Rangers: an aftherthought?

[Karnacc]

<DIV>From eq1 to eq2 rangers have been dissed severly by soe in the beginnings. My take on this is that because rangers are a "side" class, "utility" class, "dps"or whatever you want to call it, SoE treats it as such when it comes to balancing, fixing issues, items in game, quests, ect.</DIV> <DIV>It's like they focus on keeping the main archtypes happy and then when they get tired on hearing how rangers suck, they fix it.</DIV> <DIV>I think they look at tank, healer,mage and then scout clases. And of the scout classes, I guess they figure rangers should suck the most.</DIV> <DIV>If a Guardian had to pay 2sp for every hit, I bet SoE would have heard about it and changed it within the 1st week. If wizards had consumable spell components that cost 1gp for their big nukes, i guarantee that would've been changed. So why is it fair for rangers to have to spend on arrows to be of any use in a group. AND the dps aint the best.</DIV> <DIV>My thought is, that maybe they have plans to offer something like endless quiver, somewhere down the line (like in eq1). But, because as a class, we are an afterthought, there is no hurry to do so. They'll get to it eventually. All the complaining and whinning is probally all for naught because the tanks and clerics will be catered to 1st, then they'll worry about the "flavor" classes.</DIV> <DIV>They gotta see that there is a big lack of support when it comes to ranger. Allot of our abilities dont work, the special abilities we get are low grade versions of stuff other classes get also, and our dps is avg at best with melee, and with a bow, you gotta have a big bank account.</DIV> <DIV>I dont know what it is...</DIV> <DIV>Maybe  Rangers dont complain enough on these boards. Maybe they are busy making other classes fun because they assume rangers got it all.  Maybe they think having the "ranged" option is enticement enough to play a ranger. Maybe the numbers dont reflect what we are saying about rangers-- if rangers represent 20% of all classes in eq, then SoE wouldnt see that their is a big problem woth the class. (everybody who is unhappy with rangers need to cancel so they will see a decline <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  ). Whatever it is SoE is not gonna be in a hurry to fix it...that's for sure.</DIV> <DIV>What do you all think?</DIV>

[Merkad]

I doubt Endless Quiver will make it to EQ2. Granted this game is not made by the exact same crew as EQ, but they griped and moaned extensively about Endless Quiver, and, if you recall what that led to, we got no new arrows after blessed mithril (damage wise, there was that karana version of blessed mithril), until just recently, and amusingly enough, it is not even better really. With EQ1 the biggest problem was four fold. 1) The Melee Camp. 2) The Archery Camp. 3) The "We are Perfectly Balanced Camp" and 4) The Silent Majority.Here we have the same thing. These little "positive rangers only" threads merely deluding themselves to the fact that rangers are not that good.We also have are archery camp, even though most of our skills are melee, and archery, as per EQ1 sub Endless Quiver, costs and arm and leg and is not useful (sub and post Endless Quiver if you are elem flagged), here is is far worse than EQ1. 4.5 and 7 seconds to shoot, a mere 27-37 range? Why someone would want to be an archer is beyond me, too bad they did not make an archer class to get most of them there, lord knows we have enough useless classes in EQ2.Melee camp, the one I favor, is where most of our dps is, and has no continual cost. Though it's downside is that it makes us even more cookie cutter than we already are. (I actually like mixed archery/melee, but not in EQ2)The Silent Majority, my previous camp for near 5 years in EQ2. Silence and hoping does not get you very far. I think any ex EQ1 ranger will agree with that.Anyways I reference EQ1 alot, and I acknowledge that it is not the exact same crew who makes it, but they are using it as a template, in some areas improving it, but, to me, mostly not. I still think EQ1 is the better game, but I am tired of it after all this time. And I don't believe in a "wipe the slate clean" approach, simply because it is a new game.Merkades

[Karnacc]

<DIV>I agree. You could've given me EQ1 with eq2s graphics, and eq2s new world/storyline and it would have been the perfect game IMO.</DIV>

[Teler]

<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV>I doubt Endless Quiver will make it to EQ2. Granted this game is not made by the exact same crew as EQ, but they griped and moaned extensively about Endless Quiver, and, if you recall what that led to, we got no new arrows after blessed mithril (damage wise, there was that karana version of blessed mithril), until just recently, and amusingly enough, it is not even better really.</DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>In EQ1 I was mainly a Paladin admittingly, later on a tag team of Paladin/Cleric, but in my opinion, the only reason that people might have griped about Endless Quiver was that SOE never felt like adjusting Archery Agro. So, while maintaining a relatively balanced DPS in Luclin in Planes of Power - balanced in a sense of "at times over and at times under Rogues" - Rangers did their damage from out of the AoE range of mobs and without much agro. That means Rogues felt treated unfairly because they had to position themselfes, had to be close to the mob and had to fear to get agro from their melee damage.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In EQ2 though, Archery Agro is related  to the damage actually done quite well. Myself, when I was in the 30ies, actually outagroed tanks at times, not with my melee skill chain, but when I strived back to bow range and shot 3 or 4 archery skills (usually debuff shot, backside shot, miracle shot or the like and multi arrow shot).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I already suggested that Rangers (and eventually Assassins) should get Endless Quivers and Woodworkers Recipy Books, Mob Loot Tables and certain or new Quests should get "Lore / No Trade Arrows" of appropriate tiers added to them.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There must be either that, or Tear needs to return 1 Fulginate Arrow per skill level, i.e. 1 at App1, 5 at Adp1 and so on. Forcing us to PAY for our DPS would never be balanced else. At least not unless we Predators are the highest DPS classes by a noticable margin. That though seems to not be intended as SOE sees Sorcerers in that spot - although those, while tanking a bit worse, offer more unique utility and suffer from no combat/casting restrictions as well.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For my side, I would prefer the Endless Quiver solution more since it would allow more flexibility in the long run. For example, Woodworkers / Mob Drops / Quests could return various arrows besides the consumable Fulginate: We could get Arrows against Various resists (Fire/Ice/Magic/Slash/Pierce/Crush/...) or for various fighting styles (delay lowering low dmg, delay upping high damage, certain debuffs, stunning, ...) or situations (targeted AoE, enhanced Range, obstacle neglacting, ...).</DIV>