Guild Wars 2

Hi, Dev’s you need to start taking look at the major balance problem for rangers in WvW.

The meta has change for WvW, more bugs are fixed more skills are buffed. I believe I know my WvW fairly well when comes to rangers and builds. Almost 90% of my ranger game play is all WvW.

So I’ll get right to the point the heart of the major unbalance atm and I hope to god the Dev’s take the time to read this post and go and test it themselves to see what I mean.

This is for WvW, Not SPvP

Boons due to nature of how the ranger is designed we need to be able to boon stack to stay up with the current meta, sure we have many builds we can run but almost every other class can do it better and most of the reason is due to fact they can run around with boons. Sure there are classes that can counter boons, but rangers have no way around it. I’m seeing more and more classes able to keep perma upkeep on boons with almost perma 20+ might stacks. That’s just insane.

But I think this just one of them pipe dreams, Anet stop looking at SPvP in terms of balance and spend a solid 2 months in WvW roaming/duelling and zerg fighting talk to player base check out the builds and understand why us rangers are thinking we are under-powered class compared to other classes.

Rangers are about to become the trash class of WvW, I play fair bit of TPvP and SPvP lately and I love using my ranger there, but I will be packing my ranger up when comes to WvW until the Dev’s take good hard look at the balance problems rangers are faced with in WvW.

Bugs That came with the latest update.

1: When downed and you try to get your pet to heal you, most of the time it converts the heal into damage, I can record this problem if need be its happened to me that many times now. So atm rangers don’t ask your pet to heal you good chance he will kill you.

2: F2 has become extremely unresponsive in terms of use if the dev’s need me to record the footage of the problems I can, it used to happen but nothing like it does now. E.g. My pet swap takes 20 seconds before I can change pet, most of the time now I having problems getting f2 to work inside of that window it keeps disabling and the CD resets, its driving me insane I’ve lost so many fights thanks to my Fear not working.

3: F2 skill once you do get it to cast the effect is only working 50% of the time, I’ve never seen this happen till the latest update, my fear going off right in there face and they take no effect from it. Now I figured was lucky condition remove but its happening so often now that it has to be internal problem. 60% of the time now the effect doesn’t take place.

Now this is ok for people who don’t use cc pets, but I use CC pets as team support and drives me nuts when I pet swap to QZ my fear and nothing happens or he cancels fear on me and I don’t get to use the skill.

Now please don’t take this as a rant, there are just some of problems I’ve seen while playing the ranger in WvW.

I can confirm that often F2 abilities go on cooldown without doing what they should.
For the wolf fear there is a bug which was explained to me that way:
The first thing the wolf wants to do when you pet swap is the knockback. If you immediately click the fear after swap somehow it gets messed up because the wolf wanted to do his knockdown and the F2 will not work. I even saw the animation from the fear some times but it simply won’t affect anyone.

The fear would be really helpful when you are downed. Switch pet -> F2 fear to get some time. But from my tests it won’t work reliable.

The lick wounds is horrible. It doesn’t work many times. It seems to happen when the ground is not 100% flat which is a real problem.

Thanks for explaining the F2 bug!

On a related note, I’ve noticed the following with the wolf. He wants to do the knockback/pounce when summoned, and I sometimes see him prepare to do so. But if the target moves out of range during the long animation, that seems to screw him up as well. So he does a lot of running to the target, stopping to try to pounce, then running again as the target continues to move out of range.

It seems SOOO much would be better if they made the pet special attacks/F2 instant/nearly instant. I can’t see how this would be unbalanced—it would just make the skills and pets more reliable (e.g,. work as they should).

Also they need change #5 on the horn to give 10 Might stacks not 1 which is worthless.

if spirits and pets got the fix they deserved, rangers would be just fine in wvw. ranger boons (to others) are atrocious

and good point Sol.

Heck, I’d be happy with 3 stacks of Might (For Great Justice!).

I think it’d be nice for Fortifying Bond to work both ways … sharing boons with my pet is nice but it’d be nice if he’d share too … I thought we were pals ;-)

Sol.4310:

Also they need change #5 on the horn to give 10 Might stacks not 1 which is worthless.

I repectfully disagree. You only see 20+ stacks of ‘almost perma’ might on organized zergs.
Also adding 10+ stacks on Horn 5 would make the horn too strong and wouldn’t change anything in the overall scheme of things. Horn 5 is already strong as it is providing high uptime of fury. I’d even say the weaker skill is 4 even with great sinergy with ‘on crit’ bonuses or the bleed stone.
If anything, you should suggest more might stacking through trait sinergy like most other professions. That would help many more builds.
Also, defensive and offensive boon delivery is the job of guardians and warriors respectively, as is utility, chaos (group stealth), portal and confusion bombing the job of mesmers, condition cleansing support and field control for engineers, AoE condition pressure for necros and so on. Staff guardians are already there to provide huge might stacks. Rangers are there to provide water fields, although it’s little utility in comparision, to be fair. So we should start to think how Rangers could be of any use in group settings which is most of this format (WvW) based around on and where the Ranger is severly lacking currently.
Improving spirits and certain pets comes to mind.

