Guild Wars 2

On topic…

In sPvP or tPvP you are bumped up to being a true level 80, and will have free access to max level PvP gear and all of your traits and skills. You will have full access to all of the same resources that everyone else has. It is a completely level playing field in that respect.

In WvW your stats are upleveled, but you don’t have any of the perks of being 80 like a full set of skills and traits. It will be a very obvious handicap until you actually have all of your exotic gear, traits, etc.

That said, play anyway. You can level in WvW, and there are things you can do to help even though dueling will not be your strong point. You can run supply, repair gates, res people during protracted sieges, etc. It’s not always the glamorous work, but it contributes and you can still have some fun. Learning where everything is and what needs to be done to take objectives is valuable, and can be done at any level. Just run with the zerg until you get a handle on things and you will at least have the protection of numbers.

Mostly, just don’t get too frustrated. There is a pretty high skill barrier with the ranger. It’s just not an easy class to play in this game. Our direct damage is relatively low, but we have crazy good control skills and lots of ‘em so if you can survive the initial burst (and you can), you can take a fight back with a bit of effort. Just don’t expect to see the big high risk/high reward stuff you see on spikier classes.

Haven’t you heard? Direct weapon damage is the only type of damage in the game. Luckily, you can also ignore all utility present in any weapon because all fights in GW2 are 1v1 and really just boil down to two people standing in front of each other and exchanging punches to the face until one goes down.

All of those facts make this game very easy to understand, but build depth really suffers for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on…

DoomBunny.2903:

deepwinter.9015:

@DoomBunny, You mentioned mobs and I’ve noticed that the NPCs in the game act very much like my pet. In fact, I’ve used their attack-and-move and pathing issues to move through zones quickly, without entering combat.

Surprise, surprise, pets use the same AI as mobs. So, all those dumb-as-a-brick mobs you’ve kited in a circle are at the same AI level as your pet. The only difference is pets actually have and use skills (which they aren’t too bad at).

Indeed. I don’t expect the pet AI to improve, but I bet we get something to improve their hit rate. At this point, I’d be thrilled if they would just respond when I hit a button.

As it is now, I’ve become used to automatically hitting F2 the moment I engage or swap just so my pet does what I ask before the fight has ended. That and I never really bother to call my pet back anymore – I just swap them a lot since it’s far more reliable.

I sure would like to be able to apply a blind on demand rather than apply a blind..you know…whenever it’s convenient for my raven to get to it.

Yeah… I just discovered how amazing the foraged items are the other day. Porcine pets’ F2 is crazy good as is, and I simply had no idea.

Plus, as DoomBunny mentioned, it is one of their other skills already.

Definitely agree that frost trap is one of the best. It’s great for control, and it’s a life saver in WvW. No damage of course, but it sure let’s you put the hurt on in other ways.

I’m sure there are karma items you can get too, I’m just not really up on what all of them are. I had a lot of spare gold, but not much karma (relative to the cost), so I just bought all of my gear.

Gotcha. You have plenty of options for condition damage gear:

Rampager’s – Prec, Power, Cond Dam
Shaman’s – Vit, Cond Dam, Healing
Carrion – Cond Dam, Power, Vit
Rabid – Cond Dam, Prec, Tough

Rune of the Elementalist – power + cond dam
Rune of the Thief – precision + cond dam
Rune of the Engineer – toughness + cond dam
Plus any of these: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune#Condition_Damage

So you can mix and match how much of each trait you want boosted, or go all in on one set.

You can buy just about any of it on the TP.

Oh, and I have no idea about legendaries, so hopefully someone else can help with that.

GL, and I hope that helps!

Hey Akerhage. I wish i could give you a cut and dry answer, but I don’t think it’s possible without knowing what you are trying to achieve overall. In some builds you will want to use your equipment to enhance your existing skills/utilities, and in some you will want to use complimentary gear to fill out your weak spots

I would recommend heading to the mists lobby to test different specs and equipment. It’s not quite the same equipment setup as PvE/WvW, but it will give you an idea of which direction to head.

I haven’t tested it or anything, but for two trap straight damage, flame and spike is probably the best option since a little control helps keep them in the field longer.

Also, if you want to bring three traps, don’t forget that you can throw 5 points in BM for 2s of quickness when you swap. If you can afford to put 15 in there then you also reduce the pet swap by 20% so you have much better quickness uptime than QZ w/o the pesky heal suppression.

First of all, rangers don’t have low damage. They have low direct damage. There are plenty of places to make that up. Conditions obviously, control skills, traited pet and weapon swapping buffs you up pretty hard, and a buff pet pushes you up even higher. Traps can be used as well. Plus the (admittedly fairly laughable) SoH if traited also gives a boost. Last, and probably least, you have your pet. They’re not perfect, but they do contribute if you play to their strengths.

That’s one of the great things about rangers. They can include all of that stuff in one build. None of it looks impressive on it’s own, but together it hits hard. I just layer damage types so that I’m not a one-trick pony, and that seems to work really well for me in most situations.

I also trait for many of the passive healing and doge based buffs so that my normal defensive maneuvers are available more frequently, and are more effective. Don’t forget that not taking damage reduces your opponent’s DPS, which clearly works in your favor as well.

MeGaZlo.9516:

nldixon.8514:

@MeGaZlo

If you do just fine on your Ranger, why are you always on the forums complaining about Rangers? Yes, Rangers have some issues. Rangers are also totally playable and there are some amazing builds and play styles that make them fun and effective.

I have yet to see any positive or constructive posts from you on the Ranger forums. So what’s worse: people coming to the forums trying to promote effective play styles and builds (and coming off as “cool” as you put it) or people coming to the forums and complaining incessantly and providing absolutely zero constructive feedback?

Uh! UH!! So much? Really?? Can u list??? I doubt it.
Some issues… For example no normal support builds? No social buffs? Half of abilites – sluggish buffs on pet, who manages to miss even on mobs sometimes. In tanks builds ranger is cotton. In glass builds can not overdamage even necro with power/c.damage equip. Ranger is not fine. If u think otherwise – you know nothing about it and abviosly live in your own rainbow world. Ranger now has ten times less options and variety than any other class. This makes him dull and boring.

Wow. Settle down there cowboy. It’s just a game, and it’s just a discussion.

I’m not sure what you are trying to argue here, but it sounds like you are saying that people that can’t play the class effectively are more knowledgeable than those that can. I think you may have that backward.

I do just fine with my ranger. I also have one of each other profession, so I’m at least familiar with all of them. I won’t claim to know much about eles and necros because I’ve played those the least, but I do know that I can play as effectively on my ranger as I can on any of the fotm classes. Except for mesmers. I haven’t quite learned how to play effectively against good ones with my ranger yet.

Again, nobody is saying that the ranger doesn’t have issues. Some of us just happen to know that the sky isn’t falling – it’s just a little rain. We’re going to get some tweaks, but I’m betting that they aren’t going to be as drastic as some of you seem to think are necessary.

Raw damage is just one part of the picture, so feel free to argue about how rangers suck on paper all you want. The truth is that there is more depth to the game than just damage numbers. So if that’s all you are looking at, you aren’t getting the whole picture.

Lol. I’m not saying I’m amazing. I don’t win every fight, but I win far more than I lose now that I better understand what I’m doing. I’m saying I was in the same boat with the rest of you, then I had an epiphany and saw what I was doing wrong. I took steps to correct it and now I can play competitively on my ranger. I’m not the only one that can do so.

I’m also not playing the two cookie cutter builds. I play a very balanced build so I’m not reliant on any one thing to make it work.

Do I believe that many people aren’t playing to the ranger’s strengths? Yep. I’m certain of it because I was doing the same thing up until a week or so ago.

What’s more likely: that ANet decided to make a class that simply can’t compete at all, or that not everybody who decided to play the ranger has had the opportunity to get good with it? The game is still young my friend.

I also didn’t say that there aren’t any improvements that can be made. I’ve voiced my opinion about spirits and signets. I too agree that there should be more viable build options. There could definitely be some positive changes, but I’m no longer expecting huge adjustments because we simply don’t need them as much as I originally thought we did.

For what it’s worth, my post isn’t meant to inflame or belittle (which is more than I can say for yours…). I’m trying to help some of you have fun with the class you want to play. Just keep experimenting a little bit and you will most likely find many of the same things I did.

My recommendation is to lighten up and stop taking forum posts so seriously. Meanwhile, I’ll be in game killing stuff…with my ranger.

Well, here’s the thing. You can continue to say 50% isn’t OP all you want, but it’s simply not true, and saying it more doesn’t make it any more true. And no, I don’t want my pet neutered so the LB can do more damage. I have learned how to use my pet, and as it turns out it’s about as effective as you play it.

