Guild Wars 2

OGDeadHead.8326:

Nila.7813:

Terrible ideas. Please don’t implement.

Very constructive, way to go…

Care to say which ideas are terrible? For example; reduced aftercast on sword auto-attack chain is a terrible idea?

Yeah, exactly. Care to elaborate on why you think the cumbersome after-cast on sword auto attack is good Nila? You think it is fair that ranger’s auto attack should not benefit from quickness?

Yeah, the nerfs to CAF and healing have gutted the one viable build Druid has.

Good stability uptime? Nope. Not with 75s cooldown on RaO.
Good defense against direct damage? Nope. Only usable amulet has 0 toughness.
Good condi removal? Nope. Not with 15s gate on CAF.
Good mobility? Not as good as thief and Mesmer, the latter of which can also win 1v1.

Good target? You bet. Low damage and crappy escape, especially in opening battle with uncharged AF.

Best way to win match, just go after Druid whenever you see it. It has to run from you.

+1 Excellent List! You hit the nail on the head.

Quick question for the experts. I have a full set of Minstrel’s armor that I use for WvW healing/tanking, tricky solo feats, etc. and am starting to gear up for Raids. How much of this can I bring into a raid?

I like the boon duration, but the toughness seems too high, and I don’t want to steal aggro. Should I just convert all of it to Magi’s and call it a day, or can I bring some into a raid?

Edit: If some of it can be used for full healer, how much toughness should be considered max for raids, as not to steal aggro?

Because of all the great unique PvP rewards!

For example, they give you, eh….um….ah…nothing.

I think the three levels to fight on at B can make for some interesting fights. Also, the secondary mechanic in this map is interesting, but not too powerful. I can see it only being useful in certain situations.

The columns on the edge are also great to create LOS issues for opponents. I see this map being one of the most tactical.

Good job on adding Skyhammer. Foefire and forest are getting old. Very old.

Skai.8473:

https://youtu.be/Wb6g-Tv5Ttc this video was to let arena net see how was the heal OP and pet dmg OP as well how poor thief is i am looking to see thief buffed soon

I don’t think they need to nerf thief. The healing on Druid is fine. You took all that damage because of poor build and play style. Any good thief should wreck LB Druid that has no melee weapon set.

Add sword/dagger offhand and swap out sic em, it’s an awful skill. Trust me, your healing is fine. Your play style is just not right. Keep practicing!

Just to follow up on what I posted earlier. I was wrong. After switching builds, I really like the direction Druid is moving.

I swapped offhand dagger for warhorn and traited it in nature magic. Changed Bristleback for Tiger and have been wreaking havoc on, well, just about everything.

Very nice changes indeed, the ability to rip through blocks with the pet is just, wow. It makes up for the loss in healing. Also, we are no longer stuck using a single rune for AF gain. With a 15s threshold on CA we can now use any of the toughness runes, which gives us more options. I am really enjoying this patch.

Disclaimer: I am talking about pvp

Eh, Druid has to go full bunker to be useful. Full damage is far more risky, and mostly only good against teams that don’t know how to organize, as opposed to a valid competitive play style against semi organized teams (great for fun though). Kind of a one trick, catch-you-by-surprise-hope-you-don’t-adapt play style. The damage isn’t even that great.

Eleazar.9478:

Never said anything about ranger not having enough cleanse. core ranger should have better actual cleanse, the healing was op, and I’m glad you have to take healing power to get good heals.

What needs to be said is for a net to rework sig of renewal and give base line stuff better access to cleanse

Just so we are on the same page, I am talking about PvP where core ranger is complete trash against anyone competent and we are stuck using Menders, and only Menders amulet. Pre-patch, we could just barely out duel a perfectly played Mesmer (read top 5%). Post patch, it’s not possible.

The combined nerf to Ancestral Grace, Lunar Impact, overall healing, and of course adding 50% nerf to CA cleanse has totally tipped into the favor of Mesmer.

This is going to be horrible for PvP viability. If Mesmer can decap Druid with ease, there is no need to have one anymore. Period.

