Ideas for One-Handed Weapon & Off-hand for Rangers

I would really like to see some type of one-handed weapon for rangers, something like a sling or "field knife" (single dagger). either of which could have 7-17 max damage and use the wilderness survival attribute.
The sling would have short bow range with a ~1.75s attack rate and ~0.5s flight time, and the field knife a 1.33s attack rate. My first thoughts are that slings would have mainly interrupt and daze skills and the field knife would have skills to cause conditions such as bleeding, poison, disease, and cripple (obviously not all in one hit). Examples:

Blinding Stones: Sling Attack. Sling a stone at target foe and up to 2 other foes adjacent to your target. If these stones hit, they strike for +5 blunt damage and cuase Blindness for 5...10 seconds. This attack is unaffected by preparations.

Frozen Stones: Sling Attack. Sling a stone at target foe and up to 2 other foes adjacent to your target. If these stones hit, they strike for +2...14 cold damage. This attack is unaffected by preparations.

Distracting Stones: Sling Attack. If this attack hits, it interrupts target foe's action. If target foe is enchanted, up to 2 foes adjacent to your target are also interrupted. This attack is unaffected by preparations.

Tendon Slash: Knife Attack. If this attack hits, target foe is crippled for 3...9 seconds. This attack always strikes foe's feet.

Vein Slash: Knife Attack. If this attack hits, target foes begins bleeding for 5...17 seconds. This attack always strikes foe's arms.


To go along with this some sort of off-hand item would be needed, a mix of caster and melee, possibly using Beast Mastery and/or Expertise. Examples:

Leather Leash
Energy +5
Armor +10 for you and your pet (requires 9 Beast Mastery)
Health +20 (requires 9 Expertise)

Jeweled Collar
Energy +5
Armor +10 for you and your pet (requires 9 Beast Mastery)
Beast Mastery +1 (20% Chance when using skills)


This could also be considered for a thief/rogue type class, but i originally thought of it to put more focus on beast mastery and still be able to do a bit of damage yourself. Any feedback on this idea is appreciated.

Why not just let every class equip an offhand weapon in the other hand(while using one handed weapons of course) with some sort of damage penalty? I think it would be balanced considering you would be giving up the bonuses that come with a shield or spellcaster off-hand items.

Anet could do this in a balanced way, it is just a matter of coming up with a balanced penalty.

It's a little late to be adding a whole new set of dagger skills to Ranger.
And I don't see a rogue/thief having much of a pet/familiar/companion.
But I would love to see something like this in a new class.

You could do a battle mage class with a familiar, or some sort of magic user.

As you move around, your familiar perches on your shoulder.
Crow, Black Cat, pseudo-dragon, Imp, small monkey.

Weapon could include Ceremonial Knife, A sort of medium staff, or a special casting glove of some sort.

A sort of Raw magic user, push, pull, use of gravity.

Just a little brainstorming is all, no real serious ideas that should implimented ASAP, so please no flaming.

The word 'Ranger' come from the word 'range', but a sling does not fit a ranger, a bow or a crosbow do.

There are no shuriken or throwing daggers for assassins, no quarterstafs for monks, etc.
You can 'cover' one weapon type to look like another and have different type of damage, but they will use the same skills the classes already have. Like the Jitte, a blunt weapon that uses sword mastery damage. There could be two handed swords and axes using hammer mastery.
They could rename the Warrior atributes like this:
- Light weapon mastery.
- Heavy weapon mastery.
- Two handed weapon mastery.
That won't change the game, only the names and appearance of the kills and wepons, so that could be possible.

The only possible offhand Item for a ranger would be a quiver.

Main Entry: rang·er
Pronunciation: 'rAn-j&r
Function: noun
1 a : the keeper of a British royal park or forest b : FOREST RANGER
2 : one that ranges
3 a : one of a body of organized armed men who range over a region especially to enforce the law b : a soldier specially trained in close-range fighting and in raiding tactics




It's not about how they fight, it's about what they do, take care of a range of land. Maybe you're the one that doesn't really pay attention and think things through.

I'm a bit sick of the ignorant arguement that ranger = range= distance= arrows. it's faulty logic, and someone trying to sound credible while simply making something up to assert their own unfounded beliefs.


From Wikipedia:

Ranger may mean a keeper, guardian, or soldier who ranges over a region to protect the area or enforce the law ("range" meaning "travel around an area"). In Britain, the term has long been associated with a keeper of a royal forest or park. Likewise, in the US the term has meant a warden employed to maintain and protect a natural area, such as a government forest or park. Since at least the 18th Century, the term has had the military meaning of a commando or guerrilla soldier proficient in raids and ambushes. Sports teams have been avid in adopting the mystique of the name.

