Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

I haven’t played in years and am returning to check out all I’ve missed to get ready for the expansion. I’m trying to decide what class I want to play and was initially drawn towards the ranger. Upon checking out their forums however I noticed quite a bit of negativity and frustration. I don’t really care about being OP or the FotM class, but I also don’t want a class that’s consistently weak and/or frustrating. What are the biggest issues with the ranger class and do you think it’s a good choice for someone starting anew? Thanks in advance for your advice!

The pet -is- frustrating. There really is no way around that. It’s up to you to find out what your threshold is.

As far as for someone starting new, there isn’t a better choice than the Guardian. The flexibility it provides across all game modes makes it very easy to pug.

Thanks for your reply Thz. Would you mind briefly explaining what you mean by the pet being frustrating? Like is the A.I. really poor or something? Or does it just die really easily?

biggest issues?

• spirits are worthless, they dont move and have always been too fragile. they should be damage immune auras, like banners or other class specific auras.
• pets are insta gibbed by wvw zergs and many dungeon boss mechanics.
• pets cant hit moving targets.
• not really in demand for current meta in any game mode.
• shortbow being 900 and having relatively weak skills sucks.
• no longer being able to throw traps sucks.
• survival being our only traitable condi removal limits build diversity.

HOT will change the meta. ask us again next friday.

Khael.7325:

Thanks for your reply Thz. Would you mind briefly explaining what you mean by the pet being frustrating? Like is the A.I. really poor or something? Or does it just die really easily?

Both. Now, the deaths can be avoided to a certain extent, but outside of pet swapping (which you’ll learn about as you go) there’s only so much you can do before conceding a bunch of your dps since the class was designed with pet damage in addition to yours. What I mean is, a Ranger without a pet does pittiful damage in comparison to the other professions. The pet in its current state is a handicap in a lot of scenarios. You can work with it, but I wouldn’t advise a new player to start up a Ranger.

However, it can still be a personal project if you like the theme. They aren’t an ineffective class, just cumbersome.

Hmm, thanks for the perspective guys. A lot of those issues sound very frustrating and make me hesitant to play a ranger. I think I will just try another class for now and will maybe revisit the ranger down the road. (especially if the druid turns out well)