Every class has levels at which they are weak, and other levels during which they are strong. Some levels will go by quickly, and others will take some patience.
Rather than being vague - I'll give you, to the best of my memory, which sets of levels went by quickly/slowly for me, and where I spent my time gaining these levels.
1-29:
I zoomed through levels 1-29 the first day I played. There are quests which you can stack, and tons of them. I was level 19 when I left Tortage, and hit 20 shortly after entering Conall's Valley. I just quested in Conall's until I was 29, it was pretty easy and fast. I should mention that I did not play in closed beta. I did play in open beta, to level 24. So, these levels were mildly familiar. All of the levels after this were new to me.
29-39:
My second day playing, I was able to get through these 10 levels. 29 was when I entered my first rut, and I found that I couldn't solo mobs with little downtime anymore. It wasn't a huge deal, but just something I began to notice. I played a Druid in EQ, so I was weary of the fact that some classes in MMOs are solo machines, and some are not. I was apprehensive about the Barbarian being a solo class for the first 30 levels, and this was where I first noticed their inherent solo flaws.
Around 35, I went to Pyramid of the Ancients, which was great for leveling. 35-39 took about the same length as 29-35 for me.
39-50:
My third and fourth days playing were spent gaining these levels. At 39, I headed to Old Tarantia Noble District, and was quite pleased. I was able to solo two mobs at a time with relative ease, although three usually resulted in significant downtime. Thus was the second instance of my noticing that Barbarians are not the solo powerhouse that healer classes can be. I stayed at Noble District until 45 or so, long enough to get Vaedus - my first lifetapping weapon, and then went to Field of the Dead.
**As a side note, I also did arena during these levels. Arena is in the tavern in Old Tarantia Noble District, and there are solo/group quests you can do. There is a level requirement on all of these quests, and I think you can do the final group quest at level 57 or so. These are well-worth the exp/rewards.
I managed to quest all the way to 48.5 in Field of the Dead, then briefly went into Eiglophian Mountains with an HoX friend of mine. It was at this time I noticed how powerful a Herald of Xotli can be - we were destroying the zone en masse =)
We did the beginning quests and such, then decided to call it a night.
50-57:
Fifth day playing. 50 is where the game slows down with regard to leveling. It didn't slow way down, but it definitely slowed down quite a bit. I managed to quest in EM until 55 or so, then I had to grind to 56. It seems like some quests opened between 54-56, so I did those and got close to 57, then I had to grind some more until I was 57. It was at that time I got the typical quest to head to another area - Thunder River in this case.
57-58:
Not my entire sixth day =) This is the amount of time I spent at Thunder River. The mobs were entirely too difficult for me to solo at this level, shame on Funcom for sending me here. Luckily, I heard through some of my closed beta friends that Atzel's Approach would be much better for leveling.
58-63:
Atzel's Approach rocks! When I first arrived, the content was very difficult. Atzel Conscripts added on me like an abbacus, and I died frequently. Once I got past that part of the zone, though, my exp flew. I did all of the quests and ended up somewhere around level 63.
63-68:
Seventh Day etc. I left Atzel's Approach and headed for Thunder River. I was able to finish the quests here with more rapidity than before, so I stayed a while. It seems like there was some mild grinding involved as well. After finishing all of the quests that I could, I went back to Atzel's Approach. I finished up my remaining quests and stumbled upon Ivoryvale at 67. Ivoryvale is an icy canyon full of non-aggro mammoths, generally in pairs of two. This was perfect for me, and since I was out of quests I figured, what the hell, so I grinded these mammoths until 68.
68-72;
My eighth day was an off day for me; I went and saw my girlfriend and took a general break from the game. I started my playtime by grinding those mammoths until 70. 70 was a magical level for me, as I headed to Kheshatta. Kheshatta is a wonderful place, when you're the only one in the zone. I quickly filled up my quest journal and got two full levels from quests alone.
