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Rangers and axes
OmgZombies
Member Posts: 141
Ranting out of boredom
What's been bothering me about the ranger class (and maybe even discouraging me from playing it a little) is that the axes aren't able to be used in melee combat. All ranger axe skills are ranged skills, excluding the block. i was looking forward to having a melee-specialized axe & warhorn/etc. I'm not a sword guy (unlike 95% of the RPG community) and it really dampens the class in my opinion, that I would have to rely on swords/daggers for melee.
I know rangers are supposed to be "ranged" like in most games, but rangers are generally supposed to be as good with melee weapons as they are with bows, due to being a jack-of-all trades kinda class. I would of liked to see axes still able to be used to hit things in the face up close.
putting thrown skills in the off-hand and melee/block in the main would of been better imo.
To those thinking of saying "Lolz just go war or thief newb"; The whole point I'm trying to get across is that I want to be beating the shit out of something and have a pet beating the shit out of something else, or helping me beat the shit out of what I'm beating the shit out of even better. An axe would make that feel a whole hell of a lot more brutal, dontcha think? 'Cause that's what Id wanna go for.
This won't bother me at all since it won't even be my main. If I ever play ranger, I'll get over with ease, but I'll always think "this coulda been twice as sick if didn't have to throw this axe"
TL;DR - Would be pretty kewl if we could hit shit with axes instead of throwing them like little sissy-men. Kinda like those parts where you wonder why they don't pick up weapons in zombie movies or something. "WHY WOULD YOU THROW THE BOTTLE, JUST HIT EM IN THE FACE GOD DAMMIT"
Comments
Yeah, I've been thinking about the similar thing. I really love rangers and always tought of choosing it as my main in GW2. Also, the ranger was my main in GW1, so I wanted to continue my story in every way possible. I also hoped that the ranger would be able to fight in different styles, using various melee weapons, because they are after all, as you already mentioned, jack of all trades. Considering they have medium armor, I don't see why rangers can't fight like Thiefs, using speed and dexterity while wielding light weapons. I also like to jump into battle and go chest to chest , so I would also like it if ranger possessed some melee axe skills. Never been a fan of throwing weapons, just not my style. Perhaps the devs intentionally reduced the melee options for the ranger so they wouldn't ressemble thiefs... Anyway, even with these flaws, I still consider playing the ranger. After all, people who came up with combat options and possibilities know best what's right or wrong for different classes. You have to consider that pets will have even more influence in combat, so many players will probably support their pets from distance, using melee as a last resort.
Think of it this way. The ranged skills don't have a minimum range, so if you use them up close, it will look like you're hitting them like a melee weapon, you just have the added advantage of being able to throw them too
Once you go go whack, you'll never go back.
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Rangers can also use swords, two handed swords and daggers (as an offhand, carrying a sword and a dagger at the same time for example). They can melee just fine.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ranger#Weapons
I personally plan on playing a heavily armored bow specialized warrior and keep a dual mace weapon set in case I need to go melee. That's the beauty of the physical damage dealers in this game...they can go for melee or ranged and still be effective.
But there might be a weapon set that includes an axe with melee attacks. We still haven't seen all of the skill bar possibilities yet. So I'd say wait a little longer and see what the ranger has access to first.
The OP already stated that he wants to use axes in melee for stylistic purposes and added flavor. I however think A-Net decided to give Rangers the unique ability to be the only class that has more than just one skill (Warrior) to utilize the throwing of an axe to add extra flavor and make them unique.
Once you go go whack, you'll never go back.
What is this "whack", you say? Check out the links!
http://www.thenewmystics.com
http://www.joyrevolution.com
http://www.thenewecstatics.co.uk
But that's like complaining that warriors can't throw swords.
True that.
Once you go go whack, you'll never go back.
What is this "whack", you say? Check out the links!
http://www.thenewmystics.com
http://www.joyrevolution.com
http://www.thenewecstatics.co.uk
It seems to me that they have the axe as a ranged weapon because it gives the ranger three flavors of ranged attack.
While they have two flavors of melee attack.
Long bow is long range, immobile ranged attacks, short bow is shorter, mobile, mostly single target attacks.
Axe is even shorter range, also mobile, but mostly multi-target attacks.
Sword is highly mobile single target melee, while greatsword is multi-target melee.
