Are rangers wanted in squads now? What would it require ?

Now rangers can drop an 360 radius AoE every 16s which does not need LoS (it can hit well inside the walls ) and does a decent amount of damage (in a sicem soulbeast) .

If you were the commander and Anet devs would ask you to change only one aspect of the class (skills or traits) what would ask for to have open an spot in squads ?

Its not just about "What can SlB offer to the squad?" but also "What does a SlB need, that only a squad can give?"

In other words: even if you would provide freaking AoEs ever 2 secs + group support, you would still not need e. g. stab from a FB. Some coms assign Weavers to a second tag or focus group, just because FB group slots are more vital for other classes like scourge.

It would need 5 more aoes like that.

1. Stop using sic em
2. start using traited shouts
3. have a pet merge that has some group help rather than more damage for you- it will also keep you alive and not be a lootbag or a res bag.
4. learn when to use the above and position so if benefits people.
5. don't stay in a zerg that groups all the SB's in one group, you're better off just following outside and more likely to survive due to boon shares etc
6. learn to scout when you can.
7. destroy siege on walls, etc whilst wondering around.
8. learn positioning, it's key to surviving
9. your barrage is great for finishing off downed players.

And you still don't need to be in the squad. Oh, and certain comms will still kick you because they only want meta builds, even if they keep wiping and the squad is no where near full, even when you survive a lot longer than their meta ball.

I think you've been listening to map chat a little too much, friend. Ranger bullying is a meme that refuses to die. Ignore the toxicity of elitists, and quietly join squad, unless they're being clowns. Then just make a roamer build, or party up with friends.

Anything a ranger can do in and for a squad, another class does it better.

Love playing ranger in WvW. But just to roam around and pew pew. Solo or with a small group. Sometimes squads invite me, but I usually decline. Not really built to help them.

If I want to join a squad, I play a different class.

I am just asking if you could change just one aspect of the ranger, what would it be in your opinion so it could it would be desired to have a few in an squad

Add a hammer with a significant hit on #2. Make all utility slots provide AoE boons. Switch the class to use heavy armor.

the problem is rangers are trying to compete with staff eles. maybe a buff to stance share and some other group utility unique to rangers. longbow pierce should be baseline.

for anyone ignant, barrage (ranger longbow 5) can do 45k in pvp. so its a pretty awesome aoe if you can survive all the retal.

@Stand The Wall.6987 said:the problem is rangers are trying to compete with staff eles. maybe a buff to stance share and some other group utility unique to rangers. longbow pierce should be baseline.

for anyone ignant, barrage (ranger longbow 5) can do 45k in pvp. so its a pretty awesome aoe if you can survive all the retal.

Rev does that much with 1 hammer skill. 2 in the worst case. Both witg less cast time and lower cooldown while providing other support and cc.

@steki.1478 said:

@Stand The Wall.6987 said:the problem is rangers are trying to compete with staff eles. maybe a buff to stance share and some other group utility unique to rangers. longbow pierce should be baseline.

for anyone ignant, barrage (ranger longbow 5) can do 45k in pvp. so its a pretty awesome aoe if you can survive all the retal.

lol, no. I meant 45k to one person, and that's just pvp numbers.

It would need other classes' ranged aoes toned down a lot. In WvW, hitting more people for good damage is MUCH preferred to hitting one or two people for great damage. As long as aoe spam exists (scourge, rev), those will be the better choice for WvW, so you'd need:

• all scourge circles heavily nerfed
• CoR heavily nerfed

Then, there would have to be a lot less projectile hate:

• Defense Field removed or duration shortened
• FB walls/bubbles removed or duration shortened
• Winds of Disenchantment no longer blocks projectiles

At this point, Ranger could probably compete on a somewhat equal playing field with other classes in a large fight. Would it be a good pick? Maybe? I'm not sure, but it wouldn't be completely locked out like it currently is.

@anduriell.6280 said:Now rangers can drop an 360 radius AoE every 16s which does not need LoS (it can hit well inside the walls ) and does a decent amount of damage (in a sicem soulbeast) .

