Guild Wars 2

Congratulations. rangers with the nature magic and beast mastery line are now the SINGLE MOST EFFICIENT fury stacks in the game. With a 20 second cooldown and a 22.5 second duration furious screech for the red moa now provides permanent fury to 5 people withing 600 radius.

All with a single button press.

PRAISE THE MOA…PRAISE IT.

I have never heard of this map name. Perhaps you have the wrong forum.

Cecilia.5179:

AI builds are generally cheesy and don’t always require any amount of skill to usem making them somewhat unfun in comparison to our non minion builds. I imagine nobody is really talking about minion builds because people would rather the class be good without relying on AI.

Cecilia I gotta agree with the others there. Against skilled opponents the minion mancer is far from brainless. And involves one of the most complex CC comboes in the game as its primary method of damage mitigation and application. You can brainlessly kill new players with ANY build. Its only when fighting equal opponents (assuming BOTH combatants are skilled) that you see how much skill a build really takes.

The warthog is decent. Though a spider may help to give you an additional condition source. The forest spider will be quite nice when combined with the poison traits in wilderness survival. Providing almost guaranteed 100% poison uptime.

Id reccomend waiting till tuesday though and trying out the new pet traits like companions might in the beast mastery line (will cause the pet to bleed on auto crit). If there scaling is fixed (or malicious training in the WS line is improved) and its combined with the bleed on crit trait from the skirmishing line the pet can become a source of a massive number of bleeds (ESPECIALLY the birds/cats with there high precision. Though nearly ever pet should reliably crit if you take hte beast mastery line)

uhohhotdog.3598:

Shadelang.3012:

1) Mortar Shot: Launch an explosive round from your mortar kit damaging foes in the target area.

Assuming your not trolling.

Why would he be trolling? It seriously irritates me that people can’t ask a question without someone asking if they’re trolling.

Though I guess that makes you the troll.

… if thats how you want to see it fine. I made that ending to my post because of how relatively easy it was to figure out what it said. Without looking it up or doing additional research at all. So I answered it honestly. And yet honestly didn’t expect it to need answering. Sadly the last week has cost me alot of my faith in the gw2 forum community. And frankly I don’t trust half the people here as much as I used to due to the willful misinformation I see spread and pure joke threads that get turned into arguments. And I don’t feel even slightly guilty that it shows in my posts.

1) Mortar Shot: Launch an explosive round from your mortar kit damaging foes in the target area.

Assuming your not trolling.

from what I understand its a force detarget and loss of control skill

agreed. Please keep working as hard as you have on this game. You’ve made great progress. The quality of the story has gotten better. The combat of the game has gotten better (and is about to get ALOT better on Tuesday.). And the game feels like it gets that little bit deeper with every content update.

I really want to keep playing to see where it all goes. And I will. Keep it up.

Grimm.2685:

I just wanted to take some time to say thank you for the all of the time and content that I have been able to enjoy in both Guild Wars 1 & Guild Wars 2.

I look forward to participating in the upcoming beta events for Heart of Thorns, as well as playing with those who work to gain enough personal XP to over come these illusions of perceived entitlement and pricing injustices, so that they can truly enjoy the game.

Going to agree. Thank you anet for the strides you have taken to making and even improving the guild wars franchise. I can’t wait for dinosaurs…even if they do trample over my corpse a few times.

Frankly. If your upset at anet be upset at anet. But don’t kittening harass people. Theres no bloody excuse to the people doing this and im all for the people that are actually taking part in it getting banned. Since it very much violates the agreement we all made with the company when we bought there product and logged in.

ANYONE that attempts to justify targeted attacks against individual members is kittened in the head. We see this kitten in the real world all the time and it NEVER at any point ends well. Its stupid. Its irresponsible. And its blatantly immoral.

As others have said. If you don’t want to give them your money DON’T DO IT. Your allowed not to. But last I checked the kind of attacks that have been apparently going on are last I checked considered harassment. And there illegal. I meen seriously? Mailing peoples private game accounts just to kitten at them? How low can you get.

A very well played ranger (either longbow or condi) can go against them. Its really up to the rangers to avoid key skills. (ice grenades. Net shot. magnet pull etc.). Ive noticed an axe offhand goes a long way towards negating most of what an engi has. Probably because seeing an engi hit himself with overcharged shot is one of the best feelings on the planet.

warbignime.4610:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

warbignime.4610:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Couple of mistakes you made. I corrected them.

“There you go people, are you guys happy now that we have 20 new really tiny maps instead of 3 the size of the silverwastes.”

Have you seen Verdent Brink? go check out beta footage on Youtube.

Here is a datamined picture of Verdent Brinks, with Dry Top and the Silverwastes next to it and Brisbane on the far right.

It was rescaled on mini map to give you a better picture, that is not the actual map size. You can use Tyria 3D which to check out the collision data.

This. Verdant Brink is massive in comparison to other gw2 maps.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

warbignime.4610:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Couple of mistakes you made. I corrected them.

“There you go people, are you guys happy now that we have 20 new really tiny maps instead of 3 the size of the silverwastes.”

