Marksman:
The Marksman trait line was expected to receive major overhauls in the 6/25 patch, but what was received was underwhelming at best. Of all trait lines, this one has the most wrong with it. Adept level traits are all equally useful dependant on the direction of your build, but when it comes to Master and Grandmaster traits, there are really only 3 traits that anyone is interested in: Piercing Arrows, Eagle Eye and Signet of the Beastmaster.
– Spotter is, at best, an adept level trait, and even with the recent buff, no one placing points in this line would choose this over any of the other Master options.
- I haven’t talked to a single Ranger since launch that has found a place in their build for Remorseless. This is possibly the most underwhelming option at the Grandmaster level across any class.
No minor trait in the marksman line is very compelling either, especially Precise Strike at the Grandmaster level. By comparison, examine options available to other classes in the Power trait lines:
Ranger: Adept – First hit inflicts 5sec vulnerability, Master – Pets get same ability, Grand – First hit is a crit.
Thief: Adept – stealing inflicts 10 seconds poison, Master – Poison inflicts 4 seconds weakness, Grand – +10% damage when target has a condition.
Mesmer: Adept – 5 seconds vulnerability on interrupt, Master – Dazing inflicts 5 seconds vulnerability, Grand – +5% damage to inactive targets
Warrior: Adept – Damage foes at end of dodge roll, Master – Burst skills restore endurance, Grand – +3% Damage when endurance is not full.
In review, Rangers minor traits center around adding vulnerability at the beginning of a fight, and 25 point trait gives us a single guaranteed critical hit once per fight. In contrast Thieves gain access to 2 separate conditions for performing an act that they would perform once per fight generally and are not restricted to leaving combat in order to regain this ability, as well as application of vulnerability in conjunction with another condition they have nearly unlimited access to. Where Rangers receive a single guaranteed critical hit, thieves build on this by getting 10% damage boost for all targets carrying conditions. Mesmers gain the same 5 seconds of vulnerability at adept level, but rather than once in a fight they can apply it as often as they can interrupt. Warriors have damage at the end of a dodge roll, then a mechanism to allow them to dodge more often, plus a further damage bonus for dodging more often. These minor traits do not add up to any kind of balance – especially at the Grandmaster level.
Suggestions:
•Adept trait should apply vulnerability in conjunction with another condition or with an action that the Ranger normally performs – evades, interrupts etc on an internal cooldown.
•Minor Master trait should add blindness or cripple whenever vulnerability is applied.
•Move Piercing Arrows to the 25 point GM trait
•Add Shortbow range increase to Eagle Eye
•Replace Spotter and Piercing Arrows with some kind of boon stripping or condition removal option linked to Bow attacks
•Replace Remorseless with a further option to cripple targets with Bow attacks.
