Guild Wars 2

With the current changes in WvW, this seems like a more practical time and structure to actually do another tournament. The merging of servers has helped address quite a bit of the numbers imbalances. The point system changes has made it more possible to make a comeback throughout the course of the week. And overall it would just be nice to see something to bring more fresh blood back into the WvW. Perhaps doing more of a “Tourney Season” would be more viable. Have rewards for the winning server from each bracket each week. With perhaps an end reward for individuals of the server with the most wins at the end of the tourney season.

I feel that this could lighten the burden of having to play aggressively for weeks at a time, but still give incentive to compete if you desire to do so. Kitten, even the achievement rewards associated with such a tourney would inspire people to play.

Just a few thoughts.

TL:DR Yes, we need some form of Tourney, Tournies, or Tourney season in WvW. Make it happen ANET.

Foreward: The following is the opinion of yet another end user and is no way affiliated with ANET, NC SOFT, or any of their subsidaries. It is a personal opinion and should be counted as such.

Personally I believe an expansion in the classical sense of the term is unneeded and rather foolish at this time. I started GW2 like many others during beta and have watched the game mature, grow, dwindle, grow again, and etc. The one thing A net has maintained consistency on, and declared before the release of this game, was that they wanted to create a living world with a living story. That is why npcs will continue quest lines with or without character involvement, why season 1 living story is unavailable, and why I feel living story 2 should also have been limited time content. The players sojourn into this world, but it doesn’t revolve around them. Other hero’s will answer the call if you are resting in bermuda, or not yet old enough to venture out and seek a name for yourself when the events transpire.

In keeping with that philosophy, how could a net add a profession, race, continent, and/or etc. Without subjecting their world, their story, to unneeded time shifts? Which makes more sense, we finish up with mordremeth, (or hit a brick wall), and then find the Tengu are under a full assault by Primordius’ forces. Facing extinction they turn to the other races of Tyra for help, and as well as joining the pact furthermore offer to train others in their profession “Samurai” in exchange for assistance. This would then open an arc where you delve into the depths of Tyria and find the remnants of Dwarven society who also come to your aid in defeating the Elder dragon. With him slaughtered the dwarves are then freed from their gaes and return to flesh from stone. Not only do they also become a playable race, but then add another class, or what not.

All of this is and more is possible with the living story. And yes it will take time, but another factor to consider here is scope. Compared to its competitors and forebears GW2 is a graphically breathtaking game. Adding a new area that can be jumped around in with obstacles and etc isn’t as simple as it is with the cartoonist graphics of most other games. Especially compared to something like WoW Gw2 has more finite resources. Assume WoW has 3.5 million players. Each pays a subscription fee of 15$ a month. That’s over 45 million a month. Remove operating costs etc. And they still have a stupidly higher revenue. A net can not win going toe to toe with the same model of content, so they need something different. LS covers that ground.

again, Just some idiots 2€ on the interwebs.

Howdy OP. I too was a pretty hard core gw1 player who migrated over to gw2 during beta and was started at head start. Initially I passed over the Mesmer as I seemed really unimpressed with how they worked compared to my old Gw1 setup.

Well, after a year and 80ing out warrior, Ranger, Necro, and Guard.. I finally decided to work on the mesmer. I absolutely despised it. Leveling it was a pain in the kitten all the way to kitten near 80. The clones hit for less than nothing, I seemed to implode when an enemy so much as looked at me, and I was a wreck. I was determined to finish it though as I wanted all 8 professions at 80.

Something changed at the upper levels of the profession though. With the grandmaster tier of traits unlocked, and thus a new plethora of builds available I suddenly found myself playing one of the most fun and versatile class of the game. I could run a lock down build in wvw, or add some utility, or even break out full dps is small scale battles while adding a lot of disorientation to my opponents not just helping myself, but my team as well.

Before you know it I was addicted. Mesmer may not be the class it once was… but I encourage you to stick it out. It really does get a hell of a lot better.

Although I, myself, am not a huge fan of Scarlet, or some of the ways the living story has gone, I have come to realize I love the living story at this point. Let me clarify, I do not necessarily love it on it’s own merits, but more so what it brings out in the community.

At this stage of the game, a year and a half after release, we have 3 camps divided on whether they hate Scarlet, like her, or meh. This is just the perfect idea of a “living” world. There will always be Heroes who get invested because Innocents are suffering (Virtual or not), and heroes who can’t or won’t bring themselves to be involved. Just as in our “real world” some may step up to the task when they see an elderly lady is being mugged, there is always those who turn their heads thinking, “Its not my problem.”

Thank you to everyone on both sides of the spectrum, because you are what helps this feel alive to me.

@Neoheart
I agree that it IS particularly class specific, however I a simple answer to that. ANet states that something like 70+% of players own a Ranger. Furthermore tears are account bound and are awarded to any class performing the dungeon, even if the reward is purchased on their Ranger.

So any class can complete the content allowing the Player to attain a reward for any of their characters. The Ranger simply gets an option that isn’t armor/weapon relegated.

I know the idea and implementation is futile at this time, but with enough individuals agreeing, maybe it’d be worthwhile to post as a suggestion or into the CDI forums.

Don’t want to bother if the community dislikes the idea.

Just to clarify, I wouldn’t be asking for them to be stronger, merely that they maintain their current AI and scripting which seems to be more successfully aggressive than the current batch.

Just an added thought, CM, someone could be training griffons there… And they are up for sale!

Don’t know what the community would think of this, so I am throwing it out there.

We all know that pets are in a bad place AI wise, and that the issue is not currently being addressed, or if it is it is behind the scenes and not something we should expect much of for the foreseeable future. So let’s move past our numerous bug fixes and outright incompatible issues, (power, signets, etc.), and focus on something that may help bring new life to the Ranger in the mean time.

