Kovu.7560

Eh, a full glass soulbeast popping OWP and barraging into an enemy group from 1,500 range might be higher on the dps table, but its the ones that lock down enemy groups with entangle, prelude lash, signet of the wild, muddy terrain etc that really win it for their team. Breaking up an enemy group into smaller chunks by locking a number of them in your team's bubble and allowing your dps to go ham on them is where rangers truly shine in a larger-scale scenario IMO. Is it meta? Well, I'm kind of scared to use that word for fear of being kitten on by some of the posters earlier in this thread, but I'd argue it to be at least viable. I hear folks use roots to great effect in gvgs. It is a cleanse-heavy meta (kitten, there's that word again), so it won't always work. ~ Kovu

Whenever I get paired with a petting zoo they tend to tank forever and I just win. If I happen go down they get me right back up. I notice this while on my ranger and engi. Having a necro buddy is probably a good thing. ~ Kovu

You're certainly correct that there are a couple of professions that support too well, but simply nerfing them wouldn't be enough to jump Druid close to or above Ventari or Tempest. Druid heals are burst-oriented and gated behind an energy mechanic in addition to their cooldowns. They could remove the astral force element to allow Druids to cycle into and out of CA on a whim and I doubt they'd out heal/cleanse/boon (certainly not the latter two) any of the above. They would need to rework the spec to turn it into a proper support rather than an immobilize spamming roaming spec (which is arguably is outclassed by Soulbeast even in that regard). Druid cleansing is clunky, they don't provide stability and whatever little grou boon generation they do provide is already covered by other supports (or even damage) specs that to it better. Things (for example) such as changing Druidic Clarity to remove conditions from allies rather than just one's self, making glyph of the stars more viable in some way, reinstating the unique buff provided by the grace of the land trait and making some of the Avatar abilities such as the 2 skill reliable for movement-oriented engagements would be a decent start. Then there's the whole pet immediately biting it aspect. In a group fight (even small scale) the pet just croaks. Anet should have well just removed the pet from Druids for all the good it does, and in its place granted them something else (such as moving spirits or by attaching CA abilities or the glyphs to F1-5.) ------------- But is the goal here to make more numerous viable support specs, or should the goal be to spread out the individual supporting elements across the professions that a group needs to actually consider its composition rather than firebrand/scrapper/x/x/x? Perhaps: One spec does really well at providing superspeed and quickness. One cleanses well. One spams stability. One provides a lot of AoE stealth. One spams reflects and provides some damage negation. One does what mesmers do. I'm all for numerous (most?) professions being able to stab themselves, cleanse themselves, anti-projectile themselves etc, but we honestly need to cut back on how much of this stuff is AoE because that is basically what defines a support spec. Of course the same argument could be made for damage specs, but I feel there (at least) more viable options for damage then they are for support. Make people actually think about which kinds of compositions they want to run, what style of play they want to perform, and what they're willing to sacrifice. ~ Kovu

I don't feel like 500 people is all that many, honestly. I suspect the majority of folks who play wvw play fewer than 8 hours per week and folks who clock 20+ hours are the outliers. This system won't prevent pv'dooring and I doubt it make the game any better outside of NA. (That's partially the fault of those timezones for stacking with each other rather than spreading out, knowing there isn't the population to sustain a large number of OCX -> EU servers/alliances. I'm not sure how alliances will affect this, but it can't make it worse.) We don't know the metrics, but for every person who plays with a guild at specific times I suspect there's 2+ "pugs" (casuals, whatever you want to call folks who dabble in the gamemode but don't commit to it) who themselves contribute to the team's score (total playtime, however you want to call it). Those folks have an opportunity to join with a group of players but I suspect despite OP's concerns the majority of these folks simply don't care. These players will be spread out among the alliances to fill in population gap, (and will subsequently be blamed by the alliance guilds for their team loses, just like folks do now. >.>) ~ Kovu

