Guild Wars 2

kyubi.3620:

…snip…

I don’t like the idea of my pet having the same set of stats as me. The ability to have different stats is really nice IMO. How about infusions giving stats to ranger pets by default?

If they would just give an increase to pet stats, than rangers would need to work less for ascended benefits… well sort of.

So here goes in hope of an amazing brainstorming thread (this one is for utilities/traits specifically, we can have another one for pet survivability solutions, damage/hp discussions). Non rangers are welcome as well.

Requests:
- please no essays/walls of text (I can though, ‘cause I’m speshul)
- be constructive
- don’t quote half a page, rather answer to thoughts, bulletpoints, sentences
- try starting your post with by highlighting a topic (e.g.: Companion’s might should have longer Might duration because) for easier traceability.

While ranger pets have their problems, there is certainly some excellent potential there. So lets get down to business.

There are an aweful lot of pet related traits and utilities. I would rather have fewer traits that make choosing them interesting.

Companion’s might is just a poor man’s RoA, even though it is not bad. There are much better traits to go with if you want to use your pet. Who will choose this over Pet’s prowess (which is fine btw)?.

Beastmaster’s bond is a good concept, I think we need more traits resolving around our pets being hit, given the situation. The cooldown could be lower for my liking, but it seems balanced really.

Carnivorous apetite and agility training need to go IMO. We can give regen to our pets, all our heals heal them, we have a signet to heal them, and a master trait as well. If someone focuses on their pet, they will go into the BM traitline anyways. +30% speed shouldn’t exist. Given the apalling track record of our pets hitting moving targets it should be standard. You shouldn’t be able to run around and avoid all pet damage. Outrunning an eagle, jaguar, wolf, bear is just rediculous. With swiftness you could still outrun pets, so their standard run speed should be 25% or 30%.

Expertise training, and compassion training need to go or need a buff. If our pets can heal, deal condition damage off their own stats, that is fine, but having 0 as base stat, and 350 points trait to buff it is apalling. Why give conditions to pets if we cannot buff their damage output? Most BM rangers will go for condition damage as well, and have plenty of acces to conditions. Either our pets should have 350 as a base stat for condition damage/healing power, and the traits stay the same, or they should give 700 stats. If my jaguar has a power of 1374, why does my lynx has 0 in condition damage? Clearly it was designed to deal condition damage.

Master’s bond could be an awesome trait, if it would work like stacks of sigils. Why do I lose this bonus if I enter water??? Please rework this Anet, the concept of having to look out for our pets is fine, but this is so underwhelming. Just put this in the place of Carnivorous apetite if you feel like it, and give us something else in the BM line. Like something related to our heals. The BM trait line shouldn’t just be for beastmasters, also for healers.

Stability training… I sincerely doubt anyone is using this trait. Porcine and ursine pets are sooo under utilized, and the lack of stability is not the problem. Can we have it be like Vigorous training instead? Stability on pet swap would be awesome, and I doubt 3 seconds of stability would suddenly push Ranger into OPness. Especially it being a master trait. I would definately see at least 1 more effect on pet swap. Maybe something without a boon. How about 3 seconds of camoflage for example?

Intimidation training is another trait I’ve never seen in any build ever in the entireness of forever. Canines are our cc pets, and they are awesome. We can have a knockdown and immob, fear or chill with just 1 pet. Superb! But we don’t need cripple on them then. A new trait revolving around ranger heals would be nice here.

Aaaaaallllrigthy then. Discuss…

I agree that ascended stat creep should be compensated somehow with ranger pets.

Most suggest perma-stow for pets, and to get our damage back, which I don’t agree with. It would fix nothing. If you cannot stand pets so much try another class. Its like asking for no clones on Mesmer, or no adrenaline on Warrior, or no steal on Thief. If one enjoys high direct damage burst, that is just one more reason to start playing another class. Most also don’t think about condition builds, all they say is they want their damage from their pet back, but with a perma stow like we would also need to get condition damage from our pet. If you would want to link the damage boons to traitpoints, I think that would be too much work. Also with introducing perma stow Anet would acknowledge that they programmed the game bad, which they will not do.

