Weaponmaster Training Beta Feedback: Ranger

[Matoro.9708]

I have fallen into a deep depression over the realization I will never have hornet sting + shield skills.

[Bastrii.3047]

Druid main here. I'm both happy and sad with this update. And I have Druid specific complaints, so it's a bit off topic here and there. Summary below, extremely condensed. The long form is in the spoiler.

Spoiler

Ranger is one of the few classes that desperately needed a shield, considering how their only option for blocking is on Greatsword. Seeing that we're only getting two more clubs is really depressing, because Ranger may have some evades, but they'll never have comparable defense when held side by side next to any other class in the game. Ranger still has no Shadowstep option outside of Untamed Burst Dagger 1, or Traversal. Dagger 5 should have been our shadowstep, and it should have a 900 unit range. Now, you have to play untamed if you want access to any Shadowstep at all. IMHO this should have been added forever ago.

Staff really needs to be modernized. It's very weak on its own, and provides some minor healing and consistent damage, with an anti-projectile wall, but in truth, it has basically always been in a bad state. The Untamed unleashed skill on staff is a good example of what kind of Modernization all staff skills need. Staff 1 needs a bigger beam effect, maybe some cool spiraling spirits surrounding it. Staff 2 is okay for heals, but it should do a little more. If you take into account my requested alacrity changes later on, then putting Alacrity here would be so much better than shoving it into our stretched CA build. Staff 3 is great, but the cooldown can be long and never matches up with our 5, which is needed for a Water field pulse. I feel like Alacrity could be slotted here, too. 4 is a CC option that's good, but the cast time is horrendous and 99% of the time, this ability will miss because of it. Other classes hit 1 button, boom, the enemy/other player is CC'd. Druid has to aim this 30 feet ahead and pray the target only has a W key. Double this speed. Staff 5 needs to be a larger circular field already.

Daggers are a great option on Druid. Right now, most "good" weapon builds on Ranger involve Main Hand or Off Hand axe. I really don't like axe. But it's the only real 1h option with a viable damage skillset. If you don't take axe, you're dropping too much damage. At least in future iterations, you won't need to ALWAYS take axe on basically every Ranger build. I consider this game changing, because any build that isn't forced to take the only "viable" 1h core weapon is a good build. The same can not be said for Greatsword in PvP. Even condi builds take Greatsword for movement, hard CC, and block. Not that it's a bad thing, but still.

The alacrity changes are really bad on Druid right now. Alacrity should be tied to staff, and it should just be a passive minor trait (tied to Live Vicariously). Right now, you have to enter Celestial Avatar, spam ALL of your strong healing buttons, ALL of your Astral Power, and even with the recent change to 1 second base/2 second 100BD, it's still bad. The fact that you have to waste all of your heals and breakbar damage for 20-30 seconds of a single buff (and some might stacks, which basically every class generates - this is a good thing!) is absurd. I believe Renegades generate it just by existing and pressing "Orders From Above" off cooldown. And they can do it while pumping pretty high DPS. And it's on one button, not Profession Mechanic + 5 buttons + all of your healing ability + cooldowns + puts your squad at risk of dying due to lack of heals in critical moments.

If anything, I'd say make Grace of the Land into a defensive/support option. Top row is Condi Removal, Stealth, and the last should be something like... Entering Celestial Avatar breaks stun for you and your allies. Celestial Avatar abilities now applies defensive boons to allies. Grant barrier equal to 20% of outgoing healing in Celestial Avatar.

The other recent changes now force you to spam your Pet's Ability and Pet swap to upkeep some vital boons, too. If you needed White Tiger to grant Aegis, that's not an option - you need a 25 second pet ability to spam boons (which becomes 20 seconds after Alacrity, so it matches your Pet ability cooldown). Invigorating Bond is still bugged, using Auto-Cast on pet abilities doesn't grant your boons. You have to always manual cast it. The cooldown shouldn't exist at all.

On top of this, none of your spirits can really upkeep their boons on their own, making them very weak compared to their ability to upkeep critical boons before this. I DO like the slam changes, especially double slam. But the time between slams needs to be 2 seconds. And the boon duration should be able to upkeep itself with concentration gear. If it can't upkeep itself, you need to slot in MORE abilities to upkeep it. This wastes more precious resources to keep any boon active. Healers are often tasked with supporting and healing their team. Druid has problems fitting this role at all at the moment, because they can't do both at the same time. Sure, other classes can bridge the gap, but this is a daunting take considering the competition. Druid just can't compete to other Heal+Alacrity builds in this current meta.

