Guild Wars 2

Honestly, if I’m running a dungeon I switch to my warrior or guardian. Much easier and nobody will question my skill or contribution (which they will, even if I run melee spotter/spirit on ranger).

If I want to have fun, which for me is the open world, living story, and wvw, I’ll play my ranger with my bow, thank you very much. I have ten characters across every profession, and yet despite myself I keep on returning to my ranger. I just enjoy playing ranger, specifically I like playing with a bow and a pet. Being forced to play a certain way would drain the joy from that profession, and honestly I would just rather play a warrior or guardian if I were going to spend all my time in melee.

What I would like is for anet to allow rangers to be better team players at range, as some have suggested, like lowering the damage penalty or ranges of long range shot or increasing the effective diameter of our boons and altruistic effects.

^This. Would much rather play my Guardian or Thief if I’m going to melee.

Reading through some of these posts, while I understand the mindset behind “play how you want,” you guys would have REALLY hated GW1 “hardcore” content which almost always forced you to play with a specific build and specific classes.

The fact that ANet designed dungeons with enough ease that damage>tactics is most cases in GW2 already shows how less exclusionary that planned the game to be. But if you are in a group, and people are asking you to play a certain way, it’s a double edged sword. Yes, you don’t want to sacrifice your playstyle, BUT you are playing with other people who are specifically requesting you to play in a way that helps the group. So, they are keeping you in the group with the expectation that you will run a build that best helps the group and use a weaponset the helps output the most damage towards a target.

In that situation, you can’t fault the group either for expecting that since you’re in a group, that you should be running a group oriented build and playing in a way that is most beneficial for the group.

Now, this is much different than just doing a forum blast saying “everybody should be playing this way,” because there are just as many people in game that are casual or apathetic enough that they don’t care what you run, they just want to group up and do some dungeons.

Point being, if you are grouping up with people, a key to being successful is figuring out whether your just build pugging and going in, or whether people would prefer you to switch your build to something more group oriented, seeing as how it’s 5 man content and there is no reason why one person going “I play how I want” should have to ruin the experience of 4 other people who only asked you to run 2 specific traits, 1 utility, and 1 weaponset that would contribute more to the group and its success than whatever they feel you are currently doing.

So, tl;dr, party with like minded people.

TurtleDragon.3108:

Chrispy.5641:

Period, end of story, I dare you to come up with a way to deal more dps and be more useful to the group.

Bringing a warhorn and using an rotation that doesn’t artificially inflate your DPS for the first 8 seconds of a fight.

See Post #2 if you want to see what i’m talking about

You didn’t answer my question. Instead you whine and moan that I am artificially inflating my dps, and give me a link to a thread with a grand total of four replies from a bunch of nobodies on a self described hardcore website, who I honestly don’t give two kittens about. Must mean I am obviously a far better player than you are if you can’t even grasp the simple concept of dealing as much damage as possible, nor do you understand how to create the conditions necessary to deal as much dps as possible, which the Warhorn does not allow in any situation. Also, dealing sustained dps over 30 seconds to a nonmoving immortal golem doesn’t prove anything since there aren’t that any situations in the game where that happens. Try again.

Chrispy.5641:

TurtleDragon.3108:

Chrispy.5641:

Period, end of story, I dare you to come up with a way to deal more dps and be more useful to the group.

Bringing a warhorn and using an rotation that doesn’t artificially inflate your DPS for the first 8 seconds of a fight.

See Post #2 if you want to see what i’m talking about

You didn’t answer my question. Instead you whine and moan that I am artificially inflating my dps, and give me a link to a thread with a grand total of four replies from a bunch of nobodies on a self described hardcore website, who I honestly don’t give two kittens about. Must mean I am obviously a far better player than you are if you can’t even grasp the simple concept of dealing as much damage as possible, nor do you understand how to create the conditions necessary to deal as much dps as possible, which the Warhorn does not allow in any situation. Also, dealing sustained dps over 30 seconds to a nonmoving immortal golem doesn’t prove anything since there aren’t that any situations in the game where that happens. Try again.

I am answering the 2nd half of your question which you obviously didn’t catch. I’ll give you a hint, DPS isn’t all that matters in this game. Support and CC are just as important.

