Guild Wars 2

tolunart.2095:

achensherd.2735:

I’m in Southsun a lot, and quite often I would kill the kittens

NOOOOO! YOU MONSTER!

out of the ambient crabs there by accident. -_-

Er, oh… that was just the kittenifier censor… carry on.

Dude, even if there were killable kittens in this game, I think you’d need a 50+ zerg to maybe take ‘em. Just look at what they’re doing in WvW: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/WvW-Hidden-Room

tolunart.2095:

I got an achievement for killing a bunch of them by accident because I use a lot of attacks that either cover a large area or bounce between enemies. Like elementalist staff effects, thief shortbow autoattack, guardian hammerjump, etc.

Zap-Zap-Zap-BZZZZZZT! Awwwwww, poor bunny…

I’m in Southsun a lot, and quite often I would kill the kittens out of the ambient crabs there by accident. I’d be running towards my next karka pinata, buffing myself so that my next attack is going to hit fast and hard. As soon as I’m in range, I attack, aaaaaaaand I six-figure the ambient crab that I didn’t notice was blowing water bubbles in front of the karka. -_-

Pleeeeeeeease bring back secondary professions so we can do this on our own!

I can see a new Pact leader for every Elder Dragon campaign, to be honest. Trahearne was chosen because of his knowledge of Orr and Zhaitan and because all of the Orders respect him. Going forward against another Elder Dragon with an already-unified force, Trahearne’s no longer as “necessary”.

They’re arguably pointless if you’re consistently running with a well built, skilled, and experienced group. They’re not pointless if you’re consistently the last one or one of two left alive to take out a boss because one guy is there, there, and there, another guy ignored all instructions and got himself stepped on well out of range of everyone else, another tried his best but failed, and another is downed and only able to contribute by throwing rocks. All of a sudden being able to take a few hits is a big deal.

I listen to game reviews, vlogs, audiobooks, and only occasionally music when I’m playing.

I got my ascended quiver for the aethestic and to be able to have more AR. This is just a skin with no inherent stats or ability to increase AR. Big difference. Granted, I have wanted this skin ever since I laid eyes on it, but I’m not going to trade my ascended quiver (including its skin) for it. I guess I better save up for another ascended quiver to transmute this skin onto. :P

Sign me up! Let’s zerg the shells out of ’em karkas!

I’m on Dragonbrand, and I usually get on after 9 or 10 PM PST.

I repeatedly soloed fractal trash mobs until I got a vial to drop, which all things considered was the hardest part since it’s the one thing that can’t be bought or earned.

They were a pain in the kitten initially. After destroying a few of them I realized I could just side-step the shockwave if I kept a reasonable distance and timed it right.

I also found that certain thin, tiny trees in Diessa Plateau can block the shockwaves, making for some looney situations if you use them as cover.

From my main’s point of view, Queensdale was where his journey began, and after months (years?) of fighting Zhaitan and his minions in the dark, dank and dead/undead environments of Orr, there’s no better place to go for R&R than the lush, green, lively hills of Queensdale.

Or at least he would be getting R&R if he didn’t have to constantly run around the countryside leaving mounds of dead bandits, trolls, wasps, boars, spiders, and centaurs in his wake.

Torvic.8256:

A large part of the reason, at least for those who’ve also played Guild Wars: Prophecies, may also be that Queensdale is the closest thing in GW2 to GW1’s pre-Searing Ascalon in terms of looks, feel and serenity, all of which was lost forever after the Searing.

^This. It so does. Some days when I’m running around Queensdale and Divinity’s Reach, I have these moments where I’m looking at the skies and wondering how long either is going to last, and how crazy I’d go to experience the before and after of a Searing-like event again.

This is why we can’t have nice things!

Scootabuser.4915:

Dont go full BM your personal DPS sucks.

10/25/5/0/30

You hit like a truck with berzerker’s gear, and your pet hits like a truck. This is prob the best dungeon build for hunters out there cause you do so much dps and provide a lot of support with spring

builds like the one achen suggested are the reason rangers have a bad reputation for bad damage

Agreed. Once it became clear how kitten that build was for dungeon and fractal runs in which I didn’t have to keep picking everyone off the floor, I traited 0/10/30/0/30 and later 0/20/20/0/30 for better non-pet dps.

