Ranger Archive

I was going to post this as a reply to "Are we really getting a revamp?" but I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts and figured a new thread would guarantee a good response.

Ranger, as far as I know, is the only Profession that has abilities that can only be used in combat (trapping) that isn't listed on the Powerpoint-esque graphic detailing what each Elite Profession's role is within the Combat Upgrade. Admittedly, this ability only affects creatures at the moment.

I don't think anyone knows what this means exactly, but we can either look at it optimistically: The coming changes to Ranger are so huge and will completely change the emphasis of the Profession that it's just too hard to place it within the existing framework of the CU.

Or we can think negatively: The devs have no idea what to do with Ranger and are just going
to ignore it for the time being.

I'm not really sure what I think at the moment: I notice the SP for Squad Leader has been reduced. Squad Leader doesn't have any abilities that directly affect the state or HAM of an opponent (animal, NPC, or player). I assume the devs see this as a deterrent for the player that considers mastering this profession--with combat Profession stacking, why would someone sacrifice a second offensive skill for a support skill? So they reduce the requirements to make it more attractive.

This leads me to believe that SL isn't getting all the requests they want for their revamp. I spent a little time browsing their forum and discovered they were requesting some very similar skills to what we've requested: gathering intelligence on other players; something like ambush; etc. Take a look at their forum for more examples. Hell, they even want to make their own camps. If the devs have made SL easier to get and less of a sacrifice of more offensive ability, why are they going to make them the ultimate combat support profession?

My guess is that they will get a lot of new abilities, but they will mostly be geared toward controlling bigger and more powerful NPC's, controlling the flow of player combat, and special abilities in controlling factional bases (one idea on their forum I liked was being able to move other players between "on leave", "combatant", and "special forces"). Perhaps we haven't received any reduction in skill points (and how I would love to be able to carry Master Ranger, Master Rifleman, and a decent amount of medic) because they feel our ideas (which I have to assume that the devs love for this make sense) would make us too powerful a combat Profession and we really shouldn't be able to pick up extra skills beyond one Master offensive skill.

But then I see the friggin' Powerpoint-esque graphic. Ranger is not listed at all. Not even an off to the side message "Rangers, we love you and are going to make your profession worth the sacrifice, but we just don't know how to do it yet. Love, The Devs" Are we just an Artisan that hunts? Are we just supposed to do our daily grind of hunting, make our cash, occasionally show off the High Tech Campsite to some random nOOb we meet in the wilderness, help the Jedi in our guilds find GDK's, locate the pissant moisture farmer, and then try to PvP and get waxed by the Master Rifleman / Master CM? Remember, with Profession stacking, we will most likely be at a distinct advantage.

I remember a time when being a Master Ranger brought "ooo" and "ahhh", not just "Hey, can you help me find the moisture farmer?" Back when people hunted in groups, I remember being the one guy in the guild you just had to have for hunting ER's and NS's on Dath. If the CU comes and goes without any kind of revamp of our skills, I suppose the biggest creatures will require a group and, for things to go smoothly and successfully, a Master Ranger to lead the hunt. I guess I wouldn't mind that, but I'm getting more and more interested in PvP and the GCW. If I don't get some feedback soon, something to wet my appetite, after CU I'll just be counting the days until I drop Ranger.

-Eup

I too have been en route to or played as a Master Ranger since shortly after launch. My registration on the forums was a _little_ delayed, but as they say "Lurker is as Lurker does." And I won't tell anyone that I'm an awesome PvP'er that's getting the shaft with the CU because I also want to be Ranger.

I certainly wouldn't admit to know everything that's going on in terms of the Ranger revamp moving forward. I work at a large engineering firm. I know designs take time, delays are inevitiable, and everyone likes to tell their mananger they'll have the project complete earlier than the expectations.

I guess my main point is that after the CU, Ranger will be the _ONLY_ non-crafting, non-PvPing Profession that requires combat of some sort. If the current skill set can't be changed, then it needs to all work correctly--and at a higher level. Camps have to do something, traps have to be effective at Master Ranger on all levels of creatures, Area Track should be expanded, harvesting should be increased even more, and we all should be able to wear a big ol' 10 gallon hat that lets everyone know that we're a proud member of the Ranger community.

