Ranger Archive

Wow, there are some really good ideas in this thread, and I really hope the devs are taking some of them into consideration!

Here are some simple ideas I have seen/thought of, thatI would love to see:

1. Ranger only weapons. I carry around my tusken rifle because it looks more like a Ranger's weapon, unlike that bulky T21. Or maybe even something like a sophisticated Teck Bow.


2. 1/2 skill points. Since Ranger takes the most skill points (after needing to master scout), it would be nice to atleast be able to make master marksman/brawler for the speed, accuracy and defence bonus.


3. I realy like the "Harvest All" idea. Instead of 100% of one type, 33% of each.


4. Something like aCamping Bonus. Sitting in a camp for ashort amount of time gives you a rested bonus to defence or accuracey.


5. Further Tracking Distance

Message Edited by Tarak-Cala on 05-26-2005 01:27 AM

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BioEngine wrote:

This is what I want to see:

• A "critical hit" ability against creatures, which would be a step up from "creature knowledge" because we "know where to hit them."

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Obviously I believe the most important item that needs to be mentioned for our revamp is the......

RANGER HAT

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=69005&highlight=ranger+hat#M69005

Yes, read the original thoughts of the infamous Ranger Hat.

We MUST have it during the revamp!

FYI,the response that Devs would give about increasing our tracking range past 500 meters is this:

"The client cannot determine what is in that range, because only a certain area around the avatar will be given as information to the client. This is to prevent massive lag, or server latency, as a result of processing objects and coding outside of a necessary area."

My view of the Ranger and what could be changed or added.

Skills and Abilities

Burst Run Efficiency/Terrain Negotiation: Who can live without it? I have yet to try bio-enhanced clothes with terrain negotiation modifiers.

Creature Knowledge: It's kind of creepy to get the system message that you are being stalked by an Ancient Bull Rancor. I like creature knowledge, but I am not sure how much more I do know about them.

Foraging: I have only used this skill when I also was a Creature Handler. It was very convenient to forage petfood, to keep their wounds away and their stomachs filled.

Rescue: Does this even work? I have rarely tried it, and as far as I can remember never seen any effect.

Camouflage: Yes, a well debated topic. If the commoner will get the ability to use camouflage kits, then we should have something else. Why not let us become invisible like a cover-taking rifleman, as long as we move at walking speed? Why not let us vanish from the radar, as long as we move at walking speed? (Using the surrounding terrain to block our presence). And of course be discovered whenever we move within a certain range from perceptive beings.

Creature Harvesting: I would like Rangers to be able to harvest all three resources from one creature. Skin it, cut away the meat, and finally preserve the bone. Easy. I have done it in real-life. Would take harvesting a bit further from basic Scout.

Area Track: A very nice skill, as long as it is working. Please make it self-updating, with some percentage of loosing track, so that you have to stop and make a more bothersome search.

Battle Armour: Well, Battle Armour is nice, but I feel that a Recon Armour is more Rangerish.

The Camps

Mission Terminal: Added to the High Tech Field Base. I cannot understand why there is none. Haven't you heard of the internet, cellphones, blue tooth et cetera?

Creature Recycler: Probably too much to ask for, but we certainly are professionals that end up with odd bits and ends. For the High Tech Field Base.

Base Defense: Linked to the crafters knowledge of traps. Whenever a creature moves within the camps borders, traps are sprung.

Battle Fatigue: Make us rougher and tougher than the commoner. We are Rangers, and should be able to stay out in the field much longer than the rest. Let us heal our battlefatigued at a rate based upon the camp we are sitting in. And maybe based upon our Wayfaring skill.

Weapons

Boomstick: A powerful slow-firing rifle used to kill BIG game.

Hunting Spear: A long spear with a ranged lightning discharge similar in graphics to that of droids or lightning rifles.

Traps: Make the traps be useful on NPCs and other Players.

We can become the greatest most detailed hunter proffesion in the game with all these cool stealth moves, camps and so on, but whats the point if the prey is just plain predictable.


I say with the revamp Animal AI should be improved upon. Think of tatooine imagine if instead of bantha crowding over a rock heap, think of them following a migratory pattern or wandering tatooine in large herds. Think of animals moving more at day than at night, give them periods of rest when they move less and are less aware of you. Maybe the difference between "thin and unhealthy" "fat and healthy" could change on the way they act and how hard they are to kill. Make them react to other creatures. Make the creature - terrain relation more obviouse, a giant piket isnt gonna climb a mountain moving at a 90 degree angle, they live on the plains. When a person approaches a herd of animals plain as day teh animals should react without the first thought of "KILL!" they should move the stronger of the herd in the direction of the person in a deffensive form. If we see a scout of any animal we should figure that a herd cannot be far behind. with baby - adult relations we will see baby animals crowding toward the center of the herd. If an animal gets old, hurt, or sick the animal should slow down and fall slightlyu behind. Maybe an animal shoudl hurt more if it is cornered or wounded. If our prey is stupid what pride do we have in the hunt.

