Guild Wars 2

actually…

from level 1-79 open field PvE ranger is actually one of the strongest classes. once we get full gear level 80 is where you begin to notice where the ranger is bad. the whining is mainly done by those who are competitive PvP players.

there’s currently 1 general accepted meta-build for PvP (with slight variation) which is the trapper ranger ( i don’t go full trapper for use of maximizing bleeds and survival via sharpening stone and spike trap), with a list of competitive pets (cat’s, dogs, hawk, raven). but using it you’ll have trouble against anyone who can reliably clear away conditions (i’m looking at you bunker guardians and d/d tanky elementalists).

in WvWvW/PvP i generally only have trouble against defensive playing thieves, and d/d elementalists. After 1v1ing multiple mesmer i’ve gotten used to fighting them.

that being said… i enjoy what i do. learning a couple tricks, mastering your weapons, and creating new combo’s is really fun with an “underpowered” class because of the fact that we still haven’t found what build truly work.

toughness, condition, and what ever third statistic you prefer.

arrows projectile speed increase (while not actually increasing damage, this allows a much more reliable hit-detection for both long bow and shortbow)

increase the effect of spirits and increase their base hp. small incremental boosts to hp and effect bonus until a right medium is found would be nice.

fix problems with drakes. they still don’t use full move-set. what’s the point of having a new drake-pet when it still doesn’t work properly.

btw…OP… why aren’t you also carrying an axe, warhorn, and sword in your inventory? if one style of play doesn’t work out, you could at least provide everyone fury. burrows aren’t bad

burrows is much easier to fight if your using a melee or axe. your AoE is key here. keep a bow as a main weapon and switch out for utility/versatility. hell even using a GS is better.

i’ve had so many great experiences solo-ing WvWvW when the enemy controls the entirety of the border land. it’s really fun to play trying to act-sneakily, taking out camps, dolyks and the roamers who are trying to kill you.

idk about you guys but if you can micro-manage two dogs, you can gain access to 3-4 interrupts…

if you stack that with bleeds it’s extremely powerful if the player is really glassy. once the other player is downed you start using lick wounds and watch as your bleeds just drain him faster and faster.

…1v1 a ranger downed vs. anything but a warrior downed is extremely one sided (should everything work properly)

0/30/30/5/5

Full knights set, Carrion and Valkyrie trinkets.

• Sharpened Edges
• Agility Training
• Quick Draw

• Vigorous Renewal
• Martial Mastery
• Empathic Bond

SB/S+WH

this pretty much: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMUQNBlYDbEoKuOzyyi1SA0eoplYyeoohM+F4FUwnK;T8AAzyoEWJ1StlSLqiMFJKyekrI5RLLGjsJB

…not really…

a ranger-scholar build would be interesting. since the philosophy of the ranger is semi-druidic, we could have druid rangers who use a staff. create a pure-support ranger who creates combo fields, and attacks similar to that of the Witch-doctor from DIII

• sword 2 hornet sting.
• deselect target
• monarch leap after turning the camera a full 180.
• ~
• about face.
• lay down spike trap (if they are melee-types),
• SB 4
• SB 5 stun on charge
• change pet (wolf – fern hound) -> knockdown.
• flank [Sharpening stone + quickness – 10-15 stack bleed]
• dodge large attack with 3
• continue

running down opponents (short of greatsword warrior, and teleporting thief)

• warhorn 5
• W
• Warhorn 4
• ~ (to gain swiftness + fury on switch)/Rampage as One
• W
• SB1 (till hits)
• SB4
• SB5

actually if done properly you can dodge/counter the backstab burst.

that being said, you have to be willing/able to use a sword or GS properly.

lay a trap around you and stay in the center. if the thief is stupid enough the moment he activates it hit 3 with a sword. you dodge the back stab. immediatly after hit 2 and you’ve slowed him and have put some distance between yourself.

if you can read properly, your dodges can counter his first 6 or so attacks which means most of his initiative is gone and he’s most likely gonna stealth up and reset.

other option is be really tanky dodge the first back stab and with QZ+Sharpening stone Burst him down with conditions, and dmg.

but healing spring requires you to stay in the spring. while it provides a water combo field, it doesn’t really help put conditions on people considering crossfire requires a flanking for full damage.

not moving is generally death, for my playstyle. which relies on dodge to avoid damage, and troll ungent/fern hound for about 10k hp regen over 8 sec.

you can maximize you dodges with using a dagger.

hornet sting (8 second cool down)
serpent strike (15 sec)
Stalker’s Strike (10 sec)

with

LR (45 sec)
Quick shot (9 sec)

with 2 dodges.

