Full confession here, I played a Hunter for 5 years in ‘the mmo that shall not be named’, so when I decided to play GW2, Ranger seemed like a perfect fit for me. Sure I saw a lot of people complaining about the class..errr profession, when I was doing my research, but that’s not unusual.
Well something is clearly wrong with Ranger and I can’t quite put my finger on it all. There’s no point in going over my gripes, when the community has done such a good job of listing Rangers faults. So I’ll simply ask, do things magically get better at 80?
Ranger has all the ingredients there, but something…..just isn’t clicking to make it feel like a fully fleshed out profession.
No class magically changes in any way at 80. While there are plenty of mechanics that take a good deal of play until you can really appreciate them (such as 1h sword and pets), it may be that this just isn’t the class for you, and that’s ok.
I played a ranger as my main in GW1 long, long ago and loved it. I thought because of that, hunter would be the class for me ‘the mmo that shall not be named’, but I just didn’t get into it. When I came to GW2, ranger has clicked with me as the most enjoyable class.
If you want a hunter class like the one in “that mmo” then no, because it’s nothing like it…I know this because I also played a hunter a bit
That being said, Ranger is my favourite class in GW2, proof of it the 700+ hours played i have on it, despite the fact that ranger has certain issues (all classes have issues in a way or another).
If you don’t have instant gratification with something in this game I strongly suggest moving on to something else. They have a very bad reputation of not balancing their classes for PvE or PvP. Research GW1 and the 6 year blight.
If you don’t have instant gratification with something in this game I strongly suggest moving on to something else. They have a very bad reputation of not balancing their classes for PvE or PvP. Research GW1 and the 6 year blight.
Just wondering, what game has balanced classes? Because that’s completely impossible unless all classes are the same. GW1 didn’t do that bad balance wise.
If you don’t have instant gratification with something in this game I strongly suggest moving on to something else. They have a very bad reputation of not balancing their classes for PvE or PvP. Research GW1 and the 6 year blight.
Just wondering, what game has balanced classes? Because that’s completely impossible unless all classes are the same. GW1 didn’t do that bad balance wise.
Few games have true balance, but few games also have completely broken classes remain completely broken for the length of the games lifespan too. And I can’t recall the last time an MMO had a game mechanic remain insanely broken for a long period of time. WoW took the cake with Rogue stunlock taking something like a year to fix, and only then the solution for half the classes was the PvP trinket iirc. Been a while and I’ve long since lost interest in caring.
And it should also be said that other games have far more diverse classes with far more variables involved and are much more balanced than your typical game too. Shadowbane for example easily had the most complex PvP system I’ve ever seen with far mor classes, options, and builds and somehow managed to remain very well balanced.
I can’t tell you any released mmo that has in any sort of way “balanced” classes, the ones who have something close to it are games that have been out for years. GW2 has balance issues, but I’ve seen MUCH worse in P2P mmorpgs, i can tell you that
Honestly, despite the problems around right now, I think GW2 is much better balanced than most other MMOs I’ve played and it’s a hell of a lot more balanced than GW1 was.
And honestly, I think the balance issues that GW2 has right now has more to do with the sPvP maps/objectives than it does with the classes themselves. If they would add in some maps that weren’t small and oriented around sitting on nodes, we’d see a lot less focus on the bunker/roamer metagame (which rangers don’t fit in) that we have right now.
If it dosen’t click then it doesn’t nothing happens at 80 that is significant besides dungeons and such. Ranger is tough with the right runes and traits and can do massive damage, I don’t run much PvP at the moment but in WvW I have no major issues. I have 4 level 80s and they are different and fun in different ways. Not really something someone can tell you if it is worth it.
It actually gets worse at 80. Leveling my Ranger was a lot of fun for some reason, but after 80 I thought to myself
“I wish I could hit as hard as X class..”
“I wish my pet wouldn’t die before the pet swap timer is off CD…”
“I wish my attacks wouldn’t get obstructed / strafed out of the way”
“I wish, I wish, I wish…”
Then I leveled a Thief.
But there’s still a soft spot in my heart for Rangers because I’ve always rolled Archer type classes in MMOs. If it’s your first character, I suggest saving it for an alt. After 900 hours of played time, I’m more than bitter.
Things don’t get magically better at 80, no. If you don’t like Ranger lvling up then you won’t suddenly like it once you hit 80. Then again you can give your toon all the top end gear at 80 but that wont change the numbers massively and has nearly no effect on the gameplay.
Sounds like this class isn’t for you, roll another one.
Try another class and see how you like it. For leveling guardian is pretty fun and the armor looks cool. Also guardian feels like a “complete” class. Give it a spin to level 15 or so and you’ll know what I mean. Its a very exciting playstyle compared to ranger (in pve).
All this “things don’t magically change at 80” is right. Although you might try different weapon sets and see how you feel.
It’s also worth noting that for many professions things do ‘magically change’ as you level but the ‘magic level’ seems to be level 40 for most (Mesmer dodge clones, rangers get ground target traps, thieves get better initiative management, etc…). If you don’t like a profession by about level 45 and you’ve played with all the weapons and different builds it’s probably time to move on (or just finish it up because high level alts are useful and/or map completion).
Ya the pet isnt perfect and we need some lovin when it comes to our different abilities and whatnot but i still prefer playing my ranger over the other classes i thought i might like.
p.s. i thought the age of conan ranger was pretty fun to play. Before they revamped it that is. Crossbow was yhe shizzle!
