Guild Wars 2

Hi all, back after leaving the game for the summer. Been following the forums, but I haven’t been doing any actual playing. What can Rangers do now that makes them standout. Besides die in droves? (I jest)

Traps are still untouched as are survival skills(For now).
Spirits Build is probably going to see a shift toward more tactical summoning.
BM still mostly dead in the water.
GS Heal Tanking still there.

What did I miss?
PS Planning on leveling my Fourth Character Mesmer, Elementalist, or Necromancer?

We are still looking for the next build, but i don’t see 1 coming unless we get skill changes ( October 1st )

For your alt pick whatever is fun for you. Atm necro is stronger than the other 2, but in a month or two meta will shift again and who knows what the good classes will be.

Funky.9762:

We are still looking for the next build, but i don’t see 1 coming unless we get skill changes ( October 1st )

For your alt pick whatever is fun for you. Atm necro is stronger than the other 2, but in a month or two meta will shift again and who knows what the good classes will be.

What general role is each expected to fill in a group? I mostly dungeon run with little to no PvP/WvW. I played with a beastly Necro Ghost Tank. Is that a normal build that people would expect from the class. Can a Mesmer expect more than Illusion spamming and doing group utilities like Portal/Feedback?

No idea i’m the complete opposite no PvE at all.

You missed the killer thread that made Anet uncomfortable about the state of rangers – It was deleted Silently a few hour’s ago. Says something doesn’t it?

You’ve been gone for a month or so no? So you missed the planet wide pet nerf?

Spirit Builds will have to be carefully played from now on – 25 sec on recharge /GG

People have deleted there rangers, you know the drill. Anet beating a almost dead class into the ground was not enough for them. (paragon past)

Im re-rolling other chars as well.

Trying Guardian and Necro.

Anywho welcome back, I’m sure someone with a shinier disposition will counter everything I have to say.

thrice.9184:

You missed the killer thread that made Anet uncomfortable about the state of rangers – It was deleted Silently a few hour’s ago. Says something doesn’t it?

You’ve been gone for a month or so no? So you missed the planet wide pet nerf?

Spirit Builds will have to be carefully played from now on – 25 sec on recharge /GG

People have deleted there rangers, you know the drill. Anet beating a almost dead class into the ground was not enough for them. (paragon past)

Im re-rolling other chars as well.

Trying Guardian and Necro.

Anywho welcome back, I’m sure someone with a shinier disposition will counter everything I have to say.

I knew how you felt and I was here for the pet nerf. I stopped caring a while back and am just wondering how things are here. Anyone mind summing this Ghost thread? If not then my lovely Engineer awaits me for the time being.

Spirit rangers take more skill to play now and will probably still be seen on top teams because of the immense amount of support they can provide in a team fight while being a good 1v1 class.

Traps would be the next alternative, but at that point, it could be argued that taking an engi would do the job better, it would would be left more up to team comp preference than one being more viable than the other.

Spirits are now in line with every other class in the game, and the spirit build itself probably won’t fall out of popularity unless the game shifts away from a necro heavy meta.

Stand out? Not much aside from good evasion. But just because we aren’t the best class doesn’t necessitate us being considered the worst. We’re still quite viable in PvP and WvW. We are lacking quite a bit in PvE, but that should be changing soon.

If all you care about is playing the meta and having the “most powerful class”, yeah, reroll. That’s not us and I doubt it ever will be. But if you like the class, stick with it. We’ll only be getting better.

I feel like you guys thing spirit ranger is bad now

11 pvp games later, every ranger had spirit build. Play trap ranger or something sheesh

GS tanking still works? I stopped using it after nerf to quickness

I’ve been using GS+LB 20/30/20/0/0 with Moment of Clarity and Soldier Amulet + Berserker Jewel, having quite good effectiveness, offering also rewards to skilled play.

Pretty balanced build.
It has control, decent damage, decent survivability and ok mobility.

Seisyll.5914:

GS tanking still works? I stopped using it after nerf to quickness

How would quickness affect it at all?

I used it in dungeons to tank. Quickness was needed for a little dmg burst to keep aggro on myself.

Nothing Wrong with BM Bunker, Use Spiders with Malicious Training, watch the tears flow.

