Views of a New Ranger/Soulbeast...

Well. The thing i said wouldnt happen. Happened. Didnt think Anet would actually manage to make a Ranger spec that would make me want to play Ranger, but they managed it. So well done on that. I am really enjoying Soul beast. I do however find a few things a little odd/disappointing. Now i could be wrong with some of this, so if thats the case feel free to point them out. I have had a ranger for like 2 days at this point lol

Opinions:1) Pets - I mained and LOVED my Hunter in World of Warcraft (madness i know. Never mention the enemy...) and the BIGGEST thing that i loved about Hunter. The pets. Not just having the cool skins, not just the cool abilities but also the hunt. This improved in later expansions making some of them require tactics. Work and some times help to obtain. Here though, its a little disappointing. Go up to target. Press one button. Done. Rather boring and think something better could have been done.

2) Pet Visuals. Snoozefest. So many boring designs. Just rather disappointed with how plain and boring most of the pets are. Would have been cool to see some Rare and even very rare skins that are a real challenge to earn. This of course wouldnt do anything to actual gameplay (maybe add to Role play for some!?) but being able to hunt down cool skins and special pets with different visual effects would have been awesome!

Soulbeast:

Dagger: I have to say, i am loving this weapon. Does it hit like a truck? No but its obviously not meant to. to me its a hybrid weapon and thats how i run it with Dagger OH mostly because Dual daggers look cool no matter what class you are. After starting with my first ever character (ele) i was a little worried as the sword on Weaver is DREADFUL so was kinda expecting most to have dreadful new weapons but shocked that i really like this one!

Beastmode: Great idea and partly what made me make a Ranger as a LOT of the pets i dont like. I am however kinda disappointed in its current state, it really feels like it needs that little bit more. Not sure if i am playing it right though there shouldn't be a defined way to play it. It shouldn't be you HAVE to play it like X to get full benefit or anything. If someone wants to stay in Soulbeast for a while, they shouldn't be punished for doing so and i get that feeling with its current state. It feels like you are punished for playing how you want to play.

It needs a little more than just a minor stat boast. The supportive role (and pets!) need work as well. the bonus you get is USELESS! if you are a solo player. It should have been a Healing Power bonus instead. Talking of which. Why do the SUPPORT pets have no healing power? Even the pet that does healing and gives you healing abilities have no healing power BUT s POWER pet (smokescale) does!? Why!?

Stances: Pretty bad is putting it nicely for some of them, This is where the design of Signets would have been AWESOME. Having them be buffed/different depending on Your pet type when in Soulbeast would have been awesome! They are just overall lacking, boring and not very fun to use.

Bear Stance: Plain heal. Decent. Solid is really all you can say. Its just a little on the boring side.Dolyak Stance: Again, decent nothing exciting. Not too strong. Not too weak but not really enough to say "wow" or anythingVulture Stance: Solid. Though not more useful to me at least when someone is under 50% health.Griffon Stance: Boring as anything, BIG cool down down for such a little effectMoa Stance: Boon spam. Yay!...One Wolf Pack: Boring. Boring. Boring

There are ways i would personally change them. Just ways i would.

Bear stance: While its boring i would say its in an okay spot. Not too strong and not too weak.Dolyak Stance: Its a little boring but not sure how to improve it. Maybe Rather than preventing movmeent conditions. If it applied 3seconds Resistance when you get applied by a Movement condition (during its active use) on say a 3second cool down?Griffon Stance: Reduce the cool down! and make it so that you get 100endurance when procedVulture Stance: Remove the 50% health part. Make it just Poison and that would be great for me.Moa Stance: Again not sure how to improve this, remove the boon increase part for a start (not everyone is a boon bot!) and add something else.One Wolf Pack: Not sure how to change this but i think having it so it works different In Beastmode would be cool. Make it so that you summon 2 Versions of your current pet for 10seconds. They have 50% of the stats of the original. You also keep your beastmode buff. Outside Beastmode. Maybe the same effect but summons a single pet for the same 10seconds. Same stats as your current pet. Increase cool down to like 75seconds

Traits: Some good. Some bad. All GM dreadful. My biggest problem with the traits is the GM traits. They are just plain, boring and not really worthy of being called GM traits.

Eternal Bond: Its nice they reduced the cool down (i swear it was 90 seconds!) but its not enough, When you look at the Berserker trait that was in Master tier, that healed for more and had a lower cool down. Still needs a buff. Maybe add something kinda similar to Emphatic Bond to it. Something like 20% (would like more, but people would say its too much) of the Condition Damage you take is transferred to your pet instead.

Leader of the Pack: Meh for groups, over classes offer MUCH better. Useless for solo. At the very least, think this should decrease the cool down of stance skills by 20% what i would liek to see also is something added so that the effects are buffed while used in Beastmode. my idea would be More condis removed per a tick for the heal, Double stacks of Poison for Vulture not sure for the others.

Oppressive Superiority: Woeful. Lazy and so very boring! Would like this trait totally replaced with something engaging rather than just a passive damage buff at the start of the fight (assuming that you start it) i guess decent for PvE and raids, not so much elsewhere :/

It sounds like you get bored easy.

@DresdenAllblack.1249 said:It sounds like you get bored easy.

Bored? Not at all. Im loving Soulbeast. Likely to become my main as Anet hates Ele/Weaver and doesnt want them to to have build options outside Water. I do however think some things could be improved. The same could be said for most classes and i could be wrong on some things,. like further testing it does seem like the 25% out going healing does affect the ranger which is nice.

Though any tips on what are good pets for different weapon sets? Currently using Jacaranda when using Longbow and swapping to Iboga when im in melee with Dagger/Dagger. Any pets that suit different situations? I cant seem to find any pets that have auto attacks that are ranged for example