Guild Wars 2

So as we all know the class has a lot of issues, more so than most classes and a ton of them aren’t related to us having a desire to be over powered. So I am going to suggest some ideas I have to not make the class face roll easy like our heavy armor longbow brothers, but rather playable. In the sense that I can join a team in any game mode and feel like I am actually helping the team.

I have a simple dream that someday in mumble when I am with my group of friends and they see a Ranger they don’t: Scoff, crack a joke, or pity the person playing it.
“But Shinra, how would it ever happen?”

Well firstly lets look at the main issues with a Ranger:

• Little to no Condition Removal.
• The fact that Rangers have to trait 30 into a trait line just to use their utilities.
• Ranger weapons need tweaks and fixes.
• Pets need a ton of attention.

I will address more and more as I have more time to write and dive deeper into traits etc. I have a strong belief(of which you will see) that most, if not all weapon skills should effect our pets. So in the following suggestions you may notice that.

The following are weapon skill ideas that I personally have, I would love feedback and additional insight into what you think about said proposals as well as hear your own.

Sword
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Auto Chain-The auto attack on this weapon to me is love and hate. I hate the fact that it roots me sometimes but I love chasing down that pve mob that decided to run. So the change I would make to this is only to remove the root from it as a quality of life change.

Hornet Sting and Monarch’s Leap- I feel like the Hornet’s Sting should apply the cripple rather than the Monarch’s Leap. The skill is usually used nowadays to retreat-drop target and turn 180 and then complete the chain to put distance between you and someone else. I feel like Monarch’s Leap should then give the pet a minor sort of heal. Reasoning for this is because if we are using it to evade a boss aoe and are using it just in time from our rooting auto attacks, our pet probably took the aoe to the face and some hp back to him would be nice.

Serpent’s Strike- I actually find this skill quite balanced and useful for condition or power builds.

Axe

Ricochet- I believe that the core of this skill is fine. Three targets is ideal because if the axe bounced between five targets the auto attack speed would have to lowered. It would be a nice addition to turn this into a chain attack where the second chain applied a low duration swiftness to your pet.

Splitblade- This skill is just awkward for usage on solo fights because it requires you to get very close to a target to make effective use of this skill. I’m not sure really what to do with this skill as its very strange to use.

Winter’s Bite- I love Winter’s Bite it gives me time to escape, or gives my pet time to apply that lovely Weakness. This is in my opinion what all Ranger skills should look like. A balance between the Ranger and his pet.

Path of Scars- It needs to hit five targets is my only complaint here. In keeping the idea of axes that CC it would be nice if the pets next attack crippled, or applied some soft condition with it.

Whirling Defense- I find this skill to be nice and have its uses in PvP from time to time but the inability to move makes enemies just stand outside the aoe. A bigger radius I didn’t have to trait for, or useable while moving at a slower speed would be nice.
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Torch

Throw Torch- This skill is pretty solid would be nice if the pets next attack caused Blindness. This would just add for skilled players to use it defensively in solo fights rather than just a burn.

Bonfire- Bonfire is fun, its an on demand fire field that lasts eight seconds. Keeping in the spirit of a Bonfire being a group activity lets give Bonfire some group utility! Maybe a condition removal, or 3-5 second party wide boon. The condition removal is ideal in my opinion because it makes condition rangers more viable for Zerging as they can now help their party rather than being entirely selfish DPS. The boon idea also would help Zerging but also help small man groups in all forms of content.
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Dagger

Stalker’s Strike-This skill is solid in my opinion but it would add more into that stalker feel if your pets next attack did a little torment.

Crippling Talon-has a bug with its range out of combat firstly that needs to be fixed. The skill itself however should give your pet some Fury. This would just make it so on the off chance that your pet does land an attack that it’s a good one.
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Warhorn

Hunter’s Call- Either you, your pet, or both need to apply a condition with this attack. Blind for one thing, if having hawks attack your face isn’t obstructing I don’t know what is. The pet should then either immobilize or knock down with its next attack. All immobilize skills seem to have a 20 second cool down minimum and frankly this skill is just lack luster without something new.

