Ranger June 27th balance patch preview

[Acyk.9671]

On 6/17/2023 at 8:44 AM, Strider.7849 said:

Druid is getting hit the worst of all the specs. Blood moon is garbage in conjuction with eclipse. Staff CD recharge not rolled into it, and no improvements to staff even though there is significant nerfs to druid. Can they just leave ancient Seeds in? Many of us have been playing ranger since launch and have been through its ups and downs. I would say this is the most destructive patch they are going to release. Untamed changes are confusing at best, but no matter what they do it will be a subpar spec. It needs a total rework from the ground up.

I understand necros or warriors complaining about the proposed changes but when it comes to ranger i have a hard time understanding how you can be so bothered by what seems the most positive changes we have ever received. Maybe give Anet a bit of time to gather data about how this turns out before crying ....

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

4 hours ago, Acyk.9671 said:

I understand necros or warriors complaining about the proposed changes but when it comes to ranger i have a hard time understanding how you can be so bothered by what seems the most positive changes we have ever received. Maybe give Anet a bit of time to gather data about how this turns out before crying ....

The druid changes are going to be great for it- it'll become similar to Firebrand in terms of flexibility, or at least that's the prediction. It's got damage and utility now in its kit, and that's not counting some of the really good core ranger utilities thar are opened up by not needing 3 spirits (i.e. you can now run healing spring, glyph of unity, glyph of Equality, and search and rescue without losing alacrity, for the heal variant. You can run damage boosting utilities to be an alacrity dps).

[Roadkizzle.2157]

6 hours ago, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

The druid changes are going to be great for it- it'll become similar to Firebrand in terms of flexibility, or at least that's the prediction. It's got damage and utility now in its kit, and that's not counting some of the really good core ranger utilities thar are opened up by not needing 3 spirits (i.e. you can now run healing spring, glyph of unity, glyph of Equality, and search and rescue without losing alacrity, for the heal variant. You can run damage boosting utilities to be an alacrity dps).

I wonder about that. I've never seen Anet provide durations on boons long enough to actually allow the player to focus on things other than the next time they have to provide the boon.

I really still expect the Druid to only get 1-2 seconds on each skill. So I would not be surprised for a Druid player to be forced to go into CA put all it's skills on cooldown for Alac then leave CA to refill resources just to go back into CA to renew Alac putting all the skills on cooldown.

 

I would not be surprised if this mechanic change would kill the ability for the Druid to react reactively to provide the healing needed for groups.

[RainbowTurtle.3542]

On 6/18/2023 at 5:19 PM, Roadkizzle.2157 said:

I wonder about that. I've never seen Anet provide durations on boons long enough to actually allow the player to focus on things other than the next time they have to provide the boon.

I really still expect the Druid to only get 1-2 seconds on each skill. So I would not be surprised for a Druid player to be forced to go into CA put all it's skills on cooldown for Alac then leave CA to refill resources just to go back into CA to renew Alac putting all the skills on cooldown.

 

I would not be surprised if this mechanic change would kill the ability for the Druid to react reactively to provide the healing needed for groups.

Honestly you already do the same thing with might. It probably won't be as bad as it looks, because you're already either 1. Using it reactively, keeping up the boon you provide as you use it reactively or 2. Not needing it as much and just using it for the boon.

 

In addition, changes to utilities such as Glyph of the Stars and Glyph of Unity allow for more healing options outside of CA when you need them in a pinch. Glyph of the Stars is nice to have in or out of CA, it heals for plenty and has useful additional effects (a ton of condi cleanse or revives as well as plenty of stability), and Glyph of Unity gives plenty of healing as well off of your passive healing traits like Live Vicariously.

 

They're also buffing the passive generation to compensate for the (often not really needed) loss of healing on spirits.

 

TL:DR it'll be fine, it just seems bad on the surface. Use your heals like you would normally, to either upkeep or heal as needed. While CA does have powerful heals you also don't sit in it if you don't have to so you can recharge sooner, and that won't change post patch.

[Lazze.9870]

On 6/10/2023 at 8:51 AM, Sandzibar.5134 said:

Well dagger had 2 leaps before. Thats not zero utility. Technically. I guess.

It wasnt good, but this seems even worse. 2 sheety leaps to 1 sheety leap is sheet.

Making sword go from 2 evades and a leap with (leap CD reset mechanic), to just leap and an evade (no CD reset) is what I meant by making it like Dagger MH.

Ie Both have just had what little util they had stripped EVEN further back. 

It was zero utility other than the double leap finishers I mentioned. The leaps were short and had awkward aftercasts. For anything other than PvE, it never felt good to use.

Sword has two longer leaps, and still has an evade on one of them. It loses some defenses compared to what it had, but it gains counter pressure. The old sword was just something you danced around on, often coupled with the off-dagger.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Lazze.9870

[Lazze.9870]

On 6/11/2023 at 12:55 AM, WhoWantsAHug.3186 said:

I think hornet sting being a leap away in conjunction to the reset is what made it so good as a kiting weapon. In the middle of hornet sting animation, you can deselect your target and pan your camera around to leap away with 2. It's a very strong disengage combo. Anet should have just solidified sword MH as a defensive/condi weapon. Power specs already have greatsword. 

I know what sword did. 

People are obsessed with the evade dancing (with zero counter pressure) functionality of it. Yes, now it is worse at that. But it still has two leaps. It still has an evade. It gained some counter-pressure.

I personally never asked for a sword rework, I just wanted the cast time on Hornet's Sting reduced because it was awkward to use as an evade. But oh my how tired I am of reading comments from low tier wvw rangers complaining about the loss of their dance stick.

It's fine. I dueled on a full melee gs/sword ranger last night and it worked perfectly fine. Still had defensive use, but now with some actual counter pressure.

And the people saying that sword just become the new dagger? Mainhand dagger on ranger had zero utility outside of the actual combo finishers you get with two leaps. The new sword is nowhere near being just another dagger.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Lazze.9870

[Strider.7849]

On 6/18/2023 at 7:33 AM, RainbowTurtle.3542 said:

The druid changes are going to be great for it- it'll become similar to Firebrand in terms of flexibility, or at least that's the prediction. It's got damage and utility now in its kit, and that's not counting some of the really good core ranger utilities thar are opened up by not needing 3 spirits (i.e. you can now run healing spring, glyph of unity, glyph of Equality, and search and rescue without losing alacrity, for the heal variant. You can run damage boosting utilities to be an alacrity dps).

What are your thoughts now after giving laughing emoji's to people who main ranger for almost a decade, warning about how bad the changes would be?