Guild Wars 2

About Spirits, lemme find my old super detailed, formatted, clean and clear posts about them ahahaha
But yes, that’s for another (new?) thread

Forgot to mention, all other profession shouts either directly affect the Caster, The party, or Both (typically untraited.)

The ranger shouts is different in that (before WHaO and SotP) they dont really affect the caster, but almost purely the pet, and it puts the pet on standby for most. Unless traited, the only beneficial effect is ‘Protect Me!’ for its stunbreak but it kills the pet 101% of the time.

Also the Sic ‘Em! ’Revealed’ effect was only added later. Interesting concept, but somewhat hard to master as it needs a target. AND the sic ’em effect is removed upon giving order(s) to the pet

Absolutely, and thank you

Here you go! Big text!
_____________________
Ranger shouts are still in a rather bad place. Sure, WHaO and SotP are perfect, but they weren’t shouts initially. ‘Guard!’ is pretty much used for Regen and Swiftness but I guess its somewhat in a good place now. So we have 3 other shouts that have very low usefulness, even with traits and appropriate runes. Here are a few suggestions I’d like some Dev to read just to rethink Ranger Shouts.

First, I’d like to mention that unlike most other shouts, Ranger Shouts are extremely selfish; they offer next to no Team Utility (except when traited… Swift and Regen… Also ‘Search and Rescue’, let’s not even talk about it yet)

The announced change to ‘We Heal as One!’ was very promising, but apparently there was very little testing and it was not balanced but nerfed to the ground.

My first suggestions are for that particular shout,

‘We Heal as One!’

The healing value, the traited regen and swiftness and the CD are perfect.
The boon copy effect is very interesting, but with the new flat duration, you can’t even ‘feel’ the boons. My suggestion is to tweak the flat durations:

• Quickness – From 2 to 4s
• Protection – From 2 to 4s
• Resistance – From 2 to 4s
• Fury – From 3 to 8s
• Stability – From 3 to 6s (it’s just 1 stack after all… A change that wasn’t mentioned as it would copy all stacks of stability before the sept 30 patch)
• Swiftness – From 3 to 8s
• Vigor – From 3 to 8s
• Aegis – From 5s to 8s
• Regeneration – from 5 to 8s
• Retaliation – 5s is perfect
• Might – For this one, either keep its 3 stacks limit but make it 15s or lower its duration to 8s but remove the stack limit.

I’ll mention it again, Ranger Shouts are very selfish, almost no team utility unlike 87.234% of the other shouts in the game. Warr can have a 100% 25 might upkeep, Guard has a CRAPLOAD of boons (to self AND team), Eles and Engies can stack an enormous amount of boons on self and allies… Rangers have nothing.

ALSO, by using WHaO to copy the boons, the ranger is crippling himself a bit, as it puts its healing skill on cooldown. High Risk, High Reward. It fits.

Now, by balancing the copied boons, this is when we can play with other Ranger Shouts -

‘Guard!’
It’s fine as it is. It is pretty much only used for the Regen+Swift Stacking, and for the pet’s survivability (protection is really nice for the pet)
By tweaking the base durations of the WHaO boon copy, it brings some nice survivability to the ranger aswell. a 4s Protection on the player is fair. With 30% boon duration, that extends to 5.2s of protection. Add ‘Protective Ward’ trait and you have a nice protection uptime.

‘Sic ’Em!’
Oh yeah this one.
First, you ABSOLUTELY need to make it so the effect stays after giving pet orders (F1/F2 etc). I mean really. The ‘Revealed’ effect is a nice touch, but it requires target. But still a nice touch.
Change ‘40% Attack Speed’ to 8s Quickness
That way, the effect stays when giving a pet order, and with WHaO, it’ll give the player some quickness as well.
Add 8s Fury to give some punch to the pet, and again, by giving a boon, the effect wouldn’t be cancelled by giving an order to the pet (and always the WHaO synergy)

‘Protect Me!’
This kills the pet.
Yes, the killing curse the killing shout.
Stun break is nice. Effect is interesting. Killing pet is not fun.
Either Reduce damage dealt to pet by 30-50% for the duration OR

• Add 6s of Protection to the Pet and
• Add 6s of Resistance to the Pet
  More survivability to direct damage and condi damage, and again, with WHaO, some nice survival boons on player.
  Other Suggestions:
• Add 2s taunt towards pet on a small radius – It can become a really nice evasive skill; Stun Break + Taunt from Pet or
• Any CC effect is transfered to the pet for the duration of the Shout – Much like the Shared Anguish Trait, but for like 6s. Again, very evasive skill.

‘Search and Rescue’
I’ve had more precursor drops than players using this shout. (Had zero precursor drop in 3+ years of play)
This one could use a bit of love.

• Lower base CD from 85s to 80s. That’s 68 to 64s traited. A nice uh… Little buff.
• Add 3 stacks of Stability to the Pet for 10s
• Add Aegis to pet for 10s
  This will aid the pet in rushing to the ally without being too much interrupted. I really like this skill’s concept but… Yeah
  And the boon copy from this shout would give some support to the ranger, 1 stack of stab + aegis for a few seconds.
  Other Suggestions:
• Add a 2s Fear from the Pet – Oh man that would be super useful in cancelling stomps and would add more utility to the shout. a 2s Fear on a 80s CD.

‘Strength of the Pack!’
This one is in a solid place.
Maybe change base might from 8s to 10s ?
Change the graphical effect to falling leaves Autumn leaves (yellow, orange, red), it fits the nature theme, maybe!

So yeah.

Ranger Shouts = Selfish compared to other professions’ shouts.
Ranger Shouts = Very very low utility except for 3 (of which 2 weren’t initially shouts)
Ranger Shouts = High Risk, Low Reward. Except the same 3.

In terms of balance, here’s a few notes.

• WARRIORS can mega stack mega might to the entire party. Also Banners. And all the boons. They also get burst heals instead of regen when traited.
• GUARDIANS can mega boon mega everything the entire party. Not only that, but their shout trait converts condis to boons, so even more boons.
• TEMPEST shouts grant a crapload of effects to the party, heals, auras, stun breaks…
• REAPER Shouts have more than just ONE effect, and have converts/corrupts
• RANGER offer next to no team utility unless traited. And even then they are awful. High CD, few effects, they put the pet on standby mode. At least make them useful for the Caster himself?

Thanks for reading!

kitten I was typing a pretty detailed thread about Ranger Shouts, PROs, CONs, Balanced Suggestions… Now just as I submit it I see this thread, darn!

Detailed Shouts Balance/Rework

All shouts are explored, there’s comparison with other profession shouts and boon stacking in general

Tweak the base durations please. Please. Near-useless for most.

Suggestions:

‘We Heal as One!’

The boon copy effect is very interesting, but with the new flat duration, you can’t even ‘feel’ the boons. Little tweaks could give a bit of punch without breaking the game;

• Quickness – From 2 to 4s
• Protection – From 2 to 4s
• Resistance – From 2 to 4s
• Fury – From 3 to 8s
• Stability – From 3 to 6s (it’s just 1 stack after all… A change that wasn’t mentioned as it would copy all stacks of stability before the sept 30 patch)
• Swiftness – From 3 to 8s
• Vigor – From 3 to 8s
• Aegis – From 5s to 8s
• Regeneration – from 5 to 8s
• Retaliation – 5s is perfect
• Might – For this one, either keep its 3 stacks limit but make it 15s or lower its duration to 8s but remove the stack limit.

Ranger shouts are still in a rather bad place. Sure, WHaO and SotP are perfect, but they weren’t shouts initially. ‘Guard!’ is pretty much used for Regen and Swiftness but I guess its somewhat in a good place now. So we have 3 other shouts that have very low usefulness, even with traits and appropriate runes. Here are a few suggestions I’d like some Dev to read just to rethink Ranger Shouts.

First, I’d like to mention that unlike most other shouts, Ranger Shouts are extremely selfish; they offer next to no Team Utility (except when traited… Swift and Regen… Also ‘Search and Rescue’, let’s not even talk about it yet)

The announced change to ‘We Heal as One!’ was very promising, but apparently there was very little testing and it was not balanced but nerfed to the ground.

My first suggestions are for that particular shout,

‘We Heal as One!’

The healing value, the traited regen and swiftness and the CD are perfect.
The boon copy effect is very interesting, but with the new flat duration, you can’t even ‘feel’ the boons. My suggestion is to tweak the flat durations:

• Quickness – From 2 to 4s
• Protection – From 2 to 4s
• Resistance – From 2 to 4s
• Fury – From 3 to 8s
• Stability – From 3 to 6s (it’s just 1 stack after all… A change that wasn’t mentioned as it would copy all stacks of stability before the sept 30 patch)
• Swiftness – From 3 to 8s
• Vigor – From 3 to 8s
• Aegis – From 5s to 8s
• Regeneration – from 5 to 8s
• Retaliation – 5s is perfect
• Might – For this one, either keep its 3 stacks limit but make it 15s or lower its duration to 8s but remove the stack limit.

