(edited by ChillyChinaman.6057)
Are you talking PvE or PvP?
Does anyone actually run spirits in any form of sPvP? I’m completely serious with this question. And WvW does count as PvP to me.
Let me start this off by saying I know spirits and nature magic are generally thought of as poor choices. However, we can hope for changes to eventually.
In preparation for that, I was wondering which one of these traits are better.
Edit: As an side question, does anyone know which spirits have working internal cool downs?
(edited by ChillyChinaman.6057)
Just did a bit of testing. Remorseless does not work in sPvP.
In PvE however, pet kills count as your kills and thus refreshes Opening Strike.
I don’t think Remorseless refreshes your pet’s Opening Strike though.
With that said, in my opinion, groups are usually not big enough to warrant taking the piercing trait. Even in large 8v8 hot matches, the team opposing forces are almost never gathered together. If they were together, they would probably be moving and thus not lined up for your arrows.
However, Remorseless and Piercing Arrows is a great PvE combination that will allow you to have almost permanent vulnerability on your non-boss foes.
Now that the trait line has been fixed, does anyone know when the vulnerability is applied?
Opening Strike + Hunter’s Shot +Critical Hit would probably hit for high amount if it applied before.
Yes, tested it and it resets whenever you score a kill.
Nice for when I’m not using Signet of Stone. Combined with Longbow, you can get +20% in the beginning of a fight.
The Grandmaster Trait Relentless also works now too.
Still not as good as Beastmaster, but at least it got fixed.
The Grandmaster Trait Relentless also works now too.
Still not as good as Beastmaster, but at least it got fixed.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t the effects triggered by attacking for most spirits? Since spirits don’t attack, I don’t think they’re wasting effects.
I know spirits and rangers as a whole are rather lack luster, but I think you guys are over estimating anet’s supposed hate/laziness/incompetence.
I usually play a trap build with 20k health and 2200 armor.
However, I recently completed my berzerker and soldier sets. As a result I have been testing out various builds ranging from glass cannon long bow to front lining with a fast sword.
All this got me thinking, how much health/armor is considered squishy/tanky/average for a ranger?
Can a ranger tank competently? I mainly pve in dungeons if it helps.
So after the major kittenstorm that was last update, I felt like starting a discussion about the good things about our rangers.
I’ll start:
My main is a ranger, and I have a thief alt as well as a budding mesmer.
Two things that I really miss while playing my alts are:
Zephyr’s Speed and Natural Vigor.
Zephyr’s Speed for the little burst potential and more importantly, speed ressing downed teammates.
Natural Vigor for the endurance. I honestly think playing rangers have spoiled me when it comes to dodging.
Just get rid of the leap period. It’s just an old relic from when kick used to knock back anyway.
It’d fix the flying swordsman problem and the root “bug” too.
When complete Ascended gear gets rolled out, will PvP gear get increased to match? Because if not, then this will only be a PvE/WvW issue.
Not that that’s not important since that makes up 2/3 of the game, just pointing it out.
Just adding my 2cents, and I’ll start off by saying I have yet to read through all 8 pages of this thread, a bigger problem than the gear grind is the simple progression system. If you aren’t doing Fractals 24/7, you going to get left behind. The past weekend I spent time doing the Lost Shores content and working on my AC armor set. Nowadays, it’s almost impossible to find a non-Fractals dungeon group. Even within the Fractals itself, if you’re not on the cutting edge, you’re still getting left behind. I was level 2 right not and I waited over an hour to find a group. Then there were no level 3 groups after my old one disbanded. Meanwhile everyone else is shouting LFG FotM LvL 15+. I even saw a couple level 20+. The one saving grace however, is that fractal level is character bound. However, with all the rewards being account bound it is practically a moot point.
I would love to see the cooldowns reduced a bit with the GS, and give the swoop some kind of condition..Like weakness..I mean come on, we charge and smash their faces in with it
It is the ONLY gap closer in the game that is 1200 yards, that means regardless of what weapon they’re using (other then against another ranger who has a traited longbow) we WILL close that gap and we WILL begin smashing their face in with the simple press of one skill.
Actually Swoop is only 1100 range while the Warrior Rush is 1200 range, hits for more damage, and can be traited to remove immobilized. Swoop is on a shorter cooldown though.
I just got back from kicking my party out of the Explorable Ascalonian Catacombs when I realized there are many things players are not informed about without first hand experience through normal play.
In my case, I learned that if one party member leaves the dungeon he drags everyone else out with him. The worst part is that the rest of my party was right outside the final bosses room when I decided to leave.
So the main idea of this thread is for veteran players as well as fresh recruits to share secrets and tips about the game not explicitly outlined.
First off, I’d like to preface this thread by saying that I got bored and felt like brain-storming random ideas. I know that the odds of this being implemented is next to impossible.
So instead of having 2 permanent pets with relatively mediocre AI, why not replace them with 4 pet summon skills occupying the F1-F4 slots?
It would fit in the lore of the Ranger because instead of being a Beastmaster who tames and trains a single pet, the Ranger would be more of a Steward of nature commanding it to defend himself.
These skills would function similarly to Mesmer illusions in that they summon an AI companion to temporarily aid in combat with a special ability. They wouldn’t be constantly out, so as a result, wouldn’t detract from the Rangers power. They can also be killed to neutralize their threat. Similar to Guardian spirit weapons however, they would stay active for a set amount of time before going on a recharge, which the Pet attribute would reduce.
A few caveats:
The only one active animal at any given time, calling a different replaces the previous one.
Cooldown begins after the animal goes away.
Here are some proposed skills the pets would have.
Bird- Uses “Y” Slash every Xs
Drake – Uses PBAoE Breath attack every Xs
Moa – Uses PBAoE Screech buff/debuff every Xs
Spider – Uses Venom every Xs
Jaguar – Gives PBAoE stealth every Xs
Brown Bear – Similar to Phantasmal Defender in that it absorbs damage around it.
Are you activating quickness before or after you start the stomp animation ?
You have to have quickness up before starting.
Well from my experience, PvE and dungeons are doable.
PvE for the most part anyone with any build can do.
For Dungeons, Rangers mostly end up as offensive support with Warharn and Combo fields from traps. I have yet to run into such a hardcore group that was inspecting everyone before being admitted into their group.
Never under any circumstances melee a veteran mob. You’ll die really quickly. Stick to the axe and bows and you’ll do fine.
Also, use ranged pets. I personally like Lashtail/Canyon Spider
As for PvP, hotjoin is sorta okay if you want to mess around, just build defensively, I never leave home without Lightning Reflexes and traited Signet of Stone.
Yes, that only leaves us with 1 optional utility. It ain’t easy being a Ranger.
tPvP I’ve never played and thus cannot make any meaningful comments. However, one can assume that with pre-mades and guild groups these teams would very organized and highly efficient. Expect mesmers and guardians getting preference.
To quote Adelbern, GW2 resident master of the last stand:
“Retreat? Retreat is not an option!”
“We will never surrender! Never!”
And then every Ranger simultaneously breaks their bow/sword/axe and explodes in a blazing green light, instantly killing everyone around them in addition to becoming ghosts giving all wildlife permanent swiftness and frenzy.
Just noticed that pets have a new stat: Agony Resistance. I hope this actually scales properly, otherwise our pets are going to die even quicker in the new dungeon.
Don’t thank them yet. We’re still back to square one. The core issues concerning the ranger profession is still untouched.
After this kittentorm, I’ll take anything I can get.
Traps are now fixed. Confirmed myself. At least we still have those and our 12s Invul build.
Way too many complainers here. I hope you do quit playing your Rangers. You are giving it a bad name. If you can’t make your Ranger work ‘as is’ then your problem isn’t the in-game mechanics, sorry to tell you.
If you’re MacGuyver and can turn a paper clip, rubber band, and drinking straw, into something amazing, then power to you. The rest of us aren’t as awesome as you are.
All rangers that continue to play after today are either masochists or have a Job Complex.
I know I do. I’ll probably still play my ranger, mostly for the PvE dungeon side. I heard that the Trap BUG, because they acknowledged it as a bug, is supposed to be fixed tonight.
The most disappointing day ever. ….Life is too short for this much negativity over a game.
It’s still kinda fun, in a masochistic way, to whine and complain. At least I think so anyway. That and I think rangers have a Job Complex.
4 PM EST, no update notes?
Pretty sure it’s going to be Nov 16 @ noon with the rest of the update.
Ooh! Another chance to push my Magic Ammo Theory!
I’m still of the opinion that anyone with a capital P Profession (all PC’s and many NPCs) doesn’t bother with ammo (be it bullets or arrows) because all classes are magical to some extent. Much like the Mesmer offhand pistol is obviously firing a magical projectile and not something physical, I think everyone is firing projections of their own will (or whatever magic is in Tyria). This explains how a Thief can crank out 5 shots from a flintlock over the course of 1 second, or how a ranger Barrage is possible from only 1 bow.
Farmer Joe still needs his black powder and a ramrod to go hunting, and siege engines still need real ammo, but real Heroes don’t need this, they just need something to project their own potential through. Hence, Rangers stick with bows because it fits their traditions and beliefs better. Maybe in another 250 years, rangers’ magic will adapt to rifles too, but being naturalists, they haven’t jumped on the industrial revolution yet, and continue projecting their magic through the old ways. More cosmopolitan Professions have incorporated firearms to varying degrees, without necessarily discarding bows.
Just my two cents.
