Rituals
These skills are all charge skills that last for up to 5s. They apply a bonus every second and have a final effect that changes in intensity for each second channeled. If interrupted the final effect is lost, but the charging bonus remains at whatever level it was at when the player was interrupted.
Spirit Channel forty five second CD:
Gain 5% Spirit Essence every second of charge.
Final effect: Remove one condition for every second charged.
Gaze from Beyond 60s CD:
Apply 1s of chill to enemies in a 600unit radius every second of charge.
Final effect: Stun foes in a 300 unit radius for every second of charge.
Painful Bond 60s CD:
Keep track of damage dealt to you from all sources during charge.
Final effect: apply that damage to source, heal self the amount
Gaze of Fury forty five second CD:
Apply 2 stacks of vulnerability (10s duration) to foes in a 600 unit radius every second of charge.
Final effect: apply 4s of Fury to self for every second charged.
On a side note, apparently there is something naughty about the number ’ forty five ’
Possessions
Similar to stances, but apply to the area around the character, similar to banners that are being carried by a player. these empower the player and allies for a short time with various effects.
Tanasen 80s CD:
Allies in a 600 radius of you take 10% reduced damage and gain 1s of stability every second for 10s.
Naomei 80s CD:
Allies in a 600 radius of you gain 1s of regeneration every second. Downed allies are revived 10% per second. 10s duration.
Songkai 90s CD:
Dodgerolls cost 50% less for allies in a 600 unit radius and gain 1s of vigor every second, 10s duration.
Vorizun 90s CD:
Allies in a 600 unit radius deal 5% more damage with attacks and gain 1stack of might for 2s every second. 10s duration.
Signets
Signet of the Spirits 90s CD
Passive: Gain 2% Spirit Essence every 5s in combat.
Active: 3s cast time. Revive a nearby ally.
Signet of Ghostly Might 90s CD
Passive: 180 power
Active: Your attacks deal 10% extra damage for 5s.
Lee Sa’s Signet 80s CD
Passive: 180 Vitality
Active: Refill endurance. Grant Vigor for 10s.
Signet of Rituals 90s CD
Passive: 180 Toughness
Active: reset the cooldown on all Ritual skills
Binding Rituals
These skills put a stationary spirit on the field that applies its effect to foes in its range (600). Spirits can be killed.
Vampirism 45CD:
Steals 100hp from foes per pulse and gives to the player. Pulses every 5s. 30s duration.
Dissonance 60s CD:
Applies a point five second daze to foes per pulse. Pulses every 10s. 30s duration.
Agony forty-five s CD:
Applies 1 stack of torment for 3s per pulse. Pulses every 5s. 30s duration.
Destruction: 50s CD
Does not pulse. Foes take 100dmg for every second this spirit was alive. 30s duration.
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
Utility Skills
Weapon Spells
All weapon spells have a 1.5s cast time. You may only have ONE weapon spell active at a time. If you apply another weapon spell during the duration of a first, the second spell overrides the first (removes it)
Nightmare Weapon 25s CD
Your next 3 attacks steal 300 hp.
Ghostly Weapon 30s CD
Your next attack is unblockable.
Weapon of Remedy 25s CD
Your next two attacks remove one condition from you.
Weapon of Shadow 40s CD
Your next attack blinds your foe for 5s and stealths you for 3s.
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
Healing Skills:
Spirit to Flesh 20s CD
Base heal for below average amount, increased by the percentage of Spirit Energy you have stoered.
Spirit Light Weapon 25s CD
Weapon Skill. Heal yourself for 1000 on your next five attacks
Gift of the Spirits 30s CD
Above average base heal, gain 20% Spirit Essence.
2-handed Weapon skills
Staff
Niche: AoE spells, party support. 1200 range attacks.
1: Pain
Deal 300 dmg to foes in a 100unit radius of target foe.
2: Spirit Transfer 8s CD
Deal 300 damage to target Foe. gain 10% Spirit Essence
3: Li Ming’s Purity 15s CD
Allies in a 600 unit radius lose one condition.
4: Disenchantment 20s CD
Foes in a 100unit radius of target foe lose 1 boon.
5: Xinrae’s Defiance 25s CD
For each enemy in a 600 unit radius (up to 5), allies (up to 5) in that radius gain one stack of might for 5s and 3s of Fury
Underwater
Spear
Niche: melee direct damage, mobility.
1: Jab->Thrust -> Sogolon’s Strike
Jab: strike your foe for 200 dmg
Thrust: strike your foe for 300 dmg.
Sogolon’s Strike: strike your foe for 300 dmg. Gain 5% Spirit Essence.
2: Displacement (10s CD)
Block next attack. Evade 600 units directly away from your attacker (shadowstep).
3: Glaive’s Destruction (12s CD)
Strike foe for 300. Apply 5 stacks of vulnerability for 5s.
4: Ghostly Haste (15s CD)
Gain swiftness for 5s.
5: Khanhei’s Vengeance 25sCD
Block the next attack. Deal 300 dmg to your attacker and gain 150 hp.
Trident
Niche: Ranged combat, party support.
1: Doom
Deal 250 dmg to target foe. Apply 1 stack of vulnerability for 3s.
2: Beckoning Tide 10sCD
Pull target foe 200 units towards you.
3: Khaolai’s Protection 15s CD
Allies in a 300 unit sphere gain protection for 3s.
4: Soothing 25s CD
Channeled ability: Channel for up to 5s. apply 2s of regeneration per second to allies in a 300 unit sphere.
5: Mingson’s Darkness (30s CD)
Blind foes in a 200 unit sphere of target foe.
Your skills are way to overpowered, just as the rit was in gw1. Also, I think that the old rit is also found in the mesmer. They have clones like a rit summons spirits, the only difference is that clones move, but they are as versatile and functional as spirits. I rather see new weapon types for the existing professions then a whole new profession. Also I would like to see the ashes return, but then as an environmental weapon. At the moment those things don’t have enough oumph imo. But I think I make a different thread bout that, dont want to hijack yours :P
Again, the only aspect that is found is the summoning of spirits, which was only one spec, I still think there is enough GW1 players that would like to see the Rit return to warrent this post. The problem with ashes is that the mechanics don’t work as well in gw2 since your weapons determing 5 of your skills. If ashes replace your weapon you basically have Engineer kits, which is a key feature of that class.
Just one thing. Don’t put in any numbers for your skills. Damage, cooldowns, stuff like that is balance-related and not essential for your class. Not to mention that the way you’ve depicted the damage numbers tells me that you don’t even know how the damage on the tooltip is counted. No offense.
