Guild Wars 2

BroScientist.9875:

In wvw if you’re attacking on top of a wall/keep at enemies down below, your pet just sits there and does nothing. Your pet is supposed to be an extension of yourself and is meant to deal a large portion of the damage that you yourself would otherwise do alone. So why doesn’t he have the AI that would allow him to run down the stairs and outside, attacking foes that you are aiming at with your bow? This is very frustrating, considering that no other class has this problem.

Welcome to why Rangers are gimped. I was discussing the Ranger issues with my friend who’s a thief. He didn’t understand why Rangers had issues. His solution was “just respec your traits”. I laughed. Some classes just don’t realize how gimped the Ranger is.

1. It’s the slowest class, which makes zero sense.
2. In PvP it’s one of the lower end classes of DPS.
3. It has zero escape skills.
4. The traits available are laughable. Out of all of them maybe 3-4 are useful.
5 .The slots skills are almost as bad as traits. Only 3-4 are worth it. The rest are trash.

Welcome to the world of Rangers. My guild of 400+ had a roll call of mains the other night. I was the ONLY Ranger (left).

Use short and long bow. Spec max into Power, Precision and Crit % with your gear and weapons. Then spec max Power, Precision and Vitality with your accessories. This combo gives you max damage output and enough health where you can take several hits.

For PvE stick with the bear. It hold aggro like no other pet and it lives a long time. And, if you’re specced or max damage the mob will be dying in seconds while it’s focused on your pet and not you. Your secondary pet should be a ranged AOE animal like a spider.

Don’t care for the ladder. Would make it way too easy. All you’d need is a Mesmer to toss up a ladder and get on top of the wall, then portal everyone in.

Thief killed me in less than five seconds last night, using stealth and all sorts of stabs. So no Rangers are not “perfect”. They are not even close to perfect. While the class is better, there are many issues with Rangers (in terms of balance with other classes). We are still the slowest class. We are still on the bottom of the DPS meter compared to many other classes. We still have no escape skills or boost to attack skills (that really make a difference).

We are Rangers. We’re suppose to be fast, agile and sneaky. We are not right now.

marquees.6230:

I know, right? I demand a /hug emote! For WvW of course…. (grins)

Yes, /hugs and /cookies emotes need to be added!

Vodka.3958:

henlarious.5329:

A quick thumbs up to [ICoa] and Commander Dark Embers last night on Eternal Battleground. We were getting crushed by SoR and IoJ. I was about to leave after we lost Klovan Tower, Jerrifers Tower, Wildcreek Tower, Rogues Supply, and Golanta Supply. Once [ICoa] and their Commander got on the map we turned it around quick.

We ended up getting it all back and taking Quentin Tower along with Danelon Supply. We kept it all and farmed SoR for about two hours. Good battles to everyone on that map last night and thanks to Dark Embers for leading. By the end we has pushed SoR off the map.

I particularly want to thank him for speaking in chat without talking down to players. Most times Commanders just kitten or yell at pugs or players not in their guild. I’m not in a WVW guild and only WVW a few times a week. It’s nice not getting yelled at or called names when I decide to WVW.

He’s one of our newer Commanders but this feedback is definitely a + for his reputation. Thanks for the shout out we really encourage all our 32 Commanders to not be D-Bags when it comes to WvW. On another note; to Hire from IoJ… It was an enjoyable experience to go against your guild in the late hours. ICoa wishes your guild the best in Ehmry Bay and hope we have the chance of going against you again in the near future. Good luck!

Was a good battle Saturday night on Eternal. A little crazy running between three points of interest, players did well following my half typed out commands in /team and /say

Until next time.
PS: While I’m new to ICoa, I’ve been a Commander for almost two months now. Just on a different server where leading pugs and casuals were the norm

There only needs to be one fix to thieves that is fair:

1. Place a ten second cool down on ALL stealth abilities.

Right now they can go stealth three times in a row using different skills. They need to change this so the stealth portion of those skills cannot be active if they were just stealth. As of now a thief can pretty much stay stealth all the time during battles.

cipher.7438:

I love how people recommend switching servers for a week then coming back to my original server just to get a couple POIs and Vistas. Yeah, like I should spend $50 (1800 gems each way) for this plus try to gamble even more during off-peak time to get back onto my home, Tarnished Coast, which is already busy. Let alone I’ll be isolated from my guild during that time. Yeah, awesome plan. >.<

Would be much easier if Arenanet just fixed it and rotated servers each week instead of having locations based on rankings from the following week. After all, they’re all the same maps, so why even have duplicated Waypoints, Vistas, and POIs in the first place?

