Mell.4873

Yeah no one plays sPvP. Its not that the people that like it have left, it's more that new player don't know where to start so they don't play it. This is especially true after the much needed Engineer Rifle nerf which brought alot of new players into PvP.

Renegade is just not a Dueling Specialisation. I don't see a problem with that...... You have two other Elites to pick from that can duel so just leave Renegade to WvW Zergs.

Its not a true nerf, they mostly wanted Firebrand to have a more fixed role and playstyle. Before this patch it could pretty much do anything which is why it was so prevelent as a Support. Take Druid for example, great support but it can't do any damage what so ever. Firebrand still let you do alot of damage while being a full Support.

I believe is most driven my numbers. To many player play this, we'll let's nerf it. Not enough players play this then buff it. This carries on down to skills and traits. Untill recently with there new design philosophy this is how they operated.

What did they kill exactly? It's been like this for a while, and it has more to with new players not even participating in PvP.

But that would contradict the Authors point. I also never said it was a bad thing since I agree with nerf as well. The main problem I had was Scappers being able to chase you with Quickness Rifle auto spam while being Super Speeded.

Give us an example otherwise your just platforming nothing. Last patch they completely ruined Mechanist and Engineer Rifle in PvP/WvW. That goes against favoritism mostly due to out cry from the player base much like Firebrand.

@UmbraNoctis.1907 Sadly it does look like they intend on making some changes to Fervent Force. Let's hope we can create enough awareness that they avoid nerfing it. My main point is currently Soulbeast is a still the better elite in every way except for DPS Alacrity Untamed, but that is so niche I have almost never seen it (including myself). @Kodama.6453 I think you over estimated the gap you have to pull of anything more than spamming 1 or 2 skills. Hammer does make it easier since it has 3 stuns but even then you still have to sacrifice 1 utility skills. At most every rotation you can maybe pull of 1 or 2 DPS skills. If you ever look at the arc dps you can see most of your damage comes from the Hammer 1,2,5 skills alone. Frost Trap can only ever be equal. Golem never translates to real life.

I would recommend gearing them all. Nothing is better than being able to change Build on the fly when you are struggling. Go for Druid first then Soulbeast then Untamed. In terms of there uses I can detail how I use them. Druid By far the highest survivability and has a great escape with Staff 3. It can not be overstated how mobile you can make Druid as a pose to the other two elites. If you are following a Zerg and Dueling around it, Druid is a must. The real problem with Druid is trying to do Damage, the only real synergy is with bleeds which can be unreliable vs Support builds. Soulbeast Has the widest usage, it can be a great sniper with Longbow Barrage giving it the ability to pierce though shields and hit Zergs. While Greatsword can provide a silly amount of burst if you start off in stealth. Untamed This I a hidden gem, what it lacks in pure numbers makes up for in engagement potential. The Pet and personal teleport can bring a scary amount of Damage when poking a small group. On many occasions I have been able to down multiple people by busting through there front lines. Most of the super speed applications last long enough to get away aswell.

Yeah like others have said the current Elite Specialisations are exactly what you are suggesting. Most of the new Traitlines are better versions of what we currently have with the exception of pinching class mechanics like Specter borrowing Shroud from Necromancer. Either way a specific Traitline become default paring with an Elite specialisation, like Mechanist and Explosives traitline (aim-assisted rocket).

Every expansion has some difficult elements. I imagine you are struggling with Hero Points and maybe the Meta Event. For PoF it has to be the Map Events some can be brutal and unnecessarily complex. Like the Choya Pinata when you have low player numbers. EoD has probably the easiest maps but the Meta events in particular can have a much worse fail state. Unlike HoT where its pretty clear if you cant complete it, EoD can have the failure become apparent at the last 10%. Like not enough DPS in End of Dragon's meta

I'm pretty sure they will but they are taking their sweet time. I mean right now the main selling point of Virtuoso is that it can go immune to damage for 10 seconds. I don't see how this is any different to a Mirage dodge, maybe only that the Ambush damage is too high with two dodges.

