I think you need to be happy with what you have now. Don’t see this patch as the new standard for your expectations.
This patch is kind of tricky and ANet took a risk by adding a 3s stealth on a 10/12s cooldown skill on a profession that didn’t even have access to stealth yet. But I really like it a lot and I don’t feel overpowered with it; I just have more options available to me.
The range change to point blank shot was fantastic too. I’ve been asking for the skill to be the same range as the other skills, but I think 900 might be enough. 1200 range with a knockdown past 900 range would still be great.
That said, I still think the longbow suffers the most from having a pet which handicaps the power stat of the Ranger. I wish I could choose whether or not I give the pet my stats. Either through traits or through an updated pet menu.
so, what build do you use?
Yes, I would also like to see it changed to Weakness.
Or otherwise Knockdown.
Or otherwise Blast Finisher.
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I’m not impressed with the change either. I think any other condition would be better, even poison. yes, even bleed.
edit: also, maul is the main damage skill on the Greatsword. But I bet the vulnerability gets applied after the damage, so Maul can never even take advantage of it.
edit2:
Bleeding
Blind
Burning
Chilled
Confusion
Crippled
Immobilized
Poison
Torment
Weakness
Daze
Fear
Knockdown
Launch (Blowout)
Pull
Push (Knockback)
Stun
Yep, any other condition would have been better than Vulnerability
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You can look into increasing your boon duration:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Boon_Duration
Especially notice the “Maximizing boon duration” part. I wouldn’t bother with the small boosts, so don’t get giver’s armor, but do get water/monk runes and boon duration food. In combination with Nature’s Voice trait and Guard of course.
Otherwise, 6 dwayna runes and healing spring go a long way and the +33% regen trait.
Fourth problem, it is not an aggro drop, in fact several mobs will just stand there, and wait for you to come out of stealth.
That’s how stealth works for a couple of months already.
I love the stealth. You need to save it up through. Don’t use it like the old hunter’s shot where you want it on cooldown.
stealth into point blank shot off a cliff
stealth into barrage
stealth into weapon swap→anything else
stealth into flanking position
stealth into letting the pet fight alone
stealth into weapon swap into escapes
stealth into 3 seconds of invulnerability and 3 seconds of regenerating
It’s a really great utility that opens up a lot of posibilities.
I don’t think it’s worth it. Not because it’s terrible, but because there are MUCH better traits to pick for those 10 trait points.
It’s really not that great. 5x vulnerability for 5 seconds as well as a crit every 10-12 seconds, IF hunter’s shot hits, and IF you aren’t stuck in rapid fire or barrage while hunter’s shot is already off cooldown, and IF you wouldn’t have critted anyway.
That’s a lot of IFs for a grandmaster trait that gives a 5 second condition on a 10-12+ second timer.
Many adapt traits are generally better. I can only see Remorseless be somewhat useful in long PvE boss battles with a full party.
I think Remorseless should be default behaviour for Opening Strikes. And then make Remorseless into a real grandmaster trait.
The stealth is pretty nice in combination with point blank shot. At least, I could position myself perfectly while fighting golems in the mists. Now I just need to get used to not opening with hunter’s shot.
I’ve spent a very short time with the longbow fighting in PvE.
The stealth isn’t really that great, for stealth. The sole purpose for it is to force people to drop you as their target. Which is very powerful and it’s what bothers me the most about stealth. We get it every 12 (or 10) seconds, which is powerful and annoying for opposing players. Especially since the actual stealth will only last a split second most of the time with the Ranger having barely moved, but the target will still have been dropped.
So here is what I expect will happen:
- stealth will get nerfed. It will no longer force a target drop. Instead, target skills will simply become unguided. Maybe the portrait of the target will turn grey instead.
- the nerf will make hunter’s shot useless, because the target drop is the only useful thing about it.
- this will give mixed reactions. Longbow will be bad again, but at least stealth will finally be fixed and it’ll be sort of worth it.
wow very nice. A much needed blast finisher (althrough I’d rather see it on Maul instead of it getting vulnerability) and stealth… wow stealth, really? Very nice.
Stealth.
- 5 second activation
- Doesn’t drop unless…
- Lose stealth when you move
- Lose stealth when you attack
- 30 seconds until you can stealth again after it drops
- Can’t stealth within 2000 units of supply camps or towers/keepsThis is for WvW. Adds another opportunity for Ranger to contribute by scouting.
