Guild Wars 2

good advice but…You just wait and see….
I am banking on SB becoming really good with 2 sigils. Air plus earth on super fast SB looks GREAT.
But ya, if it isn’t everything it im thinking it will be I’ll be doing A/W and probably swap out MT,

I run SoR on my trapper right now (with 2 traps) so I know how good it is. and its my switchin when not using sickem

MT come from my trapper playstyle, still need to have an AOE CC to zone and pew pew. good advice though, SS is great and I am thinking about it. QZ also looks good so I can pop it when i swap to sword for a good quick burst and throw down the fire.

Ill be rolling this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNAV8fnEqQrg2yCesAXLGIaP4k5xErghcP8fnAQJjqJ-zUBBYhCypoFRjtMsIasKZER1KlYkCYRpRA-w

sickem just to help with thieves, will swap out on as need basis.

I know the 10/0/30/30/0 looks sexy right now because keen edge trait will proc NM trait. However you don’t have as much control over that as one would like in my opinion for condi removal.

I am even MORE EXCITED for 0/10/30/30/0 with sharpened edges.

I am keeping in mind that the new NM will give fury to help proc it more. Rapid gear looking sexy to me right now.

Drake Phoenix.6158:

I’m sorry… you want to split a single trait into two separate traits, and then the only additional bonuses to the overall effects is that one is now an Adept trait, and the other one has increased range that realistically should take place anyway?

I understand the desire to have at least one trap-related trait in the WS trait line for synergy with Malice, at least under the current state of traps where they are pretty totally conditions skills only (a state that I am not personally fond of, as I would like to see more potential for power/crit trapping). And I understand the idea behind allowing someone to choose to go with point-blank melee traps while still gaining increased trap radius of effect (as it would be more convenient for melee trappers to do this, than to deal with ground targeting at their own feet). Also, as a ranged trapper myself, I love the idea of having 900 range ground targeting instead of only 600. But I don’t think that the added bonuses are enough to justify the split.

I understand where you are coming from,

I thought about putting the split in marks for condition duration for some more power/crit and control traps.

However I didn’t want to touch their adept traits, I feel they are all ok in some degree.

A simple solution to this would be to add an adept trait that makes traps deal a certain amount of damage when triggered in the skirmish line. Then power trappers can take this trait and condition trappers can take sharpened edges.

(Between you and me, I also love playing a power / control trapper I use to run a perma frost ranger)

Parts 1 and 2
Shouts and Traps

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Collaborative-Development-Ranger-Profession/page/61#post3755566

UTILITY REWORK PART 3 * SPIRITS*

Proposal Overview

Spirits feel VERY passive. These increase their active feel and want to use them actively.

Goal of Proposal

To slightly improve wvw support play where they are highly unviable in groups because they are dying a lot while increasing their active feel in sPvP.

Proposal Functionality

Internal cool downs
Reduce internal cool downs on sun, storm, water and earth to 5 seconds and reduce the proc benefits by 50% to make it seem like the spirits proc more and are more active. This fits a skirmishing play style more which is in line with the goal of the ranger.

Natures Vengeance
Increases the radius of your spirit activated and passive abilities. Your spirits use your activated ability when you die.
This will help improve smart placement of spirits akin to GW1 instead of just spamming. This will also help their survivability in WvW because they can play back a little and still provide their support

Increase spirit active ability animation speed
The active effects come out too slow in order to time well. Increase speed or slightly buff their active effects. This will quicken the pace of spirits play and allow for better timing so you can energize your attacks with your weapons and pets

Associated Risks

Spirits might be a little to strong and the passive effects might be needed to down down 5%. But it will feel way more active and way better.

So I have been reading the thread and some of the major ideas I latched onto that the devs talked about that I would just like to input on.

Rangers and condition removal

While I think an additional condition removal should be added through a shout. I think a new trait could go a long way. New trait Grandmaster BM trait Fresh Start You shed 2 conditions on pet swap

Ranger becoming the master of poison

This is a truly good idea. Here are some things I think are creative think tank ideas for the devs

Traits

Lingering Poison Poison you apply cannot be cured. (this would have to be a grandmaster) (but poison spamming….perhaps only cured on heal or have an after affect happen if it is cured
Smell of poison Your pet deals 15% more damage to poisoned foes.
Vulnerable poison you apply vulnerability (2 seconds) to poisoned foes you attack.
Paralyzing poison you apply immobilize (1 second) when you apply /reapply poison.
Crippling poison you apply cripple (3 seconds) when you apply /reapply poison
Anguishing poison you apply torment (3 seconds) when you apply /reapply poison
Super poison When you apply poison, your foe gains quickness and chill for 3 seconds.

rpfohr.7048:

Proposal Overview

Improve shouts to make them more attractive while increasing ranger – pet synergy

Goal of Proposal

Ranger shouts are lackluster. Sickem has evolved to just being an anti stealth counter. Protect me hurts your pet. Guard is just used to spam Natures Voice. And I don’t even think search and rescue is worth mentioning.

Proposal Functionality

Sickem – 25 second cool down.
Your next attack immobilizes target for 3 seconds.
For 5 seconds your loose control of your pet and it gains + 40% speed and + 30% damage.
This helps pets hit their targets more and is helpful synergy.

Protect Me – Cool down made to 30 seconds
Your pet gains weakness for 6 seconds. You and your pet gain protection for 6 seconds. Your pet also steals 2 conditions from you.
This improves build diversity by adding active condition removal it removes a need for every build to have Empathetic Bond. It also won’t kill your pet as a damage transfer but still can be great against burst damage. It still retains the weakened pet functionality as pets won’t hit hard with weakness

Guard – Cool down increased to 25 seconds. Cast time reduced to .25 seconds
Your pet protects a target territory for 60 seconds. Your pet gains Stability, Protection, and Retaliation for 8 seconds.
There are so many ways to share offensive boons with pet, this is great for pet defense and helps out the AOE problem in PvE and WvW. I get the need for a cast time on a ground target AoE as well but this can be sped up to the speed of necro wells or marks.

