Guild Wars 2

Part 2 of a series dedicated to redesigning and fixing GW2 combat, profession by profession.

RANGER: "SPAM TO WIN!”
Outside of bad pet AI (another topic entirely), one of the worst factors ruining Ranger balance at the moment is how none of their attacks have any real punch to them. Across the board aside from a very select few skill, the Ranger’s offensive repertoire is loaded up with whimpy, throwaway, short cool-down, short cast-time attack skills. Most of the time, it’s very difficult to detail what the Ranger is doing until after the effects have hit you (unless they’re just auto-attacking). This sort of spammy blur of attacks is the kind of offensive paradigm that is unhealthy for GW2 because it undermines active damage mitigation such as dodges and single blocks. Because none of the Ranger attacks really have any “oomph” or are telegraphed particularly well, the Ranger just sort of throws skills at opponents which have to guess at random when they should maybe dodge or block.

By removing RNG passive procs while better defining and adding a little more power to individual ranger attacks, their presence on the battlefield will be less of a spam-bot and more of a mobile attack platform with unique, well-cued and potentially game-changing attacks.

Shortbow skills
[Crossfire] (1)

• Cast-time increased from 0 to ½ second.
• After-cast adjusted from current? to 0.32 second.

[Poison Volley] (2) — NAME CHANGED TO — [Poison Arrow] (2)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ½ second
• Recharge: 8 seconds
• Fire an arrow to target location. On impact, this arrow bursts, damaging and poisoning adjacent foes. This attack deals more damage to tormented foes.
• Damage: 263 (0.65)
• Damage vs tormented foes: 386 (1.0)
• Damage radius: 150
• Poison: 3 seconds
• Minimum range: 50
• Range: 900
  • This skill now uses an arrow projectile coated in a bright-green colored Elementalist [Water Blast] projectile model.
  • This skill shares its projectile behaviour with that of Engineer [Poison Grenade].

[Quick Shot] (3)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ¼ second
• Recharge: 15 seconds
• Fire a quick shot in an evasive retreat. Gain swiftness and super speed if the shot hits. This shot inflicts immobilized and vulnerability if it strikes a crippled foe.
• Damage: 118 (0.4)
• Super Speed: 1½ seconds
• Swiftness: 5 seconds
• Evasion: ¾ second
• Immobilized vs crippled foes: 1 second
• Vulnerability vs crippled foes (5): 10 seconds
  • Retreating leap range increased from 180(?) to 400.

[Crippling Shot] (4)

• FUNTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 15 seconds
• Charge up a piercing shot that cripples foes. The longer you charge this shot, the more powerful it becomes.
• ½ second channel: Damage: 101 (0.3); Crippled: 2 seconds
• 1 second channel: Damage: 211 (0.55); Crippled: 3 seconds
• Full channel: Damage: 286 (0.85); Crippled: 6 seconds; Your pet’s next attack inflicts torment (3 stacks; 6 seconds).
• Combo Finisher: Physical Projectile
• Range: 900
  • Piercing projectile.
  • The player can move while activating this skill.

Longbow skills
[Rapid Fire] (2-1) – NAME CHANGED TO – [Splinter Shot] (2-1)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ½ second
• Recharge: 8 seconds
• Simultaneously fire three arrows to the target location. These arrows splinter when they land, damaging adjacent foes. These arrows bleed vulnerable foes.
• Damage per arrow: 211 (0.55)
• Damage radius: 120
• Bleeding vs vulnerable foes (2): 5 seconds
• Minimum range: 50
• Range: 1200
  • This skill’s arrows share their projectile behaviour with that of Engineer Grenade skills.
  • This skill now chains into another skill upon cast completion: [Sloth Hunter’s Shot].

[Sloth Hunter’s Shot] (2-2)

• Cast-time: ¼ second
• Recharge: 15 seconds
• Fire an arrow that has a stronger effect against disabled foes.
• Damage: 101 (0.3)
• Immobilize vs disabled foe: 2 seconds
• Vulnerability vs disabled foe (5): 10 seconds
  • This chain skill remains active for up to 6 seconds and flips back to its prerequisite skill upon use.
  • This skill’s recharge is independent from that of [Splinter Shot] and does not affect the cool-down of [Splinter Shot] in any way.

[Hunter’s Shot] (4-1)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ½ second
• Recharge: 20 seconds
• Shoot an arrow that tangles your foe in a net.
• Damage: 101 (0.3)
• Immobilized: 1 second
• Crippled: 4 seconds
• Hunter’s Shot Net: 5 seconds
  • This skill now marks every target that it hits with a unique debuff called Hunter’s Shot.
  • This skill now chains into another skill upon cast completion: [Hunter’s Trap]

[Snare] (4-2)

• Cast-time: ½ second
• Shoot another arrow that is tied to your Hunter’s Shot arrow to target location. After a delay, any foe marked by Hunter’s Shot net is pulled to your Snare arrow.
• Delay: 1¼ second
• Pull range: 1200
• Range: 1200
  • The [Snare] arrow pull uses the same on-target visual effect as Engineer [Magnet Pull]. The [Snare] arrow begins casting this skill the instant that it lands.
  • This skill’s pull attempts to pull all targets in its radius marked with the Hunter’s Shot debuff. To this effect, multiple rangers running longbow could chain CC a single target with proper timing.

[Point Blank Shot]

• When striking immobilized foes, this skill now deals 20% more damage, inflicts vulnerability (5 stacks; 10 seconds) and then removes immobilized before inflicting the knock-back.

Axe main-hand skills
[Ricochet] (1)

• Skill removed; replaced with another skill chain: [Squall]; [Tempest]; [Monsoon].

[Squall] (1-1)

• Cast-time: ½ second
• Slash with your axe and send a blade of wind at your foe.
• Damage: 159 (0.5)
• Range: 900

[Tempest] (1-2)

• Cast-time: ½ second
• Slash again with your axe, sending another blade of wind at your foe.
• Damage: 159 (0.5)
• Range: 900

[Monsoon] (1-3)

• Cast-time: 1 second
• Slash three times with your axe, casting out three blades of wind that leave foes vulnerable.
• Damage (3x): 303 (0.9)
• Vulnerability per wind blade (1): 4 seconds
• Range: 900
  • Piercing projectiles.
  • The player can move while activating this skill.

[Splitblade] (2)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ¼ second
• Recharge: 8 seconds
• Lob an axe at target location. At the target location your axe ricochets off of winds, appearing to multiply while it bleeds and damages foes in the area.
• Damage (4x): 1344 (3.2)
• Bleeding (4): 5 seconds
• Pulse: 1 second
• Duration: 4 seconds
• Radius: 180
• Range: 900
  • The axe shares the same projectile behavior as that of Thief [Choking Gas].
  • This skill shares the same pulse schedule as Elementalist [Lava Font].
  • This skill’s AoE is a red-circled collection of axes bouncing from side to side across the skill’s radius.

