Guild Wars 2

PU mesmer’s tears…………………………………………………………………………………………….

“booo now I’m gonna be facerolled by everyone”—→yes, as you should have always been for avoiding improving at this game.

The nerf was needed. If you think otherwise, you should really start questioning your skill in the game.
Decent mesmers will still win EZ with their Scepter Buff though.

Watch videos. Those are the best guides for beginners.
That’s where I started though.
The Thief profession in GW2 is quite unique, but definitely not difficult to do well with (although I consider it the hardest to “master”, along with Shatter Mesmer).

This is interesting. I think I’ll try to insert some P/P gameplay in my next video

Lifestealer.4910:

I have asked many top players about this change! and they all think its a bad change.

Only bad players welcome the scepter change

phaeris.7604:

You never see them facing good PU mesmers, or condi engineers.

In all honesty, who WANTS to see a fight against a PU mesmer? Who even wants to fight against one?
As for condi engineers, the typical WvW thief with SA should beat them no problem.

Actiondan.8146:

Montages are great for entertainment and quick fights make for good entertainment.
Because of this; I would assume that a lot of player montages show a higher amount of thief fights because the majority of the thieves roaming out in wvw are built like glass.

This. In the few videos I’ve made, most of the fights are against thieves (or against Shatter Mesmers) as they are quicker to kill.

Most people get bored quickly, and if they see a fight lasting more than 1 minute where the players keep doings “the same things”, there’s a high chance that they will stop watching the video.

No. More braindead-ness in an already braindead spec is ridiculous.

AHAHAHAHAAAHAAAA

TORMENT ON SCEPTER AUTO ATTACK

AHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHHA

They are not immortal. You should just need to l2p.

moi.4398:

hihey.1075:

Mayama.1854:

hihey.1075:

Mayama.1854:

dank.3680:

Win the 1v1’s without the crate and I might be somewhat impressed (not much since your basically using the best class for the situation).

But you really didn’t get anywhere close to killing either, without the crate. Winning a 1v1 with that elite is not something to be proud of or write home about in my opinion.

Whats the problem? Its part of the class if you cant win against an engineer with crates you will never win against one. He also dropped the crates on accident in the second fight.

Using Supply Crate is like an “iWin” button if you know how to use it. That’s why it is “banned” in pretty much every decent 1v1 server.
Think of it as a “hidden rule” between “experienced players”: even in the Obsidian Sanctum, very few players use it. It would be like using Thieves Guild, or Moa Morph, or Lich Form. These Elites are completely OP in a 1v1 scenario, because the correct use of them can usually guarantee a win (unless the player using it is incredibly worse than his opponent).

Still, it’s WvW, and as such “everything is fair” – even PU and SA and OP elites…<.<

Than maybee just accept that some classes/builds hardcounter others? Last time I checked a condi engi has zero chance against a condi necro that knows what he does. Same with supply crate. If its in the game you can use it.

http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win-part-1.html

Thats a good article about what blaming others for using “cheap” tactics etc. means. No offense but you argue like that guy that I dueled some days ago that whined and called me cheap because I feard him and two shot his thief in lich form. He dueled a power necromancer and he whined because I did something pretty obvious.

Please, don’t bring up the “play to win” thing.
By using the things I mentioned in my post in a 1v1 scenario, you are just showing that you are a “noob” at this game.
Experienced players try to abide to this “hidden” rule when fighting 1v1.
This game is NOT balanced in 1v1, as some things are completely broken. By accepting (and following) these “rules”, you are trying to create a more balanced scenario in which the outcome of the fight is determined by skill.

If you look at the “competitive” side of this game, which is Conquest sPvP (and, to a lesser extent, GvGs), you will see that people will do anything to win. Which is FINE, because this game is more balanced for group fights and your weakness against something can be compensated by the other players in your team.

