Showing Posts For Dr Professor.1796:
After experimenting with the Druid specialization, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmingly disappointed in the specialization. The following is an attempt at constructive criticism and suggested means to improve the class under realistic means:
-Pet Neglect: My largest concern regarding the druid is it’s pet neglect. The pet is the ranger’s core profession mechanic, and a main staple of ranger game-play. Unfortunately, from what I see the Druid’s traits largely ignore the pet as if it simply weren’t there (A first for the Ranger as all other trees offer at least a few traits that have an impact on the pet). I cannot help but be very concerned by this move and would suggest that current traits be adjusted to better incorporate the pet.
Unfortunately, pet neglect does not stop at the traits. The Druid staff is the first weapon to entirely neglect the pet. All former main-hand/two handed weapons have at least one weapon skill that produces an effect on the pet (Ex: Winter’s bite [Axe #3]). The absence of this on the staff is troubling, this is more or less equivalent to a Necromancer having a weapon that doesn’t generate Death Shroud.
-Astral Form: Perfect. I like it as it is, though I do feel it tends to drain slightly too fast. Though I am concerned at the rate the bar builds for Druids who elect to not use the staff. Not impossible to build up, but perhaps harder than necessary.
-Staff: Aside from prior noted “Pet Neglect” I would say the staff offers too little damage. With only two skills inflicting any damage, the staff feels incredibly weak. If I were to offer a suggestion to bring it in line, I would apply burning on the final pulse of the auto attack as well as conditions on the #4 skill, perhaps bleeding or poison. Or, adding impacts to the pet (Buffs or extra attacks/conditions) would also bring this weapon up to par. Another suggestion for the Staff is purely QoL, but for the #4 skill, if you could add a rectangular directional rather than an arrow, it would help the Druid encompass players better. Perhaps a similar box to the one offered by Inspiring Reinforcement for the Revenant.
I share another concern regarding the staff, kit limitation. The staff offers a large amount of healing, which is normally fantastic. However, when given the option of Astral Form’s intense healing, the staff is overshadowed. What I am trying to say is that offering heals on heals, narrows the kit for the player and makes them a “one trick pony” so to speak. Players generally need a diverse kit for content, limiting yourself to small heals coupled with big heals isn’t helpful to the player. In short: Too much healing.
-Glyphs: Currently, no glyphs offer any stun break except in Astral Form. This is very damaging to the player. I would suggest Glyph of Alignment or Glyph of Tides be given a stun break feature in regular form.
Glyph of Rejuvenation does not impact the pet, unless standing in close proxemity, in which they receive the minimal 1.3k heal for “Allies”. This is another Ranger first and example of “Pet Neglect”. Simply sharing the Druid’s base heal (5k) to the pet as well (similar to We Heal as One) would be an easy way to fix that.
On the whole, I found glyphs underwhelming and very situational.
-New Pets: Fantastic! Zero complaints or suggestions, you guys really hit the nail on the head with this one. They not only look great, but perform even better. Well done.
I hope at least a few of these points are useful in bringing the Druid up to par with the other classes. If I had to point out my biggest concern though, it would definitely be the pet neglect. I would think that area would be the most helpful in balancing the Druid with the rest of the game.
#5: Party Chat text appears in green (which is awfully hard to read against the backdrop of the grove).
#4: Game Crashes when changing online status.
Also, tacking on a third bug: Guild Chat no longer works. Anytime you type something it responds “You are not in a guild”.
Hi, I stumbled across two bugs shortly after the patch went live today. The first bug, is that for some reason, all items on the Trading Post (Names, titles, prices, buyers, you name it) appear very fuzzy and blurry, while other text on the screen (for example chat box or achievements I’m tracking) appear crystal clear per usual.
Normally I’d just submit a bug through the ingame system…Which brings me to bug #2, when going to report a bug, the drop down menus are lacking words. They only have codes in double parenthesis.
Anyone else having these issues? If there’s an easy way for me to fix this on my end I’m all ears for suggestions.
..Why not both? Personally I run a bunker build and I utilize Soldiers Amor, Knight’s Weapons and a 50/50 split on trinkets. Great survivability, respectable damage. Just makes sure you can perma fury to keep your edge in combat.
I tend to use my pets a little differently than most people, I bring a Fern Hound for it’s fairly decent damage but more importantly it’s AOE Heal + Regen, which both help me and other players. Also due to my traits, I share boons with pets. My Fern Hound gets a double dose of the Regen and actually stays up longer due to constant heal (Perma Regen Basically thanks to skill + traits). But should I have to swap pets, I either bring the Red Moa or Blue Moa. Both again feature a nice AOE Heal, they’re fairly tanky and can apply AOE Boons such as Fury and Protection accordingly. And the Fury from the Red Moa can be timed to generate perma fury. So…That’s how I like to handle things personally.
Aesthetic Improvement:
Improve the ANIMATIONS of the Ranger when using the main-hand axe. Currently, when throwing axes- equipped back-pieces and offhand weapons just disappear for a moment, before magically reappearing at the end of the animation. Less a class balance, more aesthetics but I feel it has to be said.
Specific Game Mode
All Game Modes (PvE, PvP, WvW)
Proposal Overview
Merge the total health pool of the Ranger to that of the selected pet.
Goal of Proposal
Generate more utility for pets, as well as incentive in maintaining them in battle as well as providing challenge to the ranger and adding a level of immersion.
Proposal Functionality
Effectively combine the health pools generated by the pet and the ranger into one master health pool (the red circle in the center) instead of having them separate as current. Damage to the pet leeches from the ranger’s health pool up until a threshold, which would be the total health contributed by the pet, after which the pet converts to its traditional “downed” state. Once below the threshold, additional healing that brings it above the threshold limit revives the pet until such a time that the health lowers again below said limit. Additionally, average or normalize the health of all pets to be equal across all pet families, but adjust their unique attributes, such as toughness on devourers, to compensate for any gain/loss of vitality. For further balancing, increase the amount of time between pet swapping.
Associated Risks
Situations where health constantly wavers between threshold limits could become glitchy or laggy with constant down and revival of pets. This could be additionally prevented by a debuff timer between revivals. In PvP situations, people could regularly pet swap (before pets are downed) to maintain higher health and gain an unfair advantage. (Unless swap cooldown is increased).