ArenaNet:Skill feedback/Ranger/Expertise

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How to fix bow attacks AND stop all the QQing over sway and RaO

Issue

Bow attacks cost too much for too little damage. Nerfing expertise will make bow attacks unusable. However expertise is overpowered with scythes.

Suggestion

Reduce (most)bow attack costs to 5 and nerf expertise percentage to 3% per level for non-ranger skills.

Nerf Scythe Rangers

Issue

Expertise right was never OP or broken until they introduced Dervishes into the game (everything became broken with Nightfall).

Suggestion

Make it so that professions can only use their weapons of choice to max potential (e.g. rangers can only use bows, warriors can only use swords/hammers/axes etc) and if you use another profession's weapon, you deal 50% less damage (or 33% less, 50 is probably too much). This also gets rid of W/P spear thrower noobs, Dsins, and every other gimmick which everyone QQs about. This also barely affects casters, since if they wand to deal their damage, there's something wrong with them.

The REAL PROBLEMS

Rangers get piss-poor skills that cost way more than they are worth(there are exceptions, but most of the ranger skills are inviable. If you disagree, go run Power Shot, Sundering Attack, and Focused Shot in PvP and tell me I was right when you wipe in 1 minute)

Furthermore, rangers get few energy management skills and pay more energy for damage that other professions pay less for because "rangers have expertise." That's just plain bad balancing. It's like saying that someone with a lot of resources shouldn't gain as many resources because he already has a lot, and he should also pay more than people with less resources.

This makes rangers want to use attack skills from OTHER professions since they are cheaper and more effective(not DESIGNED for use with expertise.)

• First of all, NERF EXPERTISE. Expertise should be an optional bonus, not a necessity. Don't punish rangers for having expertise.

• Buff every ranger skill that isn't overpowered until it's competitive with any other profession's skills.

• Give rangers more energy management skills. Rangers have an abysmally small selection of skills that cause the user to "gain energy". Change more ranger skills to give back energy since Expertise would be nerfed.

• Buff bow damage or increase their attack rate. Bow damage is weak. Slower than a spear and only does 1 more damage, and you cannot use a shield or off-hand with them. To discourage range spike, reduce the number of fast-activation bow attacks and nerf the damage output of non-elite interrupts.

Expertise is fine for rangers, however

Whenever a ranger picks up a sword axe, or (dare I say it)a scythe people complain to no end, now the major limit to the effectiveness of most ranger combos with secondary weapons is that expertise reduces the rangers' attack skills to a point that things like Power Attack and Various Dervish Skills become more available than the professions that they come from.

• The major issue is that things that exploit their primary attribute become cheap and overpowered.
• The solution? Simple, my proposal is to Reduce the effectiveness of expertise on non-Ranger skills by about 50% the description would read; "For each rank of Expertise, the Energy cost of all of your Rangers skills are decreased by 4%. Several skills, especially those related to Energy costs and skill recharge times, become more effective with higher Expertise. Non-Ranger attacks, Rituals, touch skills have only a 2% reduction per rank." this limits the effectiveness of scythe rangers and the suchlike without exterminating them, other skills would still need balancing however this would be a step in the right direction.
• Reasoning-Rangers enjoy a near limitless energy pool due to expertise, which considering bow attacks is a necessity, however when other melee classes skills are introduced that are affordable for that class it is even more so for the Ranger. I enjoy other using the secondary class weapon/skills on a different primary, for example my Mo/W axe build (in the works) is quite fun and this is a game of creativity if someone sees potential in using another weapon for a different class then go ahead have fun, it is a game after all. However balance is important and things such as the current expertise system needs to be reworked.
• Another Idea came to me when reading the GW2 Sugguestions page for increasing bow range due to bow classes feeling outgunned

Step one, reduce most bow attacks to have a lower energy cost 25, even 15 is unacceptabe, maybe even a few adrenaline skills here and there

Step two, Change expertise to increase bow range by 1% per rank, this allows rangers to stay further back away from the fighting in melee combat, where they DO NOT really belong.

Weaponmaster 07:25, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

ShadowFog's Issue -- 12:45, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Issue

*Does permit the Ranger access to it's energy management for his/her builds but does open for a serious of unique combination without almost no drawback. Ranger already have 100 armor for elemental damage and for physique The Ranger has stances creating what we the community call Sway.

*100 armor, blocking stances(provided by the Expertise tree) plus a passive energy reduction mechanism and a powerful weapon as in Hammers, Scythes and Spears leaves little options to be dealt with.

*Currently there's the famous "Toucher", same problem.

Suggestion

"For each rank of Expertise, the Energy cost of all of your Ranger skills and Rituals are decreased by 4%. Several skills, especially those related to Energy costs and skill recharge times, become more effective with higher Expertise."

In my personal opinion, many skills are been "nerf" because of Expertise. Currently I don't know Izzy's personal opinion on the matter if either he supports this or doesn't. If Expertise can be tone down, some skill might be considered for a long time awaited buff. Just my personal opinion.