Guild Wars 2

No….Unless that trait randomly gets you killed in a fight.

The Worst Trait in the game still remains Last Refuge

AEFA.9035:

Terravos.4059:

Allie one of the biggest problems with Rangers right now is the fact we have a lot of redundant and crappy pets that serve no purpose.

Devourers, There is zero reason to run with these zero..now I know someone is going to pop in and say “Well you see, i run PVE and I like using it so it won’t die cause its ranged” completely ignoring the fact you can run a lot of other pets, That will probably die in a fight, and they’ll still probably do more damage then Devourers who stay alive the whole time. The only time a Devourer is good is when you’re underwater, Because it actually has a very good Stun ability.. That is the only time.

Moa’s Again, are pretty much redundant….You basically have one that’s used for its fury, and nothing else…..There is no reason to run any of them.

Pretty much every single pet that has a Howl or a Screech that applies a Chill..Completely worthless as an ability… ..The only good pet that’s good with Chill is the Snow Leopard, because that bloody chill is like 7 or 8 seconds long, and 11 with the dang Malicious Training.

Bears in General, There is really zero reason to run any bear other then Brown Bear if you’re going to run them…You have a bunch of crappy F2’s basically.

Eagle and its cousin the hawk, There is no reason to run these birds….Some will say “But they have a good F2 with a bleed” ….The Bleed is worthless, and it basically hits less then the auto attack they do..No reason to use them.

Pigs in general are awful, You get some pretty good abilities if you bother wasting time picking up the environmental items they summon (and that’s a whole other annoyance) but then you have to deal with a Pet that does awful damage, and has a Knockdown that in general is awful…. Some will say “But its a 3 second cone knockdown” and my reply is, Its a 3 second Cast time Knockdown that has 300 range…Meaning that person has to stand in the same spot as the Pig basically for 3 bloody seconds without moving for your pig to come close to landing its Knockdown…You basically have to hope the pig randomly gets lucky…That’s basically what it comes down to. Its complete luck if you land it….There is no counter play or skill involved, its simply luck..

Drakes…Do you know why people primarily use the river and marsh drakes with a few idiots using the Reef Drake (why people still use that Drake i’ll never understand)

Its because they’re the only drakes that have a chance in hell of actually hitting something that’s not standing still, and is afk. Even then..It takes them so bloody long to cast their ability, you have to actually hope your Drake isn’t near the target when it starts to cast..Because chances are, they’ll probably run through it and waste the cast.

What pets are actually good?

Most of the Dogs, because they have reliable CC
Cats, Because they DPS..but since they’ve been nerfed, there really isn’t a reason to use them over Dogs in PvP.
and Spiders…Because they’re actually our only good PvP pet now….mainly cause they have a bloody 4 second Immobilize.

Everyone This is a good example of players who shouldn’t have the right to post in CDI threads like these and should roll another class. Waste of time and Dev’s resources reading unproductive posts like these. Do yourself a favour and save a minute of your life from reading this.

Pointing out most of our pets are god awful carbon copies with slightly different F2’s that mostly suck is unproductive?

Chrispy.5641:

Terravos.4059:

If you’re going to make a change to Hunter Call from the Warhorn line, Give it a Daze…as this would give offhand using Rangers an actual Daze to work with when ya consider Moment of Clarity.

Why? We have Greatsword and Shortbow that already inflict stun and daze. You can already maximize the Moment of Clarity trait by using those two weapons. If you can’t already maximize the trait using those two weapons, what is the point of putting a daze on Warhorn?

Both of those are non offhand weapons, By opening up Warhorn onto those weapons, You give for example..Trap builds decent access to Moment of Clarity (since some surprisingly won’t use the GTAE trap trait cause they dislike the targetting of it) You also open up possibly using things like Axe/Horn or Sword/horn for builds.. which would be interesting.

its also our only good source for Condition Removal in terms of Empathetic Bond.

If Anet doubts how much of a hassle that is..

Watch this video

Faux ends up killing me the very first fight…

And then i switch to killing his pet, and I win every fight after that….Because the pet is that important to us for Condition removal.

Devourers are an easy fix.

change the F2’s to something else that don’t suck… (you have a channel bleed, which people just dodge, a bloody copy of the Shortbow 2 ability, only its harder to land, and a Poison Field that takes forever to fire off and by the time it lands, the person has already moved) Give them something else….My Suggestion Would be CC oriented, That stun for example that the underwater one gets..You could remove every single Devourer and just have that one, and it’d probably get used some..

But anyway…increase Devourer range to 1500 ….Like longbow, Give it a 20% chance to do a Stack of Torment per hit….It’d actually be a decent pet then..

If you’re going to make a change to Hunter Call from the Warhorn line, Give it a Daze…as this would give offhand using Rangers an actual Daze to work with when ya consider Moment of Clarity.

Allie one of the biggest problems with Rangers right now is the fact we have a lot of redundant and crappy pets that serve no purpose.

Devourers, There is zero reason to run with these zero..now I know someone is going to pop in and say “Well you see, i run PVE and I like using it so it won’t die cause its ranged” completely ignoring the fact you can run a lot of other pets, That will probably die in a fight, and they’ll still probably do more damage then Devourers who stay alive the whole time. The only time a Devourer is good is when you’re underwater, Because it actually has a very good Stun ability.. That is the only time.

Moa’s Again, are pretty much redundant….You basically have one that’s used for its fury, and nothing else…..There is no reason to run any of them.

Pretty much every single pet that has a Howl or a Screech that applies a Chill..Completely worthless as an ability… ..The only good pet that’s good with Chill is the Snow Leopard, because that bloody chill is like 7 or 8 seconds long, and 11 with the dang Malicious Training.

Bears in General, There is really zero reason to run any bear other then Brown Bear if you’re going to run them…You have a bunch of crappy F2’s basically.

Eagle and its cousin the hawk, There is no reason to run these birds….Some will say “But they have a good F2 with a bleed” ….The Bleed is worthless, and it basically hits less then the auto attack they do..No reason to use them.

