"Shapeshifter" and "Beastmaster", Soulbeast and Untamed replacement.

[Dib.4612]

For me, the first thing I thought of when elite specializations were announced with Heart of Thorns was 'shapeshifter'. 
This, to me, is the dream specialization and I'm surprised that after three specializations we haven't seen this yet. 

 

Now with the reception for Untamed not being great and Soulbeast being alright but not amazing, I thought I would present two Elite Specs that would replace these two. 

But, before that, I would suggest that all three pet skills should be commandable across the board, with increase in cooldown for some skills. And that the 'pet control' should get seperate keybinding options.

 

Firstly, the 'Shapeshifter'. 

There are many ways to go about this, but I'll lay out one. 

There are three shapes, Bear, Wolf and Cat. Bear will be a power based bruiser, wolf a supporter and cat will be condition based.

The choice of shape will be made in the grandmaster traits, the other traits in their line reflecting their purpose. 

The pet will be kept and its skills will remain F1, F2, F3.

 

On F4 we will access the 'shapeshift', it will be charged like Berserkers Berserk mode, with adrenaline.

But the shape itself will act like "Death Shroud". Your weapon skills replaced by the shapes skills. 

The heal, utility and elite skills will be five fixed skills that slightly change fuction based on the shape you're in.

 

That is the groundwork. I am less good with details, but I made some nonetheless to give an idea. But I'm sure Anet or some of you can expand and improve on it.

 

List of WOLF SKILL examples.

Bite. Shake, Rip(auto). Give might to allies on third attack (Rip).

Weep. Apply weakness and vulnerability to enemies.

Lick Wounds. Like guardians "Merciful Intervention", but with slobber.

Bark. Grant quickness to allies.

Howl. Two spiritwolves howl with you and grant might and fury to allies (stationary?).

 

List of BEAR SKILL examples.

Swipe, Swipe, Bite. Each attack applies vulnerability, bite grants fury.

Heavy Swipe. Hard hitting paw hit with slow animation that applies vulnerability.

Eat Honey. Gain quickness from sugar rush.

Spill Honey. Immobilize in an area. 

Charge. Knock foes out of the way, then launch your target.

 

List of CAT SKILL examples.

Scratch, scratch, double scratch. All apply bleeding.

Bite. Immobilize, vulnerability and bleeding.

Pounce. Confuse and daze.

Defecate. Area poisoning.

Prowl. Stealth!

 

UTILITY SKILL examples.

Lick my wounds/rest (heal). Wolf, heal where a spiritwolf appears to lick your wounds while you also lick yours. Bear, hibernate in a dome like "Crystal Hibernation" from herald. Cat, lick paws. All stationary heals that block, invuln or reduce damage during heal. 

Takedown. Simple takedown animation with a few seconds of knockdown.

Sniff. A stealth reveal.

Growl/snarl. Fear enemies.

Bloodcraze (elite). Wolf, give quickness to allies, ground runs red with blood in that area. Other two, gain quickness, fury and might.

 

As for a weapon, hammer would be fine as it's also melee based.

And regarding appearance, I would want to see adult size animals with slight supernatural/spirit parts like (blue/yellow) glowing eyes and teeth and nails with shining runes in them. Perhaps as well as a feint blue aura.

BONUS: F5 for birdshape, allows you to fly like a griphon.

 

 

Secondly, the 'Beastmaster' (you are free to think of another name).

 

This one came to me simply when I saw Mechanist with its great pet interaction.

 

The basis would be an enlarged pet, like Eirs Garm, who takes on your stats and can be made to do magical things through utlity skills.

Haven't thought this one out as much, feel free to add.

 

UTILITY SKILL examples.

Making a dome of branches to block projectiles, like "Enveloping Haze" but a more appealing animation.

Shooting a beam of spirit energy out of its mouth that burns and knocks back (elite?).

Dropping a well at its feet that gives the group alacrity.

 

 

I really hope someone at Anet reads this and takes this to heart. I do not mean to offend. I simply had hoped these two specs would be available for ranger and think they provide better groundwork for fun and engaging specializations than Souldbeast and Untamed currently do.

