Guild Wars 2

Joey.3928:

nldixon.8514:

Joey.3928:

nldixon.8514:

Deathbearer.2438:

I am playing a ranger for a long time now…the way the traits/skills are functioning right now at least for pve/WvsW you have practically only 1 option: glass cannon. just stay as far as possible from zerg/mobs etc and dps…everything else is a joke. “Tanky ranger” simpkly does not exist unless you are referring against another ranger. The only benefit I have right now having played ranger is that i am 95% confident that I can kill one when I see him in battlefield while playing my alts even my guardian:)

This is so incredibly incorrect it hurts my brain. There are actually a few “tanky” Ranger builds that are difficult to kill and can still put out some serious damage. I know there’s at least one other person on the forums who has a tanky build that’s similar to the one I’m about to post that I use in sPvP. It’s really tanky with relatively high armor and health, lots of evasion, lots of healing, and good condition removal.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcoVMzmzMmvagMmvagM9MxaxcRqcmsb8kir7khV7kir7khf7070z7kIM70V7owY8ofy

How do you do against conditions? How often does that trait tick where pets take a condition from you? I’m using signet of renewal and healing spring, but both of those are long cooldowns. Also, how often do you crit? I see you have sigils that react based on when you crit. Do you see those sigils being activated a lot?

Empathic Bond removes all conditions every 10 seconds. Between the regen from Natural Healing, Rejuvenation, Troll Unguent, Signet of the Wild, and Oakheart Salve, conditions that aren’t removed quickly are basically nullified.

I’m pretty sure crit chance is around 25-30% (I’m at work, I can’t check), but with Call of the Wild and Rampage as one I can get over 50 seconds of Fury (with Water and Monk runes) which puts me around 50% crit chance. It doesn’t proc much with the axe, but with sword it goes off pretty regularly. I can’t say how often exactly, but I see the fire burst regularly enough to know that it’s working.

Natural healing only effects pet correct? What is this rejuvenation you speak of? I’m using dwayna runes as well as longer regen trait and healing spring and i usually have regen up at all times. This is interesting though since you have different kinds of health regen that all stack on top of each other rather than just stacking in duration like me. I wonder if I should try the same thing.

No, Natural Healing also heals the Ranger. Rejuvenation is the minor Nature Magic trait. It applies regeneration at 75% health.

Yes, there are multiple heals applied to me at all times, which is pretty nice. In addition, a good portion of the heals can’t be stripped or stolen, unlike the regeneration boon.

OGDeadHead.8326:

NaturalPortman.9562:

nldixon.8514:

NaturalPortman.9562:

OGDeadHead.8326:

NaturalPortman.9562:

OGDeadHead.8326:

NaturalPortman.9562:

aPutridCorpse.8792:

NaturalPortman.9562:

aPutridCorpse.8792:

I would like the option as well.
For those that want to use the pets all the time they can, for those that don’t they have the option but will lose any utilities that comes with the pets.

that’s stupid and will never happen. its our special class mechanic.

If you mean special olympics “special” then yes, I agree.

Pet’s aren’t even that bad. The only real issue they have is coming down ledges, other than that they have no issues. I don’t have any trouble controlling mine.

You clearly have never played (s)pvp with your pet.

Clearly I have, learn to control your pet please.

Gee, another one!? So, the only issues with pets is the “coming down ledges”? Are you effin’ serious – honestly?? Or are you actually a thief/mesmer, coming here to troll the ranger forums?

Please refer to my previous response if your only issue with pets is hitting them while the enemy is moving. And if your other issue is f2 being iffy with responsiveness, there is a trick to using it instantly but clearly you haven’t figured that out yet.

In all fairness the F3 trick is kind of dumb and is just circumnavigating a poorly designed mechanic. F2 should just clear the pet queue and activate.

Was not talking about the f3 trick.

Pet swap + instantly use their F2 ability.

That’s not really much of a trick, since it sometimes fails to activate if you use F2 the instant you swap, but still goes on cooldown.

