Guild Wars 2

Both sword and greatsword are great utility weapons, in that they can be used for more then what is first apparent.

Greatsword:
1: The evade on this is brilliant, especially when using quickness, as it makes you almost invulnerable.
2: Is an okay attack. I would really prefer something ells other then a bleed, though, as the greatsword is otherwise a pure direct damage weapon.
3: Swoop is the greatswords best skill, as it not only has the ability to get you up close to a foe quickly, but also get you out of combat just as fast. Further more, it is also the second best traveling weapon skill (yes, even better then warhorn), because of its short recharge time. Next to that, it also has the highest direct damage output of all the Rangers weapons.
4: Is both a movable block, an interrupt, and a ranged cripple attack skill. Very useful in every situation.
5: And finally, on top of everything ells, you also have an interrupt skill. This also allows your pet to do 50% more damage.
It’s also worth mentioning that, apart from your #5 skill, the greatsword is a pure AoE weapon.

Sword:
1: If you’ve build your Ranger to have high survivability, then the sword can be absolutely brutal. You basically stick to your foes like glue, thanks to cripple and a leap skill. And on top of that, you also stack might on your pet. But if you are low on health, it can also turn on you, and make it very hard to escape your opponent (unless you remove auto-attack).
2: Is both an evade, and a cripple (as if the cripple on the #1 skill wasn’t enough!). But it is also the best weapon traveling skill that the Ranger has (yes, still better then the warhorn). You simply just face your back in the direction you want to go, use Hornet Sting, then turn around 180 again, and then use Monarch’s Leap. It takes a bit of practice, but once you get it right, it is very effective. Especially because the recharge time on the skill is only 6 seconds.
3: Yet another evade skill next to the #2 skill, that also deals poison. Poison is especially good to keep the pressure on your foe, as it prevents healing by 33%. The attack also moves you into melee range, if you are at a distance to your foe.

Also remember that leap, on both the greatsword and sword, is a combo finisher. So use leap when you have skills like Healing Spring or Bonfire down.

Hope that helps a bit ^^

Chosen.8207:

It doesnt take a rocket scientist or reasonable justification to understand that not being able to permanently stow your pet is a hinderance.

Open world content:
Generally pets are no problem. Unless you want to do any explorer achievement, jumping puzzle or anything were you would prefer to not run in there shouting look at my pet.
Open world bosses:
The pet turns into a useless addition to the Ranger class most of the time.
Dungeons:
Generally pets are useless other than as terrible buff bots. They die far too much. There are situations were I would actually like to move like all other classes are able to in the game “as an individual”.

How do you address the problems above …..

Make it so that you can stow your pet permanently.

Flipping the question around why would you NOT have the ability to stow your pet permanently?

We decided to not allow rangers to stow their pets permanently for the following reasons:
- So the ranger has to manage any problems caused by a troublesome pet without a mechanism to avoid future problems
- etc, etc, etc

The hinderance comes from you not know how to manage your pet, or maybe just not wanting to.

• I don’t understand where the pet is a problem in exploring or puzzles. You have to give me some examples there.
• If the boss deals too high damage, you want to use a pet that either deals ranged damage (spiders and devourers), or that can buff you (like the Fern Hounds regeneration, or the Jungle Stalkers might). Basically, pets that stay close to you to avoid damage.
• In dungeons I always use bears, as they simply just survive longer then any other pet, and because they can also work as tanks. I’ve played a ton of dungeons where my bear would tank the boss on it’s own, leaving me hands free to revive other players on my team. Sure they die often, but if you switch pets before they are defeated, the recharge time on pet switching is far less, thereby allowing you to switch pets more often. But there’s also a learning curve in knowing when to switch pets, and when to let your pet die, so you can use the pet switching in a situation where you need it. And when to have your pet in “attack mode”, and when to have it in “don’t attack mode”.

You address the problems by learning how to manage them. You don’t solve a problem by creating a new one. And yes, it would create a whole series of new problems. Like; why use the pet at all, if your character can work fine without it? You might as well remove the pet from the game all together then. Or how about; how do you get the pet out in combat, if your stow option is locked as soon as you are in combat mode? And if you allow the stow option to be used in combat, then what about the advantages that comes with allowing that?

