the only one i agree with is #5 – no PTR. this has been a HUGE setback. inhouse testers are obviously missing a lot of things, or devs arent listening to them.
with the exception of hambows and petting zoo/MM, there is actually a nice variety of builds in spvp. tuesday’s patch will bring eles back for sure.
theyve announced new modes, imo this will explode spvp if DM is implemented well.
…snip…
What happened to your bunker ranger vids on teh tubez? It was great inspiration for me, and I loved watching them from time to time.
Edit: nvm, found’em. Dunno why I didn’t find them a while back.
Edit, edit: Some are missing though… music issues?
i had an issue with Google+ so i disabled my account. i have to upload some clips for my guild so the old vids are back now and the account has been reactivated.
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having perma vigor, and healing on dodge roll is something i feel rangers should have. VP needed a big nerf as it was ridiculously easy to stack almost perma vigor and roll to win. add energy sigils to that. just a brainless mechanic.
i fully agree with everything. ranger was horribly designed and not even tested before release it seems. what a mess. an entire profession that’s still in late alpha. this thread is important.
after 1000+ hours, numerous guides and testing in spvp, WvW roaming and GvZ environments, my ranger Ikiro became a mule for my guard and necro. i abandoned the profession because this company has no clue what to do with it! get someone with some vision in charge of it and fix it.
i want my pet to be a primal extension of my ranger, not some gimpy tag-along that smacks a target for 700 damage when he feels like it. in WvW, pets need to have aoe capabilities (utility and/or dps), perma stability and some serious aoe resists.
spirits and the petting zoo: basically a mockery of a dead profession and of spvp. little glowing trees running around. why not wisps that orbit the ranger and imbue his arrows as passives, or shoot out as active abilities to give combo fields and boons? why doesnt the pet have a spirit that powers me up in some way? and why do i have to swap pets? why cant i have just one that does something well? can i ride my pet, shapeshift or exchange spirits with it? can i have ANYTHING cool?
this doesnt even scratch the surface. but i implore the designers to go back to the drawing board and study cohesive, successful and interesting professions like the guard, ele, warrior, mesmer. even the engie and necro have come into their own! they look and feel like SOMETHING. and the ranger remains the only pile of jumbled mess and unfinished ideas.
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cuz unlocks will make people spvp more, amirite?
Why would the penalize players for playing WvW the way it was meant to be played, large scale PvP?
Because that scale tends to be horribly unbalanced most of the time. Just sayin’.
yes, but thats where skill comes in, right?
30/10/0/0/30 build is fairly weak in tpvp. you have no stability and you’ll be cc’d to death by hammer monkeys and engies, which are everywhere. if you wanna play a melee single target heavy hitter, d/d thief is still the best.
in response to MM builds, i dont think theyre too viable in high level 5v5 play. again, mostly due to lack of stability. minion spam is hard countered by aoe, like any dps gs or hammer guard. necros in general are hard countered by cc’s.
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i saw some guy using the spirit bow tonight…looked really cool
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this is something they likely reconsidered for sake of WvW and petting zoo type stuff. i think every profession should have an aoe option.
i dont mind petting/minion zoos at all in tpvp, but thats cuz ive been playing a gs/hammer medi guard. spirits and minions usually die in the first third of the fight as collateral damage. this build also hardcounters shatter, and phantasms mesmers to an extent.
have u guys thought about bringing more aoe to the fights to counter the mesmer, necro and ranger spamfests? u might be surprised with the results.
it’s a pretty kitten fun build. sustain is decent, and aoe damage on point is beastly with GS/hammer. ive been flying up the ranks in team arena
i use gs/hammer and the burst is ridiculous. JI + hammer 5 guarantees kills, sometimes multiple.
really good plays, but i feel you’d be so much stronger by dropping staff and using shelter/SoR. i am also not sure how u do well without SYG with all the hambows and engies running around. but obviously it works for u.
manifesto was a marketing thing to hype up the game and generate huge initial sales. lucky for me, i play the game for other reasons. i cant stand the lore, the world and the bad PVE.
there are ways to tweak celestial to have enough power. it’s not meta because almost no one has the gear. but the stats are quite impressive. reason u go for celestial actually is for the healing power, which u can get up to almost 1k. that means a lot more sustain.