…that’s a possible 7 dodge chain. that could readily be 9 or 10

i’m running knights set. with beserker and carrion upgrades. knights is nice because it boosts power and precision while still forcing survivability through toughness.

i believe i’m around 20k hp, 28k armor, 3k dmg, 1k condition, ~40% crit ratr

i don’t use my 1h sword to attack. by the time i dodge a burst. pull back with hornet sting , cast my eagles and cast call of the wild the timer for changing weapons is generally done and i’m now distanced enough and i can switch to my short bow.

but when i do do that, it’s essentially when i really want to stick my target. sometimes it’s a good fast attack aoe option. and if i’m still on cool down for change weapons i’ll hit someone using auto 1-3 times. then switch and break out with LR + quick shot

i’ve actually start loving Hornet sting and monarch leap. it’s essentially a double leap that you can use to distance yourself from chasers. first one is an evade with a slow, and the second jump puts you at a slight distance from chasers.

i don’t know how much i’ve survived because i chained a 6 chain dodge. completely denying 80% of the damage coming at me by 6 people.

i think there are two strains of thought in WvWvW for rangers.

a support-sniper role (generally sb/lb, lb/gs, lb/axe+wh, sb/whatever): this role focus’ on staying at range and dealing damage from far away. you are generally on the middle or back of a zerging is your thing.

roamer-hunter type: this role’s focus is to stay a bit away from the zerg work solo, or in small groups to take camps, kill other roamers, harass the crap out of everything. generally these are the melee types, or shortbow users. generally focus on survivability and condition damage.

as far as zergs go, i feel like i’m not accomplishing anything by being there. i actually contribute more denying dolyks, taking camps, and killing solo-reinforcements. there’s so much more you can control by being a roamer. and you just have to play smart. set up traps, and require constant map awareness. if your in trouble be prepared to run into your zerg. in WvWvW i generally run solo, and if i run into a group. i lead them as if i was a master tracker. you try to ninja everything. and be as trollish as possible.

i just don’t like the idea on an elite… Let thief traps and ranger traps prevent stealth/disable stealth skills for 2 seconds upon activation. the hard counter is just not to run into them, while still giving very situation based awareness.

this gives both thieves and and rangers more anti-thief, and increases build variability for both. if thieves want to counter thieves easier then they use a trap.

by doing this you’re not pigeon holding class meta and actually increases the efficiency of a trapper-style ranger, and the introduction of a new skill isn’t needed, as most rangers can generally fit room for a trap utility. it doesn’t force people out of invisibility unless the individual is stupid enough to activate the trap instead of run around it.

if the thief or mesmer is smart they’re just gonna teleport away anyway, wait for the 2 seconds to end and then come back to fight.

Fern Hound: Kilala (not really funny, but as it’s the first pet i picked it should be the only one who has a real name)

other than that i rename those pets incorrectly…

Leopard: Albino Avian
Wolf: Scaled Marcupial
Bear: Furry Alligator
Owl: Petite Ape
Shark: Land Bear
Ice Drake: Fire Breathing Moose.

mesmer invisibility isn’t really that bad either…it’s just when they got full clone setup that it’s a pain in the kitten they almost alwayse run back so just run past if possible. their elite skill invisibility isn’t that bad because there could be worse elite skill choices.

giving ranger a reveal on utility (even on a 20-35 second cd) would atleast deny the thief their disengaging ability short of them teleporting away via shortbow, and prevent them from regenerating initiative safely forcing them to run and pay more attention to their initiative.

