Next Ranger Elite With Rifle : Yes/No

[Fenom.9457]

@Dadnir.5038 said:

@Fenom.9457 said:

@Dadnir.5038 said:I don't think the ranger is really in need of yet another ranged weapon.

It’s all in the name

"Ranger" is related to the verb "to range" with synonym such as to travel, to run through, to tour, to roam... etc. It's closer to the notion of "forester" or "gamekeeper". It's not related directly to the act of hiting a foe from a distance, it's part of the job but it doesn't define the job.

I know, I was mostly joking. Still, it could have dual meaning. Ranger certainly excels with ranged weapons so far, it would make sense for them to have another

[Gotejjeken.1267]

The term ranger has nothing to do with literal combat range--it's being a keeper or maintainer of an area. Thus 'park ranger', or Walker 'Texas Ranger'. This misinformation I've seen a lot on here, unfortunately.

Thematically--which is the driving force of the class choices in the game--firearms are directly opposite of what rangers would use. They represent gunpowder, etc. all the things that are counter-nature. All other classes that use them have a reason--engineers (obviously), warriors (armed men), thieves (assassins).

Hammer would be fine since ranger's already have access to greatsword; better for me would be scepter / rework of spirits, since ranger's are creatures of nature and druids are pretty 'magical' already.

The problem really, is the pet. If you do hammer then you say ranger can survive better, so the pet becomes a larger focus (and people will cry). If you do scepter, you can probably skirt around this by having spirits replace the pet in some manner, but then ranger's might dislike this. If you do spirits you kind of encroach on druid anyway, because spirits imply support and druid is literal support (or was in competitive modes).

[Leonidrex.5649]

I dont think rifle has anything to offer to ranger honestly.If I was to guess ranger will get scepter or focus and be a "shaman" kind of thing, pet replaced with totems. Or spirits.Most weapons that are left over just dont feel right for the class, hammer, mace, shield, pistol, rifle.... they just dont fit IMO

[Arheundel.6451]

My money is on : Shield

-Following the rules they initially placed : druid got 2 hand, Soulbeast got main hand....EoD elite should get off hand-They will want to avoid a defensive off hand to avoid a GS/x-More defense kinda of builds......so Shield while favoured is unprobable and all other possible bases with shield are covered by other professions....and yet Shield is a thematic off hand for Rangers, so far Anet has followed the classic ranger archetype for the weapons and fighting styles so yeah, the D&D ranger includes : longbow/shortbow/axe/sword/dagger/staff/warhorn/Greatsword...and Shield slo who knows-Then : Scepter and Focus which are both possible,the spellcasting abilities of ranger are not limited to druid but ofc not as expanded as a mage,,another who knows-Finally we have Mace....another possibility but yeah getting a 2nd two hand weapon like hammer is very unlikely.

Personally-I pray for hammer (AoE ranged CC/dmg non projectile : my dream plus amazing looking skins)-I will be content with shield (a brawler spec )-I will frown if we get scepter or focus (like c'mon....)-I will cry with Mace (I see no purpose plus....worst list of skins in the game)

[Fade.1743]

I could see them doing Ranger as some sort of Commando in the future (as this would be akin to IRL US Army Rangers which are a pretty elite military unit).

But not for EoD. It's a bit too soon after Deadeye where they would probably a very similar style of play

[serow.6524]

Voted No.I'm hoping for scepter, as a Zoo Keeper where the Ranger gets Minions as utilities.

[Dadnir.5038]

@serow.6524 said:Voted No.I'm hoping for scepter, as a Zoo Keeper where the Ranger gets Minions as utilities.

I'd love to see a shepherd that summon sheeps as utilities. Add a wolf as pet to help drive the sheeps and the picture would be perfect!

[Dinas Dragonbane.2978]

Hammer with shouts, as they changed our shouts to commands some time ago. Shouts should be based around an effect around the ranger and a second(likely different) effect around the pet, making pet survivability and cohesion with your pet be a focus to maximize support/damage/whatever.

[quaniesan.8497]

Absolutely not. Even putting the side the argument that it's anti-thematic for rangers as much as a thief with scepter, it's redundant with long bow and short bow for both direct and condi damage. I'd go with dual swords instead.

[Dadnir.5038]

@"quaniesan.8497" said:Absolutely not. Even putting the side the argument that it's anti-thematic for rangers as much as a thief with scepter, it's redundant with long bow and short bow for both direct and condi damage. I'd go with dual swords instead.

Scepter isn't "anti-thematic" with thief. If you want an anti-thematic weapons for thief, you got greatsword and hammer that are fine examples since they are considered "heavy weapons" not befitting of a profession whose thematic lean on being "agile and stealthy". GW's assassin, whom thief seem to be the successor, had quite an array of spell/curse/enchantment making a spell casting e-spec a possibility. Right now thief leant more on the "mechanic/industrial" side (especially with DE) but it got the leeway to move toward "magic".

Sword off-hand on ranger wouldn't be surprising but I'm not sure it would be a "satisfying" or even "defining" e-spec weapon (Core Ranger already got a sword main-hand). Hammer, scepter, shield and/or focus would all be more thematically defining for an e-spec than a bland sword off-hand. While riffle and pistol don't feel to fit right with the "nature" thematic of the ranger.

