An Idea for the post LU20 Ranger....Not great but neat.

[Gailstryd]

<div>As the title implies, thus will this thread be about an idea for restoring Rangers to a t1 dps spot.  This isn't a good idea for a few reasons which I'll get to but at least it's an idea something to brainstorm off of or against.  Feel free to add in your own ideas, but please keep it constructive.  This idea while mroe than likely never going to be applied is something at least worth imagining.</div><div> </div><div>So here it goes.  Make Rangers a pet class.......no ok bare with me to the end of my cockameme idea.  Leave our dps as is, maybe tweak some things here and there, but in general give us a pet.  Doesn't have to be a whole slew of different types or added dumbfire pets, scratch all that, just one kind of pet with a new style pet for each tier/upgrades.  Would obviously be an animal type pet aka wolves, bears, tigers, etc. stuff like our fluff spells but with meaning.  Give them tanking ability of a lower quality than necro/conj tank pets and dps of a lower quality than necro/conj scout pets and you have a fix on Rangers.  Our current dps plus pet = T1 dps position where we should be without overpowering us.  It would help fix our solo without making us overpowered and we wouldn't even be as good at soloing as necro/conj even with said pet.  It fits well with our class and even allows for some of the old school beastlord fanboys to have a class outlook. </div><div> </div><div>Now in all I'm sure this will never see the light of day.  I understand the likeness to the Guild Wars and WoW Ranger setups since those game's equivalents both have pets and that's how their class functions something I'm not thrilled to mirror, but if it fixes us and in the end allows for fun and flavor hoorah.  Onward with the subjective reasoning why this will never get implemented would include the fact a pet could be seen as a boost in class utility, a pet to take dmg draw off adds whatever and combined with the fact that we can wear medium armor would prolly make the mages furious even if our pet wasn't nearly as good as theirs.  A solution could be disallowing our pet the ability to taunt or some such.  Another thing, I'm sure assassins wouldn't care for the idea since in some ways it tosses us out of sync with them our counterparts and may lead to a disparragement in the way each class is perceived as well as the terms of too much difference in how we each do our jobs though considering we are already practically apples and oranges / ranged and melee it shouldn't matter.  I'm sure there is a lot more I could go into about why it wouldn't be a good change and like I said I fully expect it never to get implemented and don't really care either way so long as our class gets put back where they belong.  But in all it was a pretty cool idea and after having a bit of a time chatting it up with my guildies and joking around crack pot brainstorming kind of thing, I figured I'd take it for a whirl and at least put it out their as an idea and for other peeps to think about and find or not find as neat as I did.</div><div> </div><div>In all, consider this a brainstorming tablet, apply your ideas and suggestions and give the dev's and players something to tinker with in their heads.  I find it fun at the least and pramatic and potential useful at the most. </div>

[athitchcock]

<div></div><p>I'm not a huge fan of being a pet class, but if this were done properly it could boost our soloing ability while having no impact on raids and/or groups.</p><p>When soloing, all I need is some extra time to get the arrows out and a pet that's main role was to tank and take aggro would do this. As long as it's dps is low, like you said, and it can't hold aggro better than a tank, it would provide almost no benefit to group and/or raid yet keep me alive to solo.</p><p>A good idea on how to give us pets without making us a pet class.</p><p>Gnaril</p>

[KudLenka]

i love the idea of ranger with tamed animal - our hunting hawk could get few hitpoints and ability to attack mobs. i dont know how much work it wuold mean or how it would work out - i loved being ranger with a druidic pet in rubies of eventide game, it worked greatly. If we are rangers, we simply need to putdistance between us and mobs, pet can be helpfull.

