(just putting this here as a reference for the future)

Every now and then I read a post about how a Rangers one regret might be that they don’t have Blizzard, or the main reason why a person chose not to become a Ranger was because of Blizzard’s pwnage. Well, the more I progress on my own Ranger the more I realized that Rangers should not in anyway get the skill Blizzard. Why? See below:

1) Rangers have Arrow Bomb. Now the first thing that will be said is that “Well, yea, we do, but it only acitvates its stun rate at a 60% percentage.” Which is absolutely true. The reason behind this Stun Rate is because when a monster is Stunned on average a Ranger will be able to pull off 6-8 shots of any attack before the monster is unstunned. That many attacks is considerably more than what a Sniper can do with Blizzard. If Arrow Bomb had a 100% Stun Rate it would be better form of Blizzard that immobilizes all the time, does high damage as well as criticals, and allows a Ranger to fire off multiple attacks. Thats too Godly and would break the bowmen class. Arrow Bomb is a high mob damager and an immobilizer and when it immobilzes it gives a Ranger an advantage. For a Ranger Arrow Bomb is greater than Blizzard.

2) Rangers fire Faster. Period. According to the most recent Firing Tests Strafe fires the same speed as any other skil until proven otherwise, i.e. Strafe’s Speed= Double Shot’s Speed. With that said Rangers can tend to get 4-6 hits on a monster before the actual monster can attack (this varies from mosnter to monster and distance), while a Sniper usally gets around 2-4 hits (again depends on the monster and distance) in before being attacked. Rangers WANT Blizzard, Snipers NEED Blizzard. Snipers need Blizzard because although they are powerful, they are still slower when it comes to attacking, at the end of the day if a Sniper did not have Blizzard they would take more damage then a Ranger and would have to resolve to using Puppeting and Eagle far more often which would slow thier experience gains down. The only reason why a Ranger can get away with Puppeting and Hawk is because they have faster pickup speed and would be able to execute the setups faster then a Sniper. Now imagine a Ranger with Blizzard. A Ranger with Blizzard would be able to use Blizzard get several Strafes off (most likely killing the monster) and then quickly use Blizzard again. Do you understand how godly that is? Thats basically similar to a Bowmaster being able to pot while using Hurricane. Thats too Godly and would break the bowmen class.

3) Rangers have Inferno. Now a Ranger might say, So what? But you have to understand that Inferno pratically molds a Ranger’s playstlye, like Blizzard practically molds a Sniper’s Playstyle. Inferno basically sends this message to monsters for a Ranger: “Hey, I just burnt you, now you have so many seconds to get over here and try to kill me before I kill you, and try not to get Puppetized.” Thats what Inferno is, a lurer, that makes monsters come towards you NO OTHER bowman skill beats Inferno in luring, except for its 4th job Reincarnation Phoenix, which is basically an auto lurer. Blizzard for a Sniper sends the message: “Aw~ you got caught in my Blizzard, and now you see that your about to get hit by a powerful attack and you can’t move out the way, better luck next time, oh wait there isn’t one for you.” Blizzard is the Sniper’s immobilzing playstyle, NO OTHER bowman skill beats Blizzard at immobilizing, except its 4th job Reincarnation Freezer, which is basically an auto immobilizer. If Rangers had a Snipers playstyle, well, thats too Godly and would break the bowmen class.

Thats my thoughts on the matter what are yours?