Guild Wars 2

I love necromancer minions, but I am having very little hope of them getting fixed at this point. I love pet classes, but always been more of a caster type person.

Since I am disable, I don’t group with many people. So i like to solo content and test my limits through it. (aka solo dungeons and group bosses.) and trying to find a class that is not as buggy, and rewards you for putting time and effort into getting better.

ranger elite specialization is going to be Druid, which seems like a pet-centric caster class, with what we believe is going to be support and CC-heavy. I would suggest you check it out once they release info on it.

`Thanks, will take a look for sure.

Rangers are strong. They might not be the strongest class around, but they are pretty good, and my favourite class so far.
Like Zatoichi said, we will get the druid specialization, but we still don’t have much info on it, though I think it sounds cool, in my opinion.

Try making a ranger! I think you will like!

Ranger has a strong correlation of player skill to Ranger skill than some other classes.

That said, it also has a low barrier to entry in PvE due to pets tanking for you.

This sadly leads to why when I’m in fractals I’m often horribly disappointed with other Rangers because they never progressed beyond that low level and actually learned the mechanics of the class … nor the game really.

When you start to learn the subtle nuances of the Ranger class, it is extremely rewarding. Some examples of these nuances are:

• When you pet swap, the pet you just swapped in will try to use a particular skill every time. Canines, for example, will try to do their knockdown first-thing.
• Sword #2 to roll backwards, untarget, turn 180, Sword #2 again. You just went quite far away from your target. You can combo these in multiple ways and even throw in Lightning Reflexes.

Note that you have to keep track mentally of the cooldown of the aforementioned knockdown skill (It’s called Brutal Charge) as has a 40 second cool down and they didn’t do the best job in giving the player the information on tracking non-F2 pet skills.

Yes, Ranger is an easy to play and hard to master profession.
I think it is a good class. Like I said, my favorite so far.

Sebrent.3625:

Ranger has a strong correlation of player skill to Ranger skill than some other classes.

That said, it also has a low barrier to entry in PvE due to pets tanking for you.

This sadly leads to why when I’m in fractals I’m often horribly disappointed with other Rangers because they never progressed beyond that low level and actually learned the mechanics of the class … nor the game really.

When you start to learn the subtle nuances of the Ranger class, it is extremely rewarding. Some examples of these nuances are:

• When you pet swap, the pet you just swapped in will try to use a particular skill every time. Canines, for example, will try to do their knockdown first-thing.
• Sword #2 to roll backwards, untarget, turn 180, Sword #2 again. You just went quite far away from your target. You can combo these in multiple ways and even throw in Lightning Reflexes.

Actually in PvP it is considered one of the lower difficulty low risk easy reward classes. Dunno about WvW or PvE. Classes where player skill correlates with class performance = Engineer, Mesmer, Thief and Elementalist (Despite what celestial has made of the class.)

That said they are very strong, and have a fair share of beginner builds and some advanced ones too so you can have a cohesive experience throughout your mastery of it.

Bran.7425:

Note that you have to keep track mentally of the cooldown of the aforementioned knockdown skill (It’s called Brutal Charge) as has a 40 second cool down and they didn’t do the best job in giving the player the information on tracking non-F2 pet skills.

That gives me an idea for a QoL improvement: Add the cooldown times on all pet’s skills.

Each pet have 4 skills, including F2. At the moment only the cooldown of F2 is showing. The cooldown of the other 3 skills should be showing too just to make swapping pets a more user-friendly tactical decision.

Oh My God.8423:

Bran.7425:

Note that you have to keep track mentally of the cooldown of the aforementioned knockdown skill (It’s called Brutal Charge) as has a 40 second cool down and they didn’t do the best job in giving the player the information on tracking non-F2 pet skills.

That gives me an idea for a QoL improvement: Add the cooldown times on all pet’s skills.

Each pet have 4 skills, including F2. At the moment only the cooldown of F2 is showing. The cooldown of the other 3 skills should be showing too just to make swapping pets a more user-friendly tactical decision.

