Guild Wars 2

Hi!

I been wondering what to roll quite some time now as alt for my Thief.
Engineer did seem a good idea, but i keep hearing its terribly underpower. Besides, i hate the thout of only having 3 weapon and the rest are kits, that cant change skins.

So i thout of Ranger. Though i keep hearing they are really boring, and considerably simple to play (that does bother me a bit), but i dont care.
I also see, there are so many out there, but i learned not to care for it (though that also bothers me a bit still).

The only thing that bothers me really is its viability. I dont know, what to say. I hear its a bit all araund, good for anything, but not specially good in anything.
Can it support like Thief or Ele can? Atleast to some viable level? Or its simple DD class, unlike the most classes in Gw2..-_-

Even if it is…is ranger viable for Fractals?
Or more so, i keep hearing, there is a grand differeance between normal instances and Runs. Where ppl priorize Guardians and Warrior, Eles and Mesmers…is that true? Are Rangers viable for runs?

Anyone can tell me abaut current status of this?
(exuse my terrible english)

Put it this way… An engineer is FAR better in PvE than a ranger. Ranger without a doubt is the worst class of the 8 when it comes to running Dungeons, especially Fractals

Edit: Spelling

Hmm….Is it so obvious?
I would ask for : Then wahat classes are?

But i propably should wait some more opinions to.

I had to do a double-take to see why you were quoting and agreeing with yourself….then noticed the different numbers. Haha.

Every class is “viable” in fractals. There are videos of rangers doing high-level fractals out there. So it’s possible.

Ultimately though, it’ll come down to player skill and what a player likes/does not like to do. Ranger players must be willing to micro pets/use their evasive skills to avoid big boss attacks. If that’s your playstyle and you like it, go for it!

If not, stay away from Ranger.

Ranger is level 26 fractals.
Pet dies every agony.
Can often switch before its death so the new pet doesn’t have agony and new pet when swapped back will be full health again without it.
This is assuming you didn’t swap for quickness.

Until the pet’s damage accounts for about 10% of this class’ damage AND can’t be targeted by random AE affects, it will continue to be a drain on a group. And so long as it adds no value to the group other than healing spring to offset the enormous drain on damage output the ranger brings to the group, it will continue to be a garbage class… as has been discussed on this board countless times.

“Every class is “viable” in fractals”
Yes whell. I do agree. Everything is viable for anything. But not as moch as some are -_-

Basically i asked in this way because there is a big Difference between a Run and a normal dungeon.
You see a normal dungeon team is happy if it can bring down an instance without any real difficulty, or more ten 3-4 full wipes.
A run is not only supposed to has less then 1-2 wipes, but is also fast. Might as well call them speedruns.

And those teams are not kind if you have a class or build that is unviable for it.
I do agree, almost all classes have builds that are good for speedruns, but some are still even better.
Though i am not so familiar with all this. Thats the reson i am asking. I dont want some underdog class to play again.

Nekroseth.5186:

“Every class is “viable” in fractals”
Yes whell. I do agree. Everything is viable for anything. But not as moch as some are -_-

Basically i asked in this way because there is a big Difference between a Run and a normal dungeon.
You see a normal dungeon team is happy if it can bring down an instance without any real difficulty, or more ten 3-4 full wipes.
A run is not only supposed to has less then 1-2 wipes, but is also fast. Might as well call them speedruns.

And those teams are not kind if you have a class or build that is unviable for it.
I do agree, almost all classes have builds that are good for speedruns, but some are still even better.
Though i am not so familiar with all this. Thats the reson i am asking. I dont want some underdog class to play again.

If you’re an avid dungeon runner like I am, stay away from Ranger. Don’t even touch it with a 10ft pole.

I play a glasscannon Ranger in fractals (lvl27 currently), and it’s quite easy to survive. We have many evade skills so learn not to waste them. I recommend every fractals ranger to take LR.

Dungeons? Piece of cake. Just learn the mechanics in the dungeon and it will become a breeze.

My Sweet Lily.1952:

I play a glasscannon Ranger in fractals (lvl27 currently), and it’s quite easy to survive. We have many evade skills so learn not to waste them. I recommend every fractals ranger to take LR.

Dungeons? Piece of cake. Just learn the mechanics in the dungeon and it will become a breeze.

