It is a thing of beauty to see smart play.

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

Throwaway feelgood post.

Just wanted to mention that even in this meta, I still find sparks of joy in watching people landing cc the moment someone's stab, block or invuln runs out, or snapping around raw to manually aim an attack where someone is about to port back with spectral walk, or using a block to tank one attack then stowing it so they can attack before their opponent can cast again.

Even with all the problems the core of the combat is still pretty nice to experience/watch.

[Ragnar.4257]

I think what you're discounting is the possibility that, by the law of averages, these pro plays will sometimes happen even if people are just randomly mashing buttons.

Monkeys and typewriters, etc

[saerni.2584]

I'll just toss in an agreement. I run into good players who push their builds to the limit and are genuinely fun to fight win or lose.

Then I run into people who think 3v1ing someone makes them good.

Honestly, it's the first kind of people that make the second kind bearable.

[Stallic.2397]

Good rotation is also a delight to see. So many lost games just cause of bad rotations. Everyone rotates out of mid or no one watching close for decap, etc.

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

@Ragnar.4257 said:I think what you're discounting is the possibility that, by the law of averages, these pro plays will sometimes happen even if people are just randomly mashing buttons.

Monkeys and typewriters, etc

Definitely some shakespeare being pulled out of nowhere but that isn't everyone. There's still a lot of players out there that know the buttons.

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

As a Ranger main, here are the 1v1s that are good fun balanced match ups that could go either way:

• vs. Spellbreakers
• vs. Power Heralds
• vs. Holosmith
• vs. GOOD Thieves. Less skilled Thieves are easily countered by Ranger
• vs. Power based Mesmer specs

Vs. anything else, you're either countering or getting countered. But the aforementioned 1v1s allow for the type of play to happen that your OP post mentions, and yes, the game is so so much more fun when the dynamic is skill based and less rock/paper/scissors based.

[Avatar.3568]

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:As a Ranger main, here are the 1v1s that are good fun balanced match ups that could go either way:

• vs. Spellbreakers
• vs. Power Heralds
• vs. Holosmith
• vs. GOOD Thieves. Less skilled Thieves are easily countered by Ranger
• vs. Power based Mesmer specs

Vs. anything else, you're either countering or getting countered. But the aforementioned 1v1s allow for the type of play to happen that your OP post mentions, and yes, the game is so so much more fun when the dynamic is skill based and less rock/paper/scissors based.

Looks like you have problems with condi

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

@Avatar.3568 said:

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:As a Ranger main, here are the 1v1s that are good fun balanced match ups that could go either way:

• vs. Spellbreakers
• vs. Power Heralds
• vs. Holosmith
• vs. GOOD Thieves. Less skilled Thieves are easily countered by Ranger
• vs. Power based Mesmer specs

Vs. anything else, you're either countering or getting countered. But the aforementioned 1v1s allow for the type of play to happen that your OP post mentions, and yes, the game is so so much more fun when the dynamic is skill based and less rock/paper/scissors based.

Looks like you have problems with condi

Not really. I didn't say I struggled with condi, I said that other match ups are rather imbalanced or simply not fun. Other match ups look like this, if you were say DPS Soulbeast at least:

• Soulbeast = Core Guard in the end. A Core Guard counters you on node, but the Ranger counters the Core Guard if it plays smart and kites
• Soulbeast > DH ^ same ordeal, but the Ranger has a few advantages due to Sic Em vs. trap rune and the DH being squishy
• Soulbeast = FB but it is often you can't actually kill the FB, it just tanks and kites and never dies
• Soulbeast = Condi Herald but again, it often results in neither being able to actually kill each other. The Ranger kites too well for the CH to seal the deal on a kill and a well played CH is too sustainy for the Ranger to seal a kill. Not a fun match up and often boring
• Soulbeast < Renegade, everything about Renegade hard counters power based Ranger specs
• Soulbeast > Scrapper, for all the defense a Scrapper would seem to have, when the big burst lands, the Scrapper doesn't have enough topped out vita to endure the blows and recover from it. Scrapper is good vs. anything not glass cannon though.
• Soulbeast > All Necros
• Soulbeast < Weavers, and they can't kill good Tempests either, but the Tempests also cannot kill them

[Shao.7236]

@Azure The Heartless.3261 said:Throwaway feelgood post.

Just wanted to mention that even in this meta, I still find sparks of joy in watching people landing cc the moment someone's stab, block or invuln runs out, or snapping around raw to manually aim an attack where someone is about to port back with spectral walk, or using a block to tank one attack then stowing it so they can attack before their opponent can cast again.

Even with all the problems the core of the combat is still pretty nice to experience/watch.

Throwaway feelgood post.

You're a pretty nice to experience/watch.