Guild Wars 2

Zenith.7301:

Fenrir.6183:

Zenith.7301:

The ranger has no aoe outside barrage. My ranger is completely useless even using full spirits — my pet has to sit besides me on the majority of 30+ zerg encounters. I don’t have any cleave as a condi spec.

Traps.

LOL

yeah, those traps are so useful in zerg fights, with the big damage they do!

Kasama.8941:

Ranger AoE:
Greatsword
Barrage
Longbow and Shortbow with Piercing Arrows trait
Ricochet, Splitblade, Path of Scars, Whirling Defense
Bonfire
Flame Trap, Spike Trap, Viper’s Nest (Trapper’s Expertise trait helps a lot)
Entangle
Poison Cloud (Murellow)
Poisonous Cloud (Carrion Devourer)
Frost Breath (Ice Drake)
Insect Swarm (Marsh Drake)
Sonic Shriek (Reef Drake)
Lightning Breath (River Drake)
Fire Breath (Salamander Drake)
Poison Gas (all Spiders)

Could be worse..

You just gave a list of AoE skills without considering their cooldown, maneuverability (pets do aoe whenever the hell they want), let alone whether they actually are good.

I mean, seriously, Ricochet?

Obviously you haven’t played an ele, necro, grenade engineer, let alone a guardian or warrior to be calling that list AoE.

I play longbow-greatsword, using Entangle as my only other AoE option, and I constantly have to backtrack to gather loot bags. Muddy Terrain > Entangle > Barrage is a very powerful move, alone. Add Lightning Breath from the River Drake on top, and you can easily down foes in around five seconds. Add Flame Trap on top, and the damage just gets ridiculous.

Ricochet is a great skill. You can easily get bleeding from Sharpening Stone, Sigil of Earth, or Keen Edge.

Why does that matter? The Ranger plays as it does, regardless of what other professions can do. Deal with it however you can, or move on.

Ranger AoE:
Greatsword
Barrage
Longbow and Shortbow with Piercing Arrows trait
Ricochet, Splitblade, Path of Scars, Whirling Defense
Bonfire
Flame Trap, Spike Trap, Viper’s Nest (Trapper’s Expertise trait helps a lot)
Entangle
Poison Cloud (Murellow)
Poisonous Cloud (Carrion Devourer)
Frost Breath (Ice Drake)
Insect Swarm (Marsh Drake)
Sonic Shriek (Reef Drake)
Lightning Breath (River Drake)
Fire Breath (Salamander Drake)
Poison Gas (all Spiders)

Could be worse..

I also made a topic about this a long time ago. It seems that no one knows what happens to the elder dragons after they wake up and fly around for a little while. Which is very strange considering how huge they are. Considering how powerful they are, it also doesn’t make any sense that they only stay in one area, instead of moving around all over the world. Maybe they wen’t back to sleep? :/

I’m not really a fan of this direction. I’d much rather have a huge update to the world every second month, then two updates every month. Quality over quantity. The content we’ve been getting these last few months have had too small of an impact on the game, for my likening, so I’m doubtful as to how good a change this really is.

I, for one, am glad there are no exclusive pets. I don’t want the focus of the Ranger to be on “who can collect the rarest pet”, but on the profession itself. If you want to feel exclusive, then just play the pets that aren’t used as much.

Also, why would you delete your Ranger? Unless you need the character slot, deleting it doesn’t make any difference at all..

The new Dragon’s Jade Hornbow longbow.

I am overall disappointed with this patch. Then again, I don’t really care about loot.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Arkham Creed.7358:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Buying boxes =/= no expansion.
Conversely not buying boxes =/= expansion.

There are more factors to it than just RNG box purchases. Yes, profit margins do have an impact on business decisions, but people not buying RNG boxes would not be a break the bank issue for them necessarily. If the profit forecast becomes that bad from just people not buying the RNG boxes, they are actually more likely to scrap the game than make an expansion for it. Risk vs reward assessment….

Not buying boxes =/= game being abandoned.

True, and technically I didn’t say it would be, although I probably could have phrased it better.

The general point was that if RNG boxes make up so much of their profit that a reduction in their sales results in a rush for an expansion (in order to save their bottom line), they may opt that the expansion isn’t worth the time or investment. It’s a gamble, and with other games launching, they could potentially make more on one of them over a rushed, buggy expansion for a game that is no longer producing.

