Guild Wars 2

I have given this a lot of thought and I am , after almost a year of playing my ranger 80% of the time , very saddened that I cannot role play my class properly . Balance aside , what is this class ? A marksmen/archer ? A druid ? What ?

If its a marksmen/archer , i dont want to be stuck with pets . I want to be sneaky with strong bow/ranged options with ambush tactics and traps and whatnot ! Clearly , the game does not let me play this . The closest its been , and why i made warrior , is a warrior kill shot sniper build , but this is far from the arhetype that got me into making the ranger in the first place .

As far as druids go , I love nature magic themed classes . I would not mind playing a druid , if i CHOOSE TO ! What are my nature spells ?? Healing spring and spirits . That is it . Shape shifting has relegated to a racial gimmick . Shouts ?? They are a pet command slapped to the utility bar to act as filler .

Seriously A-Net , let me roleplay , you know mass multplayer online ROLE PLAY game!!! Split the Ranger class into Archer and Druid already!!!!!

Ranger is a light soldier utilizing in fast and flexible combat, skilled in dealing with unpredicted situations. He uses the knowledge of the environment for flanking combat, use of the terrain, survival skills and nature magic.

That is what he is. Hes not an archer, hes not a druid, hes a ranger.

Kibazuka.1390:

Ranger is a light soldier utilizing in fast and flexible combat, skilled in dealing with unpredicted situations. He uses the knowledge of the environment for flanking combat, use of the terrain, survival skills and nature magic.

That is what he is. Hes not an archer, hes not a druid, hes a ranger.

Uh, no. He’s a beastmaster. They only kept the Ranger name due to Guild Wars 1.

thefantasticg.3984:

Kibazuka.1390:

Ranger is a light soldier utilizing in fast and flexible combat, skilled in dealing with unpredicted situations. He uses the knowledge of the environment for flanking combat, use of the terrain, survival skills and nature magic.

That is what he is. Hes not an archer, hes not a druid, hes a ranger.

Uh, no. He’s a beastmaster. They only kept the Ranger name due to Guild Wars 1.

Exactly that. They balled up all the left over ideas and made the ranger.

“At one point in development, according to The Making of Guild Wars 2 book, the ranger profession of the original Guild Wars was split into many different professions, notably the warden and the marksman. Eventually, with only marksman remaining, who only possessed only the aspect of ranged weaponry, was combined with already scrapped elements of warden and beastmaster, and renamed the result as ranger for the sake of the original series.” – gw2 wiki

kiwituatara.6053:

thefantasticg.3984:

Kibazuka.1390:

Ranger is a light soldier utilizing in fast and flexible combat, skilled in dealing with unpredicted situations. He uses the knowledge of the environment for flanking combat, use of the terrain, survival skills and nature magic.

That is what he is. Hes not an archer, hes not a druid, hes a ranger.

Uh, no. He’s a beastmaster. They only kept the Ranger name due to Guild Wars 1.

Exactly that. They balled up all the left over ideas and made the ranger.

“At one point in development, according to The Making of Guild Wars 2 book, the ranger profession of the original Guild Wars was split into many different professions, notably the warden and the marksman. Eventually, with only marksman remaining, who only possessed only the aspect of ranged weaponry, was combined with already scrapped elements of warden and beastmaster, and renamed the result as ranger for the sake of the original series.” – gw2 wiki

Exactly.

More like a druid-beastmaster that happens to use SB/LB and some traps hybrid thing. You can’t really call it any one thing and be completely accurate in the description of it since it has things from all of it. I call it a Beastmaster because of the class mechanic we are forced to have 100% of the time.

This is my point, the class is bad from a role play aspect because it tries to combine important arhetypes but does it very poorly . If someone wants to do archer , he cant , if someone wants to do druid , he cant again . It i a kitten poor amalgam of unfinished things .

