Guild Wars 2

alain.1659:

Maybe ranger will get shapeshift finally

Yeah the elite look.like it would be something in this direction.
Utilities look definetly like spectral skills and the class mechanic seems to have something to do with the pet. Maybe we get a petless ranger and you attune to different pet souls with petswap? I mean spectral skills build up lifeforce,maybe you can merge with your petsoul and you are one being for the duration of the “shroud”.

Like the suggestion, would also like to see boonshare. The pet should get the boons the ranger generates and vice versa. But no doubling down on boons. So skills will only put a boon on pet or ranger not both.

Aury.1367:

Carighan.6758:

serow.6524:

They could start by giving each legend a F2 skill.

Or giving Herald a unique mechanic which isn’t as boring and lame as Facet of Nature.

It perfectly suits Herald. But the other legends need sth else.

Agreeing on this one and agreeing on the topic.
Every legend would still need a way to apply stab or a stunbreak to make invocation not mandatory.

Ithilwen.1529:

I do this now in GW1 when I set up as Me/Rt, ( which is basically what a “modern” Mesmer is. ) The nice thing about using a Ritualist secondary is that the spirits have secondary effects, including damage mitigation and interrupts. Oh and btw, they do significant damage though they are immobile. That’s probably why they are considered balanced… they are immobile.( hint hint )

Mesmer/Ritualist Weapons in GW1 are not down tuned to compensate for hexes/spirits.

The spirits can be destroyed, ( they are immune to most hexes.) If not destroyed they die after a set time limit. They target whomever the player targets.

So, yes.. one form of this idea has been working for years in GW1 and still is. The major problem I see is that it partially cripples shatters. An immobile spirit/phantasm would be useless more often that not for shatter purposes. They could be released upon shatter.

I don’t understand this persistent request for nerfs.

@Ananeos, Mesmer is all about mind games. Therefore “wonky” mechanics are a perfect fit. I can’t think of any “game breaking” Mesmer skills, regardless of what others would have you believe.

Wonky mechanics do not benefit the player of the class. If you have problem playing it you can be more easily countered and the mind games theme is broken.
The request for nerfs is not neccesary there i have to go with your opinion.
Illusions should be able to retarget that would be a huge QoL for mesmers in all gametypes.

I am running seraphic gear atm with WH and sword and axe and torch.
I am mainly running it for self and group buff and good condi dmg with traps.

Does any other run something similar or has made calculations about it?

If you main PvE zerker is better but condi is still good and fun. For PvP i tgought condi has the edge because of the DoT pressure.

The retargeting idea is good but i wouldnt lower any dmg. Because of frequent shattering for dmg, stun and evade i would say it doesnt need any further balance. You can also apply this to clones.
Dont make them permanent thou, this would give balance issues.

Ashen.2907:

Making demands will not get you anywhere on a game forum.

It sounds more dramatic than proposal. What i basically want is gathering attention that the devs consider a bigger change.

Wondrouswall.7169:

I’d rather Anet rework some of the core game’s mechanics before reworking professions. Revert the change to dashes and leaps so soft-cc snares regain their value, alter defiance bars so – when broken – conditions such as blind, weakness, chill, and cripple affect the boss while it regenerates as an extra incentive and reward for breaking it.

Change traits so most of them provide 1-2 functions instead of now where some of them do 3 things and aren’t even in the grandmaster slot. More skill splits for each mode, reducing condition and boon output and durations in WvW, reducing the total allotted stat points of 4-stat gear to match the core game’s 3-stat equipment, and splitting passive movement traits that also reduce movement-impending conditions.

Do that, and the professions can have an overall go-around done to them. But even then, I’d rather see simple and smart tweaks that build synergy and go a long way then major overhauls.

You can write them here too its basically a thread for gathering needed improvements.
I change the topic name for that.

Sarrs.4831:

Surely it’d be more productive to go to your class forums and ask for changes there. You’ve made posts in every class forum.

Thats actually my whole point. There are skills and traits in every class that have not much use or have just not enough punch to compeed with others.
What i want is a skill and trait improvement like the june 2015 update was for ever class.

I have played since launch and the 2015 trait update brought a lot of new wind into the game but a lot of these traits have shown what they are capabble of and what not.

I demmand a new trait rework because there are several flawed or just not good designed ones.
In addition i wish there would be a new skill and class overhaul.

Rangers have a class mechanic that depends on the pet you choose and some of which are just plain underperforming to others.

Mesmers have a classmechanic where they are punished if they kill a target.

Revenants have energy cost and CD on everything which restricts its skills. It has several traits that underperform others.
It has very limited build diversity because of needed stunbreaks condi removes etc.

Warriors are in a good spot but still have skills/traits that arent used in favor of better ones.
For guardians its the same as warrior (and torch needs a rework)

For everyone that has something to add what needs improvements just say it.
Bump this thread if agreeing.

Edit: With rework i dont mean throw everything out of the window and begin from scratch. I mean rework or replace not compeeding skills and traits and improve class mechanics.
I dont want it due to tomorrow but rather try to signalize that we could need improvements.

Wondrouswall.7169:

StickerHappy.8052:

-snip-

This is where we just have to agree to disagree. I disagree with all those comparisons and it is still very much about power creep. Most of which stems from the larger changes made since Sept. 2014 and with Heart of Thorns.

