So, is it agreed? Rangers are the only class clearly needing a buff?

[rheingold]

No please no dual wielding rangers like Drizzt. Sick of that. I think Rangers are just about fine as is. Interesting, different. Maybe tweak their abilities and pet a bit. As is you can make your ranger do anything, guns, bows, 2 handed swords, dual wield... The pet creates flavor, and if it's boring then play another class.

[jsaving]

The ranger is a hard class to get right -- it is one of the few to have been panned in 3rd, 4th, and 5th edition D&D (no small feat since most 5th edition classes have been well-received).  The main reason has always been a lack of distinctiveness -- not so much that it is "weak" but that nothing stands out as saying "I need this class in my party".  I see this as being the major problem in PoE too, as rangers make perfectly competent party members but can't out-DPS the rogue or barbarian and aren't nearly tough enough to make a reasonable defender.  (Potentially with the rogue multiclass feat they'll be able to leverage their pet to move up the DPS food chain, but only time will tell on that.)  Depending on the edition, there have also been significant issues in D&D about how strong their pet or their spells should be, and how much melee/martial power to take away in exchange for those other class features.  I'm not sure this is a huge issue in PoE, but I would say the exceptionally weak (with one exception) pet talents drive rangers toward only a few builds and make investing in your pet a sub-par option. 

 

A debate where the only choices are "the ranger is too weak" or "the ranger is fine" isn't useful in my view.  The class works as it is now, but giving rangers more strategic options in combat and improving some of their weaker talents to increase build diversity would be welcome additions to the game...

[Looms]

Move all pet related perks to a different group and allow player to pick one every 3? levels. This way we can buff pets without gimping rangers damage output.

[evilcat]

Move all pet related perks to a different group and allow player to pick one every 3? levels. This way we can buff pets without gimping rangers damage output.

That aproach would be time consuming for devs - creating new category of upgrades. Current system with free abilities representing pet leveling up is better.

Pet related abilities/talents does not gimp Ranger, they are part of ranger class. And sometimes it is more important to have tankiness over dmg, or some utylity CC.

 

More important problem is that pet cant hold shield, or drink potions, so a lot of attencion need to be paid to heal pet. A bit too much.

So abilities/talents which will allow regain endurance by pet from ranger alone are most welcome. Be it pet+ranger healing, pet resurect, pet life stealing, or pet having flat endurance regen.

[Willow]

Sagani is doing great in my first play through. The only thing I'd gives ranger is a special equipement named "collar" for their pet.

 

It would use technically the slot of the Mage grimoire and boost the pet in different ways.

 

The pet is a very monolithic part of this character. You can boost it through lvl up abilities but you can't adapt to the situation. I'd like those enchanted collars to give some feats to the pet like +25% damage to (spirits / humans / etc), a healing spell, buffing or debuffing auras, +10% attack speed, poisonous fangs, etc, etc...

 

That way, a ranger could use his pet different ways depending of the situation.

[chalsengi]

I use a Ranger in their current form and I fail to see why they need a buff. They are the reason I can survive without healing and spells on POTD. They receive buffs that increase their ranged accuracy or speed and its really really helpful when combined with an arbalest or even just a war bow. I think the pets maybe are just too fragile, but I play on POTD so maybe thats why. I tend to use the bear because it can offtank sometimes. Rangers are one of the best classes for taking down annoying high DR mobs early on in the game, like Shades... When they hit with a high damage ranged weapon they hit hard and its quite effective. A salvo of the entire group typically has a good result.

[evilcat]

Sagani is doing great in my first play through. The only thing I'd gives ranger is a special equipement named "collar" for their pet.

 

It would use technically the slot of the Mage grimoire and boost the pet in different ways.

 

The pet is a very monolithic part of this character. You can boost it through lvl up abilities but you can't adapt to the situation. I'd like those enchanted collars to give some feats to the pet like +25% damage to (spirits / humans / etc), a healing spell, buffing or debuffing auras, +10% attack speed, poisonous fangs, etc, etc...

 

That way, a ranger could use his pet different ways depending of the situation.

 

Some other aproach would be introduction of "Pet Threats", a consumable item (like potion) which is in Ranger inventory, but affect pet.

So for exampe we can have threat of healing, or snack of ironbark, that could be a way to save the doggy.

[Willow]

I like this too, if you allow me to be 10 year old again, "both, please !"

[tinysalamander]

threat of healing

 

Best threat you can throw at an undead!

[Willow]

Hey in fact threats could be great with the Survival skill of Rangers

[svartelric]

I found that trying to boost both the ranger and the pet through level ups makes them both weak (obviously) - I thought that investing on the pet paid off better than spending points on the ranger, but as I mentioned that would work in a full group. A solo ranger would probably suffer too much...

[Spirtikus]

I've been reading through the class wars on reddit/obsidan.net/gamefaqs and such, and I've seen all kinds of wonky but effective builds for just about any class a person might be struggling with, but I'm not seeing any love for rangers. Personally I heard the wolf companion tears things apart, but that was not my experience, and I'm still playing on normal difficulty.

Tbh really loving my ranger. Hits like a truck from a back line, while my wolfy goes out and tanks some dmg/does some dmg/meatshield stuff.