That said, the problem with any BM build is that in many situations (particularly in fractals, even with AR) pets just have no chance, after which you’re reduced to only what dps you can dish out. If you can keep your pet up and at ’em more often than not via micro and/or signet usage, coupled with zerk gear you will indeed be hitting like a truck.

You’re pretty much spot on, although it does depend on whom you’re running with. If you’re running with a group that’s on the ball with dps, utility, and support, you’re going to be sort of the odd one out since Rangers can do all of those, but none of them particularly better than anyone else. If you’re running with a PUG or an otherwise mismatched group, then your survivability from toughness and regen will come in very handy as you may have to run around picking up the pieces while under fire.

I ran a 0/0/30/10/30 build for months nearly everywhere, and at least up until I started running dungeons and fractals with people who knew what they were doing, it was great. I couldn’t do much damage like you said (apart from occasions when my Raven and Jaguar could crit unopposed), but I could survive what many others could not and keep everyone (particularly the Guardians) on their feet. But once I started running with groups that knew what they were doing, didn’t drop nearly as much (if at all), and didn’t have any problems healing, I didn’t really have anything exemplary to contribute.

In short, unless you play with mismatched PUGs more often than not or otherwise have problems surviving in dungeons and fractals, I’d just stick with your zerker.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I’ll try using a different weapon and S&R and see how it goes if/when I find myself in this situation again. In regards to S&R, the other Ranger on the level 28 run brought it, and even used it to revive me from a downed state at one point, so I can totally see how useful it can be. +1 to that. I just hope it doesn’t end up trying to rez an NPC during the boss fight.

Our current method of fighting him (which may or may not be common… I don’t know) has us stacking on him along with all of the NPCs during the beginning of the fight until he’s at about 50% HP, at which point we back off (hopefully) before he agonizes us. This shortens at least half the fight considerably, but unfortunately results in all of the NPCs getting wiped out once the agony hits. Should I also bring SoR and try to rez the NPCs as well?

I have 20 AR right now, which I thought was plenty until I looked at the agony resistance chart just now. I guess I’m going to have to work on getting an Ascended accessory sooner rather than later. :T

Anyway, thanks guys.

TheWalkingDead.7298:

In what world are you guys playing in? Certainly not Tyria. Rangers are amazing solo point holders and duelist and do massive condition damage while still being very hardy. Beastmaster rangers are near unbeatable 1v1 and full trap/regen rangers do substantial AoE damage in team fights while applying many useful conditions like immobilize and poison and useful boons like vigor and regen.

He’s talking about WvW, though. I think many would concur that Rangers are in a good place in sPvP.

Two Urban Battleground Fractal runs so far, one at level 22 and the other at 28, both with me being the sole survivor of a wipe when we were going up against Captain Ashym. The first time I was able to solo him for about a minute, whittling his HP down from about 1/10 to the point where it’s no longer visible before he successfully Whirlwind Attacked my kitten, and the second time was the same story except he was already at a seemingly empty health bar, and he ran my kitten over in much less time. Both times he got me were when I ran out of evades (including SB #3) and was pretty much a sitting duck when he spun my way.

I was running a hybrid beastmaster variant in both fights, 0/20/20/0/30 with Melandru armor and zerker SB and GS. With the same build, I think I conceivably could’ve switched to a GS and blocked, but it seems even if I successfully did that, it would only buy me a few seconds… seconds during which I’m stuck with a melee weapon against a boss that I’m pretty sure I don’t want to get close to.

Anyone successfully taken him down in similar circumstances before as a Ranger? If so, what build were you using, and what did you do?

P.S.: The party I was with were more than capable of taking him down, and did so both times after we rezzed, but I figured if I found myself in the same situation again, I’d try to be better equipped to save my party time. And before anyone says it, no, I’m not going to re-roll. I’m working on that, but with how often I’m asked “FoTM?” as soon as I log on some nights, I have to make do with what I have. >_<

jan.9745:

And when i reading a forum i saw a comment that makes me fall in my chair. Lol

AlexRD.7914:

Jan, that person complaining wasn’t a thief, he said that trapper rangers are invulnerable to anything BUT a thief. The guy complaining probably was a warrior, and to them everything is OP, because they need some serious buffs.

