Guild Wars 2

Atherakhia.4086:

Take Ranger for example… their damage could justifiably be below that of another class because they bring both precision and frost spirit to a group which are unique for the most part. But the price to bring these buffs can’t be so taxing that the group can’t break even when you factor in the damage increase for the 4 other classes vs the lost damage for bringing the Ranger over another class. If the net result is a negative, you’re kind of in the situation we have now where the Ranger simply isn’t worth bringing.

Glad you’re still participating as i do like an open debate.

Yea what I’ve quoted above is basically the go-to reason a lot of people say “why bother with a Ranger” and i quote honestly can’t argue against the factual nature of information. However, we need to compare three types of Dungeon groups:

1. Leet/speed
2. PUG
3. Guildie

Now, that argument works with 1. It’s used but shouldn’t be with 2. and should never be a factor in 3.

1. If you want to min/max and blast through then crack on, whatever shaves off that 1 minutes 30.
2. Wannabe Leets but never going to happen with a group of strangers. You make the best of the situation you’re in.
3. should be pink fluffy warm hugs all round with subsect of 1’s doing their thing.

Agree’d we’ve gone way off topic here so i apologise for this and will keep input back about pets

I’m sorry i don’t agree with a lot of what you’ve put Corana. What you’re asking for is to make Pet Management lazy/easier. Ranger is a thinking person’s class which can punish the player heavily when mistakes are made. I’m all up for changes that improve the class, not neccissarily changes that make the class easier to play.

I don’t believe a 2 pet system could work because they would both have to nerfed ala hyena to not OP Rangers. And we all know how useless Hyena is.

I think the current system is adequate and rewards the players who effectively manage their pets (within the constraints of a not ideal system). There are even traits to support the regular swapping of Pets which can be rather useful.

I think an adequate punishment of no pet thus less dps is warranted if they both managed to get killed within 60 seconds.

To reiterate what’s been said in many post before, a more defensively intelligent pet would be a massive step in the right direction with damage avoidance. Stances for pets perhaps?

I really like the idea of have an Aggressive/Passive mode with corresponding skill bar. i’m thinking aggressive mode being like current lynx all cons and crits with passive mode being all loiter and pump out boons and outlet to transfer dam or cons etc

P.S. Switching out Pets to avoid AoE is a smart way of dealing with the situation. Shame pet looses stacks though

Kvera.1649:

The Pale Tree awakened me during the Cycle of Noon, in a clear day, where only the great sun shining brightly over Tyria.

I’m Bánghrian, from Irish “bán”, that means “Sun”, and “ghrian”, that means “White”.

didn’t rate mine first

Atherakhia.4086:

Right, it’s just all classes should be equal. So while a Warrior should swing their greatsword around and deal crushing damage to their foes, a Ranger may swirl their greatsword around daintilly, but that 300lb jaguar will pick up the slack. Net result being they both do the same damage. In theory anyway

Disagree with this though. Classes shouldn’t be equal. classes should be unique and have their own strengths and weaknesses, pro’s and con’s. Warrior with greatsword should out-melee any other class. Ranger with bow should be best at ranged physical damage and warriors should out dps a ranger. Same as a Guardian should out-tank an Ele and a Necro out-spell a Thief and a Cleric out-heal everything.

In my humble opinion, it should be about maximizing what your class does best and trying to mitigate class weaknesses. not every class having the same DPS just with different “pretty” animations.

Unfortunately classes have become a little too much generalized, with everyone having a little bit of everything which leaves some classes feeling somewhat directionless/flavourless (Rangers can fall into this category at the moment) and then the drive by the player-base to demand even more parity of the classes. It’s a vicious cycle which actually stifles individuality. May as well make it a clkitten system.

Atherakhia.4086:

Actually, Rangers aren’t built for spike damage. They’re built for methodical, sustained damage. As to comparing their damage to Warriors, it’s because the Warrior class is the easiest class to get raw damage numbers for. Their traits are all mostly % increases, and their damage is pretty straight forward and easy to calculate. W

Hrm, yea fair point about the sustained/pressure approach, although i’d argue you can STS (Single Target Spike) effectively too. Again depends on the build.

My comments Re:Warriors was more aimed that people saying “well a warrior can do this, why cant a ranger” – because you’re a ranger and do ranger things. Agreed dmg Calc out of Warrior is far easier.

Glad we agree on Defense/Dmg evade on pets

I smell a trend there! heh. 7/10’s with a personal fave of Oak Lips!

I went all out traditionalist with mine: Ghwain

first name only (one family so no surnames) and a nod to the Celts and Arthurian style legend of a certain Green Knight.

What’s with the comparisons to Warriors all the time? warriors are built for tanking and taking on multiple targets at once, so of course they’ll be better at that then Rangers.

Rangers are built for Spike damage, IE, you pick one target and roast it and then move on to the next, this is why there is a combination of single target dps and single target conditions. With that in mind the traits/utilities/weapons on offer support just this.

What should be debated is the pro’s and con’s of bow/self builds or builds that buff the pet and where the best balance lies in churning through single target mobs.

What i miss as a Ranger on here is a good ’trupter build. I miss my Casters Bane build from GW1.

Now, back to pets. Pet are also single target focused dps (or semi tanks) and i don’t think there is much wrong tbh. The best points raised so far are around Pet AI defensively where they have limited defensive capabilities be it general defensiveness as a tanker pet or avoiding AoE type stuff.

I think alot of misunderstanding happens where players are trying to optimise a ranger to play like an ele or warrior, which is just not going to happen. If you’re a sprinter you don’t enter the cross-country race and vice-versa. Understanding and maximizing what a class is about is the way forward.

Ok. So, disclaimer up front: I’m a casual participant on GW2. I don’t have the time to be a dedicated player so i’m not aspiring to be some “l33t playa wid mad 5ki11z” or whatever the kids say nowadays /toungueincheek.

Yes, runes/equip has been omitted on purpose. While the right combination of eq/runes can maximize builds potential, the premise is still the same.

I like my PvE and look to be useful while either just 1 man solo-ing around or dungeon-ing it up. So, this is what i run:

Solo:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT3fnUqQBLWxCuCCXLGQQoWHAzbWzcBqgnNb0myTShapA-e

Let’s face it, Rangers don’t do AoE damage so don’t bother. Single target spiking is where it’s at and this is what this build tries to do. Axe/Torch just gives another option against swarming mobs if needed. Keep pet buffed and try not to switch targets until dead.

Dungeon:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQNAnfVn8ISvK2sCuCCXLGYPoWGAB8z44bdXFZRTnyTShapA-e

Yes, what a surprise, Spirits. But hell, play to your strengths. Ranger is never going to be out and out DPS, so don’t bother trying to compete. What you can offer is a nice mix of boons, conditions and damage. No, you’re not extreme in anyone area, Rangers are a bit of a jack of all trades, so may as well embrace it. I’d argue any ranger that run a build like this well enough can still be a useful party member.

Anyway, feedback, suggestions etc would be nice.

An observation i’ve made from personal experience and reading about supposed “inconsistencies” by other Users is that Master’s Bond is ineffective at raising pet stats when present in a level-capped lower level area. The stack appears but there is no change to the Attributes when looking at the Pet.

This may well be intentional behavior, but could this be confirmed either way please?