Guild Wars 2

Hello all,

I have recently returned to the game after a while break and feel like starting a new character.

My issue is that I would kind of like to make a ranger, however the news I hear about their current state is pretty mixed, and usually errs on the side of ’unplayable.

My questions are:

What honestly is the current state of the ranger? If I make one will I simply not be able to participate in late game pve? (High level dungeons/fractals.)

Is their any meaningful contribution that a ranger can male to WvW right now?

How is ranger in spvp? Does anyone currently run one in tournament?

Any help is appreciated, I hope I can get some better information than I could from the profession sub-forum.

rangers are definitely viable in pvp.

In pve however, there isn’t much they do that can’t be done better by anyone else. Since melee damage is (generally) much greater than ranged damage, the awesome longbow range is almost useless in pve. A lot of the problem lies with pets and spirits almost always dead, not to mention pet damage was recently nerfed for pvp reasons.

You CAN participate in late game pve with your ranger but there are simply much better alternatives to do that.

There are always going to be people who won’t let you into their groups if you don’t ahve the optimal build.

So if you pug or you play with those people you’re going to have a problem.

My group has rangers in it who have completely every dungeon in the game.

My guess is if you’re an end gmae player where end game is the whole reason for playing, and if you pug a lot or you’re goign to join a competitive guild, don’t take a ranger.

If you’re a more casual player or you join a casual guild, if you’re not that into pugging then a ranger is fine.

The guys in the ranger forum like to think the class is used a scapegoat to trample all over by anet so other classes feel better – some people actually believe that.

It’s not that bad. It’s quite playable and while there are issues with the class that I would like to see addressed, they never keep me from being able to play what I want to play. There are a few options for how you want to play (though something like spirit ranger is good in spvp, but horrible in pve. Trap ranger is still viable though.)

DPS-wise, anet recently nerfed pets’ damage significantly, but I haven’t noticed much difference when I’m playing. Some skills got buffed as well and there’s more to come…it’s just a matter of how long it will take.

I don’t really play WvW, but I’ve heard that beastmaster ranger, which was the reason for the nerfs, is actually stronger in WvW and PvP.

Vayne.8563:

There are always going to be people who won’t let you into their groups if you don’t ahve the optimal build.

So if you pug or you play with those people you’re going to have a problem.

My group has rangers in it who have completely every dungeon in the game.

My guess is if you’re an end gmae player where end game is the whole reason for playing, and if you pug a lot or you’re goign to join a competitive guild, don’t take a ranger.

If you’re a more casual player or you join a casual guild, if you’re not that into pugging then a ranger is fine.

So when you say “optimal build” Is that just a matter of ‘any class that isn’t warrior mesmer or guardian." Or is it something more specific to the ranger itself?

To be sure, I don’t really mind if I’m not on the top of the heap, I just want to be able to participate.

LuckyThirteen.4576:

Vayne.8563:

There are always going to be people who won’t let you into their groups if you don’t ahve the optimal build.

So if you pug or you play with those people you’re going to have a problem.

My group has rangers in it who have completely every dungeon in the game.

My guess is if you’re an end gmae player where end game is the whole reason for playing, and if you pug a lot or you’re goign to join a competitive guild, don’t take a ranger.

If you’re a more casual player or you join a casual guild, if you’re not that into pugging then a ranger is fine.

So when you say “optimal build” Is that just a matter of ‘any class that isn’t warrior mesmer or guardian." Or is it something more specific to the ranger itself?

To be sure, I don’t really mind if I’m not on the top of the heap, I just want to be able to participate.

Being able to participate is a matter of opinion.

Some people feel they have to do equal amounts of damage as everyone. We have relatively few warriors in our guild. People play what’s fun. We enjoy our runs. We don’t get them done fast.

Some people want to run dungeons as fast as possible to get the most reward per hour. For others that ruins the game.

You have to decide what kind of player you are. No one can tell you that.

Warrior is going to do more damage than a ranger. However, a lot of warriors who spec in full berzerker gear (to do max damage) end up dying a lot, because they suck. They then blame the party because they’ve gone down. Happens to often.

Sure a really good player can play a zerker warrior and hardly ever go down. But I don’t play with players like that, because generally speak that’s the run run run crowd and that’s not fun for me.

LuckyThirteen.4576:

Hello all,

wat-wa-wan-wa-wan

The only 1200 range weapon we have now is LB. This means you are viable in either Zerg-humping or skirmishing, but not both. It was basically a BS move to make the longbow more appealing by nerfing shortbow range rather than actually doing anything to make longbow better, and in the process they really killed the appeal of the class for a lot of people (people like bows, now both bows are kitten).