[Steezi]

<div></div>they shoulda just nerfed poisons  and eliminated stun poison... its not that a pet is a bad idea i just dont like them heheheh <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Morgonn]

It's actually not as cockamamie an idea as some.  As long as the pet could not fill a tanking role. it might give rangers some serviceability. I am not a big pet fan either but I am also not fond of our current position.  This idea is at least worth looking at.<div></div>

[Sphiriah]

<div></div><p>I'd only like this idea if pets did little to no damage, and were strictly for tanking.</p><p>I'm not a hunter dammit.</p>

[Jay]

<div></div><p>I'd rather see more meaningful snares / roots / slows / stuns on our attacks; I'm not a fan of pet classes though I know a lot of people have that in mind in their concept of 'ranger.'  I'd rather rely on my bow. Blinding Shot FTW! If the two ranged snares we had were more worthwhile, and we got a trap or some rooting attack earlier, and maybe added one or two more attacks with stuns (Stun Arrow could be very cool), I think we'd be way better off, and much more capable of soloing.</p><p>I understand the appeal of a pet, and I agree that it's one thing that would help us with soloing, I just don't include it in my idea of a ranger. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Mirdo]

Sorry but I disagree entirely with the idea of us having any type of pet. That is of course only my opinion, but seriously, if i had wanted control over any type of pet I would have chosen summoner.I hope this is never implemented for our class.Mirdo.<div></div>

[rcknchr]

<div></div>Ive played a Ranger and many other class in roleplaying D&D. Ive been a D&D player for about 15 years since it came out. A pet would be a great idea since these games are based off D&D type genre. IMO they should (and this is just an example) take like 2% of our DPS and give it to our pet. This way we dont loose or gain any more DPS (once they have fixed our DPS to where it should be). Also give us a minor type of pet healing. Also give the pet ability to hold aggro (tank type pet)  so we could use our bow CA's more efficiently. And its a whole lot kooler than just having a snare,root,stun type to hold the mob aways from us. Would be kool to be able to choose a type of companion from a list so every Ranger wouldnt have the same looking pet ( maybe like wolf, bear, hawk, etc.). Just my 2 cents.

[TaleraRis]

<div></div>I have no interest in being a glorified EQ shaman without the healing capabilities. I'm with Jay. I think we should work toward more effects on our ranged attacks. I want to see a ranged root attack, better snares and a stun arrow attack. Melee should be the absolute last recourse for us, not part of our daily bread like it is now (at least for me as a soloer).  I also would like to see more self buffs that increase accuracy and give us a longer duration on the ones we have now.I do NOT want to see the return of the depedence on procs and proccing poisons. I want to pull things off with the tools at my disposal, like any other class does.For the wishlist, I would love elemental damage arrows like certain AAs in EQ1 gave ,or how my Bowazon was in Diablo II. If I can't stun them, then freezing them on their way to me would work, too.I've also played a D&D ranger and especially with the advent of 3.5, the focus is a lot more on the ranger being a ranged combatant and less on being a friend of the forest type. If we're going to base our ideas on D&D, we should follow the current state of things there.<div></div><p>Message Edited by TaleraRis on <span class="date_text">02-25-2006</span><span class="time_text">11:52 AM</span></p>

[rcknchr]

<div>I've also played a D&D ranger and especially with the advent of 3.5, the focus is a lot more on the ranger being a ranged combatant and less on being a friend of the forest type. If we're going to base our ideas on D&D, we should follow the current state of things there.</div><div> </div><div>Not what it says under the class description in 3.5 PHB and if thats the case why does 90% of a rangers spells have to do with plants and animals if we are not protectors of the forest anymore. Not that EQ2 should being trying to follow in the D&D roleplaying footsteps. It never will. No online game can compete with true roleplaying type games.</div>

[jarlaxle8]

the ideas i read here all sound good to me.tank pet sounds good, would give some flavor and help in ranged fighting.more effects to arrow attacks also sounds pretty good. add stuns and roots to some bow shots, just make it not so long lasting so it's not overpowering. elemental effects sound also pretty appealing to me.i think i may like the more effects/stun/root ideas more. but i would take both. first, to add some more flavor then just all dps. secondly, to let us be more ranged when solo. and to make it more interesting then pull shots / cheap shot / some more shots / melee / some more melee / even more melee (come on cheap shot, hurry up...) standard routine.<span>---------------------------<a target="_self" href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/pplayer.vm?characterId=383113204">Ryilan Nightbreeze </a>---------------------------</span><div></div>

