Nice idea, but is it possible to combine your F3 and F4, and add a new function to F4 or scrap it entirely?
What I had in mind is that once the pet is recalled, it gains a 1s evasion while it returns to you, and this evasion comes with a 10s ICD to prevent abuse.
Yes I’m hoping for the fabled 90:10 damage ratio between the ranger and the pet, or maybe even 80:20. And then have the BM traitline to rescale the ratio in favour of the pet.
Just as Ensign said before, this patch is a good start. What’s more important is that the devs actually pick up from where they left off and not do things half-heartedly.
Only reason Rangers are called “unparalleled archers” is because they can go dual bows, something unique to them, otherwise the bows aren’t impressive. Then again, Anet has stressed countless times that melee>range.
The only thing the Ranger does well at 80 is PvPing, even after the nerfs. In PvE, it is a dead class, and only reason to play one is the cosmetics.
PvE Ranger is now same as PvP Warrior, trash professions.
As for PvP, BM Bunker is still viable? Maybe PvPers can elaborate, but I imagine with the damage nerf on pets, the build is nothing more than a One-Trick-Pony, since pet damage is all the build has before this update.
Longbow’s not a lot better. The issue with it is it’s got no defense whatsoever and people can easily get in your face, gutting the damage. Firing a half damage projectile faster won’t fix anything. Rapidfire will still do terrible damage.
Not sure about you… but even now Rapid Fire does 10k damage on its last hit usually for me….. sometimes more.
I’m pretty sure that 10k is the sum of all arrows of Rapid Fire.
That’s exactly what we need. Anet nerfing the dps of the bad AI companion that serves as our pet. Which also count at about 30-50% of our total dps . Good going, Anet.
This will probably give Anet an incentive to buff weapon skills.
Ahhh, who am I kidding? Anet has already proven not to care about Ranger damage all the way back in GW1.
Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.
Make it a two-handed AoE/control weapon, like the Mesmers greatsword, or the Warrior and Guardians hammer. For example; #1 fire a piercing shot, #2 fire a series of shots in a cone pattern that blinds up to five targets, #3 fire a shot that bounces between five targets and deals vulnerability, #4 charge your foe while firing a series of shots-first shot deals fear, #5 roll backwards-your pets next attack also knocks down.
The staff could be made into a support weapon, that focuses on giving different boons to allies.
Interesting idea; however, the point I’m trying to make is that from all these threads people just want a rifle so they can go running around like a… surprise, a Rifle Warrior. And the same goes for Thieves wanting a rifle. I wouldn’t mind wielding a rifle for purposes other than sniping.
As for staff, I like it as a druid’s staff more than as a quarterstaff, but that warrants a separate thread.
Looking from another angle, what skills do you want on Ranger Rifle? I personally don’t want to see single target DPS because that’s what Longbow is for, and I prefer the Devs improve it.
What bothers me is that the attributes need to scale correctly. I mean on wiki, bears have 29,982 hp but have 4122 vitality?! And despite having 1718 vitality, canines have 14,868 hp, tied with cats.
Honestly Long-range Shot needs to be faster and streamlined. Keep the damage same and give it bonus damage at range 1000+.
Rapid Fire needs to be compressed to 3 seconds.
Thirdly, I wish Eagle Eye range increase is baked right into longbow itself.
Most people focus on the projectile speed, and while I wont’ deny that’s something of an issue, it’s the actual attack speed, i.e. the slow rate of fire, that’s causing most of the problem. I believe Long Range Shot was intended to fire about 25-50% faster than it actually does in game. This needs to be fixed first and foremost.
Put points in BM or use a tanker pet or swap your pet… I love what they did last patch now it takes 3 conditions as opposed to 1 … If anything the signet needs a buff 1 every 10 seconds is garbage waste of a utility spot
Ok then how would you design the Ranger rifle? I think this is the reason why Anet did not give the rifle to the Ranger, because they have not planned it out.
Btw longbow already does single-target direct damage, so I would rather Anet improve it than making rifle the same thing.
Right, die GS is ridiculous. Even the sword does more damage…
I’d like to know why they nerf it the way it is? I mean it’s also showing that there is no real QA. Why can’t there be a hotfix just for damage increase?
Because it butchered everyone in the beta? And this was before Anet stops playing Whack-A-Mole with balancing.
Ok let’s look at it this way. Anet have decided to give Rangers swords, so why not use them?
Or let’s take a look from the lore’s point of view. Some Rangers in GW1 (including yours truly) were sick of using bows because of their subpar damage, so they chose Warrior, Assassin, and Dervish as their secondary and picked up melee weapons. And over these 250 years, these melee Rangers developed their own distinct styles, which is why you see skills like Maul, Pounce, and Swoop.
