Ranger Archive
Thread: Tracking the Elusive Vision...
Great ideas guys. I have a few that would take a lot of work by the devs but I would really like these in game.
Since we're going for Master Outdoorsman, here's an idea that at least makes since to me. It's gonna take some explaining and is kind of outlandish. Due toaranger'srespect of nature, and the ability to not destroy it, but rather thrive in the outdoors, thisshould affect our people skills as well. Take the "natives" versus "outsiders" ideal.Like the native americans for example, they fought for their lands against the "outsiders"(english, spanish, french, etc.) yet there was always someone with whom they tolerated in their land who came from the east. This character was more of a cross betweenthe natives and outsiders and learned to respect their customs and even adapt to it. Remember that rangers pride themselves on their ability to survive anywhere.This currently translates the idea of "natives" versus "outsiders" to in-game mechanics where many of the native people of the planet are aggro against players. So I think that from the logic thatrangers don't actively take over any land from natives that rangers should receive some kind of tolerance from the local folk over time. There is an idea of a hunting cabin in the SofP, this goes right with this idea. If natives of a land didn't wantoutsiders there, why would they allow you to build a cabin on their back yard? I think we should receive some skill that lowers the chance of the native npc spawns to be aggro againstyou that increases cumulatively over time. So lets say that if you stay on Dathomir or Endor for x amount of time via ahidden timerover your gaming life, you receive a reduced chance that the npcs will be aggro against you.But some will still be aggrosince some npcshate everyone
I hope that makes sense.
Ok, secondly, I tend to stayaway from citiesmost of the time, only going back if I need to heal BF or buy something because I like the swg's outdoor environments. I love the previous idea that the terrain itself should be damaging or hinder players such as damaging winds, poisonous swamps, sandstorms, etc and our terrain negotiation should reflect our expertise in it. This would immerse me in the game so much. But what is really lacking in swg is ambient sounds and mood setting music. I want more music than just when it turns from day to night. Dathomir should actually be creepy with music and ambient sounds that reflect this. Such as an occasional howl or roar while sitting around a campfire at night, or bubbling swamps and the constant sounds of insects or birds chirping on Naboo, etc, etc, etc. I want to feel I can control(or at least survive)a living, breathing hatefulcreaturenamed Dathomir.With the terrain itself hindering the player, not just creatures, rangers would be more needed and would fit the role of Master Outdoorsman.
My third idea is to expand creature knowledge to be more realistic. I would like some kind of Ranger Journal or creature and/or planetary compendium. One where we can look up creatures we've examined in the past and share our knowledge with other players. I have a hard time remembering every creature and a compendium would allow me tolook upthat creature. Not only shouldit hold the creature stats and such but it would hold a description and history of the creaturefor roleplaying reasons.
Anyway, I know these are tall orders for the devs and would take a lot of programming power to implement but I can dream can't I?
One thing that I don't want to see come out of this whole thing is a lot of goodies for the "group" ranger, and not much improvement to the "solo" ranger. We need to make sure that the benefits will be evenly balanced.
For example, if we get a large camp that doesn't disband, I'd like to make sure we also get a little one that also doesn't disband. I'll wait for the camp thread to open up on this subject
As far as weapons go, I think the rifle is the only one that I can think of that a ranger would/should get some bonuses to.. unless we get ranger only weapons in the future.. or something along those lines. Hunters don't usually use carbines or pistols to kill deer..
CapnKill wrote:
As far as weapons go, I think the rifle is the only one that I can think of that a ranger would/should get some bonuses to.. unless we get ranger only weapons in the future.. or something along those lines. Hunters don't usually use carbines or pistols to kill deer..
I have to disagree with you there. While it is true that hunters don't usually use carbines or pistols, not all of us Rangers in SWG became Rangers to be Hunters. This is part of why we are trying to get the vision of Ranger to change from Ultimate Creature Hunter to Ultimate Outdoorsman...Those Rangers who want to be hunters still can be, while others who want skills for pvp or npc combat or for any other reason can have useful abilities as well. One apparently popular use of Ranger besides hunter is reconaissance unit for a pvp group, and the last time I checked recon units in para-military groups usually travel light and don't carry around a big bulky rifle.
From a game standpoint, giving bonuses to all weapons helps make diverse skill sets, which is always cool because you can get some pretty effective and neat skill combinations that way.
"I say just limit it to any creature under the BE level cap. To make it not useable in combat simply give us the highest aggro rating for that creature so the first person it attacks upon release is us."
Except for one slight problem... Who is ever going to release one of these creatures, if they are instantly going to attackus anyways.
In the end, we would have to put it down. Reducing its usefulness to the waiting BE by quite a bit.
That BE better be paying the Ranger a bundle to get cut down in the process of transaction. 
RANGERs do this in RL, would not an advanced civilization do this? SNIPERS do this now. In addition, a Ranger of higher or equal level would be able to " SEE THROUGH" this conceal attempt with the KNOWLEDGE of the wilderness.
NRaas wrote:
"You should NOT have coords to things you do not see. Only the server has that, and in it's local memory.If you are looking around and a ranger is in range and hidden, the server should not be sending ANY information of said ranger till he attacks you."