Joey.3928:

nldixon.8514:

Deathbearer.2438:

I am playing a ranger for a long time now…the way the traits/skills are functioning right now at least for pve/WvsW you have practically only 1 option: glass cannon. just stay as far as possible from zerg/mobs etc and dps…everything else is a joke. “Tanky ranger” simpkly does not exist unless you are referring against another ranger. The only benefit I have right now having played ranger is that i am 95% confident that I can kill one when I see him in battlefield while playing my alts even my guardian:)

This is so incredibly incorrect it hurts my brain. There are actually a few “tanky” Ranger builds that are difficult to kill and can still put out some serious damage. I know there’s at least one other person on the forums who has a tanky build that’s similar to the one I’m about to post that I use in sPvP. It’s really tanky with relatively high armor and health, lots of evasion, lots of healing, and good condition removal.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcoVMzmzMmvagMmvagM9MxaxcRqcmsb8kir7khV7kir7khf7070z7kIM70V7owY8ofy

How do you do against conditions? How often does that trait tick where pets take a condition from you? I’m using signet of renewal and healing spring, but both of those are long cooldowns. Also, how often do you crit? I see you have sigils that react based on when you crit. Do you see those sigils being activated a lot?

Empathic Bond removes all conditions every 10 seconds. Between the regen from Natural Healing, Rejuvenation, Troll Unguent, Signet of the Wild, and Oakheart Salve, conditions that aren’t removed quickly are basically nullified.

I’m pretty sure crit chance is around 25-30% (I’m at work, I can’t check), but with Call of the Wild and Rampage as one I can get over 50 seconds of Fury (with Water and Monk runes) which puts me around 50% crit chance. It doesn’t proc much with the axe, but with sword it goes off pretty regularly. I can’t say how often exactly, but I see the fire burst regularly enough to know that it’s working.

arenta.2953:

ok reasons i HATE pet. 1. it cant attack on the move so it USELESS in pvp and WvW.
2. it dies in 2 secounds
3. all it does is draw aggro when i dont want any and draw me into combat.
i ok with it drawign aggro in when i in combat but not when i trying to avoid it.
4. it wotn stay STOWED.
5. it makes me weak cause ranger skills need pet alive ot be effective. see 2.
6. if you tell it to stay out of combat, it runs in anyway. pet ai stinks.

ok rage over.

1. Certain pets are much better at attacking on the move and have their own ways of stopping/slowing down opponents so they can attack more effectively. While it would be incredibly nice if pets were fixed so they could attack on the move, there are ways around it right now. Not an ideal situation, but we gotta work with what we got!

2. If you don’t trait for you pet at least a little bit, your pet is going to die, yes. When you try to go glass cannon on your Ranger and totally ignore your pet, it’s going to die. And it’s going to die hard. My pet never dies in dungeons, because I don’t let it die. You have to do a little micromanaging, but it’s possible to keep them alive for an entire dungeon run. My pet never dies in PvP either, unless it’s focused by multiple players or I stop paying attention to it (which happens sometimes).

3. Stow your pet when you’re travelling around the map trying to avoid combat and it’ll only come out if you take damage. You can keep running away while your pet distracts your foe and then you pet swap when you’re out of range of the mob. This is actually one of my favorite features of my Ranger as it allows me to avoid a lot of combat if I want to.

4. See above. I’m glad it doesn’t stay stowed. If they change it so pets stay perma-stowed, I’m gonna be bummed out.

5. See point two.

6. I have never had my pet go back into combat after I set it on passive unless I use it’s F2 ability (effectively telling it to go back into combat). If you’re just looking for the buff from the pet, wait until it’s done casting and use F3 or pet swap.

NaturalPortman.9562:

Was not talking about the f3 trick.

Care to elaborate? It’s a lot more helpful to actually share your knowledge than to just imply people are stupid for not knowing all the tricks.

NaturalPortman.9562:

OGDeadHead.8326:

NaturalPortman.9562:

OGDeadHead.8326:

NaturalPortman.9562:

aPutridCorpse.8792:

NaturalPortman.9562:

aPutridCorpse.8792:

I would like the option as well.
For those that want to use the pets all the time they can, for those that don’t they have the option but will lose any utilities that comes with the pets.

that’s stupid and will never happen. its our special class mechanic.

If you mean special olympics “special” then yes, I agree.

Pet’s aren’t even that bad. The only real issue they have is coming down ledges, other than that they have no issues. I don’t have any trouble controlling mine.

You clearly have never played (s)pvp with your pet.

Clearly I have, learn to control your pet please.

Gee, another one!? So, the only issues with pets is the “coming down ledges”? Are you effin’ serious – honestly?? Or are you actually a thief/mesmer, coming here to troll the ranger forums?

