What's the purpose of a Ranger?

[Tasslehofp99]

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

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.

Snare was a very important thing on live, apparently its not so important here. I remember seb mobs running at like 19% on live, and in other zones as well, this created many problems with adds in certain camps without snare. I tend to see morons rooting mobs who are fleeing instead of just letting druids/rangers/SK's/necros snare them isntead.

[Motec]

Rangers have never served a purpose until attack buffs, and even then mostly to loot ranger only weaps.

Rotting longsword of the glade is heartbreaking.

That said, a well played ranger is better than the hordes of mediocre played SK's and even worse, paladins on this server.

[Motec]

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

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.

Xanthias is a boss of a ranger. All you kids that suck should learn from him...

Grats on 50 man.

[Estu]

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

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.

This is a noble premise, but one that doesn't work out so well when all the would-be rangers who start playing them to "have fun" can't find any groups in their 20s because of the ranger stigma and EXP penalty, and can't solo for shit (or solo so slowly that it's almost worse than not being able to solo at all, like a man who is starving but is only given one raisin every three hours). I'm not saying it's impossible to get groups as a ranger, of course, and I've definitely invited rangers before, but a lot of people will refuse to on principle, so it makes the class a whole lot less fun. I've especially heard horror stories about this happening towards the end game, when EXP is super-slow already.

[stormlord]

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

More like your 700th hour LFG.

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.

The purpose of a ranger is to sit LFG and pretend like you want to play EQ, but really you need to get other stuff done at home so you pick a class that has zero danger of ever being invited to a group.

Underlined: fictionalized, literary fantasy, comical, mischievous
Normal: truthfully, a solo-able class is a good pick for somebody who likes to afk

[Vohl]

Originally Posted by Motec

Xanthias is a boss of a ranger. All you kids that suck should learn from him...

+1

[stormlord]

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

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

Archery sub-lvl 50 Cap/Cap after 50:
Rogue: 200/255
Warrior: 200/240
Ranger: 240/255

Fletching caps are the same for each class. But we get a dexterity bonus to our archery crits. Dexterity is used in-place of intelligence or wisdom when assessing skill gain, if higher.

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

Our ability to kite is not as good as a druid or a bard, but it's there. It may not always be the correct choice, but it does allow us to kill high cons that would otherwise kill us in close combat. In a normal experience grind, this is unlikely because we don't normally kill high cons when we grind. But if there's a tougher than normal aggro on you, or a special named creature with good loot that's yellow/red to you, then using our kiting abilities is effective enough to terminate it.

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

We're not nearly as good indoors, for a number of reasons. :/

[stormlord]

Does anybody know when archery double-damage hits to non-moving and non-rooted creatures took effect?

And was that ranger-only? I recall level 50+ for it, but do not know other conditions.

My guess is luclin since hard to justify using archery this way on a consistent basis.

[deakolt]

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

like a man who is starving but is only given one raisin every three hours

[Corrodith]

It really doesn't start to get good until 55+ and you have good gear (thanks TMO!) and especially a few key items. Honestly I've never put myself through something as sad and pathetic as leveling a ranger 1-20 being fresh to the server. Just awful. It's still pretty sad even up to 50, although bow kiting allowed me to get through some tough periods (since the nerf a couple patches ago it's not really viable anymore, sadly. I killed so many highkeep guards this way to get through the 30s and make money to start getting out of banded armor).

Key items that turn things around:

Dark Cloak of the Sky - sky quest cloak, 50% clicky spell haste. Makes you infinitely more useful in small group situations with no one casting haste. Combined with a nice haste item and good weapons you can churn out 50-60 dps with only self buffs.

Fayguard Parrying Dagger - one of the best mainhand weapons in the game right now at 9/17. Fairly easy to get and nothing else is better for pure DPS until velious. Procs an AEdd but can be used on most raid encounters without causing agro trouble. Definitely helps to close the DPS gap with rogues.

Swarmcaller - again, makes you very useful in small groups that don't have someone to slow. If you have some good situational dex gear the slow procs can be somewhat reliable. Causes mega agro but you can easily jolt it off. These are very cheap nowadays.

Lupine Dagger - From what I hear they're pretty cool, sadly no one's selling them. Ever.

Tolan's BP - instant banking, you never get stuck anywhere. With an OT hammer you can mobilize yourself around the world pretty well. Look for these popping up in EC soon lol.

200 range bows (Wind Striker or Rain Caller) - with 150 range arrows it allows you to pull dragons without risk of being feared (300 range AE). Once you agro a dragon, it will not find your guild's camp spot for you, though, lol.

Generally having all the high-end gear gives you quite a bit of AC and HP, and brings out the ability to actually main tank and take CHs pretty well in regular exp/loot groups, especially if you're slowing with swarmcaller.