Guild Wars 2

It is the same with Ranger Trap, Spirit and Survival skills. They are rubbish untraited, and usable with traits. Wilderness and Trap skills need 2 traits each, and in both cases one is GM. Spirits need 3 traits to function properly, but one could argue that the GM is not 100% needed, even though it increases the threat of spirits considerably.

Rangers got buffed in areas that were abysmal to say the least.

1)Longbow is trash (as it stands pre patch)
2)Axe 1 is trash
3)GS was passable and the only real buffs were to the 4 aftercast and 5 stun duration. Maul damage is the same its just a better cleave now
4)The signets should not have needed the trait in the first place
5)The interesting change is to entangle, as it is a change in concept and not in numbers. (allowing better combos with different rune sets that proc on elite)

Shouts, Pet AI have not been touched. Trapper was buffed through Entangle.
Also remember that the main Ranger build, spirits, got nerfs in 2 previous patches.

Engineer got buffed for power builds. Turreter got nerfed.

Frostfang, Rodgort and Kudzu here

These changes have directly buffed power ranger and indirectly buffed both trapper and BM.
Pet AI and some kittened traits(opening strike, oakheart salve,etc..) remain crap, but the signet change is huge and it can not be stressed enough.

cleansing ire also grants adrenaline when you take damage.

You do not need to hit someone to proc CI. You just need to spend adrenaline. It will still work even if you miss, the condition removal that is.

Finished my Kudzu

Guardians are a bit strong as a bunker in PvP. Being mandatory is a problem in itself. But why are they strong is the real question. Having a specialized supporter is fine, but perhaps they should boost the counter go guardians which should be boon strip comboed with heavy burst.

This build next patch with Krait runes… drool

RAIL GUN RANGER !!!

Or pet not taking damage at all. The pet not attacking is a trade off in itself

Well, there are situations where you can use MH axe… like Twilight arbor to shoot flowers :p

With all the elementalits in dungeons these days the ranger meta build is axe and torch as offhands, sword mainhand of course.

Actually, warriors are TOP CLEAVE DPS if you ignore the incredibly imbalanced Elementalist summons. Thief is top single target dps.

Most importantly, both guardians and warriors are extremely stable and reliable classes.

Have I mentioned how much i hate elementalists and how toxic I think they are to the whole PvE game??? No, well I hate them!!!!

Rodgort was the first legendary i made. But that was at a time when i though running condition builds in dungeons was OK… 2+ years ago.

The smarter thing to do would be to make Howler, but having a charr head on a stick and then it being on fire screams epic.

Currently i have the Frostfang Rodgort combo on my ranger. And i made Kudzu in anticipation of the september patch for the flowery pew pew.

Well, Hambow ushered in a new metagame by itself. Since then it has been toned down a bit, but it is still a huge deal that a single build on a single class changed everything.

That is what i was aiming at, for sustain procs with offensive gear. It is not passive play, you have to be attacking to heal up.

Ranger is no longer in the category of top roamers. Thief and Mesmers, the PD and PU variants are.

Beastmaster usually is a form of bunker. The best form of bunker to damage ratio comes from either dire or settlers/apothecary gear.

What i would personally suggest (what i am using at the moment):

-apothecary stats with superior runes of the water
-0 0 6 2 6 trait distribution with the standard OH training, EB, mighty swap and vigorous training. It is your choise for the WS and NM adept majors and BM GM major.
-axe/dagger and sword/torch, 1 sigil of battle 1 sigil of corruption and 2 sigils of geomancy
-HS, SotW, SotH, LR and entangle

Well what I would do:

- critical damage to marksmanship and condition duration to skirmishing
-combine agility training with pet prowess into a single trait and move it to the master level
-move quick draw to adept level
-carnivorous appetite affects ranger as well. ICD of 1 second
-new minor trait “random cool name”- convert 1 condition into a boon on weapon swap (ICD 9 seconds)
-opening strike refreshes on weapon swap as well. Pet opening strike refreshes on Pet swap as well.

There, i fixed it :p

If they placed ferocity in the MM line and condition duration in the skirmishing line, then having condition damage traits would make sense.

It is primarily a PvE dungeon trait. It is mutually exclusive with natures bounty or hunter tactics as you will take 2 of these 3. Steady aim is a given.

rapid fire DAMAGE is not changed. Rapid fire DAMAGE PER SECOND is doubled.

Auto attack damage per second is increased by 12% or so due to 10% increased attack speed.

use spiders if you use traveler

These changes are huge but are fixing only a smaller part of the problem.

What remains:
-pet pathing and inability to control all abilities
-traps
-shouts
-20 or so traits, minor or major (opening strike is the biggest offender here)

ETA on patch: 3rd week of september at the earliest

Actually, dagger OH is not useless in PvE. It has a proper function which is maintaining sword AA with the smallest amount of breaks for evading.

