Ok...what happened...I'm baffled!

[Kaleyen]

In my 40s I had no trouble finding a group and I was considered a DPS machine...I get 50 a week and a half ago and I've only found two groups, of which everything but the healers and guardians out DPS' me (Guard did once or twice).It's almost like I have to really boast about my damage that I'm not doing in groups so others at least think I'm doing heavy damage when in reality I think the Mystic pet is whoopin me in that department!<div></div>

[illum]

<div></div>it's called LU#20 and how the ranger got the shaft...sony did a bandaid fix, but the fix isn't that great...just so so.

[Sirlutt]

its the basic reason why alot of lower rangers didnt think the nerf was that bad.. it really hit the 50+ crowd alot more than the lower levels.you'll need to change your play style and use alot of coin to keep up<div></div>

[Kaleyen]

<span><blockquote><hr>Sirlutt wrote:its the basic reason why alot of lower rangers didnt think the nerf was that bad.. it really hit the 50+ crowd alot more than the lower levels.you'll need to change your play style and use alot of coin to keep up<div></div><hr></blockquote>Yeah, in my 40s I could maintain a DPS with any wizzy/assassin/swashy in my group, we'd go back and forth per encounter for who was top dog of the fight (which it should be).  But I hit 50 and BAM, I fall way behind the wagon of DPS, when I was 48 I bought the Master I of the Makeshift Arrows so I wouldn't have to buy any (summons 60 at a time), it helps but I'm thinking I may now need to drop some massive coin to buy better arrows and keep up with the poisons.</span><div></div>

[Jayad]

<div></div><div>I remember at level 60 when LU20 came out, I dropped from ~800-1000 dps to 300.  After adjusting my playing style and equipment I can do about 400-500 with bursts to ~600-650 in groups at level 63 after our "fix".  This is with mostly legendary/rare gear and adept3s!  I'm sure there are still things I need to learn about the class but it's really quite sad.  Brawlers beat me out in dps quite regularly.  I dont' have a chance against a decent necro or conjuror.  Rogues do better, and assassins are where we should be at ~800-1200 dps.  I won't even get into sorcerors, who are also lower than they should be but do better than we do. </div><div> </div><div>The fix did bump us a little bit but not nearly enough.  I think one of the main problems with Rangers is our cast time is so long compared to the damage we do.  A ranged CA takes 1-3 seconds to cast and the damage just isn't so high.  Also I think triple fire is a huge issue, the damage potential of the triple shots is just sad now.</div><div> </div><div>I think 50+ groups realize we're somewhat gimped now and tend to invite Rangers less.  Since our "fix" I've had an easier time getting groups.</div>

[Fennir]

quote from an all lvl 70 pickup raid's ventrilo last night after i crashed and wasn't invited into the raid fast enough for the next kill:"why is this mob dying so slow?"<div></div>

[Saihung23]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Fennir wrote:quote from an all lvl 70 pickup raid's ventrilo last night after i crashed and wasn't invited into the raid fast enough for the next kill:"why is this mob dying so slow?"<div></div><hr></blockquote>[Removed for Content]

[Fennir]

i did parse the raid, and while i was #1 dps pretty often, the overall parse of the ~75 minutes or so actually had the zerker coming out on top of me by 10 DPSto be fair, though, it was a very well played zerker and he was offtanking with full raid buffs (blade chime was a good 5% of his DPS).   the swashy was #3 overall but the three of us shared the top spots most of the time<div></div>the summoners on the raid had pets doing respectable damage, but the owners damage was really sub-par compared to what i've seen from well played summoners.oh and i was in a garbage group with no proc buffs or STR buffs

[Kaleyen]

