Guild Wars 2

Why is this forum so buggy…

To any mod reading, the attachment shows how this thread looked like before i double posted, so… yeah think twice before pressing your infraction button.

Obsidyth.1798:

Never in the history of ever have I ever found myself being happy that a ranger is in my party.

I know they said no tank, no heal etc etc… but my god whats the point of rangers? Warriors have shout/banners, Gaurdians are almost a prereq for higher end fractals, Mesmers bring utility, Eles have combo fields and Rangers bring…. an irritating pet that prolongs Jade Maw and cant be stowed.

I would love to make a ranger but I cant find a good PVE reason to make one….

Someone please inspire me to make a Ranger because I really loved Rangers in Gw1 and now I’m conflicted =(

rangers are fine, people just need to l2p

rangers also bring team buff, dmg and utility

what i really would love to go is mandatory guardian on every high lv fractal

Poor Oxxy getting ganged up on by casuals.
I honestly can’t think of any game that requires your team to be nice and evenly spaced out. It’s usually:
>One guy stand where you can get hit
>Other guys stand on the opposite side or some equally lame safe spot.
>Profit???
GW2 just got rid of that first guy and everyone just yolo’s.
Also, it’s infinitely harder to see bosses tells when you’re stacked up on him, especially if you have a Norn or Charr in your party, someone is wielding Sunrise or Twilight, and the kitten boss is buried in an eternal hellfire of almighty Guardian Justice.

I like how someone else on here put it, “You are your own trinity”. You control your own healing, your own tanking (damage mitigation), and most importantly, your own damage. Sure some specific classes can you help you out with a few of those, but the majority is on you.
So when people run support, they’re failing at their damage role. It is not someone else’s job to deal damage, I absolutely hate this mindset.

Black Box.9312:

A well-played ranger can be as useful as a warrior in terms of offensive support in dungeons. The difference is that they have a higher skill curve to play effectively.

I have yet to see a ranger managing to evade as well as other classes do because of sword, and I don’t believe anyone can unless proven wrong. That being said ranger’s unique offensive support abilities are great as you say and I feel they are indeed sword #1 remake away from being great pve class. Funny thing is if sword chain was similar to other weapons in game ranger would actually be one of the more evasive professions.

Also don’t hate on bears, they are op and double bear is the only pet choice for me when i play ranger.

Rangers don’t kill people. People kill people.

Obsidyth.1798:

Someone please inspire me to make a Ranger because I really loved Rangers in Gw1 and now I’m conflicted =(

Inspire yourself, kitten .. You loved rangers in GW1? Play them in GW2 and learn to love them also here..

I never thought ranger was hard to play. In fact they seem pretty ez to me. I have all the weapons and i switch depending on the situation. Mostly zerker gear with a few knights trinkets. I almost always bring frost spirit unless i know it will die. Master’s bond is pretty fun too. If your pet can’t get 1 shot i can have a super tanky powerful kitty !!

I think rangers a great and fun profession that suffer in one-shot mechanic scenarios, since their pet will usually die depending on what it is.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

Rangers are a slight change of their sword auto attack away from being the second most popular and important dungeon class.

^ So true. If the dec 10th patch does anything about this, I’ll actually make a legitimate return to my ranger (my first 80 and the main class I played for about the first 6 months or so).

Dahkeus.8243:

^ So true. If the dec 10th patch does anything about this, I’ll actually make a legitimate return to my ranger (my first 80 and the main class I played for about the first 6 months or so).

I wouldn’t hold my breath. Not more than a week or 2 ago there was a dev commenting in a thread saying there are no plans for changing ranger sword aa. I can’t be bothered to search said thread, though.

Konu.1826:

Dahkeus.8243:

^ So true. If the dec 10th patch does anything about this, I’ll actually make a legitimate return to my ranger (my first 80 and the main class I played for about the first 6 months or so).