I’ll mention it again, Ranger Shouts are very selfish, almost no team utility unlike 87.234% of the other shouts in the game. Warr can have a 100% 25 might upkeep, Guard has a CRAPLOAD of boons (to self AND team), Eles and Engies can stack an enormous amount of boons on self and allies… Rangers have nothing.

ALSO, by using WHaO to copy the boons, the ranger is crippling himself a bit, as it puts its healing skill on cooldown. High Risk, High Reward. It fits.

Now, by balancing the copied boons, this is when we can play with other Ranger Shouts -

‘Guard!’
It’s fine as it is. It is pretty much only used for the Regen+Swift Stacking, and for the pet’s survivability (protection is really nice for the pet)
By tweaking the base durations of the WHaO boon copy, it brings some nice survivability to the ranger aswell. a 4s Protection on the player is fair. With 30% boon duration, that extends to 5.2s of protection. Add ‘Protective Ward’ trait and you have a nice protection uptime.

‘Sic ’Em!’
Oh yeah this one.
First, you ABSOLUTELY need to make it so the effect stays after giving pet orders (F1/F2 etc). I mean really. The ‘Revealed’ effect is a nice touch, but it requires target. But still a nice touch.
Change ‘40% Attack Speed’ to 8s Quickness
That way, the effect stays when giving a pet order, and with WHaO, it’ll give the player some quickness as well.
Add 8s Fury to give some punch to the pet, and again, by giving a boon, the effect wouldn’t be cancelled by giving an order to the pet (and always the WHaO synergy)

‘Protect Me!’
This kills the pet.
Yes, the killing curse the killing shout.
Stun break is nice. Effect is interesting. Killing pet is not fun.
Either Reduce damage dealt to pet by 30-50% for the duration OR

• Add 6s of Protection to the Pet and
• Add 6s of Resistance to the Pet
  More survivability to direct damage and condi damage, and again, with WHaO, some nice survival boons on player.
  Other Suggestions:
• Add 2s taunt towards pet on a small radius – It can become a really nice evasive skill; Stun Break + Taunt from Pet or
• Any CC effect is transfered to the pet for the duration of the Shout – Much like the Shared Anguish Trait, but for like 6s. Again, very evasive skill.

‘Search and Rescue’
I’ve had more precursor drops than players using this shout. (Had zero precursor drop in 3+ years of play)
This one could use a bit of love.

• Lower base CD from 85s to 80s. That’s 68 to 64s traited. A nice uh… Little buff.
• Add 3 stacks of Stability to the Pet for 10s
• Add Aegis to pet for 10s
  This will aid the pet in rushing to the ally without being too much interrupted. I really like this skill’s concept but… Yeah
  And the boon copy from this shout would give some support to the ranger, 1 stack of stab + aegis for a few seconds.
  Other Suggestions:
• Add a 2s Fear from the Pet – Oh man that would be super useful in cancelling stomps and would add more utility to the shout. a 2s Fear on a 80s CD.

‘Strength of the Pack!’
This one is in a solid place.
Maybe change base might from 8s to 10s ?
Change the graphical effect to falling leaves Autumn leaves (yellow, orange, red), it fits the nature theme, maybe!

So yeah.

Ranger Shouts = Selfish compared to other professions’ shouts.
Ranger Shouts = Very very low utility except for 3 (of which 2 weren’t initially shouts)
Ranger Shouts = High Risk, Low Reward. Except the same 3.

In terms of balance, here’s a few notes.

• WARRIORS can mega stack mega might to the entire party. Also Banners. And all the boons. They also get burst heals instead of regen when traited.
• GUARDIANS can mega boon mega everything the entire party. Not only that, but their shout trait converts condis to boons, so even more boons.
• TEMPEST shouts grant a crapload of effects to the party, heals, auras, stun breaks…
• REAPER Shouts have more than just ONE effect, and have converts/corrupts
• RANGER offer next to no team utility unless traited. And even then they are awful. High CD, few effects, they put the pet on standby mode. At least make them useful for the Caster himself?

Thanks for reading!

