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Ranger Feedback

Shoxxer77Shoxxer77 Member, Alpha Two
Introduction:
I’ve spent the majority of my playtime with the Ranger class. Initially, I had a lot of fun with it, but after spending more time with the Ranger, I felt like I was only using a small portion of the kit (scatter shot for the bleed, vine field for the root and stronger bleed, followed by auto attacks to proc finishers, then combining Barrage with Arrowstorm in a loop until Vine Field is available again). After testing the Cleric and Mage classes, I started to feel that the Ranger is not as well thought-out compared to the other classes. It feels like the Ranger is a few “passes” behind, which led me to write this feedback.

Let’s begin with the “class fantasy” (such as “Death from afar” or “Hunts their prey down”), what I personally understand by it, and what role the Ranger should fulfill.

I see the Ranger as a class that consistently deals good damage (not the highest), works with DoTs, has strong CC and mobility, and can adapt to different situations (diversity). This includes, for example, being able to deal deadly damage at long ranges with preparation, having high burst potential during specific time windows, or escaping tricky situations using CC, traps, and mobility (jumps/dashes).

I don't want to start a discussion about how the Ranger has too little damage, too high cooldowns, or too much mana consumption — this feedback has already been given countless times. However, I will still mention where I believe certain abilities should deal more damage. Primarily, though, I am concerned with the Ranger kit itself.

Passive Abilities

Thorns
The basic idea behind this ability is good — it allows enemies to hurt themselves and apply a bleed effect. In practice, however, this ability has almost no impact. The damage is insignificant, and since there are enough other ways to apply bleeds, this ability doesn’t add much value. You use it mainly for the “buff,” but you could easily skip it.

Regeneration
Nice to have, but the healing is too low to be noticeable. After a fight, it’s more effective to eat a ration or simply sit down. The only real advantage I see here is when you mount your horse after a fight and have to travel a long distance. The passive HP regeneration saves time because you don’t need to sit down. But honestly, this is a passive ability that you wouldn’t miss if it were gone.

Strider
A great ability that fits the Ranger’s mobility and the “Hunts their prey down” theme.

Active Abilities

Camouflage
A good ability, though I personally use it too rarely, as I only see its purpose in PvP when trying to stealthily approach an enemy for an opener. In standard PvE combat, this ability rarely comes into play. It could be interesting if you could use Camouflage when being chased by mobs to lose aggro. Perhaps that’s possible? I haven't tested it yet. Maybe someone can clarify that in the comments.

Barrage
One of my favorite abilities, especially when combined with "Arrowstorm" from the Shortbow skill tree. I think the damage should be adjusted slightly.

Scatter Shot
Another solid ability. I expected the "Concentrated Scatter Shot" to feel more like a shotgun, meaning that using it up close would deal more damage, with the damage dropping off at range.

Disengage
A very good mobility ability. I like the "freedom" it gives you to jump in various directions. What I feel is missing, however, is that the range feels a bit too short. 2-5 more meters would make it feel better, and a knockback or trip effect on enemies when you hit them directly would be a better fit for escaping dangerous situations and enabling kiting.

Headshot
A solid ability, but I think the animation should be faster and the damage should be higher for enemies under 50% HP. Alternatively, there could be a guaranteed critical hit against enemies under 25% HP. These are just some ideas I had.

Snipe
A very controversial ability, but overall a good one. As many have mentioned, I find the cast time too long, and you’re left vulnerable while channeling it. I could imagine a shorter cast time or a “hold” mechanic, similar to the Mage's Lighting Strike, where the longer you hold the ability, the higher the damage and crit chance. It could even synergize with Camouflage, making Snipe deal more damage or have better penetration when used out of Camouflage. These are just some of my ideas.

Bear Trap
A good ability that does what it’s supposed to, especially the effect where the root duration increases based on the number of snares on the target.

Lighting Reload
I really like this ability, especially for PvP, as it provides good variety and burst potential (e.g., 2 Headshots, 2 Barrages, or a Scatter Shot for AoE).

Thundering Shot
If this ability were instant cast, I think it would be much better, as it would allow you to time the silence more effectively. I also like the fact that it applies a shock effect, which is easily triggerd with Barrage.

Vine Field
In my opinion, this is one of the best abilities in the kit. It fulfills all the important aspects: AoE root, improved bleed, and slow.

Party Strider
As mentioned above, this is a good ability, especially in a group, particularly when you’re chasing enemies in group PvP.

Raining Death
This doesn’t feel like “raining death” at all. The cooldown is too high for what the ability does. The damage, especially in the higher levels, is almost non-existent, even when combined with Thundering Shot.

