Melee vs ranged dps

[Maniac2]

As healer, i find that melee dps taking much more damage than casters in 5man heroics. I just dont know is it so cos fights mechanics or melee dont run from fire fast enough. But pattern is always the same and i hate it when i get 2 or even 3 melee dps in LFD group.
I also play a rogue and often i have trouble spotting fires/void zones etc spawning under boss. Like in TotT heroic and shaman healing, i cant differ shammy Healing rain and boss water area dot on ground. Also being melee, I sometimes find myself out of range for interupt or even dps, and that can be fatal many times.
So, im interested is it GENERALLY easier to play melee dps or caster dps? I would vote caster dps, its like raid awareness is higher when playing caster. What do you think?

[lokna]

wel in wrath i noticed that melee have it way harder then casters if your a melee you have to run out of melee range every 30 sec or so because the boss does a whirlwind or a fire or whatever.

i find that in this expansion blliz kinda screwed melee over

and before people start flaming (i'm a tank and my alt is a ranged)

[saberon]

i find that in this expansion blliz kinda screwed melee over

No, they didn't.

It's always been this way. Melee have more things to watch out for. The only difference is, this expansion you actually have to GET OUT of it.

[Aleksandru]

you forgot one option: both

[taekvideo]

Melee is at a lot more risk of taking damage than ranged... but that also creates a lot more opportunity for their ability to matter. You can't build a strong raid comp with only ranged... and having melee dps who know how to gtfo fire will help a lot.

[Deleted]

In raids some boss encounters require more moving from caster and some more from melee, it's pretty balanced. But difference is casters will feel it much harder in dps drop than a melee will.

Not complaining though, dmg ain't all during a bossfight.

[seam]

No, they didn't.

It's always been this way. Melee have more things to watch out for. The only difference is, this expansion you actually have to GET OUT of it.

I'd argue that it's better than it was in classic still to this day.

360° cleaves, anyone?


That said, there are some fights right now that highly favor Ranged, which needs to change.

[Maniac2]

Melee is at a lot more risk of taking damage than ranged... but that also creates a lot more opportunity for their ability to matter. You can't build a strong raid comp with only ranged... and having melee dps who know how to gtfo fire will help a lot.

But i have a feeling you will always have higher success rate on bosses with more casters than melee than vice-versa.

[taekvideo]

In raids some boss encounters require more moving from caster and some more from melee, it's pretty balanced. But difference is casters will feel it much harder in dps drop than a melee will.

Not complaining though, dmg ain't all during a bossfight.

Melee have to run out of the range of bosses a lot.. ranged rarely/never do... and most ranged have abilities that let them instant travel (blink/disengage/portal). I can't see how u'd think that moving affects ranged dps more than melee.

[Buckwald]

Just thinking of a couple heroic bosses, the melee have to run out of range to avoid bad stuff, where as ranged does not. Or, melee have to run to adds to DPS where as ranged doesn't. My guild has even had people say they rolled ranged DPS because it's easier.

[warlocx]

I think ranged also have a better view of the fight and can see skills/attacks coming and move before it matters. Also melee has to deal with the tank since they need to be in the back to avoid parry, block etc. And when aggro swiches the boss/creature can instantly hit the melee while range can kite them before getting damage.

[Mitak]

Running as melee when the boss does some fight mechanic like whirlwind is not necessary. Pop your defensive spells and carry on chopping. On my ret pala i use bubble, 50% damage is better then no damage. Wars have shield wall, DKs have icebound fortitude, rogues have evasion, so on. Of course if the healer is low on mana or your health is too low to do that, then don't. But as a good dps, you have to find alterantive ways to do damage, thats what makes you a good dps vs a normal one.

[toddless]

Ret pally here...

Not going to QQ too much about Blizz hating melee, they have made it "harder" to play since I can remember.

One thing to watch out for though if you're a healer is to check the interrupts. Are the dps and even the tank interrupting?
Lots of the damage that I've seen come at me can be completely avoided by simply interrupting a cast. One example that comes to mind
is the first few pacts in HoO. There is a couple of mobs that cast an aoe shadow damage pulse. Interrupt that, and bam, no one is taking damage.

[warlocx]

a 'good' warrior dps doesnt use a shield required for shieldwall.

[HavokHeart]

When guilds have to sit their melee in raids then blizzard should really evaluate what they are doing.

