Guild Wars 2

So I’ve played Ranger for a little over 2 years now, and since I first hit 80 and realised just how bad a stigma the class had, I’ve worked my hardest to dispell the stereotype that Rangers are just Pewpew bearbowers that bring nothing to their team. I’ve tried several builds, ran calcs, and generally done everything in my power to gain mastery of the class and be an absolute asset to my teams in the content I love, providing as many boons and as much damage as I possibly could. It’s not been easy, what with the opinions people have of the class, but my passion for the profession’s theme and playstyle has always been a motivator for me.

Well, tonight I had a particularly unpleasant CoE run, where of course, the first words I see upon joining the group are “please not ranger”. Nothing new there, I convince them to let me stay, and I throw my absolute all into every path we do – throwing out Frost Spirits, optimal damage rotations, finishers, you name it. Heck, I even got some compliments from my group along the way! During the final path however, I faltered and accidentally aggro’d a champ, and the entire group came crashing down on me, telling me how they never wanted to party with me again, and how they knew they were wrong to trust a Ranger.

Again, not an uncommon occurrence, I’m sure we’ve all been through similar situations, but I’m tired of it now. It doesn’t seem to matter how hard Rangers try, if we make so much as a single slip up – heck, sometimes we don’t even get the chance to – we’re immediately torn apart by other players. Yet if a warrior or an ele makes a similar mistake, people just seem to glance over it.

So, what’s the point of this post, other than to whine? I want to know your experiences with situations like this, and how you dealt with them. How do you talk to people who act in this way? I’ve always tried whispering them and talking about how hurtful their comments can be, although that seems to be a hit-or-miss way of dealing with the issue. Is there anything I can say or do to convince people that this class isn’t just a crap-pile played by crap players, other than having my character controlled by some kind of combat bot?

It’s a game, just a game.
If you enjoy this class, keep playing it.
If you can’t stand human stupidity, please reconsider playing a mmorpg.
Sad story, but true.

Sorry to hear about that. My way of coping with that is by avoiding it all together.

I generally only do dungeons or fractals with guildies to avoid that toxic community on any of my characters (including ranger).

Probably not the answer you were looking for, sorry

The community feeds on itself. People who don’t have the slightest idea what other professions’ skills do hear other players yelling about skill 4 on the LB, and continue the trend. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been yelled at for using LB skill 4 in a dungeon when I was using a sword.

People are kittens, I rarely play with others and often have map/say chat turned off.

one of the issues is that for every 1 good ranger, there is 100 bad rangers >.> its more that ranger has an absurdly large population that is bad at it. If you go into a dungeon/fractal with a bear, greatsword, SoR, SoH, Traps that aren’t flame, warhorn, or shortbow most likely its a bad ranger. While there are exceptions to the rule with above stated these are just things that instantly when I see I suspect its a bad ranger.

I don’t really pve so the qq I usually get is when I kill someone in WvW or pvp. If they talk trash I usually just laugh at them and then start telling their team things like how good they all are except for the trash talker, and the only reason they are losing is because of him.
I also keep a stack of salt and humiliation dyes to send to people.

My best experience was when I got grouped up with 2 guys in the same guild that had no clue how to rotate and couldn’t win a fight to save their lives but of course they started ranger blaming and I laughed at them and sent them their salt. Then in the very next match we were put on opposite teams and I spent the whole time crushing them in 1v2 fights and messing with them in map chat.

Maximum Potato.5923:

How do you talk to people who act in this way?

Honestly, I just don’t talk to them. I play this game to have fun, not to educate socially inept idiots.

So yeah, guildies or nothing for me. (Usually nothing tbf =/ )

Really sorry you had that experience though. No one should, and you have my admiration for still trying to stop the spread of idiocy in the face of adversity.

*edit: Also, I love your sig coupled with that story =D

at its core its how the ranger/hunter/druid arch-type works, from D&D to gw2. theres always a stigma, theres always inferiority to it, its never as good as a mage or a warrior, its always the class that gets blamed/ridiculed. deep down we actually want it. we wouldnt know what to do if we where ever real top tier in any setting, if we didnt have a reason to complain, if there werent such challenges to overcome. You are a wierdo anti-social adventurer running around with animals, talking to trees, shooting bows, you dont fit into society.

