4% Evasion per Frenzy Charge

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You're assuming (incorrectly) that builds should be tightly optimized on the tree.

No, I'm assuming that all builds should be potentially valid. At least in a hypothetical utopia. We'll never get there, but in actuality - everything should be laid out in a "metaphysical" line. The tree is not laid out in a straight line because that would be aesthetically silly, but in effect, you have 111 points to choose from. The sequence of choices you have is... well it's unfair to say it's linear, but it is close to linear. There is an attribute highway that basically goes down a few roads. You must pick nodes on this highway that complement your build.

There are multiple highways you can choose from, granted, but there are not many.

As a result, nodes that are off a strong highway by even 2-3 points are automatically less efficient when you consider moving forward on a highway rapidly grants access to more useful and powerful nodes. Traversing the tree is expensive no matter what your intentions are - if this is a leveling race, a late game endurance build of some kind, et cetera, the node in question is out of the way for most builds.

If you're trying to get AS MUCH EVASION AS POSSIBLE - the node is highly inefficient, because you are spending at least two points to get 2% less evasion than you can get with a single point investment. If you're trying to get AS MUCH EVASION AS POSSIBLE it is highly unlikely you will have the resources to go near the Duelist side of the tree in order to get five frenzy charges, kind of making this node unnecessary even for an extreme build like that. At best, this kind of node would be good for a build that is attempting to heavily utilize frenzy charges, of which few builds even do.

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The tree is laid out, if anything, to discourage this line of thinking. You're supposed to make choices as you travel through the tree, not have every useful thing for you presented to you in a line.

The thinking behind the tree is that we should enable many complex possible builds. I feel the currenc placement of the Ranger +frenzy charge and +evasion on frenzy charge is ineffective and for the most part weak, in comparison to other possible builds; as a result, we have not obtained the optimum state of the tree. In an optimal state of the tree all builds are equally optimal in "their own way". This does not mean all bulids are created equal, but that all builds have a potential to succeed in some manner. I do not believe you can incorporate the current +max frenzy charge and +bonus on frenzy charge passives into a build that is more moresuccessful than one that chooses to exclude them. What I mean is that even if you are utilizing frenzy charges and would like a bulid that does so heavily, you will not need the passive and will actually do better avoiding that part of the tree - at least in its current design.

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Under the hood I'm reading that you also have a beef with +10 dex nodes;

Yes, to an extent. I like dexterity, but it is wasteful to get more than you need. You get more than enough dex from the two +30 nodes at the start and all the dex you get on the "highway" to the middle of the tree (that I outlined in my post). +10 dexterity nodes are not powerful in and of themselves and are actually very weak for their point for point investment; they are only worth taking when they enable other powerful nodes

There is no significant bonus for stacking dexterity. Once you have two-hundred from your passives - you're probably overdoing it. You get more than enough accuracy from that dex pool and your items. Your evasion will be quite ridiculous from +evasion mods on endgame gear and +evasion passives. Dex is not an incredible source of either stat, at least from my experience.

I'm just saying that the node is ineffecient because you must spend 3-4 points in attributes you otherwise would not need to, in order to obtain a bonus you can get plenty of a few levels later. A bonus that is rather conditional and not all that interesting or rare for the Ranger.

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anubite wrote:

If you're trying to get AS MUCH EVASION AS POSSIBLE - the node is highly inefficient ... At best, this kind of node would be good for a build that is attempting to heavily utilize frenzy charges, of which few builds even do.

I didn't say it's best for max evasion builds, I specifically said that it's efficient for builds that are building frenzy charges and need evasion.

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anubite wrote:

I do not believe you can incorporate the current +max frenzy charge and +bonus on frenzy charge passives into a build that is more successful than one that chooses to exclude them.

I disagree. For max aspd builds, frenzy charges make an incredible difference right now. Additionally, the frenzy node we're talking about is 0-distance from a normal melee ranger path. Also, frenzy and projectile damage is the only way to make a decent ranger caster right now (with something like spark or fireball, though there seems to be a lot less projectile damage nodes now than there used to be).

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anubite wrote:

I'm just saying that the node is ineffecient because you must spend 3-4 points in attributes you otherwise would not need to

Having just finished a bow shadow, I can finally say that I have an appreciation for dexterity as a stat. It could use some buffing (possibly just more accuracy and evasion per point without changing the meaning of dexterity), but I've never felt like I've ever had "too much dex".

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Qarl wrote:

If it were to do something else, what would you want it to do?

I would want it to give a flat % evade (or dodge) chance per charge. It just seems counter-intuitive that the skill the gives you evasion has poor synergy with evasion-heavy builds.

Make it 1% increased evade/dodge chance per charge and it would feel a lot more special and cool. For a mechanic that requires you to continually spend time, attention and resources to keep going it feels very underwhelming in its current iteration.

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Qarl wrote:

If it were to do something else, what would you want it to do?

Actually it is funny that the Evasion+ is most useful for chars without much +Evasion.

You could also change it to a flat +1% Evasion-Chance, so that it behaves more like endurance charges. Endurance charges are stronger the more Armor you have. And +1% Evasion-Chance is more useful with 50% Evasion than with 20% Evasion-Chance.

Or keep the current bonus and add +2% Movement-Speed, since this would feel a lot more frenzy, than something defensive.