Rangers give out a ton of fury basically all the time. Most classes have a way to generate fury. I've never seen Fury really drop off in basically every circumstances. Putting Fury on Lightning Spirit is such a weird choice, because of how common this boon is, especially for Rangers. What Lightning Spirit SHOULD give, is Quickness - because when you've broken a defiance bar, you want to make the absolute MOST of these few sparse seconds you have to pump out damage. If anything, it should give Quickness to help fill its niche better as the "exploit the enemy's weaknesses" spirit. It could finally see some use in other circumstances then, and Rangers have really needed a core quickness support option for a REALLY long time.

 

So, in summary:

MH Dagger is good. I like Offhand dagger too, but Offhand dagger should also have its own Shadowstep ability into a nice backstab. Let us play a little bit like a thief for a moment!

Staff needs to be modernized in a lot of ways. Alacrity needs to be on Staff, either basekit or tacked on as a passive to Live Vicariously, to solidify druid as the Alacrity giving staff class.

No comment on Hammer (I didn't want to use it, I heard it's good on Druid. I just don't like hammers.)

The Double Clubs addition... my own opinion is that Ranger seriously needs a 1h block option. A shield would have been an amazing choice here. Even a Focus with Block would have been so much better. But 2 mini hammers is just going to be not my style, and I'd probably never touch them, even if they were good.

(Unrelated) Druid's alacrity and boon issues is immense right now. Alacrity should never be on Celestial Avatar. Staff 1 needs a bigger hit box/visual effect and a number tweak. Alacrity should be tied to Staff 2 and 3 when you have the Minor Trait "Live Vicariously", and you should be able to 100% sustain it with Concentration gear. Staff 4 needs to cast 2x as fast. Staff 5 should be a circular field.

(Unrelated) Grace of the Land should be a defensive set of Celestial Avatar abilities. Top row defensive/support, middle row healing, bottom row damage.

(Unrelated) Spirit changes are a mixed bag. Love the slam mechanic in theory, but in practice, it's really slow and needs some speed buffs. The boon duration should be self sustaining with 100% concentration. Storm Spirit should grant Quickness instead of Fury, to solidify itself as the "abuse an enemy's vulnerabilities after breaking their defiance bar."

[Talis Whitewolf.4183]

On that piece about Relics that ANet put out, they said "Start Theorycrafting"... HOW!!

1 - Weapons. We've had (to my knowledge) no confirmation that the weapons we used in the BETA won't be changed. What we think might hit like a tactical nuke, may turn out to be just a custard pie to the face.

2 - Relics. A NEW major piece of all builds after Aug 22nd. But what are they, what do they do, are they kind to their mothers... What?

It's difficult to theorycraft without all the info ANet. So how about confirming about the weapons, and printing a list of the relics that exist up to now. It doesn't have to be pretty, it doesn't need pictures. Just a two column list of the relics, telling us the name and a description of what it does.

Is that all too much to ask. I just want to start planning my Hammer Soulbeast (the bunny thumper).

Edited July 29, 2023 by Talis Whitewolf.4183
Missed stuff out.

[anduriell.6280]

On 7/29/2023 at 5:24 AM, Talis Whitewolf.4183 said:

On that piece about Relics that ANet put out, they said "Start Theorycrafting"... HOW!!

1 - Weapons. We've had (to my knowledge) no confirmation that the weapons we used in the BETA won't be changed. What we think might hit like a tactical nuke, may turn out to be just a custard pie to the face.

2 - Relics. A NEW major piece of all builds after Aug 22nd. But what are they, what do they do, are they kind to their mothers... What?

It's difficult to theorycraft without all the info ANet. So how about confirming about the weapons, and printing a list of the relics that exist up to now. It doesn't have to be pretty, it doesn't need pictures. Just a two column list of the relics, telling us the name and a description of what it does.

Is that all too much to ask. I just want to start planning my Hammer Soulbeast (the bunny thumper).

You can be sure whatever you tested is what you will get. If the weapons didn't feel good then they will feel even worse on launch.

It was what happened to ranger on every expansion, apparently the devs are too busy workign on their favorite classes and only the intern is available to for this one. 

Edited August 19, 2023 by anduriell.6280

[Firebird Gomer.9563]

On 8/20/2023 at 5:23 AM, anduriell.6280 said:

You can be sure whatever you tested is what you will get. If the weapons didn't feel good then they will feel even worse on launch.

It was what happened to ranger on every expansion, apparently the devs are too busy workign on their favorite classes and only the intern is available to for this one. 

And when the Intern gets it right they are moved to a more loved (by Anet) class and the trait, skill, weapon gets reworked and removed from ranger and moved to a more better class than ranger where it will be better used cause... Ranger....

Edited August 23, 2023 by Firebird Gomer.9563

[sapdan.2435]

hahaha

 

[Arheundel.6451]

29 minutes ago, sapdan.2435 said:

hahaha

 

LOL

You can make a one shot video with any class...as long as you face dogshit players