Good Bye, Ritualist...

It's a shitty update lol I must say too, signet of spirits maybe fun to play with but then it will get dull in the long run. Alot of useless ritualist skills need to be buffed too. At least signet of binding was pretty nice to play with watching enemy spirits become yours.

I am only satisfied with the short casting time for spirits. But what's with Signet of Creation! If the casting time for spirits are already updated 3/4 a second or just a second why would we even need Signet of Creation. :/ Lol I was asking myself the same thing.

But what's with Signet of Creation! If the casting time for spirits are already updated 3/4 a second or just a second why would we even need Signet of Creation. :/ I dunno. Being able to summon three diferent offensive spirits with one skill and having a compressed bar for other skills perhaps?

I dunno. Being able to summon three diferent offensive spirits with one skill and having a compressed bar for other skills perhaps? Spirits suck by default, add to that that it is an elite, on top of that you need spawning power to have a decent health level, you do the math.


Problem is simple, most useful ritualist's skills are: OoS, warding, Splinter, Ancestor, Kaolai, Xinrae weapon.
Outside of these lies a desolated waste. Is signet of spirits so good to justify taking it instead of Xinrae or OoS? No.
In the rare case I want to be useless and carry spirits I will run Assasin Promise which to be honest it's not good but doesn't suck as much as the other alternatives.

Spirits suck by default, add to that that it is an elite, on top of that you need spawning power to have a decent health level, you do the math.


Problem is simple, most useful ritualist's skills are: OoS, warding, Splinter, Ancestor, Kaolai, Xinrae weapon.
Outside of these lies a desolated waste. Is signet of spirits so good to justify taking it instead of Xinrae or OoS? No.
In the rare case I want to be useless and carry spirits I will run Assasin Promise which to be honest it's not good but doesn't suck as much as the other alternatives. So before this update ritualists went 12+1+1 channeling, 12+1 resto, 3+1 spawning.

Now they go 12+1+1 channeling, 11+1 resto, 6+1 spawning.

That will give same weapon of warding duration, for example.

Of course necros or other professions can't match it now.

In exchange for that balancing, spirits gained 4 levels.

For example, bloodsong used to be level 8 at rank 14. Now its 11. That means 18 more base armor and 60 more base health.

The same for all other spirits.

Additionally they cast a lot faster.

Seems a decent exchange - buff to spirits, giving the ritualist better options, especially in the offense while nerfing weapon spells for non-rit casters.

So before this update ritualists went 12+1+1 channeling, 12+1 resto, 3+1 spawning.

Now they go 12+1+1 channeling, 11+1 resto, 6+1 spawning.

That will give same weapon of warding duration, for example.

Of course necros or other professions can't match it now.

In exchange for that balancing, spirits gained 4 levels.

For example, bloodsong used to be level 8 at rank 14. Now its 11. That means 18 more base armor and 60 more base health.

The same for all other spirits.

Additionally they cast a lot faster.

Seems a decent exchange - buff to spirits, giving the ritualist better options, especially in the offense while nerfing weapon spells for non-rit casters. no before the update you could stick with 12+1 (or 12) restoration and 12 +1+1 channeling and 3 in spawning

Now you need 12 in restoration and 8 in spawning to achieve the same duration weapon of warding used to have (with 8 in spawning is a bit less, you need 9 to gain a little benefit)


A necro will simply laugh at the lower duration, 2 seconds duration less? No problem, they will cast weapon of warding twice (in pve), they got unlimited energy, same for eles. Meanwhile ritus have not the luxury of an efficient energy management primary, they are forced to allocate points to spawning therefore sacrificing flexibility (for example points in smiting prayers)

Weapon spells for spirits is hardly a good trade off, even with the update spirits are worthless, the mechanic itself is flawed.

Is signet of spirits so good to justify taking it instead of Xinrae or OoS? I would say, you're right and I would certainly go support if partying with ppl (weapon spells ftw.) But I like blowing up things with offensive spirits when I am running with h/h. And this update makes that easier.

I found a combo that heals party members for 300 health every 10 seconds.

Yay.

Instead of complaining try playing it and look for new things. You don't like any thing you find? Play another class.