Please refer to my previous response if your only issue with pets is hitting them while the enemy is moving. And if your other issue is f2 being iffy with responsiveness, there is a trick to using it instantly but clearly you haven’t figured that out yet.

In all fairness the F3 trick is kind of dumb and is just circumnavigating a poorly designed mechanic. F2 should just clear the pet queue and activate.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Of course it can be done. Vs good players, not so much.

That’s where the timing part comes in. If you know when to hold off and when to unleash it, you can pretty much guarantee that it’ll hit. If you blow all your CDs as soon as you see someone, chances are they’re going to have at least one stun/root break available and it’s gonna miss.

The trick is knowing what cards your enemy has and waiting for them to play them.

NaturalPortman.9562:

aPutridCorpse.8792:

NaturalPortman.9562:

aPutridCorpse.8792:

I would like the option as well.
For those that want to use the pets all the time they can, for those that don’t they have the option but will lose any utilities that comes with the pets.

that’s stupid and will never happen. its our special class mechanic.

If you mean special olympics “special” then yes, I agree.

Pet’s aren’t even that bad. The only real issue they have is coming down ledges, other than that they have no issues. I don’t have any trouble controlling mine.

It would be nice if they could attack while moving, especially in PvP. The pathfinding is a little wonky and I’d like it if using F2 overrode whatever the pet was doing instead of adding the ability to the end of the pet queue.

Other than that though, pets really aren’t too terrible, but they definitely need some work.

Spirits, on the other hand… Yikes.

Tyr.6097:

nldixon.8514:

I don’t understand why people purposefully want to nerf themselves by not using a pet.

Second, pets are the Ranger class mechanic. It’s not like the game or any of the written material at any point leads you astray or suggests otherwise, so if you willfully chose the Ranger class knowing that you don’t like playing a pet class… I’m not really sure what say.

It’s like ordering a cheeseburger then complaining that you like everything except the cheese, but you definitely don’t want a hamburger. You want a cheeseburger.

Maybe some people want to play a marksman without a pet? Most of mmos are giving ranger classes stupid pets because it’s cool. Whats your problem to have the choice to use a pet or not?

Then some people should play a Warrior using a rifle or a bow, an Engineer, or a Thief with a shortbow. There’s your choice to use a pet or not. Rangers are designed as a pet class, that’s how ANet intends for them to be played.

I don’t understand why people purposefully want to nerf themselves by not using a pet.

Second, pets are the Ranger class mechanic. It’s not like the game or any of the written material at any point leads you astray or suggests otherwise, so if you willfully chose the Ranger class knowing that you don’t like playing a pet class… I’m not really sure what say.

It’s like ordering a cheeseburger then complaining that you like everything except the cheese, but you definitely don’t want a hamburger. You want a cheeseburger.

OGDeadHead.8326:

nldixon.8514:

If your pet cooperates, bursting on a Ranger is actually very easy. Also, if you build for it, drakes can unleash an unholy amount of damage in a couple seconds by themselves.

Good luck getting your drakes to land their specials in spvp. Not even in when you’re in melee range swapping to a drake and instantly use its F2 ability (under quickness), you can be sure to land its attack. They simply take to much time to get their special attack out.

It’s not that hard if you know what you’re doing. It just take timing and practice. Granted, you’re not going to get it off if you’re just casting at someone or something running around like crazy, but if you set it up, it works pretty well.

I was running a drakehound/drake combo for a while with a greatsword and with the right timing you can have your drakehound pounce, immobilize, swap to your drake, pop QZ, start the F2 cast, whack them with Hilt Bash, then cackle in glee as half their health (or more) disappears.

Lots of misinformation and bad advice in this thread.

If built properly, you don’t want to use traps or condition damage for a “bunker” Ranger. You don’t want to use a ranged weapon at all except for the very beginning of the fight when you use Hunter’s Call and Call of the Wild (there may be a couple of axe auto attacks).

Second, even if you strip all the boons off the Ranger (which are probably only going to be fury, might, and swiftness from CotW), you can’t take off the buffs that you REALLY need to take off in order to make the Ranger less effective.

A lot Rangers aren’t going to play this build because it requires lots of micromanaging, a total shift from the PvE playstyle, and lots of melee combat. It’s effective, but it goes against the play style to which the vast majority of Rangers are accustomed.

