Originally Posted by
Coyopa
Ranger archers are a lot of fun and, I have to say, they can be pretty deadly and effective even into epic levels. They're not as easy to play as people seem to think they are. Kiting doesn't necessarily mean always running away. It could mean running in circles and, in my opinion, if you're a skilled kiter, then this is what you do. When my currently 18 druid/2 ranger was pure ranger archer and when I was in a group with him, I really never kited. I never got kicked from groups for using my bow, either. I put everything I had into bow use and rarely switched to melee weapons because I could simply put out more damage with my bow, even when I was toe-to-toe with the mob. However, melee never had to chase mobs that I managed to pull to me with my bow. I've always hated it when I am on a melee and I won't do it to other people. Besides, if the mob gets all the way to me, then there's something wrong with my build or the way I'm playing it. As far as I'm concerned, my choices when the mob gets all the way to me are these:
1. Kill it fast (probably with group help)
OR
2. Die.
Seriously. If the mob gets all the way to me, melee's aren't going to have to chase it. It's either me or the monster at that point and, if I die, then I deserved to be a soul stone.
Now, the next time my character gets TR'd, will it be pure ranger? Almost certainly not and this is because I'm interested in trying different splits that use the bow. In fact, I'll probably TR back into 18 druid/2 ranger because that build was incredibly fun during heroic levels and because putting on a couple more druid past lives is desirable for me. Even once those are done, I'm interested in at least a low fighter splash and trying out being an archer in heavy armor with the Stalwart stance going. A paladin/ranger split is interesting to me from the perspective that I'd like to see how the paladin self-healing works. I'm even interested in a ranger/rogue split. We'll see what they do with fighters in the future. If that's interesting, I could see doing more than a 3 level fighter splash. Honestly, a 12 fighter split is interesting from the standpoint of adding in Greater Weapon Specialization. Now, once all that's done, I might go back to a pure ranger. I'm not sure. Depends on how much fun being a pure ranger would be, as compared to any of the other splits I'm considering. This has nothing to do with how much damage they do, either; DPS has to be fairly good, but I'm not going to squeeze every last point out, either. 80% is fine, because the last 20% costs me too much in terms of flexibility and fun.
I disagree that the "average player" can't do anything with pure ranger. I don't know how you'd rate me, but my druid/ranger character was pure ranger for 2 lives after MotU came out. That character was a ton of fun and had respectable DPS. I don't think I really did anything special with him, either. Yes, I took PBS. I did not take Shot on the Run (I know some people do and they like it; it's not for me because it provides too little benefit). Besides, I tend to stand still quite a lot, as you probably guessed. This also lets me make decent use of Archer's Focus.