Search and Rescue – Cool down decreased to 60 seconds.
Your pet locates a downed ally in the area and attempts to revive them. If a no downed allies are found the pet attempts to rez a defeated player and the cool down goes to 150 seconds.
This makes it worthy of being taken, now even if something were to happen it can still rez a defeated player but it is balanced out by going on a long cool down

Associated Risks

It’s a rework of shouts, Natures voice spamming builds would be effected but in turn might opt to use more of these better shouts to proc it which is actually a positive in my mind.

Allie I am glad you want to talk about things other than pets.

Part 2 of my utility rework focuses on traps.

Proposal Overview

Improve trap build options and have some of its traits be affected by condition related lines. This proposal affects WvW and sPvP

Goal of Proposal

To split trappers expertise into 2 separate traits to improve the versatility of melee trapping and placing traps at your feet with the larger radius. And to still allow the common rabid trapper to still take Sharpened edges or a carrion trapper to take keen edge and ween off the crits a little bit.

Proposal Functionality

Trappers Expertiese
Your traps are ground targeted and have 900 range
This will improve the overall viability of AOE damage rangers can do in WvW and finally bring them some use.

Healers Clarity – CHANGED TO Enlarged traps
Increase the radius of your traps by 60
Rangers have 2 revive traits when they only need 1, leave trappers defense and change this. This also puts a trap trait in the wilderness survival line for condition damage and improves Melee trappers and the WS line and NM line are more focused on Sword and Greatsword

Associated Risks

Trappers who currently go X/30/30/0/0 will loose an adept trait to pick up the new trait but it will be minor as not many of the traits there synergize with trappers.

Potential trap builds that could arise -
Standard X/30/30/X/X trapper is still viable
30/30/10/0/0 trapper becomes very interesting for power / control trapper.
Carrion trapper becomes slightly improved by putting 1 trait in the adept WS line.

Proposal Overview

Add an additional way to revive pet other than reviving them or swapping

Goal of Proposal

What if you want to bring back your pet but cant in the heat of battle?

Proposal Functionality

Version 1
Instinctual Bond
Trait changed to, using a heal skill revives a downed pet to 25% health.

Version 2
Heal as one
Heals downed pets to 25% health.

Associated Risks

Using either version and then swapping pets can be abused to keep the pet cool down timer low.

Perhaps adding an ICD to the pet swap when you heal and having another trait remove this ICD.

Proposal Overview

Improve shouts to make them more attractive while increasing ranger – pet synergy

Goal of Proposal

Ranger shouts are lackluster. Sickem has evolved to just being an anti stealth counter. Protect me hurts your pet. Guard is just used to spam Natures Voice. And I don’t even think search and rescue is worth mentioning.

Proposal Functionality

Sickem – 25 second cool down.
Your next attack immobilizes target for 3 seconds.
For 5 seconds your loose control of your pet and it gains + 40% speed and + 30% damage.
This helps pets hit their targets more and is helpful synergy.

Protect Me – Cool down made to 30 seconds
Your pet gains weakness for 6 seconds. You and your pet gain protection for 6 seconds. Your pet also steals 2 conditions from you.
This improves build diversity by adding active condition removal it removes a need for every build to have Empathetic Bond. It also won’t kill your pet as a damage transfer but still can be great against burst damage. It still retains the weakened pet functionality as pets won’t hit hard with weakness

Guard – Cool down increased to 25 seconds. Cast time reduced to .25 seconds
Your pet protects a target territory for 60 seconds. Your pet gains Stability, Protection, and Retaliation for 8 seconds.
There are so many ways to share offensive boons with pet, this is great for pet defense and helps out the AOE problem in PvE and WvW. I get the need for a cast time on a ground target AoE as well but this can be sped up to the speed of necro wells or marks.

Search and Rescue – Cool down decreased to 60 seconds.
Your pet locates a downed ally in the area and attempts to revive them. If a no downed allies are found the pet attempts to rez a defeated player and the cool down goes to 150 seconds.
This makes it worthy of being taken, now even if something were to happen it can still rez a defeated player but it is balanced out by going on a long cool down

Associated Risks

It’s a rework of shouts, Natures voice spamming builds would be effected but in turn might opt to use more of these better shouts to proc it which is actually a positive in my mind.

I made this post in another thread but…

If there are other explorable areas, will we find other pale tree’s?

A sylvari named Malyck claims there are other pale trees and he came from a different one…..

I think that would be a good direction to go.

I’ve been thinking about this theory for about a half a year as I am a big Sylvari fan.

In the Sylvari Story line there is a Sylvari named Malyck who believes his tree lies on the western edge of a river that runs through Brisband Wildlands. This would go deeper into the jungle.

I have always theorized that the Sylvari did not randomly appear in Tyria but that the Sylvari we know from this pale tree are an isolated case due to Ventari teachings. Other sylvari cultures would be very different.

I believe that there are other trees as Malyck says. And I also believe that could be a real villain, Thus why Scarlet was a sylvari villain. I think that there may be more that ties other trees to the rumors of the Dragon Mordremoth.

Perhaps these Pale Trees were created by Mordremoth himself and other Sylvari will be a major villain force like the undead?

I was curious if others though the same.

Chris I have a major problem that keeps me from wanting to do Fractals.

Problem:

While alts can participate at any level you have achieved with another character due to the changes ANET has made.

