Guild Wars 2

you got it wrong there.. you see * ham revenant* is the class that is closer to ranger in playstyle without all the incongruousness Anet brings to the ranger.

I feel like you totally missed the point of what elite specs are meant to be

Druid was meant to give ranger a niche support role witch it has, we now have a viable niche in ALL game modes. Before hot it was the main reason everyone hated on ranger, we were a selfish class that didn’t even do that much damage. Now for pve we have a top tier Condi build, okay power build, great support/buffer build

PvP we can bunker and do some pretty decent bursts if we want to go classier

For wvw it’s fantastic for roaming, havocing, and small scale zergbusting. Even for big zeros there’s still helpful builds you can play even if they’re not optimal.)

Druid did a lot for us now here’s to hoping our next spec is offensive oriented

Ranger as a class does well in PvE. Top notch damage build (condi viper) and great healing/support with Magi/Zealot.

It’s a walking contradiction in PvP.

In WvW…. I’ll just say: “Stability went where?”

Durzlla.6295:

I feel like you totally missed the point of what elite specs are meant to be

This one.

Eleazar.9478:

Before hot it was the main reason everyone hated on ranger, we were a selfish class

Then why were Rangers taken into dungeons for Spirits and Spotter before HoT was announced?

Levetty.1279:

Eleazar.9478:

Before hot it was the main reason everyone hated on ranger, we were a selfish class

Then why were Rangers taken into dungeons for Spirits and Spotter before HoT was announced?

That was more like we’ll if your gonna go ranger…..

And that was one small role in one piece of content. And the rest of that saying everyone else could do it better.

Omg this again? Agreed with those who said you missed the point of elite specs.

Can people get over this? If you want to play an archer, you have 4 professions to choose from. Pick one. Rangers are not defined by their longbow. >_<

Yeah, would have been nice for the elites for Rangers and Guardians to be flipped, but too late to worry about that now.

I’m just hoping against hope that they read the QoL post by Wanderer and friggin listen to it… I mean, I’m still waiting on a keybind for some things.

bearshaman.3421:

Omg this again? Agreed with those who said you missed the point of elite specs.

Can people get over this? If you want to play an archer, you have 4 professions to choose from. Pick one. Rangers are not defined by their longbow. >_<

dude relax, probably he is a newbe to ranger that saw the no connection between ranger and druid (not even at lore level) and had to ask.

in opposition to tempest-ele, scrapper-engi, chrono-mesmer or DD-thief that are an upgraded versions of their vanilla class. No need to change your playstyle when you go for those.

Whether the intention behind elites specializations is understood or not, druid is still very boring and awkward to play. I can’t speak for anyone else but do others think the same? Besides Glyph of Tides, all of the glyphs are unremarkable with no real identity. You just kinda throw things on the floor, hope people are near, then go full glitter storm and run around. Then you die a little inside when the Quickdraw proc is wasted and not applied to a weapon skill.

The base CA healing abilities were nerfed. So if you go the “damage” druid route, the class performs like a revolving almost-healer and pseudo dps that ends up sucking at both. This just further increases the disparity between the core ranger and druid.

Druid is meh. It is not bad but I would prefer something different. Ranger needed a support option, so druid came. It is not that bad, but it is boring. Not because of the druid only but also because of the current meta. I hope they make a shapeshifter elite for the next expansion. They have the basic understanding for shapeshifting with norn racials(which suck beyond imagination).

But druid is “meh”. Really.

Agree with OP.

This always has been discussed & I always wondered this, If DH use traps and longbow as the Ranger… so.. ….wats the * point of ranger in gw2? – a cleric?.

Hope the next expansion can make ranger great again.

alain.1659:

Druid is meh. It is not bad but I would prefer something different. Ranger needed a support option, so druid came. It is not that bad, but it is boring. Not because of the druid only but also because of the current meta. I hope they make a shapeshifter elite for the next expansion. They have the basic understanding for shapeshifting with norn racials(which suck beyond imagination).

But druid is “meh”. Really.

problem with Druid it is not a support option it’s just a healbot that got nerfed enough to not to be able to do it’s job anymore.

Ranger needed a support option no an healbot. Ranger had the support option with the spirits until they got axed, just needed better mobile spirits.

