Guild Wars 2

By which roles your build plays on a team do you mean the new GM traits? or whole traits in general?

Can you also give some insights to new players as to which runes and sigils to possibly use for these new upcoming changes? ex: double sigil runes on SB (air/fire) cause SB has one of the fastest firing rate in game making on crit or on hit sigil preferred paired with survival of the fittest.

maybe some theorycrafting team play builds other than Spirit Rangers.

Thanks JC!

hooma.9642:

doesnt change the fact that this trait is crap. sacr. defense for dmg equal 1 bleed stack or ignoring other possible dmg increasing src for that is bad.

No wonder PvP veteran Rangers rarely post in their own forums it really is better to whisper each other in game than to go here arguing about these hating Rangers, because of people like this guy. No point in posting in Ranger forums, these pro players are convinced to their grave that WS new GM is kitten rather all new GM traits are kitten according to Ranger forums.

Move along now…

jcbroe.4329:

A build that people surprising haven’t mentioned yet is going to be either full melee 0/30/10/30/0 Moment of Clarity with Sword/Axe and Greatsword, or the Axe/Axe Greatsword variant of that. I’ve already been playing around with it in hotjoins for the “lols” and was surprised to find that if you land you’re axe pull you can spike people with it into Maul for a combo that hits like 12k+ damage in full zerkers, if you get your crits.

Just food for though. I know people love their bow builds, but it doesn’t hurt to give the one I’m talking about a shot on the 15th. You might be pleasantly surprised.

In addition to that statement, Ive been playing around with combo fields lately. Fire Aura, Frost Aura (10% damage reduction), Weakness field ( Murellow) Area Might (x3 20s)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNBhYD7kRFqF02VweF4axAx+AgaPoklOvnBq60JzKVsA-TsAA1CtIyRljLHTOycs5MKYVw+DA

Might be a bit hard to pull off if you’re not use to melee set up for Ranger, aura in this build is important (frost) and area might putting you up at 3800 damage easily. As close to GS/Bow Warrior in stats.

Aedrion.6483:

Those poor, poor warriors.

I must be so painful to have high stats on everything even when you’re rolling a damage build, like there’s no choice you know. You’re always good at everything. And things like passive healing that require you to stun and use shield to allow regen… so hard to pull off.
I can’t even imagine what it must be like having to waste adrenaline that you need for even more passive healing to actually crit for 6K with eviscerate. Can you imagine?

Just the other day, I saw a warrior go down… yep, he went down. I was so sad. Not even his HS could prevent it. And even though he used his hammer to stun his opponent and nearly crit him to death with auto-attacks it still wasn’t enough.

And then there’s the longbow. What useless weapon, the fire field only covers a giant area and people can actually still run out of it. Same with hammer stuns, yea sure, it’s a good stun but I see people dodging it all the time. Dodge… you shouldn’t be able to dodge an AoE skill like that.

I suggest we give warriors Hardened Endurance which gives them +1 armour for every hit point they lose. As the first minor trait in Discipline. Maybe then they’ll actually have a change against other classes.

RoyalPredator.9163:

I’ve made tests. “Read the Wind” would be okay with +"Eagle Eye". Reasonable, Logical!
Otherwise, it keeps up with a single bugfix.

how exactly did you test this?

Neko.9021:

I like how the OP admitted that a Warrior could just play Hambow or Condi War and they’d do well, but any other spec sucks. Warrior has (at least) already two viable specs in dueling and the OP’s complaint is that they need more. Great stuff.

Ahahah! No kidding. Mind set of a Warrior for sure. Dont worry OP. Majority of players play Warriors including Devs, chances are youll be viable in every build. Whether condi or zerk builds, ANet loves to spoil their best child. Just wait a few more months.

Valentin.2073:

Fluffball.8307:

Valentin.2073:

stuff

You either linked to the wrong video or are trying to mislead people to watch your video.

i did make a mistake. im sorry, man. here’s the correct link: http://youtu.be/-HiYUlhsO_M

legit zerker alright. LB and SB. hahaha. good job man.

Fluffball.8307:

Wasn’t this supposed to be about zerker rangers?

You have a ton (the most possible I think!) of passive healing plus vigor, so I have no doubt you can just outheal or dodge most condis in a 1v1. Is it any good in an actual team arena match though? I don’t know if I’d want to sit on a cap point in an AoE storm with no condi removal.

you can drop spirits for skirmishing trait line, but if you do ether mesmers will be a huuuggeeee problem. my mind set when i made this was to beat as many sPVP players as I possibly could in a situation. No this is not tPVP material this is just hot joint material.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNBlYDbkQlOVrYxVFiWDErCA69I9sv9uHl6Uk6iTWpC-TsAgzCmIsRZjzGjNSbs2MKYVwmDA

Oh what?! No condi clear? GTFO!

Yeah that’s the mindset of most of who clicked on that link. But if I could record my self a video I would, I tested this build in a 1v1 arena and won 80% of the time. Except for MM necro and condi bomb necro.

YEAAAAH… That’s all I couldnt beat in that time I run this build. I faced Rank 40+ in pvp including a bow/axe/shield warrior that is rank 52 and Decap Engies! My fav!!. I say try it before you judge, yeaaahhhh its not that typical Ranger I know. No crit chance?! GTFO! No condi clear?! GTFO If you question it, feel free to msg me 1V1 with your main other than Ranger or Ranger if you want to. Id be glad to 1v1 any of you, maybe you could record it for me so I can feature my build including you in it as my opponent.