So your logic is; buy crap now, so you can buy something of value later? That’s really doesn’t make any sense..

Not buying into random boxes, will only push the developers into create something ells that has value to the consumer. They need the money, so they are going to create something for us to buy. It’s simply a matter of how easily you, as a consumer, is willing to give your money away. Thinking that you have to buy crap just to support the developers, is undermining the power you have as a consumer.

When it comes to being a consumer, voting with your wallet is the only thing that really has any value. If you don’t like the idea of something, then don’t spend your money on it. No matter how appealing it might be.

Zelyhn.8069:

In fact I never advertise directly for my guild, at least not in open chat.
I usually talk about a friendlist of skilled players. I like to talk extensively to people who whisper to me in order to see if they share my philosophy of the game, and then I may friendlist them. When I can I would run dungeons with these people, but I never talk about recruiting people early on.
I think this is a respectful approach, and I see it as the only way to find other good players (apart from the lucky random PU run).
This method has worked a number of times, but the amount of people getting offended by it is astonishing. I came here to try and understand why

This isn’t exactly the best place to learn about human psychology. Most people don’t know why they feel anxiety when others claim to be good at something, that they themselves have an interest in.

Were you born yesterday? When someone says he is good at something, it’s automatically perceived as a challenge to others. That’s just the psychology of men. People don’t know you, so why should they take your word on it? Lead by example, not by word alone.

What makes the sword so good, is that it can cripple a foe from both auto-attack and Monarch’s Leap, meaning your pet has a much higher chance of hitting. With other weapons, foes can just run in circles and completely avoid the pet.

Why does making a solo queue mean there will no longer be a team/tournament queue? They are two different game modes, there is room for both.

The point of having solo queue, is so new players have a way to practice sPvP, with other random players. Once a player gets good, he/she can then join a guild and play team/tournament queues. When the guild becomes good, they can then start playing weekly/monthly tournaments.

Great looking skins!

I’m just disappointed that ArenaNet hasn’t felt the need to change and balance the Thief as a whole, yet.

They should just remove all stealth triggers from weapon skills, and replace them with some boons instead. The problem has always been the ability to repetitively apply stealth within a short duration. If it was restricted to healing, utility, trait, and steal skills, it would feel much more balanced.

Focus. ArenaNet are trying to work on three game modes at a time, which means each game mode gets some indifferent changes. They should work on one game mode at a time, for a few months, and then bring some content that has a bigger permanent impact on the game.

Sarision.6347:

Kasama.8941:

Sarision.6347:

Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.

Make it a two-handed AoE/control weapon, like the Mesmers greatsword, or the Warrior and Guardians hammer. For example; #1 fire a piercing shot, #2 fire a series of shots in a cone pattern that blinds up to five targets, #3 fire a shot that bounces between five targets and deals vulnerability, #4 charge your foe while firing a series of shots-first shot deals fear, #5 roll backwards-your pets next attack also knocks down.

The staff could be made into a support weapon, that focuses on giving different boons to allies.

Interesting idea; however, the point I’m trying to make is that from all these threads people just want a rifle so they can go running around like a… surprise, a Rifle Warrior. And the same goes for Thieves wanting a rifle. I wouldn’t mind wielding a rifle for purposes other than sniping.

As for staff, I like it as a druid’s staff more than as a quarterstaff, but that warrants a separate thread.

Does there have to be any other reason then that? It fits the profession, and a lot of players really want to use it.

The Ranger needs more ally support options. Spirits die too fast, shouts doesn’t affect allies, and the Ranger has almost no way of sharing boons with allies, only the pet. The staff could be focused around typical Ranger boons, like regeneration, swiftness, and vigor. While also being another way to remove conditions, which is something the Ranger is also lacking. It could also have a Grasping Vines skill, with a short duration.

Sil.4560:

Gonna have to agree on that. Funny thing is, I seem to recall Anet saying that they wanted the thief to be a thief, not an assassin. Whoops.

Yeah, if you look back at how they described the Thief from the start, it’s quite funny that it has turned into everything they said they didn’t want it to be. I especially like the comment from one of the first Thief videos, from GDC 2011, where they say “unlike other games, stealth is not unlimited in Guild Wars 2. Stealth is a very powerful ability, and so we wanted it to be something that players use strategically, as opposed to a safety-net that they have on all the time”.

