Ranger or Paladin?
 

Hi there. Just returned and trying to pick my class. Think I have it narrowed down to those two.

Played on p99 briefly a year or two ago, but played EQ at launch up through Velious.

Looking for any insights from long time P99 players. I will not be twinking at all.

Any insights?

Thanks much!

They are completelty different.

Paladin is a true tank. Ranger is not.
Ranger can put out decent dps. Paladin can not.
Paladin has very good utility for the job of tanking.
Ranger has some good utility as a dps/puller.

The real question is what do you want to do? If the answer is tank, don't pick ranger. If the answer is dps, don't pick paladin. If the answer is to do either of those two roles the best, don't pick either of them.

Monk

Thank you much. One other question, is fletching pretty much mandatory for a Ranger?

No. You can buy a cheap pulling bow and store bought arrows if you don't like archery. Personally I think you'd be missing out on one of the interesting facets of Rangering but it is completely optional.

I don't think archery on P99 is all that great, Rangers do their damage via melee.

I guess you could theoretically kite mobs with archery but it would be very time and resource consuming and generally not worth it.

Toxx nailed it - Ranger is DPS and Pally is straight Tank. Both classes are in the conversation for 'worst' on P99 so you should know that as well. Problem with Pally/Sk is they can not tank raid mobs due to not having the warrior damage reduction Discipline, but on the flip side they are among the best small group tanks. Rangers get out DPS'd by just about everyone until they start getting good gear, then they turn into monsters. Rangers also have a special niche as the best trackers in game

oh ok!

Thanks much guys for the advice. Will put some more thought into it.

They are both pretty fun, but a bit on the slow/tedious side to solo, if that is your bag.

Personally, I am enjoying the ranger on and off. Yeah, until you get a Tolan's bracer, which you can use at 46, fletching 150 range arrows is tedious, but you get used to it. Arrows go quick! However, they make for a nice DoT for rooting, dotting and shooting the mob until it gets low enough where you can melee it without getting too clobbered.

I have only taken fletching up to 140 or so, but use the bone shaft/field point/parabolic fletching/small groove arrows due to them being cheap and having 150 range. It gets pretty damn expensive above that! I will need to try to make better arrows to see if there is a significant damage increase.

Also, you get SoW, Lev, Regen, small nukes, small DoTs and other decent utility spells as you progress.

Rangering is not about efficiency, if that is what you are into. I find it pretty fun though.

Do you enjoy the role of tanking more? Or pulling?

A Paladin will be the designated tank in most groups, and Ranger will often be puller (not always).