Guild Wars 2

I love my sword. It’s SO fun to use, but the semi-root in place is so incredibly annoying, I don’t use it near as much as I’d like. I’ve tried the ‘disable auto-attack’ and spamming the 1 button (just plain annoying), I’ve tried “timing” my dodges between the 3 parts of the skill animation (difficult and annoying), and the easiest (saddest) solution is to just use a different weapon. I watch the forums way more than I post, and the “bug” has been listed for months, and mentioned various times by many people. It’s included near the top of the “Ranger Bugs” thread too:

- Sword’s Slash/Kick/Pounce chain will cause the player to be semi-rooted in place resulting in inability to dodge or readily reposition yourself (more info https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Needs-fix-sword-auto-attack and https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Bug-List/page/2#post156135)

But I have yet to see any comment anywhere (from a Dev perspective) as to whether this even actually counts as a bug, let alone any hope of it changing in the future. Is this something that’s even being looked at, at all? Or is this actually how the sword is intended to play? To my knowledge (granted, my knowledge of other profession is limited), no other profession has a ‘root’ component of their primary (1 button) attack skill, making dodges difficult, let alone impossible at times. From my understanding, one of the main concepts of the entire combat system in this game is to be mobile, and this is definitely a huge problem where mobility is concerned. I love the animation of the 3-part attack (it looks so cool), but the chain needs to be breakable for dodging – is this ever going to happen?

Please note, I’m not asking for a date, or even a generalization of “soon”, but just to know that the issue IS an issue and is being looked into would give my ranger a very Merry Christmas indeed.

Thank you,
Nadjiera

I agree with EVERY point you made about the Ranger Sword. In fact, I made a dedicated post about this in the Bug forum but am getting ignored.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Ranger-Sword-Bugged-or-Working-As-Intended

I was really hoping yesterdays patch would have fixed this issue (and it IS an issue). Funny enough, they changed Hammer Shock (Hammer skill #3 for Warrior) to no longer root in place while casting. Great for my Warrior with a skill that has a cooldown…but how about my Ranger’s friggin’ auto-attack?

My Ranger is my 4th active character – I have an 80 Warrior, 80 Thief, and 80 Necro. I have a lowbie Elementalist and Guardian as well and have messed around with them, too. None of these other classes have any weapon combo that ROOTS you in place for auto-attack, making dodging and movement impossible due to an unbreakable chain combo. I’ve asked my Mesmer and Engineer friends and they said they don’t get rooted on their auto-attacks either. Being mobile and just having the ability to dodge things is absolutely vital during melee combat, so your guess is as good as mine as to why Sword roots us down…

It is such BS that we are forced to deal with this. I would like to ask A.Net, again, to please consider making Sword #1 not root you in place. Class/weapon balance please. GW is supposed to be about playing what you want, how you want – I cannot reliably and viably play my Ranger with my choice of weapon (it’s a Sword, if you haven’t caught on by now!) in this state. The worst part is, I could, if this singular issue were fixed.

PS: Taking the Sword off of auto-attack is NOT a solution, and I’m tired of hearing “just take it off auto and practice.” I am not going to practice a junky mechanic that is not forced upon anyone else. Besides, it is a half-working band-aid; you still cannot interrupt the cast bars once they begin, in order to dodge or move. This also creates a scenario where you have to mash the 1 button constantly, arguably creating undue fatigue and again, just being completely unnecessary when no other class in the game is required to do this.

Idol, you should’ve posted that thread in the ranger forums. The odds of getting an official reply should be higher here.

Agadar.4931:

Idol, you should’ve posted that thread in the ranger forums. The odds of getting an official reply should be higher here.

I may end up doing a repost in this forum later in the week if I cannot get a reply over there. I assumed it was a bug, hence posting the issue there. But you’re probably right.

Idolicious.6091:

PS: *Taking the Sword off of auto-attack is NOT a solution, and I’m tired of hearing “just take it off auto and practice.” *I am not going to practice a junky mechanic that is not forced upon anyone else. Besides, it is a half-working band-aid; you still cannot interrupt the cast bars once they begin, in order to dodge or move. This also creates a scenario where you have to mash the 1 button constantly, arguably creating undue fatigue and again, just being completely unnecessary when no other class in the game is required to do this.

Truth. I am also tired of hearing from the “leets” who don’t see a problem with it.

The sword root needs to be fixed. However there are also a number of other skills that need to be fixed with the same issue. A lot of skills (actually, probably most from what I noticed) that you receive when transformed for things such as renown hearts and also the Norn elites will root you which makes them a huge pain to use.

I do agree that the sword issue is bigger since it is a profession’s auto attack and not a temporary skill set alteration, this is not an isolated issue.

I like the polite nature of your post and I agree. I would add that even if this was an intended game feature, pretty much every ranger player agrees that it is unpleasantly unintuitive, and directly opposes the idea that rangers are agile warriors. For a weapon with nothing but movement skills, it is perhaps the worst to attempt dodging with.

I’m sure there will be a fix, but it’s nice to point this out again. It should be a bit of a priority I think!

That said, I’m happy with the previous update. I unfortunately don’t see the point in search and rescue yet, but that’s a whole new topic.

Isn’t the 3rd attack where he jumps up to kick?
as in i can kinda see why you’d shouldn’t be able to roll away with one foot still in the air….

Gelltor.3015:

Isn’t the 3rd attack where he jumps up to kick?
as in i can kinda see why you’d shouldn’t be able to roll away with one foot still in the air….

The kick is the 2nd strike in the auto-attack chain, the 3rd being the “spin” AoE sword attack.

Even still – if it is required to alter the animations to fix this issue, then so be it.

I don’t think any of us Sword Rangers would really prefer extravagant animation(s) to freedom of movement/ability to dodge. That said, I think they could fix this issue without altering the animations, anyways. ;P They have done so with other skills.

Idolicious.6091:

Gelltor.3015:

Isn’t the 3rd attack where he jumps up to kick?
as in i can kinda see why you’d shouldn’t be able to roll away with one foot still in the air….

The kick is the 2nd strike in the auto-attack chain, the 3rd being the “spin” AoE sword attack.

Even still – if it is required to alter the animations to fix this issue, then so be it.

I don’t think any of us Sword Rangers would really prefer extravagant animation(s) to freedom of movement/ability to dodge. That said, I think they could fix this issue without altering the animations, anyways. ;P They have done so with other skills.

It’s not the animations it’s the mini leaps. So if you fix the problem you lose swords ability to stay on a juking strafing target. Then everyone who lacks skill would be here complaining about the DPS nerf as they no longer stayed on target on autopilot.

I think being able to dodge to break the animation of it is a very reasonable request.

I don’t agree with “just remove it all and turn it into a super plain vanilla 130 range auto attack spam” Yes the leaping can get you in trouble some times, but the current range on the attacks along with the cripple makes a sword ranger extremely hard to kite. Greatsword is far less capable of this other than swoop and a hit or two every 12 sec.

Arrys.7145:

It’s not the animations it’s the mini leaps. So if you fix the problem you lose swords ability to stay on a juking strafing target. Then everyone who lacks skill would be here complaining about the DPS nerf as they no longer stayed on target on autopilot.

The auto-attack cripples the target with the 2nd strike in the chain. So, if you really can’t stay on target due to not being auto-glued to them…then that’s a personal problem I think. In fact, the current [short] cripple from the 2nd strike is pretty useless because you are glued to your target anyways.

I don’t see why they can’t just change the leaps to not close the distance between you and the target (+ remove the root of course). You should already be in melee range when you start the auto-attack. Closers in the middle of the chain seem superfluous, especially considering the the free cripple you get…and often times actually get you into trouble. Ever killed a mob and then your 3rd strike in the auto-attack leaped you into a seperate, un-agro’d mob? I sure have.

Minimally, they could just change the cast bars to be breakable when you move/dodge. Like any other ability in the game with a cast bar. That wouldn’t really be a proper fix (since you still wouldn’t get actual freedom of movement while auto-attacking) but at least you could then dodge roll away from some attacks…now, I do NOT want to see a half-azz fix like that – I am just throwing that out there for comparisons sake.

I made this complaint back in Beta. This is support and a-net should fix this problem, this kills the use of the normal sword.