Swagg’s suggestion is intriguing, mine (in another thread) was to give 20 points per BM trait points to the pet, which we could spend ourselves. so its 600 max, with 300 max per stat (condition damage and healing power included). The problem is however that with each level of new rarity we would need new trait points for our pets.

jcbroe.4329:

Prysin.8542:

jcbroe.4329:

So basically, making the pet hit more reliably even if it would mean numerical adjustments to any damage needed would be better than how pets currently work?

If pets had 70~100% hit rate rather then the current 15-25%, they would do so much DPS, that certain builds would be over the top.
My Beast Cannon Build is pretty much over the top if the target doesnt keep moving. Trapper, BM Bunker and Remorseless builds will be insane.

Which is why you balance them straight FPS style, either they are accurate but weak, or inaccurate but strong.

I’m just asking what peoples preference would be with that question, I know it’s worded weirdly now that I read it haha.

We should have both I think. Birds and dogs would hit more reliably bot not that hard, while boars and bears would hit harder but would be harder to land, sort of like maul.

Probably wouldn’t be the new meta for bunker rangers, just wanted to highlight that its a pretty big change we are talking about. Also see SoW and SotH would pigeonhole power rangers, because there aren’t many burst skills to begin with (maul, path of scars, ist there anything else). One of those damage buffs would need to go, and probably a lot of other changes necessary as well. It sounds like 1 change, but it would have a huge impact probably.

Pets:
I think that with all the ascended gear now available, it would be time for us to have more points for our pets through BM trait line. I think it would also be a good idea to have those extra stat points (limited at 600 at 30 in BM, and 300 per stat) be distributable, so we could opt for condition damage, healing power, toughness, or whatever we wanted. Pets would still have their base stats, so it would be kept in check. People would be incentivised to use their pets more, if they could do more with them (taking for granted that their reliability is increased).
Weapons:
Some support weapon like staff would be interesting, so instead of being a sheep herder (switfness and regen), we could be a druid (protection or stability) to a party. Axe auto attack could use some damage increase or have a good coefficient instead. This way we could opt to be direct damage or condition damage. We had the same option with shortbow until the quickness nerf, now its not as good as a power weapon (especially with 900 range). Please make dodge override sword auto attack, and a lot of people will accept it with its strange mechanic.
Utility:
I agree with what’s been said about our utilities, having to trait for them to be really useful. Instead of the double condition duration trait, all traps should apply cripple for 1 seconds, which would result in the target getting maybe 2 pulses. This should be a master trait. Grandmaster should be bigger area of effect (with bigger trigger area as well!!!) and cooldown reduction. I don’t think they should be throwable, so that frees up 1 spot in skirmishing for a new master trait for power rangers.
Having sigils affect the ranger untraited would result in SoW and SoH pigeonholeing power rangers IMO. I agree that power rangers need love, but they only need a slight increase in their damage dealing ability and I see the problems in sustain. Rangers in berserker are squihsier than other classes in my oppinion. They need more ways to defend themselves, especially with sword being our highest damage weapon, but being “interesting” as well. I think a signet as a heal utility would fit the ranger better than a spirit (we can already heal with shouts, and pets). We could either have heal on evades and dodges as passive, or some damage reflection, like a weaker form of retal. But please no more rng spirit stuff.

My 2 cents.

Just to play devil’s advocate a little.

Unbound was moved down to the master tier, Trap Potency and Signet of the Beastmaster really should be looked at for similar reworks/repositions to open up more build opportunities.

I like the idea not having to trait 30 into MM for more useful signets (even though SoR is good untraited as well, SotH is widely used for the speed bonus anyways). However, with anything else unchanged, a ranger could take signet of the wild for stability at 20 points into MM, barkskin in WS (maybe not the best choice for sPvP currently though), and enlargement, which they surely not let happen. And than you could have protection on dodge, and maybe Stone spirit. Sorry to split hairs… but there are probably other combinations that would be too powerful for most (especially non rangers ?).

Copy pasta from other thread.
Make acquiring a pet to require putting 5-10 points in the beastmastery trait line. Otherwise, you have no pet. Your damage is unscaled.

I think this would require GW2 to calculate with different weapon coefficients based on your current trait choices. Only for rangers there would be 2 sets of weapons data. It would also close out people who want healing power from stat points, and also your damage would scale down regardless if you put 10 or 30 into BM. And we are not talking about PvE, PvP split either.