Druid could had been a real option if the vanilla class was ok. And that’s not the case, so the people turn to look for similar features that could had work. Ranger should have been the better DH or at least it’s equal and not like it is now, the other way around.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again ranger is actually in a good spot, druid tool us there and if base ranger had better cleanse you could drop druid completely.

I’ve been wrecking other power classes as base ranger, and enjoyed a lot of roaming, team fights it drops a off due to lack of cleanse and reflects but boii is it fun to play.

A lot of people in this thread, Jesus I can see your salt pouring out of the screen. Your either asking for things that won’t happen or wishing us to be broken.

I get 6-9k rapped fire bursts plus a 5k burst with pet, if I proc moment of clarity with gs 2 that’s 6-8k damage depending on target toughness.

Rofl have you ever caught someone with an axe 5, hell even the retal will burn a class down.

Rangers have great up front deeps, they tend to drop off after that.

Yes base pets are weak a net should fix them since they are our classes mechanic.

If you guys are this unhappy with the class reroll or play another game until a balance patch fixes the problem.

Be like that wonderwall dude and critique not kitten and moan.

anduriell.6280:

bearshaman.3421:

Omg this again? Agreed with those who said you missed the point of elite specs.

Can people get over this? If you want to play an archer, you have 4 professions to choose from. Pick one. Rangers are not defined by their longbow. >_<

dude relax, probably he is a newbe to ranger that saw the no connection between ranger and druid (not even at lore level) and had to ask.

in opposition to tempest-ele, scrapper-engi, chrono-mesmer or DD-thief that are an upgraded versions of their vanilla class. No need to change your playstyle when you go for those.

I know I know, I just hoped we’d moved past this. (sigh)

And while I agree those don’t require a change in the way you play (druid did introduce a new class mechanic and an interesting gimmick in the mechanic with the glyph utility skills), that isn’t what the OP is talking about. He wanted ranger to have DH, which would have introduced absolutely nothing new to the class. LB? already have it. Traps? we have that too. So we would have gotten different traits and that would have been it. That would have been the least exciting or useful elite spec for a class.

anduriell.6280:

alain.1659:

Druid is meh. It is not bad but I would prefer something different. Ranger needed a support option, so druid came. It is not that bad, but it is boring. Not because of the druid only but also because of the current meta. I hope they make a shapeshifter elite for the next expansion. They have the basic understanding for shapeshifting with norn racials(which suck beyond imagination).

But druid is “meh”. Really.

problem with Druid it is not a support option it’s just a healbot that got nerfed enough to not to be able to do it’s job anymore.

Ranger needed a support option no an healbot. Ranger had the support option with the spirits until they got axed, just needed better mobile spirits.

Druid could had been a real option if the vanilla class was ok. And that’s not the case, so the people turn to look for similar features that could had work. Ranger should have been the better DH or at least it’s equal and not like it is now, the other way around.

I know spirits tend to only work well in dungeons and fractals where the bosses don’t move much if at all, but I kinda feel we still have other options for giving boon support. Am I missing something?

Jacksavage.3461:

Whether the intention behind elites specializations is understood or not, druid is still very boring and awkward to play. I can’t speak for anyone else but do others think the same? Besides Glyph of Tides, all of the glyphs are unremarkable with no real identity. You just kinda throw things on the floor, hope people are near, then go full glitter storm and run around. Then you die a little inside when the Quickdraw proc is wasted and not applied to a weapon skill.

The base CA healing abilities were nerfed. So if you go the “damage” druid route, the class performs like a revolving almost-healer and pseudo dps that ends up sucking at both. This just further increases the disparity between the core ranger and druid.

I think your rotation is off if you’re wasting Quickdraw, and that has nothing to do with druid. The glyphs fit the celestial theme of druid just fine. The change to how healing power is applied does force you to trait for healing power, but boons don’t depend on any of your stats (except concentration, and are you gonna use Ministrel?), so you can still boon support just fine even with the change in stat priority.

If you are going the damage route, you still have GotL, which is a group 15% increase in damage, and that’s the important part! The fact that you have to use healing to proc it is just bonus points for me, the heal skills become group damage buffs primarily that stack with everything else. The glyphs with verdant etching are minimum healing and condi cleanse on top of their usual effect. And if you really don’t want GotL, there is Ancient Seeds if you are playing a condi build.

