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I want math not analogies. He could be right but until I see a DPS to DPS comparison, your analogy doesn’t even apply.
You’re welcome to do the math yourself, but it doesn’t take algebra to see the benefits of spirits do not even remotely contend with the benefits of banners. They are junk utilities that have no place on 99% of ranger skill bars. In literally every way they are under powered and it would appear you are the only one claiming otherwise, thus the burden to provide proof is placed on your unaccepted and dismissive claims.
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Interrupt Daze is a good combination with GS/SB since they both have a Daze on the bar and is currently the build I’m learning myself. Try out a 20/30/10/0/10 or 20/30/15/0/5. The Runes of the Mesmer and Power/Precision/Toughness gear with Power/Precision/Crit Damage accessories is optimal. Use pets like the Black and Pink moa’s with daze/knockdown/fear effects to lock down the enemy with hard CC’s. An Asuran could also bring Technobabble for yet another daze which could make for more skill locking enemies from fighting back while you pump them full of damage. Note that you’re going to be using Moment of Clarity which combined with Mesmer runes is a +83% daze duration, but its ideal to use your dazes as interrupts every 5 seconds to gain attack of opportunity to boost your DPS. Be careful though, this build relies on the GS block and evasion and will need Sig of Renewal and LR to survive most fights. Also, don’t neglect the Attack of Opportunity bursts from the GS, SoH, and Clarity trait as these can really pack on the damage. This build requires a fair amount of skill to use effectively (I’m still working on improving my interrupts), but the pay off is breaking up incoming bursts, shutting down powerful long cast time skills, and stopping healing skills long enough to finish off low hp enemies. For sigils, nullification is a my preference especially in the event I need to strip stability to deliver the interrupts/dazes, but it’s also nice to have for getting rid of pesky DPS robbing boons like Regeneration and Protection. With the SB rate of fire and the incredibly high crit rate of this build it’s a guaranteed boon rip every 10 seconds.
Well, hope that helps!
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The reason spirits are used so little is that the ranger has a certain set of “correct” utility choices and a large assortment of “wrong” ones relative to their build. Spirits are unwieldy, squishy, and without being traited not very potent. The passive effects aren’t stronger than the Signet passives (25% movement, 10 second condition remover, etc.) and it’s activated ability isn’t as potent as traps which can be traited for shorter cooldowns, ground targeting, and double condition duration. Hence if you’re building a ranger for conditions you’re better off with traps, and for survivability better off with signets and survival skills, spirits are simply a “wrong” choice for the vast majority of builds who aren’t sinking points into the vitality trait line to gain access to spirit traits that are going to be situationally viable. Now perhaps if spirit activated skills created long lasting combo fields it’d be a different story, but as is they need a lot more work than the recent +60% health and +20% buff chance from the trait to be a “correct” utility choice for 99% of ranger builds.
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Roll 30/20/0/20/0. Take Berzerkers Strength, Dual-Wielding, Berzerkers Might, Deep Cuts, Opportunist, Leg Specialist, and Stronger Bowstrings. Spec for condition damage and duration. Use a full set of Superior Runes of the Centaur, use Sword (geomancer sigil) + Axe (earth sigil), and Longbow (earth sigil). Use Mending, Signet of Stamina, Throw Bola, either Balanced Stance or “Shake it Off”, and Signet of Rage.
Now you are ready to apply serious pressure with a Warrior up close and at 1200 range. If the enemies are all avoiding melee just switch from Sword+Axe to Axe+Sword. If you’re experiencing a lot of heavy ranged focus fire equip Sword+Shield (water or purity sigil), and change Dual-Wielding to Restorative Strength.
Use this, learn this, and never again will you say a Warrior needs more viability.
Edit: Note- +30% condition duration in the strength line +50% bleed duration from deep cuts and +15% bleed duration from centaur runes give +95% bleed duration.
In a serious tournament setting that will get chewed up by anything with steady condi removal and decent healing, super long bleeds are generally not worth it as they’ll get cleared off before they even make it half way to full duration. And since it’s one condi mainly, it doesn’t even take that much condi removal. You’d take too long to kill something and have very little healing or condi removal of your own, which means any class with enough condi removal and better healing than you (read most classes) will eventually outlast you.
