Ranger Archive
Thread: What is the vision of being a ranger?
What is the role of the ranger?
What benefit does a ranger give a group/guild or himself?
How does a ranger contribute in the war of Empire and rebellion?
Why be a Ranger?
P.S. I had a rather nice 2 or 3 paragraph essay on this, but the forums seem to be lagging for posting, so here is the short version
1) Role is to be self sufficient and quick on his feet. (should be) an expert at taking down large animals. And a few others I can't think of right now.
2) Camps, animal resources, much easier/faster to go solo into the wilderness.
3) A covert ranger could be a great advanced warning device. Having a ranger camped out in the wilderness doing his thing and all of a sudden see a horde of imperials coming over a hill, and being able to outrun them all and get back to a city to warn the others.
4) If you like going solo or being in very small groups (less then 5) being a ranger is definatly a lot of fun, at least I think so. When me and my friends get bored of doing missions or PvP we'll trek out into the woods, set up a big camp in a high traffic area, and just shoot the breeze with people and get drunk (irl). I don't know if being a ranger has anything to do with it but I'm almost batting 1000 when it comes to catching fish now, and thats also a lot of fun (to me anyway). I wonder if there is anywhere we can do like deep sea fishing....hmmm maybe I'll check out the ocean on corellia.
Anyway thats just my opinion, I'm sure there is a ton I left out.
Hunting, tracking, and wilderness survival.
Expert scout and guide.
Espionage and reconnaisance.
Currently, the only reason I see to be a Ranger is if you have a crafter friend or want a little help exploring. None of the above really fit into the abilities of a Ranger as it stands.
Well, the responses are disappointing, but I can not say I am surprised. Actually the two responses sound more like a wish list, and really highlights the shortcomings of this profession.
We do not get tracking, recon and espionage is not even close to the actual abilities of the ranger.Yes, they are expert scouts lol, butI fail tosee them as guides, considering camps are random spawns, all players have a radar, and access to maps and locs, and rangers will outrun anyone in the group "Wait up, you left us behind". ARanger makes a great warning device? Ok, that is reaching to validify this profession!
Sadly, I think that is the truest description of the role of the ranger in a group/guild: "When me and my friends get bored of doing missions or PvP we'll trek out into the woods, set up a big camp in a high traffic area, and just shoot the breeze with people and get drunk (irl)."
Maybe there will be besides the galactic war, huge EQ style mobs around, that require Ranger and their traps and examine knowledge to take down --- to dream the impossible dream. Either way, rangers are not a group/guild "needed" class, and unfortuanley they are not great soloers either, requiring the mastery of some combat arms profession in order to survive.
Well, thanks for the responses.I love the myth of the ranger, from Strider and LOTR andserving as a US Army Ranger(1/75th)to playing mainly rangers in most rpgs in the last 12+ years.
Well, now we are fighting in the galaxies, and the vision of the ranger has shifted from a [semi-] elite self-sufficient trooper in tune with nature and animals to a plain skinner and trapper, more along the lines of Wild West frontier men.(Then againany sense of exploration is destroyed entering a newarea right aftercolliding with a group of mining harvesters).
Even though Rangers require the complete mastery of one base profession, the profession appears not to stand to well on its own merit, but I think I can see the ranger shine when combined with other profession, such as Creature Handler or Squad Leader,
SatansCircus wrote:
... I don't know if being a ranger has anything to do with it but I'm almost batting 1000 when it comes to catching fish now, ...
Eh? I have NEVER caught a fish. N - E - V - E - R. How are you doing this?
and consider the following befor you respond:
- Q of bait - hard to get it good but mine seems quite good - check
- Q of Pole - good, not that I can see this stat. I used top Q materials to make it -check
- hold the jerks to after "Bite?" - check
- tried all manner of left-right-up-small reel in combos - check
- looked for the little "school of fishies" animation in the rivers for a "good spot". Many nibbles and bites to be had each time - check
The bait I'm using is mainly chum now which is a bi-product of the process of filleting the fish, but I've had the same luck with all kinds.
The pole I'm using is just some cheap one I found on the bazaar, don't think it is anything special.
My method is this, I don't do anything until it says "BITE?" then I always do a tug up, sometimes it catches it sometimes it doesn't and if it doesn't I just wait until then next bite or until my bait gets too mushy. If I do end up catching it with the tug up, it will say "CAUGHT SOMETHING" and I then do a small reel-in, After the small reel in it will automatically do the rest of the actions to land the fish. Remember though after you click on an action you must hit OK in the fishing menu in order for it to be performed.
I basically learned all this by trial and error, I'm sure there are some things I can do to tweak it but this procedure seems to be working fairly well for me.
To get back on topic ;-P
In SWG, Rangers are equivalent to outdoorsmen. Don't be looking for Aragorn or any other fantasy archetype here, because it wouldn't make sense in the SWG world. Rangers also aren't going to be elite combat, that distinction would (theoretically) go to Commandos. Basically, from the skill tree, they see Rangers as people that are adept at hunting creatures. They can skin the creatures, have expert knowledge of their abilities, and trap them. They can also pick their way through the wilderness better than anyone, set up camps,and hide their scent to basically be invisible from animals. Notice, this is all in theory ;-P
So yeah, rangers aren't really combat related besides their survivalist abilities. Sad, but true. Now, if only the survivalist abilities worked....
Well,the vision of the ranger according to the Star Wars Galaxies manual is "Adventurer well suited to travel,tracking,and defending others in combat.
we got a long way to go.
I am a master CH and I need to more camouflage of the ranger for mask scent
thats all there is
My biggest complaint on being a Ranger is not being able to camouflage against other players or NPCs. I mean if you can camouflage against a creature the uses the sense of smell, sight , and sound, dont you think you would be camouflage against someone who only uses sight and sound.
When you become a ranger you can also become a specialist in any weapon so its not always you trying to outrun the enemy.Iam doing MaterRifleman/Master Ranger. I kill things just as good as a marksman and if I dont feel like fighting and I am just travelling I can walk right past them while getting xps.
The camps are great because if you are out in the middle of nowhere or if your party is out in the middle of nowhere it amplifies your healing when there is no cities in site.It also repels hostile enemies at higher levels so you dont have to worry about anything attacking you while you are healing.
The traps are very useful especially at higher levels against creatures and can be helpful for Hunting parties. You can either blind, bring down their melee defense, stun, or hold them in place.
The biggest thing I like is I can fly solo in hostile areas and not worry about getting attacked.EXCEPT FOR NPCs who can mysteriously see everything.