Help with ranger gear
 

I should hit level 17 within a week or so mostly soloing and small grouping although I will may be able to join a regular group for some dungeon crawling. I will not be tanking in this group, but for soloing and small groups I will probably still tank.

Here is my Magelo. I forgot to update the base stats tho.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Magelo_B...oht_Farstrider

What armor pieces should I be looking to upgrade next?
Don't have much plat since I am not in GFay and can't forage Morning Dew anymore. Can probably scrounge up a few hundred PP selling some leather paddings and skins.

What should be my weapon setup assuming I will not be able to upgrade for awhile?
at 17?
at 20?
at 30?

http://wiki.project1999.com/Equipment_By_Class

Go through, piece by piece. Sort by AC, then by hp or str or whatever you care for. From each sort, open pieces that look affordable or achievable in separate tabs, then narrow them down from there. You'll be able to narrow your choices down pretty quickly.

If you've got no cash, then there's not much a point of asking, though, really. You'll be wealthy enough after HHK goblins at ~25+.

Hero bracers are very good bang-for-your-buck melee gear. One of the best items you can buy for the cost. Tree weave is also amazing for the price but many people don't want to use it because of its leather appearance.

You've done wonderfully so far prioritizing the most important pieces-- silver swiftblade and 5/55 rings.

The Silver Swiftblade will remain an effective choice until 30, when you may want to pick up a Swarmcaller, which are also pretty cheap. Your ultimate goal is a Woodsman's Staff.

As for affordable armor:

Chest: Tree Weave
Arms: Ivy Etched sleeves
Belt: Seb Scale belt if you can find one
Bracer: Hero Bracer and either kylong or seb scale
Legs: Seb Scale or Kylong greaves (most expensive slot listed)
Hands: Iksar Scaled Gloves
Face: Sarnak Hide Mask
Cloak: Werewolf Skin Cloak
Neck: Seb scale for the ac, or glowing bone collar as hp/ac compromise
Head: Crested Helm or Kylong Helm (Around 27 you can join GY groups and use track to snag Avenging Caitiffs and try to win the helm)
Bow: Trueshot
Ears: Sapphire Electrum Earrings, until you can afford diamondine. Diamondine > forest loop > Sapph electrum. Forest loop is not a cost effective choice.

The Tolans pieces can be good holdovers until you can afford a high ac/+str piece in that slot.

Get rid of those 1handers and don't even think about dual wielding til you have your epic. Second most common ranger mistake, close behind rolling a ranger in the first place.

Well, Ephirith is right in everything he says about Woodsman's.. It's the best DPS short of epic, and allows perfectly for casting nukes in between swings.

Still, I find that Woodsman gets boring really quickly and sometimes a bro just wants to slash things, not hit them with a giant twig.. The beauty of being a Ranger is being the only melee in the game with spells that can dual-wield swords.

Until a warrior gets clicky nukes )

here's a neat trick while using silver swiftblade, as soon as you see the message that you took a swing, cast burst of fire. you will end up getting some nukes landed in between the sword hits with literally no delay on the sword swings. can increase dps dramatically.

Thanks for the inputs!

Guess I will try to unload the 1-handers an the Nature's Wrath and the money for some armor pieces. My base STR is only 80 being a WE so I will look into some of the pieces listed that has STR on them, specifically the Treeweave and the Hero Bracers.

Are dual Lamentations not good weapons for a Ranger? I've been able to save up enough to get a pair of Ebony Bladed Swords, but I saw Lamentation in EC auction this morning and it looks like a damn good 1h sword with a 9/19 ratio, 6 STR/STA and 20HP. Is that not a good weapon to dual wield for a Ranger?

What about high end slashers like EoN / Jagged Blade of Mourning + raid level haste. Would that work out to about the same as epics? I have an EoN, need a haste piece, and another weapon. I really really don't want to use the ugly stick.