I haven't hit level 20 yet, but I find soloing pretty easy and fun at level 16. I can take on yellows pretty confidently and can also fight oranges down to the wire. Message Edited by Audio on 11-23-2004 08:11 PM
probably if you have good armor. its very hard to solo as a ranger though cuz all of are strong attacks are raned or from stealth and behind
I'm currently a level 22 ranger, and my experience is that we rangers have a harder time solo'ing than most other classes. I'm having close fights with mobs that other classes of the same level have claimed are easy kills. I believe this is due to all of our special attacks being of the ranged nature, therefore useless for solo'ing, while other classes are better able to utilize all their strengths when solo'ing. Of course, I could just be gimped; maybe other rangers are solo'ing yellows with ease.
Soloing at 20+ is enjoyable and very doable. Aside from the rumors going around that rangers cannot solo... I can personally state that I can easily solo white and yellow mobs at 23 with little to no downtime. The trick is to be creative and use your skills wisely. You should be able to do some serious damage by using steady aim/backshot/wounding/openshot... one tactic many use is as follows. Open with Open Shot... the follow with Wounding... bleed, impale, corner, then stun with Cheap Shot jump over the mob, and finish with a backshot. If you do this correctly the mob should be at half health or somewhere near this... If all else fails throw a Impede on it and bow kite 2cp. Garrid Wildwind, 23 Ranger (Mistmoore)
Yeah uhh im gonna call bs on this... Little to no downtime? As we get higher teh mobs start hitting alot harder. We get a very nice upgrade to armor but even with around 850 ac im still getting hit for 80-150. Now I guess if your talking about like little beetles and stuff yeah I guess your right, but you cant even see the xp change on those mobs. Con system is very messed up, you will have soem higher conning bettles that are very easy to kill and you get less xp then say a lower con gnoll or undead that is harder and gives more xp. But basically no you cant solo much and your not supposed to...thats the advantage/disadvantage you have for being one of the highest dps classes. Just do your ho's and pray you get the dmg ho.
i just hit lvl 20.. really the only White's i see are the great bears and giant kodiaks and unless you get a good head start your getting walked on.. i moved up to a full set of chainmail too.. as for solo'ing a yellow, i'd like to personally see that to believe it ! Groups need us, because without scouts they take 4ever to kill anything !! but as far as solo fighting goes, the medium armor isn't much help at all & you have to get a good head start and hope for the best =} i had more fun solo fightin b4 i hit lvl 20.. as far as the bow goes.. running backwards isn't a great idea.. most good spawn is pretty thick and it's hard to find a good area to run around and not get other stuff chasing ya.. i use my bow mainly to get somethings attention and to lure it some place safe.. i'll give it a few more lvls.. maybe at 22 or 23 solo'in may get easier.. we'll see
In a word, no. 22 Ranger here. Soloing at 20+ is not easier, it's harder. You can take yellows in Thundering Steppes, but if you're not maximizing your damage - Shadowblade/Backshot/Ringing Blow HO(flipping as necessary) - you will die. For me, soloing is doable, but not enjoyable unless it's incidental to something else I'm doing; like a quest or gathering tradeskill materials. When they add the new solo quests they've mentioned (for levels 15-50), soloing will become a lot more viable. As far as "scouts suck at soloing", my Mystic and Guardian friends don't do much better than I do. It's probably bunk. We already do godly damage in groups; I'm grateful we can solo at all.
It gets harder for every class. Mobs seem to scale up in Thundering Steppes. The training wheels are off.
I'm not sure whether its harder for rangers, as i've never played another class. I do think that if we could somehow use all of our abilities in solo situations we could xp faster solo than in full groups. Some good advice has already been shared as far as techniques. I have soloed a good deal of my 22 levels, probably because I don't get to play during peak hours. I havent tried stunning a mob, jumping over, and launching a back shot, but i'll be very happy if i can get it down. Here is a typical fight for me. First, I use crypt sludge poison. It procs for 44. Whatever poison you like is fine, but having it equipped is a must. Also, I use dried meat and distilled water, but i'm going to look into getting some better food to use when soloing. As far as armor, I havent collected all chain peices, so some of my gear is light armor AC, but I value stat bonuses to AC. I'm sure completing a set of medium armor will be a big improvement to solo ability, but its not terrible as is. I usually open with a back shot, and squeeze in a wounding arrow. Then I'll set up a HO with cheap shot (but dont use it yet), and while the mob is stunned I quickly hit stalk and shadowflame while the mob is stunned. Then I use the HO that I had on standby, triggering it with bleed. (hopefully ringing blow, if not, try to flip) Next I trigger another HO with impale. I work in quick shot and pierce, and other ho's if the mob lasts long enough. If all goes well they die pretty fast. Sometimes lag causes problems, and I end up taking more of a beating then i'd like, and have to rest longer. While i can solo yellows, it is at a bigger risk, so I usually stick to whites and light blues. During recovery time between mobs, I search for a good next target. Sitting does nothing in eq2. Its in the help file, and if you dont believe me, or that, just watch your regen rate sitting or standing in the player menu.
I never said soloing yellows is impossible I can do it, its just very hairy and you are basically oom and ooh. I was just saying I dont think the guy saying soloing yellows with little to no downtime is telling the whole truth.
I'm level 20 now and I would say that I spend about 80% of time or more soloing. Of course I can't take on many groups of mobs, but I've found that making use of your combat arts like Hunt & Shadowblade, or like the guy above said, cheap shot/stalk/shadowblade & using your HO's to maximize your damage, with the addition of poison utilization and food & drink....all of those things are key to soloing. Power & health regen is very quick with affordable food & drink. Knowing how to maximize your abilities and use everything at your disposal is the key. Without them, soloing probably isn't feasible.
I think people are too quick to point out "i can kill a yellow/white with ease". Every class can solo whites, and most can solo yellows. But when someone asks about the ability to solo, it goes beyond a black/white kill list. It's how efficiently can you kill a white/yellow? Do you have to wait 5 minutes per kill? Do you have to suppliment the downtime with 20 sp or better food? Rangers' best quality is within groups.
