Guild Wars 2

Disagree. We’ve used siege in days past to clear campers off the traps, to help server members get out of the starting area (another favorite camping spot), and even “clear” the top of the beast arena (cathedral) from people camping up there. Siege can be used not only as a weapon, but to counter other campers in choke points. If everyone has it, its fair. Now the campers control because there’s nothing to clear them off.

Now that EB JP is its own map, can we have siege equipment back? Siege equipment used to level the playing field of large groups camping along the jumping puzzle.

I remember having great fun having to dodge siege, thinking tactically against an entrenched enemy, and the siege equipment really helped small groups take on larger groups.

Now its just who gets there first. If a group is camped at the ‘traps’, there’s no way to get them off. Siege would really help. Again.

Protecting entry portals would be nice. I would also like to see them return rights to building siege equipment in there. Many times, a group will be camped along the path (not just at the entrance). Some siege would really help “move them” along like it used to. I had great fun dodging siege and being having to think tactically with my guildies for maneuvering through the EB JP. Now its just who gets there first. Boring.

Dual Shot aftercast needs fixing.

Longbow is a power weapon. It does NOT need any condition damage on it. Conditions on the longbow should be restricted to interrupts and crowd control (daze, stun, cripple, immobilize, or chill). No bleeding. No burning. No poison. Save those condition damaging effects for the shortbow.

Rapid Fire: I actually enjoy this skill very much on the longbow. However, it is predictable and easily interrupted. So make it unblockable and a faster channel.

I agree that there should be some way to set up the longbow for better burst damage with strong sustained, direct damage between bursts.

1. Combine LB1 “Long Range Shot” with LB3 “Hunter’s Shot” AND “Point Blank Shot”. Vulnerability stacks per shot.
Knockback kicks in once the target comes within 600.
Keeps pet swiftness.
Increase damage by 25%
2. Keep LB2 “Rapid Fire”. Increase damage by 25%
3. NEW: “Sundering Shot”
Damage: 2,450 (using Rapid Fire as equivalent damage, 25% damage increase, and then adjust for longer refire)
Recharge: 15 sec
Does +20% more damage for 1000 range
4. NEW: “Freezing Shot” (“Winter’s Delight”) – fire an arrow that stuns and chills target
Damage: 176
Stun (3 sec)
Chill (6 sec)
Recharge: 12 sec
Combo Finisher: Projectile
Range: 1200 (untraited)
5. Keep LB5 “Barrage”.
Remove root effect on ‘caster’.
Increase damage by 25%.
Increase number of targets affected
Keeps AoE Cripple
6. NEW ELITE: “Sniper’s Shot.” (requires ranged weapon to be equipped to use; works with harpoon, too)
1500 range.
Combo Finisher: Projectile
Damage: Fires a single shot sufficient to one-shot glass cannon builds without protection buffs or damage mitigation (15k?) (protection and damage mitigation should help the target survive)
But has very long cooldown so it cannot be used frequently (240?)
Inflicts Daze (1 sec) (thus, interrupts)
Cast time 1 sec
(can be dodged)

The ranged combat in the game needs a serious overhaul. Are we really expecting someone with a hand grenade can throw it further than one can shoot a shortbow? Is the shortbow really so weak that it be fired as far as someone throwing an axe?

1. Pets can “smell” opponents even in stealth (pet tracking)
2. Pets get 90% damage reduction from AoE
3. Pets reworked so that they are F2 skill – summoned on demand, but not always out. Ranger can set up a F1 pet and an F2 pet (from those the Ranger tamed). Casting one “pet” skill puts the other on cooldown so both cannot be out at the same time. Pet management skills can set pets to active/passive and return. Pet stays out until death, put away, or second pet is called (if too long after testing, a time limit may be needed so that it functions like summoned turrets).

we want our Skritt race… shiny, yes? More come now. Make Skritt good. You help!
Go, go, go.

Need Skritt weapons, too. Big stick. Throw bottle. Hard rock. You make, yes?

Twin Phantasmal Grenadiers
Phantasm: Summon two illusions that hurls explosive grenades at your foes. Works underwater, too.

