Guild Wars 2

First let me start off by saying im sorry for the audio in this.. It sucks balls i know but im working on it, and i suggest muting it as you cant even hear the guild and just hear my obnoxious voice/typing. Im working on the audio part but everyone says on these forums LB ranger is dead and i try to tell them otherwise, asks for video so here it is. I even laid out the rounds so u can skip to them if needed.

Second, i know i click skills, usually just my last utility and elite, but im working on that, sorry for the people who dont like my skill clickiness.. and my quickness use is not the best, but i picked it up post trait patch, and still learning how to use it and when is the best time.

Third, I know i stay in LB the entire time and use my GS very defensive (i am a advocate for using GS offensively as possible), however, they played 2 gank, and were very bally so there wasnt many targets i can go all in (im almost full zerker lb ranger in wvw.)

Sure there are rounds i get blasted to almost 0, but i recover and continue the fight, and the only time i get royally kittened on is my bad positioning (first GvG for us in awhile) and i get trained down. Feed back is appreciated as im always looking to improve.

If i get enough time away from GvGs and get time to PvP ill try to make a video of me playing a map or two to show that as well.

Round 1 Start: 00:00

Round 2 Start: 8:55

Round 3 Start: 20:00

Round 4 Start: 31:25

http://www.twitch.tv/padapwn/c/6989275

Sorry forgot to post the link.. my bad.

Is there a video link to watch?

Edited original post to include the link, comments would be appreciated.

Ever since Read the Wind, Longbow Ranger has been great fun in WvW. Then the Rapid Fire buff came and made it amazing.

With this latest update we lost some damage, but the other 90% of my build got some good upgrades in return.

I think Longbow Ranger is still fine and with more survivability than before.

I completely agree.. This is in response to people complaining about LB and asking for proof.. here it is.

some positives:
LB damage is great, I don’t think people contest this point too much though. LTW is deadly with the piercing arrows and the increased RoF. you obviously feel the need to “prove” yourself on these forums, so at least you put up some footage. respect for that. you also did a pretty good job staying with your squad and receiving the benefits.

some criticisms:
the gvg itself is very low tier, so imo u cant really use this footage to “prove” anything. you guys received zero backline pressure, the drivers seemed really inexperienced as the groups kept dancing around each other, so you never really felt a good train on you. you were able to freecast the entire time while clicking your skills =P when you did receive a tiny bit of pressure, you crumbled. having seen the kind of environment you play in, I can safely say you don’t have a complete understanding of higher level play.

a freecasting ranger is indeed a powerful force, but again, players generally don’t complain about the LB’s damage. most complaints come from a high mmr spvp environment, where the issues are much different. imagine having a gank squad on you at all times =P in fact, I feel power rangers are quite strong in a wvw environment where their shortcomings can easily be made up for simply by the presence of many other players in large scale engagements.

as long as youre having fun, that’s all that matters though! cheers

Mistsim, go read these forums, damage complaints are all over it.. I know its not the top Guilds, but im curious what your experience is and if you have any footage to watch of yours? 90% of the community of rangers isnt close to top tier, so i believe this is more watchable for them then any of them will get to to be honest.

And i dont struggle much in pvp at all either, the only times i do obviously is when im yolo queuing and i get the pre mades..

On the “crumbling”, i dont see it. I got caught out and died twice? Like i said was the rust, mesmers burst on me (big complaint from other rangers) got away and was fine, ( thief bursted on me another complain) i was fine and interrupted his stealth, i believe it was me, might have been my pick thief but not sure..

Hmm, I’m confused nobody complains about ranger’s usefulness in GvG , where you’re getting carried by the guardians and staff ele and perma 15+ might from those same players using blasts into fire over and over pre-fight. Ranger has been in GvG meta for a while now, lol.

I’ll also add though that those were extremely bad players, not sure this proves anything, if there was anything to even prove for ranger in GvG.. Agg even uses a ranger.

What was this proving again? I’m just confused by the whole thing.

PvP top tier is not equal to GvG … The quality of players between the 2 are very far between as well as the mindset. I would say ranger is pretty decent in WvW overall. Just no team support in PvP.

Would love to see your videos blitz? This was for the people saying LB ranger is dead.. if you dont want to read the rest of the forum posts then you wont understand.. Sorry cant read them for you..