Call of the Wild-This is one of the only items of support we bring to a zerg and I wouldn’t dare tweak it. This skill is useable in all forms of play and is something to be used in any group environment.
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Greatsword

Auto Chain- I love this skill chain for zerg diving it does give that extra bit of survivability, to you… I would love to see the final attack give your pet protection for for a second just to help them out as well.

Maul-Love it, but it screams blast finisher. This is more coming from a team standpoint though as when you are fighting with a zerg you offer nothing in terms of blast finishers on demand, unless you switch to warhorn. Guardian and Warrior have fairly short cool down blast finishers so I am sure the cool down on Maul is long enough to warrant the blast. This already helps a pet as you can use this in fields to buff them or heal them.

Swoop- Only complaint on Swoop is that it needs to be one fluid movement. It feels clunky and unreliable at times. I’d change it simply as a Quality of Life improvement. Would be nice if it granted might to the pet.

Counter Attack and Crippling Throw- For Counter Attack it would be a huge improvement if the skill did not root you when you counter attack. It’s pretty much a death wish to use in a zerg. Crippling Throw is a nice skill in my opinion though and should apply swiftness to the pet if Crippling Throw hits.

Hilt Bash- No real complaint from me on this skill, it’s a pretty useful tool as it is.
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Short bow

Crossfire- This skill pretty much requires a team to use to its full ability. I think a 1-2 second bleed no matter from what angle would be much more useful. That, or a slight damage increase for use when you are trying to use the weapon by yourself against another player.

Poison Volley- love this skill the way it is. Maybe pets next attack leeches x amount of hp.

Quick Shot- I like this skill as it is but feel it could give the pet a one second protection to help in pve.

Crippling Shot- Nailed this one on the head. Master and pet synergy is a beautiful thing.

Concussion Shot- Would love to see the pet do an Immobilize or Weakness with next attack as well. This skill is useful as it is but more synergy would be fun.
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Longbow

Long Range Shot-This skill needs to have the distance to damage ratio removed with base damage at 900 and under. Anything higher needs the boost but, this skill is broken right now as nearly everyone and their mom can gap close on you before the skill starts doing damage. The attack speed is fine if the damage is changed, the arrow speed should be faster on all Longbow attacks! I am tired of people strafing and negating all of my attacks. This skill is the core issue with Longbow in my opinion. Rangers are “Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows.” Then our skills with a bow should reflect this.

— Proposed skill: I don’t even care what you call it-Stealth Skill(useable only in stealth)-Launch an arrow that does x amount of damage. It should do mid-high damage. High being just damage, and mid being damage and a condition(cripple, or chill ideally of a four, and two second duration respectively. Due to Hunter’s shot lowish cool down.).

The following skills all reflect the increased arrow speed mentioned in Long Range Shot’s Description.

Rapid Fire- Love this skill, in Longbow’s current state though it seems like you are just using this on cool down. Would be nice to see pet swiftness on this skill however.

Hunter’s Shot- I love the utility this brings into play for mobile fights no complaint here. The pet’s next attack should cripple would be nice. This way you could have a skill chain of Rapid Fire-Hunter’s Shot and give the player more options.

Knockback Shot- As the rangers real only way of keeping people at bay I love having this skill. Would like some form of pet CC with this attack as then we could get a Barrage off and hit a target for more than a second.

Barrage- Needs higher damage or longer cripples to effectively be of any use in zerg, or point control. In WvW barrage is as harmful as rain, in need something more to offer it that extra bit of utility or danger to warrant the ranger locking himself in place.

Thanks for the read, I look forward to hearing about any ideas others may have or critics on my own ideas. Please keep it positive though as I wish to see what people can think of together. Keep in mind we need to come up with ideas that benefit the Ranger in a sense that makes him benefit the game not just himself. I know in the weapon section at least it seems selfish but I will be giving ideas on our utilities and traits in future posts that will offer much more group play. We need to make the Ranger needed as a profession not just because we want to steamroll everyone.

More ideas posted in the next day or so, so please check other topics by me if you wish to continue sharing ideas!

Hunter’s Call: This isn’t a channeled spell. Why do we need to maintain LOS with the target to cause damage? Can’t even turn around.

I like your idea of adding a stealth skill to longbow. Could be interesting. I also strongly agree with doing away with the low tier damage of the longbow and making 0-900 all the same damage. I say even increase this damage slightly, remove the higher tier damage and instead give the longbow a increased chance to crit. 10% 400-600, +20% 600-900, +30% 900 for example.

