Guild Wars 2

Man, you are just asking for more power creep by drawing in those comparisons. It’s a mix of offense and defense, while Signet of Agility is completely defensive.

If I can have a toggle for those cosmetic auras while keeping the SB aura, sure, I’d be down for that. SB aura doesn’t bother me one bit, it’s when it’s stacked with all these PVE auras and outlandish backpieces that things become ridiculous.

I hear you. It will most likely come to that. As for now, they seem finely-tuned, but I expect the nerf bat to hit since people are quick to call everything OP – especially if it’s on the Ranger – and the devs are quicker to react to it.

Kehlian.4380:

Well, the fact that the ranger doesn’t have a pet near him is enough to tell he’s activated soulbeast

Here’s the thing, though. If that Soulbeast is hiding in a zerg, I don’t have the time to search through a sea of other players for its pet. Visual transparency is important here.

Just like the Glint aura beneath Heralds. Yeah, it can be annoying and even an eyesore, but it’s important to see for others to know without having to click on that person.

The player sees it and can automatically tell, and it becomes more apparent in larger groups when it’s harder to discern differences.

It’s 50% shared duration. Not 100%. I’m going against the notion of increasing it to 100%, let alone the shared radius from 360 to 600.

That seems balanced. Otherwise, Beastmode would end up playing like an Elementalist with attunement swapping – which will eventually lead to not bothering with the pet mechanic at all.

This makes it so before one enters Beastmode, the pre-selected stance and pet that is merged with is meaningful and tactful, while ensuring the pet still plays a role and has an opportunity to be an active side companion.

We’ll see though. As far as I’m concerned, this is a a great move, as the restriction forces players to think twice about things rather than letting us have our cake and eat it.

Reducing the aura size, possibly. Otherwise, keep the aura as persistent as long as Beastmode is activated. It’s a tell to other players and should be kept that way.

No, man. Take a look again at the stances. Leader of the Pack seems in-line. 100% duration and extended shared range is asking for more power creep – don’t.

Vulture Stance has a ½s interval, so affected allies can activate the effects of gaining might or poisoning foes up to 6 times combined. 100% duration is what is NOT needed with the current condition and boom spam, because that will only add towards it – that’s not good balance in the slightest.

All these stances provide something useful, especially Griffon Stance, which is a unique 100% endurance regeneration that will stack with profession endurance regeneration and vigor. Dodges are always useful.

Johnny.1634:

Ok then, since I clearly cant understand. Explain how the pet is going to grant might to my group when he’s gone. How is my pet going to hit faster and harder with “Sic ’Em!” while he’s no where to be found? “Search and Rescue!” with an invisible pet? Maul ain’t gonna do much when my pets inside of me.

All valid points and concerns. Guess we’ll see on the 11-13th.

CountzuCrytus.7256:

This is so funny, people are now complaining about possibly being petless.

If anyone remembers the ranger CDI, you should remember this elite spec since it was your (our) idea In the first place. I personally can’t wait.. also to see the new pets Elona has to offer!

To be fair, that CDI was a mess. We had a split between Rangers wanting to be petless and those that wanted pet improvements. The developers took a liking to an “Aspects” suggestion, and it seems to have come into fruition as Soulbeast.

The others that wanted improvements on pets, came about 3 years later, or 6 months ago if using now as a point of reference. What Rangers ended up gaining from that CDI was an evade on Swoop and Poison Master, which was later reduced in favor of Thief.

If the pets were fine, there would be a lot less fuss about Soulbeast’s reveal. Some Rangers enjoy the pet, and even though they are not forced to play as a Soulbeast, it sure does sting a bit knowing your other half has wonky AI and pathing issues.

I agree with the OP. It’s the same reason I don’t buy plants – no SLI support and requires RL support.

Who knows except the devs, testers, and peeps with early access. We’ll get to find out 10 days from now, which is much more promising compared to Druid where we had to wait 8 months from the reveal, then got a hands on 3 days before the expansion launched.

At least now, we can have a decent amount of hands-on time with Soulbeast, and they have over a month to tweak and work out the kinks. If they’re smart about pet traits working with Soulbeast, it would be akin to how Robert Gee addressed some Mesmer traits when Chronomancer introduced an F5/Continuum Split for their profession.

Knowing he’s still on board means that, at the very least, this would be addressed. If not, they still have time to work it out before and after release.

Irijia.6073:

Wuselknusel.4082:

But will it make the pets better? Will the cast/aftercast times be affected? Will the pet be more reliable? More versatile to use?

Or will it just get shoved to the sidelines, as you don’t have to use it anyways?