Learn to deal with the hate, learn to embrace it. Ranger is strong enough (ofc it needs improvement) and there are plenty of (meta speed run) groups that take rangers, because ranger fits in the meta. Dont let the bad experiences get to you. You gotta just ignore that kitten, why get upset over what some random person you never met says to you, just troll them in return when you feel like it and ignore when you dont. In my experience those kind of people hate it when you dont take them seriously. If you try to argue with them or show that you are upset about it, they thrive. But dont take them seriously and talk random kitten and they get really mad. It can be so much fun to troll those people with comical nonsense

People are sheep. That’s why. Most people are too afraid to think for themselves and just assume that because someone who they think is more skilled than them said blank it MUST be true. Metabattle is a perfect example of that kind of behavior. So is stacking.

I’m not saying metabattle or stacking are bad. I’m just saying that people use these things without fully understanding why. They just assume it’s the best thing to do because it never occurs to them that they can think for themselves and ask questions about why their doing what they’re doing (… brainfart not sure if they’re or their. Will edit later).

For the longest time, roughly 2 years, I had only a Necromancer and a Ranger. I know plenty well how ignorant people can be, especially in dungeons… I still love my Ranger and Necromancer dearly but I made a Warrior some time ago now simply because I don’t have to deal with peoples attitudes the rare times I feel like doing a dungeon or fractal.

To end on a positive note however, I do very much love the feeling I get when people compliment me on being a great Ranger or Necromancer in dungeons/fractals. Because if you’re a Warrior or some other meta profession you rarely get that kind of pat on the back. So even if I know them telling me I’m doing great means them judging me every step of the way, it still feels good to hear.

This isn’t an issue with other players, its you (OP) being unable to enjoy doing things unless you receive praise from others. Stop giving your power away to others and letting them dictate how you feel at any particular moment; be it good or bad.

If you run into some bad apples, you need to learn to just see it for what it is without taking it too personally. (i.e., you just ran into some bad apples.) Don’t go around trying to change other people; work on controlling your own emotions instead and you’ll be happier.

Unfortunately there is not much you can do. This sort of behaviour is common to all games I’ve ever played (and probably real life come to think of it), where there is a central herd mentality, usually based in truth but then overexaggerated by repetition, which people will use to attack anyone who differs from it and defend anyone who subscribes to it.

The only solution really is to find a community which does not subscribe to that herd mentality. This usually comes in the form of a guild or clan.

Never had an experience likes this, especially after longbow buff months ago and wouldn’t care too much if i did either. kittens on the internet exist, no point in worrying about it.

Honestly I don’t understand why people take what other people say so personally and seriously, just laugh and move on with your life.

Don’t play with idiots.

At least you got to convince them to let you stay. Try playing a Necro. Sometimes, the only response you get after typing “Hi” is, “You are not in a party.”

Open a ticket to Arena Net and ask them to make all GW2 maps and zones a FFA area. Then proceed to make porcupines out of them all. Yes, kill them all. Every last one of them then proceed to use their kittens for runway lights.

There, problem solved. Well, maybe not. Just ignore humans in games. Make some friends who like to do instances/PvE. Then continue to nurture those relationships/friendships and you will be 10 x’s happier. Join a like minded guild.

Honestly, Guardian or Ranger I have had similar experiences so I no longer run fractals let alone any dungeons. I play the game to escape reality.

They should have said something righteous and stop with those negative waves. Again, see opening statement and lets go get em!!!!!

Wondrouswall.7169:

At least you got to convince them to let you stay. Try playing a Necro. Sometimes, the only response you get after typing “Hi” is, “You are not in a party.”

lol poor necroes.

Someone rubbed me wrong the other day so I followed them and used pbs anytime it was off cd. I was tempted to put on the bear but decided wolf fearing and devourer kb would be more hilarious.

Next project, making a true kb master. Mesmer illusionary wave/temporal curtain? Warrior hammer? Guardian shield? Revenant displaced field? The unlimited options!

Justine.6351:

Someone rubbed me wrong the other day so I followed them and used pbs anytime it was off cd. I was tempted to put on the bear but decided wolf fearing and devourer kb would be more hilarious.

Next project, making a true kb master. Mesmer illusionary wave/temporal curtain? Warrior hammer? Guardian shield? Revenant displaced field? The unlimited options!

