Guild Wars 2

I was going to play a thief but it sounds like they are very outdated at the moment.
My questions are
Do they require any decent skill to play?
Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?
What can they offer in groups?
Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?
What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.
Are the melee skills cool to?
And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?
How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes
Thanks everyone!:)

1. Depends on the content but in most cases, yes, you will need to understand the class to play it well.

2. Disliked mostly. Many play on easy mode with a long bow and pet that tanks for them. This will work in pve overworld but is a pretty bad way to play in group content. The higher skill ceiling also means most only interact with poor players tarnishing the public image. It’s also not a favorable pick for ultra hardcore groups in any mode at the moment.

3. Plenty of things but not much that isn’t already provided by other classes. The druid may change this but time will tell. The only thing we can really shine in is regen spam on allies but there is no content that takes advantage of this at the moment.

4. You can tame up to 40 land pets and 21 aquatic pets (many are used in both modes). The ones at creation just determine which you start with but you are not locked to that one and any race can get all the pets.

5. Hard to define coolest objectively. I’d recommend making one of each and playing with them a bit to find what works for you.

6. Wooden sticks and you won’t see it in your hand when you draw the bow nor will you get a quiver by default though 2 skins exist. I must add that one is very expensive and the other is a limited time gem store skin that is only very occasionally available.

7. Newbie rangers abound though I’ve found the class to be relatively low population when you reach lvl80 compared to classes like warrior or elementalist.

Substance E.4852:

1. Depends on the content but in most cases, yes, you will need to understand the class to play it well.

2. Disliked mostly. Many play on easy mode with a long bow and pet that tanks for them. This will work in pve overworld but is a pretty bad way to play in group content. The higher skill ceiling also means most only interact with poor players tarnishing the public image. It’s also not a favorable pick for ultra hardcore groups in any mode at the moment.

3. Plenty of things but not much that isn’t already provided by other classes. The druid may change this but time will tell. The only thing we can really shine in is regen spam on allies but there is no content that takes advantage of this at the moment.

4. You can tame up to 40 land pets and 21 aquatic pets (many are used in both modes). The ones at creation just determine which you start with but you are not locked to that one and any race can get all the pets.

5. Hard to define coolest objectively. I’d recommend making one of each and playing with them a bit to find what works for you.

6. Wooden sticks and you won’t see it in your hand when you draw the bow nor will you get a quiver by default though 2 skins exist. I must add that one is very expensive and the other is a limited time gem store skin that is only very occasionally available.

7. Newbie rangers abound though I’ve found the class to be relatively low population when you reach lvl80 compared to classes like warrior or elementalist.

Thank you for the answers, but regardless of how someone feels what is coolest some are more over the top then others so I guess which ones look faster and more fluid? Id rather not spend that amount of time looking at every single race.

Do they require any decent skill to play?
Arguably, yes. You’re basically controlling two characters at once, so there’s a good deal of micromanagement. They CAN be played in a braindead fashion, like any class, but they won’t be as good as a Ranger played with more effort and experience.

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?
Unfortunately, they’re generally disliked. Bad players are certainly one reason, as poorly-managed pets can cause problems and many Rangers cling to their Longbows even in situations where it’s a terrible choice. But, they’re also disliked because they bring less to a group than other classes might.

What can they offer in groups?
Not much, sadly. In high-end groups where everyone knows what to do, their damage is fairly subpar and they lack potent support options. The two best things they can bring to an organized group are their Spotter aura (150 Precision to the team), and Frost Spirit (effectively a 7.5%-or-so direct damage boost. I can’t remember the exact number, but it’s around there). Compared to Might and Fury and other such things from other classes, it’s just not terribly impactful.
In LESS organized groups, however, they have tools no other class does, and can save a botched run if played right. They’re extremely self-sufficient, so there’s a wide variety of problems that they can solve.

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?
You get to choose between three pets at character creation initially, depending on race, and then you can tame every other pet out in the open world. The only pets you can’t necessarily get are ones tied to GW1 achievements.

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.
I never really play anything but Charr, so I can’t say for sure. I like the animations, at least. :P

Are the melee skills cool to?
Definitely. Ranger is probably the most animated melee fighter available, up there with a Dagger Elementalist. The Sword’s autoattack can feel a little clunky, but if you disable the “auto” aspect of it, it gets easier to control.

