Guild Wars 2

Your F5 is redundant. Look at my F1 suggestion in the pet rework thread linked in my signature, to see a better version.

Strengh of the Pack is a lasting effect, I think each shout should be redesigned to function like it (boons reapplied in intervals, pet buffing the Ranger, Ranger buffing the pet)

That we would get a devpost detailing the future of the Ranger.
That’s how desperate I am. It was a good dream by the way, I remember no details tho.

Vayne.8563:

Fluffball.8307:

Let’s refocus this:

Consider that ranger is represented at 0% or close to 0% in the top competitive teams for PvP and PvE, and is unwelcome in WvW guilds to the point that “no rangers accepted” is a common statement seen on guild sites.

Given the fact the the ranger is one of the most popular professions I’m not really sure how this matters. That is to say, at least four professions, probably five, are less popular than the ranger.

“I don’t care how good or bad my profession performs, so clearly everyone who’s questioning my profession’s performance is wrong.”
Yeah yeah, I see where this is going.

Vayne.8563:

zaced.7948:

it’s not about what you like, aurora, or your roleplay phantasies it’s about (numerical and mechanical) facts.
gameplay and fun doesn’t matter when it comes to efficiency and numbers.

what the goals for ranger were i don’t know. i guess you had to have that class since it is a classic one in nearly every rpg (the usual treehugger with bow and pet). i have never played one since they have always been subpar.

What percentage of the playerbase do you really think cares aobut numerical and mechanical facts. I’m guessing it’s a much smaller percentage than you think it is.

Stop hijacking the ranger subforum Vayne.

Edit: Ha! I was worried Vayne was trying to hijack the Ranger subforum, but as it turns out, this thread was moved from the general discussion forum.

As for the inital question, I don’t think it has anything to do with "being considered a noob profession. I think the reason why the Ranger is lacking is because they tried to achieve something with the Ranger they clearly weren’t able to pull off.

The wanted to give us a companion that fights with us, so that we are able to be at two places at once, being able to apply pressure to multiple targets or being able to “surround” a target. But what we actualy got was a deaf AI that was doing too much damage, and because they didn’t want to nerf the pet, they nerfed the Ranger instead (Rangers having their damage cut by roughly 30%).

They wanted to make the sword the most mobile weapon in the game and accepted the flawed AA to pull that off.

They wanted to give us more control over the pet and created the shouts, which are useless for the most part.

Hell, we know that they changed our profession mechanic very late in the development (we could only choose between 4 pets but were able to customize their attacks).

The Ranger is subpar because all of its elements are subpar to what ANet imagined them to be.

The reason why that hasn’t been addressed really is probably because changing all the flawed stuff would take too much time. The fact that there are so few Ranger mains in the ANet staff is probably another reason.
The third reason is that, despite having all that flaws, the Ranger is still pretty good at kiting. So we never excell in anything, but we can simply outlast them while hitting them with our wet noodles.

I still think that removing throwable traps was unnecessary.

When I hear that “Raids are the ultimate challenge”, then I expect them to be challenging. I expect them to be challenging even when the most optimal teamcomps and strategies are found. I expect them to be challenging for the optimal group.

Puggable: Players get together without any coordination or optimised builds and just do what is necessary to clear the dungeon.

That should not be possible with raids. You can gather 9 other random people, but you need to plan out a strategy and need to optimize your builds.

jcbroe.4329:

The problem I have with seeing a melee staff is that at this point with thief and Rev both getting a melee staff, it might start to be an overused concept. For thief and rev, it’s unique in a sense because they lack 2 handed melee weapons without staff.

Ranger, on the other hand, has greatsword already. So what would a melee staff that’s different from thief and revenant act without overlapping with Ranger GS at all? That would be my question/concern from a design point of view.

A caster staff for the druid on the other hand has tons of design potential that isn’t present on either the ranger class or in the theme/function of other classes. It doesn’t even have to necessarily be a “ranged” weapon, it just has to avoid being a martial weapon (aka it could be similar to guardians staff and have shorter ranges or even no range, but still thematically use magic to attack).

I doubt that anything will be revealed until after the next BWE though ANet is cutting it close

But I want to beat up bad guys with a stick. Also, having a melee staff does increase the chance of the staff being a damage focussed weapon, something I want to see. I don’t want the first elite specialization to be some sort of tank or support centered specialization, I want to play through HoT with my Druid and I want to be able to kill stuff, as fast as the Berserker or the Daredavil can at best.

A good zerg pet would be the drakes. They are slow, have slow attacks, but could be invulnerable unless someone is focussing them directly. They could also be able to bodyblock the enemy. I also thought about a pet that could stealth itself and other minions for a long peried of time, so that you can ambush someone (Let them run into your stealthed pet and attacks them form two fronts. May be funny if done with multiple Rangers).

