…the earthquake spell. After all, they need something that attacks and it fits their theme. At least, I think so. Help ranger says: "They are also able to draw upon the mystical energies surrounding the prime material plane as well, manifested as casting spells."

They should also have elude. It just makes sense to me.

as if rangers needed anything more, they're almost too good now as it is

When it comes to tanking potential, rangers have the most. But it's boring as hell and most classes can tank just as well or somewhere close. Point is, I think they need something.

every single person that has remorted a ranger at least once has been asking and suggesting fixes for almost a decade, do you think they're going to change now? lol

The best skill you're going to be able to use in combat is sweepkick, get used to it.

Heck, I distinctly remember complaining on the forums and in game, sometime around 2003-2004 to the point where Nothing ported me to him and told me that he was going to implement some changes if I shut up, so I did. You know what he gave us? Elemental branding: sucks and too much of a pain to even use especially when you had 5 weapons equipped like I had, envenom: sucked until they changed the poison debuff to actually do something so now it's ok if I remember to cast it on my weapons, and thornskin: pretty sweet and useful. All were passive buffs that are cast out of combat. We didn't get an active skill to use in combat which is exactly what I was complaining about.

What cracks me up is that you suggest we get earthquake, which is a terrible spell even if you're a primary cleric, and elude which is yet another passive ability and it wouldn't even be unique because mercenaries have it already.

I'm going to go on the record and say that I have the most ranger experience than anybody who's played the game. I know exactly what changes can be made to bring rangers in line with the other classes. It's quite simple really 1) a skill or spell that debuffs the target. This is because entangle, while an excellent debuff, is only castable outdoors and there aren't enough outdoor zones to accommodate a smooth leveling experience. Either that or remove the outdoors requirement from entangle. 2) An active skill that does damage. Yes, a powermove. Bugger what the people in charge have previously said about rangers never getting a powermove, they need something to increase their damage which is utterly abysmal. A holy cleric with Divine Power can do more damage. 3) The dexterity penalty on stoneskin has to go. It's retarded, pointless, and a slap in the face to all players with a gen 4+ ranger. 4) A buff that can be given to other players. 5) critical strikes scaling with hitroll or damroll. 6) Elemental branding becoming a permanent weapon enchant but adds a RANGER flag.

Erm…earthquake is bad? I personally think its one of the best spells a cleric gets…

That's because clerics do terrible damage themselves. The only reason they're worth playing is because they're unkillable and do more damage than rangers lol

I actually think rangers with earthquake would be good. And, I'm pretty sure a lot of people who play now would vouch for this statement. By the way, I made this suggestion because the spell and skill in thought just seemed to fit into the ranger theme aside from earthquake synergizing well with the ranger's makeup.

What cracks me up, Jakezor, is that you claim you're the most experienced in rangers than everyone who's ever played and you claim you know about the quality of a spell from a class that I've bet you've never throughly played before. You know what? Tell me something about rangers that I don't know. Or better yet, tell me why earthquake is such a terrible spell even if you're prime cleric. I'd gladly reply just to burn you.

lol Deneb I remember when you were leveling up and you're trying to school me on rangers?

Jake, you would be crazy not to want earthquake as a ranger spell. Earthquake is a awesome spell, you have no idea until you use it. Anyone who has been here in tempus for a long time and seen the changes made knows earthquake rocks. Not sure if you been on tempus latly but earthquake was improved, its not the same as the old school spell.

Seems to me that you think if you reach gen 10 before someone, ages ago, deems you superior to him. Is that what you really think?

It doesn't matter if earthquake is the best AoE spell in the game because rangers suck in certain departments which don't overlap with AoE damage. Rangers already have an AoE spell, even if it were just as good as earthquake it wouldn't help at all. I already outlined the steps needed to bring rangers to a base level of ability in line with other classes, but really they're in need of a complete overhaul and re-examination of their role in the Tempus world.

And yea Deneb I do think that because there haven't been any changes to the ranger class since I stopped playing so unfortunately for your argument my experience is both relevant and authoritative.

All classes suck in certain departments and we sure aren't trying to remedy that in rangers. And, it would matter of earthquake was the best AoE spell in the game. I see a lot of uses for it being that rangers are capable of tanking many mobs at a time. By the way, hailstorm may be AoE, but it's not the same. Earthquake is to meteorstorm as hailstorm is to chain lightning or ice storm.

