Suggestions for Ranger (please test on Blight TY.)
I've read so many forum posts in the past few days and they all seem to be falling into madness each time. What's up with y'all? We gotta be friendly. This is our game we're taking care of, as a community.
Now disclaimer: I'm not max level yet. I'm only around level 50, but I've been thinking...
The problem: Ranger had a lot of potential with stun-chaining, but the fact is, removing that ability or making it harder to trigger the ability makes Ranger useless in some scenarios/more difficult to play. We need to find other ways to make Ranger appealing besides just stun chaining. I find Ranger appealing because of the arrow buffs, it's passives, and it's ability to use Cloak of Thorns, but even so, Cloak of Thorns honestly should not be one of the main reasons I find Ranger appealing, because Druid can use that ability, and Ranger is, well, ranged, but it is a viable ability nonetheless.
The arrow buffs are fun to play with, but most of us just use Lightning Arrows (or Spirit Arrows, in some cases sh). Why? It's useful. In fact, it's way more useful than all of the other arrow buffs, especially before Surthiem was stun immune. It was so useful that our dev friends decided to nerf it, which made some of our Ranger players angry, as is expected.
Interestingly, if Lightning Arrows only affects special abilities, why don't the other arrow buffs do? Unless I happened to miss it or mistake the update notes, I find that kind of weird. It's almost as if they're negligible and don't require a balancing nerf along with Lightning Arrows because they're already pretty useless... oh wait.
Until I find a usage for Flame Arrows, a usage for Ice Arrows besides Surthiem (when not using Lightning Arrows), and when the time comes that I can't decide between Spirit Arrows and Lightning Arrows (besides mobs that resist nature), I will keep using Lightning Arrows, and I will keep saying that Lightning Arrows is the main reason Rangers maintain their dignity as a "strong" or "useful" Bowman, when that very ability is the only viable ability to carry the class throughout the world (again, feel free to challenge this idea, I'm not fully experienced, but I do see the potential in this ability comparatively to the others). Even so, 50% proc chance is a gamble on its own. It either procs a lot, or very little. Then we take into account temporary stun immunity, which can negate the stun entirely. Throw a ranger into a party, and their proc could be blocked by another temporary stun immunity triggered by a teammate's Tailwhip. If you want still to nerf Lightning Arrows, reduce the trigger rate, or revamp stunning methods for Ranger entirely based on suggestions made by the community (or if you have another suggestion, please do tell!).
When you think about Ranger, what comes to mind? Stuns. Just stuns. Maybe hitting from a further distance than a normal bowman, but nothing /too/ horrifying. Kind of boring, right? Fighting a single Ranger, it is easy to overpower it by stunning it back because it can't stun you again, and thus it becomes extremely vulnerable. Fighting multiple Rangers (and all they do is stun) makes it near impossible. It feels like Ranger is limited in its usage of tactics due to other abilities being relatively subpar or similar to other classes, but I could be wrong!
I don't want to "attempt" to chain stun all my life, even when I played Druid, which was torturous on its own (though that's a little more on the 'manual labor' side).
Ranger has some masterable abilities, but mostly just takes from Scout and Druid. Ranger also has Envenomed Arrow, which requires venom from spiders in order to be used. It is a very interesting class, and an alternative to Druid, if you wanted CoT and Growth. I do have to say, it is unnecessary to completely change what skills are affected by Lightning Arrows. Lowering the trigger rate should have been fine, especially with the boosted stun immunity.
People who have already played the class should definitely help make decisions, but I don't care how long you've played Ranger, if at all. You may have fought Ranger and nature classes already, so you might have experienced the type of things they can do (in which, by all means, give some feedback! It's helpful anyway, and can help others brainstorm.).
Coming from someone who has played Dragon for most of their Istarian career, I don't want to be the only person trying to think of ideas here. :/ You tell me what a Ranger is! To me, it sounds like someone who shoots from afar, aiming for weak points in a target's body. The word "ranger" also reminds me of a farm range, far, far away from the commotion, but still having an impact on the society. I want us to work together to make this class more fun and less of a drag, even if it means going back to where we began; before the changes happened.
Also, if you think the changes are helping us in the right direction (or should not be changed further), tell us why!
BTW: NO FIGHTING PLEASE. KEEP IT CIVIL, OR I'LL ASK TO CLOSE THE DISCUSSION. sorry for wall of text. c:
