Guild Wars 2

Jim, but that would be human factor that has nothing in common with the strength of a build. You know that I played that kind of mind play build myself, I believe we mentioned it some time ago in a different thread.

But regardless, I realized that if I met the same person twice – I was the one to lose. What you are talking about is a one time advantage. Surprise effect can be achieved even in standard builds. That doesn’t mean the build is strong. It only means your opponent wasn’t ready.

As you said – the very same effect can be achieved if you make a lvl 2 char and equip it with default armor. Not only you are in your effective version – you can also play the build where Ranger shines.

Well, claiming that running tanky builds on ranger is effective…
…
Mathematically speaking you are wrong. Other ranger builds are superior in the reward they bring. It can be effective if being tanky is the only way to go in the particular environment. Apart from that – Rangers’ strengths are clearly at an absolutely different place.
We, sadly, have to sacrifice quite a lot in order to be tanky. By playing tanky – you already are less effective than your ranger meta. Being tanky while dealing considerable amount of damage is possible. Does it meet the requirements? No.

There are players running around naked winning fights. Does that mean their stats/builds are OP? Not really. They just knew how to play. Statement of “as long as you kill the enemy” is irrelevant. Another enemy (might just happened to be the naked one) might kill you regardless of who was the AFK player you killed before.

The discussion is about rewards / risks / potential of the build choices.

Manekk.6981:

This doesn’t feel like a response to anything I have said to be honest.

Well, to explain it further: You basically said that if a person wants to play a ranger in a tanky setup (that we all know is weaker than other Tanky roles) – he is free to do so if he finds a way. By that you meant that this game is open for your personal choice of play.

I answered that you, indeed are free to play whatever you want. But you are the one to be pointed out for intentionally playing the weaker roles, if not straight abused for it (hopefully we have one of the best communities).

If you find a way to be tanky, have all the damage and utilility as well as condi cleanse and whatnot at the same – than bravo. You did a great job finding an imaginary build that can’t be real. The best meta builds that have been played for several months are there for a reason.

It probably means that if other professions have meta tanky builds and rangers do not – than we probably suck at it. We might have a way of sort to forcefully fit our way into the environment that requires that tanky damage setup – but we’ll still be the weak version of others – making it pointless to search for a build that “is good at it” when other classes are better by default.

Jim provided one of the ways to fit into the Zerg environment if you really can’t play another (more rewarding) class. But it still doesn’t mean it is powerful enough.
I believe you understand where my point is going.

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Then we will agree to disagree then because Snow Leopard is terrible as is Take Root and there’s never a situation in any PVE from open world to dungeons to fractals where they should be used outside of trolling the group you’re in.

I remember the time when Take Root was used on a large scale. By a lot of people. In addition to the Seed that can be bought from a vendor.
And it was used to progress Tequatl back in his days. Successfully.

“Shouldn’t be used” you say? I’m not sure who’s the one trolling here, with all due respect. Just because you haven’t found the use it doesn’t mean there is none.

Manekk.6981:

Yes there is forget warrior or guard or any other class we are not talking about optimal group setups or any specific part of the game but from the perspective of a ranger wanting to play a ranger being relatively tanky (as opposed to squishie) is never a bad thing aslong as it doesn’t impact negatively on your damage to an extent you can’t kill anything that is all I am saying and I’m simply entirely correct on that.

You are, as well as we all know that a player who plays weak builds is considered a burden or a hindrance that people are trying to avoid.

That is the reason why everybody hates BearBows, why Rangers were kicked on sight in dungeon groups half-a-year ago and why we still don’t like Rangers in Zergs.
Jim Hunter’s front line build is effective because it is more efficient than a Berserker Longbow version that is even more useless in Large-Scale Zergs. If a ranger wants to participate in a Zerg – his build is the way to go.
I know no other uses of Tanky Ranger since in every other environment there is a build with more reward than the tanky version.

If we are talking about recreational play – without not giving a single da**, than I don’t see a reason to bring it to the forums asking for feedback, even less saying that “I know it is weak, I know which alternatives are better, and yet I keep suggesting the inferior option”

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

roamzero.9486:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Aerathnor.8305:

We’ll that’s just dandy. You wouldn’t happen to have a link for the Spec lines? I’m having trouble finding one..

Since the changes are not final and most likely to change, it’s debatable, but currently there are. Since they are for different purposes (WvW, PvE, PvP) from bunkering to zerking and disrupting – it’s hard to say which one would you prefer.

I think anything with Quick Draw has the potential to be amazing, particularly for LB + Melee builds. Swap to GS or Sword and you can Swoop or Hornet’s Sting twice with 3-4s downtime between abilities, and after you are done kiting switch back to LB and Rapid Fire twice with the same downtime.

Imagine the QQ we are going to get when we can double RF, then swap to GS and double swoop away lol!

I can see it coming guyz! Just wait for it.

Manekk.6981:

You’re overthinking that comment, being tanky doesn’t mean you are a tank and have to tank damage it just means you can take a good amount of damage without dropping like a rock aslong as you can kill your opponent being tanky is fine wich means you can pretty much make any prefix work with the right setup exept for nomad wich frankly can’t kill anything, we aren’t talking specific areas of the game either so then being tanky is fine aslong as you kill what you need to kill.

Not necessarily.
There is zero reason to bring a “not-a-tank” tanky ranger when you can simply take a Guardian or Warrior. Sincerely, even an elementalist is more “tanky” in terms of going down fast. But brings a whole horizon more utility and support.

Being tanky is not a ranger’s role. Not yet.

Jim Hunter.6821:

No utility really depends on your group comp. The build I posted above has a high fury and swiftness uptime, 2 group condi cleanses, a nice group precision boost from spotter, some decent cc, and the best water field in the game. Plus it does enough damage that I easily 1v1.

Once the trait change goes though the fury and swiftness uptime will be 100%, I’ll have multiple blast finishers and my damage will greatly increase thanks to remorseless and quick draw.

Your build is undeniably better. Hands down. But some points like “utility depends n the group” – only proves that Ranger brings very few.

But is it any better than the standard Guardian or Warrior soldier’s build? Or better asked… Is it anywhere close to standard Warrior or Guardian front line builds?

While the build has more defenses… It still doesn’t provide enough support to make up for the lack of damage. Because you might not be aware… But 80% of the support your build has is included in casual Zerk build.
Plus, the reason of the build is to deal as much damage as possible. Since the build is for melee range, you’d die quickly (since you are Power and Ranger up to that) because of no utility and that’s why defenses are needed. Your build is a good example of Front line ranger.

Almost an ideal one. But definitely not a tank.
It’s more of a fighter – You’d still die relatively quickly if focused because you lack a way to heal up again. You do not enter a fight with a goal of receiving damage. In reality, you’d like to avoid it if possible.
The defensive stats and abilities you took are to make you live long enough to deal the damage you should.

Manekk.6981:

There’s nothing wrong with having a tanky build, I think you mean there’s no point to use nomad.

Partly true.
There is currently no Power Build that will do besides Zerk. Simply because rangers have sustained damage without any spikes (besides 10 sec CD RF – that is far too long to be considered a pressure).

More importantly – tanks are supposed to soak up damage. By soaking it up – it does mean absorb / overheal / endure. And that role is useless if you can’t kill the target sooner than you go down.
Or in XvY scenatio – you don’t provide even close to needed support or utility to your team that would make the HP utility stick worth (unlike Guardians/Warrior that are godlike here).

If we were talking about condition builds – that still isn’t a tanky build. Those are builds that either bet on your experience of dodge use, or bombing the enemy quicker than they kill you (which still opens 1 stat for defensive since condi doesn’t need 3 stats unlike zerk – but by no means this can be called a tank).

And as the time goes, I’m currently aware of a single “tanky” build – and that would be the condi Full Regen build. That lives long and provides team support via perma regen and swiftness. And still deals more damage than “tanky builds”.

