All professions are viable in just about every aspect of this game.
absolutely false, not for WvW anyways. i play all kinds of ranger builds in tpvp, bunker and traps being their strongest. we’re not talking about tpvp in this thread though.
we’re talking about demonstrable results against larger groups of opponents, or for your team.
No mention at all of engineers? I don’t think rangers are useless in WvW.
engineers and rangers are bottom of the barrel in wvw, and necros have some limited use. i dont know much about engies to comment.
lets look at what others profs can do:
- thieves: macro quickness, near insta kill and insta stomp. gank on demand. abuses culling. guaranteed single target kills. most reliable single target burst in the game. Shadow Refuge one of the best utilities in the game.
- mesmers: ridiculous Glamour utilities, in addition to abusing culling, and having some of the best 1200 range damage (probably second to warrior)
- guardian: best support, boonbot, healer, probably the toughest prof when specced for support; i play a burst guardian who can teleport into a zerg, down 5 people and get out (meditations, hammer, GS)
- necro: aoe conditions that can be spammed from 900-1200 range on multiple targets; one of the best anti zerg profs
- ele: d/d rules WvW with knockdowns, godmode escapes and shields (if youre good), and above average aoe burst; support ele second best tank and support in the game
- warrior: rifle GS zerker warriors cut through zergs like hot knife through butter with whirlwind attack and endure pain. best 1200 range in the game.
okay. RANGER. im gonna try not to laugh as i type this:
- a decent duelist in 1v1-3 situations, condition build only
- LB barrage, muddy terrain, frost trap and spike trap can keep zergs at bay (to a limited extent)
- bunker setup with clerics makes running away from zergs and evading 10 scrubs for a while a lot of fun. until someone organized comes in and triple-immobilizes you. cant kill much.
- entangle trap bombing is the closest we get to downing multiple opponents, and it just plain sucks. because my guard or warrior can do the same in 2 seconds.
WvW is organized zerg warfare where strong utilities and big spells that make a demonstrable difference for or against multiple targets rule. a dev comment on their vision of the ranger in WvW would be lovely.
p.s. when are spirits, shouts, pets, LB and signets getting fixed? i.e. when is half of our profession getting fixed?
FIX SPIRITS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
then, shouts and some of the useless signets.
spvp – ranger is a great dueliest, decent bunker and quite effective
wvw – decent duelist, but it makes no diff, and u’ll get zerged down. next to useless otherwise and easily replaced by warrior, mesmer, guard, thief, ele.
pve – who cares.
pets are subpar at best, spirits are completely utterly useless and so is most of their trait line, traps are in the wrong trait tree, LB on ranger is the worst weapon in the game, shouts next to useless and not worth slotting, half of signets useless
I agree with you completely. We have a steeper learning curve and require much more skill to master than the other classes.
this is one the main reasons i play my ranger. the high skillcap required for dodging, evading, vigor tanking, microing pets, and timing our small burst is FUN. but even at the level of complete mastery, the ranger cant make a single mistake against a good opponent and is arguably outclassed by many other profs at the same level of play.
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But my advice is still choose Warrior, They are a better designed class, and they have more options available to them then us.
the painful truth. and this is after running all sorts of LB builds over the last 2 months, including LB + traps, which is quite powerful.
im mostly a tpvp’er and the ranger is very strong there. the ranger is one of the best duelists. unfortunately, i havent been able to find a role for the ranger in WvW that isnt better filled by a warrior, mesmer, ele, guardian, or hell even necro. my meditation guard with knight’s gear can hop into a zerg, down 5 people and get out. warrior can do the same. while eles, thieves and mesmers remain the best duelists (the latter two due to culling mostly).
the main issue is our clumsiness at 1200, lack of powerful utilities (lol shouts), and an entirely useless trait line after 10 points (spirits). we just cant contribute much to WvW and that is the truth the devs need to face and deal with.
