Ranger Archive

Here is what was submitted today:

Preface: some of the issues listed here have some measure of being addressed with what was stated as In Development. That being said, since those changes are not live, this list is the current top 5 as the state of the game exists today.

1) Rangers have very little that differentiates them from scouts. Once Master Scout is reached, Ranger is essentially more of the exact same thing. The community is vehement about a broader range of skills and/or abilities that expand and add depth, rather than repeating the scout line. There is nothing valuable in the Ranger line towards being in a group or in PvP encounters. Ranger camps don't provide any significant improvements over scout camps, rescue is of very limited value, and without those, Rangers have basically nothing to offer. The profession does not fit the advertised description at all. The community feels that the Ranger should have a PvP role as the natural counter to Creature Handlers, and feel that traps should work against pets in PvP environments.

2) Wayfaring - maskscent is checked against non-aggressive creatures, which break mask scent more often than not, pretty much regardless of challenge level, and when mask scent is successful, do not award xp. The community feels that checking the skill and then not rewarding success is unfair, and that the skill fails too often, even at the highest skill levels. The community is unanimous about bringing back the /conceal skill that was removed just prior to the end of beta. There is also a large voice that wayfaring only providing an increase to prone crawl speed isn't particularly valuable.

3) Frontiering - foraging of rare items is bugged. Foraging is too random in its results, and there is little value or market for foraged items. There is also some agreement that foraging single items that do not stack is a detriment to the skill. There are a horde of complaints about frontiering XP being too slow and tedious to gain. There have been reports that the Ranger camps do not repel aggressive creatures, and that the HQ Field Base Kit does not heal wounds at all. Combat disbands camps. Rangers cannot defend their camp without disbanding it; if they are in a group, they cannot use traps to debuff or assist in combat while the camp is active.

4) Trapping - the 2 traps that Rangers get are bugged, and do not work at all. There is a large amount of disappointment that there are no new, enhanced traps, and that as trapping skill increases, trapping success does not increase with it - that trapping success is more dependent on the quality of the trap than the trappers' skill. Along those same lines, there is a unanimous voice that traps should be something that can be experimented on, both for number of uses and effectiveness. There has been an outstanding suggestion made that has received broad support - and that is lures, or devices constructed by the Ranger that lure creatures away from their herd/spawn. Another excellent point that was brought up is that crafting camps and traps creates general crafting xp, and success/failure rates seem to be driven by engineering from the artisan tree. Ranger is not driven by artisan at all, and the community feels that crafting traps should award xp and check against scout/ranger skills, not artisan skills. Another related point of concern about trapping is that traps do not stack in inventory. Especially with the lower count traps such as adhesive mesh. The community is very desirous of either traps that stack, or for the ability to experiment and create traps with a higher usage count. Rescue exchanges the Ranger for another player on the mob hate list. This is only effective if the Ranger does not engage in combat. Since traps and trapping initiate combat, it makes rescue nigh on useless.

5)Bio-science - the multiple harvests (by more than one Ranger) from a single creature that is advertised does not work. There is no significant increase (advantage) in the quantity or quality of the harvest over what can be done by a hunter. Creature Knowledge doesn't really tell Rangers anything they can't find out through more conventional means - examining a creature is really more of a parlor trick than something of real value. There is unnanimous agreement that the creature to hit bonus should work for melee/brawler combat skills as well as ranged.

There are a lot of good threads and suggestions on the Ranger forum. The following links are suggested reading:

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=441

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=1248

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=1087

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=1236

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=1017

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=1032

this link is to the thread I used as an information gathering tool

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=ranger&message.id=1225

Mineras Silvertree

Ranger Correspondent

signed..

not going to clog it up with any more sugestions. Its a great staring point.

I would also look at the thread regarding tracking.

If your number one listed issue is the Ranger vs Scout rant, then you should have included that thread imho.... I could care less if about the other suggestions if they don't address the issue of making a Ranger different than a Scout.

- Zarn

remember, this is just the first week.

I found it disappointing that the token improvements made to Ranger camps were lumped in with scouts on the In Development list. Hopefully this feedback will generate some fixes/enhancements so that the designers see Rangers as separate from scouts.

Hopefully we will get some sort of return feedback from the designers to suggest what issues they are going to address, so that we can make some progress toward other issues that are high on the communities list.

Mineras

Thanks Mineras... you're doing a great job No matter how much I rant... I really appreciate your time in consolidating these things.. as I'm sure we all do.

- Zarn

someone give this man a raise

Great job, I think that's a good start into the list and you're one of the best correspondents out there.

Great work Mineras, nicely written and presented, I think you are definately setting a standard here for the correspondents to come in this profession.

XionLion - I think we all feel that way, we don't want to be glorified Scouts, and thankyou for being honest but then recovering and giving Mineras his due. I hope we all can continue to be gentlemen and ladies in this forum.

Wow! Very impressive. Another thing that could be of quality note. Last night I participated in a group that was not from the planet I am from - Rori. This got me thinking that certain skills should be modified in a group situation. Especially if some metric can be measured from a "home planet" type basis. There should be some other type of skills here to make Ranger more palatable. I can see bonuses for the afforementioned, plus maybe some group bonuses ala Squad Leader but totally different. Maybe something can be done to spawn bigger game when a Ranger is leading a group? Since my experiences have been related to knowing my planet. I think that experimentation points regarding the volume of traps is necessary. I can deal with non stackable traps if we can increase a to hit on traps or control damage or maybe the effects of the traps kind of like powerups only use it for experimentation on traps. How about trap powerups? I too look at Ranger as Scout 2 as far as a profession. I recall a statement from the boards that I want to be Ranger because no one else is. And frankly, I am using Ranger as a stepping stone to a crafting elite profession, because I don't want to deal with the xp caps for my scouting skills that are applicable to Ranger. In theory, use em if you got em. In addition, foraging should create a market for plants that people want to buff skills before battle. My guess is somewhere between food and spices. But, this should be like the Marksman tree where you have a shot that affects Mind, Action, or Health. I believe that maybe this can be broken down to spices affecting a couple different HAM's and foraged items similar. The Chef profession should be focused on creating mutiple effects on HAM. Insert any penalties as needed. I also do not notice an increase in harvesting animals that I have been regularly harvesting. One idea would be to let a scout or ranger harvest first and then let a scout or Ranger harvest again to get more from a corpse. I think this would add to the higher abilities that a master scout/ranger should have. I am totally for tracking. Or, better yet that master scouts/rangers have the ability to sense or notice creatures from a greater distance on radar and when conning especially. Therefore when in a hunting group, if a ranger cons they will go well I have swamp cats at 100 meters east or something like that. Better than the cons we have now. Just somethings to think about, but please make ranger better than scout 2. Another thing. Mask scent should not aggro creatures as often remaining still or something. Maybe the creature AI can be improved so that maybe a creature will run away? Like an intimidate sort of thing even while in maskscent. I need a few more benefits before I pusue this profession seriously instead of the "well I got the xp might as well use it" mentality I have now with the idea that I will surrender the skill points in the future.

Keep up the good work Mineras

Just don't quit like the BE correspondent did

/applaud

I hope at least three of those issues get addressed, otherwise im going to be a creature handler.

/signed