So the only element required to be a ranger is to be acutely familiar with terrain, and use that familiarity to your advantage. Even the modern military definition includes the idea of ambushes (trapping skills in GW). Are US rangers all snipers and only snipers? I don't know, but i doubt it. I kind of like the idea of a ranger having a little "swiss army knife" focus item to assist with making traps. But I doubt it will ever happen. Never mind that most of the rangers i've seen in D&D were notorious for wielding two swords in close combat and bows when at range (not unlike that elf guy in LOTR). Whoever got their pewny brain fixated on the idea that rangers MUST always be limited to using bows because their name has the word Range in it... i just don't know what to say - mostly cause your perma blinders would never let you see anything you weren't already fixed on.

Ranger does not equal Archer... Ranger INCLUDES archer, but it isn't limited to it.

aeon, i don't think it's too late to add on to existing characters at all.

i would actually like to see the next installment of GW expand on the already available professions rather than create new ones.
things like what mithran mentioned (renaming attribs to include two-handed swords and axes).
also on that note, i personally would like to see chaos axes (and a chaos sword/hammer if they would add them deal CHAOS damamge.

Offhand:

A Quiver of Arrows with some sort of inherent mod.

Doesn't have to be a lot, but something like +5 Damage vs (Monster type) or something of that sort.

how would a ranger equip a quiver for an off-hand if they are firing a bow?

if you weren't using a bow, why would you want a quiver of arrows?

the idea was to get away from the "faulty logic" that rangers have to use bows/arrows

So, using a bow and a quiver is faulty logic?

Where do the arrows come from oh logical one?

How could they use a quiver? It's simple, they strap it on their back, reach to the opening and grab an arrow, then proceed to fire said arrow. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

How do they equip it? Wait, how exactly do you get your clothes on if you have to ask that?

The quiver makes perfect sense.
To suppliment the idea, Rangers could use also archery gloves or releasers.

/signed for the use of ranger specific off hands(quiver, glove, releaser), as they're one of two professions without the option to use 2 items. As for assassins, I would make 1 dagger in each hand(half the damage for each hand, compared to both in one hand now, would require skill balancing)

/signed for Rangers to have some weapons/offhands that require any of the other Ranger attribute lines.

Just give me something that has a Wilderness Survival requirement or Beast Mastery requirement.

why would it be called an offhand if he would have to put his bow away to use it...

well, the off hand slot can be made as ammunition slot for ranger. make it for quiver as mentioned above. make the quiver add something like 5-10dmg. make it consumable. make the quiver available as drops from monster and make it drop in a bunch of say 50. also make it purchasable at weaponsmith.

just a few idea...

I like the idea but I dont think you could add in a load of ranger skills just for this weapon, just have a wand equivalent, no extra attack skills but can attack without having to put points into marksmanship, a druid's/walking staff would be good for a ranger.

/signed (to the fact that rangers need other attibute weapons)

~A Leprechaun~

The only change I'd really want to Rangers would be a visible quiver. THAT would make me happy. Maybe GW2...

one of the ways we CAN do this, is to make all "bowstring" mods into quivers on the offhand slot, such as sundering, poisoneous, crippling, etc. and make the current bowstring mod to determine bow type, such as recurve bowstring, flatbow bowstring, etc.

Yeah, let's remove the senseless handle upgrade. Just replac it with a quiver, and put a quiver where the animations of models get the arrows from.

It would be nice to have a weapon of any kind based either on wilderness survival or expertise.
I would go for a crossbow based on expertise, they are mechanical and need less training than bows so that could fit.

When you have to have at least 9 in marksmanship to use your only weapon and a pretty high level in Wildeness survival to use the main healing.

Then 6 or 7 in expertise to help energy management, it doesnt leave a whole lot over for anything else.

They are supposed to be a jack of all trades master of none class so I guess thats the reasoning behind it.

i think further ....


all classes should have weapons for all attributes ...

Magician Classes have staffs for all attributes...

the warrior has 3 different weapons for 3 different atributes + 2 diffrent shield attributes

but:
but the Dervish has only 1 Attribute for his Weapon ...there are no scythes, that require mystic or earth/wind prayers ...

same with ranger, he has no bows, that require survival, beast mastery or expertise...

assasins the same, no daggers for criticals, shadow arts or deadly arts

and the paragon also ...has different shield attributes, but only 1 weapon attribute, no spears that require leadership or so


thats imo kinda sad and something, that should be changed maybe with next add on, that gives new weapons ...


its so sad, like assasins have only dumb borign Daggers and have no Shurikens as 2nd usable weapon type, so that they can be played also semi ranged pure without having to use weapons of other professions.
Shurikens would give the sin also a nice row of new skills.

changing this would give the player more freedom in creating more unique builds, that don#t have ever to rely on the typical standart weapon attribute ..., when each attributes would give the weapon other effects, when using that ttribute as weapon attribute, that would also improve each class in itself

Oh, no.

The 'martial' profession have only for the weapons, and for some attributes if their weapons are not two handed.

Caster classes are the ones with all attributes.

If a warrior has enough attribute points in strength, how about they can use a 2 handed weapon single hand?