Oh sure, you can get kills on noobs with all kinds of builds, some dude running no condi removal in hotjoin will get eaten by it. But in a serious tournament against high ranked players? Good luck with that. The only chance a warrior has is to kill an opponent before they limited sustain runs out, either by bursting them down really fast or locking them down somehow. Still the weakest class in spvp, the buffs only helped a little.
The argument that condition cleansing is so heavily prevalent (like Pure of Voice build Guardians who passively shed 2 conditions every 10 seconds as well as 2 conditions with each shout), is a pretty short sighted one especially when a build can spam a condition faster than it can be removed. That’s why it focuses on duration, because I can endlessly stack bleeds with this build, and only bunkers who can’t hurt me can ignore them, hence the Sword+Axe balanced stance combo. Close the gap with #2, pop the #3 cripple which procs an Immobilize and grants Fury so I can drop the #5 for massive direct damage. This applies PRESSURE, especially when they burn condition removes BEFORE you drop Flurry, the sword burst skill, which I have never stacked less than the 20 bleeds with when using this build. (Note: when fighting bunkers its important to chew through blocks and wait out counters before the burst. If it’s just you and a bunker, there’s no need to rush it, they can’t hurt you anyhow)
So on the contrary my friend, this is exactly the build you want to use against the high volume of condition removal to force condition removers to burn them out on your bleeds/burns and not have them for the more detrimental ones of your party members. Note, the high direct damage of the build, solid crit rate, and mid range survivability does not rely on the conditions to drop targets.
I challenge you to take this build to sPvP and really try to learn it and then tell me it isn’t one of the most impressive things you’ve done with a Warrior. Not to say I’m not all for more buffs for my favored class, just to say I don’t need them to make the class viable.
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The problem with sPvP is that so few people play it because it needs so much improvement and the reason ANet doesn’t focus on improving it is because so few people play it. It’s a vicious cycle that has left sPvP gut-shot and hemorrhaging a hardcore player base with no one working to patch it up. Not matter how much noise we make for a worth while sPvP experience its drowned out by the sound of the PvE playerbase clamoring for more content. I for one wouldn’t mind seeing the whole mode scrapped and completely redone in the image of GW1: Random Arenas, Team Arenas, Guild versus Guild (uh hello, GUILD Wars without any warring guilds? Wtf!?;), Alliance Battles, and Hero’s Ascent arenas (HoH). And lets not forget Jade Quarry and Fort Aspenwood either.
I agree with nearly everything that you posted, but everybody makes the same mistake. The name of GUILD WARS comes after the lore of Tyria, not the GvG mode. I just wanted to point that out.
Oh it’s no mistake. I know all about the mild mention of the actual guild wars that happened prior to the beginning of Guild Wars, before the searing. Devona is one of the few NPC’s that even mentions them as her father fought in them. That’s of course an extremely minute lore mention of which is literally never experienced in the game. That’s kinda like naming a game Monkey Wars but then having the entire game only mention these monkey wars a few times in kind of mundane “way back when” context and then actually be about stopping a man in a yellow hat from raising an army of plush constructs to dominate the world. Unless there was some Monkey versus Monkey in that game, where the to greatest poo flinger goes the glory, the game would have a very foolishly derived name. Henceforth without GvG or actually anything at all to do with the guild wars the game name is $%#&ing stupid.
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The best time to use most activated pet skills is AFTER a CC such as immobilize, chill, cripple, daze, or stun. If you’re not doing this I would suggest a Fern Hound for the regeneration howl and one of the Spiders (as a LB ranger I prefer the Immobilizing Venom). Most other pets need to be setup for their activated skill and for that, timing is everything. It’s a high skill ceiling to master, I myself am still learning, but “I can’t do it, so it obviously needs a buff” thinking only ruins game balance and takes away the fun of the hard-to-master classes.
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As long as killing you isn’t necessary to win the match there’s little point in doing so. You can’t kill me as a glass cannon? Great! My only job is to CC you out of my capture point and only apply enough damage to force you to kite away or heal. The game mode is rewarding me for holding objectives, not killing people, so it’s not my fault I never have to kill anyone to win.