Off topic. I got a noob question. Im trying to run power spirit build with frost and storm. Im just wondering if storm spirit active damage increases with player stats damage?

khornemuse.5930:

Hey there !
I’m glad that my topic grapped some people
But i’ll prefer if we discuss on my build, not yours anyway XD
Ok your build is much more tanky than mine, but you have not dispell at all, and a very low crit chance and crit damage. Good for tanking, holding points, but, IMO, but not to quickly kill someone, stomp and move.
i’ll make a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJD9hGmRMU0

well we can 1v1 come find me in pvp put your build on and ill use mine if youre interested.

khornemuse.5930:

Hi all.

I see discussions on the forum about the sword, the GS which one is better, which AA is better. And i said, well why not both ?
Here is the build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNAR8YnEqQrg2wC2CCXLIAaP00SMZFO8VYWnCU98kXVoVA-zkyAYrIjxAIOA0HYiAUyrIasF3ioxqYwUlER1ejioVDA-w
So gear
-armor is berserker. We need damages. Runes are scholar, for crit damages and good bonus of damages at the beginning of a fight. Synergizes welle with 25 in wilderness (same bonus so 20%)
-Trinkets are berserker too.
-Weapons. GS is the defensive set so knight stats. Intelligence sigil for the super Maul attack
-Sword/dagger : all berzerker. Energy sigil for extra dodge (and te have the dode of 2,3,4 weapon skills)

Traits.
Because we are full berzerker we are pretty glassy, so we need 30 in WS to have a good response again conditions. We got cd reduction for all of our weapons…
20 in nature magic. Very importantt the V gives a large amount of dmg. The other trait grants fury on GS. And we have a GS :p
I took 10 in Beasts for the shouts, a personnal choice, protect me is good, and attack is usefull…. Others can put the 10 pts somewhere else…
10 in skirmishing, for extra damages on pets…

Skill bar.
-Troll : best heal ever :p
-Shouts, already explained. Some ppl will prefer lighting reflexes, the mud…
-Signet : give a large amount of thoughness, with this, we are not glassy…

Pets : bear : dispel, big HP pool. It will take all my conditions.
Eagle : good dps. Jaguar is fine too.

Gamelay.
GS : 3 (gap closer) 5 2 . 4 for counter and then swap to AA the opponant with sword, and poison him when healing. Then wait and restart the rotation.

PRO:
-Dodges, blocks
-High DPS
-High Mobility
-Condi cure

CONS
-2600 armor
-Condi bombs.

Comments ARE welcome :p

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNAR8XjMq0waFLGsw1agY9gQ+ZQvHxi9t3VAVn8qEtC-zkyAorAh2gJOwkoAl9EiyiasVuioxqXwUqER1ukioVDA-w

if you love melee on ranger, this has been going around for quite some time now. very effective in PVP as well, perma might +5% damage while under might meaning you will be dealing perma +5% no matter what health youre in, plus might on switch and signet use. tested the build my self, your only problem would be necro bomb condi. but other than that:

hambow warrior = viable(depending on your skill as a ranger)
pistol whip thief = viable
s/d theif = viable
ether signet mesmer = viable (depending on your skill as a ranger)
meditation guardian = viable
diamond skin ele = viable
engie 1 trick pony = viable (as long as you dont kill your self from confusion)

coming from a lvl 32 PVP Ranger.

jcbroe.4329:

Remoreseless – Speaking of the Marksmanship traitline, remoreseless by design is a really cool trait, but it feels lacking due to the rangers limited access to stealth and a rather high time to kill due to the lack of an inherent big hitter. I feel that with adding a condi clear/condi transfer or boon removal on opening strike it will become a really great addition making it a true grandmaster trait, that would benefit rangers greatly as well.

Signet of the hunt – The ranger weapons feel lacking and the damage is usually coming from the autoattack. I’ve read an amazing suggestion on the forums about having signet of the hunts active change depending on the weapon the ranger currently has equipped. For example : LB sniper/killshot kind of move to add finishing potential on range, SB confusion/burning/torment for the next three attacks, sword final thrust/blurred frenzy. Things like that, this would increase the overall versatility and weapon choices ( pet choices even ) of rangers while providing a overall more active playstyle.
Beastmaster traitline – Adding a condition clear on petswap would be really great as it’d confront the player with a tough decision and a tradeoff again. (Cleanse 2 conditions on pet swap)

Remorseless trait is decent. My only problem with this is the lack of continuous reapplication while in battle. What ANet expect from a Ranger traited 30 deep into MM is to finish off an enemy asap! But the problem right now is players are spec to survive (most) making battles last for more than 20s, at least. This is also a problem in PVE (to some monsters)

Like I said in most of my post, I love that Rangers apply vulnerability and that it should be our trademark condi.

Should be changed to one of the following:

1. Remorseless: Remorseless reapplies opening strike every 15s while in battle. Stealth applies Remorseless into your next attack.

Smooth game play and quick application and reapplication.

2. Remorseless: Remorseless reapplies every 15s while in battle. Your pet’s next attack causes cripple for 5s.

Kiting in LB as a Ranger solved!

