Guild Wars 2

YES
2 min cooldown? Or would that allow for too many respawns ^-^?

@Seras
I would worry about being forced into a specific weapon set, but if they made them available across all sets then traps attached to weapon traits would be pretty cool, if hard to balance (see pistol whip with its evade/ high damage and cc lol).
@Jocksy
I dont see why your changes are more respectful while my changes mean I should be changing proffs lol. That being said, added traits for traps would help, though imo if they are going to add a stunbreak and cond cleanse for rangers it should be one that’s on demand, not tied into tripping another ability (we have too much reliance on passive proc’s imo). As far as the invis aspect, yea i know what you mean, but its really only helpful the first time. After that a melee opponent knows where they are (under your feet probly) and a ranged will see you coming at them and kite. Atm, all we usually get is 1 tick of the trap anyway, (barring invulnerabilities, immunities , evasions, in which case we may get none lol and with so much ionvested into trap damage we are then in big trouble)

Unblockable can be good, very situational though and even with the invis aspect, not enough for trap rangers in competitive areas of pvp. As to adding more damage, that seems to the route the devs take with any build that dosent see much play. Guardians need some soft cc to stay on target ? Here have moar damage (kewl i can now kill a glass thief with an aura lol). Ele’s need some sustain? Again they just gave more damage so that an ele can insta gib other proff’s but still dies to a stiff breeze. The underlying problems are not addressed.
The trap rangers problems imo are that its damage is too easy to avoid coupled with low survivability. The easy to avoid part may be rectified to some extent when they adjust the pet f2 abilities to function when pressed (allowing for more soft cc) but wont do much for general survivability, hence the 2 free utility spots, extra range and an added frost trap. As to the auto attack when trap kit equipped, i hadn’t really considered it. Im not sure how that would work, as long as it dosen’t cause me to lose control of character while it auto attacks ill be happy lol

The way invis was implemented in this game is pretty mind boggling.
True, thieves are pigeon-holed into abusing stealth since it has so many functions and is probably the strongest mechanic in this game; yet there is close to 0 counterplay. It is a proff that is too good at what it does. Certainly in wvw, the proff offers the user low risk high reward gameplay that may be fun for the thief but not for the opponent.
Sadly, until the devs offer counterplay outside of running around pressing 1, there is nothing that can be done.
Personally , im taking abreak and hoping for changes next balance patch (however unlikely). Would be nice to see the same posters defending this broken proff to actually have a fight on their hands.

Mentioning an idea I saw in an old thread: Turn ranger traps into a kit, all of them in 1 utility. Remove the invisibility and unblockable aspect, these 2 traits are, most of the time, useless (well ok the invis can be handy, but still will trade lol) and I suspect its part of the reason trait and utility investment is so high. Traps also need to have a 900 unit range.
Freeing up 2 utility spots, the added range and condition (chill) would allow for much needed survivability and perhaps make a trap ranger a valid choice for team q (or at least soloq, putting them roughly on par with cond engineers) instead of a barely passable hotjoin spec.

It is also #2 Blackbeard. At 1 point in this game, shortly after release, if you didn’t see a thief coming, you were dead. Then again, they were close to untargetable, so if you did see it coming and somehow avoided the insta-gib, they had endless resets.

Simple, effective, sounds good:D

Remove from soloq pls
ty

@Tetsuyja
Its an interesting idea. I would be concerned that this would make a bs thief non viable though; all I would have to do is wait for the visibility, not even a particular animation, and dodge roll. But endurance wont replenish as quickly as the thief would be able to keep trying for the backstab making for endless bs attempts. I could 180 turn i suppose and avoid it that way but the ability also has a 180 arc. Eh this would add counterplay, no question.