Have you seen Verdent Brink? go check out beta footage on Youtube.

Here is a datamined picture of Verdent Brinks, with Dry Top and the Silverwastes next to it and Brisbane on the far right.

Good. Now multiply that by 3. All your seeing right now is one biome. You can’t actually see the canopy or the undergrowth.

I actually ended up looking at a shoutbow build with really high (almost permanent) poison uptime taking wilderness survival nature magic and beast mastery. All in all the build is also highly gank resistant thanks to natures ward evasive purity and bark skin. While also using barkskin and guard to MASSIVELY reduce the damage pets tank. Would be good when using drakes in large scale combat. Especially since guard is instant cast now.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Couple of mistakes you made. I corrected them.

“There you go people, are you guys happy now that we have 20 new really tiny maps instead of 3 the size of the silverwastes.”

Except….there significantly larger than silverwastes….like. ALOT larger.

Honestly. I dont think some people can quite grasp what the whole three biomes thing actually means. They hear (oh hey there 3-4 maps) and they convince htemselves theres ONLY 3-4 maps worth of content inc omparison to whats out now.

Ive even seen people under the impression that verdant brink is the only map…(had a good laugh on that while at the same time being repulsed at how terrifying it is that some people actually believe that.)

I assure you and promise you that the vast majority of players are NOT like that. The ones you got nailed by are the ones that have the delusion there being scammed by anet and have already decided that this is the case regardless of proof. Your message ended up being evidence against set delusions. Which since they CAN"T believe that they are wrong they are convinced that not only are YOU wrong but your doing it on purpose. Its a delusion leading to more delusions in order to fit there view of reality.

Im very sorry you got caught in that so early in your life in Gw2. I hope your experiences from this point on are pleasent. All trolls aside. This is probably the best time to join Gw2 with some of the biggest rebalancing changes in the game occuring in less than a week.

So I asked around with some friends of mine and asked them what they would price the content thats coming with and coming because of the HOT expansion. Its by no means a complete survey I asked maybe 20 people.

For the PvE focused players on average they placed the content theyl get at around 15-20$ so far. The WvWlders placed the new maps at around 10$ in value. The PvP guys went for 5$ on the pvp map. Some of my guildies said they would pay 10$ for the guild halls provided the guild halls have a substantial impact. So add all that in and its 40-kitten in worth for the total content value (again this is the view of my freinds and a few of my guildies only. can’t claim to speak for the entire game so I wan’t even attempt to…unlike some people)

I feel people like to forget about hte WvW and the TPvP changes coming since were getting it whether we get HOT or not. But in a way its unlikely those changes would have even occured without HoT. After all they have to pay for new maps SOMEHOW. So the belief that youd get something that massive entirely for free without paying for it at SOME point is….stupid.

Its just when I thought about the grand total of all that were getting. The price makes alot more sense.

Lisjak. The expansions almost always cost more than the core game once they come out because the core game at that point has been sold on sale for quite awhile.

To the OP. As others have stated. The expansion costs 50$. There GIVING the original game to new players ON TOP OF THAT. in order to make sure that new members arn’t shafted into being locked into old content unless they drop 90 dollars on the spot. They did it to encourage new players to join the game. Lets take a look at what existing players are getting coming with the expansion for free…..Pretty much everything that isn’t directly related to PvE….. (wvw changes. TPvP changes. both are completely 100% free and available to everyone…they didn’t have to be.)

ArchonWing.9480:

Issue: Rangers can kill other players
Priority: Critical
Solution: There is currently no solution because damage can prove fatal to your character, especially if the enemy is located on a wall.

Workaround: Walls are meant to obstruct your progress and the enemy can use higher ground against you. It would be a bad idea to go attack a wall by yourself as you cannot damage a wall without siege weapons. I would suggest not approaching the wall.

Workaround 2: There is also pve. Player damage cannot kill you there.

Hope that helps! I will apologize that currently that rangers are indeed exploiting the game by being able to kill players. Now if you excuse me, I’m just going to stand on a wall for a bit.

I’d also like to apologize to necros, because they really don’t have much to fight a pew pew ranger actually.

This might actually be the funniest kitten thing ive read in weeks. thank you.

Hey there darkness. I currently run ranger for my guilds gvg team. I can say that ranger is very much capable of going toe to toe with opposing picks. Ill describe my experience as well as I can.

WARNING WALL OF TEXT AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL. (note my perspective here is soley from a GvG point of view. And has no relation in TPvP)

The most important aspect of a longbow ranger in gvgs atm is our effective range. Our range is so massive were able to move in ways that most classes simply can’t if they still want to be in position to take advantage of an exposed target. Infact in the age of walls of reflection and asuran golem skills we HAVE to move in wide arcs in order to keep our damage from being negated by a single skill. Luckily we have the ability to do that.

This range allows us to act in a few roles that rangers excel at.