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i like hammer with JI. it works nicely with meditation builds, and support cleric builds for control and blast finishing. hammer is okay with typical pvt setup, but i much prefer GS.
0/5/30/30/5 for anything guardian, unless youre driving or boon supporting in which case u should be running double stability 0/0/10/30/30.
i run PVT armor with melandru with my offensive meditation build. the only other runes id consider would be hoelbrak. my fav combo of utilities is SoR or Shelter, Smite condis, JI (both on low CD for heals and fury), and SYG. personally, i cant do without the stability because it ensures you deliver your burst and stomp successfully.
i have sigil of purity on my sword. with melandru + lemongrass, SoR passive, purity, smite condis, and pure of voice, you’ll have some decent sustain against condis. any less condi removal and you’ll melt very quickly.
for food, i’ll do butternut squash if im not worried about condis, and lemongrass otherwise. maintenance oil. if small gang, trinkets are a combination of celestial and zerker. if larger fights, knights/PVT. i made my build work with sentinel hammer and knights s/f. with food crit chance is about 45%, and crit damage about 70%.
you dont need any more offensive imo, this hits like a truck if you time the combo well: pre-cast shield of wrath, initiate zealot defense, then JI + mighty blow when channel finishes, and top off with smite condis. it’s reliable 10-15k burst which will get your team kills.
but youre right. it’s difficult to get all the right stats for an offensive build. the best way to play a roaming guardian is with full celestial, but that kitten is hard to grind and im not doing it personally. i had to experiment a lot until i found the stats that worked for me.
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if they supported GvG’s 6 months ago when the scene exploded, instead of kittening on it, this game would have been an esport by now. unlike anything else in this game, GvG’s were grassroots. people loved watching it, and it was easy to cast.
they chose to shove capture points down our throats for over a year. /sigh
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i dont think MM is viable. dhuum/terror is the only viable build and thats IF you have someone to peel for you.
^ been using the same build, but i like hoelbrak runes as u get more power and -20 condi duration. hgh rifle/nades is a lot of fun. buffs to B and S made it more viable.
the cc was fine…but massive damage + CC wasnt. they just needed a massive damage nerf, which is what they got.
“The thief has a better short-bow and the warr has a better longbow.” it’s funny cause it’s true.
The Warrior Longbow? Absolutely. The Thief Shortbow? I laugh in your general direction. Barely any damage to the thief shortbow. #1 ricochets, #2 just explodes or can go into multiple explosions, #3 is the same as Ranger SB #3, #4 is just a poison field, and #5 just lets you teleport a distance. It’s crap compared to the Ranger SB in terms of damage.
A weapon doesn’t have to be a pure dps weapon to be good. The shortbow offers nice movement, poision fields and blast finishers. It’s a gimmicky AoE weapon.
What…
Ranger short bow has poison, cripple, dodge, stun/daze, bleeds without needing to crit and a fast attack speed.
As to the OP, one of my rangers is strait up longbow and aze/warhorn for zerging running PVT/Valk gear 30/30/0/0/10 traits and using those traits I have piercing arrows and opening strike refreshed every kill, opening strike 100% crit chance with 90% crit damage at 3600-4400 attack depending on might and bloodlust stacks.
Also ontop of that build with sigils of force, flanking traits and the 20 vuln that can be applied just with rapid fire (opening strike stacks 5….that is refreshed when someone goes down) all up im looking at +60% extra damage.
