New to EQ2, Just a quick question.

[Thyrm]

<DIV>Just curious, How well do rangers solo?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Can they solo effectivly?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Do they get groups somewhat easily?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Any info would be most appreciated, this looks like the class I want to play, I wanna be able to do good DPS and melee as well if needed and be useful to groups and not have a hard time finding groups. Any help appreciated. Thanks!~</DIV>

[Merkad]

Since I have not played as a lower level ranger since well before the revamp, I will not address the first levels of your career, should you opt for a ranger.Currently, at 59, I think rangers can do pretty well. If you look down the thread list, you will see two threads, one titled something like "scornfeather + solo" which is about a mid 50s zone Leoric soloed, and another titled "crazy soloing" or something like that, which I forgot the contents of, at least offhand.At this level, you have plenty of tools for the trade, the leg shot line features a non breakable snare, 3 mobile ranged attacks in excess of 1k damage(or really close), debilitating arrow, natural selection (also requires stealth, use with snare) and storm of arrows, sniper shot, or stealthy fire to start an engagement, and possibly as a secondary attack after you use thorny trap to damage/root/snare the encounter. Triple arrow and precise (two arrows) shot are good to great in their own right, but like all ranged attacks, the real bonus is with the offensive proc (adept 3 @215 str is like 367 ish damage) and poison/weapon procs. Stream of Arrows is also alot of fun, if you can take the beating you will recieve while using it at PB range.If you select your poisons carefully, what you can accomplish will only get better. Stuns, stifles, slows, debuffs,damage et cetera. Most attacks can be changed to any of the three melee damage types. We also have perma haste, and a short haste/dps buff for closer melee attacks. I think the final worth mentioning aspect, that is usuable at lower levels, is that you can use bow arts while close t the enemy. If you back up to minimum range, start the CA while stopping, wait til ~80ish % then backup again, it will still fire and is a great way to get another good salvo in.The above assumes you mean soloing something not weaker than a heroic, because with those, stun and a single to two max bow shots will kill it, most of the time.I don't know about grouping, I never group outside my guild unless my sole RL friend who plays asks me to. I actually don't like to exp, because I dislike turning exp off and we level way too fast anyways.Anyways, like anything I write, this is imo.Edited to correct the position of an "i" and a "t".Merkades.<p>Message Edited by Merkades on <span class=date_text>11-30-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:40 PM</span>

[xandez]

<div></div>I made a new ranger (currently lvl 23) so that i could get a better insight of how things are on the lower lvl rangers... I have to say that im very pleased. I havent given my alt any money, few adept books only (like 5 or so) and my friend gave him full handcrafted leather set (T3 stuff). Using vendor poisons, summoned arrows and bought some tin ones since my summon arrows is only app2 (iirc) But, im pleased to the solo capability. I have only grouped twice, that was when i made AQ2 and after that with a friends alt for some fun (original plan was to keep my new ranger as a "pure" soloist and see how the advancing would be when doing almost all solo.) Following info is mostly the same as the above posters, but ill say it anyway <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> As for higher lvl rangers, we do solo pretty well... The lvl 52 spell thorny trap is awesome in solo imo and of course you can kite etc, also the proper poisons help a lot. (stifle/stun/debuff in addition to normal dmg ones). I have also enjoyed playing ranger tremendously, both soloing AND especially in groups. We do excellent DPS atm, and i think that we finally are where we should have been from the beginning. (The top tier DPS that is, since we lack any other useful utility [besides pathfinding which is useless in combat and evac which is nice, but ... ]) ++Xan <div></div><p>Message Edited by xandez on <span class=date_text>12-01-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:06 AM</span>

[Jay]

<P>If you feel that ranger is your calling, heed that call and join your brothers and sisters in the wild. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>/cheese_off</P> <P>Oh and read this it's funny: <BR><A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=39&message.id=7315" target=_blank><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=39&message.id=7315</FONT></U></A></P><p>Message Edited by Jay42 on <span class=date_text>12-02-2005</span> <span class=time_text>01:26 PM</span>