i think that Anet takes a long time to address engineer issues because there are simply more people playing other classes than engineer and thus Anet focusing more resources on the other classes to fix their issues first pleases more people.
Ranger is in the exact same spot and has fairly large player base.
It was always great in PvP, but it was one of the worst classes (if not the worst class) in high end PvE post Factions.
Welp, looking at the current meta and the the speedclear teambuilds, warriors are by far the worst. They aren’t even represented as a secondary profession.
That depends on the build. Just before GW2 came out (about the time they stopped all balancing), W/A was a big part of a particular farming build (manlyway, I believe it was called).
Sure, my point was simply that we hardly were the worst, at least not in the later years of the game.
Edit: also Rangers were meh in general pve. I remember we had that one turret build for awhile that could spike pretty hard, but in general you had to abuse Expertise for dagger, scythe, sword, or spirit spam to do anything really.
Well, I didn’t mind abusing what was after all our primary attribute. I personally loved Expertise, it created build diversity.
Unlike in GW2, where our mechanic mostly creates diversity by being an unreliable mess.
When the burning update came, they buffed all pet stats by 150.
Then in a later update, they did it again, buffed all stats by 150 because…?
All pets got a massive damage boost, specifically in the Ferocity department. Pet’s Prowess gives pets a bonus 30% ferocity plus another 30% natural Ferocity thanks to those buffs for a staggering 210% critical damage. Plus if you use Hilt Bash, your pets next attack will do 50% more damage meaning that if you stun on your greatsword your pet can easily land an 8k+ critical.
So yeah, even though the birds only have 1,000 power they can still strike a 6k critical against decently armored players on top of an taunt that is completely unavoidable.
Buff rangers. Nerf pets.
The pet could already do stuff like this before the patch, you kitten fool. Pets could always get 300 extra stat points (to power, precision, vitality and toughness – ferocity is not included among those stats). The ferocity from Pet’s Prowess was actually nerfed, it used to give a flat 30 % extra crit damage.
And ye, Hilt Bash. The skill that still doesn’t have the proper range that the tooltip says it should have.
Most people complaining about rangers are so vastly uninformed about the class that engaging a discussion with them is a as comfortable as driving into a tree.
It was always great in PvP, but it was one of the worst classes (if not the worst class) in high end PvE post Factions.
Welp, looking at the current meta and the the speedclear teambuilds, warriors are by far the worst. They aren’t even represented as a secondary profession.
Anet pretty much stopped giving a kitten about pve balance after EotN came out.
Anyway – Give the guardians a break – first two beta weekends the LB was bad. Just bad.
And they should obviously make it so the DH is in a good place. But it’s still funny being on the sideline and finally see other players complaining about the same stuff.
It was always great in PvP, but it was one of the worst classes (if not the worst class) in high end PvE post Factions.
Welp, looking at the current meta and the the speedclear teambuilds, warriors are by far the worst. They aren’t even represented as a secondary profession.
I find it funny that people are asking for stuff that rangers have clamored for such as throwable traps, multiple trap stacks, traps doing something extra other than damaging enemies, the lack of stability/condi removal/etc when running three traps. Idk why, I just find it comical.
Edit: oh also how they demanded projectile velocity increase on lb skills and got them without having to pick a trait in order to do so.
I said the exact same thing in the guardian forums.
“Warhorn skills converts conditions on allies within range. Warhorn skills recharge faster. Conditions converted into Boons: 1 – Recharge Reduction: 20%”
Literally, the old Warrior “Quick Breathing” trait. At least then when we can add support by converting burns into aegis for ourselves and allies. Also ties in with the boon-centric theme of Nature Magic.
Well, the old warrior trait was nerfed due to “thematic reasons”, dunno why it would be any different for core rangers.
The warhorn itself needs some work. Windbourne notes could then apply quickness to add to the offensive nature of the warhorn. I don’t see QZ granting group quickness without Frenzy and Haste doing it aswell, so that option is out the window the way I see it.
As far as defensive boons go, I have a strong feeling druid might get some resistance.
Well, it already was 50 %. They nerfed it before patch went live because it was deemed “too powerful”. Which is hilarious considering how burn ticks melt people these days.
The sad thing is I used to run this all the time because Empathic Bond and Survival of the Fittest was more condi removal than I what I needed. Haven’t touched it after the specialization patch outside PvE. They didn’t just nerf its functionality, they made it compete with our most viable cleanse option.
Even if druid offers some cleanse, I don’t see myself not running survival skills in pvp. They’re just way better than most other utility skills.
This when I’m solo yolo’ing, the Remorseless wombo combos are too much fun. Some times switch to a variant of the WS NM BM build when I do do team queues or face premades.
There are very few encounters where there are any reasons to stack at all, so Path of Scars should do totaly fine unless your group is stuck with old tacticts. Hunter’s Call is a dps loss compared to autoattacking with sword..
My Howler is still stuck in my inventory as a blast finisher, and there it stays until Anet bothers to give it some buffs.
I don’t understand how that skill beats out a double blast finisher
In any situations where those blast finishers are covered. Path of Scar hitting twice is pretty much one of the biggest damage dealers a ranger has. Sure, you have to watch out for defiance, but at the same time the skill contributes to stripping the stacks off after icebow #5 has landed.
And yeah, Whirling Defense finally being a reliably reflect not dependent on traits to work is a nice bonus.
It’s kind of crappy that 1 guardian in a party completely ruins are opening strike.
It is, but then agian, it wouldn’t solve the overall issue of three minor traits being completely useless unless you traited Remorseless.
Having a refresh mechanic tied in to movement-impairing conditions would completely bypass the aegis problem, while still providing more plays Opening Strikes aswell as not rendering it useless without Remorseless.
Put Brutish Seals into Enlargements spot, then make another trait that gives Vigor and activates SoS at 33% health to put into Master tier.
No thanks. There are enough of these braindead passive effects as it is. I’d rather have them reduce the amount of them, not adding.
Merge Enlargement with the Brutish Seals traits or introduce some synergy with opening strike like they were toying around with before the specialization patch.
I actually find Enlargement a valid choice for adept trait.
Brutish Seals on the other hand seem to lack something. I can’t tell what it is, but I haven’t really found much use of this trait. One I was thinking of was Full Signet LB/GS (or full melee) build (SotH with Maul is cool)… But then I realized I find better use of MoC in PvP overall.
Opening Strikes concerned – they need adjustments by themselves.
For example pet getting Opening Strikes whenever you do or getting Opening Strikes everytime you kill a foe (if you want to use your Killstreak XP booster you won’t refresh Opening Strike even once).
I can imagine some nice synergy with Brutish Seals SotH maul burst… But I’d like to hit 2 birds with 1 stone if Opening Strikes are concerned.
I Agree.
Alpha Training needs to be packed into Opening Strike, Precice Strike moved down. From there on you have an open grandmaster minor which makes the opening strike mechanic worthwhile without slotting Remorseless.
Refresh on kill (basically the old Remorseless), refresh when hitting a foe with vuln (with icd). Or perhaps refresh when hitting a foe with movement-impaired conditions on them to tie that whole aspect into it aswell. There isn’t a single ranger build without access to these kind of conditions. Rework Predator’s Instinct while at it and it might suddenly be worthwhile to pick.
That’s just some ideas from the top of my head. Sadly, just the thought it of saddens me knowing that they will never implement anything like it. The Remorseless change they did in June was great, but it only solved half the problem.
Put Brutish Seals into Enlargements spot, then make another trait that gives Vigor and activates SoS at 33% health to put into Master tier.
No thanks. There are enough of these braindead passive effects as it is. I’d rather have them reduce the amount of them, not adding.
Merge Enlargement with the Brutish Seals traits or introduce some synergy with opening strike like they were toying around with before the specialization patch.
so those who paid for the game cannot get the other x4 pets for the ranger class, therefor can never receive the reward for ranger pet completion, is that correct??
I paid $90 for the game disk with hard bound book to go with the map, and I play Rangers, so unless I fork over another big chunk of change, I can never get my pet reward, ever.. !??
doesn’t that seem a bit unfair,, I would think that Guild Wars 1 is done, and has nothing to do with the newer better more updated game, and as such, the rewards should be allowed if you went to every place to get the pets..
we who paid for the game, should get some comfort in knowing we can still complete our goals in the game,, I personally have done just about every jumping puzzle and have every pet you can get, as well as, completed numerous other achievements, I would like to complete this one as well…
Jim ‘Shadow’ Booth
This is just… Jeez, calm down. They are reskinned pets for players that played the first game. They don’t matter.
