Guild Wars 2

When it comes to balancing the Archer/Ranger class in MMO’s somehow MMO companies seem to really screw things up and ANET is no exception to the rule.

I’ve played the Archer class in most MMO’s because I love the elegance of the bow and the elusiveness of the class but no matter what MMO I play it seems like they release all Archer class’ unfinished and then midway into the MMO they completely fubar it.

Warhammer Online is a good example of that when the Shadow Warrior was first released it was unfinished and instead of improving the SW all they could do was make it more squishy and unwanted in dungeons.

Vanguard Saga of Heroes was in the same predicament that GW2 is in right now with the Archer VSOH also managed to fubar the Archer/ranger by making it totally useless in dungeons and PVE. And, just like GW2 Vanguard was having massive issues with the Pet situation so much that in the end they just ^^%^% it all up.

I’ll give Anet this GW1 Ranger was perfect. Mutli use we had like 3-4 running skills, plenty of escapability and even pets and it wasn’t an issue like it is (atleast not as big as Gw2) and tons of skill SETS<<<<<

Now because ANET can’t figure out this Bot situation with ranger/bear bots the ranger community is suffering for it and it’s just right down pathetic.

But, I have faith in the ranger community in GW2 I know my brothers/sisters in arms are right now figuring out new builds and will continue to do well in PVE and WVWVW but we don’t deserve this from ANET. We shouldn’t have to be adjusting all the time and holding our breath anytime a large patch comes out and have to spend GIL to change Sigil and change armor etc etc etc it’s just ridiculous. I’m still a big supporter of the Guild Wars franchise and will continue to be but for now I am putting my charr ranger down until this settles down.

Thank fully my time will be occupied with other MMO’s in the horizon I will become active again in the community and game when a new expansion is released instead of all these “one trick pony” “events” they keep releasing. I’m actually very disappointed in ANET right now because they have known about this BOT problem since the first month of release and if you read their “what we are doing about the BOT situation” the answer is abolutely nothing because I can go online right now and see these BOTS in action out there and some are underwater where it’s not blatantly out in the open.

ANET says it’s manpower well your making a lot of money off Gems why not use that money to hire more folks to stamp out these BOTs and be done with it and stop punishing the ranger community.

And, you guys thought getting into dungeons with a ranger/pet was hard it’s going to be even harder now that our pets are just stuffed animals.

I also understand that they wanted to nerf the BM builds as of late which I don’t understand because in WvWvW it’s not like if Rangers are in the forefront annihalating everything not even the case, if it were that why are we always swapping pets because they are killed very easily and hit/miss constantly.

What’s worst is that if ANET gave us the numbers on how many Players not BOTS ( I know it’s hard) were actually Rangers it will not be that high because as it is it’s not the most popular class and now with these nerfs plan on some Rangers leaving the class for others.

This is DROK signing out, I’ll see you guys around.

Drok Kindleshot.1496:

have to spend GIL

Wrong section and wrong MMO.

Is this an “I am quitting” thread?

Anywho……………………….. :P
It would be interesting to get a response from one of the staff as to their intentions with the ranger. Maybe I missed that thread? idk

Aristio.2784:

Drok Kindleshot.1496:

have to spend GIL

Wrong section and wrong MMO.

Ironically, rangers in that MMO weren’t “destroyed”. In that game the rangers were very effective at their role (damage).

darkace.8925:

Aristio.2784:

Drok Kindleshot.1496:

have to spend GIL

Wrong section and wrong MMO.

Ironically, rangers in that MMO weren’t “destroyed”. In that game the rangers were very effective at their role (damage).

From what I know Rangers are the 2nd hardest hitting class in that game still.

RyuDragnier.9476:

darkace.8925:

Aristio.2784:

Drok Kindleshot.1496:

have to spend GIL

Wrong section and wrong MMO.

Ironically, rangers in that MMO weren’t “destroyed”. In that game the rangers were very effective at their role (damage).

From what I know Rangers are the 2nd hardest hitting class in that game still.

It has to be to justify that price tag.

Aristio.2784:

It has to be to justify that price tag.

Buying/crafting ammo ftw.

Never said I was quitting…

I’m still a big supporter of the Guild Wars franchise and will continue to be but for now I am putting my charr ranger down until this settles down and they fix some things.

I don’t think I am the only one feeling this way right now about the ranger class and
to Darkace I don’t have the time and don’t want to bring back bad memories of those other MMO’s archer deficiencies too painful. But just to give you a little statistic both the SW and the Ranger in those OTHER mmo’s like you say were putting out SO much DAMAGE that they were the most popular class in those other MMO’s (sarcasm)

Anyways back to the ranger forums.

darkace.8925:

Aristio.2784:

It has to be to justify that price tag.

Buying/crafting ammo ftw.

Remember this?

