Guild Wars 2

Zone seemed fine. Dolyak stance in soulbeast did not function whatsoever other than reset for timer, but that is probably not related to lag or graphic functions. Did not notice any lag, but I did not notice many ppl either. Perhaps time the stress test to peak hours for diff regions to gauge server performance. Ty for the opportunity.

I could consider soulbeast a bit more viable w/ pet swap in beastmode, but after playing in wvw on top of fluidity issues, the condi-cleanse is lacking. This is due in part to gated access, but also condi is out of control and I have grown accustom to druidic clarity. I have enough stun breaks in soulbeast and even reasonable damage (still feels behind other prof so far tho), but stealth mechanics (and so many other combo fields) are gated behind leaving beast mode to trigger smoke field or leave beast mode change pets then trigger smoke field. Dolyak stance (stability) either doesn’t work or boon strip is way outta control as well. The mobility in the bm line is only triggered while in beast mode so its not even as good as natural stride aside from the fact that its a given if bm line is chosen. The strike animation of dagger seems so slow and the damage is meh.

I might have gone in with apprehension, but my early interpretation seems accurate. I cannot see melee working with soulbeast due to lack of armor, dmg output, and lack of dmg mitigation. No blinds, evades, or stealth built into beast mode. Bear dmg is abysmal but a long cd 3 sec defy pain is there I suppose, and smokescale merge has a rev-smoke assault attack. At this point it might be fun in casual pve, but I can’t see myself swapping druid over to soulbeast at this point.

Ty again for responses. I would especially like to openly thank samanosuke asakura. His small gift was quite significant and will indeed help me salvage my build. I think I will try durability runes. I always feel one can never have enough condi-removal, but I do often evade or stealth through hunter’s shot, blast/leap smoke field, and of course celestial shadow. It could work I think.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBjYD7kSFlKULoWQbZxyC+CaFEuWctYpTwgXpx0d6TLIxtwc6bBgCXKZB5zSD-TVDEQBx5gIAgLEQiU3pN6eYoyAIcAB4nKBJ4BEUIlgJZ/hmoU5iKpkwRA4dwBwXflX9qXf91XP7szO7szaA1Wbt1WrUAftAA-w

Ty for response.

With consumable nerf, it cut my boon buff to 34, but also took my crit chance to 43, I lost 3 might compounded(WHaO) with change to beastmastery gm change to lesser zephyr.

Boon boost from nature’s magic and consumables made might stacking possible in wvw. Now with considerable nerfs, my attacks with my old build are ridiculous. I tried to see how it would do and it was laughable. Other classes without modifiers hit harder than ranger with nearly 25 might. I know the effects of these nerfs were across the board, but our damage is annoying to most heavy armor wearing classes. I hit 5 times to take at best one third of their health, they land one hit for half of mine. Even with boons, fights take some time versus guard, warrior, necro, and revenant. Now I can’t damage enough to whittle them away. They can absorb my pitiful damage and wait for me to make a mistake. The risk reward is not there for ranger. We can go full pwr/zerk,hit like a wet noodle and squish like a grape, especially since patch.

Anyone finding success roaming (not small grp support) in wvw after 8/8 patch? No sarcastic git gud bs suggestions please.

An important note… I’m guessing dolyak stance is only available to soulbeast. Strength of the pack and the old version of signet of the wild are core skills available no matter what the elite or build traits you take. I did not care for the nerf of strength of the pack with both cooldown and taking away the reapply ticks of stability. This is now followed by removing the only other form of stability that is not gated behind celestial form. I think the complaint is justified. Less options and more pigeon-holing not a good move for the game in my opinion.

I experienced it as well. If you re-target first slightly faster than if you don’t, but quickness does not affect its attack whatsoever and the responsiveness literally causes toon deaths. Could not get a wolf fear off for what felt like an eternity…3 hits from thief b4 it went off after pet swap re-target and downed.

I’m feeling a bit of apprehension from my initial introduction to soulbeast. It encourages melee, yet I don’t see many skills needed for condi/damage mitigation. In the skill sets including a meld with pet, I haven’t seen any skills which increase our armor, vitality (like nec health pool), blinds, evades, or additional stealth other than through worked combos (smokescale field unmelded still viable I assume). Maybe stat increases coordinate with the pet’s stats or are even buffed with pts. in beast mastery.

To my knowledge we don’t get the normal F2’s like panther stealth while melded. I guess we would have a defy pain on use of bear, but condi is the big killer I’ve seen w/ new specs, so where are all the condi-cleanses needed to compete with druidic clarity (bear stance is interesting but 25 sec cd and if I’m interpreting correctly a total of 8 conditions removed over 4 seconds)? Speed buffs (birds only?)? Evades like the current medium armor-wearing daredevil (griffon stance on a 45 sec cd doesn’t cut it imo)?

I suppose I should be more optimistic, but then reality usually gets in the way. Anyone else notice a lack of defense in this elite, or am I missing something. I want to like it.

Why is it so hard to land a hunter’s shot? It feels like even if the target is selected in range within a 180 degree radius and not reflecting, it still misses half the time. I’m not talking about evades, blocks or even destroyed projectiles, though there are a lot of conditions to try to factor before even firing. I mean when all conditions seem in accordance, it still doesn’t trigger. Anyone have advice (non sarcastic) to offer on how to consistently land a hunter’s shot, or is the skill as wonky as it seems?

I would like to see ranger dps brought up to just half of what a thief or a warrior can do consistently. (Picture 1) I was attacking a guardian on a disputed land claim and just about had him down when I got ganked and died to a thief in 3 seconds. I was playing a build with slightly over 21k health and 2.5 armor. The thief is squishy, I get that, so if I had time to react in certain scenarios, the fight can go either way if they make a mistake. Warriors, on the other hand, (no stealth) but my pew pews take about 4 shots to every one of theirs (excluding a good maul…that actually connects), and even no-invest/untraited warriors heal so kitten well with blocks/reflects, instant cast stability traits and skills, and practically zero immobilize possibility…. oops envy whining at the end there. Still, more dps plz, specifically for the ranger not the broken and continually nerfed (the patch b4 w/ increased hit radius and animation time decrease for certain pets not a buff imo just getting em closer to actually working) class mechanic.

Also, (Picture 2) it might be nice to have arrows naturally pierce objects that aren’t there. They seem to be everywhere in WvW.

Well, I’ve had good days and bad days in WvW, but overall it is still my favorite mode of play. That being said, I find frustration in condition damage as of late, but before I get bombarded with learn to play, use condition cleanses at the right times, light fields, etc, let me tell you what I run currently.

On one weapon set I have sigil of generosity, the other set has sigil of cleansing, I use trooper/soldier runes with HaO, SotP, and Guard, and of course I use Druidic Clarity. Additionally, I have a health pool of just over 21K. When I get a combo of bleeds, poison, torment and fire ticking together for 4k or more in an instant, I tend to jump into CA form. Then after 2 interrupts I manage a heal leave form and face a full bar of conditions again in less than 10 seconds. CA is on cool down and my other skills are 1 condi removal a piece and a partial waste to use recklessly, so what now?

I don’t have a perfect answer, only the suggestion that the devs could maybe consider. Why not bring resistance to the ranger with Signet of Stone. It’s already an immune to dmg, why not add resistance for conditions. It’s on an ultra-long cooldown at 80sec 64sec if traited, so I don’t think it would be a total game changer. I think it might be interesting and improve possible counter-gameplay if you need those extra 5 seconds (that aren’t part of pve’s CA cooldown) to ride out the storm.

Thoughts?

Thanks for the responses…never thought of doing glyphs thing, but I will if it happens again.

mtpelion.4562:

Racial skill should get their own slot, which is the only slot they can go in (i.e. you can never put a racial in slots 6-0).

Then that slot can be disabled for content that requires balance (i.e. PvP and Raids).

Agreed. Racial abilities should be a given.

In the Bitterfrost zone in the north section while at the end of a fight for winterberries, my druid specialization disappeared. I was a druid traited and using all the skills associated then they all went poof. As you can see from the picture, there is a slight aura of the druid around my endurance bar, but all skills and access gone. Asked a guy near me, he said my icon was still the sun…. soooo

Anyone else with something similar?

+1
Hopefully, this is just a start to pet overhauls.

To me the pet change is the most significant change this patch. In testing, pets seem to be able to hit the moving pvp target consistently if traited w/ speed through the beastmastery line using auto attacks; however, the extended cast time skills are still quite inconsistent unless the target is crippled, chilled, immob. or somehow impaired. Specifically, the over 1 second skills seem to be hit or miss for ex. fire breath, wing buffet, etc.

Oddly, the cast times of some skills under 1 sec. still are hit and miss like drakes tail swipe at 3/4 sec. I suspect the whole skill is more likely a 2 sec skill when activated and finished with animation to after cast.

Overall good patch in my opinion. The torch was like so many others said ????. The nerf to sharpened edges put it in line with engie’s sharpshooter, though that’s a given as an adept minor. I suppose it’s to offset the buffs to spike trap and sharpening stone if used altogether, but that’s unlikely since someone using spike will probably choose trap trait regardless.