[Diak Atoli.2085]

While not my preference, these are interesting ideas for new elite specialization. I strongly disagree that they should replace Soulbeast and Untamed.

Soulbeast is amazing, and Untamed has very good potential for me.

[Ashantara.8731]

I think a cool elite spec for Ranger would have been Archer. That's what a Ranger is for me, but the core Ranger doesn't offer a truly powerful archer build, not do the elite specs. All we have is mediocre "pew pew" on the longbow, and the shortbow is only good for condition build support.

ANet is always forcing something "special" instead, but it often turns out as far away from the profession's identity as possible. Not a fan. I hate Untamed, it is so badly designed. Soulbeast was strong, but then they removed your ability to swap pets, and now it's just "okay." Druid should have been a new profession, it is not what a Ranger does.
 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Ashantara.8731

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

12 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

I think a cool elite spec for Ranger would have been Archer. That's what a Ranger is for me, but the core Ranger doesn't offer a truly powerful archer build, not do the elite specs. All we have is mediocre "pew pew" on the longbow, and the shortbow is only good for condition build support.

ANet is always forcing something "special" instead, but it often turns out as far away from the profession's identity as possible. Not a fan. I hate Untamed, it is so badly designed. Soulbeast was strong, but then they removed your ability to swap pets, and now it's just "okay." Druid should have been a new profession, it is not what a Ranger does.
 

What would they do with 'archer' though? There's plenty of long range traits from Marksmanship for longbow (almost as if that's the point of the core spec) and there's nothing really there for us to give for a weapon.

 

Druid was their attempt at expanding roles for professions and healing was what Ranger was worst at. Is Druid well designed? No. Does Druid need reworks? Yes. Would Druid fit on its own as a profession? No.

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

1 hour ago, Dib.4612 said:

For me, the first thing I thought of when elite specializations were announced with Heart of Thorns was 'shapeshifter'. 
This, to me, is the dream specialization and I'm surprised that after three specializations we haven't seen this yet. 

 

Now with the reception for Untamed not being great and Soulbeast being alright but not amazing, I thought I would present two Elite Specs that would replace these two. 

But, before that, I would suggest that all three pet skills should be commandable across the board, with increase in cooldown for some skills. And that the 'pet control' should get seperate keybinding options.

 

Firstly, the 'Shapeshifter'. 

There are many ways to go about this, but I'll lay out one. 

There are three shapes, Bear, Wolf and Cat. Bear will be a power based bruiser, wolf a supporter and cat will be condition based.

The choice of shape will be made in the grandmaster traits, the other traits in their line reflecting their purpose. 

The pet will be kept and its skills will remain F1, F2, F3.

 

On F4 we will access the 'shapeshift', it will be charged like Berserkers Berserk mode, with adrenaline.

But the shape itself will act like "Death Shroud". Your weapon skills replaced by the shapes skills. 

The heal, utility and elite skills will be five fixed skills that slightly change fuction based on the shape you're in.

 

That is the groundwork. I am less good with details, but I made some nonetheless to give an idea. But I'm sure Anet or some of you can expand and improve on it.

 

List of WOLF SKILL examples.

Bite. Shake, Rip(auto). Give might to allies on third attack (Rip).

Weep. Apply weakness and vulnerability to enemies.

Lick Wounds. Like guardians "Merciful Intervention", but with slobber.

Bark. Grant quickness to allies.

Howl. Two spiritwolves howl with you and grant might and fury to allies (stationary?).

 

List of BEAR SKILL examples.

Swipe, Swipe, Bite. Each attack applies vulnerability, bite grants fury.

Heavy Swipe. Hard hitting paw hit with slow animation that applies vulnerability.

Eat Honey. Gain quickness from sugar rush.

Spill Honey. Immobilize in an area. 

Charge. Knock foes out of the way, then launch your target.

 

List of CAT SKILL examples.

Scratch, scratch, double scratch. All apply bleeding.

Bite. Immobilize, vulnerability and bleeding.

Pounce. Confuse and daze.

Defecate. Area poisoning.

Prowl. Stealth!

 

UTILITY SKILL examples.

