Ranger Archive

I just started playing SWG and am pretty close to master scout. I want to be a ranger, but don't know what good a ranger really is. I talked to a master ranger today and he actually told me to not become a ranger but to look into different professions instead. Does being a ranger just help while killing stuff? What does he actually do? It says that they are an "unrivled explorer." What good would this do me? Also, I don't understand the use of traps if I can't throw them while remaining covert from afar. Is there a way to do this?

I'm just curious about what the perks are to being a ranger.

Right now, I'm working on the rifleman profession and hoping to become a ranger.

Thanks in advance for the help!

I my friend am in the same boat (camp) as you. I love wandering the open wild. But outside of areatrack and selling hides to docs and the various other professions I'm not really sure what good being a ranger is for. The camps are cool looking, but that's about it for them. I'm not really sure what good the traps are yet but I guess I'll soon find out. I'm going to go master but from there who knows.

Honestly, the profession does not give nearly enough for the skill points we spend. Hopefully, this will change in the Combat Balance (6-10 weeks from now). The skills themselves are not really broken (there are a few bugs but most work as the game claims they should work). They just are not nearly effective enough for the skill points we spend. Here are some examples:

1. Camo is meant to be an improved form of maskscent. It claims to work on NPCs but only does this some of the time. It also requires resources to use the skill. And, until you hit Master Ranger, the protection it provides is worse than what a Master Scout has from maskscent. Even at Master Ranger, the chance of camo breaking is annoying (and I have +140 camo skill from skill, race, and clothing). The nicest thing here is that you can use it on a friend (although it's even less effective then).


2. Terrain Negotiation above +50 only applies to crawling. A Master Scout has +50 Terrain Negotiation. How often do you crawl around?


3. Burst Run Efficiency: cuts down the amount of HAM used by burstrunning. Nice, but buffs do even better. And I rarely need to burst run anyway (much more useful back when speeders and mounts were not around).


4. Ranger camps have a better healing rate than scout ones and can also provide a crafting station. Very few people heal in camps (it is much faster to get healed in town or by a doctor using a droid in the field). And droids can provide superior crafting stations to the ones in our camps.


5. Foraged goods are significantly worse than anything that you can get from a Novice Chef, much less a Master (probably holds for some levels of artisan food as well). Rare items never seem to show up and there is the odd inventory full bug that shows up.


6. A Master Ranger only gets a 30% increase in harvesting rates over a Master Scout.


7. Creature Knowledge is quite nice to have but, by the time you get Master Ranger (assuming you take your time and don't grind it), you will often know most of this information anyway. Still a nice skill to have and one of the few for which the improvement over scout is actually noticeable and useful.


8. /areatrack: Quite useful but has lots of problems. It can only track what has already spawned, leading to finding nothing with the skill and then walking 20m into a rancor lair. There seems to be an odd bug where some creatures that you can see don't show up (usually related to hilly terrain). Many servers have problems with any creatures spawning without getting a mission for them, negating any use this skill would otherwise have.


9. Creature to Hit: Miss chance of a Master Combat profession is already close to 0. This only applies to autoattacking and seems to only apply for ranged attacks.


10. Trapping: We only get two new traps for the whole tree. The actual trapping skill at Master is rarely enough to hit anything that a Master Ranger will usually bother to hunt (I still have trouble hitting creatures like durnis and nunas with traps). Any of the states that traps can apply are easier to apply by using a combat skill.


11. /rescue is a nice skill but is limited in usefulness because of the way most Rangers hunt. This skill will pull all the attackers from your target and cause them to attack you. Usually, only one attacker is present. Because of the agro system, this often means that your target will almost instantly pull the attacking creature back onto him/herself unless you coordinate with them to peace (usually they are dead/incapped before you can coordinate this). In the rare occasion that a friend happens to pull 10 enemies then this will let you take most of those attackers onto yourself. It's a nice way to get yourself killed.

I think that is most of our skills (I've probably missed a few but I'm sure you get the idea). The main problem is that the skills just don't do enough for the skill points we are spending. A 4/0/4/0 Scout is almost as effective as a Master Ranger for 97 less skill points (enough to master a spare combat profession). That is the problem as most Rangers see it. But choose a profession that you think you will enjoy. I have two professions that most people would consider useless/underpowered but I enjoy playing like this. And so I "waste" my skill points.

I agree with alot of what is said.
I am currently 0/0/2/2 Ranger and enjoying the skills I have.
As a Wookiee Carbineer, I find that my hit and hold times from Adhesive Mesh is better than it was at Master Scout. I am not sure if the ability to hold a target has to do with Trapping skill or random, but it just seems that way to me.
Also, I make a lot of bonus credits hunting down meats and hides for crafters. The increased harvesting gives huge amounts more per harvest over Master Scout, which in turn increases the amount you can make.
Lastly, from my days hunting with a Master Ranger, I know that the camps are not only cool, but they are a huge benefit to large groups that would normally be crowded into a small Scout camp.

Like I said, I am new to Ranger, so I may not feel this way in the long run, but right now I am having a great time learning the profession.

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Ehope wrote:

We are more not...than anything:

We are not "uber"

We are not wealthy.

We are not good in PvP.

We are not able to leap small planets in a single bound.

We are however...

We are more rare than Jedi.

We are intelligent. (We must employ tactics to overcome difficult situations)

We are a close bound community that knows no server boundries.

We are paitent.

We are proud.

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Geez, I got chills when I read this. Don't know why. It's not anything I haven't been aware of for quite some time. Maybe it was just the way you said it.

/salute Ehope

So now I've heard what rangers can't do...now I want to know what they are capable of.

What do you people do for money? Just hunt stuff down? It might be fun taking down huge creatures that give a bunch of xp, but then what do you do? Just kill creatures?

With BH, you are able to hunt Jedi. This seems a lot more appealing than hunting creatures.

I don't really use traps now, and I'm only a 3,2,2,2 scout. My rifle is much more effective, and I can kill the creatures before they even attack me. Why would you want to throw a trap at an animal then wait for it to come up to you to attack it? Why not just attack it from far away?

I understand that Ranger is a very rare and honorable profession, but I don't understand what makes this profession is so desirable. I really wanted to be one, but now I'm having my doubts. It seems like the amount of time put in to getting the title of MR is too much for the little it offers.

Just my two cents.

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agredline wrote:
So now I've heard what rangers can't do...now I want to know what they are capable of.

What do you people do for money? Just hunt stuff down? It might be fun taking down huge creatures that give a bunch of xp, but then what do you do? Just kill creatures?

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Ways to make money:

1) Harvest resources. Most docs pay primo for good avian and herb meat.. Check your trade boards for what is currently in demand anda lot of docs will add you to a mailing list for good spanwns in return for you doing a little work for them

2) Area tracking.. tracking in the Krayt graveyard is a great way to make money. Also with Black Suns dropping the BH armor, tracking is kinda convenient to have on Endor and Yavin

Hope this helps!

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agredline wrote:
So now I've heard what rangers can't do...now I want to know what they are capable of.

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Being part of the best group of SWG players, bar none.

Is ranger/rifleman a good combo?

Are any of you on the eclipse server? I'm on Corellia right now.