Bug: Careful attack: This at-will does not generate any Action point.
Bug: Bear trap: Actual damage is lower than tool-tip. I have 2.6k armor penetration (which should ignore all defense on normal mobs), yet when I toss bear trap into a weak lvl 60 mob, it hits for 1000 when tool-tip says its damage is 1.3-1.5k
Bug: Ambush When activating this skill, any cc will cancel it and put it on cooldown without stealth effect. Charging aiming shot/split shot will instantly kick me out of stealth.
Bug: Thorn Strike The attack range is not as described. I attacked 3 mobs sitting right next to me, hit 2 on the side and miss the main target.
Fox shift This skill damage now is too weak. I could barely kill a normal lvl 60 mob with this skill. Using rapid strike twice deals the same damage of this encounter.
Slasher's mark - Unbelievably low damage and need to run nature to reduce the cost by 25%.
Hunter's teamwork - havent seen 1 package drop yet
Bear Trap - kind of interesting but such a small circle range. Stun isnt very long, disruptive is better. For those wondering.. this is like rain of arrows.. lays down a bear trap and if someone steps on it they are stunned. You can cast right on top of them though. Careful Attack - Seriously?? Dissapointing and looks like Im humping the ground.. Its the melee version of Electric Shot... low damage and seems pointless so far.
FYI - Splitshot is really destroyed.. even hard to kill minion type mobs now. lol wow.
FS - So sad now, not even sure I would put points in it.
I need to test more when I have more time later this week but just respec'd and pretty sad heh. Want to test pathfinders action and Cruel recovery more, also storm step. Pathfinder does feel like lower survivability if I am using the class powers.
First fox shift - ToB - Hits 2 targets
[Combat (Self)] Your Fox Shift deals 3099 Physical to Target Dummy
[Combat (Self)] Your Fox Shift deals 3062 (2916) Physical to Target Dummy.
2nd attempt - Again only hits 2 targets
[Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Fox Shift deals 5484 Physical to Target Dummy.
[Combat (Self)] Your Fox Shift deals 3208 Physical to Target Dummy.
Storm step is destroyed. used disrupting shot twice and still had 3 seconds till next fox from last use.
Slasher's Mark - In line with CSH.. 1700 hit for 100% AP...
Hindering strike seems different - Animation is definitely different. 15' burst 14.1s Cooldown 15s Charge Refill 1727 - 2054 dmg - Need to check on this.
Thorn Strike seems no different, defintely doesnt compensate for FS loss.
Careful attack - is it throwing a debuff on? i dont see one, or lasts for 1 second.
BUG : Ambush +Thornward
If u use ambush and thornward with the extra dmg boost, each thornward attack will procc ambush.
Feedback: Fox Shift
The dmg against 3 targets is nice, but we NEED it to hit a singletarget more than once because the dmg against 1 target is terrible + we only procc agile hunter once with it, which lowers our overall dmg and utility by a lot.
Feedback: Bear Trap
The stun, which is like 0.75sec is way to short. You dont even notice it.
Feedback: Overall Gameplay
Due to the nerfs to stormstep and fox, the whole gameplay is insanly slowed down and boring. You dont even have to care about covering your foxshift like befor to prevent the enemy from dodging it. The only way i can kill a single mob in a decent amount of time is Thornward and ONLY because it is bugged and proccs ambush on every hit.
HR rly lacks Singletarget dps and burst right now.
Please change fox back to what it was, right now we dont have any decent encounter that has more than a 5k dmg burst.
You've pulled the teeth of the Hunter Ranger class. We have no burst at all anymore, none. Split shot is now not worth slotting. Sorry it's not enough damage, not even close. You went to far with that nerf. I thought thorn strike from the way it was described would be an execute. It's not. It's a dot that just gets ramped up as the enemies HP lowers. It's not bad, better then before. But we have no burst. Foxes shift is also now not worth slotting. It's ok against multiple mobs, not anything to right home about just ok, but it's completely worthless as single target burst. Any kind of damage we have is now a dot. Thorn ward/strike-dot, rain of arrows/swords-dot, split the sky-dot.We needed at least one burst encounter and that was foxes shift. Leave the cc and damage immunity attached to it like it always should have been and revert it to the damage and number of targets it hit and hitting a single target multiple times back. The current way is just not gonna cut it. I play a combat specced ranger with 5/5 in black arrow and 5/5 in bloodhtirsty. I use aspect of the serpent and blade storm for passives. I always follow a ranged encounter with a melee encounter to get the 15% damage boost to squeeze every bit of dps out of this build I can. I have 30% damage reduction, 26% deflect (36% melee), 33% crit in ranged and (43% melee). My ranger is built well. Without the burst of foxes shift and split shot, things now do not die fast enough. Rangers can have decent surivability but not enough to warrant a total dot/sustained dps playstyle.
The changes/nerfs just make no sense to me. The ranger was never an over the top dps class as it was. It was a fun playstyle that was middle of the road dps wise in a group setting. Now it's not fun to play and the dps is abysmal.
I didn't get a chance to test the new paragon path. I don't see it being any better however as I would actually lose DPS passives to take it and I see no burst potential nor any more survivability in it. All in all mine and others initial reactions to the proposed changes were dead on. The class isn't worth playing as it is in mod 3.
Quick and rough test for Split Shot against Dread Ring dummies
Owlbear(current Live)
Tooltip: 2167-5875(ave. 4021)
Actual damage: 4560 with 45% crit
Mod3 Preview
Tooltip: 833-2931(ave. 1882)
Actual damage: 1987 with 44% crit
Comparison
(1-(1882/4021))*100 = 53.2% reduction on tooltip
(1-(1987/4560))*100 = 56.4% reduction on actual damage done
Character Info.
Archery specced with Twin Blade passive
7.2k power
Fallen Dragon Bow and Blade
Perfect Vorpal
Half Orc racial
Screen shots:
With reworked power multiplier, of course, this is huge damage nerf.
In PvE, my Split Shot does 45%+ of total damage done even with Stormstep Action encounter heavy set up.
Taking account of Stormstep Action nerf, this will be even more nerf for my total damage done.
I have to say this is too much.
As this is a pvp-centric module, my feedback will focus on pvp.
Hunter's Attack: Has zero use in pvp.
Hunter's Teamwork This at-will has zero utility in pvp.
Careful Attack: Description says it signals "gaps in (the target's) defense" but does not reduce their defense / mitigation. Damage is far too low to be useful.
Ambush: The player is able to be stealthed by this ability once every ~24 seconds for 5 seconds (with my recovery and WIS). Being stealth for up to 1/5 of the time is of little use.
Ambush effect ending early if you move makes the following true:
Does not work with Marauder's Rush
Very low utility in a setting where one must always be moving - ie pvp
Additionally, ambush seems to proc on:
The first 2 hits of Fox Shift
Every hit of Thorn Ward
Bear Trap: Activation time is too long for this skill to be as useful as it could be in pvp - though it does have a cool animation.
Slasher's Mark: Damage is too low to justify 100% AP consumed.
I would consider using this skill if it consumed 25%-35% AP. Maybe 50%.
Battlehoned: As previously stated, +100 regen is far too low. If this gave even +1% regen, it would be much better, though I still would not use it. Maybe 0.5 base, +0.5 per rank for a total of +1.5% regen when hit?
Pathfinder's Action: The effect lasts for 5 seconds. This is too short of a period for this class feature to make it onto my tray. I would consider using it at 8 seconds.
Grants +10% deflect at rank 3. Shouldn't this be +15%?
Rank 1 should be 5%
Rank 2 should be +5%
Rank 3 should be +5%
= +15% total
Cruel Recovery: This does not stack at all. I would consider using this class feature if it could stack up to 3x (once for rank 1, +1 per extra rank)
Quarry: This is the only way that Careful Attack becomes useful, but +5% damage is not enough.
Advanced Stalking: Making this feat allow Ambush to persist through moving would make it worth getting.
Slasher's Speed: This would be good if Slasher's Mark - and the rest of the Nature tree - wasn't so bad.
Split Shot: This skill now does less damage than Rapid Shot at it's lowest charge point, effectively making it unuseable. If I am aiming at 3 targets, I would do more damage in the span of 2x split shot by using rapid shot due to differences in delay and power.
Fox Shift: The bonus damage does not seem to work. At all. Not on the first, second, or third hit.Even if it did work, the change is completely gamebreaking. If this were only changed from 4 hits to 3 hits, I could live with that. Making it only hit each target once, without giving it a proper substitution, destroys HR pvp potential.
+30% damage to first target hit with the skill (when working) will not make this skill useable in pvp.
Thorn Strike: The damage on this skill seems to have increased by virtue of the adjustments to power. If this is the skill that is supposed to replace Fox Shift, it still has a long way to go. Base damage needs to be increased by at least 50%. Tooltip is currently ~1100 - 1400 for me.
Stormstep Action: This class feature is now unuseable.
Why? -1.5 second cooldown is less than -10%. Most abilities hover around 18 second cooldown. This is now markedly weaker than the melee feat that reduces ranged cooldowns by -1 second per melee skill used.
General Feedback: As things currently stand, it does not matter which paragon I spec into because I will not be using the at-will, encounter, daily, or class features. I mean, Ambush seems pretty cool, so maybe Pathfinder as it stands will win out, but I'm not sure if it deserves a slot over any non-paragon encounter.
mod 3 setup looks like it will be:
rapid shot/strike, Aimed shot/strike
constricting, Hindering, Thorn
Aspect of the Lone Wolf, Aspect of the Serpent
Just did Preview pvp. HR's are not effective. Without Storm Step our encounters take way to long to use. It breaks the class. On top we have considerably less damage output. GWF Destroyer line is amazing, totally steamrolled 7 of us.
Even on against a CW, my FS didnt take him down to even 75%. None of these changes are needed, really need to leave these 2 powers the way they are. I am not even sure what our role is now.
I'd like to speak about daily powers for the ranger.
Our dailies are easily the weakest of any class disruptive shot is the best daily we have and that only hits 4000 or so on a crit the disrupt on it is awesome imo but think about cold steel hurricane how many hunter rangers ever use it? i dont even have points in it i wanted to really try it out but I've seen life bars when it hits they barely move.
Forest ghost is a pretty good daily too but its range to hit is low also they have to be grouped up in order for us do 4k damage or so which isnt very much when you consider that half the enemies inside a dungeon have more than 50k hp.
