Guild Wars 2

Hello all. I have a question.
It’ s been 3 years since gw2 is out and still there are no rangers in guild vs guild fights.
Can anyone please explain me why?
Moreover I’ ve noticed that there are never rangers on spvp high rated tournaments.
I would be thankfull if a dev could answer on this issue and if there are any cool plans regarding ranger status.
You know i like only ranger and i m a bit tired of the ^^ ranger discrimination which is totally legit right now considering ranger current status.

Regards

I’d wait until the trait update hits and meta adjusts to that before asking this question.

Yeah, Diovid is right. A major balance patch is about to hit that is giving the Ranger a lot of tools that seem useful in GvG situations.

What I do know about the Ranger is that in PvP they are rarely used in tournaments because a lot of what they can do other professions can do just as well. Many of the powerful builds and play patterns unique to Ranger are nowhere near as strong or in some cases possible as they used to be. Spirit Ranger lost a lot of power and no longer has permanent (non-elite) spirit uptime. Shortbow got bumped down from 1200 to 900 range and no longer has the safety it used to. Beastmastery lacks hilarious catssassination potential it used to have and is just a really meh build now. I’m not even sure what happened to trapper builds, but they’re not used anymore. So what’s left is a king of soft CC with a lack of AoE damage and a tendency to lose their profession mechanic to stray fire.

In GvG what they do best is picking off key targets with Longbow Rapid Fire, soft CC and team support via spotter and spirits. Thieves are far more reliable at picking off key targets, Warriors provide better offensive team support, Guardians provide better defensive team support and both soldiers can output better CC with better AoE damage. Rangers aren’t awful in GvG, they just don’t provide anything unique other than reliably fighting the enemy backline from your backline.

There are some rangers in higher tier pvp, look at Genyen or Eurantien.

And.. in the earlier metas of the game there were spirit rangers on everyteam, lets not forget.

Anyway as I understand, one of the bigger issues with power ranger, is that the terrain of the map determines its usefulness. Like its much better on legacy than forest due to having more space to snipe. Additionally it falls from the same problem of being easy to burst back if it can’t find a good position, and it really only has the signet and the GS block to be withstand being targeted by any dps class, while thieves and even mesmers have way better ways to disengage or reposition.

The often tankier condition builds have always been strong side point 1v1 builds, but this game is about much more than that, and right now condition builds can’t end a 1v1 fast enough to justify bringing them over a more dps oriented class.

Hey there darkness. I currently run ranger for my guilds gvg team. I can say that ranger is very much capable of going toe to toe with opposing picks. Ill describe my experience as well as I can.

WARNING WALL OF TEXT AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL. (note my perspective here is soley from a GvG point of view. And has no relation in TPvP)

The most important aspect of a longbow ranger in gvgs atm is our effective range. Our range is so massive were able to move in ways that most classes simply can’t if they still want to be in position to take advantage of an exposed target. Infact in the age of walls of reflection and asuran golem skills we HAVE to move in wide arcs in order to keep our damage from being negated by a single skill. Luckily we have the ability to do that.

This range allows us to act in a few roles that rangers excel at.

For example we make excellent chasers. In fact id say done properly were the best chasers in the game as far as gvg’s are concerned. We don’t have that instantaneous burst that thieves or mesmers have but we do have enough steady damage that we can annihilate weakened targets. And our base damage is high enough that those targets arn’t just necros and elementalists but warriors are guardians as well. I would say over 30% of my downs in gvg are enemy heavies that thought they had gotten away from our melee train only to get shafted because they thought the wall of reflection was covering them when I was actually at a 90 degree angle to there grp.

Our range also allows us to directly punish downed players and even the players attempting to rez. Ive gotten quite a few kills on people that tried to help the necro next to them I had just finished shooting down. Drake pets with there f2s also make AMAZING down cleave options when combined with longbow fire. Not to mention the 5-6k tail swipe crits.

We also make very good bait. I can’t tell you how many times ive seen enemies of ALL classes come out of there ball to try to stop me from shooting one of there low health players. Enemy pick leaping on me is a big way to get counter kills provided you are able to react fast enough. (NOT RECCOMENDED. Two thieves can down you INSTANTLY. if they get there burst right you simply wont be able to press signet of stone or protect me fast enough. But its funny as hell when it works and your fellow pick annihilate them)

But more than that its actually quite often youl see a warrior or guardian leap out of there stack to try and chase you down. At this point its pretty much a free kill for your necros or your fellow pick. As they often isolate themselves. Its even better when 2 or 3 of them decide to do it at once. Because that largely signals the death of there melee ball depending on how the fight has gone up to that point.

I will say this. The effectiveness of a ranger in gvgs depends not only on his own skill and ability to find and eliminate targets safely but also the skill of his fellow pick and his team in general. The rangers positioning is largely dependent on where the melee balls are. In a way the more chaotic the field the better off the ranger is as he can use the people around him stealth off of at will. Theres also cases where a ranger is going to be exposed while firing on a target. (its hard to stealth when you have barrage rolling on a downed player). Having fellow gank that can watch you and leap on an enemy gank that decides to hit you while your exposed can be a MAJOR bonus for the ranger because it means that ranger can be more aggressive.

Also. If its simply inducing rage in the enemy team id say the ranger does it best. Having that annoying kitten standing at 1500 range way off to your left in a seemingly exposed area shooting you over and over and over again is gonna kitten ANYONE off eventually.