Guild Wars 2

Dear the Goddess’ Melandru and Dwayna,

I write to you as a humble Norn Ranger. My name is Susie Gormenghast. Since birth I have had a respect and wonder for the power of nature and beasts of all kind. I enjoy the companionship and symbiotic power of all my animal companions, even the ones I seldom take to battle. Together we have traversed Tyria and overcome many challenges!

However the recent rise of the so called Dragonhunter has filled me with feelings of spite, jealousy or even hatred. Gods, why have you blessed the Guardians with such powerful traps, while my own condition-based traps rarely see any current play?
The DH is even blessed with the ability to take up a Longbow, a weapon that gives me much pride as a Ranger.

And now I am left to wonder… why bother pursuing my profession as a Ranger further, when I feel so clearly outclassed by these new Dragonhunters. I have always been a humble ranger with respect to my hunts. But the Dragonhunters? Tell me of the dragons you have slain with only your senses, longbow, knowledge of the wild and your most trusted companion by your side. How many?

I have slain none under such conditions because hunting a dragon is no small feat for a single mortal to take on alone. It took the combined forces of Tyria, all races included in the Vigil, the Order of Whispers and the Durmand Priory to take down a SINGLE dragon. Yet Dwayna, you saw it fit to give the Guardians such a title and the power to claim such a lofty, undeserving name.

Goddess Dwayna, if you have truly given Guardians the power to hunt dragons, I ask you: What has Goddess Melandru given me as a Ranger?

The ability to heal via nature! Alas WHY would there be a need for a dedicated healer when every class can basically already heal self-sufficiently, and there already exists enough group support to negate the need for a dedicated healer entirely!?

Apparently one of my ancestors, who sends his blessings through the Hall of Monuments, was a Monk, devotee of Dwayna, a man of faith and good health. His name was Jitson O. I respect the profession of Monk and its way of life.

But times have changed. Our professions, abilities and the rules of battle have changed completely. What we are capable of with these god-given abilities has changed.
Why thought you, Melandru, to copy the teachings of the Monk and imbue them into us Rangers, when there is no need for it. No originality.

Gods, I do not know what changes you have in store for the future, but please heed my words. The dragonhunters do not deserve the power they have been given. Guardians, already strong heavy supportive tanks, but are now given powerful traps, complimented my a long-range weapon to pester enemies who try to avoid those traps. Dare I say, they have corrupted the meaning and spirit of trapping and hunting.

And the patience and precision that comes with trap and bow mastery. Too too often have I seen DHs barge into an enemy, lay their traps with no fear and win. By the six, dragonhunter is currently the only class that has none of my respect.

Finally with respect to the Druids new powers of healing: Perhaps you take all Rangers to be treehugging hippies. But that is a wrongful stereotype of our profession. An understanding of the wilderness comes with an understanding of the power and ferocity behind it, not just the symbiotic relationship between nature and life. This power and ferocity I find completely absent from the Druid profession, which gives Rangers a needless dedicated healer role in this day and age.

Ultimately I respect the power of the Gods and the decisions that you all have made and will continue to make together. Perhaps I am currently blinded by emotions, inexperience or lack of knowledge or perspective. I thank the Gods for watching over Tyria, I thank the Gods for such a beautiful world to explore and do battle in. But as it stands I am thankless for the Druid and Dragonhunter professions.

Sincerely, your humble servant,
Susie Gormenghast

I mean, I get what you mean but Norns totally don’t worship the human gods :/

Because Guardian/Dragonhunter is master class. You will deal.

And you call yourself a Norn? the Spirits are disappointed!

I just want to point out, dragon hunters if they hunt dragons aren’t hunting elder dragons solo(the one you refer to in your letter). However I totally agree that rangers got the short end of the stick… Or should I say staff?

As a WvW and SPvP player, I love my druid to death and would not in the world trade it for “Pew Pew Ranger 3.0”. Let them have their gimpy builds, the druid is unique in what the profession does. “Dedicated Healer” is not a correct description.