That one hit means nothing if we happen to try it while aoes are starting to go off or we have to chase just to hit.
Maybe increase the range of hit to an area around the ranger leave it as it is now a move to target to hit but increase the range on the hit so that we dont have to chase other enemies be right next to them to hit or only try to use it to escape and hit them one last time before we shift out into the darkness even just 5-10 feet would improve this ability immensely.
Siesmic shot has a hard damage but it moves back and you know what players have to say when repel or ice storm knocks back:
"stop doing that". even when its used to save them or you from being hit.
What you could to do here is maybe add some roots to siesmic make it push them away less but make it weak or heavy root on them to the spot the land in everyone wants control but sometimes roots aren't enough we have to have more control with some of these powers and adding roots to more of them is a good idea imo.
Comparatively the GF's dailies are all useful and everyone loathes them; I certainly don't but the other class player base does because people are in such a rush for everything i cant see how rushing things makes things more fun.
And cw dailies are also extremely powerful for instance ice storm and maelstorm hits around 10k to 5 targets pushes back prones and hits again for fall damage.
What if you added a utility of a movement stutter not a stun from two-four split shots spammed sort of like a impact shot but much less abrasive to the target allowing to effect 5 targets and decrease the amount of loss from splitshot damage to betweem 20-30% or even to 15% if you think its not generous enough for 20-30%.
and stag heart is why nature rangers are good 3122 thp just for hitting a button maybe not in pvp because of healing depression but in a dungeon 3k t.hp is a boon to anyone rolling with a cleric its why my nature ranger is so tanky then again I took the 10% damage resist feat. along with every other one sure my dps isnt amazing like ranged but i still built for attack. 4k damage with it before im going to be testing a lv 26 there one and i know the difference between 26, 60, to 12k gs with various hr fan favorite enchants having leveled up four of them to that level. I'll notice the difference.
I cant even believe that wreck was in grey wolf area with 3 rangers
Split shot was the only unbalanced move the hr had now that the imbalance is gone there is a chance to budget increases across the board even just a 10%-15% increase to most of the skills would make the class more viable and will slowly eliminate the only use splitshot game meta.
it can also bring down the aggro from split shot because it will allow other moves to be used to replace the damage reduction of it while still maintaining aggro but not locking it constantly.
i will add more after i sleep and level to those wolves im not gonna just quit here because some had trouble i need to see with my own eyes.
I use to like using boar and fox skills in pvp but found it too costly in cast time and effectiveness to warrant an encounter use. Fox dodges one hit - great if they only want to hit you once and give up which never happens. Boar - in the time you cast hide you've already taken a couple of hits. Of far better use are the hindering abilities and constricting along with RoA. I love timing and placing RoA and to make kills. I wasn't using fox anyway - nerf it more.
I barely use split shot except to recover and heal after going melee, and that is much needed even at a 13k GS. I appreciate the joys of mixing range and combat styles but it is certainly a hard thing to pull off given the necessary gear spend on dmg stats to be effective. GF's have shields and can consistently hit like trucks without flinching in comparison. CW's have the luxury of seriously disabling mobs to get there massive damage off, hence why 3 CW's are favoured for Gauntlgrym and T2.5 Dungeons, or any dungeon for that matter. Nothing competes with that amount of disable and damage ensuring fast and safe dispensing of enemy creeps.
Split shot was the only thing saving an HR when it came to big boss fights with multiple creep spawns, like the first boss on Karrundax. With another Ranger, we can just about take care of them around the 13k mark. This will only be possible it seems with 4 rangers in the party doing the job of 2 Control Wizards. Why couldn't the Hunter Ranger class do similar ranged pure damage like a CW's magic damage? Why should CW's have sole domain on AoE damage and disable? Is it possible the devs only carry CWs?
The saddest part is the snobbery of CWs is only further enforced and their arrogance has won. I thought this game would allow for varied creative party combinations, then this change only further enforces the dominance of Control Wizards. If such changes go forward as has been setup in the preview, then thank you for this 3 month education in a waste of time. I was wanting to recommend this game to others but it really makes no sense. It doesn't promote teamplay, just Control Wizards.
Is it 6 months to another module update? 6 months of no Gauntylgrym, 6 months of dungeons taking twice as long on the condition you're accepted into a party in the first place or those invited don't shun you because they don't know how weak the HR is. Currently these are the attiudes in Neverwinter and you exasperbate the problem with this nerf. HR's will have nothing to do but PvP. I love PvP, but so much more than that, variety.
The only possible reason I can imagine is you want to increase the skill requirement for HR players. Already a hero with little defence and no magic immunity you make it longer for them to kill and dodge creeps. Compared to a CW, it's a joke. Perhaps possible with twice the number of Stamina charges, but who cares when the CW does the job in have the time with half the number of people.
I don't know what stats the Devs are looking at but Hunter Rangers were not breaking the game in the first place. They're mostly dying without natural defence, reliable invisibilty (cast time for forest walk is too long and fails half the time in PVP) and with weak defensive buffs as they have to prioritise their dps to be useful. The only saving grace is barkshield which takes a while to get but faster and more effective than gemmed undergaments and upgraded Artifacts.
If you can't see yet I, along with many other HRs it seems are very disappointed by the forthcoming changes. Please also remeber that there is little stat synergy on the Class like with GF or Cleric who get free power and crit resepctively. Maybe you would like the Rangers to have to farm for so much longer or be just a core PvP class. Neither are particularly tasteful which is sad becuase the HR was a source of much enjoyment in all forms.
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l3g10nna1reMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 372Arc User
I played for a hour or so on the preview with my Ranger. I have a 16.2K gear score, so I'm no slouch. I only PVE. It just wasn't that fun. For instance, I was getting worked by 3 yeti's (luckily, a DC came over and helped kill them). I was crushing mobs in Dread Ring and Sharandar, and I can barely stay alive in Icewind Dale. I'm running with a stone, perfect vorpal, all rank 8 enchantments (on the stone too), 3000 defense, 3000 Crit, 4000 Power, full Armor Pen, I should be pretty powerful, but I feel weak against these monsters. I crit for like 6-9K on my split shot. On live in the CTA it's more like 15K. I can only imagine what it's like for HR's significantly less geared than me. I'm sure I'm not the best player, but I don't just stand there and face tank either. I also appreciate that I haven't had the time to develop a strategy against these new monsters yet either, but I "thought" I was AOE DPS, but now I'm not so sure the direction this class is going. Help me understand the reasoning behind the change. I repeat, it just wasn't that fun anymore.
Same here 16k + on my HR perfect Vorpal Epic Stone 6900 power 3432 crit 1920 AP 1400 recovery and the wolves and yetis and the 2 man heroics were Destroying me no matter if i tried melle or ranged or even tactics and setups
Split shot is very very low dps now, they rework to power didnt change in a way that compensates as it only gave me 38% increate in DPS
the thing i think you are missing, they have had data for ages, they can pull data from real time, and get a much better picture than we can. i would be willing to bet the data showed HR's are not getting into dungeons like DC's, GWF's and CW's. i am pretty sure the data will also show we are not the top DPSer's. i would also say than can pull data to find out our death rate as compared to other classes. this type of data mining is common practice in games development and balancing practice.
now, they ask for feedback, we are trying to give that feedback
first, HR's did not need nerfs, several times we have said our damage before the nerfs was fine, though we relied on split shot to obtain that damage.
the biggest issue, is the feedback
we have not had a single explanation, not one word to even encourage us to keep playing, and paying. we knew the nerf was over the top without something getting buffed or fixed. had they looked at the data that they can pull, they would know it too.
its the player base that pays there bills, i have put money into the game like many many others, yet when we voice our concerns, make known our complaints we are ignored. yet other topics get attention from the devs while they continue to forget the MAJOR change to our class.
so the longer this non-communication goes on the angrier people are getting, the more we are ignored the more reason we have to quit supporting with our wallet, and move on to other games. we all have time,effort, and money invested into our characters. i would think we have a right to question and call them out; and they have a responsibility to answer to us as PART of there job, after all; you buy a burger at burger king they have a responsibility to ensure its safe, hot, and to your liking. same thing here, you buy from them, they have a responsibility for answer for there decisions
they have not explained our nerfs, they have not come to us to give a direction they want to take our class, and they have given us no clue what they have planned for our class.
and testing broken things is like that it is weak and useless or overpowered. Testing isn't oh this is a holly jolly christmas! not even 10% of the time when testing broken things its like theres no direction because there isnt one but up. Think up!
maybe they made this like this to get a reaction publicly from the gamers maybe they have done this to get our attention toward away from splitshot but im sure they arent doing this to ruin your life or to make you or your wallet cry.
development is not about money thats what the game is for. development and tests are about trying things out to see where improvements can be made with out making a monster like a science experiment. Figuratively right now they are testing the monster tomorrow they might make it beautiful and its in a safe place on test server it wont be going live until theyve done something.
but this will not happen if we do not help. you said it yourself that they can get numbers better than we can so lets give numbers to em.
thorn ward, not bad damage when the mob will sit there through its duration, useless when they just walk through it. rain of arrows, same as thorn ward, decent damage when mob does not just walk through it, small area of effect. constricting arrow good single target stun, short duration needs to be much longer, or needs more damage or debuff added to its effect. hindering shot, is useless, doesn't do anything, have yet to see it actually do anything, even at 3 stacks. this skill needs a rework. ambush, would be good, but it drops stealth when you charge up aimed shot, so mob hits you before shot gets off thus canceling. so really makes it useless, if you move you loose have its ability, if you shoot you loose the other half. aimed shot, good damage, but incredible long charge, very easy to inerupt, thus making it a ability only used if you can get a surprise shot off, after that its useless. battle honed, kinda useless, when we are this squishy if we are close enough to get hit, its not gonna regen fast enough to help you survive, not when badies are chunking you for 1/3-1/2 your hit points a hit. hunters teamwork, is basically quick shot with random drops, in team play, so usless for solo farming, and drops are rare when they accure, and the boost from them so small, its just not worth anything, not gonna safe a life with it, and its undependable. quick shot, does no damage, and roots you for to long for an agile fighter. path finders action, do not notice any movement bonus, don't think it is working as intended, or needs a much stronger effect. cruel recovery, nice idea, doesn't stack, and is based on if you crit, so it becomes unreliable. marauder's escape, awsome ability until you shoot yourself into a mob coming from behind that you didnt see, while trying to get seperation from the bady infront of you.
truthfully it feels like all of our skills are situational, and unreliable, heck even our damage is reliant on getting crits consitantly. have a lot of tools for mobility, only to be offset from being rooted ourselves with any damage ability.
grant you, my vision of the hunter ranger is ranged dps, thats what i build for, i try to avoid melee, and only use it when i am left with no other option.
we are too fragile for sustain melee combat.
our crowd control is single target short duration, in a world filled with multi target combat.
we have no burst abilty. our agility is all based on stamina, and powers that are short lived, and still allows mobs to catch up, can't out run anyone.
also i am built for crit and life steal, can't afford to build power, need all new enchants to do that, im sitting all with rank 7, but none are for power. so basically, any HR out there will need to build power for damage? so basically a restart of the gear, and enchants.
and prolly will need different armor set considering mine gives 450 set bonus for crit. is there a HR set that give that bonus set for power?
id color everything in red , but think it will look to YOU "non constructive"
so among all powers we have a new daily , which does no damage, Daily power when compared to other classes (comparing because we want balance right?)
