Hunter Update - Option #1
Before you read further let's establish what this is. This is a very early pass on what changes might come to the Hunter class.
I am calling this option one, because there are two potential options that we are considering. Option two will be in a forthcoming post. We will gather feedback from both sets of options and make decisions once we have more clarity on how to best proceed.
As with my posts in the Guardian forums. If a trait is not mentioned then it is not currently being considered for revision or updating.
Huntsman
Grants Scourgin Blow
Grants Barrage
No Focus Loss While Moving
No Miss Chance Penalty While Moving
The Skirmisher
Replaces Nock on the Move (Requires 5 traits in Huntsman)
Successful melee attacks grant 1 Focus
Successful critical attacks gran 3 Focus
Strong Arm, Sharp Eye
Replaces Strong Draw (requires 5+ in Huntsman)
6 ranks
Ranks 1-6: +5% Bow Damage on bow skills that consume focus and +2.5% melee damage per rank
Rank 6: 15% chance to reduce the cost of skills by 1 focus for 5s
Nock on the Move
Replaces Split Shot - 1 Rank
Induction based attacks can be used while moving
Improved Intent Concentration
Now has 2 ranks
Each rank provides 15s cooldown
Fire on the Run
1 Rank (Requires 10+ in Huntsman)
Reduces the induction movement penalty by 20%
Athleticism
+ Physical Mastery Rating / tier (value is TBD)
Barbed Hindrance
15 Deep Set Bonus
+30% to Barbed Arrow Damage
+10% to Babrbed Arrow Bleed Damage
Slows target by 20%
Fleet, Focused, and Fierce
Replaces Improved Fleerness at 25 Rank Set Bonus
On every harmful skill, an additional 20% chance to increase run speed by 10%
Gain 1 focus per 5s
Increase Melee Damage by 10%
Rupture Artery
Replaces Moving Target (30+ ranks)
Using Scourging Blow on a target affected by the Exsanguinate Bleed removes the bleed and automatically deals a devastating Critical blow.
Bowmaster
Grants: Pinning Shot
Grants Needful Haste
Reduces Swift Bow induction by .8s
-25% Attack Duration
+10 max range for all ranged skills
Swift Release
5 Rank Set Bonus
33% reduction to Barbed arrow and Swift Bow inductions
Draw Weight
5 ranks (requires 5+ Bowmaster)
+3% Induction bow damage and 3% induction bow critical multiplier per rank
Shoot to Kill
10 Rank set bonus
+10% Ranged Damage
2.5% Critical Magnitude multiplier
Mercy Kill
Reduced to 2 ranks
+15% Critical Chance on Merciful Shot/rank
Bodkin Arrows
5 Ranks
Bypass 2% of target's mitigations/rank
+.6% Bleed damage/rank
Plant Feet
Becomes:
Every 1.5s you do not move you gain a tier of Hold Groung to a max of 5 tiers
Hold Ground effects are removed if you move, are out of combat for 9s
Hold Ground removes a tier on each critical strike
Hold Ground: +2% Evade, Damage, and critical chance per tier
Trapper of Foes
Grants skill: Lingering Wound
Grants Skill: Decoy
Traps can be used while moving and have no induction
Split Shot
Grants Skill: Split Shot
Explosive Arrow
Grants Skill: Explosive Arrow
Damages a target and explodes around the target damaging all enemies within 5m and burning for 5s
Combative and Elusive
Replaces Elusive
+Physical Master Rating/rank (Value TBD)
+1% Evade /rank
Evading an attack increases run speed by 5% can trigger up to 3 times every 10s
Quick Escape
Moves from Red to Yellow (requires 15+ in Trapper of Foes)
No Focus loss on Low Cut
Apples a 3s root
Endurance
2 Ranks
+1% to Parry and Evade /rank
Evading or Parrying an attack restores 1% max morale (Can occur 5 times every 30s)
Armour Rend
4 ranks
Each Rank grants -4% Physcal mitigation against the target and reduces Block, Parry, and Evade rating by .75%
Purge Poison
Affects fellowship and increases cooldown to 12s
Emergency Preparations
4 Ranks
Rank 1: After evading an attack you place a Set Trap in front of you.
Rank 2: After Evading an attack you place a Piercing Trap in front of you.
Rank 3: After Evading an attack you place The One Trap in front of you.