[Winter’s Bite] (3)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ¾ second
• Recharge: 15 seconds
• Leap to target location and slash foes when you land, inflicting chill. Your pet’s next attack inflicts weakness. If you strike a foe suffering from vulnerability, you also bleed that foe.
• Damage: 252 (0.75)
• Damage radius: 180
• Chill: 3 seconds
• Weakness: 6 seconds
• Bleeding (4): 10 seconds
• Combo Finisher: Leap
• Range: 600
  • This skill hits up to 5 targets.
  • Uses the Warrior [Earthshaker] attack animation.
  • Creates an Elementalist [Frozen Burst] animation when the attack lands at the target location.

Axe off-hand skills
[Path of Scars] (4)

• Cast-time increased from ½ second to ¾ second.
• Now also cripples (3 seconds) foes with each strike.

[Whirling Defense] (5)

• Now also grants 4 seconds of protection upon activation.

Torch off-hand skills
[Throw Torch] (4) – NAME CHANGED TO – [Conflagration] (4)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ¾ second
• Recharge: 15 seconds
• Slam your torch into the ground and unleash a wave of flames that burns foes in front of you. You blind and cripple foes that are already burning.
• Damage: 151 (0.5)
• Burning: 4 seconds
• Blind: 5 seconds
• Crippled: 3 seconds
• Combo Finisher: Blast
• Wave range: 300
  • This skill hits up to 5 foes.

[Bonfire] (5)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: ½ second
• Recharge: 20 seconds
• Throw your torch a target location, creating a bonfire that burns foes. Your bonfire cures up to 3 conditions on allies upon creation.
• Damage (5x): 255 (1.0)
• Burning (5): 1 second
• Duration: 5 seconds
• Radius: 120
• Combo Field: Fire
• Range: 900
  • This skill shares its pulse schedule with that of Elementalist [Lava Font].

Healing skills
[Healing Spring]

• Cast-time increased from ½ second to 1 second.

Signet skills
[Signet of Stone] (passive)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Gain protection when disabled.
• Cool-down: 15 seconds
• Protection: 2 seconds

[Signet of Stone] (active)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Cast-time: 0
• Recharge: 40 seconds
• Your pet gains increased vitality and protection.
• Vitality (+1500): 3 seconds
• Protection: 3 seconds
• Breaks stun.

[Signet of the Wild] (passive)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• You and your pet gain passive healing whenever you successfully evade an attack.
• Passive healing duration: 10 seconds
• Self healing per second: 62 (0.1)
• Pet healing per second: 125 (0.2)
• Cool-down: 10 seconds

[Signet of the Wild] (active)

• Recharge reduced from 60 seconds to 40 seconds.
• Duration reduced from 8 seconds to 5 seconds.

Survival skills
[Lightning Reflexes]

• Now also removes crippled, chilled and immobilized.

Spirit utility skills and elite completely changed to the following:
[Toxicity]

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 25 seconds
• Spirit. Creatures under the effects of Toxicity take extra damage when suffering from poison.
• Damage: 118 (0.4)
• Toxicity (1): 3 seconds
• Toxicity pulse: 3 seconds
• Maximum number of creatures affected: 10
• Spirit radius: 1200
• Lifespan: 60 seconds
  • At leach pulse interval, this skill attempts to apply 1 stack of a unique debuff called Toxicity to up to 10 enemies in its radius. This debuff cannot change hands or be removed by skills that remove or send conditions to an opponent. Each time that a target under the effects of Toxicity takes damage from poison, this skill’s debuff deals its effect and decreases in stack by 1.
  • This skill chains into another skill upon activation: [Infection].

[Infection]

• Cast-time: ¾ second
• Recharge: 25 seconds
• Throw a collection of infectious spores that weakens and poisons foes at the target area.
• Minimum range: 180
• Poison: 5 seconds
• Weakness: 3 seconds
• Radius: 240
• Range: 900
  • This skill shares its projectile behavior with that of [Arcing Arrow].

[Brambles]

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 25 seconds
• Spirit. Creatures under the effects of Brambles take damage and bleed when they are interrupted or disabled.
• Damage: 179 (0.5)
• Bleeding (3): 5 seconds
• Brambles (1): 5 seconds
• Brambles pulse: 5 seconds
• Maximum number of creatures affected: 10
• Spirit radius: 1200
• Lifespan: 60 seconds
  • At leach pulse interval, this skill attempts to apply 1 stack of a unique debuff called Brambles to up to 10 enemies in its radius. This debuff cannot change hands or be removed by skills that remove or send conditions to an opponent. Each time that a target under the effects of Brambles is disabled, this skill’s debuff deals its effect and decreases in stack by 1.
  • This skill chains into another skill upon activation: [Tanglevine].

[Tanglevine]

• Cast-time: 1 second
• Recharge: 40 seconds
• Cast out a piercing, immobilizing vine at your foe. If your tanglevine strikes a foe that was already crippled, chilled or immobilized, that foe is also knocked down.
• Damage: 111 (0.3)
• Immobilize: 2 seconds
• Knock-down: 2 seconds
• Range: 1200
  • Piercing projectile.
  • Uses a bright-green, vine-y reskin of the Guardian [Zealot’s Embrace] projectile.

[Winnowing]

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 25 seconds
• Spirit. While under the effects of Winnowing, each time that you lose a condition, you damage nearby foes and gain regeneration.
• Damage: 244 (0.75)
• Damage radius: 240
• Regeneration: 4 seconds
• Winnowing (1): 10 seconds
• Winnowing pulse: 10 seconds
• Maximum number of allies affected: 10
• Spirit radius: 1200
• Lifespan: 60 seconds
  • At leach pulse interval, this skill attempts to apply 1 stack of a unique buff called Winnowing to all allies in its radius. This buff cannot change hands or be removed by skills that remove or steal boons. Each time that a target under the effects of Winnowing loses a condition, this skill’s buff deals its effect and decreases in stack by 1.
  • This skill chains into another skill upon activation: [Read the Wind].