Also, a longbow swap rotation doesn’t increase your DPS in the middle of a fight which is why I called it an artificial DPS inflation. Axe offhand will actually increase your DPS in swap rotation so there is no issue with that offhand other than the possibility of wasting an interrupt.

Edit: To be clear, I was mainly criticizing your lack of warhorn since you can clearly still be more useful to your group than running Longbow + Sword/Axe. Being useful to the group takes priority in this game and running /axe instead of /WH has a high opportunity cost in terms of utility and interupt/CC if you’re ignoring defiant. Path of Scar’s main weakness is that it’s also a CC, which is negligible in uncoordinated groups and bad in coordinated groups. Randomly CC-ing a boss when he has 0 stacks is a bad habit that everyone should avoid. This is why I’m not a fan of OH axe. See this for more detail

Just fyi, the meta builds for some classes are NOT the max personal dps set up.

Tl;dr: S/WH + LB good, S/Wh + S/Axe good, S/Axe + LB Bad.

Relshdan.6854:

but since it plays similarly, you probably should just be playing axe/mace + GS warrior instead…and save the ranger (and bow) for open world.

Yup… Or I bring my guardian if we already have 2/3 wars in party… Or my mes if we don’t have one and already have 1 guard 2 war. That’s for most dungeons…. I usually bring my thief or warrior for arah.

After playing my 2nd character as Ranger to level 80 over a year ago, I was primarily plinking my way from range.. wasn’t even using a bear! Unsurprisingly he was shelved for some time.

Just recently though, I swapped my ranger over to pure GS-S/x melee and gawd kitten it does some serious damage. Made a signet build with a bunch of might stacking and opening attacks destroy pve and wvw alike. Then swap to sword for a stack of manoeuvrability, offhand dagger if I want more evade, offhand warhorn for greatly annoying birds and more might/speed, or offhand torch for might stackens fire field.

Personally enjoying Ranger a lot more now! I usually like playing mid-range, but I think the Ranger shines in melee with pet at side.

What Ranger build are you running? Looking for ideas for a sword and torch build since I have Rodgort.

Forgive me since I don’t have a Ranger yet but isn’t the solution to this simple. When you are own your own try to use every weapon type to unlock all the abilities then focus on the few you want end game after that. And by that I mean the ones you want to have above the basic level such as FrostFang for the legendary axe as an example. Only in this case it would be the long bow equivalent and Howler if you wanted a warhorn. Maybe.

Then with your long bow, war horn, sword etc you can just take all of a few seconds to switch equipment within your two weapon sets so you can continue you to be an archer in some cases and adapt in certain group events in others. That way there is no need to choose one over the other.

Or is this also a trait/ skill problem and therefore it still wouldn’t work too well? Plus correct me if I am wrong but can’t rangers have up to two pets despite only being able to summon one at a time? So they can have both the bear and one other for dungeons?

Galphar.3901:

Increasing the buff range would allow people to actually choose how they wanted to play; melee or range.

In this sea of ashtag and this rain of arrows this comment makes sense.

Otaking.4675:

I don’t fault your logic but a few points…and I come from a purely PVP background so I don’t know the higher end PVE details.

(…)

How common is vuln stacking on those other builds in PVE, just wondering about the relative opportunity cost as well.

Ah yeah, PvP is a totally different beast than PvE.

Dunno what exactly you mean by “other builds” and “relative opportunity cost”…
The meta Ranger build has Opening/Alpha Strike and possibly Greatsword #2 if it’s used.
I don’t know of any meta Warrior build that doesn’t put either 4+ points in Arms for Forceful Greatswords or 6 points for Dual Wield Agility. The alternative to Rending Strike is Deep Strike, so you’ll lose 40-80 personal Precision, builds with 6 points in Arms often take both, so the opportunity cost is close to zero.
Fresh Air Dagger/off-hand Eles have 6 points in Air Magic already for Fresh Air, so the opportunity cost for them is zero.
For LH Eles it depends if they want to have Air Training and Arcane Lighting, then they get it for free as well. If not they don’t have access to Air Magic 5, they would had to give up either permanent Vigor or ~10% for it.
Staff Eles usually never put more than 4 points into Air Magic; likewise, they would had to give up either permanent Vigor or ~10% for it.
The 5/6/0/0/2 Thief build (last point either in Deadly Arts or Trickery) would had to give up Mug for Sundering Strikes which isn’t a big loss for this build.
However it would be a big hit for the 2/6/0/0/6 Thief build because that build focuses more on Steal.
Grenade Engineers put 6 points in Explosives for Grenadier already, so they get Explosives 5 for free. Likewise, almost all dungeon Engineer builds put 6 points in Firearms for Modified Ammunition, so Precise Sights, even though it’s far less impressive as Explosive 5, is also very accessible. The opportunity cost is that you have to bring an Engineer, which doesn’t bring any unique bonus to your party, like e.g. the banners from Warriors, the conjured weapons from Eles, or the defensive support of Guardians.

