It's Time for Some Ranger Love!

[Omega2K]

I play a lot of different characters... And for a change of pace, I picked up my Ranger to get her Shroud ready... Let me just say I was shocked at how slow her ranged (bow) DPS is compared to melee... Mages and Clerics are beginning to take off in the kill counts because of instant death spells and rightly so - casters should be incredibly powerful in the high levels. However, what has happened to the true ranged Ranger? Lost along the way it appears.

Four things that we should see for Rangers:

All Pet Spells should be automatically loaded and should not require one of our precious few spell slots. This is done for Cleric's Cure spells so I do not understand why a Ranger should have to sacrifice a Spell Slot for an ability they should have at all times. See the Players' Hand Book. DDO had to make it a spell so we could have pets. Fine. At least you could do is give us that Spell for free and not take away what little the Ranger has to differentiate themselves from other classes.

Secondly, it is time to increase the Ranger's Ranged DPS. I know it can be done. It used to be that way back in Beta but the Devs thought it was too powerful and gimped everyone. I am not saying that all Classes should have their Ranged DPS (Rate of Fire, etc.) increased, just the high-level Rangers (say Level 15+)... At Level 16 Ranger, I should be able to fire as fast as I can click my mouse. Point, click, shoot. Rate of Fire is our bread and butter... Why is it that I feel I have not gotten any better at it since Level 5?

Third, it would be great to have a specialized container like a Quiver to store all of our arrows. Inventory space is at a premium and when you have to carry 1500 Silver Arrows to help kill the boss at the end of The Shroud, you become very restricted on what loot you can actually pick up. Quivers should be available to all classes but they are crucial to a Ranged Combat Ranger.

Lastly, I noticed that my level 16 Ranger is only shooting three arrows at a time with Multi-Shot on... According to the Feat description it should be four. If you could correct this issue and reduce the reset timer on Multi-Shot, I would be much happier in lieu of an overall increase in ROF for Bow Combat.

Thanks for your attention to this important matter.

[Sheezgame]

As mentioned in the ranger feat thread I suggest the following:

Ranged attack speed should be increased to 90%, either for all ranged, or tie it into a ranger only class feat that we already get, or put in a new class feat to do this at a specific level. This should bring the dps up a little bit more on par with melee, but not quite as fast.


Next to increase damage a bit, change multishot to a stance where you can select how many arrows you want to fire.
2 Arrows: 80% attack speed, -2 attack on second arrow
3 Arrows: 70% attack speed, -4 attack on third arrow
4 Arrows: 60% attack speed, -6 attack on second arrow
5 Arrows: 50% attack speed, -8 attack on third arrow


The pet spell thing would be nice as well, should be easy for them to do and wouldn't be overpowered because:
a) pet's aren't that great anyway
b) pets become more useless at higher levels
c) most other ranger spells to choose from aren't that great anyway

[BlueLightBandit]

Bah, my ranger only picks up a bow when he wants to grab aggro from across the room.

Bring it closer and hack it to death with an axe. THAT, my friend, is the ranger way.

[Sheezgame]

That's exactly what a fighter would say

[GuitarHero]

like most things, i wouldn't suggest making it a (Insert Class Here) exclusive thing. ROF should be tied to your base attack bonus, plain and simple. If you have rapid shot, you should get an extra attack with a -2 to all attacks. I know it would make too much sense, but hey, what do i know?

[Qzipoun]

Bah, my ranger only picks up a bow when he wants to grab aggro from across the room.

Bring it closer and hack it to death with an axe. THAT, my friend, is the ranger way.

QFT

[Sheezgame]

If ranged was better you would pick up your bow more often @!#QFT.

@GuitarHero: Yeah that makes sense basing it off the BAB, they would just have to work out the best way to scale it. Either way I think everyone agrees it is probably too slow as it is currently.

[Strykersz]

Because if any class in the game needs more love, it's rangers.

[Mhykke]

I dunno...

My ranger loves this new mod.

[Vhlad]

It's actually really annoying for a melee when a ranger pulls aggro, because of how hard Turbine made it to hit moving mobs, and how long it takes the ranger to kill it.

In pnp you would in most cases have attacks of opportunity every time the monster leaves a square you threaten. There should be a HUGE penalty to running past a line of fighters, but the mobs in DDO beeline toward the rangers/casters without batting an eye. It USED to be easier to hit mobs when they were moving. I have no idea why Turbine changed that. It happend around mod 4, and it's one of the reasons why I play a sorc as my main now. We have dodge bonus to AC in DDO already. So, they're not "dodging".

Anyway, I agree. Speeding up the time it takes a ranger to kill something with a bow/crossbow is needed. (they're probably not going to make it any easier to hit moving targets with a melee weapon anytime soon, so if rangers could at least kill faster it would be less aggrivating).

[Elvish_Ranger]

why i agree with what most have said that ranged is deffinatly weak compared to other classes remember your not using a 100lb great axe your fireing a arrow that strikes a small part of the body, give us called shot that would make me happy, nothin like runnin into a room with improved precise on and calling a head shot everything in the way saves v death hehe but that is out of the question, the best idea i have read is increa the ROF, but do it sort of like the sorceres sp gain from items, the percent of your levels that are sorc is how much of the increase you get ie on a magi item a 5sorc/5bard gets 150 sp from it, why a 10 sorc gets 200 make the speed increase for rangers like that were if yoru pure ranger 100% increase vs the 10 fighter 6 ranger that shouls only get a 37 % increase

[Sheezgame]

Lets stand at 2 ends of the room, you with your greataxe and me with my bow. Who do you think will fall down first?

Anyhow aside from how hard things hit, we aren't looking to hit harder, just faster. Does haste actually make you fire arrows faster?

[Geonis]

Does haste actually make you fire arrows faster?

In DDO? I don't think so.

In PnP? Yes.

Yet another way a ranged character gets the shaft!

[Yaga_Nub]

like most things, i wouldn't suggest making it a (Insert Class Here) exclusive thing. ROF should be tied to your base attack bonus, plain and simple. If you have rapid shot, you should get an extra attack with a -2 to all attacks. I know it would make too much sense, but hey, what do i know?

How does that make any sense? Change a feat just to get something we already should have?

[Gol]

Let's not pretend all Rangers are broken. Ranged combat is what's broken, no matter who has the Bow out.

[GuitarHero]

How does that make any sense? Change a feat just to get something we already should have?

um, because the feat is what's supposed to give you the extra attack.... Makes sense to me.

[Yaga_Nub]

um, because the feat is what's supposed to give you the extra attack.... Makes sense to me.

The feat has nothing to do with an extra attack per se just the ability to load and fire faster (which, I know, is the "extra attack" you're speaking of). There is no reason to add -2 to the attack for having the feat.

[jmelanie7]

Alright, so every attack in the game is depending on BAB, for To-Hit and for the number of attacks, bows relate fo BAB for To-Hit, but not for the number of attacks, why? Let's say a level one ranger is grouped with a level 1 barbarian, is the a reason he attacks with his axe faster than i with my bow? NO. It should be equal, 1 attack every round, for 1 attack every round. So basically, everyone at BAB 15 should shoot at the same rate, before applying the feats. But the answer is yes, it should be faster, as fast as melee, and be affected by haste actually.

[GuitarHero]

The feat has nothing to do with an extra attack per se just the ability to load and fire faster (which, I know, is the "extra attack" you're speaking of). There is no reason to add -2 to the attack for having the feat.

Rapid Shot [General]
Prerequisites
Dex 13, Point Blank Shot.

Benefit
You can get one extra attack per round with a ranged weapon. The attack is at your highest base attack bonus, but each attack you make in that round (the extra one and the normal ones) takes a -2 penalty. You must use the full attack action to use this feat.

aye, yes, it does give you a faster rate of fire. It is SUPPOSED to be a selectable ability that gives you a faster rate of fire. Forgive me for knowing why its supposed to work....

[axebender]

please tell me this is a joke