph interaction (Heal + Empowerment).
And can bring 25 Vuln.

There’s nothing on par with it, yet. Argument of “druid needs more dps” is not really correct.
A PvP cleric BM is something completely different. That’s what I’m currently playing around where burst timing is crucial. That’s my preference.
If I had smoke field I’d be playing much more interesting hybrid s/wh + shortbow blinder. That would be amazing, I have to admit. It’s a pity I haven’t got to play it on live and on beta only.

And that’s the whole point. The smokefield being on the F2 brings a lot more options to the table.

And trade it for the burst? I rather give up those worthless options.

mistsim.2748:

the Smoke Assault F2 is just more user-friendly. druids right now don’t need more utility. they need more damage if anything.

I won’t argue that it’s more easier to control by larger Ranger audience compared to having smoke field as F2, which mostly supplements outside battle use and requires combo finishers to make use of. (warning: another wall of text.. sorry)

I mean, Druid could use more DPS. Druids could also use more utilities. Of the two, I have to admit DPS is something I always have felt lacking for my Ranger to be on par with other professions. Barring perfect successfully hitting attacks by both me and the pet on a still standing enemy, my DPS tests on moving golems in HotM showed quite a big gap between moving and immobile golems, more than I can be comfortable with. And smokescale’s Assault is… second to none compared to any other pets skill to connect 100% to a moving target, be it active or passive.

Smoke Assault makes smokescale one of a kind. I can understand that not having it would be a terrible blow for a lot of the Rangers. Thankfully, Irenio may or may not change the numbers, but in the end, active as F2 or passive – we will have Smoke Assault for smokescale. It will still perform Smoke Assault at the start of the battle and whenever it is off cooldown. As a passive, Ranger players will loose the on demand use to finish off a staggering enemy to down them. Arguably, others could say ‘you can just camp another pet and switch to smokescale once you feel the need to spike an enemy down so it will use it’s smoke assault as passive skill since it will fire off first.’

On the other hand Smoke Cloud makes smokescale one of a kind too.
1) We can supplement(not replace Thief/Engi/Mesmers) smoke field for group stealth for whenever there is no better stealth applicators in the group outside of battle.
2) We can use smoke field for the smokescale when it’s taking heavy hits to mitigate both damage and conditions in battle.
In battle I can use it for projectile blinds, but it’s not something I will actually use it for to be honest.
Only reason to blast smoke field in battle will be to res a downed player like a Thief can do in a very time wasting kind of way, so that’s a no positive.
In verdict for smoke cloud, use for battle is to mitigate damage/conditions and nothing else. Use outside battle is for group stealthing assuming there’s no one better for it.

Now the additional problem is, Smoke Cloud as passive is very undesirable as spoken loudly in this thread. Having smokescale use Smoke Cloud at the beginning of the battle and every time it goes off cd is very annoying, further frustrating our already existent issue of pets not being able to attack a moving target well and wasting 2 seconds(1sec cast and has 1sec after cast from my test) every time it does that. Unlike smoke assault, smoke cloud has a very undesirable side effect under the pet’s AI care. Most importantly however, smoke cloud as passive skill prevents the Ranger from being able to use the smoke field whenever they want. To sum up, smoke cloud as passive in battle has absolutely no use at all. Having the pet use smoke cloud whenever and not when it needs to mitigate damage is a very incorrect use of the skill. I think this is a big issue.

So that’s why I think all things considered, Smoke Cloud will be better for F2. I seriously doubt Anet will finally allow us the use of broader pet skill control any time soon so with that in consideration, in competition of Smoke Assault and Smoke cloud for F2, I think Smoke Cloud has better reasons to be in F2.
For those that want Smoke Assault as on demand, you would still be able to ‘control’ it by camping a feline or whatever pet, then switching to smokescale in the decisive moment. I think that will work for both camps.

Question! Why does the Smoke Assault need to do less damage if it swaps back with the Smoke field? Wasn’t is already nerfed by 50%?

Oh and I support the field on F2.

Draeyon.4392:

Question! Why does the Smoke Assault need to do less damage if it swaps back with the Smoke field? Wasn’t is already nerfed by 50%?

Oh and I support the field on F2.

Because people are still whining about its damage in PvP even post-nerf (mainly due to the easy mode might stacking which will end up being nerfed anyway).
I guess that mentioning a possible swap back to smoke field represented a good way for ANet to justify another nerf (we give you this back, but we have to take that in return).

Still, smoke field was a better F2.
Automatic overlapping smoke field is an awful design decision.

Just going to leave this here, in case anyone has not voted yet

Smokescale F2 preference Poll

LughLongArm.5460:

Firelysm.4967:

Eurantien.4632:

For the general population smoke assault on F2 is the better decision. For top tier PvP either is situational. It is a real shame we can’t control every pet skill.

Exactly opposite, F2 smoke field you meant to say, while majority even expressed that in poll.

He meant to say exactly what he said , and Eura is actually the creator of this thread and top level PvP player, So this coming from him says a lot.

Hi my friend, i couldn’t care less who he is:)
And he said something that did not meet the data that is shown in F2 changes poll, and did not meet the suggestion of people that were actually playing pvp with me or against me. So where is that “general population”, your personal opinion? That’s not general population and it doesn’t matter who you are ROFL.

It’s pointless to argue with clueless people Every one that knows what’s up with Smoke & assault changes can only laugh in comments like this.

“If he’s that person, he’s probably right..”
Most stupid kitten you can read on forum.