this is really nice. every new piece of information they release about the new specs makes makes me believe that the 0/0/6/6/6 condi BM bunker will be a monstrosity. and I have high hopes for traps and SB. im also looking forward to possible running a condi build in PVE, wont have to have multiple sets of gear for that.
the other thing to note is that with these changes, cele is getting a serious nerf. cele specs being too strong is the main reason rangers aren’t a part of the current meta. this is definitely going to change.
Looks like cele ranger will be a horrible choice for PvP. Triple nerfed: the cele amulet will get a 10% stat reduction, the traits will no longer boost condi damage, and condi damage recalculated.
well cele has always been totally unviable for our prof. stats are simply being moved to the amulet and therefore made baseline. and condi rabid or regen builds will with 1400+ condi damage may be insanely good.
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yes, in general ranger players seem to live in their own little bubble of positivity and fantasy. it can be really nice, for example when youre a new player seeking advice. but it can be bad too because a lot of these players are disconnected from reality when giving pvp advice, and they tend to talk up their bad builds. so the advice you receive on the forums at least is often incorrect and not informed by experience. I suppose this is a small problem in all the profession subforums, but this one is worst by far due to lack of experts playing the profession.
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it’s idiotic that pets to this day don’t have any use in large scale wvw battles. they need aoe resistance in that environment.
edit: guy above me said it well too.
they seem to wanna expand on healing and support specs, which was the most interesting piece from the POI. I would prefer if druid expanded on the healing/cc/power damage combo, instead of adding more condis to the staff. unrelated, but I also desperately hope OH axe gets reworked.
0/0/6/6/6 hands down. im fantasizing about this build every time I play. same massive condi damage and survivability we have now, in addition to a decently buffed pet with beastly warden. give how it’s a pbaoe cc, I wont need to run canines any longer. instead, i’ll switch to two birds and pop people for 4-6k f2 damage with 25 stacks of might after axe 1 spam.
regarding power builds, pure melee likely wont be viable still, unless staff really delivers. I was thinking a remorseless GS build + beastmastery and wilderness survival: 6/0/6/0/6 and beastly warden. should be able to go very tanky while dealing decent damage, perhaps it will be a good frontline build. alternatively, 6/6/6/0/0 with quickdraw.
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pathing is fine, pets are quite responsive now. problem is and always were the animation cast times on the pets.
if u wanna do glassbow, go valk armor with zerker trinkets and weapon. you can also go 6/0/2/6/0 sotf build which will make you fairly competent against condis, and your damage will remain huge. overall, you’ll be able to do a lot more with this build.
soon, these builds wont matter. in HoT, LB rangers will be very strong with 3 GM’s. you’ll actually be super tanky with 6/6/6/0/0 and the right gear. so I wouldn’t stress about finding the perfect build right now.
in zergs, I think any pet with beastly warden from BM will be incredibly useful. it’s an aoe CC, so even if the pet dies after the cast, it still contributes.
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are you talking pve or pvp? In general, pets aren’t too bad when they get the extra stats from BM. Slap on SoW or some regen and they can stay alive in pve and small fights. I thought devourers were really good in all aspects of pve.
I noticed devs are moving toward giving pets more pbaoe effects, which increases pet utility and decreases their chance of missing. some F2’s need a much lower cast time, and some need to be more useful.
overall, I think pets will be in a much better shape come HoT with all the extra stats. also, there’s nothing wrong with their AI. the problem always has been attack animation times, which locks the pet down and makes their maneuvering seem delayed.
how is there no counterplay? it’s a slow channel, so u can just LEAVE the area, don’t even have to dodge roll.
just wait until new content patch hits. tanky builds will be very strong with 3 grandmasters. 6/6/6/0/0 for power and 0/0/6/6/6 for condi/bm. no point trying anything until then, as everything is changing for us.
RATE the Revealed Elite specs best to worst
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: mistsim.2748
8. Reaper. Failed at almost everything. Necros needed mobility, group buffs, and better melee cleave. 1 out of 3 is bad.
.
that’s not what necros needed at all. they needed more sustain and more debuffs, and that’s what they got. mobility and group buffs – youre thinking of other professions; likely druid will come in this flavor.
it’s really goofy. the handle of the scythe doesn’t have any interesting effects on it, and it makes up most of the scythe. I also feel the necrocopter is super goofy and bad.
Robert needs to start doing rangers as well. the prof is in need of massive overhauls, and it’s been progressing at a snail’s pace.
I’m pretty sure Necromancers would trade half of their skill set just to get a mobility/leap skill that remotely resembles Swoop.
Honestly, you can’t really compare them.
correct. they cant be compared because the reaper is actually useful. GS is just a defensive, skirmishing weapon with a bit of situational burst. it will likely remain in this role for LB, BM and maybe druid rangers.
siphon through death shroud. blood magic being reworked to support allies better.
