Guard exists solely to make Natures voice (Nature XII) useful imo. In that vein I’d prefer they simply made it pointblank cast to save having to waste time targetting it
Evasion on swoop would be synergistic to assist in get-aways, and add purpose to the skill when already at melee range. I like it.
Another idea for swoop I like is a knockdown at the end of it.
I’ve only started using GS again so I’m not sure of the implications. One thing I find lacking on GS is cripples, landing maul is very unreliable without using #5 first.
I agree they should give us some increased duration of vigor buffs to compensate. On the up side, it makes vigor more relevant to us since we wont have perma-half-vigor. Personally I never gave vigor in my builds much thought with that trait.
I really dont know the point of increasing damage with range in the first place. The main advantage of range should be range itself. This mechanic was unneeded. That said all the non-auto attacks are great for use at closer range, so its viable, if traited.
Rangers arent that bad, its only that you have to try a bit harder to find niches where they work, since they arent as dummy proof to make a good spec as most other classes. Unless you play a bunker build, they dont have as many get out of jail free cards, so mistakes are punished hard, so dont make mistakes! :P
I find it better than playing an engineer however, couldnt make that work, probably since I didnt like spamming grenades.
Instead of a knockback on swoop, a knock down would be cool. Would remind me of playing a dd ele, with ride the lighting followed by backdraft. Allows us to get that maul off.
Looks like you got most of it. Im a big evader myself, though I dont go quite to the extreme you have, mostly because I never thought of it that way.
Anyway, I’d suspect the offhand training rather that sword mastery might give you better evade uptime, since that dagger #4 is a wicked long evade time and the animation doesnt even tie you up. Although I’ve never really used dagger except for testing so somewhat speculating, it is strong though.
Problem with stressing vigor toooo much is that you already have 50% better regen just by having survival 5 so there is some overlap, and I understand they dont stack.
Yep, LB rocks for skirmishing! I didnt like it leveling but fully traited out with the cooldown and eagle eye, you dont miss what autoattack takes away from it. The utility (stealth, aoe cripple, knockback) and dps (rapid fire) really make it a lot of fun. Although I prefer sword/horn over GS, I’ve been meaning to go back and try it again.
Very good tips… I’ve been trying to “mind read” thieves lately. They typically stealth at about 1200-1400 units away so do you allow a few extra seconds to close that ground or is it assumed theyve stealth jumped or something? Seem to come up pretty fast.
I always throw down a bunch of aoes to keep them company in shadow refuge
Actually thieves I usually have good fights with, its guardians, necros (some) and mesmers that give me more trouble.
Cool, used to have a signet build like your #3. Moved to a survival based build after much spvp. Fought enough stunlock warriors and guardians to consider hide in plain site with lighting reflexes a must, with generous helpings of muddy terrain. It still works fine in wvw but has the slick moves I need to get out when I need to.
I went survival, those utilities are in a good place. Cooldown reduction is easy to get too.
Rest I agree… kind of… other classes have similar complaints. It has to be balanced against knowing that Arenanet wants people unique instead of having everything from their class in one basket. So you are strong one way, but leave other stuff on the table. It does seem that some classes are ahead of others right now…
Storm spirits are one of those things that will hit you once in a lifetime with a big hit but otherwise they are really underwhelming. Kind of like lightning :p
Ran route from speed buffer at shelter rock to wolf lodge waypoint and back, using same waypoints, using ability when up (and viable), min 3 times each, speed buff itself kept time .. results:
Swiftness only 2:09 avg
Hornet/monach 2:01 avg
Swoop 1:55 avg
Good within +/- a second
So yea its not as good as swoop, but still better than just swiftness. It has an advantage over swoop of better cornering with the knee halfway.
If you’re fast enough with sword you’ll make ground. First leap is close to swiftness but second in chain is profit. I see it all the time when running in groups.
Part of the trick is swivelling the camera view as you leap, so your second leap youre pointed right direction immediately to take advantage.
From a dead start its all profit tho, or if you just used lighting reflexes you can double up with no loss.
Like when you don’t have a target selected and start pulling off some anime inspired sword skills?
You know the kind where the screen goes black and all you see is sword flashes going ‘pling plang plink’ and the screen comes back on and 10 enemies fall over dead!?
Kind of but not just because i lost target. Probably its because they moved and the jump didnt take me where they are now… so I have to do the kitten animation anyway glued in spot though they are out of range.
