Project 1999 - Lune's Ranger Tips

Preface:

Ah yes, the ranger. The butt of every joke, victim of every death touch, perennial LFG-er, frequent corpse. I see people asking about rangers sometimes, and one of the most common questions is:

"Are they really that bad?"

Yes and no. The answer you'll get is far from unanimous. But for better or for worse, I was drawn to this class. I wanted to play a melee dps and I found monks and rogues to be boring, inflexible, and most importantly, lacking in pretty spells. Playing a ranger to 60 was a journey quite unlike anything you might experience with any other class. It is a challenge. You have to face discrimination, misconceptions, ignorance, completely justifiable rejections from groups, an experience penalty, and some substantial weaknesses. But you also have the opportunity to prove people wrong, win hearts and minds, and play a DPS class in EQ that can actually be stimulating.

Part I: Gearing

I've seen a whole lot of people sink hundreds of thousands of platinum into rangers and make pitiful gear choices to the extent that their characters will turn out underwhelming compared to a shrewdly geared 30k character. On that note, simply playing the ranger class is like taking 8 inches of raw classic EQ right up your pooper-- it hurts but you learn to love it. Explaining the life of an un-twinked ranger requires a sexual metaphor that would probably get me banned from the forums. I'm not saying 'don't do it', I just want you to know what to expect.

On any given piece of gear, you should be looking for three things:

http://i.imgur.com/DB5rY9r.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/DJigcrR.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZK5BOw2.jpg

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You are there to deal damage, but being able to tank will add a ton of flexibility and utility, and will benefit you enormously both solo and grouped. Search for pieces that have the highest compromise between STR and survivability. The idea is to crush your opponent with overwhelming strength while weathering his blows.

http://i.imgur.com/09P51EU.gif

As for weapons, definitely avoid dual wielding in favor of Silver Swiftblade (1-19), and then Woodsman's Staff (20-Epics). (If you can't afford a Woodsman's Staff, pick up a Springwood Stave). Not only have I consistently parsed the Woodsman's Staff at higher DPS than any combo of droppable 1handers, but the ability to either occasionally (no clarity) or consistently (clarity) throw in spells between swings makes it a no-brainer.

Quote:

http://i.imgur.com/7bx4IPP.jpg

It's quite high good sir, that's why you noticed.

I've made a guideline for how you may choose to gear a low-end char:

Beyond that, the wiki is an excellent resource. It has a feature which allows you to search for gear by slot, class, and statistic.

For mid-higher end players, here is how I geared my ranger before no-drops were available:

Part 2: Playstyle

This chapter is all about winning hearts and minds. You want people to see you for the raging lion in your heart, not the 110 lbs nerd you are.

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How you see yourself:

http://i.imgur.com/8d14ZVG.jpg

How others see you:

http://i.imgur.com/Po6up46.jpg

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So here are ten simple rules for being a competent ranger:

1. If you are outdoors (including Mistmoore and Unrest, two of the game's most popular leveling zones.), Harmony allows you to pull more effectively than a monk. It takes some getting used to, and quite a bit of knowledge of the zone, but good pulling is an invaluable skill. Harmony can be cast through walls and does not require line of sight. Mistmoore is your personal playground and with some practice you can really blow people's socks off.

2. If you are indoors, you can pull with root. Would the pull be four mobs? Root one to agro them, root another while they run to you, and then root one more after the remaining two hit you. Bring the last one to your group and it should be close to dead by the time roots start breaking. At higher levels you need to be more careful about getting hit, but it can still be invaluable to root particularly nasty pulls to give the enchanter a better chance to get it under control.

3. Always snare mobs that run. Depending on group dps, snare around 50-60%. If you're getting resisted constantly, snare earlier. I can't tell you how many otherwise exceptional groups I've been in on other characters have wiped due to lack of snare.

4. Got clarity? Heal the tank, enchanter, or anyone else who is injured while the puller is out pulling. Tanking? Heal yourself between pulls. Individually your heals are bad, but they add up if cast consistently.

5. Soloing? Got downtime? Your mana ticks every 6 seconds. Sit down. As soon as your mana ticks, stand up and cast a heal, then immediately sit back down to catch the next tick. Repeat for more efficient downtime. Congratulations, you're a shaman.

6. Cast spells between your Woodsman's Staff swings. Nukes or heals cast consistently between swings really add up.

7. If charm breaks and a hasted, dual-wielding mob starts beating your enchanter to death, spam snare on it. Sometimes a single snare will pull agro, allowing the enchanter to recharm without interruption, and if there is even a little room to maneuver, you can avoid being hit yourself.

8. Root uncontrolled mobs. If mobs are running wild beating on clerics and enchanters and you keep hearing that awful bone crunching sound, root them!

9. Cast thorns on the tank. More than likely the damage will be negligible because of slow and because your thorns sucks, but I've had a few tanks notice and it's always good to be a tryhard kiss-ass when you're a ranger.

10. Be willing to tank. You bring a unique blend of DPS and knight-like snap agro that does not exist anywhere else. It doesn't take an ironclad tank to handle the damage of a low level or slowed mob, and if your group has mana regen and your gear is decent, the cleric's mana will not suffer. Congratulations, you don't have a zero-DPS knight tank dragging down your group's killing power, and your shaman will enjoy being able to slow the mob as early as he likes.

You will find that if you play your ranger like a ranger, and not like a rogue, people will notice. And then they will be moderately less unhappy to invite you to their groups.

Part C: Know Your Place

Or: Accept the realities of a Ranger Life and learn to live with them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by YendorLootmonkey (Post 1419513)

Playing a ranger is like getting shitfaced drunk on a Sunday morning and then going to church. Fun for you, but you can't do anything very well, no one wants to have anything to do with you, and they wish you would leave and go have your fun elsewhere.

Chances are you know damn well that rangers have disabilities, but you chose to play one anyway because monks are just too easy and boring and you love the way it feels to wipe your ass with a cactus. If you do it right, you'll find rangers aren't half as bad as people say, and can excel in certain niches. Unfortunately, you'll also find that monks are pretty much better than you at everything and just generally superior. Velious will come with some improvements to the ranger class, including the ability to fear-kite animals and solo easily to 60, and the removal of your experience penalty. But it ultimately won't bring you any closer to monk godhood. If you don't relish a challenge, and you don't deeply enjoy the stimulating playstyle / flavor that the ranger class can offer, I would think twice about investing in one. If however you are interested in investing in one, I have a Woodsman's Staff I can sell you for 18k.

That said, if you follow all of my tips that I've stolen from other rangers over the years, you too can be a successful ranger and attract all the high elf women.

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http://i.imgur.com/QTJxVca.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/N7Z4q1L.jpg

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I've updated a handy flow-chart I made in a past life to help you decide whether the ranger class is right for you, or if you should re-roll something else: