Guild Wars 2

The problem with PvP is that there is no metagame . There are too many do it all builds with slight variation . Why are MOBAs so successful ? There is a clear division of roles of heroes that have clear advantages and weaknesses .

Here you have a warrior who tanks , does damage , is fast , stuns , all at the same time …. This is a problem .
The casters are spamm spamm spamm spamm spamm ( cough necro cough ) .
The scepter/dagger elemental is fun to watch as it requires a solid combo to perform its kill move , but thieves are not fun to either watch or play against as stealth is boring in this game .
Rangers , you cant control the class ability , and everything is so weak when it comes to offense that you are forced to play a bunker passive role with pew pew dodge pew pew ( and i play ranger and this is why i quit PvP ) , and never recieves attention like warriors or other classes do to fix the gameplay and options issue . At least the guard bunker is very cool to watch with its timed knockdowns and blocks .
There are no real support classes !!.

And finally , the biggest problem is the artificial nature of the PvP mode . You are forced to capture circles this severely limiting innate class advantages . prime example : thief design is godmode in WvW because of innate mobility and the ability to choose fights , but …. either OP or bleh in pvp ( but this is due to balance not deign ) .

Bottom line : bad builds , artificially limited mode balance spilling into other gameplay areas and no guts to make significant changes to a very badly designed class concept .

If you are hoping every time not to get this fractal , there is something wrong with it . Difficult is one thing , tedious is another .

Why did they fix the button dying strat ? seriously , its a tedious fractal anyway and that was a perfectly fine way to do the first part . Jesus

Reduce its base value , increase the scaling from Healing power . There fixed

As i have said , or tried to say , I have no problem when someone builds for sustain . That is a defensive build and its fine . I have a problem when someone has sustain and then hits you for a 2-3k attack on a regular basis . I play Ranger and Warrior so i will use this as my example .

Ranger bunker (condition variant ) :
-only single target conditions
-heavy investment into HP and armor leaving only 1 offensive stat with a max value of 1000 condition damage
-pets can be kited or killed
-condition transfers affect pets
-sacrificing the entire utility bar for passive sustain effects

Warrior:
-can take any amulet and still keep 550 hp/sec simply by having HSig and AdrenHeal
-condi cleanse comes from the same line as the AdrenHeal
-inbuilt toughness and mobility
-all damage is perfectly controlled and available and cannot be mitigated by running in a circle

I say this from my experience of playing these 2 classes . No doubt there are more things to say about the ele and whatnot . But the point is not balance per se . It is a design philosophy that i feel is at fault here .

What i would suggest is this : All inbuilt sustain skills should be taken down a peg but their scalability from HPower should be buffed .

So a thief going into stealth , warrior , elementalist switching to water… etc … They could heal up fast IF they went 800+ points into healing power , otherwise the stat seems pointless .

my2c

Since a few months ago it hits like a wet noodle

The Ranger torch is a rather boring weapon even if effective at what it does . It offers no counterplay what so ever . It is just inflict burning then inflict burning in an AOE . B O R I N G

So i wanted to suggest something that will offer some flavor to the ranger torch :
- speed up the throw torch projectile a bit
- throw torch inflicts a 1-1.5 second daze on hit

Why this ? Well , Rangers have few dazes or stuns . There are no stuns in the utility line . But there is one interesting trait that is about to get buffed even , Moment of Clarity . Perhaps this would add some interaction between ranger traits and make some specs not a snoozefest and increase active play by allowing more opportunities to interrupt a key opponent spell .

ty

This is kind of getting on my nerves . Almost every class has innate sustain from traits and weapons/utilities .
It is sickening seeing a warrior that has not invested anything into healing power out heal a full on ranger bunker . Or a glass cannon elemental going from 10% hp to 100% simply by going to water attunement . Then there is the thief who runs into stealth and just resets the fight .

