I've always loved the idea of being a ranger,even in the original EQ,god knows the ranger class went through many trials there.I survived the ranger sucks era of EQ and made it to a decent level a casual player could (55).I quit so i could play EQ2.I am finding the same thing happening over again(the ranger sucks era happening all over) I've seen alot of complaining on this board,and after getting my **** handed to me by a blue mob I got very frustrated,thinking its the lack of skills and good armor for my level(21).I want to believe SOE is actually being honest that every class can solo.So if you experienced rangers out there can tell me how much fun your having then please do.I think others might need encouragement to.Although our class is broken,there still has to be some good points to it. I mean i don't want to go through the ranger sucks era all over again,and those of you who played EQ1 know what i mean.No complaining,I just want to hear about your positive experiences,and the fun your having as a ranger.So many like me can feel encouraged to log on and kick some **** out there. Thanks
I love being a ranger I do feel like we have a place in the EQ world, although I don't rely on DPS stats or group placement theories to prove it. I solo as a Ranger, and I amble from lvl to lvl at a relatively slow pace. I've been lvl 24 for a few days now, and still havn't mananged to fall over 50% XP. If I were interested in roaring into the 30s and 40s, I would probably be whining with alot of the others. The fact is, I just like the clas, and like the challenges it presents. I am getting my butt handed to me regularly in TS, and it has made me do alot more research on how to fight smarter. Had I just been able to trounce all comers, I think I would have got less of a thrill out of the small advancements along the way. For me, it's more rewarding a class, because you really feel like you are earning your keep. There are soem flaws with the way the Ranger class is handled in the game, but I tend to ignore all that sort of thing. I stick to looking for constructive threads here, that help me use my character, not make me despise choosing him. I can understand why the guys at uber-levels are feeling the pinch, but having only experienced the Ranger class at a lower level, I can't see much to hate. I'm usre after 3-4 months, I'll become a disgruntled vet too, but for now, I'll just enjoy the cheap thrill of Back Shot and Shadow Blade, and go on my merry tree huggin' way
Yeah,I tried going up against lv 20 mob,me being 21,and i got my **** handed to me,then again all my gear cons blue or grey to me,and most of my skills are still apprentic 2,so mainly i think that is my problem. I didn't know you could do HO's solo until a couple days ago,felt kinda stupid.I like hearing a positive outlook though,and maybe SOE will hear us if we come up with a list of things that needs to be fixed and provide factual proof.If we haven't already. I'm level 21 right now,and i am already scoring better bow hits then i did in EQ 1.there utilizing the bow,in the original EQ you had to wait until 51 to start seeing some damage with your archery.So thats one positive thing.
Rangers are a great class, fun to roleplay, and overall a good choice. Right now, we're severely underpowered, but that doesn't stop you from grouping or playing your class. Every class will whine when they aren't the flavor of the week class, and right now rangers are dealing with the worst. Expect a change soon or more high level rangers will be fighting for change. If you enjoy being a ranger, stick with it otherwise you'll never make it to the high levels.
Well I'm enjoying it. Soloing isn't always easy because as you well know, all our best attacks are from flanking; how well I do basically comes down to what mob I'm fighting. Some will hit me harder than others and since you can't heal yourself you have to run away. But take someone out with you as a duo and it's fantastic. I group with a paladin on a regular basis, and we do very well indeed. He will hold the aggro and keep himself healed while I lay into the mob and... well, slaughter it. I've got an alt who's a 26 templar, and whilst she's in higher demand than the ranger is (everyone always wants a healer), it's not as exciting to play. During fights I find I spend all my time watching the health bars and not actually participating in the battle, whereas with my ranger I'm right in there doing damage. Incidentally, I've grouped the templar with the pally as well, and whilst it's a lot safer because of the heals, it's just not as much fun. True it's riskier with the ranger, but that's why I like it. And besides, there's always evac if we get in over our heads.
I like my ranger alot. I've tried other classes but I'm now stuck with my ranger. I feel like a big asset to our guild groups. Often as soon as I log on, the guild group call me over and are glad of the major boost of DPS to speed kills up then the xp starts to roll in. I feel I'm reducing the slog time of killing mobs to almost half. But everyone in our groups has a key roll to play, as do we rangers and I feel wanted in our groups and am beaming with pride when I see the displayed damage I'm dealing. Check my profile achievments to see what kind of damage I can do. Soloing I find a bit of a slog because once you've fired your arrows, your toe to toe, so no more arrow shots from there on. Also you cant backstab reguarly - our major damage dealer (once or twice during a fight with stalk, if your lucky to pull it off!). So with these limitations I'm feeling forced to group. There are issue's with the Ranger, and I'm sure there are with all the other classes. We just have to live with them atm, but I'm having fun! And thats what counts.
