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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Larry Hunsaker" data-source="post: 4268824" data-attributes="member: 62848">One thing to remember is that combat is not about doing the most damage only, it is also about taking the least damage possible.  What good is a melee ranger who can dish it out if he can only dish it out a few times before he is killed because he insists on being in melee and getting swarmed.  What DM would not focus on such a melee ranger with all the hurt he can muster?  It makes tactical sense, after all, take out the damage dealer FIRST.  So such a ranger build will probably prove frustrating to play, as you will be constantly going down and much more likely to be dead.An archer build, however, may not deal as much damage all at once, but because you are out of the melee harm zone, allowing the defender role to do his job, you can outlast the melee ranger and in the end, dish out more damage because you are around longer to do so.A lot of min/maxing builds I have seen on these forums do not take this into account, they just look at how much damage they can deal out, but they forget that the circumstances must be right for their builds to work, and if their build requires melee contact, it makes them much less likely to remain standing for very long.  Mobs are going to gang rape any striker as a priority with all other things being the same, so keeping your striker out of harm is a very smart build.  Too much focus on stealing the glory for yourself, and less on making sure you fit into the overall party optimally, will reduce overall party effectiveness.  If you play a non-defender who focuses on melee and constantly tries to steal all the glory, you will just end up costing the party resources to keep saving you and eat up your surges and the party will eventually end up letting you die, tired of your drain on their resources.</blockquote>

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