Pigs in general are awful, You get some pretty good abilities if you bother wasting time picking up the environmental items they summon (and that’s a whole other annoyance) but then you have to deal with a Pet that does awful damage, and has a Knockdown that in general is awful…. Some will say “But its a 3 second cone knockdown” and my reply is, Its a 3 second Cast time Knockdown that has 300 range…Meaning that person has to stand in the same spot as the Pig basically for 3 bloody seconds without moving for your pig to come close to landing its Knockdown…You basically have to hope the pig randomly gets lucky…That’s basically what it comes down to. Its complete luck if you land it….There is no counter play or skill involved, its simply luck..

Drakes…Do you know why people primarily use the river and marsh drakes with a few idiots using the Reef Drake (why people still use that Drake i’ll never understand)

Its because they’re the only drakes that have a chance in hell of actually hitting something that’s not standing still, and is afk. Even then..It takes them so bloody long to cast their ability, you have to actually hope your Drake isn’t near the target when it starts to cast..Because chances are, they’ll probably run through it and waste the cast.

What pets are actually good?

Most of the Dogs, because they have reliable CC
Cats, Because they DPS..but since they’ve been nerfed, there really isn’t a reason to use them over Dogs in PvP.
and Spiders…Because they’re actually our only good PvP pet now….mainly cause they have a bloody 4 second Immobilize.

Kilger.5490:

Terravos.4059:

I’m referring more to the fact that the pigs are just awful in general, not even taking in account picking up the weapons

They do awful damage, they have an awful knockdown that’s incredibly short range and has a long cast time so you’ll only land it on people are bloody afk.

I use it more in zerg situations when people have better things to do than watch my pet. The knockdown is aoe so when it lands it actually shakes things up a bit Can just see peoples faces “wtf? hammer train..!? Nope think it was that pig…” :p lols

Its 300 range, and has almost a 3 second cast time

Meaning….The person has to remain within 300 range of the Pig for at least 3 seconds for it to actually hit someone.

and its completely random when he’s going to do it, since we can’t control that.

Its pretty much the definition of suck

I’m referring more to the fact that the pigs are just awful in general, not even taking in account picking up the weapons

They do awful damage, they have an awful knockdown that’s incredibly short range and has a long cast time so you’ll only land it on people are bloody afk.

Forzani.2584:

Terravos.4059:

Forzani.2584:

Terravos.4059:

My biggest worry is we get the Warrior Treatment, as in to much to fast..

I read the suggestions Allie posted that she wants to pass on to the team, and i’m worried we’ll get a lot of that stuff.

Because frankly, I’d be a monster if I got even half of it..

Crap like wanting Shortbow to have Confusion/Torment/Burning just blows my mind..

That weapon would be so bloody overpowered.

Things like Lowering Trolls Urgent Cooldown + giving it condition removal…TU is pretty powerful as a heal right now..It doesn’t need anything, Heal as One could use something like that.. but not TU

Some of the trait suggestions are fine.. I just don’t want this class to end up like the Warrior.

Which is likely to happen…..and it isn’t surprising because pretty much every game like this evolves that way. The classes play a game of ‘tag your it’ taking turns being the strong class. A class can go from zero to hero with 1 or 2 minor tweaks.

The one thing I will say about Warrior though…and most classes, are their trait lines make sense. Ranger is always going to have a hindrance because their trait lines are all over the map. I never realized how bad it was until I started playing other classes where it seems there are so many more tough choices to make when picking traits. I always feel I am leaving something good out. Too many times with Rangers I end up picking a trait i don’t really want or need …but there isn’t anything else to pick.

Oh trust me, I know games play the tag you’re it game when it comes to balance

I’ve said it before, but I was a Valkyrie Player in DAOC before they got buffed…and it was an awful class at the time.. but i did play it till RR8 before they got any buffs… and it kind of played out like the Warrior buffs in this game.

They ended up getting Charge..Which was pretty powerful, and was a good ability..Then they got what was basically Levi from Reavers…That was pretty over the top..

They they were like screw it, and they gave them a bloody massively overpowered Heal line..

But yea….. A lot of games are like that….I’m just hoping Rangers don’t end up that way..Then again i’ll probably be playing ESO by then so it won’t matter..

No kidding about the Valkrie. A buddy played one off and on. Then after the buff he was pretty much unkillable. We duoed with him on his Valk and me on my Skald. We would cross bridge choke points and hoped to get attacked by the stealth brigade hanging out there. It usually didn’t end well for them.

hehe, I was the first RR5 and RR10 valkyrie in DAOC….which is pretty bad considering I came back like 5 or 6 months after that expansion came out.

i think i was probably the first RR11 one as well, but just saying 10 is easy enough.

But yea…unkillable is an understatement on valkyrie at that time….It was so bad..I stopped logging in my buffbot and instead just ran with the CL buffs, you remember those? They were like the equiv of blue shaman buffs I think…I just buffed myself, and ran around solo ganking stealthers (usually two and 3 mans at a time) and anyone else who came by.

Forzani.2584:

Terravos.4059:

My biggest worry is we get the Warrior Treatment, as in to much to fast..

I read the suggestions Allie posted that she wants to pass on to the team, and i’m worried we’ll get a lot of that stuff.

Because frankly, I’d be a monster if I got even half of it..

Crap like wanting Shortbow to have Confusion/Torment/Burning just blows my mind..

That weapon would be so bloody overpowered.

Things like Lowering Trolls Urgent Cooldown + giving it condition removal…TU is pretty powerful as a heal right now..It doesn’t need anything, Heal as One could use something like that.. but not TU

Some of the trait suggestions are fine.. I just don’t want this class to end up like the Warrior.

Which is likely to happen…..and it isn’t surprising because pretty much every game like this evolves that way. The classes play a game of ‘tag your it’ taking turns being the strong class. A class can go from zero to hero with 1 or 2 minor tweaks.

The one thing I will say about Warrior though…and most classes, are their trait lines make sense. Ranger is always going to have a hindrance because their trait lines are all over the map. I never realized how bad it was until I started playing other classes where it seems there are so many more tough choices to make when picking traits. I always feel I am leaving something good out. Too many times with Rangers I end up picking a trait i don’t really want or need …but there isn’t anything else to pick.

