Guild Wars 2

I love core Ranger, and dislike how Druids are.

Is core Ranger ok in T4 Fractals, or would I be kicked?

:/

You are always expected to run Druid but, if you like core ranger, you should check out the Zerker LB Druid on metabattle. It completely outclasses core LB Ranger. Has much higher DPS for yourself and the team. The celestial avatar rotation in that build is very fast and is just to give quick 15% boost to party DPS.

It is just: CA, rejuvenating tides, seed or auto attack, drop out and go back to slashing or shooting. I love the build so much I use it, and slight variations, for just about everything.

Archon.6480:

You are always expected to run Druid but, if you like core ranger, you should check out the Zerker LB Druid on metabattle. It completely outclasses core LB Ranger. Has much higher DPS for yourself and the team. The celestial avatar rotation in that build is very fast and is just to give quick 15% boost to party DPS.

It is just: CA, rejuvenating tides, seed or auto attack, drop out and go back to slashing or shooting. I love the build so much I use it, and slight variations, for just about everything.

I play Condition mainly.

The condition build is pretty much the same idea that Archon posted. Do your condi thing, pop into CA for damage buffs and to trigger QD, go back to your condi thing. Should be on metabattle.

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

Jerus.4350:

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

The Meta ruins this though, and ruins classes. I hate being expected to heal.

Kam.4092:

Jerus.4350:

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

The Meta ruins this though, and ruins classes. I hate being expected to heal.

What I personally dislike more is the thought that it’s not even consistent. Any big patch can overturn any expectation of how you should play, which can make it tiresome to force a new build with that in mind, moving perhaps wildly away from what you’re used to and fallen in love with conceptually. GW2 takes this to the extremes with exact weapon choice and build, what pet what buttons to push and what sunglasses to wear. Only the most elitist guilds do this in other MMOs whereas the middle ground is OK as long as you just know your class, play it well in your own style and know the events.

I think this is more of a problem for people wanting to play the game as an RPG and not just tactical, viewing your character purely as a toolbox or a deck of cards. Often to the “extremes” of having several characters (decks of cards) available for any need, not necessarily caring about what’s cool or any actual roleplay aspect, but just being effective. Some people manage to pull both things off, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all.

I’ve decided myself to just say kitten it and play my ranger as I want and if that becomes close to meta one day then great, until then I’ll have my own fun and don’t care too much about what others think, as long as the gameplay makes sense for me and I know I play something that fits my playstyle and works as well as it can for what it is and what ANet has provided me. Open world events keep me somewhat satisfied for now and I know that anything can happen.

Do it if it’s fun, try to make it fun by tweaking it a little, or do something else that’s fun until it may become fun. Can’t really do much else.

Dungeon running is now basically Play-How-You-Want. It was never hard, but now it’s never slow because of the absolutely absurd power creep rush. No one cares what you run. So that’s an option if you can’t find a fractal group that doesn’t expect you to heal, which sounds stupid to me. I don’t play fractals anymore but I can’t imagine healing has become the PUG culture??

I love running CoE when bored, and Arah still pretends to keep you involved in the combat. Lupi is still probably the second most complicated fight in PvE after the 3 headed wurm, excluding raids and fractals.

Kam.4092:

Jerus.4350:

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

The Meta ruins this though, and ruins classes. I hate being expected to heal.

Tell them to go kitten themselves and get good.

Fluffball.8307:

Dungeon running is now basically Play-How-You-Want. It was never hard, but now it’s never slow because of the absolutely absurd power creep rush. No one cares what you run. So that’s an option if you can’t find a fractal group that doesn’t expect you to heal, which sounds stupid to me. I don’t play fractals anymore but I can’t imagine healing has become the PUG culture??

I love running CoE when bored, and Arah still pretends to keep you involved in the combat. Lupi is still probably the second most complicated fight in PvE after the 3 headed wurm, excluding raids and fractals.

No one would think twice about running fractals without a druid. The problem is when these people see a ranger they just assume “ok I don’t have to manage my own health, the ranger is going to heal me”. Which is pretty kitten stupid in PUG groups. The worst is when they rage, everyone knows who’s fault it is when someone dies and it’s not that random PUG that happened to play a profession that might have been able to save them.

And yeah, Arah is a blast, but finding a group that actually fights Lupi and doesn’t just cheat seems to be pretty hard.

Kam.4092:

I love core Ranger, and dislike how Druids are.

Is core Ranger ok in T4 Fractals, or would I be kicked?

:/

I take things PuGs say to heart.. I refused to play druid and maybe, just maybe might play druid with family.

Ps: when I was playing druid, it was fun entangling cc’d foes and having like 3 blinds as a ranger/druid due to that seed trait

Jerus.4350:

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

I agree that players should play what they want so don’t think I’m saying rangers should be stuck in the heal/dps buffer role.