& the sad part is no mod/dev is going to reply because they are scared …

There are 2 people working on class balance… I don’t think its down to fear. Just give them time.
Suggestions will follow in another post…

fadeaway.2807:

…snip…

Yeah my bad, was reading this thread in the morning. I was curious to be honest, so I made a very simple calculation. Just to show that 16% is indeed realistic against squishy targets (on maul, nothing else taken into account). Exotic setup, ascended setup.

frans.8092:

fadeaway.2807:

frans.8092:

I am talking about your " throwing around some phantasmal numbers " – I take offence at that and have reported it as such.

I’m also still waiting for the numbers behind your 30% claim and have reported you for needlessly reporting. (JK but the amount of reports flying around these days is silly).

I also did the numbers myself, the only way I can see a 30% gain is if you accidentally forgot that exotic trinkets don’t come with an upgrade and didn’t give them one.

I did state where I got my numbers from, I used Wiki’s numbers, which totalled exotic trinkets on 358 in major stats. Indeed they list but do not include jewels in their subtotals. When correcting this error I find +16% going from Exotic to Ascended Berserker .

Oh, and thank you for you constructive contributions, it’s been a real pleasure and I am so looking forward to future discussions with you. both of you.

(reposting)

I was wondering, how are you so sure about that 30%, when each weapon skill has their own damage, and coefficients. Did you do your calculations or eviscerate rank 3, or on a rotation? What class, what weapon, what conditions. Please link me to the thread where your calculations are available. 30% does sound amazing.

J Eberle.9312:

nagymbear.5280:

3. You need to evaluate how much effort ascended gear is really worth next time.

Yes, because we all knew this was going to happen. -_-

brb hiring a personal fortuneteller for next time.

What exactly DID happen? From what I’ve read, they are discussing this, and maybe will post some ideas next week. From what I saw with the pace of the changes to rangers, maybe a december 2014 patch will have this effect.

ODB.6891:

nagymbear.5280:

ODB.6891:

A decision to nerf zerker gear will not even solve the problem. The problem is clearly the ineffectiveness of other stat combinations in the game’s combat system. Their ineffectiveness is not going to change suddenly if berserker gear becomes garbage. Just from your comments, you seem to have some bias against ascended gear to begin with. That’s all well and good, but I’ll stay in my lane.

I must admit I do skip some posts in threads sometimes. Could you please point me to the post where Anet says it will nerf zerker gear.

Sarcasm aside, I’m pretty sure you know they did not come out and say that specifically. They gave a general statement saying they are looking into addressing the zerker meta. Obviously a poor implementation of this would be beating zerkers over the head with a nerf bat. Based on previous nerfs/patches…this isn’t too far fetched of a possibility. Especially so with a significant portion of the player base screaming for it every day.

The only way I can see berserker stats being nerfed is reducing the crit damage bonus they give. And even that would not result in condition builds being desired for PvE. Anet has done some decisions I don’t agree with, but I think even they now better than to just reduce the effectiveness of the power stat. Even a reduction in the effectiveness of precision wouldn’t push people away from zerkers.

thefantasticg.3984:

And I’m confused as to if you have been around that long and main a Ranger how you think this is going to end well.

Nowhere did I said it will end well. What I said was:
1. You can do PvE in exotics just fine.
2. MMOs introduce huge changes, and it gets frustrating at times.
3. You need to evaluate how much effort ascended gear is really worth next time.
4. I just don’t see condition build being part of “the pve” everyone is talking about. I presume its dungeon/fractal runs and open world boss events.

ODB.6891:

A decision to nerf zerker gear will not even solve the problem. The problem is clearly the ineffectiveness of other stat combinations in the game’s combat system. Their ineffectiveness is not going to change suddenly if berserker gear becomes garbage. Just from your comments, you seem to have some bias against ascended gear to begin with. That’s all well and good, but I’ll stay in my lane.

I must admit I do skip some posts in threads sometimes. Could you please point me to the post where Anet says it will nerf zerker gear.

thefantasticg.3984:

nagymbear.5280:

Do you suggest that overnight everyone will want rabid ascended to do PvE? If not, you need to worry about nothing.

If the Devs drastically change things, then yes, this is in the realm of possibilities. It depends on how hard they swing the bat. Which, again, is why I must ask how long you’ve been here because if you’ve been around at least 9 months reading balance patches you know exactly how this is going to end up.