Mind you , i am not making any balance claims of OP , this is a question from a design standpoint . High damage specs should not have sustain, ever . There should be a trade off for in damage done for having the ability to stand in a fight and attrition the enemy . But quite honestly , there is none atm . This may be a bit annoying in PvP as stealth is not as good as it is in WvW , but in this PvP sillyness is spilling over to WvW hard .

The only bunker sustain spec that got a nerf in damage was the Ranger beast master , but this was the only spec that had to invest a lot into healing power .

I am utterly baffled .

The only problem i have with any of this is that it will spill over into WvW killing many many builds . If any of these get through Ranger will never see the light of day in WvW anymore , even as a roamer . Power builds are boring by design as in essence it is a burst concept .

The problem is , conditions do the same damage in PvP and WvW but the total amount of stats in PvP is lower . There is no food to boot . One could easily argue that conditions are not a problem in WvW for many classes .

Point i am trying to make : There needs to be a separation between modes . Many styles and builds were killed in WvW due to PvP changes .

the trait has a 45 second cooldown as per tip

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew

now they just need to remove Sig of the BM GM trait…

spray and pray …. honestly

Seems to me that pet classes and builds , rangers in perticular , will get overall kind of shafted with this update… again . Pets cant dodge . Sigh…

They could have easily switched its places with either the master or grandmaster minor trait and kept it as it is , considering that both of these are not really GM quality . But once again they have decided to beat a dead horse

and it benefits from the sig CD reduction trait , which makes it a 16 second CD

Wilderness expert cooldown reduction does not affect the Keen Edge trait from marksmanship , even though it is the same ability as is the utility slot one . Should it affect it ? Thoughts ?

HSig is activated before death for that last bit of time to use yer imba mobility and escape mechanisms . Tis true

actually i would argue LB is better then SB vs mesmers and thieves due to RF tracking into stealth

I have no problems with pet classes per se , but i have a problem with the ranger pets not working properly . The AI bad and our control over them is lacking in so many ways . To top it off the traits and the utilities seem as if they were not designed for this class as well . The only real pet interface utilities we have are shouts which are either useless , or badly designed .
The only shouts used are :
-guard , which is used to proc a GM trait , which is total design fail
-sick em , which is barely used and is rather meh because pets attack pattern is such that they rarely hit anything moving
Guard and SnR are useless because one kills your pet and the other cannot res dead allies . Having a small window of resing a downed player with the stupid AI pathing is night impossible . And why would anyone take it ? We have Spirit Elite which is strong and reliable , and can up 3 people at once as well as clear conditions and heal .

So , to sum it up : Insultingly bad AI and lack of ability control over pets , poor traits , poor utilities .

What you fail to realize , that even though Necros and guards invest to make a pet build , even with it they themselves do proper damage . The ranger is penalized at the start by lower damage and utility simply because he has a pet . And this is the core of the issue .
The you have a pet is justification for : very poor power scaling and damage skills , lower utility from utilities , weaker traits . Not to mention there is always a very big risk of losing the pet itself .
The ranger himself should be an entity that is balanced for himself and the pet should be something extra , optional or not . Hell , the pet could even be completely invulnerable but take no agro . Oh , and give us full control over it .

It is a vicious circle : they wont give us full control over pets because it is too complicated to play so we are stuck with a half working AI companion , but then they wont make the pet strong and reliable through numbers because its an AI crutch and the play is too passive , and when we ask for more active play they just repeat that it will not happen because it would be to hard to play …..

So we are stuck with a badly performing unreliable AI that we cannot control . Winner design here

Protect me is only useful in a 1v1 encounter and comes at a great cost : your pet is not applying pressure and it may die .
As far as signets go , its a problem because every other class can use them without traits then traits add something extra . With ranger, we need a GM trait just to use them . Silly

Both are lacking

Some of the numbers would probably have to get tweaked , but the spirit of the changes is whats important imho

As much as i enjoy playing the ranger, the concept , the lore , the fluff , from time to time i get into a downward spiral of hating the class for days and usually its because the utilities offer no utility , the traits are totally random and there is very poor synergy . S i pull myself out of it by thinking about what could be changed and in what way . So this will be an amalgam of my thoughts gathered over a period of a few months . This is based on the 10th december patch notes so it takes them into account .

I will cover stuff that seems insignificant up to things people think changing would be folly . So here i go and I hope you do not get bored .

SIGNETS and the Marksmanship line

- Signet of the Beastmaster grandmaster trait changed: the effect is given by default to the ranger ; Now , signet actives will restore pet hitpoints and give 2 seconds of invulnerability and complete condition cleansing to pets .
- Signet of the Hunt active now stealths the pet and the ranger for 5 seconds ; a much needed escape mechanism
- Eagle eye trait changed to affect Shortbow as well

TRAPS and the Skirmishing line

- Sharpened edges trait bleed duration buffed from 2 to 3 seconds
- Pet prowess and Agility training** merged into a single trait .
- New trait called Skirmishers gambit – Critical hits transfer 1 condition from ranger to target , internal cooldown of 10 seconds
- Carnivorous appetite now affects both the ranger and the pet
- Honed axes – critical hits give might to the party for 5 seconds ; critical damage buff changed to critical chance buff
- Quick draw – Ranger moves 25% faster when wielding a bow , CD reduction kept
- Spike trap damage component buffed significantly in both base damage and scaling from power
- Viper nest gives weakness as well as poison
- Frost trap cooldown reduced from 30 to 25 seconds

WILDERNESS skills and line

- Wilderness survival adept trait – when activating a wilderness skill 1 condition is transmuted into a boon ; the CD reduction stays as is , the trait is moved to Master level
- Sharpening stone CD reduced from 45 to 35 seconds
- Lightning reflexes break immobilize and cure cripple and chilled
- Oakheart salve changed to adept level
- Martial mastery – critical hits apply vulnerability to target as well as the cooldown component
- Expertise training – buffed from 350 condition damage buff to 600

SPIRITS and nature magic line

- Vigorous spirits trait as is removed and the bonuses given by default . New trait applies vigor for 3 seconds in an AOE when a spirit is summoned or killed .
- Spirit actives are blast finishers

PET and beastmaster line

- Instinctual bond changed from quickness on downed to 1 condition removed from ranger on pet swap
- Compassion training – buffed from 350 to 600 stat bonus
- rending attacks – pet attacks cause bleeds instead of pet critical hits . Bleed duration 4 seconds . Works on all pet families
- Stability training 3 seconds of stability on pet swap

- Pet hit point bonus moved to WvW as well
- given a new F tab for abilities like bird swiftness , dog knockdown , Moa heal , and other important family abilities

Weapon and Healing skills and utilities

- Torch 4 applies a 1.5 daze on target as well as burning . Projectile sped up
- Torch 5 applies a 5 second blind when the skill is activated
- Warhorn 4 transfers 2 conditions from ranger to target on contact
- Shortbow 4 inflicts a 2 second immobilize instead of a 3 second cripple . The pet part changed from 1 bleed for 3 attacks to 3 bleeds for 1 attack
- Longbow 4 inflicts 3 stacks of torment for 6 seconds
- Longbow 5 1 second of chilled per wave instead of cripple
- Heal as One CD reduced to 15 seconds , cast time to 1/2 second

TY in advance for reading and i hope the devs see this

or just remove the GM trait xD

Why would SoS need to be addressed ? It gives 6 seconds immunity to physical attacks , but it offers no stun break or stability . It is on an 80 second cooldown . Warrior endure pain is on a 60 second cooldown and offers a stun break and it can be traited to last 5 seconds and/or offer vigor when activated .