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?
I know that the Legendary bows change their projectiles… Longbow shoots pretty yellow arrows, and Shortbow launches rainbow unicorns with the ArenaNet logo on their haunches. Beyond those two, though, I’m not aware of any bows that change your projectiles.

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes
Unfortunately, they’re pretty-… Extremely popular. I’ll admit to being put off by this, myself. When you hear the "pfew"s from your Longbow joined by half a dozen other pfews at the same time, it gets a little hard to feel like anything more than a nameless archer on the backline.

Do they require any decent skill to play?

Depends on the build and gamemode. IMO, in pvp, yes they require an average to experienced amount of skill to play well, depending on the build. in PvE, it’s on the low end of required skill

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?

Disliked, but making a comeback. A lot of ranger hate is also internalized by grumpy rangers, though. And while i say “disliked” that’s by gw2 standards, so compared to other mmos, it may not feel hated.

What can they offer in groups?

the gamemode determines the usefulness of the different things they can provide, but there are 2 major skillsets that provide team utility. the first is spirits, which provide procs depending on the spirit. the second is shouts which provide swiftness/regen and a few other things. We also have some pets that provide different things. I suggest reading up on the skills on the wiki

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?

You tame pets all around tyria, but there’s no “taming minigame” you just find a “juvenile” monster, hit F, and it’s tamed.

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.

Extremely subjective, no comment

Are the melee skills cool to?

I’m under the preference that the ranger melee skills are pretty awesome (regardless of race)

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?

For the most part, the only thing that changes the affects of projectiles in this game are legendaries. with that in mind, there’s currently a legendary longbow (Kudzu) and a legendary shortbow (The Dreamer). Kudzu shoots golden spear shaped arrows, while The Dreamer shoots rainbow unicorns. (yes, rainbow unicorns. it’s awesome)

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes

I would say… average population in pve, and average to low population in pvp, and low population in wvw

of course, 90% of this is just my own opinion, and by no means am I stating these as facts.

I appreciate all the comments but people really need to stop saying completely subjective it is not completely some will look more fluid then others, I should of worded it as in which looks faster and more fluid or might look over the top, you could just give me your opinion on which looks the best instead of saying that really, if you cannot express an opinion then there is something wrong here.

Ryou.2398:

I appreciate all the comments but people really need to stop saying completely subjective it is not completely some will look more fluid then others, I should of worded it as in which looks faster and more fluid or might look over the top, you could just give me your opinion on which looks the best instead of saying that really, if you cannot express an opinion then there is something wrong here.

Do they require any decent skill to play?
Yes like all professions.

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?
No real answer can be given.

What can they offer in groups?
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ Check “Current Effects” when you set a build you like.

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pet

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are too small.
Subjective. Make one of each that interest you and head to the Mists http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Heart_of_the_Mists

Are the melee skills cool to?
Subjective.

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?
Legends do as mentioned above, and when your arrows become Projectile finisher (e.g. arrows catching fire in a fire field) https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Projectile_finisher

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes
Hard to tell one way or the other.

Ryou.2398:

I appreciate all the comments but people really need to stop saying completely subjective it is not completely some will look more fluid then others, I should of worded it as in which looks faster and more fluid or might look over the top, you could just give me your opinion on which looks the best instead of saying that really, if you cannot express an opinion then there is something wrong here.

Honestly they are all about the same. Female animations feel like the great sword is a lot weightier but they also have an upright stance for firing the bow vs the male crouched stance.

This is for norn and human. The animations are largely similar.

Charr feel a bit more energetic but a lot feels like it’s lost due to their larger bodies and the tail. The kick on the 1H sword also looks a little silly with their smaller than usual legs.

Wetpaw.3487:

Ryou.2398:

I appreciate all the comments but people really need to stop saying completely subjective it is not completely some will look more fluid then others, I should of worded it as in which looks faster and more fluid or might look over the top, you could just give me your opinion on which looks the best instead of saying that really, if you cannot express an opinion then there is something wrong here.

Do they require any decent skill to play?
Yes like all professions.

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?
No real answer can be given.

What can they offer in groups?
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ Check “Current Effects” when you set a build you like.

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pet

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are too small.
Subjective. Make one of each that interest you and head to the Mists http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Heart_of_the_Mists

Are the melee skills cool to?
Subjective.

