Where did all the Rangers go?

[MaDeuce]

Why do most games now make Rangers resemble Hunters from World of Warcraft? I miss the old D&D Ranger, a warrior-druid hybrid. I remember my first run in BG as a Ranger (it’s my favorite class, well it was before it was molested) and finding Wilson, the bear. Wilson was the epitome of an animal companion, unlike this forced mechanic that is part of the classes kit. It saddens me that Rangers have been reduced to a so-called “pet class” that shoots arrows. Seeing as they did the same thing in Tyranny, I can only assume that they will do the same thing with PoE2.

What do you think?

[Fiach]

First character I ever made was a Ranger.


Later he became a Fallen Ranger and I hadn't noticed for quite awhile....restart.

Never made another Ranger :)

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by MaDeuce:

Seeing as they did the same thing in Tyranny,

Huh?

Originally posted by MaDeuce:

What do you think?

Tyranny doesn't feature classes, but only primary and secondary skills expertise, a background to give some bonuses to skills, all skills can be learned freely, and six talent trees to choose from. NPC companions are an exception, however, as they are hardcoded to something more specific with unique talent trees. Nevertheless, they can learn all skills, too.

And about Ranger in PoE, the class is not so interesting, because of not enough freedom to choose abilities. Class is locked down on ranged + animal companion style. I've only played a Ranger with Bear pet a single time. A more hybrid class would be preferred.

[psychotron666]

Yeah I don't like rangers either. Back in the dnd days, they were just badass hunter tracker warriors, like Aragorn from Lord of the rings. Now rangers are all stereotypical pet classes with bows, and I always hated classes in rpgs that rely on summons and pets.

[MaDeuce]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

Originally posted by MaDeuce:

Seeing as they did the same thing in Tyranny,

Huh?

Originally posted by MaDeuce:

What do you think?

Tyranny doesn't feature classes, but only primary and secondary skills expertise, a background to give some bonuses to skills, all skills can be learned freely, and six talent trees to choose from. NPC companions are an exception, however, as they are hardcoded to something more specific with unique talent trees. Nevertheless, they can learn all skills, too.

And about Ranger in PoE, the class is not so interesting, because of not enough freedom to choose abilities. Class is locked down on ranged + animal companion style. I've only played a Ranger with Bear pet a single time. A more hybrid class would be preferred.

You know, I think I got Tyranny confused with PoE. I havnt played Tyranny since 3 days after launch, but I did beat it. For some reason I remember a small ranger lady, but I'm almost certain that was PoE. My mistake.

Originally posted by psychotron666:

Yeah I don't like rangers either. Back in the dnd days, they were just badass hunter tracker warriors, like Aragorn from Lord of the rings. Now rangers are all stereotypical pet classes with bows, and I always hated classes in rpgs that rely on summons and pets.

Yeah, Aragorn was a great example of a ranger - just lacked the druidic abilities. They should just name whatever class this new ranger is to something else completely. Every time I get a new game that has reinvented the ranger to a literal "range"-er, I get a little pissed off. At least D&D allowed class kits for archer and beastmaster if you wanted to go that route.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by MaDeuce:

You know, I think I got Tyranny confused with PoE. I havnt played Tyranny since 3 days after launch, but I did beat it. For some reason I remember a small ranger lady, but I'm almost certain that was PoE. My mistake.

"almost certain" --> certain: https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Sagani

[QNecron]

*whistles* Has a melee (two handed focused) ranger in my party at the top of my parties damage and criticals...

I've also made a tank of the the ranger in PoE!

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by QNecron:

*whistles* Has a melee (two handed focused) ranger in my party at the top of my parties damage and criticals...

And the companions are?

Add a fast Monk to your party, a Fighter specialized on 2H weapons or a Ruffian Rogue with a focus on landing crits using one 1H weapon. Ranger class comes with "very high" base Accuracy just like Fighter and Rogue, which is nice to start with, and Marked Prey 1x per encounter may be useful for the damage bonus, but only if you ignore the talents other classes offer, they will perform more poorly.

[White Knight]

I don't know if Obsidian could use the same classes as DnD has, cause of copyright-whatever -- they actually use Pathfinder. I like the ranger class in this game, my Sagani and Ithumaki (I usually use Triumph of the Crusaders on him) are unstopable. And there are good skills for this class that makes Sagani almost unreplaceable for me.

[QNecron]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

Originally posted by QNecron:

*whistles* Has a melee (two handed focused) ranger in my party at the top of my parties damage and criticals...

And the companions are?

Add a fast Monk to your party, a Fighter specialized on 2H weapons or a Ruffian Rogue with a focus on landing crits using one 1H weapon. Ranger class comes with "very high" base Accuracy just like Fighter and Rogue, which is nice to start with, and Marked Prey 1x per encounter may be useful for the damage bonus, but only if you ignore the talents other classes offer, they will perform more poorly.

Since min-maxing isn't needed for PoE to make something work, sure you can use other classes but the Ranger class itself is fairly flexible just like most classes in PoE. There is always a META class for X role, but what fun is that? Both the Ranger and his animal friend will be rocking Sneak Attack and eventually Knockdown. Choosing the wolf for DPS also helps, free flanking. So far there hasn't been anything that can't down quickly.

I'm currently running a Cipher tank and it's working surprisingly well. I mention this because she is one of my Rangers companions :)

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by QNecron:

but what fun is that?

Well, first of all, in direct comparison, some builds - and I don't mean extreme min-maxing, but specialization via attribute shift and talents - require less handholding than others and still do tons more damage than others, if starting too compare them from level 1 onwards. Too many build guides only look at retrained level 16 characters and performance in 1-3 fights, if at all. Of course, if PLAYER fully buffs a 2H melee wizard in every battle, casting multiple spells manually beforing jumping into the fray, the damage will be good, too, but without tools like spell sequencers, PLAYER will suffer from burnout soon.

Second, what makes PoE brilliant is the party building options. If playing only with NPC companions, that's nice and well, enough to complete the game on all difficulty modes. But NPCs don't add much content, and you are restricted to one NPC per class and only your watcher being able to choose freely and, say, duplicate a class choice. Playing with more hired adventurers makes it possible to create SWAT parties that steamroll enemies even on PotD mode, and with the DLC installed, one can even swap companions without fear that they receive too few XP while waiting at the stronghold.

That way you can also try several themed party builds in a single playthrough, such as the watcher being accompanied by 3-4 fearsome guards and one priest - whatever seems appropriate for parts of the game, and afterwards replacing several companions when entering town.

Originally posted by QNecron:

Both the Ranger and his animal friend will be rocking Sneak Attack and eventually Knockdown.

Fighters can learn Extra Knockdown early and later get Charge, which increases, the fun if there is more than one Fighter in the party. No reason to build them all the same. Different attribute choices, different weapons, even different class neutral talents, so non-caster classes get some magic/support talents they can contribute.