There are some pretty good strategies for soloing in this post, but have any of you considered initially pulling with Culling the Herd? It slows the target for 52%(around there) and I can do Surveil and Hidden shot before it even gets to me. Also KITING IS NOT DEAD. You can still kite in this game. Debilitating Arrow and Storm of Arrows can still be cast on the run and do not require you to be behind the mobs. You can also just run away, stop, fire bow shot, and repeat. I have had much experience with this method as a Wizard on EQ1. I try not to kite though. I prefer to pull with Culling, then surveil and hidden shot. Then once it gets to me Ill cheapshot, run behind it and use Debilitating Arrow if Culling isn't back up yet (maybe even Triple Fire depending on how far from the mob I am). I haven't really had the chance to try the Cheapshop, Longshanks and Crippling Blade method yet but sounds doable. Although I tend to prefer to be far away from the mob when cheapshot wears off, can't take the hits like we use to.
Level 25 ranger here, thought I would try Harclave even though it has given me trouble in the past. As before, my health usually went into the yellow but I was never in real danger of dying. Then came time for Rosch himself and even though I selected the easy version, he was orange and ^^. Having confidence, and lots of arrows since they f*****d with all our RANGED abilities, I sent a wounding arrow at him followed by an open shot (WEAK), a few seconds later I was recovering my shard at the entrance. I'm wearing average equipment, level 20+ armor quest items and such. All the abilities I used were apprentice 4 or adept 1. Cheap shot is at apprentice 4 and I noticed that against opponents yellow and one or two arrows up it would simply get resisted...YOU MUST BE BEHIND YOUR TARGET TO USE THIS ABILITY! How about giving us a way TO get behind our target? I tried using all the root/snares I had including the one bought in Splitpaw, all were just about useless as they don't slow down your opponent enough to get off the non-moving 30 second casting time low damage RANGED abilities. Ok, rant over.
I just dont take on groups at all solo. Single opponents are dead easy. My lvl 38 was easily killing Level 45 and 46 crocs and caimans in Shifting Sands yesterday without too much trouble. The *only* thing I needed was space. In a confined environment our ability is vastly reduced. You have to be able to keep moving all the time so u get hit as little as possible between cheap shots. Our mit and avoidance is so low we aren't much better than wizards now in melee. Indeed I fight using my Ranger exactly like I use my Warlock. Subsitute Frozen Manacles for Cheap Shot and my bow CA's for spells and I play both characters almost identically. To me, my Ranger is just a slightly beefier spellthrower.
I was able to solo oranges before, but it took me down into the orange. I mostly mentioned the yellow because many are saying solo even and up wipe the floor with them (not necessarily rangers) and that hasn't been my experience. I'm actually finding it easier to solo now because my initial attacks, like Back Shot, are helping me a lot to get the upper hand early on. I've only died when I got jumped by 2 extra blues while fighting a blue and even then the last mob was at a sliver of healthy when I bit it.
When I found a copper cluster in my inventory from I don't know where, I knew exactly where to put it - Cheap Shot, Adept III. My biggest problem with the stun is that my over-active poison :smileyhappy: breaks it about half the time. Another issue is the reduced duration of the stun with the latest patch (Sept 14).
Thanks Jay Very nicely stated. I think all things considered I am enjoying this change. Most make sense, though only begrudgingly :smileywink: My only complaint yesterday (first time with the revamp) was none of my Enemy Mastery abilities were working at all :smileymad: I still levelled fast thanks to the xp bonus, and was happy with the new abilities...Being able to forage better arrows, master 2 makeshift arrows. One thing I was trying to figure out is which ranged abilities can be done moving, if any? I guess I will check threads to see if there are any good posts on new combat strategies... Peace Health and Happiness
I was getting a message when trying to use the Enemy Mastery abilities that they only work from the rear.
Grycks you don't have to be behind your target to use Cheap shot. And its NPCs Cheapshot that is getting its duration reduced, not ours (according to patch notes).
