Guild Wars 2

LB: Sigil of Air+Fire
GS: Energy/Intelligence/Fire

You are a Zerk. You have to behave like one. There’s no discussion about the Sigil choice.

There is another issue.
… There is zero condition removal in other trait lines whatsoever.

Not only we are forced into Wilderness Survival just to get some condition removal… We can’t even get enough of it because we can’t get both, and we can’t choose any of it if we want to focus on Conditions.

Every single aspect of it is wrong.

I find it rather strange.
…
There is a viable build that includes Shortbow and Greatsword – but your build doesn’t have anything close to it. Your trait choice is mostly wasted (almost no access to movement impending effects since you chose GS and Bear as a pet).

Not to mention that you didn’t take Moment of Clarity – that is like a must have in your weapon setup.
And if you want to keep the weapons – you definitely want to swap Sigils on SB to Air and Fire. That is your only damage you are going to deal with that weapon.

Also, the traps are pointless. You are too glassy in order to take benefit from no-dmg utilities that don’t even help you survive. If you want to make it efficient – Signet of the Renewal is a clear answer for your build.

With MoC trait you are going to have 5 second lockdown which is amazing in your Zerk melee setup. It will be in danger in XvY, but in duels it’s cool.

That’s all that came into my mind for now. I’ll definitely say a word again when more the community makes more points.
But currently, the build is a no-no.

EDIT: I just glued some stuff that would make a bit more sense with your weapon choice. Here’s what I can imagine being viable in the open
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNMQJAVRjEq0vaLLWsw1iAChaVA0aFYHvRwD4seTiTWRUUB-TlCFABspDohDBAHaCA4CAclSQkU+JwDAggjAQiq/0y+DBAQAm5MDAm5Mn5Mn5MLDg/YA-w

borya.2964:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Not to mention that like every single skilled Ranger holds his pet on passive waiting for opportunity to send him to attack, mostly starting with F2 ability
Your idea would make your life comfortable (because you are bad at pet management) and would ruin it for the rest of us.

No need to be that rude, his proposal already exists but it only depends if the F2 is an attack order or not.

I believe I was not rude, yet. I was straight and strict. I do not like beating around the bush. I am aware that truth is painful, but I am not that kind of guy who’ll sugarcoat what seems rather obvious.

If I was wrong than I apologize. But my point is that the sooner he realizes that there is a way to get better – the sooner he can work hard to improve if he chooses so.

I believe the issue is simple.

Longbow – Strong weapon with huge range. It requires a counter-play in terms of easier kiting. Can you imagine a Ranger that keeps shooting at you from 1700 range? Without a single way for you to reach him?

Axe – no idea. I’d like your change on this weapon.

Shortbow – it’s difficult to make it work in terms of calculation. You see, I’ve already been exploiting this weapon just like half of the better rangers out there.
It’s “flank” restricted. But not really. That part is calculated through comparison of your and enemy’s angle. If you strafe and fire into your enemy’s face – you proc bleeds.
The same would happen if you could fire behind your back – the angle is 0 – which means you are basically shooting from behind (both of you are facing the same direction)

That is the main reason.

UnitedChaos.8364:

My typical pvp experience.
[IMG]http://i59.tinypic.com/21o1wco.jpg[/IMG]
Every.
Single.
Time.
I finished top on my team…

Welcome… To the player versus player section of the internet…

Never had an issue with this.
…
If you targeted a player 800 units away from you – pet will try to use the ability on that particular target. If you targeted the player trying to stomp you – you would have zero issues.

The problem you are talking about is nothing but a human factor. Your problem has already been solved. This is how it works:

• If no target is selected – Your pet will use the ability at it’s current location (regardless of whether it wit hit or not)
• If your target is selected – your pet will try to use the ability on that particular target

This allows you to use the pet whichever way you like. You can use him to activate abilities on spot, on any enemy you wish and so forth.

Not to mention that like every single skilled Ranger holds his pet on passive waiting for opportunity to send him to attack, mostly starting with F2 ability
Your idea would make your life comfortable (because you are bad at pet management) and would ruin it for the rest of us.

That’s what my opinion is.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

The interrupt and MoC is applied before the damage is done? Things like that happen with skills in GW all the time, has that been tested?

