Guild Wars 2

From patch notes:

Elite specialization rewards have been added.

• Completing a heroic specialization grants a new, unique piece of armor and unlocks the ability to craft a new rune set for the specialization.

So, what’s the new Druid Rune like?

mistsim.2748:

Lingering Light is broken OP. it’s basically blinds for everyone, including yourself. on a 3s ICD. that’s with every new INSTANCE of heals. u can use warhorn, staff 2, staff 1, whatever. not to mention u can also spam blinds in avatar.

lol, including yourself?

Remember it’s a GM trait and that for an elite spec. Don’t be too quick in calling it OP. Some non-elite spec GM traits can give an entire party 25 stacks of might.

When I played Druid I didn’t use CA, so I wouldn’t miss it anyway, but it sounds horrible. Forget about trait-ing for it too then, if it’s as bad as you all say (I believe you).

Staff is pretty nice for mobility and not being reflected, so I’ll probably still use it.

Druid still brings some nice traits to the table… right? Guys? Well maybe just Natural Stride and Ancient Seeds now.

Hammerguard.9834:

To top it off, staff 1 sounds like a annoying submarine radar or something now.

lol I suggested the sound to change since it sounded like grape stomping before. I haven’t heard the new version yet. I’m currently just happy it changed.

I’m especially happy with the Brown Bear change. Now it’ll be a reliable condi clear. Swap to him with F4 and then press F2 to clear 2 conditions. His cast time is near-instant, unlike the others. I might be using that pet again. I’m also happy with it because it was a bug I reported BearBow too strong! (sorry had to do it)

Hilt Bash sounds great. Maybe it’ll finally be able to land a hit. I’m going to have to try it out tonight.

Sic ‘Em changed finally! Wow it was about time Well… more like 3 years late, but better 3 years late than never.

Spirit of Nature sounds great.

• Spirit of Nature: The healing from this minion now scales with 15% of its master’s healing power. The radius of effect increased from 240 to 1000 in order to match the radius of other spirit skills. Decreased the base heal value by about 35%.
• “Sic ‘Em”: The effect from this ability is no longer removed when you give your pet another command.
• Juvenile Brown Bear: This pet will now use its F2 skill, Shake It Off, without closing on enemies first.
• Juvenile Murellow: Increased this pet’s F2 skill, Poison Cloud, to apply 4 seconds of poison instead of 2 seconds. Increased this pet’s underwater F2 skill, Poison Maul, to apply 12 seconds of poison instead of 6 seconds.
• Instinctive Reaction: Removed a duplicate skill fact from this trait’s description.
• Lead the Wind: Fixed a bug so that this trait no longer has its piercing information displayed on short-bow skills.
• Hilt Bash: Fixed a bug that prevented this ability from striking a foe near the maximum range.
• “We heal as one!”: Updated this skill to include a hard limit to its stacking boon copy. Its boon copy is no longer stack limited.

Against a class/build without a way to get rid of immobilize or prevent CC, Ancient Seeds is very deadly. For any other situation it’ll be anywhere between average and worthless.

It’ll mostly shine in WvW roaming I think. For picking off people who are not prepared.

Very nice

Quaggan, Skritt and Charr (with the Gort text) are my favorite panels. The Grawl one is pretty excellent too the longer you look at it.

Kitty.1502:

Holland.9351:

It’ll be strong against some classes and some builds and worthless to others.

For example it’ll be as good as worthless against an Engineer with Juggernaut because of the near-infinite stability.

I think it’s something you should treat more like a sigil or rune. The effect may or may not happen. But it can be deadly when it does happen.

It’s not reliable because of the requirements for it to trigger. CCing something isn’t enough, you also have to hit them for a second time while they are still under the effect of the CC. That’s a pretty rare event.

If it was more reliable and easier to land, it would need a longer cooldown… which I might be ok with, because that would essentially make it stronger.

Stability does not stop immobilization. It only works against knockdown, pushes, pulls, launches, stuns, dazes, floats, sunks, fears and taunts.

Stability stops CC and therefore the trait can’t trigger and therefore it prevents immobilize. So stability is definitely a counter to Ancient Seeds, in fact, stability is probably its worst enemy.

