When is the patch and any patch notes yet?
All signs point to soon. I believe before the end of April since they have mentioned Super Adventure Box being gone and the Living Story being updated then. It seems like a good time to patch the classes too since they will obviously be patching the game content.
Any things in particular that are currently bothering you on your ranger? There are some ways to deal with some of the bugs while we endure them.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
Thank you Sebrent,
Right now their are a lot of things, at work so not a lot time to dive into it. Although the poorly coded pet would be one of the major flaws to the game…sadly I do not see the AI improving. Our damage is also quite weak compared to other class’s. Doing a trap ranger right now and the damage is higher than my other build although is limited to relying on the enemy stepping where I want them or getting p int heir face to drop it and hoping they remain in place. The sword sticking and not being able to dodge is another one that glares up. Anet is a huge problem for the class.
If you look at your direct damage alone, yes, it is weaker than that of other classes with the same power as you. However, if you throw your pet into the mix, you’ll notice that you’re quite competitive if not one of the “top dogs”.
Do like I did. Take your Ranger to the mists. Equip greatsword with no sigils, armor with no runes, and amulet of the Soldier (no increased crit chance), and reset all traits so you’re using none. You should have 4% crit chance and okay power. Attack one of the dummies a few times, record if you can. Now attack and let your pet do the same.
Next, do the same with a warrior. You’ll notice that you are quite lacking without your pet’s damage (about 100 to 150 less per hit if I remember correctly) while with your pet you are more than making up for that 100 to 150.
Trap is definitely a great way to do damage, but it’s at the expense of 1+ utility slots. Just like with most other classes, we have to choose between offense/defense in this respect.
When it comes to placing traps, when fighting a melee opponent, it’s not an issue getting them into it. When fighting a ranged opponent, get in their face and drop it on them. Try making use of a greatsword stun, shortbow cripple, pet knockdown, etc. in combination when your trap and you’ll see some very nice numbers.
Also, if using spike trap and flame trap (the most common combo I see), stack the two traps. Spike trap has an undocumented immobilize on the target that triggers it. This will force them to stand in both traps for a second and even buy you time to use other CC.
Entangle + traps is a mean combination as well.
I agree on the animation locking of the sword. It aggravates me to have less control over my character.
The limitations of computers are some of the problems for the class, not just ANet. The pet AI could easily be better … but lag the servers horribly :-p
You have to find a nice balance between smarter/better AI and resource consumption of your hardware.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
Just wondering when we will see some improvements to the ranger.
Improvement? If by that you mean a net improvement (i.e., not a situation where we take one step forward but two back), then maybe never. There are certainly folks on this forum that will argue this pessimistic view, but unfortunately for them, history is on my side. And until ArenaNet proves me wrong, I’ll go with the odds.
I’m so glad negative nancy is back. Pedra makes it so easy to show how silly the pessimism has gotten.
You can plainly see that we have received far more buffs. Links provided so that if you don’t believe me you can look for yourselves … though I’m sure most of you on here know me by now ;-)
- More fixes to pet commands and AI.
- Beastmastery Trait: Instinctual Bond – Now grants 5 seconds of quickness to the player’s pet and can only occur once every 50 seconds.
- Pets can no longer be revived using the F prompt. This is because you can either use F4 to swap pets which will bring that pet back alive or you can wait until you are out of combat at which point you pet will revive automatically. We felt it was doing a disservice to Ranger players to incentivize them to spend a long time reviving their pet when it was a very inefficient thing to do and happened after combat anyway. This will also help clear up F to interact functionality.
- Ranger pet swap recharge is now the same in and out of combat. This closes an exploit with swapping ranger pets to generate very long buffs.
- Ranger pets should now immediately use their F2 skills when told instead of first performing an auto-attack.
- Crossfire: Increased casting time by 40 milliseconds. This was done to fix some glitches in the animation that caused problems with this skill.
- Removed the broken audio that played with Natural Healing whenever pets were in combat.
- The following profession skills now hit 3 targets instead of 1:
- Ranger Spear: Stab, Jab, Evasive Strike, Dart, Counterstrike
- Entangle: This skill is now properly affected by the Wilderness Survival trait Wilderness Knowledge.
- Lick Wounds: This skill now functions only with ranger pets.
- Ranger traps have been reset to their expected cooldowns.
- Improved the effect chance on ranger spirits to 35% base and 50% when traited.
- Beastmastery minor traits now use the correct icon.
- Splinter Shot: This skill’s damage is increased by 150%, and its bleeding duration is increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
- Counterattack: The blocking portion of this skill can now be used while moving. Ranged attacks will not trigger the second half of the skill.
- Protecting Screech: This skill now states the correct duration of 4 seconds.
- Call of the Wild: The Wilderness Survival trait Off-Hand Training now applies to this skill.
- Throw Torch: The speed of the projectile has been increased.
- Maul: This skill’s damage has been increased by 40%.
- Sun Spirit: The tooltip for this skill now displays the proper burning time of 3 seconds.
- Whirling Defense: This skill was updated so that it interacts better with combo fields.
- Splinter Shot: This skill is now a small projectile combo finisher.
