May I offer a scenario that makes the zerg situation no longer ridiculous to worry about? Guild X gets their ascended gear. Guild X is now Y% individually and Z% collectively stronger than they were before. Guild X now is laying siege to a tower/keep in WvW. With their enhanced stats, siege weapons are no longer taking them down as effectively [and their teammates are also more likely to be able to revive] and the ascended tier guild ‘zerg’ captures the tower due to decreased defensive capabilities.
Do they make siege weapons stronger to compensate? That now decimates all non-ascended players more than before, and would also increase the speed of point captures.
The dynamic changes regardless. Either power creep sets in universally, or unilaterally.
You make it sound like all the players in the X guild would work like a single unite, and be invincible due to them somehow sharing their minor stat increase. The same thing would apply to the group of players, as it does in the 1v1 scenario I explained. The only difference would be that there are more players, which only adds to the random factor of combat. The amount of damage that siege weapons deal, far exceeds the ascendent gear extra stats, and would affect the single player just like it does the player without ascendent gear. He/she would move, or be defeated. Ascendent gear doesn’t make you invincible. Neither does it make you revive faster.
What exactly is it you think is going to change in the few extra seconds (if even that) that a group of players with ascendent gear manage to take down a gate faster? It doesn’t really matter if the defenders stops them (as in managing to chase them away) with the door open or closed, as the 1% extra repair is not even worth counting. And the short time it takes for a group with ascendent gear to kill a lord faster, is not going to make a difference. Because the times that you are able to save a lord at 1% health is nonexistent. Mostly because the defenders have long given up the tower/keep at that point. If a group of players manage to take down a lord that much, they are going to succeed regardless of ascendent gear.
The dynamic changes, but not at a level that makes it worth taking into account. Mostly because of the random variables of combat, like player skill, builds, coordination/teamwork, and luck.
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I love them. They remind me of this:
I would be cool if there was some sort of short animation video when you went through, though, before switching to the background image of LA.
I’d like to think that player skill rules over 0.5% extra damage in this game. You have to remember that Guild Wars 2 is an active game. You are much more likely to get defeated because you used up your dodge at the wrong time, or your healing skill got interrupted. The chance of two players fighting against each other 1v1, with one having ascendent gear and the other only having exotic gear, while they both have the same amount of player skill, and both aren’t making any mistakes, leaving only the gear making the difference, is so miniscule that it’s not worth counting. And in a zerg situation, it’s just a ridiculous thing to worry about, as even more variables comes into play there.
lol that’s pretty cool. I will watch out for that next time.
Just for your information: He write he’s “just leveling” his Ranger, so he’s most likely not playing PvP..
Thanks for the response I believe I tried that build but ill try again. It just seems my ranger is the least evasive of all my characters. The other. Professions seem to have a panic button. Rangers seem to be more of a piñata then anything. Maybe I’m just playing it wrong or its not the class for me.
You really need to use greatsword or sword to get the most damage evasion out of the Ranger. Sword+dagger is the most evasive weapon set you can have, but the greatsword is also good, as it has an evade on the #1 skill plus a block and an interrupt, not to mention Swoop. I believe the sword is also an AoE weapon? I know the greatsword is. Next to that, you can get vigor from Lightning Reflexes and the traits Primal Reflexes and Vigorous Renewal, plus 50% endurance increase from Natural Vigor.
For regeneration you have the Fern Hound pet, Signet of the Wild, and the traits Rejuvenation and Oakheart Salve. The trait Nature’s Bounty makes your regeneration last 33% longer, while chill effects from pets and Frost Trap gives your regeneration more time to heal you, and slows down your opponents dps.
And on top of that you still got utility skills like Signet of Renewal, "Guard"+"Protect Me!" (combo), and various traps to slow down your opponent. And if you manage to get downed, you can still rally yourself with Spirit of Nature.
It just comes down to mixing and matching between all of the above, so you get some good survivability, without losing too much damage output.
If you want to hold up against two players in a fight, you need to go for a bunker type build. The Ranger has plenty of regeneration, evasion, vigor, and chill to make it possible.
As for escaping a zerg, you already have plenty of swiftness (warhorn, bird, Rampage as One, or the Tail Wind trait) and movement skills (sword’s Hornet Sting or greatsword’s Swoop) to make you fast. The ‘Shared Anguish’ and ‘Hide in Plain Sight’ trait combo, is great when running away, as it removes the first disable (stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, sink, float, fear, launch) on you, and makes you invisible for 3 seconds. After that you still got Healing Spring or Signet of Renewal that removes a condition. Next to all that, Frost/Spike Trap or Entangle can slow your opponents down even further, but if you’re using Hornet Sting or Swoop, you will have all the speed you need to get away.