Druid has some issues, yes. But so do all the elite specs. And a lot of the real issues are in the base class, not in the elite spec. (come on, pet rework)

Pets are great, I love that their hp drops by 30% in pvp so they can be insta killed and activated abilities’ have such cast times that they almost never hit. They make up at least 30% of our mediocre dps and we have so little control over how badly they perform, I feel it brings more flavor to the class, adding a handicap to make everything more challenging.

Getting back to the point at hand, I disagree. I think every other class that can range should range better than the ranger. That makes sense. When people make a ranger, they’re thinking “I want to kite so that I may heal up and stay alive”.

Why does the transition into a healer bother people so much? It is not like you can no longer play a base ranger or can’t play an offensive druid.
Would you have been happy if all we received had been a more powerful, updated longbow ranger spec? Something like the berserker which doesn’t change much apart from improving the base class, not making the class more versatile and still leaving it with the same huge holes it always had.

Henry.5713:

Why does the transition into a healer bother people so much? It is not like you can no longer play a base ranger or can’t play an offensive druid.
Would you have been happy if all we received had been a more powerful, updated longbow ranger spec? Something like the berserker which doesn’t change much apart from improving the base class, not making the class more versatile and still leaving it with the same huge holes it always had.

Just QQers man, however a net did it to themselves when they let zerk meta dominate every game mode for do long. So now peeps refuse to adapt. (Looks like more and more that leak was right so looking forward to main hand offensive ranger spec)

I’m a druid fan too it’s fun, plugged a glaring hole in ranger(weak kitten team support) and even fits into the lore extremely well (should’ve been expanded upon) maybe even more so than the other elite specs.

Eleazar.9478:

Henry.5713:

Why does the transition into a healer bother people so much? It is not like you can no longer play a base ranger or can’t play an offensive druid.
Would you have been happy if all we received had been a more powerful, updated longbow ranger spec? Something like the berserker which doesn’t change much apart from improving the base class, not making the class more versatile and still leaving it with the same huge holes it always had.

Just QQers man, however a net did it to themselves when they let zerk meta dominate every game mode for do long. So now peeps refuse to adapt. (Looks like more and more that leak was right so looking forward to main hand offensive ranger spec)

I’m a druid fan too it’s fun, plugged a glaring hole in ranger(weak kitten team support) and even fits into the lore extremely well (should’ve been expanded upon) maybe even more so than the other elite specs.

At least there is an event chain centered around druids. Most of the others got next to nothing as far as in-game lore. But then in-game profession lore is sorely lacking in general.

Henry.5713:

Why does the transition into a healer bother people so much?

Because it wasn’t why we chose the class? Because it wasn’t what they sold the game as? Because the spec is the most rigid interms of what it offers and the entire things looks like it was basically ‘instead of designing an interesting spec lets just throw a bunch of aoe heal skills on it so we can claim Rangers are meta for our new raid mode now’ and they even failed at that which is why they had to add the GoTL trait in the beta so Rangers were used over Eles and Revs.

Levetty.1279:

Henry.5713:

Why does the transition into a healer bother people so much?

Because it wasn’t why we chose the class? Because it wasn’t what they sold the game as? Because the spec is the most rigid interms of what it offers and the entire things looks like it was basically ‘instead of designing an interesting spec lets just throw a bunch of aoe heal skills on it so we can claim Rangers are meta for our new raid mode now’ and they even failed at that which is why they had to add the GoTL trait in the beta so Rangers were used over Eles and Revs.

Hey base Condi ranger has a viable spot in raids.

And you really need to open your mind more druid is fantastic for team fights, even if you don’t go full support. Aoe stun break, lock downs, and aoe stealth and super speed, plus 3 blasts

I’m sure the next expac will give us a more offensive spec. And base ranger has gotten buffed since hot too. The last buff to clarion bond is amazing so much so when I solo roam I go base ranger for deeps. And oh Lord the SHOuT rework boiiiii. Before hot you either ran signits, traps or ws, now you can have a viable build with pretty much anything,

Hell we even have the most diverse paths for raiding, magis, power buffer, or Condi druid/ranger.

