17 replies to this topic

[Odokuro]

After rolling a Mesmer to 80, then having iZerker bugg’d, then having 1 to 2 seconds of time added before most of the Phantasms begin to attack, has made me just RQ that class, and having a Warrior (GS/LB) get rolled in AC Story even after specing Vit/Tough ect. kind of just turns me off from even attempting any form of Melee combat…

So I ask, out of the available classes that have solid Ranged spec’s available, which one(s) do best with the above mentioned (Title) criteria?

I’ve just noticed that the Ranged classes seem to have a good advantage over Melee anything in terms of staying alive, ect.

I want to be useful outside (Solo) of a group too, so as not to have to depend on others to be partied with me, ect.

The Ele sounds fun, and since I got a Mesmer to 80 I thought Ele’s can not be any more difficult to play/level.

Thanks in advance to those who can help me out!

[ATC_06]

Guardian.

Eles are fun to play but if you're hit (which you probably will in a dungeon) you'll die fast. I'd play guardian if you like running solo, less stress and near-death moments all the time. (I got 700h+ on ele)

[Odokuro]

Guardians are horribad at Ranged....

[dawdler]

Odokuro, on 04 December 2012 - 08:03 PM, said:

Guardians are horribad at Ranged....

Not really. At least not in dungeons, since most targets are pretty fixed (like bosses).

Anyway, for the ranged classes, just take your pick. Nobody knows how good you will be at playing a specific class, hence nobody can tell you what the "best" class for something is. For example you say that your Warrior is bad at melee even when speccing vit/tough in the simplest of dungeons... Surprising, considering I run my Warrior with melee through all dungeon explorable paths, only using ranged as a backup and when melee is just not an option due to mechanics.

[Xyniin]

Engineer, multi ranged options.....rifle,pistol,flamethrower,elixir gun,grenades....and you can trait for longer range in those weps/kits and on top of that have a turret or too to help with agg and add range also

[kalendraf]

AC story can be hard for anyone.  With my own warrior in AC Story, I found that switching to a ranged weapon was a perfectly viable solution for some of the battles.  The key to being successful is adapting to the situation.  By doing that, any class can potentially be successful.

Having dabbled with all the classes, I personally find the warrior to be the best-suited for my own play style to handle all PvE content (general PvE, events, dungeons, etc).  However, what works best for you is not necessarily something anyone else can answer since it's going to hinge heavily on how you play the class.

[Critus]

If you're looking for a good ranged class might as well go with the typical and pick a ranger. You get a Longbow and Shortbow. Ability to have pets tank for you while you kill them. Also the ranger has several good melee options available as well, for those times when you want to get up close and personal.
Basically...

• Multiple long range weapons
  
• multiple pets to fill diff roles(tank for you, dps, heal you)
  
• Medium armor
  
• Really good at kiting stuff...

[Snowulf]

Warrior, take rifle and longbow, for single target and aoe respectively.

[GuanglaiKangyi]

Regardless, yeah, mesmer is good in PvP but not so great in PvE.  Their DPS is fairly low compared to other classes and the usefulness of clones is dependent on the particular encounter.  They make good tanks for bosses that hit for high damage against single targets but do next to nothing against bosses with strong AOE (which is unfortunately most of them).  Warriors are good in general but their DPS isn't as good as some people make it out to be, even with the fabled Hundred Blades spam, and their ranged DPS is downright horrid, so they don't really fit OP's bill.

Elementalists have strong ranged DPS in general so that's probably your best bet.  They also burst for massive damage so you can pretty much solo everything just by exploding it before it ever has the chance to even hit you.  Otherwise, guardians have extremely high overall ranged DPS with scepter (which works just fine, people who can't hit with the orb/Smite are just bad) and top tier survivability to boot.  Your other option for range is Engineer, but you'll have to commit to condition damage if you want to be anything beyond average, so that may not be your cup of tea.

Ironically, ranger isn't actually that good at range.  Or melee, for that matter.

[Sheepski]

Keep the discussion on topic, relevant and avoid insulting other users, or making other such inflammatory reponses.

[Kumakichi]

I'm lovin AC as a mesmer.  There are issues with mesmers but they are far from gamebreakers.  An elementalist can be fun but after grouping with all the other ranged classes Im very happy on my mesmer.

Its not only about your dps which is generally pretty good on mesmers.  Its also about what you bring to a group like time warp, null field, feedback, chaos storm, etc...

Ele's and Engy's seem well liked in AC.

Edited by Kumakichi, 06 December 2012 - 12:57 PM.

[Nabuko Darayon]

Odokuro, on 04 December 2012 - 07:38 PM, said:

After rolling a Mesmer to 80, then having iZerker bugg’d, then having 1 to 2 seconds of time added before most of the Phantasms begin to attack, has made me just RQ that class, and having a Warrior (GS/LB) get rolled in AC Story even after specing Vit/Tough ect. kind of just turns me off from even attempting any form of Melee combat…

To  me Mesmers are far more complex then spaming a berserker. Try other phantasms, or shatter builds. Even though my main is Ele, I find it more fun to play (and to level up with mesmers) and if you master it, meaning you learn to adapt to every situation given you can do some amazing things with a  mesmer.

IMO best thing to do is see what you're good with. What matters it your own opinion. Many said thiefs are 1-shot but people mastered it and now they're invisible to  someone. Some said Eles suck but if you master it you can be unbeatable 1vs1. Some said rangers suck but their longbow and gs are amazing if traited right. and so on

[Dahk]

As for the topic on hand, if you want something that's solid when solo, then this is really when the ranger shines.  The pet allows some amount of tanking and they have a lot of skills that give them a lot of movement to avoid damage easily, so even when it comes to soloing world boss monsters, they're generally very doable as a ranger.

Now, you won't bring nearly as much to a group as a lot of other classes.  You can still get through everything and a good group should always take a ranger if it's controlled by a good player even if they're not the most complimentary profession to the group, but you may miss the utilities that something like a mesmer brings (portals, etc.) and you may miss the damage that the warrior brings.

However, I still think that ranger is the most fun profession in the game.  That doesn't seem to be a popular sentiment with a lot of other people right now though, so take that as a grain of salt.

Edited by Kattar, 06 December 2012 - 05:53 PM.
It's cool, just cleaning up

[Nabuko Darayon]

Dahk, on 06 December 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

However, I still think that ranger is the most fun profession in the game.  That doesn't seem to be a popular sentiment with a lot of other people right now though, so take that as a grain of salt.

Yeah I don't see why rangers aren't popular nether. I have so much fun with rangers. Maybe they're not sPvP material because of their lack of survivability utility skills but they work good in pve oriented stuff and amazing in wvw situations.

[Dahk]

Nabuko Darayon, on 06 December 2012 - 02:32 PM, said:

Yeah I don't see why rangers aren't popular nether. I have so much fun with rangers. Maybe they're not sPvP material because of their lack of survivability utility skills but they work good in pve oriented stuff and amazing in wvw situations.

I honestly think that a lot of the hostility in the ranger community still stems back to the nov 15th patch.  Before then, there wasn't nearly as much unrest about class balance.  However, before Nov 15th, ArenaNet dev Jon Peters said that they were working on a large update to the ranger class mostly to make a larger variety of builds more viable and to fix a lot of the predominant bugs.  However, in the nov 15 notes, there wasn't much done outside of some buffs for water combat and a small buff to the greatsword (which still is an unpopular weapon).  A lot of people in the ranger community really felt betrayed and let down after this, which I think has led to the big outcry that's still continuing on now.

Edited by Dahk, 06 December 2012 - 02:39 PM.

[dawdler]

Personally, its broken pets that make me hate the ranger. Its not really the rangers themselves that are at fault, its the entire mechanic. For example, fractals with the jellyfish boss is a PAIN with a ranger in the group. The pet is constantly being eaten and doesnt fight, hence causing the battle to take a gazillion times longer than without the shitty pet. And can you put the pet away? No. It just comes back as soon as you enter combat. It usually doesnt listen to the passive command either.

[GuanglaiKangyi]

Dahk, on 06 December 2012 - 02:39 PM, said:

I honestly think that a lot of the hostility in the ranger community still stems back to the nov 15th patch.  Before then, there wasn't nearly as much unrest about class balance.  However, before Nov 15th, ArenaNet dev Jon Peters said that they were working on a large update to the ranger class mostly to make a larger variety of builds more viable and to fix a lot of the predominant bugs.  However, in the nov 15 notes, there wasn't much done outside of some buffs for water combat and a small buff to the greatsword (which still is an unpopular weapon).  A lot of people in the ranger community really felt betrayed and let down after this, which I think has led to the big outcry that's still continuing on now.

I don't think it's due to anything they have or haven't done.  It's just because the ranger is a bad class overall.  They have low DPS and not a whole lot else to make up for it.  You'd think the whole "two-in-one" deal would make them inherently good but it honestly really doesn't change a whole lot.

[Kumakichi]

Nabuko Darayon, on 06 December 2012 - 01:08 PM, said:

Mesmers are far more complex

^^ this why I play mesmer.  Maybe on surface it does not seem to be but once you a deep playing mesmer its the complicated.  And I easily drawn to this.  It more about me focus on playing high lvl than it is about a nerf or buff.  How they say that?... bring player not a class?