Healing Surge as Physical could add another interesting mechanic;
They mentioned Physical Skills will also be affected by endurance levels, it could be interesting to add a ‘remove 1 condition per 50% endurance’
Also the Physical Skills trait could also affect Healing surge in its healing efficiency when traited, as the trait affects physical skills based on adrenaline, but that would probably mean a little nerf to the healing values to compensate as the skill itself already works with adrenaline.
Mending as shout, well, would have huge synergy with shout trait and trooper runes, probably a little too much. Heal + Heal from Shout trait + 3 condi removal + 1 more condi removal with trooper rune, and potentially more with the remove conditions on heal trait. Maybe lower the 3 condis down to 2, and slightly (just slightly) nerf the base healing to compensate for the possible trait.
Thematically, I agree both seem like they should switch place, but of course, a lot of balance is needed.
Reduce the passive by a max 8%, but buff the active by 10-20% and the healing power coefficient from 0.5 to 0.75
I mean Warriors have the biggest healthpool so healing is pretty small even with higher healing power.
They said they wanted more active play, I love the Resistance addition, but add a little something more.
Kill Shot
Fire a powerful shot. Critical Chance increases with adrenaline level. (10%, 15%, 20%)
15% more damage against foes under 50% health
30% more damage against foes under 25% health
Like other commented, fits with the name, and the high risk high reward concept, since it has a pretty obvious tell, long cast time and you are rooted.
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Fierce Shot
Fire a shot at your target, gaining bonus adrenaline per hit.
Chance to gain fury when hitting vulnerable foes (something along the lines of 33% chance for a 3s fury, could synergize with Kill Shot to have even better crit chance. Also remove the conditional ‘bonus adrenaline agasint vulnerable foes’, make it bonus at any hit)
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Aimed Shot
Fire a precise shot that cripples your foe.
Weakens vulnerable foes for 4s Not so much about the damage reduction, but more for the endurance regeneration; leave less room to dodge the Kill Shot
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Volley
Fire a volley of shots at your foe.
I… actually love this skill as it is, but, maybe add a baseline 5% more damage? Or make all 5 shots 100% projectile finishers? It does need a boost somewhere. Maybe add a stackable 10% critical chance per hit for the duration of the skill? Or a stackable 2% ferocity per hit for the duration of the skill?
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Brutal Shot
Shoot your foe and make them vulnerable.
Blind them for 3s when shot from the front.
Just another conditional effect. Often thought the skill icon was hinting at some blinding effect.
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Rifle Butt
Push your foe back with your rifle butt.
Gain 2s Quickness on Interrupt Optimizes the use of Kill Shot
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I understand aNet wants to push LB as the ranged condi weapon and Rifle as the ranged power weapon, but it really lacks in utility. Make the skills more conditional, so it keeps a healthy ‘high risk, high reward’ level.
I know ranger already has a skill that grants the ‘Revealed’ effect (‘Sic ’em’ shout), but I think adding a shorter version of it to warhorn 4 could also work; thematically, it fits, we’re talking about a Hunter’s Call
ALSO, by adding the ‘revealed’ effect, it kinda works with the fact that…well… there’s a flock of bird around a target, somewhat revealing!
Hunter’s Call
Call hawks to swarm your foe.
The enemy is Revealed for 4s
It could also be a 2s reveal a START and another 2s at END. This effect would be very situational too, but it’s potentially life saving. Another comment though, adding this effect would pretty much make the ranger anti-mesmer or anti-thief since it has another revealing skill…
‘Hidden Anguish’
Incoming disabling conditions (stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, sink, float, fear, or launch) are transferred to your pet instead.
Applies camouflage to the player.
Cooldown: 40s
Camouflage is really stealth, like the current iteration of Hide in Plain Sight, breakable when you attack and not when you move. It’s a merge a Shared Anguish and Hide in Plain Sight, with small modification too, it does NOT apply to pet, only to ranger, so the pet can still be a small indication of where the player is.
