Question about Rangers and groups

[Damyron87]

Hi all, i am looking to create a new character as a ranger, i was wondering towards the higher levels 45+ will i be able to find a group? I dont mind soloing and i have a friend to duo with sometimes but dont want to be stranded not having a group. Anybody with end game experience know if this will be an issue?

[kyzzo]

you can definitely find a group as puller - KC u have all ur super powers harmo/wolf/etc. The hole u can pull ok with a bow and high ac/hp buffs. get swarmcaller, 1k ac and >3khp then go solo/duo bearpits 58-60

[Damyron87]

Thanks very much!! I will keep it in mind

[Jimjam]

Wear lots of AC and hp, keep your str up. Keep your buffs up. You’ll tank and dps any group content satisfactorily.

Offhand epic is fairly easy. Try get the plane of sky haste click cloak of the dark skies. These really help out if your group lacks a haste caster.

[PatChapp]

Ranger great group class, I don't think you'll struggle any more than any melee would.

[Lightbringer55]

If you want a different spin on it, you could look into a dex build with the steel hilted flint dagger. Seen some solid agro generation with it, but there's still the issue that you need the AC and HP to take the hits.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Steel_Hilted_Flint_Dagger

[Toxigen]

Just play a monk.

[Jibartik]

If you want a different spin on it, you could look into a dex build with the steel hilted flint dagger. Seen some solid agro generation with it, but there's still the issue that you need the AC and HP to take the hits.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Steel_Hilted_Flint_Dagger

I did this on mischief during kunark and it was awesome, different gameplay there, but I used procs for raids and would regularly make the top 5 DPS I forget the different weapons I used, but I had cold/fire proc weapon sets cus my melee dps was meh.

Even with wurmslayers buff on mischife against dragons I would be able to edge it out by a 1000 damage or so on a cold/fire dragon fight.

Regular dragons the wurmslayer (again had dragonbane on mischief) would beat that by a large margin though.

[Tethler]

When hybrid penalty was in, it was sometimes more difficult. No issue these days. You'll probably be pulling.

[Swish]

If you hate pulling you might not enjoy the ranger later on.

[Solist]

Take ranger.

Delete.

Make any other class.

[Keebz]

If you hate pulling you might not enjoy the ranger later on.

And if you wind up liking pulling, you will be annoyed that you don't really get to do it on raids if you get that far.

[YendorLootmonkey]

If you want a different spin on it, you could look into a dex build with the steel hilted flint dagger. Seen some solid agro generation with it, but there's still the issue that you need the AC and HP to take the hits.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Steel_Hilted_Flint_Dagger

Parsing at level 60 with 255 DEX, it doesn't proc enough to out-damage even a Faygaurd Parrying Dagger/Exquisite Velium Warsword combo on XP mobs at least. Vox/Gore may be a niche use case. You might need the sister weapon from VP to make it worthwhile from a DPS perspective. Never had one so I can't speak to DPS parsing on that.

[Toxigen]

i cant imaging making a character whos only end game purpose is being a speedbump til the next warrior can get aggro

[DeathsSilkyMist]

i cant imaging making a character whos only end game purpose is being a speedbump til the next warrior can get aggro

Playing a Ranger is fine. Hybrids are typically the fun Solo/Group class people like dumping their alt DKP/Plat into. This thread isn't about attempting to raid as a ranger, it is about normal grouping.

[Tethler]

i cant imaging making a character whos only end game purpose is being a speedbump til the next warrior can get aggro

The trick is to stop at 59 so you never get weaponshield, then you're free to trueshot disc with your BFG for fun.

[Selene]

And if you wind up liking pulling, you will be annoyed that you don't really get to do it on raids if you get that far.

Is this true? Is it mostly just monks then who pull during raids? I love pulling, and tried leveling a ranger (got to 50), but had to quit cuz I really disliked relying on procs to be able to solo. Took too frequent and hard hits while trying to fight toe-to-toe. (Before anyone criticizes me for facetanking, I just didn't like fear kiting animals, or bow rotting).

[Philistine]

Hi all, i am looking to create a new character as a ranger, i was wondering towards the higher levels 45+ will i be able to find a group? I dont mind soloing and i have a friend to duo with sometimes but dont want to be stranded not having a group. Anybody with end game experience know if this will be an issue?

Rangers are great for groups at all levels IMHO. Excellent pullers up to 60, especially outdoors. Indoors use snare and root to help control the madness.

Rangers can also serve as pretty good tanks through their 40s, and kinda lame but still satisfactory ones up until 60, though you'll probably need a cleric to heal you without slows or a slower in group in the 50s.

You can also CC - park stuff with root and your tank should move. Or, if your tank isn't paying attention, snare mobs to get them off others then park them.

You can also just DPS of course if there's already a tank, puller, and CC in group.

Swarmcaller (or better yet, Earthcaller) will add to your utility in a group. Not a reliable slow, but still a nice trick to pull out.

