Ranged dps - why so unpopular?

[Deleted]

If they decline an outlaw rogue, you are lucky not to get IN the group

Sadly im not playing outlaw, can't stand the rng the bones spell.

[muto]

The famous Ice Block Dispersion Warlock.

The famous 2 million absorb Dark Pact, and 40% damage reduction for 8 seconds Warlock on top of Soul Leech.

[Varaben]

The obvious answer is that Blizzard has added several new melee specs to the game (Frost DK, Unholy DK, Survival Hunter, WW Monk, DH) and added exactly zero ranged specs. That alone tips the scales substantially.

Beyond that, Hunters have a bad reputation ("Huntard" has been a thing since Vanilla), so I'd guess that drives some people away. Warlocks have always been rare relative to other classes.
Ele shaman have had a bad couple expansions, so they've driven people off.

There's a lot of reasons I guess. I've played melee since launch, so none of this really applies to me. The other thing is that the game isn't really adding more players, so when they add more melee specs, it's zero sum with ranged. So one ranged switching to melee tips the balance more than you think. You're not just adding a melee, you're losing a ranged. If you have 5 of each, that switches a 50/50 split to 60/40 and all of a sudden you have 50% more melee. Even if you have 15 dps and you're 8/7 (ranged/melee), over the course of 3 expansions with 3 new melee, you're at 5/10 and WAY melee heavy now.

[netherflame]

Ranged doesn't feel rewarding to play right now, increased mobility should mean you have less damage but right now the dominate thing in the game right now is melee which in most cases have more mobility and just as much damage as every ranged class besides mage.

[cFortyfive]

By pugging a lot, I see there is high demand for ranged dps, lfg list is full of melee dps applying, leaders have hard time to balance melee/ranged.
Guilds recruiting mostly look for ranged dps.

Even at a 50/50 melee ranged split you would look at the same issue simply because you always want more ranged damage dealers than melees.

[Karah]

One thing is gear - melees were always way more dependant on weapons than casters, now they have their bis weapons since the leveling.

Also for me - I despise current fire mage playstyle (combustion on cd -> your dps sucks) and frost is just too far behind for m+ (in raida it's great).

[Hisholyness]

because most of the fights have mechanics unfriendly for ranged. They have to move most of the time, stacking / have some distance, switching targets (melees dont because they loose dps when they have to move to add if add isnt on boss)

Melees mostly just stand behind boss and take care for 1 boss mechanic in whole fight. (which they are dying most of the time) And dont loose dps when boss is moving big distance.

Someone clearly never played WOW or Rift in their first 3 expansions. It was always preferred to raid with a ranged in WOW raids, and in Rift there is -zero- reason to run melee over ranged. Warriors were only allowed to tank until they get the tempest (ranged) specc

[clevin]

Because find a Warlock, Shadow Priest, Mage or Elemental Shaman was actually happy with their class design at launch?

this. Most of you apparently don't play ranged because it's much easier to level as a lock or hunter (mage, no) than as melee (hello, built in tank). the issue this expansion is that they changed pretty much all of the popular ranged DPS and almost all for the worse. Lock specs are all compromised in one way or another. Mage? Fire was fine but arcane and frost were subpar at launch. Balance? Same. Hunters were radically changed with one of the specs moved to melee, another losing traps and pets, etc.

Basically, Blizzard fucked up the design of most ranged specs in some way or, even if you feel the design is better, altered them so much that people who'd played the spec for a long time didn't like the new design.

[Deleted]

Someone clearly never played WOW or Rift in their first 3 expansions. It was always preferred to raid with a ranged in WOW raids, and in Rift there is -zero- reason to run melee over ranged. Warriors were only allowed to tank until they get the tempest (ranged) specc

Playing for 11 years. Talking about melees now and last 2 xpacs

[iky43210]

Playing for 11 years. Talking about melees now and last 2 xpacs

Range was also preferred in wod and in legion raiding thus far.

[Orangetai420]

For the more casual players I think Ranged has always been and will always be more unpopular because melee just has an easier time questing.

