Ranger Archive
Thread: Rifle and Ranger/Scout: Two great tastes that taste great together
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VolstedGridban
Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:01 am
#1
As some of you know, I am only a recent convert to the Ranger profession. My original plan was to be a Rifleman/Chef (so I could hunt my own game), but the Chef class is depressingly broken at the current time, and I just didn't have the heart to grind my way through to Master Chef given the current state of that profession.
Fortunately, by the time I'd decided to abandon the Chef class, I'd already become intrigued by the Ranger class and decided to work my way to, at the very least, Tracking IV. And since then I've decided to go whole hog and chase after Master Ranger as well.
It seems I picked the right time to make the switch. This most recent patch has really made Rifle and Ranger/Scout a very synergistic combo, with the abilities from one complementing the abilities of the other.
The biggest thing the recent patch gave to Riflemen was the changes to social aggro. Now that creatures don't insta-aggro on you when you shoot one of their pals, Conceal Shot works like a true sniper skill. It is SLOW -- it takes me about 10 minutes to kill a single Mantigrue Screecher, for example -- but it is also low risk. It is not risk-free -- it's still possible to draw aggro, get incapped, or even killed -- but the chances are reduced. It trades speed for safety.
However, as effective as Conceal Shot has become for Riflemen now, it is even MORE effective with Mask Scent or Camoflauge. Without these skills, the Rifleman is limited primarily to non-aggro MOBs. Aggro MOBs still have a chance to notice you if you're not using Mask Scent or Camo, including the one you're shooting. I mean, you can chase after aggro MOBs without Mask Scent or Camo, but you're significantly increasing your risk factor.
On the other hand, Mask Scent and Camo allow the Rifleman to hunt pretty much whatever he/she wants. If you succeed on your Mask Scent or Camo roll, you can plop yourself right down in the middle of a pack of red triangles and plink away to your heart's content. (Though, interestingly, if you miss a Conceal Shot, the critter you're shooting gets a free chance to re-check your Mask Scent/Camo and maybe make it fail -- which can be very exciting for an extremely short period of time if it fails while you're in the middle of a pack of red triangles.)
The synergistic effect works the other direction, too. When I logged in Thursday after the patch, I was an 0/0/2/0 Ranger. After spending most of the weekend hunting on Endor, I am now a 2/1/4/2 Ranger. Being able to kill almost anything in the game (however slowly) means that you can hunt Big Game(tm) which provides lots of hides, meat, and bone, and also lots of Scout XP. In one glorious instance, I ran across a Level 135 Blurrg Raptor. I spent 10-15 minutes taking it down with Conceal Shot, and then went to harvest it. I got 735 units of Carnivore Meat, and 2000 (!) Scout XP.
Trapping XP gets an even bigger boost. With the new patch, I can shoot at something with Conceal Shot until it's at a sliver of health. Then I lob an Adhesive Mesh at it and, if it succeeds, I can stand there and kill the now-immobilized critter with auto-fire. I was doing this to Level 50 Blurrgs and getting 789 points of Trapping XP for each one.
Now, I do not pretend that this is the only way to play the Rifleman class (or the Ranger and Scout classes). If you play something besides a Rifleman and you're having fun, then more power to you. (As an ex-EQ Warrior, I confess to being more than a little intrigued by playing a melee character in SWG.) But if you're contemplating going for Ranger, and you're not sure what combat skill you want to take to complement it, the Rifle is certainly a much more valid choice now than it was prior to the most recent patch.
Fortunately, by the time I'd decided to abandon the Chef class, I'd already become intrigued by the Ranger class and decided to work my way to, at the very least, Tracking IV. And since then I've decided to go whole hog and chase after Master Ranger as well.
It seems I picked the right time to make the switch. This most recent patch has really made Rifle and Ranger/Scout a very synergistic combo, with the abilities from one complementing the abilities of the other.
The biggest thing the recent patch gave to Riflemen was the changes to social aggro. Now that creatures don't insta-aggro on you when you shoot one of their pals, Conceal Shot works like a true sniper skill. It is SLOW -- it takes me about 10 minutes to kill a single Mantigrue Screecher, for example -- but it is also low risk. It is not risk-free -- it's still possible to draw aggro, get incapped, or even killed -- but the chances are reduced. It trades speed for safety.
However, as effective as Conceal Shot has become for Riflemen now, it is even MORE effective with Mask Scent or Camoflauge. Without these skills, the Rifleman is limited primarily to non-aggro MOBs. Aggro MOBs still have a chance to notice you if you're not using Mask Scent or Camo, including the one you're shooting. I mean, you can chase after aggro MOBs without Mask Scent or Camo, but you're significantly increasing your risk factor.