Throwing axes have a pretty venerable tradition, so it's not too strange to hvae somebody who uses them as throwing weapons only. You were just unlucky they decided to go a certain way with it, I suppose.
I see it more like "I want to hit like a warrior and still have a pet" while swords/daggers are more "I want to be agile like a thief and still have a pet". Axes, the way I see them in GW2, are raw damage, while swords are for conditions/bouncing around. I want raw in-your-face domagez and while still micro-managing a pet to spread DPS where I want it and using it as a utility box.
Different classes use the same weapon differently. Warriors and Rangers use axes differently just like they use longbows, swords and greatswords differently.
Weapons
A ranger is mostly a master of ranged weapons, however, he can use sword or greatsword in melee combat. The ranger weapons are:
Main Hand: Sword, Axe
Off Hand: Axe, Dagger, Torch, Warhorn
Two-Handed: Greatsword, Longbow, Shortbow
Be glad you can use the axe, you can't expect to have same skills as warriors.
List of ranger skills
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
I wonder if they will add weapon skills later or add entire weapon sets instead?
It might be easier to add a long axe then to have the player select his weapon skills from a list, but it is also less flexible and make second guessing people in PvP easier. You can get some really weird and nasty surprises in GW1.
If you could hit like a warrior and have a pet why would anyone want to play a warrior and how would this not be unbalanced unless you are just talking animations and not damage dealt per blow.
Since when does a Warrior deal more damage than a Ranger? Furthermore, there are still many more differences between a Ranger and a Warrior than how hard they hit with a melee weapon.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
It might be easier to add a long axe then to have the player select his weapon skills from a list, but it is also less flexible and make second guessing people in PvP easier. You can get some really weird and nasty surprises in GW1.
They might add in new weapon types (like that pesky greataxe which is noticeably absent), but they would have to change their entire system to add in new weapon skills to existing types.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss
There are traits that make melee skills into ranged, and vice versa. We don't know how many the ranger will get, but if 3 or 4 skills from the ranger's axe can be changed to melee, then that should suffice.
I think that throwing axes might be a very interesting and challanging setup for synergy with a pet. Or in other words that using axes and a pet very efficient will be what makes the difference between the avarage and the skilled ranger!
Warriors have more base armor and health... It would be more than reasonable to give a melee ranger more damage than a warrior to cover the lack of sustainability, if you are looking at it as superficially as you.
A side effect of the weapon-determines-your-first-five-skills system is that you can't implement weapons for purely sylistic/aesthetic purposes. In other words: if axes were melee, you'd have to come up with a reeeeeally good reason for why rangers need another main-hand melee weapon, and a replacement for their only one-handed ranged weapon.
As a side note: axes, as we've seen in the demos so far, are pretty terrible, and it's widely believed they need some sort of revamp to give them a more defined purpose than "one handed shortbow".
Last thing: why the heck would anyone ever trait their skills to reduce their range?
One word.
RANGER.
They excell in using RANGED techniques. Same goes with Axes, spoons, whatever.
So play a warrior if you want that all melee style.
Ranger doesn't mean "ranged weapons only". Take Aragorn from lotr for example, he's a ranger. You see him use swords the majority of the time. Also, rangers are supposed to be utility boxes, not ranged death machines. Making them able to use a wide variety of weapons is what makes them a ranger, not ranged specialization.
Warriors aren't melee-only either, they said themselves that warriors can spec ranged combat and do perfectly fine, and in some cases even better than rangers.
I also never said I wanted an all-melee style, and it's obvious how I made it a point that I wanted a pet.
I agree with the OP, but only because I've always had my ranger (In D&D) dual wield 1 handed axes for melee. For whatever reason, it has always been my preference for melee on a ranger class.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
Ranger's root word isn't because they use ranged weapons, it's because they range around.
Basically if you stay at home and don't like going out, you're a lousy ranger. The ranged weaponry fetish they have is unrelated to the name ranger though.
They can melee just fine, just not with the specific weapon you like.
Seems sort of a silly thing to gripe about. That's sort of like saying you're upset they can't melee with staffs and wands. If you think about it, realistically, what's to stop someone from picking up a staff/wand and using it to smash someone in the face with it? Nothing really. It's a game mechanic, akin to a plot device.
It's not a perfect game, but this seems a bit nit-picky.
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