Area of Gameplay Distribution: PvE (90%) WvW(9%) PvP(1%)
Profession played the most: Engineer [although I have maxed out every profession besides Necromanecr]
Concise Feedback on Ranger:
—NOTE—I PLAY BERSERKER!!!—NOTE—
(For Tequatl & Dungeons/Fractals)
Are we a control class? Long Range? Healing? What exactly is our purpose in a team? This is an issue that has been plaguing the Ranger since the days of GW1, where we are built up to be a Jack-of-All-Trades, without the versatility of an Elementalist or Engineer/Ritualist.
Here are the main issues in my opinion that hold Ranger back:
1) Our weapon sets besides OH axe don’t do anything significant.
_*Main-Hand*
Sword:
Firstly, let me say this is my FAVORITE Ranger weapon. However… 111111111111111113evade1111111111111111. That sums up Sword in a nutshell. It deals damage… And damage… and damage… and damage. Kinda like Guardian 1h Sword, but without their extraordinary utility skills. I’m sure you’re already aware about the “sticking”/evade issue on 1h sword, so I’m not going to bother bringing that up. Instead, it’s the #2 skills bothers me. I believe the intention behind #2 skill is to leap and then range a foe, but in practice, it’s not needed anywhere in PvE. For example, bosses in FoTM boil down to mostly Melee or Range, with little reason to switch between the two. Why use the #2 skill anywhere? So instead, I suggest hitting two birds with one stone: “spice up” our 1h Sword by changing #2 to something else useful.
Axe:
Oh boy, where do I start… Useless? Just what is the point of this weapon’s existence? Is it Power, or Condition damage? AoE or Single Target? From my experience, the only times I ever used it were for when I wanted to use my Offhand weapons without the “stick” of 1h Sword, however the loss in damage was so awful… So.. pathetically awful… That I never touched MH Axe again. What MH Axe needs is firstly a more defined role, and secondly a damage buff. Third, and most importantly: MH Axe needs to synergize with OH weapons, where 1h Sword does not.
_*Off-Hand*
Torch:
When designing an OH weapon, the most important question to arise is: How can it synergize with MH weapons? Both the #4 and #5 are fairly similar and lackluster in PvE, as all they do is burn the enemy. The #5 Bonfire would be useful if the Ranger had more Blast Finishers to give himself Might, which he lacks on any of his MH weapons and Utilities. The #4 is in need of a total makeover, while the #5 needs more synergy. One idea I had was to make #4 a Condition-Removal.
Axe:
The best off-hand in the game, in my opinion. I wanted to highlight this, so that other weapons follow it as an example of a great weapon, with both damage and utility.
_*Two-Handed*
Shortbow:
111111111111111113evade11111111111111. Same issue as 1h sword, minus the awesome damage. Was nerfed to 900 range awhile ago, which made it even more lackluster compared to the Longbow. Just what is the point of this weapon? I have no ideas, but I do hope it is addressed. Even the newby Bearbows use Longbow instead of this miserable pile of skritt…
2) Trait compression
Too many traits are necessary just to make a basic build. 20 Marksmanship is necessary, for our niches of Eagle Eye, Spotter, and Piercing Arrows, while, 20 Skirmishing is always necessary just to make our pets deal decent damage (Pet Prowess and Companion’s Might). ALWAYS having to invest 40 trait points just to pull our weight doesn’t give the Ranger a lot of freedom. Some traits, such as Piercing Arrows, need to be moved down a line or combined with Eagle Eye, while other traits (Pet Prowess) shouldn’t have to exist in the first place, and those bonuses should be innate instead.
3) TRULY different pets
If Ranger is the “Pet Class”, why not give us pets with TRULY different abilities? What if instead, we had a pet that DOESN’T engage in combat, but instead buffs us and allies? Something like as long as it is alive, it would buff its owner’s damage by 25% and pulsate Protection for anyone within a 240 radius, but be INCREDIBLY fragile to damage?
4) Permastow
Sometimes we just want out Pet to GTFO, especially when a Thief uses Shadow Refuge. Maybe change the Stow function to stop only when we attack, rather than entering combat.
5) Utilities
Spirits activating their effects only once every 10 seconds is underwhelming, Spirit actives have too high recharge with underwhelming and low radius effects, Sharpening Stone and Lightning Reflexes have too high recharge, our signets shouldn’t force us to trait just to use their active, while traps are just low damage combo fields… (Granted, Spike Trap would be cool if made into a Blast Finisher)
TLDR; Our trait and skills do not have a significant enough impact in PvE. Our role in dungeons are undecided, yet we lack versatility outside 111111 spamming.