I don’t need a permanent stow option, because I need my pet whenever I am in combat mode. And the times when I don’t need my pet, I know how to manage it so it doesn’t become a hinderance to me.

I don’t see how sliding your finger over buttons is any different from using a macro? In fact, if anyone was to see you doing your 0.25 second combo in the game, they would probably think you were using a macro.

No!

Seriously, I don’t understand this notion that you should only have/play one profession. If you feel tired of the Mesmer, then go play a Elementalist for a while, and then come back when you miss the Mesmer again. I don’t see why you have to be so kitten dramatic about it.

It is a design choice. Therefor, permanent stow is not going to happen. I’m just telling you like it is.

• Ranger
• The ranger class combines its own innate abilities with the skills of their pets. We’ve balanced the class around the idea that you always have a pet with you to aid in any fight. The fact that the ranger can have multiple pets allows them to combine their pets in ways that most impact the current fight. We want the Ranger to have some of the evasion enjoyed by the Thief, as well as the mobility other classes employ. The class is able to deal physical or condition damage, and it can do this in melee or at range.

I don’t recognize any of the problems that you list, though. Ithink your arguments are a little thin. If my pet aggros a bunch of mobs, I consider it a good thing, because it means they aren’t attacking me. I simply just run ahead, out of aggro reach, and then switch pet, making the mobs that attacked my pet reset. I have also never had a problem running the fractals lighting way with my pet stowed. And the times I failed it, it certainly wasn’t because of my pet, but because I didn’t dodge fast enough.

It depends on what you are going to use the skills for.

“Protect Me” I would say is the better defensive skill, and Lightning Reflexes is the better offensive skill. If you need a skill that gives you a bit of extra time when you are at very low health, then hitting pet switch (to a bear, not something with low life like a feline) and pressing “Protect Me”, is a great solution for giving you a bit more survivability. Lightning Reflexes is a lot better for staying on your toes, when you want to get some distance from your foe, but while still being able to deal some damage.

But it also depends a bit on how you are traited. If you don’t have any points in Wilderness Survival or Beastmastery at all, then Lightning Reflexes might be a better defensive skill, because you won’t have Natural Vigor (increases endurance regeneration by 50%), and your pet won’t be as strong.

Ursan.7846:

I want to +1 my support for SnR. I run it all the time on certain fractals now.

BTW Kasama, I never tried it before, but you say it works even when it’s dead? I have a few questions for you.

If my pet is alive when I use it, but dies, will it continue rezzing?

If my pet was already dead, will it rez without any interruptions?

Is there any difference using a dead/alive pet to do the rez?

I wonder if it’s better to start the rez with a dead pet, or with an alive one.

Also I dunno if you pointed this out, but other combat rezzes only work on DOWNED and not DEFEATED states. SnR works on DEFEATED, which makes it wonderful to bring in Fractals.

The pet doesn’t revive when it is defeated, I thought it did, but after testing it some more I noticed that it just runs over to an ally, but don’t revive him/her. The pet just stands there (which can still be somewhat useful, as the pet can work as a shield).

I don’t know if the pet will continue to revive after being defeated, but I don’t think so. After being knocked back/down, however, it will get back up and continue to revive. It’s funny how “Search and Rescue” is a lot more reliable then Lick Wounds.
Edit: Tested it today. The pet stops reviving if it’s defeated while reviving.

Yes I did mention that. That is a big part of why I made this thread. Using the “Search and Rescue” + Quickening Zephyr combo, as explained in my original post, you can revive a defeated ally almost as fast as you would a downed ally. It is extremely useful, and it is only the Ranger who can revive someone that fast.

Spritemage.4609:

Kasama.8941:

I disagree with shouts and signets being bad. I use them a lot, and switch between different shouts and signets all the time.

I’m not going to talk about the shouts as I my issues with them have to do with pet AI.

The signets however have horrible active effects. Signet of the hunt, an increase in your pets next attack. Both the thieves movement speed signet and elementalists movement speed signet give AoE blind.

But really my main issue is that the signet’s active effects only affect the pet. as I’ve made known, my feelings towards the pets AI isn’t that great. Whenever I use a signet, I find the effects wasted. Except underwater, where I only use signets.