We are talking rabid gear (condition damage/toughness/perception). Ho do you see condition damage being a part of PvE? By increasing bleed caps to 50? Would you want more than 2 condition damage builds in a party for that? If they reduce the crit damage added by berserker gear to half, condition build would still be unnecessary in PvE runs. If you want condition damage builds in an open world boss battle, you would need a bleed cap of 200, 500 maybe even 1000. And those would need to be all just bleed builds as 1 player can keep a boss under perma burn, poison. Your fear is irrational. I have been around for more than 9 months, and my main is ranger, so I know about changes, and bad changes as well.

Do you suggest that overnight everyone will want rabid ascended to do PvE? If not, you need to worry about nothing.

ODB.6891:

nagymbear.5280:

Fenrir.3609:

nagymbear.5280:

Meglobob.8620:

All those players who grinded there kitten off for ascended with berserker stats are going to be so happy now…

All that wasted gold, laurels, time etc…

Anet snap there fingers and ‘poof’ your back to where you started…

Because you cannot do content in exotics… riiight.

That’s a joke right?

Well why exactly did you craf ascended? Don’t tell me for the looks.

What does the reason for crafting ascended gear have to do with anything? The only thing that matters is that it has already been crafted…at great expense. That’s like asking why someone ran a dungeon to get exotic gear. Maybe because they liked the appearance, they wanted the stat increases, they ran the dungeons and had the available tokens? Take your pick or any other possible reason.

The reason matters, because you probably didn’t need it in the first place. You put in a lot of effort, for a minimal advantage, and when something changes you become frustrated. I evaluated whether I ever want ascended or legendary gear, and I just didn’t go for them, because its not worth it for me. You want ANET to not change the game, because you crafted ascended berserker gear. Well, there are a lot of players, and they want another type of experience from PvE maybe. Anet wants to do that maybe. Maybe! Nothing announced making ascended berserker gear useless yet.

Fenrir.3609:

nagymbear.5280:

Just to be clear. You buy a car and after 1 day of use you cannot sell it at the same price. There is nothing new here (at least for me). You level a prof, patch comes out, you rage and roll something else. An MMO changin all the time due to its very nature. If you don’t like wasting your time, don’t play an MMO.

It’s time gated, end game, BiS gear that requires a massive grind. The introduction of stuff like ascended was always going to be an issue if they decided to make significant alterations to the combat meta outside of the spvp scope.

If you can’t see the issue after it has been repeatedly pointed out then there is little point in going over it again.

You keep talking about that nerf. Is something already announced? And I totally get it. Something is the best thing now, so you go for it, put in a lot of effort and gets not so great anymore. Do you see condition builds being the meta in PVE? How? Your ascended berserker gear (which IMO you didn’t even need) will be just as good. Trust me. Its not like fill zerker warriors will become extinct overnight. If you have problems with some part of the game being changed (not on a whim mind you), than don’t play an MMO, you’ll be off better for it.

Just to be clear. You buy a car and after 1 day of use you cannot sell it at the same price. There is nothing new here (at least for me). You level a prof, patch comes out, you rage and roll something else. An MMO changin all the time due to its very nature. If you don’t like wasting your time, don’t play an MMO.

Fenrir.3609:

nagymbear.5280:

Meglobob.8620:

All those players who grinded there kitten off for ascended with berserker stats are going to be so happy now…

All that wasted gold, laurels, time etc…

Anet snap there fingers and ‘poof’ your back to where you started…

Because you cannot do content in exotics… riiight.

That’s a joke right?

Well why exactly did you craf ascended? Don’t tell me for the looks.

Meglobob.8620:

All those players who grinded there kitten off for ascended with berserker stats are going to be so happy now…

All that wasted gold, laurels, time etc…

Anet snap there fingers and ‘poof’ your back to where you started…

Because you cannot do content in exotics… riiight.

I liked the gameplay a lot. Just not the effects at the start, and the music…

This has been suggested a lot of times, but there are a lot of utilities, traits connected to pets. If we could perma stow our pet and got all our damage back, we still would be without a lot of utility provided by them (protect me, emphatic bond, buffs, knockdowns, immobilizes). I think a better way to handle this was to introduce/change traits, so we get a benefit out of our pet being hit/dead/useless. Drastically reducing the 60 second cooldown would also go a long way, although it definetly wouldn’t be the solution.

