Guild Wars 2

Right now, i kind of feel that rangers are lacking in WvW and to a certain extent in tpvp outside of spirit builds, while thieves are in a VERY good position when it comes to backcapping and being able to dish out large numbers while having a great amount of sustain thanks to their stealth.

I consider rangers to be a sort of ’’Tracker’’ class, being able to track targets to a certain extent, considering they can lay traps, are proficient in nature magic and are able to charm pets.

My proposition would be to give certain underused pets abilities to apply revealed, and buff certain skills/traps.

For example, Hunter’s Call summons a bunch of hawks that claw away at the thief. When the thief stealths, the hawks go invisible too. Instead of that, make the hawks apply revealed while they claw away at an target, since seeing someone being ripped apart by a pack of hawks isn’t really stealthy, now is it?

I am not sure about giving certain traps the same treatment, since traps are already quite strong on their own.

As for pets, i’d like to see pigs apply revealed. Currently i almost never see a ranger using any kind of pig pet. Giving these guys a new utility would surely make them viable. Again, i haven’t really decided on what the radius would be and how it would be implemented, but it’s a nice idea to discuss.

Any thoughts on this?

There are so many ranger specs that allow you to fight thieves forever in 1v1 if you’re on equal skill level. S/D + GS power regen, A/T +S/D cond-eveasion this one in particular has a lot of variations (traps, signets, spirits). It looks as if you need to get a hang on fighting vs thieves as decap eng, hambow and necro counter any ranger spec in tPvP a lot harder than a thief.
Also, thief doesn’t have sustained on dp but has burst whereas it lacks burst on sd while having sustained. Mesmer (shatter and/ or PU) has comparable amount of stealth while having HIGHER burst.
Giving ranger more revealing skills won’t change a thing, however utility would. Ranger is strong when on his but lacks in party scenarios. Traps/survival skills/ shouts could use some alteration to affect allies as well.

On the side note, this game could use some class education. 99% of rangers in WvW are glass bearbows that go cry on the forums when thief kills them and I would say that 90% of those thieves are just punching bags that anyone with half a brain could pwn.

So OP, I agree that ranger is in a weak spot when it comes to utility and could use some buffs. However, giving it more reveal skills is not the way to go as comps will just give up on thieves or stick to sd and you will end up with useless reveal skills in the end.