Ranger or Warrior?

Hi,

I'm currently trying to get into Guild Wars and am having trouble deciding between two characters I have made.

One is a Warrior/Ranger and the other is a Ranger/Paragon.

I like both styles of play - the ranger I like because I can stand in the one spot and shoot down the enemies no matter how they move. The warrior I like the fact I seem to be able to dish out a lot more damage to single foes and seems to be able to take quite a beating as well.

I like both profession's armor's - I have checked on wiki and compared, although I am not sure which armor sets would be more expensive or cheaper, or would they both be the same?

The one thing I'm not really liking about the warrior is all the "Benny Hill" chases that happen. Every monster seems to make a beeline to the monks in the group and ignore everyone else - this means that I end up spending an lot of time just running after the enemies rather than fighting, which can be frustrating. Whereas on the ranger I can just stand where i am and shoot arrows while the enemy runs around chasing after my monks and not have to worry about moving

Is there anything I can do about this? Would I have to carry a "cripple" skill always? or would hero's be better at crippling?

With warrior - why do people prefer swords? They appear to be more conditional based and higher adrenaline based, while axe seems to have more direct damage skills with lower adrenaline cost's. Wouldn't that make axe's better?

Guess I shouldn't ramble on. I will try and answer any question's you have.

You could go back and forth between the two classes. I personally like hammer . A hammer with an attack sppeed buff is great. There are some nice builds on PvX for hammer wars in PvE. However I agree with you if I am not running hammer I run axe.

I personally run both War and Ranger on a regular basis. They are both strong classes and lots of fun to play.

If your finding kiting to be a problem for your war then maybe you need a speed bost or a snare. Criple is one means of snaring, knockdowns are another and you can have a hero use a hex to grind them to a halt right at your feet.

For weapons on a war I actually switch back and forth quite a bit. The Dragon Slash build and several variations make swords extremely effective. Tripple Chop is a fantasic AoE attack for a war.

Armor sets are basically going to cost the same regardless of what proff you pick.

In the end you may find time to run both, if not its a very tough choice to face, best of luck with it

I would normally say to stick with Warrior for your first class. While ease-of-play is more dependent on your build, generally the best Ranger builds are more difficult to run then Warrior builds.

But you say you dont like chasing monster's around and like being in one spot, this tells me Ranger would be more fun for you. A lot of warriors actually enjoy the concept of using Speed boosts and snares to run around slaying monsters. If you prefer to stay in one spot then Ranger will most likely be better for you in the long run. Plus, there are close range ranger builds once you reach level 20 and can switch to /W, were their are not any long range warrior builds ( that are good anyways ).

Depending on your strategy you may find warriors to be more fun. You see the enemy make a bee line to your monks, so you must run back to fight them, but your monks move, as do the enemy.

Possible solution:

Flag heros/henchies and you run up. Reflag your NPCs to near your end of aggro circle, so your monks can heal you, but the enemies may not go after your squishies.

Doing this, the enemies will surround you and you don't have to move (as long as your spellcasters don't use too many AoE).

If you have access to a mesmer hero with slowing spells, that may work.

If you have Zhed with cold slowing spells that may work as well.

Songbringer - go between both? Hmmm, that would slow down finishing each chapter as well as having to split funds to get armor for either character. I can see tat it's a good idea as I do like both styles of play.

Crom The Pale - to be honest, my hero's are set up with damage dealing builds. might be worth my while to set one or 2 up with speed slowing down skills. Are there any skills that stand out that are easy to get early in the game?

Right now I've been playing through Nightfall and am still on the starter island - I have Koss, Melonni, Dunkuro, Tahl.. (I ca't remember her name!) & Acolyte Jin if that helps. I also have all 3 chapters and EoTN - I took same heroe's on both my warrior and ranger, although I have no problem in restarting since it can be done in a fairly quick time.

Ahh, so armor sets will cost basically the same? so I guess I just need to decide what armor sets I like the most.

Master Ketsu - biggest problem I have seen with builds posted is the need for elites. I think I have a fair idea of how to get elites skills - find a boss and use a skill called Skill of Capture? on it and get the elite? But, aren't most elites located later in the games, which means builds which rely on them would be useless till that point?

Rangers are harder to play than warrior's? Or just good ranger builds harder than warrior skills? I have to admit I am finding both fairly easy right now, select an enemy and hit attack and then start cycling through attack skills as they become available. Does things get harder the further you get into the game?

I don't mind some chasing down enemies, it's just that virtually every single battle ends up with me chasing after the enemy if I'm playing my warrior. However, I love how my warrior & hero's & henchies can kill things faster than my ranger can if the enemies down end up running around like they belong in Benny Hill Show.

Pick Me - Ohh, I hadnt thought of flagging the hero's & henchies behind me as I ran in and then flagging them closer. Doesn't this then leave me exposed to being killed before my monks can get in range? Or will the warrior armor and high health compensate for this fact?

Guess I can do similar with ranger as well - flag warrior hero into the enemy and then follow through with the rest of the group. Which would end up being more effective? Guess that would depend on how good I am at playing warrior?

I haven't got many AoE spells I think. I'm not sure as my hero's seem to be mainly melee/ranger type hero's - Koss, Melonni & monk henchie, or Koss, Jin & monk.

I'll have to consider using hero's to slow the enemies down rather than myself, simply because I just can't seem to time skills like that myself. Guess with practice and playing I'll get better! LOL

Thanx all for the suggestion's and ideas

I wouldn't say rangers are harder to play than warriors... warriors have the advantage of adrenaline skills, I suppose. Rangers have the luxury of not having to chase the bad guy around as much as a melee character, and there are a few more considerations they have to take (like line of sight, and their damage/range being affected by their height vs their target's height), but the tricks aren't difficult to learn.

You could consider putting a snare like Pin Down on Acolyte Jin, if that skill is accessible on newbie isle.

As for the weapons debate, my belief is that a lot of warriors prefer swords purely for aesthetic reasons. Talking tactics, it's also a faster weapon than an axe or hammer (but lower max damage). I'm pretty sure there is no sword skill that affects all adjacent opponents, though it's been a while since I played that class myself...

Where flagging is concerned, you don't have to have your heroes too far behind you if you're worried about getting squashed. Part of the warrior's lot in GW is to soak up damage without dying, so you could look into some skills that are defense related to protect yourself while your heroes catch up.

Since you are using a Ranger hero, if he/she is using a long bow or a bow that has long range, flag him/her far away or at least on defend. Otherwise, you'll find that the ranger will run with you and attack before you can get to the enemies. I sometimes flag my h/h about 1.5 agro circles away from the enemy. That way, I'm in healing range, but the enemy may not detect my h/h.