Guild Wars 2

Wish Wyverns were working. They are the best looking ascetically. D;

Hi OP!
Welcome to Saltland! We have salt, we have tears, the Black Sea has nothing on us!

five hits instead of seven

I was Trying out Tempest(half drunk) for study reasons yesterday, keeping the reflect aura up for 15s reflecting a DH, have them around half hp, keeping my distance. Out of dodges out of tricks and then they pull me into all four traps and start Trash talking like no kitten tomorrow.

This spec carries bads and garbage. My friend and I agree its literally just like old PU. I know there has to be easier classes to carry bad players into skilled pvp but people actually thinking DH is skillful or think they are good playing this class need to get out.

+1 for mad boys

Edit:

Ranger is arguably easier to play than DH.

Nominating this for dumbest comment of the year.

Yes and no, its HoT launch. Everything is broken, everything is OP.

PvP here can be fun, but… also enraging. You will NEED a team. Preferably friends to joke around with because cheese rules the game right now and you will get angry.

Durpdebil sounds like it was just there for rotation, but that teamcomp is still disgusting.

Never engage a Dragonhunter on their terms, make them come for you, if you see them squat, dodge roll or go invuln. Bring projectile denial and Stability as well. Just in case.

High damage is fine, yes. But support is a role that is also key in these “high damage games” you speak of. Mobas right?

Mobas run off a snowball effect where Support keeps the ADC alive and gets them kills so that they can win teamfights with damage.

Other MMOs run support/control in one, along with a bulky dps and an assassin-like dps in an arena setting.

Gw2 has is own meta. A single support on each team is usually enough to make things interesting. Running to support for cover or to +1 a fight is skillful play. Map awareness, rotations, teamwork. Having a dude hold a point while you go dunk kids elsewhere is key. Bunkers and Support allow high-risk high reward specs to be effective. They turn the tide, and Outrotating a Bunker or Support (usually they are slow, Guard/Some Druids but Ele is an exception) and holding two caps is what makes teams good, out communicating one another and organizing attacks. A tide and flow to battle, Defense and Offense. I feel Support/Bunkers have a place in high level play and should stay in balance with the rest of the classes and specs personally.

Minsterals was removed for unkillable bunkers but that’s another story apparently.

Jekkt.6045:

unrelenting assault:

- dodge it
- block it
- stand next to a wall
- stand next to allies / ai
- interrupt it, casting time is 3/4s
- go into stealth

infuse light:

- don’t attack when heal is up
- burst when not in glint
- watch enemy buffs
- use your brain
- don’t brainlessly spam your aoe
- poke until rev is forced to activate heal
- bait the heal

crystal hybernation:

- everything that is unblockable: phoenix, mirrorblade, toolkit pull, traps, etc

other than its damage revenant is weak. there are so many counters to revenants…

I am in complete agreement with you on Infuse light, its weaker “Defiant Stance” and a l2p issue. Its fine. However, the other two…

Crystal Hibernation – Classes only have so many unblockable skills if any. If the was a pure block, ok. But it heals for 4k without healing power. Sure you can widdle them down, but this skill and trait is why Rev is the ultimate bruiser. I believe this should have the heal value lowered base and scale with HP but thats just me, and Im not sure by how much because Rev has only been around a week.

Unrelenting Assault – Here are your options, double dodge and be wide open for the next burst, block (If you have a shield, four of us dont have that pleasure) or waste a Big CD. I’ve come to look at might stacks before choosing what I do, sometimes I just eat UA when the Rev is mightless. I crap my pants when I see Rolling Mists and 25 Might UA though. Surprisingly enough. I dont think this skill is -that- OP. It should for sure be the big burst your looking to avoid.

When together, those two, and the functions of Herald, it becomes an issue, its where Rev is perceived as OP.

However, lets break this down. Rev isn’t op. Herald is. Herald is on every build. This is because Rev falls apart without it. Want to play condi? I’ll do Devastation/Corruption! But what for my last slot!? Oh, Herald has boons, boons are nice. Power? Smash/Crits.. but what about my.. oh yeah boons.

So, here is the issue. Nerf Herald and Rev dies. Don’t nerf Herald and Rev is op. My only solution to this from our limited knowledge is changing the heal scaling on the shield. But otherwise I have no idea how to fix Rev without gutting it. And that is the last thing any class should be.

/whydidItypeallthisoutpeoplearejustgoingtotrollme

Ragnarox.9601:

Useless threads OP, pls nerf.

I dont know you! But welcome back!

