This is not a rant since I really believe MM improved a lot. The thing that holds it back is the rock-scissor-paper dynamic between different comps in this meta.
My only real complaint is how it’s starting to work against you once you are in the division you belong. Winning consistently get’s waaay too hard in my opinion.
Usually I start off with two easy wins, the third match will be really hard, but doable, and after that the possibility of getting crazy blowouts get’s really high. I always wonder where the hell do they even get these players who don’t even know the pure basics in mid Platinum.
Anyone else having the same problems? It really annoys me since you are essentielly forced to take a break to avoid these players.
Here is the problem with ranger.. SoS is required. Now with condi classes running rampant, SoR is too.
So what do you have left?
A stun breaker.
And that’s it.
Majority of ranger builds would prolly have the same utilities. I just don’t see playing plat or higher without those..
In short..
We are pigeonholed into those..
Because every class has 3-5 meta builds….
No i mean look at this way..
I wanna theorycraft a build that is far away from the meta, if you PvP a lot, you would just have the face the fact that SoS and SoR are pretty much mandatory. It’s not bad design per se, it’s also the state of PvP.
Now if you get the Bear combo in Soulbeast, now you can free up a slot.
SoS will probably be a thing with SB too. Keep in mind that Defy Pain is not instacast and you can’t use it during CCs. The invuln from black bear is not too bad, but in teamfights I would rather pick the 4k aoe heal+resistance.
I’m in the same boat that sword AA could use some additional flavour. Usually I take LB, but sword really surpised me.
I see so many Rangers almost never use it. People keep forgetting that Sword AA has a very good DPS for Ranger(since all Ranger skills are undertuned in general).
I feel like I contribute much more in a midfight compared to LB (even from range) and GS(slow attacks and random blinds suck) by using sword AA as often as I can when I don’t have anything else. Also nothing is more fun than killing DH with AA since they never expect you to stay that close. Heck I even get eles to use expensive CDs if I use sword efficient. Some even go down against my Mender Druid.
Rugged Growth is why we’re going WS (the replacement for Bark Skin). The amount of sustain you get when paired with NM is so much more important than the relatively unimportant loss of what BM offers (unimportant as in it hasn’t changed my ability or speed in which I can kill things).
That’s really the main reason; it’s just that strong.
Besides that, QZ over LR for a few reasons. LR displaces you and the condi removal triggers at the end of the animation. You want to be able to maintain your position and have the defensive benefits activate in full immediately on use. Also, if you were going to decide to use it for mobility, that’s 6 seconds of superspeed on top of sword 2 and staff 3. You can be across the map before people can decide how to react to your presence (I’ve done things like on Legacy I held the far cap against 3 til I had to leave, left to the midfight, outnumbered the 2 there with my team and won teamfight and then while 2 from far tried to follow me into the fight I stealth rotated back into far and held the still neutral point).
I can make an entire enemy team play around the fact that I exist and can rotate better than them alone, and that helped me flat out carry matches I may have lost otherwise.
Will definetely try this one out.
A few questions regarding one choice.
Why no Shared Anguish? That random scumbag safestomp seems way more valuable for carrying the average random pug than the poison trait. Usually I end up as the “stomper” when playing with randoms in platinum queue since I can sustain heavy cleave. Of course thats not ideal (also lots of RNG) but my usual teammate does not stomp or cleave. This trait is also extremely helpful against heavy opening strikes in the first midfight since you win a bit of time.
The only thing I would add is that the ws/nm variant is 100% ahead of the others in terms of efficiency, but in terms of queueing and carrying ranked, there may be better options that utilise longbow, depending on the situation
I wonder if that WS/NM could work as condi bunker since I think the HP from Mender is still overkill.
With that you may be able to actually kill ppl in a reasonable amount of time while still being pretty tanky. Proably using Wyvern over Bristleback and using SoS over the glyph could be better since your pets deliver enough CCs to trigger roots.
I miss the good old days where you could go yolo on far and kill ppl 2v1 with Mender Druid. It probably had to stop at some point. Also players learned how to avoid the roots and how to deal with the pets. Well at least for farming pips shoutbow seems alright nowadays.
I really hope there wont be a “pet meta” like in HOT for the upcoming soulbeast. Catching players offguard thanks to multiple viable pets would be really fun.
At least for me the pure randomness of the match quality will always be the same, no matter when you play.
Yesterday was still crazy. From “Gods of PvP”, monthly AT winners, power shatter, full venom thief, spirit weapon bunker guard, core necro, 2 sp thief duoQ, Sizer, Staff ele, grenade engi and other crap I couldn’t even identify since it was in downstate the whole match. This was Platinum Q on EU btw. Unranked felt more competitive.