CWs Daily - Ice knife - Proning Single target Nuke
TRs Daily - Shocking Execution - Defense ignoring Nuke
GWFs Daily(take any of them) , indomitable battle strike,savage advance,avalanche of steel - ALL provide CC, AND damage
HRs Daily - Seismic shot which moves targets in a strange way and seems like its a PVE daily which cant be used in PVP
Forest walk - long casting utility daily , Forest meditation - healing thingy which affected by healing depression , and to be honest not used in PVP AT ALL, and we have last daily , which we hope will do damage atleast single target or nuke of some kind (remind you that HRs DPS class, and there are already 2 utility dailies) BUT NO , we have cold steel hurricane , which is weaker then encounters or at wills
or we have a choice in new paragon path , single target Daily which deals same damage as 2 at wills...
O and encounters ? which ones? because there is NO encoutners that do damage now, and thorn strike doesnt do damage even on 10% target ... its like 10% damage increase.... so ...
And i would really like to provide constructive feedback, but i really cant, there is nothing to construct at those ruins of class that had potential.
this thread has been cleaned up a bit and it probably could use some more cleaning up.
let me be clear:
this thread is intended for feedback after you have tested the changes as well as the new paragon path for the hunter ranger. this thread is not intended for back and forth discussions between players. if you'd like to have a respectful and constructive discussion about these changes that is not specifically what the devs are asking for, you may do so in a separate thread.
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provide your feedback and move on. do not think that the more you post in this thread, the more likely your suggested changes will be implemented. continued attacking of any and all opposing opinions opposite of yours is considered power posting which is trolling. once you provide your respectful and constructive feedback, there is no need to rip apart other opinions to further your own agenda. and please remember that our number one rule is to show respect.
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So, i tested current changes on preview, what i can say is HR has no damage anymore, just Aimed Shot, which 99% of the time you wont land it unless you have hidering shot + constrict arrow slotted, then you have a chance of 5% up to 1% to land it.
If changes goes live as it is, you must change Aimed Shot so you can actually use it, cause as it is, you wont slot an at will that you have 5% of success.
Fox Shift -> going to remove this 100% sure, when fighting 3+ enemys, o well, its a good encounter, but with 1 or 2 enemys it not worth slotting.
Split Shot -> going to remove this 100% sure, HAMSTER damage, i would try my lucky with Aimed Shot instead or use another HAMSTER damage and animation Rapid Shot.
Stormstep Action -> Not working at all, fix please.
Overall: HR is mostly support bot, running, spamming constrict arrow, hindering shot, has no burst, has no damage.
tested on prewiew, class totally killed. No dps no enc whit a good aoe dmg spit shoot usless = class usless all HR can stay at enclave afk becouse no one want him on party. Bad work guys
There's more testing to be done and certainly a lot more adjusting to be done on my part, but so far Pathfinder is somewhat a mixed bag of results. It has a lot of potential though, so I'll probably switch to it on Live when it comes out.
Here's my feedback so far, after a few hours of testing:
Battlehoned - A lot of people seem to feel as though this Class Feature is supposed to help keep you healed. Instead, the constant proccing combined with the buff only lasting for one Regen tick means that this Class Feature is really only good at helping you die more slowly; perhaps that's its purpose. A 4-second duration definitely feels too short, as there's basically no after-battle regen boost. Even a small amount of after-battle duration would help this Feature feel a lot more useful than it is. Currently, it only seems beneficial if you don't get hit very often - which sort of defeats the need for having it. Perhaps having an 8 or 12 second duration instead of 4.
Hunter's Teamwork - This is a very curious skill. It deals marginally more damage than Rapid Shot but also fires marginally more slowly, which means lots of people will write it off as being just as useless. In my case, this may end up replacing Rapid Shot on my bar for those "gotta stay mobile" situations where Split Shot isn't helpful and Aimed won't be able to finish charging, like boss fights with lots of adds that don't die quickly. The heal and stam+AP regen boosts from those "packages" are definitely welcome, given that I play Hybrid.
This skill does seem to be bugged. Currently, the "packages" have no model. Additionally, they cannot be picked up when they drop in the Death Forge.
Careful Attack - An at-will that does no actual damage itself can be very difficult to use in melee range, especially when HRs are already so short for useful melee powers. This one might be best if you're in a party, or if you can combine it with a heavy strike while Agile Combatant, Bloodthirsty and Hawkeye are running too. I haven't tried using the feat for this skill, since it's outside my standard build. The casting time feels fine and the 10-sec duration at Rank 3 is long enough.
Pathfinder's Action - As a hybrid, let me just say that this is probably my favorite part of the Pathfinder tree. I use Disrupting Shot fairly often, so the bonus is usually active for me during most of combat. This Feature may never leave my bar ever again.
It's difficult to be sure, but I suspect from watching the timer count down that the duration of this skill is actually ticking too quickly. If it's relevant, this was measured with the related Feat trained to 5.
Slasher's Mark - As of this writing I haven't tried it with the skill trained to 3 - only to 1 - but despite the low damage it seems like it has the potential to be very useful in PvE if handled skillfully. It is, however, very definitely a party-only skill.
Cruel Recovery - This Class Feature must be bugged. It has got to be bugged. Even though the description doesn't mention stacking, it's supposed to stack, right? Because right now it isn't stacking and a crit only gives me the most tiny little sliver of temporary HP. The temporary HP doesn't last for very long and isn't even substatial enough to offset.. well.. anything. I don't mean to sound rude, but Cruel Recovery in its current state is useless beyond all hope of description.
Cruel Recovery's 1% Temp HP bonus does not stack when you crit multiple times. It may not be a bug, but it certainly seems like one due to how utterly tiny 1% HP is.
In regards to the Split Shot and Fox Shift changes:
Split Shot: This skill remains as useful as it was to me before. It was never my primary damage-dealer, and in fact was very far from it. It still clears weak trash just fine. Against stronger enemies, I do start to notice the reduction in output.
Fox Shift: While I understand that the multi-target behavior of Fox Shift has not been altered (and is still about the same effectiveness as it was), the reduction in output against a single target means that there are better choices for my bar. I still have more testing to do to fully adjust to the new behavior, but the current reaction so far is that it doesn't feel like the three points I put into it are justified. This skill does do more than just damage the target, however, and so it may still have some usefulness for that.
A couple of other points:
Barkshield's effect icon is now just a blank white square. There are other missing icons as well.
Currently on Live, Forestwalk is procced by Barkshield refreshing itself, although only the HR gets Forestwalk's bonus when this happens and not the rest of the party. This is not the case on Mimic, where Barkshield does not proc Forestwalk at all. One of these two is not the correct behavior.
Right now, our skills are generally pretty vague in their descriptions. They raise/lower things by a lot/a little and they last a long time or a short time. Is it too much to ask for actual numbers instead of all that vagueness? Even if it's base values without feats being factored in, it would help the average player quite a lot.
We have been reading the feedback. We are currently looking at where we want Hunters to fall and talking about some options for changes we could make. Please keep playing and see how the new paragon powers feel.
We have been reading the feedback. We are currently looking at where we want Hunters to fall and talking about some options for changes we could make. Please keep playing and see how the new paragon powers feel.
Thank you for all the feedback guys!
simple ... don't touch the classes GWF HR TR GF or will see only 5CW party
Split Shot Excessive nerf. With 4800 power and 26 dex i was doing 2200 average per fully charged split shot.
Did split strike get nerfed as well? Was doing 500-600 per hit.
Fox Shift I would rather honestly get cc'd in fox shift than have a 1 hit per target being immune to cc.
Thorn Strike Animation feels better now but the damage is too low and the cone is still too small to be of much use.
Stormstep Action Neutered and now the whole path is mediocre.
Hunter’s Teamwork Not affected by arpen. The heal is sort of cool and i like that it can crit but rather pointless since its a single target power. Would in my opinon work better as an aoe marking ability.
Careful Attack Not affected by arpen. Too much setup time for a one time effect with very low damage. The 5 target cap hurts it as well
Ambush Some extra damage is nice but with the state of split shot on preview and lack of other aoe options its lacklustre.
Bear Trap Not affected by arpen. I tried it feated and its basically a disruptive shot with a long animation. Awkward for use in pve espically since its only 2 charges with cooldown between them.
Slasher’s Mark Not affected by arpen. Low damage considering the animation and the redundant utility option.
Battlehoned Not enough regen to even be considered occupying a slot.
Pathfinder’s Action The only thing i would pick pathfinder for. Great synergy with disruptive.
Cruel Recovery
1% not stackable is nothing. Pointless in it's current form.
Fox Shift Most of the time it hits only 2 times, because for some reason it targets the farthest possible target and then doesn't jump back because the target was already got hit by this power.
M6 almost drains your soul given how boring it is. (c) joocycuzzzzzz
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l3g10nna1reMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 372Arc User
We have been reading the feedback. We are currently looking at where we want Hunters to fall and talking about some options for changes we could make. Please keep playing and see how the new paragon powers feel.
Thank you for all the feedback guys!