- Coral Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
- Feeding Frenzy: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
- Mercy Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
- Counterattack Kick: This skill now has the same melee arc as other melee attacks.
- Dart: This skill is now a leap finisher.
- Swirling Strike: This skill is now a whirl finisher.
- Shouts will now apply a buff to the ranger’s pet, to make the skills more visible.
- Sick ’Em: Decreased the duration to 10 seconds. Increased the damage and move speed from 25% to 40%.
- Search & Rescue: Increased the revive rate for this ability.
- Search & Rescue: Increased pet movement speed to 25% while under the effects of this shout.
- Lick Wounds: Revive rate has been increased.
- Signet of the Hunt: Increased the passive movement from 10% to 25%.
- Splinter Shot: This skill is no longer able to fire at enemies behind the player.
- Compassion Training: Increased the heal amount from 300 to now scale as high as 350 at max level.
- Nature’s Protection: Now triggers at 10% damage instead of 20%.
- Expertise Training: Increased the amount of condition damage from 100 to now scale as high as 350 at max level.
- Moment of Clarity: Now also increases daze and stun duration by 50%.
- Beastmaster’s Bond: Now triggers at 50% instead of 25%.
- Increased the velocity of arrows fired from Short Bow and Longbow skills by 30%.
- Icy Screech: The White Moa activated ability now applies three seconds of chill, which the tooltip now correctly reflects.
- Opening Strikes: These now work at any range.
- Updated Sun Spirit’s skill fact to include the burning proc duration.
- Updated Stone Spirit’s skill fact to include the protection proc duration.
- Updated Storm Spirit’s skill fact to include the swiftness proc duration.
- Ranger melee pets now have improved melee attacks so they can hit moving targets more easily.
- Fixed a bug that allowed a ranger to have two traps of the same type active simultaneously.
- Spirit health increased by 25%.
- Fixed a bug where aquatic ranger pets could sometimes get on land.
- Drake Pet: This pet will now activate its Tail Swipe skill on a regular basis, and the casting time of that skill has been reduced by 1.25 seconds.
- Entangle: This skill’s bleed effects now properly scale with condition damage and duration.
- Sharpening Stone: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
- Opening Strikes: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
- Guard: Pets will no longer guard areas that should be inaccessible to them.
- Crippling Talon: Cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Empathic Bond: Fixed a bug that wouldn’t apply transferred conditions to pets. This trait now transfers three conditions to the ranger’s pet every 10 seconds rather than all of them.
- Hawk and Eagle now have their own unique icons instead of sharing one.
- Path of Scars: This ability’s damage has been normalized between traited and non-traited versions. Damage has been increased by 85% when not traited.
- Icy Screech: The White Moa activated ability now applies 3 seconds of Chill, and the skill fact has been updated appropriately.
- Black Widow Spider pet: Now has the correct amount of vitality.
- White Raven pet: Now has the correct amount of vitality.
- Drake pet Chomp attack: This skill no longer heals enemy targets.
- Maul skill:
- Increased bleeding duration from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
- Increased base damage by 26%.
- Counterattack skill: Reduced recharge from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
- Hilt Bash skill: Reduced recharge from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
- Ranger pet cooldowns are now properly preserved when stabled.
- Feline pets: Maul now applies consistent critical hits.
- Quickening Zephyr skill: Now breaks stun. Increased duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
- Pet-revive skills no longer fail to heal their target.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
You can plainly see that we have received far more buffs. Links provided so that if you don’t believe me you can look for yourselves … though I’m sure most of you on here know me by now ;-)
I’m short of time but I’ll get to this, it’s too good to pass up. In the interim though, is your position that all the items listed by ArenaNet in their patch notes (and listed here by you as buffs) are working as advertised?
You can plainly see that we have received far more buffs. Links provided so that if you don’t believe me you can look for yourselves … though I’m sure most of you on here know me by now ;-)
I’m short of time but I’ll get to this, it’s too good to pass up. In the interim though, is your position that all the items listed by ArenaNet in their patch notes (and listed here by you as buffs) are working as advertised?
No. And I saw the same ones I’m sure you have (Pet F2, for example).
However, even if we assumed that half of them not working, there are far more buffs than nerfs.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
To be fair, a lot of the things you listed were actually nerfs (sadly the Crossfire nerf isn’t even in the patch notes because it was a stealth nerf). Some of them aren’t even true (pet revive skills still often fail to heal but they have dramatically improved, F2 functionality isn’t as responsive as they claim it to be etc).
The class is improving in tiny increments but at this rate we could be a year away from where the class should have been at launch. They have a small team and take a very long time to implement and test fixes. The pet AI/design issue is probably one of the hardest ones to solve out of all the classes and it’s a bigger problem in PvE than it is in PvP so it probably doesn’t take seniority on Jon’s radar (the balance devs seem to approach their job from a PvP perspective primarily, they don’t seem to be in tune with PvE issues on the same level as their PvP attention nor give it priority).
I look at your list of patch notes and it surprises me how little any of that actually mattered. There is a noticeable difference in how pets work for sure (even with the buff) but for the most part, most of the ranger buffs haven’t changed anything. People still don’t bring spirits, shouts and signets still have issues and trait (and build) choices haven’t changed. The most significant changes the ranger received which impacted on build choices are the nerfs (the great sword buff was nice though).
