dual wielding axes makes no freaking sense. they completely antagonize each other. MH axe is a condition weapon, OH axe is….i dont know wtf it is. defensive/power/crit hybrid? OH axe sucks.
swords are defensive/utility weapons for the ranger, know that. rangers are excellent in 1v1 and small roaming groups/skirmishes.
i dropped my ranger in wvw (for good i think), in favour of my GS/hammer crit/power guard who just wrecks faces in large and small fights. i can switch into my cleric’s gear and heal people around me for 8-10k bursts on a low CD without giving up much crowd control, not to mention near perma protection and swiftness.
leaving my ranger where he belongs: spvp, where he can duel people admirably. but dueling is useless in wvw. in fact it’s counterproductive and it wastes time. if youre not clearing multiple enemies efficiently, or significantly buffing your server, youre not really contributing much. i may revisit the ranger in wvw when or if they actually fix spirits.
as i described in an earlier thread, warriors, guardians, thieves, mesmers, eles, and necros can all make a demonstrable difference in WvW by either buffing, crowd controling, bursting, or doing massive AOE damage, always resulting in multiple downed enemies. ranger is absolutely bottom of the barrel and useless IN COMPARISON.
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There is a trade-off between making SPVP exciting for casual players and making it an esport. Arenanet are committed to the later, and therefore most GW2 players ignore SPVP. That’s why the SPVP player base is so small, and you can’t find team-mates. It is what it is.
The e-sport thing won’t be happening. First of in order to have a e-sport you need to have:
1. A large player base (you need a more casual player friendly game to achieve this)
2. Enough game balance to have a lot more valid builds and counters to them (currently game balance is a joke)
3. Spectator mode (could be added later)
4. Proper rewards (ingame rewards e.g. Black Lion Keys to open chests, and money rewards for winning tournaments)
5. Good leaderboard system (built-into the game, past and current rankings and lots of statistics, ability to view recent top tournament matches)Now all these things are missing.
I agree with most of that. Its baffling that Arenanet have ploughed on regardless.
most importantly, 6. accessibility. there is none currently. as a new player these are my options:
1. waste away in the clusterfuq that is 8v8
2. wait for frees to pop; then, more likely than not, get stomped
3. practice until im good enough to apply for a paids team (lol, this isnt supposed to be a job)
so basically, there wasnt a proper 5v5 queue on release. it’s beyond me how this could have been allowed to occur. anyway, as i keep repeating myself, until we get a proper 5v5 queue for the casuals (and abolish 8v8 altogether), spvp aint going anywhere. trust me.
anything that can drop targets and reset combat consecutively will always be the superior option for most pvp scenarios. in addition, these specs can afford to go full glass cannon without any risks. bad design. if you have multiple target drops via stealth on a short CD, you need to be doing less damage. common sense.
thing they dont seem to understand is how to make pvp accessible. on top of that theyre splitting up the pop way too much and for some irrational reason clutching onto the 8v8 hotjoin.
this game badly needs what everyone is asking for:
improved rewards
5v5 1v1 team soloqueue
5v5 paids 1v1 team queue
monthly 8 team, 5v5, 3 round tournaments
anything less than this will continue to kill spvp. anything less is simply unacceptable at this point. if 8v8 hotjoin remains and 3 round free tourneys remain, i honestly dont think anybody will give a kitten to play spvp again.
eagerly awaiting to see the spvp reveal, but deep down i know i will be disappointed.
if hotjoin and current free tourney system remain, i wont be playing spvp. it’s so full of fail. nobody cares enough to form an ELITE team to “practice”. let the hardcore players do that if they want but it shouldnt affect the majority of us. but this is not how u build a pvp community.
abolish hotjoin, 8v8 and free tourneys. we dont want that crap. it’s the worst pvp queue design ive ever seen.
if 8v8 hotjoin remains, I WILL NOT STEP FOOT INTO SPVP. especially if free tourneys remain an 8 team 3 round cesspool. like, we’ve already been through all this guys. stop splitting up the kitten pop, and consolidate us into 2 modes that everyone is begging for: 5v5 1 round free tourneys, and 5v5 paids. your game is a freaking mess in the 8v8 format, so just stop it already. nobody wants to wait around for 8 teams to form up, nobody wants to play 3 rounds against the same team unless it’s an evenly matched paid, so just stop it already.
