Curse

Atticus Awesomus · Feb 23, 2010, 07:08 PM // 19:08

I find this laughable. I logged on with my ranger and found that one of my more effective PvE builds, Ebon Dust Aura/Volley, was useless. It turns out only melee will cause blindness now. Apparently Anet thought this build was "overpowered". What is with this??? Speaking as someone who used this build frequently in PvE and PvP I can say that it is not the case.

In PvE this move makes no sense whatsoever. There are many high level foes that don't even rely on melee, how is this skill unfair?? This is especially true in HM in the more advanced areas of the games where the foes have a lot more hit points and have enchantment removal skills. I could almost see their point of view for PvP, except that PvP (like PvE) has many builds that strip enchantments and numerous characters that don't even rely on melee which make EDA useless. I've run EDA ranger builds a few times in RA/HA and it is constantly being stripped by shatter enchantment and rip/strip enchantments. EDA is useless against casters and less effective against groups that spread out or melee types that constantly remove conditions with spamable skills like antidote signet, plague touch, foul feast, etc. EDA can be useful in PvP, but it is certainly not "overpowered" by any means. Frankly, I find the burning arrow build better for PvP, you can't strip preparations.

Anyway, Anets solution to this incredibly unfair "overpowered" skill is to make it melee based?? Why not make the recharge time longer? Or the energy requirements higher? Or maybe make the blindness duration shorter? Nope, instead they take away one of the few usable Ranger/Paragon PvE builds there are. I can't believe they're nerfing this and leaving the 600/smite and Shadow Form builds alone. Anet must hate the Ranger profession.

MasterSasori · Feb 23, 2010, 07:28 PM // 19:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atticus Awesomus

I could almost see their point of view for PvP, except that PvP (like PvE) has many builds that strip enchantments and numerous characters that don't even rely on melee which make EDA useless. I've run EDA ranger builds a few times in RA/HA and it is constantly being stripped by shatter enchantment and rip/strip enchantments. EDA is useless against casters and less effective against groups that spread out or melee types that constantly remove conditions with spamable skills like antidote signet, plague touch, foul feast, etc. EDA can be useful in PvP, but it is certainly not "overpowered" by any means. Frankly, I find the burning arrow build better for PvP, you can't strip preparations.

As a ranger, you should be destroying casters with your interrupts. That plus total shutdown of melee that can be spread around easily makes it OP. Rangers are already pretty hard to kill.

Enchant removal makes it so that it can only be used in low level PvP but it's still too strong in an arena setting. This with a cover conditions which rangers excel in (eg. Apply Poison), makes it hell for a monk to remove compared to other blind builds.

I think you mean incendiary arrow because Burning arrow isn't a prep.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atticus Awesomus

Anyway, Anets solution to this incredibly unfair "overpowered" skill is to make it melee based?? Why not make the recharge time longer? Or the energy requirements higher? Or maybe make the blindness duration shorter? Nope, instead they take away one of the few usable Ranger/Paragon PvE builds there are. I can't believe they're nerfing this and leaving the 600/smite and Shadow Form builds alone. Anet must hate the Ranger profession.

Rangers like mesmer, just specialize at something that is awesome in PvP but sucks in PvE. That's just how it is. There are other things Rangers can contribute, but they just won't be as OP as other stuff.

I believe that Sins, Rits, and Monks are getting nerfs this TH anyway. Need to check up on that. I can't wait til SF gets the shit nerfed out of it. It'll be like Smiter's Boon PvP.

isildorbiafra · Feb 23, 2010, 07:38 PM // 19:38

Fact remains EDA has been nerfed and even Grenth wont be able to change this. Adapt and move on.....or you can just quit.

Ugh · Feb 23, 2010, 07:50 PM // 19:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atticus Awesomus

I find this laughable. I logged on with my ranger and found that one of my more effective PvE builds, Ebon Dust Aura/Volley, was useless.

I agree that a PvE nerf of EDA was uncalled for.

Quote:

I've run EDA ranger builds a few times in RA/HA and it is constantly being stripped by shatter enchantment and rip/strip enchantments. EDA is useless against casters and less effective against groups that spread out or melee types that constantly remove conditions with spamable skills like antidote signet, plague touch, foul feast, etc. EDA can be useful in PvP, but it is certainly not "overpowered" by any means. Frankly, I find the burning arrow build better for PvP, you can't strip preparations.

