Guild Wars 2

Is it true that people don’t like rangers ?

im a new player and was wondering if i should go theif or ranger? and what has higher dps?

i just moved from playing final fantasy 14, and my two mains were monk and ninja, so just trying to figure out what i want to start off with in this game

thank you for any help

1. Yes people, especially those who run dungeons, dislike rangers.

2. Thieves a have higher damage output, but rangers tend to have better survivability.

3. If you enjoyed your ninja more than your monk, choose thief. But please be aware a ranger has an easier learning curve than a thief. Thieves are more prone to dying in both PvE and PvP. If you liked your monk more, guardian may be your better option.

This all said, it might be best if you test all the classes and see what feels better for your play-style.

Hope this helps.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

1. Yes people, especially those who run dungeons, dislike rangers.

2. Thieves a have higher damage output, but rangers tend to have better survivability.

3. If you enjoyed your ninja more than your monk, choose thief. But please be aware a ranger has an easier learning curve than a thief. Thieves are more prone to dying in both PvE and PvP. If you liked your monk more, guardian may be your better option.

This all said, it might be best if you test all the classes and see what feels better for your play-style.

Hope this helps.

I played dual pistol thieve and in pvp all I have done is 2222222 333333 2222222 and its actually really easy

IEatCabbage.1907:

I played dual pistol thieve and in pvp all I have done is 2222222 333333 2222222 and its actually really easy

Would you like me to add ‘competently played’ to my reply? If anyone wants to spam one or two keys, that makes any answer kind of moot . . . especially if they intend to PvP. As a ranger, I love opposing players who only hit one or two keys.

But that’s another topic.

thank you for the replys

i have already tested ele, thief and ranger as they are mostly the classes i would play

Elementalist is nice, but i would rather class when i have more expierence in the game etc

so its really down to thief and ranger, i love thief because its fast with alot of cool looking moves, Ranger is also nice with the longbow and two handed sword, but the fact that people dont like them in dungeons puts me off ranger a bit etc

Again, the answer really depends on your play-style. My one and only character is ranger. I’ve soloed pretty much all the content barring zerg-style raids in Silverwastes. Even dungeons and fractal content.

I could not have done these things with a thief. People tend to be dismissive of pets, but if you know how to use them correctly . . . you can do some amazing things.

But your damage will never be as grand as a decked-out thief. It just isn’t going to happen. Plus, a thief who knows how to use stealth properly, can be a real challenge in PvP.

Honestly? In your case, given what you’ve said so far, I would recommend rogue first. But, again, that’s just my humble opinion.

At this rate, you’ll have plenty of time to level that class before the expansion comes out. And heck, you can earn plenty of Tomes of Knowledge to express-level a ranger if you so choose.

1. A bit but mostly from tryhards and not people who really understand the game. I’ve had no problems pugging fractlals 50 on my ranger.

2. Thieves have the highest single target dps for cleave dmg it’s probably pretty close to the same as ranger.

Thieves have more debuffs and stealth to support their team rangers have a mix of offensive and defensive buffs. Rangers have more survivability, rangers are also a pet class so you have to mange your pet and bring the right one for the job.

1200hrs ranger 500hrs thief

Come to the thief side. We’re nice & have cookies. I never played FF so can’t say how similar it is to recommend it like that, but thief is very fun. It has a lot that can be learned such as self-combo perma stealth & aoe perma stealth, shadowsteps and their cool wooshing sounds, how auto-attack and auto-targeting can be bad sometimes. And yes it does have somewhat of a learning curve because you’re fairly squishy so it would get you used to general game mechanics like dodges. Good luck on whatever you decide though!

despite Ranger probably being the least popular class for dungeons, it’s actually a very popular class overall. You’ll see tons of them. Rangers aren’t bad at all, not even in dungeons, it’s just hard to use then we’ll and easy to use them bad

I’d say the main reason some people look down on rangers in dungeons is because they tend to stick to longbow, even when they’re stacking in melee range, and they knock back enemies a lot when the rest of the party is trying to burst them down.

Unfortunately, it’s put rangers in a needlessly poor light, because aside from some poor player habits, they are a perfectly decent class.

Just play your ranger well and you’ll be fine. Use melee where it’s appropriate, don’t spam knockbacks whenever they are on cooldown and rather use them more carefully, and bring some support to the table rather than just running full signets, and I think people will appreciate your contributions. I’ve run plenty of dungeons and fractals with rangers in our party without issues, and where I have had issues, I could just as easily say I’ve had them with all classes from time-to-time as well (a bad thief or ele, for example, is just as bad, if not worse than a bad ranger).

