Talk:Frost Trap

Can somebody explain me how frost traps (in any MMO, like WoW) work? I could see an engineer storing their bombs with liquid nitrogen or something, and while mages can conjure frost and ice, I don't consider that fitting for profession like ranger or hunter. I liked the way it was in GW1, traps constructed from natural elements and themes. 62.197.173.242 07:53, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps rangers have some sort of magic of their own? You don't charm a bear that's trying to rip your head off simply by saying some comforting words to it. Perhaps they use chemicals that cause a reaction which sucks the heat from the ambient environment to create ice? They could also use something like liquid nitrogen as you suggested, I don't see why that would be exclusive to engineers. Rangers use poisons, why not other chemicals?

I wouldn't worry too much about this. It's a trap, traps to me feel like they fit rangers. I like consistent lore and in-game explanations, don't get me wrong, but to me they are secondary to a good game mechanic. If this works as a mechanic, it's fine to me. 199.245.34.11 08:19, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Rangers are masters of environment, nature and survival. They tame the wild beasts the same way people domisticated wolves and cattle in ancient times (if I was a game designer, I'd still make taming a little more complex than just staring a bear for 10 seconds). Rangers use natural poisons, readily extractable from venomous flora and fauna. Carrying chemicals would require some practical means of storing them, as well as defeating the whole idea of "to succeed with the help of, or even in spite of, their environment." Things such as playing with chemicals are in domain of engineer anyways. Elemental magic and conjuring ice in magical way belongs to elementalist profession. This only means to me that ArenaNet is throwing any lore and natural physics around skills (other than magic) out of window. 62.197.173.242 08:38, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Domesticating animals over such long times would not be practical in games. At the very least it would turn taming several animals into way too much of a drag. If you look at ranger skills, a lot of them suggest some form of magic or at lerast abilities far beyond what ordinary/real life human nature would allow. I'm thinking things like healing your pet from a distance, summoning nature spirits, summoning wild animals by blowing a war horn, ... So it wouldn't be farfetched to say they can use said abilities to make ice traps.

As for chemicals: transporting them isn't that hard really. A bag with a good insulator lining would do to transport cold stuff (not neccesarily liquid nitrogen). And -according to me anyway- rangers already have to transport poisons (which are also chemicals) because they don't mix them up or extract plants on the spot. I guess it's also partially a question of what you consider to be part of "nature". Frozen water is considered part of nature, liquid nitrogen is not. Why? Because one exists freely in nature in that specific form and the other does not? If you mix up several natural poisons, you get a concoction that doesn't occur in that form in nature either. Unnatural? many would argue no.

In the end, I'd say just take this sort of thing as it comes. If the game itself is good and the mechanics work, just enjoy it. This doesn't seem to be that much of a break from the "spirit" of a ranger to me. And really, you shouldn't look too hard for rational explanations in a game where magic can summon meteors that only affect a small area and breathing devices that supply infinite air :p 199.245.34.11 10:57, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

I never said that animals in video game should be tamed similiar how humans domesticated them in history. Blowing a horn to summon trained animals is nothing magical, as animals can be trained to perform specific actions after specific sounds and signals. Harvesting and mixing poisons from nature is natural. Manipulating ice in warm climate, then making it explode on foes when the trap is sprung is too magical for the ranger profession. All the other traps (from GW1 especially) can be explained without use of word 'magic.' Nature rituals, generally not associated with spellcasting or magic, take time and effort while traps take less than two seconds to put down or used instantly. Rangers in GW do not cast spells. Unless ArenaNet or anyone else can come up with a senseful explanation how a chunk of ice launched upon charr and norn can make them chilled, the whole concept of freezing traps is beyond me. I share your opinion when it comes to game mechanics, but if a skill is not fueled by magic, they are supposed behave somewhat naturally or within laws of physics. Of course thinking about physics in a fantasy game is somewhat ridiculous, but I still want a proper explanation to this one. 62.197.173.242 12:04, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

In guild wars Ranger is not your traditional archer living in the woods - it's more of hybrid between druid and traditional ranger you might know. They can use Nature Magic(and that's one of Ranger's trait lines). They can summon spirits, control roots(Entangle) etc. While I agree that frost traps might not suit ranger/hunter's lore in other MMOs, it works well for GW Rangers. --95.155.66.82 09:44, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

In real life, the Bombardier beetle uses chemicals to throw fiery explosions at his enemies. I don't see a reason why this shouldn't be possible for the opposite, in other words: chilling. Also, Ice Drakes do exactly this. I suppose they don't use magic for this, so why shouldn't the ranger be able to utilize them? Gnarf 12:53, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

I know this is a little bit late, but how does anyone come to the conclusion that GW1 rangers didn't use magic heavily? They summoned up spirits that converted all physical damage to fire! They split one arrow into several as it leaves the bow!It wasn't as overt as in GW2, but it was definitely present.--174.106.46.30 18:57, 17 March 2015 (UTC)