That was one of my wish list items for guild skills we would be er get. I always liked that idea.

I think it would be great if a ranger could tell their companion to drag them when dead (feline/canine).

Not sure if this was ever talked about. If it was, and shot down, then I think its worth talking about again. ;)

The follow idea is great too.

I would really just like a flag to turn off the ambient messaging, sometimes the companions can be extremely fidgety.

but having a companion deliver a death message would be up there on the list as well or drag a few rooms wouldn't hurt.

having DR like tracking to the companion would be even better.

I know this is an old dangerously rickety script, but there has to be some room for improvement.

There was some talks about changing the ambient messages a bit but no idea where that is. I assume its still in talking stage. I dont mind the ambient meassage more then I wish we could have them changed based on factors like the status of that animal companion and the ranger if we are hunting or resting inside the town the demeanor settings toward the target of the message etc.

It is in one of the threads, and suggestions were asked to be made via email to the gm. I am not sure if anyone ever responded, but the Simucon live feed has been a great source of getting answers that are definitive. There is a link for this weekend, all weekend at night posted by Kenstrom.

Was there any talk of rangers this weekend?

Talk of Rangers, at least as far as we could see on the live feed, was about like GM interaction on the ranger thread here. Nonexistent and/or depressing.

The very few questions that were answered on that topic leaned towards 'everything is fine'. For instance someone asked if Companions could be made useful, the reply was they are useful. That was pretty much the tone on ranger related questions. Someone asked if there would be a ranger guild, the answer was a pretty firm no, or at least not in your lifetime. Just because they are moving away from guild things in general...(then somehow alchemy gets brought up and it is all cool)

Rangers are a good class, they are viable, but they have not seen any tweaks in a while and have been left out of all the CMAN and SMAN updates.



604 could probably use a duration buff, spending 40 mana to get 10 minutes of skinning time is a bit odd, unless this is an intentional mana dump for the class.
612 was tweaked recently (one of two very minor tweaks in the last four years) and I like those new changes, they are good
614 I wish 614 didn't kill me, but meh...magic can be unpredictable

620- This is a spell that I feel needs to be looked at, the mechanics are clunkier than just about every other item upgrade system currently going, the restrictions are pretty extreme as far as armor classes go, I feel like this spell could use a self cast version similar to ensorcel that makes it useful to all Rangers and not just those in leather (and I am in leather) or maybe a temp self cast version of some kind that effects the caster and not the armor. I am not even suggesting this spell becomes a silver maker, just that it has more use for the ranger than it currently has, if not the larger player population. You really have to train your ranger in a very narrow path to get the most out of this spell, and the most I see it used is on very high end pure gear.

630- apparently those who play rangers, and those in the design team have a very different understanding of this spell. One of the GM's in the hitbox chat when companion usability was brought up mentions avian messaging and canine dragging...a global amunet (not to mention lich) are both superior to avian messaging that is restricted in where it can deliver to. Companion tracking is a joke..(somewhere in north america)...but I firmly believe this code is so esoteric that this spell will never be touched. I don't mind them being an RP prop, I just wish it was understood that is what they are.

650 could definitely be looked at vs CMAN's that have been released since the last update and the cost vs benefit calculations would appear to need to be addressed.


I could come up with instances where all of the above spells have proven useful, yes there was one time my owl saved my from a bandit, yes one time I used 650 to make the Ta'vaalor short cut easier or quick raise my hp with bear...but I have probably been saved more by open rolls than my companion, and mechanically it is inferior to just about any outside spell I could get. Yes there is some Kaedra armors that use 620 to great effect, but lets face it...those are normally done by a pocket ranger retooled just to do armor and cast colors and mobility.

612 no longer affects weapons, arrows included, so they don't get scattered three sheets to the winds if you use it. A great boon for warcampers but also useful for other folks as well.

