Guild Wars 2

To the Thief class, why is The Ranger class always your 1st/Primary kill in WvW?
I also would like to ask other classs the same question as well.

Because most rangers are very unaware of their surroundings. They typically stand in the back of the zerg out of “danger” and are super easy to spot. Once attacked, rather than run to the safety of that zerg, they will usually try to get some range often showing their back to the thief. If you don’t want to be the thief’s target, try to stay in melee range more.

Mostly because most rangers have targetted attacks (Bows) making them an easy target for a stealth opponent. That and most rangers I see tend to be full glass(die easily) and the thief QQs on the forums are mostly from rangers. Their tears are delicious! Haven’t seen a regen/tank ranger lose to a Glass thief yet, though. Those guys are nasty little buggers. Some are tankier than the tankiest D/D eles and Guardians.

I don’t play a thief and Rangers are still my primary target in WvW.

Makes me happy when they do. Switch out to sword dagger and laugh because they thought I’d stay with my longbow.

Personally its because they are not a good class to let them sit there and freely attack. Most rangers in WvW are going to focus on range rather then melee so putting pressure on them will force them to play more defensive. It’s normally a lot easier for a thief if the enemy is consistently trying to retreat and rangers more known for it. Also letting a ranger sit there and pound on you while you attack someone else is going to end up badly for you.

Burnfall.9573:

To the Thief class, why is The Ranger class always your 1st/Primary kill in WvW?
I also would like to ask other classs the same question as well.

thats not true! a thief will always but always target another enemy thief FIRST!!!!!! not a ranger. if there are no thieves around then we will target rangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for the love of god can we stop posting QQing threads about thieves.

Because most rangers are bad. This makes it fun and very satisfying when a thief decides to attack good rangers

I generally go for Rangers who are targeting me as one of my priorities because he has large range and fast attacks so while I’m busy with melee he’s getting tons of free DPS, plus pets are annoying.

That said, if I’m playing thief, other thieves are my first targets.

Two months or so ago when uplevels were hard to find, Ranger was almost always the primary target. Their complete lack of defense and mobility makes it an easy way to drop dps hitting our group, and we can quickly move on to the next target.

dank.3680:

I generally go for Rangers who are targeting me as one of my priorities because he has large range and fast attacks so while I’m busy with melee he’s getting tons of free DPS, plus pets are annoying.

That said, if I’m playing thief, other thieves are my first targets.

Don’t worry, I run when I see the XOXO tag, anyway.

Another bad class design as example, they relly way to much on pet, pet makes damage pet revives, pet goes shoping, pet makes food!

The only ranger i saw playing it well on WvW was on the high cliff at the right side of overlook and north of ogrewatch with a full traited longbow, it could hit some targets near veloka as well (hitting 5k-8k on my guardian with 3.5k armor at that time).

Because most rangers are hopeless. I go for them first too, and i play a ranger.

Oh, they’re just so delicious. It’s like having your ice cream before your meal. Because we’re adults and can do that.

(and my main was a ranger, so this is coming from both sides of the coin)

I like when a thief tries to kill me on my ranger. Most of them are bad glass builds and I enjoy watching them run for the hills after my pet crits on one for 90% of their health. Very very few thieves can kill a ranger spec’ed right. Please target me first.

Rangers tend to stand outside of the pack alone due to their range. They tend to not use melee weapons well as most use greatsword for swoop and evade and nothing else. They are easier to stick to because most run around with movement signet, lightning reflexes, and zephyr instead of traps and the thief has enough movement skills to counter these. Most run condition builds, something the thief can counter.

Now that said, these same condition builds are also the insane toughness and healing power/regen builds making it near impossible for a thief to kill anyway since so much of the thief’s burst is front loaded and if you can avoid the opening salvo you’ve pretty much beaten the thief.

Most rangers think that they are Robin Hood too, prancing around in tights wearing a feathered cap and plinking away on a little bow. I like dropping them as much as a thief does.

Dovgan.8605:

Most rangers think that they are Robin Hood too, prancing around in tights wearing a feathered cap and plinking away on a little bow. I like dropping them as much as a thief does.

My ranger’s in a trenchcoat, tights, a feathered hat, and in lime green

Most Rangers treat WvW the same as PvE; they send their pet and then stand still while they pewpew with their LB/SB. They have no idea what to do when you manage to close the gap and get within melee range. I would be willing to bet this is due to LB/SB Ranger being a magnet for players who are keyboard-turners, etc.

