Guild Wars 2

I’m sure that they’re being flooded with bug reports right now. Hopefully this can be worked out fairly easily; we’ll just have to wait and see.

Ithilwen.1529:

Taunt is another example of over tuned niche powers on ranger. The also have superior range, fire and forget missles, frequent access to stealth and the ability to attack while not even in line of sight. Sad. Especially sad in light of the arguments against Mesmer ie too frequent stealth and ability to attack while out of sight.

Mesmer has long duration stealth which you can’t prevent via blocking, dodging, blindness or projectile destruction/reflection. And believe me, many ranger players would be ecstatic if they didn’t have to use pets. I would probably actually main ranger still if they had made the profession’s mechanic be preparations rather than pets. As much as you hate the ranger’s “fire and forget missiles” which can attack without line of sight…many ranger players hate them even more.

Holland.9351:

There is no way that video is of the staff auto-attack. The ranger was rooted in place and it had like a 3 second cast time.

“Working as intended.”

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Shadelang.3012:

Ive managed to find very good uses for the boon producing moas. However sadly my favorite pet type is my least used. Devourers. If for no better reason than there ‘evade’ skill. That one ability more than any other on the planet causess me to simply never use it. If anet got rid of that. Id actually consider taking it just for the sheer coolness factor of carrion devourers.

I totally want a zerk stats Devourer. Or Spider for that matter.

Spider with sinister, maybe?

Soilder.3607:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Soilder.3607:

uhohhotdog.3598:

Make it like gw1 where you had to have comfort animal equipped to have a pet active.

Lol, that’s actually pretty funny.

Then put in preparations as the actual class mechanic, like they should have done from the start.

I’m amazed at how fast you replied to that. Was literally within 10 seconds of me posting.

I would be all for the removal of the pet. AI can never balanced in PvP simply because they don’t have the players intelligence. They will always be either too strong for the skill required or too weak.

That was my thinking exactly…back when they first announced pets as ranger class mechanic. That opinion has only gotten stronger in the intervening years.

Soilder.3607:

uhohhotdog.3598:

Make it like gw1 where you had to have comfort animal equipped to have a pet active.

Lol, that’s actually pretty funny.

Then put in preparations as the actual class mechanic, like they should have done from the start.

Zero Day.2594:

Why are rangers being so defensive in this thread…?

They’re not the only ones that will get taunts…

Main point I got out of this thread so far is that it’s just unavoidable (be it via blind, dodge, stunbreaker, or w/e else we’re used to breaking CCs). In a PvE environment it’s okay, though in PvP enviroment, be it sPvP or WvW, it is something that needs to be talked about… And w/o getting classes involved too much, as that will just become a cry fest and derail the thread.

Rangers are already the weakest class in the game in sPvP, and there are people like uhohhotdog calling for them to be gutted further. Why are you surprised when this provokes outrage?

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

A good chunk of the time you’re taunted by a pet, the ranger has just swapped to the pet, meaning you’re probably in-range of the Ranger, so you could get some cleave damage off on him.

There’s also the downside that Taunts cause Retaliation and Confusion to still take affect, but yeah.

Torment still takes effect when you’re feared, right? Why is this any different?

uhohhotdog.3598:

I don’t even think there should be a pet swap in pvp. If your pet dies you wait.

It is currently the only profession mechanic that can be completely shut down at all, and you want to make it easier to shut down? More importantly, you’re severely nerfing a class which has no high level sPvP viability at all (arguably, the only such class in the game)? You balance things about as effectively as a drunken gorilla.

Skill #5 useless one s/p? Leaving aside that it isn’t useless, there’s the fact that it would destroy d/p. And, because the dagger offhand is comparatively terrible, what would thieves be left with in sPvP?

Photinous.4628:

Of course it’s AI, why else do you think minions were recently improved? Because they got a free fix from this spec, most likely

I hope not. AI specs in this game tend to underperform spectacularly.

Knox.8462:

Mesmer was the last class to be revealed before the core game release. It was the franchise’s most unique class so it made sense to save it for the last reveal for impact.

Druid has been left till last because let’s face it, no other spec has the same relevance to the Maguuma Jungle theme of the expansion. The last reveal is not an afterthought, it’s usually something special to push up interest before release, like the Mesmer was.

Actually, I believe they had been planning to release druid earlier, but had to go through more iterations and make more changes to the initial design than with other specializations. Unless I’m mistaken, something similar happened with forge as well.

Pink Ninja Man.4375:

Shard.4372:

I am so salty about Druid being last. I love my Ranger, she is in full ascended, with an ascended staff with the fractal skin waiting in anticipation for the skill set, yet I cannot see what it is yet because Ranger is ANet’s least favorite class. I want my elite spec already!

First off, that is some serious dedication to becoming a druid, who knows it might not be your style.

Second, the elite spec isn’t coming any faster or slower than any other class. They all come with the release of HoT. Yes some information on it would be nice however, there is a fairly decent understanding of in general what druid will be. Aspects and glyphs, as found by datamining and CDI’s. It’s only a little while longer till the expansion just got to be patient

The problem isn’t when it will be released, the problem is that it’s going to get far, far less time to be balanced and have its problems corrected. Professions that are in a good place are getting two or three weekends to test out their elite specializations and provide feedback, while rangers (who have probably been overall in the worst spot of any profession continuously since launch) and engineers will be lucky to get one.

Shiki.7148:

Bryzy.2719:

rabidsmiles.5926:

Well I can only hope (yeah, stupid I know) that this means they’ve been taking their time to work on the profession…and not just slapping more band aids onto it and it calling it a day. To be fair, the Ranger and the Engineer both needed serious work. Was hoping Druid would be next but alas…as everyone expected, we’re last. Again.

I’ll admit I had this hope too. But the more I think about it, the more naive I feel. Ranger history proves my naivite.

The best analogy I can think of is that of comparing house foundations:

You take the Tempest for example; sure it’s probably one of the worst elite specs we’ve seen so far, but it’s built on a perfect, solid foundation – the Elementalist. The result is therefore an “oh well, we’re still as strong as ever with a few neat new toys to play with as a bonus”.

You take the Ranger; they’re building the Druid elite on top of a weak, broken foundation (i.e. the profession mechanic). Just how good can this elite be? Unless (by some miracle) they have actually addressed and somehow improved the profession mechanic altogether, it’s going to be, for want of a better expression, Anet trying to polish a poo. Sure there might be some cool new features and maybe one or two new utilities – but underneath the new makeup will be the same old, rotten core.

Let’s see just how far they’ve dug with the Ranger/Druid.

How good? Pretty kitten good. After all, Reaper is build on the decrepit foundation that is base Necromancer. So if that would be anything to go by you might have one of the best Elite Specs at your hands.

