Guild Wars 2

Snow Leopard: Diego
Jungle Stalker: Scar
Polar Bear: Claw of Jormag
Brown Bear: William Shakesbear
Snow Owl: Sir Hooty McOwl
Reef Drake: Raffael – seems like a fitting name for a slow, fat, sluggish, stoned pet
Sylvan Hound: Game Mechanics – as my guildies like to put it: you need to make use of game mechanics
Shark: Found Nemo
Blue Jellyfish: Little Mermaid
Forest Spider: Fluffy McSnuggles

GW2 gives the option for trinity if you want. The simple fact that it’s not worth it and/or it’s not a viable option for dungeon runs/meta content is another thing.

It’s still a much better option to just “stack” in one corner and press auto-attack and 100b when up. I would like to see challenging dungeons, where all this stacking in one corner is no longer a viable option and people actually have to use proper utility skills.

When running fast dungeons with my guildies (we use TS and we kind of know each other for about 6-7 months already), I get jokingly picked at for not playing bow bear. I run sword/warhorn + axe/axe with bloodlust on one axe; grouped up with frost spirit and jungle stalker’s might it goes nicely. But then again, when we just chill and we want to waste 30m mindlessly in Arah, I swap my axes for LB (after bloodlust stacks are capped), and continue from that point.

What I do dislike: not having the ability to bring an edge in dungeon runs when using other weapons – like SB/LB. Other than that, even the pet is easy to control. You just need to be one step ahead and know when/where to guide your pet to.

+1 to many previous comments.

Haiducul Batran’s Wishlist for Ranger changes in 2014:
Pet
1st Wish = A more complex pet bar with options like Aggressive/Passive/Avoid Combat/Lock Target (pet will attack this target constantly while target is visible/alive/until unlocked/pet switched/Attack/Return to me/Sit/Sleep/Wait Here/Guard (area or targeted player), more pet skills (4 should suffice, 3 extra from what we have).
2nd Wish = Skills that do not rely on attacking a target should not cause your pet to start attacking (like fern hound’s heal, jungle stalker’s mighty roar)
3rd Wish = MORE PETS! \o/ (Phoenix, Griffon, Bat, Tiger, etc.)
4th Wish = More pet skills, maybe even the option to change your pet’s abilities
5th Wish = In regards to 1., having more pet skills for each pet (or a pool of skills and 4 equip-able slots) – having the pet using some of these skills when the pet decides it’s best. Or the option to switch between “Ranger can activate skills/Pet and Ranger can activate skills”.

Sword auto-attack is amazing. If you don’t know what that leap is, go have a chat with Subject Alpha in CoE p2/p3 and you’ll see. That’s a dodge. If it’s timed properly, you can auto-attack the entire fight while having a cup of tea. I’m kidding, but seriously, that’s an awesome skill chain.
And to break it you can use this massive tip: press Escape or even use 2.

Best fun ever is sword/warhorn + axe/axe and jungle stalker + snow leopard as pets.

We’re melee-ing him in one spot and have a long range character aggro the hologram. The player then moves somewhat behind Clockheart (so that Clockheart is between the player and the hologram).
Some other tips:
- When meleeing him, try to turn him around so that he tosses a player into a wall or something (and not into the middle bit).
- He doesn’t throw cogs if everyone is in melee range (at his feet, so to speak).
- You can dodge most of his attacks (easy to spot animations before each attack).
- In some cases, if the hologram is too far away from Clockheart, the kiter kills the hologram so another one spawns (in a more convenient place, hopefully).

All in all, it’s a really easy fight if everyone knows how the fight is/

To be honest, it really depends on how you look at things. Having Tequatl as a really challenging fight sounds all right to me and it hit the right spot. The problem with the coordination is that it wasn’t introduced gradually (from Maw onwards for example) and it was a kittenallenging at first, to get everyone on TS and whatnot. But still, we are talking about an open world boss here, not your usual champ. This is Zhaitan’s lieutenant and one of his champions, so I find it fair that the fight is hard.

In all fairness, our server has one weekly coordinated event, where most of the guilds show up and take him down. If you overdo it, it’ll become boring. But if you run it once a week, or twice a week even, you’ll get new players in as well and it still retains quite some fun (as most guilds have selected this as a guild event).

I wish you good luck in doing Tequatl and if you want to join us for our next run, feel free to whisper me ingame and guest with us.

I really feel like Lupicus needs more skills/vary from path to path. If you’ve done lupi 5-6 times you know when/where to go and he becomes really really easy.

I would like to see some massive end-game content like a dungeon where you’d have to fight all 3 dragons in one arena while Lupi runs around beating the hell out of everyone. And at the end you would have to fight Zhaitan. Which should have 5 phases, at least 5 skills/phase, 2 of which should be massive aoes. Members required: 10.

Imho, they should be account bound, like the tokens.
@OP, you can get the runes using AC tokens as well, they are sold by the vendor.

Lupicus:
Phase 1:
1. Summon Grub
2. Summon Swarm

Phase 2:
3. Shadow Walk (+knockdown if you don’t move)
4. Multiple AoE Plague Projectile (around the arena)
5. Single AoE Plague Projectile (target a single player usually)

Phase 3:
6. AoE poison (bubble)
7. Life Drain (targets a single player)
8. AoE Life Drain

I find Lupicus to be the boss with the best mechanics ingame. Toady is just a joke, wait for the AoEs, hit the crystal, take a shard, jump on the rocks. A bit like Jade Maw on FoTM bonus.

kesuh.3891:

NGraveD^ I think you mean Signet of Stone and not twice protect me :p

For the rest.. I have followed this forum most of the time and see people bashing each other and Q_Q about a lot of stuff and some guys testing dmg on dummies and making some work with math, but in the end… It still comes down to -> Who is controlling the mouse and keyboard..

