Guild Wars 2

Reknarok.7582:

lack of diversity is not exclusive to necromancer

Oh yes,

Inspiration for mesmer, discipline for warrior, etc.

Yasha.5963:

Please make the range 1200 again, it would bring this weapon back up in line with the LB (make it a viable choice).

I think even with the range, sb needs rework. but it’s a start

Can we just atleast make it ground targeted to be able to place them tactically in PvP, Bosses, etc?

Wondrouswall.7169:

I’m being tip-toe cautious nowadays about suggesting Confusion on Concussion Shot when interrupting a target; even though I have supported this idea for a long time.

Shortbow is a hybrid weapon, but would the Confusion serve better as a part of Moment of Clarity so it can be universally applied on multiple weapons, utilities, and setups; or exclusive to shortbow?

Exclusive to shortbow is better. Mesmers should be the ones putting out confusion reliably. It would be bad to give other classes access to it too.

If it was SB only i think it will be balanced that way, nothing over the top.

• 3 Stacks on Hit, 5 Stacks if flanking.

I mentioned the 3 stacks, this way it gives #5 a use even if the targets are farting stability.

I would also say you have to add something about LOYF, you are suggesting SB stuff, so you might as well change how the trait interacts with your proposed changes.

As of now, the only reason to take LOYF is piercing. Even if you say it procs on evade, SB deals pitiful damage, 10% damage on that trait is NOTHING.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Now the cogs are turning. I’ll update the opening post with an alternative. The discussion now being should flanking bonuses be added onto the other 3 skills, or some ideas where shortbow has more active play.

A.)

You should atleast add a change to concussion shot.

With the recent changes to stability, it is even harder to strip now, especially the pulsing one.

Atleast concussion shot might have another purpose than one single target CC on a 25 second CD (which honestly pathetic compared to other CCs in the game which are also AoE)

As it turns now, you cannot use that skill at all if stability is present. Which is pretty rampant nowadays (Warrior’s eternal champion, RaO, etc)

B.) A change to crossfire is also needed, to be a real hybrid weapon, SB needs a little bit of damage. As it turns out now, Mesmer scepter does more power damage than SB

Dadnir.5038:

StickerHappy.8052:

Again flanking is smart play, why do people want a braindead 1111111 weapon like engie pistol?

Might as well have some rewards when executing skillful play. I think flanking is there to compensate the high rate of fire of the SB.

Remove the flanking and you’ll get:

Rabid gear + Sigil Of Earth + Crossfire with No Flanking + Sharpened Edges = X stacks of bleed.

Is this really fun for you? I mean it’s a little bit like that now even with flanking.

Well I have your point but I can’t agree with you.

Be it any other attack than the auto attack, you can say that using it require smartplay. But an autoattack shouldn’t in any way being destroyed by a clumsy mechanism. There is absolutely no reason for this autoattack to be the worst in game and be gated by the flanking mechanism.

Gate any utility with the flanking mechanism, it’s ok but a weapon should be able to rely at the very least on a decent auto attack. Which, atm, is not the case for the ranger’s shortbow.

Ndlr : weapon’s utility are skill 2 to 5. They should not be meant to be spammed but instead one’s should use it’s brain to decide as to when they will use them. The auto attack, on the contrary, is meant to be a brainless spam! (that why it’s called “auto attack”)

I get your point, but you are forgetting 1 important point. The rate of fire. This is the fastest AA in the game, hence it is gated with the flanking mechanic.

Can you imagine doing bleeds with quickness on SB AA if you removed the flanking mechanic?

What if I do not take BM?

Any reliable pets in terms of what it can offer as a whole? Not just DPS.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

There is a reason why they changed the ESL rules to make it so you could not stack classes.

That reason is since hot it is far better to stack another ele, engi, rev then bring a guardian.

I would include warrior with guardian but given the amount of passive sustain they recently got combined with their high base health and immunity abilities they are really in a much better place then guardians.

Forget the name of the site but there was a decent number of ESL & high ranked players that ranked classes by how useful they were & how much they wanted them on their team.

Mesmer ranked S+ at top
and Guardian ranked F-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uyjBUQjeN8

Arken’s vid on guardian weapons.
Heard he was going to do one on traits & utilities as well but that one could well be over an hour long and not cover everything wrong.

