Guild Wars 2

I’m talking about wvw roaming though, and dueling, not pvp, I don’t care about pvp, there’s always going to be a limiting meta there anyways. Most of the ranger builds I posted are great for duels and they all work.

I’m a big fan of theorycrafting, and then roaming in wvw with my crafted builds, but Rev seriously lacks build diversity. With that I mean that any condi rev WILL have to run that stupid main hand mace because there’s no other choice (why?). COMPETITIVE dueling power builds WILL run sword/shield, staff… glint will always be picked, for the shield and that facet on top (even if you don’t use the actual legend). retribution will also always be picked when you’re not trying to max out your damage (=pve), for that stabi on dodge etc.. ventari and salvation are ONLY worth it when using healing power. etc etc.

the lists of builds I made or found somewhere (for dueling) goes as follows:

-power shiro/glind hammer rev (not that strong but bursty as hell)
-power shiro/glind dueling rev (staff, sword/shield) w. retribution
-condi malyx standard build with varying types of armor

-eventually -> tanky jalis/ventari backline healer (?) rev which is not a dueling build so I don’t really care

let’s compare it to ranger/druid (technically my main):

here we go:

-power pew pew standard
-power pew pew with sword/dagger
-power pew pew standard with survival skills (traitline)
-power pew pew with signets (works very well)
-power pew pew bm shout (less strong, bc shouts are meh mostly)
-(power pew pew spirit support) <- not for dueling
-power semi cleric lb s/d wit signet of stone and double cat
-PotatoVeg’s power pew pew with trapper runes and traps (strangely strong)
-power melee semi tank shouts bm
-power melee shouts trooper rune & survival
-survival bleed sb s/d, sb s/t, sb a/t or sb a/d, with high crit chance and corresponding traits in marksmanship, survival and bm
-survival tanky a/t s/d with sun spirit (aka. glad build)
-trapper bursty woodenpotatoes-ish
-trapper tanky with trapper runes etc. (well known build)
-apothecary semishout condi a/d, s/t with regen. signet and lr, very tanky and very strong
-druid glyph cleric marksmanship etc. build (very very strong)
-druid celestial standard might stacking build
-druid undying trapper troll build (strong as f)
-druid survival, druid signet etc etc just add druid to anything it all works in some way
-you can swap so many things (TRAITS!!!!, ARMOR, some skills, whole weapon sets, etc.) in these builds and believe me when I say they are all very strong if played right!

this is just a fraction of possible builds.. now let’s go back to rev: -> no customizability of the utility skills -> big nope, ventari and jalis are basically useless when dueling, jalis MAY find its niche somewhere. So it’s ALWAYS between malyx/shiro, malyx/glint or shiro/glint…. very boring, it’s even worse when you look at the weapon choices… very sad imo.

you sound like neither and this was more of a joke thread, but in all honesty I’m really tired of seeing those posts about “x being op” instead of contructive guides to classes in pvp, more general guides, infos on specific future changes etc… not that there are none but this forum is really full of complaints

According to this forum, every elite spec is op. Which is why I suggest we simply remove all classes from the game and replace them with peaceful rabbits, so that the nooby clickers can play too !

Seriously don’t complain about stuff, learn to play, everything has a counter. Some stuff hits hard or heals alot or removes alot of condis etc. but EVERYTHING has a counter.. and if you reply to this thread saying “x is op” you are either a troll (which is ok) or a frustrated noob

hammer 2 and 3 are horrible when verticality is involved! (2 will do either nothing after the first hit, or just throw out all the hits in the air, 3 has no vertical component at all)

staff 2 takes too long to cast should be 1/2 of a second not 3/4 but this is a minor issue

sword 5 should let you shadowstep to your target and THEN pull it back. Otherwise it wont be used at all.. (as it makes little sense, and -> it’s the nb 5 ability, it should be alot stronger)

Axe 4 needs to be more reliable, Axe 5 has issues with verticality again

Rest of the weapon skills are ok

thank you OP! Was very informative, and I hope Irenio sees this too

ok so it’s not a wvw only issue, good to know

yep but even if the ability still had some hidden damage component (that doesn’t actually do dmg, but instead acts as if it was doing damage by putting you in combat), it wouldn’t put you in combat when roaming alone, this is what I’m trying to say, you could be the only living thing on a planet made of entirely anorganic material (somehow YOU still managed to survive by using an atom other than carbon as carbon replacement) where the possibility of encountering another organism is null and you are on a perfectly flat linear boring surface and you would STILL be put in combat by this shiny ray of bugginess don’t get me wrong I love this ability but it seems it has always been bugged in one way or the other.

