Almost 30 years of gaming... and first time i EVER played a ranged character.

In real life, there is a reason people go to war with rifles instead of swords.

In an ARPG, you can still go into battle with a melee weapon and be successful, rather than simply stupid dead, as things would end up in real life. But the edge, in many circumstances, still goes to the guy who doesn't have to stand there and take it.

That said, I like to play a variety of character types. I'll play melee, though it's far from my favorite (teh missus is actually the melee freak). Right now, I'm enjoying a nice summoner build, something the OP should keep in mind for down the road as yet another change of pace.

Have fun, experiment, look into off classes and builds. Rangers and bow-users are just the beginning. =^[.]^=

"

TheWretch wrote:

No Contra? :/

I played the hell out of that. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYkKa1SNTSI

Back on topic: I was the same as you OP and like you I've really enjoyed ranged and casters here. Hack and slash was always my thing, also hated summoners but PoE did it right with them imo. My first char was a summoner and I stuck with that for at least 4 months. :)
I'm really enjoying split arrow atm.

I'm not much older than you but my first game was Joust on atari 2600...boy have we come a long way. :P

Am I the only who tries everything?

I know the feeling! I started out as melee, I don't know why, but seemed the strongest option to me.

Then one day I rolled a ranger and loved it, now my highest level character on warbands is a lvl 89 ranger, and my mara is still around 65ish.

Rangers Rule!

i always favoured ranged, until i made a leap slam build as a joke.
more damage, faster clears, fewer deaths. really sad leap slam got killed by the quad nerf in 2.0, but new sweep is almost double the damage and much faster clears.

i keep trying to go back to my range chars, but they feel so slow, weak, and fragile now(so fragile, wow).
i make a new build, get them up to 80, and then notice they only have 20k dps and take more than 5 minutes to clear a zone and back on the shelf they go.

i miss enjoying ranged chars here.

Why don't you try Reave or Ground Slam, they combine the best of both worlds.

I liked the Melee Playstyles in games mostly because of the more satisfying feeling when you go right into their face to deliver massive damage and most often because as that playstyle you usually ended up as some guy covered up in lots of armor near the end of the game. The thing I hated with it though is how you often have to deal with accuracy.

With Ranged or Magic they usually didn't have problems with accuracy so by extension I gradually came to go for them nowadays.

I was the same as op. Fury warrior for 10 years in WoW. Melee since open beta in POE. Last 4 leagues I've been playing my Ranger and loving every second of it.

I might try caster next league though ;)

You never rocked a windforce in D2?!? :O Or TStrokes (trying hard to remember names) javazone? Or even a bone necro? Frozen Orb!? Wtf?!? J/k ;) glad you are finding new paths of entertainment!

I'm playing my first ever melee character right now =]

'Course I've only been playing games for about 20 years, so you're one up on me there.