The description mentions there are up to 13 unique boons copied, but there are only 11 existing boons (for now):

Swifness, Regeneration, Might, Fury, Protection, Vigor, Quickness, Aegis, Resistance, Retaliation, Stability.

There are 13 unique conditions, I think the 2 got mixed up. Of course not game breaking, just a little mention.

It’s just a description, and its a minor mistake, I’m pretty sure they simply got the number of possible unique condis (at 13) with the unique boons (there are 11, and that includes the newer ‘resistance’ and ‘quickness’)

Just a description mistake that’ll get corrected in a future patch

A little mistake on aNet’s part ahaha,

There ARE 13 conditions, but only 11 boons. Woopsy!

Run and Tag is not fair

Many people just run around and tag, and get ‘rewarded’ (the reward stack) greatly, with MINIMAL effort.

Maybe find a way to make it so people are ACTUALLY rewarded based on an Effort/Reward ratio. I don’t find it fair to see people giving minimal effort and gaining 30 stacks just by running and tagging.

Make it more challenging/Scale the difficulty slightly better

There are so many people participating that even with difficulty scaling, many players have barely any time to hit anything, so have minimal participation rating (bronze) or nothing at all.

There are potentially many work-arounds for this;

-Make it harder when there’s really a lot of people (new enemy mechanics, higher level enemies, more toughness/vitality, Enemies vulnerable to conditions but resistance to direct damage or vice-versa,

-Spawn more vets/elites/champs when a higher influx of players join an Invasion Spot

-Play with the old concept of Dynamic Calibration during the Battle of LA and the Legendary Assault Knights ; Make it so it’s actually only a LIMITED amount of players per Vine; The Legendary Assault Knights in LA had ‘dynamic calibration’ that enabled up to 50 players to actually damage them, maybe work on a similar concept to ‘invite’ (force) players to spread out to other vines, but also STAY on the vine? That would also fix the ‘run and tag’ problem where people run around to tag the event and get a stack of the reward buff.
A quick concept; Players need to hit some plant to be covered with a Red, Blue, Yellow or Purple Spore (commander tag colours) and get a buff for X minutes to be able to damage/participate only in their coloured ‘spore buff’ thing. Of course there’s a limit of 15-20 players per spore, once the player limit is reached, you can’t get the colour buff so you need to move to another Modrem Invasion Spot with a different coloured spore. Players with the specific coloured spore will only be able to participate in such coloured events, which spawn after a previous coloured event is completed fully (so no more run and tag)

Enemy Drops and Karma/Exp

I believed it was mentioned this event was also an opportunity for new players to play with others at some point, so the concept of removing drops/karma and experience from those events is not the best idea (I’m actually not sure if there’s no exp or karma, but there is no loot at all).
It feels even LESS rewarding when there’s no reward but through the unique ‘bloom’ currency. If I recall correctly, the Scarlet Invasions gave loot, exp and karma, why not the Mordrem Invasion? Would be a good opportunity for new players to also gain some stuff and more exp/karma

Reward Buff and DC’ing/Changing Map instance

Many criticized the fact that getting disconnected or changing instances of the same zone reset the reward stacks. I understand changing MAPS is fair, but losing it to a disconnection or a low populated instance to a more populated sounds unfair. I understand it can be a technical limitation too, but there has to be a way to fix this? Going to 20+ stacks and getting disconnected for X reason, not under the player’s control, only to log back with no stacks kinda hurts.

The bloom values

The event was supposed to last 4 days, with a lot of possible rewards from the blooms. There are a few problems with this:

- The bloom amount is very low. Either you save EVERYTHING for one of the potions but gain nothing else, or you buy SOME of the other possible rewards.

-Those events aim new players. New players probably aren’t as wealthy as old players; Not only do we need to use blooms, but some items also require a somewhat large amount of gold. I don’t suggest removing the gold needed to buy items, but maybe just balance everything out. Lower Gold needed, raise blooms needed, but also balance the bloom ‘drops’.

Maybe drop 3 blooms per events? 1 Bloom per Champion Slain?

Achievements!

Yes, make some achievements!
Slay 50 _
Destroy 3 Vines
Build 5 catapults
Get [the reward stack] to 5/10/20/40 (incremental achievement)
…you get the idea!
Reward some AP, maybe one or two titles, and some BLOOMS.
Good timing for new players and achievement system.

@StickerHappy

Actually its the whole 10s (base) but when you highlight a player, it only shows the remaining duration, you probably highlighted the player when it was at 6s?

