Guild Wars 2

It’s no great secret that the Ranger class could use a little help right now. We’re held back by the very mechanics that we’re supposed to be aided by.

As I see it, these are the changes that should EVENTUALLY be looked at. Don’t get me wrong. Every profession has a long list of issues, so we can’t expect to see a whole lot of these any time soon, but Guild Wars 2 hopefully has a long life ahead of it.

Traits

The Marksmanship line as a whole needs work. The minors are borderline worthless on a Ranger as they imply a burst role – in other words, they are misplaced Thief traits. Opening Strike is really only useful in short fights, such as those in open world PvE. They fall off quickly against decent players and bosses. The majors are largely lackluster as well, considering they emphasize Signets – which need work.

Trap traits need to be moved from Skirmishing to Wilderness Survival. Feel free to change the name of Survival utilities and move them to Skirmishing in return. It simply makes no sense for a condition damage utility to be in the critical line. In addition, the Grandmasters need work (Moment of Clarity), The

Axe trait needs buffing – add some Cooldown reduction to it or something. Even better – why not make the trait Precision + Prowess in reasonably generous numbers?

Sharpened Edges and Companion’s Might both suck. Sharpened Edges inflicts too little bleeding to be relevant and Companion’s Might gives such a short Might duration that it is impossible to stack to any significant number.

Wilderness Survival is borderline perfect as is.

Nature Magic sucks because spirits suck. Combine the spirit-based traits more – such that we have 2 large spirit traits, as opposed to 4 small ones. Use the additional room to add in non-spirit traits.

Beast Mastery majors need improvements or outright reworks.

Pets

Improve their attack animation. The easiest fix would probably be to have them leap into every attack, much like the Ranger’s Sword auto-attack. In other words, make them difficult to kite. Adjust their damage accordingly.

Separate their stats between PvP and PvE. Use the resulting opportunity to beef them up for PvE and WvW, where they need it the most.

Utilities

Increase spirit health drastically and improve their traits.

Move Traps from Skirmishing to Wilderness Survival.

Rename Survival skills and move them to Skirmishing with improved trait support.

Improve shouts and trait support.

Improve signets. Combine traits.

Weapons

Buff damage of all weapon types, especially MH axe, Greatsword, and Longbow.

Fix the Sword rooting mechanic on the auto-attack.

Drastically improve under-water Spear. It’s really bad in its current state.

FIX OBSTRUCTION BUGS.

Give us more options for Direct Damage builds. Longbow is currently our only Direct Damage focused weapon (all others being hybrid weapons) and it blows.

Duke Blackrose.4981:

It’s no great secret that the Ranger class could use a little help right now. We’re held back by the very mechanics that we’re supposed to be aided by.

As I see it, these are the changes that should EVENTUALLY be looked at. Don’t get me wrong. Every profession has a long list of issues, so we can’t expect to see a whole lot of these any time soon, but Guild Wars 2 hopefully has a long life ahead of it.

Traits

The Marksmanship line as a whole needs work. The minors are borderline worthless on a Ranger as they imply a burst role – in other words, they are misplaced Thief traits. Opening Strike is really only useful in short fights, such as those in open world PvE. They fall off quickly against decent players and bosses. The majors are largely lackluster as well, considering they emphasize Signets – which need work.

Trap traits need to be moved from Skirmishing to Wilderness Survival. Feel free to change the name of Survival utilities and move them to Skirmishing in return. It simply makes no sense for a condition damage utility to be in the critical line. In addition, the Grandmasters need work (Moment of Clarity), The

Axe trait needs buffing – add some Cooldown reduction to it or something. Even better – why not make the trait Precision + Prowess in reasonably generous numbers?

Sharpened Edges and Companion’s Might both suck. Sharpened Edges inflicts too little bleeding to be relevant and Companion’s Might gives such a short Might duration that it is impossible to stack to any significant number.

Wilderness Survival is borderline perfect as is.

Nature Magic sucks because spirits suck. Combine the spirit-based traits more – such that we have 2 large spirit traits, as opposed to 4 small ones. Use the additional room to add in non-spirit traits.

Beast Mastery majors need improvements or outright reworks.