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Gradual minimal change is what will happen, as A-net seems very conservative when it comes to class balance.
the ranger is one of those things in this game that doesnt need gradual, minimal changes. it’s so gimped that it requires serious revamps. spirits, trap traits, pets, shouts, ridiculously useless BM traits (most of them), the longbow, the list goes on.
even if spirits had 12k HP (double of what they have now), that wouldnt be enough to survive a single d/d ele’s burst. further, even if they had 24k HP each, there would be absolutely no reason to slot them. even with 30 in nature, boons dont last long enough, theyre still RNG, and theyre still weak. no cleanses, no might, no fury, no regen even lol. who cares about stinking burning damage, swiftness and a few secs of protection? and the actives have a 2-3 second animation time. u for realz?
look at traps, or even signets. look at what they do devs: they make a difference. shouts and spirits do not make a difference. almost half of the ranger prof is not applicable to real pvp scenarios, or advanced pve scenarios where you need more bang for the buck.
for the love of god, if youre not sure what to do, just look at the dozens of good suggestions from the players, plop one into the game for kicks, and take it out next patch if needed. atm, nothing is being achieved. youre killing me here.
/signed ranger.
p.s. please enable ptr, you guys are lost, understaffed, and we’d love to help.
/jawdrop. i honestly thought this was a troll or an out of touch suggestion by the OP. but this is an actual, official buff, which i missed in the patch notes.
i think this is a good time for me to take a break from the game. and i can only hope that this isnt the end of the spirit rework. currently, there’s no reason to slot anything in utilities other than traps and signets. maybe LR for pvp. what a cruel joke =(
what spirits need:
- a reason to be slotted
- need to be a on a shorter CD, or have about 100% more HP
- actives need to be instant
- boons need to either last longer or internal cd needs to be 5s
- they need to follow ranger by default
those are the minimum requirements that would sort of intrigue me. utilities have to make a difference and results have to be demonstrable
it’s really sad that theyre leaving entire trait trees and utilities broken since realease (i.e. necro minions, spirits, etc.).
after testing drakes in Orr and TA last night ive come to the conclusion that their aoe damage is overkill with my build (LB, piercing arrows and traps). on the otherhand, single target damage sucks compared to cat. so i will likely be sticking with my jag/red moa for dungeons.
lolz yea. im loving all temple boss fights except for this one , it’s ridiculous
yeea that was hilarious. the weapons went from less than useful to troll. spirits (of any kind) need to be invulnerable, period.
who knows, maybe with aoe nerf it wil be ok
anyone try LB, traps, zerker gear and 2x drakes? the damage is ludicrous.
full berserker traps power/crit GS and/or LB. leveling is all about pumping out aoe damage. no need to really theorize prior to lvl 80 because the pve content in this game is so easy. you can run full berserker in most explorable dungeons even. it’s just fractals that get tough.
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as i see it, the most important priority is fixing spirits. rangers have no significant way of supporting their team, i guess kinda like thieves. however, it can be argued that shadow refuge does more for a group than anything the ranger can offer.
look at eles, guards, warriors, mesmers or even necros. we dont have to be kings, but other than warhorn we cant give boons to anyone lol..this is ridiculous.
rangers right now are amazing duelists. pets are more or less ok. the upcoming aoe nerf will make tanky ranger builds very, very strong. and pets would be fine with more responsiveness.
I beg to differ. From what I have seen I would almost rather have spirits than pets that contribute next to nothing in WvW. Ever hear an Ally shout “Look out man here comes that Rangers pet”? Or “Man that guy has a Ranger pet on him he is a goner”? Or even show the slightest bit of interest in them whatsoever other than to dps em down fast as fast can be when there nothing else to kill? We can trait to have spirits follow us and I can actually get rid of em if i want. That already puts em a step above pets IMO
As for Amazing duelists well ima ask for stream or sumtin because that does not seem to be the thoughts of many round here and certainly not mine although I think they are close. If only Anet will fix what needs fixing instead of fixing stuff i had no idea needed fixing and have seen no posts mentioning them either before today.
people dont shout “Look out, here comes his pet” because theyre dead before they know what hit them. have you ever utilized jag + QZ + sic em combo, or double raven with 30 in BM? the pets on their own can do 10k+ in burst.
but i know what you mean. as for dueling, many top tpvp teams run bunker or trap ranger that can kill just about anything 1v1.
