Guild Wars 2

We don’t reject all the baseline suggestions. I mean, there was a thread after the AMA livestream where some Rangers (myself included) thought that Winter’s Bite becoming an AOE when taking Honed Axes should have been baseline.

Oh, how much yet little we ask for…

Only reason I can think of why Stability was excluded beforehand was because of the Stability Training and Shared Anguish combo. Stability Training did not make the cut in the new core traits, so I do not see any further reason(s) why Stability should be left out of Fortifying Bond.

So, we will be able to additionally share 2 seconds of Quickness with our pet. Good start. What about Stability (long overdue) and the new Resistance boon? How about adding a 2 second base for both of those boons to Fortifying Bond?

Thoughts?

One suggestion I can think of is the Well cooldown to be made baseline. Even if they evened out the numbers so Well of Suffering, Corruption, and Blood are at 30 seconds and Darkness and Power were at 40.

At the very least knock Well of Darkness down to 40. Considering what it does, the cooldown is long and with the new traits, it needs 2 traits (Bitter Chill and Chilling Darkness) from 2 trait lines (Spite and Curses) to make it worthwhile.

Thank goodness for the Vulnerability change to impact condition damage as well as direct damage. At least now Vulnerability would be more useful to condition builds.

+1 to these changes.

Actually, there is one trait that I believe should be baseline: Nature’s Vengeance. Spirits are so weak that the trait might as well become a part of it. Any plans that Anet has to make Spirits “better” I have no hopes for since they decided to remove Spirits Unbound and keep the RNG based benefits.

There are plenty of us that want trait mergers like that, Niconori. It seems small for what we are asking, but to the devs, it’s A LOT since they would have to make up new traits to fill in the empty slots.

StickerHappy.8052:

Pet traits should be made baseline. Then we are balanced

100% this.

Well, the attack speed increase on “Lead the Wind” could be baseline for LB as well. Would further emphasize how Rangers are naturally more proficient with bows than other classes are, at least as it states on the profession description.

I’d actually like to see conditions to boons on Invigorating Bond since Nature Magic is based around providing boons and support. Would be perfect with the heal and F2 incorporation so the conversion is on-demand and makes IB worthwhile.

Either that, or the original idea can stick to copying the conditions, but it just needs an extra “oomph” to make it unique. When I think of a rabid animal, I think of an animal that’s also gone berserk. This might be reaching, but what about, as a suggestion to make it more interesting than a condition fax, perhaps…

“Transfer 3 conditions to your pet every 10 seconds. Pet copies conditions onto struck foes when the amount of conditions is equal to or above the threshold – cannot happen more than once every 10 seconds per target. Pet attacks faster with each condition it is afflicted with.”

Transfer Rate: 10 seconds
Condition Threshold: 3
Attack Speed Increase Per Condition: 2%

At least with the threshold, you can have a bit of control when using SoR to force more conditions onto your pet for the copy, or at least ensure it copies more than 1 or 2 conditions. Gives it an extra layer (I suppose) to be more active.

Looking over all the traits again, I can’t really see anything that should be made baseline. Trait mergers and placements could use a tweak here and there, but baseline? I think they made everything they (reasonably) could baseline. Just me though.

That was also back in the day when we could also equip the same pet twice. I recall that was changed not too long after launch.

Tragic Positive.9356:

That was the trigger to the idea.
Necro trait makes the minions transfer a condition per attack from them to the enemy.

Ranger Rabies could copy them on a set time period and SoR activation.

The Necromancer trait allows a minion to transfer a condition on attack every 10 seconds, since a MM Necro can have multiple minions out at once.

I suggested before for EB to work the same, but since it’s just 1 pet vs a MM Necro that can have up to 6 from utilities alone, keeping the condition transfer both ways at 3 every 10 seconds would be fine.

Sure, copy/pasting the Necro trait onto EB looks lazy, but the idea is solid, and I don’t think that should detract from its value if applied to EB.

