Guild Wars 2

TL:DR This post is mostly about roaming/havoc in www after the patch and the raised points don’t apply to PvE. I know we got it bad in dungeons.  I try to bring up some suggestions in a constructive manner and I wish that we can have a proper conversation going. I’m posting this on a cell so I can’t link the build, gear or even stats for further info of my setup. I understand the info would be useful for the readers as my suggestions are based on it. I will update later on if the thread picks up. 
Please share your (post-patch) experiences in www and suggestions how the class should be evolving or what fixes are needed to make it more viable/appealing/fun to play. 

• * *

I was as shocked as the majority of the ranger community when the patch went live. The leaked notes seemed quite horrible as it was quite evident that the changes would not promote build diversity in any way. If something I predicted that if they were true we’d be pidgeonholed even more into bunkers and BM.  Well they went live and … the sky didn’t fall. Yes the changes were disheartening and reduced our (non-BM) pets uses to basically cc (a really unreliable cc if I may add). LB is still unresponsive, clunky and generally no fun to play with. Lowered range on SB forces us to overcommit in pvp/www as I now find myself hovering between PB and 500 range. After the changes I can’t dictate the range and control the fight nearly as much as I grew accustomed with.

All that being said I find myself performing nearly as good as pre-patch with only minor tweaks to my build. Granted I don’t run BM but a 30/10/30/0/0 hybrid with a wide spread of stats (GS/SB). It works wonders for me but is heavily dependant on movement and proper timing. I do miss the 1200 range on SB and that’s my biggest gripe when it comes to the patch (ofc as that and the pet dmg nerf were the changes that had the biggest impact on my preferred build and play style – it’s all about the perspective). All in all I enjoyed a  nice long stroll yesterday in friendly and hostile  BLs resulting in over 40 solo kills (1v1s,1v2s and one occasion of 1v3). Sure enough I got stomped a few times but the patch had absolutely nothing to do with it – I was outmanned and/or outplayed every single time. Also quite a few managed to leg it due to the reduced range on SB – no amount of swooping, (oor) cripples and swiftness could prevent them from getting away.

My suggestions based on my observations are:

1) SB range should be adjusted
Okay I can roll with the argument of realism on this one (that means I’m willing to accept that facetanking a dozen hammerblows from an aggravated hello kitty gone bad is also realistic as are magic, loldurgons and undead beings rising from the sea. The concept of realism doesn’t quite sit well in this context). I can see the reasoning behind the range nerf but on the same note I’d like to see the utilities on SB raised back to 1200. I’d settle for 4 and 5 even.

2) LB
I feel Anet went the wrong way with the changes. In order to promote the use of a neglected weapon Anet decided to nerf the preferred ranged weapon (SB) instead of addressing the issues with LB. The weapon is awkward, clunky and doesn’t offer the utility the class needs. Yes it should be fixed properly but I don’t have the answer how (I haven’t got enough experience on it as I have my LB gathering dust in one of my bags. Now I may need to equip it every now and then if I find myself defending tower/keep/SM in www). There have been some good suggestions on these very forums. Making the weapon feel more responsive, fluid even, would be a good start.

3) Pets
… That feeling when your pet misses a moving ambient critter. 

The pet AI is too unreliable, F2s are unresponsive and act all random. Add the tracking issues to this list and you have a companion that may or may not contribute some 15%ish of total DPS to the fight (I think that’s fair estimate for a non-BM pet). I suggest that Anet should either fix the AI or just give the pets bigger hit boxes and more responsive user controls. I know this is a work in process but in regards to the nerf this should have been resolved already.

All in all I wouldn’t say that the patch broke the rangers. However I can understand the frustration and disappointment in the ranger community as the patch failed to fix any of the major issues. Pet nerf may have been warranted but sadly it had the biggest impact on non-BM builds rendering ‘the other half’ of ranger from a potential threat into a mild annoyance (.. Annoying both the ranger and the opponent equally). 