If you read one post down from the one Jan copied:

randomfightfan.4091:

Now imagine if 50 of these popped up every day in here. People not knowing how to fight you so they lobby for nerfs instead of learning to counter certain builds. That’s what life is like in the thief forum.

He’s basically complaining about all the people complaining about Thieves in the Thief forum. He’s trying to show us (Rangers) what it’s like to be QQed at in 50 threads a day, and how ridiculous the QQer’s claims are by imitating one towards Rangers from the perspective of another class (Thieves in this case).

I wish birds would skip casting swiftness and just attack. That whole fly over → swiftness cast twirl → flap → flap → flap routine they do is just asinine.

LadyLad.1389:

Actually for skilled players the higher level Fractals are a blast. It’s just that when building groups, we will not take Rangers because they reduce the chance of success.

Out of curiosity, are Rangers the only class you won’t take on these Fractal runs, or are there others as well? What are the usual compositions of your groups?

KensaiZen.3740:

It is not always the case… but then it is not always the case with every other profession and tactic. But more often then not, it is always the case for me.

Then there’s nothing separating us from any other class capable of >1200 ranged attacks. What you’ve shown so far is that we, like any other class, are capable of running a dungeon. What has yet to be shown is how we’re godly at it, which is what’s necessary for the thread title (presently “Ranged…. Rangers are Godly (better?)”) to be accurate, and what’s necessary to make a compelling case for Rangers in high level group content.

Having played as a LB + Eagle Eye Ranger:

KensaiZen.3740:

you would be out of range. It would select a closer target.

This is not always the case.

KensaiZen.3740:

same as above. You shouldn’t be anywhere near its agro range.

You don’t always have a choice.

KensaiZen.3740:

we have access to regens on trait and signet.

Which build are we talking about again?

KensaiZen.3740:

At this point do you even need to worry about DPS? what good is a GC wwarriors DPS if he is on the floor?

When you’re the only survivor of a party wipe, the boss is down to 5-10% health, and your party’s clamoring for you to try to finish the fight instead ofdisengaging and resetting it, dps and/or the ability to survive/sustain a solo fight against a boss and its adds matters.

KensaiZen.3740:

Then you move as well. A 1500 circumfrance is very large. You don’t have to remain completely static as you are

A 1500 distance from all hostile elements in a boss fight is not always possible.

KensaiZen.3740:

you will not be in range for most AoE’s. If you are, just move, you will still be shooting.

Simply moving out of AoEs is not always possible.

KensaiZen.3740:

Player positioning plays a very important role. Find a good firing spot and the likeliness of this happening is reduced. Find an amazing firing position and nothing will attack you. Do people even bother? no, they go for what they think is max DPS and run around with a shortbow TRYING to flank the target whilst trying not to die. At above 1200 range you are outside of a mobs agro field. Your party isn’t. why will they go for you? think about it. And here’s the other thing. If you have SoH equipped you should be fast enough to keep out of harms way.

They have come for me regardless. I don’t know what to tell you.

KensaiZen.3740:

So what happens when you dont need to dodge the boss? Your damage will never drop. There is no downtine.

No need to roll.
No need to kite.
No need to cast a heal.
No need to disengage.
No need to chase a boss if he teleports.
No need to walk out of AoE.

You just fire away with no loss to damage via downtime.

If a boss and its adds…

never try to attack you
never aggro on you
never inflict any kind of damage on you
never wipe your party down to you
never teleport/move outside of your range and/or behind obstructions
never cast any kind of AoE and there are no environmental hazards

…then yeah, you can turret it/them all day long with no downtime.

This happens, though? o_O

Sebrent.3625:

Could you please supply a link? I’m lazy :-p

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/The-main-warrior-questions/page/2#post1725521

I got like 90% of my veteran monthly from the Ascalonian Fractal, and I finished the jumping puzzle monthly last night (I never want to see some of those ever again, btw).

digiowl.9620:

I suspect that ANet’s real April Fool is putting 150 audio logs in as a monthly…

I totally (somehow) misread that one in-game. YOU NEED 150 OF THOSE?! Okay, kitten that one, then! Pretty much any of the other ones are easier to achieve than that!