? Healing alone never puts you in combat. And it also puts me in combat when I’m alone?

yep I agree 100 %

hello everyone

I just recently discovered that the nb 3 staff ability will put you in combat when you reach your destination. I’m almost always in wvw, so I don’t know if this happens everywhere, but in wvw it is annoying when you are trying to keep up with your zerg and it puts you in combat, as it basically nullifies the movement advantage you get from using this skill. Like I said, I can only speak for wvw, but it’s definitely a (minor) issue there.

Anyways, I wanted to use this opportunity to say that I love the druid! It’s fun to play and it seems more or less balanced for what it’s supposed to do.
However, there needs to be a mechanic in gw 2 that rewards healing more (since we are now shifting towards a soft trinity), like giving XP and maybe loot (not sure about this one though.. how would it work) when you heal people, or at least a UI change where we can see the health bars of allies nearby!

Anyways have a nice day!

Seriously guys, you are so negative it’s incredible.. TBH, no I haven’t seen as many players as I used to in the old maps, but you have to consider a large part of the community is in pve levelling masteries.. Or farming in general. And when I was talking about events, I didn’t mean JPs and such, I meant actual events that give wvw xp and that will help your server win the matchup. It’s just a matter of time until the wvw maps get filled, and while I do not believe the saturation will be as high as in the old maps (because they were so small (and boring)), there will definitely be enough players to create a strong wvw-component in gw 2. I just hope people will stop complaining one day, because it gets other easily influenced people the idea that the new maps are kitten , which they are not. Again, I understand how the size may me an issue for lower tier servers but that’s about it.. The rest is really positive for me.

I love the new maps!

With the addition of temples and other events, there is so much more to do as a roamer! And the maps look beautiful! I love roaming and finding new spots/shortcuts I can use later on..

I think the maps are awesome and should NOT be changed. People will get used to the size.. I understand that lower tier servers might find the size to be a big issue though, we’ll see how they solve this problem.

Anyways have a nice evening

“conntend” are you for real?

Hello!

Could we get feedback on the low AF (re)generation and rapid degeneration out of combat, as well as the incredibly low CAF duration? (and the 10 sec cd on CAF) Are these (partially) bugs? I know some of these changes were planned but I just cannot imagine why someone would allow nerfs like these to pass through.. It’s not like druid was strong before. Now it’s just “???” compared to other elite specs. What’s the point of being a healer if you can barely enter CAF once before combat is over? (and when combat is over you have to restart all over)

Just saying, I loved the druid in BWE 3 and I thought that, with a few BUFFS in the damage compartment, we might see a powerful elite spec in the future.. I never expected nerfs, to me it makes 0 sense. Also smokescale smokefield isn’t player controlled anymore? why is that? I understand the damage nerf but other than that I have 0 idea where all those changes come from

Also, why add poison on the “cripple glyph” .. I’m just wondering and I really have no clue what thought process was behind all of this.

It looks great, has so many details everywhere and there is so much room in general. I love it, though I have to admit that in takes a while to find enemy roamers etc… because the map is just so huge. Not necessarily a negative aspect (depends on how impatient I am) but I can understand why people dislike this. However, the argument of it being “too complex” is really not a good one, in 4 months max everyone will know every little corner of this map and what it has to offer. I just hope they won’t remove it (because a bunch off ppl are whining about the size), just to replace it with the boring old bl map..

I know there are one trillion topics on that subject already, but I have to ask: do the devs even test the specs before releasing them or do they solely rely on player and Roy feedback?