pets are weak in dungeons, and need a few more tweaks in pvp for better attack on move. otherwise, my vote is spirits =(
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two options. you can maximize bleeds with cats, axe/dagger and SB. or you can go sword/torch/SB for all around condition damage.
bleh. well i appreciate the help! off to grind gold.
as i see it, the most important priority is fixing spirits. rangers have no significant way of supporting their team, i guess kinda like thieves. however, it can be argued that shadow refuge does more for a group than anything the ranger can offer.
look at eles, guards, warriors, mesmers or even necros. we dont have to be kings, but other than warhorn we cant give boons to anyone lol..this is ridiculous.
rangers right now are amazing duelists. pets are more or less ok. the upcoming aoe nerf will make tanky ranger builds very, very strong. and pets would be fine with more responsiveness.
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yea, 6×6 = 36….would i save a lot by getting it crafted?
30-36 id say. i went cleric’s + pet burst first thinking that condis wouldnt do their job fast enough, but i just cant kill stuff quickly. tanking 10 people is fun though, but u can do the same in THC gear.
thanks for offering…what kind of mats would i need and would i save a lot?? id give you some g for your trouble.
well i dont care about the accessories, i dont mind using green accessories. just the armor is the problem…30+ gold ugh
this stuff is soooo expensive =( is there somewhere in PVE i can get THC gear?
where can i get cleric's stuff? any is there *any* hope in hell in getting Apothecary's somewhere...that kitten i soooo expensive.
thread should be renamed to “Drake Tailswipe is Ridiculous in PVE Where Mobs Stand Still”
crafting? underwater kills? with requirements like these, nobody will do dailies. people liked them because they were easy. and where is the reason to go out into the old zones?
maybe you just wanted to nerf karma earnings?
i dont know, but theyre supposed to be available from Orr vendors…which ones and whats the new armor stats?
can you guys just get a PTR for players to see and test this stuff early on? obviously, you dont have the proper decision making abilities / QA to give the majority of players what they want. with PTR, you get to receive massive feedback before you make these horrible blunders.
these dailies are a disaster. im not crafting, and im not doing jumping puzzles. the only difference for now is im never gonna do my dailies and i’ll just make way less karma. thanks ANet.
we opened arah gate, vendors had same stuff. which vendors have new exotic gear??
I’m so glad they fixed this. With 30 beastmastery, does about 1900 non-crit, has huge aoe range, and is a blast finisher. Trying it right now on the AOE golems in PVP, amazing.
EDIT: Numbers are wrong. he does anywhere from 1950- 2800 WITHOUT critting with 30 beastmaster.
Insanity. Traiting 30% more damage on critical with pets, gonna see what he crits for.
lolwut 3590 to all AOE targets on crit so far. Getting more numbers.
Out of curiosity, what pet were you using before this patch? Because the Black Raven and White Owl put up those kinds of numbers every hit. And that’s without traiting 30 in BM.
it’s aoe damage, so no birds cant put out those kinds of numbers.
aoe nerfs are coming in february and they will shake up the game in a BIG way. pretty much everything will change. just relax.
entangle + trap bombing + condi damage = profit?
faceroll low skillcap build, getting nerfed, etc etc. not clicking.
rifle connects with targets way, way better. way better. past 900 range, the LB is simply undependable. i wasted 25-30g on berserker and PVT gear before testing the weapon, only to realize after how dysfunctional it really is.
with piercing arrows, Rapid Fire can do some impressive damage if the targets the bad enough to not dodge roll, which by the way almost completely nullifies the burst. and barrage is good, no complaints there.
i found the LB to be most effective at 600-900 range actually. u can unload 15k in 2-3 seconds using QZ. best 1200 weapons are mesmer GS and warrior rifle. LB doesnt even come close at that range.
what gear do you use if you dont mind me asking? u can get heals from crits using food ??
thats crazy. how does that work? my bunker ranger i run in wvw has close to 500HPS when regen is up, which is almost always, and about 1k HPS when SoN is up, if it’s not killed (that’s all in addition to near-perma vigor and 2 energy sigils).
glad to hear your build is effective in duels. i imagined it getting shredded by good thieves and shatter mesmers.
