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Thoughts on Sword Skill Changes


Mr Greggles.5908

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Does anyone know exactly why they made the change to MH Sword for ranger? I understand the combination on Hornet's Sting and Monarch's Leap wasn't the easiest thing to get used to performing for movement purposes, but the change just doesn't make sense to me. In what world would you want a dodge like Serpent's Strike after a leap?

Only 2 cases come to mind as to why they made the change:

1) The MH sword was heavily loaded with dodge skills (both Hornet's Sting and Serpent's Strike)2) Complaints about Hornet's Sting + Monarch's Leap combo being difficult to perform

I've tried it out myself briefly in Fractals and it is more clunky now than before. From my 7+ year understanding of the class and game play in general with ~200-300ms ping, the marriage of the leap -> dodge in that order makes for a clunky experience. Any skill that places you mid-air for a fraction of a second (all leaps) (this is exacerbated with lag) with no mid-air casting capabilities is a recipe for disaster in my opinion.

I don't play often anymore since the game has practically abandoned veteran players or those that seek challenge, but I'd like to get other ranger's opinions on the change.

Thanks guys.

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@"Swagger.1459" said:Sword was reworked to be a better in-combat weapon, that now offers more direct character control. It also has more utility if you hit the target you’re fighting. It was a pretty ingenious rework.

The “ping” issue is your issue, not one with the sword.

I think the matter of whether it's better or not is debatable. Not sure what you mean by "has more utility if you hit the target you're fighting", as there isn't a bonus for actually hitting with the skill.

While it gives you more direct access to the leap, it sacrifices on direct access to a dodge, which I would argue is far more important in a combat scenario. Take PvE as an example, let's say at the raid boss Gorseval. If you wanted to dodge his slam, you could either dodge normally, or previously, you would do Serpent's Strike, maintaining dps and tempo. Now, if you wish to use Serpent's Strike for the same purpose, you have to prepare it beforehand, which will sacrifice some dps.

My ping situation does not influence my opinion on the fundamental flaws that come with the game not allowing mid-air casting. I was simply stating it to explain why it can become a much larger issue to those with higher ping (if you have low ping, good for you).

If you could explain in what combat scenarios that it does stand out above the previous way in which it worked, I might be persuaded to agree with you. But at the moment, I don't think it was ingenious at all, quite the opposite.

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@Mr Greggles.5908 said:

@"Swagger.1459" said:Sword was reworked to be a better in-combat weapon, that now offers more direct character control. It also has more utility if you hit the target you’re fighting. It was a pretty ingenious rework.

The “ping” issue is your issue, not one with the sword.

I think the matter of whether it's better or not is debatable. Not sure what you mean by "has more utility if you hit the target you're fighting", as there isn't a bonus for actually hitting with the skill.

While it gives you more direct access to the leap, it sacrifices on direct access to a dodge, which I would argue is far more important in a combat scenario. Take PvE as an example, let's say at the raid boss Gorseval. If you wanted to dodge his slam, you could either dodge normally, or previously, you would do Serpent's Strike, maintaining dps and tempo. Now, if you wish to use Serpent's Strike for the same purpose, you have to prepare it beforehand, which will sacrifice some dps.

My ping situation does not influence my opinion on the fundamental flaws that come with the game not allowing mid-air casting. I was simply stating it to explain why it can become a much larger issue to those with higher ping (if you have low ping, good for you).

If you could explain in what combat scenarios that it does stand out above the previous way in which it worked, I might be persuaded to agree with you. But at the moment, I don't think it was ingenious at all, quite the opposite.

Use it more across the game. Go get into some melee fights against other players in spvp and wvw. Discover the improvements yourself.

Again, the ping problem is on your end, not with the sword itself. And if movement with high ping is a problem, then play Necro, which is the least mobile profession. Probably work better for you overall.

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Tbh I never understood the idea of putting a leap after a backwards evade.

Most other leap attacks are default.. a fast way into combat with an ambush attack so to say..Backwards evades are supposed to be the skill you use to break away from melee combat.. give you time to heal, buff or change to ranged tactics.

