Ranger Archive

According to Dictionary.com:

rang·er

1. A wanderer; a rover.
   
2. A member of an armed troop employed in patrolling a specific region.
   
3. Ranger A member of a group of U.S. soldiers specially trained for making raids either on foot, in ground vehicles, or by airlift.
   
4. A warden employed to maintain and protect a natural area, such as a forest or park.
Chiefly British. The keeper of a royal forest or park.

The first three fit well enough. The fourth, which I consider integral to the idea of a RPG Ranger, is horrifically maimed in this game's image.

How does a ranger gain 1/2 of his experience in this game? By slaughtering as many animals as possible and ripping their insides out. Rangers are explorers, hunters,and trackers, not mindless killing machines, especially not of animals. We hunt what we _need_. We're not bloodthirsty for creature deaths. To be one with nature and a master of the wilderness, as this game does indeed describe its Ranger class to be, is to be knowledgeable enough to deplete only as muchof it asnecessary, meaning they should be extraordinarly sparing. A Ranger who destroyed everything in his wake would be useless in a logical environment, but in this one they are rewarded.

Maybe it is just me over analyzing, but I shudder when I think ofthe main method to becoming a Master Ranger in SWG. It makes no sense. Once again, it seems the developers conceded to running out of good ideas instead of brain storming further. I've seen enough alternate possibilities on these boards alone to know that the ridiculous killing of countless creatures is unnecessary as the prime way for Rangers to make a mark for themselves and grow in this world. I consider it among the biggest flaws in this game.

It is your option to kill or not, maskscent has been somewhat "fixed" in that it seems yellow con's don't disrupt it. I've found i gained quite a bit of my experience from walking around and exploring high agro planets (its also very fun). I do still think maskscent should be tweaked more (lets not get started) but its useable now.

I really think we need some work, don't get me wrong though. I've applied for the ranger position, and if i get it i will work hard to get rangers the way they should be . . not just super scouts.

Ray,

Master Ranger

Ray, be serious Maskscent experience is, at best,a small supplement to harvesting after the nerf. If I want to be a Wayfarer while I still have feeling in my legs,I'm going to have to start skinnin' scores of unsuspecting wildlife. Maskscent is useful, but certainly not as a primary method of advancement.

I'm quite serious, what you need to do is go to Endor, or Yavin 4 . . find a lot of evil red agro . . then dance by them like you own the joint. I can get 1k+ that way . . and i feel its well earned.

Ray,

Master Ranger

Well... I still like the idea that Rangers should be able to harvest more than one resource from creatures. Say at Novice Ranger you can harvest 2 of the 3, and Master you could harvest all 3.... bone, hide, and meat. This would help twards the idea of conservation, and using all of an animal you've killed.

Useful idea, Improv. Wouldn't fix things, but it would help.

I suspect they will allow rangers to harvest something for more then one resource in the future. There has to be something that sets it apart from scout harvesting besides getting like 5 more hide from something.

I have a camo skill of +90 (Wayfaring 4) and still get detected all the time on advanced planets. Yellow cons have not been fixed, they still break it all the time.

Ya, for a while there i had thought yellows were fixed, but out in the field again today i see the can't possibly be. They really screwed us badly with that.

Ray,

Master Ranger

I think you are just being overly nitpicky Shamic. Most games like this revolve around mass killing of creatures/NPCs. SOE has done a pretty good job with ranger xp. You can gain 3/4 of your xp without ever harming a creature (two lines from maskscent and one from sitting in a campsite). It may not be the fastest method, but roleplaying a character that makes sense is rarely the fastest way to advance any character in an RPG.

In a group that is already killing everything in sight, you advance as a Ranger by conserving resources that others would let rot. And by making camps to rest up in. With a little imagination, you can even pretend you are setting traps for creatures rather than throwing grenades at them.

The yellow tripping mask scent still happens, but it takes a closer range to do it. The reds giving exp has increased in range. I think what happens it the ranges are now the same, it's just that when you go by yellow it _works_, just no info to this fact. When it don't work past a yellow it drops the scent thing like a red would: THIS is the bit that maybe they should change.

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MuttonJedi wrote:
I think you are just being overly nitpicky Shamic. Most games like this revolve around mass killing of creatures/NPCs.

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This isn't one of those games, and it is obvious they took every effort to try to make it not one of those games... half the professions are non-combat. They just seemed to neglect us. C'mon, think about it. Entertainers get their fancy dance moves and songs, crafters get the best crafting system yet devised, and we get to gank creatures and take their body parts off. C'mon now.

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Shamic wrote:

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MuttonJedi wrote:
I think you are just being overly nitpicky Shamic. Most games like this revolve around mass killing of creatures/NPCs.

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This isn't one of those games, and it is obvious they took every effort to try to make it not one of those games... half the professions are non-combat. They just seemed to neglect us. C'mon, think about it. Entertainers get their fancy dance moves and songs, crafters get the best crafting system yet devised, and we get to gank creatures and take their body parts off. C'mon now.

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Entertainers get fancy dance moves and songs, but they cannot master their professions without healing the battle fatigue of combat players. Crafters have a nice crafting system, but at least half of all crafted items are going to support creature ganking, as you put it. This game still revolves around combat just as most other MMORPGs. And yet rangers get to explore, build camps, and throw traps, as well as gank creatures for body parts.

If you want to play a pacifist park ranger, buy your bones and hide from the bazaar, explore the world and get scouting xp any time you slip past an aggressive mob. Throw traps only as a means of escape when something attacks. Set up camps to heal your occasional wounds or just because you like to camp. You can achieve master ranger with the only blood on your hands coming from the creature ganker who supplied your bones/hides. No more than the entertainer that healed up their battle fatigue.

Rangers have four skill lines, only one of which gives skills for harvesting. And we have four methods of gaining xp, only one of which is harvesting. A simple nerf to harvesting xp would put it more in line with maskscent and camping for advancement. Would that make you happy? Or would you still argue that it is wrong that 1/4 of a ranger's skills and advancement methods involve harvesting usable resources from dead creatures?

I won't argue that maskscent and harvesting are balanced, but harvesting certainly isn't the major game flaw you are making it out to be.