Ranger Archive

They did mention that they changed the detection formula to work off the new skill mod for Mask Scent, maybe they messed up on it and think they made it better. But it is no where near the strength it was pre-patch so there is no way they can say it is better or less likely to break.

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Cameo79 wrote:
They did mention that they changed the detection formula to work off the new skill mod for Mask Scent, maybe they messed up on it and think they made it better. But it is no where near the strength it was pre-patch so there is no way they can say it is better or less likely to break.

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My thoughts exactly. Something happend when they changed the trees around.ALSO, I think the server is were the calc is done, as some seem to work just fine and some do not.

For the record, NOT on Eclipse.

You, of course, are assuming it was working perfectly pre patch. Just because it was stronger doesnt mean it was working as intended. I enjoy the new system as it makes things much more strategy oriented. There will always be formula tweaking, and the current system may not be perfect either. But, having to think about what you are running into and through instead of just doing it adds an element to the gamethat I really enjoy. Are you really saying that you think you should be able to mask your scent and run screaming through a pack of kreetles and they just shouldnt see you? Yes, the kreetle seeing you from 60m out may be a bit extreme for the level of the kreetle, but just because they are weak doesnt mean they are blind. Kreetles will see you if you arent actively trying to hide/bypass them. Just like narglatches. Just like Bocatts. Weak != Blind.

The system will be tweaked, but I think its working well now and just needs minor adjustments.

Thadar

Ranger/BE

Tarquinas

I cut and pasted some of this from an earlier post of mine but i modified it a lot towards the end:

Not sure why other people are having difficulties with /maskscent and /conceal. Both seem to work great for me. I have only tried it on Dathomir and I am a master ranger so maybe people that are having trouble are lower level and master makes a big difference.

/maskscent definitely breaks a lot more now (i.e. more then NEVER breaking like it was before, it was way overpowered and I think people are just spoiled) With just /maskscent on I was able to hide from almost all the Giant Baz Nitchs and rancors even while running as long as I didn’t get too close. If I ran right through the center of their lair (like I could before the patch) then I would usually get attacked. But again, think about it people!!! You are masking your SCENT not becoming invisible. So yes even the lowliest mob should be able to see you if you get close. Even if it is a nort. /maskscent is only supposed to hide you from one of creatures’ senses not vision and hearing as well so you should still have to stay 20m or more away from things if you want them to not notice you. I don’t know if this is how it is working but I do know that I was able to get around past forty or so giant baz nitches without being detected if I made some effort to avoid them and stay outside 20-30m or so. (And I was getting a TON of XP from it)

/conceal worked waaaay better for me then /maskscent. It did not have it break even once for the duration of the kit. I ran past every creature/NPC I could find and nothing spotted me. I was face-to-face inches from a nightsister slaver that was aggressive to me and neither he nor his two buddies noticed me. I was running in circles around them and through them for five minutes straight. Not sure why it is breaking for other people. Maybe the Dath kit just works better or maybe master rangers bonus to conceal actually does something. I hope so because I’m not sure even master rangers should be able to conceal this well and I definitely don’t think anyone other then masters should be able to conceal anywhere near this well. (I got 9k XP in around 10 minutes with conceal on)

I haven’t tried applying my Dath kits to anyone else yet but if the work as well on others as they do on me then that will be very powerful. Not sure how the scouting XP will work for not being detected if someone else conceals you. If the person wearing the kit gets XP then this will be the easiest way to get master scout/ranger. Just have a ranger apply the Dath kit to you and you should be able to get 40k scouting or more per kit. Seems a bit overpowered to me. I really think they need to lower or drop the XP gain from /maskscent and /conceal.

Based on how powerful the kits that I made and used were I do not think that the resource requirements are too high at all. Yes I do think that rangers should be able to find wood and berries in the wild and no I do not think we should be able to mine metal and oil for our camps. But that is another issue. 90 or so total resources is not very much for 25 minutes of invisibility to all creatures and npcs that can be applied to anyone.

