Curse

distilledwill · Apr 15, 2009, 07:17 AM // 07:17

Ok, so I'm sure you've noticed the trend at the moment in equipment insignias. Generally, its gone from Radiant > Survivor for all classes (as people have learnt ways to manage energy, and to cope with the great powercreep) and then on Warriors from Survivor > Sentinals and Monks from Survivor > Disciples. (I'm not 100% on other profs, anyone care to fill the gaps?)

My question is this: do we Rangers have to begin considering the +AR insignia available to us?

I have to say, its rather uninspiring. Its not really worth us investing in a particular elemental resistance unless you know you will be facing a particular type of damage. Scouts looks OK but only gives you +10 rather than +15.

Im talking about PvP too, obviously you can predict what kind of ele damage you will take in PvE.

What do you think?

(There is current debate about the comparison of +30 health bows vs +5AR bows, but lets stick to armour for the moment.)

Gift3d · Apr 15, 2009, 07:45 AM // 07:45

I'll state it as simply as this. A ranger would probably need 5 sets of armor to be able to reap the full benefits of ranger specific insignas (survivor, earth, lightning, cold, fire) which are a lot more specific and situational as compared to other classes unique insignias.

If there was such a thing as being able to "unlock" insignias for pieces of armor and select which insignia is on each piece of armor on the fly in outposts, by say a drop down menu, then that's the only way i could really see ranger insignias being used. Meh.

Mayda · Apr 15, 2009, 09:17 AM // 09:17

in a Beast Mastery build the Beastmaster insignia could be worth considering, but otherwise the ranger insignias seem to be too specific to be worth using. you can do a bit of research and take the elemental one which fits the most for the area you gonna do, but i always been too lazy for it. just take brawlers and dont stop shooting

Aldric · Apr 15, 2009, 12:46 PM // 12:46

95% of the time I just use Radiants.

I normally run with 550-600 health in PvE and I don't see the point in having even more health than that on a midline/high armoured class so I might aswell have a few extra energy points which may actually be of some use.

Eragon Zarroc · Apr 15, 2009, 01:19 PM // 13:19

meh, rangers have a natural 100 armor vs elemental dmg, so the ele insignias are a little over kill. seeing as rangers are midline, their 70 armor should be fine for melee. especially if u have a defensive stance. i would just stick with a combo of radiant and survivor.

Orange Milk · Apr 15, 2009, 01:33 PM // 13:33

For solo builds I use alot of different Insignias.

All those Insignias you listed run a whole 100g EA so swapping back and forth is no big deal, no need to have 5 differnt whole armor sets. 1 set is all you need, for those Insignias.

For instance when I farm with R/E and [Stone Striker] I use Eathbound because I'll typically also have [Storm Chaser] and won't have energy Issues at all.

+AR is very underestimated imo, In team oriented PvE I really don't "spec to perfection" but with ALL my Solo builds I maximize my Attributes, Equiptment and Armor to the best possible scenario.

In PvP you need a mix of both Radiant and Survivors IMO, you need enough Energy for a long sustained fight and the HP to resists spikes. There are alot of spikes in PvP that use Armor Ignoring damage so Health is what you need, but you also need the Energy to DShot/Savage shot AND combine on all spikes. So for Armor in PvP its a weapon swap to Shield set for bonus AR and HP when you kknow you are the spike target or you are running for your life

Rhamia Darigaz · Apr 15, 2009, 02:41 PM // 14:41

scout's is the only one even worth considering. pets are bad and the elemental ones would only be useful if you expect to see everyone running a specific element and if your 100 armor wasn't enough already.

the problems with scouts are:
1) preparations are a relatively high priority interrupt and a pretty easy target. you won't be in your preparation as much as you'd like to be.
2) in many situations where you would most need the armor stopping to use a preparation would be more harm than it's worth. ex: you're on some 2v2 split and the other person on your team dies. when the other person dies you have two options after you're done raging at him on vent: stand there for two seconds and cast your preparation for PLUS TEN ARMER or gtfo so they don't kill you.
3) for all that trouble, it's only +10 armor on the character who already has ample defense against most armor-acknowledging damage (100 vs ele and stances vs phys).

wars use sents because it adds +20 armor against the damage type most often used against warriors. monks use disciples because it's +15 armor and spikes without conditions (deep wound) aren't the ones you have to worry about. rangers simply don't have anything as useful as these so there's no reason to switch to +armor insigs because all the cool kids are doing it on other classes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orange Milk

In PvP you need a mix of both Radiant and Survivors IMO, you need enough Energy for a long sustained fight

radiant doesn't help you in long, sustained fights. it gives you an initial advantage in any fight where you get to start with your energy capped but as the fight gets longer those two extra attack skills you were able to get off before your energy was the same as someone without radiants are going to matter less and less. whether you have 25 initial energy or 30 your 3 pips of energy regen are ultimately what decide how much energy you have and how frequently you can use energy-based skills.

AnClar · Apr 15, 2009, 04:27 PM // 16:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhamia Darigaz

radiant doesn't help you in long, sustained fights. it gives you an initial advantage in any fight where you get to start with your energy capped but as the fight gets longer those two extra attack skills you were able to get off before your energy was the same as someone without radiants are going to matter less and less. whether you have 25 initial energy or 30 your 3 pips of energy regen are ultimately what decide how much energy you have and how frequently you can use energy-based skills.

Agree with this discussion in general. Rangers already have enough AL protection to keep them going. +AL insignias are ovekill IMO.

And as long as you bring up e-mgmt, as far as Rangers are concerned, expertise makes a small energy pool go a long way. Couple that with the three pips of regen and using fulll Radiant becomes a matter of situation-specific preference.

ac1inferno · Apr 16, 2009, 01:40 AM // 01:40

Rangers usually would have no need for Radiant since they have Expertise. If they do have trouble even with a high amount of it, might mean the build needs to be looked at. The next best would be Survivor since carrying 5 armor sets is just silly.

FoxBat · Apr 16, 2009, 02:38 AM // 02:38

Radiant actually matters if you're in some situation where you are running all over the place and your elite is expensive. Like if you're on cripshot in a BYOB-style gankfest, you've got a high-energy spammable elite, and there's enough time spent running around for the larger pool to recharge to make that useful. On todays 5e melshots camping the stand it hardly matters.

I do ponder Sentry's (+10 vs phys) since rangers are already virtually immune to elements.

_Nihilist_ · Apr 16, 2009, 04:07 AM // 04:07

Either go for Survivor or Sentry. You don't need extra vs. Elemental, and if you do, swap to your Defensive Set because you're the target for the incoming round of clusterfcuk that the opposing team just called. If you need more energy, either check your build for capability/efficiency or quit spamming skills like an Ele under Ether Renewal.

Bobby2 · Apr 16, 2009, 02:43 PM // 14:43

I'm glad someone brought it up! My AB Sin has recently been decked out in Infiltrator's instead of Survivor's (+10AL/phys, +10AL/pierce), trying it out since my perception of what's dangerous has changed a bit.

+AL for Rangers: don't need it for Elemental (100AL), don't -really- need it for physical (stance). I'd stick to Survivor's...

EDIT:

Kso! Dropping from 580 to 540 really wasn't worth it. Pressure can be mitigated by getting out of Dodge, spikes are -truly- dangerous and as such the HP is more useful to me. Back to Survivor's!