Archive for the Ranger Category

Are rangers actually under-powered?

Posted 09/05/13 by

It got crowded in the elevator

It got crowded in the elevator

I’ve heard it a few times lately… rangers with pets are terrible in dungeons. Rangers with pets are no good in small places. A ranger without a pet is just worthless. And so on. This leads to rangers not trying to get into difficult content, and/or not being accepted/invited to play there. Fortunately, I’m in a great guild where people can join in activities with whatever profession they want, so getting a team of rangers wasn’t difficult.

Now I know from my psychology/statistics work that people can develop incorrect beliefs. I noticed in forums that many of the complaints came from rangers who don’t play their rangers in difficult places (because they’re so underpowered, why bother). And there is the common assumption that rangers are underpowered because their pets die, and they are weak without their pets. And then, as supporting evidence, I’ve heard of people turning down rangers when making groups.

But here’s a different theory: rangers are just as good as any other profession, and the only thing they need is someone to undo the bad rep they’ve been getting.

Two competing hypotheses… It’s time for some science!

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Head to Head: Thief vs Ranger

Posted 10/02/12 by

When the thief was announced, people originally thought it was a very similar profession to the ranger. Their combat styles do show similarities, but do not be mistaken, these are very different professions. In my opinion, the ranger is more similar to the necromancer, and the thief is more similar to the mesmer. Nevertheless, many of you are probably deciding between the two, and I hope the current column can help make your choice clearer.

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Guild Wars 2 development update by Jon Peters

Posted 04/11/11 by

Engineer Tool belt skill bar

The engineer got a tool belt overcharge, where every slotted heal/utility skill has a tool belt counterpart. Rangers are able to hotswap between two different pets in combat. And combos have a graphical interphase and their very own nomenclature (“initators” set up the combo and “finishers”, well, finish). These are but some of the news in the blog post Jon Peters just posted over at the ArenaNet blog.

It was a while since we last heard anything about how the Guild Wars 2 game mechanics are coming along, so this blog post is welcome in deed, and gives some much needed extra fuel for all the build builders and theory crafters out there.

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Chock Full of Rangery Goodness

Posted 20/07/10 by

Its been about a month now I guess I should do a blog. Its been an eventful few weeks with Death and Healing mechanics being released, the end (?) of the War in Kryta and the Ranger profession being announced.

The Ranger is Back!

As Arena Net announced last week, GW2 will feature the return of another core Guild Wars class, the Ranger. Like the Elementalist and Warrior, the Ranger retains some of the mechanics and skills that we all know and love while also introducing a few more to their arsenal.

The Ranger

My personal favourite class in Guild Wars and appears to be remaining in GW2. Aside from keeping the traditional bow weapons Rangers will also gain access to Swords, Axe, Dagger, War Horn and Torch meaning, like ranger type classes in other MMOs, they’ll have access to some melee skills as well. So far we know of

A three step attack combo in which the second attack you kick the foe back
Hornet Sting Attack then roll backwards away from the target.
Serpents Sting Roll around the foe to stab them in the back using your offhand dagger

Having this melee capability opens up for a more tactical and skirmish type ranger. For example I could use Serpents Sting followed the first step attack combo, kick the foe backwards, Hornet Sting away before switching to the short bow so I can kite the foe.

As for the axe and off hand not so sure about what we’ll have skill wise, other than Hunter’s Call for the warhorn and Serpents Sting for the dagger. My guess is

Offhand Axe Offhand attack and a short ranged finishing move, or Whirling Defence (though I’m hoping this a utility skill that can be used with any two weapon combinations)
Offhand dagger Serpents Sting and a short ranged finishing move
Torch Bushfire Sets the ground around you on fire see scatter shot clip and used for a burning finishing move, as well as lighting up dark caves etc
Warhorn Hunter’s Call. Not sure about the second attack skill/

Mostly speculation based on what the skill clips have shown us. Still along with the new skills and weapon choices, Rangers also see a return of their nature spirits and their traps.

The Pets

And where would the Ranger be without their trusty animal companion fighting at their side? The Ranger’s pet has had a complete overhaul compared to what we have currently. Rangers can charm up to three pets at any one time but can only have one active pet with them. Along with this the pets themselves have their own skills and ,as they level up, evolve.

In some respect this falls into line with the majority of MMOs with a ranger type class that uses a pet. WoW’s Hunter class sticks out the most in this respect as the Hunter’s pet has access to its own talent tree which, after level 20, the pet can gain talents to enhance its skills. I like this move from the current pet set up as it means that rather than being a hindrance, as the pet was before the pet control bar was introduced, the pet can become a useful member of the party.

Acquiring a new pet is also getting revamped. In GW2 you’ll have to look for the juvenile version of the pet, for example if I wanted a new Moa bird I’d look for a Juvenile Moa Bird to charm. This will make it a lot easier to find out what you can and can’t have as a pet, unlike in WoW for example, where your best bet is to find a list of tameable pets online.

Rather than just having the one pet type, as in GW1, GW2 will have 3 categories, Terrestrial, Amphibious and Aquatic. The terrestrial type has three pet types, as does Aquatic leaving the Amphibious category with the remaining six of the total twelve pet types. On top of this each pet type has its own sub type so a black bear might have slightly different skills to a polar bear even though they’re both under the same type. Don’t worry about having to have an aquatic pet for the underwater sections and leaving your pet bear/wolf/cat on the shoreline. The popular pets have been placed in the aquatic category so that you can take Fuzzy with you on any underwater adventure.

Along with having their own box of tricks the pet will also be able to revive their fallen master so there’s extra incentive to keep your pet alive (though I’m sure most rangers do this anyway).

