One-handed Ranger weapon and focus items

My apologies if this has been suggested, I did search, but being on a 56k connection ATM it is really hard to go through everything.

I would like to see the option of a one-handed weapon and possibly focus item for Rangers. There could be other ideas, but my thought is a crossbow. I also think this weapon should be tied to the expertise skill, not marksmanship, only because all bows are tied to marksmanship and I think Rangers need some weapon tied to expertise.

That's my suggestion.

Thanks for reading it,

K

they are all on marksmanship attributes for a reason. all projectile weapons including modern day weapons require the handler of the weapon to have a good marksmanship to use it. Even a crossbow would come under marksmanship.

crossbows would be a good idea for rangers but with a shield/focus they could be overpowered?

I realize that is why everything a ranger uses is under marksmanship, and your right about the crossbow needing marksmanship, but I also feel that some weapon needs to be associated with expertise, just to give some variety. All other classes have mulitple options for there weapons to be based on, why not ranger.

The comment/idea for a focus item was just a random thought, every other class has some kind of off-hand item, so I thought I would just throw it out there.

hmm i think that ranger should have some kind of a two handed long staff, it would be like a wood staff, this could have expertise, +6 energy, and different mods like you aren't easily interrupted while activating trap.
the dmg could be halfways between bow and staff, like dmg 13-25. two handed.

Spot the touch ranger, how lame.

And what about Assassins? I think your bringing up the lesser disparity, and Rangers certainly do well without a focus item, as if Ranger cannot obtain a focus item and wand from another class and use that classes skills effectively with expertise. Ranger is balanced, if not exceedingly effective, as it is, single hand weapon selection and a focus item are totaly unneccessary.

How about improving Daggers.

Rangers eh...

Well... they use travelling sticks to help them...err.. travel^^. That would associate under Wilderness Survival. But I can't comment on any stats, I'd mostly disagree with them myself.

As for the assassin... umm... I can think of throwing daggers... and I can think of glove patterns... (forgot what it's called... Ill edit this when I find out) But that's all.

Whats wrong with daggers? The disadvantage of not being able to weild a secondary item is made up for the fact they can double strike.

I personally would call the attack power of the assassin overpowered, if it wasnt for the fact assassins are so fragile, and melee based.

Another weapon for Assassin woln't help, the weapon they have already isn't good enough. 7-17 damage is weak, daggers take up 2 hands and deal less damage than swords, with some dagger mastery you can get a few double strikes. But Assassins arn't made to swing away, they are ment to put down their skills and stand off, chance to dual strike with a weak weapon, compared with a Sword And sheild combination, Daggers simply blow.

2 hands to wield 7-17 damage with some added chance to double strike if supported properly vs 15-22 damage and 16 defense, as well as additional mods on an off hand, total rip off, and they wonder why Assassin is unappreciated.

I tested this, and at 10 DM 15 CS, an assassin has just a BIT less dps than an axe Warrior WITHOUT SKILLS. This was tested by bringing an axe warrior and a sin with the aforementioned attributes into the isle of the nameless and hitting the AL 60 targets. The sin actually finished first by a few seconds, but there was an extra 15% damage on his weapon that wasn't available to the Warrior's, so I believe that if they were evened out, the dps would be about the same, favoring the warrior by a little bit.

Not to mention that with skills, an assassin beat an axe warrior at spike damage really bad.

So no, daggers do not need a buff. The testing proves it.

To respond to Bahamut's claim about other mods, like on shields, Assassins are MEANT to be fragile. Giving them extra armor and health via an offhand or shield would defeat their purpose. Like you said, they're meant to attack and and run away until they can attack again.

EDIT: Sorry for the off-topic, so here's some on-topic. An Expertise-based weapon would be nice, and although a crossbow would fit into that category somewhat, you still need to be a good marksman to hit with any kind of arrow. As for an off-hand, what would you give a ranger? I can't think of anything that would be beneficial without making the ranger somewhat overpowered. The way I see it, Rangers are fine as they are, though a two-handed Expertise-based weapon would be welcome :P

EDIT 2: Reworded some stuff.

Maybe you can use a water wand and a flame artifact then you have 2 weapons (Like my warrior uses a sword and a divine symbol since he is part monk so he might need energy to heal) so maybe your saecond profession shold be the elemental.