They delivered. you have a variety of siphon builds with the reaper. looks great, good times!
e.g. matching 2 thieves against two glassbow rangers, or 2 medi guards against 2 thieves, or 2 thieves against two mesmers. crap like this doesn’t make for a fun game and encourages everyone to run safe builds, like cele, that can do everything. but this isn’t really a rant about cele.
in other words – why doesn’t matchmaker consider comps and hardcounters?
I haven’t seen a shred of evidence that shows the matchmaker distributing profs or specs evenly. it will literally give one team 4 rangers, while making the other side balanced. what gives? can anyone in charge of the broken matchmaker say a few words about this?
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actually right now, the reaper doesn’t. we still don’t know if theyre gonna get on-demand stab. the spec could be a total miss. shoulda waited till Friday to make this thread for better effect =) also, there is no GS ranger. for the most part, it’s a defensive skirmishing weapon.
Reaper wont work without stab, and im pretty sure by now the devs know that. we can only hope.
Welp, back to ESO in the meantime.. nothing to see here.
i wish. ESO is garbage.
The classes in the game are more balanced and their developers make more balance changes than every 2 year increments.. its been a breath of fresh air for me.
It says a lot about a game that gets more “balance” changes but is still more crap than a game that gets less.
^
Welp, back to ESO in the meantime.. nothing to see here.
i wish. ESO is garbage.
slotting 3 signets never made sense to me. as a general rule, when I see a ranger with 3 signets, I know hes a bad (or new player). so don’t do it.
for both condi and power builds, LR is better than a third signet due to its low CD. running with only one stun breaker is no fun. also on power builds, SoTW isn’t as important. you already do enough damage and while the stab is nice, LR is still better. ive learned to play without SoS and only slot it as an exception, e.g. when there are two good thieves and a medi guard on a team.
as a general guideline:
condi: SoR, SoTW, LR (SoS instead of SoTW in rare situations)
power: SoS, SoR, LR
again, the main reason u want LR is you need two stun breakers. in the expansion, LR and TU will be even stronger when we pick up Wilderness Knowledge, and along with the mandatory entangle, we’ll have virtually unlimited condi cleansing and fury.
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two traps, two meditations, RF and Shelter seem very strong.
True shot CD is fine because you need to stand in place and its easily dodgable.
it’s not fine, it’s too strong. it spends people’s dodges and evades while being nearly spammable and doing 4.2k damage with carrion stats. it’s better than rapid fire in every way and it’s going to be a nightmare playing against this.
yes, traps will have to have a secondary function if they are to be viable. stun breaking, boons, invis, you name it. but as heim said, these have to be baseline
I don’t think anyone here is worked up or angry about DH getting intuitive, long range damage mechanics. it’s simply an observation and a discussion.
the problem with LB rangers currently is they don’t offer any utility whatsoever, while thieves and mesmers are still the superior assassins. as i said, this may change with us getting access to one more GM.
in contrast, DH will have decent applied damage while providing a ton of utility for the team.
the only ranger specs that have withstood the test of time are the condi/regen bunker variants. these will only get stronger with +6 in beastmastery. glassbows are for casuals currently, but with the upcoming trait changes, it might finally become competitive as it only needs a small survivability boost.
frankly im very excited to see what SB + reworked traps will offer us. somehow I doubt spirits and shouts will be effective, but we’ll see.
in short, rangers are becoming less of a mess. what I don’t understand is how they could come up with something as comprehensive and seemingly effective as the DH on their first try, while struggling with the ranger for 3 years.
muddy terrain imo shouldn’t have a cast time. then it would be great with SotF. right now it’s almost entirely useless due to the long cast time.
They seriously need to remove the in-game point system. Or revise it in a way where people aren’t looking up to it as a way of measuring skill or game contribution.
I completely agree. Certain builds, like read the wind rangers, have a really easy time racking up points by picking off weakened enemies from a safe range, and can easily amass points. Then they often talk smack to the people on their team with almost no points who are trying to get decaps or caps but for whatever reason aren’t winning the fights. It’d be better if it was just removed.
glassbows are also always last in points and pretty much dead all game if playing against a good thief.
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it absolutely is. one would be foolish not to pick up quickdraw on every build with skirmishing.
projectile defense is irrelevant. most projectiles are virtually nullified by having a little bit of awareness. and projectiles were never an issue for us. we die from melee and ground-targeted damage. what’s with ANet going bonkers about projectile destruction and blocking for this expansion? at this rate, it will be completely pointless to use projectiles. we (and other profs) already have a huge number of dodges and evades. others have blocks.
best thing to do for Strider’s Defense is to give us 10-15% damage reduction while using sword AA on a target. RNG is silly, and projectile destruction on a weapon with two evades is also silly.
pet and single target damage = bad.
pet and pbaoe effects = good, because they fixed F2 responsiveness.
passive effects also good.
so if it’s the latter two (aspects, aoe buffs or debuffs, cc), it could be interesting. but if the pet needs to walk up to someone and hit him to do something, then we’re boned.