Hopefully you’re not dueling all day, hence contributing to your world. Hopefully you have a hell of a lot of experience on group fighting. And hopefully you already know what needs to be improved for rangers besides “other classes can have almost 20+ stacks of might and we don’t” and “horn needs 10+ stacks of might”. So potential decline of credibility aside, and besides of suspiciously thinking this is a sneak attempt to call for buffs to your personal build, I think you may have some great ideas in your mind, I urge you to post them.

what he’s saying is that +1 might is so useless that it shouldnt even be there. +3 stacks would be a decent compromise.

secondly, it’s hard to stack might with one of our only might mechanics (RaO) simply due to the fact the bloody pet almost never hits the target. we have the stalker. and thats about it.

Sebrent.3625:

Heck, I’d be happy with 3 stacks of Might (For Great Justice!).

I think it’d be nice for Fortifying Bond to work both ways … sharing boons with my pet is nice but it’d be nice if he’d share too … I thought we were pals ;-)

That would make a 1-handed sword ranger quite powerful because of Pounce.

nerva.7940:

what he’s saying is that +1 might is so useless that it shouldnt even be there. +3 stacks would be a decent compromise.

secondly, it’s hard to stack might with one of our only might mechanics (RaO) simply due to the fact the bloody pet almost never hits the target. we have the stalker. and thats about it.

Yes, I agree, but you don’t use it for the might, do you? Adding 10 stacks of might not only would overpower the skill, it would start to be used just for the might, which is clearly not how this skill was designed to be used, but for AoE Swiftness+Fury more specificaly. Three stacks of Might seem more reasonable but as I said, this thread is not about improving the horn, but improving the Ranger capabilities in WvW, and this buff, honestly, would change nothing. Maybe that, plus little things here and there would start to add up, I say the marksmanship and nature magic lines should have the focus on balance this time.
It’s already been said that AoE damage reduction for pets is a no-go, but maybe for spirits?

I can get 10 stacks on my Thief by dodging and hitting people with CnD…

My ranger has no real way of getting stacks like other then Rampage as one.

Out of all the classes i’ve played, it seems that Rangers are the class that stack the least about of boons..

Khenzy.9348:

Rangers are there to provide water fields, although it’s little utility in comparision, to be fair.

If job of Ranger is to provide light fields then bring a eng as you will get them more often 16sec traited on exilar gun and also off turret.

Khenzy.9348:

Sol.4310:

Also they need change #5 on the horn to give 10 Might stacks not 1 which is worthless.

I repectfully disagree. You only see 20+ stacks of ‘almost perma’ might on organized zergs.
Also adding 10+ stacks on Horn 5 would make the horn too strong and wouldn’t change anything in the overall scheme of things. Horn 5 is already strong as it is providing high uptime of fury. I’d even say the weaker skill is 4 even with great sinergy with ‘on crit’ bonuses or the bleed stone.
If anything, you should suggest more might stacking through trait sinergy like most other professions. That would help many more builds.
Also, defensive and offensive boon delivery is the job of guardians and warriors respectively, as is utility, chaos (group stealth), portal and confusion bombing the job of mesmers, condition cleansing support and field control for engineers, AoE condition pressure for necros and so on. Staff guardians are already there to provide huge might stacks. Rangers are there to provide water fields, although it’s little utility in comparision, to be fair. So we should start to think how Rangers could be of any use in group settings which is most of this format (WvW) based around on and where the Ranger is severly lacking currently.
Improving spirits and certain pets comes to mind.

Hopefully you’re not dueling all day, hence contributing to your world. Hopefully you have a hell of a lot of experience on group fighting. And hopefully you already know what needs to be improved for rangers besides “other classes can have almost 20+ stacks of might and we don’t” and “horn needs 10+ stacks of might”. So potential decline of credibility aside, and besides of suspiciously thinking this is a sneak attempt to call for buffs to your personal build, I think you may have some great ideas in your mind, I urge you to post them.

Not sure what rock your living under mate, but most people can stack might 15+ by themselves.

Most classes have no problem with the right boon build. I personally use my guardian in 3 man team and stack 20+ might stacks off my first leap into combat. I can upkeep 15+ might stacks while in combat. Its just funny how you think making skill give us 10+ might stacks OP when other classes are already doing it.

I figured 10 might stacks was big low tbh seen as other classes can do it themselves and almost perma up keep. I roam daily in teams I don’t PvDoor any more as its something I done to much of and its really un-skilful being a door basher.

Most of my team mates have Perma, Swiftness/Regen/Vigor/Protection/Fury/Retaliation by themselves no group help at all.

I’m sorry but your completely wrong.

To be honest with you Karlesi, I don’t think Khenzy has played against a good guardian, ele, mesmer or engi or else he would retract the might statement very quickly. All those classes do boon generation 100x better than ranger.