Vox Hollow, I’m pretty sure they have to ‘manually’ enter a limit, as Guards had a similar ‘bug’ after the latest feature patch; Shouts were NOT limited to 5 allies, so they could mega-boost entire zergs.

Also Hunter’s Call STILL needs some additionnal effect. I’ll repeat what I said before;

Hunter’s Call deals approx. 612 dmg with a 25s cooldown
Rapid Fire deals approx. 1320 dmg with a 10s cooldown AND grants up to 10 stacks of vuln.
I understand the latter is reflectable, but still…

The old warrior Quick Breathing condition conversion effect could’ve been interesting for rangers, as rangers really need more condition management (still can’t understand why both condition removal traits had to be in SAME LINE…) – On that note,

Invigorating Bond.
Lower base healing to 2000 (from 2580) but also add a ‘Remove 1 condition from nearby allies’

Again, rangers and condition management.. Aeuhauhfdfsasd

Natural Healing (when it works) + Signet of the Wild and Birds, I just /sit all day

please note all equipped traits, skills, gear and pet, because I had the same problem (not working) and I’m really not sure what I did and now it’s working…

Also if you trait windborne note (or not) and you hold ALT and Swap Pet with default keybind you become Determined for 3s, doesn’t seem to be any internal cooldown in or out of combat

Never mind my previous statement, I’ve been switching spec lines around and now its suddenly working, been trying to recreate the ‘bug’ but it seems to be ‘fixed’.

Only thing I did was switch around some trait lines and now it does seem to work

Reaaaally weird, did the same thing in WvW, changed some trait lines and put them back as they were and now I see the tick and the healing and it appears in the combat log (it didn’t work at ALL at the time I posted the previous post)

I know there is no mention of ally limit to the Regen affect Call of the Wild applies, but usually, AoE boon application skills are limited to 5 allies, although in the case of a traited Call of the Wild, it seems there is no limit to allies – I’ve used it during Tequatl and to my surprise, I see 20+ healing ticks across my screen. I eventually tested it out around a few players and highlighted them, and indeed, no 5 player limit.

Fury, Swift and Might are still limited to 5 players even when traited but no apparent limit to Regen

Not sure if its working as intended or if there’s supposed to be a 5-ally limit.

Some screen of some of the ticks

+1

Fortunately, Dagger is fine, 10s to 8s and 15s to 12s

‘Natural Healing’ doesn’t seem to be fixed despite the patch notes, tried in PvP, WvW and PVE, no passive healing to the pet

Most Dangerous Game
Trait effect applies to player and pet depending on their own health

>> When under 75% Health

• Gain +100 Power
• Gain +100 Condition Damage
• Gain 1s of Stability every 3s

>> When under 50% Health

• Gain +200 Power
• Gain +200 Condition Damage
• Gain 1s of Stability every 2s

>> When under 25% Health

• Gain +300 Power
• Gain +300 Condition Damage
• Gain 1s of Stability every second

• Perma Fury
• Perma Swiftness
• Perma Regen
• Perma Might (minimum 5 stacks 30s, Nature Magic with Jungle Stalker)
• 150 Team Wide + Precision (Spotter)
• A Crapload of Immob for some control
• The only profession to access Taunt PRE-HoT, and on a low Cooldown (again more CC)
• Potentially heal for 14K health every minute (Invigorating Bond + Fernhound)

Yes Spirits need a lot of tweaking
Yes Shouts could get more love
Traps are actually real solid (if you actually test them out)
Yes some traits need some tweaking

But rangers don’t exactly suck even now

I still think Keen Edge should still be re-added and merged with Hidden Barbs

And casting SoS at the same time as Enlargement would be amazing:
Unstoppable for 6s with a crapload of Might + 25% more damage. Now THAT’S a real Dangerous Game.

Enlargement and MDG with Signet of Stone Effect

• 6 base Might + 2 every second for 5s
• 8s Stability
• 6s Invulnerable to Direct Damage
• 8s 50% Movement Speed
• 25% Damage Increase

They have different cooldowns aswell, so while MDG would still apply the might effect, the SoS effect would be on cooldown.

When you and/or your pet are under 50% health, you gain

• 250 Power
• 250 Condition Damage
• 1s of stability every second

It would affect both player and pet, so if either is under 50% it would ‘activate’.
A flat damage modifier would be better than a better-over-time bonus as you DON’T want to stay low on health, and the stability is an added effect for some survivability. I mean don’t engineers get stability on a super low interval with a certain trait?

