Thank you, I've been praying for that for years. I'm definitely willing to take a hit on the top end to fix the low end and make it work the way it was supposed to. Glad to see you managed to survive digging through what I figure was a nasty little mess.

Are you willing to state all of the skills our bonus impacts at this time for the record? It would be much appreciated.

Next on my wish lists that I kept bugging you about: Make NC more friendly. And give me a passive spot of some sort.

Thanks.

>-Z

Thank you very much =)

Also, we were discussing this in IRC and how a lot of times people will find some reason to complain. So, the first ranger to complain about this change I shall have to kill in game.

Thank you for your time.

Were all our bonuses reset?

I started the day howling meekly and after an hour I am at:
You open your mouth and throw back your head, howling with a tentative but fairly resonant tone that wavers only slightly.

To put it mildly... My character doesn't spend a lot of time in town or in anything but wilderness areas.

This is in plat.

-pete

>You open your mouth and throw back your head, howling with a tentative but fairly resonant tone that wavers only slightly.

Hmm, that's positive but not super great. It shouldn't take too long to get that up if you sit in a wilderness-y area for a while. It sounds like if you were there for an hour or two you maxed out what you can get for the given room, maybe.

I'd check it out, but you're not in game and I'm off to work. :D

Sit in a room for a while that you think is wilderness-y enough and after a bit post the room and howl message.

>Were all our bonuses reset?

To neutral? Ya.


- GM Sithix

>To neutral? Ya.

That would explain it then.

>>I'm not sure I read your post correctly, but it seems to say that if we have a highly positive bonus and we spend time in a moderately positive area, our bonus will drift DOWN to moderately positive. Is that correct?
>Yes.

>The most wilderness-y areas and most metropolis-y areas are definitely very rare and should be, but you don't need those to reach max bonus on either end.

So these two answers leave me confused... So is there a range between max positive and moderately positive that supports a maximum bonus, so we just need to be in a good-enough wilderness area to hit max bonus? Are there any plans to expand the range of messaging for pace to help manage this?

>Do you have a short list of areas? I can check it out, but if you want every area re-checked, that's not going to happen (do you really want no changes in trails, PTM's, companions, beseeches, spells, any survival skills, or anything else for that matter, for like a year or two? if you do, the answer is still no).

Yeah, wasn't suggesting a full review of all rooms, just ones that seemed particularly dissonant from the descriptions.

I know one that has been complained about by other rangers is the Wir Dinego area around Promado village. The area is described as overgrown, but is bonus negative. Given that areas can now have aspects of urban and wild now, that setting seems out of whack.

I'll poke around and confirm what I am seeing with different areas that have stood out in the past for me and post when I have more info.

-pete

>Can you comment on why Evasion was excluded?

It's a direct combat skill. Same as backstab.

Hiding/Stalking are indirect (even if vital...) combat skills.

>Wow. Even stealing and lockpicking and disarming? That is pretty awesome if so (even though I train none of those skills, I am sure others will like it a lot).

Very, very happy with this if that is the case.

Glad to see evasion is NOT on the list.

Here's all the messages I've found so far for howl:

You howl meekly, unsure of yourself.

You open your mouth and throw back your head, howling with a tentative but fairly resonant tone that wavers only slightly.

You howl like a wolf calling the pack!

You inhale and howl strongly, the cacophonous sounds reverberating around you.

You inhale deeply, a resounding howl breaking forth from within you, resonating strongly into the distance as if to announce your mastery of the wilds!

I'm pretty sure those are low-high order, given they were from this AM when I started out neutral after the new release and have spent the whole time in bonus positive areas.

The pace message for refreshing familiarity seems to cap out at the "You inhale deeply, a resounding howl breaking forth" message.

I spent another 20 minutes in a pace like a mountain cat area and reached the mastery message.

Are the trails set up as max bonus positive, since they are supposed to be our short-cuts through the wild? That would be a nice incentive for using them more often if they helped to recharge our bonus.

I'm pretty happy so far with these change. Just need to swim the selgotha and climb the branch to see how bad a hit I am taking at the top-end (where I normally live in-game)....