I spent like 20 minutes dying in hotspot with autoattacks off just to bump into someone with channels (one Necro ended my misery)… And yep, after counter-attack I ended up with the buff.
(You can probably tell how difficult it is to trigger the interrupt from an ability that activates on completing the cast)

Which means it’s impossible for Couner-Attack to apply MoC as well as trigger it. People tried to brainstorm a bit and didn’t realize how the mechanic works.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

I’m talking about the dmg from counterattack. It interrupts and at the same time the dmg bonus from MoC is applied to the dmg of the knockback.

And how, Sir, would that happen? You have no idea how the trait works, am I correct?

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Counterattack itself triggers MoC, and the dmg is applied after the interrupt, so i didn’t need Hiltbash (or another interupt) there. It is actually more reliable than HB->Maul combo.

Exactly – the damage is applied after the interrupt… From the attack that follows – which – correct me if I’m wrong – is 90% times an auto-attack.

Ashkew.6584:

Maybe a hint to some kind of merge with pet spec.

You guyz see that weird dream everywhere, don’t you?

UmbraNoctis.1907:

6k+ knockbacks from GS4 are pretty nice too, so maul is not the only skill, that benefits from MoC.

Another unreliable, yes. I can see you wasting 3 seconds of your stun after successfully interrupting an ability with Hilt Bash without using a single attack, just so you can try to use #4 and hope it will hit (another movement lock ability).

Well, if you think the roulette that requires you to turn off Auto-Attacks or superhuman reflexes for Pet Swap is worth the trait, then my idea to buff it is out of the question.

Clear Signet mastery for me – it is.

LughLongArm – I explained why Path of Scars does not activate the trait.
… Path of Scars is the ability which triggers the trait on the 2nd hit (which is the last) – thus it can be used with the boost only with a cooldown of … As long as 15 seconds. And you sincerely do not want to tell me you are going to wait 15 seconds without using a single attack just to trigger the trait efficiently, do you?

The Maul is correct – as I stated – the only viable way to use the trait – which is a disappointment for Master Trait. If you activate the MoC through Hilt Bash – you might as well use it for Maul. There is no way for you to use MoC to boost Path of Scars.

And truth be told, if you manage to get Remorseless and MoC in one hit – it’s similar to winning a Jackpot. You’ll feel incredible but the chances are so slim, that you’d have to pay 5 times the price in order to get the reward. Because:

• Getting Fury from BM traits on GS is a RNG.
• Getting Fury from Weapon Swap cannot be used because you’ll need to use Hilt Bash – which will consume Remorseless
• Using Hilt Bash doesn’t guarantee you the proc of MoC. It works only if you interrupt
• Path of Scars will only buff a basic attack of your main hand weapon. The only combo to use it would be: Rooting the enemy > Using PoS, managing to interrupt the enemy > cancelling auto attacks > Swap the weapon and hit him Rooted and Knocked
  And a master trait for such a drastic prerequisite is a joke.

And the problem is:

• Using Signet of the hunt Itself grants you 100% Fury Proc, guaranteed +50% damage on your next attack (identical to MoC) and you can control when you are going to use it.
• Has only slightly longer cooldown than Hilt Bash.

You are right. The 250% might be a bit too much but I found it bearable.
Rangers never had moment where they were best at something. And promoting the Ranger combat that has been our only upper hand seemed fine to me. Especially when half of the changes in HoT are anti-ranged. Not to mention the rare number where you’ll activate this trait. Not to mention that Rangers now are like the only class that isn’t able to 1-shot anyone unlike Other Zerk classes.

Also, I am currently not aware of Ranger being able to kill a target in 3 auto-hits, so far. But I’ll admit that I haven’t visited WvW in some time, so I might be wrong. For melee and semi-ranged (Axe/SB) the number seemed fine.

Anyways, the current bonus damage multiplier is simply overrated. It works with 1 weapon only, with a single sequence only, and is noticeable only on an ability that everyone already learned to dodge (Maul). Not to mention that it’s hard to interrupt an enemy with an ability that locks your movement and has a cast time as well as obvious animation.

A reward for success in all of these prerequisites should be of a higher level. Another idea I had was:
“Your next ability will have the effect increased by 30% (Boon/Condition durations, damage, pushback/pull distance)”

This would increase the burst or utility you can provide but would finally be reliable. The damage numbers were naturally cut down for a trade of much better versatility.

Moment of Clarity – After interrupting your foe, you and your pet will deal 50% more damage on your next attack.

…
Let’s sum up what’s wrong with this trait.

• It’s an ability designed for buffing up burst damage after successful interrupt
  But the problems are:

1. Ranger was designed as a class with stable DPS without burst damage
2. Ranger has currently only 3 hard hitting abilities: Maul, Rapid Fire, Path of Scars
3. Rapid Fire is not a subject for this boost because it’s calculated as 10 independent attacks
4. Path of Scars cannot apply it because the ability itself is what triggers the trait and we have no main-hand weapon that possesses an interrupt, neither a utility ability
5. Maul is the only ability that works with this trait.

The problem is, that it’s not worth choosing Moment of Clarity instead of Signet buffs. Reason is simple. With signet of Hunt and Remorseless – you outshined MoC into oblivion

• Note: Signet of the hunt has similar cooldown to Hilt Bash, and will trigger the damage buff 100%. Hilt bash has to interrupt the target.

Ideas for change:
The trait’s idea and goal seem fine and rewarding. But it lacks strength. What I suggest is adding another effect and changing the pattern in which the damage is applied:

• If you successfully interrupt an enemy, your next basic attack apply 15 Stacks of Vulnerability for 10 seconds and will deal 250% damage.

Explanation: Ranger is currently in lack of spiky damage and his highest DPS output comes from autoattacks. By changing the mechanic into buffing auto attacks only, it would avoid making abilities OP and would make the trait appealing for every Power/Hybrid weapon. Would also promote Longbow’s #4 for smart play and add some love to Ranger Combat that it’s going to be really harsh in HoT because of all the Retaliation, Reflects and Projectile denial that has been added.

Fluff
You meant faster attack animation, right?

I’ll react to the recap:

• Pet’s jumping is impossible. I dare you to code it. It would be around 7 miles long and would literally flood the processoring to an unplayable extend.
• Damage on move – Part of tracking issues – already mentioned
• Slow attacks = Irrelevant. DPS matters, which is fine – already mentioned
• Smaller attack range = irrelevant. Part of Tracking issues – mentioned
• Pets need certain distance – You double-mentioned the same problem.
• Predict movement – more than 90% players can’t. You have no idea how evolutionary algorithm that learns by itself works, do you? Processor flood. – impossible.
  NOTE: You are able to do it yourself, as well as craft strategies. Wrong point.
• Evades and AoEs – part of survivability – already mentioned.
• I didn’t realize a single Pet lag ever since I started playing this game. No idea what are you talking about. They are programs that actually create the delay because of the memory they occupy and processoring time they require to execute. Technically speaking – they are the ones unaffected by server delay.
• Pathing issues are as perfect as they can be. “Find shortest path from X=Ranger to Y=target (avoid impassable terrain)”. More perfect than some players can do. Terrain ground levels are the problem that is irrelevant to pet. Allowing the pet to port a certain amount upwards does not solve the problem. Allowing him to enter the terrain and port up afterwards makes absurd problems of going through pillars. Allowing him to follow terrain impassable for players would be a disaster.
  You can as well ask Anet to give you money for playing the game. The request is almost the same. Irrational, unrealistic, self-centered and would cost Anet a huge portion of money.

The list is basically a specification of what I already mentioned. The ones that I did not I realistically skipped. They can’t be made. Not with the money budget they have.

I would never believe I would be brought to a position to quote … Myself …
Reading through thread helps you answer your questions. Even those you do not need, I am aware, but there are even those you search for.

But to sum things up:
*AI is fine. By any means necessary.
*Their damage is fine.
*Their survivability is not fine
*Their tracking for attacks is not fine
*Their cast times need to be adjusted.

That’s all there is to our pets.

@Aomine
… Nothing personal …
But your reactions and replies seem childish at best. This is not meant to be offensive. This is a statement that might tell you that your behavior doesn’t lead anywhere. Your arguments hold no weight whatsoever, you claim false accusations, you misunderstand topics themselves, you do not really “get” what’s going on…
…
And yet you act too highly towards people like Serbent who actually accepted the drab to search for the information that people asked for in a way that can’t be rejected. And even then you continue to discard these statements because they do not meet your personal wishes of buffing the ranger (I assume).

