Guild Wars 2

How exactly would this change cause them to ignore other things? If this were the case I would agree with you, but I don’t imagine it would be very difficult at all to grant finisher status to these existing skills.

In any case, your opinion is noted.

This has nothing to do with the many other problems Rangers have, which should definitely be address, nor anything opened up by HoT. As I said, this is just a simple and easy way to add value to legacy pets, and grant a Blast finisher to ANY Ranger irrespective of their weapon loadout or trait setup. I can’t think of any reason not to do this.

Another thing that should be taking into consideration is Piercing when in a multi-target context. Ranger has the advantage in this case compared to DH.

So it occurs to me that a simple way to buff pets and add value would be to make all Pet F2 skills which are also vocalizations function as blast finishers, much like the Warhorn 5 skill. This would mean that any Roar, Screech, Howl etc would thus be a Blast.

This would be an easy way to give a very slight bit of love to Rangers, and may also cause some people to use pets they otherwise would not, which are currently rarely if every slotted.

You know what? You’re absolutely right, it does function as a Ranged projectile-based AoE. I stand corrected!

Wondrouswall.7169:

Anthrage.2519:

As a MH Axe user, I’d have to say no to making Winter’s Bite an AoE skill by default – this would reduce it’s range, and a 900-unit range movement speed debuff

I call call skritt kitten on this one. I don’t see how it reduces the range of Winter’s Bite at all. The trait just makes it explode on impact and doesn’t even change the physics of the projectile (meaning it can still land on targets beyond the indicated 900 range).

As a MH Axe user, I’d have to say no to making Winter’s Bite an AoE skill by default – this would reduce it’s range, and a 900-unit range movement speed debuff has helped me catch someone more than once.

I DO have a messing-around build that uses the AoE version of Winter’s Bite, and you’re not catching anyone with that AoE.

So you have no issues with uptime and their condition cleanse? That was the thinking.

Personally, I do not use Warhorn in anything other than build focused on buff uptime or for when I am traveling long distances and not expecting contact. If Skill 4 added a secondary effect I might reconsider, but for me it is not worth the slot otherwise.

Interesting, though in a poison-focused build, it’s a bit odd that you are not using Viper’s Nest, Sigil of Doom or any pets with a poison attack. I assume you went Spike for the knockdown, but I would definitely consider Doom over Geomancy.

Looks like it would be a bit too easily killed, but if you’re on top of your evades, perhaps not. One suggestion – in Skirmishing you have Strider’s Defense chosen, which with your build, gives you nothing. I would suggest going with Spotter instead – this gives you 7% greater Crit chance, which is more in line with your build.

This guide should allow you to find what you’re looking for.

I have to agree regarding running 3 traps in sPvP. I’ve been a Trapper since day one, but even I only run 2 in PvP. This is the build I run currently – Enderz I don’t know how you manage with only 14kHP man – and I have no difficulty in high-level sPvP.

I personally advise against the user of Trapper runes in conquest mode – if you are contesting a point, use of any trap, including the heal, will cause you to no longer contest…leaving you either kitten in such a fight, or losing the point. Krait adds Torment, Poison and more Bleeding to Entangle, which is MUCH easier to actually land since the Knockdown was added to Spike Trap. It’s on a short 60s timer, that can be traited even lower to 48 seconds, if you give up Poison Master in favor of Wilderness Knowledge, with the added bonus of more condition removal.

Spike trap definitely. Beyond the already-mentioned points, you can control it more precisely – Spike Trap’s knockdown adds great value to other traps, or something like Entangle, improving damage output overall.

Ah, seems this is due to the reclassification of this as a trap, requires one to be injured to trigger regen.

I just noticed that the Regeneration portion of Healing Spring is not being applied. Don’t remember it not working, is this a new bug?

I definitely agree about the visuals, both for placed traps and triggered ones.

Also agree that Frost Trap is very low value and I’m sure the metrics show it is rarely used. An effect on trigger aside from the Chill would be good. This trap was modified in September, with an increase in duration from 3 to 4 seconds, but it’s not nearly enough in terms of a buff. I’d suggest a Stun effect – much like how Spike gained the Knockdown effect.

I seem to recall we used to have something where a Spike Trap was laid down either when we were reviving someone or when we were downed, would like to see this return as well.

sPvP should definitely have a map with no secondary mechanics or gimmicks…3 years in, it’s almost impossible to believe that such a map has not been added, but very easy to believe when you consider the new map they HAVE added, Stronghold, and what they did to the BLs and WvW.

The degree to which ANet does certain things well is amazing, but it is neutralized by the incredible extent to which they fail in other areas. Even worse, it’s not rocket science. Very puzzling and extremely disappointing.

This is one of those cases where the exception to the rule is so much counter to it that it’s impossible for someone who hasn’t seen that exception in action to believe or accept it. The treb can be effective and worth devoting someone to, but only if that someone not only knows HOW to use it, but WHEN to NOT use it. They also need to be able to easily kill anything that gets sent to it – a big part of it’s value is having the other team waste time and resources countering it – and be mobile enough to cap when appropriate.

It’s very true that someone using treb who shouldn’t is the cause of a loss….but it’s also true that someone who should be using treb is THE reason a team wins. This is especially true with the current meta.

Good point about Spike Trap, adding the launch/knockdown to it added so much value to other abilities – executing it from LB3 stealth and landing Entangle when they are on their kitten , especially if using the Krait rune, is very effective.

1v1 a Trapper Ranger should beat the DH every time if they are properly slotted and paying attention. In larger fights, it becomes a bit more difficult to do since countering the DH requires all of your focus allowing anyone else to take advantage of that and end you.

The difference in the second scenario depends on what the rest of your team, and the rest of theirs, are doing. In my opinion, and having played an LB/Axe/Torch Condition-Based Trapper since beta, it’s an informed one.

I also play a condition-based Ranger, running traps and longbow, and I don’t typically have an issue with Revs – it is true that they can catch you in a bad situation and get you down, but generally it doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue. Stealth definitely helps.

I’ve always found Ranger to be a highly versatile, jack of all trades, master of none type of class. I agree that it’s a very playstyle-dependent class, in that if you find a particular build that suits your playstyle, you can ‘box above your weight class’. With Ranger you can also find a build that works well in all areas of gameplay, with minor changes.

Obviously a lot of work put into this, but after taking a careful look at all the details, I’m not sure it’s clear how this new system would prevent the current issues from continuing, or not cause new problems to arise.

I’d like to hear how specifically this would be preferable or better – what issues are being addressed and how exactly is it believed that will occur. For example, the system does not seem to prevent in any way the problem of overcrowding, nor that of under-populated ‘battle spaces’.

Check the timestamps, your post was not present when I replied.

In any case, ballistae should not damage walls in my opinion, even if the damage amount is minimal – it’s supposed to be anti-siege and anti-personnel.

Draygo.9473:

I told you, its not a bug. Its intended and its been that way.

It was a wall, and I did report it. Does not answer my question however.

Saw SoS using a ballista to damage a tower’s walls today…since when do ballista do damage to walls? Is this a change by Anet or a bug?

As a Longbow-using Ranger, believe me, I’m all-too familiar with Obstruction. It’s just another ANet failing Rangers need to mitigate with their play and positioning – sucks, but can be done to a degree.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Anthrage.2519:

I feel there is still a role for roamers in WvW, though it has changed somewhat, and find that Ranger continues to be a good platform for it. With the increase in actual choke-points with these (horrible) new BL maps, certain Ranger builds have new utility.

Might be true if 75% of their shots weren’t being obstructed by the air in the new bl. On the other hand they are able to shoot through walls half the time now so I guess it balances out…

I feel there is still a role for roamers in WvW, though it has changed somewhat, and find that Ranger continues to be a good platform for it. With the increase in actual choke-points with these (horrible) new BL maps, certain Ranger builds have new utility.

I’m definitely not happy with many of the changes ANet has made with HoT in the WvW context, especially the BL maps themselves, but I do feel the so-called auto-upgrading is one of the good things they have done.

Specifically the idea that there is nothing for roamers to do…this is hugely untrue. For starters, the importance of yaks. Some feel the fact that upgrades are now based on a timer makes protecting or killing yaks pointless, but I feel the opposite is true. Every yak safely escorted to it’s destination reduces the upgrade timer by 5 minutes. This may seem like a minor thing, but when you consider the rate at which yaks leave, and the fact that each assets gets 2 or 4 yaks, it has an impact fairly quickly.

Look at it this way. We’ve gone from a system where killing yaks was only important if the enemy was actively using their supply to queue upgrades, and the right upgrades on top of that, to one where killing yaks is the only thing you can do to slow or stop inevitable upgrades…believe me, the person who makes sure those yaks get in to complete and upgrade and repair walls or gates actively being attacked, or who kills yaks and prevents on from being completely and undoing your hard work, is a very import and appreciated person indeed.

Camps are also more important for roamers to stay on top of. Preventing upgrades is something roamers had far less control over in the past – now, not only can they contribute but they can be the deciding factor. With travel time across the map generally being longer, those roaming players are vital for getting the little things done when they need to be done.

The number of those things has increased. Sentries have real tactical value now, both in terms of their impact on yaks/upgrades and intel. Shrines are extremely important to stay on top of, especially on the western side of the map – many a failed assault or defense has ultimately come down to a timely shrine flip. Then we have the renewed focus on defense. Defending a fixed position may not seem like something which falls in the roaming category, but actively building and ticking siege, patrolling around the various assets with their greater size making them more difficult to sentry…these are important, and again because of the greater travel time involved, are best done by people in the field, not a zerg deploying from spawn.

I find there is a lot wrong with HoT when it comes to WvW, but auto-upgrades and it’s impact on roaming is not one of those things in my opinion.

Been running Wolf/Lynx for ages now and still considering it the best of the options we have. CC on command is something you simply cannot responsibly pass up in PvP.

Agreed. They took away the ranged nature of Ranger traps by saying they acted more like ranged-AoEs…DH traps are more like nukes. This is very inconsistent and unbalanced design in my opinion.

I’m not finding the nerf too bad. Definitely an adjustment, but I had an especially good day yesterday – won a 1v2+full camp of NPCs and a 1v3 – I don’t think the nerf was necessary, but I can live with it.

Yeah I still it them in WvW – 3 traps (most of the time) and Dire.

The only reason I can think of not to use it, is to prevent an issue I’ve had come up a few times recently, when fighting in a contested circle/ring. When you stealth, you no longer count as present in the circle, so if the enemy was in the process of capping, it will continue. If you’re not careful, even if you’re winning the fight, the camp will flip and you’ll suddenly find yourself surrounded by guards.

As an alternative, there is Superior Rune of the Krait , which is what I use in sPvP. When used with the short-cooldown Entangle and the other traps, I find this to be a reasonably effective option.

FA has definitely been bringing it lately, T2, issues relating to HoT and the new BL maps aside, has been a lot of fun.

I’m using my standard Ranger LB/Ace/Torch Trapper Build. Run to the Supervisor, set pet to attack, then stealth with LB3. All NPCs cluster on the pet (wolf), Drop Entangle, Healing Spring, Spike, Viper’s Nest and Flame Trap, Throw Torch on Supervisor, drop Fire Field, keep dropping as needed. Use stealth from traps/CC from LB as needed if you get in trouble. Dire gear, reasonably fast camp flips. Upgraded camps can be done in two sets without trouble.

When you are standing close to the lava canals in the new keep, even though neither you nor your pet are in the lava, your pet takes continuous damage. How this got through testing I have no idea – then again, they missed the uncontested WP in the spawn tower, enemy can port in…geez…but this needs to be fixed. We Rangers have enough problems, thank-you very much!

