Let's Talk About Druid Competitively After Pet Nerf - And Buffs That CA Deserves
Trevor Boyer.6524
Member ✭✭✭✭
The recent pet nerf was unwarranted. Druid already struggled competitively after they had recently granted most classes the ability to dish out and hold nearly 100% uptime of the important boons, like prot/might/stab/quick. They should have buffed something else on Druid to compensate for the pet nerf. The pet nerf wasn't just a 20% loss in pet damage, it was also a loss in the pet's sustain. Due to a loss in pet sustain, they die more often which ends up being a complete loss in pet damage.
In my opinion it's time that CA abilities receive buffs. If you really take a look at what Firebrand tomes are doing for a team competitively, or even Scrapper Support, or hell even Tempest Auramancer Support, CA abilities are pale in comparison. Right now competitively, there is no reason to use any CA ability beyond the big #3 burst heal, which counts as an attack that triggers the blind on Lingering Light, and can combo for more heal on Water Fields. The Druid needs to go into CA as often as possible to be able to break stuns and clean condis, and it needs to leave CA as soon as possible to trigger the Stealth & Superspeed disengage. So the Druid wants to preserve CA charge, not burn it on useless skills that have little to no impact at all. The #1 spam is useless competitively. The heals are so small and the damage in the game is turned up so high, that it's a waste of time and CA charge to attempt to heal with it. The #2 skill is mostly useless. The heal is too small and the single condi cleanse isn't enough to warrant any real source of reliable team condi cleanse support. The only thing it's good for is dropping it and comboing it with #3, if the Druid has a second to spare, for a source of small self condi cleanse. The #4 skill is now almost completely useless. The heal is way too small for how long this skill takes to channel, way too small. This skill is almost never worth using unless the Druid is hard up for a Water Field. The #5 skill is atrociously bad. The Druid goes into CA for defensive healing purposes, not to stand still and let players hit them while they channel an almost 3 second long cast immobilization, on a build that hasn't the damage to follow up on a CC like that. There is no greater waste of CA charge than the #5. It is rarely useful to even consider using. The only time it is useful, is vs. Spellbreaker if you get caught in CA with no Stabililty on when the Spellbreaker Rampages. In this case, the popping the #5 will grant 2 stacks of stability and allow you an escape from the CC train. Other than that, it's nearly 100% useless.
If it were up to me, here are the buffs Druid should receive to compensate for the pet nerf competitively. These buffs would modernize the Druid to the standards of other Side Node classes and Support roles, without buffing the Druid too much in terms of PvE Raiding/Fractal power. These changes may even render a useful Druid build that could be used in WvW grouping:
- https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cosmic_Ray should also grant 1s of Protection on use.
- https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Seed_of_Life should also grant 1s of Resistance on use.
- https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lunar_Impact can stay exactly the way that it is now.
- https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rejuvenating_Tides should have its radius doubled and effect up to 10 targets.
- https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Natural_Convergence should have a 1s Stun added to its final pulse.
Comments
I had made this video within the past month, to demo just about the most competitive Druid build that one could run in Conquest in this current meta. It was done before the nerf to pets and rune of the earth. Every option in this video is still the choice selections one would want to make, it's all still relevant. If you look at the parameters that this build offers though, it is in no way on par the current state of Firebrand Support or Scrapper Side Node Play. There are even other things that self heal themselves as much as a Druid, but they don't even run heal stats. Holosmith is an example of this. The point being is that while Druid has been receiving nerf bat treatment up side of the head ever since the HoT meta, other things have been greatly power crept when it comes to competitive aspects. Seriously guys, Druid needs some love at this point. Right along with Thief and Renegade.
The "tradeoff" and the lack of changes to anything relevant has taken away any hope I've had for Druid to be viable. Not without a sweeping rework, anyway (and not just druid, but ranger pets in general). Maybe in a year's time or so, they'll do something about it. Even that may be a pipe dream considering how long such things have been left to rot and the current mentality of the vocal playerbase (from an sPvP standpoint anyway) is just to continue to -nerf everything- until they're like this mess we have here. But hey, perhaps if everything is trashed, then Druid can shine as it is in the heap.
What I can hope for...
It probably won't be enough to skyrocket its performance, but it's a start.
PET PRECISION & DPS DATA (DPS outdated)
Back in Black... Desert Online.
