Of course I realize i'm just getting opinions.  But fire away!

I've always enjoyed two classes in MMO's more than any others.  The heavy armored tank.  And the range class using rifle, longbow, shortbow, etc.

My first experience with this class was with DAoC before Darkness Falls was added.  I loved the scout!  The range was intense, and when he crit'd, it was insane damage!  But that's not what I really enjoyed about him now that I think about it.  I enjoyed the complexity of the stats of the weapon and the arrows.  You would have to choose and equip the arrows you think could do the best armor penetration depending on who you had your sights set on.  And you could make these arrows and more advance bows.  In short, you felt like a true archer, not a machine gun shooter with narrow wooden bullets.

The vanilla version of the WoW hunter was also a lot of fun, and for me it had to do with the complexity of it.  There was now pet management (and it wasn't that easy to train a pet) and the crafting and choosing of the ammunition.  The introduction of the rifle was a favorite part of that.  Having a dwarf with a rifle just felt right, having a dwarf with a bow....seemed wrong!

There's ton more examples, so for all you fellow archers out there, which one is the best for you?

Darkfall

why,well aiming and timing and shooting.

Originally posted by grimgryphon
I play a ranger/bowman in almost every game and personally, I enjoy them in LOTRO and Vanguard the best.

Yah, I was thinking of mentioning LOTRO, I played the ranger in that one since it's beta.  But what about that class in that game, or Vanguard, did you enjoy?

The reason I ask, is because it seems that the ranger has been dumbed down to nothing in recent games, and I'm referring principally to GW2, where you're just an automatic endless supply shooting automoton.  Same with Tera.

Originally posted by ForumPvP

Darkfall

why,well aiming and timing and shooting.

As much as I hate to admit it...Darkfall did have the best use of a bow and arrow in any MMO to date.

Originally posted by jeeshadow

Originally posted by grimgryphon
I play a ranger/bowman in almost every game and personally, I enjoy them in LOTRO and Vanguard the best.

 

 

Yah, I was thinking of mentioning LOTRO, I played the ranger in that one since it's beta.  But what about that class in that game, or Vanguard, did you enjoy?

 

The reason I ask, is because it seems that the ranger has been dumbed down to nothing in recent games, and I'm referring principally to GW2, where you're just an automatic endless supply shooting automoton.  Same with Tera.

Yeah, the ranger in GW2 is AWFUL.

Personally, in LOTRO, the hunter class has enough variety so you're not just shooting your bow all the time. You can set traps and melee is pretty good in the hunter also. It allows you to develop a bit of strategy.

In Vanguard, spears and javelins can be used in addition to the bow. Also the ranger has some command over nature and it makes the class feel more outdoorsy.

Originally posted by ForumPvP

Darkfall

why,well aiming and timing and shooting.

This.

And hearing the creak of the wood as you pull back the string.

Originally posted by jeeshadow

 

The reason I ask, is because it seems that the ranger has been dumbed down to nothing in recent games, and I'm referring principally to GW2, where you're just an automatic endless supply shooting automoton.  Same with Tera.

 Eh, you really don't fire a lot of arrows in TERA outside the low levels, you spend a majority of the time firing ranged traps, using your melee stun, dropping ground traps or using backstep/breakaway bolt.

The only arrows you really use are charged shot and restraining arrow, also to be fair, the endless shooting is because archers in TERA use magic to conjure energy into the shape of an arrow, it's not actually an arrow.

FFXi

Wide array of choices from xbows to long bow to guns.Big selection of ammo as well,albeit is pretty much level based.Crafting is also a very large part in the ranger class,but crafting goes a long way in all classes.No pet,i don't believe copying other games using the pet is a good choice.A ranger should be all about Ranged combat,not pet combat.That is why FFXI does classes really good,the pet class is the Beastmaster.

The Ranger can use status bolts,elem,ental arrows,debuff bolts,sleep bolts/arrows,health regain bolts,add to that abilities to bind and create very large damage and utilize several choices for a sub class,makes it versatile and fun.

Hunter in LOTRO was good. Archer in TERA was also good. In TERA it's not like a woodsman archer type character, but it's proper aim and shoot with charge up attacks and the like. The bows looked awesome as well.

Yeh, I think I enjoyed TERA's Archer the most out of all MMOs

Vanguard- rangers could make their own arrows and they 'felt' like a ranger.

Lotro- Hunters arrow skills had alot of different effects, IE Crowd control etc,  also felt like a ranger.

Darkfall- Too bad everyone was the same class, but yeah shooting a bow felt awesome in df with trajectory and first person.

Originally posted by grimgryphon
I play a ranger/bowman in almost every game and personally, I enjoy them in LOTRO and Vanguard the best.

I agree with these choices as well.

And...I like the Saboteur build in Rift also.

its a matter of opinions here so i wont say the best archers of any mmo. On a personal note,  the archers that i have enjoyed the most are the Force Archer in Cabal Online, the Stalker in Allods, Hunters in WoW (before they limited them to 1 weapon only, bow or melee, not both which now sux).

There are many other good archer classes out there but i cant think of them right now.

Originally posted by bigsmiff

Originally posted by grimgryphon
I play a ranger/bowman in almost every game and personally, I enjoy them in LOTRO and Vanguard the best.

I agree with these choices as well.

And...I like the Saboteur build in Rift also.

The sab was my first build I played in Rift and I loved it. My final build was a marksman, however.

The sad thing is that I love ranger-type classes but hate pets, which always seem to be attached to the class. 

I might try out Darkfall 2, never did try the first one.  Hopefully the ranger will be the same style.

I did enjoy Tera for a little while, but couldn't stay with it.  And using "magic" for arrows is just a plot device to explain why you don't need a quiver?  When did that become so bad?

I like being able to choose an arrow, knock the arrow, pull back and release.  It's the whole point of choosing that class, imo.

Oh and someone mentioned AoC, yes, they did have a good archer didn't they?  loved the crit when you hit someone's artery, lol.