All in all – being a tank has a meaning only if it is made for at least 1 of these 2 purposes. Apart from that, it’s useless (and it’s utterly useless in PvE. Period)

*Point-holder bunker – because if they can’t kill you while you are holding a point – you are securing objectives and are in no need of killing anyone at all.
*Superior team support in various ways in terms of CC, Heals and utility – that gives your team the upper hand in fight and is more valuable than the potential damage you would deal instead.

If the purpose does not meet the requirements above – the build is useless. You won’t kill anyone by throwing pencils and swinging a paper sword – and the more enemies dead – the less damage you take. If the enemy has at least 3 digit IQ, it will take them 3 seconds to realize they can ignore you and kill the important targets.

And if you believe that “people will always be there to do stuff for you” – you should think of whether your build is worthy of the help of nice people that are willing to help.

Razor.9872:

Helps to be tanky with them.

But there’s no point to be tanky whatsoever… It’s the worst thing you could do.
… Even in PvP. We just don’t have the stuff to be efficient in tank.
Only scenario would be Commander role in WvW – but that’s definitely not the case if the OP came here for advice. It’s an indicator he lacks experience.

Aerathnor.8305:

We’ll that’s just dandy. You wouldn’t happen to have a link for the Spec lines? I’m having trouble finding one..

Since the changes are not final and most likely to change, it’s debatable, but currently there are. Since they are for different purposes (WvW, PvE, PvP) from bunkering to zerking and disrupting – it’s hard to say which one would you prefer.

But I can give you some of the current theory-crafted specs if you’d like. Just tell me which environment you’d like and I’ll do my best to provide it.
But I believe you know about these following:
Remorseless Greatsword (Heavy Burst build)
QuickDraw zerk Sniper (SotF version)
Disruptor BM (Patch of Scars, Longbow)
Front Line Support (Prot Ward, Warhorn+Call of the wild, Shout build)

Don’t forget that for WvW you are going to have 1 bonus defensive stat. You won’t need precision since you are going to have guaranteed crits when you pop RaO.

And yep, condi survival builds endured and Full Regen will be godlike. Will be a bit more fancy considering Most Dangerous game and new Bark Skin.

And I’m counting on new Druid spec to be viable as well.

Here’s the link to play around with them, you might find some too http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgUBqAKoA6g~

Aeranthor – they merged it into
Lead the Wind (Arrows Pierce, 20% recharge, 10% att speed)
- Grandmaster Trait

And yep, the build possibilities are going to be vast. For MM and overall as well

Justine.6351:

How many people will even run marksmanship with lb after patch? Probably same number that make this same post about no more +300 lb range.

Even though there will be few reasons to, assuming we’ll have like 4 new viable and much more effective builds, there will still be quite a few.

Much more room for utility or defense will be open since all the needed traits were made baseline or merged into 1 grandmaster trait.
So Bearbows will still have the answer in Marksmanship. And we all know the number of bearbows out there.

Fluff, you might be correct…
… But sacrificing all our pet damage and utility – and most importantly – CC just for 2 condi cleanse on a 30 second cooldown (? – might be wrong on the CD here)
… Sacrificing a huge portion of sustain if on the move

Runes are for everyone, so is food and sigils.

There always is the option. Ranger community currently says that it’s not fair that we are the only ones to be at such a disadvantage to constantly sacrifice something in order to fight conditions. Anyone else can simply build accordingly. We rangers are currently glued into SotF or EB (that faded with time) if we want to fight condis.
We have nothing else (reliable) at all.

We either sacrifice pet via SoR or by choice pick (bear is a cleanse stick, nothing more). Or we can sacrifice our powerful sustain ability – TU – just to blow our heal skill when we need cleanse, not when we need the heal.
Which is sad since we are forced to use the pet. I really feel sorry for the AI that is designed only to be killed instead of the user.