Other ways to tweak this trait would be to change the criteria to 75% health or move the trait to a lower tier.

Alternatively,

When you go below 50% health,

• Cast Signet of Stone 80s CD – 64s CD and 3 might when traited w/ Brutish Seals
• Gain 2 stacks of Might for 5s every second

Signet of Stone would guarantee some survivability from direct damage, and since it can be traited, you can get a lower CD and a base 3 stacks of might
You’d also gain more stacks of might faster, and as Signet o Stone’s effect last 6s, you have a ‘safer’ way to stack at least 10 might

About spirits, a lot of suggestions and balance
Spirits – Making them Useful/Viable

Shouts need some love too. I agree they need to at LEAST include an effect on the player and not just the pet. We Heal as One and Strength of the Pack are excellent examples (and funny enough weren’t shouts until recently)

Puck.9612:

The nerf was a knee jerk reaction to a tonic exploit"

No. No no no. It was always ‘supposed’ to work with a cooldown, they simply forgot to add/code it. The skill is not ‘Grant AoE might, fury, swiftness and a blast finisher’ on pet swap, its ‘Cast ’Call of the Wild’ on pet swap’ and Call of the Wild has a CD.

The tonic exploit is still up by the way. Zephyr’s Strength is absolutely ridiculous (25 might, 30s quickness)

It’s not a nerf its a fix to make it work as intended

I mean if it was working as intended since release would people really cry about it?
I do agree about all the other broken stuff though… They really need to fix all professions at once…

+1
This highly suggested idea still needs attention.

The warhorn skill (4) is also a bit underwhelming… EIther change its base CD or add/tweak the effects.

What’s Good:

• Piercing Short-Bow Arrows
• Lower Cooldown on Short-Bow skills

What can be optimized:

• The other effect.

I really loved the original proposition of the damage bonus when moving, was super sad to see it gone, especially since many other ranger damage modifiers were removed or nerfed.

Mandatory:

• Fix the actual duration, it lasts 3s (as the 1 second to 0 second is actually 1 second)

Few possible mechanics suggestions :

• Make it activate on both Evade & Dodge – it’d give greater synergy to Shortbow (3), Sword (2) and (3), dagger (4), greatsword auto-attack and (3) and Lightning Reflexes.
• Change it’s base duration to something higher (6 seconds)
• Make its duration stack – this one is tricky though as if it stacks, there are many many possible sources of evade if it is activated on evade aswell.

Suggested Rework:

• Revert back to the original proposition and tweak it:
  5% damage bonus when moving and
  10% condition duration.
  Would have good synergy with most weapons except Sword’s Auto as you’re rooted. (If it acted like Seaweed Salad, it means this trait’s effect would only be active when moving your characte, not movements caused by skills.)

It’s on my wishlist that they re-add Keen Edge and pair them with Hidden Barbs. That, or at least rework Sharpening Stone

I mean it has a 45 seconds CD for simply 5 bleeds that have rather low base duration.
They could

• Lower the base CD to something more appropriate (35s? 30s?)
  or
• Add an additionnal effect – Torment? 5 bleeds + 5 torment – and keep it’s current CD
  or
• Double the bleeds per hit and keep it’s current CD (so 2 stacks of bleed per hit instead of 1 for a total of 10)

Yeah I do understand the ranger got really bad… ‘balancing’ but that single trait is alright.

I agree they really need to make the boons from Clarion Bond apply to pet when he gets activated (from stowed)

They do need (like you said) at least an ‘ok’ rework. Spirits are crappier than ever, shouts could use a little bit of love, Keen Edge should definitely be re-added/paired with Hidden Barbs and Off Hands should be tweaked baseline and/or traited (especially after some ‘buffs’ they applied in a previous major patch)

I also main a Ranger and while I appreciate some of the new traits, man, I really feel aNet doesn’t care too much about them.

So people call this a ‘nerf’ while it’s actually how it was always meant to work.

Others call it weak.

So a AoE Might, Fury, Swift (Traitable Regen) and Blast finisher on a 30s (24s traited) CD is weak?

• Pair that with Zephyr’s Speed for +Quickness and +3 might when entering combat (with stowed pet)
• Pair that with off-hand torch Bonfire Skill and enter combat with stowed pet for +3 might (AoE)
• Throw in a warhorn with sigil of strength and you get +5 might on the fire field from bonfire on swap + Call of the Wild
• ‘Windborne Notes’ for lower CD + Regen
  So what you get is

Self

• 12 Might
• Fury
• Swift
• Regen
• Quickness

Allies

• 8 might
• Fury
• Swift
• Regen

I understand people want it to be sync’d with pet swap and I’d totally welcome that, but as it currently is, it’s really fine.