I think thats what strength are for anyway.. but then your warrior will loose the armor penetration bonus by half since its a heavier weapon to wield.

PS: how come warrior cannot wield 2 swords?

pumpkin pie: Dual wielding swords is an extraordinary feat of training and skill. In terms of GW, it would make game mechanics extremely complicated to have a Warrior dual wielding two swords. Maybe ANet can pull it off for GW2.

Rangers rarely use knives as weapons. Their primary weapons are the bow and the sword. Combined with their knowledge of nature and how to manipulate their surroundings, this makes Rangers extremely versatile fighters. However, in GW Rangers are only given the bow and for now thats all they can have. In GW2 I'd like to see better handling of the classes. Its always bothered me why Clerics are called Monks and how people think Rangers and Druids are the same thing.

Here's hoping they handle the dynamaics of the various classes better with GW2.

You have never shot a crossbow before have you? They are not easier to train in than a normal bow, they are about the same. Especially if you want top reload them fast. THe drawback poundage on them is usually over 200 pounds, which if you are unfamiliar to bows, thats at least over 150 pounds on a compound (please correct me on that if i'm wrong, I shoot recurve bows, not compund bows, and my recurve has only like 60 pounds of drawback, and it is one hell of a bow to pull back).

But anyway, as far as melee weapons for a ranger go, you know what you can do to get opne? Switch to R/W, or R/A or evwen R/D, theres your melee weapon. It works just as fine. We dont need to introduce a whole new set of weapons just so you can fight in close combat. Why, you can even fire your bow in close combast! Theres even two skills designed for it! Point Blank SHot, and Zojun's SHot! Those work very nicely with a high expertise! Or go touch ranger even!

Please excuse my man mispellings and other mistakes, my internet is so retarded right now, it litterally freezes uup every 5 seconds while on my browser.

Firstly yes I have fired bows of all kinds Self longbows compounds recurves mongol and aciatic ones too.
Never fired a Japanese one though.
Crossbows yes I have fired crossbows Not a cranquin or heavy siege style bow but the standard European medieval style yes I certainly have, And in reenactment battles too.

It is so far as I am aware considered a fact amongst the historians that to become a Longbowman took many years of practice and most archers would begin as children.
These are the people sho could have 3 arrows in the air at the same time and who could fire over a building and place all the arrows in a small area that they cannot even see.

The Crossbow can be fired effectivly with probably a weeks training
Thats a huge difference and why most european armies had crossbowmen not longbowman.

As for the idea of alternative weapons for Rangers the whole point about it is to have weapons in some or all of the ranger other skill areas.

At the moment you must have points in marksmanship to use the bow, some of us would like weapons in wilderness survival or expertise as this would allow more varied builds.

To take a weapon from a secondary profession is far worse, you still use up the points for that weapon only now its a weapon that your ranger attack skills dont work with.

Its nice to meet another archer though and I will rethink the idea in case I can find an alternative build stratergy.

I always wanted the Ranger offhand with a bow to either be a quiver for better arrow buffs (like explosive or long range arrows, or something like that with a limited natural buff {IE needs refilled}), OR a pet buff in some fashion (collar was a good example).

However I do agree that Now when the game is basically being retired, its a little late in the game to add something that would so fundamentally change the class as a whole... And seeing as Anet is going out of their way now to try to piss off the community at every opportunity, to see how they react to fundamental changes to the game 3 years later... I doubt anything like this, that would be an over all improvement, will happen for the community.

Wilderness Survival Slings are interesting. beast master whips or expertise crossbows also interesting... But again Doubtful at this late a day in the game. Unfortunately...

A whip linked to beastmastery.

A whip and a focy (liken a dog toy as foci) would be somehow funny for beastmastery.

i agree.
mostly so i can have a Me/R using a whip >.>
lol

something like a "trap knife that sprung out of the ranger sleeves" only usable in close range of course. but that would defeat the purpose of having a stormbow... well anyway, good to have if you are a toucher probably.

and knife that sprung out of the sleeves can be for all profession i guess. I think its only logical that we pack extra weapons on our character while out fighting/farming ...

come to think of it, there isn't a class that uses a flail type weapon? how come the warrior has a flail skill but not the weapon?

Blow-gun+darts.
Anyone remember those annoying Bone Fetishes in Diablo 2?

Wah... I hated them, specially those bosses with the "Thorns" property that made them return damage to you and the "Explosive" property that made them deal as much damage as they had when being alive. You kill them, you die. Yargh.

But if you add more weapons to rangers, you'll have to do the same for all other martial professions but warrior. And paragon just leadership... maybe a baton, or scepter of command, like Diablo II paladins had.

Honestly, I love the idea, except for one thing

what if you don't have a pet? do you still get the Armor +10? or there would have to be some other mod that isnt "Armor +10 for you and pet (req. 9 BM)"

i think it would be great, and would really mix up PvP