Guild Wars 2

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Sure would be nice if you actually answered the OP’s question as opposed to critiquing mine with your snark and backhanded insults.

Since I have to quote myself…

For moving targets – Bristleback (ability to attack without repositioning).
For stationary targets – Lynx
For unorganized PvE content where you are not might capped – Jungle Stalker

You are misinterpreting insults with critique. Don’t do that. If you want to make me a bad guy, pick a point that you haven’t made up like me not answering his question.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Here, I’ll help: The OP wants to know what you think is the best overall pet in PvE with his spec. He doesn’t want to know why you think I’m wrong.

And I’ll be correcting you here, too. He asked for an answer. Not opinion.

Hey guys, I’ve got a problem choosing pet for my build. Which pet now has the best damage to use with this build?

By any means, you either do not read, do not want to understand, or are trying to mislead OP into inaccurate information that might make him yet another “bearbow” in eyes of skilled people.

If you do not care about your reputation, there’s absolutely nothing wrong. But you should care about reputation of the OP since he came here asking nicely for answers that he can build on.

Plenty of skilled Rangers (and players) know that SmokeScale lacks in DPS compared to other pets. So should you.
If you want to recommend SmokeScale for roleplaying where efficiency doesn’t pose any meaning – you should specify it to avoid causing potential distress to OP who is searching for answers, not fashion. You might not be aware, but rangers have already a bad reputation. Encouraging people to game-styles that might make them be pointed out by community is not a way to go.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

A full DPS druid won’t be enough for a dps role. Rangers losing a significant (huge) amount of DPS just by traiting druid.

I’d like to ask you to elaborate.
Druid is an increase of DPS in comparison to Nature Magic for + ~10% personal.
Druid statistically increases 5 people’s DPS by 5% which is a higher DPS benefit than either BM or Nature Magic.

If I’m wrong, please demonstrate which (huge) damage parameter from other trait lines am I missing?

Staff #3 now stucks you on stairs in LA close to Fractal entrance. You have to wait till the CD resets so you can get out of there.
Happened 3/3 when I used it there.

Redemer.2601:

they did say that there where going to make a “lot of changes” later on they were even talk about doing changes to the astral force gain mechanic (atleast they said so during the druid reveal) so Im gonna hold my thumbs and wait for wintersday which is prob when the next major patch will hit

They might have been talking about their ridiculous nerfs and hammers that they keep throwing at us.
…
…
What? Those are changes, too.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

You just don’t wanna accept that Glyph of Empowerment, Sun Spirit, Frost Spirit, Nature Spirit and Grace of the Land are way better buffs than anything a Tempest can offer, do you?

Okay then, pretend that auras and common buffs that other classes should provide, outbuff druid, and therefore Tempest is better…

The thing is a full DPS druid (without healing power, brought into raid for personal DPS that is quite high) offers most of mentioned benefits as well.

However, you are on the right track that Rangers benefit from DPS stats far less than any other profession since we have a set amount of constant DPS glued to our pet and we maximize squad’s DPS by healing them – not dealing damage ourselves.

Just keep in mind that when it comes to Healing vs. DPS vs. Support triangle, you shouldn’t evaluate benefits that a different build offers. Nothing apart from Grace of the Land is connected to healing.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

…
So I’m off to solo things with my smokescale that most players wouldn’t dream of doing.

Wouldn’t dream of doing as in terms of having fun instead of results?
Yep, I don’t usually dream for entertainment when I’m looking for efficiency.

Yet again. Since OP asks for knowledge about DPS pets, your suggestion for DPS is one of the worse. I’ll throw you Firelysm’s data (since everybody knows you won’t do the research yourself). https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Community-knows-little-none-about-PETS/
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/This-are-ranger-pets-PETS-TEST-2/
There is one statement he made 100% accurate and I hope he’ll forgive me for quoting him:

A lot of people will try to excuse themselves with, but i took this pet because of utility as well. Well, i just want to point out DPS for those that think Smokescale is broke. You can believe in Santa, but stop with the BS. Ty

The data is already out there. If you can’t provide any better proof than feelings, assumptions and opinions that frankly contradict each other – I’m afraid your opinion would not be the correct one when it comes to numbers.
No hard feelings. I’m merely saying you are incorrect. That’s all.

