Guild Wars 2

I’ve said this a dozen times from headstart, spirits do not suck.
You just need to learn to play with them. Positioning yourself with spirits unbound is key. Once you manage that you’ll start to see the upsides.
Equipping longbow and shoot from a distance out of aggro and aoe (talking wvw here) while adding spirit-boons to allies helps. Going into big zergs melee, doesn’t help. You need to have some meatshields before you to take the blows while you remain behind them, sniping the enemy and give your allies around you spirit-buffs.

Then try equipping stone-spirit with the 15% extra bonus chance and spirits unbound. Now watch how often all your allies around you have protection.
It’s nice!

KensaiZen.3740:

Spirits are pretty decent. People just don’t have a clue how to use them. If they are placed within 900 range of the enemy…. you are using them wrong.

Did you ever wonder why LB skills were multihit? Well now you know.

Increase dmg by 10%. Adds burning to each attack. For one minute!!!! That’s a lot of extra damage.

Agreed. Spirits are fine, but you need to learn to work with them. It’s all about positioning when fighting.

jubskie, thanks for your post.

I’m playing ranger from headstart but still struggling with pets.
I play a lot WvW and I have 2 different build set ups. I seem to have much troubles with pets during big zerg vs big zerg fights. Putting my pet on ‘avoid combat’ is your first tip I will follow up.
My first build has no points in BM, the other one has 20 points in BM.

I would really like your advice,

Especially for my 20 BM set up. (It’s 0/20/30/0/20) jewelry is healing power, armor is toughness. What pets would you recommend? I tried canines a lot but I was way to focused on it’s health-bar and switching from avoid combat to attack that I couldn’t really fight myself. Now I’m thinking spiders. What do you think?

Dunkelbunt.1064:

I would like to submit a picture of someone who takes great pride in his chice of colors. On our Server he is well known for his hideous appearance and has even gathered a few followers.

So without further ado I give you: Dantos, the charr thief.

haha that’s cool and funny.. and yes it’s ugly.

The blue/yellow etc isn’t too bad.

Almost everyone is walking around with midnight ice or abyss. Sometimes 1 other colour is added. Since it’s so incredibly common now it get’s boring. I really don’t like that since a lot of players are using it and you don’t stand out in a nice colourful kind of way.
Just because the pricetag is high doesn’t make it beautifull, especially if everyone’s using it.

thank you very much for all the helpfull info

Hi all.

I tried making some rare dyes (yellow) at the chef. Instead when I opened them they were uncommon dyes (green).

What am I missing or what am I doing wrong?

Ty in advance

Only read topic title…: Yes yes yes, of course.

Longbow is not bad or worse then shortbow.
As with all weapons with all professions, a different weapon requires a different way of playing.

For example: Try a berserker build in WvW-zergs with shortbow and longbow. My guess is you stay alive more often and thus deal more dmg with longbow. Because of it’s range and you being able to position yourself more safely in the backlines sniping/dps-ing/bursting the kitten out of everyone.
Trying that with shortbow means you have to get in closer making you enemies’ target more often and you dodging 3-ing your way out of it desperately therefor not dealing dmg at all.

Longbow and shortbow requires a different way of playing and positioning on the battlefield.
Also, to synergize with available traits they tend to lean to different synergizing traits: shortbow condition dmg and a bit more survivability, longbow power and crit with less need of survivability (if not solo-ing).
All can be mixed though when you’re creative enough.

Hi Rangers,

So I’m almost up for my 2nd armor set.
I’ll use a completely different build.

I’m planning to spec into BM for the first time so my pets will actually have some use.
Before I didn’t have any points traited in Beastmastery what my options for pets in WvW very slim (bears and devourers imo)

Now my question to you:

How many points do you need to spec in BM to make the more squishier and dps-dealing pets like birds, felines etc viable in WvW? 10? 20? 30? Not taking into account utility skills.

