Guild Wars 2

In my opinion the issue your haveing is that your useing all berserkers equip. Berserkers stats are great for produeing insain damage (yay!) But you are going to be very squishy. That goes for any class useing full zerker not just engi. I would recomend starting out by switching to maruaders gear as you will see a decent jump in survivability and a very tiny loss in damage. If you still find yourself being to squishy you can try one of the amulets with toughness or healing power.

As for the “wet noodle” part engi isent a class where every skill does super damage rather its confined mostly to a few specific skills that HAVE to land. The berserker stat set favors things like granade barrage hammer 2 and 3 and rampage (god its so funny.) So if your fighting and not consistantly landing those skills your damage isent going to be as increadily high as you would expect from that that stat set. In my experiance engi dosent not lack damage at all it just requires timeing.

I am just wondering is Ancient Seeds not suppose to proc on Spike Trap I mean I would understand cause that would be crazy but spike trap IS a launch and Ancient Seeds does proc on launch.

Swaping Trapper’s Expertise and Strider’s Defense would defiantly make the short bow a much more desirable weapon on any codi build. I cant imagine why anet put both Trappers Expertise and Sharpened edges in the same tree but I really hope they come to their senses.

InsaneQR.7412: Concussive Shot apply daze and confusion (2 stacks for 6s), stun 2 if you hit from the side or behind(+1 confussion stack) . Knock down if foe is disabled (Stun, daze etc.)

I am really liking this suggestion. I it would give this skill good synergy with pets, traps.

Personally I feel like the short bow should be a mobile ranged condition weapon. Its should not be a weapon that can be spammed but rather a weapon that becomes stronger with the right positioning. I think I speak for most rangers in saying I actually really like the positional requirements of “Cross fire” the only problem being that “Cross fire” is pathetically weak. I think its a really cool idia to get the other shortbow weapon skills a similar mechanic to “Cross fire” I.e: If you your striking form behind or side you gain an additional powerful benefit.

My edit is up let me know what you guys think. Let me know if there is anything I missed.

Thank you everyone for your continued posts! Some of your ideas are really great! I am going to continue to update my original post with your feedback. Lets keep this bumped and hopefully the devs will see it and the shortbow will get some of the changes it so desperately needs.

Basically yea. They blow more now than they ever did. Whats funny is the patch that made them immobile happen months and months ago but some of the spirits have not had their effect range increased to compensate. Nature spirit for example still has the same 240 effect range it always had but now its immobile . . .

Thank you very much everybody for posting on this and adding your suggestions. I edited the original post with a few updates based on your feedback. Let me know what you all think!

-A Collaborative Thread By The Ranger Community-

Ever since the condition damage update I feel like shortbow is probably the the most underwhelming weapon that the ranger has which is sad because it is our only real “ranged” condition damage option. A base range increase to 1,200 would be very nice. A base damage increase of all weapon skills by 10% would really help this weapon fit into a “hybrid” kind of niche.

Crossfire: Inflicts one stack of bleed for 3 seconds when strikeing a foe from behind or the side . . . Considering bleed damage is pathetic this skill is really bad. I would Increase the bleed to 3 stacks for 2 seconds when striking a foe from behind or the side or I would make it so the bleed is applied no matter where the arrow hits.

Cross fire: Maby make it into a chain attack that bleeds every hit regardless of direction but on the 4th hit will cause a few stacks of torment for a few seconds.

Poison Volley: Fire a spread of 5 poison arrows. This is a really great skill that kind of defeats the point of shortbow as you have to be in close combat to use it. I would suggest making this skill a single 900 ranger projectile that that inflicts 5 stacks of poison on hit. This change would make the short bow feel alot more like the ranged weapon it is. (as has been suggested before.)

Poison Volley: A single arrow that inflicts 5 stacks of poison and inflicts a poison field if it strikes from behind or the side."

Poison Volley: Rapidly fire 5 arrows that splinter on impact dealing damage and applying 5s poison around the target, also applies 3s torment if flanking.

Poison Volley: Maby make it so its a single arrow that aoe (250) 5 stacks of poison on hit.

Quick Shot: Fire a quick shot in an evasive retreat. Gain swiftness if shot hit. This is one of the only skills on the shortbow I think is fine. Maby a “pet cripples for 3 seconds on its next attack” kind of thing would be nice but i really dont think its nessary. This skill should be a projectile finisher.

Quick shot: Maby add a “you and your pet gain superspeed for 2 seconds on hit. Projectile Finisher.”

Crippling Shot: Fire an arrow that cripples and adds 1 stack of bleeding to your foe. This is deffintaly one of the most disipointing skills on the shortbow. I would suggest removeing the bleed on hit but allowing to skill to add an additional 3-4 bleeds stacks if the target is moving when struck as a way to help out shortbow bleed stacking.

Crippleing Shot: Still cripples but remove the single bleed on hit and applie 4 stacks of torment for 3 seconds if target is moving while hit.

Crippleing Shot: Increase the Cripple duration from Crippling Shot by 3seconds. Your next 3 attacks inflict Torment if your target has 3 or more conditions on them.

Concussion Shot: Daze your foe with an arrow, stun if strikeing from behind or the side. I think this skill is fine.

Concussion Shot: Keep the same but add a few stacks 2-3 of confusion when striking from behind or the side. Alternatively gives 3-5 stacks of confusion when interrupting a foe.

Concussion Shot: Keep the same but add 1 stack of torment and 1 stack of confusion for 3-4 seconds on hit from behind or the side. Alternatively add 2 stack of confusion and 2 stack of torment for 3-4 seconds on an interrupt.

Concussion shot: Concussive Shot apply daze and confusion (2 stacks for 6s), stun 2 if you hit from the side or behind(+1 confussion stack) . Knock down if foe is disabled (Stun, daze, knockdown.)

Maximum potato: Concussion Shot: Stun your target, based on how far away they are from you.
(900-600 range: 0.5s)
(600-300 range: 1s)
(-300 range: 1.5s)

If anyone else has any suggestions for the Shortbow please post them here. Hopefully the Devs will see it.

If it was suppose to be a water field then it should look more like a water field (it should be a circle.) I love that it is a water field it is pretty great I just want to see it made into something that who ever you are fighting has to be mindful of.

@Puck: I would LOVE to see the other pets get damage increases because your right if someone is running around they don’t hit. I totally think that my pet should be something that whoever I am fight needs to be wary of. People shouldent be able to just ignore what your pets doing and then kill it with unintentional cleave. With that being said with the unrelenting assault mechanic being as powerful as it is smokescale still needs a nerf. I would however love to see all the other pets get a strong buff.

I am sorry as a DPS ranger I do not support this play style at all. For the good of the game the smokescale needs a nerf. Like you say however I do not want to see it nerfed into the ground. The problem is that the smokescale not only has a smoke field (which is absolutely amazing) but it is doing the damage that other pets do fully buffed unbuffed. Unbuffed the smokescale really should only be hitting for about 5k not 9-12K.

I know its a water field. Even so the skill is still pretty weak.

“Sublime Conversion” the staff number 5 skills strikes me as very weak. It is a very small wall that converts ANY projectile into 162 healing for 5 seconds. Like most wall skills “Sublime Conversion” is pretty difficult to use espically considering its short duration. In my opinion the skill in its current state really dosent punish an enemy who shoots through it or reward the ranger for using it in the right place at the right time. In order to Fix this problem I think the healing received should be drastically increased to something like 800.

Sublime Coversion is a skill that is very difficult to use and is also very weak. Considering how small the wall is 162 healing per projectile is not really enough to do anything. I would like to see that number increased drastically so the skill will actually punish an enemy for shooting though it and reward the ranger for placeing it in the right spot. I really do love the idea of the skill I just think in its current form it is to weak to be useful.

