Guild Wars 2

The F2 on land is incredible. Confusion condition FTW!

Still has all the same pet issues, though. :\

Still not fixed. We may have to start a new thread with this issue and report the bug to Customer Support.

I can get past the launcher but now I’m getting this blank dialogue box and the contrast when tabbed into Guild Wars 2 is considerably lower (however, when I tab back to Desktop it returns to normal).

ForgottenBlade.3597:

I look across the forums and see defeat, sorrow, and betrayal…

…Uh huh. I see. Braveheart? Aragorn? Maybe Joan of Arc?

I see what you’re trying to do here, but this isn’t a war against a great evil. Its not even a battle of ideals. Its about satisfying customers and a company providing a product; that product being a video game.

So make your virtual stand in your virtual holy place, Lady Typical Fantasyname, and know that someone read your post.

Sleepy.2647:

The real question on the topic should be…“Why does everyone hate their own class?”

Because we recognize what could be done based on what we’ve experienced and we know it can be better.

I like how the Ranger feels in combat; its what ultimately made me want to roll one over a Thief. I just know how it falls short in many aspects.

For example, I love the Sword! I want to use it all the time! I love its abilities, its attacks, its ability to equip an offhand. I love the Sword so much I can almost ignore its lack of damage; but, what I can’t ignore is the self-rooting. I will get myself killed if I chose to use this as a primary weapon.

Often times, despite the clear and present dangers, I’ll equip my sword and rush into a pack of mobs during a dungeon crawl. I want to taste it! I want to feel the joy of leaping around and slashing my target up close… but, alas, ultimately my life is imperiled because I’m unable to move freely. I always find myself conceding and returning to range.

We love our Rangers, that’s why we’re here begging for improvements. We know what the profession is capable of and we want to see it become the class we know it can be.

Geo0
Ranger pets and spirits are so fragile in dungeons. Any chance of them having take less AoE damage or making them more resilient so they don’t automatically get one shotted all the time?

IsaiahCartwright @Geo0
This has been something we’ve discussed and something we are in favor of doing at some point.

This sort of talk sounds vaguely familiar. Its comforting to know Jon Peters and Isaiah Cartwright are on the same page!… <quietly weeps in a corner for Ranger improvements>

ImagoX.4718:

I’m sure they’ll figure this out sooner or later. by then, the more “sensitive” PvPers will have gone elsewhere (maybe… possibly…) but hopefully they have a certain degree of attrition baked into the business model until then…

That proposes a real problem for ArenaNet, considering how much they pushed marketing about becoming a serious eSport MMO experience. BioWare did it on accident with SWTOR. They created an MMO with a PvP experience many hardcore players thoroughly enjoyed. In patch 1.2, they did sweeping “class balances” and destroyed the magic they unwittingly created. Many of those players, like the beloved Taugrim, came here to Guild Wars 2. (Surprise! He plays a Warrior and a Mesmer!)

Driving away hardcore PvPers would destroy what ArenaNet set out to do with this game.

Get out! Get out while you still can!

If you want to play a ranged class, pick a Warrior or a Mesmer – preferrably the former. Warriors with a Longbow or a Rifle can out damage and out perform a Ranger with any weapon any day of the week with minimal effort!

If you want to play a support class, Warriors do it far better. If you want to do anything well in this game – anything at all – play a Warrior!

DO. NOT. ROLL. THIS. PROFESSION!

Huh… Druzlla hasn’t chimed in to spout his mouth off about how wrong we all are and how spirits and greatsword are great. I’m guessing the math above scared him away.

I’m very frustrated by the mechanic of a proc-on-proc system for Spirits. Why this redundancy?!

Elmentcius Koronel.6234:

The general consensus is that there are 3 bottom-tier class: ranger, elementalist and necromancer. Depending on your playstyle, any of these classes is the weakest.

Necro: tough as nails (kinda), can’t kill anything bigger than a rat.
Ele: as tough as a bubble. Touch it and it’ll die.
Ranger: yeah well you rangers know what’s wrong with it.

