Guild Wars 2

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Oh, believe me, I thought I was playing Ranger 2.0 when I started also, but I tested every weapon set and didn’t stick to the LB purely for the RP value, so I learned early on that the melee sets did more damage and also that you can swap pets strategically so that you can have DPS pets and still keep them alive. I played quite a bit with pets in GW1 and I like this system better, always having one and the utility role they play as well as contributing to our DPS. Check this pic out for a pet DPS build…

I just think that Bearbowers are typically not people who adapt to changing circumstances and ‘roll with the punches’. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE destroying people with LB zerker in WvW, there is just something so satisfying about massive risk for massive reward. Oh, I’ll throw in another screenshot for your pleasure… I was also clueless at one point, yet I adapted It irks me when others do not.

I think I got lucky in that I really wanted to melee ranger it up. I still mostly play a meh, “RP” build in the overworld to this day lol

Also +1 for the rare picture of the largely now extinct “Ranger Shortbow Bear Bot” in it’s natural habitat.

Haha, yeah, look at them all, I have more pics of those guys, they used to be everywhere. That was when T6 were 50c.

Eh, I’ve never been a fan of dungeons/pre-formed-instanced-content, but the types of things I read pretty much ensure I’m never finishing any of my dungeon sets.

I hate melee in these sorts of games, and short of ANet completely rebuilding the game to play like DMC/Zelda/something along those lines (complete with native controller support), that’s not going to change. I’ve always gravitated to the ranged class and I will continue to do so. I knew going into the game they were trying to get away from “Ranger = ranged only”, and I was leery even then, since I wanted a pure-range class and they hadn’t offered something else.
Deciding to make due with what they did have, from the start, I was torn between Rifle/Longbow Warrior and Longbow/Shortbow ranger. Ultimately, Eagle Eye sealed it for me, but it’s not a matter of “I picked Ranger because they’re intrinsically supposed to be good at range by virtue of being called Rangers!” Rather, “I picked what seemed like the best option for a pure-range class out of what we have available.”

It’s not trivial to say, “Just switch to melee.” to me. I could do it, and I’m sure I could be just as effective as anyone else, but at that point I would also not be having fun with the game, and at that point, why bother at all?

I still find teams that enjoy my spotter/traited frost spirit

And in more mobile fights where rezzing downed players on the move is essential (Captain Mai Trin Boss Fractal), Spirit of Renewal and Search and Rescue are very welcome.

Not to mention that in Ranged Fights (cuz the boss hits like a truck if you venture into melee him), am top DPS with my traited Longbow.

PS: If your party still complains, trait for Trappers Expertise and take Fire Trap! Spamable Fire Field, and take Healing Spring for Water Field.

@Sneakier
I actually deal more damage with my Longbow with my melee meta traits.
Just saying.

And I wouldn’t compare Ranger to Mantra Healer mesmer at Mai Trin I don’t remember wiping once with that.
LB Ranger is like of the worst things you can get at Mai Trin. You draw her out of the fields – which prolongs the fight like 10 fold.

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Sneakier
I actually deal more damage with my Longbow with my melee meta traits.
Just saying.

And I wouldn’t compare Ranger to Mantra Healer mesmer at Mai Trin I don’t remember wiping once with that.
LB Ranger is like of the worst things you can get at Mai Trin. You draw her out of the fields – which prolongs the fight like 10 fold.

Not if you know what hunter shot is there for, and i hardly belive you do more dmg with ur melee traits… i call BS on that.

I don’t think I’ve ever been kicked out for being just a ranger.

Sneakier.9460:

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Sneakier
I actually deal more damage with my Longbow with my melee meta traits.
Just saying.

And I wouldn’t compare Ranger to Mantra Healer mesmer at Mai Trin I don’t remember wiping once with that.
LB Ranger is like of the worst things you can get at Mai Trin. You draw her out of the fields – which prolongs the fight like 10 fold.

Not if you know what hunter shot is there for, and i hardly belive you do more dmg with ur melee traits… i call BS on that.