Ranger sword got screwed over by this combination of rollback then leap in again swordplay if you ask me, I never cared for Sword skill 2 because of this backwards skill combo.

It's a little strange getting used to the new setup i'll admit that.. but overall I find it far superior to the original one, specially since you can combo skill 2's into 3 and back into 2 again as Hornet's sting recharges Monarch's Leap.

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@Teratus.2859 said:Tbh I never understood the idea of putting a leap after a backwards evade.

Most other leap attacks are default.. a fast way into combat with an ambush attack so to say..Backwards evades are supposed to be the skill you use to break away from melee combat.. give you time to heal, buff or change to ranged tactics.

Ranger sword got screwed over by this combination of rollback then leap in again swordplay if you ask me, I never cared for Sword skill 2 because of this backwards skill combo.

It's a little strange getting used to the new setup i'll admit that.. but overall I find it far superior to the original one, specially since you can combo skill 2's into 3 and back into 2 again as Hornet's sting recharges Monarch's Leap.

Thank you for the constructive feedback Teratus. I overlooked the Hornet's Sting recharge on Monarch's Leap, not that I use Hornet's Sting an awful lot (and I don't think a lot of people would be able to hit with it anyway in high level play (at least beneficially)).

I too never understood the Monarch's Leap after the Hornet's Sting design choice, but it's one that I've grown quite used to over the years. I still think it's a shame that Serpent's Strike is now hidden behind Monarch's Leap, as I would argue it's the best skill out of the three. In fact, I would be so bold as to say that most would prefer [2] to be Monarch's Leap, [3] to be Serpent's Strike and Hornet's Sting to be deleted from the game, lol. For skill preservation though, the current combination seems to be the only one that fits well, other than the prior.

For those that are arguing that it now has more mobility, you are simply wrong. Ooc (or without hitting targets, which btw slow you down) the cooldowns are longer, which fundamentally decreases mobility. In a combat scenario, sure it may be higher, but only if you land a hit with Hornet's Sting (which is typically a death sentence if you try it on high skill players). I point these flaws out because I understand the weapon intimately over many years of gameplay both in PvE and PvP.

@Swagger.1459 said:Again, the ping problem is on your end, not with the sword itself. And if movement with high ping is a problem, then play Necro, which is the least mobile profession. Probably work better for you overall.

Thanks for stating the obvious about the ping problem being on my end. If you don't understand my point about ping effecting fundamental combat design choices, then you're beyond hope. I'm a ranger main, and also a single character player (I don't like making alts), so telling me to play a different class is certainly not constructive mate.

@anduriell.6280 said:The changes to sword MH are good.You have more mobility now and is easier to access it.I don't see any reason for all this whining.

Discussing a skill design change is not whining. And if it is, what does the forum exist for other than whining then?

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@Mr Greggles.5908 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:Tbh I never understood the idea of putting a leap after a backwards evade.

Most other leap attacks are default.. a fast way into combat with an ambush attack so to say..Backwards evades are supposed to be the skill you use to break away from melee combat.. give you time to heal, buff or change to ranged tactics.

Ranger sword got screwed over by this combination of rollback then leap in again swordplay if you ask me, I never cared for Sword skill 2 because of this backwards skill combo.

It's a little strange getting used to the new setup i'll admit that.. but overall I find it far superior to the original one, specially since you can combo skill 2's into 3 and back into 2 again as Hornet's sting recharges Monarch's Leap.

Thank you for the constructive feedback Teratus. I overlooked the Hornet's Sting recharge on Monarch's Leap, not that I use Hornet's Sting an awful lot (and I don't think a lot of people would be able to hit with it anyway in high level play (at least beneficially)).

I too never understood the Monarch's Leap after the Hornet's Sting design choice, but it's one that I've grown quite used to over the years. I still think it's a shame that Serpent's Strike is now hidden behind Monarch's Leap, as I would argue it's the best skill out of the three. In fact, I would be so bold as to say that most would prefer [2] to be Monarch's Leap, [3] to be Serpent's Strike and Hornet's Sting to be deleted from the game, lol. For skill preservation though, the current combination seems to be the only one that fits well, other than the prior.

