Them Ranger folk... - Guild Wars Forums

Skrilling · Jun 23, 2005, 08:18 AM // 08:18

When I started the game, One of my goals was to find a specific purpose for each class, something that class excelled at and no other class quite had. So far i've been successfull, except for rangers. So, i was wondering what everyone thought of when they thought of rangers. What is something they do well?

So far, my take on rangers is such: they can do a bit of everything, but nothing better than the class that specializes in it. For example, they can tank if need be, whether it be with themselves (evades, blind, and 70 armor +30 vs elem) or their pet. They can intterupt and frustrate people, they can heal themselves and their pets and occasionally other people (healing spring), they can do some area affect stuff (barrage, ignite arrow) and they even have a few sprints to move around.

The closest comparison i could think of is to a warrior. Instead of doing damage close up, they do it at range. Instead of 1 big punch, they add damage to their weapon for a certain amount of time in preparations. Tanking requires some finesse, but it can be done.

However, rangers have some strength beyond that of a warrior somewhere because if you get a group of warriors together you fail, but if you grab all rangers, you do quite well (if you haven't tried it, its fun). This means that there is something that sets them appart, but i can't figure out what it is. Any ideas?

Willy Rockwell · Jun 23, 2005, 09:11 AM // 09:11

They are the only class able to pull, to draw out members of an enemy group so they can be picked off. A common mistake is to attack a concentration of enemy who are too strong to defeat, the ranger solves this problem.

Rajamic · Jun 23, 2005, 09:54 AM // 09:54

You pretty much said it yourself. Rangers can do anything decently well. Get a group of all warriors together and they will struggle when they face someone depriving them of movement and/or adrenaline and will struggle to heal when they need to. Get a group of Elems together and they will have to depend on a lot of Earth magics to keep from dying in a small number of hits. Get a group of Monks together and they will have trouble dealing damage in lengthy battles. (I'm talking going pure classes on those.)

Rangers have good armor, arguably the best. A group of Rangers with just one of them bringing Greater Conflagration + Winter, and everyone with vs. Cold armor will be able to take one hell of a beating. If everyone has Whirling + Healing Spring, they can pair off to drop 2 springs and stay in tight formation, providing for as much as 50 HP per second! One person drops a Favorable Winds and everyone gets the damage bonus. In that tight formation, you could take turns dropping Dust Traps or using Throw Dirt as needed to keep the enemies blind. And each person should still have 3+ slots left for a bow attack like Barrage or Penetrating Shot, a prep like Ignite or Incendiary, and Tiger's Fury which should be considered standard for every Ranger build.

Most other classes have major weaknesses (usually in mana supplies and/or armor) that can only be partially compensated for with a secondary or good teammwork with a balanced team. This is the tradeoff for having a specialty, which the Rangers really don't. (Though I'd still argue a Ra/Mes is a better anti-mage than any Mes/X could be). Rangers, if they stay in their own profession fairly tightly and have high Expertise, will never have to worry about mana much, even when getting a draining Mes sicced on them.

hassoon · Jun 23, 2005, 12:22 PM // 12:22

Heh try getting into a all ranger UW team,and watch the carnage Rangers rule.

womble · Jun 23, 2005, 01:28 PM // 13:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willy Rockwell

They are the only class able to pull, to draw out members of an enemy group so they can be picked off. A common mistake is to attack a concentration of enemy who are too strong to defeat, the ranger solves this problem.

Not trying to be funny, but I'm not sure why you say this. Even if a ranger has skills which add to bow range (I don't think they do, but I'm no skill-meister), they can only very rarely be necessary to finesse a pull, and any character can have a decent bow as one of their weapon groups... I pulled a 'bunch' of 7 pairs of mobs and a quartet to bits with my W/N using a bow on F4 and switching back to F1 while pegging it away to make sure the other elements of the encounter didn't accidentally pull; kill 2, rinse, repeat. Okay, so I flubbed the last pull and got the 4-group as well as the pair I was trying to pull, but that was my lack of skill and patience.

What is it that makes the Ranger class super at pulling? (My other char is a E/R, so I'm interested to know).

suzumebachi · Jun 23, 2005, 01:36 PM // 13:36

i think rangers make good leaders. they're usually the ones designated to call targets and pull anyways. that and good support skills (like winter in hell's precipace). i think R/Mo would make an excellent leader class. R/N is like the ultimate jack of all trades.

Hell Marauder · Jun 23, 2005, 03:30 PM // 15:30

Anyone with a longbow can pull, not just rangers. Sometimes a caster can pull better than a ranger because he can pull mobs that are not in visual contact. The thing that sets a ranger apart from others, well except necro, is that he/she doesn't need anyone. A warrior needs monk and elementalist for healing and elemental damage. An elementalist or mesmer needs warrior for physical damage and monk for healing. A monk needs both warriors and elementalists for damages. What does a necro or a ranger need? they can heal and damage both pretty good. They are very balanced and don't really need anyone. Ever try a all-necro team? It can be fun too.

Night Daftshadow · Jun 23, 2005, 04:07 PM // 16:07

I find that warriors are better at being designated as target callers and rangers best at pulling groups. Any class can be any of these two categories but warriors and rangers are the best at it in my opinion. Overall, I think rangers are ok. They are great support, but not good leaders. It's pretty hilarious to see a ranger trying to be a leader. When they are attacked first by physical damage, they start running and being chased by the attackers which is quite hilarious. In turn, it is kind of fraustrating as well because being a warrior, I have to chase the enemy to attack it.

Skrilling · Jun 23, 2005, 04:17 PM // 16:17

These are all good ideas but i suppose i should be a bit more specific. What is their big asset in a pvp setting? Its like in economics, if everyone specializes and trades with each other to get what they don't have, everyone will gain from trade because overall more will be produced as opposed to everyone trying to do everything themselves. How does a ranger fit into this picture?

Tellani Artini · Jun 23, 2005, 04:49 PM // 16:49

Rangers are the masters of overall strategy. Nature rituals change the entire battlefield, something that other classes can not do. The more rangers you have in your group, the more powerful they can potentially be. No matter what strategy your group is using, the ranger has something that can make it better.

Jun 23, 2005, 08:18 AM // 08:18	#1
Skrilling Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA	Them Ranger folk... When I started the game, One of my goals was to find a specific purpose for each class, something that class excelled at and no other class quite had. So far i've been successfull, except for rangers. So, i was wondering what everyone thought of when they thought of rangers. What is something they do well? So far, my take on rangers is such: they can do a bit of everything, but nothing better than the class that specializes in it. For example, they can tank if need be, whether it be with themselves (evades, blind, and 70 armor +30 vs elem) or their pet. They can intterupt and frustrate people, they can heal themselves and their pets and occasionally other people (healing spring), they can do some area affect stuff (barrage, ignite arrow) and they even have a few sprints to move around. The closest comparison i could think of is to a warrior. Instead of doing damage close up, they do it at range. Instead of 1 big punch, they add damage to their weapon for a certain amount of time in preparations. Tanking requires some finesse, but it can be done. However, rangers have some strength beyond that of a warrior somewhere because if you get a group of warriors together you fail, but if you grab all rangers, you do quite well (if you haven't tried it, its fun). This means that there is something that sets them appart, but i can't figure out what it is. Any ideas?

Jun 23, 2005, 03:30 PM // 15:30	#7
Hell Marauder Krytan Explorer Join Date: May 2005	Anyone with a longbow can pull, not just rangers. Sometimes a caster can pull better than a ranger because he can pull mobs that are not in visual contact. The thing that sets a ranger apart from others, well except necro, is that he/she doesn't need anyone. A warrior needs monk and elementalist for healing and elemental damage. An elementalist or mesmer needs warrior for physical damage and monk for healing. A monk needs both warriors and elementalists for damages. What does a necro or a ranger need? they can heal and damage both pretty good. They are very balanced and don't really need anyone. Ever try a all-necro team? It can be fun too. Last edited by Hell Marauder; Jun 23, 2005 at 03:36 PM // 15:36..

Jun 23, 2005, 09:11 AM // 09:11	#2
Willy Rockwell Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: May 2005	They are the only class able to pull, to draw out members of an enemy group so they can be picked off. A common mistake is to attack a concentration of enemy who are too strong to defeat, the ranger solves this problem.

Jun 23, 2005, 09:54 AM // 09:54	#3
Rajamic Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: May 2005 Location: IA Guild: Chronicles of Heroes [CoH] Profession: R/Me	You pretty much said it yourself. Rangers can do anything decently well. Get a group of all warriors together and they will struggle when they face someone depriving them of movement and/or adrenaline and will struggle to heal when they need to. Get a group of Elems together and they will have to depend on a lot of Earth magics to keep from dying in a small number of hits. Get a group of Monks together and they will have trouble dealing damage in lengthy battles. (I'm talking going pure classes on those.) Rangers have good armor, arguably the best. A group of Rangers with just one of them bringing Greater Conflagration + Winter, and everyone with vs. Cold armor will be able to take one hell of a beating. If everyone has Whirling + Healing Spring, they can pair off to drop 2 springs and stay in tight formation, providing for as much as 50 HP per second! One person drops a Favorable Winds and everyone gets the damage bonus. In that tight formation, you could take turns dropping Dust Traps or using Throw Dirt as needed to keep the enemies blind. And each person should still have 3+ slots left for a bow attack like Barrage or Penetrating Shot, a prep like Ignite or Incendiary, and Tiger's Fury which should be considered standard for every Ranger build. Most other classes have major weaknesses (usually in mana supplies and/or armor) that can only be partially compensated for with a secondary or good teammwork with a balanced team. This is the tradeoff for having a specialty, which the Rangers really don't. (Though I'd still argue a Ra/Mes is a better anti-mage than any Mes/X could be). Rangers, if they stay in their own profession fairly tightly and have high Expertise, will never have to worry about mana much, even when getting a draining Mes sicced on them.

Jun 23, 2005, 12:22 PM // 12:22	#4
hassoon Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Apr 2005	Heh try getting into a all ranger UW team,and watch the carnage Rangers rule.

Jun 23, 2005, 01:36 PM // 13:36	#6
suzumebachi Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005 Location: New Mexico Guild: Mas Chingon [VATO] Profession: R/N	i think rangers make good leaders. they're usually the ones designated to call targets and pull anyways. that and good support skills (like winter in hell's precipace). i think R/Mo would make an excellent leader class. R/N is like the ultimate jack of all trades.

Jun 23, 2005, 04:07 PM // 16:07	#8
Night Daftshadow Banned Join Date: May 2005 Location: In the forest Guild: Hidden Shadows Profession: R/Mo	I find that warriors are better at being designated as target callers and rangers best at pulling groups. Any class can be any of these two categories but warriors and rangers are the best at it in my opinion. Overall, I think rangers are ok. They are great support, but not good leaders. It's pretty hilarious to see a ranger trying to be a leader. When they are attacked first by physical damage, they start running and being chased by the attackers which is quite hilarious. In turn, it is kind of fraustrating as well because being a warrior, I have to chase the enemy to attack it.

Jun 23, 2005, 04:17 PM // 16:17	#9
Skrilling Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA	These are all good ideas but i suppose i should be a bit more specific. What is their big asset in a pvp setting? Its like in economics, if everyone specializes and trades with each other to get what they don't have, everyone will gain from trade because overall more will be produced as opposed to everyone trying to do everything themselves. How does a ranger fit into this picture?

Jun 23, 2005, 04:49 PM // 16:49	#10
Tellani Artini Krytan Explorer Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: America Guild: The Kansas City Hotsteppers [KCHS] Profession: R/	Rangers are the masters of overall strategy. Nature rituals change the entire battlefield, something that other classes can not do. The more rangers you have in your group, the more powerful they can potentially be. No matter what strategy your group is using, the ranger has something that can make it better.