Longbow build is Eagle Eye (/Piercing Attacks) + Read the Wind.
And from skirmishing a possible Quick Draw (that is definitely not a 20% DPS increase in case someone wanted to say that).

Eagle Eye is a 5% modifier, Read the Wind a 10% on auto-attack.

My melee meta build includes Spotter (7%) and Predator’s Onslaught (10% +5% pet). And I get my pet a nice perma 25 might in place of Quick Draw.

BS yourself if you can’t get the numbers down.

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Sneakier
I actually deal more damage with my Longbow with my melee meta traits.
Just saying.

And I wouldn’t compare Ranger to Mantra Healer mesmer at Mai Trin I don’t remember wiping once with that.
LB Ranger is like of the worst things you can get at Mai Trin. You draw her out of the fields – which prolongs the fight like 10 fold.

No you are not you are just seeing a big damage spike rapid fire on a single target and ignoring no cooldown auto attack cleave on 3 target which do higher dps than RF on CD on a single target. Not to mention all the might and fury and banners you might be missing out for sitting 1000 units away from the group.

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Sneakier
I actually deal more damage with my Longbow with my melee meta traits.
Just saying.

Actually no you don’t.

The way to maximize your DPS is to open with barrage and RF and then swap to melee for the remainder of the fight. You could swap back at the end too and do another barrage/RF right before the boss dies.

vespers.1759:

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Sneakier
I actually deal more damage with my Longbow with my melee meta traits.
Just saying.

Actually no you don’t.

The way to maximize your DPS is to open with barrage and RF and then swap to melee for the remainder of the fight. You could swap back at the end too and do another barrage/RF right before the boss dies.

Yeah, you do.

He’s not talking about that, he’s talking about LB doing more damage with Frost Spotter traits than with (PvP/WvW) LB traits.

Thanks Heim, you seem to be the only one to get the point of my reply.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ranger
OP need to have a good read about ranger. Ranger in this game doesn’t mean a class that specialize in range weapon.
I swear to god anet needs to change the profession name just to avoid this kind of silly misconception.
Truth be told most range weapons in game are not as good as melee in term of sheer damage pve wise. So it’s not a ranger with longbow issue only.

Pino, Rangers never were fighters from afar. Not exclusively.
This issue is here because of WoW and the fact that Rangers are a replacement for it.

You can tell that every hunter from there wanted to get a Ranger in here.
The others well… Having pet tank stuff while you sip coffee doing nothing makes you feel good. Things die and you are healthy. You can’t really compare the killing speed because there is no DPS meter, and you see big number using #2 (no one realizes it’s 2,5 seconds which ~ 2,5 auto attacks worth) so they feel great.

Some of the best ranger builds in GW1 were Spear, Dagger, Scythe builds or Axe so yeah Ranger has never exclusively been Ranged damage.

i think its bulkitten that players force you to play what they want and not what you want

i always play bear/LB style more focus on support

and thx to me i can get my party save to the orther side
brown bear is mostly my choice with gray wolf

just a few good things we can do for the party

1 bear can tank and brown bear can remove con
2 pet can help get up downed players up fast
3 can KB mob back that are attacking a downed player
4 have a good AOE healing skill
5 and much more

am getting sick and tired off those zerk gear players
i hope Anet will Nerf those gear so hard that players are forced to build something else

I’ve always found Mai Trin easy with longbow and 1h sword. In fractals, one should run spotter and piercing arrows. LB should be used almost on top of enemy about 200-300 units away, in just about every battle. That being said, GS works just as well.

Genlog.4983:

i think its bulkitten that players force you to play what they want and not what you want

i always play bear/LB style more focus on support

and thx to me i can get my party save to the orther side
brown bear is mostly my choice with gray wolf

just a few good things we can do for the party

1 bear can tank and brown bear can remove con
2 pet can help get up downed players up fast
3 can KB mob back that are attacking a downed player
4 have a good AOE healing skill
5 and much more

am getting sick and tired off those zerk gear players
i hope Anet will Nerf those gear so hard that players are forced to build something else

LB and Bear offers little support.

It doesn’t matter if they nerf zerker, something else will become Meta because it is the most efficient and then people will demand that.