[Read the Wind]

• Cast-time: ½ second
• Recharge: 25 seconds
• Cast out a whirlwind that strikes foes in a line. For each foe that you strike, you lose 1 condition.
• Damage: 111 (0.3)
• Range: 900

[Zephyr]

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 25 seconds
• Spirit. While under the effects of Zephyr, whenever you successfully evade an attack, you also damage nearby foes and gain both swiftness and might.
• Damage: 244 (0.75)
• Damage radius: 240
• Might (2): 10 seconds
• Swiftness: 5 seconds
• Zephyr (1): 10 seconds
• Zephyr pulse: 10 seconds
• Maximum number of allies affected: 10
• Spirit radius: 1200
  *Lifespan: 60 seconds
  • At leach pulse interval, this skill attempts to apply 1 stack of a unique buff called Zephyr to all allies in its radius. This buff cannot change hands or be removed by skills that remove or steal boons. Each time that a target under the effects of Zephyr successfully evades an attack, this skill’s buff deals its effect and decreases in stack by 1.
  • This skill chains into another skill upon activation: [Tumblegust].

[Tumblegust]

• Cast-time: 0
• Recharge: 45 seconds
• Evade backwards, gaining vigor and knocking back adjacent enemies.
• Vigor: 10 seconds
• Evasion: 1 second
• Knock-back: 180
• Radius: 180
• Breaks stun.
  • Evasion distance: 400

[Energizing Wind]

• Cast-time: 1½ seconds
• Recharge: 150 seconds
• Elite Spirit. While under the effects of Energizing Wind, you regain some endurance when you dodge.
• Endurance gained: 15
• Energizing Wind (1): 20 seconds
• Energizing Wind pulse: 20 seconds
• Maximum number of allies affected: 10
• Spirit radius: 1200
• Lifespan: 60 seconds
  • At leach pulse interval, this skill attempts to apply 1 stack of a unique buff called Energizing Wind to all allies in its radius. This buff cannot change hands or be removed by skills that remove or steal boons. Each time that a target under the effects of Energizing Wind dodges, this skill’s buff deals its effect and decreases in stack by 1.
  • This skill chains into another upon activation: [Nature’s Renewal].

[Nature’s Renewal]

• Cast-time: ½ second
• Recharge: 120 seconds
• Toss a seed that creates a healing pool at the target area. This pool removes conditions and revives downed allies at the target area.
• Revive percent per pulse: 17%
• Conditions removed: 3
• Duration: 5 seconds
• Combo Field: Water
• Radius: 180
  • This skill shares its projectile behavior with that of [Toss Elixir R].
  • Conditions are removed when the field first activates.

[Resilience]

• Cast-time: 1 second
• Recharge: 20 seconds
• Healing Skill Spirit. While under the effects of Resilience, you heal whenever you deal critical damage.
• Healing: 252 (0.2)
• Resilience (2): 10 seconds
• Resilience pulse: 10 seconds
• Maximum number of allies affected: 10
• Spirit radius: 1200
• Lifespan: 60 seconds
  • At leach pulse interval, this skill attempts to apply 2 stacks of a unique buff called Resilience to all allies in its radius. This buff cannot change hands or be removed by skills that remove or steal boons. Each time that a target under the effects of Resilience deals critical damage, this skill’s buff deals its effect and decreases in stack by 1.
  • This skill chains into another skill upon activation: [Resilient Surge].

[Resilient Surge]

• Cast-time: 1 second
• Recharge: 25 seconds
• Heal yourself and create a pool of healing water at target location.
• Initial self heal: 3865 (0.35)
• Pool healing (3x): 1920 (0.9)
• Pool duration: 3 seconds
• Pool radius: 240
• Combo Field: Water
• Range: 1200

Nature Magic Traits
Vigorous Spirits (Nature Magic – IV)

• FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
• Spirits have increased health and grant extra stacks of their respective buffs with each pulse.
  • Health increase: 100%
  • Buff stack per pulse increase: 1

Nature’s Vengeance (Nature Magic – XI)

• If a spirit of yours is killed, you gain a bonus based on its nature.

Toxicity’s death (1)

• Duration: 20 seconds
• Your next attack poisons and weakens your target.
• Inflict poison: 5 seconds
• Inflict weakness: 5 seconds

Brambles’ death (1)

• Duration: 20 seconds
• Your next attack immobilizes and bleeds your target.
• Inflict immobilize: 1 second
• Inflict bleeding (2): 10 seconds

Winnowing’s death

• Cure up to 3 conditions

Zephyr’s death

• Gain might and might and swiftness.
• Might (3): 10 seconds
• Swiftness: 5 seconds

Energizing Wind’s death

• Gain vigor and haste.
• Vigor: 10 seconds
• Haste: 3 seconds

Resilience’s death

• Heal and gain regeneration.
• Healing: 840 (0.35)
• Regeneration: 5 seconds

While under the effects of an attack-based bonus, the number of stacks of those effects will decrease if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.

Tweaked a few damage numbers on a few skills.

One of the better fixes to the ranger I’ve read in a while, though I like the idea of the change with the Axe auto-attack, one have to take into consideration that this removes the ability to use the axe for ranged dps, personally i feel that poison volley for the short bow should be changed completly to a different skill, feel that shortbow shouldn’t have any aoe skill and should rather be focused on single target, a longer duration posion arrow for example would be prefered imo.

Swagg.9236:

This sort of spammy blur of attacks is the kind of offensive paradigm that is unhealthy for GW2 because it undermines active damage mitigation such as dodges and single blocks. Because none of the Ranger attacks really have any “oomph” or are telegraphed particularly well, the Ranger just sort of throws skills at opponents which have to guess at random when they should maybe dodge or block.

This blur of attacks is what makes the ranger’s melee different. When i want slower, harder hitting telegraphed attacks, i just play my warrior.

If you want to solve the “guess at random when they should maybe dodge or block”, well, just take a page out of GW1 and start displaying casting bars imho.

The only change needed to short bow 1 is to remove the positional requirement for the bleed.

Great post otherwise.

Sry but who the hell are you?

You say that “Most of the time, it’s very difficult to detail what the Ranger is doing”

You want to change Shortbow, Axe and Sword.

First change to shortbow: Nerf it’s condition output. This is one of the skills people use to bleed enemies.

Poison volley is good as it is. The ranger can choose to quickly apply a small duration poison or get in close and apply a 10sec poison. It will be a worthless skill if you want to make it like the warrior’s LB skill.

Predictable SB styles: Ranger will most likely try to kite, which means he will often use Crippling Shot for cripple. Poison volley will most likely be used when the Ranger’s enemy is around 50% to 60% health where he is most likely to use a healing skill. Quickshot will most likely be used when enemy gets in close or right after the daze to create a larger gap.

The axe: Making it into a melee weapon will most likely never happen. Anyway, changing it to melee as you suggested will just make it into a Sword-copy with different effects on skills. You also wrote “This skill cleaves” and then wrote “This skill hits up to 5 foes”, a typo?
Prediction: The ranger will probably try to close in and use splitblade at point-blank range after using winter’s bite to make closing in easier. Winter’s bite is very noticable because of it’s white smoke.