Pet AI has improved a lot from the last patch. Whenever I use “Search and Rescue”, for example, the pet always instantly goes to the nearest ally to revive him/her. The only time it doesn’t work is when I make a mistake, like using the skill when there are no allies to revive.

Considering that players often complain about the Ranger not having enough burst damage, I think Signet of the Hunt’s active effect is fine. Press F2, look for the icon to blink, then press Signet of the Hunt, and you got a nice burst attack from your pet.

I just disagree. Yes, pet AI could still use some more work, but it still works as it is now. Whenever I use a shout, the reaction from the pet is instant, and the pet succeeds in doing what I want it to do, more often then it fails. That’s my experience.

MLieBennett.9031:

When Movement Speed is a big deal:

1) Trying to do a jumping puzzle, while in-combat status. (Uncategorized and Solid Ocean >.>)
2) Trying to chase down a fleeing opponent or escape from opponents in WvWvW. Either you end up like Wile E. Coyote looking at Road Runner, or just can’t escape them as you constantly dodge, roll, and stealth while clearing conditions to keep moving and stay alive.
3) Getting out of Red Rings of Death on the ground, when out of Stamina. Normal move speed usually doesn’t cut it.
Note this is coming from someone who almost ALWAYS has the Focus as a weapon equipped (And got The Anomaly, because most of them look hideous).

I still say, they need to change Compounding Celerity.

Compounding Celerity
You and your illusions move 25% faster. This bonus decreases by 8% for each active illusion for you, but not your illusions.

I’m not sure I can take those “concerns” seriously at all..

1: When doing jumping puzzles, you have plenty of time to equip all your movement speed gear, since you are just doing a jumping puzzle. When it comes to fractals, you simply get help from your allies to get more movement speed. That’s why they are there; to help you. Or you could also just, you know, kill the mobs and wait until you are out of combat before you jump?

2: I’m not sure why you are worried about chasing opponents, but if you are, then snare conditions are going to be ten times more helpful then movement speed is. And when it comes to escaping, you are only very rarely going to escape a zerg, no matter what profession you are. When it comes to escaping a handful of players, you just have to play with your surroundings. Run around a rock, then go into stealth, and run back towards them again, while you watch them continue to run around the rock. But as said when it comes to chasing; the real problem here is not your movement speed, but your opponents snare skills. Mantra of Resolve has saved me more times in WvW, then any movement skill ever could.

3: Getting out of red rings? All professions has this problem, that’s why you have to know when you are wasting a dodge, and when you are not. And if you are out of stamina, then you still have Distortion (shatter), Phrase Retreat, Illusionary Counter, Blurred Frenzy, Illusionary Leap/Swap, Illusionary Riposte, Blink, and Phantasmal Defender, that all can help you without using any movement speed at all!

Lukin.4061:

I have created a similar topic myself – 8×8 is the worst thing for a newcomer to pvp in: it has nothing useful to teach him, and because this type of game still exist the 5×5 servers are usually empty because for some reason, they are the ones on the bottom.

^Yeah, pretty much this. It does no good for the game. At all. It only gives new players false hope, in that it makes them think they are good at sPvP, when they are really just following the zerg mentality.

8v8 is there because players love to win, and it’s a hell of a lot easier to do so when you have seven other people covering your back, compared to four. 5v5 will never be popular in casual, as long as 8v8 is there. And as long as 8v8 remains popular, then the majority of those who play it, are never going to be interested in playing tournaments. Because tournaments are only 5v5, which is a completely different game from 8v8.

I can see the idea behind 8v8, though. It was made to bring more players into a casual type game, before they take the step into a higher difficulty level, which is 5v5. The problem just is, that players have no reason to play casual 5v5, as it is exactly the same game as 8v8, except more difficult. And why would anyone play a more difficult game, if it doesn’t offer better rewards? Not to forget the fact that nine times out of ten, you aren’t playing 5v5 at all, but 3v2 or 2v1 instead.

8v8 was a good idea on paper, but ArenaNet needs to realize that it does nothing good for sPvP. That is, if they really want more players to play tournaments, and make this into a eSports game.

First of all; you aren’t slow as a Mesmer, it’s other professions that are faster. There’s a difference there. Being faster is a bonus, it’s not something all professions should have the ability to do equally. Some professions have it because they need it, other professions has it as something specific their profession is good at, and then there are professions like the Mesmer, who isn’t as good when it comes to movement speed, but who has a lot of other tricks at their disposal.