I wouldn’t hold my breath. Not more than a week or 2 ago there was a dev commenting in a thread saying there are no plans for changing ranger sword aa. I can’t be bothered to search said thread, though.

Jon Peters said that the sword is working as intended. They designed it that way since it’s a leap, and no other movement skills ( like warrior dash or whirlwind) can evade during it, therefore it will not be changed.

He also said he likes it that way, which I think is the real reason.

I’ve seen a lot more rangers using GS, especially in fractals. Sword is just too hard to evade when you want even when you take off auto-attack. I would happily take a GS/Sword/WH ranger on a dungeon run as long as they’re in full berserker. To fix sword auto they would have to redo all animations, too much work I guess…

Have you guys ever see any Anet developer play ranger w/ sword? I don’t mean running around in open PvE w/ sword but in dungeon w/ a sword.

Konu.1826:

Black Box.9312:

A well-played ranger can be as useful as a warrior in terms of offensive support in dungeons. The difference is that they have a higher skill curve to play effectively.

I have yet to see a ranger managing to evade as well as other classes do because of sword, and I don’t believe anyone can unless proven wrong. That being said ranger’s unique offensive support abilities are great as you say and I feel they are indeed sword #1 remake away from being great pve class. Funny thing is if sword chain was similar to other weapons in game ranger would actually be one of the more evasive professions.

Also don’t hate on bears, they are op and double bear is the only pet choice for me when i play ranger.

And that’s exactly the problem. I despise 1h sword on ranger, yet I find myself using it more often than not simply because offhand axe and warhorn are much too useful to not run it.

JMar.3254:

Konu.1826:

Dahkeus.8243:

^ So true. If the dec 10th patch does anything about this, I’ll actually make a legitimate return to my ranger (my first 80 and the main class I played for about the first 6 months or so).

I wouldn’t hold my breath. Not more than a week or 2 ago there was a dev commenting in a thread saying there are no plans for changing ranger sword aa. I can’t be bothered to search said thread, though.

Jon Peters said that the sword is working as intended. They designed it that way since it’s a leap, and no other movement skills ( like warrior dash or whirlwind) can evade during it, therefore it will not be changed.

He also said he likes it that way, which I think is the real reason.

Yes, but he also said that he was exploring something that may make the 1h sword “less frustrating”.

Source:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/7#post3155858
and
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/8#post3162014

I’m not holding my breath over it, but I can certainly hope with a bit of optimism since it’s at least being looked at, finally.

Well, I’m happy to see there might still be hope, I really want to like ranger but I just can’t at the moment.

Rangers are popular among people who want to play an archer, because that’s their most traditional archetype (I am one of them too – if I had wanted to play a sword and board class, I’d have rolled a warrior and not a ranger, really!).
Problem only is that due to the badly designed Boon system and boons being so ridiculously short ranged, ranged combat in GW2 is kitten by design. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the elitists are then picking on anyone playing…well…ANY ranged class in this game. It’s not the ranger’s fault. The problem is the combat system favouring melee combat and players tightly balling up to the point of it being broken.

Dahkeus.8243:

Yes, but he also said that he was exploring something that may make the 1h sword “less frustrating”.

Source:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/7#post3155858
and
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/8#post3162014

I’m not holding my breath over it, but I can certainly hope with a bit of optimism since it’s at least being looked at, finally.

He also said that they lengthened the sbow auto by 40ms to fix an animation bug. A week or so later after being called out he came clean and said they did it to promote other skill use, and nerfed the auto appropriately.

I also will not be holding my breath.

Adam.4103:

skyhawk.5149:

I usually go S/W and switch between GS and LB depending on the situation. Once you become so familiar with the ranger its actually a fun class to play. Most ppl hate rangers since rangers are exceptionally hard to learn to play.I’m a believer of skill not a believer of classes, i’m so familiar with my ranger that i rarely die in PvE (and even in WvW) unless I’m being surround by 5+ Vet Mobs or Sheer amounts of AoE. Its very hard to die in PvE situations as the ranger pet heal on down function is pretty OP. Also I believe it is possible to stow the pet as long as you put it flee mode.

