Guild Wars 2

The thing is that as long as bosses dont have any “Stack cleaves” there is no point to leave your group. Why would you stay different place because you all can just Stack up and Make sure boss wont move away from your aoe/ground skills. Game would Be much better If encounters had somekind of Stack hate, no melee hate but Stack hate.

You’re not near them so you shouldn’t get buffs from them. End of story.

Range being near melee still doesn’t have to deal with actual melee range mechanics. Nothing you’re saying deserves the entire game becoming easier for literally no reason.

So let me get this. Now some want a change to how melee and ranged combat works in the game, affecting the entire balance of the game on all game modes, just because someone wants to “role play” their ranger with a bow?

We’ve seen more unreasonable requests in the past, but this sure is one of them.

Reminds me of that person I had in my group when I run Crucible of Eternity that refused to come in melee range because “Subject Alpha is too ugly, I won’t come close to him”

Why not get together with the poster a few days ago that thought only range was usable and melee punished and between the two of you have a good time?

Yargesh.4965:

Why not get together with the poster a few days ago that thought only range was usable and melee punished and between the two of you have a good time?

Oh right there was that thread from a few days ago that was the opposite of this one.

PS: and then people ask why Anet doesn’t implement suggestions from the forums

So, um, why does even ranged exists, then?

Irreverent.3594:

So, um, why does even ranged exists, then?

There’s value in ranged combat. There’s value in melee combat. There’s a time and a place for everything. In open world you can pretty much do whatever you want. But for specific encounters, you’ll want to do something specific as it’s needed.

Irreverent.3594:

So, um, why does even ranged exists, then?

Really?

Were you in my 90 Molten Boss fractal last night? Boss kept teleporting around because no one stacked. Even if buffs had a high range, sometimes not stacking makes certain fights more difficult than they need to be.

I wouldnt go as far as to say that ranged combat sucks….but longbow ranger is flat out useless….even blurred frenzy does more dmg than that crap.

Making buff aoes higher would completely break the gameplay, especially in wvw. They are fine as they are and reward groups with proper positioning. If u wanna roleplay do it in divinity’s reach pls, not fractals.

Shirlias.8104:

Want to sta safe?
Stay ranged.

That’s the problem. With the nowadays meta, staying ranged not only results in lower dps, no cleave, no boons, and possible loss of enemy position management, but also (due to no heals, no defensive boons, and no shared disto) is also less safe.

So, basically, there’s not even a single avantage to use range dps outside of open world solo roaming. Which makes the whole concept completely pointless.

At the very least, any “lower damage when in melee” effects on the few ranged weapons that have them should be removed, because those have no point whatsoever nowadays – assuming, of course, that the point was not “do not use that weapon for anything serious”. In the long run, the role of ranged weapons in the game should be looked at again. There should be a purpose to them, they should not always be an inferior choice.
Notice, that the only ranged weapons that are used in meta are those that can be used in melee with no downsides. That [retty much tells you all you want to know about the current role of ranged weapons nowadays.

Astralporing.1957:

So, basically, there’s not even a single avantage to use range dps outside of open world solo roaming. Which makes the whole concept completely pointless.

Actually there is, but not exclusively using a ranged weapon (which is why we have weapon swap). There are many times when you need to range the boss, or you need to go complete some mechanics, like standing in a green circle, where having a ranged weapon helps.

Play how you want, right? Both melee and ranged attacks will kill anything in this game, eventually. It’s just that in my experience ranged players usually have subpar performance. Take the gladiator (endboss of the Chaos Fractal), for instance. Practically all of the pugs I have joined kite this boss, running around all over the platform. As soon as the CC bar pops up, everyone dodges away instead of towards the boss, not breaking the bar and dragging the fight out even longer. A lot of those groups wipe. Taking him down costs a lot of time. While a full melee group can take him down in 30 seconds. I’ve tried to get those kiting groups to melee him a few times, and they always go down before he even reaches his breakbar state. There are other bosses where the same things happens (Bloomhunger, for instance; usually takes a lot of time kiting him around, but melee groups can burst him down in no time).

