Guild Wars 2

StickerHappy.8052:

One person suggested to increase the Projectile Finisher on SB. I think this is a very good idea since it synergizes really well on the fields we have.

We also have the new smoke field that will make this even better.

what fiels are those? if we include the good ones we’re left with torch 5. The rest are traps (why are you running anything but spike trap in a serious build? XD) or pet fields (why are you running those terrible pets? XD)

agree they should deliver it to you. also the only one with a good item is the siamoth. I’d like to have the things they find revamped too. they could change them to things we actually want like the mesmer ecto etc.

that being said it won’t happen because anet wants us to buy the expansion but jokes on them because I’m still not going to.

Gonna assume you’re discussing PVE because the sword root is rarely an issue in PVP as you will almost never use the auto. There are videos explaining ways to work around the sword root and leap chains but frankly I just use GS. the DPS is a bit lower but it is worth it to not have to deal with the pain of a completely broken weapon.

In PVP the sword is actually pretty awesome on both condi and power builds for 2 and 3. Even 1 can be useful as the leap is actually amazing for sticking to targets when they run or try to hide in stealth). since you don’t spam the auto in pvp the root is less of an issue but can still mess you up if you’re not careful.

funny how the other forums are talking about how the druid can’t compete with water fields. the grass is always greener I guess…

also…. speeeecccculllaaaatiiiiooonnn!!!!1!

Agree with everything you said shortbow has always been terrible… it should bleed on hit instead of only behind/side and the bleed should be longer than 3s. i think the math works out to a max of 9 bleeds under ideal conditions with krait runes. compare it to an ele in earth that can get 19 with auto attack.

I’d also ike to see the poison reworked because it is completely counter to a ranged weapon. similar to axe 2 but even worse because SB playstyle doesn’t encourage being in melee range like axe does.

speaking for pvp nly as trapper in pve and wvw is useless, you can make it work with 3. basically just sit on a point all day long. I would run settlers. Drop all 3 traps and then wait for someone to run into them. then drop all 3 on them again.

you should just be sitting on the point all day long and denying anyone that tries to come in. in groups you can also help a lot because of all the aoe.

it’s true you have zero stunbreaks and basically no condi cleanse (healing spring alone) but it shouldn’t matter too much if you place your traps poperly and use your evades and leaps.

that being said traps are a garbage build right now. they were barely adequate back when trapper runes were a thing and even then really just for 1v1s. I’ve been using a modified version of the old survival of the fittest condi ranger which is by far our best build. tke spike trap instead of sharpening stone as troll unguent is now a survival. the trap is pretty amazing for helping you land your entangle and pet F2.

Turned off the sound 2 years ago.

no regrets.

Tell me about a time since release that mesmers and thieves have not been way over the top.

Go ahead I’ll wait. Reality is these two have been kitten since the very beginning and it will not be changing.

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

The underlying system of combat is built around area attacks. This is why the majority of base weapon attacks strike multiple targets in the affected area, unlike other games which strike one target – the one you have selected. Our system makes things like positioning and facing far more important and engaging; this also means that the concept of ‘AoE’ is not as easy to distinguish and thus handle in different ways.

That said, we are currently looking at systemic ways to help with player pet and minion survivability.

you managed it with fractals… targets take reduced damage when not targeted.

Why can’t this be applied to pets?

I agree OP. This patch was just another middle finger in a long line of middle fingers. after the buffs we got in the rework it seemed like Anet had finally got their kitten together with balance and then this rework comes along and undoes everything.

Combine it with the $50 (lol) “expansion” and my desire to play has been non-existant.

inb4 people get banned for “exploiting”

the ranger forum has a forum specialist? lmao where have you been hiding?

Traps are stronger in that you can drop them and they’ll kill people without condi removal but the buff came at the cost of nerfs to range which makes them mostly useless for anything but dumping and also ruined trapper runes entirely.

Condi survival build also got a massive nerf when they decided to put empathic bond, survival of the fittest and poison master in the same line… I mean really? now we get one instead of two which is a MASSIVE nerf.

Also all condi builds took a hit with the offhand range/radius nerf which is also a big hit.

Spirits and beastmastery are as useless as they’ve always been and power ranger is now the one viable build we have.

All in I give this patch a rating of “0/10 wow really bad”.