I can see myself on dantooine, its sun rise and im atop my varactyle looking down a hill upon a large herd of bol who have just recently begun to move. Just as they hit the river i ride down upon them and in the confusion i am able to hit a large bull. The bol are scattered and confused as they do not notice the one i have taken. I hop off my saddle to inspect my kill. But as i draw close the bull lunges up at me and i am thrown to the ground and pinned by the creature. But before any seriouse harm befalls me my faithfull pet launches into the bull and i am granted the time while my pet and the bol fight, to slip a poisonouse needle into the tip of my pike. I carefull Approach the the thrashing brawl, When in position i lunge my pike into the belly of the bol and the poisoun takes effect and the bol dies instantly. I have claimed my kill. And after selling of the valuable recources i will track the herd down again as it seems thhey are breeding well.

That was just a little story of maybe what hunting could be like if creatures thought more than "person.. kill" Rangers could track large herds constantly and use different strategies to bring down theyre targets.

Maybe they could use a small poisonouse shot to inject a slow unoticable venom into an animal so that the herd will not notice and after a time the animal will die and the ranger moves in. This would ruin the meat but it would be usefull if rangers wanted to keep the herd strong as a later recource.

or maybe if a large catch is needed rangers could place a fire box on an area and ait until a certian number of animal targets have entered the box and the box will ignite makeing a portion of the herd trapped and easier to maintain in the small area it is in. This would be traumatizing to the herd so animal spawn in the herd will slow down an d animal health will drop slightly.

Ranger armor could be a form of realy advanced bone armor perhaps that has effects on creatures. Perhaps the armor has spines on it that when the ranger is struck with a melee attack the animal deals itself some damage or the spines could have a poisoun effect. of coarse the spines will break and poisoun would be one shot so these must be replaced between every few fights. The armor could also provide a bonus to camoflouge as well.

Ranger specific weapons would be hard because so many people combine ranger with a different proffesion. like myself i am a pikeman ranger. So the best shot would be to have weapon add ons craftably by rangers that work as traps btu are instead temporary weapon upgrades.
Heres what it could possably look like on our crafter bar.

Trapping1 - Poisoun Needle= a sharp hollow needle placed in the tip of a melee weapon to give the animal a DOT effect or a combat hinderance.

Injection Dart= A dart compadable with almost any gun that uses the energy discharge of a weapon to launch itself into an animal from which it will have the same effect of the poisoune needle just over a range.


Trapping2 - Serated point - A serated disk that is inserted into the tip of a melee weapon and when the tip comes in contact with the animal the serated edge lodges into the creature's muscle layer and as the creature fights the blade moves more and more caussing damage through bleeding and through the creatures own attacks
- Drill bit shot - A shot that when coming in contact with a creature digs itself deeper into the creature and the expands making it impossable to remove, the effects are the same as the serated point accept that the drill bit slows the creatures movemant


Trapping3 - Barbed String - a thin string with almost invisable barbs that si very strong and only breakable by teh mightiest of creatures, As many other mellee atachments the barbed string goes into the tip of the weapon and the string then coils inside the blade. When the bard comes to contact with the creature, it snares and causses slight damage and light bleeding. But movemant is drasticly decreased and movemant harms the animal.

- Barbed slug - A ma=etal rod that when shot from a gun splits in two, the two rods are attached by a barbed string but one shot hits the creature while one hits the ground, This bids the creature to a certain radius of movemant and can eventualy be broken but the creature cannot leave teh designated area until it is broken.


Trapping4 - parasite - a small venamouse insect is inserted into the hollow tube at teh tip of your blade, when the weapon deals a bleeding damage the insect enters the creature and almost instantly kills the creature, The right insect is rare and even with the insect applied the injection attempt could fail the bug would die

- nerval shot - A canister of needles is fired at the opposing target, the canister explodes and the needles sink into the creature, the needles can causse random effects such as blindness, dizzyness,stunning ect. unliek normal ailment attacks though these effects are permanentt.

Maybe for more specific prey we could set up a camp and bait system. We could have a small undergroven camp that is about 40m from a bait placed to attract a certian kind of animal. When an animal comes it springs a trap and we go out to face our prey.

For the animal behavior effecting area tracking they could simply add a direction of movemant skill to areatrack, it could also tell us if the animal is wounded or ill by the pace that the animal is moving or the way its moving.

