Guild Wars 2

Currently leveling a ranger, and with the classes i’ve previously level’d (Thief, Warrior & Guardian) figuring out where i wanted to place my traits to suit my playstyle was fairly easy, however it seems no matter how much i sit down and stare at the traits and utility skills of the ranger, i can’t figure out where to put my traits, so i’m hoping to get a bit of assistance from someone more experienced.

Currently only level 12, and focusing on the Shortbow & Sword + Torch for now, it’s working quite well, so i haven’t got much reason for changing, also running with a Polar bear, which i’ll be swapping to a brown bear when i can grab one.

Basically hoping to stay melee based, if it’s a feasible way to play that is, i don’t want to purposely kitten myself.

I was going to place my first 5 traits into beastmastery, but from there on, i haven’t got a clue where to go!

Edit: Also noticed that the dogs have higher Toughness than bears, but lower Vitality, does this put them on equal footing in terms of taking damage? Or does one excel over the other?

thoughness and vitality are both important. It is right a bear can take more damage of higher lvled mobs… but when u just fight low lvl or weak trash mobs.. a dog gets so low damage it doesnt even matters.
For leveling fast I would suggest put the next 5 points in Marksmanship (the opening strike is awsome) and focus then on Beastmastery. After you got tier 2 traits… focus on BM (a bleeding drake or cat can kill most mobs faster then you) and since you want to stay close range continue on BM and try your luck with WS and Natures Magic. Depending on the PVE build you use. Also keep in mind reseting your traits in Lionsarch before you reach lvl 80 is so extrem cheap try different things. Focus on skills you like and use traits for them. When you love to use survival skills use Wilderness Knowledge from WS. So it’s fully up to you.
And just to let you know as I tested out different traits during my pre-80-levels Beastmaster tier 2 is awsome in PvE.

Changing your trait build on level 80 cost merly 4silver. So for exp I’d rather go for power, criticals and for PvE roaming whatever gives you speed boost (25% signet, would put warhorn instead torch).
It’s not hard to stay alive on PvE and since you want to get level 80 quick, toughness and vita shouldn’t be the matter looked at.
About pets, which are helpful, you can always go for whatever has pretty nice attack or gives some decent boon (like moa – fury for 15sec every 30sec).
With signet of the wild, neither of you should have keeping health problem fighting one-two-three mobs at a time. If you would rather to pull mobs and let’s say, try to kill 5 at a time, traps are always a solution along with weapon which hits several targets (sword, greatsword).