Guild Wars 2

Philosophy: Dead ranger= 0 DPS. I use full Dwayna armor which is basically Power/Toughness/Vitality equipment with a splash of Precision and healing power. Gives you a lot of healing though for set bonus. With it 24k health, my TU ticks at 906.. Heal Spring 5339/3283 and Heal as one is 7000.

I use 20 (IV, X)/5/25(VI, IX)/20(IV, V)/0 build. With a wolf and a Bear. The Bear is for when I pop pet takes damage. LB/ Axe & Horn.

I can be a pain on keep defenses with this build, do nice support damage when running in groups and not kill a sole when alone.

Good luck.

The fact there is a huge disparity of thought over this class and its OP’ness, to me points to a single build that works and no other. That appears to be a shame. At this point in the game, I haven’t been in a dungeon in months and only WvWvW (also, I’ve yet to be in a sPvP event). In WvWvW, I see a whole bunch of classes and players who outperform my ranger. If I have to search these forums for that ONE great build and technique to win fights, then something is wrong.

As it stands right now, I’m a great support DPS class… I can lend a hand to any other player trying to take someone down. As of right now, with 2400 kill (assists), 500 defenses and over 730 Captures I can count on one hand the number of 1 on 1 kills I’ve had. This is evidenced by the 413 total badges I’ve acquired. Oh, and I didn’t step into wvwvw until I was 80 with gear.

What is a boon regeneration, in particular Nature’s Bounty only effects Boon type regenerations not regenerations we cast on ourselves? So a Boon Regen is a regneration like I get from my set of Dwayna gear? Say a regen that pops on a hit?

Is this right?

In a way, I also agree with bri in that a dead ranger has zero dps. Therefore, I went with an armor similar in Power/Vitality in Dwayna along with all the healing benefits it grants the wearer and folks in the group. For sure it doesn’t provide the most damage, but when I’m the last person standing and rezzing in a group, I feel better.

I go with a 20, 5, 25, 20 build… I’m full Dwayna geared armor wise, with a decent LB and Axe/Horn. I survive well enough, unless focused. I find the Axe just good solid close support hitting 3 individuals over all damage to move away from it. I tried to wean myself from the horn thinking signet of the hunt, but it isn’t a replacement for horn speed.

Hmm, are you using the correct ‘tanky’ pets? I don’t have an issue with pets holding aggro atleast for the start of a fight, once I ramp up DPS I may lose it, but the pve thing is usually dead or near it by then. Send your pet in, then circle around before you actually “hit it” as a thought.

Do wvwvw and hearts for the Karma to buy Karma gear, think it took me a couple months for a full set of high end Karma gear, probably played a few hours a day (on ave) to doing that.

Flubble.8093:

that’s because there is no direct way for the pet to get to them as they cant run through doors

the only work around is using “guard” to throw your pet down there or use a ranged pet (that will probably fire at the floor instead)

Really, my pet has no problem getting to me when I jump over a keep wall to run someone down.

Edit: Here is what I propose, a “pet door” be installed in every keep accross the realm allowing pets to slither, crawl, fly, gallop, trot, meander out of all the keeps acrross the realm. Of course these doors would have to be ONE WAY doors, wouldn’t want other realm pets coming INTO our keeps.

We do alright, but if you stay ranged it is harder to get kills because your 1500 form where someone dies and by the time you run up to them, someone else has done the finish work. Seems like that’s changed a bit recently as I’m getting bags if someone else finishes the “kill” while i’m still in the process. However, it is more difficult, but I guess all ranged have this issue.

I’m not a glass cannon build so killing isn’t as easy anyway, but then I don’t PvP but only wvwvw. We do ok… Don’t really excel at much.

Out of curiosity, what does the person who sells the legendary for 9000g do with the gold? No one can see it… Can’t sit on it like a big pile of gold coins or bullion…

8000? Know when you’ve picked the wrong class, when you’ve been wvwvw’n since almost day one and have a grand total of 300 badges of Honor.

Fix our trait lines, give them better synergy, remove pet ability deep in a trait that has to do with marksmanship etc…

LB in WvWvW is nice for long range static affairs like keeps and taking keeps… However for the PvP aspect of wvwvw, then the short bow or axe/horn combo or GS or Sw/something or really about anything else work better.