I also hope for permanent camouflage. It would work great as a trait or signet that puts you in stealth if you don’t move for a certain amount of time.
The first step to improving the ranger is by giving the ranger all his power and reducing it on the pet appropriately.
Step two is to allow us to buff the pet through traits and through advanced settings in the pet menu. At the cost of the stats of the ranger perhaps. But this is step 2, first get step 1 sorted.
Why? Because it’s the core problem of the ranger. If the pet does not deliver, the Ranger is handicapped. If the pet is dead, the ranger is handicapped. handicapped. Yes, handicapped. This should not happen. A dead pet should be an inconvenience, not a handicap. A class mechanic should never be able to become a handicap, but it is. It is a handicap by default. The class mechanic actually has to deliver to prevent the class from being handicapped. If this is not the main core issue, then I don’t know what is.
(edited by Holland.9351)
LONGBOW
Skill 4. Leave point blank shot as it is.
No, give it the same range as the other skills (1200 and 1500), but give it a knockdown instead of a knockback beyond the current max range.
I’ve already suggested this 10 times in the past year, but I’m going to keep mentioning it until it’s in the game.
, but to say that they have an agenda against rangers is being paranoid.
You did so well, but then you had to add this nonsense.
Yes, you are right, this is nonsense, unlike saying that the “balance team at ANet is the one actively trying to ruin the game”.
Touché
Take a deep breath and read again what you wrote. I’ve seen far worse in MMO balancing. We could be so much worse its not even funny. And to be frank, like I already wrote when the latest patch was released, they introduced 3-4 changes we asked for on the forums (evasive purity moved a tier lower, companion’s might fixed, spirit traits merged, longbow autoattack speed improved).
Yes, you’re right, I’ve experienced worse too and some changes were indeed real nice. I epecially like evasive purity now.
Now I’m not saying that I’m happy with the patch, I think the SB range reduction was totally uncalled for
Yes, you’re right. They still haven’t even come up with a good reason for it. It’s these kind of changes that make people angry.
, but to say that they have an agenda against rangers is being paranoid.
You did so well, but then you had to add this nonsense.
If you can still have a target lock on someone in stealth, that means you can still track them.
No. Not if done properly.
Some classes rely on target dropping.
Mesmer’s have a defensive skill called “decoy”, which causes the real mesmer to become cloaked, and leaves a clone at their original location.
Obviously if you didn’t drop the original target, then the decoy is absolutely meaningless.
Good point. This might be the only exception in the game though.
Instead:
- stealth doesn’t drop your target.
- targetted skills become dumb-fire on stealthed targets (as if no target was selected).
This way you can instantly react to something coming out of stealth without being forced to manually re-target your target.
That’s what’s annoying about stealth: the game forcing a target drop. Not the fact that he is invisible.
Does the Rejuvenation Booster still work though?
To be honest though, it’s the balance team that’s the big issue, not zooze. The balance team at ANet is the one actively trying to ruin the game on which others have worked hard and put all their time and effort into.
Well, the balance team (who only looks at sPvP), together with the interface team (camera view blocked by your own character, having to keep the right mouse button pressed to look around, no cursor causing you to shoot into the ground when losing your target, completely dropping your target when someone stealths, no possible keyboard shortcuts for several of our pet functions, etc) and the bug fix team (the wiki is littered with bug notes).
And they’re probably the same 2 guys, so highly overworked.
But be sure next sotg zoose will sneak in a ranger whine, just like he did with BM rangers right before the sledgehammer nerf patch hit rangers just recently.
Yeah I instantly recognised his face. I can still hear him say: “rangers are so OP hehehehe”.
Make cool legendaries, not silly ones. We already have the silly ones.
Why not use 6 runes of the thief? That’s another +10% damage while flanking.
Yes this is true, I noticed it a bit earlier. But please post it in the BUG forum: http://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/bugs
That’s where they are watching for bugs way more than here. Also, put it on the wiki page for the trait. Also, use /bug ingame to notify ANet directly.
So order of importance:
1) post it in the bug forum: http://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/bugs
2) use /bug ingame and send in the report and maybe attach a screenshot.
3) post it in the ranger forum
4) update the wiki page
I’d like Point Blank Shot (skill #4) to get a range increase to 1200 and 1500 traited. If it hits a target beyond the current max range of the skill (600 untraited), it becomes a knockdown instead of a knockback.