Again, all of what I suggest are low impact suggestions for if/when Ranger acquires other traps and signets to fill out the utility roster, and fits more with the core game than what came after.

You’re welcome to start another thread for drastic reworks of under-performing utilities in terms of competitive aspects. As a side note: I agree with Justine on Signet of Stone. Shorter cooldown with a reduced duration is more than fair.

Well he has a point that traps are underperforming to other AoEs in the game. But still, i would rather like good changes that improve on traps without powercreep them into a must have.
In PvE they are still very often used. Spike trap is decent and flametrap gives you a perma fire field with bonfire and QD.
Main thing is with ranger traps that they are condi fields/CC. Reason why spike trap is so good is because it is both.
I would use frost trap as a utility if it would do a short stun.
Vipersnest would be the best condi bomb if it could hit 5 targets and would last a litzle bit longer and flame trap would give us a new finisher if it could be an explosion instead of a field.
Traps are not nuanced enough. At the moment they are combofields with bonus effects and not skills with combofields.

I propose that we should put a complete overhaul initiative to the main forum and hear what other players say about that.
I myself play 8 of 9 classes and mesmer AND rev feel the most clunky at the moment.
A lot of traits and skills of other classes are flawed or neglected too and there should be a major rework like the june 2015 update where all traits where scrapped or reworked and new ones came into existance.

Wondrouswall.7169:

InsaneQR.7412:

Frosttrap pulls in enemies like dragonsmaw does and triggers its effect.

How about Frost Trap becomes an elite trap (hear me out) and on-trigger, it traps foes in a block of ice for 2s while pulsing chill (3s) in the area for 3s. Cooldown increased from 30s to 60s.

It’s a bit extreme, but hey, making it an exclusive elite slot and doubling the cooldown works that a bit over. Would setup trap condi-bombing and add team support with Dust Trap when fighting on-point.

As for stun breaks on a trap, I still say modify Hidden Barbs instead. “Bleeds you apply deal 33% more damage. When you break out of a stun, lay a _ Trap – ICD of Trap’s cooldown.” In the opening suggestion that would be Dust Trap. In the current situation – Spike Trap.

I thought about that too but i dont wanted to go that much out of the window.
As an elite it would be good but i would give it an increased area, about 20% bigger would be nice.
Problem with suggesting new skills is that it is more likely to tweak exosting ones instead of creating new ones. Thats why i kept it as a utility.

PS: Sticker pointed very vigourosly out what the problem with ranger traps are in comparison to other AoE skills.
I myself do not have a PvP perspective but have to agree with him in any point except the vipersnest. It only hits 3 targets. In PvP this doensnt have that much of an impact but for crowd clearing in PvE it is inferior to bonfire.

draxynnic.3719:

I’m not sure it’s simply a matter of ‘not many weapons’.

Not considering elite specialisations, revenant has 2 mainhand, 2 two-handed and 2 offhand weapons. That’s a lot less than guardians and warriors, but it’s on a similar level to mesmer (2 mainhand, 2 two-handed and 4 offhand), necromancer (3 mainhand, 1 two-handed and 3 offhand) and thief (3 mainhand, 1 two-handed and 2 offhand).

I think the issue is that all of the revenant’s weapons are based around adopting some unusual combat style with quirky mechanics, and they don’t really have a solid, versatile weapon that will serve them well in a variety of builds and circumstances.

Mind you, or better or worse, that seems to be revenant design in a nutshell. You don’t get a versatile build, but you do get 2-4 specialised skillsets based on your weapons and legends, from which you can try to put together something that can handle what you expect to go up against.

What i personally think of the weapons:
Hammer:
has good skills but its the only ranged weapon we have and its slow.
Staff:
Auto is rather weak. Second skill is strange amd should be just one skill. The second part of the staff chain is good. The block and tge fifth skill is good two IMHO. The condi cleanse is just plain to slow.
Mace: Should swap poison with torment stacks and vice versa. Rev has a ton of torment eitherway (increasing the poison trait would be an idea too). The explo chain should have 3 explo finishers that actually trigger.
Axe: Fine

Sword: The main problem weapon of this profession.
Auto does good dmg.
Second skill is dull as hell and just is used as a dmg increase.
Third skill is only strong against few enemies and weakens against multiple ones.
Forth: Block is good but the immob is weak and the activation is kinda clunky.
Fifth: Has no range whatsoever.

My proposal:
Sword MH: should be mainly single target burst weapon, but should not be punished against multiple foes.
Sword OH: Should be more focussed on controlling more than one enemy and be more CC oriented.

AA: Is good, i dont know though if all 3 skills have cleave if not add it to all of them.
#2: Put the 5th skill on its place. Increase the range of this skill to about 300.
#3: Targets can only be hit 3 times. Priority is your main target. You strike 9 times now.
#4: Change the block mechanic similar to guardians mace. Block 3 attacks and after that activate the former skill 2. Enemies hittet by this skill have mist chains on them and are slowed and chilled for the duration of the chains.
#5: Place shackling wave here. Add in addition to the immob a pushback.

