Guild Wars 2

Why aren’t rangers able to wield rifles? Isn’t it logical for an ranger that roams the forest and hunts down deers for food, being able to use an rifle? Im satisfied with the current weapon selections, but isnt it just obvious that rangers could use the rifle if warriors can too, engineers of course. but why not rangers? I ask you,arenanet to get working on this if you may?:)

rangers in gw aren’t about sniping targets from 1000 yds away, the lore behind them is more to do with the natural order of things. Rifles being mechanical don’t jive with that

In the lore, rangers are very much in tune with nature. They are quiet and leave no evidence they were ever present at a spot in the wilderness. Guns are loud and a sign of weakness to a ranger. Good rangers use the bow and arrow better than a warrior uses a rifle.

Personally, I could go for a staff or a whip. I don’t think the rangers would use the whip to crack because that’s loud and they wouldn’t use it to hurt animals. Instead, I imagine it would be a skill weapon used to evade or stun targets.

We’ll have to see what ANET has in store for us in the coming months.

Chopps.5047:

In the lore, rangers are very much in tune with nature. They are quiet and leave no evidence they were ever present at a spot in the wilderness. Guns are loud and a sign of weakness to a ranger. Good rangers use the bow and arrow better than a warrior uses a rifle.

Personally, I could go for a staff or a whip. I don’t think the rangers would use the whip to crack because that’s loud and they wouldn’t use it to hurt animals. Instead, I imagine it would be a skill weapon used to evade or stun targets.

We’ll have to see what ANET has in store for us in the coming months.

You know, I hadnt thought of the staff as a ranger weapon before.. But.. I think that if its implemented right, that could be REALLY neat.

As for rifles… meh.. A true ranger has no need for such things.

Tuluum.9638:

Chopps.5047:

In the lore, rangers are very much in tune with nature. They are quiet and leave no evidence they were ever present at a spot in the wilderness. Guns are loud and a sign of weakness to a ranger. Good rangers use the bow and arrow better than a warrior uses a rifle.

Personally, I could go for a staff or a whip. I don’t think the rangers would use the whip to crack because that’s loud and they wouldn’t use it to hurt animals. Instead, I imagine it would be a skill weapon used to evade or stun targets.

We’ll have to see what ANET has in store for us in the coming months.

You know, I hadnt thought of the staff as a ranger weapon before.. But.. I think that if its implemented right, that could be REALLY neat.

As for rifles… meh.. A true ranger has no need for such things.

I completely agree. A staff could bring so many possibilities it’s sick.

it’d be neat to see rangers as being the only class to use a staff as a melee weapon

The same reason why mesmers aren’t able to weild MH pistols. Probably saving it for an expansion of some sort.

I’d love a martial staff, but most sta kitten are too ornate. Can’t really imagine a ranger smacking something with a bifrost. I could settle for it as a caster weapon though. I would rather have an unconventional weapon like a caster staff than another long ranged weapon like the Rifle imho. Unless they can make the rifle feel unique and different from the SB and LB.

Loud noises frighten us and our animal pals.

Because these aren’t Army Rangers! :-p

I’ve never understood the desire for rangers to have rifles. I dont see the fit.. at all.. for the reasons mentions above.

Also it had never occured to me for rangers to have a staff, but now its been brought up I too want a melee staff. Could be kitten awesome.

One fit for a rifle’d be for a charr ranger – I don’t see them using bows, much, but that’s probably just me.

A staff would be cool, though.

i’m with Tuluum, a whip should be good, they also have the ele lightning animation. Would love to see boomerangs also =P

This is far from the first topic on this, so I’m pretty sure ArenaNet got the message by now. A lot of player want to see a rifle for the Ranger.

Elimyx.4536:

One fit for a rifle’d be for a charr ranger – I don’t see them using bows, much, but that’s probably just me.

A staff would be cool, though.

This plus Asuran oh yeah they are attuned with nature O.o. Honestly they would look better with a laser rifle then a bow. It’s all about the look to me and a rifle would fit my Asuran very well.

Long time ago there were Beastmaster and Marksman professions, but for some idiotic reason ANet decided to merge them… now we have Ranger. You can’t blame ppl who wanted to play the 2nd one for looking for “sniping from 1000yd” on ranger, as it IS class that is supposed to fit ppl interested in ranged combat.
Pets scared of shots? Lol, for some reason my dog, nor any trained for it pet, has no problems with it.
Anyway, there were 100’s of topics about it over past 9 months. Next time search before starting another one.

Jaakko.4759:

Why aren’t rangers able to wield rifles?

Because Rangers are masters of the broken bow. They can’t be expected to wield a ranged weapon that actually might work. Then they’d stop being melee Beastmasters.

Chopps.5047:

Tuluum.9638:

Chopps.5047:

In the lore, rangers are very much in tune with nature. They are quiet and leave no evidence they were ever present at a spot in the wilderness. Guns are loud and a sign of weakness to a ranger. Good rangers use the bow and arrow better than a warrior uses a rifle.

Personally, I could go for a staff or a whip. I don’t think the rangers would use the whip to crack because that’s loud and they wouldn’t use it to hurt animals. Instead, I imagine it would be a skill weapon used to evade or stun targets.

We’ll have to see what ANET has in store for us in the coming months.

You know, I hadnt thought of the staff as a ranger weapon before.. But.. I think that if its implemented right, that could be REALLY neat.

As for rifles… meh.. A true ranger has no need for such things.

I completely agree. A staff could bring so many possibilities it’s sick.

Agreed as well. It could give us AoE fields dealing with nature itself.

So, it seems the majority on the forums at least are not particularly in favor of a rifle. For me, the reasons are obvious.

That said…

How great is the idea for a staff? I mean, seriously!

Chopps, you should start a thread on thakittens honestly one of the best ideas I have heard in a while. A bit flabbergasted I didnt even think of it until you brought it up, but hey, cant win em all :P It would be fun to see the ideas that get thrown around with it. I think the staff has an enormous amount of different ways to implement it.

Go, go gadget Chopps!

Lol it’s not my idea. I think I heard about it from Durzlla, but thanks.

Chopps.5047:

Lol it’s not my idea. I think I heard about it from Durzlla, but thanks.

Ok.

Go, go gadget Durzlla!

Rifles don’t fit in with the natural order of things…

Charzookas, and all forms of Pact techno-junk though fit in perfectly well.

Terkov.4138:

Long time ago there were Beastmaster and Marksman professions, but for some idiotic reason ANet decided to merge them… now we have Ranger. You can’t blame ppl who wanted to play the 2nd one for looking for “sniping from 1000yd” on ranger, as it IS class that is supposed to fit ppl interested in ranged combat.
Pets scared of shots? Lol, for some reason my dog, nor any trained for it pet, has no problems with it.
Anyway, there were 100’s of topics about it over past 9 months. Next time search before starting another one.

Long long time ago was Ranger in GW1 – he could use only bows unless he had secondary proffesion that have possibility of other weps.
He also didn’t have to have a pet – that was purely optional thing.
also well build ranger could be tank over tanks – yes with the bow.
when ANet was working with gw2 there was an idea to divide ranger to two other professions: Marksman and Warden.
but for a time later when one of those profession where nearly gone, ANet made decision to merge them again in ranger.

rifles? nope that’s a bad idea – no lore approval to ranger have a rifle.
Staff? sounds intersting.
but as for me if ANet even repair 1hsword I would gladly see a shield for the rangers.

Don’t care for rifles unless I’m playing a drunken dwarf, I want my crossbow!

Doug.9628:

rangers in gw aren’t about sniping targets from 1000 yds away, the lore behind them is more to do with the natural order of things. Rifles being mechanical don’t jive with that

This… Rangers are about nature. They can’t be running around with mechanical junk.

I admit I do like the idea of rangers getting a staff in the near future!

Somehow noone had problems with rangers running with scythe in GW1 O.o

I made ranger for bows (the fact they sux is other thing), coz there is no better archer class. Why should I be forced into some funny nature magic theme? That’s why we have different builds, traitlines and gear skins – let players choose what their class feels like. For some reason eles aren’t bothered they have d/d, and it feels very strange for mage-like thingie.

And rangers didn’t use rifle in GW1 just because there were no rifles

Sounds fun, I wouldn’t mind. As far as whether it fits into the lore or not, times have changed, and GW2 is in the industrial age now. (I think, if that’s what they would call it)

When will you guys stop with this “Ranger is for nature” thing?
In Lore they may are, but in reality and wide-range fantasy, they were squad-operated warriors with agility and intelligence.
Rifles are welcome, but just after the Longbow had fixed…

Otherwise, if you want a nature focused hippy, you’r way is the Sylvari Race.
How lame is it to see alchemy user asurans to mess with nature, or spirit oriented norns, god guided humans?

It should be just a customise option, not an entire way for the class

Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.

Rangers can already use a Rifle,….er, uh, Charzooka! They are enviromental weapons you can buy from a vendor near the Lowland Burns waypoint, just before the Shatterer event takes place (okay, its not a real weapon, and it has only 1 skill, and it costs nearly 2 silver to buy, and it lasts for 60 seconds, and all the other classes can use it too)

As far as the Natury, flowery stuff, consider thakittens not just for the Silvari. The human Goddess Melandru, is the Goddess of Nature, Earth, and Growth, pretty much anyone who worships her will have the same view as she does. The Norn Spirits, are spirits of the Wild, you know,…nature, stuff that isn’t civilization, involves spirit animals that guide their whole race. The Asura are interested in anything that has to do with the Eternal Alchemy, which includes trees and animals, they still contribute to a greater purpose, as everything does. The Charr are tricky to define as far as this goes, thats for sure, but, the Char sort of see themselves as superior to everything, especially things like ‘gods’ and forces of nature, so maybe a Charr that is in tune with nature is actually just trying to conquer it, like anything else that gets in their way.

I can see a Ranger using a Staff and using some of the more Nature-y stuff that’s associated with the class. I Kind of hope in a future Expansion, Anet gives every class atleast 1 new weapon set for us to try out.

Sarision.6347:

Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.

Make it a two-handed AoE/control weapon, like the Mesmers greatsword, or the Warrior and Guardians hammer. For example; #1 fire a piercing shot, #2 fire a series of shots in a cone pattern that blinds up to five targets, #3 fire a shot that bounces between five targets and deals vulnerability, #4 charge your foe while firing a series of shots-first shot deals fear, #5 roll backwards-your pets next attack also knocks down.

The staff could be made into a support weapon, that focuses on giving different boons to allies.

The main reason we can’t use rifles is probably class balance. You dont wan’t to give too many weapons to one class and also you dont want to give them only ranged options. That’s what we have swords and greatswords instead of rifles

Would love to be able to use a rifle on my ranger. Staff? cmon, staff would be pretty lame.
If a ranger can run around with a giant clunky greatsword then why not a rifle. Being in tune with nature doesnt mean not being in tune with modern or current tech that may be available for a ranger to use.
Seems to me being a tree huggin nature magic sissy would be more of a race (sylvari)thing or personal choice.
Want a staff and other caster goodies and play with flowers and leaves? Pray they roll out a druid class.
I myself would love to see the ranger get the rifle as a weapon or a crossbow or dual swords.

I think ranger more or less follows the philosophy of the alien race in the movie Avatar, they wield bows, use daggers, not greatswords but spears, respect nature and are in tune with it; but most importantly use it to their benefit… anyways rifles clearly don’t follow this type of role. If you mean to give purpose to rifles to a ranged class then you are thinking of hunters or a war-fare ranger.

Way I’d think of staff working is AoE skills, all somewhat similar to Healing Spring in terms of how they use nature.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Way I’d think of staff working is AoE skills, all somewhat similar to Healing Spring in terms of how they use nature.

Exactly how I see it too.

I kind of envision it like a.. “rangerfied” version of the guardian staff.

I just dont see a rifle filling any purpose that isnt already filled with the weapons we have access to (at least from the suggestions of those who are in favor of the idea), whereas a staff (properly implemented, of course) could actually fill a niche that does not currently exist. In all honesty, it seems like the proponents of the ranger rifle would be just as happy if they could put a rifle skin on their bow, since they are doing exactly the same thing.

Instead of implementing a rifle, I think a better investment from Anets end would be to actually fix some of the issues with longbow.

With the bunker possibilities of the ranger, I think a staff support build would be quite a nice change of pace from other set ups. We dont have much in terms of support builds, and I think it might actually address some of the issues with the ranger class. A staff support ranger using support pets (like the red moa) could actually be a boon in dungeons and general group play, as it reduces the need for the pet to.. uh.. die.

Kasama.8941:

Sarision.6347:

Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.

Make it a two-handed AoE/control weapon, like the Mesmers greatsword, or the Warrior and Guardians hammer. For example; #1 fire a piercing shot, #2 fire a series of shots in a cone pattern that blinds up to five targets, #3 fire a shot that bounces between five targets and deals vulnerability, #4 charge your foe while firing a series of shots-first shot deals fear, #5 roll backwards-your pets next attack also knocks down.

The staff could be made into a support weapon, that focuses on giving different boons to allies.

Interesting idea; however, the point I’m trying to make is that from all these threads people just want a rifle so they can go running around like a… surprise, a Rifle Warrior. And the same goes for Thieves wanting a rifle. I wouldn’t mind wielding a rifle for purposes other than sniping.

As for staff, I like it as a druid’s staff more than as a quarterstaff, but that warrants a separate thread.

Sarision.6347:

Kasama.8941:

Sarision.6347:

Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.

Make it a two-handed AoE/control weapon, like the Mesmers greatsword, or the Warrior and Guardians hammer. For example; #1 fire a piercing shot, #2 fire a series of shots in a cone pattern that blinds up to five targets, #3 fire a shot that bounces between five targets and deals vulnerability, #4 charge your foe while firing a series of shots-first shot deals fear, #5 roll backwards-your pets next attack also knocks down.

The staff could be made into a support weapon, that focuses on giving different boons to allies.

Interesting idea; however, the point I’m trying to make is that from all these threads people just want a rifle so they can go running around like a… surprise, a Rifle Warrior. And the same goes for Thieves wanting a rifle. I wouldn’t mind wielding a rifle for purposes other than sniping.

As for staff, I like it as a druid’s staff more than as a quarterstaff, but that warrants a separate thread.

Does there have to be any other reason then that? It fits the profession, and a lot of players really want to use it.

The Ranger needs more ally support options. Spirits die too fast, shouts doesn’t affect allies, and the Ranger has almost no way of sharing boons with allies, only the pet. The staff could be focused around typical Ranger boons, like regeneration, swiftness, and vigor. While also being another way to remove conditions, which is something the Ranger is also lacking. It could also have a Grasping Vines skill, with a short duration.

Skills I picture a ranger Staff to have.

#1A: Hits the enemy at the arm (causes weakness).
#1B: Hits their head (causes daze)
#1C: Sweep at the legs (causes knockdown and cripple).
#2: Blast outward from the ranger that knocks enemies back while damaging them. Blast Finisher, 8 second cooldown
#3: AoE healing field that heals allies inside and cures 2 conditions on its appearance and heals with each second. 20 second cooldown, field lasts for 4 seconds.
#4: AoE that gives allies vigor, protection, regeneration, and stability for 6 seconds. 35 second cooldown.
#5: AoE poison field that damages enemies in its zoneand gives them poison, weakness, and cripple for 6 seconds the second it appears, and damages with each pulse. 40 second cooldown, field lasts for 10 seconds, pulses every 2 seconds.

Terkov.4138:

Somehow noone had problems with rangers running with scythe in GW1 O.o

I made ranger for bows (the fact they sux is other thing), coz there is no better archer class. Why should I be forced into some funny nature magic theme? That’s why we have different builds, traitlines and gear skins – let players choose what their class feels like. For some reason eles aren’t bothered they have d/d, and it feels very strange for mage-like thingie.

And rangers didn’t use rifle in GW1 just because there were no rifles

that wasn’t just rangers… that was ranger Dervish! and still it’s more fit to ranger than rifle.
And probably nope – don’t let the players decide about everything – it can ruin whole game. and last argument is invalid – even if they were rifles rangers would not get one at gw1 – even charr rangers was using bow – and in EotN there was some charrs with rifles :P

Skills I picture a ranger Staff to have.

#1A: Hits the enemy at the arm (causes weakness).
#1B: Hits their head (causes daze)
#1C: Sweep at the legs (causes knockdown and cripple).
#2: Blast outward from the ranger that knocks enemies back while damaging them. Blast Finisher, 8 second cooldown
#3: AoE healing field that heals allies inside and cures 2 conditions on its appearance and heals with each second. 20 second cooldown, field lasts for 4 seconds.
#4: AoE that gives allies vigor, protection, regeneration, and stability for 6 seconds. 35 second cooldown.
#5: AoE poison field that damages enemies in its zoneand gives them poison, weakness, and cripple for 6 seconds the second it appears, and damages with each pulse. 40 second cooldown, field lasts for 10 seconds, pulses every 2 seconds.

that’s sound nice but Problem is….
1C – yeah it’s a little bit OP – 1hsword had primary knockdown on 1B and You know how it ended….
maybe “cripple and 20% chance to knockdown” would be better….

Another +1 for the staff here. I see no role a rifle could bring that isn’t already there.

I always wanted them to add a staff for one ranger attribute in GW1. It could have been interesting not having to go into a 2nd proff to get the points for a staff. A staff with BM or WS req would have fit great in GW1 and I think it would fit great with the GW2 ranger also. I was a little sad to see there was no staff with the ranger when they released the ranger info pre-launch.

On a side note…I would also like to see either off hand sword or shield for the ranger. My idea of a ranger class has always been more of a Middle Earth type ranger. Not really just bows bows bows but more of a special forces type. Survivalist, agile, quick and trained in many martial weapons to adapt to the challenge at hand.

@fubar +1 to all I also wanted some shields to rangers, and if anybody tried to tell me that shield don’t match the rangers I pointed them some articles about Rangers of the North and Tolkien Rangers like all where is said that tolien rangers was inspiration to D&D ranger (witch was inspiration to.. blah blah).

Cause our inventory would overflow with weapons. I already carry about 18 weapons at all times (4 axes, 1 LB, 3 SB’s, 2 daggers, 2 swords, 2 GS’s, 2 warhorns, 2 torches. I know it’s excessive but I don’t care).

Other than that, I’d say increasing the functionality of our current weapons has priority.

Doug.9628:

it’d be neat to see rangers as being the only class to use a staff as a melee weapon

That’d be very random and awesome

Rangers have no index fingers so they can’t pull the trigger.

Cuz rifles are for sissies.

Rangers could wield a rifle differently than warrior or engineer but I can definitely see it work. It could still focuss on unity with nature and causing as little noise as possible.

1: Silent Shot – Fires a silent shot (low volume shot sound) that deals more damage when the target is alone (no other targets in x range)
2: Marking Shot [12 second cd] – Shot your target to mark it with a special 5 second debuff. Hitting the marked target with your autoattack will stealth you for 1 second.
3: Evasive Shot [10 second cd] – Roll to the side evading attack and shot your foe. Your pets next attack steals some health.
4: Blessed Trigger [18 second cd] – Fire 3 swift shots. The first giving 6 second of Swiftness, the second giving 6 seconds of Fury and the third giving 6 seconds of Vigor.
5: Skillful Shot [24 seconds cd] – Adds more stacks of confusion if you are more far away and dazes your target when it was marked (2) for 2 seconds.

Would have been better.. warriors can weild all melee weapons and ranger could have weild all range weapons except staff of course. if not, they should have named rangers: archers or hunters

Jaakko.4759:

Why aren’t rangers able to wield rifles? Isn’t it logical for an ranger that roams the forest and hunts down deers for food, being able to use an rifle? Im satisfied with the current weapon selections, but isnt it just obvious that rangers could use the rifle if warriors can too, engineers of course. but why not rangers? I ask you,arenanet to get working on this if you may?:)

Because fantasy game rangers are not the same as Walker, Texas Ranger.

DeathPanel.8362:

Jaakko.4759:

Why aren’t rangers able to wield rifles? Isn’t it logical for an ranger that roams the forest and hunts down deers for food, being able to use an rifle? Im satisfied with the current weapon selections, but isnt it just obvious that rangers could use the rifle if warriors can too, engineers of course. but why not rangers? I ask you,arenanet to get working on this if you may?:)

Because fantasy game rangers are not the same as Walker, Texas Ranger.

WTB Walker, Texas Ranger profession