The sword: What is the point of a 2s increase?
Pediction: The ranger will most likely switch to sword to regain the upper hand by dodging around. A really good tactic to gain some seconds on current CDs. A single immobilise/stun would ruin quite a lot.

Healing Spring:
It has an initial healing and condition cleanse but it is very difficult to stay in the circle (to gain regen and cleanse) when fighting a competent opponent. I think 0.75 casting time is okay, but 1 second is too much.

Also, using “SPAM TO WIN!” to describe Rangers is very wrong. Any “SPAM TO WIN!” ranger is an easy kill.

GS for example is a slower but harder hitting weapon. It’s #2 is very easy to see, so is #3 which doesn’t really do much and #4 which can easily be avoided by paying attention. #5 is the only skill that is a bit too fast but it’s compensated by the short effect.

What should be changed are spirits, shouts and traits. (primarily)

The only “Spam to win” weapons rangers got are Longbow, Shortbow and Spear (underwater). No other weapons allow for AA superiority.

And the only builds that allow for AA superiority is BM Condition Bunker, Spirit Ranger (sPvP) and Glass Cannon Bow Ranger.
Any other build have to rely on the utilities of the weapons.

The Spirit and condition bunker can only reliably use the shortbow to spam AA. The axe is ONLY used for the chill and bleed on Splitblade.
The Longbow is ONLY capable of AA superiority when using full glass cannon, as that is the only time you will see any ranger weapon hitting constant 3k hits all over the place.

What you suggest, is to nerf the ranger builds, across the board, in an attempt to make it even harder to play the ranger. That, i do not agree with.
The ranger is a high-paced, high-mobility profession, taking away it’s quick strikes would simply make it a handicapped warrior with some different weapon sets.

Posting huge walls of texts isn’t going to do anything. Devs are more likely to ignore the whole post eventhough it might have good ideas simply because they don’t have enough time to plow trough all of it.

As a reminder. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Posting-Guidelines/first#post3476816

I’m honestly not a fan of a lot of these suggestions. While I do agree with you that the Ranger is probably the least engaging and most boring of all 8 classes to play, I don’t feel you’ve actually solved any of the class’ problems other than making it slightly more dynamic. And by slightly I mean all you’re doing is changing the current ‘always use off cooldown’ abilities into other abilities we’d always use off cooldown but be a little flashier for no apparent reason.

The problem with the class is it has no direction. Shortbow and Longbow both deal comparable damage and the condition value of one isn’t offset by a power/burst alterantive in the other. Axe you want to trun into a melee weapon which removes the 1h ranged option for the class, so why not just change Sword to do what you descibe? It’s much despised by the Ranger community as well.

While I certainly like your activated spirit abilities, when is the Ranger expected to actually use them? Giving Spirits 100% more health isn’t going to make them magically go from useless to useful.

And is this what you feel is all that’s wrong with the class? Or are you limited in your experience with the class to only Spirit builds in sPvP on the receiving end and you haven’t actually played the class?

Swagg.9236:

Part 2 of a series dedicated to redesigning and fixing GW2 combat, profession by profession.

RANGER: "SPAM TO WIN!”
Outside of bad pet AI (another topic entirely), one of the worst factors ruining Ranger balance at the moment is how none of their attacks have any real punch to them. Across the board aside from a very select few skill, the Ranger’s offensive repertoire is loaded up with whimpy, throwaway, short cool-down, short cast-time attack skills. Most of the time, it’s very difficult to detail what the Ranger is doing until after the effects have hit you (unless they’re just auto-attacking). This sort of spammy blur of attacks is the kind of offensive paradigm that is unhealthy for GW2 because it undermines active damage mitigation such as dodges and single blocks. Because none of the Ranger attacks really have any “oomph” or are telegraphed particularly well, the Ranger just sort of throws skills at opponents which have to guess at random when they should maybe dodge or block.

By removing RNG passive procs while better defining and adding a little more power to individual ranger attacks, their presence on the battlefield will be less of a spam-bot and more of a mobile attack platform with unique, well-cued and potentially game-changing attacks.

great suggestions to make rangers much worse than they already are. the only thing these “balance” ideas will do is push more people to play warriors and thieves or leave the game entirely.

Let me guess: OP is a warrior main who somehow got outplayed by a SB/axe-axe ranger? Or a dev?

the class mechanic need to be fixed before it can be balanced.

• Pets need to hit their targets -> increase attack range or attack while moving
• Pets have to scale with rangers stats -> no condition bunker build with high burst damage anymore
• Pets need damage reduction -> active dodge or passive block/evade every X seconds
• Pets have to go out or AoE damage by them selved or get an aoe damage reduction

These 4 basic things need to be fixed, before the rangers skills/traita get balanced.

I agree with this swag. “Outside of bad pet AI (another topic entirely), one of the worst factors ruining Ranger balance at the moment is how none of their attacks have any real punch to them.”

the pets (that are not getting fixed) are the main reason why rangers are weaker offensively. our entire class is balanced around a poorly made mechanic that has been forced on rangers. until pets serve a different function or are handled differently, all these ranger issues will remain the same. yeah, rangers need to do more damage, but not the way you are suggesting to balance things.

The problem with Ranger damage is that too much of the Ranger Profession relies on Passive effects, traits, pets, and spirits.

Should have asked this in my previous post, but are these changes ment for PvE or PvP or both? because personally I belive that rangers are fine in sPvP, however they are pretty much useless in PvE content, though pets are a big part of the problem I feel that the shortbow should be changed, since the damage of it is inferior unless you get to stack up bleed, which will be done allready (typically bleed reaches 25 stacks just by peoples traits). I also still agree that most of the skills lack an actual punch, which however might be balanced with respect to the pets.

TL:DR Rangers are fine as they are in sPvP and in PvE the main thing that needs to be changed is the pets, which wont happen and unless it does rangers will stay useless in PvE.

they arent fine in PVP, they seem fine.

In PvP there is one completly broken build, “condi bunker spirit ranger with cat” that is strong. because it deals full condition damage 30-40% damage of a berserker build and is tanky with 2 defensive stats.

because of this build, pets need to scale with the stats of the ranger.

KyreneZA.8617:

Let me guess: OP is a warrior main who somehow got outplayed by a SB/axe-axe ranger? Or a dev?

I haven’t even gotten to the warrior and thief threads yet. Get ready for nerfs and functionality changes everywhere.

Chrispy.5641:

The problem with Ranger damage is that too much of the Ranger Profession relies on Passive effects, traits, pets, and spirits.