For those that are arguing that it now has
more mobility
, you are simply
wrong
. Ooc (or without hitting targets, which btw slow you down) the cooldowns are longer, which fundamentally decreases mobility. In a combat scenario,
sure
it may be higher, but only
if you land a hit with Hornet's Sting
(which is typically a death sentence if you try it on high skill players). I point these flaws out because I understand the weapon intimately over many years of gameplay both in PvE and PvP.

Np, I too would prefer Serpent's strike to be it's own skill 3 as well like it used to be, however I personally do get a lot of use from Hornet strike as I main an Archer with a Sword/Warhorn backup weapon and having that backwards evade roll as a weapon skill saves me from having to waste a utility slot on something like lightning reflex's.

Rather than remove Hornet's sting entirely as you suggested, I'd rather have it as a secondary skill to Serpent's strike and Monarch's leap becomes a single skill with no secondary.Sword would be perfect if it were setup like that imo.. probably a bit too perfect lol

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@Teratus.2859 said:Rather than remove Hornet's sting entirely as you suggested, I'd rather have it as a secondary skill to Serpent's strike and Monarch's leap becomes a single skill with no secondary.Sword would be perfect if it were setup like that imo.. probably a bit too perfect lol

It was kind of a joke to say to delete it. I was also thinking of that as an alternative as I would prefer not to remove Hornet's Sting. I agree 100% with everything you've said so far. We can dream for a perfect world right?

@NorthernRedStar.3054 said:Gating a skill like Serpent's Strike like that is a bad design choice. Has any other class had a similar design decision made? Plus, Hornet's Sting is indeed the clumsiest, laggiest, worst in-combat skill ever made, and barely offers any mobility either due to animation delays.

Glad someone agrees with me, lol. It is a little cool using it back-to-back with Lightning Reflexes though, you gotta admit. I don't think so, but I'm not well versed in the other classes nowadays.

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@Mr Greggles.5908 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:Tbh I never understood the idea of putting a leap after a backwards evade.

Most other leap attacks are default.. a fast way into combat with an ambush attack so to say..Backwards evades are supposed to be the skill you use to break away from melee combat.. give you time to heal, buff or change to ranged tactics.

Ranger sword got screwed over by this combination of rollback then leap in again swordplay if you ask me, I never cared for Sword skill 2 because of this backwards skill combo.

It's a little strange getting used to the new setup i'll admit that.. but overall I find it far superior to the original one, specially since you can combo skill 2's into 3 and back into 2 again as Hornet's sting recharges Monarch's Leap.

Thank you for the constructive feedback Teratus. I overlooked the Hornet's Sting recharge on Monarch's Leap, not that I use Hornet's Sting an awful lot (and I don't think a lot of people would be able to hit with it anyway in high level play (at least beneficially)).

I too never understood the Monarch's Leap after the Hornet's Sting design choice, but it's one that I've grown quite used to over the years. I still think it's a shame that Serpent's Strike is now hidden behind Monarch's Leap, as I would argue it's the best skill out of the three. In fact, I would be so bold as to say that most would prefer [2] to be Monarch's Leap, [3] to be Serpent's Strike and Hornet's Sting to be deleted from the game, lol. For skill preservation though, the current combination seems to be the only one that fits well, other than the prior.

For those that are arguing that it now has
more mobility
, you are simply
wrong
. Ooc (or without hitting targets, which btw slow you down) the cooldowns are longer, which fundamentally decreases mobility. In a combat scenario,
sure
it may be higher, but only
if you land a hit with Hornet's Sting
(which is typically a death sentence if you try it on high skill players). I point these flaws out because I understand the weapon intimately over many years of gameplay both in PvE and PvP.

@Swagger.1459 said:Again, the ping problem is on your end, not with the sword itself. And if movement with high ping is a problem, then play Necro, which is the least mobile profession. Probably work better for you overall.