I really enjoy playing my ranger too - always good in groups - and with my usual group of friends, 2 shammies, 1 wizzy and an occasional swashy, I sometimes tank. I've recently found that I can in fact solo too - with a modified kind of kiting. Burns through arrows, but slow backwards circles, drop in a flaming arrow or triple shot when you can with a decent poison up and its not too bad. If you control the distance from the mob you can also use long range melee attacks like leaping cut and lunging thrust or if you need more space chuck in an impede. I find it takes mobs around my level down without getting too hammered myself, its also kinda fun if a bit hectic. With my regular group I sometimes kite the mob around the group whilst they chuck in heals, dots etc. Also on the solo side, there are loads of quests that you can do whilst they are still red in sneak mode - that fast sneak that I chose as advanced training is a real godsend. On a slightly different note has anyone else found that their power usage went through the roof yesterday?
I am a lvl 23 Ranger and I am having a blast playing him, I never played EQ1 so this has been a fun learning experience for me, I used to use a shield and sword not knowing better, then I read some of the posts in the Ranger forum and started duel weilding and using poisons, that jumped my DPS a great deal, many of the experienced Rangers here have helped me to learn how to play a Ranger and it has made it alot more fun, and I solo more then not so I have learned to do that fairly well also. When the Ranger gets to be to routine I also have a level 14 Shaman and a level 17 Dark Elf Scorcerer, they are also fun to play.
Wow... a positive ranger post :smileysurprised: What a concept. I love my ranger!...half elf sporting a white/yellow mohawk and looking badass in his quest gear. But then again I am only level 21. I am sure the people complaining about it may have their reasons and it is because of their complaining that we may benefit in the future from some more balancing. I play casually so this game does not hold much power for me as it is a game to enjoy and be savored like a good meal or good sex. I laugh at the freaks who consider this game their life and they have to be uber uber uber. Typically those folks have very little power in real life and thus need to be soooo powerful in fantasy land. For those of you who take this game so [FAAR-NERFED!]ing serious, save up your money get a plane ticket to Indonesia and help those folks pick up their lives after the tsunami.... then come back and tell me how important this game is.
every class will have good points and bad points. Good points I have got a few nice quest rewards and loot just by using my invis to get to hard to reach places, only last night in varsoons i sneaked up to a question mark while those skells was walking around. Timed it till he was down the end, grabbed a enchanted bone and escaped out before they knew what hit them :smileyhappy: I know other classes can invis but they dont get the luxury of escaping when an angry mob wants u dead. i also feel im pushing out some nice damage using my bow shots and sneak attacks and poisons, saved the group a few times using escape which is a god send and keeps the groups morale up when they get out alive and dont have to get their gear mended and work off the dept . Havent had a problem getting a group as of yet. If im not feeling groupy i will sneak about exploring which will help when grouped as i can tell them what i saw there and what to expect and also find a few treasures which can be sold. Even got zek done last night and im still only lvl 25 so people do what scout classes in their group. Bad points not being able to solo anything decent. I put this down to using fast dual weapons. I tend to get hit a lot. maybe will buy a slower one handed and go with a shield and see if i can solo easier. Message Edited by hieronymus on 02-17-2005 05:13 AM Message Edited by hieronymus on 02-17-2005 05:13 AM
November 11th 2004, i picked the class i wanted to do since my wizzy in EQ. I wanted to see different things with a melee class, but still dps based. I was influenced by my ex guild leader, who is a ranger. After days n days of playing, im still very very happy with my 29 ranger ! Running through TS with my Bow in my Back, attacking from stealth ranged behind front tanking ( LOL ) , also tracking that is a great skill for quests when u need to find this or that mob, my lvl 20 eagle ( =P ), discover the zones with stealth mode, etc..... But thats true, there are some inconvenients =), since the begining of the weeks, i had to wait like 2h to find a group, but hey !!! at 23h yesterday and monday, i did both Zek and EL access Quests !!! Even if im sleeping at work due to the facts ive got 8h of sleeping this week, im very happy !!! And about soloing, when i was for the first time on Zek, i saw many orcs con yellow solo for me. I tried some and if you are a lil bit lucky on procs, poisons and combos ( cheap shot, shadow then BANG shadow lunge ), you can do it !!!! And remember that you are near the docks and the guards, if it turns to crap, well yell and RUN ranger RUN !!! Finally, i think all classes are cool. I play EQ and EQ2 since one year and im in love with this beautiful game. Monks, guardians, defilers, sorcerers, swashies, wardens, everything is good in this game. I just have to chose the one it fits to your mind, to your way to play or to your dreams. Mine was to have a dark elf ranger, today ive got it and im proud of it ! Be safe yall norrathians !