That is a good idea! The icons would only need to be tiny, above the current bar. Also, I would like to see the health bar moved up a bit and them add the boons currently on the pet too.

as others have said, you should give it a go and find out for your self
and i completely agree with the easy to play hard to master comments.

As afar as soloing content goes, dungeons I have no clue and have never tried but open would group events this is where the infamous “BareBow” actually shines.

Bearbow is not good in open world, there is always a better choice of pet but the LB makes short work of anything. A lot of mobs will be dead before your pet even gets to melee range.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Bearbow is not good in open world, there is always a better choice of pet but the LB makes short work of anything. A lot of mobs will be dead before your pet even gets to melee range.

That is reason why I always think increasing pet movement speed should be baseline instead of tieing to a specific trait, be it minor or otherwise. On trash mobs or regular open world mobs, I do not think my pets are helping much since I have already taken care of them before my pets get there. On tougher mobs, they take a bit too much beating to get the job done although it can be mitigated by keep swapping them before they die.

Or just use the spiders or devourers.

We are getting 30% more speed with HoT minor BM trait.

@PistolWhip:
That is true at the lowest levels of play where anyone can grab and Longbow and Rapid Fire all the people that don’t have a clue how to mitigate it.

At the higher levels of play, Ranger is not an easy class and there is a large gap between good rangers and bad rangers.

Sebrent.3625:

@PistolWhip:
That is true at the lowest levels of play where anyone can grab and Longbow and Rapid Fire all the people that don’t have a clue how to mitigate it.

At the higher levels of play, Ranger is not an easy class and there is a large gap between good rangers and bad rangers.

It is effective enough for mid to high tier as well. It isn’t about mitigation, as it isn’t that hard to counter. It is just an easy build to play which is good for entry level players combined with the ranger’s passive style being a great place to start the game in general. Ranger is a welcoming class to beginners, and whether Rapid Fire can be mitigated or not is irrelevant to that.

The only places you don’t see the ‘pew pew easy build’ in question run is in ESL tournaments against organized teams because it actually doesn’t do much but score free kills. It will however work in Ranked and Unranked, and the OP doesn’t need to worry about that unless they plan to become a PvP player partaking in various tournaments set up by ANET with a team. After playing themselves they can take off the training wheels and try other specs.

EDIT: In high levels of play, rangers aren’t as prominent as other classes as far as I am aware. It seems to be one of the many classes where the wall you hit is hard to pass in terms of skill, as the passive classes tend to allow less creative freedom in combat. This means it scales less with player skill even though it will perform satisfactory almost all the time and is a safe bet. Which is probably where it’s difficulty stems from in higher tier play, where a class’ scaling on what the player’s style and experience is, is far more important.

That last paragraph with your EDIT hit the nail on the head.

It is my primary beef with Ranger when comparing it to other classes. At a certain point, it begins to feel like you’ve hit the class’s skill ceiling while some other classes still have quite a bit more “wiggle room”.

I would say avoid ranger ATM, if I were you, unless you have a strong affinity for the class and/or pet that will make up, somewhat, for their deficiencies and other people’s (general) lack of appreciation of them.

I may be missing something, but I’m not sure they’re even that good for soloing dungeons?

As the pet only seems to be able to hold the aggro of one mob at a time (if that…) and not all mobs are skippable.

wait so the pet can’t become a super tank for you if you spec into beast?

Teladis.1309:

wait so the pet can’t become a super tank for you if you spec into beast?

No, definitely not, from what I have seen.

It can’t even tank one mob properly, half the time.

I get that you are probably trying to say that it shouldn’t be able to, but I am seriously struggling to see where Ranger’s strength does lie, in this game, if anywhere?

Because, so far (both from my own observations and other people’s [non-rangers] general comments), it would appear pretty much nowhere.

Pin sniping aside…

If that is the case it just sounds like this game is not for me. I already struggle with necromancer pets not working.

But i seem to get mix answers on this.