Well since your pet is already dealing some good damage, and you’re using Signet of the Hunt, I would suggest going for “Guard”. It will give your pet stealth (for a short while) and protection, which makes it more durable in drawn out battles against veteran and champion mobs, when your healing skill is on cooldown. “Guard” also give you the ability to send your pet over gaps, like in a jumping puzzle. I don’t think you need Signet of the Wild, since your healing power is going to be pretty good already. I would go with Healing Spring instead, and then pick a cat that has a leap F2 skill to get more healing from it.
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You clearly know NOTHING about Guild wars lore if you think a ranger is just a martial prof that only uses weapons to kill things. Charr ranger would be the ONLY one it makes sense on btw, human rangers wouldn’t touch a rifle because it completely goes against the whole being in tune with nature thing.
And I’m not making it up, Anet flat out said pre-launch that some of the professions, like warriors and thieves, embarrassed the advancement of technology, where other profs like ranger and ele completely shunned it and embraced magic even more than they did previously. Just because -you- don’t know lore doesn’t mean it shoul be trampled so you can have a pretty little gun.
And we don’t use magic? Please, tell me what QZ, Muddy Terrain, Lightning Reflexes (notice the lightning explosion around you?), Entangle, any of the spirits, the ghostly images of animals, healing spring, our ability to passively regen metric kitten tons of health, and our downed 2 are if we don’t use magic.
Wow, you completely reject the reality of the game and substitute your own. Your idea of what aesthetic a Ranger should have, is not what the Ranger is. Nor what ArenaNet says it is, according to the website. It is simply just your view of it. I just picked up a canon today, as a human Ranger, and used it to shoot down a dragon. Are you going to try and argue that I was wrong for doing that, because my Ranger did something that didn’t match your idea of what the Ranger should be like? Nothing has to make sense beyond what we want it to be ourselves. Players play sylvari Engineers and charr Elementalists attuned to fire, all the time. If I were to play a Ranger with a rifle, it would have no effect on you, at all. Only on me.
What ArenaNet said pre-launch, and what the game is now, are two different things. The Ranger as it is now, can have many different aesthetics, not just one. The Ranger is simply what the individual player makes of him. What ArenaNet wants the Ranger to be can be seen in the skills we can use.
I don’t know how many times I have to write it for you to understand it: Giving a rifle to the Ranger does not “trample” anything, it only adds something.
Yes, we have magic powers, but we do not rely on them. An Elementalist can only use magic. All I have to do to play a non-magical Ranger, is pick a shout, signet, or trap utility skill, and Rampage as One. None of our weapons rely on magic.
Let me just make it clear to you again, before you reply: Giving a rifle to the Range changes nothing, it only adds something. I get an extra weapon that I think is cool, and you can continue to use whatever weapon you are currently using for your Ranger. Nothing is lost.
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You make some good points, but it is incredibly hard to balance a game only based on combos, as new ones are often created by players all the time. You also have to give players a way to easily pull off something cool and rewarding, because not everyone has the skill or time to think about combos. You can’t just balance a game around the experienced players, you also have to consider the casual player. Some professions are also purposely balanced to be easier to play then others.
Um…. They do protect nature, they also only use weapons that’d be able to work (and work very well for essentially unlimited amounts of time) in the wild, a rifle, would not, you run out of ammo an you’re kittened.
Rangers as a whole shun technology, it is not somethin they want to rely on, just as an elementalist doesn’t want to rely on tech, or their physical strength, to overcome obstacles. Asking for a ranger to do a gun would be like asking an anti-industrialist to work in a factory, sure you’re not hurting nature or embracing technology for doing so, but they’re sure as hell never going to do it!
NOTE: Mesmers use pistols because they’re DUELISTS btw, anet even said that they’re DUELISTS that use illusions to gain the uperhand (IE don’t play fair), which is why they have a DUELIST trait line.
EDIT: i’d actually be ok with guns on the ranger so long as they aren’t used as actual guns (IE using actual ammunition) but fire out lightning or fire or something of the sort instead i feel like it’d kinda hammer home the whole embraced magic side, and there’s nothing wrong with using the ammunitionless gun to protect nature, i mean for kittens sake i use more metal crafting a spear head rather than the metal on the gun.
What the hell are you talking about?! You’re completely making the Ranger into something you want it to be. The Ranger description simply says; “Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself”. Nothing ells. Stop making up stories. A rifle changes none of what the Ranger is, at all. I say it again: You are only adding something, you aren’t taking anything away!
