Equal win rate ~Core or SB In PvP ~Doesnt Matter~ Why?

I just don't get it.

I started playing core after playing SB for a while now.Core is fun, naturally.But I can't say I do any better on soulbeast although it has more advantages.

I can think of 2 things.

Either weekends are just a terrible time to play.

Or, SB has too many tools for me to manage (especially after coming off playing core for 3 days)

/shrugWhat say you?

What's your rating?

SBeast has just more mobility, boon stack, dmg modifiers and overall versatility.Its basically an upgraded version of core.Atm it needs ajustments just because certain skills and traits are very unbalanced compared to others. Not glad saying this but its rather realistic we see that nasty nerfbat tomorrow.

It's cause ws carries ranger builds.Seriously you can't do nothing without that damn trait line.

Also when you loose your pet you loose dps when your not directly attacking and combining the pet with mm and bm trait line allows it to do some pretty nice combos.

When they Nerf boon beast I expect core ranger to really shine. And to anyone questioning my rank I'm consitantly plat across all seasons save for when I decay even then my efficve rating always stays the same)

because a better build doesn't make you a better player

Warning, this is very wordy, and I tried to cut it down...

@Eurantien.4632I am defensive about this...and it's why I wrote so much,

I'm not great and I'm very casual. I'm probably better than I was at the season I actually cared and tried. At that time I consistently was at Gold 3 and dipped my toe into plat briefly. After that 'try' season, I never tried to keep it up. And curious, isn't their something to the ratings where they take into account what you have done previous seasons? Say we both have a 6w's 4L's, are we both going to end up in the same ranking? Is it purely based on the first 10 games.Now, my swings go from high silver to gold 3. Hate to mention this as I am embarrassed, although I started playing MMO's way back when, from Shadowbane, Everquest, DAOC, SWG, WoW, GW1, Back to WoW, AION, Warhammer, WOW and now GW2 since release, I've never ever ever ever ever, got away from clicking. I might know a few hotkeys that I regularly use but other than that...eh, not much hotkeyed. I've never uploaded gameplay to have anyone critique it, as Id just be embarrassed.

@InsaneQR.7412 I know this doesn't have to do with my question directly but I gotta reply.On one hand, SB is very strong. Look at Metabattle. 7 classes are meta. Mirage, Firebrand, Herald, S/dThief (doesn't even need xpac), Boonbeast and TWO Meta Builds for Necro. It's not exaggeration to say the other classes are strong. It's safe to say that there are less complaints about Soulbeast, a class that can be reliably targeted, than a Mirage, with ridiculous visual clutter, stealth, invulns and blocks. Two mesmers on one team and Two Soulbeasts on the other team in a Rated Match. We all know who will win reliably win that scenario. Mesmers can Roam like a thief, get away or rotate like a thief and reliably win the point. That's pretty strong. Much more influential in a match than Soulbeast.

Look at the Great Category on metabattle. Out of 11 spots, Ranger doesn't have one spot considered great. You will see them waaaaayyyy down there in 'Good'. And many believe Great specs are viable into Plat 1-2.

Rangers are used to being nerfed, you all expect to be nerfed.Many of you all are a bunch of d**n sadists. For Fudge Sake, you all want to be nerfed. I hear the same sentiment every time a patch comes around.But look, everyone is strong at one time and some continue to stay strong. Look at mesmers...anet created a monster that many believe cannot be nerfed.Ever seen the insane dmg a Rev can put out? Can you even get away? God forbid you try to kill a Firebrand on point and the heals they put out, the support and decent damage can be a game changer, since most games are decided by the first mid fight.

@Eleazar.9478 No other trait lines of other classes help their spec?Eh then again, maybe you are right. I've heard other people say it many times before. And although I don't really believer it to be,I dont really care. Im going to guilt myself into believing 'the only reason Im any good is because of this one trait line'. How does that ever help me?

@derd.6413 Lol, straight to the point.

@everyone

I honestly believe, ofc there is much more to playing Soulbeast to playing Ranger.It reminds me of Drummers who play on a small kit or a Neil Peart or a mechanic that is proficient with a small set of tools. And now he has a 50,000 set of tools.Is he actually any better or faster with the bigger set of tools?

