I don't know if anything is planned for rangers, but an idea to give them a quick flavor boost. Have serpentstrike do something depending on the weapon used. Use an axe and cut down strength a little. Dagger? Maybe a little dex. Spear? Little bleeding. Even if these things only happen 5% of the time, it makes it a little more interesting. And let's face it, serpentstrike is what is getting used like 90% of the time. Yay. And how bout a little visit from the echo patrol for the ambushes? Onslaught looks exactly the same to me as a regular one (and I never really noticed a difference based on weapons with it, or the other ones for that matter). Doesn't even have to be anything wonderful. ambush bob onslaught = Jumping from your concealment with axe swinging wildly you fiercly attack Bob! I'd rather see that than just "Your ambush blahs Bob." Then again, I like spiffy echoes, opinions may vary. Oh, and I noticed bearcharge never got the same loving as bash and trip. Semi-related, either did throw. Throw would be nice for the echoes, hip tosses and body slams =P

Could make it a contest. That board doesn't see enough traffic.

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix

Rangers could get to fashion exotic since they are in the Wilds and have to be able to use what is at hand. CF needs a true exotics master! IMNSHO! Go RANGERS!

Rangers skills: waylay, bearcharge, and backrake could have additional effects depending on the exotic weapon they wield.

Ranger spell: imbue could work on their fashioned exotic weapons and skins(see below). Imbue could have a variable added to it that is the amount of movement, hit points, and mana put into it.
Example: c imbue 'jaw of snow worm' 300
ranger loses 100 hp, 100mana, 100mv and jaw may get some nifty property depending on how much it is imbued with the ranger's spirit.
In this case the jaw's damage becomes cold damage and is a ripper.

Rangers could be able to learn to dual wield exotics, aka sisters of balance, and be able to use either one's special attack.

Rangers could be able to be able to make advanced camps that also help their party heal.

Rangers could be able to make advanced meals using food sources found in the Wilds and steaks.

Rangers could be able to make ranger only skins for themselves with properties differing depending on the animals they skin and the strength of the imbue spell they use on it.

Okay on to something else that concerns me: Economy.

Please have merchants "reset" their additional inventory over time to help keep bartering and selling going? Please! It would represent the general non adventuring populace effect on shops. Please!

Perhaps I would not make them master of exotics in general, only of bows. This seems to be a ranger weapon, they could imbue it, wield it and fashion it. Making them master of exotics in general could be a bit too much. (A bow fashioned by a ranger could perhaps be used to shoot an arrow without initiating combat. This would give the feeling of a ranged weapon and correspond to the idea that the ranger can sit in the bush and hit an opponent with arrows.)

The fashion skin, imbue skin idea is also nice. I think it could be "fashion skin bodypart" creating a piece fitting the respective part. This would allow rangers to look like rangers should look like.

I do not really understand the point of adding extra mana to imbue. Wouldn't everybody just try to max those getting the best possible gear/weapons? Also, I think the idea of this "better steaks" is a bit unnecessairy. For a ranger with survivalist eating is hardly ever an issue. I think creating "better steaks" would add little and the usual steaks are quite high quality.

I like the idea that camps should have a positive effect on the whole group, actually I thought this myself at some point. (On the other hand, this would be mostly useful for ranking. I think the problem with rangers is not that they do not contribute enough when ranking - they do great being excellent tanks - the problem is high level pk.)

Here is another idea. The track command is a great command but the implementation could be improved - to find out who in my pk range passed through I need to track them all several times. Why not change it so that track returns the last x people who passed through were x depends on skill and weather?

Trying to differentiate rangers from druids I would also suggest they should get more scouting abilities. One way would be to give them familiars used to scout (I suggeste a falconry skill in another post) another option would be to strengthen the track command to work on roads, ets as well. (If there is a snow covered road why would the ranger not be able to see recent tracks of those who past by recently? The variable x mentioned above could depend on whether the area is civilized.) Yet another way would be a locate person in wilderness spell which returns some info where an opponent is - if he is in a wilderness area.

As a side note... I think a command "followtracks player" would be nice. Sure this can be done with triggers now, but it might be nice to have it build in.

A ranger is much weaker then a druid in raw firepower, healing, and maledictive ability. Instead they get stealth abilities, ambush, and snares. I like this, but I think there is room to expand on this, making rangers the premier scouts in wilderness areas. (As a result I am not excited about adding a little maledictive power to serpentstrike. Rangers at low levels are quite powerful. At high levels giving them a tiny bit of malediction, especially through serpentstrike would add nothing to pk. It might make them slightly better tanks against mobs, but they are already great tanks I do not see the need to improve there tanking ability.)

PS: One more thing. I do not understand why rangers cannot put up snares in Ysigrath. Perhaps this was chaanged though - I did not play a ranger for a while.

Quickest way to ruin a discussion on rangers: bring up ranged attacks. Not going to happen.

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix