Guild Wars 2

I would really like to see how Izzy’s Ranger build compares to the builds created by the leading dungeon guilds.

Nike.2631:

Consider the following two step plan for glory:

Replace the 5 point Skirmishing minor trait with~

Lone Wolf: You gain +25% damage while your companion is stowed.

Fix the stow companion command so that when we stow a companion it stays stowed until we click the button again.

This would be ridiculously OP… if ANet ever decides to give you something without pet, expect around the 3%-5% increased damage without pet. They will always favor people using it.

Don’t even bother posting questions or watching. Isaiah did this for the Ele about a month ago (maybe more). It was literally a beginners guide don"t expect any real content here. It’s just a fluff piece.

This is a l2p from devs lol
Im gonna miss it please someone upload epic moments on youtube, pet wipe , sword root deaths and missing traits.

Hi Mr. Cartwright,

I am a avid Ranger from GW1 and GW2. Played in GvG midline Cripshot and Magebane, and in tPvP with BM Condi. Been playing religiously since beta weekend event 2.

I would like to address the concerns:

1. We were designed as a class to use our pet in any situation, as regarded in your design documents. If you refer to other MMO models, some adopt a intricate system of having a dedicated pet heal, more pet commands, immunity to AoE. Increasing the vitality of anything doesn’t offer sustain in the slightest – In PvE especially where monsters frequently uphold the classic dodge-or-die, it’s almost imperative that our pet either dodge when we dodge or gain Aegis of some kind whenever we make an effort to take evasive action; why is increasing the health threshold for pets an apparent fix for the glaring issue regarding pet sustain?

2. Why are our utilities so weak? Nothing, truly, stands out as identifiable in PvE. One reason why rangers have a difficult time finding viability is the fact that our utilities almost demand a heavy 30 point investment in order to bring out the most viability. For example, if I were to take Signet of Stone, I would need to spec into Marksmanship in order to facilitate it’s damage immunity clause. If I wanted my Spirit of Nature to res reliably, I would precast it and then walk to my ally to hit “0” again to res, but that requires me to invest 30 into Nature Magic for Spirits Unbound. Why is it, exactly, that I must cut corners in order to find lackluster viability? So many professions take their utilities’ potency for granted, but the Ranger, surely, cannot.

3. Somewhat linking to #1, Power-based Rangers clearly do not enjoy the full fledged damage capacities that other professions enjoy. It is a gigantic difference in DPS from a Sword Ranger to that of a Axe Warrior. Why, exactly, are our damage coefficients so much lower than all the other professions in this game? I’ve been listening to the forum posts of this section for quite some time, and read up on people’s intuitions of how it’s our apparent opportunity cost of having a pet that dulls our damage front. It still perplexes me, however. A Warrior can have Burst ,a large health pool, and more recently incredible sustain, and yet they have hardly opportunity cost equivalent to that of a Ranger. A Guardian has access to virtues, stability/regen/protection sharing, and some of the most brilliant group utility in the game, and yet they have viable power options on the table. I would like to understand why Rangers do not enjoy the damage that many other professions assume as a priori.

Question:

“The RANGEr is in most RPGs known as a sneaky Master of the Bow. How do you feel about that most rangers play a tanky, sword/axe-swinging healer in gw2?”

I ask this because I started playing a Ranger because i expected to be the number one archer class in the game but instead I don´t feel like the ranger is superior at using bows.

ChioChip.5970:

Question:

“The RANGEr is in most RPGs known as a sneaky Master of the Bow. How do you feel about that most rangers play a tanky, sword/axe-swinging healer in gw2?”

I ask this because I started playing a Ranger because i expected to be the number one archer class in the game but instead I don´t feel like the ranger is superior at using bows.

Definitely is when played right… Healing regen evade condi range is just easier and more forgiving though…

1) How to deal with Dead Pet Limbo.

