Ranger Archive

Color Reference

• Grey: New to list or changed from last version
  
• Yellow: Ranger Top Issue
  
• Red: Will be Affected by Future Changes
  
• Magenta: Officially Announced / On Test Center

Overview

• The concept of the Ranger has been quite contentious among the forum members.
  
  
  
  • There are those that wish a profession along the lines of the Wilderness Ranger: The ultimate outdoorsman
    
    
    
    • This position follows the initial design of the profession.
    
    
  • There are those that want to pattern the profession on the Military Ranger: Survivalist and Combat specialist
    
    
    
    • This position follows the Antarian Ranger ideal from the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
  
  
• These views allow for a wide range of what should be the top priority for the profession. But most arguments boil down to two sides:
  
  
  
  • PvE: As the majority of players tend towards engaging the games creatures, a great many suggestions have been made to improve our proficiency in this area
    
  • PvP: But there is a vocal contingent that want far more effectiveness in the GCW, as once a player achieves Master, there is little available in the profession to directly aid in this end game.
  
  
• In the end however, we are all interested in fleshing out our quasi-complete profession with skills that benefit all sides.

Economics

• As most of the equipment we produce can only be sold to Master Scouts or other Rangers, there is little demand outside the profession.
  
• Our mainstay is the same as the Scouts: Harvested Resources. In this area, we would love to excel far beyond the Scouting profession, but at the moment most rangers don't feel the harvesting skill is sufficiently different from our Scouting brethren.
  
• With the addition of /areatrack, many have found a new avenue for income, though the skill is still far too limiting to solely rely on.
  
• In general, there does not seem to be much complaint regarding monetary issues, except from other professions who consider our prices too high to bear.

Interdependence

• Being Rangers most of us enjoy our independence and fight fervently to ensure that we stay one of the most independent professions.
  
• However, it is in the best interest of game as a whole to have some interdependence, and several Rangers find it odd that polymer was removed from our camps, leaving only traps with resources that we can not supply using our own skills.
  
• On the whole though, we love our freedom from other professions, relying on others only for weapons, armor, and healing.

Bugs

This section lists known issues with the current implementation of the system

Camps

• Issue with Ranger camps not actually repelling aggressive creatures
  
  
  
  • Request for deployed camps to inhibit new agressive spawn points from forming near the camp
  
  
• Issue with Field Base and High Tech Field Base healing radius not being large enough to contain all the chairs deployed
  
• Camps are insurable for some reason, and therefore get added into the cost when using Insure All
  
  
  
  • Most rangers agree that camps should not decay, and therefore do not need to be insured

/areatrack

• Issue with not locating creatures that are a certain distance aways, namely around 100 to 130m.
  
  
  
  • We suspect this phenomena is the effect of the spawn system not adding creatures to the environment until a player approaches.
  
  
• Issue with the vertical plane. Namely problems using it on mountainous terrain
  
• Issue with Transport Shuttles and Droids being listed in the animal tracker
  
• Issue with extreme sparseness or complete absence of spawn outside of a certain radius around towns.
  
• Issue with /areatrack not picking up lairs that have not yet spawned any creatures
  
  
  
  • This is a rather irritating issue that limits the commands usefulness away from the more travelled areas

/conceal

• Issue with travelling disabling /conceal, and once on the other side /maskscent can be used to reenable the /conceal functionality.
  
  
  
  • There have been reports that doing this will invalidate concealment, such that creatures no longer check against it. This bug appears to continue until the user uses /conceal again (rather than /maskscent), or they log off long enough for their character to be unloaded.
  
  
• Reports of some Gang Member NPCs ignoring /conceal entirely, and attacking concealed players without breaking concealment.
  
  
  
  • There are occurrences where extremely poor faction rating with a gang may be impacting concealment.
    
  • forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=13682
    
  • There are occurrences of Humanoids aggroing at a distance of 64m with or without the use of /conceal. Possibly the NPCs are aggroing before /conceal is being checked.
  
  
• Issue with creatures attacking without checking /conceal or /maskscent beforehand
  
  
  
  • This has been noted with greater frequency since the November Publish
  
  
• Issue where lair defenders (creatures spawned near the end of a lair's life) will attack nearby players who are not engaged in combat, without checking conceal beforehand
  
• Issue with not receiving any Wilderness Survival Experience for crafting Camo Kits
  
• Issue with concealed group members being attacked during combat even if they succeeded in concealment and did not initiate attack
  
• Issue where a non-ranger can not remove /conceal that was applied to them, because they do not have the ability to use the /conceal command itself
  
• Issue with attempting to apply /maskscent after /conceal wears off normally. Rangers receive a message stating that /conceal is still active.
  
• Issue with immediately applying /maskscent after /conceal breaks. Apparently the /maskscent acts like /conceal (checking against humanoids) for the remainder of the session.
  
• The issues described above may be causing a "invalid concealment", where the state is shown as active, but none of the creatures check the state.
  
• The wrong message is displayed when /conceal wears off... You receive the /maskscent message.

Traps

• Issue with using a trap and not receiving any feedback at all (neither success nor failure mesages)
  
• Issue with the last trap in a stack tending to fail more often than the others.
  
• Issue with traps not working in Caves.
  
  
  
  • If experience is the concern, then perhaps the answer would be to not provide any experience for traps thrown in caves
  
  
• Certain traps can be used over and over again, on the same creature, without any delay, for continuous experience
  
• Issue with image of the "Throw Trap" action remaining in the Combat Queue window, even after the trap has been thrown
  
• Issue with /clearCombatQueue not removing unperformed "Throw Trap" actions from the queue
  
• Issue with traps remaining in the game space after being thrown, and appearing as white dots on the Radar

/forage

• Issue with receiving a "Inventory Full" message when your inventory still has space available

/examine

• Issue with certain animals not displaying all the examine data available at the viewers skill level.
  
  
  
  • Posts regarding Resistances being missing for instance
    
  • Other posts about seeing the resistances but nothing else
  
  
• Issue with BE clones not displaying their Special Attacks properly
  
• Issue with BE clones not displaying their Difficulty Level properly

Harvesting

• Issue where you accidentally harvest a non-existing resource (hide off a Hermit Spider) by using /harvest hide, and after that you are not allowed to harvest the correct resource.
  
• Issue where the group harvesting reduction does not disappear after leaving the group
  
  
  
  • There are reports that creatures killed after disbanding from a group still produce the reduced harvest
    
  • The reports seem to revolve around Creature Handlers and their pets, as they tend to group/ungroup more often
  
  
• Issue where /harvest meat will attempt to harvest a nearby player with the name that starts with meat (Such as say Meaton)
  
  
  
  • The issue probably exists with /harvest bone and /harvest hide, there just aren't many players with names that start with bone or hide

Skill Experience

• The experience caps are apparently still set to pre-patch values, and were not adjusted with the increased Scout experience requirements

Fishing

• Request for the harvesting skill mod to increase the amount of fish meat filleted off caught fish
  
• Request the ability to craft fishing lures that can used in place of bait.
  
• Request for a Fishing Net that would "net" more fish per use, but still require user interaction just like the fishing pole.
  
• Request for a Fishing skill mod that improves a players chance of catching a fish
  
• Request for tiny amounts of Battle Fatique to be "healed" during a fishing session
  
• Request for fish traps available at Trapping II
  
  
  
  • These would operate like mineral harvesters

Camoflauge

• Request for the players under the /conceal effect to evade Imperial Crackdowns while in the wilderness
  
  
  
  • The Rangers feel that both the Smugglers and our profession can provide protection against Imperial enforcement without stepping on each other's toes
    
  • Ranger protection requires the use of a camoflauge kit, but can be broken at anytime removing any protection. Camoflauge would not work against Shakedowns in town.
    
  • Combined with the Smuggler's innate bonus, both effects would provide ultimate protection while in a wilderness environment
  
  
• Request for a success message when a conceal check succeeds
  
  
  
  • Once a Ranger caps out in experience, they no longer receive the tell tale experience gain that shows a check was performed
  
  
• Request to be able to use the /conceal and /maskscent commands while mounted
  
• Request that the success rate of /conceal be increased to 99% against an opponent of difficulty level 25
  
• Request for grease paint graphic on your character when /conceal is active
  
• Request for a /combatConceal command
  
  
  
  • Available at Wayfaring II would work as a buff, decreasing an opponent's chance-to-hit the concealed player.
    