Xsorus.2507:

Nothing Wrong with BM Bunker, Use Spiders with Malicious Training, watch the tears flow.

Are you still using the “standard” 0 0 30 10 30 build?

Two ways you can take it.

10/0/30/10/20
or 10/0/30/0/30

Make sure you grab the Cripple Talent for them as well, It might seem kittenty, but it’ll cover Conditions so they don’t get removed.

But you end up with a bloody 4 Second Immobilize every 20 seconds and a stupid amount of Weakness/Poison

Spirits in sPvP / tPvP seem to be viable. I had 3 matches since the nerf and they went fine. What I´m having fun with right now, is a zerker-signet axe / axe + greatsword build. I just didn´t dare to try it out besides in hot join so far.

I’m debating getting the Traveler Runes for my BM set, I have a Speed Set but they’re not working though they said on the tracker, I’ll wait and see how they do first.

The Idea of being able to run SOTW/SoR/Lightning Reflex though makes me happy.

Xsorus.2507:

I’m debating getting the Traveler Runes for my BM set, I have a Speed Set but they’re not working though they said on the tracker, I’ll wait and see how they do first.

The Idea of being able to run SOTW/SoR/Lightning Reflex though makes me happy.

If you look at a skill building site (I’m looking at gw2skills), Rune of the Speeds 6th bonus lists “move 5% faster when under the affects of swiftness.”

One of the tooltips is wrong, but if 25% movement speed isn’t working in game, then it might be the skill builders tooltip effect.

They said they had it on the bug tracker, so i assume either its messed up, or they’ll just change it back.

Hopefully they do end up working with a 25% movement speed. Cuz Travelers Runes are expensive right now, but I really want a movement speed bonus (particularly for my mesmer).

You missed Long Ranger Harassment (LB + S/D), it’s good for roaming and making people get off the points you want, also extremely good in keep defense, it’s decent in keep offense too and in PvE, can’t really do well on its own because of it’s fragility and reliance on being at range though, but it could do well if your opponent was particularly squishy…

But yeah, not a whole lot has changed with rangers position in sPvP

BM is fine , traps are the same as always , spirits did not get nerfed just changed

Can someone elaborate on BM? I was under the assumption that the blanket damage reductions lowered their effectiveness.

BM bunker build is still strong to the point I switched specs out of boredom. These boards are so far off when it comes to the current state of the ranger… but then again so is every class board.

gotem.5284:

BM bunker build is still strong to the point I switched specs out of boredom. These boards are so far off when it comes to the current state of the ranger… but then again so is every class board.

I don’t doubt you’re right, but perhaps you could enlighten us (or at least me) about the “current state of the ranger”, rather than just saying everyone’s wrong. I’m not attacking you, just very interested in what is actually going on beneath the public despair.

hotfreak.5907:

gotem.5284:

BM bunker build is still strong to the point I switched specs out of boredom. These boards are so far off when it comes to the current state of the ranger… but then again so is every class board.

I don’t doubt you’re right, but perhaps you could enlighten us (or at least me) about the “current state of the ranger”, rather than just saying everyone’s wrong. I’m not attacking you, just very interested in what is actually going on beneath the public despair.

Current state of the ranger is that we’re still strong in PvP with multiple viable builds (spirit ranger, BM bunker, and traps). Most of those same builds are good for WvW roaming, and we can also support zergs from the backline with ranged pets and longbow.

It’s only in late-game PvE where we’re openly considered weak, mostly due to conditions being weaker in PvE and our reliance on the terribad AI of our pets. That and the gratuitous AoE damage that is tossed around in PvE as neither our pets nor our spirits have any detection or resistance to the AoEs.

That’s basically the state of the ranger in a nutshell.

Xsorus.2507:

Two ways you can take it.

10/0/30/10/20
or 10/0/30/0/30

Make sure you grab the Cripple Talent for them as well, It might seem kittenty, but it’ll cover Conditions so they don’t get removed.

But you end up with a bloody 4 Second Immobilize every 20 seconds and a stupid amount of Weakness/Poison

So say your spider immobilize + cripple and your opponent uses a skill that cleanse 1 condition. Which condition gets prioritised?

kiwituatara.6053:

Xsorus.2507:

Two ways you can take it.