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?
Legends do as mentioned above, and when your arrows become Projectile finisher (e.g. arrows catching fire in a fire field) https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Projectile_finisher

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes
Hard to tell one way or the other.

I am just iffy about trying it out at 80 it feels like spoilers:)

PvP is probably the best way to go imo for testing, if you have access to all the skills and builds immediately, you are probably more likely to become a better Ranger, as opposed to becoming the hated Bearbow which is prevalent because people learn it from the start in PvE and it is selfish easy mode for levelling in Open world PvE.

My suggestion is to take a look at the build thread in my sig and have a play around with some builds in PvP to see if you like the playstyle. Many different styles to be tried.

To answer your “subjective” questions, the ranger melee skills are totally bad kitten and the reason I mained the class (use to main thief 3 years ago.) You’ll know if you like them early on, because the “controversial” skill the is the 1 handed sword autoattack. Turn off the autoattack and hit the button each time you want to swing the sword. I’d level up to at least 10 or so using the sword so you don’t dismiss it immediately. You’re not going to like it right out of the gate.

Re: races, norn and charr have pretty cool sword animations I think mostly because they’re just bigger than other races and it’s fun to watch giants jump and spin around. There isn’t a ton of difference between them otherwise. I use a tiny human female and like how dexterous she looks using the sword.

I’m a big fan of the asuran animations. I deleted my charr ranger and barely touch my norn because they feel so slow in comparison. Human and sylvari feel like they are the size the skills were made for (if you get my meaning). Still the best choice is to make 1 of each and test them out in the PvP area. While you’re at it you should make and delete characters of every profession so you can get the unique starter skins like the thief hood, mesmer mask, etc.

Puck.9612:

Human and sylvari feel like they are the size the skills were made for (if you get my meaning).

Ya, the norn, charr, and asura all disobey the Earth laws of physics when they move (on all professions really). Humans and slyvari look like gravity is a thing.

Do they require any decent skill to play?

Yes and no. This depends solely on how much effort you put into learning the profession. If you want to stand back and use nothing but a longbow with your pet tanking away, you aren’t learning how to play the profession properly. You get nothing about how to micro manage your pet or how the different skills work with not only you but your pet. If you are going to invest time into the profession, I suggest you equip a sword/axe (or warhorn) and a greatsword in the other weapon slot. Ignore both bows for now. Longbow is stupid easy to use, so you really don’t need to practice with it and Shortbow, while I love my legendary Dreamer skin, is pretty much useless. Learning both melee weapons and how they work is really important if you plan on taking this ranger into a dungeon or a fractal.

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?

Sadly, Rangers are the butt of many jokes and dungeon groups are quick to kick and or blame the ranger for the groups short comings. Another profession uses a knock back skill, prepare to get blamed…even if you don’t have a longbow equipped. Your pet will get blamed for pulling aggro, even though it’s on passive and it can’t pull aggro from most mobs. Bad players and bots from way back when the game first released have bred negativity towards to profession and we are just now slowly removing that stigmata. You won’t be insta-kicked from a smart group but you better make sure you have Frost Spirit on your utility bar and Spotter traited.

What can they offer in groups?

As mentioned, we can provide Spotter (150 precision bonus) and Frost Spirit (gives a 7% or so boost to damage). It’s two benefits that other professions really can’t give but with the Zerk meta being what it is, they are hard to argue for providing over slotting another Ice Bow dispenser to a group. Rangers also offer another body for monster AI to target, so it relives a little pressure from the group if you play your pets right. However, this will be not as useful when dealing with big Boss AoE as the pets get squished really fast.

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?

When you are roaming in the PvE (and some WvW) you will come across a green monster sitting there titled Juvenile ‘Animal’. You walk up to it and if you don’t have it tamed, it will give you the option of pressing F to add it to your collection.

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.

I actually find the Asura animations to be the most mobile and interesting to look at. I have two, a human and an Asura…the other races have never interested me much. However, there is little difference really to how each race plays as a ranger.

Are the melee skills cool to?

I think so. I think Rangers have the most fun animations to watch and their melee skills, especially with the greatsword, are gorgeous.

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?

All bows except the two legendaries shoot basic arrows. Legendaries affect different skills depending on the profession using them. Kudzu, the longbow, shoots yellow/golden arrows (I think? I don’t actually own this one) and the Shortbow changed it’s projectiles to the pink Unicorns from the Robot Unicorn Attack game with an Anet mark on the rump. The legendaries are meant to be special, this is why they are the only weapons in game to change skills like this.