The fact that you don’t even know server transfers are free…really makes you look…idiotic.

PvE – Bear (keep aggro and tons of health)
PvP – Jag (they stealth)

In regards to pets I would love to see any of the following:

1. Better regeneration or survivability. I would love to see pets either regenerate quicker or be able to dodge attacks better. This could be based on animal (bears have fast regeneration but dodge less, cats have slower regeneration but dodge more).

2. More health. While I understand a pet shouldn’t have a ton of health, it should be able to stay alive for more than 2-4 hits. A Mesmer pet stays alive just as long as our pets do and they can respawn 10x faster.

3. Being that a Ranger is primarily an archer, it would be great to have some sort of pet buff while using bows. At the moment it’s more effective (to a degree) to be a melee Ranger (in certain situations) due to the lack of DPS of bows.

Good battles on Eternal yesterday. Shall we see more today?

Here is the short and sweet version for casual/new players:

1. Supply and siege is what wins WvW battles. Use both wisely because it can make or break losing or getting a point of interest (camps/towers/keeps). Always pick up supply and always help build siege.

2. All points can be upgraded. There is an “upgrade” NPC at all points. All upgrades require supply (reason why not to take from towers or keeps until fully upgraded). Upgrades make A HUGE difference in defense – huge.

3. When building siege in a tower/keep place them on the inner side on top of the walls, else they can be destroyed by players. Just one arrow cart can deter 20 incoming enemies. Again siege is key. READ the description of each siege so you know what to use. Each has specific use.

4. When speaking in chat be specific about THREE items: a)How many enemies are coming b)Point of interest name c)% of gate or wall damage. For instance don’t say “BG coming to tower”. Instead say “20 BG at Langor Tower. Gate at 75%”. People appreciate this.

5. Don’t assume there is one strategy to win. There is not.

6. Points is what wins so know your points: Camps (5) Towers (10) Keeps (25) Stonemist (35). Every 15 minutes each server gets points based on the points of interest held.

That’s all you need to know.

Please. My cousin is a thief and even he says he’s insanely overpowered. He’s also got a 80 Mesmer and says that class is overpowered in PvP.

I’m calling it as I see it. If you honestly think thieves are not overpowered you’re wearing blinders. Also, I was suggesting just ONE of the three items I listed be applied…not all three. Just one would balance out the class. And, don’t even try to compare ranger pets to stealth. Ranger pets are like gnats (and their DPS is the same). Unbreakable invisibility is ridiculous to have as a skill. You really want to compare ranger pets to unbreakable invisibility? Really?

Great fight this round between FA and Yaks. FA was able to get back into the game and almost win the round, but late Wednesday and Thursday Yaks seemed determined not to lose. At 10pm EST on Thursday the score already showed it wasn’t mathematically possible for FA to catch up. FA would have needed to keep a constant 500 points for 23 hours to win.

Regardless, great fun on both sides. I think if FA didn’t fall back so quick on Saturday and Sunday we would have rallied to win it by Friday. Good fighting and strategy on both sides.

Now, if only we can get a round where THREE servers are equally active in WvW.

I know your frustration and the answer is two classes: Thief and Mesmer. Yes, the Ranger can have a stealth under very odd situations. But, 99.9% of the time the Ranger does not have stealth.

Stealth in PvP is very overpowered. So many Thieves and Mesmers have escaped death by using their stealth and Thieves are the worse since they have two they can use back to back.

It is HIGHLY overpowered.

As of right now a guild cannot change its guild tag. Is there any chance this will change in the future? Even if it’s a paid service?

It’s sad to see this.

After the first three days Yaks and FA were civil to each other on this threads. You read a lot of “nice fight” , “nice work”, etc. Now, all you see is “hacking”, “cheating” and server transfers.

Sorry, but when FA fell behind this past weekend I congratulated Yaks for working hard and pushing strong. Now that FA is coming back with a chance to win all I read from many Yaks are excuses. Maybe we did get transfers, maybe we didn’t. But, is that cheating? No, it is not. Is there 100% proof we got more population? Or, is it just more players are playing WvW. Fort Apsenwood IS NOT a 100% WvW server. Most players are PvE focused and only WvW casually.

I won’t get into transfers and hacking because I don’t have facts. All I will say is FA fought back with strong effort and we’re in position to win this round. If the roles were reversed I would not cry or whine about Yaks play.

