Rangers as pullers?

[Munki]

Well, with much more pulling done in game now, I have revised alot of what I thought about Rangers pulling.

I still love to do it, and I feel I do a pretty good job of it. I can coordinate good chains usually, and I help the mages out with their MP management. I typically listen to purely the WHM, but I will speak up if I feel the WHM is beeing a bit too ballsy (I've got 30 MP, just pull that Pugil!)

However, while ranger is an excellent puller, there are 2 definate issues.

You gotta buy the maps. I know qufim like the back of my hand, but I find that my scan is just NOT usefull there. When I am looking at a blank slate with red dots on it, it just takes too long to process that information without a visual guide to help point me in the right direction (is the mob on this or the other side of that wall?, etc. etc.)

Number 2, I have found I hate pulling for parties with poor Vokers. In Qufim, a Pugil can drop my HP in a very short order. 4 hits (and they do 2 attacks) can drop me to critical red. If the warrior isn't paying attention and vokes off of me, I'll be dead very fast.

I love to pull, and if I am in a good pt with people I know and trust their abilities, I'll gladly do it time in and time out. But if I don't have that security, I don't like that 50/50 chance the tank is gonna just sit there and watch me die.

[obsidian]

RNG/NIN is really the best puller in the game with THF/NIN being a close second. You have Utesemi to stop from getting hit on way back, your pull range is much farther than provoke (really important when trying to pull a mob some gob is in front of), and you have widescan to find the mobs you want to get. You can alleviate some of the delay with shooting arrows by simple bringing a low delay bow with you. Just set your macro to equip low delay bow, tell party pulling, use ranged attack on mob, equip high dam bow. Pretty simple really.

Overall though, how good a puller is really is dependent on the skill of the puller. Pullers should not have to be told when to pull, what to pull, that the mages need mp, or how much time before chain dies. They should be able to handle that. A good puller is just one component of having a great XP party.