Bard or Ranger?

[OfficeThug]

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

I can appreciate what a bard does, but having great dps on a ranger and being more active if I want to in groups is more appealing to me. Also with the next patch coming, should make them even more viable group tanks than they are now with the right gear.

Bards don't scale nearly as well as Rangers do with gear either, and it sounds like you can commit some pretty good pieces of gear to twink out a new character.

[Troxx]

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

I can appreciate what a bard does, but having great dps on a ranger...

To be clear, you should not have the expectation of great dps from a ranger. On average rangers make for *decent* damage.

Before rangers come out of the woodwork chest thumping ... we all know the drill. With BIS endgame gear your dps will be respectable. With a BFG and a trueshot burn you might rarely top a chart or get close to it. Any class with gear like that will be respectable.

On average, ranger dps is simply average ... and that's ok. There's a lot of utility, fun and other to be had. It's a good class but it's never 'great' dps ... at least not until the end game.

[jolanar]

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

Given the current state of velious, with the upcoming patch that both classes are getting benefits from which would you recommend?

I will be moderately twinking with a fungi/seahorse belt and a few other goodies. I want to solo mostly but with the option to group as well.

Does a charming bard run oom quickly? Is fear kiting animals 50+ tolerable?

If you are twinking I would go with the ranger, as they will benefit far more from it.

To answer the last question, I personally did not find fear kiting animals 50+ tolerable AT ALL. But it's much better if you grab a rogue or a mage to duo with. 50+ you are limited to Velious mobs which have absurdly high AC and HP for relatively little return in xp.

[Legidias]

You can duo (or trio) KC pretty well with a bard (50+). I used to do it in RCY with an epic rogue and sometimes a monk.

Pull mob to far corner near water, snare, and fear it. By the time mob hits corridor leading to entrance (where the fear path usually takes them) they're dead. Bard snare is also the strongest in game so mobs basically walk like theyre encumbered but with sow on.

[Troxx]

The autist has joined the conversation!

————————— For Alleriah ——————————-

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

Ive Arrived. Hold the applause!

Trust me; we’ll hold.

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

The only time ive fear kited was in OT when i was letting my fungi tunic heal me up.
Fear animal 10 mana , snares like 10 mana too. Its getting exp while healing!

Neat! A melee with a fungi can solo? No wai!!?!

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

In the low 50s - 60 Soloed KC smoothly on the ranger.

So did my warrior. And paladin. And monk. And shaman! It’s funny how that works with a fungi.

The bard didn’t have or need a fungi and did it faster (without aoe dotting).

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

In regards to rangers DPS.. Expect ... dps that is below rogues. Monks ... score higher ... I parse and out dps the "lazy/bad" rogues [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] ...

Fixed that for you. Don’t oversell yourself.

Monks WILL score higher. The only exception is the NToV geared ranger vs the same tier monk that hasn’t yet scored the BiS monk ratio weapons off tunare etc. At most all levels of gameplay with the exception of a very narrow window in the upper (but not absolute BiS) tier of content, monks have flatly superior ratio weapons available to them. This starts with epic/kunark/planes and continues straight through to the end of the game content on p99. The only real exception is BFG trueshot burn and a ton of arrows.

Monk BiS (primary and offhand) ratio = 0.83

Ranger BiS caps out in the high 0.7s for both mainhand and offhand.

Next and final patch monks get triple attack at 60 and improved dmg tables at 55/60.

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

In regards to bards.. Only method i would use to level would be swarming. Lots and lots of circles

Neat. That what the bad bards do. You go girl!

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

Both classes are useful in their own ways. Bards sing songs and play music.
Rangers win raids.

Drink that koolaid!

Neither of these classes “wins raids” on p99. Raids on this server are won by pull teams, clerics, and tanks with honorable mention going to the actual dps classes (ie neither bard nor ranger).

————————————— end of Alleriah reply ———————————



Both classes have their place in this game and there is only marginal overlap in terms of what the average raid or group might ask of each respectively. Bards are generally actively sought out for cc/mana_regen/haste/support. Rangers are generally sought out for dps/other. Situationally either may be sought for pulling/tanking/other.

Neither class fits into the ideal min/max that some (not all) on this server aspire to get but both are worth having around.

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

Given the current state of velious, with the upcoming patch that both classes are getting benefits from which would you recommend?

Next patch both get tankier. Both get a dmg output boost.

It doesn’t matter what anyone recommends because bards/rangers are classes with fundamentally different roles/expectations.

What matters is what you want to do.

They’re both strong classes but in different ways.

[Jimjam]

I don't know about bards not being very useful for raids; they sure seem important for resists against some dragons. Klandlicar and Sontalac especially iirc.

Also on the note of bards not needing fungi for KC... I have to admit my ranger never had a fungi but did a load of soloing in KC. I can only imagine how powerful ranger is once you add a fungi to their other sources of regen!

[kuuky]

Now that we know everything there is to know about bards vs rangers courtesy of Troxx and Alleriah lets move on to the real question:

What is better Boutik or A Piece of Poo

1. When Boutik speaks Poo comes out of his mouth

2. A Piece of Poo is exactly that a Piece of Poo

and the winner is in a landslide

A Piece of Poo (seriously you didn't think Boutik would win did you)

[Sajan]

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

Ugh alleriah’s autistic screetching...

[deezy]

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

Monks WILL score higher.

"Will" as in the future when they get triple attack? Cause currently they don't.

[jolanar]

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

"Will" as in the future when they get triple attack? Cause currently they don't.

How do rangers do more damage than monks if their weapons are worse? Just curious.