Rapid Fire should have a second removed from its channel duration.

Hunter’s Shot and Knockback shot shouldn’t be able to be blocked. With as much stability that’s around removing much of the value for knockback shot, it’s only fair that skill can’t be blocked. Hunter’s Shot should be reliable as well if you actually need to hit in order to stealth.

Barrage I can’t stand. It’s damage is too low. The cripple is laughable. The rooting is counter intuitive to the whole class. The fact that each wave causes retaliation and confusion procs. It’s a failure in almost every way. Now if by increased damage you mean effectively double it, fine. I’d much rather have it removed. If they attached a immobilize to the first wave of barrage it would already be a better skill than spike trap and fill the exact same role. I still feel the best thing to do with this thing is simply remove it and make it a skill to replace spike trap. This way you can replace it with whatever you want. Since this class lacks any real burst, an aimed shot skill would be my preference.

Barrage as instant cast with a reduced length and a reduced CD would be nice too?

Only problem with making it utility would be how to explain it when the person has melee weapons and such.

Short Bow needs to bleed from any angle. That would be a huge difference right there.

Shinra, I like the weapon changes you’ve proposed and I agree that weapon skills need more synergy with our class mechanic. I would echo what Atherakhia said about Hunter’s Call not requiring line of sight and I’d even go so far as to say Barrage doesn’t need it either, if that could ever be implemented.

Now, having tackled weapons... what are your ideas as far as trait trees and active condition removal?

Hedgehog in the fog.1053:

Barrage as instant cast with a reduced length and a reduced CD would be nice too?

Only problem with making it utility would be how to explain it when the person has melee weapons and such.

Make it like you’re signaling your hidden Ranger pals to all fire on one spot. It actually makes more sense than us firing hundred of arrows into the air on our own.

Oooo, so kind of like ghostly rangers appear around you and start firing into the sky? Yeah…I want that….

Ages ago, Ranger’s trait:
Evasive Purity – Remove condition from you and nearby allies on dodge roll

But Now,
Evasive Purity – Dodging removes blindness and poison from you. (10s CD)
LOL!!!

The sword root is a major issue for me, takes away mobility and puts you in a bad spot.

You (I mean many people posting here) have a really geat and interesting ideas, some are truly amazing. But this changes nothing because Anet does not listen to You. I love my ranger. Although it is so poorly designed I try to use him to the best of his abilities. But I’m frustrated, when I know that other professions do the same (often better) with less effort…
ANET PLEASE LISTEN TO THOSE PEOPLE, A LOT OF GREAT IDEAS CAN BE FOUND HERE ON THE FORUM. DO NOT IGNORE US ANYMORE

BlackenX.7386:

Ages ago, Ranger’s trait:
Evasive Purity – Remove condition from you and nearby allies on dodge roll

But Now,
Evasive Purity – Dodging removes blindness and poison from you. (10s CD)
LOL!!!

The Ranger class has only gotten worse since launch.

He he he there’s a typo on the thread title “State of” is incorrect it should be written: “My opinion on”.

I’m glad the game development is in the right hands, just by viewing a dozen threads…

Steve Jobs, may he RIP, said it best “The customer doesn’ know what it wants, till we present it to them”

Keep up the good work Anet, can’t wait to see what more you have in store for us

BlackenX.7386:

Ages ago, Ranger’s trait:
Evasive Purity – Remove condition from you and nearby allies on dodge roll

But Now,
Evasive Purity – Dodging removes blindness and poison from you. (10s CD)
LOL!!!

When did the old trait exist?

Hey everyone thanks for the replies and ideas! I’m currently experiencing a graphic card on the fritz so I been a bit busy! I will start work on Utility ideas before I start the long process of traits. x.x

I’m not sure they’d ever make Barrage a instant cast but shaving a bit off the cast would be awesome. I feel like Barrage has moments where it’s really strong but, its only due to another classes buffs(venoms, might, or banners) I would love to see the dps increase for point control in pvp, and helping take enemy siege down in WvW.

Sword root is an issue, I know many people have learned to work with it and will say it’s a l2p issue. I feel that you shouldn’t have to l2p with a broken skill and say its fine.