Had the freakin Paladin...or was it a Guardian...I can't remember, anyways had him yelling at me the other night that I'm not doing as much damage as I should and I suck at playing a Ranger.  Course he called himself the best tank in the world and said he hasn't played EQ2 in 3 months.Someone tell me if I'm doing something wrong here...Using the summoned arrows (can't remember the skil name) + whatever poison I just bought off the broker.When I first engage a mob I start with auto range attack, let it do 1-2 hits then use the CA that does hate gain to whomever the mob has targeted (again can't remember the name of the CA) then use a high damage attack like Hidden Fire or Storm of Arrows (I use Storm on single targets), then kind of go down my CA list while not pulling agro from the main tank.<div></div>

[Fennir]

rangers at certain levels get screwed because you're summoning arrows a tier below you50+ you need all indium arrows, at least an imbued ironwood longbow, and a high DD poison to be efficient DPS at this point.  autoattack is a much larger percentage of our DPS than it used to be, and poisons are still very important.<div></div>

[Kaleyen]

My gear is the level 50 pristine cobalt minus the fabled that I wear, bow is the pristine imbued ironwood, all jewelery is vanaduim(sp?) stuff.  Most CA's are Master I's and Adept III's...if I'm struggling can't imagine what the 50s Ranger with Adept I's and the common T6 stuff.<div></div>

[Saihung23]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Kaleyen wrote:My gear is the level 50 pristine cobalt minus the fabled that I wear, bow is the pristine imbued ironwood, all jewelery is vanaduim(sp?) stuff.  Most CA's are Master I's and Adept III's...if I'm struggling can't imagine what the 50s Ranger with Adept I's and the common T6 stuff.<div></div><hr></blockquote><p>Well...we're not grouping as much as we want to...thats one thing hehe.  I dont understand why our summon arrows doesnt summon the appropriate tier....never made any sense....</p><p>que sera sera</p><p>Saihung</p>

[Crychtonn]

<div></div><p>You biggest problem as Tobias pointed out is your using sub par arrows.  Your Backup Quiver is summoning T5 fulginate arrows and you need to be using T6 indium arrows.  The horrible truth you'll need to accept is from L50 - L61 you'll need to either do poor damage or pay out the [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] an buy 100% of your arrows.</p><p>There is no makeshift arrow skill for T6 indium arrows other then your tear skill that will only summon one at a time.  You'll get your next summon arrow skill at 62 to summon T7 adamantine arrows.  Until then you are pretty much screwed unless SOE gets off their [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] as does something.</p><p> </p>

[Ranja]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Kaleyen wrote:Had the freakin Paladin...or was it a Guardian...I can't remember, anyways had him yelling at me the other night that I'm not doing as much damage as I should and I suck at playing a Ranger.  Course he called himself the best tank in the world and said he hasn't played EQ2 in 3 months.Someone tell me if I'm doing something wrong here...Using the summoned arrows (can't remember the skil name) + whatever poison I just bought off the broker.<strong>When I first engage a mob I start with auto range attack, let it do 1-2 hits then use the CA that does hate gain to whomever the mob has targeted (again can't remember the name of the CA) </strong>then use a high damage attack like Hidden Fire or Storm of Arrows (I use Storm on single targets), then kind of go down my CA list while not pulling agro from the main tank.<div></div><hr></blockquote><p>I ahve bolded the part that I think is adversly affecting your DPS. Pre LU-20 this was important or you would rip aggro. Now with our reduced damage and with primal agility up there is no reason you cannot rip into the mob immediately. At least do it the fiirst couple of tiems and see if you pull aggro and then back off. I find that as long as I am running primal agility it is almost impossible for me to pull aggro. I have tested this by using Storm on the pull immediately and still do not pull aggro. So, I would adjust your tactics a little so you are not waiting 14 secs to do auto-attack before you open up. Maybe start of with longshank/direblade. Or even precise or triple - even these at the outset probably won't pull aggro of a good tank. And if you do pull aggro you can shut him up about yapping about being the best tank.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

[Infinity0]

