Guild Wars 2

ah ok, yeah you’re right. Thanks for pointing this out.

I just thought, ok maybe they calculate this off of the vit points. So 300 * 0,05 = 15, which is certainly not the case. lol Then maybe the vit points you’d need for all health combined (18000 health in my case), which would equal to 1800 vitality points. 1800 * 0,05 = 90. Still not 60 I really wonder where this number comes from. ^^

V in the Nature Magic line: “5% of vitality is given as a bonus to power.”

I recently wondered how that’s calculated exactly or whether my math skills have abandoned me completely. The thing is, my current build features +3000 vitality (300 vit points), but with Strength of Spirit active I receive only +60 Power, which is 2% of 3000 rather than 5%.

Can anyone confirm whether this trait applies the correct amount of power or point me to the mistake I fail to see? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: tried the forum search but it didn’t bring anything up. Also the last 5 thread pages don’t seem to hold any information on this matter. If you know that a similar thread exists already, please link me to it.

The whole “a pet name database is too much work” argument is just a proof of laziness and lacking commitment. If they really think that way about it, then why have a character name database? Why not simply have everyone log in as Juvenile Ranger? Heck, that would be even less work.

I agree with Mcrocha. The idea behind your Honed Axes trait is nice, but it’s just too strong. You’d stack Might like mad on yourself and your pet with high crit chance and Fortifying Bond. Keep in mind that the Axe auto-attack bounces. So let’s assume that with a high base crit chance and under the effects of fury you apply 2-3 Might stacks per auto-attack. Granted, it’s only 5 seconds, but still a bit over the top.

Also, why the nerf to Natural Healing? This severely punishes bow/axe + melee pet combos which a grandmaster trait (!) shouldn’t do.

Eggers, there’s no use to spam this thread or to make accusations.

But yeah, an update on this matter would be much appreciated. 2 weeks is a rather unusually long time for such a bug to stay ingame, especially since it already appeared in the past. The cause of this bug might be different this time, but certainly there are news on this front. Please let us know what the current status is.

@mistermoo
Hm, I might have exaggerated that a bit, but I still think it would be a very popular trait. Anyhow, such things shouldn’t be implemented traitwise. Like mentioned before, if the devs decide pets are in need for AoE dmg reduction, they should implement it as an inherent effect.

I also thought about your point 9 again. I could imagine my pet only in control of its auto-attack, while its other, special abilities reside on F2-F4. Similar to the Mesmer F1-F4, where you can decide which effect of your class mechanic you wanna use. But where would you put pet swap & the return command in that case? F5-F6? Might be a bit difficult to operate. Again, I think this shouldn’t be a matter of traits. If at all, it should be the default class mechanic then.

I don’t agree with #1 – #3.
Shortbow is meant to have less range, hence the term SHORTbow, so 900 is alright. To increase it to 1200 (1500 for LB) by default seems a bit over the top imo. However, I do believe that the Eagle Eye trait should affect the shortbow as well, increasing LB to 1500 range and SB to 1200.

4: yeah ok
5: yes, especially the F2 skills need faster activation times.
6: definitely!
7: Nope. Everybody would run this trait then, so in which way does this promote build diversity? It doesn’t. It should be an inherent effect of pets to some degree, but no trait.
8: mmh, k
9: Hell no! The current lvl of control over your pet is sufficient. All that might be required is an improvement to pet AI, though I’m fine with it as it is right now. Ranger is already among the classes requiring a substantialy higher amount of player input & skills to make it work at least half-decent. To put even more work on those players to get a target down doesn’t strike me as the way to make this class better.

Hm well, some Ranger traits are still in need of a redesign, that’s true, and I approve of the way where you’re going with the minor Marksmanship traits, but note that you miss an option for the pet to cause opening strike as well. Also, why’s there no change to the most useless grandmaster trait of all time: Moment of Clarity? Plus, your versions of the spirit traits in the Nature Magic line don’t combine very well. Giving them on death effects, while the Spirits Unbound trait shields them from any harm, doesn’t make much sense. ;-)

But I like that you did away with the family restrictions for the Beastmastery major master traits. This is long over-due.

Epsi.2063:

25th june update : " Jaguar: Stalking: Critical chance increase while in stealth reduced to 25%."

