Guild Wars 2

We’re the jacks of all trades and the masters of none. Anything we can do, others can do better. Others min-max to excel, we do it to stay alive or hit as hard as others can generally. For kitten’s sake, we have a strategy that involves jumping off cliffs and hoping our pursuers are stupid enough to jump after us and take more damage than we do with Muddy Terrain, and some of our best, if not most lethal abilities are quite possibly unintended (e.g. using Guard to send our pets over walls and being a kitten to kill while downed in water).

We’re by no means useless, though. We’re the standard infantry, the Starcraft Terran Marines of the GW2 WvW battlefield. We contribute bodies/strength in numbers. We can Stimpack/Quickening Zephyr to enhance our actions at the cost of HP/the ability to heal. When the enemy zerg is busy and deliberately targeting us for the potentially easy kills, the other classes can be free to execute their specialties.

A good Ranger can surprise his/her opponents by not going down (or at least not as easily as expected), dishing out damage/kills against the underestimating. A poor Ranger will serve as a purposeful distraction: when the enemy zerg swarms him/her to turn his/her downed body into a flag cushion, the other classes can either regroup and counterattack or retreat.

Yeah, I’m being extreme/over-generalizing/sarcastic, but unfortunately even then I don’t think what I’ve said is that far off. :T

deepwinter.9015:

Does Hornet’s Sting actually count as an Evade?

The reason I ask is that I believe I’ve seen it pop up for me once or twice while using the ability; however, Sting’s “cast” is so slow that timing is tricky. Often times, I’ll end up taking a hit before I’ve leapt to safety. :\

P.S. I’m glad to see other Sword+Dagger fans out there!

That’s my minor gripe about it: unlike the other evades, it’s not “instantaneous”. There have been a couple of times I’d see an attack coming and activate Hornet’s Sting, expecting to evade back after throwing my bag of hornets at my target’s face. However, after activating Hornet’s Sting, my Ranger would just stand there for what feels like a second or two, just in time to get smashed, before finally and (at that point) pointlessly evading back.

It’s only a minor gripe, though, since it’s really just a timing thing, and one that can be learned and adapted to. Besides, as a Sword+Dagger Ranger, it’s not like we’re short on evades. :P

Lack of reason to given the unknown, though likely detrimental outcome of flying what are essentially warships to a xenophobic nation that has eschewed external contact for over two centuries, and the fact that all of the races have conflicts they’re still dealing with on the home front.

My related question, though, is that now that Zhaitan’s gone, the Risen are being mopped up, and the other Elder Dragons aren’t on the open offensive at least for the moment, why not take some Pact forces/technologies that are now no longer tied up in Orr and offer to help out at home? I’m sure there would be political complications if, say, the Pact just used the Cauldron of Searing against the centaurs, Flame Legion, etc, but I would think a few airships cleared to float around the contested areas, and the open knowledge that said ships were used to help defeat an Elder Dragon, might give the opposing forces in the area an opportunity to reconsider their purposes in life. Shrug

Lutinz.6915:

Charr ate them all. True story.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Meatoberfest

It’s more situational than the shortbow. Where the shortbow generally requires only one thing to shine (flanking), each of the longbow skills has its own utility in certain situations at certain ranges. #1 is for dps at long range, #2 is a close-to-midranged burst, #3 applies a condition, #4 is for close-range interruption and knockback, and #5 is a condition-applying AoE.

Just my two coppers.

I would make sure to have a good amount of toughness one way or another. The other stats would vary based on your play style, i.e. whether you’re leaning more towards dps or conditions. If you don’t stat toughness and aren’t very proficient at evasion, you’re going to be easy-pickings for bosses that can one-shot you either directly or via AoE, and if you’re getting downed and need getting rezzed all the time, some groups may kick you if they feel you’re the weakest link, if they don’t discriminate against your profession from the get-go (which apparently has been happening).

I use it as an evade skill since it jumps you way back, and can jump you back in if you so choose, though even then I have to admit it’s somewhat lacking due to the delay after using Hornet Sting.

My pet flat-out stopped listening to me a couple of days ago. I kept hitting F1 for him to go pull monsters, and he just won’t budge. I ended up having to melee the monsters I was trying to pull (bow attacks did nothing) before my pet got a clue. Every. Single. Time.

Shrug

Also, +1 on permanent stowing. As-is, the “stow pet” option practically has no purpose beyond taking petless vanity screenshots. I’m not sure how big of an impact it’ll have on our traits since a pretty large portion of them even beyond the BM line have to do with our pets, but I’m willing to take the dps penalty just for the option.

DaisyRogers.6837:

I love my Ranger because I love the flow and animations of is melee specs. Funny part is this wasn’t what I was originally expecting from my ranger. I like most thought ranger equals bows and pew pew. Ranger has the most fun melee spec in the game (IMO).

I also love the BM line and how traiting into it truly turns the ranger into the great dynamic duo He is meant to be. I’ve gotten away with the most absurd things in PvE completing [Group] and World events alike solo. There is no other class I would rather roam and explore with then ranger.

