Guild Wars 2

I’ve been playing my ranger recently (power ranger LB/GS build) over my ele and it feels very underwhelming. Barrage and Entangle are the only AoE we have that “matters” in blob v blob fights, as well as the small AoE rapid fire provides if you take piercing arrows.

Do you guys feel useful at all to your group? I run with an organized guild group most of the time with 10-15 people and 99% of the time I find me telling myself “Man, if I was on my ele for this fight I would be a lot more useful to the group”. Rapid fire is crazy burst, sure, but it’s single target.

Was just curious as to what you guys think. I really do enjoy playing ranger, and I could just be over thinking the whole thing.

ranger is notorious for being extremely underwhelming in WvW. don’t listen to the fanboys. you cant frontline with it effectively, and honestly I prefer even my meditation guard for roaming because he’s more effective with teammates. not to mention mesmers, thieves, and warriors. thieves and mesmers are so much better than glassbows, it’s ridiculous. they always have been.

glassbow is situational, and bunker condi builds are the best 1v1 builds but that’s not what wvw is about at all. im speaking from about 1000 hours in wvw with my ranger alone (dueling, roaming, gvg’s and raiding).

I believe the specialization patch will make the frontline ranger viable.

Basically it’s a case of “Anything a ranger can do, another profession can do it better.”

I agree. My d/p thief definitely feels more effective both roaming and in groups because of the power of shortbow.

Glad it isn’t just me who thinks this. I was also looking at the frontliner build people say to try out but honestly if I’m playing a ranger I want to be in the back pewpewing people, not in the front being a damage sponge.

frontline Warhorn ranger in WvW will be a thing I think after specializations. New barkskin, resounding timbre, two handed training, beastly warden, and 3 traited Call of the wilds = 3 blast finishers with aoe might, fury, swiftness, and regen. Healing spring for water field and aoe cleanse

Sarision.6347:

Basically it’s a case of “Anything a ranger can do, another profession can do it better.”

I’d disagree. Coming from a Guardian to Ranger I think we can do many things more better. I’m actually surprised that I do 10x better on the Ranger in regards to surviving a fight or resetting than coming from a heavy armor wearing class.

Seriously. Even my guildies are irked in that I’m always on the Ranger now.

Edit: I should clarify – it is just my opinion. Not like it is the be all end all Just how I personally feel.

If you play your Ranger like the other classes, you’ll feel lackluster. Think a little harder about what your Ranger can do that others can’t.

Several Ranger builds aren’t a “shove it down their throats” sort of build unlike several Warrior/Guardian/etc. builds. This requires some cleverness.

Some quick one-offs:
- Muddy Terrain … immobilize and pulsing cripple
- Traps … spike and frost in particular
- Pets with CC (ex: fear bomb from safety)
- Can control pet while on Siege (better than most everyone else on Siege whose mechanics do nothing for them while they are on it).
- Chaining absurd amounts of Immobilize … protip: stability doesn’t do a thing about immobilize and is a great way to induce rage in your opponents :-p
- Entangle … though I miss the days when it wasn’t limited to 5 targets … oh those were the days … mmmmm.
- Water Field … only you and Staff Ele have these unless the group is very coordinated … then Engineer Healing Turret can be counted here … it simply doesn’t last nearly as long as those from Ranger and Staff Ele.
- Longest range in the game … you can threaten backfield without overextending.
- Large AOE Cripple (longbow only)

I agree that Ranger is only going to get better with the new changes. Several new combinations have opened up. The Specialization system looks like it is going to shake things up.

Crapgame.6519:

Sarision.6347:

Basically it’s a case of “Anything a ranger can do, another profession can do it better.”

I’d disagree. Coming from a Guardian to Ranger I think we can do many things more better. I’m actually surprised that I do 10x better on the Ranger in regards to surviving a fight or resetting than coming from a heavy armor wearing class.

Seriously. Even my guildies are irked in that I’m always on the Ranger now.

Edit: I should clarify – it is just my opinion. Not like it is the be all end all Just how I personally feel.

Somehow I picture most of that performance increase is in the form of a none rune based 25% movement speed. From what little I gather some of the guardians (and the mesmers for that matter) are convinced without that they are garbage for the mode.

More on topic: I see WvW as a mess in general:
1 They tried to force mass combat into working with a small scale engine/balance focus
2 They did a 180 on their stance of WvW ‘balance’ as from what I can remember they really didn’t what to balance the mode as part of its design
3 On the ranger specifically while it can roam well the mass combat in its of AoE heavy form make the ranger class mechanic more of a detriment than an asset

Buell.3701:

I’ve been playing my ranger recently (power ranger LB/GS build) over my ele and it feels very underwhelming. Barrage and Entangle are the only AoE we have that “matters” in blob v blob fights, as well as the small AoE rapid fire provides if you take piercing arrows.

Do you guys feel useful at all to your group? I run with an organized guild group most of the time with 10-15 people and 99% of the time I find me telling myself “Man, if I was on my ele for this fight I would be a lot more useful to the group”. Rapid fire is crazy burst, sure, but it’s single target.

