Guild Wars 2

My ranger is my main character but considering the fact that she has been nerfed into oblivion and back, I am seriously thinking of making her a mule.

Considering the fact that she already has problems getting into a dungeon group before the recent nerf, I would hate to think of the prospect of finding a dungeon group from now on. This is why I have been avoiding playing dungeon and especially fractals like a plague.

Rangers are just much weaker than all the other classes. What do you all think? Would a ranger ever be welcomed in dungeons as much as a warrior, guardian, or mesmer? (i.e. the GW2 Trinity)

As long as pets don’t dodge when we dodge? No.

The fact is that Warriors are there because they curbstomp pve and mesmers and guardians are the best support classes. Unless a major class upheaval happens or they create all new types of boss mechanics (no more aoe instagib zones, more armor and less health for condition builds ect) nothing will really change.

Substance E.4852:

As long as pets don’t dodge when we dodge? No.

The fact is that Warriors are there because they curbstomp pve and mesmers and guardians are the best support classes. Unless a major class upheaval happens or they create all new types of boss mechanics (no more aoe instagib zones, more armor and less health for condition builds ect) nothing will really change.

But that would mean that the game is not balanced.

No and these posts aren’t helpful in any way.

PerfectOctave.5172:

No and these posts aren’t helpful in any way.

Then is there any ranger build that would equate a ranger’s strength with that of a warrior or guardian?

It is frustrating that rangers can’t do dungeons/fractals as well as the trinity classes. How can this game be balanced then?

DarkSpirit.7046:

PerfectOctave.5172:

No and these posts aren’t helpful in any way.

Then is there any ranger build that would equate a ranger’s strength with that of a warrior or guardian?

It is frustrating that rangers can’t do dungeons/fractals as well as the trinity classes. How can this game be balanced then?

In WvW I run Apothecary gear and can kill just about any class/build 1v1. The only builds I have a problem with are Phantasm Mesmers, and bunker Guardians/Thieves specifically because I get bored of them not dying and me not dying so I usually just run away unless I want to sit there fighting them for a good 5+ minutes.

Hax.8701:

DarkSpirit.7046:

PerfectOctave.5172:

No and these posts aren’t helpful in any way.

Then is there any ranger build that would equate a ranger’s strength with that of a warrior or guardian?

It is frustrating that rangers can’t do dungeons/fractals as well as the trinity classes. How can this game be balanced then?

In WvW I run Apothecary gear and can kill just about any class/build 1v1. The only builds I have a problem with are Phantasm Mesmers, and bunker Guardians/Thieves specifically because I get bored of them not dying and me not dying so I usually just run away unless I want to sit there fighting them for a good 5+ minutes.

Nice that you can afford to play pvp. I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces and I can’t have these without being able to do fractals. So I can’t do fractals and I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies. Maybe after some months/years I would be able to afford them with laurels. Either that or I give up playing my ranger. It is just not working out.

DarkSpirit.7046:

I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces…

Uhh….why not?

Quarktastic.1027:

DarkSpirit.7046:

I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces…

Uhh….why not?

Because I would be at a disadvantage against people who have superior gear.

If by mule, you mean the animal that kicks kitten by all means do so!

DarkSpirit.7046:

Nice that you can afford to play pvp. I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces and I can’t have these without being able to do fractals. So I can’t do fractals and I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies. Maybe after some months/years I would be able to afford them with laurels. Either that or I give up playing my ranger.

If you play as whiney as you sound I won’t accept you into my dungeon groups either.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Quarktastic.1027:

DarkSpirit.7046:

I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces…

Uhh….why not?

Because I would be at a disadvantage against people who have superior gear.

Then join the zerg and play tag with AoE. Besides, it’s not like the difference in stats is enough to decide the outcome of a fight.

If you’re losing skirmishes in WvW, it’s not because you don’t have ascended gear.

jubskie.3152:

If by mule, you mean the animal that kicks kitten by all means do so!

DarkSpirit.7046:

Nice that you can afford to play pvp. I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces and I can’t have these without being able to do fractals. So I can’t do fractals and I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies. Maybe after some months/years I would be able to afford them with laurels. Either that or I give up playing my ranger.

If you play as whiney as you sound I won’t accept you into my dungeon groups either.

If by being whiney is to be ready to give up on my main, because pugs have been telling me that they wont accept any class outside of warrior/guardian/mesmer, then so be it.

And I thought ArenaNet was suppose to address the issue of the dungeon trinity. Guess not. If this game is as well balanced as you seem to imply, then why are rangers being snubbed by dungeon groups? Are you saying everyone else is just mad for not accepting rangers into their group?

DarkSpirit.7046:

jubskie.3152:

If by mule, you mean the animal that kicks kitten by all means do so!

