Guild Wars 2

There doesn’t seem to be any unifying logic to Ranger’s powers.

On one hand, they can control the elements (Lightning Reflexes, Thunderclap, Healing Spring, Entangle, etc.) On the other hand they have to rely on traps and tools to produce elemental effects (Frost Trap, Fire Trap, Torch skills). On the freakish third hand, they have to rely on summoned spirits for elemental control (Coldsnap, Quicksand, Solar Flare, etc)

The result? Rangers appear to step on Elementalists’ toes in some respect, detracting from the uniqueness of both professions. Ranger just seems like a mish-mash of other profession’s themes, when really, it should be the agile, “acrobatic” profession with limited control over plants/nature.

Lightning Reflexes could just be kickflip. Thunderclap could instead be “Root Trip” or something.

I guess my only real problem is with these two skills. I can live with the geomancy involved with Healing Spring, Entangle, and Muddy Terrain. I can live with the shamanism involved in Spirit Summoning, but the lightning is pushing it into Elementalists’ territory.

A spirit did it.

Did it ever occur to you that Lightning Reflexes could just be symbolic and not literal in nature? When used in daily life, the expression “lightning reflexes” just describes a reaction that is very quick.

Thunderclap could also refer to a inflicting a thunderclap headache via a blunt object as opposed to summoning lightning to daze foes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderclap_headache

In any case, your claims are frivolous at best, and nitpicking at worse.

Pikafan.3792:

Did it ever occur to you that Lightning Reflexes could just be symbolic and not literal in nature? When used in daily life, the expression “lightning reflexes” just describes a reaction that is very quick.

Thunderclap could also refer to a inflicting a thunderclap headache via a blunt object as opposed to summoning lightning to daze foes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderclap_headache

In any case, your claims are frivolous at best, and nitpicking at worse.

Well Lightning Reflexes actually strikes nearby enemies with a literal bolt of lightning. You can see/hear it. Same goes for Thunderclap, actually.

Lightning Reflexes doesn’t really bother me, I think it’s kinda cool. The spirits are a little elemental, but I don’t care too much. Honestly I think just renaming them would make them just fine. Spirit of the Sun, Spirit of Winter’s Frost, Spirit of Spring’s Storm, Spirit of the Earth. Those sound pretty ranger-y to me.

For one, it would be boring if they were named as such yet have animations that are plain and dull.

Rangers have the Nature Magic trait, which implies they should have some control over any element that has a relationship with nature.

The unifying logic is that they are nature wanderers. So they themselves have learned to imitate or harness some aspects of all of the nature around themselves, but they are not the masters of only a single aspect (such as the elements).

They "swoop" like a bird with Greatsword. They recoil-and-poison like a snake. From being out in them all the time they have some aptitude with the elements, although a fizzly sort compared to the true elements master. They amplify the effect by blending it with a woodsman’s tools, like traps.

Don’t think of them as relying on a trap to produce an element, they’re imbuing their already existing trapping skills with a learned affinity for the elements.

Pikafan.3792:

Did it ever occur to you that Lightning Reflexes could just be symbolic and not literal in nature? When used in daily life, the expression “lightning reflexes” just describes a reaction that is very quick.

Thunderclap could also refer to a inflicting a thunderclap headache via a blunt object as opposed to summoning lightning to daze foes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderclap_headache

In any case, your claims are frivolous at best, and nitpicking at worse.

You clearly haven’t seen the animations.

Don’t you mean “nitpicking at worst”?