I agree with what LecheHombre said about /maskscent and /conceal breaking on a case by case basis. If one creature spots you but you keep moving along and that creature doesn’t attack you why should whatever camouflage or scent mask you are wearing magically fall off making you smellable/visible to everything. Now, if the creature attacks you and his friends see this it makes sense that they should jump in too. For that matter if any aggressive creature spots you fighting with anything it should be able to attack you. But if a creature merely notices you run by but does nothing the camo should stay up. Likewise however, combat should break camo because you aren’t exactly concealing yourself if you are firing a weapon or beating on something with a sword or pike. But it probably doesn’t make sense for it to use up the camo kit in that case. Maybe make the kit a fixed duration and the person who has the kit applied to them can turn on /conceal and if it is broken due to combat then after 60 seconds or whatever then can turn /conceal back on as long as the timer for the kit that has been applied to them hasn’t run out yet. I like this because /conceal really needs to take into consideration both the skill of the ranger that made the kit and the skill of the person that is trying to conceal. I don’t care how good of a conceal kit you had applied to you, if you are clumsy and tripping over stuff creatures should notice you. So it could work like rangers are basically giving other players the ability to blend in to their surroundings but the person has to actively conceal themselves to not be seen. Then if they get into combat their conceal breaks but their ability to re-conceal themselves remains as long as the kit is still on them.

Of course if the devs implemented the case-by-case breaking of /maskscent and /conceal they would have to either completely remove the XP gain from these skills or at least take it down to 10% of what it is now or less because otherwise people would be getting unlimited scouting XP because nothing could break /maskscent or /conceal. But I think most scouts/rangers would be happy with this trade off. We don't want these skills to be for XP we want them to be for hunting/scouting. Anyone who disagrees with me, think about it before you say anything.... it wont be long before you no longer need scouting XP but the skill will always remain with you. Wouldnt you rather the skill were good and granted no XP then sucked but granted you instant master scout/ranger?

Just a few thoughts.

First off, I am not assuming everything was working perfectly before the patch, maybe it wasn't but there was no indication that it was not working properly.

The notes say the strength of Mask Scent was improved, made stronger, less likely to break. That is FALSE, no matter how you want to look at it. It breaks a lot more now than before. If mask scent was too strong before then they should have said they tweaked it down in the patch notes, but that wasn't the case now was it?

Now on that kreetle example, no the kreetle isn't blind, well maybe he is and uses sonar, but no matter. Mask Scent doesn't make you invisible, it just covers your scent so the creatures don't see you as an aggressive target they want to attack. It alters their vision not make them blind.

If you noticed before patch, even when you have mask scent up, a red mob might walk up to you. It would check you out, mask scent wouldn't break but the mob would attack you after it got really close and could "smell" your real scent while the other creatures don't know whats going on. Now the creatures just break it from 60m out and attack. I could walk past the nest at 60m without mask scent and NOT get aggro where as if I had mask scent up they would aggro because of the code that lets them attack sometimes if they break it. That is the problem.

Ohh and in my opinion as a Master Ranger, king of the wild, I should be able to run where ever the heck I feel like. And even before the patch I had to watch where I was running because only creatures ignored me (NPC would still attack), and even the creatures attacked if I got too close. Camo packs may help this, but I have to use one since I don't have the points for artisan as a Master Ranger/Rifleman.

I'm sorry to inform you but I was crawlling up to a Bagerset when it broke my MS. I don't think that is it. Regardless, I'm NOT crawling all over Corellia. It works better to not to use it at all. I still think its bugged. Isee NO pattern as to what breaks it more. For a time I thought it was low level critters, but now I can find counter examples. A group I was in told me to stop using it, it aggro'ed so many times.

Prior to the patch, I had no difficulties with maskscent. On occasion, you would get a stalker from a lair who would come to where you were and check out the area. As long as you kept moving, that creature wouldn't end up attacking you.

Last night, I was 60m from a twilight vir vur when maskscent broke and it attacked. Now, I'm not crying because a I had to smack around a vir vur, but this was obviously buggy. Vir vur type mobs don't attack unless you get right on them (they are red). Without maskscent this mob would have never attacked me...ever. It's not even making a check at that range, but after the patch..they are. That's junk.

