Guild Wars 2

I might be alone by saying this, but please do not change the way it works. While I agree that it’s a little wonky when learning how to use it, I also believe it’s very rewarding once you get the hang of it and know how/when to use it. It has its own niche and I enjoy its play style very much.

So please, do not change it.

- A 1800+Hr Ranger Vet

skills should not be about learning how to work around poor design. If this design is so good, then let’s give it to all swords and see how the player base reacts.

Additionally, enjoy your rooting and wonky movement while a sword wielding Revenant tears you apart…

Ranger sword could be infinitely better and there is not a valid reason why only 3 skills can’t be fixed or replaced… 3

I personally like the sword as is.

Changing the skill to not have leaps would take away the leaps. No thanks.

Learn to cancel/swap if you want to use sword. It takes like 10 minutes on a dodge roll dummy.

Vatlaaw Fierceshot.5713:

I might be alone by saying this, but please do not change the way it works. While I agree that it’s a little wonky when learning how to use it, I also believe it’s very rewarding once you get the hang of it and know how/when to use it. It has its own niche and I enjoy its play style very much.

So please, do not change it.

- A 1800+Hr Ranger Vet

You must be either a WvW roamer or a PvP player, am I right?

EDIT: I think what most people complain isn’t about the leap, is about the root while you leap.
The leap is nice, but sadly that mechanic doesn’t allow you to dodge/move freely when you need.

How much PvP do you play?

As a ranger that has been playing since the betas, I know perfectly well how to use the sword and I hate trying to work around the clunky mechanics. Please change it.

I really like using sword on ranger, but i want to be able to dodge and cancel the animation, that is all it needs.

The argument Anet has made that it has huge implications in pvp due to stickiness is moot. The chain absolutely needs to be streamlined with every other MH sword.

An animation-locked auto chain has no part in this game.

The sad part is HoT was the perfect opportunity to solve this issue. If they had given us a main hand dagger instead of a staff we would have had an alternative main hand melee weapon for players that didn’t want to deal with the swords clunkiness.

Hahahahahahaha, nope!

For whatever reason, the DEV’s just don’t want rangers to use the sword.

Look at the choices you have:

1) Turn off auto-attack and spam 1, 1 and 1 again (yeah, exactly)
or
2) Get locked in place like in an old fashion game like WoW.

Look, I play on a notebook and I really don’t want to kill my “1” key. Especially not for PvE.
And what is all the action combat good for, if you feel like 2004 in WoW when you play with a sword as a ranger?

But no, this is working as intended, as the ranger pets, and the spirits, and the shortbow, and half of the utility skills that are utterly worthless.

Why do I play my ranger again?

This will be super awkward with the new action camera, which I’d like to use with a bow swap for sure.

Honestly, all we need to do is be able to dodge whilst mid leap.

If you won’t let Anet fix this glaring design flaw will you AT LEAST agree to having an evade put on the leap so the auto attack chain doesn’t make you vulnerable every third auto attack?

I am also in the minority that I don’t mind much, hell I don’t even dodge with it that often, I just use the 3 built in evades…

Evade on the leap would be awesome, but then nobody would use GS, and GS already needs some love imo.

No one takes the greatsword just for the evade on auto. They use it for the block/knock back, the stun/daze, the mobility on Swoop, and the heavy spike damage from Maul. The evade on auto attack is just gravy on the utility cake.

Both weapons are sufficiently different with sword being an evasion heavy sustained DPS weapon and greatsword being a defensive burst weapon. Completely different roles.

Agreed, but the more you take the things that make it unique and give them to other weapons the less valuable it becomes.

To be perfectly honest I rarely notice the evade on greatsword’s auto attack. I think it’s made a major difference in about one match that I can remember where I was in a 1v2 against a guardian and a thief. I almost had the guardian down and the thief popped out but had their burst evaded by the auto chain, allowing me to down the guardian then turn and defeat the thief.

It was a really great moment, no doubt. But it was also a matter of pure chance and the fault of the thief for not watching my animations more carefully.

Now if I had been using the sword I would’ve went down on the spot because while the greatsword’s auto chain provides a little extra protection without taking anything away the sword removes your ability to defend yourself for brief moments in time that an intelligent opponent can easily exploit.

To be perfectly honest I’d be willing to lose the evade on greatsword in exchange for a damage buff on the auto chain. The evade isn’t needed as I’d rather rely on my own ability to survive rather than chance. The sword auto however needs that evade far more because it takes away the user’s ability to defend themselves re-actively during the leap.