Sarision.6347:

Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.

Make it a two-handed AoE/control weapon, like the Mesmers greatsword, or the Warrior and Guardians hammer. For example; #1 fire a piercing shot, #2 fire a series of shots in a cone pattern that blinds up to five targets, #3 fire a shot that bounces between five targets and deals vulnerability, #4 charge your foe while firing a series of shots-first shot deals fear, #5 roll backwards-your pets next attack also knocks down.

The staff could be made into a support weapon, that focuses on giving different boons to allies.

You need ground target AoE, and high damage. The more foes you hit, the more bags have a chance of dropping, and the higher damage you deal, the higher chance there is for a bag to drop from a foe. It’s as simple as that. So either you don’t deal damage to enough foes, or the damage you deal is too low.

This is far from the first topic on this, so I’m pretty sure ArenaNet got the message by now. A lot of player want to see a rifle for the Ranger.

I’d like to give a shout out to Peach Pie food (gain health every second, +60 vitality). I never play my Thief without it.

DevonCarver.5370:

The concept of tiers has little meaning at this point and you should try to stop thinking of matchups in those terms. Servers are matched up by proximity of rating, not proximity of “tier”. If the tiers have ratings that are within the range of the random adjustment, they can end up fighting each other. This is going to result in blowouts, no doubt about it. However, we are not going to make changes to this after just 2 weeks of the system. There are things we can do. We will almost certainly end up adjusting the total added to each server rating to group the matchups a little more closely. First however, we need to let the ratings adjust by having more varied matchups like these. If you look at EU, which is using the exact same system, you can see matchups with numerous surprising results. The same will likely be true by the end of the NA matchup.

TL;DR: We are going to wait at least a couple more weeks before changing any of the math behind the new system, but it is very likely we’ll decrease the size of the variation at some point.

Why are you continuing to try and incorporate a system that has already proven to be a fluke? I don’t understand what value a leaderboard has, if the point score becomes so complicated in the end, that it loses all its meaning. Not to mention; what value a point based leaderboard has for a game mode, that is ultimately decided based around the amount of players who arbitrarily plays on a weekly basis.

It seems to me like you’ve lost track of what exactly the leaderboard is suppose to be for, and are now only trying to fix it based on nothing more then a principle. I think you should stop wasting your time and come up with a new leaderboard instead, that’s based around how many players are active on a server, by a weekly basis. Or it could even be a leaderboard that’s based around how well guilds from all servers are doing. All this current leaderboard implementation is doing, is create bad match-ups, based around a leaderboard system that only a minimal amount of players find any value in. Just take a step back and consider what it is you’re spending your time on here..

sostronk.8167:

@Kasama, I see people discuss the leaderboards seriously every day. I also don’t get your rationale. You want a more simplified system, yet your main point seems to be thakittens because of bad matchups.

Could you elaborate on that? I’m curious as to how much of a conversation you can have about such a misguided attempt of a leaderboard.

What I want is rather simple. I want a leaderboard that is respected, and that helps to further evolve even match-ups. If that’s not possible, then simply remove the leaderboard all together, and just give us some even match-ups each week, that aren’t based around points, but players. Right now, the majority don’t care at all about the leaderboard, and it only seem to cause more harm then good when it comes to match-ups.

Urrid.4593:

Yes but WvW is “endgame” for many players and has evolved beyond a purely casual game mode.

It isn’t as rigid as a Starcraft or DOTA match, but WvW is now far from casual for many servers. I suppose the ability to join/quit WvW at any time without a punitive ratings hit could mark it as a casual game mode?

It is casual based on the fact that it’s next to impossible to balance probably, because the outcome of matches are mostly decided by the amount of players who plays on a weekly basis, and what time or day each server has the most amount of players online. One can also argue about how big an impact a player or guild can have in WvW, when result is decided around hundreds of players. WvW basically has too many variables to be anything ells then a casual game mode. It might be that some players feel like they have some stake in WvW, but the game mode itself hasn’t evolved at all, since release.

thiagoperne.7340:

WvW Leaderboard it’s just an official way to show the servers ranking to determine their position due to rating system, and their progression after a week mathup. You have to have that, not sure what kinda value you want from that.