I believe one day there will be a powerful spirit build that isn’t countered by a stiff wind, I suspect they will give the class more interesting and viable trait choices, I even hope they will solve the pet fragility issues in dungeons but I don’t expect it in this next patch or the two after that. The class needs robust reworks done in several areas and so far they are just doing small tweaks that feel like general across the board actions rather than solving class specific problems. They will probably get there, it just won’t be soon.
I did not only post buffs. I posted anything I saw associated with Ranger skills whether it was a buff or a nerf, i.e. unbiased.
I don’t know what you’re talking about with pet rezzes. They are working wonderfully. My pet rezzed me last night with Collosus Rumblus on me and no one else helping after we listened to one guy say we should glitch it at the pillar and that failed (NOTE: doing it the right way with the warmaster is easier)
Pet AI has improved drastically from what it used to be and I’m sure they’re still working on making it even better.
Weapon cleaves, pets no longer needing to be revived, melee attacks being given bigger arcs, entangle benefiting from condition damage, splinter shot damage and duration improvements, greatsword improvements, several skills being finishers, pet skill improvements.
If you think a large number of those improvements “don’t matter”, then I’m very curious what build(s) you’re running.
There is such an immense number of improvements that I’m simply thinking you won’t ever be satisfied unless the Ranger becomes the new easy-mode noobseeker Thief.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
Short on time, although sadly I feel (with good reason) the pet is more of a detriment to the class than a benefit. This is especially true in WvW where the pet often miss’s especially moving targets, is easily kited and killed and will actually help some class’s kill you. Like the thief using it for a guaranteed cloak and dagger.
Yes, I hate the thief’s cloak and dagger. Though I think that is more of an issue with the thief than with the Ranger. Mesmer’s encounter that same issue and it’s a rampant issue with all the critters and NPCs in WvW. Fighting a thief near any NPCs is a bad idea.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
Short on time, although sadly I feel (with good reason) the pet is more of a detriment to the class than a benefit. This is especially true in WvW where the pet often miss’s especially moving targets, is easily kited and killed and will actually help some class’s kill you. Like the thief using it for a guaranteed cloak and dagger.
This is intended, for the most part. Can a warrior without run speed to damage to a running target? They’ll probably struggle like the pet. Rangers have a lot of access to cripples and chills—even muddy terrain and stuns. Use them to get in pet hits and apply conditions until they drop. I mean, I play wvw all the time and, yeah, in a way it’s an issue with the profession, but in another way it’s your fault. For example, if you’re going to slot signet of the wild, lightening reflexes, and signet of renewal, then run bows and some kind of power/precision build, you’re not going to be able to expect your pet to catch targets unless you trait agility training and even then it will have a hard time against a good player, at least if it’s a melee pet like a cat. In that case, you need to use ranged pets or leaping pets like dogs for knockdowns. With this build, you do the killing and your pet is there for utility. See how that works? There’s a relationship between what armor you choose, what weapons you choose, and what pets you choose. If you go glass and run cats, you’re going to have a bad time in pvp.
If you want to kill people with cats you got to run catmaster or regen or trap. Fortifying bond and regen boon along with healing power builds, natural healing, and signet of the wild, can give some insanely sick survivability to cats, even in aoe.
Let’s try this and come back and see if we still struggle.
I look at your list of patch notes and it surprises me how little any of that actually mattered.
This, indeed.
There is such an immense number of improvements that I’m simply thinking you won’t ever be satisfied unless the Ranger becomes the new easy-mode noobseeker Thief.
Not this, lol! Nothing of any real significance has made its way to the ranger class. The nerfs have hurt as far more compared to how the tiny fixes/buffs have improved the class.
Short on time, although sadly I feel (with good reason) the pet is more of a detriment to the class than a benefit. This is especially true in WvW where the pet often miss’s especially moving targets, is easily kited and killed and will actually help some class’s kill you. Like the thief using it for a guaranteed cloak and dagger.
This is intended, for the most part.
Huh, what the hell are you on about now? This is speculation on your part – again. You’re not one of the devs, so don’t run around spreading misinformation, since you don’t know this.
If the devs actual intentions for ranger pets were to miss the majority/all of their attacks vs moving targets… lol, talk about a MAJOR flaw in the design of the pet class.
What a joke.
You can plainly see that we have received far more buffs. Links provided so that if you don’t believe me you can look for yourselves … though I’m sure most of you on here know me by now ;-)
I’m short of time but I’ll get to this, it’s too good to pass up. In the interim though, is your position that all the items listed by ArenaNet in their patch notes (and listed here by you as buffs) are working as advertised?
No. And I saw the same ones I’m sure you have (Pet F2, for example).
However, even if we assumed that half of them not working, there are far more buffs than nerfs.
So you knew many of these “buffs” to be non-functioning and yet you posted no disclaimer. You tend to accentuate the positive to make your point, Sebrent, even when I suspect, even you know you’re getting into the whimsical.
