Ranger or Mage for dps in group?

Hi, have a question about dps class on Agnarr (PoP locked).

Want to lvl a twink for dps in group and cant decide who is better in groups mage or ranger?
I hear ranger is good post luclin, but mage have pet + dd spells..

Thanks for any advice.

I played a Mage back in the day, and I didn't like it a lot. Those line of sight problems with the bolt spells were horrible and ate a lot DPS. Don't know, if its still the same today.

bolt spells still have to physically fly and hit to do damage, same with ranger arrows I think

There are two lines of magician spells: magic and fire. The fire spells are a mix of bolts and instant-damage. The fast-cast (in case of raids, this is used a lot since mobs can die pretty quickly) one can be annoying due to travel time. Also, if you cast a bolt as a mob dies, it still casts because it had a target upon beginning of the cast and tries to travel to the target. So you can end up wasting mana.

That being said, Rangers are garbage until Luclin.

Yup. Complete garbage. Should definitely not play one.

Since your question was in regards to groups... Mage will be superior pure DPS output. You're a one trick pony, but that's cool too. Read up on raiding as a mage, though, if you have interest in that side of the game... MOTM and Aggro Transfer can become a problem, and will never go away completely on Agnarr stopping at PoP.

LDON Raids you shall be free! lol... too bad you will still raid Time for gear for the augs you obtain in LDON.

Is this a trick question? The answer is monk. Melee positioning isn't that hard and you eventually get auto kick.

Our early time raids were rough on mages, but it seemed by ldon the warriors pretty much could keep aggro with proper encounter setup. In other words, going back to Time wasn't nearly as bad on mages(and beastlords) as on the early clears.

A good ranger can tank seb etc which makes them viable.. may not be the top dps but there is always room in the raids for a couple rangers. If you enjoy playing it, play it. same can be said for Mage.. play what you like. If I recall, by PoP... mages and rangers were both pretty well rounded.

Mage will be higher DPS if that is your route.

Ranger offers much more versatility and useful things like track, sow, etc.

I play a mage on agnarr and feel very good about my DPS in a group. I am near dead weight on raid target mobs, and if it's a problem that cannot be solved through murder, I am equally as useless it feels.

Personally, if it is a twins character, you should go with ranger.

I would suggest reading up on each class abilities, AA's, and gear selection and determine what YOU want to play, if you let someone persuade you, then well, you'll be disappointed one day..
If YOU chose freely you will more than likely not be disappointed.. if you're going to make a character and put the time in, make sure you know what you're about to start

Rangers offer more in utility, especially if you have other melee in the group. Mage does have CotH, though...but I'd still go ranger. SoW, healing, snare, tracking, great DPS. And they can tank fairly decently. They don't have a pet to micromanage, either.

CoH is largely useless in Luclin, FWIW. I was annoyed to find that out on Phinny. I can't remember how useful it is in PoP.

CoH is disabled in Grieg's End, The Deep and Acrylia Caverns (where it is even dangerous to cast it). But works in any other zone, except you cannot coh into Emperor Chamber in Ssra (which makes sense as the original devs wanted players to make their Ring of the Shissar quest).

CoH was a huge time saver for our Vex Thal raids...

Since you specify groups i will say i greatly favor mages. Coh is great and if you have it groups tend to last longer. Also their dps is great and consistent regardless of gear.

Rangers can tank which is good and that's the biggest trade-off.

I do hear that eventually rangers are great dps but you could always just start the character later.

Turns out those were the only places I tried it. Thanks for the info.

You are welcome ! Have fun with your mage, and don't forget CoH clears aggro which allows some funny unconventional pulling (coh-pulling to split mobs) or saving a cleric.

The aggro clearing part requires a minimum distance of 100' (that's casting range of CH) indoors or 200' outdoors (standard casting range) to work.

I'm currently using it in Seb instances to save the bard from Trak aggro while pulling protector and Jumpy. Sometimes Trak banishes, sometimes he doesn't so the CoH is a great tool.

easy, none of em... monk or rogue, you will love it when they get autoskill too later on

Just from parses in lguk and chardok between lvl 55 and 60.

Mage pet alone, no nukes will do 3 to 4 times the dps of a ranger

If you want dps... 100% mage. Why would you think else wise.


A pally can out dps a ranger , lol

Non of that matters now.

Bolts go through everything but walls. Players & npcs dont block

Pets are non agro.

Pets dont poof on zone or invis.

Lots of quality of life improvements for pet classes.