Guild Wars 2

Darkobra.6439:

Lifestealer.4910:

Spiderbite.8049:

Lifestealer.4910:

where the spec clearly don’t belong.

…

says you.

Stay delusional, not really my problem but one day you will realise the truth when you go do content that doesn’t allow to mindlessly sit back at 1500 range and spam 1 and see how far that will get you.

You show me that content in GW2 and I will reinstall this game right now. I’d love it if this game actually required skill.

Fractals of the Mist
Edge of the Mists
Team Tournaments / Structured PvP
Achivement Hunting

It’s not about min-maxing so much as that people run bearbow and either:
- have no sort of support for their team
- don’t do a lot (or any damage)
- sit on lb and the bear (they don’t weapon or pet switch)
- play at max range from the boss to aa
- get downed at max range away from other team members
- die (pet usually dead too, so no pet rez)

Yeah… I wouldn’t ever use a bear with my ranger but maybe murellow or polar bear (after patch).

My Norn ranger has a bear pet, for no other reason that a Norn with a bear looks awesome! And hah, he also has a bow.^^ Not everything has to be optimal omgmaxdps. On the other hand I also have a human ranger with the “approved” sword and warhorn combination, also for absolutely no other reason than the combination fitting the character.

Darkobra.6439:

Lifestealer.4910:

Spiderbite.8049:

Lifestealer.4910:

where the spec clearly don’t belong.

…

says you.

Stay delusional, not really my problem but one day you will realise the truth when you go do content that doesn’t allow to mindlessly sit back at 1500 range and spam 1 and see how far that will get you.

You show me that content in GW2 and I will reinstall this game right now. I’d love it if this game actually required skill.

Anything which isn’t open world meets the bill.

PvP, WvW, dungeons, fractals.

Anmida.4058:

Darkobra.6439:

Lifestealer.4910:

Spiderbite.8049:

Lifestealer.4910:

where the spec clearly don’t belong.

…

says you.

Stay delusional, not really my problem but one day you will realise the truth when you go do content that doesn’t allow to mindlessly sit back at 1500 range and spam 1 and see how far that will get you.

You show me that content in GW2 and I will reinstall this game right now. I’d love it if this game actually required skill.

Fractals of the Mist
Edge of the Mists
Team Tournaments / Structured PvP
Achivement Hunting

Gear check. Time over skill is so appealing.

People not my skill level so it’s like watching myself play a game of Heroes of Might and Magic. WvW being purely numbers again.

PvP in GW2? Yeah, the good PvPers left at the end of GW1. It’s like playing a game of Awesomenauts. Let me know when it makes it to an E-Sport. Thanks for the laugh though!

Achievement hunting? Does this LOOK like XBox? Does “Jump off 20 cliffs” require skill now?

I was hoping somewhere in that list would be something that changed. Unfortunately this game has to cater to the casuals because that’s where the money is.

If anything, they’ll only simplify this game. It never has and never will require skill. But the forums are still PRIME entertainment watching low-tiered players argue about builds!

Darkobra.6439:

Anmida.4058:

Darkobra.6439:

Lifestealer.4910:

Spiderbite.8049:

Lifestealer.4910:

where the spec clearly don’t belong.

…

says you.

Stay delusional, not really my problem but one day you will realise the truth when you go do content that doesn’t allow to mindlessly sit back at 1500 range and spam 1 and see how far that will get you.

You show me that content in GW2 and I will reinstall this game right now. I’d love it if this game actually required skill.

Fractals of the Mist
Edge of the Mists
Team Tournaments / Structured PvP
Achivement Hunting

Gear check. Time over skill is so appealing.

People not my skill level so it’s like watching myself play a game of Heroes of Might and Magic. WvW being purely numbers again.

PvP in GW2? Yeah, the good PvPers left at the end of GW1. It’s like playing a game of Awesomenauts. Let me know when it makes it to an E-Sport. Thanks for the laugh though!

Achievement hunting? Does this LOOK like XBox? Does “Jump off 20 cliffs” require skill now?

I was hoping somewhere in that list would be something that changed. Unfortunately this game has to cater to the casuals because that’s where the money is.

If anything, they’ll only simplify this game. It never has and never will require skill. But the forums are still PRIME entertainment watching low-tiered players argue about builds!