So for example, instead of “Deal 200 damage and apply 5 stacks of Vulnerability for 10s”, make it “Deal damage and apply Vulnerability”. I think you should focus less on the exact details of the skills and more on the general idea. For example, instead of listing all the skills, you should just tell what you see as the main purpose of the weapon and whether it’s meant to be melee/mid/long range.
Other than that, there’s a lot of things that are missing:
- No Elites
- No Healing skills
- No mention of base HP (there’s three tiers of that)
- No proper explanation of the class-specific utilities
- No traits
Firstly: I’m still posting, most everything you are saying is missing is planned to be posted, it just takes time to do so.
And the only reason i’m putting numbers in the skills at all is to show the relative strength of the skills. Obviously the damage in game would be different based on balancing, they are there for comparison to other skills within the same skill bar only. The other reason I’m putting ‘skills’ in is to highlight mechanics that differ from other professions in subtle ways to give a compelling reason to make the class.
Oh and I’ll update the main post for hp.
Off Hand Weapon Skills
Dagger
4: Guided Strike 15s CD
Apply 5 stacks of Vulnerability for 10s. Unblockable.
5: Tsungrai’s Generosity 25s CD
Transfer 3 conditions from self to foe.
Focus
4: Wanderlust 25sCD
If target foe is moving, apply 5 stacks of torment for 5s. If target foe is not moving, knock down for 3s.
5: Kuurong’s Grasp 30s CD
Immobilize foes in a 300 unit radius for 2s.
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
Class mechanic clarification
Guardian Spirits are fueled by ‘Spirit Essence’ which you gain by using certain skills, similar to life force. Spirit essence does not drain out of combat, but is harder to come by than adrenaline or the necromancer’s ‘lifeforce’.
Guardian Spirits do NOT have a cooldown but you MUST fully charge your spirit essence before they can be used again.
The Guardian Spirit is selected based on your weaponset, and takes both main-hand and off-hand weapons into account. Two-handed weapons have their own Guardian Spirit.
Guardian Spirits:
Sword/Dagger: Daoshen’s Rage
Quickness and 5 stacks of might for 5s.
Sword/Focus: Khanhei’s Revenge.
For the next 5s your HP cannot drop below 1. During this time you are stunned. At the end of 5s steal 10% of the maximum hp of up to 5 foes in a 300 unit radius.
Dagger/Dagger: Tsungrai’s Bounty
Purge all conditions on self. Reflect incoming conditions for 5s.
Dagger/Focus: Lingwah’s Despair
Apply 10 stacks of torment and vulnerability to target foe, 10s duration.
Scepter/Dagger: Xiko’s Iron Oath
You become invulnerable for 5s.
Scepter/Focus: Kuurong’s Binding Chains
Pull target foe to you, (600 unit range) and create a ring of warding that lasts 8s.
Staff: Xinrae’s Audacity
Reflect all spell effects for 5s. You cannot attack during this time.
Spear: Glaive’s Final Thrust
Deal 800dmg to target foe. does double damage to foes under 50%.
Trident: Khaolai’s Iron Veil
Allies in a 600 unit sphere are invulnerable for 3s.
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
Weapon Skills
Main hand
Sword:
Niche: Direct Melee damage
1: Slice→Double Slash→ Soul Strike
Slice: Deal 200dmg to your foe (cleaves)
Slash: Deal 200dmg to your foe twice (cleaves)
Soul Strike: Deal damage based on your health percentage. 80% or above = 200dmg. 40-80% = 400 dmg. Below 40% = 600 dmg. (does not cleave)
2: Rage of the Ancestors (8s CD)
Deal 400dmg to foes in a 300 unit radius. Gain 2% Spirit Essence for each foe struck.
3: Daoshen’s Cruelty (10s CD)
Apply 5 stacks of Vulnerability. If target has vulnerability, apply 5s of Fury to self
Dagger
Niche: Melee Condition application
1: Spirit Strike → Sanguine Strike → Spirit Burn
Slash: Deal 100 dmg to target. Apply one stack of bleed for 3s.
Sanguine Slash: Deal 200 dmg to target foe. Apply one stack of bleed for 3s
Spirit Strike: Deal 300 dmg to target foe. Gain 3% Spirit Essence
2: Spirit Burn(10s CD)
Apply Burning to foe based on your current health percentage. Over 80% = 2s. 40-80% = 4s. Under 40% = 6s.
3: Lingwah’s Anguish (15s CD)
Apply one stack of torment for 5s for each unique condition target foe has.
Scepter
Niche: Mid-ranged single target casting. Faster Spirit Essence gain. (900 range)
1: Essence Strike
Deal 300 dmg to target foe. Damage increased by the percentage of Spirit Essence you have stored.
2: Spirit Siphon 10s CD
Channeled ability: Deal 200 damage every second for 4 seconds. Gain 2% Spirit Essence per tick. Additional foes in the path of the beam are damaged for an equal amount and give the same amount of Spirit Essence.
2: Xiko’s Resilience 15s CD
Gain Protection for 3s. Increase duration by 1s each time your are struck, up to a maximum of 5 times. (Max Protection duration via this skill: 8s)
some things are a bit confusing, do you mean that we can only use skills like the thief does (which sucks) or do you mean the system of the GW1 assassin would be used?
Working on typing everything out, will hopefully explain things.
I know the ritualist was considered to be absorbed into the guardian and the engineer, but it is my belief that neither of these classes captures any of the feel of the old Ritualist class. In fact, the only facet of the Ritualist that either the Guardian or Engineer can boast is the ability to summon pets/turrets that mimic effects that the spirits could do. Spirits were one build the Ritualist could do, and it was effective and a compelling reason to bring/play a ritualist, but the major thing about the ritualist is that it was a Jack-of-all-Trades profession able to perform MANY roles in a party. In this thread I will attempt to highlight the possibilities of a new Ritualist class in GW2, as a unique and compelling profession.
Profession: Ritualist
Combat Niche: Generalist (can be melee dps, melee caster, ranged caster)
Armor Class: Scholar
Health Pool: Medium
Lore Niche: Spiritualistic Defenders of the Past
Class Mechanic: Guardian Spirit
-Combines aspects of Warrior, Necro and Thief mechanics in functionality.
Similar to a Burst skill, but which Guardian Spirit is chosen depends on BOTH your weapons (like a Thief’s Dual attacks), so a Sword/Dagger Ritualist and a Sword/Focus Ritualist would have a different Spirit. The Effect of the Guardian Spirit skill varies. The Mechanic is charged by the player activating certain skills like Deathshroud (minus the on kill effect).