I was going to make a new signet build (got tired of being a trap ranger) focused on sword. But as I read about the rooting issue with the sword, I think I just keep using the axe with dagger. At least the daggers evading attack always work and you can dodge whenever you wish to.
It’s a pity basic things don’t work as they should. Takes the fun out of the game.

I wouldn’t mind a self-root if the second chain does a small leap backward to evade if the target is not moving.

It would really make PvE MH sword more fun.

runeblade.7514:

I wouldn’t mind a self-root if the second chain does a small leap backward to evade if the target is not moving.

It would really make PvE MH sword more fun.

I for one would, considering you already have evades on Sword #2 and #3. Adding another to #1 is overkill and still wouldn’t justify the stupid rooting mechanic.

Besides, an auto leap backwards..heh..good luck fighting near the edges of anything, where you will either fall off a cliff, leap into a wall, etc. And just think about the accidental agro you would get in places where mob density is high. ;P

Or use a Greatsword instead for that situation.

Idolicious.6091:

The kick is the 2nd strike in the auto-attack chain, the 3rd being the “spin” AoE sword attack.

Even still – if it is required to alter the animations to fix this issue, then so be it.

I don’t think any of us Sword Rangers would really prefer extravagant animation(s) to freedom of movement/ability to dodge. That said, I think they could fix this issue without altering the animations, anyways. ;P They have done so with other skills.

This is why many of us post in these threads telling people everything is fine. We’re worried we’ll lose those animations to placate people that should probably be playing something else. 1h sword root is not a bug, you cannot dodge/move out of any leaps and 1h sword has 2 in its auto attack chain. If that bothers you why not play greatsword or a different class? There are plenty of us that love one handed in its current form and don’t want to see it changed to something else as a solution.

If the devs want to make us able to interrupt leaps that’s fine, but calls for changing the animations entirely are not cool for those of us who run a sword ranger as our main and love it.

God I hope not, because it’s not a root it’s a 400yd leap, just because -YOU- leave it on auto cast doesn’t mean the players who don’t should be punished for your inability to adapt. They’ve actually said the sword is working fine, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so I highly doubt anything is going to be done which is good.

PS: both the 2nd and 3rd skills are leaps (which is what “roots” you because you’re kinda rushing forward) to make it better if you “miss” (or just clip your target) you’re given a second chance to use the leap, if you chain it together you can use it as a 1680yd gap opener.

Durzlla.6295:

God I hope not, because it’s not a root it’s a 400yd leap, just because -YOU- leave it on auto cast doesn’t mean the players who don’t should be punished for your inability to adapt. They’ve actually said the sword is working fine, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so I highly doubt anything is going to be done which is good.

PS: both the 2nd and 3rd skills are leaps (which is what “roots” you because you’re kinda rushing forward) to make it better if you “miss” (or just clip your target) you’re given a second chance to use the leap, if you chain it together you can use it as a 1680yd gap opener.

So what you are saying here that its okay for a normal auto-attack skill combo to root you practically in place you want to spam the 1 button. Get real.

This should be fixed because i see no reason to use this. It would be a LOT easier to ’’adapt’’ when you are not rooted in place.

Also you cannot compare a single activation skill to a full blown right off the bat in the middle of combo skill as a ’’root’’. You decide when to use them. I don’t want to spam number 1 so i can attack ’’carefully’’ and dodge.

Damn some people are annoyingly ignorant.

Durzlla.6295:

They’ve actually said the sword is working fine, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so I highly doubt anything is going to be done which is good.

This is part of my original question – has someone officially said that it’s working as intended? I haven’t seen anything that says it is (or isn’t). If it is, then so be it (whether I like it or not), but I’ve never seen anything to say that the ‘rooting effect’ (even if that’s not the primary purpose) is intentional. If you have a link to where it was said, that would be great.

Infatum.2481:

This is why many of us post in these threads telling people everything is fine. We’re worried we’ll lose those animations to placate people that should probably be playing something else. 1h sword root is not a bug, you cannot dodge/move out of any leaps and 1h sword has 2 in its auto attack chain. If that bothers you why not play greatsword or a different class? There are plenty of us that love one handed in its current form and don’t want to see it changed to something else as a solution.