Edit: I am fine with the nerf to healing if we are compensated in some way. Increase pet damage, fix main hand sword after cast so quickness actually does something. Add damage to CA abilities? Something Useful?

Because Druid exists, and requires Healing, we can have only one amulet with healing…

For the sake of variety!

Ha ha ha haaah! Suck it down!

Druid used to have great team condi clear trough ancient seeds, but it got nerfed and no one seemed to care. So now you all get to eat condi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Enjoy it, because your dedicated healer cant really help you while you are roasting, bleeding, and puking your confused self to death.

Stay out of the AoE, for the most part. That means you need to be willing to take a decap. The other classes were simply given too much access to mass AoE so we need to get off point, and kill them from Range. There really is nothing else to do. Their AoE can cover most points, so we need to just run away and kill/widdle them from Range.

If you face a DH try to avoid the unblockable insta-cast pull they have so they can’t pull you back onto their traps. Most DH players are really bad mechanically/strategically. They almost always open by teleporting to you and dropping an insta cast trap/AoE ring of some sort.

Once you dodge away, they try to snag and pull you back. Just be ready for that opening, get away from them, and twiddle them down.

We need to have Rata Sum or the Black Citadel destroyed next. I vote Rata Sum. Those little snotty Asuran could use a good but kicking. We can have their cube look like the one in fractals. All smashed up!

I would go with Vipers or Celestial. Zerker just seems kinda weak after last update. I think I might change all my zerker gear to something more useful.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Justine.6351:

EremiteAngel.9765:

I remember there was a massive thread here on how OP the druid was in small scale fights.
High damage great mobility insane healing daze invis pets all in one build.

Are they more balanced now in the current patch?

Not really. With like 400 healing power I heal ~6.5k casting lunar beam + rejunvenating tides.

The balance came with the 15sec hard cooldown on Celestial Avatar.

That and the nerf to ancestral grace.

But I doubt either of those nerfs were enough to make any of the bunker druids change their builds (maybe they had to add a bit more healing gear). My fear is that all these nerfs accomplished was to force a lot of glassy druids to pick up bunker gear to compensate.

Wrong. Bunker Druid does not have enough condition removal to face condi mesmers now. That and the AG nerf reduces ability to mitigate endless drones. I switched to GS/SB Demolisher, but think Druid makes a good target now.

It should definitely be the first target in a team fight. Low stability up time, limited condi removal and stun breaks. Good target. You should be able to 1v1 a good one with relative ease if you run a condi heavy build.

Yeah, in T3 Zerk Druid is trash tier now. I switched to a Mistrel/Apothecary setup for full support and it is much better.

After the patch CAF = Crappy Asinine Form. Our elite spec only works with max healing gear. The options are infinite! I can’t decide if I need to use a healing amulet or a healing amulet.

Just b-line the Druid and beat the snot out of them as they try to escape with pathetic inefficiency!

Can’t speak too much for PvP, the 1 match I had felt quite difficult. The last daily in T3 fractals was a nightmare. The PvE meta build got squashed.

I am hoping for offhand sword. Ranger, even more than warrior, should be able to use two swords.

Dual axes are fine. If you like Beastmastery for your open world gameplay, you really should look into Sw/A though. You can do some really great damage with Sw/A.

You will have great ways to self might stack to 25 at which point the might gain from bouncy axes wont do much (anything) for you. Make sure to invest in +5% damage sigils and the food that gives you +8% or +10% damage when you move. With either weapon set, you won’t regret it.

Eh, I am really confused about that change. How does reducing the base healing of CA skills give more options to Druids?! Is that a joke? I think that’s a joke.

The problem with Druid is the CA and staff skills are healing… so you need to use an amulet with healing to get any value from them. There is no other option! None!

Reducing the base healing only makes builds that don’t use Menders amulet even more useless than they already are. Sage amulet will go from weak to pathetic.

PvE zerker/healer druid will be squashed. More diversity? Yeah, right.