If you were the commander and Anet devs would ask you to change only one aspect of the class (skills or traits) what would ask for to have open an spot in squads ?

Nope, still the most useless class in a zerg.

And the only one that a blind monkey can play, Press 1 button over and over and instakill any unsuspecting narb. In GW1 at least it required some small ammount of skills, interrupt rangers were great fun to play. But this is just embarrassing. Lucky me I play FB.

How about siege clearing? That was the first thing I thought of when I heard about the change to barrage. There never seem to be enough Eles around, and it bugs me to eat siege when it could otherwise be nuked down.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:How about siege clearing? That was the first thing I thought of when I heard about the change to barrage. There never seem to be enough Eles around, and it bugs me to eat siege when it could otherwise be nuked down.

Staff ele does it better. So while there may not be enough around, it wouldn't make rangers more desirable.

most coms. i.e. me dont know rangers. so you got to explain what you can do :). in knowing, we break the fear

@Sovereign.1093 said:most coms. i.e. me dont know rangers. so you got to explain what you can do :). in knowing, we break the fear

most rangers don't know what they can do. so the coms have to explain it to them and bring fear into reality.

@shiri.4257 said:

@Sovereign.1093 said:most coms. i.e. me dont know rangers. so you got to explain what you can do :). in knowing, we break the fear

i just normally tell ppl to bring fb rev scourge spell weaver. its becoming fun the moment the realize everyone of us is running berserker

@Ni In.6578 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:How about siege clearing? That was the first thing I thought of when I heard about the change to barrage. There never seem to be enough Eles around, and it bugs me to eat siege when it could otherwise be nuked down.

it doesn't. meteor shower has a longer cd and is much more unreliable.

@coro.3176 said:It would need other classes' ranged aoes toned down a lot. In WvW, hitting more people for good damage is MUCH preferred to hitting one or two people for great damage. As long as aoe spam exists (scourge, rev), those will be the better choice for WvW, so you'd need:

• all scourge circles heavily nerfed
• CoR heavily nerfed

Then, there would have to be a lot less projectile hate:

• Defense Field removed or duration shortened
• FB walls/bubbles removed or duration shortened
• Winds of Disenchantment no longer blocks projectiles

At this point, Ranger could probably compete on a somewhat equal playing field with other classes in a large fight. Would it be a good pick? Maybe? I'm not sure, but it wouldn't be completely locked out like it currently is.

/thread

rang need what mes needs: solid aoe.

If you're just playing longbow, then just follow at the backline; no need to be in the squad. Use Lead the Wind and activate Signet of the Hunt if you are pewpewing behind your zerg and see reflecting bubbles go up. Otherwise you hurt your zerg; although your zerg might not know you're the one actually hurting them (they retreat back towards you), you'll know it and should feel guilty for being part of the cause of the retreat.

Unfortunately with the severe nerf to Unstoppable Union, you do have to be more choosy when you unleash your Rapid Fire and Point Blank Shot. Watch where you shoot; learn which bubbles are reflectors, destroyers and save your best damaging skills.

For as long as you run glass cannon equipment, you probably won't ever be a part of the squad, unless placed in a backline group.

Positioning and especially movement are important to learn. If your commander does a lot of kiting and repositioning, you can pretty much never use Barrage if you want to live. With such a commander, you need to focus on moving to a safe spot, either behind him or in a sniper perch away from the action.

If you're determined to be a ranger in the midst of the squad, you'll need to be tankier and probably use axe/warhorn, since axe hits a wider target area and warhorn gives your group buffs and has a blast finisher. Longbow does nothing for your group.

Longer stances for allies (leader of the pack).

I think this really has nice potential. Dolyak-stance is a great stability addition, Wolfe is a nice damage increase for e.g. Scourges, Moa is nice for boon uptime. Even bear stance would be nice.Those stances are not corruptable and grant unique effects. 4s on a 20s CD is far to short to make a difference, though. If this could go to a 50% area, there would really be a demand in my opinion.

Seems crazy to me that anet is so bad at designing specs they somehow managed to make a druid spec that isn't meta support in a mode designed for group battles lmao