You’re completely mixing the Ranger together with an elver. Guild Wars 2 is not Lord of the Rings. If you take a charr Ranger, it totally makes sense for him to have a rifle. Gunpowder is part of the lore. An Elementalist doesn’t need a rifle or a bow, because he relies on magic. The Ranger does not rely on magic, but uses weapons. And a rifles is just that; another weapon. It’s a tool you use to kill things, just like a bow is.
I don’t think you have any idea of how a rifle works, or what gunpowder is made of. You should read up on that, you will be surprised.
The topic is how to mitigate damage with a GS. I’m saying you can mitigate damage better/more consistently with a different weapon.
Stop acting like a dumb kitten
I know what you are saying, but I don’t know why you persist in doing it in this topic. No one here is saying the greatsword is better then the sword.
“Disclaimer 1
This thread is not meant to convince you that GS is a worthy secondary weapon.”
I was simply pointing out how the greatsword compares to the swords evades, which you quite litterally asked about; “Why use the GS when I can use the Sword for its damage and 3 evasive moves?”. But then you decided to try and be a smart kitten and try to tell me something I already knew, while completely undermining the topics subject. Why did you even ask the question in the first place?
Its no myth. They are useless. Ranger Pets don’t respond to F1-F4 for me except for maybe the 1st target I send them after. After that its all a crapshoot and I usually need to resummon a new pet for them to work properly again. Fix this kitten.
Ehh, they respond just fine for me
Yep, same here. It’s only F2 that can react a little slowly, because of the skill channel, or because the pet is using another skill. When using F1, F3, and F4, the pet react instantly. I can often pull it out of an AoE area, with F3, before it gets hit, and then use F1 to make it attack again.
It’s very obvious, when reading your post, that you’ve only played WvW and 8v8 sPvP. Both of these games require very little skills, as your opponents will often play with low level/new/bad builds, and have next to no experience fighting 1v1, because they are use to following a zerg. Try some tournament sPvP for a little while.
The time you have to put into it isn’t free.
Longbow and condition damage is a bad mix. If you like condition damage, then go for shortbow. As for traits; the Rangers are a bit of a mess at the moment, so it’s hard to give any real sound advice. I went 20/20/20/0/10, using longbow and greatsword, and going for Piercing Arrows, Quickdraw, Shared Anguish+Hide in Plain Sight (combo), Zephyr’s Speed, and Compassion Training.
Movement: W, A, S, D
Weapon Skills: Q, E, R, 3, 4
Healing/Utility/Elite Skills: Left Shift, C, V, B, Left Ctrl
Professions Skills: F1/Middle Mouse, F2, F3, F4
Weapon Switch: 2
Nearest Target: Tab
Call Target: X
Assist Target: Z
Look Behind: Left Side Mouse
Turn 180: Right Side Mouse
Stow Weapon: U
Continues Running: T
Score Board: Caps Lock
Everything ells is by default.
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You don’t have to go anywhere in a dodge to dodge it… You can stand in a corner and dodge in the corner and still miss it. This also applies to the swords 3 moves. While it has a 3 second duration; it has 20 second cooldown for that ONE skill, compared to the swords 8 second and 15 second cooldowns.
Quickness with the greatsword’s autoattack… Greatsword’s have kitten damage and using them in auto-attack is a huge drop in DPS compared to the Sword once again. The dps output for the evasiveness is not worth it, especially if you KNOW what attacks to look out for. Also the sword has better travel skills than the greatsword… Turn around and cast 2; then turn around and cast 2 again. ALSO on a lower cool-down than swoop.
Stop being lazy.
This isn’t a topic about which Ranger weapon is the best. I think you need to read the title again.
Stop acting like a smart kitten
I personally would be a little angry if we could use a rifle because that’d be them going back on what the ranger is… However, we do use Harpoon Guns, maybe allow us to use those on land to make Rifle Rangers happy because they’re essentially the same thing except you’re firering spears instead of small pellets xD
A rifle doesn’t change who the Ranger is. That’s like saying a pistol changes who the Mesmer is. Being a Ranger isn’t about using a bow.
I think the class you’re looking for, then, is either the warrior or engineer.
How many military riflemen have a giant brown bear following them all over the place and can call birds and spirits of nature at will?
The engineer has grenades and bombs and pistols and rifles, and the warrior is a great sniper with a rifle.
That’s not a ranger like class.
A ranger with a rifle screams “hunter” to me, and so I guess the question is are they the same thing? Nature lover or nature predator?
What? This is a fantasy game, use your imagination. People in the real world have ethical relationships with all sorts of animals, including bears.
I’m not sure how adding a rifle to the Ranger suddenly makes him a Warrior or Engineer class. The aesthetic of a class is more then the weapon it uses. Adding a rifle only does just that; it adds a rifle to the Ranger. You aren’t taking anything away.