Ultimately, it depends mostly on the player, not the class. So, my advice would be to play whatever you feel is most fun and not care too much about what others think is popular or the meta. You can find plenty of groups who will have no issues with you running ranger, or thief, or anything else.

Yes, rangers have MUCH better survivability in PVE. For example, both my ranger and my guardian have exotic greatswords. In silverwastes as a good example my guardian lasts only a minute or so. Meanwhile my ranger can stay there until she gets bored or does something stupid. It will be an interesting comparison when my guardian gets an elite and also has a longbow though (although the ranger has an ascended one).

True, the AI for pets is terrible. However the pet can tie up part of the mob and do some damage before you can finish them off.

Regarding Dungeons, the design of mobs in them are the main reason why people hate certain professions, since you can do the dungeon very easily with full berserker DPS party, usually either full Elementalists or Warriors.

Hopefully, ANet will redesign the mobs in them (they did announce that they’re gonna change mobs abilities and stats, to give more enjoyable combat scenarios), in Vanilla maps and dungeons (most likely exclude starter maps), so that one doesn’t grind through content faster with just full berserker DPS and be invincible due to mobs being unable to deal damage or resist Direct Dmg, when comparing to results with other builds.

Rangers excell on long range combat, but can go into melee with their huge number of “attack and dodge” skills. The pet gives Rangers a permanent ally, which can be used to draw away aggro from you, though this depends on pet, some pets deal more “aggro damage” than others, Bears deal quite little even though they are tanks, while Devourers deal very high “aggro damage”, while being more similar to Ranger profession itself.

Thieves are all about Stealth and burst damage. If you fail to utilize stealth properly along dodging and skill-evades, you’re more likely to be downed and defeated, mainly because Thieves have lowest HP pool, like Guardians and Elementalists do (about 10k HP only).

ninjazombie.2937:

Is it true that people don’t like rangers ?

im a new player and was wondering if i should go theif or ranger? and what has higher dps?

i just moved from playing final fantasy 14, and my two mains were monk and ninja, so just trying to figure out what i want to start off with in this game

thank you for any help

If you’re all about pve/dungeons/fractals I would go with thief. It has been part of the meta 5 man setup for such a long time and wont change anytime soon. It has such a high single target dmg with dagger compared to the ranger greatsword/sword&axe DPS build. It has some nifty traits/skills as well that supports the group well.

Personally Im more about playing what you like, and currently that is ranger As others have touched on, it has pretty good survivability for open world pve, but any class can manage that content.

Tenrai Senshi.2017:

I’d say the main reason some people look down on rangers in dungeons is because they tend to stick to longbow, even when they’re stacking in melee range, and they knock back enemies a lot when the rest of the party is trying to burst them down.

Unfortunately, it’s put rangers in a needlessly poor light, because aside from some poor player habits, they are a perfectly decent class.

Just play your ranger well and you’ll be fine. Use melee where it’s appropriate, don’t spam knockbacks whenever they are on cooldown and rather use them more carefully, and bring some support to the table rather than just running full signets, and I think people will appreciate your contributions. I’ve run plenty of dungeons and fractals with rangers in our party without issues, and where I have had issues, I could just as easily say I’ve had them with all classes from time-to-time as well (a bad thief or ele, for example, is just as bad, if not worse than a bad ranger).

Ultimately, it depends mostly on the player, not the class. So, my advice would be to play whatever you feel is most fun and not care too much about what others think is popular or the meta. You can find plenty of groups who will have no issues with you running ranger, or thief, or anything else.

Yes, I admit it is tempting to stick to longbow but people need to learn to switch to a melee weapon when the monster is right next to you. Every class can be played poorly or great.

For example, I often fight Teq with my elemental. The thing I do there is use water when fighting Teq so I can throw healing at the zerg while tagging Teq then use fire when defending. Not that the other 2 atunements are not useful in other situations though.

I’ve mained a ranger for almost 3 years.

Yes people hate us.
Yes thieves do more damage, when they aren’t dead on the floor.
Yes, even when I’m the only one not downing constantly, managing decent if dps and picking up MLP Pro thieves off the floor I am still disparaged by the rest of the team for being a weak useless ranger.

Learn to use the ranger GS.
Ranger is not meant to stand away and plink away the whole time, that’s the mistake people make, assuming the bow is the end all be all of the ranger.
GS, Sword, Dagger, Axe, Torch, are all actually good options.