LeoWolfish.8917:

Forgive me since I don’t have a Ranger yet but isn’t the solution to this simple. (…)

The solution is to run whatever you want in PvE, and what’s best for your team in dungeons; as a general rule that means no ranged fighters and no single-target damage.
That doesn’t necessary means ranged weapons can’t be viable, e.g. Staff Eles and grenade Engineers can be very good in dungeons; however they have to stand in melee range as well, otherwise they might pull bosses out of the range/AoE of their allies or scatter mobs out of AoEs.

DesertRose.2031:

LeoWolfish.8917:

Forgive me since I don’t have a Ranger yet but isn’t the solution to this simple. (…)

The solution is to run whatever you want in PvE, and what’s best for your team in dungeons; as a general rule that means no ranged fighters and no single-target damage.
That doesn’t necessary means ranged weapons can’t be viable, e.g. Staff Eles and grenade Engineers can be very good in dungeons; however they have to stand in melee range as well, otherwise they might pull bosses out of the range/AoE of their allies or scatter mobs out of AoEs.

OK thank you. That is basically what I was trying to say but you have a better way of putting it. Also I will be sure to remember that about Engineers. On a side note what pets are good for dungeons?

LeoWolfish.8917:

On a side note what pets are good for dungeons?

Cats (Jaguar, Snow Leopard, Jungle Stalker, Lynx) if you want to maximize damage, drakes if you want to play it safe. I’ve heard that apparently birds (Raven, White Raven, Owl, Hawk, Eagle) are also good for damage but I have no insight regarding that.

The following link might be interesting for you: (it may be outdated, though)
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/80554-ranger-pet-dps-comparison/

DesertRose.2031:

LeoWolfish.8917:

On a side note what pets are good for dungeons?

Cats (Jaguar, Snow Leopard, Jungle Stalker, Lynx) if you want to maximize damage, drakes if you want to play it safe. I’ve heard that apparently birds (Raven, White Raven, Owl, Hawk, Eagle) are also good for damage but I have no insight regarding that.

The following link might be interesting for you: (it may be outdated, though)
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/80554-ranger-pet-dps-comparison/

OK thank you I will look at the link now.

I love bursting with point blank shot! … /hide

Seriously though, I definitely agree in that ranger should never be equalized to an archer in design, but rather an outdoorsperson of whatever flavour you’re going for. I totally think, if they can use bows, that they should be as good at them as other weapons they can use, though.

TurtleDragon.3108:

Chrispy.5641:

TurtleDragon.3108:

Chrispy.5641:

Period, end of story, I dare you to come up with a way to deal more dps and be more useful to the group.

Bringing a warhorn and using an rotation that doesn’t artificially inflate your DPS for the first 8 seconds of a fight.

See Post #2 if you want to see what i’m talking about

You didn’t answer my question. Instead you whine and moan that I am artificially inflating my dps, and give me a link to a thread with a grand total of four replies from a bunch of nobodies on a self described hardcore website, who I honestly don’t give two kittens about. Must mean I am obviously a far better player than you are if you can’t even grasp the simple concept of dealing as much damage as possible, nor do you understand how to create the conditions necessary to deal as much dps as possible, which the Warhorn does not allow in any situation. Also, dealing sustained dps over 30 seconds to a nonmoving immortal golem doesn’t prove anything since there aren’t that any situations in the game where that happens. Try again.

I am answering the 2nd half of your question which you obviously didn’t catch. I’ll give you a hint, DPS isn’t all that matters in this game. Support and CC are just as important.

Also, a longbow swap rotation doesn’t increase your DPS in the middle of a fight which is why I called it an artificial DPS inflation. Axe offhand will actually increase your DPS in swap rotation so there is no issue with that offhand other than the possibility of wasting an interrupt.