And how long was PU left unadressed?

I would really appreciate if you Devs would get around to fixing Nature Spirit. As it stands this spirit is immobile and has a 240 effect range. I really would like to see that increase to 1000 like all the other spirits so Nature Spirit can stop being useless. Thanks!

Can we talk about how that abusive PU Mesmer was allowed to run rampant for months without any sort of fixes before getting an insubstantial halfhearted nerf. Meanwhile while “Heal as One” was nerfplosioned into useless a mere 24 hours after it had been released? Can one of you Devs please explain that? I would really love to hear how that happened?

I think its something about Taunt that is canceling my pets F2 skill. The circle goes down but the pet doesn’t attack (chilling slash). Its wierd.

I think it might be the Taunt trait that is causeing it. Anyone else haveing this problem? Also Spirt of Nature still has the same 240 radius its had since the stupid “spirits are now immobile” patch months ago. Hopefully anet will fix both these problems soon.

No it still does not which is unfortunate.

This spirit still has an area of effect of 240. This is ridiculous please update it to 1000 like all the other spirits.

I think the developer has truly out done himself with the Druid spec. Irenio you are godsend for the ranger class. Yay you! I love the druid. I cant wait to be one.

Can we give our elite skill “Spirit of Nature” a 1000 effect range so it can be like all the other spirts? Right now its at 240 and thats just sad for an Immobile ELITE skill.

All I really want to see for spirits is a baseline area of effect increase. The Nature Spirit haveing a 240 effect range just isent cute at all. To compensate for the spirit being immobile it should at least be able to effect the fight it has been placed in. Give it like a 1000 or 1200 range so it can actually help your ally’s rather then just making them aoe bait.

Spirits really need some baseline changes to even start to be viable. An area of effect increase to start to compensate for them being immobile. I like the ideas for the trait posted above. Hopefully someone will look at this.

Honestly I think druid looks amazing. I think the designer really out did himself. When I think druid I think a spell caster that uses the power of nature. The moon and the stars are so much a part of that and I think it fits perfectly. Not only did they make the druid look absolutely stunning they gave ranger a niche. Haveing strong team support in addition to whatever else the ranger is trying to do makes ranger useful for the first time ever in team play. Maby the ranger is never going to be the master of everything and if that is what your looking for go re-roll an ele but at least now it has place.

Please fix spirits . . . If your going to make them immobile at least make them strong. Nature spirit is an ELITE skill that is immobile and only has a 240 radius . . .

Irenio has been a godsend for the ranger class. Everything he has done for the ranger looks like its amazing. With the being said I feel like “Spirits” being the rangers strongest group support ability still need some fixes. The first of which being Spirit of nature which is an ELITE skill that is immobile and only has a 240 range on its effect. Sprites being immobile really kills their usefulness but as long as Anet is heart-set on them being immobile they should at least make them stong and able to effect the battlefield they have been planted near.

I think they said they would do that last patch. Instead they made them useless.

I thought that but it did not mention Spirit of Nature. Only the other ones. 3 stacks of stability per seconds would also be great considering the only other places a ranger can get stability are Signet of the Wild and Rampage as one.

I think it looks amazing! Perfect. Its a caster. I feel like druids are suppose to be.

Spirit of Nature is an ELITE skill that is immobile and has a 240 radius. This skill has great team functionality because in order to receive its benefit your team needs to stack on top of it so they can be aoe’d. Please do something about this.

PS: I really LOVE what has been done with the Druid. Spirits however still need some fixes.

I will kill them because killing is fun.
~ Cascade, Charr ranger ~

I am probably going to quit.

“Sword
For sword, there were some minor tweaks. Precision Strike was made a whirl finisher because it made sense as your character is spinning around, plus the skill needed a bit of help.
Unrelenting Assault was a bit strong after the last set of changes so I slightly increased the recharge to have a lower window between evade times.

Precision Strike: This skill is now a whirl finisher.

