Guild Wars 2

Maybe it is just habit at this point, but I can not help, but think somehow ranger is going to come out of this entire process, in overall worst position than the profession started. At best it’s Aquaman v2. and at worst I can’t really think of too much worst for the overall profession.

As Sharp stated in the Profession Balance Sub-forum sticky:
“Be mindful of scope. It takes design, development and testing time in order to make a new feature or revise an old one. Keep scope/work/time/resources in mind when you make your suggestions.

Be mindful of context. Power creep is something we’re trying to avoid. Sometimes a profession may not receive as many increases as other classes. A lot of times, this is because that class is already performing very well in the current state of the game. So keep the overall context/state of the game in mind when giving feedback."

I think that there will not be enough time/effort put into the changes the ranger needs, which will lead to more band-aid fixes. Secondly rangers seem to doing well in the s/tpvp environment with all the ‘hard-wired’ problems inherent with the profession. I can only image the havoc on the current game when the profession is functioning as a fully integrated (no more weird interaction with the security checks/pets separated from the universal NPC based behavior) and the general call for the reduction of ranger overall effect as fixing the problems plaguing ranger comes to be view as power creep.

That being said I almost been motivated to look through some ideas I had over the past year and consider revising them for posting. Maybe none of us (myself included) can not help, but feel that ‘maybe this time’.

Even though I have not given up on the Ranger and GW2, there is one thing that I must say…

once bitten, twice shy.

That is all.

What’s for sure is that if they don’t get something right this time round, it basically says to new players, “might as well avoid Ranger altogether” because it’s been 1.5 years since release and god knows how many balance patches haven’t sorted us out. Existing players may still enjoy the one build that they’re good with, unless Anet screw that up too.

Hate to say it but dont get your hopes up guys, nobody at anet plays a ranger so getting it right isnt a top priority.
Making sure its not as strong as any of thier favorite classes seems to be priority.
Eighteen months in and rangers are known game wide to be weak, useless and unwanted in dungeon/fractal groups.
You would think after many people that play the class reported being booted from groups as soon as they joined because they play the class Anet would of focused on fixing/changing the ranger but that wasnt the case.

Aquaman 2.0 …… engage.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t hold my breath. Sad but true. Ranger is my favorite class but getting harder and harder to log him in.

Well, you know it’s not like other games necessarily had all their ducks in a row at launch or even a year later. You don’t even want to know how long it took to get AOE reduction on pet classes in WoW.

If a crosshair is on you, duck and cover.
Yeah, I like playing ranger, I do not log my ranger much recently, and if I do, it is for solo only.
And since the only way they can improve ranger is to do something with the pets (and this is hardly going to happen)… well bad luck.

I think it is very important in this CDI that….
People post serious suggestions that Anet could actually use and would want to design around.

Suggestions like remove pets will not even be considered as the design goal for A Net is to make ranger a 2v1 Class.

Suggestions that enhance a 2v1 class concept will go much farther.

For example, my suggestion will be focused on giving ranger greater CC so that we can help the pets hit more reliably.

A good idea to think about is how can we make ranger a true 2v1 class so the opponent actually has to think about what it wants to try to take down, the pet or the ranger. Right now the choice is far to obvious, the Ranger.

Rangers will get nerfed again, just like the prior 3 “improvements.”

rpfohr.7048:

I think it is very important in this CDI that….
People post serious suggestions that Anet could actually use and would want to design around.

Suggestions like remove pets will not even be considered as the design goal for A Net is to make ranger a 2v1 Class.

Suggestions that enhance a 2v1 class concept will go much farther.

For example, my suggestion will be focused on giving ranger greater CC so that we can help the pets hit more reliably.

A good idea to think about is how can we make ranger a true 2v1 class so the opponent actually has to think about what it wants to try to take down, the pet or the ranger. Right now the choice is far to obvious, the Ranger.

The only way for the Ranger to be an actual 2v1 class is if we put out 101% or more the DPS of other classes when attacking in tandem with the pet. Any less than that is simply 0.75+0.25v1 .

This simply won’t happen though so the best hope is to get them to give most of the damage to the ranger and make the pet a small added bonus, not our left arm and one of our kidneys.

Substance E.4852:

rpfohr.7048:

I think it is very important in this CDI that….
People post serious suggestions that Anet could actually use and would want to design around.

Suggestions like remove pets will not even be considered as the design goal for A Net is to make ranger a 2v1 Class.

Suggestions that enhance a 2v1 class concept will go much farther.

For example, my suggestion will be focused on giving ranger greater CC so that we can help the pets hit more reliably.

A good idea to think about is how can we make ranger a true 2v1 class so the opponent actually has to think about what it wants to try to take down, the pet or the ranger. Right now the choice is far to obvious, the Ranger.

The only way for the Ranger to be an actual 2v1 class is if we put out 101% or more the DPS of other classes when attacking in tandem with the pet. Any less than that is simply 0.75+0.25v1 .

This simply won’t happen though so the best hope is to get them to give most of the damage to the ranger and make the pet a small added bonus, not our left arm and one of our kidneys.

No, That is EXACTLY what needs to happen.

Right now we are doing .75 + .25 but that .25 is our best DPS Pet being the cat. If our pets are truly independent and we cannot rely on them for all of there hits then the game should be balanced more round something like a Dog.

It has Power Vitality and Toughness making it a well rounded pet.
Let’s say the dog is .22

So ranger damage needs to be buffed to .78 for all weapons so that the DPS with well rounded “Mario” pet is equal to that of other classes.

Now if I go Cat, I should get .78 + .25 = 1.03 more damage than other classes. This now forces a choice at the beginning of the fight. Kill Ranger or Kill Cat. I would hope that because the Cat is far squishier than I am, they would consider the cat.