Want higher single target DPS?
GS/LB gives you great variable range
GS/S/D gives less range but more evades and can be really fun if you can get used to the wonky sword auto attack (unlike, I think, every other auto chain in the game, this one is broken, and has been since launch, and can’t be easily interrupted to do things like dodge)
Want to tag lots of mobs?
LB+Axe/Axe is great

I’ve long felt Ranger was one of the most well rounded classes, though with a steeper learning curve, so most people give up before learning how to use it properly.

ninjazombie.2937:

thank you for the replys

i have already tested ele, thief and ranger as they are mostly the classes i would play

Elementalist is nice, but i would rather class when i have more expierence in the game etc

so its really down to thief and ranger, i love thief because its fast with alot of cool looking moves, Ranger is also nice with the longbow and two handed sword, but the fact that people dont like them in dungeons puts me off ranger a bit etc

ELE you say ELE !!

watch this first before choosing this class

i run engineer and ranger, both are fun to me

as ranger is all long range pewpewpew in WvW and Spvp while in dungeon i usually run with GS and pet passive only force attack target ( alot of sell-pro-calm PRO/ META will tell you “CONTROL YOUR PET”) but my pet could tank the boss on its own and doing a better job then most guard and warr. many times in dungeon im the only one left alive and kiting the boss and still got kicked as i refuse die just to reset the boss

engineer well jack of all trade master of none, good in every aspect many builds you can play around.

if you got bored with bomb kit nvm change to nade build. got bored again change to flamethrower build and etc
currently now im running condi FT build well 15k ++ burning kill most classes in spvp and wvw with a blink

OP: Play whichever class you want.

Don’t worry about what people think of your choice of profession. I play both thief and ranger. Thief in PvE, Ranger in PvP. Sometimes I get comments, but I will not let them stop me playing the class I want, or the build I want.

Play them all. Best way to learn them.

My main is an ele, but I have at least 1 of every class currently. Eventually I’ll have 2 of everything (except maybe engineer, because I’m terrible at it), and in certain cases, I’ll have 3. For example, I currently have 3 rangers – human, sylvari, and charr.

EvilZombie.6801:

ninjazombie.2937:

thank you for the replys

i have already tested ele, thief and ranger as they are mostly the classes i would play

Elementalist is nice, but i would rather class when i have more expierence in the game etc

so its really down to thief and ranger, i love thief because its fast with alot of cool looking moves, Ranger is also nice with the longbow and two handed sword, but the fact that people dont like them in dungeons puts me off ranger a bit etc

ELE you say ELE !!

watch this first before choosing this class

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrQQ9BHEstI

i run engineer and ranger, both are fun to me

as ranger is all long range pewpewpew in WvW and Spvp while in dungeon i usually run with GS and pet passive only force attack target ( alot of sell-pro-calm PRO/ META will tell you “CONTROL YOUR PET”) but my pet could tank the boss on its own and doing a better job then most guard and warr. many times in dungeon im the only one left alive and kiting the boss and still got kicked as i refuse die just to reset the boss

engineer well jack of all trade master of none, good in every aspect many builds you can play around.

if you got bored with bomb kit nvm change to nade build. got bored again change to flamethrower build and etc
currently now im running condi FT build well 15k ++ burning kill most classes in spvp and wvw with a blink

Oh man, the editing in that video has me in tears!

Started out with ranger, seen all the hate and was somewhat put off by it, but still carried on cause I loved the play. Did the nooobish mistakes, like knockback because I could, used the signets and other self buff because I didn’t know too much about the whole game mechanics, then started to try running group buffs instead (precision and 2 spirits). And paid more attention to what was currently going on on the map, and things started to run smoothly!

Ranger can: perma fury a group, perma swiftness & almost perma regen a group, do nice burst damage especially with the weapon swap trait, you can switch from other weapon (in my case sword/horn) to Long bow, do 2-5-2 while quickened. You gain 3 secs of quickness/15 seconds, can add some might (jungle panther) and has other nice options to use with other pets. Share buffs with pets, all in all, if you play well, you got great stuff, just not a lot of might stacking ~7-8 is prolly the most you can share a group. But you also add 150 precision to all, that’s nice.

With the quickness on pet swap you can rez other players quickly when needed as swapping pet doesn’t require you to interrupt anything you’re doing.

Yes, you need to learn to swap pets/recall pets, to make it somewhat easier, I run with the “Guard” shout with the trait for swiftness/regen (10s). Pet also gains 10s invisibility and stands in place guarding. Great for avoiding unneeded aggro.

Just wish the #1 on sword would let me interrupt it for dodge, other options can be nice too but haven’t played em.

Bottom line, this is the reason why they say there is a steep learning curve, because you might end up button mashing to get the most out of all the combinations. And I’ve yet to try some alternative runes like trap build and stuff, but looking forward to it!.

Cheers