Do you think this would be a good rework for ranger traps?

[anduriell.6280]

Another new idea to rework the profession so it is more consistent in its theme and delivery. 

I find ranger traps kind of bland and out of the naturalist theme, using fire,  spike or ice traps when  how those utilities are presented thematically would work better with thief for example. 

 

In the case of the ranger the core profession "Favors ranged. Pet companion. Naturalist". Current traps don't have anything to do with those 3 sentences. 

 

As such: 

Ranger traps use beast charm magic (a derivation of spirit bounding magic)  to call upon beasts to ambush unsuspecting targets. Upon activation a beast is call forward and attack the foes within the trap radius. Enemies can destroy the binding magic to release the beast and thus disabling the trap. 

 

How does it work:

Ranger lay a trap as currently does. When the trap is activated instead a direct effect the animation is changed to show a beast called upon, with similar animation to when a mount is called up , and produce different unblockable effects (as current traps do) . Once activated the beasts stay visible and perform an attack animation when enemies enter the trap. 

 

Once activated traps get an HP pool which is drained every second, like spirits currently work. So a trap can stay in play for as long as the ranger can keep healing them. But only one of each can be placed at any given time. 

 

When the traps are being attacked the target is not the animal but the AoE itself, no animal abuse here  and easier to target for trapped players. Players can attack the AoE area to disarm the trap but only once the trap has been activated. If the trap is not triggered it is untargetable and invisible as current mechanics. Once the trap is destroyed the binding magic is destroyed and the beast is returned to where they came from. 

 

This traps are immune to crowd control effects but other conditions could affect them normally.

 

To illustrate a bit what i'm saying: 

 

Viper's Nest : it calls upon a bunch of snakes which apply poison to foes within the area. A multiple reskinned small Wurm to look closer to a viper  would be fantastic, an small bunch like a raptors pack. The effects could be similar, pulses which apply poison and some damage. Pulses could be more often and do less damage instead to it feels more like a bunch of small enemies.   

 

Raven's flock: Similar to Viper's nest in appearance but this time with a bunch of ravens on the ground. Enemies while in the area could be attacked by the birds animation from  Hunter's Call  and keep attacking the target up to 3 seconds after leaving the area. Some damage and bleeds would be definitely welcome with the effect. 

 

Skyscale's den : One small skyscale is call upon, which keeps hovering over the trap. When an enemy enters the beast expels fire in the area with a similar animation as Blast and similar effects as the current fire trap. 

 

And so on. there could be one to replace Ice and spike trap, something like an electric Wyvern trap which dazes enemies in it. Smokescale trap which creates an smokefield, etc... Healing would be the same, an animal would be called upon which would heal allies in the area (a Moa or Sylvan Hound) . 

 

Trapper's Expertise could be reworked to increase trap's HP and cause daze for 1 second upon triggering the trap. Support traps (healing, smokefield) could heal/cleanse some instead. 

 

This would be an interesting change and it would differentiate the profession from others so not all feel the same. Also it would fit better with the supposed thematic of the profession.  

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by anduriell.6280

[Lazze.9870]

33 minutes ago, anduriell.6280 said:

"Favors ranged. Pet companion. Naturalist". Current traps don't have anything to do with those 3 sentences. 

 

They have everything to do with the ranger traps they were based on from GW1. Missing an elite trap though. Smoke Trap, hello? 

 

I'd rather not have them make everything be about animals. I want skills like choking gas, which Anet gave away to thieves, rather than some ugly looking and often disfunctional animal themed skill. It's bad enough that they made the pet mandatory from the first game.

 

Rangers aren't zoo keepers.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Lazze.9870

[Abyssisis.3971]

Giving traps a health bar would most likely end up with them being dead before dealing any real damage, just like pets when they run into aoe damage lol

[Arrys.7145]

Out of the nauralist theme....?

 

Rangers are a historic and real thing you know.  A category that includes people who trapped to survive while living off the land acting as game wardens....to just armed men on a range patrolling between civilization and the lawlessness beyond.  

 

So in a magical land rangers having traps that are effectively pit traps with spikes (Yep rangerly not thiefly)  Poisoned Spikes rangerly not thiefly.  Flame traps give me a land mine please....   Ice traps well ok that one but hey ice axe throw so...

 

Woodsmen as trackers and trappers is the underlying class.  Specializes to a druid more naturely view and to ranged archer warriors more game wardenly/soldier view.  Seems entirely consistent to me.

 

Frost trap seems more elementalist to me but I will take it.

 

Visual clues in a game with PvP is foolish and health bars would be a disaster.  

 

trapping has everything to do with what rangers historically were and even are in a  more modern military context.

[anduriell.6280]

8 hours ago, Abyssisis.3971 said:

Giving traps a health bar would most likely end up with them being dead before dealing any real damage, just like pets when they run into aoe damage lol

Well to be honest pets need to reach the target and their pathing usually include the most amount of red circles don't ask me why , traps are already there dealing damage from the first pulse. 

 

I am sure they will deal the damage, clearly in the middle of the zerg they will not last for long but the daze in trapper expertise is designed to allow the traps to pulse at least once. 

 

At the end the effect would be similar to what traps are doing now, with possible extended durations in exchange for the health bar. 

 

Also because of the pet companion mechanic (and because of spirits) i get the feeling ranger was supposed to have the healthpool mechanic  embedded  its skillset . 