Damage: 179
Bleeding: (12s) 510 damage
Explosion Radius: 150
Range: 1200

- – - – - – OR – - – - -

Shared Burden
Phantasm: Summon two random Phantasms to attack your foes.

One ranged phantasm: Duelist, Warlock, Mage, Disenchanter
One melee phantasm: Warden, Swordsman, Berserker, Defender

When underwater, this skill always summons both Mariner and Whaler

[quote:]Burning Arrows: Reduced the recharge of longbow abilities by 20% in addition to dealing 10% bonus damage against burning foes.[/quote]

Tooltip does not include the above information from the patch notes. It only says ‘does 10% bonus damage against burning foes’.

Has anyone tested out to see whether or not taking this Tactics trait actually reduces longbow abilities by 20% (ie. a tooltip bug) or did this patch change not make it into the patch?

Nope. Its been at 3/4 same as Ranger longbow. I was comparing them last week to see which makes a better archer. They have the same time.

Yamsandjams.3267:

Yeah, but it doesn’t have good internal synergy. You will generally use OOM as part of a burst combo…

That’s not its only use. And no, I don’t use it as part of a burst combo. Right now, there are other utilities that are better. Now, if it had a stun breaker with the regular shout, then I would seriously have to reconsider it. I could see it being useful in a few builds.

If the patch notes were “leaked” intentionally, then it is for the purpose of soliciting feedback before the patch goes live. So, “complaining” and “praising” are part of the feedback ArenaNet will need before these changes are implemented.

So “stopping complaining” is tantamount to not giving feedback (which would defeat the entire purpose of the “leak”). The Devs need to know what we think of the changes, good and bad, so this game can be the best that it can be.

Veritas.6071:

There is no one longbow or rifle build. I could post 10 builds and someone would post something else with their reasoning for liking it better.

That’s fine. If fact, that would very helpful by looking at ALL the strengths and weaknesses between longbows and rifles in a variety of build setups, taking into account differing playstyles. As said previously, details please.

Because there are so many diverse opinions, it would be helpful to put up comparative builds. Show us an awesome PvE longbow build. Show us an awesome PvE rifle build. Vague descriptions without specifics amount to nothing more than opinions. Details please.

Yamsandjams.3267:

perhaps OMM as an alternative…

I agree. OMM is a good candidate to include a stun breaker. Its an underused shout and could use some polish. “Fear Me” is already powerful even on a longer cooldown.

So what would a good PvE longbow build look like if every trait and gear was centered around maxing the dps of the longbow?

So what would a good PvE rifle build look like if every trait and gear was centered around maxing the dps of the rifle?

I think it would be really helpful if we could see a comparative set of builds.

I like the proposed changes to Shortbow and Torch and power benefit ratios to the Ranger. Not sure if that pet fix will work – but yeah, pets need better ‘hit’ mechanics (big time).

For spirits, however, I would propose that they be immune to AoE damage instead of all damage. Let spirits be vulnerable to direct damage only. That way if a player wants to take down the spirit, he/she has to actually target the spirit and not spam AoEs. That would help the Rangers in dungeons, too.

Kain Francois.4328:

I re-read the patch notes. Before we all start QQing, check out:

Companion’s Might: This trait now grants 5 seconds of might to your pet, up from 1 second.

If it has no cooldown, this will be overpowered as heck!

Pet damage vastly increased in the longrun!

One factor you might be forgetting: Companion’s Might only applies might on a critical hit by your pet. Pets do not gain any of your stats or gear bonuses to their critical hit chance. The highest pet ‘precision’ trait for critical hits are cats and birds. The only way to influence that number would be by putting points in the Beastmaster trait line. So for BM builds, this might be a “must have”. But without points in Beastmastery, with a pet without much critical hit chance, this trait won’t fire (and hence be useless).

Someone with better math skills than I could probably calculate it out in more precise detail.

EDIT: Thanks for the feedback clarification. Glad it works off the Ranger and not the pet.

Matzepeng.1053:

I was wondering that too, but I suspect it doesn’t, since it would render Mending pretty much pointless in comparison. But you never know, it doesn’t specifically say “when you using a burst ability”…

Well, reading the notes, Mending would be faster than Healing Surge. So if you are dealing with someone applying many conditions quickly, Mending might be the better way to go (faster and non-adrenaline dependent and non-trait dependent). But if you are dealing with someone who only stacks a few conditions, Healing Surge-Cleansing Ire would be the way to go (slower and dependent on replenishing adrenaline and dependent on 20 points in the Defense trait line). Sounds like two very viable build options for both of them.