You know that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Commercial? The whole, ‘you got your chocolate in my peanut butter, and you got your peanut butter on my chocolate?’:

https://youtu.be/O7oD_oX-Gio

Well, ANet got their PvE chocolate in our WvW peanut butter. That doesn’t mean chocolate is bad, I like some chocolate once in a while…but not on my peanut butter toast. The HoT PvE and general open world changes, the new PvE maps, are theor typical excellent work, some truly amazing design…but the WvW BL maps, are as damaging to WvW as anything I could imagine an exploiting player could do. Like the maps or not, I don’t think even those who think they are well done would say they have improved WvW.

No-one does needless gimmicky fluff better than ANet. Just like in life, there are times when that’s exactly what you need. Play in a PvP environment is NOT one of those times.

These maps have vastly reduced flow, longer travel time, they’ve completely killed the long sightlines, fortifications like towers are so large that a cat could be hitting one side and not only can you not hear it but it takes forever to run the perimeter, there is WAY too much PvE content, too many NPCs/mobs, far too much jumping-puzzle/fractal/Stormhammer-type elements…I am honestly astounded that the stats they must have on the gameplay types/game modes and which players spend their time in what supported this crossover content. I would NO be astounded to find out it doesn’t support that and they just did it anyway.

The WP bug – one of many – should never have made it’s way out of testing. I noticed it early in my first session. ANet does a lot of things well, in the MMO context, they are arguably the best at some things. Others however, as this new BL map is showing us, they are clearly and literally, the worst.

I came back to GW2 for it’s PvP…I pre-ordered HoT as a show of faith. That has proven to be a mistake, as was their mixing of game modes. Lets hope ANet does not compound that mistake by ignoring what it’s players are saying, what I have no doubt the numbers will say, as regards these BL maps. It’s obviously the result of a lot of work, and I see zero chance they will revert to the old maps…but leaving these new ones as they are right now, in their current form, is unacceptable madness.

How did this bug not get caught in testing? I noticed it in the first session…

They told us what to expect with the name of this expansion, Heart of Thorns. The new Borderlands maps are a twisted, painful and unpleasant experience, like walking through a one I am extremely saddened but not surprised to see ANet burden it’s customers with.

I pre-ordered GW2, took part in the betas and played the game solidly for a year after release. After that however, the many unaddressed issues and questionable design decisions led me to spent my time and money elsewhere. I picked up GW2 again recently and pre-ordered HoT, with hope that they would have learned a few things in the interim, but as much as I appreciate their effort and skill in some areas, the lack in others makes me regret spending the money on the expansion and feel remorse at how little time I will likely spend now in my favorite part of the game, WvW.

I won’t belabor the point too much as it’s pretty clear from the posts I’ve been seeing that many people share my opinion – but the new BL maps have far too much in the way of PvE elements, the map design has destroyed all natural flow, the number of gimmicks and secondary mechanics has exploded, with the overall result being an inelegant, ugly mess. It wasn’t enough putting WvW and PvE elements into sPvP, now we’ve got more PvE, fractal and jumping puzzle gameplay in WvW. To call it awful would be too kind.

I’ll summarize my take on why ANet misses the mark all too often with these two basic examples. The give us the ability to upgrade a supply camp with guard escorts, which are largely useless. To make things worse, on the West side of the old BL maps, the place mobs in a location where every single time the yak and it’s guards walk by, the guards are pulled away from the yak to the mobs. Relocating the mob or mobs a short distance would have addressed this, but to my horror if not surprise, coming back to the game over a year later, this oversight was not correct.

In the new BL maps, the number of guards at the supply camps has been increased. At the East camp, I killed the supervisor and a set of guards, and was able to stand in the capture circle with FIVE unkilled guards, standing inches outside and around the circle, doing absolutely nothing while I stood inside it capturing the camp.