I’m not saying this is the case for OP, but people who favor ranged play over melee are often subpar players, not capable of staying alive even when they range (I’m only conveying my personal experience here). One thing I like about GW2 combat is the synergy between classes, which is also one of the selling points of the game. Going ranged takes that aspect away and the combat suffers because of it. And I’m not one of those players who likes drawn out combat while the enemy could be taken down in 1/10th of the time it takes to kite him down. It’s fine if you want to use ranged weapons, but there’s no rule stating you have to stay away from the enemy to use that weapon. Like the Elementalist poster above said: you can still fight in melee with a ranged weapon, which doesn’t take away from your effectiveness. In fact, with skill synergy it actually improves effectiveness.

Though I’m sure stat choice has a lot to do with this as well. I have the sneaking suspicion that there are a lot less zerkers out there, even in Fractals, considering how long it takes some of them to kill a boss. If ranged is your preference because it improves survivability, consider dropping defensive skills and focus as much as possible on doing maximum damage. At least this way you will be less of a liability on a ranged character. And since it was stated that it’s easier to survive in ranged combat, defensive skills aren’t that essential anymore, right?

Irreverent.3594:

So, um, why does even ranged exists, then?

Because:

1. Players (including, apparently, the OP) like to use ranged attacks as part of a character concept.
2. The existence of ranged and melee in the two PvP modes allows for greater diversity and counter-play.
3. There is a huge skill continuum in GW2. Players on the lower side of that continuum might want to stay at range in some encounters, as doing so is often safer and thus more enjoyable for them

The OP’s mistake is not in wanting to play an at-range character, it is in asking for a removal of the opportunity cost for doing so.

This community really has its head up its ass if it thinks the “Stack and Smack” meta that permeates the game does anything positive for the reputation of this game. As someone who’s tried to get others into GW2… Among players who’ve tried the game, the ’Everyone stack!" emphasis makes the game look awful and play awful.

This game sells itself on its open world and easy grouping (Which encourage all sorts of playstyles). But for the ‘organized’ content you seem to think the stacking encourages, this game is the laughingstock of the industry. Seriously – to anyone who’s played any other game than Guild Wars 2, the universal reaction to “Everyone Stack up!” is “This is the dumbest thing ever.”

Every other game manages to do it right. Guild Wars 2’s trying to move in that direction. Playing a ranged character doesn’t detract from the importance of positioning, and “Everyone stand in the same place!” is the absolute WORST way to make a game emphasize such.

Idunno, my condi ranger does more damage at range than up close, however i still switch to melee in combat so that i can use my burst skills there(which also help my damage when using shortbow because vulnerability and might). Its far easier to stay behind a boss when you are close to them too, which is more damage my shortbow does.

Dante.1763:

Idunno, my condi ranger does more damage at range than up close, however i still switch to melee in combat so that i can use my burst skills there(which also help my damage when using shortbow because vulnerability and might). Its far easier to stay behind a boss when you are close to them too, which is more damage my shortbow does.

That’s still melee, even if you’re using a ranged weapon.

Sartharina.3542:

Dante.1763:

Idunno, my condi ranger does more damage at range than up close, however i still switch to melee in combat so that i can use my burst skills there(which also help my damage when using shortbow because vulnerability and might). Its far easier to stay behind a boss when you are close to them too, which is more damage my shortbow does.

That’s still melee, even if you’re using a ranged weapon.

Not really, often times i stay far enough away to stay out of their attack range, which is still close enough to receive buffs from allies, and do the things i mentioned above. Unless im close enough to hit the boss with my sword, im not in melee.

I think you have misunderstood the meaning of ranger
ranger

1.
a keeper of a park, forest, or area of countryside.
“park rangers”
2.
a member of a body of armed men, in particular:
a mounted soldier.
US
a commando.

Definition says nothing about projectile weapons.