Unrelenting Assault: Increased the recharge from 10 seconds to 12 seconds. Fixed a bug so that this skill will more report damage as a multi-hit skill allowing it to stack up damage per target rather than displaying each instance of damage individually.
Staff"
_________________________________________________________________
Unrelenting Assault is bugged so if the rev uses it and someone teleports/charges away from them it still follows them no matter the distance they go. Please fix this its ridiculous.

For some reason I cannot download this patch. The problem is not on my end. I have tried everything (repairing game files/restarts/different target addresses) I uninstalled the game and cant even download the client. The download speed goes up an down and after about 5 minuets just goes to 0 and stays there. Its been 3 days and I am getting really frustrated. Is anyone else having this problem?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-second-beta-weekend-event-begins-september-4/

Ranger and Engi left out in BW2. It really is annoying especially since those classes are the ones that need the most help.

Seriously that new Warhorn sound needs to GO. I do not want to touch my characters face with something that makes human pooping noises.

Unfortunately watching your Mesmer die like that would be a “l2p” issue.

Sommazzatore.8367:

You guys are probably the only group of people in the game that want Ranger buffs. Position yourselves right (L2P) and you will continue to dominate with the least amount of effort (minus Mes and Ele of course, but they will be nerfed soon enough.)

I am sure this is exactly right. I bet we are all just playing ranger really wrong. Sommazzator.8367 I think that you should try playing one for a month or so to show all us plebs how its done.

Hello everyone. My name is Webweaver. I am an tpvp player and I have played ranger since the beginning. Recently I had to stop playing ranger because there is not a tpvp team out there that wants one (not cool anet.) Personally I do not think that ranger is in that horrible of a spot its just that it is outclassed by everything else. To make ranger effective in tpvp it needs a few things the first being team support which i guess is going to be druid. Here are some of my suggestions to help with rangers other problems:

-LB RANGER-

What I really want to see for ranger LB build is a way for you to stay in Lb longer for example something like a portal. Put it down and when you press it break stun and teleport back to it. Or we would also be served with haveing an on command stealth. Hunters shot is a great skill but it is literally the only way a pew ranger can stay alive. If find in my fights I get 3-4 or so hunters shots and if I miss it even once it makes its almost impossible to keep my opponent off of me. I would also really like to see a small cooldown reduction baseline on all ranger lb skills to increase our sustained damage and to keep failed hunters or point blank shots from being so crippleing. Another thing that I think would really help with ranger tpvp play is a passive way to get a signet of stone when hit below 25% health. A second signet of stone would drastically improve a rangers ability to escape when targeted.

-PETS-

I would really like to see pets have specific order in which they use there skills or better yet let us give them an order to use there skills in. I really hate when i press paralyzing venom and my spider decides that rather than go stick stuff its going to spend 2 seconds casting a venom ball that NEVER hits anything and then after words shoots its web directly into a block. Haveing a skill order would really help damage pets as well imagine a stealth cat that would always use bite from stealth or a drake that would always tail swipe or hyenas that would always tackle. I feel like a skill order would go a long way towards making pets more reliable in combat.

Also pets would be way better if the condition pets actually had condition damage in their stats rather than having to waste a trait slot on a kitten trait that does next to nothing anyway. Maby if the trait gave more condition damage and your pet had condition because it might actually do damage and be useful for stacking up conditions. Why does a devourer need power?

In my opinion ranger is good if not completely viable profession to play. However I can only speak from a pvp standpoint. The problem with ranger is not that its a bad or seriously under powered class rather its that it is out preformed across all areas by the other classes. Why would a team want a condi bunker ranger when they can have an D/D ele? Why would a team want a LB ranger they have to constantly peel for when they can have a Mesmer who does more damage, has way more defenses and is faster? Why would a team want a ranger for group support because unfortunately a ranger has nothing meaningful to offer.

I have been playing ranger since the very beginning of the game and despite all I have said I do not believe that ranger is an under powered class. It just need something. In the hands of a skilled player a ranger can still be very effective.

