Guild Wars 2

Actually, the guy who was designing a new very difficult platforming thing, said it would be like a game within a game, and that all character models would be the same. So I don’t think you have to worry about charrs and norns and the like.

Yeah, seriously kittens over ranger in dungeons… The whole usefulness was based on having a lot of quickness and using that to do damage at least semi on par with other classes. Generous access to quickness was one of the few things ranger had going for it. Really happy about the GS buff, as I already used that in pvp and now it will be even better, but pretty depressed at the outlook of ranger in pve. Also, banners are so much ridiculously better than spirits now, it’s very sad.

When experienced teams roll for the first fractal, this one is definitely a keeper. Try practicing and then rolling with some people who know what they are doing instead of PUG’s, and you will be happy whenever you see this one. Also, I love this one in general because of all the fun little exploration and tree climbing you can do just for kicks.

More direct to the topic, though. I DEFINITELY agree, please, please, please split legendaries into categories of “joke” and “serious”. I dunno about everyone else, but I want my legendary weapon to look like, I dunno, a weapon? One that doesn’t take away from the beautifully crafted and immersive game world. That’s why I got the Juggernaut.

Also, another point about Kudzu… Look up what the plant is in real life, and then realize that the bow symbolizes the overflowing domination of nature when you wield it. Sure, it’s flowery, but it’s also really beautiful and manly in a certain way. It’s the pinnacle of what the ranger should be: An agent of nature.

Totally agree about the dreamer. Kudzu is a bit niche for a legendary item, true, but it is definitely really nice. It’s got a really nice nature theme, and many effects. Footfalls, nature noises when shot, projectile change to light arrows that drop flower petals mid flight, a model that has a subtle on and off glow, foliage sprouting on enemies when you hit them, change in particle effect of downed skills, all fitting a nice nature theme that goes well with the ranger.

I can give you tips if you want, tailored to what you like doing in game. Feel free to add me if you want as “Not David”. Also, welcome to the game and I hope you have fun with it

If you are interested in the specifics of my build, let me know.

Also, the pet revive can be very useful.

There is good news and bad news here. The good news is that rangers can bring very solid dps to the table in fractals, by staying at long range and piercing many targets. The bad news is that it is true that pets don’t have AR, and that in many fights they aren’t as useful as they should be. As for what I run, 100% pure paper dps. That’s the advantage of the ranger, you can avoid death by being far away from it, and supply a steady stream of dps.

Rangers are great in spvp. There are a number of viable builds you can create and tune to your preference, and in the end it is a class that gets better as you play it in spvp and is capable of being competitive without being gimmicky or overpowered. The changes made to melee pets and GS opened up new options in spvp, and that was an awesome update. The problem is in pve, where the pet mechanic becomes either a frustrating microfest, or just plain impossible. I think in wvw rangers are “fine” but I always feel like only gimmicky tactics really work well, and there are pet issues as well. I agree with what some posters have said, ranger needs to be split for pve and pvp. Most of the issues are just pet mechanics and some trait issues/ a couple util skill fixes. I think that as time goes on, these things will continue to improve and that once pets are at a level where it is not a pain to use them in fractals, the ranger will be in a very good place. Also, I don’t know if I should say this, but even though it looks like F2 is recharging now, you can still use it after swap the same as before.

Also, I find that pvp is the one place where rangers really get to shine, since pets will mostly stay alive, and class features of the ranger are important and useful. (Mobility, multiple types of damage, being able to build for survival while doing damage not only from conditions but also from pet).

I believe this is more about spvp than wvw… There aren’t really “zergs” in spvp, so your pet is usually durable enough to survive if you take good care of it, especially if you build for BM.

Hey, we all know that spirits definitely need work. But there are instances in which they are useful, even in their current state. For example, in cof p1 I slot frost spirit, QZ, and Sick em. The extra damage is greater than you could get from putting another utility there, such as sharpening stone, and if you place it right it won’t die. Sun spirit and storm spirit I don’t really find uses for, but stone spirit can also be useful if well placed. As this is not a thread for talking about problems with spirits, I will leave that out.

I love rangers and always will. Super fun in spvp. I think the reason that a lot of people are complaining is that there are glaring problems with the ranger class mechanic (pets) in end game content. That’s why I love it in spvp… Pets are very useful.

I just made a guard and got him to 80… I was in the wvw BL puzzle and there were about 5 enemies. I couldn’t complete the puzzle, but I managed to mess with them for a while and they weren’t able to kill me. Knocked a couple of them off, too. In the end I ran away and was able to teleport. I could never survive that encounter on my ranger… Also, I’m going to get the juggernaut tonight, which I think goes well with he guardian class and I have always loved hammers. Even in pve I am finding uses for ring of warding, for example in CM em path where you have to run the bombs and keep the enemies away. Use the shield skill to push them all away, switch to hammer and bam, watch them trip over themselves. The amount of support and utility is incredible… ofc the mobility is lacking, but you can’t have everything.

