Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone!~ My name is Webweaver and I have been playing ranger since the very beginning of the game. I almost exclusively play PVP so everything I am typeing has PVP in mind I am not commenting on any other mode of the game (wvw, pve, ect . . . ) As a ranger I typically play glass cannon type of builds be it condition or power. I would really like to get your guys thoughts on how improvements could be made to the ranger class in Tpvp

-Condition ranger-

SURVIVAL BUILD (s/t sb) : Since EB and SOTF where moved into the same tree (A change I am acutally very happy about because I really did not like that settlers EB, SOTF build alot of beginner rangers where carried by.) the survival build has become weak because it lacks alot of defense and due to the loss of our trait sharpening stone does not seem to put out much in the way of bleed damage. I understand this build still works very well when built to be bunker though.

TRAPS (s/t sb): Traps are crazy stong when you full damage focused and can win almost any 1v1 (includeing PU condi mes and cele D/D ele asuming you get your set up off) however they have a few draw backs. The first draw back is that in order to win a fight you NEED to set up your first wave of traps and have your enemy walk into it what this means is that in a tpvp game you are glued to where ever you placed your traps. While you are an extremely effective point holder you really cant get off the point and assist your team if the mid fight starts going badly the way most of the other bunkers can ( I.E someone died at the mid fight home bunker adds on the mid fight and whoever died take home on respawn.) If you are a squishy trap ranger and you add into a mid fight w/o two waves of traps you are going to kill nothing and then get splattered because you have no way of escaping from whoever attacks you. Because of how traps work this build is probably the least mobile build in the game. I am not sure what this build needs in order to be more effective.

-POWER/CRIT RANGER-

Pew pew lb (s/w – gs lb): After the ranger increase on off hand weapons was put into base line this build became alot more effective because hunters call can be used to get your quick draw trait on your first RF entering the fight. Warhorn also seriously helps with your mobility and allows you to float around the map and +1 fights. The damage potential on the build is pretty great but even with GS it some big problems with its defenses. The only way a ranger can survive being targeted and still do damage (remain in long bow) and generally be useful in a fight is through hunters shot (stealth throw off whoever is targeting you find a new position and pew pew more.) However if your being targeted and miss your hunters shot because of block, blind, evade, invun or glitchy obstructedness your left with only two options: die or swap out of LB (become useless to the team) and haul kitten to somewhere the enemy isent. The quick draw trait really helps with the kitten hauling but sometimes an enemy manages to stick on you and you die anyway. Personally I feel like in order to make this build more effective rangers need another way to escape while still staying in LB and dealing damage to the enemy team. Either a on command stealth or some kind of stunbreak teleport would go a long way towards makeing LB ranger competitive in pvp. (I do use signet of stone and it works great as an oh kitten thief/rampage button )

As a side note we all know the pets are aggressively stupid and either need a smart AI or rangers need more options to control them (Something guild wars really did a great job with) without sacrificing precious utility slots. I think giveing pets a specific order for there skills or better yet let us decide the order would be really nice. Also giveing condition damage pets (spider, lynx, devourer ect) condition damage stats and power based pets power stats would go a long way toward making them much more useful.

Please, if anyone has any comments on what I said or has thoughts on different build to used in tpvp feel free to share them. I only commented on the builds i use frequently I know there are alot more out there.

simple ways to help with stealth options.

Pigs/boars f2 skill is instant and works like a steal.

Guard shout will stealth you for a short duration as well.

Shared anguish will also stealth you. kitten cd.

Survival builds can be strong if you use beastmastery and eagle for the 4 1/2s bleed attacks.

Traps are traps. Not much to say there except decrease some of the cooldowns.

pigs and boar f2 and extreamly unreliable and takeing them costs you a useful pet. We lost “Hide in plain sight” it was not rolled into “Shared anguish” and pet bleeding hits for almost nothing even traited.