Aomine.5012:

Point is he’s not interest in benefiting or fixing ranger. He cares about pinpointing the little detail of other people’s point of how much damage nerfed, which is irrelevant to the case.

1st of all:

• There’s nothing wrong with not being interested in fixing something that isn’t broken. Not everyone needs training wheels.

Secondly:

• Your point of view is the one being self-centered. He was simply pointing out false statements. People kept disbelieving so he provided bulletproof data.

And last but not least:

• You still are the one who hasn’t provided a single piece of information that is verified. For instance: the yet most powerful build available to rangers hasn’t been played in competitive, at all. I believe it was you to say that even A-net themselves do not have to be correct. Why … of all people in the world … would YOU be the one correct; when even the competitive players stick to their personal preference.

And one more misstep you made. You provided your source of information – youtube. I personally don’t mind. I am mostly phlegmatic but you can bet that others will think their own.
EDIT: There is a Beast Mastery PUG tournament video on youtube, actually. I believe you turned your own arguments against yourself, sir. Now it’s clear you didn’t even bother trying to search for clues.

It is.
If you don’t run bearbow, that is. But even if running bearbow it will end up comfortable – which can be classified as good since you asked for “solo” purposes.

I gladly share my thumbs up, Sir. I like threads like these. They really do lift the spirit.
Well, since Two Steps from Hell has been mentioned, I’ll state some of the songs that I listen to. But keep in mind that’s not what people usually listen to.

Faun – Egil Saga
Faun – Punagra

Well… And from those that resemble today’s music styles:
Hat Films – Pixeldust
John Skyfield – The Breeze
?Electro?Monstaz. – Popcorn Funk

Edit: This one you might like for PvP
Xtortion Audio – Untouchable

@Aomine
Saying that math is irrelevant, because your experience is superior is short-sighted.

Will you sue the factory if you are responsible for not reading the manual and using the product incorrectly?
Saying that the creator is responsible for your incompetence in using the product is wrong. The experience goes only that far. Math goes far beyond because Math is able to skip human factor, that is the downfall of vast majority of experience.
With all due respect – the offensive attitude only proves that you have no relevant argument to present, thus possesses zero importance.

We certainly are aware that pets are hard to control and keep alive. Just as we are aware that it makes a huge difference for skilled players who are capable of controlling them.
It gives us DPS advantage against Meta Classes, CC and utility advantage over being CC’ed ourselves – because our pet can either soak it up or continue doing his job regardless of where we are or in what state we are.

But it is a benefit that requires a high skill-cap. If you do not possess the skill requirement for this benefit – you do not deserve to profit from it the same amount. Easy as that.

I believe that after clarifying this – there’s nothing to clarify about pets anymore. Unless some of you guyz who prefer “experience” feel like I’m incorrect. Then you can prove me wrong by any means necessary.

Well… My pet was able to blow a 17k crit.
That’s post 70% damage nerf. And if today’s damage is 1/3 of the damage only…
… Did the pet have higher damage than the Ranger itself? Doesn’t it sound absurd to you?

I do remember someone saying that pet damage got nerfed hard (by 50% if I remember correctly) as a NerfBat for Bunker BMs, but I haven’t been playing this game at the time of the nerf, and I never saw a proof of patch notes saying that.

But to sum things up:
*AI is fine. By any means necessary.
*Their damage is fine.
*Their survivability is not fine
*Their tracking for attacks is not fine
*Their cast times need to be adjusted.

That’s all there is to our pets.

@Draeyon
Most of stuff is going to change. Most Dangerous game is probably moving into higher tier trait, some traits are going to be swapped, some merged, and so on and so forth.

These are merely the builds that currently are described.
Protective Ward was mentioned a subject for change to give protection to the pet. Which will not make it worth a GrandMaster. One way or another, a lot of stuff is going to change. But you can make a picture of what is going to be possible.

Namica.2951:

AI is typically a catch all term in situations like this. Essentially in this case it means: poor pathing, poor responsiveness, and trouble hitting targets.

I disagree. That’s what people think. And obviously misunderstand.
Not what it actually is.
That’s mechanics. Not AI.

The only AI part of it is the responsiveness. Because the pet needs to decide which ability to use by itself, and which one should it cancel to use the other.
And currently – that part is fine. Priority from F2>Long CD>Short CD.

Absolutely Fine. People should try to realize what AI actually is when asking to improve it.

#Atom
Glassbow is always going to be a subject for conditions. There is no way to deal with them, honestly.

What you might find useful is the Fury variation, that sacrifices points in Skirmishing to gain access of Survival of the Fittest. That way you’ll gain much more condi removal, reliable, on demand, and you will not be glued to signets anymore. Muddy Terrain, Lightning Reflexes, Entangle – all of that are wonderful tools that you’ll definitely like in your bar.

And you still can use 1 ability for a signet, be it Stone or Renewal – depending on what gives you more trouble.

1. The AI is not terrible. AI = Artificial Intelligence. That has nothing to do with mechanics and animations. Their behavior is fine. It has been for quite some time. I don’t remember a time when it didn’t do what I ordered him to.
2. I agree that there are some cases where I don’t want my pet out. For obvious reasons. I know that my pet will die and I won’t have it when I need it. And I’d like it the other way round.

#Sebrent
I mean… I could, but since I’m limited on my free time (exam period) I’d like to avoid it, especially when you can test it yourself, the way I did.
Everyone has access to the stats, pets and traits in PvP – and it takes you 3 minutes to do it yourself.
I’d have to search for a freeware recording program that actually works, then I’d have to edit it, find a place to upload … And it’s a lot of trouble that I feel like pointless since I know the results already – and even provided you with those.

And if you feel like finding for yourself – you could do it just the way I did. The difference is that I am already satisfied and feel no need to prolong the issue further unless a problem comes out.

But I’ll have to disappoint a bit.
Just went there and test it (it seemed quite believable according to my experience, but I’ll admit I never went out to test it)…

So, the test on a Heavy PvP dummy with the PvE meta (6-5-0-3-0) were:
Pet used: Jaguar (Stalk)
The meta PvE build with 2333 power, 54% crit and 197% crit damage were able to bring down 1,68 = 168% times the targets HP for a duration of 1 minute.
Weapons used: Sword + Off Axe (Sigils used Air+Fire to maximize DPS)
The pet was able to bring down 0,64% in the exact same time period.

The experiment was made without outer interaction by using every single aspect that a PvE would experience. Both Ranger and pet were affected by Spotter, and were not affected by might, fury or any other boon.
The ranger was under effect of Predator’s onslaught and pet had it’s own vulnerability applied which compensated the difference (pet should have 5% bonus, but I didn’t have a way to apply constant non-damage slow). These benefits would normally be available for both.

Conclusion:
In stationary DPS rotation without any outer interactions such as Boons or Buffs except for those the Ranger can provide (Spotter, Frost Spirit),
the pet deals around 38% of Ranger’s DPS.
The numbers are not accurate since they do not count Vulnerability, Might, Fury, banners and “Strength in Numbers” boosts. They also provide a long-lasting fight that does not include using Longbow, since the weapon is stronger the shorter the fight lasts and would provide inaccurate numbers in 1 minute scenario.

Technically speaking – this percentage drastically changes if the fight requires movement, or uses cleave abilities that requires Pet dismissing or swapping. In such cases, even the Ranger rotation changes.
Without more specification – The highest self DPS pet – Jaguar – deals 38% of Rangers DPS in a stationary safe environment.

EDIT: The pet used Pet’s Prowess trait and was not affected by Companion’s Might. (even though both are part of the PvE meta build).
The test was made 3 times with results varying with around 7% target’s HP differences. The results are an arithmetical average.

That’s my scientific dude. I like those kind of people.

@Draeyon
Some of which I thought of.
Point supporter:
Beastmaster’s Bond + Might, Remorseless
MDG, Spotter, Quick Draw / Strider
Bountiful Hunter, Windborne Notes, Protective Ward.
- Viable Power build that provides damage spikes, provides Team Support in a noticeable measure and has high sustain. GS, Sword + Horn setup.
Healing Spring + SoS, SoR, SoW + RaO. Pets: Wolf, Marsh Drake

It lacks passive condi cleanse, but will have high defenses regardless, 3 leap finishers, 2(+1) blasts – and with access to healing spring. Almost permanent Regen and all in all shouldn’t die to condis because of SoR. Provides permanent AoE fury, AoE swiftness, AoE regen, Team condi cleanse via HS and Signet.
Gains crit on Pet Swap, Weapon Swap, and has unstoppable Bombing phase inside of RoA + SoW (crit every 3 seconds – fury is reapplied)

The other melee build:
Elusive Skirmisher
s/t + s/d
Sharpened Edges, Quick Draw
Ambidexterity, Oakheart Salve, Wilderness Knowledge
Protective Ward.
- simply said : Absurdly annoying to play against. Full of evades on short cooldowns, plenty of condi cleanse, disrupts enemies, deals hybrid damage.
Troll Unguent + Muddy Terrain, LR, Sharpened Edges + Entangle
Celestial setup. Wolf + Raven.

Even though people always and constantly claim the pet AI to be that horrible…
… Could you tell me an option how to make it better?
Because I don’t. I find it bearable. Quite fine but not perfect.

What I’d address is probably the survivability, their management … And that’s probably it. You can’t expect pet AI to be on a level of a human. They are not like that even in real life, for Christ’s sake.
They merely listen to your commands. They won’t make much decisions on their own.

Their reliability is the issue. Not their AI.

Sebrent.3625:

Bold added by me…

Tragic Positive.9356:

I believe I’ll save the search and say that Axe hit and Greatsword hit have almost the same damage and ratio, but Axe has lower.
(base 168 vs 203 … coefficients 0,5 vs 0,55)

Tragic Positive.9356:

Sebrent.3625:

@Tragic Positive:
Please go see the damage posts I did for ALL ranger weapons … that base damage is being calculated using the actual weapon damage calculations which use the coefficient and the weapon strength. If you look at Axe’s weapon strength, it is actually a good bit lower than Greatsword’s (in sPvP 995-1100 versus 857-1048). That large difference in weapon strength makes an enormous difference.

Now, you are free to “save the search and just say” whatever you want, but the numbers will show that you are quite wrong :-/

Well… I mean … We both basically said the same thing.
I said Axe is weaker by a bunch, the numbers fit the ratio…

What exactly do you have in mind? Are we both wrong or a misunderstanding happened?

Perhaps it’s the statement I put in bold.

Another thing not taken into account there is the attack speed of the weapons.

Greatsword, while less than most power weapons, does still do considerably more DPS than Axe.

You left the most important part out. Look just a tiny centimeter to the right of the statement in bold.
The numbers have exactly the ratio you mentioned. Yours is given in true numbers, mine in shrank. The numbers are irrelevant, the ratio matters. I believe everyone knows the basics in damage math here in GW2.

But I still fail to understand.
Maybe I’ll try to explain step by step. And repeat everything over again.
Axe hits are almost same numbers as the greatsword’s are. Because you know… 9 might. That’s why I mentioned that it’s useless in PvE where you are going to end up with 25 anyways. That’s another point I made about Axe being weaker.

And how the numbers that we both provided are wrong only for me? … Maybe I had too much chemistry the past few days … But this is out of logic for me.

Sebrent.3625:

@Tragic Positive:
Please go see the damage posts I did for ALL ranger weapons … that base damage is being calculated using the actual weapon damage calculations which use the coefficient and the weapon strength. If you look at Axe’s weapon strength, it is actually a good bit lower than Greatsword’s (in sPvP 995-1100 versus 857-1048). That large difference in weapon strength makes an enormous difference.

Now, you are free to s"ave the search and just say" whatever you want, but the numbers will show that you are quite wrong :-/

Well… I mean … We both basically said the same thing.
I said Axe is weaker by a bunch, the numbers fit the ratio…

What exactly do you have in mind? Are we both wrong or a misunderstanding happened?

I believe I’ll save the search and say that Axe hit and Greatsword hit have almost the same damage and ratio, but Axe has lower.
(base 168 vs 203 … coefficients 0,5 vs 0,55)

In PvE there usually is 25 might provided by eles and Warriors and … Greatsword obviously has Maul and Swoop. Not to mention that hits 5 targets.
And an icing on the cake is that Greatsword is still behind in damage, and that’s a Standard Zerk weapon for all WvW,PvP and casual PvE.