Rank 4: Gain Skill: Survivalist Prepper
Survivalist Prepper places a Set Trap 90 degrees to your left, The One Trap in front of you, and a Piercing Trap 90 degrees to your right
Cooldown 180s
Sturdy Traps
35 Rank Set Bonus
+5s trap Grace Period
+5s Trap Duraion
No Focus Loss on Movement
Survivalist Prepper Cooldown reduction by 60s
That is the outline. Let's discuss.
Not Enough for Trapper and a step back for Huntsman.
Just my opinions on the individual changes + broad thoughts at the end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Huntsman
Grants Scourgin Blow
Grants Barrage
No Focus Loss While Moving
No Miss Chance Penalty While Moving
Mostly fine here.
Personally Id move Scourging Blow to Trapper and make it interact with Lingering Wound.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
The Skirmisher
Replaces Nock on the Move (Requires 5 traits in Huntsman)
Successful melee attacks grant 1 Focus
Successful critical attacks gran 3 Focus
Blue Hunters don't really have focus issues, I'd say they currently have an issue with what to use Focus on.
Pen Shot spam is not great anymore, Barrage is on a 2sec CD, Blood Arrow is 15sec, Rain of Arrows is 12secs and Split Shot at 10secs.
Current Huntsman rotation mirrors Bowmaster except Barrage replaces Upshot + slower and/or weaker Inductions from lack of trait points.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Strong Arm, Sharp Eye
Replaces Strong Draw (requires 5+ in Huntsman)
6 ranks
Ranks 1-6: +5% Bow Damage on bow skills that consume focus and +2.5% melee damage per rank
Rank 6: 15% chance to reduce the cost of skills by 1 focus for 5s
The melee damage seems oddly tacked on, will be grabbed regardless ofc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Nock on the Move
Replaces Split Shot - 1 Rank
Induction based attacks can be used while moving
Is this just a 1 point trait that gives Redline 90% of the reason you would normally go Blueline?
Why unbake it from Huntsman?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Now has 2 ranks
Each rank provides 15s cooldown
1 extra point to do what it currently can on live.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Fire on the Run
1 Rank (Requires 10+ in Huntsman)
Reduces the induction movement penalty by 20%
Similar to above why give other specs access to the main reason to go Blueline?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Athleticism
+ Physical Mastery Rating / tier (value is TBD)
No issues just not something I've seen asked for in Blueline.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Barbed Hindrance
15 Deep Set Bonus
+30% to Barbed Arrow Damage
+10% to Babrbed Arrow Bleed Damage
Slows target by 20%
Nice small buffs to the set bonus.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Fleet, Focused, and Fierce
Replaces Improved Fleerness at 25 Rank Set Bonus
On every harmful skill, an additional 20% chance to increase run speed by 10%
Gain 1 focus per 5s
Increase Melee Damage by 10%
Why the sudden focus on adding Melee Damage to a Spec that wants to be on the move away from mobs?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Rupture Artery
Replaces Moving Target (30+ ranks)
Using Scourging Blow on a target affected by the Exsanguinate Bleed removes the bleed and automatically deals a devastating Critical blow.
Scourging Blow wasn't worth using on a mob with Barbed Arrow bleed on, even less reason to use it with Exsanguinate Bleed which can't be reapplied quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Bowmaster
Grants: Pinning Shot
Grants Needful Haste
Reduces Swift Bow induction by .8s
-25% Attack Duration
+10 max range for all ranged skills
"Reduces Swift Bow induction by .8s"
Swift Bow is already pushing 0.3secs the skill is fast enough on live.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Swift Release
5 Rank Set Bonus
33% reduction to Barbed arrow and Swift Bow inductions
Same as Above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Draw Weight
5 ranks (requires 5+ Bowmaster)
+3% Induction bow damage and 3% induction bow critical multiplier per rank
Unchanged so no issues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Shoot to Kill
10 Rank set bonus
+10% Ranged Damage
2.5% Critical Magnitude multiplier
Small buff to Red Hunter, not much else to say.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Mercy Kill
Reduced to 2 ranks
+15% Critical Chance on Merciful Shot/rank
Small nerf to Merciful Shot but makes it almost guaranteed to crit, kinda like it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Bodkin Arrows
5 Ranks
Bypass 2% of target's mitigations/rank
+.6% Bleed damage/rank
Small buff to bleeds, just makes Bodkin Arrows even more of a must have for Huntsman/Trapper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Plant Feet
Becomes:
Every 1.5s you do not move you gain a tier of Hold Ground to a max of 5 tiers
Hold Ground effects are removed if you move, are out of combat for 9s
Hold Ground removes a tier on each critical strike
Hold Ground: +2% Evade, Damage, and critical chance per tier
Thought it was crazy at first until I read it more.