@Genlog
You might not be aware, but that is almost zero support all in all.

You are ignoring a fact that by killing stuff – you rally people.
If you can’t kill stuff – you have nothing to do there anyways.

The support means damage mitigation (aegis/protection) or damage boost (Might/Fury/Frost Spirit/Spotter/Banners).
If you wanted to help cleanse stuff – Healing Spring or Signet of the Renewal it is.

While you hate Zerkers that work their kitten off for useless people like you, it might just happen to be the other way round, as well. Just keep in mind where’s the majority.
Do you think that Zerker people like it that way? They wanted to play something that “didn’t feel like them”? They wanted to be forced down the meta? Well be assured that wanted to be efficient/helpful was the main idea.
Not to be selfish like your attitude currently is.

lol @ Genlog. Bearbow and proud. Baddie spotted.
Ppl like you are the reason ranger getting the kicked n shoved from dungeons without question being asked upon joining.
/facepalm

Didn’t want to be as straightforward as Pino…
… But he just said it.

Genlog.4983:

i think its bulkitten that players force you to play what they want and not what you want

i always play bear/LB style more focus on support

and thx to me i can get my party save to the orther side
brown bear is mostly my choice with gray wolf

just a few good things we can do for the party

1 bear can tank and brown bear can remove con
2 pet can help get up downed players up fast
3 can KB mob back that are attacking a downed player
4 have a good AOE healing skill
5 and much more

am getting sick and tired off those zerk gear players
i hope Anet will Nerf those gear so hard that players are forced to build something else

Here’s some insight.

So you’re standing back 1000+, not receiving 600 range buffs from party, not giving buffs and not running zerk? How exactly are you supporting the group again? If you’re going to be proud of your rezzing skills, then you won’t be rezzing when you’re 1000+ away from the party and having your utility be the only rez is unacceptable.

LB IS useful in PvE. Vuln bursting (+Cripple for PO), some bosses have very nasty pressures. Esp when theres so many particle effects you can’t see which direction their facing for fast hard hits (Archdiviner). Most players understand this and won’t kick you for it, even in “Melee” groups.

Bear, unless it’s Mai Trin, don’t bother. If you want a tank pet then the Drakes are actually your support ones. AoE blast lets you double blast (Water for instance) and apply weakness and are quite durable on anything less than Mai Trin. Vs Mai Trin, the bears can tank her for the most part and your party sits behind her and soaks lightning ez. That’s it.

Zerk gear helps support the party’s defenses. The less uptime on a boss the better uptime your group’s defense mechanics are. Running around with Condi Shortbow and laughing bc you draw the fight out and your warriors are dying while you run around like a chicken isn’t supporting a party – it’s killing them. Zerk isn’t all about “Awesome Games Done Quick” charity mode.

Selfish defenses are selfish, supporting the party is supporting. Without a sustain-based PvE model, everyone should be helping with damage. By the way, nerfing Zerk doesn’t change the PvE model.

Offtopic: If Anet wants Zerk dominance to go away in PvE then they have to start by changing the NPCs, but that’s an entirely different discussion. (Example: cut damage by 75%, x4 hp, x4 toughness = condi, healers, tanks are viable)

OMGimAnoobLOLOL.4730:

Offtopic: If Anet wants Zerk dominance to go away in PvE then they have to start by changing the NPCs, but that’s an entirely different discussion. (Example: cut damage by 75%, x4 hp, x4 toughness = condi, healers, tanks are viable)

They already have the answer in the game. Mobs that are resistant to direct damage. I would just go one step further and make mobs that are totally immune to direct damage and only take condition damage if it is above X per tick, making condi builds a necessary part and stacking bleeds while on a zerker still does nothing.

lets say it so
if every1 just want ubber dps to kill fast what is the use of so many type off gear then and builds that anet made ??

they can better scrap all other builds and only go for zerker build

also like world bosses like Jormag ore TEQ
i try to help out and not to dps with my build i can survive pretty long

see if i can ress players and so on

but maybe its because am very must used to the trinity system i always play full healer ore full tanker i never play a dps role

thats just me sorry

Genlog.4983:

lets say it so
if every1 just want ubber dps to kill fast what is the use of so many type off gear then and builds that anet made ??

they can better scrap all other builds and only go for zerker build

also like world bosses like Jormag ore TEQ
i try to help out and not to dps with my build i can survive pretty long

see if i can ress players and so on

but maybe its because am very must used to the trinity system i always play full healer ore full tanker i never play a dps role

thats just me sorry

The reason for other builds and gear are other situations where they are useful.

