New & Exciting Ranger- Can this be done?

[LaZeR]

Well, I think we all agree there will be some sort of Physical Range char in D3.
Now, after agreeing with Stillman's posts of D3 chars being extreme and basically comic D&D stereotype, I have to say I'm pretty sure will see a full, extreme Ranger char in the D3's five.

However, as I said, I'm also sure Blizz will take this unoriginal type and refresh it so it'll be new, exciting and interesting. See the Wizard's Melee and Time Warpping skills and the Barb's Fury System.

My question is, if Blizz did make an extreme Range char-
What can they do to make it new and appealing and not boring and used?

[lunarleif]

Ranger needs a new name.
They could make it so that they were a combination of characters if you are referring to a ranger. I think small swordplay, ranged attacks with traps, and enemy sense and knowledge. Or something along that line.

[commonhumans]

Yeah Rangers needs a new name like... Bard... or something... just joshing.

I would be Fine with a Ranger class. A Ranger class just called Ranger. I like the name Ranger, its simple, to the point, and the lore regarding it can be easily adjusted.

I don't feel that it is unoriginal because if you want to point fingers at unoriginal names that i give to you... WIZARD! (Harry Potter, LOTR, Magic the Gathering, etc, etc.) Granted having two classes based on characters from LOTR maybe iffy for some folks, I personally do not have a problem with it.

[peasant]

Off the top of my head, I can think of a few names:

Heavily ranged specific:
Archer, Bowman, Marksman, Sharpshooter, Sniper

More ambiguous:
Hunter, Scout, Stalker, Raider, Dragoon

[Ishtor]

Off the top of my head, I can think of a few names:

Heavily ranged specific:
Archer, Bowman, Marksman, Sharpshooter, Sniper

More ambiguous:
Hunter, Scout, Stalker, Raider, Dragoon

dragoon's use polearm type weapons

[Qwink]

Sniper will be a very bad name for a ranged class and you know it.
I think the name Rogue will best suit a ranged class. The sisters (and brothers) of the sightless eye take revenge for their homelands being corrupted 20 yrs ago and what not..
A rogue also brings to mind a more stealthy character. I would like to see these three skill trees: Bow skills (of course), stealth/traps and some sort of magic skills. We'll just have to wait and see if they announce her at the next Blizzcon.

[slex lord of hatred]

i would love a ranger class to be called a dryad who uses mainly bows and spears.
this dryad could also have some healing spells and also traps, along wth diferent types of arrow.

the skill tree's could be:

. remedial
- some of these spells include spells to heal yourself, others, weapons, and pets.

. nature
- spells include traps, like tiger traps, creating temporary glade in which trees circle with an opening. when monsters entre they are attacked by living trees. other spells include "leaf dance" which conjures up a flurry of leaves which circle the player and fly off towards the enemy. cutting them, at higher levels body parts are dismembered. and taming which temporarily ensnares minion who you can control and keep provided you have enough mana. the higher the level the longer you keep it. and also the ability to track things, i.e if there is treasure near by,when the spell is activated it is iluminated.

. augmentation
- everything from ice (can slow down but with weaker enemies they are frozen.), fire (sets the target alight) , electric (obvious), barbed (causes limping), poison (slowly deterierates health)

[KnS]

Most of whats being discussed is new names for chars...
Just no, i for 1 dont think giving a class a new name makes it exciting and innovative...

A new take on skills, tactics, looks, and other features never tried before make a char unique...

I agree that there will be a ranged class in D3 and i hope its fun and exciting.
it will be my first char and probly my first few chars if its a success..

Just dont expect a change of name to change everything else.

[peasant]

dragoon's use polearm type weapons

Apparently, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragoon), they were first armed with a sabre, axe and matchlock musket. And it's been said they were named 'Dragoons', after the wheellock muskets they used. Therefore, it would appear that they used both, ranged and melee weapons.

[Kokolums]

I wish it was a bard. I don't understand why there's hate for the class.

[paperkut]

Most of whats being discussed is new names for chars...
Just no, i for 1 dont think giving a class a new name makes it exciting and innovative...

A new take on skills, tactics, looks, and other features never tried before make a char unique...

I agree that there will be a ranged class in D3 and i hope its fun and exciting.
it will be my first char and probly my first few chars if its a success..

Just dont expect a change of name to change everything else.

I couldn't agree more with, well, everything you said.

Ever since Lazer first posted this I've been trying to come up with that would set this class apart, make it unique, innovative. I keep coming back to the barb's furry and try to put some twist on it to fit a ranged character.