Was just curious as to what you guys think. I really do enjoy playing ranger, and I could just be over thinking the whole thing.

Since you mentioned Ranger and WvW I’ll give you my $0.02 worth. Let me preface by saying I’ve played a Guardian for most of GW2’s release to date. To include Support, DPS, and everything in between and I find the Ranger to be more satisfying. Also, the primary play for me is WvW. Mostly solo, duo, or 5 man havoc.

I find that I actually do better playing on the Ranger even after having fewer hours on it than the Guardian. I can reset fights better, come out ahead more often than not when out numbered, get across the map better, and overall contribute more when target assisting.

I run trapper / condition build mainly with axe / torch and long bow. I will sometimes mix it up and replace short with long bow. To me this is my comfort build that lets me win most fights when facing equally skilled players, regardless of class. It also lets me destroy those who are not clearly skilled. What the build does not, in fact any of my builds allow, is a sure fire win especially when facing higher skilled players. And let us just be honest here, there are players who we all know are just better – and I’m cool with that

One thing I have found is that even on my Ranger I have just about every weapon we can use. To included multiples of with different stats. I have my condition trapper, power zerker, and even a hybrid chill and poison. In fact, talking to a fellow ranger made me want to try yet a 4th build/set after talking to him based on sustain/healing…it never ends.

I guess what I’m saying is that find a lot of different play styles on the Ranger that suit me. I like the range and target assist which just melts faces when assisting. I like the mobility and stealth of the traps. Range and melee are a plus.

At the end of the day I guess I just see more options available to me which makes the game interesting.

Guardian can protect the heck out of a point via anti-projectile and blocking movement … though melee with stability get past that.

Ranger can protect the heck out of a point with a plethora of Immobilizes, Chills, and Roots … though condition cleanses get past that.

When you combine the two … it’s wonderful.

For that enemy zerg to try to overrun your position, they have to pop quite a good bit of stability and condition cleanse … that’s going to suck for them if anyone else in your zerg has CC (hint: they should … see Hammer Warriors … Dagger Eles … etc. etc.)

The problem I see in WvW is there is a lot of “monkey see, monkey do” and not much “what other shenanigans can be pull off”.

You have to play to a class’s strengths if it is to do well in any area of the game.

I don’t think Ranger is underwhelming in WvW. But it’s a different playstyle (which may not work well in your group) and you’d need both Eagle Eye and Read the Wind to go with your longbow.

It’s basically the only thing Rangers excel at in WvW: long range single target damage. I’m more of a roamer / fire support player, so I enjoy it and I don’t think it’s underwhelming. Having the longest range in the game is pretty cool in itself. The damage isn’t bad either if you’re willing to give up most of your survivability for it.

So yes it might be underwhelming to you. It wouldn’t surprise me. The Ranger just really fits my prefered playstyle.

Ranger is a weak variation of other classes <at the moment>.

But there already are several totally viable builds I’ve thought of after the changes are made. One of them uses 50% projectile denial. Passively.
Front line Ranger will be useful, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.
Aren’t you guyz looking forward to perma protection with AoE Weakness paired with double maul 250% crits (opening strikes) or what not?

I can’t wait.

Tragic Positive.9356:

But there already are several totally viable builds I’ve thought of after the changes are made. One of them uses 50% projectile denial. Passively.
Front line Ranger will be useful, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

You die in the front line from hammer, marks/wells, and meteor shower aoe. Wall of reflection is already a vastly superior projectile deterrent.

Reflecting projectiles while meleeing isn’t really going to do much at all.

Substance E.4852:

Tragic Positive.9356:

But there already are several totally viable builds I’ve thought of after the changes are made. One of them uses 50% projectile denial. Passively.
Front line Ranger will be useful, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

You die in the front line from hammer, marks/wells, and meteor shower aoe. Wall of reflection is already a vastly superior projectile deterrent.

Reflecting projectiles while meleeing isn’t really going to do much at all.

Everyone dies front line from hammer, marks/wells and meteor shower aoe… That’s a strange excuse. Moreover, Wall of Reflection is superior, but not more valuable.

Strider’s defense is permanent and walks with you. And did I mention it’s permanent? So what if it’s only 50% chance, it’s permanent, Jesus…

Don’t be too skeptic about stuff. You don’t need Precision anymore. Who can boast of such a privilege except for … eles … that have everything better already?

You can sacrifice 1 whole stat for defensive ones to deal damage almost identical to Zerks. I mean, come on! With 30% passive evade, even a situational stun and huge mobility since GS.
Also the best and longest stability in the game, so far.

But it’s always been bad and ArenaNet obviously hates us … /end_of_sarcasm

People will need to get over the preconceptions because the feel of some of the classes is going to change. What was optimal may not be optimal any more.

We have the Specializations shaking things up and those are still in flux.

We have new Elite Specializations shaking things up.

We have new utilities shaking things up.