Axe is just plain bad Power Weapon. It’s an okay hybrid one, but definitely not the Power weapon.

It would be fine if the “on demand” evades really worked on demand.

But I still find it amusing that Rangers are the only ones who keep MainHand sword in PvP as a utility stick.

Honestly, the only reason why we all got used to the sword is because we had no other choice. We were forced down the Sword path.
Picking Sword because of mobility is … Very diligent. You’d witness roughly 200 range advantage if you used it correctly. On an absurd control style with a semi-long CD and a subject for bug that will set you 500 range behind, too.
Greatsword is far superior in mobility. BUT – it does not open access to Conditions or utility. That’s why everyone takes Sword and claims it to have fine mobility.

It’s because it’s our ONLY mobility choice outside of Zerk. And pretty meh too.

I wonder how people keep overseeing that Ranger has higher self-DPS than a DPS warrior and Guardian.
And once the Warr and Ele are occupied – Ranger is the right straightforward choice. Rangers bring unique 15% DPS increase to the party. And as I already mentioned – surpass Warrs and Guardians in DPS.

And while people constantly keep ignoring that – they won’t fool Maths. Ever.
“Rangers are useless” – is incorrect. They are meta.
“Ranger players are useless” – is mostly correct. They usually are. And we all know this difference.

The build is pretty fine.
All you’d need to change is the heal. Believe me – as a Longbow Ranger you do not get a single advantage from HS. You do not fight around X spot.
You move away from it.

I suggest using Troll unguent since you are not exactly glass and you don’t need Heal Bomb that much. That is quite the only thing your build might get better for the setup you chose.

EDIT: I forgot… Swap Longbow Sigils for Air/Fire. Ideally both. That’s a life-time difference.

I remember the time when I got… Oh… SO disappointed when I got into GW2 and found out that my ranger cannot play dual dagger setup.
… Neither dual sword (but that is different from the topic)

I can imagine Dagger being a fine Melee weapon. Not user-unfriendly like Sword. Unfortunately that’s never coming.

If you want to join a speedrun – play Frost Spotter and make sure you let them know you are one. Vast majority plays useless bearbows.

Your weapon should be a Longbow that you’ll almost never use apart from opening a fight with #5 followed by #2. Then you swap to Sword and keep attacking.

If the question was about letting you join them… Well… If they were informed that you are a Zerk Frost Spotter, and still refuse to have you – than it’s a mere bunch of idiots and it’s no SpeedRun whatsoever.
Frost Spotter ranger is in the meta. But I usually don’t risk searching for one since I feel bad kicking 6 rangers just to find 1 useful.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Not only are all bow builds being buffed, but melee is getting a huge buff too

This is what I can’t wait for. I really am hyped about the full melee ranger that’s finally going to be a thing. Greatsword is coming back to my hands as a powerful weapon.

Did everyone else forget double Rapid Fire barrages?
How can anyone even think of it being weaker?

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Sadrien.3470:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

They could just make the range bigger, if they changed the animation to make it longer, it would be a big DPS loss, imo, they should just make the radius 600.

Moans deal damage ??? I always thought they dealt low base damage , were easily kitted, and don’t crit often. Unlike other avians that can one shot full glass thieves.

Are you suggesting that the other birds can deal 10k+ damage in 1 hit? Also, are you suggesting that a Moa not attacking is not a loss of damage? I don’t get what the point of that post was.

I remember it was possible for the cat to hit for 11K with BM build. I’d say birds might be able to do just the same.
About the loss of damage, it’s hardly noticeable with Moas. Heimskarl would be right in here. Moas are never picked for damage but for Healing/Defensive/Utility purposes. I’d trade the damage for more reliable heal anyday.

Jim Hunter.6821:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Well more than anything I mean why do we need non-traited condition removal? Who’s going to not take traits?

Not being forced down a specific trait line opens up build diversity.

For example, after the trait change poison master will be an unused trait because it shares a spot with both of our grand master condi removal traits and our non traited condi removal is very weak.