I had this same problem in beta, I found that I didn’t like the guardian elites much. But I only used the tomes then, and I just don’t like the “form” elites much. I use renewed focus now and love it. You can move while using it, the invuln is very useful in some cases, and if you have altruistic healing in your traits, and 5 points in virtues, activating the virtues gives you a nice heal.

I was thinking about this, and I think that an interesting approach to take with the AoE changes would be to tone down the damage, but make the combo fields last longer. I think this would give them more of a strategic nature, rather than a damage spam. You may have considered this already, but I thought I would put my idea out there.

I just wanted to say that I think this is a great tool for balancing, and I would like to see it used more. An example is skill 5 on the hammer for guardian. This skill is obviously useful in pvp situations, but incredibly limited in pve. I’m not going to tell anet how to balance stuff, but basically I would like to see this split function used more so that skills can be fun and useful in both pve and pvp.

Leuca.5732:

I’d rather it give you a stack of might for 5 seconds for each foe you hit with the attack. This would encourage players to actually pay attention to what they’re hitting and be rewarded for doing so, without letting them stack excessive amounts of might. The bleed could also stand to be improved.

I don’t like this idea nearly as much as it being a blast finisher, as it feels more like a support/utility weapon instead of a DPS weapon. Traits for it are in the support tree. Also, you can use combo fields with a blast finisher to grant aoe might, that’s what combos are all about.

Funnily enough, I was just thinking about making this exact thread… I got the idea after finally making a second character, my guardian. Making maul a blast finisher would make it a viable weapon for coordinated dungeon teams, and I don’t think it would be OP. The one place where I could see it being pretty strong is in spvp, as I already use GS and do very well without a blast finisher. That being said, I usually only run one trap, so if it was a blast finisher it would motivate me to try some cool tweaks. I don’t think it would be OP at all, just strong.

I’d say that pets are pretty balanced in spvp. I don’t really do wvw, but in dungeons they definitely need work… There are certain fights (and not a super small number either) where pets are just incredibly screwed, even with 30 points into BM. Kind of unfair that an integral part of the ranger class gets screwed over a good deal of the time in dungeons. And yes, I know how to switch pets, use different pets for different situations ect ect. Seeing as this is an extremely important part of the ranger class, I’d love to see some work done on it so that ranger can be a competitive class in pve…

Hey. Just thought I’d put in my two cents, which is that these people are wrong and that glass cannon is fine on rangers for dungeons. The key is not to die, obviously. If you want to have an easier time, you can use knights or some other more tankish armor, but if you want to be the best damage ranger you can be, you just need to learn to survive without any defense. Pvp is a different story, but we are not talking about that. (If you want to talk to me about it in game, my username is Not David.)

I’ll watch the video later, when I have time. But I have a quick question: Are rangers viable in tpvp? I just recently started playing spvp in random servers, and I’m trying not to sound like I have a big ego here, but I’ve been doing very well. I get #1 or #2 fairly often using a BM build. But I have a feeling that in tpvp I just might not be able to compete against more skilled players who know how to effectively use their profession. Could anyone shed some light on this, and briefly explain to me rangers general role in tpvp?

Not sure about skill 2, but definitely yes with lick wounds. It didn’t work sometimes before the update, but not nearly as often.

Also, piercing arrows is more important in pvp than some people realize. It can pierce through necro minions, mesmer illusions, and other ranger pets.

Is this for pve or pvp? If it’s for pve, I’m going to give you some solid advice. Drop the toughness parameter, and use dodges for survival. For good damage in pve, piercing arrows is a must, and so is crit rate/dmg. This limits your other trait options, but I actually run 15 BM for maximum damage on quickness for pet swap, with the CD reduction. Pvp is a different story.

It seems closer to a PvE build to me. I would second the 5 points into BM for quickness. I’d also recommend exploring spvp. In wvw and PvE rangers are underpowered IMO, because of some problems with pets. But in spvp, pets become very useful and I’d say rangers almost define balance (some other classes are better, but that’s a case of them needing to be nerfed rather than ranger being buffed). That being said, I understand wanting to play the class you like, and I have only played ranger since launch, as I did in GW1. So keep rocking, just explore the opportunities pets provide, even if they still have some problems. The quickness on pet swap can be used very effectively for finishers, reviving people, or when you need a small bit more burst. Also good for casting barrage. For 1v1 and mobility, I would also recommend trying out the greatsword. It’s not very effective in pve, but it’s very fun and very effective in pvp for escaping or small scale fights.

Oh, if it was a “you get to use everything” fight, I think ranger would kick the mesmer across the map.

