Will I be able to be grouped with a ranger?

[guirssane]

I'm planning to start with a ranger on green, do you think people will still group me despite not being the best grouping class and the xp penalty?

[Deathrydar]

I'm planning to start with a ranger on green, do you think people will still group me despite not being the best grouping class and the xp penalty?

Yes! Don't worry about the experience penalty. Min/Maxers may be dicks about it, but let them. The core population will not care.

[magusfire24]

Rangers are good pullers with archery and get some nice buffs. Can tank some and do decent dps and utility. XP penalty doesnt matter.

[Baler]

Outdoor zones are a rangers playground in groups. Stick to outdoor zones and you will do well.
Harmony - Split packs
Spirit of Wolf - move fast sonic gogo
Flame Lick - Agro tank spell

[Jimjam]

Rangers are a great vanilla class. AAAAA+++ would invite again.

[Sinistria]

I'm planning to start with a ranger on green, do you think people will still group me despite not being the best grouping class and the xp penalty?

I would group with you.
I am planning of doing a DE SK, so i am a bit worried too.

the undesired ones

[Nagoya]

Here's a copy/paste of an answer I gave from another thread asking the same question:

used to play on p99 when xp penalty was still a thing.

1) people definitely know about it. and hate it. and talk about it. and make you feel bad about it.
2) most people still do invite you to groups. respect their lists. shut up once you start fighting.
3) sometimes you might lose a spot in a list. or not be invited into a group. it will happen. a few times. you will hate it.
4) sometimes you have to explain for a thousandth time how xp sharing works, and that you're only slowing down the xp by about 2% cause you're a lvl 18 paladin in a full group of lvl 21 incl. some troll shaman, a monk and a wizard and everyone is sucking XP anyway. and that mean that everyone is gonna ding in 2h03 instead of 2h00 and nobody should care.

in the end this is not gonna ruin your character. you can still group. most people are cool about it.

but yes it is a thing, and yes it will have an impact on your grouping capacities. a tiny bit. brace yourself /o/

[Tecmos Deception]

XP penalty doesnt matter.

This is incorrect.

Rangers are a fine class, and you'll find groups, but don't let this guy trick you into thinking the exp penalty won't affect you and won't be on the minds of many of the folks you want to group with.

[Deathrydar]

This is incorrect.

Rangers are a fine class, and you'll find groups, but don't let this guy trick you into thinking the exp penalty won't affect you and won't be on the minds of many of the folks you want to group with.

Don't let THIS GUY trick you into thinking that it matters. Like I said, everyone has their own opinion on it, but the core population does not care.

[magusfire24]

Yeah it will slow leveling a bit. But I am in no hurry myself

[kgarry]

Rangers aren't totally gimped. I think if a class resonates with you, you should go for it. But yes the opinion is divided, you're going find people that will treat you like crap and others will welcome you with open arms. At least be aware of it. Because green will be over-populated at first, most or all big money/xp camps are going to be full. Grouping will be important if you want to get anywhere. You're going to most likely be sitting around until a group opens up (picking off stragglers here and there), and if there's a better suited class to join the group they will most likely get picked over you.

[Smashed]

People will be aware. Some won’t group with you. I’ve already seen it a few times on green and that’s with 10x experience gain and a wipe coming in a week.

Do what makes you happy, but it’s something to be aware of.

[Nirgon]

Tell me how your group with 4 rangers goes

1 hybrid is enough

[Glasken]

Wear full banded, dont cast spells, and tell all your pickup groups that you are a warrior until you are lvl 50 and have a guild that loves you.

[magusfire24]

Wear full banded, dont cast spells, and tell all your pickup groups that you are a warrior until you are lvl 50 and have a guild that loves you.

make sure you turn on the /anon tag

[uygi]

Ranger is a good class with a lot of utility. As others have said they shine outdoors. Harmony, snare and root give considerable pulling and CCing abilities (a good ranger will peel the add out away from the group and root it) . Their DPS isn’t bad, but it can’t hold a candle to rogue or monk. Their tanking is pretty bad but still less squishy than a caster. It’s a utility class, fun if you like adapting to conditions and jumping into different functions when things go sideways. With weaponshield you become a potential raid-saver when the tank goes down and the mob is almost dead; super fun to do that.

[guirssane]

Thanks for the answers guys, I will go for it then even if there will be some times where it might get hard finding a group. :)
I should be able to solo a bit at 22 with animal fear hopefully

[soronil]

Their tanking is pretty bad but still less squishy than a caster.

