Hey everyone. For a long time now as WvW frequenter, I’ve been rolling on a full berserker built 30 Skirmishing/30 Marksman/10 Survival(prolly soon to change to 10 nature) ranger. Despite criticisms I’m sure that would be out there for the berserker gear set up, I’ve found my own ways to make the build work relatively well while running Longbow and greatsword. Recently I was thinking about taking some out of marksman, and build things differently to sacrifice a little damage for a little more survivability. The only real problem I have with this is I feel like I’m absolutely forced to put on the piercing trait which is really limiting my chances at build diversity with this gear set up. I’ve put a lot of time and money into my current exotic gear, and while I’m open to spending more time farming other gear sets to try new builds/different weapon combos in active WvW.. really I still can see no justification for any ranger being forced to roll 20 points of marksman just to do such a basic functionality. In terms of game mechanics, not only does this limit us a lot in build diversity but you really DO HAVE TO for the most part invest in piercing to avoid problems like obstructed arrow shots. I can only speak for the longbow, since its always been my style to roll with a max range weapon and a close range weapon… but really, the longbow simply DOES NOT WORK WITHOUT PIERCE. Without it, simply rolling with a melee build where melee weapons that can sweep an entire area of attack thus hitting multiple foes within the weapon range, and this without even needing to target a foe.. seems much more appealing. (An unfortunate trait that ranged weapons lack, meaning the only way to hit a stealthed foe is to swap to a melee weapon and whack the air anyways which already limits bows in comparison. Adding further to its weaknesses, especially in the stealth and culling rich environment of WvW where picking the right target to get the most out of your piercing arrows can sometimes be a little more frustrating than expected.)
And on that matter, wouldn’t it make more sense in game mechanics to be able to blindly shoot your bow and have the arrows go the full distance, just as you can blindly swipe with a sword? Ie. shooting a 1200 range shot with no target selected in the general direction you are facing. A linear, 1200 range AoE if you will. As it stands bows are near useless in comparison to melee weapons against stealthed foes due to the necessity for a target to be selected, outside the AoE skills.)
And to add to my bitter feelings in this, I made an engineer recently, and I couldn’t help but notice that their rifle shots pierce by default.
I mean.. really? Now here’s where I hang on the “real world style dynamics” argument of things.(Assuming there is one.) Correct me if I’m wrong, but from a “real world logic” stand point (the only possible argument I could perceive against piercing arrows vs. gun shots); That 1600-1700s Flintlock or whatever-style pellet shooting age gun weaponry similar to what appears to be the standard of guns here in GW2 did not have much penetrating/piercing power. I don’t think you could shoot guns from the 1600s and expect the projectile to pierce multiple people were they lined up. Contrast that to the longbow/arrow of the English and French wars, where in the ever going arms race of English weaponry vs. French armor, the English had bows firing arrows capable of penetrating some pretty crazy dense, thick French armor. Bow and arrows of that age were designed for ARMOR PENETRATING/PIERCING power in the context of the war against heavily armored opponents at least. Which may not be the same as piercing through whole bodies, yet still… why can’t our bows in GW2 be designed as funcitonal for war as the bows of the real world were? Especially when it makes so much more sense in game mechanics?
Ferguson’s Crossing server.
(edited by Detharos.3157)