Guild Wars 2

Galen Grey.4709:

BondageBill.4021:

On the topic of clearly defining what you get for the $50 HoT price tag, I want to know if purchasing HoT will guarantee access to the full LS releases post HoT. Many people are assuming HoT will entitle them to all future content (until the next xpac), but ANet has already shown us that they are willing to charge existing customers for LS content.

didnt they also show us they’re willing to give it to us for free?

though to add to this, we unfortunately also showed them that when they give us stuff for free we use it against them so…..

ANet’s most recent LS Marketing policy (LS2) is that the updates are given for free to customers who log in during specific windows; otherwise, customers must pay for the updates. As one of the main speculative selling points I see from the community is that HoT will give access to LS3 (and beyond), I think it is reasonable to request clarification on whether their pricing policy for the LS will be changed.

Frankly, unless otherwise stated by ANet, I can only assume their current LS pricing policy remains intact. I certainly do not want to buy HoT, then get charged for LS content that is likely going to round out the main HoT storyline.

On the topic of clearly defining what you get for the $50 HoT price tag, I want to know if purchasing HoT will guarantee access to the full LS releases post HoT. Many people are assuming HoT will entitle them to all future content (until the next xpac), but ANet has already shown us that they are willing to charge existing customers for LS content.

I recently created a Thief for PvP, and primarily play solo in unranked. I am currently running the 60206 Panis Strike build from metabattle. I think I am getting a good feel for the class, but I have a few questions about how to best make use of the Thief’s abilities to swing the game in my team’s favor.

What should I focus on as a Thief in an uncoordinated team? For what I’ve read, it should mainly be stealing undefended nodes and creating mismatched (+1) fights. I normally play more point-fighter type of characters in PvP, so this is a different playstyle for sure.

When do you use Steal? Do you primarily save it for boon rips? Are there other good times to use Steal, for example against specific classes where you want the stolen item more than the boon rip?

When do you equip Infiltrator’s Signet versus Blinding Powder? Obviously having another stun-break is useful, but I don’t find much need for the extra teleport between Shadow Shot, Steal, and Shadowstep. Is the signet mostly held for stun breaks?

On the other hand, since it is easy to enter stealth with Blinding Powder and Heartseeker, what are the reasons you would want to equip Blinding Powder? Is it mostly used as an opener for Backstab?

When do you use Shadowstep? I mostly use this for escaping a bad situation, making the second half of shadow step less useful. I also see how it could be used for jukes, but I haven’t really practiced that too much. It seems like I am missing opportunities to set this up for better use, but I just haven’t seen them yet.

Which amulet is better for a spirit ranger build in solo queue pvp, rabid or carrion?

When running rabid, I generally use offensive on-crit sigils for my SB (Earth & Strength). What sigils would you use with a Carrion build?

Do you tend to stick with weapon swap sigils, such as Geomancy, Battle or Energy? Is there any room for the new on-hit based sigils (i.e. Nullification, Purity or Frailty for extra condi coverage)?

Also, are Runes of the Forge still the “best” choice for Carrion builds? Where there any rune changes in the April patch that compete with Forge now?

For the non-TLDR crowd, I recently started playing tpvp (mostly solo Q, some team) and have found the most success with running a spirits build as a team fighter and rotational defender. I am currently running a Rabid build, but have been reading a lot about Carrion builds for this setup. The only problem is that I cannot find any new info since the April patch. So I want to get an idea if the rune / sigil choices have changed before I hop into rated games.

Sigh. I honestly wonder if you are even reading my posts…

But I am starting to understand why we see things differently. You seem to be of the belief that spirit rangers must be home-point defenders. I, on the other hand, think they are better at rotating between points and acting as a team fighter / point defender. I’ll note your opinion that Nature’s Vengeance is important for a home point defender setup.

That said, I am not afraid of standing on point. I am not dying too quickly. I am not kiting all of my enemies from the side (whatever that actually means). I never said nor implied any of these things. The only thing I said is that I tend not to stand on point [in team fights], so that my spirits stay alive longer.

Valentin.2073:

Spirit Ranger is all about team support. You play that build not to be a spiker but to buff, heal, and rez your teammates. If you are playing it to kite your opponents from afar then you are playing it wrong.

I’m not sure where you got the idea that I am playing to “kite [my] opponents from afar.” I did say that I usually don’t stand on point, but that is because standing on the point is the fastest way to kill off my spirits. That doesn’t seem very supporty. Instead, I generally try to stay just outside of AoE and melee cleave range, which is still plenty close to pass my spirit buffs onto allies.

