Guild Wars 2

RyuDragnier.9476:

Aveneo.2068:

The Spiral King.2483:

http://pastebin.com/dmACCzwx

Let’s hope that CDI works. Otherwise, we may be in trouble.

According to Dulfy those notes are fake. The poster just took the currently known changes to make them look legit and made up the rest.

Not just dulfy, Anet personally stated those notes were fake, something they have never done before now. Meaning it’s most likely fake.

Man…People must really hate Ranger and want this thread locked and trashed? Can we get on topic with things that actually concern Ranger Balance, and not stuff that is obviously fake?

(on a side note, and partially on topic….. Ranger CDI should be started tomorow!)

Solandri.9640:

Chrispy.5641:

Or is it because its classified as a shout, and because its a shout, its supposed to have a uber fast, insta cast time….seriously?

Shouts don’t just have instant cast time. They can be used while you are channeling other skills. I think you can even use them while stunned/knocked down. Guard is the only shout where you can’t do this.

As it currently stands, Guard is a shout in name only. For all intents and purposes, it’s a regular utility skill, not a shout. The only advantage gained by it being a shout is that you can reduce its cooldown with a trait to reduce shout cooldowns.

It has a 15 second cooldown (12 traited), and it is very easy to get enough boon duration to stack on perma swiftness and especially perma regen with it, as well as perma protection for your pet, and if you have the right runes even remove a condition every 13 seconds.

True, but you’re incorrectly attributing those benefits to the skill. They come from picking a grandmaster trait. The comparison isn’t Guard vs another skill; it’s traited Guard vs. another skill + a 10 point trait + a GM trait.

The pet getting permanent protection is a non-issue because it already gains permanent protection. 1 sec cast time + 12 sec cooldown = 13 sec cycle time. 30 points in NM to get the GM trait gives +30% boon duration, increasing the protection’s duration from 10 sec to 13 sec. So removing the cast time wouldn’t change this appreciably (it’ll eliminate a fraction of a second where the pet has no protection due to human reaction time).

Likewise the condition removal comes from a set of Soldier runes, not the skill. Yes the cooldown is lower, but if you look at the average cycle time for shout skills, warriors can remove conditions more often with that rune than rangers, albeit not with a single shout. Given the poor state of ranger active condition removal, I’d only consider this a viable argument if they put active condition removal on more ranger skills.

Chrispy.5641:

Sure, lets give “Fear me” a Cast time, but because of the increased risk, lets reduce the cooldown from 60 seconds to 30 seconds.

Lets remove the cast time from Guard, but because of the reduced risk, lets Double the cooldown from 15 to 30 seconds.

risk vs. reward, its a very simple concept, and almost everything in GW2’s combat system revolves around it.

I’m not sure what sort of comparison you’re trying to make. Fear Me is an instant get-out-of-death skill. Someone is about to down you, you use Fear Me, and you live.

Guard does nothing like that. It repositions your pet, gives it stealth and protection. I’m not exactly seeing the decreased risk you’re talking about if it were made instant cast.

The swiftness and regen come from a GM trait. Any imbalances for those two attributes should be addressed via modifying the trait, not increasing the cooldown on Guard.

There are two fundamental problems that you and many others always run into when talking about Guard…

1) that you always miss the 1 second where the Ranger has to cast “Guard”. That is a second where the Ranger is not dealing damage, and that is a second where the Ranger is open for attack. The Entire shout was designed with a low cooldown, on the condition that the 1 second of risk is built in.

Being able to just press guard every 12 seconds means your pet can potentially always has protection (not to mention 10 seconds of stealth stealth, and you could potentially have free perma regen and swiftness, and remove a condition), and there is never an opening for an enemy or enemy player to stop that from happening if the cast time is removed. Keep in mind that is every 12 seconds. Where in your head does that make sense? Think for two seconds how a change to guard will affect the entire game, not just Ranger pets.

(The mentioned “Fear Me” is a get-out-of-jail-free card, but its also on a 60 second cooldown (as is our get-out-of-jail-free card, Protect me). The risk there, is that you can only use it every 60 seconds(obviously less if traited), so, if you waste it, you waste it. Guard does not have that limitation. Keep that in mind too.)

2) whether you like it or not, and whether it works or not, pets were designed to be an integrated part of the class. So, unless you can name me another skill that grants 10 seconds of protection and 10 seconds of stealth, with a 15 second cooldown, your argument for buffing Guard is invalid.

Durzlla.6295:

Chrispy.5641:

Is the skill clunky because the cast time? Isn’t that kind of a pointless argument because that means that every skill in the game that has a cast time is clunky….. Just Because it has a cast time?

Or is it because its classified as a shout, and because its a shout, its supposed to have a uber fast, insta cast time….seriously? It has a 15 second cooldown (12 traited), and it is very easy to get enough boon duration to stack on perma swiftness and especially perma regen with it, as well as perma protection for your pet, and if you have the right runes even remove a condition every 13 seconds.

I would say that the 1 second cast time is way more than enough of a trade off, clunky casting animation and all.

It’s clunky, the shouts use doesn’t warrant a cast time, and if ANY shout warranted a cast time it would be “Fear Me!” and “Save Yourself!” not a shout that just repositions your pet, granting it stealth and protection, i mean kitten, how does THAT need a cast time but an AoE 3s Fear, or AoE condi purge + give caster every boon in the game NOT?

Also, If Guard didn’t have a cast time it’d be an extremely useful skill to have because every 15s you could essentially reposition your pet, make it tankier, and even use it in synergy with your pets F2, it would increase in usefulness significantly where as atm if you want to keep up “perma regen and swiftness” with this shout you’re using 1s for what is a very minimal effect.

Sure, lets give “Fear me” a Cast time, but because of the increased risk, lets reduce the cooldown from 60 seconds to 30 seconds.