Here are my suggestions.
STAFF
Solar Beam: The beam inflicts burning and heal allies around your target on the final pulse.
Astral Wisp: This attack becomes ground targeted, and send a wisp to the targeted area. The wisp heals allies that passes through, and can be detonated to inflict 3 stacks of burning and blind to nearby foes. This second effect also acts as a Blast Finisher.
Ancestral Grace: This skill now grants Protection to nearby allies when you reach the targeted location.
Vine Surge: Immobilize duration is increased from 1 to 2 seconds.
Sublime Conversion: This skill now creates a ring (same Spectral Wall treatment) that causes enemies projectiles to heal upon impact.
CELESTIAL AVATAR
Celestial Avatar: The cooldown is decreased from 20 to 10 seconds in pvp.
Cosmic Ray: The radius of this skill is increased from 120 to 300 (same radius as necro's staff marks). This skill now deals damage to up to 5 targets.
Seeds of Life: This skill cleanse 2 conditions instead of 1.
Rejuvenating Tides: This skill now cleanse 1 condition per pulse to you and nearby allies (5 conditions cleansed in total).
Natural Convergence: The player is now able to move while channeling this skill.
SKILLS
Glyph of Rejuvenation: This skill now also revives your pet.
Glyph of the Stars: This skill no longer needs to be channeled. Instead, this skill now have 2s cast time and can be affected by quickness.
TRAITS
Druidic Clarity: Becoming celestial avatar now cleanses 3 conditions from you and nearby allies. Still breaks stun.
Primal Echoes: Instead of daze, this skill now cast Gliph of Equality when swapping to staff.
Verdant Etching: Glyphs grant Stability (1 stack for 3s) to nearby allies when activated and gain 1 additional charge when you become Celestial Avatar. The additional charge will disappear after leaving Celestial Avatar form.
OTHER SKILLS
"Search and Rescue": This skill gain 1 additional charge and grants protection and regeneration to nearby allies on use.
Honestly the skill would be fine with just a range increase to 900 and a slightly lower cooldown. You already grant Regen with the Shout trait as well.
The pet nerf needs to be reversed. Period. Any non-tank pet dies if an enemy looks at it. As a Druid, my damage was already negligible. I TRADED THAT TO SUPPORT OTHER PLAYERS! Plus the lore reason given for it is, IMHO, terrible. Druid is all about becoming one with nature and strengthening that bond. The nerf implies you’ve neglected your pets and they’ve weakened or something and that upsets me as much as the gameplay.
Druid is now spirit shepherd. Not that I dislike the spirit mechanics, but this last nerf was terrible conceptually and in play and I refuse to play Druid now.
When it comes to druid-y shenanigans, what I like doing is taking a trip to the Domain of Kourna and then getting Solar Beamed for 4k by Awakened Olmakhan Lifebinders. Although I do play glass and rightfully deserve to get hit that hard, I just have to think, ‘hawt dam, what would I kill to have this?’
Sometimes I cry when pve mobs get blatantly stronger skills than us players. At least name it something different, like ‘Greater Solar Beam’
I run a troll immobilization druid build these days in unranked, and it's an excellent 1v1 spec against classes..... that the old bunker druid could easily 1v3 back in the day. Admittedly the bunker spec was a bit overtuned, but I agree that the pet nerf is a bridge too far. I've managed to adapt to the CA nerfs, but the pet nerf seems much harder to overcome. I can only down targets that are otherwise harried by teammates, or those who depend so much on mobility that the constant immobs just throw them totally off guard and force cleanses. Otherwise there's just no way I'm hitting targets hard enough compared to how easily others can chew through my HP.
That being said, this immob build is really built on being an annoying teamfighter that can also 1v1 most classes fairly well, outside of warriors that are essentially immune to immob. I do have enough sources of immob to disrupt some of their burst (6 sources total), but with weak pets the best I can hope for is rooting someone off point repeatedly to make cap progress.
Troll Immob Bunker Druid that gets killed in group fights and is a good decapper in Non-Competitive Unranked games.
I have an idea, Let's Talk About Druid Competitively After Pet Nerf - And Buffs That CA Deserves
You first
mhm, ok, sure, whatever you say, no after you, I insist, no really, please, be my guest,
The thing is, I did, it was just not clear and organized - I just stayed too salty about pet nerf.