Wait! I got it! Let's just give him a new name! lol

[Technomancer]

I think Ranger would be a much better name than anything mentioned so far. As to Dragoons, the polearm thing is due to Final Fantasy. A lot of classes are really not very closely tied to their historical basis. Like Geomancers aren't based on their origins (as diviners) but got redefined. I think that one too was FF. Things are redefined in modern culture, similar to how all Dwarves have a Scottish accent. Everyone knows Dwarves aren't from Scotland!!! They're from Scandinavia and are masters of magic! :D

I wish it was a bard. I don't understand why there's hate for the class.
Just a bunch of playa' hatin'. Bards get all the hot chicks.

[peasant]

I wish it was a bard. I don't understand why there's hate for the class.

It's not so much hatred for the Bard but simply being mystified why its supporters are so adamant that it must be the Bard.


I couldn't agree more with, well, everything you said.

Ever since Lazer first posted this I've been trying to come up with that would set this class apart, make it unique, innovative. I keep coming back to the barb's furry and try to put some twist on it to fit a ranged character.

Wait! I got it! Let's just give him a new name! lol

What about anti-fury? It constantly regenerates rapidly (meaning you'll be fully recovered for the next fight) but depletes the more damage you sustain. Consequently, the play style will be one where the character uses his/her biggest abilities first before switching over to the weaker ones. The strategy one where you try to get as many as possible before they close in on you and when overwhelmed, you run away to fight another day.

[LaZeR]

Yeah, I too don't understand how this has become a NAME discussion but what the hell.

I've trying to think about it myself too, but ended up with nothing. I must say I don't see a way to make the Ranger char very exciting except giving it some very cool and epic looking skills and interesting lore. No real change in the game style, mechanics or tactics, but at least enough fireworks to distract people from it.

And No- I actually DON'T want another player with Fury-like system. I prefer all chars remain with out beloved Mana and the Barb will be the special one, which will be one of the things that will attract people to play him.

[stillman]

Here's a concept I was working on. Are there hints we can use? What about the archers in the gameplay video? They look like actual archers, not just merc's with bows. Maybe the class will look something like them and come from the place those two dead meat guys came from (just like in d2 LoD how the barb comes from the place where all those dead meat barbs come from who get killed in the Bloody Foothills). The problem is, they don't look too godly in the video, do they? Look at how godly the barb looks. I mean, he actually looks like God Himself with his beard and all that.

So the archer class has got to look godly. She's just got to. The zon was pretty dandy looking in d2, and this brgins us to....

Sexy as hell. I don't see why Blizzard would break the tradition. We have no idea what the male archer will be like (maybe ugly just to make the female even better looking), but we can bet our chipped topazes that the female archer is going to be a supermodel, only meatier. Now, the female wizard isn't overly sexed up, but maybe the d3 archer is going to overcompensate for that if you know what I mean.

Recall that the rogue and zon were both female superheros to every Diablo archery fan. So maybe when they design the archer class, they will base the class entirely on what looks super awesome as a female. I guess the female d3 archer would hog the spotlight in designers' attention and time, and the male counterpart would just be w/e spawns from the ultimate female. At least, that's what a lot of fans would do if they were at the helm designing him/her. They'd not worry about the male looks at all for a while. They'd pick the best possible looking female model and the build would go from there. I don't know how else to say this other than focus on the female, even if the male version makes little sense with your class idea. The male d3 archer is just aftermath in her glorious wake with some touch ups.

This is just an out-there example to show what I mean:
Class name: Valkyrie. (I know, there's no such thing as a male one, but we'll fix that)
Quick Story: The Valkyries of d2 were turned back into mortal women because Tyreal needed them to fight in Sanctuary alongside the armies of light. These are wild times, and seers say only formerly sublime entities can sway the battle in Tyreal's favor. The Valkyrie take up their bows and javalins, but some even prefer wielding the spears they used in their spiritual form. Born again, they must remaster their once perfected skills and magical abilities just like any other mortal seeking the modern battlefields
For males: Did you know there are men Valkyries as well? It's true. There really are. They're called Suma or Gurus or w/e, but in all ways, they achieved their spiritual status just like any female Valkyrie so they are their counterparts and prefer to be called Valkyrie as it is their rightful honor.

So that's just an example of what Blizzard might do, putting total favoritism toward the female design...but not as reckless as this example.

What would a more likely name be? Well, I'm going to stick with, believe it or not, Archer. Or, Ranger could work as a distant second option, but Archer sounds really 'in your face, no screwing around, this is what she does.' There are no surprises or guesswork with Archer, just like with Wizard and Barbarian. Rangers are partly into the land, scouting and traveling, whereas archers are pure bow folk.

Thief is a distant third, but this obviously implies a stealth archer hybrid which is not the purpose of this thread. Thief is obvious and simple as possible, but perhaps not godly enough for the SACRED spot of the d3 archer. It's hard to picture a godly thief. It's easy to picture a godly Archer.