I'm in three FA guilds and on the discord and hadn't heard of any community alliance guild, though to be fair I wasn't on the lookout for one as I have a particular guild I plan to stick with. Setting up community alliances to accommodate that niche is neat, but we're going to have to start accepting the fact that we're not going to be playing with all of the people we have up until now. Particularly the guilds that run larger groups or multiple sub-guilds. The system is designed so that you'll still be able to play with your core group of friends and their friends but you'll be seeing a lot of new faces, too. Alliances will mix things up, which I feel is a good thing. As someone with a pair of alts I can tell you there are plenty of fantastic people across many of the servers (except maguuma, they're all degenerates) and if you give it a chance I'm certain you'll get some enjoyment out of playing with the new faces, maybe even make some new friends and expand your guild roster. You've been given the tools to continue playing with the people you want to play with and if you choose to run solo you can either join an alliance geared towards the folks you play with now, or accept the fact you'll be seeing a lot of new faces. I don't consider this a sacrifice by any stretch, but if you want to call it that then its a sacrifice worth taking to better the gamemode's population imbalance. Will it be perfect? No. There are a whole host of issues ranging from gamemode balance to off-hour stacking that will continue to plague the game -- but its a step in the right direction. ~ Kovu

Prelude Lash -> Whirling Defense I am not by any means an elite guild wars 2 player. I would consider myself high-intermediate on mechanics and build knowledge and somewhere in the middle of the pack for excecution (probably gold 2 as I tend to land there on condi ranger and necro), however the above build can carry to an extent. I can usually climb to plat 1 with this as it has the capability of ending entire teams lacking stab fighting over a point. In the right hands I'm sure it could perform even better. It can't survive forever (hence why I prefer defensive utilities and a longbow) compared to other builds but it usually gets the job done. Its actually weaker in 1v1s than many condi ranger variants but unlike many ranger builds that are geared for side noding, this build can also contribute heavily to a team fight. It can also end fights quickly and often forces decaps if not outright kills if you get the burst to land. Last week or so of my matches. You can run greatsword if you want, and the damage trait over the stance sharing trait should you prefer. Utilities are yours to decide. Slot another rooting skill if you want. Zephyr for trait synergy and superspeed is always nice, too. Just make sure you keep your power damage relevant and use OWP with whirling defense for the highest AoE burst potential. That's really what this build is for. That said, once you get into plat 1 the players get both better and cheesier, so I tend to hover around there. Perhaps you can do even better. Best of luck! ~ Kovu

I still feel they need to retool Druid to make it more viable as a support spec rather than a condi bruiser roamer (that's outclassed by Soulbeast apart from one trait.) That was what it was designed to do, but at no point has it been relevant in that role in large scale wvw. But while I say "retool" what I mean is complete overhaul. Having your primary healing gated behind a cooldown and an energy bar, the healing itself outclassed by other healers and with providing little else apart from maybe some might generation -- its just never the correct pick. They need to ditch the pet that dies in two hits and give the spec more bells and whistles so that like guardian, engi and even compared to support ele and rev it can compete for a spot in that 5-man sub-squad. Maybe make the glyphs actually useful? Synergize Druid with spirits? (Maybe Druids can trait so that their spirits move again?) I'm not going to go into too further detail because at this point I'm just theory crafting (and you can get a ton of that in the ranger subforum) but that is the direction I'd like to see Druid go. I'm tired of it being an immobot that doesn't even care about its specialization's primary mechanic or utilities. And then do something completely different for the new ranger spec. Hammer doesn't scream support to me. ~ Kovu

Thank you for the update. Looking forward to more news as you progress with the releases. ~ Kovu

That is a good idea. They should consider implementing it. ~ Kovu

WvW Community: 2017: Alliances when? 2018: Alliances when? 2019: Alliances when? 2020: Alliances when? 2021: Alliances WHY? Anet: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