Rangers are attuned with nature, they aren’t magical fairies who protects nature. You kill animals all the time in the game..
Why use the GS when I can use the Sword for its damage and 3 evasive moves?
The greatsword block allows you to move around freely, the swords evasion forces you to move in one direction, meaning that you need a bigger area in order to use them. The greatswords block also has a duration time of 3 seconds, thereby making it easier to use.
It’s also worth knowing that, next to the greatswords block, you can also use quickness with the greatswords auto attack, and get almost constant evasion for the quickness duration. And that Swoop is not only an excellent travel skill, but also great for when you need to quickly get out of harms way.
You can only get the quiver by playing Fractals of the Mist, and getting one Vial of Condensed Mists Essence (or ‘Glob of Condensed Mists Essence’ and breaking it down). You then need to go to the Mystic Forge and put in:
1 Vial of Condensed Mists Essence
240 Philosopher Stones (bought with 24 skill points)
50 Glob of Ectoplasm
250 Vicious Fang/Ancient Bone/Vicious Claw/Powerful Blood/or Armored Scale (each mat gives different stats)
Currently, ancient bones are the cheapest mat to buy. So if you are just looking to make the quiver skin, you should go for them. The quiver will still cost you a total of around 17 gold, though, if you buy all your Ectoplasm’s and Ancient Bone. However, making gold in fractals is rather easy.
This is something that needs to happen.
Not only does it allow current players to save their own builds, but it also means that ArenaNet can make builds that applies to new players, thereby making the entry to sPvP a bit easier. As it is now, having to make your own build, or playing with an inferior build, scares a lot of potential players away. But if these new players had three builds to pick from, for each profession, they could focus on playing the game first. And then focus on making a build of their own, after they’ve gotten to know the game better.
I think they should make the templates like they do with character slots. Make the first three custom templates free, and then sell more in the cash shop. Account wide of curse.
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Just because you use a skill doesn’t mean its good. It could mean that you are bias, or that the pool of skills is worse than the one you choose. Anyways you are wrong about signets they are sub par in comparison to other classes. Although the speed buff was nice. I don’t use spirits enough to judge, but from what I hear they are worse than signets. I think the dev team even said as much. Here’s an analysis I did of two ranger signets because they were easily comparable.
#################################
Signets in general are way too focused on pets. I think Anet thought pets would be far more valuable than they turned out to be.
Just looking at Passive Abilities
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Signet of the Wild: Heals your pet for more than double the amount that you get healed.
Player: 62 health/s
Pet: 125 health/sLets compare to other classes. All lvl 80
Warrior: 200/s (healing signet)
Elementalist: 202/cast (signet of restoration)
Thief: 100/hit (signet of malice)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Signet of Stone: Gives your pet 3.4 times the amount of Toughness that you get.
Player: 35 Toughness
Pet: 120 ToughnessLets compare to other classes. All lvl 80
Elementalist: 90 Toughness (signet of earth)
Warrior: 90 Toughness (dolyak signet)
Guardian: 10% less damage (signet of judgement) ~ arguably better than all classes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In conclusion, the passive effects of ranger signets are far too weak to even be worth the slot because pets take the majority of the benefit when they are far more squishy than the player. Raising the player’s benefits would fix this, which could possibly be tied to Signet of the Beastmaster, even though I think the raise should be traitless. Like most Ranger problems, they generally have to do with one thing.
“pets are the ranger’s weakness"
lol, it’s funny that you think my experience with the Rangers signets is bias, yet you try to disprove it by using math. Guild Wars 2 is an action game. Who the hell cares if some skill numbers of other professions are higher? This isn’t backgammon. What matters is which skills/traits work in correlation with the singular skill of the individual profession, and how the skill works in practice. That is how you balance an action game.
You have to take into account all the vigor the Ranger also can get, plus the fact that the Ranger has a pet that takes a ton of damage off the Ranger. Then there’s the difference between light, medium, and heavy armor. Not to forget the different class balance philosophies, that ArenaNet are aiming for. Malice and Signet of Restoration are also both healing skills, so of curse they are going to be stronger then the healing from a utility signet. All these things you have to take into account.
I’d much rather see ArenaNet make the Ranger more into an " 1950s military ranger", then a “druid ranger”. But sure, why not. I would love to see what kind of skills we would get with a staff.
I think ArenaNet would make a LOT of Ranger players very happy, if they added both a rifle and a staff to the Ranger, though. Then we could each have a choice of what type of Ranger we wanted to play; elven (bow), druid (staff), or military (rifle).
