Shroud.2307

You guys are missing the point entirely, lmao.

It's that Soulbeast is low risk, low effort.

You press one button, Dolyak Stance, and you're now immune to all CC with a Prot stacking effect that reduces Condi damage too. With one button you're doing more than half the builds in the game do with several.

And with memebeast you can blast through someones' health bar from a football field away, and cover the same distance in the opposite direction if they move toward you.

Nothing is as safe, low risk, and easy as being able to do 15 - 20k damage from 1500 range, with the option to run away if it fails before the target can even cover half that distance.

Because I know how defensive Ranger mains are, I again want to defend myself by saying **I'm not the one asking for nerfs here.** But if you can't accept that SlB, be it boon or glass, is one of the lowest effort, lowest risk things you can play in WvW, you're kidding yourself.

I'm a Necro main and think it's one of the easiest classes for beginners, that the core Unholy Martyr build needs to be deleted, and Lich is still broken even if it's easy to counter. Y'all need to learn to stop having biases for your classes if you want to actually discuss balance or you're not worth talking to.

> @"Yasai.3549" said:

> All Engi needs is a mainhand for core that isn't bad.

> LITERALLY ALL ENGI NEEDS.

>

> Cmon Anet, it ain't hard.

Imo, Toolkit auto attacks should have cast times reduced through the entire chain, and maybe a small damage buff as well.

Then give either Pistol auto attacks or Pistol #2 a better power coefficient so it can be used with either Condi or Power- but obviously don't buff it _too_ much. Just enough that it's actually damaging.

And give Rifle some of its killing power back like what it had pre-February. It doesn't need to be completely reverted, but at minimum give Jump Shot damage again. Right now, that skill hits almost _half_ as hard as it used to.

I think the easiest change would be the first one though. It would make Toolkit a good choice for more builds, and would give core a melee option that's actually reliable. I suppose you could say Bomb Kit fills that niche, but with the delay of the Explosions it tends to be very clunky. Toolkit autos actually hit fairly hard, especially the third hit in the chain. It's just that it's _sooo slow_ that you're only ever going to get that third hit off with Quickness, and even with it it's hard to land all of them.

Maybe not the best suggestions, but at least easy ones to apply.

> @"whoknocks.4935" said:

> For pure solo roaming if you wanna die the least amount possible of times, easy escapes and choosing your fights, go thief.

> But unless you are good at knowing all class mechanics you won't kill decent/good players in 1vs1s and you will get rekt even by noob ranger.

>

> If you want easy noob mode with 1 braincell required: longbow/greatsword soulbeast or boonbeast.

>

> If wanna faceroll anything in smallscale then go condi herald and mashing buttons off cd and demon F2 when loaded with condi will do the trick, at the cost of losing braincells.

>

> If you are too unskilled to time and press many buttons for oneshot/high burst combo, then roll an holo or scrapper with granades and after a bit of aim spam practice you are good to go.

>

> This is pretty much the roaming meta nowadays.

I think this is the most accurate statement in the thread you're going to find, OP.

Besides that, what some others have said is also true about being ganked Xv1. Very, very few players _actually_ solo roam anymore, and in case anyone knows who I am, I'm not saying I'm any different. The _vast_ majority of roamers play in small groups now _(and always have really, it's just that it's more common now than ever)_ and will rarely attempt to do anything alone. If they're truly a solo roamer that play alone more often than with friends, they're very likely to be playing some kind of cookie cutter build similar to what has been said above.

There are still avid solo roamers out there, but they are a dying breed.

I venture out on my own quite often, but it's almost exclusively in EBG, and I'm not usually very ballsy about what I do. It's just flipping camps and looking for fights in areas I'm less likely to get zerged because most times I get jumped by a 10 man roaming guild within 5 minutes of going anywhere alone.

In other words, I solo roam but I'm not a solo roamer.

> @"Kovu.7560" said:

> Cut down (or flat out remove) all of those multiplicative bonuses the Beastmastery and Soulbeast traitlines give to a soulbeast and buff core ranger damage. Core ranger damage is sufficiently pathetic that anything shy of bruiser-based builds is subpar in today's roaming meta.

>

> As for Soulbeasts that press sic 'em & rapid fire... their rotation is literally the most predictable thing in the game, making even rifle deadeye look high-skill.

>

> Druids are annoying with the roots but don't actually kill anything on their own -- unless you have literally 0 cleanses and they're allowed to ramp up those bleeds. IMO that spec needs a rework involving the reduction of immobilize applications, but whenever I bring it up Druid mains (all three of them) cry.

>

> Also, since we're comparing lengths, 8k hours on ranger here. o/

>

> ~ Kovu

Only issue I see with that is that Soulbeast and Ranger become too similar, and they're already not very different. I think it makes sense for Soulbeast to be the high damage spec, it's just that the utility it has is superior to core as well which makes it almost a complete upgrade.

In my opinion, all Ranger pets need to be reviewed and the changes I listed earlier in this thread need to go through for Soulbeast. Then Soulbeast could get some small damage buffs here and there, be it Condition stacks/durations or coefficients. That way it can have the identity of being a heavy damage dealer _(similar to Warrior -> Berserker or Necromancer -> Reaper)_ without inadvertently buffing it by changing any of the trait lines.

As for core, I think buffs should be mostly targeted at pets _(even if that also benefits Soulbeast)_ because core can use two. Maybe even reworking a trait in Beast Mastery to work similarly to Zephyr's Speed that grants some of kind of effect on pet swap.

Core Ranger can still do quite a lot of damage if you're glassy. And if you're not, it is a _very_ good duelist/outnumbered fighter. As I'd said, there is a boon core build that is astoundingly tanky, even compared to the pre-nerf Soulbeast version, and it isn't the only bruiser build core can use effectively. I think it's just rare that anyone sees them because 99.9% of Rangers would rather go Soulbeast because it's easy mode.

> @"anduriell.6280" said:

> Your suggestions are pretty close to be good but clearly don't play with ranger which shows.

>

> BoonBeast is not a thing anymore. It is very difficult to keep up the boon uptime although the Soulbeast can have a some moments where it can get a burst of boons.

> The main culprit of the efficiency of the tanky builds is the Axe Mainhand. That weapon does too much damage compared with the range and utility bought (weakness + chilled) . Without that weapon the tanky builds would be just that, tanky builds.

Maybe I misunderstand what you're saying, but I have many _( over 4k )_ hours on Ranger, and it is my second oldest character approaching its 7th birthday.

I've also fought many, many, _many_ Rangers.

Boonbeast is still a thing. It's less faceroll, but still forgiving. There is actually a core Ranger version of the Boonbeast build that is even more tanky and with better Condition cleanse, but slightly less damage.

Longbow Boonbeast has never been as good as the GS + X _(typically full melee or with Axe mainhand)_ variant, but it is still plenty strong. I know of a particular player who uses a Boon build with GS + Longbow and is absurdly tanky despite also dealing very heavy damage. I don't know what his armor is, but I'm assuming a mixture of Marauder and Commander or Diviner + Durability runes.

I want to be clear that I really don't care whether it does or doesn't get nerfed, it's in a much better place than it used to be. I just like to discuss balance when threads like these come up because often times people ask for blanket nerfs without considering how it affects the role of the class or the balance of the class as a whole.

I appreciate your input, although I don't agree with all of it, but I do 110% agree with this-

> The ranger in general needs better designed pets it is it's main mechanics and it shows very clearly it has not being taken care of.

Ranger is in serious need of pet rebalancing because only a handful are useful, while the rest have skill recharges and effects that are relics of pre-expansions. Smoke Scale is _waaayy_ too good compared to the rest of the pets, and I think many of them should be brought more in line with the versatility of Smoke Scale, rather than nerfing Smoke Scale if any changes to pets were to be made.

> @"LetoII.3782" said:

> an

Singular. Soulbeast has multiple.

Dolyak Stance is one of the biggest offenders.

33% damage reduction

33% Condition damage reduction

Immune to movement impairing Conditions

6 stacks of Stability

Stunbreak

30 second recharge

This is practically an elite skill. It makes you _immune_ to all form of CC, on top of giving a Protection effect that cannot be removed that also effects Conditions.

