Guild Wars 2

This is not a hate topic of gw2 ranger but a personal opinion on why the gw1 ranger have more charm.
1)ritual , preparation give him more feelings as master of nature
2)shout and pet skills give you more control on your pet
3)Bow skills make you a real marksman

anyway from gw2 i like that i can use axe, sword so i can be a melee ranger, but the pet mechanic don’t make me crazy. what do you think?

I never played Guild Wars 1, but I really like the pet control in Guild Wars 2. For instance, when I can see a boss is about to cast a damaging attack, I can instantly call the pet back to me with F3, and then send in back in after the boss has attacked, with F1.

I would love to have some sort of utility skill set that is meant to improve the Ranger as a marksman. Like a skill that says “15 sec. Improve the range of your ranged attacks by 500”. Or “5 sec. Attacks that hit at 900 range or more has a 100% critical chance”.

I preferred the pet system in GW1 I was able to bring ~4 pet skills allowing me a heal, 1-2 damage skills/buffs/support skills. However the pet AI for GW2 I better hands down, no questions asked, not to mention I like the trap system a lot better (faster), I do wish spirits had more of an impact like they did in the first one (oh old QZ how I miss you….) however the weapon skills and being all marksman like and being able to have good Melee and all that jazz, love how GW2 did it! If only we could 1) stack the same trap in an area (thinking with a trait), spirits were more DEAL WITH ME! Like in GW1 and pets allowed for more control… Don’t get me wrong I still like the pets in GW2, but my god will I cry tears of joy if GW1 pet AI gets revamped!!

Kasama.8941:

I never played Guild Wars 1, but I really like the pet control in Guild Wars 2. For instance, when I can see a boss is about to cast a damaging attack, I can instantly call the pet back to me with F3, and then send in back in after the boss has attacked, with F1.

I would love to have some sort of utility skill set that is meant to improve the Ranger as a marksman. Like a skill that says “15 sec. Improve the range of your ranged attacks by 500”. Or “5 sec. Attacks that hit at 900 range or more has a 100% critical chance”.

Preps were supposed to do this but they didn’t make the grade =( I would’ve loved read the wind, I could see it drastically increasing range and damage for next few attacks…

If we get some preparations like in GW1 I will be so happy. Spirits need some GW1-style love too.

Pets are much better in GW2. While in GW1 you could fill your skillbar with pet skills, that left what you could personally do to next to nothing. Now, every pet has 4 skills by default (swapping pets being equivelant to adjusting your pet skills in GW1) and you still have 3 slots to fill with shouts if u want.

It doesn’t matter what’s your favorite ranger concept (I like Tolkien’s, where a ranger doesn’t equate to archer), they all share something in common: resourcefulness.

This is something I feel hasn’t been implemented well in GW2’s ranger, mainly because this class’ mechanic is the pet.
Now, when you look to other classes, you can see that Anet has tried to come up with different and interesting mechanics for them.
But the ranger gets a mechanic that is not special or different in any way, a mechanic that has been done so many times (and in lots of cases, much better. see DAoC’s pet classes for example) in so many games.
The ranger doesn’t feel as unique as the other classes, and as a result of that we see many posts here complaining that the ranger is a bland, boring class. I find that as well and I main a warrior! A class that people also complain that is boring, though I don’t find it so, and not nearly as much as the ranger.

Ever since they unveiled the class, I cringed at the notion of it being pet-centric. I was hoping for something new, something fresh and fun that Anet had been advertising at the time every class would be… and in the end it was the same-old pet.
Now, I’m not usually a fan of pet-classes myself, but I think it’s safe to say that even people that like pets were expecting something new, something different for a class’ mechanics, something that is so central to the class.

Added to that, there’s a lot of skills and traits that benefits the pet, mostly in the form of boons, which in my opinion only adds to the feeling that the class is bland and boring.

I really would like for a return to the concept of GW1’s ranger, a class that had as it main attribute “expertise”, not beast mastery. A versatile survivor, not the owner of a kennel.

Until then, my ranger shall remain forgotten in his character slot, reserving his name for a bright future that might never come.

