I want the sword to stay as is, I feel like the weapon fills what it’s supposed to do very very very well.
That being said, I would LOVE to see dagger as a Mainhand Melee weapon that DOESNT leap all over the place, that would be AWESOME!!
^
Thank you. There do happen to be a lot of us who like the sword in its current state as an anti-kite weapon, and changing it would devastate its purpose. I feel that the best option would be to simply add a second mainhand melee weapon to the Ranger’s kitten nal rather than fixing what, contrary to many beliefs, is not broken. You may think it’s broken, but it’s due to the fact that you personally don’t like how it functions and it’s the only mainhand melee weapon we currently have.
Alright, I’ll stop. I’ve come to recognize when I’m locked into a sword auto chain and, unlike many, have learned how to cope with it. The primary issue is during quickness when I go on the offensive and the opponent pops retaliation. At that point I’m taking quite a bit of damage per hit, and I’ve got to get out of there. Here’s a tip: while dodging doesn’t break the chain, all of your skills with at least a precast (non-instant) will break the chain. This means that both Sword 2 and 3 (which are evades in themselves) as well as Lightning Relfexes (another evade) will break your auto attack chain instantly, giving you that active reaction. Dodge should be treated as a secondary mechanic as a sword ranger, not your primary get out of jail free card as it is with every other class. We have enough inherent evades to compensate for the lack of defense we’re pushed into during a sword AA chain. It’s all about learning and adapting.
Sorry but you have a bit of this backwards. Skills with cast times do not break the attack chain, they are put in the queue to be activated as soon as the chained sequence ends. This of course applies to sword #2 & #3. Doing so is called ‘pre-casting’ the skill. Lightning Reflexes is an instant cast stun breaker so this will break you out the chain, as will most other instant cast or channeled abilities.
If you want to verify this I recommend putting the popcorn down for a moment and try it out for yourself. It’s all about learning and adapting afterall.
I know how it works. Don’t try to get slick here, I think we know who’s got the PvP experience when it comes to using sword. The people agreeing with my points have all been avid PvPers. We know where the sword is, and what needs to be done. The PvErs should stay out of this argument, as it really doesn’t add detriment to their cause no matter how the sword is changed.
That said, let’s not turn this into the thief forums with sad attempts to aggravate each other with, “L2P the cl4ss scrubb lol.” It adds nothing to the conversation, and if you’ve seen my channel you very well know that I’m no greenhorn to the class mechanics.
I don’t like the idea of revealing a thief when he’s already in stealth. That’s just too harsh against the class and would break it entirely. The idea behind Sic’ Em is to use it prior to a thief stealthing, allowing you to gain the upper hand while still giving the thief counterplay opportunities. There’s no counterplay in Rock beats Scissors always.
If we’re going to go down this route, whirl finishers would be broken in that it takes no real skill to use in a light field and does not designate a target to gain effectiveness. Leap finishers through light fields, however, are single-target and require proper positioning and timing to hit a target, and can be dodged without another coming in quick succession. A single-target revealed via Leap finisher through a Light field would be the optimal choice to apply Revealed to a target and balance stealth in regards to other classes, forcing thieves to play a bit more defensively with stealth than it current stands with stealth being a full-on offensive tactic. Mesmers, guardians, and engineers would all have self-access to apply revealed, while most other classes have a leap finisher or light field to use or for allies to use on stealthed targets.
TL;DR: AoE Revealed is too strong against stealthed opponents, single target revealed opens the opportunity for meaningful decisions and skillful counterplay.
If they would reverse sword 2’s directions and take out all the delay from it and speed up sword 1 a bit it would be an exceptional weapon.
You could burst an enemy with it from point blank AND leap back instantly after with sword 2 and also execute dodges in the middle of sword 1 chains.
Instead of telegraphing that you’re leaping back with a huge delay, and then a second telegraph if you want to get back in their face.
You could use it for mobility a heck of a lot better too.
Reversing the direction on the sword 2 chain is a horrible idea. You can still use it for mobility with either a macro to 180* your character or by simply flicking your camera 180 degrees, and it’s important that the backward leap is on the primary attack, as it’s meant for a gap-maker, to give you a break and choose either to get back into the action or swap to your ranged option and kite.
…which would still be completely doable on a reversed sped up sword with the added bonus of a point blank hit first and without the obnoxiousness of camera flip, unless you were intending to double leap away, which would make more sense. Not a valid counterargument.