Weapon Types (on ground):
Main-Hand:
Sword
Dagger
Scepter
Off-Hand:
Dagger
Focus
2-Hand:
Staff
Underwater Weapons:
Spear
Trident
Utility Skill Types:
Weapon Spells (similar to Venoms in functionality, but buff the player’s attacks instead of putting conditions on foes)
Binding Rituals (similar to Nature Spirits in functionality, but affect foes instead of allies)
Signets
Possessions (similar to Stances in functionality)
Rituals (Channeled abilities that provide unique effects)\
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
There are several other races that could be considered, but I think Tengu are most likely.
Quick List of Possibilities (IMO):
Ogre/Jotun: there are several ogre and Jotun villages, and they have no unique foe characteristics that would be unable to be applied to a player character (unlike the dredge’s inherent blind imunity). While savage/primitive these creatures are more or less human in their physiology and motions. Main flaw would be that they are extremely large in comparison to other player characters, and they also are generally hostile.
Dwarves: only if the next dragon fought is primordius. When Primordius becomes the Elder-Dragon antagonist, I fully expect dwarves to become a playable race, just because of how integral they would be fighting Primordius and his destroyers. As I believe Primordius will be the LAST elder dragon to be fought (simply because he was integral to the LAST campaign of GW1) it is unlikely that dwarves will be available for a few years – if at all.
Mursaat: We have been told that they all left this plane, but there are several conspiracy theories involving the Asura and the Mursaat, it is possible they will make another appearance at some time. They are very human like in appearance, but the main point that would probably disqualify them is the fact that they float everywhere (and they aren’t on this plane)
The Forgotten: Another naga-like race (similar to the krait) that has endured since the last time the elder-dragons were around, mostly in the Crystal Desert area. It is theoretically possible they are still around and could become a playable race when we get access to Elona (which is on the other side of the Crystal Desert). Main flaws are the difficulty of making a character with the lower half of a snake and FOUR ARMS move in a realistic and fluid way while being a free-moving PC.
At this time, the Kodan are much to similar to the Norn to be a compelling and unique race.
Krait and Centaur are both highlighted as villains in their respective zones of influence and it is highly unlikely that they would have a change of heart without extensive Living Story content leading up to it. In addition: both of these races have very difficult bodies to animate in the range of motions that player characters would need to be able to perform fluidly. Anet has done a decent job with the centaur and krait enemies, but remember all their animations and attacks are set into position, not freemoving like player characters. It becomes extremely complex to make the same style of motion in a freemoving character and make it feel complete and fluid.
Skritt/Quaggan/Hylek/Grawl are all unique to the guildwars franchise (except maybe hylek, i’ve seen frogmen befoer) and all have their unique flavours and cultures. As someone previously posted: all these races are tied into the personal story and in those missions they are depicted as being barely in the tribal stages of civilization. Of the four, skritt are the most likely. However all of them have rather rigid animations that lend to their style, again this makes it harder for freemoving characters to retain the same ‘feel’ when in motion.
Lagros are definately possible, but as they are a predominately underwater race, there would have to be a major overhaul to the underwater combat, to make it as engrossing as general combat on land (since most of their content – at LEAST their starter zone – would be underwater. Most players I know of aren’t all that enthused by underwater combat.
Tengu are, in my opinion, the most likely. This is because they are: unique to the Guildwars franchise, have their own highly defined culture and style, already have a block on the world map ripe for a starter zone/homecity, are humanoid enough to borrow many standard animations from humans/sylvari (or slightly edited).
TL;DR: Tengu.
Plus all the ones I have
Gimme dat Tengu Thief!
Minus one.
I agree that there needs to be viable, team helping goals that an individual or small group can make in the WvW setting, beyond taking supply camps, but penalizing one group for playing together is NOT the way to do it. Applying a large buff/debuff such as this overly empowers the few, and naturally caters to those who are already building high damage.
Zergs are the fastest, safest way for someone to level in a WvW setting, and this new feature would allow high damage, high escape classes like thieves to rush in, burst them with heightened damage and escape. Because the thief is dealing 50% increased damage and the up-leveled target is penalized for being near its allies, reducing its ‘decreased incoming damage’ to zero.
In my opinion, what Anet is doing in the next patch will vastly help fill this ‘small group/individual roamers’ niche. These locations are able to be freely capped, important enough to be desired by all teams, and extremely conducive to small group play. A zerg running through could cap one of these points very easily by wiping out the defenders, but the points themselves do not grant points, and you already need the majority of your forces to attack and hold the locations that do (towers/keeps etc).
It will be small groups that are constantly fighting over these points, due to their extremely transient nature.
+1. This is a real problem in overly vocal zergs. Yes: people do use teamspeak etc, but there should be better built-in support for commanding.
Elementalist
Fire
Niche: PBAoE, burning application
Skill 1: Flame Sweep 3/4s activation.
Deal 300dmg to foes in a 300 unit radius. +50% dmg if target is burning.
Skill 2: Fire Wave [8s CD]
Apply 5s of burning to foes in a 600 unit radius.
Skill 3: Lava Spike [12s CD]
Deal 400 damage to 5 foes in a 300 unit radius. +50% dmg if target is burning.
Skill 4: Meteor’s Impact [20s CD]
Summon a meteor to knock down target foe and apply 4s of burning. Blast Finisher.
Skill 5: Inferno [40s CD]
Fire Field: Pulse 1s burning burning and Blind. 5s Duration. 600 unit radius.
Water
Niche: Area Healing + Chill application
Skill 1: Typhoon Sweep. 1s Activation time
Deal 250 dmg to foes in a 600 unit radius. Apply 2s of regeneration to allies in radius.
Skill 2: Frost Circle. [12s CD]
Ice Combo Field: Apply 1s Immobilize on first pulse. Apply chill on pulse. 5s Duration.
Skill 3: Forceful Wave [15s CD]
Push foes in a cone back 300 units. Allies in cone are healed for 400 (0.2)
Skill 4: Hoarfrost [20s CD]
Apply Chill and one stack of torment for 5s.
Skill 5: Brine [30s CD]
Deal 300 damage to target foe. Double damage and 1s Knockdown if target is chilled.
Air
Niche: Condition/Boon application
Skill 1: Piercing Wind 1/2s activation.
Damage foes in a line for 400 dmg. Apply 2 stacks of vulnerability for 3s. 800 unit range.
Skill 2: Playful Wind [8s CD]
Apply 5s cripple to Foes and 5s Swiftness to allies in a 600 unit radius.
Skill 3: Innervating Strike [10s CD]
Deal 250 damage to target foe. Apply 5s weakness.
Skill 4: Stormcaller’s Blessing [20s CD]
Allies in a 600 unit radius gain 5s of Fury
Skill 5: Thunder Storm
Deal 300 damage every second for 5s to foes in a 600 unit radius. Electrical Field.
Earth
Niche: CC
Skill 1: Stone Lance 3/4s activation.
Strike target foe for 300.