Ever hear of “Projection Magic,” from the Fate/Stay Night universe? Because it sounds like a very plausible way of explaining this from a lore perspective. Since mesmer phantasms already work off a similar principle, it’s quite plausible.
I was just about to ask about this. Isn’t the whole Lost Shores thing starting the 16th? I’m not sure what’s happening the 15. May our changes?
I personally run a trap build with Healing Spring, Flame Trap and Frost Trap.
They all generate combo fields with is good for your team.
I run 30/30/5/0/5 with Carrion gear. Why not 0/30/30/10? Because there are times when you can’t use traps well, end portion of Sorrow’s Embrace, or dangerous short-range foes. Running this build, you can swap out the traps traits and run a hybrid power/precision/malice build.
While doing damage calculation for my wolf, I noticed something strange. In the Heart of the Mists using a simple timer, I counted that it would attack 10 times in 12s for an attack speed of 5/6s. However, the wolf’s primary attack, which is all that it used, is listed as having a 1/4s cast time.
This leaves two scenarios. Either the skill is bugged, or there is a hefty aftercast delay that’s not listed.
Can anyone shed any light on this?
Sorry missed the 4k VITALITY. However, I don’t think bears actually have 40k health. I’m pretty sure, no numbers to support this theory though, that health scaling works differently.
Like how a level 80 scholar, adventure, and soldier with the base 916 vitality have 10805, 15082, and 18372 health respectively. If I am wrong, then I’ll seriously consider giving bears a shot. I just happen to love my canines too much for their knockdowns.
Also, Defy Pain, while nice, is on a 45s CD and not activated by the player.
@Balor
First, I’ve seen other professions easily deal over 4k dmg that would one-shot a bear.
Second, fair point on the staggered activations. However, healing spring only pulses once every ~3?s. By that you can take a fair amount of condition damage if you have to wait for the full 3s.
Third, while I agree quickness is nice, I would personally use it for something more useful than dps, which would be token at best, such as reviving downed teammates or fast-casting long skills.
Rangers are the only profession as far as I know with 12 sec damage immunity which is very powerful. I use that build and I am very satisfied. You need traited Signet of Stone and Protect Me with any bear and rampage as one so you get 12 sec damage immunity and 20 sec CC immunity. I use both longbox and shortbox and wolf for mass fear and knockdown/cripple.
@jkctmc.8754
If you think ranger can get you below 50% health with 6 sec immunity, how low will you go with 12 sec immunity?
First off , real nice blowing 3cooldowns, two of which ave 120s CDs for 12s of invulnerability. Secondly,it’s not 12s immunity. Any DoTs that were stacked on you BEFORE activating the signet still hurt you. So you’ll still be burned/poisoned/bled to death. Third, as soon as you’re pet dies, and it will, Protect me is rendered useless. So unless you precast Troll Unguent to keep your pet alive, congratulations, you just wasted half your skillbar to stay alive, not even talking about damage ability, for about 12s.
" wow wtf, rangers are so OP" <———-has anyone ever said this?
Invokes the old man in me:
“Well back in my day, read Early Beta stages, Rangers we as powerful as everyone else is now. Spirits were useful, weapons hit harder, even pets just plain did more.”
To be honest though, I wasn’t in any of the beta events and this is just me miming what I heard from many players on the internet.
Obviously, being a ranger is about masochism. For those of still here after 11/15 and aren’t complaining or voicing the resignation, the only logical reason would be that we like being mediocre and stomped everywhere outside of normal PvE.
I for one am a masochist and thus will probably continue to play. Though to be honest I’m going to split my time between my Ele, Thief, Mesmer, and Warrior.
-Spirit effect chance reduced to 15% base.
-Greatsword and longbow damage reduced by 5%
-Pet AI “improved”- sword autoattack tooltip changed to properly reflect not being able to dodge while attacking.
- “Guard” now no longer gives your pets temporary stealth
- the f1 key has been removed. Now to attack a specific target with your pet you must use “sick ’em”
- “sick ’em” no longer gives swiftness and might to your pet
- Signet of stone, signet of the wild cooldown increased by 20%.
I can beat that. All ranger start with their choice of Kudzu or The Dreamer. Yes the legendary weapons. It is their only weapon and it locks down your utility skills.
Here is what it does:
5x Shoot Rainbow/Flower – Cast Time: 2s, Energy Cost: 10%, Recharge 20s – Shoot a rainbow/flower at target foe. Because you’re shooting light beams/flowers, you do 0dmg. Causes blind.
Summon Unicorn/Butterfly – Cast Time: 4s, Energy Cost: 50%, Recharge 120s – Summon a Unicorn/Butterfly pet. Unicorn/Butterfly has no skills.
In all seriousness though, I’ve mostly given up having Ranger be competitive. I still play PvE with nice dungeon runners and hot-join against scrubs until I get stomped.