Maybe add something related to conditions, as both guard and warrior shouts have at least a trait OR an effect related to them; Guards can trait them to convert a condi to a boon, and warriors have a shout that removes a condition -
Maybe add the effect to one of the shouts to Remove a Condi from you, but convert it to a boon and give it to your pet. I’m thinking, Protect Me?
‘Protect Me’
Instead of attacking, your pet will protect you by absorbing all damage you would take.
A condition is transferred to your pet and converted into a boon.
It’s still in the defensive/survival theme, and I want to make it clear; the transferred condition to the pet is the one converted to a boon, not on you but on the pet.
Also thinking of yet another twist based on another warrior shout, ‘Fear Me!’
Although instead of fearing from the player, it’ll fear from the pet.
‘Search and Rescue’
Your pet will seek out and revive a downed ally.
Apply Fear to enemies close to your pet for 2-3s.
Adds more utility to the shout, very interesting dynamic in WvW or PVP, can cancel a stomp, and the pet can safely get to an ally (for a few seconds, at least)
Cooldown from 120s to 90s
Effect duration from 20s to 15s (thats 5 full ‘pulses’, as it’s every 3s)
Activation time from 1s to 0.5s
Traited, that’s
Cooldown of 72s
Longer Swiftness
Added Regeneration (love that concept, somewhat fits with the rampaging theme, you keep going)
Also… Just for aesthetic, to keep the ‘wilderness’ theme, I’d love to see the graphical effect to include falling leaves! (Same colour palette as the current effect)
Concussion Shot – Daze your foe with an arrow. Stun them and strip 1 boon if you hit from behind or from the side.
or
Concussion Shot – Daze your foe with an arrow. Stun them if you hit from behind or from the side. Remove 1 boon if you interrupt them.
25s untraited CD is fair for 1 boon strip I’d say, and it’s conditional
I think adding an additional effect to Hunter’s Call should be baseline, not traited
Few suggestions to improve traps. Of course I’m not suggesting ALL of them applied, but maybe a mix and match or one suggestion category
¤ Make the traps become more ‘potent’ the longer they are left untriggered (to an obvious maximum) – Opens up interesting dynamics; You kite the enemy or grab the attention of a player while your trap becomes more potent, and if you’re in trouble or wish to finish off the enemy quicker, move him to the trap.
¤ Change the traps to Sequence Skills that enables you to trigger them manually, so you can exploit the field they generate. The CD will only start if the trap is triggered, not after it’s been armed.
¤ Add an additional ON TRIGGER effect to some or all traps (perhaps when traited). Again, that would apply upon triggering the trap, not for every pulse;
Flame Trap – Blind foes
Frost Trap – 5 stacks of Vulnerability
Spike Trap – Immobilize
Viper’s Nest – 3 stacks of Torment
Also about the Rune of the Trapper, I’d HIGHLY suggest making the Rune bonus ACTIVATE when you ‘throw’/‘use’ the trap skill, and not AFTER the Trap Arming, most traps already break stealth almost as soon as you deploy them, so activating stealth and superspeed before it’s armed leaves you a bit of room to escape.
If they do move it to grand master tier, there’s a few suggestions I’d have:
Increase the health criteria to 60-75%
or
Keep it at 50% (or even lower it a bit), but add an additional boon, such as Protection, or if going the offensive route, Fury
I mean such a trait is definitely designed for battle, so you wanna make sure you can exploit it.
It’s a very interesting trait, but moving it to Grand Master as it currently is, I feel it lacks a little something. Master yes, but not quite Grand Master yet
Crap ahahah just started a similar thread…
I suggested Taunt too, but to ‘protect me’; the pet stops attacking so loses function, and although the skill is a damage cancelling skill, we already have one through Signet of Stone, so I suggested damage reduction instead (to something like 50%) but also applicable to condition damage.
It could be interesting to guard, but guard has a very low CD and it’s effect is already unique and opens for interesting dynamic in fights. You basically transform your pet into a turret.
