why a ranger?

[DavidBelari]

<p>Hi. I am a complete noob, thinking of playing as a ranger; so some questions for those who know.</p><p>why play a ranger...what is the angle or advantage?</p><p>has the ranger solo potential?</p><p>is wood elf a good race choice?</p><p>any advice?</p>

[FiveFootStep]

You should be a ranger because they are awesome! The ranger is a great solo class especially at later levels Be any race you want... Just make sure that you can make your bow shoot lazers that go pew pew pew and you'll be fine...

[Webin]

I've been laughing at that sig for a couple weeks now, FiveFootStep.  The one question I have though... what's the bell for?  Are you portraying a duel in QH? As for being a ranger... I picked the class because I like the "Aragorn" style.  A crafty, nature-oriented dude that's good with a bow.  In terms of the game, we are pretty much a ranged damage dealer (Assassins are the same, but have to stand next to the mob and get hit with Area of Effect damage).  We use lots of arrows and poisons to dispatch our enemies, and can do it very effectively providing we have a tank to keep the mobs off us.  Since we wear chain armor, we can usually survive getting hit occasionally (which mages can't), and we have enough utility to make ourselves useful both soloing and in groups. A wood elf is a fine choice for a ranger (that's what I am), but I find that it really doesn't matter which race you pick.. just choose something you like.

[gfx]

<cite>WebinKaltani wrote:</cite><blockquote>I've been laughing at that sig for a couple weeks now, FiveFootStep.  The one question I have though... what's the bell for?  Are you portraying a duel in QH? </blockquote>have you heard about the new PvP servers ? I hear people can attack eachother. Apparently, Explosivo killed someone before they got to the bell in maybe Antonica !! SHOCKER !!

[DavidBelari]

Thank you both. Think I will go ahead witha wood-elf ranger. One more question...when a mob closes to melee can I continue to use a bow, or must I switch to a melee weapon?

[Webin]

When they get within a few meters of you, your bow will tell you "Too close for ranged attack.  Move back!".   At that point, you can either pull out your sword and start stabbing, or snare them (slows the mob down), run away, and fire more arrows (that would be called Kiting). At the end of the day, a solo ranger always does "some" melee... luckily it won't kill us.

[vyxar]

<cite>DavidBelarian wrote:</cite><blockquote> Think I will go ahead witha wood-elf ranger. </blockquote> OMG , ANOTHER ONE?

[FiveFootStep]

<cite>WebinKaltani wrote:</cite><blockquote>I've been laughing at that sig for a couple weeks now, FiveFootStep.  The one question I have though... what's the bell for?  Are you portraying a duel in QH? </blockquote>Yeah, I made this sig like the week that pvp servers came out, back before there was immunity on all of the docks, so a really popular thing to do at the time was to camp on the docks and try to gank someone, and if you bit off more than you can chew (See my sig) then you would try to use the bell to zone hop away from the aggro. The good ole days....

[DavidBelari]

Thanks WebinKaltani; very helpful advice. So far my elf is ok in melee; I use double shot and then my other spell-like skills during melee; but I am still in the training area, so no idea how he will fare in the 'real' world. Takuya: Are Woodie rangers that numerous? What race/builds are rare or less numerous?

[FiveFootStep]

Yeah, wood elf rangers are prolly the most common, just because this game is full of metagaming [Removed for Content] <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Everyone's just trying to min/max their toons and that is the best race for it in the long run. An uncommon ranger would be something like a troll/ogre ranger spec'd str sta... Also David, I would plan on getting used to your toon meleeing for a bit... You don't get enough ranged attacks to be pure ranged dps until you are about level 30.

[Darkfir3]

I miss when the docks werent immune, it feels wrong not to be fighting the enemy standing next to me<img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[DavidBelari]

thanks FiveFootStep, Yes, I had my first period of extended play last night and realised I need to master melee skills. Q. am I right to think that if I use mez and then attack that breaks the mez? Where can i find a poison guide? EQ2 seems a complex game.