For example,a condi build is great for roaming in WvW but it’s complete garbage in a dungeon.

It’s up to the players to figure out the right build and play style for the situation they are in. If you can’t figure it out on your own other people will help you realize you are being useless by kicking you from the party.

Genlog.4983:

lets say it so
if every1 just want ubber dps to kill fast what is the use of so many type off gear then and builds that anet made ??

Sigh. The game has a great and diverse build and gear system, but that doesn’t mean jack kitten when the pve content is lackluster.

It doesn’t make sense to argue that the game has tons of possible build diversity and that those possibilities should be utilized when the game doesn’t have any content that requires it.

https://youtu.be/MW-ogol0VQQ?t=1h51m

Genlog.4983:

1 bear can tank and brown bear can remove con
2 pet can help get up downed players up fast
3 can KB mob back that are attacking a downed player
4 have a good AOE healing skill
5 and much more

A few things I want to point.
1 – Healing Spring and SoR also can from the party and drakes can tank with much better damage.
2 – If you are using LB + bear and have “Search and Rescue” in the skill bar … you need to rethink all your concepts about playing a ranger.
3 – Have a downed player usually mean that something bad happened, and the lack of utility you provided may be the reason.
4 – That is a point against you, Healing Spring is better if you are in melee with the other players, who cares about AoE heal if you are in ranged distance alone?
5 – You should list a few of the “much more” because the previous ones were not convincing at all.

Genlog.4983:

lets say it so
if every1 just want ubber dps to kill fast what is the use of so many type off gear then and builds that anet made ??

they can better scrap all other builds and only go for zerker build

also like world bosses like Jormag ore TEQ
i try to help out and not to dps with my build i can survive pretty long

see if i can ress players and so on

but maybe its because am very must used to the trinity system i always play full healer ore full tanker i never play a dps role

thats just me sorry

You need to see build and gear differently in this game. Gear is only a slider between personnal surviability (toughness, vitality) and DPS (power, precision, ferocity, condition damage). For PvE, the better you are the more you want to put the slider toward DPS. Since the game is 3 years old, players are used to the content so much that even people that shouldn’t be able to run full DPS can now because they know the content by heart. There is two exception to that. Healing Power is a hybrid personnal surviability and support, but there is better support than healing power for PvE and the second exception is condition damage, which should be good but is not because anet did a bad job balancing it. Hopefully, they will fix condition with the expansion.

Build on the other hand have a lot more possibilities. Yes DPS is still a major focus, but so is support. All meta build include a good portion of support either from trait, weapons or utility skill. Stealth for skipping, blind, aegis, reflection to protect your team, fury, might, vulnerability to boost the team, etc. There is a really high build diversity in this game. For guardian for exemple, from meta dungeon to AH WvW frontliner to medi guardian in pvp, etc There is different build for different mode and for each mode there is an optimal build, but with dozen of different build less optimal, but still powerful.

People complain is usually not about build diversity, but gear diversity in PvE. Because in sPvP and WvW, there is a large gear diversity. From cleric guardian in zerg to zerk thief to celestial warrior to condition terromancer, etc. But in PvE, condition isn’t great, healing power is sub optimal and toughness/vitality is less powerful than active defense. There is two camp on that issue.

1) They like the current system. PvE is focus on dps and active defense/support. You need skill, knowledge and timing to survive because active defense will keep you alive not some passive stats that allow you to take the hit in the face. The only thing they would like to change is to make condition damage good because they are pro glass canon not just direct damage. And they would like new and challenging content that would need the use of more support and active defense.

2) They have the same reaction as you. There is 20+ different type of gear and only 2 of them are optimal in PvE. There is something wrong with that and Anet need to rework their system so that we have true gear diversity.