Skill 2: Stone Spear [8s CD]
Throw a spear of stone to deal 300 dmg to target foe, apply 1s immobilization and 2 stacks of torment for 5s.
Skill 3: Mudslide [20s CD]
Deal 300 dmg. Apply 5s Cripple. Foes with Swiftness are knocked down for 2s. 600 unit radius.
Skill 4: Stone Skin [30s CD]
You are immune to critical attacks for 5s.
Skill 5: Gravity Well → Gravity Spike[45s CD]
Gravity Well : charge skill: Pulses 2s Cripple and 2s Weakness. 3s Duration, 800 unit radius.
Gravity Spike: release skill: Deals 200/400/800 damage (based on charge duration) in a 600 unit radius. Weakened foes are knocked down for 2s.
Guardian
Niche: Mid-Range Damage + Support
Skill 1: Radiant Strike → Holy Strike → Fervor
Radiant Strike: Deal 250dmg to foe. Cleaves in front. 3/4s activation time.
Holy Strike: Deal 300 dmg to foe. +50% damage if you have a boon. 3/4s activation time.
Fervor: Strike up to 5 foes in a 600 unit radius for 400. Apply 2s of Fury to self for each foe struck.
Skill 2: Protector’s Oath [10s CD]
Channel skill 3s. Block the next ONE incoming attack from all sources to any ally in a 600 unit range.
Skill 3: Crucify [15s CD]
Immobilize your target for 4s. Target takes 200dmg for each second it is immobilized from any source. 600 unit range.
Skill 4: Symbol of the Sentinel [30s cd]
Symbol: Allies inside a 600unit radius are immune to critical hits. 5s duration.
Skill 5: Conviction [35s CD]
Apply 3s of regeneration to self for each unique condition you are suffering. Apply 2s of burning to nearby foes for each unique condition you are suffering. 300 unit range.
Skill ideas?
Ranger
Niche: Mid-ranged Direct Damage (base 600 range on attacks)
Skill 1: Thrust → Sweep → Smash
Thrust: Deal 300dmg to target foe. Mini-jump to target (move up to 200 units) 1/2s activation time.
Hack: strike your foe for 400dmg. 1/2s activation time.
Smash: Strike your foe with an overhead smash for 500 dmg. Apply 2stacks of vulnerability for 5s. 1s activation time.
Skill 2: Piercing Thrust [8s CD]
Damage enemies in a line for 400 dmg. Apply 5stacks of vulnerability for 5s 800unit range.
Skill 3: Jungle Sweep [12s CD]
Strike foes in a 600 unit radius for 200 dmg. Apply 5s cripple. Your pets next attack applies 2 stacks of torment for 5s.
Skill 4: Playful Monkey → Monkey King’s Impact [20s CD]
Playful Monkey: Climb your polearm to evade attacks for up to 1.5s
Monkey King’s Impact: Smash the ground from above to knock down your foe for 2s. Blast finisher.
Skill 5: Whirling Blade [25s CD]
Channel skill for 3s: Strike your foes with a windmill attack. Attack 7 times for 250 dmg. 300 unit range. Whirl Finisher.
And then people will want gloves to wear.
Then they will complain the gloves are small and can’t be seen (They’re gloves of course they’re small?)
Then devs will cater to those people, and make really big stupid cartoonesque hands for them to wear.
Then they will ask for a Legendary Glove, and it will be disproportionately big like those toy hulk hands, and whenever you attack something it’ll say “SMASH!”
No thank you.
Weapon skin aspects aside (I agree with you that it would be terrible to see giant gauntlets) I still think there are many fun mechanics here.
I like this idea, especially the Warrior 5 skill XD. Just toss people behind you, just imagine an Asura doing that to a champion without knock resist.
Wouldn’t work, the first portion stuns, so the toss part would never affect monsters with defiance.
However, as an added bonus, the throw distance could increase with the duration the ability is charged :P
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
But how would you go about putting stat bonuses on your fists? I like your idea but I just can’t see it working out. Plus, I think a lot of the game would have to backtrack to implement this.
I don’t think they would have to change almost anything in the game itself. This would just be adding a new 2-hand weapon to the game. New animations for all the skills, that would be a lot of work. But fundamentally it would just be a 2-hand weapon. Same stat-spreads, same sigil application.
It would make sense you could put a sigil on each hand, but if you make these main-hand off-hand weapons (instead of a 2-hand weapon) it would be MUCH harder to balance.
Please give the Evil Armor some claws, it looks so naked!
Maybe you could also fix the skirt on males so it isn’t so poofy and make it better.
You do understand ur wearing PLANTS right?
HE’S NOT WEARING PLANTS. HE"S WEARING THE NIGHTMARES OF HIS VICTIMS.
To be honest I absolutely LOATHED the stomp mechanic in the scarlet invasions. If it was only on champions, thats fine, but if its on EVERYTHING like the twisted watchwork enemies? I’ll pass.
Elementalist
Style: Elemental ‘bending’ (you know it would be awesome)
Fire:
Niche: Burning application and mobility.
Skill 1: Flame shot
Deal 300dmg at 600 range. Deals 20% more damage to burning foes.
Skill 2: Blood Boil [10s CD]
Aura Skill: Recieve 3s of Fury every time you are struck. 5s duration
Skill 3: Dragon’s Wings -> Dragon’s Descent [15s CD]
Dragon’s Wing’s: Deal 300dmg at starting location, jump to target location. 600 unit range.
Dragon’s Descent: Ability is can only be activated in mid-jump. Drop at current location to deal 300dmg and burn nearby foes for 4s. 200 unit radius Blast Finisher.
Skill 4: Incinerate [18s CD]
Deal 150 dmg to target foe. Deal another 30dmg for every second of burning the target has.
Skill 5: Flash Fire [40s CD]
Burn nearby foes for 10s. 400 unit range.
Water
Niche: Evasion, Chill application.
Skill 1: Water whip
Strike your foe with water, dealing 300dmg and applying 1 stack of vulnerability for 3s. 600 unit range.
Skill 2: Ebb -> Flow [8s CD]
Ebb: Evade backwards 600 units.
Flow: Jump back to your foe. Deal 200dmg, apply 4s of regeneration to self.
Skill 3: Frost Strike [15s CD]
Deal 300dmg, chill your foe for 5s. Melee range.
Skill 4: Frost Mirror [18s CD]
Channel for up to 3s. At the end of the channel, return damage dealt to you to its source, increased by 50%. If interrupted by foe, this ability does no damage. If interrupted by the player, it just ends early, dealing its normal effect.
Skill 5: Eye of the Storm [40s CD]
Pull 5 up to foes to you in a 800unit radius.
Air
Niche: Mobility and Single target burst.