72-76:
Kheshatta Kheshatta Kheshatta was the theme of the ninth day. I had to grind a lot of level 72, some quests opened up at 73, so I banged those out really quickly. At this level, I kill mobs with wonderous rapidity. I am no longer worried about the viability of Barbarians and soloing. It was at this time I fully appreciated my choice to be a DW Barb as well. I grinded my way to 74 after finishing some quests, and then more opened up, but it seems like they were group quests or something. I ended up heading over the the Death Master Camps, never having been before. I duo'd that with my best friend in RL - he is a Guardian. Isn't that ironic? Anyway, I ended up hitting 76 that day.
76-80:
Death Master Camp AE group. Anyone who has been to Kheshatta knows about these. Basically, you pull the entire lower camp and level it. We had a tank, 2 healers, a necro, myself, and a demonologist. It was mayhem, some of the most fun I've had in game. During these levels I had my first real group mechanics experience with casters of the non-healer variety. I was rather impressed, makes me lol whenever I hear people complaining about demos/necros now. These levels would be pretty unbearable solo, I must say. You need something like 2.9 million exp to advance to level 80 from level 79.
It was actually kind of funny, because I was on a time limit. I hit 80 something like 2 hours before the server came down. I was #4 on my server, the first Barbarian.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Barbarian Leveling Guide
Barbarian Grinding Locations
Until there are more quests added, everyone will have to spend some time grinding. Because of this, I am trying to get a decent list together here of locations that are particularly suited for grinding as a Barbarian. Locations that are specifically good are those with melee based mobs in a large, spread out, area.
I'm not able to get in game right now, so I'll hold on off posting locations since I don't remember specific mob names/locs offhand, but, whatever areas you know, post the mobs, their level and at least the zone, I'll compile it based on level ranges up here.
For now, I'll just copy and paste individuals responses up here, eventually I'll go through and reformat it and whatnot so it looks pretty :P
Barbarian Grinding Areas:
36-40 (Thanks to Dregos):
The merc camps in Wildlands of Z, far north.
44-48 (Thanks to Kuranes):
The Atzel camps in the SE part of Field of the Dead
47-50:
The Dead Forest - Southern Field of the Dead, werewolves. Highly populated and quick respawns.
58-61/62 (Thanks to Remnance) Thunder River:
Grind the boars around the level 60 destiny quest instance entrance, hardly anybody is ever there and if they are they're just passing through to the instance.
50-54 (Thanks to Caratt): East Cannibal Camp (E Mountains)
Fast respawn rate and is very close to the wanted poster. By the time you get back from getting the new poster they mobs will have respawned. Starts at 2 bubs per run and goes down from there. I 2 manned this for abour 4 hours 1 hour per level.
52-56 : Repeatable Villa quests in Noble District
Gathering Herbs, Collecting Valuables and the others. Can do them seemingly infinitely and the mobs always spawn at equal level. Also some nice blues!
54-58 (Thanks to Remnance):
If you're on a PvP server and don't feel like putting up with ganking, grind the cannibal caves from 54-57 or so, very fast respawns and you're all by yourself.
54-58 (Thanks to Caratt):East White Hand Camp (E Mountains)
Eastern mountian regions where the White Hands are. Mobs are level 54+. About 2 bubs per run at 56. Always faster if you have 2 players. Fast respawn rate. Run into the boss in the middle of the camp ti kil yourself and death travel to pick up the 2 wanted posters again. Rinse and reapeat. Mobs are close together so make sure you have 2 players.
56-ish to 59-ish (Thanks to SolexBold):
Vanir Camps in E. Mountains west of the northern Hunting Camp. I was getting about a level an hour grinding solo last night. I'm reaver spec. I had to pop a heal pot about every other fight, when taking on 2+ mobs because of knockback, but other than that it was really fast and easy. Just avoid the bosses if you're solo.
60-62 (Thanks to siregar):
- Thunder river: just south of the main town grind on the bandits there
- Atzel's approach: On the west side grind on the troglodyte and the neutral mammoths and on the freezecrawler on the hill side. Just do a loop around there and you can keep going
63-65 (Thanks to siregar):
- Thunder river: Grind on the picts witch doctor's and savages and the chiefs boss. They're very squishy I pull them in a group of 3-4 and 2 CoS finish them all.
