What's the purpose of a Ranger?

[Dr4z3r]

In an outdoor zone, I'd take a ranger over a monk. Better pulling (Harmony + SoW), comparable offense, ability to CC (root, snare), and acceptable mitigation in case they need to off-tank (better than a bard).

[bakkily]

depends on what arrows you are using, i play one myself, but are we the only class that can get fletching/archery the highest?

but bow soloing we do great, but the thing is this, it depends on your archery skill and arrows being used, well bow of course as well, but a good bow is easy to get, at lvl 34 soloing in kunark, and i usally stick to rhinos, since they are the easiest to kill, and yield same exp as a db cactus, will take me 5 mins to solo, i've done a yellow cockatrice once, and took me about 20 mins to finish the guy, with half my health left and 20% mana, did a red lioness and that took me over 30 mins, near the end i was being seriously raped by it, and would've died if a druid didnt stop by and heal me a few times

but soloing with a ranger, almost all out door zones we do great in, usally no matter what at lvls 1-20 you'll find a group, 20-30 we do very well in lake, because for one goblins near the river are great exp with a 22 ranger i grouped from lvls 21-24, and we do well pulling the sarnak fort, great exp 24-30, even soloing in unrest is great exp at lvl 30-35, though i left the area due to basement or fr camped, and people bitching if i took singles from areas they're not even killing

in doors we do not so bad, after a pulls made, snare everything so the clerics/mezzer feels safe

[bakkily]

yea sadly rangers dont get sow till lvl 39, all the time i get asked to sow someone

[JenJen]

surprised yendor hasnt piped up yet with his usual excellent blog on ranger skills [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'd say the best reason to choose a ranger is......all the best class-specific armor you can EAT.

[P99Millertime]

Bind spots?

[Dantes]

Originally Posted by regatta [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To eat DT's.

This is correct.

[Jerin]

I played a ranger for 10 years on live, and for some reason i have a ranger main here that i play casually.

Here is what rangers do, if your not lazy: If no monk or bard...pull, if no Chanter and multiple mobs get pulled ..CC with root, if your in a zone with some good drops ...constantly check track for pops.

Archery is pointless except for shooting at mobs your trying to pull (which is just a small time saver) till trueshot/AM/EQ and all the various bow AAs youll not see here. Bow kiting? Only if your a boob.

Oh and in the event there is not a SK/Pally in your group, and you have even a slightly decent weapon set up...Your gonna tank since warrior hate in this era is shit.

Lets not forget forage.

[Vondra]

In reality, the best reason to be a ranger is to take advantage of the cheaper ranger gear that is available as well as the low competition for looting the various NO TRADE Ranger items from raids etc.

I still don't invite them unless I have to though.

[Duie]

Originally Posted by Jerin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I played a ranger for 10 years on live, and for some reason i have a ranger main here that i play casually.

Here is what rangers do, if your not lazy: If no monk or bard...pull, if no Chanter and multiple mobs get pulled ..CC with root, if your in a zone with some good drops ...constantly check track for pops.

Archery is pointless except for shooting at mobs your trying to pull (which is just a small time saver) till trueshot/AM/EQ and all the various bow AAs youll not see here. Bow kiting? Only if your a boob.

Oh and in the event there is not a SK/Pally in your group, and you have even a slightly decent weapon set up...Your gonna tank since warrior hate in this era ishit.s

Lets not forget forage.

lets also not forget that warriors love rangers who will root and do what they can to help Mr Warrior look good.

It isnt just one thing that makes the ranger class shine and if you wanna be able to do all the above at the cost of not specalizing in anythign.... well you really only have once choice.

[BobSmith]

Originally Posted by Dr4z3r [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

...and acceptable mitigation in case they need to off-tank (better than a bard).

What gives them better mitigation than a bard? Or a cleric for that matter? I thought they had a lower AC soft cap? Aren't they considered a "chain" class?

From http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/po...opic_id=160153

Soft Caps:

Cloth..........= ~75 worn AC (yes its really that low)
Leather......= ~100 worn AC
Monk..........= ~120 worn AC (if they are under 15 stone wieght)
Chain.........= ~200 worn AC
Plate .........= ~300 worn AC

AC returns after the soft cap has been reached:

45%: Warrior (from Devs)
33%: Knight (from Devs), Monk (reportedly equal to Knight? via Zajeer?)
23%: Cleric, Bard (via L2), BZR (rough estimate based off of parsing)
17%: BST, Ranger (BST is ~1/2 of the monk, ranger hearsay)
6%: Druid, Enc, Mag, Nec, Wiz (~1/3 of BST -- Druid was quoted as "lowest")
Rogue, Shaman? Probably they are close to cleric returns.