Ranger Archive

- The sections of this list are in no particular order

- However the item in each section are in High to Low priority.

- This is not the Top 5 debate post (but you can debate them here if you wish).

State of the Profession (Sep 18 / 2003)

/harvest

• Harvesting Skill Mod seems to be no longer significant enough to make it worthwhile.
  
• Grouping with pets (either Creature handler or Faction) invokes the 60% harvesting rule
  
• Issue where you accidentally harvest a non-existing resource (hide off a Hermit Spider) by using /harvest hide, and after that you are not allowed to harvest the correct resource.
  
• Issue of creatures with skinny resources appearing for 24 hours after the resource has shifted
  
• Request for higher quality resources to spawn on the more advanced planets. Perhaps less chance of high quality resources appearing on starter planets, while a greater chance of them appearing on advanced planets.
  
• Request for a /group harvest off to turn off the 60% harvesting rule and revert to the earlier rule set
  
• Request to add the ability to harvest multiple resources off a single corpse (up to all 3 types at Master Ranger)
  
• Request to add rare loot to creatures that only Rangers can find. Schematics that create Teeth necklaces, or Trophy Heads have been suggested
  
• Request to change corpse harvesting to a fixed amount per corpse, rather than the variable method currently being used
  
  
  
  • forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=12261
  
  
• Request for Creature Harvesters in for the form of traps
  
  
  
  • Work like Mineral harvesters.
    
  • Possibly have a large footprint to keep from having large farms of them around hot spots.
    
  • A small hopper, perhaps 2000-4000, to ensure that they are not completely unbalancing
    
  • Schematic is available at a high level in Trapping, perhaps Trapping IV or Master Ranger

/conceal

• Request to have only creatures/humanoids that would normally attack you attempt to break your camoflauge. Most Rangers simply turn /maskscent off to avoid being insta-attacked by non-aggressive creatures, but you can not manually disable /conceal.
  
• Many Rangers find the current implementation of /conceal to be cost prohibitive. The effective of the camoflauge kits does not offset the incredible resource cost associated with the command.
  
• By the description given in the Coorespondent Responses it was expected that conceal would rarely break, that has not been the result that the Rangers have seen.
  
• When a person with camoflauge skill has a camoflauge kit applied to them by another player, whose camoflauge skill is used when camoflauge is checked by creatures?
  
• Issue with aggressive creatures attacking beyond their normal aggression radius when they break /conceal. /conceal can still break, but the creature should not attack if you are outside their normal range.
  
• Issue with creatures warping to your location when they break your camoflauge
  
• Request to reduce the likelyhood of camoflauge break causing a creature to attack you
  
• Issue where You can not /conceal if you have /maskscent enabled
  
• Issue with attempting to apply /maskscent after /conceal wears off normally. Rangers receive a message stating that /conceal is still active.
  
• Issue with immediately applying /maskscent after /conceal breaks. Apparently the /maskscent acts like /conceal (checking against humanoids) for the remainder of the session.
  
• Issue about concealers being unable to tell whether their group members are concealed or not
  
• Request ability to remove /conceal on demand. It is useful on occassion for the purpose of refreshing /conceal or for luring creatures away from lairs.
  
• The wrong message is displayed when /conceal wears off... You receive the /maskscent message.
  
• There have been several requests to allow /conceal to hide a player from radar. I see the possibility of client side hacks to bypass this limitation, which might limit its usefulness.
  
• There have been posts that /maskscent actually gets worse once you reach the Ranger skill set, perhaps due to conflicts between the Mask Scent and Camo skills.
  
• Issue regarding social assist animals ignoring /conceal and finding your location immediately, once you attack one of their brethren.
  
• Request to have /conceal work against Creature Handler pets and Faction pets (but not necessarily their handlers)
  
• Request for /conceal to work against other players. Once you move or attack, you are instantly revealed to all players.

