Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone! I’m still new to these forums, so I’m sorry if this is in the wrong area.

So, I picked up GW2 about three weeks ago, and since then I’ve stormed through the levels. Once I hit level 60 or so however, I started to notice my damage falling a little short. Now, I’ve always been a complete barbarian in games, focusing all of my efforts on maximum damage output and using ranged weapons to migitise my lower defense.

Up until now I’ve been crafting all of my weapons and armor myself, but considering I just bought a longbow on the TP that had 100 power more than my best possible crafted longbow, I’ve been worried that I may be falling behind. So that’s why I’ve come to ask for a proffessional opinion on how I can maximise my damage output in a fight. The details on my character and playstyles are below, so hopefully this’ll help you guys come to a decision on how best to boost my damage.

- I play as a ranger, and use Longbows and Shortbows as my main weapons.
- I have been crafting all my equipment myself up until this point (except accessories).
- I focus on building precision, power, and crit damage on my equipment.
- I fill every slot on my armor with gemstones (I’ve heard about runes, but they sound like a waste until lv80, not to mention the expense).
- I use Quickening Zephyr, Sigil of the Hunt, Lighting Reflexes and Rampage as one as my skills.
- I focus on investing in the Marksmanship and Skirmishing trait trees.
- And finally, I use a wolf and an eagle as my pets.

I hope from this information you guys can help me get my damage back up to high levels, and help me to take down enemies easier. Thanks for reading!

1) You will not do high burst damage on par with any of the real burst damage classes…you are a ranger
2) You will do moderate sustained damage…you are a ranger
3) If played and traited correctly, you can out last any other class and then make emotes on their bodies in triumph for using your more difficult class in victory
4) If you want to win 3v1, 2v1 and always 1v1, go for a BM bunker build, if not, see #5
5) see #1

Your chosen traits, pets and weapons are just fine for a pure damage build.

Check with the master craftsman of your crafting professions. They will have recipes for rare and exotic weapons if you want to continue to craft all of your gear. As you already know, you can also just buy rare and/or exotic gear on the trading post if you prefer.

Beyond any of that, just play around with traits and equipment in the PvP lobby until you decide what works best for you. PvE/WvW gear is not exactly the same as the PvP gear though, so be aware of the differences (mostly that PvP gear has a lot more vitality attached to it in place of toughness in most cases).

RummyTheMad.7290:

Your chosen traits, pets and weapons are just fine for a pure damage build.

Check with the master craftsman of your crafting professions. They will have recipes for rare and exotic weapons if you want to continue to craft all of your gear. As you already know, you can also just buy rare and/or exotic gear on the trading post if you prefer.

Beyond any of that, just play around with traits and equipment in the PvP lobby until you decide what works best for you. PvE/WvW gear is not exactly the same as the PvP gear though, so be aware of the differences (mostly that PvP gear has a lot more vitality attached to it in place of toughness in most cases).

See, that’s a problem I’m facing, regards crafting. I’ve put alot of coin into improving my crafting skill, and I don’t seem to be seeing any results. Why is a basic lv70 longbow on the TP far more powerful than the Lv60 elderwood longbow I can make?

Maximum Potato.5923:

RummyTheMad.7290:

Your chosen traits, pets and weapons are just fine for a pure damage build.

Check with the master craftsman of your crafting professions. They will have recipes for rare and exotic weapons if you want to continue to craft all of your gear. As you already know, you can also just buy rare and/or exotic gear on the trading post if you prefer.

Beyond any of that, just play around with traits and equipment in the PvP lobby until you decide what works best for you. PvE/WvW gear is not exactly the same as the PvP gear though, so be aware of the differences (mostly that PvP gear has a lot more vitality attached to it in place of toughness in most cases).

See, that’s a problem I’m facing, regards crafting. I’ve put alot of coin into improving my crafting skill, and I don’t seem to be seeing any results. Why is a basic lv70 longbow on the TP far more powerful than the Lv60 elderwood longbow I can make?

Unfortunately, that’s just the way that the gear scales. I assure you that once you have maxed your crafting profession, and purchased the appropriate recipes (w/ karma btw. no coin used for those), you will be crafting the best gear in the game… until they introduce an ascended tier of armor and weapons that is.

Crafting is unfortunately not a money-maker at this point, but I have found that it is still cheaper than outright purchasing. Gather/mine/harvest as much as you can. Use Black Lion salvage kits (or master salvage kits) on your useless rares of lvl 60 or greater and you should have enough ectos rolling in to craft top tier gear.

My philosophy is that my gear can be a pile of kitten until I’m max level. Once I’m 80, then it’s time to focus on the best stuff. Until then it’s all throw away gear anyway.