Best starting stats for a Wood Elf Ranger?

[LordRayken]

Does anyone have any ideas on acceptable starting stats for a Wood Elf Ranger?

I read that they should get as much Strength as possible, is that still true?

Anyone have any good examples of low price starting gear for them as well?

[darkreap]

Well that is kind of up to you. Personally, when I made my human ranger, I put all 20 points into STA. I felt like between gear and shaman buffs endgame I would have enough str to hit the cap. From what I have heard it is harder to cap your STA. If this is your first toon and will not have any gear to twink with, it might be a good idea to put some points into STR as at lower levels encumbrance is an issue. As a wood elf you start with more wis than any other ranger race so it pretty much is a toss up between str/sta. It wouldn't be bad if you wanted to split between the two stats but there really is no right answer except don't put them into int...

[Kowalski]

Depends on your goals. I put mine into STR because I mostly melee solo.

[LordRayken]

Depends on your goals. I put mine into STR because I mostly melee solo.

Playing solo or grouping when I can.

[paulgiamatti]

Max sta, rest str - accept no alternatives.

[LordRayken]

Max sta, rest str - accept no alternatives.

Alright, so, split up Sta and Str then? I guess worry about Agi and Dex on gear?

[paulgiamatti]

Yep, just be sure to put as many into sta as you can. HP = the most important stat in the game for all melees and hybrids.

[paulgiamatti]

Yeah, dex is only useful to proc weapons, which rangers don't really need to do and when you do you'll get that through gear. Agi is a negligible stat, don't even pay attention to it. Str increases attack and carry capacity, so that's next most important stat - wood elves are fairly deficient in str too.

[paulgiamatti]

I think on my wood elf ranger I put like two points into wis after maxing sta cause I was like, "Spellz!!1" but I wish I'd just dumped the rest into str.

[LordRayken]

I can put it all into stam, but should I do like 5 into str?

[paulgiamatti]

That's weird - I thought there'd be some left over. Sta > str so no, I would just dump everything into sta. Str is the most ubiquitous stat on gear, you'll get plenty of it. The extra HP will help you way more than anything, especially at low levels.

[LordRayken]

Now I just need a list of low level Ranger gear

[Jimjam]

Wear cloth/tattered/raw-hide that you come across. Get a Green Jade broadsword, sword of skyfire or silver swiftwind for 50pp. Save 90pp for banded. Get some platinum fire rings for 250 each.

If you want to do some questing Ivy Etched armour is good, you can start in your 20s. Late 20s you can fear kite snow cougars in iceclad for cougar claw earrings.

If you want to hunt for armour upgrades late 30s/40s start an orc fort group in eastern wastes for rygor armour. Some nice earrings drop there too.

If you want to get to your spell levels asap I found the best way to do that is to focus on killing (decaying) skeletons until level 5. This will earn you about 30pp in loot from cloth/rusty armour/etc (try use this to negotiate a good price on a weapon) and give you 2 backpacks full of bone chips, which should be enough to take to Kaladim and turn in at the paladin guild to xp up to level 9 or 10.

If you are low on strength, you can fight in guk late teens and earn some mesh armour, which is okay AC for the level but really low weight, letting you carry more loot.

[maskedmelon]

If this is your first character or you do not have any high level character or do not plan on end game raiding, then go all STR ^^. It will offer a vastly superior gameplay experience. You will be less prone to encumberance (which hampers cash flows and lowers survivability) while leveling and enjoy fewer misses to boot.

[paulgiamatti]

Encumbrance isn't too much of an issue if you're smart about it. If something vendors for less than 20 plat I usually don't loot it unless it's stackable, or unless I'm near a bank already. It's easy to get distracted by junk loot like Fine Steel, Ring Mail, Bronze, etc. Just let it rot, it will just slow down your progress leveling and ultimately levels will make you more money.

Don't let copper and silver weigh you down - if it builds up just destroy it, it's not worth it. If you can't afford Tinker Bags, spend some time in EC to get the cheaper weight reduction bags like Bag of Sewn Evil-Eye and Light Burlap Sack.

[maskedmelon]

^ There you go OP, if you don't mind letting 20p "junk" rot and are happy to wear leather, your 70str will work just fine ^^

[brecon]

If you want to solo as a ranger, either xping or for stuff at 60, then dex becomes your most important stat. It effects bow damage, and also proc rate on weapons. You want your Swarmcaller (~100pp, procs at 46) to proc as soon as possible each fight.

Strength is very easy to raise through Velious gear and does not impact your ability to solo very much. Rangers have terrible returns to stamina and tend to rely on rooting and regen, or snaring and regen - meaning your max HP isn't as imporant. Agi isn't worth much.