Having both a 1-2 player Ranked queue and a 1-5 Ranked queue would be great. Solo only is not really worth it. The matches are just too random.

1-2 player for competitive soloers and friends who want to learn to play together and work on combos would be great. There is a certain skill to pulling together a win with a few random players. 1-5 player queue for those soloers and team players who want to master the competitive scene and potentially play against premades.

The title for this season is Legendary Trap Spammer.

Chrury.4627:

Archon.6480:

Yeah, I think you should use HoT pets and Destroyer, or Demolisher amulet with scholar or trapper runes.

With destroyer just walk up and try to shoot everything to death before they figure out what is going on. If you want to skirmish in a more serious fashion try using Demolisher and trapper runes. Be slippery.

You are too flimsy to duel anything up close, without HoT spec. Shoot and run.

Less control, more power. It’s worth a shot. I’m just kinda wary of primarily fighting off point in a game mode about control points.

Yeah, I totally dig that. I feel the same way. You should try Cavalier amulet over Valkyrie then. DH, Rev, and thief have insane direct damage so cavalier will counter those better than Valkyrie. Toughness is better against direct damage than Vitality. Cavalier and wurm runes give you all the ferocity you’ll need. The loss in power doesn’t really decrease your DPS as much as you’d think, especially with your allies pumping out might like crazy.

Good luck. I bet you’ll catch many people off guard with GS. So few people use the build you are running it will be a surprise.

I saw a sword/shield, scepter/focus DH the other day and dueled him for 8 minutes on a side node in Foefire. At least the duel was more interesting than fighting a bunker Ele… Reminds me of S1 Chronobunker.

Yeah, I think you should use HoT pets and Destroyer, or Demolisher amulet with scholar or trapper runes.

With destroyer just walk up and try to shoot everything to death before they figure out what is going on. If you want to skirmish in a more serious fashion try using Demolisher and trapper runes. Be slippery.

You are too flimsy to duel anything up close, without HoT spec. Shoot and run.

I like the thread.

Maybe. I was wondering the same thing. I keep trying stronghold here and again but it’s always the same thing. Minion masters abusing the AoE target cap and swarming like locusts. Yeah, no thank you.

It should be a 20 player game mode. 2 teams on 5 on each side. That would be interesting.

The new PvP map is the best conquest map they ever made, yet not Ranked

Ubik.8315:

Yasi.9065:

Its because we are now getting matched with people that die in < 5 seconds because they cant even find their dodge buttons…. and we are not the slightest bit interested in carrying such bad players.

I agree, it’s extremely demotivating to be winning or stalling for 1-2 minutes 1v3/4 and your team manages to die 4v2 while achieving nothing.

Yeah agreed, after loosing 7 games in a row last night, 4 of which were exactly like you said, and 2 were complete throws 2 minutes from when we would have won, I raged, and logged out accepting the dishonor. I was so mad. I am not claiming to be the best player ever, but there is nothing more frustrating than having complete beginners throw a match, then tell you how to play. “Don’t ever go far, that is only for the thief.” Yeah OK buddy. Nice map awareness.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

i think you meant

1050 Power
1050 Precision
560 Toughness
560 Healing

Good catch, yeah that’s what I meant.

think your dh can survive with base health of 11k with only 560 toughness and 560 healing ?

they would not allow both toughness and healing together.
maybe a vitality variant instead ?

No, no. I use Druid. I was thinking it would be a good counter that healers (Ele and Druid) could use against thieves, Revenants, and DH. Those classes spec for very high direct damage but the only healing amulets available are weak to direct damage.

The new DH fights a bit like the old bunker Mesmer, when using Sw/Shield and SC/focus. This might be OK, if it could not also deal such high damage. The above amulet would mitigate the damage better making the fight more like a normal bunker fight. Ele could also return in a more balanced healer fashion.

This way we can leave DH like it is, meaning not nerf it, as there will be better counters for its meyham. With the return of a more balanced Ele and Druids hardened to kill it.

Cleric amulet was carcinogenic with such high healing and toughness. Instead of totally removing it, they should have shaved it with the amulet listed above. They over compensated.

…and threw us into a tank full of piranhas.

See image:

Maybe instead of Nerfing DH, just leave it alone and give us the following amulet:

1050 Power
1050 Precision
600 Toughness
600 Healing

So we can spec defense against direct damage, while leaving ourselves open to condition pressure.

It can work kinda OK in PvP if you run a condi build (sage amulet) and focus on landing AoE winters bite every 8s. AoE 4s chill is rather unique.

The direct damage components of the weapon are still very low and the after-cast make you feel like you are in a pool of molasses.

Azoqu.8917:

Chasind.3128:

They’re very simple and easy to play, their traps are overpowered and can melt anything- you lay your traps down and pull the enemy into them, no instructions required. Even someone who has never played an mmo could rock at a trap DH

Hey guys! I found someone who doesn’t know you can dodge in this game.

Yeah, bristleback f2 was on a longer cooldown and could be dodged as well, but everyone complained. Even pansy guardians…

XxsdgxX.8109:

Rofl this place is unreal, again crying about DHs like in launch.

These noobs just need to equip a defensive amulet that has a small amount of healing and toughness, and they would be all set… Ha ha ha!

What? They removed all amulets like that?!

The thing that changed was the removal of all amulets that have toughness and healing, as well as the reduction in defense against the direct damage of other classes. So direct damage dealers are now paper too rock. Only DH has great defensive measures with ageis, invulnerability, healing, blocks, and blind; so it is kinda like a rock as well. And rock can crush glassy scissor classes (teef, Mesmer) and it’s only natural enemy (necro) is weak to range and knock backs. Hence the current problems.

The meta will most likely adjust to handle these, since they are by far the most dangerous class right now, so it may be too soon to say they are OP. I’ve been trying all kinds of builds to hard counter them with varying success. The problem is not knowing if you are facing a FotM player or an expert. One build might beat a FotM player/team for lack of skill, but fail miserably vs expert.

I love all the dimwits blathering about “stupid people stepping on traps.” Traps are nearly insta cast PBAoE. The issue is when you loose your evades and are in the middle of a big fight and a DH insta poops a kill shot PBAoE on yer kitten . Or it knocks you back and forth with pulls and pushes. Or better yet, a Mesmer gravity wells you into them. Or a Rev staff 5s you 20 ft onto one. How about that? The stinking traps activate so fast a DH can run up and poop on you while another class has you in a 1-2s stun, taunt, immob, knockdown/back whatever.

If you want to call theses insta cast magi-poopy things traps than give them a reasonable arm time. Make the DH sit still for 1s to arm it. Give us a chance to interrupt it. Then we can talk traps. These are insta poop magic bombs.

I could live with the traps, but half my skills miss as well. block block block blind ageis block block block ageis blind. This kitten wouldn’t be a big deal if we were not talking about a point capture game.

DH was useless last 3 seasons, and most of us miss them. Give DH better utility, survivability, weapon damage, whatever. Not this kitten crap. Cut block duration in half, but increase blocking skills. Make the gameplay more active. Introduce more skills to cut through blocks, etc. Maybe make the traps like rangers where they pulse smaller amounts of damage over longer time periods.

The problem with DH is how it pairs with other classes, especially Revenant and to a lesser extent Mesmer and warrior. Not how it survives in a 1v1 situation.

Barry Moonfang.6897:

Isn’t “Strength of the Pack!” able to mitigate some of this weakness? I haven’t played PvP this season yet though. The Stability from SotP should be able to counter warrior/DH to some extent.

Just activate SotP before engaging (or being engaged), hopefully the warrior/DH will blow their CC abilities. Keep stacking might with SotP and use “We Heal as One!” to get max might stacks + fury and start doing some real damage.

