the ranged skill

[Hardai]

Can any body tell me if there's a trick to leveling the ranged skill?  I burned thru 100 arrows the other night and only skilled up 5 or 6 times, which seems really slow to me.  Is it because I'm only a predator atm and haven't made ranger?  In other words, once I hit ranger will that give me a big boost to the ranged skill outright?  Is there somewhere I can just train ranged (besides the obvious, use it in every fight way)?  It's times like this that I miss the EQ1 trainer and the 5 training points per lvl, what I wouldn't give to drop 15-20 points into ranged right now, maybe i could hit the barn door with an arrow then. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Sorry for the newbie question. I have searched for this answer to no avail. <div></div>

[Absinth]

There's no trick. It takes the time it takes. At higher levels, you level slower and so you tend to have more shots with which to level up your ranged skill. Generally speaking I get the skill-up within a few minutes of crossing the bubble boundry. At lower levels, the only ideas I can think of are to use a shortbow (faster so you shoot more often) and cheap arrows. But it'll catch up eventually. <div></div>

[Hardai]

Thanks for the response.  /sigh, that's the answer i was expecting.  Would it be worth while to take a pile of arrows into The Caves and just launch them at spiders, snakes, and bats?  I haven't notice any differences in skill up rates between grays, whites, blues, or greens (could be wrong about that).  So maybe a mass slaughter of grays (if the zone is empty) would get me a few skill-ups?! I just want to get that arrow hit rate up from 1 out of 3.  I guess, either way, it'll come. <div></div>

[Sotaudi]

<DIV>Early on, leveling ranged will be slow because all you can do is use ranged autoattack.  From a solo perspective, even at its longer range, the long bow takes 7 seconds between shots, meaning that you can usually only get off one shot before the critter closes to melee range making further ranged shots impossible unless you kite (run around with the critter chasing you so you can continue firing ranged attacks).  The shortbow's 4.5 second speed, even with its shorter range, will allow you usually to get off two shots before you have to kite or move to melee.  That is not a lot of arrows shot per critter.  On the other hand, as you level, two things happen.  First, you start to get more and more ranged specials, and, second, ranged specials have their own timers, so they are not limited by the bow speed.  That means that you will start to be able to shoot more arrows per critter before you have to move into melee mode.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When you get to the mid-teens as a Predator, you will pick up Backshot and Open Shot.  This will allow you to fire three shots (one for Backshot and two for Open Shot) before the critter closes on you.  At level 21, you will pick up Wounding Arrow.   By backpeddling (mini-kiting) just long enough to let Open Shot fire, you can get off all three of those specials, meaning you are now shooting four arrows per critter.  By the time you get to about level 28 and with a little more mini-kiting to get off both of the two shots that allow you to move while shooting, you will actually be able to fire five ranged specials before you have to go into melee attacks.  That ends up being a total of eight arrows per critter even if you do nothing more than open with your bow shots and then move to melee for the rest of the fight.   In a group fight where someone else is keeping the critter's attention, you can use all six of your ranged specials at that level and even continue using them as they recharge.  Even in a solo situation, since you have two shots that allow you to move while firing, you can even start with bow shots, beat up the critter for a while with melee, then backpedal some more to fire those two shots again when they recharge if the fight lasts long enough.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That is a lot of arrows per fight, so as you progress, you biggest worry will be on keeping your quiver filled with arrows, not how fast your ranged skill is progressing.</DIV>

[hieronym]

things like disarm, ranged and safe fall will be hard to raise at first but keep playing like you're playing and they will go up eventually. I tried the route of buying loads of cheap arrows and killing every low lvl mob i could find and tbh its not worth the time money or hassle. Once you get in a few groups and go out killing the skills will start to increase quicker and quicker

[Teksun]

I noticed when I hit level 30, that my main skills (archery, slash, pierce, defense) all maxed out 30% into the level. This was mainly soloing, but even in group I would expect everything but my defensive skills to max out just as quick... <div></div>

[sjaste]

I as one of the earily peeps to the game didn't get my ranger a bow I believe till I got my first bow skill. So I didn't have skill above 30ish at the time it didn't rise much till one day I was puller for a group killing skellys by bridge (they were group mobs back then) and it took awhile but I pulled with arrows and eventually I got my skill up to max once it is there don't really notice when it goes up but it stays there. But if ya wanna go and wipe greys for skill. The poster above is showing ya just how many ya need just start counting now and when he stops that will be the final number.

[Vicenzo]

A good method for me was to get a cheap shortbow and head to Antonica and the road between North and South Qeynos gates.   Target rats, snakes and spiders and run backwards along the road while firing.  As you approach either gate, turn 180 degrees and run backwards again.  Rinse and repeat.  1-2 hours of that and you should cap your ranged.