Anytime you need to make a macro or flip camera more than 50% of the time to use a basic attack I’d say that basic attack is a fail and needs a redesign.
Don’t be naïve. You have obviously never stepped foot in a PvP arena if you think that leaping into an enemy will prevent an attack from connecting. It’s a defensive measure, not an offensive one. Reversing those two skills would be a detriment to the sword in PvP. Period.
If they would reverse sword 2’s directions and take out all the delay from it and speed up sword 1 a bit it would be an exceptional weapon.
You could burst an enemy with it from point blank AND leap back instantly after with sword 2 and also execute dodges in the middle of sword 1 chains.
Instead of telegraphing that you’re leaping back with a huge delay, and then a second telegraph if you want to get back in their face.
You could use it for mobility a heck of a lot better too.
Reversing the direction on the sword 2 chain is a horrible idea. You can still use it for mobility with either a macro to 180* your character or by simply flicking your camera 180 degrees, and it’s important that the backward leap is on the primary attack, as it’s meant for a gap-maker, to give you a break and choose either to get back into the action or swap to your ranged option and kite.
Alright, I’ll stop. I’ve come to recognize when I’m locked into a sword auto chain and, unlike many, have learned how to cope with it. The primary issue is during quickness when I go on the offensive and the opponent pops retaliation. At that point I’m taking quite a bit of damage per hit, and I’ve got to get out of there. Here’s a tip: while dodging doesn’t break the chain, all of your skills with at least a precast (non-instant) will break the chain. This means that both Sword 2 and 3 (which are evades in themselves) as well as Lightning Relfexes (another evade) will break your auto attack chain instantly, giving you that active reaction. Dodge should be treated as a secondary mechanic as a sword ranger, not your primary get out of jail free card as it is with every other class. We have enough inherent evades to compensate for the lack of defense we’re pushed into during a sword AA chain. It’s all about learning and adapting.
Just a quick tip with people debating over blinds: Sic’ Em will apply Revealed as well as buff your pet through blind. This makes it very convenient to use when a thief drops Black Powder to deny him stealth and shifts the fight in your favor when played well since the thief has no way to counterplay your shout, through blinds at least.
Do you guys know of any power based regeneration builds that are decent?
I’ve been using Nature’s Voice in WvW lately on a berserker ranger. The healing isn’t nearly as strong as my condi PvP ranger setup, but 2k heals every 10 seconds or whatever it is plus the regular heal skill is not too shabby.
It really doesn’t matter what traits you take other than the 6 in NM. Maybe 6 in MM for signets. Or 6 in skirmishing for MoC and then take offhand axe and/or greatsword. Any number of things you can do with it.
Okay thanks a lot, I’ll play around with it in hotjoin later. I might take warhorn over axe for “team support”. Which shouts should I use? And would longbow be the ideal other weapon to take or would greatsword be better?
If you’re taking warhorn I’d highly suggest you take no heal other than Healing Spring to make actual use of that blast finisher if you’re taking it for team support. A 2.6k heal for you and all nearby allies isn’t too shabby, either. Don’t forget that Swoop counts for 2 leap finishers, and if positioned properly in your Healing Spring it gives you alone a solid 5.2k burst heal at the end of the animation on top of the initial heal and regeneration of the Spring.
Alright, let’s get one thing straight people: Power =/= Burst, ranged or melee. I run power with a celestial amulet and hit decently while being both durable and able to swap my playstyle to both offensive and defensive, and serve as a roamer. I can burst with quickness swap combos, but burst isn’t the build’s main intent.
Burst does not inherently infer long range. You’re not helping your team by playing off-point, so don’t do that. If you insist on playing burst, a GS MoC build is what you should be going for. Outside of that, ranger is about sustained melee damage, not burst. We aren’t thieves, so get that mindset out of there.
The bias toward condition builds with no insight on how power works is rank in these forums.
I love it. After leveling every class to 80, I started a ranger and now have not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 level 80 rangers because of animations and I just love the class that much. I highly recommend learning the class, but whatever you do DON’T use a longbow and a bear!
You cant beat a thief as ranger as long as pet cant be disabled. They will CnD a undodging pet all day long. Only way you win is if thief was bad.
Heh. Try a bird out for size. Even experienced thieves will have a hard time getting a CnD off on them, and NO thief is going to run offhand dagger in tPvP, unless they’re running an evasion build, in which case you shouldn’t be worried about them stealthing as much as their boon rip and damage mitigation abilities.
