Guild Wars 2

I’ve been playing Ranger since BWE1, exclusively since BWE2 apart from some dabbling with alts (56 Guardian is my highest alt). I feel the ranger pain, I really do. However, I’m not sure half of what the community (myself included) wants is really that simple. This is in no way me saying this stuff is out of line or the ranger is fine. I’m just playing devil’s advocate and trying to understand why Anet doesn’t just do this stuff.

20%-25% Move Speed Signet
I really doubt thieves are the reason Anet would be reluctant to give us this. The trouble with it is kiting. If rangers actually had a permanent 20%+ move speed passive to go with our high survivability, range, and strong CC options it would be slightly OP. Imagine a build using Shortbow, Longbow (that didn’t suck), 20%+ move speed and either Frost and Spike traps or Lightning Reflexes and Muddy Terrain.

Immobilize Removal
Ties in to the above.

Pets Can Hit Moving Targets
I really want this, I do. The problem is if the Ranger’s damage is split relatively evenly between the ranger and the pet and both hit reliably it creates problems with the dodge mechanic. Other players dodging would effectively be half as useful against the ranger as other professions. Do they dodge the pet or the ranger? Should they try and time dodges to dodge both at once? Give a pet +30% movement with Agility Training and the pet is just one massive DoT that can’t be cleansed. Sure they could dodge away but then the ranger just uses one of the many CCs available after the dodge and the pet just mauls their face off (this already sorta works). It’s a serious balance concern and you’re lying to yourself if you think it’s not.

Always Bleed on Crossfire
Oh the bleed stacking! In isolation this wouldn’t be too terrible but if you really built for it it would be really strong. If you mixed it with the above changes as well and had a lynx pet adding bleeds you could probably stack and maintain 20-25 bleeds in around 5 seconds and then just kite until they die.

Sword Changes – No More Rooting and Swap Monarch’s Leap/Hornet Sting
Just do it Anet… please?

I know there’s a lot of others but the point I’m trying to make here is that I really got to thinking about some of these changes and builds I would use if they were made. The conclusion I came to is that with what the Ranger currently has any one of the main changes the community is clamoring for (myself included here) could create a seriously OP build. Taken all together the Ranger could be completely OP.

I suspect the reason Anet is taking so much time is not because they don’t care about Rangers but because what needs to be done can’t be done a little at a time. Those ‘substantial changes’ we were promised aren’t substantial because the ranger is that broken but because if they don’t make substantial changes all at once really bad things could happen. I hate to say it but I expect that there’s going to be a fair number of nerfs coming with the buffs because in order to be ‘fixed’ the ranger needs a substantial overhaul not just ‘substantial changes’. All those little ‘broken’ things are what’s keeping rangers in line right now, unfortunately we’re under the line instead of on it.

@ Unspecified

1. 20%-25% Move Speed Signet
Do not agree, it will make use too OP. Instead they should add swiftness to a few of our skills.

2. Always Bleed on Crossfire
I do not think that is needed. I would like to see a huge increase in usefulness of the the other 4 skills in terms of more dps and more conditions application.

gadenp.7586:

@ Unspecified

1. 20%-25% Move Speed Signet
Do not agree, it will make use too OP. Instead they should add swiftness to a few of our skills.

2. Always Bleed on Crossfire
I do not think that is needed. I would like to see a huge increase in usefulness of the the other 4 skills in terms of more dps and more conditions application.

1) This would be a far more reasonable solution imho. There’s a pretty big difference between always on +move speed and additional methods of applying a limited duration boon that has to be managed and can be stripped.

2) Again something I agree with. The 2-5 skills on the shortbow need some work. They are useful abilities as it is but the weapon as a whole is lacking.

Side note: I actually have a suspicion they nerfed crossfire attack speed to help shed light on the ranger’s short comings in other areas (including the lackluster nature of the shortbow as a whole) because before this nerf this forum was just a bunch of “Use shortbow, nothing else is worth it (20/30/5/0/5 put 10 somewhere).” Topics have gotten far more diverse and people actually experiment with builds more now it seems.

you say no to +25% move speed on the signet as if we’re the only class that has a ranged weapon… considering just how useless that signet is at +10% and from what i hear movement speed doesnt stack with swiftness (correct me if I’m wrong) There’s no reason not to give it to us.

I say no to crossfire always adding its bleed effect, when you can easily tick for 113, it would be insanely overpowered. considering you get 3 ticks per stack, which is about half the damage of the original shot (if not more).

Bear pets need to make more aggro… Aren’t bears supposed to be the tanky pet? sad when i have to switch to Great Sword just so my pet can get aggro… whereas if i send my pet in first, when using a shortbow, the mob runs to me (karka’s especially). Which is why rangers want the bleed to always trigger.

Sword changes: No more rooting please!