As a necro, I fell your frustration about this patch. We got nothing substantial as well. Just like you guys, we’re still waiting for that minion/pet AI to be working; not working well, just working.

I’m pretty impressed by the elementalist I run with and those that I face off against. They put up a lot of pressure compared to a ranger. In fact, most of my dungeon groups are successful because of one lovely healer elementalist. The elementalists in WvW cut swathes through opposing zergs with their AoEs (that’s not to speak for their 1v1 capabilities, of course).

I will agree, though, that you necromancers and us rangers are in the same boat – abet, we’re in the part of the ship that’s already underwater, you’re on the top deck hanging onto the handrails. <cue Titanic theme>

XxRaSxX.1604:

All that work they did on the new content? Total waste, atleast for me. As I was downloading the patch last night I found and read the patch notes. I then spent the next few hours browsing the forums, happy to know I don’t seem to be alone in my frustration, and playing black ops 2. Waited for this patch all day yesterday and that’s what we got. Why warriors needed a buff, I will never know. Well Anet, i’m sorry but I don’t think i’m going to be logging in or participating this weekend.

While I don’t share your interest in Black Ops 2, I, too, will be spending this weekend enjoying another game. After this patch, I have no interest in seeing this “Lost Shore,” nor do I even care about the “one time only event.” This patch was a crushing blow for Rangers everywhere, and ArenaNet should feel nothing but shame and regret for doing this–but I’m pretty sure they’re not.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my Spartan Fireteam needs me.

Tragic. Absolutely tragic patch.

As to the original poster: the community was not overhyping this patch and they were not setting expectations too high. They were hoping that the words spoken by Jon Peters would be remotely true. Read deeper in the the plethora of threads and you will find that a huge majority of us were hoping for just a sliver of goodness. We were not hoping for a complete overhaul of the class. Many of us were just hoping for one or two of the major issues with the Ranger profession to be fixed or improved.

ArenaNet couldn’t even deliver on that, in fact, they slap us across the face, tell us our two big weapons “are in a good place” (I.E. sword and longbow) and then BUFF the Warrior’s LONGBOW! The LONGBOW! The weapon that most of us identify as The Premiere Ranger Weapon was buffed by the class that wears heavy armor and can use a gun!

ArenaNet sickens me more than any other MMO developer to date.

How is Sword “in a good place” with the self-rooting auto-attack chain, Jon?! In your wise opinion with all the numbers your two developers are giving you, how is this defined as “in a good place”?

The irony of the statement is that, by being rooted, the Ranger is typically not in a good place and is subject to AoEs, cleaves and other bad things liable to get them killed or severely injured – all without the ability to move around freely and Dodge Roll.

Signets were not changed. Those that had no activation cast time today (such as Signet of Stone) had no activation cast time yesterday. Those that had cast times (such as Signet of the Wild) still have cast times.

I knew this would be disappointing but I had hopes. Its clear that those hopes were shattered and the community team and developer teams were not listening. Its very disappointing and even heartbreaking.

Thank you, ArenaNet, and thank you Jon Peters for being huge disappointments.

To me, being a ranger is to be a cunning survivalist, capable of being evasive when cornered and deadly from afar. I feel as far as mechanics and concept, the pet aspect of the ranger is primarily the melee while the ranger stays at mid and long range; thereby pinning their target between a rock and a hard place.

I rolled a ranger because, in the description, it described a ranged class and I like ranged, non-magic classes (particle effects are overrated). I feel that a melee ranger is one who finds themselves backed against a wall. I feel that a ranger fighting in melee should act like a cornered animal and strike viciously in order to escape and return to the safety of fighting at range.

I will say to the “Rangers don’t mean ‘ranged’” haters reading this that I rolled a Ranger over a Thief because I liked the look and feel of the melee weapons the most. In fact, I really want to use a Sword as a weapon because I feel it could be a fun weapon – but I will still opt for a ranged weapon, especially in PvP and Dungeons.

“This rose has thorns, and here they are!” Pew pew, short bow autoattack is fun!*

*Jon Peters says otherwise.

/sarcasm

After reading that line in the Reddit thread, I felt like someone kicked me swiftly between the legs.

I’ve always known Ranger’s were recognized as the weakest profession, but “to see it in lights” like this really hurts. I play as a kitten good Ranger, but I also realize I’m working ten times harder than every other class to be remotely competitive/threatening. It helps when I switch to my alts and roflstomp people without so much as twitching my little finger, but I love my Ranger and want to stick with the class!

Really? I don’t see any reason why Rangers should be anything less than this. Seems very much in line with the other classes I play.

I really like Hide in Plain Sight in both PvP and PvE.

For PvP its an obvious stealth if you intend to run away or ambush again after being CC’d. Its also just great because it breaks your opponents’ target lock on you (ie if they had you selected as a target before, they don’t now). This messes up any followup attack they might have been planning after they smacked you around. Any sort of trip-up you can make your opponent do its a good thing in PvP. Take the initiative!

In PvE its awesome as an “aggro dump,” despite the lack of a traditional aggro table. If you’re getting pounded by a mob and it knocks you around, you’ll go into stealth and it will move on to another target or party member. Sucks to be that other guy but great for you!

I love Healing Spring for its combo field and quick cast and rejuv; however, I know this is a bit off topic, but I’ve begun favoring Heal as One in Dungeons and World PvE.

Healing Spring doesn’t help my pet at all because I’m almost always in the back throwing arrows and axes. My pet doesn’t benefit at all from that and my group doesn’t understand the benefit of Healing Spring – even when I explain it (#no_hope_for_the_human_race).

I’ve played with Troll Unguent and I do like it, but it lacks the “oh kittens, I’m gonna die!” heal that Heal as One gives because its a HoT.

I’d say it really depends on the situation, but if I had to break it down:

Group: Healing Spring or Heal as One
World PvE: Heal as One or Troll Unguent
PvP: Healing Spring, hands down

I’ve done this event before at level 80, full exotics and I was the only one in the area. My bears where downed in three hits by the champion. Didn’t surprise me, wasn’t expecting them to stay up long. Ended up kiting it as always… like I would on my warrior, my thief, my mesmer or my elementalist.

What I’m trying to say is: Kiting is a viable strategy that isn’t a Ranger only skill. Its not “OP.”

Take Root is fun, but the turrets die easier than our pets, attack everything a mile away and do not focus a single target. So while the invulnerability for 3 seconds is nice, I’m not doing anything for those 3 seconds and creating damage that I have no control over – save for a few situations.

And I wish our Grasping Vines would work on moving targets. Instead, it misses. Very disappointing.

@Trishlicious, I read your first line in the voice of Peter Griffin and expected a cutaway joke. Scary.

Anywho, Asura’s Pain Inverter is amazing. I wasn’t a believer at first, but I’ve seen it in action and now I’m a convert. Some racial abilities are pretty good… not sylvari, but some are pretty good.

Thieves are the worst class to 1v1 in WvW, however, as most have the ability to drop in and out of combat, thereby deciding the encounter in their favor. I’d say don’t get too serious about finding a counter to them just yet; wait until November 15th when the new patch drops with fixes for our class.

I think it really depends on which tribe of centaur you encounter. For the Order of Whispers quest, this tribe clearly didn’t know much about the sylvari. Others might be a bit more knowledge and less superstitious.

In general, I think a sylvari can get away with the “spirits of nature” card, but not for much longer. Word will eventually get out that the sylvari aren’t spirits after all and, in fact, allied with the humans. This might very likely have severe ramifications and cause the centaurs question their way of life – but that’s just speculation.

I disagree that there should be a difference for AoE mitigating in PvP and PvE. They should both have reduced damage, otherwise, you’ll never be inclined to send your pet in when everyone is spamming AoEs in sPvP or WvW. There’s a lot going on in PvP; controlling a (clunky) second character – who can’t dodge roll or react smartly with defensive cooldowns – is not fun.

I understand why people say they should not recieve a buffer in PvP, because of “balance.” They don’t want an unkillable beast running a muck where players cannot. What these players don’t understand is that the damage mitigation should be designed as a buffer for the Ranger so the Ranger doesn’t have to wait with one finger on the recall/pet swap key the moment any tick of AoE happens.

How it should be designed is (in both PvP and PvE) is that it gives enough mitigation to allow the Ranger time to decide whether they should keep the pet in or recall it back to his/her side. Is this just a random cleave or cone effect that I can leave my pet in? Or is this a sustained barrage and I might want to pull my pet out after a few ticks?

Ultimately, the threat is the Ranger himself and players are always going to be inclined to down the Ranger first.

If a pet truly becomes a substantial threat, focused, single-target damage is always a solution – not AoE!

1) It says 50% on the ability. All Cripple conditions are 50%. It does not affect turning speed.
2) “Flanking” means to “be situated on each side of or on one side of (someone or something).” In GW2, anything not 90 degrees in front of a target is considered “flanking.” I kinda know what flanking means.

I noticed your pet was chilling next to you, Terkov. I realize you’re just trying to prove a point about the Ranger’s damage, but consider the fact if your pet was involved in the fight.

If you managed to get a 4k+ hit and your pet managed the same you both still only did 8k+ total.

Meanwhile, the Warrior, Thief, Mesmer, Elementalist and Engineer are popping 12k++ left and right. (The Necro don’t care about your big numbers; Necro got DoTs and more pets than you) Even with your powers combined your damage is subpar. No Captain Planet for you!

This is a WvW thread and thus the topic is about WvW. tPvP is another beast all together and is beyond the scope of this thread. I’m not sure which worlds you’re going up against, Durzlla, but any top tier world isn’t going to allow flanking. The worlds I face every week won’t tolerate that.

Now here comes the math: How fast is the Shortbow’s attack speed? How many stacks of Bleed can you put on a target in a 1 second window?

Second, Muddy Terrain’s cripple: You stated “God knows how much cripple.” I’m not God, but I know its 50%. I also know that cripple does not affect how fast I can move my character’s body along an x-axis. If you’re fighting keyboard-turners, then your argument is valid. However, if you’re fighting anyone using a mouse, then your argument quickly becomes invalid.

The Crossfire Bleed effect is more work than needed to sustain damage on a target. It requires an ungodly amount of utility and set-up to work as intended and that is why I argue it needs to be reworked! But you sound like the kind of guy who prefers making life harder on yourself, as if you have something to prove, so Imma let you keep on keeping on.

Commander Shepard (Mass Effect), Havoc Squad Commander/Bastila Shan/Satele Shan (Star Wars: The Old Republic), Jaden Korr (Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy)… all done by the great and wonderful Jennifer Hale!

I agree with the OP: I love hearing Hale’s voice (again) for my character and especially love the /laugh! BEST IN THE GAME!

swifti.2590:

Rapid fire needs to be buffed again, this ability was nerfed severely and should be increased with a slightly longer cd?…

Any other thoughts?

Geez, what’s with everyone wanting to “balance” increased damage with longer cooldowns?

Stop with the asking for longer cooldowns on anything! Its not balancing anything, its trading one evil for another. Rangers need improvements, not a reshuffling.

For Longbow 2 specifically: bring the damage up, bring the speed up, bring the cooldown lower or a mix of the three. DON’T, for the love of God, penalize it anymore than it already is!

Durzlla.6295:

As for the “it’s hard to get behind people” thing yeah, no, stone spirit, muddy terrain, entangle, spiders( black widow and jungle have 2), Spike trap, all provide ways to root someone so you can get behind em, stun them and then claim their soul with the hail of arrows you can produce from hitting 1, not to mention if they’re knocked down, launched, or blown out you can hit them from any direction and it’ll count as “flanking”

Durzlla, you talk a lot on these forums, but in each of your posts I see a lot of hate and exaggerated understanding of the profession.

Spike Trap roots a target for 1 second when it activates. Spike Trap is on a 45 second cooldown. How do you propose this is a mechanic we can utilize to flank a target and stack Crossfire Bleed effects?

