Ranger Archive

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ZioGiovanni wrote:

I took a break from SWG just before the Imperial Crackdown went into effect and now I'm back. What did I miss?

Fortunately my Ranger was still on file, but everything around me has changed; town's gone, friends moved on, etc. Weird logging in and finding myself in the middle of nowhere when I expected to be by the center of town.

I've tried to catch up on the changes to the game and to Rangers since then, but I was hoping someone could give me a quick rundown.

I understand that being a covert Rebel is more dangerous than it once was. Any suggestions?

Other then covert scaners in bases, if you are a covert rebel and cought with contraband you are turned overt for a bit (I think). But, you can just kill the storm trooper and then you only get the normal TEF, so that's what I and most of my friends do. I personally haven't been killed after being tagged from a search, ever, so I'm no expert on what's best.

There are droids that harvest your kills? Where can I find information on that? Are there any new droids?

With the droids, you can put in new harvesting modules that then allow your doid to meander off and harvest what you tell it to. This is really a personal preferece thing, and I bet you'll find most MR forgoing the doids. As a MR, the VERY best doids can barely harvest more then you, and most people find that they are to slow. But, they are great for those MR/MD or MR/MS guys with 2 levels of scouting who can kill things 20x faster then us lowly MRs, and harvest more. (A good droid can harvest nearly as much as a MR with only a little bit of scouting, and powerful complay templates can kill a lot faster then a MR/Master Combat Profession IMHO).

Have there been any changes to traps or other Ranger skills?

I was on a break as well, and missed any specific trap changes. You can still throw as many as you like at the same beastsfor most traps, and some traps seem more effective then others. This again is also personal, I'm not a fan but I know some Rangers who swear by them. But, in general I think you'll find the scout traps much better then ranger traps.

Rangers were feeling kinda useless when vehicles came out because people didn't need our camo protection and with towns popping up near popular spawn sites our camps weren't necessary, either. Has the role of Ranger changed with the times?

We are still as popular as ever, thanks to, and still as rare as ever. There was a little bit of a boom with /areatracking requests, from Jedi looking to complete their trials, from badge hunters looking to complete the Hereo of Tatooine quest (Guess who's back.....back again....), and from random parties looking to find "big game." But I think most rangers have given up on those...it's not very effective either IMHO for specific tracking in these cases, but in other instances great. Docs/Chefs/Armorsmiths don't really love us, but do have some affection for us. I wouldn't consider us the main providers of organics, but we do our fair share. I'm not totally sure on that, but those above mentioned professions do like to come to us for specific requests from time to time for organics. You can make a good living selling hide and meat, myself I've given up on it and just do the Ranger thing (hunting rares, exploration, tour guide, and newbie helper)

Thank you in advance for your help!

Some other things, Docter and Dancer buffs are as big as ever. (People think you are nut if you do not wear composite armor and carry full buffs when you fight, and I'm the biggest nut of all!) Commbat Balance was the big thing, it's been pushed back until after the expansion, some people are upset. I'm personally very happy with my little ranger skills. JTL is being pushed heavily, I believe that's where our "profession" devwas retasked to. The current guess around here, mind you withoutconcrete dev input, is our revamp will occur somtime after the Combat Balance,probably around december. Ranger's haven't had a good lookoverby theDevssince you left. Mos Eisly is newbieville, a great place to hang out and talk to non-afkers in the cantina, and get that all mportant AP if you need it.

But alas, take heed of what I say not, for you are unique among the faceless masses as aRANGER.

Zingonia

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And don't /slap the storm troopers. Well, not unless you're drunk and have credits to spare.

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ZioGiovanni wrote:

Going through the forums I see a lot of references to the frequency of buffing and Jedi needing (or creating) Rangers for their trials. Again, I've been away for a while. Can someone give me the skinny on these so I know what everyone's talking/arguing/praising about? Thanks!

Zingonia

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Most combat players play completely buffed now. Doctor buffs for all six health and action stats, Musician and Dancer buffs for the mind stats. A lot of people have learned how to make Doctor and Entertainer "bots" that use macros to dispense buffs while afk so buffs will be available whereever and whenever people want them. There is a lot of fury over whether this should be allowed (the afk part). The developers are considering getting rid of repeating macros all together to stem the rising tide of afk people. Thats caused a lot of fury too, as this decision just came out recently.

In order to move to Knight status Jedi have to complete the Knight trials. This involves missions like kill 17 blurrg raptors, kill three ancient canyon krayts, etc. Since the animals they have to kill are usually pretty rare Rangers have been asked to track and Jedi have been going Ranger on their alts.