This way sword MH has the goal to sepperate enemies to make the most dmg but still has cleave.
OH is mainly aimed to make it harder to use skills against the rev.
The old #2 skill is just plain blunt, now it is tied to the block and i gave it a more soft CC component to it, which cannot be cleansed because of the debuff that continuisly applies chill and slow.
The pushback is there to get enemies away of you so you can sepperate your next target with MH.

Woundrous has good suggestions. Sticker nailed the problem. Disagreeing with euthymias though.
Nerfing everything else so that there isnt a powercreep makes everything as useful as the inferior skills. I would rather see the base stuff be as good as the elite skills. Elite specs should bring more mechanics and options not more power.

I would like to see an overhaul to the traps but i have two peoposals.
One is sinple the other more extensive.

1.
Cd reduction for frost. Add stunbreak and insta cast. Increase dmg.
For vipers i would say 4s field with 2 poison stacks per pulse each second. Increasing the duration of the stacks a little bit. Hit 5 targets. This would give more utility even if fewer stacks.
Flame trap: Increase duration to 4s. Give one pulse more.
Trait: Lay down a spike trap when stunned. This is not a stunbreak but more of an offensive mechanism to punish enemies who stunned you.

2. Changing trap mechanics.
Fire trap is a burst skill that does 5 stacks of fire instant and is an explosion finisher. Flamettap is now a stunbreak. Flame trap does more dmg on activation because of its.missing duration.
Vipers nest does 1 stack per second duration increased to 6s. Trap increases its radius every second. Vipersnest applies also cripple.
Frosttrap pulls in enemies like dragonsmaw does and triggers its effect. I would like to add bleed stacks per pulse but i dont know if this would be beneficial or to OP.
Healing spring gives vigor in addition.

E-Spec mechanics build on Core class mechanics and dont just replace them. Because of this is this E-Spec mechanic not suited to be implemented.
I know a lot of players want a petless ranger, but having a pet is the actual point of being a ranger. They should improve the pet mechanics on the core class asany will agree with me.

I like the idea of a more defensive ranger and i would like to see shield as a E-spec weapon. The more Ice oriented theme is also kind of fitting to it.
Good skill and trait designs, some of which could interact greatly with core ranger.

I would keep it simple:
Turn down CD to 20-30s
Make them unkillable.
Sword should apply burn on regular basis.
Stun on hammer instead of knockback would be better too.
Bow heals on hit sounds good too.
The projectile defense of shield is good but i would swap active and passive to gain better control over it.
The trait should let the spirits cast a symbol on activation.
Hammer-Hammer Symbol
Sword-Sword Symbol
Bow-Mace Symbol
Shield-Greatsword Symbol
(I dont wanted to look up the names)
These Symbols are all vanilla and have a fitting effect on the weapon.

That would be enough to make them decent.

gin.7158:

Blue Moa has better heal than fern hound. It has random 3.3k heal and protection on f2. The regen from fern hound is pretty much useless imo.

It contributes to AF and canines have a good knockdown and general better offensive cappabbilities than moa does. The regen it applies also comes in handy even if it isnt that strong.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Keep Stone as is. There is already too much condition creep in all modes – we need less, not more. As of now, Spirits fulfill one role of the game: power (frost), debuff (storm), defense (stone), condition (sun), heal (water), support (nature). Why would you want to reduce those roles?

A critical chance buff for Storm would be nice, but at this point, that’s starting to give Ranger so many unique buffs that we’ll see start to see less diversity in utility selection, especially if the target cap remains at 5.

We could keep suggesting an increased target cap, but none of us know the details of how their system and servers work over there. So, with that in mind, I’d avoid another unique buff all together.

50% burn with no ICD on Sun can get out of hand fast unless it’s reduced appropriately. That said, I’d rather have RNG completely removed and keep it as is. ICDs aren’t all bad, especially when utilized properly.

Hmm yeah thats a point.
Stone has just no diversification and protection is omnipresent in larger fights.
Even the trait of stone gives it additional protection which keeps it kinda flavorless.
Sun spirit should get something like a 10% chance to burn no ICD. One stack.
Frost would be good with 7% on 10 people.

Reduction of incoming dmg would be best for stone thats true but the double boon stackong with the trait keeps it uninteresting for me.
Maybe slow? Similar like vuln is on storm. This is a defensive debuff but this could get out of hand to.
Whatever i had enough ideas.
What about tge other changes and ideas? Are there some you would add?

I keep the topic title, because its meant to be a QoL OR improvement topic.
Some points are QoL some are clear improvements.

I did the calcs again and i have to say White was right about the condi dmg output.
I try to orient now on frost spirit and sun spirit mechanically wise.

I personally think that storm spirit isnt very valuable as group support because vuln is always present. In addition i think the passive of stone spirit could have an offensive twist and the protection application comes from the trait.

How about:
ICD removed
10 target cap
Frost 7% dmg increase (-33% rounded up)
Sun 50% chance to burn (-33%)
Storm 7% increased crit chance or dmg (still dont know which would be better)
Stone 50% chance to apply 2 stacks of bleed

Stone and sun would be the condi buffs.
And storm and frost the power buffs.
CD keep same.
Trait keep same.

For CT: Just a ranged cleave would be a goid QoL IMO.