Skill 1: Air Cutter
Deal 350. Deal 50% more damage if you have swiftness. 600 unit range.
Skill 2: Fury of the Storm [12s CD]
Deal 300dmg. If this ability crits, apply quickness for 3s
Skill 3: Lighting Flash -> Thundering Blow [15s CD]
Lightning Flash: Jump to target, deal 300dmg. 900 range.
Thundering Blow: deal 200 dmg. Apply 2s daze. Melee range.
Skill 4: Mark of the Storm [18s CD]
Marks the target for 5s. Every time the target is damaged, one stack of vulnerability is applied, lasting 5s.
Skill 5: Downburst [40s CD]
Knockdown foes in a 300 unit radius for 1s, apply swiftness to self for 10s.
Earth
Niche: Defensive + CC
Skill 1: Swordbreaker
Deal 200dmg, apply 1s Weakness to Foe.
Skill 2: Dust Cloak [15s CD]
Aura: foes striking you are blinded for 2s. Foes can only be blinded once every 4s. 6s Duration.
Skill 3: Pillar of Earth [18s CD]
Deal 200dmg. Launch target foe.
Skill 4: Diamond Body [25sCD]
Remove 3 conditions and apply protection to self for 3s
Skill 5: Stone Shackles [40s CD]
Target foe cannot move further than 600 units away from you for 5s. If the player moves, the foe is confined to the new radius (can drag opponent). Opponent can dodge/move freely within the radius. (basically ring of warding vs one target)
Many are obviously broken, but I think several of these would be extremely fun to play with (in terms of mechanics)
Thief
Style: Ninjitsu
Niche: Defensive + Mobility
Stealth skill: Quivering Palm: deal 150dmg, apply 1s stun
Skill 1: Chain skill: Sweep -> Fade -> Kick
Sweep: Kick at your foes legs to cripple for 3s. Deal 200dmg .5s cast time
Fade: Strike your opponent twice for 200, evade for .75s. 0.75s cast time.
Kick: Kick your opponents head, dealing 450dmg. .5s cast time
Skill 2: Shadow’s Defense [3 Initiative]
Block one attack in the next 3s, if an attack is blocked, shadow step to your attacker.
Skill 3: Dark Strike [4 initiative]
Strike your opponents eyes, Blinding for 4s and applying two stacks of vulnerability for 4s.
Skill 4: Horn of the Ox [3 initiative] -> Trampling Ox[2 intitative]
Horn of the Ox: Deal 400dmg. If your opponent is moving, knockdown for 1s. If your opponent is not moving, apply 4 stacks of vulnerability for 5s.
Trampling Ox: Deal 400 dmg in a 300 unit radius. Deals double damage to knocked down foes.
Skill 5: Shadow Dance [7 initiative]
Evade attacks for 3s. Can move and attack. Applies blur effect to player character.
Ranger
Animation style: Animal styles kungkittenSavage
Niche: Close quarters condition application
Skill 1: Chain skill: Tiger’s Tooth ->Tiger’s Claws -> Tiger Tail
Tiger’s tooth: deal 250dmg, apply 1 stack of bleeding for 5s, .5s cast time.
Tiger’s Claws: deal 175dmg twice, apply 2 stacks of bleeding for 5s. 1s cast time
Tiger’s Bite: Strike your foe for 500dmg. Your pet’s next attack inflicts 2stacks of vulnerability for 3s.
Skill 2: Serpent’s Lunge [8s CD]
Jump up to 600 units towards Target, deal 300dmg and apply 8s of poison. Leap Finisher.
Skill 3: Savage Strike [12s CD]
Deal 200dmg and apply 3 stacks of torment for 5s. Your pet’s next attack deals 150% dmg.
Skill 4: Dragon’s Tail [15s CD]
Knockdown enemies in a 200unit radius.
Skill 5: Monkey See, Monkey Do [20s CD]
Block the next incoming attack during the next 3s, If an attack is blocked, return it to the attacker (reflect all spell effects) If no attack is blocked, apply 2 stacks of vulnerability to self for 5s.
Usable by: Elementalist, Warrior, Ranger, Thief.
2-handed weapon type.
Warrior:
Animation style: brawling
Niche: Short range CC specialist
Skill 1: Jab -> Hook -> Haymaker
Jab: 200dmg 0.25s cast time
Hook: 350dmg 0.75s cast time
Haymaker: 500dmg 1.5s cast time. Applies .5s daze
Skill 2: Counter -> Taunt [8s CD]
Counter: Block next attack. If an attack is blocked, apply 3s daze. 300 unit range
Taunt: Cancel early to taunt your opponent, applying 3s Weakness to nearby foes and applying 1 stack of might to yourself for 5s. Blast Finisher.
Skill 3: Rush [10s CD]
Channeled ability: strike your target 7 times over the next 5 seconds for 1200dmg
Skill 4: Kidney shot [14s CD]
Strike your opponent in their vitals: 350dmg, apply 5stacks of vulnerability for 8s.
Skill 5: Grapple -> Toss [18s]
Grapple: Charge skill: stun your opponent for up to 2s
Toss: Release skill: Throw your target 400 units behind you.
Blast Finishers break stealth if they hit and this also has a projectile so it always hits. You will be stealthed and automatically revealed as the projectile hits the target (so basically it gives revealed instead of stealthy if you’re in combat).
As I said in other threads we can’t have spammable burning on weapon skills (unless there is some sort of fake cooldown like with Infiltrator’s Strike to avoid perma glue or Cluster Bomb to avoid throwing 6 blast finishers at the same time), but 9 initiative for 3 seconds of burning and automatically getting revealed is too much to pay to access burning (we already got a 7 initiative skill and it made the Thief avoid water as much as he can).
Depends on how they do it: they could make the projectile hitting its target be the trigger for your stealth. built in aoe stealth would be broken, but having this be a chain skill that requires a large amount of initiative would mean there aren’t any more thieves with a perma-blind around them.
Perhaps they could modify the #5 so that instead of the current skill, it deals aoe burning for 3-4s, then chains to ‘black powder’ which is an aoe blind and stealths the thiekittenda like a reverse ‘Prestige’
Spamming of either of these ideas wouldn’t be an issue due to the initiative cost. It would not be beneficial to spam either scenario, you would be too vulnerable being reduced to auto attacks just to get burning on the target.
I would think they would release the true ‘dragon armors’ as we kill the respective dragons. You can access the ‘Orrian armor’ which is based on zhaitan already. It is likely that if they are to continue putting in dragon themed armor it will coincide with the storyline.