However, that tanky melee Ranger build (I think mainhand Sword?) is really tough and fun to fight against. I don’t know why more Rangers don’t run this build. I guess it’s because they think using Barrage when you’re within Steal range is a better option.

Thieves first. Then ranged classes who will simply pincushion you… if it’s a rifle warrior, he’d be next.

Most rangers are bad.
Something about a pet class with long ranged attacks seems to attract people that dont move in combat are slow to turn around/dodge and stay far from their support. And they usually are squishy and dont use the pet properly.

Its very rare and surprising to encounter a ranger that can control you using melee weps and the pet properly. Some of those regen monster builds are hard to get down also. The traps one are not much of a problem if you see where hes puting the traps. Some dont even stand on their traps!!

On my thief rangers are a good preference target…
On my guard I just put a wall of reflection and let them kill themselves… They never stop firing! Some even like to pop quickness while shooting themselves to death!! go figure…

Stop building glass. that is all

Burnfall.9573:

To the Thief class, why is The Ranger class always your 1st/Primary kill in WvW?
I also would like to ask other classs the same question as well.

Not a thief, and rangers are generally my last target or nearly last, because they’re harmless. I concentrate my fire on the people who actually scare me: glamour mesmers (kittened confusion spam) and dagger elementalists (kittening pinballs). That being said, I never pass up an opportunity to kill a ranger if I happen to run into one, because they’re generally easy kills. If I have to kill a shield or flamethrower engineer or a shout warrior or something like that, we could both be there all day. If you’ve got any kind of snare to keep him from running away, and any kind of AoE to keep the pet from rezzing him, you can kill most rangers with an up-level’s auto-attack.

I play a staff ele, so I am in the position of being the other favourite target of thieves. However, I at least have mist form that lets me evade the initial volley and….rangers don’t.

Oddly, rangers are one of my favoured targets as well, mainly in that I have a reflect bubble in my earth abilities. Routinely, rangers unload into that….mangle themselves and then I set them alight and open up with what I have. As to the traps, I routinely walk over them….with no real effect.

There is one sort of ranger I run into from time to time that is the complete reverse of this and presents a real danger. That sort of ranger does not rely on burst, but instead seems to have a constant rapid fire. I don’t know much about ranger builds, but they seem distinct and are the only rangers that I have trouble with.

I think one of the problems rangers have is that pve for them is boring and easy. When they arrive in a pvp or wvw environment, they simply aren’t skilled or situationally aware. The staff ele, by contrast is used to constant risk and is highly mobile, frequently retreating and then returning when the situation is safe. The staff ele in WvW makes good use of allied players, but rangers are often loners.

I love scouting for my guild as a Ranger, I bring my sPvP build to WvW when I scout and whenever Thieves think I’ll be a easy kill they soon find out that it’ll cost them a repair bill.

Ketharius.9018:

I love scouting for my guild as a Ranger, I bring my sPvP build to WvW when I scout and whenever Thieves think I’ll be a easy kill they soon find out that it’ll cost them a repair bill.

^
This.
I’ve found out, thanks to this thread, that most people will underestimate me and therefore be a lot easier to kill.

Actually, I dominated a thief in PvP today who replied with “wow. Haven’t been rangered like that in a while.”

Also, a LOT of rangers seems to just link their skills on chat while standing still instead of actually using them…

;P

[Long Range Shot]
[Rapid fire]
[Rapid fire]
[Rapid fire]

Yeah I’ve seen some good rangers in spvp. A guy with a great sword was particularly fun once.

Because ranger’s playstyle is often silly. Stay in the same spot forever, shoot arrows. Don’t you dare moving, it’s pretty hard to find another comfortable hole to hid in.

That’s why they are easy to kill. In wvwvw, of course. In sPvP they are pretty kitten good, mostly because silly rangers don’t like sPvP (I’m wondering why :P)

Ironically, as a Ranger I aim for other rangers as well. They’re just so easy to take out most of the time…which is sad because you’d think that running any dungeons or any content other than open field PvE would be a wake up call to start practicing and being aware of everything. Rampage as One, Swoop, Maul, Hilt Bash, Flame Trap, Spike Trap, Frost Trap, switch to SB, and then just condition the hell out of him. You’d be surprised how many Rangers fall to that from one of their own…it’s facepalm inducing.

That reminds me, there’s this one thief in WvW who keeps PMing me whenever I make him flee or kill him, saying “I’m going to get you ****ing LB Ranger!” I find it hilarious, to be honest.

