Guild Wars 2

…Did they ever fix this? I haven’t seen anything on it in the notes for the upcoming class changes! My auto-attack keeping me from dodging is getting me killed left and right!

Yeah, it’s bad. Should have been fixed as a bug a long time ago.

Still my favorite weapon in the game, still unparalleled with high consistent DPS.

Fixes would be nice, but don’t nerf it, plz.

Ranger damage has already been nerfed by 33% across the board since the beta so that overall damage would be more comparable with that of other classes after including pet-damage. Those weapon skills you use (auto-attacks included) used to do 33% more damage.

Sword is getting you killed? Sounds like a L2p issue. Doesn’t get me killed at all. Never once has it caused me to die. You know what has? Bad timing on my part. Not knowing the encounter. Doing things I shouldn’t have. Look in the mirror and you’ll see the source of your problems.

Agreed with above!

I though sword sucked until I gave it a chance. My exact problem was the rooting.

What did I do? I deactivated the auto-attack on the first skill.
It really is a learn to play issue. Ever since I deactivated the auto-attack, I’ve never been frustrated at not being able to dodge or use other skills.

Don’t come with the argument that you, for some smart reason, can’t spam the 1 key, because you really don’t have to.
First, you will barely ever use sword 1 in pvp because the weapons will mostly serve as a dodge/escape weapon, meaning that you will most likely use #2, #3 and offhand.
Second, having it on auto makes you stick to your target and all you have to do is hold W and have the camera turned towards your target. When not having it on auto, the extra you have to do is press #1 key in a rythm. That’s not difficult, is it?

You can break the sword chain by swapping, dodging, hitting esc, using 2 and 3. And all of those prevent you from dieing.

The best part is, even if you master the sword you’re still rewarded with kittenty damage relative to other classes in the game. High risk, low reward. There’s even a few fights where using the sword breaks strategies and can get your team killed.

The above posters are correct in that most, if not all sword-related deaths are preventable.

Velimere.7685:

…Did they ever fix this? I haven’t seen anything on it in the notes for the upcoming class changes! My auto-attack keeping me from dodging is getting me killed left and right!

1)turn off auto attacking
2) learn fights(might wana do it with GS at first)
3) use GS or SB offhand for escape/block swapping will also cancel an auto attack chain or animations
4) 3 and 2(the one that shoots you back) are great dodges
5)never use sword if you need max melee. Sword will always push you right up in a bosses face
6)protect me/lightning reflexes/energy sigils; If your like me and tend to over dodge these things will help you

Also the devs said they would do something but alas nothings happened

thefantasticg.3984:

Sword is getting you killed? Sounds like a L2p issue. Doesn’t get me killed at all. Never once has it caused me to die. You know what has? Bad timing on my part. Not knowing the encounter. Doing things I shouldn’t have. Look in the mirror and you’ll see the source of your problems.

Well i’m sorry to inform you that you’re wrong, sword getting you killed isn’t a l2p issue even though there are tricks to prevent yourself from dying (weapon swap, learn boss mechanics and dodge 2 sec earlier) sword root is still a problem in high level PvE. If you’re dying at Cof or in TA in a five man team then yeah you’re doing something wrong and should train harder to master the sword. On the other hand here are some exemples where sword will kill you:
- try soloing Lupicus with sword only, yeah sword will kill you because it roots you and therefore leaves you vulnerable to swarms.
- try killing alphard with sword where you NEED to max melee range or else thanks to you your whole party is gonna wipe.
- try to solo bloomhunger where the root will also kill you (you can’t always weapon swap to dodge you know)
These are only a few exemple by the way …

Sword is my favourite weapon. I use it exclusively even in high level fractals however even the devs state that swords needed a fix because control over your character is still the most important thing a player should have.

Also no need to blame the Op like you do, instead think of constructive comments that can help him improve.

Have a great day,

Moon

Fairytayl.1035:

thefantasticg.3984:

Sword is getting you killed? Sounds like a L2p issue. Doesn’t get me killed at all. Never once has it caused me to die. You know what has? Bad timing on my part. Not knowing the encounter. Doing things I shouldn’t have. Look in the mirror and you’ll see the source of your problems.

Well i’m sorry to inform you that you’re wrong,

Sounds like we will have to agree to disagree, Snowflake.

If I didn’t like drinking hard spirits (Wild Turkey 101 and Cruzan 151 being my choice drinks right now) so much, I could learn to mh sword solo lupi and the like… Most other encounters I have played through (I don’t do fractals) in PVE/Dungeons I haven’t had a problem with the sword. So, yeah, it is a L2p as far as I see it… which is why we will have to agree to disagree.

My comments to the OP were constructive. If you declined to see them that way, that is your problem, not mine. But, in an effort to help you and others I shall clarify: I suggested the OP look inward and improve themselves, their timing, their knowledge of the encounters, etc. If you couldn’t see that, kiddo, well, don’t bother responding to me because we have nothing further to discuss.

