Ranged vs Melee which is easier in PvE?

[Raiju]

Not completely sure what content you're playing.

Jinrokh, pool is pretty much a must. I'd argue this is the less costrictive positioning mechanic in the entire raid tier.
Horridon, on basically every door you want ranged to be between the tank and the door which is going to activate next, so that the tank doesn't have to run around like a headless chicken trying to get everything.
Council, pretty strict positioning for priestess adds on heroic, kazrajin discharge, frostbites, all with sandtraps thrown into the mix.
Tortos, avoiding turtles while at the same time being roughly everyone on the same side before each quake stomp.
Megaera, staying in precise positions to efficiently kite Torrent of Ice
Jikun, stay loosely spread around the border in order not to chain caw with someone else/melee, while paying attention to downdraft (less gap closers/sprints than melee)
Durumu, beams, walls and maze pretty much say where you have to stand.
Primordius, stay spread for pustules/acidic spines
Dark animus, stay spread in order to avoid linking golems, pay attention not to be one of the most external people if you aren't soaking matter swap, while anima fonts mess up everything
Qon, stay spread in order not to chain arcing lightning
Twins, spread for cosmic barrage during night and for light of day during day. Spores are much more frequent in ranged too.
Lei shen, precise positioning for ball lightnings, precise positioning for thunderstruck, precise positioning for diffusion chain during normal phases, precise positioning for bouncing balls soaking whenever they're cast.
Ra'den, whatever, it's the same for both melee and ranged.

While this is spoken from a 25hc point of view, where spreading actually has a huge impact compared to 10hc, I really can't see where you're coming from with your assumption. Strict positioning is pretty often required, it's not just a "stand wherever you want to stand". Unless you're overgearing content or doing easy content, of course, but does that really matter?

Listing every little step makes you look petty and your argument weaker. Stick to the parts which legitimately make you think as a ranged.

[Wythel]

Half of bosses abilities don't affect melee.
Proximity is rarely an issue for them.
Sucks to be ranged in 25.

[Sett]

On paper it all depends on the spec, class, and what boss fight you are engaging to say which is 'harder'.

A lot of encounters favor range as of late though.

[Volitar]

Melee definitely, in the past it was ranged but if you have been paying attention this expansion melee has had hardly any mechanics everything is healer/ranged targeted now.

Also I keep reading people talking about how easy it is to position as ranged, just wait until you get one of those "you can never stand within 10 yards of someone" fights in a 25man raid, then we can talk about how easy it is just to stand behind the boss and move when he does.

[Tarazet]

Melee is a pain in the butt. I love it, but I'll never call it easy.

- Have to stay in close range for attacks to land, and in a 180 degree cone behind to avoid getting parried. On Torto or Durumu during disintegration, it's a guaranteed DPS loss since you are facing him
- Can be difficult to spread out, so some mechanics will always damage us more often
- Frequent movement as tanks reposition the boss means you pretty much have to master mouseturn + keybinds to perform well
- We're always on interrupting duty
- We lose all DPS if we have to run away from the boss to handle a mechanic

[Fluorescent0]

Melee is a pain in the butt. I love it, but I'll never call it easy.

- Have to stay in close range for attacks to land, and in a 180 degree cone behind to avoid getting parried. On Torto or Durumu during disintegration, it's a guaranteed DPS loss since you are facing him
- Can be difficult to spread out, so some mechanics will always damage us more often
- Frequent movement as tanks reposition the boss means you pretty much have to master mouseturn + keybinds to perform well
- We're always on interrupting duty
- We lose all DPS if we have to run away from the boss to handle a mechanic

Tortos can't parry, Durumu is channeling therefore can't parry. Getting parried doesn't add any depth to whatever you have to do, it's just something you shrug off as a DPS loss.
Most mechanics that require spreading out don't target melee.
Repositioning from tanks is predictable on almost every single encounter.
Interrupt duty is probably the one thing I'll let you.
Most mechanics which require running away don't target melee, and even if some do, losing DPS =/= being hard. You do the exact same movement as a ranged, it's equally as hard. If he can deal damage while doing it it doesn't make it easier (well, makes it harder actually since you need to pay attention to two things at once)

Stop confusing "I can't deal damage when ranged" with "mechanics are harder as a melee".

