Ranger tips?

[MegamanXZOBMV]

''Don't play a Ranger'' doesn't apply.

My two mains on Live, pre-PoP, were a Warrior and a Druid, and even though I always liked the idea of the Ranger class (being a hybrid of the two) I never actually got around to using one. So here on P99 I've decided to make a ranger.

What are some things I should keep in mind as a Ranger? I intend it to be my main (after my Necro, whose sole purpose is to solo to higher levels to twink my Ranger in an attempt to circumvent the EXP penalty). I know things like Archery and Fletching are important (I solo'd with my Warrior til lvl 40 or so, and he was an expert Fletcher, so I got some experience in that).

I know Rangers in P99 are ill-accepted in groups, probably due to being a DPS class that has no anti-aggro and poor utility. So should I solo? If so, what's key advice for doing so? If I group, what should I try to emphasize on and use to ''sell myself'' to a team? Any Ranger advice in general would be appreciated.

Again, I'm going to play a Ranger, and I want to master the class, so ''Don't play a Ranger'' isn't very helpful to me at all.

[skorge]

reroll

/end thread

[JenJen]

you could solo to the 40's quite quickly with the right gear in the right spots. i never had trouble finding groups pre kunark, ive not played much kunark however so i cant really say what its like currently.
There's not all that much to master if you're really going to try and pay attention 100% of the time. theres not that much room for errors though. have fun ultimately, its not too bad and plus you get all that rotting loot.

[MegamanXZOBMV]

reroll

/end thread

Never.

[Akim]

Gear yourself, AC and HP most important. then resists. You'll be pulling.
Practice makes perfect, remember to fletching, no one likes a ranger without arrows.
Take the unbeaten path in this server my friend, don't fuck around with the piss poor pugs too much, you'll just end up getting frustrated.

[Kika Maslyaka]

change a server to something like THF or SH - then you can play a ranger ;)

[Rotted_Corpse]

Keep playing the ranger. They are great no matter what the haters say. :)

Rangers are a Fun class. It was my first main in Live untill I discovered the necro. But I still leveled mine to 60 as an alt and played it often up through luclin. :)

Best advice is practice your pulling and get your fletching started asap as you need a ton of arrows. Harmony is your friend while pulling as well. Great spell!

Ivy Etched armor quests are great and the armor is pretty good and the trueshot longbow quest gives you a nice bow. As far as weapons there are a bunch you can use. Some rng only as well. I never did like 2h weapons on my ranger much and stuck to dual wield.

I'm sure there are some rangers here on EQ99 that can give some more info. Been many years since I played my ranger.

Rotted Corpse
Necromancer of Cabilis

[deneauth]

Get some ebony bladed swords. they proc a 1:36 root spell which allows you to control aggro in exp groups very well. I must have used them on my ranger from 25 to at least 45, they were very useful. Now i just use a Lammy and a Green Jaded Broadsword, it's a pretty solid combo. But as stated earlier just practice pulling, nobody likes a crappy ranger, everyone envies a good one =-)

[oper8r00]

Learn to love city of mist till 55

[Zadrian]

Really, you want strength gear.

Supplement your character with hp/ac for when you have to try and step in to save the cleric or whatever. but ultimately, you want maximum damage output, so get strength gear.

Also have a dex set on you for whenever you're bow kiting or just trying to pretend like bows do any damage until wind saber.

That being said, never neglect harmony.

[Slave]

The problem with Rangers is that every Dragonlance fanboi that never picked up a decent fantasy novel wanted to be one, (cough Bregan) and they sucked to the last man. Rangers are actually a VERY powerful and fun class capable of delivering at least as much damage as a shaman pet.

Only Akim gave very good advice, and it was only somewhat accurate: go for AC, HPs, and Resists. Ebony Bladed Swords are FANTASTIC for the price until they proc. Don't even worry about fletching because there are like 120 Tolan's Bracers floating around the server not being used. They are excellent pullers and tanks are in short supply to the point that a group may actually invite you once every few days.

The experience penalty means that you are a real man, who likes the wilderness and the smell of his own pits, because nobody else will touch you with their pole. You don't get your fear line until Velious, so if you play your cards just right and show a party that you can both pull and tank as well as any warrior (easily the worst class in p99), someday you will get to take a deathtouch in the planes.

[soup]

Rangers are actually a VERY powerful and fun class capable of delivering at least as much damage as a shaman pet.



roflrofllolollol

[Aadill]

Rangers are actually a VERY powerful and fun class capable of delivering at least as much damage as a shaman pet.

You son of a monkey's uncle...

[Messianic]

Don't even worry about fletching because there are like 120 Tolan's Bracers floating around the server not being used.

Fletching is helpful because the easiest arrow is cheaper to make and better than the cheapest ones you can buy. It's helpful to find magicians to summon them for ya, but not always available. Even if you don't progress beyond those arrows, it's still worth it.

And waiting 45 levels to do anything with arrows would be quite boring.

[RiffDaemon]

someday you will get to take a deathtouch in the planes.

