Next expansion Ranger ideas

Discussion in 'Hybrid' started by Jhenna_BB, Jul 2, 2019.

  1. Jhenna_BB Proudly Prestigious Pointed Purveyor of Pincusions

    The Ranger class is in pretty good shape overall but it never hurts to ask.

    BP Click:

    Our BP click is a bit on the lackluster side in comparison to other classes. All told, it's decent for burns - somewhere in the vicinity of 10-12kdps on burns if we use all 20 charges. We've been screaming for mana ever since we received Scarlet Cheetah Fang. Can we ADD (as in keep Nature's Fury with this new added effect) some mana regen and a lesser amount of endurance regen, please? Something like the Call of the Forsaken effect without the melee slow and spell damage reduction.

    Archery Range:

    15 range to be able to attack with a bow would make Rangering a lot more easy to find the "sweet spot" for being close enough to not be spammed by you are too close to your target to shoot your bow and be able to use Jolting Kicks (which is what our Synergy is attached to) and Focused Blades.

    Ash and Wind spells:

    I keep mentioning this one as a way to make dead spell lines be used again. Aristo is completely wasting his time, however much he is putting into making new versions each level up on (Boon) Ash and (Boon) Wind spells. Ranger stopped using these by and large by House of Thule expansion. Using the idea behind how our Dichotomic and Dissident spells work (casting Summer's Cyclone or Summer's Tempest out of your book) these spells could receive primary use, again. Make it so the Fire line of Summer's Tempest casts Ashcloud Boon, then Ashcloud, then Skyfire Ash. Also make it so the Ice line of Summer's Tempest casts Windshear Boon, then Windshear , then Windgale. Make it all follow the current spell timers and 30 second spell recast timers. Presto! 6 useless, never used spells just gained primary use again!

    Mana Disc:

    20 minute reuse disc that makes it so a percentage of your mana cost comes out of your endurance pool. Make it last like 2 mins and whatever percentage would seem pertinent. 10 or 20% mana cost out of the endurance pool would be extremely helpful. I am often unable to use all Scarlet Cheetah Fang charges before running out of mana, even with an Arcane Glyph running. Stating the obvious just in case, needs to place a buff and not be running so we can use our Bow or Melee discipline and be able to stack with Scarlet Cheetah Fang. We are literally the most mana starved class in all of EQ.

    A personal preference thing to add: a lot of people want to see Focused Arrow and Called Shots lines take endurance to cast. I really do like the option for these mana efficient spells to go on being capable of triggering Gift of Mana. Alliance, Dissident and Blisterbeetle Swarm take a ton of mana to cast. Having them cost 1 mana ever now and then is a lot to give up.

    Revamped Heal Spells:

    The stakes are too high in today's EQ. Cloudfont takes an eternity to cast and is too often cast on a corpse. Can we ditch this spell and combo it with Desperate Dousing for the love of Tunare? Make the new heal have a normal 1.5 second recast time, make it have .5 cast time like Desperate Dousing, cost the same mana as Desperate Dousing and have an amout of healing in the middle of Cloudflont and Desperate Dousing - something around 9k healing.

    Thank you for reading and please feel free to add ideas and critique. :)
    Derka and Renotaki like this.
  2. Squrriel Journeyman

    100% agree with 15 bow range, with ranger dps being so reliant on the bow it is unnecessarily difficult (and sometimes impossible) to stay at the 30ish range approximately to proc synergy and be in range for splash heals during events with AE's and dots.

    Also agree with some kind of mana preservation ability- however that comes about. HUNGRY anything helps :hat-in-hand.

    Outside of these issues, I agree overall rangers are fairly well balanced. However, if we are talking about wish lists:

    Please make our harmony line: Lingering smoke work on mobs a few levels higher than max level 110:113. Capping these spells at 110 makes them basically useless. The harmony line has always been part of a rangers tool kit, id love to have it back!

    I hesitate to put this in here, because I suspect it will draw the ire of some. But this is a wish list- is it possible to boost ranger defensive's/mitigation a smidgen? We are a warrior hybrid- ideally we'd be able to spot/emergency tank a little better than we do- this would help us feel a little more at home on the range.

    -Squrriel BB
    Jhenna_BB and Derka like this.
  3. Derka Power Ranger

    All good suggestions here. To go into what Squirrel brought up about defensives, Nature's Reprieve is long overdue for an upgrade. We could use another short term mitigation disc as well because once you blow through the current abilities, we become very squishy and reliant on roaring blades RNG.

    Poison Arrows should be looked at again because I would rather use the mana on summers during burns. It becomes very inefficient mana wise if the dot doesnt run full duration. Maybe split the effect mana cost wise and put a blocker on the dot overwriting. Example: Full mana cost on first proc, dot takes effect and then any proc that happens again within 18 seconds only cost half mana to do nuke portion and doesnt reapply dot until that first one runs its course and next proc hits.

    Reflexive upgrade, make enrichment MGBable like beastlord fero was recently.

    That's all on the top of my head but I'm sure more will come. HUGE emphasis and mana recovery tool like Jhenna suggested.
    Jhenna_BB likes this.
  4. Jhenna_BB Proudly Prestigious Pointed Purveyor of Pincusions

    Recent changes to Arrow proc AA's were a step in the right direction but are definitely not something we can always have running. The mana cost should go away entirely and they should just act like any other imbue proc would.

    I never, ever use any version on raids and because using them are not top of mind, I don't use them group as well. They're still a mostly useless AA line.
  5. Moldar Augur

    I would love to have a Covert Endurance to Mana type ability with a 20-min resuse timer

    I also enjoy the idea of combination spells being added to the Ashcloud Boon and Windsear Boon spells. It certainty makes the spell line usuable and practical again.

    Frankly I do not mind the mana cost of the Archery Proc spells, what iiritates me is the code deems to use a charge of Scarlet's Cheetah Fang everytime the buff procs w/ an attack and it reduces the amount of Twincasts we can get on more meaningful spells. I would like to see that part of the code re-worked to actually allow them to be a permanant buff more so than an annoyance to keep track of, the mana cost on proc was a step in the right direction; however, in its current state it is frankly something I hardly run because 99.9% of the time I forget to re-apply it during an event.
  6. Greymantle Augur

    I would like a balm that has a corruption cure element.
  7. Moldar Augur

    Additionally it would be nice if Volatile, Glacial, and Elemental Arrow AA would have the Debuff last upwards of 1 minute.

    I also like the idea of a small corruption cure on Balm
  8. smash Augur

    Rangers should NOT have any endurance to mana conversation, in effect it would be like giving them canabalize.
    NOR should any spells cost endurance instead of mana.

    Spells cost mana, discs/displines cost endurance.
  9. Jhenna_BB Proudly Prestigious Pointed Purveyor of Pincusions

    Times change, man. Pure melee weren't supposed to have mana, either - then they received a yellow mana bar.

    Not many that play a Ranger and deal with our mana issues will agree with your opinion. That is all it is btw, an opinion.
  10. Ezbro Elder


    Sometimes people fear change, try to to hinder progress and creativity, and on this forum (and likely other forums as well) will not let anyone just spitball ideas around for fun, or free discussion, unchecked. These people's opinions are unchangeable "facts" in their own eyes. They love to ruin other people's fun too. If there ever was a score for their genes on the likelihood that they'd be dictators if given real power, these max that scale. Lucky for us, in here these self-righteous forum keyboard warriors usually stay ignored and should in no way ruin the fun for the rest of us. I can't say if I am referring to a special person in this case, due to GDPR-regulations, but the revealing post in question may or may not be in very close proximity to my post.

    Back on topic, gentlemen! :)
  11. Fintank Augur


    For YEARS Rangers have been asking for a mana return ability/spell, over time we have just deviated off a basic ability and tried to add "penalties" to maybe make more of a case. Considering EVERY mana using class has a mana return ability EXCEPT Rangers. We've been at the point for the last few expansions of needing one so BADLY that we're trying to add drains and overall performance degradation just to get the damn thing. Something that NOBODY ELSE has tied to theirs (Unless you want to use cast time as a "penalty"). Berserkers have what is "in effect" cannibalize, but that's cool by you I assume? Considering a Resource drain is worse than an HP drain in theory ours would not be "in effect" cannibalize, only in theory.

    The "spells" we are referring to are skill attacks that should've never been made into spells to take mana. Again, NOBODY ELSE has skill attacks that cost mana. Melee Attacks that are affected by Melee modifiers SHOULD NOT cost mana, it makes 0 logical sense. These should have been made into combat abilities. The only reason they weren't is because someone randomly decided to make it a spell. I mean FFS we can't even get sympathetic procs off of these "spells" so you tell me why they shouldn't be converted over to Endurance using abilities?

    With all due respect you should stay out of discussions that don't involve your class.
    Tarvas, Slyfox_xev and Jhenna_BB like this.
  12. Greymantle Augur

    On the mana conservation/ recuperation issue, how about this. Instead of a new ability how about a set of augments. Weapon augs, base damage plus a Sympathetic Alleviating Burst X type effect. Make 3 versions that fit pri/sec/rng . All secondary effect to stack. These could be chase/quested/random rare.