Irie.7149:

It’s worse being a sylvari ranger x.x Both our super elites are spirits, both of which are incredibly weak right now.

actually the ranger spirit is really good for clutch revives. i got really good at doing this after seeing it been done in a youtube. but rampage with 1 is just the better option.

with Warbanner nerf on revive this is pretty much reliable. on a last second rally. the cool down though is way to long.

…i think the one guy who said ranger is OP is just making a joke.

what they are discussing is, why shouldn’t a tracker character have the ability to track people?

do you remember the ink trap from the haloween maze pvp thing while part of the nightmare court? it put physical cues into the location of the target putting their footprints on the ground for a little while.

a similar tracking system could be put on all ranger traps. with footsteps being different for different traps (fire -> flaming footprints, Ice-> ice marks, Poison -> ink, Spike -> Bleeds). or a counter by forcing a reveal on 1 utility skill.

if you remember the one post that was like 20 pages long in the ranger forum? that was moved to the ranger forum from general discussion. so i doubt devs aren’t reading these posts. infact this is the primary outvoice for the community.

i just think the damage split between rangers and pets should be 25% pet, 75% ranger. not the current 30/70 or 45/65

greatsword should hit for more, longbow projectile speed should be faster and probably do a 10-15% increase in damage overall. Shortbow is still a better Power-weapon even though it’s supposed to be condition-based because it’s much more reliable then the longbow, it’s a great dueling weapon meant for single unit control, it’s abilities allows the rangers the chance to flank, and i’m pretty happy with it. maybe add a second evade to the sword 2 part 2. Axe is pretty good where it is, but the off hand defensive skill should be able to be used while moving.

CENSOR.6081:

The musket during the 1800s was actually favoured for the sad and simple fact that a kid could pick one up and kill somebody with it, a fact that remains apparent to this day. It was primarily affective in CQB because it caused more devastating wounds than the bow, was light in weight and with the bayonet could function as a pike.

Using the longbow effectively required extraordinary strength. The bow, made of tough yew wood, had a draw weight of 80 to well over 100 pounds, something only the strongest modern archers can manage. Training took years – English law long mandated that boys take archery practice starting as early as age of 7.

A skilled English archer could submit 15 shots a minute, with 10 the minimum acceptable rate. A newly-recruited musketeer, in contrast, would be lucky to get off 2 shots per minute, while the best a veteran could manage was 5.

i’d argue that Harlequin already brought this issue up, by saying “they were easier to field”. just in a less specific way.

I run SB & S/WH. this is my interpretation based on WvWvW. using a full knights set up. carrion and invaders rings and amulets. i generally engage fully on an ambush, entering combat when they spring my traps. or just on 1v1 and we start running at each other. i focus on sustained damage (damage over time) compared to burst, with high emphasis on mobility, dodging and tanking ability. i run duel dogs.

Easiest to Hardest:

• Ranger – Depends on the Ranger. a good ranger is even, and we fight tooth and nail both downed, a bad ranger is dead and i move on.
• Warrior – if a random pug, is the easiest thing to kill. they run straight at you all the time. a only time i’ve ever died to a warrior (!v1), is when i’m one shot by a warrior, or i just kitten up on my dodges. 50% of the time you know they are running GS, or what ever the warrior FoTM is at the moment. and i dodge their rifle pretty easily.
• Necromancer – Necro’s are easy to kite. i’m not scared of engaging a necro what so ever.
• Elementalists – are either really good or horrible. it’s hard, to determine because if i see that my arrows are flying back at me i just switch to sword, switch to another dog to interrupt him, dodge like crazy. luckily for me i pretty much come across some really bad elementalists.
• Engineer – i have trouble fighting engineer’s who are set up, without that set up though i usually have a lot of fun duels against them. it’s about even for me.
• Guardian – if a guardian isn’t a bunker type, i find they are easy. but bunkers are the FoTM atm and they just are unkillable 1v1
• Thief – i focus on sustained damage over long periods of time. thiefs have the abiltiy to break that damage when ever they want and heal. i kill most thieves in a 1v1 in a downed state. and i’ve been getting really efficient at it.
• Mesmer – …

only trouble i have are perma-stealth thieves because they can burst and then go invis right away to not take much damage. i’ve killed more glass cannon thieves downed then on foot, so i really don’t mind. running duel dogs (wolf – fern hound. contemplating hyena). a wolf howl breaks their first invis, and then switch to another dog to knock him back down. save your 2 for a just in case and spam him till the bleeds kill em. once he’s on the ground pray to Anet that your 3 works and watch as he slowly dies.