Also, the main “problem” here is that the OP has included fights that he wins thanks to Supply Crate in a video. Experienced players will get bored easily, as there is no skill involved in winning like that.
Why would anyone make a video (titled “how to beat engi as necro”) in which he beats a condi Engi as a Condi Necro? Since you are sharing the video here in these forums, which are populated by a good amount of decent players, you should know that they would probably “complain” because what a good player looks for in a video is quality play. If that is lacking, then they will usually get bored. Winning a 1v1 with Supply Crate is not a show of quality play.

Does use LOS ( mainly in duel arena bc you can’t really do this in OS ) is one of those “hidden rule” between “experienced players” ? .

Hiding behind the small pillars in Forest of Niflhel is a legitimate tactic in 1v1 servers. LOS-ing is allowed in 1v1s, but when people start doing that in other maps (such as behind the structures in the Graveyard of Foefire), their opponents can usually get kittened.

Eles should eat Thieves alive to be honest.
Mesmers, they are harder but not impossible (unless they’re PU specced).

Anyway, please provide the build and weaponset you (at least intend to) use, as the strategies are different.

What are you planning to do with this build?

What build and weaponset are you running?

vincecontix.1264:

Hi ya, the first fight was not a duel and it end up being a 2v1 and it all the fights I never really pressured by the thief. Pd condi SA thief is acutally one of the strongest dueling condition builds around and engi doesn’t really counter that spec.

Also in the 2nd fight I used crate by accident I was never in danger at all and the thief reset the fight with 3 or 4 more full shadow refuges after the crate it didnt have any bearing on the fight.

I wasnt even using a good dueling build I was using a spec that more for group play. The video wasn’t meant to show how pro I am or stuff like thats it just showing that pd thief have weakness.

My posts were merely to reply to the “why wouldn’t supply crate be allowed” comment above.
I only watched the first encounter: you did well popping Supply Crate there because another guy jumped in and it was a “legit” move.
I got quite bored afterwards because I don’t really enjoy watching fights against P/D condi SA thieves :/

Needless to say, the “unbeatable” P/D condi spec is this one: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fZAQRAqY4al0Mp7plPx0J8PNBNRxdNEDzg3hxXshaFAA-TVyFABKcQAoT/wv7PIp6POcCA6TJIAPAgmU+hwRAgUAQMNC-w
… which I didn’t see featured in this video.
Also, it was sad to see that those thieves didn’t know how to use Throw Gank properly, as it’s incredibly useful if you’re a P/D condi user.

Take it as a suggestion: if you want to make a video in which you show how to beat a certain build, at least face the “best” possible version of said build. The advice you included in the video are nice though, but for the future you should include better fights IMHO.

Still, I agree that P/D condi SA is extremely strong and it requires close to no effort to be successful with.

Hard to Catch: you cleanse one condition every time you Shadow Step.
ICD: 5s

This would affect the following weaponsets:
S/x (#2)
D/P (#3)
P/D (#3)
Shortbow (#5)

And the following utilities:
Infiltrator Signet
Steal
Shadow Step
Shadow Trap

Holland.9351:

Thief is the most powerful stomper by far:

• stealth stomp
• blind stomp
• stability stomp
• teleport stomp

Thief is also the hardest to stomp:

• stealth (100% chance of success)
• teleport (100% chance of success)

Elementalist has the best WvW downed skill:

• invulnerability + movement
  (can even move into towers/keeps while downed)

Wrong in many aspects.
The 100% chance of escaping a stomp is unique only to Elementalist (and Mesmers, provided there is at least a targetable object around). Thieves can stomp other thieves easily thanks to Steal or Infiltrator Signet.

Also, thieves lack the most reliable stomp in this game, which is the invulnerability stomp (which Eles, Engis and Mesmers have access to). Mesmers have access to stealth, blind, stability and teleport stomp too.

Lastly, thieves should not always stomp, as the amount of AoE being dropped on a downed player is usually enough to scare the thief off, and if there is another thief around, there’s no way the thief is going to complete the stomping.