Idk why everyone says celestial form is clunky it’s actually pretty smooth and you can pop some pretty dope combos with it

The base class is the base class. Elites were supposed to stretch the class into new areas. The very name of this thread points that out. Guardian: the support warrior that keeps his allies alive in a fight got an elite that allowed it to focus more on killing “dragons” or any other enemy (a pure dps traitline). Base guardian wasn’t bad at dps, but this traitline boosted it significantly. Rangers had nature magic already so we could do some healing and buffs, but now they expanded on that with the celestial avatar and the druid traitline and we are stronger as healing, condi clearing and damage buffing the party.

Besides, griping about the elite specs is silly. We know for a fact that there will be more elite specs coming, and we will have more and more options. so chill out and enjoy the ride.

Besides, DH would have given some different traits, but we already had the weapon and the utility skills. Redundant much?

To be honest, the ranger would have gained nothing in becoming the Dragon hunter. The ranger already have the hunter vide tied to him while the gardian gained through this specialization this very same vibe.

What I’m most disappointed with is more that the ranger didn’t get a real new vide with the Druid spec. He sure became better at support/heal but it’s not a new vibe at all since the ranger was already more or less stuck in a supportive rôle. I think they intended to give the vibe of a powerfull healer that become one with nature… But no! honnestly, for me they failed at it.

Dadnir.5038:

To be honest, the ranger would have gained nothing in becoming the Dragon hunter. The ranger already have the hunter vide tied to him while the gardian gained through this specialization this very same vibe.

What I’m most disappointed with is more that the ranger didn’t get a real new vide with the Druid spec. He sure became better at support/heal but it’s not a new vibe at all since the ranger was already more or less stuck in a supportive rôle. I think they intended to give the vibe of a powerfull healer that become one with nature… But no! honnestly, for me they failed at it.

I’m kinda starting to wonder about the elite specs. I mean, I like the idea, but it seems no one really likes them, and feel that they did more harm than good to the game…

I’d say that the real issue is that they released only one elite spec at first. This is probably what hurt the game diversity the most. Now, each time they will release new E-Spec, the player base will most likely jump on it, forgetting the current for the new one.

So yeah, at the moment it hurt the game and after each release it will hurt the game as much as it hurt it now. But we can expect a bit more diversity each time they will release new E-Spec.

The real issue is more that core specs are not strong enough to rival the new E-spec, which wound the game in it’s current state. (Well… when you see some core spec traits, special mechanisms or skills, it’s easy to understand why…)

Dadnir.5038:

I’d say that the real issue is that they released only one elite spec at first. This is probably what hurt the game diversity the most. Now, each time they will release new E-Spec, the player base will most likely jump on it, forgetting the current for the new one.

So yeah, at the moment it hurt the game and after each release it will hurt the game as much as it hurt it now. But we can expect a bit more diversity each time they will release new E-Spec.

The real issue is more that core specs are not strong enough to rival the new E-spec, which wound the game in it’s current state. (Well… when you see some core spec traits, special mechanisms or skills, it’s easy to understand why…)

Exactly! If the next specs are equal with the hot ones then we should expect to see a whole new breath of diversity

Eleazar.9478:

Dadnir.5038:

I’d say that the real issue is that they released only one elite spec at first. This is probably what hurt the game diversity the most. Now, each time they will release new E-Spec, the player base will most likely jump on it, forgetting the current for the new one.

So yeah, at the moment it hurt the game and after each release it will hurt the game as much as it hurt it now. But we can expect a bit more diversity each time they will release new E-Spec.

The real issue is more that core specs are not strong enough to rival the new E-spec, which wound the game in it’s current state. (Well… when you see some core spec traits, special mechanisms or skills, it’s easy to understand why…)

Exactly! If the next specs are equal with the hot ones then we should expect to see a whole new breath of diversity

That’s true. And I’ve made that point. I guess all the QQ are starting to get to me…

Eleazar.9478:

Levetty.1279:

Eleazar.9478:

Before hot it was the main reason everyone hated on ranger, we were a selfish class

Then why were Rangers taken into dungeons for Spirits and Spotter before HoT was announced?