It was overpowered in PvP. It was mainly abused by D/Ps and was even more annoying than Blinding Flash. Also, I've never seen a ranger running EDA in PvP.

Quote:

I can't believe they're nerfing this and leaving the 600/smite and Shadow Form builds alone.

*cough*

Quote:

Frankly, I find the burning arrow build better for PvP, you can't strip preparations.

Quote:

I think you mean incendiary arrow because Burning arrow isn't a prep.

Neither is Incendiary Arrows.

lol?

Being · Feb 23, 2010, 08:19 PM // 20:19

EDA nerf for PvE was one of those nerfs that was only justified by "we don't think this would make much of an impact in PvE". Actually, they didn't even bother to say that this time - they didn't give a reason as to why they added it into PvE as well.

It was nerfed due to it being deemed overpowered in 4v4 areas of PvP. PvE just got the nerf due to the mentality I stated above, and that it requires more work for them to implement a split.

I don't mind nerfs to PvE at all, but I do mind when they do and not give a reason as to why, other than "it's more work for us" so they get out of doing it by saying "we don't think this would make much of an impact".

Good justifications for nerfs as you can see.

Thargor · Feb 23, 2010, 10:23 PM // 22:23

I really don't understand your post.
You are dissapointed in the nerf, but almost your whole post is about how many groups in PvE and PvP remove it and make it useless.
If it was so useless why were you using it? And if it was so useless why are you mad about the nerf?
It was nerfed almost a month ago.

I can't believe they're nerfing this and leaving the 600/smite and Shadow Form builds alone.

Are you serious? The impending nerf for those builds was announced like 4 months ago. And is supposedly being implemented this thursday.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with being inactive here but if you are gonna post junk like that maybe you should do some looking around before you post. There are only like 400 threads about it...

Tallera257 · Feb 23, 2010, 10:28 PM // 22:28

I agree with the OP completely. My ranger is my main, and I'd been playing her for over a year with EDA/Volley. It was fun to play, but was by no means OP in PvE. More than anything, it just helped to take pressure off of the party from melee enemies, allowing the party to take down the real danger (enemy casters) more quickly without the monks getting as overwhelmed. Still, just try to blind, oh, say, The Drought, and see how far that gets you. Moronic of Anet to think that EDA was so overpowered in PvE that it needed nerfing, while they wait an extra month to do anything about SF.

One of the only places it REALLY shone was in certain areas of Prophecies, where in many areas there are far more melee enemies than casters (something that is much less true in later campaigns, wherein mobs tend to be more balanced).

I'm still upset that my favorite build got nerfed for NO good reason. Although I'm having fun with her replacement build (a pet scyther using WS, AoHM, Never Rampage Alone and Scavenger's Strike for e-mgmt), I'm sad that I no longer have a good way to play my ranger with a bow. Bows tend to be my favorite weapons in fantasy settings, and the whole reason I made my first ranger was to plink things full of arrows.

I'm experimenting with an R/Me poison/bleed build using Fevered Dreams, Add Poison and Hunter's Shot, but it's neither as fun nor as effective as EDA/Volley....

And don't tell me that I can run Barrage, because yes, I could, but I get tired of spamming ONE skill over and over. Plus it's not terribly effective against single bosses. And my A/R Crit Barrager does it better, anyway!

Sorry if I come across sounding cranky....I just miss my bow ranger.

Trivia: I almost just had a mega-flashback to D2 days by calling her a "bowazon"

MasterSasori · Feb 23, 2010, 10:55 PM // 22:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ugh

Neither is Incendiary Arrows.

lol?

Oh yes I forget IA is no longer a prep. lolz

Atticus Awesomus · Feb 24, 2010, 12:41 AM // 00:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

Oh yes I forget IA is no longer a prep. lolz

Sorry for the misinformation, when I was talking about burning arrow I meant the fact that the preparations I typically run with it cannot be removed (apply poison etc...).

It seems most people agree with me regarding PvE. The nerf is totally stupid. It's almost as if Anet doesn't like the ranger at all. Tallera257 pretty much summed up my argument for PvE, this build was only to keep more powerful melee off my necro/ele heroes giving them cover. It was nowhere near overpowered in PvE.

