Ranger Archive

We were there once before...its starting to feel like it is happening again. And this time its not just us, its the scouts too. I'm not going anywhere mind you..I enjoy being a Master Ranger...but things are starting to take a turn towards the worse. Mask Scent, Conceal, and terrain negotiation have all taken huge hits in recent patches due to mounts, vehicles, and spreading around a little terrain negotiation to other classes. Conceal's big bonus factors for using it, outside of duration time, are completely wiped out with vehicles coming into play.

Then you start taking a peak into the other forums...all these people with mounts and vehicles clamoring to be able to pull those out anywhere...that happens there goes our camping. So then what are we? A creature resource mining class is what...thats all we'll have left....Tracking will be our Survey, and then we just harvest away.

I like being a Scout/Ranger...but I'm starting to get concerned. I have had no problems being patient waiting for the rest of our "good things" to come because I was happy with what we had...the problem is the game is changing around us and we aren't changing at all...so the few advantages we have gained are being taken away by new systems being given for free to everyone else.

I realize we are low in the totem pole because we "pretty much work" even if we don't have much content...whats there mostly does what its supposed to....I just hope there are still a lot of us left outside of those of us, like myself, who are diehard fans of the profession...because the incentives are fading and fading fast.

The Ranger is an elisive creature, able to go where others can not, able to wander the wilds of Endor without fear so long as a little care is taken. Finding one can be hard at times. It once took me two weeks to find a master so that I could learn more of our techniques. Ghosts in the wilderness. Friends to the eager creature handler looking for just the right pet to tame. In my case, a friend to anyone that gets in over their head and needs to get that Merrik Battle Lord off of him long enough to run for a nearby river or lake. We are the few who dare to take on the profession.

It isn't about the money, at least for a few that I have come across in my wanderings. If it were we wouldn't be out finding our favorite fishing spots ... and don't lie. If you are anything like me you have a few that you go to that are special, holding a faint sense of familiarity and comfort. We wouldn't be running around at the furthest reaches of the wilds, just to see what is there, sharing our favorite finds with friends and our Ranger companions.

It isn't about the war. We all know that whether you are Imperial or Rebel, the Kryat Dragon or the Gorax doesn't care. In the wilds it is the wilderness that is our greatest friend and our most worthy adversary. Perhaps that is why the politics hasn't mattered when I have been trained or trained others. Perhaps we are too far away from the war to be affected by it directly. Perhaps not.

Is isn't about the glory. The masters of our profession are among the more humble of the galaxy, for they know the hardships of nature, and of the many hours alone with only ourselves for companionship, and perhaps the occasional friend to pass the time with. The glorious battles fought are often fought alone, and when we fight along side others, it is not we who will usually be the great heroes of the frey.

So what is it about? Not war, not glory, not money ... we are care takers, care takers of our friends, of our occasional and inconsistant employers, of each other. We are the masters of our worlds. The deserts, the forrests, the mountains, the many wonders that hide in the furthest reaches that the city folk can only dream of, these are our treasures, our homes. When the rangers meet in the wilderness it is the fleeting moment but one of greatest respect. We know the hardships of our profession and we take pride in our accomplishments, and honor the accomplishments of our brothers and sisters.

We are Rangers. I can't put into words what that means, not truely. But my brothers and sisters understand that feelng. The view of the sister moons that rise in the horrizon in the middle of the night and make us stop to admire the moment. The lake that we fell upon by surprise that stunned us with it's beauty as it peered at us from beyond the foliage. The true euphoria in having fought a truely challenging beast and survived, perhaps by only a scratch, and yet had no one to tell the tale to. These and hundreds of other moments like it, these are why we are what we are. This is why we have come to our place in life.

We have our skills, some are useful, others are not. Some could be better, others could be changed. We may become little more than creature harvesters, at least in the eyes of others. There are things that can and should be done. With hope, and maybe a little luck, some of these things will be changed, and we will invite our friends to our hunting cabins in the furthest reaches of distant wilderness, we will collect our bounty from our fishing traps, we will make that Gurrek named "Tweedle Dee" freeze in his tracks along side his master and hear them both scream in frustration from withinour area effect mesh traps fired from our dreaded hunting bows. But that is not why I persue the art ... for indeed our profession is an art ... the artof survival.

Whatever becomes of our profession, I hope that one thing does not change. I hope that the respect that one ranger has for another, when stumbling across the wilds of dangerous worlds, the comraderie that is felt in those few fleeting moments ... I hope that never fades. And I hope that on day I can caount myself among the ranks of the few and proud Master Rangers.

I appologise for the rant

Thats not a rant, thats the reason I became a ranger. You have reminded me of this and I must thank you for doing so. A few weeks ago I almost dropped the profession completely but my guild requested that I not do so and I have since Mastered the profession.