Fluffball.8307:

Fun news: These aren’t HoT changes, they’re coming to everyone before the expansion is released.

^

The biggest thing is always personal factor.
Everyone has potential for playing a different build to the fullest. So you all will basically end up with your own variations eventually.

Forum builds are basically a starting point to save some time to get the right direction straight off the bat.

Toxsa.2701:

Even melee weapons go beyond their tooltip range lol.
It shows red, but you can actually hit targets if you just manually swing it.
Also Warrior LB, thief SB, all hit further than tooltip. Donnu why people always ignore that fact and only pin-point on ranger.

Mostly because majority of rangers do not swap from Longbow when killing people in WvW. And mostly because people die to them.

My 2 cents.

Regardless of all the ideas from making it a trap to signet…
…
I don’t find a single problem with the ability, so far. Why would you try to fix what isn’t broken? It still is the best supportive heal in the game. And still balanced in it’s state.

While I like some of the ideas, I can’t imagine why would I like to change the ability to make it a subject for balancing from the very core again.

5% damage wasn’t mentioned, I believe it goes away.
The velocity and range increase are baseline.

Longbow is especially better against unorganized groups.
Things get rough right after you meet a premade and will turn into nightmare if they communicate via a medium.

To the assassin amulet – I do not think it’s such a big difference, but the main “burst” from Ranger comes from rapid fire and sigil procs. That are almost guaranteed on 10-hit rapid fire stream.
So taking assassin’s amulet wouldn’t really change the performance or damage output much. Your on-crit stuff basically will proc on cooldown – but at a cost of lower burst (Sigils will deal less damage since less Power).

This is a matter of game-play. The difference isn’t that big. I’d prefer zerker because Burst is what Zerks bet on. Not the statistical pressure.

There is a way to make it anti-hated for those who like it the current way.

Make the heal a separate part of the trap.
You could throw the healing spring wherever you want, but only the regen and cleanse mechanic would make the “trap” and would trigger on any friendly target. Pets included.

The direct heal will be applied instantly on use. No on trap trigger.

Does it sound user-friendly?

Login.5102:

Thanks for the right up. Makes much more sense.

Just feels wierd that weapons with the longest ranges have the biggest buffs from the buffer.

A-net themselves stated that this is for “tracking purposes”.
It only makes sense that the further the range – the harder it will be to hit the escaping opponent. So even if they were in 1500 range at a moment of cast – they’ll probably run out of it by the time the projectile gets them.

The longer the range – the longer distance might be needed for catching up to the target. The mechanic is made for “on the move” fights.

Eurantien.4632:

I’m saying that zerker ranger, although somewhat inferior to other zerker classes, is more beneficial for a team than a ranger that isn’t running zerker. In other words, having a GOOD zerker ranger on a team is better than having any other ranger because any other ranger is out done more by other professions than a zerker ranger is by other zerker classes.

Well, if that’s what you think =)

Eurantien.4632:

I only know of 1 ranger that has played at the highest competitive level and that ranger used SoR…

I also don’t think ranger “sucks” at melee range. GS is a great weapon with utility, etc. Sure, the ranger cannot constantly disengage and reengage but neither can mesmer. Ranger can disengage and reengage with swoop and LR as well, not to mention that those can both be used as disengages followed by reengagement with the bow. I don’t know who named them “glassbow” or “fury bow” I don’t think of them as that way. I think of it as a zerker power ranger. I am equally comfortable in a fight with lb or gs, sure I prefer lb because then I can kite my opponent and my ranged damage is superior to theirs. I think people just refer to it as glassbow, etc because you could arguably be a zerker double melee power ranger, it provides description.

Though as you say you know of no rangers that use SoR on their zerker power rangers, * I am lead to believe we might be disagreeing because my perspective is coming from a higher level of play.*

That might be true. I did not spend that much time in PvP, so the builds may vary with the rank gap.
Several rangers I encounter run that signet, but none of those were Zerks. Zerks I see in my games either run double signets (Stone, Wild) + LR, or they run the Fury (SotF) variation with Muddy Terrain / Zephyr instead of Signet of the Wild.

You still haven’t denied a single of my points, though.
Zerk Ranger’s melee performance is good… But still undeniably worse than other Zerks. So why would I bring him instead?
Because he has something that others do not have > range.
And is that trade-off worth? That is debatable. Highly depends, because there are some cases where you’d like this trade off. But majority of the scenarios would be no.

Simply because you are doing a good job when you are far away. If the ress / stomp is needed, you need to blow your one-way-ticket to get into the fight and even that will take several seconds that you can’t afford. And if anything screws up – you are going to die in 8 seconds after your Signet wears off because your only ticket is on cooldown.
And not only you didn’t help anyone – you died in the process resulting in further snowballing.

I am not saying that Zerk ranger is useless and only blocks a space in the team. What I am saying is that the build is far inferior in it’s offerings compared to other Zerk options. Because as I said – Ranger only brings Damage. The CC he provides (Let’s add Renewal from here on) is held on danger purposes – because you can’t use them when damaging form afar. They are usable only in melee – that you are constantly trying to avoid.

Eurantien.4632:

So to summarize:
Does zerk ranger provide something unique?

The highest range possible. Forced overextension goes for mesmers, too.

Does zerk ranger need team support?

Not necessarily. He does need, however, something to compensate for this lack. Be it better burst, or advantage of some kind.

Do other zerkers provide more team utility?

Yep, as you said – this can’t be compared

Does ranger provide any team support?

Almost none. Not if he plays the class for it’s purpose. Most of mentioned team support abilities are required for defense in case the enemy comes to get you

What does zerker ranger provide more of than cele?

Burst. Damage is close to same.

Is the survivability the same?

In terms of stats – Rangers are more durable. In high level of play – Rangers are light years behind. No real escapes, only dashes, and no re-access to high ground (no port)

Is the utility the same?

In Zerk setup – rangers would be a lot behind. That changes if you build accordingly to gain access to on-point fights that Zerk cannot afford.

Ranger is far inferior in melee range.
By going melee – you kill every single purpose to pick a Glass Ranger.
Also – I don’t remember ANY zerk build on ranger to stick to Signet of Renewal. None.

So once again – if you intend to play ranger with benefits into melee – you are willingly killing the only advantage that Glass ranger gives – range – and that’s stupid.

I’m just wondering why would you compare Signet of Stone on a 80 sec CD (62 traited) to Shadow Refuge of Thieves when we all know the effectiveness. Also – Ranger really is horrible at escaping. Thief and Mesmer will gladly rotate and enemies won’t be able to follow. The mobility can’t be compared. Even the stealth usability and reliability to combine.

But I’m aware of your points. So let me ask you …
… Why are the builds themselves called glassBOW or Fury LONGBOW builds? Isn’t it because they are horrible in melee range? Unlike the eternally mentioned other zerk classes.
And yet – all benefits you mentioned work ONLY in melee range where ranger himself sux if played Zerk. As a Zerk – you can only go in, or out (you only have 1 swoop). You can’t do both unlike the eternally mentioned other zerk classes.

You are still missing a point that Ranger forces his team to help him in order to be efficient.

Mesmers and thieves are the other way round – they are the ones to help their team in various ways, damage included, and are self-reliant. So not only they bring more burst damage than the ranger, more utility, they don’t even need to be babysat like rangers … And the only drawback is that Rangers have bonus range that is irrelevant since you need to be helping at a point, not away from it.

The mesmer can port > reflect / evade the ressurrection target > port out safely.
Ranger will only be able to go in and die to condi pressure anyways.

The standard Glass Ranger sincerely does literal Zero in terms of team support or team objectives. He does not secure stomps, he does not help rally, he does not help revive… He only helps getting people downed > which is not the objective. The objective is to kill and not get killed.
And rangers lack both.