By categorizing ‘Heal as One’ and ‘Rampage as One’ as shouts, it’s pretty clear aNet wants to push more shout builds for ranger, but I still feel most of the shouts aren’t very optimized (the mix of effect and cooldown)
My suggestion would be for the ‘Resounding Timbre’ trait to actually give boons SPECIFIC to the shouts, instead of regen and swiftness for all of them (a bit like the un-traited Guardian Shouts)
Of course, that’d make the trait extremely powerful, so I’d highly suggest switching the Honed Axes trait with Resounding Timbre (also so that Zephyr’s Speed can’t be equipped with Resounding Timbre)
Here are some suggestions:
Heal as One – Regen & Resistance – Related to Healing and Surviving, Swiftness could still replace Resistance, as ‘running away’ is kinda linked to surviving
Sic ’Em – Fury & Swiftness or Quickness – Since quickness is now a boon, it’d fit extremely well with the offensive nature of this shout.
Protect Me – Protection & Retaliation or Resistance – Supportive/Defensive shout, of course won’t have that much of an effect on the player, but for the pet and allies. Resistance is still viable as condition damage ignores this skill (If I recall correctly)
Guard – Swiftness & Regen – Supportive shout, Swiftness is mostly for the player allies as when prepared, the pet stays statikittenil a foe approaches the guarding zone, so it’s swiftness is not always useful.
Search and Rescue – Stability & Resistance – Given the high CD and actual rezzing time, Stability and Resistance could be interesting for both players and the pet itself, so that it’s a near-uninterruptable rezzing. Most rezzing skills have a long cast time, but this skill has a long ‘activation’ time
Rampage as One – 1-3 stacks of Might & 2s Quickness – Giving a basic 1 to 3 stacks of might give an instant dmg bonus, and again, with Quickness becoming a boon, it somewhat fits with the ‘rampaging’ nature of the skill.
Other suggested alternatives, limit the shouts to 1 specific boon, but add (or modify existing) effects;
Taunt to ‘Protect Me!’ ; The pet stops attacking so it loses a bit of its fucntion, and it could focus the attention to himself – there is a new trait that taunts players when using F2 skills so that effect might not exactly be necessary either, but again, consider the high cooldown on this skill. Perhaps instead of absorbing ALL damage, it could be something like 50%? Signet of Stone is already a damage cancelling move, could add to the skill effects variety
1s Fear to ‘Search and Rescue’ ; I think this effect could be extremely interesting; the pet goes to an ally safely for a few secs, and it could potentially cancel finishing moves in PvP/WvW. Again, high cooldown (normal for a ressurection skill) but take into account the fact that it takes longer to ressurect with this ranger skill than other ressureciton skills.
I don’t think a cap was mentionned yet
Thought of another effect following the Boon Stripping for Rangers Thread;
Remove one boon fromm your foe when you apply poison
Cooldown of __ seconds (should be pretty long considering the NUMEROUS sources of poison)
Could also work if you add it to Moment of Clarity
When you interrupt a foe, you remove one boon
Has a _ seconds cooldown
or
Poison Master
When you poison a foe, you remove 1 boon
Has a _ seconds cooldown
or
Beastly Warden (currently adds taunt effect to foes when executing F2 abilities, on a 15s cooldown)
Add boon stripping too!
Remove 1 boon from nearby foe(or foes?) when executing pet’s F2 ability
Has a _ seconds cooldown (should obviously be pretty long if it affects numerous foes in range)
(edited by ProtoMarcus.7649)
I believe it’s been suggested by players a few times before that the Hunter’s Call skill would be intreresting with an additionnal effect, and I believe this new weapon-specific trait could actually make it happen;
When this trait is active, Hunter’s Call’s birds have a chance to randomly apply a condition (3s bleed or 2s cripple or 2s blind) every _ seconds
I appreciate the skill as it is, but for the rather long cooldown and the actual efficiency of the skill, it somewhat feels like something is missing. And the bleed/blind kinda fit with the bird attack theme
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 an additional effect to Hunter’s Call sounds fitting
I find this trait very similar to the thief poison trait, I understand the pet effect is different, but I kinda see one or two other effects, I mean the name of the trait is ‘Poison Master’ after all
Lower the healing decrease when poisoned to like 25% or 20% instead of 33%
OR
Lower the poison damage by 10 or 15%, since it now stacks
Heal as One is the one becoming a shout, and that brings perfect synergy;
With traits, it grants swiftness and regen to you and allies and has shorter CD
With Rune of the Trooper/Soldier, it removes a condition to you and allies
It could also become like an ‘instant trap’ where there’s only an activation time, but gets all the advantages of the trap-related traits (and rune)
And I think the arming would be necessary on HS as well for Balance (because the trapper expertise traits can really buff the already very powerful skill) by adding more ‘activation/arming’ time. I’d suggest slightly lowering the activation time of the skill, but having a moderate arming time for the trap itself.
Another note about the arming time, it would be necessary if you wanna use it in preparation to a fight, so it doesn’t activate instantly; You pop it somewhere and you wait until someone steps on it. Would be also kinda hard to time allies and yourself to walk on it together, so maybe add some effects to the ‘Manual Activation of Traps’ skills; the healing spring would heal you and your pet IF you’re not standing on the trap
Edit added a Sequence Skill suggestion too; you could manually activate traps for ‘instant use’ although the healing spring would already activate for allies, but as its a water field, I guess…there’s something to do with a manual activation.
But manual activation of other traps could be very interesting for the combo fields
I know traps are usually somewhat ‘offensive’ in nature, but I think it’s the obvious choice, considering it’s either that category or the signet category (but it’ll have no passive effect)
It ABSOLUTELY works and it’ll bring a different dynamic; they mentionned traps have an ‘arming’ time, now imagine that:
You ‘set up’ healing spring, and if an ally goes low on health, he walks to the ‘trap’ and it activates, which is a very interesting supportive mechanic.
Should probably make it so the skill cooldown starts after it pops though, OR make it that ALL TRAPS become Sequence Skills, so players can manually activate traps and exploit the appropriate combo fields from the traps (Fire Field, Ice Field, Poison Field, etc)
Also, with the Trapper Expertise trait,
LARGER spring,
LONGER regen (longer boon instead of condition) and
LOWER cooldown.
Now it obviously sounds a bit OverPowered, so maybe up its BASE cooldown to something like 35-40s? Still need to take into consideration the fact that if it becomes a trap, there’s the skill activation time AND the trap arming time, so it’s already somewhat balanced as you need to time more efficiently
Also with rune of the trapper, I truly hope the bonuses will activate when ‘popping’ the trap, and now AFTER it finishes activating, so you actually get the stealth bonus for at least a little little while
I’m REALLY happy with all the changes, and the ranger changes, I thought I was dreaming; most of the changes are actual changes I wished to see back when there was a Ranger CDI (Troll Unguent becoming Survival skill, excellent synergy with condition cleansing trait /// Heal as One and Rampage as One becoming shouts giving them excellent synergy with the Shout trait and now the Rune of the Trooper has more utility to rangers /// Winter’s Bite becoming an AoE /// And some more (need to find that old .txt file ahaha)
(edited by ProtoMarcus.7649)
Yes, thank you for the feature patch (will need to get used to the NPE though…) and for fixing back Frost Spirit
Now, that and all the ranger love from latest feature pack… I don’t see why rangers should get prejudicially kicked from PUGs
Oops, caps locked. (Hehehehe)
Finally, they removed the cooldown of the passive!
Awesome! Thanks for the info
With the new trait system coming soon, what’s gonna happen to those (like me) that still have a BUNCH of those Instant Trait Reset consumables?
Dear Arena.Net
Thank you.
P.S. Please, consider adding some human female Ponytails in subsequent releases. Please. Please.
Yep, expanders are up!
We get 3 new hairstyles per race per gender, but…
STILL NO PONYTAILS FOR FEMALE HUMANS
I’m sad. Like, I’m about to almost-maybe-cry sad.
So yeah actually this topic becomes a question: When are we gonna get ponytails for female human?
Was about to report the same issue
Can’t get any collection expander </3
Is it giftable? Uhm… Must investigate further…
Home World: Darkhaven
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