Camoflauge Kits

• Request to remove the specific resource types from the camoflauge kits. Most Rangers feel that having the resources Planet Specific is sufficient (ie: needing any Dantooine Meat rather than Datonooine Herbivore Meat)
  
• Several of the resources required by camoflauge kits are so rare, that no Ranger has yet to find them (Lok domesticated meat for instance).
  
• Factory Crates of kits have no charges, and each kit therefore has infinite charges
  
• Request to make experimentation on Kits more robust. Perhaps by adding Charges and Effectiveness as separate experiment lines
  
• Request to have /group conceal added. The command would conceal everyone in a group while using a kit for each group member.
  
• Request for grease paint graphic on your character when /conceal is active
  
• Request to be use a camoflauge kit on a tailor made overcoat to produce a Ghillie Suit
  
  
  
  • The suit would last longer than a regular camo kit
    
  • The condition of the coat could be used to regulate the duration of the outfit
    
  • The coat would need to be worn to utilize the camoflauge enhancement
    
  • forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=12983

/areatrack

• Issue with the command and the vertical plane. Namely problems using it on mountainous terrain
  
• Request for the command to allow the user to input the target type on the command line (such as /areatrack players)
  
• Request to increase the range of the command to 1000m
  
• There is no default macro icon for the command
  
• Request for a Spawn Point tracking option. This way we can track lairs which haven't spawned any creatures yet.
  
• Issue with Transport Shuttles and Droids being listed in the animal tracker
  
• Request for a Refresh button on the list window
  
• Request for a Tree Structure on the Results window. Related creatures would be listed under a single root tree item
  
• Request for a Pet tracking option

/maskscent

• There are suspicions that /maskscent loses effectiveness when a player picks up the Ranger skills. Could there be a conflict with the new camoflauge skill mod?

/takecover

• Issues with moving after this action has ended. Reduced running speed and other more serious symptoms have been reported.

/examine

• Request to display the "fat, medium, skinny" quality of each resource
  
• Request to display the bone resource
  
• Request to display the Social Assistiveness of a creature
  
• Request to display the speed of a creature (so we can know whether we can outrun it using burstrun)
  
• Request to re-display the base values (numeric amounts) for the creatures resources
  
• Request for information regarding what exactly Ferocity actually represents
  
• Request to display the attributes on resources available on a creature

/forage

• Many Rangers have requested that /forage pull up the flora components required by the camoflauge kits, at least in small quantities.
  
• Issue with receiving a "Inventory Full" message when your inventory still has space available
  
• Request to forage herbs that can heal poison and disease

/rescue

• There are concerns it does not work often enough to be useful. Perhaps a better chance of success, or lower mind drain so it can be tried more often.

Misc.

• Many Rangers have noticed a reduction in the number of random (non-mission) spawns when travelling far away from any towns, was this intentional?
  
• Several Rangers feel more attention should be paid to the crafting system. There is a feeling that Ranger crafting could be more robust and diverse.
  
  
  
  • The addition of more optional components to our schematics (as suggested in the Modular Camp Proposal)
    
    
    
    • forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=2705
    
    
  • Additional experimentation lines. Such as separating Charges and Effectiveness into two lines, for greater choice (more charges, or better traps?)
    
  • More items (the upcoming camp and trap changes should help in this regard)
  
  
• Request for rare loot from poisonous creatures to include a poison weapon enhancement that can be applied to existing weapons for a Damage Over Time effect
  
• Request for binoculars to increase the distance MOBs can be seen on the radar.

Camps

• Do Ranger camps actually repel aggressive creatures?
  
• Several Rangers feel that the recent changes to the Field Base and High Tech Field Base resource requirements should be reverted back to Polymer and Metal (rather than Hide and Bone).
  
• There is no experimentation possible on Camps
  
• Request for some resources to be recovered upon manually disbanding camps (automatic disbands will lose all resources)
  
• Request that the healing modifier of camps be applied to natural HAM damage recovery on Creature Handler pets and Faction pets.
  