I think people need to learn builds a bit more, even after a year of ranger and the recent patch I can now self stack 24 might but that’s by using the right traits, sigils and runes.
i run a similar build for jokes. it’s fun to pew pew from 1500 and do a ton of damage, but lets face it. it only works on people with low skill (shortbus), and those who are afk or dont wanna fight (i.e. runners). big problem with power ranger builds is horrible sustain, which is why it’s always better to run a thief or mesmer instead. even my zerky meditation guard who lives in melee ranger has more sustain.
spirits and “nature magic” are done very poorly in this game. spirits should be whisps that orbit the ranger, not little glowy trees. we should have more nature-based spells like entangle and HS. and the BM tree should give us access to shapeshifting abilities.
i dont like roaming with a condi/regen because you have no escape tools, and condi removal is insufficient. meaning, if there are two condi spammers focusing you, youre done. hammer monkeys can shut you down. thiefs can pick you apart (not 1v1, but in group scenarios). in other words, condi rangers are quite subpar outside of duels and controlled 2v2’s.
back to the point: the ranger remains the most unfinished profession. not likely i will return to it until the pet mechanic is revamped and power builds are given more sustain. however, power build damage is quite good if built for glass. but it’s just too easy to die.
im hoping to see some serious work put into revamping the prof mechanic and further buffing power build sustain by the devs. because the ranger right now is an unfinished product.
counterplay to melee death balls is more wellmancers. and thats about as deep as wvw meta goes. i wish there was more to it, i really do. but basically you have 1) heavies and 2) aoe dps casters. wvw is essentially guards, warriors, necros and staff eles. everything else is bonus (mesmers, thieves) or subpar substitutions (rangers, engies).
small gang and duels are a little more interesting, with condi spammers or glass burst with multiple target drop abilities.
id rather see an overhaul of current abilities. most lack creativity, utility, and good design. unlike most other professions, the ranger just feels unfinished. almost every weapon skill and almost every utility feel half done, and our class mechanic was tacked on last minute.
There are definitely two different Med. Play styles that I play and I can live w/ one of them: GS + Sword/X.
GS + Sword/X is ‘good’. There’s a ton of porting around, mobility is ~good enough~ and they’re on a short enough cool-down that when they gain distance on you, you can jump back in their face.
I still dislike having not a snare in this situation (A Melee class w/o a snare… LOL), but whatever. Dev’s aren’t going to change it. They can’t figure it out.
The other is Hammer + Mace/X. It’s absolutely abysmal when it comes to staying on a target. Couple this w/ no snare no swiftness… RIDICULOUS.
Both Hammer and Mace should have a 2s Chill/Cripple on the second chain of the #1 skill, and increase the casting time to .75 (3/4).
ROW also needs the same QoL change warriors received.
Period.
I was out ran by a spectral walk necro yesterday, while running a hammer/mace med build w/ runes of the speed.
I just stopped and /laugh -> /cry. The necro turned around and /cry and we went on our merry way.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Meditations should give the Fury and Swiftness (same duration) when trait-ed.
why are u running hammer/mace? sword/GS is bad as well because you dont have an immobilize. when people dodge your binding blade (and this occurs very foten), GS is basically useless in small gang scenarios. sword/hammer synergize beautifully because hammer gives u an immob, ward, and blowout, upon which you can build your sword #3 burst.
combat IS interesting, but it needs to be slowed down to prevent spam. vigor needs more nerfing and endurance should have another function: being used to charge up certain attacks.
right now, too many things are happening too fast, limiting skill-based play.
been running a bursty meditation build since the patch hit. it’s a lot of fun, but very much a one-trick pony. as you said, it doesnt do much for my team other than guarantee kills whenever JI is up (assuming i use hammer/s/f). i wanted to like the meditation heal, but it just doesnt heal enough even with a bursty build.
Simply put guards need more snares better gap closers and better cc.
They have two immobilizes in weapon sets, 1 pull, and everything else revolves around push back and launches… In PvP when people have to come to you its a different scenario but in wvw when you have to chase some one down but they have more movement skills than you can shake a stick at and you have nooo cripple, chill, and a very telegraphed immobilize… It’s an issue.
this is why offensive guards are one-trick ponies. it works though. shield of wrath + JI + ring of warding + mighty blow + sword #3 + smite condis. that combo will guarantee kills on opponents who dont have stability up. i just dont see myself running anything else but s/f/hammer with meditations, offensively. i love it and hate it…it’s not fun relying on JI for kills, but when it’s up things die.
this trait is hopelessly useless, like most other things in the zeal tree.
if you can get to 1k healing power while retaining good crit damage, crit chance and at least 1700 power, it would be possible to do well in duels/roaming. currently, it’s difficult to achieve these stats without gimping your build or without going full celestial (which is unrealistic for most people). i tried to incorporate clerics into my offensive builds, but it gimps offensive stats too much.
glad youre enjoying it jewish. path of scars is probably one of the best nukes in the game. if youre in a really good group, you can try running valk/zerker with 2600 power (fully buffed) and 100% crit damage, watch LB and OH axe melt people. Lb is very strong with bursty builds now, but lacks survivability for small group play.
