Guild Wars 2

As it stands currently the rifle has a very niche role in Gw2, Back line sniping or roaming. When put against the longbow in PvE the Longbow wins on both Auto attack and skill damage + Utility. Even the overall damage done on [Combustive Shot] does more damage over time than [Kill Shot] does. (providing the target stays in the field for the duration).

Now what I would propose to create a wider use for the rifle across all game modes is to change the rifle into more of a brawling weapon; A shotgun. Built for your 0-600 or 0-900 range encounters.

Reason for the rifle being a shotgun rather than a sniper/machine-gun:

Lets face it, the warrior isn’t an assassin, we’re a brawling class, meant for close in your face fights. I can see the kill shot builds working for classes such as the thief and ranger but not the warrior. The purpose of this shotgun would be a short range cone cleave weapon hitting up to 3 targets in front of you. This would then allow the warrior to fit the shotgun into a melee bruiser build designed to keep up constant pressure in close range encounters. This would then allow for more utility and use for such a weapon. giving it that multi target range attack option.

Types of skills to expect:

1:
Frag shot (3 foes):
Fire a shotgun blast hitting foes in front of you, Will be a narrow cone aoe getting wider the further away the shots go, because of this being able to hit 3 foes the range would drop from 1,200 to either 600 or 900 being max range. (most fights arent done beyond 600 range anyway(unless in WvW))
Max range 600-900

2:
Slowing Flechette round (3 foes):
Fire a shell filled with flechette’s coated in a toxin designed to slow reflexes.
Causes 2-3s of slow
Max range 600-900

3:
Buckshot (3 foes):
Fire a heavy blast of shells at a foe causes more damage the closer they are to you and cause vulnerability equal to the distance from you (more vuln the closer).
High damage 0-200m 8% Vuln
Mid damage 200-350m +6% Vuln
Low damage 350m + 4% Vuln
Max range 600-900

4:
Beanbag round (Single target):
Fire a beanbag at your foe winding them and causing cripple to the foe.
Cripple duration 3-5s
(Can be made range dependant too, closer they are, the longer the cripple)
Max range 600-900

5:
Slugshot (Single target):
Fire a high powered round at your foe inflicting high damage with increased range.
Max range 1200m

F1:
High explosive round (Multi target AoE 5 foes):
Fire a high powered shot which explodes on impact causing a small knockback and damage.
Knockback range 50-120m (Small knockback)
Max range 1200m

Alright that’s my suggestion of a rifle rework to be remade into a shotgun brawling weapon, giving it more support to your party and greater viability for all game modes. This proposed change would give so much utility to the rifle and hopefully create a more enjoyable mid range combat setting.

Tell me what you think about this proposed change, what you’d suggest and what you like or don’t like.

So…turn it into a worse version of Engineer gadget stick?

I get the idea, but the thing you’re forgetting is that the Warrior is currently the only rifle user in GW2 that uses the weapon in a remotely rifle-like manner. The Engineer’s ‘rifle’ is a schizophrenic nigh-unusable mess, and ArenaNet has pretty conclusively demonstrated that the only other class with any remote chance for a rifle-style rifle – the Thief – is never going to see the weapon.

If the Engineer’s rifle is a crazy giggle-worthy gadgetstick, and the Warrior’s rifle is a shotgun now…where’s the class for people who want to use a rifle and fight like it’s a rifle?

Better idea, in my eyes, would be to correct the rifle such that it fits better with the general Warrior pace of battle and actually deals the solid, reliable damage it’s supposed to rather than being bad at the only thing it does. Gutting the thing entirely and turning it into a sword-range weapon does nobody any good. Better to make it a more interesting, dynamic rifle rather than saying “Warriors are bruisers. Let’s make this a melee-range shotgun.”

Half the reason Warrior rifle is awful is because it has zero trait support, with the only trait in the class that functions with rifles being in direct competition with the fantastic Warrior’s Sprint. I get that the Warrior has too many weapons for every single one of them to get an appropriate trait, but in that case one needs to re-examine what traits are out there.

