Influx of RangersFollow

It must be me, but I seem to notice there are a lot more Rangers nowadays when compared just 1-2 months ago. Some of new rangers are associated with certain LSs, but is it a general trend want to play Rangers more nowadays...?

I used to see more monks and dark knights. I will agree Ranger are high power non-magic damage dealers, but I think a WAR/SAM, WAR/NIN, MNK/(something reasonable), SAM/RNG (<< really bad ***) are really good too.

It's not just you. An LS member did a search on various jobs and RNG almost doubled the second closest job. There were 115 rangers on at that time and 73 dark knights. That's a pretty big gap.

Hey sup SkyAngel ^^

LOL your behind the times, RNG got big with the release of CoP. It was a quick way to get through the promys, and through the other missions, as you need high power DD's for some of them.

This has been happening more than a few months now, unfortunately. I can't really say much because I'm levelling ranger myself, but for me, its only as a Subjob for my Samurai. As was stated earlier, due to the superior damage output of ranger, the fact that its much easier to make gil than it was (due to people buying from gilsellers and increased prices on certain farming items) combined with a fairly steady arrow/bolt market, more people can afford ranger. Ranger's were always great damage dealers, but the one thing holding them back was the amount of gil that it took to keep them going- most people couldn't afford it without doing massive amounts of work to keep the class going. Nowadays, though, will the above listed situations, anyone can play ranger at least fairly well. Personally, I love my Samurai and I would never drop it for ranger as a main, but due to the fact that the other DDs just can't hold up to Ranger damage, there are less party invites, which is one of the problems with the game-- people only see numbers.

Chaossoul

Edited, Fri Apr 29 07:21:14 2005 by KLGChaos

I have more to say..

I think what is going on here is the same thing that is going on with whms. Everyone eventually goes RDM or BRD cause they get alot more love/invites/praise. People can say otherwise but I don't care, I know this is true cause it's so obvious.

Melees like monk wait for a god aweful longtime, no one(except maybe me) likes Drgs, DRK has a reputation to attract some of the most egotisticle players - in general, SAM is underrated for dumbass reasons, and WAR just is out there with PLD. The biggest point of all is RNG gets invites like they are mages, pure and simple.

IMO this is why RNG might get some heat from other DD jobs cause they(the other DDs) will feel that people are only playing this job for invites. You dont have to be a RNG to be considered uber, but I'm too tired to type all about that.

I tend to be more old school, and sometimes dislike cookie-cutter tactics in beating BCNM, or people just want to get to do HNM or Gods fast. Sometimes I find conventional pts are more fun as it is more challenging, and require better pt tactics and skill (not just gil and mana buring). But I can see why people doing this, and hence the popularity of rangers or the recent rise of Black Mage parties. The best exp pts I have been in, which I have to admit, involves at least some rangers and black mages.

Some of the CoP BCs are very hard -- far harder than Zilart missions BC, which are not easy already (Jeuno Archduke and Ark Angels are bad ***). But Zilart Missions BCs are uncapped-non handicap, that makes them a lot easier. CoP BCs are defeatable with a regular pt (I beat Promvion-Holla or Diabolos with a well balanced non-high power PT), but it will require a lot of skill, planning, and luck too.

Using a high power pt makes a lot easier. We defeated Ouryu last night (got a JP invite to do that in the middle of exp pt in Gustav Tunnel -- who says Search Comments does not work o.O when I put Riverian Site #B in my comment). We just Sleep >> Therody >> Freeze and AerogaII it to death.I think towards the end of CoP BCs with the exception of the bomb one in Bearclaw Pinnacle, a more regular pt will do better (it does not mean they are easier).

As a player like myself that is relatively poor, and spend more money in buying nice reusable gear (Elemental Staves etc) and crafting over non-recylable items (like ninja tools and arrows), I will probably never level ranger.

IMO Each job has its strength, I am sure there are creative way to use certain jobs to be effective at different situations. Like a lot of lower BCNMs, going without a DRK is really dangerous as DRK is the only job that can stun consistently below level 40 (hence why DRKs are so powerful Giddeus BCNM40 and Diabolos fight). Monks are the best DD against certain type of mobs (skeleton and magic pots). Samurai on the outside may not have the high firepower as DRK, MNK or RNG; I wonder how many people on our server actually do SAM/RNG (the only NAs that I know do/did this regularly are Sonfriel, Brisk and Branwen) (yeah I cheated with that /RNG sub there ;p). SAM also being a SC master, and if teamed up with a BLM, it can be really powerful.