Stone Spirit. If you’re using this for a root in WvW, you’re going to have a bad day. I’m sure you’ll throw a bunch of situations at me to prove a point, but you’ll always ignore the fact that Spirits cannot be sustained in a Zerg on Zerg or a castle offense (arrow carts, catapults, AoEs). Stone Spirits also have a short distance AoE, a long cast time, a longer cooldown and a 2 second root. If an opponent does manage to stray near your Spirit, you happen to get it off and managed to get behind them… then congratulations! You’ve managed to apply one or two Bleed effects before your target turns back around to face you!

Entangle. A great elite utility on a long cooldown; however, most classes have utilities to escape these Binding Roots – unlike us. And don’t say Sigil of Renewal can remove Binding Roots. It can’t. Its been tested and documented. It will remove the Immobilize condition, but it will not remove the roots themselves and, thus, keep the target in place.

Knockdowns. Currently, we have a few abilities that can knock a target down. The first of which is Longbow 4. However, this is on another weapon and if you have to swap to your Shortbow your target will already be back on their feet before you can put more than a couple Bleeds on them. If you are using the Longbow’s knockback for a Shortbow bleed you’re, again, going to have a bad day. You’re also on a weapon swap cooldown.

Canines can also knock down, but this is a condition we have no control over so damage cannot be consistent. A spider has a root (web) as an F2 ability (unresponsive), but is also on a long cooldown, roots for 2 seconds, can be removed by other class abilities and, again, provides insufficient time to maintain a flanking position.

You’ll likely attempt to say that all these situations combined hasn’t had an effect on your “OP Ranger,” and I respect that. I would love to live in the world you live in were Rangers work as intended and are just fine. But in the real world with real math, science and computer programing the Rangers are sub-par and require some much needed attention from the developers.

RummyTheMad.7290:

I sure would like to be able to apply a blind on demand rather than apply a blind..you know…whenever it’s convenient for my raven to get to it.

Yo Ranger, I really like you and Imma cast that F2, but my other abilities is the best abilities of all time. OF ALL TIME!

<me, spamming F2 until it breaks>

DoomBunny.2903:

Surprise, surprise, pets use the same AI as mobs. So, all those dumb-as-a-brick mobs you’ve kited in a circle are at the same AI level as your pet. The only difference is pets actually have and use skills (which they aren’t too bad at).

I’m more referring to their stopping to attack and how they move to the point where I was standing when I first got aggro and then chase. Its no surprise that they use the same A.I. as the rest of the game, but I’m concerned its a much bigger issue to fix.

@DoomBunny, You mentioned mobs and I’ve noticed that the NPCs in the game act very much like my pet. In fact, I’ve used their attack-and-move and pathing issues to move through zones quickly, without entering combat.

This got me to thinking the other day that the pet issues are further reaching and not just a Ranger issue. Look at the NPCs we have to escort throughout the world. The Destiny’s Edge “heroes” spend more time “tanking the floor” than contributing to the fight. In fact, I often wonder if the world is better off without them and why we even bothered to bring them back together when a pick-up-group of adventurers can do the job better – but I digress.

I really hope news of this November 15th update will fix our profession. I’ve been running dungeons pretty heavily in anticipation for improvements (and because I want gold) and find myself either with a downed pet or a pet who spends more time at my side than doing what its suppose to do.

I was in a story mode Citadel of Flame. On the second to last boss, it was a chore to make sure my ranged pets stayed out of the HUGE area of effect around the boss – much less keeping myself out of it. A couple of times that whole “walking 50 miles ahead of me” issue got them caught in the AoE and a few ticks knocked them out of commission, leaving me with kittened damage. When they were ordered to attack, they’d maybe get a few shots off before I’d have to micromanage them again because the circle moved a couple of feet and threatened to kill him – again!

Its no fun micromanaging a brick that will turn to dust with the slightest breeze.

1. Crossfire. No changes.

While I agree with everyone else’s statement about your proposed Longbow 4, to state that Shortbow 1 does not need a change is to say that its fine the way it is. It is not fine. The positional requirement to apply Crossfire’s Bleed effect is absurd when a Warrior can apply a Bleed in any direction with two different ranged weapons (Rifle and Longbow).

