Soulbeast is great in WvW and PvP.

And if you think it's terrible, go train.

I was terrible too. I went into PvP and WvW and got owned. Then I refined my build and asked a Guildie who's very good at fighting, and we spent an afternoon just fighting each other.

He was on a thief, didn't have proper gear set up and is mostly a PvP player, and he apparently rarely encounters a ranger with GS there. All that left him completely disadvantaged.

I won a lot of our fights, we asked about each others abilities, learned how to deal with them, adapted our fighting style to the situations. We got really good during that afternoon to a point where he was deliberately blinding my Point Blank Shot and Maul, and I was predicting his moves while he stealthed and killed him without even seeing him.

In about 30 - 40 fights he maybe only got me 2 times, but that's to be expected with the matchup and the build I'm using (Weakness, Protection, SoS and Eternal Bond denied all of his burst)

After all of that I also went into WvW to see how I would manage now that I've learned how to play soulbeast. Lots of 1v1s and even a bit of outnumbered fighting. I didn't loose the whole evening. I had one draw against a holosmith. A fight that went for 3 minutes already and I probably finally found a gap in his healing/invuln uptime so I could cc and burst him down, but someone from my server ganked so I backed off. We had a few more fights later that were inconclusive, so I'd call that a draw.

I've also heard from lots of people that soulbeast is great in zerks and a lot of fun to play there. I will try it out soon. There are longbow carry builds for PvP that eat Guards and Necros for breakfast and can use unblockable buffs to shoot Ventari Revs off their point and burst them(a little at least).

There are still some encounters that I have to try out. I want to know if I can deal with the condi pressure of a good Mirage and how I can deal with Spellbreakers.There are bugs that need to be fixed, like forcestowed pets when you die shortly after activating beastmode, or Unstoppable Union stunnbreak not working.There are imbalances that

For now though, I'm absolutely happy with my Soulbeast.

Yes, I'ma soul beast lover too, they just need to add some polish to it, and dagger needs utility it sucks balls in pvp/wvw

You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

I'm glad you are enjoying Soulbeast, but it is terrible and I don't need to train.

First, this game wasn't built on 1v1. Second, beating a guildie X times doesn't mean this spec is good. Third, judging by your post, you used LB/GS (and probably most core slot skills too)... so you'd get closer to the same results with core Ranger on that build. And if we all wanted a trip back in time, and to forego a new weapon, we all be happy to play a similar build set up that we have since launch.

In WvW we are nothing but a LB bot... All we can do is pick off randoms in zergs, and spam a few slot skills to share... that's hardly any meaningful or noticeable contribution.

The "maul" builds are hugely telegraphed 1 trick ponies. Try roaming and standing toe to toe with any decent player using a decent melee build, and watch yourself get shredded most of the time.

Raids... with all the melee hate, there are better options for the team. Also, your slot skill buffs are hardly a contribution either, comparatively.

The Soulbeast is nothing but a glorified 2012 ranger build, sans pet if you choose. Boring, and produces a marginal improvement. Daggers and slot skills are awful, and most effort went to beast skills... hardly gameplay changing or inspiring.

Thief is not made for 1v1's in PvP, so its not so good to base your conlusions on that. Besides, I don't have the feeling that Soulbeast can do anything that other classes can't do in PvP. We have to wait it out a little more I guess. Maybe they can 1v1 decently vs guards and necros, but then you gotta use a dmg amulet, which makes it hard for you to hold nodes. I certainly wouldnt say that soulbeast is ''great'' in PvP already.

I destroy every Soulbeast is see as a Druid, whether they are power or condis, without much effort. In PvP mind you. I don't really care about WvW, you can make anything work there with the massive stat overbloat. I also have waaay better match ups as Druid than as a Soulbeast, it's no contest.

I've stuck with druid as well. Soulbeast doesn't really add anything and is severely lacking in synergy.

@Khenzy.9348 said:I destroy every Soulbeast is see as a Druid, whether they are power or condis, without much effort. In PvP mind you. I don't really care about WvW, you can make anything work there with the massive stat overbloat. I also have waaay better match ups as Druid than as a Soulbeast, it's no contest.

This. I'm only a decent druid (gold 3), but my druid has eaten alive every single soulbeast she's met - twice over. I might change my mind if I start meeting soulbeasts that I can't take down.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

I believe I also mention a going into WvW for the whole evening and not losing once.