Lets remove the cast time from Guard, but because of the reduced risk, lets Double the cooldown from 15 to 30 seconds.

risk vs. reward, its a very simple concept, and almost everything in GW2’s combat system revolves around it.

theres already a slignshot…..for your Shortbow :::

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Slingshot_Skin

Is the skill clunky because the cast time? Isn’t that kind of a pointless argument because that means that every skill in the game that has a cast time is clunky….. Just Because it has a cast time?

Or is it because its classified as a shout, and because its a shout, its supposed to have a uber fast, insta cast time….seriously? It has a 15 second cooldown (12 traited), and it is very easy to get enough boon duration to stack on perma swiftness and especially perma regen with it, as well as perma protection for your pet, and if you have the right runes even remove a condition every 13 seconds.

I would say that the 1 second cast time is way more than enough of a trade off, clunky casting animation and all.

Nike.2631:

That’s not the leak they were talking about. The one they disavowed was about new elite skills.

Elite Skills, whose skill descriptions were so ridiculously fake in how they were worded, I fail to see how anyone was fooled by that ‘Leak’, unless they really didn’t pay attention that hard to how actual skill descriptions are worded in the game.

Shiren.9532:

In addition to 20 levels of moar power, the tengu get a damage bonus for firing down at a location. Drop a penny off of a tall building and it can kill a man (it’s a science fact, don’t question it)

I’ll question it. A penny at terminal velocity has a force of barely 1 foot pound. It wont even break the skin if it hits you, but it will hurt, and leave a penny sized bump on your head.

An arrow moving at terminal velocity? That will go through a metal helmet, through your skull, and out the bottom of your jaw, or it will rest somewhere in your intestines if it goes through your neck…..I could see that dealing 50,000 damage.

I hate anything that spawns large numbers of regular enemies (champion spiders and krait witches, Veteran risen alcolytes)

I really hate Champion spiders and everything it spawns because they all have cc of some sort. Its also annoying when it spawns several equal level veterans.

I especially hate Veteran Risen Alcolytes because 1) they don’t do what their standard version does, and 2) they summon an exploding risen plague guy in with the other 4 it summons, and It never fails to explode when you can’t even tell its about to because the other summon risen swarm you at the same time, and the animation that says “hey, I’m about to blow up in your face!” isn’t noticeable enough.

Also…that very rare risen jester that spawns in group events that gets upgraded to elite or champion status.

jcbroe.4329:

Just a heads up, Allie made a statement that the linked notes that people have started to discuss are fakes. Something that hasn’t been done in the past with notes that turned out to be true.

So it probably doesn’t have any merit to continue discussing them.

If we continue to discuss them, real or not, Anet might have to lock this thread, which I’m sure that none of us want to happen. Aside from that…

Taushullu.6180:

I’ve been working on some ranger trait suggestions for a while now and the leaked patchnotes (let them be real or not) wasn’t quite what I hoped for. I was planning on waiting and linking these suggestions to the ranger CDI thread, but as it got delayed (and delayed again), I’ll just link them here first. Check them out if you are interested!

Link to trait suggestions Warning: wall-of-text

Here’s a list of things I’ve tried to focus on with these suggestions:

• Compression of pet related traits.
• Reduction of “passive” traits & promotion of “active” traits.
• More impactful & supportive grandmaster traits.
• Changes to Opening Strike.
• Changes to condition removal.
• Synergy between traits.
• More fun!

I looked at it, and, I don’t like it. I automatically don’t like any suggestion that removes Nature’s Wrath as a trait.

kyubi.3620:

I still think a chance to gain might on critical with longbow is nice… however that should be a 100% to begin with

LOL, what? You would get 25 stacks of might and maintain 25 stacks of might, whenever you use barrage on a group of enemies in zerker gear. thats too powerful.

besides, you should get some nice big might stacks if you combine this trait together with this sigil:::
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Strength

from this thread :: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Feature-Build-Balance-Preview/3667926

Ranger:
Ranger pets are receiving a responsiveness pass and will be much easier to command. For example: Activating your F2 skill will now break your pet out of its current action in order to execute that ability.

whether they specifically reference this thread/other threads or not, the influence was obviously felt, since this has long been a complaint from many, many, many posters in these forums.

Lion’s Arch is a Quasi-Government run by an unelected council of ‘ex-Pirates’ who think that they have full control over anyone who lived in a city-state, that, for all intentive purposes, no longer exists, because they suddenly decided to grow a conscience in the last few days, and think that the other person is wrong instead of them.

If I were Evon, I would go hire as many mercenaries as my infinite pool of money can buy, and go crush the Lionguard, and anyone else who thinks they have the power to control me.
(and on that note, I’ll go kill Ellen Kiel for Free. All Evon has to do is ask! That Airship she ‘owns’ is supposed to be mine! I was the one who fought tooth and nail through the Aetherblade Retreat, while Anet’s darling Kiel stood there wide eyed and did nothing to help me and my comrades while we got cannonballs shot in our face!)

Shiren.9532:

• Why do Seraph and Lionguard have jurisdiction in Vigil Keep? Conscripting Evon and hunting down Healer-Tron (did they really have nothing better to do?).

Technically, only the Seraph should, since it is technically on Krytan Territory,…right?

Step 1 : I don’t need to link the thread. Click on Chris Whiteside’s Name.
Step 2 : Read that thread it links you to. The Question was asked earlier today, and Chris also answered the question earlier today (about 9 hours ago).
Step 3 : Appologize to your great and powerful overlord Chrispy for being wrong and wasting his time.(optional)[also, not serious]{also, sarcasm}|Maybe boredom too|

You mean the ship that Kiel stole from us players after we went through all that hard work fighting through the Aetherblade Retreat while she just watched us, doing nothing?

Jski.6180:

Aaron Ansari.1604:

Even the races that do care about Lion’s Arch aren’t doing anything. Why should the tengu?