Exactly, other classes are better doing guardian’s roles now. Like rev is better than thief.

mrauls.6519:

StickerHappy.8052:

mrauls.6519:

This guy right here, spamming traps?

The meta medi trapper build does have access to all of those things. This is the thing though. All of those things sound nice until you try to play Guardian competitively. There’s a reason Guardian wasn’t used by more than one PvP league team (correct me if I’m wrong please).

You have to actually play Guardian and try to be the best with it to understand how much of an uphill battle we fight.

That is not Arken.

Does he have a twitch or youtube? I searched gw2 arken xD

He was from Zero Counterplay before. I am sure every top player knows him. Again lemme reiterate, I’m all up for guardian buffs, I hated the way they were nerfed unjustly last patch.

But sometimes people take advantage of this and spout over exaggerations.

mrauls.6519:

This guy right here, spamming traps?

The meta medi trapper build does have access to all of those things. This is the thing though. All of those things sound nice until you try to play Guardian competitively. There’s a reason Guardian wasn’t used by more than one PvP league team (correct me if I’m wrong please).

You have to actually play Guardian and try to be the best with it to understand how much of an uphill battle we fight.

That is not Arken.

mrauls.6519:

StickerHappy.8052:

Guardians have NO SUSTAIN?

have you watched arken 2v1 a point with berserker ammy?

f3, f2, Renewed Focus, Shelter, Blocks, etc. = no sustain?

NO Mobility? Symbol of Swiftness = 16 seconds of AoE Swiftness?

I am not saying guardians are in a good spot for all the unjustified nerfs they got, but cmon..

The guy you mentioned (not sure who Arken is) could have very well done that, but was it against high level opponents?

No one should be using outdated shelter or staff in sPvP. Berserker’s amulet does not work on Guardian.

None of my comments are about “1v1 duel arena” situations.

I’m not trying to be mean. Your comments are the type of thinking that’s holding Guardian back right now

I think arken is the best if not one of the best guardians in the game. I am talking about high level opponents here.

Okay, just tell me on the above post, thats the meta medi trappper, am I wrong that it has sustain?

the OP is a very good DH too, he should know.

I mentioned already I am all up for guard buffs. just Irks me when people are over exaggerating

phokus.8934:

I’d figure you could look beyond what the OP said and see that they’re trying to make a point.

But healing (with Smiter’s Boon) is not sustained damage at all. It’s Smite Condition but not generally used/setup to do damage on top of a player. I’m not sure why you’re saying block is sustain damage when it’s not a reflect nor does it have a damaging effect.

This, of course, is using the Meditrapper build.

Meditrapper can get 2 f2s that heal for 4k each, remove 3 conditions when traited, Trap heal.

2 5 second blocks with Stab. all with renewed focus Focus block, etc.

How is that not sustain? Sustain does not always mean healing.

Soothsayer.9206:

Hello all, been testing this power/shatter/roaming build in unranked; having a lot of fun with it tbh as it has been giving me a break from my condi/shatter. Having some success with it, but I am hoping to get someone else to try it and give me some constructive feedback. Here’s the build, thx

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8elknhy0YjawBNwsGLwG15Q8DFXdwWsJLZAcB5GA-TJBBQBW4iAIvyAA4JAcw9HAA

Gasp! inb4 the “condimes is not the only thing viable” parade.

Ditch SoD. you are only benefitting from the stun. 180 condition damage is worthless to you. It’s a waste.

Get MoD.

Hyper Cutter.9376:

How dare people want the weapon to actually be good for something!

Circle-strafing enemies as they constantly turn to face you isn’t “skill”.

good for 11111111111?

so spamming the AA is skill for you?

Crowley.8761:

I think you people saying Anet needs “a slap in the face” need a little reality check. You wanna slap them for sponsoring a pro league of their game? You wanna slap them for the cash prizes they are giving out with most likely very little return? You wanna slap them for at least trying to make this work?

How about slapping that unprofessional crybaby instead.

How bout kids l2g?

Learn to grow up.

phokus.8934:

Everything you listed there does not equate to sustain at all.

And no one takes staff in pvp and even outside of that, their mobility is completely garbage. If JI didn’t require a target, I’d be saying something different.

Saying NO is different than Noone uses it. NO is nothing at all. It just sounded weird to me.

