Ranger Archive

I've always found it odd how the ranger has to have a combat proffession to be able to be able to harvest creatures.

If rangers are masters of the wildlife, why do they need a big rifle or any weapon for that matter to do this? A surveyor certainly doesnt need a gun to find the place to pump metals, and he can simply plant a harvester and leave it overnight to get loads of resources with no more effort than the surveying and harvester upkeep.

So how about if the ranger Trapping Line is improved to make traps that can kill creatures?

Make it so that creatures killed by traps are NOT lootable, do not affect humanoid npc's. In short, canonly be harvested.

Say, make them so that the ranger places a trap like a minefield of sort, then a 'bait' which will entice a certain mob to go to it, get trapped and the trap deals a dot damage which gets no aggro to the ranger BUT does take a while to bring the creature down (aka, the equivalent of a healthshot1 and healthshot2 stacked fired from a scout blaster... like 200 or 300 damage per tick max for both).

Make AOE versions of the traps.

Make it so a ranger can go out in the wild, /track the nests he needs, place his traps in several nests around the area, and go around with camo kits harvesting.

While I think that this would be a good idea, I don't think it would work in reality.

First of all, I wouldn't want to sit there and wait for the DOTs to strike to kill it. 200-300 hit points every so often (say every 5 seconds) would still require you to sit within aggro range of creatures for 3-4 minutes (for higher level creatures). And if the DOT was increased, say to800-900 each time, a lot of people would complain.

Secondly, even after mastering Ranger, 110 skill points are still available, so it is easy to pick up a melee or ranged class. While I agree that not everyone is going to want to pick up another class, it is of the best interest to, and most Rangers do have combat skills.

Third, if it was placed in a minefield type of situation, it would be tough to differentiate between humanoid NPCs and animals for the client itself. A lot of coding would have to go into it to make sure it only took down animals and not humanoid NPCs. Also, what if a different type of animal, say one you didn't want to kill, walked through the trap zone and used up your trap? I guess it's a risk you take, but it could get annoying in high density areas (challenge planets etc).

The statement about harvesting being the same as mineral harvesting isn't entirely true. Minerals, chemicals, etc. are harvested out of high concentration deposits in the ground, not off of dead animals. Combat is almost a requirement for Rangers, (LOTR nerd reference coming up) Aragorn was a Ranger in Return of the King, yet he could still use a sword like a champion.

Overall, I think that it is a constructive, good idea, and is a step in the right direction for improving the trapping line of Ranger, because right now the trapping line is pretty much useless. However, due to DOT waits, availiibility of skill points for combat classes, and general toughness of making the traps properly aggro and work, the downfalls outweigh the benefits.

I could see this, at the very least we should be able to harvest 2 of the 3 resources on an animal by being Masters.

what about crafter/rangers? I bet you a good deal of crafters, especially BE's and armorsmiths would love to be able to be rangers as well as their own crafts to be able to get their own resources.. you know, just like they can simply plant a harvester on a resource spot (which they can survey with novice artisan) now.

I dont believe people will complain if rangers get killing traps. After all, if the ranger is in a group he wont need them, it takes time to set the traps in..time the group wouldve likely wiped the nest anyway. Its for solo harvesting mostly.. thus 'organic harvesters'. rangers get no xp and no loot from killing with traps (since those traps would be in trapping4 tree of ranger), so their use would be just for resource gathering.

high population challenge planets would be a boon for the ranger actually.. set up an aoe trap and catch..say, 5 brackasets and a pair of rancors on one trap (they die in like 2 minutes of being dotted and snared), all the while his 4 or 5 other traps do the same near other nests. Its a matter of time and set-up. Have you played Dark Age of Camelot? Think of those traps set by the ranger to be like the hibernian Animist class when they set their killing shroom's.

LOTR rangers ..well im not getting into that. Rangers are foragers/foresters/scouts .. it was only in those fantasy books that they got to whip swords and sticks and bows. the SWG ranger is very close to that, not to the Tolkien idea.

Actually, I think one unique aspect of this game (at least to me) is the interaction between crafters and rangers. I like how crafters have to seek us out to get their hides, meat etc. for them. It's one of my favorite parts of being a ranger.

While I do believe that it is a good idea, if we want to present it to the devs, we should probably leave out anything about solo'ing. As much as they'll deny it, they are making the game more group-friendly as time goes on. Think of the recent CH changes, coupled with the boosting of HAM for higher level mobs. Also the FWG5 and Scatter Pistol "nerfs".

Don't get my wrong, my first post wasn't meant to discourage this idea at all, because I think it is a great idea. I was just attempting to present some arguments that devs/other players might have against this idea.

And you'll have to forgive me, I haven't played any other MMORPG's than SWG, so being a ranger in this game is all I know of being a ranger. (That includes the LOTR thing too)

Azos -- I enjoy the relationship between crafters and rangers, as well. My only problem is I'm usually unable to acquire what those crafters are looking for. I'm a pikeman and my strongest pet is my Spat mount. I would love for the implementation of perma-snare traps and a profession-specifc weapon. It would certainly make my job a lot more enjoyable.

I guess I just have the luxury of having a Master Doctor as an alt., and always being able to buff myself before I go hunting. I can get pretty much what I want, when I want it.

Also I'm sorry you're a Pikeman

Just kidding, after the combat patch things will be different.

While I don't fault you for asking the question, it is very valid and we would like to get an answer about it, but this is covered in the "state of the proffession".

Under "Wishlist":

Request for Creature Harvesters in the form of traps

• Work like Mineral harvesters.
  
• Possibly have a large footprint to keep from having large farms of them around hot spots.
  
• Would use a lot, like a personal harvester
  
• A small hopper, perhaps max of 2000
  
• A slower harvesting rate than a regular harvester
  
• Schematic is available at a high level in Trapping, perhaps Trapping IV or Master Ranger
  
• Players would use an innate ability to locate animal migration patterns, much like the Survey interface.
  
• Request for the "migration patterns" (hot spots) to change on a regular basis (more often than the resource itself). Possibly every 2-3 days.

Usually you want to look there first and comment there, it really helps Nraas keep all ofthis in one place. A seperat thread like this one might get lost

Can always add it so that they must be planet specific too. I think its a great idea, I personally feel that be a Ranger has almost no advantage unless you are of some combat proffession itself, which I personally don't like, because the you are using even more Skill Points. Good Ideas, keep them coming.