I was contemplating adding pets as token rewards for dungeons. This gives players an incentive to revisit dungeons, and perhaps a chance of obtaining pets with some more functional skills/AI. Allow me to Elaborate.

Ascalonian Catacombs hold a species known as the Gravelings. These things are pure murder compared to our fluffy/scale friends. Imagine buying a hatchling for say 250 Ascalonian Tears. Okay, bleeds on auto attack, functions like a cat with increased movement. For 500 Tears you get a Breeder. More like a bear pet with an F2 of summoning 3-5 hatchlings that each hit and bleed a target for one stack before dying. 750 tears gets you a howler. We’ll go porcine family with an F2 shriek. 1000 tears would yield a Scavenger, dog family, F2 turns all of it’s attacks into knockdowns for 10 secs. Why? Becausekittenthat’s why. For 1500 tears you get a graveling stalker. Drake family, F2 is their burrow and knock up attack. Evades during and shortly after it hits.

This template introduces some new critters bound to some better AI/Mechanics. Gravelings get evade frames and etc. Plus it is SOMETHING for Rangers to enjoy and a reason for players to go back to previously forgotten dungeons.

I can see pets from Twilight Arbor being Nightmare skinned variants of current creatures, HoTW Being Corrupted skins, Citadel of flame could add a Burning Effigy Pet!

Some dungeons would be harder to find apparent pets to add, CM,SE,CoE. Anyone have thoughts on them, or the idea in general?

@Arlette
Sorry, I really miss your point here. Literally. In what way does what you said have any bearing upon my perceived boosting condition possibilities, while also adding a counter, and bringing DPs in line have to do with 2V2 etc. Battles. I’m kind of lost here.

Just my 2¢ 2 weeks too late, but on the matter of crit damage I agree with it’s total annihilation. It should be sacrificed on the alter of inequity for a new stat, perhaps Resilience. This stat could be made to mitigate the effects of conditions either in a duration reduction aspect or damage inflicted aspect pertaining to the particular conditions being mitigated.

Simultaneously, they should murder condition duration stat, and add Infliction. This is the direct counter stat to Resilience, increasing duration and inflicting “condition critical chance.”

Make critical damage a 100% across the board efficient and call it a day. Oh yeah, Infliction and Resilience would be armor stats as well, so good luck being a critical conditionmancer and bunker simultaneously.

What do you think?

@MZT

Perception is a very tricky thing I guess and what you or I see as hostile, disrespectful, or tactless can easily be very different. I won’t post names but there have been a few individuals who I personally think could have been much, much, more delicate in their presentation than they have been. Again, perception.

The main focus I want to highlight is that Jon in this situation has been extremely respectful and very earnest with the community. Remember admitting fault is extremely hard and rare for people to do. Regardless he has addressed a lot of issues in his posts here that have been burning Rangers for a year. Why are our pets in the shape they are? Long story short, they currently lack the resources to accomplish what they intended from the outset. From bandwidth limitations to processing limitations, right down the line to AI limitations due to scripting issues. He didn’t give us too much information as the company likes holding it’s cards close to its chest, but he explained why. I imagine they’ve tried work around and picture the reason for no near future fix is because they still need to establish if they CAN fix it, and if not, HOW to fix it. I guess I give them a bit more credit as I see all the places they have succeeded in establishing innovative mechanics, this one just ended up being more than they handle. They tried, and continued to try. Hopefully now the company can move forward now that they’ve essentially admitted defeat in this regard. I’m hopeful.

The other note is that Jon specifically said he didn’t have to change GS, he was asking the community IF, we thought that removing the “RNG Evade” for a dedicated evade would be more attractive. I personally don’t like it as I enjoy using the 3rd evade in succession with quickening zephyr for a more often and controllable evade, while others like the idea. If it gets “needed” we only have the community to thank. As it wasn’t on the chopping block until we put it there.

The key I’m getting at in the end is just this, would you phrase and state the same things the same way if you were talking face to face with the Jon in a closed office? If not, perhaps mind your phrasing (not you specifically) before posting.

Shouts
Our shouts are kind of lackluster as they only benefit our pet, unless gm traited for some regent and swiftness. I suggest some alterations as follows.
Search and Rescue – “All for one” Revives pet and up to 3 allies. If Ranger is still up after 10 secs allies remain up, if he drops at any point in the 10 seconds everyone drops back to downed state. Probably a hard code, but more in line with Mesmers or Necros rez.
Protect Me- Pet gains counterattack knock back effect for 10 seconds, taking damage for you and knocking foes away. Could also be an absorb effect and pulse a knock back AOE every 2 seconds.
Sic Em – Remains the Same. Remove Target, AoE reveal radius 1500, Reveal 5seconds.
Guard! – Allies gain protection and retaliation. Pet goes ghostly as animation but runs at Rangers side. (It is immune to incoming damage at this point, but also can not attack.)
5.) Traits
Marksmanship
Signet changes as above.
QuickDraw moved from skirmishing and mated with piercing arrows. Take their offspring “eagle eye” down to adept tier. Alpha Strike married to opening strike. Gm minor – masters minor. Remorseless to gm minor. New GM trait, Marksman’s Mastery. +10% Increased attack speed while using a bow. I’d have put 25%, but I’d probably be laughed at. It’d just be nice to get short bow back to where it was, and help the channel on Rapid Shot/Barrage.
Skirmishing:
Bye bye trap traits, hello martial mastery, off hand training, and new gm trait, Skirmisher’s Passion. 10% IAS when equipping melee weapons.
Wilderness Survival: Hello traps, goodbye martial weapons, goodbye bark skin.
Nature Magic: Goodbye Nature’s Voice, Hello Bark skin.
BeastMastery: Goodbye something… Hello Nature’s Voice. Master tier of course. Heck, move Natural Healing down to Master and Nature’s Voice GM. It’s cool with me.
Obviously I could write more, but this is probably too much already and shall go unread. Whee.