Err… did we get any new builds? from what I’ve seen power ranger got buffed, condi ranger got nerfed hard, and trapper ranger got nerfed hard too.

since we had 3 viable builds to begin with, it seems like now we have 1.

It’s a contender for worst GM ever.

240 range… Well that leaves out any pets with range over 240… which is most of them. The point of pet F2 imo is to pres F@ and have it run into range and use the skill… not drop the 240 the second you press.

If you use this with a melee pet that has a ranged F@ ex: wolf, you need to wait for the wolf to be on top of the person to use it. This is far too much effort to make it worth it.

So let’s say you use a full melee pet like a bird. Unfortunately you need to time it perfectly and it still fails most of the time vs anything that is moving. I even tested on centaurs with a bear and it failed standing still lmao.

Then there’s the fact that assumign you do land it, it causes the enemy to attack your already glassy pet which dies to auto attacks and wayward aoe anyway.

FAIL.

So trapper runes are awful now, and traps themselves are pretty awful too.

I’ve created a guide on how to play trapper ranger with the updated changes. It goes like this:

1. poop traps into a high traffic area like a bridge or guard.
2. wait for some no condi removal scrub to run into them.
3. the new KD and cripples will in theory help them stay in the traps.
4. maybe they’ll die?

I’ve also created a guide on how to play DH:

1. poop traps into a high traffic area like a bridge or guard.
2. wait for some no condi removal scrub to run into them.
4. maybe they’ll die?

I’m lovin it.

Every thief build, every condition build, every build with blocks and gap closers…

Of course this is in a fair /bow duel environment. In the gankland of wvw it’s even worse.

There’s still TIME! Don’t do this Arenanet! you have a chance to do something right and you’re throwing it away!

Guys I found the OP and recorded him! He clearly had no time to dodge or use skills before I bursted him down with my 20k rapid fire.

I guess i’m the only one that finds this a hilarious and refreshing break from the usual boring kittening.

The sword is could be an amazing weapon if it wasn’t for the auto root. I like how it leaps to follow a target, the leaps are cool, serpent’s strike is awesome.

The problem is really that you can’t easily break out of the animation once it starts which makes it a huge liability in dungeons and wvw. You’ll get caught in and leap of ledges, into enemies etc.. I don’t feel like turning off auto attack and spamming 1 to make it functional either.

if they allowed us to break out of the animation at will with simple WASD it would be great. But having to use 3 or dodge to break the animation chain is TERRIBLE.

You can see in the last clip here how ridiculous it is. I was trying to get out of the chain but didn’t manage it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjmuHeVBIfg

Pvt Frosty.6973:

@Vespers:
Whether or not about face changes your camera aswell depends on which button you used last to pan your camera around. You know how right click moves your camera+character? if you used that last, about face will move camera too. if you used left click, which only moves camera and not your character, your about face will not change the camera.
at least that was how I remember it

Awesome I’ll have to use this!

Can’t say i remember those days. I’ve been getting crumbling bones and hooves since day 1. Difference is now I also get 10 million stacks of empyreal fragments and bloodstone dust.

Does it only work for rangers? mine is not a norn but my warrior is…

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Sneakier
I actually deal more damage with my Longbow with my melee meta traits.
Just saying.

Actually no you don’t.

The way to maximize your DPS is to open with barrage and RF and then swap to melee for the remainder of the fight. You could swap back at the end too and do another barrage/RF right before the boss dies.

I’ll add that about face does not work if you’re holding down right mouse/ controlling the camera so be careful to avoid doing that.

Also I’m sure many of you have noticed that generally about face turns both the character and the camera but sometimes it turns the character without moving the camera which is awesome for obvious reasons. I have yet to figure out a way to make this happen
100% of the time, so if anyone knows a way let us know!

oh sweet jesus YES. This game produces so much inventory clogging crap that isn’t labeled junk.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m playing a different game… I’ve never once been kicked for being a ranger and I run dungeons/Fracts all the time.

Maybe you’re running a terrible build (aka anything that doesn’t include a traited frost spirit and spotter), or camping longbow instead of opening/ending with it, or maybe you’re using a bear idk.

A good ranger should be welcome in most parties tbh sicne their party buffs are decent and their damage is above a lot of other classes including warrior.