This

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Why not just make it a swap skill that you get AFTER you get stealth? Like Thief AA. So, you hit with Hunter’s Shot, get the stealth, RF flips over to become something like “Sloth Hunter’s Shot” which does the same damage in 1 shot, but takes a channel, marks the target like “On my Mark” and is unblockable.

Too much additional coding.

Would be a fun skill though.

Well, 1st of all, the mechanic of “stealth combat” doesn’t fit the ranger for me. Could be just me, but I don’t feel the ranger in it.
Secondly, that would give the 1500r Ranger 2 bombing abilities, 3 with Quick Draw, and I wouldn’t find that amusing. I would find it toxic. Of course there are ways to counter it – but I’d still find it toxic.
And last but not least – why would I give the Ranger another mechanic like that when we could pair the exact purpose and game-play by simply changing Rapid Fire?

Greatsword by any means necessary.

The other fine choice would be… Longbow or Sword/Axe.
These are the best you can get for leveling.
Also, take Signet of the hunt.

For leveling it doesn’t really matter, but the best you could take – these are the options that would make it the fastest.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Why not just make it a swap skill that you get AFTER you get stealth? Like Thief AA. So, you hit with Hunter’s Shot, get the stealth, RF flips over to become something like “Sloth Hunter’s Shot” which does the same damage in 1 shot, but takes a channel, marks the target like “On my Mark” and is unblockable.

Too much additional coding.

Just a thought…
…
Would you guyz trade your rapid fire for exactly the same damage, with the same cast time 1 hit charging shot?

Similar to what Wintersday Mayhem scout had.

Jim Hunter.6821:

I was speaking more from a WvW point of view where you have a lot more freedom with your build. PvP is a lot easier to figure out because of the trinket system, especially since 99% of people are running zerk, rabid or cele. I’ve come up with some hybrid builds in WvW that infuriated people.

I can imagine. I came up with quite some of them myself… But 80% of them lacked mobility which is #1 for WvW purposes. I ended up running my Full Glass stealth Sniper in small scale roaming group that used Signet of the Hunt.
I made an ele just for the WvW environment. But I haven’t logged him in quite some time. School got the priority and I mostly came for the dailies or for Daily Fractal.

Non-zerg WvW is mostly about high mobility paired with good contesting features. Even if you lack the luck to win a fight / duel – you can disengage, reset and try again.

Full Melee ranger I once played was excellent at this. The spam of evades was pretty serious. The good old 1v3 times… I can’t wait for pre-HoT changes to do it again.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Well the surprise factor is definitely more of a thing in the uplevel situation. Running something out of the meta can work multiple times because people don’t automatically know how to counter you and a lot of people are just flat out unwilling to change their build or play style. You know that’s true because of all the qq threads we get from people that think it’s unfair they should have to adapt to longbow rangers.

I can’t say for sure because I haven’t been to high-rank battles yet, but people in my league learn pretty fast. And I’m phoenix only.

The only build they strive to figure out is my current celestial build, since people constantly assume that Longbow is my deadly weapon.
… And then they come to melee range …

But that would be the mind trick. It’s hard to imagine Longbow with anything else than Zerk. But it’s definitely easy to realize that the ranger without one will be harder to bring down and will deal less burst damage – meaning sustainable classes like warriors or eles should be sent to fight them head on.

The point in my build is that they need both defenses against high direct damage and high condi bombing pressure. And I still end up quite healthy most of the time. It’s not like it takes long to realize the counter-play. There is close to none. But that is something different than the tanky “surprise” topic. In that case it’s simply “deals direct damage? Has low access to condi cleanse? Lacks burst?” that will only stay ignored by the worse players.
Which is the scenario of playing against bad players that is partly irrelevant.

@Manekk
I believe I hit the point where I ran out of wisdom and would only have to repeat what I already said. We’d end up going over and over again.
If you could just provide a single tanky build for sPvP – the one you’d visualize as the powerful and fit for a “specific use” – that would be more useful than the standard Condi Survival or my celestial build I’m running – it would really help the discussion since you are not accepting any of the builds I pointed out and you haven’t stated any yourself. It would be ideal if you left Jim’s provided build and the Full Regen one I mentioned out. Currently, everything you said is a theory with “not-yet-mentioned” builds that I’m afraid I am not aware off. And believe me, I theory-crafted quite a bunch.