Invigorating Bond is fine as it is. on a 20s CD, with no bonus healing power its

7740 health per minute.

If you use fernhound, it’s a whopping
14640 health per minute (actually MORE than that because of the minor that makes pet boons last longer, so even more healing form the fern hound’s regeneration boon.) >> 2580 + 1000 + (minimum) 1300 health * 3

Jephiroth I have the same setting ahahaa
Traveler on Guard, Ranger and Mesmer specifically (… Ascended Celestial w/ Traveler)

that would be overpowered considering some pets have 4s cooldowns. Some F2 effects already lack ICD (I smell some balancing incoming) so eagles are F2 spam masters

I’m thinking Druid will introduce a ‘permanent pet passive mode’

• It’s a toggle, F5 when you equip elite spec Druid
• When a pet is this mode, the player gains a passive buff based on the pet’s family
• The F2 changes and becomes much more support oriented
• The F2 doesnt put the pet in combat mode in this ‘permanent passive mode’
• Enemies ignore the pet, the pet doesn’t pull aggro in and out of combat.
• You can switch back to the ‘normal’ mode but then the permanent passive mode goes on CD

The pet could have a different graphical effect; Maybe look all ethereal or spirity? Semitransparent etc, like a spirit

Sinister is

• Condition Damage
• Power
• Precision

Same stats as Rampager but with Condi Major instead of Precision Major

Also, I’d like to strongly suggest a cooldown system in the pet management panel, over each pet skills (including the F2 just for consistency) so you can have a better idea when the pet can use a skill. Very very small QoL change, but I’d like it

Current GW2/Non HoT maps, Berserker

HoT maps, you’ll want to invest in condition damage, probably sinister (condi main) or rampager (precision main) as many foes have a lot of toughness (resistant to direct damage but still as vulnerable to conditions)

Always depends on what weapons you want to use

Suggested reworks

Doubling their base health could make them much more viable too, since they are vulnerable to crits and conditions

And I thought they mentionned the active would proc on death whether player-induced death or killed by foes…

They should definitely activate on death no matter the source, or maybe play around that; When killed by a foe, it procs its active, but a more powerful version of its active. So they’ll become dangerous when alive, but equally dangerous when killed

Alternate Reimagining of

Whirling Defense 28s CD

Reflect projectiles and evade attacks while damaging nearby foes.

• Damage Damage (10x): 1380 (3.75 dmg coefficient for total hits)
• 10 Vulnerability: 10 s
• Number of Targets: 3
• Duration: 2.5 s
• Evade Duration: 2s
• Attack Radius: 210
• Reflection Radius: 110
• Combo Finisher: Whirl

Compared to old WD,

• Damage goes from 3.0 coefficient to 3.75 coefficient (in comparison, Warrior’s Hundred Blade is a 4.20 coefficient on 8 hits in 3s on a 8s cooldown)
• We go from 12 hits to 10 hits
• Duration goes from 5s to 2.5s
• Attack radius is changed from 180 to 210
• Reflection Radius is changed from 90 to 110
• Bring back the whirl finisher, seems to be bugged
• Remove retaliation, but grant 2s of evade
• Lasts half as long but stacks 1 vuln per hit for a total of 10 vuln stacks instead of 12
• Cooldown slightly augmented to 28s compared to 25s, traitable to approx 22s

It would add a lot of utility (being able to evade attacks and reflect and vuln) and satisfying damage if you can land it fully. The fact that you are rooted really messes with this skill’s efficiency

They should make the ferocity bonus equivalent to Warriors’: 150 PER AXE

300 Ferocity if dual wielding or
150 ferocity if you one hand axe or off hand axe (yummy with Sword/Axe)

Also, all off hands’ mechanics should be revised.

• Torch
  In a previous major patch, they BUFFED the bonfire radius, now its nerfed, I really suspect someone simply forgot.

• Dagger
  I think this one is pretty good as it is right now, in terms of range, radius and utility.

• Warhorn
  Love the extra regen on Call of the Wild when traited (great synergy with Clarion Bond), though I still feel
  ’Hunter’s Call’ needs…something else. The total DPS is VERY low for a 25/20s cooldown. I understand it’s a power weapon, I feel it needs some utility. Blind is an often suggested effect (3s on skill use + 1s every 2s or something)

• Off-Hand Axe
  Path of Scars feels alright, though they should really fix how the thrown axe behaves; trying to pull someone in a gap standing between player and target doesn’t work as the axe ‘falls’ in the gap (and doesn’t come back).
  It’s also been suggested a few times to add an effect on the outgoing axe to up the chances to have a successful return such as a short 2s cripple or 1s knockdown.
  Maybe add synergy with main axe? 1s knockdown if the foe is Chilled (from Axe 3’s Winter’s Bite) or is Weakened (again from Axe 3’s Pet Effect – next pet attack inflicts weakness)
  Whirling Defense
  The radius should not necessarily be as HUGE as old traited WD, but a bit bigger than it currently is would be nice. Also, given its big cooldown and the fact that you’re rooted the entire skill duration, I’d love to see a damage increase; some people suggested comparing it to Warrior’s Hundred Blades: You really wanna get out of the way or else you’re in trouble. Retaliation is nice, the vuln stack is nice, maybe work on the vuln stacking to make them land more appropriately? An interesting change could be to lower the duration, but triple the damage and double the vulnerability stacks, so for half the hits, you gain the same amount of vuln and a bit more damage.

Huge suggestion list taking into account overall balance
How to make spirits viable/useful

I mentionned active effects, passive effects and the boon mechanics

Also, they should really consider adding an effect to ‘Hidden Barbs’ since its been nerfed to 20% bleed damage instead of 33%: The old Keen Edge (apply ‘Sharpening Stone’ when target reaches 75% health) Please aNet please.

Quickdraw on Splitblade or Throw Torch/Bonfire is super strong for all that condi stack.

Also its not a Knockdown on Spike trap, its a LAUNCH (and it looks beautiful ahaha)

Okay I must say… I finally toyed around a LOT in PvP with traps and they are pretty solid. Little comments:
Spike Trap’s kitten CD is still a bit too high, lowering it to 40s traitable to 32s would be awesome

Healing Spring
Don’t make it triggerable anytime someone steps on it with 100%, add in a 90% health criteria or something. Also, don’t make the burst heal proc when you Setup the trap, make the burst happen when you trigger it. Also, pet doesn’t get healed.

Maybe instead of regen, its healing per pulse, with 10 pulses at 320 health heach?

I don’t know where the ‘Still Bad’ comes from, Shortbow has always been underwhelming yes, but Long Bow is where ranged damage is at. No more 5% dmg modifier, but the longbow is really strong, with base 1500 range and base 100% arrow velocity

Shortbow does need a rework, or at least tweaks (there’s already a bunch of threads about it) but is alright for its utility more than for its damage output.

No idea why " forty five seconds " is censored AHHAAH

(COpy Pasta from Power Ranger thread)

In PvP, when I don’t run Condi, I run GS/Sword Axe with Valkyrie and of Rage (or Wurm) Edit: Mentionned Build Here *Note that in this calculator, it’s not the updated Valkyrie Stats, so the overall stats are off.

We Heal as One

Either Sic Em or Signet of the Hunt
Lightning Reflexes
Quickening Zephyr

Strength of the Pack

GS – Sigil of Battle + Sigil of Intelligence
Sword/Axe – Sigil of Battle + Sigil of Fire

Pets: Dual Birds – HIGH burst and chill + blind are nice utilities. WIth Sic ’em, omnomnom

Marksmanship 3/3/2
Wilderness Survival 2/3/2
Beastmastery 3/2/2

Shouts grant regen and more swiftness, you get a LOT of fury (when entering combat, on pet swap, chance on GS hit (10s CD, 50% chance to proc for 3s), on Survival SKill use, on Elite skill use 4 times)

REMEMBER TO STOW PETS.
Once you enter combat, with Clarion Bond and Zephyr’s Speed you gain 4 might, quickness, swift and fury when you enter combat; so you gain 2 opening strikes. AND Zephyr’s Speed has no CD so you can swap right away for more quickness and might.

You also have a lot of evade and can put distance really fast (GS ³, Sword ²+², Lightning Reflexes, and now Super Speed from Quickening Zephyr, and mix that with Owl’s Chill + some shout’s Swiftness)

Melee ranger, you’ll want axe as off hand for CC, vuln stack and higher burst. a LOT of ferocity, a LOT of opening strikes, and a LOT of survivability.