With 2 birds can you manage in WvW with only 10 points in BM and swap in time? Or are they still too squishy and do you need 20 or 30 points in BM to keep their survivability up high enough?

Thanks for your answers and advice, looking forward to it

I run them for months now. Since my main build hasn’t got any points in BM I like devourers most in WvW. They’re tough, keep themselves alive well enough and provide decent (condition)damage.

To me only D/D elementalists and thieves are kinda OP in WvW.
They are the only professions who can decide on their own when to enter or a leave a zerg, 1 v 1, or 1 v many and the other professions can’t do anything about it even if they have the upper hand in the fight. Other professions don’t have this capability. This makes them OP imo.
Thief does it with all it’s endless stealth.
D/D with it’s endless speed, healing power and condi removal

Imo, ranger has improved in december’s update and it’s ok since then.
Of course, pet AI and spirits remain, as well as some other smaller issues.

I’d like to see some hard nerves in other professions though, especially when looking at WvW.

Cassiel.9431:

he use 10(VI)/ 0 /25(V,X) / 15(II) / 20(II,VII)

and @ Fay,

Thanks, something with IE-explorer that was causing problems with the site, works fine on others!

Thanks Fay for the guides!

Fay.2735:

Bast Bow.2958:

Hey Fay

‘the boomer’ by bligh redirects me to a post which when I open the link, I don’t get to see any traits…?

greets

There’s a link at the bottom of his post with the traits

I know but when I click it I don’t get to see the traits he used. Only the weaps, armor and jewelry, not the traits it all says 0. Or is it just me then?

lol isn’t that the tap-dance one?

Hey Fay

‘the boomer’ by bligh redirects me to a post which when I open the link, I don’t get to see any traits…?

greets

Hey Darzinth (or other mesmer-fans/experts),

This was what you suggested: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dlwziq3UTmGadJhJFEH5nZw8ljWApCquUBcD;T8AA1ytEaJ1StlSLqiMFJKyWkrIZRLIGisFB

What would you think to replace mirror images with veil? Then I would have another glamour skill, this helps with trait: inspiration 2.
I don’t have a lot of experience wit Veil yet, what do you think of Veil in dungeons and WvW?
Since it gives stealth to allies, I was thinking to add traits Chaos 12 (which also gives chaos grandmaster minor 5% toughtness as bonus condi dmg) But then I have to lose 10 other points which is a hard decision and maybe not for the best. I might lose to much dps when I do this?

Hmm yes. Good option!

Cool! Really like this build Darzinth! Looks solid! Also like the lyssa runes, reminds me of GW1 and Lyssa is human mesmer-goddess so I like it lore-wise too ^^.

I think soldier’s really fits well with the rest of the build. Guess I’ll just do some dungeon a few times more, no problem.

Q1: You said sword may fit this build better. I can understand why. If I’d choose sword, would you alter the traits, armor or jewelry or is it ok the way it is?
Q2: Why blink? I can see it’s usefullness in wvw. Is that why? What is your experience with Veil and Feedback? (Because I really like to lay down fields or add buffs (or stealth) to allies)

Thanks for the help Darzinth, really like what I see

Hi people!

I’m finally getting to making an alt. And it was decided during head start it was going to be a mesmer. I think mesmers are epic, as do you.

My main is Ranger and I like it a lot. I have almost no experiences playing other professions then ranger. But I’m finally ready to expend my horizon a little and see what’s more to offer. I hope you guys can help me out a bit. If you don’t feel like reading through my preferences below, just drop some general advice if you want to.

Atm I’m a lvl 25 mesmer. I will be playing dungeons and wvw primarily, not ready for PvP yet. Though it’s a good place to learn.
I really like the staff, but I haven’t figured out my 2nd weapon(s)-set yet. Since staff is a bit defensive/aoe based I’d thought the other weapon set should be more 1 target-based. I don’t know much about the other weapons mesmer has to offer.
Since it’s a mesmer I really feel like the other weapon set should be casting weapons too. But maybe it doesn’t fit with staff.. I don’t know.
I was thinking scepter/focus, scepter/torch or maybe sword/focus sword/torch. I’d prefer scepter though, if that’s possible.

