Ranger Archive

My 2cr worth...

I like the idea in general but would echo a few others and suggest as follows:

Assume I am a very good tracker standing in the wilderness... I can see signs all around me of rancor, spineflap, or whatever creatures. Since I am not a master tracker yet, I perhaps don't recognize some of the signs of the most uber critters. (with this, swg can generate a list of creatures nearby like the resource list in a surveyors tool, the critters on the list would be dependant on my tracking ability or ranger level)

Now how am I to find the creatures I want? Studying the signs and scat of the spineflap I can tell that a group of the creatures passed this way not too long ago. I believe that they went south. (with this I select oneof the critters on my list and hit the track button, the result should be an arrow in the correct direction to the critter... but not imo a full waypoint to the spot, just an arrow, the arrow would have a chance of pointing in the wrong direction based on my tracking ability, perhaps 65% correct for novice ranger, 95% for master ranger).

Repeating without moving a certain distance should generate the same arrow whether it is right or wrong... moving a little and reading the signs anew would give a new chance for finding the critter and perhaps your new arrow will confirm that you are on the right track. If you repeat later and the arrow suddenly shifts... well the human now must decide which signs are correct... this could add some flavor to the process, and if critters could be made to move it would be even better... but that is asking alot.

Sorry for the long post, thanks for listening.

Thanks for the compliment,

Tracking will be fun. I have never played EQ either but I am hopeful that the swg developers will take these ideas plus any lessons from other games and incorporate some form of tracking for the ranger class.

I think it'd be hard to get a waypoint to an already existing mob unless someone has recently passed by it. I don't think lairs just sit around all day long when no one is around, waiting to be shot at. Sure, if you find a lair, it'll probably stay there for a while, but I've seen something and gone to the city, returned to an empty space. And this was a krayt dragon lair, so no....no one blew it up

Someone said something about a similar feature like BHs get to track. I think our own personalized hawk type animal would be cool. You know a ranger could easily have a hawk. We could be like the Beastmaster...with a trusty hawk and ferrets at our side. LOL Well, it's a thought.

-Z

I agree with the point that having a /track for static spawn that already appears on the map isn't quite as useful as you might think.

There is so much spawning that is constantly happening due to critters coming and going.. that I really think if you read into what the dev has planned... you are looking at the fact that /track is actually going to spawn a mission very similar tothe currenttreasure map system.

My argument for this is that it should be a UNIQUE spawn that DOES NOT normally spawn on the radar because anyone can go out and find a Sharnoff Bull... however... only a Ranger knows how to track the Sharnoff Bull <insert your favorite adjective here>.

This also fits towards the fact that when you /track something and fail... you might be led to something that is much much worse than what you intended

- Zarn

I see your point. The problem is I don't really understand spawns all that well. What I envisioned was that when you /track it brings up a waypoint to the closest currently existing spawn. If you get there and it's been blown up then you /track and find it again. That was where tracking the herd on the move came into play.

Basically I didn't want to create a spawn because what happens if you do /track decide you don't want to get and fetch what was there and keep doing it over and over. The countryside is now littered with mob spawns all over the place.

I doubt it. I have two missions for Lok that have been on there for a couple of days now. I'm sure when I get back to Lok, the locations will change a bit as I run to them. In no way do I think people have been shooting at my mission and it's been respawning in the same spot over and over.

-Z