This is spurred by the wind-catcher back item, which surrounds your character with gusts of wind. I think it would be amazing to have legendary trinkets that add a persistent effect to your character but don’t have a visible source (like the wind-catcher back item. I love the wind effect, but the back piece itself doesn’t really suit any of my characters appearances). Like its always got spirit/souls flying around it, or shadows. Or your character has vines/flowers growing on it, leaving flower footprints. Or changes your dodgeroll to be a short range teleport with a lightning-flash animation. Or an aqua breather that releases scuba bubbles and leaves a ‘current’ trail wherever you swim. There are many possibilities
I can’t say I’ve heard the reasoning why it was taken out of this game, when it was in the first game, but I would LURV to be able to dye weapon skins, especially if you could change the colour of some of the special effects/auras on some weapons.
I can’t say I find it that noticeable, to be honest. I run a high damage spec and I will hit for 9-10k on a full rapidfire (that is, all arrows hit). YES it is a channeled ability, not burst damage, but the damage is still there. My build has 4k attack (without might), 22k hp, 2.1k armor, ~70% crit dmg and 27% critchance. (I don’t want to haggle with ppl about more crit-chance, its my personal build. Higher attack + critdmg results in bigger crits, just less often.) 10k dmg every 8s is pretty kitten big, considering you can be safe in stealth for 3 seconds out of every 9s.
In all honesty I don’t even rely on my pet to do damage at all. I use them for their active abilities, and thats about it. If I want some boons, I’ll take either Fern hound or Jungle Stalker, I want some cc? Krytan hound, wolf, or spider. I’ll swap them when they get low (most pets will survive for 20s in most situations — though definitely NOT in the rampant AoE you see in a lot of the new content, you are definitely right there.) but I don’t feel like I’m losing anything other than the use of the active ability if my pet dies.
I will agree that there are several situations where the pet is useless or, at most, a very weak class mechanic, but even with this ‘handicap’ I find I still out damage many other players/classes in PvE scenarios. In 1v1 fights in WvW I more than hold my own (except against thieves and some mesmers, I’m terrible fighting stealthers T_T) and contribute in small group WvW. Other players in WvW have a thing for targeting rangers first; but if a similarly built/specc’d class was focused, they would have a similar survival rate with 4+ ppl bursting them.
TL;DR:
Basically, I agree that the pet needs some tweaks to its mechanics (not just stat shuffling) to make it decent (I would LOVE if pets got a flat 30% damage reduction from AoE effects, even if it was just in PvE, or if bird-pets could attack ppl on walls again), but I can’t say that the imposed ‘handicaps’ are of any consequence to me.
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
Its been said that you guys are planning on adding new skills, and I’m aware that addign new slot skills would be a lot easier to balance, I’d just like to say that I’d LOVE to see main-hand mesmer pistols. There’s already a phantasm that duel wields them, you have end-game pistols that each have one of the two names of Lyssa, but mesmers can only wield one at a time. It just makes sense to me, and I’d LOVE to see a direct damage ranged weapon mesmer as an option (since staff and scepter are both not set up for direct damage).
“Range” r…..is now “Melee” r. It is the new “support” class. You can tank, heal, cast boons, debuffs. But if you want damage or to get kills..you have to KS for them cause you wont be able to 1v1.
I’ve been experimenting with almost every build in everyway. Unless a GW2 employee can actually tell me what I’m doing wrong (not some number monkey, which flood these forums) Then i can honestly tell you without a doubt. the Ranger class has no place in the top spots either in Spvp, WVW or PVE.
I would absolutely love, in everyway, an employee prove to me I am wrong. Show me a build that works in Roaming WvW /SCouting and i will back down and apologize. Other than that I am not playing a game that “Baits n Switches”. (which is illegal btw)A game that you spend more time number crunching, tweaking, and researching MORe than you actually get to play is not worth playing. I just spent the last 48 hours preparing, implementing , rehearsing and executing almost every build there is in the game with almost every peice of gear there is in the game for our class. NONE of them can scout properly.
I get out ranged, out meleed, out healed, out CC’d and out escaped better by every other class.
I refuse to reroll. My time is to precious to me. I will wait till this unsung hero can show me the secrets of this new patch and how it is implemented in the game with the Ranger , excuse me, the Meleer class.
Thank you for reading,
So… basically you’re asking for proof from the community but explicitly stating that you will only accept proof from the Dev’s. If you won’t accept ‘number crunching’ from a ‘number monkey’. What evidence from the community do you want? Video’s? Video’s can either be staged, or shots of a very skilled player fighting below average or underleveled/geared players. All classes can excell at all roles in this game, if you build for it. That isn’t to say you can make a tanky ranger that has ungodly burst potential, you have to choose what stats you want to focus in. If you are finding you die a lot or lose in 1v1 encounters then I would propose that you are less skilled than your opponents (at whichever rank/wvw tier you are fighting).
Out ranged? Ranger Longbow goes up to 1500 units range. The only other class that can match that is Engineer with grenades.
Out escaped? In addition to some of the best non-boon regeneration of ANY class, you also have a 1100unit leap on your greatsword, in addition to a block (that will continue to block for the duration until a melee attack is blocked, at which point it ends, thus u can block an infinite number of ranged attacks during the duration). Also: ranger has an extremely powerful downed state, surpassed only by the thief and the elementalist.
Out healed? See the above paragraph.
I’ll grant you that most other classes have more cc however.
Aftercast is the period after the use of a skill where the player cannot take any action other than movement/dodging. This means you cannot initiate your next attack/skill until the aftercast delay runs its course. In reference to the Longbow, this was a big problem as it reduced the firing rate of its auto attack to well more than what the tool-tip stated, resulting in much lower dps than expected. This change has more or less fixed the issue to bring the Longbow back in line with its expected DPS.
Basically its animation length, but this DOES effect your rate of fire.
As a Mesmer, I hate it.
Scepter Skill 2
for those who don’tknow it, it only inflicts torment on close range. And there, targets won’t follow you. Especially with a weapon which deals more damage in close range.uhhh i think you have that backwards. Close range targets are generally melee, and if u kite via blink or a stealth, they kinda HAVE to follow you or else let you pummel them from a distance. However you are correct that it does have limited effective vs ranged enemies.
You didn’t understand it completely. Torment is useless when inflicted melee range. That means you have to go melee range, inflict it and then run away again. Why not making it ranged to begin with.
And making you force to use a 30s CD skill after a 12s one, is a bad design as well.But well, well. I tested it again, and the Torment after blocking isn’t (AoE) melee range at all. So even when attacked by range, it’ll still inflict the blocked attack’s owner.
Does it change what I said earlier ?
NoYou activate your block, a ranged guy attacks and inflicted with torment. Well, he’s ranged, he won’t have to move.
You activate your block, a melee guy attacks and inflicted with torment. Well, he already hit you in melee, so he doesn’t need to chase you anymore.