White Hunter.3416:

This is not a QoL improvements, but balance changes(bad, I can say).
Few examples:

First: Add a Shadowstep to crippling Talon. You throw the Dagger and teleport to the target damaging up to 3 foes arround you.

This will make it super annoying to use in melee range for condi builds when flanking is hard/impossible.
Spirits:

Sun: 10% condi dmg increase

Matthias says hello.
Chance to apply burning gives more damage for fast attacking classes.
Your suggestion is just a plain nerf.

Earth: 10% dmg reduction

This is equal to remove this spirit completely from the game. Absolutely useless.

Nature: 10% Condi duration decrease, 10% more boon duration

Another nerf of a powerful skill. This will make it useless too. -10 condi duration/boon duration is just a plain joke. In current state spirit feels like a real elite and very flexible skill.

InsaneQR.7412:

If the ranger goes downstate all spirits are lost and do not make any effect

Have you ever did self-res?

I wanted to remove the ICD and the pure chance factor of spirits.
The numbers are just placeholder and could get tweaked.

Additionally this is for unkillable spirits in mind attached on the ranger.
It could give more mobility to the spiritbuffs and the buffs could stack with boons which could lead to a very strong buffing spec-> frost and sun are meta right now but stone and storm basically neglected in comparison.

The spirits should affect 10 people in PvE to give them a better buff place like banners have.

Why sun should be a plain nerv i dont get.
Lets assume you have 900 condi dmg and there are 10 stacks of burn you do 16’786 dmg per second with buff, without you do 15260. The higher condi dmg and stacks are the higher the difference.
Lets say you apply with bonfire 10 stacks of burning because of spirit procs(which is by chance) you would have a dmg increase thats true. But in a group environment were a lot of people are stacking dmg it would increase the dmg in long fights. The difference of the 10 stacks with and without are pretty much the dmg of one stack and this number increses per stacks and condi dmg.
As i said the numbers could be tweaked.
Stone spirit with 10% dmg reduction is good for all people because you would have a lot of protection eitherway in group fights and this would stack with protection. ->43% dmg reduction, with a tempest in group even 50%.

The numbers on Natures spirit are really a bit weak maybe 25%? Try to keep it constructive.

Wondrouswall.7169:

That’s true that moves like Crippling Talon and Throw Torch have drawbacks of being single-target, but something seems off here. For what both of those do, it’s simply tossing a weapon at a foe.

A small aoe would seem kind of off, but having it bounce is just another copy/paste of what Thieves have. Could have it pierce, but that’s like a traited shortbow. I’m starting to think CT is fine as is, single-target and all. Not to mention we can toss it further than we can throw an axe or fire our shortbow.

There’s something to be said about Throw Torch though. Maybe not inherently an aoe move, but possibly have some setup involved for a better payoff. Right now, it’s just throw a torch – set a foe on fire.

What about expanding on that with a requirement? Throw Torch burns nearby foes around the target (3s, 120 radius) if target foe is burning. Half the stacks and duration, but there’s some aoe in there for tossing it at a foe that’s already on fire. Cap the aoe at 3 targets and -not- have the person who had the torch tossed at receive an extra stack of burning.

Benefits setting foes up with other burning sources (Sun Spirit, Pets, Flame Trap, etc.) so it’s not just a freebee aoe while expanding on the thematics of a foe on fire burning their nearby allies. Not too strong and a decent starting point for the devs to measure if this addition can be included.

I actually thought about something like that. Basically my proposal is not a AoE but more of a cleave. Enemies standing near eachother get hit. This could work for TT and CT.
The idea of spreading burn is kinda interesting. Could make things conplicate to code maybe but would give the skill an interesting twist.
What do you say about the other skill changes?

RoseofGilead.8907:

InsaneQR.7412:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

You should contact support via a ticket, which can actually fix the problem for you.

I tried it trice, got no response.

Note that a bug report (which is what you send in-game) isn’t a support ticket and won’t get a response. You have to create a support ticket to get a response and help for your problem. https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us

Also, it can take up to 72 hours to get a response, so be patient.

Thank you for the information, i sended a ticket i hope i will get a response soon.

SlippyCheeze.5483:

You should contact support via a ticket, which can actually fix the problem for you.

I tried it trice, got no response.

reikken.4961:

turn on action camera

This.
Go into options and look for action camera toggle key.
Activate the camera and it will be like a skyrim-like camera, running arround with wasd and turn kamera with mouse moving.

Recently i wanted to morph my herold of the sunless to a thakeray warhorn (seraphic stats) but i got a terracotta larathir warhorn (vigilant stats).

I dont think this is on purpose and i want to know if this is fixed until now, i dont want to waist another weapon inscription.

Additionally i wanted to redistribute my stat on my caladbolg and seraphic stats are not available.
Again, i think this is an oversight and i hope this can get fixed.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Well now we’re at an impasse since either swapping places or the pet shadowstep can be restrictive, even though each weapon has its restrictions.

I’ll still stand firm to not give the Ranger a shadowstep (in general). Add in more blinks and teleports, then dedicated snares like Muddy Terrain and Frost Trap start to diminish further in value.

Immobilize doesn’t seem necessary either, since that begins to blur into Crippling Shot from shortbow, but without positional or skill emphasis.