Since this solution would cost more time and money and they haven’t been inclined to fix these problems thus far (with the exception of better hitboxes for our pets which only came this year) I vote for them opting to shove these to the sidelines. To bring up his example of people complaining about pigs with Soulbeast and this somehow magically translating to getting it fixed for people who still want the pet. They will most likely fix it out of the gate for Soulbeast only and leave pigs to rot for base ranger as they have for the past five years.

Reminds me of when Ranger finally had its shortbow reworked. Not because we were asking for it for 4 years, but because of a newly released legendary shortbow. =|

Time to bring out the ol’ iron lung.

anduriell.6280:

- Dagger offhand no rework. When irenio said something about the cripple thing with the dagger i died a little inside. That skill is not something i would feel proud to show off. Ever.

That part made me laugh. If it was footage on a distant, retreating target to display a new leap or blink skill, that would have been better.

Instead, it was, “…crossing into close range, as well as crippling from a distance… melee distance.” A light jab on footage selection – ya still good, Irenio.

Ivantreil.3092:

Engi with Pistol mainhand, and sword offhand confirmed, sword will compete with pistol offhand for the slot.

Isn’t the right-hand the main-hand slot?

Rauderi.8706:

I find myself still skeptical. Lore gets trotted out and then killed, profession balance has been spotty, encounters have been tuned to cheap frustration tactics, and I find myself barely “cautiously optimistic” about the expansion.

I did hear a lot of compelling ideas.

But ANet has a bad habit of Good Idea; Lousy Execution.

This is very true, indeed.

Hopeful, but we’ll see. There’s an open beta happening between Aug. 11-13, so we can test drive it for ourselves in order to give a more, well-informed opinion.

Color me impressed with the announcement. I tuned in cynical and skeptical, and by the end, was pleasantly surprised.

It was a simple and straight-forward announcement. Each point told what we needed to know and provided enough details without being cryptic. No over-hyping – just “This is what we have been working on. Let us show you.”

It could have included something for PvP and WvW, but good stuff, overall. Different price packages are also a plus. I’m stoked for Path of Fire now. Just hope they don’t do anything that fans out the flames.

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Probably half the stream will be a corporate PR talk bundled with the name reveal and start of preorders. After that we should get short recap of season 3, list of main selling points like mounts and new specs and that’s probably it for today’s stream. Probably no release date yet tho they might say something like Q1 or Q2 2018.

^ That is what I expect as well.

perilisk.1874:

Hmmm… maybe once you max the passive MF, consuming it could instead give you a fixed-size, per-character, duration-stacking MF buff on top of that? Something like 5s per point of luck consumed? So, nothing too crazy, no fundamental change to what luck does, but also there is no real cap on how much you need.

+1 to this. That’s a pretty neat suggestion. It plays into its role of increasing Magic Find while not adding a significant advantage as some pointed out if it was converted into Unbound Magic.

It could be a really minor buff, too, such as just +10-15% or so to Magic Find when luck is consumed; duration increased as you suggested, per luck consumed, and being bound on the character that consumes it.

Possibly have different tiers of luck provide extended durations, so that they all even out and different qualities do not provide the same, flat duration. Fine 1s, Masterwork 5s, Rare 10s, Exotic 20s, and Legendary 50s.

If anything, Astral Wisp should just play into the support role and additionally offer damage mitigation by blinding foes it touches or a very brief duration – 1½-2s or so.

It’s a minor thing, but it beats giving it the ability for a support line and utility weapon to deal more damage. Would rather not see any more damage added onto Druid.

UnitedChaos.8364:

-All less than x% hp traits reworked as they are never used and contradict most used rune, rune of scholar.

That’s something I can get behind – rune of the scholar or not.

If your intention is to main a healer for raids and fractals, go with the above linked Magi healer. Zealot’s is all right, but Druid damage is already paltry. If you can find yourself a stable and experienced group or guild, then move onto Berserker. Zealot’s, while fine, is middle-of-the-road gear.

You’ll have better luck getting into groups as a Magi healer, especially in PUGs, and it serves as great training gear when learning and teaching new raiders – something to think about in the long run.

Chiming in once more to add 2 more small, but important things to the main list:

• Ricochet’s additional bounce returned.
• Crippling Thrust’s (sword 1b auto) number of targets increased from 1 to 3.

It’s some of the lowest of the lowest hanging fruit out there, but I’m really hoping those two things make it in somewhere before this next expansion releases.

Yeah, I’d be down for those pets – Osprey, Dolphin, and Green Moa.

Add in an Arid Devourer with an F2 that fires short-ranged darts that knock back like the ones found in the Silverwastes. Would make a great additional CC pet.

The return of the Golden Moa with an F2 screech that grants vigor to allies and a Plated Behemoth for another Ursine (Bear) that has an F2 roar that taunts foes.

The Magma Elementals are fine. Challenging at first, yes, but they’re easy when you realize circling around them and using projectile denial or reflects renders them mostly harmless.

Even if it’s 2 or 1 plus mercenaries, use the terrain in Balthazaar’s region to your advantage: line of sight them behind pillars and move around it while getting shots in.

Condition cleanses are useful, and if you’re a Necromancer, slot condition transfers and tank their burning or the use the 10 stacks from the lava pools and send it onto them. The Magmas are decently challenging at most, but you need the know-how first.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Question though: will this also hold any Season 4 portal scrolls, if they will exist?

This has me curious as well. Hopefully, it carries forward and includes future Living World seasons.

Story-wise: The trials for joining the Shining Blade is appreciated. The way it was handled was a good way to world-build – showing and not telling. The puzzle and final fight are nice, and appropriately paced and well designed.

Siren of Orr Mastery: A missed opportunity not integrating the Siren of Orr mastery for the player to use in all maps. It could have been done by allowing the player to choose the instrument of their choice, with a specific song (buff) that accompanied it.

Having that tied into the story and as a unique player item that would be separate from the player inventory (think shared inventory slot) to use without the need to interact with a Chancel of Echoes should have been the way to go.

Chancel of Echoes also need to be reduced in size. The current size is rather large and adds more visual noise to encounters, blocking views of an enemy’s tells.

Siren’s Landing: Great map layout. Shrines are essentially Waypoints, but it’s appreciated that the cost for each is obtainable. Events are all right, but it’s the scaling for completing each Heart that is praise-worthy.

Much better and faster to complete each Heart compared to the ones in Draconis Mons. It keeps the pace at a steady rush while allowing players to complete a Heart daily, then move onto exploring or farming Oysters.

If I had one thing to suggest: add a grown Giganticus Lupicus that is sleeping dormant on top of the Hidden Reliquary. When the shrines are all powered up and it can be accessed, it awakens as a map-meta boss. Oh, the wonders that would do for Orr!

It’s only for jumping and turning while standing in one place. Before, you couldn’t – oddly enough.

I can tell you what changes won’t come:

Predator’s Instinct, Most Dangerous Game, Glyphs & “Guard!” not working underwater, sword auto reduced cast times, removing the required target from Solar Beam, renaming “Strength of the Pack!” back to “Rampage as One!” – let alone a change so it’s not just a might stacking elite and condition cleanse with Trooper runes, a cooldown reduction for Polar Bear’s F2, a cast time reduction for Jungle Stalker’s F2, and a fix for Drakes’ AI.

It’s cynical, I know, but it’s also as realistic as it gets. Though, I’m sure there will be good stuff in the patch – regardless of whether it is for Ranger (as a whole) or not.

Give this woman a raise and a promotion! Seriously, thanks for doing this!

Welp, that’s how legendaries been working when it comes to projectiles. Meanwhile, I’m stoked about the new effects and glad they updated it.

Hence, “Quickening Screech” before it was altered to swiftness. Would be nice if they reverted it back to the original concept.

I, too, remember being able to tame a Golden Moa, back before launch – it’s F2 granted vigor. Would have been a neat Moa to have.

Hey, man. I totally agree on that. In fact, even the moves I mentioned above that are handled strictly by the AI don’t always activate under those circumstances.

That simple tweak would do wonders with another move being controlled with F3. F1 can simply function like the old “Guard!” without having to hold it since “Avoid Combat/Guard” toggle pretty much takes care of commanding a pet to attack a target.

Tyncale.1629:

Yes, I have to nuance my rant. Drakes indeed never use their other two attacks, I started using one today for a while and that is how I came to my post. My Moa never uses Harmonic Cry, just Frenzied attack.

I think my cats use both Bite and Maul. I have not tried other pets but obviously this is a very broken part of our Pets.

It would indeed be best if we had some control over these other two attacks: if Anet does not want to put them on a hotkey, then maybe they should allow people to disable them. And when enabled, the pet should just fire them as soon as it is off cooldown.

Enabling/disabling can only be done out of Combat. This does not seem like too hard a fix.

I agree. Having full control of the other pet skills would be nice. As for some of the other pet skills, defensive pet moves will trigger when certain thresholds are met. Some things to note since you mentioned Moas, but I’ll list some additions:

• Moa’s Harmonic Cry – Activates when the player is under 75% health or the pet is under 90% health.
• Bear’s Bite & Drake’s Chomp – Activates when the pet is under 90% health.
• Bear’s Defy Pain – Activates when the pet is under 25% health.
• Devourer’s Retreat – Activates when a foe is within 200 range of the pet and sometimes when the pet is under 25% health.

As stated before, Drakes are bugged, but when they are fixed – 90% is the health threshold in which they are supposed to use Chomp. Obviously, it would be nice to have these extras listed on the in-game tooltip.

Depends on the pet. Drakes are and have been bugged since Feb, so they won’t use their other 2 moves regardless.