Its one thing to chose not to help but to just comply gun down ppl for getting too close to a WALL is a bit more over the top. Its not like this wall can even stop an air ship or the ability to port any where they want. They chose to go the low rode and kill ppl on foot to def a wall that means nothing. Every one means well when they do act of killing and murder for there ideal of what best but after every thing go back to normal ppl tend to not forget. (I hope they use this in the story some how i think it would make for a great story)

I truly think this will cause a brake with in the tengu the ones who live in the walls and the ones who def the walls. (some one like an anime called attk on titans)

Attack on Titan (when you read the manga far enough) does seem to explain what a possible Tengu race would be like behind the wall, and by that I mean the fear, the political corruption, the self-isolation, etc.

I doubt that the Tengu behind the wall even want to believe that the 5 ‘major’ races were able to kill Zhaitan, an Elder Dragon. The Tengu behind the wall would also find it hard to believe that Humans and Charr are working together.

The Isolation the Tengu brought on themsevles, has alot more implications than you might think, and it would be rather interesting to play through a Tengu Personal Story from that perspective. The Tengu Leadership are probably afraid of the other races, cowardly, and their own superstition is whats keeping the Tengu isolated, not a unified belief that they shouldn’t interfere.

That would be very interesting to see, from both a Tengu point of view, and the point of view from the other races. But, that’s also if Anet makes the Tengu actual thinking creatures when they finally get released as a playable race, instead of the one track mind that is generally represented by all the minor races currently.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

whyme.3281:

when will the CDIs approximately start? Its late here in europe and I ask myself if I should wait….

Tomorrow.

Chris

And I am pretty sure that it refers to All the new CDI’s, not just the Ranger’s.

RyuDragnier.9476:

For the changes on the pet shouts, Guard will give protect to allies within the circle, knockback enemies who try to go into it and block projectiles. Search and Rescue will do as it does now while giving regen and curing a condition on the person the pet is trying to rez. Protect Me will make you invulnerable for 4 seconds, but in return you are unable to attack during that time. Sic’Em…maybe giving more power to the F1 ability to use it as a burst.

No for the changes to guard. Suddenly making it give protection to allies and knockback enemies for whatever duration it gives, will make it far too powerful to have a 12 second cooldown when traited. And I would really rather not see it turn into a default 60-90 second cooldown, because I and many other people use Guard as a source of perma regen and swiftness, and I like using the shout with Runes of the Soldier, because it removes a condition from myself and surrounding allies, every 13 seconds. Having the effective passive effects of 3 signets built into one skill opens up the other 2 utility slots for something else, such as spirits.

Substance E.4852:

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

Bran.7425:

We are playing a fantasy genre mmorpg and you have concerns for realism, please just get out now as realism isn’t going to be a part of the design.

It is so far realistic that it doesn’t bent the physics too much. Water still floating downhill, Arrows still get blocked by obstacles. But they don’t get blocked by someone screaming at them.

It’s called magic. Further explanation shouldn’t really be required in a fantasy RPG.
A game that sells 33 gold bricks for 1 gold coin and has falling 15 feet do more damage than a gunshot or being struck by lightning has thrown realism into the fires of Mt Doom and never looked back.

Which is funny to me, because the original RPG that started all others (Dungeons and Dragons), is actually quite realistic when it comes it describing rules for almost everything in the game, even when there’s magic all over the place. (I’m talking about the base rules, not whatever the DM decides to add or change later)

The Official Ranger CDI should start tomorrow or Friday, and we already have an unofficial Ranger thread already. (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Ranger-Balance-PvP-WvW-PvE-PvX/3479524)

I didn;t look too far into the whole combo thing really, but, probably the biggest change I made was to Signet of the Beastmaster, which now shares active effects of signets with allies. This means that the Enlargement trait (after you reach 25% health) would affect allies if you have it traited. The changes I made to Oakheart Salve would also make it affect allies.

Then there is Signet of the Hunt which increases the damage you deal based on how much vulnerability the enemy has. Its far too powerful the way I have it now, but, it shouldn’t be too hard to see the possibility of sharing Signet of the Hunt with allies, and, as long as Vulnerability stacks can be maintained to the max. of 25, there should be some incredible burst potential there.

Beastmastery is a little more active now when it comes to pet switching, shouts, and using F2’s. All of those deal bonus damage when used now. Using just “Guard” our shout with a very short cooldown, you can possibly have all these effects::

• Shout Mastery makes “Guard” break a pet from stun, and removes chill, cripple, and immobilize.
• Shout Mastery also makes “Guard” recharge faster.
• Commanding Voice makes “Guard” deal damage when you use it, even though the damage would probably be as low as any other utility skill.
• Intimidation Training makes it to where your shouts also cripple.
• Also invest in Nature Magic, and “Guard” will also apply Swiftness and Regeneration, and if your pet is down, it will also Heal, and cure a condition.

Some traits are more powerful when your pet is alive, others are more powerful when you pet is downed. So there is zero balance taken into consideration when I thought of these trait changes. So its not a crazy combo chain effect you got from combining 4 or 5 specific traits and skills together. I still think its a much better starting point than what we’re at right now.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

Chrispy.5641:

150-200 words…..Darn,..no more walls of text….
…..Actually, I’m totally okay with that!

I can remember you where one of these guys posting walls of text.

I totally was, and still am in many places! But since the Devs have spoken, I will keep my epic "walls of text’ no larger than, perhaps a ‘brick of text’, atleast in these CDI threads.

150-200 words…..Darn,..no more walls of text….
…..Actually, I’m totally okay with that!

I need to correct myself on this post, from a couple pages back on this thread ::
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/The-New-CDI-Topics/3641963

Warriors do not have only 3 traits tied to their f1-f4 mechanic, they actually have the same number as every other class (8-12).

However, Rangers having 25+ traits tied to their pet (fully 1/3rd of our traits, probably more once you look at how they all work with each other)…, its still a little absurd since almost all of them only affect the pet, and not the ranger in any way.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I read your response to my last message.

Die, please. Leave us Rangers alone. You smell like a Warrior and you look like one too.