Yes the lack of attacking while on the move thing can be frustrating, and I think it will end up being changed. However, try crippling or chilling your target and see if your pet hits don’t improve. Trait for improved pet speed and see if it doesn’t suddenly catch your target more often. Try using your stuns and control skills and let me know how many misses you see. If all they do in the next patch is to make it so that pets can hit while on the move, your ranger will suddenly feel very powerful.

Which brings us back to the underlying issue…

Raw damage simply isn’t the whole picture, and treating it as such is flat out wrong. This is a games of skill, and control is king. Hell, it’s emperor. As it turns out rangers have control skills in spades. We have tons of options to avoid or to mitigate damage, to interrupt or to shutdown, to make and to close gaps, and to otherwise control the pace of the battle. That means that the warrior that is normally pumping out a million Ds per S isn’t pumping out very many Ds at all if he can’t hit you or use his skills. Therein lies the strength of the ranger class. Control and adaptability.

If you are the only one doing any damage in a fight, your DPS is higher than your opponent’s. Period.

What you are asking for is severely OP. You just can’t see it yet.

Think about how you can play within the confines of the class instead of trying to fight against them. The tools are there, and all you have to do is learn to use them properly. Don’t try to force the ranger to be something it’s not, and I’ll bet that your outlook will change. Mine sure did.

@Tracker – I agree with you on pets. We’re probably going to need an animation fix to get those beasts moving in the right direction. Although I could easily live with wonky animations if they just want to push out a mechanics fix.

@Arekai – sigh.

@OP – With all of our damage avoidance and control skills, a 50% raw damage increase would make us severely overpowered. All of the ranger QQ lately makes it sound like everyone just wants a class where you can put it on autopilot and win. I want to work for my kills, not just faceroll newbs. Plus, just think how humiliating it must be for people when they get thrashed by a good ranger…

I know it’s not a popular point of view in these forums, but maybe the ranger’s LB isn’t all about DPS. There are effects that each LB skill brings to the table that are really useful for shutting people down and/or providing burst damage. I mean, it has a max range AoE cripple for kitten’s sake – that’s actually a big deal.

I’ve said it before, and I maintain that I don’t think the LB’s problem is raw damage. The problem is that it’s way too easy to simply sidestep the LB shots without ever needing to exhaust a drop of endurance – especially at long range where the LB should shine. That, and you can’t quite rely on your pet like you ought to be able to, which I’m betting will get improved sooner rather than later.

So, for my money, it just needs an arrow speed increase, or a skill cd reduction so you have more of an opportunity to actually land shots, and/or use the amazing utility in the skills. Once that frustration has been removed, I think we’ll all have more of an opportunity to learn to use the LB well.

@krojack: Really? Ouch. That sounds frustrating. I, luckily, haven’t seen the same. I just laugh and hit the dodge button when it happens now.

@Apophis: I thought that I was doing it wrong at first as well. After paying more attention though, it’s absolutely happening to me due to terrain issues (I’ve tried it outside of combat for instance). I also agree that it’s a minor annoyance at worst. I have learned to cope with it to the point that it’s really a non-issue for me.

@Dante: I hear you. I kind of threw that 5% in there as a lazy solution. LB is pretty lackluster atm. To me though, it doesn’t seem like it’s really a raw damage issue. It’s too easy to dodge everything, and it’s just not as fun as the other weapons because of it.

That’s why I lean more toward a cooldown reduction. There is some amazing utility in there, but you seldom get to use it effectively unless you are at close range which obviously negates the purpose of the LB. At least having them available more frequently reduces the gamble a bit, and has the side effect of a DPS increase. Plus it would make your opponents think twice about closing the gap since, no matter what, it’s harder to escape the pew pew when you get in close. As it is now, you can just dance back and forth, wait for a LB ranger to exhaust his/her tricks, close to reduce #1’s effectiveness, and attack.

I also like your suggestion to speed up the shots, and give it some additional range too. That would make the knockback a lot more useful as an interrupt rather than just anti-melee, and also reduce the “sidestep my shots” gamble.

@Aeri: I’m with you on pets. Let them attack while moving, and they are just fine. I seldom have any issues with my pets because I’m constantly telling them what to do. Also I trait for frequent swapping so my pets are almost always fresh – unless I get sidetracked and stop micromanaging. That’s part of being a pet class though. You have two bodies to keep track of.