My pet tanks stuff just fine for me … but the thing is, you need to be able to handle the times when mobs decide to still go for you. This isn’t wow where your pet spams a taunt on auto-cast.

There is a lot more work required in order to properly micromanage the pet in GW2 and play off of it.

It helps to understand the AI in the game too.
AI targeting takes into account proximity, toughness, and (I believe) vitality of available targets to pick its target. So if your pet is tankier than you and closer, they are much more likely to be targeted … also better at tanking. However, the tradeoff is that your tanky pets don’t do as much as the non-tanky pets.

A nice middle-ground is the drakes and canines. They aren’t super glassy, but they have solid Power. Drakes are great in PvE because they can cleave. Their AOE applies weakness as well which further improves their survivability.

Sebrent.3625:

My pet tanks stuff just fine for me … but the thing is, you need to be able to handle the times when mobs decide to still go for you. This isn’t wow where your pet spams a taunt on auto-cast.

There is a lot more work required in order to properly micromanage the pet in GW2 and play off of it.

It helps to understand the AI in the game too.
AI targeting takes into account proximity, toughness, and (I believe) vitality of available targets to pick its target. So if your pet is tankier than you and closer, they are much more likely to be targeted … also better at tanking. However, the tradeoff is that your tanky pets don’t do as much as the non-tanky pets.

A nice middle-ground is the drakes and canines. They aren’t super glassy, but they have solid Power. Drakes are great in PvE because they can cleave. Their AOE applies weakness as well which further improves their survivability.

That sounds nice, like i don’t want it to be mind boring easy like wow hunters. Having to think, stop attacking, let pet damage, play passive for a bit. Sounds like a ton of fun to me.

I am about to hit 30 with my ranger, (ya for nothing but free time).

Sebrent.3625:

That last paragraph with your EDIT hit the nail on the head.

It is my primary beef with Ranger when comparing it to other classes. At a certain point, it begins to feel like you’ve hit the class’s skill ceiling while some other classes still have quite a bit more “wiggle room”.

I agree entirely. In fact, I am glad you’re being so reasonable about it, as when i say such a thing about a class people assume I am calling them bad. That isn’t the case, you can have amazing rangers and amazing players who pick ranger to focus on. The class itself limits them however just due to its design philosophy. One of my main classes I played for 3000+ hours is Warrior and it suffers from EXACTLY the same limitation. It is an entry level class which becomes highly ineffective outside a broken celestial amulet in higher tier play. Even then it is down to the setup being broken for a warrior than player skill ceiling. It was disheartening when I first found out this is far as I could go with the class, as the higher skill ceiling classes allowed those without limits to outplay me if they had mastered their respective profession enough.

I hope one day, classes like Warrior and Ranger do get the chance through Elite Specs to allow for higher skill ceiling and more creative combat freedoms that come with active play, but I fully realise Anet will keep them as a base easily accessible because they need classes like them to cater to the newer player.

Teladis.1309:

If that is the case it just sounds like this game is not for me. I already struggle with necromancer pets not working.

But i seem to get mix answers on this.

Well, yes, this is kind of where I found myself, as well.

The pet AI is really pretty bad (it’s just mob AI, apparently) and it’s not even been made up for with increased pet stats; so, anything other than tanky pets normally drop dead within about 2 or 3 secs.

You can probably tank bosses, in dungeons where you can get to them without having to fight too many mobs first.

Some people say pets don’t drop dead quickly, but I have no idea how they manage it?

By calling the pet back 24/7?

In which case, that isn’t going to help much for soloing, is it?

If you spec BM, you can lessen the delay on pet swaps (which is, obviously, useful for soloing), but other than that, it doesn’t seem to make much difference.

Maybe if you wear a ton of healing gear it helps?

But, as I only did a few dungeons and then gave up and just did WvW, I only have Zerker gear (and now, finally, Soldier), so I wouldn’t know about that.

If it really is just about the gear, it’s annoying, frankly.

How many gear and weapon sets are we expected to have to buy and store for one class?