A friend keyed me in on this guy. I’ve seen some stuff I’ve never seen before, but I think sometimes he acts a little “yolo”. That might just be the nature of solo queue though, sometimes I do the same things hahaha.

http://www.twitch.tv/eurantien

I know eurantien, he got me back into ranger after i wouldnt give it a try after they didnt make it anything like gw1 ranger. But this post was for the people crying about lb ranger damage and not being viable.. Not for the people who post that they are good or im bad (i know i am) without posting videos of their own. Sorry, like i realized your words are just words without proof on these forums i guess…

i liked it.

some of the comments here are a little condescending (cuz internet gaming forum), but i think the point is that these fights played to your strengths: they were almost all standoffs because the groups had lots of ranged aoe, or perhaps because the drivers on both sides were a little timid (which makes sense if you are saying you guys were a little rusty).

For a standoff fight, a class with 1500 range strong single target is incredible. Imagine if there was another one of you assisting?

Most upper tier gvg’s are not ranged standoffs though, so the playstyle you exhibit here doesn’t prove anything to them. Ranger’s are still useful in those situations too, but different footage would be needed to highlight those (more common) scenarios.

ppl complain that LB is dead because it lost a lot of dmg
I for one think it still works but the thing is that in “meta” pretty much all ppl care about is dmg so when you nerf a weapons dmg output you see where this is going

they have a point since from what I have noticed (keep in mind I pretty much only play Ranger so Im not a 100% sure of dmg changes on the otherclasses) only Ranger LB had a significant drop in dmg while most other classes and weapons had theyre dmg increased but a fair margin

I duel alot of people in WvW with another really good ranger on my server and besides serane (who is also arguably on equal skill level with phantaram and i still won some of those duels) have never lost a duel post-patch. I roam as well and can generally handle 2v1’s with power lb / gs.

I simply don’t have a problem with lb in WvW and I think alot of rangers defend longbow in WvW. I’m just not sure making a gvg video about it was the right choice. Alot of people agree rangers are good in GvG. I’m not saying you’re bad or anything, just critiquing the mode in which you’re demonstrating longbow.

After seeing this though, I can only confirm that it’s not really that difficult to play power ranger in GvG’s. You stay at 1,500 range with a bunch of people in front of you and spam 1, an occasional 4 on a thief/necro to push him out of the way and separate him. 2 for obvious damage and 5 when your side pushes their side to cripple and then hit 3 occasionally to deter thieves/mesmer burst and swap to GS for mobility and blocks..

The hardest thing you have to worry about is target switching , movement with your guild and coordination which all are not even ranger specific qualities, that’s pretty much with any class.

—

In PvP it’s a different story (where most of the complaints come from), you don’t get the same stats you can achieve in PvP as you do in WvW and the mindset is just completely different with much more enclosed spacing and 10-20 other guys aren’t in front of you protecting you.

The ones saying the LB is dead are as exaggerating as the ones saying the LB Ranger can keep up with other go-to classes. Sure the LB does a lot of damage, but there is no way in hell you can outdamage a staff ele. Not only that, but the Ranger is also missing support when using the LB. Other classes bring way more to the table while providing the same usefulness.

Wuselknusel.4082:

The ones saying the LB is dead are as exaggerating as the ones saying the LB Ranger can keep up with other go-to classes. Sure the LB does a lot of damage, but there is no way in hell you can outdamage a staff ele. Not only that, but the Ranger is also missing support when using the LB. Other classes bring way more to the table while providing the same usefulness.

I’ve not played my elementalist nearly as much as my ranger, so maybe I’m doing it wrong, but how does a staff ele deal near as much single-target damage as a ranger in wvw? It seems like nearly all of the ele’s DPS is ground-targeted, which seems difficult to get players to stay in for long.

So at first I thought it’s dead, but after some guildmates and friends experimented on some builds, I tried and found It’s kittening op and too ez sometimes you can even melee. Remorseless is stupid op. Running on pure zerk, scholars rune, clarion bond, swiftness and might on petswap, full stacks of bloodlust and guard stacks, and signet of the hunt active with opening strike hits for 6.7k LB auto attack. And I’ve seen the dog’s crippling proc for 7k crit. Do the same on maul and you get 9-12k if you hit. Only CC’s spam and condis can screw you.

What is this fixation on going full out DPS when using a LB. Seriously, go MM, WS and NM. Also why do you keep calling barrages? Seriously its a low impact skill.

In wvw zergs LB ranger is pretty great, for backline focus and for cc support/dmg when jumping in with GS and other melee. Since I don’t play any other game modes, cant comment on those …

A little promo to my Mondays raid with AIM on Desolation :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2R-B1FZOqw

Chokolata.1870:

What is this fixation on going full out DPS when using a LB. Seriously, go MM, WS and NM. Also why do you keep calling barrages? Seriously its a low impact skill.