Tzarakiel.7490:

I think you have misunderstood the meaning of ranger
ranger

1.
a keeper of a park, forest, or area of countryside.
“park rangers”
2.
a member of a body of armed men, in particular:
a mounted soldier.
US
a commando.

Definition says nothing about projectile weapons.

Nobody’s ever contested the definition of Ranger. Nobody has an issue with Greatsword or Sword rangers fighting in melee. The stupidity in this game is about characters that use Longbows and Rifles and other ranged weapons (They don’t even have to be Longbow Rangers – Rifle Warriors. Longbow Warriors, Staff Eles, Staff Necros, Longbow Guardians, Scepter Guardians, Staff Mesmer, Scepter Mesmer.) all end up having to stack in melee range, which everyone outside of Guild Wars 2 rightfully recognizes as Completely kittening Stupid.

And even with the definition of Ranger – in both Reality and Fiction,. Rangers are renowned for their marksmanship with long-ranged weapons. Yes, Aragorn had a sword – but he also had a Bow, which he used to deadly effect.

The problem in this game is the synergy mechanic benefits and pushes you into melee to the point it’s lopsided in comparison to range. There are no range equivalent for Warrior’s Phalanx Strength, Chrono’s Alacrity or Herald’s perma buffs which are all optimized for melee combat.

You can’t really blame the community for angling towards optimization, in this case melee. Same reason you can’t blame the community for preferring zerk for the first 3 years when condi mechanic was just plain broken.
The game is what it is because of design decisions and choices made by Anet.

If you felt, like OP, always ending up in melee range for max damage, it’s by design.

This game is originally designed with pvp conquest 5v5 in mind. Even boon sharing is focused on 5 allies target in close proximity.

Anet dislikes range from the get go day1. Majority of range weapons alone are kitten with either scaled or poor damages.

You just have to deal with it or move on. I highly doubt anything is going to change anytime soon.

Sartharina.3542:

The stupidity in this game is about characters that use Longbows and Rifles and other ranged weapons (They don’t even have to be Longbow Rangers – Rifle Warriors. Longbow Warriors, Staff Eles, Staff Necros, Longbow Guardians, Scepter Guardians, Staff Mesmer, Scepter Mesmer.) all end up having to stack in melee range, which everyone outside of Guild Wars 2 rightfully recognizes as Completely kittening Stupid.

That almost sounds as if people were all over the place in the dungeons/raids of other MMOs, which is hardly the case unless specific encounter mechanics enforce it. Having the group close together has always offered a bunch of benefits, and since melee characters are rather range-restricted, that has always been close to melee range. GW2 does stack a bit tighter than other games, but the principle is exactly the same.

It’s wrong to say Ranger are suboptimal when ranged.

An LB Ranger will have a pet that gains melee buffs and can buff in turn, will stack invulnerability and heal peeps around the target. The latter two mean that ranged Ranger will do less damage than buffed melee group members for balance reasons. But this is only suboptimal if your only yardstick is damage delivered by a player.

Another utility in LB Ranger in a group is that they or their pet can quickly revive downed players if the group is smart enough to move the target when this happens.

Also note that a key feature of LB Ranger is the ability to damage all foes in the line of sight of the arrows – as such the Ranger has to continuously move at ranged to max their damage – which few do ofc No minor ability in Pvp/WvW but usually pointless in boss fights.

In addition many bosses have weak dps but strong buffing adds that sit at a distance, Ranger is the ideal profession to deal with these – ofc many Rangers don’t.

In contrast, Ranger as melee – currently – is quite weak even when buffed etc. The Ranger profession – even as Druid! – is inherently optimal at ranged.

It’s sad that so many berate the Ranger players for not fighting melee – which makes the profession quite pointless for the Ranger player. Ranger is actually a very good group profession and I suspect the real problem is other players poor mindset and the fact that a weak ranger player’s failings tend to be more obvious to other players.

It’s certainly at very fun profession to play and others players need to loosen up a bit and not be so dogmatic whilst ranger players learn their craft!

