Spirits rework

Would you want it to be in theory. To encourage more active play with them. In my opinion they are rather boring skills with no active play but a unique buff pulse out.

I just want active play from them. Beside the theme and some differences, are they that different from Facets ? No, they aren't. If anything, Herald is Spirits 2.0.

If they were mobile, that would be great. All the Active Effects are terrible and takes forever to land. Right now, they are just stationary totems, that's it.

We are in need for a Spirits re-haul.

change the unique buffs to boons, or to a stat increase similar to banners and make them facets like the Herald that pulse off of the ranger without an upkeep cost but a time limit and cooldown like now.

@Krispera.5087 said:I just want active play from them. Beside the theme and some differences, are they that different from Facets ? No, they aren't. If anything, Herald is Spirits 2.0.

If they were mobile, that would be great. All the Active Effects are terrible and takes forever to land. Right now, they are just stationary totems, that's it.

We are in need for a Spirits re-haul.

I have a different proposal.I actually want them to be exactly like spirit weapons just with unique buffs that last a bit and an initial skill on activate.Guardian spiritweapons now are called spirits too so both coulf have a possible rune interaction.

All spirits have 2 charges that recharge every 20s. The buff they provide last 20s, so you have to cast them back to back to keep them active.Nature's Vengeance now provides an additional charge and the spirits now splash boons out on activation.

I. E.

Sun Spirit: Send a Wisp on the targeted location to infuse it with the power of the sun punishibg enemies and blessing allies.

Enemies get blinded and burned and the allies get the sun spirit buff.

Impact area is 240 and buff area is 900.

Other possibility is to make them mantras.So you buff allies for a short duration and deal some dmg and the last charge gives a longer buff and more dmg.

I just want them to be dmg attacks no buffs. For effects only encourage passive play we got enough dmg buffs in game as its

Where is the "I like them the way they are" option ?

Just bring back moving spirits. They were dope.

@"Glider.5792" said:Where is the "I like them the way they are" option ?

Yeah! Thought I don't especially like they are, I'm not sure the OP is aware of the PvE cost of modifying the spirits. Druids mainly exist in raid for their spirits. The first and third options kill druids in PvE while the second option will most likely add effect on the active part of spirits which still won't be used.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

@"Glider.5792" said:Where is the "I like them the way they are" option ?

OP has previously stated in other posts that they want Druid to no longer be meta so I would guess that is why they didn't include a "keep them the same" option. This poll has an inherent bias for killing Druid in PvE.

As for turning spirits into attack spells, that doesn't fit with their theme in GW2 or the original GW. In GW2 they are supportive summons that provide benefits for the team, whereas in the original they would influence the environment for both enemies and allies. Turning them into Guardian's spirit weapon attacks with no buffing or effect beyond damage would be completely non thematic for nature magic.

It could be an interesting change if they retained their buffing mechanic but became spells like spirit weapons rather than summons that had an active effect along with a long lasting buff. However it could be argued this would dumb spirits down with less counter play from their current passive buffing as at least now you have to consider them being killed.

If there was some interesting change proposed I wouldn't be against it but the options in this poll seem rather simple and unnecessary. Changing them from passives takes them even further from their original implementation in GW1 than they already are but since their original form doesn't really fit GW2 ideology anyway, that may not be the worst thing anyway.

All I know is I'm completely against taking away their supportive nature, nature magic/Druid are a supportive style of magic so any nerf/buff/rework should not change that.

Need more clarifications:

1) Spirit weapon treatment as in dissapear after a single cast with charges?

2) Keep 'buffs' as in boons and current passives(eg. Frost spirit +5% dmg inc) and adding a new active?

3) Boons are not unique; makes Option 3 a straight nerf, so no thanks.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

@"Glider.5792" said:Where is the "I like them the way they are" option ?

Only depends if they keep the buffs on the first option or not.Active buffing with charges and some AoE would be nice IMO. It should be coded in such a way that you can have 100% uptime on spirits but only if you play right.

I remember having a lot of fun theorycrafting ideas for spirit reworks before. Thing is, I still enjoy the concept/idea of immobile spirits enough that I don't really want that part to change. So I suppose new active effects are the closest option for my vote.

I don't play much anymore, but I remember really liking the spirits when they moved with me in WvW. Wouldn't that invite more active play? Maybe decrease their spiritbuff-range a bit to prevent them from getting OP. And make them less susceptible for AOE but I believe that's covered already.I found it pretty neat in WvW, hanging around mid/back-line with my little zoo around me.