Call me old fashioned but I roam and play pvp because killing people is fun, not because I want gold from it.

Just another reminder to Anet that they need to fix the condition removal that has been butchered. If it comes out in HoT like this we’ll have another year to wait for a fix.

The problem: Survival of the Fittest, Empathic Bond, and Poison Master are all in the same line. This means you get one of them instead of the two we currently get.

This is a very large nerf to either condition removal or damage.

That is all.

Zephyra.4709:

What else can kill a thief?

Longbow full zerk pew pew ranger that places a stealth trap equipped with Sic Em = either of the following:

- thief goes into panic mode having roughly 38 secs of revealed on him and dies
- thief manages to run away/escape more than likely resetting the match but will probz die anyway still being revealed
- thief dies

I’ve done this to a few thieves I see stalking me. I either place the stealth trap and move back so they run into it or I blatantly stand on it so the thief inevitably activates it if they land on it (most use melee). Unless they’re full on mega burst cray cray evades then it’s absolute GG in my favor coz a lot panic. Lel.

Now, do this with a friend or better still, a full group using the exact same method/build and you’ll be collecting a lot of salty orphan thief tears in no time.

It’s unfortunate the class is so broken that consumables are required to kill them…

At first I thought this was another whine thread but instead I found a newbie!

Ele is the best class in all game modes so yeah… Best DPS, best soloer, best pvper, best wvwer

the list goes on lmao. Anet gave ele way way too many tools and didn’t realize that making use of them all would make for a ridiculously good class.

Mostly you don’t with that build. That’s a full zerg build IMO although good players might be able to pull it off. If roaming try SotF ranger or empathic bond. Imo survival is better. If zerging you don’t need condi removal anyway. Unless you are very good you are going to be utterly obliterated. That being said if you engage from 1500 range, play your CC right etc.. you can pull out a win vs a subpar/unaware condition build. Trick si to chain everything you have. PBS, stealth, wolf KD and fear, spider immob etc…

You’re going to need to outplay them hard and abuse your range. Most condition builds have pathetic range but once they get close… well GG.

Also signet of renewal is trash and sigil of force is a dps loss vs sigil of air.

What exactly is the point of going Mad King? I assume you need precision so you get the bleeds on crit but when I tested the birds might give 5 bleed stacks if lucky. The rune birds are a lot more effective than the warhorn birds.

I guess my question is why take this over a pure condi ranger with krait runes that can stack bleeds better and is far tankier too?

Also I’ll add that you cannot place them accurately which means you can’t place them outside of AoE range, on structures etc… like you can with banners. They get put down in a random area around you which means they often go down in aoe Ex: Chest seal of Cliffside fractal.

Take both. shortbow is awful.

Why is Anet completely incapable of doing anything for ranger properly? Empathic Bond has always been garbage and completely situational so whatever. But why the kitten did they put poison master and wilderness knowledge in the same line…

Poison master is fantastic and was awesome with survival of the fittest but I guess our options now are to have poison master or zero condition removal. sounds really rad.

I guess even after two years Anet hasn’t learned kitten, or maybe they’re too busy buffing the hell out of mesmer and guard while simultaneously kittening rangers and still not giving necros the things they’ve needed either.

this could have been their chance to fix things but instead they are simply breaking them more.

Warriors need help catching things? hahaha oh my god this is unreal. Try playing one of the slow classes and come back and then cry about how bad you have it as the second fastest in the game. Your incombat mobility is the same as your OOC mobility too… unless in your fantasy world GS/Sword skills and utilities somehow don’t work in combat

k.

Aleksander Suburb.4287:

vespers.1759:

PART 2.
…

All the Traps Our traps are not terrible… unless you compare them to DH traps in which case they are unspeakably bad. Frost trap is actually rather nice if you invest in extra chill. The others are unremarkable. The problem with traps is that other than frost trap there’s no reason to take these unless you run a trapper build. Fix buff damage of traps.

…

… but in a Trapper build and with Trapper runes they’re really strong. You can place a trap by trap and with the low cooldown you will never wait long for placing them again. The damage is very cool, too. I get a WvW camp in no time and without risk with these and can kill one human player in adittional to the camp npcs.

