Kovu.7560

+1 for removing stealth from every profession except thief and turning thief's into a non-stackable effect (like superspeed).

Rework the durations (like SR) with that in mind.

Adjust thief mini portal, that should be a Mesmer exclusive trick. I haven't used it, but thief portal should function closer to necro portal.

If you want to keep group play remove smoke fields from every profession except thief but allow other professions to leap/blast off of thief smoke fields. Engineers, rangers and mesmers have plenty of other tools for survival. (--Despite what other people in this thread may claim with the latter.)

~ Kovu

> @"Shining One.1635" said:

> I can see some value in it, but there would have to be mechanics to prevent abuse. First, it should provide enemies who tagged you with kill credit, WXP, loot, and war score, just as logging out currently does. I would also add an effect on the player that prevents capture point contribution for a short period of time. This will prevent that player from constantly running back from spawn to keep contesting a structure.

I entirely agree with the first point, but I'm not sure how it could be abused for capture point prevention? Running back from spawn is not an especially quick endeveour and gg'ing in those situations will save players at most a few seconds (the time they spend in downstate, which _itself_ prevents capture point contribution). Definitely agreed with treating it like an alt+f4 so far as bags, loot and points are concerned.

~ Kovu

> @"Sovereign.1093" said:

> Yes for stuck situations. I.e. in wall etc.

I got stuck in the supply depot the other day. I was standing on it waiting for supply to spawn and the boxes clipped me into them when they appeared. Crappy part is I only needed 9 supply so I couldn't remove the boxes. People swung by about a minute later and set me free, but still, amusing.

I'm not against a 'gg' function, its less rage-quity than alt+f4'ing.

~ Kovu

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> > @"Sovereign.1093" said:

> > Oh a Mesmer is one of the best toon to command in.

> Backed up by the fact everyone commands on firebrands.

>

>

Nah, I saw a necro the other month.

~ Kovu

Staff elementalists and (depending on the placement) revs have been doing this since forever. I also see Mesmer clones and the odd ranger pet pecking away at things.

Destroying siege in hard-to-reach places is probably the highlight of what a rangers can contribute to the gamemode. Have a problem with it? Kill them.

I wish necro torch 5 could still hit people and siege on walls. I really want to like torch but its sooo sloooow. =(

~ Kovu

If you're allowed to utilize multiple builds on the same profession, Mesmer. If you took the utility they provide to large groups and the nigh unkillable nature of the roamer variants you'd have the best profession for not having to swap toons depending on the scenario. They're only 4-5th best for zerging, but I'd place them in the top 3 (IMO #1) for roaming.

That said, I bet if whomever used to post those off-site polls where you could vote up and down certain professions, necro _wouldn't_ finish last in the roaming scene as they have in the past. They've been hit the _least_ in recent patches so far as I can tell.

~ Kovu

> @"Doug.4930" said:

> As has been said before in this thread ganking is MMO slang derived from the word "gang" such as when its used in the context of "ganging up" on someone. You can't gang up on someone when you're alone.

>

> If you get jumped on the way back to your zerg by a solo player running a solo roaming build you were not "ganked".

>

> OP outlined this at the very beginning of their post and yet people still call getting killed by a solo player ganking. Its not. You can call it cheesed or farmed, or camped or whatever else you like. But its not ganking unless its an actual gang thats killing you.

A lot of people will use the term to describe a roamer taking out a zerg build trying to get back to their group. (Such as a ranger popping a scourge.) People will also use it to describe individual players being taken out by a group of players _while with their group_ (usually glass builds caught off tag).

I'm not bothered by somewhat broadened use of the terminology that we as a gaming community use to describe various scenarios. I'm sure a staff elementalist being popped by a (basically) instantaneous backstab/heartseeker quickness burst from stealth feels pretty "ganked". If you prefer to use the expression "picked off", that's fine too. The expression of "ganked" in gaming is just a word used to describe taking out an unexpecting or less experienced player. Numberical advantage often comes with that, but not always.

~ Kovu

Achievement points are basically a measure of people who's played the game _longer_ regardless of whether there's a daily dip or not. In the end its just a number next to your account with very little actual value.

~ Kovu

They just need to adjust AoEs on necros.

Other professions either don't have many AoEs to play with, the AoEs themselves aren't all that stellar or the builds required to use those AoEs die when you look in their general direction.

Heck, in recent weeks I've died to burn guards more than I've died to staff elementalists or hammer revs. Those spinny swords and other guardian small AoEs get buried under all of the clutter and the burning gets covered up by other conditions.

~ Kovu

Give it an icd, have it tick only once during that time and _increase_ the damage to compensate. It should be relevant if a single player has it up, but spamming AoE group retal isn't exactly high tier play and shouldn't obliterate someone dropping a bubble/reflect/pulsing damage.

~ Kovu

No need,

It was Retaliation

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbbbbbbbbb

But yeah, the more legendary trinkets that become available the happier I'll be.

~ Kovu

Mathematically proven?

Someone needs to find and post that meme of a thief vs. thief fight in wvw. (Its an open field with no visible players and two stealth disabler traps on the ground.)

I'm all for thieves having a tool to reveal other thieves, so long as they have to throw a resource at it like everyone else.

I'm not sure what's going on in the post above this one, but thieves have plenty of access to stealth and can build to be permanently invisible outside of actively attacking if that's their thing.

~ Kovu

> @"LetoII.3782" said:

> Don't stand in the red stuff

Good, someone said it.

