Guild Wars 2

For me a ranger is a scout/commando. The fantasy version of SAS or special-ops. They should be proficient in various weapons, both ranged and melee, they should have survival and camouflage skills, be able to blend into various environments. They should be able to operate solo, know how to use terrain, set traps and ambushes.

Not sure where the notion of pets came from. This seems to be a hang-on from D&D rangers that were warrior/druids with some nature type spells.

@OP
Class balancing has become worse for Engineers and Rangers. These classes are in a worse state now than at game launch. Many players have left these 2 classes.

Warriors keep on getting buffed.

The favoured classes for PvE/dungeons are warriors, guardians, mesmers and the odd ele for certain dungeons. Thieves are still not great in PvE, but they own WvW/PvP as do dagger/dagger ele’s and some mesmers.

Guardian is probably the only class (apart from warriors) that has managed to escape the various nefs and anet screw-ups over the last 4 months. If looking for a new class to play, with a few good build options, guardian is a good choice.

I spend a lot of time in Orr, my guardian is perma-stationed there.

I don’t like Orr as much as I used to. I much preferred the old Orr, when the mobs were much denser and had a wider range of aggro. Why? Because it took skill, tactics and planning to move around. A player didn’t just wander like in all the other maps areas. It felt more like a lvl 80 end-game area. Now, it is simply too easy.

I have no sympathy or time for those running around in MF kit complaining about the current level of difficulty in Orr. Apart from 1 or 2 skill points, I was able to solo all of Orr on both my ranger and guardian before the current Orr nerf.

As for environment, the murk was recently cleared up a lot, both the atmosphere and underwater. You can actually see things now. The only murky places are areas around contested statues. If you don’t like the murk, then get a group and clear the temples, it is as simple as that.

Been playing since launch and had 1 Abyss drop so far, and that was around 2 weeks after launch.

My female human ranger uses this skin:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aureate_Highlander_Sword

My female norn guardian uses this skin:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Strong_Hero%27s_Longsword_of_Force

I just want to say last Friday I completely re-built and re-kitted my ranger for the bow catmaster following your build recommendation.

I had a full set of temple p/v/t armour I wasn’t using, so fitted this out with runes of Hoelbrak. My trinkets and accessories were already a mix of Knight and Valkyrie, but changed over to exquisite sapphire jewels for the healing stat boost. Put in a crest of the shaman into my solider spineguard also.

Finally, I bought 2 bows with cleric stats to get healing over 600, and slotted them with battle sigils.

I have been test driving this in PvE over the past few days, and I am gobsmacked at how much damage the cats do. Most of the time there is no need to fire a shot, just swap bows to keep fury and might up and let the cat do it’s thing.

I haven’t tested this in Orr yet, and doubt I will bring this build into a dungeon, at least not with cats. I will like to see how well the ranged pets do with this build.

Anyway, cheers for the build!
It has restored some fun into playing a ranger again …

Joker.6158:

Is this viable for PvE? Or specific for WvW? What about SpVp?

I just saw on the post that while designed for WvW still works on other places. I’m still concerned to what extent it would work as Im a trapper-condition build that I wasn’t able to leave yet.

Last Friday I completely re-built and re-kitted my ranger for a catmaster. I went with Chokolata version using 2 bows as described here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Choko-s-versatile-bowman-beastmaster/first#post1753624

To get the feel for the play style, I have been using it in PvE over the past few days. The cats rips into everything, we can solo lower level map champs. In frostgorge they have a harder time against the tougher vet ice ele’s adds during the Jormag event, so micromanaging is more critical. I haven’t brought this build into a dungeon yet, and I suspect with all the AoE in dungeons, the cats will not work out so well.

Yesterday I tried it out in WvW for the first time to do the ‘disrupt pack caravan’ daily. I parked my ranger on a hill overlooking a caravan route, and each time one came by, I sent the jaguar off to deal with it. Never fired a shot, just swapped between bows to keep fury and might up while the cat did it’s thing.

Next the cat cleared out a sentry, then took on a supply post. By swapping pets, I could take down 1 or 2 scouts, again not firing a shot, but nothing more. The 4 vets is too much for a cat to taken on alone. However, my actions got the attention of the enemy server.

Someone decided to check out what was going on, and an ele caught me by surprise. Even with me on the back foot at the start of the fight, the ele went down pretty quick.