- Atzel's approach: Grind on atzel's pickets and conscpripts. Once you hit 64 go up the freezecrawler nests and turn north down the hillside to skalestein or some area like that and grind on bandits lvl 66-69.
Level 64-68 (Thanks to Cassio): Cart Grind/Gong (Group Grind)
There is a cart you can beat on at the Aztel camp near the Skammestein rez point that gives you a constant flow of mobs. Lots of groups want to grind there, so be ready for PvP (unless you are on a PvE server, bleh ).
A slightly less crowded spot is the frozen lake, which is NW of the cart grind. If you have the quest, there is a gong you can hit for some massive aggro; even without it, there are a number of camps you can hit up in a rotation that leaves little/no downtime.
Level 68-72 (Thanks to Cassio): Ivoryvale
The mammoths are a great solo grind spot. They are yellow, so you can just walk up behind them and start whacking. If you are a DW, they are practically dead already by the time they turn to. The respawn rate in the area is quite high. Even with 2-3 others in the area, there is almost no down time.
As a DW, at Level 68, you'd have to rest some between mobs and or keep a steady supply of pots ticking. Once you are 70-71, you are killing the mammoths so fast that your only limitation usually is the cooldown on your CoS. (Get the Epic one-hander from the Arena quest; the fatality boost you get will alleviate a lot of downtime -- free stam ftw!)
Level 70-75 (Thanks to Cassio): Aztel Fortress
This is a great group grind spot, complete with its own on-site rez point. However, this is another popular spot; if you are trying to grind there during peak times, expect lots of PvP.
Apes and Undead is another good grind spot for around this level. It is less popular than the fortress grind. N of Ivoryvale I believe and up the mountains there are good camps of apes (level 71-73 or so) and undead (similar level). You can solo grind these mobs fairly easily (especially the undead, which are more spread and seem to aggro less), but expect zerg groups to run you off if you are rolling PvP.
Changes To Group NPCs Post-Patch
Jayde of Funcom notes the following:
Some have noted the fact that group NPCs are no longer quite so easy after today's patch. However, I've noticed there is some confusion about "scaling" or the reason for this so I figured I would clarify it.
Basically, at this point, group NPCs have a certain amount of "heroic defense rating" and "heroic attack rating" that players can also get. The functionality of this stat is to "counter" opposing attack and defensive ratings which are higher than what the player or NPC may currently have.
What this means in the case of group NPCs is that higher-level players will no longer deal double damage and take half damage from group NPCs due to the base attack/defense rating difference. Basically, group NPCs will continue to do their normal damage and take normal damage for a longer period of time than non-group NPCs.
There is, however, no "scaling" happening and they are not adjusting dynamically to deal higher damage to higher level players. They will simply continue to perform as they normally would for equal-level players.
I hope that clarifies the adjustment!
The Latest Word on Buddy Keys
Greetings,
We will not open the Buddy keys until we have sufficient server capacity. Most likely we will open this in stages, starting with the 555,000 buddy keys found in the Collector's Edition. There will be no separation between US and Euro keys, so they will open at the same time.
We are currently evaluating our server capacity, and guests will be able to start playing in the not too distant future. As soon as we are ready we will notify everyone directly via email (the one you have registered the game with), as well as via forums and community sites.
The buddy keys can eventually be claimed via your account pages
Best regards,
Funcom
AoC Update Notes From June 12th
Mounts
- The Killer Rhino and War Mammoth have received a minor increase to their trot and gallop speeds. The trot (default movement speed) should now be slightly faster than a jogging player, while the gallop should only be slightly slower than a sprinting player.
- The Standard Horse has received a moderate increase to it's canter and gallop speeds. The canter (default movement speed) should now be equal to a sprinting player, while the gallop should be slightly faster than twice the speed of a jogging player.
- The Armored Horse has received a moderate increase to its canter and gallop speeds. The canter (default movement speed) should now be a slightly faster than a sprinting player, while the gallop should be moderately faster than twice the speed of a jogging player.
- The Swift Horse has received a substantial increase to its canter and gallop speeds. The canter (default movement speed) should now be equal to twice the speed of a jogging player, while the gallop should be only slightly slower than three times the speed of a jogging player.
Player Character
- 18 new robe assets added to the game for the mage classes
- Players can no longer be knocked back while in spellweaving state
- A large number of abilities had a tendency to not trigger in some situations. This should be fixed now.
- The following emotes are now available to both male and female characters: scratchhead, scratcharm, apprehensive, danglefeet, squirm_on_ground, relaxed_lean (new)
Assassin
- Assassins in Unholy Stance will now generate a Soul Fragment from performing a Sneak Attack.
- If a Barbarian performs a unarmed attack after executing their No Escape ability they should no longer slide around without animating their legs.
- Unstoppable should stop functioning when the feat is untrained
- Finishing Blow damage boost after charge should always cancel (even when missing the target) - Finishing blow should scale like this : 1 point = 2x damage, 2 points = 3x damage, 3 points = 4x damage.
- Decapitation feat should scale better when more than one point is spent in the feat.
Conqueror
- There is now a 5 minute cooldown on the resurrection effect gained through your Furious Inspiration ability. This cooldown is on the character offered the resurrection, not the conqueror, so you can still resurrect multiple people in the team, just each of those people cannot be brought back to life by you more than once every 5 minutes.
Demonologist
- Fires of Gehenna (Rank 1) will now correctly inflict fire damage.
- Inferno of Amher (Rank 4) now has the correct casting time.
- Increased the movement speed of all your pets significantly.
Herald of Xotli
- The effect of Demonic Fortitude has been increased to convert 10/15% mana to 10/20% stamina.
Necromancer
- Significantly lowered the manacost of your nukes and dots.
- Increased the movement speed of all your pets significantly.
- Corruptors, Mutilators, Necrotic Bombs and Harvesters will now correctly trigger Bone Horde.
- Pets no longer have the base monster miss chance. They no longer have an innate chance to miss their attacks.
- Fixed Life Leech so that it will tick correctly on a monster that was not initially aggro to you.
Priest of Mitra
- Armor of Faith is no longer cancelled by Holy Light triggering.
Tempest of Set
- Tempest of Set spellweaving should now have all abilities enabled.
Mid Level (40) gameplay improvements
- Field of the Dead: 100 additional mobs have found their way into the the playfield. In addition respawn times have been adjusted on both normal mobs and bosses to improve the playing experience. Also, a number of quests in the playfield have been improved upon.
- Treasury of the Ancient Ones: This Dark dungeon in Khopshef plays like a new dungeon now! It has been revamped with a new event for both solo and group players. Special rewards await those who dare to take the challenge in Epic Mode. And you will no longer fall through the world when climbing up the statues.
Quests
- Quests in the 20 - 40 level range have been checked that all are categorized under the proper locations in the quest journal.
- Den of Wolves: The Plains Wolf population has increased.
- The Curse of the Werewolves: Quest NPCs population has increased. Corinocht Slayers also update the quest now.
- Wolf Hunt: The Yukagi Wolf population has increased.
- Hunting the Vanir: Increased the number of Vanir in the SE camp, also increased their respawn rate.
- Cure for Lycanthropy: Removed Skull of an Alpha Wolf pickup item, this skull can now only be gotten as a loot drop. Added mobs and reduced the respawn time of most mobs.
- Toirdealbach's Tomb: Fixed the respawn rate, fixed the lighting and Toirdealbach's behaviour has been adjusted.
- Water for the Soldiers in Thunder River: Updated the waypoint for Guard Captain Marcus.
- Wagon Wreck: Added a missing waypoint for the quest The Wagon Wreck.
- The Chieftain's Vengeance: Updated waypoints for the goals "Destroy Vanir Supply Crates" and "Kill Crazed Vanir" in the quest "The Chieftain's Vengeance".
