Guild Wars 2

Seeing this kinda update gives me hope that throwable traps might become a thing again also.

Ranger. It’s so good of a solo profession, that most who lvl up to 80 dont even need to learn dodging.

I believe the question should be…what race would a class have to be, to actually USE their racial skills. As a charr ranger, i already have a moving backwards dodge (lightning reflexes) so i wouldn’t use the hidden pistol much.
Humans have several useful racials, a elite transform to grenth form that would cripple/poison all nearby foes (engineer or thief roamer?), a prayer that removes conditions (engineer has low condition removal). Perhaps someone would use the hounds of balthazar pair for their jump finishers (summon a water field then hounds).
Sylvari has several root skills and summon allies (sylvan hound, turrets, druid spirit). So this is useful for a class that lacks ranged cc’s or good summons, such as…ranger?
Charr have a summon, a might shout, a dodge backwards attack, and a close range aoe nuke. Perhaps someone that cant naturally grant might to others or needs an extra dodge.
Asura racials..are odd, for a confusion stacker/melee there’s pain inverter, and several summons.
Norn racials are the transforms, a ranged bleed attack, and a summon that can’t move. Really all you’d use all the elite transforms, so where norn shines is providing speed buffs and stealth to those classes who dont naturally get it. (snow leopard) It’s annoying to see a roamer say..engineer go stealth then charge away.
Course, any race works with any class if you ignore the skills and just play what you think looks good. Or play what you think fits logically and makes you feel comfortable.

Then Red, Blue, Green are taken by faction circles when capping points in pvp/wvw. The new filled in red aoes from recently changed bosses is a huge step in the right direction.

Splitters now give 5 charges, i believe. Might be worth an ask to support if they can refund you.

@ OP, no troll, the solution is….endless salvage kit, or carry around 20 of those basic 25 use kits. As long as you have one bag for loot, you can last a few fights, then salvage as you run to next. Armor sets could be put into bank, how often do you switch armor sets? It made more sense when you couldnt repair in fractals and sometimes needed that second armor set, but if you’re going to change your build, you usually have time to run to a bank or a local crafting spot in the zone. Space management solved.

Lvl 100 enemies that drop guaranteed green and commonly rare plz! Course we’d do 1-2 dmg per hit and you’d be shouting for condi players to come help.

What do you call a male charr?

Bullkitten.

If you enjoy playing your character and wish to level alts by playing only it, its possible. You’ll have to do dungeons and swap at end as stated above, or alot of spvp to get tomes of knowledge every 8 or so games.

Thing is, you’re talking about a specific ranger build. Theres other kinds of rangers that (ppl who say they suck) ppl are playing. Theres the bearbow sitting back with a longbow and never dodging. Theres the ppl who use axe and draw aggro from everything neutral in the zone but then cant handle fighting a group. Theres the signet rangers who just want to plink away at things w/ auto attack. Theres trap rangers who can’t always bring frost spirit. (but maybe they will if you ask them, and they do provide support to party in other ways)
Thing with spotter also, it has to compete with longer LB range, piercing arrows, that 2nd slot of marksman is a very busy one.
I can agree though, if you find a ranger who’s using spotter and frost spirit, or can switch, you’ve found a good member for your party. But you cant force everyone to play the class your way, which is what I fear this update might bring. (change your build to xxx now or we kick you!!!) It’s just not fun anymore, at that point.

Trying to make a corrupted axe today, got the axe for 3g, and the 20 lodestones, but the axe doesnt show as valid on the crafting screen anymore. Anyone else tried to craft a corrupted since the patch and it worked? Or perhaps i need to have the ‘tradeable’ shaman’s etched of rage which is only drop? As opposed to the one i bought for 3g then added a 3 silver sigil to….