@Ardenwolfe
There is close to no use for SmokeScale apart from PvP, WvW.
The only one there is, is skipping in PvE that does not include using the pet in combat and has close to no meaning mentioning it as a best pet for overall PvE since it underperforms in almost everything a PvE environment is about. To answer some of your notes.

Why did I glue options to damage? Because all the PvE is about one. After all those years, you should be aware. PvP and highly organized record runs are the only places where burst might matter.

Also, you mentioned dodging Bristleback’s attacks in PvP. No connection to environment discussed. AI has predictable movement which allows bristleback to hit vast majority of attacks. If you ask me, my hasn’t really missed a hit in fractals. I’m aware of the bug. Just like I’m aware how it can be negated and the ability hits.

6. I can think of more than five ways to generate AP better than a fern hound, much less sacrificing aggro and DPS for it. But the OP is asking about DPS . . . not AP.

Here I lost a complete track of what are you trying to say.
You are suggesting that a pet with completely horrible DPS is the right choice because you like seeing 1 big number on a long cooldown that you either can’t control or you force your pet into passive mode, skipping even more of the DPS just to cast the burst at the right moment?
All the 5 different ways to generate AF reduce the damage output. You sound way too “jumpy” when it comes to your own opinions since you seem to forget you are suggesting a Tank pet to replace a DPS one.

And last but not least:
All pets in PvE have 95% damage reduction if not targeted. Cats with low toughness will not die. Smokescale that aggroes NPCs will die faster than that, having evades or not.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Smokescale. It gives you most options, has the most combined skills of all the pets, and teleports to the target with near-inescapable damage.

All big wins in my book.

As wrong as I could think of.

There’s nothing wrong in that statement, since (s)he didn’t say that the smokescale was the best pet in every aspect of the game.

Although (s)he is replying to a thread directed specifically at PvE.
There’s is a lot of wrong in that statement.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Smokescale. It gives you most options, has the most combined skills of all the pets, and teleports to the target with near-inescapable damage.

All big wins in my book.

As wrong as I could think of.

Options =/= damage.
SmokeScale is the best utility or combat pet, if you will. But not damage pet and most certainly not a PvE pet.
The single burst on considerable cooldown has nothing in common with DPS.

For moving targets – Bristleback (ability to attack without repositioning).
For stationary targets – Lynx
For unorganized PvE content where you are not might capped – Jungle Stalker

Situational Options for your build:
Fern Hound – pet with mechanic to heavily improve druid AF generation.
Marsh/River Drake – pet with AoE attacks.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

I must admit, the silence from Irenio is worrying.

There are several possibilities on what is possibly happening behind the scenes.

1. Irenio took a lot of single-handed decisions that other developers felt being out of hand – resulting in restrictions to what Irenio can do by himself.
2. Irenio is not allowed to talk to people about any big changes to avoid “spoilers”. He wasn’t allowed to talk to the community before Druid reveal, this might be the same case.
3. They acknowledge their fail in design and don’t want to talk to community about anything of what’s about to come because they are not sure themselves. False promises cause much worse backfire from community than false changes.

Regardless of which one of it it is : There’s no reason to go cause so much commotion about it. If they are silent – they have their reasons.
All we can do now is wait for their decisions and react to what happens. Reacting to elements that have never taken place, yet, is not beneficial to anyone.

Adamsdjr.1350:

Thanks for the reply, very helpful. So I’m thinking going beserker dps druid but not sure what weps I should be using. How’s LB/GS sound?

For raids this sounds about right.

Keep in mind that while it is the most ideal asset of the raid squad – it will often end up being requested for pure healing.
In reality, healing druid is not as required in skilled groups (where people know their mechanics and know how to avoid damage) but is one of the best ways how to carry a raid of inexperienced players. That being said – players might end up expecting you to carry them most of the time.

But if you intend to play a Berserker Booster druid – LB/GS sounds like one of the valid choices. If nothing else, it’s the safest choice since sword gives you the trouble of being rooted in attacks animations (it requires far more mechanical skill to avoid the fields).

At the beginning – you wouldn’t be able to go for pure efficiency so starting with what poses less threat might be a way to go.

@ Adamsdjr.1350

To answer most of your questions:

~ Yes, there are viable DPS builds as a Druid. Berserker booster druid is one of the mathematically and practically most useful DPS assets of a raid composition. Period.
~ There’s no problem in adjusting some of the DPS stats or traits into more healing, comes to your raid demanding it. Hybrids are doable.
~ Full Healing druid is not a bad idea. It’s the best burst healing recovery support that still buffs the group with DPS boosts. It can be replaced but has a valid place in raids
~ A single Druid is a complete life-changer for higher fractals. Damage mitigation, DPS boosts and damage recovery they offer are beyond being useful.

