Guild Wars 2

Tested Whirling Defense with Quickness and was still unable to get Quick Draw’s cooldown reduction. The only way to obtain it is to cancel Whirling Defense before Quick Draw’s buff depletes. Quite a shame

Nope. It is not fixed yet. I was using HS just earlier and my pet still doesn’t receive any healing. Same goes for other people around you.

Depends. Utility-wise, Rangers are a little bit better than before due to the 5% increase chance of passive Spirit benefits for Frost Spirit (small but it’s something) and Clarion Bond trait for the extra blast and fury.

Damage-wise, Rangers are a little bit better there as well. We lost some damage modifiers, but one was changed to increase critical hit chance. Granted, that change was across the board for the former precision lines of all classes, but it helped dropping a bit of Assassin’s gear for more Berserker’s pieces (assuming you did slot any Assassin’s pieces).

Gained a bit more damage in fights under 10seconds with Remorseless and Greatsword + Sword/Axe swap combo. In longer fights, we gained a slight bit of damage camping Sword with double off-hand axes thanks to being able to fire off Path of Scars on each swap with Quick Draw.

So, to answer the question: No, Rangers are not in a worse spot PVE-wise. A bit better, but by no means worse.

Would rather have Well cooldown reduction become baseline.

Yeah. Watch later Anet will give ZS an ICD because people are too ignorant to realize the exploit ties with using tonics. -_-

Not referring to blasting for boons before a fight. Talking about players in general that swap between the two pets they have selected when out of combat. Anet wouldn’t allow it out of combat to prevent those blasts from being wasted.

Ryk.7289:

With this fix it should at least work outside of combat. (+ a CD timer)

Not even sure they would allow that, as there are many rangers that change and swap pets back and forth idle and out of combat as is.

Again, it’s not a nerf. The 30s ICD was announced during the AMA Livestream but was bugged when the update went live. The ICD was supposed to have “synergy” with Nature Magic and taking “Windborne Notes.” (Their words, not mine.)

Video Link – Fast Forward to 03:33:25

Quarktastic.1027:

I’m not saying the ICD should be removed, I’m saying it should be reduced to synchronize with the (traited) pet swap cooldown.

That suggestion is not too far-fetched since Anet has already done that with other classes. Most notable is Necromancer’s “Weakening Shroud” trait that casts the identical version of their off-hand Dagger’s “Enfeebling Blood” but is its own version, tweaked to proc every time a Necro enters Shroud form.

+1

It wouldn’t be OP if it hit 5. Probably an oversight that it doesn’t affect 5 targets as all other traps.

Could be transformations (ugh) or could be those “Aspects” mentioned long ago. Judging from the data-mined Elite placeholder image, an emphasis on pets is a likely guess. Beastmastery 2.0!

The least amount of coding then would be to move the activation of Quick Draw’s activation at the start of a skill or buff it by 1 second. Altering Whirling Defense is another issue entirely.

Also, Quick Draw’s ICD starts on the weapon swap, not after it is used. Just tested it and held back doing a Maul with 1s left on the buff and obtained it on the next weapon swap.

Lots of over-thinking and complications for such a little thing. Just extend Quick Draw’s buff duration by 1 second or do LughLongArm’s suggestion having it apply at the start of a skill instead of the end. Done.

Arid Devourer tonic has no cooldown, but you need to hit your elite keybind to return to normal form. About 10s on TP

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Well, the reddit thread caught the attention of UI dev Merryeli, sooooo fingers crossed

Very cool! Hope the user updates the image link to include the latest version I put up. (I don’t use Reddit)

Yeah. Just change “parties” in that last statement to “PUGs.”

I ran both Remorseless and PO when the patch went live as well. In parties without constant Fury re-application, PO outshines Remorseless.

Change was done to stop “Petting Zoos”…

Would be dumb of them to give Zephyr’s Speed an ICD. Clarion Bond’s ICD doesn’t work at the moment. Best solution would be to have tonics work only when out of combat and fix the ICD on Clarion.

