Panserbjorn

2.01 fixed neither the slow-down in stealth issue, nor the pet-talent-applying-to-ranger-after-respec bug. This actually means that there is no workaround for the issue, as the only way to restore movement to the pet, also strips it of all applicable talents (meaning that you can't respec into a pet-talent heavy build). The bug also seems to apply not only to Resilient Companion but to the other pet talents as well (or at least Stalker's Sense and Vicious Companion in my testing, and other talents in other peoples testing).

Penetrating Shot and Vicious Aim can be used at the same time...though I guess you could count Vicious Aim as a Ranger Modal and Penetrating Shot as a Universal Modal? I agree with the above entirely. I've also heard that it doesn't work with Driving Flight. Can anyone confirm this? I'm abit disappoint. If it doesn't work with Driving Flight, and can't be used with Vicious Aim or Swift Aim (and incidentally makes the latter redundant as it has a similar accuracy penalty, and greater damage output), it's overall usefulness seems...limited? At the very least it's saying "When you get to x level you MUST respec or have a dormant, wasted talent".

Can anyone post the stats for a fully upgraded Stormcaller (the Soulbound Hunting Bow). I'm unconvinced it's better than Borresaine, but was wondering if it became more useful on upgrade. I was abit disappointed with the first added upgrade effect.

I have noted an additional bug with Borresaine, in which the Borresaine Icon persists next to my character portrait, even after unequipping Borresaine. I am not sure if it is just a cosmetic bug, of if the effect itself is persisting.

I'm experiencing the same bug of ranger pet slowdown in stealth. Like Sanicek, it seemed to occur after the battle with Metzla. Doing a character respec does fix the problem - however it seems to introduce a new bug in that Resilient Companion no long is active on the Pet, if chosen during the respec.

Just as abit of an addendum, in the beta patch, Intelligence does not extend the duration of the summons. Unsurprisingly, I think it should. Possibly a beta bug, but I doubt it.

Just to answer my own question, I finally got around to installing the beta client. The current beta duration of Level 1 summons is 20 seconds, the duration of Level 2 summons is 25 seconds. I've only been able to load a mid-level game so far, but I have not seen any new Chanter abilities that compensate for the summon durations. Just as a side note, Ancient Memory/Beloved Spirits is unchanged (i.e. still fairly negligible) I'm not entirely sure what to make of Chanters at the moment as I still find the changes to their utility inexplicable. If the aim really was to reduce the power of 6-chanter-summoning-map-clearers, I'm not sure that this has actually been fulfilled. It's still entirely possible to just sit back and *only* summon...the ones whom this change affects most are single Chanter parties who now have to do summon-utility-summon-utlity casting instead of summon-utility-utility-utility type patterns...which is once again fine except I just don't think Chanters were that over-powered to begin with, and their utility invocations were not that amazing that now being only able to use them half as much still allows Chanters to be a contributing team member...assuming the fights last long enough anyway. I don't know...will be interesting to see where Chanters are going exactly... I do also find it interesting that Druid Spiritshift seems have had a massive boost to its usefulness especially since Druids were already a fairly powerful class.

That's very interesting. Any info on how the bear form stacks up at later levels? If DR scales for all forms, does the bear bonus remain relevant? What about accuracy? I believe one of the reasons why shifts became less efficient compared to spells was the ability to hit things...though I guess the changes to perception may mitigate that slightly?

Which one of your chants ticks at 3 seconds? From my understanding, level 1 chants are a minimum of 4 seconds? I'm not going to say that fights last longer than 30 seconds. But throwing a 'nerf' after a bad mechanic hardly seems like the way to fix things. I actually agree with you...they do seem to be wanting to reduce the power of 6 chanter parties. The thing is though, they seem to be doing so by making single chanters...ineffective? Curtailing a very esoteric playstyle by making the 'normal' playstyle ineffectual seems abit...illogical.

That's...very unfortunate. It means, especially with higher level phrases, that you have to choose either between summons OR utility invocations, and can't use both if you want to maintain your summon. This may be intentional, but I find it inexplicable as the invocations aren't exactly game-breakingly powerful.

I'm abit concerned about chanes to Chanters coming in 2.0. Namely due to two factors: The Off-tank Summoner type character is a fairly popular way of building a Chanter. It sems to me that the hit to deflection from the Perception change will affect off-tanks more than pure-tank fighters due to the more limited ability of off-tanks in general to boost their deflection. So it seems that 2.0 will bring a possible reduction in Chanter defense. Invocations having a duration would indicate a limit on the lifespan of Chanter summons. For most Chanter off-tanks types, their summons are a huge component of their damage potential and all-round usefulness. So it seems that 2.0 wil bring a possible reduction in Chanter damage. I'm not sure I understand why these changes are being implemented. Are Chanters that powerful that they require doublehit reductions to both damage and defense? I'm also curious as to how long these summon durations actually are? Can anyone using the beta client post on these durations? Are there any compensating feats, talents, skills or mechanics? For example, having say, a 30sec cap on summon lifespan, but allowing more than one summon out at a time would possibly be compensatory, or having a feat that made the summon combat-long would be non-ideal but still not quite as ardous.