My second and favorite 40k army was my craftworld alaitoc eldar. I loved the lore, loved the models, and LOVED knocking out terminator squads and shutting down horde armies with pinning from sniper fire. However, playing a match againsts snipers is the most mindnumbing experience you can have in a shooter. No strategy, no changes, just hoping that as you try to advance you don't die and waiting to respawn over and over again. Nothing is worse then dying to some loser sitting on a hill contributing nothing to the battle by taking potshots at the unlucky. (Some heavy PS2 flashbacks here). I think keeping the rangers as "elites" is a good first step but I think that it is also important to have a kind of point of diminishing returns for isolated long ranged characters. If you just reward a stack of skills you are going to have l33t sn1p0rs absorbing vital resources and contributing nothing to the actual battle. I think this could be accomplished by removing the benefits for "streak" kills on sniper/long range weapons, drastically reducing the value of kills obtained from long range (low risk) weapons, or imposing some sort of timer for getting 5+ kills in the same spot. I love the rangers as a character, but I hate the idea of people not playing the game in such a way that provides a good experience for everyone involved. Thoughts?
Well in the Original Rouge Trader Store the Pathfinder was indicated to be a Tactical class, this would suggest they'd be allowed to capture points. That'll encourage them to at least perform distracting Ninja caps. Hopefully Sniper kiddies can be taught to prioritized specific targets IE Tactical classes which can be helpful to at least delay a capture at times. I'll be curious to know if the rifles will be able to negate toughness as well. Depending on a Ranger's capabilities I can challenge the sniper kiddies to perform some useful scouting and harassment maneuvers. They'll also be very helpful on Fortress, or other large maps where a commander needs vision, spotting, and the fact that Any tactical going down on the way to a point can delay capture. Also, posting a patent sniper at a point where it is unlikely that anything other than a ninja cap would occur can greatly assist defensive efforts. Even if a tactical gets on the point a sniper can give the team 10-20 seconds notice that a point capture may START so that's an additional 33% time to get the defenders to swoop around and recapture ground (or the skilled 360 noscoper can just get it back themselves.)
I think the rangers as tactical could be a good spin on them. I guess it depends on whether or not they get similar stealth benefits to the scorpions.
Point capture may just be an accesory in the future. I think that was the case for SM and CSM atm. I don't know if thats 100% true or will apply to eldar though.
Haha, I'm a long time SC backer, so I have come to understand the "alpha" tag. But it is a good thing to keep in mind.
This has always been a bit of an interesting perspective to me as the ranger will almost certainly also be getting a similar stealth to that of a Scorpion. Which means not only do rangers get the added bonus of being able to outrange everyone, camp, ect, they'll stealth as well. That's utterly ridiculous levels of power in a single class which makes me wonder how on earth could they even balance that. Limited ammo seems key. Damage is negotiable. The one thing I wanted to do when launch involved open world was to grab some rangers and see how far into enemy territory it was possible to go.... And then put a webway gate there.
I feel like a key component is limiting their mobility while they are being offensive. You could give them a setup period before they can start shooting, make it so that the "one shot one kill" requires a charge up mechanic a la Team Fortress 2. This would mean that they perform best with careful planning and it should emphasize their role as scouts rather than assassins. Making them an elite capper would also be awesome, but I could understand arguments to the contrary. As far as limited ammo, that doesn't mesh well with their isolated nature. This means you could nullify the effect by staying near allies and it would encourage player to act counter to the classes purpose.
Should be interesting how they go about a stealthed sniper. who can cap? doubt stealth capping but we will see!