<div></div><span>Settle down son, just try doing a few of those quests your level and you will see something and I assure you it will not be pleasant.  I have been in your level bracket for sometime now, and noticed the exact same problem.  Does SOE beta test these [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn]ing changes before they go live?<span>  </span>The first thing I did was upgrade my equipment, instead of focusing on AGI went heavy STR.  This allowed me to out dps a handful of Monks and Bruisers instead of fighting with Shadow Knights and Paladins for dps.  A few higher level Rangers on my server said it gets a little better level 65+, but they admitted they spent allot of time getting ahead of most with AA's points so it is only a matter of time before everyone else catches up with their points.To add insult to injury I was finally able to reach the appropriate level to gain the Stream of Arrows combat art. I was so full with glee, I felt like Al Bundy when Peg cooked him a meal.  I even had the guild Jeweller make me an adept 3 version of Stream of Arrows, I figured money well spent This is suppose to be the Ranger version of Ice Comet right?  Now I would of discussed this matter with some of my fellow guild Rangers. Guess what *NONE* of them play anymore since LU20 was released. I am the only dam Ranger left in my guild.   As a young Ranger, I fondly remember the high level Rangers in my guild boasting about Stream of Arrows FTW!~!~ am I right? To the OP I won't spoil the fun surprise of getting your awesome damage COA, which resembles the secound coming.</span><div></div>

[Serakk]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Infinity0 wrote:<div></div><span>Settle down son, just try doing a few of those quests your level and you will see something and I assure you it will not be pleasant.  I have been in your level bracket for sometime now, and noticed the exact same problem.  Does SOE beta test these [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn]ing changes before they go live?<span>  </span>The first thing I did was upgrade my equipment, instead of focusing on AGI went heavy STR.  This allowed me to out dps a handful of Monks and Bruisers instead of fighting with Shadow Knights and Paladins for dps.  A few higher level Rangers on my server said it gets a little better level 65+, but they admitted they spent allot of time getting ahead of most with AA's points so it is only a matter of time before everyone else catches up with their points.To add insult to injury I was finally able to reach the appropriate level to gain the Stream of Arrows combat art. I was so full with glee, I felt like Al Bundy when Peg cooked him a meal.  I even had the guild Jeweller make me an adept 3 version of Stream of Arrows, I figured money well spent This is suppose to be the Ranger version of Ice Comet right?  Now I would of discussed this matter with some of my fellow guild Rangers. Guess what *NONE* of them play anymore since LU20 was released. I am the only dam Ranger left in my guild.   As a young Ranger, I fondly remember the high level Rangers in my guild boasting about <strong><font color="#ff0033">Stream of Arrows FTW!~!~ am I right? To the OP I won't spoil the fun surprise of getting your awesome damage COA, which resembles the secound coming.</font></strong></span><div></div><hr></blockquote><p>Have they fixed SoA? mine has been missing from my hotbar for so long it showed up on the back of a milk carton</p><p>To the OP,Debuff the heck out of the mob,with the two we have ,you will get forester's noose at 51 and the other which you should have now Snipe ,use those and lay into the mob believe it or not the debuffs really do help. As most have already said be prepared to put out some coin on Tier equivalent arrows/poison ,Adeste's is still awesome for DD poison and if you are soloing get some phantasmic visions,Stun poison that used to be godly,drop a mob before it got to you if the stun proc's went off for you.</p>

[USAFJeeper]

<div>A large part of 65+ rangers doing better is the crits from the AE.  I am living proof of that I have moved back toward the top, not the top and its cause I am critting like a mad man on regular bow shots.  Hit once for 4500 on a bow shot ( think DPS mod and focus were running).  I Have even used the machine gun (Stream of Arrows) a few times and with crits it does decent damage, not like before and I still lose DPS unless I get lucky on crit rolls but it is not totally useless anymore to me.</div><div> </div><div>I think my complaint is it took me maxing ranged crits to get my mojo back...</div><div> </div><div> </div>

[Mirdo]

I would love to see 10-20 seconds shaved off the reuse timer for the focus line - that would even out damage a little. Right now with focus up I tend to get large damage spikes. I would prefer to see a more constant and even damag output. Maybe some Rangers using better tactics are achieveing this but I hate the spikyness of my damage right now.Mirdo.<div></div>