I'm prejudiced as I main a ranger (and am clearly a big fan :p) but to me a smart group will pick up a LFG ranger over a LFG pure tank/DPS/etc any day as the ranger can fill so many roles if a specialist leaves, and are pretty good DPS until 60 when lack of triple attack and insane raid weapons that rogs and monks get cause Rangers to fall way behind on the DPS end of things.

If you're ok with the fact that you'll never be the best at anything (except for maybe pulling outdoors) and and work to maximize your usefulness as group composition changes I'd expect you to have good luck finding groups

Very underrated clas IMHO - honestly I feel like that's half the challenge of playing one - folks aren't always aware of how much we pwn :)

[Keebz]

Is this true? Is it mostly just monks then who pull during raids?

On raids mostly, but pulling is kind of a different beast in that context.

[Philistine]

On raids mostly, but pulling is kind of a different beast in that context.

Agreed! To elaborate a bit, a lot of the big time raid zones are indoors, and snare/root won't land on raid zone trash. Also, adds can be devastating so FD is needed.

[Delekhan]

i cant imaging making a character whos only end game purpose is being a speedbump til the next warrior can get aggro

You can make a similar argument for every class. In Velious era EQ every class is distilled into a specific role at the end game. If you want to play other roles, you need other toons.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Is this true? Is it mostly just monks then who pull during raids?

Yes, Monks are the general puller in raids. Other classes get some play in specific scenarios.

Necromancers are great because the have pets. You can do pulls at a safe distance from mobs because you can park your pet next to the mob and have it initiate agro, instead of doing that yourself. They also have Feign Death, and they have multiple Divine Auras available to them due to Harmshield + Earring of the Frozen Skull + Shiny Brass Idol.

Mages also get some play because they are the only class in the game that has TWO instant cast Divine Aura clickies. They have Duennan Shielding Ring + Shiny Brass Idol, and they use Earring of the Frozen Skull as their starting Divine Aura.

Shadowknights and Rangers (which are great group pullers) sadly get little to no play in raids as pullers. Do not roll a Shadowknight or Ranger thinking you can raid pull.

[YendorLootmonkey]

Rangers on raids (mostly covered already in other posts):
- You can pull Plane of Hate with harmony/bind sight but that'll take too long... chances are a monk will pull and you can tag. Otherwise if you are not tagging and bringing into the raid, you are DPS. You can kite some non-casting adds if needed I guess if the enchanters are occupied.
- You can probably tag off the peeler in Fear, or kite adds (a lot less casters here), otherwise you are DPS.
- In Sky, you might be pulling/kiting some isles depending on your raid's strategy for the isle, aside from supplying DPS.
- Boss/dragon raids, you'll probably be part of an FTE team if outdoors, and during the actual raid you're mostly going to be DPS. Between 55-59, you might even get to /disc Trueshot if you have a decent bow. Level 60, you're keeping Weaponshield on reserve for a tank transition on some of the tougher fights.
- Level 50+, you have some ATK buffs that melee will want, especially Call of the Predator at Level 60.

Rangers in groups (mostly covered already in other posts):
- Sufficiently geared, you can tank if needed... this gets more difficult in Kunark and Velious where mobs hit harder. Better off letting a WAR/PAL/SHD tank if available.
- You're going to be pulling if outdoors due to Harmony. Lots of neat tricks to pull solos, stagger incoming mobs with snare and root, etc.
- You can do crowd control in a pinch... rootparking non-casters (casters around corners out of LOS), kiting non-casters with snare, off-tanking adds, etc.
- You can get a mob immediately off a caster with flame lick/snare (or root if the caster is situationally aware enough to back off).
- Swarmcaller or Earthcaller gives you the ability to proc a decent slow on mobs (but if you're not tanking, prepare to root/jolt)
- Lots of utility spells/buffs, including a heal which is pretty helpful for topping off caster HP (and your own) to take some mana pressure off healers, or for transferring mana to a cannibalizing shaman
- Decent DPS if sufficiently geared

Rangers solo (mostly covered already in other posts):
- Need some toys to make this effective (haste item, Dark Cloak of Sky, Swarmcaller/Earthcaller, +HP/STA/AC gear, etc.) if you are facetanking
- Bowkiting is a thing, however very tedious and time-consuming
- Snare/Panic Animal with level-appropriate animal mobs outdoors is probably your most efficient solo XP now that we've surpassed the hybrid spell patch in Velious

Lots of versatility and changing of roles, especially if you have a 3-4 person non-standard group. Otherwise, there are classes that can perform each of these roles better than you can. And a bard probably fits just as well in the "jack of all trades, master of none" role, with mana regen song tipping the scales in their favor. However, bards in group are probably stewing over the slow XP compared to what they could be making swarm-kiting solo.

Ranger is a fun class for someone to play, but your group could care less about all the fun you're having and probably isn't going to put up with a ranger that is just going to sit back and swing weapons at a mob's ass the entire time. You need to play at the fullest potential of the class to make sure the group's getting the most out of the group slot they gave you. If you care about those sort of things.

If you roll a ranger, you owe it to the rest of the ranger class to not be a shitty one.