I have yet to lose a one on one fight in tPvP or sPvP while holding a point. I can hold off two people for quite a while and sometimes even come out on top (if they’re not very good). If there are three people coming to take the point, that’s fine because the rest of my team can be off doing something useful while they’re trying to take my point.

Akisame.9508:

I purchased an axe and torch to give melee a chance but melee is just not my thing, so I changed my build, got rid of the pet toughness with each kill and added it to regenerate when your hit 75% health. Now I swap pets constantly for the speed buff which I wouldn’t do before because I was afraid of loosing the stacks of toughness on the pet.

I didn’t try sword/dagger but it’s that hole chasing your opponent down to try to hit him that I don’t like. I prefer to run in circle’s and dodge around, I’ll chase you down but at a distance. Although I wish I could use the warhorn for the buff when using a bow.

You could always use axe or sword and warhorn on one weapon set, then use a bow on your second set. Just keep your warhorn set on and use Call of the Wild right before you start a fight, then swap to your bow.

Warhorn is honestly too good to not have in at least one of your weapon sets.

Racials matter in PvE and W3. If you don’t care about the racial abilities, then it’s just about aesthetics. If you do care about racials for PvE and W3, don’t choose Norn. They’re terrible.

I’d say that Humans and Asura probably have the best racials for Rangers (in my opinion).

NaturalPortman.9562:

Agadar.4931:

For as long as sword auto-roots you, it’s essentially useless, and for as long as the greatsword has the damage of a wet towel, that too will remain useless.

If you don’t want to use bows, you’re far better off with axes.

Turn off auto attack , profit.

Or just use a dagger off hand, slot LR, use the extra dodges!

Durzlla.6295:

Dahkeus.8243:

Eh, I don’t think poison will ever “wreck” anything, but yea, their AI with the immobilize is good.

Lol I was thinking more of the weakness I apply to them with swoop+ poison maiming their healing capabilities, but yeah it won’t do raw damage but the side effects will make them sorry.

This is part of the reason I occasionally use black bears. The AoE weakness is pretty awesome, especially in W3 and dungeons. It’s hard for me to not run double canines in PvP though.

I’ve had pretty good success with spiders, especially if you take Intimidation Training. The four second cripple actually makes has a pretty big impact.

If your pet cooperates, bursting on a Ranger is actually very easy. Also, if you build for it, drakes can unleash an unholy amount of damage in a couple seconds by themselves.

I’ve been using greatsword a little more since the buff to Maul and I can verify that actual application matches the results here pretty accurately. Sword/dagger is much quicker to kill in general, but with a series of crits on the greatsword, fights can be over pretty quickly.

They’re about even in my opinion, but sword/dagger is a little better in PvP and greatsword performs a little better in PvE.

I run with power, toughness, vitality set from AC and I use all Berserker gear (power, precision, crit damage) on my accessories and weapons. It works out incredibly well.

Oozo.7856:

In beta it used to be the case that deathshroud lasted longer and you could trait it such that you had stability the full time it was up.

Obviously in that situation the ability to rez and stomp would be way too OP. HOWEVER, since our time in deathshroud is shorter and it can only be traited for 3 seconds of stability – necros should be given the option to stomp and revive in shroud now.

Except there are professions that can already res and stomp with on demand stability, so I’m not sure what the issue would be with Necromancers doing it.

Also, I’m relatively certain that I read an ANet post somewhere on the forums that certain abilities were going to be changed (or already were) so that you couldn’t res/stomp while using them. I can’t seem to find it, but I’m about 95% positive I read it on the forums and it was from an ANet representative.

TGSlasher.1458:

VS Mesmer: Turn off mob names in options, Turn on enemy player names. When engaging the mesmer, if he forces target drop and you have auto target on you will auto target his clone. Deselect target (double click ground) and look around, the clones (being mobs) will not have names, an the real mesmer will.

I’m not gonna lie, I have never thought of this and it’s a brilliant tip. Thanks for sharing!

Chris.7653:

Sorry if this comes off as sort of a rant….but keep in mind this is only MY opinion, if it doesn’t match yours that doesn’t make either of us right or wrong.

I have been playing this game since beta, supported ANet…hoped things would turn around but I have to say…

This game by far has some of the WORST pvp I have ever seen in my life…I know they SAY they are trying but Nov 15th showed exactly how hard…

It’s just a mess…I mean I could go on and make a list but a TON of people did before they quit so I don’t need to…

Just giving my own opinion…this game isn’t getting any better, or more fun….it’s stale, stagnant and if my friends list has any incite to the matter…dying as well.

What is it that you don’t like about sPvP exactly? Your post doesn’t really indicate what you dislike about it.

I don’t really dislike the sPvP in this game, but it’s nothing special either. It’s heads and shoulders above the PvP in several of the other games I’ve played in the last few years (RIFT, SW:ToR, WoW), but in the end it’s still (more or less) the same exact thing as every other MMO: throw a bunch of people in a confined area and let them duke it out over objectives. In my opinion, this is the laziest and most boring form of PvP outside of the arena style of PvP in WoW.

The good stuff is W3, which GW2 does exceptionally well. It does suck a little bit that people who are more interested in PvPing are forced to PvE in order to be viable in W3 and are basically stuck doing sPvP if they have zero desire to PvE.

Ratsoori.9108:

Sorry to add a noobish question here, but I play ranger as my main character in PvP and I’ve been looking for the best possible build for ranger. So what kind of build is this bunker ranger? How do you put the traits?

I posted the build in another thread, which you can find here. Feel free to change up the runes and sigils to suit your personal tastes. You can switch out Empathic Bond for Barkskin if you prefer, but if you do you might want to swap Signet of the Wild for Signet of Renewal.

I run two canines in PvP. Always a wolf and either a drakehound, hyena, or fern hound.

One of the main reasons to use a shortbow is you CAN SHOOT RAINBOWS with the legendary.

Seriously though, my suggestion for W3 is to find a build that you enjoy playing. Once you have a build and play style that you’re comfortable with and you enjoy, then you work on modifying your build and gear so that you can still do what you enjoy while increasing your survivability. Ultimately it all comes down to staying alive longer than the other guy and Rangers don’t have the best burst out there. We do have incredible staying power. I would advise you (and anyone else who’s listening) to play to that strength.

Sarcasmic.6741:

I had at first thought it was might, but then realized my build had no boon stacking beyond vigor. I doubt a weapon switch between 2 weapons prec/pow/cond could have shown such significant drops in damage. I could be mistaken, but I’ve seen the drops enough to just avoid focusing on bleed for pve damage. SPvP is the only viable place for self condition focused bleed stacking.

I got nothin’ then. Hehe.

I might tinker around with it tonight in the Mists if I have some time when I get home from work. I haven’t used a condition build in several weeks, and even then I don’t think I ever actually tested how bleeds worked myself. I just went by what I’d read on the forums.

I play a very defensively oriented Ranger and I rarely lose a one on one fight, especially against Thieves (in fact, I’m not sure I’ve lost a one on one fight to a Thief since I started using this build). I can hold a point long enough for help to arrive, but I feel like it’s more helpful as a roaming build (between RoA and Call of the Wild there’s quite a bit of swiftness available).

The reason you don’t really see a lot of Ranger variety is probably due to the fact that most Rangers (at least the ones on the forums) are more interested in lamenting the fact that Rangers are terrible instead of trying to actually play their Ranger. So they roll around with a shortbow and complain about how awful they do in PvP.

There isn’t a lot of team utility, that’s absolutely true. It’s almost completely focused on individual survival.

That’s not how bleeds work. I’m not sure what you were seeing, but bleeds are each calculated individually for power and duration up to 25 stacks. I’m not sure what happens at 25 stacks (i.e., if new bleeds are ignored, or a stronger bleed bumps a weaker bleed). They stack in intensity, so a 25 stack of bleeds is just the total damage for all 25 applied bleeds. So if someone else applied a bleed, it does absolutely nothing to your bleed.

I also believe that swapping weapons can affect the damage if you switch from a weapon with no condition damage to a weapon that does have condition damage. Could that be what you were experiencing?

Stin.9781:

nldixon.8514:

I honestly don’t see this as a viable fix to Rangers.

If ANet really wants to fix Rangers there is one simple solution: remove the cast time on pet attacks or allow pet attacks to channel while moving. Boom. Problem solved. Pets would essentially be able to “attack on the run” and Rangers would get back a large portion of their lost damage.

How about no as it would ruin stealth classes with channel while running as you could see where thief is going all the time if you got certain pets. Removing cast time on some pets is ok some pets got too good skills to remove cast time.

You do realize that most pets (especially the ones commonly used in PvP) have around 0.25 second to 0.5 second cast times, right? If that were changed to a channel that would hardly ruin stealth for Thieves (because that’s what you mean by “stealth classes”; you mean Thieves).