I actually thought CA was fairly usable in its current state, but then I realized I hardly use anything outside of CA3, CA5, and occasionally CA2 for a blind and head start on CA recharge.
CA1: I like the previously mentioned idea of reduced cast time, but I'd sooner take 1s of protection as Trevor suggested. Ideally in a boon corrupt situation we'd have both faster cast and protection application, but as a side noder I rarely deal with boon corrupt to an oppressive degree. I agree this would be good for being a side noder, while there are much smarter ways of spreading protection around in pve so this change alone doesn't seem like it would significantly unbalance game modes to require a split.
CA2: I actually like it as is. I use it for the blind, and rarely for the cleanse. Resistance would be nice, but I don't really feel it necessary with how I play.
CA3: Another one I'll take as is. As long as I don't waste it into stacks of stability, I find it does the job of interrupting stomps/rez/attack chains quite well, and it synergizes with my immob build.
CA4: Increase healing output, but start small and end big. I never had a problem with the radius, but it's just so weak as a heal. I get that you can trait into improving output, but even then it seems to fail me/teammates as a recovery option. I'm fine with having it heal little on the first tick, but building up to a meaningful tick at the end. This would require situational awareness to make sure you get the full heal out of it, rather than turning it into a one-push burst heal. Not sure if this will merit a skill split with pve.
CA5: Pulse stability, at least on the last tick. I already use the full channel in my immob build, with the proper preparation of course. I think it would give more of us a reason to try to set up a full channel, and it would especially help with our side node competitors who can throw out a ton of cc.
So perfectly upfront, to the point of possibly being mean and don't take this hard, but when I see the the following words put together
"Bunker, Trolly, 8 forms of immob and Unranked"- I don't think it's team pvp and it's not competitive.
You seem 99 percent fine with the way it is now.
mhm, ok, sure, whatever you say, no after you, I insist, no really, please, be my guest,
You seem intent on making sure you exclude me from and invalidate me in this discussion, which is fine by me. I'll stay as long as I feel like it, and if it bothers you on some level, even better. I'm glad you don't think the build itself is competitive, because I don't either. I'd never take it into ranked - not only because I quit ranked last season and I never crawl back to anything I officially abandon, but the build is a work in progress that might not even survive further testing. The thing is, I never tried to pass it off as anything other than a weird troll build. Not sure what triggers you so hard about it, but it's your problem, not mine.
You might be asking now, "well if you quit ranked, you for sure don't belong in any discussion about competitive druid." While I'll never touch ranked again, anything that helps druid in competitive would impact whatever I decide to mess around with in unranked as well. Again, I'll stay as long as I feel like it.
Really? Both your math and comprehension are a bit off here. Not sure how only keeping 2 of the 5 CA abilities as-is turns into "99 percent fine with the way it is now." I didn't even address the other suggestions about staff, pets, glyphs, and traits - how do you know I like druid almost entirely as it is? In fact, the entire troll-build exercise grew out of the need to move away from the classic side node setup that got nerfed, and I'm just trying to find some mix of fun and effectiveness within the tatters that remain of what we call druid pvp. So no, I'm not 99% fine with the way druid is now, and nothing I've said indicates otherwise.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and read your mind. Perhaps what you actually meant was that all of the things I suggested as changes would not fundamentally change the way druid abilities and traits are used. To that, I might have to admit I'm guilty as charged. I don't necessarily want things to go back exactly to the way they were for the old meta bunker druid, but I feel it occupied a distinct place in the pantheon of side noders and I find it difficult to totally abandon the idea. Basically what I want is the old bunker druid back, but just a bit more susceptible to being pressured off point long enough to give up capture ticks. So if stalling a node is all you know how to pull off as a druid, there will be a natural expiration on how useful that behavior remains before rotating elsewhere becomes a smarter decision.
While extremely hard to pin down, an old meta druid under pressure on a side node might nonetheless have to give up ticks of node capture thanks to stealth reset. Granted, you could halt node capture quickly by scoring another hit immediately, but that basically turns a potential long heal and reposition into essentially just a detarget, a choice to be made with a lot of care. In contrast, in my last days of ranked my scrapper and spellbreaker in the new meta could, with patience, counter and mitigate most forms of damage while remaining unstealthed and on point. Even in its heyday, I found effective bunker druids had to move, know the capture point terrain, and reset more often than a true facetank sidenoder. I feel like that kind of side-noding is distinct from the dominant classes that we have in that role now, and therefore wouldn't mind seeing its return in a slightly diluted form.