Signet of the Hunt I agree as well, it doesnt provide much support to most of our weapons besides GS #2 LB #4 and Axe #4 traited 30 deep of course!!! Other than that, I never bother activating this, unless I really need that burst on my pet rather than the movement speed. I also told ANet that this doesnt make sense for the Ranger to use, because like they said, we are skirmishers. We are built to tear our opponents down, or thats the direction that they want Rangers to go.

Should be changed to one of the following:

1. Signet of the Hunt: Passive: Gives you and your pet 25% increase movement speed.
Active: You and your pet’s next attack applies 1s of Immobalize.

2. Signet of the Hunt: Passive: Give you and your pet 25% increase movement speed.
Active: You and your pet applies 5 vulnerablity for 10s on your next attack.

Like I said I love vulnerability on Rangers.

Beastmaster I actually don’t like that game play for Rangers, switching right now and current traits are ok. But having most of the benefits on pet switching is not something I would want to adapt as a game play for Rangers. A good example of this is http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zephyr%27s_Speed_

Which only really benefit the Ranger on swap, by the time your pet gets to your target that quickness wouldve worn off by now.

lately ive been playing around WS utilities. Im really liking the game play of kiting around with my SB and GS. Though that ^ is an interesting build, I will try it. I might need some getting use to with all melee on Ranger.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Durzilla, speak about the possibilities of Initiative based combat mech for Ranger

how is this a possibility? can someone link news about this? im very interested.

b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-bump

jcbroe.4329:

So now that I think we’ve discussed the longbow and the skirmishing line to the ground, I’m curious what else there is to discuss that was not addressed by the CDI.

Something that I brought up during the most recent podcast and elsewhere is that ranger Master and Adept tier traits can be very lacking outside of the common options in most of the slots. At times you aren’t slotting traits because you want to, but because you have to make the best of a bad situation and something may (or may not) be better than just not slotting anything there.

Am I the only one that feels this way?

not sure how far this thread has gone but, discuss being resilient as a ranger. defensively i think we should have active condition duration reduction if traited on either NM or WS. offensively i think we should have more access to kiting mechanics on par to how melee classes can close gaps in a few seconds.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

A/A Karka Spike -

Vid: http://tinyurl.com/obll2kp

Build: http://tinyurl.com/k2hfxge

Oh, yah, its all zerker. Pretty well works on anything, but Karka are especially tough so I like to use them as an example.

LOL! OP.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I added my Karka spike build to my signature for those interested.

post that up in here if its power build

law.9410:

I’ll try to get a vid out next weekend. Whats a good cheap program to record with?
my build is 20/20/30/0/0 longbow + sword/dagger reflex/muddyterrain/sig hunt. entangle.

And by cheap i mean free haha fraps?

thank you!!! i tried 0-30-10-10-20 on mine, cause i like to kite around using my short bow and GS build, but Im having a hard time when im not running signet power build on my ranger to keep up with other classes for survivability.

I use lreflex, muddy terrain, and quickening zephyr. pure wilderness and dogs for kiting. i find it better to use a bird though for that damage at times while running hound as my secondary. but against a burst mesmer with signet of ether, i just can’t survive long enough to go for that 3rd round burst rotation.

Carpboy.7145:

Dont be a zerk ranger. Completely unviable in tpvp. In WvW it can be ok, but not nearly as good as a condi bunker

again i know zerk is not viable to some rangers, but i find condition boring, i do know how to play the meta though. i just chose not to play by the meta.

Can anyone here from PVP record a video of your self playing a zerk Ranger vs other classes? (hot joint or tpvp) thanks. I’d like to see what build you’re using and how you play against others as a zerk.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

The Master of the Nameless has 680 health so yeah, it kills him in 1s. Technically its not a 1 shot and you cannot use it in PvP as it contains broken PvE skills.

But less than 1 second is close enough to a 1 shot in my book

I just logged on to GW1, first time since forever, it was something like;

Favorable Winds
“I am the Strongest”
Glass Arrows
Ebon Battle Standard
Triple Shot
Savage Shot
16 Marksmanship
15 Expertise
Hornbow with 20/20 and +1 Marks 20%

For FoW I used;
All the +1 cons
A full con set
Birthday Cupcake

So its not like you can repeat it over and over, you need a big setup, then, BAM! SPIKED! Then you have to setup for the next one.

The Mo/P with 16 in Smiting for Judges Insight was great for the extra 20% AP and Holy damage, plus Great Dwarf Weapon is 40% chance to Knock Down and +20 dmg, Succour also for the +1 energy regen. Also with 12 in Command for movement buffs to get us around.

Was just a fun build for FoW where you could snipe everything. Or Shards of Orr.

The point I was trying to make though, is that spike dmg has ALWAYS been a part of the ranger. RSpike had to be continually nerfed because it was so effective, (dont even get me started on 50 copies of Favorable Winds in back-in-the-day HoH, rangers one shotting players haha) I always played spike ranger in PvE whether that was Splinter barrage or Holy Damage for Undead (FoW Book trick or Duo with monk). Or just for fun, repeat the Undead Hordes quest in Beetletun solo and just never take the reward. Or Duo trapping the Underworld, that’s spike also, even though its applying conditions at the same time.