Please, be aware that druids are useful if played correctly but they are not mandatory. There are classes that are capable of game-style that make druids not required. The main thing is they offer a viable solution to every single role possible. Condition, Berserker, Support → all of these are parts a druid can bring into “meta” level.

Oh My God.8423:

Please, is someone good with math?

Well, I did it countless times, why not do it again.

Frost Spirit = 7,5% Direct
Sun Spirit = Roughly ~2,3% (~500K from the whole fight, usually more since it pulses to different people according to positioning, not the same 5 people)
Spotter = 8% Direct, some minor to condis too (not much. It’s below 1%)
Glyph of Empowerment = 3,75% (5% with Grace of the Land synergy)
Grace of the Land = 15% straight DPS (peak), 10% overall, can be potentially maximized to 18% overall if you manage to keep distributing the buff to 9 people

Statistically the DPS a CAF druid provides is around 30% (for 5 targets; practically 15% raid DPS).
The ideal mathematical result is ~38,5% (approximated to 2 Condi engineers for less benefits from Raw numbers and more benefits from Sun Spirit). This number is achievable but regular people wouldn’t bother maximizing it.

Morwath.9817:

@Tragic Positive.9356
How people don’t enjoy it at all?
I love it, as much as I loved Monks in GW1. Speak for yourself.

I’ll be speaking for majority, if you excuse me.
You think I’m wrong? Take a look around forums. Websites. Discussions. Guild chats.
Then go compare the numbers of people who love druids (for being good, not for being fans of healers).

I’m afraid you’d be the one to be speaking only for yourself. Unfortunately, there’s way too many people who already expressed their displease and discomfort about Druid itself using great, logical and solid argumentation while I haven’t seen a single constructive positive opinion about it.

If you ask about my humble opinion …
… I don’t think calling out Irenio is the right approach.

He’s been the one to constantly push Druids and Rangers themselves where they needed to be but it seems to me that every single time he tried to do so he got hammered mercilessly back down to ground.
If I wanted to call a name, I’d go for Roy. Not Irenio.

About the Druid state:
Druid is now viable in all game mods. That’s correct. That’s absolutely correct. The problem, however, is that the design is (oh my god) SO awful that people don’t enjoy it at all and we still suffer from the same flaws as we used to before.

Druid forcing players into exploits is plain horrible. Whoever thinks otherwise is probably just afraid to stand out of the crowd and say it loud.
Druid is now the most horribly designed class out of all Guild Wars 2 history. It is viable, I know. But you can’t hide the fact that ANet failed their job at it’s finest.

I was thinking of playing that Trapper Druid with Glyph of Tides.
Did you give it a thought? Pulling the people into your traps results in immediate root, bleeds, successful trap and what not. It’s an incredible potential.

Yea, plenty of people I’ve been in touch do this.

Your ideas are absolutely on the right track.
Just keep in mind that you might possibly be going a bit overboard with all the regen you took. You naturally want +20% personal DPS from Marksmanship, Spotter from Skirmishing, and that leaves Beast Mastery for regen out of the question.

Please, consider playing around with Healing Spring and Trapper’s Expertise (in Skirmishing same as Spotter) which results in the very same result, but potential Water Field as well.
It saves you a bunch of DPS this way.

Can somebody stop these saboteurs from posting ridiculous topics with deceiving and manipulating headlines?

I am not even surprised druid is so screwed as it is.
Because ANet actually listens to the wrong people.

And no, forcing everyone down a single rune is a horrible idea.
Your contribution is a negative experience for forums and is violating rules of conduct. Just letting you know.

@Star Ace

In this regard you might be quite right and maybe not that right at the same time.
It’s true ANet didn’t intend their game to be all about personal DPS but people are usually talking about efficiency.

While it’s true that you simply do not need benefit from Zealot, you cannot deny that it offers a tiny bit of extra DPS for the raid (Which is like 2 seconds advantage from a whole fight).

It’s good to know that fact but as I keep repeating – it’s simply not worth the gold. Forums are supposed to offer you all kinds of intel. Efficiency, optimal choices and casual comfort suggestions as well.