As far as PvP goes I'll concede somewhat since I've never used the D/P build. I can only say that on my ranger, on many occasions when I've used EDA in PvP, I either had the enchantment stripped or had a necro/war/sin spam plague touch or plague transfer on which blinded ME and made my attacks miss. When I removed using AS and attacked, they would simply blind me again the same way. After I while I got sick of this and switched to burning arrow/apply poison at least they couldn't strip my preparations. I won far more RA battles using burning arrow than I ever did using EDA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by isildorbiafra

Fact remains EDA has been nerfed and even Grenth wont be able to change this. Adapt and move on.....or you can just quit.

Speaking as someone who plays the ranger as the primary character... I just might quit. All the good PvE ranger builds: speed trapping and now EDA/volley are gone. What's next, a splinter barrage nerf? Rangers are the most robbed PvE profession.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thargor

I really don't understand your post.
You are dissapointed in the nerf, but almost your whole post is about how many groups in PvE and PvP remove it and make it useless.
If it was so useless why were you using it? And if it was so useless why are you mad about the nerf?
It was nerfed almost a month ago.

My point was that the build was not overpowered to begin with and didn't need nerfing (see my post above). I'm angry they nerfed it because it was one of my better builds for controlling PvE mobs (see my post above and Tallera257's post). I was simply pointing out the many reasons why it should not be considered overpowered (see my post above). I also was suggesting more logical ways to nerf the skill (see post above). Furthermore, when it was nerfed is not relevant to my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thargor

I am not saying there is anything wrong with being inactive here but if you are gonna post junk like that maybe you should do some looking around before you post. There are only like 400 threads about it...

What I posted was not junk. You simply did not understand what I was saying. It happens.

cognophile · Feb 24, 2010, 01:22 AM // 01:22

Here are a couple old threads that talk about EDA.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/o...t10408840.html
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/t...t10412374.html

BrettM · Feb 24, 2010, 03:40 AM // 03:40

Personally, I'm just kind of curious as to the use of ebon bow strings and spear heads after that nerf. There are no conjures for earth damage, no nature spirits for earth damage, or any other skill I can think of that would require them now. All other elemental mods have some use for each weapon. Why is earth the poor stepchild?

If it were up to me, I would think about taking some little-used nature spirit, paragon skill, and maybe ele skill and converting them to make some use out of ebon weapons. Just for lols.

Doesn't have to be blindness. Could easily be straight earth damage, weakness, or something else that fits with the earth line.

distilledwill · Feb 25, 2010, 02:57 PM // 14:57

From what I can gather this was nerfed due to D/Ps being to powerful in 4v4 situations (TA, RA, HB). Just move on, it wasnt that good a ranger build anyway.

MasterSasori · Feb 25, 2010, 04:45 PM // 16:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by distilledwill

From what I can gather this was nerfed due to D/Ps being to powerful in 4v4 situations (TA, RA, HB). Just move on, it wasnt that good a ranger build anyway.

Wasn't TA and HB already removed when EDA became popular? I agree with you that it wasn't that great of a build though it could become a huge nuisance if there is no interrupts, enchant removal.

distilledwill · Feb 25, 2010, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

Wasn't TA and HB already removed when EDA became popular? I agree with you that it wasn't that great of a build though it could become a huge nuisance if there is no interrupts, enchant removal.

Nah, D/Ps were part of the HB meta a long while before its removal. In fact, they were becoming less and less common when it was removed.

The Drunkard · Feb 25, 2010, 09:15 PM // 21:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atticus Awesomus

Speaking as someone who plays the ranger as the primary character... I just might quit. All the good PvE ranger builds: speed trapping and now EDA/volley are gone. What's next, a splinter barrage nerf? Rangers are the most robbed PvE profession.

Splinter barrage was hit pretty hard last year, I doubt Anet is going to do anything radical to it in the future.

While I agree that the nerf of Pve EDA was uncalled for, Anet is at least trying to make other ranger builds viable. It will be interesting to use the new HaO and any new updates to the beastmaster build.

Atticus Awesomus · Mar 04, 2010, 03:10 PM // 15:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by distilledwill

From what I can gather this was nerfed due to D/Ps being to powerful in 4v4 situations (TA, RA, HB). Just move on, it wasnt that good a ranger build anyway.

In PvE it was a great build, it synergized perfectly with my Discordway team because it would put conditions on all types of enemies (even non-fleshy types) while simultaneously taking pressure off my casters. But I suppose you're right, Anet has screwed over players that like to use their rangers in PvE yet again and I should just move on. First my speed trapping build, and now this. Probably no point in buying GW2 if this is their mentality.