How does having to use a focus to get more movement speed, any different from having to use a Signet? Both have uses beyond the movement speed that they each provide. A Signet has an active effect, and the Mesmers focus is a great weapon that not only can give you swiftness, but also pull people to you, block projectiles, and deal great AoE damage. And if it’s not one of your main weapons, you can simply switch it out as soon as you have used Temporal Curtain. All it takes is a double mouse click in your inventory.

Bottom line is; the time you lose from not having as much movement speed as other professions, is ridiculously small. What is it that you think you’re going to miss out on in the 10 seconds extra it takes for you to get somewhere? To answer your question: How do you handle not having the same movement speed as other professions? You realize that it’s not a big deal, at all.

Electro.4173:

I like Search and Rescue. Its an amazing concept with basically giving your pet an ability that makes it more like a second player, and the cooldown isn’t that bad for a revive skill (though the cooldown is offset somewhat by the fact that other revive skills are usually instant, where your pet still goes through the standard revival time process), and it can actually revive dead players as well as downed ones, where most revive skills only work on downed.

But it suffers from the same problem that any other revive trait or skill suffers from. Situational-ness. Until someone goes down, its a wasted slot. Its nothing you can utilize in a standard combat routine. So while it is really nice at the times when its needed, any other time its just taking up a spot you could be using for another trap or Lightning Reflexes or something. Which makes it hard to use unless you KNOW people are going to be going down (I used it for the Karka event and got good use out of it, for example).

Having never done a proper dungeon (waiting until I hit 80) I can’t really comment on the downed situation in dungeons. Maybe it is pretty much a sure thing that people are going to die, maybe its not.

Don’t forget that “Search and Rescue” also works if your pet is defeated.

Apart from just doing heart quests and solo roaming in PvE. I find it hard to think about situations where other players aren’t downed or defeated.

Taruvoyant.4318:

Personally, I find the 600 range much too small to even consider having S&R take up a space on my bar. If it were around 1200, then I would maybe begin to think about adding it. But, honestly, I find it much easier to have my pet tank/distract the enemy while I raise, if need be. Plus, there are so many other utilities that would benefit my party, my pet, and myself so much more than S&R. It’s pretty much just a fluff skill that only fits very small niches.

The 600 range is not from you to the downed/defeated ally, it’s from your pet to the downed/defeated ally. Unless you are using a range damage pet, your pet will always be next the the boss/mobs that your party is attacking, in which case 600 range is more then enough.

As mentioned above; don’t judge it until you try it. I use it all the time in fractals. And if an ally is defeated, no one ells can revive as fast as you can with “Search and Rescue” and Quickening Zephyr.

Dante Dragonhand.2538:

Still no place for it on my bars. Maybe in pve but definitely not in pvp.

I haven’t tested this out in PvP. I’m only speaking about dungeons here.

Spritemage.4609:

Be that as it may, pets are still not in a good place right now. There is a lot of skill required to use your pet, I agree. But as it is that skill is multiplied by a magnitude due to pet’s funky AI, which isn’t reliable.

Like jubskie said, a ranger should be able to do something even if the pet is dead. Sadly if the pet is dead the ranger is still gimped in terms of damage and usefulness, no matter what utilities you have packing.

The recent changes are nice, but they most certainty haven’t done a lot. Pet shouts still suck, our signets are still horrible, and spirits are still easily wiped out.

Yes, as I wrote; the pet could still need some improvements. But the resent changes has done a lot to pet responsiveness. I can still remember how bad the pets were in beta, that was horrible, and nothing compared to how good they work now.

The Ranger being gimped when your pet dies, is exactly why pet switching was made. Few Rangers know that if you switch out your pet while it’s alive, the recharge time on pet switching becomes significantly shorter, then if you switch out a defeated pet. The pet also becomes fully revived when you rally, something that you can take advantage of by using the active ability from Spirit of Nature, to revive yourself in a bad situation. Further more; some skills also work while the pet is defeated, such as “Search and Rescue”.

I disagree with shouts and signets being bad. I use them a lot, and switch between different shouts and signets all the time.

