post here or can post on ranger forums = http://www.eqoutrider.net/eqforums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6490 please note this is not for T2 BP click/focus but for future
My vote would be something that gives the combined mitigation of PotSpirit Wolf and Outriders Evasion (combined) - say 45 seconds-ish. -Rat
Enough with the tanking drive. We have enough tools to be a tank in groups especially with the new spell. Better we can tank the fewer dps gains we will get. We will never tank as good as knights and we are falling further and further behind on dps the better we can tank. Hundred hands would be perfect for us as it improves both archery and melee.
As much as I wish for a hundred hands ability I wouldn't want it on the BP. I find Everquest BPs one enormous pain in the nether regions. First there is that !$#@ blasted emblem that means you can't upgrade visible armor without it being a package deal for everything. Then there is the focus effect which means you are extra screwed if you go with cultural. The armor only makes sense when the expansion is long farmed out and you have everything. Let the focus and click be some spreadsheet whatever. Say mana efficiency on Summer's and clicky proc some damage whoha. Hundred hands for AA or spell or disc, just not BP.
This is why you shouldn't be posting on these threads with suggestions. Emblems are 3 years out-dated.
So what? The class is supposed to be well-rounded, not competing with rogues, zerkers, and monks for DPS. Would you rather off-tank raid trash now and then or play rogue-wannabe all night long?
Do you have anything useful to contribute to this discussion of ranger BPs? Besides attacking me and my positions on other topics presented in other threads? What relevance does any of this have to a beastie who once played a ranger in the past but jumped ship because as you say the class sucked? Emblems still affect my upgrade choices having Veil of Alaris raid gear but today play only in the casual group game. That is not 3 years past. Even if it were my conclusion of not wanting important class abilities on the BP still stands. No more cheap personal attacks please.
Also I sincerely hope you aren't serious about using a chest that no longer effects your current era spells or that you need an emblem to match a set of raid gear with focuses that are now worse than group gear.
Have you ever measured these things and put hard numbers to them? Exactly how much you get from one focus vs. another? Exactly how much durability you get from HP or heroics? I did this far too much when I played seriously. The difference between a new group focus and an old raid focus is mixed. The value of AC and heroics is large by comparison. What really matters is which button you push when. Enjoy your treadmill. Don't you belong in the beastlord treadmill? Not the ranger one?
Rangers will never be regular off tanks as knights are much better for it. The standard is its easier to rez a ranger trying to tank then to heal it on raids. Sure i can tank something for the duration of weaponshield and have saved many raids over the years with it. In the group game we are adequate tanks. But our roll on raids is becoming more and more so sub par dps that roots or snares something once in a while. Only bonus we got recently is bosq melee disc so we dont have to have the coveted perfect melee groups we rarely got to do ok dps.
That is pretty defeatist. The reason rangers were never granted the off-tank role is because, historically, the class lacked the tools for it. I mean, for a long time (years), there was just nothing besides weaponshield. Yes, knights will always be a better tank in any situation. That doesn't mean rangers should just give up and say "Ok, let's just focus on never getting hit, and if we do get hit it's WS or rez.". Now, something amazing just happened for rangers. It was found that attack debuffs play a significant role in NPC damage output, so rangers asked if the druid attack debuff line could be handed down in hybrid fashion to improve tanking. The amazing part is that the devs listened, agreed, and actually implemented a new spell. Ro is a useful new spell for ranger mitigation, and a step in the right direction for the class. I look forward to seeing Ro upgraded in the future along with other defensive abilities upgraded/introduced as the devs and community recognize that there is room for another hybrid tank in EQs class structure. Groups lacking a plate tank should be able to say (without laughing hysterically), "Put your merc tank away, we've got a ranger otw.". Raids should say be able to say, "Knights, save your discs for MT rotation. Let ranger1 and ranger2 off-tank the trash adds.". Please answer me this: Sub-par to who? Whose dps is considered "par" here? Wizards, Rogues, Monks, Zerkers? If so, you should be sub-par in most cases. Rangers should be "ok" offensively. Sure, rangers may rarely reach #1 on raid dps charts but they are often in the top 5 and groups covet their dps. I think the devs have done some proper balancing there. But, even with the new Ro spell, the class still suffers defensively compared to where it should be. Rangers should be clearly and reliably more survivable than all non-tank classes. I don't think that's the case yet. Keep pushing for more defensive tuning and upgrades. The wind is in your favor here. Rangers should also ask for archery improvements, to bring its dps to the level of their melee. It's a shame that archery dps has slipped over the years because I have always thought of archery as a strategic position for dealing damage rather than a lazy way to do mediocre damage. Standing back and using a bow gets you out of the thick of combat and allows a better perspective to watch for adds and perform CC and spot heals if needed. It really needs some tuning to bring it back into the normal routine. I would start by removing the root penalty and fixing archery-immune mobs (these two are just unacceptable no-brainers). Then I would either improve archery's damage code, bump bow damage, add higher damage level-restricted arrows, or add more levels of archery mastery - any one of these could be used for the same effect.
I'd say go back to the UF model of bp click except this time the 1st minute is HH effect (5/7 for group 8/10 for raid) and the 2nd minute is a 5/7 charge 400 proc rate mana return. Group is 2k/2.5k with raid being 2.75k/3k without the overhaste hit or spell damage capped at 75% of CotF bp. Feel free to raise the numbers higher.