That’s what I’m attempting to fix at least with the spirit changes. I’m straying away from traits right now because even though traits are entirely passive effects, they require skill activation to trigger them. If I can change the feel of how ranger skills contribute to the battlefield, I can indirectly balance traits without directly addressing them for now.

Swagger.1459:

I agree with this swag. “Outside of bad pet AI (another topic entirely), one of the worst factors ruining Ranger balance at the moment is how none of their attacks have any real punch to them.”

the pets (that are not getting fixed) are the main reason why rangers are weaker offensively. our entire class is balanced around a poorly made mechanic that has been forced on rangers. until pets serve a different function or are handled differently, all these ranger issues will remain the same. yeah, rangers need to do more damage, but not the way you are suggesting to balance things.

Rangers actually don’t necessarily need to do more damage, they need better defined skills. What’s stopping a ranger using [Poison Volley] on recharge or what’s letting an opponent know that a ranger is using [Poison Volley] at all? Does any of it really matter?

Most ranger skills are very much like that: spammable, whimpy, poorly-cued abilities that are instantly lost in even small fights. That’s what needs fixing. I have a fix for pets, but that’s for another thread entirely.

Atherakhia.4086:

I’m honestly not a fan of a lot of these suggestions. While I do agree with you that the Ranger is probably the least engaging and most boring of all 8 classes to play, I don’t feel you’ve actually solved any of the class’ problems other than making it slightly more dynamic. And by slightly I mean all you’re doing is changing the current ‘always use off cooldown’ abilities into other abilities we’d always use off cooldown but be a little flashier for no apparent reason.

They’re to promote combat legibility. Right now, everything that a ranger does is almost immediately lost in even small encounters because of the spammy, poorly-cued, short-cast-time nature of all of their skills.

The problem with the class is it has no direction. Shortbow and Longbow both deal comparable damage and the condition value of one isn’t offset by a power/burst alterantive in the other. Axe you want to trun into a melee weapon which removes the 1h ranged option for the class, [/quote]
Someone has already made this point and I’ve been reflecting on it. Even so, the change that I made to [Path of Scars] was to circumvent the issue of changing the axe main-hand auto-attack from a ranged attack to a melee one.

Atherakhia.4086:

so why not just change Sword to do what you descibe? It’s much despised by the Ranger community as well.

I haven’t talked about the sword. You mean just take my axe main-hand auto-attack idea and slap it on the sword? In the last PvP balance livestream, the balance team mentioned that they were working on a server-side fix to allow dodging while in mid-auto-attack for the sword 1 chain. I think that that’s the biggest issue for the weapon.

Atherakhia.4086:

While I certainly like your activated spirit abilities, when is the Ranger expected to actually use them?

All of the redesigned spirit actives have abilities with the potential to synergize with the spirit passive. Why would you not use them when the opportunity arises? They’re all very straightforward in how they synergize with the spirit.

Atherakhia.4086:

Giving Spirits 100% more health isn’t going to make them magically go from useless to useful.

Giving spirits 100% more hp is one of the the current functions of the Vigorous Spirits trait.

Atherakhia.4086:

And is this what you feel is all that’s wrong with the class? Or are you limited in your experience with the class to only Spirit builds in sPvP on the receiving end and you haven’t actually played the class?

I already said that pets were another thread entirely. I would probably put more in there (because, as I’ve said, all ranger skills are rather poorly designed in how spammy and low-impact they are), but I haven’t gotten around to fixing all of the weapons. I thought that shortbow and axe were a good place to start. I’ll probably put torch up too sometime soon if I can get that nailed down.

While I don’t agree completely with the axe changes, you should consider switching axe #1 and axe #4 since we already have sword as 1handed melee weapon and axe as 1handed ranged weapon. Also, having a melee offhand would be nice, since all our current offhand weapons are somewhat ranged.

I disagree with this thread. Most of it is full of stupid ideas. Why change axe to a melee only weapon ? Want to melee, use sword kitten it.
In some setups, axe is the only ranged weapon a ranger gets (in my axe/axe | greatsword wvw build for instance).

I think you just threw ideas you think would improve the ranger for YOUR gameplay style. Don’t forget there are tons of different builds, and purposes (wvw, pve, dungeon pve, pvp)…
In WvW, having axe as a weak melee weapon would serve no purpose.
Also, the shortbow is fine, thank you.

Someone proposed changes to healing spring. Again, consider the whole picture. While not the best in 1v1, in WvW it can make a huge difference. The water field being in the same spot a long time means a lot of people can blast it (= a lot of aoe healing).

Also, I don’t like the current sword skills at all. I’ve made a few suggestios myself to improve the sword without changing the gameplay. The suggestion is without numbers, but if you like the idea, you could figure them out.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/PvX-Ranger-weapon-update/3478588

Swagg.9236:

KyreneZA.8617:

Let me guess: OP is a warrior main who somehow got outplayed by a SB/axe-axe ranger? Or a dev?

I haven’t even gotten to the warrior and thief threads yet. Get ready for nerfs and functionality changes everywhere.

The only thing surpassing your ego is your hubris. Must be a (self-styled) dev then with too much time on its hands…

Swagg.9236:

Chrispy.5641:

The problem with Ranger damage is that too much of the Ranger Profession relies on Passive effects, traits, pets, and spirits.

That’s what I’m attempting to fix at least with the spirit changes. I’m straying away from traits right now because even though traits are entirely passive effects, they require skill activation to trigger them. If I can change the feel of how ranger skills contribute to the battlefield, I can indirectly balance traits without directly addressing them for now.

Yeah, except that some of your changes make no sense.

Like the shortbow for example. Right now, it takes roughly half a second inbetween damage ticks when using autoattack. You want to increase the cast time to 3/4 second, and aftercast to .25 seconds?

Well, cast time and aftercast together are already roughly 1/2 second because of the animation when using the skill….., and you want to double that to 1 second. You want to double the time inbetween damage ticks, but only increase the physical damage it does by about 16%? And since you didn’t specify how the bleed works, Im assuming it stays the same, meaning that the bleed aspect gets a 50% damage nerf?

uh….where’s the logic in that? I see that you want to increase the damage that skill 2 does, but, its not enough to offset the damage reduction from the autoattack, meaning that instead of encouraging more active play, it just makes the weapon all around weaker.

Swagg.9236:

Swagger.1459:

I agree with this swag. “Outside of bad pet AI (another topic entirely), one of the worst factors ruining Ranger balance at the moment is how none of their attacks have any real punch to them.”

the pets (that are not getting fixed) are the main reason why rangers are weaker offensively. our entire class is balanced around a poorly made mechanic that has been forced on rangers. until pets serve a different function or are handled differently, all these ranger issues will remain the same. yeah, rangers need to do more damage, but not the way you are suggesting to balance things.