Maybe it’s just because the pet is the only profession mechanic you have to work against, rather than to work with, but I’m very pessimistic when it comes to the Ranger. I found Nike in the post stream particulary funny, having almost no clue how the pet really works. And it’s pitiful to say atleast how he was talking about raising the boon cap to 10 players, so that atleast one Ranger and one Necro would have a place in raids.

I also find the pet to be too broken to stay at it is right now, but I fear that by coming up with an entirely new mechanic, this mechanic could be less effective than other profession mechanics. Other professions get an upgraded mechanic. which makes them better, while we get a new mechanic, which is just good. It would stand representative for the entire Ranger.

Anyways, I’m not going to get my hopes up until we heard more details. But, just like I wrote in the OP, I somehow doubt that I will be super happy with the outcome.

Ohoni.6057:

Yes, it has. They announced at 5m players today, that’s over twice what it launched with.

Subtract 5 of those 5 million for me please, I may have more than one account by now.
Also, don’t throw around numbers that are not representative. Noone said those 5 million players are active.

Yes, gathering those skins is important. Not buying them. I also fail to see why your shortsightedness led you to believe that those skins can’t be made aviable in the gemstore in the meantime.

Straylight.7529:

Also you’re ignoring the fact that there are people out there who’re completely happy with the current implementation of the gem shop and don’t want to earn their rewards. They pay money and they deserve getting whatever they bought instantly. Your version of the gemshop would clash with those people.

Is this guy for real? He’s defending microtransactions with the argument that some people like it and that those people rather want to pay for items than to play the game to get them. I don’t care that those people exsist, but trying to justify the lack of content with those people is just ridiculous.

Straylight.7529:

Wuselknusel.4082:

Straylight.7529:

You don’t know that.
The gemstore is what it is. If you don’t like you don’t have to use it.

Seriously? With all new skins just getting released in the gemstore?

You don’t have to buy that stuff. What’s the problem? If you want to earn new armor or weapons by playing I suggest you wait until the expansion releases. There’s going to be new legendaries and armor/weapon sets you can earn.

The problem is what I said in the very first post. I want to earn the skins. And that includes the skins in the gemstore.

Straylight.7529:

Wuselknusel.4082:

You mean farming the same stuff over and over again? Yeah, no thanks, I’ve done that the past 3 years. This game is no giant wardrobe. If you don’t want to play for the stuff you want then don’t play a game in the first place.

No. that’s not what I meant. I simply meant that that the gem shop accomodates those people who’d rather pay to receive an outfit/item/reward instead of playing (which is completely fine) For those who don’t want to do that there is plenty of stuff they can earn by doing pve/pvp content.

The game is a giant wardrobe and I’m sure there are people out there who like it that way.

Maybe this game isn’t for you?

“People who want to pay”, what are you even talking about? The only reason to pay for skins is to get them faster. Doing one event isn’t particulary time consuming and you don’t even need to pay for the skins to get them. You just can to get more skins into the game.

Also, each person with in the right mind would want to have a straight talk with you about wether or not this game is just a giant wardrobe.

Straylight.7529:

You don’t know that.
The gemstore is what it is. If you don’t like you don’t have to use it.

Seriously? With all new skins just getting released in the gemstore?

You mean farming the same stuff over and over again? Yeah, no thanks, I’ve done that the past 3 years. This game is no giant wardrobe. If you don’t want to play for the stuff you want then don’t play a game in the first place.

Straylight.7529:

That’s not narrow minded. I’m not even sure why you’re using that word. That’s just how the development of GW2 content works. Also the gemshop of GW2 is not intended to be a kickstarter project where you give them money and they give you something back later.

They will soon have finished their work on HoT and they definitely wont start to develop a new expansion right after that. And I don’t care what the gemstore is intended to be.

Also you’re ignoring the fact that there are people out there who’re completely happy with the current implementation of the gem shop and don’t want to earn their rewards. They pay money and they deserve getting whatever they bought instantly. Your version of the gemshop would clash with those people.

This is the single most ridiculous thing I’ve heard for a while now. Who in the right mind plays a game to simply buy everything they want to have? Why are they playing in the first place? Those people are not the ones that should influence the development of a game in any way.

No, I want them to take a Patreon approach. All players pay for goals and when those goals are reached, they will create an event with the item as reward. If that goal is never reached, then they can still release it in the gemstore.

You are saying they aren’t able to set up events because they are working on HoT?
That is pretty narrow minded. Also, the whole reason why I don’t like the gemstore is that you “just pay” to get the reward. I don’t want to pay to get it, I want to play to get it. I want to pay so that I can play more.