Not sure if Jon is still reading here or not as the discussion has devolved from ideas and discussion to complaints (justified/warranted) or not. If you are sir, Kudos to you. If not, then here goes with me long-windedly spewing forth my personal (and/or others ideas) with/without some modifications. Before I proceed however I’d like to request the community to return to polite discussion rather than demands and name calling. We’ll get farther with civility and tact then with name calling and disrespect. Just like in the real world instead of internet forums.

1.) Weapon alterations.
Jon, I personally dislike the idea of losing evade on chain 3. I agree it needs something, but that something is damage. If we agree and know that the estimated 30% damage from our pets is not being realized in most formats, then truthfully I don’t see where there should be a concern for doing such. The other alternative would be a 1 second weakness on chain 3, establishing a decrease to our personal chance of avoidance, but assisting our allies. Probably overpowered with the cleave, but perhaps slightly mitigated if you coded it to only proc on first target. Just a suggestion.
Longbow: Hunter’s shot is neat, but feels like it belongs on short bow. Longbow 3 can then be Splinter Shot, AoE damage with a couple bleeds. Why? With ranged weapons we are very limited on attacks with no target. If a character slips into stealth all we have with a chance of hitting is barrage.
Shortbow.: Skill 3 gets Hunter’s shot. Quick arrow followed by stealth.
MH Axe: Damage co-efficients up per pet inconsistencies, otherwise fine.

2.)Signet of The Beast master
I know the balance team dislikes the idea of making the signets inherently affect the Ranger. +25 or +50% damage added even for one attack is relatively high for a single utility skill, especially when affecting 70% of our output instead of only 30%. I suggest decreasing the starting values of the signets active affects and altering them with a new signet trait. Adept trait remains cool down %, master improves them to before change stats, grandmaster gives passive effects to allies and activating will produce 3 stacks of might for the party. I like the ring of Signet of the Alpha. Makes you feel like the pack leader. I see this as a low hanging fruit as the only signets that’d need heavy coding is signet of the hunt/renewal. Wild could be copy pasted from guard’s virtue of resolve (for the passive), stone is like their defense trait. The alpha trait could essentially just be a if activated then for great justice effect lol. That’s probably not how your code works but who knows.

3.) Pet Survival
Companions Defense trait- Ranger gains 2 sec protection, pet 2 secs of invuln. Now it has your dodge.
Rampage as One- Added clause, Revive your pet eliminating CD. Remains the same except pet stability is changed to invuln. This gives us an “Oh crap my pet died rendering my Elite skill useless” button. Sorely needed. Also makes for an active way to increase pet survival against bosses and zerg attrition. They lose stability as this would become far too overpowered.

Really? No input on this? I’m kind of depressed guys.

Definitely give me all of the corrupted skin creatures. Corrupted Wolf please. It can give torment AOE.

But I’ll definitely take a Risen Giant. Because eff realistic goals.

One of the things Jon mentioned in one of his posts on the Dec. 10th patch notes, was a trait that would make slotting a single signet, or multiple worth it.

We as players still feel that the Ranger lacks party support options.

I propose.

Swap Signet of the Beastmaster, and Beastmaster’s Might.

BeastMaster’s Might becomes Signet of the Alpha.

New Trait Signet of the Alpha. – All Signet passive effects are shared with allies. (Up to 5, Ranger Included.) Activating a Signet removes the passive effect, but gives allies 3 stacks of might.

What does this accomplish? We now can offer a party a single condi wipe every 10 seconds, passive 25% movement speed, A minor Regen, or improved toughness. In a flash however, especially against bosses, or a zerg situation, we could provide our allies with up to 9 stacks of might, something that a warrior could do with one weapon skill and a banner easily.

Not seeing a downside here. Furthermore this brings us up to having two of our five utility lines as beneficial to allies. Traps, not so much. Shouts, Only with a grandmaster trait. (And even then it’s only swiftness and Regen.) Survival skills, not so much. So this would give us Signets and Spirits as our party benevolent options.

I further offer another point of advice in the form of a bandaid fix for pets.
“Rampage As One”- Automatically Revive your pet if defeated, You and your pet gain Stability and Fury, your pet gains Invulnerability (PVE/WVW only)for 20 seconds.
Rename it to, “Never Rampage Alone”.
Wash hands, watch pet survive so many encounters it never could.
Also, just make sure the Spirit of Nature always revives pet as well. That gives us 2 ways to auto-resurrect our pet instantly. And kick the CD off.

Anyone agree?

When I main dual axes I typically go with a 30 Marksmanship, 20 Skirmishing, 20 Wilderness survival build. I usually run knights gear to back it up. (I’m cheap and went with ascended celestial trinkets because I change my build a lot, and don’t have the means to acquire new ascended for every build.)

Used Short bow as my second weapon. High crit chance still works nicely on the weapon to keep up some sustained (though not excellent) damage.
I ran signet CDR, Beast Master’s Might, and Beast master’s Signet traits in Marksmanship. Skirmishing got x/axe crit damage+10%. Wilderness survival got natural vigor and off hand training.

I ha a great time chilling a target with Axe 3, pulling the with 4(Path of Scars) directly into either a 5(Whirlwind defense) or 2(Split blade). The bounce on axe 1 is fun for zerging, and if you jump in the middle of a group trying to Rez, pop all signets and rampage as one, you are a six second invulnerable, non-cc-able, crit stacking, vulnerability inducing monster. Hits like a truck and forces the enemies off, if it doesn’t murder the squishies.

