Ranger- Am I a glutton for punishment?

[Itching]

Serious question.

I never had the experience to play a ranger on live at all. I have been tempted to roll a ranger on this server and I have a few questions.

1. How do they stack up against other DPS?
2. I know they are aggro hogs and can die frequently but do their numbers meet the merit of pulling it so much?
3. Other than tracking/pulling in outdoor zones what does a ranger provide to a group that other classes might fill better?
4. Does life get better for a ranger when Velious hits, or does it stay about the same?

[JayN]

Serious question.

I never had the experience to play a ranger on live at all. I have been tempted to roll a ranger on this server and I have a few questions.

1. How do they stack up against other DPS?

2. I know they are aggro hogs and can die frequently but do their numbers meet the merit of pulling it so much?

3. Other than tracking/pulling in outdoor zones what does a ranger provide to a group that other classes might fill better?

4. Does life get better for a ranger when Velious hits, or does it stay about the same?

1. there dps sucks comparatively unless you have proc'ing dagger from VP and HS.

2. No the numbers dont merit it, only cast snare at under 30% and you should be ok on agro

3. They can sow, so basically any other calss that can sow will out benefit them in a group setting.

4. Yes life gets much better for them in Velious they get new spells including Spirit of the Eagle (sow/lev in one) Call of Earth an AC buff, Call of the predator an awesome group attack buff and they also get Jolt an agro decease spell to help with their snare/proc agros

and they lose the Hybrid exp penalty !

[Hastley]

yes

[Itching]

Le sigh.. how are they for grouping leveling up? I hate pure melee classes because they are not nearly as fun to play. I have always stuck with casters and hybrids.

I really want to play one but if they are that low on the totem pole it might not be worth it.

[JayN]

its not worth it they cant tank for dick until they are BiS kunark.

if you really have to play a hybrid and want to solo, play a bard, its not fun though!

[Itching]

I really don't prefer solo, I prefer groups even if it is less xp.

[JayN]

I really don't prefer solo, I prefer groups even if it is less xp.

grps would rather have a bard

[justin2090]

If the mob is shaman slowed it doesn't matter who tanks it really. XP penalty is the prime reason for no rangers in groups. And that will go away soon enough.

[JayN]

If the mob is shaman slowed it doesn't matter who tanks it really. XP penalty is the prime reason for no rangers in groups. And that will go away soon enough.

who the hell slow in the low lvl game, stuff explodes to fast to make slows worth while.

Play whatever you think is fun, but groups would rather have songs/buffs then have a ranger in the grp

[fadetree]

When I see a 60 Ranger, I have great respect for them. When I see a 60 Knight, I am impressed. When I see a 60 of any other class, I don't notice.

Ranger is a class that you have to actually pay attention when playing, there's a lot more to them than pressing 'a' and nuking occasionally. Best group role is probably root CC and peeling from casters. Aggro magnet? You bet, save the chanter/cleric a couple of times and they'll appreciate you. If outside you pull as well as anyone and better than most. Post 45 you can proc a slow, and if geared you can tank pretty well up to 45 or so with no slower. With a slower, you can tank fine. Yes, you get hit harder but your dps plus the fact that you aggro so hard lets the nukers go nuts without fear, which shortens mobs lifetimes, which winds up reducing damage you take. If not tanking, root the mob next to the tank and let him think he's keeping aggro.

I you want easy, consistent group play, you probably won't like the Ranger after 50. If you want to feel a sense of accomplishment and you know how to make your own groups, you will do fine.

[Itching]

Sounds like a challenge. I did play a Dwarf Paladin on live, xp penalty and all. I am used to having someone do my job better but I would rather have more fun using utilities being able to save a group.

[iruinedyourday]

Much respect for high level rangers

[Brynnag]

make a rogue friend and just duo kite.....

i played a rogue and leveld with a ranger buddy almost exclusively.

[iruinedyourday]

make a rogue friend and just duo kite.....

i played a rogue and leveld with a ranger buddy almost exclusively.

I love this idea, when you two have full planar armor. Oh man so cool.

A ranger in full green plate, and a rogue in full black plate, oh man just so cool.

One of my personal favorite things about classic EQ is non plate classes wearing plate... Like a 30-46 druid wearing black plate pants, brown breastplate and a pair of golden boots... so cool to me.

I dont know why, but it is.

I too would also like to express my appreciation for that particular duo.

http://simpsonswiki.com/w/images/8/81/Richard_Nixon.png

[Thulack]

1. there dps sucks comparatively unless you have proc'ing dagger from VP and HS.

2. No the numbers dont merit it, only cast snare at under 30% and you should be ok on agro

3. They can sow, so basically any other calss that can sow will out benefit them in a group setting.

4. Yes life gets much better for them in Velious they get new spells including Spirit of the Eagle (sow/lev in one) Call of Earth an AC buff, Call of the predator an awesome group attack buff and they also get Jolt an agro decease spell to help with their snare/proc agros

and they lose the Hybrid exp penalty !

Wish we got SoE /sigh. Rangers are a acquired taste. If your decent at EQ and learn to play a ranger right they are valuable now and even more come velious. Weaponshield and trueshot are nice little combat abilities we get as well as most the spells mentioned by jayN.

[iruinedyourday]

Much respect for Thulack, much respect for bongs.

[Joyelle]

Wut? Bongs has a ranger alt?

[Itching]

Does the armor limitation (med only) for Half Elf make them not as viable to play? Or does that not matter as much for twinking/kunark/velious gear?

[iruinedyourday]

hard to believe bongs would even be able to have an alt, considering how much time he spends in that one corner of EC trying to fish an entire zone away from any water at all.