….Until you read his Warrior suggestions : https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Warrior-The-Casual-7-8/3651330

I’m not exactly a big fan of Swagg’s suggestions either, but insults are not the way to go, since everyone is entitled to their opinion.

thefantasticg.3984:

Chrispy.5641:

I gotta ask you Swagg. How many hours have you actually played the Ranger in Guild Wars 2?

I’m willing to put money on way less than 500…

Because with my over 1200 it is extremely clear to see that this is a completely different game profession he is trying to design.

Anyone who hits a thousand hours playing the ranger (or any profession), going through every possbile gear combination, tinkering with every possible trait combination, you start to see reasons why Anet designed things the way they did. You also see why completely redesigning a certain class or another, doesn’t work.

Lord Kuru.3685:

If you can’t write a good story. Blow something up. Spectacularly.

….needs more Lens Flares.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Next: Evon Gnashblade says that WPs are behaving erratically because of Scarlet’s tampering with Tyria’s magic. Everyone must take a WP safety course before resuming use of WPs. Safety course price: 1000 gems.

White knights response: “But you don’t have to use WPs. You can always walk wherever you need to.”

My Response : You get what you deserve, not what you need.

Malediktus.9250:

The cutscene was very low quality imho, probably because it was prerendered (why even do this in 2014?)

Because they had to have that transition section in the middle of the scene where they went from regular lions arch to destroyed lions arch. If they did it in real time, you would have to sit through a load screen in the middle of the scene, just to watch the whole thing unfold.

My first impression?

It was one of the few living story patches that has been entirely bug free in the first hour of gameplay. The only other one I’ve played bug free in the first hour was Origin of Madness. While not perfect, Anet is getting better at clearing out the bugs before it releases, and for that, I thank you!

KarateKid.5648:

Kalarchis.8635:

Based on the articles in this thread my hopes about them have done a 180…

The Tengu are still holding strong to their belief of non-interference even during this massive attack near their home city. They are, however, very keen to protect their wall and land, so players venturing to the southwestern area of the city should proceed with caution!

They may well be hostile.

Confirmed

/Custer

All I saw were magic arrows flying into the ground, dealing infinite damage (where can a bow user get some of that?). For all we know, the Tengu are sitting behind their wall laughing at our misfortunes while their infinitely powerful arrows do all the work for them!

Dabrixmgp.4758:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

People are starting to sacrifice themselves in LA by jumping to their deaths… It is getting ugly in LA already…

Fiery Greatsword 3 off the tower

Scarlet’s so incompetent at being a villain that people in Lion’s arch got bored and started killing themselves.

rotheche.2964:

JazKW.6547:

Sobat.8650:

Sobat.8650:

bwillb.2165:

Anen.1742:

Tom Deluxe.9105:

Avascar.9237:

Let’s count to 10,000 before the event begins!

1.

2

3.

7.

13

12

4

π

©

In every thread before this, people accused Swagg of being a warrior lover. Now reading this thread, people are finally realizing its not the case. Its kind of funny….

I’ve tried everything I could think of….but I’m not an expert at solving codes, and I can’t figure it out. I’m not going to spend any more time trying either. I will not spend a longer time speculating on a nearly unsolvable mystery than actually playing the game.

Even though I have not given up on the Ranger and GW2, there is one thing that I must say…

once bitten, twice shy.

That is all.

I got around to making some changes (to the changes, heh) that I made, you can re-read the six posts above, or just read the changes below. :::

- All Signet effects are Stacking effects now instead of timed effects. There are also traits outside of marksmanship that can trigger Signet effects. They now work in a similar way to preparations from Gw1, or Thief venoms or Sharpening Stone, but, they don’t have to be effects on attack.

• Signet of the Wild Grants 5 stacks of Wild Strikes, and 6 seconds of stability.
• Signet of Renewal grants 5 stacks of Renewal. If you are stunned, this skill now breaks stun and you start with 4 stacks of Renewal instead.
• Signet of Stone grants 5 stacks of Stone Skin, which reduces damage taken by 100%, but you are still vulnerable to conditions, stuns, etc.
• I don’t have cooldown times listed, but they will most likely need to change to reflect the changes made.

- Marksmanship

• Precise Strikes now have a 20% greater chance to critically hit instead of being 100%.
• Added Shortbow to Eagle Eye Trait.

- Skirmishing

• No changes yet. Still working on a way to make traps more viable without 30 point investment.
• Carnivorous Appetite’s strength depends on the healing you recieve, which I’ll leave for smarter people to balance it out. If its like what the Zealous Blade trait does, then it might actualy be pretty well balanced.

- Wilderness Survival

• Changed Oakheart Salve. Instead of regen on poison, burning, or bleeding, it instead has you use Signet of renewal when you suffer from 3 or more conditions.

- Nature Magic

• No changes made. (yet)
• I was looking at Evasive Purity, and, it is kind of strong to just remove any condition for you and your pet on dodge. That trait does already have a 10 second cooldown, which I think is balanced, and it does prevent you from spamming multiple condition removals.

- Beastmastery

• Changed Instinctual Bond so it grants Stone skin to your pet when you are downed, and it grants stone skin to you when both of your pets are downed.

My Questions for you guys…

• Is the Changed version of Precise Strikes still too powerful?
• Same question for Signets, or are they not powerful enough?
• I have changes in the Wilderness Survival Traitline to where Survival Skill deal damage, and another trait that increases that damage by 100%. If that enough to make it worth taking a full set of Survival utility skills?
• Same question for Shouts. I changed around traits in Beastmastery so that shouts, switching pets, and pet F2’s deal damage, and I also changed Nature’s Voice to be much more powerful if you have a downed pet. It might not be enough, but is it worth taking a full set of Shout utility skills with this change?
• What if Heal as One and Rampage as One were Shouts?

…that’s all for now!

Still working on this…

As far as Signet of Renewal goes, It already cured(transfered to pet) all conditions from us and allies, and breaks stun at the same time (not sure if its just you or nearby allies too). I wanted our traits to have a greater impact on the skill.

I would argue that Signet of Renewal is actually weaker starting out, even with the added healing, but the ability to get the effect of healing and condition removal on each attack is too strong, I’ll agree on that part (especially if you are using warhorn for example, which is like 17 attacks in 2 seconds).Your other idea to change it from being a timed effect to a certain number of attacks is also a good idea.

Oh, as another unrelated idea. Nature Magic has the trait Enlargement, which ‘uses’ signet of the Wild when you health drops below the threshold.

The Wilderness Survival Trait Oakheart Salve could work in the same way. The trait would read like this:::

V – Oakheart Salve – Gain renewal when you suffer from a number of conditions.(3)

The trait still has the built in regeneration through what the renewal effect gives you(see second post in thread), and it removes several conditions as well, making it more useful overall. It would need to move back to the master tier because of how powerful it got, but you also have two powerful condition removals in Wilderness survival now (oakheart salve and empathic bond)

On the greatsword thing, its a problem that all our weapon have that aren’t bows, and I can’t think of a way to fix that right now. (and its starting to look more obvious that every trait needs to be completely redone instead of tacking on effects at the end to bring them in line with other traits…)

The ideas seem pretty sound. My concern though is this…

Thieves have 12 traits tied directly to their Initiative.
What 12 traits would you suggest be deleted or changed so our Stamina can be just as effective as the Thief equivalent if we want it to be?

These are all just initial ideas I wrote down last night and this morning, so, every last one of them are definitely open to change.

@BolshoiBooze.3406 / Blackhat.4016 – I will admit that I very rarely play PvP, so if anyone that does play that game mode regularly comes in here and makes some suggestions, I won’t complain.

(also Blackhat each attack of opportunity can only deal a maximum of 30% more damage, and thats if vulnerability can stay stacked at 25. Is it still too powerful?)

@Castaliea.3156 – The way I was changing around Opening Strikes and Attacks of Opportunity ended up getting a little complex because it also tied directly into the changes made with Signet of the Hunt and other signets in general, and I never got around to changing around Precise Strikes, and decided to just leave it be for now.

One change I was thinking of was to change Precise Strikes to Opening Strikes have a 20% greater chance to critically hit, basically applying fury on you when you have opening strike. would it still be too powerful?

@Atherakhia.4086

Still working on signets. I’ll get back to you on that one.

For Marksmanship, I pretty much left remorseless alone (except for that 10% damage buff on opening strikes), because I’m not sure what to do with it yet. For the Signet traits, I buffed the passive effects on them so they would be more desirable to take than just what 90% of rangers take no matter what(Steady Focus, Spotter, etc.). The two 10% buffs to signet passive effects was to add a little more survivability to the Marksmanship tree, which currently has none (except signet of the beastmaster).

For Skirmishing, I’m working on traps still. I’ll get back to you on that as well. I do have several ideas for trap improvements, but it involves traps, and further reworking the Skirmishing traitline.

For WS, what would you suggest I replace Empathic bond with if it gets moved to a 20 point trait?

I did have an idea to make Oakheart salve a bit different of a trait than it is now. My idea was for it to grant you regeneration, and automatically cures you of conditions when you have a certain number on you (like 2 or 3)(and with a cooldown of course)(and not just limited to bleeding, poison, and burning like the original trait).

AEFA.9035

That is certainly an interesting idea. Which trait(s) would you suggest get removed to make way for that idea? Also, Stability and Protection for 6 seconds every 20 seconds (16 seconds with loud whistle) is kind of powerful, even with all the op ideas I have in this thread. 3 seconds on stability and 4 seconds on protection, especially if it affects all allies, seems a little more fair.

Keep the feedback coming guys.

Your right, they do, and there is way too much doom and gloom in those forums, and most balance, rework threads are largely ignored, but, I’m not creating a new thread in the balance forums until I have a solid idea.

(also, that thread I created is here ::: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Trait-Rework-ver-1/3647484

There is a chance many of you wont be happy with some of the changes, but, who knows?)

BEASTMASTERY
I placed greater focus on shouts, pet commands, and switching pets, and also added effects so the Ranger isn’t totally helpless for investing in this trait line
Instinctual Bond – When you are downed, your pet gains quickness and 5 stacks of Stone Skin. When both of your pets are downed, you gain quickness and 5 stacks of Stone Skin.
Loud Whistle – Reduces recharge on Pet swapping. Damage and apply confusion to surrounding foes when you swap pets. (1 stack of confusion)(600 range)
Nature’s Wrath – Gain Power equal to 10% of your healing. Pets gain Power equal to their level.(since they have no healing power)

I – Speed Training – Reduce Recharge on Pet skills by 20%. Reduce Recharge on all of your Utility Skills by 5%.
II – Master’s Bond – (Seems powerful enough, but just in case…) Your pet has a bond with you that increases its attributes each time you kill a foe. When it is defeated or deactivated, the bond is reset. You have a bond with your pet, and have increased Vitality, Toughness, Power, and Precision as long as you have a living pet. (100 to each)
III – Shout Mastery – Reduces recharge on shouts. When using a shout, pets break stun and are cured of immobilized, cripple. and chill.
IV – Compassion Training – Pet healing attributes are increased. Your Healing Skills remove 1 additional Condition (even if they don’t already).
V – Commanding Voice – Pet Skills (F2) recharge faster. Damage your pet’s target when you give your pet an order (Shouts or F2’s).
VI – Mighty Swap – You and your pet gain might when they are activated.
VII – Rending Attacks – Drake, Feline, Devourer, and Shark pets bleed on critical hits with their basic attacks. You have a chance to inflict vulnerability with each attack you make.
VIII – Stability Training – Ursine, porcine, and armor fish pets gain stability when disabled. You gain Stability when standing in Muddy Terrain or any other Combo Field.(3s)(10s cooldown)
IX – Intimidation Training – Activated (F2) abilities for canines and spiders cause cripple. You deal damage and Cause Cripple to surrounding foes when you use Shouts.
X – Vigorous Training – Pets grant vigor to nearby allies when activated. Vigor applied to you lasts 33% longer.
XI – Zephyr’s Speed – You and your pet gain 3 seconds of quickness when you swap pets.
XII – Natural Healing – Pets have natural health regneration. Players have increased natural health regeneration when their pet is down. (same level as pet had originally)

…They are kind of overpowered in some cases, and some aren’t powerful enough, but its a good starting point, right?

