@ Loki:
First, the very line you quoted in your first response precludes reading anything I wrote as promoting the ranger as master of bow damage and nothing else; I even went on to bold-text the word “capacity”. Second, I have no idea how you could possibly get the idea that I equate “master of archery” with “raw damage only.” I explicitly praised the warrior’s longbow and explained why I think it’s better – it’s more complex and has greater utility, and it certainly doesn’t just “belt out damage.” Again, it comes with condition damage, direct damage, immobilize, blind, a combo field, a blast finisher, and can stack AoE might all on its own. How does praising utility get twisted into an obsession with “raw damage?”
Finally, I think the idea that a warrior ought to do the most “raw damage” is silly, and I’m not aware of the devs ever articulating that that is how they want things to be. In order for the ranger to be an “unparalleled archer” the longbow surely should excel at something; your claim that it excels because it has a knockback and a cripple is unconvincing since the warrior’s longbow has similar control and clearly excels in utility, if not damage.
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@ Loki:
Your distinction between an “unmatched archer” and “the archer class” seems bizarre and flimsy. If a class is the best archer, then doesn’t it also clearly focus on it to some degree, if in no other way than class concept/design? Even in earlier iterations the Ranger was still highlighted as the “master of ranged combat,” not just the “jack of all trades” – so your surprise is surprising. And since the Ranger is the only class able to use both types of bows, and given GW2’s explicit emphasis on the Ranger’s ranged combat, what isn’t obvious about the link between the Ranger and archery?
Let’s be clear about what I originally said for that matter. I said that the Ranger is pretty obviously “supposed to be able to fulfill that niche,” not that it is or ought to be perma-locked into that role.
I disagree with your assessment of Warrior and Ranger longbow skillbars as well. Warrior longbow has far more utility; you can actually do more with a warrior’s longbow than a ranger’s. For instance, a warrior’s longbow has combo fields, AoE might, blast finisher, immobilize, and both condition and direct damage. If nothing else, a warrior’s longbow is more engaging and interactive than the ranger’s. The ranger’s longbow is centered around direct damage, and it doesn’t even excel at it!
@ Sdric: You certainly didn’t crit 8k on an auto-attack with your thief. No doubt that’s the result of “Unload.” 1k for an auto-attack on the condition-heavy short bow is very respectable. In short, your pictures don’t mean what you think they mean.
I’d never argue that rangers don’t need a damage boost, but your screenshots don’t demonstrate much.
Go read GW2’s official Ranger class description. This argument has been hashed out so many times that there’s hardly a reason to repeat it here. Here’s a highlight, though: They’re referred to as “unparalleled archers.”
It’s irrelevant whatever the dictionary or any other outside source has to say on the definition of a ranger. Game worlds create and refashion the meaning of various classes, and the bottom line is that the official ranger description doesn’t quite match up with the reality of the class.
I agree with Nymshi. Every MMORPG I’ve ever played had an archer class, and I think it’s hard to deny that the Ranger in GW2 is supposed to be able to fulfill that niche. Despite being the only class that can use both the short bow and the longbow, however, it seems that the Ranger is master of neither. The Thief short bow is probably my favorite skillbar in the game – there are just so many ways you can play it – and the Warrior’s longbow is undeniably more complex (combo fields, etc.) than the Ranger’s. At minimum, surely being a Ranger ought to mean having the capacity to be a top-notch archer. Hopefully the next patch makes this a reality.
And you guys are looking at this not from a Guild Wars 2 standpoint.
Arenanet does not want you to grind so therefore antigrind mechanics.
I think you’re very, very confused. Do you not recognize the tension in saying that ANet doesn’t want you to grind when almost every level 80 goal/activity requires it? You want dungeon gear? Gotta grind it out. Want to craft your heart out? Gotta grind/farm materials and/or money. Want a legendary? Same thing – a grind.
In GW1 it was Abaddon who corrupted the Vizier but I could swear that Khilbron is mentioned in the same breath as Zhaitan in one of the GW2 personal stories…
Perhaps it was just some theory I read elsewhere. I think the point still stands, though, about their not being anyone we know of able to “tap” or use the dragon’s power without becoming corrupted.
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Is there a single instance of any being using the dragon’s power that hasn’t been wholly corrupted? Vizier Khilbron, for instance, was tainted by Zhaitan’s power. Further, didn’t Zhaitan have to GRANT Khilbron that power? To claim that the gods somehow tapped the dragons power without consequence – corruption, etc. – and against the dragon’s will seems without precedent or foundation.
