Guild Wars 2

This class I feel is held back outside a bunker BM+WS tough/condi build because its damage is staggered.

The damage itself from weapons is so kitten poor, and the damage from pets when specced into BM is good, but it’s not frontloaded like warrior/mesmer/ele damage.

So you rely on your pet to deal most of the damage, except your pet can’t frontload damage like other classes, and so you must build bunker to not be a sitting duck to other classes as your pet wears them down.

I feel like I have no real power/prec/critdmg builds, and for the bunker condi damage build, I’m stacking toughness primarily anyways and condition damage is secondary.

Tried a pow/tough/vit build; it was horrible. D/D ele comes in WvW, my attacks barely scrape him, and at a moderate 1800 toughness I still die in about 8-10 seconds. Shortbow does no damage, sword does no damage to him.

If I play tough/condi bunker BM build, yes, odds are I’ll win or make him run away alongside most toons except perhaps a mesmer. But that’s because the long game favors the garbage pet and its terrible ai/mobility we have as we stack regen.

But using a kitten bow or anything outside axe/torch/sword/dagger is a good way to lose, as is having less than 2k toughness and traits on both BM, NM, and WS.

Please buff our base weapon damage. It’s horrible.

I’m just bored with the ranger. So sick of being my attacks being single target.

We need some major improvements to AoE, as WvW is mainly who has the most AoE in team fights win.

Rangers do well at duelling but if you fight a ranger 1v1 its whoever has the most bunker, not who has the most skill.

I wish we could use Hammer and bring out new bow that deals AoE damage. Just stupid how our AoE is Barrage and traps they are not viable in WvW. I wouldn’t call swords/GS as aoe there damage is no way near on par with every other class in terms of damage output.

Rangers have become boring.

And any ranger having problems in PvP, run a bunker ranger at least 900 Healing.You get to watch your pets do all the damage.

Sol.4310:

I’m just bored with the ranger. So sick of being my attacks being single target.

We need some major improvements to AoE, as WvW is mainly who has the most AoE in team fights win.

Rangers do well at duelling but if you fight a ranger 1v1 its whoever has the most bunker, not who has the most skill.

I wish we could use Hammer and bring out new bow that deals AoE damage. Just stupid how our AoE is Barrage and traps they are not viable in WvW. I wouldn’t call swords/GS as aoe there damage is no way near on par with every other class in terms of damage output.

Rangers have become boring.

And any ranger having problems in PvP, run a bunker ranger at least 900 Healing.You get to watch your pets do all the damage.

Well, that’s the issue. It pays to be a bunker, because the ranger side of the equation is so weak relative to the crappy AI beefed up BM pet, so since your offense as the ranger is negligible, you might as well build to last long enough for the pet to autoattack something to death.

Zenith.7301:

Sol.4310:

I’m just bored with the ranger. So sick of being my attacks being single target.

We need some major improvements to AoE, as WvW is mainly who has the most AoE in team fights win.

Rangers do well at duelling but if you fight a ranger 1v1 its whoever has the most bunker, not who has the most skill.

I wish we could use Hammer and bring out new bow that deals AoE damage. Just stupid how our AoE is Barrage and traps they are not viable in WvW. I wouldn’t call swords/GS as aoe there damage is no way near on par with every other class in terms of damage output.

Rangers have become boring.

And any ranger having problems in PvP, run a bunker ranger at least 900 Healing.You get to watch your pets do all the damage.

Well, that’s the issue. It pays to be a bunker, because the ranger side of the equation is so weak relative to the crappy AI beefed up BM pet, so since your offense as the ranger is negligible, you might as well build to last long enough for the pet to autoattack something to death.

Thats boring as kitten, I wouldnt play anything other than a power/crit longbow ranger, its not fun for me. Atm Im sick of ranger as well. Playing rifle warrior currently.

/ranger rant ahead ! ! !

You won’t scratch a (non upleveled) DD ele without help. Honestly, I feel your frustration. This class is greatly lacking. The classes you see overpopulating WvW, DD ele, thieves, mesmers—those classes have SO many more tools available to them than we do. We have an entire mechanic that doesn’t do -anything-, called Spirits, we have very bugged Pet AI that while you can eventually learn how to wrangle it, it will never fail to find ways to let you down just when you need it.

You can be good with Ranger, without a doubt. Even awesome. And if you’re awesome, you can beat the stronger classes. But it takes a lot of work, a lot of testing. Playstyles, gear/weapon setups, different pets, finding what suits you, all that effort and you still will be at a disadvantage. While someone can pick up a thief at 2, throw some pebbles in their gear, maybe read a forum topic or two or ask a guildie what to do, and they’re all set to go.

Two things rule in WvW, burst, and AoE. We lack both. We are great at sustained, single target damage. That’s for dueling, it’s not for group battle, at least group battles over a small skirmish. We just don’t have anything to offer that one of the strong classes couldn’t. Aside from siege breaking, no class is better at it than us, except for a mesmer with a group to portal—but we can do it without risking death. I’m not going to get into the details of that here. (because if they nerf it, I’m done with this class)

Right now, it’s just not worth it to play a Ranger if you want to WvW, unless this was your main and you’re attached. This is a PvE class, and not dungeon PvE, but just overworld exploration. That’s where this class truly shines, and actually, we’re pretty much invincible there.

I hold out hope that Anet is reading these forums, and they will eventually address what’s wrong with the class. No burst Anet. No AoE. Either change our weapons, add new weapon options for us, or change our pets to that they can accomplish this—and tune up their AI while you’re at it… a lot.

