Ranger Archive

So I've been experimenting with /Rescue trying to find some valid uses for this skill as its implemented now... and I'm now completely convinced that /Rescue was intended for "Large Group Combat".

Here'ssome SUCCESSFUL ways to use /Rescue:

DISTRACTION
In a large group, stand at a decent range away from the mob being attacked by the group.

Watch your groupmates healthbars and when the current tank looks like he is either about to turn and run or the mobis munching on someone who's ham is going down fast... select that person and /Rescue. Your goal here is that the mob will begin to Aggro you instead of whom he was currently munching... giving your target a chance to back-off... but the key here is that if you are at range, the mob will switch targets to someone closer after a few seconds... so in a sense /Rescue is acting as a slight /Distraction so that the guy you're trying to save has the opportunity to back off... sometimes they WANT to die or aren't paying attention in which case its not your fault... you gave them a safety door but they have to walk through it.

SECRET AGENT
Most likely my favorite use thus far as it is used during PVP combats to swing the tide of a battle.

Rangers have one of the most unique abilities in the game with /Rescue as we have the ability to go AGGRO a main Faction without Going OVERT provided we didn't initiate the combat.

Here's an example of how this works...

You see a faction battle brewing in public between OVERT rebs and imperials... now depending on which side you want to Covertly support (I highly recommend supporting the faction you are covert in)... you simply wait for combat to start and watch how the battle is going by keeping tabs on the HAM of your side's main and the enemy side's main. IF you see your side's Ham slipping to the point where you feel you may need to jump in... here's what I do... Select your side's main guy... /Rescue him... be ready to Heal him... and then get behind him (to make it harder for the enemy to target) and then start giving him support fire).

This usually catches the other side WAY off guard as it normally requires most players to go find a faction rep and declare OVERT before you can jump into battle.

This is a risky tactic as you may end up fighting in a battle with some tough players... but the effect of being a TRUE COVERT operative that comes to the aid of Overts is a thing of Beauty.

Now another side to this is if you are in the open field... you can also drop a tent to revert back to non-aggro by OVERTS. (this is an important trick to remember as its helped me to revert back to covert with a red AT-ST on my radar thus making it yellow again)

THE CLEANER
For those who remember the movie Le Femme Nikita.... this reference is to the backup hitman who is sent in to clean up the mistakes of newbie Hitmen who have messed up....

The next time you see a battle getting started between a Bounty Hunter and his target.... if you want to have some fun and do a little bit of roleplaying... get very close to the target (the BH will no doubt be using ranged attacks and/or pets) and pretend that you are going in to do a Melee Attack on the target. Then keep trying to /RESCUE the Bounty Hunter... and eventually the Target will aggro you (you will be unable to attack the target until then)... but once this happens... then start firing and run in another direction away from the BH. This will pull the Target towards you... and the Bounty Hunter will FREAK out... and ask you whats going on... to which you Reply... that you are the Cleaner and that you are mopping up his sloppy work because the guy who hired him didn't think he could finish the job. If you want to go the OTHER direction with this... as soon as the mob aggroes you... /RESCUE the mob and attempt to aggro the Bounty Hunter... but again.. this is difficult to do as you're being shot at.. knocked down.

Summary
All in all.. there are some fun uses for /Rescue out there now... none of them really that spectacular or well balanced. I really hope that the dev starts to really think of some better way to implement Rescue. But for now... the above three examples are worthy.

- Zarn the rescue ranger

lol

at least its pseudo crowd control eh?

Brilliantly funny!

heheh hope i see a bounty hunter tonight

Hah! Very creative!

m trying atleast one of those

Well having killeda few bounty hunters, plus their bounties... I'm starting to wonder if this is an intentional part of the game...

I must say I'm having more fun doing this as a Ranger than ANYTHING i've done thus far as a Ranger. Rescueing Townsfolk is just so fitting to me.. and I really find it enjoyable.. but I'm wondering if people are getting upset...