Ariete, I have read several of your old posts about how Ranger pet is fine because you have to constantly watch it. I don’t disagree that taking care of your pet adds into the game. What I do disagree with is that its a huge portion of my DPS which gets downed instantly in large engagements due to its pathing, the fact that your opponent has to be stationary for the pet to actually hit it, and that pets suffer from the rooting issue that their masters do. I’m also going to state that I think we need to see our pets statuses, and that a pet hp bar that offers more info would be nice. As for the Steve Jobs quote I disagree, companies don’t just create goods and shove them down your throat. The process of creating something like a MMO needs to work with their players to be successful. Anet themselves have said this, and made it clear they do listen to players. So the quote is really just wrong when you talk about a business who’s whole existence is customer service.

So this is why we post ideas on the forums, so that we can bounce ideas off each other. I feel to be heard though we need to not try to make suggestions like: “Ranger broken because Warrior face stomped me, please buff X so I can facestomp Y.” We need ideas that benefit team gameplay first, and our Rangers second. To be more useful to the game rather than just more useful at killing.

As for Longbow #1 suggestion : I’ve already come up with idea how to merge our hard-bang skill into LB. Numbers have to be adjusted ofc and things like SoHunt active and MoC changed to not make it OP, but general idea is quite good I think.
Thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Revolutionary-Revelations/first#post2946489

Check out my suggestion for Barrage too!

Fordel.3208:

When did the old trait exist?

BWE

Hedgehog in the fog.1053:

Oooo, so kind of like ghostly rangers appear around you and start firing into the sky? Yeah…I want that….

I was thinking more like a signal flare or you whistle and wave your arm and then the aoe starts. Your idea is pretty cool visually but it’s a huge sign to the opponent telling him whats about to happen.

Kind of like this but the Barrage aoe rather than a single target attack.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ebon_Vanguard_Sniper_Support

BlackenX.7386:

Fordel.3208:

When did the old trait exist?

BWE

Back when the game seemed more balanced around fun and feeling good

Substance E.4852:

Hedgehog in the fog.1053:

Oooo, so kind of like ghostly rangers appear around you and start firing into the sky? Yeah…I want that….

I was thinking more like a signal flare or you whistle and wave your arm and then the aoe starts. Your idea is pretty cool visually but it’s a huge sign to the opponent telling him whats about to happen.

Kind of like this but the Barrage aoe rather than a single target attack.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ebon_Vanguard_Sniper_Support

Hmmm, yeah that sounds cool too…. Id still like ghostly rangers…. sigh

Although, Ive been using the longbow more and we really do need another skill shot in our rotation. You don’t want use LB4, you want to save LB3. I am a big supporter of the burst move on 5 now. Or, a type of stealth shot on 3.

I like what you are trying to do looking for synergy with the pet.

I have 2 comments for your suggestions

- One thing it is not exploited on our pets is the attk speed. Instead of granting might or deal more damage, some attacks can also give quickness to the pet. Playing actively with the pet requires many times to call it back and re-send it into combat to keep the pet out of bosses PBAOE, so, why not have some control over the pets atk spd and give it quickness when you need to burst.

- I wouldn’t give so many conditions to our attacks. Remember that some weapons are based on conditions but some others has its damage based entirely on power. If we give an associated condition to every weapon, power builds will loose viability and will make ranger spec building narrower.

my 2c.

Ps. Regarding the sword… there is nothing that annoys me more than how it roots you with attacks 2 and 3 of the chain but that is because both attacks has a small leap to the target. The only way to remove the root is removing the leap and if you think about it, 1 attack cripples while 2 and 3 leaps towards it. It is IMPOSSIBLE to escape from a sword ranger unless you use some extra utility skill to extend the gap.

If pet F2 skills reliably worked that alone would be a huge leap for making the pet more useful. I’d love to use my pet’s skills more but wether they will activate when you press F2 is still a gamble over a year on.

Anet needs to make fixing the pet a priority. Fix F2, fix pathing so it can catch moving targets (especially those moving in tight circles) and give it some kind of dodge (AI or player controlled). If they manage to pull that off then I think we will truly get to play the class that the devs envisaged.

Thanks for the thoughtful post, Shinra!