Fighting a mesmer though (When i’m built around single-target damage) is a pain…. i still really have no counter except find the real one, and kill the duelist and berserker asap. and try not to die. i find it’s easier to fight them in a large open space of Wv3 then a more cramped area of sPvP, mainly because it’s easier to ambush them once you know all the great ambush points.

i don’t know about you guys, but i’ve ran solo in WvWvW since day one. getting to know all the jump spots, know when to take advantage of terrain but mobs as well. get really good at running away when you have a feeling kitten will hit the fan, keep your camera alwayse moving and watch the map for odd movements on flags and dolyks.

today i basically controlled the Spirit’s/Spirits equivalent by just solo roaming for 3 hours today in Yaks Bend Borderland. i had the benefit that our zerg was the main drawing point, but i denied supplies for everything for that time period, and really only lost to a perma-stealth thief or a bad situated 3v1. but then again i only attacked when i had ambush advantage or the ability to fall back to safety behind a camp officer.

Ranger’s make great roamers, if done properly they can solo camps between 2-4 minutes. it’s the best feeling to cap a point just as your zerg turns around the hill, you join them and take advantage of the one sided fights and then split off again because sieges don’t earn you money.

just to expand on Delevens comment…

Take Root Is a horrible skill for a character who relies heavily on dodges and constant movement. perhaps if your a longbow ranger letting your bear tank. but that’s about it. in any form of pvp environment you take damage for moving, it’s best for bunker plays for engineer’s, and guardians.

perhaps the fix should be to bring back the knock back or make it a 0.5 second stun on 2 or put an evade on chain 2 and 3 (kick and pounce).

i don’t think the root is a bug, and it’s working as intended. the thing is that the relic of the alpha/beta stages is causing problems. i like the effects, the implementation is horrible though. it’s pretty easy to stick onto low hp people, and the cripple effect is really nice.

i also am able to basically fly out of combat using sword 2 (a) → LR → shortbow (3).

…it’s fun solo capping camps though. i love capping a point just as a zerg of [GODS] come my way so i /wave and prevent 90% of them from getting karma, exp and 1.5 silver

4 is mainly a block with a knock back. similar to greatsword 4

…i don’t know, how everyone is saying shortbow is a bad weapon for fighting thieves.

you just don’t use only one weapon to fight. if you’re build around only attacking 1 person and duels reading the reactions of a thief is pretty easy. just build yourself around skirmishing, switching your weapons and basically putting double the amount of effort a thief would to take you out…

Shortbow is how i primarily deal most of my damage and then use sword to clean them up when their hp is below 5k. as long as it’s open terrain, eagles (horn 4) will generally clear away 3k hp (even if they go invis) so hitting them 4 times with a sword isn’t particularlirly hard if you can slug off a couple hits (using troll ungent + full knights). also thieves are heavily countered by high cc pets, so any canines.

pretty much what Durzlla said.

Run troll ungent as your heal because you’ll be moving constantly. i’ve been using shortbow-sword/warhorn since day 1 so i’m pretty much used to my timings and when i should pop my evades.

ranger’s get the added benefit of having the most evades outside of a thief (which is saying something). this means 70%-100% damage reduction when used at the right time. my friend who mains theif gets really annoyed fighting me because essentially i can spam my dodges while he blows his load, he get’s interrupted and trapped and so he resets (which means i do too). we can go for 6-7 rounds of basically the same thing happening over and over again with the balance only tipping when an ally comes in.

going with greatsword allows you an evade on the third strike, and the block works for ranged attacks. it also has a great closer/vaulting skill for mobility.

going with shortbow gives you a dodge on your <quickshot> skill. which pretty much has saved my life countless times. there have been plenty of times where i managed to lead 6 people chase me from hero’s all the way to spirits (battlegrounds). i really didn’t do any damage but that was really fun.

i’d also suggest putting up for some toughness/hp gear so that you’re allowed to slug off a hit or two while you’re waiting for your next evasion cool down. i’m running essentially full knights with beserker rings and an invader’s necklace.

lets people vent regardless, it brings forward why people are angry and then provides data on the community. they probably won’t listen though.

as far as wvwvw goes, i’ve been pretty successfull. since the patch, fighting everyone else has gotten slightly harder in SPVP.

class forums are meant for collusion and sharing ideals to figure out the best numbers, and figuring out the best strategies to counter. but bad thing is, people who are successful at doing what they do rarely share, because once it begins to become part of the mainstay meta-game you’re already back to middle of the pack instead of the one’s leading it.

> In terms of roleplay, I think Norn are better suited as Rangers than Sylvari.. Do plants really have the urge to hunt wild animals? It’s not like they need the meat xD

two words: “Wyld hunt” . most medium armor wardens also tend to be rangers.

i think we need to change the pets deal 45% of damage to something like 25% of our damage. that would make more ranger players happier.

as far as pets go, running duel canines provides the best crowd control, high defense and some tanking abilities. also howls don’t require a target to be used.

my 10 balance suggestions:

• Quickshot (Shortbow) provides a stun break
• Long Range Shot fire rate decreased to 1.0 from 1.25
• Barrage Cooldown to 25 seconds from 30
• slash (greatsword 1) does 40% more damage
• Pounce (Sword 1.3) will now have an added effect of an evade
• Monarch Leap will now be an evade
• Projectile speed increased (don’t know how fast it goes).
• you are now able to move while using whirlwind defense
• Hunter’s Call no longer requires line of sight
• all Spirits gain 25% more hp
  —-
  other fixes:

• Lightning Reflexes cool down is now 35 seconds from 45 seconds
• pets healing under search and rescue are invulnerable

• Improved the effect chance on ranger spirits to 35% base and 50% when traited.

while not good, still much better. half of the attacks will now activate. so pretty much spirits will provide near-constant buffs. while not completely fixing the problem this is a start

• Beastmastery minor traits now use the correct icon.

doesn’t help with balance

• Splinter Shot: This skill’s damage is increased by 150%, and its bleeding duration is increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.

This is a huge buff! 150% dmg increase (when i regularly do ~300 ish + on hit bleed) that is essentially 700 dmg for a reasonably fast weapon, that auto bleeds now for 4 seconds. i am happy with this.

• Counterattack: The blocking portion of this skill can now be used while moving. Ranged attacks will not trigger the second half of the skill.

great sword buff. an increase in mobility on a defensive skill is really nice. i’m considering switching to GS from sword because of this and maul.

• Protecting Screech: This skill now states the correct duration of 4 seconds.

…is this a moa skill? who uses moa’s?

• Call of the Wild: The Wilderness Survival trait Off-Hand Training now applies to this skill.

…it didn’t before?

• Throw Torch: The speed of the projectile has been increased.

great for torch users, means faster application

• Maul: This skill’s damage has been increased by 40%.

i’m happy with this

• Sun Spirit: The tooltip for this skill now displays the proper burning time of 3 seconds.

…it didn’t before?

• Whirling Defense: This skill was updated so that it interacts better with combo fields.

…never used offhand axe. i might have if it allowed us to move at the same time -.-

• Splinter Shot: This skill is now a small projectile combo finisher.
  Coral Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  Feeding Frenzy: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  Mercy Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.

seems like spear gun is much better.

-=-=-=-

from patch notes alone, any buff is a good buff. other than reports that there have been changes in traps, i’m happy. so why should i be outraged?