For example we make excellent chasers. In fact id say done properly were the best chasers in the game as far as gvg’s are concerned. We don’t have that instantaneous burst that thieves or mesmers have but we do have enough steady damage that we can annihilate weakened targets. And our base damage is high enough that those targets arn’t just necros and elementalists but warriors are guardians as well. I would say over 30% of my downs in gvg are enemy heavies that thought they had gotten away from our melee train only to get shafted because they thought the wall of reflection was covering them when I was actually at a 90 degree angle to there grp.

Our range also allows us to directly punish downed players and even the players attempting to rez. Ive gotten quite a few kills on people that tried to help the necro next to them I had just finished shooting down. Drake pets with there f2s also make AMAZING down cleave options when combined with longbow fire. Not to mention the 5-6k tail swipe crits.

We also make very good bait. I can’t tell you how many times ive seen enemies of ALL classes come out of there ball to try to stop me from shooting one of there low health players. Enemy pick leaping on me is a big way to get counter kills provided you are able to react fast enough. (NOT RECCOMENDED. Two thieves can down you INSTANTLY. if they get there burst right you simply wont be able to press signet of stone or protect me fast enough. But its funny as hell when it works and your fellow pick annihilate them)

But more than that its actually quite often youl see a warrior or guardian leap out of there stack to try and chase you down. At this point its pretty much a free kill for your necros or your fellow pick. As they often isolate themselves. Its even better when 2 or 3 of them decide to do it at once. Because that largely signals the death of there melee ball depending on how the fight has gone up to that point.

I will say this. The effectiveness of a ranger in gvgs depends not only on his own skill and ability to find and eliminate targets safely but also the skill of his fellow pick and his team in general. The rangers positioning is largely dependent on where the melee balls are. In a way the more chaotic the field the better off the ranger is as he can use the people around him stealth off of at will. Theres also cases where a ranger is going to be exposed while firing on a target. (its hard to stealth when you have barrage rolling on a downed player). Having fellow gank that can watch you and leap on an enemy gank that decides to hit you while your exposed can be a MAJOR bonus for the ranger because it means that ranger can be more aggressive.

Also. If its simply inducing rage in the enemy team id say the ranger does it best. Having that annoying kitten standing at 1500 range way off to your left in a seemingly exposed area shooting you over and over and over again is gonna kitten ANYONE off eventually.

Speaking as a ranger one of the most terrifying classes to have come after me is a melee warrior. Theives are usually fairly easy to negate as long as you time things correctly. And either way the fight is decided in the first few seconds. When fighting a heavier melee build however things become dicey.

Its not a “okay if I survive these 3 seconds I have the advantage.” Its a fight where litteraly any small mistake I make could get me in range of something I can’t easily break combat with. Which is bleeding terrifying when you see one such fight come whirling at you out of a zerg at 600 range per second when you just popped your elite earlier in order to pin down a necro.

Because of that I can’t say that melee is useless. I would say heavily it depends on the player behind it. Like the difference between a good ranged dpser and a bad ranged dpser is that the good ones dont cave the second something breaks there rythm. A good melee FINDS the targets hes in a position to go after and knows exactly what he can use to make SURE he reaches it.

Ive seen full melee warriors. Guardians. power melee rangers and even zerg surfing melee mesmers(these guys are freaking terrifying) absolutely WRECK people that had every advantage against them including range.

So I can’t agree that there useless at all. Infact I would go so far as to say your flat our wrong.

Mobility is your best defense. If your still you increase the likelyhood of getting pinned by SOMETHING. Also just because they reworked teleports doesn’t mean they can’t reach you. They just have to get creative about it.

In all honesty after my first ne jerk reaction I realized this was actually okay. Reaper is still going to soft lock the movement of most people it catches. And it does have tools to keep foes from getting away. Ive come to realize we can actually use our chill to force htem to use there movement skills early in the fight. Making those skills have longer recharge times.

In other words there going to use there skills to get back from us. But when they reengage itl be longer before they can do that again. And the reaper is going to win nearly any attrition style fight in that form. Yeah some specific builds will be difficult to lock down. But then I feel there should be some such. Against other builds though were still going to wreck them.

sorrychief.2563:

why wouldn’t a ranger use frost spirit or spotter?

multiple reasons. Its boring. Its really boring. Its unbelievably boring after the three hundredth dungeon. Its not required to complete content. The only team that really NEEDS it are those attempting to speed run. Having a frost spirit detracts from your playstyle if your playstyle doesn’t involve actually running something like that. Spotter takes up spots for piercing shots or eagle eye. both of which have better personal uses.

Ill run them generally for groups I respect (high level fractals. Guild dungeon runs.) But for the average whiny twit that wants to blame his death on someone else? Nah. Ill run what I enjoy.

We know dragonhunters are supposed to be EXTREMELY anti dragon minion. More so than anyone else at this point. To the point where it makes sense the first ones would be those that lost friends and family to the sylvari. Or that saw there loved ones become risen and attack them.

Eir dieing could possibly mark the begging of “dark bram” a “kill em all” fighter to aggressive to fit the normal “guardian” mold. He inherits instead the fighting style of his mother. Reshapes his magic to fit his new combat style. And changes his methods to ensure NOT the survival of his allies. But the death of his enemies.

The cross from Priest to Zealot anyone?

I can’t really much in the perspective of a warrior as I play mine extremely rarely. However. As a ranger all I can say is ‘I know your pain’ My build and traits are pretty much predetermined. Its that way for quite a bit of people. The “meta” is so confining that every now and then someone ends up on the wrong side of it. Which is what happened to you.

Honestly with your likely damage output there shouldn’t be a problem. But people are going to complain the second they see less than 25 stacks of might from you (or no spotter or frost spirit from me) because they see it not as you hurting your own damage but as you hurting theirs. Which is all they care about.

Archon.6480:

@Shadelang The most dangerous conditions are stun, immobilize, and knockdown. 1v1 battles should be manageable for most Rangers. The fights that we are talking about are 2v2 to 5v5, and sometimes 1v2, 2v3, or 3v4. I would love to see this TPVP build that is effective in those scenarios without condition removal.

@borya: direct damage is in no way superior to conditions in group fights. Look at shout bow, d/d elementalist, medi-guard. Look at Shatter Mesmer and tell me how he is not going to 100-0 you if you can’t break his immobilize. Same goes for thief.

Edit: look at meta engi as well. Not high damage.

First gonna apologize for taking so long to respond. Had IRL sutff keeping me busy.

I understand that stun immobilize and knockdown are the biggest threats in a group fighting environment as a ranger. the thing is though that only one of those is effected by condi removal. Immobilize. Which is very easily avoided in “most” circumstances. (most in game immobilizes are HEAVILY telegraphed.) If im in a fight im far more worried about chill and cripple. As those pretty much need to be on my for the damaging conditions to be applied on me in significant numbers to be dangerous. One of which will be covered by evasive purity post trait change. The other of which is significantly rarer and also heavily telegraphed at this time.

The purpose of my posts was the show that we aren’t truly being crippled by these two grandmasters inhabiting the same slot. It isn’t an end of the world scenario. As there are other options. Heck post change trooper runes will be an option for grp support and condi removal. As there will then be two shouts (heal as one and guard) on obscenely low cooldowns. All for a single trait. That combined with evasive purity in nature magic would give quite a high amount of condi removal options. More than most ranger builds that currently exist actually need. Also with the change to conditions itl be far less profitable to actually burn a cleanse on burning or poison. As they won’t be stacking duration but intensity. So where before you may have cleansed off 7 seconds of burning. Here you cleansed off 2 seconds of 5 stacks. (same overall damage. But attempting to cleanse off that 2 seconds most likely your going to take far more of the damage ANYWAY. I feel youd be better off taking something that allowed you to avoid those applications in the first place)

Fluffball.8307:

I think it’s also worth noting that condis stack now. In the past you could clear 10 stacks of bleeding with a random SoR proc, and then just eat the poison and burning. Now in that same scenario you would remove the 10 stacks of bleeding and eat 10 stacks of poison and 10 stacks of burning. Condi removal seems to have gotten a lot more important from what we’ve seen.

On that note I can definitely agree with. Though its difficult to see what builds can actually benefit from that. From what i can see most builds get at most two of those 3 in enough amounts to be dangerous. Or there like the engineer which has fewer stacks but longer applications. I think well have to wait and see how the spread of conditions will actually be. (I dont think most builds will be able to get high stacks of both burning and poison for example. even the guardians burns are mostly short duration. And there pretty much the kings at rapid application of that condition.

EDIT: On another note. If you follow that line of though tit looks like incendiary powder is being relatively nerfed if it remains in its current form. One stack of the new burn isn’t as dangerous as one stack of the current burn. So in all itl be a supplemental weapon instead of a primary killing tool like it is now.

Archon.6480:

Shadelang.3012:

—Snip—
Its not like having condi cleanse grandmastes being in the same spot pidgeon holes us into those slots. Infact I have never needed run run either survival of the fittest OR empathic bond in any of hte gvgs or TPvP matches ive been in up to this point. largely because my build simply doesnt encounter that issue reliably enough to make it worth the sacrifice.

So its not as if there mandatory traits being locked behind eachother. Instead there traits that not everyone will need. And those that DO need it will have to chose HOW they want there condi cleanse to work. —Snip--

I strongly disagree. It does pigeon hole us into nature magic, and makes Poison Master a wasted GM, as you could never use it. You find that you don’t need either condition removal GM in TPvP and GVGs? The current meta is Celestial and it is full of knockdowns, immobolize, poison, fire, chill, and more fire. If you don’t clear those on demand you get insta-gibbed. Are you telling me the meta Warrior, Elementalist, and Engi builds don’t gank you with conditions? The only condition where you don’t need condition removal is when you are standing on a cliff with longbow and no one decides to come after you. In that scenario you don’t need armor, either.

Yes I am saying they don’t. Largely because the only truly dangerous condis applications are well telegraphed. I can handle MOST builds in 1v1s using only the current form of evasive purity. And I use both melee and ranged well enough that I actually ended up starting to use warrior runes in order to swap between them faster.
All in all the only build that truly terrifies me is the S/D thief. Largely because theres no amount of skilled play i can use to beat that build if its in the hands of a competent thief.