I think its better to ask to improve on what you Currently have like staff. Instead of saying NO, NONE, etc

So heal, blocks, etc, are not sustain? LOL. what is then?

Vieux P.1238:

Right- gap between meta & not hits hard. But, What do you mean the problem is not from Anet running the mesmer down? It’s exactly that! & you just pointed it out. -Your saying exactly what i’m saying but in more details. Since HoT came out, almost one by one, Anet nerfed or killed every mesmer viable build to the ground. Build diversity but one is gone by Anet hand except for Condi build …we all know this. I’m not saying builds such as the bunker mesmer should not have bin deleted. Sure, i agree it was to much. But, what about all does other viable build that got destroyed? ( PU, mantra, power shatter, chrono Alacrity?..& ect…, all nerfed & destroyed.)

I’ll say this again, What do you play? Solo q? Unranked?

If yes, you can play anything you want, power shatter, CI Lockdown, PU, Whatever you want.

Silverkey.2078:

The problem is not so much that they have run mesmer down to the ground. Actually, mesmer is still a strong PvP class, strong PvE class and strong WvW roaming class.

The problem is that the balance team has apparently stopped trying to get build diversity. So PvP mesmer is only viable playing condi. And many of us just don’t enjoy this playstyle or at least would like to change from time to time.

Before HoT, I used to alternate between power, condi, even some variants of each. Now the gap between meta and non-meta builds is insane.

If you are playing unranked/solo q/ranked non tourney = anything is viable. No one is forcing you to play condi meta.

You can still see people playing power shatter for unranked.

themillwater.5846:

I don’t understand the reasoning behind flanking. If my arrow can do bleeding, etc. damage on 3/4 of target then why can’t it do the same bleeding etc. damage on the remaining 1/4 ? I’m kiting around target anyways but it annoys me that there’s a window that takes away my additional damage. Down with the demon known as flanking!

Again flanking is smart play, why do people want a braindead 1111111 weapon like engie pistol?

Might as well have some rewards when executing skillful play. I think flanking is there to compensate the high rate of fire of the SB.

Remove the flanking and you’ll get:

Rabid gear + Sigil Of Earth + Crossfire with No Flanking + Sharpened Edges = X stacks of bleed.

Is this really fun for you? I mean it’s a little bit like that now even with flanking.

Tragic Positive.9356:

StickerHappy.8052:

Exactly my point, if that ever gets implemented, how will pets be in pvp then when we can’t use foods/oil?

I think having a separate pet trait tree is the solution, gives you more freedom and build diversity than minor fixes.

This is true, as well.
If we want to have pets that are useful and worthy of being called our class mechanic – they need to scale. Period. We should have never been forced to use a specific traitline in order to achieve that. It’s exactly your point but taken a bit differently.

We need NM if we want our pet to scale (at least up to a point) and we need specific pets as well as sacrifice our stuff to improve their stats (e.g. Condition Based pets have NO condi duration and we have to sacrifice OUR traits to change it).
These both are designs that should just go. They are user unfriendly, inefficient and still not reliable at all.

Your point solves stats, buff inheriting from it’s master solves scaling. We need both I’d say equally. I’d welcome pet having 100% of my quickness and 25 might in Raids more than him having Healing Power or Condi Duration, but those would be pointless in WvW where pet-related traits would be more useful.
When it comes to PvP, pets are set to be kind of right. It’s not just our pet that can’t have food etc. in battles. Players can’t too – they share this same concept.

I might make a video about it.

I think the ranger trait design was super lazy, If all those pet traits were put into the own pet tree AND replace those traits with meaningful ranger/pet interaction; I guess even with the Awful pet AI, I think we will still be golden.

Hesacon.8735:

Depends on what you’re trying to do. I use soul reaping, but I could see how other builds could work.

Like what builds?

this is like organized 5v5 pvp, not solo q btw.

Guardians have NO SUSTAIN?

have you watched arken 2v1 a point with berserker ammy?

f3, f2, Renewed Focus, Shelter, Blocks, etc. = no sustain?

NO Mobility? Symbol of Swiftness = 16 seconds of AoE Swiftness?

I am not saying guardians are in a good spot for all the unjustified nerfs they got, but cmon..

Ross Biddle.2367:

StickerHappy.8052:

Ross Biddle.2367:

StickerHappy.8052:

Change the rune.