You might think you’re taking the high road by ignoring your teammate’s chat, but really your just being an inconsiderate kittenhead. Rated matches are competitive and competitive play requires communication. By not communicating, you’re the one being that guy and frustrating your teammates. Not the other way around, even though it might suit your assumed “moral high-ground”.
Not necessarily true. When I play with my team we’re in TS, and any random that joins can be directed through my teammates who have the ability to see what they’re saying and relay it to me if need be. If I’m pugging, chances are I’m going to be one of the most if not the most experienced pug there, and we have a minute to figure things out before the match starts on average, and I’m leading through my map ping micromanagement. It’s very easy to have a strategy and adjust it without verbal coercion. I didn’t get to the top 100 by being an “inconsiderate kittenhead”. As of now nothing should be taken seriously until we start seeing in-game tournaments and rewards for getting to the top leaderboards other than bragging rights.
You guys keep talking about this mythical turret engineer who pwns face all day, and I am not sure you are even facing “turret” engineers at all.
I got yelled at by an angry PU mesmer for being a kitten kitten turret engie, and I use 1.
1 Turret. The healing one, no less, with NO KNOCKBACK.
Roll a turret engie and tell me how OP it is.
I ran a turret decap competitively prior to the December 10th balance patch and frequented the top 100. It’s funny when you make something work that the majority think is null, how many rude whispers you get. Now I play a power ranger.
This is really interesting. You should swap out Signet of the Hunt for Sic’ Em. This will make your pet hit harder and also applies revealed through blind. The key to beating thieves is watching their animations. When you see black powder drop, you need to immediately hit Sic’ Em. When Shadow Refuge goes down start channeling Point-Blank shot. I also suggest sword over greatsword as it makes it near impossible for a thief to backstab you. Just spamming 1 while they’re in stealth will send you flying when you make contact, causing them to spend more time repositioning. Thieves should be very little trouble for you as a ranger.
Try to watch my fights against the thief: don’t let him control the fight and you should never lose:
That’s not entirely accurate. It should be: “Just watch others play it.”
When I fight a champion or other tough mob I know I am in trouble the moment a bear shows up beside me.
No matter how obvious the missile reflect ability of the mob is the ranger will choose that moment to use his longbow #2, and chances are that I will have to dodge or eat that damage.
No matter how many players are in melee with a given mob, no matter how many placed AoEs are just in effect, there will be that bearbow ranger who just has to prolong the fight with longbow #4.
And no matter if the targeted mob is within kissing range of the ranger he will rather lazily shuffle a few steps back than pull a melee weapon, because, you know, the class is called ranger. I guess if they were playing engineers they would strictly refuse attacking with anything that is not some kind of engine.
I do not want to say that the ranger class is 100% fine as it is… hardly any class is, but the worst problems, including the common cries of “Oh, please, not a ranger!”, are caused by ranger players doing dumb things and messing things up for others.
See, but that’s the difference. Ranger isn’t bad, bear bows are. People need to learn the difference.
I’m a little overwhelmed.
It seems like you’re attaching about 3-4 different arguments – somehow with what I’ve written.
To just respond to with that I deem relevant to my thread: – you claim all builds are viable in all content and that CDI changes have already manifested.
The first point is obviously a difference in semantics on what we both mean by viable. I’m absolutely happy to not address your point here and we can leave it at that.
For the second point, I think it’s fairly obvious (given that the CDI’s were supposed to include all issues and feedback) that any changes since then, would very likely be in areas mentioned by the CDI.
Therefore, if you’re suggesting a change being made matching an issue bought up in the CDI is proof of a reasonable “response” to the CDI and that wanting anything more is to…
… cater to needy players who want things done now shows how ignorant you are to the process and shouldn’t be demanding changes if you don’t know a thing about …
Then I would have to disagree with you. On another note I don’t see myself having much progressive discussion with someone of your discussion style. Therefore I apologize in advance if I don’t respond to any future posts by you.
I apologize if I get a little bit overwhelmed with randoms who put ANet on the stake for not taking much action on a thought from 4 months ago. It’s not enough time in the development process to have any definitive, wide-sweeping changes.
If you’re looking for the utmost viability of playing ranged in any format, you won’t find it in Guild Wars 2. Sorry. The ranger isn’t the only class that suffers from a lack of ranged DPS, but all classes. The risk/reward doesn’t match that of melee, and thus your highest DPS will always come from melee, no matter how hard you try to build for ranged. It’s just not ever going to be a viable option in any game mode, for any class.
