Project exa.3204

Maybe because it's not fully grown. It's got the same leaves as the Jacaranda tree before it blooms. Anet needs to give us a full grown jacaranda tree

With a lot of things being nerfed around Ranger, these buffs feel like ranger is about to go T1 meta again. I'm all for it. -Eros of Ascalon

I propose the aura on Untamed stay on all the time when it's ranger unleashed, just like when merged with pet on soulbeast. It may look like crud but that should be the cost of playing untamed. -Eros of Ascalon

Other better rangers than me have already nailed it for general reasons when untamed > soulbeast, but I'll add as a hammer untamed enjoyer--longbow is just objectively better. I love running hammer / greatsword for fun, but when it's time to get serious at higher levels the longbow comes out. When you factor in unnatural traversal, you can setup attacks from up to 2400 distance Barrage is better AoE damage in a wider radius than hammer Hunter's shot is better for dipsetting than any hammer skill Nearly every longbow skill has a projectile combo finisher Longbow is better for chases Longbow is better for assaults heading to nodes -Eros of Ascalon

What about 5 untamed doing an unnatural traversal / ambush bomb?

Returning to the game after several months & this was exactly the post I was looking for. I don't think I've seen really anything dominate matches as much as cata seems to in today's games. I couldn't understand why either, until I realized the change to Dragons Tooth unlocked all kinds of new builds that collectively break the class. Nerfing Dragon's Tooth probably wouldn't be enough, but I'll outline my thoughts on what I think makes it pretty broken on its own now. Attaches to the target. The small radius doesn't even matter anymore. Has a 2.0 power coefficient in PvP with 734 base damage and 10s burning?! Has a 3/4 second cast time with an 8 second cooldown. Combo finisher: Blast. Any two of these things would probably even be fine, but not all four. At the very least that coefficient needs to be dropped significantly or there needs to be a bigger tradeoff. 2x as long cooldown, not attaching to target again, 1/2 the burning, single target instead of AoE if it has to attach to someone, remove the blast finisher....ANYTHING really. -Eros of Ascalon

Pretty much this. Immob is one of the biggest counters to a lot of up-close builds, but it's balanced out by numerous counterplays. -Eros of Ascalon

The code came from my build template in GW2--you'd just need to copy that code -> then paste it in a chat. I usually /whisper to myself and paste the code, but it would work with any other chats as well. Good luck! -Eros of Ascalon

Since I'm 100% for ranger superiority, especially in PvP--I wanted to share a few of the builds I switch between. Please critique and/or add your own! Power Untamed [p1-p2] Gs / Hammer Demolisher / Eagle [&DQQILyArSBoUG3gAExurARkbvgC7ABsADxvtAC5CAQsAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] Power Survival Soulbeast [g3-p1] Gs / Longbow Marauder / Eagle [&DQQhKSArNzd4AHkAuACWAZYBwgC7ALgAwADtAC45KykAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] Core Power Survival [g3] Gs / Longbow Marauder / Eagle [&DQQILyEpICp4AHgAlgEAALgAAAC7AAAAwAAAAC45ASkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] Hybrid Untamed [<g3] Axe + Horn / Greatsword Valkyrie / Eagle [&DQQePSEpSBqhAAAAGwAAAL8AAAC4AAAAwAAAAC4IAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]' Condibeast [<g3] Carion / Elementalist Axe + Horn / Shortbow [&DQQeNSElNy54AHgA6Ra9AL8AuQCWAbwALhaXAR0mKisAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] -Eros of Ascalon

In PvE, if you're doing soulbeast condi, sharpening stones is basically a must. Wilderness survival is usually a must if you want to gain the extra cleanse + fury. If you're specced right you want to lean in as much to bleed as possible on others, going so far as to merge with a deadly pet like bristleback (for +5 bleeds on hit) or wolf (for leap interrupt + aoe bleed) Below is a soulbeast build that basically abuses bleeds. This works really well in PvP as a one-shot, but in PvE it breezes through most things. The only thing you need to do is stay alive along enough to burst someone else with Warhorn #5 or deadly merge #F3 when stacked with proc condis. [&DQQeNSElNy54AHgA6Ra9AL8AuQCWAbwALhaXAR0mKisAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=] -Eros of Ascalon

If anything Solar Beam should be super effective against Charr, Humans, Norn, and Asura. Sylvari would be resistant. -Eros of Ascalon

