Is anyone actually going to main this class?

Swiftly

I have spoken to "Several" high level Archers in the beta and all but 1 has said they will not main the class at EA. And when I say several I mean not many because there aren't many to begin with. All of them state the "Friction" of the class is just not worth it in the end game. And they all have mostly the same complaints...

Trap skills are buggy or not worth the effort of the tradeskills.
Skirmish stance move speed is not enough to properly kite. And possibly being forced into another tradeskill(Alchemy)
2-3 tradeskills required for all the different types of Arrows that may be needed.
Salvage Arrows is poorly implemented and takes up a valuable skill slot.
And maybe most of all the damage is not in line with being a straight DPS class.

Would love for someone to chime in and give some Hopeium on this class.

dankell77

I will be maining it. I had decided on it before the deep dive. It definitely needs some love, but there is alot of time for fixing and balancing still to come. My fingers are crossed it changes for the better.

jobanab

Swiftly I'm either maining Archer or Ranger. I had a blast getting my Archer to lvl 31 and I was convinced it would be my class...until a lot of the gap closer changes went in while I was mid-20's. The 10% skirmisher didn't do enough to convince me soloing was in a great spot yet. I also agree that some things like Salvage is quite poorly implemented and horribly frustrating to depend on.

I personally enjoy the tradeskill aspect of the class tho. I'm sure there are other Archers out there you could pay to make your tinkered arrows and traps. Once the whole player-run market system is up and running it would probably be fairly straight forward to just buy the arrows/traps.

Brettanomyces

The traps are definitely a bummer but everything else about the class has been a blast for me. The damage could be better but by and large it's pretty good! I think we're probably the best off pure DPS class right now and I won't have a problem maining Archer.

WestMort

I WANT to main Archer, they need a balance pass. Currently the class is not working well by mechanics, and functionality, and regular balance.

I will have 1 of every archtype (tank/cc/heals) However, I am going to wait for the balance pass to come out before I consider making a DPS. I REALLY want the dev's to lean into the "Archer" class, not the "Trapster" class.

Trepan

Probably not. For some reason I really enjoy playing the class solo, but as soon as I am in a group I am bored to tears. There is just not enough going on with the class to make it fun in a group setting. I am going to pick a different class that I think is more fun in groups.

legoliath

Seems like every other deep dive classes are getting some tweaks in dmg yet archer gets none. I got a 60 archer and NOPE, not starting archer for EA, not even close. Really was hoping to see them do some balancing before EA so I can decide if I want to go back to archer but doesnt seem like that is happening.

Tibs

Most players that played it thought that the class was boring.
I don't think 🤔 anyone that played with me in BETA tends on playing the class.

Fell

Swiftly And maybe most of all the damage is not in line with being a straight DPS class.

Archer is almost double the sustained DPS of a wizard. And their caltrops is one of the most useful skills for mitigating a bad pull.

Rangers need some serious help, but when I'm trying to fill a DPS slot in my group, I'll go the extra mile to make room for an archer. It's not a high-engagement class though, which some players find boring ... others find relaxing.

Trepan

Fell For me, I don't think the right factor for choosing a class is how does it compare to wizard or really any other DPS. Not only do I not trust DPS numbers that people keep pretending to know, but we also know that there will be a rebalancing of classes at some point, so DPS is going to change. Based on gameplay alone the class just doesn't have much going for it. I wish caltrops was as useful as you say, but it really is such a minor benefit to a group. There are just so many better forms of crowd control. I think if Archer just had one great group utility ability it would "feel" a lot better. Right now, I just think it is a lot safer to choose a class that not only provide good utility to a group but also DPS. But you might be right, maybe there are people that just want a DPS class that requires very little action, and Archer is winning in that department.

Fell

Trepan For me, I don't think the right factor for choosing a class is how does it compare to wizard or really any other DPS.

I don't either. That road leads to nothing but class homogenization. A lot of people however do feel that damage is all that matters for a damage class.

jobanab

Trepan I only leveled an archer to 32, but grouped non-stop with it from 7-31. Caltrops is extremely useful in groups to give extra time for CC or simply to give a healer or DPS enough time to get clear of a mob while someone picks it up. It also saved myself and groups a few times when someone trained us.

