I wish I wanted to play my Rit

My weapon skills have me constantly watching the red bars instead of the battle. I don't get this. If you only watch the red bars, you'd make a pretty terrible weapon spell rit.

The whole point of weapon spells is putting the right ones on the right people at the right time, which needs a whole lot of awareness as to where people are, what they're doing, and (obviously) whether they're currently under a weap spell or not.

Putting splinter on a warrior leeroying off to gank a single monk would be stupid, but putting wailing on the same warrior would be clever. Putting splinter on a guy about to fold under melee pressure would probably be stupid too, but Nightmare weapon would probably keep them in the game long enough for the monks to get around to them, and THEN you can put splinter on them.

There's a whole lot of situational control you can play with, and this sort of 'midline General' role is enormously fun to play.

Plus timing ancestor's to hit "JUST as your warrior gets into range of a ton of monsters" makes you feel awesome.

It's just so hard to enjoy it. I've gotten one up to 20, unlocked a vast amount of skills, played through much of NF and Factions with it, and still don't find it much fun.

I feel like the class doesn't really excel at anything (Splinter/Barrage doesn't count because mobs in typical pve don't bunch up into groups of 3+ for more than a few seconds).

The minion build is weak because micomanaging 8+ minions is a pain and heroes do it far better. Not to mention the joy it is to recast 3x 10 energy buffs every minute.

Going support isn't fun because my heals lack compared to monks (seriously, who can go up against an HB monk?).

My weapon skills have me constantly watching the red bars instead of the battle.

My spirits can't be controlled (ie. can't lock them onto a specific target). And for the energy cost, time in summoning, and stationary factors, you'd think they'd give us a bit more control over them.

My damage is elemental (channeling = lightning) and thus anything with decent armor just laughs it off (why are there so many ranger mobs everywhere in the game?).

My class' primary attribute, Spawning, feels like a weak joke.
In fact, most of the main builds I see (outside of SS builds) don't even touch spawning. That just goes to show how useless our primary attribute is when the main builds for the class ignore it completely. You'd laugh at a sin without crit strikes, an ele with no energy storage, a mesmer without fast casting, etc. But you see a Rit build with little to no spawning (maybe as a dump stat), and no one gives it a second thought.

I really want to enjoy this class. I've read the guides, the builds presented aren't terribly fun. And it seems we're locked into like, 4 or 5 popular builds and can't do anything else.

And to be honest, I would never bring a Rt/* into a pug when I have the option of choosing another class. It's like Rits weren't meant to be a primary at all.
N/Rt heal better than Rt/* (and with energy management from soul reaping and Signet of Lost Souls, they win).
R/Rt do better sustained damage than Rt/R (runes, better armor, etc).
E/Rt can spam weapon spells and the like all day thanks to high energy levels.

Outside of a few cool animations, and some really neat armor, I can't justify keeping my Rt/*. Wow! It sounds like you given this a lot of thought. Sadly, it seems you went in the wrong direction.

Rt/N is not a true MM. It is a Minion Bomber. Micromanging isn't really necessary.

Rit/Mo is a support Monk, not to be confused with a replacement monk. Monks can remove hexes and do it well. Ritualists don't heal individuals as well as Monks, but they can heal way better than monks when healing parties.

Ritualist's damage can be Lightning or Spirits or even Weapon Spells. If you complain about Rangers, then look at Elementalists. Their damage is also hindered too.

The Spawning attribute is sad. The skills however are not. Ritual Lord, Spirit Strength, Boon of Creation, Attune Was Songkai, Reclaim Essence, Wielder's Remedy, Wielder's Zeal.

I would never laugh at a Mesmer in PvE with 0 Fast Casting. I would laugh at a Mesmer in PvE with 16 in Fast Casting and no skills from Fast Casting though.

I guess we differ on thinking that Ritualists are useless in a PUG. You'd take a 8 warrior team I guess than a 6 Warrior team and two Rits. I'd take the latter, because Ritualists can heal, add to the Warrior's damage, remove conditions and have unlimited Rez. Warriors would be wasting attribute points or skills on their skill bar with condition removal or a hard rez.

Ritualists with energy regen, energy gain and energy reduction, wouldn't a Ritualist/x be better than N/Rit for healing?

R/Rt doesn't do more sustaining damage because of armor. R/Rt does more sustaining damage because of Expertise, if you are using a bow. If you are using Channelling, then Rit/R does more damage (winter turns lightning damage into cold damage).

E/Rit vs Rit/E:
With energy regen, energy regain and using glyphs, wouldn't you think that is better for continuous spellcasting than just energy storage? I've seen eles waste energy and cry they are 1/80. Whereas Ritualists with the right build can sustain casting weapons spells indefinitely.

Just using builds you find on the net may not seem to work for you or you just seem to be bored with using them. Spice it up by creating your own. Experiment a little. Don't just say, this build pwns all, now things are getting boring. If that is the case, then Rits are the best because to you, they are the only one that can pwn all and not get pwned.