As a lvl 80 looking at this and the adjusted 11-79 mobs;
1. getting traits via events will be hard til megaserver is fixed. On the zones that its out, such as for lyssa, its really easy to do the events, if you can find the boss spawned…non ‘main’ overflows created recently dont seem to spawn the bosses.
2. Fighting sub 80 enemies has become much easier, alot less health pool on veterans +, was able to more easily solo some champions. (Less time, not less dmg taken) So either the change or better scaling for solo group events.
3. I dont have any classes i need to create to test out the new sytem, so the trait finding doesnt particularly effect me, and making a new char to 30 to test it out is not appealing, therefore i cannot speak to the difficulty of most trait challenges. I think that goes for most everyone who’s online this week, unless you bought it AFTER the sale, on the 15th, so i was expecting to see less grumbling this early about that.
4. Well, all i can urge is patience, if you dont have the new traits now, you’ll get them when the megaserver/boss events are fixed. Til then, it’s not like you’re losing any traits.

As a ranger, I’ll gladly steal a warrior’s banner or an ele’s weapons. Specifically, >3 the hammer, but picking up an ice bow for a freeze and aoe is nice. Though, I dont like the fiery great sword as much. The lightning hammer and ice bow you can use up fast then go back to normal skills. Helping warrior move multiple banners when in dungeons is simply a good move. Open world pve….stealing banners/weapons sounds fun and is something i might do, if i actually did open world pve.

Celestial stat-ers will have to go 15/15/15/15/10 instead. They’ll lose 40 stats in something, but get the basic trait skills and 10 extra in everything else instead. I dont see how this will be a loss.

As a main ranger, heres my feedback.
I love LB for the range and dmg (if enemy can stay far enough away, managing that is key). SB is a good pew pew weapon if you trait for arrow penetration. But your main ranged weapon should become…the axe, it bounces between 3 targets and has useful support abilities, when you choose the right offhand for the occasion. Secondary axe for some reflect and pull, warhorn for speed and ranged damage, dagger for more CC/dodge (useful if going shortbow), and torch is more of a melee support weapon.
Ranger can be effective as such, but please consider greatsword as a easy/powerful melee weapon also, specially when dungeon groups ask you to stack, not taking the extra dps of a greatsword makes you weaker for no reason. Sword main weapon takes alot of getting used to, as you won’t be allowed to dodge out at times and repositioning is a nightmare, try it out a few times in open world to get used to it, sword/torch is probably best ranger dps but I can’t pull it off reliably either.
I also hate staff ele, not cuz it’s weak, but because I got too used to my pet tanking or high armor classes and die easy to, anything ^

While I am loathe to point it out, the queensdale train was tailor made for leveling alts. You can get your gear and exp quickly, w/o much downtime. If you’d go farming for stuff on main char anyway, do it with your alt instead!
Also, have a friend start your dungeon up, do the dungeon on your 80, and switch in to alt at the end, you get 75% exp for being there just for the final boss fight, or final 10 seconds of dungeon, if you swapped out at say 30% boss health. Most of my alts were leveled this way, 3-5 levels per day on AC/CM since I dont need the skillpoints on my main.

I feel like this is being overlooked. With the change coming to wardrobe and costumes wearable in combat, no more switch to town set, what will happen to costume brawl?

