Ranger Start Tree feedback

Read other posts, ideas, and think that Life/EVA(DEX) most main problem.
I dont think EVA mechanics will be come with .11.2, bcs too much work to do and that mean same for DEX. Life... dont know if we will see more life node/regren, but that will help a lot for Ranger.

+ other ideas: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/411738/page/14#p3788154

I agree with all the posts that talk about the need for better health and mana nodes. Mana is one of the biggest problems that I've faced as a bow Ranger, and one that I expect to face with my new melee Ranger. There are essentially no mana options to pick up as a ranger, as well as no way to get increased mana regen without going all the way up to Mana Geyser. I've always constantly run out of mana as a Ranger and been forced to heavily rely on at least two mana flasks. This really limits the diversity of flasks possible to use. A mana leech node much closer to the Ranger start would be fantastic.

Maybe dex attacks could use up less mana so that you wouldn't run out of mana so quickly, this would fit really well into the idea of a self sufficient Ranger.

(For this next bit I should point out that i have not played a melee mara)
Accuracy is one thing that I think should have an increased emphasis on, with Resolute Technique being a very easy way to make sure your attacks hit. Since Rangers get an accuracy increase of +2 with every point of dex, it seems prudent that this is integrated more into how damage is done. I would personally love it if Resolute Technique was removed from the game and other classes hit less often. To offset this they could do much more damage, they just wouldn't hit as often. Rangers could then use this increase in accuracy to hit very often but have weaker hits, so that it was more stable damage.

Evasion is also something that dex helps, however it could affect more than just dodge rate. Perhaps evasion could increase attack speed to some extent, not a lot, just enough. Instead of it a flat increase to attack speed with lots of evasion, it could be that every time you evade an attack you get an attack (or even move speed) speed buff.

Looking at the tree, I just can't see how to justify choosing the Ranger over the Duelist and Shadow for any melee build. I wonder how many of the dedicated minority of melee Rangers have made that choice for non-gameplay reasons (e.g. they particularly wanted a female character). I'll go through the possible weapon types:

2-hander: not really much support for this anywhere in the Dex half of the tree, except for a bit of sword and axe stuff, but most of that is near the Duelist (especially axes). Certainly not much anywhere near the Ranger start.

Dual-wield: the new Duelist start is absolutely amazing for this setup, and the Shadow start is pretty good. The Ranger start is not so good for dual-wield, but in theory the Ranger could take advantage of her starting position to have a split tree, with one part picking up the good Duelist nodes and the other half picking up the good Shadow nodes. In practice it doesn't really work like this: the theme of the southern path into the Duelist area is OK (although those Evasion and Avoid Stun nodes are maybe a bit underpowered), but if you start on the northern path as a melee Ranger, you quickly get funnelled back down south (the area wedged between the Ranger and Shadow areas takes so many +10 nodes to cross that you're better off taking the outer highway somehow). Once the paths merge it's as if you started in the Duelist area, only with less flexibility.

1h+shield: The Ranger start has OK potential here once the relevant nodes are buffed to match other starting areas. Again though, you're forced down the melee Ranger funnel and in the long run you're not going to want stay in the Ranger sector (practically nobody stays in their own sector for the whole game - you quickly run out of nodes that are worthwhile for your build). If you go for an ES-heavy build you'd have been better off with a Shadow start, and if you go for a life build, you'd have been better off with a Duelist start, both because the starting nodes are better and because the Shadow and Duelist have a lot more flexibility when it comes to speccing for ES and life respectively.



All in all I think the biggest thing that could be done to improve melee Rangers, beyond straight buffs to their starting nodes, is to give them a northern path to the 4 weapon circles north of the Ranger start, and then on to the Shadow area, that isn't so packed with +10 tax nodes. For instance, have the sword and dagger circles connect to something in the south, like the bow and claw circles are connected to the north. That way we'd see a lot more split tree builds that really take advantage of the fact that the Ranger is wedged between Shadow and Duelist.

http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/441326

Would be great to have some more elemental damage nodes or maybe some life regen. I have to go all the way to marauder to get my ele dmg.