PROBLEM??: Rangers now deal more damage than other classes in PvE, Everyone roll Ranger!!
Hang on not so fast those AoE bosses will KILL the pets, better not over invest!! Stay diversified!

Now this actually fixes PvE because rangers now can deal some decent direct damage compared to other classes. It might actually make the Pug community like pets!!

For WvW and PvP where targets are more mobile, the ranger needs utility to help pets hit. I’ve only thought of 2 ways to do this, CC or give rangers more pet control options. Since A net won’t do the later I am left with the former.

I will suggest that this be done through shouts, the main utility in the BM line.

With that your 90% there.

As long as the pet is AI controlled the “pug community” will not like pets.

Doing it through shouts that are not instant? Dufaq are you smoking? How shouts areN’T instant cast is beyond me as it is…

I"m not holding my breath. There has been no implentation of anything from the 1st round CDIs so…. Yeah, no. I’ll continue to lose interest in GW2 as a whole because they refuse to give me the option to perma-stow-for-buff or something similar an admittedly band-aided class mechanic.

Besides, the riding weather is here in the South so just means my motorcycle will demand to be ridin more often!

Who says the shouts wouldn’t be instant cast. I’d remove guard…..

Example: Sickem Revamp
Immobilize and reveal target foe 4 seconds.
Your pets next 3 attacks deal 50% more damage.

Also, pugs would learn to like rangers if they dealt more damage….

thefantasticg.3984:

As long as the pet is AI controlled the “pug community” will not like pets.

Doing it through shouts that are not instant? Dufaq are you smoking? How shouts areN’T instant cast is beyond me as it is…

I"m not holding my breath. There has been no implentation of anything from the 1st round CDIs so…. Yeah, no. I’ll continue to lose interest in GW2 as a whole because they refuse to give me the option to perma-stow-for-buff or something similar an admittedly band-aided class mechanic.

Besides, the riding weather is here in the South so just means my motorcycle will demand to be ridin more often!

The ranger shouts only share some of the mechanics of shout and got lumped in with them as a result. Look at elementalist cantrips they are basically shouts mechanically except they do not interact with runes of the soldier.

I don’t use shouts on my Ranger or cantrips on my Ele. I use the one the few times I need stability on my Ele…. And I see no point whatsoever using any shout on the Ranger. I won’t and will never use shouts on my Ranger if they aren’t insta-cast. I like my ele weapons too much to give them up for cantrips.

And yes, people are always amazed how much faster I can take down the gate controller faster on my Ranger than they can on their warrior or any other class… but it’s only those precious 6 seconds or so I can put out that damage before I have to wait for RaO to come back from CD and do it again…. and that is if my melee pet is still alive from being in melee range with me.

I remember when the devs said they’d buff the necro blood traitline and they instead nerfed it into the ground then said it was balanced since they gave it a +0.005 healing power coefficient.

Has anyone done the Norn heart task in Wayfarer Hills where you’re turned in to a Snow Leopard? If so, you know how grossly stiff the combat feels. It’s like lifting your paw to swipe at a rabbit takes the same effort it would to tip a min-van. How about make the pets not so sluggish? I feel bad for their AI having to struggle to do any kind of attack. Being able to swipe, bite or shoot at an opponent while moving would be a massive improvement. Instead of having to first target their opponent, then follow them, then attack them, they can instead target and attack while chasing them.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Has anyone done the Norn heart task in Wayfarer Hills where you’re turned in to a Snow Leopard? If so, you know how grossly stiff the combat feels. It’s like lifting your paw to swipe at a rabbit takes the same effort it would to tip a min-van. How about make the pets not so sluggish? I feel bad for their AI having to struggle to do any kind of attack. Being able to swipe, bite or shoot at an opponent while moving would be a massive improvement. Instead of having to first target their opponent, then follow them, then attack them, they can instead target and attack while chasing them.

That is how mob AI in this game works. That is what our pets are tied to. That is the code they’ll have to trash to rewrite the entire pet AI.

thefantasticg.3984:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Has anyone done the Norn heart task in Wayfarer Hills where you’re turned in to a Snow Leopard? If so, you know how grossly stiff the combat feels. It’s like lifting your paw to swipe at a rabbit takes the same effort it would to tip a min-van. How about make the pets not so sluggish? I feel bad for their AI having to struggle to do any kind of attack. Being able to swipe, bite or shoot at an opponent while moving would be a massive improvement. Instead of having to first target their opponent, then follow them, then attack them, they can instead target and attack while chasing them.

That is how mob AI in this game works. That is what our pets are tied to. That is the code they’ll have to trash to rewrite the entire pet AI.

I’m pretty sure just increasing the range of melee pet skills so they leap like we do with our sword auto would fix this without heavy AI reprogramming that will probably never happen.

It’s the difference between ours or a wild moa and the Mesmer Moa form.

Yeah, it’d help if every AA had a leap skill on the melee pets as far as their hit rate.

It’s hard to imagine that we would be any worse off to be honest. I love the class, but our problems are obvious and everywhere.

My biggest hope out of all of this is not a complete rework of the class or core mechanic (I think it’s unrealistic just from a development standpoint). but simply just addressing the small problems every ranger build faces.

Unresponsive pets
Poor weapon damage/spike damage/AoE damage
Messy trait lines
Bad signets
Pet survivability/cooldown

If just 1 or 2 of those are “fixed” I will think of it as a success and be content for awhile.

I am hoping (not really but it sounds goodfor most of all a complete rework of the class mechanic… at worst I’m hoping (still sounds good) for the option to opt out of it completely for something else.