Burnfall.9573:

To the Thief class, why is The Ranger class always your 1st/Primary kill in WvW?
I also would like to ask other classs the same question as well.

If i tell you this my fellow thieves will kill me. half the reason you die …well almost half….is bc your pet. it allows us to CnD VERY easily lol and just ownage follows. try putting your crappy pets away. or just use them for KDs. rooting.

chronometria.3708:

There is one sort of ranger I run into from time to time that is the complete reverse of this and presents a real danger. That sort of ranger does not rely on burst, but instead seems to have a constant rapid fire. I don’t know much about ranger builds, but they seem distinct and are the only rangers that I have trouble with.

Shortbow?

I’m sorry but I hardly notice any Rangers in WvW, not that they don’t exist, it’s just that…hmm how should I put this…they are non-threat and non-priority.

I don’t waste my time on easy targets, I leave those to my team mates, I always target the ones that will give a challenge.

There was a Necro in WvW last night that actually got me irritated — never knew that fear can last so long.

Ketharius.9018:

I love scouting for my guild as a Ranger, I bring my sPvP build to WvW when I scout and whenever Thieves think I’ll be a easy kill they soon find out that it’ll cost them a repair bill.

Yeah I have a well-kitted level 80 ranger too that I play as pretty much the sPvP version. Good rangers, balanced build: 1v1 are a fantastic fight.

Well. Most rangers tend to stay outside of the group and most of you are pretty squishy. This is exactly those kind of targets any good thief are looking for. But hey! Rangers aren’t my first target: Thieves are. If there are no thieves around I’ll go for the Ranger.

Just try to bring a melee weapon and you’ll have much more fun fighting thieves. We’re pretty weak when first CC’d and in melee range.

Yesterday I was fighting a Mesmer and ranger in the enemy keep. The ranger was smart and used the npcs for defence, the Mesmer wasn’t and tried to rush me and had terrible positioning. Guess which one I killed 1st :p

The reason why rangers are USUALLY the 1st target is cause they tend to be out of position when fighting a thief, making them an easy kill. If a ranger is smart, they can be the hardest class for us to kill. Luckily, most focus on playing right vs a Zerg but play completely wrong vs a thief.

Geiir.7603:

Well. Most rangers tend to stay outside of the group and most of you are pretty squishy. This is exactly those kind of targets any good thief are looking for. But hey! Rangers aren’t my first target: Thieves are. If there are no thieves around I’ll go for the Ranger.

Just try to bring a melee weapon and you’ll have much more fun fighting thieves. We’re pretty weak when first CC’d and in melee range.

i agree with this. thief is first target bc they go down as fast as an upscale lol and alos have highest dmg output making them dangerous too……ive seen plenty of good GS rangers have amazing 1 v 1s. no excuses.

To answer bluntly: because a lot of Ranger players are just plain bad/unawares of what is going on during a fight(tunnel vision). Beyond that, if we are talking roaming/havoc, they can be quite a nuisance not only to us but to other group members(lots of cripples/locks/etc).

As others say, its really a mixture of things that the average ranger player does.

Standing at the back of the pack is the most vulnerable spot when there are thieves around, they aren’t going to hit someone in the middle of the zerg because of how little time it would take a group of people to kill them in that situation, the front of the zerg is even worse because you have the most alert people AND all the attacks you need to dodge past (else your just becoming an invisible meatshield for the guardian the shots where going for)

This means they are in one of the best positions for a thief to prey on, coupled with other glass cannon ranged users.

Secondly many many ranger players are not used to moving, considering how many rangers complained when the daily dodger was put in about how its hard for them to get and how they’ve never needed to dodge before… yeah well if you don’t learn/use dodge your dead, doubly so against a person whose damage would significantly drop if their target was moving/turning etc.

Then of course you have a couple of other reasons that some thieves may disagree on, rangers are actually a pretty big threat to thieves.

If they get to shoot at the thief from range theres not a great deal said thief can do, specially with moves such as rapid fire which channels through stealth and barrage thats a wide aoe that also slows down, and of course traps are a big bane to thieves.

Add in pets not forgetting about you the moment you stealth like 80% of the player base.

So its a mixture of picking on one of the easier targets for a thief and neutralizing one of the bigger potential threats, of course that doesn’t mean the thief is always going to win, theres lots of good rangers out there that can take thieves down.