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The thing to take away from what Jonathan wrote is that they are working on it. Because it actually means >they are working on it<, which is to say; it will be released. The only question is whether or not you want to wait for it. But that’s something ArenaNet doesn’t have any control over.
The only thing I was wondering about after reading Jonathans post, is why they aren’t planing to do anything to get the community into this, right now. I mean, all this content is great and exciting, but what value does it have if there’s no one to support it, once it’s released? I think you guys (ArenaNet) need to come up with a short term plan, that focuses on getting the community into sPvP. It could be anything as simple as hosting some “professional” tournament matches on your twitch channel, add some form of exclusive PvE awards in sPvP, or even just adding sPvP to the monthly PvE achievement? Basically, anything you can to bring more focus on sPvP, and prepare players for the upcoming content. If you release this content first, and then begin to focus on the community afterwards, it’s going to take twice as long to get players involved. If you want sPvP to succeed this year, you have to be one step ahead. PvP has, and always will be, about the community first. Because if there’s no one to support and play the game, it doesn’t matter how good it is.
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I agree with Shaidan. Unless you are using a lot of snare skills and just want more damage, the chill from the owl is a lot better. Not only does chill slow opponents down by 66%, thereby allowing your pets to hit more often, it also makes your opponents skills recharge 66% slower. And with the birds swiftness on top, it makes the owl the best pet for chasing.
Spirits can be good, if you know how to place them correctly (out of harms way, but still close enough to affect you). However, in situations where there’s a lot of AoE, they are a wasted utility.
If you want to play a support role with the Ranger, I would suggest going with Healing Spring, Signet of Renewal, “Search and Rescue”, Quickening Zephyr (mostly for increased revive speed), and Spirit of Nature, instead.
The pets are designed to be less powerful then a player. They are basically equivalent to a player fighting a mob/boss that’s maybe 3-5 levels higher, without moving. Bears can be compared to a tank build, and felines to glass canons. This is the way that pets are designed to be. So if you are expecting pets to have the full survivability and functionality of a player, then you are waiting in vain.
AoE is a problem, though. Hopefully they are working on a solution to that.
The trick is to use it for the right things, not for everything. If you are roaming on your own, or playing a build in PvP where you’re moving around a lot, then obviously Heal as One is going to be a lot better for you. Healing Spring works in places where you have other players around you, so you not only use it to heal yourself, but also to support allies by healing them with regeneration and removing a condition. Healing Spring is also a combo field that, when triggered, will heal everyone around the one who triggers it. This means that you and your whole team can effectively use your Healing Spiring to get a good burst of extra healing, by using projectile and leap combo finishers on top of it.
When using Healing Spring on my own, I tend to mostly pick it because of the condition removal and the regeneration. Both of these effects are a perfect combination against damage over time effects, like burn or poison fields. But the condition removal on its own can also be priceless against those annoying cripples and immobilizes’.
If your pet is defeated, neither of these skills will work (this also includes when your pet becomes defeated, while its reviving). That’s why you should always press F4, before you use Lick Wounds, whenever you are downed. “Search and Rescue” also has a maximum range of 600, from your pet to a downed/defeated ally. So if your pet is at any longer range then 600, nothing will happen, but the skill will still recharge.
Lick Wounds works about 75% of the time for me, and “Search and Rescue” works 100% of the time (except when my pet is defeated, or is out of range, of curse). I always use “Search and Rescue” when I play fractals or dungeons, so I use it a lot.
I wonder if it fails because the pet gets hit by a stun, could that break the pet from healing you? I think we need to isolate the -how- it happens. I bring the stun up because it doesn’t work for me when I have a ton of enemies trying to kill me, it could be that one of them used a stun skill and it hit my pet.
I know from experience that the pet will get back up and continue to revive, after being knocked back/down. I don’t know about stun or daze, though.
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I won’t get into the whole realism behind it,
Figure it’s a fantasy MMO and in that they got the physics of bows back to front.
In RL longbow does max damage at <= 100 yards. As range increases damage decreases
I was referring to the comment that loud noises scares the pet away. Except it doesn’t scare hunting dogs away in the real world, because they are trained to hear the sound of gunfire, so why would it be any different in the game? And this is where the follow up comment is usually something on the lines of “well bows don’t scare wild animals away when you fire them”. Which is also not true, as animals have a far better hearing and instinct then humans, and will usually run away at the first sign of danger, including the sound of a bow firing.
If Ranger were given a rifle, Anet would pretty much indirectly confirm that we’re nothing but gimped warriors. I doubt they’ll want to do that.
Besides, what druidic/hunter-like abilities would you suggest a rifle to have, anyway? If anything, the loud noises it makes would scare your pet away.