[Kaleyen]

As much as I'd love to be able to buy thousands of stacks of T6 arrows, I just can't afford that.  Have Backup Quiver Master I so Fulginate is the best arrow I'll be using for awhile.  And yes I did buy a stack of T6 arrows and noticed a huge difference on range auto attack damage.<div></div>

[gribuz]

Just came back to EQ2 after 3 month break and i haven't really noticed any difference in the DPS. I did manage to steal aggro alot in PoF last night heh i was proud <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Had a 58 bruiser as tank and some wizzys in group. My ranger is 54

[Kaleyen]

Was on my Monk the other night (Ding 63 btw!) and I was doing more damage the the Ranger per encounter 85% of the time give or take.  Granted this Ranger was really lazy and not doing much (being a Ranger now I know when scouts are slacking off).Oh yeah to my point, because of the cost of arrows I don't think I'll be purchasing them for my level anytime soon.  The sheer cost it would be to me to group everynight is too overwhelming.  I put my gold into the poisons instead since they seem to last me a bit longer then a few thousand arrows.<div></div>

[Crychtonn]

<div></div>Kaleyen there is a good thread over in the Combat forums regarding arrow costs.  You should go check it out and maybe post in it.  Be good to get some posts from some lower level rangers showing the issues they have with arrows.

[Kaleyen]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Crychtonn wrote:<div></div>Kaleyen there is a good thread over in the Combat forums regarding arrow costs.  You should go check it out and maybe post in it.  Be good to get some posts from some lower level rangers showing the issues they have with arrows.<hr></blockquote>I'll be sure to do that, because of right now, I can't afford to buy stacks after stacks of T6 arrows so I can be Teir 2 DPS.</span></div>

[StealthM0]

<DIV>A few things....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dont know the level but in tier 6 you get a ability named snipers shot. Bump this out to adept 3 or master 1 asap. I refer to it as a rangers nuke. it does mega dps (3k-6k+ in one hit). Which is in line with other classes (anti-nerf statement).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And find the most uber DD poison you can find (I use trans. adestes disruption), couple it with a NICE vs. poison debuff poison like trans. bite of the shissar, and throw in a trans. phantasmic visions. Those three poisons right there will raise your dps considerably. The last one tends to stun a target in place. Also don't forget about your thorny trap line, while it is problematic I have been able to root triple up heroic mobs with it at adept 3.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Far as arrows, I have used makeshift fulginate throughout tier 6 (I am cheap yes), but I have stacks of cobalt arrows for raids/named/soloing things I shouldnt be (not so cheap). I have found this is a nice way to start a solo encounter off.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First off defensive stance is at ad3. So thats a big boost to avoidance (agi +57), although I am sacrificing some piercing/etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I stealth, I set thorny trap, I line the target up with it, I use snipers shot, debilitating arrow, triple, then the one that slows the mob (not culling that requires a non frontal, the other one). Now if I'm doing mobs I swap out snipers for the upgraded spring/pouncing attack line, then storm of arrows, then debilitating, etc. (Use your mob wide AoE attacks cause you can get a proc on the entire mob at least TWICE in an encounter)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thats what I do soloing. For especially tough encounters I carry an imbued ironwood round shield and a 1h imbued cobalt sword, give me that little bit o extra defense needed to take a beating but still live.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Far as grouping, assist on MT and let fly your high dmg ca's, make sure primal agility is up, and use agro debuffs after your major dmg ca's. I rarely pull agro anymore, unless I got a bad tank.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And this I will say but I pray devs reading this dont take it wrong. I play tank in groups as needed using these same methods (not raid mobs mind you (In tier 6 anyway)). </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Note: tanking dreadwake nekkid at 55 was fun</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <P>Tier 7 is another beast entirely, from what I've seen of gear so far tier 7 is junk.</P><p>Message Edited by StealthM0de on <span class=date_text>04-11-2006</span> <span class=time_text>08:04 AM</span>