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Roll 30/20/0/20/0. Take Berzerkers Strength, Dual-Wielding, Berzerkers Might, Deep Cuts, Opportunist, Leg Specialist, and Stronger Bowstrings. Spec for condition damage and duration. Use a full set of Superior Runes of the Centaur, use Sword (geomancer sigil) + Axe (earth sigil), and Longbow (earth sigil). Use Mending, Signet of Stamina, Throw Bola, either Balanced Stance or “Shake it Off”, and Signet of Rage.
Now you are ready to apply serious pressure with a Warrior up close and at 1200 range. If the enemies are all avoiding melee just switch from Sword+Axe to Axe+Sword. If you’re experiencing a lot of heavy ranged focus fire equip Sword+Shield (water or purity sigil), and change Dual-Wielding to Restorative Strength.
Use this, learn this, and never again will you say a Warrior needs more viability.
Edit: Note- +30% condition duration in the strength line +50% bleed duration from deep cuts and +15% bleed duration from centaur runes give +95% bleed duration.
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(edited by Obscure One.4357)
Basically conquest game modes are a teaching tool for improving teams to take on actual competitive game modes, such as TDM (team death match) and CTF (capture the flag). It teaches the team how to efficiently move around a map and how to best use the topography to their class’s advantage. The lessons learned from this teaching tool game mode are then brought into the real PvP arena of TDM or CTF. In TDM working together, moving around the map, and controlling the areas of that map are vital to success and are skills that are reinforced from conquest. In CTF the most paramount aspect is efficient movement and maximizing topographical advantages, which are also learned from the conquest game mode. Simply put conquest mode is a “learning to play the game” mode that if focused on as a primary mode discourages becoming a better PvPer. A game that doesn’t award victory for kills but for taking and defending objectives is only PvP because the enemy happens to be player controlled. If I can build a nearly unkillable character with nothing but mobility based specs, knockbacks, knockdowns, immobilizes, dazes, and stuns the conquest mode doesn’t care if I couldn’t squish a fly with a critical hit. So long as I can take and hold objectives I win, whether my team is more skilled than the enemy team in actually fighting or not is irrelevant. Good at conquest is not good at PvP and the player base knows this and wants a game mode that allows them to demonstrate their skill.
The problem with sPvP is that so few people play it because it needs so much improvement and the reason ANet doesn’t focus on improving it is because so few people play it. It’s a vicious cycle that has left sPvP gut-shot and hemorrhaging a hardcore player base with no one working to patch it up. Not matter how much noise we make for a worth while sPvP experience its drowned out by the sound of the PvE playerbase clamoring for more content. I for one wouldn’t mind seeing the whole mode scrapped and completely redone in the image of GW1: Random Arenas, Team Arenas, Guild versus Guild (uh hello, GUILD Wars without any warring guilds? Wtf!?), Alliance Battles, and Hero’s Ascent arenas (HoH). And lets not forget Jade Quarry and Fort Aspenwood either.
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I keep hearing that GW2 is a “team game” and that it’s not “meant” to be balanced around 1v1.
You’ll only hear that from non-GW1 players.
Agreed. The contrary is true of game balance. A game is truly well done when it is just as balanced in a 1 v 1 as it is in a 100 v 100. Provided all numbers are equal, it is skill against skill alone.
“You mean, you’ll put down your rock and I’ll put down my sword and we’ll try to kill each other like civilized people?” – Dread Pirate Roberts
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This is a hard issue to argue either way, however we now have a pay-to-play system implemented into a buy-to-play business model, that though designed to be limited by the players serious enough to pay for the functionality, it is simply discouraging the game mode for other content that is essentially free barring the initial cost of the game. It is further disenfranchising players who wanted this as a core feature of the game, left because of it, and must pay more to come back to the game for it. This doesn’t bode well for rebooting the competitive pro teams, nor a potential e-sport quality game mode as monetization is now a deciding factor in teams looking to practice for the game mode. It’s a tall order to ask for more money from the e-sport seeking community when they were let down with a single match typed, functionality lacking, second-rate game mode to begin with.
