What's the purpose of a Ranger?

[YendorLootmonkey]

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

I once accidentally left myself /lfg and not /afk hiding in KC for roughly 24 hours. When I came back the next day I had received -zero- tells.

Because I know the first person I wanna shoot a /tell for a group is the person I've seen AFKing in the zone for 2+ hours! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Kryptyde]

I amuse myself reading all the troll comments on this board...but the bottom line is that EQ is a game and its meant to be fun. Rangers are a lot of fun to play if you enjoy a melee that has a lot of versatility.

[Snaggles]

If you're a keyboard faceroll group member hybrids are watered down classes. If you don't suck they an be downright impressive. All hybrids really. In Velious one ranger brings Predator to all raid members which adds up.

With their buffs almost closing the gap on offensive skills they get close to melee with a warrior (who can aggro dump). With a chanter and cleric they bring quite a few attack buffs to every melee plus thorns. Tracking is very helpful again if they are trying.

I soloed my sk on and off to 65 even kiting Tantor to death for bragging rights. With a ranger and different tactics I'm sure the same could be done. That also means solo quests and impressing the Hell out of group members (root park anyone?).

This isn't a balancing war where every class can dps, tank, and heal depending on builds. This is a cruel harsh world of pre-sellout mmorpgs. Versatility gives you options an a chance when sometimes otherwise you would be looting your corpse or looking for a rez/summon.

[Troy]

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

Because I know the first person I wanna shoot a /tell for a group is the person I've seen AFKing in the zone for 2+ hours! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I don't know too many people who keep see invis up in KC.

[Randy]

I played a Ranger on Live and I remember snare being more important. Maybe, everyone killed slower or its later on in the game i'm thinking of (all my eq time blurs together) but snare used to always be a somewhat important part of a group from what I remember. So I didn't wait for groups any longer than other dps...

Anyway, its a fun class to play and who really cares about being the 'best, most efficient and efficient' class anyway? Its 'Role-playing' game. Its about fun not end game.

[vinx]

iirc it was because,
a snared mob was considered moving, so bow did max dmg
and when mob was rooted, bow did crappy dmg

[Daldaen]

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

Fine, I'll take the bait.

Most of it has been said already, but I think Bubbles put it best in a different thread (and also mentioned by stormlord above) when he said that if you're filling out your group with 5-6 people, you're probably going to want the "specialists". If you've only got a duo or trio, grab a ranger since they are so versatile that they can fill multiple roles as needed.

One of the clutch roles stormlord neglected was that we can also slow mobs with a Swarmcaller proc (and later, one of our epics). It's not reliable, but it sure helps the healer conserve mana over time.

My view is... for the person playing the ranger, the versatility makes the class fun and interesting. The problem is the people looking for people to fill out their 5- or 6-man groups don't give a rat's ass about your versatility. In raid scenarios, I tend to play crowd control first (snare/kite shit until your chanters get it under control, peel a mob off a chanter after a failed resist, etc) because I like having that situational awareness, then revert to DPS once everything is under control, but that's just my personal playstyle.

It's a rough road to take. There is a reason there's not many active 55+ rangers on the server. It's not for everyone. You either love the class and all the crap that comes with it, or you don't and it makes you want to /wrist during your 7th hour LFG.

You sir, just summed up being a druid. - the slow + the back healer, -the being ignored while LFG + the powerlevel/buff/port tells.

[Xanthias]

I agree with one of the tags... this thread again...
Played a ranger til 67 in live (GoD)
have leveled to 50 here on p99 and plan on hitting 60 as well.

Playing a ranger isn't for everyone, you are treated as an afterthought, a joke, a mana sink... so have a think skin.

My biggest thrill is when after a group, someone says, before this I never wanted a ranger in a group, now I do.

Either way, play the class you want, screw what we think and just have fun.

[Tasslehofp99]

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

ranger bow kiting? doesn't that take like 30 minutes a mob?

lol lets see how many mobs a warrior/rogue can solo in 30 minutes [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Tasslehofp99]

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

You sir, just summed up being a druid. - the slow + the back healer, -the being ignored while LFG + the powerlevel/buff/port tells.

hehe druids and rangers are both picked up last out of all classes in game to group with i'd say