@Swagger.1459 said:I'm glad you are enjoying Soulbeast, but it is terrible and I don't need to train.

First, this game wasn't built on 1v1. Second, beating a guildie X times doesn't mean this spec is good. Third, judging by your post, you used LB/GS (and probably most core slot skills too)... so you'd get closer to the same results with core Ranger on that build. And if we all wanted a trip back in time, and to forego a new weapon, we all be happy to play a similar build set up that we have since launch.

In WvW we are nothing but a LB bot... All we can do is pick off randoms in zergs, and spam a few slot skills to share... that's hardly any meaningful or noticeable contribution.

The "maul" builds are hugely telegraphed 1 trick ponies. Try roaming and standing toe to toe with any decent player using a decent melee build, and watch yourself get shredded most of the time.

Raids... with all the melee hate, there are better options for the team. Also, your slot skill buffs are hardly a contribution either, comparatively.

The Soulbeast is nothing but a glorified 2012 ranger build, sans pet if you choose. Boring, and produces a marginal improvement. Daggers and slot skills are awful, and most effort went to beast skills... hardly gameplay changing or inspiring.

After all of that I also went into WvW to see how I would manage now that I've learned how to play soulbeast. Lots of 1v1s and even a bit of outnumbered fighting. I didn't loose the whole evening. I had one draw against a holosmith. A fight that went for 3 minutes already and I probably finally found a gap in his healing/invuln uptime so I could cc and burst him down, but someone from my server ganked so I backed off. We had a few more fights later that were inconclusive, so I'd call that a draw.

I wish people would read the whole post.

Today I've been roaming all day too and played PvP. Not a single death unless I was outnumbered.

I find this pet system to be kind of awkward. I mean i haven't find any kind of reason to change pet in combat. You mainly just select pet before fight and use that one. You can't use dmg pet and change condi removal pet when you get condi bomb. Class would be much more interesting if you could change pet in beast mode and maybe even use combos. Like use that smoke scale smoke assault and change pet while it channeling and use other pet skill instantly after smoke assault ends.

@Junkpile.7439 said:I find this pet system to be kind of awkward. I mean i haven't find any kind of reason to change pet in combat. You mainly just select pet before fight and use that one. You can't use dmg pet and change condi removal pet when you get condi bomb.

Well you can, Even its not going to save you from a bomb. The Plant one removes 2 condis, Heals and grants regen every 20seconds and a bigger heal and resistance every 40seconds. Again. Not going to save you from Condi bombs though, but do have other skills and such that can also be used. I do wish we could Pet swap inside Beastmode, as the skills are behind 2 different cool downs and ICDs - Gotta swap pet, then use Beastmode and if you have already swapped pet recently, gotta wait, if you have been in beastmode recently gotta wait some more :(

@Ranys.4028 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

And that formed your opinion of it in WvW, I was referring to PvP. I mean, even though you spent a whole evening in WvW, it's not nearly enough time to generate an informed opinion since you'd have such a small sample size of players to vs.

I believe Soulbeast has promise, however if you look at the changed all other classes got, teh flavor with Ranger wasn't as...spicy. Pretty much all other classes got overhauls where Soulbeast feels like it is still...just a Ranger. Granted Ranger was one of my loves early (first one I got my champion titles in PvP before there was "Meta" and I was using a fun build I havent seen elsewhere at the time).

I have a soulbeast so I will keep at it, but I have a feeling i need more new pets to fully enjoy it as the stances alone are not a spicy flavor it needs.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Ranys.4028 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

Isn't your opinion based on limited experience too?

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Ranys.4028 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

I don't form an opinion until the experience is sufficient. I can form opinions about other things I have no experience with based upon evidence though. At this point, I cannot generate an informed opinion on it.

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Ranys.4028 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

Extrapolate some educated and more than likely accurate guesses though.

• Gets owned on Ranger; a core class that even pre-HoT was considered one of the best duelists in the game; low skill player that lacks game knowledge and build understanding.
• Thief friend doesn't know the first thing about thief and doesn't even run efficient setups; low skill player that lacks game knowledge and build understanding.
• Duel for long period of time without outside sources being introduced; skill plateau, fighting one person at one skill level, introduces game mechanics, and thief doesn't try to run other dueling or counter specs, overall maybe a millimeter of progress made
• goes into WvW and plays/roams; people are upleveled, running PvE builds, and no skill based "matchmaking;" inconsistent environment and no metric to measure effectiveness with and the likelihood of a low skill, poorly built, poorly geared character is high in WvW in a lull, worse after an expac release.