It’s no secret ANet’s primary focus is on PvE content as has been clearly demonstrated in patch after patch, update after update. 1v1 dueling functionality or more game modes like a free for all or team death match, will only ever be a major focus of this development team if they are a jokingly added PvE element. And now, in order to continue funding their PvE centric development model, they are asking the minority player base in sPvP, the dedicated teams who want to hold regular practices, to pay more for a functionality issue that’s plagued the game mode since before launch? 1v1 dueling is such a small thing, yet they’d rather produce an endless stream of new PvE content dubbed a living story than create it. Wonder why there’s no dueling? Because you have an entirely new living story limited time only dungeon to distract you from how terribly unsupported the sPvP game mode is. Why no team death match? They needed to pay Rox’s voice actor I suppose. Why no free custom arenas? Not selling enough molten picks I guess.
I’m sternly disappointed with their decision on this, and think it will harm the sPvP community more than help it grow.
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I’m confused here. I followed the link and it does not say anything about warrior longbow shots piercing.
Stronger Bowstrings provides multiple buffs you would only find out about through encountering it frequently or using it yourself barring a simple Google search on the topic which will turn up results from these very forums containing multiple threads on the subject. Also there are also a few Warrior longbow “pro tips” videos on YouTube.
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@Obscure One:
You talk about two things in your post … how a build doesn’t matter if it can’t translate from 1v1 to 100v100. And then how Ranger does against warrior 1v1. That shouldn’t matter if the Ranger is doing fine in the 100v100, eh?
Flawed logic. My Warrior sacrifices nothing to rain hate onto large areas, my Ranger does, and it’s at the cost of being more effective against single targets.
Also, last I checked, pin down doesn’t pierce and there is no trait for Warrior longbow shots to pierce. I can’t seem to find a video quickly confirming or denying this though. Are you aware of one?
Really now? As you clearly seem to have a plethora of experience kiting Warriors to their demise the only explanation must apparently be that NONE of the longbow warriors in your tier use the primary trait in building to use one:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stronger_Bowstrings
I agree that the point is for the Ranger to keep the Warrior on the defensive. This isn’t hard with the plethora of cripples, chills, and immobilizes the Ranger has on very short cooldowns. This coupled with an innate +50% endurance regen and built-in evasion on many weapons makes it easy to avoid to Bull’s Charge, Bola’s, etc.. Additionally, most Rangers take Lightning Reflexes as it not only handles breaking the stun but also does damage, evades backwards, and gives vigor. A wonderful counter to the Bull’s Charge.
Kill Shot is so trivial to avoid that I don’t know why we’re discussing it. Kill Shot is deadly when it’s a zerg fight and you don’t are unlikely to see the warrior and realize they are targeting you with it.
It doesn’t require a great deal of intelligence to burn out a Rangers evasion and stun break before dropping the burst. It’s actually mentioned very often in sPvP videos that you want to apply pressure to the target first to get them to do just that before going into the burst. Kill Shot is also not only incredibly relevant, but also hard to avoid under quickness. I have personally hit in excess of 9k damage with it, and have heard it can hit for upwards of 13k though never confirmed it myself. Picking up on the shortened animation in the middle of combat while trying to monitor cool downs pay attention to pet position & health as well as your own, and manage the evasion, blocks, and conditions you’re so apt to assume Rangers can do seamlessly is much more of a challenge than your putting on. I would know having been on both the giving and receiving end of the situation, burning out the evades and blocks on the pressure alone can end a Ranger and its pet in a single shot, and some Warriors can get very creative in figuring out how to wear me down for it, which I have in turn adopted to use myself.
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@Sebrent
It is not my intent to derail this thread into a joust of theoretical circumstance. My comments are made purely from personal experience. To suggest that the ability for a target to evade or block is a foreign concept that would simply nullify the burst of a Warrior is again as misguided as your thoughts on the ability to kite said Warrior. On that note, positioning your pet between yourself and a longbow Warrior will only result in both you and the pet being immobilized and gaining 3 stacks of bleed. Pin Down punches straight on through, and I personally like when a Ranger does this as it makes it easier for my Warrior to spam Fury, and takes the pet out of the fight for the duration of the immobilize. You actually want to swap to a ranged pet and keep it out of AoE radius with yourself to build enough pressure to put that Warrior on the defensive with as many attacks you can throw at it in as little time as possible, I.E. burst.
@Nilgoow, Chopps, Shiren, Swagger, Bredin, etc.