It may not be the most effective DPS weapon set we have, but it is absolutely fun when you can pull off a well timed face mauling.

Just 2¢ from a potentially horrible player.

Thanks for the responses guys. Here is a little clarification on the thought process behind, and what I intended out of the set.

First, the build done in an editor.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VG;4wEVu-f2kDV-0;9-8;2T-44T38A;713BbFG6;2TudbTudb00kKN455;2VPVUWZXdYj3p42uVIF310;9;9;9;9;9;4cV0;1V8k3I
Edit: ~Swap to GS weapon to see effective stats when I switch to main focus, those are what I was basing off of.~

Hopefully that works.

Jorne~ I really did look into the Wilderness Survival line, as I ran it always at 30 when I went with the RRR build. Here was the concerns I had with it. The Minor Adept is fantastic, but the major’s don’t bring anything major I constantly would prefer to have. Transferring my hard cc to my pet seems very un-rangery to me, and too passive to count on. It may be a lot better than I think, but I didn’t find it all that reliable. The vigor on heal is nice, but really doesn’t add that much on top of the already increased by minor trait. Faster Rezzing, meh. Muddy Terrain is a nice shortcut skill I agree, but I can take most short cuts without it anyway. Not really build defining. The minor master trait actually equates out to a 1s protection, because the first second is utilized when you are invulnerable via dodge roll anyway. The Major traits for master have some nice options, but none that really warrant survivability loss in my opinion. (Please correct me if I’m wrong, it is why I am posting this anyway.) Bark Skin and Empathic Bond also feel very last ditch effort, and a hope to god to survive thing. By that point, usually the battle is pretty well lost or won, unless you are on a Bunker Regen build, which I am trying to get away from. I defend my choice in Nature magic minor because that Regeneration is effected by my 20% boon duration, and with 1000 points in healing power, (Thanks to BM tree), really has a good bit of capacity to keep me on my feet. I definitely notice it kick in when I take those hits. Beast Mastery for me is a dually defined road. One, I took Masters Bond because I want to focus on River Drake primarily for an extra burst attempt. One I can setup with GS5 or Axe3/4. With a fully stacked and traited Drake, they can actually give a decent chunk of damage, and it is AOE-ish. Not to mention that beast can tank almost anything, even without Protection or what not. Add Regeneration on top of the Signet, Natural Regen, and Compassion training, and that beast will tank almost anything, especially once I pop signet of stone. Would love to hear your views on these thoughts.

Forzani~ Also greatly appreciate your time in considering this. It means a lot. The one thing I am looking for most really is a critique on the build itself, as I know my capacity with a BM is decent, on zerker, I fail. This is mostly because I have difficulties at times trying to maintain my pet on my controller. I have him mapped to the directional pad, with the left joystick being my move. To save my pet, I sacrifice my mobility. To save myself, I sacrifice my pet. So I have to establish a kind of balance. The BM line being 30 helps that, as I don’t have to worry about an instant gank on my pet constantly, which robs me of utility or damage. It isn’t fool proof, but it at least helps it sustain some.

The other thing I was questioning. Sigils on my Axes. I use the precision to get my Crit chance up to 50% with the sword, so my subsequent attacks after bursting aren’t pool noodling it, but the blood sigil is questionable. I only use the axe to initiate on groups and mobs where I don’t want to blow all my cool downs, and for having a 900 range pull/light cc. So would there be a better option to add on the off hand axe?

Thanks again guys.

In advance I need to make a few notes. I have been playing since beta, but am only a casual gamer. I’m 28 and have a family/job so I can’t devote a lot of my life to this game, I also was in an accident that rendered my hands incapable of operating the keyboard/mouse efficiently and thus play using an Xbox controller and X-Padder. I know no one cares, and I want no pity, this is merely to summarize why I play the style I do, and why my build requires some of the things it does to be efficient for me. So, what I am asking is input on where my build could be flawed, not a response of “Go Seekers/Bunker or go home.” Furthermore, I am posting on my mobile, so I can not direct link the build, but will explain the best I can.

Build:
30MM- Signet CDR; Signet Might; Beast master’s Signet
0- Skirmishing
5- WS
5- NM
30- BM Master’s Bond, Compassion Training, XII (Regent)

Armor: Clerics with Monk Runes
Trinkets: All Ascended Celestial w/ Zerker Quiver
Weapons: Zerk Axe Prec Sigil/ Zerk axe Blood Sigil
GS Soldiers Battle Sigil
Food: Mango Pie or +Prec + Crit / Master Maintenance

Skills: Healing Spring/Signet stone, Signet Hunt, Signet Wild, Rampage as One

20k-ish health, Almost 3k toughness, 3k-ish Power. Stacked 50% crit chance, 35-45% crit damage.

The Why: I really liked seeing the GS 15k build, and wanted to get away from BM Bunker condi style for awhile now. I just need some variety. However, due to my play capacity I am not feasibly capable of running full zerk and hoping to get lucky enough to survive. So I decided I needed something to maintain some survivability. Wilderness Survival is nice, but I realized I could get more burst from my pet, make it Huber tanky, and get about 1000Healing Power If I went 30BM and Clerics. It gives me a very solid toughness and HP score, with a decent power. Yes, I know it scales poorly, but is still preferred as I usually run with a condi Necro, so going Condi is pretty pointless. This setup allows me to have a solid, not great, attack with a low end burst, and a potential secondary pet burst. I run Riverdrake primarily as his breath weapon has the best chance to hit, and can proc a lot of might asap.

