Ranger Training; From Tyria to Elona

In my experiences as a Ranger, I have found that the best rangers raised and trained, are from Tyria. However, I would like to change that sentiment by positive action. I want to, for the first time, change my own opinion on what I see as my honest outlook on a situation.

These rangers, that I refer to at the outset of my thread, are what you usually want in your team. The majority of these rangers can play multiple builds, are aware of the monsters in the different enviornments, and are willing to adapt for the betterment of the team.

Of course,their are always exceptions to this, as we all know too well. However, I have still found that the best rangers started playing in Tyria. Those who begin in Cantha may not find it as neccessary to enlist ranger versatility due to the limited need to change builds or use anything special to achieve goals or succeed in various missions. I would like to see this way of thinking changed. Versatility is our strongest asset.

Once you get Barrage in Cantha, you are pretty much set throughout the entire chapter, except if you are a PvP player, which will force build exposure upon the ranger, and thus make him/her a more compotent player overall. I think all rangers should make the attempt to adapt, and apply their skills to achieve similar goals by different means. Once again, versatility is our strongest asset.

In Elona, the ranger takes a more damage oriented approach to combat, with skills like Forked Arrow,Keen Arrow, and Burning Arrow{E}, the ranger begins to excell at Single Target Damage unlike in the previous 2 chapters, where rangers were either trappers or B/P or interupters. This swing into the single damage realm makes for interesting combat scenarios that truely put a warrior in danger of death by a ranger's arrow. No poison, just pure damage.

These rangers are capable of being skillful, but will lack the viewpoint of an area like maguuma jungles,where things pop out of concealment and approach quickly. Elona is full of wide open spaces, while Tyria has a tree, or a rock to hide behind at every turn. Using your enviornment to your advantage, a ranger becomes more dangerous. We just weren't made for open combat until Elona, where you can upgrade your armor enough to actually fight a warrior and have a chance. Yet, I still believe that rangers are better used in indirect manners. Leave direct combat to the warrior/dervish, while we do what we do best...survive when they all fall from pure finesse.

My next point of training is the use of Expertise to use skills from other lines to the ranger's benefit. To exploit weapons of other classes can be an enjoyable diversion for rangers while playing lone quests. I, myself have recently made a Shadow Prison Ranger build that has effectively put down a number of Canthan and Elonan Bosses in conjunction with a Shadow prison Axeman and a Dark Prison Dervish using the Avatar of Balthazar. I will display my Shadow Ranger dagger build here;

[skill=card]Tiger's Fury[/skill][skill=card]Unsuspecting Strike[/skill][skill=card]Wild Strike[/skill][skill=card]Horns of The Ox[/skill][skill=card]Shadow Prison[/skill][skill=card]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill=card]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill=card]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Though I need a better lead attack, the others do well with the overall team build. I use an Expertise Sup rune and mask. The stats look like this;

Dagger Mastery 12, Expertise 12, Beast Mastery 8, and the rest to Deadly Arts, though the hex does what I need it to do without extending the duration.

This is for fun. When I play with people, I stick to my Bows and adjust as needed. I've trapped everywhere that a ranger can trap, and a few places that I shouldn't. I've played a variety of builds, from Poison Arrow, to B/P, to Degen Ranger. Expansion of knowledge makes a ranger all the more useful to his/her teammates. Thus, use Expertise to play with other classes skills, but realize that everything doesn't work with a ranger in practical use.

Third, and maybe the most important for any ranger in training, make sure to get as many skills as you can, if not all of them. Tyrian Rangers with access to all 3 chapters have a definite advantage to a Canthan or Elonan Ranger with access to just 1 chapter. This can be said about almost every profession, but a ranger can be made or broken by skills more than the rest, imho. A ranger that lacks skills can't be played like a warrior,or an ele. Nuke the mob, run out in front and plug the torrent of enemies, but what do you tell a ranger who can't do what he needs to do? The ranger is a finesse type character, that takes more skill than one may think, and thus needs to be as versatile and well equipped as possible.

You can't call yourself a real interupter with only Distracting Shot and Choking Gas.

You aren't a trapper with just Dust and Flame traps. Sure, we can all call out that we are B/P rangers, but if you don't have Barrage, you aren't a B/P ranger, now are you? Sure, you might get away by using dual shot, but how long do you think you'll get away with that?

The point is to train your ranger to be the best he/she can be. Learn as much as you can, and play with the skills available to you to see what you can/can't do.

What I am looking for from this thread is to advance the knowledge and skill levels of the common ranger by using the more skilled among us to expose the others to more advanced skills and builds. Take a build you use, talk about its strengths and weaknesses, and educate the masses. Class is in session.

Edit: I have edited the OP to better explain my opinions and my motivation for this post. For any who have been offended or felt that I was being of an elitist mind, I do apologize. That was never my intention.

Dont know how you can say the best rangers come from Tyria... I assume that your ranger is from Tyria, and somehow feel more superior? Did you know that you can actually move your NF or Factions Ranger over to Tyria to get the skills needed?

Do you pay attention? Have you read the OP?

I said that rangers that start in Tyria appear to display more skill. I also said that their are exceptions to that statement. Furthermore, this is not about elitism, but about exposure to eviornments and situations.

Do you have a Tyrian ranger? Did you start in Tyria? Or maybe you're taking the statement wrong because you are an NF or Factions ranger?

Or maybe you just read the first line, got angry, and posted this nonsense?

For all others who enter this thread, please read the whole OP before making a comment,ignorant or otherwise. I greatly appreciate input that is USEFUL!

funny thing about that, where the character is created has nothing to do with the skill of the player behind the keyboard. who'd have thought?


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