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New Ranger Questions [1st Character in GW2]


srslyban.1728

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Hello. I've bought GW2 w/ expansions from the recent sale of gw2friendship last month. I've played around ranger, warrior and guardian so far. I liked the gameplay of the ranger and warrior. I've tried sPvp on both with some success well that success is having mostly having fun healing and supporting, if you can call that fun. Mostly healing druid on sPvp (Staff & S/W). So I've leveled my ranger to 80 first, since its my first 80 (no gliders & mount yet). I'm planning on doing almost everything this game can offer on this ranger.

For the questions:

  1. Now that I'm a fresh 80, is it advisable to buy exotic berserkers set from the TP? Like the Armors, Weapons (LB/Sw/Warh/Axe) & Accessories.
  2. Since the Zerk set is for Open World PvE, can I use it for pug Fractals too? I've read some guides about them though they are organized group fractals.
  3. If not, what cheap healing gear is advisable to start with?
  4. Do I have to craft ascended berserkers before crafting an ascended healing set? I'm planning on playing fractals, maybe get into raids in the future.
  5. What healing set do I go for? Harrier or Magi? For magi I can get it on TP, I think.
  6. Is viper gear really that hard to acquire? From what I've read its mixed opinion, some says its hard, some say it isn't.
  7. For gears, I'm aiming for in this order (Berserker > Healing > Viper > Marauder). I think?
  8. For WvW, I've only seen roaming videos of rangers. They are not used in zergs?

Thanks for the help. Love the game.

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You can buy most exotics for pretty reasonable prices. I recommend getting the named armors (Reyna, Aidan...etc), because they tend to be cheaper. Then grab the superior runes of your choice to write over their default runes. Other means of getting exotics are buying with credit. For example, there are karma merchants that sell exotic in the later zones of the original pve story. WvW has exotics for badges of honor and a bit of gold. Similarly, you can do the same with pvp rewards at their vendor. Crafting is another option. You can always make whatever you want and you can use it to level a different toon. I think you can still level a character by crafting alone.

Berserker gear is great for warrior or ranger. Since you are focusing on ranger, it is the probably the most widely used for everything aside from the Druid healing niche'. In PvP as you have probably noticed, your armor doesn't matter since it's amulet based.

The cheapest exotic healing gear is probably Cleric or Zho's armor.

Ascended gear drops rarely, but crafting is the easiest way to get ascended. Altogether, you merely gain 5% bonus to stats with ascended, so it's not essential.

Exotic works just fine, and if you're in the game for the long haul, play around with the exotics before you craft the ascended

. (I would start Berserker first... more below)

Magi you can get on the trading post and works well enough for raiding I suppose, but normally a damage component whether condition (Apothecarys) or power (Cleric) is worthwhile. It's easier to tweak the numbers on the trinkets to get the other stats you desire. I find I want one of the two damage dealers as part of my stats for armor and weapons. The most common stat for healing gear is Minstrel (split major w/ toughness, healing then vitality and concentration). And again raiding and high end fractals are where the druid healer's are found, everywhere else in the game it's either power or condi-focused builds. Overall, I'd say its predominantly power builds for pve, wvw, and even pvp aside from the Druid Mender build which is still quite strong after the last patch. (check out metabattle.com ... good for starters)

Viper is not all that hard to get especially when compared with trailblazers. The expensive component that distiguishes it from others is the black diamond, which is usually under 50 silver a piece and each insignia and inscription takes 3 I believe, so around 1.5 gold in addition to the other components. The problem lies in the basic materials (ex. Oil Hardened Boot Sole), which are oiled versions of everything which requires several vials of linseed oil. Linseed oil sells between 50 silver - 1 gold a piece. It's the flax seeds that crank the price up along with the fact that you have to earn the recipes themselves through wvw or grinding in Auric Basin.

I think Berserker/Marauder is the best first gear to start with for ranger and most professions for that matter. I would actually go with Berserker for the armor and weapons then marauder for the trinkets, because of the cost if nothing else. With Heart of Thorns farming in the living world zones, trinkets are easy to come by and you can set whatever stats you want for them. The healing gear is more specific for Druid play in upper end fractals and raiding. I would probably go viper last. For condition builds, I've always preferred Trailblazers, though I have used viper's for an engineer build that worked based off of crit procs.

Ranger is not really the best class for zergs, and we do very well as roaming and small group play for WvW. We can't compete with the condition bomb, cc, and aoe some of the other classes can crank out. On occasion, you might run into some elitist that don't want you in a squad, but most zergs are bandwagons where anyone can join the bee swarm, help out and gain rewards.

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Somebody else can go more in depth into specifics on Fractals and such, but generally speaking:

  1. Not a requirement, but most people play pure damage in open world PvE, yes. You can get away with just about anything though.
  2. See answer for 3
  3. See answer for 4
  4. Right now and for the foreseeable future, most groups will prefer to take a healing/support oriented Druid over a damage geared one. Ascended Armor can take a lot of time and effort and money to build, so it's advisable to build the armor set you'll get the most use out of in the most situations. Right now that means Ascended Harriers. For a set up until that point, you'd have to ask other people in that situation with more knowledge, but I'd imagine that exotic Harriers on the TP and Magis would make a good enough stopgap solution.
  5. See answer for 4
  6. Pretty sure Vipers isn't being used on Druid all that often anymore, and other options are preferred in group content. Vipers would be for a Soulbeast build, but you won't be able to acquire everything up front, so pick a focus, make the build, then start on the next focus/build.
  7. Pretty much the answer for 4 again. Zerker is fine for open world, but it's advised at this point to go for Ascended Harrier first for the foreseeable future.
  8. No, ranger has no optimized place in zergs. That doesn't mean it can't be done, I played Support Druid in a guild group for a very long time. But be prepared for being treated like a roamer and you have nothing to contribute to a squad. Which is fine, just let bygones be bygones and WvW. You can still follow tags and have fun.
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@jcbroe.4329 said:Somebody else can go more in depth into specifics on Fractals and such, but generally speaking:

  1. Not a requirement, but most people play pure damage in open world PvE, yes. You can get away with just about anything though.
  2. See answer for 3
  3. See answer for 4
  4. Right now and for the foreseeable future, most groups will prefer to take a healing/support oriented Druid over a damage geared one. Ascended Armor can take a lot of time and effort and money to build, so it's advisable to build the armor set you'll get the most use out of in the most situations. Right now that means Ascended Harriers. For a set up until that point, you'd have to ask other people in that situation with more knowledge, but I'd imagine that exotic Harriers on the TP and Magis would make a good enough stopgap solution.
  5. See answer for 4
  6. Pretty sure Vipers isn't being used on Druid all that often anymore, and other options are preferred in group content. Vipers would be for a Soulbeast build, but you won't be able to acquire everything up front, so pick a focus, make the build, then start on the next focus/build.
  7. Pretty much the answer for 4 again. Zerker is fine for open world, but it's advised at this point to go for Ascended Harrier first for the foreseeable future.
  8. No, ranger has no optimized place in zergs. That doesn't mean it can't be done, I played Support Druid in a guild group for a very long time. But be prepared for being treated like a roamer and you have nothing to contribute to a squad. Which is fine, just let bygones be bygones and WvW. You can still follow tags and have fun.

This.

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Exotic harriers Armor is self crafted only. Binds to account when made charachter when used. So won't be able to buy on the TP.

You can find harrier stat exotic weapons on AH however. power heal concentration.

An exotic beserker set is very functional for pve was my first exotic set still use.

ascended is a PITA having a 500 skill crfter I am doing my day limited crafting now. In about 22 more days will decide my set and craft.

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