It just feels like lazy, sub-par design (if you’re used to better).

Feel free to have these discussion with me any time PistolWhip. I enjoy them

I like your Warrior example. I think there is a little more depth to Warrior in the form of learning how to juke out dodge rolls and cooldowns … but yes, it can definitely feel capped at the higher levels as well … but I feel that’s a largely 1v1 issue. As far as in groups … Warrior is a beast.

I think Thief is an excellent example of a class with a high skill ceiling that doesn’t feel like the player is hampered/capped at high levels of play by the class.

Sure, there are some stupid easy Thief builds that are effective due to that class’s innate ability to dominate the zerker meta … but look at the people that only play Thief, foregoing even alts, and just play the heck out of it. You know when you’ve fought one because your pants are around your ankles and underwear over your head by the end of the fight. Even if you play spectacularly they are able to play better or simply reset it and wait till you finally make that mistake they capitalize on to drop said pants and stomp you. If a Thief doesn’t make a mistake, then you will only stomp then if RNG screws them over and/or they make a glaring mistake … but they are squishy enough to dance on a knife’s edge so I feel it’s largely alright … it’s why bad Thieves crumple quickly and feel the class is UP (lol).

Anyways, as I mentioned when briefly discussing Warrior … I think the highest level and the limitations of the class come about mostly in 1v1s … though there are plenty of times I’m not on my Mesmer in WvW and think (if I was on my Mesmer I could <insert crazy idea>) … usually involves dropping a portal … going in like a crazed maniac for a brief moment and portaling out … I have a few screws loose sometimes … works though ;-)

I have the same hope as you when it comes to the Specializations. Hopefully we can get to the point where an (A,B,C) spec’d Ranger has a low skill floor and low skill ceiling designed for beginners while an (A,B,D) or (X,Y,Z) spec’d Ranger has a high skill floor and high skill ceiling … unfriendly to beginners but much more conducive to higher levels of play.

Sebrent.3625:

I have the same hope as you when it comes to the Specializations. Hopefully we can get to the point where an (A,B,C) spec’d Ranger has a low skill floor and low skill ceiling designed for beginners while an (A,B,D) or (X,Y,Z) spec’d Ranger has a high skill floor and high skill ceiling … unfriendly to beginners but much more conducive to higher levels of play.

No, that would be awful.

All specs should be as equal, viable and “noob” friendly and “pro” friendly as possible.

A “noob” spec, or a “pro” spec, would be a total disaster for so many reasons…

Teladis.1309:

Sebrent.3625:

My pet tanks stuff just fine for me … but the thing is, you need to be able to handle the times when mobs decide to still go for you. This isn’t wow where your pet spams a taunt on auto-cast.

There is a lot more work required in order to properly micromanage the pet in GW2 and play off of it.

It helps to understand the AI in the game too.
AI targeting takes into account proximity, toughness, and (I believe) vitality of available targets to pick its target. So if your pet is tankier than you and closer, they are much more likely to be targeted … also better at tanking. However, the tradeoff is that your tanky pets don’t do as much as the non-tanky pets.

A nice middle-ground is the drakes and canines. They aren’t super glassy, but they have solid Power. Drakes are great in PvE because they can cleave. Their AOE applies weakness as well which further improves their survivability.

That sounds nice, like i don’t want it to be mind boring easy like wow hunters. Having to think, stop attacking, let pet damage, play passive for a bit. Sounds like a ton of fun to me.

I am about to hit 30 with my ranger, (ya for nothing but free time).

A challenge is fine, but be warned:

If there are 8 mobs, at least 7 of them will go straight for you and keep going for you, while your pet maybe hits one of them, or maybe runs around slowly and mindlessly hitting nothing, for what feels like ages.

@Tigaseye:
Please tell me what those “so many reasons” are?

Are you saying that you prefer someone to have to change to a completely different class to hit a higher skill ceiling? … instead of them just having to change specs?

