Feedback:User/Drpepper111/Ranger Update Suggestions

Expertise

Expertise now covers traps for energy reduction so that PvE trap skills may be used well.


 * : Moved to Expertise attribute.

Edge of Extinction is moved to Expertise because EoE is a valuable skill in endgame content. Making it only accessible to the Ranger may increase their chances of being accepted in groups in end game areas.

Modest AoE options:

Rangers are not supposed to deal massive amounts of AoE by their original nature of creation. They were designed to pressure enemies, subvert and distract opponents, and to be elusive and hard to kill. They are mostly focused on single target attacks. Therefore, it could be in bad interest to give them too much strength in AoE options. I propose lesser strength AoE options highlighted with good synergy via Preparations for Rangers instead.


 * :  Change function to: Attack your target and 2 adjacent targets for + damage.  Preparations are not removed.
 * :   Change function to: Attack your target and 2 adjacent targets.  Preparations are not removed.
 * :  Change function to: Attack your target and deal  piercing damage to target and all enemies nearby.
 * :  Change function to: Attack your target and 2 nearby foes with an arrow that each do + damage.
 * : (PvE split) Change burning to seconds

Marksmanship

Fixing a few bow attack skills to play better in PvE would benefit Ranger damage output. Rangers in PvE need faster activating skill options due to slow bow attack speeds and decent single target damage shots.


 * : Add a 1 second casting time. Increase damage to +
 * :   Change function to:  Attack target for + damage.  You gain  energy if target has a condition.
 * :   Change function to: Attack target for + damage.  If the arrow fails to hit, all your bow attacks except for Determined Shot are recharged and you gain  energy.
 * :   Change function to: Attack target and deal + damage.  Deal an additional  damage if target is activating a skill.
 * :  Change function to: Attack target and deal + damage.  Deal an additional  damage if target is attacking.
 * : Change function to:    Attack target for + damage.  If target foe is in a stance, this attack is unblockable and is guaranteed to critically hit.
 * : (PvE Split) Change Function to:  Attack target for an additional  damage.  If you are under the effects of a preparation, it is renewed and you gain  energy.
 * :   Change Function to:  Attack target for + damage and inflict cracked armor for  seconds.

Arcing shot is too impractical with such a slow activation time and long flight time. The added bonus damage and cast time will make the skill worthwhile to use.

Focused Shot, Precision Shot, and Marauder's Shot are retooled to reward skillful punishes the player can capitalize upon.

Body Shot and Determined Shot will lend a hand to energy management when using energy intensive PvE skills or skills not covered by expertise while dealing modest damage to boot. Prepared Shot will allow players in PvE to do the same by not having to spend energy on preparations and gaining energy from successful hits.

Sundering Attack is just redundant to Penetrating Shot and should be changed.

Pets

As it stands now, Pets do enough damage and are resistant enough to fuction well vs PvE monsters, but their AI is still poor. This presents a problem when targeting enemies to attack.

I would recommend either allowing them to move 20% faster and allowing them to attack 20% faster as well.

or

Fixing their AI (I have heard you at ANet are working on melee AI, so I am assuming pets are included in this)

Beast Mastery

Generally, Beast Mastery is an attribute line best used in conjunction with a physical weapon other than a bow. Scythes, Hammers, Swords, Axes, Spears, and Daggers are weapons that the Ranger commonly uses. I recommend changing a few inefficient pet skills into Ranger melee attacks tied to the Beast Mastery line and with higher energy costs to prevent other professions from abusing them.


 * : Change function to: Melee Attack.  10 energy, 1/2 sec activation, 12 second recharge.  Deals + damage. Interrupts a skill. Interruption effect: interrupted skill is disabled for +20 seconds.
 * : Change function to: Melee Attack. 10 energy, 16 second recharge.  Deal an additional  damage.  If your pet is adjacent to you, the enemy is knocked down.
 * : Change function to:  Elite Melee Attack.  5 energy.  6 sec recharge.  If this attack hits, you deal an additional  damage, gain 2 strikes of adrenaline, and gain  energy.
 * : Change function to:  Melee Attack. 10 energy. 8 sec recharge.  Deals an additional  damage.  If your pet is adjacent to you, you and your pet are healed for  health.
 * : Change function to: Melee Attack.  5 energy, 4 sec recharge.  Deal an additional  damage.  This attack is unblockable.
 * : Change function to: Melee Attack.  5 energy, 6 sec recharge.  Attack your target for  more damage and gain 1 strike of adrenaline.