It’s not the skin that makes the profession, it’s the skill animations. Look at how greatsword skill animations look, and apply those same ideas to rifles. It’s not hard to imagine.
I won’t get into the whole realism behind it, or Ranger players general lack of knowledge when it comes to hunting and animals. I’ve already had that discussion in a “why can’t Ranger use rifles?” thread that was made months ago, and I’m not starting a new one.
I have a very hard time detaching myself from this game. I bought Hitman Absolution about three weeks about, and I still have touched it yet.. So yeah, much love to ArenaNet!
Loved your PS btw, I have to remember that one xD
It’s not particularly shocking to read this. MMOs have pretty much always been a grind for gear, and now that it isn’t, players don’t know what to do with themselves. Suddenly you have to play with other people because you want to, not because you have to. Suddenly you have to play a game because you want to spend time in it, not because you have to spend time reaching a long term goal. Basically, you are looking for something that isn’t there. If you really wanted to play the game, you would find a reason to do so. Instead of looking for reasons the game can force you to play.
You know, some people play the same single player game a thousand times, not because they have goals to reach, but because they love to play the game. Maybe this is a chance to ask yourself why you really play games in the first place? Do you really enjoy it, or are you just looking for a way to waste time? It’s worth thinking about.
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It’s truly amazing how this topic just keeps coming up time and time again. Hopefully ArenaNet will take this as a clue, and we will see a rifle for the Ranger in a future expansion.
You do realize that “Guard” is the only skill that makes pets useful on walls right? The pets who are responsible for at least 30% of the Rangers damage output..
Also; the whole point of attacking a wall is to destroy your siege. Why does it matter if you are being attacked by a pet, or being hit by AoE? If two players attack the pet, it will be dead in seconds anyway.
And no, it’s not nearly the same as Mesmers illusions on walls were. Illusions can be created in no time at all, and once they are gone, it is of no lose to the Mesmer at all. The Ranger only has two pets, and if they are both dead the Ranger is dealing less damage output. Further more, the Ranger needs to use a utility skill slot in order to pull this off in the first place.
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Just out of curiosity, how does one become “very widely known” in NA, AUS, CH, and Africa, from playing Guild Wars 2? Do you travel a lot?
Also, how does that build work? The damage is almost nonexistent..
That’s my secret.
And clearly you have never played with ravens.
lol okay..
So the ravens are all the damage you need? Interesting. It still seems like you could have more damage output, though. I mean, why all the healing?
The problem is not as much at the top, as it is at the bottom. sPvP aren’t losing players because the top players are leaving, as much it’s losing players because there aren’t any new players coming into it.
For the love of everything that is good; remove 8v8 from sPvP, and make a proper match up system for casual 5v5. There is nothing structured about 8v8. It’s a zerg fest, and for no good reason. All it does is give new players a false impression of what sPvP is like. Then, make ladder, matchmaking, and spectator mode. And then work on making sPvP, not only interesting to play, but also interesting to watch. Make people love sPvP, even if they don’t like playing it. Celebrate the top tPvP players and promote them, so new sPvP players have someone they can look up to, and aspire to become as good as.
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This game is not about standing still and trading blows with your opponent, while you spam all your skills one by one. This game requires some movement (not a lot at level 13 though) to avoid certain attacks, and it requires that you read all your skills and use them for the right situations. A good way to practice movement is to equip a ranged damage weapon (like a bow for instance), and then try your best to keep the mob you’re attacking from getting close to you, by using the skills you have available on your weapon. Try to categorize your skills in damage, defense (‘block’, or a boon like ‘protection’), and movement (‘leap’, ‘knock back’, or ‘roll behind’).
I suggest you play in an area where there are other players, and then try to learn by looking at what they are doing. If you aren’t already, you should also follow the heart quests and your personal story (when you are at the right level) as much as possible, as they will level you up faster then just killing random mobs.
(edited by Kasama.8941)
Just out of curiosity, how does one become “very widely known” in NA, AUS, CH, and Africa, from playing Guild Wars 2? Do you travel a lot?
Also, how does that build work? The damage is almost nonexistent..
So instead of hating your pet, it makes a lot more sense if you take the time to learn how to manage it.
I cannot describe how tiresome it is to hear this over and over and over again. I don’t understand how people are still not comprehending the point here.
Who cares if we get perma-stow? Who cares if we don’t? It’s at Anet’s discretion. We just want a solution.
The bottom line is, the problem isn’t the player’s ability to manage the pet, it’s the pet’s AI and aggro rules. You can be the best pet micromanager in the entire gaming universe and your pet will still screw something up because it’s inherently flawed.