The no#6 is kinda bugged and will ruin rotations. Trust me on this one, tried this rune numerous times.

You will be better of with the Eagle rune + you get the ferocity.

Also with the whole, stun flavor of the build,

MoD + CS will be infinitely better than SoD (Single Target only)

CS also affects f3,Sword 4 etc.

Righto Stickers. Initially I was mucking around with PU and just hiding in stealth continually. So throwing in more stealth with the rune was for added fun.

MoD + CS is always a favorite, and great in your typical power shatter build. While I don’t let f1 go to waste, this build makes far more use of phantasms, and as such the short 1s cs stun isnt as strong as you might think. That and then I’d trait away from signits (and lose the bonus phant damage) which do server the purpose of cleansing a high stack of pesky poison or bleeds that’re hanging around after a disengage. Really, taking the pistol over the oh sword is probably the only way to remove the loss of that daze, and it’s not a stupid idea. I was running the oh sword mostly because its such a short cd phant, and hits hard too. But W/E. Minor details.

Oh, the stun is just a bonus, the passive trait is super good too, synergizes really well with your sigils.

55% stun duration.

and again MoD is instant, very good for interrupting resses or stomps. Signet is only 1 target, its passive is also a waste on your build.

Did they fix the trait + sigil bonus? In the past they weren’t working together.

I think so.

You can even do a dueling variant with Pistol, Imo that will be sinister with all the interrupts you get, you wont even need signet of the ether anymore.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Yeah, I understand where you are getting at. I knew that those suggestions would build stronger synergy with Nature Magic; it was to allow an additional purpose/combo with Vigorous Training and Sun Spirit traited with Nature’s Vengeance in mind.

Vigorous Training is one of those middle-of-the-road traits at the moment. Generally, it is chosen because a build does not have anything better. Obvious points also since pets can’t use vigor. If you don’t use warhorn or even Clarion Bond, then Windborne Notes is not an option.

On the other hand, Evasive Purity is pretty good when you don’t have warhorn but want extra cleanses. Then there’s other situations and modes where neither Windborne Notes or Evasive Purity are not needed or can’t be used, so then Vigorous Training is taken because there wasn’t really anything else, but it’s decent group support.

It does promote using Skirmishing with another traitline due to the stronger synergy between trait interactions. In the small scope of things, it can be bad to improve just Skirmishing, that I agree.

In a much larger scheme of also improving other traitlines, such as Marksmanship, to have stronger synergy with other traits & traitlines; it can pay off in spades. We just gotta have a strong synergy and competition among all traitlines and things can really get interesting.

Completely agree.

Atleast with your changes, we might see SS/NM/X builds. It’s like breaking apart from the NM/BM/Druid meta.

2 choices is still good.

Dude please please A BIG THREAD with all changes you propose, not just QoL ones. I am super curious to see your ideas on improving stale traits like Predator’s Instict, Invigorating bond, etc.

And please do Staff too, it’s too focused into healing, even an addition of a condition, even Vulnerability is good. It’s too plain imo.

Swagger.1459:

StickerHappy.8052:

Swagger.1459:

How about we make SB bleed from the front?

again, this is a bad idea like removing the flanking requirement for bleeds.

90% of the time the target will be facing you assuming he isn’t targetting someone else.

So basically you’ll just 111111111 bleeds galore.

Sorry, tired, I should have added… “as well”…

Why not? It’s not like there aren’t a bajillion conditions going around anyway?

SB will lose its uniqueness if that was the case, it will be like engie pistol, 11111111

SB was supposed to be a hybrid weapon, it think it should deal double damage when flanking + bleeding.

This will enable us to go destroyer/carrion/x for more build diversity.

Tragic Positive.9356:

StickerHappy.8052:

cafard.8953:

And how about the pet benefiting from the currently active food/oil stats buff on the ranger?

This would only benefit WvW and Pve though, how bout PvP pets? They will be still subpar.

Players can’t use food/oil in PvP either.
Baseline boons and auras on pets as well is the solution. Even for PvP.

Exactly my point, if that ever gets implemented, how will pets be in pvp then when we can’t use foods/oil?

I think having a separate pet trait tree is the solution, gives you more freedom and build diversity than minor fixes.

