Guild Wars 2

Being the magic classes nut that I am I just thought: “What if rangers could use staffs (or sceptres/focuses)?”

They could have nature based magic, kind of like a ‘druid’ build. What do people think?

I think that might be fun, and possibly give the ranger a way to apply the CC/AOE which rangers lack. I can see like a scaled down version of entanglement as an aoe, vine snares, and other stuff like that, possibly some heals or an earth wall like the ele 4 staff earth skill.

Just hire some then, nobody is stopping you.

http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Nature's_Prophet
http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Enchantress
LoL

I hope we get the staff this year, fits very well w/the Nature Warden archetype.

I’d be cool with staff if it were a healing based weapon, personally… I’m sure a lot of people would disagree but considering our lack of condition removal, something like… 2 of the 5 skills heal/remove one condition on yourself and allies while the other 3 inflict damage while healing. It would be more of a passive/support weapon to reduce our weakness to condition stacking. What if it cast it’s own version of Healing Spring even? It would make us much more of an asset in groups by being able to throw down AOE heals with either most of, or all 5 of our staff skills.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

I’d be cool with staff if it were a healing based weapon, personally… I’m sure a lot of people would disagree but considering our lack of condition removal, something like… 2 of the 5 skills heal/remove one condition on yourself and allies while the other 3 inflict damage while healing. It would be more of a passive/support weapon to reduce our weakness to condition stacking. What if it cast it’s own version of Healing Spring even? It would make us much more of an asset in groups by being able to throw down AOE heals with either most of, or all 5 of our staff skills.

If it was a healing based weapon I would never use it unless the auto-attack was exactly like the guardian auto-attack… then I would use it exclusively for tagging with axe+torch.

Not sure about healing, maybe a burst heal since theres quite a bit of regen already .. but it’d definately be a good idea to have it as a support weapon. A quick long range AOE for damage and tagging, some soft CC, some boons, maybe a blast. It’ll help rangers find a place in larger groups..

I’m not sure… It’s kinda odd how all our skills require physical contact/projectile then out of nowhere we start using magic which in my opinion, doesn’t fit well into the theme of rangers

iitwinz.1420:

I’m not sure… It’s kinda odd how all our skills require physical contact/projectile then out of nowhere we start using magic which in my opinion, doesn’t fit well into the theme of rangers

Ranger’s do have nature magic and the staff would fit well with that.

This might actually make rangers viable (even wanted) in zergs if it had an aoe cc (something with vines/roots), a water field, and a decent sized aoe attack. Would be pretty awesome imo with a nature themed build w/ spirits.

iitwinz.1420:

I’m not sure… It’s kinda odd how all our skills require physical contact/projectile then out of nowhere we start using magic which in my opinion, doesn’t fit well into the theme of rangers

Also one of our trait lines is literally called “Nature Magic”…

I’d be a fan of rangers getting staves, especially if it ties in to the old Nature Rituals of GW1. You’ve got awesome skill names and concepts to work with – anything ranging from ‘Brambles’ to ‘Edge of Extinction’.

On the other hand, pulling that much magic out of your bum is way more Scholar than it is Adventurer. Then again, Guardians do the same.

Furienify.5738:

I’d be a fan of rangers getting staves, especially if it ties in to the old Nature Rituals of GW1. You’ve got awesome skill names and concepts to work with – anything ranging from ‘Brambles’ to ‘Edge of Extinction’.

On the other hand, pulling that much magic out of your bum is way more Scholar than it is Adventurer. Then again, Guardians do the same.

We are basically the closest thing to a magic user the medium armor professions have. Which isn’t saying much, but if any of them were going to get some it would be Ranger. I remember using a staff spirit build in GW1 pretty effectively actually as a Ranger.

In DCUO i played a character with staff and was lot of fun, the staff there was used as melee so maybe they can do that with the ranger or maybe for a future class.

I am all for a druidic / beastmaster’y nature magic staff on the ranger.

As far as a melee staff, I think that may be more appropriate for the Thief.

Druid ranger? Yes please. If done well it could solve so many of our wvw zerg woes. on demand condi cleanse? another water field? spirit-esque buffs not tied to idiotic ai? aoe cc and snares?

One can dream.

I’ll be a meanie and suggest melee midrange staff combat; wandering device and weapon in one! Hardly unheard of… but moreover I think it would fit ranger a little better than a pure magical staff, though I would like to see it create naturey effects when you hit people, like make tremors or root-grasps.

Like Ele daggers it would have a long reach (300?). I think it could be fun.

Really liking this idea as a way to breath a new dimension into the class by letting us go shaman/druid route, and maybe change the perception of the class as something that can add something others cant. I would suggest all weather/plant/animal based effects, and aoe damage is where we could use improvement.

This is like the best suggestion ever. If anet just gives a staff to rangers that fits the druid archetype, the whole ranger CDI can be closed right now.

Had a thought of something unique… All ground targetted aoe nature type effects, either like wells or channeled

1 auto = energy attack, every third attack entangles (kind of lacking in long range disables)
2 Monsoon = Enemy range reduced to 25% + water field + dps (water fields valuable to groups)
3 insect plague= dark field + torment (we could use some torment)
4 Plant door = similiar to necro flesh worm except you teleport when you cast and in your place a plant tree thing, which grants aegis to allies, clears 3 conditions on user and aoe attacks nearby enemies for dps + chance to knockdown + whirl finisher (need an escape and some condi removal)
5 Lighting Storm = Raw aoe damage, blast finisher on creation, chance to stun on crit (damage, nuff said)

Just some thoughts for a unique role. Thinking this gives cc and aoe damage, both very desired.

(edited in what I was going for with the ideas)