Designing it as melee skill or as block skill is pointless the way it is. Especially in PvE where ranged mobs won’t try to move/ dodge. In PvP, you can assume that ranged fighters won’t stand still and attack you.So in PvE, I’d prefer an anti-torment in Scepters block. Deal double damage if the target does NOT move.
[ Edit ]
I forgot … ANet thinks this is a PvP game …
I think you just dislike scepter two in general. Its a block, and now it provides much more damage. Your statement that melee attackers don’t need to follow you is completely ridiculous unless you assume that you (the player inflicting torment) is just gonna stand there and let a melee opponent wail on you. You don’t HAVE to burn blink, but chances are you would to get out of range again and force them to chase you, thats not bad design, thats using a skill for what it is designed FOR. Torment works well in PvE EXCEPT against ranged mobs, and the vast majority of mobs in the game are melee based, so its pretty good for leveling; even vs ranged mobs they still take more damage than they would from an equal amount of bleed stax (which mesmers don’t have reliable access to) WHILE STANDING STILL.
Part of the issue is you are using a reactive skill as a proactive one. Running up to a melee foe to use your block is a terrible choice. Instead just use it to block when you can’t avoid being hit, and it increases your damage and prevents you from being damaged.
Pretty much EVERY player is constantly moving in PvP, if you aren’t you are probably going to be spiked or focused.
Even in PvE, this is just more damage on a weaponset that is already geared towards condition damage, you aren’t losing anything from using it, it just an added perk over your normal damage.
According to the wiki, the damage formula for torment is (0.11)x(conditiondamage) + 32. This is much more than 75% of bleeding while standign still, this is just shy of poison damage (which is (0.1)x(conditiondmg) + 84
And it stax. And deals double damage while moving.
Using your example condition damage of 1700 (which is kinda low for a mesmer) you would be dealing (0.11)x(1700)+(32) = 219dps/stack while they are stationary and 438dps/stack while they are moving. In your scenario, where your target is trying to flee, they will probably at least START moving. Illusionary Counter puts 5stax on the target, which would be (5)x(438) =2190dps. For 8s: (2190)x(8s) = 17 520dmg overall.
Perhaps I’m doing the math wrong, but as this is the only formula I’ve seen, its what I’ve been using to theorycraft. 2k dps from one skill is NOT underpowered or underwhelming at all. And this is with ONLY 1700 condition dmg, mesmers can get quite a bit more.
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
First: no one is ‘forcing’ anyone to play solo. That is a personal choice. If you find that your current server has a lot of ‘elitist jerks’ then perhaps you should swap to a different server. Guest on and see which ones u like. So long as the population is at a low point you can swap for free (or at least you could last time I checked). As for making money: use your laurels to get the tier 6 crafting bags and sell the loot they drop. Also: join in on the world boss events, you will net at LEAST one rare. Karka Queen drops a guaranteed 2. Either salvage them for ecto or sell on TP. If you use a third-party site to tell you when the bosses are spawning you can just take a short break from whatever you are doing and quickly finish the world event as there will undoubtedly be a hundred or so other players doin it. WvW can also be a great place to make money; you can either roll with a zerg or fight alone. In a zerg setting you will be more secure and as pretty much all activities in WvW count as events you will be constantly getting money/karma/exp on top of whatever loot you get from killing people. If you are ‘outmanned’ (the opposing team has more players in the area) then if you die you will not sustain armor damage and thus won’t have to worry about repair costs.
These things do NOT take long (especially the world bosses) and will net you at least 1gold a day if you are a casual player like me, much more if you put a little more effort into it. Killing random mobs will not net you much money at all, even in lvl80 zones.
To sum up:
Do your daily as often as you can
Try your hardest to get your monthly (gives 10 laurels which will net you 10 crafting bags which will give you ~4 tier 6 mats to sell EACH)
Do world boss events
One dungeon/day will net you 26s, I recommend Cathedral of Flame, its fast and there are always loads of ppl looking for group for it. A fractal will likewise net you some decent coin
WvW will give you a change of pace and possibly help you save on repair costs, and you might meet some players to play with in small group settings.
This is a pretty bad nerf i don’t even want to use my ranger at all anymore because of this. If they would make it 1200 with trait then i disagree with eagle eye. Better put it in quick draw better build synergy.
yea the extra dmg on eagle eye wouldn’t really matter to a condition SB ranger (though there ARE or WERE SB zerkers) I think if they did this then they’d have to make quickdraw not effect LB (or increase the range again and lower the amount Eagle Eye grants). If you made Eagle Eye increase Longbow range and damage and Longbow cooldown you could make Quickdraw only effect shortbow to increase its range, give cooldown reduction and maybe give +5 condition duration or something.
Only problem with that is that most traits that effect weapon cooldowns for almost all classes only have two effects, some only reduce the cooldown. So we’d prolly have to give up teh +5% damage increases which would make me sad.
You’re overlooking the fact that even with this buff a condition thief’s DPS is still about half that of a zerker, and twice as hard to pull off.
Gonna post a build and explain. First: yes the BURST damage of a zerker thief is insane, dont’ get me wrong, I’ve theorycrafted a spec that will do 18k backstabs to medium/high armor, but its pure glass. The condition spec’s damage is over time but it still does decent DPS.
This is the condition build I am going to use to explain:
Yes this site is not current with the newest patch, but the mechanics of the site are still viable when it comes to stat tracking. The only thing you have to do to this build is manually add in the 250 condition damage that isn’t represented by the corruption sigil. This build uses shadow trap, venemous strength and sigils of battle to get 15stax of might for your opening and maintaining 3-5stax while shadow trap is on cd. With full corruption stax and your 15stax of might (that the THIEF gives HIMSELF, no allies) you have 2232 condition damage.
With 2232 condition damage torment does the following: (0.11)x(2232)+32 = 277dps/stack. This is doubled when the enemy is moving to 555dps/stack. With the trait to increase venom strikes (residual venoms, Deadly Arts XII) you get four strikes of your Skale venom, which because of this builds condition duration, last 10s. (555)*(4stax) = 2220dps. This is JUST from venom and so long as the foe is moving, it does 1110dps if they stay still. This is JUST from skale venom. With the condition duration provided by this build torment lasts 10s (5s base +100%). If you calculate the full damage provided (2220)x(10s) you reach a maximum value of 22 200 damage over 10s from Skale Venom; obviously if they don’t move you will only deal 11 100 damage over 10s. Again this is JUST from skale venom.
With 2232 condition damage bleeding does (0.05)x(2232)+42.5=154dps/stack. Opening with sneak attack (pistol stealth skill) places 5stax of bleeding on the target (this is also where you apply the torment). DPS from bleeding is (154)x5=770. Sneak attack’s bleed lasts 4s base, this is doubled to 8s. (770)x(8s)=6164 damage over 8s.
