Someone shoot me straight here about Rangers (in T2)

[drastix]

<span class="postbody">One class that really interested me was the Ranger...I know they've been nerfed recently, so everyone is down on them... but I've read a lotta recent posts saying stuff like "they are still very good, it just takes a little more skill to master them; but once you do, they own..."   Any truth to this, or do they just flat out suck now?  I've also read they aren't great until T3+... true?  Are they a waste of space in T2, or can they still rock out?  Should I just roll an assassin instead?Any input appreciated <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span>

[raziel205]

sry but when u are talking bout the tiers ( T1,T2,T3 etc) do u mean the original lvl tiers before RoK (i.e lvl 50-59, lvl 60-70)? or do u mean the T1,T2,T3,T4 ROK raid zones?

[Idoru]

Well if he's planning on rolling either a Ranger or an Assassin, he's probably not thinking about Rise of Kunark and being level 70+. Unless perhaps there's a raid zone called T3+ designed for players with six posts on the forum and brand new characters?Rangers below level 30 are mainly stuck in melee. Above that you'll find yourself transitioning into ranged more and more, and being more and more effective offensively. So really the major difference between Rangers and Assassins over the long haul is, do you want to melee or do you want to go at it from range?

[raziel205]

<cite>Idoru wrote:</cite><blockquote>Well if he's planning on rolling either a Ranger or an Assassin, he's probably not thinking about Rise of Kunark and being level 70+. Unless perhaps there's a raid zone called T3+ designed for players with six posts on the forum and brand new characters?</blockquote>i myself dont post often in forums but been reading them for a long time, fact that he has 6 posts or whatever doesnt mean a thing.

[Deterre]

Yeah, rangers suck until after level 30 or so.And yes, rangers are doing pretty bad right now.

[Giland]

T2 rangers aren't really rangers yet. They are still predators. You will still rely on your melee skills very heavily.I used a shield during that time to get as much avoidance as I could to keep the mobs DPS down.You are going to need to level a bit before you get your ranged damage and become a real ranger.

[Darman81]

Tough it out till 30, from then on things get much easier and a lot funner!

[Vifarc]

<cite>Be what you like. Choose the roleplay thinking.Trough the AAs, the Ranger can tank for her group, but it recquires more skill than the usual warrior.Those who say the Ranger is true only after T3 mean it becomes mainly a bowman.The real Ranger is one who can go far (trough speed&stealth), not who shoot far. But as to be fast and stealthy you must be light, you have no heavy armor, so you rely usualy on a ranged weapon.drastix wrote:</cite><blockquote><span class="postbody">One class that really interested me was the Ranger...?  I've also read they aren't great until T3+... true?  Are they a waste of space in T2, or can they still rock out?  Should I just roll an assassin instead?</span></blockquote>

[Ghostbear]

Personally I love playing the ranger even though there are some flaws that need to be worked out. I started out as a ranger, betrayed to assassin for about a year then betrayed back to ranger even after I had alot of money invested in my assassin masters. Rangers, once you start gaining a majority of your ranged attacks are fun. I live longer as a ranger than I did as an assassin because of ranged attacks than melee. I can avoid AOE's better due to ranged attacks and I can still parse up there with many assassins and can do it by the timing of abilities and auto-attacks. I would say that the only downfall of the ranger is gear and the most important piece of gear being the bow. At the moment bows are limited to just a few but with every expansion it seems to be getting better and better and I think/hope that some of the devs have started to notice.

[Redbed]

<p>I recently created a ranger less then a month ago and am having a blast.  I come from a bruiser back ground and find a lot of compatiblity to the classes.  Im just hitting my 30s so the bows just coming into play as a viable damage dealer (taking down half to 3/4ths health before they getting to me).</p><p>A lot of the same mentaility that I use as a bruiser, hit from behind, hit fast, hit hard.  Not as many stuns as a bruiser but I really like the stealth aspects.  I still like Bruising more, but Im having loads of fun as a Ranger.</p><p>Im surprised the class is able to use chain, Ive been using leather (mastercrafted) and its pretty good.  Ill switch to chain at 42 (Ebony Chain looks awsome).  </p><p>I do remember Levels 19-21 were a major hurdle.  After 22 though Ive had little problems.  I so need to start using poison, I have a good reason to go back to working my alchemist now.</p>