im praying u guys are actually taking this feedback and rolling with it for the 26th release. u have like 1k people playing spvp, maybe even less. this is SAD. youve failed horribly so please listen to player feedback.
yea sometimes it whiffs by a ridiculous amount. it actually makes me laugh. like my ranger has tendonitis or something.
it’s closer to 70-80 HPS. so for every 2 ticks of SoW, u get a tick of NH. on its own, NH is irrelevant. but additive to SoW, 200HPS is a serious amount that can keep you up forever if you have Bark Skin and protection up.
exactly. i dont know what they were even thinking. 8 team paids needs to be a scheduled monthly (or possible weekly) event. not something you grind every day. of course people are going to get bored. tournaments are special….they happen every once in a while to separate the best from the rest, and the rewards need to be huge as well.
for the rest of us, we need a ladder to climb and to do that, we need 5v5 rounds which people cant leave until theyre done. this “hotjoin” crap just needs to go. and how can u have an 8v8 when 5v5 balance is barely holding together?
u know what the funny thing is? they keep saying (and showing) how they only wanna do incremental buffs/nerfs. but when is the ACTUAL balancing going to occur? things have been the SAME, even after incremental balancing. theyve eliminated exploits like the guardian mace, sigil stuff, and double shattering mesmers – but these arent balancing moves. theyre exploit fixes. so when is this aoe nerf gonna hit live? when are profs going to get more viable builds, which is their current priority? to me it seems like it all needs to overlap in some patch and make a huge mess of things, OR it just isnt going to happen, period.
soooo…when??
i hope 1v1 goes to free tourneys too. they only said theyre considering it. but there shouldnt even BE frees and hotjoin! 8v8 is garbage, just take it out. put in place 1v1 frees for the pugs, and 1v1 paids.
not taking out 8v8 and the current free tourneys will split the already tiny pvp population.
5 months isnt long enough obviously. i’ll bet anyone the 26th patch will have paltry amounts of prof balancing. but i think deep down we all know this.
i agree with OP. basically, if 8v8 remains, and current 3-round free tourneys remain, i wont be playing spvp much, maybe just to try out the new map. i dont have a team, never will have one. i dont wanna play frees for 3 rounds, and 8v8 is a bloody mess considering even 5v5 isnt balanced properly.
basically, it’s gonna go down like this. if devs dont drastically improve rewards, abolish 8v8, and make free tourneys like paids, i simply dont see spvp growing in any way. all 3 are deemed necessary by the entire community. i just dont see anyone disagreeing on this.
if 8v8 and free tourneys remain, non-paids players will be stuck in a cesspool of bad balance, leavers, long queues and pointless rewards. so maybe 80% of the spvp pop will come in and be like “oh cool, new map” and MOVE ON in a few weeks. how do you plan on dealing with this i wonder. i certainly hope youre taking the community’s suggestions into account regarding this move.
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no. your friend just failed as a mesmer. necros, rangers, warriors, engies are just right imo. shatter mes is probably the most OP build in the game, with d/d ele, BS thief and bunker guard following close behind.
what the hell is wrong with regen rangers? they actually take some skill to play and unlike eles, they get wtfblownup when immobilized or stunned.
shatter mesmers, BS macro thieves and d/d eles are completely out of hand though.
hmm thats funny, i associate berserker gear (and longbows usually) with scrubs who i proceed to melt, not experienced pvp’ers. tanky builds generally have a much high skill cap because youre almost always at 600 range and need a much higher APM to chain your evades, pet burst, and vigor, on top of maintaining stacks of 3 different conditions. so i dont think it’s fair to say that “the better you get, the more u lean toward zerker”. dont flatter yourself. while more forgiving, it’s much harder to actually get kills and be effective with with THC or THP gear, in comparison with zerker or knight’s.
i would recommend a combination of PTV and knight’s gear, shortbow and traps for the beginner.
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fyi, with about 1k healing + compassion training + natural healing + SoW you get 200 HPS as long as your pet is alive. with regen on (especially if u have Dwayna runes), you get close to 500HPS. if you pop your SoN, you’ll have almost 1K HPS. think about that.
it was indeed a rhetorical question. i know passion flowers are a rare drop. something in the production chain needs to be fixed. many builds are being gimped needlessly. for no reason.
why are all the THC players basically screwed for stats in wvw/pve? 50g for one accessory? why is this the only gear set with these ridiculous prices? why do i have to wear green accessories when everyone else uses exo?
like i’ll just be running right, aaaaand then im instagibbed by 15 people who proceed to render of my dead body.