Well, beastmastery is of course a part of the ranger too, but you cant just say rangers are beastmasters and call it a day. Look at ogres, theyre all beastmasters but they are certainly not all rangers. Same with many archer npcs.
All these traits together make what the ranger is: A survivalist. And having a pet makes perfect sense as he is someone wo “tames the wilderness”. Nearly everything about the ranger is nature themed, and its surely not just stuff slapped poor together.
I can understand though if someone only wants a specific one of the rangers traits, you cant really do that. But thats not a ranger-problem. I wanted to play a pure ice elementalist once but to be any efficient you have to play the other elements too which i didnt want have anything to do with. So i just decided to not play the class at all. I guess you could do that with every other class as well

Why must people label and categorize everything. These are chains that hold us back from our true potential. Does the Lion care that we call it a Lion, no, it just survives, thrives, and dominates it’s plot of land it desire’s to call home. I am whatever you want to call me, and I am none of those things. I just am and I will just be. Freedom my brothers and sisters, that’s what a Ranger is.

Kibazuka.1390:

Well, beastmastery is of course a part of the ranger too, but you cant just say rangers are beastmasters and call it a day. Look at ogres, theyre all beastmasters but they are certainly not all rangers. Same with many archer npcs.
All these traits together make what the ranger is: A survivalist. And having a pet makes perfect sense as he is someone wo “tames the wilderness”. Nearly everything about the ranger is nature themed, and its surely not just stuff slapped poor together.
I can understand though if someone only wants a specific one of the rangers traits, you cant really do that. But thats not a ranger-problem. I wanted to play a pure ice elementalist once but to be any efficient you have to play the other elements too which i didnt want have anything to do with. So i just decided to not play the class at all. I guess you could do that with every other class as well

That quote from the “The Making of Guild Wars 2” proves that rangers are leftovers scraps slapped together.

I’m going to be RPing with my ranger in addition to my Mesmer soon. it’s not a problem about the class. you’re simply boxing your mindset into existing archetypes and trying to replicate something from other games or stories. this is a different game with different mechanics and design. over the hundreds of years since GW1 if you’ve seen the lore interviews, Tyria has changed both in magic potency and evolution of professions and skills. For example all classes now have learned to heal and we don’t have ritualists bc we have actual magic released around the globe.

I take my ranger as the huntsman/woodsman/traveler well ranger sort of thing. That doesn’t mean he is inexperienced, it means he has traveled far and wide, extremely knowledgeable about the land and nature and proficient with many different weapons to use in any situation. Combat in games are unrealistic as you know, it’s trying to narrow things down and structure it so it playable. but in reality any class would simply pick up or use what they have at hand in order to fight to survive. I’m pretty sure a Mesmer will even pick up an axe if they had to. Rangers are simply more obviously resourceful and makes use of both ranged weapons and melee. axes are also for chopping firewood and so on to stay the night outdoors…. Legolas in LOTR used swords when it was close quarters. Aragorn does have a quiver and bow at times out in the wild. he’s an expert at terrain and they listen to the resonance of pounding hooves from miles away. it’s not uncommon.

having a pet with you, I run two wolves doesn’t mean they fall into a beast master archetype, it just means they’ve befriended and trained animals in some way backstory up to you. like a falconer, it doesn’t even mean a ranger can be the only falconer.

however if we stick with lore and game mechanics simply take on a more realistic view of the ranger. they’re versatile resourceful fighters in tune with nature and the wild. They may have fought off animals whom the ranger nursed back to health and befriended or something. I don’t see any issue with being a versatile resourceful hunter type. if you don’t want to be a skillful hunter of the type, then choose a different class.

I main Mesmer but my Mesmer isn’t specialized in all the mechanics either. She was trained with swords rather than magic and will have limited illusionary powers and so on. bc a thief is called a thief does that mean he cannot be in an assassin RP role? my Mesmer assassinates time to time as well sometimes not with Mesmer related skills but more realistic things. so what?

It’s RP work with what you want. there’s nothing wrong with the classes in context.

bah xD typing on a phone sucks

If it goes back to what Rangers are about, then you need to see something like this which is a great extensive resource with a lot of common game/fantasy concepts: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FantasyCharacterClasses The word Ranger might be confusing you. It does not necessarily mean long ranged archer class. LOTR is one enterprise that made the Ranger really famous. But this Ranger means range as in ranging through the lands. Dictionary says: Verb. They ranged over the sprawling hills: roam, rove, traverse, travel, journey, wander, drift, ramble, meander, stroll, traipse, walk, hike, trek.

They are trekkers, trackers, hunters, versatile resourceful fighters, or they might not even fight. They’re not a specific narrowed class. If anything almost all experienced fighters who have travelled far and wide, can be considered rangers, no matter what profession.

For the Last and Finally time Ranger are not Archers. They can be archer’s in the sense that anyone using a bow is an archer. That would include warriors and Thieves.

Most RPG Games are modeled after D&D. D&D was model after The Hobbits Game (not to confused with the book) and Lord of the Ring books.

In both book and game Aragorn is a Ranger. Ranger of guild wars 2 are more model after what ranger were meant to be than in most other games.

In most other games what they call a ranger is Really an Archer. Legolas is described as the archery of the group.

Now most of you believe that D&D came first in the 1970’s. While there was a realse of the animation of Lord of the ring in the late 70’s D&D being released in the early 70’s The Lord of the rings books were released in the early 1950’s. and the Hobbits was Released in around 1937.

So your image of the ranger has been misdirected by all those other games; GW2 has brought you back to the original concept of the ranger. As far as Ranger and pets Aagorn was really fond of his horse, but aside from that Drizzt Do’Urden is a famous ranger who to travel with a Jaguar (it was an ethereal pet bound to a jade figurine). I Think Anet just expanded on the pet idea.

So RP’ers should have Aragorn or Drizzt Do’Urden in mind when rping Rangers not Legolas. But Then again the point of Rping is inventing yourself.

Hope this puts the Ranger and Archer thing to bed.

Anet did actually describe rangers as “Unparalleled archers”

No other class can use two bows that would be unparalled. Niether thieve or warriors can do that.

A person who participates in archery is typically known as an “archer” or “bowman”, and one who is fond of or an expert at archery can be referred to as a "toxophilite

If an Archery contest was held in tryia: Even If Ranger lost to Warriors in Long bow and thieves and in2 second place finishes.

Archery is about accuracy both Warriors and Thief have AOE skill. So I don’t think either would win.

kiwituatara.6053:

Kibazuka.1390:

Well, beastmastery is of course a part of the ranger too, but you cant just say rangers are beastmasters and call it a day. Look at ogres, theyre all beastmasters but they are certainly not all rangers. Same with many archer npcs.
All these traits together make what the ranger is: A survivalist. And having a pet makes perfect sense as he is someone wo “tames the wilderness”. Nearly everything about the ranger is nature themed, and its surely not just stuff slapped poor together.
I can understand though if someone only wants a specific one of the rangers traits, you cant really do that. But thats not a ranger-problem. I wanted to play a pure ice elementalist once but to be any efficient you have to play the other elements too which i didnt want have anything to do with. So i just decided to not play the class at all. I guess you could do that with every other class as well

That quote from the “The Making of Guild Wars 2” proves that rangers are leftovers scraps slapped together.

That quote also says that ranger got split in those professions first. They were just reunited later

Kibazuka.1390:

kiwituatara.6053:

Kibazuka.1390:

Well, beastmastery is of course a part of the ranger too, but you cant just say rangers are beastmasters and call it a day. Look at ogres, theyre all beastmasters but they are certainly not all rangers. Same with many archer npcs.
All these traits together make what the ranger is: A survivalist. And having a pet makes perfect sense as he is someone wo “tames the wilderness”. Nearly everything about the ranger is nature themed, and its surely not just stuff slapped poor together.
I can understand though if someone only wants a specific one of the rangers traits, you cant really do that. But thats not a ranger-problem. I wanted to play a pure ice elementalist once but to be any efficient you have to play the other elements too which i didnt want have anything to do with. So i just decided to not play the class at all. I guess you could do that with every other class as well

That quote from the “The Making of Guild Wars 2” proves that rangers are leftovers scraps slapped together.