[Bro]

Just do something really simple & give us some 'veteran' AA's based on our level, say 10 points per 10 levels.Then we can see if the 'tweaking' of our old skills & abilities is in any way compensated by the AA stuff. Then we might know what we need to work towards. I've played my Ranger for around 550 days, or 70+ days online. I want to go out with a bang, not like this with a whimper.(and please add a cancellation reason of 'I was a Ranger' on the account management page)<div></div>

[Bithnar]

A pet Idea may sound good but in the long run it aint gonna happen.  To be of any use it would have to hold agro away from us and tank, and you thought the wizzies screamed nerf them before just wait till the hear about us getting a tank pet.I'm with Jay, I would much prefer to see them give us better roots and snares.  I would also love to see them give us about a 25% increase to the damage of all our CA's..Here's what I really would love to see sony do.  Fix our damage so that we can be at the bottom of the T1 range while using VENDOR Bought poisons that way if we want to use legendarys we will parse higher but have to pay the premium for it.<div></div>

[Steezi]

<div>A pet Idea may sound good but in the long run it aint gonna happen.  To be of any use it would have to hold agro away from us and tank, and you thought the wizzies screamed nerf them before just wait till the hear about us getting a tank pet.I'm with Jay, I would much prefer to see them give us better roots and snares.  I would also love to see them give us about a 25% increase to the damage of all our CA's..Here's what I really would love to see sony do.  Fix our damage so that we can be at the bottom of the T1 range while using VENDOR Bought poisons that way if we want to use legendarys we will parse higher but have to pay the premium for it.</div><div>:smileyvery-happy:</div><div> </div><div>beauty point... however we are after all rangers... i dont think people will stop either crying nerf, or kickin us when we are down until the class is completely eliminated... But if SOE handles your idea, i could care less about the other classes. I just think that we are the target that every other dps class looks at, because we are SUPPOSED to be the premier spot... (they get a kick out of seeing us do nothing while they can whale away at stuffs...) And for the life of me, i cant figure out why. YOU</div>

[Steezi]

<div></div><p>A pet Idea may sound good but in the long run it aint gonna happen.  To be of any use it would have to hold agro away from us and tank, and you thought the wizzies screamed nerf them before just wait till the hear about us getting a tank pet.I'm with Jay, I would much prefer to see them give us better roots and snares.  I would also love to see them give us about a 25% increase to the damage of all our CA's..Here's what I really would love to see sony do.  Fix our damage so that we can be at the bottom of the T1 range while using VENDOR Bought poisons that way if we want to use legendarys we will parse higher but have to pay the premium for it.</p><p>:smileyvery-happy:</p><p>beauty idea. But; other classes will never stop whining about us. We are supposed to be premier dps... and other dps gets a kick out of whaling away at mobs while we do nothing... prelu13 included. While i understand that this is the case, i dont understand why... these people like their shiny's and we helped get them. So your gonna complain that the shiny's that you could NOT have gotten without us arent as good as the shiny's we get? For shame.... i view this like asking for help onna forum then flaming the person that answers you...</p>

[Steezi]

<div></div>no idea how i did that post twice... srry for the noobness!!!