Hahahahahahahaha, omg

[YendorLootmonkey]

Since you're hell-bent on playing a ranger anyway, here are some things to keep in mind:

If you really must play a ranger, but you can wait... at least wait until Velious so you have Panic Animal as a soloing tool, and the class XP penalties get removed. You won't be so wrist-slitty.

Okay, if you're reading further, that means you can't wait. Here is what you need to know:

As you already assumed, the ranger hate on this server is incredible for the reasons you already mentioned. If you intend to group, then join a family-style guild who won't turn you down for a group because you are absorbing more of the XP in a group of similarly-leveled players. This will make things easier on you. It also helps not to suck, because on a very small server, that reputation will precede you.

I wouldn't even bother going STR/DEX right away (or maybe even at all!). People aren't inviting you to groups for your DPS anyway... if they wanted DPS, they'll get a monk or rogue. And the DPS increase will most likely be marginal and no one will know whether or not you're using STR/DEX gear but you. What they will notice is if/when you gain aggro (or take damage while pulling), how much of a mana drain you are on the healers. For this reason, as someone else earlier pointed out, I would tell you to go AC/HP/STA gear.

In fact, go /anon, get all mithril/silver plate gear, with Watchman's Boots and a Hammerhead Helm, and sell yourself as a tank. :P I'm partially kidding, but if you can twink yourself up enough with your necro, you will actually be a fairly decent tank in old-world EQ. You will hold aggro over a warrior, and you bring a lot of decent utility/crowd control/pulling abilities to the group. It's when you get to Kunark that the mobs hit a little too hard for you to tank anywhere near efficiently without some massive upgrades in gear.

People telling you that you CAN solo as a ranger mean it in the same way they would tell you that you CAN stick your penis into a meat grinder. Sure, you CAN do it... but it's extremely painful. There are some level ranges and areas where -- with Ebony Bladed Swords proccing a mana-free root so you can back off and heal yourself, or some other gimmicky tools -- you can kill a blue con mob. Then you can sit and heal up and go for the next one. You'll want this to be mainly outdoors areas with an escape plan in case things get hairy, and you'll want to tag melee mobs only.

Bow-kiting IS an option, yes... but lets be real. Even if you fill your inventory with fletching components, you can probably slowly bow-kite a dozen mobs before you're out of arrows and need to go find a fletching component vendor. Use it as a last resort to finish off a mob, do not plan to use it as your primary form of soloing. First of all, your archery skill will suck, so you'll miss a lot. Secondly, as someone else mentioned, until you can grab a Wind Saber out of Sebilis, you're probably going to take forever to kill shit. And then run out of arrows doing it. At least with a Tolan's Bracer, you can self-sustain without having to find a mage or run back to a vendor.

If you're looking forward to raids, you'll be spending most of them telling necros how many boogeymen are up on track so they know when to make up excuses to log off. In Hate and Fear, you can be secondary crowd control, and in some cases, puller (Harmony rocks, but there's zero margin of error on a pull). People make jokes about rangers eating DTs, but with the pet nerfs, pretty sure that's going to be mages after they put down some mod rods. ;)

It is difficult to know that we will most likely never see Luclin on this server, so EQ/AM3 will never happen for us. The best we'll see is Trueshot and Weaponshield discs, and those are in Velious. So you REALLY have to love the class in order to continue on as a ranger with the odds against you here. And hopefully, if you love the class, then you will do the rest of us the honor of playing it well.

[JenJen]

yendor...you really need to copy your latest post and paste it to your desktop. How many times in the last week have you told someone how to play a ranger?!

[YendorLootmonkey]

I typed all that while sitting at my bind point waiting for a rez.

EDIT: Also, the more we all help each other become better rangers and share tips/advice, the less difficult it might be for all of us to get groups.

[baalzy]

I typed all that while sitting at my bind point waiting for a rez.


http://wineberserkers.com/images/smilies/rofl.gif

[vinx]

aww yendor your ranger tips are getting darker :(

rangers arent that bad, having played one for years on vallon zek, kunark/god
(tbh, my druid was better at pvp and.. was better at solo killing/traveling lol)
but thats besides the point, most groups here dont really care for druids either

this server is hard on rangers/druids cuz its all min/max
so i see where your darker illustrations come in. but srsly, they can be fun

good tips for someone who doesnt know..

heres a tip for OP, find some rangers/druids who want to group
me and a druid friend always picked up another ranger or two
it can be slower then a regular group but you didnt really die with :
harmony pulls/CC/dots/nukes/heals/melee DPS/tank switches

[Zadrian]

Sure, you can up your AC as much as possible, but a rangers mitigation will never match that of a warrior.

That being said, it depends on what role you want to play in the group. Rangers are very versatile. I like to go full str to up my dps. Despite popular belief, I can put out nice damage with 2hb and even dual wielding. But also I can off-tank fairly well if needed.

Obviously, our greatest benefits are in outdoor zones so that we may use harmony to pull. With harmo pull/snare combinations, you probably won't even be taking damage, unless they are casters.

The only time that bow damage will be decent is with seb bow + tolan's bracers.. other than that, don't really bother.