Also, you can still buff (stone spirit), heal and rez (spirit of nature) teammates while running a build with offensive capabilities. Granted, I am not running Healing Spring, but the benefits of the water field are generally lost in SoloQ. From what I have read, the standard Spirits build pre-Apr. patch used Carrion stats instead of a more defensive setup, so obviously offensive power was still valued in the build.

That’s all somewhat off-topic though. Did you have any thoughts on Nature’s Vengeance or specifics of the build?

I recently started running a Spirits build in solo / team queue PvP. I am not running a bunker variation; instead, the goal of my build is to rotate between conflicted points and provide group support and single target condi burst.

To this end, I am currently running a 0/2/6/6/0 Rabid build: link

In a spirit build, is Nature’s Vengeance actually worth the trait slot? For the most part, I don’t stand on point, opting to stay at range with SB for more bleed, burn and might procs. If needed, I can fight on point for a while before being pushed off.

Generally, I will use the sun spirit blind ability if I need to stand on point, am fighting 1v1, or need to secure a stomp. I’m not sure the increased range is much help here. For the stone spirit immob / cripple, I really only find it useful to slow an opponent running to the same point as I am. Obviously, the nature spirit active is super powerful, but I think you could position within 600 range before casting it.

If I drop Nature’s Vengeance, I could pick up either Quick Draw (more evade & CC) or Keen Edge (more condi burst). For people that have run spirit builds without NV, did you miss it?

Also, any other general advice on the build above?

I’m starting to get into tpvp with my guild, and am looking for a class & build that will allow me to rotate between multiple points for point defense and have a good impact on team fights, without being incredibly squishy.

I used to play pvp on my Engi a long time ago, so I am pretty familiar with the overall class mechanics. I’ve tested out a handful of different builds, and I think the closest one I have found to my desired play style is a Celestial rifle build I found on Ostricheggs’ twitch channel:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fdAQFAUlUUp+qlcxELseNCbBNqxI6N2xq85DEgkC-TJxHwADeAAa2fAwFAoYZAA

This build gives me the mobility I need to rotate points and good AoE from grenades, but it feels like there is no damage. Sure, I can hang out on the outskirts of the fight and chuck grenades or mix it up in melee with toolkit, but it never feels like I am making a significant impact on the fights. Additionally, I am having a hard time in any 1v1 encounter.

Am I missing something here? Can anyone point me to videos of this type of build in action, possibly with some explanation of how it is used in pvp? Or is there a different build that would be better suited to the playstyle I described above?

Windwalker – I was trying out this build tonight, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I cannot get used to having no movement speed what-so-ever, so I am next going to try swapping out the Strength runes for Centaur. Initial target dummy tests showed that I can offset the loss of might by replacing the Energy sigils with Strength sigils, but I am a bit concerned about the loss of dodges.

Any thoughts on other ways to get some speed worked into the build?

Also, have you tried the build with either Celestial or Rampager amulets? I was thinking one of these may help emphasize the hybrid nature of the damage, and reduce the ramp up before power damage really kicks in.

Edit: Talking PvP btw. Mostly solo or team queue

Wow. I was very skeptical of this trait at first, but ended up giving it a shot with a 0/2/6/6/0 SotF build for WvW roaming. It feels a lot better in action than it looks on paper. Even with the poison available via SB and sword, this trait made a noticeable impact on my poison up-time and healing reduction. I don’t think I lost a single 1v1 while running this trait.

And warriors? I almost feel sorry for them (but not quite…)

That said, I didn’t lose any 1v1s while running the same build with Bark Skin instead of Poison Master, so I am still undecided there. I am also considering dropping 10 points from WS to pick up Keen Edge for the added bleed burst.

All-in-all, this trait seems like a solid add to our stable while not over-shadowing everything else.

Bumped the bugs forum thread too. In WvW tonight, the Wolf seemed to die way too fast. Jungle Spider seemed to have the correct amount of health. Was frustrating feeling as if I was only playing with 1 pet all night.

I was playing WvW tonight, and my Wolf seemed to melt almost instantly, whereas the Jungle Spider felt as resilient as normal. Perhaps it is only limited to specific pets or families.

For the purpose of troubleshooting, we should try to indicate which specific pets are not working as expected:

Wolf (WvW)

With the new changes to pet responsiveness, I want to try out a BM build for roaming in WvW. The problem is I have never run a BM build, and don’t know what would be good.

I currently run a trapper build, with a mix of Rabid, Dire and Celestial gear, so staying on the condition side of things would be best. I don’t particularly want a full bunker spec, though, as I prefer something with more balanced offense and defense.

I’m thinking of starting out with 30 in NM for SotF and 10 in WS for survival CD reduction to manage conditions. This leaves 30 (or 6) points left over. Should these all go directly into BM to maximize pet potential, or would it be better to split them between BM and another trait line?

