Guild Wars 2

panda the chop chop.4712:

I say freeze applied opponents in a block of ice for 1.5-2 seconds, with 3-5 seconds of chill after the effects of ice block or breaking out with a stun break

SOLD!

In addition to it’s already mentioned bugs, Healing Spring suffers from yet another (sorry if it has been already mentioned, I didn’t find it mentioned).

[Bug]
Healing Spring trap is placed where the player started the cast animation (cast time), not where the animation (cast time) ended.

This forces the ranger to stop moving for a crucial amount of time everytime he’s supposed to die and wants to heal. This is the only trap that suffers from this bug I’ve been aware of.

To remind the still-existing bug – Healing Spring still doesn’t Trigger if the trap appears when allies inside are at full health and drop on health afterwards. They need to exit and re-enter the circle which is yet another time-consuming activity when your life is on the line.

Sorry if this has been already mentioned but I couldn’t find a word about it.

Healing Spring trap is placed where the player started the cast animation, not where it ended.

This makes the healing spring much less reliable in terms of PvP (people need to move, you don’t want to stop moving when you are about to die – which is the moment you need to cast the heal).

Other classes need memory to remember skill order.

Rangers need reflexes and awareness to know when to stop using auto-attack for another purpose such as dodge, reflect, Damage Boosts etc.
Rangers are much more about pet control. So our rotations come from utilities and pet (swaps and F2), if you prefer. Not from weapons.

If you want a challenging rotation class – play an Engie. I can guarantee you’ll hate it as much as you’d hate Ranger. They are the same (except Rangers are more bugged and get less attention) in terms of giving twice the effort for half the reward.

EDIT: If you still want to play the Ranger and want a rotation oriented build – play full melee GS+S/A Remorseless. That build has all the rotation you might want.

anduriell.6280:

not gonna happen the shouts work as intended

These work as intended too. Doesn’t mean they make sense, though. This rather not be the logic ANet believes in (but community already got used to).

http://9gag.com/gag/aep9q9B?ref=fbp

Frost Trap is currently outclassed by every other trap.
Simply because of Trapper’s Expertise.
Important Note:
: Frost Trap is the only trap that has 2 Arming Times

Every single trap procs Cripple (Including Frost Trap), which makes wanting more chill effect not necessary. The 30 (24) sec cooldown for nothing else but ability recharge decreased is way too long.

This Trap needs increased Base Damage in value of at least 60%. If the damage is increased via Trapper’s Expertise – I wouldn’t really mind. Sounds fair to me if the trait increased Direct Damage of traps by 60% as well since the only traps affected are those with low or none Condi damage at all.

Currently as it is this trap is the only that doesn’t deal any noticeable damage and it’s condition applied is supported by the one of the very same kind – movement impairing.

Making this trap Kiting/Damage/Zerk oriented is absolutely what we need and would promote one of the standard and unique game-styles we Rangers were offered.

Vendetta.1958:

Zapperx.1649:

The bird is OP because of the way taunt works with its F2. It is very hard to avoid it because the bird will get in your face to use slash so it is low risk for the ranger because all he has to do is press F2 and the bird will follow the target and get within unavoidable taunt range where as all the other pets will stop and use the F2 when it is sort of close. The fact is that taut is kind of broken with the bird just go test it with target dummies. ie. stand with it at your side and press F2 then try it with every other animal.

Yeah I agree, I think taunt + bird is broken, but not because of the bird. Taunt on F2 should have a 30 sec ICD, and its competing traits brought up to par.

It should have 900 range and 3 sec duration, then.
You know… Just to be on par. No other class suffers from restrictions like a Ranger does.

Being forced to Birds only (not even all of them) while there are X other pets is one awesome example. I mean, I would have used a Warthog if the duration was long enough for him to complete the Knock.