Rangers actually don’t necessarily need to do more damage, they need better defined skills. What’s stopping a ranger using [Poison Volley] on recharge or what’s letting an opponent know that a ranger is using [Poison Volley] at all? Does any of it really matter?

Most ranger skills are very much like that: spammable, whimpy, poorly-cued abilities that are instantly lost in even small fights. That’s what needs fixing. I have a fix for pets, but that’s for another thread entirely.

my original reply had an error and was eaten by the forum monsters so i’ll condense my response.

so “none of their attacks have any real punch to them.” really means “they need better defined skills.”. gotcha.

the main issues are that rangers are tied to the hip with broken pets and are a mesh of bad ideas from 2 classes in beta. nothing you suggest would make any improvements.

your pseudo dev balancing act across all professions only serves to slow down combat through longer cool downs, longer cast times, charge ups, big telegraphed animations and favors melee even more. no thanks, professions and combat here are already on par with games like co and dcuo, we don’t need to make things worse. we have had enough “miss the mark” development here, we don’t need anymore.

Swagger.1459:

my original reply had an error and was eaten by the forum monsters so i’ll condense my response.

so “none of their attacks have any real punch to them.” really means “they need better defined skills.”. gotcha.

Eh, I suppose I should refine my point about ranger damage.

Although Ranger has a lot of whimpy attacks, they all have a spammable nature (short cool-down; nil cast-time) that allow them to snowball very quickly against an opponent that renders timing dodges or blocks irrelevant. That’s what needs to be fixed. Fixing it is a process of making skills slower and more independent from each other.

Swagger.1459:

the main issues are that rangers are tied to the hip with broken pets and are a mesh of bad ideas from 2 classes in beta. nothing you suggest would make any improvements.

I have a suggestion for that, but it’s not nearly as fleshed out as anything else here. I hesitate to put it up because it’s a very, very work-intensive—but ultimately rather simple—solution that I think would turn people off even more than reworking current skills.

Swagger.1459:

your pseudo dev balancing act across all professions only serves to slow down combat through longer cool downs, longer cast times, charge ups, big telegraphed animations

That’s the point. That sort of balance makes for legible combat in which players can actually capitalize on timed dodges and positioning. Right now spam-centric play-styles like those of the typical Ranger rule the metagame.

Swagger.1459:

and favors melee even more.

That’s not necessarily true. So long as a player uses positioning and snare skills properly, melee can be put in check while allowing the ranged player to maneuver about for a little while longer—or at least that is how it should be. There are some aspects of game-play which make it difficult to achieve such a simple paradigm.

Swagger.1459:

no thanks, professions and combat here are already on par with games like co and dcuo, we don’t need to make things worse

I’m telling you right now that dhuumfire and torment brought on the condi meta which brought on things like Diamond Skin. The only solution to the current condi/passive-proc/throaway-skill meta is simply straight up hard counter immunities and/or extended blocks or invulnerability. This trend will lead us down a path of more Diamond Skins, Incendiary Powders and Dhuumfires until everyone is just killing each other with repeated auto-attacks after having haphazardly pressed every other button on their skill bar.

Chrispy.5641:

Yeah, except that some of your changes make no sense.

Make no sense in what regard? I’ll need some context.

Chrispy.5641:

Like the shortbow for example. Right now, it takes roughly half a second inbetween damage ticks when using autoattack. You want to increase the cast time to 3/4 second, and aftercast to .25 seconds?

Well, cast time and aftercast together are already roughly 1/2 second because of the animation when using the skill….., and you want to double that to 1 second. You want to double the time inbetween damage ticks, but only increase the physical damage it does by about 16%? And since you didn’t specify how the bleed works, Im assuming it stays the same, meaning that the bleed aspect gets a 50% damage nerf?

Yes, the goal of this global profession balance initiative is to slow down combat to a more legible state.

Chrispy.5641:

uh….where’s the logic in that?

There’s plenty of logic. To make combat more legible, you better define individual skills by lengthening cast-times and making cues more obvious.

Chrispy.5641:

I see that you want to increase the damage that skill 2 does, but, its not enough to offset the damage reduction from the autoattack, meaning that instead of encouraging more active play, it just makes the weapon all around weaker.

You’re just using active play as a buzzword here. What you are actually saying is that “active play” is defined by relying on a strong auto-attack. Last time I checked, pressing 1 and strafing while you have a target doesn’t exactly scream “active play.”

You are probably right about the damage, though. The goal is to make other, better cued and cooldown-bound skills into the main sources of damage. I think that the numbers need a little more adjusting.

Swagg.9236:

Chrispy.5641:

Like the shortbow for example. Right now, it takes roughly half a second inbetween damage ticks when using autoattack. You want to increase the cast time to 3/4 second, and aftercast to .25 seconds?

Well, cast time and aftercast together are already roughly 1/2 second because of the animation when using the skill….., and you want to double that to 1 second. You want to double the time inbetween damage ticks, but only increase the physical damage it does by about 16%? And since you didn’t specify how the bleed works, Im assuming it stays the same, meaning that the bleed aspect gets a 50% damage nerf?

Yes, the goal of this global profession balance initiative is to slow down combat to a more legible state.

The Shortbow is already near useless in PvE. Cutting it’s damage by half will simply destroy this weapon. Right now the ranger has just one weapon with competitve damage and that’s the sword. Your changes on axe will maybe add a second viable weapon, but nerfing a weapon is a NoGo for the ranger since it will only strengthen sword and maybe your axe suggestion.

Swagg.9236:

Chrispy.5641:

I see that you want to increase the damage that skill 2 does, but, its not enough to offset the damage reduction from the autoattack, meaning that instead of encouraging more active play, it just makes the weapon all around weaker.

You’re just using active play as a buzzword here. What you are actually saying is that “active play” is defined by relying on a strong auto-attack. Last time I checked, pressing 1 and strafing while you have a target doesn’t exactly scream “active play.”

If you want to support so called “active play”, you should start with sword, since it’s the best example for a “press 1 to win” weapon. You’ll never use #2 or #3 if you don’t want to lose damage. If you’re using shortbow, you can atleast use the other skills without disrupting your attackflow.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

The Shortbow is already near useless in PvE. Cutting it’s damage by half will simply destroy this weapon. Right now the ranger has just one weapon with competitve damage and that’s the sword. Your changes on axe will maybe add a second viable weapon, but nerfing a weapon is a NoGo for the ranger since it will only strengthen sword and maybe your axe suggestion.