Crack Shot is awful. The pierce does nobody any good outside of Wuv zergs due to the incredibly narrow hitbox of a rifle bullet, and with Gun Flame beaten into the ground they’ve removed the only reason to bother with Crack Shot. Repurpose this trait. The rifle is currently configured to try and keep distance between the Warrior and his target, if Aimed Shot and Rifle Butt are to be believed. Crack Shot competes with Warrior’s Sprint, which lets a melee Warrior easily close with his target. Why not make Crack Shot perform the opposite function for a distance Warrior?

“Crack Shot: Critical hits with Rifle inflict Cripple (2s). 2s ICD. 20% cooldown reduction for rifle skills.”

Now, Crack Shot helps a rifle Warrior keep his enemies at a comfortable distance, letting him better control their movement. Matter of fact, if I were to redo rifle completely…I wouldn’t. But I would adjust it for better interplay between its skills, as right now none of the rifle’s skills really work together or play into each other. They’re individually weak, and they don’t gel together into a stronger whole. Kill Shot is functional but boring, Volley is same, and neither Aimed Shot nor Brutal Shot provide enough utility to justify dealing poop damage. Compare the weapon to Ranger Longbow, which is much more functional while also being significantly less boring.

Rapid Fire has the same cast time as Volley…except it fires twice the shots, deals more overall damage, and also stacks more Vuln with higher uptime than Brutal Shot. This one singular Longbow skill is better than half the Warrior rifle skillbar.

Barrage is a big AoE that deals huge damage and cripples entire groups of enemies. Aimed Shotis a null-damage skill that cripples one enemy for a short time. Sure, Aimed Shot has a drastically shorter cooldown, but Barrage is significantly more interesting, has a much better payoff, and is just more fun to use.

Hunter’s Shot is an escape skill the Warrior gets no equivalent for, because the R-longbow does everything the W-rifle does in…what? Two skills? Ranger gets weapon stealth to clear out of trouble, and Warrior gets…nada.

PBS even manages to beat out Rifle Butt – RB may have a higher target cap, but PBS hits at 1200 range and thus because a ranged interrupt skill.

To be honest? Writing all this, it’s become pretty clear the only real problem with Warrior rifle is that it’s been ignored in every single gameplay pass the devs do. It’s never had the tune-ups, adjustments, or realignments things like the Ranger’s longbow have benefited from; it’s in the same crappy state it’s been in since launch, except the rest of the game around it has generally gotten much better. I’m not going to presume to do a Brand New Rifle Skillset…but it’d be nice if ArenaNet found a week or two with which to go over the W-rifle and see about tuning it to not only be useful, but also fun and interesting to use.

Since, y’know, it’s the only actual rifle we’re ever going to get.

To me as it stands, the rifle has a very boring play style to it. Its just a flat out ‘damage’ weapon. (Damage in quotations of course haha). I find that you can more or so essentially AFK with the rifle while playing, as the longbow forces you to aim your skills with skill shots. Its a mix of utility and player interaction which kills the rifle for me.

Ok saying they dont want to change the rifle too much, what if they were to change or merge the cripple in with vuln, so you’d fire aimed shot (which ironically is a hip shot) which would cause both cripple and vuln on the foe.
Then you could add in a new skill called [Blind Fire] where you fire (12x) shots in a small arc over the space of say 2-3s (like the new Zerker F1 skill) meaning some will miss, but up close the damage will be decent.

What gets me, is that even after the ‘Buff’ to rifle, the 1 skill does less damage than a longbow 1 skill… Now my Longbow is Cele, and my rifle is Zerker, yet the bow still does more damage per shot. Wasn’t the rifle made out to be the single target DPS go to weapon? As currently its failing on that goal.

I like your proposal, Smoosh. Anything would be better than the one-trick pony we have now.

It seems like the big problem is that only two classes can use the rifle, making it a weapon with a very small audience. ANet doesn’t seem to care, when they have so many classes that use greatsword, longbow, etc.