Pet Attack skills are also unwieldy. The enemy you want your pet to be targeting may die in the quick pace of PvE fights or the pet may ignore the enemy you have targeted due to poor melee AI. Pet Attack skills are also slow activating and queue up for the next attack made similarly to normal attack skills. I propose making the all pet attack skills activate quickly with a 3/4 sec aftercast on the pet and with longer recharge times. This will allow players to fulfill the conditional requirement needed for some pet attacks and seize the opportunities that arise during combat.


 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to: 1/2 activation time.  8 sec recharge. Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.  Reduced added damage to  and conditional damage to + when attacking a target below 50% health.  Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.
 * : Change to 1/2 sec activation time.  Add 3/4 sec aftercast on pet.

Certain Beast Mastery skills cost too much energy in the scope of PvE and make the investment in attributes too thin and not worthwhile. Some are too niche to use effectively. Some are flat out not good enough. Tweaking them will solve some problems.


 * : Reduce casting time to 1 second.
 * : Reduce energy cost to 5.
 * : (PvE split)  Reduce energy cost to 15.

For nature rituals tied to Beast Mastery, they are cumbersome. Their long recharge times make them usable in one or two fights before moving on to find more enemies. Long casting times mean the Ranger will be ineffective for a portion of the battle, and placing them as a melee Beast Mastery Ranger means you have to waste time and drop back position to lay down the spirit out of enemy attacks. A Beast Mastery thumper in PvE cannot go Ranger/Ritualist to bring Summon Spirits due to attribute investment in his weapon.

To remedy this, I will give spirits shorter lifespans and shorter recharges, so that they may be used in PvE. If this idea is adopted for PvP, then the shorter lifespan means the Beast Mastery Ranger will have to drop back his position which the enemy team can then take advantage. It would still probably have to be tweaked with recharge times in PvP. Note that the activation time is my recommendation for PvE.


 * :   Change function to:  You summon a Spirit of Energizing Wind who siphons energy for  seconds.  For enemies in spirit range, their skills cost 10% more energy.  For party members in spirit range, your skills cost 10% less energy.
 * :   Change function to:  For  seconds, your party's healing is increased by 10% and party members gain 12 armor when under the effects of an enchantment.
 * :   Change function to: For 45 seconds, your team inflicts bleeding for 8 seconds whenever an attack skill is used.  Against foes with bleeding, your physical attacks do  additional slashing damage.  This spirit dies after your party inflicts bleeding  times.
 * :   Change function to:  You summon a Spirit of Predatory Season.  For,  seconds, allies in spirit range will steal  health with their attacks.
 * :   Change function to:  For 45 seconds, your party's shouts and echoes last 20% longer.  Whenever a shout ends on a party member or ally, they are healed for  health.
 * :   Change function to:  You summon a Spirit of Symbiosis for 30 seconds.  For each non spirit ally within spirit range, your party has + maximum health.  Limited to a maximum of 80 additional health.

Wilderness Survival

Wilderness Survival does not often see use in PvE. Some spirits, traps, and preparations are simply not good enough for players to consider as options. Barrage and Volley stripped Preparations making Ranger AoE exclusive to Marksmanship and Splinter Weapon. On top of that, when using Beast Mastery and a physical weapon from another profession, there are few attribute points left to use from a poor selection of Wilderness Survival skills. However, in PvP, it is used in conjunction to a bow decently. Therefore, I have decided to allocate improved traps, spirits, and preparations to Wilderness Survival and concentrate on its synergy with bows.


 * : Moved to Wilderness Survival attribute.
 * : Moved to Wilderness Survival attribute.
 * : Moved to Wilderness Survival attribute.

Preparations

In PvE, battles go by very quickly, and pausing to recast Preparations makes the Ranger less efficient. I would like to see a PvE and PvP split on casting times for Preparations to: 1 sec (PvE) and 2 sec (PvP). In addition, increasing the amount of time Preparations stay active in PvE will let the Ranger deal more damage before recasting his Preparation.


 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Change duration to .  Casting time to 1 second.
 * : (PvE split) Set duration to 36 seconds.  Casting time to 1 second.

Traps

Traps take too long to use in PvE, making their use stifled, and they are also easily interrupted. Even in PvP traps are often relegated to gimmick builds or excluded altogether. If they were to be used quickly and repetitively, then people would lay down too many traps. I recommend changing traps in a few key ways.

Limit each trap to only one copy on the battlefield. Using Snare when you already have a Snare trap, will delete your previous trap of Snare. In the same way of how spirits work. This will prevent gimmicky spam builds for traps.

Secondly, change traps to a 1 second cast in PvE and remove the easily interruptable clause. I believe this can work in PvP if recharge times are split and well balanced.

Lastly, change how traps function from an AoE damage over time to a single large damage burst. This is more important for PvE due to monsters kiting out of certain traps. It could also feasibly be done in PvP if it were balanced closely.

Nature Rituals

The nature rituals for Rangers aren't worth taking into combat in PvE for a multitude of reasons. They take too long to cast, they don't provide good benefits, and they can even wind up hurting your team more than helping them.

I propose a split on activation time for spirits in PvE (1 second) and PvP (3,4, or 5 seconds). As well as activation time splits, I recommend that spirits only grant a benefit towards one team.

No Attribute

I removed skills from Wilderness Survival which were rarely used and put them in the No Attribute category. This doesn't help PvE much except for perhaps Poison Tip Signet, but the idea came to me that it might be nice for PvP. Note the Winnowing cast time is 3 seconds as this was intended for PvP (it can be split for PvE and given a 1 sec cast time).


 * :  Moved to No Attribute.  Change function to:  Apply poison to the next hit of your weapon which poisons the enemy for 10 seconds.
 * :  Moved to No Attribute.  Change function to:  Place a Snare trap which cripples enemies who walk into it for 10 seconds.
 * :  Moved to No Attribute.  Change function to:  Place a Tripwire trap which knocks down enemies who walk into it.
 * :   Moved to No Attribute.  Change function to:  Summon a Spirit of Winnowing for 30 seconds.  Allies in spirit range deal 6 more damage with their physical attacks.

PvE Skills


 * : Reduce energy cost to 10.
 * : Change function to:  5 energy, 1 sec cast, 25 sec recharge.  Create a Black Powder Mine on your location that lasts 60 seconds.  Enemies who step into the trap will take  fire damage from an explosion which affects nearby enemies.  Enemies affected by the explosion will also be blinded and suffer from cracked armor for 10 seconds.
 * : Change function to: 5 energy, 1 sec cast, 25 sec recharge.  Create a Weakness Trap on your location that lasts for 60 seconds.  Enemies who step into the trap will take  blunt damage from the trap which affects nearby enemies.  Enemies will also receive Weakness for 10 seconds.  Charr are knocked down.
 * : Change function to:  Ranged attack.  5 energy, 1 sec activation time, 16 sec recharge.  Target foe takes an additional  damage.  If target foe had a condition, you inflict Cracked Armor and Deep Wound for 10 seconds.
 * : Change function to:  Hammer Attack Skill.  5 energy, 1 sec activation, 12 sec cooldown.  Attack target foe and adjacent foes for  additional damage.  If target foe is attacking or using a skill, he is knocked down for 3 seconds.
 * : Change function to:  Melee Attack Skill.  5 energy, 1 sec activation, 8 sec recharge.  Attack target foe.  If target foe was above % health, you deal an additional  damage to target foe and blind adjacent foes for 6 seconds.  Also counts as a lead attack.
 * : Change function to:  Nature Ritual.  10 energy, 3/4 sec cast, 45 sec recharge.  For  seconds, you summon a spirit of Winds.  For allies in spirit range, their projectiles travel twice as fast and deal  more damage.  Enemies in spirit range have a % chance to miss ranged attacks.