Making a Ranger.. (I know right?)

[chiefrocka]

Hey all..

So I've been messing around on the server for a few weeks but haven't really committed to any particular character. I always wanted a Ranger on live during the Kunark/Velious era so I figured I should take this opportunity to do that. Just a few general questions about the least played class..

1) Which Race is optimal for a min/max Ranger? (lol..?)

2) What are some cheaper Ranger weapons and gear I should aim for just starting out?

3) Are Rangers able to get more groups in Velious than they do in Kunark?

4) Am I making a huge mistake?

[Cecily]

1) Whatever you prefer to play. Human, elf, or half elves all look good.
2) Silver Swiftblade (16/24 2hs) best weapon to 20. Springwood Staff to Woodsman Staff to Epic.
3) They *should* be able to with the hybrid penalty removed. We as a ranger community will still have to win some hearts post-penalty.
4) You said min/max in your first question, so I'm leaning towards yes it is a mistake. Ranger is absolutely not a min/max class choice. It's a very fun class to play, but the penalty doesn't make us very fun to be around.

[Fanguru]

1) early on it goes half elf for combat stats, human or wood elf for a larger mana pool. Doesn't really matter.

2) just starting out you can probably get a free dragonhorn ykesha or ebony bladed sword till 10 in EC, then the silver swiftblade. Good luck finding a woodsman staff.
Usual 5ac 55hp rings are awesome whenever you have the cash (~500pp the pair), then whatever you can find that has str or hp.

3) finding group is not that bad really. Sure you cannot pop in seb at 51 and get a group like a shaman or cleric would, but you are still dps and still get invites. At least I do on euro times, might be worse in US timezone.

4) it's not a mistake as long you're enjoying it. However, I wouldn't have enjoyed it as a first real character. I love it as a twink and possibly future main.

[chiefrocka]

Im thinking of going with a Half Elf because of the better melee stats. I figure that would make things that much easier leveling before the spells. Guess I'll just farm bone chips and try to get rid of them in the EC tunnel until I make enough plat for a decent weapon. The wiki says to put all the starting points into STR as a Half Elf Ranger.. but I noticed most classes dump into Stamina so I am not sure which route to take. Any suggestions?

Thanks for all the help so far!

[Roku]

Good thread for ranger info:

http://www.project1999.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1521808&postcount=1

[chiefrocka]

Awesome. Thank you for posting that. For some reason my searches never got that thread as a result. Now to get that Silver Swiftblade..

[Whirled]

Can get one of these on the cheap too.
http://wiki.project1999.com/Rod_of_Lamentation

[chiefrocka]

Ended up getting one of these donated to me.. seems legit for now:

http://wiki.project1999.com/Firerune_Brand

[Tewaz]

Enjoy the Ranger, but have a backup plan.

Rangers are best in small doses once you hit level 30+ and the game starts to bog down.

I would recommend having that Druid/Monk/Enchanter/Necro fun alt ready to log in.

[chiefrocka]

I've already had people tell me in-game it's not worth playing.. gotta love that.

[Pint]

Human is the best min max race, also I'm p sure I read a patch note that gives rangers the same offensive and weapon skills as warriors which when combined with decent weps and 90% constant haste is p Baller.

[williestargell]

Rangers can be a ton of fun if you use all their abilities.

You can solo pretty well if you have primo gear. Your tracking is great if you do things that make use of it like FM or TT cycles. They will be alot of fun in the giant outdoor zones in velious. They get some sweet discs at higher level in velious. They can tank for a group fine if they have good gear. You're not making a mistake if you use all those things. Bow kiting can be a blast if you are into that sort of thing.

But, if you just want to swing a sword, delete him and make a rogue.

[blondeattk]

make friends with mages (summon arrows)

[Potus]

Roll on Red99 so you can waste any caster. Yell all manner of cool things from Aradune in LOTR while doing so to piss off everyone who hates roleplayers.

[Whirled]

I've already had people tell me in-game it's not worth playing.. gotta love that.

F00k da critics and play what u want man. Try to skill fletching too.

[chiefrocka]

F00k da critics and play what u want man. Try to skill fletching too.

Oh, I will. Although I decided to level my druid to port levels first so I can bankroll the ranger. Just going to find a guild that's accepting of my ranger skills and I will be all set.

[Whirled]

well crap man if u gonna level the druid first then do the ivy etched quests to armor the ranger for now.
http://wiki.project1999.com/Ivy_Etched_Armor_Quests

[chiefrocka]

Good point. Thanks for that Whirled.