Thank you for your time and no you can’t have it back

I’m also doing nearly as well as before the patch, but I never was a good player to begin…
Maybe the reason is because every player is out there trying new builds and habilities. We we’ll see how well we do next week.

Regarding your 3 suggestions:
1) Yes, I miss a lot the shorbow range, either for deciding when to start the fight, either to chase people. We need the 1200 back at least on #4 to slow down fleeing enemies.
2) I also agree with you, but I have to say that this weapon feels much better know. I even got killed by a LB ranger, as I found that moving sideways no longer makes the arrows miss EVERY hit. If Anet got rid of the damage tiers on LB#1 I would use this weapon a lot.
3) LOL for the line regarding ambient creatures. It’s so pathetic…
I’m back using dual wolves for the knockdown/cripple and chill/fear, because it helps me to hit the enemies. Right know my pet is nearly another utility (and a very unreliable one).

One question… “Malicious Training” extends the duration of “Knockdown”, “Cripple”, “Fear” and “Chill”? Because the tooltips get modified by MY condition duration but not from the trait… another “nearly_one_year_old” bug the devs don’t care to fix.

Funny. I thought you wanted to discuss rangers, not just SB and LB.
You do know we have access to other weapons, right ?

Slow.7895:

TL:DR This post is mostly about roaming/havoc in www after the patch and the raised points don’t apply to PvE. I know we got it bad in dungeons.  I try to bring up some suggestions in a constructive manner and I wish that we can have a proper conversation going. I’m posting this on a cell so I can’t link the build, gear or even stats for further info of my setup. I understand the info would be useful for the readers as my suggestions are based on it. I will update later on if the thread picks up. 
Please share your (post-patch) experiences in www and suggestions how the class should be evolving or what fixes are needed to make it more viable/appealing/fun to play. 

You have a really nice build (though I go 30/0/30/10/0) and though I love GS+SB the range nurf kittened my game because I loved the synergy between do your GS stuff then swoop away and switch to SB turn and start kiting while pet did its stuff….

After patch Im still using the same cleric+soldier+knight mix but with LB/S+W instead and completely dropped GS…Would love to see vids of your game play.

I was really dishearted by the SB range decrease, but to be entirely honest I’ve barely noticed it when actually fighting.

I never used the SB to actually fight at 1000+ range, I used it for 300-500 range usually, just because thats an easy distance to maintain vs a melee opponent.

Occasionally when people start running I suddenly notice myself shooting and then realising they are out of range, but its not bothered me as much as I thought.

Other than that my build wasnt much effected by the patch. I started using spotter trait pre-patch in anticipation of its buff and I have to say getting an easy +150 precision is really a great trait, and coupled with the fact it boosts nearby teammates as well its really a no brainer for me.

Fenrir.6183:

Funny. I thought you wanted to discuss rangers, not just SB and LB.
You do know we have access to other weapons, right ?

Keep in mind this topic is about WvW, and WvW is usually about big fights and defending/attacking towers, not the 1vsx solo roaming. I think sword and GS are in good shape when you compare them to SB and LB (the silly roots on some skills should get fixed tho!). None of our weapons are useful when you are defending your tower and try to hit people while you stand on the wall, i.e you have to stand on the edge of the wall unlike certain other classes which can safely sit at the back and rain aoe down on the people. Due to the range nerf on SB, your only option is to equip LB and as a condition spec that’s the last thing I want to use. Even then, you have to stand on the edge, be ready to get pulled down by a mesmer and a-likes. LB and SB are big part of WvW but at the moment they just.. Don’t work.

Slow.7895:

TL:DR This post is mostly about roaming/havoc in www after the patch and the raised points don’t apply to PvE. I know we got it bad in dungeons.  I try to bring up some suggestions in a constructive manner and I wish that we can have a proper conversation going. I’m posting this on a cell so I can’t link the build, gear or even stats for further info of my setup. I understand the info would be useful for the readers as my suggestions are based on it. I will update later on if the thread picks up. 
Please share your (post-patch) experiences in www and suggestions how the class should be evolving or what fixes are needed to make it more viable/appealing/fun to play. 