So people can keep on argue to find the best build. What I did myself was make my own build and take it from there, polish it and use it in both WvW and PvE-> Find you own “Golden Egg” and cherish it!
Some are suited to play ranger, others are not..

Like most of the people has begin to say; Rangers are not that bad!

Yes, thank you for pointing out; forgot to re-check it. Edited now
My only problem is that people are mostly crying about DPS this and DPS that as if DPS is the only idea of this game. It’s a “casual game” and not an elitist-type game, where everything is counted in numbers.

Here’s my thoughts. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been farming Arah (since there’s no PvE content ingame; oh snap, I said it) just to change my gear (for the 4th time) and for the fun of it.

Build used: 30/30/10
Armor: Power/Prec/Crit with Superior Runes of the Ranger
Trinkets: Ascended zerker
Weapon: SB/S+W (with sigil of accuracy on SB) – S+W for the speed buff if needed
Pets in Arah: Dual Bears (for the tankiness)

Build: healing spring, signet of stone, signet of the wild (for the small constant healing and possible pet rezz during battle), protect me and rampage as one.
Up to Lupicus, I’m usually the last man standing, given the Signet of Beastmaster trait which turns into 12 seconds of invulnerability when followed by protect me.

I usually keep my pets on avoid combat to have protect me when needed.

The only change I’m doing is when reaching lupicus, when I switch protect me with Search and Rescue because now it works all the time. At this point it is quite mandatory to keep your pet alive as well since it’s so useful to have one extra party player that can revive players without causing any other risks to existing players. Suffice to say that everyone in my guild has dubbed him Combat Healer (though his real name is Claw of Jormag).
Why go for bears? It’s easy, they are the tankiest of them all and can take quite a beating when resurrecting dead players. What most people don’t keep in mind during Lupicus is that you can run on the other side of the arena and get out of combat, therefore getting your health back up and eventually reviving your pet if needed.
Using a shortbow from my point of view is great, giving the attack speed (0.5s/arrow) and the fact that with my setup I crit for ~1k (to Lupi), at a 60-80% crit chance. Another bonus to using a SB is having an extra dodge skill when needed, a cripple (when pulling mobs, this can be used quite nice to keep some of the mobs a bit behind) and a stun.
The only con I have with my setup is the low health/toughness which I’m using as a challenge for me, since I have to fight harder to survive (makes the game more fun), which I can manage almost perfectly now.

In the end, what I want to point out is that dungeons are based on parties and each player must perform all the tasks (dps, healing, support, reviving players, surviving, etc.). This is how the game was designed; no one can say that DPS is way since it wasn’t like this by design.
I find it awesome playing as a ranger and I’ll probably start streaming/record some dungeon runs if there are players interested.

Armor set: Arah (Orrian) except chest piece which is Krytan

Awesome idea, I love it!
The evolving pets is a bit GW1-ish and there it was actually one of the coolest features a ranger had.

Edit: I just had this in mind after making the post.
It would also be great if pets would be able to “dodge” once in a while, especially bird pets, instead of just mindlessly attacking like a pet rock

I honestly consider GS as a disgrace to ranger class and should be removed . Rangers should be allowed ranged weapons and 1h only.
That being said, I’m disappointed that we cannot use pistols/rifles.

To be on-topic: I have a suggestion about the dungeons difficulty/scaling.
1. First of all, AC is by no way a starter dungeon – keep in mind that new players will have this one available first, with story at 30 and explo at 35. If I were a new player and jumped into AC explo at level 35 I’d honestly stop doing any dungeons for the rest of the game. It’s way too difficult for this level. I’ve seen lvl 80 groups with exotics and so on that handle pretty well in other dungeons but have a tough time in AC.
2. Dungeons should be level scaled as fractals (but without actually having to select a level) – from my point of view they should be doable with a party that’s in/a bit over the recommended level but scaled up if the party is full 80 (as point 3. below explains the idea).
3. The scaling should be done in such a way to avoid having lvl 80 groups constantly farm a low level dungeon just to get the tokens/rares/exotics and precursors (sarcasm intended).

What I would expect (if I would be a new player/casual player):
1. Lvl 30 – AC story, doable with a lvl 30 group
2. Lvl 35 – AC explo, doable with a lvl 35 group that has lvl 35 equipment (as I’ve seen lvl 40’s with lvl 20 equipment for example). This is not the case unfortunately, considering the equipment available at this level.
3. Lvl 40 – CM story, same as above.
And so on with all the dungeons.
[n] – Arah – doable with a lvl 80 group, with exotics, good coordination, etc. etc.

I’ve honestly done Arah [1-3] on my main with ease, each time Lupicus on first try, but AC seems a bugger; and it’s not the bosses (they are easy as hell), but the way to get there is annoying.

This is in regards to difficulty. In terms of rewards: they should be according to the difficulty of the dungeon. Honestly, there’s no real reward for doing Arah except for the tokens. And that’s IF you want to get the skin, otherwise, there’s no point. I already have 1k tokens from Arah which I will never spend since I don’t like the armor skin so why should I go back? I’m always up for Arah because it’s a big challenging and it keeps me going but there is nothing rewarding from it. I’d honestly expect an increase in rares/exotics drops in Arah.

That’s my 2 PvE cents. Or should I say tokens?

Ok, who was it this time? Who unplugged the cable?

I just finished clearing up the Arah champ so we can access the dungeon, left the party then got disconnected. Now I am facing the same issue, cannot login.