I’d rather have Vigorous Training replace Instinctive Reaction, then have Spirits Unbound as a master in Nature Magic. As for the other stuff, sure. Having more self-synergy on weapons would be a nice mix-up, too.

Like, if Ricochet bled targets it struck that were chilled, making Winter’s Bite, the AOE from Honed Axes, and even Frost Trap and chill pets to have more use – bringing back the Frost Ranger niche.

I kinda wish Sharpened Edges would get a minor buff to compromise between 33% and 66% – a 50% chance on critical would suffice since it’s a trait that must be selected rather than a minor as with other professions.

An increase of the poison damage on Poison Master back to 50% and altering the pet poison to apply on their F2 like Wilting Strike – so the poison applies to each foe that is affected only once.

That limits the poison application depending on F2 cooldowns while making it much more viable on pets with an AOE F2 or very low cooldowns like Hawk, Eagle, Tiger, and even the Arctodus.

It also benefits so F2 moves that have multiple hits don’t lose out on poisoning other foes like the Fire Wyvern or Drakes, since currently, the poison applies only to the first attack and the first target struck.

It doesn’t matter in the end whether the focus is a dragon or a god. If the writing is going to be weak, then the target makes no difference.

They had an opportunity with the last dragon, but shifted the focus on just destroying it. It seems as though this might end up following the same route.

Both Phoenix and Envoy are projectiles; being unblockable is the significant difference. All Path of Scars needs is a radius increase. As of now, its radius is 30, or 60 units in diameter.

To put that in perspective, the player hitbox is 30 units in diameter, so the margin of error is small. A radius increase to 240 is a bit much, and would be lame to have it only apply on the landing.

Increasing the radius to 60 (double) or 90 (triple) would suffice, but I’d also propose it be altered to a free-aim projectile that does not travel along the ground. I’d love to use it to pull people off walls and cliffs.

Thornwolf.9721:

Screw the rest of the armor 95% of it is ugly anyway so who cares?

When you attempt to make a case for your argument, then state something like this: what semblance of conviction you had evaporates.

That was an old iteration of Remorseless, the second one if I recall correctly, the first refreshed OS when the player killed a foe. Wouldn’t do much to change it back to on-stealth. That would limit it more than anything.

Better to mash up all the past conditions and load it up so Remorseless grants OS on stealth, on kill, and when gaining fury. That would help make up for the synergy loss with SotP nerf and open up things overall.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Tail Swipe

We do, it just takes practice to use it properly.

Can’t practice what doesn’t work. Drakes still bugged since February.

Yes, it’s not supposed to be affected by movement speed modifiers years ago during the leaps-n-dashes update. You might have found the reason why the range keeps breaking every other patch.

You are correct. It’s more: “Druid is the only thing that doesn’t bore me.”

TL:DR – I enjoy playing Ranger so much I can’t play other professions.

Rangers can also share might, stability, and protection – it’s just tied to Spirits and their GM trait. Ask for the return of Spirits Unbound and there will be less grief on that.

Not a fan of having “when struck” on there, let alone it being designed as a defensive trait for living longer. Striking a foe benefits with lesser used traitlines such as Marksmanship while when-struck conditions favor the current, defensive lines.

I’d rather have it designed to promote MM/SK, especially since it will be a different take and provide Rangers a “finish them off” trait that can work well with either our burst trait (Remorseless) or sustain trait (Predator’s Onslaught).

Opponent health threshold should remain so initial might stacks can be high. Gaining a pulsing fury past 15 might seems more than reasonable, considering “We Heal as One!” and other might-generating sources.

Remorseless synergy is the main focus, and being a trait that could pulse fury, unlike the previous version of SotP that was on a 75s/60s cooldown, should have a higher might threshold to keep it in check.

Better loading times, more details on bundled items, better contrast on items with quantity/price (such as BLC Keys), Home & Back buttons, History has its own tab; everything about the new interface (to me) is nothing short of stellar.

It’s simple, clean, intuitive, and slick.

Nobody would pick that trait either. If it has anything to do with the player being under 50% health – it doesn’t need to be a grandmaster trait competing with Quickdraw.

Now, if it was something like: “Gain 5 Might (3s) when you strike a foe below 50% health – 1s ICD. Gain Fury (3s) every 3 seconds while you have 15 or more stacks of Might.”

Then, people might consider using that since it brings back Remorseless synergy, throws away that crappy health threshold on the player and shifts it to the enemy, and can be useful with the current “Strength of the Pack!”.

Might on a 1s ICD and only when striking a foe means the player must be on the offensive and obvious counterplay (which is good to have) is boon-strip and removal of Might to prevent pulsing fury for that sweet Remorseless synergy.

Trash the rest, keep the scroll that says, “Tiger Den Map”.