Anyone have ideas to add or take away from this?

NATURE MAGIC
Because Beastmastery is so focused on pets, I added more emphasis on healing in this trait line, as well as adding new effects so traits affect both Ranger and Pet. Most of the traits in this line are also stronger when your pet is downed.
Rejuvenation – You and your pet gain regeneration when health drops below the threshold.
Fortifying Bond – Any boon you get is shared with your pet (vigor switched with stability). Any boon your pet gets is shared with you (vigor and stability)(for balance, only half as long as what fortifying bond does normally).(Does not affect boons that were already shared)
Bountiful Hunter – You and your pet deal more damage while you have a boon. (increased to 10%, since 5% for a grandmaster trait is kind of weak, and splitting it between Ranger and Pet is not enough of a trade off.)

I – Circle of Life – Create a healing spring when you are downed. Create a healing spring when both of your pets are downed.
II – Concentration Training – Boons applied by your pet lasts 50% longer. Heals you apply are 10% stronger when your pet is downed.
III – Nature’s Bounty – Regeneration you apply lasts 33% longer. Pet healing skills heal for 25% more.
IV – Vigorous Spirits – Spirits have increased health and a greater chance to trigger their benefits.
V – Strength of Spirit – Gain power based on your vitality. Pets gain power based on their vitality.
VI – Nature’s Protection – You recieve protection when you take damage greater than 10% of your maximum health. Pets receive protection when they take damage greater than 10% of their maximum health.
VII – Spirit’s Unbound – Spirits can move and follow you. Activated effects of spirits are larger.
VIII – Evasive Purity – Dodging removes a condition from you and your pet.
IX – Two-Handed Training – Greatsword and spear damage is increased. Greatsword and spear attacks have a chance to grant fury on hit.
X – Enlargement – Use Signet of the Wild when your health drops below the threshold.
XI – Nature’s Vengeance – Activated skills of spirits trigger when the spirit is killed. Spirit’s passive effects recharge twice as fast when your pet is downed.
XII – Nature’s Voice – Shouts apply regeneration and swiftness to allies. If your pet is downed, Shouts also heals and removes conditions.

WILDERNESS SURVIVAL
I want Wilderness survival to stay defense focused, and wth an added focus on survival skills. So, other than adding a few things so some traits affect pets as well. I moved Oakheart Salve to the adept tier, and moved Expertise Training to the Master Tier, while adding a new effect so traits affect both Ranger and Pet
Natural Vigor – Increases endurance regeneration. Gain vigor when your pet is downed. (10s)
Companion’s Defense – You and your pet gain protection when you dodge roll. Gain protection when your pet is downed.(5s)
Peak Strength – You and your pet deal more damage while your health is above the threshold. (+10% damage above 90% health)

I – Soften the Fall – Create Muddy Terrain when you take falling damage. You and your pet take less damage from falling.
II – Healer’s Celerity – Grant swiftness to yourself and your ally when you revive them. Increases revive speed for you and your pet.
III – Shared Anguish – Incoming disabling conditions (stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, sink, float, fear, or launch) are transferred to your pet instead. (Sorry, can’t think of how to change this one)
IV – Vigorous Renewal – Gain vigor when using a heal skill. Remove a Condition from your pet when using a heal skill.
V – Oakheart Salve – Use Signet of Renewal for you and your pet when you suffer from a number of conditions. (3)
VI – Wilderness Knowledge – Reduces recharge on survival skills(10%). Survival Skills deal damage (low damage like other profession’s utility skills).
VII – Off-Hand Training – Reduces recharge on off-hand skills. Off-hand skills have longer range.
VIII – Expertise Training – Pets deal extra condition damage. Survival Skills deal 100% more damage.
IX – Hide in Plain Sight – Applies camouflage when you or your pet are dazed, knocked down, launched, pushed back, or stunned.
X – Martial Mastery – Reduces recharge on sword, greatsword, and spear skills.
XI – Empathic Bond – Pets periodically take conditions from you. Cure yourself of all conditions when your pet dies.
XII – Bark Skin – You and your pet take less damage while your health is below the threshold.

SKIRMISHING
The main thing I did here was make a way for most of the traits to be able to affect both Ranger and Pet. I left traps in Skirmishing because I believe that Wilderness Survival should stay defense focused. I also changed Primal Reflexes so it wasn’t so sacrificial for one measily boon.
Tail Wind – You and your pet gain Swiftness when you swap weapons in combat.
Furious Grip – You and your pet gain Fury when you swap weapons in combat.
Hunter’s Tactics – You and your pet deal more damage while flanking.

I – Pet’s Prowess – Pets do more damage on critical hits. You have 10% more critical chance while your pet is alive.
II – Sharpended Edges – Chance to Cause Bleeding on Critical Hits. Chance to grant pets Blood Thirst on critical hit.(66% for both effects)(Blood thirst effect should have a 10 second cooldown)
III – Trapper’s Defense – Create a Spike Trap when reviving allies. Create a seperate Spike Trap when you are struck with a critical hit (25s cooldown, is affected by trap traits)
IV – Primal Reflexes – You and your pet gain Blur at the end of your dodge roll. (.25 seconds of evade, making your dodges last 1 full second instead)
V – Companion’s Might – Critical hits grant might to your pet. Critical hits your pet makes gives you might.
VI – Agility Training – Pets move faster. You move faster while your pet is alive.
VII – Carnivorous Appetite – You and your pet gain health on critical hits.
VIII – Trapper’s Expertise – Trap skills use ground targeting and are larger.
IX – Honed Axes – You deal more critical damage when wielding an axe in your main hand.
X – Quick Draw – Reduces recharge on short bow and longbow skills.
XI – Trap Potency – Conditions caused by traps last longer. Reduces recharge on traps.
XII – Moment of Clarity – Gain 5 attacks of opportunity for you and your pet on interrupting a foe. Daze and stun durations you inflict last longer.