It is highly unlikely the changes will balance rangers. They will hopefully make all of our broken features work, but that’s like just getting to a race when everyone else is on their last lap.
How about an ability that marks enemy player/mobs near the ranger with minimap pings? It could fit anywhere except marksmanship. You don’t actually see them, but you know they’re there and to be on your guard. The range should be kept relatively small, no more than 1500 or so, for the players sake and the enemy. You don’t want your whole map obscured by pulses and the enemy won’t want to be running with blinkers on them.
It should probably be at least a 20pt trait, probably 30pts. The ranger has 1500 detection radius and anyone ~300 away would benefit.
First off, pve or pvp? If pve or eve wait until after the update until you get any gear.
Secondly 1800 armor w/ 20k health is nothing special if you’re trying to run a bunker/survival build.
Use soldier and/or knight gear to boost your toughness and health respectively. Also, seriously consider Signet of the Beastmaster with stone Signet for the invul. In spvp, my gs ranger has around 2700 armor and 2400 health.
Finally, I’d go with gs for the defense. You lack the movement and dos, but you gain nice control and passive evade.
I love this skill when traited with Signet of the Beastmaster, but I have a few questions.
I have visited the wiki page and know that the skill prevents damage from attacks.
What exactly does this mean? Do I take still take damage from environmental sources like trebuchets and traps? What about conditions?
Agreed on most, but some comments.
Chill is extremely powerful- making 3 bounce would be kinda ridiculous. It would need increased CD, or replacing chill with cripple.
Could make the bounces cripple and the primary target still get chilled, but it is not like the ranger axe skills are so great that that addition would break the game it could be worth testing at least.
Another possibility is to give it a SMALL aoe blast. Like how our spear gun skills work. Have reach no further than adjacent range. Maybe increase the cd.
I can came up with the following that would fit with your mad scientist idea.
Enterprising Engineer Tinkerer/Inventor/Alchemist
Manipulative, Mind messing Mesmer
Esoteric Elder Elementalist
And as to the Steampunk feel of the engineer, wait until you get to level 80. Then start farming Crucible of Eternity for Inquest armor and Peacekeeper weapons. Alternatively, buy the cultural gear. I personally like the Savant Armor combined with Peacemaker weapons.
(edited by ChillyChinaman.6057)
I don’t really think Trappers are /that/ bad at duels. I managed to survive a Thief and then a Guardian by using Signet of Stone to tank, Spike Trap to Snare and Call of the Wild to kite. You just have to be very wary of immobilize and stun.
I have an Ash Legion Thief and can confirm that they do get the blur affect as well. Just wondering, why aren’t there many norn/charr thieves? Model too large and sticks out? That’s what we have stealth and steal for.
I just did my first stint in WvW roaming with a small group of people doing events and raiding supplies.
I ran this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQNBlODVkouwSAseAAAD2FweAAAA8FA;TcAgyUaZ0SolVLnWStA
As you can see, a lot of it is blank. This is because I like to “respec” on the fly. Wit this setup, I can easily switch between a longbow sniper to a shortbow trapper.
Either way, I run Signet of Stone with Signet of the Beastmaster in case I run into any assassin types trying to kill me.
I recall hearing somewhere in the eastern portion of LA of a boy whose mother taught a simple boon so that he would be able to run home in time for dinner.
Personally I think that magic is out there and people have to develop for ability to use it. How they do it, be it trial and error or structured instruction are just different means to the same end.
Karma merchants scattered around the world. Hearts NPCs, cultural weapons, and I think WvW weapons.
I recently started my second character, and I’m using karma to equip him while giving his earnings to my main until he to reaches level 80
How much healing power should you have to use Troll Ungent? Most of the time when I use it, it only heals for about 800/s, not enough to keep health constant in anything more than a 1v1.
Does anyone think that increasing the normal, untraited, pet swap cooldown to 30s and decreasing the dead pet cooldown to 40s would be a viable change? Pet would still be dying and you’d still be better off saving your pet before a K.O., but your pet would be out fighting more often.
FYI, the traited swap times would be 24s, and 32s.
I just started playing thief, and while I felt that d/d and d/p was very powerful, from the start I wanted to run S/P. This is my build as of now:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQRAsa6KFpnjOJai/ciw7xXLbY1ecTbGzuCXF;TwAA2CoosyYlwKrVOrkWtCZcxGjZBA
Not sure what to run for my heal. It’s a toss up between Withdraw and the Signet.
I usually open on targets with Spider Venom>Steal/Infiltrator’s Strike>Pistol Whip>Black Powder followed by auto-attacks. I’ll dodge here and there to drop caltrops and get might.
Can the community give me some suggestion about the S/P weapon combo and the thief class in general? Thanks for any responses.