That’s just wvw though. In spvp, because all fights are skirmish fights and the maps are fairly small, the shortbow nerf doesnt hurt that bad. trap rangers are very strong in spvp. That said, it is still a step in the wrong direction. Last patch we had an OP spec that combined bunker gear with BM for a high damage pet. rather than nerf that spec, they nerfed all common pets into the ground across the board with no compensation for non-BM rangers. this can be somewhat countered with might stacking on pets, but this obviously is counter-productive when you factor in pet swapping which is necessary in just about any game mode. Not to mention, it locks you into a specific trait choice and crit gear just to undo a nerf that wasnt warranted for most ranger specs.

Nothing has been done to improve pet survivability in pve dungeons or wvw, so rangers spam the skill “Guard” every 15sec (1sec cast time). This is widly considered not enjoyable gameplay just to keep the pet alive. WvW is in the same state, though many players dont bother with guard and just keep pets permanantly on passive. Because of the pet situation, the lack of high damage cleave (our GS isnt good dps), lack of group benefiets, rangers are generally not welcome in Fractals or CoF, the most common dungeons.

Spirits are still in a bad state, dying in 1-2 hits and requiring a 30pt trait just to move with you. Some players have taken to running them anyway, but this is more a curiousity in a time where few builds are really good than it is a testiment that spirits are viable.

Dont roll a ranger unless you dont mind being the herrrp-derrrp.

I don’t know, I use my ranger in PvE all the time, quite successfully.

A lot of the negativity about rangers from the dungeon crowd is actually more to do with the players than the actual class. There are just too many ranger players who:
-are so used to having their pet tank for them and doesn’t understand the dodge mechanics
-stand away from everyone else using their single target longbow when the rest of the group is killing packs of trash
-use point blank shot at anything moving close to them and knocking mobs out of teammates’ aoes.

Obviously that doesn’t apply to all ranger players. A ranger player that has good understanding of the game’s mechanics is much more enjoyable to play with than the typical pug ranger. I would say much more useful to the team than those brainless GS camping warriors, definitely better than those guardians who autoattack with staff all day or mesmers autoattack with their GS all day in melee range.

But when assuming equal player skills/knowledge, the GW2 holy PVE trinity are just better in general. Actually some speedrun groups are even considering dropping mesmers.

I like running dungeons and the ranger isn’t the best at that because PVE and Dungeons really are about the DPS. The more damage you can put out the better. It really is that simple. That being said, I still enjoy playing my ranger the most in PVE. I enjoy the mechanics of the weapons and skills the most. Sucks it seems to take so much longer to kill things than with my zerker warrior, but hey, it’s more enjoyable to me. There’s still faults with the pets that kitten me off with severe regularity almost to the point of deleting my ranger, but I already invested so much time/gold into it I couldn’t bring myself to delete. I’ll cling to the hope that the current balance team is fired and a new one brought in that actually likes the ranger and wants to make it better. That a new balance team will balance PVE around PVE. That a new balance team will balance PVP around PVP. That a new balance team will balance WvW around WvW… I’ll hope in one hand and **** in the other and see which one fills up first, though.

Rangers are not doing as badly as people think, recently I’ve been using guard a lot and have found that it make my pet survive almost anything in dungeons, at some point I’m going to make a more offensive dungeon pet build using companions might thrown in and see if I can get it to work well. My current build is more defensive and the perma regen and sig of the wild probably also contribute a lot to keeping my pet alive.

That said I still have long lists of improvements I’d like to see but its nowhere near as doomier or gloomier as some of the community suggests.

I’d say if you want to make a ranger…go for it. Worst case scenario, you end up not liking it or whatever and make a new character.

Anyways I have been playing my ranger since about October..and since then it’s been my main character. I love my ranger. I mainly do pve, so I’m not even gonna talk about wvw or pvp. I feel that I do perfectly fine with endgame content as a ranger, in pve. I run dungeons a lot, fractals, etc. I like to think that I’m a fairly good player and while I don’t think I necessarily have the BEST best best ranger build out there, it works well for me and I can participate and contribute to my party when we’re doing dungeons and whatever.

I think a lot of how well you do and what you can do really just depends on your specific build, and there are a lot of options when it comes to builds, and yourself as a player. And this goes for any class, really. A good player can take a not-so-great build and still run fine with it, because they’re going to be able to use their playing skills with dodging, timing, spacing, etc to stay alive and deal damage. A really bad player is probably going to suck regardless of how good their build is. I find that the ranger is fun for me personally to play, and I enjoy it. Sure as QQers in the forums will let you know, it has its bugs and it has its problems, but it’s not really a terrible class. I also know other rangers in-game who play perfectly well and one of them is probably one of the best players I know in the game, period. Sorry if this wasn’t super specific or helpful. I haven’t played other classes enough to really compare them, but I just want to let you know that rangers aren’t that terrible and if you enjoy them you should play them. If you’re committed to it, you’ll find a playstyle that works for you and be a good ranger.