So that’s dungeons and WvW, staff – scepter/torch or scepter/focus has my preference if that’s a good option.
I’m not looking for a bunker, healer or glass/canon build. I’d like it more balanced, so some good defensive capabilities as well dealing a reasonable amount of damage.
I don’t care if I should focus on phantasms/shattering or not, I’d leave that to you guys (and women). I like phantasms but if there are builds withouth phantasms that fit my preferences better, I’d do that.
I also like the glamour utility skills. So, laying down chaos storm, null field etc etc.

Now I really do not have a clue what kind of traits I should get and I would appreciate some advice!
If you think my preferences are hard to combine into a good build, then leave some things out, any advice is very welcome!

Thanks in advance, looking forward to your thoughts.

20/20/0/30/0 exotic Longbow + Shortbow. Utility: Heal as one, stone spirit, frost spirit, sun spirit and take root (sylvari elite, otherwise rampage as one or entangle). Traits: Markmanship and skirmishing the longbow and shortbow buffs. Nature magic: all spirit buff traits. Exotic armor with mixed stats, superior runes of melandru. Accessory: exotics mixed, but primarily major toughness. 21 k health, enough toughness and enough damage. This is a spirit build which requires practise to make it work. Since I have no investment in beastmastery I run tanky pets, double devourers

Update:

After downloading the game again, everything seems to be working fine.

So not sure what or who but it’s aye ok. Hopefully this won’t happen again.

Greets

Hello,

I’m not sure what happened.
I’ve been playing GW2 since head-start but now I’m repairing data archive and it seems I’m downloading the whole game again. This isn’t bad per se, but I find it strange. It hasn’t finished downloading yet but I’m worried my characters aren’t there anymore.

I did have an error once in a while which caused GW2 to instantly crash, I always click the ‘report to anet’ when it crashes. This also happened yesterday the last time I played.
This happened before and I had to repair data archive but that only took 5 mins or so and the files weren’t too big. Now suddenly I’m redownloading the whole game again.

I’m running spirit-build for ages now and I’m doing just fine, I run it mostly wvw. When fully traited and make sure you’re in the backlines and not targeted much, you can be of great assistance to your party/group/zerg. I’m running SB/LB.
Dungeons/PvE is a bit different story though. My spirits get targeted—>killed faster. Though still I find them usefull enough, my party gets protection from stone spirit very often, burning also helps as well damage buff from frost spirit. I only use storm spirit when my party brings enough burning already.

An interesting idea

I’m running 20/20/0/30/0 spirit support build with LB + SB.

I can understand why spirits aren’t popular, but when you get all the right traits in and learn how to play with them, it really can be a good, powerful and viable build. Also the 2nd toggle skill of the spirits helps in 1vs1’s. Just make sure you got all the right traits: spirits have extra health, move around and follow you and +15% benefit… >> equipped with longbow and being around friendlies and in the backline and midline primarily without being targeted and aoe’d a lot, you can do a lot for your team and with 20 in both markmanship and skirmishing you’re also getting your kills.

We’ve been left out for a long time, but december patch gave me some hope and stopped me from quitting.

Jinks.2057:

Guardians are such a boring class tho.

2 thieves is down right fun for all parties involved.

2 thieves = 2 same professions = more boring then a thief/guardian imo.

I can see all sorts of mixes with thief/guardian. Most obvious, and prolly also strong, ones is guardian leaning more towards support and thief leaning more towards dps and control.

As a ranger myself, I find thiefs to be the hardest of all professions to fight 1vs1.
You say rangers keep you at range with SB. I’m running lb/sb in wvw, but if you’re stealthing up at me I can’t hit kitten untill you annoying thieves are dancing around me allready cutting me everywhere.

I’m a big ranger fan, but no.. An honest answer is a guardian like others allready stated.

