Guild Wars 2

Most routers support UPnP. Most OSes support UPnP. This article, http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001367.htm, explains how to enable UPnP in Windows (XP-7, Windows 8 is similar to 7 (at least in NORMAL mode (with desktop :P)

When you have enabled UPnP (in your services it should look like this: http://puu.sh/3znHS.png) you do not have to think about port forwarding. When installing games/programs that needs special ports you get a popup from windows firewall to add exceptions for that particular game/app (choice between private/public networks (do not enable things you do not need when not at home on public networks – it is a security risk…) and when that is done you do not need to think about forwarding ports. Windows firewall will use UPnP to communicate the port forwarding requests to your routers NAT and everything will work fine! E.g. If you use UPnP on workstation/router you will allways get a “green light” in uTorrent meaning incoming ports are forwarded correctly.

I NEVER forward port, but of course there are situations where you have to do it.. Like on “ancient” routers without UPnP support. At least the last 4 years all my routers from dlink, zyxel, Netgear/Cisco – also most other brands, i believe, have UPnP support)

UPnP!!!! “Forgedabaudit!”

I want to address the elite skills. I (a charr) was SO happy when i got my first elite skill, the charrzooka! It lasts for… “60 seconds or 15 shots”.. Pick one please. It rarely hits anything that moves so for CC’ing you better be lucky. Therefore i’d prefer the 60 seconds at least (with unlimited shots OR a certain nr of HITS) i find myself usually firing where the mobs WAS. And it replace your other wepons so often I have to stow it before i’ve used all of it… It feels like just a fun gimmick you have to try a couple of times then, ok… not very useful in a “real” fight more something u pull out when hanging out just to show how cool it looks. If you’re supposed to be able to use it effectively it should blast the XXX out of a mob in a few blasts when enabled (not eneble THEN try to get the most out of it). It remind me of a costume fight wep more than a useful skill. But what do i know :P I think maby the inventor is just too amazed with how spectacular it LOOKS and thats it. Then you have the entangling vines! Maby helpful in a tiny situation when surrounded by puny mobs but then it’s better to just bleed them all to death in a couple of secs with your sword/torch combo. Why is it so useless? It’s too easy to get out of/don’t work on BIG mobs/…? Certainly a lot of better pvp players (than me) here have enough to say about THAT skill.. Then it’s between another spirit… (cough) and rampage as one! That is a good skill i’ll admit to that, but ONE good/useful elite skill (ok i have the mistwolfie from the “pay more” edition but i thought i’d leave that out since it’s a skill you pay for! Does not last long enough/dont do enough dps i don’t know. It looks cool though :P)

The ranger is a so essential profession in this sort of games and it really needs looking at. Please Anet if you read this. Start by doing some tweaks and feel it out. Listen to players, do not get too satisfied with your own creations that you forget that actually you are not the ones playing most of the time (i hope lol).
I will happily go through some testing! Try, fail, try something else, use the forums and whatever. I will stick it out in hope of a better ranger at the end!

(Is it me who don’t know where to look or does this game lack a beta server like wow has (or HAD for me rofl)?)

It cant be a coincidense that in my guild with ~40 members there are 3 rangers!!!

DancinPuppeh.8421:

Great suggestions, personally I love Ranger either way. But these suggestions would make the profession feel a lot more equal with other professions. I constantly feel under powered, especially with bows. I do Archery in real life and the bows completely disappointed me in GW2… Which I can’t say about many MMORPGS. Most MMORPGS I can instantly fall in love with the bow, and feel right at home. In GW2 using a bow feels like I’m giving myself a huge disadvantage in battle as a Greatsword or Sword will serve me better in a fight than a Longbow…

Exactly! I run the ranger all the time. It IS my favorite and it is because of the bow/bet combo. I do not want to “range” with sword and dagger!?? Lol well… As you clearly point out the bow does not feel powerful enough that is why i basically use it just to inflict conditions and grant might and health to my pet. It is “just” a crit machinegun (shortbow user) which i do not rely on to kill my foes.
I come from being a DPS warrior in wow and i loved to go behind the mob and kick his butt litterally. BUT I was envious of the rangers with their pets, their swift movement and all cool stuff. So I decided from start that in GW2 I would be a ranger on my main! I cant say I am dissapointed as a whole but it seems that it is not put together correctly. Like you say the BOW should be our main wep and, looking at the traits it is very little to spend on making the bow “cooler” other than a little bleeding on crits. I started my ranger build with axe/warhorn as secondary and found it useful. But then i tried the sword/torch combo and WOW I could litterally take down 3-4 mobs with just hitting the autoattack and tabbing! They dropped like flies in a wonderful spectacle of fire, colors and death .. THAT is what the bow should do. I did not sign up to be a ranger, so I could equip myself with a sword (and possibly a dagger instead of the torch) and essentially become a warrior with a pet! :-/

As said not too dissapointed but clearly something is wrong! U deal out your condition DPS and foes usually die, if someone can tank well then your cats may even survive…. But I feel there must be made some changes so the build is more versatile (not everyone wants to be a condition DPS machine)… In a large fight all your conditions is actually wasted because of the 25stack limit.

Give us some exciting traits that shines on our bows and make our pets survive and listen. Give us more controll over our pets. The sword/torch combo os straight out too powerfull imo it should be a “omg i am surrounded by warriors i need to stow my bow and get the hell outta here” thing.. maby with a stealth trait in there somewhere.

To finnish off I would like to add that the longbow feels useless, it should be much GREATER to deserve a “2 hand/one sigil” spot. The shortbow should rather be a one-hander (i know u need both hands on a bow but hear me out) and could be combined with something.. i dont know… hanging from your belt giving you some magic tricks in there to light some fires omg that would be amazing! AND then give you a second sigil spot!! It is painfull not to be able to have two sigils when on the bow. It actually sucks really much! At one point i used the sigil of bloodlust on the torch and actuallly went ahead and killed 25 “sillymobs” just to build get 25 stacks of .. eh.. bloodlust!.. Just to then swith to my bow and like “now i am ready” (please dont die…kitten^ i had to use the portal…)

sorry i have writing OCD i know … bYE!!

A big problem i face as condition ranger is that the cats die too fast. I try to buff them with carnivorus appetite and also loud whistle. It is not enough! In a long fight the second cat usually will go down if it has aggro.

As a squishy ranger you want the pets to get aggro fast but it also results in quick loss of pets hp.

What if:
- Pets react immediately on f3 (maby with some protection boon)
- Shorter CD on pet swapping or MORE time reduction on loud whistle
- Also agreeing on smarter pets. They just do what they are told when going into combat after that they kind of live their own life which don’t include “thinking” (or “listening” to your commands at all!)
- What if we had not two pets to swich between but two SETS of pets? Then u could start out with a pair of cats and if needed quickly swap to a set of bears (or whatever)..

Help the rangers! Please donate! :P