Its a matter of playstyle. Im not usually throwing myself against 2-3 people expecting to get layers of conditions on me. Im generally kiting one or two (at most) people whenever possible.

Like I said before though. Generally if your in a situation where you need that kind of condi clear your either a fully dedicated build in that situation or you kittened up and are probably going to die anyway. Rather than prepare for something that was going to kill me anyway I focused on other paths and ended up learning how to avoid those situations almost entirely. As such. Not every build or playstyle requires having such a MASSIVE amount of condi clear.

Currently the only one I can think of that actually used BOTH. Is in fact the settlers condi ranger. Which is widely considered an aids build. And I think I speak for several roamers when I say im perfectly fine with THAT particular cheese dieing.

(But of course I can’t claim to speak for everyone nore will I attempt to. This is after all built on a basis of my own experience and opinion and should be regarded as such)

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Shadelang.3012:

Im assuming they did it on purpose. So as to prevent some builds from becoming nearly immune to condis. Such as the condi survival ranger build that exists in wvw atm.

I see no problem with that at all. If you choose to use 2/3 of your GM traits to combat one mechanic, that should be OK. Since by doing that, you are sacrificing much damage and utility. Not to mention, you need half a bar of survival skills to make it worthwhile as well. Kinda makes it niche and it should be available to a tanky style ranger.

Either way, we need the traits in different lines so we can make a LOT more viable builds. If you want to take Poison Master, it means you pretty much HAVE to also take HS and SoR as well to handle condis. If EB was in NM (swapped with IB) we would be in a much better place, imo.

The issue was that condi builds DIDN’T sacrifice that much utility or damage. Infact one of the biggest issues was that they had just about everything. Its why hte settler ranger is generally looked at with disdain.

Now someone wanting to make a condi resistant build will have to chose how. Theyl also have to chsoe whether they want resistance to condies through cleanses or through other means. (A longbow ranger typcially doesn’t need much cleanse for example. Typically if he needed to cleanse hes already kittened up)

Theres also an easier method to get rid of the more critical conditions that actually prevent you from kiting and recovering. The nature magic evasive purity trait. Which effectively gives reliable on demand condi cleanse against key threats.

Its not like having condi cleanse grandmastes being in the same spot pidgeon holes us into those slots. Infact I have never needed run run either survival of the fittest OR empathic bond in any of hte gvgs or TPvP matches ive been in up to this point. largely because my build simply doesnt encounter that issue reliably enough to make it worth the sacrifice.

So its not as if there mandatory traits being locked behind eachother. Instead there traits that not everyone will need. And those that DO need it will have to chose HOW they want there condi cleanse to work. Based on what utilites they run. Meaning again. That there not really sacrificing utilities. There instead picking a cleanse method that fits the utility the DO need.

Im assuming they did it on purpose. So as to prevent some builds from becoming nearly immune to condis. Such as the condi survival ranger build that exists in wvw atm.

I still try to figure out why people seem to think the pet ai in this game is so horrible (for the ranger atleast. the necromancer what is fubar).

Ive been playing ranger since day one. And ive had very little trouble with the pet as far as control and movement goes (especially after the f2 override fix). And it usually features heavily into my combat style. Even in gvgs. The “ai” in this game is far better than some of the other mmorpgs ive played up to this date. (Try the AI in EQ2 or ESO..im not even joking) the only thing I believe I preferred more is the pet system from wow.

The biggest things I would change aren’t really pathfinding related.

Id have pets be able to use there auto attacks while moving if there melee pets. (the stop and start method is what causes alot of unnecessary misses). Im fine with heavier attacks being stop and cast because telegraphs are important to survival in this game and it would give decent counterplay. But auto attacks are a whole nother story as they’re supposed to be a method of maintaining light pressure. An AUTO attack should have less counterplay than a primary attack. Largely because it has less overall effect.

I would give ranger pets a method of resisting attacks there not the primary target of. (if there meant to be an extension of the core body. And not an extra such as necromancer pets or engineer turrets. Then they should have protections that exemplify that.)

And ultimately I would do something that I believe the core specialization changes are going to cover. Have it be so there is a SIGNIFICANT difference in how you play when you spec into your pet and when you don’t. The core specialization changes with the major pet buffs becoming minors in the BM line I believe will go along way towards that.

The thing is quan that thats only true in old content. We still don’t know what the newer kind of content will be. Its possible that things like wings of resolve or the new shield of courage will be more useful in defending allies. Both of which benefit from being a little further back in order to be able to see visually events happening in order to cut them off. (See an enemy about to use a massive ranged attack. Wings of resolve to its target and put up the shield to block it. Or fire the defensive arrow right through the flight path to cut it off as it fires)

Ive also noticed that so far atleast anet is leaning towards more frequent large enemy types. I wouldn’t be suprised to see frenzy mobs make a comeback (large difficult to cc mobs that deal more damage teh longer the fight lasts)

Against those types traps will be the best kind of support you could possibly bring. Allowing to dragonhunter to set up his traps and lead the mob into there range dealing massive spike damage and setting hte mob up for the other players spike damage would be HUGE in fighting things like an upgraded risen abomination….or a dinosaur.