This can't be said enough. The WORLD has changed. You can't consider your mit and avoidance as being low. It is a whole new world and your old stats are not comparable to your new stats. p.s. ignore the signature. They are having issues. I'm a 44 ranger on BB named Narsan!
Please re-read this carefully...... - Scout NPCs using Cheap Shot will no longer stun for as long as they used to.
Georn, I didn't learn about the benefits of Cheap Shot till somewhat late in life (mid-20's). When I first started using it as App I, I remember it didn't seem to stick very well and I upgraded it to Adept III fairly quickly. After that it worked well enough to be my mainstay on harder fights. Now at 31 post revamp, I find I am not having near the problems others have reported. This is far from scientific proof but is the best I can do. It would be very intersting to get other inputs on this; particularly from those who upgraded to Adept III since revamp. P.S. Like a few other posters, I missed the 'NPC' part. When I saw 'Cheap Shot' in the patch message, I assumed the worst and got confirmation by selective reading. :smileysurprised:
Rangers are now even more of a crowd control than pre combat changes. From my experiances on beta and the past few days on live, our bow abilities make us extremely powerful in groups. The aggro system is far different now than before. It is currently more like the aggro system of EQ that many are familiar with. With this is mind, you have probably noticed that your group healers will occationally have trouble with pulling aggro from mobs (by shear number of heals, brain-dead tank, etc.). This is especially true when multiple heroic mobs are pulled because the healers are throwing more heals, therefore, more aggro drawn to them. Our bow skills draw A LOT of aggro while doing a massive amount of damage. Heroic mobs are dropped at a furious pace when an emergency situation arises and there is no reason to try and control my pulling aggro. If a healer is in need you can drop deb arrow, culling herd, triple fire (99% of the time you will have aggro before using all three of these), then turn on dance of leafs for the inevitable "can" opened on you. Next pull the mob to the tank (everyone knows that most are lazy) and use evasion/surveil while he re-taunts the mob. Yet to have a problem with this tactic. Just make sure to turn back on your offensive stance. This is all assuming that your bow CA's didnt finish off the mob, which is often the case. I also feel that currently some of our bow skills have higher aggro values then they should have. Storm of Arrows always pulls aggro for me, even if I wait until the middle of a fight to engage. While it is a high damage CA, the sheer number of the procs/poisons in the mix make it a given aggro puller. Should it be able to pull aggro from a tank even if I have not engaged the encounter until it is at 50%? I don't think so. While there does have to be negatives to having high damage skills, you should not have to constantly wait for your deaggros to become usable. Perhaps make bow arts such as triple fire and storm of arrows, which have high chances to proc different things + multiple chances to do it, worth much less aggro. They will still generate a lot of hate on the player anyway, because of any number of damage procs or debuffs associated with them, but there hopefully will be a less chance of a sure aggro. It would also give the player a shot at actually using a deaggro. Linyen Ranger Fires of Heaven Message Edited by gossin6 on 09-15-2005 02:23 PM
Wow! Hi everyone!! LOL, I just saw this had 33 replies already and about fell out of my chair. Ditto Zholain (Does that get old? Maybe I should just have her do my posting for me...) in that we level 50s obviously DO care about the youngins. I didn't get all the way here by myself, I was dependent on the help and goodwill of many a higher-level ranger on these boards and on my server. So I give back, b/c I'm about as dedicated to this class as you can get. Would I essentially pass out my phone number in public and encourage you to send me a tell in-game if I didn't care? I've been talking to some of my young ranger padawans in-game each day, and I'm pleased that they've all been adjusting and every one has said that they're doing better and learning how to be effective with the changes. I did one training session yesterday and after an hour of practice and coaching, they both demonstrated a much better understand of the tools at their disposal. For you 50s and such out there, I really hope you'll take some time to provide some guidance and especially encouragement to some of the younger rangers on your server. That's mostly what was intended with this post - damage control, to offset the feelings of surprise and frustration that many are facing now. Most of us who are regulars here had the immense benefit of learning about the changes before they hit, thanks to the kindness and dedication of rangers like Khalan and Rhanin - so we knew what was coming and this lessened the psychological impact tremendously. People who are more casual players or just don't read the forums probably knew that there was some big patch coming, and that was it. I was fielding questions about the change to our stealth skill even yesterday - poor guy didn't know that Hunt scaled, and started freaking out thinking that rangers couldn't sneak anymore. Anyway, I'll comment on some things I'm noticing with Cheap Shot over in that thread; I think it's to all our benefit to share techniques and strategies, starting there. We're probably due for a different thread on overall adaptation of our tactical game, too. Hang in there, everyone - our class really is better off now, though it might take a short while to appreciate the big picture. You know how to reach me if you need anything, good hunting to all.
