paladin or ranger?

[Pint]

I have a 47 ranger with epics, sky cloak and a fungi and uts still not as efficient as everyone is making it out to be. It's doable but the toon still struggles to do dmg fast enough and takes a lot of damage.

Also while rangers are the second best class in norrath, paladins are by far first, so you should probably just make a paladin and make norrath great again.

[Jimjam]

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

With the gear you mentioned, they should easily be able to do that.
Root park the add (melee preferably); melee/nuke down the other. Re-root as needed. Then either self-heal and tackle #2, or camp out to reset aggro and split the spawn times up a bit.

Problem is, for the majority of Rangers out there, Earthcaller + Dark Cloak + Fungi aren't exactly within reach. Which suddenly makes soloing a lot trickier.

I think you are missing the trick here; mobs don't path back to their spawn until snare fades, so you can use snare to 'root' a single mob at a zonline, provided you can double zone before snare fades.

[Aaramis]

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

I think you are missing the trick here; mobs don't path back to their spawn until snare fades, so you can use snare to 'root' a single mob at a zonline, provided you can double zone before snare fades.

Yep, I know. Far easier to root it (if a non-caster), and then wave at it while you camp out to reset aggro. Ensnare not required, although you could use it if you'd prefer to park it at a certain spot for when you log back in.

Anyways, we're digressing.

[jolanar]

If you do want to tank I'd say Paladin hands down over Ranger.

Ranger soloing is overrated IMO. Ranger skill caps are sad, especially their defense. Fear kiting as a melee is a miserable existence and Velious mobs have WAY too much hp. Granted, at least you have the option, where as Paladins will be dependent on groups.

[kaev]

Ranger:
1) Make friends with every Shaman you ever meet. Rangers are light duty tanks, Shaman slow makes tanking light duty. Shaman slow is lots of agro, about 2 Flame Licks worth of agro, Flame Lick costs a whopping 10 mana to cast. Snare is also good agro and cheap to cast and useful for its effect. Rangers can tank, they have fantastic agro, but without a slower ranger tanking steadily weakens after low levels.
2) AC is your friend. When your Shaman pal fails to stick his slow on the first cast you are gonna eat some extra attacks.
3) Fun class to play. It's fun figuring out how to solo stuff, it's fun pulling in outdoor dungeons, it's fun tanking, it's fun doing ghetto CC. (Some people like fear kiting and agro kiting. For me, kiting with melee chasers can go drown at the bottom of the deepest ocean and be forever forgotten because chasing mobs around for hours on end is just gawdawful stupid tedious.)

Paladin:
1) Befriend Enchanters and learn how to effectively and efficiently keep them alive.
2) If you ever worry about your dps, you're doing it wrong. You are about agro, so you do want good ratio weapons, you just don't care about the actual damage output as opposed to the agro generated (parsing will make you a sad panda.)
3) AC is king, you always want more of it.
4) HP is queen once you start grouping with L39+ clerics, at that point +Sta/+HP items are very interesting. +Wis/+Mana are ok, but limited in value. The depth of your mana pool doesn't come in to play very often because you will rarely "med full" like the priests and casters sitting all the time (breaking tough camps tho, whether you're doing the paci-pulling or the ghetto CC on the overpull, a deeper manapool can help.) +Agi is such a teeny bit of extra AC that it doesn't really matter. +Str is good for avoiding trashing your AC by being encumbered, after that it's just a teeny bit of extra damage and from mid-levels on your damage will steadily degrade from mediocre to awful. +Dex is of some value when using a weapon with a good agro proc (it'll save on mana.) +Cha is worthy (at least in the form of a couple +cha items available to swap in) due to pacify mechanics.

[Jimjam]

Kaev what are you spending your mana on in groups (as ranger)?

I find when I have an enchanter with me I have a surplus of mana, which often ends up being used to ineffectively patch heal, or to feed a shaman's canni (so they can cast actually useful/expensive spells like slow).
I'm asking this question from a pre-60 perspective. Snare and flame lick are so cheap!

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

Yep, I know. Far easier to root it (if a non-caster), and then wave at it while you camp out to reset aggro. Ensnare not required, although you could use it if you'd prefer to park it at a certain spot for when you log back in.

Anyways, we're digressing.

Ah, apologies for thinking you were unaware of this.... hopefully someone will find my previous post useful!

[Raev]

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

Kaev what are you spending your mana on in groups (as ranger)?

I think you misread him.

1, he's talking about his Paladin, which presumably can burn mana much faster with stuns, group heal, superior heal, etc

2, every group is better with a charming Enchanter, and Paladins are probably tied with Clerics in terms of their ability to keep Enchanters alive: they can stun charmed pets and HP buff almost as well, and also make mez breaks a breeze

[Jimjam]

Yea, I think I jumped between his lists a bit.

It's still a good question for rangers, I'm finding it hard to spend my mana at regenerate when buffed.

[Stonewallx39]

From a more meta "what will make me happy" perspective,

As a paladin you will have a clear role in a group and have the capacity to be a truly magnificent tank once your skill sets develop. You will always feel sad without a group around you, but will have a chance to be the hero deep in a dungeon one day.

Rangers will never have a very clear role/need in a group. They can do many things suprisigly well but no one thing (shy of tracking) that another class couldn't do better. A great ranger can be a amazing asset in a group and fill a variety of needs, you will just have to open some eyes to be given the chance.

Rangers experience a lot of unique adventure that others may miss. Tracking, invis, sow, and levitate means that you can see things and go places that many others can't or won't experience. In a game as vast and amazing as Everquest that's a pretty potent combo.

In the end do what makes you happy.

[kaev]

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

Yea, I think I jumped between his lists a bit.

It's still a good question for rangers, I'm finding it hard to spend my mana at regenerate when buffed.

I've been in groups with my Ranger where I was fm most of the time, because enchanters are silly OP and also hate +dmg roots, and you don't want to pull agro off the warrior like some spoony monk twink, ..., it does get boring playing ranger in a group that needs nothing more than an occasional snare from your lovely toolbox. I mean, it just isn't very special to outdamage a Warrior by a bit.

Of course, the Ranger hate on p99 is very very strong, so most of my Ranger's xp has been gained solo. (The XP penalty hurt, a lot, when it was in force.) v0v

But Shamans, man. Ranger+Enchanter synergy is limited, and Clerics get very whiny about Ranger damage intake, but a Shaman is a Ranger's bestestest friend. Sadly, you are in competition with Warriors and Monks who mistakenly believe that the Shaman is their best friend. But when you get the action going outdoors with Shaman+Ranger the fun doesn't stop until you pass out at the keyboard.