PvE: Stacking is key to gaining the highest damage possible. Ranged does not compute.
PvP: Small points lead to melee-centric environments where ranged has little place in a competitive format.
WvW: The closest you’re going to get to ranged as a viable option, unless you’re zerging and up against hammer trains, which is all you’ll face in t1. Ranged can work in roaming, but in a format where killing your opponent before being killed is key, you’ll want your main source of damage to come from melee when not behind the safety of the zerg.
Warhorn may not be so great in WvWvW/PvP, but it is by far the best offhand in PvE.
The only reason people say that warhorn is bad in PvP is because they don’t respect their blast finishers. Warhorn 4 may not be the best damage, but it’s fantastic to initiate pet quickness for a quick burst rotation from sword auto to begin a fight. I do fine with it, and none of the other offhands would suit my build with my reliance on finishers through my water field.
Regardless, the ranger class was voted for the CDI. I’m not here to argue if the ranger is viable or not, but you just can’t put a CDI up and then never mention it again. It leaves a very bad impression on whats going to happen to future CDIs.
I want to emphasize this: 27 pages of votes and 67 pages of discussion. Thrown out the window. The issue here is really bigger than a ranger discussion. Will you participate in future CDIs knowing that it might be put aside and forgotten forever?
Title needs to be changed to: CDIs – Is it really worth the effort?
How naive. Balance changes alone take 6 months with minor fixes every 3 months. Ranger pets have already experienced sweeping changes since the CDI, positioning themselves behind enemies and becoming more responsive. The fact that you think the game industry will cater to needy players who want things done now shows how ignorant you are to the process and shouldn’t be demanding changes if you don’t know a thing about iteration and polish. ArenaNet hasn’t forgotten about the ranger, so don’t pull that bullkitten.
Changes will come, you’ve just got to be patient. I’d rather have it done right than rushed for the sake of players like you who think that you’re entitled to your demands right this minute.
Everything is viable in all content, don’t be ignorant. The ranger has plenty of viable bow builds, and we do in fact have the highest single-target ranged DPS in the game. Unless you’re doing speed clears in PvE and have a bear out while you stand completely still at 1500 range from every boss, you shouldn’t have any issues in PvE, PvP, or WvW. Simply moving around while attacking will make you look like a better player, and taking drakes or spiders rather than a bear will also make you appear a more skilled player. In PvE just be sure to slot Spotter and Frost Spirit for your team and nobody will ever complain, even if you’re purely ranged.
As far as WvW and PvP go, there used to be a fairly popular ‘Catsassin’ build which involved the use of both shortbow and longbow while your Jaguar did massive burst and you built as tanky as possible. Bow builds are fine. They’re far from optimal, but if you want to play them I say go for it. Nobody’s stopping you, and if your friends tell you that you need to play some other way, perhaps you need new friends. The forums are a cesspool of self-described professionals on the subject who will force their elitist values down your throat until you can no longer breathe.
In the end, the ranger is plenty viable as just that: ranged DPS.
The leaderboard is prooly designed. A score like 8-5 gets you to the top 100 which is ridiculous.
Im always around rank 700-800 ish but I just dont care about winning anymore since there so many RNG elements that you cant control. Its not worth ‘’trying hard ’’ in solo Q.
3 mesmers or 3 thieves = loss
4v5= loss
Skyhammer if they have an engi = loss
There’s so many ways to lose in solo Q even if you try to win.
I’m positive that you need at least 50 rounds to be on the leaderboards anymore these days. It’s true that prior to the December rework of the algorithm they required winning only a few matches, but the top 100? That takes effort now. A lot.
EDIT: This is from a TeamQ leaderboard perspective. I don’t know a thing about SoloQ, and didn’t think people took them seriously.
when only 1000 people play than everyone is in top 1000 even when he is the biggest noob ever
anyway – gz^^
Far more than 1000 people play. However, if you put more than 5 hours a day into PvP I guarantee you’ll be on the leaderboards in no time.
On Saturday I kid you not, I won 9 games in a row, and instead of leaving it there I played more and lost the next 7 in a row. Balance. MMR.
I’ve done the same with a 21-game streak. I kid you not, I lost the next 10, won 1, and lost another 9.
What really kittens me off is when I’ve previously been in the leaderboards, and I’m now losing against pugs when 4 of my team are pre made.
