Bounty Hunter Archive

OUTLINE
I Preface
A. Roleplaying Attitude
B. Loss of Names : My Mark Often Knows Who I'm After Before I Do
II Ideas
A. Part One
B. Part Two
III Summary

I PREFACE
I want everyone to know where I'm coming from and why I find these ideas necessary. If you're not interested in my opinions then skip to the Ideas.

A. Roleplaying Attitude
As a hunter, I am a professional. I have a contract and am intent on seeing it fulfilled. In my pursuit I am meticulous. Since my abilities are inferior I must strive to gain every advantage and succeed through strategy. That being said, I build relationships with other hunters, and build informant relationships with other Jedi. I keep written and electronic records of every Jedi I encounter, their name, their level, guild, where I saw them, what instance if applicable, who they group with. I constantly shop for the best weapons, armor, meds, food, spice, attachments, etc. I keep it all in perfect repair. I do these things before EVERY hunt. I do not have the best PvP skills, but what I lack and make up for through planning. Many of my decisions are based on cost-to-benefit analysis. If the contract doesn't pay much, I reduce the supplies I use. If I catch a Jedi picking their nose, thats really unfortunate for the Jedi and excellent for my finances. If a contract pays 50k or 225k it doesn't matter. Business is business and a mark's a mark. Regardless of what others might say or have said, I am a hunter and a professional.

B. Loss of Names : My Mark Often Knows Who I'm After Before I Do
Generally speaking it just doesn't make logical sense. No bounty hunter would take a contract not knowing what the payout was or who they were going after. Frankly, thats just silly.
Kashyyyk: Of course little of this is possible without the name of my mark. What hunting I once did has been stripped away entirely where Kashyyyk is concerned. With a name I could use the relationships I'd developed with other Jedi to find my mark. I could run /target and /findfriend macro's. I could inquire with fellow hunters. I could cross reference their information in my notes. Its a trade secret, but I'd also developed a method to learn the names of all players within any given area of Kashyyyk ( minus the particular instance ).

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=bounty_hunter&message.id=483657

Without a name, I now have to go about the hunt with virtually no tactics ( There does remain one semi-effective strategy--the ambush, but frankly thats boring as hell ). Target, pull up reticle, see if I can attack. Ironically, in the meantime every nearby Jedi does a /duel to determine if I'm after them ( yes, /duel allows them to determine if you have their mission ). So basically its a toss-up to see if they learn they are my mark before I do. So much for the element of surprise.
Everywhere else: Without a name ( cause the Seek function of Seekers doesn't seem to work consistently ), I have to try and click on the player while racing up on my bike. Using TAB isn't effective as their are often other creatures about. Basically this further diminishes the element of surprise because of how long it takes to potentially aquire the mark as my "Target". Formerly I had a /target macro running to aquire them as soon as possible.

I IDEAS
This is a two-part plan. Please read them both and consider their effects when used together on a mass scale.
A. Part One
Stop hunting players. Don't hunt them at all ( especially solo! ). Let the Jedi community go ahead and grind to completion, after all how long can a player enjoying running around saying "Duel?". Maybe some will quit, maybe some will be dissatisfied because they don't get to use their powers against hunters. Basically, bring the PvP to an absolute halt. Let the Jedi population bloom and grow weary from boredom. No fun equals no play. No play equal no $ for Sony ( or mass dissatisfaction at least ). If you do hunt the Jedi solo, realize they will most likely defeat you and you are increasing the players satisfaction with the current system. If you want to see a change then they too must become dissatisfied. On to part 2.

B. Part Two
Lets face it. Technically speaking a full templated Jedi should not be able to be defeated by a single bounty hunter in a fair one on one contest. Therefore, as a businessman why would a bounty hunter expend resources or time hunting someone he knew he was unlikely to defeat ( since the majority of strategy has been removed from the game ). The rational hunter would quickly realize that splitting the 225K for a guaranteed success would always be the superior business decision. Therefore hunting Jedi in pairs only makes good business sense. Your contract is satisfied, you have money in your pocket, viola! you're a successful hunter. So...

Form a Chat Channel "Spynet" (whatever) with as many Bounty Hunters as possible ( this must be done on a mass scale to be effective ). Now, imagine if everytime a BH learned their marks name they didn't attack. Instead they announced on the Chat Channel the name of their mark in order to find other hunters with the same mark. Now as a routine, don't actually /group, but go together to take your mark. This will turn the whole anti-griefing/gank squad reasoning for Pub 20 on its head. Because now this would be the ONLY way BH's take down their mark. Trust me. This idea will NOT find favor with the Jedi community. But we want dissatisfaction to invoke change.

II SUMMARY
Some of these ideas might seem distasteful ( not to me ), but frankly, the profession and game I love have pretty much been nerfed into oblivion. I need a reasonable system to be put in place. If neither of these ideas and their consequences are sufficient to bring the developers around to reevaluate the current system then I fear it is beyond hope and can only wish my fellow hunters the best of luck with SWG.

Xanzu of Lowca