Edit: To be clear, I was mainly criticizing your lack of warhorn since you can clearly still be more useful to your group than running Longbow + Sword/Axe. Being useful to the group takes priority in this game and running /axe instead of /WH has a high opportunity cost in terms of utility and interupt/CC if you’re ignoring defiant. Path of Scar’s main weakness is that it’s also a CC, which is negligible in uncoordinated groups and bad in coordinated groups. Randomly CC-ing a boss when he has 0 stacks is a bad habit that everyone should avoid. This is why I’m not a fan of OH axe. See this for more detail

Just fyi, the meta builds for some classes are NOT the max personal dps set up.

Tl;dr: S/WH + LB good, S/Wh + S/Axe good, S/Axe + LB Bad.

You can use your pets to provide the same swiftness and fury as the Warhorn (the 1 whole might isn’t that important), and do it better. Go on and complain that pets die too often and easy. It just means that you aren’t as good as you might think you are when it comes to pet management.

Sword/Axe + Longbow + proper pets and pet management = better damage/support and cc than sword/warhorn + whatever.

Actually, proper pets for the right situation and good pet management in general trumps just about everything in the Ranger class, except for damage.

I’m only still leveling but I’ve tried most of the weapon combos and I really like longbow + greatsword. Can I get away with just using Greatsword on a dungeon run to avoid being accused of being a Bearbow?

Chrispy.5641:

You can use your pets to provide the same swiftness and fury as the Warhorn (the 1 whole might isn’t that important), and do it better. Go on and complain that pets die too often and easy. It just means that you aren’t as good as you might think you are when it comes to pet management.

Sword/Axe + Longbow + proper pets and pet management = better damage/support and cc than sword/warhorn + whatever.

Actually, proper pets for the right situation and good pet management in general trumps just about everything in the Ranger class, except for damage.

Jeez, you sure do like to assume many things and are overly defensive. There is no need to assert whatever superriority you feel you have in every response. I’m not out to prove I’m better than you or that you suck cause I don’t care about that. You challenged us to come up with a way to be more useful to the group and I responded.

There are better pets to use than Red Moa if you don’t have to. Red moa does around half as much DPS as a cat and can actually cancel out the DPS you gain from path of scars. Pets also have long cast times on their skills, so no they do not do it better than a warhorn. My pets rarely die, except for the very few cases where it’s near impossible to keep it alive.

Pets also can’t replace a reliable blast finisher (which can also be used ooc unlike drakes). Blast finishers are extremely valuable in any sort of organized play and are frequently used in Fire, Smoke and Water fields. If you don’t see the value in a warhorn, then you are not as good as a ranger as you think you are.

Warhorn is a much better general use weapon, /axe is more situational than warhorn is. They obviously have different purposes but the warhorn is more likely to be useful (utility/support wise) in a situation than it is for the /axe. It’s not a ranger’s job to reflect and Path of Scars is a very small dps increase.

But hey, go ahead spec your Ranger for max DPS. I’m sure maximizing your DPS at the cost of utility on one of the lowest DPS classes in the game is worth it. You won’t out DPS an equally skilled warrior, ele, thief, guardian, or engi. Ranger is one of the classes where it’s especially important to optimize your utility, otherwise there’s no point bringing a ranger and you’re better off running a different class. Most classes have to choose between utility and DPS at some point, and the utility is almost always the better choice (Unless it’s not needed).

I’m just getting back into GW2 after over a year of absence. I want to start up a new main and Im considering ranger. I like PVE and dungeons most of all (my first main was mes, then engi later on) so I want to know if GS survival w/spider is a viable build. I threw in frost spirit even though Im not traited for it because it seems pretty good dps boost even untraited. Heres a link for what I was thinking, Id love to hear suggestions/opinions http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBhYDbkRlWVbZxmFqWDsHULDgAu5QcDu3ijotPZINDC-e

TheSoothsayer.7439:

I’m just getting back into GW2 after over a year of absence. I want to start up a new main and Im considering ranger. I like PVE and dungeons most of all (my first main was mes, then engi later on) so I want to know if GS survival w/spider is a viable build. I threw in frost spirit even though Im not traited for it because it seems pretty good dps boost even untraited. Heres a link for what I was thinking, Id love to hear suggestions/opinions http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBhYDbkRlWVbZxmFqWDsHULDgAu5QcDu3ijotPZINDC-e

You’ve taken away quite a lot of your potential damage for several things you don’t need. Read the link at the bottom of Turtle Dragon’s signature (post right above you) for a detailed explanation.

