18 or 25 seconds I’m not sure would make much difference; you would still only get 1 shot at landing it before you died to a competent thief.
What would help imo is to move the cond clear on utitlity use (just remembered the name survival of the fittest) to the crit/ferocity line as GM and allow for stealth without requiring a hit from LB.
In order to balance a bit, they could then remove the extra damage from signet of the Wild while keeping its regen and stability.
Yerp,
Ele
Eng
Terror necro (more in the 1v1 department imo)
Top 3 for sure
In game modes that don’t always require standing in a little circle I would add:
Pistol cond thief and PU mesmer because having high stealth uptime/ range with DOT’s is fundamentally broken.
Otherwise elites that are essentially I win buttons specifically Lich/Crate/Moa (in a team spike)
The two mechanics in 1 build ie: cond thief/mesmer/ Turret eng just seem like such obviously bad ideas, I sometimes have to wonder what the designers are thinking.
@Chaith and Nova Stiker
Thanks for the good advice, the trick is to strategize / not get frustrated.
Edit: Playing a cheesy counter build is good therapy too. My perma burning guardian wrecks cond thieves/mesmers and perma stability warrior works vs turrets.
Now I just need to keep a better list of regulars so I know for sure when to pull these builds out XD
From a PVP point of view being able to position you’re character is 100% better than landing a few extra auto attacks.
At this point I would settle for just being able to DODGE ROLL WHILE AUTO ATTACKING PLS. Sheeeesh
Ello,
Enjoy the game, been playing for ages.
However a few things (outside of team pvp more of a hotjoin soloq thing) have been bugging me of late
1) If you spend half you’re time invisible and ranged, then you shouldn’t be able to damage through dots
2) If you do most of you’re damage through AI, then you shouldn’t be able to build any tankier than celestial
Seem like obvious and required general constaints if you want to have an enjoyable/fair pvp environment.
every class is slightly over the top in their own way and that’s not nessesarily a bad thing.. it’s what makes for varied classes.[/quote]
I would argue that this makes for a rock /paper/ scissors/ build- counter build situation; which may, in fact , limit build diversity.
A good example is the last tournament (forget the name). 1 team built around a power necro and Lich Form which was wreaking havokittenil the opposite teams mesmer started using Moa specifically for the transform. Its a hard counter that won the game for the mesmers team and should limit power necro’s position in any meta
To be effective with axe/torch (usual cond ranger weapons) you need to be in melee, at which point it’s in the engineers favor.
You can go shortbow bleed build and kite , but it would be largely useless outside of dueling situations.
The trick is to be both good vs the eng and useful to a team, so cond. necro may be you’re best bet
Is it fair?
No, Its not; that’s probably why it took Anet so long to give LB rangers some burst.
However, a lot of abilities in this game are not balanced for 1v1’s; so while the LB ranger will burst another zerker/hybrid rly quickly from 1500 units, it will have a hard time stomping/rezzing/taking a point.
./shrug, dosen’t make it balanced IMO or particularly fair, even if it allows rangers the same sort of burst, finally, that other prof’s have
Not everyone agrees, not by a long shot.
I remember when the game first came out people were arguing that elites shoudn’t be as powerful as they are (an I win button) if you want a fair and competitive game.
The three biggest offenders are crate, moa and lich form; all three force you to leave the area if possible and the last 2 will guarantee a win in an organized team spike, pretty much the opposite of balance.
2 Rules
1)If it spends most of the time invisible, then it shoudn’t be allowed to have DOT’s
2)If it relies on AI for damage , then it shoudn’t be able to have a tanky build for itself
These would go a long way toward removing the cheese
ty for the responses,
@Artaz
True, gs builds would suffer. However, I would be willing to bet 70% + of damage from power rangers comes from LB.
If you’re being forced to melee, you’re losing.
@Prysin Yea, its a question of the traits you plan on taking/build. If Shouts then traits being rearranged would make 0 difference.
However, having the option for more sources of cond damage in the form of traps and poison master in a trait line that is largely defensive would, imo make for stronger and better balanced builds.
At the moment, its a question of what you are willing to sacrifice for traps/ poison master/ cond cleanse. The weaknesses from choosing the traits as they are outweigh, significantly, the benefits from choosing them, not a fair and balanced state imo.
