A (personal) vision for the Ranger primary archetype

Raznoh

Hello everyone, a pleasure to meet you!

I am excited to start my journey in these forums and hopefully it will be a constructive experience!

Hopefully, I am not too late to the Ranger discussion. The goal of this post is to offer a cohesive perspective and to advocate a possible vision for the Ranger primary archetype, also in connection with the planned game systems (especially class augments).

INTRO OF MYSELF AND TLDR

I am mainly a WoW player, ever since late Vanilla, where a Marksmanship (MM) Hunter (i.e. „archer“) has always been my passion. I also spent about 5 years in SWTOR. I’ve been watching AoC development more closely since the start of 2022.

For those who are familiar with WoW, I’d like to start with stating that I consider the core playstyle of MM Hunter in WoW (described below) as very enjoyable, it’s just the class fantasy and the sense of adventure that is lacking. So a simplified TLDR is that I would like to see the rapid&mobile playstyle of WoW’s MM Hunter, enhanced with the systems/customizations of AoC and combined with the AoC’s world adventuring experience.

GENERAL PRAISE

Before diving into the Ranger specifically, I’d like to express my strong support for some aspects of the development direction:

• - leveling taking time - let leveling be a (long) game of itself, let’s make a level be earned, valued and dare I say meaningful and impactful
• - leveling being a challenge - similar as above, let leveling make us think of our next steps, make us scared from time to time
• - adventure being grounded - let us be adventurers (with our own identity to be built), not superheroes (without earning it)
• - abilities supporting the „RPG“ archetype fantasy
• - achievement system from the very beginning
• - no simplifications/speed-ups for alts (no account-wide sharing) - let character‘s achievements speak for the character

WOW HUNTER POSITIVES

Taking WoW’s MM Hunter as an inspiration, these are the things I enjoy:

• - being mobile - in-combat jumps, in/out-of-combat speed, shooting while moving
• - mostly about quick shots („always shooting“), but with some long-cast „sniper“ shots
  • the magic of quick shots is in situations when facing multiple enemies, and with a series of instant shots, for example, one target can be rooted, the second interrupted, and the third damaged, thus basically controlling the battlefield
• - trade-off of high-damage for weaker defenses, though with some immunities/camouflage/feign death
• - controlling the battlefield via diverse „offensive utility“ (traps, roots, enemy dispells)

WOW HUNTER NEGATIVES

The things I dislike about WoW’s MM Hunter are often related to the unfulfilled potential of the class fantasy:

• - no quivers for arrows „by default“ – running around with a bow without a quiver feels so weird
• - no melee weapons/attacks – combat was much more vivid back then with melee weapons for close combat
• - not really utilizing pet companions (in PvE) – pet companions are a thing of the past, and that’s a shame, even when the primary role is an „archer“
• - no beneficial party/raid utility – the „offensive utility“ is cool, but it feels bad to not bring any beneficial effects for the group/raid, there should always be some

AOC RANGER WISHLIST

To complement the above, here’s my wishlist for the Ranger archetype in AoC:

General archetype fantasy

• - quivers as a core cosmetic part of Rangers
• - pet companions – I’d like to be able to utilize a pet companion just based on the choice of Ranger as the primary archetype (not dependent on a chosen final class) for a bit of damage, some utility, and just a buddy by my side in general
• - „class fantasy“ utility - maybe some far/sharp sight, to see at large distances or reveal stealthed enemies
• - (I am kind of happy that there will be no guns in AoC)

Gamestyle enhacements

• - a few melee weapons/attacks as Ranger‘s baseline (no talents/augments needed, just based on the Ranger being the primary archetype)
• - pet companion always optional (for a bit of damage and utility, just based on the Ranger being the primary archetype)
• - beneficial party/raid utility – Rangers seem ideal for speed utility or group damage increase (e.g. exposing enemy vulnerabilities)
• - taunt for DPS (for enemy damage reduction) – one thing I loved about SWTOR was that some DPS class could utilize taunts in PvP to reduce the damage dealt by enemies to anyone else than the taunting player