Mayama.1854:

hihey.1075:

Mayama.1854:

dank.3680:

Win the 1v1’s without the crate and I might be somewhat impressed (not much since your basically using the best class for the situation).

But you really didn’t get anywhere close to killing either, without the crate. Winning a 1v1 with that elite is not something to be proud of or write home about in my opinion.

Whats the problem? Its part of the class if you cant win against an engineer with crates you will never win against one. He also dropped the crates on accident in the second fight.

Using Supply Crate is like an “iWin” button if you know how to use it. That’s why it is “banned” in pretty much every decent 1v1 server.
Think of it as a “hidden rule” between “experienced players”: even in the Obsidian Sanctum, very few players use it. It would be like using Thieves Guild, or Moa Morph, or Lich Form. These Elites are completely OP in a 1v1 scenario, because the correct use of them can usually guarantee a win (unless the player using it is incredibly worse than his opponent).

Still, it’s WvW, and as such “everything is fair” – even PU and SA and OP elites…<.<

Than maybee just accept that some classes/builds hardcounter others? Last time I checked a condi engi has zero chance against a condi necro that knows what he does. Same with supply crate. If its in the game you can use it.

http://www.sirlin.net/articles/playing-to-win-part-1.html

Thats a good article about what blaming others for using “cheap” tactics etc. means. No offense but you argue like that guy that I dueled some days ago that whined and called me cheap because I feard him and two shot his thief in lich form. He dueled a power necromancer and he whined because I did something pretty obvious.

Please, don’t bring up the “play to win” thing.
By using the things I mentioned in my post in a 1v1 scenario, you are just showing that you are a “noob” at this game.
Experienced players try to abide to this “hidden” rule when fighting 1v1.
This game is NOT balanced in 1v1, as some things are completely broken. By accepting (and following) these “rules”, you are trying to create a more balanced scenario in which the outcome of the fight is determined by skill.

If you look at the “competitive” side of this game, which is Conquest sPvP (and, to a lesser extent, GvGs), you will see that people will do anything to win. Which is FINE, because this game is more balanced for group fights and your weakness against something can be compensated by the other players in your team.

Also, the main “problem” here is that the OP has included fights that he wins thanks to Supply Crate in a video. Experienced players will get bored easily, as there is no skill involved in winning like that.
Why would anyone make a video (titled “how to beat engi as necro”) in which he beats a condi Engi as a Condi Necro? Since you are sharing the video here in these forums, which are populated by a good amount of decent players, you should know that they would probably “complain” because what a good player looks for in a video is quality play. If that is lacking, then they will usually get bored. Winning a 1v1 with Supply Crate is not a show of quality play.

Chicago Jack.5647:

hihey.1075:

It’s hotjoin. Who cares about that.

The new players playing the game.

If a “new player playing the game” has any willingness to improve, then he will hopefully spectate those players that “farm” him and he will learn something about their builds and how to play. And he could join the “better” team once it reaches 4 players.
That’s actually what I did when I was still new to the game: by spectating the people who kitten d me I was able to understand some basic stuff (like thieves, for example).

If he doesn’t want to improve, then what’s the point?

It’s hotjoin. Who cares about that.

BrunoBRS.5178:

plus, you said it yourself, the skill would be an instant stomp. how do you counter something that’s instant? do you now require a thief with SR or a mes with mass invisibility just to prevent the possibility of an instant KO?

Maybe you shouldn’t get downed in the first place?
I would love a skill like this though. Cast time of 1s is reasonable, and the high CD (which I would set at 150s though) would make it interruptable, predictable but, at the same time, rewarding.
Players would still complain, but it’s something that would change the role of many players.
Also, a Ranger with Spirit of Nature or a Warrior Warbanner, if used properly (IE: people actually communicating to each other) could totally counter this skill.

Mayama.1854:

dank.3680:

Win the 1v1’s without the crate and I might be somewhat impressed (not much since your basically using the best class for the situation).

