Guild Wars 2

For the Ranger to get some positive updates at the end of the PvP season (which is not that far away)?

This will probably be my very last time I’ll have hopes for ANet.

A friend of mine was able to code a program that recognizes and learns people’s faces. In 2 months. Anet still isn’t able to fix their problems for 3 and more years now, new bugs are being brought into our class and the only thing they are serious about is nerfing it.
And my patience has a limit, too.

No.

For ranger I expect nothing at all anymore, same for every core class.
For druid, since it is pretty good in PvP and also in PvE raids, I expect nerfs.

No don’t hope for a buff we pretty much I’ll get nerf to the ground as all ways and we will return to our famille place out of the metta

Maybe some work around celestial force, etc. The whole Druid shifting is a bit wonky along with their support. Basically Arena Net has to come to terms with balancing a game around PvE and PvP. It isn’t easy I’m sure but honestly the game did not appear to be designed with healing/supporting classes in mind. Now they introduced raiding and BAM, we have healing and tanking somewhat thrown together and balance issues are abound.

WvW is a train wreck with regards to certain classes, Druid not being one of them. CC is so bad that I’m sure we’d all be wise to buy stock in the companies whom manufacture keyboards, mice, and monitors. Yes, it is that bad that you want to break something. 9 out of 10 times it is the keyboard with the remaining 1 being a toss up between throwing the mouse against the wall or taking out a .45 and empting the clip center mass of the monitor.

If your primary focus is PvE – then it doesn’t matter what they do. Any class can work around the limitations caused by poor design, bugs, or wonky play style. Spvp on the other hand isn’t so easy and it is clear some classes are just better. So much that our grandmothers can roll the class, enter a game, and get instant legendary status. I refuse to play my Guardian just due to the Dragon Hunter and I’m sure in the hell not rolling a Revenant.

That leaves me with the Ranger and Druid until we get information as to what is changing. I’ve played since head start, same server, and only really play WvW. Server is stuck at the middle tier regardless of how well the server plays. Hit the clock cap and it is what it is. Not changing servers, no need. Just fix the game or create a punch list and work through it.

No competition is why we are in this mess. Once summer gale comes around maybe Camelot Unchained will put some pressure. Maybe it will be late and we’ll do this dance some more. Good news is that there is no subscription so we can drop anytime and not lose anything. One thing is for sure, I’ve spent less time in the game since HoT launch with several of my friends and/or family not picking it up at all.

Ball is in Arena Net’s court – just have to wait it out…

Last night, for the first time in my gw2 history, I yelled with frustration. My idiotic, bugger eating, kitten/ned, sh/itfaced pet and his precious bugged system made me so angry that I nearly ate my keyboard (would taste very bad I guess).

After all this time, pet system is beyond bad. Commands are laggy and sometimes ignored for 1-2 seconds (which is the most important time period when you are downed), pets can not follow up with you enemies…etc

How hard it could be to fix this problem? I am talking for the core ranger ofcourse, the one without new pets on steroids. And these are just the minor, tiny problems that ranger has.

Yes, I still have hope. Whether that is misplaced or founded remains to be seen. But, even so, I’m still having fun with the game overall.

Despite all the things I dislike, I’m still looking forward to Living World Season 3 and future updates.

I just wish the whines and cries about ranger in PvP, of all things, didn’t cause so many nerfs toward PvE as well.

Truth of the matter is that PvP players don’t consider ranger a threat, and they want it to stay that way.

Nope.

No, for several reasons:

-Arenanet has plenty on its plate to fix already and has a history to not give a crap about rangers.
-All the promises Irenio made in the Druid reveal (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=K2ZHhJQn0B8#t=2356) have been worse then hollow, they simply are not exsistent. The chance of Rangers getting a new designer that like the Chrono and Reaper designer is willing to go the extra mile is non existant.
-Arenanet has no idea/concept what to do with the ranger/druid as evidenced with all the nerfs (throw kitten against the wall and see what sticks is a horrible way of designing a spec).

Simply said the game is for me on life support with only logging in for the daily chest. And I am not even sure why I do that since seeing the big picture of how many things were screwed up in HOT…

Have to hand it to Arenanet tho, I haven’t felt this fooling for a very very long time in placing my trust into something and seeing it going kittens up so bad and hard.

You know, it’s been two months since Irenio’s last post about smokescale. I wonder what happened to him. . . .

Druid was the wrong choice for ranger. Guardian should get priest like soec and rangers should get either berserker-ish or dragon hunter like spec. I do not recall any ranger player saying " oh kitten wish I was a healer". But I know many guardians still desire for a better healer-support build.

Ps: I am also unhappy because this game lacks pure dedicated archer type (without pets,traps,or billion banners)

Tragic Positive.9356:

[…]
A friend of mine was able to code a program that recognizes and learns people’s faces. In 2 months. Anet still isn’t able to fix their problems for 3 and more years now, new bugs are being brought into our class and the only thing they are serious about is nerfing it.
And my patience has a limit, too.

I think you can’t compare like that. Coding something like that face regogniction was a homework assignment in the very first week of a course called machine learning I did. In it alone, it is not that difficult.
When people talk about how the devs are unable to do so-call simple things right, I think they often forget the complexity of a game like gw2. I’m not working in the game industry myself, but even in the smaller apps I work on, unforeseen dependencies can become tedious very fast. Things that seem really simple to us, might be really complicated to implement in the current system.

I would like to add here, that there are quiet a few things, that I am unhappy with as well and I would expect Anet to do something about it, but a comparison like the one above is really not saying much at all.

As for hope: I try to always expect the worst and hope for the best

I also take a little pride in successfully playing a class, that is (through its bugs) a little bit more challenging than other classes. (I understand that the problem of balancing is more important in PvP, which I rarely play.)

no.

alain.1659:

Druid was the wrong choice for ranger. Guardian should get priest like soec and rangers should get either berserker-ish or dragon hunter like spec. I do not recall any ranger player saying " oh kitten wish I was a healer". But I know many guardians still desire for a better healer-support build.

I’ve come to accept Druid because of all its group support it brings through healing and buffing, but still gotta agree. Shame they scrapped whatever idea they had before for Druid to a heal bot since whatever they were making probably wouldn’t be desirable at all among the community :/

Was interested in what these were gonna be

Nope.

No, I don’t have H.O.P.E. yet but I’m working on it.

Joke aside, core ranger is not nearly as bad as most of you seem to think. Does it need tweeks? Yes. Does it need huge change? No.

Core ranger is still strong in support area. Be it self support or party support, the core ranger can maintain perma swiftness, perma vigor and perma regen. In a party the core ranger can alos maintain a decent amount of might stack and achieve good uptime of protection and fury. The core ranger may also be selfish in it’s support and have different way to achieve max self might stack. In the area of support the core ranger is already a beast.

Druid came with heals, unique support and usefull controle on top of the already omnipresent support of core ranger. If anything there is no need for more “support” thing for the ranger.

Core ranger is also still very good at dealing condition damage and is not bad at dealing direct damage.

The real issue of the ranger mostly come from player wanting to nuke everything from afar as well as the poor pet management tools.

So what’s needed for the ranger is :

- A work on the pet UI/management tools : Being able to chose your F2 between the 3 utility skill of your pet would be incridibly helpfull. Being able to disable some of the utility skills of our pet would be a must and I think it’s a change that we REALLY need.

- Some tweeks on the core ranger traits to give them a life.
Light on your feet need work, the on dodge thing is absolutely unusable, best solution would be to simply make it it remove the flanking condition for the bleeding effect. Just this change should be enough to revive the shortbow.
Refined toxin need a lower cool down (Poison is not threatening enough to justify that we can’t keep up more than 2 poison stack if we are above 90% health. Is it hard to just reduce the cool down to 6 s to give this trait more substance?).
Invigorating bond cool down need to go, there is absolutely no reason for a 20 second cool down on this trait. Completely remove the cool down and reduce healing value to those of Element Bastion.

Just doing this would greatly improve the quality of life of the ranger and increase the build diversity without making it “overpowered” in PvP or in PvE. The unneeded change on WHAO was much more dangerous than these simple change.

So Yeah! I still hope. I believe that one day our developpers will realize that the core ranger (and some of the other core professions) are needlessly crippled by stupid cool down and bad mechanics. And I believe that they can correct these minor flaw easily in a balance patch.

nope, Druid turned ranger into bunker ele 2.0 in PvP. it’s in too strong a place right now to expect buffs.

Druid may not be required anymore to get through the current wing of the raid but I expect their popularity to shoot up again once the next wing is released.

What could be used is some real work on core ranger traits to make them better able to stand on their own in the current meta as well as more synergy between the ranger traitlines and druid line but I don’t see that ever happening tbh.

I play revenant or engi far more often than ranger now, the healer role holds no appeal for me.

I didn’t necessarily mean buffs affecting PvP or PvE.

I meant bugfixes, diversity and alike. We still have way too many traits that will never ever see their use in practice. Predator’s Instinct? Strider’s Defense?
… Ridiculously useless Minors in Marksmanship?

Let’s be real here for a second. Marksmanship traitline has a meaning only because of Predator’s Onslaught. And I, for example, don’t see a reason why this traitline shouldn’t be a Vulnerability Stacking one. PvE is already capped and Rangers lack offense in PvP. Sacrificing a crucial line like Nature Magic or Beast Mastery, or Wilderness Survival for applying vulnerability sounds about right to me.

In that case I have even less hope.
Nothing on ranger will be fixed (unless that means a nerf) or changed to be viable, devs quit trying that long ago.
All we have now will either be maintained as it is or simply nerfed because of reasons for things related to druid.

I don’t see ranger traits being touched at all in the future, Druid as it is now is in an ok spot for its purpose (PvE/WvW healer and PvP bunker/support) so I can only see nerfs on the druid trait line.

I would give my predictions on future nerfs, but I don’t want to give them any ideas…

The low point for me was when condi survival was the only build we had for PvP, and even that was basically unacceptable. That was when I gave up playing for a few months, and I think we’ve made a ton of progress since then. I feel like I’m genuinely contributing to matches and team fights at this point. If they do nerf druid… well I don’t want to be dramatic… If it stays like it is, I’m reasonably happy.

The pet stuff is infuriating, but I really don’t think they will ever even attempt to fix the core problems, so no point in worrying about that. At least we got a bandaid fix with the smokescale and bristleback.

Edit: I ran into a wolf in a match today and only noticed it because I visually saw it. I’m not sure it ever did anything at all to me. Still <3 wolves though.

Fluffball.8307:

Edit: I ran into a wolf in a match today and only noticed it because I visually saw it. I’m not sure it ever did anything at all to me. Still <3 wolves though.

I miss my wolf Fenrir v_v

To the poster who noted why didn’t the Guardian get the Druid like traits – have to say that was what I originally thought the class was. Support oriented compared to the Warrior who was DPS. Yoke was on me.

Bunker Druid in sPvP? I must not see them but then again it could just be me…and I’ve personally not found anything reasonable so just go back to pew pew / stronghold and let it rip.

Crapgame.6519:

Bunker Druid in sPvP? I must not see them but then again it could just be me…and I’ve personally not found anything reasonable so just go back to pew pew / stronghold and let it rip.

Druid almost by default is a bunker. You’re not recognizing what the other players are doing, but they’re almost certainly running a bunker, which are most of the druid meta builds. Also note that LB is actually a weapon a lot of druids are running without using a glass build, so you may just be mistaking what they are doing.

Fluffball.8307:

Crapgame.6519:

Bunker Druid in sPvP? I must not see them but then again it could just be me…and I’ve personally not found anything reasonable so just go back to pew pew / stronghold and let it rip.

Druid almost by default is a bunker. You’re not recognizing what the other players are doing, but they’re almost certainly running a bunker, which are most of the druid meta builds. Also note that LB is actually a weapon a lot of druids are running without using a glass build, so you may just be mistaking what they are doing.

Probably correct. I’ve actually stopped playing the sPvP side of things and figured I’d try again if/when balance comes out.

No.

Still waiting to buy Hot for this reason .

When ranger gets the right attention and is fixed, then I will buy hot.

Untill then I play other games.

Tragic Positive.9356:

I didn’t necessarily mean buffs affecting PvP or PvE.

I meant bugfixes, diversity and alike. We still have way too many traits that will never ever see their use in practice. Predator’s Instinct? Strider’s Defense?
… Ridiculously useless Minors in Marksmanship?

Let’s be real here for a second. Marksmanship traitline has a meaning only because of Predator’s Onslaught. And I, for example, don’t see a reason why this traitline shouldn’t be a Vulnerability Stacking one. PvE is already capped and Rangers lack offense in PvP. Sacrificing a crucial line like Nature Magic or Beast Mastery, or Wilderness Survival for applying vulnerability sounds about right to me.

Yes, still. When I no longer have hope for the class or the game, it’s time to quit and play something else.

My optimism has dropped slightly, but I probably have to wait 2 more years before I catch up to the level of despair everyone else is experiencing.

I honestly expect everything to change around Druid/Ranger, with maybe some unjustified (unless its a power creep nerf across the board but lol @ ANet ever doing that right without screwing Druid/Ranger up worse than everything else) nerfs the further solidify our position as middle of the pack to even replacing Daredevil and Berserker (PvP tier) as bottom. Especially since we even had a build that was listed as meta tier for some time on metabattle for the first time since metabattle came into existence, I know that really hit some nerves, and not just with the underlying classism that all of the “top players” have (no joke, the players whose names you know in PvP hate your class and think you’re a bad player that isn’t worth their time when they see the class you play is a ranger/druid).

This first round of leagues has been so poorly done however that the balance patch will cater to such a small community comparatively that it won’t make a difference to the health of PvP, since most people can’t even handle the terrible infrastructure that allows blatant MMR manipulation and punishes solo players for being solo.

jcbroe.4329:

not just with the underlying classism that all of the “top players” have (no joke, the players whose names you know in PvP hate your class and think you’re a bad player that isn’t worth their time when they see the class you play is a ranger/druid).

Ya this is painfully true and I think tied for messed up pet AI for number 1 reason why anet hates ranger so badly. When the devs are queuing for games with people who spend significant portions of their GW2 time ranting about how stupid rangers are, that’s a problem.

It’s actually in a decent spot compared to pre-hot, so it’s gonna get nerfed. Into the ground.

Nah, I already quit this game due to ANet’s amateurish balance philosophy and their obstinance regarding weapon reworks and bug fixes.

I still lurk these forums from time to time to see if anything changed, but I don’t think it ever will, they will let the game die before letting go of their arrogance.

“As long as you don’t yearn for hope… You’ll never fall victim to despair…”

nope
If there are any good buffs for druids next patch, don’t you worry, they will get the big nerfs.

“Good buffs comes with big nerfs, Peter.”
~Uncle Ben

Belzebu.3912:

“Good buffs comes with big nerfs, Peter.”
~Uncle Ben

Win!

/Char

Wondrouswall.7169:

No.

I’m with wonderouswall.7169…

I got hope…….that absolutely nothing good will happen and they’ll get nerfs for reasons known only to the surviving Elder Dragons.

The ranger has never been addressed properly. Aside from a few damage boosts A year ago really nothing has been done to balance the ranger with other classes. One of the arguments Ive heard from time to time is "Oh but you have a pet that doubles your abilities "Which is a Crok! The pet is unpredictable and virtually uncontrollable..It lags behind so far that anyone can hold you in combat indefinitely just by targeting the pet.Also as mentioned before slow to react when downed . Unlike Mesmer clones or necro minions ,pets can’t climb walls (used to in the first year)one would think that at the very least spiders could climb walls.
Aside from lick wounds being a joke thunder clap ,A one second daze,isn’t nearly balanced with the other classes considering the 5-6 seconds it takes to find,chase after,or run back to those downed player classes that use the #2 or 3 downed skills.
Personally if Anet believed that people a wanted support class then they should have brought back the monk.Considering the other specializations brought in heavier damage than the core classes the druid turned out to be a joke and an insult .Argue all you wish the druid is a joke and an insult to the ranger class.

Again, no. There will be inconsequential trait changes and tooltip fixes as per usual. Core and foundation problems will not be addressed and 2016 will be status quo…

Ranger (and every other profession) will be a mess. Pets will be a mess. Druid will be a mess. CA will be reticle and timed healing mess. Ranger/Druid self healing bunker will be meta. Being a true zerg/mass healer (or even a really good and smooth, not clunky, team healer for that matter) will not come to pass as advertised at twitchcon… Next elite will come out this year and it will be another mess that is stuffed into all the other messes.

Overall, professions will continue to be of low budget and low effort and low love design. Devs are not at fault, though, because management doesn’t care that professions and combat are the heart of the entire game, and they will just devote most resources to gimmicks and add-ons instead.

GW3 will come in 10 years and will write all wrongs so to speak. So enjoy squeezing water from the consummate subpar bunker ranger/Druid or hybrid Druid/something specialization bunker design for years to come.

Good luck.

Swagger.1459:

Being a true zerg/mass healer will not come to pass as advertised at twithcon… Next elite will come out this year and it will be another mess that is stuffed into all the other messes.

This is the one thing I was hoping the Druid would do well. At this point in time any class would be good but I originally thought the Guardian would be ideal based on the description. Then with HoT they mentioned the Druid – ok, maybe this one will do the trick although medium armor. Nope, wrong again.

WvW sadly is nothing more than massive CC, stability chaining, and red circles of death and decay.

Crapgame.6519:

Swagger.1459:

Being a true zerg/mass healer will not come to pass as advertised at twithcon… Next elite will come out this year and it will be another mess that is stuffed into all the other messes.

This is the one thing I was hoping the Druid would do well. At this point in time any class would be good but I originally thought the Guardian would be ideal based on the description. Then with HoT they mentioned the Druid – ok, maybe this one will do the trick although medium armor. Nope, wrong again.

WvW sadly is nothing more than massive CC, stability chaining, and red circles of death and decay.

Yup. I was excited, but then we got more of the “anetized” and “let’s be different” elites while professions are still just a mess. Would have much preferred a complete profession overhaul instead of this. The more profession mess that’s mashed up, the worse it gets, and all it shows is that it’s going to be a messy point of no return…

Anet is more focused on making “gimmick” professions instead of making good profession period. Most things profession are just low budget, you can tell they designed them to only do maintenance on traits. I hate to say the word awful, but professions are awful. Had it not been for the core combat design that allowed such good freedom of movement and overall smoothness, professions would be a complete train wreck design.

I hate to be so critical, but we had a game like city of heroes and their amazing “profession” and powers and combat designs… and we have this “let’s be unique on a budget” profession mess. Sad sad.

My gosh, let’s look at how pitiful this is… It’s been 3 years and one expansion later, and look at the 3 skills left to rot on ranger sword… Only 3 skills…

For me, I like to simplify things because it shows a lot. The more you look at the simple things, the more you can see the bigger picture…

Well i have not lost 100% hope we got next weeks balance talks
tho my ranger def has its resume done and waiting to get turned in at
the remnants of despair offices

I have 2 rangers / well a ranger and a druid and I think they are fun the way they are.

I don’t think we will ever be FOTM.

Some pet pathing/AI fixes and trait/tool tip/rune bugs might get ironed out.

But, really.. isn’t the fun of the ranger being one of the most under powered classes and still whooping kitten That’s my perspective. I could play Mesmer – Guardian/Dragonhunter – Elle/Tempest if I wanted to be able to roll over most classes..

I prefer to be the guy that those classes roll up on and say.. nah.. lets just go : p

One day I’m going to make Warrior Rifle Cool again on my next 80!

…

I don’t know what there is to hope about, I like ranger/druid.

If I had someone ordering me to choose something to hope about I guess it would be that all elite specializations got nerfed so they wernt so BiS.