I might suggest scratching Crippling Talon off the list. Probably best to instead focus on Stalker’s Strike and request the missing range from Off-Hand Training to be added to it.

The skill could benefit to hit multiple targets, sinilar to wintersbite. The immob isnt neccesary though.
Throw torch and crippling talon have the same drawback like the untraited wintersbite have: It does not have high impact or cleave.
CT would have a more unique position this way, a ranged small area snare.
Theshadowstep can easily be scrapped though, my main focus was to improve CT against more than one enemy.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Nah. Crippling Talon is a pretty decent snare, and should work as such. Swapping places with the Pet is moving into concepts once designed for Mesmer and can be disorienting like Revenant’s former displacement mechanic.

It’s also more situational in loadouts with melee weapons and pets, and can work against the player when needing to use it to snare. Got to keep in mind that CT is a snare at its roots. It’s better to focus on its utility.

Otherwise, we start moving into Anet territory of attempting to make moves unique and flavorful while the execution becomes impractical. Just remember that shadowsteps do not interrupt moves.

So, burst with a Pet F2 while chasing down a fleeing target low on health, toss Crippling Talon and the Pet shadowsteps to the target mid-animation and lands the attack. Or with other pets with long animations like Wyverns’ Wing Buffet or Consuming Flame.

A foe could well move out of range on those attacks before the first strike lands. Use CT to shift the Pet’s attack field while lowering a target’s speed. The concept can be greatly utilized with a bit of creativity.

But it restricts its usefulness with some kind of pets which makes it more flavorfull indeed but even more flawed.
CT could hit multiple targets and immob them for a short time and apply cripple and bleed.

I would like a venom ranger with skills that improve power and condi builds.
Or physical/trick skills which can also be very interesting but survival skills are pretty similar though.
An additional pet skill depending on pet race would be interesting or something like a “dualwield” skill which changes depending on mainhand and pet race (this would give alot of new skills though and a lot of work)

Pet Skills

Despite a lot of cast times are waaaaaay to high e.g. Howls, Breaths, screeches etc.
and a lot of skills have a HUGE CD e.g Lashtail venom 60s
There are some pet families that could benefit from some minor skill changes that effects particular aspects.

Porcine:
The one i mostly care about is a change in forage.
It should work like a steal from steal-> The forage skill mis replaced by the new item the porcine had picked up.
Porcine themself are good pets but there active gives them a disadvantage because its a wonky mechanic, this would remove this.

Spiders:
Spiders have a good skill pool, but the active skill is just the most boring one. I suggest that the poisonfield is switched with the active skill of the spider. Each spider would have its own passively activated bonus like the bleed effect of bristleback and the impactful combofield can be controlled by the ranger.

Devourer:
Devourer have one skill with a particular design flaw. It has a MELEE knockback. The devourer wents from range to melle to use this skill which is basically dumb.
I propose a ranged knockdown to give it more uses with druid and better ranged support.
The auto attack should apply poison on default but only 3s instead of 6s.
The retreat skill should leave some trail behind which cripples foes.
These improvements are just there to improve devourer as condi pets.

Carrion Devourer should lifesteal from foes (healing ranger and devourer with this)instead of giving regen.

Fire Wyvern
It should use the firefield on the target and not on its position.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Hmm, weapon skills are an odd one out for me. I always thought most are just right, especially after the years of improvements made to them. Guess to keep the fruit hanging low, I’d like to see:

Sword:

• Crippling Thrust (1b) to cleave up to 3 targets.
• Hornet’s Sting cast time reduced from ½s to ¼s to access the evade faster.
• Serpent’s Strike cleave up to 3 targets. Giant snake head and hits only 1 target – blah.

Dagger:

• Crippling Talon shadowsteps the Pet to the target if it hits, similar to “Strike as One” (GW1 skill). Even though giving shadowstep to the player would be better, I’d like to see it go to the Pet, otherwise we’re just copying Thieves.

Axe:

• Winter’s Bite aoe is baseline, but at the cost of a radius reduction to 180 instead of 240. I think at this point, if Winter’s Bite were to be an aoe baseline, this is a fair traide-off so it’s not completely giving the boost Honed Axes provides.

That’s about it. Not too many changes and nothing drastic aside from Crippling Talon.

Letting the pet shadowstep to the target is very situational though because porting a ranged pet to a target makes it more vulnerable. How about swapping places with the pet? it could be used as gap closer and as a retreat mechanic.

daniellepierce.9718:

Theres no reason to run druid if you are not a healer. GotL requires you to stop dps and go CA and at that point you might as well just be a healer since you arnt doing dps. A third of your dps is coming from your pet thanks you bleeds on crit from beast mastery along with all those other buffs to its power/crit/ferocity and they extra might you give it on crit.

On druid you can AoE stun, which is good vs breakbars and it triggers AS.
The survivability is greater than of core ranger.
I personally took NM and BM with druid and play a buff/condi combination with s/wh and a/t.
Dmg isnt best but decent and survability is good.

I would swap precise strike with sword 5 and would add bigger range to sword 5, something like throwing the sword and pulling your enemy backwards.
with this you can sepreate enemies/mobs and finish them off with sword 3.
Precise strike could something be like daggerstorm from thief with a shorter duration.
It would improve AoE dmg cappabbilities.

