I’m not sure about lowering it down, simply due to the traits that offer something when swapping, such as Mighty Swap.
But I wouldn’t mind swapping Loud Whistle with Instinctual Bond and have the latter changed to something else, or have the Beastmastery attribute changed to swap cooldown reduction.
They removed the ability to res pet back in beta because apparently people complained that it blocked the players from ressing downed players when the downed pet moves close.
Honestly I prefer they keep the way it is now and do something about the cooldown penalty.
Is it possible to eliminate or perhaps simply reduce the swap cooldown penalty?
I guess out of all the pet mechanics, this is the one I despite the most, given how the pet performs. I’m willing to settle for 30 seconds base.
I feel that one full minute is crippling due to the loss of utility, damage, and traits, and that this change would make Rangers more attractive in PvE and WvW zerging.
Only risk I can see is in PvP, but I don’t play it, so I honestly have no idea how players use the pet.
I guess I should make a post on this in CDI, but people don’t want to keep dwelling on pet mechanics.
Im not sure if you guys are joking/kidding about the GS. I use it as well, but only to switch for 2 and 3. Sword/Axe (horn, but for open world axe is better, and horn isnt needed when warriors are in party) is strongest, also cleaves if you know how to use the AA, which I guess more people dont than I realized. Only thing good about GS I see (over guardians) is 4. Other than that…. no. Weaker, slower and a little less support. Guard GS has an opener as well, and it blinds. A Pulsing AOE, a burst that puts our silly “burst” to shame, and a group pull for interrupt. Yea…
I’m serious. I only started using sword seriously after Brazil unveiled his build. Before that and since the betas, I’ve stuck with the GS even with pre-buff Maul. And even now, there are times when I still choose GS over sword.
Look, not everybody wants to play with auto off. Same reason why I don’t really like grenades on Engie.
Yes compared to sword GS is just bad, but the only thing it beats sword is ease of use. And I guess one can chalk it up as risk vs reward.
Because melee is always going to be better than ranged and our only other melee weapon makes combining raw DPS and dodging/kiting impossible because it roots you on the autoattack. GS looks good because we have no other alternatives, not because it actually is good. Try the GS on the warrior or Guardian and you’ll see what a “good” GS feels like.
Guardian GS isn’t as good as ranger GS imo.
I also agree on the stow pet thing…it would give us a chance to be more useful in situations where the pet dies too easily. Maybe put a timer on it so we can’t switch too often ?
I nearly spit my coffee on my monitor when I read this. What exactly is better about Ranger GS than guardian????? Guardian is nearly attached to its GS its so useful
Rangers are pretty attached to GS too for the same reason of useful. You have our only constant source of cleave, our strongest hitting weapon skill, a mobility skill, and our only block skill.
Er, I think those Rangers are attached to GS because they hate the sword AA?
As a fellow ranger, I completely understand your pain, sorrow and frustration with how the pet and its lackluster AI holds back this class.
But hey, let’s at least look on the bright side. If AI development for such a major company progresses so slowly, then the human race won’t have to worry about anything like an “Sentient/Sapient AI Terminator Revolt” for another 1500 years.
How is it a buff? Muddy Terrain is basically a trap with built-in Trapper’s Expertise PLUS 50% longer range.
By making it a trap, muddy terrain will be unblockable and it will open the ability up to the effect of trap potency. In combination, it will greatly aid in locking in players in a kill zone. Additionally, by making it a trap, it will allow for flexibility of play when you want to run with melee ball or stay on perimeter.
Changing it to trap will not do anything in locking in players in killing zone, unless you’re willing to reduce its cast time.
The only benefit of changing it to trap is the condition increase from Trap Potency, but that means going 30 in Skirmishing, not to mention you also have to trait for Trap Expertise just to get 2/3 of the original range back. My build consists of 30/10/30 so I don’t have the luxury of having the trap traits, and even if the trap traits are moved to WS, I wouldn’t take them as I have more important traits to take.
Ok you have a point on throwing it down before a fight, but changing it to trap means losing the ground-target which you get it back by spending an extra trait, and even then you still loose 1/3 range.
This is a terrible idea ! Muddy Terrain is one of the only things that actually can redeem the ranger currently (in wvw).
Please Anet, don’t listen to this guy.
Thanks for the feedback. Its actually more of buff than you realise, think it over some more.
How is it a buff? Muddy Terrain is basically a trap with built-in Trapper’s Expertise PLUS 50% longer range.
Apologies if this requires new thread, but I want to ask: Do people want instacast on this skill, seeing as other Arcane skills are instant.
I probably shouldn’t say this, but Guardian players wanting Litany of Wrath being instant made me curious, so I want to know what you think.
I personally agree with Devs’ in that no Heals should ever be instant, but on the other hand, if I’m not mistaken, its cast time will be reduced to .75s in the upcoming patch, yes?
Working as intended. You activate the block, holding the sword at an angle accross your body. You can then activate the skill again to throw your sword at the enemy, dealing some damage and inflicting cripple.
While blocking, if you are hit by melee then you “counterattack” with the kick.