If the devs want to make us able to interrupt leaps that’s fine, but calls for changing the animations entirely are not cool for those of us who run a sword ranger as our main and love it.

Clearly, everything is not fine, just looking at the ratio of posts here within 1 day is an indication of that.

Personally, I know several Rangers, both Guildies and just other friends who tried Sword, liked it, but stopped using it entirely – purely because of the root effect. Don’t sit there and tell me “everything is fine.” Which brings me to my next point.

I knew there would be one person who would be emotional about their precious animations changing, if they even did change them. FYI, leaps are already interruptible to some degree because you can be knocked down whilst flying through the air as it is. Regardless, you are in the [probable] minority 1-2% that cares about fluff more than actual gameplay. Therefore, your opinion is taken lightly, by me and probably anyone else that actually cares about gameplay and improving Quality of Life for Rangers (ya know, what they are supposed to be focusing on with the class right now).

Maybe I should be playing something else you say? You know that’s funny. Ranger is my 4th character, I have 3 other 80’s, and 2 more lowbies, so you really don’t need to tell me to play another class. I’d rather continue on my current Ranger character without crappy mechanics forced down my throat on my weapon of choice. I haven’t had this issue (because it doesn’t exist) with any other class or weapon combo, either. Maybe you are the one that should try another class – it helps in making observations and suggestions when it comes to balance.

Why don’t I use a Greatsword instead, you say? Uh, well, because I’d rather use a Sword – without dumb mechanics that no other class (or weapon set) has to face. Because GW is supposed to be a game where I can play however I want instead of being pigeonholed into using certain builds or weapons. At least that’s whats been advertised to us by Arena.net.

You sitting there telling me to play another class, or use a Greatsword, etc. is a perfect example of the anti-freedom Arena.net is trying to avoid, or claims to.

Durzlla.6295:

God I hope not, because it’s not a root it’s a 400yd leap, just because -YOU- leave it on auto cast doesn’t mean the players who don’t should be punished for your inability to adapt.

Inability to adapt…to crappy mechanics? That nobody else in the game is forced to deal with? Puh-lease.

I think it’s more of the fact that I don’t want:

1. To mash the 1 key all day when nobody else has to.
2. To give myself Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
3. To knowingly put myself at more risk (yes, even with Auto-Attack disabled – because it still roots you) by using the weapon that I prefer.
4. To fly into another mob that is standing there un-agro’d due to poor ability queuing/lag.
5. The inability to move my character/dodge while attacking.

There’s a whole host of reasons, it’s common sense really. Ask any other random Ranger. You’ll get a variation of at least a few of these points, I’m sure.

Nadjia.5798:

Durzlla.6295:

They’ve actually said the sword is working fine, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so I highly doubt anything is going to be done which is good.

This is part of my original question – has someone officially said that it’s working as intended? I haven’t seen anything that says it is (or isn’t). If it is, then so be it (whether I like it or not), but I’ve never seen anything to say that the ‘rooting effect’ (even if that’s not the primary purpose) is intentional. If you have a link to where it was said, that would be great.

I haven’t seen anything of the sort. However, even if they think it’s working fine, it’s not like it couldn’t be changed. They change and tweak things all the time that they thought at one time were “working fine.” Anyone who played GW1 (or any other MMO really) can attest to that fact. It’s called…gasp…balancing.

Idolicious.6091:

Clearly, everything is not fine, just looking at the ratio of posts here within 1 day is an indication of that.

Personally, I know several Rangers, both Guildies and just other friends who tried Sword, liked it, but stopped using it entirely – purely because of the root effect. Don’t sit there and tell me “everything is fine.” Which brings me to my next point.

I knew there would be one person who would be emotional about their precious animations changing, if they even did change them. FYI, leaps are already interruptible to some degree because you can be knocked down whilst flying through the air as it is. Regardless, you are in the [probable] minority 1-2% that cares about fluff more than actual gameplay. Therefore, your opinion is taken lightly, by me and probably anyone else that actually cares about gameplay and improving Quality of Life for Rangers (ya know, what they are supposed to be focusing on with the class right now).

