RNG merits question.

[Verby]

Okay I just wanted to ask for some help and guidance as to what I should merit for my RNG. RNG is my last job that I got to 75 and have no merits in it yet. I want to focus the merits towards endgame activities for this shell I'm going to apply to.

For group 1 merits the only thing I can see being useful is rapid shot rate really as all the others are JA recasts.

As for group 2 I'm not so sure, I could see them all being useful at endgame. After the initial merit in Flashy Shot is it worth putting anymore in as it doesn't affect the defense ignored anymore, just reduces recast use.

Any advice or testimonials that can steer me in the right direction would be appreciated.

[Pharaun]

For category 1 I went with 5/5 rapid shot and 5/5 Unlimited Shot. I toyed with going sharpshot instead, but decided it was better to keep sharpshot and barrage on the same timer. Unlimited is most usefull if you have a Patriarch Protector's Arrow or Gold Musketeer's Bolt, so your mileage may vary depending on that.

For category 2 I went with 5/5 Snap Shot, 1 Flashy Shot, and 4 Stealth Shot. I considered putting some in Recycle, but I realized that if I'm that worried about saving ammo then Ranger isn't the job for me. As for Flashy Shot, most of the stuff I'm fighting on Ranger should be dead in less than 10 minutes anyway, so putting more merits into it isn't really worth it. I like Stealth Shot since it can help me avoid pulling hate, but really it's not a huge deal. Snap Shot is a god send, it's the only type of haste that effects ranged attacks so it's a merit must.

tl;dr, Rapid Shot and Snap Shot 5/5 after that do what makes you feels good.

[Ultimagi]

if I'm that worried about saving ammo then Ranger isn't the job for me.

I always get flamed for saying that, but it's so true. Same thing for Ninja Tool Expertise.

[Pharaun]

Ninja tool expertise is a different situation since none of the Ninja cat 2 merits are omfg gotta have quality. I won't rip a ninja for meriting it like I would a ranger for meriting recycle. Granted if they are doing it specifically because they think buying all the tools is too expensive then they should just level another job, but if they merit it because they don't see the point in the San spells and Sange then what ever floats their boat.

[Fiendishone]

For category 1 I went with 5/5 rapid shot and 5/5 Unlimited Shot.

For category 2 I went with 5/5 Snap Shot, 1 Flashy Shot, and 4 Stealth Shot. Snap Shot is a god send, it's the only type of haste that effects ranged attacks so it's a merit must.

Rapid Shot and Snap Shot 5/5 after that do what makes you feels good.

This.

I did the same.

[Shin Volcano]

5/5 rapid didn't work on unlimited since i had stoped using rng.

5/5 snap shot is your 1st priority, after that it's up to you, flashy shot does help and is worth getting, stealth is midly useful but isnt worth meriting more then 1-2 times for me isnt really isnt worth it at all, i personaly went recycle 3/5 because stealth shot is only good for one shot every 5 minutes, weather it's a ws or just one shot, while recycle is always active, and it does add up, you may think stealth acttualy helps, it DOES but over time depending on what you are fighting, you'll be generating enough hate to rule out stealth, unless you plan on standing there waiting for timer every shot.

[Tsuki]

I hate it when I see Rangers ripping on other Rangers for meriting Recycle.

Snapshot is the only must-have in the tier II section, and even that is arguable when you consider that the "free time" (or what some people like to call the reload phase) between your shot firing and next shot has NOT been reduced.

Stealth shot... this is definitely a preference thing, but where Ranger excels most at; meriting this will not make a significant difference in the overall outcome. the premise was there for stealth shot, but the execution was failz, SE. This needed to be a stance, not a JA on a 10 minute timer that reduces enmity for a SINGLE shot. So, merit it if you wish but I can't think why anyone would want to. If you can't manage your enmity at this stage of the game then you're not playing ranger correctly. There's really only two ways to play ranger: Pull hate and die, or Pull hate and kill it; either of which having stealth shot or not isn't going to make a difference.

Flashy shot however, is going to make a difference. Its going to give you the higher numbers to help you kill and its going to generate the higher enmity to ensure that the mob is aware just exactly who is pew-pew'ing its face off ^^. I wouldn't recommend putting more than one merit in this however, as noted above; it won't be up again before whatever you're killing is dead in anycase.