Some of our burstiest pet attacks are next to impossible to land. River/Salamander drakes, have such hard hitting breaths and they are slow, don’t face the enemy, and basically the target has to STILL be in a small cone in front of the drake, by the time it’s finished inhaling, or attack missed. And Salamander has pathetic range on its breath too. Everyone who wants to “burst” is using the same pets, Birds/Cats. People who want all rounders/utility use Dogs. I see some people with Drakes and I’m sure they’re only doing it because they look cool, because drakes are the worst offenders of AI terribleness. A few people have the Red Moa for the buff. All our ranged pets are weak. We use them for the utility and to have pets that don’t die in zergvzerg. Maybe lay down a poison field. You know, if the target doesn’t move around even a little, causing the devourer to end up in an endless loop of trying to chase them to the range it wants to be before using the field. Racking up damage in the process and dying. Grah. Why. This doesn’t cut it in WvW, this only works in PvE against stationary, non dodging targets. That’s obviously what our pets were designed to fight—and oh how it shows.

I am going to stop this post… I love this class, I spend a ton of time trying builds, trying pets, theorycrafting, sharing finds with the guild, testing, getting horribly destroyed by OP classes, scraping my way to victory only to have my victim vanish forever, or dash off so fast and so far that I can’t ever, ever catch up, even with my Swoop, because I can’t follow up my Swoop with a blink, all while under swiftness. But it’s just.. bad. Of course… I hold out that all my acquired knowledge will allow me to 30v1 entire zergs once Anet gives us the buffs we deserve. That’s what makes playing Ranger worth it. Well, that, and mine is so kitten stylish.

tldr; Ranger has no offense. Don’t bother trying. wtb buffs anet plzthx

defense is a part of the equation as well.

for any high dps class to perform well they need good burst mobility and/or in-combat escape mechanisms. there has to be a way to skillfully remove one’s self from bad situations or the player will simply end up dead after bursting someone, or every time a thief decides they want a free kill.

rangers are a little short in this department and as such will have trouble forever more in this area.

a big part of playing a burst class is in what you do after you burst someone.

I have to disagree with you guys. I have tried a variety of ranger builds and I think the ranger does have the ability to output damage. Condition damage is something many rangers use, traps being the most popular. That build can do plenty of damage. There are plenty glass cannon rangers out there too, according to the forums, many spec power and crit and hit hard enough to make me mash the dodge button. No, we can’t output damage like warriors and thieves do, but I’m thinking we weren’t meant to be a high damage class like that. If by real power you mean 8k+ in one hit, then by all means change profession.

The BM bunker build is popular at the moment, and yes it is a defensive build that relies on pet for damage. Don’t look down on the build for actually utilizing the class mechanic. If you don’t like defensive builds, you aren’t trapped to it. You can spec offensive stats, no one is stopping you, don’t act like its not there. Use pets like they do to supplement damage, they can really pack a wallop. If you have trouble using “crappy AI beefed up BM” pets, try using the f2 and taking a look at the other skills they have. To have them hit more either speed them up or slow your opponent down. Even if a build like that leaves you with low defensive stats, you can combat that with the many dodges and evades+vigor ranger is blessed with. If you still have trouble with low defense, then try a balance. Some BM builds have some power or condition damage specced in too. Having full benefit of both attack and defense is unrealistic.

About AoE, all our auto-attacks can hit multiple targets, including all bow attacks when traited. We have barrage, traps, muddy terrain, whirling defense, bonfire, an elite and thats all I can think of at the moment, not including pets or underwater. That’s a lot. AoE is overrated anyway its the first thing people dodge. There’s more to WvW than wall battles and the bow equips us well for that in the first place. We also have burst in QZ (also quickness from pet swap but less) and RaO. Some also use signets for burst or a fury/might buff. QZ is the best burst for me, its all I need, regardless of my spec, it gets me downs.

If you think ranger is boring, weak, or limited, then sorry boss. All we can do is hope for changes, of which I would gladly welcome for things like spirits.

I would just suggest exploring more. Try everything. We have access to the same stats and equipment as other classes, so no reason you shouldn’t be able to do damage if you want to.

I agree with the boring aspect. I just use my lvl 80 to farm daily now. I wanted to use long bow effectively,(for Kudzu) but there really aren’t any dungeon worthy builds for that weapon. So now I just play Engineer.

Ultravalefor.5038:

/ranger rant ahead ! ! !

You won’t scratch a (non upleveled) DD ele without help. Honestly, I feel your frustration. This class is greatly lacking. The classes you see overpopulating WvW, DD ele, thieves, mesmers—those classes have SO many more tools available to them than we do. We have an entire mechanic that doesn’t do -anything-, called Spirits, we have very bugged Pet AI that while you can eventually learn how to wrangle it, it will never fail to find ways to let you down just when you need it.

You can be good with Ranger, without a doubt. Even awesome. And if you’re awesome, you can beat the stronger classes. But it takes a lot of work, a lot of testing. Playstyles, gear/weapon setups, different pets, finding what suits you, all that effort and you still will be at a disadvantage. While someone can pick up a thief at 2, throw some pebbles in their gear, maybe read a forum topic or two or ask a guildie what to do, and they’re all set to go.