It’ll be strong against some classes and some builds and worthless to others.

For example it’ll be as good as worthless against an Engineer with Juggernaut because of the near-infinite stability.

I think it’s something you should treat more like a sigil or rune. The effect may or may not happen. But it can be deadly when it does happen.

It’s not reliable because of the requirements for it to trigger. CCing something isn’t enough, you also have to hit them for a second time while they are still under the effect of the CC. That’s a pretty rare event.

If it was more reliable and easier to land, it would need a longer cooldown… which I might be ok with, because that would essentially make it stronger.

Let’s first wait and see if Druid is going to be wanted in any content at all.

Just a few more days till HoT releases. There is going to be added a whole heap of new content that needs time to settle and for people to figure out.

Maybe come back in a month from now before giving your feedback, since you really come off as a troll. We’ve had a lot of those lately.

I’d get rid of Beastmastery and either get Wilderness Survival with Wilderness Knowledge + survival skills or Nature Magic with Protective Ward.

I’m running full ascended berserker stats on everything, but my runes, traits and utility skills are all very focused on survivability (except the Marksmanship line and Signet of the Hunt) and I also run Greatsword with it for the much needed mobility in WvW. At this point I don’t think it’s worth it for me to give up my survivability and mobility for more frequent Barrage, so I don’t think it’ll be worth it for you either.

That said, It could be fun. Before the trait rework I ran an extremely glassy longbow build that didn’t have much survivability either. It requires a very careful playstyle and with double longbow it probably requires you to always have allies nearby.

However, there is a lot of reflect and retaliation in WvW and there will be a lot more of it in the expansion, so again, it’s probably not worth it.

It’s pretty crazy yes. That’s a very extremely specialized build that I could only see work in WvW and that only in a very limited set of situations. Actually, the build is pretty bad anyway because of the Celestial stats. If it was full Berserker stats I could see it work in some situations.

You have 0 survivability. And I do mean 0. No condition removal, no signet of stone, no protection, no mobility, nothing. There are so many situations where you would just flat out die within seconds. If you can avoid those situations, then sure, it looks like it could be fun, assuming full Berserker stats.

Puck.9612:

It should have been merged into shared anguish and given a 40 second cooldown. I truly believe they just forgot about this trait when they did the overhaul. It doesn’t make sense for them to leave it out after finally fixing it a couple months before.

Yes that was so sad. This is the kind of stuff we need definitive answers to from ANet, but they don’t provide any channels for communication with the community.

It’s such a major issue with this company and the main point for all frustration.

The problem with Druid staff is that it doesn’t fire a beam unless it has a valid target selected. If they didn’t change it, it won’t work, at all. So, I hope they fix it before release. It would instantly cause an uproar of rage everywhere since Druid staff would be unplayable with the new cam.

If anything is going to be OP, it’s going to be Chronomancer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3wduZC_sZ0

First watch that video so you know what Rangers should compare to.

That said, We Heal as One was pretty OP. ANet completely destroying it within a day was the problem. I don’t understand why game companies do it, they can’t do a normal nerf to bring something down a notch, they always nerf to the point of non-existence.

Very cool change and probably very needed for raids

As for WvW, pets need to be immune to AoE as well. It’s fine in PvP as is.

Also, pets have more health in PvE than in WvW for the past 2 years or so.

The only things that really bother me at the moment are:

• All 3 Marksmanship minor traits are as good as useless without Remorseless and 1 of them is a forced pet trait.
• Fortifying Bond is another forced pet trait outside of Beastmastery.

let is scale up with the number of enemy players nearby, like how they can scale up events the same way.

I’m OK with pets being kill-able by players, but dead pets should only have a 30s cooldown tops, not 60.

Joel Helmich.7398:

Many skills have checks in skill script to make sure that you’re not attacking something behind you, for this reason.

Which has been the most ridiculously stupid “feature” in the entire game. The character should turn and shoot and not prevent the skill from being used.

Please make sure Druid Staff 1 (Solar Beam) fires a beam without needing a target. Because it currently doesn’t do anything without a target.

Make ABSOLUTELY SURE because it REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY NEEDS it now.