I really enjoy my ranger (to the detriment of the other characters I've created). I have to pay close attention to what I'm doing or I'll die, but I found some good strategy tips for soloing on these boards and they have helped tremendously. The funnest time I ever had was when I duo'd with one of my house mates - a level 25 Warlock. We worked out a system where she'd root, lob DOT's, then root again and then we'd wait and watch the mob's health drop. Sometimes I'd get an itchy string finger and fire off Back Shot and Wounding arrow when the mob hit 75% health, othertimes I waited until it broke root before I'd fire. When the mob closed on the Warlock, I could jump in with Shadow Blade (or whatever it's called, the one that does fire damage) or Shadow Lunge (or whatever it's called). Sometimes the battle would get hairy and the Warlock nearly died and sometimes we could drop the mob with neither of us taking damage. That strategy was fun because we never knew how it would play out - it wasn't the old and tired hack and slash thing that so often seems to happen. Oh and the new HO's were a riot to play, too. And thanks for the POSITIVE thread! ;-)
Awesome thread. Good job asking for encouragement when you know you need it, rather than falling into the moping and whining routine. Kaeros is my main, he's up to 25 now and loving it. I tend to group with guild members, but I can solo or duo fairly well when necessary. Even a duo arrangement works wonders, all I need is someone to take the aggro for a few seconds so I can throw on 200-300 damage with a quick string of sneak attacks. Juicy. Even the pickup groups I join seem to appreciate what I have to offer, especially if I make it clear what I can do. A week or so ago, I joined up with a group in Crypt of Betrayal, and after a few surprises, suggested that I scout out hallways and rooms before the whole group moved into a new area. Doing so worked wonders - I could stealth and move around freely (thank you, Hagar's Camouflage!) go in and assess the threats, and report back via group chat after finishing my recon. It was great!! I prevented us from blundering into any more yellow ^ mobs, had a great time in the process, and the group was WAY happier with all the intelligence that I could provide. Our mage says "this is like having our own spy!" and I said "well, they don't call us scouts for nothing." If you happen to be on Butcherblock, send a tell if you need any help or have questions. Good luck and enjoy!
I LOVE MY RANGER!!! In EQ1 I had an enchanter main, and a ranger alt. So when the EQ2 came out I did the same thing. I worked my way up to 17 enchanter and decided to give my ranger a try. Long story short: My ranger is now 23... my enchanter is STILL 17
Teksun's ranger looks like mine :/ , I am lvl 34 atm, i currently hunt in zek and el a lot, tried to solo mobs and been doing alright lately, but all my armor is worth about 40gold total(plus 2rare items worth aboout 40 gold altogether), i got hooked up by my guild lvl 50 tailor with a few rare items here and there. Most players who only adventure may not have this kinda money to buy good equipment, i still have to stack 5 poisons to be successful or else the battle may cost me dearly. most my skills are adept1 a few adept 3. My advice for everyone is as soon as u get rip, use it in every single battle because it does more damage than the makeshift arrows, i got a bundle already but it took me some time since is only 1 ever 15 secs. Overall i am just patiently waiting to see whats gonna happend to our class, it was a fun journey til some changes recently, now days in RE is hard to get groups as it is on night time for the usa players, but slowly trying to keep my ranger active. Landacet~LvL34 Ranger Of re , check out screenshots to see me with anguis go at it
Hrm, I love being a Ranger, and I remeber the "Ranger suck era", all you have to do, is be patient, wait it out, and good things will come in time.
I am so glad I got to read this post today! I hit level 27 yesterday and was frustrated with how long that level took and to be honest I wasnt that impressed with the new spell. I was so worried that I had spent this much time on a class that wouldnt be enjoyable, but I started looking at what I will be able to do at higher levels and read through some of the Ranger forum posts and feel much more confident that I will enjoy this class overall. It is hard for a Ranger to solo imo so the levels seems painfully long to achieve, but after reading this post I agree that it helps you learn to play your class better. We have to focus so much on the most effective way to fight that it does make you a better player overall. Thanks for keeping my confidence up!
Xenthan: Woodelf ranger/woodworker, created Nov. 16th. As of last night, lvl 22 crafting, lvl 25 woodworker. Khazen: Iksar rogue, created later, retired. Suli: Half Elf mage: created later, retired. Sirid: Human druid: created later, retired. Saeltas: Half elf mage, created later, retired. Khazen Jr: Iksar Warrior, created later, lvl 16 adventuring Siri: Half-elf jeweler, created later, lvl 17 crafting My ranger is the only character I actually like enough to play for hours on end. The combination of ranged and melee attacks (though I wish at my lvl there were more ranged) is interesting, and you feel like you do more than a finger-wiggler. My other two survivng characters usually get an hour of play for every 10 Xenthan gets. Last night I helped two pallys and a healer charge through stormhold from top to bottom... in the large chambers the pallys would pull towards the center of the room, I would circle around the edges lobbing arrows. If we ran across baddies in the halls, I'd switch to blades, vault over the pally and the mob and hit 'em from behind.