I also get great satisfaction out of doing said epic events and insanely overscaled up events, when all the “survival bunker” classes wind up dead in the opening seconds of an encounter (looking at many dead guardians, warriors, thieves, and D/D eles). I then continue to solo said events, and rez the unfortunate survivors who were chewed up in the AoE.

Traiting into the BM line and running a bunker/conditions build was probably the best thing that ever happened to my Ranger. Before I pretty much always went for power/precision/critical damage builds, which are fine and all, but did tend to force me to stay back and “pew-pew” because going melee at higher levels with what’s pretty much a glass-cannon was just asking to get downed. After adapting a PvP BM bunker build to PvE and my playstyle, and subsequently finding that I can now at least survive, if not shrug off things that used to one-shot me (like the Priests in Orr), the game has become a LOT more fun for me.

Also, I totally agree about the melee flow/animations. Who knew giving a Ranger a sword can turn him/her into Yoda? :P

Yeah… whereas Map Completion in PvE is a fairly consistent (if tedious) endeavor, in WvW it can range from being a cakewalk when your server holds the points you need, to nigh-impossible when the points you need are deep in an enemy Borderland patrolled by zergs. There were a few times I bit the bullet and infiltrated an enemy Borderland (that’s mostly or completely controlled by them) to get some points, sometimes successfully either because I remained undiscovered or because I managed to defeat or push back my attackers, and sometimes I got swarmed. Although I probably won’t care to do it again for any of my alts, it was at times a very, very thrilling experience.

Here lies Allen Chen, Ranger, found in the Eternal Battlegrounds with multiple bullet and dagger wounds and a flag impaled through his chest. Evidently his Berserker’s gear, which he was heard to be fond of and even known to have equipped when he went to help defeat the Elder Dragon Zhaitan, was inconsequential against the perma-stealthed forces found in the Mists. His profession also marked him as a so-called “Walking Honor Badge”, something he apparently did not understand when he went off on his own towards enemy territory. He leaves behind his pet, Juvenile Jungle Stalker, who has loyally (or perhaps stupidly) refused to budge from where his master fell, staring off into the distance (or nothing).

The only vista I had serious problems with was the one in the Eternal Battlegrounds, in the SW enemy keep. It’s entirely possible my difficulties had to do with not being able to focus after helping to siege and storm the keep, dealing with the very real time limit of the enemy zerg outside trying to retake it, and of course the low framerates of simply being in WvW for my computer, but it took me some ten to fifteen minutes of trying to jump across the beams of the tower the vista was on top of (not a complicated jump in any way whatsoever). I wasn’t the only one, either; there was a sizable crowd of us missing one or more beams and subsequently diving off the tower in lemming-fashion (which probably didn’t help the framerates for all concerned, either).

I got a soulbound staff the other day. On my Ranger. That for some reason I can’t salvage or throw in the Mystic Forge. So there’s literally nothing I can do with it except sell it to a vendor. I mean, it was a blue so I wouldn’t have cared anyway, but… why?

My GW1 main/only is a Ranger by the same name, so in some ways I was “obligated” to roll a Ranger in GW2, if only to continue my personal lore/character ancestry. I had ups (pets, pets, pets!!!) and downs (why, pet, why???) with him while trying to figure him out, but am overall pleased with him and enjoyed the journey I had with him from Shaemoor to Arah, and wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I mean, in some ways because of how set back we are I feel like the Ranger is akin to Green Arrow from the Justice League, a human relying on wits and skill (and, okay, wealth) to survive in a universe with flying, bulletproof aliens, demi-goddesses, beings with magical/super-powered trinkets, Batman, and other superhuman characters/unwoundable symbols to contend with. Yeah, so maybe Superman won’t take us on Apocalypse runs, and Batman… won’t have anything to do with us, but when we manage to take out things that are usually relegated to the ones with superpowers/Batman, or even manage to take out a couple or more of the supers themselves, there’s just a greater satisfaction to relish.

Charr cubs. I was fully expecting to feel at least indifference towards the Charr because of the Searing in GW1, but then a Charr cub or two ran up to me in Lion’s Arch (I think), said something funny, and then ran off, and I was like, “D’awwwwwwwww! Searing forgiven!” Okay, not really, but I can take that ancestral grudge up against the Flame Legion, so whatever.

I’m okay with most of the medium armors/trench coats as a Ranger, but I don’t like some of the headgears. Masks are generally fine, but monocles and that half-skull thing are just weird on a Ranger. As for the level 80 crafted exotic armor…

http://www.gw2armor.com/human/male/crafted/medium/front.jpg

Yeah… the Shredder thing doesn’t seem like it’d suit any of the medium armor classes, IMO, but I guess there’s just no accounting for taste. :T

I always found the tutorial section in Factions regarding resurrection (the one where Togo apparently activates everyone’s kill-switches and then resurrects them) amusing because it addresses some of the questions regarding resurrection all while slightly breaking the fourth wall. I think it was the monk henchman that commented something to the effect of, “If we can always be resurrected at these shrines upon death, then we’re practically unstoppable!” to which Togo responds with something… lame, I guess, since I can’t remember what it was. o_o

Because of legacy. My GW1 character would flip his kitten if he found out his descendant bearing the same name didn’t also bear the same profession.