No the reason I hate most rangers is because they don’t even try to play better. Camping longbow at 1500 range is inexcusable in any situation.

You obviously haven’t played Mark 2 golem since the update then. Longbow at 1500 range is OP in this scenario.

JMar.3254:

Dahkeus.8243:

Yes, but he also said that he was exploring something that may make the 1h sword “less frustrating”.

Source:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/7#post3155858
and
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/December-10th-Ranger-changes/page/8#post3162014

I’m not holding my breath over it, but I can certainly hope with a bit of optimism since it’s at least being looked at, finally.

He also said that they lengthened the sbow auto by 40ms to fix an animation bug. A week or so later after being called out he came clean and said they did it to promote other skill use, and nerfed the auto appropriately.

I also will not be holding my breath.

The weirdest part of this game is somehow we have so many failed politicians changed their careers.

SkyChef.5432:

The weirdest part of this game is somehow we have so many failed politicians changed their careers.

Lol, John Smith is cool.

So basically, rangers are worthless unless they use a single build that consists of a sword where you just use the auto-attack all day and the other skills to dodge, which also roots you in place, frost spirit which is a very much passive utility, and spotter?

Its no wonder I rarely see any rangers using this; its very boring to use and the way the sword auto-attack works only causes frustration. I’d rather use something like a longbow and enjoy myself, or just hop on another class, than have to use a build like that!

Bri.8354:

So basically, rangers are worthless unless they use a single build that consists of a sword where you just use the auto-attack all day and the other skills to dodge, which also roots you in place, frost spirit which is a very much passive utility, and spotter?

This pretty much applies to everyone (aside from eles and… guardians i guess), almost every class has only one optimal build, while everything else is much worse. And while sword auto attack is very punishing and ties you up sometimes, it is hella fun to play with, to me at least i wouldn't mind if anet removed the root tbh..

Bri.8354:

So basically, rangers are worthless unless they use a single build that consists of a sword where you just use the auto-attack all day and the other skills to dodge, which also roots you in place, frost spirit which is a very much passive utility, and spotter?

Its no wonder I rarely see any rangers using this; its very boring to use and the way the sword auto-attack works only causes frustration. I’d rather use something like a longbow and enjoy myself, or just hop on another class, than have to use a build like that!

Nah. Just got your own private group & play whatever to your heart content. I’ve played LB ranger w/ my bear to see the other 4s can kill bosses w/o me (one of them is a ranger w/ sword). They did. BTW, they did threaten to go all LB on me after that. What’s a leechie me.

Bri.8354:

So basically, rangers are worthless unless they use a single build that consists of a sword where you just use the auto-attack all day and the other skills to dodge, which also roots you in place, frost spirit which is a very much passive utility, and spotter?

Its no wonder I rarely see any rangers using this; its very boring to use and the way the sword auto-attack works only causes frustration. I’d rather use something like a longbow and enjoy myself, or just hop on another class, than have to use a build like that!

Not really. GS is a good alternative to sword if you have trouble with the rooting, and longbow is one of the strongest ranged weapons in the game when implemented correctly (and the Dec. 10 patch should make it much easier to use effectively).

I’ve done 5 man bearbow runs (primarily for the lulz) with a group that actually knows how to play ranger, and we’ve actually cleared things pretty smoothly and easily. Just take some time to learn the ins and outs of the class and you should be able to make your way through dungeons just fine.

Rangers in Dungeons:

- Arah can be done by a party just made of rangers. I have seen a video of Lupicus getting down in 1 minute. Secret: Axe in Offhand.
- GS is extremely useful to kill the Assassins during the Magg path in Citadel of Flame, and I almost do it alone when I get to the foe faster than others using Swoop.
- In Twilight Arbor, the axe in main hand works very well to clear blossoms. I am also easily opening the path since I am resilient and dodgy/evasive.
- Apart from Spotter and Spirits, your pets can be passive and quite usefull giving buffs. I often use Red Moa boosting guardians and mesmers with fury, as well as the Jungle Stalker for some might – and he does the same amount of damage as the Jaguar.