Removing the 33% damage/Condition damage reduction, and changing it so that it only reduces _the duration of_ movement impairing Conditions, would make this skill a lot less overloaded, but still strong.

Next, "Sic 'Em!" should apply Exhaustion to the Ranger for 3 seconds after use.

And lastly, Smoke Scale's merged skill, Smoke Assault, needs **one of two changes;**

Range reduced to 350, or give it a cast time.

Right now it has _double_ the range of Unrelenting Assault, no cast time, and can be enhanced with "Sic Em!" to deal nearly as much damage, on less than double the recharge.

These are targeted changes because this is how balancing should be done. These things will effect Soulbeast and Soulbeast only. Not Druid or core. They are things that have been over performing and overlooked for a long time, and the spec will not die with these changes.

I like floaty rams. When I throw them I do it inside the gate so people can't repair from inside and because it looks silly.

> @"Sleepwalker.1398" said:

> > @"Sigmoid.7082" said:

> > Deaths charge has a bunch of hits that are not listed in the skill fact that are part of the spinning animation. You get hit by them if you are close enough. The tooltip you see is the final hit and the final hit only.

> >

> > I can't remember how many but they haven't actually been updated in damage value since introduction, unlike the final hot, so they land for a damage coeff of 0.1.

> >

> > For some reason my memory wants to say 9 extra hits?

> >

> > It's one of the strongest skills in the kit..even if you only look at the final hit. only really held back by being a leap (not affected by quickness ), the landing lag on the final hit, and the weird targeting all leaps have.

> >

> > Though if you are getting hit for that much by that skill there are a lot of skills that would do FAR more damage to you.

>

> Thanks for this. I'm not a reaper so the hits on the skill's description did not make sense.

> I was just testing and I think you are right in it being 9 hits.

> The first 8 seem like normal and 9th is one that spikes.

> 

>

It is meant to tell you _"you're being hit, you're being hit, move away."_ A little bit like Holo's Corona Burst. It has a wind up before the big hit comes, and it warns you with a lower damage hit first.

You want to dodge the end of the charge, not the beginning.

> @"Anchoku.8142" said:

> A condi-burst build has value; especially if you have allies to roam or zerg with. I am glad you found a Scourge build you like.

Since I don't like Scourge much _in general,_ yes I quite enjoy this build.

It's kind of meme-y, but it's strong as well. As long as I'm staying aggressive I'll have lots of health regen and armor. Often times it takes quite a while for people to actually kill me even if I get stuck in a stun lock.

Mostly though, I just enjoy watching people die in 0.5 seconds from my AOE vomit, lol. All it takes is one Fear or Torch 5 and they'll have so much on them they'll probably lose 50% of their health before they can even cleanse it.

> @"KrHome.1920" said:

> Until a warrior passes by and stunlocks you

>

> or a thief hitting and running

>

> or a longbow soulbeast

>

> or a bunker ele facetanking and outdamaging

>

> or a scapper running while nadespamming

>

> When I played scourge the first time in the beta in 2017, the first thing I did was trying to find a viable roaming build that works without the dumb and clunky shades. Haven't found one until today.

>

>

Thief and Rev are the only things I struggle against with this build. Everything else is an easy win if I play right.

Like I'd said though, prolonged fights are the counter because it has bad Life Force gain. Anything sustainy can be troublesome, but not unwinnable.

This is why when I make these build threads I'll usually add a disclaimer that I'm not saying it's an S tier build that's going to compete with or steamroll the meta. I just like to share builds I've had a lot of success with that are strong in their niche, or at least versatile. Otherwise people come in saying stuff like _LOL your build is bad and here are all the bad things about it_ with no actual attempt for constructive conversation.

I don't disagree that there are numerous fights that will be difficult, but it's still quite good.

> @"Jilora.9524" said:

> > @"moutzaheadin.4029" said:

> > > @"Jilora.9524" said:

> > > > @"moutzaheadin.4029" said:

> > > > I’m on mag, I solo roam everyday for a few hours. Plenty of us do. Stop it.