That’s why duelist celestial ranger that can contribute by decapping is far superior in all terms of game goals. Because he also deals damage, and I dare to say that since the damage is mixed it is harder to be countered and still deals the same amount. But yes, the burst is lower. That is the only tradeoff that I’d pay any and every single day.

@Noha
I’m not sure if I wanted to be accused of making a mistake (while it’s worth mentioning that people are understanding towards sword issues)
Or being known as a useful selfish bearbow freak.

… Take a guess or two. It’s not as hard to realize what’s the deal. Longbow has noticeable spike. But if you fire at least 3 autoattacks with it – you already dropped in damage. It’s not even worth swapping mid-fight to it.

The full GlassBow is still not anywhere near Glass Mesmer or thief, though.
Still no reason to bring one instead of them whatsoever.

It’s comfortable, but brings less results. Playing GlassBow ranger instead of shatter mesmer is playing training wheels itself, to me.

Eurantien.4632:

…

As an aside: there is not much reason to run cele over zerker with the lb.

You’ll live long enough to decap the point and you’ll sill deal the damage that is needed. Celestial still hits semi-armored targets (2500+-) for 3-4 K. With additional bleeds that will tick it out for bonus 2500.
And you still pressure the target when your Rapid Fire is on cooldown.

Also, I know that you basically were right about the presence part, saying that turning the table on mid will help you better…
But that would not be true as a celestial decapper. You do not turn the table at all. You’d be the bonus one target to slowly tear the enemies down. Which will not help when your team is getting snowballed.

There – decapping and forcing people to leave other points just to get rid of you is what changes the game and won me countless of battles as well as games. Actually, I felt that at a moment I lost the point by being outnumbered – we won the game.

The build is wrong from a very clear point of view.

It has no purpose.
You want to tank… With a Longbow… In PvE… That is traited for SotF… With lightning reflexes only…

I hope this won’t sound offensive, but anyone open-minded is going to tell you that every single aspect from pet choices through stats, traits and abilities and weapon choices is plain horrible.

That build is wrong. Don’t use it when people are around you. Just don’t. For your sake and all the rest of us.

Well, regardless of what the opinions are:

Ranger is okay in damage. Ranger actually fits the PvE zerk meta. But that, by all means necessary, does not imply into PvP environment.

Ranger is awful when it comes to PvP from power point of view. Ranged damage is low (you never fight from range in PvE), we have no offensive utility, half of our mechanics cannot be used when they are needed because we are sitting at 1500 range waiting to use them defensively, we lack port mechanism to get to higher ground (ever other Zerk class has it. Even Guardians can port up to get us) and some other could come into mind.

One way or another, Rangers do not have the requirements needed to be a meta Power Class in PvP. In their current state pre-expansion, that is.

witcher.3197:

I’d say try to have at least 1 evasion per weapon set. So use torch with Sword, and Dagger with main hand Axe.

He uses Shortbow.

About Ranger support.
… I don’t know about you guyz, but I can tell that Spirit Ranger is a thing.
The support it provides is pretty noticeable. And it is by no means weak or inferior or what not.

It is, however, unreliable which makes it inferior.

• Reliable AoE hard CC (we only have pets and Path of Scars)
• Active support (spirits are passive and can get interrupted, also have delay)
• Spike Damage. We either have a long CD RF, or not-powerful-enough Maul. Apart from that, we have a constant Auto-Attack stream that can be ignored unless we go full Zerk (and sometimes even in full Zerk).

We got it baseline.
The only thing gone is the +5% modifier from the trait.

@Sebrent
That would be correct. Except he already has a ranged cripple and he also has a chill effect in main hand. I believe there would be a cripple somewhere in the Wolf family as well.

And about the Dagger… Well… That’s 3 conditions that will usually go “poof” instantly anyways. The poison reapplication is the only relevant point made.

But basically – you are correct. If I am, I’ll add why to take torch, and then everyone can pick what he needs since he’ll have every advantage at hand.