And when you say some pets “got too good skills”, which pets are you referring to specifically?

If I recall correctly a couple of abilities were changed to prevent ressing/stomping while they were active. This may be one of them.

Sarcasmic.6741:

Just as a heads up, bleeds don’t need to be capped at 25 for your damage to get nerfed simply being in a party.

If multiple targets are applying bleeds (and basically everyone can and does) the condition damage from bleed on a target is averaged by the different players causing it. If you’re the only one in your party focused on condition damage, your bleeds get immensely lowered.

Trying to make a build of any kind based on applying bleed for pve is a waste of time. IF you want to make a condition build of any profession, you focus on the conditions other players are less likely to apply (burn, poison, confusion, burn especially if it’s possible).

Where did you get this information? This is the first time I’ve heard that conditions are averaged.

Deathbearer.2438:

I am playing a ranger for a long time now…the way the traits/skills are functioning right now at least for pve/WvsW you have practically only 1 option: glass cannon. just stay as far as possible from zerg/mobs etc and dps…everything else is a joke. “Tanky ranger” simpkly does not exist unless you are referring against another ranger. The only benefit I have right now having played ranger is that i am 95% confident that I can kill one when I see him in battlefield while playing my alts even my guardian:)

This is so incredibly incorrect it hurts my brain. There are actually a few “tanky” Ranger builds that are difficult to kill and can still put out some serious damage. I know there’s at least one other person on the forums who has a tanky build that’s similar to the one I’m about to post that I use in sPvP. It’s really tanky with relatively high armor and health, lots of evasion, lots of healing, and good condition removal.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcoVMzmzMmvagMmvagM9MxaxcRqcmsb8kir7khV7kir7khf7070z7kIM70V7owY8ofy

BlueprintLFE.2358:

Nldixon said my pets were dying because I didn’t spec into them, do I really have to spec pet trait line to just keep them alive!? Doesn’t that seem wrong to you guys? I understand speccing beast mastery line for increasing pet damage, or pet boones, or recharging their abilities faster, but Have to Spec to keep them alive? What the hell is the point of the class mechanic if you HAVE To spec into it just to keep your pets in the game and not killed?

Either spec into them or start swapping them every 20 seconds. You can also use a ranged pet or a bear to try and make them last longer.

That’s about it.

bacalao.2083:

Interpret Interrupt.3824:

I think the thief is a cool concept, but imho I just think the development team did not think a person would just spam an ability. I feel like it was an oversight. When you work on something for so long you start to overlook things.

Yea I was thinking like cost maybe go up for consecutive uses.
I think the costs of things is not the issue. Just the spam ability.

They obviously thought of that, the thief is just an extension of the assassin, a Guild Wars profession.

Additionally, this is just stupid. That just goes back to the old way of spending mana/energy to use skills then have a recharge time.

It is basically “the old way” in its current form. Initiative is just energy with a different name. The only difference is that Thief abilities have no cooldown associated with them.

I honestly don’t see this as a viable fix to Rangers.

If ANet really wants to fix Rangers there is one simple solution: remove the cast time on pet attacks or allow pet attacks to channel while moving. Boom. Problem solved. Pets would essentially be able to “attack on the run” and Rangers would get back a large portion of their lost damage.

That’s an interesting idea, but not sure how well it would work in actual practice.

Maybe each consecutive use of an ability increases the initiative cost? Or each use within a certain time frame? You could limit the “spamability” of certain abilities by giving them a moderate initiative cost with a heavy increase and other abilities could have low or moderate initiative cost and low to heavy increases.

I know a lot of people don’t think there’s anything wrong with the initiative mechanic, but I think it could definitely use some refining. Coupled with the lack of cooldowns on Thief abilities it makes certain specs and abilities down right ridiculous.

Forzani.2584:

I really need to see this stuff vs Thieves. Being involved in fights with them and watching their fights I don’t see how you can keep any distance against them. All this trap talk has me confused also. I have chased Rangers who throw traps at me. So easy to avoid ….which I also find weird that your enemy can see them.

I likely need to build a thief and see what they can or can’t do.

Don’t keep them at range. The only time I use ranged attacks against Thieves is while they’re running away from me.