Fantasy of being „relevant“ in the world of powerful beings

• - feeling viable (from a lore point of view) depends on the surrounding context – a standard Ranger (also Fighter, Rogue, …), as cool as they are, does not feel cool in the world of more powerful beings (Mages, Summoners, …)
• - my „answer“ to this is utilizing (a bit of) magic for all archetypes by default
• - for Rangers specifically, physical shots are visually boring, hardly visible, not feeling impactful
• - as an illustration, this would be my preferred mix of magical shots and physical shots for Rangers
  • ---- baseline for Ranger primary archetype - 70% magical shots, 30% physical shots
  • ---- Mage as the secondary archetype („Scion“) – 90% magical shots, 10% physical shots
  • ---- Rogue as the secondary archetype („Scout“) – 50% magical shots, 50% physical shots
• - also, not every magical ability has to be manifested via a shot – I believe even Rangers could cast some spells without an arrow being shot (e.g. natural magic, such as entangling roots)

Impact of secondary archetypes and augments

• - as far as I understand it, class augments are supposed to be passive modifiers to abilities, which I imagine as changes of damage type, extra DoTs, HoTs, DRs, …, but I personally consider it not enough
• - I believe that when choosing the secondary archetype, we should obtain one pre-selected (or even chosen) ability from the secondary archetype, to be able to fulfill the base role of that secondary archetype for a limited time
• - some examples of the Ranger primary archetype in combination with a given role / secondary archetype (the numbers here are completely made up, but they should convey the idea)
  • ---- DPS (Mage) – granted ability: single-target lightning or AoE fire - able to deal 120% of the damage dealt by Ranger (when just a primary archetype)
  • ---- Heal (Cleric) – granted ability: single target heal (spammable for 20 sec to save the group) - able to produce short-term healing equal to 25-50% of a healer throughput
  • ---- Tank (Tank) – granted ability: taunt and personal/group damage reduction (for replacing tank for 20 sec) - able to withstand 25-50% of damage that a tank would withstand

To conclude, my personal direction with the Ranger would ideally be DPS focus (obviously), but looking for supportive ways for the group – i.e. combination of Ranger with Cleric/Tank/Bard. But such a combination really has to be impactful and shift the role within the Trinity noticeably.

And I can’t wait to wake up as an Empyrean Ranger, dress up with leather boots, cape, hood and armguards, put my long-range arsenal on my back, and set out for an adventure, accompanied either by my loyal wolf for holding enemies at distance or my faithful eagle for giving me an overview of the surrounding environment.

Anyway, huge and sincere thanks to anyone who have read through this. The goal of this post was not to deny a certain playstyle from anyone, the goal was to open doors for more options/playstyles. I am looking forward to a constructive discussion and naively hoping that these ideas will get reflected in the game.

Best,
Raznoh

Azherae

Welcome to forums @Raznoh.

Most of the information we have can be found on the wiki regarding which of the mentioned things you 'get' or 'don't get'.as of what we know now.

I have read through your post and dataparsed it (not for Intrepid directly, long story. Hopefully your time here will be as constructive and positive as your post itself.

Talents

https://ashesofcreation.wiki/

Caww

Ranger Down !!! (it never gets old..)

pyreal

Greetings, adventurer!

Dezmerizing

Hail, fellow ranger!

Welcome to the forums and thank you for your post. I also played hunter in WoW - however my favorite spec was survival, especially before the Legion rework.

Like many already pointed out, most information that we know can be found on the wiki!

Talents wrote: »

https://ashesofcreation.wiki/

I would recommend reading the section regarding pets in particular! Combat pets are not a unique to any class - rather, players can sacrifice a equipment slots to "equip" a combat pet that will either fulfill the tank, DPS or support/utility role.

I hope you'll enjoy your stay! Safe adventures!