It is simply not always possible to flank a target. Many situations even forbid or strongly restrict flanking. For example, in WvW, you are often facing opposing zergs head on and, thus, cannot get to the side or the rear of your target(s) – especially if you’re on a wall. In PvE, encounters often limit your approach to a target or, due to heavy particle effects, you simply cannot see which side of the target is the rear!

Encountered this bug today as well. Attempted several times to the same conclusion.

In Twilight Arbor, I name both my pets “Volatile Blossom.” /trollface

In any dungeon, I’ll sometimes name my pets after party members.

MeGaZlo.9516:

Since when to look like umbrella flown away in a hurricane is cool?
Do not know about asura and sylvari, but norn with this animation at such speed looks like a crazy idiot.

Oh you’re a norn? Well, we all know what happens when you pray to the Spirits of the Wild…

(A: They rarely answer.)

I can see what you’re attempting to do with this build, but I agree with Calypso: this seems more like a 1v1 build used against less experienced players. Thieves who know how to control an encounter will not engage you with your Confusion/Retaliation up. They’ll wait out the 5 seconds in Stealth then reengage.

You’re also very brave or very foolish to be running this build while the Ranger bugs still abound. I love Sword and can’t wait to use it, but whether you disable the autoattack or not you’ll still root yourself on the third chain. I do like the axe/torch combo. Generating your own combo field is a great thing.

Your signets and your reliance on your pets, however, is misplaced. Again, this is pre-buff and before our bugs are addressed. You may see more sucess with your pets because you’re not kiting as much (melee), but your choice of signets – especially Signet of the Hunt – aren’t your best choices. If anything, swap Signet of the Hunt for Signet of Stone. This would synergize well with your bunker-esque build.

I’m an agnostic sylvari, but I’ll be nullifying your prayer to your Six Gods with my own to keep the animation the way it is!

I love it, especially in the fancy trench coat armor that I wear! I love seeing my coattails fly outward, Matrix style.

The reason for the lack of changes to Rangers in this last patch is explained here by developer Jon Peters.

You’ll still be rooted by chaining 1, with or without autoattack triggered.

I agree with you that the damage shouldn’t be focused on the pets. I feel it takes control away from the player because controlling NPCs is hardly ever fun – least of all babysitting NPCs (read: ANY escort quest in ANY MMO).

I do feel, however, that pets should be made into viable utility beyond the F2. Its one of the main reasons I like the canines in this game. They can take a hit but their knockdown is so useful in every aspect of the game! Granted, if I had a choice, I would rather control when my wolves knock down a target. Again, this is with the focus on putting control into the player’s hand and less reliance on an A.I.

I read posts like this and often times discover a player who has very little experience with game design. These people generally like to throw around large percentages like “20%” and add arbitrary nerfs amid buffs to appear they’re making “fair” changes. They also look primarily at a single ability and improve it without looking at the larger picture and the dynamics these abilities have with other abilities – both within the profession and combo’d with or pitted against other abilities.

I get that you were bored at work, but you weren’t really thinking outside the box with this list of changes. From the very first item I saw red flags and all the way down I saw more issues.

Over at Massively.com, writer Jeremy Stratton is polling readers to decide his Guild Wars 2 experience. My schadenfreude kicked in and, despite Jon Peter’s inspiring post, I’d like to have him experience the current state of the Ranger profession.

Head on over here and vote for him to roll a Ranger!

/evil laugh

@Dag, from reading your posts, I get the impression you’re misunderstanding the mechanic.

You don’t daze, knockback or stun to trigger Hide in Plain sight. You must BE stunned, knocked back, etc by another player or NPC to trigger it.

Hide in Plain Sight
Apply camouflage when you are dazed, knocked down, launched, pushed back, or stunned. This effect cannot trigger more than once every 30 seconds.

This is the only way a Ranger can go invisible. There is no “at will” ability to allow a Ranger to use stealth. I’m assuming you were facing a Ranger and either stunned him, knocked him down or pushed him back. What class were you playing and what weapon were you using?

This is terrible. Simply terrible. Is this the kind of community service we get for not paying a subscription?