Guild Wars 2

Is this a Learn to Play? I have a hard time in WvWvW keeping my opponent in flanking position for the bleed (or even the +10% from Hunter’s Tactics). The simple physics of the situation dictates that I either need to be right up on my enemy to maneuver properly for flank. Or I need to get them to flee from me and start plunking them from behind (Despite losing 300 range). Or, perhaps, I need to CC them (what little I have) and strafe to flanking.

Please tell me that I am just being a noob and need to learn to play. But is there anyone that is taking full advantage of the flanking possibilities?

It’s been some time since I used SB…

Falnking also counts hits from sides. Usually I managed to get bleeds on enemy if we ran in circle shooting at eachother.

Sides or being behind them will apply the bleed, keep in mind the SB is designed for being pretty close to the enemy and being just out of their melee range for full effect.

just be careful putting to much thought process into flanking and side popping because at 900 yards an A/T equipped Ranger will work you like a rib.

I think there needs to be passive abilities that works as follows

Skirmishers Prowl: (passive) for Every 5 seconds the ranger is moving without stopping they apply a +5% damage buff (stackable 3 times) on their target once 3 stacks are accumulated each shot has a 25% chance to apply a 1/4 sec cripple to target.

Marksmans Grit (Passive) every 3 seconds the ranger stands still (in combat) they recieve a 5% crit chance and 5% crit damage buff (stackable 5 times) Once stacks are accumulated Ranger has a 25% chance to knock down targets for 1 second.

I think a mechanic like this would give the rangers something of their own and add some much needed CC/buffs to the Bow skills.

i fight at probably 400-500 range with my shortbow and they are trying to close the gap, as they do i dodge thru them and shoot rinse repeakittens not 6 stacks of bleeds 100% of the time but its decent.

hyjaxxx.1584:

I think there needs to be passive abilities that works as follows

Skirmishers Prowl: (passive) for Every 5 seconds the ranger is moving without stopping they apply a +5% damage buff (stackable 3 times) on their target once 3 stacks are accumulated each shot has a 25% chance to apply a 1/4 sec cripple to target.

Marksmans Grit (Passive) every 3 seconds the ranger stands still (in combat) they recieve a 5% crit chance and 5% crit damage buff (stackable 5 times) Once stacks are accumulated Ranger has a 25% chance to knock down targets for 1 second.

I think a mechanic like this would give the rangers something of their own and add some much needed CC/buffs to the Bow skills.

In all fairness I think those proposals are way over the top on paper already. I feel that rangers are in a good place when 1vX is considered. If something I’d like to see some utilities added to the zerg side of things and the pet AI fixed but all in all I’m quite content with my ranger when www is considered.

That being said I liked your ‘beyond the box’ way of thinking and I’m all for some unique flavor. And no, pets acting like cretins won’t do for that

Talmor.9048:

Is this a Learn to Play? I have a hard time in WvWvW keeping my opponent in flanking position for the bleed (or even the +10% from Hunter’s Tactics). The simple physics of the situation dictates that I either need to be right up on my enemy to maneuver properly for flank

Tell your melee teammates to run beside the target then turn 90 degrees to attack, or to run past them and attack from behind. When the target engages your teammates in melee, that will present your ranged attackers with an immediate flank.

That’s actually a big gripe I have with pets. They tend to run on top of you, so when you order them to attack they stop directly between you and the target. You then have to run or strafe a big arc in order to get a flank.

If you could tell them to run, say, off your right side, it would make it a heckuva lot easier to flank. Or if the AI were smart enough to run to the target’s right side and attack from there, the ranger would get an instant flank. Creative use of the Guard skill can help somewhat.

Slow.7895:

hyjaxxx.1584:

I think there needs to be passive abilities that works as follows

Skirmishers Prowl: (passive) for Every 5 seconds the ranger is moving without stopping they apply a +5% damage buff (stackable 3 times) on their target once 3 stacks are accumulated each shot has a 25% chance to apply a 1/4 sec cripple to target.

Marksmans Grit (Passive) every 3 seconds the ranger stands still (in combat) they recieve a 5% crit chance and 5% crit damage buff (stackable 5 times) Once stacks are accumulated Ranger has a 25% chance to knock down targets for 1 second.

I think a mechanic like this would give the rangers something of their own and add some much needed CC/buffs to the Bow skills.