WhiteAndMilky.2514:

@OP – Pick up a greatsword. Or you could also… you know…. learn what your classes strengths and weaknesses are in regards to the ranged weapons. cough ranged support cough

Summary of QQ: “I want my class to do something that it’s not designed for” Well… I want my thief to tank!

p.s. Been having oodles of fun today killing thieves, guardians, and their friends by myself. GS/SB. Tier 1.

Right …
And expecting a ranger to actually be viable at range combat is like expecting a thief to tank?? Please, go back to whatever you were playing before …

A greatsword?? Pull one of those out in any dungeon party, and after a good round of laughter, you will be kicked out.

As for your ps comment, even if true, only proves there are a lot of very crap players in PvP/WvW .

My main was a ranger ….
Enough said …

I suggest thoroughly reading the patch notes released since you last played, and depending on your class, weep and move on, or carry on playing ..

Joey.3928:

However all of those were fair changes. I adapted my build and continued on my way. I am a ranger for life. All you other wannabes can go play a different class.

Well, lets give Joey a gold star …

I have over 1k hrs logged on my ranger, been my main since game launched. In the beginning the ranger was a fun class to play, I soloed all the PvE map exploration, I have 100% world on my ranger. Did a lot of dungeon runs, including Arah story. Still think players like me are wannabes??

Patch after patch the ranger class has become worse and worse to play. I haven’t been in a dungeon on my ranger since my guardian hit lvl 80 in Jan. I don’t go near Orr anymore on my ranger, my guardian does that, Frostgorge is the only high-level map my ranger goes to now.

My ranger is power/crit and I like using dual bows or LB/GS. QZ has been on my utility bar forever, is has been an integral part of my build for as long as I have been playing the class.

I don’t want to play a condition/trap or a bunker beastmaster ranger, I want to play the style/build I want to play. But now this build has become so sub-par, even starter and mid-level zones are a chore. I can forget about ever stepping into a dungeon again on my ranger ..

So yes, I am going to play another class …

I will be retiring my ranger to a life of town clothes and crafting ….

SkyWalker.2437:

Ty for reply! But sadly, i didnt make any progress on the builds :S With the info about ur playstyle :S

Ah, sorry ..

Well, I wanted a build flexible enough to allow for survivability without sacrificing too much DPS for solo PvE, as well as providing some group support in dungeons. I don’t do PvP/WvW ..

Support is based mainly on shouts. Main weapon is usually greatsword, secondary is highly variable depending on the situation. I carry exotic versions of all of them around. Only weapon I don’t like is scepter, so I try to avoid having to use it.

I carry more vitality than most guardians because I hate condition damage. Many times that extra 1-2k vitality has got me out of tough situations when all my heals and endurance were on cool-down.

Hope this helps!

There are on-line interactive maps where you can up-date resource nodes on your own map. However, these are for only the high-level harvesting nodes in Cursed Shore, Malchor’s Leap, Frostgorge and Southsum.

There is nothing similar for lower-level maps/resources

EDIT: here is the link to the one I use on occasion (for Gunner’s Hold)
http://orrmaps.com/server/gunnars_hold

Finaldeath.1059:

FateOmega.9601:

Vinny.6924:

The patch comes out right when dailies reset. Every. Single. Time.

Yet people still ask this question.

Except it doesn’t. The fact that people are able to do 2 dailies on update days means that update happens some time after dailies reset abeit a short time.

It coming out before the daily reset would also result in people being able to do them twice.

Indeed! I did 2 dailies when the Feb update was released. I noticed this too late after the Jan update to finish the 2nd daily.

How did I do this?

In Europe the updates were released around 9 or 10pm local time on release day.
So, after I get home from work, I do the daily for that day as usual.

After the update, the daily is reset, and I have until 0100 to do the new reset daily. Then at 0100 the daily resets again as normal.

DrixTrix.7168:

though yes Norns seem to be the hunter type though to be honest i find there builds too muscular to really portray a ranger but each to there own.

If you set all the body sliders to minimum settings when creating a norn, the result is not so over-the-top muscular looking. At least this is the case for female norns, and in keeping with a ‘huntress’ look. Not sure if this is the same for a male norn …

I began playing a guardian specifically with this build in mind:
0/15/30/20/5

For dungeons, I swap to temple p/v/t armour with full set of runes of Melandru, and will swap around weapons and utilities as necessary.