My first and most played character is a ranger. Lesson learnt: they may do good damage ranged but not a good DPS.
Longbow is too slow and almost useless despite rapid fire, point blank shot is the most hated skill in the game probably and bears do no damage and work as punch bags – and sincerely you sacrifice a lot of your utilities if you want to equip a bear and make it work at least a bit useful.
I don’t have a lot of HP (18k) tough I run dungeons daily only melee – GS and S+W/D/A and I do a lot of DPS – (3540 pts for attack). I rarely get down

Don’t know why GS gets so few credit. While you are auto-attacking you also evade attacks. You can do high DPS with GS and you can still move.
Anyway, my theory about so many bad rangers out there is simple: is an idealistic profession, has the cute pet companion – who doesn’t love animals? <3 – then all that kind of sweet and silly people start to play with it xD for few good results.

Bri.8354:

So basically, rangers are worthless unless they use a single build that consists of a sword where you just use the auto-attack all day and the other skills to dodge, which also roots you in place, frost spirit which is a very much passive utility, and spotter?

Its no wonder I rarely see any rangers using this; its very boring to use and the way the sword auto-attack works only causes frustration. I’d rather use something like a longbow and enjoy myself, or just hop on another class, than have to use a build like that!

I think you don’t get the point of somebody being useful in a dungeon party.
If you are doing a common path for a daily farm, you want people who help to make it faster as possible. People want to kill as fast as possible to avoid mistaking and getting killed.
Then you need people who do lots of damage. If you equip your longbow you will make the fight last longer, It will be good for you somehow but extremely selfish for the party.

GS is much better than LB and you can also evade while attacking, you can move, you can even lose the target and hit 3 to scape fast. And you will be doing a great DPS – if your stats are good of course.

Sword may place you rooted, but you have a second weapon choice and you also have your offhand to make you more free. And take a look at the damage made by axe, dagger and warhorn, is exceptional. Is all about knowing how to use. Nobody said it would be easy to play it. And no, you don’t have to use just one build, you have quite some options (I don’t use Spirits in dungeons, for example)

Both sides are technically correct and neither is to blame.

You can’t blame rangers (many of whom rolled that class specifically to play a -ranged- class, mind you!) for not wanting to be shoehorned into an extremely unfun to use melee weapon (filing tax returns is a lot more fun than using Sword as a ranger, really).

You can’t blame the rest of the group for not wanting to have a character around who doesn’t maximize their damage potential.

The blame needs to be put on ANet for designing such a horribly broken combat system that makes melee a vastly better choice than anything ranged in pretty much any imaginable situation.

Kimyrielle.3826:

The blame needs to be put on ANet for designing such a horribly broken combat system that makes melee a vastly better choice than anything ranged in pretty much any imaginable situation.

That’s only really true in dungeons. Range has its place in open world and in WvW and in PvP. Only one of the ~4 types of content the game offers is really stacked against range— that’s not so bad.

Ranger GS is rather bad atm, not only it has bad DPS it also causes fumble dodges with it’s autoattack chain.

Short Bow – Crossfire – 1,206 DPS
Longbow – Long Range Shot – 1,070 DPS
Sword – Slash (Full Combo) – 1,664 DPS
Axe – Ricochet – 700 DPS
Great Sword – Slash (Full Combo) – 1,183 DPS

Axe – Ricochet – 700 DPS

Depends on what you reflect…

Account.9832:

Axe – Ricochet – 700 DPS

Depends on what you reflect…

Ricochet is the axe mainhand autoattack, not Whirling Defense.

Taku.6352:

Ranger GS is rather bad atm, not only it has bad DPS it also causes fumble dodges with it’s autoattack chain.