- Finding Safe Passage: The player now has to kill 7 Lupine Hunters. The waypoint has also been tweaked.
- Cure for Lycanthropy: Added the missing waypoint to the "Collect Wolf Blood".
- Wagon Wreck: Removed the level requirement for the handing in of the quest Wagon Wreck. The player will now see the ? above the NPCs head.
- A Silver Bracelet: Fixed requirements on Bartholomo's dialogue, so he won't show destiny dialogue during daytime.
- Phoenix of the South: Made sure the destiny quests are resolved and spawned in the right order, to prevent full quest journals to break the destiny quest.
- The Awakening I: The quest reward has received a revamp based on feedback.
- The Awakening I: An intermittent stall when watching the cutscene "Nadini's Vision" in the Destiny Quest has been resolved.
- In Defense of Beauty: quest can be completed now.
- Get Mantis Scales: The description was improved to better indicate where to get the scales.
- Chaos in the Fortress: Burning the tents will now provide team credit.
- Emerald Eyes: Quest classification has been corrected.
- Family Matters: Quest description has been corrected.
- Khopshef Province Quest: Updated the waypoint to Rami's Position
- Kalutma: The dialogue has been tweaked to be more logical.
- Lions and Lambs: The quest cannot be 'stolen' by other players now.
- Lost Bottles: Wine bottles will correctly show as quest items in the world.
- Seven Years: The text has been updated to be more accurate.
- The Worshippers' Demise: Certain NPCs on white sands have been eating those worshippers with glee and will now have a much higher chance of dropping their gems.
- Ante Up: Giants Approaching has had it's quest marker adjusted so that it appears in the proper location.
- Path of the Raven: Rogan will now give the player 3 feathers for the quest.
- Conall's Valley - Destroying the Ymir Totem has been updated to reward group credit.
Items
- Champion of the Honorguard now correctly drops T1 shoulders for Priest of Mitra instead of T3 shoulder for Ranger.
- Herald of Xotli raid gear has been fixed and should now offer proper bonuses
- Widowdusk Fauld should appear correctly now in inventory and in game.
- Crafted crossbows should now appear correctly in the character's hand.
- Updated item names to Gold Carcanet and Filigree Gold Carcanet
- Fair Meat: will no longer end up in the quest inventory.
- Drinking cape should no longer clip with chest item
- Polearms are now all of the same length
- Katars are now held and animated correctly
Decay UI Mod For AoC
30-50 PVP Tips
General starting tips
Jousting: Everyone says it, so do it. When jousting just start a combo, do the initial key moves except the last, then get in range and hit the last key to initiate the combo. Even if the target is moving you will get all the hits off if you let the cast bar finish. IMPORTANT: if you know ahead of time you are going to miss the combo, you can quickly hit active block and cancel it to free your animation frames up.
Frames: Everytime you swing, or combo, there's animation frames that lock you in place. Maximize your frame count to stay ahead of the game. Use your active blocking key to cancel any frames that aren't going to do anything. As said above, missed combos should be cancelled ASAP. Double tap moves should be cancelled since you get the buff they give and can save yourself 2+ seconds of animation frames by doing so.
Anticipate combos: Watch your opponent. You can tell when they're trying to land a combo. Also count "in your head" if you know the cooldown on their most devastating combos. If you see them trying to joust a combo and head in for the blow, you can pop active block or double S evasion and usually avoid it.
Use your shielding: Some combos can literally one shot you. Find out what those combos are and be ready to shield that side of you against certain matchups. The first strategy to winning is knowing your enemy.
Use cooldowns: This is all-out, kill or be killed. If you aren't using everything to your advantage, you are setting yourself back. Restealth/run if a fight is going bad, there's no dishonor in it. The only loser in a brawl is the one that dies. Use health/stam pots generously. I always carry at least 40+ of each when I venture outside of town, and restock constantly. Keep food buffs up always. This gives you a huge advantage over people who don't use them. USE YOUR COOLDOWNS. Unlike WoW many cooldowns are on short timers (1-2min), so they will usually be up for every engagement. Use them when you feel it is appropriate. Cat's Paw to buy yourself time to go toe-to-toe with your opponent if they're melee, pop lotus extract to keep yourself at high hp, excellent balance so you don't get KB'd ahead of time, etc.