I thought about this last night, and I felt like I was the kitten.
Sorry about. I shouldn't try to post before I sleep.
At first glace the build you play reminds me of the same lack of respect some other builds get, like trap rangers, Pistol Pistol Thieves, Minion Mancer Necros, Flame Thrower Scrapper, trapThieves, sbow revenants". It sounded situational and gimmicky
Druid, Ranger and Soulbeast as a whole, don't get respect.
There is a "Good Ol Boys Members only PvP Club" and Ranger isn't in it.
I know the side noding you are referring to.
It was a lot of fun.
I can't quite do it justice now.
Power burst is so UP there
I can't bring enough condi cleanse vs scourges and chronos
mhm, ok, sure, whatever you say, no after you, I insist, no really, please, be my guest,
to be completely honest druid needs a total overhaul. Celestial avatar was an after thought slapped on to ranger because at hot launch they needed a number of classes to fill the healer role. Avatar has nothing to do with core ranger and its profession mechanic and could have been slapped on to any other class (the only thing which sort of ties it to rangers is the abundant sources of the regeneration boon).
What needs to happen is the same thing which occurred with berzerker; a redesign of the mechanic such that it is not a add on but a meaningful trade off where avatar would replace something else from core ranger. This could mean that core ranger gets a new class ability that would be replaced with avatar (exactly how revenant got a new mechanic which is replaced with elite specs) or avatar could replace pet swapping in which case entering & leaving avatar would count for pet swap traits and there would have to be major rebalancing with avatar skills and how pets work while you are a druid.
the very least they can do is remove the whole astral force build up bs and just leave avatar as a cd gated mechanic.
No intention of highjacking or this becoming a "post your ideas" thread. I like where your head is at. Just not sure in the current gamestate that shaves and minor buffs are enough.
Jroh | Former SOAC Ranger Podcaster | Top 100 PvP
https://www.youtube.com/user/JRoeboat
www.twitch.tv/itsJROH
if don't give druid more healing it needs more damage
Make celestial avatar like soulbeast mode. Let rangers stay in it and use it freely. The healing it provides lacks compared to other healers. Also staff needs a friggin overhaul.
So this was on my mind after recently really feeling the pet nerfs competitively again.
Druid & Berserker were given these downfalls for their specialization, but where are the downfalls for the other specializations? I mean.. some of the other specializations are just completely stacked in comparison to Druid, but Druid deserved a weird super nerf? Even Soulbeast doesn't have any added in drawback, so why aim something like that at Druid?
I dunno, the longer this has gone on, the more I really see it as not only unfair and ill flavored, but just an imbalanced decision to make. The pet nerf in no way did anything positive for the game at all. It just pissed a lot of people off and made Druid significantly weaker in ways that it shouldn't be.
Pet nerf needs to be reverted for competitive aspects. That or lower this drawback to -10% stats only or something. The damage loss from -20% is substantial. Then the defensive values of pets being at -20% is too much. They die too fast in this power crept meta, and this results in even more damage loss because the pets are dead more often now.
The pet nerf is just wrong from both a game play and lore / story / RP perspective as well.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Druid already had a trade-off of DPS for support, plus with mechanics like needing to fill the CA bar to use, it really wasn’t unbalanced. If they wanted to remove Glyph of Empowerment so that Druid didn’t have a unique buff, okay. The super-long cast time of Glyph of Stars was disappointing, but it was the pet nerf that made me stop playing my favorite class. 
Honestly I haven’t felt the damage nerf, like at all, but I’ve always gone with CC pets over damage pets so 20% less of nothing isn’t really noticeable.
But the durability loss is absolutely hurting in PvP, and honestly that aspect I don’t agree with at all. If anything a Druid should have tankier pets rather than squishier ones given the whole nature magic thing.
I think it’s be nice if they went ahead and just shifted the Druid pet nerf so it was like -20% to damage stats but +10-20% on defensive stats. Or at the very least something like entering CA revives the pet and makes it invuln for the duration, or even a trait or something that lets glyphs occur around us and the pet or something.
