Ranger Archive

A few friends and I had a conversation recently about the Second Class Citizens running around the game. We talked about how they could be worth playing. I’ve got a free moment this morning so I thought it would be good to share these ideas with the communities. I would like to say that I am a player, not a forumeer (apart from a small scale campaign for Dual Weild Pistols), so I apologise in advance for anything that I list here that someone has said before, I’m not interested in an argument, I am simply submitting my ideas. Take them as you please.

Squad Leader

I actually have SL 0404 as part of my template, and I think that really adds something to my character. I love it. Volley Fire and Rally are great. However, alot of people I have spoken to never even consider SL, and I would certainly never base a template around it. Nearly everyone holding a gun at the moment is either a BH, has Scout 3000, or is quite happy to lay prone for entire missions (Riflemen). There are too few people running around who would take advantage of the Terrain and Burst Run mods, and the Master box doesn’t make up for the wasted line unlike BH, Marksman and Brawler (which all have good reasons to master). If the Master Squad Leader title came with similiar benefits as M.Commando and M.BH it might be worth it, but even the extra Group Mods are petty. The first line of Squad Leader also has no specials, and the third line has specials that are obsolete in a group that has a Doctor and is filled with people that can cure Dizzy and Stun themselves.

• 
  
  Give the Master Squad Leader box benefits equal to MBH and MC
  
  
• 
  
  Revise the third line’s specials and move Retreat to the first line.

Ranger

Funny how the most popular class in other MMOGs can become one of the most obscure and rarley heard about classes in SWG. Jedi should be this rare. I wouldn’t waste my points here, even if I wasn’t Rping a M.BH, M.Pistols. Most merchants have never heard of Camo Kits, I’ve heard someone say that he kept one in the bnk for x amount of weeks becuase he thought it was a Rare drop! In my opinion merchants (level 1) shouldn’t leave the front door without one. I haven’t made a camp in weeks, and I’m a Squad Leader. Camps need to be a reasonable excuse to take a breather. Camps should have a noticable impact on BF and Wounds, and you should not require the services of another two characters (one entertainer, one doctor) to make a camp useful. If a Master Ranger’s camp healed wounds and took away BF at the same rate as a Master Dancer, cantinas would not become abandoned, and would prbbly not lose many customers at all. But if you really wanted Rangers to be the “never sets foot in a city for weeks at a time” character mentioned in the manual, then Ranger Camps need a Terminal. IMHO Rangers need to be introduced to Exploration missions in a big way. Rangers could get Exploration Mission Difficulty bonuses similiar to Bounty Hunters, if they could access those higher missions from better camps, terminals from Ranger based camps, they could stay out in the wilderness indefinatley, only occasionally coming back ino civilsation to trade supplies for resources, or train. Another problem rangers face is that they spend 140 points in non combat boxes and are expected to hunt high level creatures for a living. M.Ranger, M.Rifleman should be more of a threat to a Kimo than MBH, M.Rifleman. So more Anti Creature bonuses are a must. A special or two would be nice, and Traps definatley need improving. Anyone can inflict states, and as I understand it, that’s all that traps can do. If Scout Traps were not level based, and were practically Single Target, Anti-Creature Grenades (Glop Grenades rock), and Ranger Traps simply AoE versions of those traps, then we would see alot more being thrown around, and it would actually mean that Rangers would make a significant difference to the outcome of the combat situations that they are made for. If M.Rangers had a single target sedative (lowers combat speed and movement speed) designed specifically to make rangers a useful part of a Gorax/Krayt hunting party, access to Exploration Terminals from their camps and AoE Traps, then they would have found their place in the community. Hardcore hunters forever baby!

• 
  
  The public needs to be aware of Camo kits
  
  
• 
  
  Camps should not need Doctors and Entertainers
  
  
• 
  
  Traps should equal or out do Grenades
  
  
• 
  
  Rangers need introducing to Exploration Terminals (Mission Difficulty +1, etc)
  
  
• 
  
  Group Mask Scent wouldn’t hurt.
  
  
• 
  
  More Accuracy Vs Creatures to offset the 140 skill points spent on this “combat” skill. Currently Smugglers are better at fighting creatures than Rangers.

Creature Handlers

A very good friend of mine wanted to play as a CH, BE, Ranger back when we first started. But it would always lead to Benny Hill sketches with CH being chased by Mob, being chased by a line of pets. Hilarious, but needless to say, he dropped it. If you could be safe from danger upon your mount (until it dies), if you could control your Mount directly, through hotkey specials (melee attack, special #1, special #2), using the special moves available to that mount, with the addition of being able to use Bacta Toss, Traps and Grenades. Then Creature Handlers could become a very interesting tank. Mounts and Riders would count as one target. Once the Mount dies, then the Rider is dismounted and can be attacked or healed normally.

• 
  
  When you mount up you should become, for the sake of combat, the Mount.
  
  
• 
  
  An MCH, MRanger, fighting as a Mount with AoE traps could be a serious tank.
  
  
• 
  
  Some squad leader like bonuses for creatures under control of the MCH wouldn’t hurt

In short, we as players should have a choice between whether we take our Masters in Ranger, Commando, Smuggler, Bounty Hunter or Squad Leader and they should have fairly equal bonuses depending on their given situation. A Squad Leader should be better in a squad than a Commando, and a Ranger should be better at taking out Creatures than a Bounty Hunter.