TurtleDragon.3108:

But hey, go ahead spec your Ranger for max DPS. I’m sure maximizing your DPS at the cost of utility on one of the lowest DPS classes in the game is worth it. You won’t out DPS an equally skilled warrior, ele, thief, guardian, or engi. Ranger is one of the classes where it’s especially important to optimize your utility, otherwise there’s no point bringing a ranger and you’re better off running a different class. Most classes have to choose between utility and DPS at some point, and the utility is almost always the better choice (Unless it’s not needed).

Yes I will, because unlike you, I’m not afraid to go outside the ‘meta’ (even if its a little) that you and many other people try to delicately maintain for fear of retaliation from what you just described as more elite classes than the Ranger. Lets agree to disagree (especially since you made the middle ground statement at the end by saying “(Unless its not needed)”, which just wiped out anything meaningful the rest of your post was trying to say.

Chrth.1035:

I’m only still leveling but I’ve tried most of the weapon combos and I really like longbow + greatsword. Can I get away with just using Greatsword on a dungeon run to avoid being accused of being a Bearbow?

that’s what I do. I swap out lightning reflexes for frost if I’m feeling especially generous, and I replace read the wind with spotter (not using the lb anyways)

just make sure you go in with a gs on your back and not your longbow ;P

There are a few problems with using Longbow over Greatsword as a burst weapon.
Thr first is that channeling the skill, unlike maul and signet of the wild, roots you, effectively denying you to use it on bosses you charge and reducing its field of application to bosses you pull, because using the skill after walking up in melee range when the fight started is already a dps loss.
The second and more important problem is that barrage heavily conflicts with signet of the wild. Barrage is only for burst build and ranger burst relies on signet of the wild, you can already forget to maximize your burst without it. Now the only possible way to do this would be casting barrage and then signet of the wild, making it end just about when the boss reaches you. By that you already wasted ticks and dps from casting signet of the wild and i dont know at this point if the effect of the signet boosts your barrage if cast afterwards, but i dont think it does. Casting the signet first is no option, you already waste a third of its uptime from casting barrage alone. It is also questionable if you even have the4-5 seconds of time you need when running in a optimal group.
Now you could use it without signet of the wild with 4/5/0/5/0 setup which is the version for sustained dps aka some fractal bosses but that is beyond pointless since for sustained longbow is worthless because after the initial barrage you dont want to ever ever switch to longbow for the whole fight again or you loose everything an dps you could ever possibly get from its starting burst and more while greatsword has the option to switch for a save dodge or block and have a rotation ready that loses almost no dps compared to sword.
Not to mention longbow obviously gives zero group support or utility whatsoever

Signet of the Wild increases your damage by 25%. Depending on how much power you have at the time, that is equivalent to anywhere from 500 extra power (at 2000 power) to 750 extra power (at 3000 power). You can make up that lost damage easily by getting that damage bonus from other sources, other traits, by getting more power, or taking advantage of items, such as Bowl of Seaweed Salad will help you with getting.

Signet of the Wild offers 8 whole seconds of extra damage while there are many other better ways to improve your damage output. It is much better to deal 5% more sustained damage then bother trying to get 8 whole seconds of 25% more damage.

Kibazuka.1390:

Not to mention longbow obviously gives zero group support or utility whatsoever

And neither does the Greatsword (which you yourself specifically mentioned), or Sword, or Axe, or Shortbow, or Dagger. Your point is what exactly?

Eh, it depends on the fight. Signet of the Wild’s main use is for Conjured weapon, burst and short fights. The signet build isn’t strictly better or worse than the bountiful hunter build at all times. There are fights that and groups that favour that build, and likewise for the other build. Bountiful Hunter is better for sustained damage and long fights. I switch between the builds depending on the content I am doing.

I do prefer the flat 5% most of the time myself.

Kibazuka.1390:

reducing its field of application to bosses you pull, because using the skill after walking up in melee range when the fight started is already a dps loss.

Want to see a party scream at you? Apply chill or cripple to a boss someone is pulling. I’m especially thinking Subject Alpha at the column room. Someone always CCs him here, or you get a necro sending his golem in…

Barrage has its uses, but using it on pulled bosses is not one!

I hate it when Warriors pull with throw axe or Blade Trail lol.

Ray of Judgement (Guardian Focus) is my favourite pulling skill.

Signet of the wild is a x1.25 damage modifier, not some fixxed power. It will easily be more power than that. If we take your power example and go by 2300 base power which is the standard for meta ranger and assume one x1.05 and one x1.1 sigil, altough two x1.1 would be possible, after applying every other damage modifier, the boost in power from signet of the wild would be about 1000. In comparison the x1.05 from bountiful hunter would equal +200 permanent power here.
Of course i would be interested to hear how you are easily getting this 800 power more from other sorces without giving up anything? Since you must somehow be generating it from thin air. Add to that how well signet of the wild synergizes with quickening zephyr and for most dungeon bosses signet build is the better alternative. If it is not, your group is lacking heavily in the dps department.
For fractals this is a different topic, but you dont want to ever run longbow there anyway

Chrispy.5641:

And neither does the Greatsword (which you yourself specifically mentioned), or Sword, or Axe, or Shortbow, or Dagger. Your point is what exactly?

A quick interrupt, good landspeed, amazing channeled block with a strong counterattack and a actually reliable burst. That right there is utility

Fluffball.8307:

Want to see a party scream at you? Apply chill or cripple to a boss someone is pulling. I’m especially thinking Subject Alpha at the column room. Someone always CCs him here, or you get a necro sending his golem in…

Barrage has its uses, but using it on pulled bosses is not one!

Haha, yes right, i totally forgot that bosses would be crippled once they come close enough. That makes longbow even further unfitting as burst weapon

Kibazuka.1390:

Thr first is that channeling the skill, unlike maul and signet of the wild, roots you

Huh? Rapid fire does not root..

Tribio.8531:

Kibazuka.1390:

Thr first is that channeling the skill, unlike maul and signet of the wild, roots you

Huh? Rapid fire does not root..

I think he’s talking about barrage.

Thaddeus.4891:

I think he’s talking about barrage.

Ah, not a channeling skill, but one with long activation (and the activation indeed roots you). Thanks for clarifying

Take the range limitation off of the LB.

So you can yell: “Stack at me! Stack at me!”

=bearbow problems solved (well, the half of it…)

Anyway what’s the whole point of a ranger going into a Dungeon when they are the King of the WvW?

/Ijustwokeupfrommysweetdream

Oh, kitten

Aggrostemma.1703:

Take the range limitation off of the LB.

So you can yell: “Stack at me! Stack at me!”

=bearbow problems solved (well, the half of it…)

Anyway what’s the whole point of a ranger going into a Dungeon when they are the King of the WvW?

/Ijustwokeupfrommysweetdream

Oh, kitten

just use Artdoctus bear. Dat 15 sec CD F2 has quite the punch too it and actually allows for traited bear to reach the same DPS as a 4 BM points traited cat or bird would. Sure, DPS loss, but much less so. If you also take the trait that grants pets 350 condition damage then that bear is gonna hurt you, badly.

As an archer I can’t do this though! (battle log):

jcbroe.4329:

As an archer I can’t do this though! (battle log):

“You hit Joe Jenks for 1,703 using Long Range Shot.”

suspicious… very suspicious..

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

jcbroe.4329:

As an archer I can’t do this though! (battle log):

“You hit Joe Jenks for 1,703 using Long Range Shot.”

suspicious… very suspicious..

Aragorn shot people with a bow too, and he was also a Ranger xD

You guys now,,, that the half of this “no ranger” “meta” is because of the kitten longbow…?

If the LB could do the same DPS as a GS in MELEE than nobody would say a thing… The most popular ranger hate thread would be about the pets….. Oh this is the problem…

A ranger cannot be a ranged damage dealer ’cos the Ele is better at this.
It cannot be a melee damage dealer ’cos the warrior or the guardian or the ele or the necro or the thief or the engineer is better.

Anyways: I would like a patch note:

“If the elementalist gets hit cannot swap attunement for 30 sec”
“If an engineer gets hit cannot swap kits for 30 sec”
“If a warrior gets hit cannot uses Adrenaline for 30 sec”
“If a thief gets hit in stealth cannot use Steal for 30 sec”
“If a necro gets hit cannot enter Death Shroud for 30 sec”
“If a Guadian gets hit cannot uses the Virtue for 30 sec”

Reasonable (I Know, L2P…)

solrik.6028:

I always run Bear Bow, and just earlier today I was doing CoF with a PUG and halfway through one of the party sent me 20 gold merely because I was running Bear Bow.

Bear Bow earns you more money, confirmed.

Truth is, *and halfway through one sent a kick request and whole party argued because they all wanted to click the confirm button but only one managed to do so. :C

jcbroe.4329:

As an archer I can’t do this though! (battle log):

Lol you took this while I was running bear bow weren’t you?

I rolled a Ranger because of the bow. I rolled ranged physical DPS in every game: SW:ToR – Sniper, DCUO – Bow using mental villain, GW – Ranger, WoW – Hunter, AD&D – Archer Ranger. And as I said before, IF I wanted to melee I’d play my Guardian or Thief.

Kibazuka.1390:

Chrispy.5641:

And neither does the Greatsword (which you yourself specifically mentioned), or Sword, or Axe, or Shortbow, or Dagger. Your point is what exactly?

A quick interrupt, good landspeed, amazing channeled block with a strong counterattack and a actually reliable burst. That right there is utility

So, a stealth with 25-33% uptime, an Interrupt/knockback, and 12+ seconds of Cripple isn’t Utility? That knockback has come in handy in several situations. As well as path of scars as well as the reflect from whirling defense (the offhand axe that many of you say is so bad). It just depends on the situation. Its kind of foolish to say that we should use only one weapon set for 100% of all situations when you know that has never been the case.

I think I know what your problem is…..

See, I think you, don’t actually know how to use the longbow, because you, like many other Rangers that have posted, are too afraid to bring the Longbow into your rotations to see how it can be beneficial in a dungeon, because you are too afraid of the big, bad warriors and Guardians kicking you, because you don’t have the courage to demand they ping their build, and as a result, you are running with sub-optimal Warriors and Guardians, because you are too afraid to tell them their builds is ‘wrong’, because you think you’ll be kicked.

Its okay, supposedly ‘Great’ Ranger Players. Really, its okay. You keep living in fear instead of taking advantage of your full toolset of skills for the right situations. Me? I’m going to keep using the Longbow when its in my/the group’s best interest to use it (instead of always using the exact same build out of fear instead of enjoyment)

Prysin.8542:

Aggrostemma.1703:

Take the range limitation off of the LB.

So you can yell: “Stack at me! Stack at me!”

=bearbow problems solved (well, the half of it…)

Anyway what’s the whole point of a ranger going into a Dungeon when they are the King of the WvW?

/Ijustwokeupfrommysweetdream

Oh, kitten

just use Artdoctus bear. Dat 15 sec CD F2 has quite the punch too it and actually allows for traited bear to reach the same DPS as a 4 BM points traited cat or bird would. Sure, DPS loss, but much less so. If you also take the trait that grants pets 350 condition damage then that bear is gonna hurt you, badly.

This guy gets it, and is not afraid to go outside the established ‘norm’.

and why would I want to play poor man’s thief when I can play actual thief?

Varrg.2704:

and why would I want to play poor man’s thief when I can play actual thief?

You got it the wrong way around, the thief is the poor man, not the ranger. Why the hell do you think their main mechanic is “steal”?

Oh, and rangers are probably the richest profession in game, just think about how expensive it is to feed all these furballs.

Prysin.8542:

Aggrostemma.1703:

Take the range limitation off of the LB.

So you can yell: “Stack at me! Stack at me!”

=bearbow problems solved (well, the half of it…)

Anyway what’s the whole point of a ranger going into a Dungeon when they are the King of the WvW?

/Ijustwokeupfrommysweetdream

Oh, kitten

just use Artdoctus bear. Dat 15 sec CD F2 has quite the punch too it and actually allows for traited bear to reach the same DPS as a 4 BM points traited cat or bird would. Sure, DPS loss, but much less so. If you also take the trait that grants pets 350 condition damage then that bear is gonna hurt you, badly.