It makes your opening burst damage super consistent at the start of fights but after that its just 2% critical chance + 2% damage every 1.5 secs as there's little chance you hit tier 2 with Quick Shot spam.
Still 100% worth grabbing compared to what it currently is on live.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Trapper of Foes
Grants skill: Lingering Wound
Grants Skill: Decoy
Traps can be used while moving and have no induction
Lingering Wound needs to be looked at, it went from a weak but quick focus builder that could bleed several mobs to a weaker + expensive focus cost skill that had its CD tripled.
Its tiering buff is fine at +80%ish but the bleed itself is too small, even at tier 4 it is weaker than every other hunter bleed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Split Shot
Grants Skill: Split Shot
No idea why it moved to Trapper line.
Unless its in the first row it effectively removes Split Shot from Huntsman as well as BowMaster if going for Strength of the Earth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Explosive Arrow
Grants Skill: Explosive Arrow
Damages a target and explodes around the target damaging all enemies within 5m and burning for 5s
Awkward to use AOE skill in combat that is also pitifully weak.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Combative and Elusive
Replaces Elusive
+Physical Master Rating/rank (Value TBD)
+1% Evade /rank
Evading an attack increases run speed by 5% can trigger up to 3 times every 10s
This should just be Athleticism or vice versa.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Quick Escape
Moves from Red to Yellow (requires 15+ in Trapper of Foes)
No Focus loss on Low Cut
Apples a 3s root
Fine, a bit more fitting for Trapper at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Endurance
2 Ranks
+1% to Parry and Evade /rank
Evading or Parrying an attack restores 1% max morale (Can occur 5 times every 30s)
Would feel better if it proc'd on hit and gave a short Evade/Parry buff + the small Morale heal, you don't need healing if you're evading the hit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Armour Rend
4 ranks
Each Rank grants -4% Physcal mitigation against the target and reduces Block, Parry, and Evade rating by .75%
Assuming Pen Shot keeps its 4% baseline debuff you can get 20% physical mit debuff, kind of OP but somewhat balanced by having 1 hunter needing to go Trapper or Bowmaster + deep yellow.
More of a win for Champ/Burg and Brawler heh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Purge Poison
Affects fellowship and increases cooldown to 12s
If it keeps the 2 cleanses that's fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Emergency Preparations
4 Ranks
Rank 1: After evading an attack you place a Set Trap in front of you.
Rank 2: After Evading an attack you place a Piercing Trap in front of you.
Rank 3: After Evading an attack you place The One Trap in front of you.
Rank 4: Gain Skill: Survivalist Prepper
Survivalist Prepper places a Set Trap 90 degrees to your left, The One Trap in front of you, and a Piercing Trap 90 degrees to your right
Cooldown 180s
When you evade with rank 3-4 can you only place The One Trap? as honestly Id prefer Set Trap for the root + Inc damage debuff.
Having another way to apply traps outside of evade procs is nice as traps are slow to reapply otherwise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
SSG_Orion
Sturdy Traps
35 Rank Set Bonus
+5s trap Grace Period
+5s Trap Duraion
No Focus Loss on Movement
Survivalist Prepper Cooldown reduction by 60s
All nice, anything that makes traps more active and applied more often is welcome.
The issues I'm seeing is Huntsman is gutted of its identity, *run and gunner*
Scourged Blow interactions added when its better to just Quickshot spam or use some other ranged skill and keep the bleeds,
would still feel like a slower clunkier Bowmaster,
the traits that made Huntsman a on the move DPSer is up for grabs as Bowmaster/Trapper.
Trapper just doesn't gain enough to be a proper CCer
1 more set of traps per minute but still requires being smacked by mobs to get anything extra.
Distraction Shot would still be a 2min cd daze with a tracery for -16.5secs if gold which is not enough,
its identity would become "make sure to pen shot everything on CD".
BowMaster is the big winner,
better DPS than before,
gains on the move inductions if desired OR can be a Phys Mit debuffer for the group if willing to sacrifice Huntsman traits,
loses nothing of importance in BowMaster traitline.
Purge Poison increased cooldown when traited Yellow
My main on Treebeard is a Yellow Hunter and I have enjoyed him a LOT.
