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.

This is where we disagree, proper positioning is in my opinion very much rewarded in GW2, just not neccesarily represented as such in skills and traits. A ranger with a shortbow is countered by simply facing the ranger, denying the flanking bonusses, just as for example the longbow skill #2's channeled ability is countered by kiting through the ranger. A general rule of thumb for players fighting your average ranger is to fight at range if they use GS, fight in close quarters if they use LB, yet no weapon is countered so hard or easily as the shortbow is, especially if the ranger relies on condition damage. Atleast GS has a gap closer and defensive capabilities, LB has the range, a pushback and stealth.SB has no means of applying the pressure that forces enemies to kite away, thus relying on your allies, pets' and utility skills to stun/launch/immobilize in order for you to play to your strengths. Considering how Wilderness Knowledge + Survival skills (stunbreaks) are near mandatory, there's not a lot of options for offensive utilities really. Having said all that, I do like how much the positioning is rewarded and I would very much like to enjoy the SB playstyle, but it's just very lackluster when fighting skilled opponements. Part of the reason it's seen moderate succes in the past is that power SB doesn't rely as much on the flanking bonus, but noone in their right mind would argue it's got reliable condition damage outside of PvE. For power builds our other weapon options are just generally superior.

Personally I love dagger offhand. One of my favorite weapons on the class. I'm inclined to say that dagger offhand is pretty decent. For instance: comparing the skillset of axe/dagger to shortbow, excluding the different functionality on the auto-attack and the evade range (which hasn't been changed to match other professions' evades), it just outshines shortbow in every single way without the quirky flanking requirement or weapon traits' neccessity. Although I'm not sure if this is to say dagger is actually good, or if the shortbow is just that terrible. 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. I can only imagine the massive outcry from PvE players if spirits were changed, as they single-handedly carry rangers in group content. Still, I'd welcome any change that would make them viable in competitive modes. I agree 100%, it'll still find its' way on PvE builds, but it'd been more appropriate to remove the trait from PvP/WvW altogether as it currently only functions as a placeholder, perhaps still fooling the odd player who didn't read the last update or update their build. The only thing this skill has going for it is its' 1200 range, as the burning effectively only helps to prevent players from resetting a fight. Compared to Crippling Talon, atleast the latter helps you to catch up to a target, which solidifies my stance on dagger offhand being somewhat good. Reason enough to play ranger, yeah? /s Considering how the latter uses the pet's healing power, not the ranger's, yeah. Haven't had any experience with Empathic Bond in years, I remember it being mandatory as much as Wilderness Knowledge is nowadays, back when condition cleansing was nigh non-existent. All it took was 1 decent alternative and I figure most people haven't looked back since. Whatever moved the condition transfer to duration decrease, I'm not a fan of. I had moderate success with this skill in WvW to disrupt karma trains' tails, but it's hardly worth it. The only reason I find myself justifying this decision is the importance of stability (Rampage as One), thus being unable to take Entangle. That's interesting I sometimes was using muddy terrain. I mainly was using that as a setup for escape or to cc people around the area for a kill, but I'm not good Muddy Terrain is an interesting choice if traited and with a condi build. I feel the AoE is big enough and Slow is pretty strong. You can use it when people are rezzing, as a set up or just to cleanse conditions. I just wish Traps had their range back, because 900 ranged immob is pretty strong to me, but it's hard to justify it on the Utility slots, because you want stun breaks on a condi build. Slow is pretty strong in combat, but when people converge to resurrect someone isn't where it shines. Especially for condi builds, the condition duration and pulses barely benefit from increased expertise.

It's a borderline thief weapon, mostly useful in 'unfair' fights where you join as a +1. Most effective in close range, although projectiles are rather lackluster against proper kiting; not just LoS, but kiting through the enemy aswell. So... in theory it's decent for giving chase, if only the range wasn't so mediocre. Unfortunately the available mobility enhancers (Quick Shot, Lightning Reflexes) are not very effective at closing gaps, leaving you with either the soulbeast's merge skills to do this or to focus on applying cripple and immobilize, usually by means of the druid's Ancient Seeds trait. The latter works to some extent as it enables you to setup for teammates.

Shame there's no option to nominate the spear as a terrestrial weapon, seeing how underwater combat has fallen out of favor. Voted hammer for GW1 nostalgia, and because it could fulfill the role of a non-projectile AoE weapon, which is what rangers lack the most.