If they want to address afk pip farming and improve the rate in which active players earn reward track experience the solutions are simple enough: • Increase the amount of base reward track experience earned by everyone (while reducing bonuses granted by boosters if they feel that would need to be counterbalanced). • Reward pips actively rather than passively and tie them less to wvw rank and more to actions performed in the gamemode, such as defending a dolyak, killing a player or capturing/defending an objective. Pips could still be rewarded every 5 minutes effectively putting a once-per-tick limit on all of the individual methods of earning them to encourage gameplay diversity and prevent earning a whole whack of pips simply by being on the correct end of a large scale fight. They could also throw some shinier (or more interesting) drops in the heavy loot bags. Many of the "rare" drops in the loot bags were items that had a decent amount of value back in the day -- but now not so much. That said, I don't think wvw is in that bad of a place in terms of earning straight gold. They're added a lot over the years and reduced the gamemode's gold sinks. One could also introduce a set of wvw "weeklies" that once completed generate some gold, if they wanted to tack a bit more economical value onto the gamemode. Capturing 10 towers, 25 camps etc. Tweaking reward tracks and adding new ones are also an option. I do think the economy of the game as a whole is getting a little too inflated too quickly though, and its mostly the fault of pve rewards. Just some random thoughts. I doubt there's anything here that hasn't been suggested before. ~ Kovu

Have you tried stability?

Reflection in this game is so far out of hand that I often use spectral grasp on my reaper as a gap closer. ~ Kovu

While I don't do too much pve, I do really like the Canthan aesthetic. its quite pretty. A map designed with that art direction in mind would be welcomed by me. ~ Kovu

Stop buffing Soulbeast multipliers and instead take a look at core ranger damage coefficients so that core ranger and druid can have some fun in the sun, too. Just my thoughts. ~ Kovu

It's actually quite encouraging that they took that extra step to allow players to float above the action. Also, in time for the tournament. Looking forward to some good VODs. 😃 ~ Kovu

Honestly, in 2021 I'd put double-leap soulbeast and staff/greatsword druid in 3rd or 4th behind thief, scrapper/holo (perma superspeed and holo leaps) & possibly an invested mesmer. That said I'd put druid/soulbeast ahead of warrior which is somewhat amusing as that was the profession for mobility back during core. It's a little weird to think that in terms of mobility warriors could be as low as 5th on the totem pole today, considering they're generally utilizing melee-oriented builds with no access to stealth, (which ranger, mes, thief and engi all have plenty of.) Rangers are probably the best answer for annoying thieves though. (You know, apart from another thief.) You just have to not get caught with your pants down. ~ Kovu

Whenever I see one or multiple people trying to revive someone while in the middle of enemy cleave, I see the reviver(s) going down more often than than not. They're committed to that revive, not doing anything else. Except, I guess, instant casts. The only exception is a bit of sneaky stealth play (sneak gyro, shadow refuge, search and rescue + druid stealth, smoke field blast etc). As the opposition, it's nice to see a bunch of people huddled together in easy cleave range. Those Scourges that used to shit endless barrier for days now try to ply their transfuse trade and instead usually bite the dust themselves. A bit of karma for all of the bunker abuse pre-nerf, I guess, but I suppose my point is there are counterplay options. Control/interrupts, AoE/cleave damage & poison will go a long way -- especially against foes who aren't fighting back. Honestly the best revive mechanics are instant revive mechanics, and even those are hardly perfect. If I have an ally in down state and no clean way to try and revive them, I'll try and take the opportunity to focus someone else low while they're committed to that stomp. If I fail, usually I'm outnumbered and will move off point. All of this comes from my experience in gold 3, mind, it might feel different in higher and lower ranks. ~ Kovu

I think its the condition builds' inherent ability to run super tanky rather than the condition-based attacks themselves. (Except for perhaps condi rev.)If you weren't able to deal so much damage while running dire or trailblazer I'd expect smallscale to be a little closer. There is too much AoE cleansing in large scale, too. Nevermind Purity of Purpose, the sheer cleansing output provided to a squad by a single scrapper negates anything a group of opposing 5 condi builds can bring to the table. At the same time, if condi were meta in large scale I suspect there'd be a loooot more whining than what we have now. ~ Kovu

Does that include your alts? ........ No edit- But that probably only adds an extra 1,000 hours to my total playtime.