Part of it is tactics. My team normally goes with a 1/2/2 or a 1/3/1 strategy to begin with to counter the standard 1/4/0 or 2/3/0 comps that pugs normally run for simplicity, but we know when to change our strategy and go more defensively or offensively. One strategy won’t win every game, so the best you can do is learn to read an opposing team’s strategies and attempt to counterplay. So long as you’re controlling the fight you shouldn’t lose very many games. Having everyone in TS with very good map knowledge is an essential if you really want to win a lot of games.
purely looking at auto-attacks:
axe – underpowered and doesn’t mesh well with the other two skills which are condi-based while auto-attack is power based.
Sword – auto-attack is quick but it locks you in position and prevents you from using any other channeled skill/stomp.
Greatsword – lower damage than sword, decent evade though. If ya time it right with some pve mobs you can evade 100% of the damage by auto-attacking… not that it makes it any more usefull.
Shortbow – the only condi-auto attack the ranger has but it only works when y’r beside or behind y’r foe…
Longbow.. ranged attack that gets worse the closer the enemy gets…
off-hand:
warhorn… no comment
axe – never seen anybody use it… but it has cool animations…
dagger – decent low CD evade, good for condi but no. 5 while being ranged is pretty bad for condi-stacking.
Quite honestly, is there any weaponskill for the ranger that is great to use? Something that really makes the ranger stand out compared to other professions?
Sword/dagger is a great combination for condi builds, and Sword/warhorn or axe is good for power builds. Warhorn 4 is very underwhelming, however warhorn 5 is very good when used with healing spring. We don’t have any single attacks that will win us the fight, but rather a combination of many that allow us to win. We don’t have 100b to 2 hit combo brain dead players. We don’t have backstab to kill unwary players. But lets be honest, who wants a skill that can end a fight in a single well timed hit? Takes away all the fun.
True maul can be very powerful, however the only time i’ve seen it crazy 1-shot numbers was with a signet build and it’s pretty much a 1 attack type rotation. Pop your signets, get might, boost some might yourself and bam GS 2. After that though, you have like 5 cooldowns.
Revealed Training Signet Thieves can achieve 15k backstabs through the same process, essentially. Simply because it’s a one-trick pony doesn’t completely discredit the skill as having high burst potential. You could say the same about Killshot, Eviscerate, Life Blast, and many other abilities that deal absurd damage when properly rotated in a burst build.
purely looking at auto-attacks:
axe – underpowered and doesn’t mesh well with the other two skills which are condi-based while auto-attack is power based.
Sword – auto-attack is quick but it locks you in position and prevents you from using any other channeled skill/stomp.
Greatsword – lower damage than sword, decent evade though. If ya time it right with some pve mobs you can evade 100% of the damage by auto-attacking… not that it makes it any more usefull.
Shortbow – the only condi-auto attack the ranger has but it only works when y’r beside or behind y’r foe…
Longbow.. ranged attack that gets worse the closer the enemy gets…
off-hand:
warhorn… no comment
axe – never seen anybody use it… but it has cool animations…
dagger – decent low CD evade, good for condi but no. 5 while being ranged is pretty bad for condi-stacking.
Quite honestly, is there any weaponskill for the ranger that is great to use? Something that really makes the ranger stand out compared to other professions?
Sword/dagger is a great combination for condi builds, and Sword/warhorn or axe is good for power builds. Warhorn 4 is very underwhelming, however warhorn 5 is very good when used with healing spring. We don’t have any single attacks that will win us the fight, but rather a combination of many that allow us to win. We don’t have 100b to 2 hit combo brain dead players. We don’t have backstab to kill unwary players. But lets be honest, who wants a skill that can end a fight in a single well timed hit? Takes away all the fun.
Offhand axe isn’t recommended in tournament play. While Path of Scars is fantastic on large points, it’s incredibly weak in close quarters and places where the terrain can stop the projectile. Whirling Defense roots you while doing minimal damage, and isn’t worth the reflect in a game mode where melee and AoE is king.
You seem confused as far as your weapons go. Greatsword is a burst and in-your-face physical damage while axe is a ranged condition alternative to Shortbow for better damage against multiple/AI-dependent opponents. Pick a road to follow and go with it, don’t try to do everything at once.
I like the current sword. Combined with quickness, you can stick to a stealthed opponent with relative ease, further pushing the ranger to the point of being the anti-thief.
What?
That makes no sense.