After running your build through the weekend, I really tried to stick with it through thick and thin but I’m sad to say it does not work in group fights very well.
no it doesn’t work and that’s what I basically said to him. but my opinion obviously doesn’t matter and people should try it. and fail with it.
melee power rangers just don’t work. I could write a dissertation on why that’s the case, but all i’ll say is that:
1. you cant apply your damage well with GS; it’s a skirmishing and mostly defensive weapon, maul is a nice but situational skill
2. therefore, your burst is too situational
3. you have no CC and no spammable gap closers with your melee attacks (which is why mesmers, thieves, guards and warriors DO work in melee)
hope that helps.
you cant hit anything with a melee ranger
Please explain the plethora of dual melee Rangers in youtube videos where they make scores of kills, then.
what are you talking about? are you referring to condi bunkers? cuz those are all short range projectiles and ground targeted aoe’s, not melee.
don’t think we have one of those any longer. all profs are well represented. half as celestial builds unfortunately, other half zerker.
5-7k bear hugs ftw! (‘’’((^..^))‘’’)
lol bear hugs, that’s funny.
power LB ranger is fine. it will get stronger with upcoming trait line changes and it should. you have to remember that as much as the build is difficult for you to deal with, it’s actually not competitive in the higher skill brackets. so it must have something to do with your play. instead of asking for nerfs, perhaps you should turn your inquiry inwards and ask “what can I do differently, or better?”
we cant have leagues if we keep rewarding, or not punishing people for losing
just block man, im really generous with my blocks. my list is quite long and it makes pvp more enjoyable. in fact, I also just block people who annoy me in general, even if theyre not hostile toward me.
I like the name and the design of the spec. leave it.
they gotta get more people into pvp by making smart design decisions, and by not wasting resources on bad ideas. after 3 years, I hope it’s that time. im very excited for the xpac, trait overhauls and elite specs.
25 stacks of might on your bird only in your fantasies. no one is gonna let you whack them with RaO on. people move you know. and swiftness is sort of a given. shouldn’t be the highlight of any build. also, RaO is just bad. it’s situational due to its extremely high CD and entangle is better in every single build.
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I think necros and rangers are worst designed, even though rangers are becoming quite good with the constant buffs. and when the new specs hit, rangers will be in a really good shape. but currently, 3 of our utility lines still make no sense and are horrible.
likewise, engies were in a similar place but they’ve become more intuitive and new specs will make them even better. necros remain the worst design and spec revamp wont help them much, in fact might hinder.
best designed: eles and warriors; mesmers, thieves and guards middle of the pack.
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you cant hit anything with a melee ranger, unless they afk or decide to stand still for you. it also wouldn’t work too well as a frontline build as you don’t have enough condi cleanses. and of course, ure very limited to only fighting against other melee specs. even though I feel a good s/d thief would pick this spec apart.
I love birds, but theyre so much more effective on condi builds when ure running axe and stacking might. if you like birds, I don’t think anyone will be able to stand up 1v1 to our 0/0/6/6/6 condi bunker when the patch hits.
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they also got a ranged skillshot =( how ive longed for that on my LB. /criesinacorner
The thing that I don’t think the stream showed well is whether or not the arrows on the Guard LB are actually reliable. Like, if the auto doesn’t track, in general, all of those attacks seem like they move so slow.
Obviously we can’t tell just yet, but basing it on just their velocity alone, people should have no problem strafing the DH LB where as we all know with Read the Wind’s velocity and Eagle Eyes range becoming baseline on ranger, that rangers LB isn’t really all that avoidable.
hmm this is an interesting point. the AA arrows did seem to move slowly. but not Trueshot.
Not quite sure what you mean about survivability tho because LB rangers will be able to spec for Wilderness Knowledge at the expansion, which will boost its survivability quite considerably. Think about plays you could do with the new Quick Draw trait, you’ll be able to use Swoop on 4s cd with your greatsword for escaping or just for mobility purpose. I will be pretty happy survivability-wise if you ask me.
yes, glassbows will no longer be glass. 6/6/6/0/0 will be very strong. and I guess I have to be ok with us being JUST ranged assassins, and nothing else. the DH brings incredible utility to the table.
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So, I’ve been told by multiple people that poison master not only buffs our poison damage but also increases the heal debuff, if this is true than Poison Master will absolutely give the other two traits a run for their money, even on power builds.
Also, don’t ruin IB with that horrible trait EB, if anything merge EB and Shared Anguish, that way EB has very obvious pros and cons to taking it over WK
they said during the stream that healing debuff will not stack, only intensity (damage). however, if you are correct, that would be great for us.
and yes to the above discussion, EB needs to be moved, and IB needs more work.