EDIT: I still get amazed how people cannot suck up that even Ranger has nice things. Why aren’t people complaining about , oh I don’t know, eles or guardians in PvP…

Crapgame.6519:

From what I have played so far of the DH we have nothing to worry about.

Besides, we don’t even know what the Druid has in store You know what they say, right? Good things come to those who wait

Some of us already wait for 3 years you know.
In real life, good things come only to those who fight for them.

I respect ANet, of course. I’m just saying that if they fail this time again, I’m getting more assertive with things.

One way or another, if my predictions come true and Rangers will end up as nothing else but a thrown-out piece of forgotten scrap that no one likes to wear but ANet likes, I’ll definitely be sending my love letters to developers.

While I still keep falling in love with the game, I’m slowly but definitely becoming too desperate with our class to enjoy such a great game.
Not as a concept. But as a mechanic they always keep ignoring till the very last moment, pretending they don’t.
Everyone else gets the attention. DH traps is just yet another example. Rangers get noticed only if they have some nice stuff (double leap from GS was intended for 3 years. It stopped being intended a few weeks ago when it made some builds viable. No auras were doubled, it only worked on proccing effects from which Water Field is almost the only that could – Explanation behind the fix? It was Bugged. Case closed for lack of evidence.)

RevanCorana.8942:

If you look at the warrior greatsword 5, the sprinting component is not considered a leap finisher either.
Swoop is basically a short rush with leap of faith at the end.
For ranger it was a bit too broken with the combo quidraw+healing spring because it implied massive additional healings AND condi removal.

It’s not like Healing Power GS ranger had any objectively competitive builds anyways. Even if he could heal up.

I mean… Do you really believe he could have competed with Guardians or Warriors at melee range in PvP? And for WvW – Healing Spring is really a situational choice since you have to be constantly on the move.
That build was only good for 1v1 Remorseless duels. Nothing more.

Guyz, he probably won’t listen to you. It will still look like too much to him.

Even if it makes perfect sense. If he got hit by Slash for 6K … He’s probably playing a Thief or Mesmer. By this assumption we can already tell why is there so much fuss about topic that is … 3 years old now?

Kjeld.9730:

After the Swoop ‘fix’ the double finisher turned into 1 finisher but it’s on the leap and not the dash (from the middle until the end of the animation) so, You can’t combo while standing in a combo field (I’m not aware of any skills that work this way). You have to come from the outside of the field and judge the distance right to get that combo on your leap.
both sword and greatsword leaps need some setting up before you can use them now, what a fix.
I have 2 suggestions:
1. make the entire animation a leap finisher
2. make the dash a leap finisher and not the leap so you can combo inside of fields.

in other news: Lightning Reflexes still doesn’t cancel stomps

1. Agreed
2. ANet probably believes it’s working as intended because they believe we are strong in PvP
3. Sword and GS leaps still block your existence for the entire duration of immobilize
4. Lightning Reflexes still get cancelled if it hits an Ele with Shocking Aura.
5. Sword’s #2 and #3 are still clunky and can be cancelled (which is hilarious since they are designed as evade skills)

All in All – we have lots of QoL anchors on our weapons and other abilities. The only thing we can hope is that ANet will start watching things from objective point of view and not their subjective opinions.

Justine.6351:

Carrion devourer isn’t as bad as people claim.

I’ve never used an Armor fish. It looks great for its f2 but I use shark/red jelly fish cause dmg.

I use devourers for Tequatl.
They use range and boost my SotP (their F2 means basically 10 might and their attacks count as 2 = 2 might instead of 1 for me – it beats spiders)

@Heim
I dunno…
Let’s say 6 seconds? with 10 sec internal cooldown?
The numbers do not really matter. The idea of anti-cleansing anti-healer mechanic is the point.

It’s just another idea how to make the trait a viable choice, after all. It needs a huge kick forward if it wants to compete with our only cleanse options.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

If it was totally non-cleansable, it would be a bit OP. Perhaps still use the icon on initial poison application but instead of the poison being non-cleansable, make it re-apply actual poison on hitting someone with the icon if not already poisoned. So you can maintain if you continually attack, but they can also cleanse it.