To win as a server it takes everyone, not just a few large guilds. It only takes 3 players to take over a supply camp (5 points) and you can take down an empty tower – with a ram – with 10 people in less than two minutes (10 points).

All in all this is a game. No need for sore apples. Show some class people.

Just pointing out on Monday I posted that Fort Apsenwood could come back and win this round even being over 140k behind Yak’s Bend. Many players disagreed.

It’s Thursday morning at 1:00am EST and Fort Apsenwood is less than 40k behind Yak’s Bend. The map points are 500+ FA and only 100+ YB. Like I said before this is a war not a battle. If you keep on fighting, controlling supply camps and using proper siege any server can come back. Without the orbs, it’s very possible and now this is proof. Nice work FA.

As for the accusation that FA uses hacks. 100% not. Sorry, but if we did use hacks we would not have gotten our kitten kicked by Blackgate and Tarnished Coast back to back. Maybe there are one or two hackers (as all servers have them) but in general FA does not have hackers.

FA did well today. Several good Commanders were on and we took over Eternal, Fort Apsenwood a good portion of Yak’s map. Here is a screenshot of the score this afternoon around 3pm EST.

For those who think FA cannot come back and win, you don’t realize how powerful the orbs were. Now that they are gone it is VERY POSSIBLE to come back and win. It is only Tuesday. The war doesn’t end until Friday.

We have strong Commanders (and bad ones). I suggest players of FA start looking at what each Commander is doing and even asking them.

I know certain Commanders focus on towers and keeps while others prefer focusing on camps and defense. Communication is key.

Slamz.5376:

The main reason the Borderlands got what action they did is because of the Orbs. Big-name guilds usually went straight there and fought for orbs. “Eternal Battlegrounds is for noobs” was the catchphrase. People tolerated the slower pace and fewer options of borderlands because it was so critical to capture and hold the orbs.

Funny. I always saw it the other way around. Borderlands were for noobs who wanted to be lemmings and follow one huge zerg around…pounding at a tower for 30 minutes without going anywhere. In my experience Eternal has more strategy and better players. I hate Borderlands and love Eternal if nothing else for the reason that siege matters more.

After destroying our previous opponents I was happy to see Yaks Bend. But, I already knew they were a proficient WvW server. From the tone in chat most players on FA didn’t take Yaks seriously, even after several attempts from me (explaining that Yaks is “no joke to WvW”).

I played four 4 hours after reset. It was a good battle, but my group knew Yaks would take over once we went to sleep.

While I enjoy Fort Aspenwood, our WvW population is very “sensitive”. Players only play when we’re winning and when we’re not the casual WvWer is always complaining and whining. We’re a fickle bunch. When we do well we’re awesome, but it’s annoying because the majority of our population act like children when the going gets tough.

Nice work to Yaks. But, with the orbs gone it’s MUCH EASIER to come back and win So, my message to Fort Aspenwood and even ET…don’t give up and fight. The battle is 7 days not 2 days.

Understand, there is no such thing as only giving the Commander Title to those who “deserve” it. There is no test to take and no qualifications that would make everyone happy. So, we move to the next best thing – WvW experience.

The Commander’s Title requires a player to attain a total of 2000 points and 100 gold.

1. Player takes a keep – 25 points.
2. Player defends a keep – 5 points.

3. Player takes a tower – 10 points.
4. Player defends a tower – 3 points.

5. Player takes a supply camp – 5 points.
6. Player defends a supply camp – 2 points.

7. Player kills another player – 0.5 points.

What this does is force a player who wants the Commander Title to actually participate in WvW. If a player can accumulate the above tasks to total 2000 points, they at least have the experience to be a Commander. Now, having logical thinking or common sense is a toss up.

Bottom line is this title should not be based on PvE, guild or other items. WvW is WvW.

Disen.8620:

Commander status should be bought with influence points through the guild and should be voted for by the guild members themselves on who gets the title.

I.e. Commander status costs 2,000,000 Influence Points and whoever gets it must be resolved by the people in the guild themselves

This basically means that the guild and its members has been there long enough to accumulate the huge amount of influence points. This also encourages bigger united guilds as opposed to smaller scattered guilds.

Sorry, but just because you’re in a small guild SHOULD NOT be a reason a player cannot get the Commander Title. Guild size has nothing to do with leadership and most large guilds are just random zergs. While I agree 100 gold flat out isn’t the best solution, forcing it to be a guild matter is ridiculous and stupid. Influence has NOTHING to do with leadership – NOTHING.