This discussion is going one for a long time here on the forums. Usually, at least one or two tread pop up each months about that. Sometime, about 10 of those can start in a week. We all want Anet to fix condition damage and make more challenging content but other than that no consensus have been reach and I don’t think there will ever be one.

There is currently a thread on the Warrior forum where a guy doesn’t like that he gets flak for not running meta. It is not a Ranger-only issue.

I’ll add 2 vital points to what Tadeus said.

Guild Wars 2 is different from other MMOs. And that is a point that everyone can fulfill every role. Plus no one relies on other classes/roles/people and has access to the very same results. Just as there is no need for a healer or a tank.

The reason is that :

• Everyone has access to healing skills
• Everyone has access to damage avoidance through dodge roll

If everyone can dodge the damage – there is no need for a tank or healer.
If everyone can heal himself if he failed to dodge – there is no need for a tank or healer.
… Which also means you need to be tanky or need healing power if you suck at what you do. And that obviously tells you everything you need to know.

And the most crucial part – by killing the enemy – it stops dealing damage as well as by killing enemies you ress up friends who died.

The context is as easy and simple as that. Every single part of PvE promotes Damage as the way to go. It’s not like “other are not viable”. The thing is why would you go for other gear setups if it only prolongs the time needed for PvE content, risks a failure (most events are time restricted) and no one needs you do anything else than do damage, keeping in mind that your goal is not to keep healing up for ages, but to kill the thing and get the loot.

thx so much guys for so much info
so to put it simple i need more types off set up for ea area i go

PVE
PVP
WVW

mostly i focus on 1 set up for everything but i see now that is wrong

Aye, the builds required for each game mode are quite different … best take-away you could get from this

… this has the added bonus of teaching you about more aspects of the class.

I look forward to seeing you continue to learn more. Stick around.

Genlog.4983:

thx so much guys for so much info
so to put it simple i need more types off set up for ea area i go

PVE
PVP
WVW

mostly i focus on 1 set up for everything but i see now that is wrong

Oh yes, the “meta” changes a lot depending on the game type.
The “all mighty zerk” meta is a PvE dungeon thing only, open world it is really good but not the most efficient in every aspect.

In PvP conditions not only is viable but it is meta for some classes and ranger has really good cond builds.

In WvW rangers are good roamers and cond / regen are good options, a time ago apothecary was a quite popular gear for ranger roamer.

Yes, the meta is as easy as that.

PvE:
- Dungeons: Full Zerk
- Fractals : Full Zerk
- World Bosses : Soldier (Adds and spawned minions still fall to the Zerk category)
- Open world content : depends on the target. Usually Zerk / Sinister.

For PvP and WvW :
- every class has it’s strong and weak points and should build around that. That’s why Warriors usually go the ShoutBow, mesmers go the Double Shatter and so on.
- and that’s why Eles and Guardians are so powerful in WvW thanks to the mobility/durability/offense/support they have combined.

That’s why it’s only natural to kick anyone who doesn’t understand the context they asked for – which obviously means being a burden. The only difference is that it’s light years easier to spot a lame Bearbow than to distinguish a bad guardian (for example).

Boaz.1694:

Thanks for the insight; very helpful.

never heard of Druids then?

I’m fairly new to the Ranger class type, but something i have learned a while ago about the zerker sheeple is that most of them do NOT do their own numbers…they seem to “think” (i use that term loosely) that because a top tier player and/or theory crafter said it was best, that it would be best all the time for every one-simply not true. I run my own numbers to see what works best for ME and MY ability and I frequently find that zerker just isnt the most efficient gear and the “meta” builds arent the best for my play styles and ability. for instance, i can easily and consistently pull better numbers and faster kill times on my engineer with cleric gear than zerker (ran the numbers for a full week to be sure) but does that mean its better for everyone? heck no! its just better for ME. why? I’m unable to do the keyboard gymnastics REQUIRED for zerker gear to even pull even, let alone ahead, so i adapted and found the most effective method for me.

tl;dnr not everyone is capable of pulling off the keyboard gymnastics needed for zerker’s, if you don’t do the right rotation, zerker’s will hold you back.

