Celtic Heroes

There has been a lot of debate about rangers and how they compare to other classes. Perhaps we should figure out exactly what it means to be a ranger.

What Rangers Are:

1) A Ranger is a ranged attack class. We have a bow, meaning we can stand outside many of the range of many of the boss area attacks. We have several skills to use in this role, Sharp Shot, Barbed Shot, Explosive Arrow, and Steady Aim.

2) A Ranger is a Movement Support class. We slow the movement of bosses. We can slow down bosses allowing a tank to kite.

3) A Ranger is a CAN be a close melee class (h2h or spear). We are vulnerable to area attacks in this case, but do more DPS than
with our bows.

4) A Ranger is a secondary healer. Light Heal is better than Bandage Wounds, allowing us to heal tanks at bosses and in group leveling.

5) A Ranger provides damage buffs to the group. Sharpen Weapons and Defensive Spikes all help the group when leveling and when bossing.

6) Rangers hide well. Camo is now a real skill that helps when leveling and running to bosses for both ranger and group.

What Rangers are not:

1) The best DPS. I have tried every build with best gear Update 3 gear. A pure DPS Ranger will always beat out DPSed by any other class that is pure DPS. H2H, spear, or bow, it doesn't matter.

2) A solo class. Rangers do not have the armor to solo the game. I'm not talking about leveling, because every class can solo level with the right build. Bolas are ineffective to solo when so many mini bosses have ranged attacks that can hit us even when they are at a distance. IMHO, warriors are the only true solo class.

3) Tanks. We don't have the armor or buffs to be effective. I have tried Entangle, dex/vit with no strength, mountain shield, etc. Not even close to being able to tank as well as a warrior, rogue or mage.

4) Helpful at higher levels of update. Now, just like during Update 3, rangers are needed for bosses. However, as warriors and druids level, eventually everyone will start tanking bosses instead of kiting. It is already starting to happen on some of the new bosses. At that point, rangers will no longer be needed to boss.

5) Good at getting target lock. We just don't have a skill to match up against the other classes when it comes to doing a high level of damage in one hit. Rogues have Sneaky, Druids have Storm Touch, Mages have Ice Shards, and Warriors have Giant Swing. I've tested it, and yes, the other classes get lock every time with their skills.

6) Easy to play. You only get grouped by friends. Groups NEED a tank. Groups NEED healers. Groups NEED dps. As rangers aren't the best tanks, the best healers, or the best DPS, they will only get grouped if rogues and mages are not online.

Conclusion

IMHO, Rangers are truly a broken class because they just are not needed. As tanks and healers will eventually be able to overcome a boss, making the movement debuff irrelevant, rangers will not be NEEDED. As rogues and mages will out DPS a ranger, rangers are not NEEDED. The only way to fix it would be to make the Rangers the best at something that is NEEDED.

I'm not sure there is anything OTM can do to fix the class. Sad, but true. Now I need to go level my warrior.

A few words of note:

I've been playing this game for over a year. I've leveled everything 130+, taking a rogue, ranger and druid 150+ pre-update.

My main is a ranger. I love it.

I would not recommend anyone starting the game to play as a ranger. It is, by far, the worst class. Do yourself a favor, save yourself the grief, and choose another class.

Wont bother taking up the whole page with the quote.
Well Said.

Rangers are a fantastic class and I love having one to group with. Excellent support with a bit of DPS tossed in. Obviously you're welcome to your opinion but telling new people not to make a Ranger because you don't find the class appealing in the current metagame is close minded. Most people agree that they could use some buffing in the area of DPS but overall they are very welcome, especially as you mentioned with this update and the majority of bosses being bola-walked. Even when Warriors are in full Dragonlord it isn't nearly as efficient as bola walking so that is not going to change.

Edit**
'May i add Ranger is only class the cannot use any attack skills while on the mount or using other weapons (apart from spear rapid)'. I support this post 100%
Don't play a ranger. It's a use and abuse relationship.
New bosses require bolas to be taken down (some). Apart from that, rangers are hands down crap.
Would make my day if OTM would allow me to transfer my sigils to different class. That's all I had to say.

Once again one thumb, 'jack' and 'crap' are different. Please correct our role for all trades.

Rangers are a fantastic class and I love having one to group with. Excellent support with a bit of DPS tossed in. Obviously you're welcome to your opinion but telling new people not to make a Ranger because you don't find the class appealing in the current metagame is close minded. Most people agree that they could use some buffing in the area of DPS but overall they are very welcome, especially as you mentioned with this update and the majority of bosses being bola-walked. Even when Warriors are in full Dragonlord it isn't nearly as efficient as bola walking so that is not going to change.

If you find Ranger's fantastic.. And why arnt you playing it?

I think you provide a good synopsis of some of the problems facing rangers now.

Here is my experience with rangers. In update 3 I pretty much exclusively grouped rangers through most of my leveling. Their ranged attack was awesome in pulling mobs to us. Instead of running to the mob, we would make the mob come to us. In update 4, rangers are still good to level with, but I have been grouping rogues more often. The reason is that they cause more damage, and I can get the same effect of a ranger pull with shadowstrike. A rogue can teleport to a mob just as quickly as a ranger can pull a mob to them.

I think another reason rangers aren't easy to solo level at the moment is that a lot of leveling is done in the different caves in carrowmore. mobs are packed in tight, which doesn't give rangers a lot of room to bolas and run. mobs respawn fairly quick in there too, which really hampers their soloing ability because they have no room to run.

I Love My Ranger!
However, playing a Ranger effectively requires investment. I have a tremendous Light Heal (1335) when set for it but run (1288) on average, and I still burn restos like crack. I have finally found a great build that balances DPS, Heal, and Deffence.

Do I think OTM should tweak rangers a bit sure, but they never will. You have to play a ranger for the love of being a utility player.

Rangers are a fantastic class and I love having one to group with. Excellent support with a bit of DPS tossed in. Obviously you're welcome to your opinion but telling new people not to make a Ranger because you don't find the class appealing in the current metagame is close minded. Most people agree that they could use some buffing in the area of DPS but overall they are very welcome, especially as you mentioned with this update and the majority of bosses being bola-walked. Even when Warriors are in full Dragonlord it isn't nearly as efficient as bola walking so that is not going to change.

If you find Ranger's fantastic.. And why arnt you playing it?

Because I don't play alts at all and focus on making my main character the best he can be. What does that have to do with me valuing a ranger's contribution to my groups?

Well i mean you aren't useless. Tanking IS going to be dead on bigger bosses, especially hnuger or however you spell it. That guy hits hard, so bolas can be of use

OP why are you solo levelin on minibosses? lol. Rangers are the #2 solo leveling class just behind dps warriors.