    If they were there i can almost guarente every level 110+ ranger will be camping them!
  13. Moldar Augur

    IT would have to be a lot stronger than 250 mana, our cheapest "nuke" cost way much more than that.

    But that is a good idea as long as it is scaled up to be more reasonable.
  14. Greymantle Augur

    Heh i used that one as it the only one currently usable by rangers, there are exsisting higher versions. And if you look at how often we shoot/ hit in melles. Just make the trigger be hitting or shooting instead of casting. That would add up quickly.

    Current top one is https://spells.eqresource.com/spells.php?id=45933 , but nothing we can use has it.
  15. Remien Master

    I wouldn't mind seeing us get a version of druids spirit of the black wolf line.
  16. Schadenfreude Augur

    At this point I'd take almost any Druid cast offs we don't already have including but not limited to our Skin buff having mana regen instead of HPs (but, again that's been suggested for at least a decade to no avail), a clone of Lunasalve on a long recast, the mana bear and a version of Reptile.

    Obviously tuned so that same expansion Druid versions are far superior.

    I have a fair idea of what we'll actually get based on what has happened in the past but you can live in faint hope.
  17. chronicler Augur

    Is it just me that rangers seems to want everything all others classes have?

    Druid skin, druid bear, druid heals, shaman cannibalize, zerker transform hps to end, and i can continue.

    Instead they should look at what they do have.
    Powers other classes are envious of not having.

    Rangers are a good well balanced class, they might have a higher than normal mana use than some of the others, but ALL classes lack mana or endurance, but that is all to prevent classes from all out burns, and make them think on how they spend their mana/endurance.
  18. Moldar Augur

    SO what is your solution to a full raid geared Ranger using Scarlet Cheetah Fang and running completely out of mana in less than 2 minutes time without over-achieving support classes?

    I could just not cast Scarlet Cheetah's Fang, but that would be like asking a Berserker to not cast Savage Spirit because he runs out of Endurance too quickly...

    Frankly we are in need of something just so we can get through Scarlet Cheetah's Fang, in a group I do not always have the ability to have a Cleric, Bard, and Beastlord support my mana bar just so I can do reasonable DPS.

    Only other thing Rangers provide that is truly unique is Auspice of the Hunter, and that can Tranquil Blessed/Massed Group Buffed outside of the group and/or raid. Scarlet Cheetah Fang is practically the only thing that Rangers bring that is unique to a specific group and frankly it is an alright ability (that you know will take you to 0% in less than 2 minutes time) at best when you have a full mana bar; let alone when you use it with say 75%, 50%, or 25% mana. It is expected of the Ranger when in a DPS group to cast it period when the burn needs to happen and frankly not casting it causes more grief and drama than simply putting a Ranger in a tank group.

    You're correct we do not need all of the above; however, we do need something becuase once we are out of mana we are done, it is not like we have sort of "gather mana" or "conversion" ability that quite literally every other DPS class (with the exception of Rogues) has.
  19. plobb Elder

    Even without scarlet cheetah fang....I am oom in a few mobs on a ranger if I am spamming correctly. With scarlet cheetah fang, it's very very quick. I have almost every other class at 110 and nobody else has the Mana/resource issues ranger has, it would be great if at least something consumed endurance rather than Mana, and or some sort of resource conversation ability. Both would be best, it doesn't make much sense that shots cost Mana, ideally some would cost endurance and we would get some Mana Regen or conversation ability... It would also be great if the proc arrows did not cost mana, or were a tiny fraction of what they are, i never use those cost is just too high and I already run out of Mana fast as it is.

    With a beast it's a juggling game, with some attention having to be paid to canni or paragon, you can still spam your dps abilities without going oom immediately, but it's a completely different story on a ranger. Due to the Mana issues, I don't even touch my ranger much anymore and went back to my beast, it's just no fun having to rest every few mobs in a group, or putting out poor dps bc I'm just autofiring.
  20. Greymantle Augur

    Rangers are in a lot of cases solitary types. We prefere not to have to rely on others for thing. As well we are are the swiss army knives of Norath , able to do a lot of different roles.

    We have watered down abilitys common to a lot of classes. I for the most part am happy with that. That being said , i cannot think of a skill we do not have that i pine after. Just tweeks to existing ones would be nice. Or changes in the basic abilitys, like bow range.

    Mana conservation/ replensihment is one of our weeknesses that most would like mitagated or changed.
    If we do get somthing new or common to another class , it should be hard to achive, not handed on a platter.