Also, let’s clarify some things …

Something that is “noob friendly” is, by definition, not “pro friendly” unless all you’re doing is giving everyone sticks … there’s no variety then though.

Something that is “noob friendly” has a low skill requirement to use in order to be effective.

Abilities that require more skill generally have a bigger payout because you had to put more in in order to get that larger payout. These are the abilities that are “pro friendly”. Since those abilities require more player skill, they are less “noob friendly”.

There are some great articles and videos on this very thing all over the web.

Also … not all builds are viable everywhere. Get that idea out of your head.

Let’s make this simple and talk sPvP. If I’m wanting to hold a point for my team as a Ranger, I’d much better off with a tanky spec that doesn’t try to pew pew at 1,500 range and suffer at close range. As such, a zerker longbow build would not be nearly as viable for this role as a classic, tanky condition ranger build or Cleric/Knight dual melee Ranger.

On the flip side, if my role on my team is to +1 fights, I’d likely be much better off with the burst from a zerker spec than I would be investing so much into being tanky … that tankiness is not helping my group when it comes to +1-ing fights as my role is to help quickly end those fights in our favor.

Not all builds are viable everywhere.
Some builds require more skill than others.

If you are going to tell me “for so many reasons” … list those reasons. Otherwise you have “no reasons” and just your opinion.

No, Sebrent, I’m saying that all the classes and specs should have equal accessibility and scope for both new players and more experienced ones.

You should never have to move classes, or specs, according to your level of skill.

Sorry for the brief reply, I will try to reply more later – don’t have enough time, now.

ETA: Also, just quickly – I’m not talking about gear here, I’m just talking about specs/traitlines.

I get that very glassy gear won’t be for everyone (or for all situations).

@Teladis:
Please ignore Tigaseye’s post about the pet. My pet has held down multiple mobs multiple times just fine. I would suggest the drake for this though as him cleaving the multiple mobs helps him retain their attention.

Those mobs that do go after you, you should learn how to handle them as that is part of the game. The Ranger has plenty of ways to do that. Some simple ways are spike trap, frost trap, and entangle. Welcome to immobilize, chill, and root Have some Mordrem hounds and griffs on you (you’ll learn about these suckers at 80), immobilize them. They are melee and you’ll enjoy killing their slowed/immobilized hides all the more.

One day we were just screwing around and went into 40+fractals with an all Ranger group. Only 2 of our 5 actually play Ranger as a main. It was stupidly smooth as 3-4 Rangers had tanky pets (bear, 1-2 drakes, 1 canine) and then my feline pet. This gave mobs 5 extra targets they wanted to attack instead of us, which is great when your Rangers are smart enough to micromanage their pets.

When we got to single bosses, we hardly ever had any damage directed at us. It was silly.

Ranger pets could be improved. So could several things in the game. It is not broken though and anyone that tells you pets are worthless is having trouble micromanaging their pets … or is standing in the middle of a zerg fights in WvW … AI hardly, if ever, survives that.

Ok thanks for the tips, I don’t know what side is right or wrong, but I always played pet classes because i enjoy micromanage pets and take pride in that. So if it can be done with that. I will see.

I do have one quick question. I saw that the black bear has a aoe debuff on it. Does debuffs also cause aggro? Or is it just simply damage/toughness.

Mostly damage and toughness yes.

I should make a small note that in the new ranger Beastmaster Grandmaster there’s going to be a trait that causes pets to taunt foes around them when you use F2 which activates their personal skill. Nobody knows how strong this will be and the effects are temporary but I thought I’d mention it since your so interested in pet tanking.

Sebrent.3625:

@Teladis:
Please ignore Tigaseye’s post about the pet. My pet has held down multiple mobs multiple times just fine. I would suggest the drake for this though as him cleaving the multiple mobs helps him retain their attention.

Those mobs that do go after you, you should learn how to handle them as that is part of the game. The Ranger has plenty of ways to do that. Some simple ways are spike trap, frost trap, and entangle. Welcome to immobilize, chill, and root Have some Mordrem hounds and griffs on you (you’ll learn about these suckers at 80), immobilize them. They are melee and you’ll enjoy killing their slowed/immobilized hides all the more.