They never promised anything, just that we were going to be looked at and something was going to happen on the next patch.

depend… With torch you get a combo field (hey more damage), with dagger you get an extra evade.

all very much situational. If you tend to stick around a whole bunch of people torch provides more utility. if you tend to be a soloist then dagger.

i would actually run 2 dogs the dogs interrupt is the perfect time to burst someone down.

for some reason my dogs love to knock down just as they get stunned with a sb5. if my rune of rage kicks in even better.

Falchoin.6152:

I’ll likely still play my ranger because I’m stubborn. That and main-hand sword as an asura just looks awesome.

i love my ranger, and honestly i love to struggle (i’m just weird that way) for everything i get. every kill i earn is because i put time and effort, and because i had much better situational awareness and timing then your easy-mode thief, or a full set up mesmer.

i’ll stick with my ranger, because i feel the need to master it before starting a new one.

literally anything.

just run a bear, and another pet of your choice. use troll ungent, and signet to help with tanking.

honestly i love my build for wvwvw

I’m tough enough to be at the front of the zerg to get my damage in, if i’m taking too much use a Lightning reflexes or shortbow 3, recast troll ungent and go back to picking out the the weakest person on the opposite zerg. also, like what Aldracity.9463 said, your pet has great harassment ranges.

I might not be in a top tier server (Fort Aspen), but i come out of WvWvW with more money then i had before entering. i stay away from zergs or act as a scout, and even solo camps. generally i’m roaming, but i got really good at running away.

tbh, Guild wars 2 roaming is much easier then Square Enix’s Fantasy Earth Zero.

i might just be a lowly random out there in the battle fields, but today i had some great times in Yak Borderlands (10-12pm GMT-7)

running around the back harassing your Dolyks and taking out a camp with a lvl 27 mesmer and 20 thief that joined me on my adventures of raiding everything.

thank you YB for capturing everything and leaving the wargs, worms, and Harpies alone. made today very worthwile

" YumCHA.8706"

In my defensive. Ranger was the right choice. Anet just didn’t develop this profession well. Instead thought it needed nerfs to ‘balance’ everything else.

other then the obvious easy as hell knock back achieved through kick (sword 1-b) i keep hearing about (beta or alpha) don’t know why they decided to go an nerf greatsword and other ranger weapons

shortbow and sword/warhorn

i like it. sword is a great parry-reactionary weapon

a warrior (sword and board + GS) comes barreling toward you? hit sword 3 then horn 5, horn 4 sword 2 (a) then switch to bow, lay a trap and watch as your hound knocks his kitten to the floor letting you cast a heal. he charges again hit bow 3 and start kiting him.

i’ve been running Fern hound and Wolf, in a 1v1 or 2v1 situation my wolves help out with their howls, and if i can get my slow in they definitely do damage.

their knock down attack is absolutely fantastic in a duel. and so is the fear and healing effects.

i don’t know about the rest of you but i’m running half a carrion and half a knights set. because of the general lower on average killing power of the ranger survivability is key.

especially since i focus on solo (away from the zerg) roaming ganks and back lining

i like sword (albeit it i got rid of the chain lock by disabling auto attack). it allows me to be somewhat lazy and completely stick onto the person i’m targeting. it’s a great culling weapon when your intercepting fleeing people from a zerg because of the built in AoE cripple.

switch to your short bow and shoot off a 4 or 5, hit them 3-4 times and move on to the next person. it’s pretty easy to rack up “kills” this way.

it’s hard for me to get used to another second set (Sword+WH) because i love the dodging and evading mobility it provides it can be used in fast paced play but i like to think of it as a fencing weapon meant for parrying and dodging.

Arani.9057

We “stack” also but we move… we stack then push, stack/rally then move, stack then siege… etc. Movement from location to location… or maybe we just use the term “stack” much more loosely more compared to group up before a movement.
With this Turtle Port there is no movement at all outside of portal and no risk in this. Stacking is not quite the same thing or could just be a terminology difference.

…. i think you guys just re-invented the roman testudo formation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testudo_formation

i like the weapon…that being said…only for the skin. i’m essentially running transmuted cultural gear because wearing leafy-armor only makes sense for silvari