And because you’re all about what’s fair and whatnot: demanding that you get access to pet skins that were marketed as exclusive to GW1 players LONG before the release GW2 sure as hell isn’t fair.
That is the thing, sure we can all come up with totally better mechanics and ideas than are implemented, but if they are too hard to actually implement into the live game, they are pointless suggestions. Better to stick with reality.
Anet has yet to see the merit of adding something as simple as an F5 to controll one of the pet famility skills. The’ve done quite the opposite, deeming it “too hard for players”. The reality is that it is kittening pointless at this point. They’re just gonna continue the mediocrity and ignore even the most obvious suggestions.
I have a small slimmer of hope that they might alter something as a part of introducing the druid, but I seriously doubt it.
Having Resounding Timbre sharing boons dependent on what shout you have been using is something I’ve been advocating for a long time. Every trait and rune in this game related to shouts is support oriented, the ranger shouts just happen to be a kitten attempt at being some sort of pet commands.
Yeah, it didn’t “move” to sinisters. They are about equal in terms of dps, but the sinister build’s cons and pros depends on the content.
A person that is up to date wouldn’t blame anyone for running zerker ranger. I think the chances are bigger that a person not up to date would question a condi ranger, but that’s just a guess.
Rangers 1v1 capabilities are the reason it’s so hard for me to switch to other classes in pvp… :/
A well played ranger is a tough fight for most specs. Although there is a part of me that sighs deeply when I see warriors pop rampage. Okay, I guess I’ll be kiting for the whole fight…
It puts a smile on my mouth, knowing that 1) he pretty much just wasted it in a 1v1 side node fight, 2) he felt the need to pop it to beat me and 3) I can kite it.
A good feedback but I can’t agree on everything and you forgot Warhorn (I’m sure you have something to say about WH#4 ).
Maybe one day they will understand that the ranger need some work in the core mechanic area so that it become something helpfull instead of this thing that drag the ranger down atm.
I think the fact that I forgot warhorn is pretty telling in itself of what I would have to say about warhorn lol.
Adding it now though, thanks
Well, in that case, you didn’t specifically mention off-hand axe either.
I said counter because an ele can screw up a bunch of times and still survive. If the ranger screws up he’s dead.
The dd ele is more forgiving (and finally admittedly by Anet, overtuned) than the ranger, straight up counter isn’t what pops up in my head when I see one. Especially off-node fights.
I should probably add that’s from a PvP perspective, WvW I haven’t touched in a while.
I see a difference between a counter and a hard counter. A hard counter is something like diamond skin ele vs a full condi anything. At similar skill levels the ele will always win that.
In that case I guess I agree. I just find myself very rarely losing against eles.
My bet has been on some resistance abilities for a long time, potentially in combination with the overcapped amount of regeneration we have. They’ve been pretty restrictive on giving out resistance so far, so I’d guess the chances are there.
activates before actual pet skills activate. it’s about the way taunt works, not what it does.
There is a difference between activation and execution. All traits related pet skills work like this. The trait triggers when you activate the skill, on other words when you WANT it to activate.
Having it delayed to when the pet actually hits would be kitten awful. It’s already potentially delayed by the pet’s bad AI.
I said counter because an ele can screw up a bunch of times and still survive. If the ranger screws up he’s dead.
The dd ele is more forgiving (and finally admittedly by Anet, overtuned) than the ranger, straight up counter isn’t what pops up in my head when I see one. Especially off-node fights.
I should probably add that’s from a PvP perspective, WvW I haven’t touched in a while.
If they wanna keep the idea about stationary spirits, they should make both the summoning skill ground targeted aswell as making the active portion of the skill teleport the spirit to a ground targeted area before it detonates itself. And it needs to be somewhat close instant, otherwise it would just be a waste.
The increased health and active radius from the GM needs to be baseline. Storm Spirit, Frost Spirit and Water spirit need their boons from the trait to be changed. Water Spirit needs an overhaul. The elite needs its passive radius MASSIVELY increased.
Just let people pick which of the pet skills they use with F2.
No, what we need is a F5 to slot one of the pet familiy skills. It’s such an obvious fix, and I’m seriously struggling to understand WHY Anet hasn’t added this by now. It’s not just about pet control, it’s about easier and more fair access to blast finishers and CC.