This does sound like a lot of fun and i would welcome the change for sure. Considering the rifle as a “sniping” weapon makes no sense as a heavy armored class. Changing it to a close quarters shotgun weapon would make things much more interesting for sure. we could make a warrior swat team!

It is failing on the goal of single-target DPS, but to me that doesn’t say “turn this into a sword-range shotgun kit instead”.

If I had my druthers and could pick any rifle set-up for ArenaNet to experiment with? Hmm, lessee…

1.) “Merciless Shot”: Damage, extra adrenaline against Vuln or Crippled targets.
2.) “Knee Shot”: Cripple your target with a precise shot to the knee (6s Cripple). If the target is already crippled, Immobilize them instead (2s).
3.) “Volley”: Fire 5 shots at your target (same shot rate as Rapid Fire, i.e. half cast time). If all five shots hit, the final shot knocks the target down.
4.) “Brutal Shot”: Vulns target. If target is impaired (same ‘impaired’ list as Predator’s Onslaught), 4 extra stacks of Vuln and bonus damage.
5.) “Rifle Butt”: Knock enemies back. If an enemy is knocked back, gain 33% increased rifle damage for the next 2s.
A.) “Kill Shot”: Deals damage. Deals X bonus damage if target is Vulnerable. Deals Y bonus damage if target is Crippled. Deals X and Y if target is both.

Off the top of my head, this would be the start of a better rifle kit. Adjust numbers as needed to be competitive with options like R-Longbow, but also give it options for harrying an enemy, making it a more offensive-controlling weapon that can inhibit the target’s movement. More cripples (via the new Crack Shot in my first post), an immobilize, a ranged knockdown, and if someone gets close to the Warrior through all of that, then Rifle Butt sets them up for extra damage as well as backs them off. Kill Shot rewards properly setting up the target with a huge spike of damage, and just overall the whole set gels together better. Knee Shot on crippled target to immobilize it into Volley to knock it down, after which you Brutal Shot for deep Vu;n and extra damage and/or Kill Shot For Big Deeps.

Is it an Absolute Plan for what ArenaNet must do this instant to fix W-Rifle? no, of course not. But I think something like this, tweaking up and adjusting the existing set and making it more cohesive, giving it a Plan, is a much better idea than gutting it and turning the ‘Rifle’ into a sword-range nonsense stick. If I’m in sword range I’ll use my sword. When I’m at rifle range, I kinda want to use my rifle. In point of fact, my Warrior was my first GW2 character precisely because I wanted to try for this sort of merciless-marksman plan, and I remain disappointed that I’m forced into random melee shenanigans by the fact that both the longbow and the rifle are butt.

Turn the rifle into a ranged harrier’s weapon, something that inhibits its enemy and weakens their ability to escape the inevitable Kill Shot. Don’t turn it into a random shotgun.

[Turn the rifle into a ranged harrier’s weapon, something that inhibits its enemy and weakens their ability to escape the inevitable Kill Shot. Don’t turn it into a random shotgun.[/quote]

a shotgun sounds way more fun lol. engineer rifle is somewhat medium range and its a blast to use. The rifle being long range as YOU describe seems to be a role filled by ranger already.

The Engineer’s rifle is awful. I wouldn’t quite go so far as to say ‘Horrible’, but that is a word that comes to mind when I think about it. So is ‘abomination’, but then again I’m sort of attached to the notion of rifles that are actually viable firearms. Weird, I know.

The E-rifle is an unfocused schizophrenic mess that has no idea what it wants to do or where it wants to be. Three of its five skills either create or maintain distance (Net Shot, Overcharged Shot, Jump Shot – all range creators), and four of the five skills on the thing are either utility or Power-based…but then the big-punch attack on the gun is a point-blank melee-range Malice skill?

What. The. Frog.

As well, by your own admission you enjoy the rifle as a wacky-hijinks medium-range weapon. Congratulations, Engineer has you covered. The Warrior’s rifle has been a distance marksman weapon since inception – turning it into a melee-range buckshot gun would immediately invalidate the builds of anyone who’s been using it in the role ArenaNet presented it as, and would also consign it to uselessness next to the Warrior’s existing staggering plethora of melee options. The Ranger’s longbow may be similar, but it’s also on the Ranger. If I wanted to play longbow Ranger, I’d do that. If I wanted a lousy, barely-functional shotgun kit, I’d use the rifle on my Engineer.