Cleansing Ire – New Master tier trait with the following effects. Gain adrenaline when hit. Remove a condition for every bar of adrenaline spent.

If these leaked patch notes are true, would that mean using Healing Surge, with three bars of adrenaline, also cleanses three conditions when used? That would be great news if its true.

If they really want to nerf shortbow range, it might be helpful if they added a trait fix:

“Eagle Eye” – increases longbow, shortbow, and harpoon gun range; increases longbow, shortbow, and harpoon gun range by 5%.

That would somewhat fix the range problem (requiring a trait to put it back to 1200; yes, its still a nerf, but at least it would address the range and ‘animation’ glitch dps issues to some degree),

Agreed. I was glad to see the slight improvements to the longbow, but very disappointed in seeing the range nerf to the shortbow. And they still haven’t fixed the shortbow’s firing rate after the stealth animation nerf. Guess I’ll keep my ranger in farm mode until this profession gets fixed.

Putting condition removal on burst abilities does not help my build (and would potentially hurt my warrior). I keep adrenaline up at all times for the heal. If I have to choose between condition removal and heal, I’ll stay with healing. Its better to just heal “through” the condition, than to get caught with no heal because I removed a condition.

Lord Titan.3791:

Taran Redleaf.7912:

What about a Shout-Regen Tank with full Clerics and moderate power? Yes, it sacrifices some damage output, but the survivability is quite good (with triple condition removal and instant-cast heals not counting the 9.6k adrenaline heal itself).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIEQNAneTncO08YyDSBxEhAApArrMFKSVAu0DyQLNA-jEyAoNBRqRgIRgZxioxWZLiGreBTpSEV7SKiWtUAXMGA-w

Full Clerics can definitely work as long as you have teammates to make up for your damage loss. Although I’d suggest losing On My Mark and possibly changing up your traits.

a. Replace “On My Mark” with “Fear Me”?
b. What trait replacements would you suggest? The only traits that I would not replace are the shout traits (Tactics VIII & XII and Discipline IV; the rest are negotiable)
(I tend to use a variety of weapons, so I’m flexible as to what to use)

What about a Shout-Regen Tank with full Clerics and moderate power? Yes, it sacrifices some damage output, but the survivability is quite good (with triple condition removal and instant-cast heals not counting the 9.6k adrenaline heal itself).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIEQNAneTncO08YyDSBxEhAApArrMFKSVAu0DyQLNA-jEyAoNBRqRgIRgZxioxWZLiGreBTpSEV7SKiWtUAXMGA-w

One aspect about Torment I would like to know is how the mechanic works. Is Torment on a player for a certain amount of time and does damage for movement during that time? For example, Torment is placed on me. I take a step and stop – realizing that I have Torment on me. Does the whole condition “fire” off for taking one step, or did I only get partial damage and no more since I stopped?

What if I’m a mesmer and instead of “moving” like running, I blink. Does Torment do damage then? How about if I portal but stay standing still, do I take damage?

How about if I’m a thief and I shadowstep, but do not press #3 (no leaping), do I take damage for shadowstepping? How about if I’m not running, but just pressing #3, does Torment “fire” for each of my leaps (death blossom)?

Yes, drop down menus and maps would make it easier to find these events.

I would like to personally thank our devs for posting these summaries of what changes will be coming in the next patch. I really, really appreciate them taking the time to allow us to know their thoughts, concerns, and proposed changes that they are making in an attempt to make GW2 even better for everyone. And I appreciate they they desire to make more diverse builds viable in GW2.

I do have one concern, however… the summaries read as if the changes are being made from the PvP point of view, which is going to change how WvW and PvE are played.

For example, most boss fights in dungeons do not have a boss running around. So is Torment going to be given to bosses as another AoE on players attempting to dodge and avoid damage? Will Torment have ‘any’ affect on boss encounters since they don’t really move? Even fighting world bosses like Jormag (who is essentially an animatronic puppet that doesn’t really do any moving), Torment would be useless, right? So this is a mechanic for playing against a dodging player in PvP, right?