I don’t always use a greatsword, but when I do, I use a http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Claymore

I’m on Dragonbrand, and so far I haven’t encountered any Ranger discrimination. The only time I get singled out is when I’m running certain dungeons with my guild, and only because my guild leader likes to take dangerous, seemingly untested shortcuts that my pet’s pathing just won’t cooperate with.

On that note, I guested onto TC recently and had quite a blast with the folks there. If I ever switch servers, TC is (at least for now) at the top of my list.

Regarding graphics, I just felt like sharing that my laptop sits at this place where it can run GW1 at like a bajillion fps (not really, but close) at max settings, and GW2 at around 25-30 fps with not a whole lot going on at the lowest settings (except render sampling — subsample is just painful). That being the case, while GW2 does look better (i.e. show more details) than GW1 on my computer, it’s not by a whole lot, so when I go back to GW1 I don’t really feel like “ZOMG deez graphix sux!”.

It was only after I went to a friends house and watched her play GW2 with everything maxed out and running smooth did I weep. -_-

GrandmaFunk.3052:

Start with Nightfall so you have heroes.

This, especially since the there’s hardly anyone left (when I go on, anyway). Heroes will allow you to more easily “solo” a lot of the content that henchmen won’t.

I miss Necros being able to raise minions out of my pet(s) in GW1. It was good for the morbid lawls in Tombs.

SilencedScream.2167:

In short – I’d want to replace GW2 ranger for GW1, though I know it’s usefulness with the new mechanics would be highly diminished.

GW2’s gameplay, at least as it stands now, just doesn’t reward the types of utilities either Ranger has. Interrupting was one of the first things I tried to do as a GW2 Ranger, and although it can be nice at times, it’s just not as necessary anymore. Mobs and bosses generally don’t heal, and what interruptible attacks they have can just be dodged.

AFAIK there’s only one instance where interrupting/stunning is absolutely critical, and that’s to prevent the Legendary Rampaging Ice Elemental from healing in the Underground Facility Fractal. Upon learning of that mechanic on my first time fighting it, I giddily swapped to my longbow (for the first time in a long time) and was all “I have purpose!”

ANet scrapping an entire profession from the game, although technically not outside of the realm of possibility, is in my opinion highly, highly unlikely. However, if only to entertain this topic, I think ANet should replace the Ranger with… (drumroll) the Ranger from GW1.

I’m not rose-tintedly saying the GW1 Ranger was perfect or would be viable in all circumstances in GW2. In fact, I would say it had a lot of the same issues, or at least suffered from some pretty similar things as the GW2 Ranger, like not being able to find groups for certain content, getting kicked from groups, not outputting enough dps, getting outdone even with stuff it’s good at (e.g. interrupting), being a jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none, etc. With much of GW2’s PvE content being dps-centric, it would still probably get outdone by most of the other professions, and it would still probably not be able to find a place on CoF speed runs. However, it has one advantage the GW2 Ranger does not have, one advantage that makes it a GODLIKE class in comparison, shortcomings and all: the ability to choose whether or not to have a pet and not get punished for it one way or another.

It is of my opinion that that one thing, that one option we no longer have, kittens our class over more than any other broken mechanic we have. Spirits are more broken and/or useless, you say? We can totally just not summon/use/trait for them. Pets kittening us over because of their lackluster AI, getting instagibbed by things they can’t dodge or block, and/or wandering off (far off) to aggro things they have no business aggroing, all while accounting for 30-40% of our total dps and making us lose that much when they inevitably get nuked, regardless of whether or not we traited for them? Shrug

Pets can be awesome. Pets can be useful. They’re just, in my opinion, not awesome or useful enough to warrant them being a permanent, “always-on” extension of our class. We should be able to choose whether or not to have them out… much like we did before.

Okay, I’m done. :|

Chopps.5047:

Yeah, it’s a shame ANET hasn’t tweaked the drop rate of passion flowers. I even go to southsun from time to time to try my luck and I never get any.