As for all the WvW and tier related comments, the low tiers are low tiers not on account of lack of skill, but lack of optimizing for the meta of that game mode. WvW is a game of having superior numbers, coverage, and response time. Rangers in low tiers do not need to make build choices that must factor in population maxed zerg combat, which love it or hate it is the optimal meta for the game mode. Hence the rangers in the top tiers are building to be useful to a zerg and be able to respond quickly to hot spots as per being optimal. If you don’t build to keep up with the meta, your just another loot bag for the enemy. The side effect is Rangers that cannot compete with my Warrior in a straight fight, and pets being of little to no use in larger fights. Hence why a player beaten by a Ranger in high tier WvW is a freak occurrence for which one is laughed at.
In low tier play I doubt the meta is even relevant to the players who are making whatever build they want regardless of how effective it’d be against 100 enemy players, many of whom are just as good if not better in understanding the metagame. Again the difference between tiers is not a matter of skill, it is a matter of adherence both collectively and individually to the meta of that particular game mode. Perhaps in low tier WvW builds resemble sPvP builds, but not up here in zerg city were killing one enemy in a 1v1 is worthless if it can’t translate to a 100v100.
Edit: @Sebrent
my longbow tests were done in sPvP, with no major traits slotted, and only points in the power line. I used both a steady longbow and a sPvP longbow (no sigils) and excluded any critical hits from the results of three tests for each the steady and standard longbows and took an average, subtracted the values from each other and came up with 533.333… which was in favor of the Ranger over 10 seconds. I used neither classes mechanic (burst skill, or pets) to influence these results, as anyone attempting to establish a basis for comparison between the two weapons should. Feel free to try this yourself if you don’t trust my results.
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(edited by Obscure One.4357)
A ranger that dies to a warrior is simply a worse player than the one playing the warrior. It’s as simple as that. Warriors are so easy to kite and their damage is “bursty” and hence weak against the massive amounts of evasion the Ranger has…
This is the type of inaccuracy that results in my routine defeating of Rangers. Warrior doesn’t require skill to be effective and frequently far better Ranger players are beaten by incredibly basic Warrior builds. The Hundred Blades frenzy following a stun set up being the most absurdly common, with Kill Shot frenzy slightly less common. When it comes to my personal experience, a Ranger cannot kite my range traited Longbow, nor the bountiful bleed stacks that I build up on them as often as I connect (which each tick for between 100 to 130 depending on my sigil and might stacks), nor apply enough direct damage pressure to put me on the defensive, and lacks the ability to survive long in melee with multiple immobilizes, bleeds, and burst damage. From my personal experience the sustained damage produced by SB/LB Rangers is mostly geared for sPvP capture point pressure and a threat to the light armored (my Engineer and Elementalist especially struggle with Rangers) and glass cannon targets with the largest burst I can recall at a bit over 7k. Simply put my Warrior is just as lethal at 1200 range as he is in melee (if not even more so), and doesn’t sacrifice any durability or melee capability to do so. Coupled with multiple condition removals and a +50% endurance regenerating Signet (which also removes all conditions), permanent swiftness boon, he is effectively a Ranger without a pet with more armor and health, vastly superior burst damage, and near identical sustained damage (as per my ranger longbow vs warrior longbow tests when optimized for direct damage, the Ranger is a marginal advantage at a average of 533.33 more dmg over 10 seconds).
The Mesmer is a vastly different circumstance, in which the core mechanic is fully integral to the class. Hence those like myself who hated the mechanic abandoned the class community for something else. Our varied opinions of the class have not changed. The Pet however, is not nearly as integral to the ranger as clones are to a Mesmer. If it were, I wouldn’t be digging into the old wound of a petless option.
A stowed pet passive is complicated as opposed to which less complicated concept? The labor of designing a balanced, more intelligent, more responsive, and more controlled AI? IMO passives while stowed would be less difficult from both a development and balance standpoint. These lines are already written and need only be adapted to the Ranger.
Your comparisons are dissimilar class mechanics. The ranger pet is more akin to the Guardians virtues, passively effective with a triggerable effect. Though your interpretation of the tandem comment is incorrect. All class mechanics, including the Ranger pet, function in tandem with their existing elements. The addition of a petless option if implemented should not exist outside of/apart from/in leiu of/or in the place of the existing mechanic, I.E. would be an integral element to present mechanics, not parallel to them.