Short Bow – Crossfire – 1,206 DPS
Longbow – Long Range Shot – 1,070 DPS
Sword – Slash (Full Combo) – 1,664 DPS
Axe – Ricochet – 700 DPS
Great Sword – Slash (Full Combo) – 1,183 DPS

Does that factor maul in anywhere? Because using the GS without using maul would be like a warrior not using HB with his GS.

I believe that’s a raw AA DPS calculation.

skyhawk.5149:

When I did TA F/U a while back my group consisted of 3rangers. We all sat at 1.5k range and pretty much soloed the boss.

I like this new play on the term “solo” it’s so much better than the old one when the party requirement for soloing was greater than zero but less than two.

maxinion.8396:

Kimyrielle.3826:

The blame needs to be put on ANet for designing such a horribly broken combat system that makes melee a vastly better choice than anything ranged in pretty much any imaginable situation.

That’s only really true in dungeons. Range has its place in open world and in WvW and in PvP. Only one of the ~4 types of content the game offers is really stacked against range— that’s not so bad.

I can’t comment on sPvP for I don’t play that content, but in the open world, melee combat is in theory just as superior to range as in dungeons, because the same combat mechanics apply. The only difference is that people are less concerned with maximizing damage output and minimizing the time spent playing the game there. Also, people don’t run this type of content in organized groups -that- often, so boon stacking has less of an impact there.
In WvW, there are -some- situations where range is useful, yes. Namely barraging enemy zergs in chokepoints and putting suppression fire on enemy battlements. If that’s enough to consider range on par with melee is in the eye of the beholder, particularly since boon stacking is a staple for any organized zerg vs. zerg combat, too.

SmudgerUK.4715:

skyhawk.5149:

When I did TA F/U a while back my group consisted of 3rangers. We all sat at 1.5k range and pretty much soloed the boss.

I like this new play on the term “solo” it’s so much better than the old one when the party requirement for soloing was greater than zero but less than two.

I laughed more than I should have at this…
I lost any hope in them fixing the ranger autoattack since it seems like it “works as intended”, but at least I can still enjoy the class. 90% of content is easy enough not to require a dodge.
/inb4 bashes guardian for not putting aegis GHHHHRAWWWRRRR

When you’re used to open world boss zergs, 3 players feels like solo’ing.

Kimyrielle.3826:

I can’t comment on sPvP for I don’t play that content, but in the open world, melee combat is in theory just as superior to range as in dungeons, because the same combat mechanics apply. The only difference is that people are less concerned with maximizing damage output and minimizing the time spent playing the game there. Also, people don’t run this type of content in organized groups -that- often, so boon stacking has less of an impact there.

Yeah, in theory, melee is always better. In practice, virtually all open world bosses are so clouded in particle effects that seeing their attack animations in melee range is close to impossible when more than five people are around -.-

CptAurellian.9537:

Kimyrielle.3826:

I can’t comment on sPvP for I don’t play that content, but in the open world, melee combat is in theory just as superior to range as in dungeons, because the same combat mechanics apply. The only difference is that people are less concerned with maximizing damage output and minimizing the time spent playing the game there. Also, people don’t run this type of content in organized groups -that- often, so boon stacking has less of an impact there.

Yeah, in theory, melee is always better. In practice, virtually all open world bosses are so clouded in particle effects that seeing their attack animations in melee range is close to impossible when more than five people are around -.-

Don’t need to. Because of the water fields and guardians in the frontline, you’re actually safer in melee because of all the mass aoe healing effects.

I was a berk ranger in balthazar, but because of all the guardian water field blasting and healing effects, I could take a hit that reduced me to 5-10% HP and be back up to 100% in a couple of seconds.

For Balthazar, I agree. But e.g. at Dwayna (statue) or Melandru, they pretty much oneshot me if I miss one of their moves, which is quite an easy thing in the effect storm.

