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Forum Name Santa Zulg 2012
Topic subjectGiant rangers
Topic URLhttps://forums.carrionfields.com/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=72&topic_id=226
226, Giant rangers
Posted by Ranger on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
It's a small frustration, IMHO makes the class/race combo almost unplayable - the giant rangers can't camo and can't creep anywhere, even in their home terrain. The failure rate is above 50% with both camo and creep perfected, even in the home terrain it's very bad. I understand they're big and all, but could you please make the failure rate less? Like 10% in other terrains, 5% at home for example? Keep it for "enemy" terrains as is, just change it for most pretty please. Makes them very frustrating to play with no real purpose served.

For comparison, human-sized rangers never seem to fail, except some in the "enemy" terrain, and even there it's not that bad.
239, Santa Zulg added some debugging, but likely will result in coal
Posted by Zulghinlour on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
>It's a small frustration, IMHO makes the class/race combo
>almost unplayable - the giant rangers can't camo

There isn't even a size check in camouflage, so you're doing something else wrong there.

>and can't
>creep anywhere, even in their home terrain. The failure rate
>is above 50% with both camo and creep perfected, even in the
>home terrain it's very bad.

I added some debugging to verify, but a quick look at the code, your numbers are way off. Rough estimate is that size makes a 10%-20% difference overall.
227, RE: Giant rangers
Posted by Daevryn on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
The actual failure rate from bigger sizes is much closer to the rate you're asking for than what you're saying the rate currently is.

If you're failing that much with a giant ranger there's something else that's causing you a big penalty.
230, RE: Giant rangers
Posted by Isildur on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
To piggyback on this request, I wouldn't mind seeing this set of changes to the ranger class:

1. Creep works 100% of the time (except in polar opposite terrain) for a ranger whose size is "giant or less". "Giant + 1" works like "giant" does now.

2. To keep creep nerfed for bigger rangers have it lag the ranger similar to what a non-ranger would experience walking through the same terrain. This makes sense; you have to move slower in order to keep yourself hidden.

3. Because this is a power-up for giant rangers (who can now creep more reliably) change how bearcharge works:

a. Cap the size bonus at "target's size + 1". As long as you're one size bigger than the target you get no additional bonus from making yourself even bigger.

b. Since the above would nerf much of the motivation to play a giant, add a strength component to bearcharge's effectiveness.

4. In general, narrow the effectiveness gap in w.r.t. bearcharge. Currently it seems to more or less suck when the ranger only has a +1 size advantage but is ridiculously good when he has a +2 size advantage or more. "Giant with +1 size advantage" should be made somewhat less effective than "giant with +2 size advantage" is right now, while "non-giant with +1 size advantage" should be somewhat improved.

5. Make the "strength bonus" on bearcharge such that especially weak (read: felar) rangers see no upgrade to their bearcharge in the "+1 size advantage" scenario.

Here's how I see this advantaging/disadvantaging the different kinds of rangers:

1. Giant w/o bearcharge: all upgrade; creep improved.
2. Giant w/ bearcharge: mixed; creep improved but bearcharge degraded.
3. Non-giant weak (e.g. felar): tiny upgrade; can creep more effectively while enlarged.
4. Non-giant strong (e.g. human) w/o bearcharge: tiny upgrade; can creep more effectively while enlarged.
5. Non-giant strong (e.g. human) w/ bearcharge: all upgrade; can creep more effectively while enlarged and bearcharge is slightly improved.

Ignoring the animists and archers, the choice right now for rangers is basically "am I willing to give up stealth in order to have bearcharge be a win button".
246, Please, no.
Posted by blackbird on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Having played a giant ranger, I rarely had significant problems with creep. I would not *EVER* want to give up bearcharge goodness for slightly better creeping.
247, Don't like this
Posted by -flso on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
First of all the slow creep would be a big detriment for giants, much more so
than the occasional step out. A ranger has to spend the majority of his time in the wilderness, imagine how unsettling and downright annoying it would be if there was
permanent slowdown to speed. There are many ways to deal with creep effectiveness, there would be no way to deal with what you propose.

I find the other points you make too niche and maybe sort of elaborate for no clear benefit. Bearcharge on a giant is far from an 'i win button' as is, given that a lot of the classes in the game have means to be immune to it. The stealth/power tradeoff
is just about right in my opinion, and if ranger changes are to be made, i would rather see something that makes the class more fun to play regardless of race.

There are expertises that are too niche, and maybe should be removed and others that need more work as they feel unfinished/no longer suitable for the current in-game circumstances.