Swagger.1459:

How about we make SB bleed from the front?

again, this is a bad idea like removing the flanking requirement for bleeds.

90% of the time the target will be facing you assuming he isn’t targetting someone else.

So basically you’ll just 111111111 bleeds galore.

Hi there people, been experimenting/ theorycrfating necro builds in pvp a lot.

One thing struck me for sure,

Is it just me or Soul Reaping is mandatory in pvp?

It kinda limits the choices specially if you wanna go reaper so literally you only have 1 traitline to choose from.

Kuulpb.5412:

Well, I care, Mesmer’s Well of Eternity heals for more AND removes condis.

And yes, it was a starting heal possibly the date you mentioned. ( just so you don’t say something is certain without proof)

If you make it to 10 seconds, it might be even better than Healing spring now.

Ross Biddle.2367:

StickerHappy.8052:

Cynz.9437:

Meanwhile in thief land trying to land 3k backstab while getting one-shot by all aoe flying around~

If GS gets invuls, then it should do no dmg. We don’t need scrapper hammer nr. 2. Besides i think GS was ment as pve weapon anyway, necros been crying for power build for dungeons for ages.

Why do you always bring up thief?

The topic does not even have to do anything with thief.

Hell Dagger AA will even out dps GS

Stickers is right. Stop bringing up thief. All attention should be focused on highlighting how OP Scapper Hammer is.

Good one for pointing that out, Stickers.

Nah, its like, thief should be like this, like that. How many times did thief got buffed already in terms of damage and forum thieves still need more?

Ross Biddle.2367:

StickerHappy.8052:

Change the rune.

The no#6 is kinda bugged and will ruin rotations. Trust me on this one, tried this rune numerous times.

You will be better of with the Eagle rune + you get the ferocity.

Also with the whole, stun flavor of the build,

MoD + CS will be infinitely better than SoD (Single Target only)

CS also affects f3,Sword 4 etc.

Righto Stickers. Initially I was mucking around with PU and just hiding in stealth continually. So throwing in more stealth with the rune was for added fun.

MoD + CS is always a favorite, and great in your typical power shatter build. While I don’t let f1 go to waste, this build makes far more use of phantasms, and as such the short 1s cs stun isnt as strong as you might think. That and then I’d trait away from signits (and lose the bonus phant damage) which do server the purpose of cleansing a high stack of pesky poison or bleeds that’re hanging around after a disengage. Really, taking the pistol over the oh sword is probably the only way to remove the loss of that daze, and it’s not a stupid idea. I was running the oh sword mostly because its such a short cd phant, and hits hard too. But W/E. Minor details.

Oh, the stun is just a bonus, the passive trait is super good too, synergizes really well with your sigils.

55% stun duration.

and again MoD is instant, very good for interrupting resses or stomps. Signet is only 1 target, its passive is also a waste on your build.

Wondrouswall.7169:

StickerHappy.8052:

Where do you actually get the vigor now?

Sun Spirit with Nature’s Vengeance, Primal Reflexes, Lightning Reflexes, and Vigorous Training. To an extent, the PvP version of Sigil of Energy.

If you want to count one of the above suggestions, then include Healing Spring with Trapper’s Expertise when triggered. Or did that question mean something else?

Yeap it was something else.

For starters, you are very creative dude. Thank you for helping the ranger community a lot.

Only reason why I do not like another conditional trait (vigor) is prolly nature magic will be required or be a number 1 pick again if that was to happen. Vigorous Training, Nature’s vengeance, boon duration are all there. Just because NM is a very solid traitline. and let’s not forget Fortifying bond is there too.

So you get that easy might stacked pet with just primal reflexes. 8 seconds base + Boon duration, easy 10-12 stacks of might on pet. Perfect Synergy with the new MDG

Not to mention, Vigorous training 10 sec base. more might for pet. This is even without HaO.

I just think that the suggestion you have, will just promote another traitline to be there with Skirmishing.

But man, your ideas are really good though.

PS: This was a ninja fix but sigil of energy does not grant vigor anymore, instead it restores 25 endurance.

Wondrouswall.7169:

That’s all fine and well going for thematic consistency within a traitline, but why not extend beyond that and create more synergy with other traits in other traitlines? Improving the core themes of some traits we already have now either through minor changes through application or synergy with other traits seems like it would be the better approach.