In another game with hell-stile was a good feature fo Evaders (actually to one character who use evade wide).

Feature prevented lethal damage, leaving you with nearly 1hp.
It was a good fuse against "bad luck".

It would be great to see something like that in Ranger's tree.

"

Radonegsky wrote:

In another game with hell-stile was a good feature fo Evaders (actually to one character who use evade wide).

Feature prevented lethal damage, leaving you with nearly 1hp.
It was a good fuse against "bad luck".

It would be great to see something like that in Ranger's tree.

I like that idea a lot. A ranger who avoids damage, stuns, status ailments, AND avoids death occasionally. That would also provide the buffer needed for low-life evasion builds when the going gets tough.

_______________________________________________________________
Want to say short:

a)_Ranger for melee Yes, good point to start.
b)_Ranger for bow No.
It's only my subjective opinion, here is why I think this way:

a*)__I play Ranger, as melee physical, using cyclone. With shield, and Acrobatics
I have 10k+ Armour, 30%+ dodge, and 65%+ chance to block, its insane. Very tanky, with good dps 2304.

b*)__Starting from Ranger as Bowman. I can divide this tree to two mini tress.
At the bottom I see fortification of nodes, for one hand builds, so it's very bad.
At the top, some nodes for bows (no crit, and no acc) only flat dmg + speed, and from there, is no way out.
Further on top, too many “+” nodes to go, and on the right side, finally freedom. Its Pyrrhic victory, too many skill points used to reach my expectation.

Now I'm making Marauder for phy/bows/crit, because he can fairly well reach many trees, and life nodes.[from midle to ranger, from ranger to shadow].

For me, Ranger as Bowman is bad starting point, because too many skills I have to use, to be free.

I would like to see Ranger support for 2handed, dual wield, 1handed + shield and bow.

The way I see, the Ranger should have a focus on Crit and Attack Speed, in an "either/and/or" scenario:

• Sword & Board -> focus on Crit or Attack Speed
  Desired Weapon: Rapiers & Short Swords
• Dual Wield -> focus on Crit and Attack Speed
  Desired Weapon: Rapiers & Short Swords
• Two Handed Weapon -> focus on Crit and bursty damage (flicker strike, etc)
  Desired Weapon: Swords
• Ranged -> focus on crit and attack speed
  Desired Weapon: Bow

So I'd like to see something like this:
Top: Crit Chance
..Projectile
..Melee
....Two handed
....One handed
......Dual Wield
......1H+Shield
Bottom: Evasion
..Evasion
.... Evasion
.... Avoid Stun
..Movement Speed


Notables I'd like to see:
- Increase to Evasion while wielding 2handed Melee Weapon
- Keystone causing you to add Dex's % Evasion modifier to melee crit chance, but provide half its usual Accuracy or something.

"

Nurvus wrote:

I would like to see Ranger support for 2handed, dual wield, 1handed + shield and bow.

The way I see, the Ranger should have a focus on Crit and Attack Speed, in an "either/and/or" scenario:

• Sword & Board -> focus on Crit or Attack Speed
  Desired Weapon: Rapiers & Short Swords
• Dual Wield -> focus on Crit and Attack Speed
  Desired Weapon: Rapiers & Short Swords
• Two Handed Weapon -> focus on Crit and bursty damage (flicker strike, etc)
  Desired Weapon: Swords
• Ranged -> focus on crit and attack speed
  Desired Weapon: Bow

So I'd like to see something like this:
Top: Crit Chance
..Projectile
..Melee
....Two handed
....One handed
......Dual Wield
......1H+Shield
Bottom: Evasion
..Evasion
.... Evasion
.... Avoid Stun
..Movement Speed


Notables I'd like to see:
- Increase to Evasion while wielding 2handed Melee Weapon
- Keystone causing you to add Dex's % Evasion modifier to melee crit chance, but provide half its usual Accuracy or something.

I don't think 2handed weapons should be part of the Ranger's repetoire of skills. If she wanted to, she should be able to go into the Duelist's tree and grab 2handed passives. Ranger has always struck me as a bow user or a 1handed-melee weapon user, especially the swordnboard to maximize her block/evasion.