  • This command would work on all forms of opponents: Creatures, Humanoids NPCs, CH Pets, Faction Pets, and Players.
    
  • The command would use a camo kit specific to the current planet
    
  • This command is not usable on other players
    
  • There is no check per opponent as there is with /conceal, rather a command named /reveal allows opponents to remove the effect
    
  • There would be a duration for the effect, similiar in length to /conceal
    
  • The to-hit modifier would have to be significant enough to ensure that being combat concealed would be an worthwhile advantage during combat situations.
    
  • It can enabled at the same time as /conceal or /maskscent, just in case the concealment fails and combat ensues
    
  • Opponent pets (Creatures, Faction troopers, etc.) would also have the "to-hit" modifier applied to their attacks
    
  • The skill would only have an effect while outside of a city region, allowing another civilization-centric profession (such as Smuggler, Commando, BH) to one day have a more high-tech approach to concealment for use in the city.
    
  • The command /reveal available at Wayfaring I can be used to reveal a specified target.
    
    
    
    • When used against an opponent with /combatConceal, the chance of success should be based on a comparison of the two opponent's camoflauge skill.
      
    • As /combatConceal does not have a check like /conceal, this skill would be used as the counter-command.
  
  
• Request for a damage enhancing command:
  
  
  
  • The command can not be used in combat mode, and only while /combatConceal is in effect
    
  • The command would initiate a 15 second timer, the first attack performed within that time would have the bonus applied
    
  • If an attack is not performed within the timer, a conceal check is performed with the possibility of losing the concealment
    
  • Whether the attack landed or not, the player would be lose the conceal effect and its associated bonus
    
  • /ambush1:
    
    
    
    • Available at Wayfaring II
      
    • Would provide a 1.5x damage increase
    
    
  • /ambush2:
    
    
    
    • Available at Master Ranger
      
    • Would provide a 3x damage increase
  
  
• Request for a a command called /hide
  
  
  
  • Available at Master Ranger
    
  • The Player must be wearing a ghillie suit to enact the skill, restricting the commands use to Rangers.
    
    
    
    • The quality of the ghillie suit dictates the chance of being revealed during the duration of the command.
    
    
  • The command would immediately place the player into a prone position
    
  • A 15 second wait timer would be initiated
    
    
    
    • The timer would stop players from vanishing without giving opponents a chance to attack
    
    
  • The character would vanish completely off radar and from the main window
    
    
    
    • If the player performs any action, movements or otherwise, the player will be instantly revealed
    
    
  • Upon being revealed a 10 second timer is initiated where the player is unable to initiate combat
    
    
    
    • If the player is attacked by someone else however, the timer ends and the player can retaliate immediately
      
      
      
      • A player can not use /duel while hidden or during the revealed timer. This way they can not bypass the timer by having a friend duel them.
      
      
    • A player can not use /hide again until this timer runs out
    
    
  • The command can not be performed while in combat
  
  
• Ability to experiment on:
  
  
  
  • Camo kits should have two experimentation lines:
    
  • Quantity: Increases the number of uses available per unit
    
  • Quality: Increases the "to-hit" bonus produced by the concealment
  
  
• Request for concealed players to not be listed on the /areatrack listing
  
• /maskscent can be used on vehicles to gain experience without any risk to the player
  
  
  
  • /maskscent and /conceal should be disabled while riding a vehicle
    
  • But both skills should still be available for use while riding a creature mount
    
  • Perhaps no experience for using the skills should be provided while riding
  
  
• Request for concealed Jedi be more difficult for Bounty Hunters to track
  
• Request for /conceal to be able to impersonate one of the local creatures.
  
  
  
  • They would appear as a creature on the main window.
    
  • Overt players would only be able to impersonate aggressive creatures, sa that their red radar dot would not stand out.
    
  • Once attacked, the concealment would break.
    