As to fortifying bond and natures wrath, power is largely useless for bm builds while power builds that wanted added survivability would benefit from it being in the nature magic line.
Its the same situation, where ranger has to sacrifice an essential element (to the point of making the build unviable) in order to acquire a trait that would improve said build.
Ello, ty for the interest:D,
1) Poison master would no longer compete with empathic bond and would provide a damage option in an otherwise defensive line allowing for a more offensive cond build.
2) Power rangers could then trait for crit/crit damage and longbow cd reduction while still getting some cond removal and fury uptime
3)Traps, well traps are not very good atm (outside of trolling with runes of trapper) for several reasons. They require too many traits and utilities to make them decent and are currently in a power oriented trait line. By consolidating we would be removing one of these shortcomings as well as allowing more survival/options for cond builds (by changing trait lines).
4) Allowing boon sharing while traiting into BM would strengthen the build significantly (after axe buff) without having to give up survival traits that work so well with the build (as is currently necessary to acquire this trait and which significantly weakens the build overall as either ranger cond. and cond removal suffers or pet survivability suffers by not being able to trait fully into the line)
1) Poison master moved to Nature magic GM
2) Survival of the fittest moved to Skirmishing GM
3)Traps consolidated and moved to Nature magic Master lvl
4) fortifying bond( shared boons with pet in nature magic) swapped with natures wrath(healing power converted to might in bm tree)
There we go, more viable power, trapper, bm, and cond bunker in 3 (4) steps.
Edit: Traps would still need more before they become viable in s/tpvp including range increase , multiple effects per trap or kit a la eng; but with those trait swaps, the various builds would flow/ have much m ore synergy.
They are useless outside of organized spikes.
ok they now have some burst but they still cant rez/stomp/take a point/win a 1v1.
Its still just find a ledge and pew pew
I wasn’t a fan of sb either till krait runes appeared.
x/2 (bleed on crit)/6/6/x with sigil for bleed on crit and even facing an opponent straight on you get 5+ bleeds with rabid; easily 15+ when flanking which is pretty forgiving in this game.
Bleed stacking with a sun spirit ( /elite spirit if tpvp) is pretty faceroll.
I use survival utilities with cd and crit+cond removal trait. Entangle and muddy terrain with a spider and you should never have a problem kiting and stacking bleeds (from 4 sources flanking/sigil/trait and 1 bleed from krait runes if hit; not to mention broken lvls of cond removal)
Edit: keep having to increase sources of bleed lmao, forgot elite entangle and on swap sigil so 6 sources. You could add 1 more if you swap out 1 utility for sharpened edges lol
Too much bleed
./ shrug mesmers can get you downed within 1 stun and immob (3k armor).
Both of which are on short cd’s and instant cast.
Fair? not rly; though not the worst problem in the game atm (maybe 1 of the more annoying, given the proff’s mechanics lol, especially for new players)
Traps are currently terrible in spvp.
So yes, give them tells outside of the throw animation, but at the same time make them viable —-kit for all traps OR multiple cond effects for each trap + not costing 6 points and minimum 2 utilities + range increase and quite possibly moving them from the trait line they are found in altogether. tyvm
Bait cond cleanse/ dodges use Krait runes and it is cond burst for regen/bm rangers that works extremely well.
Its also a great defensive tool and the cd is close to the length of time of most blinks (outside of phase retreat).
Its not the I win button of say Lich form or crate but its annoying as kitten given every Ranger seems to be running it these days.
Its up there for 1 of the most annoying elites in the game that I am considering no longer playing after 2 turret engineers 1 pu mesmer and 2 zerker rangers were on opposing team
Ello,
IMO, take offhand training in mid tier; take empathic bond for GM
Regen duration increase is ok, however you have 0 healing power so I would take prot on damage instead or the power to health conversion.
For youre set up you could actually skip the gm trait altogether in health/boon duration line and go 2 points elsewhere for more damage.
Also, im not sure your3e runes are good, the 6th bonus is very low so maybe health and cond damage runes.
Last point is that youre going very squishy with that amulet so i would take sw/da for the evades instead of shortbow
@Spell
Rly like the boons per trap idea but 15secs of protection would be too strong imo, keep in mind we can essentially throw each trap x2 if we plan ahead and get a little lucky.
Maybe if traps provided aoe boons on launch (once traited) rather than on activation?
This would make trappers stronger when they have to react rather then lay in wait and 2x traps (the only time traps are any good atm) as well as give the ranger much needed group utility.
Also pulses per .5 seconds while cond remains the same/ increased range to 900= Viable traps tyvm
Suggestion:
-Vipers nest also stacks weakness on pulse as well as poison
-Frost trap also stacks 2 vulnerability on pulse and the CD is reduced from 30s to 25s
-Spike trap physical damage part is considerably increased
-Fire trap is fine as it is as it is a solid burning duration on a very short CD.[/quote]
Reasonable suggestions.
I would add a physical damage component to frost as well a cripple to fire.
Pulses should be every .5 seconds rather than 1 per sec while cond durations remain the same
Either I missed it or the stream doesn’t mention build/accessory parameters, which seems like an important oversight.
I’m guessing no “meta” builds; so no celestial eng/ele no terror necro or hambow; no settlers ammulet (which leaves out ranger duelist builds) or other bunker builds including soldiers/ or the power and healing power amulet.
Why no necro’s or engineers?
Im guessing celestial was banned so rifle eng didnt want to participate, but cond necro is still rly strong 1v1; was fear banned for trait/ runes as well?
You’re impressions of rangers is correct op
You didn’t see many rangers in the last tol or the people’s 2v2 tournament for a reason; they are weak atm (maybe better after patch).
You can make spirits/ power/traps work in certain situations and with good team support, but why? when other proff’s offer more with less hassle.
BM/cond regen is our last working all purpose/duelist (as it offers no cleave or team support) build but its outshone by other proff’s as well.
Agreed Raven, this would indeed make traps viable and even fun to play
Atm, traps are essentially the rangers burst spec due to point placement in crit/crit damage line; it would make more sense for them to be attrition based but need far more defense than they currently allow.
Edit: If they did move the traits around, they could replace the trap GM with the cond cleanse on survival skills = more viable power ranger as well
The builds a tend to run in pvp right now are glass S/F ele, glassish power necro
about this im pretty sure everyone who has some brain and played pvp a lot will tell you glassish power necro and s/f ele aren’t highest skillful play ,they are not even your words “high risk” at all. what they truly are is one trick pony —--almost one shot u in secs and for rest time they are struggling to stay alive (yeah this is hard while u could have more teammate help after your burst someone down ) that’s how they are played. They don’t have much trouble to land damage at all unlike CI or shatter mesmer(unless aoe is hard to land to point lol).
[/quote]
Going to have to agree with this.
Burst builds are arguably less interesting/require less (or maybe just different) skills than bruiser type builds which require the patient and consistent landing of skills in order to be effective.
Its in the eye of the beholder.
The design of the build punishes a player for cleaving/aoe’s, so it takes some planning to take 1 down.
PU is not unbeatable, you often need to take you’re time and range often.
Like fighting a hambow, if you can kite you’ll pobably win ( or at least force the mes to retreat).
I like the idea of an attrition cond mesmer that punishes spam.
That being said, I also hope they nerf pu in some way (boons would do it , as another poster suggested 1 going into stealth another coming out? or something) cause a condition mesmer im ok with, an immortal cond mesmer im not)
It will be enough:
2secs on each auto 4 secs on last auto plus clone generated applies torment if I remember correctly.
I dont know what to say except rotate 2 guardians/ water ele’s around the mesmer lmao
Far too dismissive imo; its all hotjoin outside of organized full team comp’s in voip.
As such, the impact these problems have on enjoyment of the game is a serious issue and needs to addressed in both hotjoin and solo q
The q system is lousy.
The ready now button needs to mean something rather than a piece of coding they forgot to remove so that all matches start 5v5.
If someone leaves a match, then a replacement needs to be found from those in q ( I know might suck for them if walking into unbalanced match but rewards could be adjusted for said player) .
2 yrs in and the q system still feels unfinished
Burst can be extreme in this game.