I think you hit on the two major limiting factors that make rangers inferior to other classes in some instances: 1) lack of synergy between weapons and PETS, and 2) extremely poor condition removal options.

There is now pretty good synergy among our weapons (I love how LB complements S/D), but limited options for pets other than hitting RAO and a channeled attack to stack might. Rangers have no BAMMO (at least not without sacrificing survivability) attack, like pretty much every other class has access to. I can’t count the number of times I’ve downed someone in a 1v2 only to have their partner get them up because I lack enough burst to down the second fast enough.

But I’ve found the real weak link is the way our condition clears work. Empathic bond shifts conditions to our pets! That seems like an extremely poor design decision—what other class has their only viable condition clear (or any other defensive mechanic) that disables their class mechanic?

How about this?
Empathic Bond: any time your pet lands a hit, it removes 3 conditions from itself and you. (10 second cooldown).

Or, you could keep Empathic bond as is and replace Vigorous Training with:
Infect—Pet transfers conditions from itself to target on successful hit (10 second cooldown).

Anyway, Shinra, looking forward to seeing your other ideas.

This would allow us some control over when conditions are removed and wouldn’t screw our pet over to keep us alive.

@Meskat: The cripple on the sword isn’t enough. The leap is essential to stay on mesmers that pop around, or when your target evades, dodges, leaps away. You can even deselect your target mid attack and use it to create distance if you need to disengage—somewhat better than an evade if you get used to it!

I’d hate for them to remove the leap. If they could make dodge over-ride the leap, that would solve the problem while keeping one of our precious few borderline OP attack options.

Bredin.5368:

I’d hate for them to remove the leap. If they could make dodge over-ride the leap, that would solve the problem while keeping one of our precious few borderline OP attack options.

Indeed, that would be the perfect solution

Mesket.5728:

Bredin.5368:

I’d hate for them to remove the leap. If they could make dodge over-ride the leap, that would solve the problem while keeping one of our precious few borderline OP attack options.

Indeed, that would be the perfect solution

I’d buy that.

As far as condition removers, I’ve conceded my pet is a big sponge for me. Just get a brown bear and youre good. Fortunately my build has never really taken my pet into account until now, except as a nuisance in small scale skirmishes.

Bredin.5368:

But I’ve found the real weak link is the way our condition clears work. Empathic bond shifts conditions to our pets! That seems like an extremely poor design decision—what other class has their only viable condition clear (or any other defensive mechanic) that disables their class mechanic?

Our current condition removal makes a lot more sense if you assume we would have access to that old version of evasive purity.

We don’t, so it’s not really relevant, but I enjoy seeing where design assumptions were made.

I think ranger needs a viable mainhand condition wep. Would like to see the sword auto attack get changed. Get rid of the removes bleeding and might and replace with say torment on the second or third auto attack hit.

No burst point, every other class including “ranged” classes have the ability to burst but Rangers don’t?

Also, Barrage, after playing with the warrior LB and its 2 shoot and forget AoE abilities, needs to be a shoot and forget ability, none of this standing around while it is cast bull. The argument for why this isn’t shoot and forget is beyond me… IF it is too powerful to be shoot and forget, where a Ranger can then hit someone with something else, than have it roll all the cool downs for a tick or two, but don’t make the Ranger sit there still while it is firing. Stupid.

Shameless bump to promote discussion, while devs are looking at the forums. Also I got a new graphics card so now I can actually see my screen and reply.

Honestly, I don’t have issues with the way the weapons were the last time I played.

My sole issue with the Ranger is the pet. I want the option to drop the pet and gain preparations.

Main Ranger issue: no sporebat. Add a sporebat, fix the profession.

Shinra.9348:

Hilt Bash- No real complaint from me on this skill, it’s a pretty useful tool as it is.

Hilt bash needs to be faster/longer range as it misses on moving targets most of the time, also GS auto attack swing arc needs fixing as it can miss while you’re moving even tho the target is close

definately longer range , perhaps like the warrior shield bash

Chokolata.1870:

definately longer range , perhaps like the warrior shield bash

They have the same range according to the wiki. I wonder if the leap mechanic on shield bash comes into play. I’ve never had problems landing shield bash on a target running away. Half the time hilt bash misses.