A better solution would be to make dodging and evade skills break the leap animation, but as that doesn’t seem to be an option making the leap an evade is the best choice.

I want to see someone exploiting the delays from the sword chain. The windows are so small I fail to see how anyone reliably could do it. I mean yeah, if someone is spamming mindlessly then maybe…but 1H sword is anything but a mindless weapon.

You guys might be fine with how this is now, but the dev guy made some fine points about how action games should work and with the new action camera & crosshair targeting the swords current behavior just doesn’t fit. If you don’t agree with me I encourage you to try the sword auto attack against a group of mobs without targeting any of them. The direction of your leaping will be at times like the three body problem, unpredictable & you cannot reliably hit the same mob twice after the initial few attacks.

Lol… Why does it matter if OP is a PvPer or WvWer? That’s where proper skill management is the most important. Therefore the only people that complain about the difficulty of mastering the sword should be those that are fighting other players. If you’re having trouble with it fighting NPC’s and are crying for changes god help you…

Un-bind the auto attack and don’t mash the AA key once it’s un-binded. Practice using Hornet’s Sting to get range if you take too much damage while AAing and swap to a ranged weapon to recover since you’re now at a safe distance. Or, you can un-target and use Pounce (the third attack in the AA chain) to leap away from your target to recover before leaping back in.

Yes it’s a difficult weapon to use properly, no it is not poorly designed.

Ehecatl.9172:

Now if I had been using the sword I would’ve went down on the spot because while the greatsword’s auto chain provides a little extra protection without taking anything away the sword removes your ability to defend yourself for brief moments in time that an intelligent opponent can easily exploit.

Save using sword AA for when your opponent is going defensive instead of when they’re prepared to pressure you. Because the AA allows you to stick to your targets it makes it a lot more difficult for people to get away from you when they want/need to. I don’t start sword AA spamming a Thief right after he lands/misses a backstab on me and begins to engage. I wait until he’s weak, below 40% health, then if the circumstances are calling for it, then I can AA spam him to prevent him from getting away from me. And because the damage from 1h sword is quite high, he’s either going to panic, die, or be really hurting if he manages to get away from my sticky attacks.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Save using sword AA for when your opponent is going defensive instead of when they’re prepared to pressure you. Because the AA allows you to stick to your targets it makes it a lot more difficult for people to get away from you when they want/need to. I don’t start sword AA spamming a Thief right after he lands/misses a backstab on me and begins to engage. I wait until he’s weak, below 40% health, then if the circumstances are calling for it, then I can AA spam him to prevent him from getting away from me. And because the damage from 1h sword is quite high, he’s either going to panic, die, or be really hurting if he manages to get away from my sticky attacks.

It was a 1v2. I was focusing the guardian who was about to go down when the thief popped out and unloaded on me mid-auto attack animation. The greatsword’s evade stopped the damage so I could down the guardian, but if I had been using the sword I would’ve eaten the thief’s burst as I wouldn’t be able to dodge.

Not every fight is a clean 1v1.

Having an auto attack skill remove your ability to dodge is really, really bad design. Even if it’s possible to work around it and do well with the sword it’s still bad design. The skill requirement for using a weapon should be in it’s other skills, like using skill 2 as an escape or gap closer for example, but not in the auto attack. Because auto attacks are meant to attack automatically. That’s what they are there for.

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

If I remember correctly, during the betas the kick acted as a knockback and the leap was there to keep you hitting the target.
They removed the knockback because CC’ing your target with the auto was too powerful but left the self inflicted CC that the leaps cause because they didn’t have the time to fix it right then but they will fix it ”soon”

It’s not only a “feature” Stale, the ranger sword was purposefully designed to be a “high skill-high reward” weapon that the devs have masterminded to teach players true skill, timing, patience, character, humility and honor. The devs truly slaved to make it a unique weapon that stands out among the other “boring” swords. While everyone admits that it is a “wonky” weapon to use, players see that their camera turning and keyboard finess really improves and that looks great on job applications…

Also, the frontal attack bleeding restriction from short bow is another well planned “feature”, and I sincerely hope that staff gets the same type of treatment. I think it would really elevate player skill if we could only damage and heal from the front. Doing so would create a beneficial opposing balance between these two weapons and that serves to help players learn and master the art of battle field awareness and positioning.