Ah, but you suggesting delving into the realm of completely invisible characters (one's that you can neither see nor target), for which the developers have a severe distaste.
"For city limits to be any form oflimit for our ranger skillsthe message 'you are leaving moenia' MUST represent when you can use your skills"
Such as the message you receive when entering a Player city? A good idea.
"Further to that thought I am against the idea because a good majority of PvP takes place in or near towns and I dont feel rangers should be useless in the GCW."
Good point. But it is not really very reasonable to presume our tracking ability would work well on cobble stone streets, or that a ghillie suited player would not stand out like a sore thumb within the concrete forest.
What would you suggest?
"So I think that from the logic thatrangers don't actively take over any land from natives that rangers should receive some kind of tolerance from the local folk over time."
That is quite a cool idea...All the minor factions of that planet's native populationslowly rise during your time on the planet?
"I would like some kind of Ranger Journal or creature and/or planetary compendium."
Aye, the Bestiary idea, always a worth cause.
"From a game standpoint, giving bonuses to all weapons helps make diverse skill sets, which is always cool because you can get some pretty effective and neat skill combinations that way."
What Kilf_Hangar said.
"I think it should decrease if you're off the planet slowly too."
Good idea.
NRaas wrote:
"For city limits to be any form oflimit for our ranger skillsthe message 'you are leaving moenia' MUST represent when you can use your skills"
Such as the message you receive when entering a Player city? A good idea.
That was my intention. I was not considering the no build zones as city limits. They are obviously set up seperately from the city limits (i.e. leaving a city message comes up before the outer edge of the no build zone),
I read all of the first page and part of the second before realizing if I wanted to put my say of what I think the ranger should be then I have to read the rest of the replies later or elsespend a few days straight lolgoing through all the in-depth replies of this thread(Alot of good ideas in here). So sorry if I tread on anyones ground or say something thats already been shot down, what can I say I am impatient(I am amazed I got through the SCOUT camping xp let alone doing Ranger stuff).
Well for the Outdoorsman aspect I like its less restrictive than Creature hunter. I think for Terrain negotian we should have faster swim speeds added on as previous posters said. I also think we should get faster running speed. Now if the Devs think that beening able to run faster than everyone else would lead to too much kiting than make it an ability you must switch on like mask scent. Call it Swift Walk or whatver you think sounds nice and have it so you run maybe as fast as burst run or slower(depending on balance issues)but still faster than normal running but also have it so you can't attack while it the mode much like gallop that way we would use it has a from of travel as well as to keep up with fast moving pray or to avoid being hunted yourself.
I think the trapping line should get some PvP benefits. Since the Squadleader is essentially a group dynamic buffer we should be the oppsite in the GCW(but less powerful since the SL is a devote buffer where this would only be part of our prof). I suggested in another thread placeable traps that have an AoE affedct around the placement. Maybe have it so we can have a gas trap that causes players to gag ruining their aim and hence applying a small but useful negative to-hit modifyier. Have an glop/ooze trapthat causes players to have higher ham costs for their specials so that if they want to keep spamming specials of death they will pay for it.The placable could veen have a HAM so it could be shot out if it annoyed the enemy too much andwith greater trapping skill cmomes increased effectiveness range so that at Master you could encompass a wide area. That way you essentially could be a good combo when grouped with a SL one could keep the group buffed while the other debuffed the enemy.
As for camps...If we shouldn't encroach on SL for havig martial camps then we need something that can make them more than eyecandy. Have the FB kit proivde a mission terminal(as many people have stated I thinks). Make them modular termianls. At base resource cost an FB gets a default Mission terminal however if you go to a faction recruiter you can use some faction points to get a recruiter module(it would cost some faction points but not many so you can make a profit on faction points) that way you can get faction missions in the middle of the wild. Also have it so other classes can craft modules, Artisans can craft artisan modules so that they can take survey missions out in the middle of the wild or assemble missions(artisans have those right?) where it would create NPCs in the wild that would give build me this and deliver to that missions. Same foes for entertainer, bounty hunter(wouldn;t they love you if they new a jedi was close by and they could see if the guy has pulled missionon himself), etc.
The HTFB couldalso have a Medical bed that acts like a sub par cloning station(little droids or whatever drag seek out and drag your corpse back if you want an explanation). You can not clone at it and only get the option to go to it if you are say within 500m maybe even less of it to balance it out. That way if you die you can revive at it as if you cloned at station that you didn't store your dna(so the massive wound damageoccurs)and maybe to make it a last resort( So that Doctors revive ability stays useful for them) have the revive at medical bed option have decay rate on your gear. This would mean that a HTFB could be a center of operation for a base attack without trampling over a SL's bonuses and so your party after an onslaught could regroup faster and in one area. I would also like to make it so camps don't disband during the ranger fighting.
I defiantly think the force spawn idea for area track is good so that sparse areas can be made good for hunting. I also like the better to-creature ideas and the harvesting bonuses and improvements such as an 'All' option.
"You should NOT have coords to things you do not see. Only the server has that, and in it's local memory.If you are looking around and a ranger is in range and hidden, the server should not be sending ANY information of said ranger till he attacks you."
Ah, but you suggesting delving into the realm of completely invisible characters (one's that you can neither see nor target), for which the developers have a severe distaste.