I’ve played trapper ranger and yes it is decent, but imo still outclassed by a straight condition ranger because the traps are not the main focus of that build anyway. The focus is on the stealth and speed, and if you’re stealthing you aren’t doing damage. you also lose significant condition removal and stunbreaks in order to run those traps.

I would like to see our traps buffed, and if trapper becomes ridiculous as a result I’d like to see trapper runes adjusted instead. Buffs to traps would give us more build diversity by giving us a reason to take them outside of a single trapper build.

It makes no sense to keep four of our utility skills garbage because buffing them might make one rune set too strong. Just adjust the trapper runes.

No idea why people are so afraid of this dungeon. It is barely any harder than the others excluding AC and such.

Fractals are imo more difficult and judging by the amount of baddies I get in my pugs people aren’t afraid of them >.>

l o l w u t.

The best place to AFK is clearly in WvW spawn…

PART 2.
Muddy Terrain I really want to like this skill but the cast time is simply too long. Landing it is tricky and the payoff is too low. 2s immob and a short cripple is meh. IMO even when running Survival of the Fittest, you can take other, better things. Fix reduce cast time.

All the Traps Our traps are not terrible… unless you compare them to DH traps in which case they are unspeakably bad. Frost trap is actually rather nice if you invest in extra chill. The others are unremarkable. The problem with traps is that other than frost trap there’s no reason to take these unless you run a trapper build. Fix buff damage of traps.

Quickening Zephyr this skill used to be good back when it was 100%. At least then rangers had an effective way to stomp! oh well. Current QZ is lackluster thanks to a long cooldown and -50% healing penalty. unfortunately we have few survivals to choose from and when running Survival of the Fittest as condition cleanse it’s pretty much required in power builds. Condition builds have other options and the boost to speed is fairly useless to them. Fix lose the healing penalty and lower the cooldown slightly.

Sharpening Stone on a condition build this is actually good when running Survival of the Fittest. Cooldown is a little long but overall it isn’t terrible. Since you have 30s to use the bleeds this is a good on demand condition removal that doesn’t cost you like using LR or QZ would. Fix One of the few utilities that doesn’t really need one! OMG!

PVE

Thanks to the Berserker meta you’re going to be running signets which in PVE are fine IMO although buffs to their WvW utility would also benefit them in PVE. You’ll also take Spirit of Frost which is the only good one. The others might as well not even exist. Search and Rescue was good back in the day but is now useless.

Spirit of Frost is only good when traited to have 70% chance (7% boost to party dps) but is still completely outclassed when compared to warrior banners. Banners don’t die, they go where you place them (spirits spawn in your general vicinity which makes placing them a total crapshoot) and they can be picked up and moved. The only advantage Frost Spirit has is a lower cooldown and the ability to swap to another utility while it is still alive.

PART 1.

I’ll only focus on the ones people use regularly that I feel need improvement. These skills are not necessarily good, they are just slightly better than the other options. I’m not even going to bother with the ones that aren’t commonly used because they need to be completely reworked instead of just adjusted.

PvP/WvW

Guard This is not a good skill. It only becomes somewhat useful if you trait Nature’s Voice in a full regen build which costs you significant condition removal from losing Surival of the Fittest. The main reason it blows is that it has a long cast time… Who knows why this one shout has a 1s cast time. Fix remove cast time. I’ll still never use this but whatever.

Lightning Reflexes i agree this is one of our better skills, but it is useless unless facing an opponent. This severely limits the skill. It only works when facing an opponent which makes it useless when running away. Now some will argue that you can about face. This is only half true. You can’t about face while immobilized, which is the main reason you’re bringing this. About face also slows you down significantly so that by the time you about face and evade you’re barely ahead of where you’d be simply running forward. Fix make Lightning Reflexes evade in the direction you choose with WASD. This will make it a fantastic skill.

Signet of the Hunt This is a terrible signet. The active effect is utterly atrocious on all but full power classes despite the fact condition classes need it more unless they run shudders Guard. Rangers have relatively little access to swiftness unless they choose warhorn which is awful or a bird which only works in combat. Considering that Chronomancer is getting a minor trait that grants NOT ONLY 25% movement speed but also -25% to movement impairing conditions this signet looks even more awful than ever. Fix Not even sure where to start on this one… either completely rework the signet and give us the base in traits or give us a way better active effect. 25% bonus dmg on 1 attack is pathetic.