In all fairness I think those proposals are way over the top on paper already. I feel that rangers are in a good place when 1vX is considered. If something I’d like to see some utilities added to the zerg side of things and the pet AI fixed but all in all I’m quite content with my ranger when www is considered.

That being said I liked your ‘beyond the box’ way of thinking and I’m all for some unique flavor. And no, pets acting like cretins won’t do for that

Actually, the marksmanship one would be ok so long as ANY movement clears ALL stacks, because it’s 15seconds of NO MOVEMENT, how often do you get to plant your feet? Not very, even at 1.5k range, I feel that’d be a nice grandmaster trait. Only change I’d make is make it so at 5 stacks you stun them 1s and apply 25vuln and some bleeding, but clearing all stacks, I mean c’mon they let you stand still for 15 seconds!

The skirmisher one is way too easy to do, I don’t think it should implemented at all.

Most times to get a flanking attack you need to be moble. This encourages rangers to move to be affective, which in itself is a good thing. Introducing a skill that encourages a ranger to sit still is a bad thing.

Most ranger who keep moving tend to do better. While the are times that keeping still is more benificial those time are evaulated on a moment by moment bacis.

Those who have tested it know that barrage on the Lb put the damage ahead of the short bow at any range. The issue is that the channel puts the ranger in a bad postion.
the range of this weapon gives rangers breathing room. I skirmist range this is almost certain death. Plus one could always use sharpen stone for the extra condition.

I’ve found flanking much easier to achieve as soon as I stopped thinking of it as a 180 degree semicircle behind and beside my target and I realised I only need to be slightly to the left or right of the direction my target was facing to trigger flanking.

Personally I don’t consider the shortbow worth bringing any more. In sPvP it might not play very differently, but in WvW the range limitation cripples it as a ranged option, it’s much worse at chasing down targets and there’s still a lot of work to put into accessing the flanking bonus to make it an effective weapon. Previously the flanking bonus was great for chasing down a fleeing target, but most players will get out of 900 range with a leap or teleport (unless you were in melee range to begin with, almost any leap/teleport skill + their distance from you to begin with will be enough to get them out of range) resulting in the shortbow failing at one of its key roles. The longbow might not be any better (barrage is terrible for chasing a target down and it has no other snare) but that doesn’t make the shortbow any worse.

Don’t think of the shortbow as a condition damage weapon. It’s in the awkward position where it doesn’t put out a lot of bleed stacks and the trigger for bleeding is hard to fulfil (unlike other class condition damage weapons). The bleeds are kind of like a bonus when you get them, but you will have to be careful about where you move to. Sometimes the flanking bonus isn’t worth the added danger your new position will put you in. It’s easy to get killed in dungeons and WvW if you focus too much on flanking and don’t decide it’s better to sacrifice the bonus damage for a better field position. For that reason, I think it’s better to forget about the shortbow as a condition damage weapon.

I have no issues with my shortbow being a cond. damage weapon. Flanking isn’t the only source of bleeds it has, crippling shot also causes your pet to bleed. Couple that with the stun shot and you can seriously do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

I say a small buff to the shortbow ‘1’ attack and it should be in a good position. Of course the decrease in range is terrible, however it is certainly not unusable considering other options are swords which are melee anyway.

Gotejjeken.1267:

I have no issues with my shortbow being a cond. damage weapon. Flanking isn’t the only source of bleeds it has, crippling shot also causes your pet to bleed. Couple that with the stun shot and you can seriously do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

I say a small buff to the shortbow ‘1’ attack and it should be in a good position. Of course the decrease in range is terrible, however it is certainly not unusable considering other options are swords which are melee anyway.

The bleeds from the cripple are applied by the pet. Pet bleeds don’t use ranger condition damage, they use pet condition damage which is 0 without the triat and 300 with the trait(assuming you are level 80). Compare this to a real condition damage weapon like the necro scepter or the thief pistol or even the engineer’s grenades (which does more conditions, at 1,500 range, direct DPS and no strafing requirement). It’s much easier to stack bleeds with a real condition damage weapon than it is with the shortbow (the shortbow also is limited to two conditions). The shortbow relies on strafing, sharpening stone and crits, imo it’s very good at being a conditional weapon, but it’s not very good at being a condition damage weapon.