Dao Jones.6720

Quick story: My main at launch was a Ranger. 100% map clear, two max 400 crafting skills, the works. During the original Karka event when precursor weapons were dropping left and right I actually managed to snag The Lover, and despite being an ultra-casual player who had never gotten a legendary anything in his life, I embarked on a crazy plan to make The Dreamer. My entire guild helped me to get the mats needed (it wasn’t easy back then!), and I finally got that glorious stupid horsey bow. Left me completely broke, but whatever. Shortly afterward Anet nerfed Shortbow Rangers (and significantly buffed the Longbow, which made SB even worse by comparison).. It pissed me off so much I took an ~8-year break from the game. So now I’m back, and it seems Shortbow is still kinda awful for Rangers. However, I see that legendaries are no longer soul bound, so I can move it to another class. Unless I’m missing something, my only options are Thief and Revenant, right? Help me put my awesome weapon to good use! If you had a legendary Shortbow, would you roll a new class to use it? Or should I hang it over the fireplace, and pretend I’m just another broke newbie?

Thank you all for the replies. I've been reading about Necros, and almost all of the consensus (from post Feb-2020) is that Reaper is the better WvW spec unless you're only planning to play support. Does Scourge have the ability to contribute offensively in zerging/small group play? (I'm not going to worry about roaming.) That would be great to hear if so, as I have a freshly leveled 80 Necro that I was preparing to set aside since I couldn't find a core spec I liked, and I haven't gotten enough HPs yet to fully level an Elite.

Are there any classes/builds out there that can be effective without a significant investment in runes/gear? And by "effective" I don't mean "rule the battlefield", I mean "can serve a useful role that isn't just a speed bump for an enemy". I'm looking for a class I can be effective with as a fresh level 80 in exotics with sub-optimal runes. I'm happy to slowly invest in the class as I get better at it (and as I make more money), but I don't want to have to spend 50+ gold just to see if I even like or want to play a build.