My standard bar was [ OgcSc5MTnSOG5WqGwGzk5irg ] in case anyone still plays GW1. That’s Sundering Attack, Penetrating Attack, Prepared Shot, Savage Shot, Read the Wind, “I am the Strongest”, EBSOH, Shadow Sanctuary. You could just cycle the 1st three skills forever hitting everything in the game for 150+ dmg per shot and the CDs go 4s, 4s, 6s. That is sustained spike.

There were only certain occasions that I even used conditions as, lets face it, they just take too long to kill things. You can shoot something with an arrow to make it bleed, then poison it and kite around waiting for it to die, but you can also just shoot it in the head and kill it. A master archer can certainly shoot with extreme precision.

Maybe they should make RtW give +XX% crit dmg also.

Sorry for such along post.

was thinking you would have point blank shot in there. but good build, it has to be glass arrows for sure.

Durzlla.6295:

AEFA.9035:

Durzlla.6295:

Shared this in Skype with Jcbroe, but like 10s after I posted I remembered an idea me and my friend had for the LB#1 change it from what it is to being Penetrating Shot: deal 1% more damage per stack of vuln. IE: if they had 25 vuln instead of doing 25% more damage you’d be doing 50% more damage. If they want to keep the long range thing make it so that you apply 1 stack of vuln for 10s or so while you’re over 1k range, but other than that don’t change the damage.

This would allow the LB to not only be a very lethal weapon in team fights due to the high vuln that can be around, but it’d also Synergise nicely with Rapid Fire and the proposed Hunters Shot (immob + vuln), imo it’d also warrant Rapid fires long cast time since that’d be a 20% damage boost instead of 10%, it’d give the enemy a chance to stop you from setting them up for death.

I like the vulnerability idea on LB, I mentioned to ANEt that since we’re supposed to be resilient fighters who tear down our foes in game, make it so that vulnerability is Rangers trademark condition if that would be a trait that could be put on, i think that is a great idea.

or

make it so that penetrating shot is the auto attack of LB and just get rid of bonus long range all together. revised LB #4 make it so that the closer your enemy is the more damage you deal, knock back still present. not only are you pushing them for kiting, but you are also punishing them for getting close to you. I love this skill, because you can reset your auto attack if you time it well, similar to how Quick Shot works in GW1.

The idea of Penetrating Shot was to be a replacement for Long Range Shot, the idea for Long Range Shot is great, but in practice it’s just not that great and it’s more of a hinderance than a boon. Also, LB could still be THE KING of ranged single target damage, which Rapid Fire + Penetrating Shot would do very well and allow LB3, 4 and 5 to continue to be utility based.

Id love Point blank shot to deal more damage the closer they are, it’d help you establish being the “King of Range” because it may detaunt a lot of players from going melee (if you’re a good enough kiter) and just try to range v range you, where you’ll likely win.

And that is where ANet should push us power rangers.

Durzlla.6295:

Shared this in Skype with Jcbroe, but like 10s after I posted I remembered an idea me and my friend had for the LB#1 change it from what it is to being Penetrating Shot: deal 1% more damage per stack of vuln. IE: if they had 25 vuln instead of doing 25% more damage you’d be doing 50% more damage. If they want to keep the long range thing make it so that you apply 1 stack of vuln for 10s or so while you’re over 1k range, but other than that don’t change the damage.

This would allow the LB to not only be a very lethal weapon in team fights due to the high vuln that can be around, but it’d also Synergise nicely with Rapid Fire and the proposed Hunters Shot (immob + vuln), imo it’d also warrant Rapid fires long cast time since that’d be a 20% damage boost instead of 10%, it’d give the enemy a chance to stop you from setting them up for death.

I like the vulnerability idea on LB, I mentioned to ANEt that since we’re supposed to be resilient fighters who tear down our foes in game, make it so that vulnerability is Rangers trademark condition if that would be a trait that could be put on, i think that is a great idea.

or

make it so that penetrating shot is the auto attack of LB and just get rid of bonus long range all together. revised LB #4 make it so that the closer your enemy is the more damage you deal, knock back still present. not only are you pushing them for kiting, but you are also punishing them for getting close to you. I love this skill, because you can reset your auto attack if you time it well, similar to how Quick Shot works in GW1.

jcbroe.4329:

I ran Ritualist support for my Team in HA when I wasn’t running R/E Magebane snare hahaha, so yes, I absolutely miss that style of play and those tactics.

Rangers in this game have the perfect tools to make use of decently ranged spirits, since we have so many leaps and evade backs. We can leap out of a fight, summon a spirit out of harms way that could buff the whole team, and then back into the fray.

The competitive aspect of it is that going up against it, it would be like “where is all this burning/bleed coming from, or how do they all have protection/regen right now? It must a spirit. We need our roamer to go take care of it.”

In that moment the roamer leaves the fight to go take care of the spirit, it creates just enough of a window of opportunity where it allows the team running spirits to possibly push a few kills and win the teamfight, or gain the advantage, because the other team lost a part of their damage for just enough time to give the spirit team the upper hand.

I really wish ANet look into this more, just by adding more range to the spirits would make them very viable in 1 or 2 types of game modes in game. (wvw/pvp) Where is the people’s champ at? Allie!!!

jcbroe.4329:

Substance E.4852:

jcbroe.4329:

I have no suggestion on how to make either of those things happen without breaking something else though, which leaves me with only ever being able to confidently suggest boon punishment.