I take /rescue to be a skill that allows you to /rescue ANYONE under attack... if this is NOT what rescue is intended for, then SOE needs to give up some info on what we shouldn't be doing...

Until then...

Zarn the Cleaner is in Coronet on Corbanits just waiting for someone to forget to check their six.

I can't imagine that this was an intentional feature of rescue. However, it is funny when I grab a BH's target from him. I have not KS'd a bounty though, I think that is in bad form. However, I have jumped in and out of a faction fight and watched the imps scratch their heads.

If rescue was meant to work this way we may have the most powerful tool in the game! I just doubt it is supposed to work this way. We should probably /bug report this.

Thank you from the top of my lil pointy head to the the soles of my flat aching feetsies.

I used your rescue methods and had people scratching their heads wondering what the hell I was doing, messed with a BH til he was about crying, and laffed myself silly doing it. If this is a bug, don't fix it, its way too enjoyable.

The tells I got from the BH "what the "explectives deleted" is a "cleaner"??, who sent you, what do you mean I am messing up...." were priceless. And when I told him I was sent by the BH Master Guild to rate him, and would have to report he was not up to standards... omg I was on the floor laffing so hard... he was literally willing to give me the sun, moon, stars and some serious cash to not do that.

Needless to say, I did not dissuade the young man from his mistaken beliefs in who I was. And no, I didn't take his money. Shoulda, and woulda if I was gonna reveal my true identity, but hey, I do feel for suckers now and then.

Btw, turn off your title under your name when you do this... makes em wonder all the more.

JB

still laffing at the poor guy, who has probably reclassed to homemaker by now

JBMat...

So glad to hear that there's another cleaner out there... I've been getting a little lonely as the troll on the Bounty Hunter boards.

Btw... I've taken to setting up camp at the SpyNet op in the center of Coronet... You'll notice that they've placed a CorSec Agent near there and so I've actually created scripted macros that basically create some fun dialog between me and the SpyNet Op for when the Bounty Hunter is trying to select a local mission. (the mission terminal there spits out BH objectives that are super close so its very popular).

I've started to notice an interesting side effect of being a Cleaner... I get bounty hunter related faction! Yup... I'm gainging postive and negatives with the factions related to bounty hunting.. and oooooh.. I'm hoping that comes in handy someday.

Although I've promised to stop killing Bounty Hunters until SOE addresses the /rescue issue.

Glad you've enjoyed it! Now try out some Faction COVERT fighting.. now THAT is FUN!!!

- Zarn

so with pvp, i can simply rescue one of my teammates and instantly go from covert to overt? that is very cool, i hate having to wait around and travel to a recruiter to declare. and if you set up a camp you become covert again? instantly or does it take awhile? i like this if it's true i am gonna try it as i have no healing skills so i can't declare that way.

This is what I did last night. Anchorhead was attacked by some Imperials and they had lots of pets with them. The Overt rebels were getting hosed (I was covert) so I /rescue on one of them and finished off an Imp. Then I helped kill the pets the same way. Out of 5 kills I got 3 deathblows. Then I was back to covert.

This is a bug. No doubt about it.

I also have done some "cleaning" but never to the point that I stole a kill. I just send a tell "I was sent to clean up your mess, Bounty Hunter." Sure, it is **edit** funny (I did this a few times this morning) but it should be fixed so we can't do it.

WHY IS IT wrong to be a COVERT REBEL and be able to JUMP INTO A BATTLE AS A COVERT???

I think it is the most logical use of being COVERT (see definition) there is. I think it is a thing of beauty to be able to be a random bystander that the imps don't realize is a rebel only to turn the tide when I start to rescue rebs being attacked...

Every Reb that has been rescued this way by me has openly thanked me more than anything else I've done... and made me actually FEEL like a Military Ranger...

You're nuts if you want that nerfed.. its perfectly logical and useful and I don't see HOW its broken.. you stay red to IMPS for a long time.. its not like an instant switch back to no TEF flag.............

- Zarn