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Kroonerr

03-18-2010, 12:10 PM

Ok- I've read all the threads on rangers being broken and all, but I was an eq1 ranger for 8+ years and I just can't help myself so I've started lvling one up here. Call me a glutton for punishment, but at least I'm only doing it because so far I am enjoying playing the class and I don't have any raid aspirations. Maybe by the time I do, they'll have made some fixes.That being said, I just had a couple questions:<ul><li>AA - I've had my slider set to 50% since lvl 12 and currently am lvl 29 with 35AA. Is there a point of diminishing returns on AA where it would just make more sense to put the slider to 0% and lvl to 90? I'm not in a rush to 90, and being that AA are slower at max lvl I'd rather just get more questing done now when there is plenty of content. But, is there a point where a ranger has all the "critical" AA that make the difference, i.e. 100AA? 150? 200? Just curious.</li><li>Gear - I've got lvl 12 MC at the moment, but am planning to upgrade to lvl 32 when I get there. Just bought a Stormhold bow (lvl 2<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" /> and will upgrade weapons again when I hit 30+. The main thing I seem to be lacking is a haste item- any suggestions for an item at lower lvl or do I need to get to 40+ when I can get FBSS or something better? I know I'll grab some T1 shard gloves when I hit 80 but that's a ways down the road.</li><li>Arrows - how much of an impact on dps do they have? I'm still using lvl 10 Iron Bodkin arrows because I've only got WW up to lvl 21ish and can't make the next tier yet. Should I be prioritizing this more?</li><li>Levitation - one thing I miss from my DE toon is Hover. Suggestions for levitation items for when I get in a pinch? Safe fall training is going well, but that only goes so far. =)</li><li>When soloing, ranged fighting doesn't seem realistic except for doing an opening volley/CA while the mob charges. I've tried doing some snare/rooting to get space and it is moderately effective but root especially doesn't seem to stick very well. Is this normal for this level or is there something I'm missing? I'm pretty much keeping all my spells at Adept level. I like doing melee as well so don't mind finishing fights that way, but against ^ and ^^ mobs sometimes I just can't go toe to toe and need to back out.</li></ul>Thoughts on any/all of the above are appreciated!* EDIT *One more question regarding dual weild- what should I be looking for in weapon ratio's/delay? In eq1 it was always put the faster delay in main hand, then they tweeked things and it ended up just being put your best ratio in main hand. Someone told me in eq2 that you want to have weapons with identical delay? What's bigger priority- same delay or just best ratio's you can get?I notice sometimes while meleeing that my melee bar "pauses" at the end of a cycle before I swing. Not sure if that's lag or if there is a delay being caused by my delays? I think my main hand has 1.7 delay and offhand is 1.6.

Chanson

03-18-2010, 12:38 PM

I started my ranger long before AAs were introduced, and haven't played much since I started playing my dirge more often, therefore I'm pretty far behind on AAs at the moment (sitting around 150 AA at level 80). So with that being said, I'll try to offer some advice.1) There are some really nice AA's you can get, such as Ranged Mastery at the end of the Shadow tree. However, you can only put 50 points in to the predator tree and 50 points in to the ranger tree until you hit level 70. You can only put 60 points in to the shadow tree until you hit level 81. So you gain no benefit from having more than 160 AA points before level 70. You can earn more than 160 AA, you just can't spend them.2) Mastercrafted gear is pretty powerful, and rare wood is generally quite reasonable in price for having a bow made. I don't think there are a lot of haste items at that low a level. There is a level 45 HQ that gives a waist item with 15 haste.3) I think they've recently changed it that arrows can be within 20 levels of the bow without any negative effects. However going with higher tier arrows will give you the extra bonuses. I can't quantify how much of a benefit you would gain, but they shouldn't be too expensive to buy at that low of a level.4) You'll see a huge improvement to soloing when you get snaring shot at level 44. I can't really offer advice on this except to stick it out until you hit 44.5) The general rule is that slower weapons are better due to the extra damage a crit will do as well as allowing more time to cast between swings so that the swings aren't delayed. This isn't as much of an issue when you high end as your auto-attacks will be bow attacks, but at your level and even more so when solo, you'll want them slow and the same speed.6) The delay may have been caused by you using a combat art. Swings will be delayed until the combat art is finished, one of the reasons to have a longer delay weapon.I'm sure there are rangers who are much more knowledgable than I and can give better feedback. In the meantime I hope this helps.