When evaluating buffs and nerfs one must consider overall impact and resultant funtionality. And just posting them in a laundry list and then numerically comparing them does all the non-smart folks like me a great disservice. Most of us would look at your post and say “Wow, 500 buffs and only 10 nerfs, so the Ranger is in GREAT shape”. Unfortunately, not all buffs and nerfs are created equally. Nor, as has been proven, are the patch notes very believable. This is the Jon Peters view of the world that we can trick folks into believing things are balanced without really having to put effort into balancing.
And, I submit to you, that many (dare I say most) Rangers don’t give a kitten about the underwater buffs and the tooltip fixes (especially when they came at the expense of other more important things).
This is intended, for the most part. Can a warrior without run speed to damage to a running target?
Absolutly, and with their rifle their damage is not split between a poorly coded failure er ai.
I get what your sayig, I love the ranger it is my favorite class, I just wish it didnt suck more than a two dollar kitten when the fleet is in town compared to the other class’s. And a large part of that is poor AI and it is something that will never be resolved. Once a company can actually make a decent AI then their won’t be the need for pvp sadly no company to date can make a decent AI. And this is not necessarily a bad thing as it means we are not that close to sky net.
Even then we are left with the numerous other flaws, such as the sword sticking issue.
EDIT:
The poor programing is not limited to our pets AI, lets take the thief again as an example. If I use my elite skill it works, if I use my rangers elite skill it will likely fail.
And example would be the following.
Thief elite skill Dagger Storm, never once had it not work.
Ranger Elite skill Spirit of nature never had it work once in WvW
(edited by Bailey.6892)
Thief elite skill Dagger Storm, never once had it not work.
Ranger Elite skill Spirit of nature never had it work once in WvW
Record it and send the video to Anet. Report it as a bug. If it’s never worked in WvW, sounds like a very reproducible bug so it should be easy for you to gather evidence.
Thief elite skill Dagger Storm, never once had it not work.
Ranger Elite skill Spirit of nature never had it work once in WvWRecord it and send the video to Anet. Report it as a bug. If it’s never worked in WvW, sounds like a very reproducible bug so it should be easy for you to gather evidence.
It has been reported, even had a thread about it on here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/spirit-of-nature-wvw-bug/first#post1747954 and nothing from anet. Other bugs with the class have gone ignored also.
You guys keep saying most of them don’t matter, but when I ask for what build(s) you’re running where those fixes don’t matter, I only hear crickets.
@Pedra: there was no cherry-picking. I used ctrl-F and searched for Ranger. If it affected a skill, I put it on the list. That is why it includes both buffs and nerfs and why I was more than happy to provide links to each of those pages in case people like you thought I did. Go ahead and look.
You guys are presented a list with plenty of buffs, yet now all you say is “yeah, but they only buffed stuff that doesn’t matter”. Lets see what builds they don’t matter for.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
You guys keep saying most of them don’t matter, but when I ask for what build(s) you’re running where those fixes don’t matter, I only hear crickets.
@Pedra: there was no cherry-picking. I used ctrl-F and searched for Ranger. If it affected a skill, I put it on the list. That is why it includes both buffs and nerfs and why I was more than happy to provide links to each of those pages in case people like you thought I did. Go ahead and look.
You guys are presented a list with plenty of buffs, yet now all you say is “yeah, but they only buffed stuff that doesn’t matter”. Lets see what builds they don’t matter for.
Yea there have been a few buff but also nerf which have more impacts on play style than the buff we got. Plus other classes have got twice, triple or lot more buffs than rangers in the same period, so whats your point. Rangers are forgotten and to be honest the future doesn’t seem so bright for the class.
Yea there have been a few buff but also nerf which have more impacts on play style than the buff we got. Plus other classes have got twice, triple or lot more buffs than rangers in the same period, so whats your point. Rangers are forgotten and to be honest the future doesn’t seem so bright for the class.
Warriors? Who is now firmly in the lowest PvP tier thanks to quickness nerf?
Guardians? Who had their spirit weapons completely destroyed?
Thieves? Steadily nerfed since launch? (Pistol Whip, various D/D dmg nerfs, stealth nerf)
I’m not sure about the other classes since I don’t play them, but you’re in denial if you think other classes have been “buffed” more than Rangers.
They don’t want to actually look at the data, Ursan. They just make claims without supporting them. It’s the M.O. of the “Boys Instigating the Childish ‘Hate Everything’ Sessions.”
I figured we might as well name it since I’m not sure what the plural of “Negative Nancy” is :-p
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
I’ll start by saying my post primarily deals with the class performance in PvE although many points will be relevant for PvP.
I believe the discussion had turned towards contesting the idea of improvements to the class. It’s true you clearly didn’t filter the patch notes to only include buffs or bug fixes (you can objectively do that without having some kind of bias) but I wanted to point out to people who saw the wall of text and didn’t review it, a lot of it wasn’t improving the class. I wanted to add context to what you posted.
I can remember pet res working before the fix, that doesn’t mean it always worked. It’s a lot better now (I stated as much) but it doesn’t always work. I agreed pet AI is improving but that’s a testament to how bad it was to begin with as much as it is about where it is now (and some issues are functional mechanic issues and not AI ones – such as hitting moving targets, or surviving a boss fight etc).