Lick my wounds/rest (heal). Wolf, heal where a spiritwolf appears to lick your wounds while you also lick yours. Bear, hibernate in a dome like "Crystal Hibernation" from herald. Cat, lick paws. All stationary heals that block, invuln or reduce damage during heal. 

Takedown. Simple takedown animation with a few seconds of knockdown.

Sniff. A stealth reveal.

Growl/snarl. Fear enemies.

Bloodcraze (elite). Wolf, give quickness to allies, ground runs red with blood in that area. Other two, gain quickness, fury and might.

 

As for a weapon, hammer would be fine as it's also melee based.

And regarding appearance, I would want to see adult size animals with slight supernatural/spirit parts like (blue/yellow) glowing eyes and teeth and nails with shining runes in them. Perhaps as well as a feint blue aura.

BONUS: F5 for birdshape, allows you to fly like a griphon.

 

 

Secondly, the 'Beastmaster' (you are free to think of another name).

 

This one came to me simply when I saw Mechanist with its great pet interaction.

This feels like just taking the norn shape-shifting racial traits (if you want to shape-shift, play a norn. That's all there is to it) and add on things from IBS like the spirit nova attacks.

 

I do agree with needing better pet interactions, but untamed was their opportunity and they completely screwed it up. I honestly doubt anet will be able to make a good pet spec for ranger without just copying and pasting mechanist.

[Beddo.1907]

1.Now imagine playing Norn and being able to shift into 2 different bears, felines and wolves. The idea itself is problematic.
2.Replacing an entire espec is just a bad idea.
3.Work on making the idea layout cleaner. With the design holes you left, getting a clear picture of what you are going for took a few reads. 
 

[anduriell.6280]

Look I understand where the OP is coming from, He/She/They are playing with ranger and feel that ranger is depression but can’t put the finger on what is the missing piece. 
 

there is no point to ask for reworks or anything. Any ideas you put in this sub forums go to the new specializations of other classes: some years ago I suggested the staff to target friendlies instead enemies. Guess what, following specialization we get specter with the ability to target Friendlies and “heal” them. 

all this while the Druid was being nerfed by removing glyph of empowerment, unique effect from grace of the land, nerfing tides CD, nerfing avatar CD, nerfing pets stats and much more… 

[Dib.4612]

15 hours ago, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

This feels like just taking the norn shape-shifting racial traits (if you want to shape-shift, play a norn. That's all there is to it) and add on things from IBS like the spirit nova attacks.

 

I do agree with needing better pet interactions, but untamed was their opportunity and they completely screwed it up. I honestly doubt anet will be able to make a good pet spec for ranger without just copying and pasting mechanist.

 

12 hours ago, Beddo.1907 said:

1.Now imagine playing Norn and being able to shift into 2 different bears, felines and wolves. The idea itself is problematic.
2.Replacing an entire espec is just a bad idea.
3.Work on making the idea layout cleaner. With the design holes you left, getting a clear picture of what you are going for took a few reads. 
 

 

Regarding the Norn, as with all racial skills, they are intentionally neglected. Their animations are clunky and they have been nerfed so that they can't be useful anywhere, this was done to avoid racial advantage. 

I don't see the two different shapeshiftings as a problem. And certainly not one that should obstruct the development of a 'shapeshifter' spec. 

 

Replacing a spec, I don't think is a bad idea at all. The point is to introduce two alternatives that people would like so much better, that they would almost forget the initial two existed at all.

 

Regarding Mechanist, I don't think it would be a shame at all to copy the groundworks from this spec in order to give rangers the best pet interaction they've had.

 

[Dib.4612]

11 hours ago, anduriell.6280 said:

Look I understand where the OP is coming from, He/She/They are playing with ranger and feel that ranger is depression but can’t put the finger on what is the missing piece. 
 

there is no point to ask for reworks or anything. Any ideas you put in this sub forums go to the new specializations of other classes: some years ago I suggested the staff to target friendlies instead enemies. Guess what, following specialization we get specter with the ability to target Friendlies and “heal” them. 

all this while the Druid was being nerfed by removing glyph of empowerment, unique effect from grace of the land, nerfing tides CD, nerfing avatar CD, nerfing pets stats and much more… 

I have not failed to put my finger on the problem.
Untamed and Soulbeast (to a lesser degree) lack a strong outgoing identity. Especially Untamed feels like a feel loose ideas glued together. Therefor I have proposed these two ideas that are very clear and outgoing.