I have several ways I can start an encounter, usually pop RaO for stability and Aegis as enemy is closing. Use my opening strike via axe 4 for pull, while queuing my pet who is in passive to attack said target, activate it’s breath toward the end of pull to utilize the 1/2 second or so of displacement. Follow with GS5, pop signets and maul. This usually totals 8-15 k depending on crits etc. With the 12-25 stacks of might. If I miss the pull, I’ll usually axe 3 chill into, weapon swap, Swoop, signet pop Maul.

I’ve had fair success with this, and took down some potentially bad players today in WvW. Had zero trouble PVE solo murdering Champions and Mobs. In WvW I also ran around in a 5 man havoc squad for a bit and we were consistently taking down groups 5-8 and killing 3 man thief hit squads. Not sure how much of that was me, I could have been carried, but feel I was a significant role in our group. I can also solo tower lords/camps with no problem, pending I don’t have an enemy zerg (or 1-2 players tbh) eating my face simultaneously.

So any critiques besides L2P, GTFO, or Play a different profession?

Kolisch~
Seriously right. That will be the fix! Lol. I have more faith in Arena net than that though. Here is to hoping they prove me right.

insert all comments about my faith being misplaced l/kittened into your trash bin please. I know that by having faith in Arena Net they’ll eventually come through. Maybe not in our time, but eventually.-

I’d say splinter should then create a 360 aoe blast of up to 5 targets… that’d be my personal happy spot.

A suggestion that may be disliked and probably not well thought out. What if piercing arrows trait was just rewritten/altered to Marksman’s Arrows. Short bow arrows pierce. Longbow arrows Splinter.

This would also add a distinguishing feature for the dual bow runners…

IDK.

Kiwi~ Don’t get me wrong, I love my great sword. I just dislike the fact that we do more overall damage per second with a banner, and have some neat things like a blast finisher, party swiftness, charge, and potentially a party buff/heal while using it. These are all things the Ranger can’t typically do solo, and get it all with a bloody banner.

Want to blast your water field… too bad unless you have a warrior banner. Good luck counting on that drake. Get another free heal off banner of tactics, EFF yes! It give us support and DPS in one weapon, things we lack on all of our weapons. /Sigh

Jcbroe~
Very well designed, but what determines it’s final target? The game mechanics I think would have trouble with this. Also most effects trigger on first contact. I never really tested, but don’t things like bleed from sharpening stone apply to all targets it passes through? If it does, it shows the game engine is designed to treat that one shot as an attack, instead of each hit as an attack, and thus the game engine itself would limit this. If it only applies to first target then it would work more efficiently, but could negate it’s effect if one straggler body blocks the zerg. This wouldn’t be unfair, but would be aggravating. I also note that the long bow still gets “obstructed” a lot, which would severely enrage me when it “obstructs” my splinter. AOE attacks don’t seem to encounter this problem.

Jcbroe~
I do see your point on fan attacks, and won’t refute that it has the potential to being boring/contrary to design in some uses. I just like the option personally lol. I do like the mechanic of splinter shot, but thing it would be more effective as a new grand master trait to tie in to Marksmanship. The concern here would be in the potential to be OP when combined with piercing arrows. No matter where you put splinter shot, it would really affect that trait in an imbalanced way. A whirl finisher on the bow also seems clunky to me, and would most likely root us adding even less mobility on the weapon that needs it most right now. Doing an arcing arrow/ cluster bomb cover would possibly also feel redundant. Again, these are only my personal feelings, but I assume some at least will agree with me. Regardless, I would accept any of the proposed in exchange for hunter’s shot or potentially rapid fire.

Criminal~
The situations that I refer to usually deal with targets lost to stealth, whether it be a single individual, or an entire zerg. I would like to have my bow capable of doing some functional damage to anyone who thinks they’ll shadow refuge out, our to place an aoe/line up a skill that will hit the stealthed zerg knocking on my base door, and prepping for portal bomb. The other location an AOE could be more effective is attacking/defending walls. Perhaps it is just me, but I often have trouble, even with a traited longbow, hitting most people on the walls if they so much as step back. Also even full zerker my single target damage isn’t that great on a enemy in the zerg. So if I had a little bit more AOE of any nature to add to barrage, well that’d be just swell.

Jcbroe- The only issue I have with things like Splinter arrow etc. Is the requirement for direct target. My number one hang-up on LB is that you only have one functional skill to utilize if you lose target for whatever reason or want to place attacks where your enemy us going to be instead of where it is. Also, target able projectiles can be reflected where most AOE can not.

Barrage covers the circle drop AOE, so I can’t see them adding another. So I’ll take whatever I can get that isn’t a required Target attack…

Jcbroe~
I understand where the “full effectiveness” usage requires pointblank range, but I would visualize it more as an aoe mob damage skill. Imagine pumping 5 of these rapid fire into a zerg through a fire/poison/chill field. Or into a mob. You might only get maximum damage on a single person through shotgunning it, but the ability to synergize it into a mob through fields and do a fair bit of power damage to each would be invaluable to me. Are there better potential options out there? Probably. But these “fan” attacks have always seemed to fit the theme of a ranger. It would at least look bad kitten when you did it….

I’d like to see that back. Reminds me of my old Diablo 2 amazon. I had misty eyes watching that. :/

I know. It seems slightly insulting. This is not a request to nerf banner ANet, how about a little Ranger love here.

Anyone else remember the skills depicted on the GW2 site prior to release? I remember Serpent’s strike, barrage, and one other. It showed the Ranger wielding a torch, dropping it on the ground to create a fire field, (as torch 5,) then spamming “multi shot”, similar to the SB2, but unleased like 5 of them in 10 seconds. Who’s with me on a spamable multi-shot?

Rangers, are you tired of sub par DPS? Tired of Having your skill coefficients reduced to compensate for your suicidal animal companion?

Warriors, are you tired of insufficient sustain. Do you want a stronger backbone?

