Ranger Archive
Thread: Casual player now Master Ranger and more...
Yesterday was a great day! At least for me... I finally made it to Master Ranger (my first elite profession mastered)! Whoohoo! I almost start dancing on my keyboard but I thentook a deep breath when I realizedmy girlfriend was staring at me with this strange lookon her face...
I'm a casual player (10 - 15 hours of playa week, playing since day 1) and I'm proud to say that I didn't grind. Well almost... You know those frontiering xp are a pain to get when you mostly play solo (would have take me another 4 months otherwise).
I made it with pistoleer and some ch skills. I enjoyed those skills but since now I know I can almost handle anything with little challenge (thanks to mygraul), I guess it's time I change my skills a little.
I know for sure that I'll drop my CH skills so I canbe challenged againby pikets, feral banthas and all the other. Here are the combinations I could take. With ranger of course...:
- Rifleman / Pistoleer
- Rifleman / Swordman
- Medic (doctor or combat medic or anything) / Pistoleer (nice with a group I guess)
So nowif some of you could only help me here that would be great. I'd like to know wich are the possible synergy between those professions. What is you personnal experience with those professions? Any other combination that would be worth it(please provide explanations)?
I know there's been a lot of thread about rifleman and pistoleer with ranger but since I'm interested in having multiple professions (diversity), let's stay focused on synergy between these professions.
Thanks a lot for reading
Congrats on getting Master. As for other professions to take, it is really a matter of personal preference. Pick something because you think you would enjoy it, not because you think it would be a good profession to have. It is only a game. And even giving suggestions really depends on your play style. If you want to be able to kill anything in the game, you probably want Master CH with Master (pick an elite ranged combat profession, like rifleman), possibly keeping as much of Ranger tracking as you can. If you want to be useful in a group, then Mastering a support profession (like Doctor, Combat Medic, or Ranger) is a good thing. Creature Handler is very powerful right now (especially at Master) but they are reducing the effectiveness of non-Masters in the next patch. If you just feel like being generally useful, a crafting profession might be in order. If you want to just sit around and socialize, go for an entertainer profession. And remember--you should be able to have 3 Master professions at once (although lots of people split their skill points between lots of unmastered professions). Master Ranger takes up almost 2/3s of your skill points. Really up to you, though. Just remember that it is only a game and you should do what you enjoy, not necessarily what makes you powerful.
Lythender Nirou
Eclipse Server
Nemo0 wrote:
Just remember that it is only a game and you should do what you enjoy, not necessarily what makes you powerful.
But what if he enjoys being powerful?
To each his own. But then he should work towards Dark Jedi Master.
Lythender Nirou
Eclipse Server
VolstedGridban wrote:
But what if he enjoys being powerful?
Hehe, I've enjoyed being powerful for a while (yep, I was one of those guys with 3-3-0-0 in CH skills). But now I really want to enjoy my ranger skills and be challenged. I don't enjoy staying behind my graul anymore.
And I understand what you say Nemo0 but what I mean is that I just want to have some clue on professions synergy since I'd like to make my mind before spending 1 month or 2 to get skills in a profession that won't provide me synergy.
I'm very open minded and would enjoy almost any profession.Let's justforget what I enjoy or not(I'll take care of this), I only need some hint to help me...
Tremendous synergy in the Rifleman/Swordsman combo, but understand that you'll never hit Master with either one if you put points into both while staying a Master Ranger. A Master Rifleman/Master Ranger has a total of 18 points left over, assuming he/she hasn't spent any on Ranged Support Abilities (and as a Rifleman, you'll want to put at least 9 points into Ranged Support Abilities to get Warning Shot, which effectively leaves you with only 9 extra skill points). And while I can't speak about what it's like to be a Master Swordsman, a Master Rifleman is very powerful. The difference between a Master Rifleman and a 4/4/4/4 Novice Rifleman is profound, due to the speed increase and the addition of Strafe 2 to the Rifleman's arsenal. I would venture to say that a Master Rifleman is more effective than a half Rifleman/half Swordsman.
That said, Swordsman combines nicely with Rifleman since the Sword specials attack the mind pool, same as Rifleman specials. And you don't get the 2.5x melee damage penalty with Sword.
VolstedGridban wrote:
That said, Swordsman combines nicely with Rifleman since the Sword specials attack the mind pool, same as Rifleman specials. And you don't get the 2.5x melee damage penalty with Sword.
Nice, I didn't knew sword specials hit the mind. Thanks for the info.
That said, I know I won't able to master 2 combat profession but I wonder if Ionly go with Rifleman if I'll have a hard time to keep mobs at a distance. There's always warning shot but is a rifleman (with ranger traps)fast enough to stay away from danger?
In my quest to get a Jedi slot, I decided to start by finishing up rifleman (I was a Master Ranger/Master CH/Rifleman (3/0/0/0)to start with). A solo rifleman can be very powerful, especially if you grab a weak pet to protect you. Conceal Shot will let you take many things out without them ever beginning to agro you. And, if you do get agroed, send the pet in to tank (I usually send them at the lair--that really draws the mobs)and just spray an area effect attack at the creatures. Very little can stand getting hit by several k shots for very long and, as a rifleman, you can spout those out at a whole lair's worth of creatures at a time. But a stronger pet would definately help out with that tactic. Just make sure to grab a spraystick for when they do get close (very fast fire rate, not too bad accuracy at point blank range--toss a point blank powerup on it and you shouldn't have too much trouble).
Lythender Nirou
Eclipse Server
DakOveran wrote:
That said, I know I won't able to master 2 combat profession but I wonder if Ionly go with Rifleman if I'll have a hard time to keep mobs at a distance. There's always warning shot but is a rifleman (with ranger traps)fast enough to stay away from danger?
The recent social aggro changes have made Riflemen the 2nd most powerful solo PvE class in the game. The number of things a Rifleman can't kill on his/her own is somewhere near zero now.
This is a consequence of the way the social aggro changes combine with Conceal Shot. Conceal Shot is a shot that does not alert the critter to the fact that it's being shot at. As long as you don't miss more than once, and you don't shoot it with anything other than Conceal Shot, you will not draw aggro from the critter you're shooting. And under the new social aggro changes, if you don't draw aggro from the critter you're shooting, you won't draw aggro from any of his pals, either.
This may seem overpowered until you realize how s-l-l-l-l-o-o-o-o-w it is. It takes me 10 minutes to kill one Mantigrue Screecher with Conceal Shot, and I completely drain my mind bar twice in the process. But it makes a perfectly valid tradeoff: Speed for safety. If you want to kill stuff faster, you take a risk. If you want a low-risk encounter, you do it slowly.
In my case, as a predominantly solo player who isn't interested in pets and has no medic skills, the social aggro changes were a godsend. My target choices increased by an order of magnitude when the changes went in, thanks to Conceal Shot.
So with all of that in mind, the answer to your question is "You will not have a problem keeping MOBs at a distance as a Rifleman, once you get Conceal Shot." You will still occasionally draw aggro, because Conceal Shot is LOW risk, not NO risk. But that's why you have Warning Shot and a Spraystick.
I was almost a master bh when i decided to go ranger. I am going for master ranger myself, and will have enough pts to keep Bounty Hunter cabine 3, and BH Lightning canon 4.
This will allow me to use knockdown shot, and deal massive damage with the Lightning canon special attack.
This way I can be a tough opponent if i am hunting solo, or in a PvP fight.
Good luck
Dunbar
Congrats on making Master.
I am a Pistoleer (2-4-4-4) with a dab of medic (0-0-3-0) and find I can take down anything given enough time and stim paks. And my pet CG helps too.
Fact is, I would encourage everyone to have some medic, at least 0-0-2-0 to use Bs.
Anyhow, that's what I am. Regardless of your choice, remember, its all about having fun.
JB
As I move up the Ranger/Rifleman tree, I am dropping all the Marksman skills not required for Rifleman. Further along, I will have to choose between CH and Medic, and I have decided that CH will go.
Currently, I think Pistoleer is far too powerful. As novice Pistoleer, I as able to solo any level 25 creature without using my pet... and when hunting over my Desert Razorback or Bull Ronto, I could take down Rogue Faambas as well. I expect Pistoleer to be nerfed in some way...its just way too powerful and way too popular.
From a roleplaying aspect, I couldn't really see the Ranger/Pistoleer combo. It just doesn't fit. I decided to go with Rifleman. Not that you have to have a ranged weapon specialty at all to be a believable Ranger, but it just made more sense to me than Pistoleer. I have friends that are TKA/Rangers and Swordsman/Rangers and even CH/Rangers and that really makes more sense to me than the Pistoleer combo, regardless of the effectiveness of the combination.
I am using CH to help me progress up the Rifleman tree, but I can not justify keeping it in place of Medic. When I am on a group hunt, I can track animals, get off a few rifle shots, toss some traps and heal my guildmates... too many of which bring their own CH pets. When I am soloing, its rifle with no pet for the most part.
My next goal is to be a Master Ranger, Rifleman 2-1-3-2, and Medic 3-2-3-0. Then I will have to decide if I want Master Rifleman at the expensive of being a useful Medic. Another option I am considering is Master Ranger, Master CH, and as high in Medic as I can get. But that will make any solo hunting a real pain in the butt.
I am a Master Ranger/Master Rifleman with a splash of CH.
And honestly for us rangers i find this to be the best solution there is.
Depending on what im hunting i wont use my pets at all but if i am fighting the higher end animals i will use my pets as a shield of sorts.
With my pet thanking and Master Rifle and Strafe Shot 2 i have been known to take down entire herds of Piket Longhorns within 30 secs.
My procedure is this.
Get you pet to attack lair.
Wait a few seconds and all the lair creatures will draw in around the lair and heal it as well as attack your pet.
This is what you want it to do.
Once they are gathered into position, use Strafe Shot 2 (the best AoE shot we have) and you can take down the entire herd and the nest within 30 secs. The only danger you have is the mind costs which are crazy.
Do this with a bunch of master rangers and you can gather huge amounts of resources fairly quickly.