One way or another – if your raid needs a dedicated healer – the raid is already doing bad. So with that in mind – you might as well try to babysit them with the stat that allows it in the best manner – cleric.
At the end of the day it’s all about what do you need. Not what others think you need. And that is individual for every single group you encounter.

The sword is just clunky.
… But for the time being, there is a way how to make your life miserable enough to make it work without mistakes.

It’s just what it is. Like the druid itself. Completely out of place but somehow viable.
Just because it is possible to play it efficiently doesn’t mean it’s good.

I was able to handle it quite nicely.
If you can keep the timers in mind and pay attention you shouldn’t have problems.

I recommend getting used to Action Camera. That way you keep attacking through holding mouse button 1 and keep dodging the blues with your evades (you should be able to dodge every single one with #2 and #3). If you realize you don’t have the CD for whichever reason you just lift your finger, stop attacking and make a step back (with action camera it’s full speed, not reduced since you are not backpaddling).

It takes practice but one can get used to it fairly quickly.

nacario.9417:

Crapgame.6519:

Grats.

Any boosts, PvP weekends, etc?

And people say gw2 isn’t a grind

I dont understand this sentiment. What is a grind? By that logic anything in this game is a grind. But for OP and many more it’s about the journey in PvP, the experience and fun on an even playing field.

Assuming it took the OP this much time, I agree with nacario.
I have around 91% played on my ranger and I’m rank 80 for a long time. So I can tell from my own experience I didn’t think of it as grind even for a second. It was a journey and a nice training.

Prophet.1584:

I’d rather take BM over druid in a dps setup and use the shout trait to spam regen. just my opinion.

Having Glyph of Empowerment boosts damage by 5% for 5 people (overall).
Nature Magic is by far better than BM. It boosts your pet’s might to 25 constantly (pet DPS goes up by roughly 30%) and you get constant 6-10% dps bonus from boons that are constantly stacked in raids.

If you want to help with heals as a DPS spec – simply put down healing spring. CAF will fill in seconds, you can pop CAF > #4 > keep DPSing. It gives 5 people straight 15% dps for 8 seconds and you can keep going.

Druid has a very potential perspective. Even in raids where people are smart enough to do their job instead of asking healers to cover up their mistakes.
As a berserker DPS booster if nothing else. No one will let themselves slip that 30% damage boost for so many people.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Please correct me if I think about this the wrong way:

• 5 players deals 1000 dps each (including the druid), a total of 5000 dps

• A druid can boost damage by 25% if they bring GoL, glyph and Frost Spirit (although not 100% of the time). Not counting spotter since that depend on the personal crit rate of the other players

• So if druid goes into “healing mode”, and thereby boosts the others to deal 25% more damage each, while dealing 0 dps himself (not counting pet), you have:

• 4 players dealing 1250 dps, 1 player dealing 0 dps, a total of 5000 dps

As I said, please correct me if I think about this the wrong way.

A little bit.

If you were playing a DPS zerker druid – you’d deal the same damage as everybody else (which means Spotter, Frost Spirit and Glyph), resulting in the same benefits as Healing Druid. No one forces you into Healing just because you took Druid only for the Empowerment glyph. The only difference is CAF GoL distribution.

The thing is you can keep throwing this buff to 9 people. You cannot say the exact number but if the players are stacked at ranged and melee equally, you can easily buff all of you (while only 9 are dealing damage because you are in CAF).

So if 9 players deal 1000 damage = 9000 altogether
You boost all of them by 15% = 10350 altogether
The difference you created makes up for your personal DPS loss. Which means you want to camp CAF as much as you can.

The only difference is that you can keep people healed while buffing the DPS up. The damage difference in having a healing and DPS druid is almost none.

Also, damage increase calculation
Frost Spirit = 7,5% Zerk
Glyph of Empowerment = 3,75 % Zerk (5% if you count Verdant Etching and GoL synergy)
Grace of the Land = 15% Raw
Spotter = ~8 % Zerk (if not capped on Crit; Less for Conditioners)

I still think that we being forced to outplay our own mechanics is not right. Not for the trade-off we get for it (which is way too low).

Of course skilled rangers can make sword work. But it’s not okay if our class is the only one that has to be this skilled, turn of auto-attacks, smash our #1, and still jump to places you don’t want to.