Who knows, I could be wrong, this guy could be the Helseth of Rangers. But based on the rating distribution of PvP players and coupled with the impressions of Soulbeast here being "oddly" in disagreement with everybody at that upper end of the measurable skill system, we're probably talking a level of play where just dodging and knowing how skills work will win you every fight, no traits or elite specs necessary.

But I'm sure Soulbeast is good wherever this gameplay is occurring, just like everything else, coherent or otherwise.

@jcbroe.4329 said:

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Ranys.4028 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

• Gets owned on Ranger; a core class that even pre-HoT was considered one of the best duelists in the game; low skill player that lacks game knowledge and build understanding.
• Thief friend doesn't know the first thing about thief and doesn't even run efficient setups; low skill player that lacks game knowledge and build understanding.
• Duel for long period of time without outside sources being introduced; skill plateau, fighting one person at one skill level, introduces game mechanics, and thief doesn't try to run other dueling or counter specs, overall maybe a millimeter of progress made
• goes into WvW and plays/roams; people are upleveled, running PvE builds, and no skill based "matchmaking;" inconsistent environment and no metric to measure effectiveness with and the likelihood of a low skill, poorly built, poorly geared character is high in WvW in a lull, worse after an expac release.

Well said, well said. +1

/claps

@Khenzy.9348 said:I destroy every Soulbeast is see as a Druid, whether they are power or condis, without much effort. In PvP mind you. I don't really care about WvW, you can make anything work there with the massive stat overbloat. I also have waaay better match ups as Druid than as a Soulbeast, it's no contest.

It's funny you say that. I've had a similar experience as the OP, in that soul beast is, well, a beast! I played base ranger up til this week (don't like druid) But the one thing I really struggle with is druids. I can't figure out why quite yet but compared to everything else, druids gave me fits.

@Norseman.4280 said:

@Khenzy.9348 said:I destroy every Soulbeast is see as a Druid, whether they are power or condis, without much effort. In PvP mind you. I don't really care about WvW, you can make anything work there with the massive stat overbloat. I also have waaay better match ups as Druid than as a Soulbeast, it's no contest.

The massive sustain, ability to disengage, stealth & condi removal maybe? Plus, they know Ranger, which is why they are playing it and the best way to learn how to play against a class is play that class :)

@jcbroe.4329 said:

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Ranys.4028 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

Howdareyousir!

I am offended.

ROM WILL HEAR ABOUT THIS!

@Norseman.4280 said:

@Khenzy.9348 said:I destroy every Soulbeast is see as a Druid, whether they are power or condis, without much effort. In PvP mind you. I don't really care about WvW, you can make anything work there with the massive stat overbloat. I also have waaay better match ups as Druid than as a Soulbeast, it's no contest.

Where are you playing? WvW?

PvP? What Rank?

The build you linked is druid build...In wvw, the power soulbeast can do a lot of burst damage, but survivalbility is just not good. The spellbreaker will be your nightmare.

@jcbroe.4329 said:

@Arheundel.6451 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:

@Ranys.4028 said:

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:You are basing your opinion that it's a great spec in PvP on 30-40 1v1s with a thief?

• Gets owned on Ranger; a core class that even pre-HoT was considered one of the best duelists in the game; low skill player that lacks game knowledge and build understanding.
• Thief friend doesn't know the first thing about thief and doesn't even run efficient setups; low skill player that lacks game knowledge and build understanding.
• Duel for long period of time without outside sources being introduced; skill plateau, fighting one person at one skill level, introduces game mechanics, and thief doesn't try to run other dueling or counter specs, overall maybe a millimeter of progress made
• goes into WvW and plays/roams; people are upleveled, running PvE builds, and no skill based "matchmaking;" inconsistent environment and no metric to measure effectiveness with and the likelihood of a low skill, poorly built, poorly geared character is high in WvW in a lull, worse after an expac release.

Upper end of measurable skill system? Unless you win some kind of tournament at world level.....I don't see any

im glad that you enjoy soulbeast , me personally hate it