With the new camera mode, Druid Staff 1 (Solar Beam), REALLY needs to fire a beam without having a target selected.

Like, REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDS it.

Yep that seems to fit quite well with the color of his pants

That’s very cute Love everything about it.

Only the wisp on Ranger staff is a projectile. Maybe staff 5 will convert enemy projectiles into ravens as well though.

Renn.8241:

Honestly, The Dreamer is the most annoying and stupidly unreasonably out of place weapon I’ve ever seen.
I hope they don’t add any more like it.

On the last Guild Chat this came up as Rubi said her thief was her serious character and she just couldn’t craft the pistol (Quip) and short bow (the Dreamer) for it. She got the reply that they will make more serious legendary weapons now.

No, but I’d be ok with it if power and condition damage was reduced.

Currently:

• 30 power
• 30 condition damage

After:

• 20 power
• 20 condition damage
• 20 healing power

But maybe precision and ferocity would make more sense, since it has more focus on offense.

So:

• 15 power
• 15 condition damage
• 15 precision
• 15 ferocity

OGDeadHead.8326:

I know it’s easy to miss, but the changes are posted right here on this very forum…

Everyone go here:
http://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/professions/ranger/Post-BWE3-Druid-Changes/first#post5606978

Tasao.4623:

Not seeing anything that makes Druid attractive to a Ranger that doesn’t want to be a healslave. Read: Most Rangers. The spec is still missing offensive functionality. At least the other specs got lines of traits dedicates to different roles. If that were the case for Druid it’d have a major, master, and grandmaster trait each dedicated to offense. Instead it’s still almost entirely heal, support, heal, and more support. What other profession got told to not bother with their elite spec if they weren’t part of the minority wanting into a support niche that’s mostly only useful in high level content?

This spec seems to be 150% crammed into one tiny design element with only cursory consideration for the roles the majority of Rangers actually play. All but ONE Ranger I know in-game is switching to Guardian already because DH does more of what they wished Ranger did.

The things the elite spec brings are:

Support

• healing
• condition removal
• damage buff (new Grace of the Land)

Control

• daze
• immobilize

Utility

• movement speed
• stealth

Yes it’s not a damage spec, but it has its uses.

I do agree it could use some more damage on Staff for when you’re on your own.

Those are some really nice changes.

I’m a bit sad to see the wisp from Lingering Light go, but only for the loss of the theme. It’s a great change however.

I’d still like to see Astral Wisp (Staff 2) to become unblockable and maybe blind enemies it touches (like Lingering Light will). Solar Beam (Staff 1) is basically unblockable since it’s a beam, so it would make sense that Astral Wisp is unblockable as well. The same way Mesmer Mirror Blade (Greatsword 2) is unblockable and Spacial Surge (Greatsword 1) is also basically unblockable because it’s a beam.

I love winning a 1v1 while camping longbow. It’s psychological warfare. Not only did I win as a Ranger, but I was camping longbow and using 2 Moas.

It has been brought up before in the feedback thread. We will see how the rebalancing of Druid ends up. There might be significant changes everywhere.

The skill might not even be OP since there are stun breakers and CA could do nothing but heal.

Let’s just wait and see what happens next and if there is any opportunity to give feedback before everything is final.

The actual bug is that the pet menu isn’t visible

lol, Rangers are the easiest class to finish. Together with Engineer and Necro and Guardian and Warrior. All you need is stability for a 100% success rate.

Thief and Mesmer are basically OP in their downed state. They can both stealth and move.

Elementalist downed state is totally OP in WvW. They have instant access to their best downed skill, for which other classes have to wait 20 seconds. It allowes them to move to their allies for help and it can even be used to run into structures.

It can trigger once every 10 seconds max, but when it triggers, it will affect every target that has been hit (if they’re all under CC).

StickerHappy.8052:

If I CC someone, then I swap weapons. Does geo/hydro/leech sigils Proc Ancient seeds? I mean they still do direct damage.

Yes, Hydro and Geo will, I’m not sure about leech. Staff trait + Geo/hydro sigil = AoE Ancient Seeds.

It should just be a block and anyone that hits you in that period gets knocked back, no need for the swing animation and the rooting.

I’d like to keep being able to throw the GS at any time during the block.

If there are only a small number of people online, the ticks should give less points in total.

Nightcapping would still destroy upgrades, which is annoying as well, but can’t do much about that.

It’s a major Ranger handicap and not new:

• Invigorating Bond 300 radius
• Spirit of Nature 240 radius
• Harmonic Cry (Moa pets) 240 radius

We can’t conclude anything else but it being by design from start to finish.

• There are good double melee builds that don’t use bows.
• There are good condition builds that don’t use bows.
• Staff is also looking very viable without a bow.
• Shortbow is far from viable enough, no idea why you even mention it.

Scoring should definitely be tied to the number of players online somehow.

Odd, it might have happened when they added the new pets for beta, which weren’t playable in pvp either. I guess the permanently stowed pet had something to do with it as well.

I don’t agree with everything he said, but there are some good points in there. I think most of it has been brought up in the feedback thread anyway.

We have to give Irenio time and not expect him to fix everything instantly. He’s the only dev that has to balance 2 elite spects which will only have had 1 BWE. I assume he didn’t ask for that either. On top of that, HoT releases in only 3 weeks time.

Now we just have to hope ANet gives Irenio more time and not put him on other stuff until everything is working smoothly.

No.

While it fits thematically, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Burning is the highest damage condition, so it couldn’t be ignored and power damage would have to be lowered.

Currently Staff is an alternative to both Longbow(unreflectable) and Greatsword(mobility), which are both power based.
In fact, Staff might even already be an alternative to Shortbow if you use Sharpened Edges with it paired and a high crit chance. 66% chance on crit to cause 3s bleed averages as 2s bleed on crit and Staff hits very often and very reliably.

If you REALLY have to make this into a condition damage weapon, let Astral Wisp and Cosmic Wisp (Lingering Light trait) cause burning to nearby enemies.

Love it. Well done.

He looks so serious and then… that fish

If anything it needs a buff rather than a nerf/fix to bring it back in line with similar traits.

We were all expecting them to merge it with Hide in Plain Sight which would stealth on being CC-ed, but they just deleted that trait and I think Shared Anguish was even moved up a tier without getting any buff.

I don’t see the problem. The specialization is already very flexable. There is definitely an overtone for healing with Celestial Form and the forced Natural Mender trait, but that’s about it. Staff can be used without using it for healing. Traits don’t all focus on healing either. Glyphs have little to do with healing in their base form as well.

It definitely has the most synergy with a healing but that doesn’t make it impossible to use it differently. If Natural Mender wasn’t forced it would already be perfectly flexable. However, even Celestial Form might be getting some damage potential. There is nothing wrong with that.

You don’t have to use a bow to use Marksmanhip for example. It’s important that there is some flexibility and choice.

Zatoichi.1049:

Ancient Seeds GM was only doing 1 Bleed instead of 5

It does 1s immobilize and 1 stack of 8s bleed every second while stuck in the vines. If they got out of the vines within the first second, they would have only been hit by 1 bleed. Is that what could have happened?

InsidiousWaffle.7086:

So because a ranger lets their pet die, their pet should soak cc’s up forever?

Successful troll is sucessful. Still claims “soak cc’s up forever” after having been told a million times it doesn’t have a 10s cooldown.

Zalani.9827:

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

The animations for staff are getting looked at.

Thank you!

I like the auto-attack animation where the laser shoots from the top of the staff. I don’t want the laser to shoot from the hand. I don’t like how they bend their knees while attacking though.

I just don’t like the idle animation holding it like a hammer:
https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cfaa8Glamour-2.jpg
But I guess I could live with it.

You could very well be right, but I think it’s worth looking into.

S/T A/D is short range which can be pretty dangerous or you’re simply outranged. Staff has 1200 range. Staff would also have another weapon set as well.

Longbow projectiles will be reflected and destroyed and the expansion will introduce a lot more of those. Even if that’s not the case, Staff might hit more often than Longbow on average anyway.

So Staff brings the combination of hitting very reliably and very often from long range.

If this works out well, then Staff is a very versatile weapon and maybe even an upgrade to shortbow in terms of bleed application (no flanking required and more reliable hits), range and mobility (Ancestral Grace).