To your last point I couldn’t agree more. The control of the pet is a clear point of contention, and if it were vastly more developed, I would have no leg to stand on at all in terms of a petless option. This however is an exceedingly challenging proposition, as to much complexity may dominate the meta of the class and thus become a pet management game turning a Ranger instead into a Pokemon master. Hence my opinion to add a passive system, that adds functionality without compounding the complexity of the already difficult to master class.
You have no idea how hard I’m laughing right now. Any good ranger will rip through you without many problems, regardless of whether it’s sPvP or WvW.
Maybe on your tier in WvW, but never in tier 1 and 2 where getting ripped apart by a Ranger is something you are relentlessly mocked for. Every Ranger has to be “good” just to function but many a mediocre Warrior gives them a run for their money, much less the “good” ones. To be a threatening Ranger you can be nothing shy of a great player, otherwise your just another loot bag. The tragedy is if that level of skill were applied to a Warrior you’d be incredible, and the irony is a Warrior will never require that from you to kill all those “good” little Rangers that I owe a fair amount if my WvW armor to.
sPvP is an entirely different story, where rangers can control large areas with persistent damage, AoE cripples, and knockbacks to disrupt contesting enemies. The incredible terrain advantages that can be gained by a Ranger in sPvP grant the class a unique ability to shine that are not made available to it in WvW.
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If you don’t want a pet…dare I say play warrior?
On another note, the thought that it’s easier to “give ranger a passive buff when pet is stowed” is an interesting notion. I don’t buy it. Now they have to balance ranger for both when pet is stowed and active. That sounds like twice as much work to me, as an engineer.
I actually do play a Warrior whom not only out performs rangers in dungeons and PvE but also regularly rips them apart in WvW, sPvP being the only place they pose a real threat. That is a point I heeded back before launch and I found everything I wanted without anything I didn’t; don’t like the pet, roll a Warrior. That’s however skirting around the elephant in the room: why play a Ranger at all? The Necromancer has better condition and durability potential. The Warrior has better burst damage and sits on par with Rangers for conditions while boasting a superior armor class. The Theif has vastly stronger bursts as well, with identical condition damage potential, and superior mobility. The reason to play a Ranger must be due to the fact that the pet evens this playing field, yet it is cited time and time again to be a hindrance. The balance for a pet-less and pet option should always favor having a pet out vice not having it out, but if I can stow that pet and swap it for a quickness proc. while it passively grants a power or precision boost it gives my ranger the ability to burst on par with my Warrior or my Engineer. Or if it grants a Toughness or Healing Power boost it could make the difference between dropping under a burst, and living long enough to cool down my heal again. That being said my concept isn’t a matter of pet ranger vs non-pet ranger, but options that grant the ranger a tactical choice between having it out as normal or stowing it for a buff and situationaly useful alternate F2 skill. Stowed or Active should depend on which is more advantageous, not a matter of sacrificing effectiveness, which is what it is now.
@Obcure One: I’d be careful with throwing around “closed mind” comments as your opposition could say the same about you since you are disagreeing with their logic as well ;-)
I have never had my pet take a circuitous route that resulted in more aggro. If I’m jumping on/off paths, I stow my pet. If I can’t stow it, I swap when I’m done. The latter is the one issue I have as it forces me to waste a cooldown,
If your pet is aggroing additional enemies in dungeons, perhaps you should look at what it is that you’re doing that is causing the pet’s AI to behave thusly.
Agreed. My statement is however not exemplifying resistance to the ideas of others but being inclusive of them. Balancing the ranger pet is a massive undertaking as if it is even slightly to strong the class meta will be forced to focus on it to be effective, and if even slightly to weak you have folks ignoring it for more optimal build focuses. The perfect balance between the two is a near impossibly due to the massive variety of Ranger playstyles. Thus, an option to stow the pet as a integral part of build strategy and situational tactics, and not the optional nerf button it is now. Pet and Petless options should work in tandem just as any other class mechanic.
Edit: Here’s an example of implementation, for clarification of what I’m talking about:
Example pets:
Owl: Stowed grants +70 Precision, 20% chance to cause Chill on hit (20 sec. cd), and F2 becomes Ice Shard Stab.
White Moa: Stowed grants +10% boon duration, 20% chance to gain swiftness on hit (10 sec. cd), and F2 becomes Throw Feathers.