But you really didn’t get anywhere close to killing either, without the crate. Winning a 1v1 with that elite is not something to be proud of or write home about in my opinion.

Whats the problem? Its part of the class if you cant win against an engineer with crates you will never win against one. He also dropped the crates on accident in the second fight.

Using Supply Crate is like an “iWin” button if you know how to use it. That’s why it is “banned” in pretty much every decent 1v1 server.
Think of it as a “hidden rule” between “experienced players”: even in the Obsidian Sanctum, very few players use it. It would be like using Thieves Guild, or Moa Morph, or Lich Form. These Elites are completely OP in a 1v1 scenario, because the correct use of them can usually guarantee a win (unless the player using it is incredibly worse than his opponent).

Still, it’s WvW, and as such “everything is fair” – even PU and SA and OP elites…<.<

scerevisiae.1972:

Rym.1469:

So far, double sigil is a problem only on Thieves, so…..

air and fire are both on-crit sigils, when one fires it puts the other on CD. using them together is pointless.

Please, get your facts straight before posting here…

Harper.4173:

Explain to me how Combustive shot is any good outside sPVP?

Explain to me how could people miss hitting mobs (PvE) or people in a zerg (WvW large scale) with their F1.

uberkingkong.8041:

Anyone see how many viewers there were? Also what were the scores of each game. Was they even close or just ground pound.

Seems like every tournament game was 3-0. Doesn’t seem that exciting if you ask me.

Did you REALLY think that this would have been a “competitive” tournament?

No way a proper Team, with most people playing together for months, would lose to 5 pugs. And this without saying that every EU player was >>> Every NA player (and every NA player >>>>>>>>>>>> Every Chinese player).

This was just for entertainment.

They will be fine.
Adding some strategy behind using a Warrior will make it more balanced.
Stop complaining and learn to land your skills correctly, instead than using them whenever they’re off-CD and all the while keeping gets bonuses like Adrenaline Health and other stuff if you miss.
EDIT: for the record, I play warrior too. It’s my second most played class in PvP, and I’m not a hater.

Build is OK-ish for newbies (although the Sigil choice is quite strange).
I’d suggest taking either a Shortbow or a Dagger/Pistol set instead than Pistol/Dagger.

In any case, don’t expect to 1vX people if you’re a noob: most players have learnt how to fight thieves and you won’t be having an easy time facing multiple opponents if you don’t know what you’re doing and rely only on your initial burst.

Muchacho.2390:

Are the negative modifier also capped at 100%?

I’m not sure of this, but this would be a really unlikely scenario.
The only way you can achieve a negative modifier which exceeds 100% is if you are an Engineer, using Automated Response (-50% condition duration when below 33% HP), Leg Mods (-33% condition duration for Chill, Cripple, Immobilize), with Melandru Runes (-25% condition duration) and -Condi Duration Food (up to -40% condition Duration).
I have never tested this myself though.
Warriors with Dogged March, Melandru Runes and Food can reach -98% condition duration with regards to Immobilize/Cripple/Chill.

Zord.6130:

When determining the Duration of a Condition applied to you, you do the following math:
First, you take into account the BASE duration of the condition the skill applies. In your example, 4s Bleed for Vital Shot.
Then, you add in ALL the modifiers, be them positive (like increased condition duration Food, Traits, Sigils, Runes) or negative (food, Runes, traits).
Of course, you subtract the negative values and you add the positive values. After this calculation, you add this number (which might be either Positive or Negative) to the BASE condition duration of the skill and you determine the “final” duration of the condition.

Simply put, if someone is using Hoelbrak Runes and gets hit by Vital Shot whose user has 75% condition duration, the final modifier will be: (75-20)=+55%.
So, the Bleed applied by Vital Shot will be (4*1.55)=6.2s long.

What this guy said.

