That’s what Anet seems to be playing with us rangers. Balance patch after balance patch, rangers are an afterthought. Hell, the devs couldn’t even find the trait they were looking for yesterday. It’s like they’re challenging us to keep playing this class even though it is arguably the weakest in the game. That, or reroll another character or reroll another MMO. Well, you know what Anet? I always root for the underdog… I’m even a Cubs fan. Your game of chicken won’t work on me. I play this class not because it’s the best overall class, or offers the most group support, or has the highest DPS, or because it has a “cool” class mechanic, etc. I play this class because in every RPG I’ve ever played, I most enjoy the medium armor-wearing, bow-slinging, nature-oriented class. You’re not gonna make me main a warrior (had one at 80… also have a thief, mesmer and ele at 80) because, simply, I don’t want to.
Ranger is my class. I’ve survived your game of chicken for a year and now it’s time to reap a reward or two. Today’s patch was certainly not it. Seriously take a long look at this class – play it for a while, really read what rangers are saying – and give us some balance with the other classes. Take a real good look at the class mechanic and see where our frustration comes from. Protection while I roll and more hp doesn’t mean better pets, come on, either improve the AI or let us perma stow the pets. Give us more counter play than a 4-second reveal that we have to use before target stealths. Give us more group support, give us the better numbers on our weapons we were led to believe we’d see today, give us traits that make sense in our trait tree. The ranger community has been asking for these things for a long time now and you’ve yet to deliver. You’re playing chicken with us that truly want to love this class. Well I’m not flinching, Anet. I will log on today, play my Ranger in WvW, and wait – just like the rest of us have for over a year.