Dahkeus.8243:

Yea, this really is one of the most underestimated skills. However, the one thing that keeps me from using it very often is the cooldown, which is pretty brutal.

Compare it to other revive skills, and you will see that the recharge time is very forgiving.

Agadar.4931:

Wasn’t it bugged? I recall the range being very small. I also recall the healing done being incredibly little.

The range of the skill is 600. So your pet needs to be at a maximum range of 600 to a downed/defeated ally, for the skill to work. I can’t remember how much the healing was before, but it is defiantly a considerable amount now. There was some problems before with the skill not working, no matter how close you were to an ally. But ever since I’ve started using it a lot, I have never had a moment where the skill didn’t work (unless if I was out of the 600 range of curse). It is very reliable now.

Karadoth.8370:

Kasama.8941:

When using this combo, no other profession can revive as fast as the Ranger.

Apart from Guardians and Warriors..

Try it yourself before you judge. Remember; both your pet and you get quickness, while Guardians and Warriors only apply quickness to themselves.

Edit: If you’re talking about skills, then Signet of Mercy has a 240 second recharge time, “Search and Rescue” has a 85 second recharge time. Battle Standard can only revive allies once, while Spirit of Nature can revive allies twice before it dies. And the 10% faster revive speed trait for Warriors, can’t even compare to the revive speed of the pet (although it is slower then a players revive speed), especially with quickness on top.

Really great write up jubskie! You took the words right out of my mouth here, as I’ve said a lot of these things myself to other complaining Rangers. No doubt that there are a lot of fixes needed to be done with the pet AI, but resent changes have done a lot, and the bottom line is that there’s a lot of skill/experience involved in learning how to manage your pet. I hope ArenaNet sticky this thread.

I just wanted to give a shout out to this skill (see what I did there? :P). “Search and Rescue” has become one of the skills that I always use in dungeons, ever since it has become more reliable. The pet can often revive allies in places that would get a player killed, and it can also allow you to revive an ally while you take aggro away from a boss. It’s a brilliant tool in itself, but it gets even better when you pair it up with other skills.

I love using “Search and Rescue” with Quickening Zephyr on allies who are defeated (not downed). Just run over to them, use “Search and Rescue” to make your pet start reviving, start reviving them yourself as well, and then use Quickening Zephyr and watch your ally be revived in a few seconds. And you can do it even faster if you also use pet switch quickness from the beastmaster trait. When using this combo, no other profession can revive as fast as the Ranger.

Another trick is to use it in combination with “Guard”. We all know the use of “Guard” in WvW by now, but it can also be used in combination with “Search and Rescue” to great effect. “Guard” gives your pet stealth and protection, and “Search and Rescue” gives your pet 25% faster movement speed. This combo can be a life saver in a fractals run, and it also works with Quickening Zephyr.

So yeah, I urge you all to test “Search and Rescue” out for yourself, if you aren’t already using it. It is a brilliant support tool, and in a combination with Healing Spring and Spirit of Nature, it makes us one of the best support professions to have in a dungeon.

You forgot the most important thing: The entry point to sPvP for new players is horrible.

Casual 5v5 is almost none existent, as it turns into 2v1 or 3v2 games instead, because the match making system can’t keep up. 8v8 is nothing more then a zerg fest, which is much more fun to play in WvW. And finally; there is no restriction for high skilled players, so they can just freely run around in casual games, and totally screw up the experience for new players even further.

Solution:
Make sPvP only have 5v5 games, and make a cue up system that funnels players into existing games, so we end up with as many full 5v5 games as possible.
Make different “skill ladders” that are restricted by skill level, so higher skilled players won’t be mixed in matches with low skilled players. This should be restricted to profession, and not account.

I love sPvP when I’m playing with my Ranger or Mesmer, which I’m experienced with, but I absolutely hate it when trying to play sPvP with a new profession. I tried playing with a Necromancer two days ago, and I could not find a 5v5 game that would stay 5v5 for more then one game. And it is absolutely impossible to practice a new profession, and build, in an 8v8 zerg fest environment.

So yeah, sPvP is fun if you’re a practiced player playing tournament sPvP, but I don’t blame new players for hating sPvP, because it’s hell trying to come into. That is, unless you jump on the 8v8 zerg fest wagon, in which case you aren’t really playing sPvP at all.