You mean sacrificing all and any real and reliable condition cleanse we have is too OP as a trade for 1 condition that cannot be cleansed???
To make us finally a defined role for PvP = anti-healers?

I mean … You really believe so ?

I have already advocated many times that Ranger should be able to maintain Poison on anyone permanently. But not with a special condition that cannot be cleansed. If it were Poison application on hit, fine, that is good because the Ranger has to continue attacking to maintain it. If it is fire and forget so you can Super Poison the bunker and rotate off, letting whoever else is there kill it, its too much. imo.

You know our longest-lasting poison is 8 seconds, right?
Plus poison is not really a hard-ticking condition.

We are still talking about sacrificing out only condition cleanse – so you can almost say that we trade it for allowing enemies to stack all conditions on us without any real way to cleanse them.

If that still sounds too OP – let it have 2 stacks that prevent it from being cleansed (so poison can be cleansed only after 2 stacks of randomly named condition). Would have a counter-play, would make it a risk/reward option… And would still promote rangers as a counter against healing eles, guardians and occasional warriors.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

If it was totally non-cleansable, it would be a bit OP. Perhaps still use the icon on initial poison application but instead of the poison being non-cleansable, make it re-apply actual poison on hitting someone with the icon if not already poisoned. So you can maintain if you continually attack, but they can also cleanse it.

You mean sacrificing all and any real and reliable condition cleanse we have is too OP as a trade for 1 condition that cannot be cleansed???
To make us finally a defined role for PvP = anti-healers?

I mean … You really believe so ?

Wondrouswall.7169:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

How would that work, mechanically?

Would probably have a poison icon that differs from the normal one to indicate when a person is poisoned by a PM Ranger that they are kittened.

Just like Mesmer’s swiftness from focus,
Or just like Mesmer’s Mass Invisibility that doesn’t add to stealth but instead Adds another icon with the very same effect.
EDIT: Ideally if ranger applying the poison would apply a condition that prevented any poison on the target from being cleansed.

A completely random idea that went through my mind.

“Poison Master blah blah same effects…
… And your poison can no longer be cleansed.”

Hmm? Hmm? Anyone?

Fluffball.8307:

Moas are underrated in PvP. They have a predictable AoE (although very short range) heal, and a couple of their F2s are better than most.

Not that I use them or anything, I mean why would you when things like wolves exist.

Once upon a time, there was a young man.
This man was very brave but didn’t trust people. The only one he did was his trusty pet. A Black Moa it was and it tried to be useful to it’s owner.

Whenever he Entangled his fearsome enemies, the Black Moa dazed them with it’s taunting shriek. He used the power of a Mighty Bear to bring them down one after another.

And the legend tells his enemies don’t use cleanse or stun-breakers forever after.

Justine.6351:

I think they are likely going to make poison a focus for an elite specialization. Perhaps an assassin thief, a toxologist engi/ necro or a botanist ranger ;-)

Which one, though?
Only the Ranger is unknown (Engie coming this week).

@Fluffball

The problem is that the enemy usually caps the point till you get there. And since you have nothing to decap, having little damage may result in a 1 minute fight which is a huge waste for your team.

This build is amazing at holding points. It’s not really that fast at decapping them.

Any of you guyz participate in it? Seems like something broke and I have no idea what do they have in mind or how do they want to contact the participants.
EDIT: Nvm, they already did.

Wondrouswall.7169:

They could have released Clarion Bond with a “Lesser” Call of the Wild that had shorter boon duration than the original and tag a 15s ICD so it can proc every pet swap, but yeah…

But no! What about the Synergy? (Trait in NM).
There has to be a synergy. Just like … I don’t know. Remorseless that makes all other minor traits viable. <chuckle>

It has 30 sec CD because the skill you guyz never used and probably never will use has the very same cooldown.