Agreed. CC and stealth are both extremely frustrating.
I also agree that too much defense/offense is tied into those particular abilities. Taking the usual suspect, a thief, their invis is a cond removal, health regenerator, positioning reset/damage avoidance and set up for high burst; and has been pointed out elsewhere, offers close to 0 counterplay That being said, there are other thief builds in spvp that work really well using teleports/avoidance with extremely high cleave damage. However, while not as kittentealth (lol censored), the same all in 1 aspect applies (pistol whip is both high damage and damage avoidance with a small cc). The same can be said for a hambows stuns/ immobilizes and several other proff abilities (those 2 being the worst offenders imo).
At least as far as spvp goes, I would prefer to see defense, offense and cc on different abilities.

There are times when skyhammer is the only map available; usually right after a patch/update. Ive left hammer hotjoins only to be put right back into the same map (new game) several times in a row but only after a patch.
Also, why is this map still in soloq? Its beyond lame to have 2 engineers guarding A and C with warriors and guardians fighting for the hammer leaving any non stability toon 1 point, B, to fight over ( and thats only if you have fing hammer).
Oh and heres an idea Anet: Instead of punishing people for leaving maps they hate, give them an option to blacklist 2 maps. This would pretty much guarantee less 4v5’s; that or you could , you know, turn that ready now button into something other than a piece of coding that you forgot to remove. ty

I like it in hotjoin cause i can leave. Why is it soloq?

GodNoPls,
Mesmers are annoying beyond belief, leave them where they are, a skilled 1 will win if they play like a piano (not counting pu or phantasm). Seems fairer(and rarer) that way.
However, you may have a point. So, idk, each clone could itself create a clone, max 6? Each equipped with a healing signet (but no cleansing ire) with damage roughly on par with a backstab (but no stealth).
Sound effects from said clones could resemble Nelson’s mocking “Haha” from the Simpsons

Cause’ hope dies last
15 sad little characters

Forums full of complaining people (forgot to add that bit ^-^).
For all the complaints, the pvp is still fun as long as you realize that this game is about the build and role, if you try to step outside of the meta its not going to go well (given equal skill). For example i would like to play my ranger as something other than team support/spirit , well , you cant and still expect to be a useful team member (Hot join is a slightly different matter, can play a power ranger there, but then who cares); or if I want to roam on said ranger, well thieves and warriors are going to give you a hard time. There are proff’s that offer diversity, warriors and engineers come to mind. Former has many possible builds, latter has cond and decap.

Too much/powerful ai
Stealt/invis is op
Too much burst
Too many %^&* bunker condition builds (cause otherwise dead in 2 secs instead of 5)
Spam, god, the aoe spam
Skyhammer / Spirit watch still in solo q
Same game mode across all maps
Forums are less rage inducing atm

Played a few solo q games the other day with the same 2 ele’s , both against and on my team. If they weren’t immediately focused something died; i had to lol as I watched 2 opposing team warriors die in under 4 seconds to either 1 of them. Playing against them on my condition engineer, I think it was 1 for 3. 1 win 2 losses (The win was in stupid skyhammer room and it was still difficult to down it). Most people would argue that they dont have enough survivability, probly true, but in my experience at least, seems to be somewhat dependant on the proff they are facing. They probably need to reduce crazy burst, increase sustain/survivability of the proff.

1 interesting suggestion mentioned was to model traps after engineer kits. Personally I think this would work well; 1 kit=all traps, same cooldowns. Dont see why this would be any more op than eng/necro cond application and would allow for much needed survivability in the form of 2 free utility slots.

Its a combination of abilities with a thief that makes it so strong, not just stealth itself. I woudnt mind the constant resets so much if the thief didn’t have so much front loaded damage (backstab) or even if they didn’t have teleports so that when I play a toon with good aoe, im actually able to hit 1. Stealth in this game is way too strong in combination with the proff’s other abilities. I would argue the same is true with mesmers, I can troll 3 players endlessly when I play pu (including thieves)

jeezuzfingchristlol

looks about right ^-^

problem with adjusting traps is the fact that they are unblockable and invisible. Until those 2 elements are changed I don’t think we can expect changes anytime soon. I also don’t think the fact that they are such makes up for their weaknesses Ie: easy to avoid once you know the rangers build, long cooldown, heavy trait investment and lack of defence as well as damage outside of the utilities.