Skill #1: Make it a solid damage number, and speed up the time between shots.
Give the longbow 1500 range, untraited.

That is all.

Indoles.1467:

Rapid fire tracks through stealth. One of the many reasons I still use longbow. Shortbow can’t do anything against stealth.

Don’t forget Barrage when it comes to stealth. If you use quickness and then hit Barrage, followed by Rapid Fire, the Thief will be dead before the channel on his stealth skill is complete..

Arheundel.6451:

Kasama.8941:

I don’t see how this is ever going to happen, when the match up system can’t even fill out a 5v5 for two games.

The 5vs5 is empty because people leave the moment they start losing and then they come to the forum to cry, with a 1vs1 mode many people would start whining even more than now :" profession X is OP, profession Y is too strong, profession J burst too much etc etc etc"…you can’t stop the whining, you simply can’t

That’s fine, you can’t really change people. The problem is that the game should adjust for the lose of players, which it only very rarely does.

I don’t see how this is ever going to happen, when the match up system can’t even fill out a 5v5 for two games.

Please make a cue system and remove the server choice for 5v5, because judging by the way it works now, it should be called 2v1 or 3v2 instead. When I can sit for a whole game playing 2v1, without ever seeing a new player come in, it’s just pointless to play. But with a cue system, you could funnel new players into existing games, so a 5v4 game could become 5v5 in a matter of seconds. Sure it would mean that we would have to wait a few seconds (or maybe a minute) before joining a game, but as it is right now, I’m already wasting time playing 3v2 games..

And no, I’m not going to join the zerg fest that is 8v8, or get my kitten downed in three seconds in tournaments. I just want to test my builds in a casual 5v5 environment. That shouldn’t be too much to ask for.

The halloween jumping puzzle was very hard, the winter jumping puzzle is medium difficulty at its worst. After you complete the winter jumping puzzle a couple of times, it becomes very easy, though. I’ve done it 8 times in a row two times, and completed it a total of about 100 times now.

Here’s some tips:
Pan your camera up, so you are looking down on your character. That will make it easier to see the distance between the jumps.
All your direction keys also work while you are in the air, so if you can see that you are about to land to far ahead, use your backward key.
Don’t feel like you have to move very fast in the winter jumping puzzle, it is not a race. The snowflakes disappear slower then you think, so just take your time at first. There are some areas in the puzzles where you can jump faster to make up for lost time.

I actually like the signet’s design as it is, although I don’t use it. But I think it speaks to the nature of the Mesmer. That is; a profession that’s unpredictable.

The way I see it, the active effect of the signet is suppose to work as a finisher. Meaning, that you use the 50% health gain to keep your illusions alive for as long as possible, to keep pressure on your opponent, and then when your opponent is at low life (or your illusions are) you quickly do a double shatter on him, using the active part of the signet. It’s basically a tool that allows you to switch up your playstyle at the last minute, to finish an opponent off with shattering.

Kraggy.4169:

Okay, thanks for explaining it .. I’m now kind of confused, if they don’t do damage why do they bother attacking? If they stood around looking pretty doing nothing then I wouldn’t have been expecting them to do damage.

I use the scepter because I like the range attack and the other couple of main-hand skills, maybe I’d be better of sticking to Staff for ranged and Sword+whatever for close-up stuff.

Cheers all.

Clones can deal damage trough the staff, by stacking conditions. But the main reason why clones attack is because they are only up when you’re attacking, and the clones are meant to confuse your enemies by looking like you. Just think of clones as an alternative to stealth.

Just play with whatever weapons you like. The only thing you have to keep in mind is the type of damage you’re dealing (direct or condition), that is all.

The healing is not that much, so you might not notice it. According to wiki.guildwars2.com: “Heals for 453 at level 80, and an additional 1 health for every 10 Healing Power.”

I figure that if someone wants to spend over 50 euro to max out one character, it’s their money to waste. This game takes time and skill to master, and that’s something money can’t buy.

I like the look of the longbow a lot more then the shortbow, that’s why I use it.