What's your reasoning? Most people seem to think Rangers are fine tanks in classic, at least pre-planar Comparing War/SK/PAL/RNG:

Aggro:
All have taunt. Ranger has best snap spell aggro, SK close behind. Warrior is terrible at aggro

Avoidance (pre 50 skill caps):
Dodge: Knights 125, Ranger 137, War 140
Parry: Knights 175, Ranger 185, War 200
Riposte: 175, Ranger 150, War 200

Mitigation (Gear):
All classes pretty much go Banded -> Rubicite -> Planar in classic.

HP:
Rangers get less HP per stamina (4.2) than SHD/PAL(5.2) which is less than WAR (6)
But Stamina is pretty sparse in classic. Rangers are a little less efficient to complete heal.

Utility: Rangers have harmony, root, sow, hide, sneak, track, invis, levitate.... While not related to tanking, all of these things are often useful in a group, and it is unlikely your group already has all of that.

As far as EXP penalty goes, Since most would plan to play SK/PAL/RNG in a group, I expect they will level ~7-10% slower than a warrior (and potentially in many situations cause my group to be more succesful and exp faster than a warrior would, negating some of the penalty)

[Bazia]

people dont really care about it on p99

[uygi]

I never said anything bad about their aggro or utility, I said they were squishy. I like rangers, probably my 2nd favorite class to play after SK.

I also think SK def beats ranger for aggro. Are you comparing flame lick to DC? Cus the better comparison would be flamer lick to shadow vortex, then tack on DC. And snare (for both). Rangers do generate more straight melee aggro, though.

Rangers have like 20% fewer hp, and ranger races are all fairly low STA, especially with sparse STA gear as you point out.

Suppose ungeared, with max points into STA, with highest STA race, and using your numbers:
Ogre SK: 147 STA *5.2=764
Ogre shaman: 152*3=456
Human Ranger: 105 STA *4.2=441

But at that point you're really splitting hairs, play the toon you want the way you want. I'm just saying that rangers are fairly squishy tanks. You don't want them tanking if you can help it. That said they're ideal secondary tanks because a good ranger will always hold their aggro just barely under the tank so if the tank goes down, mobs turns to ranger instead of 1-2 rounding a caster, and the ranger is ready to step up and hopefully get things back under control.

[Jimjam]

Thanks for the answers guys, I will go for it then even if there will be some times where it might get hard finding a group. :)
I should be able to solo a bit at 22 with animal fear hopefully

I hope you manage to hit 22 before Velious hits (no panic animal for rangers before then).

[guirssane]

I hope you manage to hit 22 before Velious hits (no panic animal for rangers before then).

Ah true, didn't remember

[Gustoo]

Ranger is a great class. Not a specifically great class in a raid but adequate dps and lots of utility. Can kite for days.

[Aaramis]

There's a good chance the server will be busy enough at start that all people are looking for is a warm body to fill out a group.

You could be that warm body!

(and if not, at least you can still solo. Unlike them poor rusty dagger-wielding Rogues)

[Raekwondo Erudson]

I have no desire to group with a Ranger.

[evilution]

as a Troll SK i will group with anyone and everyone ;)

[Insaiyan]

Hi OP,

Casual here. A lot of others like me, I'm sure. We probably won't even see the end game and if we do it will be a long ways off. Will have no problem grouping with X amount of hybrids. Personally playing for the journey, not a rush to end game. If you love the class play it! Cheers

[Kendir]

as a Troll SK i will group with anyone and everyone ;)

Also going with troll sk and I'd gladly duo with a ranger. We could kite for days or bounce aggro back and forth.

[Benanov]

I also think SK def beats ranger for aggro. Are you comparing flame lick to DC? Cus the better comparison would be flamer lick to shadow vortex, then tack on DC. And snare (for both). Rangers do generate more straight melee aggro, though.

I wasn't really trying hard because the ranger was MT, but last night in CoM I could not pull aggro off the Ranger without casting multiple snap spells and mashing all the aggro buttons (taunt disarm etc)

If SHD > RNG, then (SHD - RNG) / (SHD) is a pretty small positive number.

[kaluppo]

I can tell you from playing a ranger on blue that they are VERY welcomed in groups. More so than my paladin. People only invite my paladin to a group if they need a tank. One spot per group.

Ranger on the other hand will be invited to groups for three reasons. One, if they need a tank and can't find a pally, sk or warrior. Two, if they need a puller because harmony and bows make the ranger a pulling class. Three, if they just need more dps because you are considered a melee dps class of which most groups like to have two or three at least.

[Fammaden]

If you know the game, know how to pull, know the zones, can keep a steady flow of single mobs (and root control your doubles) then you will be well loved and invited to groups repeatedly due to your good reputation and valuable contribution to the group.