Two things rule in WvW, burst, and AoE. We lack both. We are great at sustained, single target damage. That’s for dueling, it’s not for group battle, at least group battles over a small skirmish. We just don’t have anything to offer that one of the strong classes couldn’t. Aside from siege breaking, no class is better at it than us, except for a mesmer with a group to portal—but we can do it without risking death. I’m not going to get into the details of that here. (because if they nerf it, I’m done with this class)

Right now, it’s just not worth it to play a Ranger if you want to WvW, unless this was your main and you’re attached. This is a PvE class, and not dungeon PvE, but just overworld exploration. That’s where this class truly shines, and actually, we’re pretty much invincible there.

I hold out hope that Anet is reading these forums, and they will eventually address what’s wrong with the class. No burst Anet. No AoE. Either change our weapons, add new weapon options for us, or change our pets to that they can accomplish this—and tune up their AI while you’re at it… a lot.

Some of our burstiest pet attacks are next to impossible to land. River/Salamander drakes, have such hard hitting breaths and they are slow, don’t face the enemy, and basically the target has to STILL be in a small cone in front of the drake, by the time it’s finished inhaling, or attack missed. And Salamander has pathetic range on its breath too. Everyone who wants to “burst” is using the same pets, Birds/Cats. People who want all rounders/utility use Dogs. I see some people with Drakes and I’m sure they’re only doing it because they look cool, because drakes are the worst offenders of AI terribleness. A few people have the Red Moa for the buff. All our ranged pets are weak. We use them for the utility and to have pets that don’t die in zergvzerg. Maybe lay down a poison field. You know, if the target doesn’t move around even a little, causing the devourer to end up in an endless loop of trying to chase them to the range it wants to be before using the field. Racking up damage in the process and dying. Grah. Why. This doesn’t cut it in WvW, this only works in PvE against stationary, non dodging targets. That’s obviously what our pets were designed to fight—and oh how it shows.

I am going to stop this post… I love this class, I spend a ton of time trying builds, trying pets, theorycrafting, sharing finds with the guild, testing, getting horribly destroyed by OP classes, scraping my way to victory only to have my victim vanish forever, or dash off so fast and so far that I can’t ever, ever catch up, even with my Swoop, because I can’t follow up my Swoop with a blink, all while under swiftness. But it’s just.. bad. Of course… I hold out that all my acquired knowledge will allow me to 30v1 entire zergs once Anet gives us the buffs we deserve. That’s what makes playing Ranger worth it. Well, that, and mine is so kitten stylish.

tldr; Ranger has no offense. Don’t bother trying. wtb buffs anet plzthx

Im with you on this one. We need some lovin, and a kittening perma stow option. sigh I wish ESO or neverwinter would come out already.

I agree with most of posts, here what I’m getting at is in WvW in terms of AoE we have nothing and Bunker builds in WvW aren’t viable in team play. Single person roaming yes but team play no.

In SPvP sure we can use trapper build but SPvP is boring and if you wanted to do TPvP, well there better classes to take over the ranger. My team doesn’t use my ranger in TPvP there just to many better options.

For WvW ranger doesn’t have any real AoE and Pets are more less useless, I run with small team of Roamers we normally 6-10 people and we are zerg breakers. Biggest problem I have found is I’m only good at single target damage, and my pet when say faced up against War/Guardian there AoE just murders them normally before the CD is down for pet swap. Worest part is E.g. my group of 6 will be trying to take a camp off 10+ people with vets, my pet more less has to be set to avoid combat or it dies extremely fast.

Just real pain knowing I’m the weakest link on my team as I offer no real buffs or team support as a ranger. Sure I can take out thief’s and GC but with Mesmers/P/D thiefs/D/D eles it takes me time to kill them which in effect is ineffective for my team.

Tbh I can’t see us any time soon ever getting the improvements we need for WvW to be viable, I’ve currently re-rolled new char just for WvW, keeping my ranger for duels only.

ure right, BM/condi tanky setups are the best. however, there are also good power bunker builds, in addition to highly effective LB/BM builds in wvw. plus trap ranger. so we have about 4 viable builds, 3 of which are viable in spvp. not bad.

My main is a ranger so I am attached even though I do have a warrior that is awesome, the ranger is my go to character. Like others I have tried many different builds as a matter of fact I just tried a new one tonight in WvW it’s a good build but it’s best suited for 1v1 fighting, I do ok with two enemies but more than that it gets tough. Fortunately my pets are set to do a lot of dmg but at the end of the day ANet we do need some buffs. I’m not going to drop the profession because I do enjoy playing it and I’m efficient in WvW but our spirits are in poor shape, our pets AI needs work, and we could use some improvements in weapon utility skills. I know the dev team had talked about improving the profession and we have seen some tweaks( improved movement speed on signet of the hunt and our aquaman status lol )but we need more. I hope we get some information in the coming weeks because honestly ANet has been very silent on Ranger improvements. To the OP I suggest what some others have mentioned try different builds out see what will work best for you, if you still haven’t found something you like try another profession. Hopefully things improve for us Ranger players soon.

Try this for an offensive build. You will be surprised at how much defensive capabilities you can pry from it. I beat backstab theives with ease with this.

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/pvp-ranger-of-power-tpvp-shortbow-longsword-warhorn-7891.html

Customize as you see fit. This was orignally a spvp build, but you can tweak for a WvW build as well.

I don’t need a build against backstab thieves. All it requires is a stunbreaker and predicting the steal/cod.