I played a little more with my ranger using sword+dagger. I can use the evades from then with the sword auto atack if i time then well, but i just can’t use the dodges, i press the dodge button like 5 times but it still does the auto atack sequence instead of the dodge.

Looks like the problem is the auto atack has 2 leaps that can’t be interrupted, i hope they fix that in december by at least removing one of the leaps (making the kick not a leap at least).

Casmurro.9046:

Looks like the problem is the auto atack has 2 leaps that can’t be interrupted, i hope they fix that in december by at least removing one of the leaps (making the kick not a leap at least).

That last suggestion would probably get you burned at a stake in the pvp section. That’s precisely one of the reasons, why the sword is such an interesting choice in pvp. Kiting someone who has 2 leaps in their aa-chain is not that easy.
That being said, I’d also love the aa-chain to be better intteruptible for a dodge.

Aside from that, I know for most normal pve dungeons are all about raw damage if you are farming them.
But generally speaking, I will never get the hatred towards (brown-)bears. Yes, in a dedicated group of experienced players the dmg loss might be noticeable, but the bears activated ability can be a livesaver. 2 conditions removed fpr 5 targets with 25 seconds recharge, even if not traited, is a very good choice in my opinion. And the inbred survivability of the bear will usually guarantee it’s availlable, when you need it.
Granted, when conditions can be avoided or are not a problem due to general group composition or encounter type, there are more useful choices. But switching pets is just 3 klicks, so there’s no problem there.
(Unless you are like me and like having a name for your pet, than it takes a little more time. I want pets to remember their names, when put in storage.)

Wasn’t there, at some point, numbers showing that the highest DPS in the game was a ranger with a Fiery Greatsword? Or am I just hallucinating that memory?

Rangers don’t have as many damage % modifiers like elementalists do and conjures have fixed weapon/skill damage*power coefficients afaik, so i don’t think so.

Having a ranger when using fgs is good because frost spirit will be very beneficial to fiery rush. Thats probably what you are thinking of. Its been casually mentioned that ranger + fgs is op. But its because of frost spirit, not because the ranger does the most damage with it.

spoj.9672:

Having a ranger when using fgs is good because frost spirit will be very beneficial to fiery rush. Thats probably what you are thinking of. Its been casually mentioned that ranger + fgs is op. But its because of frost spirit, not because the ranger does the most damage with it.

Thanks for the clarification.

Even without the modifiers, conjures on a ranger considerably outdamage any of their main weapons.

Remember that the reason why outside PvE all the ranger specs are condition based is because ranger conditions don’t get halved in effectiveness compared to power based weapon attacks because of the pet.

Not that this is out of the ordinary, because the elementalist weapon autoattacks are even worse than ours and so their only viable PvE DPS specs are with conjures.

Orlly. Zelyhn? Where the hell is that asura when it’s needed…

I understand most people’s hate for pug rangers. But ranger is one if not the best classes for fotm/dungeons/wvw/pvp. I play a full zerker LB/GS ranger with signet of stone (with the signets affect both you and pet trait), signet of renewal and “protect me” (30 30 10 0 0). My pets constantly provide fury and regeneration buffs (Moa and Fern hound) and I am virtually un-killable due to invulnerability (signet of stone and “protect me”), evades (+ vigor on heals etc) and GS skill 4. I occasionally bring the traited frost spirit to fotm; however they usually die very quickly. Also I swap to shortbow + muddy terrain + krytan hound for constant knockbacks, immobilisation and cripple in the grawl fractal for vet mobs at first boss. There have been many times where my group have all died and I have carried them as I provide extremely high dps and have high survivability. Ranger played right with a skilled player at the controls is a great asset to any group.

I’m the last one alive in my full pvt spec guardian with 10% damage reduction signet of judgement. No idea why everyone is always dieing but I’m always standing, that’s how I know I carry my team really well. I provide extremely high dps with my sceptre dps spec and I wait till the party is about to wipe to use my virtues. I never waste my renewed focus, I always save it for when I need the 2 seconds invulnerability.