• * *

I was as shocked as the majority of the ranger community when the patch went live. The leaked notes seemed quite horrible as it was quite evident that the changes would not promote build diversity in any way. If something I predicted that if they were true we’d be pidgeonholed even more into bunkers and BM.  Well they went live and … the sky didn’t fall. Yes the changes were disheartening and reduced our (non-BM) pets uses to basically cc (a really unreliable cc if I may add). LB is still unresponsive, clunky and generally no fun to play with. Lowered range on SB forces us to overcommit in pvp/www as I now find myself hovering between PB and 500 range. After the changes I can’t dictate the range and control the fight nearly as much as I grew accustomed with.

All that being said I find myself performing nearly as good as pre-patch with only minor tweaks to my build. Granted I don’t run BM but a 30/10/30/0/0 hybrid with a wide spread of stats (GS/SB). It works wonders for me but is heavily dependant on movement and proper timing. I do miss the 1200 range on SB and that’s my biggest gripe when it comes to the patch (ofc as that and the pet dmg nerf were the changes that had the biggest impact on my preferred build and play style – it’s all about the perspective). All in all I enjoyed a  nice long stroll yesterday in friendly and hostile  BLs resulting in over 40 solo kills (1v1s,1v2s and one occasion of 1v3). Sure enough I got stomped a few times but the patch had absolutely nothing to do with it – I was outmanned and/or outplayed every single time. Also quite a few managed to leg it due to the reduced range on SB – no amount of swooping, (oor) cripples and swiftness could prevent them from getting away.

My suggestions based on my observations are:

1) SB range should be adjusted
Okay I can roll with the argument of realism on this one (that means I’m willing to accept that facetanking a dozen hammerblows from an aggravated hello kitty gone bad is also realistic as are magic, loldurgons and undead beings rising from the sea. The concept of realism doesn’t quite sit well in this context). I can see the reasoning behind the range nerf but on the same note I’d like to see the utilities on SB raised back to 1200. I’d settle for 4 and 5 even.

2) LB
I feel Anet went the wrong way with the changes. In order to promote the use of a neglected weapon Anet decided to nerf the preferred ranged weapon (SB) instead of addressing the issues with LB. The weapon is awkward, clunky and doesn’t offer the utility the class needs. Yes it should be fixed properly but I don’t have the answer how (I haven’t got enough experience on it as I have my LB gathering dust in one of my bags. Now I may need to equip it every now and then if I find myself defending tower/keep/SM in www). There have been some good suggestions on these very forums. Making the weapon feel more responsive, fluid even, would be a good start.

3) Pets
… That feeling when your pet misses a moving ambient critter. 

The pet AI is too unreliable, F2s are unresponsive and act all random. Add the tracking issues to this list and you have a companion that may or may not contribute some 15%ish of total DPS to the fight (I think that’s fair estimate for a non-BM pet). I suggest that Anet should either fix the AI or just give the pets bigger hit boxes and more responsive user controls. I know this is a work in process but in regards to the nerf this should have been resolved already.

All in all I wouldn’t say that the patch broke the rangers. However I can understand the frustration and disappointment in the ranger community as the patch failed to fix any of the major issues. Pet nerf may have been warranted but sadly it had the biggest impact on non-BM builds rendering ‘the other half’ of ranger from a potential threat into a mild annoyance (.. Annoying both the ranger and the opponent equally). 

Thank you for your time and no you can’t have it back

Excellent topic, although I disagree with making the SB have longer range on a few of it’s skills. It needs to go back to the old range.

Fenrir.6183:

Funny. I thought you wanted to discuss rangers, not just SB and LB.
You do know we have access to other weapons, right ?

Instead of posting that you could’ve and still can post your experiences on your chosen spec and the tools that go with it. I opened the conversation with my perspective and chosen tools for that job – I invite people to share their experiences and ideas on the whole spectrum. So be a good sport and contribute please – or refrain from posting ‘witty’ one-liners on this section.