If you would actually read what I said, then you would realize that my intention was to incentivice an opposing monetization option for the gemstore.

But to answer your question, yes I’ve already bought HoT.

Ohoni.6057:

I hope the legendary skins rewarded from raids are only obtainable through raiding. I also hope that they release other legendary armor skins that are obtainable through other means.

That would be better than nothing, but what if a player prefered the look of the kind exclusive to raiding?

Seriously, if I wanted to raid I would be playing Wildstar, “not raiding” is one of the things I love best about GW2, and I’d hate to see raiding corrupt this game’s culture. It’s not that I don’t think I’m capable of raiding, it’s that I have absolutely no interest in it under any circumstances, and hope that the developers can respect that.

If you don’t want to play all parts the game has to offer, that’s fine. But don’t expect to get all the rewards then.

Dear ANet,
I don’t like the gemstore, I really don’t and I am not spending money on it (tho’ you probably don’t care, since there are enough whales out there).

However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to spend money on GuildWars 2.
I just don’t want to reward you for mindlessly putting new items behind a paywall, not because I would have to spend gold or money, but because every item in the gemstore is an item that could have had a background and gameplay associated with it.

I would like to pay you for content. Specificly, I would like to pay you to release the items you are currently locking behind the gemstore for free, with quests associated with them to unlock them. Now those quests don’t have to be super elaborated or keep me entertained for weeks on end, they should just make Tyria look more alive.

For me, the gemstore is currently relating this message: “You want new skins? Look at these wounderful weapon skins and those magnificent backpack skins! Or do you want new outfits? They all cost less than 10 dollars!”

I would like it to be this: “Listen up player, you want new skins and stuff to do? We’ll create them, but that costs money. So here’s the deal: You pay us and if we have gathered enough money to cover the expenses, we’ll create a new event and put in the skin as reward.”

The Thief gets the sword fix! Look at the third staff ability and compare it to Hornet Sting, Hornet Sting looks completely clunky compared to the staff.

The Ele is a caster and uses the staff as a caster weapon. The Ele deals high damage.
The Mesmer is a caster and uses the staff as caster weapon. The Mesmer deals considerable condi damage.
The Necro is a caster and uses the staff as catser weapon. The Necro deals good damage.
The Guardian is no caster and uses the staff as caster weapon. The Guardian deals no damage.
The Revenant is no caster and is not using the staff as caster weapon. The Revenant heals with staff (because kitten logic).
The Thief get the staff as non-caster version and is no caster himself. The Tief will deal tons of damage with his staff.

There is a pattern.

Ofcourse there is a difference. Weren’t you around when we had to hit the F2 skill 5 times to get the pet to use it? There is a reason why people call the pet clunky and unresponsive.

Belzebu.3912:

Wuselknusel.4082:

The staff will be a caster weapon.

Ok I agree.

Wuselknusel.4082:

What we also know: The Ranger is no caster class.

Ok, so far so good.

Wuselknusel.4082:

What we can conclude: The staff will not be a damage centered weapon.

Wait, what !? How you came to that conclusion?
Ele is a caster with a staff and deal tons of damage with it.

Wuselknusel.4082:

What we also know: The Ranger is no caster class.

The Ranger doesn’t use magic to damage his enemies.

Because it would be technically too complicated.
The server is controlling the pet and your client would have to ask the server to use the stunbrake, rather than activating it itself. Combined with skill-queuing issues, this would more often fail than work.

Justine.6351:

anduriell.6280:

Wuselknusel.4082:

Pets need another justification to exsist than damage.

Agreed. But damage is now their only mechanic, we have very few pets that apply utilities and those are really bad.

?

Immobilize,fear,kd,KB,stun,might,fury,poison,healing,regen,blind,weakness,chill. I’m sure I missed some but no, dmg is not their only mechanic.

Oh you mean that one cherry on top of that pile of kitten is worth the 30% damageloss?

What we know (based on old information that may not be true anymore):
The staff will be a caster weapon.
What we also know: The Ranger is no caster class.
What we can conclude: The staff will not be a damage centered weapon.
What we can conclude from that:

deSade.9437:

My user profile contains inappropriate content.
… what does that mean? I’m too confused to even appeal for the infraction O.o

One of my accounts got banned on this forum because I was using the Holy Trinity of DPS picture. Especially funny, considering the other post which still has it on this forum.

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Kui was who presented on the Engineer on the POI, and IIRC, the Ranger last time there was a POI about the Ranger.

You mean the POI where they joked about buffing bearbow instead of presenting some actual improvements?

Swoop does also fail to hit moving targets from time to time. It just stops before you reached your enemy.

Pets need another justification to exsist than damage.