They are limited due to the agony resistance, Thus lets say my ranger is at level 40, My Gaurdian cannot just jump into 40 without grinding and getting AR.

This is an issue becomes you cannot jump on an alt to help team composition.

GOAL:

Allow alts to better participate in higher level fractals when you want them too. Make it more accessible to them.

Solution.

Make agony resistance account bound like magic find.

Risks

Might make some players angry as they have put a lot of work into getting different characters AR. Perhaps they can be compensated somehow.

any ideas?

gawker.8340:

How does this fall in the rhetoric of pet class?

It doesn’t. Don’t waste time and resources to pursue “aspects”.

We should keep our pets and figure out a way to make them viable in the long run.

I am also against this idea, I would rather see pets work. I also think this would take significant development time and might take 2 to 3 years to change a core mechanic like this.

I think there are ways to make pets viable in each setting that are worth exploring first.

gawker.8340:

rpfohr.7048:

Question to Allie,

If Rangers are not suppose to burst,
Then why give them attacks of opportunity and Moment of clarity?

There are thousands of better options than these. Yet we keep buffing these because they don’t have synergy with ranger weapons?

That is bad. I think rangers would be on par and able to take advantage of these if they did have a burst. Read my 2nd proposal on page 20

Yea, give us a bootleg killshot that does as much as maul. Please do it.

All I am saying is that we have all these things like remorseless for that 1 hit crit,
moment of clarity,
attack of opportunity,
Available to quickness (although i guess you could argue this is Burst DOT with auto attack as it does the most damage on most of the ranger weapons)

And we only really have 1 skill (maul) to take advantage, if we had a 2nd it would increase build diversity.

I do like that my ranger can whittle down the opponent, but I have found that other classes have just as much sustain damage as ranger AND they can burst better.

I do not find rangers have a sustain advantage over most classes as allie suggests
Perhaps over some warriors and most guardian but i find it ends there.

Question to Allie,

If Rangers are not suppose to burst,
Then why give them attacks of opportunity and Moment of clarity?

There are thousands of better options than these. Yet we keep buffing these because they don’t have synergy with ranger weapons?

That is bad. I think rangers would be on par and able to take advantage of these if they did have a burst. Read my 2nd proposal on page 20

RyuDragnier.9476:

rpfohr.7048:

Allie Murdock.8152:

Many of you have suggested removing traps from the Skirmishing line. It seems the primary reason for this is because it is the crit line while traps are primarily focused on conditions.

Given the idea behind skirmishing (for Ranger, we expect them to be able to survive longer while whittling their opponent down), would it maybe make more sense to leave the traps there and perhaps swap the stats with a different line?

Allie, I personally dont want the change because I like to also go down and grab empathetic bond. I also think pairing the crit chance and crit damage in the same line is the only way power builds are even viable because i can pick those up on 1 line.

However, I could possibly see skirmishing (though I wouldn’t like it because it messes up power builds more)
Crit chance and condition damage
WS having
Toughness and crit damage

If you were willing…….no other class has done this. (not due power and condi duration in the same line)

Marksmanship
Power and Crit damage / ferocity

Skirmishing
Crit chance and condition duration

I think the later could be really good for rangers ability to skirmish and trap. Plus putting power and crit damage in the same line could be the boost power rangers have been looking for.

I JUST CAME UP WITH IT THANKS TO YOUR IDEA!!
sniped for quote length

Here’s the con to that…every trap ranger will still be forced into the same 2 traitlines we are now. Every trap ranger is already in skirmishing for the trap traits and wilderness survival for the condition damage. This would change nothing. Every trap ranger is already x/30/30/x/x, we need to move condition damage’s location for an actual change and opening of traits. I’d willingly mix things up and not use Wilderness Survival if I knew I had the full power of my traps from a single traitline. But since Wilderness Survival is REQUIRED for the condition damage, and Skirmishing is REQUIRED for all the trap traits, we’re forced into 2 traitlines.

NOT SO FAST!!!!!

Traps like Poisson and Frost trap don’t really use Condi damage. they work better with Condi duration, this opens up possibilities for power trap rangers with CC!!

This brings me to a new proposal. sPvP and WvW

Goal
Increase trapper specs so that rangers feel like they are getting a condition stat out of skirmishing. Improve opening strikes to function with crit damage and rework ranger applied vulnerability duration as is no longer in power, to slightly buff power ranger

Functionality
Marksmanship: Power, Crit Damage
Skirmishing: Precision, Condition duration
Wilderness Survival: Toughness, Boon Duration
Nature Magic: Vitality, Healing Power
Beast mastery: Profession Specific Bonus, Healing

Opening Strikes – Minor
Your initial attack crits.

Alpha Strike – Major Minor
Your Pet’s initial attack Crits

Remorseless – Grand Master Minor
(as it is now, gaining stealth gets pet opening strike back too.

New Grandmaster Trait -Fresh Pet
You and your pet re gain opening strikes when you swap pets

Longbow –
Rapid Fire changed to Charged Shot
1 second cast time
(shoot a powerful arrow at your that inflicts heavy damage.)
This works great with Hunters shot and stealth

Risks
You say you don’t want rangers to burst, some of these do that. Charged shot also becomes to hit or miss (land it or your toast) If you don’t want that keep rapid fire

Allie Murdock.8152:

Many of you have suggested removing traps from the Skirmishing line. It seems the primary reason for this is because it is the crit line while traps are primarily focused on conditions.

Given the idea behind skirmishing (for Ranger, we expect them to be able to survive longer while whittling their opponent down), would it maybe make more sense to leave the traps there and perhaps swap the stats with a different line?

Allie, I personally dont want the change because I like to also go down and grab empathetic bond. I also think pairing the crit chance and crit damage in the same line is the only way power builds are even viable because i can pick those up on 1 line.