DarkSpirit.7046:

Nice that you can afford to play pvp. I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces and I can’t have these without being able to do fractals. So I can’t do fractals and I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies. Maybe after some months/years I would be able to afford them with laurels. Either that or I give up playing my ranger.

If you play as whiney as you sound I won’t accept you into my dungeon groups either.

If by being whiney is to be ready to give up on my main, because pugs have been telling me that they wont accept any class outside of warrior/guardian/mesmer, then so be it.

And I thought ArenaNet was suppose to address the issue of the dungeon trinity. Guess not.

No, by whiney I mean complain until stuff happens for you.

You can’t be the only person sick and tired of Mes/War/Guard only, right? Why not look for like-minded people that want to do dungeons?

jubskie.3152:

DarkSpirit.7046:

jubskie.3152:

If by mule, you mean the animal that kicks kitten by all means do so!

DarkSpirit.7046:

Nice that you can afford to play pvp. I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces and I can’t have these without being able to do fractals. So I can’t do fractals and I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies. Maybe after some months/years I would be able to afford them with laurels. Either that or I give up playing my ranger.

If you play as whiney as you sound I won’t accept you into my dungeon groups either.

If by being whiney is to be ready to give up on my main, because pugs have been telling me that they wont accept any class outside of warrior/guardian/mesmer, then so be it.

And I thought ArenaNet was suppose to address the issue of the dungeon trinity. Guess not.

No, by whiney I mean complain until stuff happens for you.

You can’t be the only person sick and tired of Mes/War/Guard only, right? Why not look for like-minded people that want to do dungeons?

And what would that prove? That the game is now all well and perfectly balanced?

No, I want this game to be balanced. I am sorry if that is asking too much because I really thought that would indeed be THE goal before buying this game.

DarkSpirit.7046:

jubskie.3152:

DarkSpirit.7046:

jubskie.3152:

If by mule, you mean the animal that kicks kitten by all means do so!

DarkSpirit.7046:

Nice that you can afford to play pvp. I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces and I can’t have these without being able to do fractals. So I can’t do fractals and I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies. Maybe after some months/years I would be able to afford them with laurels. Either that or I give up playing my ranger.

If you play as whiney as you sound I won’t accept you into my dungeon groups either.

If by being whiney is to be ready to give up on my main, because pugs have been telling me that they wont accept any class outside of warrior/guardian/mesmer, then so be it.

And I thought ArenaNet was suppose to address the issue of the dungeon trinity. Guess not.

No, by whiney I mean complain until stuff happens for you.

You can’t be the only person sick and tired of Mes/War/Guard only, right? Why not look for like-minded people that want to do dungeons?

And what would that prove? That the game is now all well and perfectly balanced?

No, I want this game to be balanced. I am sorry if that is asking too much because I really thought that would indeed be THE goal before buying this game.

No, that would get you into the dungeon you want to run. Sheesh.

No wonder people don’t want you in their groups. :/

Lol I don’t get how you can balance a game before its out. The idea of balance is arbitrary to begin with because there is always going to be a spec that performs more optimally than something at a different spec. So in a sense, the game will never be truly balanced.

Should the traits with all of the useless ones and bugged ones have existed when the game was released? Never.

But to ask for balance before player get their chance to poor all of the time in their lives into the game trying to optimize builds and weapons is really just impossible, because its extremely hard to test how everything interacts with each other, due to different ways of playing, differing ways of thinking, and bugs or not well thought-out ideas that are pushed through.

Even first person shooters on consoles aren’t balanced when they come out and require future updates. It’s just a matter of patience with guild wars 1.

However, I do believe things would go better if ANet would have a more open dialogue with the community prior to the patches so that we can get an idea of how they think the class is operating, and they can gauge how we feel about that, and provide some insight as to the direction they plan on taking the class.

This whole shooting at each other in the dark thing has to stop.

jcbroe.4329:

However, I do believe things would go better if ANet would have a more open dialogue with the community prior to the patches so that we can get an idea of how they think the class is operating, and they can gauge how we feel about that, and provide some insight as to the direction they plan on taking the class.

This whole shooting at each other in the dark thing has to stop.

That is not going to happen because the community would not let them go ahead with the patch if they do that.

There is no point complaining about the patch because the moderator would simply delete any post that doesn’t make the game look good. ArenaNet can produce excellent games but for some reason, they are terrible when it comes to balancing professions for pve.

Balancing is hard but surely they can do a better job than this. Just take a look at how long the GW2 trinity has been around. They can balance the game by simply giving pets a special pve ability that would be useful in the dungeons so that groups would feel compelled to bring a ranger. This would counteract the flaws in their pet AI which is one of the main design issues with rangers.

DarkSpirit.7046:

I can’t WvW, the only thing I can do with my ranger is the dailies.

