Rangers as pullers?

[Munki]

Okay, I have a question to pose to the Ranger board...

When I went ranger, I was excited about the prospects of being a big damage dealer... however, I also was excited about how all fingers point to Ragners being excellent pullers as well.

However, once I started gettin in PTs, I started to find that people don't care about Rangers pulling. Most would rather have the WAR pull, as they have more hp. Even when I try and explain that I can;

A) Locate the mob much faster
B) Use bow to pull, therefore not taking any damage while I drag him back to the PT, where the WAR will hopefully voke off of me

Typically, when I pull (I have found a few parties that let me), I usually use scan to pull up our next target before our current one is dead. That way I am all set to go grab the next one ASAP, therefore ensuring the fastest pulls. I can usually get some good chains going for our PT, as long as we got the manpower and MP to keep up with the pulls.

Anyway. Long rambling there ^^. What do you think about Rangers pulling? Personally I feel that they are hands down the best pullers in general, and I want to know if higher level parties start to realize this. Cuz at my stage, all people look at are HP for pullers... nothing else. And of course, as a Taru Ranger, I won't be on top of the HP pool ^^

I would love to continue being a puller if possible, and I just want to know if any higher level people know if this Tank = puller attitude persists at the 30+ levels.

[lightningdragn]

I don't like pulling much, I'd rather have the tank do it. I like to give out directions like "one to the N, one to the SE" while we are fighting, so the tank can know exactly what direction to go to find a mob.

Rangers are the best equipped to pull, but anyone with a ranged weapon can do just as good with a little guidance.

[Spider-Dan]

Not totally on-topic, but as a THF, I pull with my bow regularly. Normally, I hunt and pull mob (use SA before firing bow), as I run back, WAR vokes, I attack with my SA and I've got about 30 sec to go before I can sneak again.

As I understand, the main argument for WARs pulling is that if they use their voke to pull, and it takes them 15 or so seconds to run back to party, then they are only 15 seconds from another voke, helping to establish hate control. Obviously, depending on your party makeup, your mileage may vary.

[Mr. Black]

Also not intirely on topic, but as a Samurai with a Warrior sub, Im constantly assigned to pull. Now, if I was a Warrior, sure... whatever, but Im not. I'm a Samurai who happens to have provoke. I'd MUCH rather have a Ranger do the pulling than myself. So I'm at the other end of the spectrum than the original poster.

[voodoo]

Usually the required puller will be: rng > thf > war > everything else.
Personally I think thf sometimes make the better puller, because if they link they can hide or tonzura to the blm for a quick escape. of course the rng has scan, which is valuable. depends on the conditions really. but in your average PT with a rng and thf, it depends who wants to do it more.

[Telona]

Don't forget how long ranged attacks take. If you're in a crowded area war makes the best puller since they provoke is so fast, imo. Can't count how many times I've lost a pull because a warrior provoked the mob I was aiming at.

[Zwillinge]

The person who pulls should be based on knowledge and experience. And also someone who can create very good and useful Macross.

I was in a pt with a thf, but the darknight/warrior did the pulling just cause he knew what he is doing. We had many chains. However, because of no rnger scout ability; we lost alot of possible chains because it took so long for our drknight to find the right enemies.

HOWEVER, once in Shakrami; low levels (teens) I was in a stable pt. We had a ranger pull/claim maze makers. HE WAS AWESOME!
He really knew his job and after every fight he ran off to pull another mob that would chain. We never had to wait for him. He'd time the pulling with the resting perfectly, as to never get us killed. He was a sub whtmg; which blew my mind since i thought it to be such a wasted sub. However, he would pull and pull and take some damage. However, he wouldn't allow himself to waste our whtmgs mp so he'd use his own. He'd then be voked off by me, and he would run back and finish the beast with devastating long range.

If you can really be as good as this guy with ranger pulling; i highly suggest that you become one. He was no question the best ffxi player i've met out of the month+ ive been playing.

also; he was about 2 lvls lower than me.

[koven]

ya i usually pull for the groups i am in. though i just hit 13 last night so ive only been pting for like 2 levels. i prefer it because i can pull wihtout being touched AND the monster we are fighting is already down on hp's once i pull it. and when im looking for members or joining a group i prefer that there are 2wars in it so the 1st can get it off me then if it aggros a caster early in the fight which never really happens unless your in a retard group the second can get it off.

[Munki]

I love to pull, which was why I brought this up. I took on ranger for 2 reasons. I wanted to be a good damage, dealer, but also because I wanted to pull.

I was an Opifex Fixer in Anarchy Online, and I did ALOT of pulling with that character. As someone said, you can get it down to science.

I was pulling in the dunes the other day, and I would rarely have problems keeping our chains going. You end up learning where the other PT's 'camps' are, so when you see a mob in that area, you know that it is claimed, so you ignore it. As long as you have a target pulled up before your current mob is dead, you will be able to be much more efficient and faster than most other people pulling. If you are worried about losing out on pulls to warriors, whm is a great solution to that.

As Zwillinge said, RNG/WHM can be a devastatingly good puller. There IS one thing better and faster than provoke for pulling... Dia. So a Ranger with scan, and then Dia, you can be a pulling master. Personally, I will be sticking with my Warrior sub, as that also gives me the option of provoke. However, I won't use voke for pulling, as it leaves me in melee range of the mob.

The beauty of Bow is that you will only take damage if your target has any sort of long range attacks.

[McClane]

I totally don't like pulling, but a RNG can be a good puller

But I think RNG isn't always the best puller, especially when you got another pt hunting the same area, and you have to compete for the mobs, taunt would be better

For the scan ability, I never use it for pulling, maybe I'm doing something wrong orso but if I have to look at map, scroll down the mega list of mobs and finally find one that is near that would take waay too much time
If I just run around a bit it will go quicker, and looking @ map during battle wouldn't always work either I think, most mobs I finish with barrage and my ws, sometimes renkei, so I have to pay attention

There IS one thing better and faster than provoke for pulling... Dia. So a Ranger with scan, and then Dia, you can be a pulling master

Taunt is faster then dia, and @ lvl 40 RNG gets shadowbind, dun know for sure if it's faster but with NM hunting I can beat even taunt with it

and RNG/WHM uhm... why even think about that O.o

[voodoo]

As Zwillinge said, RNG/WHM can be a devastatingly good puller. There IS one thing better and faster than provoke for pulling... Dia. So a Ranger with scan, and then Dia, you can be a pulling master. Personally, I will be sticking with my Warrior sub, as that also gives me the option of provoke. However, I won't use voke for pulling, as it leaves me in melee range of the mob

Actually, Provoke is faster than dia (not by anything really noticable though), but dia has a much bigger range.

When you get shadowbind at lv40 you can use this for pulling if you really have to pull fast, it shoots instantly. It almost certainly won't bind any IT mobs for longer than a second. Unfortunately its range is about the same as provoke :/

[oozma]

I also love pulling.. but sadly its always the dark knight, or warrior that get the job.

[Ripersnifle]

I think rangers were at least intentionally made with the thought of being good pullers (regardless of how it actually works out in the game, it seems like that was the intent). I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I'm able to keep a constant stream of enemies coming in due to my wide scan abilities- it makes me feel like a hunter.

Also, I do like when a monster pulls out a ranged weapon and starts shooting back at me. Being the AGI whore that a ranger already is, the already not-too-accurate missile fire tends to miss a whole lot more than their melee, as well as fire more slowly. Nothing is more satisfing to me than watching the melees in the party take the mob apart while he tries in vain to hit me with a crossbow.

[Trimpton]

In every group Iam, I play puller. I start my own groups with my GF who is Whm of same level (36).

Quick advice for pulling, and to stay a good puller so theyll want you to do it more..

* Know the area very well, know what spawns where what links what aggros and know how to avoid them

* Even if you get wacked a few times avoid linking by moving out of the way.

* ALWAYS watch the mp. That should be obvious but I used to see alot of pullers miss that.

* Be quick as possible, you can pull off arrows faster as a ranger if you know the distance limit of your bow... you can do your bow much farther away than a provoke so you should have enough time to beat provokes.

* If your pulling with competition know where alteast 2 mobs are to pull so if one is taken you can quickly move to the other for fast pulling and chaining.

* If your group is good and constantly chaining its ok to leave fights at 5% to pull off that final 5th chain.


I have exp. from many MMORPGs although this one is different in many aspects with XP chains which make quicker pulling a bigger factor. You cant just say you are a good puller, I have seen many tanks/thfs pull way better than some of the rangers out there you have to show them.

[FeralisCallidus]

* Be quick as possible, you can pull off arrows faster as a ranger if you know the distance limit of your bow... you can do your bow much farther away than a provoke so you should have enough time to beat provokes.

Incorrect.

Bows generally take 5 seconds to fire off ~ provoke has about half the range. it doesn't take 5 seconds to cover that area on foot.