Weapons probably sword/torch and either SB or axe/dagger. Slot skills 3 of the following: Lightning Reflexes, Muddy Terrain, Sharpening Stone, SoR. Thoughts?

Oh, and pets (I guess they are important for a BM build). Is dual birds still the way to go?

IMO, chest every 10k AP that lets you choose a precursor would be the best option. It also fits in with ANets vision of gradually building up a legendary over the long term of playing the game

Why would you ever take a staff Ele into a 1v1?

Nike.2631:

Alright, a rough draft with 20/20/30/0/0 survival/shortbow in Dire/Nightmare.

Not awesome yet. Make it better.

Isn’t SotF going to be a Nature Magic trait? You have 30 is WS instead.

Terravos.4059:

…….

Why am I continuing to read about Rangers wanting Traps moved out of the Skirmishing Line?

Precision is not a bad stat for Traps, Crit Damage is..But then again, I’m not basing my spec off what Stats the line actually gets, I’m basing it off the traits…

Every time I see a Ranger say something like “Traps don’t belong in Skirmishing, they should be in Wilderness Survival” I facepalm because it shows what a complete lack of understanding a lot of Rangers have about the class.

If you move the Trap traits to Wilderness, You’re just going to nerf yourself, Because its a line you’re going to pick up anyway if you’re a Trap Ranger..Because it has all your bloody defensive traits… The only thing moving those traits will do, Is make it so you lose all your defensive traits picking up Trap Traits..

There is also nothing in the other lines that you could remotely pickup that would be as good as those defensive traits that you’d be losing..NOTHING…There is nothing in Marksman, nothing in Natures, Nothing in Beast…NOTHING….

So please for the love of god, quit making silly suggestions like that..

Agree with this 100%. People that are advocating moving trap traits into Wilderness Survival are advocating to kill trap builds.

The only way to move the traits into WS and still allow trap builds to come out ok would require adding a new reliable condition cleanse (that is not a utility skill) and good defensive traits into other trait lines.

Now moving stats and/or trait lines around so that the traps would benefit from either condition duration or condition damage is a better suggestion IMO. Personally, I think that Skirmishing should be moved to the top trait line (Power, Condi Duration), and Marksmanship should be moved to the second trait line while keeping Precision and Ferocity paired together.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Oh the Stealth… Since it has no reveal-brake rules, its kind of a godmode when you know how to use it. Even in PVE when mobs still seeing you sometimes…
For us, “Reveal!” shouts/bonuses would be nice to help out the groups.
If we would be able to use pet to reveal and lock stealthing on foes, that would be a nice support – and when Dungeons are designed to have stealth using enemies, we would be welcome even there.

I think the idea of the Ranger being an anti-stealth class would be interesting to explore. At least it would define some sort of role and unique functionality in WvW. However, finding the right balance point would be tricky. I fear it would either be completely OP to stealth classes or almost completely useless (i.e. current Sic ’Em)

EverythingXen.1835:

I might be a bit confused… but here’s how I understand this thread so far…

1. Permastowing pets is tabled until all other options to improve the pet are exhausted.
1b. All other options does not include Pet AI improvements, as it is an issue too big to tackle.

2. Due to powercreep, suggested improvements to the profession need some severe tempering.

3. Sustained damage is the rule of the class, and is as sacrosanct as the Pet. The various game modes may not value sustained damage very much, but that is an issue with the gametypes.

4. Trap traits might not move, but instead get different stat boosts attached to the trait line to better accommodate the trap builds.

I mean… aside from the nod to Traps, this thread reads like nothing got accomplished 20 pages in, as the suggestions seem to run into philosophical differences with Anet as to what a Ranger should be/how powerful the Ranger should be, or run into logistical/technical nightmares of coding.

It has become clear that there is a wide difference in the philosophical design of the Ranger between Anet and the players (and other groups of players, and other groups of players). In order for this thread to remain productive, we really need Anet to step in with a comprehensive statement towards where they see the class going:

• How does the Ranger fit into PvE groups? What should make a group want to bring a Ranger to a dungeon / fractal?
• How does the Ranger fit into large WvW groups? What should make a group want to bring Rangers in their zerg?
• How does the Ranger fit into small / solo WvW groups? What should make a Ranger stand-out in small scale combat?
• Where and how should the Ranger excel, and how does the class-mechanic facilitate this?

Furthermore, we (the players) need input on which ideas are in tune with your design intent. I’m sure over 50% of the ideas in this thread are far outside of Anet’s vision of the class. We need direction in order to provide valuable feedback.

As to the quote above, it was made over a full day before this post, and yet the discussion has not really progressed since. Devs, please try to set some focus on this discussion during Friday’s work day so it does not devolve or die out over the weekend.