How will weakness changes affect dungeon boss fights? Will it reduce a boss’ spike damage? Or is this designed only for use against other players in PvP?

The increase on stun breakers being spread out… that’s due to problems found in PvP, right? Have many PvE players requested more stun breakers for open world and dungeon content?

So, I guess my question is this: Is PvP controlling the way GW2 is played in WvW and PvE areas?

So will this site allow players to see when all dynamic events occur in a given map. For example, if a player is leveling in Harathi Hinterlands, will it show all the dynamic events for that map/zone and when they are available?

It would be nice if they did a living story with the maps of Orr… a sylvari “going green” project to reclaim the lands of Orr with Asuran technological – terraforming support. Players finally defeat the last of the Risen, (which get replaced by ‘baby dragons’ (think Skyrim or the movie, Reign of Fire) – soaring through the air, descending on players randomly – a place where dangerous drakes and their ilk become the new threat. The Pact is busy attempting to establish outposts and aerial defenses, but there’s only so much they can do.

And there could be a nice market for dragon eggs, dragon teeth, dragon scales, … you name it.

To me, playing the way I want would mean playing my class/profession they way I want to and not only be a viable build, but also be among the top builds of the game. Maybe that’s selfish and maybe its not realistic, but the question asked what it meant to me, and that’s what it meant.

So I came to GW2 hoping to play a good, solid archer. Whether that was as a thief sniper, a heavy plated warrior/marksman, or as a nature loving ranger… it didn’t matter. Only bows are weak in the game and to my knowledge, not one profession specs as a ‘master of the bow’ with a viable build, let alone among the top builds in the game. We get #3 key spamming dagger assassins, hundred blades warriors, and bunker melee beastmasters… but no viable bows.

So GW2 does NOT let me play the way I want to play. Which I find quite disheartening.

Randulf.7614:

To be fair.. Challenging bosses were requested. Perm content was requested. This ticks both boxes. Yes it is requires teamwork and coordination, but isn’t this what a hundred threads have asked for?

While some of the suggestions were legitimate, there is also some reverse trolling going on as well… players who feel frustrated, angry, and so on, are not experiencing the joy of events/dungeons and even game play at present levels. Thus, to ‘spoil it for everyone’ certain individuals log onto forums to complain about how ‘easy’ everything is so developers will make it harder on everyone else. “Misery loves company.”

So the forums have a mix of strong players who want it harder (legitimate suggestions) and poor players who want it harder so “everyone else” will suffer (reverse trolling). Blended together, especially when one cannot read tone in printed text, and we get a serious of threads “demanding” higher, more difficult content – some for more fun in doing it, and some, for more fun in watching people fail.

Patch balance comes at the end of June. These are just bug fixes. We still have more waiting to do.

Yes, this has always been the case. The game takes your elevation into account for calculating distance. Its a nice feature. It gives the game more depth than two dimensional physics.

This would be an alternative siege ability in WvW.

a. Basic ladder construction (quick to build but also quick to destroy); allows players to scale one level of wall.

“Stairs” could be used to overcome the game mechanics of vertical climbing to simulate such siege equipment (if the game mechanics do not allow for actual “ladders”). “Stairs” could be both unshielded and shielded depending on the type deployed.

And these are non-mobile. Once in place, they cannot be moved.

Sounds like changing the Ranger into a WoW Druid. No thanks. I didn’t like Druids in WoW and I don’t want to play one here.

I like Lemongrass just the way it is. I disagree completely with the OP of this thread.

If you can buy two, you should be able to equip two. They ought to be account-bound anyway.

Well, for myself, I don’t know about coding or balancing games or any of that “tech” side of the game. As a consumer, however, I know I really enjoyed GW1 variety of skills, builds, and being creative with dual professions. The ability to design creative builds was THE most fun I had.

