June 30 Hotfix Balance Patch: Ranger Updates Notes

[Soilder.3607]

 

Quote

 

Ranger

Soulbeast's damage output previously relied on lining up a burst window while the skills “Sic ’Em!” and One Wolf Pack were active, paired with the damage from the off-hand axe skill Whirling Defense. Outside of this, soulbeasts have low sustained damage. This created a high skill floor for playing the specialization effectively, making it difficult to create strong baseline performance for players who did not execute on or were not aware of the mechanics to produce this damage window.

In the June 28 patch, One Wolf Pack was changed to have a lower but more consistent impact on damage output. As a result, soulbeast power damage builds have significantly dropped in performance.

Now that the obfuscating factor of this burst window has been reduced, there is a lot of room to improve damage on core ranger weapons that soulbeast (and core ranger) can use. These will improve sustained damage in normal ranger play and give options that can help nudge soulbeast builds closer to high-end viability.

Longbow

• Long Range Shot: Increased damage multiplier from 0.7-0.9 to 0.9-1.1 in PvE only.

Greatsword

• Slash: Increased damage multiplier from 0.64 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Enduring Swing: Increased damage multiplier from 1.3 to 1.4 in PvE only.

Short Bow

• Crossfire: Increased damage multiplier from 0.4 to 0.5 in PvE only. Bleed duration when not flanking increased from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds in PvE only.
• Poison Volley: Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.25 to 0.3 in PvE only.

Axe (Main Hand)

• Ricochet: Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 0.9 in PvE only.
• Splitblade: Damage multiplier per hit increased from 0.1 to 0.5 in PvE only.
• Winter's Bite: Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8 in PvE only.

Sword

• Slash: Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Crippling Thrust: Damage multiplier increased from 0.7 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Precision Swipe: Damage multiplier increased from 0.96 to 1.4 in PvE only.
• Monarch's Leap: Damage multiplier increased from 1.25 to 1.8 in PvE only.
• Serpent's Strike: Damage multiplier increased from 0.8 to 1.5 in PvE only.

Dagger (Off Hand)

• Crippling Talon: Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 0.9 in PvE only.

Soulbeast

Dagger (Main Hand)

·          Double Arc: Damage multiplier increased from 0.75 to 0.9 in PvE only.

 

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Soilder.3607

[Levetty.1279]

I'm always up for more Axe buffs.

 

They need to replace Hunter's Tactics with something that is actually usable in any mode though.

[Euthymias.7984]

I dont understand what they have against Power Soulbeast being spike/damage-window oriented

Condi Slb exists if you want to use it as a sustained damage dealer and so does Undeveloped if they actually work on it a bit more. Why cant soulbeast have a build that requires some modicum of skill to maximize?

Edited June 30, 2022 by Euthymias.7984

[chronometria.3708]

I am amazed that "use burst skill at the same time as many attacks" is considered high skill ceiling.

 

I'd call untamed high skill ceiling in that you suddenly need to micromanage all your pet abilities. Thats just terrible.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

Yeah, I think they have it backward...the 'Sic Em' Soulbeast' was and is a low skill floor.  You fire off Sic' Em, OWP, then either LB #2 or Axe #5 (with various pre-setups possible like immob first); that's it.  

So, they actually nerfed a low skill floor as a high skill floor and then buffed weapon coefficients to make more sustained damage useful, which certainly takes more skill then the 3 button Sic' Em deal.  

I'm thinking and hoping that's badly worded and that the idea is for ranger to get away from the Sic' Em meta, and eventually fit into the high skill ceiling that untamed was designed for. 

As the only thing obfuscating right now is Soulbeast itself, it's too easy to play for too high value.  That blocks all other specs (including core) which take more micromanagement to get the same thing.  So if they take it back to core and buff the weapons a bit it at least spreads out the love to the other specs through osmosis, but the skill floor discussion is entirely off base for me.  

[Substance E.4852]

40 minutes ago, Gotejjeken.1267 said:

I'm thinking and hoping that's badly worded and that the idea is for ranger to get away from the Sic' Em meta, and eventually fit into the high skill ceiling that untamed was designed for.

I feel like you're giving the GW2 general player base too much credit

Many people can't even time dodgerolls

Anet assuming that "press 3 skills when the break bar breaks" seems pretty on point when it comes to "high skill play" for this game at this point

They should have just focused on the "keep your skills on cooldown at all times for best performance" aspect of untamed instead of ruining soulbeast's identity

[anduriell.6280]

7 hours ago, Soilder.3607 said:

Now that the obfuscating factor of this burst window has been reduced, there is a lot of room to improve damage on core ranger weapons that soulbeast (and core ranger) can use. These will improve sustained damage in normal ranger play and give options that can help nudge soulbeast builds closer to high-end viability.