Didn’t even think Zerker Rangers need to pull off keyboard gymnastics. Barrage → Rapid Fire → auto attack on sword and using Path of Scars on cooldown that difficult?

I play Engineer myself, and the DPS rotation of a Ranger is a like a World Boss afk fight vs the triple kit fiasco Engineers have to pull off.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Didn’t even think Zerker Rangers need to pull off keyboard gymnastics. Barrage -> Rapid Fire -> auto attack on sword and using Path of Scars on cooldown that difficult?

I play Engineer myself, and the DPS rotation of a Ranger is a like a World Boss afk fight vs the triple kit fiasco Engineers have to pull off.

You mean the Awareness fiasco of a Ranger that needs to be aware of who is definitely going to stab him – read that enemy’s abilities and cooldowns in order to counter them and keep track of paths that everyone can follow faster than him, assuming he’s the easiest to die since he has like… Nothing to make him stay alive for longer than a few seconds…

Oh, I almost forgot.
What do you think is harder to pull off? Win with a profession that has access to almost limitless mechanics arzenal (that might require you to chain/combo them) or win with a class that has close to none – logically giving him zero combinations …?

Zerk Ranger is much more about awareness and future-telling gymnastics than remembering a few ability sequences.

Hope you realize I’m talking about PVE. As I play both a zerker Ranger and Engie, those “few ability” sequences are much more difficult to keep in rotation during a fight than a Ranger’s.

Being zerk is all about awareness. If you wanna know who needs to do it more, try being a paper-thin Ele that can be one-shotted by most things. Least Rangers have a bit more armour and health pool :P

Wondrouswall.7169:

Hope you realize I’m talking about PVE. As I play both a zerker Ranger and Engie, those “few ability” sequences are much more difficult to keep in rotation during a fight than a Ranger’s.

Being zerk is all about awareness. If you wanna know who needs to do it more, try being a paper-thin Ele that can be one-shotted by most things. Least Rangers have a bit more armour and health pool :P

Well, yes, in PvE it’s pretty much about dodging and breaking your key 1 on keyboard. You don’t want to have that on auto-cast in higher lvl Fractals.
In casual PvE, I don’t remember swapping kits on my engie that much. Similar to swapping weapons like at any other class.

About the buffing part well… You don’t really need to equip torch > bonfire > equip Warhorn > blast > equip Offhand Axe at every boss, right?

It’s not like Rangers are so free on time even there. The rotation includes RaO > Barrage > Signet of the Wild > Rapid Fire > Swap > Quickening Zephyr > Path of Scars.
If we are talking about PvE that is.

Yeah, my bad. That 1st comment was for PVE. It got me a bit confused so I had to ask since you mentioned about being aware of being stabbed. At that point I was thinking either Thief Backstab or Stability, haha!

But as for buffing part, it’s not really necessary but I love to do it anyways. I’m so used to buffing pre-fights with my Ele that I feel almost out of place if I don’t contribute. Not to say I expect every Ranger to do it, so it’s just on me.

Also, that’s what I’m hoping when the new trait update hits we get an interesting and fun PVE rotation with Quick Draw. I seriously hope things look up for us because as fun as sword is (no sarcasm, I do enjoy it), I would really like to swap between weapons mid fight vs currently where we tend to burst at the start and end with LB.

I have an Engi and Ele and rarely play them actually because it is pretty much just button mashing imo. You have the kits or attunements and because there are so many skills, it allows you to spam things off CD, swap and spam more because if you just continually swap kit/attunement you will have something to cast. As long as you don’t waste your heal skill/water then you can swap to that anytime and get good healing too. It is more about remembering CDs than anything else.

I enjoy Ranger because of the simplistic skill play with the need to be vastly more aware of surroundings and NOT spamming skills off CD, actually waiting for the right time to use them, then doing so effectively. Such satisfaction in a good Counterattack, Serpent’s/Stalker’s Strike or Hiltbash or a PBS to ‘rupt a heal. I don’t get that with ele or engi.

