Ranger Archive

The Combat Upgrade Rangers are trying their best to make sure that Ranger comes out of the CU in the best state possible. The Devs are definitely aware of Ranger issues but the final decision lies with them. While I don't want to comment (for fear of breaking the NDA), know that issues such as these are definitely in the Devs' spotlight.

The idea does have scary overtones that we get to be a tag along group partner who gets help from other professions taking down creatures so we can harvest. I hope this doesnt come to pass since many of us have been the forerunners of fighting without buffs and armor now reduced to grouping to do our hunting since our Health wont make us as formidable opponents as others with 2-3 combat profs.

I would like to think that classes like Ranger and SquadLeader will get a bonus at Master for being a supportive combat class. Maybe not 3k but 2500 would be nice.

If we were expected to suddenly become meek little tag along players I'd be so annoyed...

Tonight, got seperated from the player I was grouped with (slight hiccup with the 'keep your team mate alive' thing) so, seeing as I'd just stumbled into some Tusken hanging around near the Espa Race Track droid, I decided to click up some XP and maybe find a feed tube... like, if I was REALLy lucky.

SO, am laid there in the dirt, unarmoured, unbuffed other than a belt of brandy, good ol' Ranger Tat Cammo Number 1 slapped liberally about my person. Twelve tusken, two chiefs, and their minging mounts later I realised it WAS getting rather late (3:30) so should head off to bed.

Tag along? Working properly even a wimp like me can do some damage.

Still, need to wait and see just what they think they've got planned for us. Usually a good idea to know what the threat IS and respond to that than just make a best guess and hope.

but all the same, grrrr. 2k... feh...

I hope so.

If that were the case, and defenses from other professions didn't stack either, that would give people a lot more incentive to pick up non-combat/crafting classes for their characters.

Otherwise, everyone's going to be devoting all 250 of their points to combat, and those that don't will be at a disadvantadge, in effect, penalizing people for wanting to be more then just a fighter.

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JBMat wrote:

Remember, altho the average Ranger causes more HAM damage taking out the garbage and checking the mail than most PvP clowns do all day, the Dev's think it's because of our weapons classes.

I have been fighting this battle for weeks, no luck. Maybe it's time for the thermonuclear hand grenade.

JB

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Don't hate me for this, but I think it's a lost battle!

a) Please explain to me how you do damage with ONLY using traps. Cause that's the ONLY weapon a Ranger has (besides the CDEF junk). And as far as traps go, they don't do damage much (only minor!) and mostly inflict states, which are not allways working either.

Using a droid doesn't count (they have a combat rating).

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JBMat wrote:

Do you know how many times I have turned purple when a Dev or TH or TIggs says we are not a combat class?

I am gonna sit down sometime and count the HAM damage I do on a one hour, no missions, no further than 1000 m away from my PA, hunting trip. I mean add just the Health bars of the stuff I drop. And I will drop it all - wth, it's only Talus.

Today alone I harvested 7k of bone to sell in under an hour. Torturs, huf dun, guf drolg and kahmurras were not safe in my grid square. No huge drops, just consistent drops.

I challenge any PvP monkee to find enoughduels in an hour to top that. And no monkee boys, you count the original HAM, not the heals.

Not combat but damn, I sure do a ton of damage.

JB

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Dariane_Kamutsovy wrote:

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JBMat wrote:

Do you know how many times I have turned purple when a Dev or TH or TIggs says we are not a combat class?

I am gonna sit down sometime and count the HAM damage I do on a one hour, no missions, no further than 1000 m away from my PA, hunting trip. I mean add just the Health bars of the stuff I drop. And I will drop it all - wth, it's only Talus.

Today alone I harvested 7k of bone to sell in under an hour. Torturs, huf dun, guf drolg and kahmurras were not safe in my grid square. No huge drops, just consistent drops.

I challenge any PvP monkee to find enoughduels in an hour to top that. And no monkee boys, you count the original HAM, not the heals.

Not combat but damn, I sure do a ton of damage.

JB

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Hehe a purple JB instead of a blue one... That's a change

Some questions:

1. Do you only deplete the Health bar or the other bars too? And especially, does the health bar finally make the kill?

2. How do you do this, with only using traps/cdef junk (no droids) and maybe a (at max) CL10 pet... And especially within an hour....

I mention CL10 pet here, cause if you use a higher one, you also a CH which is _supposed_ to be a combat profession (one clearly underpowered unless in PVE while it works rather well). But it's not a Ranger thing of it's own!

To be honestely I find this rather hard to believe. I can get a lot too, but thats because I still use my minor combat profession (in rifleman) together with my pets.

Trying to make the point here, that Ranger, on it's own, is NOT capable of doing fights. Try dropping everything but MR and you understand what I'm trying to say.

