Kudzu because longbow is what makes Ranger unique.
But I don’t like the skin and effects. The only nice thing is that it has a different projectile, which no other longbow has unfortunately. But even the projectile itself isn’t my style.
For a new Longbow Legendary design… probably something realistic looking, but with wind effects like that backitem and a different sound effect when you fire it. The only longbow I know which has a different sound effect is the Super Longbow. Not really the sound you want, but it’s nice to hear something else.
I always liked it to be honest. It’s a pretty solid trait. Ignore 1 CC effect every 60 seconds is pretty useful. It’s like having an automatic stunbreak every 60 seconds and you won’t even feel the effect and it can’t interrupt you.
It’s also a bit like guardian and his aegis. Blocking that first hit can make a huge difference. Your opponent can’t even see the trait on the Ranger.
But a buff would always be welcome. For example, it gives you aegis for a few seconds.
Pretty much. Another fun one is how Signet actives used to only affect the pet. You had to get a GM trait (Signet of the Beastmaster) to have signets affect the Ranger as well. And if you did you had to choose between 1500 range or piercing arrows, because you could no longer have both.
Funny, it’s already way better than it used to be.
You used to go into 2 trait lines to get your Longbow traits (Marksmanship and Skirmishing) and get 3 different traits for it Eagle Eye (1500 range), Piercing Arrows (piercing) and Quick Draw (20% cooldown reduction).
And when you did all that it couldn’t even hit a target that was moving sideways.
But, I would be happy to see piercing become baseline. I just wanted you to know how terrible it used to be and maybe appreciate having Lead the Wind a bit more. They made 1500 range baseline, as well as like 100%+ projectile speed, and put both piercing and 20% cooldown reduction in a single trait.
Just realize this to keep from using smokefield 2x or any f2 pet skills back to back they can keep the cooldown applied to keep from spamming back to back when you merg with your pet.
This is the only good reason I’ve heard., but yeah you could let pet F2 and the beastmode version share cooldown.
So, you want two F skills instead of 3 and you want to remove some of the most interesting F skills in beastmode, the F2 (Defy Pain, Brutal Charge, Smoke Assault, Narcotic Spores, Photosynthesize, Charge etc.)
Considering how powerfully bursty some of the setups can be, the play style of playing with your pet out, and then invoking beast mode to execute an insane blast of damage
Those kind of things can be nerfed on a whim and having access to pet swap in beastmode doesn’t negate that.
Anyway, this is what I would personally do with the traits.
That’s a great improvement and I wouldn’t have complained if this was it. Much more synergy and choice. It may not be perfect, but it would have been fine with me.
I’d just like Essence of Speed to give 33% movement speed while in beastmode.
The problem with that is you can already get 25% movement speed in beastmode from beastmaster traitline, so I think its unlikely unless they change that also.
There are so many things need changing with soulbeast and only a month to do it in, tbh I think it’s going to be unfinished at release.
The problems with Beastmastery Pet Prowess:
It’s only 25% movement speed
It limits choice by locking you into 2 trait lines (Soulbeast and Beastmastery)
Beastmastery GM traits are all useless while in Beastmode (which you need to be in to get the passive speed boost)
Bottom line is, 1 of the 3 master traits needs to be able to benefit any build right out of the box. Not all 3 master traits should require very specific builds.
How many builds are affected by any of the major traits? Brutish Seals only if you use signets, MoC only if you use GS, LB, SB or /Axe and only sparingly
But this line also offers Steady Focus, which could benefit any build right out of the box.
How about Essence of Speed makes Quickness 50% more effective?
That would be a much better effect than the current version, but you would still need to run quickness in your build.
Dagger 3, Zephyrs Speed, QZ, Live Fast, Sigil of Agility etc… OR, you know, when playing with a chrono or firebrand.
It might be the least versatile Master trait… but it sure is sexy with traited Sword.
Yes all 3 could be useful in certain builds, but that’s the problem. The number of builds that could benefit from a master trait is very limited.
Someone suggested switching Essence of Speed with Live Fast, which would at least be a step in the right direction. Any build can potentially benefit from Live Fast, even if they rarely use it.
We need to be able to swap pets while in Beastmode. I fear we can’t “because the tech isn’t there yet”, which would be the only valid reason, but then we need instant Beastmode switching without delay.
Also, currently it’s better for me to NOT use Beastmode at all because Beastmode doesn’t have the pet F2 skills. Why doesn’t it? It really blows my mind. It must be because of time constraints because Weaver already had 180 new skills to look at.
The thing I like best about that clip is that I killed your beloved Moa along with you, I forget the name of the util you used to use but the one that the pet takes your damage (been removed since those days), I think I 2 shot the pet and 2 shot you both in same burst :P That’s why I named the vid after your pet
Protect Me! It’s still there, but only gives 5s protection now. I quit playing when they changed it I’m still not happy about it, but now we have a trait in Marksmanship that triggers Signet of Stone at 50% health. So that’s even better to be honest.
Black Bear in Beastmode has two more skills like that, but that’s a bit overkill.
There just needs to be a master trait that could fit in almost any random build. Something like: Natural Stride Evasive Purity Shared Anguish Steady Focus Celestial Shadow Spotter Protective Ward Quick Draw Empathic Bond
Second Skin only useful for builds with near-permanent protection.