Allie Murdock.8152:

The Ranger isn’t expected to do burst damage. By sustained, we mean that the Ranger should excel at surviving (resilient) through burst while still doing enough damage over time to take the opponent down.

Allie Murdock.8152:

For example: One class could, in the span of 30 seconds, do 15k damage in say 5-10 seconds, but then their burst skills go on cooldown so they have to wait out the rest of the time before they can try again. A sustained class should be able to do that same amount of damage in that same amount of time, but the damage is more spread out (hence sustained). This can be better in certain situations, and allows for the sustained class to fill a hole in a team comp.

I’m not saying this is a perfect system or that it’s even fully functional in the game, I’m just trying to explain why doing burst shouldn’t necessarily be better than doing sustained damage. It depends on the situation.

Allie, thanks for this level of insight. Honestly, this type of information regarding the goals of the Dev team is what we need for a deep discussion of how to improve the class. Would you be willing to provide some additional insight to the design goals for the following?

PvE: As we all know, the current group PvE meta revolves around maximizing party DPS and active group defense (e.g. Aegis / reflects). What does the development team see as unique about the Ranger that would make groups want to take one? To contrast:

• Warrior – good offensive group buffs through banners / shouts
• Guard – good defensive group buffs (e.g. Aegis) and reflects
• Ele – lots of combo field / finisher potential, amazing boon stacking
• Mesmer – Time Warp & reflects

WvW Zerg: What does the Dev team see as the Ranger’s main role in a WvW Zerg situation? Rangers have a lack of AoE potential, and sustained single target damage is unlikely to make a large impact on a large scale PvP encounter, especially when the opposing team can quickly res any players you eventually down. What do you want Rangers to bring to the table such that a WvW commander may actually want more rangers in the zerg?

WvW Small scale / roaming: Given the apparent attrition theme from your quotes, how do you see Rangers keeping an opponent locked in a fight with them? By way of example, I can never beat a well-played Thief on my Ranger unless they get too greedy and stick around to fight too long. If the Thief is smart, he will always disengage and reset when he starts losing the attrition battle. Currently, an attrition class has to play perfectly over the course of several resets to have a chance of winning, whereas a burst class (e.g. Thief / Mesmer / Warrior) can lay down a burst combo, then just run away if the going gets rough.

tPvP: Actually, the attrition theme works pretty well in the point defense PvP modes. That’s probably one of the main reasons Rangers are seen as best off in this specific game mode.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Many of you have suggested removing traps from the Skirmishing line. It seems the primary reason for this is because it is the crit line while traps are primarily focused on conditions.

Given the idea behind skirmishing (for Ranger, we expect them to be able to survive longer while whittling their opponent down), would it maybe make more sense to leave the traps there and perhaps swap the stats with a different line?

I was just about to come post on this topic, then decided it would be better to check the Dev Tracker first…

It has been suggested multiple times that traps should be moved to the Wilderness Survival line due to stat synergy. If you take this route, I feel that the trap traits would need to be moved down in tiers to not create a conflict between Trap Potency and Empathic Bond. If Trap Potency and Empathic Bond are GM traits in the same line, you run the risk of killing off WvW trap builds.

(One only has to look at how infrequently Barkskin is used to see how Empathic Bond currently dwarfs its competing GM trait).

Regarding the quote, I think this would be an interesting approach. If you implemented your suggestion, would Precision be maintained as the primary stat bonus (as to be consistent with all other second trait lines)? If so, would the secondary bonus be switched to Condition Damage to better synergize with traps?

From a power-build perspective, pairing Precision with Crit Damage is very helpful, and separating them, as noted above, could be detrimental to the future of Ranger power builds.

That said, maybe it would make logical sense to move Skirmishing away from Precision and Crit Damage, but keep those two stats paired in a different line. Thematically, your idea of Skirmishing being focused on survival and attrition does not lend itself to increased crit chance and damage. IMO, Marksmanship would have a good thematic relation crit based traits (in name only; not necessarily in the specific traits currently assigned to Marksmanship).

Not much time to post (and using phone, bleh) so please excuse the truncated formatting. I’m going to touch on two major issues I see with Ranger:

Game Mode: WvW

Issue 1: Lack of condition cleanse kills build diversity.

In player vs. player combat, condition spam is extremely prevalent. To counter this, most Ranger builds are taking Empathic Bond. This leaves only 40 trait points to define the rest of you build, severely limiting build diversity. Several good ideas for resolution have already been mentioned in this thread, including:

• Lightning Reflexes removes movement impairing conditions.
• Add condi cleanse to existing heals, HaO or TU.