Having a pet doesn’t have to be completely about that pet. If you don’t like your faithful companion, just think of him like another utility skill for yourself. Choose the pet based on its F2 skill and just spec your traits based around yourself, not your pet. Use the pet swap button to change up your F2 “utility” mid-battle. And that damage your pet does?…just more “condition” damage.

But honestly, what’s the down side of having a companion that can kite, draw threat, CC, add boons, combo fields, conditions, and deal straight dmg? You’d prefer what? a a party regen virtue or a steal ability (wait…our pets can do all those)?

I’m not complaining about the class, I’m just adding my input as to why people may be finding the ranger lacking or prefer GW1’s ranger, as the thread title suggests.
But since you asked for my opinion, here it is.
I’d prefer not having a pet.
I’d prefer for a ranger to actually be a ranger: having knowledge of the land, how to negotiate terrain and use the land to his advantage.
I’d prefer a style of gameplay much, much more focused on skirmishing and outmaneuvering your opponent, and much more self suficient.
At the moment, that is far from what is in the game, and probably it will never come to be. It’s simply not how Anet views the ranger. It’s a totally different playstyle. I don’t know if you ever played DAoC, but the archer classes there were much more akin to what I find interesting in a ranger. There were even different arrow types that hit for more or less damage in different armor types.
How the ranger in GW2 could be more akin to what I would like? Having much more maneuverability and snares would be a very nice start. Terrain negotiation skills. More access to swiftness (one of the reasons I play warrior: permanent swiftness), maybe even utilities focused on maneuvering (would have to be better than swiftness)
A class that can effectively hit and run. Strike larger forces and move away before they can react.
For the moment, I will keep playing with my warrior and my thief. Both perform better in the field that the ranger should, in my opinion

And finally, answering your question: the downside of having a companion is that, for balance purposes, my characther will inevitably have to be weaker in order to compensate for the fact that it has a pet. And I do not like some AI to play for me, if I would I’d fire up some chess on “demo” and watch that all day long. But that’s also personal opinion.

Melee rangers were common in GW1 because of the expertise stat, which resulted in Bunny Thumpers and Touch Rangers

I love ranger/archer/hunter classes but never been a big fan of pets. sadly most of them in every game have them, I prefer them to be more rogue/sniper like

give us an option to not have a pet and boost our own stats/damage instead

Why I love Ranger in GW1

1) No Pet
2) Interupts
3) Condition Pressure
4) Utilitiy
5) More Interupts
6) Preperations
7) Distracting Shot is best skill ever made
8) No Pets
9) No Pets
10) No Pets

I don’t really like pets as a central mechanic of a class, but if they’re going to do it then that needs to be what the class is ALL about. In other words, the standard ranger pet type in MMO’s get on my nerves, because the pet part of their class always feels arbitrary and tacked-on.

Pet using classes should function like spellcasters, where their pets are the majority of their power/identity and they themselves are weak. Rangers, however, should be independent, resourceful, and versatile, and therefore shouldn’t need to rely on pets. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I prefer GW1’s ranger class as well, but also the necromancer class. For some reason I can’t stand what they’ve done to the necromancer class, the only reason I pick it is because of the numbers I can get using the class in most RPG games.. having my own small army of undead. I mean I can get up to 3 minions but they’re so weak and so unresponsive/bad that it just sucks IMO.

Maybe my opinion on the ranger will change after playing it more though.

I prefer guild wars 1 ranger because we is spam barrages.

James.2064:

I prefer GW1’s ranger class as well, but also the necromancer class. For some reason I can’t stand what they’ve done to the necromancer class, the only reason I pick it is because of the numbers I can get using the class in most RPG games.. having my own small army of undead. I mean I can get up to 3 minions but they’re so weak and so unresponsive/bad that it just sucks IMO.

Maybe my opinion on the ranger will change after playing it more though.

Same here. Loved my GW1 necro. HATE what they’ve done to the class now. That class-mechanic?…awful

I actually found the GW1 Ranger to be kind of limiting in playstyle. I played a W/R that used Axe/Shield with a Heal as One build.