During the beta pets were able to be revived out of combat by swapping them out and then back with no cooldown. It was actually a nerf (intended to fix an F2 exploit) which created a situation where waiting for them to res or resing them was necessary. It was only until a recent patch (either the last or the one before that) that rangers regained the freedom they once had to swap pets outside of combat. The revive buff you mentioned was actually solving a problem created by a significant and incidental nerf to fix an exploit. We are also talking about resing a pet as though it were a common occurrence, how many classes have to “res” their mechanic?
Skill finisher buffs I believe are specific to the underwater skills (as are a lot of the ranger buffs) and I don’t think we need to bog down this discussion by talking about them as though they matter (for one thing, almost every ranger is going to run a spear and harpoon gun regardless of buffs or nerfs – we have two weapons and two weapon slots).
I don’t know what you’re talking about with melee attack arcs, I don’t run melee for the most part (I don’t like sword root and the great sword I only really paid attention to once before this patch and a little bit after the recent buffs). I never knew they had a smaller arc than they currently do (I have a guardian and a warrior if I want to run the great sword – I can stack might and vulnerability with warrior traits and guardian great sword is one of the best anchor weapons in the game). I did recognise the great sword improvements as meaningful though.
The class has received improvements for sure, but aside from pets they weren’t in the areas and amounts that rangers needed them most. Signet cool downs (compare them to other classes), spirits, underutilised/niche weapons and trait options that do very little to make builds interesting (compare that to vulnerability and might on crits or cool down traits with secondary effects).
Yea there have been a few buff but also nerf which have more impacts on play style than the buff we got. Plus other classes have got twice, triple or lot more buffs than rangers in the same period, so whats your point. Rangers are forgotten and to be honest the future doesn’t seem so bright for the class.
Warriors? Who is now firmly in the lowest PvP tier thanks to quickness nerf?
Guardians? Who had their spirit weapons completely destroyed?
Thieves? Steadily nerfed since launch? (Pistol Whip, various D/D dmg nerfs, stealth nerf)I’m not sure about the other classes since I don’t play them, but you’re in denial if you think other classes have been “buffed” more than Rangers.
This is why numerically looking at the number of nerfs or buffs is absolutely meaningless without context.
Thieves have one of the most effective, low skill cap PvP builds in the game. Stealth is one of the most powerful PvP mechanics in the game (and in certain arenas, such as WvW roaming, it dominates). None of the nerfs to thieves have made them perform worse than other classes.
I don’t remember the exact details but I believe the guardian spirit weapon nerf had more to do with PvP and the crazy PvE power level of Shield of the Avenger (which is still one of the most powerful PvE skills in the game). If you think the decision to make spirit weapons vulnerable to DPS was bad, you might want to think twice about complaining about it on the ranger forum where the class mechanic (the pet) has the exact same problem as well as an entire set of skills (spirits) none of which get the play that Shield of the Avenger still does.
The performance of the warrior in PvP compared to PvE should point out to you how out of sync these two game types are, yet all classes have been held hostage to the idea that they have to be designed for both at the same time using the same tools. I don’t contest the warrior’s issues in PvP but a common belief is that the reverse is true for the ranger (good in PvP but struggling in PvE).
Not all classes were equal at launch. If you start off terrible and don’t move far in either direction you are still terrible. If you start off OP and only receive a few nerfs to bring you in line, your class is probably still in a good position (spirit weapon nerf or not, guardians are one of the most desired classes in PvE – and they still use a spirit weapon to do it). A lot of balance discussion fails to specify PvE or PvP so much of it is pointless any way.
I don’t think other classes got more or less buffs than the ranger (I suspect some classes have more and some classes have less) but my personal experience with seven max level classes is that the ranger has the worst build options. Lots of dead weight, lots of skills that are unappealing and weak trait choices. Ultimately it’s not the number of buffs or nerfs that matter, it’s the current situation your class is in.
Sebrent maybe you would appreciate the discussion more if instead of just posting data (you posted patch notes whether they were correct or not, so that’s not even 100% reliable data) you would consider context. First you generalise people who contest the idea that the class has received a stream of meaningful improvements by saying “you won’t ever be satisfied unless the Ranger becomes the new easy-mode noobseeker Thief.” and then you go and disparage them by calling them "Boys Instigating the Childish ‘Hate Everything’ Sessions.”. Calling people names and personally attacking people who disagree with you isn’t going to engender the respect of a discourse you claim to want.
It’s simple; the ranger class has not seen an improvement since launch. Note I said improvement, not update.
Anything that was changed in the past to make it function more towards its intended function is a bug fix, that a finished product shouldn’t have had during the launch of the game. The 2 biggest ranger specific mechanic alterations are reducing the effectiveness of Empathic Bond and the attack speed of Crossfire.
Traits, utilities, and weapons have not changed in the slightest. They still have the same function and the same (or reduced) gameplay value since launch. The trap build and the BM build have been the same since we theorycrafted them at launch (I can’t speak for other builds).
Summary: The class is the same class (gameplay wise) that it was at launch.