I would much rather see requirements such as:

1. Must take over 200 towers/keeps.
2. Must have X amount of hours in WvW maps.
3. Must have 1000 kills.
4. Cost 100 gold.

Those four combined would be better than anything that has to do with guilds, etc.

I’ve been participating in WvW since launch and I love that aspect of the game. I’m working on my Commander Title because I see too many players trying to lead without understanding that it’s very difficult to lead PUGs. I come from a small guild, we used to have 20+ active and now we have 3+ active. But, I’m still in WvW having fun. I have 3 of each print on me at all times. I also realize the importance of supply, something most players HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT.

While I agree the Commanders Title should not be just something you can buy, you can argue the other side as well. Just because a person has X amount of kills does not make that player a good leader. It’s very easy to follow a zerg around and get badges. There are also issues with the Commander Title overall:

1. Too many players on the maps try to lead. Everyone thinks their way is the right way.

2. Too many players don’t follow direction. Again, this will always be an issue in PUGS.

3. Commanders do not have the ability to create groups. This is the ONE feature that must be added. If I’m the Commander with a squad of 20 I should be able to make two groups of 10 and send them off.

4. In general chat there should be a way to differentiate when a Commander speaks. You cannot tell who is saying what in /team or /map or whatever. It could be the moron who thinks aiming at Garr for 30 minutes straight is a great idea.

5. Don’t blame the Commander if he sucks. I know most of the Commander names, and I know which ones are good and which are bad. As a player in WvW you should know within a few days of seeing a Commander if he/she is worth following.

There’s no question there are flaws in the system, but forcing someone to get 100 gold for this title is pretty steep. I’m almost there and let me say farming 100 gold is HARD WORK. The bottom line is there is no clear cut way to decipher if a player is “worthy” of the Commander Title.

Been playing a Ranger since BETA and everyone in my guild agrees that this class is underpowered. This is particularly apparent in PvP compared to other classes. I would love to see something along the lines of:

1. Increasing Long Bow range. Even if it’s by 10 or 20 feet. It’ s a “long bow”.
2. Increase trap damage. Most of them are total jokes in terms of damage when most opposing players have 15k+ health.
3. Why are we the slowest class in the game? Ele’s have swiftness (air) and vapor as escape skills. Thieves can go stealth and have quick movement. Mesmers have everything. Rangers are too slow.

I could go on and on but I hate complaining.

Event farming with a Ranger is pretty easy and if played well you get more loot drops than any other class. Since most events have two spawning points of mobs I always place two traps for one spawning area and safe my Barrage for the other spawning point. This way I tag both areas and get the max amount of drops.

I switch to short bow as often as possible for the quicker attack and you can’t go wrong with Piercing Arrows.

Fort Aspenwood is doing well this round because on the night of the restart we were already going hard against TC (who beat us). As soon as the restart happened (I was on Eternal) we rushed to get Stonemist. Once we got that it was pretty much over.

When GW2 launched FA was always full in WvW, then the activity really dropped to where there was no queue. Now, it seems back to were there’s plenty of activity. We have several good groups and commanders.

Rack.4930:

It’s a totally nonsensical consideration that only exists to fuel the cash shop. That’s just what it is. You can mitigate the amount it makes the game worse without spending real money, but you can’t exclude it totally.

When it comes to suggesting changes the only sensible ones are to abolish the fee entirely or to have an alternate gem item that mitigates it in some other way. The concepts of making money and making the game better are wholly at odds.

I agree they lower drops, gold and other items to make gold so more people will buy Gems for gold. There is NO REASON a player cannot go farm a location for 1-2 hours if they want. There is nothing wrong with that.

The fact that the restrictions are specific to stop players from getting gold…is crazy. I mean, I can’t even farm for crafting mats because the mobs stop dropping them!!!! The other night I went for blood vials and literally out of 50 (yes, I counted) kills only 5 mobs dropped loot.

Fortis is a North America based guild on Fort Aspenwood. Our membership numbers are 20+ with almost a dozen level 80 players. We are not a zerg guild. The majority of our members are RL friends, guild masters from other MMOs and several “pro gamers”.

1. We have active members leveling up who just bought the game.
2. We have active member who head into Borderlands every night.
3. We have active members who run instances (just did level 80 Arah instance last night).

We use vent but it’s not required (only for instances or PvP). If you can hold your own and want to play with people who enjoy the game, give us a try. If you want someone to hold your hand, we are not the guild for you. We’re friendly and helpful, but we’re not babysitters.

There is one rule: No drama. Just fun. Contact Dark Embers, Lyss The Cunning or Exploithomefry in-game for more information or an invite.