I especially like option 2 and 3. With all the siege we currently have it’s almost weird we don’t have ladders yet.

Option 1: It makes sence pushing cata in direction it’s facing considering how it’s constructed. But in wvsw, pushing it only backwards or forwards seems nearly useless to me.

I would happily go into discussion with you,

But like you did with Sil, you are avoiding the arguements our messages are really about. So enjoy running around in circles, I’m not following you.

If you’re willing to really go into discussion and actually react to what I’m really saying, I’d be glad to.

NightyNight.1823:

What argument , you have none.This is about Thief’s gameplay not some game mode whit issues that I personaly don’t even experience.A game mode thats not even intended to be balanced that way.So what argument do you even have to claim Thief is not a balanced class.You have none.

He has a lot of arguments and he mentioned them… You are not countering those arguments. In this post your only saying he doesn’t have an argument… That’s… Air.
What you say is like a toothpaste-tube fairly empty and you’re trying your best to squeeze the last bit out which makes sound: “…..bluhfffft”

All his arguments were valid are currently happening in wvw.

I see thieves constantly entering battles (group or 1 v 1) and leaving them whenever they feel like it going in and leaving in stealth mode. And if that’s culling or not, I don’t know. Either way, it has to be fixed. And it’s certainly not a 3 second stealth they’re in. I can see them again when they’re far far away and way way out of max range traited longbow. If ppl want numbers about the distance they travelled in stealth without me moving, I think it’s 2,5 times max range traited longbow, so at least 2,500.

To all thieves who say thieves aren’t overpowered and basically say learn to play to others…:

Ok.

So what you all are saying, since now the majority of GW2 players in wvw and pvp have major trouble dealing with the thief, you guys are pointing out THEY should get there facts straight and find solutions to the problem which they haven’t done enough yet?

That’s a very weird way of thinking.

How about turning it around shall we?

You thieves aren’t OP anymore somehow, but say Elementalists are. But all the elementalists are saying: ‘No we’re not OP, all you lads and ladies need to learn to play the game right and find a way to counter it. There really is a way to counter it. Majority of GW2 players: You really need to try harder and then you will find a way to counter it.’ So….. What would you think about that?

Isn’t the fact alone that tons of ppl are complaining about thieves being OP proof enough that there’s at least a too big of a difference between how the thieves are in there current state and how the major part of GW2 players can’t deal with them?

Nooooo noooooooooooo it’s the major part of the players that can’t counter them who are all ignorant or dumb or haven’t done enough research or whatever… Sure sure…
Even if that is true, this game is supposed to be doable and enjoyable by the vast majority of GW2-players, not the minority who DOES find a way to counter the current state of thieves in pvp and wvw.

awe extender.1908:

Also it appears to me that it was really a decent archer class closely bonded with traps and pets. Maybe a more focused proffession than it is now. Imo, it looks like Anet tried (in vain?) to make a more versatile prof in GW2 but lost the core / essence of the ranger?!!?

Played GW1 also from release, and I agree fully.

But I would be constructive if I’d share some ideas how they could do that…. But I don’t unfortunately…
First thing that comes to my mind that the bows aren’t only for rangers anymore.

In GW1, we Rangers alone along with Paragons in the expansion Nightfall dealt ranged DPS damage from mid to long range (bows and spears). All the other classes did direct DPS from short range/melee (hammers, swords, daggers, axes, scythes, shields), and there were the spellcasting professions and there weapons (staff, wand, focus).

Now in GW2 it’s all mixed up, which makes me feel less ranger and less special as a ranger with a longbow or shortbow.

awe extender.1908:

Maybe it would not be a bad idea if Anet devs went back to their roots!!!!

Agree also.

Ranger felt much more ranger in GW1.

@ curuniel, you’re right, excuse my lazyness

Thanks for explaining.

I think it’s actually pretty stupid people type kitten instead of bad words now lol…
Kitten.. wtf lol haha, it’s a small cat! It really doesn’t replace a bad word, it only makes it the meaning cuter instead of angry or something! haha

kitten kitten kitten

it’s a small cat right?