Erm…didn’t Zojja’s mentor(the name eludes me at the moment) tap into Zhaitan’s mind and temporarily shut him down when Destiny’s Edge confronted him? There’s nothing that said he got corrupted from it, only that he was slain by Z’s minions because Thackeray had to leave to save his gf.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Snaff
It was Kralkatorrik, not Zhaitan. But is controlling the body of an ED the same as tapping into its power? I don’t see any reason to think they’re identical, and during SE story Zojja mentions that Snaff would never approve of Kudu’s experiments with dragon power because it’s too unstable and too dangerous. I don’t see where you’re getting the idea that Snaff used dragon power. What have I missed?
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This is why you should carry a ranged weapon if you don’t have AoE. As a Thief I use a SB for my AoE/Tagging, I pay attention to where enemies spawn and I hover there and insta-explode my cluster bomb to tag everything.
If you refuse to use weapons and/or skills that have AoE that’s a personal problem.
The Thief’s SB is not only ranged, it’s also some great AoE, and not every class has access to that. Mesmer AoE, for instance, takes a second to set-up (spawning clones for shatter, etc). The problem is that most mobs are dead before the shatter even reaches the mobs. That’s not a personal problem, it’s a problem with DE mechanics, which are putting some classes at an innate disadvantage.
Making it less of a reward to grind makes you want to do other things.
It sure does! It makes me want to log off.
Someone mentioned (possibly you, Torvarren) that players should do what they find fun instead of grinding. Yet, for a lot of players, working towards the shiniest or most powerful items IS fun. The lure of that cool item motivates people to keep playing; it provides a purpose, a goal. Since the shiniest items in GW2 require lots and lots and lots of grinding, it’s more than a bit irritating to have your motivation for playing the game continually frustrated by DR.
You claim that a DR system makes other activities more appealing, but in fact it does not. Rather, it only makes your current activity unappealing, i.e. farming/grinding. That by no means enhances the quality of everything else in the game, though. And, if you’re like me, a player who enjoys working towards the shiniest new toy, what are you supposed to do? The game intentionally frustrates my attempts to enjoy it!
Surely the devs should work towards making all aspects of their game appealing; making any particular activity *un*appealing is pretty mind-boggling. It’s counterproductive to the aim of encouraging people to play their game.
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Is there a single instance of any being using the dragon’s power that hasn’t been wholly corrupted? Vizier Khilbron, for instance, was tainted by Zhaitan’s power. Further, didn’t Zhaitan have to GRANT Khilbron that power? To claim that the gods somehow tapped the dragons power without consequence – corruption, etc. – and against the dragon’s will seems without precedent or foundation.
In a world with magic, dragons, talking plants, and gods you’re concerned with how realistic a height advantage with a bow is? Seems remarkably arbitrary.
I’ve also noticed that obstruction occurs most often in large DEs. The only thing(s) between my arrow and the target are players…
Last time I checked it was possible to put soulbound weapons and armor in your bank and move it to another character. Once its on the other character you can put it in the mystic forge even though it is soulbound to a different character. I last did that about a month ago, so its possible that they’ve changed it since then.
You can put soulbound items in the bank, but only the character to whom the item is soulbound can remove it from the bank.
Perhaps wiki is mistaken, as I’ve never seen a Juvenile Blue Moa there either. The first time I encountered one was in Bloodtide Coast.
I have nothing new to add, really. I just want to voice my agreement with the masses here and express my hope that non-GS/staff legendaries receive some shiny new particle effects in the future.
On Yak’s Bend I’m having excessive difficulty finding a group for anything. I’ve been making the rounds through various zones, spending lots of time in Lion’s Arch spamming LFG, but this weekend only netted me two dungeon runs. I hope a dungeon finder feature is a priority for ANet.
I managed to finish the mission as well. It took a few attempts and several deaths, but if you want to ignore the infuriating tank altogether you can just sit back and wait for the two giants to spawn, whittle one giant down to low health, then go kill the other, and finally finish off the low health giant. This is the only method that allowed me to get both giants down fast enough before others spawned, or until abominations swarmed and killed me.
There’s a segment of “The Steel Tide” where I’m supposed to control a charr tank and stop the risen assault. It’s not working. Attempting to turn the tank’s gun removes me from the control and prevents me from interacting with it again for a few seconds, in addition to rotating the gun all the way to the left or right, depending on which direction I chose. Every now and again it won’t do this (rarely), and I manage to gun down a few packs. However, inevitably, it glitches again and I can’t eradicate the risen before they all respawn, decimate the front ranks, and swarm around me. In other words, I can’t complete the quest.
I’ve leveled several characters to 80 and I’ve noticed how many of the Orr portions of the personal story frequently bug out (I always submit in-game bug reports). Usually, though, if I just exit the instance and start again the mission won’t bug as severely and I’m able to complete the quest. This one isn’t like that; the tank gun just won’t work.
Address this, please!