Ranger Archive
Thread: State of the Profession (Dec. 5)
Cronus3 wrote:NRAAS,
As a Master Ranger who hasn't been able to play since vehicles have been added, I've seen one item that concerns me that hasn't been mentioned in this thread..........................
Tracking has become obsolete! No one cares if a Ranger can track because now they can cover more area more quickly with vehicles. Sure we Rangers my still use the skill for ourselves, but from what I've read no one else is bothering to seek out Rangers for big hunts because they simply don't need them any longer. Also, if you happen to be a PvP Ranger even tracking players will be next to impossible. If the players you are after hop on their bikes then they exceed the 500m range in no time flat. And since you can't track while driving, you can't keep up. That would seem to work just the opposite as well. If you are "guarding" a group by simply checking for approaching players, those on vehicles can slip up on you without having ever shown up on your tracking list.
We need something that will make us ALWAYS a desired addition to any hunting party regardless of content updates!
First of all, tracking big game was never a viable way to make a living. Big Game pretty much spawned in static locations for the most part. Secondly, even if there was a spawn in a different place, it was practically impossible to find with /areatrack because of the way the spawn system works and the limited range of the skill.
If anyone was hunting Krayts, and didn't know that the Graveyard and the big skeleton by Wayfar were the places to hunt them then they deserve getting charged absurd amounts for finding them. And a large group, which is what you USUALLY have hunting big game, can split up over the area to be hunted and find big game pretty easy.
Vehicles are a GREAT addition to this game, and yes the Ranger profession is lacking, but vehicles are NOT the cause. Vehicles have greatly enhanced my hunting and profession as a Master Ranger. NO longer do myself and my hunting party have to sit there and refresh the mission term to get missions all in the same direction. We grab the quarry we want and use vehicles to make up for the distance between. I use /areatrack ALL the time to find quarry that has the resource we are looking for instead of having to zoom back to get more missions. And because of the way the spawn system works, we can zoom around an area a few times, generate some spawns and then get off the vehicle and /areatrack for the MOBs we want.
Yes, Ranger is needing some fixing.. but vehicles did NOT break it. It was broken long before.
Vehicles did not
GundarEars wrote:
I would have to disagree in part. Rangers are the consumate hunters. And hunting skills DO translate to warfare.. especially in a natural setting.
Rangers/Scouts throughout history have been used to tell the military where the enemy is what his capabilities are. The tracking ability should translate better to PvP for this reason.
Camo should work in PvP. Its not a stretch that a consumate hunter could conceal himself from humanoids with far less honed senses than creatures.
If a trap can work on 10ton Malkloc, it should work on a kiteing Pistoleer.
While I do not think Rangers should or could EVER take the place of the hardened battle-tested soldier... the consumate hunter of animals has transferred his skills to the hunting of man throughout history and it should be so here as well.
Actually, I disagree a bit too:most of usseem to agreethat Rangers are supposed to be Nature/Big Game Hunters. The folks that hunt down peopleare called Bounty Hunters. I think that should stay the way it is. I wouldn't mind seeing some logical extension of the Nature/Big Game Hunters concept translate into being more effective in PvP, but this class shouldn't be geared towards increases inPvP combat. If anything, this should be the ultimate PvE profession....
I disagree with you. Ranger should be the Big Game hunter, and Bounty hunter should be the NPC and PC hunter. However, I have hunted with bounty hunters and they can take on that big game a whole lot better than I can, and I add little to nothing to the fight. If bounty hunters are meant to hunt NPCs and PCs and we are made to fight MOBs then why is it that I have to feel embarresed by my puny damage output and then to add insult to injury the bounty hunter can throw half the traps that I can, harvest resources almost as efficiently, and has his own additional traps that can be used on those NPC's?