Going to Southsun every day for a month, I’ve gotten 4 or 5. That being the case, I can totally understand why passiflora trinkets cost as much as they do. It still sucks, though.

Anecdotal and situational, but it seems the sword ends up allowing me to do more damage overall because engaging something in melee, thereby (more often than not) acquiring its aggro and keeping it crippled/slowed by sword #1, allows my pet to actually get most, if not all of its hits in.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

I uploaded a video on youtube. Ignore the talks of cats and such… didn’t realize my mic was open. It’s currently being processed, but you should be able to see it in a little bit. It should help demonstrate how quickly regeneration stacks on its own.

Cats, you say?

I’ve been thinking about alting a Thief because it looks like it can be played like a Ranger. Thieves are a medium armor class like Rangers, can use pretty similar weapons including the shortbow (albeit in different ways), and can deploy traps, so there are enough similarities at least to start.

Sometimes I wish I had mained a Thief instead, but for personal lore reasons I stuck with the Ranger. Some days I’m happy I did, and some days I’m depressed about it. Shrug

An Apothecary Bunker build, basically, just… all the way. :P I’ll give this a shot once passion flower drop rates aren’t best expressed in scientific notation.

Keyska.4105:

I even think (I thought no Trinity was so great) they should bring a trinity back in.
I only say this because its to chaotic; the game lacks a certain structure.
Or at the least give us the same skill system as Gw1. I would had so much more fun in the game collecting skills.
Sry shutting up now..

There is a trinity of sorts: Warrior = tank/dps, Guardian = healer/dps, Mesmer = utility/dps.

What I miss from GW1 is the necessity of interrupts. There are very, very few places in GW2 where interrupts are either critical or nice to have. Most of the time you can just dodge whatever it is you didn’t bother interrupting anyway, so there’s almost no point at least as far as PvE is concerned. I would like to see more instances where mechanics like interrupting are critical or at least very, very nice to have.

On a side note, running a bunch of Ranger Heroes in GW1 all equipped with interrupting skills was hi-lar-i-ous. Enemies could hardly ever do anything.

“I’m going to summon a meteor shower to—” no you’re not.
“I’m going to heal—” no you’re not.
“I’m going to attack you with my hammer—” no you’re not.
“I’m going to—” no.

I’d craft my 7 remaining professions to 80, buy legendaries for all of them, philanthropize for newbies, and hold twisted and bizarre contests with gold/item prizes for my amusement.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

I’d buy up all the pre-cursors and ACTUALLY control the precursor market so that all those whiners on the trading forum would understand what real manipulation was like as they suffered under my iron fist.

I like your way of thinking. If I got 1 million gold first, I’d fund this project.

Kendra Nightwind.8734:

There was a thread recently in the Thief forum that had to do with Thieves having problems finding groups for dungeons, and one person commented that the problem isn’t so much with Thieves, but with how a lot of the PvE content is designed.

I’m generalizing a bit here, but think of a lot of GW2’s bosses as the Arab/Cairo Swordsman from Raiders of the Lost Ark. You can either defeat him the “deleted scene” way, i.e. by whipping and evading him, or you can just shoot him. Sure, the deleted scene way is arguably more fun and a test of skill than the latter, but if you’ve already done it and are now only doing it to repeatedly farm the guy’s wallet, it’s easier and faster just to shoot/dps him.

Xsorus.2507:

Thing that annoys me about birds is that god awful Swiftness buff they do which its hilariously long animation time….Half the time i don’t even get the swiftness cause i’m already out of their range when chasing the target.

I don’t understand why Anet has decided our pets need long gaudy cast-times and animations…

I have a love/hate relationship with my raven because of this. When it crits, it crits hard, but getting it to engage in the first place is the problem. I can at least count on the jaguar to try to attack once it’s within range, but the raven often times just does the swiftness twirl and then… nothing. It just flutters in place for what feels like a long time in the thick of combat before it finally decides to attack, aaaaaand of course it doesn’t crit on that attack.

Still, when it crits, aww yeah.

Lert.6287:

Half joke/ half serious.
The good side of being ranger is ability to take blow after blow. After months on it you’re completly different person – rageless. 1/2 hp in one hit – ain’t even mad. No way to escape? – ‘’keep calm and turn on your second cheek’’.