Issue 2: Rangers and pets should be symbiotic, not parasitic.

Based on the class description and design, the Ranger and the pet should be working together at all times to achieve maximum efficiency. However, there are far too many aspects of the class where either the Ranger or pet is weakened in order to provide a buff to the other, including:

• Traits that transfer negative effects to pets (e.g. Empathic Bond, Shared Anguish).
• Signets – Ranger and pet must sacrifice passive for only the pet to gain the active.
• Shouts that only benefit the pet without helping the Ranger (e.g. Guard) or shouts that benefit the Ranger at the expense of the pet (e.g. Protect Me).

IMO, these aspects of the class should be reworked to be mutually beneficial to both the Ranger and the pet. A perfect example of this symbiosis is the elite Rage as One.

Arrys.7145:

BondageBill.4021:

rpfohr.7048:

Since you take 10 points in NM for Nature’s Protection, how do you deal with people to decide to just run away? I am having a hard time keeping people in combat if they decide to split and can get out of spike trap range.

I would imagine the chill on axe and cripple on dagger.

Fair enough, I forget the dagger cripple has a 1200 range when traited with off-hand training. That extra 300 range would make a big difference in slowing runners.

rpfohr.7048:

I run your build! and with Great success! I loose very little / hardly at all. and do ok in 1v2 and 2v3 situations.

Ive found the toughest fights are Condi Necro’s PU mesmers and Perma stealth thief.
Everything else if FACE ROLL EASY MODE.

Same pets too.

Here is my version.

Will switch on Sigil of earth when patch hits, right now im running on kill sigils and sigils of hydromancy.

Hydromancy works GREAT with trapper build. You will really slow them down and keep them in traps. (for you consider hydromancy smoldering for now)

Put the 10 in NM, you need it in case you come across that dam thief, unless you go for malicious training as poster said above. You need to be able to trap your feet and let him come to you, the Prot will save you and then you can evade around as condi ticks and then re trap your feet.

I use to run SB like you but switch out to A/D cause SB was very pew pew for sigil of earth. Confusion mesmers and PU really were messing me up and going A/D helped me fight them and I didn’t loose much of anything for 1v1 fighting.

Last tough fight is necro, thats why I started bringing signet of Renewal for Necro and Engi, If I see a thief or mes I will try to switch it to sickem so they cant play stealth games with me. LR is good for your stun warriors and other in your face builds like guardian,

But I find I overwhelm them with what I can do with CC and condi and they just tick to death, so I hardly slot it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQRAsf3YjAV911VyVs2Bi2DNZeMxeYIH9IXB/XyoqA-jkCB4iRG1JgUFBiAJ0poFRjtMsIasKZBSZDT/K1aYISBAxaA-w

I’ll have to try out sigil of hydromancy. AoE chill and an extra cover condition does sound nice, but it would have the same limitations as geomancy, in that it doesn’t work if you disengage before swapping weapons.

I still like SB over Axe/Dagger, but I can see how Axe is good against Mesmers. Frankly, I mostly just run away when I see a PU Mesmer. It’s not that I can’t beat them (I have about 50% success rate), but it’s just no fun to fight.

Good advice on switching out LR. I’ll try to remember in the heat of the moment.

Since you take 10 points in NM for Nature’s Protection, how do you deal with people to decide to just run away? I am having a hard time keeping people in combat if they decide to split and can get out of spike trap range.

Arrys.7145:

Might want to consider using Superior Sigil of Torment to cover your other conditions and make cleansing your condition overload damage and poison more difficult if you don’t want to go with more bleed stack option. And if it isn’t cleansed you still get damage out of it.

I’ll give Sigil of Torment a shot. I initially skipped past it due to the higher CD, but the extra cover condition may be worth it.

nagymbear.5280:

1) Since you’re using control pets, I would pick up malicious training. Could be a nice addition in 1v1s.

2) Traps do pretty lame direct damage, so I would avoid adding more power. The crit damage you have should do the trick, but I would avoid investing heavily into gear this way before the zerker changes.

3) For camps take river drake. Its F2 if you can land it is a nice additional damage, and it has cleave. Its also tankier than a wolf, but I would change the spider for camps, not the wolf. AoW fear is too good to pass down. Also, tail swipe is a blast finisher, which works well with Fire trap. If you would run RaO you could also stack a pretty good amount of might with its F2.

4) For camps both would work well. However you should keep in mind, that traps can crit, and apply bleeding that way as well. Not sure if its the sigil or the trait though, didn’t test that in depth.