????
getting sick and tired of it.
im also sick and tired of d/d eles getting 5 get out of jail free cards on a low CD, and healing to full every 20 seconds while in their full dps build. and also sick and tired of thieves doing 16k bursts on 1800 toughness, yea thieves dont do much overall but still it’s broken when it happens to you. also sick and tired of fighting mesmers, not that i lose to them, but the exploitation of culling is out of hand more or less. also sick and tired of larger groups abusing culling in order to fight back against culling >.<
felt really good to get that off my chest. i think it’s time for me to go back to some spvp where i came from. but kitten dat wvw is broked.
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ele sustain is just play ridiculous. keep everything else, i dont care. but this prof cant be healing to full every 15-20 seconds with a dps build.
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I’m not sure, but I caught a sight of this earlier today.
http://www.guildwarsinsider.com/wvw-updates-delayed-until-march/
thats wvw features, not balancing. balancing is usually related to spvp and they always do some with bigger releases. anyway i seriously hope at least the aoe nerf makes it into the 26th build. that would solve 50% of the ranger’s problems.
anyone else thought he got sad when he did /age and saw 1500 hours played? i invested 900 hours into this game and it makes me wanna cry.
no balance patch on 26th?
it’s best after 15. birds give vigor, natural healing tick for 60-70/sec with healing gear.
JP made fun of spirit rangers recently. in last sotg i think.
anyway, im suggesting small buffs that wouldnt create any imbalances.
I hope you feel better now that you were able to insult me Nerva. I’m a little more mature than that so I’m going to remain civil despite your blatant lack of tact.
Please post your vids of dominating 1v3 against good players like your saying you do.
i will be posting such a vid shortly. been compiling my wvw footage that ive captured over the last 2 months or so. anyway, i wasnt insulting you in any way, so youre being a little oversensitive. i actually complimented you, but youre too kitten to read it. LB sucks, and your vids will not convince any experienced pvp’ers otherwise. you would be doing about 30% (estimate) more effective damage with a power/crit SB.
but as long as youre having fun, thats all that matters.
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there are few builds that allow you to do this as a ranger, and theyre both bunker based. one is a cleric/sword/bird build. you can happily tank 5-10 people (more if theyre bad), get a kill or two and escape. however, this spec just doesnt contribute enough to wvw overall.
the other builds revolve around 0/0/30/10/30 variations and apothecary gear. u have pretty insane condition damage with a sweet tank, which makes it perfect for small skirmishes and roaming. currently im playing a bunker/sword trap bombing build, with quite a bit of success. my main roaming build is SB/axe/torch, survival utilities and entangle on reduced CD.
these builds are high skillcap and you’ll likely find your mesmer more effective in the end. just saying. the ranger is my passion, but if i wanna be effective, i just hop on my burst meditation guard to down multiple opponents almost instantly.
overall though, the condition bunker ranger is one of the most effective small skirmish specs due to high sustain and excellent damage, and there’s no spec in the game that can take you 1v1. the downfall of this prof is that it contributes next to nothing in larger, more meaningful engagements, which is why it sucks for wvw in general.
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yea but it was my point to say that LB is trash. you should be advocating for your class. but im sure youre happy killing bads 1on1 all day with your LB bunker build >.<
looks like a lot of fun.
thats not skirmishing. those are mostly 1on1’s. none of your opponents even know how to use their profs, and it takes you about 7 minutes to kill two complete newbs. you dont fight a single competent opponent. i could spec conditions, use sword/horn and do the same thing u did.
as already known, LB builds have zero sustain. you have no sustain in those vids and your damage is paltry. you basically demonstrate that LB is a terrible 1v1 weapon. in a small skirmish where you might have 2-3 opponents on you at a time, you would fold like paper.
I guess I misunderstood what you wanted Nerva. I thought you wanted 1v1 close range skirmishes since you said you have to stick with a zerg and go glass cannon in order to use LB. In none of these did I stick with a zerg or go glass cannon at all. Several of those opponents do know what they’re doing, they just get interrupted and cc’d when they try to do it. I spent two nights looking for duels and those were the best opponents I ran accross so I’d say it’s a very realistic view on what anyone could expect who wants to roam. Yes, I’m sure their are better opponents out there but I didn’t run accross any in my two nights of recording. Yes the one fight is long and as I quoted in the video I should have stomped two previous times. You said you wanted to see bunker LB right? That obviously means the fights may be longer due to reduced damage.
