Curse

shirosae · Aug 31, 2007, 03:50 PM // 15:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epinephrine

Option two: make it scale from 0..2..3 or 1..2..3 or some such, but make it +0..2..3 damage per attack, per BM skill on the bar. At 12 BM and 4 pet skills it'd deliver +8 damage (+2, for 4 attack skills) per attack, but at 13 or 14 BM (depending on scaling) with 5 pet skills it'd jump up to +15 per attack (+3 damage, 5 BM skills on bar), and for real BM types with 6 or 7 pet skills it could offer huge +18 or +21 damage bonuses, as they are limited to the underpowered pet.

This is the type of change i was hoping for. Honestly, i almost assumed that this was what they were going to do.

I'm still not sure how much better Feral Aggression is than Call of Haste; The IAS is better, and you gain the +damage, but when pets have that delay before attacking, it made sense to minimise the time they spent between targets.

It is still better though, and i will still use it, even if grudgingly so. It's a shame that pure Beastmasters have lost most of the buff that brought them up to par with other DPS sources though.

SpeedyKQ · Aug 31, 2007, 04:01 PM // 16:01

The skill was very good before, but the size of the nerf is ridiculous. The old Feral Aggression at least put BM's on the same power level as other characters.

I'd rather see a buff that encourages active play, but now something needs a buff IMO.

Diddy bow · Aug 31, 2007, 04:33 PM // 16:33

It went from being a skill that could possible result in a half decent pure bm build now its probs just another bm skill that will never see use. Still it beats keen chop :P.

Kinn · Aug 31, 2007, 07:10 PM // 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rikimaru

Did anyone else look at the skill on Wiki after reading this? Jesus Christ, they raped that skill...
It now has a 20 second reset, with a 17 second duration at 12 Beast Mastery, and half as much +damage as before (+9 at 12 Beast Mastery). No one in their right mind would ever use up a skill slot for so little +damage on their pet, which isn't even on all the time unless you're all Beast Master.
I don't know about PvP, but that skill seemed pretty balanced to me in PvE during the preview. I could accept the other changes, especially any that kept Ranger secondaries from abusing it like the other two changes do, but they should have left the damage alone. Who the hell would try to abuse +4 or 5 pet damage?!

You do know what that funny little "33% IAS" thingy means, right?

That said, I don't like pet nerfs. I've still never actually found a decent reason to take my pet along in general PvE, and the only builds I use where a pet might be useful, are optimal when running a big fat zero (or whatever's left) points in Beast Mastery.

Faer · Aug 31, 2007, 07:24 PM // 19:24

Wait, since when does anyone care about Beast Mastery?

Longasc · Aug 31, 2007, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epinephrine

* Option one: Leave the skill much as before, but only add the bonus damage to pet attack skills.

(...)

Option two: make it scale from 0..2..3 or 1..2..3 or some such, but make it +0..2..3 damage per attack, per BM skill on the bar.

With the amount of Beastmasters out there this would mean the skill would be almost dead. I would rather prefer THIS nerfed version then have it be a specialized pet builds only skill.

While I have a soft spot for pets I never take full BM bars and usually go with 13 Expertise, 12 Bow and 12 BM. I would like to keep this skill, not have it restricted to the very rare pure BM build, then it would become a gimmick skill.

I think 15 energy has already taken care of abuse by non-ranger primaries who do not have expertise, and its also hard and not so useful actually to squeeze it on a thumper bar.

Epinephrine · Aug 31, 2007, 09:37 PM // 21:37

Maybe Longasc, but there are plenty of skills for thumpers/passive pet users to bring. Something to help BM players would be welcome.

The idea of bonus damage per BM skill I like, because someone like you would likely get decent benefit anyway - at 4 pet skills and +2 per BM skill it's still +8 damage with the 33% IAS, hardly different from the current state (and given that most will have Comfort/charm/a pet attack and Tiger's Fury, that's not hard), but it would also help the real BM builds attain some level of competitiveness by further rewarding more pet skills/BM investment.

ShadowStorm · Sep 01, 2007, 08:31 AM // 08:31

It's true that it needed a nerf. It was too powerful during the preview. For the most part I agree with the nerfs they put in place, but I think they nerfed the +damage a little too much. It should be around +12 or +13 at rank 12 Beast Mastery.

Also, I've been testing the skill out a little bit and I think it's bugged. It won't activate while other skills are activating. For instance, if you start casting a 5 second Nature Spirit, and then hit Feral Aggression, it will wait for the Nature Spirit to finish before activating.

Matfei · Sep 02, 2007, 06:10 AM // 06:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archer_Of_Vulpes

the nerfstick has been swung again, but not once, 3 times! on 1 skill! GW history in the making people, a-net f*cks beastmasters again! the gold ticket we had, feral aggression just got whacked 3 times and is now another worthless skill that will waste room when i press "k" WHEN WILL A-NET EVER GIVE BEAST MASTERS A BREAK FFS

Ohh Boo-freaking-hoo.

Go have a bit more of a cry, 15e isn't that harsh.

Rikimaru · Sep 02, 2007, 01:51 PM // 13:51

Quit being an ass. No one cares about the 15 energy, the problem is the low damage, and duration which can't be held up as long as the reset without 15+ BM. The 15 energy was just throwing salt in the wound.

The skill is supposed to be a pure damage boost for your pet, but it barely out shines Call of Haste for that alone. Between the two skills, you can either choose +8% attack speed and +9-10 damage per hit, or +25% movement speed to stop runners and the ability to maintain the effect constantly.

After posting that last part, I thought through it's current state without thinking about what it used to be, and while they raped the hell out of that skill, it's not massively underpowered, but it is still underpowered. All they have to do is add 3 or 4 points to the max damage, and up the duration a little.