Pets NEED to be able to attack while moving, Its a pvp balance issue, Our class is balanced including our damage and our pets when pets are EASILY avoidable even while crippled, or snared it means a portion of our damage is being calculated against us, which is why some people would love to remove the pet mechanic. The only time pet damage is reliable is if you Root them or stun them.

Our damage is pitiful compared to a short bow thief, sure they’re using initiative, but they’re also given enough stealth to disappear and regen their initiative and hit us again. A decent thief will not fight without initiative, and despite the thief turning tail and leaving the fight, It is not considered a win. I dont consider this an issue with Rangers, but an overpowered class mechanic with rogues. Give them a 2 second cooldown on initiative skills, They would cry.

Half our traits aren’t worth the time it took to write the description, half our utilities take far too long to recharge to even consider unless you slot a -20% recharge time. Have to slot a 30 point trait to make signets worth taking.

PvP Elite skills: Dear Arenanet, please re-evaluate.
Entangle: easy to just hop out of the root, the bleeding isn’t raised with condition damage.

Rampage as one: Best one we have, the swiftness and stability are the point of it, and if our pet manages to land an attack its a bonus.

Spirit of Nature: Almost worth taking, except its stationary and has so little HP, Or we can waste traits to make it worthy of being an elite skill.

And finally pet bugs: Most annoying is in our downed state, our pet runs to us, but doesn’t heal us. I told my moa I was going to eat it Thursday when it just derped around while i was slowly killed. Search and rescue sometimes has the same glitch, would be better to give the pet a buff to perform the task while buffed with it.

My issue is not so much with how lackluster the skills are, but the bugs and glitches that make the class frustrating to play. The only real change (not a fix) that I want, is to allow pets to attack while moving in PvP.

Kurow.6973:

To please half of the kitteny ranger community (because they’re too lazy, and ignorant to learn how to play properly), you must give them the speed and stealth of a thief, the burst of a warrior, the defense of a guardian/earth ele, the confusion factor of a mesmer’s illusions, and most of all, 1 button kill skills. =]

Please post some of your vids so the unwashed masses can L2P like you too.

Preferably spvps.

How exactly do you always bleed on crossfire?

Kishandreth.2798:

you say no to +25% move speed on the signet as if we’re the only class that has a ranged weapon… considering just how useless that signet is at +10% and from what i hear movement speed doesnt stack with swiftness (correct me if I’m wrong) There’s no reason not to give it to us.

Thieves are the only class with a passive 25% move speed (disregarding ele, because they have to be attuned to air for that). And yes, their ranged attack is quite pitiful.

Kishandreth.2798:

Our damage is pitiful compared to a short bow thief,

Seriously? I don’t know what kind of thief you play, or against what kind of people you play, but thief’s shortbow 1 does waaaaaay less damage than Ranger’s 1 due to 1. lack of bleed. 2. slower attack speed. Thief 2 does a good amount of damage, yes, but it’s arc is so long that it’s hard to hit moving targets with it at range.

Unless you’re firing at stationary structures (and even then you have initiative problems), ranger shortbow by far outclasses thief shortbow in damage.

had to go trolling forums to find this quote “Also, cluster bomb hits a lot harder than 3k crits if you’re in a glass build. More like 5-6k in sPvP and upwards of something like this in WvW: (screen shot of combat log doing 11,743 and 9,019 damage)”

and then they continue “I hit glass build level 80s harder than lowbies. The buffed stats give them more armor in most cases. The 11.7k was against a level 80 glass cannon thief (probably 30/30/0/0/10) who was on top of a wall that I was shooting in a siege. He was below 50% life and executioner kicked in.”

And just comparing the numbers on any editor their skills hit harder then ours at base, except their poison cloud doesn’t deal initial damage.

From what I remember of my short bow days, I was excited to see 1k crits plus 96×3 bleed. Then we get into the sustainable damage portion of our debate. Sure rangers can outlast and maybe even out DPS a thief while they’re waiting for initiative to recharge, but in sPvP their burst makes a world of difference.

Ranger is pew pew pew, same numbers gunna kill you eventually

Thief is BOOM BOOM BOOM, you’re not dead? dont worry i’ll be back with another burst.

Add the skill “Track” lasts 5 seconds with a 45 second cool down, and is aoe skill with the range of 500 with a 1/2 cast time, make it a utility skill rangers can use.

This will help balance the meta.

Go to YouTube and watch thief’s pvp in WvW and you will see why this skill is needed. After watching a thief being able to stand in the middle of a zerg killing poeple problem free, it has shown me that there needs to be counter.

To have a more of a balanced meta there needs to be a counter for everything so there can’t be OP builds and there is no “BEST BUILD”.

Balance is complicated.
People are being payed at least the upper end of tens of thousands a year to do nothing but that.
They should have answers.
Plain and simple.