Blame warhorn, not the trait.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Axelwarrior.9084:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

The issue I see is that a lot of those other amulets are what Ranger really shines with. No healing power at all on any of those ammys, little sustain. Burst meta anyone?

What are they concerned about? The duels taking too long?

Pretty much.

Kinda sucks when your class is built around attrition and whittling an enemy down while you sustain yourself.

You are forgetting that your sparring partner is in the same situation

@Puck
I was actually able to beat a diamond skin Ele.
That’s what River Drake F2 and Blinding Slash from raven are for.

If you don’t waste your abilities and wait for your opportunity – you can easily tear a lot of HP down with 25-might Sick’Em bird. Sick Em birdie hits celestial ele for around 3K.
It’s only much harder to control.

But it’s definitely true that this build is not as good for teamfights as d/d Ele. Not even close to being on par. I found it much better for duels and small fights. I already managed to win a 1v2 fight on enemy far point.

What I usually do is occupy close point and if I see the opportunity I immediately call for a quick Far Rush and once we decap I ask my team to keep rotating mid and close. That way the enemy either has to lose 2 points to get their close (me) that will take them a lot of time, or try and fight 5v4 with a disadvantage of much longer route to the point.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Nothing to do with the build, but why not rush far and try to hold that?

Overall, I like the build because I think it can tank very well against multiples and I have made one very similar myself…

My power build

Hmm? Why would you rush far? You can’t really decap with this build, even though I was thinking of posting one strange hybrid decapping build when I test it. But that is for another topic.

Greetings everybody. As I usually do, I got bored with my previous build thus I decided to get back to my former build I enjoyed the most. The Beast Master.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAnY8fnUqAtCi1CCWsActgBMhyX8F4x/bYVj8eZ70A4gJfeA-TJxHwAOLDI4kAob/BAPBAA

I made a few tweaks here and there and ended up with an incredibly interesting idea. An incredibly tough Bunker.

Pros:
- almost immune to condis
- almost immortal pet
- incredibly high Direct damage mitigation
- access to stability for safe stomping
- access to instant 20 might (Drake + SotP combo)
- doesn’t have a counter and counters thieves and mesmers

Cons:
- damage output is low compared to his other BM brethren
- CC and disruption is lower when compared to other builds.

Goal of this build is simple. Grant your team swiftness before the gate opens – rush close and enjoy 1 held point until the end of the game. This build is able to hold it’s ground against 2 people for a considerable amount of time regardless of their profession or build – buying your team more than enough time to help you and kill them or secure every other point.

Pets do not really have much problem dealing damage since their movement is higher than the one of a player and sword + Winter’s bite does the job to slow them down for pet to land the attacks.

For all those Beast Mastery enthusiasts – I hope you’ll have a good time hunting. Cheers!

Now, let it be my turn:

Predator’s Instinct: Strip 1 boon when you apply Vulnerability. 5 sec ICD.

Strider’s Defense: Your Monarch’s Leap and Serpent Strike deal 100% more damage and have 100% chance to destroy projectiles.

Instinctive Reaction: Gain Protection (4sec) when at or below 50% HP (20sec ICD). Gain Healing Power based on your Power (7%).

Honed Axes: Gain precision while wielding an Axe in Main Hand. Skills recharge faster (20%) and Splitblade now applies 5 stacks of bleeding regardless of how many Axes hit the target.

Most Dangerous Game: Gain Quickness when your health drops below threshold. (33%, 100% uptime).

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Have you seen Wizzo’s videos?
His build.
I’d check him out before dismissing Cleric as bad on Ranger.

An important note to take is that his build works in WvW.
In sPvP it lacks everything it might lack for the objectives.

Wohoo!
Rejoice fellow Rangers! And gratz Heim for achieving such a brilliant task as getting attention from A-Net.

I’ll try to be useful for once and try some of them from time to time.