However, I could possibly see skirmishing (though I wouldn’t like it because it messes up power builds more)
Crit chance and condition damage
WS having
Toughness and crit damage

If you were willing…….no other class has done this. (not due power and condi duration in the same line)

Marksmanship
Power and Crit damage / ferocity

Skirmishing
Crit chance and condition duration

I think the later could be really good for rangers ability to skirmish and trap. Plus putting power and crit damage in the same line could be the boost power rangers have been looking for.

I JUST CAME UP WITH IT THANKS TO YOUR IDEA!!

Risks include a slight redesign to opening strikes and the vulnerability aspect of Marks line. Some players who used Marks line and non crit builds may feel like they are wasting stats now.

However I think the pros to buffing power ranger and making trap rangers feel like they are getting some good stat our of skirmishing will overall outweigh these cons by a heavy margin.

WvW

Proposal Overview
An increase in Ranger CC to help pets hit more reliably thereby making them a real threat in a fight.

Goal of Proposal
The class is designed to be a 2v1 class but pets aren’t helping much. Pets have trouble hitting player targets that move! Thus Pet builds should be built to help assist pets hit more by use of cripple chill and immobilize and utilities and traits should reflect this. As it stands the pet is not really a threat. For it to be a true 2v1, the enemy should have to think about whether or not he should consider killing the pet, not just going for ranger. This will help to increase ranger utility in PvP situations. Redesigned shouts will also increase ranger and their pets utility in dungeons making them more desirable.

Proposal Functionality
SHOUTS
They need a rework. In some cases shouts are just used to proc Natures voice, extremely sad. Rework shouts so that and help Pets hit more to increase their effectiveness

Sickem (CD lowered) – for pet burst
Reveal 4 seconds
Your next attack immobilizes your foe (3 seconds) and your pets next two attacks deal 100% more damage.

Protect Me changed to “Watch Out” – good for defense and zerg play
Your pet gains protection and retaliation (5 seconds) and you gain vigor (4 seconds)
Stun Breaker

Search and Rescue changed to “Special Attack” – good for pet interaction and burst (lower CD)
Recharge your pets skills and F2 instantly, refresh Pet Skill que.

Guard – A naturally instinct for a pet to guard its on territory.
Your Pet protects an area of your choosing gaining +30% damage and +20% speed for 10 seconds. Allies in the area gain 3 seconds of protection.

New trait, “Foot specialist” – Remove Masters Bond
Immobilize and Cripple you apply last 33% longer

New trait, “Target in sight” –New 5 point BM Minor (15 sec ICD)
Your pet gains 1 seconds of quickness when you immobilize target foe.
OR your pet deals additional damage to foes suffering from Chill cripple and immobilize (5%) damage increase.

Associated Risks
Shouts might become too strong when paired with Natures voice, that might need to be toned down. Spike trap and Muddy Terrain of course become very good options and perhaps toned down a tick or so. Frost trap with the new minor trait might be considered okay though.

Additional discussion
If the ranger can be built to more support and help pets hit targets with additional immobilize, the overall damage on ranger would improve. in sPvP and roaming. Some of the changes on these shouts would also help pets and pet utility in larger scale fights.

What is the opinion on going 0/20/20/30/0 for vampiric rituals and loosing those two grandmaster minors?

Do those minor’s help damage that much? Just saying +120 power over the threshold when you are back line and v rituals really has me thinking about going that route with my almost 80 necro (my 5th character. I’ll get em all eventually)

I wouldn’t worry about the word count guys as long as you are shot and precise and do not ramble into multiple topics.

For example, if you have many suggestions on the ranger make separate posts 1 for reach point you are trying to get across.

Something such as Buff Pet damage is a complete different topic than Buff Long Bow.

Each proposal should have why the topic needs to be addressed and clear bullet points.

You won’t be able to address multiple topics so easily without rambling which is what the Dev’s want to avoid. They need to read this two and be able to read this to and Wall of Text is the ULTIMATE EVIL

If you can address a topic in 4-5 bullet points. Each bullet point being a sentence or two and not a paragraph, you’ll be OK. You don’t need to readdress why you think these changes will be good in this discussion, that is what the Goal of proposal is for if I read this correctly.

Who says the shouts wouldn’t be instant cast. I’d remove guard…..

Example: Sickem Revamp
Immobilize and reveal target foe 4 seconds.
Your pets next 3 attacks deal 50% more damage.

Also, pugs would learn to like rangers if they dealt more damage….

Substance E.4852:

rpfohr.7048:

I think it is very important in this CDI that….
People post serious suggestions that Anet could actually use and would want to design around.

Suggestions like remove pets will not even be considered as the design goal for A Net is to make ranger a 2v1 Class.

Suggestions that enhance a 2v1 class concept will go much farther.

For example, my suggestion will be focused on giving ranger greater CC so that we can help the pets hit more reliably.

A good idea to think about is how can we make ranger a true 2v1 class so the opponent actually has to think about what it wants to try to take down, the pet or the ranger. Right now the choice is far to obvious, the Ranger.

The only way for the Ranger to be an actual 2v1 class is if we put out 101% or more the DPS of other classes when attacking in tandem with the pet. Any less than that is simply 0.75+0.25v1 .

This simply won’t happen though so the best hope is to get them to give most of the damage to the ranger and make the pet a small added bonus, not our left arm and one of our kidneys.

No, That is EXACTLY what needs to happen.

Right now we are doing .75 + .25 but that .25 is our best DPS Pet being the cat. If our pets are truly independent and we cannot rely on them for all of there hits then the game should be balanced more round something like a Dog.