I occasionally mess up and blow people out of my own entangles :p Fortunately for me they often run back in.
The skill is more than just knocking someone down, its also an interrupt, so there are many instances it is useful like before a big heal etc.
Guardian knockbacks are horrible, seems there is a build out there than can basically chain aoe knockbacks for more or less full stun uptime. I see guardians that spam it in spvp all the time.
I’d hate for them to remove the leap. If they could make dodge over-ride the leap, that would solve the problem while keeping one of our precious few borderline OP attack options.
Indeed, that would be the perfect solution
I’d buy that.
As far as condition removers, I’ve conceded my pet is a big sponge for me. Just get a brown bear and youre good. Fortunately my build has never really taken my pet into account until now, except as a nuisance in small scale skirmishes.
JQ really crying about being 2v1ed for once???. I mean come on SOR and BG have had to deal with this for 10+ months, and the first time JQ can no longer use the BG/SOR rivalry to there advantage they whine.
again JQ has used BG/SOR rivalry to create 2v1s for a year now, and r now crying that you had to deal with it for 1 week.
JQ has been getting 2-1 since the first loss, its the only way JQ was pushed out of top spot originally, BG and SoR virtually stopped fighting eachother for a week. Usually dont post here, but I gotta say… wut?? lol I’m ok with that tho, part of the game
Classes aren’t balanced at all. ANet very clearly balances their game around sPvP and if your class has any pressence whatsoever there you will receive absolutely no attention from the development staff at all. Who cares if the build that they run in sPvP doesn’t work outside of duels or in the smallest of roaming encounters. Who cares if your class will never have a power option or a reason to use bows… you’ve always got your condi/bunker meta to fall back on.
They have to balance it somewhere, and wvw has way too many variables to do it effectively. If they balanced by wvw then spvp would be a total wreck and they cant have that. So even though I prefer wvw I get it. But they do have class tweaks that only affect wvw/pve so dont rule that out. Something along those lines would be the easiest buff to ask for.
Yea I tried it out a bit last night, it works nice as a condition remover now. Call me a bear bow I dont care :p , it frees up a slot where I used to keep signet of renewel so its worth it. Just got to keep pet on passive so it doesnt run into zerg and die constantly lol. I slot in protect me since the bear can take it, I basically have an offensive (wolf) and defensive pet (brown bear).
I kind of like ascended; however i dont like that there is a large difference that will occur over the trinkets, and now weapons, and future armor.
Small gear differences I am ok with and i think they have surpassed the ratio with everything combined. This is supposed to be a non-grind game. Grinding should result in minor minor advances (to keep it interesting to long term players) but new players should be competively geared with minimal investment for wvwvw.
Ricochet bouncing off allies needs to happen, it cant be left like it is. The single hit is insufficient to justify the weapon. It would make perfect sense for ranger then, having himself or his/her pet up close.
I’m not sure there is a problem with long bow, but an aimed shot does sound cool. I think the intention of opening strike is supposed to be our big hit but its not the same. Maybe buff opening strike?
… and of course this has nothing to do with the current necro meta but rather with their wells. Sure.
Might not be sure what you’re saying here, but well/mark necros have always been strong, nothing to do with current. Its been made easier to build well necros in recent patches however, without giving up much.
Great idea. I miss different arrow types from DAOC. They had 3 styles of heads (blunt/barbed/keen) that did more or less damage vs a type of armor (leather, studded, chain, plate, etc).
Gotta agree, first thing when I picked up ranger I thought muddy terrain exceeds every other classes closest equivalent. The only thing close is necros well of corruption (corrupts swiftness into cripple first) and even it doesnt have immob on placement, or last as long, not even looking at the cooldown.
Which is why we’ll never get it lol! Seriously, 900 range traps would be insane! Total insanity imho.
He isn’t wrong in that we need more ranged aoe and it couldn’t be any worse than mark necros operating at 1200 range.
Yep, sry but you think traps are strong, you havent tried necro (my main for last year). Wells and marks do waaay more damage with stronger effects, at longer range. Necro has a trap ranger beat in that department by a long shot. Ranger is more mobile and has better single target dps, with decent aoe.
Flesh golem is pretty groovy as a necro, but it suffers the same as any pet in wvw. ie get a zerg fight going and its dead in short order, other elites do more. Thats why only the roamers (usually) use them.