Dragoons and Warriors are very underrated. I personally think DRG and WARs are one of the best damage over time attackers. I do admit damage over time may not be something you want all the time (big killing blows are better against certain type of mobs).

The point is that each job has it use at different occasion. It is up to player how many times they want to get in that different occasion. It may be true Rangers are powerful in CoP missions or Sky, but there are certain cases rangers are not useful, and other jobs will preform better.

I think it is more important to play the job you like. You will find your home. If you play a job that you think getting pt is difficult, make your own PT -- it isn't that hard, and just take some basic knowledge of what jobs can bring in what, the SC combination certain jobs can do). Different jobs go up and down in popularity with time. It just may be we are in the ages of Rangers.

PS

For example, take Dynamis, when total fire power is more important than individual fire power -- damage over time may actually be better.

There are cases when hate control is important, which makes big sluggers are less attractive while gradual damage is better.

There are certain mobs in this game are much harder to tanks as a NIN or as PLD (usually fast soft hitting mobs are better tanked with a high defense PLD while slower hard hitters are better tanked with a NIN). Have a NIN to tank monk type mobs (like mandys)? It is not gonna be fun.

Edited, Fri Apr 29 12:59:24 2005 by scchan

Well, as a RNG i finally achieved a successful defeat of Ouryu. It's definately more useful to fight him when you can damage him in flight and beat through his stoneskin with harder hitting attacks. That EES shot in the very end can really save the day. many melees do not have this one shot save-the-day kill move, and even when that's not enough-- we got barrage up our sleeves, for another big blow (hopefully), other melees lack this quick last resort pimpslap abilities of this magnitude. SMNs and BLMs are the only other jobs that really can do this relatively flexible.

Also, when a mob has to be kited, HNM or God or BC monster or whatever... you know as well as I do-- you cannot hit something whne it's running around, it doesn't work. on top of that, if you pull hate meleeing, it's a lot more difficult to help the tank kite it when you're right next to it. rangers best sub IS nin, so they always have utsusemi available, on top of that, shooting from a distance 1. destroys the problem with something running from you while trying to hit it, and 2. gives you distance from the mob in case you get hate. you can run away and get a headstart to help kite.

Also, RNG attacks are consistent, not random. You aren't relying on luck to get that 1000 dmg weapon skill damage, you know you will do that barring any stoneskin/defense up abilities being on the mob. A ws on a melee can do anywhere from 200 to 800 under the same exact conditions on the same mob, so it's not as reliable. Also, while melee attacks often do 0 damage to something heavily armored (i.e. genbu) , a ranged attack deals some real damage anyways.

IT's the way SE designed the ranged attack system, when it all boils down to it.

EES sucks on Ouryu when compared to a blms Frezze, Smner 2hr. As with the next mission rngs are not a great help ethier, and god forbit the prof. warps as you hit EES. To say Rngs are not awlays favored in the Cop missions.

My Cop SP has been Blm, Rdm, Pld or War, Smn Sam and myself a Rng. Our Sam has rocked so much damage its nuts -to say we sc always!- but thats Sam right. If you filled a Blm, Smn, War -even thfs in some cases- in my spot, Yes a no Rng Cop SP! would it work? Dam rights it would!

Blm,Smn and a good tank are the Gods of Cop. Youll always need surport jobs yes - Thf to kite on River A01- mabye a Brd to keep things rolling or sleep Ouryu. Promy missions were great for Rngs. EES was still in its prime, however the promy missions are capped 30. River A01 is capped 40 and is very open to alot of jobs -who needs Rng now-. The "three forks" missions are uncapped 60-65+ job is way better then your new and upcoming rng. The influx of rngs can not be blamed on Cop, sure it boosted the influx gave it hope so to speak.

Pepole may have been unware that other jobs can be suited for Cop or even to fill a "Surport" postion, which Rng is really.

