Guild Wars 2

I am trying not to rant, but this is about as constructive as I can get. Aside from all the numerous threads on negative feelings on Rangers, this one focuses on WvW.

In PvE – We’re awesome, but so is mostly everyone else.
In PvP – We’re .. hmm.. Ok
In WvW – I am still trying to figure out where I fit.

In the beginning days where most everyone was 1-50, things were pretty much even. Now, after a couple patches and lots rolling with max gear, things get frustrating, very fast. I really really want to enjoy WvW in my ranger, but more and more I am growing out of options.

As a level 77 with full exotic gear I am spending my time running or running away. Every once in a while I will send in my pet and plink away with a short bow, but I quickly get overrun if I stay too long and any warrior or thief in range, I am cooked.

Pets seem to be where the heavy DPS comes in, but they die any time they are noticed.

For melee, I have tried GS, Sword / Dagger, Sword / Torch, Dual Axes, everything. Nothing seems to have any decent effect compared to say, a warrior or guardian.

Also tried traps in combination with the above. Which does show a little promise, but in a WvW situation, there is little to do when you are being perma stunned/knocked down when you stayed a little too long.

As for longbow, that’s where things feel even worse. Especially after today after getting into a shooting match with another warrior with his Longbow and seeing the amazing DPS he has with his, and the laughable damage I have against his heavy armor.

So really, where is the use in being a ranger? Just blowing a horn to ferry people along? Or is there some kind of real use that I am missing other than just applying light pressure damage at range.

Go trap build and do ambush and immobilization tactics. So that others can kill them off

I have played a ranger almost exclusively since the first beta weekend event and I gotta tell you – I love this class. I’m ticked off about this shortbow thing, but I still love my class. It takes some skill to make it work due to the fact that we’re not the best at anything. What I love about it, though, is that I have so many different, diverse skills and I, as a player, can play the class well.

I learned how to play the class over time and now, when I try to play other classes, I end up missing all of my abilities from the ranger.

Now, it may not be for you. It’s not for everyone. Personally, I really enjoy it.

FIX the shortbow abilities or all of the other abilities, though! <—— that part is for ANet.

Best advice, dont play this game anymore.

Everything else we are subpar. Even the warrior forums, trying to justify that they are sub-par can only say Ranger win Warriors on conditions builds via the trap build.

Thus condtion build via traps is basic-ly our only “better then most at” viable build.

You could think of our class as an anti-burst class. With the ability to take no damage at all (for either you or your pet) with a traited Signet of Stone, on top of Protect Me, you can make it very hard for anyone to kill you. Having 2 “oh kitten” buttons is really nice, and can make 1v1s very, very lopsided for your opponent. Of course, there still is the issue that we need to have enough damage to actually kill (or very much injure) our enemies in that time span, or all that time taking no damage was pointless.. that’s where pets come in, really. I’ve started using 2x birds instead of drakes like I was before, because while River Drake’s Lightning Breath hits very hard, it has the dumbest wind up animation ever and the bad pathing causes him to not aim at the target quite often. Birds on the other hand, much better.. and while only the Raven’s F2 can really compare to the sheer damage output of Lightning Breath, it still hurts. In fact, with full Beastmastery, it hurts a whole lot.

Another thing I highly recommend, if you are having trouble getting out of the front lines after you extend, is Superior Energy sigils. I run one on each weapon set. This gives you back 50% of your endurance on swap. Essentially, if you are at full endurance and your swap is up, this allows you to make 3 consecutive dodge rolls. 3 rolls backward should get you out of the front lines for a hasty retreat, and is really good in every single situation ever. Whatever you think you’re giving up to use these sigils.. you’re not. Try them out!

Let me give you an example of how you can play your Ranger in WvW. I changed my spec yesterday (I do it a lot…) and for the first time I actually felt like I had a real impact on zerg v zerg combat. (I usually judge my specs purely on their solo roaming/ganking aspects because that’s what I try to gear toward)

I have the extra range longbow trait, and I’m using a Raven pet. What you want to do is hang out near the front lines of your zerg, but not right up front. Scout around for a target at about half health, or anyone pushing. Use longbow 3 to speed up your pet (even if you can’t hit the target, you’re using it for the speed boost primarily) and send it in by pressing F2, so that the first thing it does is use the skill. As your pet is advancing, you want to be sneaking forward. You will need to practice, play around with the max range longbow so you get a feel for how far away you can be and still hit your target. When your pet gets close enough to land the F2, hit your longbow 2. This should result in a massive spike of damage, and will either down or severely wound a target at half health, or on a target pushing, immediately put them into panic mode/retreat. Either way, you will want to call your pet back right away. You’re playing this as a controller, not a killer, so unless you really hate your target, don’t get overzealous and keep your pet on them.. that will just get you a dead pet. What you want to do is pick off anyone low. Down as many people as you can.

With Beastmastery reductions in F2 recharge, you can do this combo fairly often, and it also works (though with less spike damage) with an Eagle or Hawk, which have a ridiculously fast F2 recharge rate.

Now I only have experience playing with longbow, don’t ask me how to use this combo with shortbow, if you want to do that, test it out yourself. As for non ranged situations.. you can seriously just win against anyone melee with whatever you want if your pets hit hard and you have your cooldowns. When they get on you, Entangle so they don’t leave… traited Signet of Stone, QZ right after (when used together this forms a QZ with no drawback), spam spam, Raven F2 or River Drake F2 or whatever F2 you want as long as it’s a burst one, spam, dead. If they are somehow still alive, you still have Protect Me and your heal. Try to poison your opponent somewhere in there so they don’t heal for full.

The only fights you won’t win 100% are vs Thieves (because they will leave) and sometimes Mesmers without 100% world completion.

…this is a long post. I hope you can take it apart and find some parts of it useful. I don’t think ranger is underpowered at all. There are just some things that are absolutely broken. (Spirits, for example, pet animations and pathing) But you can overcome them.

Ultravalefor, you are a scholar and a gentleman.
Thanks, I’ll give your advice a try.