Guild Wars 2

After leveling my Mesmer, I’ve thought about which class to play next and I was strongly considering either a ranger or an engineer. Which do you think would a better choice?

I will never understand these thread…

Hey, what should I have for dinner tomorrow? Potatoes or macaroni?

… How the kitten should anyone else know? Do you want to play a ranger or an engineer? Make the one you answered with.

Alternatively try both in Heart of the Mists and see which one resonates better with you.

I’d suggest maybe looking at the class forums having a little look about there. Have a look on build websites see what you think and as already suggested have a go with them in spvp or even level both to 20 and see what one you like.

Engineer has more group utility (and is a pretty unique experience, I’d say). Ranger is much easier to play solo. Engineer is more interesting. Ranger is more relaxing. Don’t let anyone talk you out of doing either for any of those reasons, of course.

engineers are very good but very clunky. on the upside you have a high skill cap and that random engineer charm. on the downside, listening to teldo talk will make you dumber. they have lots of build viability, from burst to condi spam to 1-man-siege-master to toolkit engis with a weapon for every situation.

there was a thread a few weeks ago, out of 1500 votes, ranger was voted worst in almost every single category (except spvp, where it came in 2nd worst). take that for whakittens worst. rangers had their pet damage gutted for ALL specs because of 1 OP bunker spec, with no compensation for the loss. they had their shortbow made “shorter” just to make longbow (a flawed weapon) more attractive. the fact that spirits are still garbage and yet are probably the most popular spvp spec choice atm should say volumes.
if they unnerf shortbow, redesign longbow, increased the range traps can be thrown, make spirits into auras and make pets provide some sort of useful bonus when theyre on passive (so they are worth something in dungeons / zvz), then rangers might just be one of the coolest archers in any game. but that will never happen, so basically only pick them up if you really like being the joke of gw2.

if you are a casual player who just wants to explore tyria and see what there is too see, they are both great choices. if you are somewhat competitive and care about class balance, its not much of a choice.

Raven.9603:

engineers are very good but very clunky. on the upside you have a high skill cap and that random engineer charm. on the downside, listening to teldo talk will make you dumber. they have lots of build viability, from burst to condi spam to 1-man-siege-master to toolkit engis with a weapon for every situation.

there was a thread a few weeks ago, out of 1500 votes, ranger was voted worst in almost every single category (except spvp, where it came in 2nd worst). take that for whakittens worst. rangers had their pet damage gutted for ALL specs because of 1 OP bunker spec, with no compensation for the loss. they had their shortbow made “shorter” just to make longbow (a flawed weapon) more attractive. the fact that spirits are still garbage and yet are probably the most popular spvp spec choice atm should say volumes.
if they unnerf shortbow, redesign longbow, increased the range traps can be thrown, make spirits into auras and make pets provide some sort of useful bonus when theyre on passive (so they are worth something in dungeons / zvz), then rangers might just be one of the coolest archers in any game. but that will never happen, so basically only pick them up if you really like being the joke of gw2.

if you are a casual player who just wants to explore tyria and see what there is too see, they are both great choices. if you are somewhat competitive and care about class balance, its not much of a choice.

Thank you for the detailed response, I understand that it’s a fairly ridiculous question to ask which profession to play since it’s about personal preference, but I also like to hear other player’s personal experiences playing both classes. I liked rangers because of the pets and high damage AoE, but I also heard they aren’t very interesting to play and are considered the so called “worst” class currently in terms of adapting to different situations.

Engineer looked like an interesting choice, I originally thought the class would be boring, but some of the skills actually looked like the class was pretty fast paced and fun.

DrDivine.5378:

I liked rangers because of the pets and high damage AoE, but I also heard they aren’t very interesting to play and are considered the so called “worst” class currently in terms of adapting to different situations.

