Newbie question, why are only melee classes viable?

[Armen.1483]

On 9/19/2021 at 3:51 PM, kharmin.7683 said:

I'm sure I'm wrong, but aren't buffs also granted to those within a squad, regardless of proximity?  Wouldn't ranged players, in a squad, also benefit from them?

No, boons are not automatically granted to anyone in the squad. Sometimes it is about the proximity sometimes it is about specific skills like for example mesmer wells when you gotta be inside the well to get the boon it offers when it expires, etc... Also most of the boons are for 5 people and some are for 10. However having said that the boons are prioritized on subgroups then the squads. For example a chrnomancer casted an alacrity well for 5 people but there are 50 people standing in it. Only people in chrono's subgroup will get the alacrity provided they are inside the well with other 45 people.

[kharmin.7683]

1 hour ago, Armen.1483 said:

No, boons are not automatically granted to anyone in the squad. Sometimes it is about the proximity sometimes it is about specific skills like for example mesmer wells when you gotta be inside the well to get the boon it offers when it expires, etc... Also most of the boons are for 5 people and some are for 10. However having said that the boons are prioritized on subgroups then the squads. For example a chrnomancer casted an alacrity well for 5 people but there are 50 people standing in it. Only people in chrono's subgroup will get the alacrity provided they are inside the well with other 45 people.

Thanks.  I thought that there was some kind of mechanic like that.  Just didn't know the specifics. 

[Gerebos.1065]

I never tought I will ever see that melee is easier than range. Even with thief most of the time I prefer to go melee than range.

Main reasons are already written above but the main issue are the strong AoE which bosses do and at many bosses is totally random and deal huge damage while in close you can learn the patterns more easily. In new events tou can find safe spots from where you can do decent damage without getting in AoE range but Anet is working very hard on limiting those so that instead of watching your combo and dodges you have to check on what spawns under or above you xD

[ArchonWing.9480]

The main problem is a lot of the fights in story and instanced content take place in a tiny arena where you really can't kite them anyways.

 

Ranged can make sense solo but group play is about maximizing damage and boons for defense. Boons have a short range so stacking in melee is considered standard.

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

On 9/21/2021 at 10:13 PM, ArchonWing.9480 said:

The main problem is a lot of the fights in story and instanced content take place in a tiny arena where you really can't kite them anyways.

 

Ranged can make sense solo but group play is about maximizing damage and boons for defense. Boons have a short range so stacking in melee is considered standard.

"Spaces where you can't kite." Oh boy, you need to watch Lord Hizen. And tread some PvP.

You can always kite.

Edited September 23, 2021 by NorthernRedStar.3054

[ArchonWing.9480]

11 hours ago, NorthernRedStar.3054 said:

"Spaces where you can't kite." Oh boy, you need to watch Lord Hizen. And tread some PvP.

You can always kite.

Was referring exclusively to pve instances. Obviously vs other players is a different beast.

In a lot of fights like Mai Trinn she teleports to a player, so trying to run away from her is a lot worse than stacking in melee.

Edited September 24, 2021 by ArchonWing.9480

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

7 hours ago, ArchonWing.9480 said:

Was referring exclusively to pve instances. Obviously vs other players is a different beast.

In a lot of fights like Mai Trinn she teleports to a player, so trying to run away from her is a lot worse than stacking in melee.

Are you trying to imply Hizen is a PvPer or doesn't do instanced PvE? Because both are wrong.

[ArchonWing.9480]

25 minutes ago, NorthernRedStar.3054 said:

Are you trying to imply Hizen is a PvPer or doesn't do instanced PvE? Because both are wrong.

No idea what you're talking about; wasn't talking about him. You're the one that brought up PvP in the first place.

Also here's a video of Hizen doing a fractal boss while staying in its face as much as possible.

Like I said the boss arenas are so small that there's no point pew pew'ing away.

Edited September 24, 2021 by ArchonWing.9480

[itspomf.9523]

Honestly?  Ascended gear is not necessary.  It's only a 5% uplift over exotics and requires a significantly greater expenditure of resources and time.  A lot of the advocates behind this are the ones who came from WoW and similar games, who haven't quite realized that the "vertical progression" mentality of the gear treadmill doesn't exist here in GW2.

 

Why?  Ascended gear is for Fractals:  it's the only equipment able to have Agony Infusions slotted into it.

 

As for the melee vs. ranged issue, it can also be a matter of taste.  You can play a melee elementalist (dagger, or sword with Weaver) just as well as ranged (via scepter or staff), or mix it up with focus.  The difference, however, is as @dace.8019 said:  melee tends to deal more consistent damage, at the expense of taking more hits yourself.  Meanwhile, yes, it's totally possible to kite your foe around in a circle with a staff or scepter (or even a dagger, thanks to the nominal range) while generally staying just out of reach.

 

I'm usually playing a thief, but that profession has a similar situation where our ranged options aren't quite as good as our melee -- but give a lot more utility as a result.  However, a dual pistol thief can pump out some rather respectable damage (and are very good at kiting, too).

 

On the topic of your inventory woes, don't worry, that's really normal.  You can buy up to 15-slot bags relatively cheaply on the market (8-slots are under 50 copper, right now, and 4 of them will grant you 32 extra slots; 15-slotters will run you about 1 gold apiece).  Just take a few moments between events to sell your greys off to merchants and anything that you can't store in material storage on the market.  It'll make you a lot of quick, easy gold!

[ArchonWing.9480]

Also keep in mind that ascended trinkets are easy to get so it's never really full exotic vs full ascended as that number that always gets tossed out.

Investing in bigger bags is good. Unlike equipment that often gets soulbound, bags you buy on the TP can be sold back when you don't need them anymore.

[Borked.6824]

Getting a lot of stockholm syndrome in this thread.  Dozens of people re-iterating the obvious "yeah you can go range but you'll parasitize the group".  Yup, you will, but it's obviously not ok this way.  I've min-maxed my kitten through almost anything I've played, and the severe double standard of basically eliminating "ranged" classes from doing ranged is asinine. 

I remember returning to the game 6 months ago, and I think I spent a full month deciding which of my classes to main again, because they had all been mutated into melee specialists.  Hard to pick what you want without variety.  Ended up picking my thief to just numb the itch.  Ranged gameplay is alluring.  A glass-cannon caster from a distance is the dream.  But it doesn't exist anymore here.  

This should be less "this is how it is" and actually do something to make change.  Need buffs for your raid with casters?  Easy!  Tailor buffs to provide different benefits at range.  One of dozens of solutions that can be implemented to fix this problem.  I see no suggestions here, no complaints, just beaten dogs.

[Xanadrine.4352]

On 9/18/2021 at 5:24 PM, yann.1946 said:

But people are not forced to use melee weapons (or more precise lots of builds use ranged weapons in their optimum setup

Here is a conundrum players that like to play the archtype archer/hunter they play ranger with longbow. The longbow is a longrange weapon in gw2 it does more damage the further you are from the target. If only they would expand the buff area range then we can play a viable ranged class like other games.

Edited September 30, 2021 by Zuldari.3940

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

On 9/25/2021 at 6:15 PM, fluffdragon.1523 said:

Honestly?  Ascended gear is not necessary.  It's only a 5% uplift over exotics and requires a significantly greater expenditure of resources and time.  A lot of the advocates behind this are the ones who came from WoW and similar games, who haven't quite realized that the "vertical progression" mentality of the gear treadmill doesn't exist here in GW2.

It's a bit higher than that.  Without infusions it is a 10.28% increase, and with infusions it is a 12.45% increase.