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Ranger Guide From Novice to Master
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FROM NOVICE TO MASTER - HOW TO BECOME A MASTER RANGER by Brisc Rubal INTRODUCTION Since I wrote my first guides to the Scouting profession over a month ago, I have been working hard to master the elite profession of the Ranger. My guides have been so well received that upon announcing that I finally had earned the title of Master Ranger, the requests for a "From Novice to Master" guide have been pouring in. Well, a week later, here it is. I hope that the tips, tricks and hints that I've provided here help you as much as they helped me. Despite the common misperception, Rangering is definitely not Scouting version 2. While some of the old tips you read in my previous guides still hold true, there are many new facets to the Ranger path that make those old Scouting ideas obsolete. So be prepared to change your strategies, and throw out any old ideas that just don't seem to work anymore. As I write this guide, the Ranger profession is in a state of flux. The developers have outlined a number of new plans for Rangers (which I will outline here). However, please note - as of the writing of this guide (August 27, 2003) most of these changes have not been implemented, although some are currently in testing. Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's get to it. THE BASICS - GETTING NOVICE RANGER Rangering is an elite profession. It's going to take time to master, and lots of hard work. Know this going in - while you may have made Master Scout in two weeks, unless you have no job, no life or never sleep, it will take you much longer to hit Master Ranger. So while you need to monitor your XP and set personal goals for yourself, don't set them so high that minor setbacks (like a rollback, or RL issue) frustrate you. Now that you've decided to take the plunge and become a ranger, the first thing that you need to do is to visit a Ranger trainer. Like any "novice" profession, you cannot be trained as a novice Ranger by another player. You will need to visit a Ranger trainer and pay the 5000 credit fee. The unfortunate thing is that Ranger trainers are rare - there are generally only one per planet. I have located trainers in the following locations: (5279, 6591) - Kaadara, Naboo (-5167, -2535) - Narmle, Rori (4234, 5262) - Nashal, Talus (1238, 3356) - Mos Entha, Tatooine Once you are trained in novice, you can be trained by other players for all other levels, including Master Ranger. ASSUMPTIONS First, I'm going to assume that you've read my previous guides and are a Master Scout. If not, you're in the wrong spot. :) As our primary means of gaining XP, we've needed to camp, kill creatures and harvest them, and trap them as well. This requires us to have combat training. For the purposes of this guide, I am going to assume that you have reached the "master" level in at least one tree of the Marksmanship or Brawler lines, and have qualified for the Novice level of an elite combat skill. These novice levels include Pistoleer, Carbineer, Rifleman, Teras Kasi Artist, Swordsman, Fencer, and Pikeman. You can also have worked on Creature Handler as well, to compliment your combat skills. A non-elite combat skill person who is well on the way to being a Master Creature Handler has good, if not better, striking power. If you have not done this, your path to Master Ranger will become exponentially hard. While (using Maskscent only) it is theoretically possible to be a peacenik Ranger, it will not only take you 5.6 gazillion years, you'll also never get the Trapping you need to make Master. You need a combat skill, and you need to work on it. I'm also going to assume that you have a good weapon. If you don't, get out and make some money and get one. Read the galaxy forums and learn who the best weaponsmiths are and get out to their shops. Once you get that good weapon, find a trustworthy Master Smuggler and get it sliced. The harder you hit, the faster you can kill and harvest your prey, and the faster you'll go through the trees. A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE RANGER TREES There are four trees in the Ranger profession, and they are roughly analagous to the Scouting trees. I will outline them here to make it easier: RANGER (SCOUT) Wayfaring (Exploration) Frontiering (Wilderness Survival) Field Bioscience (Hunting) AdvancedTrapping (Trapping) As it was with Scouting, Wayfaring and Field Bioscience both use "Scout" XP. Frontiering uses "Survival" XP, and Advanced Trapping using "Trapping" XP. Please note - there are some significant changes that are going to be rolled out in regards to the Ranger template here. First, the XP requirements are going up. Second, Field Bioscience is going to be renamed "Tracking". This will facilitate the addition of a number of new skills, including /areatrack, that will give us the ability to find specific types or creatures, NPCs and Players in the wild. TACTICS - WHAT SHOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY FROM SCOUT? This will be the absolute hardest part - unlearning all that you have learned. While many of the same things that were important to Scouting are important to Rangering, you'll need to adjust many of your tactics to advance quickly through the Ranger trees. Some of