Heals:
Healing Spring:
Return to the old Healing Spring Mechanic:
Initial Heal when laying Trap and if someone injured is in the Healing SPring Area the Trap triggers and applies a HoTand Condi cleanse. The Field can be blastet as usual.

This change will remove the wonky get out-in mechanic it has.

Troll Unguent:
It is the Strongest healing Skill Ranger has but it has one major drawback, it cannot be used to keep you away from dying when you on low health. I suggest that the number of heal pulses from Troll unguent is halved but the remaining heals are added to the initial heal when activating the skill. This would mean without healing power (lvl 80) a initial heal of 4250 health and additional 4250 in the next 5 seconds.

The healing capabbilities of troll unguent would stay the same but the rescue factor would increase immensively.

Waterspirit:
10% increased healing and grants healing per dmg done.
activation leaves a Waterfield behind that has no additional effect except combos.

Trap Visuals:
Like the healing SPring it would be neat to have a visual effect to indentify your traps.
Like a fire, a poison a frost and a spiky ring.

For druid i make a third topic if wanted.

Utilities:
Signets:
There are a lot of good Signet ideas but some have bad CD or design flaws or both to go to other skills instead.

But First: Visuals: Signet of the wild Icon fix please, its not important but it buggs me since launch.

Signet of the Hunt:
Passive: Fine
Active: Instead of giving 1 Attack of Opportunity i would give it a 3s effect that increases dmg done by 25% and is stackable with attack of opportunity from Maul and moment of clarity. At the end 175% dmg output for 3s with attack of opportunity.

Signet of Stone:
Passive: Reduce incoming dmg and Condi duration for 7%
Active: Stays the same.
CD reduction to 60s (This can be PvE only)
SoS is a very good “Oh Kitten” button but the long cd makes it kind inferior to something like lightning reflexes in PvE. The reduce condi duration is just to streamline the whole dmg reduction theme.

Signet of the Wild:
Passive: I like it but i will give it to Signet of Renewal, because SotW is by far the strongest Signet and it has one of the most appealing Signet passives especially for power Druids.
I will replace it with: Reduces Dodge cost
Active: Instead of growing bigger you just get Stab, swiftness and vigor.
Add stunbreak.
Decrease CD to 35s

Now the Big one->
Signet of renewal:
Passive: Grants you and your pet health regen.
Active: Removes conditions and heals you and your pet for a small amount per condition cleansed.
Removes stunbreak.
decrease CD to 40s.
This change is mainly because you kill the pet with a skill on a 60s CD that will leave you vulnerable to condis for nearly a minute if you do not have a condi cleanse. Now it counteracts some condi dmg with health regen and you get a good heal if you have a lot of condis cleansed from you.
Its not very altruistic to other players because it doesnt cleanse condi from them but it helps your pet instead of letting it suffer.

Lonely Flawed ones:
Sic em.
Muddy Terrain.
Frost Trap.

Sic em:
Has a good core idea but it has some issues.
First: The reveal should be AoE and not on target->Its not very useful against a stealthed target if you have to target something you cant see.
Second: The effect distrupts pet skills so i wanna change the main effect:
The next attack on your pet knocks enemies down. Pet gains superspeed.
you and your pet gain quickness for 5s.
Reduce CD to 30s

Now sic em does provide more movement speed to the pet than before, it will on the otherhand not double its attack power but rather double its atatck speed and that of the ranger. The quickness duration is halved because bth get a doubled attack speed and compensate for that.

Muddy terrain:
Its just inferior to other AoE control skills/ survival skills the ranger has.
I suggest somewhat of a carboncopy of stomp from the warrior.
Leap to targeted Area, pull enemies in the center of the Impact, apply immob and cripple. It is a explosion finisher. Range is 450 like stomp.
It is not a Stunbreaker. Therefore a CD of 30s would be fitting.

This would give muddy terrain a purpose. Mobility and Fieldblasting.
I would put it on my bar if it would be like this.

Frost Trap:
Same as Muddy terrain it is just inferior to others.
I suggest to add a stunbreak(like hundreds before me) and a small stun when activating something like 0.75 seconds being frozen. This way you can apply some stacks of chill to enemies and make them easier targets.

Traps:
Other Trap improvement despite FT:
Vipersnest should get longer Combofield uptime. I propose 5s field uptime instead of 3 and applying only 2 stacks instead of 3. This will give vipersnest more combo synergy and it will apply one stack of poison more. CD can be the same if it is like this.

Spirits:
As i Proposed in other Topics:
Spirits should give a Flat out buff. The actiavtion should be ground targeted or skillshot targeted.
Actiavtion effects: Effects Stay the Same Bu: If Ground Targeted Spirits will becom visble on that Area and make the usual Animation. If skillshotted they shoot out like the #3 wisp of druid in the targeted line and apply the corresponding effects.
Keep in mind: Either Ground Targeted OR Skillshotted.
I like both ideas.

