Why can't we have the archetype skills as grandmaster instead linked to pets (Soulbeast)

Soulbeast could have as GM traits the skills archetype Worldly Impact, Spiritual reprieve and Unflinching Fortitude which would better than the actual setup. Nobody uses primal cry anyway may as well be removed.It would make the Beast abilities in soulbeast mode better because you could pick the skill and the pet you want.

Before somebody says something about the "but then i won't know which f3 the ranger has equipped" think the rest of the skills from the rest of the classes aren't shown either.

What do you think?

I don't see a compelling reason tbh and it sure doesn't make any sense theme-wise. I suspect it's a ""balance change"" aimed at literally a single combination you want to use. Which one is it? Smokescale with stunbreak, because hard cc and channeled damaging evade isn't versatile enough? :D

Nooooo not Primal Cry I've been having such a fun time running around a Condi/Support Soulbeast build that utilizes moas and the NM line for a nifty 3 heal build. I usually run White moa, and it's quite nice to get off a heal AND get a good chunk of damage onto whatever or whoever I'm fighting as well.

The stance share from Leader of the Pack is extremely useful in many cases. Dolyak stance is a very handy stunbreak and the drawn out stab when you are running something with increased boon uptime can be most annoying to anyone who can't rip it off you and your group if you are playing either competitive modes. This is the only trait in the Soulbeast line that impacts allies and it's kind of sad, but I suppose it makes sense. Soulbeast wasn't made in mind to be a support spec but it does still need something that helps to buff your teammates somehow.

I feel like a few pets should have the Archetypes changed. Juvie Boar comes to mind, would make better sense to have it's type be Ferocious as opposed to Versatile. But I feel like the whole concept of pet Archetypes goes with the gameplay and how you need to adapt to certain situations. Some pets are going to be more useful in different scenarios and the Archetype skills can be buffed by other Ranger traitlines. Certain pets literally carry particular builds and would not work without them.

There is a lot i disagree with your opinion.

@butt joint.3982 said:Nooooo not Primal Cry I've been having such a fun time running around a Condi/Support Soulbeast build that utilizes moas and the NM line for a nifty 3 heal build. I usually run White moa, and it's quite nice to get off a heal AND get a good chunk of damage onto whatever or whoever I'm fighting as well.Primal cry it's an skill which applies 9 bleed, is not that relevant for a condi build. Even the animation is not that great.

Anet could merge Primal Cry and Worldly Impact and make that skill to fit better with the Soulbeast hybrid theme as all damage multipliers from the traitline improves both power and condi damage.

Unflinching fortitude can be merged with Prelude Lash as otherwise you need to equip always SoS otherwise the pull can't be used to land any damage from the ranger.

Spiritual reprieve could benefit from some self condi conversions as well.

Those skills are in 40-50s CD which doesn't fit with the actual effects from them.

The stance share from Leader of the Pack is extremely useful in many cases. Dolyak stance is a very handy stunbreak and the drawn out stab when you are running something with increased boon uptime can be most annoying to anyone who can't rip it off you and your group if you are playing either competitive modes. This is the only trait in the Soulbeast line that impacts allies and it's kind of sad, but I suppose it makes sense. Soulbeast wasn't made in mind to be a support spec but it does still need something that helps to buff your teammates somehow.

The stance share is too short to be relevant in WvW although for the soulbeast those are fine. The radius is too short as well as it needs the soulbeast to close to the melee block but the worst offender is the duration is not relevant enough to be noticeable. It is better in small scale (groups of 3-4) but as soon as it get's over those numbers the stances effectiveness degrade rapidly. I posted a couple of threads with some analysis related to that while using ArcDPS. The conclusion was Leader of the Pack needs to share 100% duration.

If you ask me i would do this changes, if Leader of the Pack would share the full duration from the Soulbeast that would make the trait better for support. If you ask me the extended duration for the Soulbeast should be baseline (with a nerf to Moa's duration so it's baseline with the rest of the stances) and Leader of the pack should allow to share the 100% duration with allies.

Leader of the Pack would replace essence of speed, thus the Soulbeast would has to choose between boon self-sustain with Second Skin, Additional dps with Predator's Cunning or Support with leader of the pack.Predator's Cunning would need a buff so it triggers also when applying bleeding so it can benefit from synergy with skirmish.

Eternal Bond should be merged with Elevated Bond and Oppressive Superiority replace Furious Strength as minor so we replace that 7% when fury to depend on the HP.

I feel like a few pets should have the Archetypes changed. Juvie Boar comes to mind, would make better sense to have it's type be Ferocious as opposed to Versatile. But I feel like the whole concept of pet Archetypes goes with the gameplay and how you need to adapt to certain situations. Some pets are going to be more useful in different scenarios and the Archetype skills can be buffed by other Ranger traitlines. Certain pets literally carry particular builds and would not work without them.There are many pet's which could be used if they would have a different Archetype F3. Either way i think it is always better to have the flexibility to adapt that detail to the player liking as to allow more build flexibility.

The pull is pretty dope too. Would be a shame to miss that.

@InsaneQR.7412 said:The pull is pretty dope too. Would be a shame to miss that.Agreed but for a this pull we are missing some kind of damage mitigation. Thus the idea of merging Unflinching Fortitude (or minor version of that) with Prelude Lash so at least you get 2s of immunity while the immob last. And increase the CD to 40s. This would remove the clunkiness this skills have, and also make easier to build for them.

The condition removal in this case being for the group could easily go to Spiritual reprieve so it is better justified the 40s for the heal.

I can see why you would want that but not the need to basically sacrifice the GM traits to this end. In my opinion the change would do more harm than good.

Answering your question: because range is a pet class, their class mechanics should focus around pets.
So instead of GM traits, why not rework the pets. In gw1, you can have a healthy or a dire Moa. Let the range select the archetype of the pet in the pet panel, giving some extra stat the pets, maybe generalised the f2 skills (this way the hyena won't need to be a trash...)

btw Primal Cry do only 3 stack of bleeding (5 target so it is 15) so it like a Geomancy sigil, with lower duration, longer cast and cooldown, 9 vulnerability and more damage, but I also think it need reworks too.

Just my two cents, but Prelude Lash can be run without signet of stone--just have to time it and be good at kiting (which as a Ranger is probably a must anyway). For the topic at hand, swappable F3's would be nice so that it's not such a chore trying to find the correct pet / archetype combo.

@anduriell.6280 said:

@InsaneQR.7412 said:The pull is pretty dope too. Would be a shame to miss that.Agreed but for a this pull we are missing some kind of damage mitigation. Thus the idea of merging Unflinching Fortitude (or minor version of that) with Prelude Lash so at least you get 2s of immunity while the immob last. And increase the CD to 40s. This would remove the clunkiness this skills have, and also make easier to build for them.

Invuln plus pull could be really cool.I like the idea that GMs define abilities, but most often they augment something.Holo changes heat behaviour and daredevil dodgeroll.So there would be the necessity for a baseskill to be augmented.