[Whirled]

Glad to help out a fellow EQ'er. Also:
http://wiki.project1999.com/Runed_Oak_Bow

[chiefrocka]

Thanks again everyone for all the advice.. I went ahead and made the ranger but have been working on the druid for now.. got it to 15 last night. Unrest time..!

[Aabdel]

chief i have a few ranger only weaps on an alt that you're welcome to, i'd rather they go to use than sit on a toon i wont play until velious. shoot me a tell on Aabdel

[Aabdel]

oh and also Storm Watch is almost always recruiting, regardless of your rangerness

[Clark]

Wood elves get all the chicks.

[Wanderling]

I can make you a Trueshot Longbow (http://wiki.project1999.com/index.php/Trueshot_Longbow) if you want.

Send tell in game some time.

[Clark]

Enjoy the Ranger, but have a backup plan.

Rangers are best in small doses once you hit level 30+ and the game starts to bog down.

I would recommend having that Druid/Monk/Enchanter/Necro fun alt ready to log in.

[Troxx]

I'll be honest - rangers are a lot of fun to play. That paired with the lore was the reason you saw so many of them around. The key difference back then was few people parsed so the epeen min/max crowd was smaller and less informed. Beyond that, nobody knew about shared xp penalty until shortly before class penalties were revoked.

I have every intention of rolling a ranger to play, but I will wait for velious to come out and the hybrid penalty to vanish.

Getting groups will be much easier.

[Jimjam]

Roll on Red99 so you can waste any caster. Yell all manner of cool things from Aradune in LOTR while doing so to piss off everyone who hates roleplayers.

I had fun leveling up a ranger on red into his thirties (until real life started getting in the way). I camped myself a lev cloak, it was great fun being able to fly around raining down arrows :D

[rettekram]

I enjoyed playing my Ranger solo back in the day (2001ish). Try your hand at kiting Griffins in NK when you hit 15. Just watch out for the Hill Giants ...

[Wattser]

Does anyone know if we will get Halfling Rangers with Velious or is that after?

[Kender]

Does anyone know if we will get Halfling Rangers with Velious or is that after?

they didnt come in till luclin i think so no, not ever

[Wattser]

Guess Ill be sticking with the Wood Elf then! Ranger Powa! Now to make a bow...

[Howler Monkey]

I was gonna make a new thread for this, but seeing as it's just a quick question and regards rangers, I figured I'd ask it here.

I hear a lot about how Ranger DPS gets beat out by Monks and Rogues. I've seen the informative flowchart, and I'm totally cool with trading some damage for some druid utility here and there.

What I'm wondering is more specifically how much worse is Ranger DPS in the long run (In Velious)? Are we talking like, a ranger's putting out 80% of an equal geared monk or rogue? 50%?

I'm not really looking for specific parses, and I'm happy enough with the class that I don't need convincing to keep going. It's more just a point of curiosity.

[Kender]

people say about the same as a warrior. but in a DPS parse not done by the ranger themselves, they wont see the nuke damage they can add in, especially with a 2h swing delay. Warriors get crits though so maybe they are guessing it's about the same (crits would probably parse warriors at higher straight up melee damage)

They are certainly not as bad as people make them out to be. I've seen some rangers doing far more damage in straight up melee than monks (on my own parses in groups where neither was pulling) but that's likely to be a gearing difference (or laziness).

[phacemeltar]

i just realized something about rangers. ranger is the only class that can do decent ranged dps on a mob without breaking root. this might seem like a minimal bonus but if shit hits the fan and you need to root a mob to prevent wipe, ranger can easily save the day.

seems like a very circumstantial argument, but useful nonetheless.

[phacemeltar]

I was gonna make a new thread for this, but seeing as it's just a quick question and regards rangers, I figured I'd ask it here.

I hear a lot about how Ranger DPS gets beat out by Monks and Rogues. I've seen the informative flowchart, and I'm totally cool with trading some damage for some druid utility here and there.

What I'm wondering is more specifically how much worse is Ranger DPS in the long run (In Velious)? Are we talking like, a ranger's putting out 80% of an equal geared monk or rogue? 50%?