Disclaimer: this is only true for outdoor zones, indoors you lose your pulling toolkit mostly. This also requires a bit of a learning curve, depending on how well you know P99 mechanics and zone maps already, but on green there will be a lot of returning and brand new players at the lower levels so you might get some extra slack from people in their expectations in the beginning.

For tanking you will often be taken if there's no one else to do it, and if you can simply cast flame lick so the dps can assist, manage your mana, and know what and when to snare, you will get repeat invites. Snap aggro from flame lick is second to none (yes better than DC, I also have a 52 SK, its better), and can build it even higher if you have mana to use snare for extra aggro.

Can also do some light CC with root while tanking or pulling, and sometimes both pull and tank at the same time but that's less efficient than having another player dedicated to one role.

If you're the kind of ranger however who really only knows how to join a group and start swinging at mobs like a run of the mill DPS....people will remember that after a while too and maybe think twice about inviting you instead of some other type of dps class.

Overall the ranger is hands down the best xp group pulling class in the game....outdoors, but many popular xp spots are outdoors, moreso in Kunark but in early classic there are still plenty. I've never had so much fun leveling a character as I have on ranger and I exclusively did it pulling outdoor dungeon xp for groups from about 24 through level 59. But that was all post velious on gear inflated blue with no xp penalty, so your mileage may vary.

[Rushmore]

Thanks for the answers guys, I will go for it then even if there will be some times where it might get hard finding a group. :)
I should be able to solo a bit at 22 with animal fear hopefully

Velious bro.

[Wulfrache]

I'm planning to start with a ranger on green, do you think people will still group me despite not being the best grouping class and the xp penalty?

Didn't you hear? They are removing the Ranger class on GREEN server and R replacing with a towel. At least you will always be able to find a group tho.. Everybody knows you always need to bring a towel!

[solleks]

if you run in to a group that doesnt want you dont take it personally and get upset.

[Deathrydar]

if you run in to a group that doesnt want you dont take it personally and get upset.

^^This.

But, do make sure to note their names and when you get invisibility, follow them around until they are by themselves in a remote location, preferably a dungeon, and then train them when they are low on HP.

[Zephys]

My "main" when p99 first dropped was a ranger and I never got anything but good natured mockery or sympathy from the crowd that was playing back then.

[YendorLootmonkey]

I never said anything bad about their aggro or utility, I said they were squishy.

Everyone forgets the squishyness doesn't really become apparent until Kunark with mobs hitting a lot harder. Or at least, it didn't on Live... I don't know how accurately all of the mitigation/avoidance tables have been reconstructed for each era on P99.

It was a perfect storm combination of rangers generating too much aggro with their endgame 14 delay rat whips and proccing flux axes and Ykeshas coming out of classic, chain class mitigation/avoidance tables not keeping up with plate classes at level 51+, Kunark mobs hitting harder, and warriors not being able to taunt effectively at level 51+ or something... it resulted in rangers being thrown a bone called Jolt and being the laughing stock of the game until Luclin gave us our class back with AAs.

Rangers can tank classic mobs just fine, but you would definitely want to try to get to level 50.999 before Kunark drops.

[Wulfrache]

if you run in to a group that doesn't want you dont take it personally and get upset.

Nah dont take it personally... it's like getting picked last for the dodge ball team. Its not that they don't want YOU per se. It's just they want to win/not die and they feel that you will intrinsically be in conflict with that goal. Hence they just want a person that isn't you but it's not ''personal'' at all. That would be just silly to think that. :cool:

[Arcticflava]

Didn't you hear? They are removing the Ranger class on GREEN server and R replacing with a towel. At least you will always be able to find a group tho.. Everybody knows you always need to bring a towel!

You're a towel!!?!

[Wulfrache]

You're a towel!!?!

No. You're a towel!:mad:

[roks1]

All this nonsense bs talk and no one brought up rangers having 2 of the strongest items in the game pre-kunark for their arsenal? plane of sky clicky haste cloak and mistwalker (early version, dual wielded, procced wolves pre-nerf stayed alive until killed by damage or the monster died and they doubled for like 105 And could buffed!)

So rangers sit atop of king shit mountain if they have the luck required to get an early mistwalker and if he got 2 he's obviously running a loot council guild for himself.

monks dps wasn't exactly where you think it is in the modern perspective because flying kick hadnt been given a min damage number and until sky and 14/28 treant fists they are using what?

Rogues aren't even rogues for months to a year -- if sneak / hide is properly reverted to classic it's not exceptional and there's no evade for 6months to a year so unless you have a knight tank or warrior with dual yaks your dps is gonna be on ice in a normal group for fear of aggro.

[Zarniwooop]

Hell, I group happily with Troll Shadowknights.