Balancing the game around PvP is better for everyone because it leads to more PvP-like PvE encounters. If everything is balanced around PvP encounters, then PvE encounters and bosses would have to mimic players so as not to be too overtuned or brain-dead easy.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

If you want to support so called “active play”, you should start with sword, since it’s the best example for a “press 1 to win” weapon. You’ll never use #2 or #3 if you don’t want to lose damage.

I should look into that. I simply didn’t get around to making any concrete sword changes.

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

If you’re using shortbow, you can atleast use the other skills without disrupting your attackflow.

That’s actually the kind of combat that’s ruining PvP at the moment. If everything just feels like an auto-attack how is it different than just auto-attacking someone to death? The ability for many spammable offensive skills to rapidly snowball on top of an opponent is not good skill design within the context of GW2 combat. That’s the kind of skill paradigm that I’m trying to fix.

Swagg.9236:

Balancing the game around PvP is better for everyone because it leads to more PvP-like PvE encounters. If everything is balanced around PvP encounters, then PvE encounters and bosses would have to mimic players so as not to be too overtuned or brain-dead easy.

Ok I was going to just watch this thread slowly fade out, but you do understand that the primary mode of balance that spvp is going for is conquest right? And in turning more of the game into that would be “overtuned or brain-dead” in a different direction.

@swagg
first i would take a look of the mechanic of the game.. changing dmg of skills brings nothing.. what determine the dmg output is the skillcoeff and a lot of other stuff. so its total worthless to write “dmg 212 (0,4) to 250 (0,4)” as example

second if u want to change so many things i think maybe you play the wrong game. except some already called problems axe and shortbow are not that bad like u suggest. axe just need to be a powerweapon and not a hybrid and shortbow a more reliable condiapplication. longbow needs punch and greatsword too.

what ranger need is trait and utility overhaul but not the weapons.

Swagg.9236:

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

The Shortbow is already near useless in PvE. Cutting it’s damage by half will simply destroy this weapon. Right now the ranger has just one weapon with competitve damage and that’s the sword. Your changes on axe will maybe add a second viable weapon, but nerfing a weapon is a NoGo for the ranger since it will only strengthen sword and maybe your axe suggestion.

Balancing the game around PvP is better for everyone because it leads to more PvP-like PvE encounters. If everything is balanced around PvP encounters, then PvE encounters and bosses would have to mimic players so as not to be too overtuned or brain-dead easy.

This idea is basically good, however huge improvements have to be done first.
This post sums this up quite nice:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/CDI-Character-Progression-Horizontal/page/61#post3491959

Swagg.9236:

xXxOrcaxXx.9328:

If you want to support so called “active play”, you should start with sword, since it’s the best example for a “press 1 to win” weapon. You’ll never use #2 or #3 if you don’t want to lose damage.

I should look into that. I simply didn’t get around to making any concrete sword changes.

Maybe you like these ideas.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/The-Weapon-Suggestion-Thread/first#post3470009

Swagg.9236:

Swagger.1459:

my original reply had an error and was eaten by the forum monsters so i’ll condense my response.

so “none of their attacks have any real punch to them.” really means “they need better defined skills.”. gotcha.

Eh, I suppose I should refine my point about ranger damage.

Although Ranger has a lot of whimpy attacks, they all have a spammable nature (short cool-down; nil cast-time) that allow them to snowball very quickly against an opponent that renders timing dodges or blocks irrelevant. That’s what needs to be fixed. Fixing it is a process of making skills slower and more independent from each other.

Swagger.1459:

the main issues are that rangers are tied to the hip with broken pets and are a mesh of bad ideas from 2 classes in beta. nothing you suggest would make any improvements.

I have a suggestion for that, but it’s not nearly as fleshed out as anything else here. I hesitate to put it up because it’s a very, very work-intensive—but ultimately rather simple—solution that I think would turn people off even more than reworking current skills.

Swagger.1459:

your pseudo dev balancing act across all professions only serves to slow down combat through longer cool downs, longer cast times, charge ups, big telegraphed animations

That’s the point. That sort of balance makes for legible combat in which players can actually capitalize on timed dodges and positioning. Right now spam-centric play-styles like those of the typical Ranger rule the metagame.

Swagger.1459:

and favors melee even more.

That’s not necessarily true. So long as a player uses positioning and snare skills properly, melee can be put in check while allowing the ranged player to maneuver about for a little while longer—or at least that is how it should be. There are some aspects of game-play which make it difficult to achieve such a simple paradigm.

Swagger.1459:

no thanks, professions and combat here are already on par with games like co and dcuo, we don’t need to make things worse

I’m telling you right now that dhuumfire and torment brought on the condi meta which brought on things like Diamond Skin. The only solution to the current condi/passive-proc/throaway-skill meta is simply straight up hard counter immunities and/or extended blocks or invulnerability. This trend will lead us down a path of more Diamond Skins, Incendiary Powders and Dhuumfires until everyone is just killing each other with repeated auto-attacks after having haphazardly pressed every other button on their skill bar.

You, I and a carp ton of people want professions and combat in this game improved, and to have an earnest effort and real investment on the developers part. I understand you have worked kitten your ideas and are passionate about them, but they only look good on paper to you and a couple other people. No, I don’t have all the answers myself, but I know that most of what you are proposing will have a negative affect on gameplay. While your intent is good, it’s your delivery of changes that don’t and won’t work. You need to look at the “bigger bigger” picture of things more before you go around niggling about numbers and percentages on a micro level.

Swagg.9236:

Yes, the goal of this global profession balance initiative is to slow down combat to a more legible state.

Combat’s pretty legible as it is for a player right now. You more or less know what’s going to happen and how it’s going to happen. Being able to interpret the ebb and flow of combat is part of the skill curve.

You made a note earlier about not knowing when a Ranger is going to use SB 2 (at least I think it was you). It’s pretty easy to tell when they’re going to do this; they try to apply some control and then they close to melee to get all 5 spreads to hit you. If they don’t bother doing that and just let one of the spreads hit you, the ability is more or less wasted. There already are dynamics in how these abilities work.

If you mean it’s illegible for a viewer? Fair enough, but overhauling the entire balancing of the game for the sake of ESPAWTS is a bit too much.

Taku.6352:

Posting huge walls of texts isn’t going to do anything. Devs are more likely to ignore the whole post eventhough it might have good ideas simply because they don’t have enough time to plow trough all of it.

As a reminder. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Posting-Guidelines/first#post3476816

Exactly. I skipped it except for the 1st paragraph.

Bran.7425:

Ok I was going to just watch this thread slowly fade out, but you do understand that the primary mode of balance that spvp is going for is conquest right? And in turning more of the game into that would be “overtuned or brain-dead” in a different direction.