No it hasn't. This sounds more like "Hey let's write some made up excuses after the fact like this is all part of the plan and we give buffs so they stop whining". 

If they want to "reduce the burst window for a more sustainey option" definitely nerfing OWP and Leader of the pack nerf wasn't the solution. Not that soulbeast actually was in need of any nerfs in PVE.
Ranger already had options for a more sustained damage: Sword, Shortbow and Axe MH. Condi build is already a viable option and if power is what they wanted to push they just needed to increase the cripple duration in Sword chain (and fix it so it cleave 3 targets the same as the rest of the attacks). Even increasing the bonus from Predator Onslaught in PVE only would have worked better. 

Instead they opted for destroying one build option instead creating new build possibilities by giving a weapon not so much used a new light. Instead they are just making ranger a convoluted mess of different values between different game modes which will be very frustrating for the peepos moving from PVE to PVP / WVW for the first time. 

We really need somebody who cares and knows about the class in charge of this changes.     

Edited July 1, 2022 by anduriell.6280

[Peacekid.1463]

what ranger only?

[anduriell.6280]

Obviusly not @Peacekid.1463, Ranger hasn't got it that bad this patch what about ele or warrior. 

But this are ranger subforums and i am a ranger main, so from my point of view i would be happy to see somebody who actually plays and care for the ranger to take over it's balance and changes. The class has been neglected for 9 years, there is so much work to do. 

[Levetty.1279]

I'm all for them buffing core ranger because of how bad the weapons have been for so long. But I agree its weird that they removed the burst niche from Soulbeast and tried to turn it into sustained DPS when Untamed is sat there with nothing to do. There isn't really much more they can give Untamed if they ever get around to making it work in PvE except DPS or Quickness, and spirits stop them from giving it Quickness.

[Project exa.3204]

I'm actually down with all these changes. Of course none of them impact PvP, but for PvE I can definitely see these lowering the skill curve for newer players (thinking Steam in the near future) while retaining the potential for high skill players to pump out DPS. 

 

Given that Guild Wars 2 is poised for a whole new generation of players--buffing core and core weapons makes a lot of sense. PvP is still a different animal, but I can see where these PvE changes are coming from.

-Eros of Ascalon

[enkeny.6937]

On 7/1/2022 at 1:36 AM, Euthymias.7984 said:

I dont understand what they have against Power Soulbeast being spike/damage-window oriented

Condi Slb exists if you want to use it as a sustained damage dealer and so does Undeveloped if they actually work on it a bit more. Why cant soulbeast have a build that requires some modicum of skill to maximize?

I think you mixed it up. They want soulbeast to deal damage outside the damage window too. When they said "sustained damage", they talked about the same power build. It's like saying: Soulbeast has low support, but we don't give more support, there is a druid.

On 7/1/2022 at 4:09 AM, Gotejjeken.1267 said:

Yeah, I think they have it backward...the 'Sic Em' Soulbeast' was and is a low skill floor.  You fire off Sic' Em, OWP, then either LB #2 or Axe #5 (with various pre-setups possible like immob first); that's it.  

So, they actually nerfed a low skill floor as a high skill floor and then buffed weapon coefficients to make more sustained damage useful, which certainly takes more skill then the 3 button Sic' Em deal.  

I'm thinking and hoping that's badly worded and that the idea is for ranger to get away from the Sic' Em meta, and eventually fit into the high skill ceiling that untamed was designed for. 

As the only thing obfuscating right now is Soulbeast itself, it's too easy to play for too high value.  That blocks all other specs (including core) which take more micromanagement to get the same thing.  So if they take it back to core and buff the weapons a bit it at least spreads out the love to the other specs through osmosis, but the skill floor discussion is entirely off base for me.  

You need to cast OWP Before barrage, rapid fire, whirling defense. You need CC before Sic' em, you need to do as much damage as possible during this window. 
You cast a skill before Sic''em, your rotation will messed up, so you damage output is lower. 
It sounds easy: Pres sic' em, and do some damage skill
but in reality: barrage, point back shot, Sic'em while casting, rapid fire, frost trap, worldly impact, pet skill, weapon switch, Double arc / Split blade, winter's bite, Path of scars Whirling defense...
just press 3 skills...
If you press the sic'em at wrong time, then your dps is low. 
I think low skill floor is, when you have a set of skills and you press them whenever they are available, in any order.