P.S. jumping of red orbs makes you take a nice amount of damage. I wouldn’t call it the optimal use of the sword. Also, if you are using dagger in raid, you are probably doing it wrong.

Crapgame.6519:

I’d be tempted to give this a go out in WvW but the double melee can be difficult to master. Especially coming from using the LB for a while. Range, while nice, becomes a crutch over time

Yea, I can feel you.
I felt 2 huge changes when I started playing full melee BM ranger in Maguuma. It was a pain to actually dodge all the stuff … but it made me realize I can finally dodge the stuff.
Playing longbow makes you rusty over time but unlike Axe it isn’t clunky and feels responsive. You don’t have to wait for 0,5 sec animation aftercast when cast time is 0,25. But having axe as that ranged option is the only thing one gets as one handed option.

Lamuness.3570:

Oh I’m sorry I thought I specified in my post, haha. I’m mostly playing raids / fractals / dungeons. Anything PvE generally. Open world stuff I’m not too worried about since anything can win in that.

To be completely frank, if all your raid members are skilled and know what they are doing – you can heal in Berserker gear just fine. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.

If you are looking for an alternative – Cleric was my best armor I found for “babysitting” raids. Because let’s be frank. Healing druids do nothing but clean the mess of other people. And you can clean their mess the best with that tanky stat. You can heal even at places where you cannot avoid damage which is what you’ll mostly be doing since people will force you to.

Zealot is just not worth the gold. It is a bit more efficient than Cleric, but if they want you to heal – they don’t expect you to deal the damage.
If you are expected to deal one – you can naturally heal in berserker gear every now and then.

Cleric will never appear in the World’s 1st best option that beats the last boss – but will be one of the best options you could get for random or casual group struggling with the very same content.

OGDeadHead.8326:

20 seconds cd is too much.

I suggested a 5% AF gain per attack and heal and 25 second cooldown of it.
But any healing applied would proc “alacrity” of sort onto it (66% faster recharge).

So berserker builds could use it early but not often
and healing builds could become unchanged or tweaked.

Both would have better synergy with the druid overall. Not many people commented on the idea so it got cowered by forum dust.

There’s so many ways to fix their mess yet they only keep ruining it further.

Fluffball.8307:

SoftLight your posts are not contributing anything. The point of forums is to discuss things. You angrily yelling at people to do whatever they want is not why people come here.

^

The biggest problem is that people always search for a straight and “real” answer.
But there will never be one.
Cleric is fine → Unless you start taking your tank’s aggro
Zealot is fine → Unless you or raid make mistakes that you die to
Celestial is fine → If you don’t know what to do or you are not needed for a specific role
Mix of Cleric / Magi / Berserker is fine → If you know what you are doing.

If you wipe in raids – it’s 90% because someone sucks, not because you didn’t have enough Healing Power or Precision.

A lot of stuff needs to be reworked.
This is just one of them.

You have my sign if you decide to do anything.

Next Patch:
“Spirit of Nature becomes the cure and sacrifices nearby downed allies.”

There’s also that aspect that makes a player do significantly better if he gets to play what he enjoys, not to play what he is told to.

So if numbers are not the deal (which seemed that case since all the maths you gave yourself the trouble with) – it doesn’t matter.
If you can make it work, you can as well play anything including BM.

sevenDEADLY.5281:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Unfortunately most people don’t have enough insight to give constructive advice and would rather make baseless accusations or just flat out insult any one who disagrees with them.

This man knows the score.

But doesn’t know the posts in this forum that are constructive so …
… Claim failed.
Because there’s a bunch of them.

Tyr.6097:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Seems like SoftLight doesn’t like efficiency much…
… Do you really believe an answer “Do whatever you want” helps the discussion?

A discussion about efficiency an a game, where no hard enrages exist and nothing stop you from finishing a dungeon is pointless.

Does time efficiency aka meta ring any bells?

Chrispy.5641:

But hey, Druid is perfectly viable so threads like this shouldn’t exist, am I right Tragic?
(/sarcasm)

It’s user-unfriendly, poorly designed, bugged, thematically out of place, clunky …
… But viable for certain contents.
But with their last changes done to the class? I’m this close to starting a petition.
(/completely frank)

vespers.1759:

i fee like the same could be said for all classes -> having trouble surviving? Oh then run more defense… except nobody says that’s good for dps and i disagree that it is good for the healer too. Like i said, everyone else is glass and surviving, the druid can do it too.