Oh trust me, I know games play the tag you’re it game when it comes to balance

I’ve said it before, but I was a Valkyrie Player in DAOC before they got buffed…and it was an awful class at the time.. but i did play it till RR8 before they got any buffs… and it kind of played out like the Warrior buffs in this game.

They ended up getting Charge..Which was pretty powerful, and was a good ability..Then they got what was basically Levi from Reavers…That was pretty over the top..

They they were like screw it, and they gave them a bloody massively overpowered Heal line..

But yea….. A lot of games are like that….I’m just hoping Rangers don’t end up that way..Then again i’ll probably be playing ESO by then so it won’t matter..

My biggest worry is we get the Warrior Treatment, as in to much to fast..

I read the suggestions Allie posted that she wants to pass on to the team, and i’m worried we’ll get a lot of that stuff.

Because frankly, I’d be a monster if I got even half of it..

Crap like wanting Shortbow to have Confusion/Torment/Burning just blows my mind..

That weapon would be so bloody overpowered.

Things like Lowering Trolls Urgent Cooldown + giving it condition removal…TU is pretty powerful as a heal right now..It doesn’t need anything, Heal as One could use something like that.. but not TU

Some of the trait suggestions are fine.. I just don’t want this class to end up like the Warrior.

There’s a lot of changes in that list Allie came up with, that are frankly oped..

Shortbow for example with Burning/Confusion/Torment..

Just no..

No…

Also the next beta which is like the 14th from what i understand will include the newest build in the game.

The one that’s been in the past beta’s has been like a Build from like 3 months ago..With them fixing only the most basic “crashes” for example.

There was server lag in the past beta cause they were testing the upper limits of the Campaign Maps

Its about like how ya get Server lag in the really massive battles in EB for example.

FPS wise it was fine…

the UI is awful though, This is probably more to do with them making a Console MMO…I’ve found the generally the reason UI’s end up being bad in games on PC is because they were done on Console as well. Hopefully a lot of it can be modded out though.

I’ll agree with anyone that GW2 has better character control and movement over ESO.

But i’d still prefer ESO because its closer to DAOC then GW2..

Things like the AOE cap and down system really really suck in GW2.

AS for TTK Ozoo, I think that has more to do with the current scaling right now for people below 50.

It seems once you hit 50, you get a massive bump in stats. For example going from 49-50 gave some people like 700 more armor cause of how the scaling works.

As for ESO… ughhh… not a great AAA MMO especially for the $240 it will cost to play it in the first year.

Also anyone else notice this is now like a talking point for some people “Yea look at this game that cost $240 a year” instead of saying $15 a month.

I can tell you right now…..I’ve never decided against playing an MMO because of $15 a month…I play an MMO based on one thing….if I enjoy it..If I do..I pay the money.

A Monthly fee doesn’t matter at all.

The Stun from the boar is like 4 or 5 Seconds if I remember correctly with MoC

The Fear can get up to 9-11 seconds depending on your condition Duration, very very nasty fear.

The Daze is less then Technobabble from what I remember

While those are nasty abilities, the Boar is so awful its simply not worth using.

Amins.3710:

Terravos.4059:

Amins.3710:

RyuDragnier.9476:

Poxheart.2845:

I haven’t logged into GW2 since I started playing ESO. Aside from having three opposing sides there really is no comparison between the two games. ESO’s PvP is everything that GW2’s isn’t.

Too bad the actual combat in that game isn’t that good. It’s not worth a subscription.

ESO’s in combat Movement, Panning and skill use is HORRIBLE: It’s amost impossible to attack while panning around you to see where you’re being hit from.

However, the pvp system is soo much better than GW2’s PvD system.

That’s because you’re using what basically amounts to Elder Scrolls Movement system as an MMO.

Let me guess, You’re still using Mouse 1 and 2 for Swinging your Weapon and Blocking right?

I use an N52TE pad.. and a Naga, There is no way I could play like that, So what i did was changed my Mouse 1 and 2 to Forward and Backwards like I have it in GW2.

and I simply made My normal 1 and 2 Keys that I use for my 1 and 2 abilities in GW2 my Weapon Attack, and my Blocking Key, This allowed me to basically play the game in Mouse look like I normally do in MMO’s

Couldn’t have made a larger assumption if you tried.

I’m a newb gamer – excuse me – I know not what a keybind is… /golfclap

They’ll probably fix it, but it’s not important to them right now… however, until they do, you’re limited on panning behind you while running / strafing in combat.

Know what’s an even bigger assumption, assuming I was in fact calling you a newb gamer (I wasn’t)

Its not Anet fault people didn’t take the hint..

I mean bloody hell, They’ve been telling you for over a year now the Ranger is the pet Class and its not going to change..But some people just can’t understand that.

Otaur.9268:

Terravos.4059:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkmR2hv8koY

Then again

you’re not much better off if i’m using Conditions either

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBj4pEnMzNA

Good lord those graphics look so nice… Even when you are recording I see no skipping, Lol… I need to get rich and build me a PC. This laptop on lowest settings will have to do until I manage to win the lotto.

Oh yeah, nice vids!

My older videos look better, I think because Youtube changed something, as I don’t get the “blending” of graphics when fighting when i watch it on my PC.

But anyway, reason it runs so smooth is not only do I have pretty beast computer, but i’m using a Nvidia 760gtx (2 actually) running Shadowplay

Shadowplay is basically like fraps, only it runs directly off the card, I get no slow down while its running.

I can also set it to basically save the last 10 minutes of my play which is a lot better then hitting the record button on my Fraps every time I fought.

phys.7689:

Terravos.4059:

Arghore.8340:

Terravos.4059:

Honed Axes – Which is a god awful trait in the first place…Its a Crit Damage boost for a Weapon that’s primarily a Condition Weapon, not a Power Based Weapon…If you’re doing Axe Offhand, You’re not going Axe Main hand, you’re probably going to do Sword.