Message Edited by Vorpaks on 08-06-2004 11:19 AM

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Vorpaks wrote:
And don't /slap the storm troopers. Well, not unless you're drunk and have credits to spare.

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HA!Thought I was the only one who does this. Also note they don't take to kindly to /hug either.

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ZioGiovanni wrote:

Thanks, Paks. Interesting. I assume the buffs are used mostly for PvP, but has there been any increase in difficulty in PvE as a direct result of the increased use of buffs? In other words, are the creatures and NPCs tougher to kill because the game assumes you're buffed? Just curious.

How does one approach and purchase buffs from an AFK doctor/entertainer? Sounds like a naive question, and it is, but I've never been one to use buffs other than the natural ones I've foraged.

Thanks again, everyone, for your help in getting this old Ranger back into the swing of things. The Ranger forum has always been the best!

Zingonia

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No, the opposite. It is so hard for people to find challenging missions that they form "solo groups." In other words you form a huge group so you can get really high level missions and then you go and do these missions solo. Dantooine and Dath are popular places for this. My husband did this on Dant as a Smuggler Commando the other weekend and made 1.6 million credits in one buff session (3 hours). This is very tempting as you can see. It is common now for two or three, or even a single player to solo krayt dragons or clean out Fort Tusken (though harder Tuskens have recently been added). Adding to this was the fact that specials were broken for a long time so none of the NPCs were using their atatus effects or special attacks. This got fixed very recently and you will probably hear people moaning about it (though not in THIS forum I hope).

The response to this (combat too easy) has been three new "high-level" dungeons called the Genosian Bunker, the Corellian Corvette and the Death Watch Bunker. The Geno Cave is now considered a medium level challenge I think. The Vette and DWB are still really really hard. They contain super battle droids with insane stats and resists and crazy fast respawn rates, as well as other nasty high-level NPCs. They also contain really cool loot. You should read up about the quests available and the rewards (too many for me to ramble on about here )

When I get buffed, which is rare, I usually go to Coronet starport. You will usually see a Master Doc sitting on the ground next his/her/its droid with a line of people in front. Get in line and when it is your turn tip the Doc the required amount (which he will be spamming) and he will buff you. Musicians can buff your secondary mind stats and Dancers can buff your primary mind stat for up to 2 hours. Just contact one and ask them if they are buffing, where to meet them, and what you should do etc. Some of the process is a little buggy - sometimes you need to examine the Entertainer before he starts and other weird stuff.

Or you can choose the "bot" option. AFK Doctors will have "buff shacks" which is a house that requires you to pay an entrance fee before you can enter. When you enter the Doc bot autotargets and buffs you. The risk is that the macro could be broken or the bot could be out of stims and then you are out of luck and out of money. Entertainer bots are easier and therefore more prevalent. You will see two or three in just about every major cantina spamming their services. I have never used one of these, so I can't tell you the exact process, but I know it involves grouping with them. They spam the /join command over and over so if you invite them they will autojoin.

Most people here already know that I deeply disapprove of these bots when they are in public venues. They steal money and xp from legit ATK (At The Keyboard) players and their very presence and popularity makes the majority of Entertainers feel degraded and demoralized. I actually used a Doc bot once, and I found the experience to be slightly useless. I felt degraded just by receiving a buff from this weird guy in a building who may or may not be staring at you, un-speaking, from behind those eyes. *shivers If you really want a buff I suggest doing it the old fashioned way. Make a few friends. Get to know a few professionals, where they usually hang out, what times they are usually on, etc.

Message Edited by Vorpaks on 08-06-2004 12:34 PM

Oh! I forgot to mention! There are also REALLY excellent chef buffs/foods available now. They tweaked BE and revamped chef so now chefs can add BE-crafted components into their food to make them incredibly powerful.

Vasarian Brandy is a popular one that enhances your mind. This is my favorite as well. I can take two shots of brandy which give me +426 to my mind stats for close to 30 minutes. I'll then eat some food that increases my regen rate even more and I can span Head Shot all day if I want. My health and action will die waaaay before my mind bar even budges.

There are other cool foods, like Sythsteak, which reduces the dmage done to you - I have steak that reduces damage by 40% - Veghash which increases the amount you harvest. Foods that reduce the amount of time you are incapped, foods that increase Trando regen rates, all kinds of foods. Really great stuff there.

Message Edited by Vorpaks on 08-06-2004 12:43 PM