On original topic: ANet apparently will never do what they did with guild wars 1 and post some of the update notes before the date of the update (my guess is they like trolling us). That being said, the update should be next Tuesday.
www.twitch.tv/itsJROH For stream, stream schedule, other streamers, builds, etc
https://www.youtube.com/user/JRoeboat
Game Informer posted a news article on Tuesday about the patch being released. We know that isn’t so, but I assumed they were just jumping the gun and the story was meant for this Tuesday.
Sebrent maybe you would appreciate the discussion more if instead of just posting data (you posted patch notes whether they were correct or not, so that’s not even 100% reliable data) you would consider context. First you generalise people who contest the idea that the class has received a stream of meaningful improvements by saying “you won’t ever be satisfied unless the Ranger becomes the new easy-mode noobseeker Thief.” and then you go and disparage them by calling them "Boys Instigating the Childish ‘Hate Everything’ Sessions.”. Calling people names and personally attacking people who disagree with you isn’t going to engender the respect of a discourse you claim to want.
This. I have read, and liked, many of your posts Sebrent, but what Shiren points out here is 100% true – I don’t know what you were trying to achieve by some mocking, namecalling post clearly pointed at me and some others that def. do not agree with the overly positive reporting you and others see in regards of ranger buffs, and the general state of the ranger as a whole.
I stand by what I said, none of the “buffs” (actually some are simply bugfixes, and should hardly be called a buff) we’ve got so far has made any major difference for the ranger class compared to the state we were in at release.
Things have improved? Yes, but many things have also gone downhill and we’ve received our share of nerfs.
I won’t argue that those patches have yet to put us in a “sweet spot” like what is enjoyed by Guardians.
However, it was stated on here and many times throughout the Ranger forum that “Rangers never receive buffs, only nerfs”. This list shows that to not be true.
Our sword having a larger cleave arc is a great buff.
The changes to greatsword are immense despite their outward appearance.
The damage and duration increase of scattershot is great.
There are plenty, but people don’t want to admit they were wrong about the fact that they said (some many times) that the Ranger receives more nerfs than buffs.
I’m still waiting to see those builds that these changes are not benefitting.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
I’m still waiting to see those builds that these changes are not benefitting.
I won’t say too much because I promised Deus Ex Tree I wouldn’t share the build…
Interesting paradox. Keep waiting.
I’m still waiting to see those builds that these changes are not benefitting.
I won’t say too much because I promised Deus Ex Tree I wouldn’t share the build…
Interesting paradox. Keep waiting.
(1)
That second quote isn’t even from this thread. It’s from me mentioning in another that there are some good WvW builds that work well with the longbow. You took it completely out of context, but that’s not surprising coming from you.
(2)
I have no need to post that build because I am not the one claiming that the changes “don’t matter”. I’ve posted a few other builds and they do benefit from these changes as well. Only those that fit nicely in the description of “Boys Instigating the Childish ‘Hate Everything’ Sessions" have been making those claims.
If you don’t have a legitimate build that doesn’t benefit from these, it should be very easy to do. My 7yr old could post a build.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
(1) That second quote isn’t even from this thread. It’s from me mentioning in another that there are some good WvW builds that work well with the longbow. You took it completely out of context, but that’s not surprising coming from you.
I finally understand you, Sebrent. You’re part of the internet community that believes each and every post you make stands alone, that’s there’s no collective “body of work” or history. That each and every post stands in isolation to any post made before or after.
Well, it doesn’t work that way.
But you want context? Ok, I promised “Joe” (wink wink) that I would never post the build he gave me. So keep waiting.
(edited by Pedra.4381)
That’s cute Pedra. What I say can be used here, but you need to use it in context. Else you’re just trolling and getting closer to another forced 24 hour hiatus.
You can keep harping on the fact that I am keeping my word to not share a build a friend shared with me under the condition that I didn’t share it instead of actually addressing the current topic of what build(s) are you people saying the changes “don’t matter” running?
Why is it so difficult to post that? You guys are so adamant that those changes don’t help you any. It should be trivial to show why they don’t.
Here’s, I’ll make it easy on you:
- gw2buildcraft.com
- gw2skills.net
There are two builders you can use.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.
Let me preface my post by saying that I am a WvW junky. I PvE occasionally to afford tower upgrades, I’ve run 4 dungeons total, am at roughly FoTM lvl 5 and haven’t set foot in sPvP since November. So, nothing I say can be taken in any context other than how it works in WvW.
1v1 and small skirmish debates don’t interest me, and honestly tanky ranger builds do nothing for me either. WvW is about epic sieges, executing intricately timed tactics and armies clashing, and in that kind of warfare ranged experts can turn the tide. Playing this role is what I do, and 1500 range + piercing arrows is my idea of a good time. We are set up to have that role, but because of the pet there isn’t the follow through that rangers like me crave.
What I personally find frustrating is the fact that a pet that I have very little control over is supposed to account for so much of my DPS. If I am penalized in my skills and abilities because of my access to a companion, I want full control over what that companion is able to do and options for that companion that support the abilities we have been given.
When you are in battle with 10+ on each side, pets do next to nothing. They have to be breathing down an unmoving targets neck to do the damage that they are supposed to be doing for us, and in these situations pets under any build melt in the AoE’s – without even needing to be targeted – often faster than they can even reach their target. Pets also have access to all these wonderful utility skills that only get cast in combat and thus can do nothing to help my allies or myself when they are off in the distance or dead.
I could use my pet as a personal protector, having it on standby and not rushing into the fray, but then what is the point of sacrificing what the rangers sacrifice to have the pet? If the troops I have positioned in front of me die, my pet isn’t going to save me from the angry hoard.
I’ve recently switched to using only devourer pets for their ranged abilities which does help… they can get to the front lines and fight without burying themselves in the enemy lines, but the range is so short that they are still right in the thick of the heaviest damage anyways. When I am running with smaller 3-5 man parties though, devourer at least can be relied upon to always hit. I am saddened that I am reduced to my least favorite choice among all companion options simply because it’s the only one that works consistently.
When attacking or defending structures, we have no pet that is capable of attacking a person on a wall (because birds can’t fly higher than 8 feet in this world apparently?) or down from a wall. And when you are under fire you just have to let your pet sit there and die, because inexplicably I am only able to send them to sit somewhere else would cost me a utility skill (I’m feeling a little less like a ‘beastmaster’ if I can’t even get a dog to stay…?)
I guess what I am saying in TL;DR terms is that if I am by definition supposed to rely on my companion for part of my usefulness, then I should be provided with control of my companion in such a way that I can benefit from it’s abilities, or provided with an option that supports the playstyle that the traits I have chosen allow me to play.
As for longbows, they need help. Please help longbows. Obstruction and out of range messages on shots that clearly should hit make me go crazy.
Thanks for reading
Ehmry Bay – The Rally Bot Vortex [VOID]
No Sebrent, what I’m pointing out and commenting on is that in one post you tell some guy you don’t share your build because of a promise. In multiple other posts you make repeated demands for folks to share theirs in hope of making some point. I know you don’t see the dichotomy there, but trust me, there is.
Forced hiatus? Not me, not here, not yet. Facts, Sebrent, that’s all I ask for.
This is the Jon Peters view of the world that we can trick folks into believing things are balanced without really having to put effort into balancing
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. But they could really help combat this perception if they start by giving us a working combat log, a beta server, and patch notes release in advance, you know, like other MMOs…
You know what might actually be nice? That when a pet is defeated and limps back to the Ranger; that the Ranger can actually REVIVE the pet as they would another downed player.
Sure, you’d have to stop attacking for a little while, but at least you could get your pet back up instead of being forced to wait for pet-swap to come off cooldown…
Fojja – Vyxxi – Nymmra – Mymmra – Champion of Dwayna .. and more
Highly Over Powered Explorers [HOPE] – Desolation EU
Let me preface my post by saying that I am a WvW junky. I PvE occasionally to afford tower upgrades, I’ve run 4 dungeons total, am at roughly FoTM lvl 5 and haven’t set foot in sPvP since November. So, nothing I say can be taken in any context other than how it works in WvW……………………..
Very much this.
Just to add a bit…
Telling my pet to go to some spot should be a command not a skill I have to take in place of another. Also, why is there no shortcut for active/passive mode? By default these are the “F” keys but I remapped them to “Shift+#”. If you include “-” and “=”, that is 12 numbers. 1 through “=” is what makes up the 12 button grid on my naga. With only 1, 2, 3 and 4 used, that leaves 8 more functions. I would like to see a guard area command. I think we should have a pet rez command. Also, why can’t boons and conditions on our pet show above the pet command bar? Why do I have to click on my pet to see these things?
The whole system is very much underdeveloped. It’s quite sad. As for the pet missing? That is a mechanic thing that is also shared with mobs. I easily solo champs when they are primarily melee because they stop chasing to attack. They don’t attack on the run. That’s the issue. I can attack on the run with my GS but my pet has to stop to attack? Which, with the cast time tied into the animation, gives any moving target time to run out of range. Does the game have state rewind?
In GW1 they gave the AI the feature of running out of the area of effect of AoE spells. Why can’t our pets do that without having to call them back? What if I know I can tank it but my pet can’t? Calling them to me still leaves them in it.
Also, how hard is it to link our dodge roll to our pets? We see the enemy doing that 1 shotter, we dodge roll even though we are out of range so that our pets (who are in range) will “evade” it. Simple.
You know what might actually be nice? That when a pet is defeated and limps back to the Ranger; that the Ranger can actually REVIVE the pet as they would another downed player.
Sure, you’d have to stop attacking for a little while, but at least you could get your pet back up instead of being forced to wait for pet-swap to come off cooldown…
You could, until A-net nerfed it in September.
Btw; I don’t wanna share my build, but none of the updates that has come over the last months have removed the annoying “Obstructed” even though the MOB is in Melee range of me…
And i’m probably going to get butchered for saying this but:
The pet control in WoW as a hunter is something A-net should be looking at. WoW hunters are truly Beastmasters compared to Rangers here.
You could, until A-net nerfed it in September.
