Ranger Archive
Thread: Top 5 Debate
"mounts that move faster than burst run speed are going to be a hilarious nightmare with this crazy spawn system"
Yes, I get the impression the developers are also worried about that very same issue. 
"One of the lessons that dog trainers and animal control people learn is if you get jumped by an dog for example and you know it's going to latch onto you somewhere give it your arm so it doesn't get your neck."
An interesting analogy... Though the effect sounds like a Dodge to protect a vital organ, rather than simply Toughing out the damage. 
I will note both approaches and we will see if either oneinterests the developers.
NRaas wrote:"Creature Toughness( or whatever it was called, the equalivent to unarmed toughness)"
I've done some thinking regarding this particular request...
- Exactly what would make a Ranger physically tougher against creatures than a non-Ranger?
I can understand Unarmed Toughness, where the profession is specially trained to roll with the hits...
- But why would a Ranger survive more damage from a creature's claws than anyone else?
A better request may be a Creature Dodge bonus
- A Ranger is adept at knowing how a creature will react, and can more easily avoid their attacks
Comments?
As a rifle user, dodging and/or damage avoidance isn't really all that useful. If the critter gets within melee range, I already can't hit it and take a severe damage penalty when they hit me (those Kreetles become life threatening). A dodge or toughness bonus just prolongs the inevitable. Considering, in normal combat, they never attack me (hope to drop them before that happens), this would have minimal effect on us rifle users (or at least me). With social critters, it still won't give enough to time to trap them all and get away.
The only bonus which would serve to be most fair across the board would probably be a damage bonus on attacks.
And does Check Spelling actually give you any recommendations on words or just tell us we need to consult an additional reference?
Speaking for myself - yes.
It would be nice to nice the status of the new additions, and when we might be seeing them implemented...
- Would this be your focus issue?
1) CAMPS should be able to repel creatures. I would hate to be this dead horse that we're beating on.
2) TRAPS We are all patiently waiting for the arrival of our new traps. The number of traps in my opinion should be equal or greater than the ones we have in scout. Also with the trap issue, customization/ experimentation/ use on CH pets/ use during PvP/ Modular Construction for multiple effects on creatures/ and lastly a "/throwtrap "X" command.
3) HUNTING We are the master hunters, a noticable plus to hit, a plus for defense and a critical hit every once in a while (since we know where to strike).
4) HARVESTING We should not waste the animals that are so kind to die for us. At master ranger, there should be an additional tab on our radial menu "Harvest All" which will give us 33% Meat, 33% Hide and 33% Bone. The regular harvest tab should not be deleted so that we can pick a resource if we are specifically hunting for a good quality resource.
5) COMBAT Bow/ Launcher something that will allow us to be the stealthy hunters that we all want to be. Craftable trap/ arrows that we can use to hunt without sacrificing stealth/ conceal or mask scent
Thanks Again Nraas....
We are lucky to have you (cause you make us look good)
I have yet to reach master ranger, still 2 skills shy, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to expiriment with a lot of things. I've basically used what worked for me as a Scout to get my Ranger skills. I am a Frontiersman and a Trap Master and I have expirienced some things with both of those trees. Man its late and I'm rambling so I'll get to my list.
Creature Damage Bonuses
/areatrack
Creature Toughness( or whatever it was called, the equalivent to unarmed toughness)
Camps
Traps
I also saw something mentioned about Lures but I'm fairly new to the Ranger board so i haven't read up on it. If anyone can point me to a good thread on it I'd appreciate it.
The idea of a Ranger Bow is pretty cool too, though more as an added bonus then something that would make my top 5
Lowca
Shubacca
Ranger 3/4/3/4
Creature Handler 1/2/1/2
2) Aggressive NPCs with high positive faction still attack - If I have +5000 faction, these NPCs should be friendly unless I specifically attack them. While not a direct Ranger issue, it is the converse of problem (1). There is no appropriate correspondent, so I am including it here.
Faction is also extremely easy to gain/lose. My personal opinion is that it should be more on the order of the gains of Imperial and Rebel faction. Still have the loss double the gain, just not as much of a change either way.
3) Social mobs - We should get this with Creature Knowledge. Tracking II was pretty weak from what I remember, so this would be a great level to add it in.
Without considering maskscent/conceal behavior, the target's friends still charge before the target itself is engaged. This behavior is easiest to note with pets. The surrounding creatures charge it instantly while the target does not engage until hit. That is the point that social creatures should engage.
Similarly, while the target doesn't seem to warp now, its buddies do. So instead of one mob warping to you, only one mob doesn't. (That was interesting when we were fighting kimogilas....)
4) Creature To-Hit bonus - It should apply regardless of weapon. Bare hands, knife, rifle, or flame thrower. I'm strictly ranged but it annoys me that it isn't an equal bonus.
5) Experimentation - It's fun. My main interests preclude me from being a crafter and experimentation is a lot of what makes the crafting system fun. Give us some options, like number of traps, duration, effect, and for camps healing rate and colors.
This is my first post.
Things I'd like to see different or better about the Ranger profession.