On the other hand, Mask Scent and Camo allow the Rifleman to hunt pretty much whatever he/she wants. If you succeed on your Mask Scent or Camo roll, you can plop yourself right down in the middle of a pack of red triangles and plink away to your heart's content. (Though, interestingly, if you miss a Conceal Shot, the critter you're shooting gets a free chance to re-check your Mask Scent/Camo and maybe make it fail -- which can be very exciting for an extremely short period of time if it fails while you're in the middle of a pack of red triangles.)
The synergistic effect works the other direction, too. When I logged in Thursday after the patch, I was an 0/0/2/0 Ranger. After spending most of the weekend hunting on Endor, I am now a 2/1/4/2 Ranger. Being able to kill almost anything in the game (however slowly) means that you can hunt Big Game(tm) which provides lots of hides, meat, and bone, and also lots of Scout XP. In one glorious instance, I ran across a Level 135 Blurrg Raptor. I spent 10-15 minutes taking it down with Conceal Shot, and then went to harvest it. I got 735 units of Carnivore Meat, and 2000 (!) Scout XP.
Trapping XP gets an even bigger boost. With the new patch, I can shoot at something with Conceal Shot until it's at a sliver of health. Then I lob an Adhesive Mesh at it and, if it succeeds, I can stand there and kill the now-immobilized critter with auto-fire. I was doing this to Level 50 Blurrgs and getting 789 points of Trapping XP for each one.
Now, I do not pretend that this is the only way to play the Rifleman class (or the Ranger and Scout classes). If you play something besides a Rifleman and you're having fun, then more power to you. (As an ex-EQ Warrior, I confess to being more than a little intrigued by playing a melee character in SWG.) But if you're contemplating going for Ranger, and you're not sure what combat skill you want to take to complement it, the Rifle is certainly a much more valid choice now than it was prior to the most recent patch.
ScoerFusou
Tue Nov 18, 2003 11:27 am
#2
Another great post yet again VG. I have to admit when I first started out I wanted to be a Rifleman/Ranger but the weakness of the Rifleman's solo ability drew my attention to melee. However, with the new changes in the new patch I have gone back to my roots and became a Rifleman once again and I'm loving it. I've found concealshot to be very useful but you still have to be careful. I've found, since I've had CH from when Rifleman could still get aggroed by a targets pals and have grown fond of my pets and find it hard to drop CH, that guard works very well to keep your target off of you if your concealshot misses. It also gives me the ability to solo some tougher MOBs without having to use concealshot.
Fred_Skinner
Tue Nov 18, 2003 2:21 pm
#3
I have just one issue with your post. It's Big Game™. That's hold alt and 0153 on the keypad. Now get it right next time. 
NotApplicable
Tue Nov 18, 2003 2:22 pm
#4
Take concealment I. /concealshot will allow you to level everything else pretty quick. I'm 3/3/3/3 rifleman now and I was 2/1/3/2 on Friday. I've been a Master Ranger for a couple of weeks, but I've maxed my scouting xp recently.
Not Applicable
VolstedGridban
Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:30 pm
#5
Fred_Skinner wrote:
I have just one issue with your post. It's Big Game™. That's hold alt and 0153 on the keypad. Now get it right next time.
Negative. I have always found "(tm)" to be more aesthetically pleasing (for the use to which I put it, which is humorous) than "™". ™ looks like I'm serious. (tm) makes it even more clear that I'm being silly.
VolstedGridban
Tue Nov 18, 2003 3:37 pm
#6
RandomStatic wrote:
Volsted, and any other Riflemen, quickly: What would you suggest to a newb rifleman/ranger that has Sniping I and enough points for the first level of concealment. Should I take Concealment I or continue up the sniping line?
Concealment 1, without question.
As a 1/0/0/0 Rifleman, there are a lot of critters right now that you cannot kill without getting incapped, wounded, and possibly killed yourself. Before the patch, as a 2/2/2/2 Rifleman, my hunting consisted of running around looking for lone critters, or finding critters that had moved far enough away from their packmates to not draw aggro. There were a lot of critters I just flat out avoided, such as Giant Carrion Spats and Wrixes, since they (A) can run faster than burst run; and (B) will send you back to the cloning center.
Achieving Conceal Shot alleviated that problem. I no longer run past groups of critters and think "Man, I wonder if I'll ever reach a point where I can hunt those and not get instantly killed." If I see a critter, I can kill it. It's just a question of how long it's going to take me.
The sudden expansion of your target set with Conceal Shot will dramatically improve your XP acquisition simply because you will be wasting far less time running around looking for the few critters you can hunt in relative safety. You will instead spend that time actually shooting stuff.
Beausoleil
Tue Nov 18, 2003 4:42 pm
#7
Well... I am Ranger 3-3-4-2 and a host of other things including Novice Pistoleer and Novice Ranger. I am out of Skill Points and need to choose a weapon category to progress in. Pistols has its plus, especially if fighting over a pet. And I can bleed and run with my pistol just as easily as I can with my rifle. However, Rifleman is definitely starting to sound more interesting.
I will take your advice and spend my 175000 Rifle XP on Conceal and see how it goes. My current tactic now is to Mindshot1 - Headshot 2 from a Take Cover position and then run. I haven't had a critter aggro me yet until the first bleed happens, in which time I am usually far enough away to disengage combat. I go back for another hit and so on and so forth.
But if Conceal works the way you say, I am all over that. The two biggest problems I have with Rifleman are the fact that 1) the specials hit the mind pool, which is useless unless you are hunting without a pet, solo, or only with other Rifleman, and 2) why in the heck can't I smack stuff with my rifle stock??? The fact that you can pistol whip something, when you can already shoot them pretty **edit** accurately at point blank with the pistol seems stupid to me. If anybody needs a "Melee Defense" skill, its someone holding a -50 accuracy weapon thats actually SHAPED like a club of sorts.
I personally always thought that Ranger/CH was the best combo...just because Ranger requires Master Scout and CH requires Hunt4 and Explore4.
-Pathe
I will take your advice and spend my 175000 Rifle XP on Conceal and see how it goes. My current tactic now is to Mindshot1 - Headshot 2 from a Take Cover position and then run. I haven't had a critter aggro me yet until the first bleed happens, in which time I am usually far enough away to disengage combat. I go back for another hit and so on and so forth.
But if Conceal works the way you say, I am all over that. The two biggest problems I have with Rifleman are the fact that 1) the specials hit the mind pool, which is useless unless you are hunting without a pet, solo, or only with other Rifleman, and 2) why in the heck can't I smack stuff with my rifle stock??? The fact that you can pistol whip something, when you can already shoot them pretty **edit** accurately at point blank with the pistol seems stupid to me. If anybody needs a "Melee Defense" skill, its someone holding a -50 accuracy weapon thats actually SHAPED like a club of sorts.
I personally always thought that Ranger/CH was the best combo...just because Ranger requires Master Scout and CH requires Hunt4 and Explore4.
-Pathe
RandomStatic
Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:45 am
#8
Volsted, and any other Riflemen, quickly: What would you suggest to a newb rifleman/ranger that has Sniping I and enough points for the first level of concealment. Should I take Concealment I or continue up the sniping line?
I am a lone Ranger (ugg, I did a bad bad thing) that doesn't spend much time in groups. I think Conceal shot would be an amazing ability but it's alot of points to invest.
TIA
ZechtWisto
Thu Nov 20, 2003 7:27 am
#10
Wow, what a coincedence.... I used to be a Rifleman/Chef as well... then after hitting sunburns and doing that for a week or so, i untrained and am now on my way to ranger. Volsted, we are one in the same.
Ona more related note. Conceal shots owns.
Glaza-X
Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:18 am
#11
ZechtWisto wrote:Wow, what a coincedence.... I used to be a Rifleman/Chef as well... then after hitting sunburns and doing that for a week or so, i untrained and am now on my way to ranger. Volsted, we are one in the same.
Ona more related note. Conceal shots owns.
conceal shot is a very good shot but once you feel the power of Strafe shot 2 and flushing 2 you might view things differantly.
There is more meat to the Rifle tree, its just at the higher end of it.
Concealed shot is a good shot don't get me wrong, but its not the only shot in the tree that "owns"
StealthNuck
Mon Nov 24, 2003 2:26 pm
#12
Master Rifleman > everything.
I'm getting so close, so close to Master RIfleman. Once I attain that title, I sahll be able to throw off the oppressive yokes of my GSP and OWN THE WILDLIFE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
So close to a true hunter....so close....
I'm getting so close, so close to Master RIfleman. Once I attain that title, I sahll be able to throw off the oppressive yokes of my GSP and OWN THE WILDLIFE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
So close to a true hunter....so close....
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