Maybe I should be playing something else you say? You know that’s funny. Ranger is my 4th character, I have 3 other 80’s, and 2 more lowbies, so you really don’t need to tell me to play another class. I’d rather continue on my current Ranger character without crappy mechanics forced down my throat on my weapon of choice. I haven’t had this issue (because it doesn’t exist) with any other class or weapon combo, either. Maybe you are the one that should try another class – it helps in making observations and suggestions when it comes to balance.

Why don’t I use a Greatsword instead, you say? Uh, well, because I’d rather use a Sword – without dumb mechanics that no other class (or weapon set) has to face. Because GW is supposed to be a game where I can play however I want instead of being pigeonholed into using certain builds or weapons. At least that’s whats been advertised to us by Arena.net.

You sitting there telling me to play another class, or use a Greatsword, etc. is a perfect example of the anti-freedom Arena.net is trying to avoid, or claims to.

People who are happy with something don’t tend to come to the forums much let alone post, hence why most dev teams take the forums with a healthy dose of salt.

I am curious why this is such a passionate issue for you, what about ranger 1h sword is so awesome other than the animations that you’d feel the need to change the one part of it that drew myself and many other rangers I know to it?

I stated clearly above that I’m fine if they want to make leaps interruptable (which since you seem to have a misunderstanding about it, means that they would be breakable by either dodges, movement or both, not that you can be CCed out of it, you can be CCed out of pretty much anything). What I’m not ok with is people wanting to turn ranger 1h sword auto attack into warrior, thief, mesmer or guardian 1h sword auto attack just because they don’t like it in its current form.

If you want to play melee with that attack style there are plenty of options out there, if I want to jump around like a crazy ninja in combat and they take away ranger 1h sword’s current mechanics, I have no other option, I’ve tried them all repeatedly. So yes I’m a bit defensive about people suggesting they take away the one thing I really enjoy in this game. I would think given your obvious passion you could respect that and maybe push for changes that don’t ruin other peoples fun.

No. A-net doesn’t care about rangers. Reroll.

1h sword is my main weapon. Sry but i think is just amazing, my whole build would probably not work without it. I don’t say this to look “leet” or something, that’s just my honest opinion. 1h sword is an evasive weapon, and does that very well. Depends on your playstyle ofc. The ranger has still lots of problems but IMO 1h sword aa is defo not one of them.

JP I believe said that the word was fine, but he also said LB was fine nd now our arrows move faster so I wouldn’t get too aught up in what is said by the devs.

Maybe they should just make the Dodge commands to have priority and be able to override any other commands. This way the Sword skill animation & what not can still remain unchanged, but when you want to dodge, you can.

Just my 2Cents.

Let Dodge take priority over the animations. That’s all I’d like. I think the chain is cool as is.

using this weapon requires proficient usage of the ability queue system, targeting system & camera system simultaneously. all issues raised in this thread pertain to one of these 3 issues.

if you spam the 1 key, you will run into ability queue problems ( & apparently get CTS ).
if you play with autotargeting, you will lose most of the positional advantages.
if you do not have great camera control, positional strikes will not place you where you want to be.

imo, every weapon in the game should follow the example of the 1h sword, not the other way around. this weapon causes the player to learn more about how the game works in order to use it to its maximum effect. every weapon should provide such an enriching gameplay experience.

the idea that the sword does not allow you to dodge is quite absurd.

msg me in-game if you would like to discuss it any further or go over anything with you. i’m always happy to help.

Infatum.2481:

People who are happy with something don’t tend to come to the forums much let alone post, hence why most dev teams take the forums with a healthy dose of salt.

I am curious why this is such a passionate issue for you, what about ranger 1h sword is so awesome other than the animations that you’d feel the need to change the one part of it that drew myself and many other rangers I know to it?

I stated clearly above that I’m fine if they want to make leaps interruptible (which since you seem to have a misunderstanding about it, means that they would be breakable by either dodges, movement or both, not that you can be CCed out of it, you can be CCed out of pretty much anything). What I’m not ok with is people wanting to turn ranger 1h sword auto attack into warrior, thief, mesmer or guardian 1h sword auto attack just because they don’t like it in its current form.