Puck.9612:

Would it though? I guess that would depend on if the bleeds the pet applies goes off of your condi damage or the pets.

Ranger’s of course. Basically doubling the current damage.
I would fit it into Condi Survival builds for more Fury and Condi removal anytime.
But I don’t because… Spike Trap does a dozen more useful things and deals much more damage. And has the same cooldown. Plus pre-setting it is safe unlike risking to waste Sharpening Stone (shorter duration than cooldown).

EnderzShadow.2506:

Thanks Tragic!

Condi Longbow— Definitely looks fun. And with a trap and survivability. Awesome.

It’s a Shortbow, but I manged to forget to swap my 2nd weapon set (LB) for Shortbow one game. It might work at some cases. I managed to beat a Mesmer with it (but he had zero condi removal).

It has way more utility but much less condi pressure (Sharpened Edges scale well with #5 and #2).

2 ways to do that.

Warhorn, Quick Draw, Tail Wind (swiftness on swap), Windborne Notes, Clarion Bond

Or the already mentioned version with Beast Mastery traitline instead of Nature Magic for Resounding Timbre.

Puck.9612:

Trooper runes only remove condi’s from you and your pet on rangers, and of you’re running full clerics your damage will be terrible.

And he won’t outheal the burning that keeps ticking for 4K.
Or the burst of a mesmer that takes 15K.

All in all that path is more useless than helpful.

EnderzShadow.2506:

Don’t be stingy Tragic, link your secret build!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsfVjEqQDLWuCusAVLGMEqP3v9avf3UvF4AY0bgT+R3eA-TZhHwADOCAAeAAILDE4UAAa/BA

High Condition damage, access to condi bomb, various ways to keep the player inside my Bonfire. Also a decent survival.
Clear Weakness = diamond skin ele.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

If you are going to make Protect Me a copy of Shocking Aura, at least make it as good as it.

I would much prefer it keep the current functionality, and add Protection to the Pet and Retaliation to both of you. Keeps the pet alive and has double Retaliation damage to punish those that just continue attacking.

Rangers do need two invuln skills, because SoS has a much longer CD and is kitten in a shout build.

They don’t really need 2.
It’s just that one is more efficient for different purposes than the other one.

Negating damage by mimicing Shocking Aura is another way to go. Taunting the enemies would be an idea that sounds wonderful and lots of rangers agreed on that idea. Taunt is so far our defining mechanic (until) Revenant makes his entrance.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Really? I read it and saw the point as a proposal for Sharpening Stone to also affect the pet.

If both you and your pet got the Sharpening Stone effect – the damage would go double beating Spike Trap in DPS.

Which I believe solves the problem and I support the idea.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Guess Anet decided to leave it off the pet when they improved Sharpened Edges and gave us Hidden Barbs. I’d like to see Sharpening Stone affect the Pet anyways. The same goes for Hidden Barbs.

The point is that Spike Trap offers just as much bleeding, instantly.
No one’s gonna take Sharpened Edges for PvP. Not even for PvE (since Flame Trap + 2 spirits).

The cooldown on the ability is way too long for the utility to be considered.

Chuck Zitto.2367:

Me using a shout build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj00lmH4ZHY
Hardly seems lackluster. Just watch those green numbers.
If you want to talk about bad shouts try using the necro ones. I been begging for them to just atleast give the necro shout trait something usefull like regen and swiftness from ranger.

Blocked for copyright, dude.

Still, seeing green numbers for 280 will aesthetically be the very same way as seeing them for 130 (you only see the visuals of the color, for the efficiency or amount you have to use logic and calculations).

Do you have any idea about numbers you see as a Necro with Leeching Trait using Shroud skills #4 #5 ?
Let’s get real with this one.

@Lazze
Yep, I know you are right.
Axe is even AoE unlike Warhorn. But not everybody has a stable reliable group that fills the needed mechanics – and pugs usually do everything by stacking.