It has Power Vitality and Toughness making it a well rounded pet.
Let’s say the dog is .22

So ranger damage needs to be buffed to .78 for all weapons so that the DPS with well rounded “Mario” pet is equal to that of other classes.

Now if I go Cat, I should get .78 + .25 = 1.03 more damage than other classes. This now forces a choice at the beginning of the fight. Kill Ranger or Kill Cat. I would hope that because the Cat is far squishier than I am, they would consider the cat.

PROBLEM??: Rangers now deal more damage than other classes in PvE, Everyone roll Ranger!!
Hang on not so fast those AoE bosses will KILL the pets, better not over invest!! Stay diversified!

Now this actually fixes PvE because rangers now can deal some decent direct damage compared to other classes. It might actually make the Pug community like pets!!

For WvW and PvP where targets are more mobile, the ranger needs utility to help pets hit. I’ve only thought of 2 ways to do this, CC or give rangers more pet control options. Since A net won’t do the later I am left with the former.

I will suggest that this be done through shouts, the main utility in the BM line.

With that your 90% there.

I run your build! and with Great success! I loose very little / hardly at all. and do ok in 1v2 and 2v3 situations.

Ive found the toughest fights are Condi Necro’s PU mesmers and Perma stealth thief.
Everything else if FACE ROLL EASY MODE.

Same pets too.

Here is my version.

Will switch on Sigil of earth when patch hits, right now im running on kill sigils and sigils of hydromancy.

Hydromancy works GREAT with trapper build. You will really slow them down and keep them in traps. (for you consider hydromancy smoldering for now)

Put the 10 in NM, you need it in case you come across that dam thief, unless you go for malicious training as poster said above. You need to be able to trap your feet and let him come to you, the Prot will save you and then you can evade around as condi ticks and then re trap your feet.

I use to run SB like you but switch out to A/D cause SB was very pew pew for sigil of earth. Confusion mesmers and PU really were messing me up and going A/D helped me fight them and I didn’t loose much of anything for 1v1 fighting.

Last tough fight is necro, thats why I started bringing signet of Renewal for Necro and Engi, If I see a thief or mes I will try to switch it to sickem so they cant play stealth games with me. LR is good for your stun warriors and other in your face builds like guardian,

But I find I overwhelm them with what I can do with CC and condi and they just tick to death, so I hardly slot it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQRAsf3YjAV911VyVs2Bi2DNZeMxeYIH9IXB/XyoqA-jkCB4iRG1JgUFBiAJ0poFRjtMsIasKZBSZDT/K1aYISBAxaA-w

I think it is very important in this CDI that….
People post serious suggestions that Anet could actually use and would want to design around.

Suggestions like remove pets will not even be considered as the design goal for A Net is to make ranger a 2v1 Class.

Suggestions that enhance a 2v1 class concept will go much farther.

For example, my suggestion will be focused on giving ranger greater CC so that we can help the pets hit more reliably.

A good idea to think about is how can we make ranger a true 2v1 class so the opponent actually has to think about what it wants to try to take down, the pet or the ranger. Right now the choice is far to obvious, the Ranger.

I do as well,

Literally I posted I wanted Donkey Kong about 3 months ago.

Auto -Monkey Punch
F2 -Ground pound on demand blast finisher
3 – Throw poop to blind foes.
4 – Leaping Monkey Punch

My vision for RANGER BALANCE

A little bit about me. I main a ranger (trapper roamer) but also have lvl 80’s of Warrior, Guardian, and Thief. I do think that traps survival and spirits are good. I do think Shouts need a lit of help.

THE PROBLEM WITH RANGERS

The second problem is that the class is designed to be a 2v1 class but it its more like 1 v 1 with a side kick that doesn’t do much. Pets have trouble hitting player targets that move! For it to be a true 2v1, the enemy should have to think about whether or not he should consider killing the pet, not just going for ranger. The ranger lacks the ability to make his pet a real threat in a fight!

Rangers lack damage and burst. No weapon has ANY burst on it except for maul. Both Bows and the sword get their damage from #1 and are better at sustained DPS.

THE SOLUTION
To introduce more burst options to the ranger and increase more CC. More CC will in turn increase pet damage by allowing them to hit immobilized stunned and crippled targets. This makes pet a real threat!

SHOUTS
They need a rework. In some cases shouts are just used to proc Natures voice, extremely sad. Rework shouts so that and help Pets hit more to increase their effectiveness.

Sickem Changed to “Hit Hard” (CD also lowered) – for pet burst
Reveal 4 seconds
Your next attack immobilizes your foe (3 seconds) and your pets next two attacks deal 100% more damage.

Guard changed to “Watch Out” – good for defense and zerg play
Your pet gains protection and retaliation (5 seconds) and you gain vigor (4 seconds)
Stun Breaker

• Search and Rescue changed to “Special Attack”* – good for pet interaction and burst
  Recharge your pets skills and F2 instantly, refresh Pet Skill que.

Guard – A naturally instinct for a pet to guard its on territory.
Your Pet protects an area of your choosing gaining +30% damage and +20% speed for 10 seconds. Allies in the area gain 3 seconds of protection.

Signet of Hunt because its active is a little weak.
Your pets next attack is an attack of opportunity and cripples foes (3 second cripple)

TRAITS-I could touch on many more but here are a few key ones.

REMORSELESS – more opportunities to regain OS and burst
Changed to “You regain opening strikes whenever you disable.” (daze, Stun, Knock back)

New trait, “Foot specialist”
Immobilize and Cripple last 50% longer.

I want to see this in the BM line as it will help pets hit opponents more.
Consolidate a BM trait because they are ALL over the place.

WEAPONS

Warhorn
Skill #4 10% chance to inflict a random condition on each attack conditions last 3 seconds
(2 stacks vulnerability)
(Blind)
(Daze .25 seconds)

LONGBOW
With the remorseless change LB still needs a power attack. it would work well with stealth.

