Vendetta.1958

I'm getting "1h sword glue is a good thing and here's why" flashbacks shrug anet can rework it if they want, not sure it needs it but after the monarch's change i trust them

Unpopular opinion, will be flamed: shortbow doesn't fit with how most Rangers think the Ranger playstyle should work, therefore they conclude that it's a bad weapon. I agree with the guy above who said it's almost thief-style weapon - that is not a bad thing. Source: I have mained a zerk shortbow sw/d Ranger in WvW solo/duo roaming from specialization patch (RIP Bark Skin melee ranger) until PoF when the damage output became non-viable. Most recent balance update has made it viable again. Hmu in game if anyone would like to spar in Armistice. TL;DR: IMO, Ranger has ample options in weapon choices that excel in a specific category of build. Shortbow is indeed an anomaly in that it is a versatile weapon that offers alot of utility, but does not specifically excel in any one field because of the utility that is built in. I obviously wouldn't be against some coefficients/effects being brought up to the modern standard, but I don't believe it needs a rework.

I didn't even notice Rugged Growth was bugged.. Anyone know how much it healed for prepatch?

pretty sure roaming guilds are going to do whatever they want, and don't really care about what anyone else thinks - just as they have since release I don't recall his name but I think he was a white furred charr from the guild HDFake news.

Interesting. Could you please elaborate? I'm genuinely interested in the reasons you believe it has more utility after the patch.

To add to this: the loss of an on demand evade is huge. After trying the changes, I'm even more opposed to them. The rediculous cooldown on HS makes the skill basically useless, and having to Monarch's constantly to be effective makes sword ranger very predictable to play against. I would like to see these changes reverted for PvP/WvW.

You can easily engage/disengage as it is now. Bind about-face and HS+Monarch's at your enemy. After these changes, disengage will be harder as HS's cooldown is double what it was. Thus the point I'm making - these changes are a nerf to the current abilities of sword. SS being after Monarch's doesn't really assist in disengaging as the aftercast allows the enemy to catch up to you. Exactly. Anet should not be dumbing weapons down, every weaponset should take a modicum of skill to use effectively.

I agree that potential is absolutely limited by these changes. Instead of having a decent save on a 15 second cooldown, we're limiting SS's availability. The only reason I can see is purely because the HS into Monarch's chain can be difficult to learn, which I don't believe is a valid reason to nerf something. After these changes, sword will gain nothing, yet lose easy access to its main combat dodge, and have half as many HS as before. If Anet wanted the weapon to be easier to use, what they really needed to do was change the pathing of SS to not bug out and miss its target half the time, and add 100 extra range to Monarch's so it could hit a target without the player having to take a step forward after HS'ing away from it.

PvP/WvW centric take on Sword Changes: Sword has always been a utility weapon, chosen for mobility and evades. The upcoming balance changes nerf both of these properties and leave sword in exactly the same position but with decreased effectiveness. Hornet Sting (HS) cooldown increased from 8 to 15 seconds.Serpent Strike (SS) moved behind Monarch's Leap.Increasing the cooldown on HS means that sword offers less evade time, and less mobility, cornerstones of why sword is selected at all. Putting SS behind Monarch's makes the skill almost useless for the two reasons: It is no longer an on-demand evade (you now have to telegraph via a vulnerable 1s Monarch's Leap in order to have access to it for 5 seconds). SS is buggy and doesn't always land correctly unless your target is moving in a certain way (strafing). Now that the skill is only accessible after Monarch's, when an opportunity to land the skill offensively presents itself, you may not always have it available. Since release, there has never been a serious build that relied on mainhand sword to do damage. Sword has always been taken for its utility in mobility and evades, and paired with a warhorn to assist damage in the other weaponset, or dagger to increase overall defence. Therefore, given that these changes: Decrease the uptime of evadesReduce the amount of mobility available by almost doubling HS cooldownProvide nothing to make up for the aboveI would argue that these changes are a direct nerf to mainhand sword. In the patch notes, Anet states their intentions are "to increase the flow of sword in combat and make the skills easier to understand" however I fail to see how these changes achieve that. After these changes, sword will remain a utility weapon, albeit with far less utility than it has now. It will have mobility abilities split across two buttons, and Rangers will be forced to Monarch's Leap at suboptimal times purely to get access to an important evade. What these changes will achieve is increasing the uptake in greatsword (and by extension longbow), and harming the already almost non-existent Ranger build diversity. For these reasons, I'd like Anet to reconsider pushing these changes or at least provide some sort of additional change to offset the loss if utility in the weapon (adding a short evade frame to Monarch's, or changing the cooldown of HS to a more manageable 10 seconds) I'd be very interested in hearing what you ladies and gents think of these changes in the context of PvP/WvW roaming, and whether you think these changes will achieve Anet's intentions.

My WvW guild and I just came back to the game after a 3 year hiatus, and I'm having a curious issue - I'm throwing money at my computer screen but the Warclaw Mount skins & Permanent Armistice pass aren't showing up in my inventory, pls send help Anet! Maybe the Warclaw skins could be added to the Distant Lands/Exotic Breeds select contracts?

what do you guys reckon would be more annoying, minstrel permastealth thief in a keep or sentinels permastealth thief in a keep? asking for a friend

My WvW guild and I just came back to the game after a 3 year hiatus, and I'm having a curious issue - I'm throwing money at my computer screen but the Warclaw Mount skins & Permanent Armistice pass aren't showing up in my inventory, pls send help Anet!