And it’s still an efficient way to do PvE even for the most hardcore intelligent people out there – that does ruin PoS pathing.
Warhorn is an option if you play Nature Magic traitline. Very situational but not that much for people to blame you for bringing one.

Quarktastic.1027:

I skipped the event after realizing I couldn’t get enough blooms to get all 4 of the (former) gem store skins. Does that make me selfish?

A realist at best.

I technically run my variation of Rabid survival (using spike trap).

About fitting the meta – anything is meta if it fulfills it’s purpose.
Roles you need for the team:

~ Bunker
~ Balanced Fighter
~ Decapper

~ Roamer (+1 oriented with mobility, bursty)
~ Supporter point-fighter
~ Duelist

If your build deals AoE damage so high that it beats most 1v1 builds and offers CC and mobility – that’s all you really need for meta.

Maximum Potato.5923:

…
…
…If that happens, the community we all love so dearly could begin to take a serious downward spiral.

You mean even more than after their last Mordrem Leeching event?
Everyone I know (including me) admitted that the event made them more selfish and douchy then ever.

And I don’t even want to talk about the newcomers who didn’t even hold the friendly nature from before.

Maximum Potato.5923:

I’m still dubious about using Axe over Warhorn. What is it that makes Axe so great? Whirling Defense is alright I guess, but most of the hype seems to be around Path of Scars, and I don’t understand how that skill beats out a double blast finisher with Clarion+CotW and the might stacking with Hunter’s Call.

I have to support this statement.

It’s just that Whirling Defense adds 12 vuln stacks to 3 targets, provide reflect and may deal more damage…
… Which might or may not be true.

I find myself running warhorn from time to time. There’s nothing else for damage than Warhorn Trait in that particular tier, and bringing it to the same CD as Path of Scars beats it’s damage.
Why? Because 60% of the time you stack and Path of Scars gets ruined for texture and pathing reasons hitting only 1 out of 2. Where Hunter’s Call deals much better damage, proccing more Sharpened Edges (let’s call it 3K more damage from the trait if might stacked) and you provide more than permanent swiftness uptime. Plus you don’t have to wait with rotation until Icebow #5 hits.
And you also have that bonus blast finisher.

Warhorn is not a bad weapon if you take PoS pathing issues into consideration. It also helps strip Shaman from Block Stacks in Lava Fractals (while Reflect is without a doubt better for that situation, but if you have a mesmer, why not).
But you have to be careful in Asura fractals at the Vile Ooze. One call of the wild into it’s block can result in a party wipe.

Holland.9351:

I think it’s important to note that some builds work for people because it makes sense to them and they love playing it and know how to play it.

Tragic, that build might outperform his build for you, but maybe not for him.

For example, I theory craft improvements for my own WvW build all the time, but the changes don’t always stick because it doesn’t take my playstyle in the direction that I like.

That’s what is called feedback, though.
I even suggested other options if he sticks to his build he created.

I mean… Everybody probably knows that a full tank ranger is going to deal more damage than a dead ranger.
But then again – if we want to make a general metric – you have to assume that a player prefers efficiency to comfort.

After all, OP asked for feedback himself. It’s up to him if he decides to take up on the suggestions.

EnderzShadow.2506:

Tragic Positive.9356:

You either defeat your opponent with a build that sacrificed dmg/defense/CC/utility in order to get movement, or you begin to lose and escape the poor try-harder. And you can come again with full HP a new set of cooldowns able to do it again trying until you manage to beat him.

Is that really how you play?

I play a Ranger that isn’t even close to having such mechanics.
Not a Mesmer/Ele/Thief/Guardian/Warrior…

That’s how plenty of experienced players play. If I know I can escape 20 people with mobility, why would I bother with mechanics?

Mcrocha.3891:

I somewhat disagree. The food wasn’t what made zerk builds worse, it was the condi changes that hurt more. Food for condi builds might be good yeah, but theres also food that steals health on critical for instance which can give some sustain to builds that otherwise wouldn’t have it.