I have no sustain? My heavy 0/0/30/15/25 bunker build wearing full cleric armor and accessories (used in some of those fights) has just as much sustain as any ranger bunker does. How can you say it doesn’t? Both builds used in those videos have plenty of sustain.
sorry, i guess u just cant please me. wvw is all about dispatching people quick, cuz 70% of them (true stat) are bads. and when you fight one, more will pile up on you quick, as you probably know. killing a bunch of bads with an LB proves that you have a basic grasp of the profession, but it doesnt demonstrate effectiveness of the weapon by a long shot. i would like to compliment you in saying that you just about push the weapon to the max in 1v1, and maybe it shows youre a decent player, but the vids blatantly show how bad the weapon is because power/prec SB, or a proper condi build would achieve the same in much less time.
usually, to demonstrate the effectiveness of a build, you need to show yourself under some adverse circumstances, like fighting 2-3 decent opponents at a time, or downing a few people in a middle of a zerg, or surviving very close battles. LB just doesnt give you the tools for that, and thats my point. it’s a zerg weapon, and it shines when youre in the back.
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thats not skirmishing. those are mostly 1on1’s. none of your opponents even know how to use their profs, and it takes you about 7 minutes to kill two complete newbs. you dont fight a single competent opponent. i could spec conditions, use sword/horn and do the same thing u did.
as already known, LB builds have zero sustain. you have no sustain in those vids and your damage is paltry. you basically demonstrate that LB is a terrible 1v1 weapon. in a small skirmish where you might have 2-3 opponents on you at a time, you would fold like paper.
the SB, or any condition build would get kills much, much faster. on my roaming condi/BM build, i dont win a 1v1 in 20-30 seconds, im doing something wrong or the opponent is very good. just to give an idea for a good turnaround time.
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In beta. well, here are some suggestions:
GS Positives
It’s a decent weapon currently only viable in a few situations. firstly, it’s a necessary bunker weapon, wont say any more on that. secondly, it’s a fantastic escape weapon with swoop and #4. thirdly, a full berserker ranger can do decent aoe damage with quickness in PVE situations (only).
GS Negatives
It doesnt really synergize with offensive builds, especially condition builds. adding bleeds to #2 is a good step in the right direction.
GS Solution
Seeing how it’s a solid, but subpar weapon, the buffs need not be too big, and the solution is very simple. 1) increase autoattack damage by about 15%. this is a reasonable amount that would make the GS more viable for power builds. 2) add a 1 bleed stack on first swipe of autoattack. this is a paltry increase for power builds, but would make GS a decent addition to condition builds. with about 4-5 stacks of bleeds from #1 and 3 stack from #2, GS would make its way into some condition builds.
Spirit Positives
After thoroughly testing spirits for about 2 weeks, i have to say that spirits of stone, sun and nature are absolutely fantastic. with boon duration runes you can get protection for more than half the time, and with condition damage, your entire group is burning for 2k every 10 seconds. SoN with +healing gear spirits unchained is absolutely awesome and if these aoe nerfs do go through, it will be a solid and reliable choice.
Spirit Negatives
Storm and frost spirits are absolute garbage. and the overall problem with spirits is that they die when you need them the most, i.e. against an approaching zerg or something. 1v1 theyre fine.
Spirit Solution
With the current spirit design, you need to increase HP by at least another 50%. Their buffs and actives are simply not significant ENOUGH to warrant such low HP. storm should give fury AND swiftness on proc, and have a much larger pbaoe. sun spirit needs a larger pbaoe. frost needs to give about +20% damage every 10 seconds and needs to apply to conditions as well, which it currently doesnt. With these changes, spirits would be solid.
not 2k ticks. 2k per proc =P which is amazing when u think about it. thats with about 1400 condition damage i believe. sure, for focusing targets, it isnt as useful. but for fighting multiple opponents, why not proc multiple burns?
after thoroughly testing spirits for about 2 weeks, i have to say that spirits of stone, sun and nature are absolutely fantastic. with boon duration runes you can get protection for more than half the time, and with condition damage, your entire group is burning for 2k every 10 seconds.