The only restriction that the longbow has is the #1 skill, which is why I would never use the longbow without the trait Quick Draw (skills recharge 20% faster). If all my longbow skills are recharging and I’m forced to auto-attack, I usually switch to greatsword to avoid the longbow #1 skill. Besides that I have three different quickness sources; Quickening Zephyr, Zephyr’s Speed (trait), and Rage (sigil), that each help get the most dps out of the longbow.

I haven’t made a longbow vs. shortbow test. I kill things fast enough with the set up I use, that’s all I need to know. Whether or not I could do it 0.234 seconds faster with a shortbow, I don’t really care to know.

I’m not sure why some people say the longbow is an WvW exclusive weapon. I think people tend to forget that it’s only the #1 longbow skill that’s restricted by range. All other skills deal the same amount of damage regardless of range.

I would never pick a shortbow for a critical build, simply because it has horrible direct damage. I mean, the last three shortbow skills only deal 85 base damage each..

So much fun! I really hope ArenaNet keep this one in the game, or maybe just restrict it to birds..

The main problem is that new players have no inspiration to start playing sPvP, other then to test builds or try something ells. I feel like there needs to be made “heros” in sPvP. There needs to be elite players that new players can look up too, and use as inspiration to become better. As it is now, only people who care to know, has any idea about who’s the top players.

Imagine if every month there was a huge amount of advertising, about the upcoming monthly tournament, in all game modes. I’m talking about advertising on signs in LA and WvW, NPCs talking about the upcoming tournaments, and even a video on the website. All done to promote sPvP, and to urge people to come and watch the matches in Spectator Mode!

Imagine something like this video, with a voice-over that talks about the last match ups, upcoming matches, teams, and top players, for the next monthly tournament:
http://youtu.be/h7OvAK0wFoA?t=1m6s

Basically; give people a reason to love sPvP, even if they don’t like playing it.

Give Portal to all professions (in different designs of curse), and reduce the duration of Time Warp and Moa Morph to 6 seconds. Fixed.

You paid a higher price to play the game earlier then people who buy the game now.

The Ranger is the best solo profession, mainly because you always have a pet that takes damage for you, and that can revive you, or deal damage, while you are downed. You just have to learn to take care of the pet, instead of expecting it to survive everything without your help.

You have to learn to heal your pet even if you have full life yourself, use pet swapping before the pet dies, call the pet back to you if it’s low on health and you can’t switch pets, use different pets depending on the situation you are facing (dungeons=bears, world bosses=range pets, multiple mobs=drakes, and so on..), and learn when to use the pet for optimal damage.

If you don’t care for using pets, then go with a Guardian.

It could be fun to see what ArenaNet would do with a longbow or shield for Mesmers.

Illusions only feel endless if you don’t kill them fast enough. If you focus on getting rid of all illusions at the beginning of a fight (not necessarily killing them), leaving the Mesmer until last, you will have a much easier time on your hand. Both offensive and defensive tactics of the Mesmer rely on illusions. Shatter skills have cooldowns, and shatter effects can be dodged.

Confusion is just another control condition like Immobilize. You either keep fighting through the damage, or you stow your weapon and wait until the effect wears off.

Portal is a skill that I think all profession should have, in one way or another. It adds a lot to WvW.

I disagree that the Mesmers elite skills far exceeds other elite skills. The only thing overpowered about them is the 10 second durations, but that’s all. Most of the time Time Warp won’t even make a noticeable difference, and you can still deal damage as a moa. Mass Invisibility sucks now that it only affects five other players (Veil is much better).

It looks like fun, but you have to be mindful of the order that you use your skills. If you don’t use Entangle as one of your first skills, every player in the AoE area will just dodge roll out of it, and your skills will be useless. I would consider getting Muddy Terrain instead of Lightning Reflexes, and then Rampage As One instead of Entangle. That will make you able to lock down opponents more often, and have better burst damage. It’s also a good idea to trait 5 points into beastmastery, to get quickness on pet swapping. That will give your F2 skill a much better chance of hitting.

Also; don’t forget that all your pet skills (F1-F4) works in downed state.

Glektor.2934:

ShinraGuardian.8053:

I’m about 90% sure you shouldn’t be able to get your pet inside a keep where you yourself cannot enter. I can see it getting out via the portal doors, but I do not believe it should be able to get in through doors you do not control.