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes

Early in the game, when you are new, there tend to be many. As you move on and hit 80, there are less I find. Most are weeded out by the bad sentiment of the community, and fewer take the time to master the profession so they move on to something else. The more populated professions are Warrior and Guardian right now I believe because those are two of the most wanted professions in a group.

Thanks all I am still undecided the bow just looks boring to me, the melee looks fun though. I think I will go syvari plus the druid elite spec interests me greatly.

Bow is a lot of fun in competitive, which is pretty much the only place you’d want to use it anyway. Bow in PvE is a lame at best, and frowned upon in groups.

Fluffball.8307:

Bow is a lot of fun in competitive, which is pretty much the only place you’d want to use it anyway. Bow in PvE is a lame at best, and frowned upon in groups.

Well Longbow is part of the ‘meta’ for rangers…but it’s only used for the skill 2 and skill 5. You never use skill 4, even if a boss has defiance stack, it’s just not worth it to have your group yelling at you. This is why I usually don’t even bother to bring the LB into a dungeon or fractal, I stick with the sword/axe and greatsword. Don’t bother with the shortbow outside a niche PvP spec…I really wish they’d update and change it to be awesome again. I love the legendary SB and it sucks that it’s only useful to my thief :/

Sword 1 will be frustrating at first, don’t let it get to you though. If you don’t mind having to continually press the 1 key over and over, you can always unbind it from being auto used. If you keep it bound to auto attacking, make sure you face away from cliffs while using it…as the leap part of the chain has a tendency of launching you forward. The other 2 sword skills can help you to breaking the chain when you need to dodge, along with a weapon swap but it just takes practice to get used to it.

Good luck with your ranger! It’s a fun profession if nothing else

I do not get it why does the ranger have so many bow problems and they can use what? 2 different bows? How is that not a little crazy? I have heard they are jack of all trades kind of character and I am not sure if that means they can fill any role on the fly just not as good as others which to me is not a bad thing people loved my jack of all trades bard in eq1, and I was an awesome druid in wow but that mmo got boring quickly.

Well in GW2, ranged combat is inferior to melee combat…so bringing a ranged Bow into a dungeon fight is usually useless compared to standing in the stack and attacking melee. The closer you get to a target with a Longbow, the less effective it is. You don’t want to be that ranged-always ranger standing in back not getting buffs and potentially messing up the stack. Shortbow is just awful with how they neutered it down into junk. It used to attack super fast and had a longer range but they killed it to make the Longbow more tempting for people to use. Sad day for those of us who loved Shortbow

What do you mean inferior? In any rpg game melee should always hit harder then ranged because of risk/reward and my mesmer and ele do great at ranged.

Do they require any decent skill to play?
Not to play, but to actually use well? yes. You have to micromanage your pet quite a bit and know the most effective loadout to get the best effect. If you’re just standing back and plinking away with a bow, you’re doing something wrong.

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?
Ranger’s have had a stigma against them from day 1 as the “noob” class because there’s a large number of players that hop on ranger without learning it and assume the pet will save them. Particularly egregious in the case of those who let a bear carry them to level 80, and then don’t know how to play their class in a dungeon environment, which is largely where the stigma comes from. It’s a good class if you know what you’re doing.

What can they offer in groups?
As others have said, not much at the moment. the Druid elite specialization looks to be a support setup, though, so we could be seeing that aspect change.
As someone else said, though, Rangers are incredibly self-sufficient, and there’s been times where I’ve ended up taking the last chunk of health off a boss by myself because my team went down, and in certain situations I can even use my pet to body-block projectiles for the party. It’s about understanding what you can and can’t do.

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?
You get a free one at the start (I personally recommend drakes, which are available to 3/5 races) but tame them afterwards.

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.
Human and sylvari animations feel the best, with the large races being awkwardly shunted into the human timing for animations and asura feeling very floaty in melee. they’re all good for ranged combat, though.

Are the melee skills cool to?
… eh, yes and no. There’s a bit of contention around the way the sword auto-locks you, but that’s solved by going with a geatsword. All-in-all, the class feels very fluid outside of the sword auto-attack, which can be very clunky.

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when
you use an elemental bow for example?
Wooden sticks, yes, but the legendary bows have different effects. here’s Kudzu, the legendary Longbow.