[Thulack]

Wut? Bongs has a ranger alt?

i mean his surname is Thealt :D

hard to believe bongs would even be able to have an alt, considering how much time he spends in that one corner of EC trying to fish an entire zone away from any water at all.

sand sharks my friend. They are a feisty bunch that keep me on my toes.

[Tewaz]

Play on Red.

Rangers and Paladins are great pvp classes.

[Somekid123]

Fyi spirit of eagle is luclin

[Itching]

Blah Luclin =\

[Yinikren]

Rangers are pretty gear dependant, but put out some nice dps and fantastic utility when well played. Your heals are adequate for keeping yourself and casters healthy in non-tanking situations and taking pressure off your healers. You have excellent tools for snap agro and ranger dots, of course, stack with your melee dps.

My ranger is 48, and with the clicky sky cloak and a CoF, I sit at permanent 86% haste whether solo or not. I average 35-40 dps in GWF (from a Lupine Dagger proc) with a Fayguard Parrying Dagger mainhand and a Crystalline Short Sword offhand. Considering an epic rogue or monk of my level is only doing 3-5 more dps, I would much rather play the ranger and have the utility to do almost anything I need.

[Itching]

What are some pieces of gear I should pick up to start out my ranger? I have a decent stock pile of platinum from my potion selling days.

[iruinedyourday]

Mithral selves/greeves? Tree weave? Mithral BP ( i hate non plate so id go with mithral)

Dwarven workboots? herobracer? Those +15 str gauntlets?

I would just go all STR for those deeps, but I am not as good at minmaxing as other peeps here, just like the idea of gearing up a ranger right now.

Shame cant wear a chestplate of the dark flame cus that looks cool mixed with mithral..

anything plate/str is what I would do :) hammerhead helm.. oh man so fun to gear up a preplaner ranger! :D

[Itching]

Dex not worth it for leveling at all? Just focus straight on STR? And how expensive is a TS bow or a Rain Caller?

[Yinikren]

Ignore dex, all it really affects are weapon procrates and bow crits. STR all the way.

Rain caller is about 4k. Just look at the magelo in my sig and buy/quest all of it. Use common sense where needed, I.e. Don't have a CoF, get an HBC for your back slot and an FBSS for haste, etc.

[Itching]

Good to know about DEX, I'll see what I can do to purchase a few twink items here.

[fadetree]

Does the armor limitation (med only) for Half Elf make them not as viable to play? Or does that not matter as much for twinking/kunark/velious gear?

As far as I know, it doesn't matter. But then, I've never played a half-elf because they look like they all ought to be named nancy.

For gear, I always go HP, STA, AC, DEX. STR is ok to swap out for dex, but you'll get a lot of STR without trying whereas DEX is somwhat scarcer. Dex gets important later when you are trying to proc things. Its true that STA is kind of useless when you are low level, whereas later you'll be very glad you have as much STA as possible.

Rangers get some badass procs. Get a Silver Swiftblade for your early levels. Get a Woodsman's staff as soon as you can, thats end game DPS right there. Get a Swarmcaller as you near 45. All three are pretty cheap.

And bring your sense of humor, you WILL get made fun of and be the butt of endless Ranger jokes. It's usually all in good fun, and if the occasional person isn't well then screw them.

[Uberbandit]

At level 32, I can count on one hand the number of times I've been turned away from a group for being a Ranger. I can also been the MT for a lot of the dungeons I've done, with only slightly above average gear. Granted you can't really tank something at entry level, but once you are mid level for a zone it is no problem. This will likely change in higher levels, but my advice would be to stick to outdoor zones.

Being medium only won't hurt you as far as I know. Presently everything I have on my Ranger (wood*cough* Dark Elf) would fit on a Half Elf.

[Laberintica]

Its really very simple, this server is very old, all obtainable weapons/ armor are available for purchase. This server is not any more classic in the sense that only a 10 -15% of the population are new/non twink players.

Eventually once you start saving money you will get very nice gear which will take away the problems that rangers and most melee characters have which is equipment dependant.

Learn your ranger class, learn when to cast, learn when to CC, learn when to taunt and people will adore you. This is not a brand new server, there's no such thing as painful leveling, since people will see you and give you free items/money etc.

Good luck!

[iruinedyourday]

And bring your sense of humor, you WILL get made fun of and be the butt of endless Ranger jokes. It's usually all in good fun, and if the occasional person isn't well then screw them.

This thread makes me want to roll a ranger so bad.

[Itching]

This thread makes me want to roll a ranger so bad.

It all started here!

Also, at least you get to play right now! I have about two more weeks until I get to play arggg!

[Non Quixote]

Just found this server, amazing work! I played a human ranger as my main in EQ for almost 9 years. A couple of levels after joining p99 and rolling a (you guessed it) human ranger, I asked my friend who joined P99 with me the same question.

Am I just a masochist?

[iruinedyourday]

Just read this, great time to roll a ranger!!

www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1522094#post1522094

[CronoEdge]

Rangers aren't that bad for grouping. I've been tanking/pulling in a number of dungeons since I've started adventuring in P99 in may. Get yourself a set of banded and a Silver Swiftblade, then find a group with a decent healer and you'll do fine dpsing or tanking as needed. I tanked crushbone in my teens - High Keep Gobs in my late 20's/low 30's and most recently Mistmoore in my mid 30's. As long as you learn how to pull with harmony and stock up on arrows/train your spells you'll be a welcome addition to any group of adventurers.

[Itching]

I look forward to doing all these things when I get back shore side :P spend some of the plat I set aside making SoW potions buahhahahah.