We have new weapons kills shaking things up.

We may even get some more different stats on items like we’ve been getting throughout the years … and that could shake things up.

Some people will stagnate, others will continue to try to adapt. The latter will likely be more successful.

Heck, we’ve seen (and been told) that the new Borderlands will have several narrow pathways … sounds like a great place to put a trap or two … or more if you have some other Ranger friends around … or a friend that is willing to use traps as a Thief ;-p

Tragic Positive.9356:

Substance E.4852:

Tragic Positive.9356:

But there already are several totally viable builds I’ve thought of after the changes are made. One of them uses 50% projectile denial. Passively.
Front line Ranger will be useful, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

You die in the front line from hammer, marks/wells, and meteor shower aoe. Wall of reflection is already a vastly superior projectile deterrent.

Reflecting projectiles while meleeing isn’t really going to do much at all.

Everyone dies front line from hammer, marks/wells and meteor shower aoe… That’s a strange excuse. Moreover, Wall of Reflection is superior, but not more valuable.

Strider’s defense is permanent and walks with you. And did I mention it’s permanent? So what if it’s only 50% chance, it’s permanent, Jesus…

Don’t be too skeptic about stuff. You don’t need Precision anymore. Who can boast of such a privilege except for … eles … that have everything better already?

You can sacrifice 1 whole stat for defensive ones to deal damage almost identical to Zerks. I mean, come on! With 30% passive evade, even a situational stun and huge mobility since GS.
Also the best and longest stability in the game, so far.

I guess I can see Strider’s Defense working on the less populated servers but personally I don’t see it being of any value towards myself or any other Rangers who are a part of the big T1 server fights. I rarely ever have to swap out of my Longbow and when I do it’s usually because we got in over our heads and I need to run away.

The way I see it, is that when this new trait system hits, the Ranger will be taking the spots comparable to a Necro with the new Longbow Trait. Unless you’re on the front lines I can’t see Strider’s Defense working out well in those zergs. Even at that point, from my personal experience and what I’ve seen, you’re going to die to the melee ball and wells long before any projectiles chip you down.

Again, that’s just my experience from the big fights. I can see it’s potential in smaller scale skirmishes with about 15v15 and down though. I think it’s going to be one of those YMMV traits.

Buell.3701:

I’ve been playing my ranger recently (power ranger LB/GS build) over my ele and it feels very underwhelming. Barrage and Entangle are the only AoE we have that “matters” in blob v blob fights, as well as the small AoE rapid fire provides if you take piercing arrows.

Do you guys feel useful at all to your group? I run with an organized guild group most of the time with 10-15 people and 99% of the time I find me telling myself “Man, if I was on my ele for this fight I would be a lot more useful to the group”. Rapid fire is crazy burst, sure, but it’s single target.

Was just curious as to what you guys think. I really do enjoy playing ranger, and I could just be over thinking the whole thing.

Then you are just under-skilled ranger.
I’m 1800 hours ranger, and when we 15v15 I can destroy whole melee group stacking there for empower, you can snipe what ever you want. disable enemy mesmer if you play gvg and so on so on.. Your main problem is GS, it’s overrated weapon it’s not even best choice at the moment. Play around with first 3 trait lines and u’ll fine an overpowered build, i won’t tell you what, but there is insane good build for gvg and wvw.

You need more practice and don’t jsut spam rapid.
OHHHHH i’ve almost forgot!
*MY friend… RANGER is NOT a support class, so stop looking at it and expecting from ranger to support the group. Each class has own presence in fight, why does no1 expect any support from thief? Just cluster stealth.. that’s it. *

Ranger is made to kill, and it’s made to hunt, not to support 1279’86857 other people in the zerg, sure you can, but ranger purpose was never to deliver help to the group, your help is in shape of damage and massive cripple if u use correct food.

If u dont have ele in your composition, you surely need it, but if u have one, you MUST have a ranger. Rangers are underrated, and many times you die easily because many guys think every ranger is bear bow ranger scrub, but we are not sorry

Yes we’re lackluster. Dueling we will straight out stalemate or lose to any other meta build. Zergs we have no place right now because we have little in the way of group support.

It’s almost as if the ranger community has Stockholm Syndrome. I mean heck, the notorious trapper build is just using stealth and trying to keep up with other classes that have native access to it. It’s not as if Anet did anything special for us, if they did our pet wouldn’t be visible for one.

Actually, if you disagree with me…look at your commanders. How many of them are Ranger mains?

Ranger in WvW is the epitome of risk/reward. If you setup for the reward, there is a lot of risk. But the rewards are pretty sweet too. Our new traits are taking away a little more of that risk and giving a bit more reward too, so I’m very excited about the changes coming.

I only ever play my ranger in wvw, all my mates play their necros and guards so they can tag everything under the sun, but ranger is just so much more fun imo.

@ Sebrent, with regards to traps and thieves, you should try playing trapper with trap runes and teaming up with a SA venom share thief. It’s absurdly good.