I enjoy hunting creatures just to check on their stats and attacks. I enjoy killing said creatures and taking notes on the resources dropped by each. I enjoy climbing that mountain on foot to look out over the landscape. I enjoy being able to warn my friends of just what the creature they want to attack is capable of. I enjoy giving hunting tips to people who ask me where they can find that creatures they need to create something they want. I enjoy talking with other rangers, rebel and imperial alike and training them if they need it. I even enjoy escorting the occasional doctor accross an entire planet in search of a creature he had heard to live on the planet, even if we don't end up finding that creature.

I have recently helped get the Tarquinas Antarian Rangers Network get up and running and am enjoying gathering the information we want on resources from various planets.

Do I belive our profession can be great someday? Yes I do believe so and I plan on staying for at least another 9 months in this game.

I have to agree, we are fading out somewhat. I do, however, find it rather amusing that those of us who mastered Ranger at the beginning are complacent with what we have, enjoying the game and not wanting to give up our profession, and those that are just doing it for the camps are nagging for this and that. I'm sure, sooner or later, we will get some great additions to add to our skills.

Right now new abilities, camps, traps etc are a bit unreasonable as our developer is also a lead on the vehicles and is involved with player cities. Just think of it this way, when we were "nothing" before, we all of a sudden got conceal and tracking abilities...something will come our way again

I have to agree. Its seems we are really getting very useless. Every avantage that we have, is now, in some way being given to everyone.

I wouldn't say its ranting...but on the contrary a nicely written post!

Fiahow

Master Ranger; Ex-Pistoleer; Aspiring Rifleman

Wanderhome

Seems like a bit of Role-playing and Passion is needed to survive in our profession.

I've been working for Master Ranger since day one, and about 4 months later, I'm slowly finding my way to it. Patience is our Ranger skill amplifier..

000000000000000000Dyrwen Sy-X
000000000000000000
000000000000000000Imperial Master Ranger.
000000000000000000Meat Manager
000000000000000000Hide Heretic.
000000000000000000Bone Busybody.
000000000000000000
000000000000000000General PAC Man 
000000000000000000Penny Arcade Clan 
000000000000000000

I myself stumbled harmlessly upon the scout profession, attempting to use it to gather my own resources for an artisan character I was creating. Soon, I became enchanted with the rugged and often underrated life of a scout. I have since dropped all artisan skills and focused on rifleman and scout skills. Today is my first day as a Ranger and I must say, I could care less about the masses speeding around on their vehicles. Today, I climbed my first mountain as a Ranger, stared across the bleak landscape of Tatooine and walked out of my camp and petted and dragonet with no weapon in my hand.

No other profession can do this. None. No amount of combat XP will allow you to walk up to an agressive creature without fear. No medic can craft a medpaks that cure the fear that one inherently has when dealing with tough creatures. Even the most masterful of TKA's walk trepidly where we roam free, and none can match their speed against our own. We are neccesary now for several reasons that everyone has pointed out: camps are still neccesary, our ability to hunt down animals is essential to many others.

But beyond our obscurity, we must see that we are perhaps the most noble of proffesions. Anyone can drive from Mos Eisley to Fort Tuskan, but who but Rangers/Scouts can walk there without fear? I may have only started Ranger but since I first stumbled blindly into scout, I've dreamed of this day. I am a Ranger. a nomad. a lover of all things in nature. Sure, I have my reasons for hating the Empire, but even a Imperial Ranger is worthy of more respect than many of my Rebel Allies. Because when you're hunting down ellusive prey, camping in the deserts of Tatooine, or even fishing in your favorite shady spot, the events of your own life and the Galactic Civil War seem trivial in comparrison with the amazingness of the world.

We are the poet warriors of nature, and nothing can take that from us.

I look forward to seeing more Rangers on Test Center. We are in dire need of a chosen few to answer the call of the wild.

Look me up on TC if you're on- Phenix Stargazer -located in Skystone 1.5k NW of Mos Entha

I thnk we got "too much" loving on the early patches and are paying for it now. May be a few weeks before we see anything really fixed, but I am willing to wait.

As to mounts and vehicles - cool, we can use em too. Pain the rear to fight from a mount tho, no specials. So at the very least, you gotta dismount, wasting a few seconds of combat time. I imagine it will be the same for vehicles.

I have a mount, only because I got it free. I use it maybe once every 3 or 4 days. I outrun the majority of people anyhow, so I stay grounded and able to fight quickly.

And creature harvestors is not all that bad a job, Docs, CMs and BEs are clamoring for meat all the time. Maybe I really should go into the meat business (again...nah). Tailors want hides now more than ever now that clothing is decaying. When (not if, when) we get to use traps on pets, our role in PvP expands.

Again, I think we just need to wait for a few fixes, some additions, and let's see then what's up.

Til then, 5k missions for mutated kahmurra anyone? Big hint, if you are not hunting Talus for easy money and good harvests, you are totally missing out. 500m missions paying 5k that take 10 mins, get you a lot of meat, and pay 5k to boot, gotta love it.

JB