Guild Wars 2

The Ranger 1H Sword [main] auto-attack, which consists of 3 hits, locks you into the animation (meaning you cannot move or dodge) until it is finished. Only AFTER the entire chain animation is completed (after the 3rd strike, and before the next initial strike), do you get approximately 250 milliseconds to either dodge, or sidestep about a foot. Then it starts auto-attacking again and locks you down once more.

Is this really working as intended? I cannot see how that could be possible. I have several other characters that I play frequently, none of which are unable to move or even dodge while auto-attacking. Moving and dodging is vital for melee combat. If using a Sword as my main hand weapon is going to require a cast time per swing, as it does now – it should be INTERRUPTIBLE – meaning that I can break the cast/attack to dodge or move whenever I want/need. AFAIK this is how other classes attacks that root them behave (think 100 Blades), and from what I can tell with my other characters so far, none of them have an auto-attack that either roots them or creates a scenario where the player cannot move or dodge by breaking the cast/attack.

I absolutely hate this mechanic too, and really like the sword/torch setup aside from this bug (i sure hope it’s a bug). If it’s not a bug, then I suggest removing the sword as a weapon option for Ranger, as it breaks the game mechanic of being able to dodge incoming damage.

Barkebain.7194:

it breaks the game mechanic of being able to dodge incoming damage.

Seriously.

Can we get a response from the ArenaNet team about this, please? I love using main hand Sword as my Ranger but man…being unable to dodge or even move once you start autoattack? The heck is that about.

I don’t want to be forced into a different melee weapon set just so that I can dodge and move my character around properly.

Disappointed to see this issue not addressed in the 12/14 patch.

Why are Rangers who choose to use a Sword stuck with terrible animation lock? No other class or weapon combos have this pitfall. Again, being unable to dodge or even move while in melee (using skill 1 auto attack) is game breaking for Rangers that want to use a Sword. I personally know several other Rangers (some in my Guild) that refuse to use Sword, even though they would, because of this singular issue.

I thought GW was about playing what you wanted, not being forced into certain playstyles. IMO, this issue directly conflicts with that mission statement – I cannot consistently remain viable (read: alive) in dungeons, harder content, etc. with this issue if I choose to use a Sword, due to being unable to dodge/evade/move, or my third strike automatically jumping me into another mob.

For the sake of balance, I do not understand why this issue still remains.

Idolicious.6091:

Disappointed to see this issue not addressed in the 12/14 patch.

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My thoughts exactly. My preferred choice of weapons is a Bow and Sword/Torch and having this ridiculous bug where we get locked into place, unable to move around the target, is really beginning to ruin the game for me.

So come on ANet, either let us know that this is intentional or get it it fixed.