If you want to play melee with that attack style there are plenty of options out there, if I want to jump around like a crazy ninja in combat and they take away ranger 1h sword’s current mechanics, I have no other option, I’ve tried them all repeatedly. So yes I’m a bit defensive about people suggesting they take away the one thing I really enjoy in this game. I would think given your obvious passion you could respect that and maybe push for changes that don’t ruin other peoples fun.

Please read better, man. If you don’t know why I’m asking for 1h Sword changes (I have listed reasons repeatedly) than I cannot help you.

I really don’t care about your boo-hoo’ing over animations. Big deal. I can’t imagine anybody else does either. People care more about gameplay. I don’t care if YOU realize that or not. Forcing people to deal with crappy mechanics to have “ninja animations” is extremely dumb. Ranger is not a ninja, go play a Thief if you want that gameplay (Don’t like this recommendation? Then stop telling others there are “other options” out there. Thanks). Don’t push for changes that ruin peoples (yours? – haven’t seen any others) fun? Lulz, there is maybe 5% of people that are happy with how the sword is, so how about you stop defending the poor state of it (because you like ninja animations) and let everyone else have some fun, instead? Quit telling people there are “other options” out there, especially considering there is a grand total of one other melee option for a ranger. I don’t want to hear it, extremely tired of it, and that isn’t a solution. If Sword is so mechanically broken in it’s current state then it effectively pigeonholes me into using Greatsword if I want to melee, which I do not want to use. This is against Arena.Net’s philosophy about playing what you want, how you want.

I’m not “confused” about leaps being or not being interruptible, either. Reading comprehension, please. I said that you could get knocked down during a leap so they are in SOME PART, ALREADY INTERRUPTIBLE. I didn’t say you could interrupt them yourself, just that the function is already there.

I find it quite absurd if anyone cares more about freakin’ animations over gameplay balance. I mean, I figured there would be 1 or 2 people who obsess over things like that, but fighting gameplay balance to retain junky mechanics? Laughable. I was trying not to be an kitten about this, but some of you guys are just absolutely ridiculous with your “ninja animations” and crap…god…that is so dumb. You do realize how you probably sound to others, right?

“Ughhhh…I don’t care about BALANCE or FAIRNESS, I just want my NINJA JUMPS BRO! I’m SO STOKED about how cool my freakin’ NINJA JUMPS are! Wooooo!! Forget all the people out there who refuse to use sword because it sucks. No other classes have weird rooting/undodgeable mechanics while melee’ing? OH WELL, NINJA JUMPS BRO!!”

Gameplay > Fluffy animations.

Please.

Fjandi.2516:

1h sword is my main weapon. Sry but i think is just amazing, my whole build would probably not work without it. I don’t say this to look “leet” or something, that’s just my honest opinion. 1h sword is an evasive weapon, and does that very well. Depends on your playstyle ofc. The ranger has still lots of problems but IMO 1h sword aa is defo not one of them.

You do realize this thread is about improving the 1h sword, right?

…or does your build somehow revolve around you being rooted during your auto-attack sequence?

Some of you guys really need to read before posting.

faeral.7120:

using this weapon requires proficient usage of the ability queue system, targeting system & camera system simultaneously. all issues raised in this thread pertain to one of these 3 issues.

if you spam the 1 key, you will run into ability queue problems ( & apparently get CTS ).
if you play with autotargeting, you will lose most of the positional advantages.
if you do not have great camera control, positional strikes will not place you where you want to be.

imo, every weapon in the game should follow the example of the 1h sword, not the other way around. this weapon causes the player to learn more about how the game works in order to use it to its maximum effect. every weapon should provide such an enriching gameplay experience.

the idea that the sword does not allow you to dodge is quite absurd.

msg me in-game if you would like to discuss it any further or go over anything with you. i’m always happy to help.

No…just, no. What this means is that if I “want to use 1h sword effectively” (according to you) that I need to change all of my targeting options. This affects all of my other weapons and characters. That is not a solution. At all. This just further proves that the sword has issues and should be changed. In fact, your entire post serves as reasons why it should be changed. Let me clarify by breaking it down a bit:

“all issues raised in this thread pertain to one of these 3 issues.”

“if you spam the 1 key, you will run into ability queue problems ( & apparently get CTS ).”