[Bre]

<p>  I enjoy playing a ranger for quite a few reasons, and I hope you stick it out long enough to really expierence them. Rangers when played well can be a huge asset to any group, of course when not played well you can annoy the living crap out of a tank faster than nearly anyone else though. We have the tools necessary to do our job (dps) quite well, but it is the other stuff that will make you a great player. Learn all of what your character can do, study your combat attacks and achievement abilities and use them to full advantage. Consider the following example.</p><p>Your group is in a suitably creepy spot heading towards a named you have on track. You are fighting your way there when a wanderer stumbles into the back of your group. Since you have a better vantage point of the add than the tank you see that the add has decided that the healer looks tasty. So you switch to the add, hit it with a cheap shot to stun it, pincushion it so it wants you instead of the healer, flip on your defensive stance and pull the mob to the tank. When the tank is on the new add you just use your deaggros to pass it to him and resume mob smackdown. The tank is happy for the smooth transition of aggro and the healer is happy cause he's alive. </p><p>It's just 5 seconds in gametime, but believe me, your groupmates will remember it. </p><p>Brega - 70 Ranger, Test Server</p>

[FiveFootStep]

<cite>DavidBelarian wrote:</cite><blockquote>thanks FiveFootStep, Yes, I had my first period of extended play last night and realised I need to master melee skills. Q. am I right to think that if I use mez and then attack that breaks the mez? Where can i find a poison guide? EQ2 seems a complex game. </blockquote>Yes, you are correct, every hostile spell against a mezed mob has a chance to break the mez... err, maybe its an auto break... idk, if you attack it tho, chances are its not mezzed anymore... lol You can find a poison guide here... <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=362498" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=362498</a> And yeah, EQ is a fairly complex game, but really, once you start to get the hang of it everything goes a lot smoother... The best advice I was ever given about it was that the game doesn't start until level 20... If it gets frustrating just hang in there, once the game actually starts everything will get better.

[jarlaxle8]

<cite>DavidBelarian wrote:</cite><blockquote>thanks FiveFootStep, Q. am I right to think that <span style="color: #ff3333">if I use mez </span>and then attack that breaks the mez? </blockquote>You are right that an attack will break a mez. The 'if I use a mez' part is wrong though, cause Rangers don't mez. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> You have a stun called 'Cheap Shot' and, as any stun, it won't break on an attack.

[DavidBelari]

Thanks Ryilan, your're right, stun not mez. Have a new problem now...lag or latency. last eve I tried playing but it was taking up to 15 secs for commands to transfer; eg to talk to a merchant took sometimes 10 - 15 secs. Tried some combat and only survived by luck and being a higher level than the mobs since my commands were so lagged. does the game record stats like kills and deaths etc?

[FiveFootStep]

Yes, the game records your kills and deaths, you can view them www.eq2players.com if you search for your character. How much ram do you have in your computer? 10-15 second lag shouldn't be happening, lol, If you're only running like 256 ram I'd grab a bit more, if not then I'd suggest a full file scan, and waiting a bit to see if it clears up. We just had a major live update and that messes with the servers every now and then.

[DavidBelari]

Hi, I will try the file scan...thats on the launcher? maybe its my internet. It's a wireless service a friend loaned me while he's away. maybe I should get land-line broadband. this is my first time on-line from home. so far I have liked the game and want to get into it. D.

[DavidBelari]

PS have 1g of ram and a gforce6600; set the graphics in-game to high performance, so I dont think its my computer or a graghics problem. For instance the pcs and npc jump from place to place. If I run from one zone to another it can take several secs for the locals to begin to show up on screen. Combat is impossible. Any other suggestions?

[FiveFootStep]

Yeah, when you open the launcher right under the big play button should be a full file scan option, if that doesn't solve your problem I would take it over to the technical support forums or maybe file a /petition in game

[Kalvaine]

<cite>DavidBelarian wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hi, I will try the file scan...thats on the launcher? maybe its my internet. It's a wireless service a friend loaned me while he's away. maybe I should get land-line broadband. this is my first time on-line from home. so far I have liked the game and want to get into it. D.</blockquote><p>Yeah, I would definitely have to agree with you that that kind of internet service is not conducive (sp), to online gaming. I use Verizon Wireless Broadband at work and am pulling my hair out half the time because of constant connection issues. I can't imagine running EQ2 on it.</p><p>Although, after the update yesterday I was experiencing more lag than normal. Occasional 3 to 4 second delays. </p>

[FiveFootStep]