Ehrm, well maybe not? Obviously depending on whether you mean for sPvP because I don’t do that, but for my PvE I run:

axe + warhorn/axe – well, 2 traps (spike & frost/fire), reflex
traits: 10/30/20/10/0
crit-orriented.

The axe is NOT a condition weapon by far, at least in my views, the multiple hits make for more crit.chances, and the bit of frost on there, and sometimes traps is mainly to keep a distance. I do not want a sword because I want to keep my space between my foe and me, due to the crit oriented armor/weapons I am weaker thus I want to stay mobile while my foes are not. For me this build works just fine, and I wouldn’t know how to build for an Axe trapper any other way (aka. the shift would mean I have no way to trap and axe.) Also, I have honed instead of ‘traps are targetted’ on my master trait, do have the grandmaster trap trait. Also offhand training on master survival. No extra ‘stuff to do’ but cast, I will move to where my traps need to be, and the way foes work, that is usually at my feet, so I can move once the foes spring the traps.

There is zero reason for you to be using that trait..Zero…

I’m sorry, its a bad trait…. And Axe is not a Power Based Weapon, Its a Condition Based Weapon despite the fact it “bounces”

you arent correct here. Axe is kind of in the middle, yes you get good conditions with split blade, but you also get pretty good dmg with it. 170×5
the 3rd skill is more of a defense skill, and while condition duration helps it, many condition builds dont focus on condition duration much.
also since its +10, you have to look at your off hand options for direct dmg, which leaves you with axe and warhorn as opposed to dagger and torch, so it works well with half your offhand options

i think the key here is axe is a mainhand benefits from critical chance, you hit many times, and can thus get more criticals. no matter what your power, or condition dmg, crit dmg will be of some benefit to high critical charachters, where as condition dmg would only be useful to some critical % charachters.

I think it would be better just to be when wielding an axe in general though.

That’s not how Splitblade Works

Its not 170×5, Its 170 Damage from 5 separate hits.

Splitblade for example right now days its does 505 damage, Ricochet does 504 damage. What that means is simple, Splitblade does 1 more damage then Ricochet does..

If Splitblade worked like you suggested, then each crit of the ability would do 1500 damage instead of 300 damage it does right now.

Winter’s Bite, Split Blade, and Ricochet all do the same exact damage outside the bounce on Rico and the Bleed on Splitblade.

Forzani.2584:

Terravos.4059:

Amins.3710:

RyuDragnier.9476:

Poxheart.2845:

I haven’t logged into GW2 since I started playing ESO. Aside from having three opposing sides there really is no comparison between the two games. ESO’s PvP is everything that GW2’s isn’t.

Too bad the actual combat in that game isn’t that good. It’s not worth a subscription.

ESO’s in combat Movement, Panning and skill use is HORRIBLE: It’s amost impossible to attack while panning around you to see where you’re being hit from.

However, the pvp system is soo much better than GW2’s PvD system.

That’s because you’re using what basically amounts to Elder Scrolls Movement system as an MMO.

Let me guess, You’re still using Mouse 1 and 2 for Swinging your Weapon and Blocking right?

I use an N52TE pad.. and a Naga, There is no way I could play like that, So what i did was changed my Mouse 1 and 2 to Forward and Backwards like I have it in GW2.

and I simply made My normal 1 and 2 Keys that I use for my 1 and 2 abilities in GW2 my Weapon Attack, and my Blocking Key, This allowed me to basically play the game in Mouse look like I normally do in MMO’s

I cant tell if in the picture it is right side up or upside down? Is the thumb button supposed to be for left thumb or right thumb?

http://www.amazon.ca/Belkin-n52te-Tournament-Edition-SpeedPad/dp/B000WMEHYG

left thumb

The picture is facing you, The pad faces the computer.

http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-keyboards-keypads/razer-tartarus

This is an upgraded version of it

You can also get an Orbweaver (I have one) but its slightly larger and i don’t care for the thumb pad.

Trapper’s aren’t bad..that’s the thing, They’re one of the few Builds we have that don’t need much help..And Skirmishing itself is fine with those traits there.

Skirmishing does need better Power Based Build traits though, Putting some of the Traits together (Like maybe combining the Trap Traits together and making it so people only have to go up to the Master Part of the tree together might make people happy. As they’d have an extra 10 points to work with. You could then do 20/20/30 or 10/20/30/10/0 or 0/20/30/20 Builds for Trappers.

Moving the Piercing Arrow Trait over to Skirmishing’s Bow Trait might be decent also, Because it makes that Trait in general better pick for Power Builds that use bow, and it free’s up a Trait in Marksman for Power builds.

The Rez Traits in general could go away, There is no reason to have most of them in the game as most people won’t use them. They’d be fine as Minor Traits, but actual Traits you choose is just silly.

In fact there is a lot of “filler” traits like that in general in this game that would be better as option Minor Traits you could pick in builds.

Sustained DPS in this game has another name..Its called Conditions…Making a Power Based build into a Sustained DPS class in this game is moronic, because it doesn’t work.

Sustained DPS requires you to be able to last longer then your opponent, and in a game where every class has a Self Heal, that’s not very useful.

Look at the Sustained damage of a Condition Based Build for example, On average we do 2000 damage a second with Conditions if we’re Condition Based, that’s Poison/Burning/a Decent Stack of Bleeds

There is no way to make a Sustained Based Power build that does that damage, without being glassy as hell.

Primal Reflexes would also be a better pick most of the time..but I’m guessing you’re using the trait entirely for its bonus on your offhands, and not the bonus its giving you on Axe itself.

like I said, you’re basically forced into using Axe Main hand cause you don’t have a viable option for your build, and then you’re using that 1 trait because most of the other traits aren’t super great for ya…also Hyena is just really bad…you’re better off with most of the other Dogs.

Spider isn’t bad though..

Honed Axe in general just need a vast improvement

Thing is it can’t be a cooldown reduction (for offhands or main hand, because Offhand is already covered, and it doesn’t have long cooldowns to warrant a Main hand cooldown reduction)

You could have it apply Might on Critical hits, That’d make it somewhat useful for both Power and Condition Based Builds.

Substance E.4852:

Terravos.4059:

Agility Training could instantly be made into a usable Power Build Trait by making it just give 25% run speed to Pets and the Ranger. That’d free up Runes and possibly Signets (depending on your builds) for use.

I honesty don’t see why you use Carnivorous training…. Esp in WvW, i could possibly see a use maybe in PvE.. but there are far better traits you could use.

Now if Carnivorous Training Ate conditions off the Ranger, That’d make it useful for Power Builds.

I use carnivorous in pve to help keep the crit dispenser cats alive and it does it’s job fairly well. Agility is almost exclusively a wvw trait for me. Neither is especially amazing, but we don’t have much to play with in the Crit line if we aren’t using traps and they both make a marked improvement on the pets.

Yea, I see when you’re probably using them, I guessed Cat was probably why you used Carnivorous and you don’t have any better options really.

Agility is one of those fillers as well..If i’m using a Power Based Build, and I don’t have Signet of the Hunt, I generally use it.

Arghore.8340:

Terravos.4059:

There is zero reason for you to be using that trait..Zero…

I’m sorry, its a bad trait…. And Axe is not a Power Based Weapon, Its a Condition Based Weapon despite the fact it “bounces”

Axes only has 1 condition and it is bleed, how can that be a condition based weapon ? The SB is the condition based weapon from my point of view, at least ‘it’ has condition on it’s attacks.

But I were to venture a guess it’s mostly a matter of perspective. If you think it’s a condition based weapon then please keep viewing it that way. I view it valuable for it’s increased crit chances due to multiple hits (thus multiple roles for a crit), on:
#1 – 3 roles, with 2 foes also a bounce back.
#2 – 5 roles, depending on how many hit.
#4 – 2 roles forth and back
#5 – a kitten ton roles.

Now if all those ‘hits’ don’t make the Axe a Crit weapon than I don’t know which weapon would. And with the build I run also nice damage on crit, and good distance…

Axe has 3 Conditions

Bleed/Weakness/Chill, and I know what you’re going to say “But Weakness and Chill doesn’t do damage” and they don’t..But Condition Damage isn’t what makes Condition builds power..Condition Coverage is.

For example..Given the choice between 5 Stacks of Bleed/1 Stack of Weakness and 1 Stack of Chill, vs 15 Stacks of Bleed and nothing else..I’d choose the first one every single time..Because its far far more powerful.

Shortbow is about the same as Main hand Axe in terms of Condition Power, you get 3 conditions, Bleed/Cripple/Poison.

You’re not going to use Shortbow usually on a Trap Build though, Its usually going to be Axe/Horn and Sword/Torch (or in some cases, Axe horn/torch and no sword) Though Shortbow can sometimes be ok I suppose..Giving up that Torch Offhand is crappy sometimes.. Though Sword/Dagger is also a decent replacement if you want a more defensive setup.

As for Axe, Its a good Crit Chance based weapon if you’re using Precision for Conditions, Its not a good Crit Damage Weapon though…Because its power damage is just awful.

Axe Offhand is fine for Crit Damage Builds, and I imagine he’s using the Crit Damage trait mainly to increase it and horn offhand, as He doesn’t have much options for power based main hand weapons other then Sword, but that’s not Ranged.

I just view it as a wasted Trait as its a Minor Increase..Probably be better off with Primal Reflexes, or hell..The Pet Traits in general are all probably better picks then Honed Axes.

What Anet probably should do is make Axe Mainhand into an actual Power Based Weapon..and then add Main Hand Dagger to Rangers, but make it Ranged (So Dagger/Dagger would be Throwing Dagger Setup, and would be Condition Based)

That way he wouldn’t be forced to use Axe because he had no other options.

There is no reason for a BM Bunker to ever use Flame Trap.

I have almost Perma Burning as it is on my BM Bunker Ranger… I’m not going to waste a utility slot to get more of something I already have.

and there is no way I’d ever run BM Bunker, and Run Flame Trap,Spike Trap,SoTW because i’d be giving up my Stun Break…. hell chances are I’ll be running 2 stun Breaks as a BM Bunker.

Again, Spirit Builds, if you’re not going to run 3 Spirits, you’re going to run 2 spirits and a Stun Break, you’re not going to add another Burning Ability since you already have Sun Spirit, which means, you’re going to have more then enough Burning Available to you.

There is no way i’d invest 30 points in Marksman for Signet of Stone, even if it did offer immunity to Conditions. Esp since I can get the same thing for free..Its called Signet of Restro

Also its not 30% extra Condition Duration, Its 20%..since every Trap Build is going 10 points in that line anyway for Keen Edges… Now Lets say I have Rare Veggie Pizza, That’s 50% Condition Duration if I have 10 in the Line already, picking up the extra 20% probably won’t do me much good, Because you’re going to see that when you look at your actual Conditions, They won’t reach that full extra second on them till ya hit 75% duration. And given the choice between Having a Chance to Proc another stack of Bleed vs Increasing the Duration past 50% on my Conditions, I’ll choose the proc.

And Geomancy is a Good sigil, Its great if you don’t have Precision

But this is the difference between Geomancy

and Sigil of Earth and Sharpened Edges

Arghore.8340:

Terravos.4059:

Honed Axes – Which is a god awful trait in the first place…Its a Crit Damage boost for a Weapon that’s primarily a Condition Weapon, not a Power Based Weapon…If you’re doing Axe Offhand, You’re not going Axe Main hand, you’re probably going to do Sword.

Ehrm, well maybe not? Obviously depending on whether you mean for sPvP because I don’t do that, but for my PvE I run:

axe + warhorn/axe – well, 2 traps (spike & frost/fire), reflex
traits: 10/30/20/10/0
crit-orriented.

The axe is NOT a condition weapon by far, at least in my views, the multiple hits make for more crit.chances, and the bit of frost on there, and sometimes traps is mainly to keep a distance. I do not want a sword because I want to keep my space between my foe and me, due to the crit oriented armor/weapons I am weaker thus I want to stay mobile while my foes are not. For me this build works just fine, and I wouldn’t know how to build for an Axe trapper any other way (aka. the shift would mean I have no way to trap and axe.) Also, I have honed instead of ‘traps are targetted’ on my master trait, do have the grandmaster trap trait. Also offhand training on master survival. No extra ‘stuff to do’ but cast, I will move to where my traps need to be, and the way foes work, that is usually at my feet, so I can move once the foes spring the traps.

There is zero reason for you to be using that trait..Zero…

I’m sorry, its a bad trait…. And Axe is not a Power Based Weapon, Its a Condition Based Weapon despite the fact it “bounces”

Agility Training could instantly be made into a usable Power Build Trait by making it just give 25% run speed to Pets and the Ranger. That’d free up Runes and possibly Signets (depending on your builds) for use.

I honesty don’t see why you use Carnivorous training…. Esp in WvW, i could possibly see a use maybe in PvE.. but there are far better traits you could use.

Now if Carnivorous Training Ate conditions off the Ranger, That’d make it useful for Power Builds.

Amins.3710:

RyuDragnier.9476:

Poxheart.2845:

I haven’t logged into GW2 since I started playing ESO. Aside from having three opposing sides there really is no comparison between the two games. ESO’s PvP is everything that GW2’s isn’t.

Too bad the actual combat in that game isn’t that good. It’s not worth a subscription.

ESO’s in combat Movement, Panning and skill use is HORRIBLE: It’s amost impossible to attack while panning around you to see where you’re being hit from.

However, the pvp system is soo much better than GW2’s PvD system.

That’s because you’re using what basically amounts to Elder Scrolls Movement system as an MMO.

Let me guess, You’re still using Mouse 1 and 2 for Swinging your Weapon and Blocking right?

I use an N52TE pad.. and a Naga, There is no way I could play like that, So what i did was changed my Mouse 1 and 2 to Forward and Backwards like I have it in GW2.

and I simply made My normal 1 and 2 Keys that I use for my 1 and 2 abilities in GW2 my Weapon Attack, and my Blocking Key, This allowed me to basically play the game in Mouse look like I normally do in MMO’s

Reverence.6915:

Poxheart.2845:

In ESO you get more rewards from fighting players than from taking keeps, so there’s less likelihood of karma trains.

Fighting players (in zergs) in GW2 gives more wxp, loot and exp. People still karma train. Why? Because people will look for the easy and safe route to rewards. Unless there’s 0 reward for taking a keep, there will always be some kind of “karma train”

You get more Alliance points for killing someone solo in ESO then taking an undefended keep in ESO..In fact it works like DAOC and Warhammer Onlines old system.

Basically if you zerg a person down, It splits what they were worth between all of you, Instead of just giving you all the full amount despite using less effort to kill someone…This rewards people not Zerging around.

As for Keeps, if you take a keep, and on one defends, its not worth much, It starts becoming worth something when people start fighting and dying around the keep, Cause it builds up a store of Alliance Points..So lets say you take a keep, and no one defended it, Its worth 10 points, Now lets say 50 people defended the keep, and after much dying and fighting after 2 hours, you take the keep, Well during that fighting it was storing up Alliance Points, and you guys now get 50k AP for taking the keep.

drazzar.3042:

Isn’t ESO the game, were you can get snared and stunned without a chance to break it? Sounds pretty kittened up for me, I’m not telling you to stay with GW2, I’ll switch to another game as soon as possible, but I don’t think ESO is a good option for that.

You can break Stuns/Knockdowns/Mezzes via Pressing Both Mouse Buttons, It’ll use half your Stamina but it’ll break you out of the CC and make you immune to it for 5 Seconds

Roots you can Dodge out of it (also uses Stamina)

Snares though require a Purge ability (there is a few you can pickup)

Short little video of why Precision isn’t bad for Trap Builds

Cufufalating.8479:

Jocksy.3415:

Your statement “Precision is not a bad stat for Traps, Crit Damage is.” is interesting, but I really don’t see how precision works with traps? None of these two stats do anaything for traps, as far as I know…

Traps can crit, which in turns means they can proc On-Crit effects, and since the Bleed On Crit trait is very handily in the same traitline as the trap traits, along with the Precision stat, it becones of the very few ranger trait setups which actually synergise together well, because suddenly with 1-2 traps pulsing, you attacking (probably with Sigil of Earth and often times a SB) you can lay down 10+ bleeds pretty much out of nowhere on rediclously low CD, not to mention the potential AoE element of the on-crit bleeds.

I’ve used pretty much every trap build I can concieve with dire, carrion, rabid, celestial, even apothecary for a bit, and for me nothing comes close to a rabid or celestial setup, because those on-crits are where its at.

Sigil of Earth + Sharpened Edges, is 2 possible Bleed Procs everytime Burning Trap and Poison Trap Pulse.

It adds up incredibly fast with those 2 things.. and its the reason why Traps are scary..Because they put out a ton of Conditions really fast..

But lets not stop there

Most trappers will go Torch Offhand, and Bonfire will do the same thing as Flame Trap

It’ll pulse 8 times, Giving a chance to proc those 2 bleeds each time.

That is why Precision is so nasty for Trappers

Jocksy.3415:

Terravos.4059:

…….

Why am I continuing to read about Rangers wanting Traps moved out of the Skirmishing Line?

Precision is not a bad stat for Traps, Crit Damage is..But then again, I’m not basing my spec off what Stats the line actually gets, I’m basing it off the traits…

Every time I see a Ranger say something like “Traps don’t belong in Skirmishing, they should be in Wilderness Survival” I facepalm because it shows what a complete lack of understanding a lot of Rangers have about the class.

If you move the Trap traits to Wilderness, You’re just going to nerf yourself, Because its a line you’re going to pick up anyway if you’re a Trap Ranger..Because it has all your bloody defensive traits… The only thing moving those traits will do, Is make it so you lose all your defensive traits picking up Trap Traits..

There is also nothing in the other lines that you could remotely pickup that would be as good as those defensive traits that you’d be losing..NOTHING…There is nothing in Marksman, nothing in Natures, Nothing in Beast…NOTHING….

So please for the love of god, quit making silly suggestions like that..

Traps in skirmishing should have a better direct damage option.
And most of the suggestions I saw about those traits was to move them in the condi duration line (though I don’t see traps in marksmanship in a thematic view) or to move the condi duration or condi damage to skirmishing (not saying it all makes sense, just saying there is not just one proposal about those traits).
I would personally like to have them deal more direct damage (and have increased ranged), but I know this would mean lowering their base condi-damage, thus might not be a good thing overall for condi-build. And they would still not be so good in direct damages builds, because of their conditions.

But, if they were in the condi duration branch, one would only need to go get 20% more condi duration to have the traited versions be correct control options in zergs…

Your statement “Precision is not a bad stat for Traps, Crit Damage is.” is interesting, but I really don’t see how precision works with traps? None of these two stats do anaything for traps, as far as I know…

If people’s complaint about Traps is they don’t do enough Direct Damage, Simply Change 2 of them to have more Direct Damage that scales with Power

for Example, Spike Trap, You could Increase its Direct Damage up a lot more so that it scales with Power Better. Frost Trap could be your other High Direct Damage Trap That way you could actually have Power Based Trap Damage Builds

Switching Trap Traits out of Skirmishing isn’t the Solution, Because there is nothing wrong with those Traits, the problem with Skirmishing is the fact it has More Pet Traits then Beastmaster Line does.

4 of the Traits in the line are devoted to Pets…. 4….

You have 3 Traits in that line that work with Power Builds

Honed Axes – Which is a god awful trait in the first place…Its a Crit Damage boost for a Weapon that’s primarily a Condition Weapon, not a Power Based Weapon…If you’re doing Axe Offhand, You’re not going Axe Main hand, you’re probably going to do Sword.

Quickdraw – Which nothing is wrong with this ability, It reduces 8 abilities Cooldowns…Not terrible.

and Moment of Clarity – Again, a pretty good trait.

If you want to fix Skirmishing Line, get rid of those kitten Pet Traits that are clogging it up (Move them to Beastmaster) and put in actual Traits that are fairly decent for Power builds.

The Trap Traits aren’t the problem with the line

Empathetic Bond isn’t the only Trait you pickup in Wilderness Survival as a Trapper

Offhand Training is the other…and its incredibly useful for a Trapper

As for the other builds you suggested..ehh No

If you’re going to invest that many points for Traps, you’re no going to pickup other things other then Traps, About the only thing you’ll ever replace a Trap for..is a Stun Breaker…

Which mean its pointless to go 30/10/30 as a Trapper
You don’t go BM Bunker without SoTW, and a Stun Breaker Either (Which means you just invested a bunch of points into picking up 1 trap)
Shout Based Trap Builds are the same, You’re going to pickup Guard, and you’re going to have to have a Stun Breaker, so again.. that leaves room for 1 trap again.

Spirits, its even worse, You’re investing so much into both of those things, while only using maybe 1 or 2 of each one…

The Bunker version of a Trap Build, is basically..You’re deciding not to use Rabid, and instead have decided to use Dire…which is perfectly reasonable… But you’re still going to go 10/30/30 because it is flat out the best choice then all the other builds you listed.

Also i’ve never understood why you’d go Geomancy on a Trapper..Its going 30 Points down the Skirmishing Line, its going to use Precision for Sharpened Edges, You’re going to get Fury on Weapon Swap…There is no reason to go Geomancy..The only reason i used Geomancy on my BM Bunker build was because it was Cheap back then, but more importantly..I had no access to Fury, and No Precision what so ever.

Then again

you’re not much better off if i’m using Conditions either

DanSH.6143:

(First and most needed change: Signets now apply their active effect to the player. “Signet of the Beastmaster” trait will now also grants the signet’s active effects to the pet).

Marksmanship Changes

1. “Signet Mastery” (IV) merged with “Beastmaster’s Might” (IX).
2. “Opening Strike” (minor adept) merged with “Remorseless” (XII).
3. “Precise Strike” (minor GM) functionality changed: Opening Strike now stuns the foe for 2 seconds.
4. “Precise Strike” (minor GM) switches places with “Alpha training” (minor master).
   With these changes to Opening Strike, it should now be avoidable. If the Opening Strike misses, it is lost.
5. “Signet of the Beastmaster” (XI) switches places with “Zephyr’s Speed” (Beastmastery GM trait XI).
6. “Beastmaster’s Bond (VI)” should also affect the pet. CD reduced to 30 seconds.
7. “Piercing Arrows” (VIII) merged with “Quickdraw” (Skirmishing master trait X). Remains in Marksmanship (VIII).

Marksmanship now needs a new Master trait and a new GM trait.

Explanation: Opening Strike is nearly useless without a GM trait. Minor traits should be useful without needing to entirely spec into a trait line. Opening Strike as it is today is out-dated.

---

Skirmishing and Wilderness Survival Changes

1. “Quickdraw” relocated to Marksmanship as mentioned.
2. “Trapper’s Defense” (Skirmising III) merged with “Healer’s Celerity” (Wilderness Survival II). The merged trait will remain in Wilderness Survival.
3. “Trapper’s Expertise” (Skirmishing VIII) moved down to the empty _Skirmishing III. _
4. “Martial Mastery” (Wilderness Survival X) moved to the empty Skirmishing. VIII
5. “Trap Potency” (Skirmishing XI) moved to the empty Wilderness Survival X.

Skirmishing now needs a new Master trait and a new GM trait.

Explanation: As the trait-line’s stat doesn’t improve traps at all, trapper Rangers shouldn’t be forced so heavily into it.

---

Nature Magic Changes

1. Remove “Spirit Unbound” (VII). Make spirits always move and follow the player.
2. Break “Nature’s Vengeance” (XI) into 2 traits, so Spirit-built rangers would still have to spend 30 points in order to achieve their full potential .
3. Replace Vigor with Stability in “Fortifying Bond” (master minor)". Vigor does not affect a pet in any way – they don’t have endurance.

Congrats..You managed to completely gut the Trapper Build…because someone told you Traps belong in the “Condition” Stat Tree….despite the fact its a tree you’re going to pickup anyway as a Trap Ranger.

Also..