    
    
    • If attacked by a player who would not normally be able to attack the player, combat would not initiate, but concealment would still be broken
  
  
• Request for a Ghillie Suit
  
  
  
  • The suit would be Tailor made but only wearable by those players with the Wayfaring II skill
    
  • Suggestion that it resemble a overcoat or cloak with an army camoflauge pattern
    
    
    
    • Wookiees should either be able to wear the same suit, or a special version made specifically for their species
    
    
  • The quality of the suit would dictate:
    
    
    
    • how much of a bonus to the "to-hit" modifier the suit would provide while using /combatConceal
      
    • the chance of success while using /hide
    
    
  • The outfit would need to be equiped to have activate the effect
    
  • A camoflauge kit would still be required to initiate the camoflauge effect itself, the suit would only enhance the bonus
  
  
• Request for an Area Conceal Kit
  
  
  
  • This would be another craftable item that would take an existing camo kit as a component
    
  • The effect would be to conceal everyone within a certain radius, or everyone in a group
  
  
• Request that the HAM icon for /conceal be changed to something other than the /maskscent icon
  
• Request when another player concealed by the Ranger is revealed, that a System Message is sent to the applier stating such
  
• Request for the ability to /conceal self without a camo kit once a Player achieves Master
  
• Request for /conceal to work against Faction Turrets
  
• Request for invisibility against other players with the ability to move
  
  
  
  • A command named /sneak would hide the player's position on radar and the main window while the command is in effect
    
  • A player could only sneak while prone or crawling. They would be instantly revealed if the player stood.
    
  • If the player engages in combat, the concealment would break and the player would be revealed.
    
  • When the player is moving via crawling, the chance of detection would increase.
    
  • The closer an opponent is to the sneaking player, the greater chance of detection.
    
  • The faster an opponent is traveling, the lower the chance of detection.

/rescue

• There are concerns it does not work often enough to be useful. Perhaps a better chance of success, or lower mind drain so it can be tried more often.
  
• Request for a system message to be displayed to the target of /rescue, so they know when to /peace and run away from their aggressors

/examine

• Request to display the bone resource
  
• Request to display the Social Assistiveness of a creature
  
• Request for information regarding what exactly Ferocity actually represents
  
• Request to list the Health/Action/Mind values (we can see the values via the Target Window, so why not list them)
  
• Request to see the Armor Piercing level of a creatures weapon, if any is available
  
• Request to see the type of creature living in a lair upon examining the lair itself
  
• Request to display the speed of a creature (so we can know whether we can outrun it using burstrun)
  
• Request for a Save button that saves the text contents of the examine window to a file on the users machine

/forage

• Request to reduce filling on foraged goods
  
• Request for additive components for food crafting that could be foraged
  
• Request that the number of locatable herbs be increased, and more powerful herb be limited to certain levels of the harvesting skill.
  
• Request for increased potency in foraged buff herbs
  
  
  
  • Many Rangers have requested herbs that heal damage
    
  • Items with greater HAM buffing would have a healing effect when used
    
  • Request for an increased stack size for foraged items
    
    
    
    • With the randomness involved in foraging, an increase in stack size as skill increases would be a benefit
  
  
• Request that /forage provide Wilderness Survival experience on success
  
• Request for herbal medicines
  
  
  
  • That cure Bleed, Dizzy, Blind, Stun effects
    
  • That would reduce the duration or damage incurred by Poison / Disease effects
    
  • These herbs would be single use / non-stackable items, to ensure that a Doctors multi-use kits would still have a use

Terrain Negotiation

• Apparently we only receive +95 of the skill at the master level. Could we get the remaining +5 at Master?
  
• Request for an improved normal swimming speed associated with Terrain Negotiation
  
  
  
  • Burst Run should continue upon entering water, and should produce a faster swimming rate
  
  
• Request for the skill to have some effect on Mounts
  
  
  
  • Perhaps a faster /gallop or a longer duration, or a shorter downtime between gallops
  
  
• Request for Group Terrain Negotiation, similiar to the Squad Leader
  
• Request for an improved normal run speed be associated with Terrain Negotiation
  
• Request for a skill modifier to reduce the downtime between burst runs
  
• Request for Skis for use on those snowy mountain slopes, perhaps even snow shoes for quicker navigation over snow.