In all seriousness, though, I really wish you guys some love in fixes and with the Elite Spec. Heres hoping that last revealed = end it with a bang of awesomeness.

Necromancer isn’t bad. In fact, it’s probably second best in sPvP at the moment. Ranger, on the other hand, is the only profession that wasn’t in WTS. They’re going to need a really significant change to be made viable.

Novuake.2691:

The cooldown makes it useless.
Its already gated by Endurance, I don’t understand the need for the ICD.

Meanwhile, Revenants get stability on dodge without an ICD.

Morpid: No, both thermobaric and evasive powder keg have 10 second ICD. They are the same, just gated twice for no apparent reason.

Laraley.7695:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

1) Burn guardian isn’t a viable build, it’s a build that is used a lot at the moment. It is not efficient enough for a tournament, and in fact is outperformed by staff elementalist. If eles only have d/d as a viable build, then guardians only have a single viable build as well. And also, since when does “tons of classes” mean “two”?

2) Every class has experienced not being wanted in some part of the game at some point. However, I don’t believe that elementalists have ever been completely unwanted in every part of the game simultaneously, the way rangers (for example) have been.

3) I know how to dodge. The skill is bugged.

4) You don’t understand what I’m saying. Yes, eles had trouble in sPvP for a while. However, other classes had the same thing in WvW, sPvP and dungeons simultaneously, for over two years. That is a whole lot worse than elementalists have ever had it.

I keep bringing up ranger because it’s a comparison, an example of a profession which has actually been neglected and destroyed. I was hoping that maybe you would see the difference.

1. Because you didn’t realize that the classes with only one viable build has at least two or several variations in those builds. When you look at ele it’s the same thing over and over.

2. So because one class hasn’t been wanted in any aspect of the game, ele should be nerfed? Do you realize that many classes have been dominant in all game modes as well? Like guardian or warriorr for example. They have been one of the best picks in wvw, pve and pvp and you don’t complain about that?

3. Then please stop saying this crap about the skill not being dodgeable. Next time, try ‘’it is bugged.’’.

4. I frankly don’t care about rangers, you can try as much as you want, but bringing up that comparsion won’t change anything.

1) Thieves have less possible variation in their sPvP build than elementalists do. Necromancers are also in the same boat. Stop acting like elementalists are the only ones with limited options in sPvP, because they aren’t by any stretch.

2) No, ele should be nerfed because it is blatantly too strong. Sort of like how guardians and warriors were nerfed when they were overpowered. That is how a game is balanced: the things that are too strong are made weaker, and the things that are too weak are made stronger. Elementalists are at least as dominant as any class has ever been in this game, and that needs to be addressed. As I said, I don’t want them to kill the class, I just want it not to top the efficiency charts in virtually every area.

3) The skill sometimes gives burning stacks when you dodge through it. This is one of the ways in which it is bugged; as I recall, Leeto pointed this out in his stream at one point. Also, its hit box seems to change randomly (sometimes hitting people who don’t actually touch it), and it sometimes ‘counts’ more hits than actually occur, giving 9 or 12 stacks in situations when it should have given 6.

4) Yes, I know. You care about the things that directly affect you. I understand.

Laraley.7695:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Laraley.7695:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

1) by far the most powerful and versatile

2) I don’t think elementalists have ever experienced this, anywhere.

3) Yes, I know all about the burn stacking ridiculousness, and the fact that RoF is undodgeable

4) I don’t recall a time when elementalists were useless everywhere at once, as rangers have pretty much always been.

1. It is not versatile. Say whatever you want but there is only difference between builds across game modes, not within.

2. You haven’t played long enough then.

3. It is dodeable.

4. Again, you haven’t played long enough.

1) It’s versatile in that it has everything you could possibly need, all in one build. Thieves and engineers absolutely melt under condition stacking, and thieves are poor against direct damage as well. Elementalists are fine against both, while also having more condition damage and nearly as much direct damage (more direct damage than thief, if you count the AoE). They’re also extremely mobile, and have enormous sustain and some hard cc as well. When a single elementalist build can take every single slot on an sPvP team but thief and win, you have versatility.

Edit: I would like to point out, since this apparently didn’t occur to you, that most professions only have 1 viable build in sPvP. Thieves have d/p + sb with tricks, SA and deadly…and that’s all. Guardians have their medi build, plus burn guardian which is a gimmick that isn’t actually any better than staff ele, just easier to use. Engineers have two, temporarily, because burning is so out of hand right now, but that just came recently and won’t last long. Necromancers have one. Mesmers, as far as I know, have one.

2) Okay, name one point in the game’s history when dungeon LFG ads specified ‘no eles’. Also, stop ignoring and snipping out my supporting arguments.

3) No, it isn’t. Dodging through it always gives burn stacks, and on top of that it’s bugged so that sometimes standing near (but not on) it will give burn stacks. Also, there seems to be a counting problem…walking directly through it is supposed to give 6 stacks (and usually does), but sometimes gives 9-12 stacks instead.Try again.

4) Again, name one point in time when elementalists were kicked from dungeon groups or discouraged from WvW (being told to switch professions), just for playing elementalist.

1. You were already explained that.

You say that most classes only have one build and then you state there are tons of classes having two viable builds, I’m not sure I’m following.

2. Were we talking about dungeons or were you saying elementalist never experienced the feeling of not being wanted in some area of the game? Because they do.

3. Please, learn to dodge.

4. See 2. I like how you completely leave you pvp there since that’s the place where elementalists were complete trash, good job finding arguments that fits your story but are not right.

Also, I would like to point out this is not ranger forum, so I’m not sure why you keep bringing that up.

1) Burn guardian isn’t a viable build, it’s a build that is used a lot at the moment. It is not efficient enough for a tournament, and in fact is outperformed by staff elementalist. If eles only have d/d as a viable build, then guardians only have a single viable build as well. And also, since when does “tons of classes” mean “two”?

2) Every class has experienced not being wanted in some part of the game at some point. However, I don’t believe that elementalists have ever been completely unwanted in every part of the game simultaneously, the way rangers (for example) have been.

3) I know how to dodge. The skill is bugged.

4) You don’t understand what I’m saying. Yes, eles had trouble in sPvP for a while. However, other classes had the same thing in WvW, sPvP and dungeons simultaneously, for over two years. That is a whole lot worse than elementalists have ever had it.

I keep bringing up ranger because it’s a comparison, an example of a profession which has actually been neglected and destroyed. I was hoping that maybe you would see the difference.

BlackBeard.2873:

Actually, they are just ideal for the bruiser role, and a team of bruisers is a viable team-comp. It just so happens that it is the BEST bruiser atm, and stacks well. Eles can’t really play true bunker, roaming dps, effective spiker, or any heavy-control. It is bruiser (which requires a bit of everything) or gtfo.

