Do higher ranks of scouting decrease the time it takes to run trails? If not I think it would be a cool feature. Of course you'd need some minimum time but it might make it more exciting to get higher ranks of scouting. Anyways just wonderin,

-Tiruuns

Oh.. sweet

Just did this test on the long Lang trail comparing times.
No Burden
No Injuries

Scouting skill:
300
Crossing ferry to Lang: 3:22
Lang side to Crossing side: 3:18

Scouting skill:
750
Crossing ferry to Lang: 3:22
Lang side to Crossing side: 3:20


Stats were not factored in.
I will post further results with scout skill less than 300.

I asked people to help me. The 300 and 750 might already be maxed on the times though.

Ideally I'd like to find 150 and 75 ranks and test that. It would show a doubling of skill and if time changes.

Anyway, these are the data points I have so far:

245 scout
South side to north side: 3:22
North side to south side: 3:22

300 scout
South side to north side: 3:22
North side to south side: 3:18

750+ Scout
South side to north side: 3:22
North side to south side: 3:20

Even with a margin of error factored in...It isn't enough to make a difference. All the times are the same.

Another important point is that EXP gain is static regardless of rank. You will always get to 'RUMINATING' from each trail.

<<Ideally I'd like to find 150 and 75 ranks and test that. It would show a doubling of skill and if time changes.

I was planning on starting a new character later this week and was leaning towards Ranger. I might give it a go and get back to you on the 75 ranks once he's able to start the trails in a week or two or three.

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Epedia Admins - https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Elanthipedia:Administrators

<<This is incorrect. More Scouting does not decrease the time on trails. However, the trails that take the longest currently teach the best.

Mind updating elanthipedia with that and any other incorrect information about scouting, please? No one has updated anything on that page since this was previously said to be incorrect a week ago, and I only know as much about scouting as is on that page or I would do it myself.
https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Scouting

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Epedia Admins - https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Elanthipedia:Administrators

<<But you are able to change it now that you know the correct information.

I have no clue if the rest of the information that hasn't changed on that page since around 2008 is also outdated or not, which is more what I'm asking for. Out of all the guilds, the ranger pages are the least updated compared to other guilds. It would be nice to have a ranger who knows what's what go through them and tidy them up to be more current.

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Elanthipedia - https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page
Epedia Admins - https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Elanthipedia:Administrators

I updated and/or corrected what I could about the Ranger page.

There isn't really too much to change though. The Ranger guild hasn't had any updates in a very long time, so the page has everything it needs.

I'll go in and see if I can add some things to the beseech charts. Some of the guild ability template points are more n/a than unknown; things like slot cost, contest, path, aren't really relevant. The only thing I've seen make a beseech fail is minimum amount aligned and being indoors, and if you bonus is tanked you can fail (at least the transfer one, probably the rest). Testing over a declining bonus is difficult as we have only messaging for broad ranges.

Jalika

<<I'll go in and see if I can add some things to the beseech charts. Some of the guild ability template points are more n/a than unknown;

Awesome, thanks for the updates! I'm going to go in and do a quick little bit of wiki-fu to fancy up the display on the beseech page so there's a handy at-a-glance table like with the spell pages.

<<I noticed things that could be updated with the spells and beseeches, but I did not want to mess up the charts, so I left it alone.

There's an 'Edit with form' link at the top that should help to somewhat demystify the editing of those charts since it does all the formatting for you, if that helps.

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I did the research on the longest trail in the game and posted it. I also did testing on shorter trails.

The info was updated and verified by others and everything was agreed upon.

This issue should be over.

Rangers are on the short list of guilds to get some focused development. I have some burgeoning ideas for them I'm excited about - but nothing even remotely developed enough to discuss. I wish I had more of an update to make but, at this time, I do not.

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

Raesh just don't post anything, develop it in full, then drop it into the game, see then you can stay volunteering for DR and help with the Ranger Curse (and despite it).

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"I think anything that forces you to do something no sane adventurer would do just in order to train is ridiculous."
DR-SOCHARIS

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Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.

<<Though I did just have to call in sick to work twice this week for the first time since I started my current job (over four years ago) so... there's that.

Sounds like the beginning of the end to me. Time to start hiring GMs again.

Falker

>>maybe the base code was a complete mess?

More true than you know. I haven't even been in Companion code myself, but I've heard horror stories.

For what it's worth (And honestly, it's not much) I agree - the Ranger guild isn't in a great place right now. They haven't seen major development in quite awhile and I'm unhappy with how many of their spells made it through the 3.0 conversion process. The spellbooks are mostly functional, but they're very bland and boring and many of the spells don't feel interesting.

This is why Rangers are on the short list for development focus. I've got a few ideas rolling around for Rangers I think you'll find really interesting, but it's still a ways out. Sorry. (For reference the short list of guilds that need focused development, in no particular order, are Paladins, Rangers, Traders and Bards.)

-Raesh

"Ever notice that B.A.'s flavor text swells in direct proportion to how much one of our characters is getting screwed?" - Brian Van Hoose

On the topic of spells, I miss plague of scavengers being usable on undead things. Most of our debuff stuff isn't able to be used on undead and that makes little baby life mage sad in his heart.

There is a small window of time where you can use HB or COTW on an undead thing, but it's a pretty much "one-shot" thing and they flag as immune after the first cast. Sometimes you can fire off both spells at least once, sometimes it's just one spell.

After running Riot2 and Barrier quests a bunch of times, it just makes me sadder. I won't even try Dunshade with my Ranger because I know it wouldn't be any better. Plus the whole manor is not very wild or friendly to our bonus.

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Your time for being forced PvP OPEN has ended. You have been set back to DON'T MUCK WITH ME UNLESS YOU TELL ME FIRST! and will not be able to change it for 24 hours.
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>Mind explaining what happens when they become immune?

Here, I have a log from my recent run of Barrier quest.

Prep HB at 10 mana:
>cast shar
You gesture at the lost Rakash Sharlir.
A thousand tiny spiders crawl out of their hiding places and begin crawling over the lost Rakash Sharlir, trapping her in a cocoon of sticky webbing.
Roundtime: 2 sec.

Same spell, same mana, second time:
>cast shar
You gesture at the lost Rakash Sharlir.
The spell pattern collapses at the last moment due to the undead state of the lost Rakash Sharlir.
Roundtime: 2 sec.

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Your time for being forced PvP OPEN has ended. You have been set back to DON'T MUCK WITH ME UNLESS YOU TELL ME FIRST! and will not be able to change it for 24 hours.
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Not any recent logs. I could probably go find a skeleton or something and give it a go though next time I'm on my Ranger, or another Ranger can give it a shot.

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Your time for being forced PvP OPEN has ended. You have been set back to DON'T MUCK WITH ME UNLESS YOU TELL ME FIRST! and will not be able to change it for 24 hours.
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>I'm wondering if having Awaken Forrest or perhaps another spell branch replace the current companion model entirely would be feasible... maybe steal/alter some code from necromancers. Just an idea from someone who has no knowledge of the coding involved.

Funnily enough, this is the idea. The plan is basically for the pet system being developed for Necromancers to also replace the pet systems of War Mages, Ranger, Empaths and other stuff with a common pet core that doesn't rely on decade-old uncommented spaghetti code half-stolen from Gemstone. The prognosis is good, a working prototype exists last we heard.

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>Forgive my snark, but welcome to the life of a warrior mage.

The immunity is due to the undead state. You need to change your spell stance with more 'INTEGRITY' and you can bypass their spell resistance.

This is the case for most undead. They have natural spell resistance. You need to up your integrity and minimum spell prep. It will land every time.