Guild Wars 2

I’m okay with mentor tags… I just wish I could get a refund on my commander tag :P if I knew about mentor tags back whenever the heck I bought my tag (it’s been a while) I would have saved the money for like… bragging about how much money I had, or something. The mentor tags basically fills the purpose I was getting from the commander tag (helping new people, organizing events, and pointing out areas on the map)

after some testing, I’ve settled on a setup i’m pretty happy with right now

Helm, Coat, Gloves – Clerics
Shoulders, Legs, Boots – Magi’s
Weapons – Clerics
Trinkets – Zerkers

I find that this allows me to do good damage while still providing heals. using bristleback and rampage as one for 25 might (which btw, is almost perma 25 might if you have a good chronomancer with you) staff hits for ~1.5k+, and longbow auto hits for ~2-2.5k. While still providing good heals (+1k hp on CAF #1, about 150 hp on staff #1, about 8k on CAF #4.)

I’m still considering going the route of more heals when raids come though. This build just feels good at all current venues of content (open world/fractals/dungeons/etc.)

felt like I’d add my 2 coppers to the topics at hand.

-Elite specs-

I haven’t tried most of the elite specs so far, but that’s simply because I’ve been super addicted to playing druid. I’m loving it so much. I have a few minor complaints about it, but I could write an entire topic talking about druid.

As for the 400 hero points, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s large enough that I feel like I’m actually working towards something (which is something I’ve been sorely missing in this game, since I’ve had basically everything I’ve wanted before HoT launched) while still being small enough that it doesn’t feel all that “grindy” to me. (I would be fine if they lowered it to 300 or 200 HP though, to please the people who don’t feel like they should work for Elite Specs.)

-The hero points-

Honestly, one of my favorite parts of the xpac. the hero points are ACTUALLY CHALLENGING. And I love it. the core tyria hero points are basically “walk here, spam 1 at an enemy for a few seconds, get point” which just felt grindy. The new hero points feel like fun, challenging fights, and I actually felt like I earnt something from them. (as a note, I’ve solo’d 8/11 hero points in verdant brink, and about half in tangled depths and auric basin, including the balthazar one (which was my favorite tbh) I’m not sure if they get more difficulty elsewhere)

I am somewhat frustrated by being so close to map completion but having 1 or 2 hero points left that are locked behind high tier masteries though.

-The masteries-

The masteries themselves are great. love ‘em. however, the xp grind, not so much. It’s not so bad that I would say I dislike it. I’m already at 24 without feeling like I’m grinding, but it could still be better. I want to grab mastery points and think “cool, I get to unlock some neat new abilities!” not “cool, I got a mastery point. now to play for another 5 hours before i can spend it.”. I would prefer if mastery points were MUCH harder to get, but mastery points could be spend on masteries instantly. (e.g. the gliding one, for example, could be gotten by beating a really tough wyvern boss fight)

I have a feeling that later on I’ll look at all the masteries I’ve unlocked and think to myself, this is nice, I feel like I’ve really progressed.

-The maps-

Simply put, I love them. they’re huge, I love the mastery tie-ins, and they’re super beautiful. I also love that the enemies are actually fairly dangerous. you have to be on your guard a lot of the time.

The meta events don’t seem that hard, but they seem to require coordination that we don’t have currently. Auric Basin for example, reminds me of early Tequatl. it was constant failure to all but extremely organized maps. nowadays it’s basically as easy as most other world bosses. I’m not going to be surprised if the same happens to it as well.

That’s pretty much all I have to say, currently. The xpac hasn’t been perfect, but I’m still having a lot of fun playing it, and that’s what matters to me. I just like to have a good time, and I’m achieving that.

P.s. more people need to go farm silverwastes and that flax seed garden under the itzel village in VB. I’m in a small guild and we don’t have the money to unlock the tavern at it’s current prices ;_; (speaking of which, guild missions have been fun.)

P.P.S. even if someone posts in here trashing my opinion, I would be very grateful if you guys didn’t start arguments in here this is mostly just a thread to voice my opinion, not argue about opinions when neither side will change their views.

Before I post this, let me mention that I’m making no comment on the state of ranger as a whole in WvW zergs(everything that has needed to be said about it has been said), just your build

Firstly, why would you take troll unguent over healing spring? an on demand water field on a decent cooldown is almost always the better choice if you’re communicating with your team.

secondly, assuuuming you’re not being focused, why would you take brutish seals over steady focus? if you aren’t be focused, you won’t need to dodge, and 10% damage is a much better option than might on a defensive utility.

and speaking of being focused, what will you do when a couple thieves decide to say hi? you have very little long-term survivability with that build. if you used a mix of soldiers and used a greatsword, you could easily hop into the frontline to get heals from your team and evade the thieves (or kill the thieves in some cases). full zerk ranger is just asking to be killed.

and speaking of which, why are you using axe/wh? assuming you aren’t going frontline, sword/warhorn is a much better option for multiple reasons, and if you’re going frontline, greatsword is a much better option. (and enlargement is probably a better trait to take if you plan to frontline, because rip your pet if you do that)

also, this is just an IMO, but I like protective ward a lot more than invigorating bond.

Again, no comment on the state of rangers as a whole, I just think your build needs some work.

They’re okay. if I had the nerf-stick, I’d probably tone down their mobility and team support. While they are strong, I can easily hold my own against them with a shout ranger… The problem comes in to play that they can rotate faster than me and provide more team support in group fights. when it comes to how well they hold a point 1v1, I think they’re in a good place.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

I don’t see it happening either. Druid is an elite spec with a primary focus on support and healing, and that’s what they’ve achieved. You have to remember that these aren’t going to be the ONLY elite specs, we’re bound to get more. The next elite spec MAY have an aspect with a damage focus, but I doubt they’ll recycle and elite spec like that. (or at least, I hope they wont!)

And if we were getting two elite specs with HoT, that would be a valid point. But “you don’t have to use druid, you can use a future elite spec that won’t be added for years (if ever, Anet sure does love abandoning their content these days)” isn’t a good argument.

Actually, having two elite specs available to begin with would probably have solved a lot of complaints about the existing batch, actually.

as much as I’d love 2 elite specs, having only 1 makes the most sense. I predict it being insanely unbalanced at launch, and with 2 per class that unbalance will just be 2-fold (and we have to remember how good a-net is at pumping out balance patches…)

We still have base ranger for DPS builds. yes, it’s not shiny or new, but we have it, and it’s currently meta. and we can potentially mix it with druid for even better DPS. (though, as you’re probably already thinking, we have no clue if it’ll be meta in raids or when HoT comes out. We’ll have to wait and see.)

addendum; we also don’t know when they plan on releasing a second batch of elite specs, either. it may be every 6 months (along with a balance patch /sarcasm), or it could be with every expansion. We’ll have to wait and actually see the content before we make final judgements like this.

Sic’em is really strong when used in the right circumstances, and as people have said, it’s designed to deny stealth, not remove stealth.

After pvp-ing for long enough, you’ll just get a feel for when it should be used, e.g. right before a thief uses shadow refuge, or on a downed mesmer for a free stomp (or, as before, to use it on a downed body so a thieve can’t SR it!)

Unless you’re referring to pve, in which it’s actually currently a optional meta utility, the 40% damage buff can be really strong for an opening burst.

I do agree though, F2 should not remove shout effects.

edit: and fyi, I currently use WHaO, Guard, Sic ‘em, and Strength of the Pack on my current pvp build (with a high50’s/low60’s% win rate)

Donari.5237:

I was going to say I thought it was a raven in the staff, but I can’t see its tail, and the flock in the wielded screenshot looks like crows.
https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow

And then I saw this and, yeah, even though Norns follow Raven, that’s pretty clearly a crow sitting in the staff.
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Crow_vs_Raven

someone obviously hasn’t seen tyrian ravens. that’s obviously a tyrian raven in that staff. I think you’re just confusing it with the ravens from Earth

I don’t see it happening either. Druid is an elite spec with a primary focus on support and healing, and that’s what they’ve achieved. You have to remember that these aren’t going to be the ONLY elite specs, we’re bound to get more. The next elite spec MAY have an aspect with a damage focus, but I doubt they’ll recycle and elite spec like that. (or at least, I hope they wont!)

Here’s our current meta build for dungeons http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_S/A_LB_Spotter

By no means do you HAVE to run it to a T though. I run something similar, but I changed mine up to allow for more team support that isn’t always available in pugs (e.g. a lot more mightstacking, even though a good group will have a phalanx warrior and pre-stacking, not every pug group does it)

most of my names are all based of of dark souls, as that’s one of my favorite game series

Krytan Drakehound/Jungle Stalker: Smough
Wolf: Ornstein/Sif
Hawk: Artorias
Owl: Priscilla

and then you have my underwater pets…

Shark: Juvenile Pink Moa
Bear: Howbearinwater

edit: and for the beta, I used Smokey and Sparky. I’ll let you guess what pets those were ;P

Not sure if this is the answer you want, but with barrage/rapid fire, i can see it being a valuable second weapon for generating astral force (assuming that they buff gain by damage, which I hope they do)

Oberon Vex.1389:

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

He’s been there since around the start of BWE3.

and yes, it’s hard to tell if it’s their attempt to show that they want to involve ranger more, or a joke about how rangers are currently being played :P

This is something I just don’t get. Longbow is one of our best power-based weapons (and THE best ranged power weapon). I don’t understand why other players ridicule the ranger class for using it. The closest people get is complaining about D/P thieves for the cheese, but it is no where near the stigma of a ranger with a bow. Why don’t we see deriding comments about a different class using an optimal weapon for a certain playstyle?

It was a joke, lol. if you look at my signature you’d see that I actually own Kudzu. I own it because I love longbow. I said it’s a joke about how rangers are currently being played because people are using ONLY longbow (e.g. not weapon swapping) and not paying attention to their pet, both of which are extremely bad habits that a lot of rangers have.

And since I’m not being clear enough, let me state that I was joking! I don’t think A-Net is abrasive enough to make jokes about the state of their classes.

He’s been there since around the start of BWE3.

and yes, it’s hard to tell if it’s their attempt to show that they want to involve ranger more, or a joke about how rangers are currently being played :P

not that it matters much anymore, but a fix a friend told me is to go underwater, access the pet menu from there, and set your pets there. it worked for me.

I was able to reach about 400-500K healing, 100K direct damage, 100K condi damage while running a clerics shout build using sw/t, a/d. those numbers are promising but I’d have to play more to really get the hang of it

huh. I actually use smokescale and electric wyvern… guess my hipster senses tingled when i looked at them :P

They’re all really cool though! i just love the dps on the smokescale, and the ability to have a lightning field!

So, after having a full day to play Druid, I have to say, it is AMAZING. I love the way it looks, the way it plays, and Arena Net keeps impressing me. That being said, while I am loving it without a doubt in PvE, in PvP I haven’t exactly gotten comfortable with it. This surprises me because I primarily play PvP and WvW (the only reason I PvE is when a friend asks me to, or if I need money for something).

So, I’m curious, what are your guys’ thoughts on the viability of druid in PvE compared to PvP? are you having a really good time in PvP, and if so, why? what build are you using (perhaps my build is the problem, I’m running a shout/glyph druid currently)? I’m just curious if I just don’t have the “feel” for druid in PvP, which would be unfortunate, but I still love my base ranger builds so it’s not that much of an issue.

P.s. Maybe the new pets will make me enjoy it more. smokescale seems like it’ll be really strong in PvP!

just tested, seems to be a water field. hope it stays this way

I’m not sure. While I’d love to run full nomads and be effective, I might run clerics in the end… We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to know for sure :/

LB/staff seems like a good option to run in WvW zergs, with piercing arrows you’ll be able to get a lot of tags with rapid fire + barrage, then swap to staff for the rest of the fight

It depends what kind of role we want to fill

as a baseline thing, pets need to be able to hit moving targets. I don’t think a lot of people realize just how much of a buff that would be.

If we wanted to fill a bunker role, give shouts useful utility, and more team buffs

If we wanted to be a decap/dps role, give us boonstripping and teleports (or remove the teleport spots on places like khylo. we already have decent mobility, but teleports will always trump any mobility when spots like that exist)

that would be the basic changes that would help us break into the esports meta. other things I would do would be to add more synergy to our traits, and define what our class is supposed to be doing right now (IMO i’d rather have one good role, rather than have 3-4 “ok” roles, like we currently do)

edit: and as a side note, we need to have a better way to keep our pets alive in teamfights.

1) Druid
2) Druid
3) Druid

But seriously, probably

1) Druid – My main, I love staves, and I love being a healer!
2) Daredevil – Being super mobile and evading everything sounds super fun.
3) Herald, Dragonhunter, or Reaper – Kinda split down here, I’m not exactly one for alts anyways… That being said, Herald looks like a nice support spec, but at the same time, I don’t really like revenants profession mechanic, so I’m not sure if I’ll like it at all. Dragonhunter looks super cool and I love longbows, but I think i’ll only enjoy it if I can find a decent build for it that uses trapper runes. And I tossed Reaper on here because even though I’m not huge when it comes to playing a necro, I do enjoy it, and the Reaper skills do look REALLY well made.

The only thing server will affect is your WvW, since that’s server vs server. (and if you’re looking for open world pvp, that’d probably be the place to be)

Sea of Sorrows is currently T2 in NA, which means you’ll have quite a decent amount of players in there.

Fluffball.8307:

Not a suspension of disbelief but the fact they just look dumb. Imagine our brown bear model doing the fire wyvern F2

I want this. Anet pls.

I’m not sure if it’ll be a private tag, but from what I gathered, you’ll be able to run a squad without a tag, and people in your squad can see you on the map. While not quite that same, it basically fills the purpose of having a private tag (at least in WvW)

Do we know if you “have” to be 80? As far as I currently understand, it’s just a spec like any other, except it can only go into your third spec slot. That would mean you could spec it at level 71 as long as you have the hero points. I could be completely mistaken though, I haven’t been paying “that” much attention to stuff.

Aleksander Suburb.4287:

wow 82% of all players are ranger. I didn’t expected that :P

82% of all players who have browsed the ranger subforum in the past 5 hours, saw this thread, decided to look at the poll and vote on it :P

I think this is nice though, even if it doesn’t give any objective evidence, polls are fun

and honestly, even with a small testing group, as long as you take it with a grain of salt, it’s still information, and that’s information you can look at objectively (again, as long as you realize it’s not going to be objective evidence as a whole. e.g. if you asked people in texas if they like to go to mcdonalds, and then ask people in the entirity of america if they like to go to mcdonalds, the texas example is obviously the weaker argument, but it’s still information you can look at. you can definitely conclude “if 90% of people in texas like mcdonalds, then there’s a high relative chance that america as a whole will have >50% liking mcdonalds.” of course, it’s based on probability, so it could be wrong, as with all things relating to probability. As long as the people that look at it realize “oh hey, this isn’t what 100% of people think, just a small subgroup of people” it should be fine.)

I’d like to point out that multiple times in basically every PoI and reveal, they’ve said that the numbers you see in them aren’t final and are bound to change. It can’t get nerfed if it hasn’t even been released yet. Not to mention that most of the things we saw we don’t know the numbers or coefficients for.

there’s also theories out there that could suggest that they wouldn’t need massively large wings if they sported gas sacs in their body, containing a gas that is both inflammable and lighter than whatever gas we currently breathe in the world of Tyria. it would also couple with the fact that they can breath fire, which would work similarly to the bombardier beetle. However they have the trade-off that the more fire they breath, the harder it gets to fly, until eventually they can’t fly at all.

With all that said… it’s a vidya game. I think hippo dragons look cool.

i’m planning on running the same build i’m running now because as is, it’s already all about buffing my pet for high damage (4k crits? yes please) so being able to transfer those buffs to me will be really nice

i’m not sure if it’s as far as people purposefully trolling the forums to make a particular subforum more toxic than it needs to be, but I do agree that a lot of people are trashing it and such without even giving decent feedback. And many people are already claiming it will be awful when we haven’t even gotten the numbers or tried it out in game (and we don’t know how raids will work either which will be a twist on your average theorycrafting).

I understand not liking it thematically, or being hesitant as to it being a viable spec, but to all-out trash it because we know the theme of the skills, without providing constructive feedback isn’t very helpful

Read my mind.

The balance changes are really nice, and definitely a step in the right direction.

The druid feels like they read my mind as to what I wanted from it when I first heard about elite specializations. The only thing that could have made me happier is teleports, boon stripping, and/or more boon applications (like might). Of course, those can always come in later specializations, and druid is simple outstanding as is

chronometria.3708:

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

put bluntly, we have no idea whether healing power will be useful or not yet.

It’s also worth pointing out that just because you play a druid doesn’t mean you have to heal, as far as we understand it so far. some of the traits and skills seems like they’d synergize well with builds we already have available to us.

That being said, I’m planning on converting my soldiers set to clerics, if BWE3 proves that to be a good decision. I’ve always been a healer at heart

I was thinking, would it be better to go down a vitality/ toughness kind of route then? With an aim towards staying alive while dishing the heals out? Perhaps we should be building for our own survival rather than concentrating on keeping others alive primarily. After all, we cant heal when we are ourselves taken out.

I could see that being viable. Though currently my mind is racing with PvP and Duo-ing dungeons in mind. and I already run settler’s in pvp fairly well, and in pve hopefully I won’t be taking a ton of damage directly so I can also toss in some extra damage with clerics.

In situations like WvW and Raids though, I could definitely see nomads being a viable option too. We’ll have to wait until the beta weekend to know any of this for sure, right now it’s just speculation and guesstimating. for all we know a zerker or marauder druid can be sustainable and do lots of damage (I mean, just look at zerker reapers. they’re pretty tanky)

Agreed. There are already (or were) some minor differences, I wish they would keep adding balance changes to seperate gamemodes. I feel a lot of skills that are useful in say, pvp are useless in pve simply because they have to balance with pvp in mind as well (and vice versa). If they were to balance each seperately it would create for a more balanced pvp environment and hopefully more freedom in pve to run skills and traits that currently aren’t viable.

Personally, I think 40-60% win ratio is perfect, regardless of your skill level. assuming the MMR is working correctly, you should be matched up against people of equal skill to you, leading to a 50% win ratio (a bit higher if you are improving, and a bit lower if you’re not doing well)

The only problem I see with pvp matchmaking right now is people AFK-ing, toxic attitudes, and lopsided matches. however none of that has to do with your winrate.

And hopefully when the league system comes out, we can see even fairer fights and more people will actually realize how good they are (though I wouldnt be surprised if people still blame teammates if they stay in lower tiers)

put bluntly, we have no idea whether healing power will be useful or not yet.

It’s also worth pointing out that just because you play a druid doesn’t mean you have to heal, as far as we understand it so far. some of the traits and skills seems like they’d synergize well with builds we already have available to us.

That being said, I’m planning on converting my soldiers set to clerics, if BWE3 proves that to be a good decision. I’ve always been a healer at heart

• Druid
• DragonHunter
• Daredevil
• Reaper
• Scrapper
• Herald/Tempest
• Chronomancer/Berserker

My advice would be to learn exactly what your skills do and when you think you should use them. and along with that, learn what combo fields/combo finishers are if you haven’t already, they can be REALLY important depending on your class/build.

Also, posting you build here can help us tell if there’s any problems stat-wise, if you’d like (there are multiple online build editors, just try google )

edit: i’d also like to point out that if you join hotjoin, expect matches to be unbalanced. that’s simply the nature of hotjoin. unranked is a lot more balanced (but not quite as balanced as ranked, IMO). just thought i’d letcha know so if you keep getting zerged in hotjoin, it’s not necessarily your fault

Personally, I want to go with a full support/sustain build while having my pets be my primary source of dps (I think it will synergize well with the immobilize/cc’s).

with that in mind, I’m considering either nomads or clerics (I already bought some clerics inscriptions/insignias in case the price spikes). I was thinking celestial (since we already know celestial is a good stat choice for most classes and celestial + druid just sounded cool) but my build probably won’t have any condi damage so I’m not sure if it will make sense.

TBH though, I think I’ll wait until BWE to decide

the only animation I don’t really care for from looking at the reveal is the auto-attack to be honest. And that’s not so much because it’s not plant based, it just looks very stiff. (I’d have to get in game to try it out for myself though before I make a final judgement)

I don’t agree. Reflections are one of the counter-plays for ranged combat right now and it should stay that way. if ranged weapons are weak because of it, then I think we should look elsewhere for fixes.

It’s like revealed for thieves currently. It’s a counterplay for one of their often-used mechanics, and it should stay a counterplay. Espeically since if a trait (for example) ever gets added to ignore reflections, the other traits would have to be darn good for everyone to not always pick that trait

Not to be greedy, but I’m hoping the reason it’s being presented at twitch-con is because it will introduce a new fundamental change, for the whole game or even if only for the ranger. Otherwise I fear that they are showing it there because they didn’t have time to fit it in anywhere else so they’re tossing it on, or they’re being rushed and it might not be well balanced or designed.
Of course, we’ll have to wait next weekend to see. I still have high hopes for druid being something I’ll love.

Daharahj.1325:

I’m probably going against the current here but I hope Druid turns out to be a dedicated healer.

While I wouldn’t necessarily want a dedicated healer (I enjoy the lack of a trinity) but a more support-y specialization, that can provide might/water fields/blasts would be nice

At least 3,500,000 copies were sold within the first year ( https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-the-first-year/ )

but past that and a few other infographics, they haven’t released any numbers.

More specializations

more of… gw2. just more of what we have, and I’ll be happy. more skins, events, things to do, etc. etc. I don’t really care what it is, I just want more things to work towards

Do they require any decent skill to play?

Depends on the build and gamemode. IMO, in pvp, yes they require an average to experienced amount of skill to play well, depending on the build. in PvE, it’s on the low end of required skill

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?

Disliked, but making a comeback. A lot of ranger hate is also internalized by grumpy rangers, though. And while i say “disliked” that’s by gw2 standards, so compared to other mmos, it may not feel hated.

What can they offer in groups?

the gamemode determines the usefulness of the different things they can provide, but there are 2 major skillsets that provide team utility. the first is spirits, which provide procs depending on the spirit. the second is shouts which provide swiftness/regen and a few other things. We also have some pets that provide different things. I suggest reading up on the skills on the wiki

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?

You tame pets all around tyria, but there’s no “taming minigame” you just find a “juvenile” monster, hit F, and it’s tamed.

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.

Extremely subjective, no comment

Are the melee skills cool to?

I’m under the preference that the ranger melee skills are pretty awesome (regardless of race)

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?

For the most part, the only thing that changes the affects of projectiles in this game are legendaries. with that in mind, there’s currently a legendary longbow (Kudzu) and a legendary shortbow (The Dreamer). Kudzu shoots golden spear shaped arrows, while The Dreamer shoots rainbow unicorns. (yes, rainbow unicorns. it’s awesome)

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes

I would say… average population in pve, and average to low population in pvp, and low population in wvw

of course, 90% of this is just my own opinion, and by no means am I stating these as facts.

EnderzShadow.2506:

The second condi bunker. No traps. sw/torch Axe/Dagger. I have mixed feelings about this. It has performed really well and at times all the survivability hasn’t done anything. Is this just a kitten Guard.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAsf3YnEqA9CitsAWsActgBOhyH8B4w/XYUT8eYr0AokdVA-TJhGwATLDMb/BCPBAAnEAA

You’re gonna have a hard time with that little condi clear, especially now when a lot of professions are running condi builds.

I actually run something similar and it feels really strong. I rarely lose 1v1’s with it.
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAsf3YnUqA9CitCCWsActgBMhyX8F4x/bYyj8eZ70AokddA-TJxHwAOLDY4JAob/BAnEAA

Personally, I tag until I get about 15 stacks, and then in the time it takes for the timer to run out, I actually complete events. that usually nets me about 22-25 stacks, which is enough to morally please myself.

You have to remember while you appeal to your own morals, it “is” a video game, and you should be having fun while you do it. Make sure to find a middle ground or else you’ll turn into one of those people raging and swearing about people tagging events