I would argue that a shotgun-style spec for the Warrior would fit better on pistol, and thusly be introduced as a new elite spec. Fix the rifle to actually do the ranged single-target damage job it’s supposed to, whether or not you also add in the extra control I theorized above, and use a new elite spec – provided we ever actually get new elite specs – to do the brawling melee-range gun thing.

No evidence has yet been provided for why gutting the weapon and turning it into a sword-range blunderbuss is a stronger alternative than making the W-rifle work in its intended role as a distance single-target killer.

Smoosh.2718:

As it stands currently the rifle has a very niche role in Gw2, Back line sniping or roaming. When put against the longbow in PvE the Longbow wins on both Auto attack and skill damage + Utility. Even the overall damage done on [Combustive Shot] does more damage over time than [Kill Shot] does (providing the target stays in the field for the duration).

wrong, wrong wrong. save for utility. full zerker rifle will always do more damage than full zerker bow. always.

Now, lets change this around, spec yourself for burn duration and a bit of physical damage, Sadly I could only test this with Rampager stats (and not sinister).
The longbow then actually does 3,398 more damage after all the skills are used once.

In the PvP setup.
Berserker amulet, and rune of strength.

The Rifle total was :
26,088 damage

The Longbow total was:
20,106 damage

So yes the rifle does do more in that scenario, but when you start playing with sinister gear (which yes will become important with the elite spec) the longbow then wipes the floor with the rifle.

Totals ranged from (Rampager):
25,047 damage (not speckled for burn damage (still in strength runes)
and
29,486 damage specced for burns (with the rune of Balthazar).

I should have put it this way instead of the way I put it.. but ontop of all this the longbow has greater utility all across the board, making it the only true viable ranged weapon… also you can AOE farm with it, if you are into that kinda stuff.

DevilLordLaser.8619:

The E-rifle is an unfocused schizophrenic mess that has no idea what it wants to do or where it wants to be. Three of its five skills either create or maintain distance (Net Shot, Overcharged Shot, Jump Shot – all range creators), and four of the five skills on the thing are either utility or Power-based…but then the big-punch attack on the gun is a point-blank melee-range Malice skill?

What. The. Frog.

The Engineer rifle is nice because it has so much utility. Even though some of the skills contradict each other (Blunderbuss vs. Overcharged shot), the best thing about it is that you have something useful for every situation. Need a hard-cc? Overcharge shot. Need a soft-cc? Net shot. Someone getting too close for comfort? Blunderbuss. Need a burst or mobility? Rocket jump.

It fits in well with the Engineer, because the Engineer’s kits have something for every situation as well. Look at the Tool Kit – same setup as the rifle; it gives a grab-bag of skills you can pull out when you need exactly the right tool for the job.

In that sense, the Engineer is more of a “weapon master” than Warrior. The Engineer weapon skills seem scatterbrained on the surface, but soon you realize that the best approach is to choose the right option for each situation.

Compare to the Warrior rifle: a short duration soft-cc on skill 2, and a melee hard-cc (on a ranged weapon) on skill 5, Rifle Butt. This weapon is a one-trick pony, because it has garbage utility, and the big burst Killshot has all the drawbacks we’ve beaten a dead horse over. Skill 3, Volley, is just a poor man’s Rapid Fire.

I love this proposal, even with skill tweaks the idea of making it a close range shotgun excites me and the prospect of adding utility to it even more so.

@DevilLordLaser.8619

I have to strongly disagree here. Engineer rifle is one of the best weapons in the game for me, and is the only reason I have run Engi main alongside Warrior. It fits my play style perfectly, and in fact, if Engineer didn’t have rifle I would never touch it because P/S, and P/P is both face roll and boring as kittens, in conceptual theme and in game.