Good job Anet. Not exactly the way I woulda buffed them, but its great now. Not PERFECT...but with no doubt better.
You're a mesmer. Try to play a rit for 2 years, experience the majority of the contents and titles while customizing same rare items to suddenly stop playing the class because A-net decided ritualists are not worth having, or because some 2 years old GvG balances done because of a now deleted mechanic were not regressed.

Wow 300hp every 10 seconds, useful especially when a paragon reduces 80% of the damage and an ele can push out consistent heals without recoil or when a monk can do prot as well, and each of the aforementioned can assolve a subfuction as well.

If you don't like what they did with how fast you can summon spirits now, I suggest you go PvP. Spirits there summon slow like you're used to, and perhaps will still have a use, somewhere.

I'm still not crazy about how ANet has been sacking Weapon Spell time and giving Rits an attribute to boost them. It's clear that ANet sees it as a problem that other professions are rolling Rit for their secondary and still getting decent use out of them, so they want to limit the duration that those last. Unfortunately, it hurts Rits too, because it forces them to invest in a line that, in some cases, is useless to them otherwise.

What I really haven't liked is that when they do these kinds of buffs and nerfs, they seem to be done in such a way that only Rits that carry high levels of Spawning Power are truly unaffected by this, or even buffed. Meanwhile, Rits that can't get good mileage out of the attribute line continue to suffer. They will have to reconsider the way primary attribute works.

Loads of problems with balancing the game was always created by the fact secondaries could use other professions skills just as well.

Maybe shifting some skills around the attribute lines and buffing some spawning power skills is still required, but spirits are more viable at least now.

We will have to see how this work, but with signet of spirits some of the spawning power enchantments became more attractive. A lot more attractive.

Lets give it some time and test around.

I think you guys are overreacting.

Spirits are stronger. You got new skills to take more mileage of spirits.

Yeah, Channeling/Resto spirits are probably weaker now, but there are new opportunities.

Armor of unfeeling might make some of the defensive spirits worth a second look too.

For ages people complained how spawning power is so weak.

Now they have a skill that makes 3 spirits ever 10 seconds, turning stuff like boon of creation and gift of spirits in healing and energy management bombs.

Who cares about OoS when you can get billions of energy every 10 seconds + damage?

Weapons work better for Rits than X/Rt due to Spawning power.

You just have to forget the days of Resto/Channel hybrids.

Now it seems to be Spirits + something. Bro, have you tested spirits in pve, they are still useless. They nerfed hybrids in favour of something even less effective.
Anet could have scrolled the dozen of decent suggestions done even on this forum in order to achieve a decent balance/fun ratio, they didn't, meanwhile they produced this abortion

Example:

Great! Shelter has a 1 second casting time but it still dies within 5 seconds, costs 25 energy and has a 45 seconds recharge time.
Why pug A should take a spirit spammer ritualist instead of a paragon? Given the paragon does protect the party in a more efficient way, the protection is almost permanent, and it's generally less vulnerable.

Example B:
Ritualist with attacking spirits and Elementalist or AoE mesmer, or a SS necro. Why should a PUG take the ritualsit when the ELE, the mesmer and the SS necro deal damage faster, better, and without any condition to be met (the ritualist spirits must be up, target the correct foe)

Given that current pugs are all SF/ROJ/COP, even if the pve meta shifted ritualist would still have to fight this problem, their inefficiency compared to other classes.

In order to solve this, ritualists switched to hybrids, they didn't excel at anything but they could heal/protect/deal damage on the same bar, the nerfs and the last update made this way less viable, ritualists are now struck with spirits wich like I said are less useful than specialized roles.

You're a mesmer. Try to play a rit for 2 years, experience the majority of the contents and titles while customizing same rare items to suddenly stop playing the class because A-net decided ritualists are not worth having, or because some 2 years old GvG balances done because of a now deleted mechanic were not regressed.

Wow 300hp every 10 seconds, useful especially when a paragon reduces 80% of the damage and an ele can push out consistent heals without recoil or when a monk can do prot as well, and each of the aforementioned can assolve a subfuction as well.
First of all, double posts are silly.

Secondly, Just because I play a Mesmer more than my other characters doesn't mean I don't seriously play the others. I got enough slots just so I could Play them all and see what their ups and downs were, get a feel of what was wanted.

I was an avid promoter of buffing Ritualists because they were severly underpowered, but I kept playing mine anyways. Why? Because it was fun. I don't let a class's effectiveness affect how I play my game.

As for Imbagons, I play H/H, so when Im not on my P, theres no chance of even having one. When I play my Rt, a 300 health every 10 seconds for only 10 energy (and perhaps GAIN energy+health with certain spells) is a great combo.

You mentioned I play mesmer. Well I do, and do you even remember how long people said "Mesmers suck in PvE, go away" etc etc? (before Cryway etc) So Don't think I dont know how it feels to play an unwanted class.

Have you ever tried Summon spirits + Signet of Ghostly might? You put down some serious DPS while being able to protect your little dudes from AoE spells. And I did this BEFORE the buff. Now its even better.

I think you guys are overreacting.

Spirits are stronger. You got new skills to take more mileage of spirits.

Yeah, Channeling/Resto spirits are probably weaker now, but there are new opportunities.

Armor of unfeeling might make some of the defensive spirits worth a second look too.

For ages people complained how spawning power is so weak.

Now they have a skill that makes 3 spirits ever 10 seconds, turning stuff like boon of creation and gift of spirits in healing and energy management bombs.

Who cares about OoS when you can get billions of energy every 10 seconds + damage?

Weapons work better for Rits than X/Rt due to Spawning power.

You just have to forget the days of Resto/Channel hybrids.

Now it seems to be Spirits + something. I can be careless about spirits now... in PvE.
Not that I WANT to be careless about spirits. I WANT my spirits to be useful AND vulnerable. Don't turn them into RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing PvE skills.
Nobody is even arguing that Rits didn't get stronger in this update. They just aren't really more fun to play now because the fundamental changes were quite uninspired. On the contrary, they feel like quite a mindless class now.

I THINK that Ritualists were supposed to be about SPIRITS?

They buffed us (I'm on my Rit right now) and you are complaining? Jesus Christ. Your vision of the class is anchored to the late 2006, spirits were actually good back then. As of now they suck, revolving a class around a flawed and nerfed mechanic is no good.

Spirits can either be overpowered or suck. There is no shade of gray, in a pve split I would have liked spirits to be overpowered, A-net doesn't. Then again someone could have been happy to play the hybrid approach in pve/pvp but they nerfed even this option.

First of all, double posts are silly.

Secondly, Just because I play a Mesmer more than my other characters doesn't mean I don't seriously play the others. I got enough slots just so I could Play them all and see what their ups and downs were, get a feel of what was wanted.

I was an avid promoter of buffing Ritualists because they were severly underpowered, but I kept playing mine anyways. Why? Because it was fun. I don't let a class's effectiveness affect how I play my game.

As for Imbagons, I play H/H, so when Im not on my P, theres no chance of even having one. When I play my Rt, a 300 health every 10 seconds for only 10 energy (and perhaps GAIN energy+health with certain spells) is a great combo.

You mentioned I play mesmer. Well I do, and do you even remember how long people said "Mesmers suck in PvE, go away" etc etc? (before Cryway etc) So Don't think I dont know how it feels to play an unwanted class.

Have you ever tried Summon spirits + Signet of Ghostly might? You put down some serious DPS while being able to protect your little dudes from AoE spells. And I did this BEFORE the buff. Now its even better. Simple facts, when people said mesmer suck in pve they weren't fully right.
Sure, domination used to be terrible in pve, usually you don't need to diversion a monk in pve because by the time it takes effect the mob will be dead. But mesmers had the fair advantage of

A having a primary that actually does something
B having useful skills
C Being Izzy's fetish, they were given some fun pve only skills
D Always having a role in every form of pvp

When a PUGGER says Ritualists do suck he's actually right

A Their primary sucks
B Most of their skills are useless or nerfed to oblivion
C Their Pve only skills are subpar
D Their role in pvp is nil
E Their special feat (spirits) is a malus rather than a bonus

With a mesmer you can go fast casting ele, play domination, play any kind of gimmick,COP, Condition spreading, interrupt on nasty missions, VOR, fast casting signet.
With a ritualist you don't have this advantage, you either play hybrid or spirits, since spirits suck you were forced to play hybrid or some gimmick (spirits strenght).
Now enter the mentality of the average pugger:

Defensive spirit spam >>>> Paragon is better
Healer >>>>> Monks are better
Offensive Spirits>>>> If you want damage you go ele, necro, mesmer, or add another melee
Hybrid>>>> They are not wanted, if you want a defensive/damage hybrid you either run a Necro, a Renewal Ele, a Motivation Paragon, a smiter Monk.