For instance: drunk or sober I have been melee’ing the statue of Dwayna for awhile now. It’s easy. The tells in the attacks seem like they gone on for minutes before “she” attacks. I can melee it on any class (except Necro as I don’t have a necro)… if the class has access to vigor and blocks it is even easier.

I don’t know, maybe I put too much faith in my fellow players’ abilities to learn and adapt. I don’t consider myself the pinnacle of player skill by a long shot, even drunk. So I figure if I can do it I see no reason anyone else with a normal functioning brain/body can’t do it either.

Tbf, most of the difficult sword fights are in Arah and Fractals. It’s not hard to look good with the sword in easy content. Many of the fractal fights involve max melee range, circle strafing, backwards kiting and running in and out of melee range. The ranger sword is terrible at doing the first 3 I listed.

There is a skill cap assosciated with this weapon, but dismissing the problems associated with it by calling it a “l2p” issue is not a fair assessment. Just because you can work around it doesn’t mean it’s fine. An analogy would be this game’s instance hosting system. You can work around it by opening dungeons yourself to protect yourself from griefing/kicking, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good system.

No other class loses DPS when re positioning or getting ready to dodge.

Well, like I said, I don’t do fractals. So, I can’t speak to those and the MH sword. Arah, yeah, it can be difficult, but that doesn’t mean you can’t over come it. I don’t see how the preceived problems with the MH sword keep people from using it. I usually use MH sword/GS (or MH sword/SB if I’m smashed from the 151+coke) if I bring my Ranger into dungeons, and that includes Arah.

From my experience it is a matter of learning the encounters and timing more than anything when it comes to using the MH sword. As I said, the AA doesn’t cause me problems. If it did, I would turn AA off. If players are having problems with AA on the MH sword, then turn AA off. If a player refuses to turn off AA then the problem no longer lays with the weapon but the player refusing to adapt the weapon to their preferred play style.

thefantasticg.3984:

If I didn’t like drinking hard spirits (Wild Turkey 101 and Cruzan 151 being my choice drinks right now) so much, I could learn to mh sword solo lupi and the like… Most other encounters I have played through (I don’t do fractals) in PVE/Dungeons I haven’t had a problem with the sword. So, yeah, it is a L2p as far as I see it… which is why we will have to agree to disagree.

There is at least one thing we have to agree on and it is that in general PvE sword isn’t a problem, it just has a steeper learning curve than any other weapon the ranger has at it’s disposal. Therefore we don’t completely disagree, i think we have to make a difference between two types of play we encounter in Tyria : the general PvE world, dungeons on one side and higher skill content such as fractals and solo dungeons on the other. TLDR : sword “problems” only applies to a niche of players.

For the Op, i don’t think sword should get you killed either because either you know you can fight a certain mob/group with sword or you know you can’t thefore you should not use it (that doesn’t mean you can’t train to make what was inaccessible to you, accessible)

TurtleDragon.3108:

Tbf, most of the difficult sword fights are in Arah and Fractals. It’s not hard to look good with the sword in easy content. Many of the fractal fights involve max melee range, circle strafing, backwards kiting and running in and out of melee range. The ranger sword is terrible at doing the first 3 I listed.

No other class loses DPS when re positioning or getting ready to dodge.

Your post resume my feelings about sword to the perfection. +1 I wish i could circle strafe, pls Anet !!!

Fairytayl.1035:

TLDR : sword “problems” only applies to a niche of players.

Yes. This we can agree on.

thefantasticg.3984:

Fairytayl.1035:

TLDR : sword “problems” only applies to a niche of players.

Yes. This we can agree on.

Dodge should override attack chain IMO. I don’t see any argument for the opposite. It just doesn’t make sense. We are not the only ones though, Thief shortbow auto aftercast prevents instant evade as well.

Should be pretty obvious I don’t share that opinion. I think it makes it more difficult to use the weapon effectively thus more rewarding when that occurs. Don’t bother me any and can’t, for the life of me, see any argument for the refusal to learn to use the weapon as is when even if you do refuse to learn how to AA with it properly, you can simply turn AA off and there is no issue what so ever.

Every other weapon’s autoattack chain can be overriden by dodge. Longe range shot, axe auto (yeah its a short channel and can be interrupted), and even greatsword autoattack Hell, you can dodge mid evade on AA3 on GS. All your post does is show you as an elitist, ignorant, condescending man. Please stop talking about the bug on sword auto like its a feature, and everyone complaining is a noob.

Ha! Me? An elitist? Really? Wow! 1st time I get called that. 1st time for everything I guess. Insult me all you like but that doesn’t change the fact that if you are dying because of the sword auto attack it is your own fault for not getting better through improving your knowledge of the encounters, etc (as I have pointed out already) or because you refuse to turn off auto attack. That’s all on you, Snowflake.