Call it what you will, but they’re the only profession that can win tournaments by stacking four on a single team. If you don’t see the problem there, then I don’t know what to tell you, because you must be biased as hell.

Prior to people realizing FGS was OP, dungeons were “1 Guard, 4 Warrior.” For a good year after the dhuumfire patch eles were actively laughed at in pvp, and most people requested that you switch to ANY other class when they saw an ele.

That was the time where every medium- and light-armored profession was equally put out in dungeons. I guess I misunderstood you; I had thought that you were claiming that there was a point where elementalists were in worse shape than most other professions, rather than most professions being in equally bad shape compared to 2-3 strong ones.

Dodging THROUGH ring of fire gives you 0 burn stacks. Please try to be honest with your points. If you had burning applied, I suspect it was latency or you didn’t actually dodge through. Please try again.

Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not lag, it’s not a mistake, it’s bugged. Tested several times since the burn update. Part of that is even listed on the skill page of the wiki. Why don’t you test it yourself?

Eles have always had a place in wvw as, at the least, a water-field bot. In dungeons, only few professions have ever been kicked, and that is only by elitists who had no idea about a class. Regardless, I am not sure why this justifies elementalists deserving being basically deleted from the game. Sure, D/D needs some adjustment (and just nerfing the burn stacks would go a LONG way towards that), but as usual the community gets overzealous with their torches and pitch-forks calling for whatever class consensus has reaches as “strongest” to be expunged.

I have never said that eles should be “basically deleted from the game”. What is it with people on here failing at reading comprehension? Or are you putting the words of someone else into my mouth?

Edit: I might have been a little too harsh with this. Something similar happened in the ranger forum, where I put up a post saying that rangers are too weak, but likely can’t be properly balanced until pets are reworked completely or removed…and someone concluded that I want rangers nerfed. Already annoyed about that, I checked this thread…and you appeared to be accusing me of wanting to gut eles, when I had specifically stated otherwise.

I don’t really play d/d ele myself, but my brother tells me it’s easier for him to pick up than cele signet necro (after taking a break from the game), despite the fact that he has ten times as many hours on his necro as on his ele.

Laraley.7695:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

1) by far the most powerful and versatile

2) I don’t think elementalists have ever experienced this, anywhere.

3) Yes, I know all about the burn stacking ridiculousness, and the fact that RoF is undodgeable

4) I don’t recall a time when elementalists were useless everywhere at once, as rangers have pretty much always been.

1. It is not versatile. Say whatever you want but there is only difference between builds across game modes, not within.

2. You haven’t played long enough then.

3. It is dodeable.

4. Again, you haven’t played long enough.

1) It’s versatile in that it has everything you could possibly need, all in one build. Thieves and engineers absolutely melt under condition stacking, and thieves are poor against direct damage as well. Elementalists are fine against both, while also having more condition damage and nearly as much direct damage (more direct damage than thief, if you count the AoE). They’re also extremely mobile, and have enormous sustain and some hard cc as well. When a single elementalist build can take every single slot on an sPvP team but thief and win, you have versatility.

Edit: I would like to point out, since this apparently didn’t occur to you, that most professions only have 1 viable build in sPvP. Thieves have d/p + sb with tricks, SA and deadly…and that’s all. Guardians have their medi build, plus burn guardian which is a gimmick that isn’t actually any better than staff ele, just easier to use. Engineers have two, temporarily, because burning is so out of hand right now, but that just came recently and won’t last long. Necromancers have one. Mesmers, as far as I know, have one.

2) Okay, name one point in the game’s history when dungeon LFG ads specified ‘no eles’. Also, stop ignoring and snipping out my supporting arguments.

3) No, it isn’t. Dodging through it always gives burn stacks, and on top of that it’s bugged so that sometimes standing near (but not on) it will give burn stacks. Also, there seems to be a counting problem…walking directly through it is supposed to give 6 stacks (and usually does), but sometimes gives 9-12 stacks instead.Try again.

4) Again, name one point in time when elementalists were kicked from dungeon groups or discouraged from WvW (being told to switch professions), just for playing elementalist.

Naurgalen.2374:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Naurgalen: Don’t complain about being pigeonholed when you have a strong place in every aspect of the game. Just don’t. Only one profession was left out of WTS completely, and it’s the same profession that’s typically also the least desired in dungeon groups. Rangers would be ecstatic if they had the opportunity to be ‘pigeonholed’ the way elementalists and thieves are. You’re considered ANet’s pet class because you’re not just top tier in a couple parts of the game (the way guardians and warriors are at the moment), you’re top tier everywhere. That is a big deal.

1) Dont tell others what to do if they are not breaking rules, having different opinions is what makes people think instead of just following what others tell them
2) The fact that rangers are not wanted is not a ele problem and even 1000 nerfs on the ele class wont make ranger better, so thats not an argument or reason to debate eles problems
3) The fact that eles are top tier is directly related to condition buffs + some traits changes. The class was strong before because of its sustain+mobility but not OP as it dished FAR less damage in celestials than todays eles. Thats why this 5 eles nonsense that exists today couldn’t work before.
4) Knowing that, and doing some history you will know that eles had many balancing problems before, with times being too strong and others almost useless. A “Pet class” should be strong all the time with long “OP” times .

Does this means that the class is perfect? Hell no, it totally needs some free might nerfs and a little less burning with a little more bleeding to put it again in the “strong but not OP” place. But just calling for “burn the eles” “destroy the class” thing is really dumb.

PS: I really think A-Net is not doing balance for the actual classes because it knows the new specializations will change the meta and they will need to readjust all again in 1 month when the expansion launches. Its not complicated to understand that fixing things now would waste lots of time that they need for the launch (And I still dont know how they will have balanced specializations for the 23 october with all the problems some are having)

1) He was sarcastically complaining about his profession being weak, despite the fact that it’s by far the most powerful and versatile in every single part of the game right now. The only thing that has come close to matching the current elementalist dominance is, as far as I know, guardians…and I don’t remember guardians winning tournaments by stacking 4 on a single team. Yes, this touched a few nerves.

2) I brought up ranger to point out that not only do some professions have it much worse than elementalist, they’ve had it much worse for the entire time the game has been out, in every competitive area. In nearly every part of the game, people playing ranger have been asked to come back on a different profession, or else simply been kicked from the group for playing ranger. I don’t think elementalists have ever experienced this, anywhere.

3) Yes, I know all about the burn stacking ridiculousness, and the fact that RoF is undodgeable (which it really, really shouldn’t be). That doesn’t mean that elementalists weren’t strong before, because (as you admitted) they were.