Bear, Snow Leopard, Wolf, and Raven are unhappy with you.

Also Owl, Rabbit, and probably Tuna and Moa, because why not?

I smiled reading this, thanks for the read. But a Norn worshipping the human Gods o:, thats a no no

Timbersword.9014:

Bear, Snow Leopard, Wolf, and Raven are unhappy with you.

Also Owl, Rabbit, and probably Tuna and Moa, because why not?

Oh, Owl…
Time has not dulled the ache of our loss.
Her absence still pierces my heart like a shriek in the night.
I pray to every Spirit, any Spirit that may be listening, even to the echoing emptiness that humans call gods, for the barest chance to wrest Her essence free from Jormag’s gullet, and restore Her grace to the world.

I’m still miffed that DH’s get to basically be super rangers and even have an elite trap. Losing our ability to throw traps and have walking spirits along with other, almost malicious tweaks to our profession just makes it all worse and makes me a sad panda

I guess I’m lucky I like the Druid as much as I like the Dragon Hunter.

I feel your pain. I remember when mesmers were invited for their reflection skills. Until guardians received a superior versions.

That class seems congenial to the Borg, adding other classes distinctiveness to their own to achieve perfection. Guess by the next expansion they’ll tame animals, drop well, open portals and slot kits. With extra punch, ofc.
Resistance is futile. ^.^

Plok.5873:

I feel your pain. I remember when mesmers were invited for their reflection skills. Until guardians received a superior versions.

That class seems congenial to the Borg, adding other classes distinctiveness to their own to achieve perfection. Guess by the next expansion they’ll tame animals, drop well, open portals and slot kits. With extra punch, ofc.
Resistance is futile. ^.^

Just add stealth to that, and everyone will be playing Guardian.

Djahlat.9610:

I mean, I get what you mean but Norns totally don’t worship the human gods :/

Have you ever heard about religion conversion?

Hm, I always thought the Paladin, I mean Guardian would be better off with a heal/support focused elite specialization and the ranger would get a bow and traps focused one, but well, everybody his/her own logic.

Plok.5873:

I feel your pain. I remember when mesmers were invited for their reflection skills. Until guardians received a superior versions.

That class seems congenial to the Borg, adding other classes distinctiveness to their own to achieve perfection. Guess by the next expansion they’ll tame animals, drop well, open portals and slot kits. With extra punch, ofc.
Resistance is futile. ^.^

This is an oxymoron, one does not simply tame an animal in this game and see it’s AI as perfection.

I really understand what you mean. Ranger used to be my favourite class. Everything about it just felt so right, the pets, the traps, my longbow… I am sort of a roleplayer myself and I really enjoyed the idea of being a norn hunter and explorer, it was simply amazing. Now it just doesn’t feel the same anymore. Everything the rangers have, somebody else has as well. We suck at all of our weapons, we suck at stealth, we suck at traps, our pets don’t know what they are doing and it’s not like we are great at healing. The class seems to be getting worse with every new update. Though I guess I’m never going to give up on my ranger, I am just too much in love with her. So I can only go and pray to the wolf that ANet stops nerfing our brothers and sisters.

Plok.5873:

That class seems congenial to the Borg, adding other classes distinctiveness to their own to achieve perfection.

You’re talking about the engineer? This thread is about guardians and rangers, not engineers.

First I would like to thank the OP for the literary effort and originality. I enjoyed reading that.

Second I sympathise. I have 4 characters at 8 (ele, engi, guard and ranger) which is not many since I’ve played since pre-launch betas,but I do play them in depth.

I loved ranger but now feel like every time I do group content with any of my characters,I would be more use to the group and more efficient on the guardian. I don’t necessarily enjoy the guardian more, but there is a very palpable and visible difference in performance and playability both in pvp, wvw and pve scenarios. I feel guilty when I am enjoying my engineer when I would be doing more for the group in ALL ASPECTS as guardian. Locking down, blocking, support, boons, cc, healing, and I barely even need to retrait her.