If a pet dies, and it was because it wasn’t capable of surviving 20 seconds in order for me to swap it out, you better believe the next one is not going to make it through a full 60 seconds. If you ever want to get back onto the 20 second cadence, it seems forcing the pet into time-out is mandatory. By far the most frustrating aspect of pet management, and something a newer player will encounter often because the only real way to avoid getting your pet ganked is to know what a fight will entail in advance.

2) Power Ranger and the passive and active damage multipliers
Specifically hit on what works with what and how, because it’s pretty unclear at first flush.

• Attack of Opportunity
  The tooltip says ‘Attack’. Touch on it being literally the next Hit, not the next Skill. So, good synergy with Maul, decent synergy with birds, bad synergy with practically everything else.

• Hunter’s Tactics, Steady Focus, Peak Strength, Frost Spirit, Signet of the Hunt, Piercing Arrows, Spotter, Eagle Eye, Signet of the beastmaster, Long-bow distance requirement; how is this all supposed to be working in concert? There’s like, fifteen different gameplays all pulling a power ranger in a different direction, and none of them exactly mesh in a fluid and easy to understand way.

Will the Ranger ever be viable in an archetypal “ranged” build. I’m actually happy when I have a GS-S/W equipped, but not a LB, SB, or an axe. I’d recommend just describing “ranged” as it would just take too long to kill anything that way in the livestream.

Pets are a major part of a Ranger’s damage source. So why is it that Rangers are kittened-over when we enter a dungeon or other fight where the mob(s) have high damage, unavoidable, or one-shot mechanics? Does Anet have any plans to help Rangers out against these kind of things instead of leaving our pets to rot?

I’m left wondering if this is a stunt to try and show some love for the adopted child (ranger profession) due to the fairly obvious and severe neglect that has left a majority that still play this profession distraught.

I guess I can’t complain. Just do me a favor in the live stream and tell us that you think this profession is working as intended so that we can all move on.

Any chance we could see tiered pets? We have tiered skills now, it would be interesting if there was something similar for pets, with 10 or whatever on each tier, and higher tiers opening up as you claim 5/10 lower tier pets. Then higher tier pets could be stronger without overbalancing.

Or, instead of forcing diversity, allow focused training by buffing your pet with each additional animal of that type you tame – You familiarize yourself more with the species, are better able to use their abilities, whatever. That way if you find a pet you like, you can spend some time improving their performance – could be grindy though if the numbers are too high. Something like 0-5 = tier 0, 6-15 = tier 1, 16-25 = tier 2, 26-35 = tier 3, 36-50 = tier 4. This could allow for our “juveniles” to age as well.

Something else fun would be humanoid pets – Skritt, Tengu, etc companions, perhaps as top-tier pets in the above schemes. A skritt gear-lobber pet would be awesome.

Indoles.1467:

I’m left wondering if this is a stunt to try and show some love for the adopted child (ranger profession) due to the fairly obvious and severe neglect that has left a majority that still play this profession distraught.

I guess I can’t complain. Just do me a favor in the live stream and tell us that you think this profession is working as intended so that we can all move on.

Interesting thought but I doubt it. I don’t think ANET anticipated that their audience would need tutorials. But there’s so much poor play and so little streaming on twitch that, indeed, a better tutorial mode and better tooltips are what gw2 needs. They’re doig the right thing here.

Thank you, ANet, for the attention. I sincerely appreciate it.

I’ll grant that pets have their problems, and the Ranger is far from perfect. And I rant about how the developers treat the class like it’s an afterthought for the carebears of PvE. That patch preview with the two devs acting bored and uninformed about rangers was terribly insulting.

I feel like the devs are are saying, “Poor carebears! They can’t figure out how to play their rangers.” Overall, I’ve felt ANet is very condescending toward ranger players. I want to see them talk about ranger in the end game; lots of lower-level and casual players are using rangers already.

ANet, show us one of you developers playing a ranger in competitive PvP or WvW, and prove it’s equal to other classes. Show us some real respect, and eat your own cooking, so to speak. That’s not calling you out, it’s asking you how 6ou think the ranger is balanced and best used.