But I guess it also means something else caus nowadays I see everyone using it. What does it mean?

Thanks in advance

(no english is not my native language)

Sharing stats:

Traits: 20/20/0/30/0

Power 1923
Precision 1520
Toughness 1197
Vitality 1448

Attack 3003
Crit Chance 33%
Armor 2261
Health 20402

Full exotic with very mixed up superior runes, each piece different one, it synergizes with my build though.

Rings etc still need to be maxed out, stats/upgrades are also mixed. Only exotic one I have is ruby orichalcum ring of the berserker. The rest are greens etc.

Ghastly Longbow of Force
Mystic Crescent

So I still need to get my char maxed out gear-wise. Not sure if I want to lean heavily towards DPS or bunker or something by going full berserker or something… It seems popular to do that. But we can all do the math and logic, it’s not better, it’s different. I like it the way it is actually, pretty allround and since last update that doesn’t mean damage is bad when firing longbow from max range, flanking with shortbow etc.. using the right utility skills etc etc…

Those were my 2 cents :P

First of all: The last update finally put the ranger back in the game. I feel I can compete again with all the other professions. A very very big relief. So a thank you to Anet/Jon Peters is in place here.

Really hope they stop buffing the allmighty perma-stealth – and – billion-dps – thieves. Play some hours in WvsW and you know what I mean.
Well-traited they’re untouchable (invisible allt he time), ESPECIALLY by us rangers who have a minimum counters to them. You’re dead before you know it and you didn’t even had a chance to hit them.

Other concern.. They keep buffing everything. Signet of the Hunt now is 25%, then next update they’ll buff another profession to keep up with us rangers. Then another profession to keep up with that one… etc etc etc. Then in a year our signet of the hunt (just an example of a skill) will have 150%… Shouldn’t they tone down some instead of buffing others?

anyone who has played a decent amount of wvsw knows thiefs are rediculously overpowered when traited well, how long they can go stealth to get away from a fight when they feel a little heat, or get into a fight.. It’s really rediculous and other professions can’t do much about it, which give thieves always the upper hand at first. And no, with a little bit of thinking a thief knows that the other player will throw aoe at them first so they can deal with that easily too. And then still, aoe is also a specific area and has to be guessed by the other player. Other classes don’t have such an incredicly OP way of getting into a fight or out.
Also, thieves can still do a lot of damage while being stealthed. It’s not like they made it more even by somehow arranging the traits so permastealth doesn’t allow a lot of damage output…
U guys are lucky.

greets,
some ranger that doesn’t want to level another prof to 80 to have some real influence in wvsw

That’s one way to look at it lol…

The ranger is the black sheep from all the professions. It doesn’t stand out in anything that’s true, but in such a way that it’s beatable by every other profession in the aspect where the other profession excels in which makes ranger heavily underpowered.

Coltz.5617:

Disappointment and anger could be expressed differently or better yet, be expressed away from public forums or best kept to yourself.

Yes, so the developers will never know what is wrong and why a lot of people left the game, so let’s just all keep it to ourselfs and leave the game, and with that don’t give the developers the chance to work with feedback on what to improve.

Marvelouss idea, splended really

@ OP

Respect should always be implemented in feedback posts going both ways.

But, I can understand the vast Ranger majority is geting tired to be left out. November AND October update both didn’t contribute much to the Ranger, while it is the most underpowered profession. While other professions that are doing just fine, or even more then fine (warrior and thief for example) are getting buffs… That’s rediculous. That fact alone makes it for me understandable that the community steps up and speaks out. Doesn’t go in a respectfull manor sometimes and that should not be, but then again, the community did provide normal constructive feedback before and that didn’t help for **** looking at the last 2 updates. So yeah, then people will look for other means to get the devs attention… Hopefully it works.

