Here is some thoughts i had after about 6 hours of Soulbeast gameplay in WvW, PvP and against the poor, poor Golems in PvP Lobby.
The Dagger weapon is … not good. It’s a joke, to be completely honest.
It can’t compete with the sword. It cant even compete with the Greatsword. It cant even outdps Mainhand Axe. And that is a problem.
The power portion of the weapon is just… not there.
Then we take a look at the condi aspect, and see single stacks of bleed with a 3s duration (untraited) which is, …ehhh. And suddenly there is poison on there.
The Dagger 2 is just. “okay”. it is there, it feels boring. cooldown is way too long for what it actually does
Dagger 3 is supposed to be a gapcloser. too bad that a dodgeroll covers more ground than dagger 3. Cooldown is too long
And too top all that off, Dagger feels CLUNKY A.F. I’m sorry, did i miss something? My Greatsword feels way more fluid than a dagger, and it is supposed to be what, 20 times bigger than that dagger and way like 100 times more? The way the dagger currently handles and feels just make me want to put it under “not touching that ever again”
The dagger autoattack chain feels slow, overly long, clunky. Necro dagger Auto chain feels WAY better, and that one already feels slow.
It needs to be faster, more fluid, and feel like more impact, because tbh, your character doesnt move AT ALL when you use the autoattack chain, it feels like you just hold your weapon out in front of you, and the enemy runs into it on their own. REALLY disappointed in the dagger as a weapon.
Please make it more fluid, give it more mobility, Give it the same movement that the sword has. (sword feels like what dagger SHOULD feel like….). If Dagger doesnt get reworked before launch, it will be another never used weapon of the ranger.
Concerning Beastmode, i like it. some beastmode skills are a bit slow. Needs more fluidity.
Concerning Stances. Oh Boy. OH BOY. Who even thought of that. Who woke up one morning and said: “hey, i got a great idea, let’s give ranger stances. but let’s make them totally boring and uninteresting and also useless most of the time”.
Moa stance okay. Dolyak stance good idea. The rest are wasted utility slots. Flat out.
Bear stance: Heal is okay. Ongoing effect is just WAY too short. 4s of “loose one condition every second” is… not good. my Healing Spring does the Same, but also grants regeneration on top, AND lasts longer.
Dolyak stance: I cant believe you took our signet for that, but it’s okay. Cooldown is way too long for a 6s stability skill. Retaliation doesnt fit thematically, i’d rather see protection, but whatever. At least it’s a stunbreak
Moa stance: Good stance, but why does it give protection? And the duration increase on boons is kinda weird, but whatever.
Griffon stance: Ranger has more than enough vigor, more than enough evasion abilities, this stance is just flat out not needed. Gaining 1 stack of might when you evade an attack is just a joke. There is minor traits that do better things on dodge, and they dont eat a utility slot. i’d rather see heal on dodge, or attack speed on dodge, something that fits thematically with the griffon. Right now it’s just a waste of a skill.
Vulture stance would be fine, but it doesnt last long enough… i’d rather have it last 8s instead of 6, but i guess you know what you are doing cough
One Wolf Pack: The idea is good. The extra dmg is meh. But ranger elites have never been good anyways, so who cares. This is …not worth it. in pvp you will want strength of the pact or entangle, in pve it’s strength of the pact, in wvw it’s strength of the pact… oh, i see a pattern here… you took out stability signet and gave us a stance that doesnt last long enough.
The idea of extra dmg is good. sharing it sounds also good. but the 1s delay on it just makes it feel so so so lackluster, i dont know where you are going with this elite, because it doesnt make sense thematically
Right now i am only disappointed in the Soulbeast. Beastmode is cool, But the stances feel weak, the dagger is boring and clunky AND weak, and some of the beast abilities feel like they were rushed and don’t feel good.
Anet, do yourself and us a favour and take this remaining month to redo the soulbeast’s utilities and weapon completely, then it might become an actually good elitespec. Right now it’s a boring clunky mess.
Where i see soulbeast? Apart from in the trashcan, it is a solo-pve spec. Druid offers so much more for every type of group, and i promise, Glyph of Empowerment is a higher dps increase for the group than one wolf pack, with a lower cooldown, and better traits for it.
In raids, maybe condi soulbeast. i doubt it though.
In wvw, maybe in roaming, but it wont feel as good as druid. druid feels smother, more fluid, and flat out stronger.
tl;dr: Soulbeast feels clunky, the dagger is bad, stances are partly great, partly a joke, the beastmode is okay. Needs work, needs lots of work!
Ps: i am sorry if i sound angry or desperate, but by now it’s been 5 years in guild wars 2, 5 years of maining ranger, and i get disappointed again and again. I was happy to get an offensive spec after we got druid last time, but this is overall just not a good spec, and i am disappointed and sad. Can’t a girl have some actual buffs please? Q_Q