If we are going to be the big game hunters you envision then rangers desperately need a form of high damage output, even if it is in the form of traps limited to PVE. I would much prefer that it were an actual weapon craftable by rangers with damage types that could be altered (strong poison, bleedingand disease effects, heat/fire, etc., but nothing like electricity, blast or energy)from the creatures we harvest (cause lets face it, weaponsmiths don't need our buisness and rangers should never HAVE to go into town),so that we don't end up being picked out of the rancors teeth by our BH friend that finished it off.
Remember too that from a skill point standpoint there are only a few proffessions that take more points to master: bounty hunter, commando, and combat medic,(Please call me if I ommitted anything) and each of those classes are much more capable of big game hunting that a ranger. The classes that come in under ranger that are also more capable hunters would be: rifleman, pistoleer, carbineer, teras kai, fencer, swordsman, pikeman, smuggler, and creature handler. I think I've listed every class with any damage output, which is appropriate because as rangers we have limited bonuses to combat, but no real damage output of our own.We can create a ton of traps, but we can't create any traps that can cause enough damage to eventake out a chuba or any other newbie spawn that a fresh out of the box 0-0-0-0 marksman could kill. Rangers are more often the hunted than the hunters unless they spend alot more of their skill points getting other skills.
Mykel Syen
Radiant
Almost everything I've seem on this list are great requests! Congrats. 
Among the great features proposedare a revamp of the /areatrack for easy of use and increased efficiency and range, all the proposals concerning the high-tech field base.
I like what as been said about traps and their lack of efficiency against the high-end MOBs. However, I'm not favorable to get multi-effect traps as this could seriously unbalance the combat system.
I have the same problem with the Evac Camp as this would be abused too and to have a somewhat portable shuttleport is a little bit too much IMO. Of course if this was a high-end faction perk linked to rank, why not. 
On the other hand,I reallyfind ranger-specific weapons neither needed nor appropriate.
Indeed, we are in a post-hyperspace galaxy and I see compounded bows as completely un-starwarsy. As a matter of fact, a SW Ranger should be more attuned to technology much like the planetary explorers from the Continuity.
That being said, it would be great to havean impact in the GCW and have traps - whether these are the long awaited drop-down traps or not -applying to pets (factional or not)but also to players, to have a ranger 's /conceal science being effective against defense sensors (i.e. Turrets, covert detectors, and ATSTs), terrain negotiation and trapping having an effect on respectivelymovingthrough and disarming minefields.
Squidwalker wrote:
OHHHHH a new idea, for me anyway. What if we are able to craft special "amunition types" for animals only. The idea is, instead of a new weapon for us, these act like power ups, that can go on any weapon. They are crafted by us with resources we can gather, and have to be planet specific like camo kits. When you craft one and put it on your blaster, it will now greatly increase the damage it deals, TO ANIMALS ONLY. Until it burns out. Then you drop another one on your weapon. Put them in the ranger Trapping line (to give it something to make it cool). And you gain the abilit to make them per planet in the same way rate that camo kits are accuired.
Maybe we should just be doping our existing ammo with natural substances? What's poisonous to the wildlife of Corellia might be tasty to the critters on Dathomir. Maybe give us a range of effects similar perhaps to the way the Bio-Engineer cloning system works but just with samples of organic material either from foraging or harvesting.
Actually, maybe we need a ranger or outdoors crafting station to go along with it. Something that gets put up in a camp and gets more effective as our camping skill increases? Let us set up in the field and over the campfire boil down those roots and herbs for just the right effect.
I keep running off and thinking too big here... "Ooo... and if we came up with a good poison, we could let the BE analyzea sample of itto make a schematic for a synthetic version..."
On the lines of ranger crafting, could we maybe make poultices and such in the field? Nothing too advanced, just pain relief and maybe stop minor bleeding. The system might not support specific antidotes, but that might be nice too. If we could know *just* the right herb to stop the sarlacc's disease or the merek poison. Not general purpose like a medic's stuff, very specialized but effective. I always liked the idea of being a specialized hunter, the go-to guy when someone was going out after mereks or gurrecks or whatever it is you specialized in and maybe that could carry over into countering your prey's attacks.
suggestions by a Master Ranger on Chilastra (Ysh-Hon Eeryuu)
minor: /areatrack: additional animations. It looks pretty stupid to try and see an animal when you're facing a huge cliff. I'd prefer an animation where you kneel to the ground and pick up a bit of the soil to examine and smell. Or one where you lay prone with your ear to the ground.