What I need a build for is to actually play an offensively traited/geared ranger in close quarters combat or skirmishes with the same effectiveness and group utility of other classes; which just doesn’t exist.

And the fact is that a ranger brings nothing close to the utility of portals, marks, shadow refuge, aoe/single target frontloaded spike, bubbles, warding lines, group stability, group protection, boons in general, let alone aoe blind/weakness. It brings nothing that another class couldn’t do better.

Stop giving me selfish builds you think do well in 1v1 bunker scenarios or standing in a tower shooting at people (I’ll just pop down a ballista and do much more with it).

Zenith.7301:

I don’t need a build against backstab thieves. All it requires is a stunbreaker and predicting the steal/cod.

What I need a build for is to actually play an offensively traited/geared ranger in close quarters combat or skirmishes with the same effectiveness and group utility of other classes; which just doesn’t exist.

And the fact is that a ranger brings nothing close to the utility of portals, marks, shadow refuge, aoe/single target frontloaded spike, bubbles, warding lines, group stability, group protection, boons in general, let alone aoe blind/weakness. It brings nothing that another class couldn’t do better.

Stop giving me selfish builds you think do well in 1v1 bunker scenarios or standing in a tower shooting at people (I’ll just pop down a ballista and do much more with it).

Selfish?? SELFISH?

You, sir, will not be pleased unless people agree with your little tantrum and give in to wailing and gnashing of your teeth about the injustices you feel are inherent to this class.

Have you bothered to look into the build? It’s quite powerful, AND you CAN be in close quarter conbat, quite effectively.

Maybe, if you understood more about your class, this might be a different discussion. Traps can bring a whole level of control other classes can’t achieve, and this build…well, since you don’t understand the power of the ranger, it is of no use to discuss this with you.

Nice build. Try rolling a charr and replacing lightning reflexes with the racial skill (fury and might, yummy) and you’ll enjoy it even more. Good for one vs one and turtles.

I’m still not into melee builds on my ranger in wvw or healing spring (unless we are turtling and likely to stay in that spot for a while), mesmer null field is quite good too, I find being able to kite around and time rolls/dodges and knock backs on LB/SB build more effective for my style of play. I just can’t put away my LB, I find 3,2 very useful after qzing and charr racial skill barrage which hits at the same time without me having to stand next to a pile of enemies who will wipe a sword wielding ranger in seconds.

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

yeah, catching ele’s hitting the oh kitten button is impossible for a ranger.

But indeed I can catch warrior+ele w/o any problem(thief sry coz the stealth). Ranger by far has the most gap closers:
1, GS 3 — 1100 range
2, Sword 2 – 600, lightning reflex-600 (these are reverse gap closers so u need little bit more skills to use it)
3, Sword 1(2nd+3rd) = 800, this requires more skills coz you need to activate 1st atk (1st you need an object, but for long run you will always find something to hit, make sure you disable auto atk and hit direction key when u activate 1st atk of sword 1, then your 2+3 = 800 range gap closer)
Base run speed (with buffs) about same for all these classes.

Gap closer is what make ranger catch them.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

teviko.6049:

Zenith.7301:

I don’t need a build against backstab thieves. All it requires is a stunbreaker and predicting the steal/cod.

What I need a build for is to actually play an offensively traited/geared ranger in close quarters combat or skirmishes with the same effectiveness and group utility of other classes; which just doesn’t exist.

And the fact is that a ranger brings nothing close to the utility of portals, marks, shadow refuge, aoe/single target frontloaded spike, bubbles, warding lines, group stability, group protection, boons in general, let alone aoe blind/weakness. It brings nothing that another class couldn’t do better.

Stop giving me selfish builds you think do well in 1v1 bunker scenarios or standing in a tower shooting at people (I’ll just pop down a ballista and do much more with it).

Selfish?? SELFISH?

You, sir, will not be pleased unless people agree with your little tantrum and give in to wailing and gnashing of your teeth about the injustices you feel are inherent to this class.

Have you bothered to look into the build? It’s quite powerful, AND you CAN be in close quarter conbat, quite effectively.

Maybe, if you understood more about your class, this might be a different discussion. Traps can bring a whole level of control other classes can’t achieve, and this build…well, since you don’t understand the power of the ranger, it is of no use to discuss this with you.

LOL traps bring control other classes can’t achieve. Try a staff necro or hammer warrior or engineer before you feel like hurling some other lie in this thread.

CRrabbit.1284:

But indeed I can catch warrior+ele w/o any problem(thief sry coz the stealth). Ranger by far has the most gap closers:
1, GS 3 — 1100 range
2, Sword 2 – 600, lightning reflex-600 (these are reverse gap closers so u need little bit more skills to use it)
3, Sword 1(2nd+3rd) = 800, this requires more skills coz you need to activate 1st atk (1st you need an object, but for long run you will always find something to hit, make sure you disable auto atk and hit direction key when u activate 1st atk of sword 1, then your 2+3 = 800 range gap closer)
Base run speed (with buffs) about same for all these classes.

Gap closer is what make ranger catch them.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

The time it takes for you to turn around and use Lightning and Sword Number 2, the Ele will clear any distance you would of gained.

Ride the Lightning Is comparable to Swoop (just 100 range more)
They have Mist/and the Teleport which basically counter Lightning reflex
and the Blazing Speed, oh while having perma Swiftness.

Now I can see you catching him if he was something like maybe Staff..

D/D ele though, you’re not catching him.