The ranger is the only class with access to inflict Revealed on an opponent. We also have channeled burst attacks which counter stealth, and pets have a pseudo-cast in each attack that let’s them follow an enemy just after they’ve stealthed. ANet’s pushing the ranger to be the class that puts thieves in their place. That much is clear already.
My reasoning is that emphatic bond is mandatory for any effective high tier ranger build. We always have to have that 300 condi dmg, so viable builds make use of it.
Survival of the fittest was a mistake, power builds need the condi removal from the trait but cannot sacrifice the traits to bring it. Ideally it should be a grandmaster skirmishing trait. Condi builds could not make use of the trait with a practical build and power builds could have effective condi clear without losing significant damage.
I really wish people would test things before spreading information like this. Any ranger taking Healing Spring is going to have 10 seconds of the best condition removal in the game. For the next 30 seconds, however, you’re forced to play on the defensive or carefully at the very least. It’s a trade off.
Condition builds have always had the benefit of being able to build tanky while outputting the same DPS passively that power builds require active input to achieve at a much greater risk. All that said, I rarely have issues against condition builds. Conditions only become an issue for my power build when facing more than one opponent who can overload you with conditions (i.e. 2 engineers, necromancers), which most classes have a high weakness against.
I’m finally fed up with the pet. It’s is nothing but a complete handicap.
Ranger has less damage
24 traits dedicated to the pet
several utility skills dedicated to the pet (shouts & signets)
pet keeps Ranger in combat
worthless in WvW outside of capturing supply camps
worthless in PvE against champion-level mobs
They should get rid of the Ranger pet, it’s a worthless mechanic. I’d take any other class mechanic over it.
The pet has no strengths that make up for all its weaknesses
So you think it’s a weakness having the ability to damage your opponent while dodging and avoiding damage alogether?
I don’t see it listed as a weakness, do you?
Well, that’s what the pet can do for you. You listed the pet as a ‘glaring weakness’. People need to come to realize that the ranger will never be without a pet, and should learn to use it to their advantage rather than build around it as if it doesn’t exist.
The pet also runs around every little obstacle. It also deosn’t anticipate the enemy’s movements or skill usage. It does furthermore activate it’s own skills randomly whenever the pet gets the chance to do so. It doesn’t cleave, it doesn’t dodge, it doesn’t position itself properly, it has latency, it has no tactic whatsoever.
Finally, it eats up your damage by 30% without to ensure that it can deliver that 30% when you need it.
All that the pet does. Or does not. Just for you.
It’s funny that you acknowledge that but still complain that the ranger needs the pet removed. Whether I agree or not, we both know that’s not happening, and you need to learn to deal with the pet and use it to your advantage rather than focusing on its weaknesses.
It all comes down to preference. And the nice thing about sPvP is you can switch anytime. Power sniper ranger is fun, but my personal playstyle favors traps better. Using shortbow & sword/dagger, kiting around while my pet is on their heels, that’s how I like to play.
Both are viable. Comes down to what you’re better at.
To add to this, some people like the active playstyle of power. Hiding behind your passive damage requires a much lower skill floor and just isn’t as fun. I get why people run conditions; it’s hard to be a successful power ranger. When you do figure it out though, it’s fun as hell.
My playstyle isn’t passive. Sword itself requires an active playstyle. Combine that with micromanaging your pet, it’s far from passive.
Conditions by definition are a passive playstyle. Sure, the application is active, but once applied you’re free to avoid damage as you please until the reapplication of your conditions is necessary. It doesn’t require the same risk to dish out the same amount of damage as it does when playing a power spec, which can’t passively tick away 1k+ health every second. Traps are an even more passive playstyle, because once thrown, you can mitigate even further damage while kiting your enemy into the traps. There’s just less risk with condition builds for the same reward.
It all comes down to preference. And the nice thing about sPvP is you can switch anytime. Power sniper ranger is fun, but my personal playstyle favors traps better. Using shortbow & sword/dagger, kiting around while my pet is on their heels, that’s how I like to play.
Both are viable. Comes down to what you’re better at.
To add to this, some people like the active playstyle of power. Hiding behind your passive damage requires a much lower skill floor and just isn’t as fun. I get why people run conditions; it’s hard to be a successful power ranger. When you do figure it out though, it’s fun as hell.
I’m finally fed up with the pet. It’s is nothing but a complete handicap.