@sling – nope no changes. barkskin buff makes this build hella tough. when they make wxp account bound, this build should push 30k HP with guard stacks…so at 25% or 7.5k HP and protection you’re basically unkillable in zergy situations.
i still think no other utilities give you more bang for your buck than MT and two signets. axe OH remains your true aoe weapon…just wish GS was more useful against groups
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Nude spvp team been shooting up the ladder! it’s been a blast figuring out comps and getting better as a guild. spvp in AM usually, havoc runs and drinking games in primetime. Skype conference call required to verify nekkidness.
Nude spvp team been shooting up the ladder! it’s been a blast figuring out comps and getting better as a guild. spvp in AM usually, havoc runs and drinking games in primetime. Skype conference call required to verify nekkidness.
i get it, i really do. but as i said if you’re on voice comms and are able to train the target with your team, the results are better than without SoV on the target. that much i can conclude. so maybe if you have enough survivability on your team, SoV might be worthwhile /shrug.
and in what fantasy are you landing your GS #5?
LB/GS rangers are fine and dandy when permitted to free-cast by your team. theyre hard countered by glassy thieves, mesmers or anything with better mobility. on my bursty meditation guard, i can down a zerker ranger in one skill rotation (JI + ring + mighty blow + sword 3 + smite condis + few autoattacks). if he doesnt have RaO up, he’ll eat the entire burst. whoever i roam with, we train these rangers pretty hard because i know how much deeps LB can do from 1500. they die quick and easy just about every time. long story short, absolutely no reason to run LB/GS over GS shatter mesmer, who has a ton more survivability and can drop more burst more reliably.
i made about 60g by salvaging my ranger’s gear (was close to deleting him but decided to keep him because i believe the profession might be ok after another year of tweaks). easiest 60g i ever made, used it to deck out my guard.
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everyone knows about all those things mentioned. This was a brand new skill (supposedly) and was a complete flop. This was a chance for new content and even something that might have made vamp builds more viable and appealing. Not even close.
It was disheartening lol. Was almost a joke imo.
I don’t even get mad anymore lol. Just a game. I mean it is what it is. Who cares. lol I don’t feel it necessary to struggle with such imbalance anymore it’s like trying to build a house out of smoke. Not really gonna happen. Gotta take it for what it is. I play for the luls and stuff. Still fun fun
That’s why I can’t wait for ESO.
ESO is not looking good brother, people are jumping that ship. the game wouldnt be ready for release if they worked on it for another year.
isnt this thing used to melt targets down in a coordinated fashion with your team? in spvp, i basically do a countdown and the whole team trains a target simultaneously. target melts. i used with the signet trait, so it’s up every 24 seconds.
28 seconds is the minimum recharge, but no. If you do a countdown to simultaneously focus a single target, they’re going down whether or not you use this signet on them. Better to run a real heal if you’re going to do that. The 5k damage you get from the signet just isn’t worth it for a spike (especially as it’s capped at 1k/second).
28s, my bad. i think 5k extra damage is definitely worth it. you have less survivability, but if youre on a good team that can peel for you, you have an additional nuke. so it’s not that the target dies “anyways” when trained. it dies FASTER with SoV on it.
now, for roaming and WvW in general i think SoV is quite underwhelming, even though i did enjoy rennoko’s sustain.
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isnt this thing used to melt targets down in a coordinated fashion with your team? in spvp, i basically do a countdown and the whole team trains a target simultaneously. target melts. i use with the signet trait, so it’s up every 24 seconds. signet of spite + corrupt boon + SoV will kill anything. especially if you have your teammates focusing.