There is definitely something wrong with the game. The tooltip says drinking costs 10% health and water gives 20% health, which is true for the NPC, but it’s the other way around for the player (drinking costs 20% and water gives 10%).
There is no secret plan. There are only tears.
I’m so relieved they picked up on Evasive Purity not working; I was worried we’d be looking at a broken trait for months to come.
I recently made a similar topic. Rangers are the only class that can be handicapped by their class mechanic. Ranger starts handicapped and the pet has to make up for it.
Power builds can never reach the potential of other classes because the pet is dead or unusable in many situations (some PVE boss battles and WvW walls).
Even if the pet is alive, your stats mean less than other classes, because your weaponskills do less damage regardless due to pet being a portion of damage… BUT your pet doesn’t scale with your stats!
This inherently means that power, condition damage, etc. is less valuable to a ranger than anyone else.
Exactly, except I think this is only the case for the power stat. It’s too ridiculous for words really.
Why not 6 dwayna runes? You can get permanent regeneration boon if used together with healing spring. If you do it for the boon duration, then why not 2 water, 2 monk and 2 dwayna?
How about Nature’s Protection (5s protection) instead of Nature’s Bounty (+33% regen duration)? That helps against burst builds.
I recently made a similar topic. Rangers are the only class that can be handicapped by their class mechanic. Ranger starts handicapped and the pet has to make up for it.
Power builds can never reach the potential of other classes because the pet is dead or unusable in many situations (some PVE boss battles and WvW walls).
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Category:Bugs
Use the (next 200)-button; there are currently 3 pages:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/index.php?title=Category:Bugs&pageuntil=Holographic+Shattered+Dragon+Wing+Cover#mw-pages
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/index.php?title=Category:Bugs&pageuntil=Trading+Post#mw-pages
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/index.php?title=Category:Bugs&pagefrom=Trading+Post#mw-pages
1) Right-click toggle instead of having to keep it pressed to rotate the camera.
2) Character never blocking the camera when zoomed in
3) Can choose to have loot appear in your bag instead of on the ground.
It’s not split though. Pets aren’t affected by the Ranger’s power stat. The Ranger is less affected by it than other classes and the pet isn’t affected by it at all. This makes power a very weak stat for Rangers.
Problem
The Ranger is less affected by power than other classes. The reasoning for this is because the Ranger has a pet. So, the Ranger is handicapped from the start, unless the pet accounts for the loss.
This means the Ranger is handicapped if:
1) the Ranger uses any power based build (Berserker, Cleric, Longbow, Greatsword)
2) the pet is unable to damage the target (elevation, moving target or pet on cooldown or CCed)
These problems manifest itself the most in PvE boss battles where the pet is usually on cooldown (especially in the new dungeons) and WvW where the pet is either dead (zergs) or unable to reach its target (walls).
This is unacceptable and I can’t imagine these side-effects to be by design.
Solution:
The Ranger has to get the full effect of power and the pet should take none. The pet’s base damage should be set appropriately.
For those who love a pet based build, there should be a way through traits to increase the stats of the pet at the cost of the stats of the Ranger.
Problem
The Ranger is less affected by power than other classes. The reasoning for this is because the Ranger has a pet. So, the Ranger is handicapped from the start, unless the pet accounts for the loss.
This means the Ranger is handicapped if:
1) the Ranger uses any power based build (Berserker, Cleric, Longbow, Greatsword)
2) the pet is unable to damage the target (elevation, moving target or pet on cooldown or CCed)
These problems manifest itself the most in PvE boss battles where the pet is usually on cooldown (especially in the new dungeons) and WvW where the pet is either dead (zergs) or unable to reach its target (walls).
This is unacceptable and I can’t imagine these side-effects to be by design.
Solution:
The Ranger has to get the full effect of power and the pet should take none. The pet’s base damage should be set appropriately.
For those who love a pet based build, there should be a way through traits to increase the stats of the pet at the cost of the stats of the Ranger.
- Evasive Purity is broken. It removes neither blind nor poison. (Nature Magic trait)
- Search & Rescue goes on full cooldown even if there is no target to revive, or the target is out of range, or the pet is downed. (shout utility skill)
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Yes I think everyone agrees that the shortbow change was very wrong. You might expect it to happen in Open Beta, but not 1 year after game release. Either they have to tell us that Rangers are still in the Open Beta phase or limit their sPvP nerfs to sPvP.
I thought GW2 was designed so every character could fill every role. No tank, no healer and no dps specific classes.
