Is it worth the time?

[Aurora1979]

Hi guys, you wont see many posts from me in the melee section. I dont play many.... any really.

The nearest I get to a full melee is a bard, WC which I enjoy. Any time I try to roll up a fighter or barb I end up shelving and eventually deleting them before level 12...

Im just wondering though, when I first started DDO I rolled up a Human ranger which I capped at 16.

Im just wondering, how far off the pace now a days are pure rangers?

I know I wont be top DPS, thats fine I have my blue bar chars for that But serioulsy, as a melee. If I went 2wf.... maybe a half orc... probably a human. Will be with kopeshes etc. Are they still acceptable DPS?

My ranger before was pre 2wf "fix" etc so I really dont know where they stand.

My melee capable chars always end up 2HF as it just seems easier but I reallt want a whirling blades of steel type character.

Thanks for the advice in advance

[eulogy098]

Rangers are fairly low on the dps totem pole, probably the lowest of all melees (well behind Barbs , Fighters, Paladins, and Rogues for sure) even on favored enemies.

Their strengths are a bit of flexibility. Tempest rangers (with monk splash) can achieve fairly high ac (as far as ac goes in ddo... YMMV) and they still maintain the best Ranged dps of all melees (this is of come value in places like EADQ) while being able to save spell casters SP by supplying some of the most desirable buffs (resists, freedom of movement and whatnot).

Staying pure isnt very efficient, 1ro1mo18ranger is popular because you enable full ranks of UMD (rangers easily have enough skill points to max it) and wisdom to ac (rangers will be using a +6 wis item anyhow for spell casting so you may as well get the most out of the stat) but mostly the Ranger capstone does nothing for melee so taking those two splashes gives you more then you would get with 2 more ranger levels (even DPS as the rogue gives you the first dice of sneak attack as well as a +3 enhancement, this is paticularly fun on a Halfling imo).

Tempest rangers are also probably the least AP locked. They have a lot of room to play with their enhancements compared to other melees, easily allowing for things like full ranks of Halfling Cunning or Human Damage Boost or Elvan Scimitar enhancements or any other often hard to budget enhancements.

[MrChipinator]

Melee's are a difficult class to play for me as well, but having done several toons (none of them capped), I can say what I tell everyone, melees are like flowers; they need love and care and eventually they'll bloom in full force. For Barbarians, it's basically holding down the mouse until you kill something. But once you start getting Rages, Frenzies, it becomes much more rewarding to see the DPS roll across the screen.

All classes take time to do, and I will always prefer casters to melees, but that doesn't mean I don't mind hackin' n' slashin' my way through a dungeon.

To address your question, a TWF Ranger will suffer in the DPS field, because they have more stats to worry about than a TWF horc, but once geared (and perhaps TR'd) they can be as good as anyone else. Those crits on the Khopeshs are awfully nice to have on trash mobs too.

Hope it helps.

[elg582]

Rangers are good DPS; they suffer somewhat in melee, but a smart, pure ranger will pull out his bow for 20 sec every 2 minutes and do more than any haste boosted barb/fighter multiclass out there.

[vraelliott]

I'm wondering about monks and paladins. Both are melee characters, both are more active "button-smashers" than barbarians or fighters (which I think would appeal to a person who plays spell-casters more). Properly built, they're both better DPS than a ranger. Rangers are more flexible, having better ranged damage, more helpful buffs (but worse self healing than the paladin).

I greatly enjoy my melee favored soul. I haven't played him all that much, but so far he's loads of fun. Decent-good DPS with a greatsword, self-heals, buffs, etc. I play him mostly solo, but he's just as able to join groups.