This is how condition duration works in this game

Zietlogik.6208:

As funny as this is, it also falls under match manipulation, and can get you banned :P

That is not match mannipulation – he is playing the game as the devs designed it. He did not manipulate anything, he used his skills as they should be used and did not take advantage of anything.

This thread again

I’m UPping this thread as I believe it’s the most complete of all the threads about this trait.

Josh Davis.6015:

Last Refuge is something we’ve been talking about quite a bit internally, and we certainly don’t like the way it can occasionally unintentionally punish players.

I was hoping you came up with something with yesterday’s stream.
Is this really a lost cause?

Why are people complaning about adding skill into the Warrior profession? :/

Steb.2571:

Hello frands, Steb here, I’m one of the top thieves in the game. S/D needs to be nerfed, it’s OP (Note that thieves are not OP, just the weaponset, and since thieves are UP as a whole, this helped balance them out), and bad for gameplay, balance, and thieves. That said, most other classes need some pretty significant nerfs to keep balance in check.

Glad there’s someone in NA who doesn’t think like the OP.

And in any case, Sizer himself admitted that the upcoming changes to FS are more like a buff than a nerf.

Zero Day.2594:

Careful spreading these videos, might earn a nerf…
:|
With great power… comes great responsibility.
(thought it was fitting)

I’d say skills like Repeater definitely need a nerf!

Yeah the recent changes to Steal have made it a really unreliable skill…
Way to go for “fixing” things lol

Booms.2594:

You know quite a Bit for being bad
D/p has-
Damage (much more)
Safe escape with shadow step
Much more stealth
Much more cc with headshot
Slightly less condi removal with HiS and SS
Limited evades
More blinds (extremely more and utterly insane amount )
Cleave (more)
Spike (at least 2x more)
Omfg dp is so easy op

Of course D/P has more cleave than S/D.
“Slightly” less condi removal? rofl
Evades>>>>>>Blinds, especially when the blinds are a 100radius field that only a noob would stand in, and costs 6 Initiative.
Safe Escape with Shadowstep: on 50s cooldown (SS is often slotted on S/x builds too).
More CC with headshot—> which is mostly used for utility (hint: requires SKILLFUL play)

Please tell me again how S/x is more skillful than D/P, I’m all ears.
Haters gonna hate.

Back in topic, they should have nerfed Feline Grace and kept everything as it is now. The set is not destroyed, people will just have to change playstyle to get used to the new FS→LS. It will still be the safest build to 1v1 with in PvP, people will still get mad at thieves and the hate for this class will not decrease.

Amonatory.2453:

hihey.1075:

Amonatory.2453:

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

The thing is, S/D thief right now has almost zero counterplay. I don’t mind that the skill cap is getting higher, as it really needed to not be so easy to play. Now that it has counterplay and you can actually play against it, s/d can maybe finally be balanced and fun to fight against.

First off S/D actually takes skill in general, second legit like everything the blocks/invulns will counter it how is that fair counterplay? Once again S/D is balanced Acro is not this is what I made the post for….. S/D does not need a nerf its kittening acrobatics.

S/D takes skill?
It took me a week to beat “veteran” S/D thieves using ONLY a Sword. Guess what could have happened if I equipped a Dagger, too!
Sword/anything is incredibly easy to play. You just cannot die.
I like all the changes. And I think I will see a lot of QQ from people saying “That guy is spamming LS forever permaevade noob lol”

You killing scrubs with sword is your argument? Congratulations, honestly S/D takes more skill than d/p lolol.

If people in the Top100 are scrubs…
Not saying I am good or anything, because I am not (there are a lot more things to consider when evaluating a player than only 1v1 capability), just that Sword/x does not require any skill. What EXACTLY is skillful in S/x builds?
I am assuming a sPvP environment, so do not consider SA builds. D/P is 100 times harder and gets hardcountered by so many things that it’s hard to believe it is still played. Heck, even P/D (power) is harder than S/x, because unless there is a lot of AIs on which you can land CnD reliably, it is very difficult to land your burst.
With S/x you have pretty much anything you want: damage, safe escape, stealth, cc, (soft)condition removal, evades, cleave.