@Sleepy: 100% agree that most of these suggestions are waaaaay OP, and I really hope that we don’t get them. I prefer a nicely balanced class that can compete with everyone – not a faceroll class.

Things I would like to see:

Small (10% – 15%) cooldown reduction on shouts with some very light associated ally buffs thrown in – maybe 2-3s of might, prot, etc. depending on the shout.

Significant cooldown reduction on most signets. I honestly would say at least 50%, but that may be unrealistic. Boost their passives by 10% – 15%, or affect both you and your pet on use w/o traiting. Maybe change the trait to allow passives to stick when activated like Eles have. All of that together would be too much, but some combination of those changes would bring signets in line with other profs.

Definitely boost the passive speed on SoH to somewhere around 20% – 25%. 10% is hardly noticeable and not worth the slot imo.

LB either 10%-ish reduction on cooldowns, or a 5%-ish increase in overall damage. I prefer a cooldown reduction as I like the utility of the LB skills more than I care about its raw damage output.

Unroot OH sword #1 – I think that one is pretty universal. Otherwise, sword feels pretty good to me.

Off-hands are pretty good for the most part. I would maybe add mobility to Whirling Defense, or give evade for the duration that you are rooted. Plus, reduce the duration in either case to balance.

Traps feel pretty good too. I would like to see a short (1s) immobilize or blind added to the poison trap. That one feels lackluster compared to the rest imo.

Spirits. Uh…something. I am completely unfamiliar with them because they are totally non-functional as they are. Just make them gooder.

I may be the only one, but I would rather see the GS get a defensive buff since that seems to be its primary function. We need build diversity more than we need yet another damage option imo.

I realize that the damage output isn’t amazing, but I would rather balance that by decreasing the recharge on #4 and #5. Maybe add a couple more stacks of bleeding to #2, or increase the duration of the existing bleeds to add a bit more pressure to the weapon. Or swap bleeds for a blind, making it even tankier.

I know it’s not popular, but I really don’t think SB needs much love. I feel pretty competent using it, and it seems to have a fair balance of DoT and direct damage. If I were going to change anything on it, I would reduce the cooldown on #5. I like interrupts.

Arsenic Touch.7960:

One of the many bugs with rangers. Swiftness doesn’t always proc despite landing a hit, and you don’t always jump back and find yourself with your face smashed in.

To be fair, the jump back not working 100% of the time is not specific to rangers. Any other prof that has a similar mechanic on a skill will experience this problem if the terrain gets in the way. The thief’s shortbow, for instance, does the exact same thing.

What probably needs to be addressed is that you can’t always leap uphill. I can understand if there is a rock or wall in the way, but you probably ought to be able to jump up a ramp or stairs. That, and I’ve noticed that some terrain won’t render at certain camera angles, so I don’t always see the rock that’s blocking me.

I’ve taken to making sure that my back is to open terrain as much as possible if I’m on the defensive, so it’s not much of an issue for me these days. However, it would be nice if it just wasn’t an issue.

@OP: the problem that everyone (including myself) is having with interpreting your post is that your pet UI looks like the rest of ours. So, we’re not exactly sure what the problem is. If you wouldn’t mind elaborating, perhaps we could help.

If what you are talking about is the text, then (as someone has mentioned) your bindings have caused the issue. Using a modifier simply guarantees that your binding either won’t fit in the allotted space, or won’t be accurate. It appears that ANet has opted for accuracy over appearance in this regard.

Hope that helps!

Posting to add my name to the list of people experiencing this issue. I was good to go for the first two days of the headstart, then periodic disconnects and error 7 every day since.

My girlfriend has zero issues running through the same network as I am, so I initially suspected that the problem was with my computer, even though I never have an issue with any other games or applications.

Port forwarding does not help. Resetting all of the various “things” does not help. Changing servers (went from Henge of Denravi – HEAVILY populated – to Erredon Terrace – medium population) does not help. I ran through all of the various troubleshooting steps and suggestions to no avail, so I started experimenting.

The one thing I have done that seems to function as a consistent workaround is to run some other application that streams data at the same time as the GW2 client.

I’m using Spotify to play some tunes while I play GW2, and I NEVER get disconnected while running this way. If I shut down Spotify, I am back to the disconnects in a matter of minutes.

It’s not ideal, but it does work for me, and may help alleviate some of the pains the rest of you are experiencing while waiting for an actual fix.

Hope it helps…

-Rummy