Anet simply had to make ritualist skills more viable, reducing casting time is a good step but it's like curing skin disease when the guy in front of you is in a bloody pulp, fix the necessary things, then you do the accessory, buffs are not done by buffing an attribute line while nerfing the class as a whole.
Again this update might be just a step, I got the feeling this is going to be the only answer we Ritualist and Paragon players will have (at least paragon fixes were something decent)

I have to agree with Keira Nightgale and Einherj3r. We are not really complaining. Just that I feel that it is abit mindless now for rit class. To those who haven really played your rit and trying to max all of your rit's titles over the last few years. LOL you may see how much hybrid classes you are using. My spirits still vapourises in HM. Well at least if like Keira Nightgale mentioned using assassin's promise I get a instant recharge instead of ritual lord.

I find that the overall picture of skills complementing is still not enough. I wonder how many people used Spirit Channeling Where you could have other means of regening your energy. :/ Enchantment and be stripped ~

Spirit Channeling
(Elite Enchantment Spell. (10 seconds.) You have +1...5...6 Energy regeneration. You have -5 Health degeneration. End effect: you are healed for 100 if you are within earshot of a spirit. )

I will just stick with my old discordway while vanquishing meanwhile ~ Even ether prodigy (energy storage) is superior to spirit channeling.

Example:

Great! Shelter has a 1 second casting time but it still dies within 5 seconds, costs 25 energy and has a 45 seconds recharge time.
Why pug A should take a spirit spammer ritualist instead of a paragon? Given the paragon does protect the party in a more efficient way, the protection is almost permanent, and it's generally less vulnerable.




Example B:
Ritualist with attacking spirits and Elementalist or AoE mesmer, or a SS necro. Why should a PUG take the ritualsit when the ELE, the mesmer and the SS necro deal damage faster, better, and without any condition to be met (the ritualist spirits must be up, target the correct foe)

In order to solve this, ritualists switched to hybrids, they didn't excel at anything but they could heal/protect/deal damage on the same bar, the nerfs and the last update made this way less viable, ritualists are now struck with spirits wich like I said are less useful than specialized roles. Take Signet of spirits - 3 offensive spirits.

Add boon of creation and spirits gift - energy management, party heal and condition removal.

Add Feast of Souls - more party emergency party heal.

Add painful bond - transform your spirits in to killing machines.

Add ancestors rage and splinter weapon - old staples.

1 slot for rez. 1 slot for something else.

Ok. Shelter only got +60 health.

But what about displacement and union?

Combo that with armor of unfeeling and they last quite more.

And of course u can still combo it with signet of spirits for decent damage and some heal and whatnot from spawning.

So, just get over it.

It is about spirits now, and if some are somewhat weak others just became better and very useful.

Spawning + channeling seems quite hot atm.

Take Signet of spirits - 3 offensive spirits.

Add boon of creation and spirits gift - energy management, party heal and condition removal.

Add Feast of Souls - more party emergency party heal.

Add painful bond - transform your spirits in to killing machines.

Add ancestors rage and splinter weapon - old staples.

1 slot for rez. 1 slot for something else.

Ok. Shelter only got +60 health.

But what about displacement and union?

Combo that with armor of unfeeling and they last quite more.

And of course u can still combo it with signet of spirits for decent damage and some heal and whatnot from spawning.

So, just get over it.

It is about spirits now, and if some are somewhat weak others just became better and very useful.

Spawning + channeling seems quite hot atm. Nobody asked for LOLWUT-spirit spam in PvE. It's boring. It always was boring. The hybrid builds are what is fun about the Ritualist. SOME spirits, SOME weapon spells, SOME item spells, SOME heals, SOME damage. Interchange them depending on the area. This update did nothing but evoke a few gimmicky spam builds and allow Ritualists to spirit spam at a ridiculous speed in PvE. BORING.