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my buddy who has mained his ele since release is tearing his hair out trying to make himself viable in the higher brackets. so far, he hasnt found a build to justify his ele over something else.
ive seen really well played s/d eles work, but theyre really easy to train.
littany is an offensive heal, but at the same time it’s not suitable for zerg diving. which means, its niche and quite inappropriate for most of the guardian community. in my opinion, it’s a skirmishing tool.
you need to combine it with reliable burst delivery, so as i mentioned: sword 3 + JI + mighty blow + smite conditions. GS is not a burst weapon due to #2 being a long channel, as opposed to sword 3 which can be delivered almost instantaneously with JI. so you need the right build and the correct delivery of “burst”. you dont have to do your damage in an aoe to get the benefits =P
the other thing youre missing is that it’s NOT a reactive heal, at least they way they’ve designed it currently. the CD is extremely low, and you get the most out of it when casting it early
lastly, it’s not for zerg diving, period. when youre taking damage from many sources, you either need to block (shelter) or heal to full (SoR).
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It’s way easier than that. All the GvG community has to do is play the game. If these arranged fights in the OS start happening more often, it will get developed.
the problem is ANet kinda killed GvG when it was at its peak. the other issue is no one is stepping up to organize and cast these things since emo Ogro ragequit to play GTA V. GvG scene is currently very mellow, in contrast to what was happening this summer. the third issue is EOTM. it looks like a very fun game mode that will fragment guilds even further. i for one wont be playing the old PPT kitten when it comes out, at least not for a while.
sadly, GvG’s are on the way down. i hope im proven wrong though.
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As Devon said back in October,
Guild vs. Guild is a gametype that has a lot of potential and one that we would never do anything but the best possible version of. That version, if it comes, will have to wait until the resources are available to build it. This change is an attempt to provide a workable solution in a timely manner, one that will ease some of the conflict that we have seen arise on the forums and in the game.
What this means is that the team is not focused on making changes to this map at this time. If and when the resources are available to build GvG as a game mode, the team assigned to it will do the best they are able, but that time is not now. The Obsidian Sanctum was built to ease tensions between GvG players and the WvW community by allowing a place for players to GvG where it does not affect total map population and is not affected by the Bloodlust buff.
GvG, in its current form, is a player-organized and player-run gametype and for the time being, must be policed by players. Obviously if anybody is being abusive or obscene in chat, please report them. But, we cannot devote resources to preventing players not involved in organized battles from entering the arena.
OS is dead, and all GvG’s happen by windmill still. your move.
ZD’s should be form the start of the video to the end. the only reason why you won.
ZDs? i saw them once and they got wiped by about 30 Jq pugs.
Blackgate buys “top” WvW guilds, this much is known. my suggestion to these guilds is if you have any cojones and truly want a challenge, you should play on a server that isnt stacked =)
also, a lot of these guilds xfer and try tier 1 NA in an attempt to prove themselves, but generally become disillusioned very quickly and run back home to mama after being overwhelmed by gold league NA zergs.
i ran this for over a year. it’s nice, but meta is very condi- and damage-centric now and the cleric guard cant keep up. it does wonders on servers like yours where a dozen pugs get stuck on a ward, and are made of paper, but i cant run this in gold league NA any longer, which makes me quite sad. still worth bringing for burst heals and 90% boon duration if your group is good, but some will argue you’d contribute more by cranking out more damage with other builds.
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fully traited with 3 other meditations and high burst damage, littany is good. it needs to be precast though when your burst chain is available and reliable. if used reactively, it will fail you. so dont pop it when you’re dying…it’s too late. do it early in the fight because the cd is so short. it’s not a typical heal, and it only supplements heals from the other meditations imo.
littany does not work with tanky builds at all. you really need to be able to burst and crit hard.
littany and other meditations scale amaaaazingly with healing power, so hard hitting celestial builds will be scary in skirmishes.
full meditation bursty builds are viable. thats one thing they did for us. zeal tree – still epic fail.