ROL~swoop,
Teleport~LR
Our sword 2 has very short CD , it’s much better than ele’s BS
You know you can bind hotkey/macro for the instant 180 degree turn around which never delay your trip. (of coz it need practice and take time to get use to it)
Never underestimate the sword 1, it is a no CD 800 range closer if u plan your trial perfectly (but in fact you can never achieve that, that’s why it take me ~10 mins to catch-recatch and finally take a D/D ele down, of coz the biggest reason is he don’t think I can catch him and kill him since he is a D/D ele, he has plenty of chance to go back to his base but he just want to play with me.)
It’s very hard, but not impossible.
Also as you can see, we as ranger need hit much more keys to reach the same level which D/D ele might hit with only 1/3 number of buttons. In this meaning, we do need a better quality of life.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

But indeed I can catch warrior+ele w/o any problem(thief sry coz the stealth). Ranger by far has the most gap closers:
1, GS 3 — 1100 range
2, Sword 2 – 600, lightning reflex-600 (these are reverse gap closers so u need little bit more skills to use it)
3, Sword 1(2nd+3rd) = 800, this requires more skills coz you need to activate 1st atk (1st you need an object, but for long run you will always find something to hit, make sure you disable auto atk and hit direction key when u activate 1st atk of sword 1, then your 2+3 = 800 range gap closer)
Base run speed (with buffs) about same for all these classes.

Gap closer is what make ranger catch them.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

The time it takes for you to turn around and use Lightning and Sword Number 2, the Ele will clear any distance you would of gained.

Ride the Lightning Is comparable to Swoop (just 100 range more)
They have Mist/and the Teleport which basically counter Lightning reflex
and the Blazing Speed, oh while having perma Swiftness.

Now I can see you catching him if he was something like maybe Staff..

D/D ele though, you’re not catching him.

CRrabbit.1284:

ROL~swoop,
Teleport~LR
Our sword 2 has very short CD , it’s much better than ele’s BS
You know you can bind hotkey/macro for the instant 180 degree turn around which never delay your trip. (of coz it need practice and take time to get use to it)
Never underestimate the sword 1, it is a no CD 800 range closer if u plan your trial perfectly (but in fact you can never achieve that, that’s why it take me ~10 mins to catch-recatch and finally take a D/D ele down, of coz the biggest reason is he don’t think I can catch him and kill him since he is a D/D ele, he has plenty of chance to go back to his base but he just want to play with me.)
It’s very hard, but not impossible.
Also as you can see, we as ranger need hit much more keys to reach the same level which D/D ele might hit with only 1/3 number of buttons. In this meaning, we do need a better quality of life.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

But indeed I can catch warrior+ele w/o any problem(thief sry coz the stealth). Ranger by far has the most gap closers:
1, GS 3 — 1100 range
2, Sword 2 – 600, lightning reflex-600 (these are reverse gap closers so u need little bit more skills to use it)
3, Sword 1(2nd+3rd) = 800, this requires more skills coz you need to activate 1st atk (1st you need an object, but for long run you will always find something to hit, make sure you disable auto atk and hit direction key when u activate 1st atk of sword 1, then your 2+3 = 800 range gap closer)
Base run speed (with buffs) about same for all these classes.

Gap closer is what make ranger catch them.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

The time it takes for you to turn around and use Lightning and Sword Number 2, the Ele will clear any distance you would of gained.

Ride the Lightning Is comparable to Swoop (just 100 range more)
They have Mist/and the Teleport which basically counter Lightning reflex
and the Blazing Speed, oh while having perma Swiftness.

Now I can see you catching him if he was something like maybe Staff..

D/D ele though, you’re not catching him.

The About Face button is a huge pain in the kitten because you can’t use Mouse look at the same time as it.

Ranger definitely has tools to catch people. Shortbow daze and cripple, axe chill, sword cripple, greatsword leap and daze, entangle, and even some evasion skills can be reversed with some skill. Some classes are better than us at that, some worse. At the same time with traps, muddy terrain, entangle, and greatsword leap, we also have some great ability to run. Its honestly not a bad situation. If you are a quick reactor, you can escape before its too late. If you are experienced enough, you can determine whether to run or fight before the battle happens. Today I caught a running thief and ele on two different occasions. However a ranger was able to escape me. This was with melee weapons too. It may not be the same for everyone, but its still not a huge issue.

Honestly ranger is in a good state right now. There are problems that can be debated/fixed, but we are no longer the laugh at class, we can compete in PvP fine. I can understand the need to rant, I’m just giving suggestions. Might as well work with what we have.

But back to the original point of the thread. I feel like the main issue here is a lack of knowledge about certain aspects to the ranger profession. Like someone said earlier, you can be awesome but with work, practice, and testing. You might be disadvantaged in some ways, but in your build could have the advantage in another. If all builds were equal in everything the game would be boring. Its not easy like a thief (purely an opinion), and I appreciate the complexity of the class because of that. Instead of looking on forums for all your builds and tips, use them as a supplement or critique of your own ideas, even making subtle changes to builds you find posted. I suggest you guys take a shot at creating your own build how you want it. If you want to catch people, spec the swiftness and stuns, we have that. If you want power, spec it. I think a mistake a lot of players make is searching for builds other people make and cause your experience and satisfaction to be dependent on someone else’s playstyle. Either that or just having unrealistic expectations. For a while I was like that and I was dissatisfied with ranger until I explored some on my own. Go to the Heart of the Mists and go crazy, build what you want within the boundaries of realistic play.