> > >

> > > Ok, solo roam means by yourself. Just because you aren't in a party but hang around SMC w the 25 others you are still not solo roaming. Now if you go to a BL by yourself then you are solo roaming but as a Mag player in EBG you guys def don't.

> >

> > I’m by myself 90% of the time alone with no one around me, you can’t miss me I’m a big fat white char Mesmer.

> >

> > I don’t do the alpine because it’s not 2012 anymore. Anything but ebg bores me.

> >

> > Come find me sport I’d love to solo roam you.

> >

> >

>

> It was more we never see 1 Mag alone so I def have missed you but if you actually do that's great but not in t4 atm so I can't get killed by you but I'm sure if you anything like every other mez I fight if by some miracle I'm winning 2 clicks and you'll be 2k rng away so I won't waste much time looking for you

In his defense, he has been roaming for like 8 years. But he has also been playing Condi Mesmer for the same length of time, so make of that what you will.

Shadeless

As the name implies, summoning Shades with this build doesn't do much for you _(but not nothing either, I mean you can still summon for a ranged Fear or something)_ because it isn't using any Barrier enhancing or Corruption traits.

This build is all about extreme aggression and oppressive damage, similar to Reaper. With various ways to CC, and a metric ton of Torment, this build will absolutely shred anything it touches, even those highly resistant to Conditions.

**Pros**

* Tremendous AOE damage

* Lots of passive sustain via Parasitic Contagion, food, and runes

* Extremely high durability from Carapace and Protection, further enhanced by health regen

* A good amount of cleanse

* Can duel/outnumbered fight quite well

**Cons**

* Very weak to prolonged fights. Terrible Life Force generation makes it vulnerable to being worn down.

* Only a few Corrupts mean they need to be used wisely.

* Very low Barrier application

* 0 investment in Shades

I actually made this build a long time ago now but have only recently been using it a lot. By no means do I think this build is amazing, but it has a strong niche and is very fun to use. I enjoy seeing 3, 4, or 5k Torment ticks on top of 2k Terrors, lol.

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> In the gw2stats matchup picture posted in addition to maguuma there was devonas rest, darkhaven, borlis pass, crystal desert and northern shiverpeaks. Maguuma is the only one of these that is full. Do you disagree? It wasnt you that I quoted, but kami claiming KDR shows who dominates and PPT only indicate who have the biggest numbers, as if fighting and getting points is somehow mutually exclusive and unrelated to the population.

Ah, I misunderstood then, yes.

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> > @"kamikharzeeh.8016" said:

> > @"Shroud.2307" has a/the point here; kill/death ratio shows who really dominates the matchup. the ppt score means absolutely nothing, outside of that you have by far the highest numbers.

> Given that Maguuma is the only world in that list thats full, thats a kind of funny statement.


Am I misunderstanding you or are you saying Mag is the only server that's been mentioned here that's full? Because this says otherwise.

> @"PrinceValentine.9320" said:

> Yeah right and so you think the upcoming holiday only applies to your server.

No, I said it's Christmas for many people and that will affect activity in GW2.

> The thing is you are now on T4 and still losing . Any opinion you give out about you not winning is purely insubstantial.

The difference between higher PPT and higher KDR is that you can't farm kills when no one's online.

> Have you ever been to SoS?

I have, yes. The only servers on NA I haven't been on before are; BG, TC, and HOD. On EU I've also been on; Deso, WSR, FSP, UW, SFR, and Vabbi.

Although I haven't transferred from Mag for a long time, I've been to a lot of servers over the years. I like to meet new players, experience other communities, and learn new things. Of the 7 years and many hours I've been a WvW main, Mag is the one that has always felt different to me, and why I call it home.

> Guilds here are welcoming and friendly to WvW'ers, that's why most people transfer to their relinked server to fight with them. There is actually a commander here that gives out warning to members who display bad manners like throwing siege to a dead enemy or jumping repetitively on their dead body.

That's good. The carebears need some where to go, and we don't want them.

> Have fun being stuck to lower tier for being so exclusive while enemy rangers kill your necros like there's no tomorrow. Lol

I find it funny that you claim any server could possibly have more Longbow Rangers than Mag. The server is 99.9% pugs, it's amazing we manage to pull the kind of KDR we do every single week despite always being a disorganized mess with zergs comprised of 50% Rangers.