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes
Despite what some may think, Ranger is actually the third least played class in the game, beaten only by Mesmer in second place and engineer in first. Mesmer and Engineer are justified, as they’re odd for the genre and are mechanically kinda finicky. Ranger though? Ranger is perceived as sucking, and the vast majority of players prefer to swap over to something else for power and support.

Harnel.6810:

Do they require any decent skill to play?
Not to play, but to actually use well? yes. You have to micromanage your pet quite a bit and know the most effective loadout to get the best effect. If you’re just standing back and plinking away with a bow, you’re doing something wrong.

Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?
Ranger’s have had a stigma against them from day 1 as the “noob” class because there’s a large number of players that hop on ranger without learning it and assume the pet will save them. Particularly egregious in the case of those who let a bear carry them to level 80, and then don’t know how to play their class in a dungeon environment, which is largely where the stigma comes from. It’s a good class if you know what you’re doing.

What can they offer in groups?
As others have said, not much at the moment. the Druid elite specialization looks to be a support setup, though, so we could be seeing that aspect change.
As someone else said, though, Rangers are incredibly self-sufficient, and there’s been times where I’ve ended up taking the last chunk of health off a boss by myself because my team went down, and in certain situations I can even use my pet to body-block projectiles for the party. It’s about understanding what you can and can’t do.

Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?
You get a free one at the start (I personally recommend drakes, which are available to 3/5 races) but tame them afterwards.

What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.
Human and sylvari animations feel the best, with the large races being awkwardly shunted into the human timing for animations and asura feeling very floaty in melee. they’re all good for ranged combat, though.

Are the melee skills cool to?
… eh, yes and no. There’s a bit of contention around the way the sword auto-locks you, but that’s solved by going with a geatsword. All-in-all, the class feels very fluid outside of the sword auto-attack, which can be very clunky.

And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when
you use an elemental bow for example?
Wooden sticks, yes, but the legendary bows have different effects. here’s Kudzu, the legendary Longbow.

How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes
Despite what some may think, Ranger is actually the third least played class in the game, beaten only by Mesmer in second place and engineer in first. Mesmer and Engineer are justified, as they’re odd for the genre and are mechanically kinda finicky. Ranger though? Ranger is perceived as sucking, and the vast majority of players prefer to swap over to something else for power and support.

Oh my that bow wow, still hearing allot of complaints about bows in general for rangers.

The bows aren’t bad, to be honest. The issue is that they tend to be used by people who don’t know what they’re doing, and thus carry a stigma.

Ryou.2398:

What do you mean inferior? In any rpg game melee should always hit harder then ranged because of risk/reward

Ryou.2398:

still hearing allot of complaints about bows in general for rangers.

Yup, you got it. Bows are really bad for PvE because they do less damage, and bad players like to role play “archers” in groups that want to complete content quickly.

Bows are really good for competitive (PvP and WvW) because they have obvious safety from range. They’re also a hell of a lot more fun in a situation where you have to use a variety of skills than in PvE where you want nothing but damage. For example one of the skills on longbow stealths the ranger, and that has 0 application in a PvE burn.

If you hear bad things about bow rangers in competitive, it’s because people get testy that someone is killing them from far away, and rangers are really, really good at killing people from extreme range.

Just want to point out, bow isn’t actually bad for pve, some people just use it wrong. When you are doing group pve content you should be opening with rapid fire and barrage and then switching to your melee. The bow is only bad if you are trying to sit at max range and auto attack.

Also put a lot if thought into when it is okay to use your point blank shot, if everyone is dropping a crap ton of aoe on an enemy and you knock them out of it you will get a lot of rage. That being said PBS is the best skill in the game, especially when you are fighting someone next to a cliff in WvW.

Also just want to point out that if roaming open world PvE, the LB Ranger is king, there is literally nothing better as majority of mobs will be dead before you can even get to them to collect the loot. Not much AoE, but for farming mobs its amazing.

I actually find GS to be quicker in open world. With LB you might kill the mob (and maybe not depending on how they’re arranged), but you still have to finish running to them. If you swoop in and maul, you’re ready to move on immediately.

But as always, nothing really matters in the open world.

Fluffball.8307:

I actually find GS to be quicker in open world. With LB you might kill the mob (and maybe not depending on how they’re arranged), but you still have to finish running to them. If you swoop in and maul, you’re ready to move on immediately.

