Before, I could set up an area of 100% uptime party protection and regeneration, regeneration that is applied often enough to make a personal bonus heal from allowing me to pseudo-tank for my team or outlast difficult solo content. I could move this area setup without triggering any uncomfortably long cooldowns and/or trigger some synergetic effects like an additional area heal, a slow, or a stun that worked well with another popular passive that was removed because other rangers were using it to be greater damage dealers (I guess?). I could keep this up almost indefinitely when playing with just my partner as we played the game as a pair quite frequently so the buff limit allowed my water spirit to heal the other two. I could do all this using an elite specialization that wasn't almost entirely focused on support and actually use some fun offensive attacks and a very helpful source of stability with a cooldown reduced by said attacks. I didn't even want to bring up the change to fervent force because apparently, according to the community, it had to go and I can live with that. But this nerf to core ranger's ability to support feels absolutely uncalled for.
Now I have yet another pile of ranger skills that have barely any synergy with most of what the class does, with miniscule benefits and disproportionate cooldowns. Two 30s cooldown double combo finishers! Fantastic..../s
I made sure to voice my rage because Anet needed to know how this made me feel and I'd appreciate less attempts to invalidate that rage. I don't want to have to play a Druid to support my party either and I hope I've given enough "science" to satisfy the question of "why tho?".
If it's "just a video game" then why did you bother commenting. I made this post to let Anet know how I feel about the changes they made to something I spent a lot of time, thought, and effort on creating, testing, equipping, and practicing. That time was real. That effort was real. That feeling of accomplishment was real. The hope that I could help my friends experience new content using what I've nurtured to keep my friends going during difficult fights while simultaneously being capable of dealing more than a negligible amount of damage in a comfortable way were not only real but they were taken away by some of the dumbest reworking I've ever seen.
The time I spend with my partner playing "just a game" is also real and precious to me. Please don't waste your effort posting a flippant and low effort response completely dismissing someone else's experience. It just makes you seem like a troll.
The 20s cooldown heal spirit's Regeneration is gone and protection lasts 1.5s with a 30s cooldown. I could care less about storm spirit since fervent force and alacrity are gone, which this post wasn't really a complaint about since everybody demanded it be removed >_>. I never asked for both party alac and quickness. I just wanted to keep my pulsing regen and protection for the party... I feel like there's something off here though. It seems as though other posters are talking about spirits that still pulse? My spirits (regardless of getting a second slam) show up, buff once or twice, and leave.
