The Ruin 2 vs Ruin 1 argument has been going on since launch of ARR. They do the same damage, and both can be used depending on the player. Some players see SMN as a melee range character to get the extra book hit in, while others (myself) don't really care about it. Both arguments have their pro's and cons. Personally, I'm against us being in melee range because of casting timers. We have to move enough as it is, and to having to add watching out for close attacks seems counterproductive for me. I may be wrong, but having the peace of mind that I can stand back and play range just makes things a bit easier for me. I hope that doesn't make me a bad smn...because I still melt things