I’m not trying to say that the pet AI is perfect the way it is now, just that permanent stow is a kittenty solution, that is only going to bring more problems with it then it solves. The best solution is to make the pet AI better, and that is going to take some time.
Knowing how to manage your pet means; knowing what to do when your pet “screws something up”. It’s not about preventing anything, but using what you got.
This isn’t about arguing against it, but realizing that it’s not going to happen, because it’s made the way it is by design. It is not a mistake. So instead of hating your pet, it makes a lot more sense if you take the time to learn how to manage it. But having your pet permanently stowed also brings a whole series of problems with it.. And personally, I’d rather have them focus on fixing the Rangers traits instead, or work on making the pet AI even better.
Pray tell, what series of problems is that? You can un-stow a pet at any time. There is no cooldown for that, just one to re-stow it.
Saying that something kind of sucks but it is the way it is doesn’t fly with me. The code isn’t chiseled out of solid granite at Anet central. They can change anything they want to change in this game and they should really want to change this. If you haven’t experience the annoying side of pets, you either haven’t played ranger much or you never do any of the things I (and many others) do on a weekly basis.
Run down a hill when in combat mode, pet runs a different way and drags alternate path aggro right to you. Can we solve it? Sure, switching pets will fix the situation but we shouldn’t have to do that. Our pet should run down the hill with us.
And if we decide we want to run around without fighting, why shouldn’t we be able to tell our pet to sod off for a bit? I know we currently can’t and maybe ANet wants it that way but me and many other players are begging them to rethink that position.
All you are doing is telling us to stop asking for stuff (or stop asking for stuff that you don’t really care about one way or the other….unless you are telling me you’d shed tears on the day we could permanently stow our pets).
I wrote that in an earlier post: Why use the pet at all, if your character works fine without the pet? Why should I rely on pet AI, if I don’t have to? And if that’s the case, then why not just remove the pet from the game all together? Or how about; how you are going to get your pet out in combat, when your stow option becomes locked in combat mode? You won’t be able to use any of the skills or traits that affect your pet then. And if you allow the stow option to be used when in combat mode, then what about the advantages that comes from that? The recharge time on stowing was put there for a reason..
That quote is not something that was written months ago, it’s from December 14. As I wrote; I’m just telling you the way it is. This is what ArenaNet themselves wrote. This is what they want the Ranger to play like. So yes, like it or not, it is something that is written in stone. It is a design choice to “force” you to use the pet. Can they change their minds on it? Sure. Are they going to? Well, considering that quote was written less then a month ago; no, most likely not.
I have played the Ranger since the beat weekends.
The difference between you and me, is that I learn to manage the problems that arise, while you expect the problems to change for you. “We shouldn’t have to do that”. Yes, you should, because it’s the only real solution that you can use right now. Maybe the pet AI will be fixed at some point, so the pet will stay closer to you, but that’s not the way it works right now.
I’m not telling you to stop asking for stuff, I’m telling you to realize what has already been said, instead of hoping for a solution that is never going to come.
Bottom line is; permanent stow is not a good solution, because it brings a whole series of new problems with it, while solving something that should really be solved by working on the pet AI. You don’t solve a problem by creating a new one.
(edited by Kasama.8941)
I would love to see the Thief become a Thief again, instead of the Assassin class that it currently is.
The major issue with the Thief seems to be stealth. I think Revealed should be applied after going out of stealth, no matter if it’s by breaking or time out. The Revealed time should then be two seconds instead of three. This would make stealth into what it was originally designed to be; a tool that helps you avoid damage for a short period of time. Thereby making movement the focus, instead of stealth itself.
Rangers are the same as they have always been; they rely on an AI companion, therefor they will always be the most troublesome class. The Ranger in GW2 has improved over time though, especially the pet AI. And even though the profession could use some more fixes, people tend to greatly exaggerate how bad the profession is. The biggest problem with the Ranger right now, is the major issue with how mixed/bad the Rangers traits are. But I wouldn’t completely discard the Ranger, as there will be more fixes to come. At the very least, you should try it out for yourself.
It was fun, but the last Tixx event was a bit disappointing. It seemed like it was focused a lot on achievements, which I really don’t care about. But it’s hard to complain about anything, when we get it all for free. I enjoyed the snowball PvP and the jumping puzzle a lot.
The funny thing is that in early beta the Thief had a 30 second stealth skill, which was then removed to make stealth last 3-4 seconds overall, so it would work as a tool to help the Thief avoid damage, instead of being a permanent thing. But now the Thief basically have permanent stealth again, and pretty much plays like an Assassin.
I just wish that ArenaNet would make the Thief play as it was original designed to be played. That is; a profession that avoids damage trough movement and speed. That was what made it fun to play. Stealth should be a tool to avoid damage, short term, not a permanent thing.