Btw what we really need is a WvW Player Rank Leaderboard, or any kinda of player rank tracker for allies in WvW. You know the rank of your enemy by its currently rank on name tag, but you don’t know the rank of your allies.

My point is that if it’s just “an official way to show the servers ranking to determine their position due to rating system, and their progression after a week match-up”, then why should it have such a big influence on how much players enjoy the game on a weekly basis?

Any form of leaderboard that’s not based on server to server “competition”, would be an improvement.

Lux.9135:

I think that WvW can be interpreted as many different ‘types’ of play. It’s different with each person. I feel that if you are truly not concerned with the leader board then just don’t pay attention to it. Why go through the trouble of removing the thing when some people derive satisfaction out of it?

Personally, I love WvW but I never look at the leader boards. I don’t find a point to it and merely play because I enjoy the tactical side that WvW offers. However I don’t feel that I need to rain on other peoples parade (those who do enjoy it) just because I don’t see the point in it myself.

You don’t get it. The leaderboard decides the match-ups, so therefor you can’t just ignore the outcome. They should go through the trouble of removing it, because the amount of people who value the leaderboard, are a minority to the amount of players who are frustrated over bad match-ups. I mean, can you even remember the last time you heard anyone seriously discuss the WvW leaderboard?

Michelangelo.1742:

I think WvW is still fairly casual but it has a learning curve to it, which allows it to have a competitive edge. I personally like checking out the leaderboard to see how other server matches are going and how lower servers are doing against higher ranked servers. The leaderboard is another reason why there is a competitive edge to this part of the game.

I’ve only ever heard anyone discuss WvW on a competitive level, based on a weekly match-up, and never based around the leaderboard. I have never read anything on the likes of “we need to win this week so we can move up the leaderboard!”. The majority of players fight to win matches, not to gain points on the leaderboard. It’s just not a factor. But playing a whole week in a bad match-up, is a huge factor.

Vayne.8563:

Kasama.8941:

darkace.8925:

Kasama.8941:

Most of the people that complain here on the forums aren’t casual players, so you’re kinda preaching to the wrong crowd. What you’re describing as features, will simply seem like a waste of time to any player looking for a challenge, in PvE. Sure there are plenty of things you can do. The problem is a lack of content that offers any attentive to requirements, and goals to strive for. Fractals is the only thing worth mentioning. Everything ells is simple just “something to do”. That is the problem.

The entire point of video games is to give us “something to do”.

I strongly disagree. Gaming has a far larger entertainment value then simply wasting your time. There’s a reason why it’s the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world.

Giving you something to do is very different than wasting your time. Movies are entertainment. They give you something to do. They dont’ waste your time (unless you don’t like them in which case, you could consider a waste of time).

All any MMO ever really does is give you things to do. Whether you have to get this gear, or get this achievement, or beat this boss. It’s just something to do. If you enjoy it, it’s not a waste of time. It’s still something to do.

Psychologically it is the same thing. If you’re just doing something for no apparent reason, it is a waste of your time, considering that you could be spending that time on something that you have some form of emotional stake in. Why should game developers care about making valuable quality content in games, if all you expect from them is “something to do”? Sending the message that “I don’t have any expectations, as long as I have something to do” is a lazy and ignorant point of view. It’s a very big part of what’s dragging the overall quality of games down today.

I don’t just play a game so I have something to do, I have played games for the last 20 years because it’s something I love to do. And in the same respect, if I go watch a movie, I do it because it looks like it’s actually worth my time. Not just to give me something to do.

darkace.8925:

Kasama.8941:

Most of the people that complain here on the forums aren’t casual players, so you’re kinda preaching to the wrong crowd. What you’re describing as features, will simply seem like a waste of time to any player looking for a challenge, in PvE. Sure there are plenty of things you can do. The problem is a lack of content that offers any attentive to requirements, and goals to strive for. Fractals is the only thing worth mentioning. Everything ells is simple just “something to do”. That is the problem.

The entire point of video games is to give us “something to do”.

I strongly disagree. Gaming has a far larger entertainment value then simply wasting your time. There’s a reason why it’s the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world.

Dumb Woob.9415:

Kasama.8941:

I mean, WvW is just a casual game mode.

This is where I stopped reading and started skimming.

You might be able to argue for a simple ranking that ships servers up and down based on results instead of a rating system. You might even be doing this, but you’re doing a bad job of it.