4) I don’t recall a time when elementalists were useless everywhere at once, as rangers have pretty much always been. They have always been strong in dungeons, and usually been strong everywhere else as well. And for the record, I never said ‘destroy the class’. I said ‘stop being bitter and sarcastic, because elementalist has it really, really easy compared to some other professions’. The only thing that I’m really pushing for is a little less cleanse and toning down RoF (dodgeable, maybe 2 stacks of burning instead of 3).

Edit: Also, get rid of diamond skin. Complete immunity to pure condition builds should never have been in the game.

As for the rest, I’m really worried that forge and druid won’t get the same level of testing and feedback as the others. Especially druid. I no longer main ranger because they made longbows too faceroll to use, and because the mechanics (especially pet) feel really clumsy. I’m hoping that druid can breathe new life into it, else rangers will probably never be wanted in dungeon groups and will never be efficient in sPvP.

runeblade.7514:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

runeblade.7514:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Actually, I would mostly want some mobility, plus I’m not enormously fond of guardian utilities and virtues. Besides, preferring longbow over other range weapon options (elementalist staff, for example) already is an aesthetic choice. If you really want to criticize me for making choices based on aesthetics, start there. Just be sure that you haven’t made any choices regarding favored professions for similar reasons.

For the record, though, I don’t like the way this game all but forces players to use short ranged weapons for most parts of the game. For example, sPvP and dungeons are both dominated almost exclusively by melee-range weapons.

The thing is you still don’t get how illogical those statements are.

You want more mobility – you said. Which Ranger doesn’t have, or has only as a melee fighter. The other thing is that you say you prefer Archers. And you are not a fan of guardian virtues… While Dragon Hunter is a specialization about Traps (And the Longbow that you seem to love so much).

Furthermore, you seem to like the Aesthetics, so much that you are willing to trade effectiveness for it. So since you are a fan of Longbow…
… How about playing the Ranger with a Longbow? Just suck up your feelings and accept the pet that is far more class-mechanic than a Longbow. Longbow is just one weapon of the many. Pet is an inseparable mechanic of the class itself.

You want Ranger (pet-class) to be pet-less because you don’t like Dragon-Hunter (pet-less Archer) specialization. Do you know how absurd that sounds?

No, I want ranger to be petless because AI-reliant setups are inherently inferior in sPvP and dungeons. The pet lowers the skill ceiling and skill floor of the class; they can’t buff rangers enough to make them competitive, because the pet does too many things for them and can ‘carry’ a poor player. I have said this before, and everyone keeps ignoring it and acting as if my only reasons are a personal dislike of pets. Every setup that relies on AI companions is pretty much useless from a high level sPvP standpoint. Turret engineers (which were really just a gimmick anyway), minion master necromancers, spirit weapon guardians, phantasm mesmers, the entire ranger profession…none of them have ever been viable without being both overpowered and stupidly simple to use. Looking at this evidence, I am forced to conclude that pets are holding rangers back in sPvP, and probably always will.

So. You just want to nerf rangers?

Where the hell did you get that idea? I want them to change pets to an optional, change the mechanic to preparations, and buff rangers so that they are competitive in sPvP. If they keep pets as permanent, not optional, they can’t make rangers competitive. This is because AI setups are not, and cannot be, balanced in this game. We see this with spirit weapons and we see it with minions. As long as rangers are forced to use pets, they cannot be balanced either.

From reading your post.

Nowhere in my post did I say or imply that rangers are too strong in their current state. Try reading it more carefully.

tboneking.2531:

Oh c’mon the necro / ranger hole is nice and cozy join us and we can complain together (Im a necro main)!

Ranger is in bad shape, but cele signet necro is really strong, and reaper is downright amazing when played properly. But yeah, d/d elementalist could be toned down by a fair bit. Plus, it would open more options for eles in sPvP. Staff ele isn’t bad, but with the state of things now it’s outclassed by cele d/d (in large part because RoF is downright absurd).

Hopefully, though, scepter will get a buff for both ele and necro. Also necro axe.

Naurgalen: Don’t complain about being pigeonholed when you have a strong place in every aspect of the game. Just don’t. Only one profession was left out of WTS completely, and it’s the same profession that’s typically also the least desired in dungeon groups. Rangers would be ecstatic if they had the opportunity to be ‘pigeonholed’ the way elementalists and thieves are. You’re considered ANet’s pet class because you’re not just top tier in a couple parts of the game (the way guardians and warriors are at the moment), you’re top tier everywhere. That is a big deal.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Justine.6351:

Yes More ideas out there and rehashed/debated is a good thing. Whether extensive or minor just putting it out there is a step. And accepting that your idea is not the end all be all is just as important. There is not a singular vision that matters other then anets.

Well, I’m just trying my best to do what I can and I’m saying what I’m saying because I already have experience in this field.

I was one of the few hardcore Hunter players back in WoW who gathered the intel and ideas from players addressing the company – and most of the ideas got implemented as precise as copy>paste.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to do here. I’m not doing it for my personal enjoyment, only. From an objective perspective – ANet is busy with HoT expansion and rebalancing the new specializations. They clearly won’t redesign a whole category of Ranger utilities 3 months after so many changes they made before HoT and asking that from them is not quite tactful, either.
They might, however, band-aid them if the community agrees that shouts are in a horrible state and need attention. If they become viable, okay, cool, awesome. After all – we wouldn’t really make them change their own vision of the game, we would stick with their ideas bringing balance feedback onto the table.
If they still suck after band-aids – there’s gonna be plenty of space to ask for a whole class-redesign as a reaction to failed creation into which you stuffed money and time. Petition of large-scale unhappiness with part of their product will not give us right to demand it – but will alarm their awareness of loss of potential customers – probably listening to what we have to say.

The problem with this is that this dissatisfaction has been expressed continually since the game came out. Ranger has never been in a particularly healthy place, as far as I can remember. They just haven’t been listening. Hell, they haven’t even bothered to fix the root and animation lock on the sword auto attack, despite promising to do something about that. They just changed their stance on that from ‘will be fixed’ to ‘working as intended’, without bothering to justify that. Many ranger players are just sick of being ignored, and of having promises broken, and the fact that Druid might not even get a single BWE (much less 2 or 3) isn’t helping matters. Ranger needs the most feedback and adjustment, not the least.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

So remove those aspects and give another effect to those skills. It isn’t as if anyone uses hunter’s shot for pet swiftness, anyway (as an example).

You believe ANet who considers visiting forums for a healthy player-developer interaction for feedback as a waste of time because HoT is coming will really re-create and change effects on every single weapon in the game ?

Don’t know about you but I’m a realist.

Hey, you’re the one with the threads about extensive pet reworks; I’m just putting my own ideas for it out there as well.