I have been mostly dissenting on the ideas here but that’s only due to my personal opinion that Skirmishing is close to perfect as a traitline. I’d only make 5 changes to the traits here:

• Hunter’s Tactics applies to the pet when it strikes a foe from the side or behind.
• Light on Your Feet also activates with evasions. Condition duration changed to condition damage.
• Healing Spring applies Vigor (3s) to allies when triggered when traited with Trapper’s Expertise. Vigor duration is not affected by the trait duration bonus.
• Most Dangerous Game moved down to Master tier and changed to gain 1 stack of Might (5s) every second the player is under the effects of Vigor.
• Strider’s Defense moved to Grandmaster tier. 10% damage when wielding a sword added. Projectile Destruction changed to: “When you apply Vigor to yourself, your next attack activates Strider’s Defense (2s). Strider’s Defense makes all weapon attacks destroy projectiles. Does not stack in duration or intensity, reapplication refreshes duration to 2s.”

There would be more synergy with other traits within the traitline, but also other traitlines. Then, there’s a thematic aspect of Strider’s Defense being able work with every weapon while giving it a competitive damage bonus for choosing a sword.

The choices between Quick Draw, a universal 10% damage and condition damage boost for evading from Light on Your Feet, and a more melee-oriented style of play would be more competitive and build defining.

Not to mention projectile destruction will be on-demand and not just limited to sword, or melee attacks. Shooting other projectiles out of the air with your arrows; that’s totally Ranger (and skirmishing).

Where do you actually get the vigor now?

Cynz.9437:

Meanwhile in thief land trying to land 3k backstab while getting one-shot by all aoe flying around~

If GS gets invuls, then it should do no dmg. We don’t need scrapper hammer nr. 2. Besides i think GS was ment as pve weapon anyway, necros been crying for power build for dungeons for ages.

Why do you always bring up thief?

The topic does not even have to do anything with thief.

Hell Dagger AA will even out dps GS

Khailyn.6248:

I only put that there really b/c it seems almost a requirement for group play. It isnt for the condition spec itself really. What you’re pointing out is true, with proper gear you would have over 50 percent crit chance anyway.

Yeap, although the first change is very much I agree with. Sometimes I wanna go trapper but lack bleed pressure If I do not take SB.

Spike Trap is meh for me, 36 second cd for something that can be negated easily since it does not pulse.

Khailyn.6248:

Been playing ranger a lot lately and trying to make a condition build, while also looking at interactions with other abilities like traps.

Spike trap is one of those abilities like Entangle that would would perfect in a condition build. However, it isnt possible to take both Trapper’s Expertise and Sharpened Edges (and lets face it, sinister and rampager both have a lot of crit).

Also Hidden Barbs which is near essential for a condition (or at least bleed) build is on the same line as Spotter.

What I’m asking is for Tail Wind (become a major trait), and Sharpened Edges (become the first minor trait like Barbed Precision for Necromancers) to switch places. Also for Ferocious Grip (become a major trait) and Spotter (become a minor trait, its always taken anyway regardless of condition or power build) switch places. It would give the same playstyle if a player chose the weapon swap traits but make the line more condition damage centered.

So an example build would be:
Sharpened Edges
Trapper’s Expertise
Spotter
Hidden Barbs
Hunter’s Tactics
Light on Your Feet

First change is okay.

Hidden Barbs should compete with spotter. Why would you even need spotter in the first place if you are gearing condi and prec

Change the rune.

The no#6 is kinda bugged and will ruin rotations. Trust me on this one, tried this rune numerous times.

You will be better of with the Eagle rune + you get the ferocity.

Also with the whole, stun flavor of the build,

MoD + CS will be infinitely better than SoD (Single Target only)

CS also affects f3,Sword 4 etc.

LughLongArm.5460:

Very intersting, I like the concept that every SB skill benefit from flank.
Now the skirmishing needs to be re-ordered. Quickdraw should be the the last minor trait(the concept of the traitline is weapon swap) Change the terrible MDG to somthing like 10% dmage while moving – 10% damage while flanking(its in part with other 20% damage boosters for spesific requierment.
Regarding the SB trait I have tons of ideas, the simplest one is to get might stacks while hitting from flank, it will change the MDG as a might stacking engine for the skirimsh traitline.
Now that i start to think about it, there are 2 meny changes that i think should be done on the skirimsh triatline, so i guss it’s not the purpose of this thread.