The most obvious and simplest is to split the game modes and give different functionality for different modes. In pvp, spirits can be nerfed to what ever level they feel appropriate and in pve/wvw they can either be made invulnerable like banners or into massive HP sponges so they can work in world bosses and zergs.

Ultimately though, that decision rests with Anet. Its not that they aren’t doing it because they can’t, it’s because they don’t want to and it’s really just a matter of how long before they realize that they are wrong. They had to do it the first time around because there were too many skills and combos breaking things and they will have to do it again because the game modes are too different for a unified rule set to apply equally in a way that is fun for everyone.

So many of our needed fixes (better pets, spirits that work like banners ect) just won’t ever happen to the degree they need to as long as they will break spvp.

Funny enough, I was just talking to Durz earlier how I think the ultimate goal for traits at this point should be obvious traits with obvious PvE or PvP roles. It was in regards to how basically purposeless Read the Wind is going to have in PvE, and that it is really a PvP/WvW driven change that has no effect on the other game mode.

The scope of that can be expanded to skills and utilities as well, I think.

Although with Spirits, I’m of the opinion that they should go back to being like guild wars 1 spirits, so that they have long ranges and can be placed out of combat, and the PvP counter to that is to force players to sacrifice their positioning to go deal with the spirit, while in PvE/WvW, they can sit out of harms way while still buffing you/teammates. Then, some way to move them instead of an active, like a spirit teleport or a “get up/plant” type function that makes them walk, and a whole new set of traits regarding the new spirits.

But at this point that’s probably me just dreaming haha.

Well I would be joining you in that JC. I don’t understand why ANet changed spirits in here to have such short coverage of play. I see what you’re trying to say there, tactical wise it would create such a big change if they do have bigger radius. Similar to how Ritualists HA works, you’re probably familiar with that gameplay. I like it and at the same time its such a tactical approach that I think would make some player’s rage in this game.

ANet’s motto right now is to make PVP as simple as possible for watchers to understand even if they don’t play the game. Ranger spirits are universal back then in GW1, that’s why in some tourny or most of the tourny they are always in team comps.

Prysin.8542:

AEFA.9035:

Clearly we all have our prides on the line here. So why dont we just all 1v1 elimination round so we can see who you all should respect when it comes to this class.

and that proves what? that player X is a better dueler then player Y? Right… because the only way to test if a build is better then another is for one player to play them all against one of each enemy playing their apex build(s). Which means we would have to arrange, at the very minimum, 40 (5 builds; BM bunker, Regen Ranger, Power Ranger, Trapper, Spirit Ranger) matches to check builds that work in PvP, then another 40 matches because PvP=/=WvW. Then a few dungeon runs just to prove that bearbow is, or isnt better then S/WH + spotter + Frost Spirit.

But please go ahead and arrange that, it should probably be possible to test all this in little over a week of dedicated play.

im talking about ranger v ranger, go all out zerk. BM bunker? thats how you guys play this game? regen all day and condi to kill your foe? thats boring. i saw too many vids on that already sword/torch, axe/dagger? lol no thanks.

Clearly we all have our prides on the line here. So why dont we just all 1v1 elimination round so we can see who you all should respect when it comes to this class.

jcbroe.4329:

Alright, I think I need to clarify the discussion about where ANet’s version of the ranger comes from, since it appears that the community has a real lacking of insight as to how classes transitioned from what they were to what they are.

In Guild Wars 1, bow rangers did most of their damage through conditions like poison, bleeding, and burning. The few builds that were more centered around direct damage didn’t have “instant bonus damage,” but made bows into more “turret” like builds, which could achieve a high output of constant damage, but that damage in Guild Wars 1 would have been considered a pressure/spike assist build, and not a spike build.

The ONLY skill I can even think of right now that could be considered true burst would be Punishing Shot, which was like an Elite Version of Savage Shot, which was also burst, but only against casters. Both of these skills required and interrupt to do burst damage.

All the while, rangers used tools like removing conditions block stances, and movement speed to stay alive.

Now, moving into GW2, what we can see is that the ranger is still largely based around conditions and evasion and movement, as as well sustained damage, and even interrupting for big damage.

Is it perfect in Guild Wars 2? No, but the ranger class as seen be ANet has never been a high damage 1 shot sniper.

Just a history lesson to end the bickering.

I don’t think they will ever accept that image of a Ranger jcbroe, until they play an actual ranger from GW1. Skills will never be appreciated, traits, and game play of this class from these gw2 rangers.

Jocksy.3415:

high level balance
Does not mean balance from the ground up, just, balance on a high level, which, in this instance is GM level…

more to be waited from
- bug fixes
entries than unannounced (in the sense of “unspoken of”) change in traits…

if you’re convinced that way then sure. i get that some people dont like being disappointed so just ignore what i said.

Lobo.1296:

Do we know if these are the only changes we’re getting or are there more to come? If this is it, I’m disappointed.

if you rewatch the ready up stream on youtube or twitch, whatever you prefer, you can see at the bottom of each slide it says high level balance, they started with GM traits for all classes, there are still more to come for each tier of traits for all class. Thats a big hint already.

Jocksy.3415:

EB is useless in bus, given that the pet is almost always dead; I was also running bark skin, and was relying on Melandru Runes and allies to manage conditions.
Going in that line means an almost 50% uptime warhorn boost, and the 7% vita to power – which I couldn’t fit in my previous build.