Go the mesmer route. I think most people don’t even realise that half the knockbacks rangers get blamed for are from mesmers who practically have the exact same weapon.

Either I am lucky or.. I play both ranger and necro on and off and have never had any problems.. ever. It might have something to do with the party’s I join (on ranger, generally meta party’s and on necro never meta part’s haha)

I do however never play ranger or necro if there is already another ranger/necro in the party, simply reason is that 99% of the player base of both proffessions pray like crap (sadly). I cant count the number of times I have seen a ranger use lb4 to push the boss out of all the aoe and a necro using fear to do the same, or the number of times a 3 signets ranger have joined my party and claimed to be meta… its sad, but some of the bad rep. is simply due to there being so many bad rangers. And yes, there is prob as many bad war’s but even if a war is really bad and only press 1 on his gs, he is atleast not stopping the rest of the party from doing dmg

Shadelang.3012:

I think most people don’t even realise that half the knockbacks rangers get blamed for are from mesmers who practically have the exact same weapon.

This is so true, even though the animations are so different that you dont need to have played alot to know the difference.

welcome to Earth my friend..
You were discriminated against.

could be worst. imagine living everyday under discrimination.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Don’t play with idiots.

This is the only suitable solution to this problem.

Find a good guild of laid back people that won’t care if you make a mistake or play your Ranger. There is no getting kicked out of the instance because you wiped in GW2, nor is there any armor repair costs so it truly does not matter. Honestly, though, you want a guild that will poke fun at you for something like this, have a laugh about it with you and then move on and complete the content.

Make your own LFG or don’t pug. My pugging experience is infinitely better now that I only make my own LFGs.

Justine.6351:

Someone rubbed me wrong the other day so I followed them and used pbs anytime it was off cd. I was tempted to put on the bear but decided wolf fearing and devourer kb would be more hilarious.

Next project, making a true kb master. Mesmer illusionary wave/temporal curtain? Warrior hammer? Guardian shield? Revenant displaced field? The unlimited options!

Rifle engi with flamethrower, elixer x, and your choice of bomb kit, throw mine or tool kit

I still don’t know how so many rangers can be that bad in Guild Wars 2. All you need to do in dungeons is to use cats, have spotter and frost spirit, then do Barrage => Rapid Fire => Switch to Sword / Axe => Path of Scars => Sword auto attack => Path of Scars. And keep your pet on passive.

Lévis.5489:

I still don’t know how so many rangers can be that bad in Guild Wars 2. All you need to do in dungeons is to use cats, have spotter and frost spirit, then do Barrage => Rapid Fire => Switch to Sword / Axe => Path of Scars => Sword auto attack => Path of Scars. And keep your pet on passive.

Because they are newer players who are RPing Ranger.

Don’t play with idiots.

Maximum Potato.5923:

Snip

No offense, dude. You associate yourself with idiots who are not worthy of your effort.

I have been long acknowledged by “The only OP ranger / the Meta / Strong One / Ace / MVP” (whatever, mostly random ones I remembered) in my guild.
Mostly as a part of friendly chat where we flatter each other – but it doesn’t change a fact that I have been made a Raid Leader because of that.

And it does feel good to be acknowledged.
Naturally, people who are too dull will never acknowledge results and will simply go with the crowd. People see flaming Rangers so they follow.

Those are idiots you shouldn’t ever consider taking seriously. Find people you enjoy playing with. People that will sue you according to your accomplishments, not prejudice. People who are not arrogant kittens like those toxic “braindead meta ele/warr or die” and people that watch results instead of wikipedia.

That’s just how it is, young fellow Potato. It has always been.
I remember my times when I was in a pug fractal, searched for swamp for the party. They aggroed the champ drake, bugged his combat so he literally followed us through whole swamp part in circles (2 rounds)…
… So I decided to solo him since others were too meta-dull to realize they are wasting time. It took me 2 minutes with Kiting, Pet management (blah blah)…
After 2 minutes of my hard try of pushing the fractal forward alone, the group pointed at me, said I’m an idiot for trying to farm champs in swamp and they want to kick me.

That made me realize I’m never doing fractals with 4 pugs anymore. I’m taking at least 2 friends that can kick the puggy if he is toxic. My PvE experience has improved at a speed of light. And I always have a nice friendly run this way. You should try it too.

