Guild Wars 2

^ most of those are overkill, altho no quarter and war signet trait could use a tuning down and frost bow particularly needs a nerf of probably that magnitude.

They should’ve just nerfed Icebow as it was announced. The buff to it was completely out of left field and unwaranted.

A ranger instead of the second ele would offer spotter, long water field and frost spirit, an engie would offer superior vulnerability stacking, a ton of blast finishers, long fire field and some blinds. Mesmers and necros would still lag behind unfortunately (other than the possibly unintended slow effect on bosses from Time Warp).

But regardless of what the other professions can do, a single elementalist utility skill ends up being so powerful that it trumps multiple benefits from another profession and pretty much makes at least two eles mandatory.

They’re like solo versions of GW1 missions. A hard mode would be nice down the line, but they were more enjoyable than most GW2 PvE. If not hard mode, then some other incentive could be added to make repeating them more appealing.

Ehecatl.9172:

I might try out a Mercy oriented medic ranger build at some point and see how that goes, which is kind of funny because we use to make fun of such a concept.

I think I might give something like this a try tomorrow – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8PjMqQLLWuCctYgRo4C4yDg/JG2U3H9R40LYVD-TpRFwAAeAAy2fIxBBAyFAQxRA4ZZAA

Ideally I’d go with A/D and S/T on settlers but the lack of health on that amulet really hurts lately.

Kubrick.5740:

RANGEr

Another of these threads…

What Aomine is describing are probably the two biggest problems after the patch (together with burning stacks). The entire earth traitline is too strong on an already crazy good D/D or D/F combination and mesmer burst is too easy to set up without almost any warning. Those should be fixed and probably will be, but undodgeable taunt will definitely fall with them. The only hope I have is that Anet doesn’t go overboard in nerfing all those.

It should be unblockable, but not undodgeable or going thru immunities.

sonicsix.5713:

I lose so much just to gain piercing shortbow arrows. It is not a good enough trade to run it. I can wait and simply play another toon.

You lose quickdraw, but since you’re playing a shortbow in open PvE, it’s not a big deal. You can easily run around without weapon swapping there. The traitline itself is great, and should always be taken. Spotter and sharpened edges work great with everything, and more bleeds on the shortbow is always useful. Hidden barbs is also great if you don’t care about spotter.

Originally they compared it to a “reverse fear” in that 4 hour long stream, or even before during the revenant reveal. Plus, it had and still has a red icon, so I also thought it’s a cond. But it’s currently a CC effect that obeys the same rules like a stun or knockback.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Elorna.5329:

FrownyClown.8402:

birds are def better if you want to do some burst on an opponent. If you switch out quickening zephyr for sic em I dont think you will be disappointed either.

QZ is also a stunbreak and cond removal with the trait. Don’t think this would work half as well without it. And the uses you can get out of it for ressing and stomping are also great.

Excuse me … Ressing? Does Zephyr work on reviving an ally? Or is this another form of ressing like rallying via faster stomping – which is stomping itself?

It increases the speed of reviving, the stomp animation, etc. It basically increases the speed of every action. Useful in PvE for speedy mining as well.

FrownyClown.8402:

birds are def better if you want to do some burst on an opponent. If you switch out quickening zephyr for sic em I dont think you will be disappointed either.

QZ is also a stunbreak and cond removal with the trait. Don’t think this would work half as well without it. And the uses you can get out of it for ressing and stomping are also great.

It has an arc, but it’s not as bad as the prepatch nontraited longbow.

Sol.4310:

@Elorna.5329, if I was defending home or pushing far then I would drop MM trait line completely and take QD and refocus the build around 1v1 and survival. But I believe that’s completely different build and roll. This build is more pressed towards team fights 2v2 3v3 so on.

Yeah, I had the wrong idea about it just from reading the build, the video made it pretty clear this is more suited for mid point fighting in a premade team. Especially the “piercing arrows on downed enemies while they’re being ressed” comment really made me reevaluate the lead the wind pickup. I mostly play some form of A/T and S/D (or A/D and S/T), so I sometimes underestimate the AoE a bow can bring with that reworked trait.

Another thing that popped to mind when checking out the build is quickdraw over lead the wind, but after watching your video I agree that the quasi-cleaving effect of piercing arrows ends up being more useful in a larger amount of situations. Quickdraw might be more suited for solo que when you have to rely more on yourself to survive. Double stealth or double knockbacks is nice.

Yes ofc wolf would be the secondary pet you pull out if you get downed and want to buy some time, or if you’re helping res someone, that’s beyond question. But I think you’re underestimating the damage of dogs. Yes they are weaker than birds on moving targets, but only slightly so. On the other hand, each skill they perform (other than the aa) is useful because it’s a form of CC. The bird swiftness is pretty much useless almost always and the vulnerability attack is barely better than the aa.