“if you play with autotargeting, you will lose most of the positional advantages.”

“if you do not have great camera control, positional strikes will not place you where you want to be.”

“this weapon causes the player to learn more about how the game works in order to use it to its maximum effect.” (This is laughable, really, as I’m pretty sure we know how the game works. Disagreeing with mechanics does not equal “we need to learn how to play.”)

“the idea that the sword does not allow you to dodge is quite absurd.”

The sword should act like every other weapon in the game. Not the other way around. Why am I still having this discussion…lol…smh.

By the way, even if I was okay with changing all of my targeting options, which I’m not – it STILL would not solve the underlying issue of 1h Sword preventing you from moving or dodging while attacking using #1. Regardless of how you set up things – once that cast bar starts moving, you won’t be. End of story. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Do not dodge that AoE – because you can’t. It’s impossible.

Nadjia.5798:

Durzlla.6295:

They’ve actually said the sword is working fine, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so I highly doubt anything is going to be done which is good.

This is part of my original question – has someone officially said that it’s working as intended? I haven’t seen anything that says it is (or isn’t). If it is, then so be it (whether I like it or not), but I’ve never seen anything to say that the ‘rooting effect’ (even if that’s not the primary purpose) is intentional. If you have a link to where it was said, that would be great.

The “rooting” is infact intentional, it’s a LEAP skill, you LEAP 400yds at your target, the only reason you’re “rooted” is because you’re playing with the auto attack on, and as such you’re constantly leaping at your target which is what’s not allowing you to move elsewhere. Putting your 1h sword attack on auto cast is like putting your 1h sword #2 skill on auto cast, it’s just stupid because you’ll be leaping all over the place and just get kittened over if you need to evade anything.

@idiotclous or w/e your name is, if they were to make it not “root” you the sword auto attack would just flat out suck. The only thing that really makes it good is the fact you stick to an enemy like glue, the first hit is a normal sword swing, the second you leap 400yds and cripple them, the third you leap 440yds and apply might to your pet. What this does is makes it so if they don’t evade the first hit, they’re going to eat the ENTIRE combo should you choose to use it all. And idk how you’d be getting CTS from spamming 1, i mean kitten, i spam 1 on all my characters and all my weapons and i’m not getting CTS so that may be more of a health issue you should deal with than a gameplay issue.

Turn auto-attack off and it’s fine. In most fights your not going to sit there and spam 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 that much normally 2-3 times and change skill/dodge. So how anyone is having problems with the sword is beyond me.

Idolicious.6091:

I really don’t care about your boo-hoo’ing over animations. Big deal. I can’t imagine anybody else does either.

People care more about gameplay.

I don’t care if YOU realize that or not. Forcing people to deal with crappy mechanics to have “ninja animations” is extremely dumb.

Don’t push for changes that ruin peoples (yours? – haven’t seen any others) fun? Lulz, there is maybe 5% of people that are happy with how the sword is, so how about you stop defending the poor state of it

You do realize this thread is about improving the 1h sword, right?

This affects all of my other weapons and characters. That is not a solution. At all. This just further proves that the sword has issues and should be changed.

Please.

You realise you are boohooing over a weapon that functions correctly according to the devs right? Why should anyone else care that you are having a hissy fit over the way a weapon works?

The sword functions well and is great on 1v1 encounters. Like all weapons it’s situational and I use it as such. I like the animation and coupled with the dagger I love being able to jump in and out of combat. The mechanics aren’t crappy in my opinion.

I don’t see how your suggestion is an improvement? maybe a simplification of the auto attack to bring it in line with the other classes but that doesn’t amount to an improvement. Maybe in your mind it does though.

5% of rangers? really you have done the hard yards, compiled a survey of all the rangers, crunched the numbers and got the stats or are you just making stuff up to suit your argument.

I have different key setups for my different alts. They all require a different way to play them so I do not see your point here. Classes don’t all share the same mechanics. This is apart of the game, perhaps you just need to accept it and move on instead of trying to mould a class into something acceptable in your eyes.

You started this thread with a well thought out and composed post. Since then you have really declined into a semi abusive rant because others do not share your opinion. Instead of taking something on board as a different opinion you shout it down like we are a bunch of semi kitten dredge that don’t understand the game at all. Not everyone will share your opinion, get used to it kid.