MARKSMANSHIP
Marksmanship still has a focus on long range combat and signets. other than a few tweaks here and there, I switched Eagle and Beastmaster’s Bond, so we could still have increased range and spotter/piercing arrows, and still be able to take a grandmaster trait. I also added a few effects to other traits to make them more desirable to take instead of what is usually taken.
Opening Strikes – Your and your pet’s first 5 strikes cause vulnerability when entering combat.
Alpha Training – Opening strikes deal 5% more damage. If your pet’s opening strike is sucessful, you gain another opening strike.
Precise Strikes – Opening strikes have a 20% greater chance to critically hit.

I – Steady Focus – Damage for you and your pet is increased when Endurance is full. (10%)
II – Malicious Training – Increases duration for conditions applied by your pets. (50%) Increase the duration of your non-damaging conditions (cripple, immobilize, vulnerability, chill, weakness)(10%)
III – Keen Edge – Use Sharpening Stone when you strike a foe below the health threshold. Your Pet gains Blood Thirst when you strike a foe below the health threshold.
IV – Signet Mastery – Reduce Recharge on Signets(10%). Passive effects of Signets are 10% stronger.
V – Predator’s Instinct – Apply cripple to foes you hit while they are below the health threshold and your pet gains swiftness.
VI – Eagle Eye – Increases longbow and harpoon gun range. Longbow, Shortbow and harpoon gun damage is increased. (+ 300 range, + 5% damage)
VII – Spotter – Increase precision of nearby allies. (+ 150 precision)
VIII – Piercing Arrows – All arrow attacks pierce targets.
IX – Beastmaster’s Might – Passive effects of Signets are 10% stronger. Activating a signet grants might to you and your pet.
X – Beastmaster’s Bond – Gain fury and might when your pet’s health reaches 50%. Your pet gains fury and might when your health reaches 50%.
XI – Signet of the (beast)Master – Active effect of Signets are granted to Allies.
XII – Remorseless – Opening Strikes deal 10% more damage. Regain Opening Strike whenever you kill a foe or gain stealth.

• The 2 traits that make Signets 10% stronger each , can combine for a 20% stronger effect total. Signet of the hunt’s passive turns into a 30% increased movement speed. Signet of Stone’s Passive goes to 180 extra toughness. Signet of Renewal’s Passive cures a condition every 8 seconds instead of 10. And Signet of the Wild’s base healing increases by 20% and healing from healing power inceases by 20%.

RANGER EFFECTS
I changed the way Opening Strike and Attack of Opportunity works, so attack of opportunity can grow off of Opening Strike, and any of source of vulnerability on the enemy actually.
Opening Strikes – Your next attack Inflicts Vulnerability. (1 stack)
(Opening Strikes stacks 5 times now, and if you read on to the marksmanship traits, you can see why. 1 Trait makes each instance deal 5% more damage. And even though Precise Strikes only has a 20% greater chance to crit, statistically, its about the same as having just 1 attack always deal a critical hit, though your results will vary based on how much precision you have to start, and whether or not you have fury.)

Attack of Opportunity – Your Next attack deals 5% more damage, + 1% more damage for each stack of vulnerability on foe. (it does more damage when foe has vulnerability now, making it more urgent for enemy players to cleanse that condition, or risk taking alot of extra damage.)(Maximum damage boost from this effect is 30%)(This stacks 5 times when using Signet of the Hunt, and 5 Times on Moment of Clarity. It also stacks 5 times on GS #5, meaning your pet can have up to 15 stacks of it at a time, and you can have up to 10)

Wild Strikes – Your Attacks deals 10% more damage, + 1% more damage for each condition on foe. (maximum damage boost from this effect is 22%)(Stacks 5 times when using Signet of the Wild, and stacks 5 times when using the Enlargement trait, both skills of which also grant stability for 6 seconds)

Renewal – Your attacks cure conditions and heal you. (1 condition per attack)(healing should be low, like what you get on life steal effects(for example, 325 per hit with Omnomberry Ghost food))(Stacks 5 times when using Signet of Renewal, and stacks 5 times when using Oakheart Salve, making for 10 stacks total)

Stone Skin – You take 100% less damage when struck. (Stacks 5 times when using Signet of Stone. Also Stacks 5 times when traited with Instinctual Bond, making for 10 stacks total on you or your pet)

SIGNETS
Signets are too strong to have untraited, and that still leaves the effect of having them traited. I decided on a way to solve this issue by changing the way the signets work. If they are bad ideas, say so, and give me a new idea to work with. Also, no change to cooldown times since I changed signets to affect allies when traited, making them quite powerful.
Signet of the Hunt
Passive – Grants 25% increased movement speed to you and your pet
Active – Grants 5 Attacks of Oppurtunity for you and your pet.
Active(traited) – Grants 5 Attacks of Oppurtunity for you, your pet, and up to 5 allies. (crazy burst potential here)

Signet of the Wild
Passive – Grants health regeneration to you and your pet.
Active – Grants 5 stacks of Wild Strikes to you and your pet, dealing more damage. You also gain stability for 6 seconds.
Active(Traited) – Grants 5 stacks of Wild Strikes to you, your pet, and allies, dealing more damage. You also gain stability for 6 seconds.(even more burst potential here)

Signet of Renewal
Passive – Cures a condition every ten seconds
Active – Grants 5 stacks of Renewal for you and your pet. If you are stunned, this skill breaks stun and you are granted 4 stacks of renewal instead.
Active(Traited) – Grants 5 stacks of Renewal for you, your pet, and allies. If you are stunned, this skill breaks stun and you are granted 4 stacks of renewal instead.

