Gotejjeken.1267

Yeah Lesser Call of the Wild is pretty bad, they just left the weakness component and added nothing else to it. On the other side, does this now mean that a SLB will have 99% condition immunity when running WS + OH Axe 5 for over 4 seconds if running boon beast? Add to that Dolyak Stance and Spiritual Reprieve and GL taking one out in WvW lol....

Yes, but only if this 'daze spam' didn't already exist in the form of Primal Echoes + Glyph (and if you really want to go nuts Shortbow 5). From a Druid perspective, you'd only get a daze every 13 sec if you trait both Marksmanship and Nature Magic (why would anyone do this) and mindlessly spam them off cooldown; but again, can already do that on Druid with Primal Echoes and the Glyph (without taking two traitlines that don't synergize). Even so it isn't really all that effective since Ancient Seeds has a 10s ICD. Said this in the other topic, but easy way to balance this is not have it apply to beastmode at all, and only apply to an actual pet swap. That way you have to choose to do it and your pet has to be alive (which is difficult enough in group fights). If your pet isn't alive then you can't swap anyway. With my current build I don't think the patch is going to mean much unless they have bigger changes throughout the traitlines. If it is just WH and SLB changes then it won't really do much (at least on the surface).

In some ways I wish there was a requirement to be level 80 before posting on the forums...

All of which can be obstructed or LoS'd very easily. Quick Draw is also 'bugged' where it works after certain things it probably shouldn't that count as swaps (Celestial Avatar being the big offender as it changes your bar). So for mobility I'm talking about things that have built in mobility skills (leaps / evades); LB and MH axe have none of these. Also, from a pure WvW standpoint I don't think I've seen another ranger run MH sword (maybe on a condi build with torch but that's like 1 in a 1000)...GS yes, but never sword. From playing Ranger for nearly 3k hours myself I can say it's because the sword has kiting but lacks both utility and damage. Staff is definitely not limited in combat, but it does take a lot of getting used to. Essentially you never use it for anything but kiting, except to recharge CA in short bursts. If not used like that then I can see where you'd think it isn't a good weapon.

I don't feel like reading through 6 pages, but about Ranger Clarion Bond...why can't it apply on pet swap again? The WH version should be 2 sec and trait version 1 sec. This is in line with the 1 sec Daze that Staff provides on weapon swap (Primal Echoes). Yes, Clarion Bond would give 1s more of Daze because it can apply to more than just one pet (as Primal Echoes only triggers on swap to Staff), but is that really game breaking? I mean, if you're worried about Druids we won't be taking Marksmanship any time soon. I don't think immobeast is strong enough to warrant not putting it on pet swap, I mean you have to be in range anyway; if worried about SB burst off it (essentially Maul or Worldly Impact), then just make it not apply to going in and out of beast mode. We know you can do that as plenty of things don't trigger when going in and out of beastmode lol.

Have any solo roaming vids?

I dunno about PvP but have tried this many times in WvW. Practically, it doesn't work as well as it should, mainly because sword leap range is pretty abysmal. Like yes, you can kite and yes if you set pet to passive you can use the smokefield pretty well, but running that setup you only have literally two leaps (maybe three with monarch/hornet combo but it's flakey), a dodge (serpent strike), and smokefield blast. Switching to LB at the wrong time is a death sentence as it may be the least mobile thing Ranger has--actually, is, because even MH axe is meant to use while moving. Your best mobility tools are hands down GS and Staff. As Druid main I'm probably biased but Staff to me is the most mobile and versatile kiting tool we have; I like GS, but it is melee and that can be a big problem sometimes. Staff on the other hand is ranged but cannot be projectile blocked, and thus can chain immob off it with pet CC to escape even better. All that said, no Ranger is not more mobile than thief. As others have pointed out CC is a huge pain point for practically any Ranger mobility when not running Dolyak Stance. Even in stealth it is entirely possible to get randomly CC'd with no recovery option outside of burning a literal survival skill (lightning reflexes, etc.). You do that and just immediately get chain CC'd and are done.