On demand bird swiftness, canine knockdown, drake blast, devourer knockback, moa heal, spider immob/poisoin field.. They should have taken the chance to implement this while doing the specialization revamp. But nope, an engie toolbelt skill for their elite (which involved designing new skills) was more important to them than adding the same F5 for the ranger just to give them access to skills that are already there.
Fortifying Bond (+stealth) baseline in addition to a F5 to controll a second pet skill would be golden.
But good luck trying to explain that to the devs. They actually had the nerve to introduce a fifth toolbelt skill for engies without realizing that it might be a good idea to give rangers the same treatment.
And no, Sun Spirit doesn’t overDPS personal quickness if you don’t have any condition damage. Not even with might.
As I stated earlier, it does if the fight is long enough. 20 – 25 stacks of might and coni damage from the strenght banner puts you way above the condi cap limit.
Only for longer fights, which I believe I included.
You did. And you’re right, a lot of bosses die within mere seconds.
However, that personal dps doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that Sun Spirit applies to the whole party, all above the condi cap, while QZ only affects the ranger. And then you have to take into considerration additional quickness applications from mesmers and guardians.
I’ll have to admit though. I rarely bother with it. I rarely bother with pve at all these days for that matter.
So my pet is in guard modus, I do 1 kitten with hunter’s shot and for some reason I get direclty revealed after I got my stealth without doing anything else, It happens sometimes when I crit without air/fire proc.
And no, Sun Spirit doesn’t overDPS personal quickness if you don’t have any condition damage. Not even with might.
As I stated earlier, it does if the fight is long enough. 20 – 25 stacks of might and coni damage from the strenght banner puts you way above the condi cap limit.
Well, acrobatics thieves used to be a thing, with evades and CCs, so there was always some toestepping. Feels more like they nerfed that traitline in preparation for daredevil if you ask me.
Speaking of which, I’d imagine a ranger elite spec with mainhand dagger or off-hand sword would be stepping on thief’s toes aswell. Both archtypes fits similiar kinds of melee combat, with ranger perhaps distinguishing itself by leaning a tad towards warriors aswell. At least in my opinion.
I wouldn’t mind being last if it wasn’t for the fact that we don’t get to play as much around with the druid in the betas as we do with the other classes and give the devs feedback while at it. They have already done dozen of changes to other elite specs.
Shortbow
· Shortbow’s main problem is that it lacks pressure outside of auto attacks
· Increase the poison duration from poison volley from 4 to 5 or 6 seconds
· Change SB 4 from doing cripple on hit to 3 stacks of torment on hit. Take away the pet bleeding and make it so pet cripples.
· Add a functionality to concussion shot to apply 5 stacks of confusion when you interrupt the target.
Shortbow needs a complete overhaul, the weapon isn’t just weak, it’s boring.
Survival skills
· It would be an interesting concept if muddy terrain applied reveal to stealthed people who cross it (thematically it could be that you see the stealthed peoples foot prints). Increase the cooldown to keep it from being too powerful
I like the short cooldown immob. Sharpening Stone on the other hand needs some work.
Agree with your pet suggestions and most of the trait suggestions are similiar to what I’ve wanted for a while. As far as Nature Magic goes I’d like to add that Windborne Notes needs to do something that isn’t overloading the ranger with the regen boon, and that Evasive Purity should affect allies aswell.
I thought sun spirit was good but didn’t know it had a 8s ICD, so it actually sucks I guess. Is it even worth for a condi team? 8 seconds is a really long time.
Interesting. So you think that the three utilites you choose for ranger 2 will bring more dps in total if you count the whole party, than replacing one of those skill with a Sun Spirit?
Unless the other Ranger is a Sinister Trapper.
Yes.
You have to take into consideration the length of the fights and the level scaling. Sun Spirit is sometimes superior to QZ as far as increased party dps goes.
Depending on your comp and the content, I highly recommend dumping that second zerker ranger for the sinister Quickdraw Bonfire variant and bring the Sun Spirit. It also gives you permanent fire fields to maintain might if necessary.
You’ll be much better off with the proposed Full Zerk Sick’Em option.
Again, content/party comp dependent. Either way, you won’t be much better of with two zerkers, the dps output from the sinister vs. zerker ranger is that close, that’s why condi ranger (and the Sun Spirit) is even relevant in PvE these days.
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