Meh another season, another balsnce patch and still the same meta. Thank god POF will come out soon.
I tried a few new builds but the NM/BM combo is still the better pick. Why would you ever drop the fast ress and the pet damage/shouts. Dropping BM and using WS adds some disgusting survival, but you will hit even less harder. Ele would probably be a better choice.
Using a more damage-oriented build is also not that wise since other classes could do a better job.
Maybe someone else could think of a different viable build that can compete in plat/early legend queue, but I doubt it.
Retired player
Probably does not know much about the game
Creates a forum post
Being non constructive
Every line of your “post” decreased my IQ as my brain processed it
Please stay away from this game
It’s not for you
You are not helping
I agree with “clunky”
Am I the only one who thinks that access to more combo fields could improve soulbeast quite a lot? With the new pet skills and dagger we get tons of finishers, but we can only use them in teamfights or with niche builds. (Yeah I know that traps exist, but they need an overhaul)
I would be very excited for a new trait that drops a specific combo field as you use a stance. Could make soulbeast a very decent, less boring spec.
food and utility nerfs in boon duration will make that imposible. You always can go minstrels but then players will simply ignore you.
I’m going aggressive with pewpew marauders and it seems to work just fine as roa and in zergs (using staff as secondary weapon) . The actual improvement, the signet of the hunt + trait makes the ranger a pewpew machine. And when pets are fixed it should be fun to check the pewpew pet as well with unblockable. It is nice when all the enemy zerg lines up for your PBS.
Condi right now has gone down back to the toilet, all buffs have gone to power, and the harsh nerf in stability + cleanses + annoying weirds skills makes the ranger ridiculously difficult to use as melee as other classes seem to have a lot of more access to CC.
If we get back the 1200 range for SB maybe condi could make a comeback…
What nerfs? 16% from NM + 20% from dura rune + 33% from sigill are enough boon duration. You don’t need any gear/food.
….ññññññññ…..
I used to use:
Boon duration Food 5 20% (dumplins plus might on crit)
Bountiful Utility item 6 ~15% ( magnanimous oil )
+
6 ascended trinkets 20%
Ascended Weapon 8%
dura runes 20%
Total: permanent ~80% boon duration. i used to have 18 secs swiftness with WHaO which was nice for keeping the mobility/regen up .
And replaced concentration by a better sigil like air/fire/bloodlust/strength/malice/bursting/force instead.
Also you you could use any stat you want in your armor set like Dire, Zerker or Zealot.
Also you weren’t not locked into NM which is a boring bunker traitline.
BM + Shouts + runes of trooper + armor with concentration = ~75%
and you still could use SK or MM which would be fantastic now and keep the all time mobility.
Now you are telling me i’m locked into NM + concentration sigil to get the same results. In my opinion that’s so much worst.
Well it’s still a indirect nerf to limit build choices for boon builds. Pretty boring ofc
food and utility nerfs in boon duration will make that imposible. You always can go minstrels but then players will simply ignore you.
I’m going aggressive with pewpew marauders and it seems to work just fine as roa and in zergs (using staff as secondary weapon) . The actual improvement, the signet of the hunt + trait makes the ranger a pewpew machine. And when pets are fixed it should be fun to check the pewpew pet as well with unblockable. It is nice when all the enemy zerg lines up for your PBS.
Condi right now has gone down back to the toilet, all buffs have gone to power, and the harsh nerf in stability + cleanses + annoying weirds skills makes the ranger ridiculously difficult to use as melee as other classes seem to have a lot of more access to CC.
If we get back the 1200 range for SB maybe condi could make a comeback…
What nerfs? 16% from NM + 20% from dura rune + 33% from sigill are enough boon duration. You don’t need any gear/food.
Now that protection gives you additional regen and shout builds got a few nerfs, we will see a
whole new level of C A N C E R in WvW.
You mean something other than Trailblazer condi?
Condi is probably still crap. Maybe with Soulbeast it could work.
What I’m referring to is a tanky boon-regen-kiting build that could work very well for roaming. A very boring playstyle that Anet seems to like…
I’m not saying that the other buffs/nerfs were bad. I can think of a quite few new builds that could work aswell. But having access to perma protection gives you an additional 330 HP regen per second (WITHOUT HEALING POWER) seems pretty powerful. Needs some testing ouf course.
