This post is going to be a slight hybrid of two posts in the past: the "Ranger Hawk Pet AA" post and the recent "Tracking" post. The former called for a ranger pet AA, which summoned a hawk/bird/whatever familiar which served some sort of purpose, while the other had suggestions of an AA which enabled zonewide tracking (specialized for rangers over druids for roleplaying reasons). Coincidentally, these two ideas fall hand in hand.
Currently, tracking in most zones gets spammed out, so that some mobs that are within your track raidus (sometimes mobs right next to you) do not show up on track. This is both annoying and misleading, and contradicts the Rangers role as a master of tracking (after all, what good ranger cant sense a mob right next to him?). Thus, I propose a "Hawk Eye" (or whatever name) AA, which will do the following:
- Replace Ranger's current "Foresight" (4 AA's), which is currently broken / not too useful.
- Summon a flying familiar similar to Frog Jar / Wizard Familairs / etc (cast time / instant isnt a big deal, perhaps take a spell slot?)
- Increase track to be zonewide and unlimited (everything shows up, regardless of spamm)
There are some slight intricacies that arose in the previous threads regarding these issues, I believe they can be worked out quite nicely:
- In terms of balance, this wouldnt really change anything, since many zones worthwhile are trackable from the zone in, depending if you're lucky enough the mobs are in the right order. In regards to being 'overpowering,' AFAIK rogues can pretty much scout out all the nameds in a zone, in addition to what adds are around them and their location. This AA will do about half of that (if even), just giving information on if a mob exists at the time or not.
- In terms of roleplay, this idea could be integrated flawlessly. Many stereotypes paint a Ranger with his hawk on his shoulder, sending it out to scout the area. This AA would do just that. Rangers are the masters of their territory and exceedingly aware of their surroundings, it should come naturally that they can scout out the creatures of a zone.
* A side note, for balance, or whatever: if you felt some zones shouldnt be tracked, or that hawks shouldnt have this capability indoors (which does make sense), you could limit the AA to be casted only outdoors.
Edit: forgot about zone specific vs. global models (suggested - Griffons in Northern Badlands, Couatl's (sp?) in PoA, and Windrider type mobs in PoA). Maybe have a wolf pet then, if all else fails and we cant get birds in every zone.
Well, thats my idea, let me know what you think!
Regards,
Aeran
Currently, tracking in most zones gets spammed out, so that some mobs that are within your track raidus (sometimes mobs right next to you) do not show up on track. This is both annoying and misleading, and contradicts the Rangers role as a master of tracking (after all, what good ranger cant sense a mob right next to him?). Thus, I propose a "Hawk Eye" (or whatever name) AA, which will do the following:
- Replace Ranger's current "Foresight" (4 AA's), which is currently broken / not too useful.
- Summon a flying familiar similar to Frog Jar / Wizard Familairs / etc (cast time / instant isnt a big deal, perhaps take a spell slot?)
- Increase track to be zonewide and unlimited (everything shows up, regardless of spamm)
There are some slight intricacies that arose in the previous threads regarding these issues, I believe they can be worked out quite nicely:
- In terms of balance, this wouldnt really change anything, since many zones worthwhile are trackable from the zone in, depending if you're lucky enough the mobs are in the right order. In regards to being 'overpowering,' AFAIK rogues can pretty much scout out all the nameds in a zone, in addition to what adds are around them and their location. This AA will do about half of that (if even), just giving information on if a mob exists at the time or not.
- In terms of roleplay, this idea could be integrated flawlessly. Many stereotypes paint a Ranger with his hawk on his shoulder, sending it out to scout the area. This AA would do just that. Rangers are the masters of their territory and exceedingly aware of their surroundings, it should come naturally that they can scout out the creatures of a zone.
* A side note, for balance, or whatever: if you felt some zones shouldnt be tracked, or that hawks shouldnt have this capability indoors (which does make sense), you could limit the AA to be casted only outdoors.
Edit: forgot about zone specific vs. global models (suggested - Griffons in Northern Badlands, Couatl's (sp?) in PoA, and Windrider type mobs in PoA). Maybe have a wolf pet then, if all else fails and we cant get birds in every zone.
Well, thats my idea, let me know what you think!
Regards,
Aeran