Traits: I would rather take shared anguish instead of hide in plain sight. Invisibility is no good if your enemy knows where to hit. Shortbow without piercing is also pretty poor for clearing camps, GS due to the evade on auto is great however, has more defensive capabilities as well. Too bad they removed the bleed from it. All in all your build looks good, however for general roaming I would keep RaO due to the awesome stability. Entangle is great for clearing camps, but most players will know how to get out of it quickly 1v1.

I’ll have to give Malicious Training a shot. Not sure if it will help with the issue of people running away, but it’s hard to dislike longer immobilize.

Not a huge fan of GS for this setup, as it does not have any good condition potential (at least you can pair Sword with Torch). I agree that RaO would be better for roaming 1v1s, but as you said, SB has pretty limited AoE potential for clearing camps. I found that SB for 1v1s and Entangle for AoE camps worked better for me than RaO for 1v1s and Axe/x for additional AoE in camps (via splitblade).

Edit: Forgot to mention Hide in Plain Sight. I’m not sure I like it or Shared Anguish very much, but HiPS will break any skills that require a target and has a much shorter CD than Shared Anguish. I agree that it is fairly worthless against melee cleave.

But I’ve been considering dropping both of these traits for any of the following:

• Vigor on heal
• Pet condition damage (for spider)
• Regen on bleed / burn / poison (probably UP)
• Sword CD reduction (slightly faster sword 2 & 3 may be helpful)

Any thoughts?

IMO, ANet really should get rid of the “do more damage at longer range skills.” The entire game of GW2 is balanced that weapons with longer ranges do less damage. Therefore, the Ranger longbow (and Mesmer GS), are balanced to do comparatively low damage due to their 1200 range.

On top of this lower damage potential, these weapons are further weakened when you get closer to the target. Take a (comparatively) weak weapon and kitten it if you are unable to maintain max range from your target. If I could only make one tweak to LB, it would be to make it do max damage at all ranges.

Knock-back on GS auto-attack is also a dangerous idea. One of the most annoying things you can do in a proper melee group is knock the enemy out of melee range and existing AoEs. This change would make the GS unusable in melee trains.

Otherwise I like (or am indifferent to) most of the other suggestions. AoE chill and flame trap (w/o using a utility slot) on my sword, torch set? Yes, please (as long as Flame Trap is still effected by trap traits)

Edit – I did not expect the filter to change that word to kitten…

Nyaa.2530:

the only thing keeping me from buying this armor set is the fact that i don’t want my character to look like a smurf

Lol thinking about a Norn sized Smurf

I’d love to test it for clipping before starting the farm, but alas…

Konig Des Todes.2086:

BondageBill.4021:

Hmm, I wonder if they could just tweak the player cap for the zone. Leave it as “open-world” as it currently is, but start a new overflow at a much lower number of players (e.g. 25 or 50). This could leave the feeling of open world, large scale content but may further discourage zerging, assuming they spread out multiple objectives.

Of course, I could be entirely mistaken about the effects of that type of change, but it would seem worthy of testing.

I imagine they can, but that it’d be for all zones and not just one particular zone, thus already empty zones will feel emptier, and already full zones like Queensdale will overflow more often. And doing such, also means rebalancing Tequatl and Triple Wurm.

Yeah, if they can only do it on a global level, that would be a non-starter. Would be beat if they could do it for specific LS events though.

The OP didn’t call it sloppy because it takes time to get. Instead, it is sloppy that we don’t know the answers to basic questions about the item, and by the time those answers are well known, it may be too late for some people to start farming it. But please, if you can, let us know the answers to the following:

*Is it limited or unlimited use?
*Does it soulbind on use or will it be account bound?
*Does the animation work in combat or does it cancel?
*Does it have a cool down?
*Is there anyway to preview it, so I can ensure there are no clipping issues?

I don’t mind farming for epic loot, but I don’t want to spend the majority of my play time over the next two weeks farming a soulbound potion that clips with my helmet and has a 5 minute uptime with a 30 minute CD.

I guess wanting fore-knowledge of the above is unreasonable and without critical thought, though.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Jeff.4680:

Why is it every patch has to require a zerg to play?

I guess it’s cool for everyone else, but personally I can’t even play this stuff. I’m on a university network, and my university hates zergs. I mean, I can’t even get skills off or talk in chat. Crazy lag. No, it’s not my frame rate.

Really getting nostalgic about Guild Wars 1 instances… :/

The issue is that without instancing them, which means solo or no more than 5, it has to be ready for zergs. Why? Because everyone will be doing the “shiney new content”.

So it’s either dungeons (which people have complained about as well and will be temporary anyways), story instances (which are usually lackluster), or open world (thus have to be balanced for the inevitable zergfest that will happen, designed for or not).