Pets

Improve their attack animation. The easiest fix would probably be to have them leap into every attack, much like the Ranger’s Sword auto-attack. In other words, make them difficult to kite. Adjust their damage accordingly.

Separate their stats between PvP and PvE. Use the resulting opportunity to beef them up for PvE and WvW, where they need it the most.

Utilities

Increase spirit health drastically and improve their traits.

Move Traps from Skirmishing to Wilderness Survival.

Rename Survival skills and move them to Skirmishing with improved trait support.

Improve shouts and trait support.

Improve signets. Combine traits.

Weapons

Buff damage of all weapon types, especially MH axe, Greatsword, and Longbow.

Fix the Sword rooting mechanic on the auto-attack.

Drastically improve under-water Spear. It’s really bad in its current state.

FIX OBSTRUCTION BUGS.

Give us more options for Direct Damage builds. Longbow is currently our only Direct Damage focused weapon (all others being hybrid weapons) and it blows.

Drastically improve under-water Spear. It’s really bad in its current state.
wut r u talking about man, underwater ranger is op

The spear is fine. Hitboxes and underwater combat as melee is what needs to be fixed, lol.

Dahkeus.8243:

The spear is fine. Hitboxes and underwater combat as melee is what needs to be fixed, lol.

Maybe you’re right on that regard. That’s still a very strange thing to nitpick, though.

Agreed on all accounts, though shortbow damage, sword damage, and dagger damage could all use a damage buff as well. Torch damage is decent I suppose, but that’s all it is: damage. It has no utility whatsoever, nor any kind of pet synergy.

Man Rangers underwater are amazing with Spear or Harpoon and a jellyfish, I wish I had a land version of the Jellyfish they are amazing.

Agree on everything else though.

I’ve decided to pretty much keep my ranger exclusively aquatic. I’ve laid claim to the Sea of Sorrows. He is utter death from below. I taunt others from the water’s edge.

The Soggy-Ranger is deadly.

I agree with the rest though … especially the trait lines.

I have to agree that the traits are somewhat poorly done.

I play guardian, necromancer and ranger, however the ranger does seem to lack in comparison. I believe it may be due to too much faith being put in the pets effect on the class. As a guardian (all around support build) I will out damage my ranger (toughness/power/precision), and outlasts both the pet and ranger in time alive (not including a pet swap), the effect amplified against groups of enemies.

I would like to see rangers more viable as a single entity with certain builds, rather than the pet being necessary to keep up with the other classes… Because my pets spend a lot of time being downed.

Another thing id like to point out is rangers are wvw fodder, especially when defending on a wall, where they should be strong. We must stand at the very edge of the wall to get line of sight, at which point aoe makes swift work, and it’s usually a matter of seconds before we get pulled off… Because we are on the edge

IMHO, the one thing rangers don’t need is more DPS. I’ve recently done a lot of simple DPS tests in the Mists and Rangers are a top DPS’er already (not top on spike, but sustained is kitten good). GS & Sword might need a buff to make them nicer (not sure, never really used ‘em after acquiring skills), but I used Axe nearly 80% of the time because it’s DPS is astounding versus small groups — far FAR higher than any other weapon set. It’s not quite as good as pre-nerf dancing dagger, but it’s close. Based on the nerf for that skill, I would not be terribly surprised to see an axe nerf. It would be a bad nerf, but it would be in line with what they did to thief.

I do think Rangers need more fun and active play. I’d reduce auto/1 DPS by as much as 50% and increase non skill/1 DPS to cover the reduction. Now you get to use your skills for DPS and effect and you get some spike, too. As a bonus, all the Ranger bots will have to be recoded — especially if some of the other skills are reworked to be a little more reactive.

I doubt that will ever be done, though. I think Ranger was designed to be a rather laid-back class on purpose; kind of a class for when you don’t feel like being very attentive to the game.

Trait-wise, I found Ranger to be too simple to trait. 30/30/10/0/0, done. Other classes you have to work at least a little to get all the things you want. The only trait outside that build that I wanted and didn’t get was the OH/20% trait. My ranger is mothballed, but I am thinking of trying 0/30/10/0/30 to see what happens to the pet.