Eurantien.4632:

All the pet traits used to be active out of combat, it led to issues. For example, you could pre stack up to like 2 minutes of boons in only a few seconds. In addressing this they further prevented this type of behavior by changing all pet related things to be in combat only.

Still doesn’t make sense for the other pet traits such as Pet Prowess, Expertise Training, Malicious Training, and Compassion Training. The second a pet attacks or inflicts a condition, it’s in combat – no need for it to apply seconds later. It’s just redundant.

As for the boon duration, the only pet that could take advantage of pre-stacking before combat was Jungle Stalker, but even with the trait and F2 reduced cd, it couldn’t even keep 100% uptime due to the 3 second cast.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Stupid that they thought the pet should need to be in combat for the trait to take effect anyway.

This. I don’t know why those bonuses couldn’t just be applied 100% of the time. It’s not like there’s an advantage when both the player and the pet is out of combat.

You get used to weapon swapping from the inventory menu during Hunter’s Call after awhile. I usually do that pre-fight setup when get to play Ranger in my group, except I swap in LB instead of GS.

I’m not certain on that. I still believe Elementalist will remain as the go-to source for Fury. Pet swap with Beastmaster’s Bond will fill in the small gaps and extend Fury in those instances. Having Warhorn on the second set seems like it would hinder our DPS, personally and group-wide.

Since we would no longer take GS as the alternative set, the other 2 Master tier traits in Beastmastery are Wilting Strike and Natural Healing – both defensive. We would also lose out on personal burst and vulnerability for overall group damage from 3 Mauls on GS when opting for a Warhorn instead.

I really can’t see Rangers taking Warhorn into dungeon combat now solely due to Beastmaster’s Bond, only use for Warhorn would be pre-fight. Pre-fight setup would probably be Bonfire > Swap to Warhorn > Warhorn 5 > Warhorn 4 > Swap out to GS during Hunter’s Call and before it connects, then do the rotation as stated above.

We are probably friendlier and more helpful than others due to the benefits of owning a pet.

Predator’s Onslaught and Steady Focus appears to be the better option than taking Beastmaster’s Might and Remorseless. The jury is mostly out between Quick Draw and Strider’s Defense.

At the moment (theoretically), seems Sword-Axe / GS with THIS trait setup seems to be worthwhile. Rotation would probably end up being what you listed, Rpfohr, but with Crippling Throw (to proc PO) and Swoop between the double Maul, and a 3rd Maul before leaving GS.

Will also toss in purposely swapping Pets for Zephyr’s Speed only when swapping back on Sword-Axe to take advantage of the auto attack speed. All is just theory, though. Only thing that makes me happy is that Rangers could get a better, more interesting (fun) rotation than using LB and camping Sword-Axe.

Always felt that “Return to Me” should have the pet return right next to your feet and setting it on “Avoid Combat” should be the default behavior of lingering nearby. That said, it probably doesn’t need a 2nd button press.

Sure, why not. Swap 2 GM traits around and call it a day. I agree that the swap would be beneficial, but I bet Anet won’t do it.

In their minds, they probably think people are going to want the option to take both Invigorating Bond and Beastly Warden for a Heal-Taunt.

I almost have a Bingo

That’s the thing about the range increase, it should work, just not “too well.” As Tragic and as discussed in the linked thread with Sebrent, pet attacks should be avoidable and enemies should be able to kite the damage.

Also, the 10% damage is enough. Adding in an extra condition, cc, or otherwise is unnecessary and come as traits anyways. We currently have traits such as Predator’s Instinct and soon to replace it, Wilting Strike.

Psychological pressure can only go so far and most enemies that face a Ranger are aware of what to look for depending on what pet we bring. Also, yes a Ranger can do those many things that you have listed, it’s because the player is the Ranger, not an AI.

Pets being able to connect with moving targets easier has been discussed HERE. The solution is as simple as increasing the range on most pet melee attacks beyond 130, similar to how birds’ auto attack is 300.