these changes in tactics include: 1.) Groups are your friend: It was advantageous for you as a Scout, to go solo. You had exclusive rights to the harvest, and could make good XP over time. This changes dramatically when you hit Ranger. The same creatures that you were killing before aren't going to hack it at this level. You'll need to be hitting the higher level creatures. Whereas you ran Gnort missions before, you need to run Kaadu missions now. The downside is that these harder creatures, while giving more XP and material, are harder to kill. That equals "longer to kill". And the key to mastering Ranger is to make sure that your average XP over time stays high. When soloing, always balance out the level of XP you gain from killing a critter with the time it takes to do it. Sure, you can kite Bell Bolle's and clear out a nest in an hour - but how many gnort lairs could you have harvested in that time? That's why groups are your friend: The extra people in the group help jack up your XP over time exponentially. Having one or two friends with you who are at least novice elite combat players can boost your speeds to the point where killing the larger creatures is more effective than going solo. For instance - a group of 5 of my follow PA members got to the point where we were able to take down Fambaas on Naboo is 30 seconds. Assuming 15 Fambaas per lair, with each giving 440 XP per harvest, I was able to haul 6600 Scout XP in less than ten minutes. You can triple that number in terms of Trapping XP, so long as you have enough time to hit with each of your traps. So finding a group of friends who don't need the Scout XP and are willing to group with you is a fundamental strategy that is different from Scouting. Groups are also very effective in getting your Frontiering XP up. While there are changes that will make this easier (crafting camps and traps will give survivial XP now) for the solo Ranger, the quickest and simplest way is to camp often with the group that you are in. A five or six person group can help a Ranger get the full amount of XP in less than 5 minutes of camping - even with full HAM bars. This can take a lot of the frustration of camping away. So if you've been a reclusive hermit, now's the time to get out and make some friends. They'll be important to you as you move up. 2.) Join (or start) a PA if you can find one: This is a personal tip that I have - not all of you can do it. As one of the leaders of the Tarkin Memorial Brigade, I am frequently writing emails, coordinating membership plans and events, and responding to constant /tells in game. One of the easiest things to do was to grind out my camping XP by sitting in camp and doing the "administrative" work. That way I'm not wasting any time - I'm getting XP and getting my PA stuff done at the same time. In addition, holding group "meetings" in your camps is another way of getting XP quickly. Our Joint Chiefs of Staff (our executive board) meetings are usually an hour long, and in that time I could make upwards of 10k worth of frontiering experience. Joining a PA is also a good idea as it gives you a group of friends who have an incentive to hunt with you and help you level. 3.) Don't bother with forage for now: Unless you decide to become a fishman, foraging for goods now is a bit of a waste of time. When you were scouting, you didn't have a lot of money to waste on "food" type buffs. Now that you are higher up, with a bigger bankroll (thanks to those new monkey making opportunities. :) ), you can afford to splurge on food buffs. The only foragable item that you will still need is bait for fishing. 4.) You'll need to start dropping your excess skills: As a Scout, having novice Entertainer, novice Artisan and novice Medic were key - you were usually soloing, so you needed to be able to do everything by yourself. Now that you are a Ranger, you'll be grouping more often, and can start to rely on others for the healing and materials that you need. You are also going to start facing the problem of skill points - you're going to run out. As a Ranger, you'll need your combat skills far more than you'll need your medical/entertaining/crafting skills, so dump your excess skill points into mastering your combat profession. Make friends (or do what I did - marry one :) ) with a good entertainer or medic, and be sure to have them in your groups while you are out hunting. The order that I dropped my excess skills was Artisan, then Entertainer, then Medic. This is why joining a PA, or finding a good core group of friends with diverse skills is key. WHAT PLANETS SHOULD I HUNT ON? The starting planets remain good choices for soloing, and the all have their "elite" level creatures that give good Scout and Trap XP, like Torturs on Rori, or Fambaas on Naboo. These will be your fallbacks when you can't find a group to go off planet. You really should be concentrating on the upper level planets now. Lok, Endor, Dathomir, Dantooine, Yavin 4 - you should become intimiately familiar with each of these planets. They each have a diversity of creatures, as well as massive amounts of them. You will also find the higher level missions on these planets, and the payouts are outstanding - generally 10k - 20k credits per destroy mission. I have grown fond of the Torturs on Rori and the Snorbals on Lok. Both are large creatures that give