In a 1v1 situation you can precast it or wait for a opportune moment to use it, but I have been having problems in 2v2 and greater situations. If you precast it, you risk not having it when you need it, and if you wait for the right moment you can get caught under focus, and not have the time to cast it under pressure. The 1 second channel can spell death. It is easily interrupted, then you will be used as a substitute volleyball.

I think the other posters hit the nail on the head about us having to be very mobile/slippery. Gone are the days we can burn the person(s) who decides to face tank us. We really to kite like a mongoose fighting a cobra. This season is going to be much more difficult for us, I think.

Dustin.2793:

It’s appalling that anything from season 1 would be re-implemented or, even brought up. I’d like to think “Season 1” would be treated the same as saying Voldemort in the Harry Potter series.

Ha, ha, but seriously. Why did we return to the Season that Shall Not Be Named? Season 3 was the best. Why did we move away from that?

Thanks for all the great advice, guys. I think I am in the middle of the fight too often. I am going to swap out bristleback for wolf or lightning wyvern and re-slot offhand dagger so I can escape better. Keep moving, stay outside, etc.

Happy hunting all! Good luck this season.

Is anyone else having a kitten hard time this season? I am having huge sustain issues versus the Heavy-CC-Bash your face meta that is arising. I keep finding myself rendered the weak link in team fights against Combinations of DH, Warrior, and Revanant. The Menders Druid build is failing miserably to focus fire with all the CC. I eat through my 2-3 stun breaks in seconds and get tossed around like a beach volleyball in the olympics, complete with the 8k spike from who knows where to seal the deal. I can’t even use my skills half the time.

I had to say “screw it” and resort to all out conditions and traps to contribute in a meaningful way.

You are always expected to run Druid but, if you like core ranger, you should check out the Zerker LB Druid on metabattle. It completely outclasses core LB Ranger. Has much higher DPS for yourself and the team. The celestial avatar rotation in that build is very fast and is just to give quick 15% boost to party DPS.

It is just: CA, rejuvenating tides, seed or auto attack, drop out and go back to slashing or shooting. I love the build so much I use it, and slight variations, for just about everything.

After the pet nerf balance patch I renamed a few of my pets…

Spineless – Bristleback
Toothless – Smokescale
Buttercup – River Drake
Pooky – Lightning Wyvern
Tiger – Miley
Jaguar – MyMy

…but many of the 5man teams are from WvW and are mostly horribad. What’s the big deal?

@Justine… I was joking…

I vs. 3 or 4. Oh kittens, I should think 3 or 4 people doing nothing but auto attack should be able to beat anything in the game. Next time, just keep pressing the 1 key, and don’t confuse yourself.

Junkpile.7439:

So what accessories and weapons flavor of the month druid using? I already made ascended commander armors and bought durability runes, but i don’t know that accessories and weapons i should use. I need help because i wanna play FotM druid before they nerf it.

Sorry, but you wasted your time. Boon duration does little for Druid. You should try SB, and axe/axe with spirits.

Yeah, OP needs to play the class. That is the best way to find the weaknesses you are looking for. Let others show them to you, and force yourself to defend against them. The glaring weaknesses should become obvious in a few hours of play.

Druid has some great abilities but suffers from focus fire and chain CC. Good players will knock you around like a piñata, and your health bar will go from 100-0 without you having the opportunity to use a single skill. Menders amulet is squishy. Druid is dead meat when it can’t move or use skills.

The best way to shut a Druid down is to face tank it. I know, really hard.

FlOwMaKeRs.8623:

Archer’s are always my favorite class in every mmo.. but in this game I feel so hurt with the ranger u dont even understand..

The archer in this game does not exist actually…now the ranger is a paladin and cleric mixed.. WHICH is very boring and takes the role of the ranger.

Why ranger specialization should be a " Healer"? why??!! wtf is this… It has to do something with the history? because it’s ridiculous!!!

Make ranger great again?

You’re nuts. Ranger is the most powerful it has ever been. It has never had higher DPS. Want an archer? Just use the Meta fractals LB build. Ya know, full zerker, LB, Sw and axe or Warhorn. MM, SK, DR. How is that a weak archer?