Well yea.

But the whole problem is somewhere else.
In WvW all you need is mobility. You either defeat your opponent with a build that sacrificed dmg/defense/CC/utility in order to get movement, or you begin to lose and escape the poor try-harder. And you can come again with full HP a new set of cooldowns able to do it again trying until you manage to beat him.

In PvP? Your goal is to win a fight in order to occupy objectives. If you lost in a fight and was forced to back away – your enemy was probably better, countered your build, played something more efficient (which is thread about) or maybe you just suck.
If the player got his sorry a$* kicked so bad that he was forced to abandon his goal in the game – he’s going to lose it (unlike WvW where mobility = objectives).

Those who are able to escape (rotate in PvP) are all classes that need to be as efficient in fight which means they have to sacrifice as little for the mobility as possible staying as good for fights as ever.
If they aren’t able to beat classes and builds that are solely made for fighting – rotating isn’t going to save their sorry butt (unlike WvW) because objectives are elsewhere.

Food in WvW is just another crack in the difference. Because if we want to talk about WvW maximum potential we need 20 gold per hour to get +5% damage, +5% armor, +15% speed, +passive regeneration, +the most expansive food and sharpening stone, +black bear whistle, +stealth consumables, +cleanse water field consumable…
… And yea – if you didn’t get all this – you already are weaker than a person who did.

If I hear an argument that someone managed to beat a guy like that > everybody who has hit points can run out of them one day. That statement has no value.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

I can’t count, how often I kill somebody who has food and full stacks, while i have none.
Also if you run into an enemy with – condi duration food, the +40% condi duration is nullified. And against someone with decend cleansing the food does not much too. If you rely on the extra duration you are screwed. So lets say, food might be able to carry sometimes, but definitely not always. Bad builds and players remain bad, even with op food.

Today I stuck my nose into PvP only for the dailies. Of course I forgot to swap my Longbow for Shortbow (for Rabid Build). <sigh>
And I was able to beat the mesmer every time so hard that he degraded himself into whispering me whether am I proud of my 12345 67890 build.
Does it mean my longbow condi build is becoming meta tomorrow?

So what is the point in balance anyway?
Let’s just drop it whole and let’s grow flowers.

I mean… Yea. That’s what your reply makes me feel like.
There’s always gonna be players who beat others regardless of the build. This is, however about efficiency, risk/reward ratio for playing the class or build, amount of failures allowed and amount of counter-play.

While in PvP you cannot bring food to become condi immune with minus 40 percent duration, you are screwed in WvW if you don’t. And do you expect people to have 20 different types of food just to negate the enemy’s everytime you encounter a new one?
Maybe you didn’t get the point, but a single piece of food tips the balance of the build by 40%. 40 freaking percent. Whichever way you try to defend it – that kind of amount is not acceptable when discussing dueling balance or potential (e.g. there’s no food to increase Direct damage by 40% – which already makes Zerk builds for dueling obsolete – that’s how balance-breaking the difference is)

There’s just one problem, though.

This build is effective only within the range of your Spirit. If you get ambushed – lot of your damage drops. Plus you do not make use of power at all.
Trying to auto-attack your enemy with sword is a suicide in PvP if you don’t have SoS (or taunt or Spike Trap).

The build has a nice idea, but I believe it is outperformed by this:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/PvP-build-Zoo-bunker/
As you yourself said – people do not stand in Flame Trap – which makes Spike Trap superior for dueling/condi bomb/reviving/stomping (I have a feeling it now activates on downed targets to prevent their abilities).

You have access to weakness and protection even with this build. What helps you survive is Taunt, not necessarily protective ward (I know it helps but it’s effect can be achieved by active play as well).

By the way, you might consider rune of the Forge if sticking with Protective Ward. It’s really amazing.