Really, I regularly watch Sizer’s play and there is not any skill involved in how he FIGHTS (and I emphasize the word “fight”, because if we consider Sizer’s ability to understand what’s happening around the map he is unmatched).
What is hard in chaning FS→Infiltrator Strike to immob→LS? Or LS→Steal/LS→Infiltrator Signet? And if things go dire, port back with #2.
If D/x or P/x user messes up and engages a fight he should not have engaged in, he is dead. A S/x, unless CCed, will always have a way out.

Good thing. Now people cant just spam Eviscerate/Hammerstuns when they are ready just to make their opponent waste dodges and still retain the regen granted by Adrenaline Health.

More brain required for one of the most braindead classes in the game.

(And I play warrior a lot in PvP)

Amonatory.2453:

Warlord of Chaos.7845:

The thing is, S/D thief right now has almost zero counterplay. I don’t mind that the skill cap is getting higher, as it really needed to not be so easy to play. Now that it has counterplay and you can actually play against it, s/d can maybe finally be balanced and fun to fight against.

First off S/D actually takes skill in general, second legit like everything the blocks/invulns will counter it how is that fair counterplay? Once again S/D is balanced Acro is not this is what I made the post for….. S/D does not need a nerf its kittening acrobatics.

S/D takes skill?
It took me a week to beat “veteran” S/D thieves using ONLY a Sword. Guess what could have happened if I equipped a Dagger, too!
Sword/anything is incredibly easy to play. You just cannot die.
I like all the changes. And I think I will see a lot of QQ from people saying “That guy is spamming LS forever permaevade noob lol”

Straegen.2938:

I think the question still stands… do ANY of the top ranked GvG guilds run with a Ranger in either orgranized or open field play? If so, what is the spec?

I would like to actually hear from someone who CURRENTLY plays in a top rated GvG guild to answer these questions. My guess is we are about to here a lot of crickets because IMO the Ranger class is as effective as a fart in a stiff breeze.

Many players from “Top Rated GvG guilds” have already expressed their ideas before. I won’t repeat myself, and others will not either.

No one is demanding more of a ranger than a guard, war or ele. People demand exactly as much from ranger as guard, war or ele. You say meleemeleemeleemelee but in melee a ranger is just like a war or guard but with less damage and weak support.

Look at these numbers:
Ranger gs auto: 0.709 coefficient per second.
Guardian gs auto: 1.12 coefficient per second.
Guardian ham auto: 1.135 coefficient per second.
Warrior ham auto: 1.091 coefficient per second.

The only one of those that doesn’t have a skill #2 that does more damage than maul is the warrior hammer, which does 1.4 + weakness compared to ranger with 1.5 + vulnerability. What does a melee train get in return for swapping in these wet noodles? (Hint: not much)

Not another one, please.

style.6173:

I’d rather fight a team of 5 asuras than see a turret engi. At least the asura has to play to be effective.

What about 5 Asura Turret Engis?
A lot of people rerolled Turret Engi because it’s easy as pie. And of course, they made their toons Asuras, because AI faceroll was not enough.

Not sure what you are trying to say. I can perfectly cancel my skills by Swapping weapons or pressing the “Stow Weapon” key.

Condi necro is also good. You get free burning access from the Guardian, Stability (which you lack) and Protection, plus Might. You can literally melt opponents as a condi necro when you’re near a Guardian.

Tell us more about your build. It can say a lot about the kind of player you are, and how your “kind” is perceived by others.
I usually /laugh to taunt my enemies – usually when they are playing a cheesy build in a even cheesier way, or when they go in-out of gates. Provoking them is usually the best way to kill them, as they WILL get mad and will overextend.

And I always laugh when I pull someone off a wall and he gets killed.

