I think I'm dougie-ing wrong. I'm new to Ranger (lvl 14-ish). I strarted the class under the assumption that it was similar to most other games Rangers which mainly focus on ranged attacks. My main attacks so far are melee (I have 2 ranged CAs I believe) so I'm assuming that Ranger is going to be a lot less ranged than in most games. Also, looking at the predator trees, am I correct that 4/5 trees are melee based. There are a lot of defensive AAs in there too. Not really of the kiting-keep-mobs-from-getting-to-me variety, just straight up defensive melee range stats like parry. How does a typical fight go? Is it a mix of backstabbing out of stealth, popping debuffs, backing out to ranged to pop a few abilities and moving back in to melee? Or is there an AA setup based around kiting and relying on mainly ranged attacks? It seems like there would be a lot of useless AA points spent if you tried to play as a ranged class. Thanks for any feedback.
Most of your ranged abilities do come as you level up. However, by no means are you a ranged class (mage with chain main plinking arrows). To maximize DPS you will be right up there in that 5 meter hit box using your melee CAs as well as ranged. Just standing back (even at higher levels) you are hindering your output. There will be quite a few melee based CAs that will top your parses. Can you kite, and solo? Sure, its just not as effective as popping into defensive stance and standing toe to toe with mobs. Or stay in offensive (especially with mercs now) and race the mob to see if you or it dies first. You get a couple of snares, and a melee based root, but neither is really all that effective. It can work, but again it takes a lot longer. When i was leveling up, i just mostly melee, stun then backstab. Rinse repeat. Typical fight in group/raid settings is standing right on the mobs backside, and using your stealth, melee and ranged attacks.