Torch:

• has incomparably higher Damage output.
• provides much better team fight presence (AoE burning + Blasts/Leaps)
• (can be used right before getting downed to help you down your enemy with you – 90% of times resulting in your win since we are the best skirmishers in downed state)
• a long-CD bomb that reapplies itself rendering cleanses futile against this condition

Pew, I expect something similar.
Even though I believe that we won’t get a copy > paste mechanism of Necro Wurm. The skills that classes got were pretty much unique.

Dojo, don’t forget the cast times.
They are awful.

If they make the druid able to play the pet – I’ll quit the role. That is the worst idea they could possibly implement. There is no environment where you would like to play as your pet instead. None.

Also, the transformations as such do not associate with the Ranger. And they do not fit the druid. They fit the Norn. This is not Warcraft and you shouldn’t think of it as such.

I’ll simply wait and see and hope I won’t get disappointed.

vespers.1759:

Take both. shortbow is awful.

Not really.
It’s better for utility combat. Also, there is a way to exploit the flanking restriction into almost 100% bleeding proc.
And there’s the bonus interrupt that no other condi weapon has.

It’s just not as good for DPS, but it has its uses.

Anytime, Sir.
Good luck in your future games. Make our community proud.

If you are focusing on condi bombing / longer defensive fight – Torch is the answer.

If you are going to play a Poison Master build / squishy offensive build – Dagger.

I’m not sure.
It might. It would definitely make pets survive for as long as we might need since it would take 50% * X (I assume half damage if not targeted) …
75% reduction seems pretty solid.

But then again, this would mostly apply on Longbow Rangers only, that need the love. The whole system has been torn apart because everyone got new access to projectile denial or reflects or retaliation.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Sandzibar.5134:

Id also like to know just where the hell one of my favorite traits went?

Hide in plain sight.

One of the few really good ranger pvp traits and its gone :/

Really?
… I mean, the trait was fun, but I never felt like it saved me. Not even once. And I used to play it for quite some time.

Entertainment and usefulness are two different things.

I’d say that the BM taunt is useful for DPS pets mostly.
We non-BM rangers already take only pets with CC.

Darkness.9732:

I only know that when my pet dies I can’ t use any F skills. All the other classes can use their ( stronger ) F skills whenever they want.

But they can’t use them while downed. We can.

What would I do if I could change anything on the Axe? (I wouldn’t change the sword I guess).

Well, I’d improve the casting animation. I can’t handle that my axe is thrown instantly and then I have to wait for ages till the character breaks out of exhaustion and starts doing something different.
If I want to use the bleed, I want to use it when I want to use it. Not half a second later. Apart from that, I find Axe to be a clear condi weapon. Every ability supports the Condi playstyle (Might, Bleed bomb, chill, weakness) while only the autoattack supports the Power one.

So the attack animation cast time improvement would be all I’d ask for.

Chilly – the idea is fine, but I don’t see a place where could I use it.
I mean – you’d sacrifice most of your ranger damage, all of your defenses and offense – just to be able to use abilities that are going to be used anyways.

If the ability made the ranger disappear or so – that would be too weak and too powerful at the same time. Being immortal for the time being in control of your pet is too much in addition to all the damage soaking abilities and, as well as there is going to be nothing useful in particular you’d do.

Also, you’ll never use it outside of PvP.

Well, we do not need more cleanse now.
We will definitely need more when Heart of Thorns come to live.

Rangers are probably the only class without reliable on demand condi cleanse without having to invest for grandmaster traits, and even then that’s no cleanse. It’s a transfer. Of course there are builds that will gladly take this sacrifice, but viewing it objectively, not everyone is willing to do that (and most of the time can’t afford to).

When HoT comes up, rangers will definitely need better Cleansing options. Shouts (without rune) would be exactly the place I can imagine. And yep, I’d be fine with a slight nerf of a kind for a reliable cleanse that does not kill my own minion that I am forced to rely on by A-net themselves.

@Lazze
Ah, that sounds about right, my bad. Point taken.