Puck.9612:

I would have sworn swoop was meant to have a double leap since it is a 2 part skill….

Still even if it wasn’t why was this prioritized over the other 40ish bugs plaguing the ranger?

You forget, this bug had a grandmaster-level impact on the game. :P

Zenos Osgorma.2936:

Whirling Defense: This skill now triggers multiple whirl finishers over its duration instead of just one.

So being rooted for 5 secs must be intended, otherwise they would have changed that while fiddling with this skill.

I mean, they could have put something like the Warrior at last, since it is a strong specialization from the looks of it and because the Warrior is so popular.
That would be “a grand finale”, but now they have to surpass the Warrior’s specialization, especially because the Ranger currently is anything but flawless.

I somehow doubt it.

And that’s why I keep presenting the idea of removing the damage from the pet. Keep the pet, remove the damage. The pet could be entirely utility based and it could be glorious at it. We have so many pets, so many utility niches that could be filled.

Want to spot enemies behind a wall in WvW? Send a bird over the wall to mark enemies for you. Want to sniff out stealthed targets? Send a carnine. Want to catch a running target that is faster than you? Send a Moa.

We could even keep some pets that do damage, tho not much, which can be buffed by traiting the beastmaster line. So beastmaster would still be viable.

Pets could use a move command where you could mark a position and the pet would run to that position. You could mark an enemy or an ally and the pet will follow that player. You could mark you and your pet will follow you. Simple and effective.

That is the kind of pet I want to play with. For more ideas, check my signature.

.

Evapor.6849:

Minigrump.4961:

this video demonstrates why I hate playing ele while living in australia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRUNpN13Eoc

I live in the UK and I get the same thing, I have a really good connection but this game has always been really laggy to me. I asked a few people about it and they said it was packet loss, so I got a VPN and it helped alleviate the lag but it’s still noticeable whenever I use a movement skill.

The GCHQ probably needs too long to analyze your data. :P

This is a very good question.

I noticed that taunt neither stops channeled abilities, nor does it change the target of those abilities. I could be wrong, but I noticed this quite a few times already.

I sadly cannot stop to suggest this change I have proposed.

Well, that can be your suggestion, I just doubt that it will find many supporters. My suggestion is to be able to control when or even if I want to use the kick. That way, the skill would be as effective against melee and ranged attacks. I assume that you suggest to remove the ability to block ranged attacks from all weapons who have a secondary effect then.

There is no difference between blocking a ranged attack or a melee attack, and there certainly isn’t a differenciation between blocks and projectile blocks. The kick get triggered when the attacker happens to be in range, even if he is using projectile attacks.
If blocks in general wouldn’t be considered blocking projectiles aswell, why does the Warrior has a trait that turn all his blocks into reflects then?

Your argumentation just doesn’t make any sense. If it’s your opinion that the current block is fine, then I am ok with that. But please be not mistaken that the change I propose would not hinder your current playstyle. It would be merely a QoL change, one of many the Ranger desperately needs.

Well, if there is a time they could do it, it is now, when they are still making changes for HoT.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Wuselknusel.4082:

Not to insult you, but are you that narrow minded? What I am presenting are mere thoughts. ArenaNet could easily only change the skill Crippling Throw to Kick if a melee attack has been blocked. You lose nothing but the time you need to hit the skill twice to activate Kick if possible, since it’s currently instant activation, while if changed, you had to activate Kick yourself. You gain the full duration block, no matter if melee or ranged attack has been blocked, and if ANet isn’t completely incapable, you could even block the melee attack of one enemy but use Kick on another.

Not narrow minded at all. You actually said after blocking one attack and didn’t specify ranged or melee and also did not specify the block would last for the duration. If that were the case, I agree with you. If a Melee attack is blocked, Crippling Throw becomes Kick and you can use that. Fine idea. Just make it also a 450 leap and call it Flying Kick. If it were changed to that, I would say Crippling Throw can just be deleted.

Wuselknusel.4082:

It is not that the skill has a counter. The skill has no counter, it is just sloppy implemented which leaves room to exploit that implementation…

See Shadow Shot. Hard counter to Counterattack. Which sucks.

I just expected that one could get the idea himself, without me having to add that detail as clarification, that’s all. I’ll try to be more precise next time then.

For the hardcounter part, I didn’t mean to say that there are no skills that counter Counterattack, I’m merely saying that the root that occurs during the kick, in combination with the Ranger not being able to control the kick, is not a counter, as Justine is suggesting, but just sloppy design.

As for removing Crippling Throw, I’m not entirely sure about that, since I find myself using it often to close the gab to a running target without having to switch to the longbow.

It still has a lot of pressure. And as far as I know, they don’t get rooted in place without their doing.