This is a tough call, honestly. I only play ranger, and before the recent update I always felt sub par in spvp. Post update I made a beastmaster build, and so far it has been working amazingly. Thieves WTF when they don’t win against me, since they are used to stomping rangers. Mesmer clones is probably the toughest matchup for the build, though. It’s not that they kill me, just that it becomes a boring standstill. I think it would basically come down to who made the first big mistake.

I agree that the animations should be a bit more flavorful/creative, but please no missiles or anything >_> That ruins the entire theme of the ranger class. Also, it would be cool if Kudzu had a special animation for barrage.

No love for this?

I am going for the Kudzu legendary right now, I love it and it fits my nature theme very well. I am disappointed about one thing, though. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t have any special animation with the ranger skill Barrage. Barrage is one of the flashiest ranger skills, and I would really love to see some sort of special animation for it with Kudzu, it would make the weapon a lot more noticeable, and make it feel more legendary.

As far as I can tell, Jon made a few pretty explicit posts about ranger improvements recently, and set the 14th as the date of release. I realize that stuff happens, and it could be delayed again or whatever, but I doubt it.

Also, Loki, what exactly are you referring to?

Oh, I remember last update. Don’t get me wrong. But I’m actually a bit more hopeful this time.

It looks like ranger will be getting some improvements I’m pretty excited, what about you guys?

We were in fractals and were on the third of four stages (difficulty 10), and we beat the grawl boss, but instead of the move on screen, a “go back to the lab” screen popped up, we declined and now we are stuck.

My problem with spirits is that they are a bit dull. All they do it give buffs/conditions, and the active effects don’t work that well. If you played GW1, you would understand that the spirits were more unique (Frozen soil, Edge of Extinction, Quickening Zephyr, ect.) I’d love to see some more creative spirit effects Also, the grandmaster trait for spirits actually hurts you… The spirits follow you, and hence die more.

Yeah, keep at it I guess, I am on try 13 or 14 with no ring, I can’t remember which.

To Da Poolp, I do think we have enough dodges, but the gap in mobility compared to other classes, when I think a lot of people see ranger as something of a class that should be good at scouting, is a little too big in my opinion. I run lightning reflexes a lot, and make use of the dodge on shortbow. Obviously everyone know signet of the hunt needs work :P It gets annoying having to carry warhorn everywhere if we want a decent speed buff. Again, thanks for the feedback and thanks for keeping it civil.

Oh, right, thank you for mentioning offhand axe. I forgot about that, and I do think it also needs some work.

Thanks for the feedback guys
I’ll clarify a couple things you guys are pointing out. For the longbow, I am fine with a slow attack speed, but the arrows just miss so often on any moving target, and I think that should be addressed in some way. As for big numbers, I was just throwing that in there because there is a lot of demand for it from a lot of players, sort of a plea from the community rather than me personally. As for nerfing thieves, I figured it probably wasn’t a good idea to go into that here lol. I guess anet will have to decide what to do in terms of mobility. And as for pets… Yes, I agree a lot of work needs to be put into that. I really wanted to run an awesome beastmaster build and mess stuff up alongside my pet

5. Pets. About this, I will say two things. I love my pet a lot, but in some parts of the game it just ends up getting in the way, so much that my party members will ask me to put it away, and are baffled when I say I can’t (Quick example, jade maw boss in fractals targets pets even if they are dead). I don’t think it’s fair that we should be punished for something that is a major part of our class, so do whatever you can to fix that. Number two is that I think the beastmastery traitline should do a lot more to make you, well, a beastmaster. I’d love to see being a beastmaster who is one with my pet as a legitimate spec, without feeling like I am a laughing stock.

6. Utilities. Jon peters has already admitted that many of our utilities are lackluster, and that you guys are working on it. I just want to hammer the point: please talk to some rangers about the problems with some of these skills. For example, the fact that the grandmaster spirit trait actually hurts you because your spirits follow you into battle and die. Spirits were a really awesome part of ranger in GW1, and I think a lot of people would like to see some more unikittenfects from them than just applying a buff/boon. Signets and shouts also need work, obviously, but I will leave that up to you.

7. Mobility. When I (and many others) think of a ranger, we think of a class that can easily outmaneuver other classes, dodging around and scouting out areas at great speeds. When comparing ranger to thief, they have better passive mobility (signet), a bunch of dodges, AND stealth. I think this gap is pretty big and unfair, as many were under the impression that ranger would be a very mobile class capable of outpacing others.

8. Big numbers. Not all people want big numbers, but most classes get them, so it would be cool if you could just throw us a bone on this one.

9. Comparison to other classes. This is a pretty big issue. I consider myself a pretty good player, and my team mates usually agree. But often, when I am in a dungeon or whatever, I find myself asking “What am I doing here…?” It seems like other classes have better support, better damage, and better survival. I very rarely feel like I am doing anything cool to change the tides of the battle. (Like how the guardian can blast enemies away/pull them together, thief can stealth the party, mesmer can portal team around ect ect) I understand this is a big thing that will take a lot of time and effort to work out, but I just ask that you PLEASE work on it. It almost feels like there is a constant pressure to build another character so I will be more useful to my team.