Mechanics:
-F2 skill can only be used once per pet. Only refreshes when the pet is made active and stowed again, or when swapped out and returned to.
-F4 press swaps pet, press and hold stows/activates pet.
-Cooldowns associated to swapping pets is also applied to stowing them. Both use the same cool down time on F4.
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(edited by Obscure One.4357)
Sebrent, I agree it’s an extremely tired argument, and the fact that it is compounds the frustration as the remedy to lower effectiveness in PvE is an previously addressed issue that directly correlates to required use of an AI that is to much of a liability. The concern isn’t no aggro vs aggro, but aggro vs over aggro, and for all the player skill you can muster that pet AI may very well ruin the dungeon run with one round about path taken to a target. The fact that it’s a tired argument doesn’t remove the overwhelming validity of the argument, regardless of the stubborn opposition to it. Only to a closed-mind is reason perceived to be futile.
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Buffs for Rangers to be practical in PvE is a fairly straightforward notion the developers thus far have stubbornly resisted; pet-less ranger options. Ideally each pet, while stowed would grant passive buffs to the Ranger, could be swapped while stowed with the F4 as normal, and would grant the ranger an F2 skill based on creature type. Let’s say you dont want that idiot pet AI agroing half the dungeon moving to your target. This option let’s you just stow it and get say a Precision buff for the Owl, or a Power buff for the Polar Bear, and so on with some kicker boon/condition that goes off on every so often like the spirit mechanic. Each pet would grant you the use of an F2 skill associated to the animal identical to the skill a thief would obtain by using the Steal mechanic on that pet. Same cool downs for all these features, and the same triggers for usage would apply, thus preserving existing game balance and compensating for Rangers who are forced to stow their pet in areas as to prevent the pet AI from over aggro.
But I’m certain this idea, like the many petless option ideas that have been floating around since before the BWE’s will be dismissed if even considered at all. Thankfully in the meantime dungeon tokens are account bound and I’ll just keep running dungeons with my Warrior to gear my Ranger.
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Seems as though the build link is broken? I’m actually playing with Ranger Chill build myself and figured I’d snoop around to see what folks have or haven’t tried. It’s spec’d for 30/5/0/30/5 using P/T/V (soldier) gear along with 2x Superior runes of Ice, 2x Superior runes of Svanir, 2x Superior runes of Sanctuary, and a Superior Sigil of Chilling. The condition duration for chilled becomes +100% by doing this. The weapons are Longbow (chilling)/Axe (chilling) + Dagger (hydromancy), the pets are the Arctic Wolf, Polar Bear, and Rainbow Jelly. Utilities are Frost Trap, Frost Spirit, and Quickening Zephyr, with Rampage as One for the elite. Marksmanship traits are Steady Focus, Piercing Arrows, and Eagle Eye with nature magic traits set for Strength of Spirit, Spiritual Knowledge, and Spirits Unbound. The 5 point dips into Skirmishing and Beastmastery are for gaining Swiftness and Quickness when swapping weapons and pets respectively. I may end up forgoing having +100% chill durations for a full set of Runes of Ice as the tier 6 buff is +5% damage against chilled foes, and it would be more vitality which also translates to even more damage from the Strength of Spirit trait. I’ll be testing and tweaking the build for awhile in sPvP before I start leveling the Ranger through PvE and eventually WvW. Nice to see ideas on “Chill Bro” rangers, makes me feel not so alone in my desire to build one.
Circumventing profanity filters one kitten at a time.
For me the Sword/Axe + Longbow weapon combination provides the greatest amount of synergy not only for field combos (a leap, a whirl, a blast, and projectiles) but also for the immobilizing and crippling, which when using Leg Specialist and Opportunist traits make it very hard for enemies to escape and can result in perma-fury during a fight (especially if you hit multiple targets with the cripples/immobilizes). I personally use runes of the Centaur so I can maintain permanent swiftness between my heal skill (mending) and my elite (signet of rage), to maximize mobility and make sure my enemy is not going to outrun me. And just as a note as a Charr warrior spec’d for bleeds and cripple/immobilize, Shrapnel Mine is possibly the most PvP viable racial skill in the game next to the sylvari root.
Circumventing profanity filters one kitten at a time.
(edited by Obscure One.4357)