If Jon would make the Ranger into a version he’d like to play, we might be getting somewhere. Rangers completely lack the ability to affect their party because spirits are so bad at surviving outside of PvP, same goes for their pets.
If we are True Rangers, why do Warriors have one of the hightest Dmg Output with Rifle ( Killshot )
In a year or so, they will Buff LB and SB in a right direction but will we still play Gw2? i am not sure.
Agreed too.
Dev keep forgetting that even for F2P mmos people would leave if they have No Regrets leaving these kinda mmo.
Like i’ve said it before quite sometime ago that the day would come where Rangers have no regrets leaving this game. Mark my words.
I already tried to leave, but there isn’t really any other mmo that I’d like to play. I kind of like the combat mechanics of GW2. The mobility and limited number of skills are nice as well as the generally mild setting. It has potential to be 10 times better, but they’re barely making any progress to achieve it. In fact, in regards to the Ranger profession it’s only been going backwards in strides. The game’s skills, traits and such are also still riddled with bugs. Most tooltips aren’t even true or incomplete or providing close to no information on what it actually does (for example: “Pets heal for more”). It’s been a year and these basic things are simply being completely ignored, yet it’s the only thing we have to interact with the game and are confronted with them every time we play.
So yes, if another mmo comes along that I like, I’ll be gone.
Chopps: are you sure about the 40.000 hp? They seem to die pretty easily, even when traited for health.
It’s Chopps, of couse it’s not true.
Ask them if they are going to improve the pet menu to allow the Ranger more customization of the AI behaviour and skills.
For example:
- switching skills off
- setting priority on skills
(edited by Holland.9351)
Both in the direction of long range combat and beastmastery.
- Longbow 1500 range by default.
- Shortbow 1200 range by default and removal of flanking condition.
- Useful pet menu with advanced settings for skills and preferences for AI behaviour.
- More default pet commands and the ability to assign keys to them (they’re currently in the form of shouts).
- Pet traits that aren’t family restricted, allowing for more customization.
- Pets doing low damage by default and rangers taking the full effect of their power stat on their skills.
- pet traits which allows the ranger to give stats to their pets at a partial cost of their own.
These are both my wishes and what I consider the minimal requirements for the Ranger class to be considered finished.
They have to reduce pet damage as much as required so Rangers can have the full effect of power on their skills. Then they can keep the current system as-is.
This is the second time I’ve heard this rumor about gear/trikets affecting pets.
Where is this coming from??
I did not say that at all. To be clear: gear/trinkets do NOT affect pets.
However, Rangers’s skills are less affected by power than other classes, because Rangers have a pet that can do damage too. So Rangers are power-handicapped and the pet has to make up for it.
That’s why the Bunker BM with Apothecary gear worked so well. It allows Rangers to avoid power like the plaque. The buffed pet deals the power/crit damage (30 points in BM) and the ranger grabs the healing, toughness and condition damage (Apothecary).
They have to reduce pet damage as much as required so Rangers can have the full effect of power on their skills. Then they can keep the current system as-is.
I think the big question is:
Are they going to remove the power scalling handicap on the Ranger?
It’s preventing viable power builds and it’s putting too much reliance on the pet, which often underperforms in most game modes. Are they going to make the pet a stength rather than a handicap?
Honestly I’m very tired of these threads. They’ve been around since the beginning of the game and yet here we are, almost a year later with no fix. ArenaNet doesn’t give a kitten.
Yes it’s extremely frustrating. It’s pretty hopeless. The main problem is their complete lack of communication with the community apart from the sPvP state of the game, which completely ignores everything outside sPvP. It’s like throwing someone a life line, but he keeps failing to grab it while he keeps going under and the weather is getting worse.
Perma-stealth shouldn’t be possible. But considering it is, it should be counterable. Like taking direct damage removes stealth (not condition damage). Or the other way around, conditions that damage prevent stealth. Or yet something else, conditions that don’t cause damage prevent stealth.
At least something. If I meet a perma stealth thief in stealth I just have to wait till he wants to come out of stealth. I litterally have to stand there and wait. There is nothing that i can do. It’s ridiculous.
The reasoning for all the nerfs seperately and why they found it important to not limit them to sPvP:
- shortbow range nerf
- pet damage nerfs
- Zephyr’s Speed moved from Adept to Grandmaster
- pet leash range nerf
Also, why should someone choose to play a Ranger?