I understand why they didn’t put it in EB (toughness/condition line). It makes sense to me for it to be in boons duration line.
And, though it’s not really the case here, I find it nice that they mix attack/defense in different lines…
As stated elsewhere, noone forces anyone to take the new traits / unlock them / change their builds…

Also theres no point in putting it in WS tree again, where is build diversity in that when you put 2 condi cleanse trait in 1 line. NS is right as it gives you that extra health for survivability and the line compliments power build.

Terravos.4059:

I think a lot of people overestimate Survival of the Fittest, and think you’ll still be able to get by without Empathetic Bond

Unless you’re planning on running Anti Condition runes, in which case you’re going to be running Signet of the Hunt most likely, you’re really going to only have room for Lightning Reflex (Since SoR will take your last spot) ..which means you’re trading 3 conditions removed every 10 seconds for 2 conditions removed every 32 seconds.

You can never have to much condition removal in this game.

most likely people who will be running Survival of the fittest (me and jcbroe for sure) will be running Lreflex and muddy terrain (must). Last slot is optional depending on your play style. This is me talking about PVP game play. Possibly WvW as well if you’re going to roam with the build, rather try to roam with the build and survive encounters.

I think people underestimate the trait, look at it in a different side, EB is every 10 seconds for 3 conditions, which you don’t have any control of cause you don’t know when will that cleanse go off cause it has no indicator saying “condi cleanse in…3..2…1..” in your UI. Compare to Survival, 2 conditions when you want on the spot. Traited Muddy terrain is 20s CD, Lreflex is 32s CD. For another insta cleanse and another stun break you can put SoR in there as well. Or if you really want to go “kill or be killed” put it quickening zephyr in there. (my style and i can speak for jcbroe probably his as well)

Survival trait, IMO promotes strategy, when will you use your skills to get rid of conditions that needs to be cleansed and will you be able to finish the fight off when you blow your skills. The good thing about it as well is it gives you that fury, which is really intended for that power play.

EB is a hard trade off for sure (for those considering to get EB off) cause its a passive condi cleanse which everyone adapted to use in their build cause you don’t need to worry about anything, you just wait for that 10s or pop that SoR or HS.

Different game plays for sure for different players which is good, we will be seeing Ranger players walk different paths.

It is a good feeling when you’re in zerks and hitting 3k AA on LB from a distance. But my problem when we go full zerk right now is survivability. Thieves got high mobility and stealth, mesmer’s got illusions to distract you for a few seconds, warriors got high sustain, same with guardians if zerk vs zerk, necros got life steal etc… What Ranger lack is that sustain for me unless you go full signet build that’s basically your only sustain i find that is worth it for power builds. I can never kill a good thief 1v1 with power ranger in pvp. or maybe im just not good enough, my set up was LB; sword/warhorn. Pet: murellow and leopard. been playing with murellow for that weakness combo when i go melee.

Jcbroe i think thats what anet intends to do with survival of the fittest. I forgot they provide fury per survival skill use which really compliment 5% increase dmg on GM. I nade a pvp build for the changes. 0-30-10-30-0. Skirmishing: moment of clarity, quick draw, might on crit for pet. Wilderness knowledge. Nature Magic: bonus attack dmg on vitality, that dodge cleanse skill for necros for sure, and new GM trait. Pet would be my fav of all leopard. Utility survival of course lightning reflex, muddy terrain and quickness.

See what i want anet to change is superior rune of fury. Imagine that. With our fury on survival skills that would synergize it well if they rework it. If not then Id take ogre runes.

Atherakhia.4086:

Prysin.8542:

oh for the sake of all thats holy.
Can you guys and gals please get over that “unparalleled archer” thing and move on. They changed the description and vision for the class a long time ago. Stick to the present and stop dwelling in what should have been and what you didnt get.

Even if the line isn’t there, which the above poster shows it still is, we still have 2 weapons that should be funtional, engaging, and unique. Until they are, why should players sit still and be quiet?

While the nonstop crying and harrassment of ANet employees may not always be the most valuable time spent, sitting here prettending ANet can do no wrong and we should have faith that they’ll get it right eventually is even more destructive.

See when people pick rangers you all need to accept and realize that some if not most, picked the class for bow usage. Right now it isnt viable and Anet is pushing us with condition builds with the propose changes that they will apply. Dont get me wrong, Im grateful for these 3 GM traits. But what about those people who like to run zerkers build or for those who want to be viable in wvw? You need to consider different types of gameplay as well. Not everyone wants to be condi regen bunker. Imo, no offense, those who run condi bunkers are boring. I see no skill in condition builds not just for Ranger but for all classes in game. Basically you stack up condition and wait for them to die. Thats how i see these condi builds.

Why can’t ANet be creative with Ranger, since we’re dealing mediocre damage with LB and SB which is why some people chose Ranger is because we’re supposed to be unparalleled archers, can’t we get traits that make us deal #% of foes maximum health per hit with our bows? could be put into skirmishing trait or better yet, why can’t our auto attack on bows 3rd skill chain deal 2% pure damage plus actual damage. That’s wearing down your opponent Ranger should have access to % damage!