Recycle seems like the only logical choice after you've capped snapshot and given flashy at least one. I mean sure, you could be a gimp and leave the rest of the available moves in the category empty since they all seem pretty failz after the essentials. OR hay you could merit recycle! From my point of view, there's no reason not to. And its not because you're being cheap or that you can't afford to play ranger or whatever else insecure fucks would like to tell you. Its for lack of other meaningful options. Recycle is actually going to give you VISIBLE results. Its also quite nice for accidents:

1. Like when Seiryu para's you and you didn't notice your unlimited shot got owned and you still fire off your PPA/GMB, but wait! NO YOU DIDNT, yay recycle proc.

2. Like when you d/c after unlimited shot and omg I need to get back in to lot my phat lootz hurry up game let me login, woops I totally forgot my PPA was still equipped and i just fired it off like a regular arrow ;_; woops. NO YOU DIDNT, yay recycle proc.

3. Like when you wiff lolthrowing the wind at teh Byakkokittyz or you use sharpshot and thought it was unlimited shot and ohnoez you lost your wind ;_; woops. NO YOU DIDNT, yay recycle proc.

Really, whats the deal with recycle bashing? I don't get it. I mean, I can understand when you see that cheapass holybolt ranger you know that one guy who always uses the lvl 2 bullets because "nobody notices LOL" and it pisses you off when he talks about HIS recycle merits, but whats with the bashing of non-gimp rangers meriting recycle?

[Tsuko_Asura]

Did you just say that Ranger's forte is meriting?

Did you also just infer that there's something wrong with Holy Bolts?

Really?

[Tsuki]

Did you just say that Ranger's forte is meriting?

Did you also just infer that there's something wrong with Holy Bolts?

Really?

no?

[Spider-Dan]

My merits are currently:

5 Rapid Shot
3 Unlimited Shot (lazy; this will be 5)

5 Snapshot
1 Flashy Shot (screenshots only)
1 Stealth Shot (I stack it with Barrage, or with Flashy Shot)
3 Recycle

I've been wondering about the merits of a full Recycle build on KC+Culverin RNG; 5 Recycle merits + relic hat + Paddock Trousers. If you take a hatchet to your inventory and bring only The Bare Essentials, you should be able to carry ~30 stacks of shells. That, along with heavy Recycle, should allow you to use KC+Culverin in meripo.

[pape]

5 Rapid shot

5 Flashy Shot
5 Snapshot

The rest are useless

[matix]

this thread should have ended after pharaun's post but ill go on,

if you do HNM where the mob is a long fight, stealthy is better, toss on some af2, and u basically have a free sidewinder that WONT get you killed, i dont see how/why ppl discredit this.

flashy is good but should really only be unlocked, youll use it for zerg fights mostly anyways, inwhich that case the timers gunna be ready the next go anyways, i guess if you only do zergs on rng, i can see gonig big on flashy, but any career rng will be shotting on mobs that last a bit, and stealthy is overall more useful there. reducing the flashy timer is just gunna get you killed faster in a hnm situation, and if your not pulling hate on flashy'd ws's, then <_<.

1. Like when Seiryu para's you and you didn't notice your unlimited shot got owned and you still fire off your PPA/GMB, but wait! NO YOU DIDNT, yay recycle proc.

2. Like when you d/c after unlimited shot and omg I need to get back in to lot my phat lootz hurry up game let me login, woops I totally forgot my PPA was still equipped and i just fired it off like a regular arrow ;_; woops. NO YOU DIDNT, yay recycle proc.

3. Like when you wiff lolthrowing the wind at teh Byakkokittyz or you use sharpshot and thought it was unlimited shot and ohnoez you lost your wind ;_; woops. NO YOU DIDNT, yay recycle proc.

sorry but these gotta be some of the most stupidest fucking things i have ever heard for justifying recycle, seriously, i know this is standard discussion forum but dude... you have any other 1 in 589723458923475890723 situations you think justify recycle?

its been said before, ill say it again, recycle SUCKS, if you cant afford arrows get a new job, if saving your ppa is justification for recycle, you need to learn to macro better, get more ppa's, or be more attentive. you forgot you had you're ppa equipped over the course of relogging over 3min? getting parad with ppa should be something you know how to deal with, sicne thats one of the bigest reasons ppl lose it, and you want to rely on some merit ability, that only has a CHANCE to proc? its not guaranteed by any means, and u will 99.9% of the time shoot it, and it wont get recycled

how about this(since this is how it will actually go in ffxi): you fire your ppa, and recycle doesn't proc. hi, u ever thought of that? cause thats whats gonna happen, 99% of the time. spend merits onit if you want, ppl love to say to each his own/ill play my own way, feel free, ppl always try looking for reasons to justify recycle, sorry, there isn't any other than being unable to purchase your regular ammo