I agree with you there. At this point, ANet just wants to make small changes in order to rebalance things…the problem with that philosophy is that GW2 ranger never was balanced in the first place, and probably can’t be balanced even with large changes to numbers and traits. At this point, something needs to be torn completely down and rebuilt, foundation and all. That something needs to be either the pet mechanic, or the profession in its entirety. Scrapping the pet mechanic would force them not to cut corners with the rebuild, which is what has caused their previous pet rehabilitation efforts to fail (in both games).

Tragic Positive.9356:

Justine.6351:

I considered invulnerable pet viable solution. What is a ranger without a pet (in this game).

I probably would have removed their dmg and left them as little utility bots. I’m not sure I would add any stats to ranger though.

Pretty lame way out. Certainly not the worst idea when you take into account all the [change required] threads.

Your idea about pets being pure utility slots without damage, and passing the damage onto the ranger was amazing (Ranger would need the DPS to compete in PvE). Not realistic, though.

There’s zero chance ANet’s gonna implement that change in this game. Maybe if Guild Wars 3 comes out (which I see probably in 4 years time) – that would be the only possibility of such radical changes being made.
Currently every single weapon buffs some part of pet’s attacks – which makes that proposal totally denied on the spot.

[Change Required] threads have all higher chances of becoming reality if developers happen to stick their noses in here.

So remove those aspects and give another effect to those skills. It isn’t as if anyone uses hunter’s shot for pet swiftness, anyway (as an example).

eduardo.1436:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Shaogin.2679:

Can’t wait to see the Forge art on twitter monday. No way are we letting those animal-loving Rangers get their reveal before us!

To be fair, rangers need serious changes more desperately than engineers.

YEAH,,,,CUZ ENGIES ARE AWESUM! XD

as someone who mains both a ranger and engie I hope and pray to get something on monday

I tend to play all three medium professions the most, although ranger was my first main. I main engineer now, partially because they messed up ranger so bad in this game (also, because it’s just so much fun).

Tragic Positive.9356:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Where the hell did you get that idea? I want them to change pets to an optional, change the mechanic to preparations, and buff rangers so that they are competitive in sPvP. If they keep pets as permanent, not optional, they can’t make rangers competitive. This is because AI setups are not, and cannot be, balanced in this game. We see this with spirit weapons and we see it with minions. As long as rangers are forced to use pets, they cannot be balanced either.

I already provided (hopefully) reasonable solutions to all our pet ranger problems.

If my proposed changes get implemented – AI would not be a problem since pet would become 90% controllable in terms of survivability, positioning, skill management and trait activation positioning.
It would also raise Ranger Skill-Cap but also improve their performance by a huge margin.

All what you are trying to say is redundant since your idea would destroy 80% of weapons, traits and utility skills.
In reality, the whole problem now is that you are blinded by your “feelings” while ignoring the most logical and realistic suggestions already given.

80% is hyperbolic, but I see your point. Let me explain mine. I have seen them try to rework pets into something globally useful starting long before GW2 arrived, and they have had severely limited success doing so. The hurdles that pets face in this game are much steeper than those faced in the original game, and I doubt that they would be willing to make the fundamental changes that are necessary. I agree that if they could implement the ideas for complete pet overhaul that have been floating around, it might be enough to put rangers where they need to be. I just don’t want to risk another halfway rework; I know that they can make an effective petless ranger, but I have no more confidence left in their pet design.

Shaogin.2679:

Can’t wait to see the Forge art on twitter monday. No way are we letting those animal-loving Rangers get their reveal before us!

To be fair, rangers need serious changes more desperately than engineers.

runeblade.7514:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Actually, I would mostly want some mobility, plus I’m not enormously fond of guardian utilities and virtues. Besides, preferring longbow over other range weapon options (elementalist staff, for example) already is an aesthetic choice. If you really want to criticize me for making choices based on aesthetics, start there. Just be sure that you haven’t made any choices regarding favored professions for similar reasons.

For the record, though, I don’t like the way this game all but forces players to use short ranged weapons for most parts of the game. For example, sPvP and dungeons are both dominated almost exclusively by melee-range weapons.

The thing is you still don’t get how illogical those statements are.

You want more mobility – you said. Which Ranger doesn’t have, or has only as a melee fighter. The other thing is that you say you prefer Archers. And you are not a fan of guardian virtues… While Dragon Hunter is a specialization about Traps (And the Longbow that you seem to love so much).

Furthermore, you seem to like the Aesthetics, so much that you are willing to trade effectiveness for it. So since you are a fan of Longbow…
… How about playing the Ranger with a Longbow? Just suck up your feelings and accept the pet that is far more class-mechanic than a Longbow. Longbow is just one weapon of the many. Pet is an inseparable mechanic of the class itself.

You want Ranger (pet-class) to be pet-less because you don’t like Dragon-Hunter (pet-less Archer) specialization. Do you know how absurd that sounds?

No, I want ranger to be petless because AI-reliant setups are inherently inferior in sPvP and dungeons. The pet lowers the skill ceiling and skill floor of the class; they can’t buff rangers enough to make them competitive, because the pet does too many things for them and can ‘carry’ a poor player. I have said this before, and everyone keeps ignoring it and acting as if my only reasons are a personal dislike of pets. Every setup that relies on AI companions is pretty much useless from a high level sPvP standpoint. Turret engineers (which were really just a gimmick anyway), minion master necromancers, spirit weapon guardians, phantasm mesmers, the entire ranger profession…none of them have ever been viable without being both overpowered and stupidly simple to use. Looking at this evidence, I am forced to conclude that pets are holding rangers back in sPvP, and probably always will.

So. You just want to nerf rangers?

Where the hell did you get that idea? I want them to change pets to an optional, change the mechanic to preparations, and buff rangers so that they are competitive in sPvP. If they keep pets as permanent, not optional, they can’t make rangers competitive. This is because AI setups are not, and cannot be, balanced in this game. We see this with spirit weapons and we see it with minions. As long as rangers are forced to use pets, they cannot be balanced either.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Actually, I would mostly want some mobility, plus I’m not enormously fond of guardian utilities and virtues. Besides, preferring longbow over other range weapon options (elementalist staff, for example) already is an aesthetic choice. If you really want to criticize me for making choices based on aesthetics, start there. Just be sure that you haven’t made any choices regarding favored professions for similar reasons.

For the record, though, I don’t like the way this game all but forces players to use short ranged weapons for most parts of the game. For example, sPvP and dungeons are both dominated almost exclusively by melee-range weapons.

The thing is you still don’t get how illogical those statements are.

