Rangers - misunderstood or actually bad?

[Ele]

Call of the Predator baby.

Rogues become your best buds.

[khanable]

I now /who ranger and /who paladin on raids

shits crazy

I actually get sad when no paladin or ranger :3

[Feanol]

200 Tracking

Having a character around who can instantly know the distance, relative level, and direction of mobs as far as the other side of the map is an invaluable tool for any raid/loot camp/mob cycle.

Sneak pulling a target from incredible distances with a bow is very satisfying and makes you popular among your Monk/SK pals doing the primary pulls.

And besides, this game is about friends. As mentioned, being a dependable competent player will get you further than simply being an ideal class.

[Gustoo]

Except how tracking is broken here?

But when tracking is working rangers are an essential part of a good gang.

[Rooj]

Everyone's too busy playing the popular classes to appreciate things like Rangers, Paladins, Wizards, and Necromancers, despite them being just as useful as any other class. One thing I've noticed about Ranger is that it's the class that a lot of bad players play - you'll see this in every MMO. For WoW it was Hunters. In FFXI it was Thief. In FFXIV it's Dragoon, etc etc... Ranger, Shaman, and Bard are the 3 most versatile classes in the game which means they are the hardest to play well. Jack of all trades classes typically have to do a lot more work to do to reach their full potential. I have tanked on my Ranger from the start, but how many other Rangers can say that? The idea of a Ranger tanking is pretty baffling to many people. While I was leveling, I met a lot of people who didn't want anyone else to tank for them and chose me over the "real" tank classes because they trusted me more. That is the difference being a good player makes (sorry not trying to sound arrogant here).

So yes, people will not invite you to groups because of your EXP penalty, because you "suck", because you "bring nothing to the group", because your "DPS is bad", or for whatever reason. It's something you will definitely deal with - less so in this expansion however. Call of the Predator is amazing, Velious zones are HUGE making Tracking more vital than ever, the hybrid EXP penalty will be removed, and there are more Ranger buffs and QOL changes coming. As always, play what you want to play. Find friends and a guild that aren't dumb and who are just here to enjoy Everquest with some cool pals, and you'll quickly find that your choice of class never mattered to begin with.

[JurisDictum]

TBH, a lot of people overstate this whole aspect of not being invited because of their class. I think a lot of people assume that is going on when it isn't. Once the exp penalty goes away in velious (it will prob take you awhile to get to the higher levels where it is most noticeable anyway), then any discrimination like this will virtually disappear.

Rangers are so underplayed right now compared to monks, I would sooner roll ranger. That being said, I think the big problem with ranger is that monks outshine them. They are tanky with a lot more dps and pull utility. Basically monks were overpowered during velious era (and kunark to a lesser degree) and it took AAs on other classes to bring them back in line. I don't think rangers would be looked down on as much if monks didn't exist.

The bottomline though is Rangers have utility to offer raid guilds and they will want a few. Since there aren't a lot and exp penalty is going away, now is a good time to start one.

[Fanguru]

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

I guess I'm more just concerned that after I hit level 60 I won't be able to experience a lot of the end game content - I'm sure that there will be plenty of groups while leveling, but I'm guessing the situation becomes more dire when you hit the higher levels and want to potentially start raiding.

Quite the opposite: rangers are not desired much while leveling up, but raid guilds love them, especially in Velious.

• Call of the predator
• The dps gets much better with gear
• Tracking is important
• WS can save the day or ease a pull
• Ducking out of LOS and self healing helps on AoE heavy fights

The problem is the journey to get there: rangers are a tremendous investment. You need a lot of time or help to get to 60, a raiding guild to get epic (swiftwind mostly) and sky cloak, and money or time to get all the expensive goodies.

Soloing depends mostly on your gear, and being outside. Velious makes it easier.

This is a great time to make a ranger. New spells are coming, as well as Venril Sathir 's remains. Soon you can fear/kite and get easier access to epic.

Rangers are great to play, they just get outshined by other classes in grouping min/max situations.

[mystang89]

playing a ranger it's great fun. I've been invited to a group which consisted of only a monk and was told that I needed to tank, heal, pull and cc which is what I did then entire time and even after the group had been completely put together. Well except for heal, the shm did that thankfully.

people who say Rangers offer nothing or that they are completely useless or that they would rather have some other class have you been never played a ranger before or don't know how to play a ranger.

Just don't put me in an indoor zone.

[Swish]

I'd take a ranger that knows how to pull over one of the legion of monks who try to worm out of pulling anyday.

[Sirban]

Flame Lick is the ranger snap aggro spell