To me the ‘perfect’ ranger is a norn …
You cannot get much closer to animals than having an animal spirit guide …

If I had to it again, my ranger would be norn, and my guardian human.

As for sylvari, to me they are the light armour types …

Yes, for ‘normal’ I mean the usual blues and green drops from mobs with the various skin types from shiverpeaks, kyrta, etc …

All these, plus the crafted versions, followed the same as I described – bluish/white on the guardian, orange/yellowish on the ranger.

GummiBear.2756:

Yes, I have used the normal and crafted torches on both characters, both before and after skinning, and the results were as I described.

I have never used an asura torch, or any dungeon or named exotic torch, so cannot confirm if this holds true for all torches in game …

What levels to skip??

For me levels 20-40 are the worst, because you have crap kit and limited trait options. At 40 you can open the next tier of traits and begin building your character. into something you want to play. After 40, you can level very quickly the rest of the way.

I have 2 of the classes that use a torch, both using the same skin (bandit/infiltrator).

The ranger torch has typical orange/yellowish light, the guardian torch has bluish/white light. Seems the light colour when using the torch is related to class torch skills and not the skin.

Light intensity and illumination range is much the same for both

Here is a good craft leveling guide: http://www.gw2wiz.com/
As for cost, you will need to check that yourself

Regarding karma/dungeon vs crafted …

Crafted masterwork/rare/exotic is the same as the corresponding karma/dungeon/WvW kit. The only variation is in the type of stat distributions.

Some are the same, i.e. crafted beserker is the same as dungeon beserker. however, some dungeon and temple armour is available in ‘soldier’ stats (p/t/v) that cannot be crafted.

I don’t do WvW and don’t give a toss about leader boards, and the patch notes will more than likely be another sorry mess, so there is nothing for me to like in this update.

Never had one drop since game launch, then got 4 recently …
Had to ask in guild chat what they were for when I got the first one …

Remember, you going to be looking at the running/walking backside of this character for a very long time.

Pick something you can live with …
I would never create a charr or asura for this reason, because I dislike their animations.

I have a human and a norn, and my next (and last alt) will be silvari, if I can get over the leaf and stick bits …

I would not have bought the game if it was P2P, and would stop playing if GW2 was changed to this model.

Most certainly the first things you should do before anything else is unlock all the weapons skills for all your guardian weapons, including underwater weapons. I have a norn guardian also, and did this in the norn starter map, Wayfare Foothills.

Once this is done, then proceed with doing hearts, skill points, other map exploration, and mix in your personal story, As others have mentioned, don’t worry about being over-leveled.

I thought AC weapons only have a ‘misty’ effect at night ..

@Rimac,

Yes, you received the ‘Been there, done that’ (Bluestone) achievement for discovering all the white areas in all the PvE maps – Well done!

However, the exploration completion bars in the Hero panel are not related the map completion you see when in a map, i.e. the list of vistas, skill points, etc ..

For the missing poi’s, you need to go to each map, and open the map utility to properly check to see if you have all the poi’s for that map. It is a pain, but this is the only way to find what you are missing …

I would start first by checking all the starter cities. You might have missed other poi’s located in the other home instances …

I went with 2 factory overclocked GTX670’s in SLI
Great set-up!

EDIT: 2 of these: Asus GTX 670 DirectCU II Top

@OP
You make some very good and valid points, but …..

You missed something, namely the quality of the journey getting to whatever goals a player sets. This encompasses everything from game mechanics and class balance, to a real or imaginary grind.

For me, the lack of Anet attention to the former will drive me away from this game long before the latter…

Lexandro.1456:

Though I have never seen someone moved off the server for using the WP, I would need to see that confirmed / denied catagorically either way.

You were not at the Nov. Ancient Karka event then ..

Yes, being shifted to overflow when using wp’s most certainly happens, and worse. You can be DC’ed as well ..

@OP

There are 2 types of exploration completion in the game

One is called the Bluestone achievement, which appears you have done. This involves discovering all the white labeled areas on all the maps in all the regions.

The other is completing all hearts, skill points, discovering all vistas, poi’s, wp’s in both PvE and WvW maps. This gives you two gifts of exploration. Seems you are missing 6 poi’s for this.

You need to carefully compare each of your maps with an image of completed map. Some poi’s can be accessed only through events that allow you into certain places. The Chantry of Secrets in Bloodtide is a commonly missed poi ..