These clearly undesirable, and dare I say stupid occurrences, are to me at least, evidence of a lack of either attention to detail, proper play-testing or both. You cannot have escorted a single yak in the former case and remarked on the guards getting dragged off every time, or have captured the camp in the latter case and been dumbfounded at the large number of guards just standing there.

If these are too subtle for you, being able to port into your native tower, using the WP, even when it is under hostile control, is a more blatant example It’s just…sloppy. Not right. Wrong.

I don’t know what they were thinking with many of these oversights, design decisions and game-play changes. ANet does some things in this MMO context better than anyone else…but many many others, are horrible, and seemingly stubbornly so, for no good reason I can fathom.

I was extremely excited for enhancements to WvW…this is not what I was hoping for.

Excellent post, I couldn’t agree more. I run Axe/Torch and LB as well in both WvW (Trapper Runes) and sPvP (Krait), with Flame, Viper’s Nest and Spike in WvW, and Signet of the Wild, Viper’s Nest and Spike n sPvP. Entangle and Healing Spring in both cases. Wolf Pet in both, Forest Spider in WvW and Lynx in sPvP. The stats in the build are not quite correct for some reason, but they are close.

With the buffs and additional effects from the Trait setup and so on, I find this build to be very effective in terms of point-control, group damage and soloing. The latter is true only in certain cases of course, some ‘rocks’ out there will smash this ‘scissors’. The CC and huge number of conditions it can put it makes it a very solid, tactical and fun build to play.

Most importantly, it suits my playstyle. I think this is the one factor too many people overlook when putting a build together or worse, playing one someone else put together. Your ability to use your build effectively, to get the most out of it and indeed things someone else might NOT be able to get out of it, is a hugely important part of a build’s quality. In my view, a build, especially in WvW, is not necessarily about it’s strength or ability to kill etc, but to effect a decisive impact. That’s something I love about Rangers, if played properly.

Crapgame.6519:

I don’t believe the OP said what format of play. Having said that these come about every so often with similar results. Some hate them, some love them, some are middle ground, others say why bother. Note to everyone, not everyone rolls meta builds. Crazy as that may sound, it is true.

Trap runes are not viable in sPvP – they don’t exist.
They are in PvE and WvW.

PvE is mostly a zerk play ground today, and probably will come expansion. So, they are not really ideal.

WvW, they work. Most don’t like the way they work post June 23rd patch because you now have to set rather than toss in any direction. Me, it doesn’t matter which way they are, they work fine the way they are for most WvW formats. Solo, HAVOC, and even Zerg.

They give you stealth, speed, and CC. They allow you for the most part ways to reset the fight. Basic condition build focus. I run LB, Axe, and Torch because I like the range vs. some classes. SB also works if you want to spool up some quick bleed and in a small HAVOC group for those trying to disengage or run away. Spike trap is great. You typically are placing traps now to use has kiting tools or escape routes for you or you and your team. No more than using healing spring has a safe run-to spot for a quick regen.

Trap builds in WvW won’t put someone down as quick as a glass build. However, they do give you more survival. It really comes down to your comfort level and play style. For me, trapper runes and conditions are a good combo for what I do and don’t limit my ability to win vs. any classes if “I” play well.

So I’ve recently started playing GW2 again after a long absence in anticipation of HoT, and it’s been interesting to catch up on all the changes and additions. I have noticed many things that have not changed however, one of them being Nature’s Renewal.

With the addition of long-duration stealth being more readily available to rangers via traps and the appropriate rune, it is now much easier to get directly on a downed ally, so that you can place the Spirit right on top of it…but even so, even with no other downed allies around, very often Nature’s Renewal will not execute the revive – typically seen in the cases of NPCs.

Now and then it DOES work, which is great, but more often than not it doesn’t. My question for the devs is, what exactly are the factors involved, the mechanics, which govern whether a revive is successful or not? Is the failure a question of it being used incorrectly or is there more involved than the tooltip and skill details would suggest?

Thanks in advance for any illumination!

It’s my first day back, I’ll definitely by trying and testing various things, but in my hours of play last night it worked well. The longbow damage is only part of the equation, it’s main usage – both in WvW and sPvP, is for it’s non-damage utility. Now that arrows pierce, it’s damage in a group fight is not inconsequential.

Ultimately, it’s more about what best suits my playstyle, than what is best as a build.

Yes, I noticed that mistake after the post, the 2nd Sigil is of Fire, for the AoE on crit.

As for Frost Trap, it’s used in favor of a 2nd Fire field for it’s Chilling Effects and additional CC. Longbow is used for it’s utility in WvW/sPvP, with range being the desired advantage over GS for example. This is just a tweak to an existing build I ran previously to good effect, it’s just been modified for the various game changes since then. Ran it last night and even without the Trapper runes, it works well, as expected.

Puck.9612:

Anthrage.2519:

Yeah saw that. Put this together, will give it a try and see how it goes.

Sigil of bursting doesn’t stack, putting 2 on the same weapon is a waste, you could use a corruption sigil and maybe some + duration or “on swap” sigils. What does stack is burning, you might want to consider replacing frost trap with flame trap.
Why are you running longbow? Any other weapon would work better here, sword dagger would offer more condi and higher evasion, even GS would offer evasion, control and mobility.

Yeah saw that. Put this together, will give it a try and see how it goes.

Came back today to find not only has the trait system completely changed, my old ranged-trap build is no more. So, I’m in the same boat of looking for something to replace it with. It seems some trap-related traits were removed as well…but I’m going to see if I can make a workable non-ranged version. I see there is a new trap-based rune, that’s some compensation I suppose…

This: “The short answer to your question is yes: you have summarized the situation correctly.”

Was the kind of clarity I was looking for, and it was posted after I’d already written the response you’re referring to. It’s quite clear now, thank-you again.

Linken.6345:

But we did answeryour question, if you would have been able to get more we would have said so.

Yes indeed, it makes perfect sense in that respect. I’ll have to do more reading on what HoT will bring to the table.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Their new expansion business model is that with each succeeding expansion, the old expansion(s) and the core game is folded in it for free for the benefit of people who are buying the game for the first time.

This has the benefit of not creating a paywall that new players can’t easily overcome, especially as more expansions come out. Too high a paywall and new players will refuse to even try the game leading to a declining population as old players leave and few new players start.

Agreed. I’d forgotten how long it had been out, it does make sense given that fact. Thank-you for making sure I had the facts straight!

It’ll probably be a mute point in any case, it appears my characters may be missing…though I’m hoping my account has simply become desynched from the various out-of-game tools since it’s been so long since I last played. Will know soon enough once the download finishes.

Thanks-you again all for the information.

tboneking.2531:

The short answer to your question is yes: you have summarized the situation correctly. However there are other ways of looking at it.

You paid for the deluxe version. They are not including deluxe version, only the base game. So really it’s only 50 dollars of original content.

The price of gw2 has been falling for years. Last December it was around 10 bucks. At that time did you feel like you were being cheated out of 70 bucks? And given the 10 dollar current price tag for gw2, a free character slot IS actually fair compensation.

You should really be glad they’re giving the base game away free with the expansion. This removes hoops new players have to jump through and should in theory keep the game alive and vibrant over the years to come.

Thank-you for the responses, though they don’t answer my main question – which is whether the character slot is the only difference for those who already own the full game.

Valuing the game at 10$ given the amount of time it has been out does make sense in that light, but if they chose to reward ‘early adopters’ in some additional way it would also make sense, hence my question. If they haven’t done so, then that’s the way it is, just wanted to make sure it was the case so I can make a properly informed decision.

Linken – I did find that 135 page thread, but did not wade through the thousands of posts there, no. A stickied post where the important information was not thusly buried is what I was looking for. Thanks for saving me from sorting through all that though, much appreciated!