In WoW, I enjoyed the mods such as UI customization (Sexymap, XPerl Unitframes, Tidy Plates), quest locations (TomTom) – which would be good for finding Dynamic Events, markers for entire zone gathering nodes (GatherMate2), monitoring of the Trading Post/Auction House (Auctionator), tracking combat information (Recount), warnings for Dungeon encounters (Deadly Boss Mods), and loot monitors from crafting materials to boss drops (AtlasLoot Enhanced). These were modifications made by the player base – very talented people. Instead of waiting for the “official” development team to spend time designing these features, the WoW community is permitted (even encouraged – without dev support) to use them to enhance their gameplay. It strengthens the community and frees up the devs for more content-focused work.

So as a consumer, I believe the product GW2 could be better. I would have to agree with Taugrim’s article.

No. Elementalists are the kings of ranged combat. One could argue Mesmers are, but that’s if you count their clones as well.

neverborne.4736:

Commune with Nature:
Lay down a commune field with a 5 minute duration and no range limitation. Reactivate the skill to briefly portal back to that location as an invisible/incorporeal form of yourself for several seconds to see what is going on around that area before returning to your body. Should be fairly easy to program with existing Mesmer portal code.

Send a Scout Hawk:
Activate the skill and then click an area of the mini-map to send the hawk. Several seconds later that area will become “revealed” allowing you to see red dots of enemy players, green dots of allied players on the map even though it’s beyond the normal range which you’d be able to do so.

Hunker down:
Create a sticks/branches shelter similar to shadow refuge that up to 5 allies can “hide” in (go invis, gain invulnerability). They get knocked out if they cast or attack. Enemies can destroy the shelter if they target it. Should have about as much health as a catapult. This would be a really neat skill for group fights, as your wounded allies can attempt to retreat to the shelter to try to regain health. Also I can imagine two or three of these set up in a wooded area near a road, with your team hiding inside waiting for the enemy force to pass by. So cool!

Any other “unique” skill ideas for Rangers?

Send a Scout Hawk (alternate version): Commune with the Spirit of the Hawk
Actually I’d change this one. Something like commune with the spirit of the hawk. The Ranger stands still. Activating the skill gives free motion to the camera to “soar” for about 1 minute maximum (aerial view). The body of the Ranger stays behind, but the camera (first person view) can “fly” around and see where action is taking place for up to 1 minute away from where the Ranger’s body was left behind. The danger, of course, is leaving one’s body unprotected. The advantage, however, is the ability to scout the surrounding area virtually undetected. If the Ranger’s body is attacked, concentration is broken, and the Ranger is instantly “returned” to one’s own body.

Camouflage:
The Ranger, if out of combat, is able to stealth. The idea being that the Ranger finds a good lookout position and stays in place to observe enemy movements and activity. The stealth, however, is very fragile. Movement causes the stealth to break (whether a side step or running away). Being struck by an enemy (such as AoE) causes the stealth to break. Attacking causes the stealth to break. The Ranger can’t move, fight, or do anything other than observe. However, the stealth will last until broken (and has a long cooldown time between activation – say 180 or 240).

Jaakko.4759:

Why aren’t rangers able to wield rifles?

Because Rangers are masters of the broken bow. They can’t be expected to wield a ranged weapon that actually might work. Then they’d stop being melee Beastmasters.

Trait Suggestion: Instead of having to invest 20 points in Discipline (one third of a Warrior’s build just to pick up an ability that only functions when the rest of the build fails… the downed state), Sweet Revenge should be rolled into the downed state already and open up the trait slot for something more useful.

Use Hounds of Balthazaar because Ranger elites are ‘sad’. At least as a Ranger, I can (for 30 seconds) call more pets to help fight.

I wish ArenaNet would change the pig from its current F2. I would like to see the pig be able to charge with a knockback/knockdown (or even toss its head with a knockdown) for its F2 ability. It would give the pig a short CC which would be useful even in PvP and WvW situations.

I mostly agree. Longbow should have 1200 by default (let Rangers have 1500 option to keep them “masters of the bow”). Stronger bowstrings should allow faster refire rate (20% increase fire rate).

However, I would keep longbow damage against burning (and even the new ’against immobilized foes by 10%) at the master level. That way, if a warrior wants to use longbow, there are two traits the warrior can take in Tactics to work towards such a build.

I agree. Hammers need increased attack speed. I would like to see Culling the Weak rolled into Merciless Hammer.

I agree. I would like to see Culling the Weak rolled into Sundering Mace.