If only rangers had the tools for multi-mob tanking oh wait they don't and they have to rely almost 100% on their secondary class for any sort of viability in the game environment. It really shows how ignorant people are of the class's problems when there are people suggesting "fixes" such as yours. It's bar none the worst class in the game and has been that way for several years without any cohesive or focused attempt to fix it. In fact, I'll list the most dramatic changes to rangers in the past 6 years:

2004 Azimuth adds the ability to summon a familiar. They suck to the point of being a bad joke. They probably still suck today despite probably trying to improve them. 2005 Nothing adds elemental branding, envenom, and thornskin. Maybe there was another one but it sucked so much I forgot. The only good thing is thornskin which does nothing to address any of the problems that rangers had.

To this day, a ranger's best move is sweepkick, and it isn't even unique.

"If only rangers had the tools for multi-mob tanking oh wait they don't"

That didn't make any sense to me. If you meant that rangers that have thornskin can't tank several mobs any better than those that don't have it then whatever credibility you had just vanished. The problem is that this high-gen spell has very few other skills and spells that work well with it, which is why I suggested earthquake and I'll stick with my opinion that earthquake would make rangers more appealing.

Read the posts over again and tell me if I ever said this would fix any problems that rangers might have? It was just a suggestion and there was no reason to blow up about it. I agree that the ranger class isn't up to par with the rest and I've never said it anything to argue that point. Yet, you kept on stating that as if it would add to your cynical comments about my suggestion. I'm sorry you feel that way about rangers. By the way, why would you spend more than six years playing a class that you hate so much?

Haha, Jake is a troll! And not the prone to fire damage and takes less damage kind.. and has played much less than me taunt :)

How are ya anyway? :D

Rangers should have note-pad that loads on them, so they can keep track of how much ass they can beat. :P~

A non item notepad for all characters actually sounds nice, just in case you want to make notes for yourself later.

P.S. how do you use notepads in the game?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you have to find a pen/pencil and 'HOLD' it and then have the notepad in your inventory and 'WRITE NOTEPAD' or 'WRITE NOTEPAD PEN'. Though its been a while since I've had the urge to waste my time doing it as it is rather a pain.

i think it's also ridiculously expensive to rent/house notepads. just buy another room in your house and hedit your notes =P

Or make an alias with whatever text you want to save :D

How about an implant where you could add a keyboard to your arm and it would store your typed notes for you.

Your suggestion sucks because you don't know anything about the ranger class. Thorn skin doesn't do anything against auto-attacks which makes up 95% of the damage. Rangers still have piss poor mitigation because stoneskin and barkskin don't stack, on top of being needlessly penalized by -2 dex.

How about instead of a bandaid solution you try and fix the actual problem that is rangers relying completely on their secondary class for any sort of functionality.

Thornskin does do something against "auto-attacks" and certain skills too. Don't believe me? Then play again.

Rangers getting earthquake would be pretty awesome. It'd just be easier to mail hailstorm castable anywhere though.

And yea, Jake, you don't know dick about rangers.

Hailstorm casted anywhere, why not? Chain lighting can be casted anywhere. Both sound like a weather type/outdoor spell to me. Then again its magic! I vote yes for hailstorm castable indoors and outdoors alike. Give a bonus if its outdoors and stormy weather…

Yes, earthquake is awesome now, from the least-useful area damage spell to near the best, and in the AD&D universe rangers can utilize a combination of druid and cleric spells, so it could fit. And although rangers are really minor casters, and are primarily classified as warriors, they still do draw upon the four elements and have a deity patron. Since 1995 I've been playing a ranger here, and although the class has surpassed much of its limitations, it still has a few drawbacks, and a decent damage skill/spell is one of them.

Look to be honest, two things need to happen before I decide to play my ranger as often as my other characters. Rangers need to be able to heal in combat, and rangers need to be able to use all their spells indoors. I'm pretty certain that it is like that for every ranger player out there.

In truth, rangers aren't the ugly red-headed step children that they used to be, mercs are now. Still, there is room for a lot of improvement.

I have to agree with Tinkerbell or Acid…same difference? Personally I don't see a problem with rangers being able to use all of their spells indoors. Or how about a remort spell that allows their elemental spells to work indoors.