Good luck!

The crafting guides here will you get your levels up quickly, you will need to check for the cheapest craft to level …

http://www.gw2wiz.com/

I agree with Sokar, I am not impressed by any of the legendary skins. In fact, some are bloody annoying – the greatswords, and longbow, to name a few ..

I think there are much nicer skins to be had for various weapons through MF recipes, and much easier to obtain if that is all you are looking for.

Lexandro.1456:

A lot of the armor skins in the game are just plain crap.

I agree, with all the medium female armour being the worst.
Heavy female has a few better options, but still not great.
I haven’t tried a light armour wearing class yet, but given some of the things I have seen, it doesn’t look very promising either ..

My main has been a ranger since game launch, she has 100% world, and only has to do Arah for the final PS bit, all done solo using longbow/greatsword. Lots of fun, great for PvE, passable in dungeons.

I made my first alt in January, a guardian. What the guardian has shown me is how the ranger class is so poorly designed and broken. In a way, I am glad because playing the ranger for so long made me a better player. I had to overcome not only the PvE mobs but all the bad class mechanics in the process.

Now, my guardian does all the heavy lifting and farming in Orr and dungeons, while my ranger does the easy daily bits, some world events, and generally kicks the snow in Frostgorge. I suppose she has earned her ‘retirement’, at least until anet gets around to fulfilling the long promised fixes the class so desperately needs.

Siofra Crumble.2098:

I think underwater combat is exciting, disorienting and fun. As it should be.
Most people hate underwater because they haven’t spend enough time in the water I’m thinking. It takes some time and effort to figure out your role underwater and build accordingly.

True, there a fewer skills available underwater, but any class can still do good underwater.

I think many players dis-like underwater combat because they are still using lvl 6 aqua-breathers and weapons!

How many players use exotic underwater weapons with superior sigils?
How many players have a 7th superior rune slotted in their aqua-breathers to maintain the 6th bonus while underwater?
I think I must be the only one …

In guild chat last evening, a lvl 80 player just realised he was still using a lvl 24 underwater weapon … No wonder people find it difficult ..

Acarius.3052:

1. If you download mumble do you need to download ventrilo or teamspeak too if you need to use multiple voice chats?

Yes, you need to download and install the clients you plan to use. I have both Mumble and TS3 clients installed.

Acarius.3052:

2. Is downloading mumble/ts3/vent free?

Yes

Acarius.3052:

3. Will I need to make an account for each voice chat program?

You will need to set-up access to specific servers for each client.
For TS, if the host servers are already set-up, then you just need the URL and password to log on.
For Mumble, each user requires a configuration file on their local PC.

Acarius.3052:

4. What type of headset will i need to use for these programs? Reccommendations please(not too expensive ones though)

Just search what you can afford ..

Acarius.3052:

5. How much bandwidth does it require? Does bandwidth increase as more people join the voice chat server?

The reason gamers use these types of clients is because the bandwidth usage is low. These are not Skype …
No, the servers are set-up to deal with many active channels, no need to worry about this.

Acarius.3052:

6. Will I have to pay for continually use of the voice chat programs?

Depends on how many channels you need ..
There are Mumble servers available for up to 50 channels that are free to access. More than that, and you need to pay a monthly fee. I suspect there are TS servers available with a similar arrangement.

Flamenco.3894:

Would you play in an area that’s completely under water?

My ranger most certainly would! Rangers are a great underwater class

My guardian, not so much …

Week evenings:
PvE daily
try to do the 3 dragon events
harvest high level mats in FS, ML, CS
guild chat

The rest depends on how much time I have left after the above, so can be a combination of any of the following:
farm earth ele’s in ML or sparks in CS if the temples are clear
run the pent/shelter events
help out any guildies with SP’s, and the like
temple or dungeon or other meta events

Weekends:
just more of the above

@Zedd

Please, go play a class that uses proper ranged weapons – ranger, warrior, thief until at least lvl 40. Then come back tell and us what you think about the guardian’s scepter as a ranged weapon …

Here is a comparison between a ranger’s main-hand axe and a guardian’s main-hand scepter (both exotic)
Note: Throwing axe is the weakest main-hand weapon a ranger has available

Axe
dam: 857 – 1048
skill 1: dam 122 (x 3 targets); Range – 900
skill 2; dam 120 ( x 5) + 1275 (bleed); Range – 900
skill 3: dam 122 + 3 sec chill; Range – 900

Scepter
dam: 895 – 1014
skill 1: dam 162 (single target); Range – 1200
skill 2; dam 1200; Range – 1200
skill 3: dam 0; R – 900

Throwing axe does more base damage than scepter on 2 of 3 skills, plus hits multiple targets with skill1, skill 2 is a burst of 5 that can hit multiple targets as well. If you include total damage output per skill, axe out damages a scepter across the board. But then you have experience with every weapon and know this already, yes??

