Guild Wars 2

Just bought the game and trying to figuered out what class to play.. I have always played Hunter (WoW) Ranger (AoC) etc. in most of my mmorpg. But what are so speciel with the ranger in GW2, why is it cool? is it viable? great dps? and so on..

Make your best sales speech for the Ranger

Regards Atomet

What limited depth ever-inflated-gear-stats add to gaming experience is more than compensated with the seemingly endless build choices form the, what seems endless, combinations of Traits, Armour, Food and utilities, pets choices as well as the huge number of weapon combinations and sigils used.

GW2 has tremendous depth inside each and every profession and allows for thousands of hours of ‘fun’ gameplay!

In other words, its your game, your world, make of it what you want!

The best option is to NOT make a ranger. The learning curve is harder then climbing everest.
And once you get on top of it, all you see is a barren miserable wasteland full of despair, misery, setbacks and nerfs.

On the other side, if you stay pessimistic about the whole class, never expect any improvement beyond correcting some descriptions, and expect the most ludicrous nerfs you can imagine the class is simply a gem. It will always get nerfed hard, and when you think it gets a buff, or that it can’t possibly get worse, the devs find a miraculous way to nerf it yet again.

Good luck, with your ranger. I advice you to take some anger management classes before trying though.

LOL wow. That’s one of the most disheartening, brutally straightforward posts I’ve ever seen.

This class is one of the most broken classes since gw2 launch day. Broken traits, broken utility skills, broken weapons skills, broken pet AI.
DPS? sub-par
Survivability? only like one viable build
PvE? sub-par
Dungeons? like engineers, nobody likes us
WvW tagging? pretty bad
WvW roaming? on par. but somehow we’re getting some ridiculous pet nerf
Overall maintenance of the class? devs are slow at fixing us. fast at dropping nerf bombs

I mostly do solo/small group roaming WvW and my ranger is incredibly viable there. Just switched to pure melee and I love it. My damage is pretty good, but that is only so because I also have really good defense and healing too.

kiwituatara.6053:

This class is one of the most broken classes since gw2 launch day. Broken traits, broken utility skills, broken weapons skills, broken pet AI.
DPS? sub-par
Survivability? only like one viable build
PvE? sub-par
Dungeons? like engineers, nobody likes us
WvW tagging? pretty bad
WvW roaming? on par. but somehow we’re getting some ridiculous pet nerf
Overall maintenance of the class? devs are slow at fixing us. fast at dropping nerf bombs

actually, tagging is the only thing rangers excel at…. Axe #1 (bounces), LB #5 (barrage), LB #2 + Piercing arrows (piercing chaingun), SB + Piercing Arrows, Traps, pet AOE (Murwellow, Drakes, Devourers)

Prysin.8542:

kiwituatara.6053:

This class is one of the most broken classes since gw2 launch day. Broken traits, broken utility skills, broken weapons skills, broken pet AI.
DPS? sub-par
Survivability? only like one viable build
PvE? sub-par
Dungeons? like engineers, nobody likes us
WvW tagging? pretty bad
WvW roaming? on par. but somehow we’re getting some ridiculous pet nerf
Overall maintenance of the class? devs are slow at fixing us. fast at dropping nerf bombs

actually, tagging is the only thing rangers excel at…. Axe #1 (bounces), LB #5 (barrage), LB #2 + Piercing arrows (piercing chaingun), SB + Piercing Arrows, Traps, pet AOE (Murwellow, Drakes, Devourers)

No. Rangers excel at actually being a competitive profession. At least in PvP. If you don’t believe me send me a pm and we will dual. Though 1v1 is not an example of balanced play, skill plays an important part and I will gladly prove to anyone that ranger is a great profession.

I don’t win every fight, but I make the other person really work for that win.

Joey.3928:

Prysin.8542:

kiwituatara.6053:

This class is one of the most broken classes since gw2 launch day. Broken traits, broken utility skills, broken weapons skills, broken pet AI.
DPS? sub-par
Survivability? only like one viable build
PvE? sub-par
Dungeons? like engineers, nobody likes us
WvW tagging? pretty bad
WvW roaming? on par. but somehow we’re getting some ridiculous pet nerf
Overall maintenance of the class? devs are slow at fixing us. fast at dropping nerf bombs

actually, tagging is the only thing rangers excel at…. Axe #1 (bounces), LB #5 (barrage), LB #2 + Piercing arrows (piercing chaingun), SB + Piercing Arrows, Traps, pet AOE (Murwellow, Drakes, Devourers)

No. Rangers excel at actually being a competitive profession. At least in PvP. If you don’t believe me send me a pm and we will dual. Though 1v1 is not an example of balanced play, skill plays an important part and I will gladly prove to anyone that ranger is a great profession.

I don’t win every fight, but I make the other person really work for that win.

before you think i dont know about rangers… i got 5 chars… one level 80, thats my ranger, the rest, not even level 20… I spend more time on that ranger, then many people spend in total. So before you go on a bragging crusade, you should just know, I know the shortcomings of this class, this is why i wont reccomend it to anyone but those who really really want to play it.

If you come asking “should i try this”, you obviously arent cut out for it. A ranger isnt someone who made a new char for fun, it is someone who one day made a ranger and told all his friends “i made a ranger today, deal with it”

I am not bragging. I am stating facts. I am a respectable ranger on my server and I worked hard to get there. I want to encourage others to play this profession because it truly is very strong and has a lot to offer. I have played my ranger since headstart because it was my favorite in GW1. So yes, I made a ranger for fun.

OP: My best advice to you is play whichever profession you want. Don’t worry about being kitten or being seen in a negative light. Because it is extremely satisfying to prove people wrong

Ask anyone in the WvW community on Isle of Janthir if they know Estel Wolfheart. Their answer will further backup my points made here.

Keep your pet close and go kick some butt.

Like many people said in the post, save yourself the trouble and dont roll one. I always play Ranger, Hunter like classes in MMOs and well i regret doing it once again on GW2. If you want to use ranged weapons you can roll a warrior which have better support, damage and better everything plus can use rifle or longbow. Thief can use shortbow, Mesmer have Greatsword as ranged and so on. Ranger traits suck, complete traitlines are useless, the pet? lol and the problems just keep coming, with the upcoming pet damage nerf and probably messing one of the few viable builds we have is not even worth the it. SAVE YOURSELF, pick another class and dont look back!

Make a Ranger if you love the aesthetic, otherwise pick another profession.

Ive been an Ele main since i started. and i rolled a ranger cause i was bored…well i got it to 80 a few days back and decided on making a build based off of the regen-bm which i call Condi-gen313 (Condition, Regen, 0-0-30-10-30) and i have never had so much fun!

its great for wvw and pve questing. the abilities are exciting and action packed and youre able to face any class 1 on 1 without feeling the urge to snap your keyboard over your head.

to make things sweeter…..thieves are no longer an issue with their crappy play styles.

Roll a ranger bud….just level it as fast as you can and enjoy your hard work after that.

hyjaxxx.1584:

Ive been an Ele main since i started. and i rolled a ranger cause i was bored…well i got it to 80 a few days back and decided on making a build based off of the regen-bm which i call Condi-gen313 (Condition, Regen, 0-0-30-10-30) and i have never had so much fun!

its great for wvw and pve questing. the abilities are exciting and action packed and youre able to face any class 1 on 1 without feeling the urge to snap your keyboard over your head.

to make things sweeter…..thieves are no longer an issue with their crappy play styles.

Roll a ranger bud….just level it as fast as you can and enjoy your hard work after that.

BM condi-gen build is similar if not the same as Xsorus’s BM bunker build. It’s a very fun build to play but good quality thieves will always be a problem, if it’s a true 1v1, i’d say it’s 50/50 that you’ll take out a good thief. I use this build in WvW using chills on swap and spike trap with entangle and have been wreaking havoc on 1v1 with thieves…of course there are exceptionally well played thieves that just reset and have very good regen and that fight usually ends up being 1) interrupted, 2) 50/50, or 3) dragged out so long that we both just stop, /bow, and leave each other alone (yes there are some respectful players out there still)

The ONLY reason to play Ranger is for the pets, Ranger pets are Amazing. Dont let anyone tell you otherwise.

Ranger is similar to Engineer in many ways, we rely heavily on combo fields. But rather then using Turrets as combo finishers we use our pets. An understanding of this will give you the edge (On other Rangers and Engies) in PvE and PvP.

Solo PvE – Rangers are amazing. Once you learn your skills and how the class works, you should never get downed. Its the best class of all in Solo content.

Group PvE – And that’s where the praise ends. Rangers are rather meh in groups.. I mean, we arent so bad people cry when they see the paw icon, but we really dont bring much to the table, we can do damage if our pet is alive, but most rangers dont micromanage. We can chill/Cripple/CC things, but most groups only want Raw damage and time warps… We are in line with Necros, Engies, and Thevies, all whom have strong points but just dont rock out 100b under a Time Warp. Perhaps Mes/War/Guard/Eles just need a PvE nerf? Dunno.

PvP – Again.. Meh… yeah we have one of the unkillable bunker builds but Bunkers as a whole are dumb and broken. No one wins. You just sit there until the other guy leaves. That’s not PvP that’s being a Wobbuffet. Trap Ranger and a few other rare specs exist but don’t expect to face roll like the PvP big-shot classes.

One thing though it seems to me impossible to run the same build in PvE and PvP -unless you consider hiding behind a massive zerg PvP. Every other class I run the same build and gear -any change dose not require a re spec.

Dear Atomet, i think you should try out the ranger for yourself. I made one about 2 weeks ago, and i really, really enjoyed it (mostly PvE, but it was my first character that i tried PvP – both spvp and wvw), and just out of curiosity i came to the forums to read what other people think of this class. So many people are complaining about the ranger – the traits, the pets, the utilities and everything, and they say it gets much worse after lvl 55. So i got kinda sad, went back to the game and asked my guild how’s ranger at endgame. One ranger said that out of his 4 lvl80 characters, ranger is his favourite and he’s having a blast with it. Somehow this cheered me up, so i just continued playing my ranger.

I’m not saying that everyone who’s being negative about the class is wrong, but so far, i don’t really feel all those setbacks they are talking about. I’m just playing and i’m just enjoying it as it is. And if you go to other professions’ topics you will see a lot of the same negativity and complaining about how bad given class is in this and that… i think there’s no other way than to go and see it for yourself. Whatever people say, i couldn’t ever drop my ranger because i love it now.

This is how the conversation went with my wife:

“I want to make another character.” she said. “Don’t roll a ranger.” I told her. “Why not?” …. “Have you not heard all the *****ing I do when we’re in a dungeon about my pet!?” I exclaim loudly. And I get a deer in the headlights look. “Have you not heard all the *****ing I do when it takes forever for me to kill something?!” I exclaim loudly again. Yet another deer in the headlights look. “I’m going to do it anyway.” she says. “Fine.” … a few weeks later … “I don’t know what you were talking about. My ranger is fun to play.” she tells me. I look and she is only level 15. “Just wait until you start going into dungeons. Then we can talk again.”