One day we were just screwing around and went into 40+fractals with an all Ranger group. Only 2 of our 5 actually play Ranger as a main. It was stupidly smooth as 3-4 Rangers had tanky pets (bear, 1-2 drakes, 1 canine) and then my feline pet. This gave mobs 5 extra targets they wanted to attack instead of us, which is great when your Rangers are smart enough to micromanage their pets.

When we got to single bosses, we hardly ever had any damage directed at us. It was silly.

Ranger pets could be improved. So could several things in the game. It is not broken though and anyone that tells you pets are worthless is having trouble micromanaging their pets … or is standing in the middle of a zerg fights in WvW … AI hardly, if ever, survives that.

This. I used to run around with an alpine wolf and a snow owl, now I swapped the snow owl for the fern hound because of the healing and sometimes use the crimson moa for the fury. My gear is all berserker or assassin so far.
I never had problems with my pets tanking mobs, really. Use the chill on the wolf’s howl or the owl’s scratch, the canines’ knockdowns and I can deal with groups of mobs easily.
Even if they do try to attack me, the LB 5 AoE skill can cripple while doing a nice amount of damage and LB 4 and 3 will give you the room you need to reposition yourself, or call back your pets or set up traps like Sebrent said, or use whatever tool you want to use, and even if all that fails, you can always swap to your melee weapon and still put up a nice fight (I prefer the fighting style of the GS, personally).

The pets ARE USEFUL. If we should have an option to perma-stow them, if they are 100% useful 100% of the times or if the AI needs improvements, that is another discussion, but in a general way, they are useful. The pets can tank, deal damage, buff, debuff, heal…

Teladis, to give you an example of what I’m talking about when it comes to Ranger pets …

In another thread, I mentioned that against enemies with non-piercing projectiles, you can position your pet between you and your enemy so that the projectiles will hit your pet instead of you.

Someone disagreed and said that was nonsense. They were then shown older threads discussing doing this as well as some videos that shows it happens.

Not everyone tests things to see where the limits of a class are. Some people just want to point and click. If you want to just point and click, great, Ranger can work for you … but you will end up complaining like many others do because there are some things that require more than that in order to be used to their fullest.

As far as the future for pet AI … there have been quotes from ArenaNet where they’ve discussed looking at improving the AI in the game in order to support better PvE content. What these improvements are is unknown to us (the players), but we also know from ArenaNet quotes that our pet AI uses the same AI as the rest mobs we fight in PvE. So it’d be safe to assume that we could receive an improvement to pet AI in the ?near? future (we don’t know when the expansion will be released).

They did claim that specializations will see heavy changes on gameplay from the original classes… I don’t think Druids will lose the pets, so I am really expecting some improvements on them to make those gameplay changes.

Take a look at the Mesmer Chronomancer.

It has the same illusion and shatter mechanics, but it added an additional F5 shatter as well as adds a new minor trait that gives Alacrity (opposite of Chill for cooldowns).

So it’s fairly safe to assume that we’ll be keeping our pets.

If you look at the article where they discuss the creation of the Chronomancer, they make a single comment about Ranger’s Druid Elite Specialization.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/hidden-arcana-creating-the-chronomancer/

While the ranger’s druid elite specialization was designed around its ability to wield a staff, the chronomancer’s concept and flavor were developed ahead of its weapon choice

Teladis.1309:

wait so the pet can’t become a super tank for you if you spec into beast?

I’ll tell you the opposite: Yes, they can. But it depends on the choice of pet, spec/traits, and equipment.

I’ve soloed more than a few mobs, champs, and bosses (including fractal bosses) where my pet tanked, held aggro, and finished the fight full of life . . . and that’s all I’ll say.

Not trying to get myself nerfed, thank you.

Sebrent.3625:

Take a look at the Mesmer Chronomancer.