Tonics are lovely.

For that weapon combo, it works perfect.

To be fair, Minions are a utility for Necros.

mordran.4750:

The guy who designed the changes for corruptions should be punished with playing them for at least 6 month.

-Signed for this instead.

Thanks all for the comments! Let’s all hope a more organized Pet Management window can be delivered by the time Heart of Thorns is released! I also made some alterations (thanks for the feedback) to the menus for fun.

Please note that any elements in these images I posted that are not in the original game (such as the dolphin) are stuff I added for fun and maybe out of a small hope that it will be added in the future. Enjoy!

Edit: Anyone else think the Rainbow Jellyfish could use a different icon?

Yeah. I wouldn’t mind some changes to show that the pet is stronger or older. An example would be the River Drake.

All Spirits have a 70% chance to grant passive bonuses instead of 75% when traited with [Nature’s Vengeance] (Nature Magic – Grandmaster Trait)

They already are. After watching the ‘Building a Better Centaur’ presentation, AI in PVE might actually move out of the Time Warp zone instead of trying to fight players in it. We’ll have to wait and see when it comes out with HOT.

The original was 120s. Technically, it was buffed due to receiving a category (thank goodness). Not sure how others feel about it, but I’m glad when the effect duration and cooldown was halved, nothing was nerfed in the process. Unlike Lich Form which received a 25% effect duration reduction and kept the same cooldown.

SotP lasts 10 seconds. Boon application lasts 12 due to the refresh @ 9s. It was neither a nerf or a buff – just chainsawed.

There was a thread awhile back that someone crunched the numbers using Sebrent’s spreadsheets. I recall double rapid fire and double path of scars rotation on sword/axe and longbow are the thing now due to Quick Draw on weapon swap.

So, to answer the question: No. Bows are not still bad for PVE.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Not even. Frost Bow got a buff rather than a nerf so its;
1 x PS War
3 x Frost Bow
1 x Mesmer

I meant the classes in general, not composition-wise. Thief and Guardian will always have a spot on the meta due to what they can offer. As for Frost bow, it got buffs on a couple of other skills, iirc, 2 and 3. 3 is used after 4 but 2 is rarely used, ever.

Called it. Meta is still Ele, Thief, Warrior, Guardian. 5th slot squeeze were Mesmers due to Portal tricks, and now Time Warp. Later on with alacrity and Chrono spec, expect less Rangers and Druids considered in meta.

Lumpy Forehead.2193:

When mining an ore node while equipped with either the flamethrower kit or the elixir gun kit, the character will use the kit to farm the node instead of a mining pick.

Add the Grenade Kit bundle in there as well. The satchel hangs from it.

Anet probably wouldn’t let the effect stack anyway. Possibly putting a restriction and tooltip description that says “does not stack.” Or if they did allow stacking, it would be something along the lines of some current traits, like “-5% condition duration for each trap active.”

Also, a trap kit could be doable, but Anet likes to play… interestingly (to say the least). If Rangers got one, expect Thieves and Dragon Hunters to receive one as well, thematically fitting or not.

Yeah, if Anet went with that idea, it would have to be an overall effect across all traps. For balancing issues, they would not allow each trap to provide a different reduction due to possible stacking of effects, making that obscene for point control scenarios.

Then again, having a reduction property in general was something (imo) Trapper’s Defense should have been. But, alas, that trait is gone – even though it could have now been useful since Spike Trap applies Knockdown. =/

If Anet can code Symbolic Avenger, they can code a damage reduction while standing on a trap.

Yeah. At the moment, Dust Trap and Smoke Trap are 2 GW1 Traps that didn’t make it over. Was hoping their properties would be added in by traiting with Trapper’s Expertise, but instead we got cripple, which isn’t bad but it’s… something.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Any suggestions? I actually don’t see how it is any better than any of the meta pvp builds.

Just no condition removal at all with Trapper’s Expertise. Traps don’t provide condition cleanse outside of Healing Spring and that’s fine. If you need to tag extra condition cleanses on other things, look at improving EB or IB.

