Druid pet nerf is NOT ok! Here's why and what to do instead

[Musha.4025]

With this change, you have just forced druid players into a support role, just because they selected druid as their elite spec. I thought Anet was all about build diversity and opening up more build options. What if somebody wants to play a druid dps build (which IS a thing, btw), you just nerfed the puppy out of them!! When I play druid, I choose it because of the traits, not the profession mechanic. You should NOT penalize players for build diversity.

I am very ok with the whole trade-off philosophy as long as EVERY elite spec gets the trade-off revision. The update notes mention Necro elite specs as an example of "clear trade-off"s. Those are NOT trade-offs, they are clear upgrades! The elite spec shroud skills are far superior to core shroud skills. What does the Necro actually lose? Nothing. But I digress, that discussion is best left for a separate post. For the druid trade-off, instead of killing druid build diversity and forcing them into a support role, activate the trade-off only if/when a druid uses the extra mechanic. A druid who doesn't use Celestial Avatar is not really a druid, and should still be in touch with their pet. However, if they activate Celestial Avatar, they are translated into a new state of being where their connection to their pet decreases. So please give them the pet attribute decrease ONLY when in Celestial Avatar form and maybe even for a few seconds afterward, while the bond is reestablished. For puppys sake! Don't kill build diversity!

[LughLongArm.5460]

All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

[Tenken.7342]

I really enjoyed playing as a druid in PvE up until this patch. The 20% pet nerf had a very bad side effect with the mob A.I. I am noticing that the mobs are ignoring my pet now and going straight after me. My pet's attack abilities don't even land most of the time b/c the mob is chasing me instead of attacking my pet. Druid is left not being able to cope with druid skills b/c they are mostly all support skills, and now as a ranger we are now at a stark disadvantage as we are basically pet-less. Please fix pets so the mobs do not ignore them.

[VDAC.2137]

Druid spec already came with disadvantages since it is support-based; there was no need to nerf it. Making the spirits movable was nice but otherwise, I do not care for the changes made to Druid and Chrono over the past year. Sacrificing your own DPS to buff others is already a trade-off and seems to me a sort of play style that should be encouraged and not punished in an MMO.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

[InsaneQR.7412]

@Tenken.7342 said:I really enjoyed playing as a druid in PvE up until this patch. The 20% pet nerf had a very bad side effect with the mob A.I. I am noticing that the mobs are ignoring my pet now and going straight after me. My pet's attack abilities don't even land most of the time b/c the mob is chasing me instead of attacking my pet. Druid is left not being able to cope with druid skills b/c they are mostly all support skills, and now as a ranger we are now at a stark disadvantage as we are basically pet-less. Please fix pets so the mobs do not ignore them.

Probably because due to stat reduction your pet has less toughness and thus less threat generation.Idk if you run toughness gear or what pet you use but it's one explanation I can give.

[InsaneQR.7412]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

Well daredevil got a range nerf but also an unblockable attack.Berserker got core bursts removed for the price of a prolongable berserk and better power based primal bursts.

Druid got its pet nerfed for improvements on some bad skills that havent been used in the game (aka just normal balance).

Druid didn't gain anything class mechanical wise for its pet castration. Berserker and daredevil atleast something.

[Changer the Elder.2948]

I would be fine being forced into a support role, because that would mean my druid still has a role. If the recent changes force druid anywhere, it's completely out of the game. One last thing it's been good at: PvE support, and you nerfed that into the ground, too. About four elite specs outperform druid as healers, AND those elite specs have perfectly viable damage builds as well. Druid can only heal and support. And even that is now abysmal with removing the one last unique thing it brought to the table.Castrating druid in the one thing it was good at is basically you telling druid players: "Why are you even still playing this class? Spec to Soulbeast and get on with the pet vore, it's better!"

To which I say: Why the hell did you even put the class in the game in the first place?

[LughLongArm.5460]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

Both got a rework to their mechanic, not a direct mechanic nerf without any compensation.

[Blocki.4931]

That was such a tiny change. Pets are slightly less tanky and deal a bit less damage. Not like that was ever relevant before, so why now?

[Changer the Elder.2948]

@"Blocki.4931" said:That was such a tiny change. Pets are slightly less tanky and deal a bit less damage. Not like that was ever relevant before, so why now?

"Tiny change"? Lets see another class lose 20% off power, precision, ferocity, vitality, toughness, boon duration, condition duration and condition damage from their main damage source for literally no trade-off, see how they like it. I'm sure especially some of the favorite-child-classes will totally not throw a tantrum about that.

[derd.6413]

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

Both got a rework to their mechanic, not a direct mechanic nerf without any compensation.

a nerf with a name change isn't a rework-every daredevil player

[LughLongArm.5460]

@derd.6413 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

Both got a rework to their mechanic, not a direct mechanic nerf without any compensation.

a nerf with a name change isn't a rework-every daredevil player

A direct nerf like rangers got would have been ONLY reduce range to 600. Reducing to 600 range while making it an unblockable attack, is a rework. You may not like this change, but it is what it is. The difference is clear.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@derd.6413 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

Both got a rework to their mechanic, not a direct mechanic nerf without any compensation.

a nerf with a name change isn't a rework-every daredevil player

A direct nerf like rangers got would have been ONLY reduce range to 600. Reducing to 600 range while making it an unblockable attack, is a rework. You may not like this change, but it is what it is. The difference is clear.

Thats a discusion without end.Both E-Specs took a hit from the nerf bat.

That both sides are not happy is understandable.

And the berserker rework turned out to be not good.PvE and PvP.

