Quote:
Originally Posted by koros
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In any group where cleric mana isn't an issue, a ranger tank is probably the single best choice, aggro is never an issue, and dps is superior to a paladin or sk.
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Does not compute. If "cleric mana isn't an issue", then you're not constantly pulling. It takes more mana for a cleric to heal a Ranger tank and thus it creates more downtime and thus Rangers are not good tanks and they slow down the exp gain of the group (even without taking the exp penalty into consideration). A Ranger tank allowing the group to kill pulls marginally faster than a Paladin or SK is not at all efficient when compared to how much extra damage they are taking. In the end, far more mana needs to be spent on the Ranger and the group is going to kill less as a result.
It depends on the content we're talking about, though. At the higher levels, Rangers can tank low blue cons fine, yes. For harder content they are not good, though, and the disparity quickly increases as the monsters become more difficult. This means the Ranger needs to fulfill a DPS role and one of the problems with that is Rangers do less DPS than Warriors (because their skillcaps are lower). The other problem is that in order to even do their best DPS, Rangers steal aggro away from Warriors (even though they are doing less damage, that's just the way the aggro chart works). This ultimately leaves Rangers without much of a role at all for higher level groups, all while being burdened with the exp penalty.
Their utility can be nice and the improvements (+removal of exp penalty) they receive in Velious-era make them a more competitive package for the higher levels, but what EQ Rangers really need is a class redesign. They shouldn't just be "less durable Warriors who can track, with some Druid spells thrown in". The class should be much more focused on using a Bow and using their own unique abilities. Of course, the combat system and the way PvE is set up in Everquest needs a improvement to fully support such a thing.