Ofc it doesn’t help one bit that the game has no build template system, but there you go.

zoomborg.9462:

I wouldnt go as far as to say that ranged combat sucks….but longbow ranger is flat out useless….even blurred frenzy does more dmg than that crap.

Making buff aoes higher would completely break the gameplay, especially in wvw. They are fine as they are and reward groups with proper positioning. If u wanna roleplay do it in divinity’s reach pls, not fractals.

LB Ranger stacks invulnerability. If that was all the ranger did they would be adding approximately one half member damage in the standard group before you add in any LB dps the ranger is directly credited with.

LB Ranger can also AoE heal around their target. No credit for this either I suspect.

LB Ranger can also strike anything in their arrows line of sight. No credit for this either I suspect.

So yes LB Ranger pinging at distance on a dps target dummy is going to have low dps.

lilypop.7819:

zoomborg.9462:

I wouldnt go as far as to say that ranged combat sucks….but longbow ranger is flat out useless….even blurred frenzy does more dmg than that crap.

Making buff aoes higher would completely break the gameplay, especially in wvw. They are fine as they are and reward groups with proper positioning. If u wanna roleplay do it in divinity’s reach pls, not fractals.

LB Ranger stacks invulnerability. If that was all the ranger did they would be adding approximately one half member damage in the standard group before you add in any LB dps the ranger is directly credited with.

LB Ranger can also AoE heal around their target. No credit for this either I suspect.

LB Ranger can also strike anything in their arrows line of sight. No credit for this either I suspect.

So yes LB Ranger pinging at distance on a dps target dummy is going to have low dps.

Notice that, with the exception of piercing (which is a really poor substitute for cleave) everything else is not dependant on the “LB” part of “LB Ranger”. A melee one can do all of that as well.

Exciton.8942:

It has nothing to do with boon sharing range.

If full ranged builds can do competitive dps, then you simply have a ranged group stacked close to each other and share boons.

It is simply that you need to be in melee to do max dps. You don’t always have to be in melee for many classes but being in range all the time will make you suboptimal.

Except it is everything to do with boon sharing range. If you are more than 600 units away from the melee stack, you won’t get the Might stacks from the PS Warrior, Alacrity and Quickness from the Chronomancer, etc. On top of that, no ranged builds can provide those same boons to a similar degree (for now), hence their much lower DPS.

Ranged builds, with a few exceptions, have lower dps than melee regardless of boons. It’s the classic case of risk vs. reward, where rangeds usually have a dramatically lower risk.

lilypop.7819:

It’s wrong to say Ranger are suboptimal when ranged.

An LB Ranger will have a pet that gains melee buffs and can buff in turn, will stack invulnerability and heal peeps around the target. The latter two mean that ranged Ranger will do less damage than buffed melee group members for balance reasons. But this is only suboptimal if your only yardstick is damage delivered by a player.

Another utility in LB Ranger in a group is that they or their pet can quickly revive downed players if the group is smart enough to move the target when this happens.

Also note that a key feature of LB Ranger is the ability to damage all foes in the line of sight of the arrows – as such the Ranger has to continuously move at ranged to max their damage – which few do ofc No minor ability in Pvp/WvW but usually pointless in boss fights.

In addition many bosses have weak dps but strong buffing adds that sit at a distance, Ranger is the ideal profession to deal with these – ofc many Rangers don’t.
Do
In contrast, Ranger as melee – currently – is quite weak even when buffed etc. The Ranger profession – even as Druid! – is inherently optimal at ranged.

It’s sad that so many berate the Ranger players for not fighting melee – which makes the profession quite pointless for the Ranger player. Ranger is actually a very good group profession and I suspect the real problem is other players poor mindset and the fact that a weak ranger player’s failings tend to be more obvious to other players.

It’s certainly at very fun profession to play and others players need to loosen up a bit and not be so dogmatic whilst ranger players learn their craft!

Ofc it doesn’t help one bit that the game has no build template system, but there you go.