---------- Post added 2011-01-03 at 01:45 PM ----------

a 'good' warrior dps doesnt use a shield required for shieldwall.

you can take it back off... with a macro..

[Oneirophobia]

The justifications for this was, "Oh wull melee have more defensive cooldowns and urrr are wearing plate lols."
Which, really, when a boss is going LOLI'MEXPLODINGFIREEVERYWHERE your stupid plate and not-so-awesome damage defensive cooldown aren't going to help you much.

They also forgot they had rogues and druids. Leather is not plate, and you can't dodge an explosion, especially one that happens every 15 freaking seconds.

Luckily for me, I'm a priest and stand reaaaally far away.
Also yeah, when I heal, I absolutely HATE having melee. When I have, say, a druid tank, a ret paladin, a fury warrior, and a DPS death knight in my group I almost always want to leave.
The amount of damage everyone takes is ridiuclously higher than if we had ranged, and the DPS output of the group is going to be significantly lower, because
A) If they're badish, they'll die and be doing no DPS.
or
B) If they're good, they'll be spending most of their time out of range of the boss avoiding mechanics.

If you're in a group with, say, a paladin tank, a boomkin, a hunter, and a mage, you have pretty much no damage to heal. Ever.
Shatter? No problem. Fire irradiating from the boss? Doesn't matter anymore. Bombs all over where the boss is standing? Hey look, the DPS doesn't even have to think about it. Lil' crocolisks? Sniped from afar.
Not to mention with mages as they are the DPS is gunna be higher even if the melee is in raid gear and the mage just started heroics. Which is nice. I like fast fights.

[jarmale]

I find Melee easier than range could be that i just have allot more experience playing melee but when i'm ranged i always tend to screw up

[taekvideo]

I'm bored so I thought I'd go further into the dps loss of melee vs ranged due to mechanics. I've only killed magmaw so far so I haven't had much experience with the cata bosses, so I'll just look at icc bosses... unless all the mechanics have been completely changed from how they were in vanilla/bc/wotlk, it'll still be applicable.

Marrowgar:
Melee out of range during bone storm a lot.

Deathwhisper:
Melee spend a lot of time traveling to switch to adds and go back.

Gunship:
Melee have to travel further to dps mage and get back.. ranged can just rocket from the end of our boat to the end of the other.

Saurfang:
A melee-favored fight, since ranged have to deal with adds.

Festergut:
Fairly even, ranged have to move more often for spores, but when melee move they have to stop dps for a lot longer.

Rotface:
Melee have to stop dps much longer when they get the infection, since they can't dps at all while out and have to run back in.

Putricide:
Melee have to run to switch to adds, and run back.

Princes:
Melee have to run out then back in on empowered vortex. Sometimes melee are required to run with the fireballs (depending on strat). Ranged have to run from empowered fireball if targeted. Keleseth is usually far from the other bosses so melee have to run there and back, and they can't use cleaves/aoe's on keleseth to avoid pulling the dark nuclei, which wrecked some of their dps (especially ret paladins).

Blood queen:
Melee have to spend more time running back in after swarming shadows or the link... or biting someone if it was a ranged. Also melee can't attack boss during air phase while ranged can.

Valithria:
Melee have to spend a lot more time running to adds, while ranged normally stay still dpsing whatever is in range.

Sindy:
Melee have to run back in after the frost explosion. They are also always affected by the stacking debuff, while ranged are only sometimes affected. Running to los stacks during phase 2 also requires more time for melee than ranged.

LK:
Spreading for defile requires melee to stop dps and run out. Switching to valks then going back is a lot more time running for melee. Spreading for vile spirits (depending on strat) stops melee dps for a bit.


There are a few fights that favor melee... but the vast majority give ranged the advantage in dps.

[Deleted]

Fury Warr here
Blizz have made some fights quite hard for us to do good overall dps in.Magmaw is an easy encounter which tends to both meele and ranged with the exception of the adds but they're no problem.Atramedes on the other hand is quite a ranged fight because after the 80 second down phase there is a 40 second up phase and all i have to use is Heroic Throw and then run away, While locks have dots,Spriests too,Hunters can still get a few shots off aswell. Not complaining just sayin'

[warlocx]

Marrowgar:
Melee out of range during bone storm a lot.

You cant dodg all the damage of bonestorm by moving away. I think its more melee oriantated fight becouse you dont lose dps while dodging bonespike.