Here's several ways that you can use stealth with smokescale: Drop smokefield -> Greatsword #3 (leap finisher) while in the field Drop smokefield -> swap pets for Lesser Call of the Wild (blast finisher) for AoE stealth while in field Drop smokefield -> Hammer #5 (blast finisher) for Aoe Stealth while in field Drop smokefield -> Warhorn #5 (blast finisher) for Aoe stealth while in field Drop smokefield -> Unleash Pet -> Rending Vines F2 (blast finisher) for Aoe Stealth while in field So if you want to string them all together in combat you can do something like: Smokefield -> Greatsword #3 -> Hammer or Horn #5 -> Swap Pets Lesser Call of Wild -> Unleash Pet -> Rending Vines for like 8-10 seconds of stealth. More often than not you probably will just want to chain 1-2 of the finishers. Smokefield -> Greatsword #3 -> Hammer or Horn #5 gives you enough stealth to disengage most fights, and you still have petswap + rending vines to use as a fallback or with other combofields. -Eros of Ascalon

This is just the return to form for Soulbeast. Being able to swap pets was a major part of why things Soulbeast was so strong like 2+ years ago. At its core it's still the same Soulbeast....you merge to get the stats / abilities you want---except now you can carry two completely different pets again and change how your build works mid combat. -Eros of Ascalon

Untamed has a much higher skill curve than most ranger builds. Just keep working on your leashing / unleashing to maximize your DPS and CC if you aren't already & eventually it might click! -Eros of Ascalon

Soulbeast or druid for WvW. Sic Em Soulbeast is still one of the best for roaming, and druids are better for zergs. I really really wanted untamed to be good in zergs but it just doesn't hold up in a big fight. -Eros of Ascalon

I support all these changes. Also pretty satisfied siege turtle is finally getting fixed, because it has decent viability for PvP. Only downside is the future nerf on felines when they realize their ridiculously high coefficient multipliers might make them a little overtuned soon. -Eros of Ascalon

I'd be happy with just a blue or red crab, so that I could name it Old Bay -Eros of Ascalon

I like how you answer everything so seriously and seem to have no concept of sarcasm, but still give off that feeling of being personally offended at just about anything. I sign every comment and post I make, so if that's something that triggers you idk what I can do to help you. It's also clear even from your previous comments that the devs aren't making any major changes to Untamed itself (see my post LEAK - Upcoming Untamed Balance Fix) and the "big changes" that are coming in the near future to pets isn't even an Untamed-exclusive fix. None of which actually addresses the EoD pets freezing for 5-10 seconds (the actual purpose of this post) so like....which of us is actually paying attention and/or disregarding the point of this post? EROS OUT -Eros of Ascalon

Sounds like it's perfectly balanced to me! -Eros of Ascalon

Which is never because it's perfectly balanced -Eros of Ascalon

I'm actually down with all these changes. Of course none of them impact PvP, but for PvE I can definitely see these lowering the skill curve for newer players (thinking Steam in the near future) while retaining the potential for high skill players to pump out DPS. Given that Guild Wars 2 is poised for a whole new generation of players--buffing core and core weapons makes a lot of sense. PvP is still a different animal, but I can see where these PvE changes are coming from. -Eros of Ascalon

Big yikes on all these changes from me. -Eros of Ascalon

#AllCrabsMatter But only red and blue existed during GW1. -Eros of Ascalon

The small stat boost is sometimes all you need for an edge when you figure out what your enemies are playing. The pet skills can be incredibly useful, but there are only a few pets that really get attention. Bristleback was nerfed to hell. Gazelle got nearly a 50% nerf on its coeficients. Smokescale was nerfed twice. Drake only just got nerfed recently. Other pets with high coefficients (like Tiger, Hawk, Jacaranda, some canines) have never been picked up but probably will in the future. As an example for what I mean on changing the dynamic of a fight, I'd stay on smokescale most of the time when I'm playing power--but if I start fighting power heavy users (reapers, spellbreakers, other soulbeasts, etc) I'd switch to siamoth, and the toughness / invul / charge / bite was usually enough to even things out or beat them. -Eros of Ascalon

Honestly it was for the best. As much as I loved being able to completely change the way my build worked mid-combat, it was not necessary (as evidenced by SB still being strong). For PvP at least, the ability to basically change your build mid combat depending on what you're fighting was a huge advantage over core / druid, and many other classes. -Eros of Ascalon