Can i ask if the resistance/Armour/ calculations have been set correctly for these 61 adds the reason i ask if i do my Aimed shot on any level 60 Weak/Normal mob in Dread Area or Sharadar i get 30-39k crits but on these new mobs im hitting crits of 8/9k Now either the Power rework has SEVERELY crippled us or the Armour resistance factor is insanely offset in there favour
battle honed at level 3 gives 300 regen which imo is great it means we have to stack less regen.
ambush so long as you arent hit during animation drops aggro until you attack and using forest ghost or forest meditation with stealth from ambush is useful as hell mechanically because it allows ticks to work without being seen to be targeted. Damage numbers need changing as others have said it is lackluster but it still works which is what is important here.
Thorn strike actually feels 100x better than it did before and the fact that it multi targets makes it even better single target this skill was useless not anymore though i may actually slot thorn ward because its mirror is actually useful and again numbers are easy to change.
was thinking of ways for thorn ward to be better and have aoe that could help compensate with split shot being weak make the large area of effect of thorn ward only do damage to 5 targets in the area fx looking like slam but leave the defense weaken noticable as a single target using the fx that thorn ward currently posesses. it would make it more viable for pve and pvp it would act as an actual ward because players just walk right through it so do monsters and it doesnt bother either of them much.
black ice is an effect that the creatures have there that makes them resistant the devs said this they have also said that these new mobs are meant to be harder than any other area which in my opinion is a great thing.
but we can get the same black ice effect from the equipment from ice shaping.
going back to preview to test more will have more input later.
We have been reading the feedback. We are currently looking at where we want Hunters to fall and talking about some options for changes we could make. Please keep playing and see how the new paragon powers feel.
Thank you for all the feedback guys!
In all honesty, from a player who truely wants to see all classes balanced, HR needed very few tweaks. When the tenacity patch hit live, HR achieved balance by virtue of GWF and TR doing less damage to us. For the first time, I could actually beat a top-tier GWF or TR - but the fights were so close it was hard to tell if I was just getting lucky or not (which is fantastic). Our grasping roots were too strong, and the changes (plus additional new bug of being able to dodge once rooted and breaking the roots) fixed this overpowering aspect of HR. Constricting was even changed so that if you dodge the initial attack, you are no longer stunned 2 more times. These are reasonable changes - bug fixes even.
To me, it seems like mod3 changes to GWF are focused around making Destroyer better. This opens up the option of going from Sentinel to Destroyer and promotes diversity. On the other side of the spectrum we have HR changes. Instead of making certain aspects of the class more powerful to become more appealing, the frequently used skills are having their skill or utility reduced by 50% (stormstep, split shot) to 75% (fox). This approach has definitely made us consider using other skills - thus promoting diversity - but it has also completely disrupted the previously achieved balance. It took me over 5 minutes to kill a Devoted Cleric who is clearly unexperienced and unskilled in pvp on preview. Yes, this was exasperated by the fact that players can use pve potions while flagged for pvp, but that is an insane change from live.
The reality of the class - to me, as an experienced pve and pvp player - is that the skills people frequently use have been chosen because all of the rest are just too terrible to use in one setting or the other. Maybe you are unaware of how players feel, so I will do my best to go through each skill and describe why it is used or avoided.
At-Will
Rapid (pve): This skill is not very "rapid". Delay between each hit of shot is too long, and the delay between the 3rd and 4th hit of strike is also too long. Did you know - When parsed while using Blade Storm & Master of Combat, strike + Master of Combat + Blade Storm = the damage of Shot.
Rapid (pvp): Again, players tend to use Split Shot over this because of the reasons listed above. I personally use Rapid Shot (rarely) and Strike (all the time) because I am typically holding a point vs. a TR, and need to stay close and attack quickly to counter their stealth tactics.
Split Shot (pve): The reason people use this is obvious. Good damage vs. delay + AoE to boot. I honestly believe the damage was too high, but -45% IS. SPARTA!! -10% or -15% is reasonable. I mean, 3k+ to 5 targets is pretty stupid, lets be honest.
Split Shot (pvp): See above. If i weren't primarily facing TRs, I would use it too. Well, maybe not - GWF prone chains mean I would lose out on a lot of dps.
Aimed Shot (pve): This skill is decent as a solo pve opener, but we only have 2 at-will slots so it loses out. I have hardly ever actually got a shot of this off in an epic dungeon due to the interrupt aspect.
Aimed Shot (pvp): Before Tenacity, this skill was too powerful, even with it being interrupt-able. Because players need to stand on a point in domination matches, any 2v1 involving a HR quickly devolved into the point holder having to make a choice - get hit for 10k every 4 seconds, or stand off point to stop the HR. Damage + point holding tactics + importance of burst damage made this skill extremely potent. Now that tenacity has been added, I hardly use the skill. Non-crit damage is around 6k and burst damage now matters much less. I feel that I am better off using rapid + aimed strike as sustained damage is actually viable now. Again, this skill was elegantly nerfed by virtue of adding tenacity and opening up sustained damage as a viable course of action. Well done.
Aimed Strike (pve): Good, but does not deserve a slot except vs. bosses with few adds (fulminorax, valindra).
Aimed Strike (pvp): My 2nd most used skill, next to rapid. This is excellently balanced - players can easily avoid it, but when it lands it does decent damage - and more importantly, breaks down stealth and guard. It really is difficult to land an aimed strike unless a player is cc'd even though the skill tracks it's target.
Electric Shot (pve and pvp): This is probably the worst damage skill that HR have. It is slow and the damage is low. The animation is really cool, but that is the only positive thing I have to say about it.
Clear the Ground (pve): This skill is either fantastic or comparatively terrible based on your spec. Archery players will never use it over split shot. As a pvp-built combat HR, this is my #1 pve at-will. clear the ground + master of combat + blade storm is impressive, and the damage easily outpaces split shot. The AoE size is just right. Bravo.
Clear the Ground (pvp): AoE damage really isn't a thing in pvp, and the ranged aspect is terrible to say the least.
Dailies
This post is getting long so I will try to summarize a bit.
PVE: One choice and only one choice - Seismic Shot. It's not good, but it's not bad either. Compared to other choices, nothing comes remotely close.
PVP: Again, we have 2 real choices - Disruptive Shot and Forest Ghost. The AP vs. damage + utility of Disruptive is just right and really makes HR feel unique. AP vs. damage + utility of Forest Ghost is also just right. These 2 skills are just fantastic. Great work.
Cold Steel Hurricane: Does this even work as intended? If it does, it needs a serious buff because it is completely useless in every way.
Encounters
PVE - Good
Marauders (solo content) - good damage / utility / speed
Hindering - Great! Only downside is that you can't use this because of interaction of roots + SotEA (cw)
Thorn (ward only) - good dps + debuff vs. bosses
Rain - excellent aoe dps (arrows). fyi the melee version is heavily bugged. This has been described by me in a report.
Fox - Good vs. single targets and as an AoE - great work on this skill - it is THE ONLY SKILL that is good as AoE + single
PVE - Bad
Everything else. They are either too slow, bugged, or utility is just bad.
Thorn Strike - slow charge + low damage + i don't think it is actually an AoE on live. Using an at-will is literally better.
Nature buffs - Utility just isn't worth the slot unless you are with an inexperienced group with no DC.
PVP - Good
Marauders - reasonable damage + gap closer + very short stealth. Escape gives 10% AP! FYI, players can be CCd while using escape, which is very frustrating. This makes it a poor choice for trying to "escape".
Hindering - Even with the dodge-out-of-roots bug, the damage + utility of this skill just can't be beat. Our 2nd most damaging skill set!
Constricting & Steel Breeze - So good! This skill has terrible damage and is only used for the utility. Recurring stun is great, and it can be avoided by; dodging (unless you are an HR), blocking (?), impossible to catch, unstoppable. Steel Breeze is only used because it is attached to Constricting, but it's really not that bad. Damage is almost non-existent, but it recovers some stamina and that is never a bad thing.
Thorn Ward (but NOT strike): Pretty much the only way you are going to reliably kill a GWF 1v1. The fact that this skill covers points 1 & 3 (but not 2 - it is bigger) + point holding tactics are the reason it is good (ie I never use this in gauntlgrym pvp). If you control the point, the opposing players have no choice but to stand in the ward and take 10 hits and -20% mitigation. The dps vs. a single target is great, unless that single target is a TR in stealth - in which case it does zero damage and you die a little inside, but know that it hitting stealth trs would probably be super-OP. Ward becomes exponentially worse as the number of players around it increases, or if you do not control the point - if players are not forced to stand in it, they won't. Thorn Strike only gets used because it reduces ranged CD by 1 second. That is literally the only only only reason i ever press that button. Ever.
Fox: This is our only burst skill. Average damage is about 6k (total) vs. geared players. This is like 1/6 - 1/8 of your opponents' HP, so I'm not even sure this qualifies as a nuke. I feel that it is balanced because if there is more than 1 player, your damage is halved or worse. This makes the skill unpredictable, but comparatively (compared to our other skills, not the skills of other classes) strong in the right situation. FYI, hitting more than 2 players with this skill makes me want to uninstall my blood through my wrists - it is just so terrible in those situations! Most hits of this skill are very, very easily dodged. In fact, I tend to use it only when my target is cc'd in fear that my only skill that deals real damage is going to be dodged, leaving me waiting for 20 seconds. This also reduces ranged cds by up to 4 seconds.
Fox shift is ok at best. It is mostly used to activate blood-whatever (+15% damage to next melee attack). with all of the dots (dc using plague fire, cw with elemental empowerment, RoE, Bleed from gwf and tr + bilethorn on tr), this rarely absorbs more than 100 damage. You can get extremely lucky and dodge an ice knife with it on rare occasion, but you're better off just pressing shift.
OK this post is far too long. The other skills are bad in pvp for obvious reasons - their damage is too low, their utility is too terrible, or they activate too slow. If you would like me to explain in more detail, I will.
EDIT: omg i forgot class features. /walloftextlol
Aspect of the Lone Wolf: without this feature, HR would never-ever be able to enter melee combat. Ever. I like how it does nothing vs. large groups, but makes you actually stand a chance 1v1. Can any good player that has faced a good HR imagine doing 20%-25% more damage to them? The HR would be destroyed in an instant, without chance of ever beating you. Ever. Never.