I think Knight is too niche for the current meta to be viable.
Bunker classes either use Healing Power amulets (Shaman/Cleric), Celestial or Soldier.
Knight gives (too much) Toughness but 0 Vitality/Healing Power, meaning that condi classes would wreck you. Also, the Precision stat is kinda wasted, mostly because of the recently buffed Sigil of Intelligence, which helped low precision classes to deal a lot more damage.
It might work in other environments (maybe scheduled 2v2 or 3v3?), but I for the current sPvP game modes, it is simply outshined by everything else.

People use Strength because it gives a higher “flat” bonus damage than Ogre (5% vs 4%) and are more reliable than Scholar (being above 90% HP is not easy for a D/P thief).
Not many people use the trait which gives Might on Signet use.
The Parrot from Pirate runes hits like a truck, even 2 hits from it would compensate any damage gained from Scholar/Ogre/Strength runes (but the drawback is that it’s not well suited for teamfights, and the raw bonus damage from other runes are more suited for the role a DP thief covers, being it the one of the istant damage spike on weakened or fleeing targets).

nearlight.3064:

hihey.1075:

Having played lots of GvGs, I believe that there could be a spot for a ranger in a GvG team – more specifically in a focus party (or gank squad, as you people call it).
But that would be viable only for 1 round. You can swap out one thief/mesmer/dd ele, and take a LB+GS Ranger, full zerk, with Sic Em, RaO, Quickening Zephyr and SoS. Condi Removal food.
He just has to target an enemy thief, cast Rapid Fire+Quickening Zephyr, get him downed, shout his allies that the enemy is down, Sic Em, and have a thief stomp him.
It’s high risk, high reward. But you must swap it out the following round, because if the enemy expects a zerk ranger on the enemy team, they will just kill him before he does anything. RaO will be ripped by a thief and he will get trained so hard that you dont even need to waste banners on him.

And forget talking about useless stuff like torch, axe, Maul, dagger, TRAPS… geez…

I understand what you’re saying. Maul won’t be useuless in the next patch, and I merely brought up traps to discuss their viability in a gank setting, more as a tool for CC than actual burst. It would be helpful if you can justify why you think those things that you listed are bad. I do agree with you that zerker longbow ranger is merely a one trick pony, so we’d be better off discussing ranger choices that aren’t a one trick pony.

First of all, “GvGs” are fight between two guild with EQUAL numbers: in these battles, you want to maximize the efficiency of all your groups (frontline, focus party, ranged) by using the BEST class setup you have. Every “slot” is meaningful, and using a “subpar” spec instead than an “optimal” spec is not advised.

As many people have already thoroughly explained, Ranger’s CCs are useless in a GvG.
The only “CCs” that work against a guild are:
1-Stuns
2-LONG DURATION Immobilize and Chill.
That’s why “Pulsing” CCs are not good: they cannot stack long enough to a single person (because of the AoE cap) to make a difference. Also, keep in mind that pretty much every frontliner runs Melandru/Hoelbrak with -Condi Duration food (and Warriors even run Dogged March).
Also, “Stuns” must be AoE and must have a low recharge, because the Stability upkeep of a good guild is near 100% and you have to be “lucky” to land your stuns on the person without Stability AND Stunbreakers to make him panic and kill him.
All these are easily provided by Warriors: Hammerstuns (AoE Stuns every 10s) and Flurry (4s AoE Immobilize every 10s). Even with a lot of -Condi Duration, a 4s Immob (which might become a 2s) is enough to guarantee a downed if you coordinate it with a burst and if the person caught by it is out of cooldowns.

Rangers simply don’t have the above mentioned tools. Frost Trap has short (1s), pulsing applications of Chill. Meaning that it will do close to nothing to a melee train. Muddy Terrain is not that bad, but again, the Immobilize is too short to be worth (Flurry is 100 times better). Also, Rangers don’t have access to AoE stuns.
The only good thing they could provide to a melee train is the Waterfield (which, if you have enough Eles, you won’t be lacking anyway) and the Warhorn Blast Finisher for good group buffs (but the Vigor from the Warrior’s one is still better).
A Ranger CANNOT replace either a Warrior or a Guardian as a frontliner for all the above mentioned reasons.