I understand the devs want reaction based combat, however, I thieves do have too much front loaded damage with close to 0 counterplay. Staggered is a good idea and would make fighting a thief far more interesting from a tactical point of view. At the moment its simply spam aoe (when on a proff that has such) and hope for the best. Giving the thief some ramp up to damage offset by an increase in survivability not reliant on stealth would be good for the overall game imo.

@jportell
Rangers have 1 competitive build, spirits with cat bunker. That’s it.
OP I agree, thieves single handedly keep other glass builds out of the game. I think its a function of the time to kill vs defence in this game. The only viable defence for gc builds is avoidance altogether or burst before you die. Thief can combine the two, hence apex predators. It is sucky imo, would like to see MOAR DIVERSITY but this would probably entail power creep to some degree as nerfing a thief would leave it incapable of dealing with other builds in this game , cond bunkers/bunkers.

The Spiral King.2483:

That depends, do you want to be able to solo stuff really well? In that case, you might want to go with a Warrior. How about providing superb support to your allies and friends. In that case, a Warrior might suit your purposes the best. What if you would like to just be able to casually enjoy the content, pressing just a few buttons to achieve your goals, and always being welcomed in a group or zerg setting? In such situations, a Warrior is the way to go.

Just going to add: Want to switch your build from bunker to condition master to cc to zerker to ranged dps and still do well in all aspects of the game? Then yes my friend, warrior is the way to go.

Why would it have to be neutered? Outside of spirits we die in spvp once the evade frames are on cooldown. Too much survivability? lol.

@Prysin
There are new players just coming to realize the suckiness/contortion like requirements of the sword AUTO ATTACK …..sheesh….anyhoo, they have a right to vent too lol.

I was under the impression that a thief’s steal/ cloak and dagger combo is essentially an instant 10k or so (since c&d can be initiated at range followed by the steal gap closer). This then leaves the thief in stealth and allows for the 10k+ backstab. So if you don’t see the animation for the c&d then dead? I don’t see how this has a reasonable counter.

Entangle has to be 1 of the most annoying elites in game (if playing a toon without a block or teleport). That being said, ranger does have access to a lot of immobilize, but at the cost of utility slots/ long elite or unreliable pet cc. Not forgetting the fact that any utility the ranger uses that isn’t traited for (given that 30 points are required for utilities to be good) is kinda wasted imo.

Muddy terrain maybe could also add a traited spike trap (not sure if it would be worth it though), unfortunately pet cc is not reliable

I have hit 12k rapid fire on nonbunker characters. Does that make rapid fire deal stupid damage?[/quote]

Yes lol (assuming they were wearing armor). But rapid fire is dodged mostly and has a long channel as well as cooldown. Now if we had a reliable long immobilize while you channeled for 12k, well I would go back to power ranger ^-^

Idk about solo/ team q since I haven’t played those since beginning of dec. In hot join Thieves are by far the most popular, followed by warriors/necros/mesmers.

Where do you folks get those awesome pics Oo

@nagymbear
Ive had non bunker toons killed by 1 whip and a few auto attacks. Ive also spectated a few sword/pistol thieves, the damage can be very strong even if only part of the whip hits.

Would be nice, even if they moved traps traits to mid tier and combined them. That way a trap ranger could go 20 into the health line (forget what its called >.<) for poison removal and blind removal on dodge, or even a spirit ^-^. Would open up some builds nicely, even if it didn’t put trappers into competition with necros or engineers for dps condition spots.