It is possible to make a 1 shot build or die in under 3 seconds and thats in spvp, wvwvw i dont want to know lmao.
As has often been pointed out its a team game and the only reason some prof mechanics the burst and spam are tolerable.
Huge/ridiculous burst? well you can get rezzed\
aoe spam, well there should be a guardian/ ele there to cleanse.
Not in an organized team with voip?
Well you’re out of luck and can just hope you happen to be playing the scissors to you’re opponents paper.
Face it,
unless you’re using voip with a coordinated team; its all hotjoin.
I cant see any reason why it shoudn’t be implemented in all competitve modes. Remember when all we had was 8v8 hotjoin or paid (rl money) tourney tickets?
You can buy the box, but if you want features (like fair pvp) then pay extra?
Seems like a lame way to monetize pvp while pandering to team q players.
You’re pandering to the Team Arena community by giving them a shiny new toy while denying it to the rest of your player base even though it would clearly benefit every competitive mode of this game.
Nooooooooo, Dun disable spectator mode, I like watching games, scouting builds etc…
Why throw the baby out with the bath water?
Just, if programming isn’t too complicated, remove the ability to switch teams after spectating.
This could still result in unfair matches: Spectate——-auto balance——-rejoin team for 5v4 or something, but this may be a problem with programming as other posters have asked ie: the space not getting filled by someone who hits “play now” if there are other spectators?
Maybe they should buff guardian by adding a new boon that gives a temporary brain…
[/quote]
lol, It could be a buff that takes over teammates screen showing a complete layout of the map , what to do with points, how to rotate and forces them through a simulation.
Could be GM trait/shout/boon.
As to op I would guess either Guard or staff ele
@Fluffball,
Ive never had much luck with power bm builds, you may be able to surprise once, but after they look at death breakdown (provided they are ignoring damage #’s on their screen) they will figure it out.
The problem is 1) we have low power damage modifiers due to pet
2) Our best cond removal is in the cond damage line (or stam/ boon)so we are usually better off building off of that; so that we can use apothocaries and not worry about ferocity, crit or power; instead focusing on healing/ cond damage/ +w/e else toughness usually.
All that being said, after next patch a power bm build may be better but im guessing full bunker or power will be the way to go.
I would go with Chokolata’s build to start.
If you want more damage go 0/2 (pet crit modifier)/6/0/6
When I play BM in spvp I take natural healing and signets (apothecary neck with cond damage/time runes)).
Damage comes from both physical (pet) and cond (ranger), makes an interesting build.
axe/torch sw/dg with cats
PS: Run speed signet is almost a requirement in order for pets to hit anything and RaO greatly increases dps while active
@Sagat, I see you’re point, but as the saying goes— nothing is more unfair than equally applied conditions to unequal circumstances—
Thief is still the only proff largely unaffected (outside teleport range) by chill, a very important defensive condition.
@Bruno. As another poster mentioned there was a buff to stealth and condition removal, so maybe its time to revisit the mechanic?
In my opinion, all of the traits that improve initiative regen should be removed and Chill in particular should reduce initiative regen by 66%. What you replace them with I have no idea. I’d start with something that removes chill on dodge though or reduces the effectiveness of chill by 50%.[/quote]
Ele’s have a similar trait (that no one takes); but Its a good idea. Since chill affects attunements and gives ele’s an exceptionally hard time (arguably chill affects this proff the most , yet they are still in the meta), there’s no reason it shoudn’t affect initiative imo
Its pretty silly honestly. I hit 8k as zerker on glassy toons while having 4 stances; 2 signets and not speccing into damage lines at all (except for burst mastery).
Yet tons O sustain and burst.
As to ele fire grab, yea 45 sec cd and hard to land, yet they still seem to do fine lol
Well in spvp (hotjoin/soloq) you can play anything really.
However, rangers are out of the meta;
mesmers can be played in tpvp kittenter (lol censored), but omg squishy and if there’s a decent thief around you die (hotjoin soloq can go pu /phantasm and be effective);
Guardians are the more diverse of the 3. You can play cond/zerker med and of course bunkers are required in any serious team.
For solo PVE anything goes, but Rangers are gods there
.