My biggest issue with the sword is that when I am solo/duoing Arah it will randomly leap me really far out into places that might potentially pull adds. NOT GOOD. Outside of that I think dodging should override it.

stale.9785:

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

This was not a bug but the Dev said they will look into it because of all the complains.
They did look into it and said the changes they try would not improve the issue people had with it and therefore would not be added (referring mainly to latency which can make a ranger leap to his death when a target dies and the chain continues).

Bottom line: Sword is working as intended. The latency is a separate issue.

Saying you have mastered this weapon but don’t want to deal with the workaround is conformation you haven’t mastered this weapon.

Take the training wheels off.

stale.9785:

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

My point exactly. And for the fact that people are suggesting an Exploit to be used as an solution to fixing this broken mechanic, just shows how low some people really are. Smh.

Knighthonor.4061:

stale.9785:

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

My point exactly. And for the fact that people are suggesting an Exploit to be used as an solution to fixing this broken mechanic, just shows how low some people really are. Smh.

What exploit?

Serraphin Storm.2369:

Saying you have mastered this weapon but don’t want to deal with the workaround is conformation you haven’t mastered this weapon.

Take the training wheels off.

Bullkitten. I’ve mastered it and still can’t stand the weapon. I use it because I occasionally run builds where I need a mainhand melee weapon, but if we had another mainhand melee weapon I would never touch the sword again.

stale.9785:

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

I mostly agree with this. I also find it funny that most of the sword lovers are wvw, not spvp players *scratches head *.

Sina.9208:

stale.9785:

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

I mostly agree with this. I also find it funny that most of the sword lovers are wvw, not spvp players *scratches head *.

I think it’s more the people that like dueling, which is where the sword really shines. I used to use it for roaming but I don’t run into solo roamers nearly as much as I used to and it doesn’t do nearly as well as GS in 1vX’s.

Puck.9612:

Sina.9208:

stale.9785:

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

I mostly agree with this. I also find it funny that most of the sword lovers are wvw, not spvp players *scratches head *.

I think it’s more the people that like dueling, which is where the sword really shines. I used to use it for roaming but I don’t run into solo roamers nearly as much as I used to and it doesn’t do nearly as well as GS in 1vX’s.

Solo Roaming is more like playing a game of frogger, can you dodge all the zergs/big groups.

Kitty.1502:

Puck.9612:

Sina.9208:

stale.9785:

I love how this still comes up. What I love even more is that some people believe the broken functionality of the sword to be a “feature”.

You’re all aware that at one point, this was a bug we were told would be fixed, right?

Immediately after release, it was noticed that the “leap” animation in the AA made it impossible to dodge. We actually provided video proof that this was the case, and were informed it was a bug and would be addressed.

Like every other ranger bug, it persisted for ages, and now has become so entrenched that it’s no longer a bug, but a feature.

Stockholm syndrome.

People simply amaze me.

I mostly agree with this. I also find it funny that most of the sword lovers are wvw, not spvp players *scratches head *.

I think it’s more the people that like dueling, which is where the sword really shines. I used to use it for roaming but I don’t run into solo roamers nearly as much as I used to and it doesn’t do nearly as well as GS in 1vX’s.

Solo Roaming is more like playing a game of frogger, can you dodge all the zergs/big groups.

I don’t dodge them, I pick off the fat kids that can’t keep up with the group. If the whole zerg turns to chase me I hunter’s shot to stealth and double swoop away with quickdraw. It’s very rare that they can catch me before I break combat to WP or make it to a tower/keep/invuln spot.

Keep the leap, but let us dodge during it.

Why not both?

Kain Francois.4328:

Keep the leap, but let us dodge during it.

Why not both?

Apparently, it has to do with how they code movement skills. However, weapon swapping can cancel the animation mid-channel. Now, if they could work in a bit of code so dodging does this, too…

DONT change it
It’s the most mobile and fun and skilled auto of ALL.
(and the most unpractical yes, but that’s half the fun)
Dodging during a leap makes no sense anyway

“Turn off auto-attack and spam 1, 1 and 1 again (yeah, exactly)”
Exactly not L2P
Use escape key to lose your target before pouncing in an empty area.
Enjoy your double pounce to disengage followed by a hornet sting for even more distance.
Or use about face during the pounces to get in/out super fast
Also you don’t have to use pounce always, kick is the most important part, then use a dagger/axe skill to reset the chain and start again.
So many possibilites…
Best auto

Yeah. kitten being able to break an animation to avoid damage. Evading while doing leaps is illogical. That’s like adding evade frames to a leap like Swoop or teleport skills like Unrelenting Assault. It’s…

Nah that’d be cool, and inconsistent game design wise

The solution to many issues ppl have with sword#1 might come with the new action camera mode I think?