I feel like people are currently judging the dragonhunters capabilities based on the content that exists right now. Which to make clear I don’t blame them for. But its fairly obvious thats not what the dragonhunter seems to be designed to fight. There described as big game hunters. Which only matters if theres actual big game regularly enough that having a build dedicated to fighting them is useful.

tacticalevilnoodlefox.5694:

Just because the topic of a story in and of itself is depressing doesn’t mean having the entire tone and the entire narrative be that way is a good idea. Agony and anguish get old real fast if you have to much of it which is why even the darkest and most bleakest games have moments of brevity. Moments that allow the player to breath, have a good laugh, and recenter before going back into the dark stuff.

If they didn’t have those comedic moments, those hopeful moments, those happy moments then at best people would get bored of the constant doom and gloom and at worst the game would just end up making them feel bad and give few incentives to keep going.

Not to mention it’s the good moments that give the bad more impact. If all your moments are negative or depressing it all starts to lose its flavor.

The thing is though that the theme of this IS dark. Were on a rescue mission from the beggining. Im 100% sure wel see some of the old comedy come back. But that will be once we have a foothold. This isn’t the part of the story where people joke around as there fighting monsters. Its the part where there hoping theres someone left to joke with when its over.

I doubt the entire expansion will be like that. But the beggining? That initial experience? Hell yeah. What there doing fits there story perfectly.

There are thousands (atleast) dead. The forces are scattered. The iconic heroes of tyria are missing. The sylvvari (the pacts trusted friends and allies) are now seen as potential enemy weapons at best and open traitors at worst.

Theres screaming. Dieing. People in helicopters being snatched out of the air. Former allies turning and slicing up there best friends. Some sylvari are being kidnapped undoubtedly to return as more weapons. Even the wildlife is trying to kill you. You can be attacked at LITERALLY any moment but you know when night falls its only going to get worse.

Your watching your friends being cut up, strangled, and poisoned to death on a regular basis.

Oh. And the vast military fight that you NEEDED in order to win the war your now stuck in the middle of is gone….completely.

Yeah. Id be pretty depressed too.

I like how I got mentioned in the first 15 seconds..

In all truth though. Boo seem like fun guys. Gratz on finding the guild.

Depending on the traits there isn’t really any point to running zerker with reaper. You might as well run a valk/cav combo and be tanky enough to sustain in heavy damage situations.

Its super easy to reach 100% crit chance with reaper after all.

Longbow ranger may have less damage (assuming no use of external mechanics) but with the extra trait support and balance of stats were gonna be quite a bit less prone to getting instagibbed. Id say thats a fair tradeoff. The build itself is gonna be a bit more well rounded.

Ive never really fealt barrage was weak. At most there are times when I wished hte effect radius was a little large. But it does pretty good suplemental damage and the cripple does work as advertised.

Switching to longer cast time skills tends to help. When that happens on my ranger ill usually cast rapid fire or whirling defense during that confusion time. Whirling defense is nice cause it goes a long way towards resisting some of more painful engineer skills.

On my engineer though ill usually focus on skills that have there effect last awhile. Something that isn’t meant to be spammed for example. Thats usually the time ill put down the nail field. Or use jump shot or overcharged shot. Just any skill that does more than JUST damage mostly OR comes in multiple parts. In a way my goal is make sure I don’t lower the number of attacks im throwing out. Yet im using attacks that either take longer or have more significant effects to reduce the per tick damage from confusion.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Shadelang.3012:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

The inability to have both Empathic Bond and SoTF would be one negative…

Thread was more of a poke at ANet for asking us to point out if builds will be broken by the new traits, then breaking the only PvP build they recommend in the New to PvP? sticky thread.

The thing is though they only asked what Playstyles would be broken. I think it would be inevitable that certain build combos get broken in a heavy rework. Though I feel what we get out of it is worth it in the long run.

I just watched it again, they asked for builds specifically. The drama is not just that you cannot take both at the same time, its also that you have to have Wilderness Survival as a trait line for any condi removal traits, which also rules out Poison Master for PvP/WvW.

Thats the thing though. it isn’t the only source. Its just the only obvious one. Evasive purity post trait change will remove poison blind and cripple. those three are probably the ones that the ranger as a class has to worry about more than any other. And depending on the playstyle there the only ones youl actually have to be concerned about.

As far as longbow rangers are concerned. Usually they don’t have to worry about being condi loaded. And condi rangers themselves are generally more worried about there healing being interupted as they go through there own rotations do the the sheer amount of dodges they have access to. So a skilled ranger can infact go without either empathic bond OR sotf. Now that wont work for everyone obviously. But it shows that there are still other options.

Heal as one and rampage as one will become shouts after the change. Meaning that Wel have a full set of 5 shouts. Two of which will be on obscenely low cooldowns. One of those also being one of the heaviest base heals in the game. This makes trooper runes a viable condi removal option for rangers. In conjunction with evasive purity youl be able to have a fairly steady amount of cleanses rolling as well as a very STABLE resistance to poison. Meaning the majority of your heals are going to go off for full strength. And your going to be able to heal ALOT in a fight.