The fact that the ranger has some things to do that might, might, be situationally useful doesnt mean that they are not suboptimal when playing at range. For what it is worth, there are multiple other professions that are better at dealing with the strong adds that you mention.

lilypop.7819:

It’s wrong to say Ranger are suboptimal when ranged.

An LB Ranger will have a pet that gains melee buffs and can buff in turn, will stack invulnerability and heal peeps around the target. The latter two mean that ranged Ranger will do less damage than buffed melee group members for balance reasons. But this is only suboptimal if your only yardstick is damage delivered by a player.

Another utility in LB Ranger in a group is that they or their pet can quickly revive downed players if the group is smart enough to move the target when this happens.

Also note that a key feature of LB Ranger is the ability to damage all foes in the line of sight of the arrows – as such the Ranger has to continuously move at ranged to max their damage – which few do ofc No minor ability in Pvp/WvW but usually pointless in boss fights.

In addition many bosses have weak dps but strong buffing adds that sit at a distance, Ranger is the ideal profession to deal with these – ofc many Rangers don’t.

In contrast, Ranger as melee – currently – is quite weak even when buffed etc. The Ranger profession – even as Druid! – is inherently optimal at ranged.

It’s sad that so many berate the Ranger players for not fighting melee – which makes the profession quite pointless for the Ranger player. Ranger is actually a very good group profession and I suspect the real problem is other players poor mindset and the fact that a weak ranger player’s failings tend to be more obvious to other players.

It’s certainly at very fun profession to play and others players need to loosen up a bit and not be so dogmatic whilst ranger players learn their craft!

Ofc it doesn’t help one bit that the game has no build template system, but there you go.

All that you stated here can be done by a ranger useing melee weapons or range weapon in melee range aswell.

Want to target the add that buff boss do so and have your arrows hit the boss you melee and the buffer by positioning yourself right.

Want to rez downed player use your search and rescue in melee since that will pop the player to you its better for the group if you are in melee range so all 4-5 depending on raid or 5 man instance can rez aswell.

The buffing in your first paragraf is true but if your melee too it will heal you and buff you aswell.

CptAurellian.9537:

Ranged builds, with a few exceptions, have lower dps than melee regardless of boons. It’s the classic case of risk vs. reward, where rangeds usually have a dramatically lower risk.

You risk less in melee range in group content than staying in ranged distance.

You get all defence buffs/spam healed in melee range.

And at range you only have your own healing/own defence buffs.

Bratec.7136:

You risk less in melee range in group content than staying in ranged distance.

You get all defence buffs/spam healed in melee range.

And at range you only have your own healing/own defence buffs.

This is false. At range you won’t even get attacked therefore having buffs and healing isn’t needed.

maddoctor.2738:

This is false. At range you won’t even get attacked therefore having buffs and healing isn’t needed.

Please play in group content.

Or read my post above with example how i did Vale Guardian without pressing heal once.
Not dodged once (didnt need with 2 druids).

Or same fight with VG when i tried stay in range and was constantly hit by un-dodgable damage all time and many dodge-able AOE’s.

Bratec.7136:

Please play in group content.

I play only group content. Ranged is safe and away of any damage that’s why you don’t need any of the buffs and healing.

Funny that you mentioned VG though I guess nobody ranged when they were at the green circles.

maddoctor.2738:

Bratec.7136:

Please play in group content.

I play only group content. Ranged is safe and away of any damage that’s why you don’t need any of the buffs and healing.

Funny that you mentioned VG though I guess nobody ranged when they were at the green circles.

4 of melee jumped to circles, including me, since i also had to stay in melee.

Oh, you can try stand in ranged, but you wont get perma-alacrity-perma-might-25-perma-haste-perma-heals-perma-defence buffs.

As you didnt read my post, i write again – i didnt had to press heal once in full fight. Staying in melee.

Bratec.7136:

maddoctor.2738:

This is false. At range you won’t even get attacked therefore having buffs and healing isn’t needed.

Please play in group content.

Or read my post above with example how i did Vale Guardian without pressing heal once.
Not dodged once (didnt need with 2 druids).

Or same fight with VG when i tried stay in range and was constantly hit by un-dodgable damage all time and many dodge-able AOE’s.

And why did you get hit by undodgable damage and aoes? Simple really your team and you failed to do mechanics like green circles and ccing the boss.

You dident have to worry about blue melee teleport mechanic on top of all the other things you got hit by that your team mates probabely avoided due to blocking/buffing and healing eachother.

Have you thought about what would happen if the two druids just took we heal as one and sword torch in your full melee run? ( ofcourse not useing astral avatar to heal becouse that would be to meta)

Thats basicly the same you are doing by going ranged and not being with the group.

If someone dont like Forced-to-stack playstyle (since by not stacking you do much less dmg, you dont get any buffs or heals), please support.

Or some people will pretend AOE spam heal-spam buff doesnt exist in melee stacks and pretend its safer in range where you are on your own, spammed with AoE’s and dots.

Linken.6345:

Bratec.7136:

maddoctor.2738:

This is false. At range you won’t even get attacked therefore having buffs and healing isn’t needed.

Please play in group content.

Or read my post above with example how i did Vale Guardian without pressing heal once.
Not dodged once (didnt need with 2 druids).

Or same fight with VG when i tried stay in range and was constantly hit by un-dodgable damage all time and many dodge-able AOE’s.

And why did you get hit by undodgable damage and aoes? Simple really your team and you failed to do mechanics like green circles and ccing the boss.

You dident have to worry about blue melee teleport mechanic on top of all the other things you got hit by that your team mates probabely avoided due to blocking/buffing and healing eachother.

Have you thought about what would happen if the two druids just took we heal as one and sword torch?

Thats basicly the same you are doing by going ranged and not being with the group.

You choose to ignore example how i didnt had to press heal once in all fight in melee stack?

Or that all high level group content REQUIRE stacking. You can avoid stack of cause, but you will just make fights harder (i.e. no choice but to stack unless you are masochist).

Bratec.7136:

Linken.6345:

Bratec.7136:

maddoctor.2738:

This is false. At range you won’t even get attacked therefore having buffs and healing isn’t needed.

Please play in group content.

Or read my post above with example how i did Vale Guardian without pressing heal once.
Not dodged once (didnt need with 2 druids).

Or same fight with VG when i tried stay in range and was constantly hit by un-dodgable damage all time and many dodge-able AOE’s.

And why did you get hit by undodgable damage and aoes? Simple really your team and you failed to do mechanics like green circles and ccing the boss.

You dident have to worry about blue melee teleport mechanic on top of all the other things you got hit by that your team mates probabely avoided due to blocking/buffing and healing eachother.

Have you thought about what would happen if the two druids just took we heal as one and sword torch?

Thats basicly the same you are doing by going ranged and not being with the group.

You choose to ignore example how i didnt had to press heal once in all fight in melee stack?

Or that all high level group content REQUIRE stacking. You can avoid stack of cause, but you will just make fights harder (i.e. no choice but to stack unless you are masochist).

Guess you replied while i was editing read again

Have you thought about what would happen if the two druids just took we heal as one and sword torch in your full melee run? ( ofcourse not useing astral avatar to heal becouse that would be to meta)

Not to mention in many fights you are punished for not stacking at boss in melee range. All those strategies for dungeon bosses who do strong attacks if someone is at range (and solution that make fight trivial – is all stack melee), all those fractal fights like Mai trin etc etc etc.

Name any fight where staying all-ranged will make fight faster and easier that all-melee stack?

Bratec.7136:

Name any fight where staying all-ranged will make fight faster and easier that all-melee stack?

So you were talking about Raids all along? You should’ve mentioned that in your opening

Bratec.7136:

Not to mention in many fights you are punished for not stacking at boss in melee range. All those strategies for dungeon bosses who do strong attacks if someone is at range (and solution that make fight trivial – is all stack melee), all those fractal fights like Mai trin etc etc etc.

