Ranged combat, newb/veteran question

[captainr]

Hail all. I played beta of Ryzom and really liked it(cuz I could "cheat" and gain 1 lvl of meele per mob, healers were lvling me), but my friends who were ranged didnt like it(if you remember it was really gimped), so they all left and I left too... I came back in December 05, but still didnt stick with the game. Now after all the updates im on the 7day trial again. I want to be ranged. Whats the current status on it? Useless in PVP? PVE? Any reason to get it? or will I lag behind my compades mages/warriors? Please post any othe tips/trick you think I thoud be aware of. Thank you all.

[norvic]

PvE you will probably suffer abit but still be a good team player, PvP is a different story, you can hold your own with ranged. Aslong as you dont mind to work hard to level 3 skills at once (range,forage,craft) you can sort out the AoDs, heavy melees however are a pain in the ass unless you have room too manovere.
You can be AoD in a month maybe less with power lvling and cats, with Melee, Master in not much longer if you put the time in, ranged you can give them a run for their money but the time spent too LvL the three skills takes significantly longer.
Ranged is like the Navy the senior service, the rest are just troops

[captainr]

PvE you will probably suffer abit but still be a good team player, PvP is a different story, you can hold your own with ranged. Aslong as you dont mind to work hard to level 3 skills at once (range,forage,craft) you can sort out the AoDs, heavy melees however are a pain in the ass unless you have room too manovere.
You can be AoD in a month maybe less with power lvling and cats, with Melee, Master in not much longer if you put the time in, ranged you can give them a run for their money but the time spent too LvL the three skills takes significantly longer.
Ranged is like the Navy the senior service, the rest are just troops

heh tnx alot for the reply. Well I dont mind at all to lvl forage and craft, I like crafting and in fact I took a foraging package when I created my toon, knowing that I'd have to make ammo. Now what is AoD and what are cats? Last time I played I didnt hear bout those.

[ghyselsj]

heh tnx alot for the reply. Well I dont mind at all to lvl forage and craft, I like crafting and in fact I took a foraging package when I created my toon, knowing that I'd have to make ammo. Now what is AoD and what are cats? Last time I played I didnt hear bout those.

AoD = Avatar of Destruction, the master title for elemental. (so, 250 elemental)
cats = Experience Catalyzers. Consumables. Every 100 xp you earn while they are activated, gets doubled, and 1 cat (or crystal) gets used. E.g. you would gain 2000 xp off a mob, but have cats active, so you get 4000 instead, and 20 cats disappear.

[captainr]

well Im definately going ranged then...can I learn 250 ranged and say 250 melee?(aka specialize in 1 melee weapon and 1 ranged weapon?) or does the melee tree get locked once I get 250 ranged?

[blaah]

well Im definately going ranged then...can I learn 250 ranged and say 250 melee?

you can master all skill trees (list is here).