Guild Wars 2

Awarw.5081:

PVE or PVP, if anyone has any effective builds, tips or suggestions I’d be interested to hear what you have. There’s no point complaining and hoping for a magical fix because it’s just not going to happen, let’s see what we can come up with.

If somebody decides to go for a trap build, I suggest this.

The greatsword is used mostly for the utility in this build, so it’s used for combos, blocking, escaping, and just annoying enemies by stopping their skills in their tracks. As you can tell, I also suggest setting up the greatsword so you’ll be able to take more punishment while in it.

The Superior Runes of the Dolyak, despite being a weird sounding setup, is actually pretty useful when combined with regen as you can actually outheal poison and bleed effects, or slow down their effects (as long as the stacks aren’t too big), and the extra vitality and toughness isn’t too shabby either. Hell, combine this with Signet of the Wild’s passive HP regen for some healing that can really annoy other players.

As a warning though…you’re not going to do much damage outside of conditions with this build, simply because it’s highlighting the most powerful thing in our arsenal…condition damage. And Signet of the Hunt is there simply because I rarely take it off unless I’m going to be in dungeons or doing a boss.

WyldKat.4712:

Some people like having a carrot dangled in front of them, and others need a carrot. Woo! Ranking up! More buffs to use points on! CARROT!

I just like playing WvW on top of everything else in GW2. Why ya stressing? Just play for play’s sake, Ballads.

This. Besides, have you seen the WvW abilities? They’re all very subpar, with the exception of the Supply Capacity (which is overpriced at requiring 300 points total), Cannon Mastery, and Siege Mastery. The rest just increase the damage you do with siege and against NPCs, or decrease the amount of damage you take from siege and the NPCs, and all by 5%.

Dark Aidget.3879:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

But these borderlands get queued and when we have hit queue, we are all on equal footing.

Normally, I would agree, but has anyone else experienced popping out of a queue and having the outmanned buff? It has happened to me twice this week and I find it most perplexing.

We had that problem figuring it out back when I was in Crystal Desert, until somebody pointed out what we felt may be the real reason…it counts the total number of ALL of a server’s players in WvW, regardless of which map they’re on. Meaning if you’ve got a full queue on Eternal Battlegrounds but you come in to see the outmanned buff, then you’re being outnumbered on the other maps.

I still play with my Ranger simply because it’s the one class I feel most at home with, just due to the way it works and my personal tastes as a player (I prefer being the long range debuff master with the bow). It’s also one of the only classes I will dungeon with simply because I know how well I am with it, and how much I can take before getting taken out.

Nike.2631:

My Ranger is alive and well. Did a few dungeons just fine. Shot down a dragon or two since the patch.

Then again my build didn’t rely on quickness from pet swap.

Same here. Just did Caudecus Manor paths 1 and 2 with a party containing of 2 engineers and 3 rangers. Only a single wipe, and we managed to take down every enemy in our way without problems. I’ve never felt stronger than I did in those runs.

That’s why I like it. Feel like you’re about to die? Bark Skin usually gives you those few extra seconds to survive with. Also, if you are unsure where to put the last of the points, either put 10 in marksman for the increased power and condition duration, or 10 in Nature Magic for the extra health and healing power. Either one will work.

I see the problem already…your wilderness survival is lower than most trap rangers I know. Most stick with 20-30 points in that field (mostly leaning on the 30 for Bark Skin), which helps quite a bit with the survivability.

Typo as far as I know.

Same here Daemon. Outside of sPvP, I usually keep Signet of the Hunt on exclusively (it’s nice to run that fast everywhere).

Trait build…what is it?

I apologize to you CD…I never thought it would happen, but I have transferred to EB. It’s nothing personal to anybody here, but since my boyfriend transferred, and I like playing with him in just about everything, I transferred as well. Which means next time you fight EB I will be on their side. I’ll see you all when we fight.

People, people, enough with the aiming for each others throats…you’re not Charr battling to determine who wins an argument.

Unfortunately, I don’t know of a good one that uses those Infernia, just because I’ve been so comfortable with my current build that I haven’t tried anything else.

Arekai.5698:

Who the kitten uses greatsword?
I laugh at everyone who attacks me with that thing. People who use it do only one thing, show that they are weak as kitten.

People use it for the utility. #4 is a friggin Aegis while it’s charging up, #5 interrupts and dazes, #3 is amazing for escaping from battle and for closing the gap on escaping enemies (plus that leap finisher), and #2 hits like a truck. #1’s only useful part is the 3rd strike, which while taking a while on the windup, evades EVERYTHING on that windup. I keep it on me just for the utility alone, since I never know when I’m going to need a hasty retreat or a few blocks while changing my position in battle.

The greatsword has been buffed. That’s a positive change. Your argument is now invalid.

Milennin.4825:

I think titles should be toggable, but if you do, it should remove the title above your own name as well (would only show up if someone selects you).

I have to agree. I’d like the option to turn them off…though I probably won’t because I like reading the titles.

I think he’s being smart and waiting for the after patch QQing that happens everytime to die down.

“Someone once told me the grass is much greener on the other side. Well I payed a visit, though it’s possible I missed it, it seemed different yet exactly the same.”

The best weakness I can think of for it is to actually lower the defense of everybody in it. You get the boost in damage, but it makes up for it for the loss of defense.

KensaiZen.3740:

Bursty classes may still have auto attacks left to use, but the idea is to avoid their burst so that you can eat through their glass armour and crap for HP. They trade their life for damage and this is where sustained damage comes to play.

I’m still waiting for somebody ingame to quote Daybreak’s Bell whenever they go burst on somebody. “MY LIFE I TRADE IN FOR YOUR PAIN!”

Personally I think they should just set up ‘sectors’ for nerfs like this, so they only hit one aspect. For example, I personally felt that this nerf should have only hit the sPvP ‘sector’ alone, and if they DID want it to hit dungeons, than make it so that in dungeons Time Warp is either not accessible (not smart IMO), or reduce the duration of Time Warp to 5 or 6 seconds. You guys did this before in GW1 from what I’ve heard, so why not do this sort of thing here?

As I said in the Ranger forum bandgeekdp, if you want to stick ranged, use a trap build, since you can throw your traps with one of the skirmishing traits (meaning you can long-range traps).

That makes me part of the 2% who didn’t really give a kitten about the quickness because pets just plain suck, and the points were better spent elsewhere.

Trap rangers were untouched Infernia, and those are the ones that seem to have an easier time dealing with the other classes. That’s from what I’ve heard, since I haven’t done PvP in a LONG time.

Trap build bandge, trap build. Use the Shortbow and Longbow as your weapons, and you have a full ranged beast.

I have no clue. Half of the buffs (the 5% bonus damage and the swiftness) don’t really help much in the long run in a fight. The other two (protection and burning) are far more useful, but if the developers are concerned about the abusability of them, then it’s simple…add onto the trait that makes it so the spirits move so that it ALSO makes them invulnerable. It fixes the problem, and makes it so you have to TRAIT for that invulnerability, which most Rangers seemingly don’t put enough points into Nature Magic to do anyway. It’s a win-win.

Neosteam: The Shattered Continent had pets, but you didn’t have to get the skill that allows you to use them if you didn’t want to…which I thought was awesome. Plus if the pet died, welp, you have to go catch another one.

I think everybody lets it slide because of his RED FLAMING SWORD OF DEATH.

It may just be paranoia glock. I noticed no change in the SB when I was killing things earlier today.

Bullkitten. I’ve never gotten kicked once from ANY party, and my conditions are what help take down enemies faster. The only way I’m doing any decent damage in dungeons or fractals is by using conditions, and with the exclusions of a few enemies or parts (where traps are useless due to things that can’t activate them), I have had 0 problems pulling my own weight.

I’ve ran dungeon and fractal groups more than a few times, and the party almost always welcomes the CD, because they know that it’s one of the only things that can keep a ranger doing actual useful damage in said areas. Plus well, combos for the party, and they love a good longlasting burn condition. Plus I’ve tried a critical build before…it was pretty meh IMO, and didn’t fit my tastes.

A disturbing thought just appeared in my head. What if the JPs for this one and the environment is 2D? Like an actual old Nintendo/SNES game?

That Jski, is why the devs should be wise and check how things are on the gaming front. I dunno, play a bunch of characters while not under the ‘GM’ moniker ingame and find out that way.

I’ll be honest Shikigami, the quickness change, while being damaging to some Ranger builds, isn’t that much of a horrible blow to all the builds. As a trap ranger, quickness did absolutely nothing for me, since all my damage comes from condition damage. The only time I really get quickness is if there’s a mesmer nearby, at which point the bleed is usually capped at 25 anyway due to several other bleed inducing classes being nearby.

What the hell!? I read level 82! Don’t tell me we’re getting a level cap increase soon!

Gotejjeken.1267:

Eh, how are trap rangers unaffected by this? Unless you run some kind of ‘low condition’ trap build and refuse to use a shortbow or an axe, your DPS just tanked.

My DPS comes from the condition damage. By myself, without the conditions coming into effect, I do 50 damage every hit on a veteran enemy in Diessa Plateau. Add in the bleed, flame, and poison CD, and I’m doing more damage each second with the conditions than I will ever do with just a regular attack from the SB. I use Healing Spring, Signet of the Hunt, Flame Trap, Spike Trap, and Entangle as my skills, btw.

The so called ‘nerfs’ to the class have never really touched me at all, and seem to actually be fixing bugs more than anything. But they really DO need to buff us somehow, I don’t care if that means changing the ratio between pet and player damage so the player does more, increasing the GS damage (which really needs it), or making so the sigils effect the player without the trait. We need buffs to keep us on track with other classes, because as of right now, the only two setups that really seem to work are the bunker builds, and the trap builds.

capuchinseven.8395:

BroScientist.9875:

Well I am done with this game. The devs are just so out of touch with the ranger profession. At least ESO beta is starting soon.

Love these arguments, I’ll put money on ESO having a crap load of people (maybe even you, wouldn’t shock me) saying “<insert game name here> beta is starting soon”.

Those of us willing to ride the balance wave up and down in the first 6 months to a year of a new MMO stick around and ultimately get more out of it.

This. Plus well…there are quite a few builds that don’t get hit by this quickness nerf, trap rangers (which I am) among them. It may be time to just start thinking up new setups.

As a trap ranger, I can say without a doubt that this doesn’t effect me much at all. I stick with shortbow most of the time while throwing traps, so my DPS won’t really be effected much.

Very helpful indeed. I think that’ll help me out in PvP whenever I play it for a bit.

Lambent.6375:

Whew, ton of post in here, but I have a question. What was the issue with reducing overall pet damage, and slightly boosting ranger damage so it wouldn’t be that big of a blow to the ranger whenever a pet got killed due to certain situations.? That seems like a simple solution to me, but maybe it’s not.

I know it was probably answered, but hard to find among all these most, lol.

The only way I could see this working is if it was a 5% difference change. That way Rangers do a little more, and pets do a little less. It also allows for some easy comparisons in every area. If we find Rangers are on the whole doing better with that 5% increase, that will tell all.

Wait, people are having problems with knockdown here? How? I’ve run through that place on my Ranger and my Guardian and I’ve almost never gotten knocked down. Are people forgetting to dodge or something?

This thread feels like deja vu…oh that’s right, there was a similar thread for rangers.

To be honest, I only expect people in dungeons to know how to play their job, and they’re fine in the group. The only time I ever kicked somebody from a dungeon party was when we had a warrior who tried to blaze through the enemies like he was in PvP. After 8 revivals in CoF1 and him QQing that he kept dying, I had enough and we kicked him. Btw, he was the ONLY one who was dying that fast, meaning the rest of the party, which was a ranger (me), a necro, an engi, and an ele had to do all the damage to take out everything.

Why not make it so if a thief loses a certain % of health while in stealth, they’re forced out? It makes it so they still keep the advantage of stealth, but if they get hit too hard by something they’re thrown out.

Strifey.7215:

There is nothing ranger offers to the group that a guardian, mesmer, or warrior can’t do better other then maybe rezzing a fail group in the first place. Far from the best PvE class.

If those 3 classes are the best, then why use any other? Why just tell Rangers to get lost, and not Elementalists and Thieves? Because after all, Warriors do better DPS than thieves and Guardians are better support than elementalists.

Zenith.7301:

They want him stowed for a different class because regardless of what people here tell you a ranger’s damage is terrible compared to warrior/mesmer/guardian, his burst relies on pets that die easily, and he brings no utility like many group boons and reflection or group haste.

Your best bet is starting a group of your own, but be cognizant that you’re slowing others down if they’re competent.

Most people like to bring up skill and not dying, but in a skilled group nobody will be dying often regardless of class but your ranger is guaranteed bad DPS and utility regardless of the player behind it.

Just go sit with the necros and (to a lesser extent) engineers. They’re overshadowed as well.

Ahh Zenith, always talking bad about the Ranger, Necro, and Engi. Do I REALLY need to remind you of this point of the power of a CD build ranger with traps, and how useful they are?

Strifey.7215:

For anyone saying you can bring a ranger into a dungeon and do fine, you are correct, but if you were a good player, then bringing another class would just do it faster and easier and offer more to the group.

That’s why people don’t want rangers, there’s more leeway to be bad and not help the group.