That quote also says that ranger got split in those professions first. They were just reunited later

Aye it is why there are only two heavy classes and 3 light and medium.

I think you misunderstood what i was trying to say . This is about the ranger class in this game trying to cover some very important arhetypes of RPGs , namely the archer and druid classes . But it does it poorly .
You can try twisting this any way you want , but this game does not allow you to properly role play an archer or a druid . And this is my point , this game does the warrior , paladin , wizzard , necromancer , rouge very well . The mesmer is something new . Hell , even the engi is very well done from a lore stand point . But we are missing something really important here . This is the reason a lot of newbies play bear bow .
They could not care less about the pet and just take something that is least likely to die , and they try to play an archer for gods sake . And i understand them . I hate it too that im forced into 1 handers if i want to be competitive at anything , traps dont actually feel like traps , as in baiting your pray in for a massive reward , they feel like necro marks on a utility bar , spamm spamm spamm .

I cant simply immerse myself into the profession even though both the archer and the druid are something i always play , be it single player RPGs or real life RPGs when i was a kid .

The question is why would you need to roleplay a druid in this game / lore? There are no real druid style concepts in this game. The Ranger is NOT a druid, or meant to be a druid. He simply is in tune with nature and makes use of nature and the spirit of nature, like some sort of magical life force of Tyria that exists in nature etc. Spirits which are like similar to oakhearts or whatnot, that doesn’t mean he’s supposed to be a druid. He also isn’t supposed to be categorized as a beastmaster. He simply befriends these animals and can fight together, the story is up to you.

Those are a specific concepts and classes in other stories or games. If it doesn’t exist here then it doesn’t. But if you can manage to make it work in your roleplay then by all means do it. My mesmer can roleplay as a scholar rather than a fighting class if I wanted to. I could be no profession at all, and simply be a peasant. Roleplay is roleplay. Game mechanics is game mechanics

The ranger in gw2 is not meant to be a druid, because it isn’t part of the lore. You can still roleplay an archer however, just equip two bows and then roleplay that, without showing your pet. Your pet when it pops out could be like a bird that flies around whom answers when battle begins, up to you. But you could still roleplay as an archer, i don’t see why not.

First of all, separate yourself from all the existing concepts that you seem to want to play that exists from other games or stories. like a druid. Doesn’t exist here, then don’t try to force it or categorize the ranger into it.

Secondly, if you’re going to “roleplay”, separate yourself from game mechanics. So what if a pet pops up when you go into battle? Make up a story of why that happens and hide your pet another time. Work with your two bows and consider yourself an archer. I’m pretty sure a warrior or thief wouldn’t fit as an archer as much as a ranger does. The ranger is the huntsman sort of style, which archer is closest to, like the Legolas style archer. If you’re an archer in say an army like the Seraph or Vigil or something, a warrior would work then in context, as a soldier.

I don’t see what the issue is really. Work with what you got. Stop trying to force something that you’ve somehow decided in your own mind

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-FV-o;2Fku-d2gEV-0;9V8E;1TT9;04791393;6X-k0;2LNW4LNW45Bg

This build works well if you want a hunter/archer profession. You can use Spike trap/frost trap to place it on choke points or use it as defense/stealthed thief indicator.

Then you snipe from far away. The main damage is in the 1-2 skills. 3-5 are mostly defensive skills. Because of that, you can survive better. Furious grip gives you a higher fury uptime which means more DPS.

This is a new bow only build I’ve been working on:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-F;4wEFt-h2NDV-0;9k29;29TT;25;13A-7B;1U-k6;2DucYDucYPtFz0-96;3i-m0r1wY1_759eWPk4R06Rk06R;9;9;9;9;9;5Ek3q

Haven’t tested much but it seems to work qutie well.

spirits and “nature magic” are done very poorly in this game. spirits should be whisps that orbit the ranger, not little glowy trees. we should have more nature-based spells like entangle and HS. and the BM tree should give us access to shapeshifting abilities.

This post has casual written all over it.

Omg Casey.5973:

This post has casual written all over it.