Ranger has less damage
24 traits dedicated to the pet
several utility skills dedicated to the pet (shouts & signets)
pet keeps Ranger in combat
worthless in WvW outside of capturing supply camps
worthless in PvE against champion-level mobs
They should get rid of the Ranger pet, it’s a worthless mechanic. I’d take any other class mechanic over it.
The pet has no strengths that make up for all its weaknesses
So you think it’s a weakness having the ability to damage your opponent while dodging and avoiding damage alogether?
I don’t see it listed as a weakness, do you?
Well, that’s what the pet can do for you. You listed the pet as a ‘glaring weakness’. People need to come to realize that the ranger will never be without a pet, and should learn to use it to their advantage rather than build around it as if it doesn’t exist.
It’s only a matter of time before thrill of the crime is complained about. I swear its impossible to take these nerf requests seriously anymore, they’re just grasping for anything they can find no matter how good or bad it is.
You already nerfed disabling shot to oblivion, what else do you want?
“The thief’s ability to wield more then a single 1-handed weapon is just to much along with their totally super god hax damage, the only way for thief to be TRULY balanced is to remove their weapons period!”
I feel that’s the logical conclusion at this rate.
I like the current sword. Combined with quickness, you can stick to a stealthed opponent with relative ease, further pushing the ranger to the point of being the anti-thief.
Ranger: High single target DPS. Long range single target damage – should be the best (mesmer comes second). Sustainability through melee evasion and dodging. Sustained melee AoE.
Weakeness: Dealing with boons on enemies – no boon rip. Lack in stun breakers with some builds but it is intentional since you can evade so much. Reliance on pet for maximum efficiency as pet is factored into your damage output. Your damage will be smaller than other classes due to the pet. Pet have issues against high end PvE encounters since they are more of a hindrance than help. AoE at long ranged but it is a trade off with having highest single target DPS at long range. Mobility – can’t escape fights as good as some other classes.
Official design: Pretty close to the player feedbacks.
Personally, I think the TTK on everything needs to be brought up. Berserker already suffered a burst-potential nerf, however I don’t think it was enough in my personal opinion, and conditions are over the top as we can all agree. Games become more skill based when it takes longer than 3 seconds to down your opponent.
They’ve already significantly improved pet responsiveness and increased stat scaling. I figured people would be content until the next balance patch with that alone.
This would actually be reminiscent of the WoW hunter challenges my wonderful boyfriend keeps trying to shove down my throat.
I think the idea should be pushed forward, however not as a drop. Drop rate has little to nothing to do with skill, only with how lucky you are. I’d prefer it as more of an achievement box like most Meta events. Do X and Y and you get Z.
For example for the baby dragon listed above to obtain the egg.
X Kills with a drake
Collect X herb or something.
Kill X undead drakes.
Once completed you are awarded a legendary drake egg, which unlocks a new quest train.
Complete Arah p3
Y kills with Drake
Reach location Z on the map. Some mundane and pain in the kitten place.
Kill champion creature. (Probably a drake in this case like a broodmother) But don’t just blatantly tell us what one it is, make it a hunt of some sort to figure out which one it is.
This would cause it to hatch, and then you have to level it up by doing some mundane kill quest.
It’d be a bit of a grind but hey something to do at 80.
Once it’s 80 with you, you have an optional quest X kills with legendary weapon of your choice to get a cosmetic effect applied to it.
For example Kudzu, it’d start to appear more of a jungle dragon.
Dreamer it’d turn more into a pretty unicorn desu desu.
Twilight it’d start to darker and more cosmic
so on so forth.
———————
For the pheonix’s apply this to birds.
They could do all kinds of cool creatures this way, and it’d kind of show a Ranger’s ability to get things done, apply achievements to the AP of the ranger, and have some cool effects of their own.
It’d be fun!
Spiders: TA
Birds: CoF
Drakes: Arah
Devourer: idk lol.
Dogs: CM
ect ect
Also the ability to change their f2 skill to any of the same type’s out of combat like the legendary.
This reminds me of the Black Moa Mini meta quest that sent you across all 3 continents doing things and gathering supplies to eventually hatch the egg. I approve!
I think that the hs spam op, thieves are skilless noobs mentality is now a component of the genetic code of the playerbase.
No matter if you play sword or pistol mainhand, if you beat your opponent you are a skillless hs spamming noob. It’s a pavlov reflex.
Same thing goes for rangers being bad, or warriors being faceroll (despite the fact that warrior was the most kitten class when the game launched in PvP).
