A Thank You and a Query for the Devs [Archive]

Ixtril

03-16-2010, 04:50 PM

I know you Devs get pounded alot, especially by rangers, so I want to try to keep this post as postive as possible. It may be a little too sweet for my fellow rangers, to whom I apologize.I want to THANK THE DEVS, for the changes to stats and itemization, etc. in this Xpac.. TSO really was heck on rangers. During that entire expansion I ran shard zones nightly with my guild, and I don't believe I ever won my main (ranger) a single drop that could beat out what he crafted himself from shards. My alts on the otherhand benefited heavily. Now that most loot is opened up as a viable option, my Ranger's previously locked potential has really come uncorked. At present I CAN compete for T1 DPS. I fear however, that is simply because I have been more aggressive than my competitors at maximizing my DPS and over time I will be edged out.My Query is about clarification on direction of the class.On First Impression at Launch I believed we were intended to switch focus to melee, with our bow reverted to back up status.1. The equalization of stats that came with the fixed itemization revealed a clear superiority to melee over ranged in DPS.2. The new AAs for the most part lean towards melee.3. Our AOEs had the minimum range removed (THANK YOU).4. The shift to AGI as stat of focus for DPS brought our avoidance to acceptable levels to survive close quarter combat.5. STA line auto aoe attack still would only proc off melee.6. No decent new bows. Lots of nice bows for the other classes.... with the exact dmg rating of our Myth...Being more attached to high dps than the bow I set off on the path of maximizing melee DPS, with some success. First off, new weapons were needed, something as powerful as the Myths held by others. WOW they were in game. The Claws of JOJO. Its like you guys were thinking of us! A replacement Myth perfect for Rangers switching to melee! My adjustment was going quite well.Things have started to change however to indicate that WAS NOT the intended direction.1. JOJO nerfed. Still decent, but not Myth grade.2. Without the Eagle's Talon Equipped, no zero range on AOES. This led to an entire long and useless thread in the equipment forum, wherein FyreFlyte stated that the intention was that Rangers BE RANGED DPS.This leaves me scratching my head.So, in closing, thank you Devs for all your obviously hard work. I can tell that you guys have the best intentions, and have great ideas to help improve this game. I'm just getting mixed signals on what you intend for my class, and this hampers me in providing useful, constructive input in the process. Personally, I don't mind either direction... as long as I regain my rightful place as Tier 1 DPS. Changes will need to be made to achieve this goal, but they're different changes for melee vs ranged.*It'll be a cold day in heck, but its occurred to me before, and it occurs to me again. There's a once and for all fix to the ranger vs assassin and maintaining Tier1 DPS potential for the Predator Class issues. Merge them. We have too many classes anyways. The potential DPS boost would be enough to place the Predators ahead of the Rogues in DPS, as they should be. Make the choice of ranged vs melee attack one of aa selection, but both options viable. This would at least save many of my fellows the trouble of betraying. Just respec. I would just feel bad for the folks that have both flavors of Predator already. The plus for them is they could have 4 specs, rather than just 2 <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />*

Upir

03-16-2010, 07:11 PM

<cite>Ixtril wrote:</cite><blockquote>...There's a once and for all fix to the ranger vs assassin and maintaining Tier1 DPS potential for the Predator Class issues. Merge them. We have too many classes anyways...</blockquote>This statement is both amazingly true and completely ill thought out (imo) at the same time. I'll preface this by saying, it's way too far into the game to merge classes now, and if that happened, there's a good chance it would be the death of this game. You are right in the belief that yes, there probably are too many classes at this point and some could stand to be consolidated; enchanters and bards I could see easily. The part that seems pretty wrong to me is that you seem to believe it would be wise to consolidate the sub class that is arguably the most different from each other. If that were to ever happen, I'd expect rangers and assassins to be left alone.All that said, yes, there have been many changes that have benefited rangers with the expansion and I suppose it should be something to be thankful for but remember many of the same benefits landed on all the other classes as well. Some things have been fixed, many others still need addressed, it's that simple.