[Raiju]

Stop confusing "I can't deal damage when ranged" with "mechanics are harder as a melee".

You can't go "makes it harder actually since you need to pay attention to two things at once" then completely ignore dps optimization in every regard. It's a complete contradiction... hypocritical. You either factor in optimization for both (yes) or neither (lol).

[zenyatta]

Ranged. Melee gets to suffer through the "Watch me tank the boss in a figure eight!" pulls. Sometimes the boss needs to be kited, and if it's kited in the same pattern every time, no big deal. But bosses that teleport around or just like to follow tanks that cannot sit still and just tank... ugh. Gimme my ranged.

[Nimitzles]

Probably enh shamans and feral dps have it the toughest in terms of complexity and having to deal with boss mechanics

[Heladys]

ranged is easier for me. For you, who knows but you.

[Deleted]

Easiest to hardest in general IMO.

ranged - melee - tank - healer

obviously some fights change this.

[Deleted]

Content dependant, in this content melee is far easier then ranged.

[Draahl]

Only one fight comes to mind that has been easier for melee, Saurfang in ICC. I cant think of a single boss that isnt equal or harder as melee then ranged otherwise.

[Deleted]

I'm in a 10man guild, so will speak from what I have seen here.


Jinrokh: Melee cant get orbs on them, so stays in puddle, defo easier as melee. Bit hard to dps during lightning storms, but enrage is so lenient that it doesnt really matter.

Horridon: Can be a bit annoying as melee, but its not like interrupting and running after mobs is hard, perhaps a bit more situational awareness is required, but then again gets direhorn after ranged and healer so evens out I guess.

Council: tunnel bosses while ranged deals with with the encounter, bit of an interrupting duty but nothing melee isnt used to.

Tortos: Tunnel boss / bats, maybe if short on ranged a melee has to run after turtles. (our slow B*** is a frost dk, but again not too hard)

Megaera: mostly tunneling, a bit of awareness required due to the fact we 1 tank it and they cant get close to the head not tanked and has to be at max ranged so they dont get breathed.

Ji kun: 1 melee tunnels boss, 1 -2 flies depending on setup, nothing is really hard on this fight, so wont comment.

Durumu: About same, perhaps a bit easier to keep rotation going while in maze but overall about the same.

Primordius: Our melee tunnels boss after getting stacks, ranged deals with the big goo and small goo's. Ranged however has to have somewhat more awareness, not getting close to people, and avoiding the orbs he throws out.

Dark Animus: Have yet to try this hc so wont comment, but seems about even.

Iron Qon: About the same really.

Twins: Just a dps check while staying spread, only the guy painting really has to be pro with timings. Dps has an easy job here, but encounter is fairly easy.

Lei shen: Again have not tried hc, but seems melee get to tunnel more, but both reqs alot of awareness on hc.

Overall: Ranged is harder this tier IMHO. Cant really think of a boss where melee gets all the tough jobs.

[javen]

It's not so much an issue of fights favoring ranged-heavy groups, they don't. Most fights actually benefit most from a balanced makeup. But having a melee heavy group is extremely punishing for many encounters, like Tortos, Megaera, or Iron Qon.

[Deleted]

Most of the time it's ranged. Usually it's easier for them to avoid ground effects, and they barely need to move when the boss is moved around a lot. Also, they don't need to get behind the boss like melee who have to because of parry/dodge (not sure about hunters since MoP). If there is heavy movement, it's not that bad as most ranged classes can use their spells while moving, either instant or the ones castable while moving. Ranged have a larger area of vision as well because if you are in melee, the huge boss covers a lot of the screen.

[Deleted]

Have you ever played melee in a raid setting during progression or even just current content ?

Jin'rokh - This fight is pretty straight forward both have to deal with the same mechanics. Focused lightning can be arguably more annoying for melee, but most of them have moves like heroic leap, shadowstep, or sprint to minimize time off boss while hard casting classes have much more of an issue IMO.

Its pretty equal, like you said lightning balls is harder for melee but nothing gamebreaking imo.

Horridon - Ranged need to deal with a pink dino constantly coming at them which can be a huge hindrance for classes which have to hard cast into it. Sand traps and poison puddles etc aren't a huge deal here for melee IMO since tanks should be positioning the mobs away from them which melee lose very minimal damage granted they can play on a decent skill level.

