Ranger Archive
Thread: Melee Rangers Do you PvP?
I know that there are quite a few Melee-based Rangers out there, including our Ranger and Scout correspondents. I was originally planning on doing the rifleman thing, and I took unarmed a while back so that I wouldn' be defenseless when the mobs warped to me. I picked up TK Novice a few days ago and much to my surprise, I think I like it better than ranged fighting. The Ranger's ability to be almost completely self-sufficient is what attracted me to the profession, and I like the ideaof being such a master of the hunt that one no longer needs to rely one's own body.Of course, if I want to master either combat profession, I'll have to drop the other.
One of the things that I'm looking forward to since I just got tracking IV is hunting down opposing faction members one or two at a time as they wander through the wilderness. I'm new to PvP, but it has occured to me that it may be impossible to use this playstyle with a melee combat profession: even after I've found them, I have to somehow cover 64m before they can take me down. I'm curious to see how other melee rangers play the PvP game. Do you do it in cities, so that you can use buildings to your advantage? Do you track an enemy down in the wild and then burst run like a bat out of hell and hope they don't have time to see you coming? Has anyone tried tracking an enemy and then hidingby an aggro lair along their quarry's route in order to foil their radar? Or should I resolve myself to the fact that if I want to do sneaky PvP, I'll need to engage my enemy at range, with hit and run attacks?
i do not pvp anymore with jenyme. between the population of starsider and my computer's specs, 97% of my pvp encounters (melee vs melee excluded) have been...
your target is out of range
your target is out of range
your target is out of range
you cannot unarmedlunge1 while dead
i tried it for about a week solid, and didn't have work that week so i played alot. 2 things have to happen for me to pvp with jenyme. 1) pvp concealment that removes us from the radar and 2) increased melee range to 10m.
actually, even if they increase the melee range to 10m it won't make a difference for me, since unarmedlunge1 (supposedly) has a 15m range. the thing is, my target can be 2m from me on my screen and i'll be doing lunge and still get out of range. *sighs* oh well, i started a future commando on another server for when i get the urge to fight players (although, the more i think about it, the less i think being ranged will decrease my lag-deaths any)
I have a friend who was, notice the was, a melee ranger (fencer) and would participate in PvP if and when it was called for.
Sigh, many was the time he rushed into battle, sword held high, and as he ran to get into range, was shot full of holes. Meanwhile, just in range, I would shoot his opponents, bleeding them in revenge, so to speak.
I was just getting used to "telling" him the results of the battles as he ran back from the cloner, when, in a flash of insight, he too decided that melee, while fun, was not for anyone into PvP.
Not to brag, but I will... weeks ago I dropped a TK master in PvP... I shot from a distance, got him bleeding, nailed him with decent shots as he got closer, and when he closed, I moved my happy buttocks out, shooting as I ran. Can't hit what ya can't catch. End result, he got DB'd by someone, incapped by a Ranger. Now, as I have filled a lot more boxes in Pistoleer, no contest. By the time Bruce Lee gets into range, I have him bleeding and have hit him with at least a stopping shot, fan shot and a double tap... then I kite and laff... go ahead and chase me, that's your blood on the ground, not mine.
As I heard a rancor once say...Melee Rangers, not just for breakfast anymore...
JB
Well anybody who is melee that runs at someone with a gun is going about pvp all wrong. You either have to catch them by surprise (hide your melee weapon and fire some cdef while changing ur name from Teras kasi master to hunt master or something, then when you get close enough WHAM!) or you take a step back and hide behind something. If thegunman runs away and decides not to fight you thats fine, but if he comes close and tries to pursue you... WHAM!
Locobacca
"WHAM!"
Do I PvP? Only when someone needs a quick trip to town, or when I get jumped doing faction missions. I can hold my own when fighting other melee classes, but I have yet to win a duel with anyone from a ranged class. I've tried fighting them indoors, but I find that they can frequently overpower me even at close range, especially since the KD nerf. I suppose I might be able to win a fight if I ever managed to land both a KD and a Dizzy, but I have yet to pull that off.