The only way to prevent this is to bring out a lot of content at once (which seems out of Anet’s scope for some unknown reason – seriously, their company of 200+ cannot possibly be having such issues for such little content built in 4 months when Nightfall came out 6 months after Factions, roughly), and/or make it intended to remain long after the hype dies down – which means either making it scale for both low and high numbers, or allowing it to break with high (or low) numbers.

Hmm, I wonder if they could just tweak the player cap for the zone. Leave it as “open-world” as it currently is, but start a new overflow at a much lower number of players (e.g. 25 or 50). This could leave the feeling of open world, large scale content but may further discourage zerging, assuming they spread out multiple objectives.

Of course, I could be entirely mistaken about the effects of that type of change, but it would seem worthy of testing.

I like the thought behind the tiered upgrade process and the customization of color.

However, I dislike that it is tied into crafting (why crafting for everything over the last 8 months?) and the aesthetic design. Needless to say, I will not be farming any on this go-around.

Jagerbomb.9057:

This is by far the best content you have released. I love everything, the cutscene, the rewards, the events! Oh and the armor is amazing! You really have out done yourself with this patch, IMO It’s the best ever and I’m pretty sure 99% of people agree with me. ^.^

Keep up the work!

( Grumbles Kasmeer better not die…)

Wow, I disagree with almost everything you said. I do like the aesthetic of the burning city though. Glad the patch appeals to you…

Timers.

I wish LS could get away from timer based content

It wouldn’t necessarily be a contradiction if the NPC text is not all resolved in the first patch. For remote Lionguard installations (e.g. Caledon), it could take some time for reputable info to be delivered. This buys time until the second patch at least.

Even then, you could explain away some of the inconsistencies by saying that the Lionguard are keeping trade routes clear in an effort to provide supplies to the resistance against Scarlet’s invasion (assuming there is a sufficient resistance). This could buy another patch, up to the end of LS season 1.

After that though, things will start to fall apart without the sweeping changes mentioned in this thread. Unless, of course, our plucky heroes manage to save a part of LA and a rebuilding effort is underway….

Howdy Rangers, I’ve been testing a lot of different builds lately for solo roaming WvW to decide which one I want to invest in Exotics for. I think I’ve settled on a trap build:

gw2skills.net trapper build

I’d really appreciate your input on how I can fine-tune the build linked above for an optimal roaming experience. My main goals are to be able to flip camps rapidly, win most 1v1s and some 1v2s, and escape when the odds become worse.

Feel free to weigh in on any aspects of the build. One note about my armor choice, I selected Celestial stats so I only have to setup one set of armor / weapon skins for multiple builds, so I am likely to keep those 6 pieces stat-wise. Below are some additional questions / points of consideration I have:

1. Traits: 10 points in Marksmanship vs. Nature Magic. I slotted Predator’s Instinct to help me stop people from just running away. However, Nature’s Protection would also be helpful against burst roamers. I’m fairly undecided here, and I really wish I had 10 more trait points…

2. Power: Is it worth trying to add any additional to this build? I could change the weapons from Dire to Carrion without hurting my toughness too much. On one hand, I hate completely neglecting power since it is always helpful, but it seems that only sword 1 really scales well with it.

3. Pets: I slotted Jungle Spider for 1v1s, due to the multiple immobilizations and poison field, and I slotted Wolf for helping tank mobs when soloing camps and the fear interrupt (esp. when downed). Any other suggestions?

4. Sigils: I feel kind of “meh” about Sigil of Earth on this build, but I didn’t like Sigil of Geomancy because I usually use sword 2 to disengage before swapping to SB. Am I missing any strong options here? Also, any good second options for torch if I decide to stack Corruption before actually fighting?

Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot the most important #5: Mistwalker (non-flame version) or Magitech?

Coarr.3286:

pro:
perma fury, perma might(7-10), perma regen, perma vigour, perma swiftness, ( speed is king in wvw ) nearly perma protection, 30 sec stability on demand, perma poison, perma bleed, perma chill, perma burning, perma weakness, lots and lots of evades, high mobility, lots of cc, water field, fire field, poison field

con:

weak condition remove, weak to immobilize, no real AOE options

How are you getting things like perma-fury or 7-10 stacks of might? I honestly haven’t looked into this much, as most roaming build I see are condition based. Also, perma-swiftness seems to come at the fairly steep cost of a GM trait, an adept trait, and a utility skill (Guard spamming). Is there a better way to achieve 100% swiftness?

If not, I imagine the 25% speed signet works as a fairly good replacement.

I’m glad to see a few more serious posters joined the conversation. I was a bit disheartened after the first couple of responses.

I’ll reply to some specific posts in a moment, but first I have a couple of general roaming questions to throw in the mix:

How has ranger worked out so far on EotM? I just played it a bit with my PU Mesmer, but I really wanted a class where I could lead the charge in the 5v5-ish situations that seem to develop frequently on that map. I get so tired of just standing around in the back and stealthing / running away when I get targeted.

