Guild Wars 2

First off you can perhaps lower your detail and post processing, less shinies and so forth and you can see the character models better. It’s a massive fight, and really this is what you would expect to see.

What perhaps should happen is that there should be content for Solo or small groups where these same characters can be fought. Of course, at a much scaled down and toned down level of difficulty.

I think that’s what GW2 is missing, and I’m surprised since the ability to scale encounters seems to be there.

However, once there are 30 or 40 players at once, I’m not sure how much animation etc. you are going to see.

I would also like a UI indication of attack telegraphs as well. However, I think at first people thought this was a “feature”. I think they can make UI based telegraphs optional.

I would like instanced PVE content for players or small groups, that would scale.

So it could be a mission, almost a mini dungeon, included with each DLC that is related to that DLC.

This should also be repeatable…infinitely. And preferably without an interminable grind first ;-)

The scaling would mean that the difficulty could be adjusted manually as well. So one person could scale the difficulty to a group of 5 for example. Or a duo could scale to a group of 4 depending on skill level and the type of challenge a person/group wanted.

This would add an amazing layer of content and achievement to each DLC that a small group of players, or the solo player can enjoy over and over, and at their leisure. This was similar to the Queens Gauntlet type of events, which challenged the player and was repeatable (albeit frustrating at times).

Although what I am thinking is more something along the lines of missions in the Personal Story, just repeatable and with different challenges not all designed for Open World , group/raid play.

In fact…like the Queen’s Jubilee which introduced the Gauntlet, perhaps we could have a Hub created for these DLC Solo/Group missions. I think we had a repeatable mission with the Scarlett content as well. We already have the Fractals type of Hub. Something like that aimed at the Solo, Duo, or small group of players.

I’d like to see more of this. Something that would appeal to a broader base of player styles. And that can be accessed at will. In a year someone may even be able to level up an Alt by playing through these DLC missions perhaps, experiencing something enjoyable each time.

I can see some Asura opening a dimensional anomlay to different dimensions where the players can assist in various ways. And his lab would be the hub or something like that. Numerous story ways to get players into instanced, repeatable content.

I’m not sure that a two week release of DLC really counts if that DLC is temporary (not counting seasonal DLC). I can’t imagine a Call of Duty map being released for two weeks only, for example. The players would riot!

I think an In-Game polling system is the best form of feedback from the userbase.

Yes, in the game options you should be able to Opt-Out of it. Key polls can be sent just as new Event notifications to the player’s in-game Mail. They click it, it pops a user interface asking a few questions.

Attach some silver to the poll or something like that to incentivise people to answer the poll. Or a Poll Participation achievement of some sort that advances based on the number of poll questions you answer.

Just adding a poll to the forum will leave you in the same situation where only those that read the forums will provide feedback, and that entire situation of “Forum Bias”.

I think just trying this a few times you will find a LOT more and varied feedback from players and it will reveal perspectives that you may never have read on the forums, or heard at your in-person developer meet and greets.

I really, really think that for true Collaborative Development, feedback and communication systems need to be integrated IN – GAME. Yes, the vocal and motivated minority will perhaps use the poll system more but I think even casual players will make some use of it, which is more than they are doing now. The majority of the people I play with have never visited the forums, or the main website, or any of the other related websites to find out information.

They just go directly into the game. The game is their source of information about the game.

The external WIKI is ok…but it still requires the player to leave the game. Also, not many people know about it.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Because this build is outdated and predates any useful NM changes by almost half a year.

Sooo…when ya gonna update it?
Hmm? hmm?
when?
:)

This is great information Thanks much for this!
I find the Effective Damage value of Longbow to be very high though. Even from closer range, it seems quite good.

To achieve this target,though, so many things need to be optimal.

Whereas a warrior needs to be geared (berserker gear) with one weapon (Greatsword), with one skill (hundred blades) off cooldown and perhaps a buff, and he can match that or come very close. Or he can trait for the Axe and hack away with his autoattack and come close.

It feels as though we are chasing a DPS target that our class was not designed for. All of this ignores our pet, which is where our real damage and/or support is supposed to come from.

Basically if we want to do incredibly high damage from our own weapons, we should all be playing warriors.

A comparison of DPS against other classes, or even within our own class focusing solely on weapons doesn’t give a true impression of the Ranger and what it’s about.

It’s about the pets. All 20+ of them.

It’s ridiculous. But from the developer PVE live video on Friday, they think it is fine and working as intended.

I am not hopeful it will be changed at all. And therefore while it may be a great weapon, we aren’t going to see most rangers using it.

Questions:

Why don’t we have AOE damage reduction for pets to make up for their poor AI abilities and the problems with attempting to micromanage them?

Why is one of our best DPS abilities , the sword, so exceptionally clunky and difficult to use, requiring the player to do things like time animation frames, or cancel animations by using an ability then quickly dodging right after etc. ?

What is an effective, in the view of the developers, PVE build for Dungeons with the Ranger?

How do they feel the class stacks against the Warrior, Guardian and Elementalist for Dungeon play. What does the class bring to the table in those group situations?

Why isn’t ranged combat, which seems to be what the majority of people play the Ranger class to experience, more effective? And if it will never be on par with Melee shouldn’t this class have been called the Hunter or Woodsman instead, removing the idea of “Ranged” combat?

Are there any short term plans for improving play with the Ranger, or is the class considered to be " in a good place" now?

Are we going to see more balancing that separate PVE from PVP so that the class can be more enjoyable and provide a smoother play experience in both?

I think this was poorly planned content. It is designed for massive groups of players , which isn’t feasible for any type of content.

The massive groups last for the first day or two, then dwindle.

The content scaling doesn’t work effectively.

I really wish they would implement feedback In-Game instead of relying on forum feedback.

I didn’t travel to Kessex since the patch, but this is the type of things that the living story should be about. Awesome.

I have to disagree that pets are not a good mechanic.

They have great utility with their different attacks, control options, and unique powers. You can make great use of your pets for multiple situations.

The issue with the Ranger is one of balance. You cannot have a character that can do high DPS alone, and then adds high DPS pets to that as well. And balancing DPS, health, and toughness between the Ranger himself, and his pets seems to be posing a problem for Arenanet.

I recall during levelling my Ranger when pets were a lot stronger and did more damage. That was great fun. Now the pets do less damage, but have a lot more health.

The issue about AOE killing pets very quickly, and the unnecessary micromanagement required is another issue.

These could be due to technical limitations, balance issues, or sheer oversight by the developers. But I think it’s a large negative to playing the Ranger class in Dungeons.

The idea of the Pet mechanic between Rangers and several different pets is a great one. I wouldn’t want the class to be any other way.
But for it to work properly there needs to be a lot of time spent balancing. The combinations of each pet type, each pet unique power, and all the traits and skills of the Ranger is just mind boggling. And making sure that we don’t end up with a bear doing 4k damage, and the Ranger doing 5K damage and out DPSing everything in the game, is something that takes great care.

I still think that a blanket reduction in the Damage from AOEs on pets in PVE would go a long way to alleviating some of the problems. However, they gave us more pet health in lieu of that. And Ranged attacks…somehow those need to be made competitive for the Ranger class with melee damage. Would that be unbalanced? I don’t know. But it is the reason why 99% of people pick the class in the first place.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed levelling my Ranger? :-)

Here is some gameplay from another popular game that has their own version of a Ranger class. This is how I think many people expected the Rangers in Guild Wars 2 to play at range