Maybe it's your tank or group? I use SOA master 1, yew bow and prismatic and don't pull aggro if i wait sufficient time to use it - like 75% health or less. I usually run with a 50 zerk who has mostly adept 3 taunts.
First: I just want to make it clear that my post did not in anyway imply that higher level Rangers didn't care or where some how indifferent to the difficulties that many of us low levels are experiencing. More tests last night. I am still level 22 (died a couple of times last night). I have AP VI upgrades to my skills, and Master II on Shadowblade. I noticed in my previous post that I mistyped that I was 23. I am 22. Against level 19 blue con Skeletons - no problem, easily wipe the dirt with them even in groups of two - not even out of green health. Level 20 blue con Skeletons - some challenge in groups of two. I can still take two at time but frequently end up in the red. Had one really close call. Wy would 1 level make that much of a difference? Level 22 White con bear - can't beat 1 of these now. Died a couple of times running away when it became clear that I was going to loose. These were my main stay leveling before the patch. I could take these even when they were yellow con before the patch. All of my armor was white or blue con before the patch, but I am now trying to find upgrades in case armor is the issue. Weapons were orange con before the patch. My monk, with lousy armor and only AP II upgrades, can easily take out level yellow cons.
I know Cheap Shot doesn't require a rear or flanked position. The trouble I was having was that even though I stopped auto-combat, used Cheap Shot, jumped behind...what I was fighting turned as fast as I moved if not faster. After my post and the servers came back, I immediately headed to the broker to see about getting the rare harvest to upgrade Cheap Shot...being a tier one rare you would think inexpensive right? 16 gold, not. So, being broke, I went straight for Oakmyst Forest to start harvesting, with my newly acquired copper cluster I'll be upgrading Cheap Shot and will report back my findings. Does anyone else around level 25 have trouble in Harclave?
I dont even turn off autocombat. I hit with cheap shot - have auto facing enabled - jump behind or run behind and hit with pouncing attack (37 level Ranger) then hit it with Shadow Lunger Master II and most of the time have enough time to hit with one of the Mob Specific Sinister Strikes. This is like up to 1800 damage in a few seconds... This works great in Harclaves... I do harclaves on the hardest level - have to pay attention more - but is very doable. Harclaves is easy on the medium difficulty and a joke on the easy difficulty. Pouncing attack turns off auto-attack for you so you can get in your stealth rear attacks in as well - which is nice - this even works sometimes when attack a group. I am completely happy with the Ranger. Im glad traditional kiting is gone - Made us rangers look like a bunch of freaks running around shooting arrows in all directions - made me dizzy - although i probably wasnt doing it right....
Hang in there, guys. We're gonna do what we can to get this addressed; I know a lot of you are having some serious problems, but don't give up hope. As I've said before, if you're committed to the class and a ranger at heart, stick with it awhile and let's try and get things fixed up so life before 40 is less challenging. I'll start another post to collect information specific to your situation, and hopefully we can get some Dev't attention on this. Thanks.