You have to look at the bigger picture of professions in this game…

The devs created professions to be self sufficient, provided self heals and dodge rolls to mitigate damage and created a limited amount of team support skills and roles. This is what turned the meta into the “zerker meta” where you didn’t need to bring much besides lots of damage…

The devs know this mostly dps meta turned out bad, and profession design didn’t allow for more difficult pve encounters to be made…

HoT was designed to bring tougher content (that players were begging for) and to kill off some of that “zerker meta”, so they added in more support roles, like Druid, and support skills…

Again, I believe players should play what they want, but playable roles like melee damage, range damage, tank, heal, non heal “buff” support, disruption, CC… need to be there for players to use and play…

Anet had an interesting profession design at launch, but the reality is that professions are too limited and not conducive to harder content. These designs are also why the combat in wvw and spvp is not that good…

Just saying…

Kam.4092:

Jerus.4350:

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

The Meta ruins this though, and ruins classes. I hate being expected to heal.

Condition damage druid is meta for high-level fractals. Healing would be considered off-meta.

Your primary job is to buff allies while doing respectable condition damage. You can daze trash mobs and contribute to break bars with Pink Moa’s F2 / Lunar impact / Glyph of Equality.

Jerus.4350:

Kam.4092:

Jerus.4350:

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

The Meta ruins this though, and ruins classes. I hate being expected to heal.

Tell them to go kitten themselves and get good.

Fluffball.8307:

Dungeon running is now basically Play-How-You-Want. It was never hard, but now it’s never slow because of the absolutely absurd power creep rush. No one cares what you run. So that’s an option if you can’t find a fractal group that doesn’t expect you to heal, which sounds stupid to me. I don’t play fractals anymore but I can’t imagine healing has become the PUG culture??

I love running CoE when bored, and Arah still pretends to keep you involved in the combat. Lupi is still probably the second most complicated fight in PvE after the 3 headed wurm, excluding raids and fractals.

No one would think twice about running fractals without a druid. The problem is when these people see a ranger they just assume “ok I don’t have to manage my own health, the ranger is going to heal me”. Which is pretty kitten stupid in PUG groups. The worst is when they rage, everyone knows who’s fault it is when someone dies and it’s not that random PUG that happened to play a profession that might have been able to save them.

And yeah, Arah is a blast, but finding a group that actually fights Lupi and doesn’t just cheat seems to be pretty hard.

what he said people need to l2p rangers can’t carry all of them

Yes, I have yet to play ‘core’ ranger since HoT was released.
Basically every trait in their traitline is more powerful/versatile/useful that anything ‘core’ ranger can offer.

Clarity + Shadow = Huge condi cleanse and invis for pvp.
Seed of life = Additional condi cleanse if needed to swap to at start of pvp Nerfed.
Ancient Seeds – the go to for all longbow builds.
Grace of the land – your raid/dungeon’s best friend
Natural Stride – WvW roaming’s best friend.
Etc.

in wvw doesnt matter druid or ranger your not welcome , ranger is bad in wvw and druids get kicked out of squads because some ppl want a "real ranged class " or "more " armored class " i love my ranger i wanne do wvw with him but no one even helps me if i get ganked i get the message go play somthing else then

Swagger.1459:

Jerus.4350:

Condi ranger should be perfectly fine in fractals, it’s solid respectable damage. People who want healing in fractals need to stop. It’s a crutch and it wasn’t there pre-HoT when fractals were more challenging, you don’t need it now.

I agree that players should play what they want so don’t think I’m saying rangers should be stuck in the heal/dps buffer role.

You have to look at the bigger picture of professions in this game…

The devs created professions to be self sufficient, provided self heals and dodge rolls to mitigate damage and created a limited amount of team support skills and roles. This is what turned the meta into the “zerker meta” where you didn’t need to bring much besides lots of damage…

The devs know this mostly dps meta turned out bad, and profession design didn’t allow for more difficult pve encounters to be made…

HoT was designed to bring tougher content (that players were begging for) and to kill off some of that “zerker meta”, so they added in more support roles, like Druid, and support skills…

Again, I believe players should play what they want, but playable roles like melee damage, range damage, tank, heal, non heal “buff” support, disruption, CC… need to be there for players to use and play…

Anet had an interesting profession design at launch, but the reality is that professions are too limited and not conducive to harder content. These designs are also why the combat in wvw and spvp is not that good…

Just saying…

Healing was always ‘a thing’ in fractals, it just has never and is not necessary. I think everyone can think back to pillar guards and the bit of sustained healing they throw out. HoT just made people lazy because they introduced full fledged healers into the game.

Ok, I kinda feel like this is getting away from the original topic, but I am going to point out something: The Condi druid build only uses CA to proc Grace of the Land for the group damage buffs. The main point of it ISN’T HEALING! You’re doing something to beef up your and your group’s damage output. I run this build and I don’t do much healing at all, only what is incidental to me making everyone stronger. THAT’S IT.