EDIT:
Another good thing about double canines is that they can bait out dodges, since their skills are worth dodging, the bird only has f2 for that (and with the current taunt bug f2’s can’t be dodged anyways).

The dog has the same cooldown on f2 as the bird and makes for easy tracking of the taunt ICD. And it’s overall more tanky and has more cc than the owl. You already sounded impressed in the video by the wolf being able to knockdown, into taunt into fear. Why not have that same awesome combo on your main pet? Just immob instead of fear, which is even better.

Fractals aren’t even that interesting or rewarding in the first place. A chance at an ascended box is nice, specially since the last update, but the amount of possible maps is just too low and makes for one of the more repetitive experiences in GW. The added gear check mechanic is just an extra layer in an otherwise not so well envisioned end game environment.

Substance E.4852:

Then why bother to even post in a thread talking about pvp?

“considering the amount of players required and lower impact of individuals” odd that you hate WvW for this reason yet you like GW2 PvE which is 100% this kind of content for overworld.

As to your first point – because the genre itself is not a good “breeding ground” for class balance, which many people seem to forget in these endless debates. That’s something worth pointing out. Basically take my yammering as a “chill, and enjoy the game, don’t expect it to be balanced”. Especially not in an inherently uneven playing ground such as WvW.

As to your second point – I mostly play solo or with one or two other people in open world PvE and do the massive events sparingly. Not that it requires skill even then, but any success or failure is mostly on me. Plus I enjoyed the lore of Tyria in GW1 and still do to an extent in GW2, and I get to have more time and opportunity to do so in PvE compared to WvW.

Substance E.4852:

Crapgame.6519:

Smart play does usually win the day such as knowing when to disengage or use the map to your advantage. However, there are times when even that overcome numbers. We also know the past week or so the patch hasn’t helped any so that also goes out the window

Certainly. It just gets tiresome to see people kitten on zerg combat while holding 3-5v1 roaming up as the golden standard.

In case that’s what you think my unsaid intention with the previous post was, it’s not. I actually have a very low opinion of any and all forms of MMO PvP, GW2 included, just that zerg is an extra category below that considering the amount of players required and lower impact of individuals. Overall, I’m surprised at Anet striving so hard to balance this game based on SPvP (even though they’re not doing a good job of it). PvE is the main strength of GW2, and where the majority of players spend their time. When I feel like playing PvP I chose a different genre.

You have a greatsword… And inspiration traits without a focus are pointless.

I obviously don’t know what Anet’s motivation is, but I also don’t consider it really a big deal. That’s all. Your opinion is yours to keep and I don’t plan to change it, but skill points were kind of the last thing on the list of why I or most people I played with would go into a dungeon.

Why are people in this thread even talking about zerg fights as something worth wasting words on? Whatever you bring there, as long as it’s not a “GvG”, won’t matter if you don’t outnumber the other team (or have some other advantage like siege).

Well other than the obvious “first world problems” that this entire thread is, getting a ton of shards is still possible, just that dungeons got removed from the list of “repetitive activities that award skill pts” now – SW, champ farm or PvP tracks are still good enough. Not a big deal anyways, those that want them will still grind them one way or another.

Nah, only guardians and warriors get to have useful party wide boon application. It is known.

In all seriousness, frost spirit is good as is, the GM trait should be completely overhauled to offer something not boon related. Like 100% on all spirit effects, or an extra spirit effect for all of them. Something that is a unique buff. More boons are boring design.

EDIT:
Making the GM into proccing something similar to the spirit active skill each time the passive procs would also be nice – a blind whenever you proc the passive burn, a 1 sec chill when you proc the 10% dmg, etc.

Cantha and Elona getting added are very low on the probability scale. Anet seems dead set on the whole “exterminate the dragons” plotline. Which is sad, this world had so much going on without the dragons in GW1, dunno why they even needed to be added.

ItIsFinished.9462:

Duels
Trap Bomber
This build is almost unstoppable in duels when played correctly. Including winning against a condi Staff Ele. This is for duels only. Not tPvP.

Try them out. Let me know ideas on how to improve them.

Why exactly do you have most dangerous game? With quickdraw you will get double of what you want out of your current weapon set every 10 seconds. MDG is just plain bad. On a side note, I didn’t know GW2skills.net updated their calc, that’s really good news, into the mists is not my cup of tea.

Instead necros get vamp aura! \o/

Ok, so that’s why the hyena. Hm guess I’d have to try it, seems a bit overly focused on the spirit if that’s also a reason for taking a normally underpowered pet. Do people realize its importance? How long does the spirit survive?

Whenever I took empathic bond in this new “meta” I didn’t have a pet, too many conds flying about. Also why is hyena your secondary pet? Wolf or dog should outperform it.

Today was fruitful:

FMW should be comparable to both the elites with a similar effect (Time Warp) and the single target abilities with quickness (ranger, warrior, thief utility skills). In that regard the recharge should probably be brought up to 50 or 60 seconds, and the duration of quickness upped to 6 or 7 seconds. TW should’ve probably gotten the glamour treatment, since it is a glamour right now – 20% lower recharge.

J Eberle.9312:

Here’s everything you need to know on ranger in dungeons:

http://www.dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/12497757-dnt-ranger-build-specialization-update

I’d give some more explanation but I’m about to go out. Should be easy enough to work out though.

It’s a minor thing, but you can maybe squeeze out a bit more damage if you use Curry butternut squash soup instead of Truffle steak. The difference is you can take more power infusions in a full ascended setup instead of the precision infusions you’d need with the steak. You still need 2 prec infusions to reach 100% crit with hunter’s tactics, spotter, war banner and the curry. So overall that’s 80 less power, but 70 more ferocity which is probably more valuable at 100% crit. I know it’s a tiny difference and a nitpick but meh, ranger needs all the help it can get.

Another thing is that the person in the video said only to use Companion’s might in PuGs, does the warrior phalanx’d might get on the pet without fortifying bond? Altho I guess it should if there’s no other target (like an npc, a summoned pet or whatnot), 4 players + 1 pet, the war herself isn’t a target for her own phalanx.

What about SB/GS, I was thinking more of a celestial build, with shouts + survival skills, or just shouts and rune of the mad king. Pressure with mixed damage and more sustain. Sort of like this: http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-JV-g;1sEFx-r2NDV-0;9k-R;1_Zb;0147056246;4LJ06U;1oHAhoHAh0M

Pets could be dogs as well, probably better if they are.

Justine.6351:

Also thief is medium armor so if you wanna go thief you will have a good armor and they too got 100% crit trait from stealth, +% crit traits and precision signet.

Engies as well got %crit chance traits so all three medium professions can benefit about the same from one armour set with scholar runes if you’re going strictly PvE or some other rune if you’re aiming for mainly WvW.

Well you just kind of made a long explanation of what I was trying to convey with the “if they ever address this” comment. There just aren’t any ranger players in the skill/trait team. The only ranger player I’m still sure about in Anet’s staff at all is Gaile Gray, but she has nothing to do with skill balancing.

EDIT:
I found it pretty hilarious during that long stream a few months back how Peters thought Most Dangerous Game was grandmaster worthy and basically knee-jerk “balanced” it there on the spot. I think that’s a pretty good indicator of ranger love there.

Is this only in regards to SPvP/WvW? If not, then for the sake of PvE balance, Icebow should receive significant nerfs to open up more slots for other professions in dungeon/fractal teams. Having at least two eles for icebows is pretty much mandatory for getting the most damage out of 5 people. Staff damage and blasted fury alone are good enough to make ele desirable.

Misguided.5139:

Hey folks, I’m a noob, so apologies if I’m missing something obvious, but if you are using supreme justice and permeating wrath, you are giving up a lot of utility in the form of condition cleanse as well as a stun break/stability. I’m curious how people are compensating for that. Are you using Save Yourselves & Contemplation of Purity, or is this intended as a more offensive build with less utility? How about the stun break & stability (which seems pretty useful)?

The burn damage if not immediately cleansed is too crazy and those traits make it even crazier, so you don’t need as much defense. Elite + shelter and contemplation of purity is good enough.

I wouldn’t mind baseline, but I’m somehow doubting that will happen. If they ever address this the best we can hope for is traits imo.

They should just add the range onto the 3 new traits. Horn is ok without it, but the other offhands really suffer without this.

It would be an ugly dye, regardless of the reason it’s added. Plus it’s not a single color, so it’s probably impossible to work it in as such.

^It has begun!

Lazze.9870:

Elorna.5329:

Actually.

I’m not disagreeing with you on the subject of quickness, but Remorseless vs PO is far too situational so simply say that the one outshines the other, which is what my argument eventually boiled down to.

I agree on that, “outhshine” was probably too strong of a word, altho it has to be a kitten quick “burst the trash” type of situation. And as I said in an earlier post probably swapping traits and weapons between fights would be the most optimal, but it’s just busy work worth it for record runs maybe, if those ever include rangers (do they?).

Quarktastic.1027:

Elorna.5329:

Now, if they made frost spirit pulse fury instead of might with the grandmaster trait that might be a contender, but it would make it OP for SPvP so that won’t happen because “esports”. Remorseless/quickdraw is already pretty strong there even with the 3 surefire fury applications + RaO.

There’s also the 5 vulnerability stacks you apply every time you refresh an opening strike. Plus another 5 from maul. It’s more consistent uptime than rapid fire, unless you constantly swap back to your LB every time rapid fire is off cooldown, but then you lose sword DPS.

As far as swapping back to LB goes, Tragic has had a thread a few days ago where he said it would be worth it for quickdraw’d rapid fire and the vuln you get out of it, supposedly only worse on trash since LB doesn’t cleave and worth swapping in single target fights. But trash die fast enough that you won’t get the swap cooldown back in time anyway most of the time. Frankly, having quickdraw for the double path of scars and the plentiful quickness uptime that is currently possible is just good enough to make sword even bigger than it already was, regardless of second weapon.

Now, if they made frost spirit pulse fury instead of might with the grandmaster trait that might be a contender, but it would make it OP for SPvP so that won’t happen because “esports”. Remorseless/quickdraw is already pretty strong there even with the 3 surefire fury applications + RaO.

Quarktastic.1027:

Fury procs on pet swapping, on weapon swapping, and with 2h training, on GS attacks.

The ranger has plenty of ways to refresh fury by themselves.

That’s exactly what I said in my post, and if you add those up it equals 3 enhanced crits in 10 seconds (the gsword trait has a 10 s icd so you can only get it once during the time you spend swapped into GS). The only other fury in the build is RaO, which applies fury every 3 seconds. And the more quickness you add into the mix, the worse it becomes for remorseless and better for predator’s. Don’t forget it’s a stack duration boon now, so with a single guardian in the party a ranger can get 11 seconds of quickness just by activating QZ and 14 if he swaps the pet. You’d need RaO and the warrior banner and probably an ele using lightning hammer on a fire field during those 14 seconds to have enough fury reapplications to even try and compete with the attack speed.

EDIT:
Actually that’s probably the only time Remorseless could catch up with PO in quickness situations, those three conditions together.

It was a build from someone else in DnT that Brazil made into a guide, but it really is obvious that the only thing going for it is RaO (not ever gonna call that Strength of the pack, too much history in the name Rampage as One, starting from GW1). And I agree with Tragic, even then it depends on your attack speed and RaO fury reapplication, which is once every 3 seconds or so, and a lot of attacks get wasted, especially under quickness.

Lazze.9870:

Elorna.5329:

Lazze.9870:

Elorna.5329:

Sword/axe over greatsword, plus I don’t really agree with all the traits you took, altho that isn’t such a big deal as the weapon choice.

Sword/Axe over longbow*

There is no point running the longbow anymore when you have remorseless spam and three mauls in one swap rotation with quickdraw.

This thread is about a PvE build. Remorseless is outshined by 10% while cripple trait (was it predator’s onslaught, I forget trait names often). Having bow is kinda needed for the aoe cripple, plus it’s ok to quickdraw 2 rapid fires as well.

Yeah, it’s PvE, and you seem to be living in the pre-specialization age if you think Predator’s Onslaught “outshines” Remorseless with the stupid amount of fury re-application you’re gonna have in a dungeon run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ljux9o5FGM

The build in that video relies almost entirely on RaO (and to a lesser extent on warrior dropping their elite banner), with it on cooldown the fury only applies on pet swap, weapon swap and once during the gsword rotation from its trait. That’s only three +25% crits. Any fury from the party (mainly ele and now guardian with the elite shout) can’t compete with the RaO reapplication and is not something you can just use for your own damage boost easily. Plus eles probably still want to play staff, which means only 3 fury blasts at the start of the fight just during the might stacking phase, and those won’t help since you’re not actually fighting anything then. I know the CD on RaO is really short now, but any skill with a CD over 30 seconds dictating the main damage modifier in a build isn’t something I’d play over permanent 10%.

EDIT:
I guess if I really wanted to tryhard, I’d start with gsword + sword/axe and remorseless while RaO is available, then for the next fight if RaO is still on CD swap traits to PO and gsword to lbow and so on. But frankly I’d get bored of that pretty fast.

The actual traits work as intented just that the tonic being reusable in combat breaks it. Remove that option and this isn’t an issue.

Lazze.9870:

Elorna.5329:

Sword/axe over greatsword, plus I don’t really agree with all the traits you took, altho that isn’t such a big deal as the weapon choice.

Sword/Axe over longbow*

There is no point running the longbow anymore when you have remorseless spam and three mauls in one swap rotation with quickdraw.

This thread is about a PvE build. Remorseless is outshined by 10% while cripple trait (was it predator’s onslaught, I forget trait names often). Having bow is kinda needed for the aoe cripple, plus it’s ok to quickdraw 2 rapid fires as well.

Sword/axe over greatsword, plus I don’t really agree with all the traits you took, altho that isn’t such a big deal as the weapon choice.