 

Changing into animal shapes through adrenaline.

And.

Big powerful pet with magical abilities.

 

Strong identity allows for a clear design concept, and outgoingness allows for cool animations (magical abilities) that people will love. 

 

N.B. If you intend for anything to change, you oughta drop the defeatist attitude.

[Beddo.1907]

1 hour ago, Dib.4612 said:

Replacing a spec, I don't think is a bad idea at all. The point is to introduce two alternatives that people would like so much better, that they would almost forget the initial two existed at all.

Except some ppl won't forget the old specs. Are you really going to tell them "yeah I know you like this spec, but now you have to love this one"
People are already used to Druid, Soulbeast and Untamed, deleting them completely is just wrong. 

 

1 hour ago, Dib.4612 said:

Strong identity allows for a clear design concept, and outgoingness allows for cool animations (magical abilities) that people will love.

Just because you would love something, doesn't mean anyone else would. Additionally your idea isn't "Strong Identity", it's just norn skills but now you are adding more junk to it until it's enough(it's not btw, the utility skills are worse than all current skills). 

 

18 hours ago, Dib.4612 said:

Wolf, heal where a spiritwolf appears to lick your wounds while you also lick yours.

Btw this sound like a kink.

[anduriell.6280]

2 hours ago, Beddo.1907 said:

Except some ppl won't forget the old specs. Are you really going to tell them "yeah I know you like this spec, but now you have to love this one"
People are already used to Druid, Soulbeast and Untamed, deleting them completely is just wrong. 

Not only that Beddo but also the specs are there to bring gameplay from other classes into the core one. Druid was supposed to play or feel like an simplified support ele with the elemen… I mean avatar state sign… I mean glyphs. It was not even supposed to be a “birth healer” because the original LL brought constant healing with the pulsing 400 heal to allies 

There is no point to have a subclasses if all offer exactly the same, another detail which anet devs seemed to have forgotten or new ones don’t seem to grasp. 
 

[Valisha.8650]

Soulbeast is fine, but untamed could use a replacement. Can you suggest something to replace Spellbreaker, while we are at it?

[anduriell.6280]

2 hours ago, Valisha.8650 said:

Soulbeast is fine, but untamed could use a replacement. Can you suggest something to replace Spellbreaker, while we are at it?

Spell breaker doesn’t need a big rework, but need to honor its name and when it removes any boon that specific boon should be blocked from reapplication for a few seconds as baseline. 
With that core design the utilities and traits available become more defining and scary and other traits could be introduced like and adept which extends the blocking length, other that provides boons to the spell breaker when it applies this effect. 
Trait to increase the damage over enemies while having this debuff, trait which makes so  enemies when are impacted by this debuff increase CD of skills on CD for a few seconds. Another trait which apply small cumulative pulsing  damage on enemies with this debuff (very small damage by each boon blocked) (similar on how reaper does damage over chill for example)
 

such spellbreaker would be an specially punishing traitline against other builds  which abuse boons.

[Lazze.9870]

On 7/29/2022 at 5:57 PM, Ashantara.8731 said:

I think a cool elite spec for Ranger would have been Archer. That's what a Ranger is for me, but the core Ranger doesn't offer a truly powerful archer build, not do the elite specs. All we have is mediocre "pew pew" on the longbow, and the shortbow is only good for condition build support.

ANet is always forcing something "special" instead, but it often turns out as far away from the profession's identity as possible. Not a fan. I hate Untamed, it is so badly designed. Soulbeast was strong, but then they removed your ability to swap pets, and now it's just "okay." Druid should have been a new profession, it is not what a Ranger does.

It's not what core ranger does, hence why it's an elite spec. Duh. This class would have been even worse off if you removed the only elite spec it has capable of some decent support.

Soulbeast is a mediocre archer? Dude, take your longbow, merge with a ferocious pet, pick all the modifier traits you can and pew pew all day. That's your archer. And for such a limited role an "archer" would have in a game with such dynamic combat potential, that's good enough.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Lazze.9870