That aside, the Ranger has always been the one profession to get nerfed to kitten and back in both GW games, so really at this point I’m just used to dealing with it. I just hope all the other professions choke on my Badges of Honor. 9_9

Claw Island was probably the hardest mission for me, what with the mobs of Risen running around like caffeinated squirrels and karate-kicking me in the face by the dozen. Aside from that one and possibly the one where you have to infiltrate a town to rescue someone (an Order of Whispers mission, I think)… I had a relatively easy time probably because I went back to do the story missions when I was at a higher level. I can only imagine attempting the story missions at or near the recommended levels. O_O

I’m a bit iffy about Asura Engineers because virtually anything the Engineer profession can create seems… primitive… compared to the Stargate-esque technology Asura in general have access to. I’m not saying an Asura couldn’t or wouldn’t tinker with stuff like steampunk turrets, flintlock guns, flamethrowers, grenades, etc, but I halfway expect an Asura Engineer at some point to just go “kitten this!” and pull out a Zat’nik’tel. :P

MethodicMockingbird.6520:

That video made me realize how much better of a computer I need… and how much more fun this game would be with one.

You mean WvW isn’t supposed to run like a slideshow??? :O

Yeah, I’m seriously jealous. :P

I love Orr. I often joke to my friends that I can probably level two or three times over walking from one side of the map to the other, killing everything in my path along the way.

The first time I ran the dungeon, it bugged out on us. The helicopter that was supposed to come pick us up and drop us off to take out the Risen anti-air never came, opting instead to stay way off in the distance and troll us, causing a few of us to swan-dive off the airship in frustration. It took a half-dozen log-offs and an exit out of the client for us to get the dungeon to reset so we could restart it. Thankfully the helicopter pilot didn’t troll us the second time. -_-

As for the dungeon itself, yeah… I was also disappointed. There wasn’t really any kind of epic reward for completing it; in fact, there was hardly any reward, which probably explains why finding a group for it was so difficult. I expected at least an exotic, or maybe even a title, but no… no such luck. I’ll just have to be content with the knowledge that we drove by Zhaitan and shot him up good. ^^

Then again, as disappointing as it was, at least Trahearne didn’t suddenly appear out of nowhere and claim credit for taking down Zhaitan single-handedly. If the ending cinematic was Trahearne walking into Fort Trinity with Destiny’s Edge, there would’ve been hell to pay!

I was rather disappointed with the loot for completing the Arah dungeon (story mode). Some whites, some blues, a couple of greens, maybe one yellow (not counting the Pact weapon)… and that’s about it. Granted, I don’t know if the loot was better before the nerf, since I’ve only been able to play through it once, but as it was when I played through it… ehh… I just figured if any boss was a pinata filled with rares and exotics, it would’ve been Zhaitan. :P

washac.2897:

Continuing the personal story, LOL.

I have now been waiting over a week for the gates of Arah to be open, even then I doubt I will find people who wish to run the dungeon in story mode, nobody wants to do it anymore.:(

^This. I pretty much solo’d everything up to the story mode for Arah, but now I’m stuck because suddenly I need to be in a group in order to [successfully] continue, and almost no one ever wants to do it. At most people are interested in doing the exploration mode, but even those people disappear the moment Plinx, Grenth, Melandru, etc. are mentioned in the map chat.

“There are three wolves. How hard could three wolves be to kill? Huh, they’re all howling. I wonder why… oh.” (first encounter with wolves)

“HOW MANY OF YOU DO I HAVE TO KILL TO KILL YOU??!” (against Mesmers in sPVP)

“Ah, it’s one Thief. What’s one Thief going to do?” (in WvWvW)

“I HATE YOU CAMERAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!” (almost all jumping puzzles)

“GIANT, EXPLOSIVE ZOMBIE CHICKENS!!!” (pretty much)

I have to say, though, my pet probably has a lot more famous last words than I do, and they’re probably much more caustic given how I often get him killed. For example:

“We’re going to take on the Priest of Melandru by ourselves? Just the two of us? Sick ‘im? All right, then! Let’s do this! Just the two of us! We can make it if we try! Just the two of— OW! HE HITS HARD!! OW!!! MASTER, WHERE ARE YOU? MASTER!!! WHY AREN’T YOU— WHAT ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE! DON’T YOU THINK THIS IS A BAD TIME TO BE COMMUNING??? MASTER, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!! WHAT? RETREAT? BUT I THOUGHT WE WERE— OWWWWW!!! THE PRIEST JUST STEPPED ON ME!!! HELP!!! COME BACK!!! MASTER!!! MASTER!!!!!!”