What does WvW rank have to do with literally anything? I've found higher rank is inversely proportional to skill...even in this quick video it shows, I'm silver rank and those are two golds. My estimation of the video is a bit different than yours...the SB started outside the camp because they are used to winning pretty easily (players with 'no skill' often immediately retreat into camp before engage); the only time they retreated was when they know they weren't going to win (which is normal WvW tactics anyway). The mes came to +1 and got greedy / ignored condis, and finally the SB got 2v1'd itself only to retreat back into the camp again, showing a lot more awareness than someone that has 'no idea what they are doing with their class'. Anyway, I have plenty of videos of 1vx I don't feel like uploading, they all go something like that and someone like you will always say that the other person has no idea what they are doing with their class. What you don't seem to understand is power SB is a one trick pony. I can show you stalemates against actually hard classes, those being holosmith (way too many cleanses / invulns / escapes to fight on Druid) and certain condi herald builds (way too much CC and condi application even for all the cleanse Druid has). So maybe your problem isn't with Druid itself it's the entire Ranger class needs a buff then...

I mean, I won't say no to more Druid buffs but--I've never played PvP (so have no idea what 'tier' I'd be) and produced this in WvW:

The funny part about this, is this is how things pretty much originally were (down to SotP being named RaO). Pets had a specific synergy--giving swiftness, causing conditions, or other things like big burst from pet stealth. It worked because pets were faster, leash ranger longer, and players didn't have access to the boon spam or AoE spam that is now present. Then PvP and other competitive scenes started complaining, and pets were nerfed practically each year. My main issues with these ideas are twofold: 1. Currently the pet is far too slow for any meaningful following (of player, ally, or enemy) 2. Currently the pet is far too fragile for anything like reviving or healing Essentially, they need to just apply BM stats as standard to the pet and rework the entire BM line with Commands in mind. At least with BM the pet can sort of hit and the CD reduction makes management far more tolerable. They could adjust the now default stats as appropriate so as not to make SB even more powerful, but Druid, Core and potentially the new spec should not have to suffer because of awful pet mechanics.

Usually PMs in WvW end with blocking, either preemptively or when the other person responds they will immediately block anyway. The root of it is the loophole to message in the first place. But as said in the thread if it happens guess can just ignore and move on...

I mean yeah, you are going to use core skills no matter what, essentially what I mean is adding a daze to a skill really does nothing to balance the class because WH 5 was fine anyway (blast finisher, boons, etc.); it was/is WH 4 that needs serious looking at. Anyway, that's still a lot of immob potential + all the ways you can chain off stuns and such to get ancient seeds to hit. I would never run power Druid though. Finally, I don't like the idea of perma-stow though, that's what SB is for, so it really should never come to other specs. They need to rework the pet--making it immune to AoE would probably fix most if not all problems with them. If not that, jack up their health a lot and reduce the swap penalty for them dying.

Ancient Seeds isn't the only means of immob for a Druid--in fact it's usually my last option (unless someone else triggers it). I've found great success in being a kite machine / harasser / staller / +1; doubly so since most people underestimate Ranger as a free down. But the balance team does need to learn that skills are not the Ranger's problem, traitlines are. Coming from a WvW perspective, WH change would be nice for me but I have no place for it as NM is a hardsell over pretty much any other line. Untraited the CD is far too long to be useful. It would be great if they would actually fix Commands, because changing from shouts broke any option not involving WS. Not only that, but I can never find a good reason to take BM on my Druid so my pet is essentially a CC utility instead of doing damage like it was intended. Before the command thing used to be able to take BM and shouts as an alternate to WS for cleansing...not now.

Let's see if the damage has been undone... EDIT: Seems to be working now, for me at least; thanks

I realize this is being worked on, but at the moment the flagged word dictionary is making posts...well I can't even say unreakittenble without it being censored. It's kittenmaging our eyesight to read....

The rev mains whining about Pain Absorption need to come back to 2012 when Empathetic Bond was introduced to us rangers. Could also have the fix they gave us for SB where it literally does nothing if you're merged...better than killing you I guess. On the upside, Resistance still helps you against CC so your build will only partly carry now. Think Torment change is in the same vein--can mindlessly spam it as pretty much everything is moving so it's always going to work. If anything, thematically it makes sense as torment is usually amplified if standing still (physically or mentally). Bleeding is the one that should do bonus harm on moving, or have a side effect of weakness or something. Also we're talking about bonus harm (plz for the love of the God's fix the synonym for this word in your censors, it's making posts unintelligible), let's not act like Torment doesn't still tick regardless.