Playing the classes you go up against is an awesome way to learn how and what to do against them. I’ve got at least 50-100 games on every other profession, with the exception of Elementalist (I’d rather slam my head in a car door than play an Elementalist) and it definitely helps.

runeblade.7514:

I am a PvE player.

I really want to get the mobs off my pet so that it becomes extra dps instead of being a tank. However, I use a mainhand sword. I tried pressing F3 so that the mob gets off my pet and targets me instead. However, it doesn’t work for me.

Try using sword/torch and just laying down as much damage as you possibly can. There’s no foolproof way to make sure you have aggro or your pet has aggro. Threat isn’t fully understood in GW2 and it also varies from mob to mob. Some mobs generate more hate towards melee attacks, some generate more towards ranged attacks. You just have to figure it out on a case by case basis.

Alternatively, you can go heavy into BM and just let your pet do it’s thing while you whittle away at the mobs. With the right build, pets become killing machines in PvE and are very difficult to kill.

Longbow does get obstructed a lot. Terrain seems to be the culprit, but nobody really knows for sure except ANet and they’re not really volunteering any information. Second, longbow isn’t a great primary weapon for sPvP. It’s pretty good for a support weapon, but if you’re trying to make it your primary weapon, you’re going to continue to be disappointed.

Greatsword has WAY more utility than the Warrior greatsword, which is why it does less damage. Sword actually does more damage for Rangers, but there’s an entirely different set of issues with using a sword and unless you’re familiar with the weapon (or have the time and patience to learn the intricacies of using sword) you’re probably not going to be able to jump right in the mix with one.

Your pets are dying fast because your build isn’t focused on pet survivability (or your
own, really). Without any points or traits in BM, your pet is going to die. A lot. That’s just how it works. If you focus on doing damage with your bow, your pet and melee abilities are going to suffer.

I’m a big fan of the ceremonial sabre, dagger, and scimitar. I haven’t really found a bow that just “wows” me to the point that I have to have it.

Kishandreth.2798:

Anybody who plays worse then I do in a 1v1 will lose… if you stealth/run away from a fight I have won.

This is pretty much the same boat I’m in. I don’t really have any problem with any particular class, it’s the quality of the player behind the keyboard. Sometimes I get absolutely crushed, sometimes I barely come out ahead, sometimes I totally stomp someone independent of the profession they’re playing.

One of the greatest advantages of playing the Ranger class is that most people think Rangers are awful and that it’ll be an easy kill. It’s always satisfying when you get a tell from someone who’s dumbfounded that they just died to a Ranger.

Any glass cannon builds are pretty easy to kill. Unless they’re running multiple stun breaks, they’re almost always done after the first knockdown from a wolf or drakehound.

Bunker builds always die too, it just sometimes takes a little longer than it should. A lot of times I win just because it’s someone playing a bunker build and they have the mentality that “I can’t die to one player” and “lol ranger!” so by the time they realize they need help it’s too late.

The builds that give me the most trouble are the balanced builds that have good survivability coupled with consistent damage.

I’m not sure if you’re a really awesome troll or you’re just a crazy person.

The fact of the matter is that Thieves do not cause the loading screen bug. I have been killed by people before, without a Thief being on the opposite team, and I still get the loading screen bug.

Semprenaviguare.2936:

i don t speak is the finish or the last player who kill you !

you can get bug after a other class finish you ,

but if a thief dammage you just before your die , you can get bug !

no thief no bug !
100%

Then how did I get the bug if there wasn’t a Thief on the other team?

Somebody needs to take off their tinfoil hat.

I’ve been struck with the bug when there wasn’t even a Thief on the opposing team. How is that possible if only Thieves can cause the bug?

It’s definitely random. I’ve gotten it from almost every class. I’ve even gotten it from Mesmer Phantasms.

Aurum.8793:

@Nldixon, I thought any Sword combo was completely unviable due to the root effect?

No, sir. That’s crazy talk! Sword is actually one of the best weapons in the Ranger arsenal. You just have to learn how to adjust to the drastically different play style that sword requires.

Since you can’t dodge roll, you have to rely on the built in evades on the abilities. The most difficult part is timing the dodges and knowing then to use them. Once you get that down, sword/dagger becomes a real powerhouse. Couple that with quickness and you’re like a blender set to PULVERIZE!

Nautika.5376:

Just hit 80 with my Ranger and I have no clue what I should be doing next. Any suggestions would be awesome.

Start by ignoring the Ranger forums trolls.