I like that they’re starting to roll out the draw backs, but if they weren’t gonna ease up on Druids previous nerfs, or do any sort of reworking Druid honestly should’ve been one of the last they slapped a drawback on. It already is lower on the power scale than most other specs in every aspect of the game (even PvE nowadays)
"But my children sing to me. Listen. They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family. As their mother, I have to grant them their wish."
It's mainly because they slapped down the hard nerf on CA, and then not so many metas later they began super power creeping the sustain departments of almost every other class. I mean look at how much self boon support and random waterfield/leap/blast healing that a Holosmith has. Its defensive mechanisms and self heal factor are on par with a Druid, but the Holo gets to run a damage amulet instead of a dedicated heal amulet to achieve that.
Honestly, I would be happy if we could negate the pet nerf with the Grace of the Land trait. I understand the general lore concept of the pet nerf. But like the Berserker’s Toughness nerf, we should get a chance to negate the pet nerf with a GM trait.
The only other really big change I would like to see for the Ranger is to remove most of the healing support that exists with the SoulBeast. Picking any specialization should have a unique flavor and play style to it. Healing, support, and protection intuitively belong with the Druid and Nature Magic trait lines. SoulBeasts should have more in common with Beastmasters and Skirmishers.
"There is little love for those of my kind in this place, yet I am here to help save them all. To those who matter, actions speak louder than words and my actions shall echo across this city for eternity until all recognize the honor of the Tengu race." ~ Talon Silverwing
Even if it was unnerfed and returned to what it was at HoT release, I am still not sure it'd be viable.
And that's the truth right there ^
If I had just one word to describe Druid, it would be castrated.
I've always thought druid a ranger was a weird pairing, I get the rangers nature affinity but druid always seemed more kin to a mage with a affinity for nature like say a elementalist spec with ties to nature, I mean their already using all the forces of nature throughout their skills lol. Just seems like those who love the theme of druids got shafted by pairing it with ranger due to seemingly and consistently being made worse over time due to arenet trying to balance the druid spec while having its pet as a consideration when balancing and judging by last patch and their reasoning I'd say it's for the worse lol
It just needs reimbursement for that pet nerf. And it shouldn't be some miscellaneous buff to Core Ranger. Druid the specialization needs to be buffed, specifically CA because the kit is very weak at this point.
For sure, CA1 is a blank skill, CA5 needs to get the axe 5 treatment, the damage is very low ATM.
I trotted my old druid out for a bit of fun the last few days. I noticed I do as much group healing on my holosmith in marauders and more condi cleansing as well.
CA kit needs a rework to bring it in line with engi heal kit with the same investment.
I really want the HoT beta version of Grace of the Land back. A stacking buff that reduces incoming condition damage (5 stacks â 4%). With a 10 player cap it also offers some utility in WvW.
Yes that would likely kill druid in PvE but they only reason it exists there is easy might stacking and low healing requirements. Everything else can be brought by Soulbeast or other classes.
They could simply just revert the heal nerfs from CA for competitive modes. Seriously, the damage in the game is doubled now or in some cases tripled, from what it was when those nerfs were delivered to CA. Like when a Herald gets on you, there is no reason to use any heal outside of CA 3. The other heals are so small that it's a complete waste of time and CA bar to use them. At this point, a Druid is actually defensively weaker in CA form than it is out of CA form, which is silly. The CA kit is so weak right now, that it has become a mechanism just to pop https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Druidic_Clarity and https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Celestial_Shadow pretty much. If you watch that video I posted, which demos 1v1s against some of the better players out there, you'll see what I'm talking about. CA is to pop CA 3 and then exit it immediately to preserve CA bar, which allows you to benefit Druidic Clarity and Celestial Shadow as often as possible. You die on a Druid in higher tier play if you actually try to use other CA abilities, and this is because they do nothing but waste your CA bar and greatly elongate the cool down of Druidic Clarity and Celestial Shadow.
Meanwhile, Holosmiths are healing themselves to full with Healing Turret every 20s, while wearing demolisher amulet. <- This single utility heal skill, that doesn't even require wearing a healing amulet, has all of the self healing power of the entire CA kit, and is on the same cool down time nonetheless. Then the damage power creep also disproportionately effects skills such as https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Litany_of_Wrath or https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Defiant_Stance which provides even more scenarios for damage invested builds to be able to have self healing that is equal to or greater than a build that is entirely heal invested.