• Request for High Tech Field Base:
  
  
  
  • To not disband during combat
    
  • To not disband in a set time, rather only when the Ranger leaves the planet or logs out.
    
  • To heal Battle Fatigue with the help of a Dancer or Musician
    
  • Terminal to provide Explore missions.
    
  • Be able to play the Star Wars Chess game on the High Tech Field Base's chess board
    
  • To sit/lay down on the cots in the High Tech Field Base
    
  • For the roof of the base to stop rain
  
  
• Request for a permanent, planet specifc, hunting cabin:
  
  
  
  • Creatable by a Master Ranger
    
  • Can not be redeeded and moved, only demolished
    
  • Should be buildable on Advanced planets
    
  • Should heal Battle Fatigue like a regular house
    
  • Requires Maintenance like a regular house
    
  • Allows for storage of items
    
  • Only one of these buildings could be deployed at any one time
    
  • Optional schematic components for food or general crafting stations
  
  
• Request for the ability to experiment on Ease of Use on camps to allow lesser skilled Scouts to use them
  
• Request for the direction your character is facing to determine the direction of a deployed camp

Terrain Negotiation

• Several Rangers consider the ability to crawl faster not sufficient enough improvement for such an elite profession such as Ranger
  
• Request to redistribute the Climb and Crawl bonuses differently along the skill line
  
  
  
  • 0-25: Climb bonus, 25-50: Crawl bonus, 50-75: More Climb bonus, 75-100: More Crawl Bonus
  
  
• Request for an improved run speed be associated with Terrain Negotiation
  
• Request for an improved swimming speed associated with Terrain Negotiation
  
• Request for Group Terrain Negotiation to be added to our profession rather than Squad Leader

Traps

• Many Rangers consider the traps to either fail too often or be ineffective when they do work
  
• Request to use traps on Creature Handler pets (possibly receiving no exp for doing so)
  
• Request to use traps on Humanoid NPCs
  
• Request to have traps affect other Players
  
• Request for a macro command for throwing traps, such as /throwtrap bonespur
  
• There is no experimentation possible on Traps
  
• Request for an Area Effect root trap
  
• Request for fish traps available at Trapping II

Creature-to-Hit bonus

• Many melee based Rangers have requested that this bonus be applied to melee weapons as well
  
• If the bonus is already being applied to meleers, kindly change the text description to reflect such
  
• Request to add a Creature-to-Dodge bonus for melee fighters
  
• Request for a group Creature-to-Hit bonus
  
• Request for a Critical Hit on occassion, based on the Creature-to-Hit, that deals a larger amount of damage than normal.
  
• Request for a command that can be used to increase damage against creatures for a certain duration. The increase could be based on the bonus itself.

Ranger Bow

• It has been suggested that a unique weapon would benefit the Ranger profession
  
• The weapon would be something like a modern composite bow
  
• It would require bone, hide, metal, and wood to produce them
  
• When used in conjunction with /maskscent or /conceal, a silent shot could be performed to avoid assistive creatures
  
• Possibly only usable against creatures to reduce possible balance issues
  
• Arrow types would consist of a variety of damage types:
  
  
  
  • Explosive (Blast)
    
  • Nitrogen (Cold)
    
  • Flaming (Fire)
    
  • Armor Piercing
    
  • Shock (Electrical)

Skill Experience

• The experience caps are apparently still set to pre-patch values, and were not adjusted with the increased Scout experience requirements

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- Please post any new issues or correct any issues that are erroneous / out-of-date.

- Ideas are always appreciated and hotly debated.

One word Insano, wonderful list.

Keep up the good work

I'd rather see just a greater chance of high quality resources on advanced planets rather than nerfing starter planets, or better yet, leave it the way it is

Please add :

Put basic HAM bar information that is available to everyone via the mouse hover (that never seems to work) into the examine window. I would be nice to get all your info in the same place.

Osborne Maelstrom - call me Os

Master Ranger - Kauri

" or better yet, leave it the way it is"

- The benefit of hunting on advanced planets does not seem to outweigh the difficulty of the planet itself.