Also, how well does celestial gear work on a roaming ranger? I’ve seen several builds / videos that rely on hybrid direct & condition damage with the ranger. Even a build like the bunker shout ranger could benefit from power and precision, since you use MH sword. Do SB or MH Axe scale decently with power at all?

Also, for builds that do not take Guard-spam swiftness or GS (e.g. a trapper build), does mobility become an issue? Is the 25% speed signet sufficient for escaping the wrath of zergs?

What would you say are the major strengths and weaknesses of the ranger for WvW solo roaming? As someone without an 80 ranger, my guesses are:

Strengths:
Able to build for high damage or high survivability (but not both)
Good weapon based mobility
Access to high swiftness uptime or 25% run speed signet
Able to run away from zergs well

Weaknesses:
Builds tend to be highly specialized
Not high burst damage (but good sustained damage)
Damage reliant on pets staying on target
Most (all?) condition cleanse is passive

Can anyone comment on if this build is good for flipping camps solo?

Just curious if a trapper build is still viable in WvW roaming. I didn’t see anything in the build thread, except a video link in the section of “May no longer be viable.”

If so, what would the general outline of this build look like?

Does anyone have any thoughts on how the power variant of this build would work with the new Zeaolts prefix (power, prec, healing)? Basically, you would trade off some toughness from Clerics to gain precision.

@Hayashi, I am very curious how those DPS numbers for ranger and Necro were derived. For my, admittedly limited, experience with ranger, it seemed to have worse condition application than a Necro. Did the numbers above take into account pet damage with 100% uptime? Also, did they include a pet that applies damaging conditions?

ryokoalways.3450:

Warrior solo roaming is more near the middle of the pack in terms of efficiency. Outside of superior mobility, warrior cannot reliably engage 1vX and cannot flip camps safely (ie, minimize the use of utilities due to scout blind spam and lack of compression).

Warrior small group roaming (or even 2 man roaming) is near the top. Warrior’s ability to train down a single target (or a group of targets) really shines when there are other players flanking and providing some support, allowing warrior to effectively scatter the enemy group.

Interesting perspective. Since I do tend to roam solo more than in a group, I’ll definitely take that into consideration.

From what I am gathering so far (and thanks for all the input btw), it seems like the main warrior strength is having high durability through innate stats, traits, passive healing and mobility.

This allows the warrior to gear for a happy medium between offense and defense. On one side of the spectrum, you have zerker thieves and Mesmers, who are true glass cannons. On the other you, have the standard (condition) bunker roaming builds. It seems the warrior can effectively split the two instead of going to one extreme or the other.

The weakness comes in when your opponent can counter the strengths listed in the first paragraph then. High poison uptime negates HS sustain. High evasion / blinding negates CC and traits that require a hit (Cleansing Ire). High soft-CC counters mobility.

Does that sound about right? If so, it actually sounds like a well balanced class from a design perspective.

I am also having this same debate ATM, deciding between War and Rng for a WvW roamer.

I think warrior is probably more flexible overall. They have a lot of build variety, whereas rangers seem to have limited build selection for roaming.

I am very curious how a power based regen roaming ranger could play out with the new Zealots prefix. However, that’s a pretty steep investment for an untested build.

I’m probably leaning ever so slightly towards ranger, but I have no intent to play the character in PvE. If I did, it would probably sway my decision to warrior.

BobbyStein.2315:

You’ll have to wait and see how we integrated story into the release. I think it works pretty well but I’m biased. I am looking forward to the feedback we receive next week.

Bobby, I am excited for both the new map and to see how the story integrates with it.

With that said, your above quote makes it sound like you are writing the story to fit with already defined content (ie. content defines story). IMO, in order to write a good story, the story needs to come first. In other words, the story should define the content.

Of course, if what I said is correct, I am probably just preaching to the choir on this one.

Can anyone elaborate on the weaknesses of this build? Which classes and/or builds are difficult to kill? Are there any classes you just run from because you know it will end poorly? My guesses are:

- Difficult to kill anyone with really good condition removal.
- Necros could be nasty due to their ability to flip conditions back on you.
- Thieves with boon steal spam could be difficult if you cannot maintain regen

@ Logi – I watched some of your vids, and kitten, that is some good sustain while running zerker gear.

Which opens a broader question, are most roaming warriors running zerker? Are there other popular stat combos for roaming, or do you get all of the necessary defense & sustain out of traits?

Also, I notice that warriors don’t have a lot of swiftness, so do you tend to rely on Warrior’s Sprint to get around the maps?