AoE reflection is basically always up in large group content, especially on the commander. Moreover, the tag is usually running a tanky build, healing themselves and being healed and receiving barrier from allies.

The only tags that die to snipers are bad players that are caught off guard (get it?) whilst afk making a sandwish. Also their whole party is afk making a sandwich -- including their pick/roamers who should be dealing with those snipers whom are almost certainly running full glass.

I hate playing this card, but this is very much l2p.

~ Kovu

> @"Svarty.8019" said:

> I think that's the opposite of what we need, isn't it? We want people spaced out and all over the place!

Yes we do, but having a whole lot of available maps won't accomplish that. Some maps will be ghost towns, others will be queued. That is how it already is now.

@"Sykper.6583" Neat idea on the seasonal EBG. I'd enjoy that.

~ Kovu

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> > @"Kovu.7560" said:

> > > @"Svarty.8019" said:

> > > ...Last time Arenanet created new maps for WvW, they said it would take years to make it

> > Hold the phone. These guys are churning out new sizable pve maps every 2 to 3 months and decent sized instanced maps on the interim. I understand there's a competitive element to wvw maps so more time has to be taken to look over the maps and adjust for balance. But multiple years?

> > Seems like a bit of stretch. That said, all people are looking for is a different aesthetic, correct? They don't need to introduce fancy (often unbalanced, abusable or game breaking) mechanics, people asking for new maps just want something different to look at.

> >

> > ~ Kovu

> Shush you.

>

> **Clearly** it takes far longer development time to use an existing basic design layout - lets say EB 3-way of border keeps and a central fortress - and redesign, readjust and remodel it with mostly existing 3D assets - lets say the HoT jungle scheme in general and Tarir design for the central fortress - than it takes making entire new maps and Living Stories.

>

I'd play on a competitive Auric Basin. I'd play the hell out of that.

~ Kovu

> @"Svarty.8019" said:

> ...Last time Arenanet created new maps for WvW, they said it would take years to make it

Hold the phone. These guys are churning out new sizable pve maps every 2 to 3 months and decent sized instanced maps on the interim. I understand there's a competitive element to wvw maps so more time has to be taken to look over the maps and adjust for balance. But multiple years?

Seems like a bit of stretch. That said, all people are looking for is a different aesthetic, correct? They don't need to introduce fancy (often unbalanced, abusable or game breaking) mechanics, people asking for new maps just want something different to look at.

~ Kovu

Guardians? Really?

The only times I've lost to guardians in 1v1 are when I've missed my combos, wasted my cooldowns and/or been generally outplayed. On the flipside, there are hard carry builds for engis, condi mesmers, tanky elementalists, stealth ranged deadeyes, (and pre-patch warriors) that just shut any form of straight power ranger down. I found condition revenant to be annoying lately, too. Its sad that I'm killing a number of these folks on my tanky metabattle cookie-cutter trailblazer faceroll-keyboard scourge that I can barely touch on my ranger.

Dragonhunters have some of the more telegraphed abilities in the game, (including true shot which _roots_ them) and are among the most predictable rotation-wise. Heck, spinny-burning-sword-of-death is more of a threat because that burning could get buried behind other conditions and those folks are generally more tanky themselves. You could throw a dart at a board and likely find a build more threatening to ranger than anything most guardians put out _offensively_.

That said I haven't been hit with a 10k trueshot in recent memory, and my ranger is usually fairly glass. Generally if I don't avoid the attack in wvw it connects for 4-7k. Closer to 4 if I have protection or other forms of damage mitigation going. I would certainly argue there are aspects of guardian that need to be toned down, though true shot or their general damage output are not among those things.

~ Kovu

edit- oops, forgot this was in the wvw subforum, not the ranger subform. Adjusted post slightly. >.>

Videos like this are the reason high burst builds bother me less than the other side of the coin.

~ Kovu

I wish guardian had more HP rather of an inane amount of healing and defense and an absolutely ridiculous amount of group support compared to other professions, but we don't all get what we want.

I got insta-gibbed by a blackstab heartseeker quickness combo on my marauder core ranger the other day, as well. They've been doing it since the launch of the game. I'm sure they don't enjoy it when I shoot at them from half way across the map. It happens. That sort of thing bothers me less than stealth which itself bothers me less than evasion spam (-- also prevalent on some elemenalist builds).

~ Kovu

edit- incidentally, what do melee folks even _do_ against immob-spamming rifle builds?

Someone hasn't booted the game up since HoT.

~ Kovu

Hopefully, 40 of these following the group won't hurt mah frames. X3

~ Kovu

> @"Lazze.9870" said:

> > @"Andy.5981" said:

> > I really dont know what these developers intend for this class. We aren't usually wanted in Zerg groups because most other classes do things better. That leaves roaming as the only real alternative. If these changes alter the damage output too much even that might not be viable.

>

> Ranger is still good for roaming.

>

> But, I did literally ask what their vision with ranger is in wvw in their feedback thread back when they did the wvw balance changes, which was obviously promptly ignored. One random reply I did get was that ranger, mesmer and thief are dueling classes and thus should have less potent "zerg builds". Well, by that logic, ranger duel builds should be as superior to classes with potent zerg builds. They're definetely not at this point.

>

> I guess my point is that they're really reluctant with making druid viable as a support spec in competetive modes, while at the same time being so willing to nerf ranger, and specifically soulbeast, as a roaming/duel class. And it's annoying to witness, even if I agree with the changes being done.

Pretty much how I feel. Good summary.

~ Kovu