Suggestion Ice volley rework?

[Xerot]

I passed it by the devs as a bug initially, since ice volley currently deals vanilla damage. But according to what responses I've received so far, it was designed in such a way to prevent exploitation while keeping the volley aspect of it.

There's two ways I can think of at least improving or balancing it more towards the current standard.

The first being that because it deals effectively no damage right now, it can be reworked to have a longer slow. 2 seconds, unfortunately, doesn't amount to much of anything currently, as most classes have movement abilities to either negate or just push through said slow. And even if it doesn't, it takes roughly 1 solid second or more to pull back an arrow far enough to deal some semblance of damage. So upping the slow duration would justify spending the stamina on such a skill, allowing for 1-2 easier shots on an enemy, while keeping them at bay.

The second suggestion, if the longer slow duration sounds too terrifying in a group situation, would be to rework it to work similar to Envenom. Reasoning behind this being that if you have some skill at aiming, you'll be able to slow the enemy for a decent amount of time while maximizing damage output against a single target. I've always seen ranger as a class able to focus down a single target from a distance, while maintaining said distance. For Crowd Control, we have explosive shot now. So maybe if frost volley operated similar to envenom for about... maybe a 6-10 second duration on the bow as a 1-2 second slow when applied, it would be more valuable in a ranger's skillset.

The justification behind having it changed, currently, lies in it's value in a rotation. When you're in any kind of fight, as a ranger, you're looking to burn an opponent down quickly with a bow, rather than draw out the fight. With frost volley doing no actual damage and with only a 2 second slow, it isn't even enough to offer a chance to disengage an opponent, let alone keep them from running away. Also bearing in mind that we don't have the luxury of being able to whale on an enemy and be at relatively even odds when they're in our face. We have to focus on keeping that distance. Unfortunately, with what slows we have, one being melee, which you shouldn't ever be using unless you get ambushed (also has the same slow duration) it doesn't allow us to keep that distance unless the class we're facing capitalizes on keeping that distance as well.

And the kicker to that being that most of them have very solid DoTs/roots/stuns that prevent an enemy from acting *at all*, or running away/getting too close. So... A slow that relies more on skill while dealing some damage to keep from burning precious distance between you and your enemy is probably reasonable to have.

(I could personally do without the whole volley thing in general - The goal is to be able to aim a bow and shoot, not aim in a general area and hope it hits to deal damage.)

 

[mikehk]

the second suggestion is not going to happen, i can tell you that. what you're describing was called icearrow, and is what made ranger shit on almost anything last map. if you got even one hit in as a ranger, the target was slowed enough to where you could continuously spam arrows and win the fight with very little skill, almost like beguiler used to be in terms of easiness. also we're trying to move away from the elemental ranger kind of thing.

 

[Dsawemd]

So... A slow that relies more on skill while dealing some damage to keep from burning precious distance between you and your enemy is probably reasonable to have.

(I could personally do without the whole volley thing in general - The goal is to be able to aim a bow and shoot, not aim in a general area and hope it hits to deal damage.)

I understand that I have omitted the meat of your suggestion, but my objection to it is a very general and basic one.

Ice Arrow was a strong skill that let Rangers with little talent have success with the class. It was also part of the Elemental Trinity Ranger (P-arrow, F-arrow, I-arrow for those who didn't play then). Ice Arrow did not allow Rangers to kite because the slow mechanic required constant drawing of the bow. This make the "Agile Ranger" look like an elemental arrow spitting Turret.

Ice Volley Occupies a completely different spot on Ranger's rotation than Ice Arrow did.

The new Shot Ranger focuses on Explosive Shot and Aimed Shot as their main arrow damage skills, while still maintaining the classic Ranger playstyle that requires you to land multiple basic attacks as well.

New Ranger has a place in teamfights with Explosive Shot and Ice Volley.

If you are finding yourself needing more kiting ability, you can use Grappling hook to great effect after you E-Shot or Ice Volley.

When you're in any kind of fight, as a ranger, you're looking to burn an opponent down quickly with a bow, rather than draw out the fight.

Wrong, Ranger now needs to use knockback, slow, and Grapple to kite to success in a 1v1. Old Ranger is not new Ranger, but even New Ranger playstyle burns through targets pretty fast while still pausing their DPS to kite.

TL: DR
A skill that resembles Ice arrow (multiple shots that slow, duration toggle slow) isn't likely coming back even as a weaker version, the class has officially moved on to Ice Volley (a single use slow) and other kiting skills.
With the 5.30 Ranger changes the class is being paid attention to, and increasing the single use slow duration on IceVolley could be something we adjust if further Change is seen as needed. I think that's suggestion #1 on original thread.

@Xerot Unfortunately for you and other Rangers with amazing aim, you can no longer lock down a target and shoot them in the face until they die while not moving yourself at all. Use Volley only when it makes sense with your other kiting tools or for a teamfight. Use kite skills without being afraid of the stamina costs, then regain stamina during periods of basic attack DPS (think: IceVolley, Grapple to a tree/hill, basic attacks until you can sprint again).