Name any fight where staying all-ranged will make fight faster and easier that all-melee stack?

Deimos is easier if dps is ranged but probabely not faster.

Bloomhungerer is easier if you dont stack and use range as pug group aswell.

It cant be faster since you trade damage for safety with range as the people in this thread have explained over and over

Sorry to burst your bubble archer kittens but ranger is not an archer and never was, rangers use a mix of melee weapons and maybe a shortbow, so if you want to be halfway viable at range be a elementalist and stack in melee, just because you stack in melee for a burn phase doesnt make the whole game melee friendly

why else would i see half the morons in a event standing back with the lootbow?

RSLongK.8961:

When in a group, please consider helping the group rather than be a detraction.
That means doing what the group needs not what you think is right.

The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. Or the few. -_-

Clam down all, PoF has answered your prayers. In the demo, there were bosses who had this mechanic that boils down to, “You have to use ranged now, you have to use melee now, okay back to range.”

Coffietire.2783:

Clam down all, PoF has answered your prayers. In the demo, there were bosses who had this mechanic that boils down to, “You have to use ranged now, you have to use melee now, okay back to range.”

That’s equally stupid. You still do not really have a choice. The game makes that choice for you.

Having both a ranged and a melee soplution makes your character usable in a wider range of situations.

Considering Longbow on ranger does less dmg when closer a swap needs to be made to likely a melee weapon (S or GS) whcih will be inherently more powerfull from the base up further increasing damage.

Camping your ranged weapon cause you are afraid to take a hit is detrimental to the group in most content, not only due to less damage output but you force the hits on a smaller part of the group (raising pressure).

being outdamaged a lot makes you trivial to the content , unless you can boon a lot which also requires you to be in a certain range. Getting alacrity, quickness, might, fury, banners, empower allies, and much more will likely double your dmg output compared to being far away. Getting heals and regen in melee range can raise your sustain to a higher level compared to selfheal only, actually leaving your selfheal for buffs or damage.

Using your 1500 range is np when you have all the time in the world to kill boss X in map Y solo.

This said if your group wipes nothing is wrong with your pet ressing someone and you kiting the boss at 1000+ range

Astralporing.1957:

lilypop.7819:

zoomborg.9462:

I wouldnt go as far as to say that ranged combat sucks….but longbow ranger is flat out useless….even blurred frenzy does more dmg than that crap.

Making buff aoes higher would completely break the gameplay, especially in wvw. They are fine as they are and reward groups with proper positioning. If u wanna roleplay do it in divinity’s reach pls, not fractals.

LB Ranger stacks invulnerability. If that was all the ranger did they would be adding approximately one half member damage in the standard group before you add in any LB dps the ranger is directly credited with.

LB Ranger can also AoE heal around their target. No credit for this either I suspect.

LB Ranger can also strike anything in their arrows line of sight. No credit for this either I suspect.

So yes LB Ranger pinging at distance on a dps target dummy is going to have low dps.

Notice that, with the exception of piercing (which is a really poor substitute for cleave) everything else is not dependant on the “LB” part of “LB Ranger”. A melee one can do all of that as well.

Maybe, but the key drawback of ranger melee is that the pet will steal buffs etc from another group player. So for group melee, rangers would also have to stow their pet.

My point was the LB contribution is deceptive for group play.

lilypop.7819:

Maybe, but the key drawback of ranger melee is that the pet will steal buffs etc from another group player. So for group melee, rangers would also have to stow their pet.

You cannot stow your pet in combat.
The pet won’t steal buffs because players have higher priority than pets

I’m pretty sure pets have a lower priority than player characters when buffs are applied.

Why people ignore that you HAVE to stack, you are asked by group leaders and game asks (via mechanics) for this.

No matter, you prefer ranged or melee, you will stack in melee. No choice here. Unless you want to do less damage (= i.e. fight takes longer which leads to higher group wipe chance) and have less survival since you wont have immortality of 2 druid spam-healing your group and all defence/evade buffs you get.