Stormstep Action: this helps lend HR a unique feel. In all honesty, this is not a very good effect. I have even stated in previous posts that, "...for Pathfinder to be viable, all it has to do is have 1 class feature that is better than stormstep - and that isn't very difficult". Guess what? Pathfinder does not have a class feature better than stormstep....even with the nerf!
blade storm: good in pve if you are combat spec, otherwise useless
Twin blade storm: #1 choice in pve for either spec.
Aspect of the pack: good for some bosses because the others become bad. I use this vs. dwarf king boss and fulminorax. Only.
Aspect of the Serpent: not very good. you tend to get stuck with 5 stacks of melee (as in it only affects your ranged skills) (in pvp).
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futuunMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited March 2014
OMFG!
This is the biggest nerf ever!
I've never seen something like that in MMO game...
Now on live server HR has only 3 useful skills:
Fox Shift for PvP,
Rain of Arrow for PvE (only with Arcane Singularity (from CW))
Split Shot,
Every other HR encounter is totally HAMSTER and do LOL-damage.
LOL-damage means betwen 1.ooo and 4.ooo damage.. On all skills!
This patch will kill hunter ranger.
You are destroying almost everything that was useful.
If you still wanna nerf split shot we need huge buff on almost all encounters.
Now on preview shard we are weird useless buffer class.
Almost all new paragon powers is piece of ****..
Cruel Recovery is not stackable (now we have useless 1% of our Max HP as special Temp HP ^^).
Pathfinder’s Action doesn't work.
Bear Trap stun lasts 0.7s which is way to short.
0
zombieelvisMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 9Arc User
We have been reading the feedback. We are currently looking at where we want Hunters to fall and talking about some options for changes we could make. Please keep playing and see how the new paragon powers feel.
Thank you for all the feedback guys!
Honestly, what do you guys want HRs to be?
Maybe there's a disconnect between the players and devs, because HRs are trying to play in a role that isn't what's intended.
and really the moves havent been changed besides split shot thats where the anger is forget it they will boost it once they have data on how horrible it is i havent been close to death yet might be the hr im testing is only in helms hold but i tell the difference between this and the other parts of the game foxes shift change is just an idea its not 100% definate its just where they are starting
i wouldnt put any of these changes on live till all classes and pve contents have been rebalanced together 100% and im sure they wont either.
on the test server my skill isnt gimped and neither is my damage because ive never relied on splitshot to provide any large % of damage i use almost every skill even electric shot on my archer on live and my damage isnt gimped i still get at least 2nd and contribute more than just damage its gonna take time to rebalance because they are working ground up.
I would say that ambush needs to have a 5' movement for keeping the buff because if you activate it and move even accidentally because of the short animation of it it makes it less useful and 5' movement is nothing but it will make the skill not have an accidental problem.
also the stealth from ambush is also interrupted by any damage even dots and deflected attacks so if you use ambush while burn damage is ticking then there is no steath or possibly ambush status even if nothing is currently attacking you.and you've just wasted an encounter because you are on fire that hits like 35 my suggestion would be to have a pain threshold and no. of hits for the stealth portion of it.
Comments
This at-will does not generate any Action point.
Bug: Bear trap:
Actual damage is lower than tool-tip. I have 2.6k armor penetration (which should ignore all defense on normal mobs), yet when I toss bear trap into a weak lvl 60 mob, it hits for 1000 when tool-tip says its damage is 1.3-1.5k
Bug: Ambush
When activating this skill, any cc will cancel it and put it on cooldown without stealth effect. Charging aiming shot/split shot will instantly kick me out of stealth.
Bug: Thorn Strike
The attack range is not as described. I attacked 3 mobs sitting right next to me, hit 2 on the side and miss the main target.
Fox shift
This skill damage now is too weak. I could barely kill a normal lvl 60 mob with this skill. Using rapid strike twice deals the same damage of this encounter.
Hunter's teamwork - havent seen 1 package drop yet
Bear Trap - kind of interesting but such a small circle range. Stun isnt very long, disruptive is better. For those wondering.. this is like rain of arrows.. lays down a bear trap and if someone steps on it they are stunned. You can cast right on top of them though.
Careful Attack - Seriously?? Dissapointing and looks like Im humping the ground.. Its the melee version of Electric Shot... low damage and seems pointless so far.
FYI - Splitshot is really destroyed.. even hard to kill minion type mobs now. lol wow.
FS - So sad now, not even sure I would put points in it.
I need to test more when I have more time later this week but just respec'd and pretty sad heh. Want to test pathfinders action and Cruel recovery more, also storm step. Pathfinder does feel like lower survivability if I am using the class powers.
First fox shift - ToB - Hits 2 targets
[Combat (Self)] Your Fox Shift deals 3099 Physical to Target Dummy
[Combat (Self)] Your Fox Shift deals 3062 (2916) Physical to Target Dummy.
2nd attempt - Again only hits 2 targets
[Combat (Self)] Critical Hit! Your Fox Shift deals 5484 Physical to Target Dummy.
[Combat (Self)] Your Fox Shift deals 3208 Physical to Target Dummy.
Storm step is destroyed. used disrupting shot twice and still had 3 seconds till next fox from last use.
Slasher's Mark - In line with CSH.. 1700 hit for 100% AP...
Hindering strike seems different - Animation is definitely different. 15' burst 14.1s Cooldown 15s Charge Refill 1727 - 2054 dmg - Need to check on this.
Thorn Strike seems no different, defintely doesnt compensate for FS loss.
Careful attack - is it throwing a debuff on? i dont see one, or lasts for 1 second.
Takes a much longer time to kill anything now.
If u use ambush and thornward with the extra dmg boost, each thornward attack will procc ambush.
Feedback: Fox Shift
The dmg against 3 targets is nice, but we NEED it to hit a singletarget more than once because the dmg against 1 target is terrible + we only procc agile hunter once with it, which lowers our overall dmg and utility by a lot.
Feedback: Bear Trap
The stun, which is like 0.75sec is way to short. You dont even notice it.
Feedback: Overall Gameplay
Due to the nerfs to stormstep and fox, the whole gameplay is insanly slowed down and boring. You dont even have to care about covering your foxshift like befor to prevent the enemy from dodging it. The only way i can kill a single mob in a decent amount of time is Thornward and ONLY because it is bugged and proccs ambush on every hit.
HR rly lacks Singletarget dps and burst right now.
Please change fox back to what it was, right now we dont have any decent encounter that has more than a 5k dmg burst.
The changes/nerfs just make no sense to me. The ranger was never an over the top dps class as it was. It was a fun playstyle that was middle of the road dps wise in a group setting. Now it's not fun to play and the dps is abysmal.
I didn't get a chance to test the new paragon path. I don't see it being any better however as I would actually lose DPS passives to take it and I see no burst potential nor any more survivability in it. All in all mine and others initial reactions to the proposed changes were dead on. The class isn't worth playing as it is in mod 3.
Owlbear(current Live)
Tooltip: 2167-5875(ave. 4021)
Actual damage: 4560 with 45% crit
Mod3 Preview
Tooltip: 833-2931(ave. 1882)
Actual damage: 1987 with 44% crit
Comparison
(1-(1882/4021))*100 = 53.2% reduction on tooltip
(1-(1987/4560))*100 = 56.4% reduction on actual damage done
Character Info.
Archery specced with Twin Blade passive
7.2k power
Fallen Dragon Bow and Blade
Perfect Vorpal
Half Orc racial
Screen shots:
With reworked power multiplier, of course, this is huge damage nerf.
In PvE, my Split Shot does 45%+ of total damage done even with Stormstep Action encounter heavy set up.
Taking account of Stormstep Action nerf, this will be even more nerf for my total damage done.
I have to say this is too much.
Hunter's Attack:
Has zero use in pvp.
Hunter's Teamwork
This at-will has zero utility in pvp.
Careful Attack:
Description says it signals "gaps in (the target's) defense" but does not reduce their defense / mitigation. Damage is far too low to be useful.
Ambush:
The player is able to be stealthed by this ability once every ~24 seconds for 5 seconds (with my recovery and WIS). Being stealth for up to 1/5 of the time is of little use.
Ambush effect ending early if you move makes the following true:
Does not work with Marauder's Rush
Very low utility in a setting where one must always be moving - ie pvp
Additionally, ambush seems to proc on:
The first 2 hits of Fox Shift
Every hit of Thorn Ward
Bear Trap:
Activation time is too long for this skill to be as useful as it could be in pvp - though it does have a cool animation.
Slasher's Mark:
Damage is too low to justify 100% AP consumed.
I would consider using this skill if it consumed 25%-35% AP. Maybe 50%.
Battlehoned:
As previously stated, +100 regen is far too low. If this gave even +1% regen, it would be much better, though I still would not use it. Maybe 0.5 base, +0.5 per rank for a total of +1.5% regen when hit?
Pathfinder's Action:
The effect lasts for 5 seconds. This is too short of a period for this class feature to make it onto my tray. I would consider using it at 8 seconds.
Grants +10% deflect at rank 3. Shouldn't this be +15%?
Rank 1 should be 5%
Rank 2 should be +5%
Rank 3 should be +5%
= +15% total
Cruel Recovery:
This does not stack at all. I would consider using this class feature if it could stack up to 3x (once for rank 1, +1 per extra rank)
Quarry:
This is the only way that Careful Attack becomes useful, but +5% damage is not enough.
Advanced Stalking:
Making this feat allow Ambush to persist through moving would make it worth getting.
Slasher's Speed:
This would be good if Slasher's Mark - and the rest of the Nature tree - wasn't so bad.
Split Shot:
This skill now does less damage than Rapid Shot at it's lowest charge point, effectively making it unuseable. If I am aiming at 3 targets, I would do more damage in the span of 2x split shot by using rapid shot due to differences in delay and power.
Fox Shift:
The bonus damage does not seem to work. At all. Not on the first, second, or third hit. Even if it did work, the change is completely gamebreaking. If this were only changed from 4 hits to 3 hits, I could live with that. Making it only hit each target once, without giving it a proper substitution, destroys HR pvp potential.
+30% damage to first target hit with the skill (when working) will not make this skill useable in pvp.
Thorn Strike:
The damage on this skill seems to have increased by virtue of the adjustments to power. If this is the skill that is supposed to replace Fox Shift, it still has a long way to go. Base damage needs to be increased by at least 50%. Tooltip is currently ~1100 - 1400 for me.
Stormstep Action:
This class feature is now unuseable.