My typical reasoning for going for Rangers first are:

• Pets = CnD fodder, so it’s easy to get free stealth most of the time
• The typical Ranger is pretty bad, not dodging many attacks, swapping to melee weapons and running into the middle of Black Powder smoke fields etc
• Steal is a heal, which helps to reduce risk of being killed
• If they’re at the back of the group, they’ve usually got LB equipped, the auto attack of which doesn’t very little up close
• Most rangers think they can go GC ‘cause their pet can tank (So they’re usually squishy)

This, of course, is based upon the “Average” encounter, it’s entirely possible for a Ranger to counter a Thief really hard (Traps, channeled abilities that continue through stealth, more traps, evades on melee weapons, oh god the traps)

Considering the other classes are usually naturally more tanky (Guardians + Eles with all their Boons, Necro’s with DS, Mesmers with Distortion and Confusion etc)

a single target alone is always an easy target.

always stay with a zerg in wvw and dont seperate or stay at the back.

safety in numbers

Rangers aren’t the easiest targets. Facing a good sword MH ranger is rather annoying and can quickly tick you down to death. Luckily in WvW (since this is about WvW I guess) a LOT of rangers don’t carry that set. tPv kitten omething entirely else.

Gwalchgwn.1659:

Rangers aren’t the easiest targets. Facing a good sword MH ranger is rather annoying and can quickly tick you down to death. Luckily in WvW (since this is about WvW I guess) a LOT of rangers don’t carry that set. tPv kitten omething entirely else.

I find the GS to be more fun against thieves tho. Well, I mostly run GC in pvp, so bash->maul really hurts. The way, I see it, sword for tanky melee builds, GS as a defensive sidearm for dps based ranged builds. Neither of them has a significant advantage, when it comes to fighting thieves, tho, they are both equally devastating in the hands of a skilled player.

Because most Rangers run Glass Cannon, which unlike most other glass cannons, doesn’t have a whole lot that can save you from getting jumped.

Most thieves basically will go for Bow Ranger, the smart ones avoid any Ranger that’s not using a bow..Cause it probably means they’re going to stomp you into the ground.

I fought a Ranger last night that was just insane… a trap Ranger with tons of boons, dodges, blocks, and tanky. In the rare event anything hit him it did such miniscule damage even with another thief and thieves guild and dagger storm. We could not kill it…

yeah tanky evade rangers have more evades than thief on top of other defenses, should you anger one that has traps your in for a butt whoopin’

Thankfully they didn’t place their traps well. They dropped them and ran so I’d use shadow steps to bypass them. So they couldn’t do muchto me but I could barely scratch them with the help of another thief and 2 thieves from my elite

Burnfall.9573:

To the Thief class, why is The Ranger class always your 1st/Primary kill in WvW?
I also would like to ask other classs the same question as well.

Because rangers are free walking loot bags to any thief with dagger OH, here’s a big hint, your pet isn’t helping you its hurting you and making my life easier, so put a leash on the kittenhing and you might survive, but probably not

I don’t particullarly go for Rangers first, but I love when I find one because right now they’re the easiest to beat (except some specific builds that not too many want as most love going glass for some reason) and because they hold my favorite steal item. That healing seed is great to sustain a Thief through the fight, specially a P/D Thief as the Sneak attack will have a 5*combo on the water field for a lot of regeneration.

Hopefully the Ranger will get a good update next patch (I really hope it is as good as it looks like) and your Pets will try to go to your targets back to avoid hits and will have faster reaction time and F2 activation among other nice things for the profession so maybe this changes

Experience has indicated that there are more bad rangers than any other class I’ve ever run in to. In WvW I’m generally not interested in the fairness of fights. I’m interested in my team winning. Taking out something that can function as a mini arrow cart and deal pretty significant damage with good range also helps cover the bads on my team, and is an easy way to remove a bit of ranged pressure from myself.

Also, I kinda like that they come with a free extra target for skills like CnD, HS, DB, and the D/P or P/D shadowsteps. Makes maneuvering where I want to be a little easier when fighting them.

In fact, I’ve fought, since release (In my probably 8ish hours a week of WvW on the weekends when I can afford to get sucked in to it) probably five or six rangers that really seemed to know how to respond to a thief. It happens so rarely I actually re-tell the tale to guild members when it happens.

“So, today I fought a ranger and he trapped his pos, pulled sword/torch, and messed me around with a warthog. Man, that guy was pretty tough.”

Every other class in the game I end up telling the opposite story about how I fought a dude that was just really bad. That’s why I go for rangers I guess. I need conversation topics.