Essense of Speed only useful for builds with a lot of boons and a lot of quickness application.
Predator’s Cunning only useful for builds with a lot of poison application
So unless you apply a lot of protection, quickness or poison, they’re worthless. How is that going to help the spec and build diversity?
How about this instead: Second Skin Conditions inflect 33% less damage while in beastmode. Essense of Speed 33% movement speed while in beastmode. Predator’s Cunning Steal health from opponent while in beastmode.
yeah, you lose both the pet and its F2 skill completely. The only saving grace for Beastmode is that skills/utilities/traits that appy to the pet now apply to the Ranger in Beastmode.
people want the spec for being petless Ranger, if it can’t deliver on that, then people simply won’t buy the expansion.
lol nice video. Sometimes I was like: yeah ok, whatever, end it already. 2014… was that back when the longbow couldn’t even hit anything that moved? I may have been the only person that used it in WvW back then
Red Moa is my most used pet by far. Getting the F2 to hit me can be annoying however, even if he is on passive. So I was kind of hoping to get his F2 in Beastmode, but nope. Pretty sad.
Traits have almost no synergy and have very specific requirements to use:
protection
quickness
poison
fury
disable
be downed
All Master and Grandmaster traits are bad because of it, except Oppressive Superiority.
Beastmode
Doesn’t allow pet F2 skills. So F2 skills like Red Moa (Fury) still require a pet. We still don’t have any on-demand stealth skills (was hoping for 3s stealth from Jaguar).
Can’t swap pets while in beastmode. Can’t trigger pet swap traits. Good luck picking a useful Beastmastery GM trait for beastmode.
only F3 counts as a Beast ability to trigger traits. Some F3 skills aren’t really suited for that.
most pets are bad in Beastmode, because their F1 and F2 skills are short range melee.
But it’s not all bad:
Things that used to be given to the pet are now given to the Ranger in Beastmode. This is where the stength of the spec lies. Swiftness on longbow for example, and Strength of the Pack giving might to yourself on hit.
Some of the pets are actually pretty useful in Beastmode.
The effects of being in beastmode is nice, but after 10 seconds they shouldn’t be visible anymore. That includes the effect behind the F1,F2,F3 buttons.
Allow us to swap pets while in Beastmode (see Elementalist). If necessary, give “Leave Beastmode” a cooldown after swapping pets in Beastmode.
In Beastmode, F1, F2 and F3 should all count as “Beast ability” and should all trigger the traits for them. If necessary, give the traits a short cooldown.
Pet F2 should trigger Live Fast trait since it’s a “Beast ability”. At the very least, it should give it to the pet.
Pet’s Prowess should give the full 30% movement speed while in Beastmode. It has to be able to compete with Druid’s Natural Stride.
The master traits all have odd requirements. If your build doesn’t apply poison, quickness and protection, then they’re all worthless.
Second Skin should always work, not just when you have protection.
Essense of Speed… I don’t even know… it’s strange. Hard to trigger and the effect is tiny.
Predator’s Cunning remove the poison requirement.
Wishful Thinking
Allow us to use pet F2 skills in Beastmode. If necessary, give us a “lesser” version if the effect is too powerful. For example: Jaguar in Beastmode would only give 3s stealth. Would make Beastmode far more interesting.
Live Fast and other Beast ability traits only trigger on F3 in beastmode. Sad!
Pet’s Prowess only gives 25% movement speed in beastmode. Druid has 33%.
Swoop on bird pets does not have 1200 range.
Bear Bite does not give regeneration unless it hits a target.
Dolyak Stance doesn’t work at all.
Having pet F2 skills in beastmode would have been far more interesting and made a lot more pets viable. Even if you didn’t get any of the other abilities. Some might be too crazy like jaguar, but you could have simply given it a different version in beastmode.
What I took away from the stream is that they haven’t really balanced the specs yet. At least, not completely. They made the specs and play tested them a bit and now they are releasing them.
So expect nerfs and skills changes between now and release and post release. Expect some people to figure out something completely overpowered. Especially Weaver might have some hidden OP-ness. Which they may or may not fix within a year.
But maybe just Ranger will get nerfed into the ground within a week again while the other classes won’t get nerfed until the next major balance update.
So, don’t be too vocal about the OP-ness of the spec. Maybe other classes are more OP anyway. Be more vocal about its weaknesses, bugs and inconsistencies.
I use it on a power build for a tiny bit of extra damage and to keep them in combat a bit longer.
I think it should give 5 or 10 seconds of vulnerability on crit without a cooldown. That will increase damage on both condi and power builds and has synergy with crits and will keep people in combat for 5 or 10 seconds.
Yup, even on a power build with might it’s the better choice for maximum DPS. I just feel it would be FAR better being combined with Hidden Barbs and then another useful trait added in it’s place. Your idea of vuln on crit with no CD would be fine in it’s place then, or you could make it on hit instead of crit, so we could run without precision.
Yes I meant first combine the traits, then add this new trait with vulnerability.
Both on-crit and on-hit are fine with me, but this traitline does have 4 traits that can increase crit chance, 2 of which are minor traits.
I’m still not happy about it, but now we have a trait in Marksmanship that triggers Signet of Stone at 50% health. So that’s even better to be honest.