That doesn’t mean you’re more useful than a player of equal skill playing a different class. Just sayin’

Jay i see you have many chars. I also wondered abaut Engineer, trough the lack of “real” weapon feels bad, how is that?
Or I might as well ask, what class would you suggest? I also thout of Warr, but it feels, like it has no support. Besides every second player plays it. Or Gurdian,that has nice support, but the range feels lacking, which is quite handy somethimes, een in untraited for it.
Or i should stay with thief? (that will propably nerfed to hell soon)

Nekroseth.5186:

Jay i see you have many chars. I also wondered abaut Engineer, trough the lack of “real” weapon feels bad, how is that?
Or I might as well ask, what class would you suggest? I also thout of Warr, but it feels, like it has no support. Besides every second player plays it. Or Gurdian,that has nice support, but the range feels lacking, which is quite handy somethimes, een in untraited for it.
Or i should stay with thief? (that will propably nerfed to hell soon)

At the risk of derailing this thread, i’d gladly answer your questions with PM but for now ill give you the short version;

- Play Warrior if you want to dish out damage at any range, with an array of offensive support options.
- Play Guardian if you want an average/good amount of DPS with a huge arsenal of defensive support options.
- Play Engineer if you want OKAY/average amount of AoE damage w/ a great amount of support options, Defensive AND Offensive.
- Continue your thief if you love to dish out that GREAT AoE damage. While also being a “fail safe” for your group
- Play ranger if you enjoy the class with a limited amount of support options and at random times missing 30-40% of your already pitiful DPS; no matter how hard you try to micro manage

Edit: I’m talking about strictly Dungeons/Fractals

I have yet to run a dungeon to where the thief in the group is not on his back 40% of the time…

Warriors are about 30% or so..

ItIsFinished.9462:

I have yet to run a dungeon to where the thief in the group is not on his back 40% of the time…

Warriors are about 30% or so..

I hope you’re blaming player skill and not the class…

Jay.3284:

ItIsFinished.9462:

I have yet to run a dungeon to where the thief in the group is not on his back 40% of the time…

Warriors are about 30% or so..

I hope you’re blaming player skill and not the class…

Definitely player skill. But it seems like every thief and warrior have the same player skill.

ItIsFinished.9462:

Jay.3284:

ItIsFinished.9462:

I have yet to run a dungeon to where the thief in the group is not on his back 40% of the time…

Warriors are about 30% or so..

I hope you’re blaming player skill and not the class…

Definitely player skill. But it seems like every thief and warrior have the same player skill.

Yeah… That’s what happens when people bandwagon instead of actually learning the game…

Survivability with rangers is very good, as I never really down in fractals 26+ now. Melee classes esp. thieves seem to always be down. If you know how to play ranger, it’s not really a problem. However, not many people seem to know how to even play ranger effectively.

And now we’re a necro forum.

I don’t see the point of all the ranger hate. Without AR your pets are mush unless you switch as soon as it is hit with agony. Hence I switch between a Drake and a Devourer in fractals.

-No matter what spec you a run a ranger can survive more than most in Fractals with all our movement skills, evades and blocks.

-With QZ and pet Swapping you can keep the whole team alive, reviving downed players in a flash.

-In melee range you can pop Healing Spring and every blast finisher(from others or drakes you summon into it) will do an AoE heal.

-You can control the hell out of trash mobs, the number of times I’ve run through lava elementals or Dredge and popped Entangled and saved my team’s life is ridiculous.

-Lastly, you can do all this while your pet kicks kitten if you know how to keep it alive.

Bottom line, Rangers can kick kitten as long as you know how to play it and know the fractal. It’s my main and I do level 20s regularly. Don’t let others tell you differently, the issue is majority of rangers out there don’t know how to play the class and have made a bad name for us. We out perform thieves by miles in dungeons, we keep fighting or keep team members alive while our pet keeps the boss busy(Thank you Drakes!!!). I have soloed Shaman down from a little less than 1/4th health after my team has wiped and I’m not even a full on tank build most of the time.

Atherakhia.4086:

Ranger is level 26 fractals.
Pet dies every agony.
Can often switch before its death so the new pet doesn’t have agony and new pet when swapped back will be full health again without it.
This is assuming you didn’t swap for quickness.

Until the pet’s damage accounts for about 10% of this class’ damage AND can’t be targeted by random AE affects, it will continue to be a drain on a group. And so long as it adds no value to the group other than healing spring to offset the enormous drain on damage output the ranger brings to the group, it will continue to be a garbage class… as has been discussed on this board countless times.

I’m 30 fotm and my pets don’t die in agony. Sure you got 25 AR at level 26, bro?