You want more mobility – you said. Which Ranger doesn’t have, or has only as a melee fighter. The other thing is that you say you prefer Archers. And you are not a fan of guardian virtues… While Dragon Hunter is a specialization about Traps (And the Longbow that you seem to love so much).

Furthermore, you seem to like the Aesthetics, so much that you are willing to trade effectiveness for it. So since you are a fan of Longbow…
… How about playing the Ranger with a Longbow? Just suck up your feelings and accept the pet that is far more class-mechanic than a Longbow. Longbow is just one weapon of the many. Pet is an inseparable mechanic of the class itself.

You want Ranger (pet-class) to be pet-less because you don’t like Dragon-Hunter (pet-less Archer) specialization. Do you know how absurd that sounds?

No, I want ranger to be petless because AI-reliant setups are inherently inferior in sPvP and dungeons. The pet lowers the skill ceiling and skill floor of the class; they can’t buff rangers enough to make them competitive, because the pet does too many things for them and can ‘carry’ a poor player. I have said this before, and everyone keeps ignoring it and acting as if my only reasons are a personal dislike of pets. Every setup that relies on AI companions is pretty much useless from a high level sPvP standpoint. Turret engineers (which were really just a gimmick anyway), minion master necromancers, spirit weapon guardians, phantasm mesmers, the entire ranger profession…none of them have ever been viable without being both overpowered and stupidly simple to use. Looking at this evidence, I am forced to conclude that pets are holding rangers back in sPvP, and probably always will.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

DH longbow skills are spells. A better comparison would be if warrior was not part of the game, or ineffective, and you were trying to argue that guardian is pretty much the same thing. It isn’t close enough to satisfy many warrior players.

So the most important thing for you is the feeling, and not the efficiency or usefulness?
Aesthetics is the most important point of value?
Do I get it the right way?

Actually, I would mostly want some mobility, plus I’m not enormously fond of guardian utilities and virtues. Besides, preferring longbow over other range weapon options (elementalist staff, for example) already is an aesthetic choice. If you really want to criticize me for making choices based on aesthetics, start there. Just be sure that you haven’t made any choices regarding favored professions for similar reasons.

For the record, though, I don’t like the way this game all but forces players to use short ranged weapons for most parts of the game. For example, sPvP and dungeons are both dominated almost exclusively by melee-range weapons.

Envy.1679:

NineLives.8725:

Troll spotted.

Ya ok. Because people cant genuinely be curious why the let engis stack 4 minutes of swiftness on themselves

As opposed to elementalists, who tend to have 25 might stacks, regeneration, protection, and spammable condition cleansing? Swiftness isn’t that much faster than the movespeed signets that many professions get, and it can be stripped. If you want real boon stacking, look at guardians and elementalists. A bit of swiftness is a weak thing to complain about.

Kodama.6453:

Vyce.2014:

Again, what other professions have their F-Skills shut down so easily?

And that’s my point. ^^
I really understand why you are thinking that way. But I would rather like to see an upcoming active mechanic to prevent damage to the pet instead of just making it invuln.
There are several ways to go here, giving the pet traits or utility skills which gives you an effect while also making your pet immune to conditions for a period of time. There is a thread in here for a new ranger rifle set (I don’t like the idea of a ranger with rifle but that’s not the point) with an attack that gives your pet dodge frames.

These active defense mechanics are much more fun for me than simply don’t let the enemy attack the pet by default. But that doesn’t mean I want the pet to stay as vulnerable as it is.

If they institute pet evasion (which they really, really need to), it has to be available in all weapon setups.

runeblade.7514:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

runeblade.7514:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Heibi.4251:

But since this thread is about “Removing the pet full time” I was sticking with the theme, not pooh-poohing ideas from people.

Play Dragon Hunter.

That doesn’t fit the archer archetype that people are going for, so stop saying that.

Dragon hunter has bow. Archer archetype uses bow.

I’m pretty sure it is a DH is a archer archetype.

Only so far as d/d elementalist fits in with your typical idea of a dagger-wielding melee-range combatant in the fantasy genre…which is to say, not very far.

Not really comparable.

• DH shoots arrows with their bow.
• D/D Ele shoots spells.
• Archer archetype shoots arrows with their bow.
• Dagger wielding melee range combatant stab stuff.

If you replace Dagger wielding melee range combatant with Final Fantasy Ninja, Naruto Ninja, or Ninja wizards. Then it would be comparable.

Try again.

DH longbow skills are spells. A better comparison would be if warrior was not part of the game, or ineffective, and you were trying to argue that guardian is pretty much the same thing. It isn’t close enough to satisfy many warrior players.

runeblade.7514:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Heibi.4251:

But since this thread is about “Removing the pet full time” I was sticking with the theme, not pooh-poohing ideas from people.

Play Dragon Hunter.

That doesn’t fit the archer archetype that people are going for, so stop saying that.

Dragon hunter has bow. Archer archetype uses bow.

I’m pretty sure it is a DH is a archer archetype.

Only so far as d/d elementalist fits in with your typical idea of a dagger-wielding melee-range combatant in the fantasy genre…which is to say, not very far.

I would suggest making f3 swap between your utilities and your pet’s skills, so that you are in control of all of them. That might actually raise the skill ceiling enough that they could buff ranger into sPvP viability. Then, you could make f2 be a dodge roll (or evade in place) for the pet, because you don’t need control over pet auto attack and the current f2 would be covered by f3+utility 1. It would force rangers to swap through skills like an engineer or elementalist in order to be effective, but the tradeoff would be worth it I think.

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Justine
Icebow #4 and Meteor Shower are also a version of AI. The only difference is that it’s reliable and effective.
That’s why plenty of amazing ideas how to “improve the pet management” and “reduce the AI factor into player-control” were held.

If you think that ANet tried to balance the ranger, you should have at least went through the changes. They haven’t even tried to touch the AI factor and pet management at all – which are the concrete reasons to hold rangers down. (that I, accidentally addressed yesterday)

If you study hard enough to become a part of ANet developer teams – please feel free to make the Ranger competitive whichever way you feel like. By the time being, I’m afraid someone else will keep doing it their way.
If you do – I’d be more than glad to agree by saying “ok” to you, without having to worry that I sound like I ran out of arguments.

Those are not AI. Meteor shower is, at best, RNG…which doesn’t get one hit killed when a champ uses a nasty AoE ability or it gets used in WvW zerging. Ice bow is giving your ally a couple of extra skills, including a five second stun. Terrible comparison. Maybe if ice bow removed the ability to dodge roll when it is wielded, you’d have something to stand on, but not as it is now.

Maybe if we had a way to make our pets dodge roll and could swap between our utilities and our pet’s skills with an f-key, and they reduced the cooldown on defeated pet swap, things would be better. Of course, even then pets would have a hard time hitting moving targets because, unlike players, they cannot move while attacking, nor can they sidestep at all to avoid attacks.