However you can swap to your dagger set and apply more bleeds and a poison via deathblossom and auto attacks. Deathblossom adds another 3stax (154)x(8)=1232dps. Over the bleeds duration (I will only count the 8s of the sneak attack bleed, although the deathblossom bleed will stick around for 20s) you deal (1232)x(8s)=9856 damage over 8s.
Poison at 2232 condition damage deals (0.1)x(2232)+84=307dps
To find our overall, BEST CASE dps:
307dps from poison
1232dps from bleeding
2220dps from torment
= 3759 damage per second
Thats JUST from conditions, though your direct damage would be fairly weak. Yes this is best case scenario in SOLO play, but remember since I’m using Giver weapons and condition duration food/runes that your condition damage can actually be higher! I’m using this set up as condition duration gives more damage overall, just more slowly. This build is also pretty kitten good at surviving with 2880 armor and 14.5k hp on top of the normal stealth bullkitten that thieves get up to.
I don’t know about you but I think 2220dps FROM ONE SKILL on a a THIRTY SIX second cooldown (venom recharge trait) is FREAKING BROKEN
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)
As a Mesmer, I hate it.
Scepter Skill 2
for those who don’tknow it, it only inflicts torment on close range. And there, targets won’t follow you. Especially with a weapon which deals more damage in close range.
uhhh i think you have that backwards. Close range targets are generally melee, and if u kite via blink or a stealth, they kinda HAVE to follow you or else let you pummel them from a distance. However you are correct that it does have limited effective vs ranged enemies.
With the most recent balance patch still so new controversy is to be expected, and I try to ignore most of it. However as an occasional thief player I’ve noticed one thing for sure; nobody likes torment. Some players of other professions have tried to hold it over thief player’s heads as an undeserved addition, but the fact is that most thief players don’t want it. They have zero interest in the condition, and have even begun claiming that changing Skale Venom to apply torment instead of weakness was a nerf.
Conversely I’ve seen numerous engineer players expressing interest in the condition, so wouldn’t it make more sense to give it to someone who actually wants it and will actually use it? After all once player preference is taken into account there is really only one profession that uses torment; the necromancer.
As such I feel it would be worthwhile to give torment to engineers. Specifically to their Elixir Gun kit. With recent changes making kits more desirable across the board, and the Elixir Gun itself having the first stun breaker applied to kits, I expect we’ll see even more condition/support engineers like myself running around with at least the elixir gun on their bar. As such I feel like replacing the poison applied by Fumigate with torment would make for an interesting change. Not only would engineers actually use it, but would be more willing to create condition damage builds wherein it would actually be viable. Furthermore Fumigate’s AoE function, combined with its rapid damage ticks and low cooldown, would make torment more prevalent on the battlefield, thus making it have a noteworthy impact on combat and feel like a true addition, rather than just a tacked on extra nobody asked for and fewer will actually use.
You clearly haven’t crunched the numbers on torment, and thieves get free weakness on auto attack if you use dagger main hand and the 15pt Deadly Arts trait. Torment is a HUGE boost to a condition dmg thief’s dps. Just because it doesn’t help zerker’s doesn’t mean it was a nerf.
There are Rangers left after the massive nerf?
Why?
You realize they pretty much fixed the longbow right?
Also: reducing the range on the short bow does not make condition damage builds using the SB obsolete, especially since in most scenarios you are less than 900 units away from your target. I say this because around half your opponents use melee weapons and another portion have ranged at 900 weapons, while PERHAPS 25% use 1200 unit or more ranged weapons. In any case, most fighting does not take place at extreme ranges of your weapons, especially ranged ones since a few steps away will make your skills MISS due to ‘out of range’
I have no objection to eagle eye working with shortbow to increase its range, I just don’t think the base range reduction on SB was unreasonable
I personally have never run into this issue, but its skewed in my case, as I rarely run a dungeon other than with close friends and the occasional guildie. Zerker longbow ranger is at least as useful as zerker warrior, as you do 2/3rds the damage but from the safety of 1200range, as rapidfire with zerks does ~11k on an 8s cd (not to mention can apply 20stax of vuln on a new target, and more or less maintain a minimum of 10stax vuln with just weapon skills), in addition to being able to pump out 13k dmg on 5 targets aoe over ~4s with barrage on a (24s cd? cant remember atm). A condition damage Shortbow ranger could also put out some ungodly amount of damage in dungeon conditions as u can easily get the angling for the SB’s auto to constantly apply bleeds on top of the high duration poison.
Those two weaponsets alone (provided you are geared appropriately) are enough to make a ranger a viable dungeon party member, and thats BEFORE you get into utility skills. I will admit that for the most part the ranger is kitten when it comes to party support mechanics in their utility/elite skills, but the amount of dps a ranger can put out when geared is nothing to scoff at.
Shoddy pet AI? not all Anet’s fault by any stretch of the imagination. I think it is a mistake for people to expect their pet to do meaningful damage in a dungeon, and that for the most part bring the absolute wrong pet for the wrong reason into dungeons. Want to deal damage in a dungeon via pet: STAY WITH A RANGED PET; if you want your pet to deal damage in a dungeon and not have to babysit it, keep with spiders and devourers, they keep out of trouble for the most part and so you can concentrate on other things (even their actives are geared for this as some leave combofields). If you do not bring a ranged pet for a dungeon, I would expect a ranger to be able to properly manage their pet so that it can still contribute, this involves choosing an appropriate pet (Sylvan Hound for the regeneration, Brownbear for the aoe condition clearing, BlackBear for enemy-wide weakness, Murellow for on demand poison field etc), but the key to it is positioning the pet yourself. In a final boss setting, where your pet will likely get destroyed quickly, switch it to passive until it is strong enough to go back in — you can still make them activate their F2 skills while they are ‘passive’, so you can still trigger that team-wide regeneration from the Sylvan Hound or clear conditions with your Bear etc. And swap your pet for crying out loud. If you are ANY kind of damage spec I would expect a ranger to run 5pts in BM just to get the 2s of Quickness on pet swap, so do so when your pet is in danger. It doesn’t take much to monitor your pet’s health and hit swap when he’s low, and its only a 20s cooldown. Between swapping your pet and recalling it via the heel command or passive/hostile toggle you can pretty much ensure your pet will survive; it’s not always possible to never let your pet die, people make mistakes, but it really isn’t that hard to maintain your pet so that it is up the majority of the time. In my experience once your pet dies once, it DOES get harder to ensure your swapped pet lives that extra time till the next swap is available.
Short and sweet of it: dont use cats or birds in dungeons and manage whatever you use; its not Anet’s fault that people don’t micromanage their pet.
(edited by Oberon Vex.1389)