-pete

>Evasion...

>It's a direct combat skill. Same as backstab.

Precisely. Combat skills are excluded from an always-on passive bonus such as this. Same with the Thief bonus (obviously I think, since Backstab was mentioned).


- GM Sithix

>Even stealing and lockpicking and disarming?

Yes, although I'm 99.999% sure those three were already there in version 1.0. :D

>Beseeches

All of them were updated in a way that should make them be the same or close comparatively in terms of calculations that utilized the Bonus. You should see no real change. The degree to which Transfer helped is the same, or very close.

I believe several random pre-requisites from various beseeches were removed. I know one requirement is left for all beseeches... you must have a positive bonus.


- GM Sithix

With the bonus working better now, are random wilderness shops in the middle of the crossing going to get fixed? I know rangers probably aren't eager to lose their bonus there, but it really makes no sense at all.

---

>describe boar
It's a boar. It doesn't like you.

>>Yes. In fact I think I'm going to fix them now.

I know it's a bigger project, but any chance of checking on all shops? I bugged a bunch in Muspar'i recently.

---

TG, TG, GL, et al.
Also: Moo.

I posted on the plat boards about these areas, but figure I'll just post here to keep it one place now... Also added the new forest geni area, since that is not very bonus positive.

Mistwood Forest, Deer Trail, on the rossman's side, is set to slightly bonus positive. This includes the Mistwood Forest, Wild Rose Thicket. This area seems like it should be sufficiently wild for a more positive rating in the mountain cat range of pace messaging.

Gwenalion Fens are set to barely bonus positive. This area seems like it should be sufficiently wild for a more positive rating in the northern area given how overgrown it is. In the southern area it seems like it should be fully wild.

The Wir Dinego area near promado village is still bonus negative. This area is overgrown and should be at least slightly bonus positive. LOSTTOG posted more info on this on the Plat boards. This one may already have been passed on to the area owner by Z and Audacia, but nothing has been done.

In Ker'leor the Gallows Wood described with ancient trees rates only slightly positive. This area with the Forest Geni should be mountain cat pace messaging.

-pete

Yikes. Now that I have had a chance to test the new full bonus, the decrease is quite a bit more easily noticed than I had hoped it would be. Maybe swimming RTs are just weird, but on this particular swim and under these conditions before, my RTs were 1 second all the way. Now I am getting 4-7 seconds repeatedly. Seems like a severe hit.

>Swimming

BUG it while standing in the given room and we'll take a look at swimming itself and the area. The bonus itself, however, is not changing.


- GM Sithix

(Sorry for all the double posting). I did just find another bug while swimming, which I BUGged in game. Due to the nature of it, I do not believe I should post it on the boards.

I want to thank all the GM's that had a hand in making the changes to the ranger bounus, it has been a long time coming. Could you tell us what other things you have in the works for us rangerly folks?


Miv

I will paper cut you to death with my awesome ranger TM!

>Drift Rate being Fast/Slow, both sides have their advantages and disadvantages.

True, but I am finding that so many wilderness looking hunting areas are not, at least in Therengia, that it is impossible to keep a good bonus.

What is the point if we can't keep a good bonus by hunting out in the wilds?

-pete

>wilderness looking hunting areas are not, at least in Therengia, that it is impossible to keep a good bonus.

If by good you mean good and not maximum, then we just need to look at the areas in question.


- GM Sithix

>>>Drift Rate

My only question with drift rate is the large amount of stamina it drains. Is this because we're fighting the current to maintain our position? It takes me back to the time I got stuck swimming the Segoltha because CAIS ran out and wound up being constantly drug into the same room I was in, but my stamina would not pass 0%. I had to assist in order to get out of it since I was stuck without gweths at the time.


I will continue to get blunter on this topic until people get the message or my posts contain enough profanity to be removed. - Armifer

My drift rate question was about swimming not bonus, guess I should clarify.

I will continue to get blunter on this topic until people get the message or my posts contain enough profanity to be removed. - Armifer