Edit: a better comparison to have made would be spirit weapons, which can actually die…do you see any of those in high level PvP tournaments, or in dungeon runs for that matter?

Tragic Positive.9356:

Unholy Pillager.3791:

That doesn’t fit the archer archetype that people are going for, so stop saying that. It makes you look like an idiot, and I’m getting sick of pointing that out. Most bow rangers in GW1 didn’t use the pet. Pets are at an even greater disadvantage in GW2 because they can’t dodge roll, sidestep or attack while moving and lack the situational awareness that a player has. I don’t want pets, I want an archer. I don’t want a spellcaster who happens to use a bow. ArenaNet’s insistence that rangers be ‘the pet class’ is keeping them out of dungeons and competitive PvP. The WTS happened recently, and I noticed that, out of all eight professions, only one was not represented there. Care to guess which one? Making ranger ‘the pet class’ would be like making necromancer ‘the minion class’. Minion mastery doesn’t work in many areas of the game, and neither do pets. The difference is, necromancers are not forced to be minion masters due to a stupid design decision and the stubbornness to keep that flaw no matter the cost.

I’m sorry to disappoint but the one who risks sounding like an idiot would not be me. After such a long time – you haven’t been able to soak up the obvious statements from which ANet some confirmed.

~ You are now playing Guild Wars 2.
~ Ranger in Guild Wars 2 is not the same as in Guild Wars 1.
~ Necromancer and Ranger minions cannot be compared. Necromancer has 1 traitline devoted to minons. Every single Ranger weapon and Traitline involve pets.
~ You are contradicting yourself saying that we are not pet-class while everything we have forces us to play with a pet.
~ It’s not about “what ANet does”… It’s about what they did 3 years ago, godkitten it.

You can’t expect that I’m going to treat you as anything else than a child if your only counter-argument against developers and me is: I want to play and Archer in a game that is not mine, supports melee combat and I want that especially on a class that was designed around something completely different
Now I want to be a unicorn. The very same argument as yours.
You want an Archer? Play one with a pet.

I made 4 freaking threads that would solve every freaking pet problem, so far, and the only thing you are capable of is complain how your dreams do not meet reality?
Yes, I’m being arrogant (but I can afford it). Your real life isn’t going to be easier with your attitude, either.

The problem (which you failed to address) is that AI based specs do not work in competitive play. Yes, necromancers only have one line devoted to minions…which means that they do not need to rely on AI based minions, which appear to be inherently inferior to other specialties, for every profession. No profession has competitive builds which rely on constant AI companions for damage. That is probably the biggest reason why the ranger has no place in competitive settings.

I would not be criticizing, at all, if rangers were actually seen in WTS, the dungeon meta, etc. They aren’t, and they haven’t been, because ArenaNet made the decision to force pets on them. If they can’t balance the ranger profession against the other professions with pets taken into account (and they obviously cannot), then pets should not be the profession mechanic.

In summary, my argument is that ranger pets are preventing rangers from being balanced, and locking them out of competitive parts of the game. They have been trying, and failing, to balance rangers for three years. At this point, again, I can’t help but conclude that the problem is the pet system, and that the class should be rebuilt from the ground up.

Tim.6450:

Killyox.3950:

But debuffs are powerful. 25 Vulnerability is (now) better than might + fury tbh and scales with the latter as well. Immobilizes can also be pretty powerful.

You need 3000 base power for 1 Vulnerability to be equal to 1 might, lower and might is better, higher vulnerability is better. So unless you stack a warrior or a full sigil of bloodlust and vulnerability is better then might, Fury not included. So it’s safe to say that Vulnerability is not better than might + fury.

It should probably be the other way around, given that might improves condition damage as well. Ah well, balance problems…

EnderzShadow.2506:

Fighting decent engis in spvp is painful. You hit hard, you live a long time, you go immune to my condis.

I think if the same amount of people played Engi, that play cele eles, you’d get more notice.

QQ over

ps-I love koroshi

Immune to conditions? Are you sure you’re not thinking of Revenant? Engineers are weak against conditions, painfully so. If Self-Regulating Defenses kicks in when you have ~3+ stacks of burning on you, you’re one dead engineer.

The things that Engineers tend to have are ways to prevent incoming attacks and a lot of cc and burst. And yes, that can be rather difficult to fight against.

Ehecatl.9172:

This is a rare perma pet stow suggestion I’d be in favor of. Being able to stow the pet to save it during times of heavy AoE and bring it back out when the AoE clears would be a massive improvement on the mechanic. We don’t need any special buffs when the pet is stowed to try and force a petless playstyle, we just need the ability to call out our pet when it’s actually beneficial to do so and call it back when it isn’t.

I don’t want to force a petless playstyle, I want the option to use a petless playstyle. Pets were usually a drain in GW1, but they’re almost always a drain here. Not having control over half of my cc’s makes PvP on ranger a game of roulette…and I hate gambling.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Heibi.4251:

But since this thread is about “Removing the pet full time” I was sticking with the theme, not pooh-poohing ideas from people.

Play Dragon Hunter.

That doesn’t fit the archer archetype that people are going for, so stop saying that. It makes you look like an idiot, and I’m getting sick of pointing that out. Most bow rangers in GW1 didn’t use the pet. Pets are at an even greater disadvantage in GW2 because they can’t dodge roll, sidestep or attack while moving and lack the situational awareness that a player has. I don’t want pets, I want an archer. I don’t want a spellcaster who happens to use a bow. ArenaNet’s insistence that rangers be ‘the pet class’ is keeping them out of dungeons and competitive PvP. The WTS happened recently, and I noticed that, out of all eight professions, only one was not represented there. Care to guess which one? Making ranger ‘the pet class’ would be like making necromancer ‘the minion class’. Minion mastery doesn’t work in many areas of the game, and neither do pets. The difference is, necromancers are not forced to be minion masters due to a stupid design decision and the stubbornness to keep that flaw no matter the cost.

NapTooN.6283:

Tragic Positive.9356:

NapTooN.6283:

I know what dodging is in GW2, a Dodge Roll does the same as sidestepping just further and if you don’t “dodge” through an attack there is no difference to a sidestep. There is no “dodged” popup, but an “evaded” one if something hits you in your roll. Sidesteps can not evade, but they can dodge something. It is semantics i know, but i never claimed it to be something else.

Than something is wrong.
Because I can “dodge” effects right in the middle of their happening. But I cannot sidestep a 2000 radius boss AoE.
Have you tried sidestepping a Thief? That would be one hell of fun to watch.
I can do it with the “Dodge” everyone is talking about, but not the one you are trying to.