I also run Marksmanship, Wilderness Survival and Nature Magic. I still use Scholar Runes however. Which runes do you use?

I use Traveler runes. I find them overall the best for PvP and WvW as there is no on demand swiftness with a WS build.

I’m using Signet of the Hunt. I was thinking about either Traveller or Earth runes, but I’m not certain enough to change. I guess I could try them out on an exotic set first.

I have Traveller runes on my WvW set too, because I can’t deal with not having +25% and hate to lose a utility slot for SoTH. The boon duration and condition duration are nothing to sneeze at either. Probably the best rune for Power LB in WvW imo, but bad for PvE. That sacrifice I can handle…

The power stats on Traveller runes are quite a bit worse. I don’t need the condition duration. The boon duration is nice, but don’t really need it either.

So it comes down to:

• 1 utility slot (Traveller)
• more passive damage (Scholar)
• permanent protection + reflect proc (Earth)

If Rangers had a Signet that gave us a passive 100 power + 10% damage, would I pick it as my 3rd utility? That’s basically what I’m doing with Signet of the Hunt + Scholar.

Traveller runes give more freedom, but we have no utility skill that gives more sustained damage, so you’d give that up as a choice.

It feels close to the choice between Brutish Seals, Steady Focus or Moment of Clarity. I’m partial to Steady Focus.

To be honest, there is only 1 utility skill that I might prefer over Scholar Runes, which is what makes it tempting to switch.

Holland.9351:

The power stats on Traveller runes are quite a bit worse. I don’t need the condition duration. The boon duration is nice, but don’t really need it either.

So it comes down to:

• 1 utility slot (Traveller)
• more passive damage (Scholar)
• permanent protection + reflect proc (Earth)

If Rangers had a Signet that gave us a passive 100 power + 10% damage, would I pick it as my 3rd utility? That’s basically what I’m doing with Signet of the Hunt + Scholar.

Traveller runes give more freedom, but we have no utility skill that gives more sustained damage, so you’d give that up as a choice.

It feels close to the choice between Brutish Seals, Steady Focus or Moment of Clarity. I’m partial to Steady Focus.

To be honest, there is only 1 utility skill that I might prefer over Scholar Runes, which is what makes it tempting to switch.

I replaced my travelers runes a week ago and went with scholars and hunt signet. Since I gain swiftness alot, it’s pretty redundant on my current pewpew build. Also, signet of the hunt is used alot for burst attacks.

Travelers give me everything I need for my build, be it for PvP or WvW. 15 boon duration, 25% movement speed. The important part is that QZ fury and swiftness go up to 8s when you have NM slotted and traveler runes. Protective ward and companions defense also mean permanent protection.

Well before that patch I could easily defeat a mesmer on my pew pew now it’s like I expect to die….Rangers LB/GS are reeaaally underpower tbh “post patch”

Eversor.5186:

Well before that patch I could easily defeat a mesmer on my pew pew now it’s like I expect to die….Rangers LB/GS are reeaaally underpower tbh “post patch”

You’re so wrong, we got some buffs and some nerfs but are basically in the same spot. Fighting a Mesmer went from a 90/10 chance to us to a 50/50 chance, but in no way should you expect to die.

either youre fighting kittenty mesmer or I’m bad…I’ll choose 1…and I didn’t even talked about buff/nerf LB/GS rangers are wwaaayyyyy underpowered compared to mesmer’s burst …In groups I’m still as effective but not for 1 v1 or 1 v X…before that patch I was a beast…now I’ just die in a split of a second..sudendly I’m bad…the only prof that is still on the same spot is Necro they even got nerfed and still amazing

As Benjamin said, for me Mesmer battles come completely down to the skill of the Mesmer. Condi PU builds give me the most trouble, but I can handle them well enough. Shatter builds are usually the easiest for me to handle. They Blink-cast GS #3 just in time to be knocked down by my wolf. Then a quick Maul/Fear/Swoop/Maul and the fight is usually over (Yay glass!). If they’re not dead, I’ll swap to LB, pop a condition clear to sheer confusion, then use RF to track them when they try to rest in stealth.

Again, a GOOD mesmer can and will survive my counter with well timed dodges, clones, and shatters, but there’s never been a lot you can do against class that’s at the top of their game in WvW.

Ever, mind sharing what kind of build you’re running?