Just because you use Druid doesn’t make healing your job. If that was the case, the build would have staff as one of its weapons, and would have healing power statted. It doesn’t.

bearshaman.3421:

The Condi druid build only uses CA to proc Grace of the Land for the group damage buffs.

Now, if only people could understand they need to stay closer to others, specially Druids to benefit from buffs and healing…
Not just once I was told “why you are not buffing us?” while basically all party was spread out so far away from one another that not even a 1500 range could have covered them all. No matter if I tell them “please stack”, they will flee like rats as soon as they can, only to rant about “why no healz?”

I like taking druids out when I roam. Core Ranger is way more viable than ever, just have to leave the zerg.

I mean, Druid is a traitline…nothing more. Not saying it’s useless, but it certainly isn’t absolutely necessary.

bearshaman.3421:

Just because you use Druid doesn’t make healing your job. If that was the case, the build would have staff as one of its weapons, and would have healing power statted. It doesn’t.

I find running base ranger is easier than explaining this to people =/

Gotejjeken.1267:

I like taking druids out when I roam. Core Ranger is way more viable than ever, just have to leave the zerg.

I mean, Druid is a traitline…nothing more. Not saying it’s useless, but it certainly isn’t absolutely necessary.

I wouldn’t call core ranger more viable than ever. Sure, it is possible to win against druids and other elite specs with core builds (and tbh – most druids in wvw are terrible players with terrible builds – it is not even hard to kill most of them). But druids (with proper builds) should definitely have the advantage. Yes, it is only one traitline, but it offers a huge survivability boost, which you can’t really compensate with core traitlines only. Of course core ranger is still playable (i play it myself), but “elite” traitlines got their name rightly.

Deepcuts.9740:

bearshaman.3421:

The Condi druid build only uses CA to proc Grace of the Land for the group damage buffs.

Now, if only people could understand they need to stay closer to others, specially Druids to benefit from buffs and healing…
Not just once I was told “why you are not buffing us?” while basically all party was spread out so far away from one another that not even a 1500 range could have covered them all. No matter if I tell them “please stack”, they will flee like rats as soon as they can, only to rant about “why no healz?”

That’s an issue in general. I can see heralds and mesmers and guardians and etc making the same complaint. That’s a l2p issue, not anything specific to druid.

Kam.4092:

I love core Ranger, and dislike how Druids are.

Is core Ranger ok in T4 Fractals, or would I be kicked?

:/

Run what you like but if being kicked by pugs is something you worry about, go copy/paste a metabattle build.

You are expected to be a Druid,but if you run core ranger you should be fine. Specially if running condition, since core ranger has a 5k +/- better dps than condidruid, but lacks on party buffs/heals. I run core condi ranger in pve since i am mainly solo and stuff.

Deepcuts.9740:

bearshaman.3421:

The Condi druid build only uses CA to proc Grace of the Land for the group damage buffs.

Now, if only people could understand they need to stay closer to others, specially Druids to benefit from buffs and healing…
Not just once I was told “why you are not buffing us?” while basically all party was spread out so far away from one another that not even a 1500 range could have covered them all. No matter if I tell them “please stack”, they will flee like rats as soon as they can, only to rant about “why no healz?”

top tier fractals leave you in a awkward situation though, clump up for buffs thus giving agony, thus needing healing >.<

But, yeah outside raids there shouldn’t be any expectations, but telling that to a bunch of chest thumping meta following fractalers is not the easiest thing.

bearshaman.3421:

Deepcuts.9740:

bearshaman.3421:

The Condi druid build only uses CA to proc Grace of the Land for the group damage buffs.

Now, if only people could understand they need to stay closer to others, specially Druids to benefit from buffs and healing…
Not just once I was told “why you are not buffing us?” while basically all party was spread out so far away from one another that not even a 1500 range could have covered them all. No matter if I tell them “please stack”, they will flee like rats as soon as they can, only to rant about “why no healz?”

That’s an issue in general. I can see heralds and mesmers and guardians and etc making the same complaint. That’s a l2p issue, not anything specific to druid.

As you can see, I wrote: "they need to stay closer to others, specially Druids "
Did not say it is specific to Druids

Deepcuts.9740:

bearshaman.3421:

Deepcuts.9740:

bearshaman.3421:

The Condi druid build only uses CA to proc Grace of the Land for the group damage buffs.

Now, if only people could understand they need to stay closer to others, specially Druids to benefit from buffs and healing…
Not just once I was told “why you are not buffing us?” while basically all party was spread out so far away from one another that not even a 1500 range could have covered them all. No matter if I tell them “please stack”, they will flee like rats as soon as they can, only to rant about “why no healz?”

That’s an issue in general. I can see heralds and mesmers and guardians and etc making the same complaint. That’s a l2p issue, not anything specific to druid.

As you can see, I wrote: "they need to stay closer to others, specially Druids "
Did not say it is specific to Druids

I know, I was agreeing.