Ranger Archive

"violent krahbu on Corellia"

Well I haven't been to Corellia yet... Good a time as any I guess.

"Reptilian fliers on Dathomir do not assist."

Well I would like to survive the encounter if possible.

Some random things:

• What's the limit and maximum range on applying conceal to someone? It appears right now I can do it in almost any state (running/standing) and at great distances? Is this working as intended?


• How much damage needs to be taken in order to drop concealment? Is it a certain % of HAM or a hard-coded number?


• It's a good thing the number of uses per stack is increasing because if concealment breaks when you attack or are attacked, you *will* be needing more using the kits a *lot* more frequently. This is for active hunters, not people using conceal to survey, make harvester runs, tame creatures, etc.


• This also means the extended duration per use will be mostly... useless. Unless it takes half an hour to get to where you hunt! Again this is only for active hunters. Others will benefit.


• In small groups, at least the ones I've been in, everyone participates in combat, the medics, entertainers, chefs. Concealment will be worthless in these cases. Any thoughts?


• Is there feedback regarding the'/groupconceal' command?


• In large groups I can see conceal being effective for support people, assuming it works as intended and isn't a liability (as it has been in the past). This really, really needs to be tested on a large scale. I think as it stands I'll have a hard time convincing people that it is worthwhile (too many were burned by it).


• If the breaking of maskscent & concealment is a given, can it at least be changed so that it only breaks when the creature actually lands a blow? Or perhaps a delayed break (a few seconds)? Not as soon as you initiate combat? Some attacks, 'aim' for example, seem to initiate combat long before any shot is fired.


• Off-topic, but I'll ask anyway since it was brought up by N'Raas: have you received any feedback regarding /examine being able to show creature speed & social assistiveness?

"It appears right now I can do it in almost any state (running/standing) and at great distances?"

That doesn't really seem to be a problem, in my opinion.

"How much damage needs to be taken in order to drop concealment?"

Good question...My suggestion is that a Ranger simply try not takingany damage, orrisk being revealed.

I will test for the actual value on Test Center, for those that are curious.

"if concealment breaks when you attack or are attacked, you *will* be needing more using the kits a *lot* more frequently"

If a Ranger is expecting combat, then why are they concealing in the first place?

/maskscent works just as well against the critters, and doesn't incur the added expense of a camo kit.

"This also means the extended duration per use will be mostly... useless"

I presume you are refering to solo play here. My medic can last the duration of a camo kit without breaking against a creature, while I require to constantly refresh mine (as I engage in combat, while he does not).

"If the breaking of maskscent & concealment is a given, can it at least be changed so that it only breaks when the creature actually lands a blow?"

Well gee... That is the way it works now.

"have you received any feedback regarding /examine being able to show creature speed & social assistiveness?"

You know everything I am allowed to tell you. I can say I have not received any feedback on that issue though.

Oh, I forgot to say. Regular Squills ARE assistive, I don't know about Desert Squills, but I'm positive Mountain Squills are non-assistive

"The Feral Bantha's are pretty easy"

I have yet to see one these mysterious beasts. Where should I look for them?

"if concealment breaks when you attack or are attacked, you *will* be needing more using the kits a *lot* more frequently"

If a Ranger is expecting combat, then why are they concealing in the first place?

/maskscent works just as well against the critters, and doesn't incur the added expense of a camo kit.

Because I want to chose when and where I strike - not let the creatures decide it for me. If conceal works better than maskscent, that's what I'll use. Maskscent is for scouts, I picked up Ranger for a reason (granted concealment wasn't eventhere when IMastered, but still). I was under the impression conceal would be a better version of maskscent (thus the requirement of actually making kits). Also, if skill has anything to do with it, I have +115 conceal vs. +100 maskscent. Does this have any impact on effectiveness or do they both cap at +100?

"If the breaking of maskscent & concealment is a given, can it at least be changed so that it only breaks when the creature actually lands a blow?"

Well gee... That is the way it works now.

Doh! You were not supposed to notice that! I was attempting a reverse stealth nerf.

Nraas: Run out to Mos Taike(have to shuttle in to Entha then run out there..but its a safe run). Then run out in some northernly direction from Taike. Its bantha heaven up there. Last night on Chilastra I ran into, in less than 2 hours, 3 lairless spawns of Ferals and 1 lair of Ferals.

Ferals are very easy too. They hit about the same as other banthas, but their HAMs are sad. Specifically, if attacking from 60m out with a good pistol, I can drop them before they can run up and hit me. They also spawn in large numbers...usually 20 to 30 total per lair before it is drained dry. So in about 10 minutes I can destroy up to 30 banthas easily. They also aggro, but are pretty "blind" and do not assist.

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NRaas wrote:

"The Feral Bantha's are pretty easy"

I have yet to see one these mysterious beasts. Where should I look for them?

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I find them North-East of Mos Entha. I don't think I've ever seen them anywhere else. They're not very common, I usually need to trek around the area of the Pod Race Track (at least I assume that's what the really really long winding canyon is) for a little bit before I find any. I used to go hunt them because I wanted the Wooly Hide and I couldn't get Bantha missions on the mission terminals back then. One Feral Bantha lair holds a TON of the buggers! Tap the lair once and you'll end up with 10 or more walking around the area.

heh, helps if I notice there's a whole second page before I post huh?

Guys,

Man, I hate it when you start a mask scent bashing thread on here and I don't see it.

So far, my experiences with Mask Scent on Test have been good - and the whole "drops in combat" thing hasn't been that much of a problem.

I really hope that you all check it out when it goes live, and see if it is as big of a problem as you are worried it is. I don't think it will be.

B

Probably been stated, but the reason I do not like it breaking is simple. On advanced planets there are areas with multiple vicious critters that do not assist each other. If I aggro one of them and mask scent stays on me, I can typically fight that one without drawing the other's attention. BAF creatures still assist, but if it's a different type of vicious critter it will not, unless it also sees through your mask scent.

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NRaas wrote:

The Spawn Rate on Test Center is absolutely insane... So you can see I had my hands full.

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The devs posted that they are updating the spawn rates in certain locations (Endor, et. al.)so my guess is that is what you see on TC. At least part of the reason?

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"I don't think its worth it, especially if I have to reapply conceal frequently."

Personally... Once the changes make it to Live, I don't intend to use /conceal on myself that often at all.

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Then I still don't understand what the point of it is? If maskscent is to be considered a scout skill, then there has to be a stealth skill rangers can rely on without having to use maskscent. That has always been my problem with conceal as it was never a replacement for maskscent. If I still have to use maskscent because conceal is not meant to be used that much, then maskscent is still a ranger skill. And if conceal and crawl is of such marginal benefit to rangers, then it's 14 SP that can be largely ignored meaning there is only 1 useful ranger line at present and, from what I can tell, for the foreseeable future.

"And if conceal and crawl is of such marginal benefit to rangers"

Now I didn't say I wasn't going to use it at all... Just not on myself.

I have a Medic companion I will be using it constantly on. It is perfect for just such an application (and it works excellent on Test Center in this manner... Thanks for helping Le'Mac ).

• Because I will be entering combat on a constant basis, it is not cost effective for me to use /conceal on myself (as it will break when I take damage).


• In this case /maskscent is more than adequate

However when attempting to sneak through a blockade of humanoids that I can not fight, /conceal will come in handy for me as well...

• That is, as soon as they resolve the A.I. issues concerning humanoids ignoring concealment.

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As for crawling, that is still not very useful to me... Hopefully new functionality will be added to Terrain Negotiation in the future.