Don’t get me wrong I loved druid in the BWE3 and I was hoping for changes like adding damaging conditions to staff/CA, but instead we got a weak, short and gated CA form…

Why? It wasn’t even that strong before, now it’s just -> ??

Please Irenio, I love the concept of the class and most of the abilities etc., but you have to admit that this it is really weak (atm)

I like to call any cat “hairy pawter”
I call wolves “lyca”
spiders “chelicerata”
the white owl “hedwig” the raven “tenebrus”
the eagle “murica” and the hawk “stephen” (he is the king of hawks)

I don’t use the other pets but if for some reason I had to use them they would all be named “bob”

Gwaihir.1745:

Ummm it’s already the most broken mobi in the game? So please go play the game before suggesting this it’s an obvious no.

amen

Lord Snow.3257:

Celestial Avatar

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The core problem of the form is; all Celestial Avatar skills, all glyphs and half of our traits are designed to be situational, requiring us to jump in-and-out from the Celestial Avatar form, reacting to what is thrown at us/our allies in order to play the specialization. We are currently unable to do so in most situations.

Change it so we do not lose all Astral Force when we exit the form, add a 10 sec cooldown to entering the form, but keep the mechanic that we need full Astral Force to use it. (Somewhat similar to the way Necro’s Deathshroud work)

This will make the Druid way more fluid, it will change trait choice into being a matter of preference instead of a matter of strength, while stopping players from abusing traits by jumping in-and-out of the form too often.

Adding a half sec cooldown to jumping out of Celestial Avatar form to counter an accidental double-tap would be a nice QOL change as well.

Avatar Skills

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Cosmic Ray and Seed of Life (skill #1 and #2) do not feel smooth to use, the #2 skill especially (too long delay, and restricts your movement, especially deadly in pvp/wvw).

Merge the two skills, place them in the skill slot for the #2 skill, use the animation and healing of the #1 skill, the radius and condition-cleanse of the #2 skill, then give it a suitable cooldown. This will make the skill way more fluent, swap the healing focus to the #3 and #4 skills (as spamming the #1 skill currently does not feel nor look good in any way, lame would also be a good word).
A lot of people have been asking for more damage and/or a new auto-attack in Celestial Avatar form, this would be an elegant solution to opening a skill-slot for it.

Natural Convergence (skill #5) leaves the Druid way too exposed

Change it so we can move at <20% movement-speed while channeling this skill. This allows us to (slowly) re-position ourselves in a fight, not taking full damage from Wells and such. This also removes the annoying case where we accidentally move after starting the channel, nullifying the effects of the skill.

Staff

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The auto attack and Astral Wisp’s (skill #2) healing and power scalings are a bit too weak.

Ancestral Grace (skill #3) plays full animation even after reaching its destination.

Vine Surge (skill #4) root is a bit too short unless it hits twice, cast time needs to be reduced to 1/4 sec if the cleanse part is gonna be useful, especially when cleansing for allies.

Sublime Conversion (skill #5) skill might have a bit too long cooldown (or I under-appreciate such skills).

Traits

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Will be perfect is issues above are fixed!

Glyphs

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Glyph of Rejuvenation looks alright.

Utilities’ and elite’ cast times would be better off at 1/4 sec (especially when in Celestial Avatar form) given how low the cooldowns are.

Glyph of Alignment is a bit under performing in regular form. 3 sec of cripple and weakness is a bit too weak.

Glyph of Equality is looking good.

Glyph of the Tides is also fine.

Glyph of Empowerment should be instant cast.

Glyph of Unity’s tether breaks too easily.

Pets

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Smokescale’s Shadow Assault needs its damage tuned down.

Bristleback’s Spike Barrage (pet controlled) and Sharpened Spines (player controlled) should swap places. The Spike Barrage is the stronger, more interactive and most fun-to-use of the skills. The spikes should also behave like projectiles (instead of following terrain), and the projectiles should be projectile finishers with x% chance to proc.

The Wyvern’s (non player-controlled) skills needs some attention, they are barely able to hit pve mobs, let alone other players.

Fire Wyvern. The active ability should absolutely be a ground-targeted ability, easy way to make the pet more reliable. The fire should also spread way faster, and it should start firing in less than the current 2 sec time-frame.