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Would you consider someone a Master Ranger/Master Squad Leader (i.e. no elite damage dealing profession) close enough to Master Ranger on its own? With this configuration, I would regularly go Rancor and Nightsister hunting unbuffed and unarmored. Without my Ranger skills, I would have died a lot more often (traps, terrain negotiation, and maskscent/conceal). It takes a while to kill stuff but a Master Ranger with a CDEF can kill some quite high level stuff with no extra combat skills.

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Nemo0 wrote:

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Dariane_Kamutsovy wrote:

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JBMat wrote:

Do you know how many times I have turned purple when a Dev or TH or TIggs says we are not a combat class?

I am gonna sit down sometime and count the HAM damage I do on a one hour, no missions, no further than 1000 m away from my PA, hunting trip. I mean add just the Health bars of the stuff I drop. And I will drop it all - wth, it's only Talus.

Today alone I harvested 7k of bone to sell in under an hour. Torturs, huf dun, guf drolg and kahmurras were not safe in my grid square. No huge drops, just consistent drops.

I challenge any PvP monkee to find enoughduels in an hour to top that. And no monkee boys, you count the original HAM, not the heals.

Not combat but damn, I sure do a ton of damage.

JB

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Hehe a purple JB instead of a blue one... That's a change

Some questions:

1. Do you only deplete the Health bar or the other bars too? And especially, does the health bar finally make the kill?

2. How do you do this, with only using traps/cdef junk (no droids) and maybe a (at max) CL10 pet... And especially within an hour....

I mention CL10 pet here, cause if you use a higher one, you also a CH which is _supposed_ to be a combat profession (one clearly underpowered unless in PVE while it works rather well). But it's not a Ranger thing of it's own!

To be honestely I find this rather hard to believe. I can get a lot too, but thats because I still use my minor combat profession (in rifleman) together with my pets.

Trying to make the point here, that Ranger, on it's own, is NOT capable of doing fights. Try dropping everything but MR and you understand what I'm trying to say.

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Would you consider someone a Master Ranger/Master Squad Leader (i.e. no elite damage dealing profession) close enough to Master Ranger on its own? With this configuration, I would regularly go Rancor and Nightsister hunting unbuffed and unarmored. Without my Ranger skills, I would have died a lot more often (traps, terrain negotiation, and maskscent/conceal). It takes a while to kill stuff but a Master Ranger with a CDEF can kill some quite high level stuff with no extra combat skills.

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As you said yourself: Ranger allows you to SURVIVE. Question you need to ask yourself: would Ranger SUFFICE to kill them _without_ the help of a combat profession? I think the answer would be: no, you cannot! Hence: Ranger in itself is not a combat class!

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Cryos_Merovingian wrote:
Traps can only be used in combat. We have a whole tree devoted to traps.
Ranger = traps = combat

You can harvest without being in combat, you can camp without being in combat, you can /maskscent and /conceal while not in combat, but you CAN NOT throw a trap and not be in combat.

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Hmm... analogy: Smuggler has a Technique tree using special pistols shot. Makes that them a combat class? No! They're not considered a combat class, and no they're not taken into account in the CU either.

A point of difference: the skills the smuggler get with this tree even works on NPC characters _and_ players.

Our Ranger traps only work on NPC creatures. Hence if we _were_ a combat class, it would be a completely crippled combat class (only be able to combat 1/3 of the system).

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Dariane_Kamutsovy wrote:

Hmm... analogy: Smuggler has a Technique tree using special pistols shot. Makes that them a combat class? No! They're not considered a combat class, and no they're not taken into account in the CU either. first off, you're not on the CU team, you really shouldn't make abosolute statements about a system you don't have 100% information on . secondly, TH stated in the CU developmet thread thatsmugglers ARE recieving changes which DOES make them a combat class.

A point of difference: the skills the smuggler get with this tree even works on NPC characters _and_ players.

Our Ranger traps only work on NPC creatures. Hence if we _were_ a combat class, it would be a completely crippled combat class (only be able to combat 1/3 of the system). Which is exactly what we're trying to CHANGE. The creature-cetric role that we have hurts us as a profession because we have no identity. Think about it this way: there are 4 "types" of professions: combat, healing, social and crafting. Which is Ranger closest to? Combat. Third, in many MMOs there is always a stealth class-- the "assassin" who sacrifices raw power for the ability to sneak around. Avoidance is just another part of combat. if you can walk into theed camo'd up and do recon on how many stormtroopers there are without getting aggro'd...that's a part of combat, in my opinion. Ask any military person here-- having good intel is always usefull for combat.

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BioEngine wrote:

We won't be able to even master 1 after the CU if we want to keep Master Ranger

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I dont quite understand the extra four points left over. For someone in our situation that leaves 4 points to devote where? I can get Pistols 1 and Carbines 1 which wont help me much at all... I hope there are surprises yet left uncovered when it comes to skill points in the CU.