I can understand how they'd prefer to not want to split skill effects between game modes, I get it. But something has to be done here. You know, alternatively to my initial suggestions in the first post, maybe the CA form should act like a Necro Shroud, where it absorbs damage while in CA. That or maybe being in CA grants a buff that does -20% vs. power and condi damage. Or maybe a buff that heals the Druid for 1000 health per second or something. None of those suggestions would effect the Druid's support performance in Raids or Fractals, but it would help it competitively.
It needs a complete rework, the only thing they have to keep for it to stay relevant in PvE is Grace of the Land.
it was high time druid was nerfed. having just one class as a must-have on any raid encounter / fractal is just boring. And I'm not even talking about ridiculous mirror comps people used to run. thank goodness the days of dudu meta are gone, and now you only need one druid and 1 other healer (fb/rene/tempest) for non speed clear raids. Those complaining about the nerfs should wake up to the fact that druid was completely OP and broken like the pre-SOI nerf chrono. Now, it's in line with other support classes which is more than fair. Period.
This thread is about Druid competitively, in structured player vs. player, and world vs. world.
If you were to fully read through my OP statement, I suggest buffs that would not effect the Druid's strengths in PvE, but would help it competitively.
No point man, by reading their post u can clearly see blind bias, their unable or un willing to consider druids performance on all sides but the one, pve of all things Lmao. who even cares if any spec is OP in pve? All of pve in gw2 is like easy mode in most games so u can play and be viable with anything lol
The thread title is competetive. Let that sink in, for starters.
Secondly, druid only offers the raid build a trait for might and okay healing, most of the build is carried by core ranger utilities. I said this back when HoT came out: warrior and ranger with a dedicated heal elite spec is gonna outclass at best and at worst still be relevant in raids because of their core base kits. Banners/Spirits, EA/Spotter and access to might. Druid will always have a strong presence in PvE content because it's carried by its core class, regardless of how strong druid actually is.
Isolating druid traits and its weapon while disregarding the core ranger kit, then comparing it to other support classes makes it look pathetic. In its current state it still looks pathetic if you add the core kit back in and compare it to other support classes in PvP and WvW.
/fixt
mhm, ok, sure, whatever you say, no after you, I insist, no really, please, be my guest,
I like a lot of the ideas I see in here.
Some glyph ideas that I think would help give WvW support Druid some actual presence and reason to play:
Glyphs are, in my eyes, one of the keys to giving Druid more viability for WvW group play. My suggested changes would give them a lot of added utility. I'd say they would need more help to make them more competitive with Firebrand and Scrapper, but this would be a helpful step forward. In my eyes, Cultivated Synergy, Verdant Etching, and Lingering Light should be the hard support lines that encourage players to move away from stuff like Druidic Clarity & Celestial Shadow so that they are forced to sacrifice Druid's best self-sustain traits. My suggestions are major powercreepy, but I honestly think that's what Druid needs to gain better viability.
hey i just found one of your unfinished areas i think you should continue it i think it looks awesome maybe maybe turn it to a city or a special event only place or something it looks pretty actually i think if you were to finish it it would look great it's east of dragons stand i think it would look great i hope you consider it it would be very cool and personally i'd go there every day if you actually do
If they don't directly buff the effects of glyphs, the glyphs could at least be using the ammo system, considering how subpar the effects are.
We'll assemble the Maguuma construction crew and jump right on it. Thanks for letting us know.
Hi all...I just want to say I am a noob and I dont have pro things to add. I dont ever come to the forums. But after I decided to get back on my druid (I have many alts) I was just really baffled by what happened to the class 100%bd and I can hardly maintain any boons without pressing a million button or taking this or that to fill in the gaps.
My pet dies all the time does nothing even when I want it to cc?? its a hit or mids situation??. I would take them to provide buffs instead thats cool for pet variety if they didnt have a 45 cooldown on a three second buff for 5 people...for real??
Why does CA 5 skill not provide might?
Shouts are now commands???? just to destroy the trooper rune?
Why was staff condi cleanse destroyed? The healing on it is awful...skill one is awful it was ok when it actually healed. Am I supposed to cleanse condis with CA skill 2...cause thats not happening.
What is the druids thing now?? apologise for being able to heal?? apologise for having a pet??