And yes, 10+ might in battle is common with these classes, EASILY common except maybe the mesmer.

I think the meta is smart, and not downplaying it , its just when some classes physically can’t do it at all no matter WHAT Build you try and you have a majority of the classes that can, it’s just sort of uneven and needs to be fixed because we’re in the position of survivability vs high dmg output and no survivability. Their really is no in between for us. It’s be bunker and stalemate alot or try and kill as fast as you can before you die when all of the other classes get a plethora of other options to kitten with.

Moddo.7105:

Khenzy.9348:

Rangers are there to provide water fields, although it’s little utility in comparision, to be fair.

If job of Ranger is to provide light fields then bring a eng as you will get them more often 16sec traited on exilar gun and also off turret.

^Water fields, not Light fields, vastly different, I’m afraid.

Sol.4310:

Not sure what rock your living under mate, but most people can stack might 15+ by themselves.

Most classes have no problem with the right boon build. I personally use my guardian in 3 man team and stack 20+ might stacks off my first leap into combat. I can upkeep 15+ might stacks while in combat. Its just funny how you think making skill give us 10+ might stacks OP when other classes are already doing it.

I figured 10 might stacks was big low tbh seen as other classes can do it themselves and almost perma up keep. I roam daily in teams I don’t PvDoor any more as its something I done to much of and its really un-skilful being a door basher.

Most of my team mates have Perma, Swiftness/Regen/Vigor/Protection/Fury/Retaliation by themselves no group help at all.

I’m sorry but your completely wrong.

So now you want a boon oriented Ranger build that is the one (to you) that would make a Ranger viable in WvW all of a sudden? That and only that could be taken as a potential solution for Ranger utility in WvW, you could have specified that in your first post. Although you never talked about group sinergies or of what help could that be for your group (you know, group support and such). Rangers definetly don’t lack sustainability or roaming capabilities, which is what you’re aparently aiming at.

By the way, you don’t magically get 20+ stacks of might while leaping into combat as a Guardian or any other profession or 3 man composition for that matter, as a Guradian you have to stand still and channel a skill that gives you relatively short duration might stacks, on a weapon that’s more secondary and awful damage-wise, and as a group you have to set it up first.
With that said, I’ll tell you why your suggestion is bad:
You want 10 stacks of might (which again suspiciously benefit your build the most) in a fire and forget weapon AoE skill and with barely any cast time. Where warriors have to blow a shout utility and maybe and elite skill or specificaly trait for it, use a greatsword and deliver some criticals in combat, or just constant weapon swaps. Or an Engineer using major trait+flamethrower and again crit in combat or a major trait+elixirs as utilities, or mesmers as a 25 point trait directly tied to their class mechanic, or thieves blowing dodges and signet CDs. The only prime might stackers through weapon skills are Elementalists and Engineers to a lesser extent (thanks to sigil of battle). But Eles depend mostly on earths evasive arcana and even then, their autoattacks are jackkitten, so their damage mostly depends on active mostly precise skills and skill rotations, but we would be entering the ‘apples to oranges’ dilema here.

The thing is, if you want some boon sustain for Rangers, we shouldn’t look at other professions which consist of vastly different mechanics, we should focus on what we already have and how to improve upon it. You are already using the Horn to great effect and even if the single might stack it provides the #5 may seem low, the high uptime of Fury as Swiftness is already wiorth it, the might could just be a mere (albeit negligible) bonus. We should put that profession jealousy away, it’s not doing any good.
Again, I think we should focus on the potential boon factory, the spirits, and how we could improve them to actually make them useful or even remotely usable. Or maybe some trait sinergy where if you pet swap you and your pet gain might, or you gain x stacks of might and you share them with your pet with Fortifying Bond; or even with spirits: Each time you cast a spirit skill, you and nearby allies gain x stacks of might, when a spirit dies, you and nearby allies gain x stacks of might. Something like that.
Yet again, I think this boon sustained Ranger still wouldn’t be a strong contender for group fighting or even desired over other professions, it needs a strong niche besides constant Water fields, I’ll leave that job to the actual devs.

That’s true. Ragner is lacking of: boons, odd conditions, conditions cure and pretty much mobility.
Wish we had once a time some confussion damage (even without condi build).
Mainly, I’m D/D ele, but i got back to ranger recently to take more out of this class. As ele, 11 stacks of might, is something I have without paying any attention to game. With every possible blast it can reach around 21 totally by my own. With boon-dunartion runes, people actually can perma keep it. Not to mention as ele, I can have pretty much perma swiftness, regeneration and pretty much vigor as well.

I’ll put it this way. Investing 30 trait points, my runes, and use Signet of Rage (the one most warriors use) I can have 100% up-time on swiftness, fury, and 5 stacks of might … trivially. This same build can trait for horn (using 20 of those 30 trait points) and having 100% up-time on vigor as well as their horn #4 and #5 now each turn one condition into a boon.

In comparison, I’m just asking that the Ranger’s horn give 3 stacks of might instead of just 1.