I’ve been running a Clerics/Crusader Staff/GS build depending on the occasion. My personal shenanigans build was only mildly effected by the nerfs. Repaers sticking out as the hardest to fight of the new “OP specs”. (Most are not an issue but I sure dont kill them in a reasonable amount of time)

But I haven’t had too much of an issue. The issue is I’m playing scout/backcapper and finding myself more useful to run away from fights then pull out my GS and bring out the beastmaster. Oh well. We cant all be 1v1 heroes.

choovanski.5462:

they should have just removed ranger tbh. that’s why the amulet was removed, ranger was about to become a popular choice for tournament teams.

Pretty much this.

Yes, please nerf it. Nerf it so hard. I dont need a GM trait.

Better yet, delete Druid and Ranger and let another class get nerfed for once.

Odyssey.6523:

BolshoiBooze.3406:

Wishes.3021:

Ranger
Lingering Light: Increased the internal cooldown on this trait from 3 seconds to 12 seconds and reduced boon duration to 3 seconds.

This doesn’t seem excessive at all.

I felt this way too. Every balance we get I always feel like its a huge pendulum swing of a fix. They take something that makes a viable build a little too powerful, and then crush it to oblivion, simultaneously crushing the build. Why not start it at 6 seconds ICD and see how it goes?

6sec ICD is what I suggested as well, the loss of Ministerial’s will hit hard but if I had at least one useful GM I could adapt to Clerics….

Kek he talks about things being skilless and doesn’t even understand what a bunker support is.

Learn to counter them, Druid can only burst heal. CC Astral Form and poison after baiting condi clenses. If they are not using WS and are using the seed pods knock them out of it. Its not that hard.

And stop trying to ruin everyone’s fun. Some of us like playing healer.

B A S E D G O D D E V

That the music in this Xpac is incredible?

Dear based Irenio, I am currently forming a cult in your name. With Druid getting fixed I shall hail your name across Map chat and the Forums. The Revanants and Dragonhunters will cry as their false Gods forsake them and Irenio’s cult shall spread…

StickerHappy.8052:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Maybe something like this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYD7keVomVsVFwZFgoFsYIYwb1waZ1Z1F76BMBg1VD4knkuJA-T1RGABCcRAA4JAonSwJ1NUp6PFt/wlK/IFgfTtA-w

You’d have to swap the armor and trinkets around though, probably Clerics is the way to go, since Zealots is crazy expensive atm.

If you want to heal, you need staff right now, and since there are no conditions on staff, you need to go power. Unfortunately.

Why no healing spring?

Also, is a mix of zealot and cleric for toughness better?

And water vs monk runes?

Hiya Sticker its me, Lynn/Zerail. That one trash kid in pvp.

Go Water Runes. Monk overheals when you stat healing primary its just a wasted bonus. Consider Dwayna Runes or Altruism as well. Regen effects AF it seems. Though it is less effective then in BW3. Altruism gives boons.

As for Zealots vs Clerics, a lot is up for debate but I find Zealots too squishy and expensive. A mix may be optimal but a dead healer isnt healing anyone or doing any damage.

We have to deal with this..

and the unfounded hate in game. (ll game modes)

Being a Ranger is suffering.

Yep, Ranger nerfed. Druid is gutted. But Reveant, Scrapper and Chronomancer are still running wild. Im not so much mad about the damage as the f2 and no nerfs to other more OP classes then a stupid gimmick on the pet.

I TRIED my best to remain positive. But this is ridiculous. I feel personally attacked…

You can nerf smokescale once Druid can heal. As it stands, to qoute someone on who made a BW3 Vid on the Smokescale in Wvw. (Im sorry I forget who if your reading this please speak up and slap me!)

“Ranger’s elite specialization isn’t druid, its “that guy who hold the smokescale’s leash”."

He was right.

Astral Force bar isnt a bad mechanic considering the burst healing and everyone having thier own heal, the ISSUE is the time it takes to build up and the decay.

Imagine playing Warrior without having the time to build up and use burst skills, that’s literally Druid right now.

As long as your “tank” runs Knights or Toughness primary You should be fine.

If you get aggro? You’re not going to die. From the looks of it, only Nomad’s is bulkier. Even so, that may not be the case with some classes that have high protection uptime…

I spent waaaaay too much time on this. But it sums up my feelings for Druid so far.

Im hoping its a bug. (Very possible)
All I want to do is heal in pvp but it looks like Im forced to be pewpew forever… :/

Puck.9612:

Jack of all trades, master of none. A good ranger can adapt to fill pretty much any role on the fly but there is always a profession that can do the job better. This is why they do well solo queuing but are rarely seen in competitive teams.