Use shield positioning: If you can, try to always get on your opponent's backside. There are 0 shields on someone's back at ANY time. You might think this isn't a big deal, but the difference between Cunning strike 6 head on and directly behind is easily 2x damage difference. Also keep that in mind when you use UL and UR combos, if you can land them from your opponent's side and hit the unshielded part, you are in the zone. Keep in mind most people keep their shields neutral, so always shoot for the back zone. I've hit soldiers for upwards of 50% of their hp (in defensive stance) with a well placed CS 6 as said above.
On joust timing: If your opponent knows how to move, take some time, be patient, and predict where they're going, fire your combos ahead of where they're moving. Sometimes I'll start a combo up, double W and stun someone with the followup hits in the combo and then land it perfectly on their back for a lot of damage. Also try to snare someone before combo'ing, it makes it a lot easier to get it off.
Vs. Barbarians: I have lost to a barbarian twice between 30-48 so far. TWICE. And they're everywhere. Since they have light armor I'll usually open with Stealth Attack *from directly behind* using a mid attack for maximum crit chance and a snare. IMMEDIATELY open with Slow Death and then back the f* away. Let SDS tick away and then hit Excellent Balance, head back in. The first thing they'll probably try to do is Clobber and KB you. If you have EB up this will fail. They will realize they missed it and go for a stun. Count to 3, Double S evade and hit active blocking immediately once you avoid the clobber. I have parried so many stuns to this day I can't even count on one hand. At this point you can now joust away, mainly try to land a cunning strike or vicious/sds when they're up so you can kite some of their hp down.
If they get the jump, use any cooldowns you need to to stay up. If they are strafing around you double W stun them and hit cunning ASAP. Everything in the above works as well. The main thing is to watch their swings and count. Most combos at this level are 3 swings (combo initiator, follow up, landing blow). If it looks like they're going to joust a combo keep on the move or get ready to evade tap/block. It doesn't always save your ass but more often than not it will. As soon as you see the parry start your own combo. Above all else if they can get a clean KB -> stun chain on you you might be screwed though :/. The KEY to winning vs. good barbs is avoiding those stuns before you go for the kill.
Vs. PoM: Open with SA, and pay close attention to what they're casting from there on out. The main thing to look out for is "Repulse", and is very easy to see by the giant golden rings around them while they cast it. If you see this, immediately stop what you're doing and run just out of range of their AOE, then start to run in again as the cast finishes. You will effectively have dodged it.
The only thing that will remotely get you is their fear, which is pretty short duration and will only let them get maybe one nuke off on you. Otherwise if they're trying to launch a smite or lance on you, double W stun the spell and go for your hardest hitting combo. If you're getting low and are out of CDs, and they just used radiance to full heal, now's the time to run and restealth ASAP. You have a minute to repeat what you just did and finish them before radiance is useable again. Key points: Avoid repluse, avoid repulse, avoid repulse and you can win.
Vs. Guardians - They don't hit for much, a health pot will keep you alive against their damage for the most part and you can just go toe to toe with them for a good while without worrying. At the same time, a good guardian can just defense stance and pot as well, the fight will never end. Generally I just avoid wasting my time with Guardians, but if you're worried about Overreach for any reason, just shield 1U 2R (that's basically 2L to them). The best way to dish out damage is to land SDS and Vicious Strikes for the unmitigated bleed/poison damage. Helps to have 2 GC ranks up on them as well. You can easily take out 70% of a guardian's HP just doing those 2, even if they're in d stance. If the guardian is in frenzy, you can probably kill them with an SA/cunning. Use excellent balance to avoid their Batter Aside, and stay on the move so they can't charge stun you.