Explanation: As the trait-line’s stat doesn’t improve traps at all, trapper Rangers shouldn’t be forced so heavily into it.

Will you people quit with this nonsense already..

Precision is actually very good for Traps..Whenever they pulse and do damage they can apply Sigil of Earth and Sharpened Edges.

Reading that thread makes me angry..

Because its filled with a lot of players who honestly shouldn’t be making suggestions about the class, Because they are freakin clueless about it in the first place.

…….

Why am I continuing to read about Rangers wanting Traps moved out of the Skirmishing Line?

Precision is not a bad stat for Traps, Crit Damage is..But then again, I’m not basing my spec off what Stats the line actually gets, I’m basing it off the traits…

Every time I see a Ranger say something like “Traps don’t belong in Skirmishing, they should be in Wilderness Survival” I facepalm because it shows what a complete lack of understanding a lot of Rangers have about the class.

If you move the Trap traits to Wilderness, You’re just going to nerf yourself, Because its a line you’re going to pick up anyway if you’re a Trap Ranger..Because it has all your bloody defensive traits… The only thing moving those traits will do, Is make it so you lose all your defensive traits picking up Trap Traits..

There is also nothing in the other lines that you could remotely pickup that would be as good as those defensive traits that you’d be losing..NOTHING…There is nothing in Marksman, nothing in Natures, Nothing in Beast…NOTHING….

So please for the love of god, quit making silly suggestions like that..

RyuDragnier.9476:

If I recall correctly, ESO’s matches last for a week as well, don’t they? Or was it 2-3 days…

“During Beta we have been using a 48 hour Campaign ruleset but standard Campaigns will last 3 months. We have the ability to make scoring changes and duration changes depending on player needs and we’ll analyze how scoring goes to determine if we need alternate rulesets with different duration, scoring, but also if we need to add player level restricted Campaigns or not. There really is a great deal of flexibility with the Campaign system, and we will be paying close attention to what players ask for to determine which Campaign rules we add,” he explained.

i’m not certain what happens when a Campaign ends in ESO though.

edit
Responding to one fan inquiring after the aforementioned Alliance Wars, Zenimax confirmed that campaign will “last for three months at a time.” The studio also confirmed that while campaign stats will reset at the end of each play period, players will be able to stay in whatever campaign they choose for as long as they like. “Keeps, Scroll ownership, emperor status, and where you are in the world don’t get reset. It gives a great sense of persistence when only the scoring mechanics ‘reset.’”

GrandmaFunk.3052:

Terravos.4059:

I have never seen an MMO to date have the performance that ESO has in PvP

Given that the game has only been experienced in limited beta.. that’s not really saying much is it?

WvW ran pretty fantastic too during the BWE when there was only a few thousand ppl connecting to the servers.

I got some lag when the zergs fought in GW2 beta…Its gotten better…don’t get me wrong..

But when i’ve zerged in ESO’s beta, I’m talking 120+ people fighting, I’ve gotten zero lag…Hell just i’ve loaded into area’s…Where I can see everyone, and probably 250+ people in the area.. and i’ve not had a single FPS drop..

Trust me..Having played games like DAOC before, Warhammer and GW2..I can flat out tell you that ESO’s performance blows past games out of the water when it comes to massive scale pvp… That’s not to say GW2’s performance is terrible in zerg fights..I can have reliable zerg fights in this game..But its no where near what i’ve seen in ESO beta.

I plan on recording a lot when final comes out… and will probably stream, I highly suggest watching videos of those fights on release to see how well it performs…

ESO has something similar to Combo Fields, they’re called synergies…

Players can activate area’s basically do things.

You still got to be careful about clumping up though, can very easily be wiped by AOE.

People who think ESO has a Cash shop clearly don’t know what an actual Cash Shop is.

GW2 has a Cash Shop.

ESO has Account Services (Character Transfers for example)

As for the Comparison between WvW and AvA in ESO..

There is no contest, ESO AvA is far far superior.

Not only does it run way way better….(Zero lag…and I mean that..Zero..I have never seen an MMO to date have the performance that ESO has in PvP)

It doesn’t have crappy gimmicks like GW2, There is no Down System, If you want to Res someone, You have to walk up to them, and cast a Res Spell, that takes like 10 seconds almost to cast…If someone interrupts you, You have to start over with the cast.

It also doesn’t have an AOE Cap, Countless times in beta I’ve seen 8 People absolutely Blow the Hell out of Large Groups of Players trying to Zerg something…

If you bunch up in ESO, you will die… Like you’re suppose to.

The Map is also vastly superior to GW2 as well…I mean its not even close… Not only its it bigger then all the Borderlands,EB,EOTM combined…It actually pushes you not to zerg objectives…

You get more for killing someone Solo, Then you do for taking an Undefended Keep..

There is no contest..It is the better PvP Game.

I posted my original idea of trait changes in the first thread…though I don’t think i’ll bother with the actual CDI.

Anet is probably going to do what Anet wants to do….You might be able to sway them on some things..But they usually don’t pay much attention to advice by people who play the classes.

In fact very few Developers actually do pay attention.

You think the drop is bad now, just wait till ESO

someone will pop in the post and say “well ESO is bad” and my response is “It doesn’t matter what you think”

GW2 will eventually get some of the population back it loses from ESO.. but the game has superior Mass Scale PvP compared to GW2, its going to take a chunk out of this game.

I ended up not running Perplexity Runes on the build, and instead ran Traveler’s, Problem is the damage dropped..

But I was forced into using Traveler’s because lack of a Stun Break.

NemesiS.6749:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQJAVRjAV11BWWWo2BgVBBbP00SMZPMkxFP5Xp6F-j0BBYfBisAIHqIasl1FRjVXDT5aIqaXwA-w what you guys think, will a build like this work? Is like half zerker, half condition. I made to get the most use out of my ascended rings and items so i just have to change armor lol. With the interrupts in both weapons i guess confusion can be a thing, not sure.

Yea, first time they’ve came out and said patch notes are fake…

Depending on if that the Eagle Eye Change has an ICD…That actually could end up being kind of interesting.

Could do some interesting Bleed/Power builds with it.