I don’t use it, won’t either, however I am in a set of armor that when I do pop a heal, it gives auto heal tics to everyone around me. Also, when I’m damaged I have a 10% to give everyone around me automatic heal tics. I find this as beneficial to others as I can get.

To give you an idea, I was reading a thread about guys bored with the game talking about having 1000 extra unused Medals of Honor. I’ve wvwvw’d since almost the beginning, have something like 300 total, unlucky? Not running in groups? Not using seige enough? No clue, but atleast since the un nerf to Medals I’m seeing them more consistantly now. But, what this tells me is we can’t kill much, but we can do sustained damage as someone pointed out.

Update: Guy on the WvWvW forum complaining about having 8000 badges of honor and not knowing what to do with them. Yup, definately think about this class.

If your pet is dead, then the Pet skillz should be grayed out and un usable, until the pet is revived or you swap pets.

Forzani.2584:

NargofWoV.4267:

My healing tick with Dwayna set complete is 960/tick (Troll Ungeant).

Heal as One is a 6939 hit.

Healing spring is 5339 or at 31/2s 3283 per tick.

My healing power is at 419.

What ? Every second you regen 960 HPs ?

Yes, every tick I regen 960 hp.

Wish I could count how many times in the heat of battle I tried to pop a pet to me benefit only to find out the pet was/is dead.

My healing tick with Dwayna set complete is 960/tick (Troll Ungeant).

Heal as One is a 6939 hit.

Healing spring is 5339 or at 31/2s 3283 per tick.

My healing power is at 419.

WvWvW thoughts:

I agree in that our rolls can be situational and different skill sets are best for these rolls. I prefer the being alive mode of play as a dead player does zero damage. Therefore I spec’d for high survivability to the detriment of damage. I use a Bear in at least one slot for the high HP and with it I use the signet that has the Bear take all the damage for 6 seconds or 10, I forget. This is great for being up on walls or when jumped by a thief, pop it and you take no damage, or no burst.

As some thief fights end up lasting a long time, because of this build, help can sometimes show up. Also, with it, staying alive up on walls so that you can AoE or long range snipe while sitting in a pool of AoE is very nice as well.

deepwinter.9015:

Finally, regarding runes, Dwayna only procs from a healing skill (whatever your 6 ability is) not signets or utilities. For survivability, I would consider Toughness runes, such as Undead (condition/toughness/power) or Soldier (power/toughness/vitality).

Remember that Toughness is the counter to burst damage and Vitality is the counter to condition damage. Hope this helps!

Not exactly true on the Dwayna proc…. there is a 5% chance to gain regen on a hit, for 10sec’s and that will then proc the heal all allies automatically. Yes it does work this way. I guess, what I’m saying is, the heal all allies proc works off of a hit, I’m not having to do anything to get healed or heal allies.

I am also in full dwayna armor, not sure about the SotW, but it does proc often and will help those around you as well. I feel like I survive well enough with it in wvwvw, obviously pve isn’t an issue once you acquire a full set, you really shouldn’t be having pve issues.

Can’t speak for sPvP.

“Melee pets hitting moving targets.

Dog, wolf, fernhound, all bears, arctodus, murellow, all cats, pigs, boars, siamoths, all drakes, all moas…"

Thank you for the quick clarification! Thanks on your efforts to improve the class, keep us posted.

I’ve always used a Bear in WvWvW, because I also use the “pet takes all damage” signet and I need something with a lot of HP while i’m AoE casting up on a wall.

JonPeters.5630:

I made some changes to improve pets hitting moving targets in this upcoming build. I wouldn’t expect those changes to light the world on fire, but they have improved. There is more to be done in this area still but feedback on how much this upcoming change helped, once it is in, would be great.

Jon, help me here, I don’t understand, “but they have improved”, specifically the “they”. What “they” are you talking about? “They” referring to “changes to improve pets hitting moving targets” If so, then how is a change being improved? OR is the “they” referring to the act of our pets hitting a moving target which has now by your reworking, have been improved? OR did you mean to finish that second sentence with the addition of " , but they have improved the hit %." ???