/areatrack: a Ranger doesn't know every single person in the galaxy. So when he sees footsteps, how the frell does he know their name? let alone the proposed faction, etc.
I have so much more, but I just can't think of it right now
Little addition....
The thing that these improvements would allow would be for ranger to be the ones who have the ability to walk out to the most remote areas and hunt for days with no need to return....but then to return with stories to amuse dancers.
I dont like being confined to running missions from cities....i want to spend my time in the wilderness of endor....the only time i should have to return is to resupply and sell my collections....
One thing that would be very nice though....is to make the meat hide and bone that a master ranger collects to be much better than that a mere scout could harvest.....a ranger should retrieve his prize with minimal damage....knowing the best ways of preservation to enshure a good product.....this would give us master rangers a great job and still allow us to hunt in our favourite places with good results.....
Eg Take wooly hide from gurrecks....say its OQ is only 500 and its SR 650to a novice scout.....a master ranger could perhaps get the same hide but with OQ 650 and SR 750 making our harvests the bests no matter what 
"The ability for a Ranger to determine if a critter is a herd animal (social) in the examine command."
You mean:
/examine
- Request to display the Social Assistiveness of a creature
I believe someone has beat you to the punch my friend.
"I have the same problem with the Evac Camp"
I have since removed this idea, as it seems to fall more in the perview of the Squad Leader...
- I wish them luck in trying to champion the idea.
"I see compounded bows as completely un-starwarsy."
Aye, I am leaning more towards the trap launcher concept more and more these days...
- It is the same idea, simply a different name.
I have learned to appreciate our traps. But still 2 empty boxes...
Box4- Sleeping gaz: creature falls asleep. Will be awakened by anyaggresive action toward it. Can'twork on damaged creatures (basically: a mez).
Box2-Lure: Not really a trap but moredevice that imitates a creature's call andcan lure traget creature out of the pack towards you.
I feel both this traps would help our support role (we arent pure fighter. We are great support for tamers and ADN samplers)
Also, let us experiment on traps for increase stacks. The main reason i don't use them much is that i'm tired of crafting them. We can already experiment on Camo kits.
Camps: Camps need new stuff. Already mentionned are: Vehicule repair station, mission terminals, and BF healing. I would also had a meat smoker. using it, a ranger can transform meat into commestible food, with no bonus to stat. Simply to make pet food. Something like: 50 meat ---> a stack of salted meat 10 doses. This would be very popular to feed pets, and would finally put me at ease for all those time my pet screams he's hungry and i can give him some of the 5k meat in my back pack... Also, as foraging goes hope, i would hope to get stacks of food, not just simgle unstackable doses.
Master Ranger harvesting: Master rangers should be able to harvest female/queen mamale creatures for a random chance of milk.
"Sleeping gaz: creature falls asleep. Will be awakened by anyaggresive action toward it. Can'twork on damaged creatures"
I think that one is covered by the Tranquilizer request...
- Though perhaps Sleeping Gas might be an area effect version of the ability.
"Lure: Not really a trap but moredevice that imitates a creature's call andcan lure traget creature out of the pack towards you."
We get enough requests about this one that I guess I really should reiterate all of GreenMarine's ideas in the SotP...
- Currently, I don't bother listing items that are in the Holocron post at the top of the forum.
***minor: /areatrack: additional animations. It looks pretty stupid to try and see an animal when you're facing a huge cliff. I'd prefer an animation where you kneel to the ground and pick up a bit of the soil to examine and smell. Or one where you lay prone with your ear to the ground.***
...very good idea... like that onme alot since i roleplay alot...