Full zerker Marksmanship/wilderness/skirmish or even beastmastery… before the patch I was using nature magic…IDK tbh I just felt that patch really hard…on my ranger…I got no problem with my thief or my guardian :P

and I’m talking like when I face 1 v1 or 1 v X cause in zerg I’m pretty much as effective as before maybe even a little more…

I hate to be overly blunt, but…
vvvvvvvvv

Full zerker

^^^^^^^

There’s your problem right there.

I don’t want to say precision us useless per se, but I’m hard pressed to think of a stat that doesn’t give a Power Ranger more benefit atm.

Allow me to explain: Thanks to Opening Strike, we can provide 100% crit that hits harder than normal to a given strike at a given time. This includes Maul. It also stacks vulnerability, meaning it hits even HARDER. As of this writing, this combination provides the most modifiers of any attack in the game-it hurts. With Remorseless, you can regain this attack any time you get fury. Considering Rangers now have more Fury than Bruce Banner at a Death Metal concert, this is quite often. Since our power coefficients are terrible, landing a crit with most skills isn’t that great of a feat; thus 100% crit on the attacks you want makes more crit from Precision redundant and less useful.

This is the greatest thing that could happen.

Because of this change, Zerk is no longer required to reach “optimal” damage. You can actually add survival stats like Vitality or Toughness to your Roaming Ranger. Admittedly, toughness will lower that optimal damage by a fair amount (Cavalier uses tough as primary instead of power) but this can be tweaked thanks to Utility Buffs (sharpening stones give back some of the Power based on Toughness). Valkyrie is kind of the perfect set; lots of Vitality, the right damage stats, and it’s fun to send your enemies to Valhalla! I personally run Valk Armor/Weapons with Cav trinkets, but that is purely my personal preference; ymmv.

The reason this matters, is because with all zerk you typically have what, 16k health? A mesmer with full shatter is going to do just north of 10k; 12 if they run sigils and they proc. This’ll also leave you with confusion, torment, and blind. Trying to clear or heal is going to cost a little more HP, and this leaves you with practically nothing when they follow up. Getting caught unawares like that is an unwinnable battle.

Now, with a nice mix you’re breaking 20k health. That Mesmer can blow up all it wants, with Signet of Stone and some survival stats I’m barely dipping below 50%. A quick wolf Kd-Fear combo, some maul followed by a swoop, and their glass is destroyed. Even if they did survive it, they’ll need to reset to last any longer, and RF can track through the stealth to help finish them off. It doesn’t always work, since a good Mesmer is going to know how to disengage from an opponent, but for the majority of the players currently playing Lindsey Stirling, this should be more than enough to either end the fight or send them packing.

Nachyochez.9758:

~snip~

If Remorseless gave a time based buff, such as Berserkers Power on Warrior, then I’d say yes you do not need precision, but one OS on opener and each fury application is pretty bad on LB. Full zerk is totally fine assuming you trait defensively, in which case, you’ll probably still do more damage yet have the same survivability.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Nachyochez.9758:

~snip~

If Remorseless gave a time based buff, such as Berserkers Power on Warrior, then I’d say yes you do not need precision, but one OS on opener and each fury application is pretty bad on LB. Full zerk is totally fine assuming you trait defensively, in which case, you’ll probably still do more damage yet have the same survivability.

Admittedly LB doesn’t get as much as GS does from OS currently, if you go for Quickdraw, RF/OS, “Strength of the Pack”, PBS/OS, then RF/OS(possibly 2 OS) you’re probably not going to be missing the Precision.

I think the best thing about the current Ranger setup is that Power Ranger has tons of subtle variations, all of which are valid in WvW; they just share a core. That said, I’ve had my best luck with survival gear against PU Shatter Mes out in the open. The only build I have that works better is my Psuedo Trapper build, but that’s not the point of the discussion!

Eversor.5186:

either youre fighting kittenty mesmer or I’m bad…I’ll choose 1…and I didn’t even talked about buff/nerf LB/GS rangers are wwaaayyyyy underpowered compared to mesmer’s burst …In groups I’m still as effective but not for 1 v1 or 1 v X…before that patch I was a beast…now I’ just die in a split of a second..sudendly I’m bad…the only prof that is still on the same spot is Necro they even got nerfed and still amazing

Thank you for asserting that I’m bad, however the Mesmers I have been dueling include Frostball, Misha, Jurica, Helseth in a game and a few random mesmers in the 1v1 servers. It is definitely harder to fight a Mesmer now, but I think this comes down to a L2P issue surrounding most of the rangers in this game.