How to use spirits and preperations?

I'm having trouble finding information that explains how and when to use spirits and preparations. I have a ranger that I've been using a while, but I've never used any spirits yet because I'm not really sure how they are best to be used. I guess one of my main concerns is if a spirit effects all creatures in the area then what good does it do to me to have the enemy benifit from it as well? Am I missing something? Also, right now in my PvE I have "Read the Wind", "Ignite Arrows", "Kindle Arrows" and hopefully will get "Apply Poison" soon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these don't stack in anyway do they?

Basically, I really don't put any attribute points into wilderness except for remainder points that won't go into my main areas because I'm not really sure how wilderness is to be used effectively. Thanks for any advice or anything like that.

Well, seeing how I have no real experience with playing ranger, I can't answer all of your questions. I can answer a few, though.

Yes, all creatures, including your enemies, in an area are affected by spirits. But let's say you put up favorable winds in an area with absolutely no enemy rangers...you're the only one who will be getting an advantage.

As for preparations: They do not stack.

Different spirits are good for like IWAY and favorable winds if you have it is good +6 dmg with bow, spirits stack but preparations dont, just like stances

You're correct in that preparations don't stack. You can only ever have one on you at a time, so choosing which prep you're going to use is the only real trick to preparations. Have one on your skill bar and try to keep it up 100% of the time during the battle. Most preparations (read: all but Choking Gas and Incendiary Arrows) last 24 seconds and have a recharge of 12, so they can be kept up indefinitely.

As to spirits, since they do effect both you and your enemy, the trick is to know what kind of team you and your enemy are going to have. For example, if you know your team has a lot of rangers and warriors, but the enemy has a lot of casters, then maybe Predatory Seasons is worth a shot. They'll be casting a lot and getting less out of their spell heals, but your guys will be hitting a lot and getting heals from that instead.

Or, if you know the enemy isn't going to have any rangers, and you've got 2 or more on your team, bring along Favorable Winds.

Spirits are all about finding a way that a single change to everyone can actually hurt your enemies while it helps you. They do, however, require a bit of foresight.

Agreed - what spirits/preps you bring is highly dependent on what monsters you will face, and what you're going to be doing (ie. raw damage, interrupts, trapping, etc.). Ex. Kindle arrows for single-area fire damage vs incendiary for AoE fire damage (that will scatter the NPC monsters). Poison is great against most monsters, but useless against non-fleshy monsters (armors, skeletons, etc.). Read the Wind is OK for extra damage, great for interrupting. Favorable Winds can help with damage & interrupts, but is equally helpful to enemy rangers if there are any. I would recommend that you invest some time exploring the Wilderness Survival line, as it has some of the most useful ranger skills available. Also look at the various Ranger builds in the Campfire section to get some ideas of how different skill combos work for different roles.

Thanks everyone for your input. I will start poking around trying different stuff, but as you've stated, unless you know or think you know what enemy you are going to face then it is difficult to pick which skill might be best.

spirits are an odd one. I tend not to bother very much but sometimes (e.g. ettin farming) they're great. For example, I'm a R/Me and if I go solo I'll take greater conflagration (elite spirit; turns all phys dmg into ele dmg) and take ele resistance (mes skill; gives + ele res - phys res). I'm taking no phys res at all so i get reduced dmg from all sides.

Preps are great, i never go without a prep. If I'm interrupting I take read the wind, if I'm after degen and already have an elite I'll take Apply Poison (prefer the elite poison arrow), and generally I'll just take Kindle/Ignite arrows. Play around with them and find which you like