I played Core ranger for many nights. And while I was playing, I thought SB would of helped me win solo fights better and also support group fights more.When I came back to playing SB, I was too used to playing core and it's simpler than Druid. It took me a couple games to get my Rhythm back with SB.I get too cocky on Soulbeast and try to do too much. On Core Ranger, I know I am soft as tissue paper and I play accordingly, kite more, los more and get away much more preemptively. But, eh, Core is a selfish spec.

You clicked your way to plat? You are good ;) ... I'm retraining my ranger to use hotkeys... It's hard but I hope it would reward me someday... I'm comfortable using hotkeys in pve... But PVP is a different monster altogether... Needs quick response and can't afford any mistakes...

Maybe hotkeyers are better players??

With a good knowledge of player class , enemy class, terrain knowledge and surrounding Dynamics and events(but these stuff gets injected into the brain automagically when spamming pvp I guess)

@Crystal Paladin.3871 said:You clicked your way to plat? You are good ;) ... I'm retraining my ranger to use hotkeys... It's hard but I hope it would reward me someday... I'm comfortable using hotkeys in pve... But PVP is a different monster altogether... Needs quick response and can't afford any mistakes...

Maybe hotkeyers are better players??

With a good knowledge of player class , enemy class, terrain knowledge and surrounding Dynamics and events(but these stuff gets injected into the brain automagically when spamming pvp I guess)

I never made the switch because, eh, I guess I didn't want to lose while doing so.I wasn't willing to make the initial sacrifice. Funny thing is, I can easily type 70-80+ words a minute

The only thing I don't click is dodge (fairly obvious) and sword 2 with the double leap. I don't know how someone would reliably do that with clicking.

The downside to clicking isn't just the timing. Looking down at the hotkeys while clicking takes my eyes off the screen and it's hard to track players and do that.

@InsaneQR.7412 I know this doesn't have to do with my question directly but I gotta reply.On one hand, SB is very strong. Look at Metabattle. 7 classes are meta. Mirage, Firebrand, Herald, S/dThief (doesn't even need xpac), Boonbeast and TWO Meta Builds for Necro. It's not exaggeration to say the other classes are strong. It's safe to say that there are less complaints about Soulbeast, a class that can be reliably targeted, than a Mirage, with ridiculous visual clutter, stealth, invulns and blocks. Two mesmers on one team and Two Soulbeasts on the other team in a Rated Match. We all know who will win reliably win that scenario. Mesmers can Roam like a thief, get away or rotate like a thief and reliably win the point. That's pretty strong. Much more influential in a match than Soulbeast.

Look at the Great Category on metabattle. Out of 11 spots, Ranger doesn't have one spot considered great. You will see them waaaaayyyy down there in 'Good'. And many believe Great specs are viable into Plat 1-2.

Rangers are used to being nerfed, you all expect to be nerfed.Many of you all are a bunch of d**n sadists. For Fudge Sake, you all want to be nerfed. I hear the same sentiment every time a patch comes around.But look, everyone is strong at one time and some continue to stay strong. Look at mesmers...anet created a monster that many believe cannot be nerfed.Ever seen the insane dmg a Rev can put out? Can you even get away? God forbid you try to kill a Firebrand on point and the heals they put out, the support and decent damage can be a game changer, since most games are decided by the first mid fight.

Soulbeast doesn't add all that much to the core ranger toolkit other than the merged skills and Dolyak stance for sustain. it's not even a damage upgrade in pvp since you don't take the dps grandmaster you use the stance one. OWP is a nice bump but i'm not sure it blows RaO out of the water, the biggest benefit of stances has more to do with the amount of boonstrips flying around than the skills themselves.

@"Eleazar.9478" No other trait lines of other classes help their spec?Eh then again, maybe you are right. I've heard other people say it many times before. And although I don't really believer it to be,I dont really care. Im going to guilt myself into believing 'the only reason Im any good is because of this one trait line'. How does that ever help me?

it's not that you're only good because of one traitline, that's ridiculous i've played against you and you're better than that, but ranger is married to WS because it's our only defensive traitline. Try any build other than a "sniper" style build and you'll see where it comes up short.

