Rangers? Rangers! Rangers.

[Molitoth]

Rangers are great in raid situations with Trueshot and Weaponshield... the problem is getting to that point.

I'd be glad to play this game again if I didn't have to waste my time leveling to 60.

[Earthguard]

I don't post a lot and hope this doesn't make me sound like a know-it-all, but here's a few ways I get by as a ranger.

Having friends, a solid guild, and developing a good reputation for yourself are ways to get groups quicker. That being said, people still do discriminate against Rangers, and yes, it's difficult to find a group at times.

I honestly believe that anyone can bring an unspoken element to a group if they play their class well enough. Rangers have no trouble holding aggro, and that comes in handy when the tank dies in group and no one else alive has taunt. Sure you can park mobs as monks and rogues beat them down, yet that method gets sloppy when you have more than 2 mobs.

Staying active is important. Make yourself worth the penalty you bring, in any way that you can. No one wants to bring on a ranger just to have them afk'ing every 5 minutes, not snaring mobs, and keeping a full mana bar. Hell, healing Canni'ing shamans or Liching necros is a good way to make yourself a little more useful. I cannot count the number of times I've patch healed a tank prior to CH landing to save their life, and possibly the group's lives, and that's with the regular "Healing" spell.

And of course, this goes for everyone not just rangers, don't be an annoying, bitchy douche. Even enchanters/clerics/tanks don't get groups due to their personality in group, but try and make sure that when people group with you it's an enjoyable experience (or not brought down by you). I can guarantee if you're a lootwhore, or a complaining mr. knowitall, it'll be almost impossible as a ranger to find a group.

Sure groups can get by without rangers, yet when you do find yourself in a group, playing your class well and doing the "little things" will go a long way.

Also we out damage warriors damnit!

[Bubbles]

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

However, if you get to raid, not a whole lot of competition on drops. Probably the only advantage right now. If you absolutely want to try a ranger from scratch, I would wait until Velious when they remove the class penalties and give rangers Panic Animal.

This is huger than people realize. And we're not only talking raid drops.

Incredibly powerful ranger weapons (Woodsman Staff, Silver Swiftblade, BTCs, Green Jade Broadswords, etc...) are sold at bargain basement prices (or flat out given away) simply from the immense lack of demand. Ranger items with procs are even cheaper, less demand..

Ranger armor? Well, unlike the monk class, Ranger Tolans is also way beyond dirt cheap and pretty dang useful (snare on glorves, Dot on arms, Camo on helm/boots, etc.. You can be a step beyond planar by your teens for the most part.. You simply cannot believe how cheap the stuff is.

Even in comparison to Mykolars the ranger drops are much more common and the supply blows demand out of the water.

So you are looking into a class that can buy planar caliber armor (minus bp/legs) for almost nothing, get a weapon armada to put in your bags/wield for next to nothing.

You can Snare, Sow (no need for jboots really, just buy potions till 39 if you hard up).. Root park, DD, Dot, Pull, Tank in XP groups... and TRACK (which is wtfawesome).

Yeah some min-maxers might whine about not needing you in a group, but if you play your toon well there will *always* be spots for you.

Your only downside is you really don't have an immediate void to fill in dungeons.. Outside of CoM/Karnors you're not going to have your harmonies + sow, and you'll basically be a dps with an xp penalty..

But you're vesatile in many ways too.. Can fear kite with a cleric, can pull in BW/Skyfire/OT/Dreads/etc to more than make up for it. You're a very effective combo with a necro who can both heal you and won't mind having you along cuz you're saving them snare mana and pulling for them.

And if you ever do raid, yeah, you're gonna be near the front of any loot line simply by default. And big guilds love trackers.

It's a long climb to 60 on one, but it's not like Veilous is due out in 20 minutes. It's a fun class.

p.s. - along with bards it's the best 'melee' type class for farming nameds in outdoor zones, allowing you some serious fredom to better yourself on the random times you can't immediately find a group.

[strupp]

well i rolled ranger for the simple reason because to me its still the most fun class to play, was on live for 4 years and is here too

But it can be hard especially if you start here alone without any old guildmembers or friends, i had the luck of having some friends when i began +finding some old buddies, still it can be a pain.
The Solo XP is damn near useless and a lot of Groups dont want you because, well, some dont know what a good ranger can do, some want to get the best XP possible etc.

To me the Jack of all Trades part isnt that bad, because even if all the important spots are filled its great to have a backup in case someone screws up or ist just plain bad, a good Ranger can help out in a big way.

Even with Friends and a good reputation and all it still can be hard sometimes, guess thats part of the (Classic-)Ranger Lifestyle, stuff that comes easy aint worth dyin....i mean fighting for!

[wehrmacht]

The TLDR version of thread is that hybrids are useless unless you play on a PvP server or trueshot + a good bow is available.

[gnomishfirework]

Rangers are great in groups. Great DPS, great utility.

Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.

I think the hybrid penalty might be the problem. Head over to everfrost and do mammoths. Good exp/loot after 22 and panic animal.

[Aadill]

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

I think the hybrid penalty might be the problem. Head over to everfrost and do mammoths. Good exp/loot after 22 and panic animal.

Not till Velious.

[Fryhole]

Trueshot is Kunark, right? What about weaponshield? Does anyone know if the hybrid skill-cap increase is already live, or is that in an upcoming Velious patch?

[Sephrana]

I've always loved grouping with Rangers. We had a lot of rangers on my live server. i am always happy to group a ranger...

Sadly I normally only get on in the evenings to chat anymore due to other commitments
that make it hard for me to XP.

I am a level 36 bard. I will gladly group with any ranger [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Ranger + Bard is an effective duo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Send me a /tell in game sometime and we can XP it up [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[YendorLootmonkey]

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

Trueshot is Kunark, right? What about weaponshield? Does anyone know if the hybrid skill-cap increase is already live, or is that in an upcoming Velious patch?

Hybrid discs are Velious.