As far as build diversity you have three options: LB power, condi or power surv bunker and condi traps which no one plays in tpvp because it just dosent work. Bunker rangers work but elementalists, guardians, warriors and even engineers do it better. LB power ranger works but thief, mesmer, warriors and guardians (have more damage and defense but are slower.) do it better.

Like Nachyochez said ranger is not a bad class its just that all the other classes out outperform it in almost every area. This is true across both wvw and pvp but it is especially glaring in pvp. In wvw rangers fair slightly better because the environment allows them to take much better advantage of their massive 1500 range and player who is skilled at kiteing with longbow is a match for most (not mesmer or guard) of the other professions. In pvp rangers are weak for a few reasons: First, they can not take advantage of their range on any map except foefire. Second, they bring no worthwhile support to their team. Third, because of a grievous lack of peeling ability once they are attacked they cannot escape from any of the other professions without assistance.

I would like to add that I have been playing ranger since the first beta and despite everything I have said I feel like ranger does have a niche in pvp (its just very dependent on the other members of the team) and I do not think of the class as seriously under powered. It just needs a few things.

pigs and boar f2 and extreamly unreliable and takeing them costs you a useful pet. We lost “Hide in plain sight” it was not rolled into “Shared anguish” and pet bleeding hits for almost nothing even traited.

@levetty: Obviously you dont pvp. Had you ever acutally gone into a hot join match you would know how wrong you are.

I would really like to see pets have specific order in which they use there skills or better yet let us give them an order to use there skills in. I really hate when i press paralyzing venom and my spider decides that rather than go stick stuff its going to spend 2 seconds casting a venom ball that NEVER hits anything and then after words shoots its web directly into a block. Haveing a skill order would really help damage pets as well imagine a stealth cat that would always use bite from stealth or a drake that would always tail swipe or hyenas that would always tackle. I feel like a skill order would go a long way towards making pets more reliable in combat.

Also pets would be way better if the condition pets actually had condition damage in their stats rather than having to waste a trait slot on a kitten trait that does next to nothing anyway. Maby if the trait gave more condition damage and your pet had condition because it might actually do damage and be useful for stacking up conditions. Why does a devourer need power?

What I really want to see for ranger LB build is a way for you to stay in Lb longer for example something like a portal. Put it down and when you press it break stun and teleport back to it. Or we would also be served with haveing an on command stealth. Hunters shot is a great skill but it is literally the only way a pew ranger can stay alive. If find in my fights I get 3-4 or so hunters shots and if I miss it even once it makes its almost impossible to keep my opponent off of me.

So the shatter recharge traits gone and thank the anet gods for it. It also does not change the fact that your all your stealth’s are still longer, there are more of them and they are on command which means that if you make a mistake with your burst you arnt punished for it all because you can just pop your stealth, reset and try again. Say what you will but the fact is that you can be an absolute kitten player and do well playing a mesmer. (not that all mesmers are. I know some very good ones.)

@Carighan: Id imagine thats because you arnt playing zerker on any of those.

In my opinion Mesmer defenses are way to strong. Take a glass LB Ranger and a glkittenter Mesmer both are super squishy and neither has much condi clear. Both have an invun (a mesmer can distort twice in a fight if it has to with shatter rechange at 50% health whereas a ranger can only get it once. Unless you give up two utility slots which would be stupid.) and both have stealth but the mesmers stealth is 10 times better. For a ranger in order to get 3 seconds of stealth you have to hit with hunters shot and if you dont your dead where as ALL of a mesmers 28 seconds of stealth are on command. Its not a projectile and it cant miss or fail. On top of all that mesmer has WAY more mobility with its teleports and it bursts harder. Its actually frustrating how much Anet gave Mesmer and then to see Mesmer plays still kittening that Mesmer arnt strong enough. My adivse to all you whining mesmers is try playing a class that is actually isent in a good spot and then see if you can still kitten.