Cant Decide! (Bard or Ranger)

[Jimjam]

I don't have a lot of options for healing. My ranger can do about 100/second heal and 10/tick regen (mana permitting). My static group does have a 50ish cleric that I could borrow, though.

That is good news if ranger defence is going to be bumped up, I was under the impression that was a post Luclin change so I won't get my hopes up! TBH I will miss all of that extra DS DPS I have been doing :P.

Something that might be interesting would be to test how the characters do naked? On corpse runs it always feels like I am taking a lot more max hits, even against greens.

Once we have that data point, we then see at what point adding worn AC seems to stop being effective? -This would be really useful information for anyone wanting to level up a character through the 50s!

Perhaps we should take this to PMs / new thread?

[Troxx]

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5782

Details of next patch.

-Rangers-

Rangers were the most complex class we looked at during this evaluation. Rangers were clearly lacking in their ability to tank, and also proved to be doing slightly less damage than was desirable. After evaluating several possible solutions, we made upgrades in both of these areas. Keep in mind, rangers are an offense-oriented hybrid, giving up the ability to tank well in exchange for doing similar damage to a warrior.

In order to put rangers in the right place offensively, we made two changes. First, we upgraded their Double Attack skill cap from 235 to 245. Additionally, we gave rangers an innate offensive bonus beginning at level 55, and increasing until level 60. This has the net effect of allowing them to double attack a bit more often, and hit harder on successful attacks. These two changes put the ranger exactly where we want him, doing approximately the same damage as a similarly equipped warrior.

Part of the balancing factor of the ranger is the inability to tank well. This penalty will remain, though we are making some changes to lessen it. Prior to this patch, rangers were taking more damage than we desired. After these changes take effect, rangers will tank better than they did, but not nearly as well as the knight, bard, and warrior classes.

We are raising the Defense skill cap for rangers. This increase begins at level 51, increasing a few points each level until it caps at 220. We are also raising the ranger’s Riposte skill cap to 185 starting at level 51 and scaling up to level 60.

Bards get:
-1hs/1hb to 250 (225 now)
-pierce to 240 (210 now)
-offense to 252 (225 now)
-same melee table as warriors (this will be huge)
-still do less than knights, but less than the new improved knights
-parry raised to 185 (currently a pitiful 75)
-defense stays at 252
-riposte stays at 75

Bards retain the advantage of greater defense and plate gear.
Rangers maintain avoidance with parry/riposte at 220/185 vs 185/75 bard

I'm cautiously excited to see what this actually does for our crappy dps. With luck, I'll be able to sustain 30 melee dps (lol).

[Jimjam]

Good to read! Looks like it just snuck in before luclin (which was start of December, and very messy release!)

[Onus]

It's a funny thing. Bards are lauded as a group class, which they definitely are. But, well, they are arguably the best soloer in the game. Just a quick google search of "swarm kiting" will show you what I mean. For instance, I get a level around every 20minutes by myself. That is something I could never do on my ranger or any other class.

Rangers are really fun, too. Your spells are situationally important - you are not a druid. Still, flamelick is invaluable and, actually, so is their little baby heal which everyone tends to disregard.

It is definitely more taxing to play a bard. Both classes are really fun. Bards are way more powerful/valuable. Also, bards can swarm kite with nothing more than a couple instruments. You can literally be NAKED and level faster than any other class.

GL

EDIT: I should add that swarm kiting is not for everyone. Simply, not everyone is actually able to do it/get the hang of it. Also, if you are on blue, getting a group may not be as big of an issue as it can be on red. Soloing on a ranger is definitely doable (lvl 54 almost entirely soloed as a ranger) but it is definitely not the fastest. *shrug* Try ranger until at least lvl 30 and do the same for bard. Both really start shining around that time, imo.

Bards are awesome in group and solo situations alike. Rangers...eh...I'd much rather group (if the group would even want me).

[Gustoo]

Bards are one of the most powerful classes in the game and we're not even close to being exploit d to full potential by many folks on live.

Leveling a bard without swarm kiting is a great way to learn to actually play the class.