Other classes can deal damage while healing themselves up. It doesn’t overwrite all of their DPS skills.

If druid wants to go for efficiency – he’ll be healing and buffing DPS through Grace of the land. As much as he can.
And he CAN’T deal damage during this time. Investing so much gold into a class whose job is to boost damage, not deal one, is an economical waste.

If Druid is the only DPS that made you fail the timer, I’m concerned about why did you make him heal in the 1st place. And if you did – I’m concerned why did you make him squishy which doesn’t allow him to do his job in comfort (because you need druids only if you make mistakes – why didn’t you allow him to make some too and survive it with a bit of extra defense when he is already doing the kitteny duty?)

I came to a conclusion that if you intend to play a healing druid – your DPS will be way too low in comparison to other classes that the investment of any kind of damage is not worth it.

If that’s the case – you don’t really want to heal at all which is a waste of 15% damage to a lot of people and a waste of potential.
And you actually want to do nothing but blast water fields which is Engie and Ele’s job. So if you intend to heal people sacrificing personal DPS – you do want to fulfill 2 roles at the same time playing that tank and healer in 1.

My 2 cents are:
~ You either don’t need a healing druid at all or
~ You want to glue him to tanking in one go

vespers.1759:

every bit of dps helps and have zealot’s does not hurt your ability to heal. where’s the downside?

As a healer, you sometimes have to decide whether you are going to heal yourself or an ally before some of you go down.
With toughness you can afford to take the hit still surviving, heal the guy up, then focus on yourself and others. You have to dodge roll less – allowing you to focus more on distributing the Grace of the Land bonus to more allies (since you don’t have to heal yourself much – wasting the heals and buff on yourself) and you can afford to make mistakes (which is likely the case thinking about how many things you have to watch as a druid).

Is this what you were interested in ?

From my perspective all the people asking for help or ideas on forums are those playing in pugs or unorganized guilds. Which is the same as a pug.
I with my party keep constantly changing builds, people, utilities, stats and roles according to content. Anyone who thinks about being dedicated to beat Raid content already knows there is no such thing as ideal composition or ideal build.

No one here even mentioned the immobilizing druid build which is a must have for 2nd boss. Not even those of people here who claim to know the best about Druids and their capability.
So a note to those people: think from another perspective, not yours. It’s cool you have a group that already cleared the whole wing, amazing. But some of the people here are struggling with community that does mistakes and druids excel at that role. Naturally that makes the Cleric / Mistrel / Nomad druids viable options.

If people wanted me to bring only the damage and nothing else – I’d bring Berserker and wouldn’t think about CAF even for a single second. Because that’s what most of you suggest.

Tora.7214:

Ok, druid is not 100% nesesary but it defnily helps a raid go much smoother.

Can we return to topic about alternatives to zealot gear? (sorry if it sounds rude but im also interested on this and the topic about if druid is or not usefull seems off topic to me)

My insight is that Zealot is not worth the gold. Period. Cleric was my second best choice.
I made use of toughness miles and miles better.

I was thinking of nomad (or Minstrel). If you intend to be as efficient as it gets – you might be a tank and a healer in one.

Seems like SoftLight doesn’t like efficiency much…
… Do you really believe an answer “Do whatever you want” helps the discussion?

If you don’t want to help him then don’t. Everybody is aware of the downsides of the sword but no one is interested in the frustrated cries. We all have to go through the same problems. You are not special. If you just say you can’t deal with it it only points to your lack of skill getting around Ranger mechanics. I have tried to DPS as a sword ranger and I didn’t have a slightest problem doing my stuff.

Back onto discussion:
One more reason why Longbow has a downside > in Raids you don’t always have the opportunity to stay at 1000+ range. It lowers the damage significantly.

But when I think about it in a broad meaning… I don’t know how to answer the topic. There’s no build, rotation, game-play that would make you keep 1 weapon at all times, whatsoever.
You always do the standard rotation:
Rapid Fire > Barrage > Swap >

1. PoS > AA > PoS > Swap
2. Rapid Fire > AA > Rapid Fire > Swap > phase 1. >
3. Rapid Fire > Barrage > Rapid fire > Swap

By camping 1 of the weapons you lose DPS regardless of which you choose.

@SoftLight

Which basically means we don’t need anyone in the raid because if people can avoid every single attack, can DPS on the move, can fulfill mechanics without any problems (like having spawn 2 seekers one after another into Green field which means no knockbacks) and RNG is not any factor in the raid at all – you basically cleared the boss without any heal whatsoever.
… Right.

If you go for offensive stats (let’s say Zealot), you might be able to deal 10% more damage (15 seconds in CAF, 10 damaging, still no Zealot accessory). That’s probably 3 seconds of 8 minute fight.
You do realize that by camping CAF into perfection you can boost 9 people’s DPS by 15%, right? Why in the world would you try to go for personal DPS when you are the DPS support monster in the raid?
I’d rather utilize around staying alive and keeping others alive – creating much more DPS from DPS members than me as a Druid that I know I benefit like 50% less then anyone else.

Your pet is still a bunch of DPS of you. You want to camp staff (which is already a support nonDPS weapon) and you can potentially contribute as a tank and healer in 1 person.
That’s much more benefits than you’d take from Zealot that has close to no synergy from our class.

Lamuness.3570:

Currently, my ranger is equipped with Zerks (obv), so I’m in the market for new gear just for Druid. So you’re recommending a mix of Settler’s + Celestial? What about Zealot’s w/ Ranger runes or something?

To answer you directly, I need you to tell me which content is your goal. Open world / raids / fractals / WvW / dungeons ?

For PvE, I strongly recommend Cleric if you intend to heal. Being able to overheal seekers or damage phases without worrying about your own health or going down with 0 AF is a thing. I haven’t found a use for apothecary in raids. I usually camped staff and sword+warhorn (there’s no ranged condi weapon and druid has good access to travel+heal mechanics against Green Lightings.)
Berserker is still “the” stat if you intend to play DPS druid.

But for all those who were talking about WvW
I’ve been thinking about a build like this. It’s naturally a hybrid that bets on power of surprise and it’s damage cannot be countered. It’s basically a comfortable build that has tools to recover from mistakes and has tools for every single situation.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRBMhdG1JlKQJrY/KgLLAVLYxQwgzqf10qTrL2N7YCAjuTXJT7M-TJBFwAu3fYxTAAaZAAnEAA

If anyone likes that hybrid playstyle, give it a thought and adjust it for your own benefit. For the rest – don’t try it at home. It’s not meta.

Merrex.5384:

Lets face it its a Poor design for a healing class the person who designed it should be ashamed.

That goes for the whole class.
Can you tell me how Staff #4 fits the astral theme?
It’s a mashup of several random ideas glued together without proper testing behind it.

With the balance changes it became obvious.
What do you suppose changing 2 out of 3 grandmaster tier traits mean if not a fail of design from Developers’ side?

Fluffball.8307:

I’m sure it is easier, but is it worth it? For now you want a druid as your group does it for the first time, but do we always want a druid?

Even in PUG land I think it’s a clear “no”. Let’s see how much easier it makes it.

We managed to kill Vale Guardian because of it.
It’s not only the Healing he brings. A druid increases overall DPS of the raid while healing people up. It’s not about needing one. It’s about efficiency.

You never needed meta for anything. You could have played 5 naked thieves perma-stealthing and throwing caltrops around. And you could have defeated any dungeon or content this way. But the moral of the story is that who in the world would do it when he can do it in a better way?

~ Sword increases your pet’s might.
~ Sword hits multiple targets
~ Sword makes sure you get 100% Predator’s Onslaught uptime
~ Sword procs more on-hit effects for faster attacks
~ Using sword puts you in the middle of all the fancy boons and boosts

Pretty much these. I’ll look into it further if I have more time.

Supporting this idea, I already died to it a few times …
(I also play Engie, so the instinct is there)
+1

Knighthonor.4061:

Arena Net likely trying to slowly revamp the Ranger without bringing too much attention to the class so it doesnt draw mass amount of players like Druid did.

You’re getting way too optimistic. You’ll get pretty disappointed, you know.
The rest of us already learned to expect the worst because when it comes true you just say to yourself : “See? Called it…”
With your attitude you’ll feel sad/angry/lied to/disappointed.
It’s called strategy. I don’t remember this community being wrong when it comes to how ANet treats us. We might be thankless for the nice stuff we get – but ANet can’t act surprised when they won’t allow us to have it for more than 3 days.

Azure.8670:

15 days isnt bad.

Warriors havent heard from Robert since BWE2

Warriors didn’t need it, either.