A’ight then. I don’t mind either way, I just come to the forums to discuss the lore, setting and the shenanigans ongoing. Thought I’d list some things that might interest you, I don’t shoot neither pro nor anti of the sudden “Pro gamer wanting hardcore content” crusade. I am fine either way, I am here for both aspects of the game.

fishball.7204:

3 signet bearbow is the best ranger build that is why people run it

Either AWESOME sarcasm or full on self delusion…..

Run what you want in places that your build does not effect others (much), but don’t get offended when people make fun of your “Bearbow” when you try to join an instanced / party required game mode.

My opinion of Bearbow is that it’s simply the path of least resistance for lazy players….yes, it works (up to a point). I’ve certainly run in before….but it makes my inner baby Jesus cry when I do.

I specifically made my Ranger to be lazy for the world event train, but I use support to help other people out. Spirit of Frost, Spotter, Blue Moa and Fernhound.

I use her a lot now, since she somehow gives me the best loot I’ve gotten on any character. She got me my first Teq hoard, and a Precursor.

You don’t just love when everyone melee something and you have a ranger that knock back the mob you just want to …

I use LB/GS on my ranger. I’ve never used bears. At release, there were a lot of people saying that bears were the only good pets; I always knew they were wrong, and time has proven me right. Personally, I prefer cats. With 6 points in Beastmastery, cats are plenty survivable, and will do pretty good damage to boot. I mostly use my greatsword in dungeons or for Teq. Longbow is great for general PvE though: I do plenty of damage and I don’t die.

I never kick people for running/not running a particular build in a dungeon. I always advertise my groups as ‘inexperienced’, and am much happier playing with less ‘leet’ players and helping them improve rather than having some zerker-geared speed-clearer breathing down my neck. Those players always leave in a huff, while the inexperienced ones are happy to have someone guide them through the dungeon; typically, many of them are first-timers.

If they aren’t grouping with you, why do you care?

If you are playing a Ranger, a Mesmer, a Necromancer, or an Engineer you aren’t being optimal anyway.

Axelwarrior.9084:

Xhyros.1340:

Relair.1843:

Brown bears can remove conditions often and rangers don’t have alot of condition removal abilities. Bears also have by FAR the highest health, and pets and minions are screwed in pvp/boss fights by the red rings and aoes everywhere, so having a pet that can survive for awhile helps. A cat or bird that’s dead instantly isn’t doing more damage than a bear that keeps plugging along. The longbow part is just.. its a ranger. People make rangers to use bows for the most part. Sure it isn’t always the optimal weapon in every scenario but it has one of the only AoE attacks on a weapon that rangers get, and can be traited to have 1500 range so its good for wvw. Also has a stealth and a knockback for some general defense and rapid fire is one of the hardest hitting of all weapon skills for a ranger. Note I don’t use bearbow myself, just playing devils advocate and listing some reasons others might play this way, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are braindead or anything.

Correction: rapid fire is one of the weakest of all weapon skills for a ranger.

In PvP/WvW it’s your main source of damage while using Longbow. Also, the burst is scary, especially when using Quickening Zephyr.

Now, on the topic of this thread, I’d say they use it because it’s easy to learn, safe and fun to use.

Burst, right, so you waste your utility speeding up a weaker skill because you think it hits hard since it sums up its damage. Guess what, if you just auto-attack at max range with that burst of speed, you’ll hit harder. You should play mesmer with GS and just use the autoattack, you’ll probably fool yourself into thinking you’re doing tons of damage because it sums ALL the autoattacks up if you don’t interrupt it.

To reply to the not necessarily meaning they’re braindead comment: bearbow is the most braindead play style. You have an extremely weak, tanky pet, that you don’t really have to watch out for, at all. All of the bear’s attacks are focused on its own survival: a self regen attack, and a short duration endure pain. So bear: most braindead pet, check. Next, you have the longbow, whose best attack is on a 30 second cooldown, and whose second highest damaging skill is best done at over 1000 range, where they’ll likely not be interacting with anything. So longbow: most braindead weapon, check. Put ’em together and you have the play style for the laziest, most braindead players. If that player then uses the knockback needlessly, or the stealth shot while the enemy is reflecting (which is very possible, given the established braindeadivity of said player), you now have a liability.