One of the Yellow bonus traits is Purge Poison which modifies the skill of the same name. It makes the Purge Poison skill apply to the entire Fellowship but increases the cooldown. According to the OP of this thread, the increased cooldown is planned to be changed to 12 seconds (from the untraited 5 seconds). 12 seconds is better than the current 20 seconds! But it's still an annoyance when not in a group.
Perhaps the traited version of the Purge Poison skill could have an increased cooldown of 12 seconds when in a group but when not in a group remain at 5 seconds.
Alternatively, perhaps the trait could add a new skill which would apply a 12 second shared cooldown to both itself and the base Purge Poison skill. If the base Purge Poison skill is used it would apply a 5 second shared cooldown to both itself and the skill granted by the trait.
A Small Update on Trapper of Foes
I wanted to follow-up on this initial discussion with regard to the Trapper of Foes. The goal with the change toTrapper of Foes is to allow the hunter to use traps and survival skills to control and debuff enemies, and deal damage through, predominantly, ranged skills.
Over the past couple of days, discussion with the team, feedback from here and elsewhere, have given me a fresh perspective that I would like to share.
As before, if a trait is not mentioned then there are no current plans to change it. Thought the orders might change.
Trapper of Foes
Grant the Skill: Pinning Shot
Grant the Skill: Decoy
Traps can be used while moving and have no inductions.
Nimble Fingers
New Trait - 5 Ranks
+ [Level based] Finesse Rating
Deadly Decoy
5 Set Trait Bonus
Decoy becomes Deadly Decoy
Explodes after 15s
If destroyed before the expiration, the decoy explodes and applies a 2s Daze
Combat Traps
5 Ranks
-1s Reduction to trap skills cooldown per rank
+10% trap skill damage per rank
Endurance
Moves to 5-10 Rank
2 Ranks
+1% to parry and evade per rank
Danger Sense
New Trait 10-15 Rank
-5s Cooldown to Dazing Blow
+5s Pinning Shot Root Duration
Elusive
Moves to the 10-15 Rank
5 Ranks
+1% Evade per rank
Imposing Presence
Replaces Strong Intimidation and moves to 15 Rank Set Bonus
Reduce Bard's Arrow Damage by 25%
Increase Bard's Arrow Fear duration by 5s
-10% to target Fear Resistance
Increase Deadly Decoy duration by 5s
Increase Deadly Decoy health by 25%
Increase Damage of Deadly Decoy by 10%
Explosive Powder
Moves to 15-20 Rank
No Other Change
Survival Gear
Moves to 20-25 Rank tier
Advanced Placement
Moves to 20-25 Rank tier
No other changes
Master Trapper
Moves to 20 Rank Set Trait
+10% incoming critical chance from Deadly Decoy damage effect for 10s
+5% bonus to Tripwire to trigger a Fellowship Manoeuvre
+3s to Tripwire Knockdown
-5% mitigation bonus bypass on target struck by Piercing Trap for 10s
Piercing Trap
Gain the Skill: Piercing Trap
Survival Gear
Moves to 20-25 rank tier
No other changes
Armor Penetration
Moves to 25-30 Rank tier
Purge Poison
Moves to 25 Rank Set trait
Wilderness Senses
Replaces Heightened Sense and moves to 30-35 Rank set Bonus
You can now move while Camouflaged
+6 Stealth Detection
+3 Stealth Ranks
Improved Distracting Shot
Moves to 30+ Rank trait
3 Ranks
-50s Distracting Shot Cooldown per rank
-10% to Distracting break Daze Chance per rank
Emergency Preparations
35+ Rank trait
Gain the following Skills: Launch Decoy, Tanglewire Arrow, and Puncturing Arrow
Launch Decoy shoots a Deadly Decoy at your target.
Launch Decoy shares a cooldown with Deadly Decoy and has a 30m base range.
Trap Skill
Tanglewire Arrow shoots a Tripwire Trap at your target.
Tanglewire Arrow shares a cooldown with Tripwire and has a 30m base range.
Trap Skill
Puncturing Arrow shoots a Piercing Trap at your target.
Puncturing Arrow shares a cooldown with Piercing Trap and has a 30m base range.
Trap Skill
Explosive Traps
All trap skills are now AoE and affect up to 4 targets.
This can be modified by the AoE target traceries.
Okay, now that this one is put together a little more cleanly. Any thoughts?
A Small Update on Huntsman
As with the Trapper of Foes we looked at the initial ideas behind the considerations for Hunstman as well.