storm and frost spirits are absolute garbage. and the overall problem with spirits is that they seem to die when you need them the most, i.e. against an approaching zerg or something. 1v1 it’s fine. storm should give fury AND swiftness on proc, and have a much large pbaoe. frost needs to give about +20% damage every 10 seconds and needs to apply to conditions as well, which is currently doesnt.
but man, tromping around with +healing power and my SoN is absolutely amazing. 460HPS + 260 from your HS/regen for the group is 700HPS. that doesnt need any tweaking. i would like SoN to be on a 3 minute CD.
runes of the undead (added to pizza and 25 stacks of corruption) gives about 1600 condition damage, which is absolutely disgusting considering how much tank you have. i havent met any prof/spec that i couldnt melt. i will need a lot of convincing to give up undead!
i would also like a vid demonstrating exceptional skirmishing effectiveness of the LB. it’s a slow, unreliable weapon, but worst of all the builds associated with it dont really hold a candle to SB power/prec or condition builds, which are much more versatile both in larger engagements and skirmishes. the issue with LB is that you have to forgo most of your points in either BM or wilderness survival, or both. as a result you have no sustain, you cant adapt to changing conditions and youre stuck with a zerg. mind you, it’s not a bad zerg weapon.
i’ll give you an objective assessment. ive been using the LB for months. it’s used for two reasons: a deadly burst with quickness, and barrage.
the rapid fire burst is almost always nullified if the opponent has an awareness of you. that being said, with a proper build you can actually flank someone and if you pet is there, burst them down for 20k damage. it’s a very gimmicky build.
the often-flaunted 1500 range is next to useless against moving targets (again, only useful for barrage). LB is not really a skirmishing weapon, but unfortunately it lands its arrows most reliably at about >900 range.
LB builds are weaksauce. they have no sustain and you’ll basically be tied down to a zerg. the low firing rate of LB exclude it from proccing heals on crit with food in an efficient way.
i ran an LB trap build for zerg warfare and it’s very effective. understand its role and you’ll enjoy it. meaning, dont try to skirmish with it.
overall, the SB is a much more powerful power/crit weapon because you can skirmish with it, and it reliably proc heals from food. it also synergizes better with traps.
overall, LB is a very confined, niche weapon in need of some serious changes. hope that helped.
with near-perma vigor, high regen, HS + 3 leap finishers, and 3 spammable evades, a bunker ranger really has no excuse for losing to a d/d, whose burst chain is entirely dodgeable. unless it’s a 2v1. will you be able to kill one? likely not, unless youre condition/bunker.
bear in mind that some of the complaining comes from experienced players who have more or less maxed out the prof in every way, and feel that it’s genuinely overshadowed by some of the fotm builds.
that being said, i wish we could all come to the consensus that rangers are pretty strong in tpvp where the prof excels at dueling, but subpar in larger, more meaningful wvw engagements. i honestly feel that the ranger would become a strong wvw prof with a good spirit buff.
getting back on topic, any BM build will wipe the floor with traps in a 1v1. BM/conditions, or BM/cleric. this is just from my tpvp experience. but traps offers much more utility for the team, which is why it’s superior in that scenario.
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bm double raven bunker will win the fight every time. properly executed bunker build is actually the best ranger build, 1v1 or in tpvp. traps is used more often because it denies points and has a much much lower skillcap
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rangers have always been decent in spvp. theyre subpar in wvw and average in pve.
There are plenty of high skillcap profs and specs that are balanced well. D/d ele isnt one of them. Then again neither is the bs thief
Yeah it’s always been double raven. Anyway ill chime in. I actually ran a bleed stacking shaman bm build (axe dagger sb cats) and found it to be very effective for roaming and taking down bunkers.
But the reason u go clerics is for sword/dagger/gs and healing spring. 3 leap finishers on the HS gives you and extra 6k heals. Sword gives a little extra burst with quickness when switching ravens.
Shamans requires condition weapons and even if you go sword torch ure gimping your damage, leap finishers and sword cds. Think of shamans as a tanky dps. It allows for some very versatile builds. But it doesnt have the sustain of a cleric sword ranger
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It would sure be fun to be able to duel you Nurva. Im on EB, you?
im on dragonbrand, will duel any ranger. i wont strafe your arrows and will let you get me down to 60% health.
just wondering why this thread was created. this is one of the most well known, effective and popular tpvp ranger builds, and it’s been around for a long time. usually, build threads are created when you figure out something new. not being a dick, just sayin.
things that arent counterable shouldnt be in game. common competitive pvp sense.