Reasons i hate my ranger; low dps, (lately) being unable to dodge as many aoes as i used to, with the endurance nerf, and dueling.
Reasons i love my ranger; using pet for pulling, 1500 range semi-safety from many bosses (and some safe spots that range opens up that no other class can use to afk 1 spam a boss to death), using pets to distract enemies from my party, using lots of fields & traps to spam conditions or support my party, and a good amount of ranged skills that can deal dps while kiting.
I’ve had to realize that, I won’t be dong alot of dmg to enemies as a ranger, and I turned my focus over to supporting the party. When i’m with a dungeon party, I keep everyone’s hps up, conditions cleansed. On a boss fight where everyone might die, but I can find a spot to ‘bug’ at 1500 range and hit safely forever, i’ll do it to guarantee a win. Being the last one alive and finishing off a fight feels amazing. (this comes at the cost of ignoring your wanting to rush in and res ppl, as it would ruin your safe spot).
In a pvp situation, I can use my spirits to support the zerg on the outskirts, and tag enemies, res allies, finish enemies. Because of stat nerfs for us to keep our pets, I can’t stand very well with the commander and take the aoe hits, and wind up on the outskirts just hitting targets of opportunity. When trapper builds were more viable, I could take a pvt set and wreak some havoc in the middle of the enemy zerg, then escape.
I have 7 other 80’s, but i play my ranger the most. Warrior and guardian have their problems with melee range and having to take all those hits. Ele dies if its even touched, gl stacking. Necro is so dependant on condition dmg that if any others take it, you’re screwed.
Ranger is a middle of the line class that has to be played diversely, help team out, spread some conditions, and be a solid dps (maybe 65% of what a warrior can do…but what ELSE can a warrior do?)
The way to overcome ppl’s prejudices is to talk to bearbow rangers you see, suggest they try out a melee weapon for awhile, tell them about how supportive a ranger can be to the party, and giving a bad ranger a kick in the kitten out of your party can be a good incentive to go try those things and expand their skillset. ^ But you gotta try first, and try to educate, or nothing happens.

You say optimal, i’m thinking you mean, do the most DAMAGE. Stack with party and use greatsword or sword/axe (for reflects), and have a secondary long range weapon to fall back on. This will probably kill you alot when you get to 20+ fractals (and maybe even before), especially if using zerker gear. So if you’re going melee route, bring pvt gear, tough accessories, knights or celestial or soldiers.
Edit; http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBHhNakoKvOuytC0Cn8qdtC
Previous post this skills.net thing failed, but uh…maybe it’ll work?
If you insist on staying zerkers, being long ranged is probably your best bet, the power of axe mainhand and its bounces can’t be overlooked, but having a shortbow for second weapon on a single enemy fight, or a longbow when you need the range, will keep you alive and out of danger. If you’re this far back, consider supporting your party by sending in a tanky pet(drake, bear)
There are 2 viable ranger builds for supporting your party, and none i know of for pure dps. 1. spirit ranger, stay in 1000 range of your party and keep spirits up much as you can. 2. Traps ranger, stay in mid range/melee and keep the enemy chilled(and 2 other traps for dmg, or anti stuns, w/e you need).
There are some ‘popular’ builds that ranger is infamous for taking that do NOT help much. The aforementioned bear/longbow Marksman setup, where your main goal is to do dmg but never res allies, throw in heals, and you let your pets die so they cant even soak up dmg. The beastmaster, pets dont always live in fractals, though they dont die as much as they used to, so your main traited dps is dying, and you arent of much use. The zerker who tries to move into melee and dies every fight. The guy who runs ahead and pulls everything then dies (be aware of barrage roots and charging enemies).
Optimal? Eh, what i go with personally is a tanky ranger and alternate melee and axe, throw some traps down for protection and kiting, and bring pets that i dont have to watch much (bears, devourers) because i’m not really all that attentive to my pets. Currently at 39 fotm, (not failing 39, havent tried it yet) and waiting on more AR to advance to the 40’s

Well, i have 6 classes.

Primary, ranger. With a tanking set and traps, ranger can survive alot of aggro by laying frost trap and kiting around dps’ing, this constant dps and the fun i get supporting my group and making the dungeon easier for everyone keeps bringing me back. It is low dps, but high control, feels more like leading a group than being the star player.

Warrior. Greatsword, spam hits for 15k, enough said. Good for joining those elitist groups or just the fun of seeing large numbers occasionally. Survives better than guardian does, but less than ranger as it feels like swapping to a ranged wep on warrior is a waste of time (no big dps).

Guardian. Supporting group with shouts and staff and reflects, and being accepted into any group makes this a good group class for support oriented players.