Please consider that your applied conditions do more damage as you stack might. You unload and then you use your auto attack in the ability downtime. That is a solid boost right there even if its 3-4 might.

It is a massive boost in the fact that it is no longer a downgrade in DPS compared to the auto attack.
However, the maximum damage still does not make us an all round spiker. We are more of a specialized counter to certain builds and classes, especially in PvP.

I actually quite like the fact that they took into consideration that our pet simply cant be a part of our DPS calculations in ranged combat so they compressed the RFire skill AND buffed RtW to give an attack speed increase as well. We were also given a little bit of free sustain with something that is a very good ability.

Also, i feel that MoC melee builds might become used because MoC + SotW active and some might stacks coupled with the buffed Maul and Swoop giving us better power AOE point coverage and durability. my experiences in WvW have shown that a melee berserker ranged does quite well against warriors or squishy thieves, elementalists and engineers. Now with the signet actives…. o m g

Uh, that sounds terribly broken lol. How about it is just considered a survival skill. It would benefit from traited condition cleanse and CD reduction.

Actually a lot has changed for the PvE meta. The new MM GM trait is a pretty big damage increase. Also the Read the wind swap is a solid bonus to bosses you have to range (the few of them you do range).

The bigger boost, however , is not having to trait signets. Just having a SoS or SotW is a big boost in fractals for example. SotW+zephyr burst. Etc…

Quite honestly, even with 25 might stacks the axe auto attack is horrible. The main thing here is that the downtime between stalkers strike+splitblade combo isnt wasted as you can maintain 3-4 stacks of might.

As far as beastmastery goes, the biggest impact is the signets. We have a very strong incentive to use signet actives and to swap them around. Entangle as well. I think that both power and BM builds got a huge boost if these changes go through.

I actually think warriors will be toned down as far as the current builds go, but some underused stuff will be buffed. The biggest offender, at least in PvP, is the F1 from longbow. Might stacking is another issue entirely.

This might bring back beastmasters into the PvP metagame:

-axe auto stacks might, especially good vs minion mancers and turret engis
-SoTW is a stability provider as well as a heal
-ability to use any BM master trait with any pet
-Entangle CD reduction. Lyssa, Krait rune synergy. I see Krait runes being especially potent with a settlers BM ranger.

Having said that, here is what I will probably play come september:

-Settlers amulet
-Rune of the Krait
-Axe+dagger, Sword+torch
-hydromancy and geomancy sigils on both sets

-6 into WS taking Wilderness knowledge, OH training and EB
-4 into NM taking Natures protection and Enlargment
-4 into BM taking mighty swap and vigorous training

-As far as utilities go it will probably be: Healing spring, LR, Signet of renewal, Signet of the Wild and Entangle.

Entangle change is actually huge for some builds. Entangle + runes of the krait for trappers/condition builds. Or with lyssa or any other interesting on elite effects. Remember that it will be that more powerful with the CD and the SoTF skill.
A proper control ranger might be possible.

i must say that a lot of these changes are from the CDI.

I am predicting opening strike and BM line buffs.

I rode my bear into combat, like any proud ranger would do!

Heh, i find it that Elementalist innate sustain is rather unfair. Free healing for everybody!!!

Birds with that stupid swiftness cast dumping their damage down the toilet. Moas with the uncontrolable heal

No its not. PD thief or PU mesmer is.

I was browsing the LFG this morning and for some reason i wanted to pug fractals. A party actually asked for a ranger at lvl 50 fractals!!! And i joined!!!

YPEEEEEE, the world is gonna end…

Word of caution: do not get your hopes up!!

Perhaps just increasing burst CD from 10 to 15s?

@Doom: thats what I am talking about

Mesmer is completely OP, in WvW

Elementalist is still OP. The innate sustain is too much. The problem resurfaced again due to celestial ammy and might stacking

I ate an apple in Tybalts name

I would like to suggest changes to 3 traits that annoy the hell out of me. Oakheart salve , Rejuvenation and Natures bounty.
For anyone who does not remember, these 2 offer 5 seconds of regeneration every 15 and 30 seconds respectively.

My suggestions:

-Oakheart salve- Gain 5 seconds of regeneration when suffering bleeding, poison or torment. These conditions have a 33% reduced duration on you and your pet.

-Rejuvenation- Instead of the current activation requirement its changed to – Gain 5 seconds of regeneration when using a healing skill.

-Natures bounty- instead of increasing duration by 33% it should increase regeneration effectiveness by 33%, as in increase the amount healed by 33% to self and allies.

Quite honestly they should fix the FGS exploit. Dungeon running used to be so much more fun without the “must have Ele” mindset.

First of all they should allow us full control over pet abilities. But they are not gonna do that.
They should also redesign traits, but they are not going to do that.
Further improve pet AI? Nope.

At most we will get the sort of buff Oakheart salve got, ICD lowered by 5 sec for a useless trait regardless.