[Gailstryd]

<div></div>See, I'm not really much of a huge pet fan my own self it does propose to many problems I think to be properly implemented without having teh whole thing blow up in our faces again.  Something someone mentioned further up top I'd love to see is more elemental type dmg with our bows.  I want a buff, short duration whatever balance it how it needs to be that imbues my arrows with ice, fire, wind dmg and then adds a corilating affect to go with it.  I am one of those peeps (i keep pretty quiet about it) that would rather have some elemental type dmg add on than poisons though I do love some of the new poison changes that give us more magic like affects aka lifetap/manatap.  I could live with some more serviceable melee, in eq1 rangers were the best at bowing but they were also a sight better at melee than they are now, but I would rather see more bow stuff since melee tweaking would prolly result in a dip on our archery side something we don't need.  I like being an archer type Ranger, but I would like to see a little more flair and breath into the class.  Assassins are the masters of shadow, stealth, poison, and killing with those tools, the entire predator path is tailored to them in a RP'ing flavor sense.  Rangers, atm, are like a hamalgimation of several different scout types with a bow, borrowing to much from teh assassin flavors and rogue flavors, leaving a somewhat less than fully fleshed Ranger flavor if you can follow my babbling.  I could live with a pet, it'd be cool on lots of levels.  I'd love to see some kind of elemental dmg factor/flavor added to our class.  I'd like to see more of a nature lined aura around my Ranger, getting back to the roots of being a Druid/Fighter hybrid bowslinging guardian of nature, rather than the Assassin with bow and some nature'ish named CA's.

[Gailstryd]

<div></div>A case and point for the more Ranger'ish Ranger would be something like our new Hawk Dive ability.  The dev's did a good job comingup with it imho.  It fits in a lot of levels the type of Ranger feel I think we need to our class.  It's not a full blown pet in any sense, but it fits the perfect Ranger.  Send in your hawk companion and have them buzz the enemy thus distracting them and aiding in your battle is something I've seen in movies and books lol and it's that kind of Ranger flavor/flair I'd like ot see infiltrate itself deeper into our class.

[Gailstryd]

<div></div><div>Keep the creative juices flowing guys, in the end it may not lead to a fix for the LU20 changes or rather a tweaking up from the too hard hit, but in all at least it could give the dev's an Idea that we feel we lack something.  I'm sure they'd appreciate a tidy list of idea's hehe rather than the chaotic jumble of feedback spread cross the black abyss known as the SOE Official Forums rofl.</div>

[Guy De Alsace]

I was never comfortable with the fact we used poisons, just didnt seem 'rangery' to me. If we could be tweaked and weaned off poisons entirely I'd be happy. A pet would be nice though.<div></div>

[Coaltar the Brown]

<div></div><p>Since this is wishlist stuff here's an idea:</p><p>After lvl20 put your first achievement point into the skill set you want to pursue</p><p>1) Animal - Skill lines that improve the ranger fluff pet into tank/caster/rogue like the summoner lines.</p><p>2) Plant - Better poison skills, heals,  snares & roots</p><p>3) Physical - Better ranged and melee skills - like the current achievements</p><p>NOTE: you would only get to choose one of these lines. Though they would be far more Character Defining than the current system.</p><p> </p><p>Powys</p><p>Spitpaw</p><p> </p><p> </p>

[Steezi]

<div></div><div>This would be a great idea for a different game. Everythings just to topsy turvey atm for me to want another complete revamp in class tho..</div>

[TaleraRis]

<span><blockquote><hr>rcknchr74 wrote:<div>I've also played a D&D ranger and especially with the advent of 3.5, the focus is a lot more on the ranger being a ranged combatant and less on being a friend of the forest type. If we're going to base our ideas on D&D, we should follow the current state of things there.</div><div> </div><div>Not what it says under the class description in 3.5 PHB and if thats the case why does 90% of a rangers spells have to do with plants and animals if we are not protectors of the forest anymore. Not that EQ2 should being trying to follow in the D&D roleplaying footsteps. It never will. No online game can compete with true roleplaying type games.</div><hr></blockquote>Don't look at spells. Really, you're not going to use them much as a D&D ranger. Take a look at the feats. There are two general paths a 3.5 ranger can go down. They can go the two-weapon fighting melee path, or they can go the uber ranged combat path. The new feats are designed with this in mind, as well as the abilities that rangers get as they level.</span><div></div>