Poll: Which combat style do you prefer

Thread: Melee vs Ranged

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  1. #1

    Melee vs Ranged

    Which style of battling do you prefer? Up close hitting things, or shooting arrows/spells from a distance?

    I'm not going to base my rating on soloability, since gameplay has gotten much easier and I have always felt that the real game starts at endame anyway. I'll instead just think about the classes themselves and their overall playstyle and in that frame of mind I'd say that I would've given the nod to melee back in the days of D&D or turn-based Final Fantasy games, but not in WoW and other modern MMOs.

    Melee is still an effective battling style, home to some well-regarded classes with massive player appeal and solid spots in PvP and in Raids. They hold the base of a party with their Tanking, and Rogues are widely considered the most annoying classes in PvP thanks to their stealth. Amazing stuff.

    These days, however, it's difficult for me to get excited about a new melee class, even one that heals in melee range. The trend seems to be for bosses to be designed more and more to favor ranged positioning and movement, the playstyle is a lot of the same quick button mashing, a lot of their abilities focus solely on weapon damage with effects added on, and they leave me thinking, "well this is fun, but I'm in no hurry to get it up to Level 90."

    Ranged classes, on the other hand, get me geeked. Minions & pets, lore themes, elemental powers, interesting support abilities...all things I like in a class. If I were to rattle off some of my all-time favorite talents, most of them are magical in nature (Metamorphosis, Living Bomb, Spirit of Redemption, Starfall) and only one is a melee (Cloak and Dagger).

    (Last time I saw this poll on another forum around WotLK, Melee actually was in the lead (I think it was something like 61% to 39%))

  2. #2
    I just prefer whichever playstyle is the funnest - WW monks for melee and BM/SV hunters for ranged. They are both ridiculously fun, and are actually exciting.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Given most of my characters are melee classes i'd have to say melee. (though i do also have a lock and a hunter)

    There's something satisfying about getting in someone's face and giving them the smackdown that is so fun.

    I do agree with the OP that melee gameplay seems to have gotten worse over the years as fights developed, my hope is that in Warlords with ranged being more static dps compared to now the balance will become back more to what it used to be with melee and ranged having different advantages that a raid group needs. When one of the two dps roles can be benched to make content easier, you know something is wrong.

  4. #4
    I prefer melee. Range is just boring to me. Sitting back Easily dodging mechanics isn't my prefered playstyle. I find Range easier to me but thats just me.
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  5. #5
    Deleted
    I prefer melee, but I'm forced to play ranged because they are better at everything.

  6. #6
    I prefer melee, but often end up playing as ranged lately (main is a shaman), the game favours ranged pretty clearly right now, and as I'm in Australia the higher pings (usually I sit anywhere between 600 and 1500) can make melee quite painful, especially in pvp.
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  7. #7
    Deleted
    Ranged so I can see the fight instead of a leg with some spell effects.

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Used to play ranged, played hunter and priest for 3 expansions and always thought I would enjoy ranged gaming way more than melee any day.
    Now I am playing a Rogue and I def prefer melee these days. I play whatever I feel like is fun atm though.

  9. #9
    I've gone back and forth but I mostly prefer melee.

  10. #10
    Herald of the Titans Tech Priest Bojangles's Avatar
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    PvE: WW Monk
    PvP: MM Hunter

    I like both melee and ranged, but not casters for some reason.
    -=From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the blessed machine. Your kind claimed your flesh as if it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass that you call a temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you... But I am already saved..... For the machine is immortal=-

  11. #11
    All else equal, I prefer melee. I hate running from my opponents, so the only way I can enjoy a ranged class, is if it rarely relies on kiting.

  12. #12
    Mechagnome Kaitenx's Avatar
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    I prefer Melee. I enjoy being in the thick of it. Even though the game tends to favor range.

  13. #13
    Many prefer melee, but the reality is that the melee slots in a raid are at a premium.
    There is no Bad RNG just Bad LTP

  14. #14
    Over 9000! Gimlix's Avatar
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    Ranged, Good for farming achievements!
    Quote Originally Posted by Shekora View Post
    Goddamn it, Gimlix, why do you keep making these threads?
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  15. #15
    I agree that the Rogue is one of the most fun-to-play classes in the game thanks to stealth and all the new talents and additions to the combo point system, but I just like spells better, and the things they do. I enjoy possessing elemental powers, being a healer to my group, kiting, and stuff like that much more than a monotonous "charge in to the fray & stand there swinging until somebody dies". And lorewise casters have a much greater range of personalities (from the evil Warlocks to the peace-loving Holy Priests), as opposed to melees who pretty much exist only to kill in the name of their faction.

    Using food as an analogy, melee classes are kind of like the junk foods that are nice to indulge in every once in a while but in the end you need something with actual culinary artistry to it rather than just the starches and saturated fats that appeal to the leftover hunter-gatherer parts of our genome. Pretty much, to me a Warrior is better approximated by a bag of Lays than an Ultimate Feast at Red Lobster.
    Last edited by JFrombaugh; 2014-07-19 at 11:57 PM.

  16. #16
    Im a ranged player for sure i love my hunter spriest lock and mage my melee toobs are meh to me
    Nixs

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by JFrombaugh View Post
    I agree that the Rogue is one of the most fun-to-play classes in the game thanks to stealth and all the new talents and additions to the combo point system, but I just like spells better, and the things they do. I enjoy possessing elemental powers, being a healer to my group, kiting, and stuff like that much more than a monotonous "charge in to the fray & stand there swinging until somebody dies". And lorewise casters have a much greater range of personalities (from the evil Warlocks to the peace-loving Holy Priests), as opposed to melees who pretty much exist only to kill in the name of their faction.
    1. The elemental powers you speak of could describe a melee shaman or monk as much as a ranged.
    2. What lore have you been reading...?

    Using food as an analogy, melee classes are kind of like the junk foods that are nice to indulge in every once in a while but in the end you need something with actual culinary artistry to it rather than just the starches and saturated fats that appeal to the leftover hunter-gatherer parts of our genome. Pretty much, to me a Warrior is better approximated by a bag of Lays than an Ultimate Feast at Red Lobster.
    wat
    Quote Originally Posted by Endus View Post
    which is kind of like saying "of COURSE you can't see the unicorns, unicorns are invisible, silly."

  18. #18
    Deleted
    I prefer melee. Hate the idea of standing still a lot of the fight! With melee, i can constantly be on the move and do sick damage!

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Boxerlol View Post
    I prefer melee. Hate the idea of standing still a lot of the fight! With melee, i can constantly be on the move and do sick damage!
    Playing the only melee that will once again be tied to the spot to cast lightning bolts for not-insignificant amounts of time
    Quote Originally Posted by Endus View Post
    which is kind of like saying "of COURSE you can't see the unicorns, unicorns are invisible, silly."

  20. #20
    Melee for fun, ranged for not-hurting-your-progression.

    Quote Originally Posted by Raiju View Post
    Playing the only melee that will once again be tied to the spot to cast lightning bolts for not-insignificant amounts of time
    What changed? Cause the Enh from Mists and Cata barely ever hard casted LB because almost all their damage came from autoattack+enchantments.
    Last edited by WanderingBreezes; 2014-07-20 at 01:22 AM.

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