I guess we differ on thinking that Ritualists are useless in a PUG. You'd take a 8 warrior team I guess than a 6 Warrior team and two Rits. I'd take the latter, because Ritualists can heal, add to the Warrior's damage, remove conditions and have unlimited Rez. Warriors would be wasting attribute points or skills on their skill bar with condition removal or a hard rez. My friend and his brother say casters are useless. Warrior is better than Paragon. Any melee is better than any other class, they say.

To prove their point, they asked me to 1v1 them. Ok.
I bring my Rit, with Vengeful Weapon & Weapon of Remedy, Ancestor's rage, Agony just for kicks, and then other random stuff just to fill the bar... They went down in 10-15 secs each.

So they rage quit and didn't ask me to try w/ Para, etc etc.

Conclusion: I think the OP is underestimating Rits. Get out of the cookie cutter mindset, or you will never enjoy ANY profession to its full potential.

My friend and his brother say casters are useless. Warrior is better than Paragon. Any melee is better than any other class, they say.

To prove their point, they asked me to 1v1 them. Ok.
I bring my Rit, with Vengeful Weapon & Weapon of Remedy, Ancestor's rage, Agony just for kicks, and then other random stuff just to fill the bar... They went down in 10-15 secs each.

So they rage quit and didn't ask me to try w/ Para, etc etc.

Conclusion: I think the OP is underestimating Rits. Get out of the cookie cutter mindset, or you will never enjoy ANY profession to its full potential. A prepared caster will always win against any melee. You could have prolonged their Agony by taking Grasping, then whittling down their health with any spells of your choice. But then again, I suppose you want to KEEP being their friend... XDDD

A prepared caster will always win against any melee. You could have prolonged their Agony by taking Grasping, then whittling down their health with any spells of your choice. But then again, I suppose you want to KEEP being their friend... XDDD Prepared caster?
They asked me to 1v1, so I rerolled into my Rit. I made a build from scratch right then (I don't PvP much, only dabble in AB for laughs).

We spent ~ 30 mins chatting about random stuff at their guild hall. The entire time, they were discussing what they thought my build would be in Local chat. (I had my build already set up before they started talking about it, and I didn't make any changes based on what they said)

I had no clue what they would bring. I entered the 1v1 unsure if I would win. I thought that even w/ the life stealing, they would be doing enough damage to kill me before they die.

And I had no clue I was going to be fighting both of them, I thought it would have been one at a time.

I have been friends w/ them for about 2 years, and after that 2v1, they never spoke w/ me again... Guess it really does hurt their pride, being beaten by a girl :-(

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Prepared? I don't care if I'm playing caster, melee or range; I try to keep a flexible build.

I just wanted to show the OP that if you think outside the box, you can put some fun into your play style.

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Edit: Here was the build in question:
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(minus the rez )
I don't think that's anything extraordinary by any means.

A prepared caster will always win against any melee. You could have prolonged their Agony by taking Grasping, then whittling down their health with any spells of your choice. But then again, I suppose you want to KEEP being their friend... XDDD Well, shouldn't a warrior also be prepared to face a spellcaster?

If you notice you are taking more damage than giving it, shouldn't you change your tactics? Similar to an Assassin fighting through Reckless Haste & Spiteful Spirit & Empathy. If you are not paying attention, you will die doing almost no damage.

I don't think it was being beaten by a girl that hurt their pride as much as from what you said Lorazcyk, that they bragged on how warriors were supreme and casters are useless. Basically, not only did you put them in their place, but eating so much humble pie must not be sitting well in their stomach.

@Pick Me -- The reason N/Rt is superior in healing, is because of Soul Reaping in PvE.
I mean, Soul Reaping and loss of runes is a much stronger choice over Runes in PvE, because SR is so strong in that enviroment.

Mind you, it's a nice tradeoff to be honest. You DO, however get runed up Splinter Weapon and Ancestors' Rage... A N/Rt healer is only superior when it comes to heroes imo, because heroes are not so smart when it comes to...well everything, including e-management. A Rt/x human player is still preferable.

A N/Rt healer is only superior when it comes to heroes imo, because heroes are not so smart when it comes to...well everything, including e-management. A Rt/x human player is still preferable. A Rt/x human is mainly preferable due to AR / SW runed up.
N/Rt's are a poor excuse for a Monk in all reality. Since it's energy management is so powerful in PvE, it's hard to pass up on a hero.

In a way I agree with you, though.

A Rt/x human is mainly preferable due to AR / SW runed up.
N/Rt's are a poor excuse for a Monk in all reality. Since it's energy management is so powerful in PvE, it's hard to pass up on a hero.

In a way I agree with you, though. N/Rt hero doesn't deliver the prot but its heal is enough. infinite energy says N/Rt is a winner.