[The Boz.2038]

@"Dadnir.5038" said:Scepter isn't "anti-thematic" with thief. If you want an anti-thematic weapons for thief, you got greatsword and hammer that are fine examples since they are considered "heavy weapons" not befitting of a profession whose thematic lean on being "agile and stealthy". GW's assassin, whom thief seem to be the successor, had quite an array of spell/curse/enchantment making a spell casting e-spec a possibility.It goes even further than that; Assassins were often dual-classed into a caster profession (commonly Elementalist or Monk) to give their fast attacks access to "your attacks deal +X additional element damage" spells, and would then use a scepter or staff as a weapon switch option for ranged (often with an energy-hide loadout). The glut of fantasy "arcane thief" stereotypes supports scepters as a weapon option, too.

[kharmin.7683]

I still don't see how a hammer can be thematic for a ranger. To me, it is too large and bulky of a weapon, better served for more fighter-type classes than ranger. Just my opinion.

[The Greyhawk.9107]

@The Boz.2038 said:

@"Dadnir.5038" said:Scepter isn't "anti-thematic" with thief. If you want an anti-thematic weapons for thief, you got greatsword and hammer that are fine examples since they are considered "heavy weapons" not befitting of a profession whose thematic lean on being "agile and stealthy". GW's assassin, whom thief seem to be the successor, had quite an array of spell/curse/enchantment making a spell casting e-spec a possibility.It goes even further than that; Assassins were often dual-classed into a caster profession (commonly Elementalist or Monk) to give their fast attacks access to "your attacks deal +X additional element damage" spells, and would then use a scepter or staff as a weapon switch option for ranged (often with an energy-hide loadout). The glut of fantasy "arcane thief" stereotypes supports scepters as a weapon option, too.

Would rather have the offhand sword for thieves, but I'm more curious about this statement about a "glut of arcane thieves". Where is this a thing? Like, what franchise and the like, I'm genuinely interested.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Hammer Hammer. Hammer time. Also, bunnies as pets. Vorpal bunnies with sharp pointy teeth.

[Fueki.4753]

@"The Greyhawk.9107" said:I'm more curious about this statement about a "glut of arcane thieves". Where is this a thing? Like, what franchise and the like, I'm genuinely interested.Afaik, Arcane Tricksters (not Thieves) are a DnD exclusive thing.However, thematically it resembles GW2 Thieves a bit, since both are Rogue archetype classes/professions that also use magic.After all, Stealth and Shadow Steps are Shadow Magic.And according to the Wiki, Preparations all magical skills, too.

I wouldn't be too surprised when the next elite specialization for Thief would dive deeper into the magical aspect and be something like Shadow Mage.

Except for the flood of players using Assassin/Ritualist and Ritualist/Assassin at the release of Factions, I don't remember seeing a "glut" of Assassin/Mage characters in GW1 though.

[Dadnir.5038]

@kharmin.7683 said:I still don't see how a hammer can be thematic for a ranger. To me, it is too large and bulky of a weapon, better served for more fighter-type classes than ranger. Just my opinion.

Just imagine a big wooden club and it's thematically fitting.

[kharmin.7683]

@Dadnir.5038 said:

@kharmin.7683 said:I still don't see how a hammer can be thematic for a ranger. To me, it is too large and bulky of a weapon, better served for more fighter-type classes than ranger. Just my opinion.

Just imagine a big wooden club and it's thematically fitting.

To me, a wooden club would be more like a mace whereas a hammer is a two-handed ordeal. A larger club might make sense for a druid to me, though.

[Kiba.9743]

I am going to say no to the Hammer. For no other reason that I don't like hammers, so it's just a personal preference thing. I do not use Longbows or Greatswords because they are so slow to me. Hammers are a combination of a slow and ugly weapon lol. I'll do a side vote of off-hand sword.

[The Greyhawk.9107]

@Kiba.9743 said:I am going to say no to the Hammer. For no other reason that I don't like hammers, so it's just a personal preference thing. I do not use Longbows or Greatswords because they are so slow to me. Hammers are a combination of a slow and ugly weapon lol. I'll do a side vote of off-hand sword.

Wouldn't be against that for Rangers at some point, I'd just prefer Thieves get an offhand sword first/too.

[Kodama.6453]

@"Kiba.9743" said:I am going to say no to the Hammer. For no other reason that I don't like hammers, so it's just a personal preference thing. I do not use Longbows or Greatswords because they are so slow to me. Hammers are a combination of a slow and ugly weapon lol. I'll do a side vote of off-hand sword.

I kinda doubt that ranger will get offhand sword. The last elite spec, soulbeast, gave ranger dagger mainhand to enable dual wielding daggers. Dual wielding swords feels too similar thematically, since they are also bladed weapons.

To be honest, hammer or mace would make the most sense for ranger at this point, since ranger doesn't have a "blunt" weapon yet.

[Psycoprophet.8107]

Isn't ranger short on 2h melee weapons, wouldn't a land spear not only fit a Ranger theme but also five Ranger another 2h melee/med range option?

[Kodama.6453]

@Psycoprophet.8107 said:Isn't ranger short on 2h melee weapons, wouldn't a land spear not only fit a Ranger theme but also five Ranger another 2h melee/med range option?

If we go for 2handed weapons, I prefer the hammer for the glorious bunny thumper reference.

[Downstate.4697]

Kind of hoping for a beast master that can have both pets out at once and the ranger loses 10% of base stats to increase pet stats by 10%. Hammer would fit nice. Or a scepter to act like a whip. Personally I want OH sword.

[AreeSoothsayer.1068]

@FrownyClown.8402 said:Kind of hoping for a beast master that can have both pets out at once and the ranger loses 10% of base stats to increase pet stats by 10%. Hammer would fit nice. Or a scepter to act like a whip. Personally I want OH sword.

I would also like to have both pets out. It's partially setup already with the F4 switch betweens.

[asterix.9614]

Yes please