1. Traps. I want more and better and differentRanger traps. I've got a flash bomb and a sonic pulse and they're cool, but I would really like as many traps as a Ranger as I had as a Scout and I'd like them to be more than just super-powered Scout traps.Static traps (bone/hide/meat harvesters) would be nice, too.
2. Traps, again. Rangers should have at least one or two traps that work on PCs and NPCs. Maybe not the same traps as the ones that work on Animals, but something should work on another bi-ped, person-type. I snuck up a group of stormtroopers and I started to go for my Flash Bombs thinking, "I'll just blind these so-and-so's and...ah crap."
3. Areatrack. While a very cool idea and ability in throery, in practice it's not very good. Echoing the sentiments of other posters, I feel that getting the "you find no tracks" message and then bumping into a lair of Huurton stalkers 60 meters down the road is embarassing and makes me look like a lousy and unnecessary addition to a hunting party. "Dude, didn't you see them?"and "Why didn't you go BH like the rest of us" and "Rngersr teh suk"
4. Conceal. I play a Bothan, and I have Wayfairing IV, and yet I am the one who most often gets his "maskscent" broken and aggro'd by wandering reds (that I can't see by using Areatrack) when in a group. Not the Droid Engineer. Not the Bounty Hunter. Not the Medic. Me. Double-Ewe Tee Eff? Granted, my evidence is anecdotal, as I haven't bothered to track the number of times this has happened versus the total number of times I've used conceal in a group, but I swear it's true. Also, I think /conceal should work on PCs of your opposing faction for Overts, and all NPCs.
5. Sneak Attack. I want the ability to sneak up on something while under /conceal and hit it without it knowing what just happened and without all it's friends aggro'ing on me. Rangers should be sneaky and should hit like a ton of bricks on the first shot. The idea of a "hunting blind" or some other craftable to do this would be fine. Better yet, just give me a big ol' damage bonus for the first shot from under /conceal before it goes away.
I see a lot of posters looking for a special ranger weapon AKA the ranger bow. I'd much rather have a special ranger-only attack with my preferred weapon that does critical damage to animals.
To me it appears there are two separate aggression checks. One if the NPC is aggressive, and a second based on faction. Either one is sufficient to be attacked and coneal only checks against the first. Faction can cause you to be attacked, but it won't prevent an aggression, ie negative is a penalty and positive means nothing. These should be merged into a single check where (pseudo-code):
if (NPC is aggressive)
{
if (faction is positive) do not attack
else if (conceal is successful) do not attack
else attack
}
This way faction and conceal are taken into account. Friendly NPCs are friendly, unfriendly aggressives aren't and conceal is only checked when needed. If radar colors can be changed from red to gold even better.
Pets should likewise have the master's faction so NPCs that are friendly and non-aggressive to the master should not attack their pets.
(It is all tied in together, so I can't really ignore the faction issues, even if it seems like I am getting off topic. Changing one portion without fixing the whole is bad. Not being a correspondent-specific issue beyond conceal doesn't help, so please forgive me N'Raas.)
Starraider wrote:
I see a lot of people saying the conceal needs improved or that resources are stillto hard to find. Then I saw another person ask to have the flora components put back in but make the foragable.The resources should be hard to obtain on some of the planets like Lok, Dath and Endor.
That was me...I just don't like how everyone cried about flora then the dev's simply took it out instead of trying to make it more accessibile or provide different methods of aquiring it...
If they made it foragable (like in RL) and gave us average 3 units per succesful attempt, that would be 9 flora on 3 attempts, and make 1 kit require 9 flora, I don't see the problem...
Remember Bill Murrays Camo in Caddyshack, it had flora!
Here are my top 5
1. Ranger Trapping Line
This is really the only combat line rangers have, and compared to the scout trap line we don't gain much. I believe this is one of the biggest issues for rangers because the line itself isn't that useful (especially against high CL critters). Some NPC/player traps would be neat, but my main concern is affecting high CL creatures. For instance, packing a number of smaller scout traps into 1 ranger trap and making it more effective for big game, with an appropriate resource cost. Another idea for ranger trapping - maybe make it more of a "ranger special weapon" line. Many people have suggested something like this, and I think it would bring some flavor to the class.
2. Camps
Again, this is another line of Ranger that needs some work. I focus on these two first because both Wayfaring and Tracking provide benefits and have been improved recently. Many camp dicussions have already been up, but possible BF healing (or temp BF healing), keeping the rain out, and just providing benefits worth the material cost and level of expertise.
3. Tracking
Tracking is very useful right now, but with the way spawns are handled on planets, it is also much less useful than it could be. Fixing this in conjunction with an actual "track"inaddition toarea track would fill out this line well. Damage bonuses and such also look good to me, but this is my primary concern with tracking and area tracking, because to me these are class defining skills.
4-5. Movement
I think, like many, that rangers should have a fast ground movement. TN is obviously not helping much here at the moment, and I think that Rangers should get some kind of ground speed enhancements (possibly even Master only to keep things balanced).
4-5. Harvesting
People have talked about this already too. Creature harvest needs to provide a bigger benefit by Master Ranger than it does now. It would also be fantastic if rangers provided a creature harvest benefit to the group - more group abilities would be great, but I see the conflict with SL.
Anyway, just my 2c