Signet of Stone
Passive – Improves toughness for you and your pet.
Active – Grants 5 stacks of Stone Skin to you and your pet.
Active(Traited) – Grants 5 stacks of Stone Skin to you, your pet, and allies.

This is kind of for fun, and boredom on a sunday night.

There are several guidelines that I set for myself when I went through this rework

(1) – Profession Mechanic (F1-F4) exclusive traits, should not be any more than 20% of your Total Traits (15 traits out of 75).

(2) – Since the Pet is tied so closely to the Ranger, They should have more than 20% of their traits tied to their profession mechanic. But, These traits should also affect another aspect of the Ranger class, since, Rangers should have an ability to play without relying on their pet’s effectiveness 100% of the time.

DISCLAIMER – You may hate some of the changes I made. If you do, then please, make a post explaining what you hate, or make a post for what you want to see change, and I will work with it.

So, before I continue this thread, there is one warning I must give:::

Jocksy.3415:

Chrispy.5641:

Greatsword is more than powerful as it is with the right skill combo. Does not need a buff. Does not need a nerf either though.

The problem is having to use all signets to have a burst…
All weapon should be potent on their own… and a big burst every 40-60 seconds is nothing. I agree something shall be done to keep burst in check, but not by keeping the weapon’s overall damage under the floor…

You’re right about that, and at this point its probably going to come down to Anet buffing the base damage of our weapons by a couple percentage points, then tinkering with the damage scaling so they don’t turn into an even bigger 1 shot burst in zerker/valkyrie/etc. gear.

That or just change around our weapons, and change the effects that signet of the hunt and Signet of the Wild do, since burst on our pet is pointless in this state of the game, and while its fun, our class’s entire burst should not rely on 1 single trick. (I still think Greatsword is one of our stronger weapons at higher power levels, even without those signets though)

Castaliea.3156:

Chrispy.5641:

I need some help with what the idea should include. What I have so far is this::::
-snip-
I have an alternate idea to change all pet related traits so that way they affect both the pet and the Ranger in some way as well. Still working on that one.

Mind if I help ya? Throw me a message at your leisure.

Edit: I started this and I have to say I really would just rather re-design the entire current Ranger/Pet design and then delete all the traits and start over. I love pets but at this point I just want to start from scratch with them.

Yeah,….starting from scratch might be a good idea, but I’m still holding out hope that pets can be saved if their AI is dealt with. The question though is whether or not any significant progress has been made on addressing that issue on Anet’s part?

(Also, I’ll be making a Thread in the Ranger Forum shortly in a few hours for my ideas for redesign ideas, since, at 6 posts long so far….its a wall of text even by my standards. I’ll post the link here when its up)

Edit :: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Trait-Rework-ver-1/3647484

(way too long to post in this thread!)

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

Chrispy.5641:

[…]

Could you please stop to post walls of text, I don’t want to read all that.
I usually skip your posts because of that. Keeping in mind that the Ranger CDI starts soon, you should work on compressing your posts to keep them clear.

I don’t post walls of text any longer than anyone else does, so if you don’t want to read them because they are too long, just skip right on by like you are doing.

So, I have this other idea for Ranger…., so…..I’m going to post a wall of text, of course!

Being a 1 shot cannon is not the best way to play, but its fun to watch warriors scatter after landing a sucessful attack.

Hit a player with my Ranger earlier today (to prove a point in another forum), using Maul, signets, valkyrie gear, and an attached Air Sigil, this is the result::

Nearly 20,000 damage. I got killed 3 seconds later because I ran head first into an enemy zerg, but, that’s what I get for being careless and wasting my utility skills!

So, I have an idea for cutting the 26 Traits that affect our pets in half to 13, so that way 1) the number of Ranger traits that affects their F1-4 class mechanic is in line with other professions, and so that way 2) Rangers can finally get more build options that aren’t forced to use pets. I need some help with what the idea should include. What I have so far is this::::

IDEA 1 (Condensing pet traits, and removing unecessary ones)
Beastmastery
- Rending Attacks, Stability Training, and Intimidation Training get condensed into one Trait. The reason they should be condensed is that no pet will ever benefit from any two of those traits anyways, and having to decide which one to bring kills build diversity more than helps it, because it forces you to chose one pet family to take for your two pets. (I understand that individually, some of these traits underperform as it is, but condensing them into 1 will open up Beastmastery to 2 new traits)

• Specialization Training – Your Pet gains a specialization based on their family.
  - Drake, Feline, Devourer, and Shark pets Bleed on Critical Hits
  - Ursine, Porcine, and Armor Fish pets gain Stability when disabled.
  - Activated F2 abilities for Canines, and Spiders cause Cripple.
  - Birds, Jellyfish, and Moas need an effect for them as well, since Vigorous Training no longer activates only when switching those specific pets.

- Compassion Training, Concentration Training, Expertise Training, Malicious Training, and Pet’s Prowess, need to be condensed into 2 traits, 1 for damage, 1 for support. The reason for this is, is with very few exceptions (Fern Hounds and Stalkers, for example), no pet benefits from any two of these traits by any significant margin, especially the ones related to healing and condition damage. This will also open us up for 2 new traits that actually do something for the Ranger, instead of our pets.

- Agility Training needs to be reworked or removed. If it is removed, then pets should move 30% faster by default, since they have enough of a hard time hitting moving targets.

- So far, that is 6 traits removed (2 in beastmastery, 1 in Skirmishing, and the other 3 depends on how the old ones were combined), reducing the number of pet traits we have to 20. Its a good start.

I have an alternate idea to change all pet related traits so that way they affect both the pet and the Ranger in some way as well. Still working on that one.