As for having a bonus when flanking a target, the easiest and best solution is to have Hunter’s Tactics minor trait to apply to the pet when they are attacking from flanking positions as well.

Try out this tweak instead. You said at the end that you are not one to ruin or play the meta, so this build keeps your weapons of choice and modifies the traits to fit around a casual yet contributing manner while doing more damage.

Greatsword PvE 2.0

Things to note about the tweaks:

• Replaced Bloodlust to Force on GS for more consistent damage
• Moved traits around for Companion’s Might
• Took Rampage As One over Entangle as the Elite
• Double Drakes for extra blast finishers in combo fields and durability
• Added in Flame Trap for a fire field to provide for parties
• Grabbed Bountiful Hunter in Nature Magic for more damage
• Picked up Survival of the Fittest for extra Fury and condition cleanse
• Alternatively, you can swap Survival of the Fittest for Strength of Spirit

Wasn’t there a thread not too long ago about the condition damage from Expertise Training not applying to pet condition damage? Precision is probably not the only bugged stat at the moment.

Bravo

I think Substance was not counting Peak Strength, since taking Beastmastery would be the more offensive spec compared to Wilderness Survival.

It will all depend. Until everything is finalized, taking Wilderness Survival or Beastmastery as the third spec seems acceptable.

Tragic Positive.9356:

For Perma 25 Vulnerability stacks via Remorseless and RaO in addition to Frost Spotter. I don’t think I’m needing predator’s onslaught anytime soon.

Would rather keep PO in groups that can maintain high vulnerability stacks, otherwise, it’s a waste. Remorseless will probably be decent for PUGs.

Take a look on the other side of the fence and see how green the grass is for Necromancers. You should be so lucky that smart groups won’t kick you for a traited Frost Spirit and Spotter. If you are not running either or not close enough to provide Spotter, well…

I don’t think people are underestimating the new Remorseless, it’s more like the potential it provides are underwhelming in a group setting in PVE.

Very cool that Revenants are receiving Ventari as a Legend, a Staff as a melee weapon, and to see how they are incorporating different ways to approach healing through more active forms of play.

Well, it is both a buff and QoL change for thieves. As to being able to see our cooldowns in a Shroud form, that would be a small but much appreciated QoL change.

If they ever allowed utilities to be used in Shroud form, it would be a drastic QoL improvement and Necros everywhere reading that change as official would just…

If you can sit through the entire presentation of “Building a Better Centaur”, it showcases the new AI development in ways how it will impact both the players and the developers. The AI is being worked on by competent and experienced individuals.

Just to touch up a bit on the suggestions:

1) Lazy and bad gameplay design. You started out with the least popular one for sure. HP sponges does not make compelling encounters. Shame on you for even listing it to begin with. :P

2) You lost (my) favor when penalizing a certain gear set and these passive bonuses are already present through armor Runes which are more subtle and flexible. Would be wiser to approach altering the other, lesser valuable and under utilized rune sets and improving them to be further incorporated to different game modes through popular builds rather than add in a new mechanic.

3) Check the video link above. As to more random and harder to read attacks – no. Attacks that are predictable and allow players to read the telegraphs of incoming attacks is great game design as it allows players to feel a personal progression learning an encounter.

By making attacks more random and harder to read, you strip that sense of progression away from player types of all skill levels and further isolate those with low skill caps and new players.

It’s always a mixed bag when reading these threads suggesting to ‘correct’ a certain meta. A majority of the time, the intentions seem to come from a good place, and you have placed some thought and collaborated with others to put forth your suggestion.

Even if you disagree with my response, at least we can agree on disagreeing, and I hope you take a bit of your time to watch the video link (if you have yet) to see how AI is being approached for the future. Kudos and peace to you.

I’d love to lose Spirits for Preparations instead. Who knows, it might come back as another Elite spec utility. One could only hope.

Probably not double Maul that will be a potential front-runner in PvE. It might be Quickdraw + BM spec for using Path of Scars twice with a 5 second cd on each swap, running Sword and double off-hand Axes with Zephyr’s Speed. All just theory though.