We should definitely get an Elite on bow from GW1

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Prepared_Shot

Rework to: Your next arrow deals 20% of your target’s maximum health. (CD: 20s)

Unparalleled Archers here we come!!!

jcbroe.4329:

MAN I miss interrupt builds lol. I’m sad to see that I will probably never get to play an interrupt ranger in Guild Wars 2 and feel that same sense of excitement and involvement as landing Distracting Shot on a Word of Healing, but I’m super excited that Mesmers are on their way to being able to perform like a Guild Wars 1 Domination mesmer (pBlock being my favorite mesmer build ever).

But yeah, I can definitely see the dispute over how useful Read the Wind is going to be lol. I mean, for me personally, I’ve always mixed my longbow build with survival skills, so the reality is that running a 30/0/10/30/0 build already looks appetizing to me, and the tradeoff from not going for signets or for piercing arrows/spotter and eagle eye is sure to be present in certain situations.

Honestly, I need to see it in action to see how avoidable our arrows end up being before I can make an honestly judgement call. I’m assuming there is going to be a certain distance that gets created by Read the Wind where the arrows move so quickly that they are near impossible to react to and dodge, and I want to see how far out the “difficult to dodge/avoid” range gets extended by the range before I make my own, personal final judgement call. If that makes sense.

Awesome to see some GW1 vets are still around though! and yeah, I have leveled and geared out every class except an elementalist at this point lol.

See the only reason I dont find Read The Wind worth it is because of LB’s slow rate of fire. Im hoping that: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Sigil_of_Rage gets rework, since feature patch will be clean ups of runes and sigil. If ANet happens to give us access to faster firing rate or access to quickness through sigil or trait rework, then I’ll definitely look into Read The Wind. My guess is ANet wants Eagle Eye and Read The Wind to be equipped together when you spec into Marksmanship like you said or suggesting. But I just wish they do something with piercing arrows and merge it with something or provide us a better trait in major or adept. They said that this is high level balanced in feature patch, so meaning they started with GM traits for everyone maybe they’ll be working on major traits and adept traits as well. But who knows, hope they do though because most of these GM traits for all classes do not make sense except for some obvious ones.

Yeah GW1 Ranger here!!! I play Alliance Battle Melandru’s Arrow build, Strike as One Spear build, and Heroes Ascent Magebane Ranger or Punishing Shot build. I totally feel your pain dshot Ranger lol.

jcbroe.4329:

Kolisch.4691:

Why is it that when I read the new traits and changes for other classes I go “drooolll…” and when I look at Rangers, I go “it’s OK, we’re used to this” (I has a sad.jpg)

I don’t think that’s entirely true, but that’s just my opinion. Like for instance, I’d say that nothing that the elementalist is receiving really looks all that interesting or even build changing, unless I guess you really want to try that hard to force yourself into a healing role that the game just isn’t designed to handle in the same manner that holy trinity games work.

Outside of that, Engineers only get Bunker Down really, and Guardians would be giving up more than they gain for every one of their new traits outside of Amplified Wrath. Thieves don’t really gain anything that’s worth giving up something they already have either.

The three classes that do stand to gain a slew of useful traits are Warriors with Burst Precision, Dual Wield Agility, and Phalanx Strength, Necros with Parasitic Contagion, Path of Corruption, Unholy Santuary, AND Unholy Martyr, and of course Mesmers with Power Block, Triumphant Distortion (only in PvE though), and Bountiful Disillusionment.

However, Rangers get some neat tricks too. Read the Wind is going to be quite decent when combined with Eagle Eye. Min/Max’ers are going to complain about not being able to maximize damage and long distance accuracy, but it allows longbow users to obtain a niche role not currently present in the game, especially at the 1500 range distance.

Poison Master looks interesting, but competes with Empathic Bond, which means you lose condition removal in any build not going for the new Survival of the Fittest, so it’s hard to tell how valuable the trait will be versus it’s tradeoffs.

HOWEVER, survival of the fittest is great, and creates a lot of build diversity within builds that aren’t spirits/traps/active spirits, like power builds that previously took Empathic Bond for cleansing, and of course our Beastmaster based builds that now don’t have to kill that pet they are empowering with Empathic Bond.

Also, depending on how strong the heal is, Invigorating Bond has the potential to be strong as well, and could possibly be used to create pretty much unkillable builds, if the heal is strong enough.

Shouts on the ranger will never be used again now, but hey, that’s a design issue.

good observation. in my opinion, like you said as well, a lot of ranger players are convinced that rangers got it rough again this patch with our new GM. In reality is, out of the 5 new traits that we got, in my opinion only 2 are not worth taking. Marksmanship: Read the Wind and Skirmishing: Strider’s Defense. Like you mentioned as well, I can tell you play or are familiar with other classes and how they are built.

Thief, Guardian, Engineer, and Warrior’s new traits wouldn’t be worth taking with the current meta right now in my opinion, cause there are so much better traits right now that they could take that would be more effective than what is being given. Besides Warrior’s Phalanx Strength which is REALLY good specially in WVW and Thieves Bewildering Ambush for condition build roamers.

Like you said as well, other professions like Mesmer… OOOHHHH… can’t wait for a good Mesmer to see that Power Block trait being put to use! are something to look out for. (But im glad GW2 Mesmer’s are turning into GW1 Mesmer)

hyjaxxx.1584:

also something i think i caught on the stream. the Heal /pet poisons ect are going to be based off your +healing/ +condi damage. if so a base 800 heal could be 1500-1750 with a regen/ Re-port ranger. Ive already started putting together some builds with the new stuff in mind. Im really looking forward to the changes..although the bugfixes are where we usually get screwed so we will have to wait and see.

Yup! you’re right!!! Wilderness: Poison Master trait will be based on player condi damage and thats including your pet’s next attack, as poison stack per duration thats insta 2 stack duration! with the main poison (you) 50% stronger.

Now most of you are thinking who gives a kitten about poison. The condi application now is different for us, if before poison was just a cover for the actual condi damage: bleed, burn. Now that its 50% stronger, poison is our number 1 priority when you trait for this.

Bleed
(0.05 * Condition Damage) + 42.5 per stack per second at level 80

Poison
84 + (0.1 * Condition Damage) per second at Level 80

Terravos.4059:

I wouldn’t use Hydromancy with Sigil of Intel, because when you swap, you’d crit with Hydro wasting the intel procs

Intelligent Sigil would give you 3 guaranteed crit though

Way better than Rangers. At least you dont need to trait 30 deep to get faster moving projectile in game. Now thats disappointing.

Do you guys know why they put burning GM in power trait? Burning ticks at the end of condition durations not like other conditions which ticks in the beginning. The more duration you got, the efficient your burning is.

The Chosen Link.3247:

There were many great things from the GW1 ranger, specifically stances and preparations which didn’t make it into GW2.

Preperation we can all agree on that Thieves got that instead of us. Stances Warrior got that instead of us. Interrupts Mesmers got that instead of us. So I don’t really know what else we can get from GW1 Ranger that could be pass on to GW2 Rangers besides spirits…. ack!

rpfohr.7048:

Strider would be good if it was 15% chance to block ALL incoming attacks, not just projectiles,

It might also be good if its within a certain range, so you can get this proc on your skirmishing SB or Axe ranger that likes to fight between 0-500 range.

I do feel that power builds got whacked again which is the wrong direction it needs to go.

I really liked the combine eagle eye and read the wind ideas. I thought of that too when it first came out, others just beat me to posting.

As for striders it seems to be trying to help the power melee builds which have built in evades, Something like “When you evade an attack your next attack crits” would have worked much better.

Still garbage even if its ALL attacks, 15% doesn’t even put this GM trait into Major and its RNG who the hell wants that for a 30 deep investment?

clint.5681:

That poison grand master was a direct result of the CDI I can tell you that much.

Yup! He’s right. A few people suggested for us to get a specialization in poison, which I didnt agree on honestly cause when I think poison I think Thieves.

The read the wind and striders defense were probably made in prompt of those of us asking for more gw1 ranger skills. Only none of us would have wanted them as a grandmaster trait so while they listened they implemented it wrong. Plus it it should be at least 25% chance to block to bbe worth taking and be able to use at ranger.

Read The Wind I actually suggested and a few PVP players, but as a QoL improvement for Rangers, not an actual GM trait -_- and if they’re going to implement Read The Wind I suggest make it give us extra precision or power if equipped, this trait is just pure garbage, right now.

I also told ANet, if you look at my CDI Ranger post, the very first one I said for them to give us healing per pet switch similar to how Elementalists change attunements I suggested to change Masters Bond, I think thats how they got the new Beastmastery trait. But then put into GM trait is too much though

OGDeadHead.8326:

Request: Link to the new traits please

http://dulfy.net/2014/03/21/gw2-ready-up-episode-8-developer-livestream/

Diehard.1432:

Hey Anet, do any of you play rangers?

Im not sure if ANet is trolling or not, you also have to consider its almost April Fools, Id love to think these traits are jokes theyre trying to pull. Wishful thinking on my part though.

Sarrs.4831:

I have two big problems with this trait.
1- It’s RNG. You could block an absolutely excellent ability like Point-Blank Shot, Pin Down or Magic Bullet which will put your enemy at a huge disadvantage. You could block nothing at all during a fight. Personally, this makes this skill absolutely utter rubbish in my opinion from a design standpoint- It’s an RNG element that counteracts clutch plays.
2- It only affects projectiles. Projectiles are a very specific class of attack and it won’t do anything against a nice big pile of abilities. This tied with the 15% chance proc rate makes it really, really tricky to justify picking up.
3- No counterplay. If you’re dependent on your ranged attacks, you can’t do anything about the fact that you’re rolling the dice when you’re fighting a Strider’s Defense ranger.

My suggestion:
Strider’s Defense: When you land a melee attack, gain 20 seconds of Aegis. 20 second CD
This nails these problems right in the face; it removes the RNG element, makes the ability more practical to use against everyone, and Aegis already has bunches of systems to support and counter it. Duration and ICD are debatable, of course; I would personally put it somewhere between 15 and 25 seconds.

Phaeton.9582:

It’s the worst trait change on rangers for sure.

What about ‘your pet f2 blinds and cripples nearby foes’

This double dips with Intimidation Training, so I’m kind of skeptical of it.

Yeah thats my problem with it its RNG. But I think it compensates for it if youre thinking GS and Sword/Dagger on a ranger, the 2 most defensive weapon sets we have since you’ll be a dodging monkey with those sets.

I like your idea, but 20s ICD on an aegis is too long, I’d rather trade aegis for protection if we’re talking about boons.