In every MMORPG I've played, I've always played the Ranger class (Hunter in some games). My main in EQ is/was a Ranger and EQ is the game I will use the most as a comparison. Please note that I only go to level 11 with my Pantheon Ranger, but I did look through the scroll vendor to see what kind of abilities they had going forward. There are some things I like about the Pantheon Ranger - Ranged (bow) attacks seem to really matter, they have some nice utility spells (glowing sap) and a useful heal.
Having said that, there are some areas that can use some improvement. My main criticisms are as follows:
1. The Pantheon Ranger is not very tanky. Compared to an EQ Ranger, the Pantheon Ranger does not seem like it fill a tank or off-tank role. Not that EQ Rangers were great tanks, but they could fill that role in a pinch. I'm not sure the Pantheon Ranger could do that.
2. The Pantheon Ranger does not have very many abilities. With my Dire Lord (got to level 16), I had to make choices about what went on my ability bar, and what went unused (I basically came up with a main tank rotation and a dps rotation). With the Ranger, I don't even know if the bar would be filled. At least 2 of the Ranger abilities get "upgrades" rather than a new, different ability (I think Rend gets upgraded four times). Furthermore, going back to EQ, I feel like a level 35 Ranger could do a LOT more than a Pantheon level 35 Ranger. The 35 EQ Ranger has Sneak, Hide, Camo, dd spells, DoT spells, Snares, Roots, Buffs, Heals ... there is a lot to a 35 EQ Ranger.
3. The pet abilities, while neat, are really just attacks with effects. I never got to the level to use these, so perhaps it plays better than I think, but my initial is reaction is give them an underpowered permanent pet (Compared to EQ, lower level than Shaman Spirit Wolf pets, but higher level than Shadowknight pets). Maybe The pet can have the abilities that the "pet spells" have.
4. They have nothing to offer a group except DPS. There are no buffs they can cast on an ally. No utility for party members. Maybe make the (foraged) regen item tradeable? Maybe everyone in the group gets the run speed buff, not just the Ranger? If the Pantheon Ranger is going to be pure DPS, then they should rival the top DPS classes in the game (and maybe they do - as I said, I only got to lvl 11).
5. No Dwarf Rangers. This is entirely a biased opinion, but I would love Dwarf Hunters. It makes me sad Pantheon won't have them.
I do like the Pantheon Ranger and I love that they made ranged attacks so useful and they do have some nifty spells (like creating light sources without needing a torch), I just think they fall a little bit short compared to Rangers/Hunters in other games.
Cheers.
For taking a lot of ideas from EQ, its crazy that stuff in point 2) isnt carried over to Pantheon one, things like sneak\camoflauge\stealth is a core pillar to a Ranger imo, and its odd that they havent included that for Pantheon. Doesnt mean it has to be as strong or versatile (bonus damage or whatever Rogue gets) as Rogues, but its part of the Ranger fantasy for sure and feels like a big oversight to not include it.'
Speaking of pint 4) what is the Rangers second role anyway, it seems to be underhanded in most other stuff than being a hybrid ranged\melee, which in itself i guess could be the tradeoff, but i keep hearing that its heal ability isnt even worth casting considering how little it heals or scales.
i think we need to wait and see about rangers in the coming months,i got my ranger to level 22 and even at that level the gear we got in drops and what little we got in crafted was just junk armor,maybe with the crafting changes that just went in maybe we will have some half ways decent crafted armor with better stats and more ac,i do know we can defiantly pull agro when we want
I'm new to playing, but absolutely in love with Pantheon.
Only problems I'm having with ranger are -
1. Seems like Rangers are the least desirable group partner. I see more Rangers LFG than any other class, & I spent like 30 hours over 2 days looking for group.
2. Lvl 10 abilities of Engage & Withdraw make the dmg rotation too active. I spent 4 hours grouping with these abilities & the ability spamming gets tiring. Spamming abilities every 2 seconds to do good dmg. Maybe increase the dmg of auto attack & make the ability CD's longer. I'm sure a lot of rangers love it, but I will probably choose to play a different class if I have to button mash constantly.
I love Pantheon! I'm hooked!
Thestus, I agree with all of your above points and would like to second them. It would be nice if they had a more complete kit or built in flexability, such as a redirect type ability for pulling or some capacity to spot tank. I also would like to see some of the old utility/buff spells. I currently very much like how they can contribute light to a group, which is an underrated mechanic.
I think the Ranger would be better served with a second primary melee AND ranged primary attack (in addition to the Fray and Swift Shot line). This would allow the ranger to stay in melee or stay at range instead of being forced to 'engage, fray line, auto attack, survival strike line, disengage, auto shot, swift shot line, survival shot line' - rinse and repeat ad nauseum. Engage/disengage should be used for the burst damage that they are and be allowed to be used more strategically instead of as a means to have an ability to fire off because all of your other skills are on cooldown or don't have enough readiness.
Either that, or give the Ranger a pet equivalent to the Shaman (HEALER) pet. It doesn't do a ton of dmg, but combined with a couple other DoTs and nukes, the SHM can pump out significant damage as a healer... enough that I would rather bring a SHM as 'DPS' than a Ranger right now simply because they offer huge buffs and debuffs (greatly increasing everyone else's damage and contributing to dmg as well). If a Ranger had a permanent pet (even with just auto attacks), they would be MUCH more "desirable" as a DPS choice instead of a spot filler in a group. Could even choose between a bear or panther and whichever ONE of those Beckon abilities were on the bar would determine the pet (have the bear use slower harder hits and the panther faster lighter hits). I know that likely won't happen, but it would definitely allow the Ranger to be THE sustained dps class since it has no other real role to Flex into.