[Abyssisis.3971]

1 minute ago, anduriell.6280 said:

Well to be honest pets need to reach the target and their pathing usually include the most amount of red circles don't ask me why , traps are already there dealing damage from the first pulse. 

 

I am sure they will deal the damage, clearly in the middle of the zerg they will not last for long but the daze in trapper expertise is designed to allow the traps to pulse at least once. 

 

At the end the effect would be similar to what traps are doing now, with possible extended durations in exchange for the health bar. 

 

Also because of the pet companion mechanic (and because of spirits) i get the feeling ranger was supposed to have the healthpool mechanic  embedded  its skillset . 

Zergs generally run with perma stab, daze on a trap will have no effect vs a Zerg and would most likely be OPed and complained about in pvp.

 

I also don’t like it being limited to 1 trap at a time, if I want to play trapper, I’m usually taking multiple trap types and setting them up together for maximum effect.

 

Imo ranger traps need to bit of a buff and an elite trap but not a complete rework.

[anduriell.6280]

2 minutes ago, Abyssisis.3971 said:

Zergs generally run with perma stab, daze on a trap will have no effect vs a Zerg and would most likely be OPed and complained about in pvp.

I also don’t like it being limited to 1 trap at a time, if I want to play trapper, I’m usually taking multiple trap types and setting them up together for maximum effect.

 

Then instead a 1s daze,  traps could be 1s evade on trigger. That is not a problem, once we know what is the objective, to look for alternative ways is easy. 

 

About the 1 trap at a time, i didn't wrote that in the OP. At least i don't think it is what i wrote.  It was a long wall text and  some details may get fuzzy. 

 

19 hours ago, anduriell.6280 said:

Once activated traps get an HP pool which is drained every second, like spirits currently work. So a trap can stay in play for as long as the ranger can keep healing them. But only one of each can be placed at any given time. 

This says only one trap of each kind can be placed at any given time if i am not mistaken. Thus  same as current deployment. 

 

At the end the changes would be on how to use the traps as HP adds an additional layer of complexity if the ranger or Anet wants to work with that.

But the overall mechanics and effects would be the same for new players or casuals : a trap the ranger puts down and does damage in a ground AoE. 

 

Something like "easy to use and difficult to master" .

[Abyssisis.3971]

12 minutes ago, anduriell.6280 said:

Then instead a 1s daze,  traps could be 1s evade on trigger. That is not a problem, once we know what is the objective, to look for alternative ways is easy. 

 

About the 1 trap at a time, i didn't wrote that in the OP. At least i don't think it is what i wrote.  It was a long wall text and  some details may get fuzzy. 

 

This says only one trap of each kind can be placed at any given time if i am not mistaken. Thus  same as current deployment. 

 

At the end the changes would be on how to use the traps as HP adds an additional layer of complexity if the ranger or Anet wants to work with that.

But the overall mechanics and effects would be the same for new players or casuals : a trap the ranger puts down and does damage in a ground AoE. 

 

Something like "easy to use and difficult to master" .

Ah yes, I miss read it. 
 

Evading upon trap trigger would be horrible and you would be nd up with random evades, I’d rather the daze, it suits a trap skill a lot better. It just not gonna be effective against a Zerg as you think it will. 
 

Traps just need trappers expertise duration as baseline and have trappers expertise actually do something else, I personally feel it needs to become an ammo skill along with a stun break body bomb skill. Traps themselves need to have a little more strike damage and have some added condi effects, like flame trap also inflicts blind , poison trap inflicts weakness etc.

[The Boz.2038]

Of all the things in the ranger's arsenal that need a look-at, the core functionality of traps is not one of them.

[Dadnir.5038]

Why would you make traps worse than they are? They are fine thematically.

- Healing spring is pretty good and even better traited.

- Flame trap benefit from a short CD and strong burn.

- Frost trap is a strike damage aoe with some soft CC to keep your foes within (The difference between PvE coef and competitive coef is over the top thought, nothing in this skill justify a 50% damage nerf in competitive).

- Viper's nest can easily keep a foe perma poisoned (maybe this trap could afford to deal a bit more strike damage)

- Spike trap is short CD launch (it could afford better synergy with the trait by replacing bleed by cripple but it's still an aoe hard CC).

[Lazze.9870]

2 hours ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

- Frost trap is a strike damage aoe with some soft CC to keep your foes within (The difference between PvE coef and competitive coef is over the top thought, nothing in this skill justify a 50% damage nerf in competitive).

 

This. Bump up the damage for competetive, and ranger actually gets a solid damage option for zerging to put on their bar.

[InsaneQR.7412]

I think making trals throwable again is the better and simpler idea.

[anduriell.6280]

On 7/24/2021 at 5:53 PM, InsaneQR.7412 said:

I think making trals throwable again is the better and simpler idea.

I am not sure that could be a possibility anymore. 

 

I would like better the spirits to have the ranged ground target AoE for actives . In any case traps or spirits ranger needs that ranged aoe back in the core profession. 

[bigo.9037]

Spike trap as it works currently is actually pretty insane. The only bad thing about it is that if the player is blinded the trap will “miss” despite the trap being a separate object from the player. Other than that it’s genuinely very strong. Healing spring also decent. If anything, whao is just a bit overtuned rather than other skills being too weak. Sure they should add some dmg back to frost trap and probably also fire but.. 2 solid traps is nice. I think they should add an elite tho. thematically ranger traps make more sense than DH traps tbh. It’s a wilderness roamer/ranger… traps make a lot of sense for that. Elite trap should be added tbh.