I'm not really looking for specific parses, and I'm happy enough with the class that I don't need convincing to keep going. It's more just a point of curiosity.

this is not really a fair comparison, as monk dps only excels because they get the best weapons in the game. most of the monk 2handers have incomparable ratios, which is probably meant to help them hold aggro when tanking.

ive heard rogues do more dps on p99 than they did on classic, and its really crazy when u look at the parser. they triple any other class, and thats just by using the epic which is relatively easy to get.

if ranger epic was as common on p99 as the monk epic, rangers would not get nearly as much hate as they do. also, there are some weapons that you can use as a ranger that makes dps very good.

the only real problem is that rangers are neglected. its something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, in that people hate on rangers so no one plays the class. therefore there is little demand for ranger weapons and they go unfarmed, thus increasing the price of ranger weapons. more rangers should be using axe of lost souls, as its pretty cheap right now and does alot of dmg if you can get haste.

just my 2cp

[Ciroco]

I was gonna make a new thread for this, but seeing as it's just a quick question and regards rangers, I figured I'd ask it here.

I hear a lot about how Ranger DPS gets beat out by Monks and Rogues. I've seen the informative flowchart, and I'm totally cool with trading some damage for some druid utility here and there.

What I'm wondering is more specifically how much worse is Ranger DPS in the long run (In Velious)? Are we talking like, a ranger's putting out 80% of an equal geared monk or rogue? 50%?

I'm not really looking for specific parses, and I'm happy enough with the class that I don't need convincing to keep going. It's more just a point of curiosity.

In Velious, probably about 80%, yeah. It's less than that now.

[Daywolf]

I'd roll something else first. And not just something else, but probably a druid as ranger is hybrid druid and warrior. More or less, ranger is just a meleeing druid when it comes down to it. But anyway, rolling a druid first, you don't need gear, so you can collect your armor and weapons to start out a ranger later. Ranger is pretty much gear dependent, and at least for a ranger they will be able to get into groups a bit more easily if have at least modest gearing. But you don't need to go complete twink, by your mid 20's you can start working the ivy etched armor quests.

If you plan to work fletching, you will need around 2k+pp to get to ~200. I sold the high-end crafted bows on live for years, and can make the same here with my ranger. You are looking at 16hrs+ of click fest to raise to 200. Once past that, you can only gain in fletching with bows. Follow the wiki page on fletching here.

Learn how to use sneak if in groups. Works much like the rogue sneak but w/o the success/fail message, you don't build aggro so to out aggro the tank. Keep bind wound up, when you solo you will want to use it a lot to go non-stop. Mana pool matters less than other stats, but keep an eye on your caster line in groups and use your CC for their relief. Lastly, ranger is not an MT, it's a skirmisher, you play a ranger because you want to play like a ranger.

[Cecily]

Lol bind wound.

[Daywolf]

Lol bind wound.
Wut? My ranger goes non-stop with bind wound. Otherwise you spend all your time meditating after your 100 heals. If you know how to play a ranger, you can run around at 50% health for much of the game with only about 30 seconds of downtime between fights, maybe a few heal casts above 50% when you go against harder stuff. Makes a huge difference and less need to gear more wisdom items into your ranger.

And true for some other classes, especially warriors that have 0 in bind wound (just so many here on the emu it's pathetic) which is a serious lol. It's seriously funny too when the tank is sitting there in my group with a sliver of health and we are all out of mana and I pull up my cleric next to the tank and have him at 50% in a moment - much faster than it'd take to med up a heal. Yeah lol @ bind wound, it's a typical response on this server and quite odd.

[Kender]

binding wounds is down time. and with a 100 point skill cap prior to level 50, it's faster to med and heal

[Klapton]

A Ranger walks into a bar...

LOADING PLEASE WAIT

[Daywolf]

binding wounds is down time. and with a 100 point skill cap prior to level 50, it's faster to med and healAbove 50 it caps at 200, so still useful then, as well as early on. It only becomes less usable from mid level to 50. So since it kinda gets useless for a few levels, joke it off as a useless skill all together? uh-huh..

The difference is, when I was running my ranger through CB leveling, one ranger was constantly going and the other was sitting on his butt a whole lot watching the other ranger bind and loot. Lower-Mid levels it's still faster to bind rather than med. Maybe you should try it sometime, rather than pointing out it's not a good skill at ~lvl49 on paper.

[Cecily]

No, it is an absolutely worthless skill.

[Daywolf]

No, it is an absolutely worthless skill.
uh-huh... riiiight.
You just go on there believing that, more mobs for me.

[Cecily]

I would LOVE to see which one of our rangers can kill more mobs.

[Daywolf]

I don't even see it as debatable. You either use them or you don't. If you do, then you would know the difference depending on the level. If you don't, well then you have no clue. But I see that a lot on this server, people not using them when they should. But some do, and they know why. The rest, well they do what they do, and in groups they slow everyone down. I figure people are just cheap and/or lazy, it's a whole 1pp per stack! heh