@ Necrotize
There are a lot of assumptions in your post so maybe I came across as inexperienced. Im not a pro, but ive also been playing, on all proff’s for 1yr or so. Yes I was immobilized till dead by a pw’ing thief. This was with rabid, so not full glass and it took 1 whip and some auto attacks to go from 100 to 0. As you’re post implies a thief has a lot of options to land its burst, not limited to yet including several different types of teleports. As to risk/ reward, there is less risk for a class that teleport/ stealth when engaging than say my ranger. I would think that much is obvious. There are a lot of different forms of mitigation, you’re correct. That being the case, my trapper ranger should be able to 100-0, during say the spiders immobilize, anything under 2k toughness right? Or do we need to account for cooldowns?

great pw already kills any toon I play that dosen’t have an evade/block rdy. Combined with immobilize stacking that thieves seem to be able to do (just had 1 match where the eng I was playing was immobilized for the full duration of pw) and great, more risk free ganking for a class that has too much of that already

Pistol whip didn’t need a buff, it does stupid damage as is and thieves can apparently take utilities to keep you immobilized till dead (happened to me a couple times).

How do conditions affect bark skin? Are they reduced as well, even if they were applied before the threshold? I suspect they aren’t, which would be another drawback to the skill.

Agree, it is a lame nerf. Survivability of pu cond remains unchanged, while the already negligible burst of the build gets kicked in the sack

roka.5231:

Any kind of unlocking, even if it’s 1 copper for rune set, is too much and very bad direction for the game to take.

The beauty of this game is the level playing field. The second you change that philosophy, you will start losing players.
Most of the new players buy GW2 because they have heard from their friends etc. that there is no gear treadmill and you can start playing almost instantly knowing that only thing holding you back is skill(and balance ofc.).

And us who have played from the start for sure got interested in the PvP aspect because of this.

Stop talking about that blablabla is confusing new players. What confuses new players is a veteran player with all unlocks kicking their kitten and they don’t know why it’s happening. I for one play this game pretty much only for 2 things: No monthly fee and no gear grind in PvP. You will lose a lot of players, new and old, if this change goes live.

Well said

Given the amount of qq over pu cond mesmers, nullifying the build may in fact be the intent.

vision/= reality… as anyone who cares enough to follow this stuff has pointed out in 100% of the above posters.
Reverse the skill point requirement, I still haven’t tried a single new heal.

Did we not watch the video?

@kiwituatara
Traps have 600 range clone death is 250 aprrox. Traps also affect 3 targets which can be a problem but they also pulse 3 times (why ? while all other aoe is 5 the hell?) . So with a bit of luck you can load up the Mesmer quickly, getting them on the defensive early. If I manage to stay on the real Mesmer and keep pressure up then I have an easier time with pu than with shatter or phantasm. Lets face it trapper rangers are not optimal builds, really squishy with less conditions than a necro or engineer but at least when fighting a pu condition mesmer your not dead in under 5 seconds, which gives some time to consider positioning and even resets.

Skills, sure, is my immobilize off cooldown? Yes? excellent , immobilze, place wells under feet=profit. Not off cooldown? death shroud 1 spam tyvm.

Its not a lack of resources, they actually have more people working on the game now than they did at launch. They need to prioritize and character size in pvp isn’t a priority. That being said, I would like to have an option to have all characters appear as human in spvp. Little rats errr Asura everywhere…….

phantasm is just as if not more cheesy than mm, at least mm cant go invis while minions hit for 3-5k. DPS guardians, unless they bring specific weapons, get wrecked by mm. That is all, carry on

@Terravos,
Fine, but evades(despite some qq) don’t last forever and auto attacking vs any melee is suicide thanks to stupid leap frames (and this in an auto attack heavy game). You really have to far outplay opponents on a ranger (spirit bunker may be stronger, at least in a group fight, but even that is tied more to the elite than to any inherent build strengths). You will get caught by one of a warriors, or god forbid an engineers endless amount of cc and watch your health plummet. I can sympathize op, I find bm builds to be particularly rage inducing. BM was pretty good before the dummfire patch/ warrior patch, but the build was nerfed while other proff’s saw huge buff’s. Now Its just watch the pet do 0 damage 50 +% of the time while still being susceptible to conditions bombs/cc, not fun.

@Ronpierce
50% less ai damage for more damage output on player controlled character. Welcome to the ranger forums 0-^. Would be a good change and still allow for necro melee which is a cool playstyle.