@Bast Bow.2958 said:I don't play much anymore, but I remember really liking the spirits when they moved with me in WvW. Wouldn't that invite more active play? Maybe decrease their spiritbuff-range a bit to prevent them from getting OP. And make them less susceptible for AOE but I believe that's covered already.I found it pretty neat in WvW, hanging around mid/back-line with my little zoo around me.

not really since you just poped the skill and then ignore them till they died with no regard of when and where to place them. i'd like spirits to get a bit of a rework but just making them move again would make them more passive if anything

maybe if you could merge a spirit into yourself like one does with beastmode pets for extra utility

@derd.6413 said:

@Bast Bow.2958 said:I don't play much anymore, but I remember really liking the spirits when they moved with me in WvW. Wouldn't that invite more active play? Maybe decrease their spiritbuff-range a bit to prevent them from getting OP. And make them less susceptible for AOE but I believe that's covered already.I found it pretty neat in WvW, hanging around mid/back-line with my little zoo around me.

Hm yes that's true. I guess it's how you define more active gameplay. In the way you state it I agree with you moving spirits is not more active gameplay. I interpreted it otherwise.

What's so hard about getting those plants inside pots, arrange them on a cart and have the pets pull them around..

@Bast Bow.2958 said:

@derd.6413 said:

@Bast Bow.2958 said:I don't play much anymore, but I remember really liking the spirits when they moved with me in WvW. Wouldn't that invite more active play? Maybe decrease their spiritbuff-range a bit to prevent them from getting OP. And make them less susceptible for AOE but I believe that's covered already.I found it pretty neat in WvW, hanging around mid/back-line with my little zoo around me.

having them move around doesn't make them more active or would you call AFK minion mancer active?

Again, no indeed it does not. Anyone else?

@derd.6413 said:having them move around doesn't make them more active or would you call AFK minion mancer active?Spirits don't attack so no point to have one in an afk build.Ranger used to have them mobile and in my opinion they should get that mechanic back.Why you may ask. In my perception the same as the ranger is useful in raids because the unique buffs the spirits bring, in pvp we need them mobile so we could benefit the same way our team when the gameplay is not static. After they could prove usefull or not but at least have the oportunity to use it.

If your spirits don't move they can be cleaved and dead in less than a second. If they move the ranger can reposition itself so it can provide the buffs to the party and also avoid the aoes (if the spirits stay close to ranger ). There are many ways this could be implemented so they are not a hog for the server or visual clutter or useless.

@anduriell.6280 said:

@"derd.6413" said:having them move around doesn't make them more active or would you call AFK minion mancer active?Spirits don't attack so no point to have one in an afk build.Ranger used to have them mobile and in my opinion they should get that mechanic back.Why you may ask. In my perception the same as the ranger is useful in raids because the unique buffs the spirits bring, in pvp we need them mobile so we could benefit the same way our team when the gameplay is not static. After they could prove usefull or not but at least have the oportunity to use it.

my point was that making something move around doesn't make it more active, not making something move around causes AFK builds.

also you want to buff the most powerful support skills in rangers skillset by removing it's one downside because "muh buffs"

@derd.6413 said:

@anduriell.6280 said:

@derd.6413 said:having them move around doesn't make them more active or would you call AFK minion mancer active?Spirits don't attack so no point to have one in an afk build.Ranger used to have them mobile and in my opinion they should get that mechanic back.Why you may ask. In my perception the same as the ranger is useful in raids because the unique buffs the spirits bring, in pvp we need them mobile so we could benefit the same way our team when the gameplay is not static. After they could prove usefull or not but at least have the oportunity to use it.

@anduriell.6280 said:

@derd.6413 said:

@anduriell.6280 said:

@derd.6413 said:having them move around doesn't make them more active or would you call AFK minion mancer active?Spirits don't attack so no point to have one in an afk build.Ranger used to have them mobile and in my opinion they should get that mechanic back.Why you may ask. In my perception the same as the ranger is useful in raids because the unique buffs the spirits bring, in pvp we need them mobile so we could benefit the same way our team when the gameplay is not static. After they could prove usefull or not but at least have the oportunity to use it.

while having spirits move around might work as part of a rework, on it's own, with spirits in it's current state, is just silly sauce.