Haha. Guess what, with the SB nerf even killing bunnies and chickens for daily got a little harder!

PerfectOctave.5172:

No and these posts aren’t helpful in any way.

How ’bout you show us an example of a helpful post that has resulted in anything positive for the Ranger community?

Anything at all…anything.

Pedra.4381:

PerfectOctave.5172:

No and these posts aren’t helpful in any way.

How ’bout you show us an example of a helpful post that has resulted in anything positive for the Ranger community?

Anything at all…anything.

He made me smile.
That’s positive and I’m part of the Ranger community.

The OP has a point, its not just him, its all Rangers getting shafted in Dungeons and wvw, if people cannot or will not see thakittens not our fault.

The OP is right and my Ranger is a mule now pointless waste of space, if i do play GW2 again it wont be on a Ranger that’s for sure..

It is impossible to “balance” classes for PvE unless you made them all the same. There is no way to make a group of necros and rangers speed-farm CoF 1 with the same effectiveness as the guardian/warrior/mesmer unless you give them the same DPS and portinh… which means that all professions are the same thing with different skins.

The fact that the most optimal group is more or less the same for all for dungeons is a content design flaw, not a balancing issue. There are other MMOs where different dungeons/quest/events have different optimal party configurations, and where Raids/Champs/whatever need different kind of groups and strategies.

That’s what we’re missing here.

(and that pet dodge when we dodge… it is really that difficult? Give them 1s invincibility when we dodge, and we’re set).

The biggest complaints I hear from people who don’t like to bringing rangers into dungeons are:

1. Rangers do not have any good group synergy (except for warhorn #5 and healing spring which has a high recharge).

2. Ranger’s pets have poor AI

I propose that pets should have a special skill in pve that would be too good to miss out on in dungeons. A group-wide buff that would exceed some of the guardian’s defensive buffs or, even better, the warrior’s offensive buffs. This is the only way, that I can think of, to bring rangers back into dungeons, on par with the trinity without any major changes to its design.

If ArenaNet wants to make pets and spirits targetable, then they should balance them up to give much better buffs than the warrior’s shouts and banners which are not targetable. As it is right now, it is the reverse. The warrior’s non-targetable group buffs are way more powerful than the ranger’s targetable group buffs. That just doesn’t make sense.

Here’s a good suggestions thread on it:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Improving-Ranger-Pet-Mechanics

Soronthar.7236:

It is impossible to “balance” classes for PvE unless you made them all the same. There is no way to make a group of necros and rangers speed-farm CoF 1 with the same effectiveness as the guardian/warrior/mesmer unless you give them the same DPS and portinh… which means that all professions are the same thing with different skins.

That is like saying, ArenaNet is constantly doing something that is doomed to fail so they should just fail constantly and make the game worse and worse until it dies.

I am absolutely certain they could have done a much better job with balancing than they have right now.

I don’t know what the problem is, they need to take BOLD steps when it comes to balancing weak classes up. If they became overpowered, then they can always nerf them in the next update. At least this way, professions would rotate to become part of the trinity and give an appearance of balance over time. Which is still better than having warrior/guardians/mesmers as the 3 most powerful classes forever.

My ranger was my first character. After about 15 levels or so, the pet AI really started to annoy me. I stuck it out for another 15, leveled to 30, but just couldn’t do it anymore. Now he’s a mule.

I love ranged dps in MMOs, so I keep my ranger on ice, just in case ANet ever changes the profession enough that I can stand playing him. From what I’ve seen over the last few patches, though, they’re going in the opposite direction. So, my ranger stays a mule, hanging out at the Rata Sum bank, selling stuff for me.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Soronthar.7236:

It is impossible to “balance” classes for PvE unless you made them all the same.
…

That is like saying, ArenaNet is constantly doing something that is doomed to fail so they should just fail constantly and make the game worse and worse until it dies.
…

Let me clarify what I mean by “balancing”: they cannot make any random group be able to farm CoF 1 in 8 minutes. They cannot make any party where chars have same profession have exactly the same DPS and damage mitigation. They cannot make any class “solo” any Champ or dung (for the record, my hobby is to solo champs with my Ranger.. ofc there are some that I just can’t beat).

What they can do in PvE is to have content that is easier if you have a specific class or combination in your party, and doable with any other combination. And they should have content for different classes and combination (ie: some fractals are easier with a guardian, some easier with a mesmer, some easier with a thief,etc). It all boils down to content design. The Molten Facility is a prime example of that: easier with some classes, and PUGable if everybody in the party knows the dungeon and the boss mechanic. For some combinations it was a slow progression, but doable.

Anyway, ANet is “balancing” for sPvP, not PvE. There is no other reason for the pet nerf: “We want a Ranger with a jaguar/eagle/moa”.. said no dungeon/FotM/farming party ever.