Play Druid then

He could just play a Hybrid and just not tell them he is healing. If he started the group no one would complain if they can do the content. Most if not all Boon+DPS can perform equally and sometimes better than a regular DPS, so I don't get his point.

You have Revenant all wrong. Herald boosts boon duration along with quickness Renegade boosts outgoing damage and life steal along with Alacrity Vindicator has emergency Stun breaks and boons along with burst healing If you want to be a sweaty nerd about it play Vindicator as a hybrid since its entire mechanic is flipping between damage and healing. Just say you're a DPS and not advertise you are healing too. Here is an example, I play Virtuoso which is classed as a selfish DPS since it does not have any Boons. If I throw in the Inspiration skill tree which drops my DPS by 5k I can now heal my Raid party. No one knows I do this, but it helps immensely during some fights where people cant stay alive.

Get more, play a class that has more. We are going in circles here.

Honestly Revenant is a Supports wet dream. Herald is an amazing boon quickness support, being the only class to boost boon duration. Renegade has access to almost permanent Alacrity Protection and Resolution without much effort. Not to mention the group buffs for damage/lifesteal. Vindicator is a pure healing spec a bit like Druid which for some content is amazing (WvW). It's unique buff is increase healing and Regeneration. Keeping this and bringing it out for some Raid fights could be an awesome strategy.

You miss the point of Boons as a healer. Boons keep people alive not your HPS. People have self heals what they need is low cooldowns and faster animations. That is all provided by Alacrity and Quickness. A good Healer, just heals. A great Healer provides boons. The best Healer puts down well timed resurrection. My Mesmer Healer which is off-meta can provide all of the above and more. The rotation is a nightmare but I can do it and maintain one of the two main Boons. You are also playing Revenant which has Herald and Renegade both can provide the Boon you need for Raids so you have no excuse.

I think your problem is in reality healing does not really keep people alive it's boons. For example any low health class won't survive long with just healing but Vigor, Protection, Resistance that will keep them alive. Same principle behind Quickness and Alacrity.

It should be in the Deadeye grandmaster Fire for Effect. It already provides Might and Fury to nearby team mates so adding Quickness wouldn't be that hard.

You kind of mix up PvE and PvP stuff but really PvP does not use dagger really at all, maybe you could find a few builds that use off-hand dagger, but it is still rare. Dagger 1 I'm fairly certain it has some of the highest auto attack DPS for Ranger. You do have to use Vipers gear but half of all Soulbeast builds do. Dagger 2 A carbon copy of Splitblade from Axe 2 but is arguably better for Condition damage due to the trait synergy. Dagger 3 Pretty useless in a group but can help when boons are sparce with Essence of Speed trait. Dagger 4-5 Most people use Warhorn for PvP or Axe off-hand for PvE. The main reason use off-hand Dagger is for poison stacks. The real power of Dagger (main-hand) is the trait synergy with Axe.

Yeah I don't think people understand this. Outside of using Hammer to reset cooldowns on every other weapon you needs at least 2 stuns. The only real synergy is Alacrity Untamed due to Storm Spirit and Hammer. Even then the damage is very low if you are trying to play defensively. The main advantage to Untamed is the ability to avoid mechanics when fighting due to changing to a very defensive unleashed mode. The core element to this is Fervent Force without it you would lose alot of DPS. Both other grandmasters are way better if you don't go for CC.

I do something similar but most of the high DPS builds camp Unleashed mode.

To Close of this thread i have noticed that Ferocious Symbiosis has the potential to have higher DPS than Fervent force on the right weapon and with the right pet. All the Wyverns attack twice as the part of their animation so it can get 5 stacks very quickly so that is 20% increase damage. If you use Greatsword or even Hammer with 1-2 utility stuns to reset frost trap it might be better to use all your utility slots and not run Fervent Force.

They can't increase the trait cooldown since Hammer 3 has a follow up stun which would not trigger Fervent Force like you said. I think they will lower the cooldown reduction to 2 seconds while adding some other effect like Restorative Strikes. Removing FF would be the worse outcome especially for some PvP builds.