The Mysterious Ranger

[teflor the ranger]

This is a high level class guide to the ranger, for leaders and for zonable ranger players everywhere. Due to much difficulty defining a role for the ranger class, I've decided to create one. Rangers are very much a broken class, however, the most effective use in group is outlined below.

The Ranger

Hitpoint Buffer, Mage Shield, General Utility, and Melee Damage Expert, etc

Techniques for effective ranger use by a tired old one.

Hitpoint Buffer

During intense combat, a reasonably spelled ranger can substitute for (by rescuing) a tank for several rounds, giving group heals and other healers a few seconds by which to catch up. This is best done when the tank is beginning to lose ground as far as hitpoints are concnered, or when healers are out of the room

*NOTE* The tank MUST rescue back within several rounds, and I mean no more than three. The tank must also not be distracted in bashing duties. Try to do this only when other casters are out of the room as rescuing lags both parties.

Mage Shield

Rangers should maintain a set of rescue triggers, however, they should not be trying to rescue the entire group. The ranger should pick two or three targets and focus specifically on getting them out of trouble. I tend to pick the main bufferer and the main cleric to target for rescue on any switches. This way when a tank automatically and stupidly rescues some lesser important class when there have been several switches, the ranger can provide another level of protection for essential casters.

General Utility

Rangers should keep at least one dispel magic memed. If one of the ranger's main rescue targets becomes silenced, the ranger can pop out and quickly restore the group's buffering or healing capacity. In zones where para and silence are common occurances, leaders should assign debufferers where necessary.

Melee Damage Expert

Rangers do a hell of a lot of damage when properly eq'ed and hasted. Without proper eq, however, you can forget about it.

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

Rangers have blindfighting and archery. In zones where blind is a regular occurance and damage is a necessity, they can be essential group components. Rangers also lure quite effectively at range. Excellent dragon fight and other targeted damage. Track and archery make for great luring possibilites - if you know how to GTFO (a skill not class specific).




That's it. Have fun with your rangers.

[Gormal]

quit;yes;6;<password>

There's a better guide!

[Dalar]

How's Tida doing?

[Tida]

WTH? why do you care how i'm doing or anything of that nature? if you wanna know you ask me not him *boggle* some ppl some days i swear

[teflor the ranger]

You know, I was wondering about that myself. Tida, how are you doing? Dartan wants to know.

[Ashiwi]

::silently mouths the words "Oh my God" before breaking out into hysterical laughter until her sides ache::

Oh man, let me wipe the tears away, I can't see to type.

[Sarell]

Tida is fine thanks, she/he recently won first prize in a giant pineapple growing competition, the prize consisted of her pineapple being sliced and placed in 100 cans of pineapple and a free trip to the moon in order to check soil quality for the future expansion of the pineapple industry.

In other pineapple news Tida was just crowned ruler of all pineapples at the annual general meeting of pineapple lovers which was held under a pine tree, key guest speaker was fiona 'pine' apple. There was strong debate on whether or not the child recently named 'apple' was a suitable name during a time of such prolific grandure by the mighty pineapple amid the regular apple sex scandals. A comittee headed by Tida will further investigate whether or not pineapples should be used in naming ceremonies at all.

Over the weekend while tia was being smote, Tida made a costume, of the likeness of a pineapple for fruity party. By all account the party was great and the pineapple costume was deemed tasteful and authentic by vogue magazine exuctive in charge of fashion Anna Nas Koph.

[Tida]

*rofl* man and i did all that and went to work that's just damn funny

[teflor the ranger]

It's peanut butter jelly time!

[Sylvos]

I think the ranger class is better distilled down to two aspects, that the player has direct control over. This is not meant as a refute to Teflor's comments, but rather a reconsideration of them under broader terms. You need, really two things to make a successful ranger; well 3 I suppose.

The most basic requirement, is to have your relevant skills where they need to be. The tanking and assistance skills most especially; we don't get to be very proficient at these so they've gotta be as high as you can manage. Don't listen to the people who mock rangerbash; sure it ain't as reliable as a warrior's but it'll do in a pinch. So that's one - relevant skills advanced to be the best that they can be. Who gives a crap about mounted combat or the spellcast notches, those are just 'bragging rights' skills.

Two - the absolutely most important thing. Situational awareness. More than almost anybody else, you HAVE to be aware of what is happening, in your room and in the surrounding rooms. If a caster mems out and something walks in on them, you are the most expendable from an encounter to go and rescue that caster. If a mob walks in on the fight, it's up to YOU to take note, call attention to it and potentially address its threat level. If a tank dies, you need to be able to know what his bash target was and pick it up. I believe that it was Kiryan who once described the ranger as the grease that makes a group move smoothly. Being aware of your surroundings and what is happening is utterly crucial. You can have the best gear in the game, but if you lack that awareness then it's wasted.

Which leads to requirement 3 - preparation. You have to make certain you have the tools required to BE that grease for the group. I don't mean getting the best equipment, though that certainly helps. But you need to get potions, staves. Good arrows, a heavy shield. It was something I read once, written by Folur that drove home that point. An effective warrior, or ranger in this case, takes charge of their preparation by collecting relevant items. You have to accept the fact that you won't be a priority for most casters when it's time for spellups. There are some enchanters who take care to spell me up as a tank due to my tendency to rescue as prolifically (if not proficiently) as the warriors. But those are few and far between, and it's far more frequently that I pull out a vit or a haste potion to keep up.

Preparation and awareness. I want to say more than any other class, but I haven't played them all so I can't do that honestly. But those two elements, skill advancement falls under preparation, lead to being an effective ranger.

Oh yeah, reputation helps but nobody starts with a great reputation.

[Lilira]

Preparation and awareness. I want to say more than any other class, but I haven't played them all so I can't do that honestly. But those two elements, skill advancement falls under preparation, lead to being an effective ranger.

To be honest Syl..

That last statment applies to ANY and EVERY class, at least in the billions of alts I've played with. *laugh*

[Kallinar]

It's peanut butter jelly time!

Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat?

[Dalar]

http://penutbutterjellytimefg.ytmnd.com

[teflor the ranger]

...

While I certainly agree, it would seem that things like situational awareness and preparation is something every character and player should have.

[Sarell]

They should, but Sylvos is right, a ranger is one of the classes you can really make something of by the way you play it. There are rangers I would take to any group and rangers I would have in none, and it is based on what they do. If say twice in a zone there is a really good opportuniry for a ranger to save the key shaman or chanter, it might not be worth the chanter taking on the big extra load of keeping them spelled the whole time (of course shaiith would). But if that opportunity arises and the ranger quaffs a quick dusty and jumps in there, TADA instant hero status!

PS Ranger bash is excellent.

Oh and TARGET YOUR MOBS, when I play my ranger, whatever I am hitting dies first usually.