Anyhow OP, I feel ya. I was just leveling up a Ranger with intentions of a pet build, but they nerfed nearly every pet.

Rangers have been screwed since Everquest. I love my ranger, but it’s so broken for anything but open world PvE that I don’t even bother playing him anymore.

I just spent Gems and gold to revamp my Ranger this past weekend. Now it’s pretty pointless unless I want to farm in PvE.

The constant Ranger issues was a very big reason i have put GW2 to the side for now, if they ever figure wtf they want out of the class, i’d come back and play, sadly i feel similar about my engineer too.

Well I freakin love my ranger in GW2. I find him very dynamic and awesomely swift and agile.

I think a lot of people jump into playing the ranger as a ranged class in this game. It is true that they do have excellent ranged options but that shouldn’t be the only way they are damaging all the time.

Anet has said that ranged will always do less damage in general than melee because of the trade off in risk etc. So Not only is it the pet (about 20-40%) but also melee has a major role.

I see a lot of rangers (general observation) thinking they should be doing uber damage just with shortbow or longbow.. you’ve got to get your hands dirty on occasion especially for bursting, but thats all good because rangers have a crazy amount of evading options with all melee weapons so shouldn’t be getting hit.

In general I think a lot of players play GW2 with a one weapon mindset (from other MMOs) when there are 2 sets plus available to any class and should be used for all the different situations.

AntiBodies.8342:

Well I freakin love my ranger in GW2. I find him very dynamic and awesomely swift and agile.

I think a lot of people jump into playing the ranger as a ranged class in this game. It is true that they do have excellent ranged options but that shouldn’t be the only way they are damaging all the time.

Anet has said that ranged will always do less damage in general than melee because of the trade off in risk etc. So Not only is it the pet (about 20-40%) but also melee has a major role.

I see a lot of rangers (general observation) thinking they should be doing uber damage just with shortbow or longbow.. you’ve got to get your hands dirty on occasion especially for bursting, but thats all good because rangers have a crazy amount of evading options with all melee weapons so shouldn’t be getting hit.

In general I think a lot of players play GW2 with a one weapon mindset (from other MMOs) when there are 2 sets plus available to any class and should be used for all the different situations.

The problem I have is that you’re forced to trait either for melee or range, at least with the weapons I favor (longbow and greatsword). This more or less forces a one weapon mindset, as your traits are largely wasted with a range-traited melee weapon or a melee-traited ranged weapon. Of course, part of the problem is that ranger traits aren’t as good as those of other professions.

There are two problems with your next argument, the assertion that a safety tradeoff is the reason behind the damage imbalance: first, that this game has numerous excellent gap-closing, blocking, evading, and projectile reflecting skills for meleers to deal with ranged attacks. Given the lack of distance management ability with the longbow (on a weapon the can’t even deal am appreciable amount of its normally mediocre damage up close) and the axe, the only time you’re safe at a distance is on a wall or other difficult-to-reach place. The second problem is that many other classes seem to deal better damage at range, including the rifle warrior (which also goes back to the first argument; they get safe range AND heavy armor, as well as damage which doesn’t fall off as the enemy closes in). As for the pet, how is putting 20-40% of your damage and tons of trait points into a poorly controlled AI character which can’t dodge or block (in a combat system based around dodging and blocking!) and hence spends much of its time dead when you need it the most (in dungeons, for example) a good idea? Pets are pretty effective when they’re alive, but when it becomes impossible to keep them alive with any amount of skill, you’re stuck using a character that does 60-80% as much damage as a ‘normal’ character, and has 60-80% of the cc.

Anyways, to give my opinion on something the OP said: rangers in GW1 were better off than in GW2, but were still far from perfect. Bow rangers were incapable of dealing even mediocre damage in PVP except in very specific situations (Melandru’s arrows in arenas without reliable backline support, so mostly Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry). Almost all of their skills were completely useless. Despite the dozens (hundreds?) of skills available, there were 6 skills that were found on the bar of basically every single bow ranger in any PVP arena: distracting shot, savage shot, natural stride, troll unguent, apply poison, mending touch. In some arenas, the 7th skill was resurrection signet, and the last slot was for an elite bow attack, about 3 of which were useful competitively. The worst part for me (as someone who enjoyed playing a ton of FA) was that this forced role (conditions/interrupt) meant that having several rangers on a team gave a disadvantage, as conditions didn’t stack duration or intensity. Two or more rangers on the same target wasted most of their potential effectiveness.

PVE was even worse. Bow rangers were useful in PVP because of the need for splitting, toughness, condition spreading and interrupting all on one skill bar, but for PVE they were thoroughly outclassed. Interrupting and condition spread were basically useless, and their damage, while much better than in PVP, still wasn’t nearly good enough.

What was good, however, was the ability to not use a pet without suffering from a severe damage and cc deficit.

I like Archer’s in Tera, but I don’t really like the game that much.