[Arthars]

real rangers that know how ranger works go for:

5 rapid shot + 5 unlimited shot (this is the standard, i doubt any rng went for something other than these 2)

5 snap shot + 4 stealth shot + 1 flashy shot

im cheap and went 5 snap shot + 3 stealth shot + 1 flashy shot + 1 recycle >_< i'll fix when i have time for rng lol still lotsa jobs to work on.

i'll safe myself for the wall'o'text because i think theres really nothing to explain here.

recycle vs nin tool has no real argument because nin got shitty group 2s

and stealth VS flashy is debatable for people who wanna do good hate control with barrage, or people who love epeen screenshot every 10 mins and dont fucking care about enmity.

i love my -30 enmity(-40 when i got time to fix) during each barrage or even during my zerg/20 min per flashy. Stealth shot is not gimp.

lastly if your comparing recycle to stealth or flashy, then gtfo rng is not for you if you dont wanna shoot your gils

[Tsuko_Asura]

I'm honestly surprised that so many people have Flashy Shot merited. Snapshot is a given; If you don't have it capped, you should, immediately. Realistically speaking, you're going to deal more damage overall if you generate half as much enmity during Barrage or Sidewinder(albeit, every five minutes, which is why I'd just keep it lined up with Barrage) than if you were to have a killer Sidewinder every ten minutes(or more, depending on merit distribution).

And slightly off-topic(I think?), but I wouldn't be so definitive about capping Unlimited Shot recasts. Patriarch Protector's Arrow is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but you're not going to build 100+ TP in the course of that thirty seconds. This means that you're going to inevitably end up waiting at some point before hitting the JA again, beyond the point of it being available. Conversely, if removing ranged distance penalties caused you to land a shot just one more time, you likely contributed more damage than if Unlimited Shot was available thirty seconds sooner.

I have no data to support that secondary bit, so take it as you will.

[Shin Volcano]

5 Rapid shot

5 Flashy Shot
5 Snapshot

The rest are useless

ok so..after 5 minutes of laughing my ass off at this i'll try to get this through,

1st off, you are definatly the 1st RNG i have seen to fully put merits into flashy, you either didn't know there was better things to put your merits in, or you like dying as quickly as possible, either way, that's certainly a 1st time for me, you bascialy just wasted 17 merits on group 2..can i ask why on earth would you max out flashy? unless you fight only kirin with your rng and have lots of RR i can see this working.

real rangers that know how ranger works go for:

5 rapid shot + 5 unlimited shot (this is the standard, i doubt any rng went for something other than these 2)

5 snap shot + 4 stealth shot + 1 flashy shot

im cheap and went 5 snap shot + 3 stealth shot + 1 flashy shot + 1 recycle >_< i'll fix when i have time for rng lol still lotsa jobs to work on.

i'll safe myself for the wall'o'text because i think theres really nothing to explain here.

recycle vs nin tool has no real argument because nin got shitty group 2s

and stealth VS flashy is debatable for people who wanna do good hate control with barrage, or people who love epeen screenshot every 10 mins and dont fucking care about enmity.

i love my -30 enmity(-40 when i got time to fix) during each barrage or even during my zerg/20 min per flashy. Stealth shot is not gimp.

All i got to say is wow, real RNGS? every good rng i have ever seen all agreed that stealth is a comeplte fucking waste of merits for anything more then 1, some didn't even bother with it, REAL rngs can and will grab hate, unless your one that just sits back shooting 1 arrow every 5-10 minutes because you're afraid to grab hate

lastly if your comparing recycle to stealth or flashy, then gtfo rng is not for you if you dont wanna shoot your gils

llol...so we have a choice to merit an actual USEFULL ability of the 1 only 2 possible ones in group 2 and you tell them it's better to use MORE arrows when there is a possibly to SAVe arrows, i'll be more then happy to laugh countless times at a rng that just went thru 4 stacks of arrows and i'm just now opening my second batch, good luck with that.

so the bottom line is

1 shot every 5 minutes that proabably won't save you from all the enimity that you already generated proably from that flashy shot you just used eariler.

or

a chance at free arrows every shot. gee i wonder what is the smarter choice here.

[The_OG_Nelta]

5/5 Rapid
5/5 Sharp
5/5 Snap
4/5 Flashy
1/5 Stealth

Never had a problem with Sharpshot and Barrage timers
And I love my job.

