I have never played GW1, but alone from reading some of the skills the ranger has in GW1 on http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ranger , I get a feeling that the whole profession was much better in GW1.
As a GW1 player, no, I can tell you ranger was not much different in that game because of how much faster other classes could deal damage and in AoE.
Yeah, you had more options due to dual profession………but they were horrid compared to every other class still.
They were better in PVP however if I recall correctly
Then let me assure you, as a better gw1 player that you were doing it horribly wrong. First off, rangers were wayyyyy different, and actually desired for both pve and pvp as a bow ranger. Not being forced to have a pet, being able to use condis without sacrificing alot of raw damage, getting high ground and sniping ( yes sniping was possible, and very very fun ) Not to mention we had the most range in the game, most interupts, most condi attacks. People tend to think gw1 ranger couldnt do burst or raw damage but that is false, my ranger wasnt interupts or pure condi, I used Burning arrow and hunters shot for the consistent damage and disrupting shot and needling shot with 16 MM, My burning arrow would get up to 130 damage max, and disrupting shot on squishies would do 140, get them to 50% or less in 2 shots and needling shot them for 40 each for massive preasure. We didnt have thief like burst, but we killed just as efficiently.
So yes, rangers were much better and different in gw1, pets were usually beastmaster exclusive, unless you are a newbie, and archers…real archers had so many ways to fight. Not saying it was perfect, but it was better, anet still paid barely any attention to rangers since gw1 release, definitely the least touched class. I logged into gw1 and saw alot more people playing it, asked a bunch if they played gw2 and they said yes but their main were rangers so they are waiting for them to become rangers again before they go back.
Rangers were great at conditions, this is true, but quite simply condition damage was considered “slow” in PVE as time went on, people began favoring spike damage. If conditions were used, it was used because some form of spike damage skill benefited from it.
Mesmers tended to be better for interrupting due to their interrupts being instant with no travel time, especially after their last massive buff which made them hilariously powerful by buffing a wide range of things. Fast casting among them if I recall correctly.
People began to favor massive AoE, which while ranger could do with splinter weapon+barrage simply was not up to par with what others could pump out. It gave the illusion of massive damage due to the multiple numbers popping up at the same time, but it was not actually that strong compared to other options. Their saving grace however was that their AoE tended to be safer.
Yes, ranger is different in this game in some ways, but realistically they are in the exact same spot as they were in GW1. That is not to say they were “bad” in PVE, just that they were outdone by other classes with their only advantage being range……..much like it is here. In GW1’s case, it was due to power creep however. In GW2’s case it’s because they are still working on balance as a whole.
Really though, I’d argue a few of the ranger mechanics here work better then they did in GW1, again, due to power creep. Pets are kind of bad it both, but thankfully slowly being improved here.
Please guys, remove the rose tinted nostalgia glasses, maybe rangers were better near the beginning of GW1, but as power creep sunk in, they were hardly desired for PVE except for VERY specific group set ups…….and even then there were often stronger options.
And no, this is not coming from someone who enjoyed OP classes. Hell my two favorites in GW1 were a smite monk and a paragon who I absolutely refused to touch imbagon on.
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