Pretty much this.

No one is forcing you to play by the meta.

Keep in mind, most people playing “meta” just cookie cut from Metabattle. Get clever and you can counter the builds on some classes. Others are locked into some lines/utilities. (Im looking at Ele, Warrior and Ranger mostly >>)

Just get creative, use the meta as a reference rather then playing it. Sure you might get stomped at first but once you find a combination that works you’re bound to have fun.

Rev is the “Jack of all trades and master of none” I know that saying is thrown around a lot but other classes have been refined into more specific roles now. (Engine, who previously held this title iirc is now more damage/utility ie combo field bro) Ele is support/healer/damage I think… ugh…

Druid will surely be a better healer. We’re kinda the “raid healer”, we dish out the big stuff and pet dps.

I’m going Cleric Armor, Cele trinkets, it seems to only lack a 20%ish dps difference. The extra crit damage from cele is nice, and this mix isn’t leaving me for dead if I get hit.

Alright, thanks everyone! Going to keep looking for the right build.

Justine.6351:

I’m not sure why you are running shouts/nm over wm traitline and survival skills. It would solve all your problems with conditions, doesn’t need healing power (regeneration with no healing power?), a better stun break with lightning reflexes, free rune choice, cheaper sigil (124g!?!) and blind on f2.

That’s just what I see.

A) Shouts offer on-demand stability (SotP) and better boons then WS. The primary reason I took them was for the stability to better deal with Interrupt Mesmers, Shield Warriors, and the like.

B) The regen is insignificant, yes. But swiftness has an almost constant up time, you’d be amazed by the extra mobility.

C) I am well aware WS and SoF are the best traitline/traits we have right now, but I am trying for something outside of it. Most players are expecting a wilderness ranger and will bait/pressure the cleanses. I’ve also played it to death.

I am in no way disregarding your advice, I am going to try something along the lines of this as soon as I finish with the current one.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBjYDbkQFaZxSWwhF4axAhQt7QAU1fvv75ePvrQMUwqD-TpBFwANOIAy3fgwFAYxRAoaZAAPAAA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBjYD7kSFoVQshFwfFgrFMQIU+sPD3+uDBQV/fxun7Fs6A-TpBFwANOIAtvAALOCAt2foaZAAPAAA

This is what I am currently running. Designed for my personal playstyle (An Evasive Power Beastmaster, I like the fact I have a pet and feel OCD if I am not using it to its best ability.)

I could argue this is a more “reliable” variant compared to my previous version(s), but Condi PU/Burn Guard running rampant it would take someone a LOT better then me to effectively use this right now. But the more I look at it the better it is then the predictors but I’ve hit a brick wall lately.

Issues
Solider/Trooper Runes – Answers the above, but loses damage and it becomes an attrition spec, done better by “cheesier” builds available.
D/D Ele – Ranger inherently loses to any D/D that knows its rotation. Even with the nerfs. Its still ingrained into my head to run away, likely do to the fact almost all D/D Eles are trash talkers and have a superiority complex to Rangers for some reason.
Condi Clense – On a gamble.
Possibly traits that need tweeking.

Most pet names are puns, but these few aren’t.

Reef Drake – Roofie (and this name is cannon to my Ranger’s RP, people have come to accept it. )The name stuck when he carried Dungeon runs pre- Search and Rescue nerf.

Owl – Hooty, Campion Birb, and for a while, Nuriel, named after the Angel Of Hailstorms.

Wolf – Charles Barkley, or hOI IM TEMMIE

Shark – Deep Blue, named after the largest Great White Shark alive.

Fern Hound – Bark

Was expecting Mursaat, but I’m not disappointed. Exhaled are kitten.
(Besides Mursaat are still in the lore.)

DresdenAllblack.1249:

Just. Another. Time. Gate

If you pvp that’s all that should matter. “git gud or git rekt”. You should be pvping for fun and to improve. To learn from your mistakes and kill everyone dead and then tbag them. (if thats what your into you freak) not for rewards. The pvp rewards are like a paycheck for being the scum of the earth.

Praise based deity Irenio!

As it stands,

Clerics Ammy
Dolyak Runes
Nature Magic/Survival/Druid

Staff / X (Whatever you want, you wont use it much. Evades are nice though, and GS with INT sigils can add pressure but you should only swap at full meter.)

