But wilderness areas do in fact have that nasty little inconvenience of not being next to an area to practice/buy food/etc. in.

I'm not saying that rangers are uber, but for levelling at least, they are better than every other option 1-35 bar none in general provided they can drag a group to their wilderness areas...

So if most rangers are self sufficient, fuck the other classes. Just ask another ranger, especially the more damagey ones if you're balanced or tanky. And if you're an animist or something equally limited in effectiveness... guess what, you just became the group's first tank. And it's ok, we have herbs for you all around.

I'm not saying this happens every time, but players who might otherwise have chosen another class that has a reason to be in every area of the MUD, choose rangers who can't even be seen by assassins, only other rangers, can't be outside of the mud's wilderness areas for any reason period, culminating in an easy ride to hero and boredom once 51 is hit.

And thus some people looking for groups might have no idea they are around. I know for a fact that I don't bother asking rangers for shit because the risk is too great that they are an Outlander and will either make for an awkward conversation or root info out of me about where I'll be. One single good attack can break a ranking group for the rest of a session if the players composing said group are retarded or lazy, even if all members survive.

Ironically for all the fear people have of rangers, they can't seal a kill. What people worry about from rangers is their mobility and frontloaded damage but not the ability to be lagged. People also very often miss the echoes of the weather worsening while the ranking spam goes on.

But anyway what I'm saying is none of these have to be 100% discouragement for asking to level. But stack up enough reasons to say 'This is not good for my health' or 'I can't see this guy visible and the asshole won't hold a conversation when I have to talk to him and the third' as well as

'Will he be an Outlander?

Will he assume on a wild basis that I'm a city-dweller even if I'm not a natural enemy? (I've been accused of this as a Villager and other classes by bored outties looking for easy pk's, it's pretty much a lesser crime of abusing Entropy cabal powers for PK instead of nonsense or collegiate level chaos theory RP)'

Even if he's not an Outlander yet, will he lie to me outright and try to kill the conjurer/ap/duergar/necromancer in my party?

If he does lie, will the duergar/AP be ready to kill the ranger back or is he going to flee and quaff and stay out of the forest for the rest of the session?

If I have an assassin with me (or I am an assassin), is he smart enough to mark the ranger before the first round starts after the initial ambush and THEN start combat? These days the lower in level you are the more likely this answer is 'no'. Playerbase reflexes are shittier than they used to be and it's racking my personal body count up a fair bit.

Will the ranger slow up the group until he gets wilderness fam because of poor gear or an equally poor tanking choice compared to the rest of the group?

Does the ranger have intimate knowledge of wilderness areas so I don't get autoattacked by a camoed or aggro mob 20 levels my senior and one rounded?

All of these questions make a ranger as much of a gamble to bother asking as they are actually good reasons to ask them to rank. Furthermore, all of these questions are good reasons to avoid them for the rest of the session even when you have flat run out of options for ranking partners.

If you add up all these 'maybes' they eventually turn to 'no' out of convenience.

And the rangers don't really care. Since they can group with one another or are more viable solo rankers than pretty much all the other classes except paladins.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2008 05:12AM by scrimbul.