I agree with Zenith.7301 completely, especially his/her closing thoughts.
Rangers do damage, it’s always been that way in every game I have ever played.
I played druid the last two days just trying to find a trait combo that makes the druid worthwhile. I used Cleric’s and Settler’s gear and still had a hard time trying to get some effective healing laid down and maintain a bit of damage.When I finally had enough, I was bored out of my head.
I was also quite jealous of the skills the Dragon Hunter was laying down with a longbow and thinking “wait, that’s my area of expertise”. I really love the Dragon Hunter’s longbow skills.
Symbol of Energy would actually give a Ranger some fire damage, wow!
Hunter’s Ward may be much like barrage, but imagine if it did an AOE heal instead of damage.
Puncture Shot would be too much fun having an arrow bounce around in the fray. We might even be able to use it to hit targets around corners.
Shield of Courage would be an excellent skill for a Ranger to use as a “backliner” to add protection to the back line and also for moving forward to help out the “frontliners”. With Adaptive Armor, this one trick could really add to the Rangers value.
I play Ranger 80% of the time as my main, even in WVW knowing they don’t want me there. Not having an active role in a zerg makes one feel a bit like an outsider. But the Dragon Hunter skills in the hands of a Ranger combined with a trait from the Scrapper could very well give us a role. With a few tweaks.
Adaptive Armor the Scrapper has is a wonderful trait that could actually give the Ranger the much needed defensive boost we’ve been hoping to get for the last three years.
With the “Future of Spirits” topic I read, Rangers may even be able to offer some group support, rather than waste a utility slot on a spirit that dies from a glancing shot.
The new traps the Guardian has are also pretty decent. If the Ranger had a trap that could reveal like Light’s Judgement or a trait that allowed all traps to reveal would be helpful in WVW and PVP since Mesmer’s and Thieves are constantly targeting Rangers for the “easy” kill.
Give the Guardian the Druid role, the staff auto attack Solar Beam (with more damage)can add to the long range attack the Guardian needs for events like The Claw Of Jormag.
If balance is the key to making GW2 better in the eyes of the dev’s, then bringing the Ranger into WVW as a wanted class would add some balance.
I don’t feel Rangers need to have more weapons at their disposal, they have enough. It would be better to see new weapons in the game like a Great Axe (two handed).
A good fix in all around game play would be to eliminate the slowing effects on the Ranger when their pet’s are being attacked or give us the ability to stow our pets until we want them back. No more of the pet coming out of stow when you take damage. Running with a pet makes the trail awfully wide compared to other classes.