Mag is a dumpster fire of trolls and has-beens, but I never had a fraction of the fun on any other server. I'll take being locked in T4 with Mag over PPTing gates on SOS any day, thanks.

> @"PrinceValentine.9320" said:

> > @"Shroud.2307" said:

> > > @"PrinceValentine.9320" said:

> > > I'm no newbie in WvW and PvP. I got my dragon finisher in 2016 before pvp rank has not been buffed yet. I can play any class, be it meta or non-meta. Bad players are bad no matter what class or build they play.

> >

> > You sure talk like a newbie for claiming not to be one.

> >

> > Your rank, your kills, and your general stats mean little. They are indicative of your experience, not your skill.

> >

> > What guild do you rep or command now? I'd like to know so I can show you the ways you're wrong in the future.

>

> Yeah right. Tell me how to mouse-click my skills and do better. Dude, just kitten. You guys are making this about me when it's not. You guys are just a bunch of forum warriors and I haven't even heard of any of you IG. Such diehards.

>

> PS. It was fun knocking you guys off to T4 last week and now you're being wrecked by my former server. Such skills.

Who's "you guys"? It's only me that's calling you out after you condescended about the greatness of your server and your experience.

I haven't heard of you either, so... Feeling's mutual I guess.


Oh yes, we're being wrecked so hard by the big bad PPT. It's weird how CD and DH have several active guilds running nightly, often attached at the hip, and yet they can't save their KDR. The only thing carrying them to victory are map Q's at 5AM EST that ktrain unopposed, because when there are even half the numbers in resistance they need a few dozen tries to capture anything.

It's Christmas for most of North America by the way. Populations are going to be particularly volatile for a while. I don't doubt we'll stay lower in tiers, but I'd try not to be too proud of "knocking us off" considering the circumstances.

> @"PrinceValentine.9320" said:

> I'm no newbie in WvW and PvP. I got my dragon finisher in 2016 before pvp rank has not been buffed yet. I can play any class, be it meta or non-meta. Bad players are bad no matter what class or build they play.

You sure talk like a newbie for claiming not to be one.

Your rank, your kills, and your general stats mean little. They are indicative of your experience, not your skill.

What guild do you rep or command now? I'd like to know so I can show you the ways you're wrong in the future.

> @"PrinceValentine.9320" said:

> T2 NA. This is not a tier for inexperienced zergs, they will be annihilated here really fast.

There is no difference between tiers other than the willingness to dodge when effort is involved. T1 and 2 start avoiding fights sooner than T3 or 4 because in higher tiers they care more about maintaining a lead than fighting to earn it.

If anything what you say is the opposite of the truth. Because higher tiers break more easily than lower and is the reason many servers get burnt out in higher tiers- it's boring when the enemy won't engage you.

> @"Baldrick.8967" said:

> Hidden tags and closed squads just help the game mode die faster.

It is an accumulative effect of changes to WvW over time. As I've stated in various threads in the past- small scale/solo game play is much more difficult today than it was some years ago because passive objective defense has become so strong, and because of Mounts.

Commanding a small group of players that refuse to cooperate just doesn't work unless you have enough numbers to steam roll everything. This is why closed/hidden tags exist- they _need_ the players in their squad to be experienced and willing to cooperate if they want to succeed in what they're setting out to do. Time is of the essence, if people are taking 10 minutes to build a Catapult or standing in Watch Tower range it can get that group wiped pretty quickly.

The entitlement of the average player is unending when it comes to WvW.

Entertain me or I leave.

If we fail, it's your fault and not mine.

Hidden squads ruin my fun because I don't agree with how they're playing.

If people don't agree with how I play they're toxic.

I won't do what you ask of me but I will demand you do what I ask of you.