I don’t see casual since I am not a casual player and i am very interested in this topic as well.

I roleplayed my ranger as a “coureur des bois”, no problem with that.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coureur_des_bois )

Since I’m most of the time south of Lion’s Arch, he’s now mainly a “boucanier”, not the pirate version (buccaneer), but the original hunter version.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buccaneer )

thefantasticg.3984:

Kibazuka.1390:

Ranger is a light soldier utilizing in fast and flexible combat, skilled in dealing with unpredicted situations. He uses the knowledge of the environment for flanking combat, use of the terrain, survival skills and nature magic.

That is what he is. Hes not an archer, hes not a druid, hes a ranger.

Uh, no. He’s a beastmaster. They only kept the Ranger name due to Guild Wars 1.

Un, no. He’s theif bait….beastmaster…pfft you mean my pet that’s always smoking crack and is too high to ever obey my commands.

Serraphin Storm.2369:

No other class can use two bows that would be unparalled. Niether thieve or warriors can do that.

LOL This is your argument for “unparalleled archers”?

kiwituatara.6053:

Exactly that. They balled up all the left over ideas and made the ranger.

“At one point in development, according to The Making of Guild Wars 2 book, the ranger profession of the original Guild Wars was split into many different professions, notably the warden and the marksman. Eventually, with only marksman remaining, who only possessed only the aspect of ranged weaponry, was combined with already scrapped elements of warden and beastmaster, and renamed the result as ranger for the sake of the original series.” – gw2 wiki

Are you kittening serious? kitten that kitten, bring back the kitten marksman so I can bypass all the kittenty AI.

Liyu.8591:

Serraphin Storm.2369:

No other class can use two bows that would be unparalled. Niether thieve or warriors can do that.

LOL This is your argument for “unparalleled archers”?

Well me and a zerker warrior had a 1200 range shoot off that I stomped him in while my fernhound was just sitting by my side watching, so I’d say yeah , we are unparalleled at range.

=^o.o^= All hail kittah! Savior of the cosmos! Holder of the universal yarn ball of harmony! Slayer of poptarts! Enemy of the great god Lagg!

I’ve been roleplaying my ranger since the original Guild Wars.

You need a little bit of imagination, good self storytelling, a smidgeon of insanity, and WALLAH! Roleplaying. The Living World is supposed to be immersive content, which means your part of the story. You write or imagine the story that takes place around you.

“…his companion lay prone on the ground, hand raised as if to stop the landing of the killing blow. The ranger rushed the distance, bow in hand, and drew the arrow back. Upon release it flew true and straight, smashing into the figure with greater force than thought possible, knocking the armored warrior back. Osk’eer quickly regained his footing, picking himself from the ground, with the precious seconds bought for him by his friend.

KeyOrion.9506:

=^o.o^= All hail kittah! Savior of the cosmos! Holder of the universal yarn ball of harmony! Slayer of poptarts! Enemy of the great god Lagg!

I’ve been roleplaying my ranger since the original Guild Wars.

You need a little bit of imagination, good self storytelling, a smidgeon of insanity, and WALLAH! Roleplaying. The Living World is supposed to be immersive content, which means your part of the story. You write or imagine the story that takes place around you.

“…his companion lay prone on the ground, hand raised as if to stop the landing of the killing blow. The ranger rushed the distance, bow in hand, and drew the arrow back. Upon release it flew true and straight, smashing into the figure with greater force than thought possible, knocking the armored warrior back. Osk’eer quickly regained his footing, picking himself from the ground, with the precious seconds bought for him by his friend.

Hail fellow roleplayer!! I know I RP it that all my rangers ammunition is conjured and some of the arrows are enchanted IE point blank shot

MMORPG.

Massive multiplayer online Role Playing Game. It’s not just RPG. It’s MMORPG. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t create your own story. And my ranger’s story is 250 years in the making. From the first battle raging outside the gates of Ascalon City, the insanity induced by the death of his family, to his eventual soul searching that would lead him back to regaining his sanity. My ranger’s story is one of rage and madness, traveling, eventual absolution and heroism.