A few friends and I had a conversation recently about the Second Class Citizens running around the game. We talked about how they could be worth playing. I’ve got a free moment this morning so I thought it would be good to share these ideas with the communities. I would like to say that I am a player, not a forumeer (apart from a small scale campaign for Dual Weild Pistols), so I apologise in advance for anything that I list here that someone has said before, I’m not interested in an argument, I am simply submitting my ideas. Take them as you please.

Squad Leader

I actually have SL 0404 as part of my template, and I think that really adds something to my character. I love it. Volley Fire and Rally are great. However, alot of people I have spoken to never even consider SL, and I would certainly never base a template around it. Nearly everyone holding a gun at the moment is either a BH, has Scout 3000, or is quite happy to lay prone for entire missions (Riflemen). There are too few people running around who would take advantage of the Terrain and Burst Run mods, and the Master box doesn’t make up for the wasted line unlike BH, Marksman and Brawler (which all have good reasons to master). If the Master Squad Leader title came with similiar benefits as M.Commando and M.BH it might be worth it, but even the extra Group Mods are petty. The first line of Squad Leader also has no specials, and the third line has specials that are obsolete in a group that has a Doctor and is filled with people that can cure Dizzy and Stun themselves.

• 
  
  Give the Master Squad Leader box benefits equal to MBH and MC
  
  
• 
  
  Revise the third line’s specials and move Retreat to the first line.

Ranger

Funny how the most popular class in other MMOGs can become one of the most obscure and rarley heard about classes in SWG. Jedi should be this rare. I wouldn’t waste my points here, even if I wasn’t Rping a M.BH, M.Pistols. Most merchants have never heard of Camo Kits, I’ve heard someone say that he kept one in the bnk for x amount of weeks becuase he thought it was a Rare drop! In my opinion merchants (level 1) shouldn’t leave the front door without one. I haven’t made a camp in weeks, and I’m a Squad Leader. Camps need to be a reasonable excuse to take a breather. Camps should have a noticable impact on BF and Wounds, and you should not require the services of another two characters (one entertainer, one doctor) to make a camp useful. If a Master Ranger’s camp healed wounds and took away BF at the same rate as a Master Dancer, cantinas would not become abandoned, and would prbbly not lose many customers at all. But if you really wanted Rangers to be the “never sets foot in a city for weeks at a time” character mentioned in the manual, then Ranger Camps need a Terminal. IMHO Rangers need to be introduced to Exploration missions in a big way. Rangers could get Exploration Mission Difficulty bonuses similiar to Bounty Hunters, if they could access those higher missions from better camps, terminals from Ranger based camps, they could stay out in the wilderness indefinatley, only occasionally coming back ino civilsation to trade supplies for resources, or train. Another problem rangers face is that they spend 140 points in non combat boxes and are expected to hunt high level creatures for a living. M.Ranger, M.Rifleman should be more of a threat to a Kimo than MBH, M.Rifleman. So more Anti Creature bonuses are a must. A special or two would be nice, and Traps definatley need improving. Anyone can inflict states, and as I understand it, that’s all that traps can do. If Scout Traps were not level based, and were practically Single Target, Anti-Creature Grenades (Glop Grenades rock), and Ranger Traps simply AoE versions of those traps, then we would see alot more being thrown around, and it would actually mean that Rangers would make a significant difference to the outcome of the combat situations that they are made for. If M.Rangers had a single target sedative (lowers combat speed and movement speed) designed specifically to make rangers a useful part of a Gorax/Krayt hunting party, access to Exploration Terminals from their camps and AoE Traps, then they would have found their place in the community. Hardcore hunters forever baby!

• 
  
  The public needs to be aware of Camo kits
  
  
• 
  
  Camps should not need Doctors and Entertainers
  
  
• 
  
  Traps should equal or out do Grenades
  
  
• 
  
  Rangers need introducing to Exploration Terminals (Mission Difficulty +1, etc)
  
  
• 
  
  Group Mask Scent wouldn’t hurt.
  
  
• 
  
  More Accuracy Vs Creatures to offset the 140 skill points spent on this “combat” skill. Currently Smugglers are better at fighting creatures than Rangers.

Creature Handlers

A very good friend of mine wanted to play as a CH, BE, Ranger back when we first started. But it would always lead to Benny Hill sketches with CH being chased by Mob, being chased by a line of pets. Hilarious, but needless to say, he dropped it. If you could be safe from danger upon your mount (until it dies), if you could control your Mount directly, through hotkey specials (melee attack, special #1, special #2), using the special moves available to that mount, with the addition of being able to use Bacta Toss, Traps and Grenades. Then Creature Handlers could become a very interesting tank. Mounts and Riders would count as one target. Once the Mount dies, then the Rider is dismounted and can be attacked or healed normally.

• 
  
  When you mount up you should become, for the sake of combat, the Mount.
  
  
• 
  
  An MCH, MRanger, fighting as a Mount with AoE traps could be a serious tank.
  
  
• 
  
  Some squad leader like bonuses for creatures under control of the MCH wouldn’t hurt

In short, we as players should have a choice between whether we take our Masters in Ranger, Commando, Smuggler, Bounty Hunter or Squad Leader and they should have fairly equal bonuses depending on their given situation. A Squad Leader should be better in a squad than a Commando, and a Ranger should be better at taking out Creatures than a Bounty Hunter.