I was decently geared at the launch of Kunark and had a regular group with no recognised tank (Rogue, Mage, Druid) so most of the time we had to make do as best we could. While tanking run of the mill random trash in Dreadlands (spiders et al) my headphones consisted of constantly hearing the crunch sound effect as the mob landed a max or near max hit. About the same time I started my second account and rolled a Shaman as the Ranger had been reduced to bow kiting (or fear kiting...) mobs until 50% and then finishing them off with melee. It wasn't until the defensive changes went in that I stopped letting the Shaman tank if aggro snapped to them post slow.
[1] A cut and paste of Protective Spirit which Beastlords get at level 55 (and which is itself a photocopy of an older Monk discipline I believe) doesn't seem out of order at this point in the game with level 105 fast approaching. Short duration, fast re-use but extremely potent while running. Another option is a tweaked version of Armor of Experience (year 9 Veteran reward). Nature's Reprieve is a nice idea on paper but I've never seen it fire on current content only when I've been swarmed by lower level mobs. [5] I feel all the chain classes are due a review of passive defensive skills. I doubt the devs agree or perhaps they lack the time and/or resources. Surely it's not just me that remembers chain classes tanking better than Enchanters? [6] We can already slow on demand (providing Imbued Ferocity is up) so I could totally go for something like this. An on demand version of Earthcaller has been asked for as long as I can remember so who knows. [7] Sheltering Thunder is all kinds of awesome. At this point I would do the happy Ranger dance if we got any AAs to improve it in duration and/or improved the chance for it to fire.
Rangers were broken in kunark. Take more damage than a rogue (skill caps and such), 40% xp penalty, etc... but at least we got those sweet plate mail armor graphicss. i also seem to recall shaman being a little over powered at the time.
Cooperative discussions yield great things. Best ideas of the thread so far... ToT heal (or nuke+ToT heal) RNG Shield + sheltering thunder enhancement Retuning of existing activatables (really don't need a new skill with yet another hotkey) With that ToT heal line ought to come an additional spell gem, though.
As far as PotSW goes - I'd just be happy if it was returned to 1/4 the damage cap of knights disc which it was based off of(or just happened to be a coincidence for a couple expansions) until knights fought for the huge upgrade to their disc in UF.
You and I have different experiences from that time. I've played my ranger since original and I was tank for most of my groups through PoP and I had no problems out-tanking anyone else; and I didn't use a shield back then either, but I was very well geared (by those era standards). I am well aware of the early days ranger jokes, but honestly of all my chars, my ranger died the least. Of course that's from so long ago, I have no parses to give you to back up that claim. That was just my experience with my groups and the era.
I agree. The problem may have started in Kunark, but I was still tanking for my group on PoP as well. And yes - I was also well geared by the standards of the day. -Rat
I played then as well, been playing from the start back in 99. We were stagnated in Kunurk, most Rangers that still play from that era recall this it went from groups all the time to almost begging for groups because our agro was still so great we could step into melee and pull agro, and that is when they shifted us to using bows (we sucked just like other classes before that time with them) with double damage on non rooted stationary mobs.
I'm well aware that's when the jokes started, but chalked it up to an influx of crappy rangers at that time, since everyone was well aware that rangers tanked better, they were making more rangers. I tanked all the way through PoP quite fine and only semi-retired ranger during PoP when the 1st thing everyone asked of a ranger was. "You have archery AA's & EQ"? I had the toughest time explaining to people back then that we were rangers, not archers; and yes I'm well aware our dps with a bow on stationary non rooted mobs at the time exceeded our melee dps capabilities.
I think you're both right. The stagnation was indeed Kunark, and it was noticable then. But, it was in and after PoP that it became truly glaring and made tanking virtually impossible. Stagnation is additive........ things just keep getting worse. -R