WvW is a causal game mode by design, and also stated as such by ArenaNet themselves.

I really don’t understand the point of having a leaderboard for WvW, when it doesn’t add anything to the game. I mean, WvW is just a casual game mode. Most players join when their server is winning, and even more leave when their server is losing. I think most WvW players are honestly just looking for an even match up, that gives them a weeks worth of fun combat. I’ve never even heard of anyone who pays attention to the WvW leaderboard. Which is totally opposite to sPvP, where the leaderboard is a common debate topic, even despite the fact that it’s currently broken.

There are only 27/24 servers on a leaderboard, so it’s not really difficult to manage personally. All one person would have to do, is look at the percentage of players who logs in on one server, by a weekly basis, and then create the next weeks match ups based on that feedback.

I understand why the leaderboard was added in the first place, but if only a minority of players feel any association to their server, there’s really no point in having a server based leaderboard. Especially when it has a negative effect on match ups, which ruins many players’ enjoyment of the game. I mean let’s be honest here; the majority of fights are won only because one server has more players online, then another. And not because a server is altogether superior, based on any strategic point of view. So where is the value in having a WvW leaderboard?

No, not at all. I constantly go from one profession to another, whenever I make up a build I think is worth exploring into. I love to have several different profession I can chose from, that each offers something different. That’s the benefit of not having the holy trinity. It’s also a lot of fun to make a new character look really bad ass, using previews, and then work your way up to get that gear.

Most of the people that complain here on the forums aren’t casual players, so you’re kinda preaching to the wrong crowd. What you’re describing as features, will simply seem like a waste of time to any player looking for a challenge, in PvE. Sure there are plenty of things you can do. The problem is a lack of content that offers any attentive to requirements, and goals to strive for. Fractals is the only thing worth mentioning. Everything ells is simple just “something to do”. That is the problem.

I feel a bit sorry for you, that it took you this long to find out. The game has always been primarily for the casual crowd. Casual players are easier to make content for, they ask less questions, they complain less, they’ll gladly spend money on pointless things like quaggan backpacks, and they will keep coming back for more, long after they’ve lost interest in the game. Making a game primarily for hardcore players, is just stupid, from a business point of view. It’s a lot of work for very little gain. ArenaNet are kinda learning that the hard way, with sPvP. Hardcore players know what they want, and if they don’t get it, they will simply just stop playing.

Iruwen.3164:

This wouldn’t be such much of a problem if the logic behind switching wasn’t so inherently stupid. I.e. when I’m swapping between gs and staff or focus and pistol, it’s not that bad. But switching from focus to sword, GW2 always replaces the mainhand sword with the other sword instead of switching the offhand weapon so you actually have to open the hero panel and drag it. Unless I missed a better way of doing this…

No, that is the only way. However, if you have a few things in your inventory, and keep your weapons at the bottom of your inventory, then you won’t have to drag the weapon that long. But if you just need to quickly switch in the focus for casting Temporal Curtain, then switch it with your two-handed weapon instead.

Put 10 in Trickery, then pick Thrill of the Crime. It can also be used even if you don’t have a target, meaning you can use the 10 seconds of swiftness for traveling. The 3 extra initiative from steal is also great to have.

rogerwilko.6895:

Hello guys
first I`d like to thank Kasama for the explenation.
I`d also like go know if there are any updates / future patches / skill/trait tweaks that will benefit a P/P thief.
My interests are WvW mainly (werg / small group, not solo: so P/P + SB) and a bit of PvE (dungeons and guild missions).

Thank you for your time.

At one point, ArenaNet shortly talked about increasing the damage of the Thief’s weapons. But whether or not that’s going to happen, we’ll have to see. Pistol/pistol desperately needs a initiative decrease as well, though. Just compare Unload to Flanking Strike, and it’s easy to see. Both sets deal about the same damage, but Flanking Strike costs 2 initiative less, and also removes two boons. Hell, even using two large explosion Cluster Bombs deals more damage then Unload, and will only cost you 6 initiative. That pretty much says it all..

I play shortbow as main now, and then use pistol/pistol as a utility set. I found out that stacking Choking Gas and Cluster Bomb (large explosion) in close range, deals a lot more burst damage then using Unload and Vital Shot. And that pistol/pistol works a lot better as a utility weapon set. So if I need a quick burst attack to finish of a foe (Unload), an interrupt to channel a healing skill (Head Shot), or a blind when stomping a foe (Black Powder), I use pistol/pistol.

