Rangers- AC or stats?
 

Just wondering whats better to aim for as a ranger. Pure ac such as the cheaper tolans pieces? or stats sta,dex,str? I have dwarven work boots,ivy arms, executioners hood now. Wondering if I should replace them with higher ac but less stats pieces?
thanks

Why not both?

At mid-lvl? I think the important thing about str is just hitting the max damage with your weapon as much as possible. I've noticed that at 110 or 120 that happens pretty often and 130 if not all the time just about. Sta is useful, but still doesn't really make you a tank so much, not w/o a whole lot of it and along with AC, but still mitigates. I mean about that it just depends what you are doing. You don't need much at all say fear kiting some cat.

How about weight reduction bag? Fill it with alternate armor? Like I keep some azure sleeves in there, and a tolan helm. Some other stuff. I'd say in general though, I just shoot for somewhat balanced. It's not like I'm going to drop my off-had for a bark shield though.

Go for HP items.

HP item? Not as effective in mid to late game. Oh man but I put an HP item on my lvl1 ogre shammy, and I could purple club him every time I took it off haha!

I've been running around in Warrens on this ranger with mostly cheap HP items it has been great. http://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_Blue:Naeth

Bind wound (in combat) is really good and the more hp you have the more effective it is. Items like Kobold Bone Gauntlets and Tar Goo Strands go for really cheap.

Even at high end (raids) I would still go for maximum hp.

Well a lot of good armor has HP in it, it's not to be discounted, but also has other important stats mixed in. I've always been the mindset for a melee to take a few hits, but lay out DPS as best as can be done, along with some avoidance. Especially in the case where often times a ranger can root and back off to heal up some. Or even just soften a target before going melee.

And yeah, bandages can help a lot, but to a point. When you reach say ~2500 HP and max bind wound gives you 80pts per at max, well that's almost a stack to get you from ~3% to 50%. Lotsa bag space :)
But heck yeah, early as I can jump off a platform in kelethin and work it up.

Honestly, balance is key. Games like eq don't give flat out damage reductions as you increase your ac so it can be difficult to tell how effective it is. My ranger has some good hp/ac items and right now I'm thinking how can I increase my dex without too much sacrifice. Need to be able to proc things like slow sword, if I ever get it.

HP is the most important stat seeing it has no ceiling, and it only becomes better the more you have of it

resists and str/sta/dex etc. become adequate/maxed with buffs

Well yeah, if you can get a lot of it, and it's a lot better than just raw STA, especially the further up form 75. But is it worth going after on items that may give more STR/DEX/MR for a ranger? And I figure the poster speaking of blue where MOB's are dumb as doorknobs. Yeah, raiding you really want to take a hit, but outside of that on blue.. I opt for balance, at least tactically against AI, where you have more control over any given engagement and retreat.