If you just can’t seem to find what you want. I guess you are doomed to rant on forums and ragequit/reroll.

That was a whole lot of vague rambling posing as wisdom. I love these people who lecture and forget about referring to specifics.

Please address ranger-exclusive utility to a group or a group support area where the ranger excels in a way no other class does. Whate is the ranger’s version of portal, aoe stability, marks/corrupt boon, cc bunker, etc?

If you’ll just keep hiding behind accusations of those who don’t share your viewpoint as “inexperienced”, feel free to leave the thread — you have nothing constructive to offer other than making assumptions about people you’ve never played with. Telling people L2P is not useful in the slightest and it is never appropriate in any thread.

Zenith.7301:

Please address ranger-exclusive utility to a group or a group support area where the ranger excels in a way no other class does. Whate is the ranger’s version of portal, aoe stability, marks/corrupt boon, cc bunker, etc?

well for starters, rangers are prolly the best rezzers/stompers with all their access to on demand quickness/stability/invulnerability (and stealth on cc if traited)

they have access to an incredible amount of spammable AOE cc/area denial through traps/muddy terrain / entangle/barrage.

we offer a lot of pressure with a bit of burst potential, with a ton of customization over how we do damage (access to all the dps conditions thru you/your pet, can choose burst pets or buffing pets, etc). it makes us a lot more flexible with the shifting meta

healing spring is one of the rare water fields in game. (esp since eles dont staff much anymore)

hrmm, you can contribute to a middle fight with with your pet while guarding back point.

our bunker builds actually do some damage as well as cc if you go traps

lots of access to chill which is an underrate condition.

i’m not saying we;re perfect, but we have a niche… and u CAN spec offense (can easily get my SB autoattack to do upwards of 1200 per crits on squishy targets. that adds up quick with quickness and pet damage). it does lay down a ton of hurt, its just more sustain than bursty. and you just need to play more reactive to stay alive, using evades/position/snares

Zenith.7301:

That was a whole lot of vague rambling posing as wisdom. I love these people who lecture and forget about referring to specifics.

Please address ranger-exclusive utility to a group or a group support area where the ranger excels in a way no other class does. Whate is the ranger’s version of portal, aoe stability, marks/corrupt boon, cc bunker, etc?

If you’ll just keep hiding behind accusations of those who don’t share your viewpoint as “inexperienced”, feel free to leave the thread — you have nothing constructive to offer other than making assumptions about people you’ve never played with. Telling people L2P is not useful in the slightest and it is never appropriate in any thread.

First l want to say that I never was posing my thoughts as wisdom or accused anyone as inexperienced or was hiding behind anything. I actually was constructive, understanding, and put forth suggestions, and named some skills. I assumed that a lot of people search for builds online. I will continue to assume such until I see any evidence to the contrary. I see the forum posts all the time asking about good builds, reffering to them as common knowledge to the point where all it takes is a word to know what it is. There is a lack of build diversity in that, and it can cause problems such as the OP is experiencing.

If you want me to be more specific, as I was in my first post, then just ask. I don’t know how specific you want me to be. I don’t appreciate an attack on my character though, I tried to be polite, sorry if I offended you. I’m glad you love people like me though.

While I don’t want to give a L2P message, I think it is a standard rule to any game, I don’t doubt anyone on the forum doesn’t already know how to play the game though. I just suggested some more exploration. I don’t know everything either, I heard some interesting things about the Guard skill and I’m going to try that out myself later. You could say I’m learning to play.

But to your specific question about ranger-exclusive utlity, I do have an answer. Many elite skills can help a group and I think a ranger has great access in mass CC, in my opinion better than other class’s fear. With Entangle, traps, and muddy terrain, we have a lot of access to this. Some classes, including us, can depend on movement to play well, so these skills can mess up an enemy team, or help set up your team’s burst. Rangers have the best ability to do this as far as I know, better than necro, warrior, or guardian. Maybe comparable to that Tornado elite but I don’t know fully about that. Also, the Nature spirit is an excellent skill that no other class has anything like. AoE healing ticks for big, as well as AoE condition removal, and it’s trump, a possible AoE revive. I have been able to pull off an insta-rez of 3 others once, I’m not sure how many people that it’s possible with. In addition, the ranger has excellent access to combo fields. Fire, Ice, Poison, even smoke underwater, and these are definitely big in team play, I’m sure I don’t need to go into those specifics. The best of these fields is perhaps the water field, with an initial heal, and pulsed regen and condition removal all for 15 seconds with only a 15 second wait in between. To my knowledge its the longest water field in the game, maybe even the longest field period. Not sure about all that though, I just know its good. You could also say pets boons are ranger exclusive advantage, with an easily switchable choice to most boons or conditions, including fear, immobilize, chill, fury, might, protection, regen. These are great because you can easily choose which one you want without retraiting or changing your own build. Lastly, I think utility spirits are supposed to be one of our best group supports, unfortunately many believe they are not up to par, including me having tried them for the better part of about 50 levels. Not to say they aren’t used nonetheless. Some people make it work for them, they are specifically designed for group support giving burn proc, protection, swiftness, and damage. Maybe one day those could be changed so that the majority appreciates them more.

Well there’s my answer. Hope that’s better than my last answer. Just trying to help. Excuse my bad grammar by the way, it’s a long post lol.