Pink dino comes for melee and even tanks, just later in the fight and is 100000% times harder to handle as melee...
Plenty of times where sandtraps under melee group, i'd take that anyday over avoiding orbs, interupts, crystal, running around etc.

Council - Council in it's current state for our guild we kill Sul so fast there are really no mechanics that really keep people from DPSing aside from adds which melee don't "need" to swap to granted your ranged do the fight right.

Are you in the interrupt rotation for sul ?
Melee HAD to swap, just cause we outgear it now shouldn't matter.

Tortos - The turtle knock ups are very annoying for ranged as even as a warlock if you are casting with KJ cunning it will interrupt the cast, while melee stand there and tunnel the boss for the most part while aoeing adds if it's needed.

Yes, being chased by rockfall and avoiding aoe so your shield doesnt fall off and not being in melee range is so much less annoying then having to move from a turtle cuz you decided to stand stupid....

Megaera - For the most part melee tunnel this boss aside from having to strafe over to drop a cinder (I think they can get it) for it to get dispelled they in turn ignore adds and Ice lines.

Fact that you're not sure if we get cinders speaks volumes of your experience as melee.

Ji-Kun - Both sides have just as much responsibility can be given to either melee or ranged for the most part.

Except we cant stand where we want for both puddles and caw.

Durumu - I believe melee and ranged share all the same mechanics here so it's not a huge deal aside from the melee being able to dps on the move while ranged can take a huge DPS loss for moving for that amount of time.

You'll take a little dps loss sure, but saying you cant dps at all is not true for any class or spec.

Primordius - Most mechanics are the same I can't remember the name of the spell right now but it's another targeted AoE spell that ranged need to spread for if 2 people stack its either a 1 shot or massive dmg almost resulting in one while chasing the boss and trying to DPS can get annoying. This fight honestly isn't hard for either side.

Ye, it targets melee aswell buddy, add in to the fact we're getting kited for the whole fight while you stand still, yeh...

Animus - Can be a lot of movement for ranged as well as melee for the most part ranged deal with the little adds so melee can be under animus tunneling here avoiding anima font while having 1 rogue cloaking the ring for the tank. Adds can Vary highly depending on what your guild has in terms of raid comp.

You keep switching between normal and heroic it seems, cant speak for animus heroic personally, but its pretty equal on normal.

Iron Qon - Melee job here is to avoid lines by once again just side stepping depending, our guild has melee stack for the first dog right off the start so melee job here is to pretty much tunnel and side step lines again not hard to deal with. As ranged avoiding lines can be annoying if you have the lightning aids that spreads and the spear spawn on you it's total RNG if you are really close and can't move to avoid spreading the debuff. Results in major DPS loss during dead zone etc.

Again, arcing lightning is not exclusive to ranged.... it stacks regularly on ranged but spreads with melee aswell.
Even so, being able to dps from whereever and not having to actually deal with lines is far easier as ranged, i'd take clicking duty anyday.

Twins - Melee for the most part here again tunnel the boss while ranged have to make sure they are in proper position to not stack AoE and be one shot while dodging sleep clouds. Fire one is pretty easy for both just don't stand near a comet to melt it. Easy heroic not a big deal but still has difference between the two

Again, melee has to stay spread aswell, depending on comp will be far harder for melee.

I can't think of many fights that really just take a dump on melee and make their life hell in the past 2 teirs granted in the past I will agree melee was very unforgiving. Remember again I'm just comparing the amount of focus ranged need to have vs melee in any given fight and I believe melee have a lot more brain dead fights than ranged these days.

Sure, there's no huge cockbloak for melee but there is plenty of fights which is considerably easier as ranged / ranged comp.

[Fluorescent0]

Its pretty equal, like you said lightning balls is harder for melee but nothing gamebreaking imo.

You're probably referring to two different things. He's talking about lightning orbs which can't target melee, you're talking about heroic storm phase.

Pink dino comes for melee and even tanks, just later in the fight and is 100000% times harder to handle as melee...
Plenty of times where sandtraps under melee group, i'd take that anyday over avoiding orbs, interupts, crystal, running around etc.