And this wasn't just once. After beating up said vir vurs I continued on my mission, not really worried about it...until 2 minutes later when a bearded jax attacked me from 50+m. I'm a Bothan with WFIV, so I have a camo of 105. Sorry, but a critter shouldn't be picking me up and aggroing from that distance.

I have never taken maskscent for granted and have always tried to stay 50m away from aggro critters that I'd like to avoid. Now I'm better off taking the same caution and just leaving maskscent off. I'm sorry, but that makes the skill broken.

Hello all,

After seeing all the posts about people complaining over MS breaking, I thought I would add some insight. People keep yelling that they can't run through a group of reds, waving their gun, and have the critters ignore them. It just doesn't work that way. MS is not invisibility, but it will *almost* never break at the Master Scout level if you use it correctly.

GO PRONE!!! Crawl into the critters. Yes, its slow. I crawl around Endor for hours, going through Mantigrue Lairs, Ancient Hunadek lairs and moreand rarely ever have mask scent break. Some creatures are more adept at discovering MS than others(Dern Arachnids) so learn your prey. Figure out which ones are like that. Examine the creatures and find out if they are killers, might want to go around those and not chance it.

Even while prone there are times when the creatures will still find you. Watch the overhead map carefully. I will zoom in on the map so I can see the triangle of the reds out there and watch what direction they are coming at me from. If they are heading right for you, then move. If you stay in their path and they walk over you, they will most likely find you.

If MS does fail, dont panic. It happens. The critters that aren't fooled don't always attack you. Stay prone and don't move. Once the timer is gone, reapply MS and wait for a few ticks before moving on. This is a great skill and works great too.

Anyway, don't complain about MS breaking, just use it correctly. Someday someone might run into your house waving a gun around. Think you will notice them? "You can't possibly see me! I just took a mud bath outside before I came in!!!"

Thadar

Ranger/BE

Tarquinas

I hardly see it as a benefit if you have to spend half an hour crawling out of the Mining Outpost on Yavin 4.

Well, then don't crawl. You are taking the chance of MS breaking prematurely if you don't though. What I said before stands true though. MS is not invisibility and people need to stop thinking of it as such.

Before the patch as a Master Ranger I would run around Dathomir with teams doing Giant Baz Nitch missions. I used my mask scent all the time and it almost never broke, I never had the nerve to go right in the nest but I have been within 30m of the creatures and not get detected. As a Master Ranger I thought of this to be working as it should.

Now after the patch, I go to do same missions, and while we are running to the mission I get agro from a lvl 22 normal Baz Nitch that detected me from 60m out and started to charge at me. I don't think that is right at all, standing or not a lvl 22 mob should not break my mask scent at all. I don't use mask scent for exp, I use it as a feature of my class to be able to explore areas that people of lesser skill can not. Before the patch I could do that, now without some special resources to make a camo pack (which I still have not been able to try because I cant find an artisan on Dath to get me the wood) I can not explore the "uncharted" lands as I should be.

Mask Scent is being broken way too easily in my opinion, it also causes non aggressive mobs to attack you if they break your mask scent. I had a Peko attack me last night around Moenia because I had my mask scent up and it broke the scent and attacked. The patch notes said they made it harder to break, but that is 100% false.

Master Ranger here, and I get "sniffed out" by ferkin kreetles using mask scent.

oh but wait, I get 6 points of scouting that I no longer need...sheeesh!

I'm a Master for crying out loud, Kreetles shouldn't have a clue that I'm around if I don't want them to.

Man, I can't believe how bad the tuning of this class is.

You are now much more likely to successfully mask scent against a creature.

You are much more likely to successfully mask scent if you are prone, slightly less likely if you are up and running.

Notice it says SLIGHTLY.

XP rewards for mask scent have been lowered, given that success rates have increased.

These are from the Patch release notes.

Is anyone going to tell me these actually apply? They are total fabrications. It was nerfed a great deal.

Maskscent was FAR more powerful Pre-patch.