Realtalk soulbeast FOB Review [VIDEO]

[StickerHappy.8052]

Please forgive my FOB accent and profanities.

Stuff I did not mention:

THERE IS VERY LIMITED INTERACTION WITH THE MECHANIC WHEN IT COMES TO TRAITS ASIDE FROM FRESH REINFORCEMENT AND UNSTOPPABLE UNION.

ANOTHER THING I NOTICED IS NATURE MAGIC IS ALSO MANDATORY IF YOU ARE RUNNING FRESH REINFORCEMENTS, WHICH AGAIN PIGEONHOLES YOU INTO WS AND NM.

Hope you guys like the video. Thank you!

[Hepatolith.6389]

Soulbeast has Bear Stance which removes up to 10 Conditions, but yeah interaction with Beastmode from Traits is lacking...

[InsaneQR.7412]

The main critics on the traits are the master traits. Second Skin should give protection when using a beastskillplus its old effect. The quickness master trait should apply quickness when entering beastmode plus its old effect. The poison trait is decent but a chance to apply poison when wielding daggers would be nice (basically the dagger trait for soulbeast, no CD reduction because this is covered on main ranger)

Unstoppable union and fresh reinforcements should work in both directions.Oppressive superiority should be buffed and should get something like an increasing dmg buff the less health your opponent has.

Leader of the pack should have a stance CD reduction.

Eternal bond should give a better heal or a barrier (i am for barrier, it makes the effect kinda more visual).

[Susanoo.2586]

To me Soulbeast feels like a melting pot of great ideas that don't particular mesh well together, Its trying too hard to play into the Jack-of-all-trades niche but it just isn't sustainable. You have to forfeit a lot to make builds semi-viable.Side notes:-Eternal Bond is monumentally terrible at the moment, it doesn't clear any conditions when it procs so you just die 1 tick later anyway - not to mention the fact that if it procs while you are poisoned you are only healed a measly 2.5k instead.
-Wilderness Survival is a must have for the controlled condition clear, which forces you not only to run that traitline with every build but the Wilderness survival skills as well otherwise you just die relying on Bear stance or Sig. of Renewal. OR GOD FORBID evasive purity (R.I.P Nature magic )-With the current love for all things boons, I think its about time Ranger got some Boon strip. As running a condition build into anything that can produce Resistance or Stability or both (Spellbreaker) is like running headlong into a Brickwall.

[Wondrouswall.7169]

First off, thanks for not using annoying music. Second, your accent wasn't an issue and it sounded more like you were a bit under-the-weather (or tired). Third, I just flat out agree with the criticisms, especially on the traits.

It's seems that, while other elite specs had a theme to the verticality placement (top, middle, bottom) of their traits, Soulbeasts ditched that premise and went for a scattershot synergy with other traitlines instead. One could even argue that a fair amount of these traits could be moved or worked into core traitlines to make room for traits that dealt more with the mechanics of the elite spec.

[StickerHappy.8052]

@Hepatolith.6389 said:Soulbeast has Bear Stance which removes up to 10 Conditions, but yeah interaction with Beastmode from Traits is lacking...

Oops sorry bout that. edited my post

[StickerHappy.8052]

@Susanoo.2586 said:To me Soulbeast feels like a melting pot of great ideas that don't particular mesh well together, Its trying too hard to play into the Jack-of-all-trades niche but it just isn't sustainable. You have to forfeit a lot to make builds semi-viable.Side notes:-Eternal Bond is monumentally terrible at the moment, it doesn't clear any conditions when it procs so you just die 1 tick later anyway - not to mention the fact that if it procs while you are poisoned you are only healed a measly 2.5k instead.

-Wilderness Survival is a must have for the controlled condition clear, which forces you not only to run that traitline with every build but the Wilderness survival skills as well otherwise you just die relying on Bear stance or Sig. of Renewal. OR GOD FORBID evasive purity (R.I.P Nature magic )-With the current love for all things boons, I think its about time Ranger got some Boon strip. As running a condition build into anything that can produce Resistance or Stability or both (Spellbreaker) is like running headlong into a Brickwall.

Exactly, You have to run Survival Skills for it. Meaning you can only have 2 stances max if you are gonna run SoS or SoR.

Skirmishing loses it shine too.

[Quarktastic.1027]

@StickerHappy.8052 said:

@Susanoo.2586 said:To me Soulbeast feels like a melting pot of great ideas that don't particular mesh well together, Its trying too hard to play into the Jack-of-all-trades niche but it just isn't sustainable. You have to forfeit a lot to make builds semi-viable.Side notes:-Eternal Bond is monumentally terrible at the moment, it doesn't clear any conditions when it procs so you just die 1 tick later anyway - not to mention the fact that if it procs while you are poisoned you are only healed a measly 2.5k instead.

-Wilderness Survival is a must have for the controlled condition clear, which forces you not only to run that traitline with every build but the Wilderness survival skills as well otherwise you just die relying on Bear stance or Sig. of Renewal. OR GOD FORBID evasive purity (R.I.P Nature magic )-With the current love for all things boons, I think its about time Ranger got some Boon strip. As running a condition build into anything that can produce Resistance or Stability or both (Spellbreaker) is like running headlong into a Brickwall.

Exactly, You have to run Survival Skills for it. Meaning you can only have 2 stances max if you are gonna run SoS or SoR.

Skirmishing loses it shine too.

Even in PvE, I feel like I need to run WS with traited survival skills in order to not want to pull my hair out. I really wanna run beast mastery or marksmanship in its place, but bear stance just isn't enough in the crystal desert.

[Fluffball.8307]

I agreed with this video so hard I couldn't make it more than like 60 seconds. The traits alone before I ever touched SB were frustrating. That "not-die" trait is just awful. Great, I tried to not die already.

[Zenith.7301]

Twice as Vicious is so horrendously bad for a grandmaster minor. The adept and master trait are just as weak/redundant for power PvE builds.

Even worse is the fact that the greatsword trait is in beastmastery instead of bringing it to skirmishing and replacing primal reflexes (make primal reflexes baked into the skirmishing minors).

[GodSpeedFist.8642]

Well in my opinion soulbeast needs more condi cleanse cuz at the rate the condi bombs are coming the 4 condi cleanse from traited trolls urgent / 8-10? From bear stancce isnt enough imo.. i think that we either get a resistance boon while using bear stance and ditching the pulsing removing condi just like in warrior they have a good heal w/ a long duration of resistance or make the condi clear in troll's urgent pulsing for every heal tick of the skill clear 2 condis..

Well that's just my noob opinion... idk if its a good idea or not.. or it would atleast help soulbeast abit in pvp/wvw setting or maybe in some pve instances.