I am a bowdrake and constantly swap to raven and gs, I move around, I’m in bow when it hurts to be melee, pet swap for the quickness and do a little burst with the gs.
Very rarely do one of my pets die, (6 into beast master helps), and that with aoe flying everywhere. If they do go down, it’s usually beside me and few warriors.

If played right, the longbow ranger can do a lot, but I agree, most sit on the longbow and aa while having a pocket tank. I really excited about the new updates, maybe people will start seeing rangers in a new light, but I’m kinda worried because it will just help promote the lazy bowbear playstyle

Deepcuts.9740:

Again a bearbow topic?
OP, play as you wish. DON’T impose your style on others!

This is still the truest thing said on this thread.

Bearbows are never going to go away, so you guys should probably just accept that as fact.

Allanon.9072:

You don’t just love when everyone melee something and you have a Warrior/Engineer/Elementalist that knock back the mob you just want to …

Fixed that for you. All three of these professions are just as notorious as Rangers are at knocking things back at the worst possible times.

Chrispy.5641:

Deepcuts.9740:

Again a bearbow topic?
OP, play as you wish. DON’T impose your style on others!

This is still the truest thing said on this thread.

Bearbows are never going to go away, so you guys should probably just accept that as fact.

Allanon.9072:

You don’t just love when everyone melee something and you have a Warrior/Engineer/Elementalist that knock back the mob you just want to …

Fixed that for you. All three of these professions are just as notorious as Rangers are at knocking things back at the worst possible times.

Any class is able to do that, guardians, mesmers, nercos fear,
except thieves, which means everyone loves them….unless your a bad pvper.

Xhyros.1340:

Correction: rapid fire is one of the weakest of all weapon skills for a ranger.

Just wait. What the devs showed in the last Ready Up video says they’ll be giving it a speed boost.

That’s all I have to say:

I don’t think anyone really hates bearbows, they’re easy enough to spot and kick. We just like to use them as the poster boy for bad players since it’s literally the AFK build. All the bot trains back in the day were bearbows because the build is so mindless that even a script can play it effectively and botters don’t really care if it takes five minutes to kill a mob when you have ten different stolen accounts running laps around Frostgorge.

I’d prefer a friendly bearbow over a moaning and cussing zerker gs war.

This is a casual game for casual gamers. Bearbow is the most effortless of the builds right after GS signet warrior. Casual gamers don’t care about the speed of success, just that they win in the end.

No big mystery why it’s so popular.

The Right To Arm Bears

Dang! I thought this was a thread about finally giving my bear a longbow, so we could hunt together on equal terms.

Oh well, consider this a +1 for bear archery (and bear cavalry, but that’s a different thread) and color both me and my bear disappoint.

Now, off to go ruin a PUG somewhere…

Maannn, I have 8 kids to feed…

All 8 alts, one of each profession, leveled to 80 and geared with exotics and ascended pieces. All crafting up to max. I’m broke as a joke. Now, I say all this because my Ranger was my first character. She has 100% world completion. I come from a viewpoint that rangers/hunters pew pew toothpicks of doom and yes, I know that GW2’s Rangers are more awesomesauce with melee weapons, but I have alts that are even more awesome sauce with melee weapons. I want my ranger to be slinging arrows because it seems to be what naturally fits, not what meta games the highest deeps. So, she and her pleasantly plump bears are going to bearbow it all day, errr day, to my hearts content.

If I want to dungeon run, PvP or WvW, I have more suited/capable characters to do so on. For those bearbows whose Ranger is their sole character? Well, that’s all they have to roll with, so watch out for those big, fuzzy kitten running to five different targets, maybe getting a few swipes in before running to another…and smile.

I know rangers dont get much love. People especially despise the “Bearbow Ranger” Its nothing new really. Every MMO Ive ever played really seems to dislike ranged archer types. My problem is that I simply love this type of play. I admit that other classes seem to be better at just about anything than a ranger is. I have those classes too but I always go back to my ranger.

PVE- I find that when I do events or simply farm mats I always go to the ranger. I can just melt things. This does not include dungeons because as has been mentioned many times, people would rather have someone bring lots of utility over straight DPS and I understand that. I just dont do dungeons. Should I ever get the urge Ill take one of the more acceptable classes.