Kitty.1502:

one of the issues is that for every 1 good ranger, there is 100 bad rangers

So it looks like you are perpetuating the same stereotype the op is complaining about.
/golf clap

For every good player, there are a 100 bad players.

Lévis.5489:

I still don’t know how so many rangers can be that bad in Guild Wars 2. All you need to do in dungeons is to use cats, have spotter and frost spirit, then do Barrage => Rapid Fire => Switch to Sword / Axe => Path of Scars => Sword auto attack => Path of Scars. And keep your pet on passive.

All you need to do is have the perfect trait lines, use the right utilities and then perform this particular order of rotation.

Did you even read what you wrote? Do you think for an instant, that a new ranger would know any of these things?

Unless…. you are being sarcastic, then I just totally missed that.
I think you are completely serious.

I don’t even run some of the above. Skirmish/WS/BM Traits, Axe/Torch + SB Carrion Condition build. When I need to be just a slight tankier, I switch Skirmish to Marksman, weapons to LB/GS with Soldier’s. Drake and Canine pets consistent. And I do just kitten fine.

I can’t tell how many times my Ranger has saved a Dungeon run, because Barrier, my Reef Drake, is too dang good and tanky coupled with the Beastly Warden Grandmaster trait when it comes to distracting enemies while I go and rez the idiot who died.

I seriously do not get the hate towards certain classes. Each class has its own playstyle, as does every person. When you find what fits your playstyle, you excel far beyond those who are trying to play something that doesn’t click with their own style.

I never join meta groups. Layely, with new players everywhere, it is easy to find pug groups to do the dungeons for fun, which is great

Sorry to hear what happened.

For me, I play every profession, I try not to get hung up on ‘sticking’ with a main. So I can adapt and have fun in all 3 game modes

I’ll tell you one thing, playing ranger since beta, and i main it hard.
There is no sad part about it, when people say you suck as ranger, i always say be my guest, swap and do it better. People often start argue about it, but they know deep inside that people who play ranger, try hardest from them all, we are the only true players of the class, we play in good and bad, and what’s most important, over the years we got very thick skin!:) If you say one word over elementalist or warrior, they Q_Q next 5 days.

Players hate rangers
ANet hates rangers even more

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

People are sheep. That’s why. Most people are too afraid to think for themselves and just assume that because someone who they think is more skilled than them said blank it MUST be true… people use these things without fully understanding why. They just assume it’s the best thing to do because it never occurs to them that they can think for themselves… you rarely get that kind of pat on the back.

Curious how the ideas of your post remind me so much of Pink Floyd’s “Animals”. If you really were, at some point of your life, inspired by the above said album, do you prefer to be a dog rather than a sheep?xD

Sad story, I know what you are feeling.

I actually rarely catch any flack in fractal groups and I’ve been doing them a lot lately. That being said I never join any of the “1337 meta only ##GUARD/ELE plz” groups and I generally start my own when pugging. This might make a difference. I don’t do dungeons though.

Maximum Potato.5923:

snip

Sorry this has been happening to you. I always feel bad when ppl have these kinds of experiences in a game. The game should be a safe place to have fun. Not just another real life place to insult, attack or disenfranchise people.

My main is ranger and what I play most of the time for past 3 years. I just ignore people. I am really not into MMO dungeon/raids, probably due to horrible experiences I had in WOW. Horrible as in racist and sexist comments being hurled at me or others.

I played GW2 dungeons for first 6 months then stopped. Probably before all the ranger hate started.

I am in a fun, casual, no drama small guild (that is their motto) and only do instanced content with them. We have many rangers and no one gives us grief. Just last night 2 of us rangers helped our guild complete the expedition to get our Hall. Not trying to make this a recruitment message but you can always join us. Send me a private message or email.

Stilgar.6437:

You are a wierdo anti-social adventurer running around with animals, talking to trees, shooting bows, you dont fit into society.

rofl. Maybe this explains why in any rpg game, MMO or singleplayer, I gravitate to any role with a bow or pet.
The talking to trees got to me-I am still laughing.

Find a group that you enjoy playing with. I main guard and will most likely be running DH for a majority of my content, so I’m getting ready for my share of BS. I, personally, don’t really care what class a person brings since PvE is easy mode anyways :P.