Its basically a bunker with strong team fight presence, outside of a second wind and holding points 1v1. It will die to heavy CC and condition pressure. If your team neglects you you are a wasted slot. When your team protects you, its very powerful, able to turn the tide in lost team fight. Otherwise, you are dead. And will remain dead unless your team protects you. I cant put enough emphasis on this.

In short, for a solo player like myself, your a whiny little healer crying in a corner. Your pet dog your only friend. He tries to protect you, but the school bullies just kick him aside. High school all over again.

~If you have a team its op as kitten tho~

Cant get a straight answer out of anyone and maptrolls at 2AM arent worth even trying to ask… so…

The only Druid spec I have had success with in PvP is Survival/Nature Magic/Druid Bunker. While the healing is great, I cannot pressure people off point.

So, my answer to this was BM/NM/Druid. However, thanks to the oh so wonderful Gunfire bug and people popping Rampage immediately after if it fails. (Dodge/SoS being outplayed ect.) I cannot test it myself.

Is this at all viable, will it be viable? I hate using my pet to absorb CC and Condis and just being a bot. But I wanna heal as Druid. Do I have to pick one or the other?

Okay, I am going to make this as short as possible, but I have tested extensively. I feel others have gone over this but I am not wasting time reading all nine pages of this thread. So I apologize ahead of time if I am repeating anything.

Healing In General
I am addressing this first because I feel it is the most important. Healing power scaling is ~1%, this is a huge issue. Anet said Druid would bring about the end of the Zerker Meta, with such low healing power scaling I found clerics useless. On paper, Clerics hops on Druid and they dance around in the forest being the class I have always wanted. The “I heal you with nature also I have a godkitten dragon” class.

However, with the low healing power scaling Druid might as well go Zerk or a Zerk/Knight or Zerk/Valk set. This is not right, my solution is to greatly increase the heal scaling and nerf the base healing power of Celestial avatar.

The Staff on the other hand, needs its base heal to match or surpasses Water Staff Ele’s, I am not even able to get a 100hp heal off the AA, Wisp is nice but a little more heals on it would go a long way. Three is fine, its actually really good. Four needs a larger radius or stronger effect, It is difficult to land and has minimal payoff. A 2sec Root would be nice. As for the Five… It either needs a bigger heal or a rework in general.

In short, No reason to take Healing Power. Most will go DPS.

Conditions or Stuns
This is next on my list. Even traited, Druid cannot handle any conditions. Considering its a healer it should be able to cleanse better. I feel this makes more sense then my secondary suggestion as nature has many ways to cure sickness. I’m not saying Druid needs to be unkillable via condi, but it has no tools to deal with it, especially with Glyphs. In PvP, this is what will make Druid unplayable.

My second suggestion is keep Druid weak to conditions and give it Stability in CA. Being weak to both in PvP is going to make it unplayable outside an organized team. (Where it current shines) Solo players should not be punished for wanting to play healer.

Glyphs
Range is very short, they are very wonky and almost useless. The only one I see used is the daze. I do not know what will fix the others, the lack of stunbreak or condiclears makes them almost unwanted. I know about the Seed trait but they take so long to pop and end up being mediocre. The Elite is interesting, but I feel it should give Retail on top of its current effect and have a longer CD. (40s?) It could punish Thief/Mesmer/FT Engie and buy the Druid some time.

Celestial Avatar
It is very difficult to heal people, because they are constantly running away and seem to think the AoE heals are hostile. Making the heals easier to land would be amazing, but this may be a git-gud situation. Hence why it is last.

Yep! It also makes bird noises. Best Legendary, gtfo Greatswords.

As a Ranger and a Mesmer, I’m going to call out OP.

I agree on the point that We Heal As One is op atm, I am easily able to self sustain 25 stacks of might with RaO.. sorry, WE HUNT AS A PACK.. it has to be in caps because I am shouting and using Kaio Ken. Apologies. I believe Ranger has a natural advantage over the Mes. They outrange them, RF tracks stealth, and once on the real Mes the pet sticks to them. (and to be fair the pet could probobly smell them in a RL situatuon so the counter makes sense to me)

On the otherhand. PU is trash and deserved the nerf, when I initially saw the 100% (read, x2) stealth increase I said that’s insane.. and it was. Mesmers have great things coming with Chronomancer and we should wait to see what it brings before another balance change. We have less then a month until HoT and Mesmer should be buffed or nerfed accordingly to how it performs in the HoT meta.

