Guild Wars 2

There’s a pretty distinct difference between “Meta” and “Common”. Meta is usually based on high level play in organized groups, not on what you see in your average LFG. Heavy only groups haven’t been meta for a long time, it’s just arguably “safer” to PUG warriors than a random Ranger or Elementalist which have much higher skill caps.

It’s still an inferior team composition to say, 1 warrior 2 ele, 2 other or any rainbow party comp.

We you see someone add “heavies only” to the lfg post, translate that to “noobs looking for noobs only.” That, or prepare yourself for an extra lengthy run…

When I first creates my Ranger, I always used my cat or my white raven (even though it was bugged to have less health…) and then the first Halloween event came.

I noticed so many Longbow / Brown Bear Rangers that I ended up asking them, “why the bear? I always thought cats and birds gave better dps” and their response was :

“lol no, bear + Longbow is best dps for Ranger, stop using sword ‘scrub’ "

So I tried the bear bow and knew immediately that it was… Not optimal…. For lack of better words

a t s e.9614:

DId u just say ranger takes skill? Much auto-attack such passive spirit

What do you consider skill? All classes are at their best just pushing buttons at the appropriate times. I think GW2 requires experience (know when to push the button) and intelligence (know why you have set your character up the way it is) more than anything else. I’m not sure I can think of an example on any class other than PvP/WvW that requires “skill”. Perhaps jumping the lasers in CoE.

Anywho, not to speak for turtle, I think what he meant is that staying alive and contributing to the group on eles or rangers requires far more awareness and game-understanding than it does on a healsig warrior.

Fluffball.8307:

a t s e.9614:

DId u just say ranger takes skill? Much auto-attack such passive spirit

What do you consider skill? All classes are at their best just pushing buttons at the appropriate times. I think GW2 requires experience (know when to push the button) and intelligence (know why you have set your character up the way it is) more than anything else. I’m not sure I can think of an example on any class other than PvP/WvW that requires “skill”. Perhaps jumping the lasers in CoE.

Anywho, not to speak for turtle, I think what he meant is that staying alive and contributing to the group on eles or rangers requires far more awareness and game-understanding than it does on a healsig warrior.

Yep, this is exactly what I meant.

I just stumbled across this post on reddit, which I think is relevant to the “what is meta” discussion. Theorize, share, test, discuss, don’t just make up your own build and think it’s rock solid.

http://www.dtguilds.com/forum/viewforum/4280860/m/6563292

The only post in the ranger forum (at this point) is an interesting example of why multiple people critiquing builds is so helpful. I won’t even pretend to know enough about game mechanics to talk about this, I just think most people should drop their egos and collaborate to make a better meta.

“The only no-no on our forum is stating something is a fact and not providing evidence for it. We want an exchange of ideas, and that can sometimes include heated debate, but what we don’t want are arguments based around opinions and empty claims.”

Introducing, legendary bearbow:

I never used bear while I was leveling. I use Greatsword/Longbow with Cat/Dog or Cat/Drake. I love my cat, that thing can go toe to toe against champs and stay up for a long time before I am forced to switch.

My main uses Lashtail Devourer and Blue Moa, and my second ranger is using Pig and Boar (but doesn’t have all pets yet). No bows though! Am I worse than bearbow?

Can I use a pig and call my build “hambow”? So I can pretend I’m a Warrior?

I was curious how tanky a bear could be while still going DPS, turns out the bear can full on tank the graveling bosses on the Ascalon paths without a care in the world.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Enter Rata Sum to troll TP for free golds, see:

John: ranger is pretty pet-reliant so the best thing to do is get a bear and use it to tank while you dps with a bow from a distance
Mike: oh cool i’ll try it out, where do i cap bear

So I figure I should chime in before the poor newb actually ends up trying to run bearbow and I get:

John: dude wtf i am giving legit advice
Sam: man i dunno but my friend runs bearbow and he seems to do just fine
Phil: yeah lol i leveled my ranger all the way to 15 using bear + bow, havent had any problems yet
Tom: dude they’re ’range"rs, youre supposed to use a bow
Dave: lol literally every ranger in my guild runs bearbow, but im sure this random dude in map chat knows better than the meta

So there you have it, bearbow is the meta. Why haven’t you respecced yet?

Ill destroy any Bearbow. Bearbow is for useless morons who cant memorize timings, or who fail at moving

crystlviper.8523:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Enter Rata Sum to troll TP for free golds, see:

John: ranger is pretty pet-reliant so the best thing to do is get a bear and use it to tank while you dps with a bow from a distance
Mike: oh cool i’ll try it out, where do i cap bear

So I figure I should chime in before the poor newb actually ends up trying to run bearbow and I get:

John: dude wtf i am giving legit advice
Sam: man i dunno but my friend runs bearbow and he seems to do just fine
Phil: yeah lol i leveled my ranger all the way to 15 using bear + bow, havent had any problems yet
Tom: dude they’re ’range"rs, youre supposed to use a bow
Dave: lol literally every ranger in my guild runs bearbow, but im sure this random dude in map chat knows better than the meta

So there you have it, bearbow is the meta. Why haven’t you respecced yet?

Ill destroy any Bearbow. Bearbow is for useless morons who cant memorize timings, or who fail at moving

Or for people who like the utility that both the weapon and the pet bring to the fight…. Sure as hell isn’t optimal damage, that’s for sure.

crystlviper.8523:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Enter Rata Sum to troll TP for free golds, see:

John: ranger is pretty pet-reliant so the best thing to do is get a bear and use it to tank while you dps with a bow from a distance
Mike: oh cool i’ll try it out, where do i cap bear

So I figure I should chime in before the poor newb actually ends up trying to run bearbow and I get:

John: dude wtf i am giving legit advice
Sam: man i dunno but my friend runs bearbow and he seems to do just fine
Phil: yeah lol i leveled my ranger all the way to 15 using bear + bow, havent had any problems yet
Tom: dude they’re ’range"rs, youre supposed to use a bow
Dave: lol literally every ranger in my guild runs bearbow, but im sure this random dude in map chat knows better than the meta

So there you have it, bearbow is the meta. Why haven’t you respecced yet?

Ill destroy any Bearbow. Bearbow is for useless morons who cant memorize timings, or who fail at moving

I’d be careful who you call a moron. The first time you try to “destroy” a bearbow and get your kitten handed to you, you’ll learn that an experienced and skilled player can make even the simplest faceroll builds dangerous.
The result – a bearbow standing over your toon’s body, while you nerd rage in disbelief.