Rapid fire changed to Power shot
Cast time 1.25 Seconds
Shoot a powerful shot. Deals extra damage to vulnerable foes.

This allows for GREAT play with stealth, you can stealth with Hunters shot and then charge your power shot. Power shot can also be used after point blank for a remorseless.

I have used this trait with great results.

I consider it pretty good in a melee signet build

30/15/0/25/0

utlities being at least SoW, SoS.

What you do is you pop the first SoS for huge burst,

Then when you hit 25% hp, IT AUTO STUN BREAKS YOU, and you hit your SoS for another huge burst and stability.

Once those are up though GTFO and stay mid range.

Good for a zerg setup, try GS A/W or S/X and A/A

Black Box.9312:

rpfohr.7048:

2) Not every warrior takes everything!!
For some reason you all think warriors have access to everything in 1 build.
Warriors have to spec for kitten just like everybody else, I should know, I have a bunch of 80’s. look at what weapons he is using and you will improve your play greatly.

Yes, they do have access to everything, and no, they don’t have to spec beyond 20 points in a single traitline. That is the current problem we are facing, and that is why warrior as a profession needs to be looked at. I don’t care if a warrior has high regen, or if they have lots of mobility, or if they have strong damage, or if they have excellent condition removal, or if they have good damage and CC mitigation. I DO care if they have all of that simultaneously, because no other class can do that to nearly the extent that warrior can.

Here is what I’ll tell you.
Post the build that you THINK has everything,
And I’ll take it as a challenge to show you what it DOESN’T have.
Because I’ll tell you what. Nobody can spec 30/30/30/30/30 and take all 10 of his weapons in one build to cover his bases.

I mean come on guys – you stupid? I gave my opinion on what I think works against most Warriors I encounter but…..

You think S/S Condi. Hambow. and Skull Crack all have the exact same weakness?
It depends on build.
Each situation is different!!

Balefire.7592:

Necromancers have access to three fears, plenty of chill and cripple, and poison on our auto, yet Warriors are supposedly our counter-profession, so this isn’t entirely accurate.

That is because Necro’s dont have the same defensive capabilities rangers / engi has, they are light armor and have little mobility. Yes they have great condi burst but they dont have enough to survive their immunities as I said in my first post.

WhiteRose.6934:

rpfohr.7048:

…Seriously though poison / CC wear down builds work against warriors…

It’s a good thing warriors don’t have CC immunity and easy condi clears.

OH WAIT LOL JK!

LOL I GUESS CAPS AND ATTACHMENTS HELPS GET POINTS ACROSS. READING IS FOR CHUMPS.

I said good counter classes also include those that have defenses and can just wait out the CC immunity.

1) So you mean I have to learn how to evade while berserk stance is active?

Ya…. It’s easy, different for every class but easy. I use hornet sting on my ranger…. and just create distance. On thief I use stealth. Some classes as I said like Necro, sorry Warrior is your counter, your just going to eat damage cause you dont have a lot of mobility or evade. But if you have access to these things, it helps cause Warrior stuff is telegraphed.

And about those condi clears, I’d say pick the right class and they probably have more access to poison and soft CC than he can clear. Besides, I know going into a fight most people have condi clears, warrior is no different. Just need to have more kitten than they can clear and keep them away from you.

2) Not every warrior takes everything!!
For some reason you all think warriors have access to everything in 1 build.
Warriors have to spec for kitten just like everybody else, I should know, I have a bunch of 80’s. look at what weapons he is using and you will improve your play greatly.

Manuhell.2759:

rpfohr.7048:

High Access to poison and soft CC.
But is not enough, you need some defense to get by their initial immunity.

Thus classes I feel do well against warriors are ranger and engi.

Guess what, they’re just nerfing poison grenade and net turret in the balance patch…

Then I guess you should start playing a ranger……

Seriously though poison / CC wear down builds work against warriors

Engi will still be a viable option even though its getting hit as warriors are getting a SLIGHT nerf too.

Maybe check into a thief, they have decent poison as well.

I will tell you that when I play a warrior, the toughest fights are the ones where it is difficult to catch and burst because of CC you and use poison to negate Heal Sig.

So start leveling your thief / ranger if your so concerned about your engi nerf.

After A LOT of testing,

This is my very effective DIRECT DAMAGE frost trap build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQRBHRxG2IQVfdcleFrdgYpAQ7n9IRM6ROF+vTlspnA-jECBYgDimgAmAJikBApmFRjtMqIas6aYKXER1SBAzCA-w

This build is VERY effective in zerg situations and 1v1 situations for control.

But in 1v1 situations, the matchups tend to be long!!!
But they eventually chill out and loose due to chill and poison

High Access to poison and soft CC.
But is not enough, you need some defense to get by their initial immunity.

Thus classes I feel do well against warriors are ranger and engi.

It works kinda,

Very powerful against power builds as you slow them down.

But Condition builds still a problem as conditions still ticking away whether they chilling out or not.

HOWEVER

I believe POWER TRAP BUILDS ARE IN FOR A HUGE BUFF
When vipers nest comes around as a poison field.

Pets using leap finishers through the field is 8 secs of weakness OP as hell and I can of course increase that with traiting.

Here is a build Im interested in trying (meant to choose offhand traning)

This one is a bit more Hybrid
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQRBHhx+1IRVfdbleFrdAYVAw2DNtET2jEd8xCW1A

I also would LOVE to try a greatsword trapper to use swoop and put tons of weakness with ease on enemy with viper nest update.