good XP, are slow enough that you can generally outrun them, especially if you are using an Adhesive Mesh or Phen Dart that will slow them down, which makes them solo capable. With a mix of traps, warning shot, stopping shot, or surprise shot (if you have them), you'll be able to solo these critters if need be. Always keep in mind the XP over time rule, but if you want a challenge with a good reward (and some good harvests) these are the way to go. Groups will do especially well on planets like Dathomir and Yavin 4 where most of the creatures are aggressive, and many are social. COMBAT SKILLS - WHAT WILL HELP THE MOST While each of the individual combat skills has its benefits and drawbacks, I personally feel that as Rangers, the best compliment to our unique set of skills and attributes is the Rifle combat skill. I know this is going to PO the Carbineers and Pistoleers (and the redheaded step children of our class, the Melee-ers) but here is my reasoning. First, rifling compliments maskscent much more than the other two skills. When attacking a critter at long range, using your rifle and maskscent, you can generally cripple a high level creature (even one with high hams) at long range before they realize they are getting hurt and figure out where you are. From a role-play point of view, how many master hunters out there go out into the woods bear hunting with their trust 9mm? :) None. Now, of course, there are downsides to each combat profession. Rifleman can't hit the broadside of a barn from less than 5 meters, so you better keep that creature away from you, or you're Bantha poodu. Using warning shot will help this process. Rifle speed is always a problem, so overcome this by using bleeds (mindshot 1 and 2) and getting multiple crates worth of speed powerups for your weapon. I have added two-handed sword to my combat strategy, to give me a close-in option, as well. Two-handed sword hits the mind pool with its specials, and can help for the in-close battles you'll get if your rifle doesn't get the job done at range. For those of you who like to solo, for right now, Pistoleer is the best combat profession for doing so. With pistol whip and stopping shot, you can render most creatures defenseless and your weapon speed can make quick work of even the toughest critters. I've seen my wife Daria take down a group of Snorbals solo with a combo of these shots. So expect that these are going to be getting nerfed, but for now, they should be a part of your Pistoleer strategy. Melee masters have the hardest time with Rangering. Not only do they lose out on the usefulness of maskscent, they also do not currently benefit from the to-hit bonus that ranged Rangers get as they work their way up the Field Bioscience tree. So my suggestion is that having a melee skill be a backup to your primary combat skill - that way you have the option of being both ranged and in-close, as need be. THE QUICKBAR AND MACROS Your quick bar should remain primarily the same as it was while you were focusing on Scouting, but keep in mind that you have a number of new skills coming that way crowd out slots that you had previously assigned on the bar. Changing quickbar placements is one of the absolute hardest things to do, because untraining yourself of the reflexes that you had for so long while mastering Scouting doesn't come easy. One of the most useful macros I've ever made (besides the harvesting one that I outlined in my scout guide) was my rifle macro. It is very simple: /mindshot1; /mindshot2; /headshot3 This hits the three shots that I typically use in each battle, whether against a critter, NPC, or in PvP. It saves me the time of doing this, and clears up a quickbar slot or two. I still have /headshot3 on the bar for single use and for cleaning up anything that the macro didn't take care of, but this has sped up my attack ability significantly. For those non-riflemen out there, figure out what the three things you do most frequently are in battle and create a macro for them. It'll make life much easier. TIPS AND TRICKS ON GETTING XP Scouting XP I've outlined a number of good tips above in the other section on "tactics". The #1 thing you must keep in mind while getting Scout XP is the concept of XP over time. You need the highest average XP over time that you can get. If you can get this in a group, group. If you can get it solo, get it solo. But always be figuring out what will give you the most bang (XP) for your buck (time). I won't go into specifics here on what creatures to kill, or where to find them. As Scouts you should already know the best critters for getting XP and where to do it. That's part of what scouting is - the minor leagues. As a Ranger, you're in "the Show". Put those scouting skills to good use. Good hunting. Trapping XP The tactics you will use (for right now) are the same as you used when you were a Scout. Throw every kind of trap you have at every creature you attack. Period. That's the best way to get it up right now. In a group, let your buddies to the killing, while you stand back and throw traps all day. They'll take the aggro, you get the trapping. Fambaas and other high level critters give 400 or so XP per trap that hits, so if you are grouped up and safe (relatively), you can make your XP very, very quickly. It took me two days of hunting with my PA to reach Trap