I’m curious how this will work with Quick Draw. Maybe they rework this trait so that skills get an additional charge when it activates. But I doubt it since anet hates interesting traits and loves boons concerning ranger balance. Probably stays as it is.
I tried doing placements yesterday. Had probably the same ele in my matches. I stopped bothering after two games. Your mmr won’t get worse anyway if you just don’t play.
Hahaha have you guys seen the salty responses on the bottom of the reddit thread? Really worth reading.
Good move Anet. Probably not enough to keep all of them out of the pvp scene, but at least they got humiliated thanks to that list you posted. And being successful in this game seems to be their only achievement in life, which is just sad, since these manchilds probably don’t have any connection to the RL too.
Can you explain how? Hitting multiple targets in the first midfight with staff one seems way more efficient. You may start off with 2, but it’s still a very very forgettable skill. Reflects suck too.
This one was great until the SE nerf. Dunno if it still works. Only build that could hurt this one was a niche weakness spam thief. If you want to annoy a certain dh roamer/streamer, give it a shot.
Looks like an interesting build and also similar to one i liked in the past but a lot more tankier which is nice. Why the 2 handed training in beastmastery line though?
Oh my bad, missclick. I usually take Wilting Strike since it works with Smokescale f2 now.
Regarding condi or hybrid roaming builds I want to add some input too since I tried out a lot.
They really forced SB for hybrid builds with the nerf of sharpened edges. But SB is still garbage. You may catch people by surprise a few times, but it still can’t hold up to LB in WvW. Anet also tried to make axe viable, what a joke.
This one was great until the SE nerf. Dunno if it still works. Only build that could hurt this one was a niche weakness spam thief. If you want to annoy a certain dh roamer/streamer, give it a shot.
edit: of course I don’t use Two-Handed training, my bad
About face is one of the most important keybinds for every profession. I use X for it.
If you can’t find room for it, don’t forget you can use key combos like alt-x or whatever.
Thanks for your reply. Maybe I need to bind a few weapon skills on my mouse. I already have a somewhat decent bind, but I still can’t combo every weapon skill with it.
A more specific question. If you watched ROM streaming you may have noticed that he got really good at “about face staff autoattack”. If anyone of you uses this techniqe, what are your keybinds? I can’t seem to find a good bind for about face that would not disrupt other skills.
I like the concept. There should at least be a risk involved with rifle, like a movement debuff for a few seconds while using the new skills. Also don’t forget there won’t be any Pul. Impact anymore, so the Thief won’t be that strong with existing weapon sets. Reflects are also a thing if he does not get too much unblocklable uptime.
Edit: I also highly doubt the new spec will have three dodges.
I play a semi-tanky GS burst Druid that could kill most Daredevils in one second when everything hits. It’s actually a crappy build against a good Thief since it’s very telegraphed.
What I learned after two months roaming with this build in different tiers is that 80% of the Thieves are really really bad. They get impatient fast, waste their shadowstep, rely on their block( unblockable tiger f2 ftw) or get carefree when I get outnumbered. Free kills for me. This class attracts so many bad players since you can reset fights or simply run away if you get outsustained.
Daredevil is still probably the best class suited for roaming and in the hand of an experienced player a deadly threat. A good way to kill them are bursty builds that have a ranged option to follow up. Add even more salt when you don’t use a skill until 10% HP and trash them immediately. Eat around 10 candy corns and puke on their corpse or equip the SAB metal boombox.
Guess what else is planned for 2017? The next expansion.
I will bet anybody here a doughnut that these WvW fixes will be tied to purchasing the expansion. They did it to us before with the “loot in my bag” fix.
Iam affraid that exactly that will happen with the asc vendor. “You want to buy asc armor? No problem, here: buy the expansion pack and activate the new Asc Vendort mastery. Have a nice day!”
Maybe some Fractal tokens too since all WvW players are really into PVE.
I too felt disappointed in the lack of information regarding the WvW questions.
Could someone compile all the WvW questions and the answers and post them here?
Maybe if I’m bored at work I’ll give it a try but I expect to be busier than normal today.
The link I posted should include everything. There are a few other answers, that refer to this comment or are essentially the same. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Not entirely WvW related, but the proposed Sigill changes will be PvP only, which is not a surprise.
Again no groundbreaking news. Did they explicitly mention ascended gear before? Not sure.
At least they gave us a timeframe when the new reward system will arrive. But 2017 sounds pretty vague.
I appreciate the responses, since they are obviously struggling with their current task. Developing a reward system that discourages switching to the winning servers while still being rewarding after all is definitely complicated.
But seriously all those vague statements don’t help at all. I know it’s against Anet’s communication policy, but the WvW community definitely could use some hype. Such responses make me wonder if they even have ANYTHING accomplished until now…
That’s why the title system isn’t a good solution. They should give top 250 players in addition to titles something that encourages playing over more than one season. Maybe a token, you could trade in for exclusive finishers.
So is this officially a dead game mode or what? The rating give away ur system just gave me is nothing short of astonishing, +6 for a 4v5 win -16 to -18 for putting silvers on my team against top 25 duos. I’ll be passing the word on to a few connected friends about the current state of this game.
Well it’s time to get into raiding boys. Like MO said, if you are into WvW, you probably also love PVE. Zergfights? Roaming? Come on guys, it’s basically the same as raiding!
Finally one of these threads again. Season almost ended and I knew something was missing. The only thing this forum needs now is another “Sindrenerr died” thread.
Okay seriously, DH is fine. Probably way better balanced than some other classes. If you can’t handle a sudden burst, how do you deal with a decent DP thief coming from stealth?
thief cant wipe half team with a press of a button
This forum…why do I even bother? If half of your team wipes through a single trap you might not be the most qualified person to propose a balance change. This probably sounds mean to you, but please deal with it. Hell the majority of people here including me should not propose changes since only a few of us play all classes in pvp and have a broader perspective because of that.
Finally one of these threads again. Season almost ended and I knew something was missing. The only thing this forum needs now is another “Sindrenerr died” thread.
Okay seriously, DH is fine. Probably way better balanced than some other classes. If you can’t handle a sudden burst, how do you deal with a decent DP thief coming from stealth?
I’ve played mes and ranger— Ranger MUCH longer, so I asked an expert. A friend of mine who has played Mes since release.
His explanation is, well, pretty simple. “The mesmer has so many attacks so quickly that the block doesn’t really matter. Mirror blade will cancel the block and everything else (all the clones will hit).”
Only ranged attacks will take multiple hits.
Thanks for the explaination! Still wondering if it should be like that since this does not work with block skills from other classes. ( Maybe I’m wrong )
All in all GS4 is a trainwreck.
yes and yes.
and please do ignore shadelang, his post reminded me when people used to say “deactivate auto attacks” for the sword when that skill was a complete trainwreck as well. I wish for some day the skills from ranger would actually work as intended instead the complete incompetence mess are right now.
Did we get the fix in GS5 or still has a range of -3?
I’m not quite sure since I haven’t played GS very often in the past, but I think it was fixed for one or two weeks. After a hotfix-patch they reverted it according to the community. An oversight that has never been fixed.
I’ve played mes and ranger— Ranger MUCH longer, so I asked an expert. A friend of mine who has played Mes since release.
His explanation is, well, pretty simple. “The mesmer has so many attacks so quickly that the block doesn’t really matter. Mirror blade will cancel the block and everything else (all the clones will hit).”
Only ranged attacks will take multiple hits.
Thanks for the explaination! Still wondering if it should be like that since this does not work with block skills from other classes. ( Maybe I’m wrong )
Simple question. Is it intended that Manta of Distraction(Power Block) interrupts your GS 4 skill? I know that Mirror Blade is unblockable, which is okay, but getting a full burst through your GS4 isn’t fun. I even did the jump trick to get the full block duration…
I always loved ROM’s streams. Just from watching him you could have learned tons of advanced Ranger tricks. Sadly he’s gone now. Nowadays there aren’t too many options.
So I’m playing a lot of unranked lately to learn a different class. It’s also nice to take break from s6 since my matches(low Platinum) are either easy wins or complete blowouts. I’m playing on prime hours for the record.
Idk what’s up with my unranked MMR but I’m facing really good players in unranked. This might get a bit frustrating if you try out a new class/build, but you can’t get any better practise.
By “better matches” I’m not referring to Win/Loose ratio. For me a “good” match should be not necessary close, but at least have evenly skilled players on both sides. Somehow this distribution works way better in my unranked matches. When was the last time somebody wrote in mapchat “gg” after a match and you could actually agree? Things like these don’t happen in ranked anymore.
Anyone else having more fun in unranked while having actually good matches? To be fair, occasionally you get matched with trolls or face a full tryhard premade, but it still somehow works.
While not completely broken, the Defense traitline on Warrior is such a no-brainer. You can even quickly swap your last trait depending on what you face. Also Adrenaline Health is included.
The main problem with WvW balance is the combination of PVE-class-balance, food, runes and statsets(HOT, dire) creating a large gap between meta and off-meta builds.