@everyone

I honestly believe, ofc there is much more to playing Soulbeast to playing Ranger.It reminds me of Drummers who play on a small kit or a Neil Peart or a mechanic that is proficient with a small set of tools. And now he has a 50,000 set of tools.Is he actually any better or faster with the bigger set of tools?

I played Core ranger for many nights. And while I was playing, I thought SB would of helped me win solo fights better and also support group fights more.When I came back to playing SB, I was too used to playing core and it's simpler than Druid. It took me a couple games to get my Rhythm back with SB.I get too cocky on Soulbeast and try to do too much. On Core Ranger, I know I am soft as tissue paper and I play accordingly, kite more, los more and get away much more preemptively. But, eh, Core is a selfish spec.

There really isnt anything more to it. the weapons and weapon skills are the same. most of our utility choices are the same with the only change being two stances over WS skills and that's more a matter of personal choice than anything else. The primary difference is in pet management, you don't want your pet running around attacking anything and everything but that can be controlled better just by putting it on passive and sicking it on your focused target. you're still as soft as tissue paper once your Dolyak is burned.

I play a mix of clicking and mouse buttons and up to this season i've been playing low to mid plat, it's how i learned to play and i've gotten used to it. hotkeying is probably faster but learning that now would be like starting over imo.

@Prophet.1584 Part of what I meant to say about SB vs Core,

On core, I have several responsibilitieswreck people with dmg, while staying rangedInterrupting stompsoccasionally rezzingand Leaving losing fightsSimple--mostly it's kill people at range.

But with SB (I play sw/wh Lb with Smokescale and the White owl)

All of the core jobs ^Plus I can share stances with teammatesHeal with OwlHeal and Clear Condis with Bear heal.

Smokescale in group fights, takes you much closer to group fightsSharing stances and owl heal and Bear heal also brings me closer to group fights

Deciding when to enter group fights, share stances and heal is the tricky part.

@EnderzShadow.2506 lol dude

I wasn't saying the pet or ws survival carried you I'm just saying across all ranger builds ws allows them all to be viable in PvP senarios. Have some faith in yourself!

Im mildly annyoyed that all of rangers cleanse is in ws thus making it a no choice when build crafting for PvP

@Eleazar.9478 said:@EnderzShadow.2506 lol dude

I wasn't saying the pet or ws survival carried you I'm just saying across all ranger builds ws allows them all to be viable in PvP scenarios. Have some faith in yourself!

Im mildly annyoyed that all of rangers cleanse is in ws thus making it a no choice when build crafting for PvP

Oh alright, I guess I had a knee jerk reaction, cause I've heard plenty of rangers ask for it to be nerfed.

And thanks

@EnderzShadow.2506 said:@Prophet.1584 Part of what I meant to say about SB vs Core,

On core, I have several responsibilitieswreck people with dmg, while staying rangedInterrupting stompsoccasionally rezzingand Leaving losing fightsSimple--mostly it's kill people at range.

But with SB (I play sw/wh Lb with Smokescale and the White owl)

All of the core jobs ^Plus I can share stances with teammatesHeal with OwlHeal and Clear Condis with Bear heal.

Smokescale in group fights, takes you much closer to group fightsSharing stances and owl heal and Bear heal also brings me closer to group fights

Deciding when to enter group fights, share stances and heal is the tricky part.

Soulbeast is still fairly squishy so you want to dive in when the numbers are equal your team has the advantage, in outnumbered fights you'll squish under focus. In a fight with even numbers stance sharing can make a big difference. I use Bear Stance personally for the cleanse with all the condi mesmers and scourges around and it helps keep my teammates up at mid. i'll usually pop the boon duration stance right before dolyak and swap to wh for the team boon buff.

i usually run owl and smokescale, unmerged at the start of the fight and before stacking boons. i let them engage and for the owl use the f2, for smokescale i wait until it's used smoke assault and knockdown. then merge and push the dps with s/a or LB

Well its a team-dependent game, but on (meta) soulbeast you definately should do better on the long run.