Mesmer. Spamming reflects and illusions, but low dps, its still a very fun class to play, specially in wvw, watching the zergs fall after spamming their ranged attacks into reflect bubble, or supporting the zerg with portals and veils.

Elementalist. Built it as glass, It dies way too fast so i rarely play it, will sometimes bring it to AC for ice bows. (probably needs a rebuild, lol)

Necro. My primary for wvw. Necros can tank whole zergs while punishing attackers, or lay large amounts of aoe. Never tried a minion build shrug. Necro is great as a pressure class that survives very easily, with double health(lifeforce), and utilities to help survival.

On the subject of engineers and thiefs, I can’t stand how slow it is lvl’ing a char from 20 with empty zones, and refuse to farm the champ train. Thus they have been neglected for a long time, though this new lvl up thru glory and gold might get me playing them again, specially if i can boost to 35 then join some ac exp with friends to level. For pvp, i’ve only heard glowing praise for these 2 classes, and i’ve seen the solo engineers and thieves owning ppl, but just the time investment.

Using the wilderness survival trait that grants camouflage always pops every 30 seconds instead of going off when its needed, so its broken. Unable to count on it for a combat camouflage (which honestly only worked half the time anyways…camouflage is an awful status for fear, knockback since they make you move and lose it anyways). So for now i switched it out, since it activates every 30 seconds and doesnt fulfill its purpose of emergency camouflage.

I have 5 80’s and wouldnt burden others by playing with my underlvl’ed alts also, and have my DM title, but I find you can lvl alts quite well by switching out to a underlvl’ed at 50% boss hps, or switching to alt for the last fight and bringing support skills. (eg. banners warrior, reflect spam mesmer, traps ranger, spirits ranger) Things that dont require good armor and stats to be good.
Had a new lvl 50 mesmer join my CM group, and spent a few minutes working with them before the dungeon started, they were the best member of the group for supporting our skipping runs, throwing up reflects, etc. But if they had insisted on staying sword/torch and running into melee only to die in a second every fight, i’ll be one of the first to put up a vote kick!
Problem comes when you do this daily, and all these lowbies start showing up in your party, imagine going AC exp and getting 3 lvl 30-33’s in your party, having to explain to them that they need 35 to not take mega dmg from exp…nope, just leave and make a new group. Or failing runs, 40 minute runs, cuz you don’t want to explain or lead your low level pugs (hold their hands thru all skill setups and fight strats) and these groups will kick you.
When we were all new, we did these dungeons with 5 lvl 30’s, and its hard, it takes a hour, now we’re 80’s and we want it to take 15 minutes, in and out, get our cash/tokens. If you want the challenge or you’re bored and want to see a dungeon, put up a post asking for all 30’s to do story AC, see how much harder it is. 1 80 and 4 30’s will still be a slow group unless the experienced player takes leadership and helps everyone learn the dungeon, and, well, who has that much time?

Indeed, the top things that bug out for me are the fight not fully resetting, floors still electrified, and sometimes if you wipe when he’s got his invuln buff up it stays and he starts out with the power attack. I havent had the issue with the holos yet, sometimes he’s just out of range of their explosion though.

Attached a screeny of charr mesmer, i think the light armor is ok, but theres very few sets that actually do look good, you end up mixing and matching to get a decent set. ~eh, kinda ignored the tail clip for that, cuz i like the coe pant’s logo.

Well, team support as a ranger is about crowd control and statuses. If you have a spider pet that can immobilize things ppl want to kite, or wolf for fear on bigger mobs, frost trap to give enemies 6 or 7 seconds of chill, barrage from longbow for a 1500 range pull (that also cripples). You could use a bear pet to block projectiles of a certain range (golem in the harpy fotm zone), you could apply buffs like might, rage, regen, healing (sortof, moas are weird for heal timing) from pets. If you use a condition set, you can spam shortbow’s crossfire from the side or back of a boss and do constant 10 stack of bleed (1k dmg per second added to normal attack dmg).