Master. Please note: There will be an entirely redesigned Ranger trapping skill set, that will include stationary traps. These are not ready yet, but should be added to the game in the future. They will require different strategies, which I will post in upcoming editions to this guide. Your Scout traps will still work, but you will also get a number of new traps including: Heavy Claw Trap - In order to use this trap, you'll need to draw a creature across it. When the creature draws near enough, the heavy claw trap snaps shut, rooting the creature. The stronger the creature, the more likely it will eventually work itself free. Lure - A lure can be filled with meat or greens to attract nearby creatures. A creature who detects a lure might break off from its packmates to inspect it. Tripwire - The tripwire trap can be laid against NPCs as well as creatures. A target who runs across the tripwire will be knocked on his back for a short time. These new traps will provide a new layer to the trapping field, and should help add a new contrast between Rangers and Scouts. Survival XP It takes a while. We know. It also uses up significant amounts of resources. But camping is a vital part of the Ranger profession, and one of the few things that makes us stand out significantly from all of the other professions. Your Field Base and High Tech Field Base camps not only look great (women swoon over them), they also provide good regen rates and crafting tools for your artisan/medic buddies. I've already outlined in the above "tactics" section some good tactics for survival camping - groups are great, and doing other things while camping, like reading the Ranger boards or emailing friends/guildmates, help pass the time. There have been a number of macros that have been developed to allow for AFK camping. Some work better than others, but they are all a violation of the EULA - so don't use them. I don't want any of my Ranger and Scout buddies getting in trouble for that. If you do use them, make sure you are at your computer. Also, keep in mind that the higher level camps DON'T use hide and bone at all. They only use metal and polymer, so stock up early. Running a harvester for a night or two on a good metal or polymer spot should get you enough metal and polymer to last you well through the entire Frontiering skill tree. WHICH DO I TRAIN FIRST? WAYFARING VERSUS FIELD BIOSCIENCE In my Scout guide, I always advocated going up the Exploration tree first. The bonuses to burst run, terrain navigation and the addition of maskscent were just too tempting to pass up. But this ain't Scouting any more. Wayfaring doesn't provide the same level of skills to a Ranger as Field Bioscience does. The creature to-hit bonus, as well as the increased creature knowledge and creature harvesting ability make Field Bioscience the better alternative for Rangers. This may change once /conceal is added to Wayfaring and Field Bioscience becomes "Tracking", but for now, my suggestion is to go for the Field Bioscience line to increase your combat ability and your money making (off of selling the hides). /MASKSCENT As of the big update that went live in mid August, maskscent has been bugged. For low level scouts, this was horrible - not only were they getting no XP and no message that it was breaking, they were getting attacked by yellow (non-aggressive) creatures left and right. But for us, it was a godsend. While there was still no XP, maskscent was rarely - if ever - breaking and we could run around the toughest worlds petting the Gnarled Rancors and Crystal Snakes and never even getting a second glance. This will, of course, change. In addition, maskscent will soon be a Scout based command, with us Rangers getting "/conceal" in its place. More on that is below. /CONCEAL Right now, this is currently in testing on Test Center. Here is, in the words of the Ranger Dev, what /conceal will be: "Scent mask is now the realm of scouts. Rangers will now get a similar ability called /conceal. A Ranger's conceal ability works very much like scentmask, except for three differences. First, it is a lot more potent: it lasts longer (up to 25 minutes for a Master Ranger) and it rarely breaks. Second, it can be applied to other players. You can now conceal your friends to give them a chance to sneak past enemies as well. The success of the conceal depends on the skill of the Ranger who applied it. Third, it requires a component to apply: a camouflage kit. Camouflage kits are crafted by the Ranger and are planet specific. For example, a Desert Camouflage Kit will allow a Ranger to conceal themselves on Tatooine. Each camouflage kit is assembled from resources gathered on the planet it affects. Camo kits for advanced planets like Endor may be fairly difficult to assemble. The Ranger will earn experience for successful sneak checks by players he conceals." Right now, /conceal is in testing, as are the conceal kits. As I have not yet played with these new commands, I will not speak further of them here, but check the Ranger and Test Center forums for updates as to how exactly they are being utilized. Once these get in game and we test them more, I will update our guide here. /RESCUE This is an interesting skill, as it is both loved and hated by members of our profession and many others (this one's for you, Mr. Bounty Hunter man). Using it lets you