I use it on a power build for a tiny bit of extra damage and to keep them in combat a bit longer.
I think it should give 5 or 10 seconds of vulnerability on crit without a cooldown. That will increase damage on both condi and power builds and has synergy with crits and will keep people in combat for 5 or 10 seconds.
The pet is pretty bad at damage application and with timing their attacks. They can waste a lot of time with moving around and using skills that miss, or the target is simply unreachable.
Removing the pet to gain 3 new skills could be a big improvement in many situations, and like others have already said, you can exit Beastmode whenever you want for situations where the pet is better.
I’m not very impressed with the SoulBeast traitline, but remember that pet traits will affect Beastmode as well in some way. This could make the Beastmastery traitline very useful in combination with Beastmode, even to the point where staying in Beastmode might often be the best course of action.
I like the gliding. I especially liked it in desert borderlands.
Remember that red is usually the weakest server, so I’m fine with them being able to glide into two of the towers. They could already seige them from the keep anyway.
But maybe instead of kicking you off the glider and falling to your death, it should force you straight to the ground like a parachute. Still keep the birds attacking, that’s a nice touch.
I also think Longbow Ranger will remain with core ranger. Some specs can improve on it however, like we’ve seen with Ancient Seeds.
We can also expect other classes to compete, like Dragonhunter and now also Deadeye. I’m not convinced Ranger will get rifle down the line. If Deadeye isn’t the end of Longbow Ranger, then Longbow Ranger will probably never go away.
Pets (beastmastery builds) will probably also stay with core Ranger. We have enough headaches with pet AI as is (both us and Anet). I’m glad to see a petless Ranger will be possible.
I get to ditch my pet and have even more stuns for my lelthisisfun GS/LB ranger. Let’s see Deadeye compete with perma stun in your face arrow pwnage! 720 no scope bish!
1) Will pet traits affect the Ranger? If so, there are some very interesting old traits.
2) petless ranger mode: new F1,F2,F3 skills + higher personal stats
3) traits. maybe (why haven’t they told us the other traits yet?)
Yes you can get both. But Eternal Bond is just very underwhelming. It’ll very rarely trigger and when it does trigger it might not even change the outcome.
However, let’s see the other traits. Maybe, one of the other traits is:
When you leave BeastMode you gain stealth for 3 seconds.
Oppressive Superiority will be good. A bit boring, but still useful for almost any build.
The other two… not so much.
Eternal Bond is weak. It might only buy you 2 seconds of extra time, if you’re lucky. I’ll try it tho, maybe there is something to it.
Leader of the Pack might see some play in some tiny part of the game somewhere. Maybe PvE or WvW. But wouldn’t bet on it. 50% reduction before it’s even released seems ridiculous.
I was going to say no, but the game has actually improved many things for core Ranger, so it wouldn’t be fair to say they did nothing since the game released.
Like others have already said, it’s the stuck animation of Greatsword 3 (Swoop).
It’s been like that for as long as I remember and I played since release.
For me it happens every time I play in WvW. I think it’s a combination of lag and swapping weapons. Maybe swapping weapons while still Swooping or something. I haven’t figured out exactly what causes it.
I think Soften the Fall makes sense for jumping down on someone. I agree with the other 3.
I do like the looks of Predator’s Instinct, but it seems to be lacking. I used to run the sigil that gives 2s cripple on crit (every 5 seconds), which is what Predator’s Instinct should be.
Your combat log will also show you getting hit with the same skill you’re trying to land on someone else , who won’t show that skill landing on them.
Am I getting reflected or is another Ranger shooting me? And do I have to keep the combat log open? And do I have to look at it every time my health goes down? Why not just add a “Reflected!” message like we get for “Obstructed!” and “Invulnerable!” and “Blocked!” and “Evaded!”.
There is a real issue here, I don’t care much about the solution but it needs one.
But when I’m getting reflected, I stop shooting the target.
Like I said, I can’t see it when reflect happens. I can’t see the damage I’m dealing to teammates either. Like I said, it might be because I play on minimal graphics settings.
Consider it the other way… how would you respond to a class having a trait that permanently destroys projectiles?
This just makes you sound like a troll. That’s such a terrible comparison. And they already added a lot of projectile reflect and projectile destroy in HoT, so it already happened. It would be fine if I was told when reflect/destroy happens, but the game doesn’t inform me at all.
As for “pew pew” and “spamming”. Ranger longbow plays a lot like Elementalist, who “spam” Fireball and sometimes use the odd Meteor Shower (and Barrage for Ranger). So I don’t get the hate for Ranger longbow at all.
You want the ability to spam longbow skills without any risk and the ability to quickly swap between weapons to gain easier access to either:
tools/rotations to lay bigger beats, or
mobility for even easier re-positioning and more ranged pew pew?
What would you want to see nerfed for this, or do you believe it would be a balanced addition with no need for any nerfs?
It’s balanced. The projectile is still getting destroyed and it costs a trait as payment. If the game would tell me when my projectiles get reflected or how much damage they’re dealing to my teammates (and myself), then I probably won’t need it, but in big WvW battles it’s impossible to tell (might be because of low graphics settings, but still).
The 2nd trait, yes, ranger often needs to swap weapons for mobility to get out of the way of a zerg, but then he’s stuck in that weapon for 5 more seconds waiting for the cooldown to finish. Other ranged classes often have utility skills that do the job, like teleport. Not really needed, but still something that would be nice to have.
While I agree I also disagree, because arrows aren’t the only projectiles. Axe, harpoon gun, throw torch, crippling talon, etc are all projectiles but not arrows.
Post a trait / utility skill / weapon skill you would like to see for Ranger. It doesn’t have to be more than 1.
Shatter on Impact (trait)
Whenever your projectiles are reflected, they are destroyed instead.
Especially useful for Longbow builds in WvW where reflect is everywhere and impossible to see. Could maybe replace Predator’s Instinct with this.
Fast Hands (trait)
Weapon swapping recharges faster (5s)
Yes, just copy the warrior trait. Maybe pick a different name. Replace Most Dangerous Game with this so it can’t be used together with Quick Draw and it has great synergy with Tail Wind and Furious Grip (reduce their cooldown to 4s).
From the patch notes:
“In this update, you’ll see some changes aimed at normalizing how certain types of skills work. Skills that tether players together now apply Revealed to provide a stronger window of opportunity to players who can successfully land them.”
As it stands right now I’d rather just take an extra utility skill in the elite slot because several of them would end up being more useful.
That sentiment has been voiced many times over the years. There is nothing elite about many elite skills and basic utility skills would simply be better in the slot most of the time.
Signet of the Wild is rarely used, but it’s probably objectively better than Strength of the Pack at this point:
Maybe it’s in preparation of the next expansion. Like how they nerfed Thief Acrobatics trait line before HoT was released because they needed to sell Daredevil.
So maybe Ranger will get something like Facets next expansion. Maybe as utilities or to replace the pet with.