I could probably do more effectively if I ran a double offhand build and used monarchs leap but I don’t like using sword 2 for leap finisher, swoop too sweet.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAV8YnEVUFccF6VwahgYVAQtCZi9IRM6RPFxa9lspnA-jECBohCy0FBK7sIasF4RrEKIFUhVZDT9iIqWGgiFA-w

Something I am curiously came up with and and considering building.
Lots of cripple from pets, poison from weapons and of course runes/sigils for frost + frost trap.

But I am curious if anybody had luck with frost/cripple/poison ranger builds that just wear people down with direct damage.

One of the things I have in the back of my mind is that through frost and cripple, my pets will be able to more reliable hit my opponent which increases damage output.

I hope that through this I am able to disrupt their rotation and out DPS them.

I am considering going double bow, for the first time ever!!! once patch hits for double sigils

If you have one you like, please post.

I’m a ranger.

My primary weapon set is S/W and GS

I hate to say it but I invested in a mostly knights as far as how damage heavy I will go.

For me, while zerker is the best for meta, since my pet doesnt scale with zerk I am hesitant to invest in any heavy damage set. If im going sword, I’ll bring a little, tough and vit to help.

I’m also usually flammed for this even though i feel im better than pug. I don’t bring frost spirit but I am bringing spotter and sword…..

Thing is I dont get the opportunity to prove it to the party

@ Guang, point is to gather how the community as a whole feels and convey them to Devs with statistical numbers.

Too many threads about individual class complaints led the to the conclusion that this needed to be done in order to properly portray how the wide player base feels instead of it being so cluttered.

My target audience is the general public, the people who play the game, not the 1%. If I wanted to throw out accessibility and target the game at its highest level this would NOT be a public survey.

scerevisiae.1972:

just make the results link public so we can see for ourselves pls.

I’ve made the results public, if you voted, you can see the results by clicking the original link.

(Sorry I’m not a premium member so I cant save a view for you.)

I will do data analysis later in the week! And Update the OP

@ Guang:

You are correct sir this is not taking a look at the highest level of play and the survery is open to everybody intentionally on purpose,

Anet cares A LOT about casuals and their opinions.

reikken.4961:

extremely unsurprising

was the one category Ranger wasn’t last sPvP?[/quote]

No it was last in sPvP but now Ele has moved into that spot.

For average rankings it reverses it when it sums it up so low rankings is bad and high rankings is good.

In stats they teach you 30 is a good ball park minimum to build a model off of for stable standard deviations so I feel comfortable posting a screen shot to show you an example of what I see on my side.

Also I’m LMAO right now because with 29 votes, Warrior is now in top 2 in every category….

Also it took 29 votes but finally every class as at least 1 vote for 1st and 1 vote for last in at least 1 game mode, Mesmer held out the longest having no last place votes in any game mode until just now with 1 last place vote for PvE

I will post full results when I get at least 50-100 votes. (depends on how quickly I get there. If I get 50 by tomorrow I may hold it couple of days.)

But to have some fun, after 12 votes some Trends

Ranger has been voted last in 3 out of 4 categories and second to last in the 4th.
Guardian and Warrior have been ranked 1 and 2 in 3 out of 4 categories, Both lacking in WvW roaming.

Surprising / Expected??? Discuss.

tetrodoxin.2134:

Then why are you splitting WvW up into 2 parts, giving WvW more weight in the overall statistics? No matter if you’re roaming or zerging, you’re working for the same goal – just like in PvP.

All I’m saying is that the “best PvP class” vote will be useless, because there are roles that are equally important, but with different classes as the best choice(s).
It’s like saying “vote the best sportsman” without dividing in different sports. You kinda did that for WvW, that’s why I’m posting.

All I would have to do to remedy this is prior to averaging the results add the 2 WvW together and divide by 2 to compensate.

I did this because I believe that WvW has 2 completely different meta’s, zerging and that if I did not separate them, the results would be skewed towards T1 Zerging for WvW. Some people play on low tier servers and don’t even have a choice to Zerg so an option needed to be created for them.

I believe that the PvE and sPvP Meta’s do have variations but typically the most effective teams run similar roles to slot the Meta’s needs.

If I were to break out sPvP I would have broken it out into hot join and tPvP. But I guess I am hoping the sPvP voters don’t even think about hot join when voting, the serious sPvP voters would vote on tPvP Meta. If I wanted I could create a thread for every class in every roll of tPvP but that would be to much of a granular level. Keeping the poll shortened and simplified was a priority for me!!!

I would not consider breaking down PvE.

Sorry if my choices didn’t meet your satisfaction needs, you are free to dive into and discuss the results when I post them and debate the validity of them.

Remember that my goal is a higher level view than just sPvP. Any WvW polls or sPvP polls will likely be able to better dive into that specific game mode than what I am targeting. I will consolidate the 3 games into one overall ranking. Hopefully this provided insight as to how I view the game.

florence.1674:

Your survey won’t matter. All balance seems to be based on only sPvP.

While sPvP balance is important, I have a slightly more optimistic view that Devs care about game balance as a whole, not just sPvP

sPvP may be the focus of balance, if a class was average in it but so deficient in other parts of the game in comparison to its peers, that would be good statistical information to share and I would have to believe Devs would take them into consideration when making decisions on balance.

While fewer and far between, I have seen balance changes directed to PvE and WvW so I know they care.

I wont continue to argue this point so that it does not melt this thread into nothing, but to give a concrete example, setting a limit to the number of people who could use portal was a WvW design. Party prioritization was a PvE and WvW design.

My goal is to combine all the data from the surveys in different parts of the game to come to a class rankings overall conclusion.

For example if one class is extremly bad in 3 areas and above average in a 4th, that class should be receiving buffs.