Ridgeblader.7135:

I have different key setups for my different alts. They all require a different way to play them so I do not see your point here.* Classes don’t all share the same mechanics*. This is apart of the game, perhaps you just need to accept it and move on instead of trying to mould a class into something acceptable in your eyes.

You started this thread with a well thought out and composed post. Since then you have really declined into a semi abusive rant because others do not share your opinion. Instead of taking something on board as a different opinion you shout it down like we are a bunch of semi kitten dredge that don’t understand the game at all. Not everyone will share your opinion, get used to it kid.

This. A thousand times, this. I can understand your argument; why shouldn’t the sword ranger be able to dodge like the other classes? But you make the sword sound like the anti-christ of mobility and dodging, when it really isn’t. People always complain and bring up the #1 (autoattack) chain and crucify it for it’s rooting. But if you’re going to critique/call for an overhaul on the sword, you need to look at the entire sword.

Yes, dodges don’t interrupt the auto attack chain. But you know what does? The sword #2 and #3. And, oh hey look, they have evade frames as well. If you need to dodge during an attack chain, pop serpent strike (#3) and you can evade while putting out damage, unlike every other class. That’s pretty awesome. And if you still have to dodge after s.strike, you’re free to do so, though if you time it right you won’t have to.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think a dodge roll should interrupt the sword auto attack. But that’s it. Dodging should interrupt any skill that doesn’t have dodge frames, autoattack or not. Movement, however, should not interrupt.

Now, as for your “responses”, you need to chill. Yes, people will have different opinions then you. No, they should not be thrown off a cliff for having such. You ask for a mature discussion while you spew venom and bile with every other line. That is not how a discussion works. A discussion is when people with opinions come to discuss their opinions and input to a topic. You keep belching “why should I have to play with a rooted sword cause you like your flying ninja kicks?”. I respond, “Why should I have to play a watered down sword because you can’t use the sword as a whole”.

The better question: Is it intended that the player can use the chain to double leap AWAY from foe?

We all recognize the offensive side to it, but I have seen players use the chain to get away from melee players by not having a target, turning away and using the rest of the chain.

Lately, I’ve taken to taking Greatsword off of the chain, too. I like controlling when that Evade is going to come.

But considering Ranger’s Sword is most comparable to Thief’s Sword thanks to the cripple (and the Dagger’s reliable poison and endurance regen), I think it’d just be best if ANet would explain the design choices behind weapon skills.

I don’t believe Ranger’s Sword is exclusive with chain issues, as I see similar choices with Guardian Hammer and other moves. Those don’t root you, but they do seem to benefit from manual control over the auto-chain – Ranger has the leaping animation problem if you’re hugging your target, and Guardian’s have a pretty long cast time that requires some set up.

Idolicious.6091:

You do realize this thread is about improving the 1h sword, right?

…or does your build somehow revolve around you being rooted during your auto-attack sequence?

Some of you guys really need to read before posting.

Ye i love being rooted, also 1h sword is a terrible weapon and is totally impossible to play with it cos of the aa root. I suppose this is what u wanted to read.

1. It is not root, it is leap. Advice here: Making stupid title makes You look like whiner and makes Your thread less likely to be taken seriously by devs.
2. I use sword and I use autoattack (lazy) And it’s worth it anyway. Annoying sometimes, but this weapon is far from useless.
3. There is a problem here, but this is not a “sword” problem. Dodge interrupts every possible action except leap. Becouse dodge is supposed to interrupt actions, it is not queued. So when You try to dodge in the middle of the leap, dodge do not work and is forgotten. It should be a general fix that dodge, when not executed immediately, should queue just after current action (leap). Same with stomp btw.

Bohun Martell.8963:

3. There is a problem here, but this is not a “sword” problem. Dodge interrupts every possible action except leap. Becouse dodge is supposed to interrupt actions, it is not queued. So when You try to dodge in the middle of the leap, dodge do not work and is forgotten. It should be a general fix that dodge, when not executed immediately, should queue just after current action (leap). Same with stomp btw.

I think dodge entering the ability queue would be a bad idea.