A mediocre ranger is a drain on the group. A mediocre bard is also a drain, but when all else fails they can just pulse mana every 3 seconds and do something marginally more productive than a mediocre ranger.
A well played ranger is a great asset, but it's a thankless job that might well go un-noticed.
You won't tank like a tank. You won't dps like a monk or rogue. You won't cc like a bard/ench. That dps you do provide is pretty good though, and if you don't accidentally get aggro and waste heals ... If you use your mana between pulls to top off the non tanks ... If you make sure shit is snared and adds on casters get rooted ... You will pull your weight.
It's similar playing a bard honestly. I pull well but rarely do it. I'd rather the tank bring 2 adds so I can charm one and mez the other and use that down time pulsing 3 rounds of mana and using lute with nivs and hymn to feed 40hp regen a tick to the whole group.
My clerics in a good group rarely need to waste mana on anything but a cheal for the tank.
I might not dps like a dps, but I'll make everyone else's job in the group easier and keep the xp flowing more than enough to make up for the xp penalty I have to deal with until velious. I'll make YOU waste less mana, give YOU more mana in your pool, make YOU dps better, keep the adds off YOU, and keep your health topped off without draining unnecessary mana from whoever is doing the healing.
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