Most guardians don’t like scepter for a very good reason, not just to complain about something ..

Gads! What a diverse range of responses …

I have been playing since game launch, my Ranger hit lvl 80 in October, my alt Guardian hit lvl 80 early last month (Feb).

Exotic drops have been very few for me, but oddly enough I had this drop off a risen wraith in CS last evening:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Khrysaor,_the_Golden_Sword

Over the months, 2 other exotics have dropped from mobs in Orr, one was this: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/X7-10_Alpha
Sold for 2-3g
The other was an armour piece I salvaged cos the rune was worth more than the item.

From the Karka chest I got this:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Naga_Fang
Sold it for 4g at the time

From a CoF chest a while back I got this:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mojo
Also sold for 2-3g

Might have had another from a chest along the way I cannot recall ..
So, this means 5, perhaps 6 at the most over 6 months.

The people who say they are getting 1 or 2 a week I find, frankly, astounding!

Mungrul.9358:

I’ve been wondering about this since release, and have asked it before.
Now we have the attention of someone representing ArenaNet, can you clarify for us whether only being able to get 5 pieces of PVT armour from Orrian temples is by design or simply oversight?

This has been known for 6 months …
Draw your own conclusions …

Anyone who has acquired p/v/t temple armour has already made the necessary adjustments for the missing pieces. I used AC tokens for both the missing medium and heavy bits, then transmuted the temple skins.

Pent/Shelter events refers to the DE’s that take place on a regular basis in the Cursed Shore at, and around, Penitent and Shelter waypoints.

These involve defending these locations from risen attacks with lots of mobs, some escort missions, and the like.

It is considered a good source for mats and/or gold, you can expect to earn 1-2g per hour there by participating in these events,

There is another source of T6 mats everyone seems to forget about:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Heavy_bag_of_trinkets

These are from the grawl in Frostgorge, drop rates are similar per mob as the Cursed Shore risen, but grawl are not as numerous, so overall rate per hour is less. However the grawl also drop T5/T6 mats, usually totems and bones, and their wurm spawns drop sacs. You also have the usual blue/green/yellow loot table drops and Large Skulls.

There is a good farming location right near to where the Jormag’s Claw event kicks-off.
Get 3-4 players clearing that gully of grawl for an hour and it will be worth your while, particularly if you need a change of scenery from Orr …

EDIT: No vets or champs to deal with either …

mercury ranique.2170:

bri.2359:

After playing a ranger for 4 months, then switching to an alt guardian, I will say this:

The scepter is by far the worse weapon I have used in this game. It servers no purpose. The damage is pathetic. the skills are bad, and for the limited range it has, I am better off in melee, with far better options.

The fact that the scepter is the guardian’s only range option is the only reason I carry one around .. I cringe every time I have to use it ..

As stated above I disagree with you (dunno bout the guardian), but both on my necro as on my ele the scepter works great. A gurdian also use a staff ranged. but I would prefer the scepter shield combo

My next alt will be a mesmer, so perhaps the scepter will be more useful with that class. For a guardian, it really is a dreadful weapon, and going from a ranger traited for Eagle Eye to this made it much worse.

I prefer the guardian staff skill 2 (the big glowing blob thing), it has a longer range than the scepter skill 1, downside is it’s much slower.

After playing a ranger for 4 months, then switching to an alt guardian, I will say this:

The scepter is by far the worse weapon I have used in this game. It servers no purpose. The damage is pathetic. the skills are bad, and for the limited range it has, I am better off in melee, with far better options.

The fact that the scepter is the guardian’s only range option is the only reason I carry one around .. I cringe every time I have to use it ..

For me the risen are always a joy to see because it means Trahearne shuts the kitten up! Well apart from his endless ‘this won’t end well’ comments …

I am doing the PS again on my alt mainly for the rewards. You get access to some armour and weapons skins you cannot find or are difficult to obtain else where …