10. Last point here :P The “vision” of the ranger. When I chose the ranger, I thought of a character that could run around, dodging attacks and dealing good damage at long range while my pet provided useful support and extra single target damage that would make me a great single target DPSer. I thought my spirits could provide cool party support, and that I would be able to run a spec that made my pet and me feel awesome. I felt like I would be THE class to use bows, taking out enemies from afar. I think ranger was sort of advertised like this, and that a lot of us were disappointed by what we got out of the box. If you do anything, I really ask that you consider this “vision of the ranger” and what you, and the players who love the class, want it to be.

Thank you if you took the time to read this, and I am hopeful for the future of ranger, but as with many, I’m getting a little impatient. Please take this seriously, as many people are losing motivation to play their rangers, or even play the game at all

As I am sure you have seen, many people on the forums are upset with their rangers. The purpose of this post is to highlight what I believe are very important changes that need to be made to the ranger, how you implement these changes is up to you. I know you’ve got creative minds working at anet, I just ask that you hear me out and apply that a bit more to the ranger class! Also keep in mind that I mainly pve right now, so these ideas are mostly about pve.

1. Sword default attack locks you in place, making it impractical in many situations. Love this weapon, but I feel that it is very difficult to effectively use in pve, where there are attacks that are very necessary to dodge.

2. Longbow feels very clunky. the arrows move slowly and make it hard to hit enemies at times, and you attack very slowly. I loved longbow in gw1, and I really like the idea of doing more damage at longer range, but I think this weapon needs some work. Fun to use and cool idea, but not as effective as many think it should be.

3. Traits. I am very dedicated to my ranger, and for that reason have no alts at all. But when I look at some of the traits other classes get, they seem so much more interesting and/or useful. Some of them are cool, like piercing arrows and losing poison/blind on dodge, but I think a lot of us rangers would agree that it would be nice if you took a hard look at them, and made some significant changes. I think traits could also be the solution to some complaints about weapons, namely greatsword. I really like the idea of greatsword, that it is a huge thing that you, being a nimble character, can effectively jump around with, interrupt things, and block/dodge attacks. But from a practical standpoint, it’s not as useful as many would like it to be. I think traits could be a good answer to this.

4. Dagger. A lot of people forget that rangers can even use dagger! Other classes have some really cool skills with dagger, and I feel sort of left out because it doesn’t seem very effective/cool.

Moderator edit: removed CoC infraction from thread title

First of all, I would like to make a note about this thread:

This is not meant for arguments, it is a thread making use of my speculation and ideas to comfort casual players about the upcoming update. If you do not agree, then please move to another thread which has a more debate like focus

All right, here we go. I have heard a lot of concerns from casual players about how they like being able to do things such as running dungeons without worrying too much about things like elitist gear checks and profession requirements. Specifically, people seem to be worried about ascended armor. I would like to take a quick second to make a point about the new armor: the purpose of this armor is not to be a ton better than exotics, but to provide protection from the new endgame condition “agony”. I think what anet is trying to do here is make the higher level gear specifically useful for the new end game dungeons rather than make it a game changer in things like the old dungeons and WvW. What this means, in my eyes, is that I am not going to care if people have ascended gear when I run CoF or AC or even Arah. I do all those dungeons with people who have exotics or rares right now, so that means higher level gear won’t be essential to doing those dungeons. The topic gets a bit more sticky with WvW, but I won’t get into that except to say that people already do it with all ranges of gear. Basically, the point is that the new gear is meant for the higher difficulty settings of the new dungeon, a place where “hardcore” players can enjoy themselves. I think that is why they are adding the difficulty levels, so that more casual players can still enjoy the new content. So, basically I wanted to make this thread because I hear a lot of people getting upset about this update before it is even out. I just want to encourage those people to wait and see what happens before coming to the conclusion that it will ruin their casual gameplay.

I might be considered as an “elite player”, though I’m not sure exactly what that entails. I don’t think the difficulty of dungeons should be decreased, but if you want advice on how to complete most dungeons smoothly with nothing more than a team that listens, feel free to message me in game at “Not David”. I am friendly and helpful, and will be glad to help “average players” get a start on tackling those seemingly impossible dungeons. I remember when I started and AC and CM seemed ridiculous. Now I can 2man some AC paths in less than 20 minutes. So I think the dungeons are fine where they are, it just takes getting used to.

My two bears are named “Bear With Me” and “Unbearable”

Thank you! I was feeling pretty shattered after rangers got no changes, and I spent all my money on mystic chests thinking the drop rate on hween skins would be higher :/ This gives me some hope!