Ironically, most of the time when a party I’m in during a dungeon fails, it’s not because of the Ranger…it’s because of the Guardian, Warrior, or Elementalist. You know, those ‘most wanted’ classes? Well because they’re easier to roll with than other classes, you’re more likely to find high leveled noobs rather than actual good players. In fact, in almost every dungeon run I’ve failed, we failed because those classes didn’t know how to play them well enough to pull their weight.

x per fection x.2096:

To be honest rangers are the worst pve class there is, and for this guy calling people not letting rangers in their groups unskilled makes him look dumb.

Well to be honest, it IS pretty stupid to kick somebody from the team just because of their class, especially in a game where every role can serve a purpose. And in AC and CoF, two of the easiest dungeons in the game (despite what people think, AC is still easy despite the upgrade)? If you kick somebody for their class in those dungeons, you HAVE to be thinking wrong.

First off, thanks for posting Robert, as you’ve made my week for that.

Whoever made the idea of giving pets a distortion like effect, I agree with that idea. Hell, make it their ‘dodge’ function, and call it “Survival Instinct”.

Verdelet Arconia.6987:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I added health and stamina bar placement just to put it on the list, but those feel like more cosmetic changes than gameplay experience altering changes. I certainly think there is a time and a place for those recommendations, but for this thread let’s just stay focused on the chore mechanics that could be improved and ways that they can be adjusted.

I like the recommendations about the f1 key being more versatile. I certainly think there is something more to be done there with it. When we talk about these things internally, I will be sure that we take a long look at all the F-key commands and see what improvements can be made. I personally favor toggles that allow you more control (what if F1 was both “attack” and “return!” that got toggled? What does that free up? Could F5 be a thing?). There are lots of options to explore.

There have been some calls for perma-stowed pets, and while I have said this in other areas I will say it again here. I don’t think we will let you perma-stow pets – the main reason being we want the player to be interacting with the pet, and the pet to be part of the identity of the player. The role of ranger is to to have a pet in our game, and with that comes a bit of extra micromanagement that comes with the package. Right now the micromanage is difficult and more tools are desired, and I honestly feel that once we make micromanaging pets easier, more responsive, and better in general that players won’t mind that they don’t have perma-stow capabilities.

I wouldn’t suggest that F1 be toggled with attack and return to me. The natural tendency when a player sense that a button is not executing as intended is to press the button again.Pets attack is a problem by itself being that it usualy does not connect well nor connect fast.Toggling atk and return to me using the F1 button might not be a good idea.

F1,F2,F4 should remain as it is. F3 could include with dodge and return to me(Same mechanic as player stamina)
The current toggle that we have which is just 2 modes and not assigned to any button can be the new F5. The various toggle mode that you might include is
1) Offensive mode-atk any enemy on sight or those that dealt damage to pet or ranger
2) Defensive mode- Follows ranger closely and attack any enemy that damages ranger only
3) Territorial mode- Attacks any enemy within XXX meters of ranger
4)Passive mode – does not attack any enemy and follow very closely and exactly behind ranger only,does not move anywhere else to the left or right,
5)Protective mode- does not attack any enemy but absorb XX percentage of damage every XX seconds
6)Kite mode-Attacks first target that ranger attacks only,does not change target even if ranger changes his target until first target dies.

there is various toggle modes you can expand on but number 4) will be a good alternative to permanent stow

I like the idea of adding a Protective Mode, or making Passive mode have that ability, but giving the mode change a cooldown, like 5-10 seconds. That way it can’t be abused very much.

Danireathorn.2814:

sucre.9310:

detha still bugged ,yesterday!

event was not start.

someone know how to treat it?

What we do is we bring the gravelings from the bottom of the stairs into the room to aggro and kill Detha.

I’ve noticed that this is how you deal with all NPCs that won’t do their jobs.

Also, I’ve seen this path bugged with the boss, but it’s hilarious because he bugged during my run ON THE NORTHERN TRAP. We merely activated the trap, took his HP down, hit him while waiting for the trap to respawn to avoid him resetting, and then did it again and again until he died. Was hilarious, but yeah, needs to be fixed.

I still laugh whenever I hear people having problems with the new and improved Spider Queen. Most I died in there was twice by myself (rest of the party survived) because i just came from farming and forgot to switch out of the MF armor to the good armor. Other than that the mechanics behind the boss is really easy. She may have stronger attack, but the general strategy has always been the same. The web shooting can get dangerous if she’s coming after you, but that’s easy to fix with condition removal signets and traits. I really don’t see how people have problems with her. Kohler, however…