For sPvP, although several roles are fulfilled, balance should be looked at how desirable you want that class on your team to help fill a role. That is how you get a high level view on overall class balance which is my aim, instead of arguing on a granular level which becomes so complex, that is becomes difficult to make sense of the statistical results.

I thought this would be fun instead of randomly complaining about classes and such.

I have broken the game down into what I think are the 3 parts of the game and for WvW I split those into 2 separate parts.

The goal of this survey is to collect responses from people who play the game and how they see class balance on EVERY class, not just the ones they play.

I think it will help show how we as a community feel about the game from a statistical standpoint.

Here is the link https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3RL6QG8
IF YOU VOTED, YOU CAN NOW SEE THE RESULTS BY CLICKING THE LINK!!!

EDIT: 1 is the best, 8 is the worst for voting and results.

I WILL DO DATA ANALYSIS LATER THIS WEEK

OGDeadHead.8326:

Just allow us to blast them all, when several fields are in the same location.

NO FIELD WARS 2 PLEASE, some classes do not have access to as many fields as others and it puts them at a disadvantage.

Question to community!!!!

Are you limiting this to blast finishers or all finishers
Which finishers to leap prioritize
Whirl
Projectile

To play devil’s advocate, this is a slippery slope you would likely need to do for ALL finishers AND that would make the system very complex.

When I think about this, I think that a choose your own system would be far to complicated and that a player / time system is the most appropriate if it can be done right.

I remember a time in WvW when re-prioritizing that party members were prioritized over nearest player for boon sharing, I think my game slowed down a bit there….

JonPeters.5630:

I was simply stating that the problem is we are not going to address the issues that the passive sustain is creating until we make the active use have a place in combat so even if it is not THE PROBLEM, it is the blocking issue.

Jon

Jon is right,
The warrior is easily countered with the right class and access to poison

To solve your issue, the active does have to be better in comparison, there must be a tradeoff.

people think about this game in terms of numbers now and the passive benefits heal outweigh the active heal benefits.

(392X20 = 7840)
Thats too high heal over time compared to the active for me to want to use the active

I was thinking protection but then you are playing damage mitigation which is a similar play style to Defiant Stance.

Then I thought CC, how about make that 1.25 Sec cast time and turn it into a CD in which if your opponent attacks you, he is weakened / CC

Even if its just heal self and apply weakness to target foe, I would like that. Then they are forced to save burst and mess up their rotation.

To pose a question to Engineer’s. Why would you want it to be condi removal?

I would take advantage of the condi burst knowing it would be lethal and continue attacking. Its not like my opponent can stop the condi ticks to save their skin like they can stop attacking.

I think what it needs is to reign in the risk / reward a little bit and make it easier to obtain the reward.

Reduce in the lethal damage heal. and Lower the cast time so that Engi can feel AED is more reliable.

What the ranger really needs is another 1H weapon on main hand that would allow for hard CC on the enemy which in turn would allow for pets to more reliably hit them.

Sword was suppose to be this with cripple but I understand the frustrations behind the weapon.

I would seriously consider Mace a good choice for this.

One can be a chain skill which apply something nice on the 3rd hit, perhaps a condition to slow the enemy down to help the pet or a second of pet quickness which you could time for more reliable F2 / damage.
2 can be a hard CC
and 3 can be a throw mace for soft CC

Weapons need further integration to assist pet to hit opponents, It is the least we should get if AI will not be fixed.

Link edited, Thank you for pointing that out, I switch to axe when I wvw ( I like it there too because its power and has stability) but for SpvP I use sword/horn and GS for running to point to point.

Trust me on this, I am doing 1K attacks quickly and easily when enlarged and in a good fight I’ll hit it twice and overwhelm my opponent with direct damage over time. The 15 in skirmishing also synchronize well with +5% damage while under a boon.

GS is used for mobility, heal interrupts, maul but that’s about it, stay in S/W for the majority of the fight.

As for the traits in WS, I’m okay without a nerfed Natural Vigor since I have built in evades on weapons, I can live without empathetic bond with Sig of Renewal and Melandru runes. I feel I can cover those bases, still remain quite survivable due to very high HP and medium toughness, while spending points elsewhere to improve my Power direct damage.

I have about a 65% win % in solo tourney’s which I think is pretty good considering in solo que you can run into leavers and a bad teammate here and there etc…..and I’m top 2 player on my team 90% of the time. might be the way I play, might be the build, might be that I am catching people off guard

Not saying that its better than the previous meta builds but for me it seems up to par with them and uses S/H like you want.

Try this,

Uses a lot of the new traits and S/H

I have been using for tourneys and it is surprisingly performing. You really do a lot of damage when enlarged.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBMhFakoqvuwSxi1OQseQo9PI+hE5ZgqQdxUlIB-TsAA2CvIMSZkzIjRSjsGNoYBxsAA

Link edited

Substance E.4852:

It sounds good on paper but how useful is this really going to be? You have to sacrifice all the armor, condition damage, and traits that come with wilderness to get this to work which means you are effectively pigeonholed into a power build with much less armor than necessary and no off hand or martial training to make our weapons work at peak efficiency.

Well its not a condi build,
And its by NO means a dueling build, it was made for wvw
And I’m using great sword
And my toughness comes from my gear
So I see no problem,

I just wanted to know if enlargement is going to be a stun breaker of if they will bring along some sort of cast time.

I’m designing a new build for ranger zerging around this patch
The traits are currently
30/15/0/25/0
Which I’m loving as I feel a lot of trait synergy

I had the idea that With enlargement and sig of beast I wouldn’t need an active stun breaker I would just use stability to prevent.

My question is in order for me to take this risk I want a backup I case of a boon rip
Is enlargement going to be a stun breaker when I hit 25% due to the stability?
They won’t integrate the cast time will they?