Originally Posted by
Shadylol
I have a level 80 (max level) Warrior, myself, and I find the Rifle to be adequate single target DPS, with the longbow being below average AoE DPS. While the Rifle can kill stuff reasonably, it just feels incorrect to take a "Warrior" Class, and sit back with ranged spells, hoping for the best. This seems to be the Warrior's main role in many situations, though, as Melee in Guild Wars 2 is often... questionable. As far as PvP goes, there are fundamental flaws in rushing into 30 people, just to die instantly, while almost everyone else shoots stuff everywhere, except for the few other melee Classes that ran in and also died. I would say that PvE is markedly Ranged favored as well since Melee loses so much uptime just dodging everything, and is far more punishing on many encounters, so again the Warrior's role seems to be running around with a Rifle
Necromancers, Engineers, and Mesmers seem to be more DoT/Utility based Support Classes, or at least more of a Support Class than others, in the same sense that a Guardian may do less damage, with the added benefit of providing utility and buffs (and being able to withstand a lot of damage). Warriors and Thieves have ranged DPS to an extent, but I would doubt them being capable of the same output as a Ranger, or Elementalist. So it would seem that Rangers and Elementalists are the best ranged Classes, with the Ranger being less squishy, and having a pet, while the Elementalist can change stances (fire/water/air/earth) on the fly, to fill needs on a more situational basis. Overall these Classes appear to just bring more functionality, as well as more DPS, making them favorable
There are other things which are unusual for an MMO, that seem to favor ranged as well; such as: almost everything can be cast while moving, there isn't a normal mana type resource for spells, to limit output, the lack of dedicated Healers leaves melee to die much easier in a variety of situations where they could be kept alive in other games, kiting seems to be the primary course of action in a lot of GW2's PvE, and dodging can both take one out of melee range, preventing their own DPS output, for the sake of staying alive, as well as be used to defensively take one out of melee range, which does mean less damage for the brief duration of the dodge, but is ultimately more punishing to the melee Class getting kited. The focus on this World vs World vs World (WvWvW or whatever) stuff also makes Guild Wars 2 feel Ranged favored, as there's a lot of shooting at people from the top of a building, and with the harsh distance from the Waypoint to any relevant spot on the map, the ability for a Ranged Class to effectively pull out of a losing engagement is highly beneficial
What do you guys think? Does Guild Wars 2 favor Ranged over Melee?