Eh good, the forums are back. Yeah I need some more resistance, resolution, and torment access on my Ranger plz, thanks.

Gonna agree to disagree about bird. I don't like wasting my escape (GS #3) on leaping through a field that is going to be in an essentially random place unless you keep your pet on passive. I like bird as it is perma swiftness and if you want the skill play just use the 1200 range bird leap and LB #3 into stealth instead of having to try to shoehorn the field. The smokescale field is only really nice if you run warhorn as you can blast through it and get boons with no need to waste any escape/kite tool. Smokescale damage is also awful in comparison to something like Rock Gazelle; really the only thing it has going for it is the field. The merge ability is fine unless they move, then it does nothing (same with worldly impact, just sidestep it).

Bird + GS is a 2200 unit leap, use that to kite. Don't rely on LB #3 too much for stealth as it's easy to mess up (too easy actually), I'd instead rely on Dolyak for your CC avoiding needs. You probably need to run tankier as well if you are dying to melee that fast--protection helps, and run anything but Berserker, it's not worth it if you keep getting downed. The classes you named just do power better or are more 'power resistant' as well, like weavers are extremely hard to kill on a power build because of the barrier. Thief has way, way more burst potential so fighting a good one is going to be very tough if you switch to LB at the wrong time. To put it simply, LB is a giant 'kill me' sign to pretty much anyone, as you can't kite at all with it unless you have bird, then you do get at least a single 1200 leap if they don't CC you. I'd also look into boon beast as well if you want to stay power, as the sic em' glass cannon I've never seen the appeal to. Like, if you are running any defensive traitline with it (WS/NM) you are taking a huge damage hit and it's just not worth it. I've found most use for that in groups where I'm not focused, then it can be deadly.

You say that as if Trailblazer/Dire doesn't give you max/near max condition damage. There's literally only 2 condition stats you care about. Condition damage & expertise. The fact that you only need 2 stats to maximize your damage in and of itself is why condi sets often end up tankier than power sets.Except, there is 4 stats you have to care about. In addition to that, you need vitality to survive enemy conditions and power damage because it take a long time for conditions to ramp up and tick (especially when the enemy keep cleansing). You also need toughness, because it take a long time for conditions to ramp up and tick (especially against someone that has roflstomp power damage and the capability of knocking 5000+ hp off on every other attack so you have to be on your toes). That was the point. Do you know why soldier gear isnt considered viable over marauder? Basicly the same reason viper isnt considered viable over dire/trailblazer, just in reverse (and thats even with additional power damage on top of condition damage). Would WvW be a happier place without 4 stat gear? For sure but you know what... that include marauder. Just gonna go on a limb and say you've never met a good condi SB in WvW if you think conditions need time to work lol. I can build one, as many cleanses as one would want, stability, 20k HP, 3k toughness, nearly 2k condi damage.... I don't run this often because it's actually pretty broken. People complain about immobs but have no idea how fast you can die to condi spam. Not intelligent application mind you, just spamming condi with insane defensive stats. I'm picking on SB here as I've mained ranger since launch, but condi spam applies to a LOT of other classes as well. Sure Rev and trap DH need to be 'close' so you can kind of kite them, but what about pistol thief? Running all that defensive nonsense and a ton of stealth / ports? Yeah that's working great. Last time I met a condi ranger that wasnt a immobeast/immodruid (which usually doesnt build for that much damage, just slow sustain) was yesterday. He was trying to take a sentry. I lost 10% hp at most while he got roflstomped. The other 90%+ of rangers running about run power. Last time I met a good (well at the very least dangerous) condi SB was probably almost a year ago. You lost a lot more than 10% HP there. Also the SB overcommitted and used daggers, both of which makes it about 10X as harder to down you--you don't use daggers, you use axe for the chill. Anyway, now I know you're being facetious.