So you’re saying Beary can digivolve into OMEGA BEARY?!? I have much to work out!!

Seems like the game for Rangers and most classes is people deciding how you play and what you do. If that’s the case bring back Hero NPCs so people can get the meta ranger and warrior and whatever else they want.

Sunshine.4680:

Seems like the game for Rangers and most classes is people deciding how you play and what you do. If that’s the case bring back Hero NPCs so people can get the meta ranger and warrior and whatever else they want.

That is the problem…well, that’s the problem in super skilled, highly organized, dungeon speed-running groups, a game mode where playing a very specific build where 100% efficiency and 100% skill is not only needed, but required of everyone in the party.

The other problem is that many People can’t actually distinguish any difference between that hyper skilled group and everyone else (about 5% of all PvE players, and obviously most PvP players). Some of the posters on this thread have proven to either be unable to tell the difference, or they don’t care about the difference*.

Otherwise….no one could give two kittens about what build you take with you. I welcome bear/bows in my group. Sure the fights take a whole minute longer, but the point of the game is fun, not efficiency. If that Ranger’s version of fun is to take pigs and double bows, with a mostly Rampager gear set with 100% boon duration*, I’m not going to stop him. Its not right to ruin someone else’s fun for an extra few seconds of efficiency in a Videogame. efficiency is for jobs and people with no life, not games.

*-(and I’m not trying to say anything bad about you guys, I’m just saying you should probably look at the bigger picture instead of quarreling with me over axes and bows)

*-also, I have seen a Ranger like what I described above.

Chrispy.5641:

Sunshine.4680:

Seems like the game for Rangers and most classes is people deciding how you play and what you do. If that’s the case bring back Hero NPCs so people can get the meta ranger and warrior and whatever else they want.

That is the problem…well, that’s the problem in super skilled, highly organized, dungeon speed-running groups, a game mode where playing a very specific build where 100% efficiency and 100% skill is not only needed, but required of everyone in the party.

The other problem is that many People can’t actually distinguish any difference between that hyper skilled group and everyone else (about 5% of all PvE players, and obviously most PvP players). Some of the posters on this thread have proven to either be unable to tell the difference, or they don’t care about the difference*.

Otherwise….no one could give two kittens about what build you take with you. I welcome bear/bows in my group. Sure the fights take a whole minute longer, but the point of the game is fun, not efficiency. If that Ranger’s version of fun is to take pigs and double bows, with a mostly Rampager gear set with 100% boon duration*, I’m not going to stop him. Its not right to ruin someone else’s fun for an extra few seconds of efficiency in a Videogame. efficiency is for jobs and people with no life, not games.

*-(and I’m not trying to say anything bad about you guys, I’m just saying you should probably look at the bigger picture instead of quarreling with me over axes and bows)

*-also, I have seen a Ranger like what I described above.

Agree 100%. If the 5% of the GW2 community that are elitists want to do speed runs then that’s fine by me. But if I join a group that isn’t advertising as a speed run then I should be able to run what I want.

Doesn’t anybody get tired of the same old “no Rangers in Dungeons” excuse?
I personally never met such a situation.
Nobody ever told me: hey Ranger, sorry > kick

But I did met various sword playing classes just swinging their swords in the air without a mob to hit.
So to each their own.
If you are a bad player, you will be bad with a bow or a sword.

My suggestion, just keep your distance, cause right now my bow is dangerous.
OK…could be more dangerous, but we take what we can.

Galphar.3901:

I rolled a Ranger because of the bow. I rolled ranged physical DPS in every game: SW:ToR – Sniper, DCUO – Bow using mental villain, GW – Ranger, WoW – Hunter, AD&D – Archer Ranger. And as I said before, IF I wanted to melee I’d play my Guardian or Thief.

It would be nice. Its just sad that range weapons are that poor in this game.

If the team could share buff and boons in a 2000 range that would solve a lot of the problem. But more than that.

If you could have a Longbow that deal one of the most powerful single target dps in the game, like similar to a D/D Thief. And a Shortbow that deal dmg in AoE at a reasonable dmg like 10-11k dps. Then the Ranger would be a great profession.

Instead, the BEST dmg you can do is 9.5k with a sword. That’s sad and 100% because of Anet. Most profession are balanced in PvE, but Necro and Ranger are left behind a bit.