I would love to use pistol/pistol as a main weapon set, but it just costs too much initiative to use.

serialkicker.5274:

It’s not about the need to swap weapons, it’s the annoying process of doing it. You have to first lose agro, which sometimes takes too long for no reason and then you have to open the panel and look for weapons and uquip it… and that can get you killed or you are left behind if you’re not quick to do it.
We should simply have for example F5, F6, F7 and f8 available for weapon sets, so we can just press for example F7 in combat to switch to whatever weapon you have set in that slot.

You make it sound a lot more complicated then it is. First of all, you should know what weapons you need before going into a situation. Trying to switch a weapon mid combat, is a bad idea. Plan on using the weapon you switch to, throughout the whole fight. You shouldn’t have to “look” for the weapon you need, either. Just place your spare weapons at the bottom of your inventory, and they will always be there. Then use your Hero panel instead of your inventory, when you need to switch a weapon. Double clicking will switch weapons automatically, to the weapon set you currently have equipped. And using hot-keys will make opening and closing your Hero panel a lot quicker.

Let’s just do a new festival every month ArenaNet!

Chopps.5047:

In general, Kasama, you’re correct about drakes. I should point out that other pets have their place. For example, dogs work well against nightmare hounds in TA because there’s usually too many dogs to keep up endurance to dodge knockdowns so CC’ing them first really helps. Red moa gives 15s of fury and a melee range AoE heal that’s roughly 3,000 health that’s not bad, really. For high single target dps (simin arah p4) you can’t reall beat a cat with quickening zephyr. But I agree, cats are tough to deal with when you have little healing power.

I personally disagree. The only pets I’ve found useful in dungeons, are those that can survive for a long time. Bears are great for short term tanking or reviving with “Search and Rescue”, spiders are great for ranged damage and when AoE is a problem since they don’t move as much, and drakes are great for burst damage and AoE damage. That’s all I ever use in dungeons.

Against nightmare hounds, the River Drake is arguably more useful, as it will kill the dogs faster, thanks to Lighting Breath. All you have to do, is use Entangle or Frost Trap to lock them down, and then use your AoE attacks from off-hand axe and longbow, together with Lighting Breath. The Red Moa will probably get to heal you once before it’s dead. Fury you can already get from warhorn, and healing you can do with Healing Spring+combo finishers. If defense is needed, I’d much rather use a bear for short term tanking, or for using “Search and Rescue” with. For high damage, I find the drakes are much better in dungeons. Their F2 skills deals the highest damage of all the pets, and they can survive for longer, which means more total damage output, compared to a feline that normally only lives for half as long. Many players also don’t know that the drakes have the third highest auto-attack damage, after felines and birds.

If they nerf the burst potential of the Ranger even further. Like reducing the damage of the River Drake, axes, or greatsword, by a significant amount. I’m not interested in playing a trap or bunker Ranger.

I’m always surprised not to see more Rangers use drakes. The drakes have by far the most powerful F2 skills, they deal really good sustained damage, they deal great AoE damage, and they have fairly good survivability. River Drake and March Drake seems to be the best, as they can hit up to five foes at a time, with their F2 skills. Why a lot of Rangers choose to run felines or canines, I can never understand. They die so fast, they hardly get to dealt any damage.

Try the drakes the next time you’re in a dungeon. And don’t forget to use those F2 skills (just let them auto-attack first, or they will usually mess up the targeting).

I constantly switch out my weapons on my Ranger. I play axe/axe and greatsword, but I often switch to warhorn for the swiftness when traveling (or the fury going into a fight), the longbow I use when I’m defending gates (because of the increased range compared to axes), or torch when running through dark places in fractals or puzzles.

I never switch weapons on my Mesmer, using scepter/focus and staff. These weapons simply gives me everything I need in terms of swiftness, range, and AoE, which usually are the reasons for switching weapons.

I do switch other skills all the time, though, on all my characters. For instance, when traveling with my Guardian, I switch to “Retreat!” for the extra swiftness. Or when attacking a gate in WvW, I switch to Tome of Courage to heal allies on rams. When I play Thief, and we are moving golems in WvW, I switch to Shadow Refuge and Smoke Screen for the AoE stealth. On my Mesmer, I switch out Portal, Veil, Time Warp, Mass Invisibility, or Feedback, all the time. When playing dungeons with my Ranger, I constantly switch between different pets, and elite skills. And so on..