The definitive trait tree goal for Huntsman is as follows:
Huntsman fills its DPS role as a skirmisher. Feeling equally at home in melee and at range, the Hunstman uses mobility and honed talents to soften their targets at range and deliver devastating melee hits. In times of need, they use their ability to find cover to exact grievous injury on their enemies.
Huntsman
Grants Scourging Blow
Scourging Blow
2 Attacks
Deals +15% damage for each stack of Lingering Wound to each attack
Stops the Bleeding
Cooldown 8s
Grants Lingering Wound
Cooldown 2s
Induction Based Skills can be used while moving.
No Focus Loss on Movement
No Miss Chance Penalty for Movement
Impactctful Arrows
0 -5 Tier
5 Ranks
Increases Ranged Damage by 1% per rank
Strong Arms
0 -5 Tier
6 Ranks
Ranks 1-6: +5% Bow damage for bow skills that consume Focus and +2.5% melee damage/rank (1-5)
Rank 6: Using a skill that costs Focus has a 15% chance to reduce the cost of all skills by 1 for 5s
(30% Focus Skill Damage, 15% melee damage)
The Skirmisher
Rank 5 Set Trait Bonus
Successful Melee Attacks grant 1 Focus
Critical Melee Attacks grant 2 Focus
+20% Induction Movement Speed
Press Onward
5-10 Tier
Grants the Skill: Press Onward
Quick Shot Focus
5-10 Tier
5 Ranks
+4% Quick Shot bonus per rank (unchanged)
Split Shot
5-10 Tier
Grants the Skill: Split Shot
Athleticism
5-10 Tier
3 Ranks
+ [Level based] Physical Mastery per rank
On every Harmful Skill,
+3.33% Chance to gain Fleetiness per rank
Fleetness: 10% In-combat run speed for 20s
Barbed Hindrance
10 Rank Set Trait Bonus
+30 to Barbed Arrow Damage
+30% to Barbed Arrow Bleed Damage
Slows target by 20%
Perseverance
10-15 Tier Requires Pess Onward
5 Ranks
+5% increase to Press Onward Heals
Precision
2 Ranks
Rank 1: Stance: Precision now generates 1 Focus every 4s
Rank 2: Generations 1 Focus every 3s
Pathfinder
10-15 Tiers
3 Ranks
+5% Boost to Find the Path speed bonus per rank
Nature's Barb
15 Rank Trait Set Bonus
Low Cut Becomes Nature's Barb
Nature's Barb
Melee Skill 5.2m Range
Max Targets:1
A low cut in front of you channels natural energy to purge corruption from your enemy.
2 Attacks:
Main-hand damage
Off-hand Damage
100% chance to remove a corruption on the main-hand attack
25% chance to remove a corruption on the off-hand attack
Cooldown 10s
Improved Blood Arrow
15-20 Tiers
2 Ranks
Rank 1: Blood Arrow heals 5% of Max morale over time
Rank 2: Blood Arrow heals 10% of Max morale over time and reduce the cooldown of Blood Arrow by 5s
Exsanguinate
15-20 Tiers Requires Blood Arrow Rank 2
2 Ranks
Tier 1: 66% chance to unlock Ensanguinate after Blood Arrow
Tier 2: 100% chance to unlock Ensanguinate after Blood Arrow
Barbed Fury
15-20
4 Ranks
Increases Hunter Bleed damage by 5% per rank
Hunter's Voice
20 Rank Trait Set Bonus
10s Cooldown to Cry of the Hunter
+10% Movement Speed
Shot through the Heart
20-25 Tier
Heart Seeker and Merciful Shot do more damage to targets with active bleeds
Volley
20-25 Tier
5 Ranks
Using a skill that costs focus has a 3% chance per rank to remove the induction time of your next skill stacks 5 times Expires out of combat
Martial Training
20-25 Tier
2 Rank
On every Harmful Skill +5% chancce to gain Fleetness and increase Fleetness run speed efficacy by +2.5% per rank
At Rank 1: Fleetness now grants 1 Focus per 5s
+5% melee damage per rank
Find Cover
25 Rank Trait Set Bonus
In-combat Camouflage becomes Find Cover and can be used in-combat but increases the cooldown to 60s;
Ranged attacks while in Camouflage gain +25% Critical Chance and +25% Critical Magnitude
Strength of the Earth
25-30 Tier
2 Ranks
Rank 1: Grants Skill Strength of the Earth
Restores Power while Active
5s Duration
1m 30s Cooldown
Rank 1: Increases Ranged and Melee Damage by 10%
Rank 2: Increased Ranged and Melee Damage by 20%
Improved Inten Concentration
25-30
2 Tiers
12s Intent Concentration Cooldown per Rank
Earthborn
30 Rank Trait Set Bonus
Strength of the Earth now restores morale and focus while it is active:
+1 Focus per second
Restores Morale while active
Rupture Artery
30-35 Tier
Grants the Skill: Rupture Artery
A melee attack dealing additional damage to target a target suffering from Barbed Arrow, that automatically scores a critical strike on targets affected by Exsanguination.