Quickdraw on a GM minor is a gooooood idea.

The LOYF would be?

I really hate the might concept, its like every meta build of all classes would have to have to some might stacking involved.

We need more creative ideas?

HeadCrowned.6834:

StickerHappy.8052:

Don’t forget these:

• Crossfire – Deal double damage when flanking
• Concussion shot – 3 Stacks of Confusion when flanking.

With these changes and yours, Shortbow will be golden.

Nah, flanking is overrated. A shortbow ranger is probably the best in 1v1 situations, where flanking is a rare occasion.

Why would be flanking overrated? This is one of the skillful mechanics in game, its infinitely better than making Crossfire bleed auto.

Imagine that 1111111111111 bleed Krait runes spam fest.

cafard.8953:

And how about the pet benefiting from the currently active food/oil stats buff on the ranger?

This would only benefit WvW and Pve though, how bout PvP pets? They will be still subpar.

Fluffball.8307:

I use wolf for the double(/triple with taunt) CC (and cripple isn’t bad.) It’s not a steady damage pet, but if you use it for its abilities it does excellent. Every now and then we get a thief posting here that ate a swapped-to-wolf’s brutal charge and wonders why he died.

Hmm I might try the classic wolf again. I used to love this pet but I need to trait it into BM now to get the taunt and stats.

I really like to use the drake, too bad the f2 is crap unless you take taunt.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Azukas.1426:

I notice the same names scrambling to try to defend and shout down any perceived anti mesmer posts.

Sad that this forum has turned into this, because all this negativity and hostility is unjustified in the grand scheme of things. The truth of the matter is our class has been top of the food chain for quite a long time now.

Sad.

And on that note, we also notice the same names continually making the same bad claims, and offering the same bad (or no) arguments. Funny how this works.

Was the question to difficult? Is it easier just to turn the focus on to the person/s and away from the topic? Are there no valid arguments left that we must resort to this

Ohwell. I can’t say I expected more.

You are always such a jerk here ross hahaha. Why are you not like this in game?

PowerBottom.5796:

Okay, here is my view on why the removal of Merc’s amu is a mistake.I’ll try to be objective and give reasons:

1) Removing an amulet reduces build diversity – this one is pretty simple.
2) What builds are currently using Merc’s amu? Condi-mesmer, necro and condi-war, but are they OP?

• Condi-Mesmer:* I’m not too sure about if this build is actually OP or not since the Moa-nerf. Also, there’s the rise of condi-war, which absolutely shred them. Now there are 4 builds that can deal with condi-mesmer pretty well (win, or hold a point) in the current meta: necro (with either 4 shouts+soldiers or consume conditions, it’s IMHO a even, skill-based MU, slightly Mesmer favoured maybe), Ele can easily hold the point if he plays well, druid can actually even win and condi-war shreds the mesmer. This build would disappear with the removal of mercs amu.

• Necro:* In a pretty decent place now, but removing Mercs would hurt it greatly. I have no clue why some ppl actually choose to run wanderers, it’s so much worse than merc’s.

• Condi-war:* It’s too early to say if it’s OP, but it likely is. But the kicker is, that out of the 3 builds that use mercs amu, war has by far the easiest time going for another amulet.

3) There might be some builds that could use mercs amu in the future, based on how the patches look like, especially D/D-Ele and condi-thief, which greatly rely on the mercs amu, because they simply need the stats provided by it.

I think p/p core engie which is running rampant nowadays too uses mercenary with grenades, I might be wrong though.

I also remember condi rev using mercenary iirc.

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

Fay.2357:

StickerHappy.8052:

Pro league is the best representation of the pvp scene.

That’s pretty arguable. Does one look to the salary of the ceo for the best representation of wages in a company?

The pro league is simply one facet of the PvP scene, but I’d argue that standard highish level play outside of pro league is the best representation.

But let’s be frank here, what else is the best representation of pvp? The people you see in AGs and ESLs are the same people in PL, imo its just a different name but let’s say top tier is best representation of pvp.

By standard highish level play I’m talking more than the 15-25 “pros”. I’m talking the top 300-500 players, maybe even 1000-1500 players. When you expand to that size, you get a much better idea of what’s actually viable for the playerbase as a whole.

