Ranger's benefit....
They can cast SoW on my monk.

So you think a magician can solo to 60 better than an enchanter, shaman, or wizard do you?

Do you know how bard kiting works? =)

Well I played a ranger back in 1999 (this was my first MMO) and got my epics, dragon armor, onyx chain leggings, AoW bow and some other nice things.

Makes me really sad to see everyone trashing rangers, but back then I really didn't min max and just played for fun. I "thought" I did decent dps and I remember pulling the AoW with disc and didn't die.

Yeah.... rangers had it rough till SoL... then I remember killing some really tough things rather easily.

Wolf forms help with ATK. Rangers are monsters outdoors.

Wolf form:
Greater wolf form:
Fire Fist (free grim aura earring for a dual wielder):
They can also snare + aggro kite for almost no mana (flame lick) + bow shots for a bit of damage and even more aggro.

They have the widest track range in the game..

They don't optimally fill the dps role in the game so the WoW dps meter kiddies here cannot appreciate their usefulness.

Try doing some of the quests in the game without a tracker..

Rangers are like Druids in that they can be good in groups of less than 6, where the extra tools can actually be useful.

I specifically have a level 25 Ranger on standby for the stage of velious where they get animal fear. It's that good for pure solo xp.

Other than that, Rangers don't get a ton of huge gains. Their DPS goes up, but their defensive capabilities decrease/remain the same. Compared to the defensive powers of War/pal/SK/mnk (a ton of low weight/insanely high AC items for monks), Rangers are just slightly tougher rogues that do less damage.

But i'm still gonna grind the living crap out of one once they get animal fear.


Original
Best: Enchanter
Worst: Wizard

Kunark
Best: Shaman
Worst: Ranger

Velious
Best: Shaman
Worst: Ranger

me too. Mine's parked at 52 until Velious.