But as always, nothing really matters in the open world.

Yeah, I always have it on swap for mobility and use that when there are multiple mobs to gather up. But when I’m farming sparks for lodes (I did and will a lot more), LB rules

Ryou.2398:

What do you mean inferior? In any rpg game melee should always hit harder then ranged because of risk/reward and my mesmer and ele do great at ranged.

Heh sorry, I meant with Dungeons and Fractals…I tend to come thinking from that point of view. Longbow in open world is great and by all means, use it to make things pass by quicker! Though, as you go through the open world, don’t only rely on that range. Get used to being in the faces of enemies and learning when to dodge. This is especially important for sword, as the 1 autoattack will lock you into place and you cannot dodge until the chain is finished (so even if you have it unset to autoattack, as you spam the 1 key you can still easily lock yourself into the chain).

As I map complete on one of my rangers, I usually have my Shortbow (this is only because I have the legendary and I like seeing my stupid rainbow hoofprints lol) and either sword/axe or greatsword. I do find though that by replacing the bow with greatsword and only using melee while running hearts and stuff, I get around faster. GS3, swoop, is an amazing map completion tool! I’d rather replace the bow than the sword, as sword gives me two evades and is way more useful to me when I’ve already GS3 into combat than a bow would be.

So longbow is bad for soloing to? How can great sword be better? Just use max range hit them while they run up to you then melee… This is really odd guys.

rabidsmiles.5926:

Ryou.2398:

What do you mean inferior? In any rpg game melee should always hit harder then ranged because of risk/reward and my mesmer and ele do great at ranged.

Heh sorry, I meant with Dungeons and Fractals…I tend to come thinking from that point of view. Longbow in open world is great and by all means, use it to make things pass by quicker! Though, as you go through the open world, don’t only rely on that range. Get used to being in the faces of enemies and learning when to dodge. This is especially important for sword, as the 1 autoattack will lock you into place and you cannot dodge until the chain is finished (so even if you have it unset to autoattack, as you spam the 1 key you can still easily lock yourself into the chain).

As I map complete on one of my rangers, I usually have my Shortbow (this is only because I have the legendary and I like seeing my stupid rainbow hoofprints lol) and either sword/axe or greatsword. I do find though that by replacing the bow with greatsword and only using melee while running hearts and stuff, I get around faster. GS3, swoop, is an amazing map completion tool! I’d rather replace the bow than the sword, as sword gives me two evades and is way more useful to me when I’ve already GS3 into combat than a bow would be.

Ok cool so it sounds like the ranger is closer to arogorn in lord of the rings, the kind of a jack of all trades in the fields and close combat.

Ryou.2398:

So longbow is bad for soloing to? How can great sword be better? Just use max range hit them while they run up to you then melee… This is really odd guys.

Melee does more damage and almost all melee weapons on all professions have movement skills so you get around the map faster. It’s good for soloing because you can jump into a mob and do a lot of damage quickly. Anything will work though, LB is fine for solo, just boring.

I’m surprised to hear that it’s the 3rd least played profession, they seem to be everywhere in wvw sometimes (mostly late at night).

I’m one of the players that never learned how to deal with 1-H sword (it’s on my to-do list), it seemed like with every skill I would always manage to find a cliff to fall off of. Greatsword is very nice though. As for elemental arrows we don’t really have anything like that but there are weapon sigils that can cause lightning strikes or flameblasts on your target if that helps. They’re not limited to bows though. Any weapon on any profession can call lightning =)

Ryou.2398:

So longbow is bad for soloing to? How can great sword be better? Just use max range hit them while they run up to you then melee… This is really odd guys.

I won’t call a longbow bad for soloing persay…but if that’s the only way you end up playing your ranger you will find the dungeons and other group content to be very frustrating. Some longbow skills are meant to be used as needed, LB skills 1, 2 and 5 spam away if you can…but the other two don’t get used to them being off cooldown. You will always do more damage with an AA or the Skill 2 than you will with a 3 or 4. 3 is for when you need a quick break/stealth and skill 4 is for knockback. Please, for the love of ALL rangers do not spam skill 4. Do not get used to spamming skill 4, just leave it on cooldown unless you need to get a vet or something to move away from you. On your own, it’s a useful tool for getting things out of your face but in a group, it will quickly get you kicked and more people will continue to hate on rangers for that one skill.