Btw; I don’t wanna share my build, but none of the updates that has come over the last months have removed the annoying “Obstructed” even though the MOB is in Melee range of me…
And i’m probably going to get butchered for saying this but:
The pet control in WoW as a hunter is something A-net should be looking at. WoW hunters are truly Beastmasters compared to Rangers here.
I agree. I miss my Loque’nahak. WoW’s pet control is far superior.
And i’m probably going to get butchered for saying this but:
The pet control in WoW as a hunter is something A-net should be looking at. WoW hunters are truly Beastmasters compared to Rangers here.
No argument there. I don’t feel it needs take the entire control system, but at the very least pets in WoW felt very…snappy? You hit the button, it did it.
I have this issue with a lot of MMOs, as when friends lured me to City of Heroes, Champions, D&D, and Old Republic, the combat rarely felt as responsive and crisp as WoW’s. I’m not sure how to explain it, but other WoW players usually know what I mean.
Champions Online and Guild Wars 2 are two games with combat that is as responsive and, to me, deeper, but the pet system certainly isn’t as polished. Aside from the jaguar and birds, most things feel clunky, even if I accept that the drake is “casting” it’s breath.
And i’m probably going to get butchered for saying this but:
The pet control in WoW as a hunter is something A-net should be looking at. WoW hunters are truly Beastmasters compared to Rangers here.No argument there. I don’t feel it needs take the entire control system, but at the very least pets in WoW felt very…snappy? You hit the button, it did it.
I have this issue with a lot of MMOs, as when friends lured me to City of Heroes, Champions, D&D, and Old Republic, the combat rarely felt as responsive and crisp as WoW’s. I’m not sure how to explain it, but other WoW players usually know what I mean.
Champions Online and Guild Wars 2 are two games with combat that is as responsive and, to me, deeper, but the pet system certainly isn’t as polished. Aside from the jaguar and birds, most things feel clunky, even if I accept that the drake is “casting” it’s breath.
I agree they don’t need to take the entire system, but having the ability to place youre pet at a location and it stays there until you tell it to do otherwise should be in this game aswell. And when you told the pet in WoW to attack a target, it did it straight away, no delay og any problems at all. + You could control what skills it would use on the target, (The auto atk chain on pets is pretty annoying)
A-net, just transfer the Hero system from GW1 to our pets in GW2, and lots of pet-problems are solved.
Great call, that is essentially all I look for in a pet.
Wow pet controll was most defiantly better.
Pets in gw2 will never be fixed until birds can fly, cats and spiders can climb.
Wow pet controll was most defiantly better.
Pets in gw2 will never be fixed until birds can fly, cats and spiders can climb.
Teeny weeny string bikini OP? Birds fly high in the air so no melee can hit them?
But spiders and cats climg in trees and stealth there to do a suprise attack on the enemy would be hilarious
I really liked my BM Hunter (with Loque’nahak; taming him felt like my greatest achievement ever!!)
But yeah, pet responsiveness in WoW was awesome. You click what you want your pet to do, and it happens immediately. That’s how it should be; not “Press F2 and hope the pet will do it at some point”.
Fojja – Vyxxi – Nymmra – Mymmra – Champion of Dwayna .. and more
Highly Over Powered Explorers [HOPE] – Desolation EU
You know what might actually be nice? That when a pet is defeated and limps back to the Ranger; that the Ranger can actually REVIVE the pet as they would another downed player.
Sure, you’d have to stop attacking for a little while, but at least you could get your pet back up instead of being forced to wait for pet-swap to come off cooldown…
Pets should rally imo it would mean one faster way of bringing them back in combat and I don’t think it would be too strong either as you have to finish someone to make it happen so on smaller scale fights it provides less but there it’s not needed as much but could help alot with larger fights where they will so quickly and unintentionally be killed.
You could, until A-net nerfed it in September.
Btw; I don’t wanna share my build, but none of the updates that has come over the last months have removed the annoying “Obstructed” even though the MOB is in Melee range of me…
And i’m probably going to get butchered for saying this but:
The pet control in WoW as a hunter is something A-net should be looking at. WoW hunters are truly Beastmasters compared to Rangers here.I agree. I miss my Loque’nahak. WoW’s pet control is far superior.
That kitten took me years to find, best cat was Sian Rotam though and King Bang /nod
(edited by Manekk.6981)
And i’m probably going to get butchered for saying this but:
The pet control in WoW as a hunter is something A-net should be looking at. WoW hunters are truly Beastmasters compared to Rangers here.No argument there. I don’t feel it needs take the entire control system, but at the very least pets in WoW felt very…snappy? You hit the button, it did it.
I have this issue with a lot of MMOs, as when friends lured me to City of Heroes, Champions, D&D, and Old Republic, the combat rarely felt as responsive and crisp as WoW’s. I’m not sure how to explain it, but other WoW players usually know what I mean.
Champions Online and Guild Wars 2 are two games with combat that is as responsive and, to me, deeper, but the pet system certainly isn’t as polished. Aside from the jaguar and birds, most things feel clunky, even if I accept that the drake is “casting” it’s breath.
“Pets” in SWTOR are awesome though, like a personal James Bond in combat that will even sell your trash and gather for you, I just love that system.