What do you think about this? :/

Not a big deal.
With 30 points in beastmastery the crit chance of your jaguar is at 73%; +25% = 98%.

bezim bezec.8635:

• Spirits have around 4000 hp (8000 with Vigorous Spirits)

Does this number already take into account the +60% health increase as of the 04/30/2013 update?
Also, isn’t there a difference in the health pool of normal spirits and the elite spirits (Spirit of Nature & Druid Spirit)?

Taran Redleaf.7912:

One factor you might be forgetting: Companion’s Might only applies might on a critical hit by your pet.

Nope, according to the wiki, the crits from the Ranger and not the pet set this off.

Well, you are right in that I don’t know much about setting up and running a database, but seeing as a ton of databases are at work behind the scenes of GW2, I don’t understand why it would be problematic and troublesome to set one more up for pet names. Afterall, your character names are linked to your account name. Now linking pet names to your character names doesn’t strike me as much of a big difference.

I don’t believe it’s intended, but if a developer really explained it like that, I’d appreciate if anyone who read it, could provide a link to said statement.

Tbh, I could very well understand if John Peters stopped reading here a long time ago and it’s really disheartening to see how there’s no Moderator on here to do anything about this mess they call a forum. I mean, about 80% of this thread should be deleted and the players in question temporaily banned for repeatedly posting off-topic non-sense.

John, I don’t think you’ll find the feedback you were looking for here, for those players who still retain their reason simply won’t post here.

But if you happen to still follow this thread, here’s my opinion …

I really like the idea of changing the rainbow jellyfish skin into something more unique and I appreciate the effort. I think though it should be something even more distinguishable than the first (?) draft you shared with us. I’d suggest to also alter it’s physical model a bit more, so far as the animation allows it. Then I’d pick 2 or 3 colors that combine very well with each other and apply them to the rim of the jellyfish mantle and/or the tantecles in a fluorescent type like animation. Please, don’t use too many colors. Although it’s called a rainbow jellyfish, I’d rather not have it look like the Dreamer legendary, which is a bit over the top in my opinion.

Well, I currently run Sword/Dagger as my main set in PvE (mostly Orr) and so far it’s fun, but often I find myself not using Hornet Sting, because I don’t really like rolling back so far, not knowing who else I’d pull or whether I might fall off that cliff or plank. I always prefer jumps and knock backs over roll-backs. Same counts for Acid Bomb on the Engineer’s Elixirgun or the Rocketboots utility. In fact, I almost exclusively use Hornet Sting to get out of the fray and switch to my bow. But I could also simply dodge roll backwards, which executes faster than Hornet Sting. For Hornet Sting to evade those big hit enemy attacks you need to be very experienced at timing. I’m guessing you are such a person who’s pro at dealing with the one-handed sword, but most players (including me) aren’t and I believe that each weapon of a certain class should be equally accessible to all players. I find it also difficult to create Leap finishers with Monarch’s Leap. Let’s say you put down Healing Spring or Flame trap and then use Hornet sting to roll away. You may throw a dagger or torch before jumping back in or hit Monarch’s Leap right away. However by the time you jump back towards your combo field, your target will have moved out of it, if you got the aggro. While if Monarch’s Leap was to be the first effect of this skill rather than the second, you could pull off that leap finisher right after you or someone else put down the combo field. I’d find that much more convenient and useful. Not to mention that I’m pretty fond of harassing foes with bees ever since I saw this used on the forward/up path in Twilight Arbor. =)

Shathron.5790:

Girion.5483:

Sword

Verdict: Interesting design, but lacks the ability to disengage quickly and has no gap-closer.

Not sure what you mean by this. Hornet sting currently fulfills both these functions. If targeting a foe it provides a disengage and can be used as a gap closer towards a different foe. If you clear your target you can use the backwards roll as a gap closer (by turning your back towards the foe) and in the same fashion you can use the leap as a disengage. Clearing target can be bound to the keyboard by binding “Lock autotarget” (logical, i know).

Problem is that Hornet Sting gets queued upon activation and will wait until the current attack is finished (like Serpent strike), thus not resulting in an immediate evade. It does feature disengage, yes, but not a very quick one and in most fights you don’t want to roll back 400 units, because it’s likely to draw even more enemies. However, the skill I was referring to when I said the sword lacks the ability to quickly disengage was the #1 skill chain. It’s so frustrating when you hammer your direction keys to prompt a dodge roll, but you still suffer that major blow full force, even though you saw it coming and could have avoided it. I can see how this “glued to your face” mechanic can be useful in sPvP, but in PvE and especially dungeons it’s a huge liability and any Ranger bringing the one-handed sword into a dungeon must be fond of suicide :p. Now, I already hear that “simply switch off auto-attack mode” talk boiling up again, but to be honest, in my opinion switching off auto-attack on the #1 skill chain is in no way solving this issue, for, although you gain more control over your standard attacks, it greatly decreases your attack speed and in the long run hurts your finger joints when you’re forced to constantly smash one key repeatedly just to keep attacking.

And about the gap-closer. Monarch’s Leap is a gap-closer, yes, but in order to get it you need to roll backwards first by activating Hornet Sting. I too use it mid-fight and not necessarily on the same target, but you cannot use it to open a fight and it’s easy to see it coming, because you’ll roll back first, so it’s difficult to take someone by surprise mid-battle. I’d rather have Hornet Sting be the jump forward and the following secondary effect Hornet Swarm like described above, thus removing the roll backwards from the #2 skill(s), which often has no place in tightly crowded PvE zones or elevated areas, where hitting Hornet Sting would catapult you down towards death.

When thinking of the Ranger sword I tend to look at the Warrior and Guardian sword, which are more fun in my opinion and for sure a lot easier to operate. I mean, yeah, Serpent Strike is a dam good skill both in design and funtionality and it’s pretty much the reason why I currently run the sword in open-world PvE, but Slash/Kick/Pounce and Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap definitely need improvement.

About redesigning/improving shouts …
Here’s what I came up with when I thought about it: (bearing in mind the changes to signets and other utility skills I already posted)

Intention: Shouts should affect both Ranger and pet and should be centered around additional mechanics for the pet. Ranger shouts don’t affect other allies besides the pet.

Search and Rescue

• pet gets 5 seconds of swiftness and protection upon activation and will immediately search and revive an ally nearby. Players get priority over NPCs. Revive speed is the same as that of a player. On a successful completion, both pet and revived ally gain 5 seconds of Regeneration. The Ranger will get an “I’ll avenge you!” bonus effect and deals increased damage (+ 20 – 40% ?) for as long as the pet is reviving. 90 seconds recharge.

Protect Me

• All damage you would take is redirected to your pet. Duration 6 seconds. Your pet gets Retaliation for 6 seconds and takes 50% (?) less damage. 60 seconds recharge.

Pin Down

• replaces “Guard!”. Your pet’s next attack knocks down target foe and applies Cripple for 4 seconds. Your next 3 attacks deal +30% (?) damage. 30 – 40 seconds recharge (?).

To the Limit

• You and your pet gain fury for 10 seconds. Command your pet to copy and perform its special ability. This skill won’t set the F2 skill on cooldown and can be used when F2 is still on recharge. 90 seconds recharge (?).

What do you guys think? Would that be viable? Please just consider the concept of the shouts rather than the exact numbers. The latter would be subject for balancing.

Oh, nice thread. It won’t have any effect on the actual game, but theorycrafting is always fun. Here’s my attempt.

Sword

Verdict: Interesting design, but lacks the ability to disengage quickly and has no gap-closer.

• Slash/Kick/Pounce: Retains it’s functionality, but can be instantly cancled by dodge rolling. You can move via WASD keys while performing Slash and Kick. If movement during Kick isn’t possible, I’d remove Kick and replace it with a second Slash attack/animation.

• Hornet Sting: Leap at your foe (combo finisher: leap), Range 600, cripples your target. Upon activation the secondary effect of this skill becomes available: Hornet Swarm.

• Hornet Swarm: Release a swarm of hornets to attack foes around you (effective radius 180?). Hornets harrass foes for 5 seconds, dealing damage and applying 1 stack of bleeding every second. Can be removed by dodge rolling. Would be very easy to implement. Just think of The Defiler boss from the forward/up path of the Twilight Arbor dungeon. Bee animations and effect already exist within the game.

• Serpent Strike: Great as it is. Just would increase the duration of poison from 6 to 8 seconds.

Warhorn:

Verdict: Pretty solid weapon. Only minor tweaks/additions necessary.

• Hunter’s Call: Retains it’s funtionality. Birds go for the eyes of your target. First strike applies blindness for 3 seconds.

• Call of the Wild Retain’s it’s funtionality. Applies 3 stacks of might instead of only 1.

Utility skills:

Intention: Making signets worth activating and to have the active mechanism affect both Ranger and pet, thus making the trait Signet of the Beastmaster obsolete. I always thought that Ranger utilities should affect player and pet simultaniously whenever possible.

Signet of the Hunt

• Passive: Remains as it is: +25% movement speed for you and your pet.
• Active: Grants swiftness to you and your pet for 10 seconds. You and your pet deal +25% damage for 10 seconds. (recharge 30 or 40 seconds)

Signet of Stone

• Passive: Improves toughness of the player by 100 and toughness of the pet by 300 at lvl 80.
• Active: Create a cloud of dust at your location (effective radius 360?) to blind foes around you for 3 seconds. Applies Protection to you and your pet for 6 seconds. (recharge 50 seconds)
  OR …
  Create a shockwave around you and your pet, knocking down adjacent foes.

Signet of the Wild

• Passive: Retains it’s original funtionality (Health regen for you and your pet).
• Active: Removes Immobilized and grants Stability for you and your pet for 8 seconds. Stunbreaker. (recharge 60 seconds)

Lightning Reflexes

• Retains original functionality. In addition it also breaks stun on the pet and grants the Evade mechanic for the pet (3 seconds).

Muddy Terrain

• application range increased to 1200. When created in a water field, its condition durations (immobilized and cripple) are increased by 100%.

Spirits:

• Spirits become indestructible.
• they are stationary, unless you pick the trait Spirits unbound, which should be a tier 2 major trait in my opinion, rather than a grandmaster trait.
• the secondary effect that becomes available once you planted the spirit no longer affects the area around the spirit. In exchange the spirit lends its strength to the Ranger to perform the nature ritual. The active effects of spirits (Solar Flare, Cold Snap, Call Lightning, Quicksand and Nature’s Renewal) are ground targeting skills that the Ranger can apply in a 900 range around him, as long as the Ranger is within range of the spirits.

I know there are certainly more important Ranger areas that require an urgent fix right now and we constantly hear how Arenanet is aware of pet survivability, trait and utility issues in need of improvement, but only rarely do you see or hear that the pet naming system is bugged and actually not functional as of now.

The problem:
You can assign a name to your pets via the pet selection window (key [K]), but as soon as you remove a certain pet from your two “ready for combat” slots, they lose that name and won’t display it when you select them later again. This bug is so incredibly annoying, cause it forces you to constantly rename your pets over and over again, that most Rangers simply don’t name their pets at all anymore.

From a gameplay perspective there’s no major issue here, since the pet’s functionality won’t suffer just because it doesn’t display a proper name :p, but as far as immersion is concerned, this is really frustrating. I mean, I as a Ranger have been through thick and thin with my pets and still they display this nonsense “Juvenile” prefix every time I decide to swap them back in.

Arenanet wants us to adapt to certain situations like open-world PvE, dungeons, large-scale events, WvW, etc. by bringing the right pet for the right job and to swap pets often depending on what you need or is most useful for the battle ahead. So far, I really like that idea, because I too believe Rangers shouldn’t always run around with the same two pets only. However, this severe form of pet amnesia really adds an annoying side effect to this mechanic and what bugs me the most is that in all the months since the launch of GW2 (almost 8 now), I’ve never seen this addressed or even just acknowledged by the developers, though chances are that I might have missed it.

The solution:
First of all, when a Ranger tames a pet the default name should be the specie’s name, like “Jaguar”, “Brown Bear” or “Armorfish” without that “juvenile” prefix, simply because as soon as the Ranger tames the pet and trains it, it’s for sure not juvenile anymore.
Secondly, when I as the player decide to change that default name via the pet control panel [K], the name should stick to the pet, no matter whether I put it back in storage and decide to use it later again. This name should only be overwritten by me entering a different name for that pet via the control panel and nothing else.

I really wish to see this fixed finally, but regarding all the time that has gone past without having such an annoying but still minor bug addressed (certainly this can’t be too difficult and time consuming), I’m not too optimistic anymore.

What are your opinions on the pet naming system? Do you think it’s of any relevance at all? How do you live with your pets constantly forgetting their names? Or is it the Ranger who can’t recall the names of his pets? :p