Well, I have a suggestion to fix both issues at once! With the new and improved Ranger, (Hereafter Renamed Squire,) both classes may finally break free of their shackles and become the effective unit they were born to be.

The only alteration necessary is an adaptation to the Beast Mastery line. It will now be known as Herald Mastery. Yes! Now every Squire may spec to buff their Warrior with things like perma protection, HP regent, increased stats, and more! In exchange in this symbiotic relationship our warrior lords merely need to on occasion drop us a banner with which we can become a functional DPS tool! This is a win-win situation, especially with a banner of tactics where we can maintain our warriors health pool as well!

This advertisement has been paid for by the adopt a Ranger foundation. No Rangers were actually harmed in the process of advertising, however their pets were sacrificed on the alter of inequity for their net weight in cheetos.
(This is intended as a joke, mocking the fact that warriors banners hit harder than Rangers Great sword. Please view it only as such. )

Durz~
We recently discussed this in another thread, and I finally realized the logical component behind this. It essentially is the same idea as what I proposed in decreasing the pet factor to 10% base, adding more for the Ranger coefficients. I can compare this to warrior, assuming they are 100% base untraited, they can escalate through traits (15% damage + 15% crit chance) to somewhere between 120-140% base damage.

If our mechanic offered an equivalent potential to boost via traiting, up to 120% (less than warrior since their mechanic isn’t quite as versatile, but also unkillable,) we have an established way to become just as viable. I would also at the same time like to see a way to hit 110-130% via traits that would affect the Ranger more as well, but I would be satisfied with a 90/10 split with the potential for 90-30….

Just my 2¢.

Well, as advised by several I tried out the thief in PvP on the NPC’s. I now understand fully what you guys meant by saying they are sub-par. Arena net would be well advised to maybe share some love to these utility lines, and I imagine such would seriously create some much needed variety in the class. Hands down it is fun backstabbing berserker style in a heavy stealth build, but not my personal play type. I give you guys credit however for enjoying the spec, it is fun, and challenging, and I have a new found respect for all thief players.

Darksidhe- Ah, a fey reference! God I hate the fey. Lol. Anyway, I do have an 80’d warrior, and I find the rifle a bit too straight forward and lacks a flair feeling like the short bow on thief or longbow on Ranger. I utilize it only when necessary. The longbow on warrior is a little bit better, but still feels cheap in my Norn’s hands. Your advice to play what I want to play is some of the best ever given, the only fault lying in community use fullness. GW2 requires multiple people for its’ more challenging and enjoyable content. As a Ranger I often find myself kicked from groups, with or without a second to say 2 words. “Look I’ll bring my (kick) warrior…. wtf?”

On those grounds I have even been kicked on my warrior for not running full zerkers. Sure these are the kind of groups many want to be kicked by, but it took me 3 days, 4 hours a day to get an AR group. Just to find out my Ranger was despised for the impossibility of keeping the pet alive, (even though my drakes routinely face tanked mai in her blue circle while I rezzed our fallen…,) and my warrior could not avoid all of Mai’s face ripping action leading to a bloody, and I mean bloody, death.

I know thieves are also discouraged in dungeon runs, but they still bring more to the table. And had a possible, (though now proven ineffective,) build I liked the idea of.

Again, thanks for the responses. I’m back to the drawing board it seems.

Some great responses here guys. Thank you all. Definitely alters my consideration of the build type. Kind of depressing though. They really ought to make cluster bomb work more like barrage where it is one attack on an area, utilizing one charge per “pulse.” Traps should get “Rangerized” as well. That would really help the Thieves group utility, not to mention a refinement on the venom skills.

Sadly you guys will probably never see it… not with everyone still screaming “Thief OP!!!”

Ah well. One can dream.

Edit: I am an idiot and made some lousy sentence structure. Did some repairs, probably not enough.

Thanks for the response guys.

Please forgive me as I joined a Ranger and have an alt Warrior 80 and that is it. I was looking at needle trap, immobilize yes please, and skale venom/basilisk venom/devourer venom.

This would effectively allow me to spread out torment, vulnerability, and immobilize quite a bit via cluster bomb, allowing my team/self to control our foes very well and keep my ranged attacks functional for an added time.

Once the enemy finally closes to 600ish range,swap to s-p, pop Basilisk venom, steal, then pistol whip.

Keep in mind I’d probably be running shared venom as well for my team. Would this be ineffective?

So, in every other MMO/RPG I’ve played I’ve always preferred the Ranger class. When GW2 hit I naturally made one, 80’Ed and have been running it as my main. Now, I’m really not all that fond of the pet system, or its’ broken mechanics, so I find myself searching for a “Ranger” feeling class.

From what I can see, the Thief is the new Ranger. Yes the range itself is lower, 900 compared to up to 1500, but the bow skills are much nicer on paper than the ranger ones. Also with access to traps and preperations… I mean venoms, they seem to have all the aspects (or a healthy chunk) of what a Ranger was supposed to be.

Assuming I m looking at a SB/S-P combo, with venoms and traps, is there a practical build for doing such and feeling Rangery? Please let me know.

One last note. I do like the idea of balancing around pet uptime as well. That would put it more in line with other professions mechanics that are balanced around Cool Downs/Availability, I just see it as being much harder because uptime on a pet is more situational than a guaranteed cool down on use.

Just as a quick question mate. What is being a BM to you, and why doesn’t involve using the Beast Mastery trait line to begin with? If you want to be a true Beast Master you place that trait in opposition of a trait that would make your pet a massive tank. I just don’t see how playing a BM doesn’t involve using their trait line.

I guess from where I’m viewing it this would make Ranger the class with BM as a build type, instead of the class being BM with a Ranger arch-type.