Protect Me/ Signet of Stone Protect me looks good on paper. It offers immunity, a stun break, and a 60s CD. Unfortunately Anet has decided not to give pets the HP boost they got in PVE so this skill is CRAP. Pets simply will not live through it. Hell they already die to guardian, ele, necro etc… AoE in 1v1 without even being focused. Protect me is a death sentence. I don’t have many issues with SoS. It’s decent compared to our other options although it is only 2s longer than endure pain but on a 40s longer CD which doesn’t seem quite right. Fix either give us the pet health boost or give pets protection while Protect Me is active. Literally anything could make this better.

Signet of the Wild This signet is decent although the bonus 25% dmg applies only to direct damage not conditions. Since this is one of only two abilities that give us stability and since we have literally no skills that grant immunity (mist form etc..) this is unacceptable. This means this signet is basically reserved only for power builds, which once again screws over condition builds. Fix Have the 25% work with conditions too so this skill is useful to more builds.

Signet of Renewal This signet is another baddie. I know Anet wants to add synergy with the pet but this is not the way to do it. As it transfers the conditions to our already glassy pets it all but assures either their death or reduces their already kitten poor combat effectiveness. Fix activated effect removes conditions instead of transferring them to pets.

Fluffball.8307:

What would you change about it, vespers? What do you think the weaknesses are?

The whole BM line is just awful. the increase in pet stats is tiny at best. I also dislike relying on pets, especially the birds. the 6s CD looks good on paper but it fails to activate most of the time. Also you’ve gone way into that line to get some regen and cripple on activated skill.

Imo there are easier ways to get cripple and if you micro pets better you won’t need the regen. Of course they’ll die vs heavy aoe classes like guards and such but until anet decides to give pets the pve boost that will continue to happen.

I think you have sacrificed way too much to invest in the pet with very little benefit.

Sagat.3285:

vespers.1759:

I don’t know how they’ll do it but it will need buffs to compete with the other classes that can stack it like crazy like guardian.

Also not sure how they’ll balance the stacks because in the dragonhunter video it was ticking for 4.5k at 6 stacks which is completely ridiculous. With burning stacks like that why even bother stacking 25 stacks of bleeding…

Amplified Wrath+Kindled Zeal+carrion amulet no other class should have similar burn damage since guardian is limited in damaging conditions.

i know they are limited but there’s no reason that 6 stacks of burning should be hitting twice as much as 25 stacks of bleeding when 25 stacks of bleeding is inifnitely more difficult to get and maintain.

And even if they are more limited it is still crazy that only 4 stacks of burning STILL does more dmg than 25 stacks of bleeding AND in the video he also got like 15 stacks of bleeding.

In its current state this is completely broken.

If you think this is good I can’t even imagine what kind of crap builds you’ve been running XD

I don’t know how they’ll do it but it will need buffs to compete with the other classes that can stack it like crazy like guardian.

Also not sure how they’ll balance the stacks because in the dragonhunter video it was ticking for 4.5k at 6 stacks which is completely ridiculous. With burning stacks like that why even bother stacking 25 stacks of bleeding…

Had to stop after the first clip. basically both those eles were better than you. all you did was run away and then hide in SR so you could land a lucky no skill backstab from stealth.

All I see here is a perfect example of how broken it is that thief can run full zerk with zero risk and then land an extremely high damage skill that requires no skill to pull off from stealth.

kittenening.

once you go g600 you don’t go back and the number of features it has in comparison to the naga for the same price makes the naga a pretty terrible choice imo.

i have dodge, weapon swap, f1-f4, about face, and 6-0 on the thumb buttons. I don’t feel a need to use g-shift but if you did you could get all the buttons you’d ever need on there. I also use a claw grip which was weird at first but i got used to it. you don’t need to fully palm it. the other thing is it is heavy for daily mouse use. I have two plugged in and use a cheapy claw grip mouse when not gaming.

only thing I would recommend is that you not get it in white. After about a year-year and half it has gotten a bit yellow and it is hard to clean.

Jim Hunter.6821:

How much you wanna bet we start seeing rangers running double longbow to take advantage of this trait lol

cooldowns are shared so it would make no difference.