Otherwise, yeah it is quite bland in group settings without anything to do besides pressing the same buttons in the same order and hoping you don't miss when re-applying barbed shot. You can't burst something down like a wizard, traps don't work and overlapping cooldowns are kind of a mess (like Net Shot putting Exposing Shot on a 1 minute CD). Our sole Threat reduction ability can launch us through the world. Salvage Arrows is exceedingly painful to use in a group setting.

I think the class has promise, but it needs a serious tune up.

Trepan

Fell Agreed, last thing I want is the WoW formula for classes. Maybe at some point one of the traps will give the class more identity and utility. How about a taunt trap?!

Slow

Got one to level 25 got tired of the abilities not properly activating when used and even the placement of their abilities was very wonky. Once the mobs got charge abilities and movement speed bonus, it was a clear NO. Also, too many trade skill requirements just to use your toolkit.

Apex

Fell Archer is almost double the sustained DPS of a wizard. And their caltrops is one of the most useful skills for mitigating a bad pull.

Rangers need some serious help, but when I'm trying to fill a DPS slot in my group, I'll go the extra mile to make room for an archer. It's not a high-engagement class though, which some players find boring ... others find relaxing.

Playing one into the 40's , even after the revamp they leave a lot to be desired. Before the DD the singular trap that worked (root) was mostly 75% reliable. after the patch, maybe 30% and the method to make the traps was absolute garbage....who needs to make physical traps that fail most of the time and are realatively expensive and time consuming requiring 3 trade skills 1 at a very high level.

Don't get me wrong, the DPS increase was needed and came close to bringin us to par, but the skirmish stance is garbage, and if you are going to require such a time and money expense for a trap, it should be in line with other's FREE spells and LAST 30 seconds not 8. I played a very competent puller as an archer, parking adds with the tiny root and snare, and using caltrops to control the playfield until the patch, then those options were pretty much removed.

None of the other traps even worked. So buggy thay could not even be called workable.

Caltrops got reduced in effectiveness at the same time, GUTTING our best close CC ability.

Sadly I won't be maining one, and I am honestly concerned that they will completely trash Ranger in it's Class revamp.

I'll probably skip the game unless I find some fun people to druid or bard with, those being my alternate choices.

I'm at least giving the game the first 30 days to see how everything settles.

Lets hope for the best!

sojourner

I will be, though I only tested in the very early phases and it seems the class still leaves alot to be desired, which is unfortunate. Hoping that changes with class revisions!

Trepan

sojourner This class just got slaughtered by Ranger. They could probably remove this class from the game and it might actually make it a better game. Lol I jest, but how cool would that be if you were the only Archer in the game Sojourner?

sojourner

Trepan It... it would be funny for sure! I had the sense ranger was more like the old EQ ranger, mix of melee and range, and not as high dps as an archer? But with greater utility. Sorry if I missed out on any revisions, as aforementioned I haven't been in to test since very early on. As others have rightly said, I hope Archer dps gets leaned into for the actual shooting of arrows, and they don't make us invest into trapping as our main source of damage. Utility is great, don't get me wrong, but archers' main role it feels is high output damage and from what I gather reading here it's a bit mixed.

HowdyMan

Swiftly I had a 60 Archer in the beta and I'm not maining it at EA so I guess I'll chime in. Quickly to your specific points:

Most trap skills aren't great, but caltrops is good so I just pretend the rest don't exit and it doesn't bother me.
Skirmisher is absolutely fast enough to kite. Just need to choose kite-able targets.
Fletching never bothered me.
The only time I've ever used Salvage Arrows was when there was a bug that made arrows prevent corpses despawning, as a courtesy to my groupmates. I've never had an issue crafting all the arrows I need. Happy to pretend it doesn't exist.
Damage always felt fine to me.

I guess you could say it's bad that half my skills never go on my bar, but I'm not bothered. Maybe some of them will be fun for RP or messing around. I do really miss Distracting Shot and Scatter Shot though.

As for why I'm changing class, it mostly comes down to I found a static that wants to do lots of dungeons and I don't really like Archer in cramped dungeons. It's annoying to get range to shoot. I'll almost certainly be on a Rogue because I think they bring just a bit more utility along with their damage and their positioning is less of a headache. And my static doesn't have anyone else to hoover up all the chain drops.

I'll still do my planned HCSSF Archer leveling, but after my static slows down.