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i really like the warden weapons my guard and ranger. sword, dagger and GS are beautiful. SB and staff are pretty cool too.
anyway, i hope they either normalize bird dps, or make the white raven available through some other means.
i guess youve never seen double raven builds? you use ravens for their F2 only. i was hoping to roll with double raven in WvW, but i guess i’ll be sticking with jag/raven.
nice vid. you make the build seem quite effective, but to be honest, i wouldnt be so sure it works against decent opponents.
you have next to no survivability, and zero mobility. and you never get trained by a good opponent in your video. i guess im saying three things: 1) you make the build look good when it’s actually quite average, 2) you dont fight good opponents, and 3) i guess traps just arent my preference so i wouldnt roll with this build.
i DID enjoy the video!
i will be passing on this, thanks.
would love input on how long it would take. thanks for the info.
how long would it take and which parts of GW would i need to buy?
- long range sniping – done way better by GS mesmers and rifle warriors
This is what I do. Although I wouldn’t call it sniping. You’d need the 1500+ range trait for the longbow as well as piercing arrows and berserker gear + accessories.
No other class has as much range as the ranger.
Yeah technically with Eagle Eye you can fire from further away than any other class (with a LB). Unfortunately arrows rarely hit their mark at that distance, and Warrior and Thief outperform us in terms of damage output.
hitting anything past 900 with LB is unreliable at best. at 1500, u cant hit anything unless it’s stationary.
mesmer’s GS and warrior’s rifle do damage much more reliably.
in addition, it is likely thief SB iwill be nerfed into uselessness with upcoming aoe fix
1. any plans on making the white raven available to those without HoM points
2. can i get HoM points now and then get the raven? what do i need for HoM?
so it’s gonna be months before we see an actual fix. why isnt the thief receiving some sort of temporary nerf until then, in WvW only? im tired of thief wars 2.
ranger SB is way better due to the massive utility it gives you (cripple, evade, stun). in duels anyway.
pets hitting while moving has been improved. theyre not half bad now. JP stated they will continue working on pet behaviour. pets are still one-shot in dungeons. all of my s/tpvp builds (and WvW builds for that matter) revolve around pet burst and evasion tanking. these builds are very powerful. pet damage is kind of sort of reliable now.
ranger is still one of those profs…you really gotta love it to play it, which i do. ranger remains one of the top duelists in the game, but dont bring much to the group except for traps.
PHT – tanky BM evasion bunker
PVT + PPC (berserker) – LB/BM sniper
HTC – tanky conditions BM, or tanky trapper
PPV (knight’s) – for SB burst builds/skirmishing
then u can try pure damage gear for traps, conditions or burst, which i wouldnt recommend. best build tends to revolve around the BM tree and +healing.
spirit rework. #1 thing rangers need. right now we have no way of supporting our team except for Healing Spring, SoN and warhorn #5
I have thought about spirits, and quite frankly I’m not even sure what to do with them because they’re so weak, it isn’t funny. First, and foremost they die way too fast, even faster than our pets, and secondly the abilities they grant are actually kind of weak in comparison to other professions.
Here is a shot as what to do with Spirits.
Nature’s Vengeance — Activated skills of spirits are cast instantly, are larger and trigger when the spirit is killed.
Spirits Unbound; Special Note: Combine this with Spiritual Knowledge, making them one single trait. — Spirits can move and follow you, while having a 15% better chance of providing their benefits.
Vigorous Spirits — Spirits have twice as much health, and take 50% less damage from AoEs.Frost Spirit
- 35% chance to grant 10% bonus damage on hit.
- 35% chance to cause weakness 2 seconds on hit.Stone Spirit
- 35% chance to grant Protection, 3 seconds on hit.
- 35% chance to grant Stability, 3 seconds on hit.Storm Spirit
- 35% chance to grant swiftness, 8 seconds on hit.
- 35% chance to cause stun, 1 second on hit.Sun Spirit
- 35% chance to cause burning, 3 seconds on hit.
- 35% chance to cause vulnerability, 3 seconds on hit.
i really like this. anything less is totally unacceptable. your suggestions are very modest, and even then id think twice about slotting/speccing into spirits. but this would resemble a decent start.
will we get a decent spirit buff devs? your metrics should be showing you that nobody slots them.