It has the same illusion and shatter mechanics, but it added an additional F5 shatter as well as adds a new minor trait that gives Alacrity (opposite of Chill for cooldowns).

So it’s fairly safe to assume that we’ll be keeping our pets.

If you look at the article where they discuss the creation of the Chronomancer, they make a single comment about Ranger’s Druid Elite Specialization.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/hidden-arcana-creating-the-chronomancer/

While the ranger’s druid elite specialization was designed around its ability to wield a staff, the chronomancer’s concept and flavor were developed ahead of its weapon choice

So our specialization will need an equipped staff to work?

wow, that really sucks… And now I am afraid that the staff skills will be pet commanding skills… I hope they don’t do that.

Oh yeah, we have a trait that cuts the cooldown of the first skill you use after….

sees Chronomancer

Oh. Right. All is right in the world when we are inferior versions of something else!

Also, from reading the Chronomancer reveal, it doesn’t look like you need the new weapon to use the specialization, its just that the new weapon gives more specialization specific options. Like alacrity isn’t tied to the shield, however the shield uses it with that wave attack.

Here is a question. You guys are saying that toughness makes pets get aggro correct? So does pets scale off your stats? if i get toughness on my armor. Do I risk stealing aggro?

I have never understood the argument that pets are useless. Particularly at 80, depending on how you end up using them. Right now, with my condi-bunker build, I have 100% swiftness uptime between traited shout and warhorn, once the new traits roll out, I’ll have 100% regen uptime too, if Windborn Notes stays the same as was proposed in the AMA. For Silverwastes I swap between my snow leopard, and brown bear (the latter for the extra tankiness for Dark Thrasher AoE, and when/if i need extra condi cleanse thanks to brown bear’s F2).

Back when I played LB ranger, it was so easy to ignore/forget about my pet it wasn’t even funny, now I find that really using my pet via ‘guard’, F2 skills etc. is really, really worthwhile.

rager.4963:

Here is a question. You guys are saying that toughness makes pets get aggro correct? So does pets scale off your stats? if i get toughness on my armor. Do I risk stealing aggro?

Unfortunately, no. Pets’ stats are independent from the Ranger.

this is one of those things that Rangers either really like — or really hate. Personally, I am on the side that dislikes it, but I don’t see any change coming in the future.

You can ignore me if you want, but I’m not lying.

Why would I lie?

What would I have to gain?

I would not, currently, choose to play Ranger in this game, if I wasn’t just someone who happens to prefer playing hunter in any game, due to liking animals.

People don’t like Rangers in group PVE (and say so, constantly), Rangers are regularly asked to swap to other cases in WvW and when certain WvW guilds advertise for new members, they list a bunch of classes they will accept, but never Ranger.

I don’t do PVP so I can’t comment on that, but I also haven’t found them to be great for soloing, personally.

Not that I have done a lot of it, but still.

I’m still fairly new to this game (as you have probably gathered), but I am a fairly experienced WoW BM hunter and I can tell you that BM Ranger in this game, for me so far, has been far inferior to that.

Admittedly, I’m almost certainly not set-up and/or geared right, but I’m not even referring to that, here.

I’m just talking about the pets.

As I said before, it’s possible that if I slung on a load of healing gear it would be better, as that would stop my pets dying as much, but it wouldn’t make them suddenly get aggro over more than one mob at a time, would it?

I would say it’s perfectly adequate for soloing openworld stuff (assuming you’re a half decent player and/or don’t pull too much at once), but I didn’t enjoy trying to solo a dungeon on it, due to the pet.

Elendur.9342:

Sebrent.3625:

Take a look at the Mesmer Chronomancer.

It has the same illusion and shatter mechanics, but it added an additional F5 shatter as well as adds a new minor trait that gives Alacrity (opposite of Chill for cooldowns).

So it’s fairly safe to assume that we’ll be keeping our pets.