This will continue forever. 7 people saying it has to be changed and then 3 people saying they like it the way it is.

As I suggested before. Fix this with a trait, propably adept or master. Picking the trait removes the leaps. If you don’t want that then don’t pick it.

OGDeadHead.8326:

The solution to many issues ppl have with sword#1 might come with the new action camera mode I think?

Looks like it will interact pretty well, imo. We shall see.

I for one can say that this will have a huge impact for me, and how I would like to play the game I’m pretty sure the action camera mode will make the game feel a LOT better for my playstyle. I’m honestly more excited about this mode than anything else, lol!

For every person that likes it, there are 10 that don’t. No, I don’t want to stick to my target if I don’t want to stick to it. I want to be able to stay max melee range and walk around while I attack, not hump my target and be unable to dodge out of the animation.

Yeah I’m pretty sure being locked in place with the sword auto chain is the most annoying thing ever. No other auto chain in the game does this. I’ve been praying for this change for 3 years.

Vatlaaw Fierceshot.5713:

I might be alone by saying this, but please do not change the way it works. While I agree that it’s a little wonky when learning how to use it, I also believe it’s very rewarding once you get the hang of it and know how/when to use it. It has its own niche and I enjoy its play style very much.

So please, do not change it.

- A 1800+Hr Ranger Vet

It MIGHT be useful in PVP, but it’s terrible in WvW and Dungeon..

I cant believe there are people who are STILL in favor of keeping it as is. I mean…come on…

Swagger.1459:

It’s not only a “feature” Stale, the ranger sword was purposefully designed to be a “high skill-high reward” weapon that the devs have masterminded to teach players true skill, timing, patience, character, humility and honor. The devs truly slaved to make it a unique weapon that stands out among the other “boring” swords. While everyone admits that it is a “wonky” weapon to use, players see that their camera turning and keyboard finess really improves and that looks great on job applications…

Also, the frontal attack bleeding restriction from short bow is another well planned “feature”, and I sincerely hope that staff gets the same type of treatment. I think it would really elevate player skill if we could only damage and heal from the front. Doing so would create a beneficial opposing balance between these two weapons and that serves to help players learn and master the art of battle field awareness and positioning.

But I don’t see any high-reward from using sword…
Why do I use a weapon that relies only on spamming AA and some clunky evade spam? (Sword 2 is very clunky as well, the evade pops up way too late and the evade frame is super short, and it takes too long to finish the back leap)

With Revenant’s sword, they do high and consistent damage, block incoming attacks, pull enemies, long evade while using sword 3 (and high dps long range). That’s what I called high reward weapon for skillful usage..

I grab sword just to use my off-hand because axe is an even weaker option..

Personally I do not want a 2-hand weapon like staff. I’d rather be scepter for ranger so we can utilize our off-hand weapon and becomes a support class using Warhorn or mix hybrid class using torch, or dps class using off-hand axe.

Staff 4 is terrible and staff 5 has very long CD and short duration anyway, so I’m ok to give up those 2 skills. (Revenant’s hammer has 6 secs/12 cd mobile projectile block, Druid has 5 secs / 20~25 CD unmobile projectile block. See the double standard treatment here?)

Come to think of it, we have TOO MANY CLASSES using staffs already, and NONE of the new classes can use scepter… Why not give Druid a scepter, and staff to Revenant and Daredevil? If Anet can fix axe 5 and makes it mobile, we really don’t need staff 5’s clunky projectile block at all.

The thing that bugs me about the sword is that it takes away your controls to perform the leap part but the leap part doesn’t count as a leap finisher. So much for using common sense in this game. I think they should either take the leap off or make it a leap finisher, else it just doesn’t make sense.

Thz.7569:

The argument Anet has made that it has huge implications in pvp due to stickiness is moot. The chain absolutely needs to be streamlined with every other MH sword.

An animation-locked auto chain has no part in this game.

This. Everyone’s pro-root arguments are just asinine.