Tracking was actually in the game in a very early beta, but was removed again for unknown reasons. It just allowed you (and your allies I think?) to see enemies on the mini-map. I would love to see it back in the game again, though, considering that Thieves can have close to permanent stealth now.
You want examples Kasama? Try Fractals. Try Jade Maw. Try your awesome bear “tank” as he gets 1 shot over and over because you don’t have a choice to stow your pet or let your pet pick up a shard to defend itself. A trick I found is to instantly swap pets when your current pet is being targeted by the Jade Maw, however, if the Jade Maw decides to target your pet again after your swap and during your 15 – 20 second cooldown, then you can just say bye bye to your pet.
Try the lightning obstacle course in the unknown fractal where your stupid pet walks all over the place and gets hit by the electricity causing an AoE of death to you and any unfortunate teammates trying to get through.
Try the grawl fractal where your pet decides to walk randomly into a moving boulder and gets insta downed.
IMHO, I don’t care for a stow pet option, but I do want Anet to quickly fix these issues, if they care at all about their ranger philosophy.
I agree that the Jade Maw boss is a pain. But it’s not only our pet the boss is hitting, it will also often target Mesmer illusions and Necromancers minions. So it makes no sense to solve it by making permanent stow for the pet. The problem is with the boss.
I have an easy time getting trough the lighting obstacle with my pet stowed. Often I even get hit right at the top, but I still make it trough. Dodging helps a lot here.
Why does it matter that your pet gets defeated from the boulders in the volcanic fractal? You don’t need it there. You simply just let it be defeated, and then pet switch when you are clear of the builders.
Why is anyone arguing against this? It makes no sense. If you don’t want your pet to perma-stow, then don’t kitten’ stow it. What do you gain by nobody else being able to stow their pet during a jumping puzzle or when they are just running around the world?
I know this is the internet but stop arguing just to argue and think about why/if you really care to fight against people who just want to be able to put their pet away for 5 minutes without it popping back out again.
This isn’t about arguing against it, but realizing that it’s not going to happen, because it’s made the way it is by design. It is not a mistake. So instead of hating your pet, it makes a lot more sense if you take the time to learn how to manage it. But having your pet permanently stowed also brings a whole series of problems with it.. And personally, I’d rather have them focus on fixing the Rangers traits instead, or work on making the pet AI even better.
(edited by Kasama.8941)
Sorry Lordyux, you want it all and not give up anything for it.. You want passive run speed, swiftness, our invis, our clones, our blink etc etc etc..
Basically you want to be op’ed , FOTM and EZmode… We are not..
Sorry man, but we are 100% fine in our mobility choices..
You want to have a run buff for no reason. You ignore all the other things we have..
Lol, you want Necro minions for their run buff?? You want rangers pet for their run buffs?
Lordryux, you are at the point of complaining to just complain… You want the old cake and eat it too.
Thief has everything you listed but the clones….
You say that like the illusions don’t make a difference.
It’s a totally misplaced trait (like a lot of other Ranger traits) when you consider that you can already get the 50% more damage for your pet, from both greatsword (Hilt Bash) and Signet of the Hunt. It shouldn’t be a master trait at all.
in exploring it tend to aggro mobs, which will follow you and your pet
in puzzles, it is constantly in the way, blocking your view and being annoying, it’s like your personal male max size norn accompaning you everywhere
“but you can stow it” – and it comes back immediately when you take damage by falling or whatever, forcing you to wait at least 15sec before you can stow it againpets are terrible buffers, that option falls flat
ranged pets do less damage than their melee counterparts, also, their ~900 range isn’t enough to outrange most bosses. Add to that that pets cannot dodge and your pet is toast.pets tanking bosses… yea, you might want to check where you are, these are the gw2 forums, not those of that other MMORPG
As said above; if you let your pet attack the mobs, it will prevent the mobs from attack you. Then, as soon as you are out of the mobs aggro range, you simply just switch pets, and then you have a pet next to you again, ready to aggro the next series of mobs. I do not see how this is a bad thing? The pet is preventing you from being dealt damage! In a puzzle, you simply just switch to a small pet, if it’s blocking your view, or send your pet to attack the mobs by using “Guard”. Use the pet, don’t ignore it.
Well if the only other option is to let your pet die from attacking, I’d pick the short buff or the lesser damage. If you are making your melee pet attack, even though you know it’s going to die, it sure as hell isn’t the games fault.
Say what you want, but the pet is tanking. It might not last for 10 seconds doing so, when fighting a strong boss, but it is more then enough time to give you and your team some breathing room. Which can make a huge difference when more then one of your allies are downed.
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