Electric Wyvern. The lightning-field (currently 3 sec) feels a bit too short, 4 or 5 sec may be a better duration.

Tiger. Should be available underwater. (It’s kind of a Red Moa v2)

The pets far exceeded my expectations, well done!

THIS! I agree with everything here. I would like to add (liek I did before) that staff needs a way to deal DAMAGING conditions. Also Glyphs could use some additional effects in general.

I really think they should add condis to staff/cele form

I really hope they will add condi dmg on the staff and or celestial avatar form

Please keep the current druid staff stance it looks great! Don’t change it to the usual stance which is boring and overused.. Hope you read this Irenio

Leodon.1564:

Had hopes for Druid but its too unpolished at the moment for me to want to play it in HoT; just look at the amount of feedback given already. Adjustments to astral force generation, staff/avatar skills, traits/glyphs, base healing and healing coefficients, pets, ui/animation visuals, etc. will need to go through several iterations before the Druid feels polished and not so gimmicky as it does to me at the moment.

That is a long list of things that need to be worked on and Anet already probably knows it judging from their silent treatment on these core issues. The easiest thing for Anet to do at this point is to say, “Sorry, we tried our best to making a viable healer spec but now that HoT is live, we’ll be making small changes to Druid as with all the other classes but will need to focus our attention on other aspects of the game such as bugs, raids, and other new features in HoT.”

This means that one of the more challenging elites to balance/refine is going to suffer from core issues that will plague the class for months/years to come.

I have nothing to back this up but my speculation is that Anet released Druid last during twitchcon because 1) it wasn’t ready before then 2) would help with marketing for twitchcon/HoT 3) they could sweep Druid under the rug upon HoT release since it proved too difficult for them to properly address a healing elite spec with balance in mind. A win for Anet but a loss for Rangers.

kitten well spoken sadly.. Was optimistic before BWE3 but now it really looks like you are right

They may hit in an aoe but the glyphs are extremely weak and need massive buffs (add damaging conditions, increase effect strength/duration etc.). Now the only glyph I use (and only for my daze build) is the daze glyph and I cannot imagine using any other one..

this poll is a good idea

hi

So, my personal opinion on the druid:

First of all, I really like the druid, and I think that with some tweaking it could easily be my favorite elite spec.

Here are the aspects of the druid I DON’T like:

-Staff deals 0 condi dmg, this really limits build diversity as we need to use staff or troll unguent to fill the celestial bar, so one of our 2 weapon “kits” WILL deal 0 condi dmg..
-Staff nb. 2 should deal aoe dmg around your target and the dmg should be increased a little bit
-Staff nb. 3 is REALLY CLUNKY and will play out the whole animation even when you are only moving a little bit to the side, also it isn’t a dodge (why?), it should definitely be one
-staff nb 4 doesnt deal enough dmg and it should apply bleed (+ torment?)
-staff nb 5 should have a slightly increased duration (6-7 secs)

Glyphs are meh, I often found myself using a single glyph (the one that dazes) in my daze build.. but they are pretty bad and relatively boring sadly, they should have additional effects, like giving stabi to everyone around you or applying DAMAGING condis.. having the celestial version of them doesnt really help too much

Celestial form is amazing visually and “gameplay-wise”, but there should be more dmg on the skils, otherwise→ no loot bags in wvw. Also, the nb 2 skill should deal good power dmg+ burning or smth. and the nb 3 skill should deal HIGH power dmg

Traits are good imo., nothing I would change there

Pets are really cool! the smokescale deals good dmg (finally a pet with high dmg..) , the electric wyvern f 2 feels responsive and seems to be instant cast, this is great!

Overall, I like the concept and I had fun playing the druid but PLEASE at least add some damaging condis here and there, because now it’s really not optimal for condi builds

thank you for your consideration!

The title says it all, since all our healing comes from staff or our healing skill (or when traited, pet f2) and the celestial form bar fills up slowly with dmg, you will only really get to use the celestial form often when using a staff (or troll unguent). This is really annoying and limits the amount of builds the druid can have..

