JorneMormel.9850

^This, though I'd have to add that a lot of the Ranger's options outside of the few roaming/snipe builds they have are rather limited or lackluster. It's not just druid, but rather most of their weapons, the pet and most of the utility/elite skills. Edit: Why can't I answer more than 1 in the poll?

Start by improving the pet mechanic. Specifically: F1 Attack/(Toggle)HeelandF3 Move To (Ground targeted) It would make pet controls more intuitive and allow the option to path pets out of harm's way, without requiring too many button presses and overcoming the fact that Guard/Avoid Combat cannot be hotkeyed, which would be a welcome QoL update if it did. Axe (Mostly OH #4)Dagger (MH lacks cleave)Short Bow (Lacks damage potential on flanking which is hard enough to pull off in any competitive environment, and is still outclassed in PvE.)StaffSword All need love. So does Druid and I wish pets were an optional mechanic for them, too. Stowing a pet for skill effects and attribute increases would even improve core. And give Soulbeast the second pet back, but instead design the drawback that your pet appears with the same hitpoints as it had before when leaving Beastmode, and when you switch into Beastmode, if your pet's health % is lower than yours, lose health equal to 50% of the difference.Losing the second pet lowered the skill ceiling by so much, it's not even funny.

Agreed wholeheartedly, but how would you go about the (Beastmastery) traitline(s) and skills/effects that affect the pet?

This statement is false. There were a maximum of 8 skills in Guild Wars 1, of which Charm Animal (and later Comfort Animal [PvE]) were required skills for the Ranger to even have a companion in the first place, which was just another body with a slow attack speed, no attack skills of its' own and its' damage partially dependant on your investment into the Beast Mastery attribute. Point being, when staying true to the Guild Wars 1 comparison; the Ranger originally had an optional pet, not one as its' core mechanic.

Been happening to my Cobalt skin GS since around the time warclaw was introduced. Never been addressed.

The assumption I'm making is from the perspective of a new player, new to all formats. While in PvP there's no stat difference, I feel the level playing field is gated in WvW.I've had friends who leveled their first characters in WvW like back when the game launched. Even for returning players or recent adopters, there's still less incentive to create gear fit for anything other than their assumed 'meta' build first, nevermind stacking their inventory space with equipment for i.e. roaming or untested builds. Having said that, I have to agree that the few must-have ranks are easily attained on active player accounts and aren't really an issue, especially since the warclaw stomp got removed.

Hello and thank you for reading. As you're well aware the stat difference between exotic to ascended is quite significant, especially on the weapons. I've discussed this a lot lately with friends and returning players and WvW is one key interest that's gotten more and more difficult to get into over the years.With ranks, builds and equipment maxed on veteran players, there's actually a big gap between their performance and that of new players. If not for the lack of rewards, there's actually still quite a competitive scene with certain guilds and commanders with an 'closed tag'. Meaning there's less room for creativity and certain meta classes and builds will be picked over others. As you can imagine, the format is simply less rewarding like this for newer players, while they provide less to your team and server. Now with ArenaNet pushing build templates and all, wouldn't it be about the right time to allow players to experiment with this on an even playing field? To eliminate the raw stat difference I would suggest WvW-only equipment with legendary stats, earned through WvW currency and only usable in WvW, allowing everyone to enjoy a 'maxed' character in any and all PvP formats. So long as it's easily accessible, you could even consider disallowing transmutations. So what are your thoughts about this? Has the introduction of WvW ranks, or even ascended equipment before that already eliminated the game's original mentality of rewarding skillful play? Is this too late into the game that players who 'worked' on their build, gear and rank would feel neglected? Would it further emphatize and solidify the 'meta' and in doing so, further lead to a dissatified consensus on the game's balance issues? Or would the renewed interest be more of a hook to include newer players? What do you think?

It's PvE, anything goes and I would somewhat recommend against running guardian for example, to get your friends accustomed to dodging and not relying on teammates to bail them out with aegis (or blind for that matter...) Having said that, go for it! I'd recommend using "Search and Rescue!" and be revered as your party's hero. The build you run really doesn't matter all too much for leveling.

Out of curiosity, what sort of builds have you been running? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUh/lFw8YdMJ2JWcPlv/SMZaA-zZoKkCKgMTh4jAfGA http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUxjlFw8YdMJ2JWcPpv/SeQaA-zZoOkCUAZKFSZE4jB Best I could come up with from the top of my head. Not 100% sure on the sigils. As far as experimentation goes, changing Primal Reflexes for Trapper's Expertise and slotting Healing Spring (and Spike Trap, (*if you take out Vulture Stance you might want to consider Second Skin instead of Predator's Cunning,)) can be justified, as can changing Light on your Feet for Quick Draw, especially on the dagger/torch.Other than that there haven't been any substantial changes that made new options stand out.

/Thread Still doesn't solve any of the glaring issues with this weapon, which is the reason for the OP to pose this question.

No matter the speed at which my character moves, if my opponement is skilled, uses the mouse to turn and is focussed on me, he can 100% prevent the flanking bonus.It's not a mathematical problem, deduced by 3/4 directions you attack from are effective. I'm not denying its' usefulness in group combat where I'm not being focussed, the problem is 1v1 (or 1vX) where I am. Again; it's seen relative succes, even in competitive, but mostly on power builds because flanking just isn't as reliable as you might think. This problem is magnified on condition damage builds because their main source of damage depends on the flanking bonus.

I find it curious that throughout the entire life of the game, the combat system was never as good as we wanted it to be. The attempts at balance were clever because in tweaking abilities for a tiny amount;1) the patch notes were longer, implying that lots was changing, and,2) it felt like the developers were all over the issues and that tiny changes were all that the game needed. Except that some options, like for example on-crit traits got butchered, further deincentivizing stat spreading. Or how boon duration was nerfed over the years, take the Sigil of Concentration or recent changes to runes for example, instead of expanding upon counterplay options. The only neutral options to remove boons are Sigil of Absorption, which is decent, and the Sigil of Nullification, which is laughable. Both are single target. Mind you some professions have no inherent options at all to remove boons, this is why the ranger 'boonbeast' reigned surpreme as it did way back when, and what added to the demise of chronomancers. All the while the importance of stripping said boons has never changed other than becoming even more vital with the introduction of even more powerful effects like resistance and alacrity, especially in a group setting, further discouraging diversity. Perhaps with their uptime decreased as much as it has it's now finally become a little less vital... Time will tell, but I expect that in larger group fights the only difference is a lower stability uptime. As with cc, I can only hope that one day we will see diminishing returns.

It's fun to keep on the side with a warhorn for the dual leap + blast finishers on a smokescale's f2. Not really useful or practical, but anything goes for the lulz.

Oh I know, don't forget there's absolutely no way to dodge their big bear attacks, those bears hit like a truck man... Please nerf pets. Is that horse dead yet?

Spectator, you deal and receive no damage and are unable to carry supplies in WvW, the servers would be flooded with 'em. (You are unable to change this specialization outside of major outposts.) Would finally cater to all the ranger hate too, making pets cosmetic only. I guess few would notice their damage decrease by much. /rant Alright, on a more serious note, I've been thinking about this a lot and have come to the conclusion that I would rather see a new core weapon released, than another elite specialization. On the same note I'd rather see existing traitlines fleshed out more, but if we are to go there... Aquaman Weapon: (terrestrial) Spear or Trident Utilities: (expanding upon existing options) Geyser Trap, Unsteady Footing, Signet of the Whale, Ahab's Spirit... etc.