Rangers Company
The Rangers Company was conceived as a system that aims to vastly improve the players’ experience when defeating creatures throughout Ravendawn’s many different biomes and settings, providing a new interesting and engaging method of progression.
After acquiring and processing a lot of data and community feedback from the Alphas and the Closed Beta, and after brainstorming a lot of ideas internally as well, our team came to the conclusion that the leveling experience of Ravendawn would greatly benefit from an added extra spice to the act of hunting creatures: something that was already addressed to some degree with the implementation of creature drops, but this time to a higher standard, adding satisfactory progression and competitive layers to the mix — and thus was born the Rangers Company, a new mechanic dedicated to adding a lot more depth to the creature hunting process, avoiding the senseless grinding loops which usually taints the experience of many RPGs.
Keepers of Balance or Obsessed Hunters?
The Rangers Company was born some time after Lucien’s landing at Ravendawn. Despite of its few native civilized communities, when the first Lyderians arrived at the continent, the land was still pretty much untamed: dangerous beasts preying about at every bush, Goblin raiding parties just waiting for unaware settlers to venture forth carelessly and vicious aberrations lurking in the shadows of forgotten dungeons.
While the problem was partially solved by the establishment of the Ravenguards, which protects the lands on behalf of Ravencrest to this day, it didn’t take long before the Crown noticed that it wasn’t enough. It was then that a group of bold adventurers, led by the legendary monster hunter from Lyderia, Heinrich von Oliv, took the initiative and founded the Rangers Company — a group dedicated to neutralizing hostile creatures which threatens human settlements while also studying their habits and battle tactics, helping to keep the balance wherever it’s needed. The company isn’t free of controversy though: some people still believe they are just a bunch of adventurers obsessed with hunting creatures endlessly just for the challenge and thrill of it. The Company’s ranks grew fast, recruiting capable adventurers from all over the land and erecting outposts in many regions, where they stand tall to this day.
First Steps Towards Glory
All Adventurers receive a formal invitation from the Rangers Company once they reach level 15, summoning them to show up at the Company’s headquarters in Glademire. There, they will make their acquaintance with Grandmaster Maxxor, a seasoned monster hunter and current Head of the Company, who’s quite the character… (you should discover why by yourselves). After finishing their first assignment, they will be free to roam the whole world, visiting the outposts of the Rangers Company scattered through every region they visit, picking up tasks and climbing through their ranks.
A New Breed of Monster Hunting
When traveling through the world of Ravendawn, Adventurers will frequently come across one of the Rangers Company’s Outposts, scattered through many regions and ready to give their members tasks to fulfill.
To acquire a task, players will have to interact with a Bounty Board, a staple element of any outpost, and select which task they want to be assigned to. Tasks invariably revolve around defeating creatures of a certain region, but they come in three different length models: Short, Normal and Long, and the longer it takes to complete a given task, the better the rewards they will receive by the end of it. It’s always possible to reroll and get three new task options from the same region if someone feels like hunting a different type of creature, as long as they are willing to pay a hefty amount of silver each time they use this resource. After a task is accepted, however, there’s no way to reroll them until the accepted quest is either completed or canceled and after a certain cooldown passes as well. Every time someone successfully completes a task, a reward will be given in the form of Prestige Points and Bounty Marks.
Climbing the Ranks
Individuals who are able to prove their worthiness as members of the company by dutifully completing many tasks will amass a lot of Prestige Points in no time. Prestige Points are awarded every time a task is successfully completed and represents both the stature of someone within the company as well as their experience at fighting creatures.
Every Adventurer joining the Rangers Company will begin as a mere recruit, but by reaching a certain number of Prestige Points, they will be raised to higher and higher ranks, until they are recognized as Champions. To be recognized as a Warden, though, is a completely different story — Wardens are considered the absolute elite of the Company, an honor granted only to those who manage to be at the top 1% of a weekly Leaderboard. However, getting there just once won’t guarantee glory forever: to keep the title of Warden, one has to be at the top of the leaderboard every week, struggling to prove its supremacy within the Company. It may be more than worth the struggle, though, for Wardens have some very meaningful benefits for those capable of seizing it…
Got some Trouble? Call the Experts!
Getting a lot of Prestige Points won’t just help Adventurers make a name for themselves and rise through the Company’s ranks: it will also slowly and steadily hone their skills as monster hunters by increasing their Expertise. Every time the expertise bar gets filled by acquiring enough Prestige Points, the Adventurer will get a random Expertise point assigned to a certain creature category, improving their combat capabilities against creature families who are a part of that respective category, increasing their: Physical Power, Magical Power, Physical Defense, Magical Defense, Critical Chance and even Drop Rate.
Don’t let the seemingly small bonuses fool you, though: in the long run of your career as a monster hunter, after dozens of tasks have been completed, the Expertise points will stack together and might create a snowballing effect of power for those who are daring enough to challenge Ravendawn’s most vicious creatures.
Creature Categories
Beasts — Bears, Wolves, Blizzard Beasts, Minotaurs, Hogs, Foxes & Jackals
Arthropods — Spiders, Scorpions & Bugs
Reptiles — Crocodiles, Kaimans, Saurians & Tortoises
Amphibians — Toads
Humans — Rohna Brotherhood, Ghaz, Skorns, Saltdusks, Naturalists, Hookmasks, Winterborns, Pirates & Yornish
Humanoids — Dwarves & Elves
Undeads — Skeletons, Animated Bones, Wraiths & Vampires
Natural — Trunks, Poisonpetals, Wisps & Fungi
Aquatics — Zorians, Sharks & Sea Serpents
Outsiders — Demons, Devils, Gazers & Djinns
Mutants — Rats, Hags, Sporewalkers & Pummeldillos
Goblinoids — Goblins & Orcs
Giants — Trolls & Frolls
Draonics — Drakes & Dragons
Expertise Benefits
Increased Physical AP — +2 per Point
Increased Magical AP — +2 per Point
Increased Physical DP — +2 per Point
Increased Magical DP — +2 per Point
Increased Critical Change — +0.05 per Point (Crit Stat, not Crit %)
Increased Drop Rate — 1% per Point (Relative to the Original Item Drop Chance)
To the Victor, the Spoils
Being a dedicated member of the Rangers Company isn’t just about blood, battle and glory. Every time a task is successfully completed, Bounty Marks will be rewarded accordingly. Bounty Marks are used within the Company as a token of effort and value, allowing individuals to acquire very unique and highly useful items from the Munk Quartermaster NPCs who will be present at every outpost.
Exotic potions, enchanted rings and necklaces, powerful trinkets and appealing house cosmetics: a great variety of products that can’t be acquired anywhere else will be available to those willing to take their duty as a Ranger seriously — and willing to spend a certain amount of Silver too, of course, after all, we’re talking about Munks here, heroic deeds alone would never be enough. The higher the rank of someone within the Rangers Company, the higher the number and quality of products that will be at their disposal at the shop!
Ready to set out and make a name for yourself as a renowned monster hunter? We do hope so, because much more is waiting on the horizon when we talk about the Rangers Company…
See You in the next DevBlog!