[RDawg816]

If you want to solo as a ranger, either xping or for stuff at 60, then dex becomes your most important stat. It effects bow damage, and also proc rate on weapons.
Did they patch that when I wasn't looking? Str affects bow damage on p99...no?

[Skydash]

If you want to solo as a ranger, either xping or for stuff at 60, then dex becomes your most important stat. It effects bow damage, and also proc rate on weapons. You want your Swarmcaller (~100pp, procs at 46) to proc as soon as possible each fight.

Strength is very easy to raise through Velious gear and does not impact your ability to solo very much. Rangers have terrible returns to stamina and tend to rely on rooting and regen, or snaring and regen - meaning your max HP isn't as imporant. Agi isn't worth much.

Yes, this is true except for the bow damage (bow is str). Your epic sword is a slow proc, which makes all the world of difference soloing. So Dex is most important, followed by Wisdom because you get much more mana return compared to hp from stamina. Root/heal is only way to survive.

Rangers also get a strength buff very early on, and dex gear is harder to find.

I'd split between dex/wis.

[Ravager]

STA now or you'll regret it later. There's enough str/dex/whatever gear to find as you level. 20-30 levels of managing inventory is a problem that goes away. 40, 60 and 80 extra hp at levels 40, 50 and 60 that you can't otherwise get is a problem that doesn't go away.

[maskedmelon]

Stamina arguments are like saying you don't have time for grooming because you need to cardio for 3 hours at the gym so you last longer in bed. It's going to be much more difficult if getting in bed without looking good. You may not even make it.

Ultimately depends on what your priorities are. Do you want to enjoy the whole game or just a sliver?

[Vallanor]

Max your INT, throw up /role, and tell everyone they're doing everything wrong while you play your smart little know-it-all ranger. You'll have about 2℅ fewer hit points at end game than a min-maxer, but you'll only be half as annoying.

[mr_jon3s]

Sta and Dex. Str is really easy to max with a buff and some velious gear.

[Ravager]

Stamina arguments are like saying you don't have time for grooming because you need to cardio for 3 hours at the gym so you last longer in bed. It's going to be much more difficult if getting in bed without looking good. You may not even make it.

Ultimately depends on what your priorities are. Do you want to enjoy the whole game or just a sliver?
Putting all of your points into STA doesn't make the game unenjoyable, or even that difficult and to say it ruins all but a sliver of the game is hyperbole.

[Ravager]

I believe melon is pointing out the fact stamina provides negligible HP per STA point until you get to what, 50? Putting all points into Stam is pretty much a min/max move only useful for people who can afford to twink their chars, or for those who are aiming for raiding.

OP, I'd say if you don't have a lot of plat, want to enjoy the journey of leveling a little better, like grouping with other players, or plan on making alt characters, put them all into STR. It's really not that big a deal not having the STA.

If you have plat to get the good stat gear or want to do raids end game, put them into STA. It's definitely true that STA is harder to gear then STR, and STR is easy to max, and the STA from starter points is better in the long run. But it's just that, the long run.

I myself didn't make any character with all points into STA until I leveled my farmer to twink.
All of my melee alts get STA. I typically play them from scratch, no twinking whatsoever, not even with a cheap EC weapon. For the first 10-15 levels there is frequent banking and what-not, but any new character banks frequently because every copper counts. It's really no more of a chore than it is for casters who typically dump all of their points into INT/WIS. By level 13 or 14 you can camp Shralok packs for WR. In your teens if you've been saving your plat, you can buy some cheap str jewelry or a Hero Bracer.

If this is a person's first char here, and it typically is when they ask this question, it's a char they will most likely play to 50+ and the fact is they'll probably wish they had the extra HP when they get there. I know I dumped all of my points into STR on my first melee char and when I did get to 50+ I was wishing I had gone STA instead and I was never a heavy raider. More HP is always better as a melee.

[Cecily]

I did 5 str, 5 dex, 5 sta, 5 wis and I'm happy with it. My STR is nearly capped unbuffed, 255 with my own buffs. Pretty far from capping DEX and stamina anytime soon. 10 STA / 10 DEX would be my suggestion. Hard to gear for and important later on. But honestly, you're fine if you go +20 CHA. Stats don't matter in EQ.

[Cecily]

More HP is always better as a melee.

Naw. You're a +25 str rogue like myself, and as a heavy raider, I've always found the extra str incredibly useful. It affords you flexibility in gear choices you otherwise wouldn't have. All throughout Kunark, I tanked my HP / STR for resists and survived through anything. I didn't miss the extra HP. Still don't.

[Jontheripper]

80hp is literally nothing at lvl 60.

[paulgiamatti]

I didn't want to go full nerd on this thread, but you nerds leave a nerd little option.