Well…. that was…. an experience. My experience would’ve been much nicer if I fast forward to 1:20, and put on some different music. Definetly an experience though

I have the same problem, totally kills the joy of the game. PvE maps do the same as well. I didn’t have good fps ever, but never this bad either. It started around Christmas I think (or at least that is when I noticed it). At first I thought it was my internet, but I think its the game.

OptimistPrime.9283:

How very interesting. I notice that it was posted in July. Do you think it is still relevant?

Errm, I’m not actually sure it is him in the video. Maybe his account got closed on teh youtubez. nvm, it is him. I think it should still work. The gist of it is Dwayna runes and high healing power. Pet damage got nerfed in the meantime though. It will get you slower kills than the condi counterpart probably, but should work still.

It wouldn’t be the first time a skill description shows wrong figures, now would it?

Paundro did a sword/greatsword cleric build for roaming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfEWpvAlu68

CRrabbit.1284:

Isn’t this a perfect sample of double-standards?

No it isn’kittens the perfect example of…. typos in skill description.

Yelloweyedemon.2860:

DAT PROOF!

Seriously guys, they are not going to revamp the whole class just because you want EZmode.

Can we please STOP with the QQ threads?

If you love the ranger as it is, good. If you don’t, roll another class untill you feel it’s fixed. I wanna log to ranger forums for once and see actually constructive critisism and not “this sucks because I can’t play it” or “that sucks because a warrior/ <insertclasshere> can do it better”

Whether you love ranger or not, it does have a lot of issues. Why barrage needed a nerf was never explained. I’m not even sure it was mentioned in the patch notes. Why would you want to read constructive criticism on the ranger forums? Its the saddest topic ever. The amount of constructive suggestions that were shared with Anet on these forums… not many of those were utilized. I don’t like all the crying either, but barrage dealing kittenty damage is a totally legit issue. Did you ever get downed by barrage? Ever? On my full rabid ranger I had 0 reasons to leave that red circle. I didn’t feel so funny in a meteor shower.

I also had the experience that trapper ranger has problems with survivability, lightning reflexes sure does help there, as well as Rampage as one for the stability. And just because it hasn’t been the meta/flotm doesn’t mean noone was running it. Maybe the exact same reason why it is still good.

If you want to roam in wvw, you could go a variety of routes in terms of gear based on your playstile. For PVE all berserker.

If you don’t mind lacking high burst, you could go with pvt armor with knight trinkets. If you get to 30% crit chance that is totally fine. You could get settlers armor and make a beastmaster, which is high survivability but slow kills if your foe knows how to deal with the pet. You can get rabid gear for Karma in Orr, with full rabid trapper raanger is pretty fun, great for clearing camps, yakslappin’, but its not the best in survivability. There was a rampager build for zergsurfing with longbow as well. You could also try full berserker longbow greatsword, but you gotta love a bit of punishment every now and then if you go that route.

If you give more specific preferences, you will get more specific builds I’m sure. Have fun on ranger!

apocalypso.4895:

I gave it another go for fun, and with a different build I killed it in barely 7 sec:
http://youtu.be/ZUwY-GpNVNQ

Looks nice, lets hope Anet doesn’t see this.

sminkiottone.6972:

2nd Wish = Disrupting lounge…

That would be awesome. It would spawn a couch, dim the lights and play chillout music. It would interrupt all skill use in 10k range and apply 15 stacks of confusion on everyone.

Fext.3614:

Can you swap the jumping directions on skill 2 at one handed sword, so the first use jumps at target, the second jumps away?

Lose your target, and you can make the 2nd leap to whatever direction you want. I don’t think there is a need to change it, maybe have the first leap remove 1 condition.

My fresh little zerker.

Nagymbear’s Wishlist for Ranger changes in 2014:
Pet
1st Wish = Boons and conditions displayed for pets
2nd Wish = Reworking porcine F2 mechanic to be more handy, the bundles are great
3rd Wish = Some F2s need instant cast, especially pet based aoes, or give them ground targeting, pet runs to target area and uses aoe. If pet is in aoe, instant cast.
4th Wish = Better synergy between ranger and pets
5th Wish = More support for pets in form of other boons aside regen, might, fury.