I think we all can agree that Warriors, Ranger and Thiefs are not happy with what they got.

[lare.5129]

very glad that pet dps is nerfed, this can additionally get some bonus to other heal in instance parties only,But also and no one disable possibility take druid traits, take condi set and be dps ... Why not ?

[LughLongArm.5460]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@derd.6413 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

Both got a rework to their mechanic, not a direct mechanic nerf without any compensation.

a nerf with a name change isn't a rework-every daredevil player

A direct nerf like rangers got would have been ONLY reduce range to 600. Reducing to 600 range while making it an unblockable attack, is a rework. You may not like this change, but it is what it is. The difference is clear.

Thats a discusion without end.Both E-Specs took a hit from the nerf bat.

That both sides are not happy is understandable.

And the berserker rework turned out to be not good.PvE and PvP.

I think we all can agree that Warriors, Ranger and Thiefs are not happy with what they got.

Are you sure that warriors are not happy? I tried things in the pvp arena yesterday and it was full with berserkers...

[LughLongArm.5460]

@Blocki.4931 said:That was such a tiny change. Pets are slightly less tanky and deal a bit less damage. Not like that was ever relevant before, so why now?

In pvp atm, if you don't take BM, birds and cats have 13k hp + 1250 toughness.

[Musha.4025]

@lare.5129 said:very glad that pet dps is nerfed, this can additionally get some bonus to other heal in instance parties only,But also and no one disable possibility take druid traits, take condi set and be dps ... Why not ?

Because when equating the ranger to other classes, the ranger is considered essentially 2 separate entities: the ranger and its pet. The ranger + the pet = a full class. You can't tell a ranger to just take condi set and be dps and not use their pet, because then they're only half a class!! A ranger STILL NEEDS its pet to run any sort of dps build, power or condi. That's like telling a Necro not to use shroud to try to make a viable build. I mean come on! Pick any other elite spec and reduce all of its atts by 20% and see what happens. {sarcastic voice} Oh, you wanna play Weaver? Well, with Weaver you get access to TWO elements at once! That's a pure bonus to the class and there's no tradeoff! So we need to cripple ALL your stats by 20% to make sure it works right. {/sarcastic voice} @ArenaNet Team.4819 Can you PLEASE just tell us why you hate Druids so much so at least we know why you keep crippling us and can understand where you're coming from?

[InsaneQR.7412]

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@derd.6413 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:

@DanAlcedo.3281 said:

@LughLongArm.5460 said:All the other examples they gave wither got a re-work or a buff to core spec mechanic. Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf. And ya, I also don't agree with the philosophy of making the druid support only spec. Non of the other support oriented specs was designed like that . Firebrand and scourge for example can be very dangerous offensively if they are build toward that goal.

„Druid was the only spec getting a direct mechanical nerf.“

Berserker and Daredevil want to talk to you.

Both got a rework to their mechanic, not a direct mechanic nerf without any compensation.

a nerf with a name change isn't a rework-every daredevil player

A direct nerf like rangers got would have been ONLY reduce range to 600. Reducing to 600 range while making it an unblockable attack, is a rework. You may not like this change, but it is what it is. The difference is clear.

Thats a discusion without end.Both E-Specs took a hit from the nerf bat.

That both sides are not happy is understandable.

And the berserker rework turned out to be not good.PvE and PvP.

I think we all can agree that Warriors, Ranger and Thiefs are not happy with what they got.

Well berserker has a new top dps build in power. Don't know how it looks on the condi site though. For PvE berserkers they actually benefited from this update because it opened up more builds for them.Daredevil got bit more freedom too although the range cut was hard they atleast got something for it.

Druids got an awful elite, and the deletion of 10% buff to be more "active" which resulted in spirit druids being as passive as they have never been before and their pets even deal less dmg now.

Berserkers and daredevils atleast got something out of this but druid got basically nothing really good.

[Musha.4025]

@InsaneQR.7412 said:Berserkers and daredevils atleast got something out of this but druid got basically nothing really good.

Not only did they get nothing really good, they got 5-finger slapped with bad.

[LughLongArm.5460]

Perhaps A.net got a grand vision of returning to the roots of the combat mechanic as they were in vanilla. So they are in the process of reducing all specs in power emphasizing risk-reward concepts of damage vs defense. I inspect all the changes in a vacuum, assuming everything lese is more or less the same but maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps 7 sec channeled skill is a possibility in the future of GW2 combat. If only we had some transparency from the devs....

[Lazze.9870]

The funny thing being, if their lore argument was that the ranger's bond with the pets gets weaker as they dwell in their celestial abilities or whatever they wrote in the balance preview, following that logic soulbeasts should have stronger pets.

[Changer the Elder.2948]

@Lazze.9870 said:The funny thing being, if their lore argument was that the ranger's bond with the pets gets weaker as they dwell in their celestial abilities or whatever they wrote in the balance preview, following that logic soulbeasts should have stronger pets.

They do! In comparison to druid now, they're 20% stronger. That works, right? :>Alternatively, you could say the pet was about to get stronger, but then the ranger ate it.Alternatively alternatively, you could say the pet spends so much time merged with its owner that its own stats atrophied.

Terrible as this patch has been to rangers/druids, at least it offers a decent comedy mine...

[Kolisch.4691]

Dead pet now deader.

[lare.5129]

@"Musha.4025" said:ranger STILL NEEDS its pet to run any sort of dps build, power or condi.what u mean "need" ? Be happy that druid have pet at all. For some reason I was sure that pet can be stolen absolutely.