Why? -1.5 second cooldown is less than -10%. Most abilities hover around 18 second cooldown. This is now markedly weaker than the melee feat that reduces ranged cooldowns by -1 second per melee skill used.
General Feedback:
As things currently stand, it does not matter which paragon I spec into because I will not be using the at-will, encounter, daily, or class features. I mean, Ambush seems pretty cool, so maybe Pathfinder as it stands will win out, but I'm not sure if it deserves a slot over any non-paragon encounter.
mod 3 setup looks like it will be:
rapid shot/strike, Aimed shot/strike
constricting, Hindering, Thorn
Aspect of the Lone Wolf, Aspect of the Serpent
Even on against a CW, my FS didnt take him down to even 75%. None of these changes are needed, really need to leave these 2 powers the way they are. I am not even sure what our role is now.
Our dailies are easily the weakest of any class disruptive shot is the best daily we have and that only hits 4000 or so on a crit the disrupt on it is awesome imo but think about cold steel hurricane how many hunter rangers ever use it? i dont even have points in it i wanted to really try it out but I've seen life bars when it hits they barely move.
Forest ghost is a pretty good daily too but its range to hit is low also they have to be grouped up in order for us do 4k damage or so which isnt very much when you consider that half the enemies inside a dungeon have more than 50k hp.
That one hit means nothing if we happen to try it while aoes are starting to go off or we have to chase just to hit.
Maybe increase the range of hit to an area around the ranger leave it as it is now a move to target to hit but increase the range on the hit so that we dont have to chase other enemies be right next to them to hit or only try to use it to escape and hit them one last time before we shift out into the darkness even just 5-10 feet would improve this ability immensely.
Siesmic shot has a hard damage but it moves back and you know what players have to say when repel or ice storm knocks back:
"stop doing that". even when its used to save them or you from being hit.
What you could to do here is maybe add some roots to siesmic make it push them away less but make it weak or heavy root on them to the spot the land in everyone wants control but sometimes roots aren't enough we have to have more control with some of these powers and adding roots to more of them is a good idea imo.
Comparatively the GF's dailies are all useful and everyone loathes them; I certainly don't but the other class player base does because people are in such a rush for everything i cant see how rushing things makes things more fun.
And cw dailies are also extremely powerful for instance ice storm and maelstorm hits around 10k to 5 targets pushes back prones and hits again for fall damage.
What if you added a utility of a movement stutter not a stun from two-four split shots spammed sort of like a impact shot but much less abrasive to the target allowing to effect 5 targets and decrease the amount of loss from splitshot damage to betweem 20-30% or even to 15% if you think its not generous enough for 20-30%.
and stag heart is why nature rangers are good 3122 thp just for hitting a button maybe not in pvp because of healing depression but in a dungeon 3k t.hp is a boon to anyone rolling with a cleric its why my nature ranger is so tanky then again I took the 10% damage resist feat. along with every other one sure my dps isnt amazing like ranged but i still built for attack. 4k damage with it before im going to be testing a lv 26 there one and i know the difference between 26, 60, to 12k gs with various hr fan favorite enchants having leveled up four of them to that level. I'll notice the difference.
I cant even believe that wreck was in grey wolf area with 3 rangers
Split shot was the only unbalanced move the hr had now that the imbalance is gone there is a chance to budget increases across the board even just a 10%-15% increase to most of the skills would make the class more viable and will slowly eliminate the only use splitshot game meta.
it can also bring down the aggro from split shot because it will allow other moves to be used to replace the damage reduction of it while still maintaining aggro but not locking it constantly.
i will add more after i sleep and level to those wolves im not gonna just quit here because some had trouble i need to see with my own eyes.
I barely use split shot except to recover and heal after going melee, and that is much needed even at a 13k GS. I appreciate the joys of mixing range and combat styles but it is certainly a hard thing to pull off given the necessary gear spend on dmg stats to be effective. GF's have shields and can consistently hit like trucks without flinching in comparison. CW's have the luxury of seriously disabling mobs to get there massive damage off, hence why 3 CW's are favoured for Gauntlgrym and T2.5 Dungeons, or any dungeon for that matter. Nothing competes with that amount of disable and damage ensuring fast and safe dispensing of enemy creeps.
Split shot was the only thing saving an HR when it came to big boss fights with multiple creep spawns, like the first boss on Karrundax. With another Ranger, we can just about take care of them around the 13k mark. This will only be possible it seems with 4 rangers in the party doing the job of 2 Control Wizards. Why couldn't the Hunter Ranger class do similar ranged pure damage like a CW's magic damage? Why should CW's have sole domain on AoE damage and disable? Is it possible the devs only carry CWs?
The saddest part is the snobbery of CWs is only further enforced and their arrogance has won. I thought this game would allow for varied creative party combinations, then this change only further enforces the dominance of Control Wizards. If such changes go forward as has been setup in the preview, then thank you for this 3 month education in a waste of time. I was wanting to recommend this game to others but it really makes no sense. It doesn't promote teamplay, just Control Wizards.
Is it 6 months to another module update? 6 months of no Gauntylgrym, 6 months of dungeons taking twice as long on the condition you're accepted into a party in the first place or those invited don't shun you because they don't know how weak the HR is. Currently these are the attiudes in Neverwinter and you exasperbate the problem with this nerf. HR's will have nothing to do but PvP. I love PvP, but so much more than that, variety.
The only possible reason I can imagine is you want to increase the skill requirement for HR players. Already a hero with little defence and no magic immunity you make it longer for them to kill and dodge creeps. Compared to a CW, it's a joke. Perhaps possible with twice the number of Stamina charges, but who cares when the CW does the job in have the time with half the number of people.
I don't know what stats the Devs are looking at but Hunter Rangers were not breaking the game in the first place. They're mostly dying without natural defence, reliable invisibilty (cast time for forest walk is too long and fails half the time in PVP) and with weak defensive buffs as they have to prioritise their dps to be useful. The only saving grace is barkshield which takes a while to get but faster and more effective than gemmed undergaments and upgraded Artifacts.
If you can't see yet I, along with many other HRs it seems are very disappointed by the forthcoming changes. Please also remeber that there is little stat synergy on the Class like with GF or Cleric who get free power and crit resepctively. Maybe you would like the Rangers to have to farm for so much longer or be just a core PvP class. Neither are particularly tasteful which is sad becuase the HR was a source of much enjoyment in all forms.
Same here 16k + on my HR perfect Vorpal Epic Stone 6900 power 3432 crit 1920 AP 1400 recovery and the wolves and yetis and the 2 man heroics were Destroying me no matter if i tried melle or ranged or even tactics and setups
Split shot is very very low dps now, they rework to power didnt change in a way that compensates as it only gave me 38% increate in DPS
now, they ask for feedback, we are trying to give that feedback
first, HR's did not need nerfs, several times we have said our damage before the nerfs was fine, though we relied on split shot to obtain that damage.
the biggest issue, is the feedback
we have not had a single explanation, not one word to even encourage us to keep playing, and paying. we knew the nerf was over the top without something getting buffed or fixed. had they looked at the data that they can pull, they would know it too.
its the player base that pays there bills, i have put money into the game like many many others, yet when we voice our concerns, make known our complaints we are ignored. yet other topics get attention from the devs while they continue to forget the MAJOR change to our class.
so the longer this non-communication goes on the angrier people are getting, the more we are ignored the more reason we have to quit supporting with our wallet, and move on to other games. we all have time,effort, and money invested into our characters. i would think we have a right to question and call them out; and they have a responsibility to answer to us as PART of there job, after all; you buy a burger at burger king they have a responsibility to ensure its safe, hot, and to your liking. same thing here, you buy from them, they have a responsibility for answer for there decisions
they have not explained our nerfs, they have not come to us to give a direction they want to take our class, and they have given us no clue what they have planned for our class.
maybe they made this like this to get a reaction publicly from the gamers maybe they have done this to get our attention toward away from splitshot but im sure they arent doing this to ruin your life or to make you or your wallet cry.
development is not about money thats what the game is for. development and tests are about trying things out to see where improvements can be made with out making a monster like a science experiment. Figuratively right now they are testing the monster tomorrow they might make it beautiful and its in a safe place on test server it wont be going live until theyve done something.
but this will not happen if we do not help. you said it yourself that they can get numbers better than we can so lets give numbers to em.
rain of arrows, same as thorn ward, decent damage when mob does not just walk through it, small area of effect.
constricting arrow good single target stun, short duration needs to be much longer, or needs more damage or debuff added to its effect.
hindering shot, is useless, doesn't do anything, have yet to see it actually do anything, even at 3 stacks. this skill needs a rework.
ambush, would be good, but it drops stealth when you charge up aimed shot, so mob hits you before shot gets off thus canceling. so really makes it useless, if you move you loose have its ability, if you shoot you loose the other half.
aimed shot, good damage, but incredible long charge, very easy to inerupt, thus making it a ability only used if you can get a surprise shot off, after that its useless.
battle honed, kinda useless, when we are this squishy if we are close enough to get hit, its not gonna regen fast enough to help you survive, not when badies are chunking you for 1/3-1/2 your hit points a hit.
hunters teamwork, is basically quick shot with random drops, in team play, so usless for solo farming, and drops are rare when they accure, and the boost from them so small, its just not worth anything, not gonna safe a life with it, and its undependable.
quick shot, does no damage, and roots you for to long for an agile fighter.
path finders action, do not notice any movement bonus, don't think it is working as intended, or needs a much stronger effect.
cruel recovery, nice idea, doesn't stack, and is based on if you crit, so it becomes unreliable.
marauder's escape, awsome ability until you shoot yourself into a mob coming from behind that you didnt see, while trying to get seperation from the bady infront of you.
truthfully it feels like all of our skills are situational, and unreliable, heck even our damage is reliant on getting crits consitantly. have a lot of tools for mobility, only to be offset from being rooted ourselves with any damage ability.
grant you, my vision of the hunter ranger is ranged dps, thats what i build for, i try to avoid melee, and only use it when i am left with no other option.
we are too fragile for sustain melee combat.
our crowd control is single target short duration, in a world filled with multi target combat.
we have no burst abilty. our agility is all based on stamina, and powers that are short lived, and still allows mobs to catch up, can't out run anyone.
also i am built for crit and life steal, can't afford to build power, need all new enchants to do that, im sitting all with rank 7, but none are for power. so basically, any HR out there will need to build power for damage? so basically a restart of the gear, and enchants.
and prolly will need different armor set considering mine gives 450 set bonus for crit. is there a HR set that give that bonus set for power?
id color everything in red , but think it will look to YOU "non constructive"
so among all powers we have a new daily , which does no damage, Daily power when compared to other classes (comparing because we want balance right?)