I put exactly 0 points into dex and with a few pieces of extra gear I can easily surpass 180 dex unbuffed. You don't need to put starting points into dex, even if you're soloing 100% of the time. I also put exactly 0 points into str and I'm at 200 unbuffed with normal gear. I have never been encumbered - I hate being encumbered, so I planned in advance to always avoid it, and because of this I never have to experience it. You don't need to put starting points into str.

Ranger is a hybrid class, not a caster - spellcasting should always be secondary to melee, even when soloing. The minuscule different a couple points of wisdom or dexterity will make in your solo game is simply not worth the sacrifice to your most crucial stat: hit points. Lots of people argue it's a preference of playstyle - that you should put some points into these stats if you want to solo, or put some points into these stats if you just want to tank or raid, etc. I don't buy that line - HP is most important, 100% of the time, in 100% of situations.

Dump the points into sta and thank me later. Or you know, don't, and listen to these other people.

[paulgiamatti]

And I mean, I'm a complete min-maxer, but I don't see that as some ghastly, atrocious offense to the well-being of P99 nerdiculture or killing the enjoyment of the game or something. I like to play the game in the smartest way possible to allow for the best gameplay experience on all fronts. Some people don't care about being efficient - that's fine, but in a thread where someone is asking what the best starting stats are, I'm absolutely going to take a giant min-maxed dump all over the thread because I'd like the OP to receive good advice.

So do other things, I don't care - I'm just telling you what I would do and unpacking the reasoning behind it, just as others are. And as a self-proclaimed frothing rabid min-maxer, I can also confidently say that I'm a fun person to play the game with and I never shove my ideas down anyone else's throat.

[Ravager]

80hp is literally nothing at lvl 60.
Or it's the difference between dying or not, or the difference between getting low hp aggro or not. It's not crucial for every single fight, or even most fights, but leveling 1-60 it occurs often enough where if you were standing for one more swing you just might have killed the mob or you just might have got that heal that's about to land on your corpse and all of those situations add up to wasted time that could be avoided right from the start.

[Vallanor]

Or it's the difference between dying or not, or the difference between getting low hp aggro or not. It's not crucial for every single fight, or even most fights, but leveling 1-60 it occurs often enough where if you were standing for one more swing you just might have killed the mob or you just might have got that heal that's about to land on your corpse and all of those situations add up to wasted time that could be avoided right from the start.

More DEX could be that one extra proc that finishes off the mob. More WIS could be that one extra root spell allowing you an easy escape when you get a couple adds. More STR could be extra damage throughout the fight that killed the mob faster and prevented the need for 40 extra HP at the end.

Overall I agree, from a min-max perspective, STA is probably the way to go just because it's more difficult to compensate for with gear, but I think it's really a pretty minor consideration at the end of the day. I did a piss-poor job creating my paladin (erudite to start and mostly STR at character creation) and I've never once felt bad about it. Most people won't even notice the difference.

[maskedmelon]

Stats don't matter in EQ.

Single greatest truth in thread ^^



OP, Choices are 80hp at level 60 and 0 benefit at level 1, or less headache and increased effectiveness your entire EQ career.

Solo, a larger hp pool is of limited value, because you are going to need to root and heal up anyway. Your mana pool determines how long you can last more than your hp pool.

Grouping, you may or may not (if grouped with any of the people suggesting stamina here) be tanking, but being closer to capping strength will allow you to prioritize resists in gear which are really what matters so that you don't eat a full ice comet, which that 80hp will have very little chance of saving you.

In raids, the only time you should be getting attacked is if you are weapon shielding (hp irrelevant, you are invuln) for tank swap after which you will die no matter, or you are being hit by ae magics. If you're not tanking, your job is killing and being closer to capping strength with fewer items allows prioritization of resists so you don't eat full nukes. Again 80hp is far less likely to save you.

The extra hp is a conditional benefit. The increased attack, damage, carrying capacity and flexibility to prioritize resists are constant benefits.

Warriors on the other hand only exist to tank raid mobs in defensive stance and receive 25 starting points and 6hp per sta. With defensive discipline that is effectively 300hp at level 60, which is far more relevant a consideration.

[brecon]

So....what most people are saying is 'we have opinions on our preferences.' There's no winner here, so do what you want. But the other interesting thing that people say is that it is also about gear choice.

I've personally found it harder to raise dex without sacrificing others stats. I find it relatively easy to add HP and Str in combination on gear, and I find it pretty easy to add to MR/CR/FR along with Wisdom. For someone who likes to solo, both while leveling and at 60 to farm stuff, I prioritize conserving HP. That means reliance on regen, procs, and bows. Which is why I wear lots of resist gear and prioritize dex for procs.

If you are an end-game raider that is min-maxing, then I don't know why you are rolling Ranger in the first place. Min-maxing a Ranger is a little like trying to be a main healer as a Paladin. But nonetheless, in that context, then you will assume that you always have lvl 60 shaman buffs (Str + Dex + Focus), which adds a ton of stats (though I find most shamans ignore me if I ask for dex+str+focus anyway and just give me focus). Also in many raid situations you won't want to use proc weapons to avoid pulling aggro. And you want to survive AE damage, since healing a ranger will never be a priority. In that case, and only that case, do I see a justification for stamina.

But if that was your mentality I sort of doubt you would be asking the P99 forums for stat allocation advice, and if you are untwinked, you are heavily gimping yourself until higher levels and better gear.

[paulgiamatti]

Well, my ranger began as a fairly overgeared alt which got hand-me-downs from my main rogue, and that turned into a full-scale twinking project - I probably wouldn't roll ranger as my very first character when starting on a new server, unless I was feeling particularly masochistic.

I'd say the primary reason I decided on ranger is tracking, and I'm pretty happy that I stuck with it for that reason alone. Also, it's just a fun class to play. If you gear yourself like a tank, and if you have plenty of HP, you can easily tank anything a shadow knight or paladin can, and ranger snap aggro is basically the best in the game.

[gkmarino]

Not ranger related but i put all points into strength and I'm still mad at how often I'm over encumbered. Not ranger related but imagine it as an evil race/deity who can't vendor everywhere. Also being my first char untwinked I carry pelts and weapons to sell and craft. I'm always finding a balance between value and weight. Not to mention wanted to train skill in all weapon types without WR bags. STR has payed off immensely. Even having 90 STR sucks a lot. I'm level 20 and just got my first item that has STR on it.

My armor and a few weapons and a shield puts my starting weight at around 55-60 and that's without plate armor.

[LordRayken]

Too late. I'm level 7 and already dumped my points into Stamina.

Dun dun dunnnn

[Pyrion]

If you intend to play the ranger so you can raid later, sure, sta may be the thing to do. But if you are not heavily twinked, i would consider putting all into str. Str is needed so you do more damage and dont have to sell things so often due to overload. Not putting your points into str can lead to too much frustration so you dont even get to high level.

Ignore all that if you have a good amount of twink gear, getting your str up that way.

[paulgiamatti]

Did anyone play the original F-Zero for SNES?

http://imgur.com/6yNVfKr.jpg

I always chose the pink racer and annihilated my competition, because even though it had the lowest acceleration, it had the highest top speed. Meaning if you ran into a wall and came to a dead stop, you were pretty much screwed because it would take you longer to accelerate back to top speed again. But if you played well - if you were confident and knew the course well, and could make all the turns without clipping the walls - you were much more likely to take first place.

[maskedmelon]

That is the opposite though because sta only helps when you or your group is doing poorly. If you are extra careful you don't need any extra hp^^ High top speed and sta are both conditional benefits though, so there is consistency there ^.~v

I would choose the pink car too though, but only because it's pink ^^

[Ravager]

Too late. I'm level 7 and already dumped my points into Stamina.

Dun dun dunnnn
Good call.

If you intend to play the ranger so you can raid later, sure, sta may be the thing to do. But if you are not heavily twinked, i would consider putting all into str. Str is needed so you do more damage and dont have to sell things so often due to overload. Not putting your points into str can lead to too much frustration so you dont even get to high level.

Ignore all that if you have a good amount of twink gear, getting your str up that way.
And then he gets to level 50, realizes his str is way beyond capped with a single buff and some cheap gear and wishes his 20 points were put somewhere else.

That is the opposite though because sta only helps when you or your group is doing poorly. If you are extra careful you don't need any extra hp^^ High top speed and sta are both conditional benefits though, so there is consistency there ^.~v

I would choose the pink car too though, but only because it's pink ^^
If you're extra careful, you don't need a seat belt either, but you probably want one anyway.

[Cecily]

I liked jumping off ramps and exploding my car in the city more than racing around the track.
I feel I've maintained this gaming philosophy to this day.

And, yeah, pink car.

[Ravager]

I liked jumping off ramps and exploding my car in the city more than racing around the track.
I feel I've maintained this gaming philosophy to this day.

And, yeah, pink car.
I'm probably dating myself by quite a lot, but you ever play this game? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxANYMqd8cY

[RDawg816]

I'm probably dating myself
I'm sure must of this forum is "dating themselves" :p

[paulgiamatti]

I'm probably dating myself by quite a lot, but you ever play this game? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxANYMqd8cY

That looks awesome, but no, Rad Racer was my shit: https://youtu.be/3me85pqMwAQ

[LordRayken]

I'm probably dating myself by quite a lot, but you ever play this game? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxANYMqd8cY

That music is rad.