- I can understand those interested purely in the thrill of combat. But some Rangers enjoy the hunt and would like the quality of the resources to reflect the difficulty in harvesting them.

- Since resources are planet specific, the obvious choice is to make the quality of the advanced planets, on average, of higher quality than the starter planets.

"Put basic HAM bar information that is available to everyone "

- I have noted it for the next list.

I agree with everything except for a few items or priorty of items as follows:

/harvest

• Request to add the ability to harvest multiple resources off a single corpse (up to all 3 types at Master Ranger) Would like higher priority


• Request for Creature Harvesters in for the form of traps Would like higher priority

/conceal

• There have been posts that /maskscent actually gets worse once you reach the Ranger skill set, perhaps due to conflicts between the Mask Scent and Camo skills. Would like higher priority


• Issue regarding social assist animals ignoring /conceal and finding your location immediately, once you attack one of their brethren. Would like higher priority

Camouflage Kits

• Request to be use a camoflauge kit on a tailor made overcoat to produce a Ghillie Suit Would like higher priority

Camps

• Request for a permanent, planet specifc, hunting cabin: Would like higher priority




• Optional schematic components for food or general crafting stations No need to add station modules since we should be able to drop normal player made private stations

Not that anyone should care, but those are my opinions.

Everything else looks great! You did a great job compiling and presenting these ideas N'Raas!

Yes, very good job indeed, thanks for taking time out to post this. =)

I thought this might be a good place to point out a fundamental flaw/difference that ranger profession has with others.

Most professions have a common pattern as follows:

the profession grants you the ability to do something <--> doing the thing gives experience needed to be better at the profession

Crafters get better crafting skills as they go, crafting grants exp to move up the skill tree.

Combat types (regardless of weapon choice) are given better combat skills, fighting gives them exp.

I all cases, there are dependencies.. a combat type has to buy weapons, but once that dependency is satisfied, they can go do thier thing.

Rangers (and scouts too) must harvest to get exp (now there are some secondary ways too) but in order to harvest, they must kill. None of the scout/ranger tree line provides any way to kill creatures, which indirectly means no way to do what your profession enables you to do.. harvest. Nothing you can buy will fix this.

So rangers are FORCED to take another skill tree that allows killing, like weapons or creature handling to be viable. If I wanted to be a druid like ranger/doctor, I would be incapable of practicing my harvesting skills with any reasonable level of success.

At this point I'm already master, so I don't need experience anymore, and now that I've achieved master, I can give up my combat skills and do something else, but I'll always be lacking when it comes to harvesting good quantities of goods if I do.

Obsborne Maelstrom - call me Os

Master Ranger - Kauri

I like to solo as do many other rangers, it's the main reason I chose this profession, and while it is possible to kill mobs solo on advanced planets they are usually social mobs that bring friends when you kill them.

Perhaps when/if the lure trap is developed and rangers can solo pull a social mob out of a pack it will be viable to hunt for resources on endor or yavin while solo, I just hate the idea of being forced to group in order to make a living as a ranger by hunting on advanced planets exclusively.

Just to add another vote, I dont think resource quality should be changed for lessor planets. It will only force more people to only do the advanced planets and limit hunting grounds.

Asmall improvement to the main statment of my last post which read:

the profession grants you the ability to do something <--> doing the thing gives experience needed to be better at the profession

should say:

the profession grants you the ability to do something <--> doing the thing gives experience needed to be better at the profession and earn money needed to survive

The post was more about not being able to use your skill to be profitable than it was about experience, but it applies a little to experience too.

Osborne Maelstrom - call me Os

Master Ranger - Kauri

Does anyone think that a sedative type trap would be useful?

The effect of the sedative would be to make the creatures less social, so the don't pay much attention to what is happening around them unless its VERY close to them, if at all.

A nice area of effect sedative (non-agro) would be a good way to work a tough social pack.

Osborne Maelstrom - call me Os

Master Ranger - Kauri