Ranger Harmony

Z

Zarimus

Dalayan Beginner
During the Endless Quiver discussion and the comments about Ranger usefulness, I was considering small things that might make the class feel more useful without unbalancing the game. I'd like to throw this out for discussion to see what people think about it, whether it would be good or bad for the overall game.

Proposed: change the Ranger's version of the Harmony spell to a spell called Distract and let it work indoors as well as outdoors. It would be otherwise identical to the Harmony spell. The Ranger distracts everyone but his target then lures them out to be ambushed.

Rangers could then become the second choice for pulling indoors after monks and shadowknights. They have a very good chance of pulling a single critter except for ones that are tagged to be immune to the effects for one reason or another. They're still not as good as a FD puller because they can't fix a bad pull or a wandering add, but they're a good alternative if one isn't available.

Pros: gives Rangers a group-friendly ability, makes it easier for groups to get a good puller

Cons: indoor locations haven't been balanced for Harmony-like pulling and thus could prove to be more effective than desired in some dungeons (though that could be fixed by tagging things immune to the spell), might not be possible technically to change just the Ranger version of the spell Harmony and leave the Druid version alone
 
Zarimus said:
Rangers could then become the second choice for pulling indoors after monks and shadowknights. They have a very good chance of pulling a single critter except for ones that are tagged to be immune to the effects for one reason or another. They're still not as good as a FD puller because they can't fix a bad pull or a wandering add, but they're a good alternative if one isn't available.

Pros: gives Rangers a group-friendly ability, makes it easier for groups to get a good puller

Cons: indoor locations haven't been balanced for Harmony-like pulling and thus could prove to be more effective than desired in some dungeons (though that could be fixed by tagging things immune to the spell), might not be possible technically to change just the Ranger version of the spell Harmony and leave the Druid version alone
Click to expand...

Actually, bards, clerics, and enchanters all have a harmony-type spell that works indoors as well as out.
 
GuiardoTuneweaver said:
Actually, bards, clerics, and enchanters all have a harmony-type spell that works indoors as well as out.
Click to expand...

You're implying that my "harmony" song actually works. :lol:
 
I absolutely love this idea. I often find that if I've ended up pulling in an inside zone, I'm forced to either drag a paladin or cleric along with me, who for one reason or another may or may not keep up with how I move around zones (crazy rangers!). I think this nice little change would make us rangers a lot more useful but not so much that it'd be too overpowering.
 
I love the idea of a ranger being able to pull. Most high-end zones that require a puller (or mezzers, though its not quite as effective). This is a cool idea, save for the fact that sometimes you'll get jumped when you go into a room and there are two or more mobs. Of course, if you have a trustable rogue you can have them scout for you, but still, for rangers to be viable pullers we'd need this harmony skill as well as a sort of way to lose aggro completely (like FD or rogues escape) or scout (like rogues sneak), both of which are unlikely (IMO) to be put in for us.

Regards,
Aeran
 
The difference between harmony and the lull spells is that lull can be resisted and cause aggro. If harmony is resisted -- and it can be resisted on SoD -- the MOBs don't aggro.

This really would be too powerful, I think. This would make pulling in any dungeon -- even raid zones -- pretty much trivial. A ranger would always be preferable to anyone else if this were implemented.

Now, if this spell were put in and it was the same as the lull spell, that would be fine.
 
To be fair though, once us rangers get inside we loose alot, imo, of what makes us what we are. When using a bow you need to make sure your pulling to a large enough area for you to stand far enough away, and yet stay out of the path of any wanderes or respawns. I see what your saying about it not agro'ing when resisted, but this would make rangers a hell of a lot more useful. We might actualy get picked for groups, yay!
 
I don't know why rangers wouldn't be picked for groups. :) They're good DPS and can be an improv tank if something goes wrong (warrior dies / LDs). As a warrior, whenever I'm making up a group, rangers would be fairly high on my list when looking for a DPS class.
 
Well maybe it's just the "omg ranjah die all time!" mindset still loged firmly in place. And improv tank? Weeell....kinda....lord knows if I'm tanking I need a healer more or less spamming me or just having me buffed to hell and back. *shrug* maybe my ac just sucks.

Regardless, due to using my bow to pull alot, I often find that i can damn near perfect angles using harmony to get singles almost anywhere, and if it's not gonna be a single, then I already know about it. Making harmony useable inside would save dragging others around with you who can either take agro when your running your pull back or any number of crazy things. It'd be nice to have another decent pulling class, maybe give some monks a chance to rest or let the sks med or whatever.
 
That's a good point about Harmony not generating aggro when it fails, which makes it into a powerful pulling tool. I assumed this would be offset in a dungeon environment by the Ranger's inability to flop to end a bad pull, but would they ever get a bad pull other than an incovenient wanderer that could be planned around?

True, a monk or SK rarely gets a bad pull either, but there are times they can't split a group and have to pull multiples. I think the same would happen with Ranger Harmony/Distract though, because they can never be sure they've successfully distracted everything. Once they pull, they're committed no matter how many things aggro.

So what happens if a Ranger just distracts like 10x per mob to be sure? They wouldn't do it often but they could take the time if they wanted to. It might be nice if every time a Ranger uses Harmony/Distract on a previously affected foe it has a small but increasing chance to aggro, basically a "What the hell, that's the fourth time I've heard the call of a thrush in the last two minutes... and there are no thrushes here in Everchill."

Dunno if that's doable in code though, or would be considered worth the effort.
 
Harmony indoors sounds good. Forget making it too complicated (subsequent posts). Keep it simple. Make linked mobs immune to harmony. I'd be interested to see how this might go. Just don't make it complicated. Please. Rangers should be kept simple. Simple /rant over.

PS. I don't use Harmony.
 
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