10/0/30/10/20
or 10/0/30/0/30

Make sure you grab the Cripple Talent for them as well, It might seem kittenty, but it’ll cover Conditions so they don’t get removed.

But you end up with a bloody 4 Second Immobilize every 20 seconds and a stupid amount of Weakness/Poison

So say your spider immobilize + cripple and your opponent uses a skill that cleanse 1 condition. Which condition gets prioritised?

Whichever was applied last, so if you cripple than immob the immob would be dropped

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Xsorus.2507:

Two ways you can take it.

10/0/30/10/20
or 10/0/30/0/30

Make sure you grab the Cripple Talent for them as well, It might seem kittenty, but it’ll cover Conditions so they don’t get removed.

But you end up with a bloody 4 Second Immobilize every 20 seconds and a stupid amount of Weakness/Poison

So say your spider immobilize + cripple and your opponent uses a skill that cleanse 1 condition. Which condition gets prioritised?

Whichever was applied last, so if you cripple than immob the immob would be dropped

Actually, that is wrong. Conditions are removed via rng. I’ve tested this with a friend.

Ryan.9387:

Durzlla.6295:

kiwituatara.6053:

Xsorus.2507:

Two ways you can take it.

10/0/30/10/20
or 10/0/30/0/30

Make sure you grab the Cripple Talent for them as well, It might seem kittenty, but it’ll cover Conditions so they don’t get removed.

But you end up with a bloody 4 Second Immobilize every 20 seconds and a stupid amount of Weakness/Poison

So say your spider immobilize + cripple and your opponent uses a skill that cleanse 1 condition. Which condition gets prioritised?

Whichever was applied last, so if you cripple than immob the immob would be dropped

Actually, that is wrong. Conditions are removed via rng. I’ve tested this with a friend.

Are they really? I figured it was like GW1 where it was logical…

SynfulChaot.3169:

hotfreak.5907:

gotem.5284:

BM bunker build is still strong to the point I switched specs out of boredom. These boards are so far off when it comes to the current state of the ranger… but then again so is every class board.

I don’t doubt you’re right, but perhaps you could enlighten us (or at least me) about the “current state of the ranger”, rather than just saying everyone’s wrong. I’m not attacking you, just very interested in what is actually going on beneath the public despair.

Current state of the ranger is that we’re still strong in PvP with multiple viable builds (spirit ranger, BM bunker, and traps). Most of those same builds are good for WvW roaming, and we can also support zergs from the backline with ranged pets and longbow.

It’s only in late-game PvE where we’re openly considered weak, mostly due to conditions being weaker in PvE and our reliance on the terribad AI of our pets. That and the gratuitous AoE damage that is tossed around in PvE as neither our pets nor our spirits have any detection or resistance to the AoEs.

That’s basically the state of the ranger in a nutshell.

I wouldn’t say strong. I don’t really see many rangers in solo queue at least anymore. The ones who do play are usually one of the first to die.

I’m sure there are a lot of good rangers, but it is probably their own skills overcoming a weak class.

style.6173:

I wouldn’t say strong. I don’t really see many rangers in solo queue at least anymore. The ones who do play are usually one of the first to die.

I’m sure there are a lot of good rangers, but it is probably their own skills overcoming a weak class.

Oh, we’re still strong. The lack of rangers in solo queue is due to the players being unable to adapt to minor changes and only wanting to play the most powerful class/classes. We’re strong, just not strong enough for those finicky players tastes.

Its also worth noting that if you PvE the focus is shifting to harder content which translates into more one hit kills and lots of dodging or in other words, Rangers have to do it without pets (Mesmers are also getting hurt by this too but too a much lesser degree).

Levetty.1279:

Its also worth noting that if you PvE the focus is shifting to harder content which translates into more one hit kills and lots of dodging or in other words, Rangers have to do it without pets (Mesmers are also getting hurt by this too but too a much lesser degree).

Yeah. Being forced into content that auto-kills 20-30% of your DPS is definitely irritating. T.T

Levetty.1279:

Its also worth noting that if you PvE the focus is shifting to harder content which translates into more one hit kills and lots of dodging or in other words, Rangers have to do it without pets (Mesmers are also getting hurt by this too but too a much lesser degree).