<I think this may have a lot to do with the fact that there isn't a lot of 50th level spells in the game.... the cost vs benefit on a lot of the forms are extreme compared to say... Martial Stances, it could be argued this is a spell for post cap only players (and I have heard it for post 75-80) but meh...I am not the first person to bring this up...in fact there are several other threads by other people about this spell.

Interesting that you mention this. I never used this spell until after I capped. Now I use it on a permanent basis when I hunt. I never really noticed that until you brought this up.

Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

Radeek Andoran
General, Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq

The live feed was a bit difficult at times. but one or two points were made clear


1. There will be no future development on the ranger guild as ranger skills through the a guild are outdated. and I took it to mean obsolete.


2. Companion mood messages are not off the table but major modifications to the system are unlikely

3. There will be no bears

>If they are not going to fix the ranger guild, why not just make it free and open to all rangers?

It's already open to all rangers regardless of membership. You just can't be a "member" unless you pay the guild dues.

~Brian, Sepher's player

>Unless you joined and get kicked out.

You can still get in. Give it a shot. Tons of us were kicked out.

~Brian, Sepher's player

Rather than make chain even more attractive, the temporary personal effect should be such that the ranger wants to be in leather.

Which effect of chain makes it particularly desirable? Allow 720 to duplicate that on brig.

Ziayiel is trained for this as well and has done resistance work for several of my characters.

-- Robert

>>I think the problem here is that it's just not very attractive for most rangers to stay in AG3 or less armor. 620 can be extremely powerful (even w/o extreme training), but it was never something that kept me in lighter armor.

Postcap ranger here, wearing double leathers, and I don't bother using the spell... there's just not much at postcap that'll kill me with an elemental attack. Sentries and I think some stuff in the Demonwall cast Dark Catalyst, but you can really only help yourself with 1 of those four elements. If anything it's a lucky charge or crawler burrowing that one shots me. I suppose I should toss fire or cold on my armor just because I can, but I doubt I'll notice it much.

>Mind me asking why you're wearing doubles? Is it just for the lack of armor hinderance? Got a rogue nearby with 5 ranks of Armored Stealth?

Don't hide so it's just for the lack of hinderance. I wouldn't mind the extra CvA and crit divisors of heavier armors, but I mostly get away with wearing doubles so I'm happy with it.

Only one 'E' in 'hindrance'.

Also one 'R' in 'hauberk'.

.

This post brought to you by Krakii, the Only Licensed Spleling Correction Service in Elanthia!

(And yes, "spleling" is deliberate just to tweak you. :)

>>I remember a long time ago I had three neck crits in one night which sold me on moving to brig. I moved to chain haubek about 95 trains and it was thanks to the storyline invasions and hunting warcamps. Hate the spell hindrance but its worth the other perks. I also didnt move to chain haubek until I was overtrained to the first tier.

I did get a neck crit from a bandit lately... first time that's happened in awhile. Any particular reason to go for hauberk over, say, chain mail? I think, in my theorycrafting, if I was gonna go into anything that has hindrance, I'd do chain mail - 7% hindrance instead of 11%, and you only get 3 less CvA than hauberk. Of course, you only get the hauberk-style crit divisor on your torso. Granted, I have some enhancives that are armor accessories so that kind of throws a hole in those plans...

Just switching up to chainmail should help, because generally speaking you will take weaker crits to the neck. (True, the divisor is still 7hp/rank rather than 9hp/rank as you would see with hauberk/neck coverage... but the DF works to your advantage before that ever becomes relevant. They'll be doing less raw HP damage to inflict a crit, with.)

And it is much easier to train away the penalties. :)

Rad wears Aug chain with a helm. When he's fighting things that don't give him much trouble the helm gets put aside for the 2% lower hindrance. If they're tough the helm gets worn.

Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

Radeek Andoran
General, Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq

<Also, 11% hindrance feels like 22% hindrance. =P

A few weeks ago I blew 7 casts of spike in a row, one right after the other, due to that 11% hindrance. I was NOT a happy camper

Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

Radeek Andoran
General, Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq