Za Shaloc.3908

I too like the idea of a change in the pet's functionality like this that would give the Druid a proper tradeoff while still providing a niche that makes more sense for the e-spec and its intended role. Been working on some ideas myself and I have a similar thing going.

To be honest I have no idea at this point. I've been roaming mostly on power Rev and all these condi matchups are a pain in the kitten, but it was never the build's strength to begin with so it doesn't come as a surprise. Gonna slit my wrists soons with all these burn Guards shitting out burns left and right. Condi Rev is dumb atm but is far from the best 1v1 class due to it having clear counters that are rather easy to exploit. Thief feels impossible to kill now due to not being able to pressure them enough anymore while they are CC'd. Thank god that Pistol Whip FotM kitten passed quickly though. Vault still chunks, but thankfully I haven't seen too many double staff monkeys around. Conversely, every Warrior I have fought thus far has been far easier to kill compared to pre-patch unless they are running some dumb immortal build. Necro feels significantly harder to kill and is honestly a harder matchup now for me, and I am not counting the core Signet build because they aren't worth the time trying to fight. Boonbeast is still Boonbeast, mindless and skilless as ever, though the burstier builds are much more fun to fight now that I don't get instanuked. Ancient Seeds can DiaF. Mesmer seems okay I guess. I try not to engage them because 95% of the time they are running TB on either Mirage or core PU, so trying to kill them is often futile. Power doesn't seem too hot right now on it though. Engi (Holo specifically) feels much easier than before because of the corona nerf. I can CC them a whole lot. Most fellow power Revs just flop unfortunately, but I still see the occasional good one out there. Offhand sword burst is still cheese, just not quite so stinky. Jalis feels great, Shiro feels kneecapped but still okay, and Staff 5 feels like the dirtiest booty you've ever tasted. On the topic of Rev, howbout Ventari? Just kidding. As a self-admitted centaurophile, I have hung up the spec for the first time since I started playing the class. Sadness. Deep sadness. TLDR: I have no idea. My experience is completely biased because it is mostly through the lens of one build on one class because I suck at everything else in the game. I have barely 1v1'd at all since the patch and honestly I just don't see them happen much at all unless they are impromptu. With all that said, I do hope burn Guards get nuked from orbit and I hope ANet permanently deletes Deadeye from the game.

Out of curiosity, what sort of builds have you been running?

I have been trying all sorts of builds with mixed results. So far I have liked the quickness bursts from dagger and its synergy with Vulture Stance and Predator's Cunning, trying to maximize poison application with Quickdraw Dagger 4/Shortbow 2. I haven't really landed on a particularly good build yet though...still playing...still a bit rusty on Ranger too.

Oh hey, I am in the fight near the SET sentry (Rev). Was a nice fight!

Hmmm, anyone know if there is an option to not have the effect displayed? I want the leggy ring for the stat changing component, but not the Navi ball.

Personally I love dagger offhand. One of my favorite weapons on the class. It was your idea to make spirits like spirit weapons, yes? I'd honestly love that so much. Frankly I find them so lackluster and would love for their passive buffs to get nuked from orbit so PvE Ranger can be rebalanced accordingly. Would be really nice to have the active effects more controllable though (although Stone Spirit active has too much overlap with Muddy Terrain so I'd like to see it reworked) and for the trait to be more interesting than it currently is. There's so much cool stuff they could do with them honestly. Would love if they got a visual rehaul too...they ugly af. Healing Spring is honestly quite nice on the right build, especially now in WvW/PvP with TU and WHaO! getting CD nerfs. Feels good on Druid at least. Has some real nice synergy with CF generation and Windborne Notes. Would be nice to have a radius increase on it but eh, wishful thinking. It saddens me that Sharpened Edges (and all corresponding traits for other classes) got nerfed the way they did. Souldn't pushing stat diversity away from pure tankiness be encouraged? I dunno, in WvW it just makes stuff like Trailblazer more appealing because there is less incentive in investing in precision now. Throw Torch is trash for sure. Idea my friend and I came up with: 2x charges, applies blind and 1x burn (reduced to 8s in PvP/WvW). Give the skill some additional utility. Also improve the tracking (not the only Ranger skill that suffers greatly from this...hello core pet merge skills). Astral Wisp is just...no. What a meme skill. At least it's pretty. Empathic Bond and Invigorating Bond both feel outdated and neglected. Every time I try to fit Muddy Terrain into a build, it feels handicapped by its cast time and small radius. Would love for this to become a bit more usable so it could be a nice setup skill and justifiable for the slot. I mean, Child of the Earth feels so much more effective than the skill itself.

@"ventusthunder.5067" yes, Essence Sap is what makes me hate fighting Thieves. I am glad that not as many run Improv now (the horrors of getting a quad Essence Sap from acro S/D) but IMO it still does too much damage for it being a ranged skill that does not require you to face the target. Also I like having Aggressive Agility simply to get away from Ancient Seeds cancer, but looking at it, it is a pretty lackluster trait otherwise. I don't think sword 3 even procs the break, at least on the tooltip when I first checked.

[WvW] This is what I have been playing 95% of the time I'm on my Rev, with slight variations to sigils, stats, and trait choices. Aside from Staff 5 being dumpstered, the build feels fine. No stunbreak on swap is not a huge hit when I have a lot of stab, evades, and overall mobility. Immob break is nice because there has been a big increase in immob cancer post-patch. I went back to Cleansing Channel because I didn't really find myself breaking stun that much, and when I would it would usually be followed up by an evade or block so the follow-up stab from Glaring Resolve didn't feel necessary. Damage feels significantly lower, but I can still do good burst (Enchanted Daggers and Impossible Odds did not get touched). Outnumbered is harder, but I don't think that issue is unique to Rev. Certain matchups are also harder, such as Thief as a whole and most condi builds, but in general the build doesn't feel totally destroyed. I still enjoy it, but I do admit it is a bit less fun. I don't really see many power Revs anymore. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAwyZlxQHMPyh1RNMO6hRSfMCKgl+U6qC-zRRYBRHyXMcBlSbJQmRQnFQvhgTDA-e

That is a pretty sweet idea tbf ^^ Aye, a very creative and class-appropriate interpretation of the weapon, and enough to differentiate it from Druid's staff as well. I also just really want a reason to craft Xiuquatl, and there's not a class that the weapon would look better on than Ranger.

Ever since somebody here suggested the idea of a scepter being used as a whip, I have wanted it to be a thing for Ranger.

Eh, let Rangers have their niche. They are already shunned enough in zergs.

Is that the one that looks like a floating kidney bean? Yes...lol.

Scepterscepterscepterscepterscepterscepterscepterscepterscepterscepter.

As a Pacific Northwest resident myself, I am so excited to see how they take inspiration from this gorgeous part of the world.

Yeah, Staff 2 is a very weak skill that has overall low impact for almost any aspect of PvP/WvW. Although I would like a total rework of the skill, I would be happy if they at least had it circle the player (Druid) if cast with no target. That way it would at least be a reliable AoE heal, albeit a weak one with a small radius. Staff 4 is another skill that would really benefit from some attention. What the skill does is great, but the cast time, travel time, and thin radius make it very awkward and often impractical. Speeding up the cast and travel time and making it a conal effect would make the skill legitimately good.

For starters, I would be happy if they tinted the new aura icons differently so it would be easier to tell which auras they have up. I like the new animations, but I do miss the old icons for that faster decision-making in a world of visual cancer.

Pretty exciting. Assuming this and the PvP trinket build upon the previous legendary trinkets, I am interested to see what 5 will look like together. The fact that the floating caca is not the final form is reassuring.

No.

Strange that it has a 0.0 modifier from healing power too.

I find the trait to be a lot better than the projectile finisher meme it was pre-patch. Personally I think it would be cool if the threshold was reduced to 1100 units so it would have some better synergy with staff and the offhand weapons.

Sand snakes huh? Kinda cool to see that skill used, tbh I always thought it was a bit of a meme even though the barrier gain is respectable.

Yeah 16s on this skill is so nice. IMO the CD reduction massively outweighs the loss of bleed and makes the skill more versatile.

I think part of the problem is that Draconic Echo is such an absurdly busted GM trait and eclipses the others. It makes a total mockery of boon duration investment, especially in PvE. In my opinion Forceful Persistence is fine but I would like for it to have a condition damage component to it as well so that there is a competitive choice for condition Heralds that aren't using Glint.

I like this idea best.