If you look at the article where they discuss the creation of the Chronomancer, they make a single comment about Ranger’s Druid Elite Specialization.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/hidden-arcana-creating-the-chronomancer/

While the ranger’s druid elite specialization was designed around its ability to wield a staff, the chronomancer’s concept and flavor were developed ahead of its weapon choice

So our specialization will need an equipped staff to work?

wow, that really sucks… And now I am afraid that the staff skills will be pet commanding skills… I hope they don’t do that.

I know.

I absolutely hate the way they tie specific weapons and gear into specific traitlines in this game.

That’s not true flexibility, or choice; it’s inflexibility, false choice and a virtual dictatorship.

“If you like the look of x traitline/spec, you must use y weapon(s) and z gear.”.

That’s if you’re even given that “choice”, at all, as in things like group dungeon paths it’s basically Zerker gear and melee weaps (and whatever traitline and utility build suits that best), or go home, most of the time.

It’s awful, frankly.

At least in WoW, you can only choose bow, or gun and either works fine for any set-up and you know that going in.

So, if you don’t like guns, or bows, you just pick another class.

Whereas, in this, you think you will be able to use a bow, as you get one from the start and then it later transpires that you can’t (or shouldn’t) for many things.

So disappointing.

You don’t seem to like much about Rangers, or GW2 in general.

Wow … I mention one line that mentions that Ranger specialization was thought of after the Staff as opposed to the Mesmer specialization being thought of before the Shield and you guys find some way to turn it into all sorts of assumptions that then lead you to immediately thinking things are going to be bad …

Just wow …

I feel like they could drop an I-Win button in your laps and you’d still complain about the tactile feel of the button or that you have to click a target for the button to work … or some other ridiculousness.

If you’re new, I hope you’re paying attention to how ridiculous those that are often griping about Ranger can be and instead pay attention to the actual numbers, the existence of all sorts of very happy and capable ranger players, and all the videos further exhibiting this.

Sadly, this is a game forum and you have to wade through the “saltwater” at times :-/

Ranger is fantastic for solo play. I can’t imagine how anyone could struggle open world PVE on their ranger.

I started as an elementalist back in the first couple weeks of the game being out. Almost no health or armor and very few passive defenses made for quite the steep learning curve. I struggled fighting more than two enemies at a time and could barely defeat a veteran solo. Then I made my ranger and was ripping through groups of four or five enemies at once, casually soloing multiple veterans, and taking down CHAMPION mobs alone.

The pet is a very effective tank. Drakes, bears, and the canines are all pretty tanky and, since the AI tends to go after targets with high toughness, will hold aggro just fine. Drakes especially as they have cleave and a strong multi-target hit F2 skill to keep pressure on multiple opponents. As long as you keep your distance, kite properly, and know how to pet swap there is absolutely no reason your pet should be dying in open world content aside from the world bosses, and even then it isn’t THAT hard.

Shoot, I just got done running around the Silverwastes all day with a powerbow set up and my pet only died twice, and both times because I didn’t know the boss mechanics and was just kind’a winging it.

Ranger is fine for roaming around in PVE, but then, so it everything else. It can be very weak in WvW due to having poor survivability with glass builds and poor sustained damage due to getting eaten alive by retaliation. Non-glass builds do crap damage. The pet dies instantly in zergs and tends to run forward into the aoe when you stop or lags behind when you dodge out of aoe getting killed for no reason. Anet has failed to address fundamental problems with this class that have existed since day 1. There is a reason so many are asking for a pet-free ranger option.

Necro is very strong in WvW by contrast if not op.

WvW is not only about zerg fights. Rangers are great for roaming and small scale fights in WvW.

PS If you do go into WvW as a ranger, get used to being called a ’rallybot" meaning every time the enemy rallies from the downed state due to the death of a player that fired at them, it will be blamed on you. Get used to people bypassing everyone else to dogpile on you because you are correctly considered an easy kill.

While that might be true most of the in-game rewards favor zerg playstyle Even though roaming feels (to me) to be a more enjoyable use of time just not particularly rewarding compared to other uses of time.