[Arthars]

junks

1. you, obviously, is not a good rng. dont tell me you are dude. you arent. period.
2. your so call good rngs and not that good afterall, none of you or your good rng know what stealth shot does
3. no one said anything about getting hate from normal shooting. good lord RNG's main enmity is not from those arrows you shoot from TPing. so stfu or gtfo with your "if your afraid of getting hate, dont shoot for 5 mins". It feels so retarded to even read your post.
4. You mentioned that Flashy shot is a waste to full merit, and mentioned stealth shot is a piece of shit. and then you started to say recycle is better than both.

LOL DUDE YOUR A PIECE OF SHIT RANGER

for people who went recycle merits out there. i wont say your a gimp. but if you do justify your recycle merits like him, your pretty much retarded.

saving arrows occasionally is >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> -enmitys or lower recast to deal more damage in flashy shots.

im LOLing so hard irl

i got homework for you:
1. Go find out how much enmity you gain by only activating barrage
2. go find out how much more you get from landing those barrage

tell me which is better to your party after you grab hate
1. recycled 4/5 or even all 5 arrows from barraged
2. prolly didnt get any hate if you had stealth shot

its not a matter of being afraid to get enmity im talking about

its about how good and efficient your rng can be in terms of IQ and playing your game at a higher level, knowing the game mechanics, using it to your advantage.

oh ya, recycle DOES give yourself an advantage LOLz

[Tsuko_Asura]

Hit something in the range of ~ level 85 with a 2,000-damage Sidewinder, and you just generated ~8,200 VE and 2,700 CE. Use Stealth Shot beforehand, and you've effectively cut that in half, saving yourself ~4,100 VE and 1,350 CE. For reference, Flash, one of a Paladin's most premiere enmity-accumulating tools generates roughly 1,300 VE and 200 CE. That's over three Flashes worth the VE, and a massive heap of CE - that otherwise wasn't going anywhere - that you just prevented yourself from accumulating.

You can keep your money, I'll live to see the end of the fight.

[The_OG_Nelta]

I just read his post too *Facepalm*

[Shin Volcano]

1. you, obviously, is not a good rng. dont tell me you do dude. you arent. period.
2. your so call good rngs and not that good afterall, none of you or your good rng know what stealth shot does

I know exaclty wtf stealth shot does, i have USED it and it's a fucking WASTE THESE are HNM RNGS and have had some of the best gear i'v seen, you're either a comeplte mental retard or you bought a 75 RNG because you dont know wtf you just said, are you sure you know how to play this game?

3. no one said anything about getting hate from normal shooting. good lord RNG's main enmity is not from those arrows you shoot from TPing. so stfu or gtfo with your "if your afraid of getting hate, dont shoot for 5 mins". It feels so retarded to even read your post.
4. You mentioned that Flashy shot is a waste to full merit, and mentioned stealth shot is a piece of shit. and then you started to say recycle is better than both.

Do you smoke alot? please point out where i said Flashy shot is a waste i dare you to, i said STEALTH IS A WASTE because you will generate hate regardless of how many you put into It, in the end it's not going to help you, if they die in 10 seconds it's a waste, if they live for 30 minutes it's still a waste, you CAN put merits into it, if that's your thing that's yout thing, some people but 5/5 Hyoton san it's there choice, dosn't mean it was worth it. if you going to respond at least make it intellegent..

LOL DUDE YOUR A PIECE OF SHIT RANGER

Yea..are you old enough to be up this late? pre-school kids should know better..

for people who went recycle merits out there. i wont say your a gimp. but if you do justify your recycle merits like him, your pretty much retarded.

Oh cool, you don't merit what i agree in you're a retard, hey i like you're style. they aren't gimp they just know what they doing...

You sure you leveld RNG?

Hit something in the range of ~ level 85 with a 2,000-damage Sidewinder, and you just generated ~8,200 VE and 2,700 CE. Use Stealth Shot beforehand, and you've effectively cut that in half, saving yourself ~4,100 VE and 1,350 CE. For reference, Flash, one of a Paladin's most premiere enmity-accumulating tools generates roughly 1,300 VE and 200 CE. That's over three Flashes worth the VE, and a massive heap of CE - that otherwise wasn't going anywhere - that you just prevented yourself from accumulating.

You can keep your money, I'll live to see the end of the fight.

Pretty cool. funny thing is i'v regualry pulled out 2k-2.5 SWs and still lived because the PLD was good enough to get hate back because OMG i let them generate hate to control Enimity WITHOUT STEALTH SHOT pretty cool huh? In addition to the RNG knowing what they are doing, the tanks have to as well, you can merit stealth shot to help your waterd down tanks or whine when they lose hate after a couple shots, did you know that was possible? i'll keep my money and live to see the end of the fight.