By “balance the entire game around PvP” I don’t mean to introduce conquest into PvE. Think of the NPCs with which you can duel in the Heart of the Mists as practice. The duelist NPCs along with the Keep Lord and the beasts from Niflhel (forest).

Those kinds of fights are functionally different and far more engaging than most fights that a player will find in overworld PvE. Even bosses in overworld PvE don’t typically play in the same manner since most bosses in PvE ignore things like blind, CC and often come equipped with unblockable attacks—not to mention their HP-sponge nature that turns most combat into a maypole dance around the target while you mindlessly cycle through a damage rotation. Even though it may not really come that close, fighting things like the dueling NPCs in the Heart of the Mists is the best simulation for fighting another player in GW2. That’s what I’m aiming for.

If we balance player skills around killing other players, then to make sure that the PvE experience isn’t overtuned, PvE encounters would have to be made into something that more resembles PvP with regards to enemy hp, movement and how it responds to CC.

hooma.9642:

@swagg
first i would take a look of the mechanic of the game.. changing dmg of skills brings nothing..

In a game without very well defined combat roles, damage is the primary mechanic of the game. Even things like CC are often overwritten by long stability durations.

what determine the dmg output is the skillcoeff and a lot of other stuff. so its total worthless to write “dmg 212 (0,4) to 250 (0,4)” as example

hooma.9642:

second if u want to change so many things i think maybe you play the wrong game.

There’s a lot of hope and potential locked in GW2. I’d be poor form to just abandon it.

hooma.9642:

except some already called problems axe and shortbow are not that bad like u suggest. axe just need to be a powerweapon

I’ll look at adjusting some of the numbers. The 2 and 3 skill re-designs are already well-cued enough to maybe deserve a bit of a damage buff to compensate. People have also complained about turning axe main-hand into a melee-attack. I’m looking at ways to give it range flexibility; I might just make it a ranged auto-attack chain.

hooma.9642:

and not a hybrid

Condition damage can be valuable in a power build as a means of supplemental pressure outside of big-hitter attacks. The point is to keep that pressure in moderation and tied to well-cued attacks.

hooma.9642:

and shortbow a more reliable condiapplication. longbow needs punch and greatsword too.

I’m also looking at [Poison Volley] and [Crippling Shot] as means to provide condition pressure on Ranger shortbow outside of spamming 1 while strafing.

hooma.9642:

what ranger need is trait and utility overhaul but not the weapons.

Traits are passive abilities that have no visible cues. The best place to start in order to increase combat legibility is with the active skills themselves. I’ve already overhauled the worst offenders of passive, RNG-proc-dependent combat which were the spirits.

I’ll look at the other utilities, though. Did you have any ideas in mind?

if u dont want abandon it then why u want change so many things?

in my opinion the weapons need only light adjustments. no complete overhaul like u have in mind. in the same time i think u arent in the position to have an overview what dmg coeff every attack should have. so that useless to suggest any.

if u would actually have any clue about ranger u would not thing that some little conditions without any point in conditiondmg as sideeffekt on traitchoice as powerranger would have any benefit thats its worth to loose even 10% dmg.

how i said before. weapons are already fine. esp shortbow. all that it needs is a conditionapply without the need to flank. like every other conditionweapon on other classes.

spirits arent that passive like u think. so there is not overhaul needed. whats worthless on ranger are nearly all signets, shouts and some other skills.

traits are out of line, to high, to bad, to much pet depend and so on..

i would suggest u try to play powerranger in higher level of tpvp to see where different build types lackes as example. powerranger has no burst as example.

hooma.9642:

traits are out of line, to high, to bad, to much pet depend and so on..

YES! I don’t want to be the support for my stupid pet, I want to do the damage.

I think I’m going to be sick… I play a Ranger because it requires more effort than other professions. You don’t hammer spam-stun to win, stealth-dodge-spam to win or condition dump and immunity to win. You actually have to utilize your abilities at certain time intervals and handle your weapons with care rather than facerolling the keyboard.
Please don’t suggest in any way shape or form that Rangers need a nerf. Suggesting that our weapons need a longer cooldown puts us from weakest profession to non-playable. At least in our current state I can still win fights if I play my cards right. Reducing ANYTHING of ours is like cutting that last thread we’re holding on by.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I think I’m going to be sick… I play a Ranger because it requires more effort than other professions. You don’t hammer spam-stun to win, stealth-dodge-spam to win or condition dump and immunity to win.

Not necessarily. Due to the nature of ranger skills, a player can snowball them very quickly against an opponent because there typically aren’t any well-telegraphed individual skills outside of a select fuew.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

You actually have to utilize your abilities at certain time intervals and handle your weapons with care rather than facerolling the keyboard.

You must not use spirits, or shortbow, or axe, or off-hand dagger, or—look, this is the issue: having multiple instances of entire weapon sets composed of attack skills that have 1/4 or less cast-times is an awful paradigm. Being able to throw all of those abilities off willynilly whenever the player sees fit makes calculated counterplay all but impossible. It’s bad design for what GW2 is at its core: a game without healers to counter spam and a game in which active dodging and positioning are supposed to circumvent the issue of not having dedicated healers. If we ruin the possibility of clutch damage mitigation via dodges, positioning or single blocks, then the entire combat paradigm is ruined. That’s what I’m fixing here.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Please don’t suggest in any way shape or form that Rangers need a nerf. Suggesting that our weapons need a longer cooldown puts us from weakest profession to non-playable. At least in our current state I can still win fights if I play my cards right. Reducing ANYTHING of ours is like cutting that last thread we’re holding on by.

I already said that I’m going to adjust the damage on some of those skills. The goal is to turn Ranger into a better cued, but still hard-hitting profession instead of the ranged stream-of-spam profession that it mostly is now.

This isn’t exactly a nerf since there are a lot of functionality changes. It’s a paradigm shift in how the profession plays to a legible combat style that allows better clutch counterplay.

Actually, now that I had time to post in this thread I had an idea for better pet control (whether or not its taken seriously by anyone is another thing):

F2 SKILL FUNCTIONALITY CHANGED
Pressing the F2 skill will now change the Ranger’s current weapon skills.

• Skills 1-3: Current pet skills (both the current active F2 and the other two skills that the pet will use at its own leisure).
• Skill 4: Unique pet-based attack/maneuver/combo attack based on the main-hand weapon.
• Skill 5: Unique pet-based attack/maneuver/combo attack based on the off-hand weapon.
• A two-handed weapon will provide both a 4 and a 5 skill for the F2 weapon skill set.
• Swapping back and forth between current weapon set and the F2 weapon skill set will function the same as swapping between Engineer Utility Kits.

too complicated and wont fix anything.