Its less direct. But its still an option that will work perfectly in most situations.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

The inability to have both Empathic Bond and SoTF would be one negative…

Thread was more of a poke at ANet for asking us to point out if builds will be broken by the new traits, then breaking the only PvP build they recommend in the New to PvP? sticky thread.

The thing is though they only asked what Playstyles would be broken. I think it would be inevitable that certain build combos get broken in a heavy rework. Though I feel what we get out of it is worth it in the long run.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/New-to-PvP-Start-here

Listed there is one build for the Ranger, its the condi/survival build. When the HoT traits come out, that build will no longer work. Does that make pew pew power the only semi-viable build Rangers will have?

Not on your life haha. Ive already thought of several different builds both with longbow and without (one even BM POWER focused (gasp)) that should be more powerful than the current builds.

Keep in mind that the actual dynamics of most builds in combat are going to chage in there interaction with eachother. Since you mentioned the longbow ranger ill start there.

First a longbow ranger wont have to actually spec into marksmanship to make the weapon useable like they do now. Instead they can spec into another line if they choose. But should they spec into marksmanship they only have to spend one grandmaster slot to get what previously would have taken them 2-3 EXTRA traits to get. That makes hte pure longbow build stronger.

Except there won’t be any such thing as a pure longbow build I.E. Glassbow

Atm the most popular longbow ranger build is 60260 SoTF build. It provides basic condi clear. Basic burst. And basic defensive cooldowns. its not really that special.

Post change you can ignore nature magic since SoTF will be in wilderness survival. Now your 6×6xx. Or you can stay with nature magic and pick different utilities in a 6xx6x build..Using evasive purity as an alternate cleanse method. (when played well the longbow ranger shouldnt need heavy cleanses. if you do you kittened up).

The most important part is that last grp of “6”. Now that the traits are more condensed you have alot more options because the “critical” trait for your iconic playstyle is only costing you 1/3rd of your build. And it simply isn’t possible to take ONLY damage increases that will be completely relevant. That means your going to get Some defensives somewhere.

For examply ive been considering running a 6xx66 shout build (now that heal as one will have reduced cooldown and proc shout traits its actually pretty decent for burst healing after stealthing. Rampage as one will become shout as well? perfect)

The nature magic line will give me access to cleanses and defensive procs. The BM line will improve my class mechanic into something that can actually do its job. And the marksmanship line will solidify my in combat style. Meaning that what was before “just” a longbow build is now a more well rounded playstyle with multiple variants. (shouts. SotF. and the new reworked traps (provided there decent)(ditto with spirits).

Your going to see that happen with most builds. We may even see a pretty strong resurgence of signet builds. Im sure similar things will happen with most classes and playstyles. I can confirm its happened with my burn guard. My Ranger. And my necromancer. And in the case of my ranger theres a specific playstyle ive wanted to try for an extremely long time but havnt had the freedom of trait choice to take it that I will infact be able to do post change.

So to think that longbow ranger will be the only semi decent build compared to what we have right now is pretty wrong id have to say. I can’t speak of how theyl compare in combat against OTHER potential builds from other classes. But atleast as far as what we have now. Alot of playstyles are getting stronger. (Besides. Being able to potentially take empathic bond AND sotf was broken as hell).

As the title suggests I thought it would be a good idea to a place in HoTM using golems to simulate certain attack types in order to teach people how to counter them without requiring them to enter a match. It will also be an interesting thing to run through when waiting for a que.

My idea is that we have an obstacle course like structure with a long winding track where your subjected to multiple attack types in multiple situations. And you have to use whats available to your class to survive to the end. It will also work to help simulate some of what other classes are capable of that can help you.

(Lane One) CC. Have an area with layered earth walls that go up in sequence as well as simulated hammer warriors that regularly use their telegraphed stun skills. Youl have to navigate through the earth walls while dodging or baiting CCs from stationary mobs in order to make it to the other side.

(Lane Two) Pressure. This lane will be a bit larger than the first. There will still be earth walls but they will be much further spread out. There will also be friendly guardian npcs that maintain walls of reflection. The idea is to have ranged enemy npcs target the player as they are attempting to navigate with skills such as fireballs. Rapid fires. Wells. And meteor showers. With wells and meteor showers being used to encourage players to move from one wall of reflection to the next. Never staying long enough to take too much damage. But using the walls to by time to heal and recover inbetween runs.

(Lane 3) Chasers. As the name suggests this area will feature mobile mobs contained to this specific arena. Players must navigate the course while. Dodging/Teleporting Past/Crowd controlling/ and generally surviving incoming mobs. Id recommend the mobs be bone minions that explode on contact. Something thats very obvious that you got hit by. But wont spell instant death.

(Lane 4) Gauntlet. This line will contain all of the above except in more moderation. The overall threat level should be the same. However the player will have to keep track of multiple different threat types to make it to the end.