Thanks for stating the obvious about the ping problem being on my end. If you don't understand my point about ping effecting fundamental combat design choices, then you're beyond hope. I'm a ranger main, and also a single character player (I don't like making alts), so telling me to play a different class is certainly not constructive mate.

The changes to sword MH are good.
You have more mobility now and is easier to access it.I don't see any reason for all this whining.

Discussing a skill design change is not whining. And if it is, what does the forum exist for other than whining then?

That’s why I told you to use it. You weren’t even aware that skill 2 was refreshed by a hit with 3. And I’m using it just fine, and it’s a better combat weapon, but here you are now complaining about its “ooc” function. Do we now start judging all weapon designs based off of their out of combat functions?

I was stating a fact. If you have high ping and leaps, jumps, ports... are a problem, then roll a necro. But don’t complain about a skill design because you have ping issues. And the sword skills didn’t change, just the order of skills, but I don’t remember a post complaining about sword and ping before from you, unless I missed something?

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As a ranger player 99% of the time since day 1, I used to like sword. But in the current state of the game, it has only minor uses in PvP and practically no uses in PvE. Main hand dagger will outshine sword's dps by a fair margin in PvE, and greatsword has a lot more advantages in PvP. I keep trying to use sword, but it's still way behind other weapons.

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@anduriell.6280 said:Actually the order is better now and guarantee better mobility off combat.The only issue i see with the sword are the offhand weapons, they all are pretty bad with no real utility/dps .

I dunno, I quite like some of them.Warhorn is my preference on my main build for damage, comboin Barrage, Rapid fire and Hunters call can be pretty nice and Call of the Wild aint bad either.Dagger is on the weaker side true but it does give you another dodge if you're going for a high evade Ranger.. I quite enjoyed that playstyle myself before the Greatsword auto changes.Torch is fine if you're into a condi Rangers though you've got limited main hand condi weapons, specially if you don't run Soulbeast.Axe is ok too, Pull and multi hit projectile block

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@Teratus.2859 said:

@anduriell.6280 said:Actually the order is better now and guarantee better mobility off combat.The only issue i see with the sword are the offhand weapons, they all are pretty bad with no real utility/dps .

I dunno, I quite like some of them.Warhorn is my preference on my main build for damage, comboin Barrage, Rapid fire and Hunters call can be pretty nice and Call of the Wild aint bad either.Dagger is on the weaker side true but it does give you another dodge if you're going for a high evade Ranger.. I quite enjoyed that playstyle myself before the Greatsword auto changes.Torch is fine if you're into a condi Rangers though you've got limited main hand condi weapons, specially if you don't run Soulbeast.Axe is ok too, Pull and multi hit projectile block

Although i agree with your categorization let me point out IMO what is lacking in the offhand weapons:

  • Warhorn needs more targets in the #4 and be a blast finisher, same as warrior one. IMO I would just apply the Madking runes 6th effect to enemies around the target, should be easy enough to copy the functionality. As a fun mechanic even it could consider the target as origin of the attacks, so any effects like retaliation or frost aura from the additional targets could impact negatively the origin. Warhorn could be a support \ ranged AoE weapon.

  • Dagger is still very weak, the damage to #4 it is still a wet noodle although better, the extra evade does nothing because you don't move. You can say the same complains with that skill as with the mirage's dodge. You don't move from the AoE you end up eating part of the damage usually the worst of it which is the end channell. IMO Dagger needs to add mobility to #5 teleport as something like justice intervention from guards. #4 should apply some daze\stun at least if it hits. Dagger could be a duel weapons designed for 1v1 combat.

  • Torch lacks condi damage. Something like make all ranger's projectiles to have a 100% chance to combo would aleviate that, as you could use axe\torch or swap to bow and get advantage of the fire field. With the actual 20% it is not enough. Torch would be a dps weapon for condi builds.

  • Axe#4 is too narrow and too Fast to have any actual control over the skill. Think of it as Nightmare difficulty mode for the chrono's shield 'tides of time'. It works the same way, if the AoE would be wider so it's easier to hit running enemies it would be better. Axe#5 needs to be mobile, all the pressure is lost when the ranger can't follow the target or move with the allies. Just think that skill would be actually attractive for other uses than cleave if it could be used something like the engi magnetic shield. Also needs to have 5 target cap. And axe could become this way a dps weapon for power variants.

