P99 class distribution

[stormlord]

Originally Posted by Mordachai [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

i certainly didn't take it as a slight, it's just a side effect that i enjoy, probably some kind of weird masochism or something?

I've played rangers since 1999. It's not the slow exp. It's the perceived "gimpness" in the community. People don't think rangers can hold their own because they see rangers as a jack-of-all-trades, kind of like a bard. You can't neatly fit them into a dps or tank or cc role like you can a warrior or a rogue or an enchanter. People think in simple terms. They like simple, straightforward things. Rangers and other hybrids betray them.

The way I see it, rangers are at their best in new territory. In a new place. In the outdoors. Once everything is mastered and everybody knows what to do, rangers lose their value because everything is maximized to its fullest extent. But when things get crazy and confused, rangers have that extra flexibility to escape or invis or spot tank or something else. They won't save the group much, but they got more tricks than base classes.

Sadly, imho, eq is forgetting this. It's forgetting to put people in weird circumstances to give hybrids the extra edge they need to justify their role. There needs to be more zones that throw curve balls, that give you something new that you haven't seen before. It seems more and more classes in live eq are becoming generic molds of eachother. Losing their distinction. The aa's help to make up for the lost distinction, but not all. I mean, in almost every case I can think of, my 85 ranger is filling a dps role. I rarely ever have done cc or ranger things. They can't tank unless raid geared. That wasn't true several years ago - i was invising, tracking, rooting, snaring, bowing, even healing and tanking, the whole works! What happened is that other classes adopted those abilities, mobs started to hit like trucks, and everything blurred. This is just how I feel about it.

Think about it. Here on this server a ranger can afford to get hit a few times. But on live if you get hit a few times then you're DEAD. That's how hard they hit. No time to breathe. Warriors got their discs, and that's about the main thing that makes them tanks. Pallies and Sk's got one but it pales in comparison last I checked. Healers chain heal (twin cast) in group content. The game feels and plays different than it does here. It's not as relaxed. UF is kind of tough too. That's on top of everything else that's not the same. I mean, last I played, I had probably 4-5 dozen hotkeys for my ranger. That's nuts. It's not as simple as playing here.

Not to say live sucks. I play periodically. Will probably play again. Just sayin.