Any clarification here would be great.

I utilize it as a mini AoE when I’m waiting on my main AoE and the situation calls for it. Plus you can use birds which auto attack, and you can then toss Axe into the fray.

Or, when you need to hit two Dolyaks, making sure you get full Karma… Situational.

Or, running into a keep that’s being attacked.. so I can hit more than one attacker while speeding in…. That sorta thing.

It has its uses. Now, I wouldn’t go PvE’n with an axe, generally speaking.

Aisunokami.6430:

Agreed. not heard of an exploit myself… speaking as a thief.

Yes dagger storm is zerg situational… target anyone than looks like a warrior.. steal.. followed by dagger storm… keep moving around, and stealth out or 5 out with shortbow. More often than not, ya die, but a kitten lot of fun.

Really? 8 of us couldn’t kill a thief in JQ last night, he kept going in and out of stealth for a good 2-3 min. may have been longer. Killed 4-5 of the 8 while doing so. We kept rezzing and he kept attacking, disappearing, attacking disappearing, attacking disappearing.

He was probably bummed out he couldn’t get any finals, it took him to long to kill my hunter and guys kept filtering in from our spawn, till we had 7-8 trying to kill him.

Sleepy.2647:

No one said anything about upping DPS of longbow as far as i can tell, imo Jon was talking about increasing projectile speed so the ranger will hit moving targets better than now which means you will do the DPS you are supposed to do right now against a non moving target.
People is mixing up arrow speed with autoattack speed increase.

The 25% speed from signet is not gonna make it game breaking either considering Ranger has less escapes, rush skills, speed buffs than many other classes, it will probably buff more our pet than the ranger itself.

I agree 100%, it may help us get out of some jams from time to time, but I see the speed increase as a pet fix. The pet will actually get to someone and atleast hit them once before having to chase again. Of course, we have to use the Signet of the Hunt, so now I have to figure out what to get rid of, wish I could get rid of the bad High End choices we have in favor of this signet of the hunt.

As 9 of us couldn’t kill a thief last night, with his in and out of stealth tricks and reverse damage ability, we don’t need more stealth in this game.

No clue, I’ve never used the racial. I tried the other one, and it was so pitiful I figured the racial had to be just as ooober.

Yea, I have a tip for you… Read the “Rangers are OP” thread, watch the Video’s and make sure you can deal with these issues in the class you play. They’re not as 100% rampent as the video’s portray, but these two/three bugs are pervasive and do happen in dungeons, WvWvW and PvP, so you need to be aware.

I run full Dwayna oh and I’m its not just the runes, I run the full Dwayna armor as well.

Way to put together a video showing the bug’s involved with a few of the key components of this class. Pet AI and Arrow bug’s. The thread shouldn’t have been closed, no one was taking personal shots at a Dev, so I’m glad they re opened it.

The real trick… CAN the Dev’s fix the problems? I think the answer is no. These problems will saddle this class for a long time. Other MMO’s have tried and failed at pet AI, never have gotten it right. The obvious fix is give us an option to run without pets boosting arrow/sword/axe damage through a trait line.

The Arrow bug, sadly, the option is make the arrow hit what is shot at when it is aimed and this goes contrary to the game and its dodge abilities, etc… Speed up the arrow flight? or, remove the bug and make it hit the spot it is aimed at 100% of the time with no rock or or partial wall obstructions, which again messes with the game and its high walls in keeps or trees or old ruins or insects and little rocks for that matter.

I don’t see either being fixable. Would love for a Dev to come to this thread and tell us that either could be fixed or that they have a handle on the issue and see a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m not holding my breath.

I use the Dwayna set, seems to keep me alive longer then anything else, plus the stats are decent. It is light on DPS, but what good am I dps’n if I’m waiting on a rezz.

When your dps totals are predicated upon the output of a pet, which tends to die a LOT or if you’re up on a wall are rendered useless… The class has issues.

Wait, how does a weapons test include pet damage? Shouldn’t your title read “Ranger Short bow and Pet vs Warrior Rifle DPS Test” ?

Also, our Pets do different degrees of damage, which pet was used? Was a pet used? I’m still a bit confused on this.