You may say ‘but the top 1500 players doesn’t accurately reflect how the game performs for the pro league folks’, and you’d be right. However, that ultimately doesn’t matter. The pro league folks will find the optimal builds to play, and will use those builds. There will always be 5-6 top builds/classes, and several left at garbage tier for pro league. This is inherent to the fact that the balance team is not the right hand of god. So regardless of how the balance is, pro league will always look roughly the same.

So the question becomes: if pro league balance doesn’t matter, what does matter? Well, what matters is having the vast majority of players being able to enjoy/have a chance in PvP. That’s why you look at the top 1000-1500; it gets you a much more realistic view of what the current PvP environment is. Not everything will be viable in pro league, but as long as it’s reasonably viable in the top 1500, then it’s ok because that means the majority of players will find it viable.

Tl;dr: There will always be unviable classes at the pro league level, and this is ok. What matters is that all class are viable below the pro league level.

Isn’t top 1000-1500 would prolly more or less look the same? (If pvp population reaches that high) I mean we have metabattle to thank for that. Not a lot of players are avid theorycrafters nor have the time to do so.

Maybe it’s just me but every class is viable below tourney level. Anything will work for solo q, as long as it’s a working build. You can be selfish as you want with your build and it will not matter.

So wouldn’t it better to expand the sample size but limit it to coordinated teams?

Gw2 is full of kids (raging hormones, questionable decisions, drama, etc)

Are you guys even surprised?

Ario.8964:

foste.3098:

Druid:
-Pet damage significantly reduced as base and pet stats now match that of the ranger (do not change if the ranger is given might but the pet is not. Do not benefit from food buffs) no more full bunker druid’s killing people because AI does the work for them

Try to play 5 games with non hot pets, actually play with the wyverns, and then realize how wrong you are. Only 2 pets are good for damage and that is only because they can hit moving targets reliably.

Just to remind everyone a canine pet can crit up to 7k (depending on armor) with brutal charge or crippling leap while under the effect of remorseless & attack of opportunity (signet of the hunt, moment of clarity, hilt bash), a drake pet can hit even harder with tail swipe but these pets are not reliable. Hot pets are not the ones with the biggest burst but they are the ones that hit most often with theirs, so stop kittening about it.

So you’re justifying 2 overly strong pets based on the fact that the other pets aren’t as reliable? That is one of the worst arguments ever. The goal is once the damage is toned down on the pets to an acceptable level, the burden falls on anet to make every pet as reliable as smokescale and bristleback. You have to look into the future for these types of changes not just at the now. I personally can deal with it the way it is but for the sake of balance in the game there should be changes. I’d rather all pets be viable options rather than 2 be too strong and every other pet be put into a shelter because people like you neglect it.

Pet’s account for 30% of the ranger damage, this is the reason why ranger weapon skills’ damage coefficients are one of the weakest in the game. You know this right?

If you wanna nerf pets, Buff ranger weapon damage to thief levels.

I am betting now when that happens all of you guys will be complaining bout RF and LB AA or even maul being too strong.

The V.8759:

Actually he was just probaby hiding right under the exit… At 21s you can already see his Jade Winds red circle appearing. He right there!

When the game starts your positions are reset back to your respective bases. You can’t comeout until the time reaches 0.

Therefore it is a hack.

Chaith.8256:

Wanderers or Sage are clear substitutes. Not Destroyers, Paladin, Carrion, although Viper sounds deadly.

Healing power on sage is a waste. Most traits on the Inspiration line do not scale well with healing power.

psizone.8437:

Electric Wyvern isn’t too bad when it comes to holding points since it’s pretty tanky and comes with an on demand launch and a 25s cooldown random knockback.

yeap the KB is good, but the f2 is godkitten awful to aim.

anduriell.6280:

For pets:
Boon duration is in nature magic, a minor
Condition duration is in wilderness survival.

Pets needs a rework, but writhing their basic mechanics. Traits needs some adjustment too.

Those traits about condi and boon duration I would move them to a pet Especificar trait line that is dependent on the pet family.
So you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your traits to improve exclusively the pet.

Exactly.

I suggested long ago to have our own pet trait tree (ala WoW)

this way you can build around your pet and not gimping your own build.