CWs Daily - Ice knife - Proning Single target Nuke
TRs Daily - Shocking Execution - Defense ignoring Nuke
GWFs Daily(take any of them) , indomitable battle strike,savage advance,avalanche of steel - ALL provide CC, AND damage
HRs Daily - Seismic shot which moves targets in a strange way and seems like its a PVE daily which cant be used in PVP
Forest walk - long casting utility daily , Forest meditation - healing thingy which affected by healing depression , and to be honest not used in PVP AT ALL, and we have last daily , which we hope will do damage atleast single target or nuke of some kind (remind you that HRs DPS class, and there are already 2 utility dailies) BUT NO , we have cold steel hurricane , which is weaker then encounters or at wills
or we have a choice in new paragon path , single target Daily which deals same damage as 2 at wills...
O and encounters ? which ones? because there is NO encoutners that do damage now, and thorn strike doesnt do damage even on 10% target ... its like 10% damage increase.... so ...
And i would really like to provide constructive feedback, but i really cant, there is nothing to construct at those ruins of class that had potential.
this thread has been cleaned up a bit and it probably could use some more cleaning up.
let me be clear:
this thread is intended for feedback after you have tested the changes as well as the new paragon path for the hunter ranger. this thread is not intended for back and forth discussions between players. if you'd like to have a respectful and constructive discussion about these changes that is not specifically what the devs are asking for, you may do so in a separate thread.
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provide your feedback and move on. do not think that the more you post in this thread, the more likely your suggested changes will be implemented. continued attacking of any and all opposing opinions opposite of yours is considered power posting which is trolling. once you provide your respectful and constructive feedback, there is no need to rip apart other opinions to further your own agenda. and please remember that our number one rule is to show respect.
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If changes goes live as it is, you must change Aimed Shot so you can actually use it, cause as it is, you wont slot an at will that you have 5% of success.
Fox Shift -> going to remove this 100% sure, when fighting 3+ enemys, o well, its a good encounter, but with 1 or 2 enemys it not worth slotting.
Split Shot -> going to remove this 100% sure, HAMSTER damage, i would try my lucky with Aimed Shot instead or use another HAMSTER damage and animation Rapid Shot.
Stormstep Action -> Not working at all, fix please.
Overall: HR is mostly support bot, running, spamming constrict arrow, hindering shot, has no burst, has no damage.
Here's my feedback so far, after a few hours of testing:
Battlehoned - A lot of people seem to feel as though this Class Feature is supposed to help keep you healed. Instead, the constant proccing combined with the buff only lasting for one Regen tick means that this Class Feature is really only good at helping you die more slowly; perhaps that's its purpose. A 4-second duration definitely feels too short, as there's basically no after-battle regen boost. Even a small amount of after-battle duration would help this Feature feel a lot more useful than it is. Currently, it only seems beneficial if you don't get hit very often - which sort of defeats the need for having it. Perhaps having an 8 or 12 second duration instead of 4.
Hunter's Teamwork - This is a very curious skill. It deals marginally more damage than Rapid Shot but also fires marginally more slowly, which means lots of people will write it off as being just as useless. In my case, this may end up replacing Rapid Shot on my bar for those "gotta stay mobile" situations where Split Shot isn't helpful and Aimed won't be able to finish charging, like boss fights with lots of adds that don't die quickly. The heal and stam+AP regen boosts from those "packages" are definitely welcome, given that I play Hybrid.
This skill does seem to be bugged. Currently, the "packages" have no model. Additionally, they cannot be picked up when they drop in the Death Forge.
Careful Attack - An at-will that does no actual damage itself can be very difficult to use in melee range, especially when HRs are already so short for useful melee powers. This one might be best if you're in a party, or if you can combine it with a heavy strike while Agile Combatant, Bloodthirsty and Hawkeye are running too. I haven't tried using the feat for this skill, since it's outside my standard build. The casting time feels fine and the 10-sec duration at Rank 3 is long enough.
Pathfinder's Action - As a hybrid, let me just say that this is probably my favorite part of the Pathfinder tree. I use Disrupting Shot fairly often, so the bonus is usually active for me during most of combat. This Feature may never leave my bar ever again.
It's difficult to be sure, but I suspect from watching the timer count down that the duration of this skill is actually ticking too quickly. If it's relevant, this was measured with the related Feat trained to 5.
Slasher's Mark - As of this writing I haven't tried it with the skill trained to 3 - only to 1 - but despite the low damage it seems like it has the potential to be very useful in PvE if handled skillfully. It is, however, very definitely a party-only skill.
Cruel Recovery - This Class Feature must be bugged. It has got to be bugged. Even though the description doesn't mention stacking, it's supposed to stack, right? Because right now it isn't stacking and a crit only gives me the most tiny little sliver of temporary HP. The temporary HP doesn't last for very long and isn't even substatial enough to offset.. well.. anything. I don't mean to sound rude, but Cruel Recovery in its current state is useless beyond all hope of description.
Cruel Recovery's 1% Temp HP bonus does not stack when you crit multiple times. It may not be a bug, but it certainly seems like one due to how utterly tiny 1% HP is.
In regards to the Split Shot and Fox Shift changes:
Split Shot: This skill remains as useful as it was to me before. It was never my primary damage-dealer, and in fact was very far from it. It still clears weak trash just fine. Against stronger enemies, I do start to notice the reduction in output.
Fox Shift: While I understand that the multi-target behavior of Fox Shift has not been altered (and is still about the same effectiveness as it was), the reduction in output against a single target means that there are better choices for my bar. I still have more testing to do to fully adjust to the new behavior, but the current reaction so far is that it doesn't feel like the three points I put into it are justified. This skill does do more than just damage the target, however, and so it may still have some usefulness for that.
A couple of other points:
Barkshield's effect icon is now just a blank white square. There are other missing icons as well.
Currently on Live, Forestwalk is procced by Barkshield refreshing itself, although only the HR gets Forestwalk's bonus when this happens and not the rest of the party. This is not the case on Mimic, where Barkshield does not proc Forestwalk at all. One of these two is not the correct behavior.
Right now, our skills are generally pretty vague in their descriptions. They raise/lower things by a lot/a little and they last a long time or a short time. Is it too much to ask for actual numbers instead of all that vagueness? Even if it's base values without feats being factored in, it would help the average player quite a lot.
We already tested a lot of things and all of them include the lacking utility and dmg/nuke from HR's.
Thank you for all the feedback guys!
simple ... don't touch the classes GWF HR TR GF or will see only 5CW party
Excessive nerf. With 4800 power and 26 dex i was doing 2200 average per fully charged split shot.
Did split strike get nerfed as well? Was doing 500-600 per hit.
Fox Shift
I would rather honestly get cc'd in fox shift than have a 1 hit per target being immune to cc.
Thorn Strike
Animation feels better now but the damage is too low and the cone is still too small to be of much use.
Stormstep Action
Neutered and now the whole path is mediocre.
Hunter’s Teamwork
Not affected by arpen.
The heal is sort of cool and i like that it can crit but rather pointless since its a single target power. Would in my opinon work better as an aoe marking ability.
Careful Attack
Not affected by arpen.
Too much setup time for a one time effect with very low damage. The 5 target cap hurts it as well
Ambush
Some extra damage is nice but with the state of split shot on preview and lack of other aoe options its lacklustre.
Bear Trap
Not affected by arpen.
I tried it feated and its basically a disruptive shot with a long animation. Awkward for use in pve espically since its only 2 charges with cooldown between them.
Slasher’s Mark
Not affected by arpen.
Low damage considering the animation and the redundant utility option.
Battlehoned
Not enough regen to even be considered occupying a slot.
Pathfinder’s Action
The only thing i would pick pathfinder for. Great synergy with disruptive.
Cruel Recovery
1% not stackable is nothing. Pointless in it's current form.
Most of the time it hits only 2 times, because for some reason it targets the farthest possible target and then doesn't jump back because the target was already got hit by this power.
Can i ask if the resistance/Armour/ calculations have been set correctly for these 61 adds the reason i ask if i do my Aimed shot on any level 60 Weak/Normal mob in Dread Area or Sharadar i get 30-39k crits but on these new mobs im hitting crits of 8/9k Now either the Power rework has SEVERELY crippled us or the Armour resistance factor is insanely offset in there favour
ambush so long as you arent hit during animation drops aggro until you attack and using forest ghost or forest meditation with stealth from ambush is useful as hell mechanically because it allows ticks to work without being seen to be targeted. Damage numbers need changing as others have said it is lackluster but it still works which is what is important here.
Thorn strike actually feels 100x better than it did before and the fact that it multi targets makes it even better single target this skill was useless not anymore though i may actually slot thorn ward because its mirror is actually useful and again numbers are easy to change.
was thinking of ways for thorn ward to be better and have aoe that could help compensate with split shot being weak make the large area of effect of thorn ward only do damage to 5 targets in the area fx looking like slam but leave the defense weaken noticable as a single target using the fx that thorn ward currently posesses. it would make it more viable for pve and pvp it would act as an actual ward because players just walk right through it so do monsters and it doesnt bother either of them much.
black ice is an effect that the creatures have there that makes them resistant the devs said this they have also said that these new mobs are meant to be harder than any other area which in my opinion is a great thing.
but we can get the same black ice effect from the equipment from ice shaping.
going back to preview to test more will have more input later.
In all honesty, from a player who truely wants to see all classes balanced, HR needed very few tweaks. When the tenacity patch hit live, HR achieved balance by virtue of GWF and TR doing less damage to us. For the first time, I could actually beat a top-tier GWF or TR - but the fights were so close it was hard to tell if I was just getting lucky or not (which is fantastic). Our grasping roots were too strong, and the changes (plus additional new bug of being able to dodge once rooted and breaking the roots) fixed this overpowering aspect of HR. Constricting was even changed so that if you dodge the initial attack, you are no longer stunned 2 more times. These are reasonable changes - bug fixes even.