Actually, Mesmer illusions, Thieves guild, etc. all can get up on top of walls from outside, as I recall. So, the way I see it, it’s fair game until they fix NPCs in general.

I can’t count the number of times a mesmer outside has sent clones on me while I’m on a wall, or sent them up top to attack cannons, etc.

Illusions were nerfed to only working if you have a line of sight to your target. Guard works regardless of a target, which is how illusions use to work. So Guard could be nerfed as well.

Ursan.7846:

Hmm. I usually do not recommend full soldier’s equipment (pwr/tough/vit) because you sacrifice a ton of damage due to the lack of crits. Also rangers have a moderately high base hp (15000ish)

As for sigil/runes… What weapons are you using?

You can get a ton of precision/critical damage from your weapons, accessories, jewels, and runes, it’s not really a problem. Survivability in WvW is much more important then it is in PvE or sPvP.

Cempa.5619:

Is there gear with those 3 stats? Please don’t say dungeon gear :/

Yes, it’s the karma gear from Orr. It’s fairly easy to get thanks to the Karma boosters from events and daily.

I run this build as well, 20/20/20/0/10 with power/vitality/toughness on armor, and berserker accessories.

I use 2 ‘Rune of the Flock’ and 4 ‘Rune of the Ogre’, and then Sigil of Rage (longbow) and Sigil of Intelligence (greatsword). Rune of the Flock gives me a nice little extra burst from the bird, and the rock dog is just a great pet. Sigil of Rage gives me three times the quickness (other two are from pet switching and Quickening Zephyr), and Sigil of Intelligence makes Swoop hit even harder with the 100% critical chance. It’s a bit of a gimmicky build, but I like it =)

The problem with the Ranger is that it’s very bad at supporting, or generally affecting, anything ells then the pet and itself. Whenever I play a Ranger in PvP, I always feel like I can’t do anything to help my allies out of a bad situation. And making a viable support build with the Rangers trait is next to impossible. As I’ve always said; the Ranger is viable, but it’s not reliable. The resent changes have done a lot, but there is still a way to go before the Ranger is something I would use regularly in PvP.

I will try this out. Thanks

It’s possible mostly because of boons generation, and partly because of a defensive focus on stats. I have a Mesmer build that can do this as well..

Stomping while being invulnerable in Mist Form seems overpowered though.

I use Chaos Storm, Phantasmal Warden, and Feedback, as my only real AoE skills. They combo especially well together. But I’ve never really felt like I needed more AoE skills.

Veil is balanced, it’s Mass Invisibility that’s underpowered:

• Veil can stealth a whole zerg of allies as long as it’s active, Mass Invisibility can only stealth five nearby allies.
• Veil is a combo field, Mass Invisibility is not.
• Veil can be used more then once as long as it’s active, Mass Invisibility can only be used once.
• Veil has an almost instant cast time, Mass Invisibility has a cast time of almost 2 seconds.
• Both skills have a 90 second recharge.

I’m not really sure why ArenaNet felt like they needed to fix the Mass Invisibility bug, making it only affect five nearby players, instead of all nearby players. I think it was nicely balanced before, considering it is an elite skill. It was even my favorite Mesmer elite skill..

Balance is not always two equals, sometimes it’s two opposites making a greater whole. The Warrior is made easier to play then the Mesmer, to create versatility in gameplay. Some players like playing complicated/difficult classes, other players don’t. But just because the Warrior has an easier time surviving encounters, it doesn’t mean that it’s more powerful then the Mesmer. It’s simply just that the Mesmer relies on other, more complicated, means in order to survive (read; clones and stealth).

I think he’s referring to the fact that we will be getting updates across the board (WvW, sPvP, PvE) during those two months, where as the patches so far have been mostly for PvE. Looking forward to it!

Cempa.5619:

So its not about combining both 15%+15% with the bleed trait or not?

In order to make a good build, you can’t just look at what you get, but also what you lose, when you trait for something. Even though phantasms can do a lot of damage, the main source of damage still comes from you. So 15% critical damage/chance is going to be much more valuable to you, then 15% more phantasm damage in Inspiration. Adding 15 more points to dueling also means you can get 20% faster recharge on your pistol, and 4 second fury when you interrupt (greatsword and pistol both have an interrupt skills).