If you want to beat a Ranger as a Mesmer you need to get up close or blink shatter. If they don’t suspect it they wont pop SoS, force a weapon swap by being close to the LB then kite the GS but be wary of the truly crafty Rangers who use Sword/X. They are far more dangerous and have three evade skills, avoid bursting them or wasting CDs until they swap back to LB. Lastly, keep an eye on the pet at all times and learn the tells for their CC.

Better yet, play a Ranger and use them first hand to get a good feel for the AI to better counter them. Don’t go in with the mindset “this is ez”. That will be your downfall. You need to go in with the mindset that “I am learning how this class works”. And I will tell you now much of it is pet management.

I suppose these words are wasted but I feel inclined to try none the less.. if anyone is actually reading this and learned anything, thank you for existing. My life isn’t a complete waste now!

+1 to Op. Really appreciate the changes Ranger is getting.

Ranger Pre Specialization Reveal: Why doesn’t anyone want us!? Why do they always want Elementalists and Guardains! We need support!

Ranger Post Specialization Reveal: WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVE TO SUPPORT? I WANNA SHOOT ARROWS!

Make up your mind people, this is arguably the best thing to happen to the class and you’re all complaining?! Yes, Ranger at its core and Druid both need a LOT of work. But this is a amazing direction for the class. Jack of all trades and the master of heals. “Support” and “Control” outside of boon stacking in pve has been neglected as long as I can remember, actual dedicated support and with the break bar, dedicated control will be a thing. I am sure this is what Anet is going for in PvE.

As far as PvP is concerned, Druid Beastmaster is going to be God. Is that a Dagger thief spaming 1? Glyph of…. uh, the one that does damage Lets just CC them and the root them with a root. Are you in a attrition match with a scumbag Ele? Celestial Form: You stand no chance mortal! As I have become one with the skybox now watch in horror as I go back to full hp! Also, Beastly Warden with the Wyvern’s F2 or Smokescale’s F2…

Bringing me to our final point. The Pet’s AI will never be perfect. But you must learn about your pet and work with it as a team to ensure the dumb AI finds its mark. Druid and GS and traits give us enough control to help the pet do so. I agree with the points on animations, stats and whatnot all needing tweaks but potential is there now, and Anet said they were looking into it.

Its going to take some time, I expect the first month to be chaos but we haven’t even seen BW3 yet, and I’m sure the tweaking will start there.

Also, Ya’ll Need Malandru.

MAN.9046:

Aylpse.6280:

Its bad and only getting worse, like everyone said you can block yeah, but the problem is still there. Anet needs to get some moderators to step up on the BM, but then again if they do that there will be nothing left.

I have played,in the past, DotA and Smite. Sadly MOBAS are considered the most toxic of games and there is more sportsmanship in these games then Gw2. Which no longer holds “most friendly MMO” as a title. PvE is no better, full zerker 5k ap or kick. I’ve even seen groups looking for full zerk ascended gear. Hell, several class forums are on the verge of (un)civil war. I’m convinced there isnt much good will left in this community.

Autism being thrown around as a buzzword is what gets me, I have that kitten and its hard enough going through real life with it and now my only escape has become a place to insult people with autism. Thanks guys.

I personally was taken aback by how friendly people were in this game.
And think the full zerk ascended gear are just joking, seen it on here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Your-best-LFG-reads-and-puglife-stories
I’ve only ever seen autism used as an insult on 4chan, “lurk moar newfig” lol

Look in map for five minutes in HotM, someone will say it.

Its bad and only getting worse, like everyone said you can block yeah, but the problem is still there. Anet needs to get some moderators to step up on the BM, but then again if they do that there will be nothing left.

I have played,in the past, DotA and Smite. Sadly MOBAS are considered the most toxic of games and there is more sportsmanship in these games then Gw2. Which no longer holds “most friendly MMO” as a title. PvE is no better, full zerker 5k ap or kick. I’ve even seen groups looking for full zerk ascended gear. Hell, several class forums are on the verge of (un)civil war. I’m convinced there isnt much good will left in this community.

Autism being thrown around as a buzzword is what gets me, I have that kitten and its hard enough going through real life with it and now my only escape has become a place to insult people with autism. Thanks guys.

There is only one song to listen too when playing Ranger…

Welcome To The Jungle is also acceptable however.

EremiteAngel.9765:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Eremite.

You and I will settle this. Reaper to Chronomancer.

Prepare yourself, challenge accepted.

If it is you Chaos, I take back my declaration of war.
I am nowhere near your level XD
Maybe if another necro wants to take up the challenge?

I will… most likely lose.