Ranger can be drasticly improved upon as i see it and id like to see what everyone else thinks of my ideas towards animal behavior and poisoun enhancmants. feel free to change or add to my ideas

Foraged Items:

• Issue schematics that can combine a few foraged items and chef-crafted components or finished foods/ drinks / containers / additives that would allow for a cure-disease, cure-poison or restore health / action benefit.


• There would be only a few actual schematics of this type, as there would be an increase in experimentation points instead of issuing a stronger version at different skill boxes.


• IMO, the best way to implement this would be a 2 to 1 ratio of foraged items to chef items.


• The chef items should be: drinking glass, food additive, and dough. There's gotta be something I forgot, so this is far from a complete idea / list.


• The foods should have a shelf-life of one day, so they do not affect the market of Chefs. Also, unable to be factory crated, as they are supposed to be a last-resort item to help a seriously injured player with the limited knowledge of flora that Rangers have.

Creature Knowledge:

• Manipulate the Creature Knowledge modifier into damage dealt against creatures or accuracy against creatures, or even a bonus to wound creatures. This would be included with the resists that we are supposed to be able to see, and the other stats like whether or not they death blow.

Special Abilities

• Play Possum: Acts just like Feign Death, except it only works on aggressive creatures. This would be tied into Creature Knowledge about what the attacking creature would see as a meal or only a threat.

• Critical Hit: This would only affect creatures, and non-factional non-elite mob npcs. It would raise your chance to deal a bleeding wound, and would stack upon the modifier of your weapon. Attacking creatures with this ability should give a bonus from Creature Knowledge.

• Animal Call: This would give the Ranger the ability to mimic the voice of the target stalker-type creature's prey, and would cause the creature and those of its species within 10 meters of each other begin to move away from the Ranger and his party. Direction should be determined by which direction the Ranger is looking at the creatures when he or she uses this ability. It would only apply as a trap ability, and would have the similar restrictions to sticking a trap on a creature of your CL or lower (or however traps are working nowadays.) If it fails it would start combat automatically, unless camoed or scent masked.

I think we need to face certain post-cu realities and change our way of thinking a bit about the ranger skill set. Namely:

1) We are likely going to be in a level 80 group

2) We are going to want to hunt nothing but level 80 creatures

3) A ranger is going to have less "firepower" then the rest of the group, so he'd better have something else to offer rather that just a larger harvest for himself.

Concealment:

• Ah, what to do, what to do. Mask scent is sufficient for concealment against animals (for the most part). So I'd say focus ranger concealment on concealment from NPC's entirely. Consistent with the "magic" of the rest of the CU, I'd say ditch the cammo kits (or just make them strictly items that ranger sell to noobs if they want to earn some quick cash) and make cammo an ability that rangers use to hide from NPC's period. It, of course, should be used in conjuction with masked scent. Also it's pretty important that rangers be able to "cammo up" the rest of his group effectively (otherwise it's pretty useless right? since he's going to be in a group with 6 or 7 others more than likely) so a ranger should literally be able to cammo up someone else as effectively as he can cammo up himself.

Tracking/Hunting

• Keep tracking like it is. It's moderately useful and it works moderately well. But the emphasis here should be the mission terminal. For a ranger to be useful, he/she should be able to draw missions from a much larger pool of animals then anyone else. At the master level a ranger should be able to "mission up" literally any animal on the planet (with the exception of "rares" like Gorax etc). And of course such missions would be at the appropriate level for the group (otherwise that ability is useless), and everyone that is grouped with the ranger should have the same opportunity to select such missions. This would be the new "signature" ranger hunting ability. I know I know, it flies in the face of the "ranger as explorer" type of hunting style, but that style is now obsolete in the new post-cu world.

Survival

• It's really hard to imagine camps playing much of a role in the "new hunting" because lets face it, sitting in a camp is a time-sink, and nobody likes time-sinks unless they are saving you from some other time sink. So I say leave camps alone. They're nice, they're cool, they're useless, let the be. Focus on /forage as the "signature" ranger ability in this line. Rangers should be able to forage useful things: temporary skill enhancers, temporary weapon or armor or concealment powerups and so forth.

Traps & Animals Manipulation

• mask scent works fine for hiding, but for other types of things I'd love to see some sort of "musk" system. Instead of having traps that use hide and bone, have them use "musk". The "musk" you'd "loot" from animals that you kill, and each one would have different properties (for example different state affects if made into a trap and hurled at a group of animals). Pretty simple idea, but would make trapping a lot more fun and effective. Also if you had different types of animals dropping different types of musk, then that would bring back the type of exploration into the game that many rangers enjoy.