To me, it seems like mod3 changes to GWF are focused around making Destroyer better. This opens up the option of going from Sentinel to Destroyer and promotes diversity. On the other side of the spectrum we have HR changes. Instead of making certain aspects of the class more powerful to become more appealing, the frequently used skills are having their skill or utility reduced by 50% (stormstep, split shot) to 75% (fox). This approach has definitely made us consider using other skills - thus promoting diversity - but it has also completely disrupted the previously achieved balance. It took me over 5 minutes to kill a Devoted Cleric who is clearly unexperienced and unskilled in pvp on preview. Yes, this was exasperated by the fact that players can use pve potions while flagged for pvp, but that is an insane change from live.
The reality of the class - to me, as an experienced pve and pvp player - is that the skills people frequently use have been chosen because all of the rest are just too terrible to use in one setting or the other. Maybe you are unaware of how players feel, so I will do my best to go through each skill and describe why it is used or avoided.
At-Will
Rapid (pve): This skill is not very "rapid". Delay between each hit of shot is too long, and the delay between the 3rd and 4th hit of strike is also too long. Did you know - When parsed while using Blade Storm & Master of Combat, strike + Master of Combat + Blade Storm = the damage of Shot.
Rapid (pvp): Again, players tend to use Split Shot over this because of the reasons listed above. I personally use Rapid Shot (rarely) and Strike (all the time) because I am typically holding a point vs. a TR, and need to stay close and attack quickly to counter their stealth tactics.
Split Shot (pve): The reason people use this is obvious. Good damage vs. delay + AoE to boot. I honestly believe the damage was too high, but -45% IS. SPARTA!! -10% or -15% is reasonable. I mean, 3k+ to 5 targets is pretty stupid, lets be honest.
Split Shot (pvp): See above. If i weren't primarily facing TRs, I would use it too. Well, maybe not - GWF prone chains mean I would lose out on a lot of dps.
Aimed Shot (pve): This skill is decent as a solo pve opener, but we only have 2 at-will slots so it loses out. I have hardly ever actually got a shot of this off in an epic dungeon due to the interrupt aspect.
Aimed Shot (pvp): Before Tenacity, this skill was too powerful, even with it being interrupt-able. Because players need to stand on a point in domination matches, any 2v1 involving a HR quickly devolved into the point holder having to make a choice - get hit for 10k every 4 seconds, or stand off point to stop the HR. Damage + point holding tactics + importance of burst damage made this skill extremely potent. Now that tenacity has been added, I hardly use the skill. Non-crit damage is around 6k and burst damage now matters much less. I feel that I am better off using rapid + aimed strike as sustained damage is actually viable now. Again, this skill was elegantly nerfed by virtue of adding tenacity and opening up sustained damage as a viable course of action. Well done.
Aimed Strike (pve): Good, but does not deserve a slot except vs. bosses with few adds (fulminorax, valindra).
Aimed Strike (pvp): My 2nd most used skill, next to rapid. This is excellently balanced - players can easily avoid it, but when it lands it does decent damage - and more importantly, breaks down stealth and guard. It really is difficult to land an aimed strike unless a player is cc'd even though the skill tracks it's target.
Electric Shot (pve and pvp): This is probably the worst damage skill that HR have. It is slow and the damage is low. The animation is really cool, but that is the only positive thing I have to say about it.
Clear the Ground (pve): This skill is either fantastic or comparatively terrible based on your spec. Archery players will never use it over split shot. As a pvp-built combat HR, this is my #1 pve at-will. clear the ground + master of combat + blade storm is impressive, and the damage easily outpaces split shot. The AoE size is just right. Bravo.
Clear the Ground (pvp): AoE damage really isn't a thing in pvp, and the ranged aspect is terrible to say the least.
Dailies
This post is getting long so I will try to summarize a bit.
PVE: One choice and only one choice - Seismic Shot. It's not good, but it's not bad either. Compared to other choices, nothing comes remotely close.
PVP: Again, we have 2 real choices - Disruptive Shot and Forest Ghost. The AP vs. damage + utility of Disruptive is just right and really makes HR feel unique. AP vs. damage + utility of Forest Ghost is also just right. These 2 skills are just fantastic. Great work.
Cold Steel Hurricane: Does this even work as intended? If it does, it needs a serious buff because it is completely useless in every way.
Encounters
PVE - Good
Marauders (solo content) - good damage / utility / speed
Hindering - Great! Only downside is that you can't use this because of interaction of roots + SotEA (cw)
Thorn (ward only) - good dps + debuff vs. bosses
Rain - excellent aoe dps (arrows). fyi the melee version is heavily bugged. This has been described by me in a report.
Fox - Good vs. single targets and as an AoE - great work on this skill - it is THE ONLY SKILL that is good as AoE + single
PVE - Bad
Everything else. They are either too slow, bugged, or utility is just bad.
Thorn Strike - slow charge + low damage + i don't think it is actually an AoE on live. Using an at-will is literally better.
Nature buffs - Utility just isn't worth the slot unless you are with an inexperienced group with no DC.
PVP - Good
Marauders - reasonable damage + gap closer + very short stealth. Escape gives 10% AP! FYI, players can be CCd while using escape, which is very frustrating. This makes it a poor choice for trying to "escape".
Hindering - Even with the dodge-out-of-roots bug, the damage + utility of this skill just can't be beat. Our 2nd most damaging skill set!
Constricting & Steel Breeze - So good! This skill has terrible damage and is only used for the utility. Recurring stun is great, and it can be avoided by; dodging (unless you are an HR), blocking (?), impossible to catch, unstoppable. Steel Breeze is only used because it is attached to Constricting, but it's really not that bad. Damage is almost non-existent, but it recovers some stamina and that is never a bad thing.
Thorn Ward (but NOT strike): Pretty much the only way you are going to reliably kill a GWF 1v1. The fact that this skill covers points 1 & 3 (but not 2 - it is bigger) + point holding tactics are the reason it is good (ie I never use this in gauntlgrym pvp). If you control the point, the opposing players have no choice but to stand in the ward and take 10 hits and -20% mitigation. The dps vs. a single target is great, unless that single target is a TR in stealth - in which case it does zero damage and you die a little inside, but know that it hitting stealth trs would probably be super-OP. Ward becomes exponentially worse as the number of players around it increases, or if you do not control the point - if players are not forced to stand in it, they won't. Thorn Strike only gets used because it reduces ranged CD by 1 second. That is literally the only only only reason i ever press that button. Ever.
Fox: This is our only burst skill. Average damage is about 6k (total) vs. geared players. This is like 1/6 - 1/8 of your opponents' HP, so I'm not even sure this qualifies as a nuke. I feel that it is balanced because if there is more than 1 player, your damage is halved or worse. This makes the skill unpredictable, but comparatively (compared to our other skills, not the skills of other classes) strong in the right situation. FYI, hitting more than 2 players with this skill makes me want to uninstall my blood through my wrists - it is just so terrible in those situations! Most hits of this skill are very, very easily dodged. In fact, I tend to use it only when my target is cc'd in fear that my only skill that deals real damage is going to be dodged, leaving me waiting for 20 seconds. This also reduces ranged cds by up to 4 seconds.
Fox shift is ok at best. It is mostly used to activate blood-whatever (+15% damage to next melee attack). with all of the dots (dc using plague fire, cw with elemental empowerment, RoE, Bleed from gwf and tr + bilethorn on tr), this rarely absorbs more than 100 damage. You can get extremely lucky and dodge an ice knife with it on rare occasion, but you're better off just pressing shift.
OK this post is far too long. The other skills are bad in pvp for obvious reasons - their damage is too low, their utility is too terrible, or they activate too slow. If you would like me to explain in more detail, I will.
EDIT: omg i forgot class features. /walloftextlol
Aspect of the Lone Wolf: without this feature, HR would never-ever be able to enter melee combat. Ever. I like how it does nothing vs. large groups, but makes you actually stand a chance 1v1. Can any good player that has faced a good HR imagine doing 20%-25% more damage to them? The HR would be destroyed in an instant, without chance of ever beating you. Ever. Never.
Stormstep Action: this helps lend HR a unique feel. In all honesty, this is not a very good effect. I have even stated in previous posts that, "...for Pathfinder to be viable, all it has to do is have 1 class feature that is better than stormstep - and that isn't very difficult". Guess what? Pathfinder does not have a class feature better than stormstep....even with the nerf!
blade storm: good in pve if you are combat spec, otherwise useless
Twin blade storm: #1 choice in pve for either spec.
Aspect of the pack: good for some bosses because the others become bad. I use this vs. dwarf king boss and fulminorax. Only.
Aspect of the Serpent: not very good. you tend to get stuck with 5 stacks of melee (as in it only affects your ranged skills) (in pvp).
This is the biggest nerf ever!
I've never seen something like that in MMO game...
Now on live server HR has only 3 useful skills:
- Fox Shift for PvP,
- Rain of Arrow for PvE (only with Arcane Singularity (from CW))
- Split Shot,
Every other HR encounter is totally HAMSTER and do LOL-damage.LOL-damage means betwen 1.ooo and 4.ooo damage.. On all skills!
This patch will kill hunter ranger.
You are destroying almost everything that was useful.
If you still wanna nerf split shot we need huge buff on almost all encounters.
Now on preview shard we are weird useless buffer class.
Almost all new paragon powers is piece of ****..
Honestly, what do you guys want HRs to be?
Maybe there's a disconnect between the players and devs, because HRs are trying to play in a role that isn't what's intended.
@headlesshorseman
i wouldnt put any of these changes on live till all classes and pve contents have been rebalanced together 100% and im sure they wont either.
on the test server my skill isnt gimped and neither is my damage because ive never relied on splitshot to provide any large % of damage i use almost every skill even electric shot on my archer on live and my damage isnt gimped i still get at least 2nd and contribute more than just damage its gonna take time to rebalance because they are working ground up.
I would say that ambush needs to have a 5' movement for keeping the buff because if you activate it and move even accidentally because of the short animation of it it makes it less useful and 5' movement is nothing but it will make the skill not have an accidental problem.
also the stealth from ambush is also interrupted by any damage even dots and deflected attacks so if you use ambush while burn damage is ticking then there is no steath or possibly ambush status even if nothing is currently attacking you. and you've just wasted an encounter because you are on fire that hits like 35 my suggestion would be to have a pain threshold and no. of hits for the stealth portion of it.