<cite>DavidBelarian wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hi, I will try the file scan...thats on the launcher? maybe its my internet. It's a wireless service a friend loaned me while he's away. maybe I should get land-line broadband. this is my first time on-line from home. so far I have liked the game and want to get into it. D.</blockquote>Wow... I'n not sure how I missed this... But yes, I also was on a wireless connection until about a week ago, and it was horrid, the bad times I could get up to a 10 second delay on everything, and the worse times I would log in and then my connection would drop too low to handle EQ2 and it would drop me to char select... was horrid for raiding <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> My raid leaders yells a lot /mood sad

[DavidBelari]

That's it...will have to get a different service. At moment if Iwant to talk or attack or harvest it takes up to 10secs+ for the action to happen. I can imagine how you would be the bane of raid leaders with that kind of lag. Your party could be getting hit hard and you wouldn't even know...or you would target a mob that was already dead! Did a full file scan but no change. I cannot play the game properly for now, but I guess I can spend some time investigating the initial zones and learning some of the game mechanics, so that when I have a better service I will be ready. Just had a thought...what about different servers? can I create a new character and try a different server?

[Kalvaine]

No matter what server you switch to, the lag problem lies at your end, not Sony's. Not sure what part of the country you're in, but most areas have DSL service pretty cheap. I think AT&T/SBC starts packages at like $15/month.

[FiveFootStep]

I doubt that a different server will be any help, but hey, it's worth a shot right? And yes, raiding was horrid... lol, Like at times I would get up to 20 second vent lag, so on a contested mob pvp would show up and they would call for an evac and I'd just keep sitting there shooting the mob untill my group was the last one there lol, and then we died to the x4 of pvp <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> And I cant count the number of times that like vent was lagging and Id hear lets go in 20 seconds after they said it so I ran into the next room lol... On the bright side they learned very quickly not to make me the MA <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[DavidBelari]

tried another server...even worse...nearly 20secs to talk to an npc! Oh well, that's it I guess...frustrating! Couple of nights ago lag was ok and I was able to do combat, so I can always try it from time to time. I am in Dublin Ireland by the way.

[FiveFootStep]

Yeah, some days it's better than others, I would just keep checking back every now and then. GL with the connection issues... Hope you get it all sorted out <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[DavidBelari]

Well today I got a new wireless service (dont have a landline at min) that has a higher capacity than the old one and it seems to be doing the trick. Lag of a second or three but very playable, so I just have to finish off the last bits and pieces of the tutorial quests and its off to Qeynos...fingers crossed! Maybe our adventuring paths will cross along the way! Q. how does one distinguish between the various expansions; do they have unique story lines etc? do you need to start a new character to get into them? I have the desert of flames, kingdom of sky and faydwer expansions...all came in one pack. When I get to Qeynos will I be starting the origional game, or what? Are there any easter eggs in the tutorial? Thanks for all the helpfull chat, D.

[FiveFootStep]

Yeah, the three expansions just give you access to different zones, you won't need to start a new toon or anything. And to be honest, the tutorial doesn't really have anything in it to make it worth doing other than just showing you how to run and talk to people <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> What server are you going to be on?

[Webin]

The expansions work as "areas" of the world.  When you get to Qeynos, that's in the base, original content (or old world as some call it).  You'll find a flying carpet in Qeynos Harbor that will take you down to the Sinking Sands, part of the Desert of Flames (though everything is that expansion is be geared to players level 40 or higher, and would be dangerous to explore much).  There are "spires" to Kingdom of Sky in various zones around Norrath (The one in Antonica is closest), and boats leave every few minutes from the docks in Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest to take you to Faydwer (where there is plenty of low level content available).  You can move your character freely between all these areas since you have the expansions, but while you are still getting into the game, you will be plenty happy staying in the Qeynos area.  There's lots to do, and lots to explore... Antonica, the Qeynos Sewers, The Caves, Forest Ruins, Oakmyst....   The great thing about Everquest 2 is there's always something new to experience. Sounds exciting, eh?

[DavidBelari]

Is there a central storyline like in Morrowind, or just lots of different areas and quests to explore? Been playing the last of the tutoral and thus far no lag. Strangely my new service is slower pulling up internet sites and Google just refused me access because I looked like a virus! check that out tomorrow. My toon is on runnyeye. Are toons server specific, or can they be switched around? what server are you on? what's your toon's name? Mine is Athis.

[FiveFootStep]

I'm Explosivo on the Nagafen server, and yes, your toon is server specific so you can't just swap from server to server. And yes, there's a huge story line... lol, if you'll go check out the history and lore section of these forums you can find it... and you can find enough of it to make you never want to read again...