Guild Wars 2

Hi all,
first off, i am a casual player mainly focused on PvE and W3, started playing on day one with my ranger, and decided to run a trapper because of my imaginary around the ranger stereotype. I love to run around with my pets, chasing beasts and killing stuff.
I recently completed my first exotic set, and i chose Rabid armor, weapons and amulet, Carrion rings, earrings and backpiece. I still have to start my first fractal for the ascended rings, subsequently i will work for the amulet/backpiece.
I run the classical 0/30/30/0/10 build with II, VIII, XI in Skirmishing and III, VII, XI in WS; i switch the BM adept to adapt the situation, VI for damage, IV for pet heal (even without healing power); I previously ran a slight different build, 10/30/20/10/0 for more power (quite efficient to be honest).
I use this build for PvE and guild WWW (to be supportive) with some trait changes.
Anyway, i am getting a little tired of this game style. I’d like to try something new, but i have little money (about 20 gold – 180k karma) and little time to farm (say 6/8 hours/week). I wish some advice as to not throw away my goods in failing attempts.
I was evaluating the Power Ranger type, with full Soldier gear or maybe knight jewelry and GS/LB and a 30/20/5/0/15 build type, but I read on these forums that it is quite ineffective.
I started to think about a 25/0/0/15/30 build, full cleric’s gear, SB/Axe-WH, or the classical 0/0/30/10/30 (0/0/20/20/30 maybe) that I used for some sPvP in the past, but I cannot figure out how to allocate traits and which utility to use to be effective. Moreover, I read here that Cleric’s gear ins’t a good choice for this kind of build, and Apothecary would be much better: is it because of ranger not scaling good with power?
Passiflora jewelry is insanely expensive for me… and the armor cost more too compared to cleric.
My focus in the long term is World Explorer, more forthcoming I’d say Fractals/Guild WWW.
TL;DR: tired of trapping things, what do you suggest to try, to not throw away my little wealth (armor, weapons, runes/sigils, jewelry, build)? Thank you all!!

Until recently I ran the exact same 0/30/30/0/10 spec and decided to try something new. Now I run:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJARVjEVB29VKWo2Bi+hJ9eke13ePjR5/MGqDXQA

I use full cleric (weapons, armor, and trinkets). Shortbow is switched for axe/horn occasionally, the trait in WS is switched sometimes too (but I like being able to jump from high places).

I went cleric (my armor is actually Zho’s set, it’s cheaper and has the same stats) because full apothecary is ridiculously expensive and I’m not even remotely convinced that condition damage is better than power unless you are running traps (even then, only maybe). I actually main Greatsword and the shortbow is situational/utility more than anything. The utilities do get switched around on occasion, like I don’t run SotH in fractals and if conditions are a non-issue I swap out Signet of Renewal but Signet of the Wild stays. I tend to swap in Frost Trap (I love Chill), Guard, Search and Rescue, QZ, and/or Muddy Terrain depending on the situation. Though obviously use your discretion to decide what would be useful for w/e encounter.

This build has served me perfectly fine running around Orr though it is inferior for mob tagging compared to a trap build during DEs though GS is good for AoE (longbow Barrage might help some).

In Fractals 10 I was able to face-tank everything without any problems with zero AR, obviously using shortbow when melee just isn’t an option. No Dungeon experience with the build yet but I can’t foresee much problem.

In WvW I mostly roam around and cap camps and neutrals which this spec works great for. I can just face tank an entire camp solo standing in my Healing Spring so my drakes can use their F2 on everything. In group fights I tend to play “Hey! Hey Guys! Look I’m a ranger in your face… Free Badges right?” Since I’m incredibly tanky I can often get people to over-extend. Alternatively I swoop in on weak targets and/or runners and use 4 and 5 (on both GS and Shortbow) to lock them down, send my drake after them and F2 them the second they go down and/or “pet swap stomp” then run back out (counterattack is really good for retreating). Obviously there’s also well placed Healing Springs.

Keep/tower defense you stand inside the doors and madly swing your GS inside your healing spring. You can also get your drakes to F2 through the doors if you hit it just after pet swapping (not sure why, they have no target).

tl;dr I, like you, got sick of trapping and wanted to try something new. A 0/0/15/25/30 build with full cleric’s has worked wonders for me in all areas of the game so far.

I guess it depends much on your playstyle. Traps can be useful in PvE ( where enemies are predictable AI mobs), or in sPvP where combat is in a relatively confined area. In Wv3 however they are not much use as situations can change rapidly, especially in higher tier servers. Better to use traits and survival skills that aid mobility evasion and range IMO.

Of course if you don’t use bows you should have rolled Warrior or Thief

Meryt.9823:

I guess it depends much on your playstyle. Traps can be useful in PvE ( where enemies are predictable AI mobs), or in sPvP where combat is in a relatively confined area. In Wv3 however they are not much use as situations can change rapidly, especially in higher tier servers. Better to use traits and survival skills that aid mobility evasion and range IMO.

Of course if you don’t use bows you should have rolled Warrior or Thief

I feel like my traps bring nothing to my Guild in WWW, so generally i switch traits in the same build (0/30/30/0/10) to use survival skill like MT, QZ and LR or SoH/SoW, anyway, i still fell useless because my damage is pretty low in rabid trapper spec and my Pet isn’t better than me, with only 10 points in BM my devourers end up dead pretty often and pretty quickly.
I always hear that the best equipement, stat wise, for W3 is Soldier, but in these forums i read that it’s not the case for rangers. So i was evaluating Cleric’s, but it looks only good for roamers/soloers. So, what to do as a Ranger to avoid trapping for the rest of my gaming life, to feel at least a bit usefull in W3?

full glasscannon berserker with lb & whatever you like is perfectly fine on ranger if you either trait for signets and run with sos and/or sotw or pick some survival/dodge skills like lr, mt or whatever and of course learn to dodge and learn when to avoid / run from a fight in wvw.

in fact we can do a lot better than most classes as glasscannons except eles because we usually fight at long range, have a lot of cc and escapes and in pve have or pet who still tanks as good no matter how we gear.

all those bunker builds on either power or condition do very well, as you say, as roamers and in 1v1 or even 1v2’s but they contribute little to a zerg or in a dungeon since damage and probably cc sadly is everything that counts there.

Maybe try spirits then? Sun spirit is a beast and any of the other spirits could help your team with swiftness or protection. I like to run sun spirit + sharpening stone + sig of renewal.