You say that as if Trailblazer/Dire doesn't give you max/near max condition damage. There's literally only 2 condition stats you care about. Condition damage & expertise. The fact that you only need 2 stats to maximize your damage in and of itself is why condi sets often end up tankier than power sets.Except, there is 4 stats you have to care about. In addition to that, you need vitality to survive enemy conditions and power damage because it take a long time for conditions to ramp up and tick (especially when the enemy keep cleansing). You also need toughness, because it take a long time for conditions to ramp up and tick (especially against someone that has roflstomp power damage and the capability of knocking 5000+ hp off on every other attack so you have to be on your toes). That was the point. Do you know why soldier gear isnt considered viable over marauder? Basicly the same reason viper isnt considered viable over dire/trailblazer, just in reverse (and thats even with additional power damage on top of condition damage). Would WvW be a happier place without 4 stat gear? For sure but you know what... that include marauder.Just gonna go on a limb and say you've never met a good condi SB in WvW if you think conditions need time to work lol. I can build one, as many cleanses as one would want, stability, 20k HP, 3k toughness, nearly 2k condi damage.... I don't run this often because it's actually pretty broken. People complain about immobs but have no idea how fast you can die to condi spam. Not intelligent application mind you, just spamming condi with insane defensive stats. I'm picking on SB here as I've mained ranger since launch, but condi spam applies to a LOT of other classes as well. Sure Rev and trap DH need to be 'close' so you can kind of kite them, but what about pistol thief? Running all that defensive nonsense and a ton of stealth / ports? Yeah that's working great.

The issue is that you can contest a waypoint by riding through the guards on your warclaw. There shouldn't be any contesting without doing damage to a wall or gate. Make it maybe 5% or something before the waypoint gets contested. Yeah they need to make tapping like olden days where you have to take out most of the guards to trigger anything. Also, going in and out of gate is a good way to defend a structure against a group that has no idea what it is doing. I've taken many a siege out that way...

You haven't seen a Berserker in action, have you. Arc Divider is like a literal PBAoE nuke. I have, a/a/GS SB does very similar damage, but it also brings immobs and stances to the table. No reason to run a dps warrior over Soulbeast. But there also no reason to run a dps SB. It's funny. The discussion about Ranger in WvW is now over 8 years old and to this day, not a single ranger could proof that they are not unviable. The only things Ranger has currently is that LB5 doesn't need LoS and that Druid can spam Imob. And both should not be a thing. Lets hope EoD changes this.Maybe the 8y long QQ will stop. But there is a reason. For immobs. And spike damage. And CC. It's an excellent midliner. Yes, you can run the same on Druid. If you prefer to heal instead of dealing tremendous spike damage. The discussion you are referring to occurred before the Soulbeast was released so it's basically totally moot now. Technically you can just faceroll with guard, necro, and scrapper. But you don't have to. The Immobeast is even on gw2mists.com, although it's not meta simply because it's a bit difficult to play. But lots of guilds run these.This? https://gw2mists.com/builds/ranger/power-soulbeast I don't understand how that build works at all unless you are never the target, and never alone. Even then... It has one condi clear, and probably the worst one we have as it's a double edged sword (against power the healing is so low you might as well not heal). It has essence of speed and live fast but seemingly nothing to self-synergize with these; it has immobs but no WS so they are both on full CD; A/A but no BM for the trait.... I'd at least swap out Marksmanship for Beastmastery and hope not to run into many condi classes--I've had some success doing this in groups, but solo losing all of your protection (WS/NM) is going to hurt. Yeah, sorry, but I hope no one is running that.

Why would anyone run immobeast when Druid exists? Also how is anyone getting mass immob'd in a zerg when they should have cleanse out the roof? On my immob builds it can be effective on a group of say 8 or less that isn't stacking, but if you get a whole zerg (20+) it drops to pretty much zero usefulness unless picking off random off tag players. Stance share is awful, which is why if you try it you will get run over by an actual zerg comp of firebrands, scrappers, etc. Also none of the stances are useful outside Dolyak; Bear stance has such a low heal that if you aren't getting condi bombed you might as well not run a heal skill....

IMO, Claim Buff needs to be transferred to Bloodlust to give it some meaning. That way it also encourages fights...you want the buff? Go fight over the ruins. If want pressure off n camp, adding an additional camp up top wouldn't hurt. Somewhere farther up like in the skritt or tamini areas. I say additional as North is the only 'chokepoint' camp because S camp is utterly useless. The only 'downside' to this is if your server is competent, your Garri and such will go to T3 faster, but no one seems to care much about PPT anyway.