Yup. PvE is now all based on reactive buffing, while the ranger is all passive.

Heh, been running a Spirit Build in World vs World with 69% boon duration, Perma Protection in combat ftw.

Still game is getting boring, and Power builds are still pretty fail on Rangers..

If you look at Spirit/Traps/BM Bunker, the one thing everyone notices is they’re all Conditions.. and that’s directly related to the fact that you have classes like Mesmer/Thief/Warrior who can instant kill you if you’re anything else.

They need to bring down some of the Burst Damage in this game if they want something besides 1 hit kills or Heavy Condition Bunker.

Screenshot of my stats at the bottom

Levetty.1279:

Its also worth noting that if you PvE the focus is shifting to harder content which translates into more one hit kills and lots of dodging or in other words, Rangers have to do it without pets (Mesmers are also getting hurt by this too but too a much lesser degree).

It’s why I run shatters on my Mesmer instead of phantasms. Unfortunately as a ranger, I can’t shatter my pet.

@Topic;
Balancing for PvP isn’t the absolute worst thing in the world, because to some extent it also translates over into WvW, though as WvW scales up and players become masses of AoE and boons, things that work against other players in a small scale don’t always translate up to large scale.

A huge part of this is how AI functions across the different game types. In PvP, where AI can ignored by a player because the player is prioritizing targets, or because attacking the AI essentially removes that player from the rest of the fight in order to counter a tactic that in most cases (except with Spirit of Nature) isn’t going to be a make or break in a fight.

However, get into PvE, and PvE enemies don’t prioritize players over AI in all cases. They have their own aggro mechanic, and when getting into higher level content, it means that an enemy, based on its aggro algorithm, can just decide to nuke your AI mechanics.

Lastly, in WvW, your AI mechanics aren’t smart. They don’t recognize red circles. The pet will just charge into a mass of graphics and die, and its either do that, or do nothing at all, except maybe give an almost useful boon every once in awhile right next to you, while lowering your overall DPS by not being able to participate in a fight.

This is a HUGE issue when we’re talking about an always on pet mechanic, because based on design, it does not work for 2 out of 3 game modes. In PvE, it could be as simple as taking the pet out of the targeting algorithm for mechanics that will insta-kill it.

But for WvW, nothing can be done to alter mechanics without breaking the current state of the pet, which means that the pet mechanic has to be altered so that players have a choice between whether or not they want to focus on pets and have them always out, or not focus on pets without losing overall DPS and utility.

People have suggested perma-stow options, Durz and I and others have suggested a mechanic similar to the way pre-patch spirits worked, but ultimately, something needs to be done about the mechanic in order to give rangers the opportunity to be more viable across different game modes without having the pet as anchor that holds players back based on the content they’re faced with.

And don’t get me wrong, players that love their pets and hate change. Nobody wants to take your options away from you and make you play the game differently. They just want to add more options so that the class functions across a larger array of content.

The thing I cant understand is that rangers ultimately have two pets which he can use in a fight by swapping between them. Why cant we have both out as the engineer turrets, mesmers illusions or necros summons? What I have in mind.

Give rangers ability to put and remove his two pets from fight as he wishes to, be it one, both or none. This would deal with such a problems as pets getting killed by AOE dmg to which they can do nothing and also make rangers mechanic more tactic oriented as you would summon your pets when you are preparing for burst or pulling them back when near death.

I realise this wouldn’t deal with all the pet oriented problems, but at least would give some control over the pets.

Is roaming / supporting with shortbow, criticals, and bleed stacks no longer meta in WvW? I’ve been out of the game for a couple months.

Look guys. Spirits were not and still are not the only way to play a ranger. Fact is, for many, the changes changed little. In some ways, they help the non-spirit meta ranger. I can see slotting a single untraited spirit on a 25 sec timer for the quick boost. So, I’m finding that I slot (or at least am playing around with) one spirit. I cast them before a fight and try to get the bonus (burning, damage, etc). I just wish I could self-destruct a spirit to trigger the 25 second timer for multiple fast fights.

It’s not the magnitude of such a change, it’s the unwillingness to put forth an actual vision for the class and continued consideration for what’s working too well, and not on things that aren’t.