Only thing possible that could add a utility to traps is a stun break, but for that to work, traps would then need a manual detonation prompt to prevent it from being cumbersome. Detonation has it’s own set of issues with people since it will not force a CD until detonated or triggered, thus, removing the ability to chain the same trap.

Sorry, mate. I can offer no better suggestion other than to not add a condition cleanse to TE and only to look at other traits that need improvement to strengthen some weaknesses with choosing to slot certain utilities on builds.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Make an Elite Trap Kit, change Trappers Expertise to remove a condition whenever you use place a trap.

That part is so imbalanced…

That second suggesting of traps adding another condition when traited was suggested a couple of times. Good all around and would fit on Trapper’s Expertise with the cripple.

- Grenadier Adept Trait (Explosives) adds +1 Grenade to [Grenade Barrage] Tool Belt skill and increases the range from 900 to 1500.

Just tested out Healing Spring with the update. It’s still fantastic and the arming is barely noticable!

I don’t even… I had my expectations low, but this is far below anything I would have expected. This needs a revamp ASAP.

I would not mind if the trait’s icon was placed on the pet with a 10s timer ticking down. Once it flashes and is about to expire is the indication on when the transfer happens. However, for that to work, we need Anet to allow us to see Pet boons, buffs, conditions, and debuffs on our UI first.

A bit greedy of me to say, but I want both.

Firelysm.4967:

No, it’s not needed it’s waste of an trait slot.

Be it as it may, fall damage reduction traits are here to stay unless the devs decide to reduce fall damage as baseline. Will that happen? I hope so, since even the devs commented on these traits, saying that their main purpose was to help people with Jumping Puzzles.

Firelysm.4967:

I don’t want to trait for the 3rd chain evade, because it’s very inconvenient. And the chance is a lot lower if we do that. I don’t see people using that in PvE i’ve talked to dungeon runners and others that try to use it for other PvE things, and they every single one asked me why would you want to use that over even a minor trait. I rather side step juke to avoid damage. I think we need 100% transfer dmg to pet on successfully attacked projectile or simple block. It’s not OP at any point because you actually have to time it really good to succeed.

Of course no PVE Ranger would take Strider’s Defense, we have Spotter in the same tier now. It also can’t be a guaranteed block without an ICD since Anet balances around best-case-scenarios.

The scenario here would be a sword auto spam with quickness against projectile only foes. Is it likely to happen? Not really, but you try convincing them that. Hence, why they dropped the 50% chance down to 25%, then stripped the damage modifier.

As for MDG, Heimskarl has a thread that proposes and discusses ways to improve MDG into a worthy GM trait that can compete with Quick Draw.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/MDG-needs-more-thought/first#post5193192

Soften the Fall – Obligatory Fall Damage Reduction trait that all classes have. Sorry, it will never go away. Ever.

Strider’s Defense – Pretty bad still. It will see some play after the patch for Rangers that are neither condi or PVE. Doesn’t mean it’s good. Could use the damage modifier back into it and possibly change the RNG to making the final auto attack chain into an evade.

Invigorating Bond – Could use a condi cleanse or boon conversion, but the devs think it’s “strong” so it will never see any change.

MDG – Most Disappointing Grandmaster

Yeah, we might as well wait ‘til tomorrow. It was even stated that the client they are playing on is not the final version that will be on the update tomorrow. Some things are probably going to be changed (such as Berserker’s Power being able to obtain the effect when skill-canceling the Burst) and tooltip descriptions, as some of the numbers were not up-to-date with the changes.

I saw it refresh that amount, too. I want to say SotP might have been reduced to 15s (similar to how Lich Form was reduced), but considering the cd was chainsawed, I think I’m fine with that.

Nope. He glanced over Marksmanship, Skirmishing, and Wilderness survival. He slotted Beastmastery only because someone in chat requested to see Beastly Warden. I can’t recall Nature Magic even being slotted.