Guild Wars 2

Activating a signet grants 1 stack of might for 5 seconds.

This is one of the most useless underpowered traits in the game. To compare it with another trait, thieves get almost the exact same trait but it instead gives 5 stacks of might not 1.

Yeah thats only 5 times better, but wait it gets worse! Thief signets are on 30-30-30-45 second cooldowns, while ranger signets are on 30-60-60-80 second cooldowns.

How is stuff like this still in the game almost a year after release? Class traits are so unpolished, it seems like someone made them all in one day and they haven’t been changed/balanced since.

Because ranger was made from the pre beta Marksman+Warden profession bits plucked from the cutting room floor.
See the – Intimid. Training: stupidest trait in game? topic.

Comparing individual abilities among different classes is a complete self-serving waste of time.

Blackbird.4382:

Comparing individual abilities among different classes is a complete self-serving waste of time.

Yeah I was just trying to show how useless it is.

replying to bump up this topic.
This trait is absolute joke, and it seems so easy to fix (buff stacks/duration).

You forgot to mention that the thief trait is a adept tier while the ranger one is master tier.

It doesn’t even need any comparison, it’s terrible on a stand alone basis. Increasing power and condi damage by 35 for 5s at the lowest cooldown of 24s isn’t worth the trait slot.

But trait cleanup isn’t a ranger specific issue.

This is just one of the Rangers’ problems. As another example, try comparing spirits with Warrior banners. Banners don’t die, they can be picked up and moved without using any trait, and they have more active (and useful) skills then spirits, once you “equip” them.

Don’t forget companion’s might, which is one stack of might for one second for you and your pet when you crit.

there are so many traits in this game that really dont impact your playstyle at all. i want more stuff that really changes certain abilities or that really have effect.

Actually, if you want to compare a similar trait from Engineers, HGH: All Elixirs (Regardless of being thrown, or simply consumed) grant 20 seconds of might. This stacks with both boon and might duration to add a whopping 30ish seconds of might every time you use an elixir, and trust me HGH Engineers pop Elixirs like the bad drugs they are.

A great majority of traits from most professions are in need of some serious overhaul and have been for more than a year now. There are far too many that are just no brainers to never use at all in any build and some that are so strong it’s hard not to use them in the vast majority of builds that you come up with if you happen to be placing traits along those paths anyway.

kitsuneKyo.6824:

there are so many traits in this game that really dont impact your playstyle at all. i want more stuff that really changes certain abilities or that really have effect.

Exactly. One of my favorite changes when WoW went into Pandaria was the talent tree going from boring number tuning to genuinely interesting playstyle choices.

We have a mix of both here, but man, the boring ones are bland AND ineffective.

thats the point. i dont want stat addition like 70 points to toughness or BS like that.
these things are so incredibly useless that it makes no difference if you even have traits or not. and that saddens me.

If boon stealing ever becomes really popular you could use something like this defensiely to protect regeneration. But besides that niche scenario, I can’t think of any other good reasons to have something like that. It does seem rather awful, huh? Maybe our signets are so good (traited 25% buff in attack for SotW or invuln feom SoS) that they feel this is okay? To be fair, though, from what I understand, rangers aren’t the only ones with a few useless traits.

Yeah I main a thief but I really like playing the Ranger. I currently run a bunker BM build. Knowing the enemy is half the battle so most thieves have a hard time killing me while I run the BM build.

That being said, Rangers trait line is garbage. Most of the Grandmaster tier traits aren’t even worth using. Compare to thief’s traits like Shadow Rejuvenation (heal 329 hp per stealth second) or executioner (20% more damage while enemy is at 50% hp or less).

There’s no need for anymore nerfs for other classes, we need buffs for the underpowered classes. Ranger really needs an overhaul with the traits. Also, pet speed should be 30% faster on default. The AI is somewhat unreliable too.

I wish rangers were in better condition when the game launched. The micro balance method to adjust to the meta game isn’t enough to make up for the poor position so many of the traits and skills were in when the game launched.

It’s also a shame that PvE suffers for PvP balance. Skill splits were supposed to stop this but the devs don’t seem to be very focused on PvE.

Shiren.9532:

I wish rangers were in better condition when the game launched.

I agree. It is an up hill battle now to change the perception of ranger.

What will happen now (and to some extent is already happening) is that, as we get further balanced, other classes will call us OP and call for nerfs … because they are not used to seeing rangers do so well on a large scale.

So many Ranger traits need to be fixed and reworked.

I really hope Anet steps up their game will class balancing and fixing. Although, it seems like Anet is ignoring or sidestepping many of the problems Rangers face altogether. For example, look at spirits, increasing their health doesnt matter because, A: They will still be killed in dungeons in one hit, and B: Most of the effects they have dont justify taking them as a utility slot even if they did stay alive.