Theres a place for those and I see that you’re familiar with it already:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief

Fenrir.6183:

Funny. I thought you wanted to discuss rangers, not just SB and LB.
You do know we have access to other weapons, right ?

Not to be rude but if i wanted access to those other weapons i’d play a different profession..

I played a Ranger to use bows..

^now only if a dev could get THAT through his head. But, then the dev will stomp his foot and say “melee… melee… melee!” And, I swear it’s only for the palm sweat and visual’s for their E-sport dreams.

Dante.1508:

Fenrir.6183:

Funny. I thought you wanted to discuss rangers, not just SB and LB.
You do know we have access to other weapons, right ?

Not to be rude but if i wanted access to those other weapons i’d play a different profession..

I played a Ranger to use bows..

Well, there’s your problem. The master of weapons is the warrior. You can get yourself a longbow, a sword and warhorn, dress yourself as a professional archer and do very well in WvW and open world PvE right now.

The ranger is much more a master of beasts and the wilderness in this game. Their archery feels a lot more single target, like a skirmisher or a sniper… not the zerg-busting power of a warrior. When Barrage is on an 8s cooldown and doesn’t root the ranger, then it’ll be on par with a warrior

The one thing my ranger does really well come to think of it is crew an arrowcart or a cannon. That 1600 condition damage is pretty sweet and it’s not even a primary focus, really. Also the ranger’s superior sustain in beastmaster spec makes things a lot safer to crew things under fire, just pop troll unguent and carry on while the warriors melt or scurry to safety

My 2c.

Cirian.8917:

Dante.1508:

I played a Ranger to use bows..

Well, there’s your problem. The master of weapons is the warrior. You can get yourself a longbow, a sword and warhorn, dress yourself as a professional archer and do very well in WvW and open world PvE right now.

No there is only your problem and that problem is clearly reading comprehension.

This comes from a character creation screen of the game, you – seemingly accidentally – play:

Rangers are proficient with the bow. They rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature to slay their targets. Their loyal pets, which rangers tame and train, distract enemies while the rangers strike safely from a distance.

If needed, I can at any time embolden the parts about bows and a distance for you.

I made an extremely long and exhaustive list of suggestions over on the suggestions board that I’d love feedback on. It’s a shameless promotion of another topic, I’m sorry, but anything I would have said here I already spent about 3 hours writing out there…
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Complete-Ranger-class-suggestions/

I absolutely refuse to play Wvw or PvP until a PvE balance pass is done.

PERIOD!

Cirian.8917:

Dante.1508:

Fenrir.6183:

Funny. I thought you wanted to discuss rangers, not just SB and LB.
You do know we have access to other weapons, right ?

Not to be rude but if i wanted access to those other weapons i’d play a different profession..

I played a Ranger to use bows..

Well, there’s your problem. The master of weapons is the warrior. You can get yourself a longbow, a sword and warhorn, dress yourself as a professional archer and do very well in WvW and open world PvE right now.

The ranger is much more a master of beasts and the wilderness in this game. Their archery feels a lot more single target, like a skirmisher or a sniper… not the zerg-busting power of a warrior. When Barrage is on an 8s cooldown and doesn’t root the ranger, then it’ll be on par with a warrior

The one thing my ranger does really well come to think of it is crew an arrowcart or a cannon. That 1600 condition damage is pretty sweet and it’s not even a primary focus, really. Also the ranger’s superior sustain in beastmaster spec makes things a lot safer to crew things under fire, just pop troll unguent and carry on while the warriors melt or scurry to safety

My 2c.

My problem is with Anets bad balancing, not with my Ranger… If i wanted to make a warrior a Ranger i cannot, they cannot use shortbows and cannot play as a ranger does, i cannot dress a warrior to look like a ranger… I would like the lack of the broken AI pets though. (like GW1 rangers could be)

I play PvE because rangers are crap in PvP and WvW compared to the other professions and if i wanted to melee i wouldn’t choose a ranged pet class would i..

Honestly your post is a little rude..