Yeah, sadly, you guys with five level 80s: you have no street cred. I don’t know one player with more than 2 level 80s whos good at ranger and she ‘s in my guild. If you don’t have at least 700 hours in ranger I don’t want to hear how much you think they suck. Learn to evade and use vigor. Every ranger I know said they didn’t feel proficient at the profession until they hit 400 or 500 hours. You cannot just craft up a profession and win because gw2 is a skill game.

Speaking of vigor, trait vigorous renewal for your team aoe vigor / healing spring. Run healing power and clerics and regen and people will love you. Better pets means little loss in dps in dungeons and ranger is a great healing profession because a cat hits like a truck no matter what armor you wear. In the new dungeon, do you have any idea how many times I rezzed the zerk warrior team I found myself in? Warriors get to play without dodging most of the time (easy mode) no wonder ever warrior dies with the ranger they just crafted up to 80.

If you were to track how a ranger should position compared to most other prodessions, you would see that it’s a bit different. With little defense, you must rely on vigor and weapon evades or your pet. For example, against old tom: stand behind devourer letting devourer eat the poison bolts while you range.

Well it’s not the problem to survive in any kind of dungeon. And my pet also rarely dies from agony with my 45 AR. But it’s all about the effectivness of ranger. It is not viable for speedruns, it can’t contribute anything to the team, it’s dps is lackluster. So basically the group doesn’t benefit from having a ranger. So you can dodge and evade with tons of vigor as much as you can – no one will appreciate it unless you can provide them with something useful, not only yourself. Surviving with ranger is quite easy – it is abcense of utility that hits us hard.

Do you guy know you answer to 3 months old post, when pets didn’t have AR?

But yeah, yday I was on lvl 32 fotm with 3 rangers (2 of them LB and 1 spirits) and the only wipe we had was last boss in grawl fractal. Maybe we’d be faster with only warrs/guards, but who cares? That was very smooth run.

Geshque.1326:

Well it’s not the problem to survive in any kind of dungeon. And my pet also rarely dies from agony with my 45 AR. But it’s all about the effectivness of ranger. It is not viable for speedruns, it can’t contribute anything to the team, it’s dps is lackluster. So basically the group doesn’t benefit from having a ranger. So you can dodge and evade with tons of vigor as much as you can – no one will appreciate it unless you can provide them with something useful, not only yourself. Surviving with ranger is quite easy – it is abcense of utility that hits us hard.

Yup, that’s pretty much it. You can stay alive as long as you want, but the ranger’s contribution in a dungeon is pretty much minimal.
Before any “L2P” critics, with all the pet micro and great evades/dodge timing, try putting that effort on a different class.
Evades and dodges great on ranger? Try thief and do way more dmg. Like to micro? Try ele with 4 bars worth of skills and be able to fill in pretty much every role.

There is a difference between loving a class and it being actually good. Every class is viable, but none are equal. Rangers may excel in certain encounters, but that’s the exception not the rule and another class will do better anyway. Dungeons and fractals favor DPS and support, which ain’t the ranger’s strength.

And for the record, a zerker warrior with 30% downtime still does more dps (and offers offensive support) than the average ranger plinking away at max range with a dead pet.

Bunmaster.9734:

Dungeons and fractals favor DPS and support, which ain’t the ranger’s strength.

A properly equipped spirit ranger can provide 90% uptime of fury, swiftness, regen, vigor, one stack of might, and 50% uptime of protection for an entire group with 100% uptime of these boons for the ranger’s pet. Additionally, the ranger can give each party member a 10% damage boost on 75% of their attacks and lays down a 15 second water field. How is this not great support?

Yeah sure they can, but in reality, how many rangers do that? The few that do, half of those can’t keep their spirits alive. It is not about theory, but reality.
The fact that very few rangers ever manage to do that means it isn’t balanced, all that extra effort is better spent on a better support class. And when was the last time any of us ever saw “LF1M need Spirit ranger”?

Like i said earlier, it’s an exception, not the rule. The sad reality is, rangers need some buffs.

Bunmaster,

You argued that support is not a rangers strength and the majority of the support I listed doesn’t require spirits, only proper trait point allocation and +boon duration runes. The spirits only provide additional support and has synergy with the allocated traits; they are not the main focus of the support that the ranger provides.

You state the difference of theory and reality but I’m not convinced that you have actually tried a proper ranger support build or have seen one in action. The recent changes to spirits make a support build even more viable.