Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

I’ve been going back and forth on this for weeks now and it’s getting to the point where I’m getting really tired of going through the starting area so many times. I have three classes that I’m more interested in than others, but if a different class looks like it would suit me better please say. I’ve narrowed it down to Guardian, Thief, and Ranger.

I want to love Ranger so badly, but all I’ve heard of them is that they’re really crap in many aspects of the game.

I basically want a class that will be fun to level and play the game with. This will be my first 80 and I’d like to be able to be useful in all areas of PvE and WvW (with a little sPvP). Can you guys please help me out? I really just want to stop remaking and deleting characters and just enjoy this game.

I’ve been playing mainly on a ranger since launch and I’ve yet to find something I can’t do reasonably easily in PvE. I haven’t tried PvP at all yet so I have no idea how that works but I’ve heard they’re at least ok in WvW.

Some people don’t like rangers in dungeons, but so far I haven’t had a problem getting into a group. Admittedly I haven’t tried to join hard-core speed clear groups, but I’d never do that anyway so for me it’s not an issue. I’ve done some paths of Ascalon Catacombs, Twilight Arbour, Honour of the Waves and Arah so far and not had a problem. (At least not related to playing a ranger, I’ve had problems with my inability to time dodges properly but that’s true no matter what I’m playing.)

I can’t really comment on the other 2 because I haven’t done much with them. The guardian seems easier to play but personally I find it boring, The thief is fun but quite different to other professions because of initiative and because they involve a lot of skipping around the battlefield via shadowstep.

You also have to bear in mind that this game is constantly being updated, which includes changes to skills and other mechanics, and that people are constantly developing new builds and tricks. So what’s good or bad is never going to be consistent.

A friend of mine has been playing a mesmer since launch and she said at first she had real trouble getting into dungeon groups because no one wanted mesmers, now they’re one of the most popular professions for dungeons. Likewise ele’s were considered too squishy to ever be functional in WvW, then players figured out D/D or S/D builds that worked and they caught on.

If you want to play what other people like then you’re going to need 8 level 80’s and enough gold/karma/other currencies to keep changing their gear as builds change. Or you can just play what you enjoy and accept that some things might be slightly harder for you than other people, but other things will be easier.

As far as which is most fun, nobody can tell you unless you give us more information about your interest/playstyle.

As far as being reliable, Guardian. Since the game has launched they have never been in a bad place. Strong for PvE, WvW, and PvP.

Alot of people who create a thief reroll because they think its boring because all they do is stealth>backstab>22222222. There is so much more to thieves than just that gimmicky squishy backstab build. If you’re willing to put in the effort and time to master the thief class then it is very fun to play (I love my thief). They do well in PvE but most think that thieves only belong in the PvP aspect of the game.

If you’re planning to do dungeons hardcore then you should go with guardian. Guardians do well in PvE, WvW, and sPvP. But, they are not the hidden killer class like the thieves.

Sorry to say but people in WvW make fun of rangers and call them useless lol. But they are one of the strongest dueling/sPvP classes.

To be honest, if I were you I would go guardian. Alot of people get disappointed with thief/ranger once they reach 80.

Go Guardian if you want a good all-rounder. Rangers are strong in PvP and PvE as long as you aren’t just some awful longbow/bear max-range camper (99.9% of PvE rangers, unfortunately). Thieves are good in PvP, have extremely high burst in PvE though are a little more narrow in WvW, they’re better at ganking and picking of players on the side of a zerg rather than going all in with the heavy armour classes.

Ranger seems to be getting more popular in PvE from what I’ve seen. With the Spotter trait and a well placed Frost Spirit, they bring alot of extra damage to the group. Using Sword/Warhorn combined with Rampage as One also lets them do good enough damage

There’s a lot of things that can be done to make the ranger more effective which many people don’t do. The same is true of any profession to some extent – people will latch on to one build or aspect of the profession and stop thinking about all the other stuff they can do. But it seems to be especially true with rangers.

Changing pets for one thing. A lot of people seem to pick two pets and then stop thinking about it, when actually once you’ve got a good selection tamed you can achieve a lot by swapping in the right pet for the situation. And considering you’ve got the full set available at any time and it only takes a few seconds to swap them it doesn’t really make sense to ignore it.

I admit I have my standard pets for general PvE (melandru’s stalker and black moa), but I’ll also change them around a lot for different situations. If I want more DPS, or bleed, I’ll swap in some birds, if I want to keep an opponent away from me I’ll use a bear as a tank (I like the polar bear because they can also apply chill), if I’m going into a boss fight where I can’t/shouldn’t get in close I’ll use devourers. (You can use spiders too but I’m arachnophobic so I don’t.) And so on.

Rangers REALLY are subpar at end level content, WvW, dungeons, fractals, gauntlet and bosses…

I like my Ranger in open world PvE too and he is okay/good in sPvP but in the endgame the class is very hard mode compared to Guardian/Thief for example.

If you think Rangers are subpar in dungeons and fractals then I highly recommend you learn your class and stop being bad.

colesy.8490:

If you think Rangers are subpar in dungeons and fractals then I highly recommend you learn your class and stop being bad.

I have learned all 8, so know EXACTLY what’s what..

Perhaps you should try another class to see what rubbish you have been putting up with playing Ranger, its a real eye opener…

BossWafrican.3708:

I want to love Ranger so badly, but all I’ve heard of them is that they’re really crap in many aspects of the game.

I hope you don’t let yourself being led by all those L2P rangers here who like to QQ about how bad we are and how useless our pet is and how we have no added value whatsoever?

If your Ranger is your favorite, keep playing with it.. And show those QQ what it is like to be a good ranger.. :-)

Feel free to contact me ingame for some ranger advice, plenty of hours logged on my main

Tribio.8531:

BossWafrican.3708:

I want to love Ranger so badly, but all I’ve heard of them is that they’re really crap in many aspects of the game.

I hope you don’t let yourself being led by all those L2P rangers here who like to QQ about how bad we are and how useless our pet is and how we have no added value whatsoever?

If your Ranger is your favorite, keep playing with it.. And show those QQ what it is like to be a good ranger.. :-)

Feel free to contact me ingame for some ranger advice, plenty of hours logged on my main

Sadly, you and many die hardened Ranger players like you are in denial…

If you want to continue playing a subpar class good luck to you…I have all 8 characters so know the truth for myself…

The thing about GW2 is that being level 80 doesn’t mean you know how to play a class.

Meglobob.8620:

colesy.8490:

If you think Rangers are subpar in dungeons and fractals then I highly recommend you learn your class and stop being bad.

I have learned all 8, so know EXACTLY what’s what..

Perhaps you should try another class to see what rubbish you have been putting up with playing Ranger, its a real eye opener…

Do you run mainhand sword? Are you capable of selecting the right pet for the fight? Do you use spotter? Do you have a traited frost spirit? Do you run full berserker gear?

If the answer to any of these are no, then learn to play and again, stop being bad. I’d love you to tell me what you think of mesmers, elementalists and engineers too, since you know all your classes. My impression is you know how your skills work, but beyond that you can’t actually play your classes very well, using a proper combat rotation.