Rangers and cultural armor
 

So my best friend just started EQ and wanted to make a Ranger. As a pretty high level blacksmith, I am looking for what to make him, and I just made the discovery that Rangers get screwed over bad in the cultural armor area.

Paladins, Warriors and Shadowknights get tremendous advantage out of the plate sets, and the chain sets that Rangers can use is also usable by intelligence casters and druids.

Please tell me this is wrong.

All of the cultural chain is pretty bad. The only exception is the dwarf/brell chain, but it's deity specific and short races only.

There's a lot of other things available that he can wear, like Hero Bracers and Tree Weave - low end stuff that's easy to afford and quite good.

DWBs
Crested Helm
Iksar Scaled Gloves

Ivy etched is nice too ...


Hammerhead Helm

No, rangers pretty much get the shaft until post Luclin

In addition to what Samoht mentioned, avoid all the ivy etched pieces except the sleeves, they aren't really any good and there's better and more cost effective alternatives in the other slots. You want to maximize AC/STR in every slot and there are plenty of cheap items that accomplish this.

Some of the sebilite scale/kylong pieces are pretty good with a decent contribution of AC and STR.

The single greatest gear decision you can make as a noob ranger is to pick up a Silver Swiftblade 1-20, and then a Woodsman's Staff 20-epic. Avoid dual wielding; it really sucks balls. Unless you're constantly tanking, avoid most of the tolan's pieces and pick up an AC/STR compromise in that slot.

Definitely avoid any kind of cultural usable by a ranger.

I will say this, if you have a higher level character, the Ivy Etched armor (exception boots) are really simple to solo. Most of the mobs are out in the open and never killed since their only purpose is making Ivy Etched armor. I knocked the Legs/Tunic out in a few hours one evening just for fun.

But honestly he'll do fine in just banded armor for a long time. Most group settings that'll be more than enough to get by. Just get him the Swiftblade and Woodsman's Staff like Ephirith said and he'll be more than fine. Oh, and the usual + hp/ac gear that goes on most twinks (rings, earrings, etc).

Just save yourself a lot of time and talk him or her out of making a Ranger. Pretty simple.:rolleyes:

It's a fun class and it can be effective if you aren't retarded. You can really surprise people if you actually use your abilities and gear properly.

Yep, rogues/monks are better in just about every way but they are also laughably easy to play and, in my opinion, boring as shit.

Rangers are underrated imo, they are pretty badass situationally. As for gear, I'd honestly suggest just getting the cheapest shittiest shit you can survive with at lower levels because honestly who even knows if your friend is going to want to struggle through 60 levels of not getting invited to groups, having to die a lot, and dealing with that shitty exp penalty.

2x golden amber earrings
Seb Scale Cap
Sarnak Hide Mask
Spiked Collar
White-wolf Hide Cloak
Tattered Mantle/Bloodstained Mantle
Hero Bracer/Seb Scale Bracelet/Kylong Bracer
Dwarven Work Boots
Iksar Scale Gloves
Kylong/Silver-plated/Seb Scale Leggings
Ivy Etched Arms
Brigantine Tunic
Black Iron/Drakescale Belt(might be better Always have haste personally in waste so not sure on a cheap twink alternative here)
2x Plat Fire Wedding Rings
Silver Swiftblade
Runed Oak Bow

All of these items can be had for under 500pp each except your leg slot and even then would be like 600-750 if you are patient while searching.