Passives:
Frost: Default
Sun: 10% condi dmg increase
Earth: 10% dmg reduction
Storm: 10% crit chance OR dmg
Nature: 10% Condi duration decrease, 10% more boon duration

I like the idea of Spirits being attached to rangers as wisps. If the ranger goes downstate all spirits are lost and do not make any effect. Neither active nor passive.
CD and Actives stays the same.
Trait change: Spirits activate on death, this does not accure when the ranger goes downstate.

Water Spirit comes with heal skills later on.

Like Traits some ranger skills have a lot of interesting core designs but are either flawed or inferior to others.
I will go over Weapon-, Utility- and Petskills and i will point out why i propose those changes.

Weaponskills:

Sword:
Swordskills are good skills but in the wrong position IMO.

Monarchsleap & Serpentstrike are the chain for sword #2 in this order.
Additionally Increase the poison stacks on serpentstrike to 5.
Monarchsleap has the same dmg multiplier as Final Thrust(Sword 3 Warrior) and it also doubles in power for enemies under 50% ->1.5 instead of 1.1 and 3.0 if enemy are under 50% health
Hornetsting is the new #3 and applies cripple to foes and vigor to the ranger and allies he is passing through.

This way Ranger would have a gap closer on a Onehanded weapon and it would be more viable for Condi and powerbuilds. The evasion would be as accesible as before but also would give some kind of gruop support and synergy with my proposed traits.

Dagger
Dagger is somekind of neglected in PvE because its fairly inferior to Torch.
The only thing that makes dagger in some situations useful in any gametype is the evade. I have two changes that could bring dagger in a very useful spot.

First: Add a Shadowstep to crippling Talon. You throw the Dagger and teleport to the target damaging up to 3 foes arround you.
Second: Change the animation of Stalkers Strike to something similar to Deathblossom of thief. Jump behind your enemy while doing a whirl finisher.

Dagger would have huge utility increase without loosing dmg.

Torch:
Save to say Bonfire is a very goodskill and a No-Brainer for Condibuilds. Throw Torch on the other hand is kinda blunt.

I have to different proposals:

First: Bonfire is ground targeted and throw Torch hits more than one target.

Second: Bonfire stays as it is but throw Torch is now a melee attack and applies 2 stacks of burning to multiple foes in front of you.

This will put torch into either more Ranged or more melee position. I like the Second proposal more than the first one though because it will give us a pure melee Offhand.

Axe:
Main: Wintersbite now hits up to 5 targets and do not need the trait to do so.
Off: Path of Scars is now like Phoenix from elementalist and has a small ground target function. Whirling defense can now be used while moving.

The path of scars change is because the projectile vanishes if throwing over a ledge or something like that and this could fix that. In addition it can be used more tactically.
Whirling defense change is purely because its the only longterm Whirlfinisher you cant move and are a wonderful target for AoE attacks. With the change you have a chance to escape AoE without cancelling the skill.

The Cone like Attacks: Poisonvolley and Split Blade.
Make the Cone more narrow. Half as wide would be perfekt for mid distance combat.

Utilities and Petskills will follow after this.
Constructive criticism is welcome.

Wondrouswall.7169:

InsaneQR.7412:

I am actually doing another thread about solely skills after this one.

Looking forward to it

I’m really curious about what makes it on the list of skills, as I can’t think of too many besides the ones that are occasionally brought up, like Muddy Terrain and Frost Trap.

Signet, spirits, some insight in lesser used traps(including FT of course) and MT and heals.
I also will put weaponskill suggestions in this coming thread.

I like your changes too i have to say. I tried to keep mine simple and as you said my main goal was synergy and more pet uses instead of abuses.
I am actually doing another thread about solely skills after this one.

Ps: I like your most dangerous game suggestion. Mine was kinda overkill.

Illussions should die outside fight. But they should also retarget to a new enemy and dont just die if they killed someone. As soon as you leave combat they die as long as you are in combat they fight until they die.
PvE mesmer would me a TON better.

Justine.6351:

InsaneQR.7412:

Entangle would make some kind of sense because of the impact animation, but its already the most used Elite of the ranger.
I would suggest improve muddy terrain to sonething sinilar what stomp of the warrior is. Its a ground targeted leap to a location with a blast finisger at that location and it pulls enemies in and applies all current effects.

Stone spirit active could have one to and all others could generate a field.

I would use muddy terrain if it was a carbon copy of warrior’s stomp.

Me too, thats why i proposed it
It would actually replace my spike trap spot if it would work like that.

Carighan.6758:

InsaneQR.7412:

The problem.with ventari does not have a stunbreak is that it enforces to use invocation and limits build diversity further.

The problem with everyone needing a stunbreak at any given time in any spec just shows how much the underlying PVP system needs an update, instead of specific specs. IMO.

I asume this could be another topic for the main game forum. But whatever, the game has 3 game modes and the most inportant one is PvE and PvP.
In PvE there are several Hard CC occasions a stunbreak could come in handy as a healer.
The need to take invocation is build restrictive and tgus not very beneficial for a healer.

In PvP as a bunker it is basically essential to have enough stunbreaks. So it would be instinctive to use invocation. If you get stunlocked its still problematic to get out of it. So either some stunbreak OR stability is required to pass this.

To remove or restrict CC in PvP would throw the balance overboard for all classes that rely on CC which is basically 5 out of 9.

Every constructive critic is welcome.

