Guild Wars 2

Well…this thread isn’t pointless at all.

So, how often do you rotate your tires?

Umm…ya I see your point. I should point out that black bear gives a long weakness and weakness just got buffed. Also, protect me is a stun break now. Also, pet DPS is super low now anyways. Finally, condi builds don’t rely on pet dps.

Black bear aint that bad…in a zerg, brown bear does alright. Stability training in a zerg, for sure, if you want to get off that condi removal. Sometimes if I feel glassy I’ll throw protect me on my bar instead of LR and use black bear.

I hope that helps, sorry I disagree about bears. Are they great? No. But there’s not much great about ranger atm so what do you expect? Still, it’s one of the decent options out of many average options.

Which gamemode and what build are we talking about? Or is it just bears in general? I don’t get this hatred for bears.

How about if the ranger in question uses longbow and nothing else in addition to the said bear.

Well seeing Bear rangers are usually followed by them auto attacking , sitting prone , randomly dodging and reacting in a delayed manner. When people play the ranger class they think Pokemon , so their ranks aren’t filled with the most competent players…

I must admit I don’t run a lonbow spec, but isn’t longbow autoattack the best dps on a longbow at 1000+ range? So what else do they have with the longbow apart from autoattack. They shouldn’t be using the knockback, and from what I’ve read previously rapid fire is a decrease in dps. They can pop #5 every 25 secs or so.

If you’re not relying on pet dps then you need to use canines so you can rely on CC or spiders for the immobs and poison. Bear provides a weakness but that is cleared by most good players within 2-3 seconds AT MOST – once that is gone, your pet is absolutely meaningless and literally just fodder, and it’s on a 45 sec CD I believe, you’re much better getting a fear off with a 45 sec cd and also is followed by a knockdown which is a high dmg atk from canine pet.

nagymbear.5280:

I must admit I don’t run a lonbow spec, but isn’t longbow autoattack the best dps on a longbow at 1000+ range? So what else do they have with the longbow apart from autoattack. They shouldn’t be using the knockback, and from what I’ve read previously rapid fire is a decrease in dps. They can pop #5 every 25 secs or so.

Longbow isn’t usually used by good players because a couple reasons. The dmg doesn’t benefit for the lack of evasion/defensive aspects you get from shortbow, only range, which is easily countered by most classes in WvW.

1. is just bad
2. is fairly decent but again, if you’re running a power longbow you’re just gonna get mowed down by a sustain build with condition stacking anyway so it’s kind of irrelevant.
3. lol
4. is easily countered by stability
5. all it takes is an interrupt, thats it , you just put that on a cd and lost its full benefit. doing this in a 1on1 also makes you very susceptible to easy burst attacks, think of it like the churning earth ele skill. When they do that, your immediate reaction would be interrupt or just burst while they’re doing it and wait to dodge the actual attack. Why do you have to worry about snare at that moment in time when they’re standing still themselves? It’s just a bad utility in general except for zerg play.

In short, equip longbow if you’re up in a keep defending or you’re taking a keep with alot of people defending the keep up top , barrage becomes most effective and you can peg people more from range without having to worry about taking a plethora of aoe dmg doing it.

It’s a zerg weapon at best and has no place in a 1on1 situation at all. This is also why rangers are mad that shortbow range got nerfed simply to make longbow more appealing. They basically nerfed a good 1on1 weapon’s range to make a zerg weapon more appealing.

Chopps.5047:

Umm…black bear gives a long weakness and weakness just got buffed. Also, protect me is a stun break now. Also, pet DPS is super low now anyways. Finally, condi builds don’t rely on pet dps.

Black bear aint that bad…in a zerg, brown bear does alright. Stability training in a zerg, for sure, if you want to get off that condi removal.

I hope that helps, sorry I disagree about bears. Are they great? No. But there’s not much great about ranger atm so what do you expect? Still, it’s one of the decent options out of many average options.

i am not a bear user and havent use one since the game released probably but i see his point. Pets dmg got nerfed so whatever why not use a bear instead, plus it can be alright with protect me i suppose (haven’t try it). Like he said there isnt anything great with rangers now so wth is not like bear users are missing much.

…I don’t care since:
a) Choice of pet doesn’t determine skill of player
b) Any pet is bad in dungeons anyway (what I play mostly)

Bear is honestly not too bad, I switch out a bear sometimes when solo’ing a camp in wvw… the bear can tank like crazy, I can stay back and buff myself and use barrage to rain down on the targets. Also, bear has great condition removal and weakness.

So I am not sure why bear/longbow is such a bad combo… Having a pet that can aggro the npcs and keep them in one spot long enough to lay down barrage is a pretty good deal imo

Paz Shadow.9715:

Bear is honestly not too bad, I switch out a bear sometimes when solo’ing a camp in wvw… the bear can tank like crazy, I can stay back and buff myself and use barrage to rain down on the targets. Also, bear has great condition removal and weakness.

So I am not sure why bear/longbow is such a bad combo… Having a pet that can aggro the npcs and keep them in one spot long enough to lay down barrage is a pretty good deal imo

Y’know, I just wondered if the situation with bears is same as shortbow. Because all other pets have been nerfed, bears are now seen as attractive.

Sarision, you are probably correct… everything else is worse so bear all of the sudden is not that bad. I personally use duel dogs for control skills, does wonders with a longbow build

Quarktastic.1027:

Well…this thread isn’t pointless at all.

So, how often do you rotate your tires?

I change my pets between every big fight

I’ll also votekick other rangers in teams when I see them only using Bear/Wrongbow
This doesn’t make me an elitist. The OP is right, It’s been almost a year now…. training wheels should have been off months ago…. This isn’t soccer.

Bear is only for people who’s keyboards didn’t come with an F3 button and some fluke in their copy of GW2 in Options wouldn’t allow them to remap to another key.

Ya paz, Dogs/spides with some utilities and moment of clarity (even with boar) is surprisingly controlly. You can just stun/daze/cripple/knockback all day long it seems like.

Ryan.8367:

It’s a zerg weapon at best and has no place in a 1on1 situation at all.

http://youtu.be/qkfnMd3yreg
Depends who you fight

Oh, hey, Terkov. You’re the ANET employee who leaked the patch notes, right? :p I don’t know that for sure but you were awfully boastful about letting everyone know the notes were real and how “sure” you were. In any case, I’ll check out the video as soon as it’s available. Doesn’t appear to be fully available on all platforms yet…

Nope Chopps, I just gussed :p You know, it was 50% chance

You know … I love how some of us are even elitist kittens against others of our class, despite the fact that we’re all in the same boat. It makes me happy to see us fight so.

/sarcasm

I mean seriously? We really doing this? Trying to call people out and malign them instead of help them in a much more productive manner? We’re better than this, fellow rangers.

50% chance my kitten. Hahaha rock on dude

SynfulChaot.3169:

despite the fact that we’re all in the same boat.

But we’re not in the same boat…

• Some are lamenting the changes we keep getting because the damage or utility reward for better players who micro’d all their resources properly were nerfed Hard and unfairly when compared to other classes.
• Others are lamenting the changes because their cruise-control facerolling playstyles also got nerfed by the unnecessary sPvP changes. (this includes some warriors as well!…so it’s not just n00b rangers).

I’m firmly a middle of the road type person, borderline Socialist & Altruist almost.
But the reasons for the infighting here are very justified b/c the various futures everyone here envisions for ranger are NOT all based on merit, forethought, or Logic. There’s too much emotion and bad habits from other less skillful games muddying up this ongoing discussion. IOW: a lot of opinions would simply result in an unending cycle or more buffs that only had to be changed or nerfed again down the road once they created horribly degenerate metas

ilr.9675:

But we’re not in the same boat…

I meant all us rangery types. >.< We shouldn’t bring down our fellow rangers. We should help them to get better without basically insulting them as we do.

…. and what specifically have you done to help said rangers?

I’ve been privately mentoring a few myself. One I even created a complete Exotic survival set for yesterday with extra mats I had lying around. I’m also always available to help aspiring ones learn most Dungeon paths including Arah & AC (COF/FOTM exempted… I don’t “meta farm” or gold-grind, EVER).

I also know how to record/edit Videos proficiently if needed… (but I’d rather not, I’m not here to make a spectacle of myself or get views… all I tend to really care about when it comes to making videos, is to point out hackers, and record bugs usually).

But if there’s any other ideas you had in mind, then plz go into specifics on this…

I have to admit that I shout out loud in TS “LB ranger with a bear! Free kill GO!” every time I see one in wubwub.

ilr.9675:

…. and what specifically have you done to help said rangers?

I contribute to the positive dialogue in the forums here and try to keep the tone in here one that we shouldn’t be ashamed of. Insulting those rangers that dare deign to choose a bear? Yeah. Not cool. (Yes, I know it wasn’t you. I’m making a point.)

I also try to assist and inform any other rangers I find and I have long near-daily conversations with a guildie who also plays ranger heavily (I prefer more ranged, he prefers more melee; I’m nearly only PvE, he takes his into PvP and WvW) on the state of the ranger and stuff. And I often bring the results of said conversations into the ranger forums.

So yes, I’m doing what I can for us as a class.

lol
Maybe some people like bears.
You shouldn’t be such an elitist. People have different play styles, and not every ranger run a BM build.
Though I must admit that I killed a (probably) lvl 80 ranger that was using a bear with my low lvl warrior in WvW yesterday.

Using a Vanity pet is fine…. I do it all that all the time with my EB Timber Wolf…

The problem here was people choosing bear b/c they got in the habit of the Crutch.
AKA: a F.O.O.S.
Please see this Video to understand exactly what I mean by that:
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/balancing-for-skill

ilr.9675:

Using a Vanity pet is fine…. I do it all that all the time with my EB Timber Wolf…

The problem here was people choosing bear b/c they got in the habit of the Crutch.
AKA: a F.O.O.S.
Please see this Video to understand exactly what I mean by that:
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/balancing-for-skill

Ahh. Extra Credits. A series that all people who post in the forums with ‘suggestions’ should really, really watch before they do.

Yes. Choosing a bear all the time is not necessarily desirable. I’m not saying it is. But the tone of the thread is quite insulting to those that do. It’s better to tell them why they shouldn’t run one than insult them for doing so. And maybe listen to why they run it while we’re at it.

That’s all I was trying to say.

Point taken… will start asking them in in /W’s from now on…

ilr.9675:

Quarktastic.1027:

Well…this thread isn’t pointless at all.

So, how often do you rotate your tires?

I change my pets between every big fight

I’ll also votekick other rangers in teams when I see them only using Bear/Wrongbow
This doesn’t make me an elitist. The OP is right, It’s been almost a year now…. training wheels should have been off months ago…. This isn’t soccer.

Bear is only for people who’s keyboards didn’t come with an F3 button and some fluke in their copy of GW2 in Options wouldn’t allow them to remap to another key.

I use a wrongbow, and it feels so right.

Puandro, you baddie. Longbow zerker with bear pet is literally the only way to go. Go big or go home.

What game mode? sPvP? WvW? PvE? In PvE they’re beastly, I’ve had my beat just tank Mai in AR for 50% of the dungeon and he didn’t give a single kitten, also helped the group by snaring her (polar bear) and removing condis (brown bear). In WvW they’re the only pet that can go into the Zerg battles and stay up most of the time, AND for the same reasons they’re good in sPvP, which is being a meat shield vs ranged, and through “Protect Me!” As well as the essentially 100% uptime and support they provide. I mean c’mon, AoE chill and weakness are REALLY good against zergs and that AoE condi removal can be very good in a lot of situations.

Now that being said, most rangers (I said MOST not all) I’ve seen with a bear tend to be horrible players who have no idea how to micro, but if I see that’s the case I tend to give em some pointers.

interesting topic and rly important

my favourite pet is a pig, just because i can give my pets names :P

Am I the only Ranger who picks pets based on their aesthetic appeal to me? O.o

Zaxares.5419:

Am I the only Ranger who picks pets based on their aesthetic appeal to me? O.o

Nah. I do as well. I just need to not use half of them in dungeons and have to relegate them to RP only. And it is sad. T.T

SynfulChaot.3169:

Zaxares.5419:

Am I the only Ranger who picks pets based on their aesthetic appeal to me? O.o

Nah. I do as well. I just need to not use half of them in dungeons and have to relegate them to RP only. And it is sad. T.T

Same here x)
I wish the game would remember the names I give to them, though.

Bears are bad because they have nothing good about them.

Tankier? No Drakes for that matter are tankier than Bears, a lot of health does nothing if you have no toughness to back it up.
Bad dps after the patch for pets? Cats were the top dps before the patch and birds just had good burst. Cats lost 50% of the direct damage off Maul but its on a 20 sec CD. Cats still do awesome dps, birds got neutered so they aren’t even good for burst anymore. Its really 3 options, Cats for ST DPS, Drakes for AoE DPS, Canine/Spiders for CC.
LB is still a bad weapon option but thats not the point of this post.

Puandro.3245:

Bears are bad because they have nothing good about them.

Tankier? No Drakes for that matter are tankier than Bears, a lot of health does nothing if you have no toughness to back it up.
Bad dps after the patch for pets? Cats were the top dps before the patch and birds just had good burst. Cats lost 50% of the direct damage off Maul but its on a 20 sec CD. Cats still do awesome dps, birds got neutered so they aren’t even good for burst anymore. Its really 3 options, Cats for ST DPS, Drakes for AoE DPS, Canine/Spiders for CC.
LB is still a bad weapon option but thats not the point of this post.

Bears can survive most anything, but their DPS is so low as to make them nonviable for most things. All the survivability means nothing if they can’t contribute, you know?

I, myself, run canines and drakes. Spiders/devourers only when I’m forced to ranged combat only, spiders when they’re not in heavy danger of dying and devourers the rest of the time.

For PvE I tend to run Moa and Drake for their tankyness.

From time to time I use the bear with “Shake it off!” though. Hate the idea that people are judging because I found a place to use that.

I use Drake….and Devourer with a Longbow…

And am pretty kitten ed good at it.

Bears are OP – compared to the other ones.
Mostly bots using “Juvenile Brown/Black Bear”s.

Right here in UW, I don’t see as mutch bear pets as you do.
Here they using drakes/doglike stuffs.

I had my brown bear and murellow tank Mai for an Aetherblade Retreat run a couple days ago, to take the heat off the rest of the team. Funny how Mai prefers to beat on bears when they’re out. The brown bear was for conditional removal and murellow for poison field (+ blast finisher = area weakness).

I had zero points in Beastmastery but I was running all signets: stone, wild and renewal. If you’re really on your toes about swapping, those pets last a good long time and let the rest of your team beat on Mai scot-free. They’re also helpful for distracting her if others have to rez.

If I’m in a dungeon team of light-armor-presumably-high-DPS players who continually die, I like to bring out the bears or devourers as distractions to buy them a little breathing room. One of the great things about ranger is having a magical pocket full of pets to customize to the situation.

SynfulChaot.3169:

Zaxares.5419:

Am I the only Ranger who picks pets based on their aesthetic appeal to me? O.o

Nah. I do as well. I just need to not use half of them in dungeons and have to relegate them to RP only. And it is sad. T.T

I do too, but it’s a fernhound and he’s really good in PvE and it fits my supporty build nicely so he sees a lot of time out, the other pet I tend to change as needed but is usually slotted as Beary Bearington(yes that’s his name in RP too) because of how useful that fat kitten has been, which is funny because I only started using him as a joke.

Hi, I use polar/brown bear for Area Chill and condition removal in WvW (party of 10-20 people).
Could you “Grandmasters of the Rangers” do me the honor of telling me why it would be wrong?

I use birds with 30 in BM , 3 mights on swap for pet, vigor on swap for me , quickness . Works great for me for roaming

If you know the strenght and weaknesses of the weapon you use it can be viable. Pets are both a weapon and a utility.

ilr.9675:

Quarktastic.1027:

Well…this thread isn’t pointless at all.

So, how often do you rotate your tires?

I change my pets between every big fight

I’ll also votekick other rangers in teams when I see them only using Bear/Wrongbow
This doesn’t make me an elitist. The OP is right, It’s been almost a year now…. training wheels should have been off months ago…. This isn’t soccer.

you are an elitist. kicking somone from a party because you think you have the right to tell someone how to spent his free time makes you jerk as well.

and its “football” not soccer… because this sport is acutally played with a feet and balls – not hands and eggs.

other then that – bear sucks

cheers

U mad bro?

Bears are big, fuzzy, and can bite your head off. That’s three good reasons to have one as a pet.

I don’t care that their stats don’t reflect it. I mean, they’re friggin’ bears! Just think for a minute, you’re walking back home in an empty street. All of a sudden, some dude decides to jump out of an alley and mug you. What would you rather have at your side?
- a stupid flamingo?
- mama’s dog that you were taking out for his wee wee?
- a FRIGGING BEAR!

Pop signet of the wild, and there you go: proper-sized bear mauling the face of whoever stole his pot of honey. Or yours.

Plus, because of the ‘attitude’, the bear is epic. meta-wise. It’s the ranger x1000. Playing a ranger, you’re already a noob magnet, as every idiot and his dog will become blind to anything else after seeing you, going for the ‘easy kill’. As a ranger with a bear, you’re just entering another dimension of underestimation. Every. Single. Idiot. will come running all the way for you. They will even tell their friends. It’s so easy i feel like i’m haxing.

When i was young, my foes deleted their characters for having been pwned by a ranger.

Now, they delete the game and reformat their hard drive, cring all the way because they’ve been pwned by a ranger with a bear.

The Ranger class, can we fix it? YES WE BEAR!

Asmodal.6489:

ilr.9675:

Quarktastic.1027:

Well…this thread isn’t pointless at all.

So, how often do you rotate your tires?

I change my pets between every big fight

I’ll also votekick other rangers in teams when I see them only using Bear/Wrongbow
This doesn’t make me an elitist. The OP is right, It’s been almost a year now…. training wheels should have been off months ago…. This isn’t soccer.

you are an elitist. kicking somone from a party because you think you have the right to tell someone how to spent his free time makes you jerk as well.

and its “football” not soccer… because this sport is acutally played with a feet and balls – not hands and eggs.

other then that – bear sucks

cheers

I use a power longbow build in WvW, because 1500 range for Zerg vs Zerg is awesome. My pets are useless there so I use them for boons/a fear. Got a problem with that?
In a dungeon, I go to my short bow/bleed/trap build because I do not need the 1500 range.