Guild Wars 2

I am having a difficult time deciding on which of these two classes to play. I played a hunter back in wow which was by far my favorite class because of the mobility, traps and awesome pet choices, but I’m not sure if I want to do the same thing again.

I have leveled an engineer up far enough to do some dungeons and really enjoyed throwing out elixirs and boons +healing spells for the team rather than just hitting attack buttons; i’m not sure what the ranger has for support options.

I plan to play this character for pve and wvw.

ranger seems like a rather broken class right now… they don’t seem to have much in terms of support at all… their claim to fame is the massive tanking bear that puts pve leveling on easy mode but stinks at anything difficult because he dies from bosses sneezing…

that said… no matter how broken the ranger is, he’s still much better for PvE because the engineer is really really really bad… that’s not really a compliment to the ranger… engineers are just that bad…

For WvW I would recommend neither. I know some will disagree, but these classes are poor choices for most WvW players.

eXs.6210:

ranger seems like a rather broken class right now… they don’t seem to have much in terms of support at all… their claim to fame is the massive tanking bear that puts pve leveling on easy mode but stinks at anything difficult because he dies from bosses sneezing…

that said… no matter how broken the ranger is, he’s still much better for PvE because the engineer is really really really bad… that’s not really a compliment to the ranger… engineers are just that bad…

You forgot to add one essential part to your outrageous statement. It’s “IMHO”.

Engineers and rangers are both great and if you like your profession, you’ll be able to play whatever WvW/PvP/PvE with it no problem.
Ranger is somewhat similar to WoW’ hunter, pet catalogue is enormous, tho some people believe that “tanky bear” is only viable choice from it. My opinion: don’t listen to rangers who don’t like to be one.

I main a ranger, even in dungeons, and still love playing the class. Yes, the pet AI is quite finicky and likes standing right in the middle of AoE circles. Overall, though, it is still a good class if you learn how to play it well and how to micro-manage your pet.

For support, one of the best things a ranger can bring is Healing Spring. Area heal + regen + condition removal every 30 seconds. That is one of (if not the) most useful heal. Rangers also have spirits for support, but they tend to die a bit too easily to be reliable, even if you trait for them.

I do agree with SoPP, though, in that rangers are not that great in WvW. I actually take my ele alt to WvW in lieu of my main. I find that the only really useful place for a ranger in WvW is on top of a keep with a traited 1500 range longbow.

Just my two cents.

I like both.

I find the ranger much easier than the engineer (even though I’ve never used a bear, I prefer cats and moas) but both are fun in their own way. Rangers are almost designed not to get hit, all the pets tend to draw aggro and a lot of their skills include evades or ways to keep an enemy at range so I find myself more free to focus on dealing damage.

You’re right that rangers don’t have much in the way of support, but like Synful I recommend taking Healing Spring even if you’re not running a support build, it’s a great self-heal too.

They’re good for combos too because they have a good mix of fields and finishers. Only profession where I consistently do combos myself.

Both professions are nice but I self prefeer thief and necro.
Because they are more my type of gameplay.

I would say Ranger, in PvE you got a pet to help you. In WvW once you get to lv80 the longbow is good at bursting people down and that healing spring is helpful. You can also spec to get the longest range damage in the game at 1500.

As you might see there are a lot of ranger lovers out here :P
So my task to tell you otherwise

The ranger is on itself a very nice class but imo too boring uninteresting and unchallenging. The roles a ranger can play is limited and in the end game it’S basicly an ok class.

Are engineer the special ops inthe game. There isn’t a job we can’t do. Yes almost any job can be done by someone else, but not as many are represented in one profession. This however comes with a price. You have to learn and find out every role. It isn’t as simple to just pull out another kit and go. You need to play each kit alot to fully understands it’s power and possibility’s.

So wanna have a challenging and diverse profession?? Go Engineer