Weapons
1st Wish = Longbow auto should hit more reliably, not 100%, but better than it does now
2nd Wish = Dodge should override sword autoattack
3rd Wish = Blind on Warhorn #4
4th Wish = Axe auto damage buff.
5th Wish = Make dagger #5 hit more reliably.

Trait system
1st Wish = Merge piercing arrows with eagle eye (could remove damage buff, don’t care for that).
2nd Wish = Hilt bash becoming a blast finisher (it would be too much on maul)
3rd Wish = Better synergy between ranger and pets
4th Wish = Beastmaster signet should be default, get a new grandmaster trait
5th Wish = A trait like Improvisation for thieves. I think ranger would benefit greatly if it would happen on healing skill use.

Utility Skills
1st Wish = Lightning reflexes removes movement impairing conditions (could remove damage, don’t care for that)
2nd Wish = Give traps more utility like, condi cleanse/transfer, cripple on each trap should be a minimum, maybe a stunbreak on one of them. Could increase cooldown to compensate.
3rd Wish = Entangle should hit stealthed players, and should spawn 5 vines even if less than 5 targets available. Or just make it spawn 5 vines in a fixed pattern.
4th Wish = Give heal as one some more umph, its not really an option as it is, is it. Like give it a Survival skill tag, so it can be traited. Either that or give us a signet instead of water spirit. Passive: You and your pet reflect a small amount of damage, the less HP you have, the more damage reflected (under 25% would hit similar to retal). Active: You and your pet are immune to movement impairing conditions for 4 seconds. 1.5 seconds cast time, 30 seconds cooldown, high base healing (for ranger and pet), crappy scaling.
5th Wish = Double base trap condition duration.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

2014 is going to be an amazing year for GW2 and the community!

Chris

Too specific to be true…

This did make me giggle, thank you. Is the bear that is not willing to cooperate with you called F2 by any chance? I heard horror stories of that evil one.

Does terror scale of of power or condition damage? I can see that it deals higher damage if the target has conditinos, but I’m not sure.

HardRider.2980:

New revamped Necro look

Looks amazing, what upper is that?

I’m almost 80 on my necro, and was wondering if its good for dungeons. While leveling I went with full power/zerker gear, staff and dagger/focus with 2 wells and signet for running speed. I’m wondering whether it would be any good in dungeons. Like, are wells causing problems by overriding other combo fields and such. Some tips and tricks and builds would be helpful. I did story mode on my lvl 60 necro in ac with the others being under 50, so I would say it can be pretty useful. Wells do nice damage if the party can keep mobs in them, and blinds in plague form I found really helpful for the party. Or should I go with lich form for max damage?

He ran jaguar and sic’em which is more damage that is coming from the pet. Its +40% damage for 10 seconds from the pet. It is cancelled when pet F2 is activated however. Or so I’ve heard.

Anyone knows whether piercing arrows hits more mobs than 3? Because that is one part where it could beat melee, even if it deals less damage. If you can hit 5 instead of 3…. I dunno. Maybe the more experienced dungeon runners are gonna enlighten us on that.

Neoheart.2750:

Thanks for the reply. I was playing around with the weapons last night and i actually like the sword with auto attack disabled. Not a big fan of the axe main hand but i can see its uses in condi builds.

I also like the bird pets, from what i gather they are some of the better dps ones…also harder for click targeting in pvp lol

Whats the current dungeon running “meta” build? I’ve read that HS, spotter and frost spirit are excellent but not sure of traits and offhand weapon(s).

We have some nice utility, contrary to what others claim. With jungle stalker you can give 5 stacks of might to your party, and brown bear you have a party condi cleanse. Than you can have healing spring which is another party condi cleanse. With greatsword (which I prefer over sword) you can do a healing combo with swoop. If you run sword/warhorn you can do 2, monarch’s leap is a leap finisher, warhorn 5 is a blast finisher. Than you can have signet of renewal, which is another party condi cleanse, and a stun breaker. You still have 2 slots free which you can use for stone and/or frost spirit, protect me (invuln+stunbreak), or anything you like. Rampage as one is too good to pass down with 20s of stability. I also run longbow with piercing arrows.