With the exception of Hunters, I could see this being a factor.

[Tharkkun]

Because its easier for Blizzard to design melee classes. They just have to mix rogue/warrior gameplay with some magic attacks and call it a new class.
I thought DKs were still interesting the first years but nowadays they lost so many "decision making" things such as being able to chose your stance (unholy,frost,blood), different runes, magic defensives,etc.. now they play like just a generic melee class with abilities of different colors.

DH is pretty uninspired too, the only marketing argument they ever used was "you can double jump and glide wohoooo". The dps rotation is boring and generic like 99% specs of the game. Really the only new class that brought anything new to the table was monks, that is until they decide to dumb them down more and more like all classes.

So yeah they can try and trick players when designing new classes as melee. As ranged, its kinda harder to fool people because a bolt is a bolt and many ranged specs are obviously similar nowadays with the utility pruning.

Blizzard class designers fail horribly on creativity, they are so scared of doing things fun they prefer to stay in the comfort zone of the same old builder/spender or proc based 3 button gameplay.

Blizzard flat out said they had to keep DH's rotation simple for now because they predicted that so many new, current and returning players would be trying out the class. They can add more complexity as the expansion goes on but if they make the class impossible from the start it will turn players away.

[Ataxus]

Blizz also has never added a class with a ranged dps spec to the game with an expansion

[lordbaldric]

Because the raid fights this expansion has us ranged jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean every fight.

[Kazgrel]

this. Most of you apparently don't play ranged because it's much easier to level as a lock or hunter (mage, no) than as melee (hello, built in tank). the issue this expansion is that they changed pretty much all of the popular ranged DPS and almost all for the worse. Lock specs are all compromised in one way or another. Mage? Fire was fine but arcane and frost were subpar at launch. Balance? Same. Hunters were radically changed with one of the specs moved to melee, another losing traps and pets, etc.

Basically, Blizzard fucked up the design of most ranged specs in some way or, even if you feel the design is better, altered them so much that people who'd played the spec for a long time didn't like the new design.

Pretty much this, and/or numbers tuning. As a long time ele shaman who watched the spec slide back down into mediocrity for WoD, only to continue said trend into Legion, enough is enough...were I playing Legion, I'd likely be a mage now. But rather than reroll class, I ended up rerolling games outright.

- - - Updated - - -

Blizz also has never added a class with a ranged dps spec to the game with an expansion

There's also this nugget of truth, which has baffled me for years now when (as a whole) melee has been more popular than ranged throughout the game's lifespan.

[Marrilaife]

- only adding melee specs to the game never ranged
- adding new melee animations while ranged "somewhere in the future" maybe soonTM not this xpac
- melee have easier time in pvp
- melee have usually easier time levelling up (from ranged hunter and aff lock have easy time rest doesn't)
- many melee classes have tank offspec that helps immensely during those elite WQ (suramar, pvp towers, wardens etc.) and getting faster queues into dungeons
- ranged usually have to deal with nearly every raid mechanic while melee it's mostly interrupt here and there, they might lose uptime due to movement but so do casters because very few spells are castable while moving, majority of the community wants to raid to do "big dick dps" and not to do "bitch jobs" = deal with mechanics
- melee have easier time in m+ because many melee specs have good cleave / aoe, and on average more stuns / interrupts at their disposal and that's what matters in m+, and again some mechanics don't target melee (lolol let healer get all the ranged mechanics spawned at him), it's not rare to see m+ with 3 melees or 2 melees 1 ranged (usually hunter or mage)

[Deleted]

Im glad most here agree about reasons of range nonpopularity.
But, crucial question is - did they sacrifice ranged non-popular in pve for balance in pvp? I think yes, one big YES and thats only big reason Im not blizzard fan...

[Uriel]

@Kazela. Wich game are you playing now? Ff14?

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

Because it's boring compared to melee, that simple.

[Deleted]

amazing surge in melee dps overall with the coming of demon hunta..ehem i mean hunters who is the most popular class atm.