I still see more variety my way. (Again, I can be/am often times ignorant of all factors.) You would thus be able to play a Surviving Marksman archetype (maining MM and WS without making your build rely on a now gutted pet, but perhaps still supplemented by unique F2) MM/Skirmisher, MM/Spirit, MM/etc.) All of these potential archetypes are currently limited in effectiveness in situations where a pet is vulnerable to instant nuking.

I really enjoy my Bunker BM as well, so please don’t think I don’t see it’s viability or want to see it gone. I think some clearer steps to do it, while increasing the viability of other builds is a perfect synergy.

Furthermore, I know my BM trait seems incredibly awkward being the only trait that “decreases player capacity”, but we are also the only class who has a permenant side kick. Maybe they could add a similar trait to Minion Mancer Necromancers. It could be called Blood of the Master. Sacrifice 10% HP while traited, Minions gain 10% Damage increase or reduction or something. That’d be fun. Same for Engineers too! Our Ranger one could be called Master’s bond! (All speculation of course.)

Durz-

I guess I’m not seeing what you are seeing mate. I’ll post why I don’t see it, and perhaps you can tell me specifically why you do. By increasing Ranger coefficients on their weapons and decreasing the pets coefficient you maintain overall DPS in a base level similar to other professions. Where as most classes have a trait that increases damage x% under certain conditions, make 2 for ranger. One in marksmanship, and one in BM. The one in BM could be a major trait, sacrifice 20% Ranger damage, increase pet damage 30%. Now, if you want to go BM you can choose between a burst or tank pet. This trait line can still only utilize 30 trait points. So, let’s say I opt for Bunker BM. I can still go 0-0-30-10-30 and get a trapping, condi style bunker, (Rather than a dual wielder,) Or I could go with a more DPS build, and either spec my damage between Ranger and pet, or allow my pet to tank while I burst, sacrificing my potential survival in the process.

The biggest flaw I see in my setup is that it could make a lot of players just ignore their pet completely. My response to that, good. Let them. As more and more pet less (meaning of course non-utilized pets) Rangers show up, our opponents will forget about the threat they pose… until it eats them. This would be no different then a warrior who never blows his adrenaline, a guardian who never utilizes their virtues, or an Ele who simply fails at understanding that there are other attunements than air/fire.

Regardless, as we are the only ones really posting here I’ll let a dead thread stay dead.

Durz-
I value your opinion but am forced to disagree. I don’t see this as pigeon holing the Ranger into a BM build as much as it would establish BM as a build archetype with other options being available as well. It may force a particular trait line to a particular build, but is that not the norm? Just like all spirit skills being in the Nature Magic tree, or all traps in skirmishing, ( Which of course I still find odd.) Maybe in that vein, during the rework they could move traps to Wilderness Survival and sword/offhand cool downs to skirmishing, ( where they’d make more logical sense I believe.)

I’m not saying I’m right, god knows I can’t foresee every avenue or venue, but I see that putting all Or most of our talents in their associated trees would make speccing and specializing far simpler.

Now the shouts idea I do like, personally however, I’d prefer the option to ‘F’ Rez my pet from beta back. You’d see a 75% increase in Runes of Mercy use as well as our faster revive trait being implemented.

Again, just my 2¢.

Sorry for the extra post, but didn’t think of this while I was posting prior.

~Durz
In regards to re-vamping traits to increase the Beast Master feel after the damage redistribution, how do you feel about traits like Companions Might? Ways that we as a player can utilize our skills to enhance the pet? What about a rework on some of the shouts like Guard? Maybe Guard could lose stealth and instead add Stability and Protection. Sic Em, Increase damage and movement speed by 50% (Thieves get it in stealth, so someone else ought to lol.) Protect Me could be revamped, as I’m not a big fan of a shout that basically commands your pet to kamikaze.

If some of those utility skills, and a few traits were reworked so you could still make a viable master of beasts, but had other options beside beast master not critically nuked in the process, would it be more appealing?

Just to put this out there, I am not one who understands all the things that go along with balancing, but have some idea of how it works. At least on a miniscule scale. The only reason I tout the %damage decrease on the pet, with the scaling up of the Ranger base is because it would put us more in-line with other professions and negatively impact us less when horrible situations and designs favor our pets becoming a free meal for some malicious force.

I like to look at it this way. A warrior, (I know a different profession and thus shouldn’t be compared to but hear me out,) has the Adrenaline mechanic. This mechanic can be utilized to increase their damage output or their sustain capacity in several ways, none of which negatively impact them further then their own decision on how to use it is. They can either use the adrenaline to gain a burst damage, use it for sustain hp regen, Sustain to increase damage up to 15%, as well as possibly increase their critical hit chance. They may lose out on the increased sustained damage by bursting, or lose out on Condition removal by Saving their Adrenaline, but it does not have a negative impact upon the character in any other form. It can be blocked, dodged, or evaded… but it can’t be taken out of the battle for up to 60 seconds, or permanently disabled in certain encounters. The same goes for Thieves, Elementalists, Mesmers, Guardians, Engineers, and Necromancers. We are the only class with a situationally useless mechanic that can be robbed from us so easily.

Noting that the pet can be increased in health, given the ability to evade, or given even AOE damage reduction etc., still can not make up for any and all situations, (IE: Laser room for the lose! Cannons barrage for the lose! Zerg combat for the Lose! Lol.) the only way to present the loss of our friendly beast is to mitigate the impact of his loss. Perhaps 10% is too low, maybe 15% or even 20% is more understandable, regardless the 30-40% is far too much.