But I’m glad for you that you have fun on it, I really am.

I lawled at this, and have to agree. I remember a post a little while back where someone remarked that if any other profession got the kind of attention (or lack thereof) as the Ranger, their players would find ways to torch Lion’s Arch.

In some ways I think the Ranger profession is designed to build up the restraint/patience/passivity of its players. Think about it: we’re good at sustain, condition damage, and traps, all of which either pay off over time or require us to wait for/bait our opponents to come to us.

“Eventually all these arrow attacks will kill ’em!”
“Eventually these conditions will bring ’em down!”
“Eventually we’ll get our day!”

What… gear are you using? Like, what are the stats on your armor apart from the runes? How much toughness and condition damage does your character actually have?

jan.9745:

Since day 1 ranger is like a puzzle. Its to hard to make your ranger to be a Best class. Some player delete and quit playing there ranger. But some didn’t give up they think how they make there ranger best. Now that the quickness nerf they need to think and challenge again. Have mercy to ranger

Seriously. I’m down with running an underdog profession (if not the underdog profession), even putting in double the effort to make it rock, but to get kicked down pretty much every patch is just demoralizing. The last one (the nerf to Empathic Bond in particular) I felt I could still work around, i.e. with SoR and/or HS. But this? There’s no working around this. This is a straight-up build-destroying change that shouldn’t happen this far in, especially after some of us have invested countless hours to acquire the gear necessary to optimize our builds, Ranger or otherwise.

Mardermann.7468:

“Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself. Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows. With traps, nature spirits, and a stable of loyal pets at their command, rangers can adapt to any situation.”

Directly from their homepage

Bows do substandard damage
Traps are okay
Nature spirits – well we know how they are
Pets – clunky, unresponsive, bad AI

1 out of 4 … not bad not bad

They’re going to look at that and go, “Traps are unbalanced! They’re OP compared to the Ranger’s other features/abilities! Down you go!”

I’ve been playing a variation of this build recently, and yeah… the nerf to quickness burns. This build still hits hard and all, but quickness was what gave it an edge when you needed to put a lot of pressure on someone/something fast, to either cause them to back off if not outright kill them. Now, though… I don’t even know what I’m going to do now.

Just when I’m about done gearing up a somewhat bursty QZ+SB build. -_-

For 1vX, probably an Apothecary Bunker (0/0/30/10/30 or similar with Apothecary gear).

Pros:
+ Enhanced survival due to high toughness, high healing power, damage-mitigating traits, and regeneration for both you and your pet(s).
+ Very impressive sustain due to the above.
+ High condition damage.
+ Pets become quite formidable with the +300 to BM and associated traits.

Cons
- Minimal dps, so battles can take a while, especially if your opponent(s) can remove conditions. Que stories of battles between bunkers that drag on for so long that both sides end up going “Kitten it!” and walking away.
- Because battles can take a while, it won’t be long before others join in, and they may not necessarily be on your side.
- If your opponent(s) run, there’s little to nothing you can do about it.
- Pets, despite all the benefits they get from this build, are still not that reliable without a lot of micro.

Leo G.4501:

Now that does look funny, guess they aren’t paying attention to a cat mauling their legs off

But didn’t they recently update it so pets can’t scale walls?

Yeah, but the “I’m getting mauled by thin air!” part still applies. :P

Sometimes it seems like the ones that are the most critical/negative about a given profession are the practitioners of said profession. I haven’t been browsing the Thief forums for long, but Thieves having problems in PvE/dungeons, true or not, seems to be a common utterance around here, which is funny because Rangers, Engies, and Necros are constantly QQing about pretty much the same things, i.e. having people bail because there are too many of their profession, getting kicked from parties, etc. It kind of paints the picture that unless we’re playing Warriors, Guardians, or Mesmers, PvE/dungeons are pretty much not for us. And now I’m wondering if even those professions are complaining about similar things, i.e. “Aside from speed-running CoF, we have no purpose in life!” O_O

If you want to compare notes with Rangers on virtually the same subject:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Feeling-useless-as-a-Ranger/first