1. let our arrows move faster.
2. less “obstruction” hits when there clearly isn’t anything that is obstructing said hit. Given equal range, if someone is hitting me, I should be able to hit them.
3. Pets in general, the flow of our traits/signets, option to run petless.

I don’t know, I feel our class has some weaknesses and issues, but it is far from un playable. Can I dominate with it? No, had I wanted that, I would have rolled a theif… Have yet to see a pvp mmo game where a Theif wasn’t OP in some fashion due to fast dps and invisibility.

Can I put in a shameless plug for that big skelatol dragon that takes 1/2 hour for a mob of 50 to kill as our new pet?

I have zero issues in dungeons… pet, really depends on group make up and target, like folks mention adapt. Go ranged with pet, if that won’t work then I put the pet on passive and use it to take dmg (Bear) for me when I get into trouble. If you’re finding a lot of obstructions, which occur from time to time, use AoE. Usually, I will see a few “obstructed” hits then a string of non obstructed, why???? No clue, would love this game fix, but part of me feels especially with the long bow its so that we don’t do
TOO much damage with some of our skills, that’s just a feeling though, I have no proof.

Anyway, I’m having zero issues in dungeons… In fact, guild usually asks for me to run them for dps and I’m decidedly NOT glass cannon spec’d.

Edit: Usually I stay up longer than anyone else (lots of HP 22k ish with a lot of + to heal), am usually rezzing folks when they fall, stay in the perimeters if you’re using ranged obviously. Learn to strafe so you can kite and shoot things, not just run around without doing damage.

Kurow.6973:

Anarchy Dog.2806:

The ranger class is not broken. Is it ideal far from it. Our survivability is to low in comparison with other classes. Our damage is mediocre. But I find it extremely fun to play.

Ranger survivability is low? Perhaps people should stop trying to be all glass cannon heroes.

My gear is almost full Dwayna (working on the last two now), my accessories compliment and I use the Pet takes all damage ability a lot…. Yes, our survivability is to low, I’ve been 3 shot by a thief with 22k health (granted I didn’t get the pet takes damage off in time) but still. Not buying your argument we are all trying to be glass cannon heroes.

I don’t seem to have any issues doing damage in pve on my Ranger (Talking dungeons here) I stay alive a lot longer than most team mates. Do constant steady damage, particularly when I manage my pets well. PvE isn’t the issue.

Now pvp or WvWvW is another story, we don’t do near the damage. I run around with 22k in hp, and have been 3 shot by thieves. Not that a thief shouldn’t do this damage, but I then should do something close maybe 4-5 shots to equal? which I do not.

My spec is a bit different, I spec in healing, health and pet protection, so it usually takes a bit to take me down, but that’s just me. I know I give up dmg in doing so, but still our damage is too little in wvwvw. That’s my 2c. Oh, and pets are rarely useful in wvwvw, I do believe we should have a pet stowed trait line and our trait lines should be better sorted out, they’re awful in the continuity of the lines.

Look, it is simple. Anet made a promise they couldn’t deliver on. That is the issue. You tend to lose credibility when you do something like this. The better path for Jon would have been to come on PRIOR to the patch and for warn us, after making a promise that circumstances prohibited the total release from happening on time as he stated.

Or, better yet, Jon needed to not make the promise to begin with. Just say something like Ranger love is being looked into, we know there are issues and we are doing our best to correct them as soon as possible, and here are a list of what we are working towards….

Sadly, a mistake like this hurts on two fronts, both on Jon’s credibility, but also, now he will be more reluctant than ever to come here and give any hints or ideas on stuff he is working on, for fear of it not coming true again.

Jon, you should have learned this lesson a long time ago. Never make a promise you can’t keep. You lost credibility for this class and for the game as a whole.

Now, time to move on. I am dissapointed with you saying the LB and GS are good as is. I don’t feel the LB or SB for that matter are what they need to be. Also, either fix pet AI or give Rangers the ability to go without the pet, 90% of the time in PvP my pet is set on passive and I pop the active, it takes all my damage, that’s all the pet is good for. Sad. Fix these issues, either make the pets useful or give us the option to leave them tucked away.