That channeling elite glyph is sooooo annoying and boring and doesnt feel like an elite.......what is with the range on these channeled spells
. Chanelling was fine for covering might for a while...now omg u just live and breath CA 4 to justify ur existence if you interrupt it once...thats it.
The spirits...my god annoying to summon...then to reposition...then for them to respond...the repositioning doesnt need to be a cast with all the channeling needed does it??? are they realky that imba????
Meanwhile when I play my herald...everything is insta cast on 10 players the regen is disgusting then you can burst with tablet...and lasts forever and more...necro no targeting or chanelling needed?..so is that on my ele, you have a lot of traits to help channeling and the channeling is super worth? on druid my god its awful. Firebrand just lol.
I am very happy they are relevant...but...honestly druid just feels awful in comparison I hate the feeling of trying to enjoy a class when I can tell it's awful in comparison for what reason??.
I just dont understand why can herald and ele get easy perma booning but druid can not? what for? after all my stats gearing to just heal and give boons? Necros booning is awful but has a very strong niche.
Yeah I just feel these nerfs were done carelessly and I hope as you have for other classes will reconsider.
Maybe make the final tier trait either imba healer or CA become a damaging form like solar version or something, and the pet would be punished accordingly? I dunno...I just want to love my druid again
and not feel like im shuving down peoples faces just cause I want to play it. It just feels unpolished and apologetic.
If you want to get even more speechless go play a Firebrand. That's what I did and I have no reasons to turn back.
Beside the weird support build with terrible spirits in Fractals and Raids, Druid is just done. I don't get the hate they have for Druid. I always been Druiding in PvP since the spec was out in HoT, but it's just a no-no now.
just to lrt you know they did a good job at hiding it
you'll find it starting in a opening and you'll need a you'll might need a better way to get to it considering i had to use a springer
if need be you might be able to find my character dethica i 'm always in the heart of maguma. and i know exactly how to get threre
and i'm on it every day
just curious how's the construction going
because going to see what it originally looked like two weeks ago one last time i may of gotten a little sneak peak
CA should stay like SB merge or at least as long as a death shroud. Druid was the only class that I was really excited at. And it is the only class that broke my heart so bad. And now it is even weaker than the previous version. Yay. It needs a good rework really.
Hey guys, check out what's going to happen to Druid in this next balance patch. No buffs, no enhancement to mechanics, just this nerf:
Ancestral Grace: This skill no longer evades attacks. Increased recharge from 18 seconds to 20 seconds. If at least 1 ally other than yourself is healed, the recharge is reduced by 5 seconds. = "Ok, as the last person who even plays Druid at a plat 2 level, just why? Why nerf Druid further? This is the stupidest and most unwarranted change in this entire list of patch notes. Let me explain why: First of all, making the recharge 20s from 18, just completely screws up the synergy of weapon swapping with the staff. The staff is generally used as a defensive measure and the #3 staff skill is the largest part of that defensive measure. Being able to evade while using it, allows the Druid to do what it does, and that is survive and disengage. So quite often, when a Druid swaps to staff they are able to use #3 immediately alongside of an effect such as sigil of escape. 18s CD scales perfectly for this purpose while weapon swapping back and forth between a damage weapon side and staff escape side. Now with a 20s CD, the player can no longer immediately use staff #3 escape, which is an enormous nerf to the already Renegade level gameplay in competitive modes. Secondly, having the recharge reduced by 5s if at least 1 other ally is healed during the use of staff #3? That's ridiculous for so many reasons. The Druid is a side node mainly in spvp, which means it is usually alone, and it doesn't have realistic reason to keep teleporting to its pet for the 5s reduction either. It needs to use the #3 to stay away from things, as far away as possible. Furthermore, the 5s CD would put it to a 15s recharge, which is meaningless because it doesn't matter if it is a 15s CD or an 18s CD, because weapon swapping takes 18s anyway to rotate, and Druid's DO NOT CAMP STAFF SIDE. So this effect granted of a 5s reduction is completely useless not only in competitive modes, but also in pve, where Druids are weapon swapping as often as possible to warhorn and back to staff, meaning it will take them at least 18s to be able to use staff #3 again. This change is a completely lackluster nerf to the Druid in competitive modes and pve. Why is there no one in the Arenanet office that is capable of recognizing skill trait practicality issues like this?"<- It's these kinds of changes that make gameplay feel funky & wonky, and not smooth.