Public zergs work because they are large, not because they let everyone play how they want. Closed squads work because everyone is willing to do what they're asked and to put in the extra effort if it means the group will be more efficient. Closed/hidden squads don't hurt WvW - it compounds with the difficulty of doing things without a group and players refusing to learn or meet the demands of a commander

> @"Spartacus.3192" said:

> hah yeah i see that often in NA. I agree. I paid for the game and will play how i like and on whatever map i want. When i call them out in team chat they shut up pretty quick.

You don't care enough to win a match or fights if you don't care enough to work with your teammates.

And if indeed you don't care, then don't be the first to criticize your server/a commander/guild for its failures.

> @"Grand Marshal.4098" said:

> Interesting to think that core necros would be in zergs tbh. Life force means no shades, so taht must have played out interestingly with no barrier/aoe coverage.

All you need to know about Necro is that Epidemic used to have infinite range. And after that was nerfed, it still transferred _all_ Condition stacks and their full durations. Using it on downed players to one shot everyone nearby was meta for a good while. Epidemic has been repeatedly nerfed because of this, and honestly for good reason. The skill had way too much power, and you could even bounce it by doing an Epi and another Necro hitting someone who just got Epi'd, lol.

I get half way through writing out ideas for _one_ spec and I have to save it for later because I can't keep coming up with reasonable skill Recharges, Radii, Range, effects, etc.

The fact you came up with things for every profession is very impressive, and I liked a lot of the ideas too. Dreadnaught in particular sounds awesome, and very similar to an idea I had for Engi as well, but yours being much better written. I was thinking something like a mech suit too, but didn't know how to make it work mechanically.

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> You can right-click each weapon and select "Customize", then pick the Sigil from either the Equipment Storage or from your inventory (the former is preferable as you might save some Sigils that way).

Weird... That worked, so problem solved. But I never had to do this before, so I'd still consider it a bug. I can double click the Sigils and apply them to two handed weapons, but not one handed.

Right clicking then doing "Customize", as you've said, does work though.

Thank you.

**Here is a short .gif showcasing the problem**

I have not yet had this problem until now, and I can't seem to figure out how to fix it.

I have tried:

* Unequipping my weapon(s) from all build templates

* Transferring my weapon(s) to other characters

* Transferring my Sigils to other characters

* Changing Weapon stats

* Changing builds

* Relogging

I cannot equip my Legendary Sigils on one handed weapons. It seems to work on my Staff and Greatsword, but nothing else.

I've had these Sigils for about 2 months now and have changed them and swapped them between builds and Weapons many times without issue until now. I did nothing differently upon experiencing this issue.

I don't play Warrior anymore, but I enjoy the thought behind the build. It really has a "theme" going and that's pretty cool.

I'll take your word that it has been effective for you, but on paper it definitely looks questionable. I believe pretty well anything can work if you play it well enough though, so I've no doubt this is the same. Rifle having lots of ammunition skills probably helps a lot, and Axe being a very high damage weapon should be good for when people close the gap on you.

I enjoy seeing unique builds though, so I hope some people give this a try!

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Here I am doing Drizzlewood on core Power Engineer farming the bridge in the center of the map while people gather caches because I enjoy seeing how long I can stay alive while 10 - 15 Elites bash on me.

I also love testing my ability against Champions when doing World Completion, of which I made a Thread about on Reddit recently, because it's fun to me to be challenged and to learn.

Some Champions are more fun than others because they have clearer tells and better terrain, others have too many things I can't avoid and it's less about my ability and more that the Champion isn't designed for only one person to be fighting it.

I think it's important to have a good mixture of both easy and difficult. Some mobs _should_ be dangerous. If you don't enjoy stressing over it you know to avoid them after learning your lesson. If you like a good fight you might seek those enemies out because they're the ones that are most fun for you.

To me, that's Drizzlewood mobs versus core Tyria mobs. I particularly enjoy Drizzlewood enemies because many of them have very clear tells and counters, and different types adding to a fight can be a bigger problem than others. The Necromancer-y ones for example are always an "uh-oh" if I pull more than one, and I enjoy that because it means I have to adapt in the moment or develop a strategy when approaching them.

I wouldn't have a problem with ANet making more mobs easier in the forthcoming Expansion, but I would if they _all_ were. I think there should always be a good mixture rather than entirely one or the other, because again, different strokes.