Dear reader, Having recently returned to GW2 I have been wondering whether 'good' playable options have expanded over the years, and if many skills and traits exist that are either not useful in any given content, or have been overperforming, effectively rendering alternatives underwhelming. Seeing ArenaNet effectively struggling to balance their games, with the most recent balance patch essentially resetting skills' power baseline as a clearcut example, and reminiscing on terms like skills being "Smiter's Boon'ed" and "ANerf" for those who remember the good old GW1 days, I have started wondering whether or not more options have become available over the years, or if the meta has become so clearly defined that in fact less options are viable than ever. To share an example; there are to my mind few, if at all any builds viable for PvP (and WvW) that do not have the wilderness survival traitline. There are a few reasons for this, but in essence this boils down to the trait Wilderness Knowledge outshining every given alternative for condition removal, to the extent that I would claim that if it was the only trait that could be slotted, wilderness survival would still be unrevokably taken in every competitive ranger's build. A few more that come to mind are the traits Sharpened Edges and Shared Anguish, these could surely be considered nerfed into obscurity, having fallen victim to unambiguous nerfs recently. Were these traits removed entirely, a fair few rangers would surely see their performance improve. Thus, I would like to ask for your feedback on traits and skills that don't really fulfill any function. As builds' performances in PvE are easily measured by DPS/eHPS, I intend to keep this thread focussed on the PvP/WvW balance side of things. Are there to your mind any skills or traits that no ranger should take ever and if so, why? How about the opposite, what are options no ranger should go without?

Which wouldn't be much of a problem if I were to consider the ranger (druid) a jack of all trades, but a master of none. Offensive utility by means of condition damage ( i.e. poison, possibly confusion), immobilization and cripple, or in the best case scenario even stuns would bring more to the table because it would force enemies to burn their cleanses. And by doing so, as it stands now, completely foregoing any utility other than condition cleansing, the occasional might stacking and raw healing? As for your suggestion to strip the druid of all unnecesary skills in exchange for more support, it'd better be some strong support then... Having said that, I agree the current options are underwhelming. The existence of pets have brought rangers down from the start and soulbeasts' lack of aoe have made their work-around neligible in WvW when taking into account the plethora of reflection other classes bring, when taking projectile attacks (as one of the very few options) into consideration. For melee options, there's simply not enough varied support (i.e. uncommon boons, boon stripping, finishers, non-pet combo-fields) to warrant a ranger, be it druid or otherwise. I don't expect this to change and the suggestions in this thread would beeline the druid into becoming a guardian without the boon support, just with blind instead of aegis and stronger condition cleansing instead of boon support. While I did like the suggested change to Sublime Conversion and I agree that Lingering Light's blindness application is counter-intuitive to trigger on an attack when you would be healing, I don't see these changes alone to change anything about the druid's current stalemate.

Point being it's pointless to compare in-game lore to game mechanics, as all lore offers is "flavour", like skill names. Lore-wise the ranger should be the strongest profession in-game because it fights as two seperate entities, balance wise this is unreasonable and mechanically undesirable. (Compare common pets to their ingame equivalents... Like why can't I tame a veteran or champion devourer? Now consider these common enemies took parties of 4-8 people in the original game to take down. Did wild beasts get neutered somewhere in the past couple of centuries of lore, or did people just happen to invent firearms and steroids?) Your question: "Where does it say in the lore that Soulbeasts have weaker pets?" shows expectation of there being a logical answer to game balance decisions in story background. Take for example the name of the game itself: Guild Wars, it's got nothing to do with the current iteration of the game, there's not even guild versus guild content. The very game itself is named after lore about a war centuries past, completely unrelated to what the game has to offer.

You really don't want to compare lore, especially when it comes to game balance decisions. In Guild Wars the ranger's primary attribute, and with that the profession's mechanic, was to lower the energy cost of skills. The pet mechanic was unique to rangers, but also entirely optional. Damage scaling on the ranger in GW2 has always been a little lower to compensate for the mandatory pet. The pet was overperforming on druid, it got nerfed (again.) Quite frankly, the pet's behaviour and performance has always been problematic in terms of game balance, either due to their independent damage scaling or by sheer lack of a dodge mechanic or invulnerability. End of story.

Krait runes are fine, considering the otherwise low bleed duration on Sharpened Edges. Edit: Keep in mind they provide valuable cover conditions for Entangle.

As far as I was aware of, soulbeast was already in a pretty good place before the patch. The removal of pet swapping catered to the idea that every elite specialization needs a tradeoff. I merely offered a suggestion that would heighten the skill ceiling, rather than lowering it as it has been. An idea that could even be expanded upon by say; unmerging with a pet initiates the default 20 second cooldown (16 with beastmastery) on pet swapping. Rather than /agree or /disagree, I'm looking to explore options. At the very least you can all agree that the soulbeast has in fact been dumbed down.