Guild Wars 2

Recently I made a ranger cause I saw that its kinda the 2nd most played class after guardian (correct me if I am wrong). I had a ranger before, early in the game, but I stopped after level 36 or so cause it felt very repetitive and lackluster in combo, boon and skill variety. I always liked the ranger/hunter/scout class in rpg games, the whole ideea with the pet backing you up, someone you can rely on and all. Now that I`ve played a couple of days, leveled it up to 80, traited, runed myself up (spending all my money)… I kinda feel akward again, almost the same feeling I had back in 2012 when I stopped at 36. I visited a lot of forums and guides as I heard a lot of hate, and some high praise about the class, which makes me think this may be the most controversial class in the game (again, correct me if I am wrong).

Cons go as this:
-getting kicked out of groups cause reasons
-having little or no choice between weapons (lb/s/w/g are pretty much it)
-pets are usless and can get you into more trouble (bear is the must have, all else is pretty much rubbish)
-very little boon capabilities which can help the party
-almost no single combo fields and party combos are also weak
-besides signets and 1 or 2 others, all utilities are said to be usless aswell (traps most of all)

Pros:
-very good dps if you are lazy or happy about spamming a 2-3 buttons and maybe switch wep. if you really want to go bananas
-vulnerability and cripple uptime (but that`s just it)
-good in PvP, but reqires high skill to master the class
-(maybe a few others)

Now I don`t know much about the class that`s why I made this topic, what is the core of the ranger? Why does every 2nd player play it? Is it because its easy to get into as it does not have so many skills to worry about and combos as for example an ele or engi? Isn`t this a very passive class, lacking many of the dynamic mechanics that gw2 made for this game?(you may dodge, if you have to, but lack of combos drive me crazy…and skills…man the cross play between skills seems so weak)

All in all I really wanted to get into ranger, I thought it will be fun and will be a joyful change after my ele and guard, but if I were to compare the dynamic way of playing other prof. ranger would be somewhere at the end of the group.

Don`t hate me for saying all this, I just summed up what I heard/experienced in this small amount of time when playing the class. I really want to like rangers, maybe with a little more insight I might just do that.

Thanks!

listin the pros and cons of power builds very good , now go play a Beastmaster or hybrid condi build in WvW or pvp.

ps pets are only as good as the user.

What game mode are you playing in? Each mode is going to require different builds for you to be useful. If you ask some specific questions we would have a much easier time helping you.

Oh and bear is never a “must have”. The only time I ever run bear is if I’m soloing a keep in WvW. For anything else there are just too many better options.

PvE, WvW for now…

For pve try running frost spotter and bring a pet that provides party buffs. that build brings damage boosters that other classes can’t provide. No one wants a useless bearbow, you have to show them you are going to carry your weight.

For WvW do you prefer to roam or zerg? Do you like condi or power?

For PvE I always would run 1h sword/x, Spotter, Frost, Jungle Stalker (f2 might stacks), Salamander Drake (Combo Finisher: Blast, Drakes only ones w/Blast, & timed well Blast on call), Stability, cleanse, SOTW, FT, QZ. I would swap utility depending on the fight.

WvW I run Celestial builds, jumping specs depending on what I feel like doing Sniper/pierce zerg play, solo gank, havok. One of my pets is always Wolf, w/a well timed fear off a cliff, or 2sec knockdown always comes in handy. After the fun play was removed from “Guard” I like to keep my pets close to me, they seem to do better when I treat them as a extension of my Ranger instead of pathing up a storm in slow motion behind a target.

Hope it helps, the Ranger makes an ok alt, but great main if you delve into it.

I think all of your pros and cons are off. It sounds like you’re new to the game; I think you’ll learn to appreciate all the professions more as you get more experience. It’s shockingly complicated for also being so simple, and I don’t think you’ll suddenly love ranger just based on our forum posts. There is a LOT to learn about each of the professions.