Most of those changes are reusing actual mechanics already present in the game, it would make the off hand weapons actually useful and with their roles pretty defined and easy to understand. Which would turn their use rewarding.

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@Swagger.1459 said:That’s why I told you to use it. You weren’t even aware that skill 2 was refreshed by a hit with 3. And I’m using it just fine, and it’s a better combat weapon, but here you are now complaining about its “ooc” function. Do we now start judging all weapon designs based off of their out of combat functions?

I was stating a fact. If you have high ping and leaps, jumps, ports... are a problem, then roll a necro. But don’t complain about a skill design because you have ping issues. And the sword skills didn’t change, just the order of skills, but I don’t remember a post complaining about sword and ping before from you, unless I missed something?

It didn't change my opinion either way, as the original problem still exists - Monarch's Leap then Serpent's Strike. They're all factors in considering the weapon skill design, and in my opinion, how skills interact with latency is a part of the design as well. My ping isn't that bad, nor do I think they should go to extreme lengths to suit it. I was simply pointing out that it is not an appropriate ordering of skills in relation to this aspect. You likely can't begin to comprehend what it means to have moderately high ping in games, but I'll tell you, there is a significant population of people that play the game that would agree with me on this. Should everyone outside of the US roll a necro then, is that what you're suggesting, lol?

@Aaron Forestman.4758 said:As a ranger player 99% of the time since day 1, I used to like sword. But in the current state of the game, it has only minor uses in PvP and practically no uses in PvE. Main hand dagger will outshine sword's dps by a fair margin in PvE, and greatsword has a lot more advantages in PvP. I keep trying to use sword, but it's still way behind other weapons.

I've found it to out dps dagger in PvE. I use Longbow, Sword/Axe in PvE and out dps most people, but I haven't looked at dagger in a while, maybe it is better now.

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@Mr Greggles.5908 said:

@Swagger.1459 said:That’s why I told you to use it. You weren’t even aware that skill 2 was refreshed by a hit with 3. And I’m using it just fine, and it’s a better combat weapon, but here you are now complaining about its “ooc” function. Do we now start judging all weapon designs based off of their out of combat functions?

I was stating a fact. If you have high ping and leaps, jumps, ports... are a problem, then roll a necro. But don’t complain about a skill design because you have ping issues. And the sword skills didn’t change, just the order of skills, but I don’t remember a post complaining about sword and ping before from you, unless I missed something?

It didn't change my opinion either way, as the original problem still exists - Monarch's Leap
then
Serpent's Strike. They're all factors in considering the weapon skill design, and in my opinion, how skills interact with latency is a part of the design as well. My ping isn't that bad, nor do I think they should go to extreme lengths to suit it. I was simply pointing out that it is not an appropriate ordering of skills in relation to this aspect. You likely can't begin to comprehend what it means to have moderately high ping in games, but I'll tell you, there is a significant population of people that play the game that would agree with me on this. Should everyone outside of the US roll a necro then, is that what you're suggesting, lol?

@Aaron Forestman.4758 said:As a ranger player 99% of the time since day 1, I used to like sword. But in the current state of the game, it has only minor uses in PvP and practically no uses in PvE. Main hand dagger will outshine sword's dps by a fair margin in PvE, and greatsword has a lot more advantages in PvP. I keep trying to use sword, but it's still way behind other weapons.

I've found it to out dps dagger in PvE. I use Longbow, Sword/Axe in PvE and out dps most people, but I haven't looked at dagger in a while, maybe it is better now.

You made a thread giving “thoughts” on the sword. Claimed that “ I've tried it out myself briefly in Fractals and it is more clunky now than before.”... Then after posting you learned that a hit with skill 3 refreshes skill 2... If your going to give more “thoughts”, then at least know more about the weapon.

Your ping is not our problem, that’s your problem. The exact same sword skills exist as they did before, but now it’s a problem because of your ping. Ranger builds also have multiple movement skill options already, so do you complain about those too? Should the devs remove all of the ports, jumps, leaps from every skill in the game, so it’s better for your ping?

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@Mr Greggles.5908 said:I've found it to out dps dagger in PvE. I use Longbow, Sword/Axe in PvE and out dps most people, but I haven't looked at dagger in a while, maybe it is better now.

Oh my. No one using longbow has any concern for dps outside of PvP. That's an unfortunate thing about ranger being such an easy class for beginners, we get a ton of longbow/brown bear rangers running around PvE and giving those of us that do our homework a bad name. That works fine if you're just trying to survive basic content without learning to dodge or avoid mechanics, but it's not a dps build.

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@Aaron Forestman.4758 said:

@Mr Greggles.5908 said:I've found it to out dps dagger in PvE. I use Longbow, Sword/Axe in PvE and out dps most people, but I haven't looked at dagger in a while, maybe it is better now.

Oh my. No one using longbow has any concern for dps outside of PvP. That's an unfortunate thing about ranger being such an easy class for beginners, we get a ton of longbow/brown bear rangers running around PvE and giving those of us that do our homework a bad name. That works fine if you're just trying to survive basic content without learning to dodge or avoid mechanics, but it's not a dps build.

I've proven many wrong about that fact. Pretty much every weapon (except OH dagger and warhorn) has a use in PvE for dps purposes, including longbow. It's great for burst dps builds and competes with the metabuild GS, Sword/Axe. I doubt you've done your own homework, and if you think looking it up on Snowcrows or Qt's website is homework, think again.

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To increase accessability.It was a chore to perform and was not really accesable for new players.It only had one good skill chain on it to deal damage (the AA).Although many would consider it now worse, it has now more evade potential because you can chain monarchs leap and serpent strike more frequently.It feels way more fluent now and feels excellent for mobbing and better against bosses.

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@Mr Greggles.5908 said:

@"Swagger.1459" said:Sword was reworked to be a better in-combat weapon, that now offers more direct character control. It also has more utility if you hit the target you’re fighting. It was a pretty ingenious rework.

The “ping” issue is your issue, not one with the sword.

I think the matter of whether it's better or not is debatable. Not sure what you mean by "has more utility if you hit the target you're fighting", as there isn't a bonus for actually hitting with the skill.

While it gives you more direct access to the leap, it sacrifices on direct access to a dodge, which I would argue is far more important in a combat scenario. Take PvE as an example, let's say at the raid boss Gorseval. If you wanted to dodge his slam, you could either dodge normally, or previously, you would do Serpent's Strike, maintaining dps and tempo. Now, if you wish to use Serpent's Strike for the same purpose, you have to prepare it beforehand, which will sacrifice some dps.

My ping situation does not influence my opinion on the fundamental flaws that come with the game not allowing mid-air casting. I was simply stating it to explain why it can become a much larger issue to those with higher ping (if you have low ping, good for you).

If you could explain in what combat scenarios that it does stand out above the previous way in which it worked, I might be persuaded to agree with you. But at the moment, I don't think it was ingenious at all, quite the opposite.

It's the playstyle that needs adapting, people are used to defensive scenarios when they thought about sword but now it require a more aggressive playstyle to get the most out of the weapon, let's say they have added more "bite" to the weapon and personally I like it

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For 1v1 and duels, 1H sword is better now. You can really keep pressuring with it. I noticed a big difference there.

However, not having direct access to both evades hurts it for me imho. You can only access serpent's strike after a monarch leap and not before. I personally liked it the other way for defensive purposes. It performs more poorly for me in WvW because of it. I would still prefer old sword personally.

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@GUFF.5692 said:For 1v1 and duels, 1H sword is better now. You can really keep pressuring with it. I noticed a big difference there.

However, not having direct access to both evades hurts it for me imho. You can only access serpent's strike after a monarch leap and not before. I personally liked it the other way for defensive purposes. It performs more poorly for me in WvW because of it. I would still prefer old sword personally.

If new sword 3 was an instant leap/evade, it would alleviate help this issue.

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