Guild Wars 2

“The ranger class combines its own innate abilities with the skills of their pets. We’ve balanced the class around the idea that you always have a pet with you to aid in any fight. The fact that the ranger can have multiple pets allows them to combine their pets in ways that most impact the current fight. We want the Ranger to have some of the evasion enjoyed by the Thief, as well as the mobility other classes employ. The class is able to deal physical or condition damage, and it can do this in melee or at range.”

This was posted Dec 15th

I fail to see how Hide in Plain Sight gives a ranger ANY of the thieves evasion abilities, thieves escape Rangers die

Rangers really lack a camouflage utility/elite skill. A 20-point trait dependent on getting hit by a control skill isn’t enough. Rangers need camouflage on demand.

I’d love to see a long duration camouflage skill for rangers. You’d lose it if you move or use another skill tho. It should probably have an equally long duration cooldown. Or a short duration camouflage (~6 seconds) with a short cooldown (~30 seconds) would be nice as well.

They misspelled some things, which may have made the description unclear. Here’s a fixed version:

“The ranger class combines its own lackluster abilities with the skills of their horribly programmed pets. We’ve balanced the class around the idea that you must suck at everything in any fight. The fact that the ranger can have multiple pets allows them to combine their virtually useless pets in ways that do not impact the current fight. We want the Ranger to have none of the evasion enjoyed by the Thief, as well as the mobility other classes employ. The class is unable to deal physical or condition damage, and it can do this in melee or at range.”

Why give a cat stealth when we cant?

Look at the “legendary” bows.. Were the warriors and assasins and all other classes gets cool MANLY gear, the ranger can shoot rainbows and have flowers in their footsteps.. WTF^^ I am a guy, and straight..^^ And as for pets.. for me it is cannonfodder with the same emotional attatchment as a schrapnel mine^^ It has no story in getting them, and i think anet looks upon it as purely tactical choice, but in that case then remove the RPG-description and just call it a MMO!!!!

Agadar.4931:

They misspelled some things, which may have made the description unclear. Here’s a fixed version:

“The ranger class combines its own lackluster abilities with the skills of their horribly programmed pets. We’ve balanced the class around the idea that you must suck at everything in any fight. The fact that the ranger can have multiple pets allows them to combine their virtually useless pets in ways that do not impact the current fight. We want the Ranger to have none of the evasion enjoyed by the Thief, as well as the mobility other classes employ. The class is unable to deal physical or condition damage, and it can do this in melee or at range.”

This had me rolling.

I feel like the devs definitely dropped the ball on ranger. The concept is excellent, but poorly executed. I’m not even talking about the damage, pet AI, etc. Just the concept itself. The simple fact is that a ranger is supposed to be one with nature. Extreme camouflage, optimal evasion, swift animal-like movements, spiritually tuned to mother nature, masters of organic healing, debilitating ranged attacks.

“Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself. Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows. With traps, nature spirits, and a stable of loyal pets at their command, rangers can adapt to any situation.”

I don’t feel like any of those things. Every build I try feels lackluster and leaves more to be desired. I still love the profession, but I’m tired of not living up to its intended potential.

Avathor.1849:

Look at the “legendary” bows.. Were the warriors and assasins and all other classes gets cool MANLY gear, the ranger can shoot rainbows and have flowers in their footsteps.. WTF^^ I am a guy, and straight..^^ And as for pets.. for me it is cannonfodder with the same emotional attatchment as a schrapnel mine^^ It has no story in getting them, and i think anet looks upon it as purely tactical choice, but in that case then remove the RPG-description and just call it a MMO!!!!

hey i’m also a straight guy. but are you so insecure about your sexuality that you wouldn’t want to troll people by killing them with rainbows and flowers? shortbow imho is the trolliest weapon in the game, and filled with lulz.

…i don’t care for RP what so ever, i play this game because i enjoy pvp and W3 (only reason why i bother with PvE is to get cool looking gear)

I’d like to have a Utility skill that’s similar to Hide in Shadows from a Thief.

Not a heal, but it could be a Trap or Survival skill you lay down for stealth that gives Opening Strike and Stealth so you could ambush or escape as you needed to.

escaping from bad situations is the one thing that rangers need.

i fear much of the community and perhaps even the developers think swiftness is mobility.

it is not.

fivekiller.1432:

escaping from bad situations is the one thing that rangers need.

i fear much of the community and perhaps even the developers think swiftness is mobility.

it is not.

Swiftness is definately a form of mobility. It’s just not a very good one. I’ll take a teleport or stealth over swiftness any day of the week.

Agadar.4931:

fivekiller.1432:

escaping from bad situations is the one thing that rangers need.

i fear much of the community and perhaps even the developers think swiftness is mobility.

it is not.

Swiftness is definately a form of mobility. It’s just not a very good one. I’ll take a teleport or stealth over swiftness any day of the week.

i wasn’t trying to argue the technical definition of mobility.

rather, there was a more nuanced undertone to my statement that was meant to carry the point that all classes move relative to one another and most of the classes a ranger fights will have equal to near equal move speed relative to the ranger before any form of burst movement is used.

swiftness only allows a ranger to move faster relative to another class assuming they do not also have swiftness, which can be rare. then there are the 25% move speed bonuses many classes have further mitigating the usefulness of swiftness as far as mobility is concerned.

In a best case scenario where a ranger has swiftness and their opponent does not the difference is often not so great that a fight will not occur if the ranger does not wish it.

Then burst movement comes into play with charges, teleports, and other such abilities. In the end, because of the relativity of movement, these abilities have a MUCH larger impact on whether or not one class will be in range of another. It is these types of movement abilities along with stealth abilities that truly decide if a class will catch another class or if a class will escape those in pursuit of it.

This is what i was attempting to convey with that much more concise post. Swiftness being both ubiquitous and having little impact on the distance between two characters in a combat situation, should not be considered a major part of the equation as far as a character’s mobility rating is concerned.

In that case I find myself agreeing with you completely. As far as I know, the only ‘burst mobility’ we have is the Greatsword’s Swoop. No weapon, utility or elite ability we have provides any burst mobility besides Swoop. It’s depressing, truly.

Agadar.4931:

In that case I find myself agreeing with you completely. As far as I know, the only ‘burst mobility’ we have is the Greatsword’s Swoop. No weapon, utility or elite ability we have provides any burst mobility besides Swoop. It’s depressing, truly.

well the sword #2 can be used for mobility also. the main problem is that these abilities are affected by cripples and chills, and rangers on demand condition removal pretty much sucks.

started lvling my thief(like 42 now) and just off the top of my head i can think of 4 abilities for mobility that she has that are not affected by snares.

shadow step
with draw
short bow 5
roll for initiative

so yes i would have to agree the rangers evasion and mobility isn’t even close to a thief.

while evasion/vigor bunkers are very good, i feel glass cannon ranger needs on-demand camouflage (maybe 2-3 seconds) in order to reposition and reset fight. this could be given via grandmaster trait.

GS and sword are great for mitigating damage. and swoop is one of the best escapes in the game. but until pets are 100% reliable, it’s difficult to spec for damage with sword/GS.