They’re losing a lot of fans already and will lose more and more if they don’t start acting accordingly.
I’m not sure if they even read all the (or at least most of the) posts in these official forums since Anet is not changing what the community is asking from them in these forums.

They come up with new content, which is nice, but not what the community asks for.
Not so smart…
Signs everywhere, and a lot of feedback to work with, but if they don’t work with it…..
Maybe they’re still bathing in all the positive feedback and critics they got on release a few months ago and the community is really trying to wake them up but doesn’t seem to be working…

I was looking forward to this game for 4/5 years, played GW1 from start, and the game looked very promissing, also in the beta’s. I thought I’d play this game for years to come primarily with a shooter or strategy-game on the side once in a while. Doesn’t look like it anymore. But I still have a bit hope left for the next update. Though I see I’m not playing as much anymore, and if the next update will be another buff for the already OP professions and will get all the love and attention from the devs and ranger will be left out AGAIN…. I’m really let down, and done with GW2.

Cheers

I didn’t look good through mesmer forums yet…

Point of this message is there are tons of alarmbells going off and I hope for our and Anet’s sake they will start listening to it and act to it accordingly, otherwise they’ll lose a lot of fans

Thieves: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Confused-about-15-nov-patch-on-Thieves
Conclusion if you don’t want to read it: Thieves are actually suprised they didn’t get nerved so hard and think it’s brilliant especially for WvsW….

Warriors: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Warrior-changes-in-15th-Nov-patch/page/2#post759135
Conclusion: In the first page there are several warriors saying ‘We as warriors are doing fine, look at the state of rangers we have nothing to complain’
Warriors actually had the most buffs last update. Even warriors themselfves didn’t think they were doing bad before the update and they got buffed.

Elementalists: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/So-no-more-blasts-on-evasive-arcana-Merged
Conclusion: They are not too happy with the changes.

Rangers: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/General-Patch-Discussion-merged/first
Conclusion: Rangers are really frustrated, I see 600 posts to this update, a lot of ranting and flaming.

Etc. etc..

I read in the ranger subforum that Jon Peters stated that there are currently 2 designers tasked to look at the profession to buff and nerf them and they don’t have enough time.

I see a few profession that are surprised and shocked they didn’t get nerved, and on the other hand I see professions outrageous that they didn’t have a solid update in 2 months.

Dear Anet, as much as I love your game, read these official forums please. There really was a lot of constructive feedback you could work with. I see more and more angry players out there. See it as an oppertunity to improve your game even more, but do listen to these signs, don’t ignore them.

I think a lot of rangers are ‘crying’ because of WvsW and PvE experience (and I agree totally, just look at the last 2 profession updates, ranger is really being left out )
Not so much PvP.

Thanks for the tip though Pang.

I’m looking again at yesterdays patch update, and also october 7th update.

I could make this post very long but I don’t care anymore.

Devs………………………….

Please focus on the ranger…! You’re really leaving us hanging out there compared to the other professions!!!!!!
It’s just not fair. It sounds childish but it is the truth.

Look at ranger subforum and how many frustrated ranger players there are… Rangers are really screaming for attention and you keep giving other professions a lot more attention when you look at what you’ve updated and polished.

Enough ranting thus far..

And I won’t add another one, but I do hope this will (finally) get the proper attention of the devs to really put some work into the Ranger profession.

And also I agree on the underwater skill-set. It was fine and as some of you stated maybe even OP. Underwater weapon skill-set really was one of the least needed things to be buffed…

Aw man this is really really frustrating.

Also,

We rely on pets do deal damage too, and in wvsw it’s kinda difficult to keep your pet alive + letting it deal a lot of damage (without speccing in BM, only bears last a little while in zerg and they’re not dps-based..)

So ya, that warrior owns us if you look at ranged raw dps in wvsw

Zera.8907:

Guys, Rangers are fine! Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ru_rXq2LYg0#!

Again, Rangers are fine…..oh wait :-(

I wish I didn’t see that video…
I thought I was doing good with my glass canon build…..
Now I feel puny :|