Replace Ranger AA - Sniper Squad (Option #1)

[Tegan]

Currently, the Assassin brings more overall damage to the raid because they provide much higher direct damage for chanter’s mimic. To bring the other Predator into balance, my suggestion would be to change the Sniper Squad AA from a mimic mechanic of the Ranger’s damage to a percent increase to the Ranger’s CA/Spells while the buff is active.

Replace Sniper Squad AA:
This new replacement AA (Ranger’s Focus?) would increment as the Ranger casts ranged attacks. For example, for each ranged attack while the buff is active damage output would increment by 10% starting at 50% up to a maximum value of 100% at 6 increments. At 6 increments all attacks (Spells/CAs previously affected by Sniper Squad) would deal the additional damage (i.e., if an attack did 1T before it would do 2T at 6 increments (1T + (1T * 100%)).

The buff would be active for 20 seconds, which is comparable to the time the Assassin has for a FFU chain of 21 seconds.

For an added visual, as it increments, the Ranger’s bow would change color gradually until it glowed bright red at 6 increments.

To add a bit of challenge, an equal amount of hate would be added to the Ranger for each increment. At 6 increments the Ranger’s hate mod would be increased by 60%, and if the Ranger were to take aggro at any time their increments would be reduced to 0. For example, if the Ranger had negative 40% hate mod, at 6 increments they would have a positive 20%. This portion of the buff would only be active in group or raid (merc doesn’t count).

The above assumes the Ranger’s recovery time of combat arts will be reduced by 100%, same as the Assassin.

An example of the damage output compared to current Sniper Squad:

 

[Silverman1]

the hate addition is wild! and I love it. the concept is way out of the box. But is this designed to get the rangers something similar to FFU for a mimic. Lets assume mimic gets nerfed and removed... would this now have to look completely different.
I love the idea but basing it off balancing cause of mimic is a slippery slope.

 

[Tegan]

If mimic is changed, it should not impact the Ranger's overall DPS. This change, which primarily moves Sniper Squad damage to direct damage from the Ranger, is just to bring the amount of damage that the Ranger contributes to a mimic to be more in line with the Assassin. That way, both Predators are on equal footing for desirability and the amount they bring to overall raid DPS.

This change does bring a FFU chain flavor to the Ranger. The Ranger would need to have more of strategy on which CAs to cast while also watching their hate. A comment that is frequently brought up is the Ranger is so much easier to play. The intention was for this to hopefully somewhat address that, but honestly, the Assassin chain mechanic is really not that hard.

The idea is, this would add a more fun dynamic to play as a Ranger.

 

[Vlkodlak]

While this is showing out of the box thinking, I believe a far simpler solution would be to simply increase the duration of the squad. A simple AA choice that would add 15 sec's per increment for a total of (3) to (5) stacks would provide far more damage and would not require an entire rework of the ability.

 

[Liga]

It looks like there are 2 changes proposed for Sniper Squad.

#1 - a straight damage increase to the amount of mimic.
#2 - a change that moves the Sniper Squad damage to direct damage from the Ranger.

I like the #2 change proposed. I think it will give an additional flavor to playing the Ranger, but I could see some testing needed to tweak the amount of damage, and the amount of hate that is generated from real game experience.