So that covers godliness and simplicity, but what about sex appeal? Well, they could make her into a knight by look, even though she is full fledged archer. By appearance, we would think she is a knight archer hybrid class, but the steel armor is for glamor, shine and sex appeal. She is mostly all missile skills. She isn't like a paladin crossed with an archer. The knight thing is just to give her a story and look, some character, etc. You can make her have the Virgin Mary look with a coif and this is her chain mail appearance, chain sleeves and all, while her VERY curvy and busty full plate armor is her graceful tank Joan of Arc look. As for the leather/cloth look(s), well, mostly naked, obviously. Almost no clothes at all. That's how they did it in d1 and d2. Pants are out of the question.

Making her knightly works out well because we can tell from her name Archer she is not a cleric or paladin. In fact, everyone knows knights have absolutely no clerical magic attributed to them at all. But of course, she can have all the offensive magic she wants in he missile skills. I was originally against female knights because we know there were no female knights in history. But this is an archer, not a knight so problem solved since we know of female bow users in d1 and d2. Plus, this is the d3 archer so they've got to go big and glamorous. She can have one of those perfect, fine saintly faces that makes sense on a knight type of look.

So the trees would be Archery, Magical Engineering and Crusade or something. The idea is that 2 trees are ranged skills and the last tree is for side arm, maybe some shield stuff, honor type of skills, and so on.

That's right, Magical Engineering. It's not one or the other, it's both. We know this is already around because look at the flimsy catapults in d2 act 5. Well those should be shrunk down to crossbow size so you tinker with whatever elemental damage form you want, even all elements going off at once! You can already muster this in d2 with items, so it's time to evolve towards passive skills that do it.

The idea is kings and lords all took up arms and died in battles, along with most if not all knights, so archers are the only strong forces left. They are moving up the world and have suits of armor made for them just as knights once did. They are all that's left of the Lost Armies.

I guess the male archers can have whatever unique look Blizzard wants, as long as their full plate doesn't make them look too much like knights instead of archers. There are ways around this. The helms can be pointy, and it can all look more like very fine custom made field plate rather than full plate. Gauntlets that cover the backs of the hands only and leave the palms and inner finger surfaces bare for pulling bowstrings, one shoulder plate smaller than the other for drawing back a bow, and that sort of thing.

The thing to remember is they are archers (not knights), but moving up easily in rank and power to become super archers. Wooden bows are no more, those are obviously noob bows. Everyone uses steel bows in hell mode. Btw, there should be Archer class-only gloves that magically do favors like lock the forearm in place for steady firing or maybe even performing the routine movements of firing arrows...only at ten times the normal human speed. Quivers are no more with the best magic bows that spawn arrows of their own. The arrows are steel too and they stick in rocks. Can you believe all those noobs in d2 using wooden bows and arrows? [joke] No crossbows drop. No, you make your own crossbows with your magical engineering skills. So you don't even need to pick up a weapon, ever. You can just keep dumping points into Magical Engineering skills. Then, you just max out holy water to add more acid damage after you have the crossbow you want. This is the only class that can build a weapon with a skill if you're tired of the quest to find a better weapon. But bows are the way to go for top damage, like in d2.

Maybe even a few rogues and amazons signed on to become archers! Nah.
I have endless ideas for bow skills; here are a handful.

-You can hit stuff with your bow if they get too close, like in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. It's automatic, passive.

-You can fire off few arrows while running, but for less AR and damage. Just some extra damage here and there.

-A sort of auto aim for moving targets.

-You can increase the velocity of the arrows. In d2 they were too slow.

-You can increase the range and hit stuff 5 screens away.

-There are two skills, Volley and Stardust, that shower an AoE with arrows, making multishot and strafe look antiquated. Stardust lets the arrows in the volley do elemental damage.

-There is a little skull and crossbones icon that flickers in the corner of the screen to indicate when you've killed something. This is for hitting stuff off the screen.

-Fletching lets you make your own arrows that do more damage. Every X arrow is one of your custom arrows that does more damage.

-Barbed arrows, simple damage ad on.

-Leg and arm shots to reduce monster run speed and AR respectively.

-Exploding arrow has big AoE and the explosions leave craters and cause kb.

-One hit kill skill, regular monsters only.

-Unlike in d2, when an enemy is very close, you don't keep firing arrows, but instead draw your side arm and hack away at it which will not slow down your attack in any way. There is absolutely no delay when drawing and sheathing the side weapon. It is instant, so if you want to run back one step and keep firing arrows, there is no delay in the automatic weapon switches. This, of course, is if you invest points in the side weapon skill. If you don't, you fire arrows up close as in d2.

-Intelligent arrows that go around corners and weave around enemies until the target is found which is basically like guided arrow only perfect in every way. The also travel forever if necessary.