I’m not sure if you do not understand or do not want to understand. I believe in the latter. Sidestepping is totally different to what the discussion is about.

No you can not dodge effects, you evade them with a Dodge Roll, that is a difference, hence the “evaded” popup. If you just dodge roll out of the way, there is no popup, you would get the same effect with a sidestep. Let’s give you a practical example:

• Engineer shoots a Mortar Shell at you from max range
  - If you Dodge Roll before the Impact, you won’t evade the Skill and get no reward for “successfully evading an attack”.
  - If you Sidestep before the Impact, the same thing happens
  - BUT if you wait for the Impact and Dodge Roll through the Hit Box, you evade the Skill and get rewards for “successfully evading an attack”

That is all that i say the whole time, Dodge and Sidestep are the same as Long as you don’t dodge roll through the Hit Box. Heck you can even add jumping over shockwaves to that list because you dodged it by jumping over it. With a Dodge Roll through it, you would have evaded it.

This is getting tiresome. You knew that I was referring to the dodge roll, so stop deliberately misunderstanding what I say. Besides (as I’ve said several times), pets can’t even dodge by your definition most of the time, because the optimal DPS setups are all invariably melee range, especially in a group. Plus, enemy players in PvP don’t have multi-second tells on their abilities, and WvW is just too cluttered with AoEs to have any hope of avoiding it. So, out of every game mode available, pets can avoid AoEs occasionally in open world PvE only, which happens to be the area that they least need to.

Ariete.6509:

OK, I’ll give in the idea that the pet does hinder our gameplay occasionally. Specifically in skips like Arah and TA, maybe dredge bits, because of mob’s attack pattern. Well in skips you can do as little as blowing a smoke field with warhorse while giving swiftness around, so immediately after you cast it, you can use a transformation item that doesn’t brake with entering combat, I have a stack of “automated… Something” which turns you into an As u r a that I often use for jumping puzzle too because I’m a big norm, crisis adverted, no more pet to aggro stuff around.

It also makes it impossible for them to properly balance ranger for high-end PvP and even WvW. The entire ranger profession has about as much sPvP viability as, for instance, a minion master necromancer. Which is to say, not a whole lot.

Ravenna.5971:

Frostfang.5109:

What new pet type would u like to see? With pet type I mean Drakes (one type) Hounds (one type), Moas, birds, etc….. Its kind of boring to just get different looks of what we already have sometimes – unless they make a really cool skin.

Personally I’d like to see;

• Griffons
• some sort of Dino pets fom the maguuma jungle

What would u like to see in the future?

i wanna see a pet mouse

They had pet rats in GW1.

Kodama.6453:

I really understand why rangers want the sword aa to get fixed, but to call it “unfair” because they gave unrelenting assault an evasion is just too much. These are different problems. If you use sword aa you know where you are going, because it will follow your target. This way you can predict the danger, like how high is the chance to jump in an enemy aoe field taking damage.

Unrelenting assault is teleporting you to multiple random targets, so if there is aoe possible in this situation you will NEVER use it because you have no idea where you are going to be.

That’s all, one of the skills is predictable, the other isn’t.

Not quite. If your target dies, stealths, or clones, you go flying. Besides, sword auto locks you out of dodging essentially for most of the time that you’re dealing damage. No other weapon set has such a debilitating side effect, and here ANet is trying to market their glaring design flaw as a ‘feature’.

deSade.9437:

/shrug
You don’t have to tell me. And the 1st quote was actually on the CDI thread because sword aa rooting resulted as being the biggest perceived (by rangers) problem right after pets.
The irony, huh? They make a CDI and then don’t listen to anything people say.
Oh, and they also confirmed rangers will never get rid of pets in any way, but I can’t find the quote.

According to the wiki, Unrelenting Assault has a 3/4 second cast and 1/2 second evade; there is no mention of it being a channeled skill.

As for pets…pets are probably the single most important reason that rangers are not competitive in tournaments. No AI based spec does well in Guild Wars tournaments (or is even used at all), as far as I know, so why do they think that forcing an entire profession to use nothing but AI specs is a good decision?

PlatinumMember.5274:

Kicast.1459:

ScionKai.4907:

Grimreaper.5370:

grouch has confirmed ele nerfs (and some buffs)

Lol.

Not only did they take forever to make a change, they are probably going to do some half measure that doesn’t really balance things. Hope I’m wrong but I think they’ve earned skeptics.

Yep…talking about coming nerfs confirmed while they are only discussing about the issue sounds a bit sick to me.
They are also talking about buffs..so be cautious…we can get an even worst juggernaut after.

The reason they are talking about buff is because if you haven’t realized yet, the ele only has only 1 viable PvP build. Unlike other classes, any changes to the ele will cause them will break them in PvP. So I am glad that they are not blindly giving in to the wishes and uninformed opinion of players by quickly nerfing them.

I mean a lot of the people who whine about the ele cannot even accurately articulate the issue with the elementalist. You see people quickly blaming celestial amulet even though it is simply a symptom and not the root cause.

Thief and necromancer also have only 1 viable sPvP build each. Engineer has 2, basically, but one of them is only around because burning is so out of hand at the moment. Guardian probably has 2 (and again, one of them is a gimmick revolving around burn abuse). Ranger doesn’t really have any that aren’t gimmicks, although that is because of the permanent AI companion more than anything else, I think. Don’t act like elementalists are far below everyone else in terms of viable builds, because they really aren’t.

deSade.9437:

“I just want to clarify for good that main hand sword is currently working as intended. All movement skills cannot be interrupted by dodging and this is currently intentional. It has a very specific play style, and I would like it to remain. I understand that rangers want a one handed melee option that is more mobile, but that will have to wait, as I know there are a mix of players who also like how this weapon plays and I do not want to take away one of the more unique playstyles that we have and replace it with something that is fairly common.”

“Unrelenting Assault: Increased the damage by 30%. This skill will now evade while your character is preforming this attack.
As with Surge of the Mists, we made Unrelenting Assault evade for its duration. It was too punishing to be locked into a skill where you had no control over your character.”

You cryin’ yet?

P.S. I wouldn’t take a doggy, honestly… Their randomly spammed cc is absolutely game-breaking if you’re in a decent party. Let’s not even talk about pigs (but pigbow is a superior build so yeahh whatever). If you can’t take a kitty, drakes are just awesome. The locust cleansing at lupi with the river drake… /sighs dreamily

Are they on drugs? It is much more punishing to be locked out by an auto attack than by a 3/4s skill with 10s cd. The double standard with that is repulsive. Not to mention skills like pistol whip, which also locks you out without evasion. If they were really serious about fixing self-punishing skills, I could make them a laundry list…and there is no reason for ranger sword aa not to be at the very top.