Why would you want a rev nerf..? It’s in a good spot now. What rev needs is another main hand weapon that is a condi/power hybrid with range…

“thats what she said”

but seriously, I like the way the ranger holds his stiff staff with a firm grip. makes it look like he is ready to penetrate your opponents backline. I think that changing the way the ranger holds his staff (like the way the mesmer or ele hold theirs) would be boring and limp. Personally I don’t understand why people don’t like this? Yes it does look like the ranger is hardening up for a frontline battle, but at the same time it fits perfectly with the beam that shoots out of it. I can think of 69 reasons as to why this is aesthetically more pleasing. Anyways, no need to erect a pillar of hate just because of this..

have a good evening or whatever depending on the time zone.. and your attitude

Is it just me or are the new pets (I mean the new pet classes) more powerful than the old ones?

I’m not complaining but I’d love to see a revamp of the old pets! if you compare some old pet abilities to the elctric wyvern f2 (example) (which is amazingly fluid) they feel very clunky.

Also pets like the smokescale are very strong, please DON’T nerf them, they fit perfectly, instead, rebalance the old ones

I’d love to see instant cast pet abilities! (like el. wyvern f2)

have a comfy evening

It’s clunky as hell, it’s forcing you to wait out the full duration of the skill, even if you’re just moving a little bit. also nb 4 ability feels weak but it’s another topic

If I had mained any class other than ranger I would probably main rev now but druid looks so cool rev will “only” be my “second main”

and the druid haters are already salty because they’re a minority :°(

This poll is a great idea

Screen is green

I fully agree and need to add letters here

Hello everyone, I saw the dev posted something about "catch up " code on the second page and wanted to use this opportunity to announce that it should be named “ketchup code”

thank you

champion portal hijacker

amazing idea imo. hope the devs see this

Thank you Irenio for this amazing druid elite spec! Let’s hope it’s actually going to work well in pve! (I have 0 doubts for wvw and pvp usefulness)

seriously you didn’t find any positives in the traitline?..The traits are ridiculously strong for the most part.. are we even talking about the same game? druid mechanic remains to be tested (BWE) but the traits are great. I guess some of them (last minor for example) revolve around healing but most of them are really cool

Well that’s ok, but you do realize you don’t HAVE to play as a healer with the druid right? you can play full condi, power, whatever and just heal as an additional mechanic, like when you enter celestial form you can use the nb 2 ability to cleanse condis, nb 3 to daze and explo, nb 5 to root etc. On that note I would highly recommend that you check out the theorycrafting threads around here to see the immense potential druid has for pretty much every build.. Also sorry but I have to do this: “I should of” → “I should have”

Druid is far from a braindead heal spam just go to one of the theorycrafting topics?
also even if you play as a healer it is still far from being braindead. Accuse me of being a hugboxer but what you are doing is just useless venting… I kind of agree about the general idea of pushing healers though. We’ll see how they deal with that

have a nice day

I feel like this type of thread is exactly what we need to get ppl to understand that druid is more than just green numbers

I love the color pallet and the astral effects, I think they are amazing tbh.
Staff is already hybrid support and seems to do statisfying dmg
I do agree about the glyphs though, not because of the lack of build synergy, but because they seemed abit bland.. (they lacked “interesting” or just additional mechanics)

It is a class that heals but it doesn’t have to FOCUS on that, you can build something hyper offensive with the druid and heal while using your abilities, not to heal but.. well, as a “collateral healing” when use your abilities But it IS true there is ALOT of healing obviously, I personally like this, but I guess people who wanted some kind of hardcore DPS spec will be disappointed

It scales very well with regeneration though (of which you have an infinite amount as a ranger when traited correctly), so you COULD run a healing power build IF YOU WANT and be unkillable in fair duels (btw check out koroshis regen/condi ranger build on youtube, now imagine that with the druid)

Again, everything can be viable as a druid, now we just have to hope it isn’t clunky

Honestly I know some people wanted “green” effects, but the celestial form skills and the form “aura” look amazing! props to the guys in charge of the visual effects

or should I say, nice staff