Guild Wars 2

26:51 you can see the new counterattack.

http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/c/4743783

Pope.1469:

Seriously though, this one signet will be the one icon every ranger will have on his buff bar. Massive damage/movement speed increase, regeneration, stability.

Pretty sure the speed buff only applies to your pet. But yes I will be taking it a lot.

Relshdan.6854:

river drake is the best PvE pet…period.

I don’t agree. In random open world content, enemies die so quickly that often your pet won’t get any or just a single hit in. (I’m assuming you’re running berserker, if you’re running WvW condi gear this might be different.) Enemies are also often spaced so far apart you can’t fight more than 1 or 3 at a time. The one exception would be events in Orr or a similar area, and in that case not only is your pet struggling to get a hit in before things die, but you are as well.

In dungeons, trash mobs die so quickly pets again aren’t relevant at all. Most of a dungeon is spent on bosses. CoE is an excellent example of this. The bomb golems, the destroyers, the risen, etc. all die in a single or at most a couple hits. Most of the time is spent fighting the golem boss in the middle of the turrets or Subject Alpha, Bjarl, etc. Cat is unquestionably better here.

Drake is better in many cases than cat for soloing Arah, although that’s a pretty extreme example.

The one significant place a drake might do better than a cat is in world bosses, because you can’t crit against them. I don’t have enough data to speak to this. For example does the cat double swipe up their damage over a drake, even though the drake has higher power? Is the attack speed the same? I don’t know.

I see the argument for a drake on swap, but I would just rather have a second cat in case something happens to the first. It doesn’t hurt that jungle stalker and jaguar both have really excellent F2s, so you might want to swap them even if one isn’t injured.

My 2 cents on it. I wouldn’t complain if a ranger was using a drake in my dungeon run.

If a guild group of 7 people down a zerg of 45 people, your upleveled friend could rez the entire zerg by getting herself killed. Uplevels do not belong tagging along with guilds, that’s incredibly disrespectful to what they’re trying to do. She was basically griefing them.

Next saturday I think it is. Can’t wait for that, win or lose. You guys better not be embarrassing.

Give to me.

In preparation for the updates to the BM line, I was screwing around with this completely weird mess of a build, which has basically no condi removal at all. I managed to win a couple 1v2s, and I ran in to a perplexity engy which was probably going to be disastrous, although he wasn’t able to kill me due to my regen and mobility. Not sure how that would have played out since he hid in a camp and started building a ballista.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAsXRnEqQFL2LIusARLGAQoWFAvPjqdbd3v9wQfxKnMB-TVCBABQt/AEHCgKV/5MlgYp8TijAAAnAg80HwwDAIAACwNbz28mBO6RP6RP6R7m38mH9oHdMAmB-w

I feel like there is something to this. If I wasn’t in ascended berserker armor I could spec for EB and still have some really good regen despite not actually having the regen boon. And that would also allow me to take HS, which is amazing with s + gs, and gives a little more condi removal.

Maybe I was trying to force the melee power aspect of this, since I just used the same weapons I’ve been using for more normal melee power builds. Perhaps axe/axe after the update would be better with this sort of thing.

What sort of BM builds do you guys run?

I don’t want it to be fitting. Make it stop.

Why the hell is this in the ranger forum?

RoyalPredator.9163:

What would benefit me the most – right now – is Poison & Torment on LB/GS

You can add sigils to get both of those, but why would you do that? Both of those weapons are 100% power, applying no damaging conditions at all. I guess I could see an argument for poison if you were fighting a heal sig warrior or ele. It’s one of the benefits of using sword instead of GS as your swap.

rpfohr.7048:

There is a new trap build in town! POWER TRAPPER

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjMq0va5K2rQ1aAAhadAcvalDsz3O4DK4RF

That could be really interesting with celestial, but it’s pretty glassy. Will be fun to try at least. There’s sooo many possibilities opened up now I can’t wait to try. Power beast master also seems like it will have potential, with tons of cripple and entangle.

I think they’re fine, they have their own little niche in killing trash. For dungeons they’re pretty mediocre. In open world big bosses I’m still usually using cats or dogs (I think dogs/drakes do more damage against non-moving bosses due to the fact you can’t crit, but I’ve never really tested it.) If a pet dies against a boss it will be because it got one-shotted, so the drakes tankiness is a waste. Otherwise swap pets when it gets to about 1/3 health. That’s out of laziness though, since I don’t use drakes in the open world.

Do you actually get a 50% speed bonus from SotW and the current SotB? I thought that was for the pet only. It doesn’t feel like you move any faster, although you turn giant so it might be an optical illusion.

Maybe the devs do read the ranger forum. I assumed they never did.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

Wait a second, does this mean ranger finally has a ‘self stability’ utility? The passive heal, active grow bigger (signet of the wild?), + stability given to pet? That skill will now give stability to ranger? If so that makes my day… always dreamt of a decent stability on ranger.

It’s also a 25% damage boost. It lists a 50% movement increase but I don’t think that actually happens to you when you currently activate with SotB (question?).

That skill is definitely going to be showing up on my bar a lot. Especially if the build can fit in signet mastery.

And don’t forget the damage bonus from SotW (and maybe SotH even.) The first day this releases WvW is going to be comprised entirely glass LB rangers instagibbing each other.

Edit: And I will be one of them.

I’m not sure how stacking speed buffs work. But regardless, that skill is now something that must be dodged. Which is not really something rangers have ever had.

Chrispy.5641:

(New) Rapid Fire + Quickening Zephyr + Read the Wind = ???

Would that cause the RF to complete in 1 second? Also signet actives now affecting us, that is absolutely terrifying. 1 second RF for like 26k damage?

Edit: I have no idea to how to do math. The skill would complete 60% faster, 60% of 2.5 is 1.5, so it completes in 1 second? Correct?

Atherakhia.4086:

I was really hoping we’d see some traits being merged. Now that RtW is 100% mandatory it’s going to be that much more difficult to build a Ranger. Especially in WvW.

It will be more difficult in terms of you having more good choices, but you’re coming out ahead no matter what you pick.

The one “hidden nerf” is that we’ll no long get to watch necros get slowly strangled to death over the course of 20 seconds by entangle. Oh well, if that’s the price we pay for getting these awesome buffs, I’m ok with it.

Carighan, the new GM trait will give PvE rangers a 10% damage boost, and the GS (mostly maul) has been buffed as well. I’m equally happy for competitive and PvE.

The Zith.7435:

My question is this was just an insight of some of the upcoming changes? Did sword get done love too?

Sword itself had no changes, but the new GM trait will basically give it a 10% damage boost.

livlaender.8790:

lets see what the other six classes will get

Let’s just hope our new buff to be more in line with other classes isn’t completely undone. “Endure Pain has had its cooldown reduced to 15 seconds.”

All 5 GS skills are buffed. Autoattack got a small damage increase, maul 5 targets, swoop evades, counterattack doesn’t have the massive root anymore, hilt bash had the stun and daze duration increased 50%.

Brown and polar bear roars are physical attacks.

Holy smokes. These changes are fantastic. The new grandmaster trait is going to be outstanding for sword rangers.

Edit: For those that didn’t see it, signets now affect rangers naturally and SotB has been replaced by a 10% damage boost against crippled (IIRC) opponents. BM pets specific traits have been made generic so they affect all pets. GS got buffs on all 5 skills, LB had a damage boost on autoattack at close and medium range, RF got it’s duration halved, barrage is half a second (IIRC) faster. Axe AA now grants might for every target hit. PoSs moves 25% faster. Brown and polar bear roars are now physical attacks. Miss anything?

I really hope you showed up with a bearbow.

Chokolata.1870:

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

The swiftness is nice for melee rangers not using offhand warhorn. I use a bird on my s/a gs roamer. Birds and cats are very similar; cats are already the bird with no swiftness.

Moas use their heal either on themselves or when an ally is in range and injured. Not entirely controllable, but not entirely uncontrollable.

nGumball.1283:

Let’s keep in mind, that people who will miss LS2 must pay money to have 100% map according to your suggestion.

Not to mention the fact, that older maps, presented in LS1, can’t be added becasue it would mean that people who missed the first season, will never be able to get 100% map.

You can access the drytop map whenever you want. It’s just the story instances that need to be bought if you miss them.

Durzlla.6295:

Actually devourer downfall was the pet dmg nerf, Devourers got nerfed by 20% and spiders were BUFFED by 10%, cause kitten thinking

Ya that’s what I meant but I think you were right they were different updates. Man I wish we had our dangerous pets back.

Bears are 100000% obsolete since the pet health buff. Devoureres got screwed by I think it was the same update, so are 100000% inferior to spiders. Porcines have potential, but the downside is just stupid. You can literally buff your opponent using a pig….

So I agree with your suggestions. I can think of situations where I’ve used every other pet, or at least the animal type. (Not too fond of shark, but it’s ok, and who cares about underwater.)

Archon.6480:

has already been there with with the max-power-no-thought style builds and is looking to move on.

Yes, you have clearly ascended to a higher level of understanding than me.

That was an amusing idea, posting on the DnT forums, which are run by math whizzes.

Dreadfox.8031:

Also, no offense but I would kick someone that blindly ascribed to groupthink

This is a shame. People that want to run horribly subpar builds often use this line when people tell them the build is horribly subpar. It’s akin to saying there is no point in using a shovel to dig a house foundation when excavators exist, and then having the guy with the shovel say “excavators are group think, I don’t believe everything people tell me.”

I think you’re making a massive mistake crafting ascended condi armor unless you want to use it for WvW. Why not just run your build in exotics until you can figure things out?

I don’t see how the way they’ve done it is unprofessional.

Behellagh.1468:

sutff

I believe nothing of what you wrote. I PUG at all hours of the day and have no problems finding causal or hardcore groups. The only dungeon you would ever “need” or even want to pay for is Arah. And that is not content meant for you.

If you want, I’ll hop in to your TA group or whatever it is you need to run and show you we can find a full group in 10 minutes or less (probably more like 180 seconds since you don’t care if randoms join.)

1 v 1 or small groups, ya, you’re going to kitten a lot of people off almost not matter what your build. Rangers are literally designed for that kitten. Oh boo hoo someone ran in to a thief, ranger or mesmer while they were roaming, take a friend.

It’s a cool build; its time isn’t now but these ideas may turn up if the dungeon game is ever updated.

Well it is innovative, but why spend money to achieve something subpar to berserker?

That’s an honest question; I see so many people saying they could never possibly survive in berserker gear and yet almost every single day I PUG most dungeons, and if it’s the weekend I’m often black out drunk while doing so. I pretty much only dodge at Subject Alpha, otherwise* I’ll just eat that kitten because who cares.

*Obviously Lupi is a PITA, but because of the kick which you need a Spidey sense for and is a stupid mechanic.

Rauderi.8706:

But, instead, the refrain. “It’s all we have.”

Some reasons I PUG:

• I’m online at incredibly random hours due to work schedule, which don’t match my guild schedule.
• I may not be online for any length of time, and I see a PUG that says “LFG super fast 10k ping ascended berseker gear”. That is PERFECT for me.
• Taking a guild group for a dungeon often require a pretty significant amount of time. You need to wait for everyone to finish their jumping puzzle and taking SMC.
• I don’t want to be social, I just want a speed run of a dungeon to relax and not talk.
• Guildies might want to run something stupid and I just want 5 good meta builds.

The list can go on almost indefinitely. kitten off with the "don’t try to find new friends on LFG by being ‘elitist’ line. People are worse than the so called elitists when they do this.

This fell down several pages, and since we have no mods to put something that is pretty much universally accepted to need to be stickied, I guess a bump is not totally a kitten move.

Behellagh.1468:

Forming a group on my own had gotten me kicked because players who joined my group because they didn’t think I measured up to their eliteness and therefore hijack my attempt to get experience in a dungeon by taking my group for themselves. Or alternatively, quit mid dungeon because it’s not going fast enough for them, even though the comment says we will be taking it slow, screwing the remaining players over.

I would argue it’s the exact opposite, there are way more “all welcome” groups than “10k plus ping ascended zerker gear” groups. The reason I prefer the latter is despite taking longer to find people, it makes the runs enjoyable for me rather than frustrating. It’s also a great way for me to add people to my friends list!

And re: everyone saying just go with your guild, there are tons of reasons people PUG. Don’t presume to know why people need to use the LFG tool. I have several different simultaneous reasons why ‘elitist’ PUGging is a lot more convenient for me than running with my guild.

I’m not complaining about it, I’m saying siege on pets can’t work at all. The only way it would be possible is if you made it such a small bonus it wouldn’t matter anyway and no one wanted the trait.

My feedback is that you’re breaking the fundamental, single most important aspect of WvW (again, ignoring player numbers) and it’s completely impossible for your idea to work without a complete rework of the game mode. Everything in WvW is balanced around supply.

I’m assuming this also doesn’t factor in defiance’s affect on vulnerability?

I totally disagree. If a roaming group of three sees a tower they want, they have to first take out the oil, then put down the ram and run some more supply, then do the ramming, and all of their supply is used so their options from this point on are very limited. If there is a single tower defender, the entire attack is thwarted. Someone mans a treb or arrow cart and it’s game over. The tower rightfully wins against a small highly mobile havoc team.

In your situation, 3 rangers find a tower and immediately start doing ram-level damage to the gate before anyone even sees white swords. If one defender arrives, he can’t do anything at all to stop the attackers. Even if he hops on the oil, they swap to ranged pets and kill him with AoE. He certainly can’t kill the the players by himself, even with an AC. Defending towers and keeps would take unreasonable amounts of resources,. Imagine you had one or a few group of rangers dedicated to just running around doing damage to keeps and towers and moving on if anything presents any challenge at all. It would be way too hard to keep up with their havoc.

Also in regard to your “Actually, it would, in fact, be easier to take down most ranger pets than normal”, that accomplishes effectively nothing since the pets can be rezzed and healed so easily. Even if you kill all 3 pets, theyre right back at it a few seconds later.

Would totally break WvW. Pets attack a lot faster than rams. Even if you drastically reduced your numbers, just a few rangers could tear down a gate without using any supply or being vulnerable to the typical tower defense. Siege can’t be healed, isn’t mobile, and requires significant effort to get supplied.

Numbers aside, WvW completely revolves around supply.

Empower only lasts half as long, but honestly I can’t think of a better use of a staff guardian’s time than spamming that on recharge. Certainly not attacking.

arkealia.2713:

That and they could add one or two more bounces, with Honed Axe for exemple. Then we would have a good AoE option.

A 67% damage increase on the autoattack seems a little drastic. What’s the CD on that thing anyway? Like 2 per second or so?

This would actually be an amazing tool to add things like bearbows and staff guardians to. On a separate tab, so the real tool isn’t too cluttered. But I could spend hours playing with a tool that had all those builds on it.

My favorite LFG was one that was up for Arah like an hour ago that said “no [worst swear in the US]s please”.

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Mesmer isn’t terrible.

Honestly, nothing is too terrible.

Agreed Fror, I just don’t run in to incompetent players very often when I use the LFG to be really picky. It weeds out bad players at an almost 100% rate in my experience. There are tons of us out there that PUG, and very few people who have no idea what’s going on are going to seek out groups like “10k AP ping ascended berserker gear” or something so punishing.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

1. Everyone can (space because it censored) use magic.
2. Healing magic effects all races equally, regardless of knowledge of races.
3. So why the hell use multiple other means of healing? And at least one case being because of such different biology/physiology/whatever?.

From that first article,

Those who practice the shadow arts (such as thieves) utilize a combination of physical prowess and magic. Their magic enhances their stealth and other skills, but they have also worked hard to get good at the arts. Just as a guardian has a deep understanding of combat strategy and can read a battlefield in the blink of an eye, a thief can read the landscape of rooftops and find just the right place to step. Magic, for any profession, is nothing without the knowledge, diligence, and alertness that any user brings to it.

It seems pretty clear — and I don’t see any dissonance with anything in this thread — that healing magic works in tandem with non-magical skills. Just because the new interview says the magic is more important (and I would definitely expect magic to be more powerful than first-aid!) doesn’t mean magic is the end-all be-all of an activity.

I mean if you’re a sylvari casting a spell to cure atherosclerosis on a charr and you cast it on his tail because you don’t know where his heart it, that’s not going to be helpful.