As a TKM/Master Ranger, I rarely PvP but I have in the past and it's not too bad. A lot depends on the terrain. I'm far more viable in close quarters than in an open area, and again more viable in broken ground than flat terrain. That said, any TK (or other melee) who chases a ranged character kiting them is a moron and deserves to die in PvP. No nice way to put it. Also, any ranged character that charges me into melee range is similarly dumb, like that master BH who ran up to me spamming eyeshot while I was meditating. If he held his ground I was dead. /shrug
How well a melee would fare in PvP all depends on what your HAM and secondaries are and how prepared you are. Every character can optimize their HAM bars, but powerboost gives us TKs a little something extra. If I max my HAM bars, eat a tat sunburn, use spice and get buffed by adoctor - and then /powerboost, it would be extremely difficult to kill me 1v1 outside of a marathon battle lasting long enough for a spice downer and my boost waning (or about 10 minutes). If I reach you in that time, you're probably going to be dead unless I incap myself first. Then again, I'm not doing myself any favors running after you in the first place. 
The bottom line is that melee has its place in PvP, though certainly not one of the uber classes. I'm not sure where ranger comes into it at all other than terain bonuses when not in a city.
Since I generally don't PvP, I don't carry armor, I don't use my VKs, I don't use buffs (except spice in emergencies) and I max my secondaries rather than HAM (mind is always maxxed though). I normally have a fishing pole equipped as it doesn't count as a weapon and makes it less obvious whatclass I am.
It is nice not to need much, though, as I generally keep a very empty inventory, aside from some fish. I feel like my old EQ monk at times.
P.S. Whoever said they had an extended burst run is playing a different game than me. I've been bursting for 1 minute/waiting for 9 minutes since I started playing.
KD was mostly unnerfed (5 sec timer iirc). If you ever get KD2 (KD+dizzy) you will understand how overpowering it can be. NPCs nor PCs can get up for quite a while with a good dizzy, and if they do get up, use a lunge or another KD to send them back down. Most of the time, the fight's over once you land it.
Ashar wrote:
Do I PvP? Only when someone needs a quick trip to town, or when I get jumped doing faction missions. I can hold my own when fighting other melee classes, but I have yet to win a duel with anyone from a ranged class. I've tried fighting them indoors, but I find that they can frequently overpower me even at close range, especially since the KD nerf. I suppose I might be able to win a fight if I ever managed to land both a KD and a Dizzy, but I have yet to pull that off.
I'm all about PvE; I'm a Ranger. I'm also a TKA so I canfight toe-to-toe with creatures, as most of them are melee-based.
Yeah, I've PvP'd before, but that's not the focus of my character. I'm the guy who you take on a creature hunt. I'm the tracker, I'm the trapper, I'm the tank, and I'm the campbuilder all rolled up into one. I'm Tarzan with horns and a facial tattoo. I'm Craven the Hunter without the fruity lion vest.
However, in those situations where I feel like getting my PvP on, I have three gun-based faction hirelings and a probot to help me out. It's kinda like an inverse Creature Handler -- I do the tanking while my pets take care of the fire support.
Works fairly well: if the enemies ignore my pets, then they just run around until they're eventually gunned down. If they ignore me, I rip them a new one.
Thank you all for your replies. I guess the general concensus is that a Melee Ranger must pick his battles carefully, and I guess that's advice that could apply to just aboutany profession.
I hadn't thought of the idea of loading up on ranged faction pets, although it makes perfect sense, and that sounds like a pretty good strategy to deal with kiting.
I am a TKA, Ranger, and Creature Handler. Before I became a creature handler, my furry butt was incapped several times. Now, I send in my pets and the non-experienced PVPers will attack my pets and ignore me. Then I run up and smack them around.
I don't run up to them in combat, in fact I burst run away from them and let my pets (that is when I had my three faction pets) chew and blast them. I have killed me several commandos this way. Personally, ranger has no applications in a PVP fight, but I am just beginning my trek through the ranger class. So far the only people that can really kill me are the bounty hunters with the darn eye-shot.
Yet another Master Ranger/Teras Kasi Master here.
Ive won my fair share of fights and ive lost my fair share of fights. Between me and a commando, its all about who gets the first shot off... thats the way it seems to be with everyoneI fight (except pistoleers, they cant be knocked down most of the time and have a bit of melee defense bonuses as well).
Im not sure how long i will be a master ranger tho. The +10 melee defense and +10 ranged defense is nice, but its not THAT nice as compared to bonuses in other professions. Im pretty sure im going to drop the Survival and Trapping lines in Ranger and pick up some marksman skills. I want to hold on to Wayfaring and Tracking for as long as i can but i wont cry too much if i have to drop the entire profession. There just isnt enough in ranger to make it worth keeping.