Ranger 7,113 hours (75%), 17712 deaths, 2.49 deaths/hourNecromancer 1639 hours (17%), 4085 deaths, 2.49 deaths/hourMesmer 240 hours (1.5%), 512 deaths, 2.12 deaths/hourThief 158 hours (1%), 200 deaths 1.26 deaths/hourWarrior 149 hours (1%), 280 deaths, 1.87 deaths/hourEngineer 108 hours (0.5%), 254 deaths, 2.33 deaths/hourGuardian 63 hours, 93 deaths, 1.48 deaths/hourElementalist 36 hours, 106 deaths, 2.86 deaths/hourRevenant 2 hours, 1 death, 0.5 deaths/hour (lol) I should probably stop playing zerk builds. ~ Kovu

You can argue build specific weaknesses if you want but at the end of the day thieves and rangers have plenty of tools to deal with each other. Both are extremely versatile. Neither hard counters the other if (as pointed out above) the players invest in some sustain-oriented traits or utilities. Both professions have plenty of defensive options while still outputting high single target damage.I'd give the edge to ranger in a 1v1, on average, but its hardly a blowout. Maybe 55/45. Thieves also perform better overall against more builds than ranger across the other professions from my experience. ~ Kovu

Pretty much this. Lets not pretend thieves and rangers are universal gods in 1v1 scenarios, plenty of builds on all of the other professions can deal with them just fine. I'd personally swap mesmer and necro around, as well, in the context of roaming and 1v1s. It ultimately boils down to what builds you choose to play on each profession and what their inherent strengths and weaknesses are. For the record I voted engi as the best roamer/1v1er as they have access to a slew of practically everything (healing, quickness, stealth, stupid superspeed uptime, leaps, stuns, dazes, blocks/reflects/invulns, tons of cleaning, boon access, practically every field with the ability to blast multiple times on their own) all on relatively low cooldowns (15~25s) and at least 2/3rd of the above can be worked into a single build. In a straight race across the map with everyone moving at in-combat speed a thief spec'd for teleport-spam would probably win, but a scrapper or holo wouldn't be far behind, well ahead of ranger/mesmer/warrior etc. ~ Kovu

Once you log out of wvw you are not eligible for credit on the capturing of any objective you contributed to. However, if you log back in before the objective flips you will get credit. You have to be present on the map when the structure flips. (Or any event you contributed to, really.) Same as pve. You can leave a map and then return before it flips, (like if you're grabbing 25 supply from another map) and you'll get credit. If you tag an enemy lord, you'll get the drop even if the third server comes in and defeats the lord. You will not get credit for the objective if it flips to another opposing server, though if your server later flips it you'll (sometimes) get credit. Not always though. I have noticed I'll get credit for guild missions if I contribute and log off and it completes, (I'll see the chest the next time I log in). Moreover there have been times I've logged on while a guild I'm repping completes a mission. I'll get credit even though I didn't contribute nor was I in wvw. But it's not reliable. Anet spaghetti coding the wvw missions. As for the fragments, they don't bother me as I have a Gleam of Sentience. (Google it, I'm on my phone.) However if you throw them out once you're sitting on too many you're not missing out on much. ~ Kovu

Have stealth skills overlap rather than stack, like superspeed.Exceptions can be certain skills on a case-by-case that are intended to stack. (Shadow refuge, sneak gyro etc.) There's already a cloaking mechanic, (camouflage?), separate from stealth, use that for the handful of pulsing skills.Blasting stealth fields could grant a flat 6s of stealth that can't be increased beyond that. (Further blasts just reset the timer.)Increase base stealth durations on thief skills, halve all durations to anyone in combat (so blasting in combat would be 3 seconds) to discourage "resetting", remove the sentry mark debuff's ability to reveal (but still mark them on the minimap.) Remove DE's ability to peel a reveal. ~ Kovu