On 7/1/2022 at 8:16 AM, anduriell.6280 said:

No it hasn't. This sounds more like "Hey let's write some made up excuses after the fact like this is all part of the plan and we give buffs so they stop whining". 

If they want to "reduce the burst window for a more sustainey option" definitely nerfing OWP and Leader of the pack nerf wasn't the solution. Not that soulbeast actually was in need of any nerfs in PVE.
Ranger already had options for a more sustained damage: Sword, Shortbow and Axe MH. Condi build is already a viable option and if power is what they wanted to push they just needed to increase the cripple duration in Sword chain (and fix it so it cleave 3 targets the same as the rest of the attacks). Even increasing the bonus from Predator Onslaught in PVE only would have worked better. 

Instead they opted for destroying one build option instead creating new build possibilities by giving a weapon not so much used a new light. Instead they are just making ranger a convoluted mess of different values between different game modes which will be very frustrating for the peepos moving from PVE to PVP / WVW for the first time. 

We really need somebody who cares and knows about the class in charge of this changes.     

If they really want to kill the burst aspect, they would just nerf Sic' em!. 
The problem was that in burst phase, one wolf pack with stance share was over performing. It was like a reverse epidemic. (it is against solo boss, it is power based). 
Nerfing OWP is one thing, nerfing stance share is another thing, but both was a bit over the top. Leader of the pack reduction hit the condi build too. 

For building new things sometimes you need to destroy other things. 
But these changes don't actually change the skill level a lot. instead of leader of the pack, just use oppressive superiority, same rotation. Not making other builds to replace this.
Now they makes ranger weapons do more damage. that means other ranger specializations got some space! (also mean, other ranger specs has so low damage output, that it doesn't matter). 
So can we build alac dps now from core ranger or untamed? (no we won't, but hope is tough 😅 )
 

[Sirius.4510]

As I understand it you can build an alac dps spec with Untamed, as a matter of fact, by abusing the Fervent Force trait to get spirit active skills to recharge faster. I don't know what the most efficient build for that is, but wouldn't be surprised if it winds up being axe/axe instead of hammer.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

9 hours ago, enkeny.6937 said:

You need to cast OWP Before barrage, rapid fire, whirling defense. You need CC before Sic' em, you need to do as much damage as possible during this window. 
You cast a skill before Sic''em, your rotation will messed up, so you damage output is lower. 
It sounds easy: Pres sic' em, and do some damage skill
but in reality: barrage, point back shot, Sic'em while casting, rapid fire, frost trap, worldly impact, pet skill, weapon switch, Double arc / Split blade, winter's bite, Path of scars Whirling defense...
just press 3 skills...
If you press the sic'em at wrong time, then your dps is low. 
I think low skill floor is, when you have a set of skills and you press them whenever they are available, in any order.

 

Maybe; actually the last point applies in WvW (and kind of where I was going with my entire post)--because you can basically spam all the skills on a Sic' Em ranger and still destroy people.

Even in PvE though with Sic' Em and the 10-12 skill rotation you mentioned, you don't have to utilize a form like Druid or switch states like Untamed as you stay perma-merged the entire time (as 'pet skill' I'm assuming is the moa one while merged).  So that already takes a mechanic out of it and lowers your skill floor.

But regardless, I just worry about them using the terminology 'skill floor' and 'skill ceiling' when one of the main dev is pushing for 1-2 button LI builds as the future.    

[enkeny.6937]

7 hours ago, Sirius.4510 said:

As I understand it you can build an alac dps spec with Untamed, as a matter of fact, by abusing the Fervent Force trait to get spirit active skills to recharge faster. I don't know what the most efficient build for that is, but wouldn't be surprised if it winds up being axe/axe instead of hammer.

I had a fractal run. they need alac so I try my untamed. 
I used skirmishing for Vicious Quarry, Hunter's Tactics
nature magic for Bountiful Hunter, Windborne Notes (it heals you a lot 🙂 ), Lingering Magic, Nature's Vengeance
and untamed for Fervent Force

I used hammer only, Overbearing Smash for cc, other skills are unleased.
for back up: sword+warhorn (ambush is CC) 

water spirit (regen+Windborne 😉), storm spirit(cc), Exploding Spores (cc), Signet of wild, Forest's Fortification (Stability is one thing, but resistance is needed!)

I had ~40% boon duration, berserker + diviner (Scholar, force, accuracy)
for me, hammer has a nice flow, so I liked it.
dps: we had 3 cdps firebrand, My damage was about half as theirs.
Axe axe is viewable , may be better. (Hidden barbs) Maybe viper+ritualist? My reaction time and hand speed is too slow to keep up. Still, it sounds a bit better option, need some testing again! 🙂