Guild Wars 2

I believe it has been quite enough with what we are being put through.

First of all – Ranger has been the worst designed class in the entire game for a very long time (because we are forced to play with AI as significant source of our damage without proper target-tracking or scaling with buffs).

We are the only class which is forced to fight the game mechanics instead of content because of horrible sword and axe locks and after-casts (or shortbow restrictions).

We are the class to be constantly nerfed despite never appearing at the top of competitive PvP. There is no explanation behind the changes, there is no logic behind the changes… And it’s unfair. We became ANet’s punch-bag and they showed it clear that even if they do listen, they always do a half-baked job (“reworked” shouts all kept most of their former coding like point cap prevention and Allies’ Aid keeps being bugged till today)

Our abilities get stealth-nerfed, our positive bugs get top priority to get fixed, our negative bugs that are game-breaking never get addressed, our worst QoL issues being brought up over and over again are never even looked at. We are the class with the most user-unfriendly design and clunky game-play and we weren’t offered enough time to get tested so ideas are being thrown onto the class while waiting what’s gonna stick.

…
And all we keep receiving are nerfs.
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This is the thread where you can post what you don’t like about this class and what do you think developers did wrong, or what can they do better.
Please, keep it civil without any offending statements towards the company. Displease can be expressed even without harm.

I don’t even know what I want them to change because the things that would make us on par with revenants and scrappers are totally unreasonable, i.e., revenants and scrappers are totally unreasonable.

I don’t know if you noticed, but the amount of rangers/druids is amazing compared to the other classes. Maybe Anet is trying to spread the people over other professions.

Still, even if we’re nerfed every time, even if we have “a bad class”, which is not at all my opinion, the ranger/druid is still really appealing for many players. Maybe you have a false opinion of the ranger.

Personnally I see the ranger (mostly the druid actually) as a really strong class, able to play support, damage dealer (with or without conditions), able to deal with both range and melee fights, able to shine in group content… And to me the pet is not that bad…

To me, the druid is maybe a little bit too strong. Just my personnal opinion as a druid. The ranger however is still a way behind.

Leinhart.2981:

I don’t know if you noticed, but the amount of rangers/druids is amazing compared to the other classes.

I can assure you are wrong and that statement is false.
In PvE you can see as many Druids as any other class, basically because the concept of handling a pet lure a lot of noobs. In WvW or PvP you won’t be able to see many. At least when some skill begins to be required.

Druid is not strong. To say some class is strong you must compare it to other classes like tempest, scrapper or DH.
Those classes are strong. Druid brings more sustain but the average damage is the lowest in game because our damage is from the core ranger (DnT already proved that).

You are simply blinded because of the lights and sparks that class brings, but actually to win any combat you have to be so much better than the other player because as the OP already pointed out you are playing against the other player and your profession mechanics.

In equality of skill the other class will win most of the times. Simply because our pets are still simply a disgrace. And our weapons don’t do damage enough.

The need to be reworked to be able to be a reliable source of damage, or at least not to die from random AoE, even when in passive, when i don’t get even any damage.
And all the buggy traits and weapons… Useless skills that are not used for anything.

They did a great job with the 3 new shouts. Let’s hope they can deliver the same for all the rest of the useless and broken beyond any actual use stuff.

anduriell.6280:

Leinhart.2981:

I don’t know if you noticed, but the amount of rangers/druids is amazing compared to the other classes.

They did a great job with the 3 new shouts. Let’s hope they can deliver the same for all the rest of the useless and broken beyond any actual use stuff.

Guard = instant death for pet !

Yeah sure Protect me is now my favorite shout but hell no to guard

EvilZombie.6801:

anduriell.6280:

Leinhart.2981:

I don’t know if you noticed, but the amount of rangers/druids is amazing compared to the other classes.

They did a great job with the 3 new shouts. Let’s hope they can deliver the same for all the rest of the useless and broken beyond any actual use stuff.

Guard = instant death for pet !

Yeah sure Protect me is now my favorite shout but hell no to guard

Yeah, cats and bristle instadie with guard.
But other tanky pets like the smoke or bears are more durable.

it has it’s uses as damage mitigation + might source. But i agree is not the best shout, still much better than the old design.

The things I like AND don’t think they can really improve on further:

longbow
wilderness survival
skirmishing
shouts
signets
torch
carrion devourer

Justine.6351:

signets

Our signets our balanced really well and in a great place for this game, but if you were to balance them according to scrapper or revenant standards, they would be a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT better. Like let’s say 20 second CD on SoS.

Fluffball.8307:

Justine.6351:

signets

Our signets our balanced really well and in a great place for this game, but if you were to balance them according to scrapper or revenant standards, they would be a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT better. Like let’s say 20 second CD on SoS.

I’m thinking to balance it better, SoS on 30sec cd and a trait that casts it whenever you take damage that you should have dodged. Yes I expect them to code it in so it blocks said dmg too !

Justine.6351:

I’m thinking to balance it better, SoS on 30sec cd and a trait that casts it whenever you take damage that you should have dodged. Yes I expect them to code it in so it blocks said dmg too !

You have clearly done a mind meld with Roy because this is spot on what Anet would do if they loved ranger like their golden children.

This is a weird thing. I once had I boss that told me that “everyone loves one of these characters” and “You are only as good as your last job” when I was doing some gameplay animations for a project early in my career.

I thought that this was sort of a universal wisdom but playing ranger has made me think otherwise. I’m not sure if its lack of any hard and fast math (although the numbers are out there) an active resistance to making the class competitive for whatever reason (the pvp community hates it, weird thoughts that pets do like a billion dps, devs hate the class, or whatever tinfoil hat theory is out here) or just the burden of dealing with the pet AI and class mechanic but the ranger really is the redheaded step child of GW2.

As for making the class better one of the first things that needs to be approached is does the class rely on pet damage or character damage? Its a really mixed message right now. Pets do decent dps (well for pets) that doesn’t even put them near other classes and they get nerfed to being mediocre at best. Heavy handed nerfs, not shaves. But in the same breath the explanation for poor ranger character dps is pet dps, which doesn’t even bring us on par with other classes before you consider class mechanics and skills. Its really odd to me. It seems like an active decision to make the class underperform despite that fact that every class is someone’s favorite. That said I hate to subscribe malice or indifference towards the developers, they’ve shown they can make good classes and a pretty solid core game.

The biggest thing for me is sorting out what does the ranger do best? Right now its die and run into combat with both arms tied behind its back. They need to sort out where the class derives its power, develop that, and then resist calls for nerfs and reversion. The ranger has been so sub par for so long any tiny bit of ability to compete will be met with cries of “OMG! Too stronk! Please nerf!” Sadly it seems that those cries are catered too.

If I had my wish it would be a rule set in place that for every nerf a ranger receives they need 2 buffs, no exceptions. Make them really sit down and look at the numbers not the feels and figure out how badly the ranger underperforms and bring it up to the standard of other classes. There are multiple ways to do this and a variety of great suggestions on the forums but its difficult to get into the nitty gritty of it because after 3 years of playing the class I really don’t know what the developers want it to be. (It isn’t really great at direct damage, it isn’t really great at condi damage, its large heavy attacks like maul are hugely telegraphed, easy to avoid and don’t really hit that hard, pets don’t really do great damage, pets can’t hit moving targets, etc and so forth) Which is the beginning and end of my problem.

Mr Pin.6728:

If I had my wish it would be a rule set in place that for every nerf a ranger receives they need 2 buffs, no exceptions. Make them really sit down and look at the numbers not the feels and figure out how badly the ranger underperforms and bring it up to the standard of other classes. There are multiple ways to do this and a variety of great suggestions on the forums but its difficult to get into the nitty gritty of it because after 3 years of playing the class I really don’t know what the developers want it to be. (It isn’t really great at direct damage, it isn’t really great at condi damage, its large heavy attacks like maul are hugely telegraphed, easy to avoid and don’t really hit that hard, pets don’t really do great damage, pets can’t hit moving targets, etc and so forth) Which is the beginning and end of my problem.

that’s what a ranger is “GOOD AT NOTHING” cheers mate 3 yrs only constant nerf and i wonder those “PRO RANGER” are seriously “PRO” or just only upload those video when they pwn newbies? or just staged to make them look good i really wonder

for a class that keep getting nerf and everyone been complaining, suggesting but nothing done …..BUT there are people who can perform wonder with it thats like JESUS playing video game

i don’t know anymore really guess time i switch back to Engineer

Agreed, especially our weapons except staff need to be looked at. Although I don’t think the bristleback nerf is a bad thing.

HeadCrowned.6834:

Agreed, especially our weapons except staff need to be looked at. Although I don’t think the bristleback nerf is a bad thing.

I disagree re: staff. It’s in the right direction but it still needs work. I’ve been discussing Medi-kit vs Elixir Gun in the Engi forums as well as trying to make these weapon sets work on my druid and Engi. It seems to me that ELizir Gun is the best example of a healing utility weapon. Different types of support along with very strong healing and condition cleanse, wrapped with an excellent damage skill.

Staff is so close but has problems.

1. aside form the incredibly awful sound effect and colour mismatch, this is a little bit weak in terms of damage. Give that it’s no projectile, that’s sort of fair. The real problem is that it’s direct line of sight. You have to be behind other people and your pet if you want to gain any healing. This means missing out damage multiplier traits which rely on flanking.It can also take alot longer to re-position for healign since you are typically at a distance to ensure maximumum coverage, increasing the distance you have to travel when circling. It makes the skill extremely clunky to use and guarantees either lost healing or lost damage.

2. This skill is basically #1 with the advantage of circling the target, which means you can use it from flanking. Frankly this should be our #1 skill sincethe damge output is basically the same. Get rid of pokemon beam replace it with wisp, give new #2. Possibly a condition cleanse or debuff skill.

3. evasion, blast finisher and healing, great! No damage tho, which is a shame because staff really needs another damage skill. Not sure if this is the one to receive it but it still needs something.

Back on topic though, the core ranger is still in a really terrible place and adding two new pets which have become pretty much mandatory and two pets which are completely worthless, hasn’t really done anything for the class except highlight it’s shortcomings. shortcomings the players have been pointing out for years and that anet has only half-heartedly addressed with a poor AoE damage reduction in PvE only content. Those laughable “community discussion” things saw plenty of suggestions from players about how these issues could be addressed, and they were completely ignored.

I think the bristback nerf is a sobering example of how utterly poor Anet’s attitutde to ranger actually is. Rather than fixing a bug which caused too much damage, they nerfed the base damage of the affected skill.

’nuff said.

HeadCrowned.6834:

Agreed, especially our weapons except staff need to be looked at. Although I don’t think the bristleback nerf is a bad thing.

Bristleback nerf was not a good thing.
It might have been a good thing if they compensated us in DPS elsewhere.

As the only class without real instant burst – Bristleback Nerf is ridiculous. For so many ways to avoid it’s damage, and while we do not have any way to deal damage ourselves (let’s face it, we don’t) – this nerf wasn’t justified.

What I don’t like :
- Astral form (yes I hate it to the core but I can live with it by simply ignoring this sh…)

- Stupid ICD on Invigorting bond (honestly reduce healing value to that of cataclist’s Elemental bastion and remove ICD)

- Stupid flanking requirement for pitiable effect.

- Inability to disable some of our pet skills

- Ridiculous and totally unjustified cast time / cool down on some of our pet skill on [F2].

Other than that, I can live with the current ranger (… This doesn’t mean that I can stand other rangers mindlessly using LB#4 and yes in itself this skill is part of the ranger’s problem)

I think the Ranger profes s ion and to a n extent, the D r uid, are blessed to be the way they are. We should have more nerfs to be fair. Ranger has remained so humble in terms of keeping with the original balan c e philosophy th a t the profe s sion is a pri m e example that ArenaNet knows how to keep things leveled.

The lack of burst options is a different problem than the nerf of the bristleback. The bristleback was obviously the best pet → every build, whether it’s condi, support or dps uses it → pet badly designed. The problem is actually that a lot of other pets are basically useless, and the problem is not the fact that the bristleback has been toned down.

About the staff: the only skill that might need a rework is #2, the rest is fine imo.

I don’t know why you are complaining about it in this forum. Nobody from ANet ever reads the ranger forum.

Sandpit.3467:

I don’t know why you are complaining about it in this forum. Nobody from ANet ever reads the ranger forum.

everyone know but we just rant it out

Here, here, OP.

Thanks to the OP – a far better way than I would have worded it, likely spattered with words that become translated as small felines.

Agree on the point above as well – a nerf to the pet should gain us a buff in some way.