The main reason i would think, is Rngs are godly DD's, and cost alot to maintain -arrows, shadows etc.- These 2 points' gives Rngs a -upper class perspective- A felling of Pride and Respect! thats your Influx.

Jumping back a step or two.



I strongly agree. I sub THF with my WAR and I SHRED hate from PLDs and NINs. Not saying that is a good thing to do but it sure tells me that I am dealing some serious DMG. I was told by my last PT that I wasnt allowed to use Warcry while ending the SC just because I was dealing massive DMG already without it and Warcry pulls enough hate alone. But that was with a NIN tank and a PLD would be able to handle it better. So instead of the tank losing hate as I use Warcry he/she as a PLD may more likely lose it after I perform the closing WS for the SC.

That is kinda off the main subject but its great to find people who agree with you battle tactics and job setups.

As for the RNGs yes, I see many many many more now days and they are great to have in a PT and are truly nice to use on the majority mission battles and what have you. I plan to LVL up RNG myself and after gaining all the knowledge about them through sheer XPing I am quite confident that I will be a promising RNG DD.

Would like to mention the most "uber" RNG I have PTed with yet. His name is Ashell and he was ocasionally dealing DMG in the low 2000's on IT mobs when I was LVLing in The Den Of Rancor.

Gratz ˆˆ!

Off Topic:

From what I noticed, nothing can affect Ouryu when he's in the sky, only time I seen something hit him when he was in the air was Akou's EES

On Topic:
I agree, I seen a large increase in RNGs lately, I still think it's stupid how ppl only want RNGs, at 65 DRG/THF/BLM in the PT works wonders, Light SC + MB takes the mob down to usually 50% of it's HP from what I've seen

I also think it's because of the NIN SJ that RNGs have a high advantage over others, since RNGs main weapon is bows/guns/crossbows, they only use melee weapons for the accuracy bonus, and with dual weild they can easily get an advantage over hit rate compared to other jobs.

maybe it's just cos the world got richer, and some high lvls decided to restart the game as rngs. when you're literally flinging gil at the mob, where (within lvl constraints) the more gil you fling, the more overall dmg you deal, it's not hard to see why rngs are usually not the first choice for any newbie player. even the richest person could be easily paupered by selecting rng as a job. throw in the /nin, and you'd be looking at astounding numbers in gil per lvl.

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addressing another issue i'm uncomfortable with:

rdms and brds do get pt invites easier, but i fear it's partly because of the ignorance of the people who start the parties. some people wrongly believe that a rdm's refresh ability and brd's ballad would in themselves allow the pt to chain indefinitely. this is, in my experience, a misnomer, or at best a half-truth.

contrary to popular belief, whms are not redundant. even without erase, whms are by far the most-able dedicated healer in any pt. a dedicated healer implies that aside from just curing (at various appropriate lvls), and the ability to buff parties appropriately (with bar-element, bar-status, protectra, shellra), they can/must be quick with the -na spells too (within 3 secs of the status afflicted). some of the mobs in vanadi'el cause very detrimental status-ailments that only a whm of the appropriate lvl can lift easily (curse, virus).

whms also come with reraise ability post-33, and with their ability to resist some abuse (stoneskin, blink), along with their ability to sneak around unaggroed (1 less person to worry about dying). post 44, regen II is useful; post 56, raise II is a much desired ability; post 50, divine veil is another very desired ability. if the whms have the dark/light staves and juices to compliment their job (just like any magic using job should look toward having), there is relatively little downtime.

the only other job that can give a whm the run for the money (in a lesser capacity) is the rdm. however, a rdm in party as a main heal is already more risky than having a whm. the lesser the ability of the healer, the more the ability of the remaining members must be in order to make up for it.

i'm not saying that whm >> rdm at healing. nor am i implying that one job is better than the other. i'm stating that i find it depressing that some would form the basis of a party based on mere rumors instead of finding it out for themselves.

god i hope i did that right... i'm pretty new to thread posting...

anyway, i often do /sea all ___, and every time i do, there are about 45 DRG on our server at any one time.... i know i'm lookin out for my own here, but are DRG really THAT hated?... less competition for me, im 33DRG atm, but some diversity would be nice...