That was more like we’ll if your gonna go ranger…..

And that was one small role in one piece of content. And the rest of that saying everyone else could do it better.

This is just strictly untrue. For a very long time, the ranger was taken (much like the chronomancer) because the amount of group utility it offered provided the best possible damage increase party-wide. Until FT engineer was indirectly buffed massively via the condition changes and sinister gear, the ranger was an absolute staple in every speed clear group.

Fact is most of the ranger community was running berserker longbow with none of the utility in its build, and stood 1500 units away from the fight pewpewing with longbow while offering (and being offered) next to no support/utility. And when playing selfishly, it was and still is relative crap in terms of its damage output and the likes. Not to mention the pet didn’t have its health and PvE damage reduction yet, so it was useless to run BM. That’s where the stigma comes from.

As far as the next expansion goes, I hope ANet plans to discontinue sPvP and WvW because those formats’ communities will not survive another one with the competitive-format game balance and diversity continuously worsened as it has been due to HoT. No amount of suger-coating elite specs will increase diversity when so many elements of the elites are terribly-designed and just blatantly superior to every possible build path compared to core.

Frankly, and this is a conservative estimate, I believe more than half of the next elites will not be played at all in any competitive environment unless the current ones are absolutely and massively nerfed.

DeceiverX.8361:

snip

I mostly agree with you, However, when I’m excessively optimistic, I still think that 2 things have a slight chance to save the ranger in WvW :

- A well crafted E-spec that allow the ranger to place the pet in a place where he can’t be damaged while still assist the ranger through the use of the F2 keystone

or/and

- A real rework of the pet system and the ranger in order to make the change the pet into a kind of utility which is not weak to damages. This kind of change would undoubtely lead to pet being more “cosmetic” and less active but what the ranger need is something that can survive through the mele and still help you through some unique skills. (Also I think that it hurt the ranger image that pets can basically do the work for you while you are afk… Yes I ’m pointing at the bots!)

DeceiverX.8361:

Eleazar.9478:

Levetty.1279:

Eleazar.9478:

Before hot it was the main reason everyone hated on ranger, we were a selfish class

Then why were Rangers taken into dungeons for Spirits and Spotter before HoT was announced?

That was more like we’ll if your gonna go ranger…..

And that was one small role in one piece of content. And the rest of that saying everyone else could do it better.

This is just strictly untrue. For a very long time, the ranger was taken (much like the chronomancer) because the amount of group utility it offered provided the best possible damage increase party-wide. Until FT engineer was indirectly buffed massively via the condition changes and sinister gear, the ranger was an absolute staple in every speed clear group.

Fact is most of the ranger community was running berserker longbow with none of the utility in its build, and stood 1500 units away from the fight pewpewing with longbow while offering (and being offered) next to no support/utility. And when playing selfishly, it was and still is relative crap in terms of its damage output and the likes. Not to mention the pet didn’t have its health and PvE damage reduction yet, so it was useless to run BM. That’s where the stigma comes from.

As far as the next expansion goes, I hope ANet plans to discontinue sPvP and WvW because those formats’ communities will not survive another one with the competitive-format game balance and diversity continuously worsened as it has been due to HoT. No amount of suger-coating elite specs will increase diversity when so many elements of the elites are terribly-designed and just blatantly superior to every possible build path compared to core.

Frankly, and this is a conservative estimate, I believe more than half of the next elites will not be played at all in any competitive environment unless the current ones are absolutely and massively nerfed.

Says the guy campaigning for an elite spec is sasing nerf everything except your build right?

No I expect the next expac to bring more diversity as long as the current elite specs keep up with the second iteration.

Also you seem very very negative (why are thieve mains always so negatibe?) take a break come back later, trust me it works wonders. Hell judging by henleths recent Reddit post in response to grouch leaving it sounds like season 5 is gonna be the kitten. Also didn’t anet say since the linking the server population has gone up per server? (Btw the community voted on it to keep it)

Either way none of this has to do the with the og post saying ranger should be Dragon hunter, I pointed out that druid was a great addition to ranger and I however do hope the next spec is offensive oriented. Which judging from the leaks (probably dagger main hand) it will be.