If you haven’t collected exotic gear yet, start by running dungeons or spending karma for the armor in Orr. Get weapons from dungeons or the BLTC.

If you prefer PvP you can start farming tokens in W3 and get your gear that way.

I personally prefer W3, but running dungeons is a much easier way to get the gear, IMO.

Troll Unguent is really awesome, especially in combination with Empathic Bond (when it’s working). One thing to take into consideration is that your pet must be alive and in range. I’m not 100% sure what the range is, but I do know that you can get outside of that range. Another issue is that you have no control over when the conditions are removed, meaning that a short but painful condition might run it’s full duration before it’s cleaned.

And do it with a steady weapon to take out the RNG factor.

Sword/dagger focusing on quickness puts out a really good amount of damage. For more damage focus on power, precision, crit damage. For more survivability focus on power, toughness, vitality.

The build I use works incredibly well for me. I’ve had more success with it than any other builds I’ve tried.

BM builds are also pretty stellar for most PvE situations.

YumCHA.8706:

No where did I mention my inexperience to blatantly fail to dodge the Rifle’s skill “Kill Shot”.
Do think twice before aggressively insulting someone. It reflects badly on you.

Besides there are many scenarios where a warrior can sucessfully hit a Kill Shot without the enemy noticing. WvW is one. A zergfest makes it difficult to focus on just one enemy, let alone a warrior that uses Kill shot from 1500 range, hiding amongst the crowd like a little kitten. Now if the warrior was seperated from the zerg, he would become an easy target. But ‘smart’ people don’t seperate from their groups do they. No.

I don’t think I “aggressively insulted” you at all. When I said “you” I didn’t mean you specifically. I was using the plural you in reference to people who are unable to dodge Kill Shot. I apologize if you took any offense, as it wasn’t intended to be insulting to you personally. Don’t blame me, blame the English language!

I know a lot of people get tunnel vision in PvP and don’t pay attention to their surroundings. Until those people learn to pay attention to everything going on around them, they’re vulnerable to Kill Shots. I understand it’s not possible to be 100% attentive to everything in the background 100% of the time, but knowing who is in the immediate area isn’t too difficult. If there’s a Warrior in the area, people just have to be aware of where they are and whether they have a rifle or not.

Jubei.5923:

Frenzy + Killshot = /insert_quote Trinity: “Dodge this.”

Even with Frenzy that’s just under 900 milliseconds. Most humans can react within 300 milliseconds, giving you plenty of time to dodge.

YumCHA.8706:

Rifles will always be superior to Bows. This applies for anything. Real life. Guild Wars 2.
The projectile speed for bullets is ‘unparalleled’ compared to arrows, simply because bullets have less ‘arc-ing’ travel, therefore makes a more direct hit towards the target.
They also do more damage than arrows without any restrictions in distance. The projectile of bullets is also faster reducing your reaction time to dodge them.

The gap performance between a Rifle and a Bow is so blatantly clear. Bows are completely outmatched when in competition with a Rifle.

Makes me question why the hell did Anet even design a weapon that out-performs a Bow.

Which really just goes back to how Overpowered the rifle becomes and how effective the one skill ‘Kill Shot’ can be when properly used.

Broken design is broken.
/sigh.

What about indirect fire? The fact that bow shots arc makes it way superior to a rifle in that situation. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like this in GW2.

Also, if a player is dying to Kill Shot they’re either not paying attention or (I hate to say it) they’re bad at the game. It is, hands down, one of the easiest skills in the game to dodge.

The way I play sword/dagger I only use the evades to avoid the big attacks and let most of my damage come from the auto-attack chain and quickness. Consequently, I almost always have at least one dodge available. I tend to use Serpent’s Strike to avoid cone attacks and Stalker’s Strike to avoid almost anything else. Hornet Sting is for getting out of PBAoE attacks or when I just need to break away from melee range.

I also switch weapon sets constantly for the fury and swiftness, so really it’s not something I have to worry about too often. One of my favorite tricks is to weapon swap to longbow, Point Blank Shot, pet swap for quickness, lay down a Barrage to cripple them, then Rapid Fire before switching back to sword/dagger.

Are we talking reality or game mechanics?

Bullets do not passively pierce in GW2. Rifles have to be traited for piercing on Warrior and don’t pierce at all on Engineer. Pistols do not and can not pierce on Mesmers or Thieves and Engineers have to trait for piercing pistol bullets.