That gripe aside, the pet is very viable in PvE with a WS/BM build. My pet (a frost drake usually) rarely dies in chaotic dynamic event, gives good damage, and isn’t hard to control. WvW and PvP, not so much.

This is basically a confirmation from a-net that they think ranger is fine.

The cynicism in this thread is approaching critical levels.

1. How to play PvE with a sword and dodge properly?

2. Looking forward to ascended gear, will we see pets sharing their stats with the ranger in near future?
With ascended gear every class gets a bonus on their stats. The ranger is the only profession that gets only 60% out of this bonus because the pet deals 40% of our damage and is not effected by the gear.

Wow…so many bitter players frothing at the mouth on this one.

I hope the devs have thick skin. Regardless of how good or bad they have bad in class balance, I feel sorry for anyone that has to deal with the people that leave comments in these forums. =(

Question: Why is the main hand sword so awkward to control and why isn’t there another option for rangers that want to run a melee berserker build with high damage?

GS doesn’t have nearly enough damage to be a suitable replacement which is a shame because it’s a good weapon otherwise.

Dahkeus.8243:

Wow…so many bitter players frothing at the mouth on this one.

I hope the devs have thick skin. Regardless of how good or bad they have bad in class balance, I feel sorry for anyone that has to deal with the people that leave comments in these forums. =(

Smart devs equip Bark Skin (ranger grandmaster in forum wilderness survival)

Chopps.5047:

The cynicism in this thread is approaching critical levels.

And what has ANet done to show rangers some love?

I won’t threaten to rage quit or change classes. But when two prominent devs, in an official demo, act bored while playing a ranger and can’t remember class basics is kinda telling…

I don’t expect grand gestures or massive class changes. I do expect respect and knowledge of their own product. Name one dev who mains a ranger.

Sytherek.7689:

Chopps.5047:

The cynicism in this thread is approaching critical levels.

And what has ANet done to show rangers some love?

I won’t threaten to rage quit or change classes. But when two prominent devs, in an official demo, act bored while playing a ranger and can’t remember class basics is kinda telling…

I don’t expect grand gestures or massive class changes. I do expect respect and knowledge of their own product. Name one dev who mains a ranger.

I would guess the devs doing the balancing play all the professions. Anyways, what has ANET done to show love? Well, over the last year…

Huge longbow buff and rework, Companions might, beastmasters bond, pet health increase, spirit health increase, reveal on sic em, natures voice, offhand axe rework, blast finish on warhorn was given, offhand training fixed to affect all offhands, companions defense fix, stun break on “protect me”, a new pet (reef drake)

I’m sure there’s more. Of course there were nerfs too but it really isn’t too bad

where do you think ranger is in pve? what is their roll in pve?

pve related, meta events, the dragon events, temple events with lots of aoe.

how do you keep your pet alive without having the pet doing nothing? I would like to make a use of my pet in these events, but aside from letting the pet running into aoe (basically do nothing and stay by my side). I cannot keep my pet alive if I want to make use of it. well, the search and rescue shout make the pet a little useful, but we all know the cd on that shout is horrid even with shout cd reduction.

Will we ever see pet dodge roll with rangers in pve?

out of the ranger’s population, how many do you think main a ranger? why do you think that is?

I just changed guild. and one of my guild mate wanted to delete his fully geared ranger to roll another class. I asked him why? they are so fun (because I don’t see a reason for him to). His reply was: " they are fun to play. but, I am not welcome to play as a ranger in many dungeons.".(this was in our guild’s ts) So it seem to me that there are complaints about rangers getting kicked from dungeons in pug parties (pve) what is your plan for eliminating that or reducing that?

Also, another concern pve related, people allow 2+ warriors, guards, eles, thiefs… basically every other professions to be in their party except rangers. As soon as there’s more than 1 ranger, 1 will be asked to leave or change profession, or feel the need to change profession in pugs party. Why is that?

I states pugs parties because let’s face it. Most newbies to the game or to the profession aren’t as lucky as some of us who has made friends already, who has friends/ guild to run dungeons with us without judging our profession like the newbies. This will discourage people from playing this class (the prejudice of being a ranger).

Questions:

Why don’t we have AOE damage reduction for pets to make up for their poor AI abilities and the problems with attempting to micromanage them?

Why is one of our best DPS abilities , the sword, so exceptionally clunky and difficult to use, requiring the player to do things like time animation frames, or cancel animations by using an ability then quickly dodging right after etc. ?

What is an effective, in the view of the developers, PVE build for Dungeons with the Ranger?

How do they feel the class stacks against the Warrior, Guardian and Elementalist for Dungeon play. What does the class bring to the table in those group situations?

Why isn’t ranged combat, which seems to be what the majority of people play the Ranger class to experience, more effective? And if it will never be on par with Melee shouldn’t this class have been called the Hunter or Woodsman instead, removing the idea of “Ranged” combat?

Are there any short term plans for improving play with the Ranger, or is the class considered to be " in a good place" now?

Are we going to see more balancing that separate PVE from PVP so that the class can be more enjoyable and provide a smoother play experience in both?

Last two commenters: do you use spotter? Vigorous spirits? Frost spirit? What pet do you choose? Probably not devourer huh? I recommend devourer, especially for players who fire and forget pets and/or extremely hard hitting bosses. Plus, you can stand behind it and range while it eats projectiles since it tends to stand in place. Explore these options and your questions are answered without dev input. Also, practice with sword and take an offhand axe.

By the way, pets all just got +71% health in pve. And they still die for you?? You just let your cat tank the boss or something?

Chopps.5047:

Sytherek.7689:

Chopps.5047:

The cynicism in this thread is approaching critical levels.

And what has ANet done to show rangers some love?

I won’t threaten to rage quit or change classes. But when two prominent devs, in an official demo, act bored while playing a ranger and can’t remember class basics is kinda telling…

I don’t expect grand gestures or massive class changes. I do expect respect and knowledge of their own product. Name one dev who mains a ranger.

I would guess the devs doing the balancing play all the professions. Anyways, what has ANET done to show love? Well, over the last year…

Huge longbow buff and rework, Companions might, beastmasters bond, pet health increase, spirit health increase, reveal on sic em, natures voice, offhand axe rework, blast finish on warhorn was given, offhand training fixed to affect all offhands, companions defense fix, stun break on “protect me”, a new pet (reef drake)

I’m sure there’s more. Of course there were nerfs too but it really isn’t too bad

Those changes were nice, but they do not address most of the concerns mentioned in oh-so-many threads, including this one. Please refute specific complaints.

Just because someone gives you a lollipop doesn’t mean you are equally pleased when they kick you in the shins. I’m thankful for the improvement; they have not fixed fundamental problems.

This wont end well…

Zalani.9827:

This wont end well…

Indeed. Lollipops and kicks to the shin, kittens getting serious in here.

Chopps.5047:

Last two commenters: do you use spotter? Vigorous spirits? Frost spirit? What pet do you choose? Probably not devourer huh? I recommend devourer, especially for players who fire and forget pets and/or extremely hard hitting bosses. Plus, you can stand behind it and range while it eats projectiles since it tends to stand in place. Explore these options and your questions are answered without dev input. Also, practice with sword and take an offhand axe.

By the way, pets all just got +71% health in pve. And they still die for you?? You just let your cat tank the boss or something?

I solo champs and do general PvE with drakes. Fair damage, fair survivability, decent tanks. And I love lizards.

HOWEVER, I spec very hard into my pet.

Again — the ranger is not completely broken as some alarmists claim. But it needs some dev respect and love. Maybe this livestream will start that.

Expiatus.4210:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

skullmount.1758:

Why can’t we get a land shark? (:p) Sharks are the coolest pet we can get currently.

We do have landsharks.

Oh, how I miss the landshark. Some things should never be patched.

Patched? This was a couple nights ago.

Humbolio.2174:

You think it’s a beginner guide because they never play the class and that’s all they know about it?

Hahaha, probably also the reason that it is not a PvP/WvW guide.

I do not trait into my pet I run a 30/30/10/0/0 build and my pets are a Fern hound and a spider. My pets tank and help me considerably in WvW and in PvE. Micromangement is needed rather then just letting your pet do what ever. Due to my pet I am able to take on 2 targets at the same time. My pet attacks the one target while I attack the other. On a 1v1 situation my pet can be used as a protective barrier between myself and the other person. My pet doesn’t die easily even thou i haven’t traited in it. Guess I should make some videos one of these times along with my friend about the effectiveness that rangers are capable of.

Questions I have:

1. What changes do we expect to see on the Ranger’s greatsword skills as they have been hinted at?

How do I build a power ranger for solo roaming in wvw?

SHORTBOW

Compare longbow and shortbow damage to justify the current state of the shortbow.

The Dreamer was my first legendary, and though I still use it, I now switch to an exotic longbow when I need real damage inflicted. Is it just a perception that the shortbow is underpowered?

I only play PvE with my ranger

Allisa Wonderland.8192:

SHORTBOW

Compare longbow and shortbow damage to justify the current state of the shortbow.

The Dreamer was my first legendary, and though I still use it, I now switch to an exotic longbow when I need real damage inflicted. Is it just a perception that the shortbow is underpowered?

I only play PvE with my ranger

Shortbow is about condition damage not direct damage. It is hard to compare them like that.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Please allow spirits to move by default with the option to command them to stay if anyone actually needs that.

I would use spirits a LOT more if they naturally moved.
I would use signets a LOT more if they applied the passive to a small group.
I would use bows a LOT more if they would naturally pierce (v trait).

Bombsaway.7198:

OGDeadHead.8326:

Please allow spirits to move by default with the option to command them to stay if anyone actually needs that.

I would use spirits a LOT more if they naturally moved.
I would use signets a LOT more if they applied the passive to a small group.
I would use bows a LOT more if they would naturally pierce (v trait).

Indeed. Everyone would use them more. All you would see is spirit/bow rangers lol

Can we please get more new pets? Things like griffons, or raptors?

Suddenflame.2601:

Due to my pet I am able to take on 2 targets at the same time. My pet attacks the one target while I attack the other.

How do you get your pet to attack the “other” target and not the one you are attacking? Please do tell.

Vaxx.3178:

Suddenflame.2601:

Due to my pet I am able to take on 2 targets at the same time. My pet attacks the one target while I attack the other.

How do you get your pet to attack the “other” target and not the one you are attacking? Please do tell.

Pressing F1 while targeting the one you want your pet to attack will get your pet to attack that target and only that target even if you change your target.

edit: fyi targets going into stealth will not break this from what I seen. The pet will stand around and wait for the target to reappear then reengage. It only resets if the target moves out of range from what I seen.

Suddenflame.2601:

Vaxx.3178:

Suddenflame.2601:

Due to my pet I am able to take on 2 targets at the same time. My pet attacks the one target while I attack the other.

How do you get your pet to attack the “other” target and not the one you are attacking? Please do tell.

Pressing F1 while targeting the one you want your pet to attack will get your pet to attack that target and only that target even if you change your target.

edit: fyi targets going into stealth will not break this from what I seen. The pet will stand around and wait for the target to reappear then reengage. It only resets if the target moves out of range from what I seen.

This does not work for me.

Vaxx.3178:

Suddenflame.2601:

Vaxx.3178:

Suddenflame.2601:

Due to my pet I am able to take on 2 targets at the same time. My pet attacks the one target while I attack the other.

How do you get your pet to attack the “other” target and not the one you are attacking? Please do tell.

Pressing F1 while targeting the one you want your pet to attack will get your pet to attack that target and only that target even if you change your target.

edit: fyi targets going into stealth will not break this from what I seen. The pet will stand around and wait for the target to reappear then reengage. It only resets if the target moves out of range from what I seen.

This does not work for me.

Not sure how to help you there but it has always worked for me. Only other option is if we were both in game I can show you it and see if we can get it to work for you.

I’m looking forward to it with open arms.

Thank You! Arena.net for for making us feel special by this surprise announcement; hope all goes well.

1) Do you feel that the current pet system is functioning where you want it? If not, are there any plans on allowing more customization/more control over your pet?

2) How do you feel on the current strength of all classes range options? The current meta is highly melee heavy. For those of us who enjoy the archer ideal, is there any hope?

3) I like the ranger utilities, however they do lack a certain “aiding team members” portion that really devalues a ranger. Is there any likelihood of a utility update?

Thank you!

Nike.2631:

Replace the 5 point Skirmishing minor trait with~

Lone Wolf: You gain +25% damage while your companion is stowed.

Fix the stow companion command so that when we stow a companion it stays stowed until we click the button again.

Mesket.5728:

This would be ridiculously OP… if ANet ever decides to give you something without pet, expect around the 3%-5% increased damage without pet. They will always favor people using it.

Um, why do you say so? We’ve been told that the class has a -30% to -40% DPS modifier applied to it to offset the damage provided by the companion.

No companion, no penalty. Seem like a fairly equitable exchange. You can’t stow pets in combat, so it’s not like you can fight ‘til your pet dies then swap to this (and easy enough to set the fix “Pet Stow” command to not allow you to summon them in combat either). You’ be locking out a whole slew of (annoyingly) unavoidable pet effects, like giving up the pet’s first strike if you are invested in the Marksmanship line.

It creates a recognizable archetype and playstyle with pretty minimal changes.

We shouldn’t bother. After we saw how these guides are being introduced… My guess is that he’ll roll brown bear with shortbow, Healing Spring+Sick Em’ (to show us how great changes they mde, Spike Trap and SoH
I bet that after spamming AA on shortbow for a while, he’ll tell us “l2p, ranger is fine” after playing in Queensdale and we’ll be “fine” for another year or such.

A-net. My question for you is:

What is your philosophy behind the Ranger? If a warrior has excellent mobility and heavy hitting attacks, a guardian works well with team-mates and is designed to get in a foe’s face and stay there, a mesmer boasts great utility, a thief is slippery to catch and adaptive, a necromancer is the king of condition and boon manipulation, an elementalist is the jack of all trades, and an engineer is just…an engineer — they are weird…

What is the idea behind a Ranger? It would be disappointing to hear they “have a pet.” Because that is not a profession milestone, that is a mechanic to reach a milestone. Since the game’s release, I have been unsure of what gap a Ranger is meant to fill. Some clarification would help somewhat.

Razor.9872:

A-net. My question for you is:

What is your philosophy behind the Ranger? If a warrior has excellent mobility and heavy hitting attacks, a guardian works well with team-mates and is designed to get in a foe’s face and stay there, a mesmer boasts great utility, a thief is slippery to catch and adaptive, a necromancer is the king of condition and boon manipulation, an elementalist is the jack of all trades, and an engineer is just…an engineer — they are weird…

What is the idea behind a Ranger? It would be disappointing to hear they “have a pet.” Because that is not a profession milestone, that is a mechanic to reach a milestone. Since the game’s release, I have been unsure of what gap a Ranger is meant to fill. Some clarification would help somewhat.

I don’t think they know. Seriously.

Remember last live stream? The devs could not find a minor trait in the tree, didn’t even bother to spend all trait points, and it was the shortest “preview” of all the classes.

I don’t think Anet plays the Ranger class. Period. They don’t know first hand the issues with the class it seems.

They know it has a pet. Beyond that, I don’t think they know.

i will totaly watch it for players comments

Just tell people that bringing a longbow and a bear to dungeons is not cool. That’s all I want.