What the Magic trainer told me today...

[yy48n19]

The post was meant to be funny more then serious,

For what it's worth, I thought your post was funny as hell. Thnx, d00d.

[vanderpm]

What would you expect? That you ever will be able to solo mobs higher than your level with a pistol? Sorry if it sounds harsh, but the expression ranged fight includes range, to keep something at range is the clue. Just like with mages. Artillery is not supposed to stand in the front line.

To mention the balance mage/melee vs. ranged - take a look at the launcher. I'm pretty sure that it is more than equal in damage output over time. But don't try to compare pistol or rifle damage with what melee fighters or mages are capable of, that's like you were comparing a single dagger close combat fighter with a two-handed tank.

Try comparing a pistol or rifle to a dagger or 1 handed sword of the same quality. Don't tell me that the combat effectiveness is anywhere near the same. First off the melee weapons do equal or more damage, and have a much faster attack rating.
Compare a rifle to another 2-handed weapon, and you are looking at one sad weapon.

[dpi209]

Try comparing a pistol or rifle to a dagger or 1 handed sword of the same quality. Don't tell me that the combat effectiveness is anywhere near the same. First off the melee weapons do equal or more damage, and have a much faster attack rating.
Compare a rifle to another 2-handed weapon, and you are looking at one sad weapon.

Agreed. Although I still wouldn't even dare to compare a rifle with a 2h Melee Weapon I must admit that in the comparisons pistol vs. dagger and 1h melee vs. rifle the melee weapons are far more effective. The only comparison where ranged fight is the better alternative is launcher vs. 2h melee, due to the area effect of the launcher. Dunno 'bout the autolauncher, I didn't try one for a very long time... The only thing that disturbes me is the ongoing "My pistol does xy damage, that's far less than the melee fighter next to me does" while the melee warrior is in most cases wielding a big two-handed weapon.

I don't want this thread to break out in another discussion over the value and costs of ranged fight. There's already more than one thread open for this topic and it's there where this discussion should take place.
Sidenote: I know that ranged fight is imbalanced (what a mild expression). I also know that it never was an objective in focus beta. But I still think, objective discussion of this topic is preferrable to "whining about a nerf".

[tanreh1]

What is the point in improving something that has ridiculous basic stats to start with?
Even if I find a combo that doubles the damage of my ammunition, I would stil make only a quarter to half the damage a comparable melee fighter would make. So what is the point in making the effort??


@dpi
1.) With the simple stanza of *around-attack* or whatever it is called in english (note..I can use stanzas with melee, which is not possible with ranged combat) I can do kind of area damage to mobs around me.

I agree with you that the discussion has already been started in another thread but I want to point out the follwoing:

YES, I expect to be able to take the same mobs with a pistol/rifle/launcher as a melee would take with dagger/1-h/2-H. ANY other expectation would rate the Ranger as a second or third-rate character who is no useful addition to a group. NOTE: I say group, not solo. This game is about teaming and at the moment if I would have to decide, I would take a melee, off-mage or def-mag every time in front of a ranger because the ranger cannot contribute in any way to the success of the team. There is no area (dealing damage, healing teammates, supporting the team, weakening the enemy) where he has ANY advantage at all. He only has weaknesses and ever time you point out that he is a range fighter and he should be fighting at a range, I cringe:

Where has he the opportunity to do that without being marked as an exploiter immediately?

But as you said...the discussion started in another thread...