Engineer looked like an interesting choice, I originally thought the class would be boring, but some of the skills actually looked like the class was pretty fast paced and fun.

everyone has different ideas of what is interesting to play. i didn’t mean to make rangers sound hopeless, i play all classes at max level and mained a ranger for most of this time, until the patch last month destroyed my enjoyment of the class. bunkers needed to be nerfed, but taking the nerf out on all specs through base pet damage, and nerfing shortbow range really wasnt an acceptable way to go about it.

there is hope for them in the future though: they mentioned the possibility of giving shortbow its range back with a trait, and that they intend to redesign longbow. spirits are still pretty bad, but they’ve been buffed twice in a row (mostly trait changes). but thats all it is, “hope for them in the future.”

You have a lot of different options with an engineer, kits and so forth. You have pet options with a ranger but I find them more straightforward overall. Keep in mind more straightforward doesn’t always mean more fun.

I can only advice you to make both and play for a while on both. Engineer is very unusual to play at first, it’s a different sort of experience. You might enjoy it or not, you’ll only know once you tried.

Blush Lift.3570:

I’d suggest maybe looking at the class forums having a little look about there. Have a look on build websites see what you think and as already suggested have a go with them in spvp or even level both to 20 and see what one you like.

With all respect I would not do that- the profession forums are so biased I just stay out of them altogether.
If you read them too much you’ll start thinking all classes are lucky to make it out of the tutorial.
I have both an Engineer and a Ranger at 80 and I play them everyday.

Engineer is very fun and versatile and awesome for blowing off steam- it takes getting used to as a class because with kits you have a lot of skills to works with- kind of like Ele’s in that respect.

Ranger is great for open world roaming and is very relaxing and a fairly easy class to pick up- and it is easy to become lazy as a Ranger.
Rangers are really awesome though and it takes time to become really good- you need to learn how to manage your pet properly early on and it helps to know which pets suit the situation as well as your play style.

both are awesome so it just depends on how you prefer to play and if it clicks for you or not

The shortbow had its range reduced, but the damage was taken up by almost 20%. The short bow now has a range of 900, witch is average for a ranged weapon. So please, this is balanced. Also, the speed of the arrows for both were made 17% faster, which really helps on taking down that health bar.

But to answer OP’s question…

A ranger is very reliant on their pets. The pets have the smarts of a rock. Also, even though you would think them to be ranged, they do better DPS with melee weapons. Risk VS Reward. The sad part is that (probably) their best melee weapon is the sword, which has a leap in the combo. This could send you into a mob that you aren’t prepared for at best, and straight off a cliff at worst. I understand that with the cripple, the le-a-p (sorry, it was censoring this for some reason) is supposed to prevent an enemy from getting away allowing your pet to just demolish them if played right… but it still kind of gets annoying.
Rangers play best in PvE where your pets can survive and be helpful. In WvWvW, they are great at harrasing, and really fun to play. Just run with a zerg, you’ll be fine as long as you know what your pets can do with their skills.
Rangers are next to worthless in a dungeon. They are a waste of a slot right now. Not that they can’t do it, but another class will almost ALWAYS be better. But lucky for me, I don’t care about dungeons really, or I just play them with my Guardian.
I don’t ever do PvP, so I can’t tell you.
But the key to playing a ranger well is to not just auto attack with your bows all day. Use the melee weapons. think of it like Aragorn from Lord of the rings, or like a D&D ranger I guess.

Engineers are great party enhancers, with good DPS to boot. Elixers, grenades, CCs…. A perfectly played engi can ruin your day hard. There really isn’t anywhere they aren’t good, but it requires that you know exactly what tool kit you need, which elixirs will help, and constantly adapt to situations as they pop up. If you can’t, your engi will stink. Its fun to run around with a rifle in WvWvW and just annoy people by not letting them touch you. Shrinking, nets, blasts… but really, I found them too boring personally.

Bottom line-

Rangers are not broke, but they do suck in a dungeon. They do well, but people that I see play them stay away and plink with their bows and ignore their pets. As soon as something starts attacking them, they freak out and try to stay with their bows, and die instantly. Don’t do this and you’ll be fine.

Engineers are great all around, and you can become either a DPS machine, or a boon/condition generator with the right specs. There isn’t an environment where they won’t be good if played well. Maybe hard to play.