Basically, for general play if you must run around with a longbow (some people love the archer look)…you use skills 2 and 5, weapon swap to your melee weapon and finish the fight once they get close enough to you. It’s good for pulling mobs if you don’t want to approach in the open world (seriously, some areas are super awful to run into screaming Leroy Jenkins with a melee weapon).

Yes, the ranger here is a bit like Aragorn from LoTR, only we have a slow-in-the-head companion following us around who likes to step into red circles occasionally.

Rashagar.8349:

I’m surprised to hear that it’s the 3rd least played profession, they seem to be everywhere in wvw sometimes (mostly late at night).

You are more likely to see a ranger running around in WvW because of our superior range to other professions and skill 2 on a longbow can easily be a death sentence there. Also, there are pets in the WvW maps…so they might just be trying to find their wolf or red salamander

Rashagar.8349:

I’m surprised to hear that it’s the 3rd least played profession, they seem to be everywhere in wvw sometimes (mostly late at night)

WvW is where Ranger excels at the moment, particularly at roaming and solo camp-flipping. No surprise people go where they’re most effective.

• Do they require any decent skill to play?
  Yes. Ranger is the most difficult class to play. If you mean PvE openworld any class is good enough. In competitive game (PvP or WvW) the class is very out powered by any other class in game in condition or power builds so is really difficult to play with this class once you are not in the very far backline.
  In dungeons or fractals you have to be very good to be of any worth against ele or warrior. Thief has massive stealth, mesmer quickness, guardian a lot of boons droping around. Rangers do not have anything to offer.

• Are they liked or disliked by the community and for what reasons? Bad players?
  Bad players are a part of it. Most newbs tend to use ranger because of the concept of the pet is very cool and allows lazy playing letting you pet to tank for you. However there are good veteran rangers around that can carry with they part really well but not so much as any other class. They are disliked in hardcore because the class is really weak compared to any other class in game.

• What can they offer in groups?
  Ranger can only offer:
  Shouts with regen and swiftness + clear a condition with soldier runes.
  Spotter (+7% crit).
  Frost spirit with the 10% extra damage 75% of the times.
  Some pets can give boons but they are so unreliable is not worth mentioning.
• Do you tame pets or do you just get class choice pets?
  You have to play scavenger hunt for the pets. However pets are a obligatory in this class.
• What race has the coolest ranger animations? No asura please weapons are to small.
  All of them has the same animations. If you like to see it properly you can choose norn.
• Are the melee skills cool to?
  No.
• And do all arrows look like wooden stick or can they look like elemental arrows when you use an elemental bow for example?
  You are not able to see the arrows anymore (fortunately) before if was like a white line. Not like the DragonHunter were you can see the projectile.
• How popular are they? I do not care for using over populated classes
  Not popular at all. Newbs choose that class at the beginning but when they reach some game play skill most of them choose to change main. Ranger is only good for casual farming (not even SW) because the pet tank for you.

My advise: take another class, you will be happier. Don’t do like me that after investing so much time in this toon is difficult for me to accept i’ll have to roll another one.

If you want a flashy class ele will do fine. If you like melee-warrior type you are going to have a lot of fun with warrior.

Some people here saying that ranger roaming is fine. Do not listen to them, that are lies based in players that pay with other classes and see some rangers around. This forums are full of them posting here.
Ranger can flip a camp because the pet (usually bear/drake) can tank the boss of that camp while you pewpew with the LB same as PvE . Other classes can do it faster and easier anyway. But if you have to fight another player you will be in deep disadvantage. You have to be much better than the other player to have a chance to win.
That’s way they are late at night, to minimize the chances to meet an enemy player.

Usually in mmorpgs there is something to offset the weaknesses of a class, so the ranger just offers nothing for having the worst dps?

How i see it, yes.
I could give you numbers but the is no point of that. When i saw that a good necro build could do more DPS than my ranger i just cried a little.

My advise: if you don’t have ele, make an ele. If you want pets/minions you have the necro, the reaper it’s really fun. And last also the Scrapper seems to have minions.

The ranger is supposed to bring long range, but the ele and engie have the same range. The ranger is supposed to bring the pet as a game changer, but the pet is not there for quite a gap.

Let’s see if the Druid actually brings something new and make the class viable for anything different than casual farming.