Vs. Conquerer - Same as above, but joust more since they can dish out some hard damage. Use your bleeds if they are defensive stance and be ready to double S evade a bit more also. Cat's paw if you're below 50% and out of other CDs and you can stand toe-to-toe for a bit to get some harder hitting combos off.
Vs. Dark Templar - Same as guardian, but easier. You can pretty much just toe-to-toe with one and win.
Vs. Assassins - This will come down to whether you have the jump or not. If you know there's another assassin nearby try to de-stealth them with search. It will start the combat timer on them and if they're close enough immediately stealth and launch an SA before they realize what happened. In most cases the only time you'll be fighting other assassins is if they either jump you, you jump them, or for some reason both of you are unstealthed at the time you meet. Two hiding classes just never goes anywhere fast unless it's a ranger =.
Vs. Rangers - This requires a lot of focus, and a little luck on your part. Almost every fight vs. a ranger will start with you being rooted out of stealth or mezz shotted. As soon as you know there's a ranger about to get you, hit a health/stam pot and get ready for the fun part. They will likely show up directly in front of you and start plucking away, watch for Salvo. Immediately triple shield 3U and active block. Your root probably will still be up, or you'll be snared, depending on what kind of ranger it is you'll probably either be hit with Armor Ripper or Crippling Snipe next. Now here's the tricky part and that is identifying whether their bow or xbow.
If you can figure it out here's the deal. XBow uses Crippling Snipe, and it hurts. Shield 3L for this, and this is really the only type that uses a UR combo. For everything else, after Salvo go 1U 2R and sprint towards them immediately, and get behind them to snare. Pop excellent balance in case they try to KB you and run. Once you close range you pretty much win though. Use double-W to stun them if they're still trying to point-blank hit you with a powerful shot.
Now if they get behind you after the initial root, and you aren't quick to discern the change in your shield positioning, just hit cat's paw. It will save you a lot of the time from getting one shot, but it's not always reliable.
In most cases don't count on winning. Even blocking properly a ranger can kill you before you get out of root, or even get close to them. Most of my wins are because I parried a key shot that would otherwise one shot me . At this level just have to sweat it out and realize they are our direct counter, until 70+.
Vs. ToS: SA, initiate either a cunning or SDS but DONT finish it yet. Double tap side-step and active block cancel the animation, then attempt to finish the combo. If they are fast at reacting they will likely try to stun you. The sidestep is your only real chance at avoiding it, and it's rare, but it has saved me from their stun a few times (spell resisted).
In most cases you'll get stunned, immediately have a pot going before this can happen of course, then once the stun ends close range and finish the combo (joust the 2nd swing to keep the combo active on the way in). They'll likely be trying to nuke you into the ground. After your first combo double W stun them, combo again. ToS really go down very fast in many cases. If they already blew their CDs and focus on healing reset the fight and kill them a la PoM style. They are fully capable of owning you, but if you play smart your odds are highly in your favor. I think I've lost to maybe one ToS to date.
Vs. Bear Shaman: Not a hard matchup. Use bleeds as they have higher armor level and use Excellent Balance to avoid their KB. Joust a bit and kite if you start to get low, with a pot rolling this will pretty much give you some leverage to fight with. Once they get low try to stun them and finish with cunning, before they can refresh their heal. Overall one of the easier classes to beat with basic jousting moves.
Vs. Demo: This can go terribly wrong or terribly right. Most of the time SA/GC will kill them for me. If they get a root off though you can likely just get nuked down. They are a joke once you have escape artist though.
Vs. Necro: Lol.
Vs. HoX: Easily your most dangerous foe, they can root you and one shot. As soon as they root, go demon form, hit cat's paw and start blocking like a madman. I've parried 90% of fire lances just doing that. And also just keep on the move to avoid their deadliest combos that they are likely to open with. Be very careful with your jousting as it's very easy for them to drop you while demon forming. You can drop them very fast once you make them burn their cooldowns, and snap kick seems to work a lot more often on them than other classes. Use it to land your strongest combos when they're <50% and you win. Remember that the initial part of fighting a HoX is surviving their initial burst, then dropping them when they have no offensive retaliation.