Curse

AtomicMew · Aug 06, 2009, 08:17 PM // 20:17

What a.net needs to do is make trapping offensively more attractive. -> Buff trap damage 2-3x -> have traps expire after 10-15 seconds. Also, make expertise affect those damn PvE traps already... I mean, seriously now....

Ugh · Aug 06, 2009, 09:02 PM // 21:02

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Originally Posted by MisterB

The nerf of Energizing Wind did not change trapping's effectiveness for solo farming.

I was mainly refering to the popular Dust Bombing build. Link

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Expertise is very often the only energy management required.

If you ever go trapper in FA (it's fun :P), you'll notice that energy management becomes a problem. (I guess that goes for any PvP area, although traps aren't viable in any other arena IMO) If you don't get low on energy, you're probably not laying down as many traps as you should. Energy is not much of a problem in PvE, however.

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Trapping is still "effective" at killing, i.e. you can kill almost anything with them if you really want to, but you can probably do it faster and easier with other builds or classes.

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Useful and fast are not the same thing. You can go offensive trapping with Trappers Focus (or Smoke if you wanna risk it for dazed) and on particularly lethal mobs, set a stack and blow them to hell. Even a lone trapper, given 20-60 seconds, can put the hurt on a mob enough to let the rest of your team get a huge headstart, blind dazed and cripple on everything is always nice.

I guess you can argue that traps are effective, but they are certainly not efficient. And efficiency (in this case, a balance of effectiveness and time) is what determines what builds are used. Traps have some nice advantages, but those seem to be outweighed by the disadvantages in most cases. For example, they are aoe, have nice effects (blind, knockdown, etc.), and can be set ahead of time. But, they are easily interruptable (either makes setting them in combat ineffective or forces you to bring Trapper's Focus and sacrifice your elite slot), require high expertise (usually means you have to sacrifice health for runes or run out of energy), have long recharges (you have to bring TS/SQ and many trap skills to be effective), and have mediocre damage (you have to spend a significant amount of time setting traps before battle and traps during battle are less effective).

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I found this build in pvx 1 week ago. Works good for me in HM missions and Vanquish.

Not sure why that's in the testing phase. I've been using it for a while.

I reccomend using only 10 in Channeling, though. You still meet the 4 attack breakpoint in Splinter and you get a lot more free points. Then, you can put some in Marks and either drop the sup. rune or have longer lasting daze. Or, put some in Expertise. The PvX version looks like it has terrible e-management (unless you have a zealous bow and are constantly hitting a lot of guys with volley). 2 10e skills that aren't affected by expertise, a 15e bow attack, and constant spamming of volley and splinter is pretty energy intensive.

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What a.net needs to do is make trapping offensively more attractive. -> Buff trap damage 2-3x -> have traps expire after 10-15 seconds. Also, make expertise affect those damn PvE traps already... I mean, seriously now....

I kinda agree with this. Although, I would change it less drastically. Maybe 1.5x damage and expire after 60 seconds?

Or, you could take away the "easily interruptable" clause and change Trapper's Focus. It might be OP, but the 1.5-2c gives the enemy plenty of time to kite and the long recharges would still be a problem.

Fay Vert · Aug 06, 2009, 09:09 PM // 21:09

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Originally Posted by traversc

What a.net needs to do is make trapping offensively more attractive. -> Buff trap damage 2-3x -> have traps expire after 10-15 seconds. Also, make expertise affect those damn PvE traps already... I mean, seriously now....

What ANet needs to do here is remove the loot nerf, or at least have it work as they claim rather than how it is. Nothing kills your loot more than traps (or EoE bomb).

MisterB · Aug 06, 2009, 09:18 PM // 21:18

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Originally Posted by Ugh

I was mainly refering to the popular Dust Bombing build. Link

I am familiar with that one. There are alternative builds available that can clear everything that build is capable of. I've run several trapping builds in UW, normal and hard. The speed of the build I use in UW is comparable to that "speed trap." Now there's an oxymoron: speed trap.

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I guess you can argue that traps are effective, but they are certainly not efficient. And efficiency (in this case, a balance of effectiveness and time) is what determines what builds are used. Traps have some nice advantages, but those seem to be outweighed by the disadvantages in most cases. For example, they are aoe, have nice effects (blind, knockdown, etc.), and can be set ahead of time. But, they are easily interruptable (either makes setting them in combat ineffective or forces you to bring Trapper's Focus and sacrifice your elite slot), require high expertise (usually means you have to sacrifice health for runes or run out of energy), have long recharges (you have to bring TS/SQ and many trap skills to be effective), and have mediocre damage (you have to spend a significant amount of time setting traps before battle and traps during battle are less effective).

I agree with your assessment of their limitations rendering them generally useless in most formats. Rather, my comments are specifically geared toward their use in solo farming in PvE. They are stil as effective now as they were before EW. That is to say, they are really slow and inefficient, but still "effective."

Targren · Aug 07, 2009, 05:33 PM // 17:33

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Originally Posted by maxxfury

I generally run
[Prep shot][experts focus][sundering shot][penetrating shot]
[I am the strongest][asuran scan][lightning reflexes] and [finish him] or [dwarven stability]

Not optimal, but fun and puts out a solid 140~ dps with my ranks. Good enough when is my rangers turn to do the Zmish's

when i dont need Bha (due to another ranger taking it or lack of 'big' casters)

I run a very similar bar. Non-optimal maybe, but it is an arseload of fun!

Since we're not going for optimal... something you may want to try though, for extreme giggles... a very underappreciated skill in PvE: [Needling shot]... No, seriously! Between IATS and Asuran Scan, once you've gotten PrepShot, Sundering and Penetrating off, most baddies even in HM are going to be <50%. Instead of finish him, plink him to death with a free(with 13ex) death of a thousand needles.

For added Lulz, if you have a party member with GDW, you can have a long range knocklock.

Atrives · Aug 07, 2009, 05:50 PM // 17:50

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Originally Posted by Ugh

Not sure why that's in the testing phase. I've been using it for a while.

I reccomend using only 10 in Channeling, though. You still meet the 4 attack breakpoint in Splinter and you get a lot more free points. Then, you can put some in Marks and either drop the sup. rune or have longer lasting daze. Or, put some in Expertise. The PvX version looks like it has terrible e-management (unless you have a zealous bow and are constantly hitting a lot of guys with volley). 2 10e skills that aren't affected by expertise, a 15e bow attack, and constant spamming of volley and splinter is pretty energy intensive.

With a Radiant armor works fine. Im still experimenting changes based in this build.