Speaking of the Focus Party, Conditions don’t work. I don’t know if you know the speed at which the members of a Focus Party kill people. Conditions are a no-no. Plus, it does not provide any group utility (the only group utilities which is worth having in a FP are AoE Stealth and Cleave).
Again, I can see a LB ranger to be a good choice for a few rounds (1, maybe 2) in a GvG – but that’s it. You basically have to catch the enemy guild off guard, so to snipe one of their gankers early on and gain the upper hand this way.

EDIT: in order for a profession to be viable in a GvG, think like this: “What can X profession offer that other professions don’t?”. So far, Ranger is completely outshined by every other profession for every role he could cover. If you find a spot in which you can say “Ranger does Y better than any other class”, then ask yourself if this “Y” is important in a GvG. Lastly, consider if the build you are speccing your Ranger around in order to use “Y” is viable (enough defenses to not be a rallybot, enough overall utility to prefer a Ranger over another profession).

Having played lots of GvGs, I believe that there could be a spot for a ranger in a GvG team – more specifically in a focus party (or gank squad, as you people call it).
But that would be viable only for 1 round. You can swap out one thief/mesmer/dd ele, and take a LB+GS Ranger, full zerk, with Sic Em, RaO, Quickening Zephyr and SoS. Condi Removal food.
He just has to target an enemy thief, cast Rapid Fire+Quickening Zephyr, get him downed, shout his allies that the enemy is down, Sic Em, and have a thief stomp him.
It’s high risk, high reward. But you must swap it out the following round, because if the enemy expects a zerk ranger on the enemy team, they will just kill him before he does anything. RaO will be ripped by a thief and he will get trained so hard that you dont even need to waste banners on him.

And forget talking about useless stuff like torch, axe, Maul, dagger, TRAPS… geez…

DanielGames.5198:

hihey.1075:

DanielGames.5198:

Really cool. Now we just have to wait for the offhand only video

I actually DID kill a guy using only Off-Hand Dagger (you check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYjyvreIrqI&list=UU4geCdHVnYcqw-n1rR_De_w ). But for that to happen again, I’ll need to fight a class which is 100% zerk with close to none damage mitigation. Maybe I could try it again against another Shatter Mesmer or a D/P Trickery thief (but the second one would be terribly hard).
Off Hand Pistol would be utterly impossible unless the guy I’m facing doesn’t know what he’s doing.

That was great. I didn’t think CnD could add up to so much damage. I also enjoyed the fight against the engi that popped supply crate.

Keep in mind that the first video was made BEFORE the April 15th patch: back then, my Critical Damage was way higher (with actual numbers, I would easily reach 260% critical damage).

Engineers using Supply Crates for 1v1s are so desperate. When I see them using it, I tell myself “if I don’t win this I’ll be mad”, because good engis don’t need to resort to that Elite to beat thieves in 1v1. Luckily, they don’t even know HOW to use it: after they drop it, it’s only a matter of switching to SB and kiting a bit.

DanielGames.5198:

Really cool. Now we just have to wait for the offhand only video

I actually DID kill a guy using only Off-Hand Dagger (you check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYjyvreIrqI&list=UU4geCdHVnYcqw-n1rR_De_w ). But for that to happen again, I’ll need to fight a class which is 100% zerk with close to none damage mitigation. Maybe I could try it again against another Shatter Mesmer or a D/P Trickery thief (but the second one would be terribly hard).
Off Hand Pistol would be utterly impossible unless the guy I’m facing doesn’t know what he’s doing

@Menzies: I remember that video. It was done when Perplexity was released and the condi meta was starting to approach WvW Roaming. Now it would be impossible to do the same again, most roamers carry enough condition removals to deal with that.