I think this is also why people think Ranger is easy mode in certain places, because it is not about spamming, it is about saving skills for opportune moments, maintaining awareness and most importantly, positioning. If nobody tries to counter you, you can just free-cast and wreck face, but you are also paper if they try and focus you, but you have a few skills up your sleeve that, if played well, can get you out of trouble.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Hope you realize I’m talking about PVE. As I play both a zerker Ranger and Engie, those “few ability” sequences are much more difficult to keep in rotation during a fight than a Ranger’s.

Being zerk is all about awareness. If you wanna know who needs to do it more, try being a paper-thin Ele that can be one-shotted by most things. Least Rangers have a bit more armour and health pool :P

It’s true that ranger may be easier to play, but it still doesn’t change the fact that Ele brings way more. Otherwise serious team would never form a team without at least one ele in the pt (and sometimes 2)

Yeah, the ease of the rotation doesn’t change that fact. Even if the class can have a more interesting rotation, the way things are panning out (so far) it seems like that 5th spot on a team that a Ranger could usually fill in if a 2nd Ele wasn’t taken is moving further out of reach in PVE teams.

But I do have to say I’m looking forward to new rotations on my ranger. Especially the full melee I’m going to run in WvW.

And I’m going to probably run Strider’s Defence for that one. The very first month there’s going to be, oh god, so much confusion running when people run into disruptive elusive ranger that still does fine damage. Aaand can contribute to front lines.

Aye, looking forward to the new rotations, too. GS and Sword/Axe with Quick Draw is the first thing I’m going to test out with pet swapping for quickness. That is, unless Staff on Druid and its elite spec offers something more. PVE, that is.

WvW on the other hand, ugh, there’s going to be so much to go through. I might have to hold off a bit so I can see the results of others when they test builds. I can only afford so many different armors and weapons…

I love these posts about dungeon runners kicking people. Here’s how difficulty in content is ranked, easiest to hardest. Anyone with a low to moderate amount of skill should be able to carry a few beginners through a dungeon with only a small loss (not QQ worthy) of time.

1. Trading post
2. Heart Quests
3. Dungeons and low level fractals
4. Map Completion
5. Resource Farming
6. Open World Boss Events
7. Story Mode
8. Living World
9. High level 49/50 fractals
10. WvW Zerging
11. WvW Roaming
12. PvP

The dungeon crowd always act like they are so skilled to stand in circle and mash 1,1,1,1,2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1. If they have trouble with someone running a “sub optima” build they should spend more time practicing heart quests or resource farming. To really master pressing more than one button.

Archon, I believe the Dungeon “mastery” is more likely a setup of information.

Being skilled in terms of information is a part of “skill”. If a player has no idea what he’s doing – and he plays it only for fun – it means he’s going to be a burden for players who know the efficiency. That’s all there is to it.

It’s not that I mind helping newer players. I actually love teaching and leading dungeon groups. What I do mind is when someone decides to bear-bow or nomad guard in the average dungeon and they think they’re “helping”.

On my (admittedly neglected) ranger the only time I use a bear is when I’m going to have to rely on “Protect Me” or “Search and Rescue”. That type of situation is very rare, but with most of my classes I find myself able to run my preferred full zerk less and less the more my party deviates from it.

Also, as a side note, unless it’s needed or asked for, please do not use LB 4. Just don’t, not in dungeons. So many newer rangers want to keep all their weapon skills on cooldown, and I’m tired of having to chase down a boss because they got knocked back. Other classes have knockbacks, and there are always players that use them at the wrong time, but for some reason I see it from rangers the most.

I learned not to use it even for saving my team.

A few days ago in fractals my teammate got downed and boss kept him targeted, so I pushed him away and immediately ress him after (he got unlucky and got downed by AoE right afterwards but well… whatever)…

And I got flamed for using Point Blank shot because I pushed the boss out of Icebow’s AoE Barrage. My mind was a bit blown but I didn’t question it. I left the guy die the following time and everyone was happy as ever.

It’s as strange as it sounds. Just never use point blank shot in PvE. Not as an interrupt, not as a life saver, never.