Hey, if you want to whine about it, you go right ahead. Don’t blame me when it gets nerfed because of you people. Just like when they “fixed” the “bug” on the shortbow auto attack. Remember that? Yeah. I do.

thefantasticg.3984:

Ha! Me? An elitist? Really? Wow! 1st time I get called that. 1st time for everything I guess. Insult me all you like but that doesn’t change the fact that if you are dying because of the sword auto attack it is your own fault for not getting better through improving your knowledge of the encounters, etc (as I have pointed out already) or because you refuse to turn off auto attack. That’s all on you, Snowflake.

Hey, if you want to whine about it, you go right ahead. Don’t blame me when it gets nerfed because of you people. Just like when they “fixed” the “bug” on the shortbow auto attack.

Its a bug, dodge doesn’t active while you channel. “Learning to play with sword” is a work-around for that bug. When you say its rewarding when you can pull it off you are being ignorant. And your suggestion is that everyone else “learns to play with sword”. Well other people see it for the bug it is I guess. I probably won’t be able to open your eyes, so go ahead and feel a sense of accomplishment for using sword.

Name call if it makes you feel better. That is fine. Remains the same that the sword is our highest DPS weapon and “fixing” it will result in a nerf just as it was with the shortbow.

It’s not a matter of “opening up my eyes” as they already are. I just don’t have blinders on such as you do and others who are bad hiding behind “it’s a bug!!! thats why I die!!!”. It’s a matter of attitude I guess and willing to work with the sword as is. Like I said, it is on you if you refuse to learn or to turn off auto attack. There is NOTHING in the game that FORCES you to USE auto attack. But hey, do what you need to do to feel better about yourself.

thefantasticg.3984:

Should be pretty obvious I don’t share that opinion. I think it makes it more difficult to use the weapon effectively thus more rewarding when that occurs. Don’t bother me any and can’t, for the life of me, see any argument for the refusal to learn to use the weapon as is when even if you do refuse to learn how to AA with it properly, you can simply turn AA off and there is no issue what so ever.

The last thing this game needs is more artificial difficulty. The only challenging content in this game comes from imposing your own limitations, such as trying to solo bosses or speed run through a path as fast as possible. I’d rather have the ranger class be difficulty because of complex skill combinations, pet micromanagement, good timing etc. Not because the class comes with 2 handicaps (sword, pet). It’s like saying a PS4/Xbox1 game is difficult because your controller is missing the X button. I already mentioned this, but it’s not reawrding at all. You’re still not going to outDPS the warrior, thief, ele, guardian, necro (single target) next to you who has full control of his character. The only reward is that it’s significantly stronger than our other melee option, the GS.

nagymbear.5280:

Its a bug, dodge doesn’t active while you channel. “Learning to play with sword” is a work-around for that bug.

The bug is actually that you can’t dodge for about a half second after a leap. The way sword’s mechanics work, all three autoattcks are leaps (the second and third are always leaps, the first turns into a leap if the third hits something). They happen quickly enough that it is virtually impossible to squeeze in a dodge – the time window between the dodge lockout and the next leap starting is zero for two of the autoattacks and nearly zero for the third.

It absolutely is not a learn to play issue. All turning autoattck off does is allow you to stop attacking and lengthen the time after an auto attack to where the buggy post-leap dodge lockout expires. That is, you are not bypassing the bug, you are simply pausing attacks until the bug finishes its full duration.

The other workarounds (switch weapons, start another skill, tap a movement key) do end the buggy lockout and let you dodge immediately.

It’s also with pointing out that fixing the bug won’t help sword’s root problem appreciably. You will be able to dodge, but 2 out of 3 times the next auto attack will just leap you right back to the spot you just dodged from. That is what happened the one time I’ve managed to dodge with sword’s autoattack on, and I still died. The weapon would need to be special cased in the code to stop autoattcking after a dodge.

Thank you, i was just going to make a post about this when i saw this thread.

We must be able to move while using the Auto, like every other class, It is horrible beeing locked into a single spot!

I don’t mind the rooting so much. What tends to kill me is the self-launching off of bridges and cliffs.

I’m glad this exact thread keeps popping up. I marvel at how stubborn they have been about this weapon. It’s the only top tier DPS weapon the class has for the current PvE meta yet it’s probably one of the least enjoyed weapons in the game.

The problematic functionality has almost no value in PvE yet it remains to be one of the greatest sources of contention in the game.

Why don’t they just remove the leap functionality and turn it into a trait? PvE rangers are happy to have their high DPS weapon without the control issues (forced leaps and restrictions on when you can walk or dodge doesn’t make the ranger a class that enjoys the freedom of movement, it makes the ranger feel trapped by movement). Both camps can be happy, we just need to have the current functionality sectioned off to a low tiered trait.