My Goal for this is pretty simple. Have a method of exposing a player and build to multiple threat types with a simple goal. (reach the end). My theory is that this would allow players to identify exactly where they are weak at. Or what weaknesses their build has. Does their build take to long to recover between runs in the pressure lane? Do they a hard time escaping in the chaser lane. Is it unable to adapt to changing circumstances in the guantlet lane. Is it very weak to focused cc in the CC lane.

The idea is a static in game testing ground where a player can run through the same system multiple times. Making small changes and actually see a noticeable improvement. Not only does this allow themselves to identify personnel flaws without being forced to ask “Is there a unique circumstance that caused this to happen” it will also allow them to recognize what they did right. And even practice duplicating that situation.

Running this as a group is also possible. Enabling you to set your team up and make certain you have your bases covered. Is having your guardian be your only source of stab going to be enough? Can the shoutbow maintain the groups health and mobility. Can the thief roll stealth while under fire from multiple directions. My hope is that this will enable players both new and old to develop experience against specific circumstances in an environment stable enough to actually matter.

Thoughts and ideas?

Edit: Fixed some grammar issues (I havnt gotten them all obviously)

rajule.8054:

Vizardlorde.8243:

google.3709:

Ragnarox.9601:

Vizardlorde.8243:

Or you know the thief could dodge through the 4 traps once and kill the guardian. If the thief is carrying a sword he can even ignore DM with shadow return lol. The trick might work once in a match but after they know you are not a meditation guardian you are as good as dead if you are running zerker.

Yea why didnt they do pvp vs a thief and not the hambow warrior without skill ? Because they know DH sucks vs other classes.

Guess you failed to see all the big numbers. are you upset because anet is gonna force you to land them and you know, play the game?

DragonHunter is actually gonna be really strong both 1v1 and team fights.

hambow because that’s hugh’s main.

have you ever played a staff necro? the #1 rule is never clump your traps together and #2 avoid pre-casting any marks except blood (short cd). Know why? because if you clump all marks/traps in 1 spot 1 dodge triggers them all at once for the grand to tal of 0 damage, 0 conditions. And if you pre- cast marks instead of dropping them on you enemy skilled players have an easier time avoiding them.

One thing that’s different though is enemies can see those marks beforehand. with traps they’re not gonna know where they are unless they see you cast it.

Not to mention that most of the traps do things over time. Its not all that initial effect. Even if they dodge through it if they want to get out there gonna have to dodge out. Which I would imagine is gonna hit them with the cage trap at the very least. Also if there in dragons maw its likely there just gonna get pulled back into the center while all teh trap effects are still pulsing.

The cage (cant remember the name) and the dragons maw trap do a good job of making sure the blade style trap and the reveal trap do there jobs.

Menzies its largely hte fact that its a one trick pony. Thus alot of the skill involved is in the ranger making sure hes in a position to use that one trick. Its why theres a noticeable difference between the pew pew to win rangers and those that actually play the class.

The pew pew to win rangers die the second they get focused or rely super heavily on SoTS to survive. The good ones youl see using there weapon skill evades to teh fullest. Or using that last secon stealth to barely dodge an attack just so he can get behind you to line up a path of scars.

Ironically. The biggest sign of skill with the build is when they can’t actually use the weapon everyone seems to be focused on. And how well they can get themselves back into that spot where there one true strength is useable again.

Longbow by itself is too focused a weapon to not be good at what it does (see anything pre read the wind).

Im gonna go on a limb and guess.
One. Your naked or a light armor in zerk
Two. Your opponent. was a 66 longbow build with every available damage multiplier working as well as a good amount of might. (He has 100% endurance. And your being hit from behind=20% damage boost + multiple other damage modifiers)
Three. Your opponent was also complete glass.

What that means is he was running a built fairly similar to the old maul builds that used to be more common. Pop multiple damage modifiers (10% damage from endurance. 10% damage from flanking. 25% from SotW. As well as the signet of the hunt proc all at once) and make sure that one attack hits.

Which means you got wrecked by someone in a literally perfect situation. Im assuming he ganked you. Your probably died at about the same speed you would have if a good thief had ganked you.

Spirits seem to be based on long term aoe benefits. Which (once they get reworked as anet stated provided its done right. Though what they have shown us gives me a decent amount of hope that it will be.) is just fine as long as your in a position to make use of that.

In a fight with multiple waves on enemies coming at you for example.

The issue is for now atleast thats a minority. And as of right now they don’t provide a significant difference in the overall combat of an area.

I imagine the druid will provide a more…immediate source. I would guess itl have the same “overall” effectiveness of the reworked spirits as far as support or control goes. (if there support/control based. Anet could through another curveball like they did with the reaper and Dragonhunter) However the druids form would be more short term and immediate. (vine wall cuts off enemy movement. Field of steel grass cripples an area. Conjure bark armor around allies to protect them for a few short seconds.)

Course they could also go with beacon skills. (which would be freaking amazing).

This is a bit worse than just perma stealth. Pretty sure this is a bug becuase it affects ALOT of stuff. It even effects mesmer stealths and the like.