Call of the Wild
A perfect ability to escape tough situations, especially in PvP. I’ve rarely needed to use this in PvE, though it could potentially be useful in specific dungeons or bosses in the future.

Air Strike
Probably the ability that has drawn many players to the Ranger class. It’s unique and looks fantastic in-game, but unfortunately, it has little impact. The damage is minimal, and the requirement of a snare to trigger the root doesn’t feel great. Moreover, the distance it covers seems underwhelming. The ability appeared to be a game-changer in the first preview, but I only use it when trying to reach higher locations. In my opinion, the ability should root immediately and cover a greater distance.

Ranger Identity: Imbue Ammo, Hunts, and Marks

Let’s start with the Imbue Ammo. In my opinion, it’s a cool idea, but the implementation feels boring. You select a type, and the debuff is applied. You can’t react to the situation because you’re forced to commit to one type. No one invests skill points in more than one Imbue Ammo at once. Additionally, we have to be honest — the current debuffs (such as bleed, snare, and daze) can all be applied by other classes through basic auto-attacks, making it feel pointless to spend 1-3 skill points on these.

Since I like the idea, I’ve thought of some ways to make this mechanic more interesting and active.
I think it would be better if the abilities were active and lasted only for a limited number of auto-attacks but had a larger impact. Here are three examples:

Imbue Ammo “Paralyzing Poison”: Poisons the Ranger’s arrows for the next 6 auto-attacks. Poisoned targets take X damage per second for X seconds and attack X% slower or have an increased cast time for X seconds. (Repeated shots on a target amplify the effect.)

Imbue Ammo “Explosion”: For the next 6 auto-attacks, your attacks are enhanced and deal AoE damage. The primary target takes 100% of the damage, and enemies within X meters take X% of the damage.

Imbue Ammo “Barbed”: Causes the target to bleed for the next 6 auto-attacks. Continued hits increase the bleed effect and prolong it. If more than 4 arrows hit the target, Hemorrhaging is triggered (a large bleed over time for X seconds).

With this approach, Imbue Ammo would be more active, allowing the Ranger to adapt to different situations during combat. It would also make investing skill points in multiple Imbues feel more rewarding. These abilities could be used dynamically in an active fight, and they would have a more significant impact on the enemy. Of course, the damage values, cooldowns, and other details would need adjustment.

Hunts / Marks

According to Intrepid, Hunts and Marks are supposed to be the Ranger's identity. In my opinion, the idea is good, but it hasn't been well implemented. Currently, Hunts and Marks have almost no impact. I suspect that 95% of the time, "Mark of the Tiger" and "Hunt of the Tiger" are used. The only ability that benefits from this combination and likely explains why it’s recommended so often is "Snipe". Other than that, I rarely use Marks and Hunts. Occasionally, I used "Hunt and Mark of the Raven" when enemies had a lot of health, and I wanted to use "Barrage" for a burst to take them down.

I believe the problem is that all Marks share a very high cooldown, and they share the same cooldown timer. If you want to react situationally, you would theoretically need to select all three Hunts and Marks, which would require 6 skill points. In its current form, I find this to be a huge waste of skill points. Additionally, you can't use the Marks flexibly because, as mentioned, all of them have the same long cooldown.

In my opinion, this entire system needs a complete overhaul.

Here's an example of what I envision for a Ranger identity:

One Mark ability. This ability could have, for example, a 15-second cooldown and the following effects: The Ranger marks the target, which increases the accuracy of their abilities and auto-attacks (fewer misses). Additionally, the critical damage is increased by X%. The Ranger also takes 10% less damage from the marked target. This effect lasts for 10 seconds.

There should be some kind of resource bar (similar to the Cleric) Lets call it "Bloodlust" or "Focus" that fills up during combat (from both auto-attacks and abilities). This resource would have 3 stages that could be reached. Once at stage 1, you could use the ability "Killer Instinct", which grants the Ranger a massive buff. For a period (e.g., Stage 1 = 5 seconds, Stage 2 = 8 seconds, Stage 3 = 12 seconds), the Ranger would gain increased physical power, a significantly higher critical hit chance, and increased critical damage. The effect would scale with each stage. If "Killer Instinct" is not used, the Ranger would passively gain increased critical hit chance and attack speed depending on the current stage (e.g., 10%/15%/20%).

To prevent this resource from becoming too overpowered, "Bloodlust" or "Focus" would deplete after x seconds out of combat, requiring the Ranger to refill it during the fight. To avoid "Killer Instinct" becoming too strong, we could add a mechanic where the Ranger takes 15% more damage during this time. Furthermore, you could invest 3 skill points into the abillity "Killer Instinct" to unlock each stage, making skill point distribution more strategic.

This would be my vision of a Ranger identity that has impact, can be used diversely in combination with Ammo Imbues and Mark, and allows you to time your burst windows strategically.

Long story short: Compared to other classes, the Ranger needs much more synergy in its kit. Marks and Hunts, in my opinion, require a complete overhaul (I’ve outlined my vision above).
Cooldowns and mana consumption need to be significantly reduced on many abilities. Overall damage should also be slightly increased. The cast time for Snipe or Thunder Shot should be adjusted.
Additionally, the Ranger lacks a "kick," such as a "Throat Shot" that silences the target for a few seconds. It would also be desirable to have a few melee abilities, such as a form of "Trip" for when a fighter or tank is on top of you.
Another option could be a "Bola" ability that triggers a root on a single target at range.


I think that's all the feedback I have come up with. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read through all of this. If I made any mistakes, if it became a bit less detailed towards the end, or if there are any logical errors, I apologize.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on my feedback, especially regarding the Ranger identity. If someone from Intrepid is reading this and has questions or would like a more detailed opinion on certain points, feel free to contact me.


Shoxxer77

Comments

  • ChicagoChicago Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Sounds great to me, one thing I would add with thundering shot, yes I agree it should be instant cast, but also the travel time needs to be removed, yes it looks cool visually shooting an arrow up into the sky and back down on your target, but in practice this is just annoying and removes reaction times for the silence as we now have to wait for travel time

    Also with disengage and air strike I would like options for them to be way more smooth and less janky feeling in the air, air strike feels so slow and disengage shoots you the wrong way 30% of the time, also disengage even after 9 weeks of reporting still has an invisible wall that you hit if you don't use the ability whilst sprinting, if you compare these to fighters charge they both just feel really bad, an idea to fix this would be make disengage an ability where you can select where you want to flip too ( sort of like the visual when you cast entangling roots)
  • DezmerizingDezmerizing Member, Alpha Two
    I generally like the feedback.

    I am all for a more unique ammo-type for rangers - not sure I am keen on the "next 6 auto attacks" - but I would be up for trying it.

    Definitely agree on hunts and marks not feeling "enough" as it is; it is just way too uninteractive right now to feel like a core feature of the class.

    As for the bloodlust/focus - your description of it is too similar to the fighter's momentum, in my opinion. I would definitely like a class resource for rangers; but that felt very much like a copy/paste of the fighter's momentum and berserk.

    I remember seeing great suggestions regarding how hunts and marks could act more as an active resource when ranger's had their last class reveal. The concept was along the lines of:

    You choose a Hunt type, and as you stay in that hunt you gain a stacking buff (attack speed, armor pen, crit chance etc) - similar to the idea you proposed. Instead of having a kind of "berserk mode", filling the resource bar enables us to activate our Marks which has increased effect and duration based on how much resource we gather before we use it. This alone would already feel a lot more interactive than what we have right now.

    Yet, if we want to feed a more "complete the hunt while the mark is active" fantasy, then one could always add a buff or resource return upon the target dying while a mark is active.

    Something along these lines would be a great idea, in my opinion, because right now rangers player like a rogue. We burst and usually our entire burst lies in the opener. The suggestion above would make us lean slightly more into the fighter principle (aka; longer battles/hunts = more profit/reward) which feels more in line with the ranger fantasy than just being a shady ambusher.
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  • ThrakedonsThrakedons Member, Alpha Two
    I love this feedback. I think it would be cool to reduce the travel time of projectiles by making them faster or especially in the case of lightning arrow, have the archer fire up into the air and have it instantly disappear in the air and reappear coming back down on the target with an audible slam/thunder crack.
  • ColdSteelColdSteel Member, Alpha Two
    Passive Abilities

    Thorns
    The basic idea behind this ability is good — it allows enemies to hurt themselves and apply a bleed effect. In practice, however, this ability has almost no impact. The damage is insignificant, and since there are enough other ways to apply bleeding, this ability doesn’t add much value. You use it mainly for the “buff,” but you could easily skip it.
    100% agree


    Regeneration
    100% agree:
    This is a weak passive. It needs to be reworked or replaced.



    Active Abilities

    Camouflage
    Currently broken. Allowing it to break mobs from chasing you is an excellent idea.

    Barrage
    I agree the damage should be adjusted slightly. Using my auto-attach combination on my short bow is far better than barrage. Please don’t waste time or money on manga. If you could spec into it a point to add bleeding for every hit, that would increase its utility.

    Scatter Shot
    Another solid ability. I expected the "Concentrated Scatter Shot" to feel more like a shotgun, meaning that using it up close would deal more damage, with the damage dropping off at range.
    I 100% agree.

    Headshot
    It's a solid ability, but I think the animation should be faster, and the damage should be higher for enemies under 50% HP. Alternatively, a guaranteed critical hit against enemies under 25% HP could be guaranteed. These are just some ideas I had.
    I 100% agree. There is so much you could do with this spell. If it lands, it gives the next attack a 100% chance to crit, etc.

    Snipe
    It's a very controversial ability, but overall, it's good. As many have mentioned, I find the cast time too long, and you’re left vulnerable while channeling it. I could imagine a shorter cast time or a “hold” mechanic, like the Mage's Lighting Strike, where the longer you hold the ability, the higher the damage and crit chance. It could even synergize with Camouflage, making Snipe deal more damage or have better penetration when used out of Camouflage. These are just some of my ideas.
    I agree with you:
    With this, I want to get a knockback or knockdown ability, as GW2 has on mobs lower than three stars, etc. It's like what the bard has with its push ability but on a single target. Maybe more significant, more powerful mobs get slow when hit.

    Bear Trap
    It is a good ability that does what it should, especially when the root duration increases based on the number of snares on the target.
    I 100% agree no change is needed.

    Lighting Reload
    I like this ability, especially for PvP, as it provides good variety and burst potential (e.g., two Headshots, two barrages, or a Scatter Shot for AoE).
    I 100% agree that no changes are needed.

    Thundering Shot
    If this ability were instant cast, I think it would be much better, allowing you to effectively time the silence. I also like that it applies to a shock effect, easily triggered by a barrage.
    That is a good idea. In groups without a bard, I skip this spell due to its low impact and mana cost.

    Vine Field
    I believe this is one of the best abilities in the kit. It fulfills all the essential aspects: AoE root, improved bleed, and slow.
    I 100% agree with this. It is a good utility skill I often use to root, add a little AOE DPS, or throw down to escape.
    It is buggy and will often not process the first time you use the ability, taking you off target. So, I must use it twice to get it to work.

    Party Strider
    As mentioned above, this is a good ability, especially in a group, particularly when you’re chasing enemies in group PvP.
    I 100% agree

    Raining Death
    This doesn’t feel like “raining death” at all. The cooldown is too high for what the ability does. The damage, especially in the higher levels, is almost non-existent, even when combined with Thundering Shot.
    I 100% agree:
    Raining Death is terrible. It needs rework. GW2's version is 100% more useful for AOE damage and slowing targets down by pining them. It needs to be like a vine field where you place where you want the raining dead to land. If you take what GW2 has, it would be perfect.

    Call of the Wild
    It is a perfect ability to escape challenging situations, especially in PvP. I’ve rarely needed to use this in PvE, though it could be helpful in specific dungeons or bosses.
    I 100% agree.

    Air Strike
    The ability has probably drawn many players to the Ranger class. It’s unique and looks fantastic in-game, but unfortunately, it has little impact. The damage is minimal, and the requirement of a snare to trigger the root doesn’t feel great. Moreover, the distance it covers seems underwhelming. The ability appeared to be a game-changer in the first preview, but I only use it when trying to reach higher locations. I think the ability should root immediately and cover a greater distance.
    I am glad I am not the only ranger who uses the spell only to get elevation. It needs work.

    Imbue Ammo:
    I like where you are going with that, but I do not want to add that to my rotation to remember to use it. Too many skills in a rotation, and the game becomes Wow. Stand here and run through the rotation. Move her for Raid mob replete. This game is supposed to be moving.
  • VeeshanVeeshan Member, Alpha Two
    ColdSteel wrote: »
    Passive Abilities


    Barrage
    I agree the damage should be adjusted slightly. Using my auto-attach combination on my short bow is far better than barrage. Please don’t waste time or money on manga. If you could spec into it a point to add bleeding for every hit, that would increase its utility.

    once you get arrow storm on shortbow weapon tree barrage is bonkers btw, u do ur AA combo then barrage for double dmg due to arrow storm proc and then do ur AA chain again its perfectly time so cooldown barrage will end as u finish ur AA chain triggering arrow storm again and its the highest dmg combo for rangers with short bow it very boring combo of literaly 1 button press but it the highest dmg output for shortbows.
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