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

The only class with mobility close to that of an ele is a thief. Ele is the most mobile class in this game easily.

typingofthedead.5614:

Zenith.7301:

Please address ranger-exclusive utility to a group or a group support area where the ranger excels in a way no other class does. Whate is the ranger’s version of portal, aoe stability, marks/corrupt boon, cc bunker, etc?

well for starters, rangers are prolly the best rezzers/stompers with all their access to on demand quickness/stability/invulnerability (and stealth on cc if traited)

they have access to an incredible amount of spammable AOE cc/area denial through traps/muddy terrain / entangle/barrage.

we offer a lot of pressure with a bit of burst potential, with a ton of customization over how we do damage (access to all the dps conditions thru you/your pet, can choose burst pets or buffing pets, etc). it makes us a lot more flexible with the shifting meta

healing spring is one of the rare water fields in game. (esp since eles dont staff much anymore)

hrmm, you can contribute to a middle fight with with your pet while guarding back point.

our bunker builds actually do some damage as well as cc if you go traps

lots of access to chill which is an underrate condition.

i’m not saying we;re perfect, but we have a niche… and u CAN spec offense (can easily get my SB autoattack to do upwards of 1200 per crits on squishy targets. that adds up quick with quickness and pet damage). it does lay down a ton of hurt, its just more sustain than bursty. and you just need to play more reactive to stay alive, using evades/position/snares

You are seriously listing an elite as your reason to be the best stomper/rezzer? You do realize that necros with signet of undeath exist, right? So, right there, you are not the best rezzer in game. For stomping, sorry, warrior and mesmer both have stability and quickness; the mesmer even has stealth. And if you want to touch on elites, Mesmer Time Warp makes mass stomping and rezzing a breeze.

Neither traps nor muddy terrain nor barrage compare to engineer aoe cc, let alone a hammer warrior. Knockdowns/stuns/knockbacks/daze>>>>>snare.

Burst? What are you smoking, you mean waiting for a raven f2, assuming your pet can stay on a target when you need it to land? I can’t believe you’re comparing ranger burst to thief, mesmer, or warrior burst. Or ranger condition damage to engineer and thief and necro condi damage.

It’s not just fine for the ranger to be OK while other classes are great. Classes don’t operate on a vacuum. Maybe we’re not broken in many aspects engineers are (they’re basically only good for cc bunkering and most of their skills are broken), but to say that we may be a bit better off than at least engineers is not something to boast.

They saddled this class with a pet, and released it knowing very well that it would take them 4-5 months to actually get it working above mediocre. How you can saddle a class with a main mechanic that is a handicap for such periods of time is crazy.

A pet that doesn’t scale at all — no food buff gains, no stat inheritance from your gear. If you want it to be decent, put 30 in BM or the pet is just bad. And the fact remains that regardless of your gear progress or access to boons, a third of your damage (the pet) is not scaling like a class whose entire damage/survival is entirely focused on themselves is scaling.

Scaling is a huge issue that has reared its ugly head in every MMO and needed to be addressed at some point to not disadvantage pet classes.

bunker/ tanky BM rangers are pretty fun to play in serious pvp, but “offensive setups” other than traps are pretty laughable. there are decent power burst and condition builds outside of traps, but theyre more attrition based. u can do some beautiful stuff with +healing and vigor on a ranger.

there is a signet build with power SB, which does very high sustained damage and little burst. it’s very sturdy and can be played aggressively. but it’s not tpvp material.

Zenith.7301:

You are seriously listing an elite as your reason to be the best stomper/rezzer? You do realize that necros with signet of undeath exist, right? So, right there, you are not the best rezzer in game. For stomping, sorry, warrior and mesmer both have stability and quickness; the mesmer even has stealth. And if you want to touch on elites, Mesmer Time Warp makes mass stomping and rezzing a breeze.

Neither traps nor muddy terrain nor barrage compare to engineer aoe cc, let alone a hammer warrior. Knockdowns/stuns/knockbacks/daze>>>>>snare.

Burst? What are you smoking, you mean waiting for a raven f2, assuming your pet can stay on a target when you need it to land? I can’t believe you’re comparing ranger burst to thief, mesmer, or warrior burst. Or ranger condition damage to engineer and thief and necro condi damage.

It’s not just fine for the ranger to be OK while other classes are great. Classes don’t operate on a vacuum. Maybe we’re not broken in many aspects engineers are (they’re basically only good for cc bunkering and most of their skills are broken), but to say that we may be a bit better off than at least engineers is not something to boast.

They saddled this class with a pet, and released it knowing very well that it would take them 4-5 months to actually get it working above mediocre. How you can saddle a class with a main mechanic that is a handicap for such periods of time is crazy.

A pet that doesn’t scale at all — no food buff gains, no stat inheritance from your gear. If you want it to be decent, put 30 in BM or the pet is just bad. And the fact remains that regardless of your gear progress or access to boons, a third of your damage (the pet) is not scaling like a class whose entire damage/survival is entirely focused on themselves is scaling.

Scaling is a huge issue that has reared its ugly head in every MMO and needed to be addressed at some point to not disadvantage pet classes.

I can definitely live with not being the best rez/stomper.

I guess you disagree with a majority on the effectiveness of our snares, but we actually do have access to those snare skills you mentioned, as well as a knockdown on greatsword 4, a stun/daze on greatsword and shortbow 5, and a knockback on longbow 4. Thats not including pets, who have access to knockdown,stun,and daze.

We actually do have good burst in QZ and RaO. No, they don’t hit as high as thieves/warriors, but they are nevertheless effective burst because we are hitting faster and harder with more crit. If you don’t think it’s adequate, that’s fine, but it is what it is, ranger burst.

I think every class should be equal, and balance is definitely an issue in my opinion. But for ranger, its not drastic. I can see that there are issues with every class, and it will eventually be considered for change, but at the moment, I am satisfied with the ability of a ranger. We obviously disagree on this though. I think those other classes (thief and mesmer) need a nerf instead of us getting a buff, meaning it’s not that we are a weak class, but that they are at or near OP.

Your pet is all about management, whether you like it or not. It is attached to the ranger class not as a handicap, but as a supplement. If you think of it that way, it becomes useful. A good way to master a class would definitely be to master the mechanic. I disagree with you on pet effectiveness, you don’t need 30 BM, I am currently using 15 and am doing fine. If you want to put 0 into the traitline, the pet stilll can be useful, just not as much as if you were willing to invest in it. By the way, they don’t need to scale, they already hit hard. Say you hit a 1000 on the longbow autoattack, and your pet hits a 1500 on crit (easily possible with 0 BM cats). That makes your dps effectively 2500(assuming that happened in a second). That’s a lot.

EDIT: Maybe we aren’t meant to burst 10k damage in 2 seconds. Its possible our damage is meant to be sustained. If buy offensive builds you mean burst builds, then I could agree with you maybe a little more, but still we have QZ and RaO.

Warriors still do sustained damage. It’s in their absurd autoattack crits. Especially axe/axe warrior sustained damage.

I know you like the class; so do I! I still roam wvw on this class, but I have other classes as well. And it’s obvious the only reason I play on this class is for the flavor and clearly not the strength, because when you see the numbers of your other classes, you realize how low ranger numbers are.

And don’t think me a damage nut. I’d love to be able to run spirit support builds as well, but I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon at the rate of class changes they implement. Prior to game release, they said they would diligently balance classes and would have the tools to quickly implement changes. Post-release, you see tweaks at best every 2-3 months, no better than the other MMO competition.

Zenith.7301:

Warriors still do sustained damage. It’s in their absurd autoattack crits. Especially axe/axe warrior sustained damage.

I know you like the class; so do I! I still roam wvw on this class, but I have other classes as well. And it’s obvious the only reason I play on this class is for the flavor and clearly not the strength, because when you see the numbers of your other classes, you realize how low ranger numbers are.

And don’t think me a damage nut. I’d love to be able to run spirit support builds as well, but I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon at the rate of class changes they implement. Prior to game release, they said they would diligently balance classes and would have the tools to quickly implement changes. Post-release, you see tweaks at best every 2-3 months, no better than the other MMO competition.

I agree with you on this. Ranger in its current state is definitely not the top in damage. However this doesn’t mean there are no viable offensive builds. I understand and respect your opinion though.

Zenith.7301:

You are seriously listing an elite as your reason to be the best stomper/rezzer? You do realize that necros with signet of undeath exist, right? So, right there, you are not the best rezzer in game. For stomping, sorry, warrior and mesmer both have stability and quickness; the mesmer even has stealth. And if you want to touch on elites, Mesmer Time Warp makes mass stomping and rezzing a breeze.

Neither traps nor muddy terrain nor barrage compare to engineer aoe cc, let alone a hammer warrior. Knockdowns/stuns/knockbacks/daze>>>>>snare.

Burst? What are you smoking, you mean waiting for a raven f2, assuming your pet can stay on a target when you need it to land? I can’t believe you’re comparing ranger burst to thief, mesmer, or warrior burst. Or ranger condition damage to engineer and thief and necro condi damage.

It’s not just fine for the ranger to be OK while other classes are great. Classes don’t operate on a vacuum. Maybe we’re not broken in many aspects engineers are (they’re basically only good for cc bunkering and most of their skills are broken), but to say that we may be a bit better off than at least engineers is not something to boast.

They saddled this class with a pet, and released it knowing very well that it would take them 4-5 months to actually get it working above mediocre. How you can saddle a class with a main mechanic that is a handicap for such periods of time is crazy.

A pet that doesn’t scale at all — no food buff gains, no stat inheritance from your gear. If you want it to be decent, put 30 in BM or the pet is just bad. And the fact remains that regardless of your gear progress or access to boons, a third of your damage (the pet) is not scaling like a class whose entire damage/survival is entirely focused on themselves is scaling.

Scaling is a huge issue that has reared its ugly head in every MMO and needed to be addressed at some point to not disadvantage pet classes.

nah i wasnt even thinking of the elite, my argument that access to quickness on demand every 16s, as well as another 4s utility every 60/48, (which is great for both rezzing and stomping), as well as 2 ways to get stability (1 is elite, but it is a good elite with relevant stability uptime), as well as a few ways to tank damage. during an extended team fight, it means u usually have a cooldown up to get either done, whereas all the rezzes u mentioned are 1 and done long cooldown.

and by burst, yeah i do sorta mean wait until the raven does his thing lol. it happens, and theres ways to make it happen. while you’re waiting it out, rangers put out incredible pressure sustain thru either pow/crit or cond dam.

look i admit i experiment every day and have mained ranger since launch, and i still cant find many builds i feel i excel with. but i like the playstyle so i keep coming back to it. when i decided to main it, i decided i like how deep the pets system ended up (at first glance). i think it would have ended up better if they kept it as 2 separate classes (warden and marksman)