-You can mix Volley of Arrows with guided. And pierce. So 50 arrows per attack all seek their targets forever and go though anything in the way. Of course, the damage is nerfed for this.

-Spectral arrows, they go though solid walls and doors no problem.

[lunarleif]

Running and being able to fire arrows would be so spammed, it would smell like weird alls spam story thing I think.
Leg and arm shots should not be beholden to one class. Extra range is also cheap in tunnels.

[fiero]

As long as she does not tame pets or lay traps I for one welcome the ranger class. Of course the best thing in my view would be for the return of the amazon.

[Enigmers]

One thing I don't want is for you to be unable to use your bow from point-blank range. One thing that was great about the Diablo series in terms of ranged combat was that you didn't have to switch to daggers or whack the enemies with your bow instead of firing arrows, no matter how close they were. Having to constantly keep the range of the enemy in check all the time is a bit of a stressful thing, at least for me personally.

Things I'd like:
-Arrows to be equipped like shields, i.e. they go in the off-hand slot and add a bit of a buff (like bullets etc. in wow) but don't have an ammo count. This could mean that there would be magicalk, rare, or unique "quiver" items, which I think would be awesome, (e.g. 10% ias, bit of ice damage, hit blinds target, fires explosive arrows, etc. would be cool mods I think)
-Some kind of mix between the Rogue (Diablo) and the Rogue from World of Warcraft, in which they're both sort of agile, not very defense heavy, and good at picking their fights and running when things turn sour. You could probably take this either way, to make a survivalism-based stabbing ninja sort of character, or a sharpshooting mass-murdering maniac. (That was a completely unintentional alliteration, but it sounded pretty cool.)
-In other words, skills based around ranged combat, or sneaky-combat (not sure how to put this any other way.) So this would satisfy both the "need" of a ranged class and a sneaking class, so that would cover all the bases (ranger, sneaky, warrior, caster) and let blizzard do something else with the fifth class. Thoughts?

[Todestool]

If I could build a ranged class I'd probably call it a Hunter (more than a different name to this, promise).

Backstory: With their radically diminished numbers, the Rogues couldn't afford to ignore half of their potential recruits (men), so the guys get to play with bows too now. Furthermore, despite serious scrubbing, they were never able to get all of the demonic taint out of the monastery, and so abandoned most of the lower levels. It is still the center of training efforts and R&R, but most of the devotees of the Sightless Eye patrol through the wilderness far afield, ever vigilant for any sign of returning corruption. Naturally this required them to learn self-sufficiency to a much greater degree, living off the wild.

Skills: A plentiful variety of bow skills are obvious, so I'll focus on what else I'd like to see. I do think traps and snares should play a role in this class. Some may be cast on the ground like traditional traps, but others could be types of magical nets. A main goal of most of these skills should be to keep the baddies off the hunter so s/he can use his or her bow to best effect. A pit trap could be cast on the ground like a firewall, but the first enemy to walk through any one spot of it not only takes damage, but also gets stuck there for a time. An agony snare could trap and immobilize a single enemy, and while it does minimal damage, the creature is in so much pain that all others run from its vicinity. A few of these well-placed could make for a nice breathing space. A man-scent snare could make the affected creature(s) smell like delicious and irresistable humans. Obviously traditional element-based traps are also a possibility, but I don't find them as interesting.
My other idea stems from the D&D ranger concept of a favored enemy. These hunters will not permit another monastery incident, and study their foes exhaustively to best face them in combat. There could be passive skills that boost attack/damage/defense vs beasts/demons/undead. Maybe some active skills could even grant additional damage to one enemy type. Of course the skills would still have to be decent against the others or we'd end up with the uselessness that is Holy Bolt all over again.
There should probably be one or two melee skills at least, since even the Wizard gets one. I like the idea of the hunter auto-switching to a melee weapon when up close. Maybe the off-hand when wielding a bow could be used for a dagger. Then there could be some dagger-only skills that blind or slow enemies, or even give the hunter a run-speed boost.

Well, that's my two cents. Now it's off to bed.

[Technomancer]

-Arrows to be equipped like shields, i.e. they go in the off-hand slot and add a bit of a buff (like bullets etc. in wow) but don't have an ammo count. This could mean that there would be magicalk, rare, or unique "quiver" items, which I think would be awesome, (e.g. 10% ias, bit of ice damage, hit blinds target, fires explosive arrows, etc. would be cool mods I think)
That would be incredible! I always wished arrows/bolts in D2 could have special properties. The throw away ammo system nerfed that.

[lunarleif]

It would be fun to have enchanted quivers and then include the ability to enchant your own arrows even before using them. Add fire damage or the like to the arrows.