Make a Ranger if you love the aesthetic, otherwise pick another profession.

What about taking the rank animals, and make them hit the player as a stomp? For instance, if your rank symbol was currently a shark, you’d get something like this:

80 Ranger, 80 Mesmer, 80 Thief, and 60 Guardian so far.

Have you played Tome of Wrath in a burst build? It’s incredibly powerful in WvW. Not only can you easily critical hit foes for over 2k damage, while also applying burning, the visual aspect of the skill is also great for applying pressure to a zerg. When most players see a huge blue flame under them; they move.

I would like a longer duration on Tome of Courage, but that’s about the only change I want to see. When beating down a gate in WvW, you can single-handedly keep allies on rams at max health, when using Tome of Courage. If you have a handful of Guardians, you can take turns in healing, which is very powerful.

The only negative thing about the Tomes, is the fact that you only need two or three skills, and can almost completely ignoring the other skills. With Tome of Wrath, I only use Zealot’s Fervor and Conflagrate, and then sometimes Affliction if foes are running away. Judgment has a way too long channel time, deals no noteworthy damage, and will mostly get you killed. Smiter’s Boon doesn’t affect yourself, only allies, and while using Tomes you don’t need to go anywhere, so the swiftness is useless. With Tome of Courage, I only really use Heal Area and Purifying Ribbon. If there is a lot of damage on rams, I might use Protective Spirit for the 10 seconds of protection. Light of Deliverance has the same problem as Judgment; a too long channel time means it’s not worth using over the #1 skill. Pacifism is just pointless in a weapon set that otherwise don’t effect foes.

Honestly, the biggest issue with the Tomes, is that not enough Guardians use them. They are better then what they’re given credit for.

I’m sorry, but I just can’t take their word for anything relate to balance, until I see it with my own eyes. This whole scenario has been the exact same for many months now. They promise some changes, people get their hopes up, we end up getting sub-par balance changes, and everyone complains. Next month, it starts all over again..

It’s basically because of three issues:
1. Most Ranger players who plays PvE, has gotten into the habit of relying on their pets to tank for them, too much. Meaning they don’t consider their positioning in a fight, they don’t know how to avoid mobs, they spend all their endurance on dodging the wrong attacks, and they aren’t aware of what’s going on around them. This means their pets die very fast, and they don’t help allies when they need to.
2. Burst builds are very popular, but that’s one of the builds the Ranger can’t do very well. Bunker and condition damage builds, is what the Ranger excels at.
3. Although the pet is great to have, for extra reviving or short termed tanking, the Ranger is otherwise very limited when it comes to support. Rangers have next to no way of sharing boons, and an Elementalist, Guardian, or Engineer can do a far better job when it comes to healing.

The first point obviously can’t be fixed, as this is more about player experience. But if ArenaNet would increase the damage of main-hand axe, and increase the attack rate of longbow and greatsword, then burst builds would be easier to play with the Ranger. And if the Rangers’ shouts also affected allies, if spirits didn’t die so easily, and Rangers didn’t only share boons with their pets, then support would be a viable build option as well.

Defiantly sylvari. Not only do they fit the Ranger aesthetic very well, they also have the best utility snare skill in Grasping Vines, which helps your pet hit, and an extra Fern Hound from the racial elite. It’s a lot of fun to run around in PvE with three pets, if you have both the elite Summon Sylvan Hound, and use Rune of the Ogre to get the Rock Dog.

Zenith.7301:

You mean like the insignificant amounts of nerfs that destroyed this class and the necro in beta so even after 8 months these classes remain in a crappy spot throughout the game?

No, I mean every single balance patch we’ve gotten since the release of the game. Beta is beta..

First of all, the show is pretty horrible. There is zero honesty between the players and the developers, because everyone are afraid of saying something “wrong”. Which means the show looses its point. It’s also only aimed towards sPvP, and the beastmaster-bunker Ranger, is very powerful in sPvP right now.

The problem was never damage, but targeting. And the Ranger has always dealt more damage then the pet. So you can argue about how big of a difference this really makes. ArenaNet also makes really weak balance changes, so if this damage nerf were to happen, it would probably be an insignificant amount.