I’d like to see a crossbow for Rangers. Longer range than both bows, slower, but higher damage. It would be more of a sniper weapon.

Fortis is a casual guild without many rules. We do PvP on a regular basis and it’s a blast! If you’re just looking for someone to run with during PvP or even PvE check us out. We’re mature, laid back and friendly.

We have a site but you don’t have to sign up, in fact 7-10 of our members aren’t on the site. We just chat in-game and most are RL friends. Also, we do talk on vent but you’re not required to log in. Though during PvP it’s a little more fun.

You can find me ingame as Dark Embers or Lyss The Cunning (officer).

http://www.FortisGuild.com

At this point all spirits are useless. The only one is the epic skill that heals all allies.

I was surprised there is no direct trade between players. But, I believe it is for two reasons.

1. Without direct trade ability more players are pushed to the Trade Post. This feature is a money sink and increases the amount of items players can find. This supports the economy.

2. Without direct trade there is less possible scams.

3. You can easily mail someone items, especially since the mail system is free and instant.

There is black dye. Look at the Trade Post. On Fort Aspenwood there are at least a dozen or so on sale.

I read in a Forbes article GW2 had over 400,000 in head start.

Interesting. Ever since they removed the XP from the WvW escort quests I have gotten in with a max wait of 10-15 minutes. Before that I was waiting anywhere from one hour to two hours. The issues is…unless they increase the cap nothing will change. The only way for you to get in is if someone leaves

I agree the Mist is the best way to go because there is never a queue. Borderlands, for most servers I’m assuming, has a queue. Also, I agree it does not make sense the waypoints increase in cost with level. It should stay the same. But, I understand why they did this…all games need money sinks

Sometimes it’s just lag. Try exiting out of the Trade Post and finding your item again. This happens to be off and on. But, make sure to ONLY PRESS BUY ONCE because if you keep pressing it you’ll be buying it several times.

My friends and I were on Maguuma, then moved to Fort Apsenwood for the WvW. So far we love it. Borderlands is fun and we’re on vent running around doing all kinds of good

I do know the Trade Post is almost like a browser application. You should post what errors you’re running into for people to help.

A reminder to players who are still looking for a guild, we are still looking for active players. Most of us who are 80s are focusing on finishing up PvE items and running instances, as well as heading into Borderlands every night.

If you’re looking for a group for Borderlands please come by. It is so much fun as a group We are not looking to become a massive guild, just enough players to enjoy the game.

Please find “Dark Embers” or “Lyss The Cunning” for an invite. You can find more information at FortisGuild.com. We are on Fort Aspenwood.

Level 80 Asura Ranger here. Been 80 for 5-6 days already.

1. The short and long bow have the same range at 1200. While it’s understandable to think the “long bow” shoots longer, it does not. Both bows have identical range.

2. I use both my short and long bow during PvE and PvP. As a ranger (if you don’t use melee weapons) you basically have ten attacks. Depending on the situation you can use short or long, or a combination of both.

3. For PvE my short bow is used the most. For PvP/WvW my long bow is out more often, but I still switch to short depending on situations. Because the short bow does faster damage and bleeds, if you have a pet out (such as a bear to tank) you can DPS the target down very quickly.

4. For straight damage comparison, my experience shows me the short bow is better due to the faster recharge and bleeding. But, it’s very situational. If you’re in WvW and come upon a group of players the long bow is better for its “death from above” attack and rapid fire. But, once I use these two skills I switch to my short bow for bleeds.

Overall, both bows are very viable and the best DPS output is when you use both based on the situation at hand.

PS: Also, something to keep in mind. In your Traits you can make your arrows “pierce” meaning they go through anything that’s in the arrow’s path. So if there are two targets standing behind each other you hit BOTH with every arrow (even if they are not targeted). I do this all the time while farming and in PvP it’s key and also the reason I prefer the short bow in many situations.

Fortis was formed by a group of friends who’s MMO experience goes back to Ultima Online, Asheron’s Call and Everquest.

We are looking for active, friendly and mature players to join our ranks for nightly PvP. Our members range from level 20 to 80 (we have three 80s). While we are PvP focused, we do not ignore PvE and happily help others when needed. You’ll find us leveling up, farming gold or just exploring the world. We are active on vent and encourage players (especially for PvP) to be on vent.

Please find “Dark Embers” or “Lyss The Cunning” for an invite. You can find more information at FortisGuild.com.

WvW is always more fun in groups! Join in!!!