PVP- I havent played PVP too much but I was not horrible when I did. Still I would probably take one of the other classes were I to get serious about it just because there is more room for error with some of them.

WvW- I love my ranger here. On my own I truly am an easy kill. But there are better choices should I decide to roam. However, running in a zerg can be very profitable. I can sit back at 1500 and lay down atrocious damage while the enemy flails away at my comrades. I can stack loads of vulnerability on them from afar making things much easier for my team. Should things get bad I can barrage a whole group giving precious escape time not only for myself but for my team as well. My pets can provide a variety of benefits. I rarely use them for damage often keeping them close just for those benefits. I can defend structures very handily. The range and power/crit make me very annoying and lethal. I am a glass cannon and I play that way. I do love it. Not for everyone I admit, but I do love it.

The longbow was made for rangers. I have tried all the other builds with swords, axes and daggers. Every time I was left with the feeling of “Why am I doing this? Why not just drag the warrior out if this is how I am going to play?” Instead I choose to use my ranger playing to its strengths. I put a lot of hurt waayyy down range. Its the way a ranger should be played in my opinion. It is the only thing a ranger really excels at. Played any other way is a compromise to survive and just about every other class is better at it than a ranger.

Burst, right, so you waste your utility speeding up a weaker skill because you think it hits hard since it sums up its damage. Guess what, if you just auto-attack at max range with that burst of speed, you’ll hit harder. You should play mesmer with GS and just use the autoattack, you’ll probably fool yourself into thinking you’re doing tons of damage because it sums ALL the autoattacks up if you don’t interrupt it.

You clearly know nothing about a longbow ranger. Rapid Fire isnt so much about damage, its about applying vulnerability to make all your other skills hit harder. Naturally you want your applied vulnerability on target as fast as you can get it there before they close range (Longbow is better farther you are from target). It also is no slouch damage wise when traited for power/crit. And if you are traited correctly it just gives you faster ways to crit leading to other benefits.

When I can control the engagement I will open with Barrage to keep things nice and slow. I will then hit quickening zephyr and Rapid fire to get the vulnerability up. While the enemy is coming off the cripple Ill let him rush to me a bit while I kite away. When and if they get close I will knockback and repeat cycle. I rarely meet anyone that lives or stays for the second cycle. Most blow all their cool downs trying to get away. Only time I get in real trouble is when I have nowhere to go. I can always camo and/or switch to GS for the swoop to get some distance. Sometimes you get pinned and just have to eat it.

My bear’s name on this account’s ranger is “Totally Bearbow.”

i have a dream… one day bearbow will dominate gw2

Bear+Longbow is actually a pretty decent build… for open world PvE, where the biggest requirement is to not get yourself killed. It’s certainly not exciting, but you (and your pet) will mostly stay upright due to the range and massive health pool of the pet.

It’s abysmal (both damage and support wise) in dungeons and Fractals. It’s okay-ish I guess in WvW zerg situations (though there are FAR better, and not even a bear lives very long in mass battles).

In PvP or roaming WvW, longbow is a decent enough poker I guess if I’m being generous (but should get a bit more love with the upcoming balance patch), but you’ll definitely want a different pet to do that.

Zackie.8923:

i have a dream… one day bearbow will dominate gw2

Far away and long ago, in the land of Norrath, people who rolled Shadowknights as main tanks were told to uninstall and lrn2play.

Time passed, and there came a time in the land of Norrath when people who were not Shadowknight main tanks were also told to uninstall and lrn2play.

Karma is only a balance pass away.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

Zackie.8923:

i have a dream… one day bearbow will dominate gw2

Far away and long ago, in the land of Norrath, people who rolled Shadowknights as main tanks were told to uninstall and lrn2play.

Time passed, and there came a time in the land of Norrath when people who were not Shadowknight main tanks were also told to uninstall and lrn2play.

Karma is only a balance pass away.

Loved my SK .. until RoK nerfed them indirectly through encounter design
I heared they got better again in later expansions .. but then i already left the game.

Also .. today a veteran Svanir nearly killed my beloved Icewolf .. and then .. oh my gawd
i used my bear ..