Guild Wars 2

ChillyChinaman.6057:

For raw damage go bird or go home. Drakes are also good for their cleave, dogs for their knockdown and cripple.

Birds deal more damage per hit, but have a much slower attack speed than cats. I’ll have to run some tests to see which has better DPS.

UPDATE: after a bit of unscientific testing in the mists, cats are still the kings of DPS, at least vs. birds.

Perhaps barrage dealt more damage than it was supposed to and anet fixed it for us….

Yobculture.5786:

Actually, after EOTN and the faction skills stuff, Paragon became quite useful.

My £0.02.

So rangers just have to wait until the first expansion to become useful again. Good to know

Allow pets to rally when you kill an enemy.

Fade.1743:

3. Why “Protect Me”? This might be just because I’m new to Ranger in Fractals, but why this shout. I mean I get what it does as a defensive CD and a stunbreaker, but we can just pop Signet of Stone with the Beastmaster’s Signet trait for a better defensive CD.

Because it’s now a stun break. Signet of stone is not. Protect me also frees you from having to take signet of the beastmaster. The downside is your pet will most likely die, but I guess that’s why his new build runs bears and drakes.

Warriors have more blast finishers than any other class, and you’re complaining about it? You can string together 7 blast finishers in a row if you’re that kind of warrior who likes to run with 4 banners.

Just be thankful you’re not a ranger.

Rangers will get fixed 6 months after anet nerfs hundred blades.

Chopps.5047:

Why isn’t zephyr’s speed grandmaster material? As an example, natural vigor (5 in WS) is a grandmaster for engineers. Quickness is so good ANET had to cut it’s effectiveness in half a few months ago. And not many people know this but with traited quicknenig zephyr and zephyr’s speed, ranger had the most quickness uptime in the game. Now it’s even longer.

Not only that, zephyr’s speed at 5 points made master’s bond (celestiallust sigil for pet) look awful. Finally, it was so good, almost every build used 5 in BM. Now we’re free from that ball and chain. The only real difference this makes is in pvp because now quick stomps require QZ or 30 in BM for spvp.

As far as pve goes, simply use this build or a variant and you’ll be way more effective than with anything you had before.

• by the way, how about longbow for this build? Dat 10 stack vulnerability! Mmmmm

Thing is, I don’t like that build. I did try a 0/30/20/0/20 build, similar to my old 0/20/20/0/30 build, replacing natural healing so I could pick up both pet’s prowess and companion’s might along with quick draw for my longbow cooldowns, and I still feel worse off than before.

Now, if companion’s might also caused the pet to stack might on the ranger, I might look at it in a different light.

Doug.9628:

are the people complaining about pets even bothering to recall/heal them correctly/switch pets based on the encounter? The only time I get double death is when I am literally not paying any attention whatsoever to anything that’s going on.

I have no issues with pet survivability in dungeons, outside of a very few specific encounters.

The thing I’m complaining about is much more pressing. Anet, in their infinite wisdom, chose to nerf a very specific build (BM bunker) that was only prevalent in a very small area of the game (SPvP) by applying a blanket nerf to nearly all pets across all game modes. So now my PvE build, which was heavily invested in beast mastery, but by no means a bunker, is now less useful than it was before the patch.

Not to mention swapping what is one of the worst grandmaster traits in the game with a 5 point minor trait which was quite good, but by no means grandmaster material.

Kreslin.6832:

Sorry but I disagree. I don’t see the problem. They could do something better and stay on the original business model.

Developing and releasing an entire games’ worth of content in only six months is a tremendous feat, even for the largest of developers. In fact, they didn’t even make their six month deadline for Factions or Nightfall.

Imagine if anet reduced the damage of hundred blades by 50%. The uproar would drown out a nuclear blast. And that’s only a single change to a single skill. Anet did this to nearly every single one of our pets -to varying degrees.

Villious.8530:

IMO, their Esport vision is one of the things hurting this game the most. I wonder how many players actually care about the Esport aspect, compared to PVE?

I feel like GW1 was more suited to be E-sport material. More game modes and more skills made for a more interesting metagame…Until anet started slacking on the monthly skill updates.

Kreslin.6832:

They decided to create GW2 when GW1 had success.

Anet decided to move on to create GW2 because the business model they outlined for GW1 wasn’t feasible in the long term. Two fully fledged campaigns per year was far too ambitious a project.

If there’s one thing anet does consistently, it’s inconsistency. Making one class work harder to achieve the same results as another class seems to be their idea of “diversity.”

For example: thieves can hit 10k crits with a single backstab. For my ranger to reach those numbers with maul, I have to spec 30 in marksmanship, and blow two signet cooldowns.

I know I shouldn’t reply to troll bait threads, but I’m tired and a bit delirious.

I have tried the new traits, and none of them make rangers better than they were. Rangers are circling the drain when it comes to usefulness in dungeons and WvW. And if these might stacking pet builds and perma regen/swiftness nonsense builds take off, they will be nerfed back to uselessness.

Chokolata.1870:

BM builds were not too powerfull in PvP either . Just compare them to any other dominant builds of other classes, or count the games on top level play where a team would take a ranger over an ele or guard . Not many ? Any Did not think so ..

I think the issue was players not being able to avoid pet damage while trying to contest a point. Which I think is just silly.

Chopps.5047:

Durzlla.6295:

Chopps.5047:

ANET is like the eye of Sauron hovering in Mordor. They see all. They know all. Nothing is a secret long.

I hope they don’t nerf my DD + Hybrid (DD + mean condi dmg) pet + mild tankyness build, idk about you guys…. but my builds have all been buffed! Thank you kind Anet Devs for giving me a pet capable of having over 700 condi damage >=D

Guys…I’m too tired to explain…but read this…yawn durz is right. Gnite. Btw this is important. Read it! Then look at your pets and traits. Then read it again.

Yeah, stacking might on your pet is cool, you’ve told us a dozen times already. Unfortunately, condition damage is still garbage in PvE.

And yeah, I dumped more points in skirmishing to pick up both pet’s prowess and companion’s might. I’m still dealing less damage than I used to.

qualm like a bomb.6512:

GS leap = 1100 / SB = 900 = I can jump further than I can shoot a short bow.

Now that you’ve pointed this out, anet will reduce the range of swoop to 600 to compensate.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Quarktastic.1027:

DarkSpirit.7046:

I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces…

Uhh….why not?

Because I would be at a disadvantage against people who have superior gear.

Then join the zerg and play tag with AoE. Besides, it’s not like the difference in stats is enough to decide the outcome of a fight.

If you’re losing skirmishes in WvW, it’s not because you don’t have ascended gear.

DarkSpirit.7046:

I can’t do WvW because I don’t have ascended rings and back pieces…

Uhh….why not?

RWinter.1680:

Domino.1359:

Cool build; just tried it myself. Thanks for taking the time and experimenting after this latest patch.
Def. far from the usual bunker builds.

Has OP or anyone tried this with axe/warhorn or axe/axe?

Axe could be an alternative to the piercing shortbow for chained crits, especially if using Honed Axes (Skirmishing IX) for 10% extra axe crit damage. Of course it would only hit 3 at most, and fires much slower than the shortbow. My guess is that it could not stack might as high as the shortbow can.

You could try this by taking 5 points out of Marksmanship and dropping it in Skirmishing instead, which would give you 50 more precision (2.5% higher critical chance), 5% more critical damage, plus the 10% higher critical damage on axes.

Also works with longbow barrage, and rapid fire. Can also work with sword/horn, sword/axe, and GS. But I guess the shortbow is best for getting consistent stacks.

Tinni.4351:

bezim bezec.8635:

Yes maybe your ideas work in PVE and I admire your theorycrafting, however all the stuff you’ve mentioned just doesn’t cut it in spvp/tpvp.

Well I don’t know about spvp since I haven’t done it for a long while but I just spent the last half hour getting pulled off tower walls in WvW while defending by axe rangers and that’s one top of axe rangers making life very, very annoying just getting to the tower in question. So about now, I have ZERO doubt that, that axe change is going to feature prominently in pvp. Maybe not have entire builds around it, but I am pretty sure there will be some interesting plays build around the new axe #4.

Thieves have been yoinking people off walls since WvW began. I don’t see scorpion wire being featured prominently in PvP.

I’m surprised Chopps hasn’t showed up yet spouting about how awesome the ranger is and how we all need to play better.

If you enjoy the ranger for any reason other than “hey, I have a pet!” chances are you will enjoy another class more. And you will probably preform better.

I preferred the marsh drake because its F2 was the easiest to land and had the largest AoE range. Unfortunately, now that it can no longer fire behind the drake, it will be just as impossible to land on moving targets as the other drakes’ F2 skills.

Lokki.1092:

This sounds more like the numbers I see daily. The Idea that only 10% of people PvP sounds wrong when nearly every zone is empty but WvW is always full (on my server).

Anecdotes are fun are they not?

When you look at player populations across game modes, you have to take a few factors into account. WvW is comprised of only three maps and one instance. PvE has 31 explorable areas, eight dungeon instances, fractals of the mists, and more personal story instances than I care to count. Population density in a given game mode may also depend on which server you’re on. A server more focused on WvW may have a higher WvW population than PvE population.

I would argue, across all servers, the average player population is higher in PvE than in WvW or SPvP.

jubskie.3152:

I see these people as the kind of people that absolutely hate change. Their toy truck with big wheels got changed to a toy truck with small wheels, but in exchange they are given a new race car as an alternative. They will kitten and moan about the changes to their beloved toy truck and completely ignore the new race car.

This is all well and good. Except the new race car has broken wheel and is covered in dents.

Khal Drogo.9631:

Just b4 the topic was closed, someone was mentioning on another thread ppl complain all the time about PVP profession balancing. Wouldnt happen if you don’t play PVP at all.

I don’t entirely understand what you mean by this, but I’ll toss this out there anyway.

If no one played PvP, Anet would shove even more balance changes down our throats, to try and entice people into playing PvP.

Target something and press F1. It will remove Guard. Then press F1 again.

If this doesn’t unstick your pet I have nothing else to say.

Ronin.5038:

Ranger pet changes were a bit drastic.
There’s no need to make a class that already underperforms in dungeons even worse based on how they perform in an entirely different aspect of the game.
Although, was anybody really surprised by these foolish changes? The ANet balancing team has proven their incompetence many times ever since the games release by failing to actually balance the classes and failing to separate pve balancing from pvp balancing.

I was actually foolish enough to believe the leaked patch notes were a clever hoax. Joke’s on me I guess.

Though to be honest, they really did look crazy enough to be fake. The balance team should quit whatever substance they’ve been smoking…I think it’s messing with their heads.

Daecollo.9578:

If leaks are real:

Worst Profession in PvP:
Warrior.

Worst Profession in PvE:
Ranger.

Fix’d

pullnointer.1476:

Quarktastic.1027:

Roll a warrior, spec 20 in discipline, and enjoy 5 second weapon swap cooldowns.

stahhp

Don’t forget to add runes of the warrior for an additional -1 second.

Roll a warrior, spec 20 in discipline, and enjoy 5 second weapon swap cooldowns.

Once anet stops trying to balance their entire game around the smallest portion of it (spvp), I think perhaps rangers will get some much needed positive attention.

I love how people are up in arms over fake patch notes. It’s kind of funny really.

Oh yeah, spoiler alert: patch notes are fake.

More temporary content, more weapon skins in random chance boxes, the usual.

The precursor “scavenger hunt” will likely be similar to how we obtain the gifts for legendary weapons. Buy a kittenload of mats off the trading post and flush them down the mystic toilet.

Underpowered as a mesmer skill, overpowered as a guardian skill. Imagine the shenanigans with signet of inspiration, empower, and altruistic healing. An 8k heal for yourself, and 24 stacks of might for your whole party.

I thought I wanted Kudzu, but after seeing it in game, I’m not so sure. It doesn’t really look all that much like a bow, though the effects are nice.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like the wooden longbow, because I like my weapons to look like weapons.

That said, I also like Kudzu, mostly because it would be an excellent fit for my sylvari ranger.

The better -and simpler- option, would be to remove the range requirement on long range shot, and compress rapid fire into a single attack. Perhaps making rapid fire similar to the warrior’s arcing arrow, but maybe add a combo field instead of a finisher. Though I wouldn’t mind a 1200 range ground targeted blast finisher.

Xsorus.2507:

Its not redundant because EB transfers the conditions to your pet.

SoR will remove one of those from your pet, which could be a high stack of bleed, but more important, removing Chill or Cripple from him

Signet of renewal’s passive effect does not remove conditions from your pet. Unless this was changed in a recent update.

Michaeas Magister.1589:

Anna Kruse.3941:

this might sound rude. and im saying this as nice as possible…. L2P. stability stun breakers. blinds. oh yeah. and DODGE…

Ah, the old “Learn to play” retort.

How much wiser I now feel after having read such a brilliant response. You could have just kept on playing at your Godlike level and ability and just ignored a mere mortal such as myself, but no. You actually took the time out of your amazing game play to pass on this pearl of wisdom to us less fortunate and less skilled plebeians who are so inept that we cannot handle using three stun-breakers and two dodges to counter the chain crowd-control skills that are relentlessly hurled at our characters. Bless you… Bless you…

However… In my own paltry defense, allow me to state that I am not adverse to having crowd-control effects on MoBs. I actually CAN and DO regularly thwart such attacks with stun-breakers and dodges. This thread was not about crowd-control, but about CHAIN crowd-control and getting endlessly locked down. I highlighted the word “chain” in bold as you were obviously so busy dazzling the rest of the MMORPG gaming community with your brilliance that you failed to read the original post thoroughly. You’re welcome.

I do feel that crowd-control effects have a place in this game and do not object to MoBs having access to such abilities. What I AM advocating against is being CHAIN (highlighted that again for you) crowd-controlled and turning the game into just a video that I watch as my character gets knocked around like a Ping-Pong ball by multiple MoBs that have far more access to these crowd-control skills than I have access to counters.

But this is obviously not an issue with someone of your immortal caliber of game-play. I do thank you however for deigning to come down from on-high and attempting to educate us poor, mere mortals with your impressive and obviously superior wisdom on the game mechanics.

Thanks.

I don’t think I’ve ever been chain stunned by anything, not even the holo mobs. Sounds like a L2P issue to me.

None of the holo mobs have stability, aside from the single risen abomination. As a warrior, you have more AoE CC than any other class. Don’t let the mobs CC you, equip a hammer and CC them.

Player Character.9467:

Daecollo.9578:

You can burn enemies in a stove.

Godwin’s Law. First post.

I think you mean fifth post.

I’m disappointed they removed the mini peacemaker shocktrooper. My guardian would kill to have a miniature version of himself running around.

Some mini pets don’t have swimming animations. Minis without swimming animations will be automatically stowed if you enter water. Which is a shame, because I would really like to bring my mini oakheart everywhere, but having to resummon it every time I take a swim is incredibly frustrating.

As for disappearing if you run too far ahead of it, I’ve never heard of this happening before.

AcidicVision.5498:

I wonder if we will see another wave of bans.

I can see it now on Reddit:
EconoBuster: “Why was I banned?”

Anet: “What is your account name?”

EconoBuster: “GlitchenUmad.666”

Anet: “You were banned for exploiting the mystic forge to create rare mini pets to the detriment of the economy and mini market”

EconoBuster: “how was I supposed to know 4g for 100000g was an exploit? And I only did it once to check!”

Anet: “You used the mystic forge to create NINE THOUSAND minis”

EconoBuster: “My bad.”

I am really crossing my fingers for this to happen. Players have done it, had actions taken, and been given another chance twice now. Leechers in Dragonball and Forge exploiters. Just give them all a nice time out for the rest of the event.

I did it once in order to confirm my theory on why exotic mini prices were tanking. I got a pink moa out of it, so I actually ended up losing gold.

On the plus side, I grabbed a mini oakheart off the trading post for 40g. Been wanting one of those since launch.

I spent 110 gold on mini pets today. I got 7 minis out of it, but still…

Grim.6415:

No reason to be sorry. Enjoy.

I’m sorry that I got my hopes up. When I heard anet was handing these out to people who had purchased gems in the past, I knew on some level that converting gold to gems didn’t count, but I set myself up to be disappointed anyway.

xDudisx.5914:

You can try to make a one handed zerker but how do you plan land your hits with a weapon that is slow, has no leap, no cripple, no stun ?

I plan to play PvE where enemies are too stupid to move.