Maybe we can't have it both ways. Perhaps if Ranger is Scout-plus-plus (the second plus was added assuming everything works correctly within Ranger, LOL) and Super-Awesome Guerrilla Warfare Expert the world will crumble and every atom in you body will explode simultaneously at the speed of light.

In the end, I've got to say I'm excited about the Combat Upgrade--it'll be like playing a whole new game.

I think the truth will end up somewhere between the two alternatives suggested. That the Ranger revamp will, due to the huge changes brought about by the CURB, end up being somewhat more significant than we were expecting and that yes, for the time being, we are being ignored by the Dev's but, I'm going to choose to believe, for the more or less honourable reason that they really do need to focus on the core combat profs in the short term and then work out to the other profs that are affected.

I do have some concerns about what it will be like to be a Ranger in that intervening period though. We don't know what impact shifting meds from docs to BE's will be. Will they use the same resources? Will they simplify things as part of the general drive towards 'simple to understand, difficult to master'? Will they be using anything like the same quantitities or be able / willing to pay the same sort of prices?

Simple bit of market economics here. If buffs are to become relatively low powered, short term consumables that a doc has to purchase in order to use, are they going to be able to charge 15k per buff? I doubt it. For a three hour buff that was one thing, but for 20% and shorter time, what? 1k? 2k? "who knows". The price the customers are prepared to pay will dictate what the docs can afford to pay which in turn will drive the price the BE's will pay for the raw resource.

The short term nature of the new buffs might be what saves our pockets. Quantity, mass production of a low priced disposable product might mean that we don't see much dip in demand for organics.

OK, my other concern is armour. If certification is tied to a player progression through combat professions and we only have one combat prof, will we be restricted in the types of armour we can equip? If AS need particular resources and they can only be had off the rougher planets, will be be anywhere near robust enough to be able to go after them?

Weaponry is my other concern. The similarities to my armour concerns are too similar to bear repeating.

I know Owen has opened a number of threads for the testers to start feeding info back into as it becomes available, /hatsoff Owen and that the stock answer to most of my concerns is "well, we simply don't know yet, we'll need to test and check and see" but even though I'm a great advocate of that particular approach it doesn't mean that I'm not looking at the next couple of months or so with more than a little trepidation.

Just got to keep reminding myself that 'its going to be fun finding out', eh?

Interesting Times.

That's a really good point about Armor and Weaponry. If having only one Master combat profession limits Ranger to a support role in the killing of creatures as well as PvP, will we have any role true role? I know this is all speculation (but isn't speculation fun?) and we have to try things out on the TC, but I really feel the ideas I've read here are so inventive that for reality to be anything less would be a disappointment. I would absolutely sacrifice offensive skill to play a Master Ranger as it's been outlined in this forum.

I can see why we're not considered a "core combat role" right now, but I really feel that Ranger could be one of the most dynamic professions in the game. If, as the devs have claimed, there is a need to add stra-tee-ger-ee to the game, wouldn't the ideas presented in this forum go a long way towards that? I'd love for our beloved profession and SL to become the two main combat support professions within the GCW: SL focuses on controlling NPC's, mananging large groups of player soldiers, and the improvement of factional bases; Ranger focuses on intelligence gathering, stealthfully leading small groups into and out of combat, and deploying natural impediments to enemy forces.

As a side note, and one of my pet peeves, which I'll throw out now seeing as how the devs want a Star Wars centric game: let's make smugglers and bounty hunters more powerful, but require they be faction neutral. If only love could make Han Solo join the Rebels, shouldn't factions have to spend some FP to get smugglers and BH's on their side for a bit? Of course, those professions would be rewarded with at least a 20x multiplier FP to credits.

The great discussion on the Ranger forums only can make our voice louder and more cohesive. Keep it up folks.

Message Edited by Euprivia on 03-30-2005 11:20 PM