Rangers do not need an overhaul, but rather little adjustment to some weapons and traps.
Before people start disagreeing, please give me a chance to explain.
In all cases, it’s how you play the profession that makes you efficient, in other words, the player makes the class great by understanding its purpose on the battlefield.
A ranger that rushes into battle like a warrior is missing the point. A ranger with a shortbow shooting from afar has it half right. A ranger that dedicates all its stats into his pet is also missing the point.
By the description of ranger given by ArenaNet,
“Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows. With traps, nature spirits, and a stable of loyal pets at their command, rangers can adapt to any situation”
a ranger is both a distance fighter, and melee fighter. Your pet helps you maintain that distance and damage upkeep. If the situation turns close quarter, then you have a variety of melee weapons to choose from.
The ranger is balanced between both range, melee, and pet. To tip the balance by boosting either of the 3 aspects morphs the profession into a warrior, a thief, a “physical” caster, or a useless beastmaster —-these are clearly not a ranger.
Tip: To become a successful ranger, you must cover all 3 aspects in your build.
The current build of the Ranger Profession has clearly defined its purpose in its traits and Utility Skills given. To name a few attributes, it clearly reveals highlights of longbow range and spirit use. It tells you that off handed weapons are good to use in close quarter by decreasing recharge, it makes traps larger for a better trigger chance, it makes the greatsword stronger, it makes your pet more useful, etc. The traits define ranger perfectly.
The weapons is where most people struggle and where I struggled to create something good out of ranger. Speaking truth, ranger’s weapons have been quite neutral for almost a year.
1. SHORTBOW: No matter how much power or condition damage you apply by runes and attribute points, the short bow does not cut it. The highest the short bow can deliver by base damage is 393 physical within an all out power setup. For condition build, the short bow’s bleed duration is terrible comparing a warriors single handed sword. The shortbow’s bleed duration is minuscule to even consider keeping a 25 stack for one full second. A warrior can deliver 25 stacks of bleed easily, but this is not the point. A single strike of bleed from a warrior lasts longer than a shortbow bleed even without a warrior’s 50% bleed duration trait.
2. Main hand Throwing Axe: The throwing axe by far excels the short bow; however, Its rate of fire makes it equal to the shortbow in a power build. The throwing axe’s bleed is excellent for a condition setup, but you will never stack bleed higher than 5 — making it useless.
3. Off hand Throwing Axe: Off hand Axe is SUPERB for power build by 1 skill " Path of scars’ reaching nearly 930 on base damage in a power setup. Whirling Defense — truth be told — this skill will get you killed every time. Weak damage for 12 strikes, and you become a stationary target for a warrior’s eviserate ( dodge to stop your skill 90% of the time). Offhand axe has no uses in condition setup which is fine.
4. LONGSWORD: a) animation problem, You can’t stop attacking with 2nd kick strike, and 3rd leap strike. You find yourself jamming the dodge key 20 times and going through 5 cycles of attacks before you get a response ( if you get a response). Excellent for power, nothing for condition, no changes needed other than the bug mentioned.
5. Although these are not weapons, TRAPS need attention.
a) Horrible condition damage, horrible base damage — applys to all traps.
b) Unblockable is fine
c) Cripple does not stop your opponenet at all and they cover ground in one leap attack. d)Chill works, but does not last long.
e)Burning does not last long.
f) The same trap cannot be applied twice.
This concludes things that need attention. The following is my opinion.
Spirits: Spirits in GW1 was a huge game changer and gave effects at a global scale ( opponents and allies). Spirits in GW 2 are very avoidable, and barely share their effects to anyone. GW1, the effects are instant and can cover a huge battlefield. GW 2 spirits now follow you to compensate the lack of coverage, and only give 30% chance if not traited to 70%. Should a ranger drop points in their condition side to put in nature magic, making their spirits more affective?