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgUB5AJkBXg~

Hey, all! I wanted to have another desktop background of my characters but didn’t want to settle for just one of my characters and an entire screenshot of the in-game background.

First time putting some actual effort into using photoshop (still relatively new at it) and decided to do a line-up of my characters plus the logo. Thanks for looking and cheers!

Edit: Decided to create a dark version as well.

Guard’s sort of suffer from reflections as well if they are using a Sword main-hand. The last chain on the auto attack are projectiles. Always fun to watch a Guard kill himself when spamming 1 in a Feedback bubble.

Note that a Mesmer GS auto-attack is considered a “Beam,” and “Mirror Blade” is unblockable. What you are asking for basically is a way to make an attack/attacks unblockable to bypass reflections/projectile blocks.

It’s not necessarily “OP” if one was added to the Ranger, but seeing how reflections and projectile blocks are strong and viable ways to counter to a LB Ranger, I don’t see Anet making that option available anytime soon.

What I personally use in the Silverwastes

Only things to note:

• Swap out Muddy Terrain for Quickening Zephyr during Breach and Vinewrath
• Swap to Spiders/Devourers for bosses: Copper, Iron, Platinum, Beekeeper, Darkwing
• Bring a Spider/Devourer and a Bird for Gold & Silver, use the ranged pet during the roar and the DPS pet during the stun
• Swap to Drakes during Vinewrath Lane Defense and Mangler

Mangler Specific Build
During the phase when the Mangler retreats to the back of the room is the only time I use longbow, otherwise, I sword up and fill in the gaps between Guardian Walls and Mesmer Feedbacks with Whirling Defense.

Use Drake F2s to bounce around so they can damage the boss and nearby pustules. Also, pets are going to be stunned regardless if they are inside the Mangler’s shadow, so swap pets right after the stun.

The Moas. Each one of my characters has a different one. Hoping they will release a Crimson Moa to complete the set.

People get confused. Even players that have played this game since launch probably found something that was confusing to them in the beta. Move on.

This idea has been around for awhile, it is more akin to the first Guild Wars where many have suggested investing into Beastmastery would make your “Juvenile” pet become an adult with a visible size and stat increase.

Only hope that with the many changes Anet are doing they add this feature to pets in the future.

I’m with Lethal on this one; 360 range is too small. Consider Engineer’s Experimental Turret trait that allows turrets to grant boons within a 600 radius, equal to an untraited Warrior Banner. You would be better off separating the radius of boons to allies and conditions on nearby enemies.

Adding Confusion to MoC would be nice, but that would feel like a delayed version of Distracting Strikes since it would apply on the next hit. Perhaps alter it so MoC applies confusion on interrupting a foe, as well as gaining an Attack of Opportunity on the next attack?

Yeah. The traits presented with the Ranger specialization doesn’t have many traits that can be made a baseline since they are actual traits (if that makes sense). Most of the traits that extended weapons or utilities in some way were made baseline across most classes.

As Heim said, some of the Ranger traits fall more in the line of needing improvements. This is a good thing to say since what they did make baseline were nice choices and a +1 to the class’s QoL.

Not sure if the vulnerability stack is necessary due to the rework of regaining Opening Strikes thru Fury. I’ll also agree that 250% more damage is pretty high. If you meant +250% damage, it’s still on the high end.

Before, the 50% extra damage was not enough make it worthwhile. However, with Remorseless giving Opening Strikes 25% more damage, it can be used together to make things a bit more dangerous.

If there’s one thing that would improve Moment of Clarity, it is to remove the internal cooldown. If you want to change it up to make it appealing, extend its value so MoC makes the next attack for you and your pet do more damage and is unblockable. That alone would come into play much more for many build types than vulnerability stacks.

• Nature’s Vengeance
• Honed Axes’ Winter’s Bite AOE

Didn’t list the radius increase on Trapper’s Expertise since Anet made a note to possibly make it a baseline for traps.