shift the target of an attacking creature or NPC (or even another player) away from their current target and onto you, if it is successful. It does cost a bit of mind to do this. Generally, this is another underutilized skill, as most rangers aren't going to be able to tank very long against a creature or NPC that's womping on their buddy. But it can be very useful in meeting women (thank you for /rescuing me! /kiss) TRACKING - /AREATRACK AND /TRACK These are two new commands that will be added to the profession shortly. /areatrack is currently on Test Center and /track is still in developlment. Here's what they'll be like, according to the Ranger Dev and the Test Center QA Buildmaster: "/areatrack - At Novice Ranger, the Ranger will recieve the /areatrack command. Players familiar with EQ's tracking system will understand how this works. You can search the area for animals, people, or players. As you climb the tracking tree, more options and information (like direction and distance) will appear. This should make rangers effective at completing hunting missions or tracking down a specific target. /track - Higher up the Tracking tree, the Ranger will earn the /track command. The /track command will let the Ranger specify a specific creature he wants to find. Hunting for a Veermok? If you are in a region where Veermok live, you can /track for one. Tracking a creature will lead the player on a small mission to find a creature in the area (or in the case of a critical success or failure...an unexpected surprise). Whereas scanarea checks for already existing mobs in the area, /track can be used even if a Veermok lair (or whatever creature you want to find) isn't nearby." (I have changed the /scanarea command to /areatrack as this change was posted in a later thread) "AreaTrack gives you a list of the creatures that are nearby. The radius increases as your skill increases, as does the information shown in the window. It does not point you in the direction of the creatures." (This was a clarification made by Vass, the Test Center developer) These two new skills will make us extremely valuable, as well as cut down on our time out in the field by making it much simpler to find the creatures we are looking for. WEAPONS AND ARMOR - WHAT SHOULD I GET? Again, this depends upon your combat class and your goals. Weaponry is simple: get the best that your class can use, and get it sliced. Keep an eye on the min/max damage, the armor rating and the speed. For Armor, generally stick with Mabari (for kinetic damage) or go to a higher end set like Composite, but only if it has good encumbrances (the lower the better) and can protect well against kinetic damage - animals don't shoot at you. ;) Always keep in mind that just because it's "Composite" or "Ubese" doesn't mean that it's better than a lesser armor. Always look at the attributes. A very well made set of Mabari is significantly more useful than a poorly made set of Composite. MONEY MAKING- HIDES/BONE/MEAT AND THE NEW MISSION TERMINALS You are going to need a significantly larger amount of money as an elite than you did as a novice. Rangering, in and of itself, isn't expensive, but the finer things in life are. The basic equipment you'll want - cool threads, a good gun, and a good pack can cost a considerable amount of money. Throw in PA dues, houses, harvesters, food, furniture, travel expenses and other non-essentials, and you'll be blowing through the dough. You need to get some solid monkey making opportunities going on (if you don't get this joke, check the Scout forums...). First, sell sell sell those harvested materials! Nearly 1/3 of the professions in SWG need either hides, bones or meat, and the better the quality, the more money you can get from it. Searching out higher quality goods is a necessity. While you can never know for sure what will give you the best material (it shifts, just like static resources do), you should always be checking the overall quality of the hides that you harvest, and be sure to "farm" an area with the best hides, as they will give you the most XP. The new Explorer mission terminals are excellent - they provide us with a monetary incentive to do the things we already do. Some of them can be very tough, but they can also be a great way to get out and see the planet. There are two types of missions - hunting and recon. Recon is exactly what it sounds like...you get paid to take the mission and run out to the Waypoint. Once you get there you are successful and get the cash award. Generally these missions are 3k to 5k away from where the terminal is, so expect a good hike. The hunting missions are much more difficult, but provide better compensation. They require you to kill between 15 and 45 of a certain type of creature. Be careful: they are EXTREMELY specific. If you get a mission to kill Spineflap Soldiers, you can kill Spineflap Guards until the cows come home and you won't get any credit. They HAVE to be the same critter the mission calls for. Each time you kill one, you'll get a spam letting you know how many more you need to kill to complete the mission. The other difficulty is that you don't receive a waypoint for the mission - you need to find the creatures yourself. The higher end hunter missions can go for 10k credits and above...so while they are time consuming, they also are very lucrative. |