Nevao

03-18-2010, 12:51 PM

<cite>Kroonerr wrote:</cite><blockquote>Ok- I've read all the threads on rangers being broken and all, but I was an eq1 ranger for 8+ years and I just can't help myself so I've started lvling one up here. Call me a glutton for punishment, but at least I'm only doing it because so far I am enjoying playing the class and I don't have any raid aspirations. Maybe by the time I do, they'll have made some fixes.That being said, I just had a couple questions:<ul><li>AA - I've had my slider set to 50% since lvl 12 and currently am lvl 29 with 35AA. Is there a point of diminishing returns on AA where it would just make more sense to put the slider to 0% and lvl to 90? I'm not in a rush to 90, and being that AA are slower at max lvl I'd rather just get more questing done now when there is plenty of content. But, is there a point where a ranger has all the "critical" AA that make the difference, i.e. 100AA? 150? 200? Just curious.<ul><li>Probably the two biggest increases you can get at your level are to finish off the Poise in the Predator tree to lower your cast times and Conseravation in the Ranger tree to get the increase poison "tics". These will not make a "critical" difference but they do make day-to-day life easier especially if you're not in a hurry to level. Personally I'd leave it at 50 or even up to 100. There's enough content to level you off of Quest XP alone, at least through the lower to mid levels. As for Critical that will be around 184 (where you get Explosive Arrow and Ranged Master) and then again around 206 when you can get your Auto Attack increased (can't remember the name of the AA but it's one of the new ones, and Arrow Barrage). But all of those are also tied to level requirements so enjoy the ride for now =)</li></ul></li><li>Gear - I've got lvl 12 MC at the moment, but am planning to upgrade to lvl 32 when I get there. Just bought a Stormhold bow (lvl 2<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" /> and will upgrade weapons again when I hit 30+. The main thing I seem to be lacking is a haste item- any suggestions for an item at lower lvl or do I need to get to 40+ when I can get FBSS or something better? I know I'll grab some T1 shard gloves when I hit 80 but that's a ways down the road.<ul><li>At the lower levels the only real options I'm aware of are adornments. You really do not start seeing non-fabled haste items until the later tiers.</li></ul></li><li>Arrows - how much of an impact on dps do they have? I'm still using lvl 10 Iron Bodkin arrows because I've only got WW up to lvl 21ish and can't make the next tier yet. Should I be prioritizing this more?<ul><li>First of all, switch to Field Point arrows. The higher hit % more than makes up for the lower damage. It doesn't matter how hard they hit for if they don't hit. That said you have a 20 level "allowance" between bow level and arrow level. If you go further than that you do significantly less damage so you're probably ok at the moment but I would start paying closer attention to bow/arrow level combos.</li></ul></li><li>Levitation - one thing I miss from my DE toon is Hover. Suggestions for levitation items for when I get in a pinch? Safe fall training is going well, but that only goes so far. =)<ul><li>If you're lucky you can get some "Featherfall" type items from LON that prevent damage and slow your fall, but there are not true EQ/Vanguard style levitates. The soonest you can get a non "purchased" item that I can think of is the new cloud quest in KoS that will give you a 45% speed mount. The other option is to pick a race with that ability native (Fae/Arasai/High Elf/Dark Elf/Erudite).</li></ul></li><li>When soloing, ranged fighting doesn't seem realistic except for doing an opening volley/CA while the mob charges. I've tried doing some snare/rooting to get space and it is moderately effective but root especially doesn't seem to stick very well. Is this normal for this level or is there something I'm missing? I'm pretty much keeping all my spells at Adept level. I like doing melee as well so don't mind finishing fights that way, but against ^ and ^^ mobs sometimes I just can't go toe to toe and need to back out.<ul><li>For your level yes, you're going to have to melee. When you hit mid 40s you'll get Snare Shot which helps and Fettering Poisons will help as well allowing you to kite more effectively. The grand daddy of all solutions is your epic bow which has a 0 range, but even then that's only really good through T8 as it's the only bow with 0 range.</li></ul></li></ul>Thoughts on any/all of the above are appreciated!* EDIT *One more question regarding dual weild- what should I be looking for in weapon ratio's/delay? In eq1 it was always put the faster delay in main hand, then they tweeked things and it ended up just being put your best ratio in main hand. Someone told me in eq2 that you want to have weapons with identical delay? What's bigger priority- same delay or just best ratio's you can get?<ul><li>Look for 4 second delay weapons (you want them to match speed) with the highest max damage possible. While leveling I like to make sure I have a piercing and slashing weapon to make leveling up those skills easier.</li></ul>I notice sometimes while meleeing that my melee bar "pauses" at the end of a cycle before I swing. Not sure if that's lag or if there is a delay being caused by my delays? I think my main hand has 1.7 delay and offhand is 1.6.<ul><li>The melee bar does sometimes lag. It's also possible that you were casting something and it pushed Auto Attack back. This problem is alleviated some by using higher delay weapons which allow for easier timing of Auto Attack/Combart Art castings.</li></ul></blockquote>

Kroonerr

03-18-2010, 02:42 PM

Thanks for the responses so far!So it looks like I need to keep working on tradeskills or be forced to buy arrows at higher levels? I'll have to look at prices on them since tradeskilling can be a painful misery to me at times. =)

bryan4171

03-18-2010, 03:27 PM

Nice answer its nice to see people get helped, especially with our class state. Bring up some new blood!!

Nevao

03-18-2010, 03:33 PM

<cite>Kroonerr wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thanks for the responses so far!So it looks like I need to keep working on tradeskills or be forced to buy arrows at higher levels? I'll have to look at prices on them since tradeskilling can be a painful misery to me at times. =)</blockquote>Pretty much . I leveled to 80 without any significant time spent on Tradeskilling and instead bought arrows off the broker. Depending on tier and server it's usually not to bad, especially if you have Conservation (that way you're not spending as much on poisons). Right before the expansion came out I spent three weeks (well really weekends) getting my Woodworker to 80 so I could make arrows this expansion. It's nice to be able to make them myself (the cost are about half on Oasis) but it is time consuming so depending on what's going on I'm just as likely to go buy more as make more.