Guild Wars 2

Pretty upset by the Ranger losing the trait “Spirits Unbound” …
Breaks the build I’ve enjoyed most since coming back to the game.

You can read more about me complaining about it, here

So my current Ranger build centers around Spirits; and I must say, I’m pretty disappointed to hear that you’re removing Spirits Unbound, as it’s a pivotal skill to the viability of my Spirit Ranger, which in my opinion already has a lot of synergy.

Here’s a link to the build
(with weapons that give critical strikes on swap)

Using the short bow and sword/ax combination means I’m never staying still during a fight, and “Spirits Unbound” is really the rug that ties it all together, man… both allowing me to stay buffed and where I want to be on the battlefield, and keeping the spirits near so that their slow-to-start-up active abilities actually hit something— not to mention it makes applying their buffs to teammates during a team fight something way less frustrating — so I can focus more on fighting and managing my pet/weapon skills.

The build actually has a ton of utility to it, being able give the passive bonuses to an large group number of people (no maximum targets?), or the to swap out Stone Spirit if the party needs a little more defense, swapping out a weapon for the longbow to have a 70% chance to apply AoE conditions, or quickly stack burning on something using Rapid Fire, etc.

It also makes Spirit of Nature actually feel like an Elite skill, for as many reasons as you might imagine; having the ability to jam the ‘0’ button right before you go down since the Spirit follows you makes self-rallying and option. (And timing it right makes you feel like a boss)—- Otherwise, it’s simply not effective if the Spirit is bound.

Finally, since you can summon spirits on the move, it makes summoning them while moving, or in between attack chains, actually effective.

Lastly, … aesthetically speaking, the spirits have legs. They aren’t banners to be stuck in the ground (and even banners can be moved AND give you a whole set of unique weapon skills!!). Either way, these legs were made for walkin’.
I know spirit rangers are a known, and maybe an obvious build, but I wanted to make my voice heard on the subject since I recently returned to Guild Wars 2 with a bunch of friends for the expansion, and really have been enjoying this as my main build— I would be really disappointed if my Spirit Squad got essentially nerfed immediately after coming back.

Could you keep Spirits Unbound, and tweak the gameplay in other ways to make it “feel right”? Because it already “feels right” on my end.

Thanks for listening,
Possibly-soon-to-be-retired Spirit Ranger Zurren