Guardians need a nerf or engis and rangers need a buff/rework. I don’t play others enough to comment.

Am I the only one that loves ranger traps? I’ve taken out entire enemy teams in pvp with them. Granted, it was unranked but it was still glorious!

As for how I did it, I waited until a teammate was downed and then set up all my traps under her while the enemy team was going for the spike. They were knocked down, bleeding, burning, crippled, poisoned and cursing my existence!

Dear Susie,
I never loved you anyway.
-Melandru

Oh poor Susie, wait ’til BEAR hears about this.

Griffin.5379:

Hm, I always thought the Paladin, I mean Guardian would be better off with a heal/support focused elite specialization and the ranger would get a bow and traps focused one, but well, everybody his/her own logic.

You and your logic have NO place here! We can’t go handing out elite specs that MAKE SENSE!

Dav.9152:

Griffin.5379:

Hm, I always thought the Paladin, I mean Guardian would be better off with a heal/support focused elite specialization and the ranger would get a bow and traps focused one, but well, everybody his/her own logic.

You and your logic have NO place here! We can’t go handing out elite specs that MAKE SENSE!

Yeah, where would be the fun in making sense.

Djahlat.9610:

I mean, I get what you mean but Norns totally don’t worship the human gods :/

Minor oversight evidently.

I believe Susie has said what she wanted to say. And I do not want this to turn into an RP thread. As such I will NOT be answering why Susie worships the Six, or other personal questions, she enjoys her privacy. Yes, there is a backstory for her, no I am not sharing it here.

Reviewing the comments again to make sure I didn’t miss anything… nope just people using ad hominem on Susie because she worships the Six. Well, a few Ranger sympathizers. A person enthused about Druid. A Ranger who plays traps to troll in unranked when allies are downed..

Well I’m happy there are some Ranger sympathizers out there. Also everyone who read the whole letter, thank you so much for your time.

Oh, maybe just to be clear. Susie respects Guardians, just not the Dragonhunter variant. And finds Druids to be unoriginal and uninspiring. Otherwise I think Susie’s letter speaks for itself.

I pretty much just play a ranger, possibly because I may be too burnt out on MMOs to get into alts, but I came back to see what’s been done with the game and to see if HoT is worth picking up. The long and short of it is that I’m just not at all excited for the expansion and I’m likely going to sit this one out. I certainly had not imagined my class’ final form would be a full fledged healer when I first created my Ranger when this game first launched; one of the biggest reasons I gave this game a chance was because I didn’t think ANet was even going to make a healer class like that. It doesn’t help that they seemed to have gotten confused as to which specialization belongs on which class…

Pretty much the only thing I have to look forward to are wyverns. Still can’t get gryphons, raptors and other things that would be obvious choices based on other games I’ve played.

And then I’m reminded that seemingly every single item in the game can only be bought with it’s own, exclusive currency. I really don’t understand what’s so horrible about having only one or two currencies rather than 30 or 40, but that’s a tangent.

I really want to find an excuse to pick up the expansion, but I’m just not feeling it. The whole “kill the next dragon boss” plot that gets recycled again and again and again doesn’t even get me curious anymore, so I basically have to focus on the gameplay of the class I have time to play because it’s the style I prefer. Sadly, that isn’t helping me there either.

I’d say I’d be better off going back to WoW, but the instant I see that first exclamation point over an NPC’s head I’ll be like “NOPE! Not doing this! Cancelling subscription!” The event system works for me because getting swept up in adventure is a lot more fun than the typical MMO structure that I’ve grown to absolutely despise. As I told my friends at GW2 launch “In Soviet Russia, zones quest YOU”

So yes, this situation is really kind of heartbreaking.