I always despised the move from tank/dps/utility-like ranger to dps-like ranger. I've always felt that rangers should be able to tank/utility better. They focused on dps too much in the past 10 years. The kiting used early on in EQ wasn't as pronounce when mobs started to summon and zone design wasn't the same either. And mobs hit a lot harder but root didn't seem to scale with it to compensate the danger level.
Maybe it's just how the experience sub-50 was so much more flexible than the experience afterwards. By the time my ranger was into his 60's and 70's he was like humpty dumpty - always having to be put back together. Maybe it's just that at the lower levels rangers can hold together better or something. When you started to get into the 50's and 60's, mobs would hit like trucks. It got worse and worse with time. By the time I was in my 80's I couldn't tank current content unless jesus christ was there to keep me alive. You also die a lot quicker at the higher levels. In the lower levels you have a little bit of time to think and react. But later on you can die in a matter of seconds. And mobs summon. It's different gameplay - almost like a different game.
This is how I see ranger: tank/dps/utility in roughly equal parts. I think that it went in the dps direction and cast out utility and tanking ability in favor of it. Not sure why. Some people blindly focus on dps.
Generally, games are dumb when they focus on dps or tanking or healing too much. Too linear.
Maybe a lot of the blame can go to how they abandoned EQ for EQ2/SWG/etc.
(my above comments are focused on live mostly because I have a 85 ranger i made in 2001)
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