Spirits need help. If Anet is looking for a quick, simple, easy way to provide Rangers with a more group-friendly build, that’s where to go. Immune to damage, not requiring traits for following, wider effect radius .. all would make sense and not be unbalancing (would have to curtail active use if you make ’em immune to damage, though).

I agree on everything said

Okuza.5210:

IMHO, the one thing rangers don’t need is more DPS.

That’s where I stopped reading.

Go away, troll.

Agadar.4931:

Okuza.5210:

IMHO, the one thing rangers don’t need is more DPS.

That’s where I stopped reading.

Go away, troll.

They DONT need more dps.

After dabbling with some of the other classes what I have noticed is lack of synergy with Ranger choices. Other classes it seems if you have a plan, everything fits and nothing is wasted. Rangers seem like many choices you make give you something you don’t need.

It’s to a point now that when I experiment with potential builds I choose specific traits for what they do…..not for the build bonuses. IE if I really want Eagles Eye for the LB I take Markmanship to 20 …even though the +20 to Condition Duration is not important to me.

There are numerous examples of that. It seems like whoever developed the Trait tree for the Ranger used a dart board or something.

NaturalPortman.9562:

Agadar.4931:

Okuza.5210:

IMHO, the one thing rangers don’t need is more DPS.

That’s where I stopped reading.

Go away, troll.

They DONT need more dps.

That has always been a problem with ranged classes. How much DPS should a class have that is plunking arrows at someone from 1500 units away compared to a class that is face to face with the enemy.

Should be a risk/reward ratio.

Forzani.2584:

NaturalPortman.9562:

Agadar.4931:

Okuza.5210:

IMHO, the one thing rangers don’t need is more DPS.

That’s where I stopped reading.

Go away, troll.

They DONT need more dps.

That has always been a problem with ranged classes. How much DPS should a class have that is plunking arrows at someone from 1500 units away compared to a class that is face to face with the enemy.

Should be a risk/reward ratio.

I don’t know where people get the idea that rangers do bad damage, yes they have bad RAW damage, but start attacking with your pet and you do beefy damage. I always see these rangers in games where they literally stand there with their spider spamming 1 on their shortbow expecting to burst people down. I feel like the people crying about ranger damage are those people, they do not know how to play the ranger class at all.

Forzani.2584:

After dabbling with some of the other classes what I have noticed is lack of synergy with Ranger choices. Other classes it seems if you have a plan, everything fits and nothing is wasted. Rangers seem like many choices you make give you something you don’t need.

It’s to a point now that when I experiment with potential builds I choose specific traits for what they do…..not for the build bonuses. IE if I really want Eagles Eye for the LB I take Markmanship to 20 …even though the +20 to Condition Duration is not important to me.

There are numerous examples of that. It seems like whoever developed the Trait tree for the Ranger used a dart board or something.

I concur. I currently have a very tanky build if I may say so myself, which relies on constantly dodging and having regen and protection up. The three traits I want are toughness, healing, and power.

The build I run with to achieve maximum tankiness?

0/10/20/20/20.

Waoh. Whereas every other class has one or two trees solely dedicated to tankiness and healing, I have to go more than halfway in THREE lines and almost halfway in a fourth. It’s absurd. That 100 precision? Useless for my build. The 10% critical damage? Equally. The 200 condition damage? Virtually pointless.

Whoever designed the ranger class either ran out of time or had no idea what he was doing.

In my humble opinion, what Rangers need is the ability to see through stealth.

I mean they have a bond with their animal companion, and animals have much keener senses. So making them (and their master) able to see stealthed enemies would provide the Ranger with an effective and valuable counter against the Thief class.

Effectively it should work only if the pet is Active (so not when limping back) but it would show every stealthed target (within a specified range) as a transparent character with their name (just like you currently see stealthed allies).

Agadar.4931:

Forzani.2584:

After dabbling with some of the other classes what I have noticed is lack of synergy with Ranger choices. Other classes it seems if you have a plan, everything fits and nothing is wasted. Rangers seem like many choices you make give you something you don’t need.

It’s to a point now that when I experiment with potential builds I choose specific traits for what they do…..not for the build bonuses. IE if I really want Eagles Eye for the LB I take Markmanship to 20 …even though the +20 to Condition Duration is not important to me.

There are numerous examples of that. It seems like whoever developed the Trait tree for the Ranger used a dart board or something.

I concur. I currently have a very tanky build if I may say so myself, which relies on constantly dodging and having regen and protection up. The three traits I want are toughness, healing, and power.

The build I run with to achieve maximum tankiness?

0/10/20/20/20.

Waoh. Whereas every other class has one or two trees solely dedicated to tankiness and healing, I have to go more than halfway in THREE lines and almost halfway in a fourth. It’s absurd. That 100 precision? Useless for my build. The 10% critical damage? Equally. The 200 condition damage? Virtually pointless.

Whoever designed the ranger class either ran out of time or had no idea what he was doing.

Obviously this is speculation, but the impression I get when I am experimenting with ranger builds is that ANet expects rangers to make use of a little bit of everything to get the job done. So if you want to spec for damage, you also have access to some traits that let you evade more and vice versa.

I understand what you are saying when you say that the extra precision/crit damage is useless to your build, but useless seems like a bit too strong of a word in this case. What I mean is that you may not be looking for a crit build, but the extra damage certainly isn’t going to hurt you…

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I think it’s great that there are some damage enhancing traits in the toughness line – it allows you to build to a very balanced place. On the other hand, it’s virtually impossible to truly min/max if that’s your thing.

At this stage of the game, I’m not quite at the point where I’m going to say that it’s bad design. The game is still relatively young and there is still plenty to learn, so we all may be missing some really amazing stuff that we simply haven’t thought about using yet. Then again, maybe we aren’t…

Agadar.4931:

Forzani.2584:

After dabbling with some of the other classes what I have noticed is lack of synergy with Ranger choices. Other classes it seems if you have a plan, everything fits and nothing is wasted. Rangers seem like many choices you make give you something you don’t need.

It’s to a point now that when I experiment with potential builds I choose specific traits for what they do…..not for the build bonuses. IE if I really want Eagles Eye for the LB I take Markmanship to 20 …even though the +20 to Condition Duration is not important to me.

There are numerous examples of that. It seems like whoever developed the Trait tree for the Ranger used a dart board or something.

I concur. I currently have a very tanky build if I may say so myself, which relies on constantly dodging and having regen and protection up. The three traits I want are toughness, healing, and power.

The build I run with to achieve maximum tankiness?

0/10/20/20/20.

Waoh. Whereas every other class has one or two trees solely dedicated to tankiness and healing, I have to go more than halfway in THREE lines and almost halfway in a fourth. It’s absurd. That 100 precision? Useless for my build. The 10% critical damage? Equally. The 200 condition damage? Virtually pointless.

Whoever designed the ranger class either ran out of time or had no idea what he was doing.

Then don’t put points in Skirmishing. You’re gaining very little benefit from Primal Reflexes for the investiture. In addition, putting 20 points into Nature Magic seems like a waste. There are almost no useful traits in that tree. 10 points for Nature’s Bounty is all you need (a case can be made for Strength of Spirit and Nature’s Protection).

Going 30 into Wilderness Survival and Beastmastery will open up several of our best traits. Bark Skin and Empathic Bond are both incredibly awesome traits and it’s a shame we have to pick between the two. Building around either of those traits can result in a pretty fantastic build that will make you incredibly “tanky”. Natural Healing is also really nice, especially in combination with all of the other passive healing Rangers get. What a lot of people don’t know is that the healing from Natural Healing works on your pet and your Ranger.

Even though the majority of Ranger traits and utilities are utter garbage, there are a few gems that make Rangers incredibly fun to play.

RummyTheMad.7290:

At this stage of the game, I’m not quite at the point where I’m going to say that it’s bad design. The game is still relatively young and there is still plenty to learn, so we all may be missing some really amazing stuff that we simply haven’t thought about using yet. Then again, maybe we aren’t…

I don’t think it’s bad design, I just think it’s confusing design. There’s a lot of synergy in there, it’s just hidden under a layer of junk and nonsense.