Ah, random suggestions, all workable, gl! Don’t get out of your comfort zone and try to run into melee range to revive a tank (when you’ll just die in 2 seconds), instead use nature renewal spirit’s res option or pet’s rescue, and if you go into melee to try and dps, be confident in your ability to dodge skills, specially with the nasty sword rooting from autoattack.

The clothing npcs wear, is often from the cultural sets. Alot of the nicer looking charrs (imo at least) are wearing the t3 medium set (looks like bones on the leggings). Noticed some sylvari wearing the light armors from cultural sets too.

One way to deal with massive enemy spawns and not worry about the timer as much; Find someplace to LOS the enemy, a rock or a cliff, and run there, then wait for them all to run up to you. AOE them down in 10 seconds, now you got 110 seconds to explore. Vets are still a problem, but even if the normals respawn, you can reuse this method to nuke them all down.

My 2 cents as a ranger main; When i’m in a dungeon group, i focus on controlling the mobs instead of dps, and outputting constant dps. This is done via axe and longbow and traps, if you are sad over the lack of ranger dps, focus on the conditions and control a ranger can apply to the battlefield, put up combo fields for your allies, slow down your enemies to increase your parties survival, and do what dmg you can in the meantime. Never had a group complain about my performance in a dungeon doing that (after i convinced them to let me join at least). These kinda things are not needed in a cof p1 speed farm (though some chill on the first boss….would see less warrior deaths eh?) so usually I just stay out of those groups and don’t worry about it.

The main hate on rangers is because we use pet builds or marksman builds, which USED to be more viable before the shortbow nerf, and would be more viable with longbow if the 1 skill were just a bit faster imo. The longbow skills themselves do good dmg, and if you’re worried about staying ranged (grawl volcano fractal, charr fractal, lupicus, graveling ac bosses, etc.) then popping a 1500 range barrage or just plinking some shots at a distance no other class can easily match will keep you safe and doing constant (if not high) dps, and soon you’ll be the only one left alive and solo’ing that boss down.

As far as necro goes, if you’re relying on pets you’re missing a good build; the condition mancer, throw down wells and marks on a group, and theres some major dps, heck try multiple necros in wvw, those marks really add up.

On engineer, i say good luck, mine is at lvl 8 and its been a painful leveling experience so far (and no, i dont craft to 80, i take that time to learn my class and its playstyle)

This took me a few hours on a charr char, and I’d like to add that stripping off armor really helps you see where your feet are. Also, you can turn your mouse sensitivity WAY up so the camera turns fast enough. I second that post about watching out for angled snowflakes and 45 degree jumps onto candy cane poles, helped alot!, so many times hitting my head on a snowflake. Also, try doing it late at night when few ppl are around, you might get lucky and get a lane with no other players.

Let me say on the issue of not getting 100% exploration rewards; They changed chantry of secrets to be its own map, if you got this poi earlier, then you have to go back and reget it, then you’ll be done. Course if the issue is that you’re stuck on a few poi’s and didnt notice, that doesnt help. Im also trying for my 100% map (as opposed to just getting all pois/vistas/sp’s, so this post helps me too.

From medlir; gom server. ‘The poi in the chantry of secrets was bugged, so they redid it so it is it’s own map. ’

I went there and got a map complete for chantry, and my world completion, thx medlir! For those who dont know where chantry is, it might be somewhere south of LA.

Just finished 100% world by switching servers to get red’s poi’s and vistas (cuz gom hasnt been red in…forever? or I never noticed at least). Got the reward for 100% eternal bg and red wvwvw maps just fine, but no mail or chest for 100% reward? Any others who have done this and received nothing? Maybe they planned on it being completed in pve, then reward would come through the mail, but pvp was the hard part for me!

Any suggestions or answers would be most helpful.