Also , ranger signet trait offers nothing else other then CD reduction , you need 2 traits to get CD and 3 might on activation . The fact that it affects the pet is irrelevant because pet should be invulnerable to begin with , considering its such a huge part of the ranger as all other class mechanics are reliable

necromancers are quite amazing in fractals actually . Power necro i mean

and the thief just presses stealth and then backstabs

Your mechanic works at least , mine does not… my mechanic is a burden instead of a boon

Where is my functioning pet , proper traits and utilities ?

A heal affecting both the pet and the ranger is no justification for something being weaker , because pets are actually killable . People need to start looking at rangers as a single entity with the pet being something extra , not a single hero slit into two parts .

Balance ranger as a single entity then tweak the pet to suit it , not remove utility , trait effectiveness and damage from the ranger because he has a pet . I am sick of this .

Can i haz pets removed from the ranger class prease ?

All physical damage reduces by 50% , all condition damage increased by 100% . Wow , condition builds no longer useless

It is just not that , necro has a good inbuilt sustain with shroud . We are paper if build for any sort of damage , the only thing going for us defensively was natural vigor and that is being taken from us . We have poor stealth , poor invulnerabilities , poor condition cleanse distribution and our class advantage is more trouble then it is worth .

Is it just me or is this one of the worst signet activities in the game . The only real place this is usable is if you have signets fully traited and you are using it with Maul . Honestly changing this would offer so much choices .

My suggestion would be to change the active from next attack does 150% damage to gives stealth to ranger and pet for 5 seconds * .

With this single change ranger , especially GC rangers , would be given a reliable escape mechanism which is so lacking .

Thoughts ?

Look , chances are you are going to lose to any professions dueling build if the opponent is good enough . The only dueling build that can go toe to toe with opponents in 1v1 in WvW is the apothecary beastmaster .

Beastmaster bunker with cleric or apothecary gear with corresponding weapon sets , or trapper . Trapper is actually quite good vs thieves due to trap activation showing where they are .

they will nerf it and buff some pointless traits no one will ever use and call it a day

Bad traits , worse utilities ….. pointless pet system . To late have I realized how bad Ranger is as i became attached to my character . I just wish it was … BETTER

Stealth is overpowered . Too many benefits at no cost . Too much of it . Thieves depend on stealth so much that it makes them an eccentric class . Either very OP or useless , it is a fine line . I personally hate how they can reset fights , especially in WvW

all the warrior OPness began when they buffed HealSig by 100% , adrenal health and made and placed Cleansing ire into 20 defense ….. those 3 combined are what is making warrior OP , perhaps toning 1 or 2

protect me is wasted . SotW would be better . Sword is also amazing

Rangers major problem is that Protect me that kills pets or needing to trait the stone signet to get invlunerability .

I run a rampager armor+madking runes + celestial weapons and trinkets build for PvE as ranger , and even though my DPS is not the maximum i manage ok with my group .

20 10 30 10 0 trait distribution , with keen edge , spotter , sharpened edges , vigorous renewal , off hand training , bark skin and vigorous spirits .

Sword + horn and axe +torch (mostly for fire field and some added AOE ) . Healing spring , frost and stone spirit , Signet of the Wild , Elite spirit .

As for pets it is either dual drakes for AOE and blast finishers or dual spiders if thats the sort of boss or its harpies .

When on maw i switch out my spirits for zephyr , sick em and sharpened stones , and my pets to dual cats

Longbow is very positional , its use is primarily in Zergs to tag for bags an in JP puzzle fights . Oh the fun i am having as longbow trapper in EB JP… O M G

The only vigor trait worth using is the vigorous training in BM line . You have 100% control over it

The problem is that bows are not supported well via traits or utilities . Traps are too niche at the moment and the traits are all over the place. For example , warrior rifle trait gives both 20% cooldown and piercing shots . Compress some traits and boost traps to be usable with power builds ( high damage component on spike trap for example , weakness on poison or frost trap… ) and you got yourself a variety of well flowing options to keep enemies at bay

Both have their own merits , I have been enjoying a LB trapper build as of late , so godkitten fun . Having said that , both are lacking in performance