Neoheart.2750:

Hey there rangers, So I’ve decided to roll a ranger with a possible change to main. Ive been playing since release (with a few months break a while back) as a thief, recently I rolled a Mesmer and since getting it to 80 and trying out several builds in several game types I just cant get into it. Not quite sure what it is but its just not my playstyle.

Ive always been interested in the ranger (almost picking it on release) and im looking for a decent levelling build and also which pets are best to seek out to use before and at end game.

Don’t worry im fully aware of the “situation” you guys have been in since release, the up’s and downs, the dungeon kicking or free loot bag abuse and the dodgy mechanics but im not bothered about these things to much. I just want to find a class that I really enjoy let alone stomach for more than a daily login.

I’ve fought a couple of good rangers in WvW who were very skilled using the sword and regardless of win/loss I felt they had out played me so I love the fact that there is a skill gap. Obv “bearbow” in open world pve/levelling is a go to face roll but im looking to get used to melee before the end game dungeon kicking begins (lol :P).

I’ve read a lot of posts in here over the past hour and however bad it may be it does sound like a class I could enjoy like I did the thief before my break. So, if anyone could point out a levelling build, any tips, any good end game builds or just anything lol I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance and keep your chins up

Get full power, or full condi damage gear for leveling.

If you go the condi route use traps axe/torch, sword/dagger.

If you go the power route you could try out longbow/greatsword, its pretty good with full berserker at lvl80 as well. I still couldn’t get my head around sword, its just… you can leap through mobs if you lose target with just auto, and then ther is the root. Greatsword works fine. You could master the art of axe offhand as well, not my cup of tea to be honest.

For pets, play around with them, there are a lot of options. You can get stealth with a siamoth, you can get knockdowns with canines, for damage go with a bird or a feline pet. Drakes have a blast finisher if you want to play around with combo fields.

For low level traits, you could go 10 into skirmishing for better pet crit, beastmastery for 3 stacks of might on petswap, or just 10 into marksmanship for 10% damage increase when endurance is full.

I am leveling my power necro with dagger/focus. Guess how much I have to worry about damage mitigation. I can just dagger #1 and run around mobs untill they drop. Its not just rangers. That is what I meant by there is no convincing you. Other classes don’t have to learn much either. But feel free to blame it on rangers and bears. The problem is that there is a huge leap from open world pve to wvw or tpvp. Have you seen a warrior with suboptimal build in wvw? Yeah… they are trash like every other class with sub optimal builds. Just run AC with a group of fresh 40+ guys and you’ll see that there are others who are just as bad on their own profession.

I would say that you should rather go for max power gear. If you learn to survive in wvw as a glass ranger, you tackled a big obstacle right there. Getting more defense from there will just make you more confident later when you take on others 1v1. Lots of players consider rangers freekill, and getting defensive on lvl 40 won’t change that much. Run full power, get berserker green gear and yellow weapons for karma from Sharkmaw caverns jumping puzzle, or some place else. Run healing spring, protect me, lightning reflexes, signet of renewal, rampage as one. That is all the defense you will get as glass ranger later on (if you decide to dish out 13-18 gold on speed signets once you hit 80).

solrik.6028:

nagymbear.5280:

solrik.6028:

In short; Rangers are forced less at learning because it’s possible to just pew-pew everything to death while the pet is taking the hits.

Level a guardian or a s/p thief. They don’t need to learn anything either.

I would like to see you stand in one place with thief or guardian while fighting 10-15 at once without dodging or using anything defensive.

Now do the same with the ranger using a pet that has at least one aoe ability and piercing arrows.

I would argue that getting 10-15 mobs to attack your pet takes a lot of effort, which is the opposite of what you suggest bearbow rangers are investing in this game. But I guess there is no convincing you. I also don’t think a bear can tank 10-15 mobs. I could be wrong there though. I know that you can totally get 8 coyotes to attack you on a pistol thief, stand in blinding powder and just autoattack though.

Gorwald.6170:

Watch out Jon peters see this video and argue how powerful ranger is and then nerf your signet + bear form !

And what part of that combo will get nerfed? Just take a wild guess.

solrik.6028:

In short; Rangers are forced less at learning because it’s possible to just pew-pew everything to death while the pet is taking the hits.

Level a guardian or a s/p thief. They don’t need to learn anything either.