Ryou.2398:

Usually in mmorpgs there is something to offset the weaknesses of a class, so the ranger just offers nothing for having the worst dps?

It’s not that black and white. All the professions have massively complex interactions of active and passive defenses, crowd control effects, condition and direct damage, area or single target damage, sustain, group support capabilities, the ability to do multiple things at the same time, etc. etc. It’s kind of like trying to balance the races in Star Craft; you can’t directly compare anything. Only the professions are a hundred times more complex than SC races.

Understanding all that: ranger players and most of the GW playerbase feels Anet got the balance wrong. It’s not off a lot, but it’s off enough that rangers are — and always have been — ostracized.

The reason most of us main ranger is because we all feel the gameplay is the most fun, and there are certain things ranger does extremely well. If you like doing the things ranger does well, obviously you’d want to play ranger even if the profession is subpar.

Edit: And a little more specifically, playing a damage necro has huge compensations. You don’t have any blocks, you don’t have any evades, you don’t have any stealths, you don’t have any reflects, you don’t have any damage immunities, you don’t have any invulnerabilties, you have the lowest mobility in the game by a million miles, and so on. Every profession has it’s own flavor and you can’t just compare them head to head in a meaningful way other than “gut feeling of effectiveness”.

I did not see it as black or white, but regardless in mmos it really is just like that something to set off the weaknesses just like in any rpg really.

ranger has low team fight potential, but is excellent 1v1.

if you love it, play it and master the class. the average pvp player is not that great, and has no clue how to fight a good ranger. I’ve seen ROM (the leader of one of the top EU teams) accomplish amazing things on ranger, and I’ve seen some great ranger play in EU tournaments. the class deserves a bigger niche than it has, but a good player can certainly carve osomething ut with it.

Ryou.2398:

I did not see it as black or white, but regardless in mmos it really is just like that something to set off the weaknesses just like in any rpg really.

I wouldn’t say that Ranger has the worst DPS – With sword/axe and Jaguar, I get about 2.5k crits per auto, my cat getting 2k, and 4k crits on the axe’s Path of Scars. Condition damage Ranger can pump out more bleeds than most classes as well – I’ve hit 27 stacks in PvP, and that’s not even taking into consideration the burning from offhand torch.

The Ranger’s a jack of all trades class, the way I see it. They don’t do anything BETTER than other classes, but they have the utility to bring lots of different things to a team (Good damage, good conditions, alright team buffing, longest water field in the game, 2 blast finishers, and the pet mechanic allows you to switch between lots of different types of support on a whim.)

Basically dude, I’d recommend you stop asking on the forums and give the class a shot yourself. This forum’s notorious for people who hate ANet and think the Ranger is a kitten class (yet they’re still playing them?). The Ranger really isn’t as bad as they make it out to be – takes practice to use effectively sure, but what class doesn’t? If you want to contact me in game, I’d be happy to chat with you and try and clear up some of your questions – I’ve played with most weapons and traits that the ranger has, so I’d like to think I’ve got a reasonable knowledge of the class ^^

Maximum Potato.5923:

Ryou.2398:

I did not see it as black or white, but regardless in mmos it really is just like that something to set off the weaknesses just like in any rpg really.

I wouldn’t say that Ranger has the worst DPS – With sword/axe and Jaguar, I get about 2.5k crits per auto, my cat getting 2k, and 4k crits on the axe’s Path of Scars. Condition damage Ranger can pump out more bleeds than most classes as well – I’ve hit 27 stacks in PvP, and that’s not even taking into consideration the burning from offhand torch.

The Ranger’s a jack of all trades class, the way I see it. They don’t do anything BETTER than other classes, but they have the utility to bring lots of different things to a team (Good damage, good conditions, alright team buffing, longest water field in the game, 2 blast finishers, and the pet mechanic allows you to switch between lots of different types of support on a whim.)

Basically dude, I’d recommend you stop asking on the forums and give the class a shot yourself. This forum’s notorious for people who hate ANet and think the Ranger is a kitten class (yet they’re still playing them?). The Ranger really isn’t as bad as they make it out to be – takes practice to use effectively sure, but what class doesn’t? If you want to contact me in game, I’d be happy to chat with you and try and clear up some of your questions – I’ve played with most weapons and traits that the ranger has, so I’d like to think I’ve got a reasonable knowledge of the class ^^

Oh I am actually what are your thoughts on the short bow for pve? I really enjoy it.