But reading the whole first post, I’m sure it has more to do with the role of the Ranger itself in the game. Ranger’s are natural explorer’s, living off the land, all with a companion at their side. They commune with the spirits of the land in order to better facilitate a sense of balance in nature. They use both man made weapons , and natural terrain in combat. A ranger will trek far and wide, meet friends and foes alike on their sojourn.

In Guild Wars 1…for some odd reason Anet posted that Rangers follow the path of Balthazar…and I thought that the ODDEST thing. Even in Guild Wars 1, we had nature spirits, we had the bow, animal companions…and I thought, you know what…my ranger is a follower of Melandru. Why? BECAUSE IT MADE SENSE! Melandru was a atypical nature goddess. And ranger’s to me were part and parcel a nature class. Our armor was the skin of animals, our bows were hewn from the trees and forests, our most defensive skills were of a nature origin.

What are ranger’s? We the embodiment of exploration and nature.

@KeyOrion

That was beautifully put, there is however a valid reason for some rangers to follow Balthazar’s path instead of Melandru (mind you, my Ranger/Elementalist was of the Melandru variety – and is currently in the mists continuing his journey as a Legendary Defender, no longer of Ascalon) if you take their mastery over their environment and beasts as just that, mastery, conquest, triumph over the hardships of life as a ranger instead of being in tune with the wild side. For even wilder Rangers, Balthazar’s passion is still applicable, especially since he’s not exactly the most civilised of gods in practice.

As for the original topic (and Chokolata)…
i have five Rangers, one of every race, and the only thing they have in common is that they are “out there”, far from the relative safety of civilisation, braving the land and going where few others dare to go without a small army at their disposal. Saying you cannot RP a ranger is mostly on you, not the game. I say mostly because there should be a way to keep the pet tucked out of the way and not have the profession suffer for it by losing half its damage output.

To give you a rough outline of the paths I took with mine:
Farathnor of the Hedge Hunters, born in the Cycle of Noon, Explorer of the Durmand Priori. Usually runs around with a sword in one hand, an ax in the other and a longbow on his back. Relies on signets that enhance him and his pets, Accompanied by a hawk named Swoop, a lynx named Slash, a shark named Nibbles and a blue jellyfish creatively named “Blue Jelly”. He’s the ultimate explorer, simply going out there because he wants to see all there is to see. Travels to the mists frequently, defending the realm and looking for signs of Sieran’s fate.
Silvanus Ebonbow of the Ebon Warband, Ash Legion, recently recruited in the Order of Whispers. Fights with an ax and torch, carries a shortbow for ranged combat. Has a hyena and a devourer at his side, as well as a river drake and an armored fish. A beastmaster for his legion, he explores the wilds to discover threats before they reach any important locations.
Erik Longfang of the Avenging Hand, follower of Wolf, new agent of the Order of Whispers. With an ax and warhorn in hand, he relies on his trusted greatsword for when things get tough. He calls on the spirits (and Spirits) of the wild to aid him in his travels. Followed by an arctodus and a wolf, he is sometimes seen with an ice drake and a murellow. He explores the snow covered peaks because someone has to and because it is a good way to build a legend.
Operator Ferr of the Fluid Edge Krewe, College of Dynamics, recently recruited by the Vigil. Survives the wild by using sword and dagger, falling back to shortbow when needed. His greatest skill is taunting enemies by not being there when they try to hit. Followed by a red moa, a jungle spider, a red jellyfish and a polar bear. He braves the wilds because someone has to keep the progeny safe while the bookahs in Rata Sum try to steal each other’s inventions.
Cyrus Torres of the Jade Lions, commoner of Lion’s Arch, working for the Vigil. Sword and torch in hand, he is not shabby with a longbow either. A skilled trapper, he prefers tricking his prey to their doom. With him, he keeps an eagle, a hound, a marsh drake and a devourer. Familiar with the dangers of the real world, he takes jobs that allow him to protect those in need and hone his skills, while trying to show others humans still matter.