Nature Magic:
Fortifying bond: This should work back and forth. When your pet gains a new boon you get it too and if you get a boon your pet get it too. Swap with Invigorating Bond. Because the healing of invigorating Bond is not competitive with Nature ward or Natures Vengeance(if Spirits are used). Also its has a very good spot as a minor and Fortifying Bond would be very powerful GM with this change.

Bountiful Hunter: Also increase Condi Dmg not solely dmg per boon.(This should apply to all profession skills with this design thou)

Beastmastery:
Every Trait is Fine EXCEPT:

Honed Axes (obviously):
Winters BIte is AoE on default and not trait required.
While wielding an Axe in mainhand you gain condition duration while wielding it in the offhand you gain Ferocity. Axe recharge faster.

Skirmishing:

Trappers Expertise:
When getting stunned you lay down a Spiketrap.
This will not give you a Stunbreak but it will give you air and a good CC on your enemy. Cd reduction as default

Sharpened Edges: Got nerfed is still good but kinda dull
Would be interesting if you would have a 20% chance on crit to activate sharpening stone, this would give synergy and the wanted bleed effects. Sharpening stone cannot be applied if you already have it obviously for balancing. This suggestion is rather optional.

Striders defense: Gain reflection when gaining vigor. Sword attacks recharge faster.
It gives this skill a controllable component and synergy with primal reflexes.

Light on Your feet: Increased Condi dmg and duration while under the effects of swiftness. SB skills pierce and recharge faster. Removes the waist of endurance to be useful and gives synergy with a lot of ranger skills.

Most dangerous game:
This trait has 2 major flaws. It needs the ranger to have low life and it has a too short boonduration.
My suggestion: When evading an attack share all your boons with your pet and gain 2 stacks of might. for some short amount. ICD is slightly under the might duration to reward good gameplay.

Marksamnship:

Minors:
Merge alphatraining and opening strike. Move precise strike to master. New GM Minor trait: Furious Strike: Gain opening Strike when gaining fury.

Remorseless: Opening Strike does more dmg. it gives you one stack of unblockable when you gain opening strike. (ICD 10s).

Clarion Bond: Change the CD to 20s (this is a 33% reduction), and cut the boon duration also 33%. This would streamline it without letting it lose impact.

Predators Instinct: Cut the CD down to 15s. Additionally Cripple is more effective and reduces movements speed 75%.

Steady Focus: Default + gain vigor after dodging (This does not punish the will to survive)

Brutish Seals: Add fury to the might for more synergy.

Lead the wind: Also increase movement speed and endurance regen.
This will go well with steady Focus and skirmishing.

The other traitlines will follow soon.

There are several different traits the ranger has which have some useful core design but are either kinda flawed or have to strong competitors.

I am going Through several Traitlines and give some suggestion on the lesser used ones.

First of all: The falling trait. They are pretty much only used on F2P accounts or in WvW.
give them some flavour to them. Not just use skill X when taking falling dmg and reduce falling dmg buut also give some other bonusses as well.

Wilderness Survival:

Expertise Training is kinda dull but useful for condi. Some flavour would be nice but not needed.

Refined Toxins: Cut the ICD down, its not used because the poison stacks are gone after the 10s. 3s ICD would be good IMO, it would reward the player for keeping himself save and it would improve poison ranger.

Shared anguish: The CD is higher than other CC breaker skills but i p3ersonally would change this skill to survival Instinct: activate QZ when you got stunned. CD stays the same for obvious reasons and the pet does not suffer.
It will provide dmg counter and synergize with survival trait.

Ambidexterity, also very dull trait which could use some flavor.

Empathic Bond: Again some kind of a pet suffer mechanic. I would suggest you cleanse 2 conditions and stunbreak on pet swap ( strong PvP trait that would need killing the pet for better CCing). This would provide better control over the condi cleanse.

Poison Master:
Increased duration is good.
2 stacks are very few and only the pet does apply them. I would suggest: On pet swap the ranger produces a poisonfield on its position for some 4s. 1 stack poison every second and a combofield obviously.
This would give Poison Ranger again more possibilities and one more field to synergize with.

Devils.3679:

Hey so do others agree that they should add an option for people who play Guardians to not show the Aegis effect. It just always having it over my shield is so ugly.

Out of combat it could be invisible or less visible thats true but its important for competitive reasons.

Entangle would make some kind of sense because of the impact animation, but its already the most used Elite of the ranger.
I would suggest improve muddy terrain to sonething sinilar what stomp of the warrior is. Its a ground targeted leap to a location with a blast finisger at that location and it pulls enemies in and applies all current effects.

Stone spirit active could have one to and all others could generate a field.

Zilvereen.2091:

Im sitting at the far back of the blob , why would I ever need a stunbreak. If by mistake I let myselft to get close to the enemy zerg I will just switch to staff and hit #5. And afterall I already get a stunbreak whevenever I invoke a legend. Invocation goes well with Ventari Rev.

Imho what needs to change is the elite skill. Its just trash.

The problem.with ventari does not have a stunbreak is that it enforces to use invocation and limits build diversity further.

kiwituatara.6053:

Just make spirits mobile please.

It would make them massively more useful but the fact that you can kill them of very fast makes it more useful to give them some form in which they cannot be attacked.