That’s probably why I enjoy my Greatsword Survival Ranger so much in GW2. Fighting up close and personal with your pet is way more engaging than shouting, “Go my minion! Tank that boss with your face! Pewpewpew!”

What GW1 did with dual-class makes comparing that game to GW2 very difficult. A lot of players are saying that GW2 is limited because you can’t do something that you could in GW1 as a dual-class. W/R that used pets were not rangers. Neither were touch rangers. They were in essence, necros with reduced casting costs.

I think this is one reason we feel limited when compared to GW1.

Seras.5702:

What GW1 did with dual-class makes comparing that game to GW2 very difficult. A lot of players are saying that GW2 is limited because you can’t do something that you could in GW1 as a dual-class. W/R that used pets were not rangers. Neither were touch rangers. They were in essence, necros with reduced casting costs.

I think this is one reason we feel limited when compared to GW1.

Another is the sheer number of skills.
In GW1 you could go all the way from pure marksman to beastmaster. Here we are forced to be a hybrid.
I, for one, would like to have the same flexibility as before

Tracker Wolf.2587:

Seras.5702:

What GW1 did with dual-class makes comparing that game to GW2 very difficult. A lot of players are saying that GW2 is limited because you can’t do something that you could in GW1 as a dual-class. W/R that used pets were not rangers. Neither were touch rangers. They were in essence, necros with reduced casting costs.

I think this is one reason we feel limited when compared to GW1.

Another is the sheer number of skills.
In GW1 you could go all the way from pure marksman to beastmaster. Here we are forced to be a hybrid.
I, for one, would like to have the same flexibility as before

GW1 had too many skills. So many did similar enough effects that usually one ended up being strictly better than another. Then there was the balance issues because you never know when one of those old forgotten skills suddenly becomes ridiculous combo’d with another new/forgotten skill.

Remember the short lived Mark of Protection + Dark Aura build that was around for all of 4 hours? Talking 4+ digit DPS in a game were most people had 600 hp max. Granted, that was due to a bug with Dark Aura doing damage to the user rather than life loss, but still…

Anyways, while I would like to see greater diversity, I also don’t want that diversity to come at the cost of balance.

Also, GW2 needs Edge of Extinction in all of its original glory. I consider EoE (and EdgeBomb) one of GW1’s most amusing skills (builds) of all time.

I just don’t see that it’s realistic to ask Arenanet to allow petless builds, making the ranger too close to other professions. Really, this is just flogging a dead pet and continued repetition just isn’t going to make it happen.

I miss pet evolution, and animal size increasing.

For those who didn’t play GW1, depending on how you played, your pet would evolve into a playful or aggressive animal. They would also get much larger with age. Nothing annoys me more about pets in GW2, than being a lvl 80 ranger and bringing out a “juvenile black bear”…

Kasama.8941:

I never played Guild Wars 1, but I really like the pet control in Guild Wars 2. For instance, when I can see a boss is about to cast a damaging attack, I can instantly call the pet back to me with F3, and then send in back in after the boss has attacked, with F1.

I would love to have some sort of utility skill set that is meant to improve the Ranger as a marksman. Like a skill that says “15 sec. Improve the range of your ranged attacks by 500”. Or “5 sec. Attacks that hit at 900 range or more has a 100% critical chance”.

Thats doable on guildwars.
And often in guildwars if you specced beast mastery youve got an industructable tank

Cant say I enjoyed bow as a Guildwars player, there is no Guildwars ONE.

Slow attack speed, only good for taking out turtles in Fort Aspenwood and sniping people.

As far as PVE went, Spear + beast mastery was the way to go, good condition stacks, high DPS, and self sustaining energy regen

Real marksmen in GW2 are Warriors, not Rangers.

I’d trade my SB even pre nerf + our pets for a Warrior Rifle and Adrenaline any day of the week.

GW ranger skills were so much more interesting … burning arrow, megabane shot, frozen soil (a must against roaring ethers), distracting shot, conditions/interrupts, … traps … beast mastery skills … overall very versatile. And different types of bows with diff specialties… hornbows, flatbows, recurve (my fav) plus great skins. So much fun to play. I enjoy my GW2 ranger, but I do miss the wider range of skills.