Crtiical Hits stop the Exsanguination Bleed.
2 Attacks
Rupture Artery deals 225% of Main-hand Damage + bonuse Bonus
Deals
225% of Off-hand Damage + bonus Bonus
Cooldown 20s
Rapid Assault
30-35 Tier
Grants Skill: Rapid Assault
Skills that cost focus no longer have a cost. Resets all skill cooldowns.
Duration 10s
Cooldown 180s
Intense Assault
35 Rank Trait Set Bonus
Every attack made while Rapid Assault is active puts a stacking Physical Mastery buff on the Hunter.
Now, there would be a lot to ensure that the Huntsman balances well against Bowmaster which I hope to be able to describe and outline a bit more later today.
Looking forwaard to reading thoughts on the updates here.
Some Responses on Trapper of Foes
On Nimble Fingers, the finesse is there, specifically, for trap consistency - though getting more finesse to consistently hit shouldn't be unwelcome.
On Decoy/Deadly Decoy, it could be made indestructible and simple explode on a timer. Maybe it would make more sense to have the Decoy become different variants. Decoy and Deadly Decoy. They could share a cooldown and do different things so that there would be utility to each variant.
Decoy - being the taunt version that extends its duration with Master Trapper. Better utility in small fellowship/solo play - when needed.
Deadly Decoy being the version that adds the critical chance buff after exploding. Better utility ins fellowship and raid play.
On Combat Traps, I could see moving this up to 2s per rank, but with the addition of explosive traps moving all traps to AoE effects, we need to be cautious with cooldowns.
On Endurance, I really do think that all the stances need to be updated. I'm looking at ways to update these this weekend.
On Danger Sense, I could see a modest increase to the daze and root, but a large boost would likely not work.
On Bard's Arrow, we will see where the numbers end up. It may be that the damage on bard's arrow does not need to come down.
On Advanced Placement, I can see this being +10-20m over the current 5-10.
On Master Trapper, given my comments above, Decoy might gain duration. The ommission of Triple Trap's damage boost was just a copy/paste error. I could also see Tripwire moving the knockdown duration.
On Distracting Shot, with the full trait and max tracery, you'd drop the cooldown to about 14s. It's conceivable that the new trait Improved Distracting Shot could see a 5s duration/rank improvement too.
On Trapper of Foes in general, there is a desire to push this trait tree a bit further and to allow the utilities to overlap. We will get there through testing, of course.
Some Responses on Huntsman and a Question
For Huntsman, I am going to start by asking the question. The larger responses to the alterations proposed for Hunstman are focusing on the addition of melee to the trait tree, and the fear that this would negatively impact the ranged mobility. That would not be the desired outcomes. That is why, for the most part, the changes to traits and set bonuses are adding melee aspects, not diluting the existing ranged mobility or damage. The one clear exception is the removal of Barrage. To adjust for that I would like to understand better, how most of you are using your current rotation. Could you share your current rotations for landscape, solo instance, small group, etc...?
On Impactful Arrows, this could also increase melee damage too, yes.
On Hunter's Voice, I could see a small boost to the shield too, yes.
On Shot through the Heart, I could see this affecting the melee skills too.
On Hunstman in general, therelikely does need to be another melee and the most obvious choice would be to return Blindside back into the arrow thrust through the enemy followed by a ranged shot. There might be a nice compromise here where the range on this skill is increased further than traditional melee skills. Oh, and all the melee skills will have their range unified to the standard distance for other melee classes. The strange disparity needs to be normalized.
Just to close this out, the goal with incorporating melee into this tree is to make it an additive aspect of the trait tree, with better benefit in longer fights - traditionally group play. A well-played version of Huntsman using the mix and match of melee and ranged skills should be roughly comparable, in damage output, with a well-played Bowmaster.