Oh and Rangers can also have a shark as a pet. If that isn’t a reason to create a Ranger, even if it is an alt, I don’t know what its. Just need to find a laser head band and everything would be perfect.

Have Fun

Mal image.php?u=180892&dateline=1181920997&type=profile

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Guild Wars 2 Unveils The Ranger

Posted 14/07/10 by

At last, Guild Wars 2 players will be able to take on the mantle of everybody’s favourite park ranger and chase Yogi Bear arou … oh, sorry, it’s not that kind of ranger.

Of course it isn’t, that would be foolish. This Ranger will still have plenty of skills that allow them to interact with animals though. According to ArenaNet, Ranger players will be able to adopt up to three pets, from bears to lizards to … err … sharks. In general, only one will be active at any one time, but when it is, the Ranger will be able to control it through simple commands like “attack” and “heel.”

Watch the video and view 6 screenshots after the break.

Apparently, it’ll also be possible to call hawks from the sky to bite the enemy’s neck off. Like so


Other skill videos are available from ArenaNet’s Ranger sub-page, but that one is clearly the best.

Rangers are masters of ranged combat, so they tend to use bows to fire off billions of arrows per second (no exaggeration) like a steroid-injected Robin Hood, but they can also pick up a sword when necessary.

 


 

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The Simple Yet Long Build Guide to the Ranger

Posted 27/03/10 by

The Ranger is the master of bows and living in the wild! With their trusty pet by their side the rangers can survive almost anything.

Basics you should know about the Ranger They have 70 Max AL, and +30(extra) armor against elemental armor(Fire, earth, air, water, cold, dark) They run 4 major skill types Wilderness Survival, Expertise, Marksmanship, and Beast Mastery.

Depending on what type of ranger you run (Bow, beast master, Dagger, scythe, spear) you’ll want to invest in Expertise. Expertise is the main line of att points for Rangers and it causes attack skills to cost less energy, thus making it very popular for Spamming ranger attacks, running daggers(assassin 2ndary), running scythes(Dervish 2ndar) or even a spear!(Paragon 2ndary).

Marksmanship, if you can’t already tell by the name, is for you bow. Every point in it makes your bow attacks more effective. Simple simple.3 Investing points in Wilderness Survival provides the essentials for surviving as a ranger. It provides healing and stances to aid you.

Wilderness Survival also provides traps which can be deadly and used to farm. Now finally, Beast Mastery increases the damage dealt by your pet, both base damage as well as skill damage.

Bow types.

There is four different types of Bows in Guild Wars, each one does a different damage/goes fasters and slower/ shoots longer/ arcs higher.(note all bows do 15-28 BASE damage)

  • Long Bow attack speed is 2.4 Seconds, It’s range is just outside of your Aggro Bubble, Arc is medium, and its a good compromise between all the bows. (This is my personal favorite)

  • Flat Bow attack speed is 2.0 seconds, It’s range is same as long bow, The arc is high(meaning it can miss a lot)
  • Horn bow Attack speed is 2.7 seconds, It’s range is smaller than the above, arc is medium.(This bow has a 10% armor penetration)
  • Recurve Bow Attack speed is 2.4 seconds, It’s range is the same as the horn bow, arc is low(hits almost all the time)(provides the FASTEST arrows)
  • Short Bow Attack speed is 2.0 seconds, its range is extremely short, medium arc, and provides the most arrows per minute(apm 3)[Note- Elevations provide more damage]

Pets

Pets are used frequently along the PvE part of the game, and they can be quite helpful in dangerous situations. By upping your Beast Mastery att line your pet does more base damage and well as makes the skills in the Beast Mastery att line more powerful. The skills do from +__ damage to inflicting conditions to healing or even a couple traps! (traps in beast mastery???XD) The thing you have to worry about is that if your pet dies, you skills have to wait 10…3 seconds for your skills to recharge(ist dependent on your BM level) and you lose all adren. I would suggest bringing a pet heal so that doesn’t happen! In PvE pets do not get a Death Penalty(they do in PvP) Pets also do not leave an exploitable corpse, and do not show up as a grey dot on the radar. I don’t suggest pets in PvP.

Rangers are pretty much good at both PvE and PvP. They run Barrage or Broad Head Arrow in PvE, and complete Degen. rangers in PvP. But you can with Expertise run daggers ect. So rangers are one of the better classes to get into. They are also one of the most complicated. (New players should start as a Warrior or Elementalist)

My personal opinion of rangers is that its challenging to get into one, but once you master it you’ve got the way of the ranger!!!! That’s just speaking of my history. I started out making rangers from the beginning and couldn’t do it. Nor could I get one past level 11. So be careful with your Ranger and be smart D

My favorite Ranger builds

R/Rt- Ranger/Ritualist

  • Barrage- Distracting Shot – Troll Unguent – Optional – Splinter Weapon – Asuran Scan – Antidote Signet – Res. (10+2 Marksmanship, 4+1 Wilderness Survival, 9 Exptertise, 10 Channeling Magic)

  • R/Rt Splinter barrage Variation
  • Barrage – Distracting Shot – Troll Unguent – Savage Shot – Triple Shot(kurz/lux) – Nightmare Weapon – Splinter Weapon – Flesh of My Flesh(or any Hard res)
    R/ – Ranger/Optional

    • Burning Arrow – Distracting Shot – Troll Unguent – Hunter’s Shot – Apply Poison/Poison Tip Signet – Antidote Signet – Optional – Rushing Skill[PvP build](11+2 Marksmanship, 8+1 Wilderness Survival, 10 Expertise)
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