Our first kill (first week) had only two or three melee with the dino, the boss simply died before any more melee could get it. It's slightly more annoying, but it also lasts about a quarter of the fight if even that. Nowadays a few ranged don't even get it anymore. Still harder for melee, just pointing that out though.

Are you in the interrupt rotation for sul ?
Melee HAD to swap, just cause we outgear it now shouldn't matter.

Killed the second week without melee swapping. Melees didn't swap either during our tries on the first week, but sul simply didn't die in time and we weren't surviving aoe+adds.

Yes, being chased by rockfall and avoiding aoe so your shield doesnt fall off and not being in melee range is so much less annoying then having to move from a turtle cuz you decided to stand stupid....

Not exactly sure what you're saying here.

Fact that you're not sure if we get cinders speaks volumes of your experience as melee.

He's right though, ranged have to position correctly for torrent of ice kiting and use cinders to extinguish flames, plus it's mostly them dealing with adds via aoe silences/stuns. All melee do is run out, get dispelled, run back in.

Except we cant stand where we want for both puddles and caw.

You flame the above poster for not knowing mechanics, and you don't know yourself caw doesn't target melee? Melees also have many more gap closers for wind draft in case they are in a bad position.

You'll take a little dps loss sure, but saying you cant dps at all is not true for any class or spec.

Pretty much agree, it's the same fight. Ranged has a lot more optimization to do to deal damage while moving though.

Ye, it targets melee aswell buddy, add in to the fact we're getting kited for the whole fight while you stand still, yeh...

Melee has the shorter end of the stick here, agreed.

You keep switching between normal and heroic it seems, cant speak for animus heroic personally, but its pretty equal on normal.

It's pretty equal on heroic too, strict positioning for both.

Again, arcing lightning is not exclusive to ranged.... it stacks regularly on ranged but spreads with melee aswell.
Even so, being able to dps from whereever and not having to actually deal with lines is far easier as ranged, i'd take clicking duty anyday.

Melees, however, can't spread it nor have to care about it at all. Lines are pretty much non-existant for both, unless your tanks are complete idiots.

Again, melee has to stay spread aswell, depending on comp will be far harder for melee.

Not sure what you're spreading for. Barrage can't target melee, Sun beam has an 8 yard range making spreading possible only if you're standing exactly at the extreme opposites of the hitbox, which isn't feasible if you want to also keep the boss close enough to the comet.

Sure, there's no huge cockbloak for melee but there is plenty of fights which is considerably easier as ranged / ranged comp.

That's mostly due to multitarget damage advantages and target switching problems, ranged still have to deal with more mechanics.

[Deleted]

Our first kill (first week) had only two or three melee with the dino, the boss simply died before any more melee could get it. It's slightly more annoying, but it also lasts about a quarter of the fight if even that. Nowadays a few ranged don't even get it anymore. Still harder for melee, just pointing that out though.

Our first kill, me as tank got dino pretty much the second jalak died. With heroic throw / throw (lol range) i had to kite for a good while to survive.

Killed the second week without melee swapping. Melees didn't swap either during our tries on the first week, but sul simply didn't die in time and we weren't surviving aoe+adds.

We used to leave tank and 1 melee for interupt, rest switches. Now sul dies before hero ends lol.

Not exactly sure what you're saying here.

There's times where rockfall decide to chase you and eventually corner you, forcing you go out of tortos melee range and you cant dps.
That or it breaks shield and you're forced to move anyhow.

He's right though, ranged have to position correctly for torrent of ice kiting and use cinders to extinguish flames, plus it's mostly them dealing with adds via aoe silences/stuns. All melee do is run out, get dispelled, run back in.

Tbh, haven't killed it on heroic yet nor played offspec here, ill take your word for it.

You flame the above poster for not knowing mechanics, and you don't know yourself caw doesn't target melee? Melees also have many more gap closers for wind draft in case they are in a bad position.

If a range decides he'll stand behind you, you'll get hit by it. But yes it doesn't actually target you.

[Orion Antares]

You flame the above poster for not knowing mechanics, and you don't know yourself caw doesn't target melee? Melees also have many more gap closers for wind draft in case they are in a bad position.

I don't honestly know of a class without a way to negate the down draft and close that gap.