If you don’t get hit by melee then you don’t.
The OP is talking about that most of the time, Counterattack only knocks the foe down as opposed to knockback.
I personally would like to see it changed to knockdown because I find knockbacks rather annoying, but there are other stuff I would like to be done way before this.
You can run around with Ranger in a Zerg Fight, I do it on my ranger all the time, Running Signets and what not…However just because the Ranger can do it, doesn’t mean he’s actually good at doing it… There is a reason GvG zerg balls are nothing but Guardians/Warriors/Necro’s and such..
Also people keep bringing up Healing spring, let me be clear, Healing Spring is great and I bloody mean Great for SPvP, but everytime someone mentions it for zerging or gvg, I question if they done it recently, The one thing all Zergs/Guild Groups have in common is forming in a ball and moving, Healing Spring will not be used most of the time because of this. Its great in SPvP because you’re fighting on a point, but when Zerg Balling its not that amazing….
Not only that, but the fact that it’s a heal means you have to choose between supporting your allies and healing yourself.
Sometimes I wonder if RF should be reworked and become the autoattack and Long Ranged Shot be reworked to become a burst skill and therefore, people who want to play sniper can enjoy doing so.
BTW shortbow needs a revamp imo, but let’s stick with longbow for now.
Since this is the General Forum, I assume you’re talking PvE?
If that’s the case, then the classes that benefit the most are guardian, mesmer, and ranger simply because it is their best weapon. Despite the fact that you like “complex and dynamic combat,” you might not like ranger sword dues to how unique it is, but on the other hand groups will love you.
Yeah I like the idea of taking a page from Zelda and rework spirits from being a separate entity to being an additional cosmetic effect to the ranger or the pet.
So I heard the EB’s gonna be “fixed” because apparently it works even when the pet is defeated. Always thought it becomes instantly useless when the pet goes down.
Oh well, I hated the trait all the way back when the devs changed it to condition transfer from removal.
If I am not mistaken (I could very well be, I’m not well versed with rangers), I think the reason you don’t see them is because spirits are in the defense tree, and with the current “Everyone go balls to the wall max DPS!” meta when it comes to dungeons, it would be like a warrior putting points into Tactics or Defense and calling it a DPS build.
You only need to devote 10 points for Frost Spirit, 15 if you want your pet to receive boons from stacking. Then 20 into Marksmanship for Spotter, and the rest you can put into whatever you like, preferably Skirmishing.
The GS was intented to be defensive. It has a block, KB, gap closer/creater, stun and evade on AA. It is not intended to make tears-of-joy as 4-digit numbers pop up on your screen.
Sword – DPS
GS – Defense
SB – Evasive CQB ranged
LB – Power LD ranged
Axe – fast paced small group CQB
Dagger – defensive
Torch – Offensive
Warhorn – support
I don’t have a problem with GS being a defensive weapon. I do have a problem with GS being unable to hold a candle to the Guardian’s hammer, which is also a defensive weapon.
Pfft the GS doesn’t even hold a candle to the sword even as a defensive weapon, let alone other class’ defensive weapons.
Hell compared to the sword:
DPS: Sword
Utility: Sword
Ease of Use: GS
This weapon really needs some buff. Even if a dmg boost is impossible, I can settle for Jon Peters’ proposal of the Whirl Finisher on auto PLUS Blast Finisher on Maul so we can do some srs comboing. \o/
As long it truly removes condis rather than transfer them to pet, I’m all for any changes to EB. That’s pretty much my main gripe with the trait, along with Signet of Renewal active, because the design is just so kitten.
I mean, it transfers condis to pet, and we consider it to be condition REMOVAL?!
If the devs can merge Two Handed Training with Martial Mastery and move it to Skirmishing, replacing Quick Draw which is merged with Piercing Arrows, it would be truly great.
The evade on the GS is one of the only things keeping power rangers relatively alive in front line fights in WvW. I dislike running conditions because of the passive use of cooldown play it brings. As such, the evade on the 1 allows me to control when i want to evade simply by removing the auto attack.
I would prefer the devs create better means of sustain than relying on passive mechanics.
Am I the only one who wants to see that evade on GS gone? If you want burst then stop using the GS as a DEFENSIVE weapon. It is just another passive mechanic that has no place in game. I would gladly trade that evade for damage boost.
Sometimes I wonder if one of the reasons people Bearbow is because they tried the sword and can’t stand it. I know I did… well maybe not Bearbow, but I gave up on the sword all the way back in beta in favour of GS and only started using it seriously in the last couple months.
Now people could try GS if only it wasn’t rather unremarkable or if they can let go of the idea that GS doesn’t fit the class.
ure, class plays a role in it, but Rangers have roughly the same attack power as a Warrior does when it comes to comparing zerk builds. Also, they have more effective range options. I don’t see how them having a skill that grants them AND their pet Might like that for less point investment is really justified.
Honestly, this class will always have haters simply because it is an AI-based class. Even non-spirit builds are AI-based because of pets, so when you have multiple rangers in a match, you’re still going to deal with AI clutter.
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