Now, if the pet is downgraded, and the Ranger elevated, this does not mean we lose a lot of versatility. At the same time as implementing something like this, what about a Grandmaster trait in Beast Mastery that increases Damage for pet 10%? Now we are opting to give more power to our pet by not taking that bonus for ourselves. By re-vamping a few traits in the Beast Mastery line, especially the less than favorable X-family gets X-ability traits, and adding some of the traits from the other lines that establish your furry/scaly/feathery ally as a threat you can still maintain a Beast Master feel, but with more of your basic prowess intact when in a situation that could not be resolved with a functioning pet.

Don’t get me wrong, I know my pets can handle a lot. My Drakes Solo Tanked Mai in the electric field the other morning giving me time to save my allies. Bears made it ridiculously easy. They can survive a lot of punishment that even some players can’t. I just want to see the little guys not gutting us in 2 fields of play because they can’t survive some of the designed content regardless of management and skill.

Here is my 2¢. Achievement points are mainly, with a few exceptions, related to PVE content. In PVE we work as a team, or a community, to complete events etc. that lead up yo these achievements. Dungeon Achievements = 5 people, Mega Bosses = 10+ people. I highly doubt “skill” has anything to do with any of this, it is about “Participation.” Let me repeat that. “Participation.” So no, I don’t think there should be a leader board, nor a loss/gain of ways to earn achievements. Those who wish it to be a statement of elitism should probably dedicate yourselves more to PVP, where you can show off your “skills.”

I agree in part with this. Drop the pet to 10% of the damage ratio and increase the Ranger’s coefficients to match, this I like. Making them then invulnerable, not so much. Any other profession mechanic has limitations, and the fact that we could lose 10% and a utility is fair. Losing 30-40% I think is a tad too extreme.

Thanks Runner. No other comments?

Before I start, I know this belongs in the Suggestion forums, but would like some feedback from the community before I post there. Please be advised I am in no way, shape, or form 100% sure on the effectiveness of this possible solution to pet based issues, or how overpowered/worthless this alteration would be.

Implementation of a single pet system. Essentially what I am suggesting is the possibility of slotting the same pet in both slots. Doing so would cause the pet to maintain normal stats, save for double vitality/health pool and a 10-15% CDR (Cool Down Reduction) On its’ F2 skill. Move any traits that function on swap to a new F4 option, (IE: Quickness, Might, etc.) This will allow you to have a single pet which would operate more smoothly with things like Master’s bond, and add survivability in dungeons. Traits that would reduce cool down on pet swap would additionally have the benefit of 20% CDR on death for reactivation.

This would still permit individuals to choose between the multi-pet/single pet system. Yay variety.

A notable draw back would be the inability to swap pets to mitigate some particularly harsh attacks through quick swap, so a Pet dodge mappable button, (single click F3 to dodge, double spam to return?) Would need to be implemented.

As a Ranger, I think focusing on a single pet would feel more “bonded” and may help.

Let me know what you think.

~Anafiel Invictus~
Playing poorly for FC since Beta!

Only reason I use it is for pet synergy while keeping some evasion. Yeah, axe 1 sucks, but 2 is still beneficial for condi pressure, 3 helps my pet hit, dagger 4 helps keep me alive (evasion is a god send), and 5 also helps my pet hit with bonus of poison. Being Ranged this also helps negate a decent (33%) of a foes healing.

Note: This is all more beneficial in an Apothecary beast master build.

Eff all that. Allow me to go to the dark side and change roles to slave master instead of beast master. I’ll take a Quaggan pet, a Kodan pet, maybe a Hylek, certainly a Charr or two. It’ll be great times.

In that line of thinking, just let me become a son of svanir. Ice brood quaggan/kodan/ dragon whelp anyone?

XD

Indoles.1467:

First, wouldn’t this be better suited for the suggestion sub forum?

Second, while I have thought of something like this before, some issues come to mind.
1. How much of a field would you have to cover to remove it? Would this be difficult to code? If it simply has to touch another field, will countering be too easy?
2. Some fields are very common while others are fairly rare. Will this make certain fields easily countered and therefore fairly useless?
3. Some professions have access to a large amount of field while others have almost none (especially in certain builds). Will this worsen profession balance?
4. Can one field neutralize an unlimited amount of enemy fields of a certain type or just one? How often does it check to neutralize fields?
5. How will this impact small/large group combat?

Like the idea, don’t see it happening though.

Thanks for the input, and yes I realize it would probably be better in the suggestions tab, but I figured I’d list it here first only to “test the waters.”

1.) I believe that it should be a hard counter, if they overlap they cancel. Now does this make it too easy? In the confusion of a 5v5 or 30v30, it may be a little more difficult than say in PVE. However, countering a field would be similar to wiping a sleight of conditions.

2. This is actually needed. Countering a fire field removes a bonus to the opposition, whereas countering a Necromancer’s well is devestating to the necromancer. Events such as this still permit fields of specialization to have fewer hard counters, while more prevelant fields are more easily dispatched.

3. Can profession balance get much worse? Lol. In all seriousness however, I really can’t fathom the entirety of the balance/imbalance nature of this. Will it add some effectiveness to a Ranger/Ele/Necro? Indeed. Less so Warrior, etc. The key is it would add an entire facet to support based roles, and some build diversity.

4. I would for see it only negating the fields it directly comes in contact with, and probably no more than 3 fields regardless. My “cleansing water” can only purify so much poison. My fire can only melt so much ice. Also neutralization should only be checked on deployment. If I throw fire down on ice to cancel, the opponent could then throw ice down on my fire to extinguish it.

5. Impact: Tactical removal of field buff deployment, cancellation of potential blast/leap finishers, nukage of potential blast blinds etc. That here to fore are not capable of being countered, save for countering the “finisher.” Everything should have a hard counter in the game… that is balance in my 2¢.

For further speculation, what if it was a trait able ability, either in Wilderness Lore or Nature Magic and certain class exclusive?