Creature Handler Archive

Message Edited by Specter2k3 on 09-07-2005 01:42 AM

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Ko-aIri wrote:

- Taming is exceedingly time-consuming at top level (CL 60+). (are people still having major problems even with BE taming clothing and chef food at master level?)

- Alphabetically sort the abilities on the /train list (I'll see if I can get this looked at, seems to be a very small change)

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I have BE-Clothes with +25, CA's with +25 and using +18 food, it usually still takes 5-10 attempts to tame acreature. This is way too much for a MCH, especially since most high-level pets will aggro when taming was not successful.

I would like to see the list in 2 columns - Ability and Level. should be possible to sort them either forability or for level.

I would like to add something, which is gamebreaking at the moment, at least on my server. I don't know if you experience the same on your servers:

Wild spawns on Talus are almost non-existent. You can drive for 5000m without seeing ONE wild spawn. Similar situation on Tatooine: The only creatures I could find, driving from Mos Eisley to Fort Tusken, were low level bugs, rills and Cu Pas. No Banthas, no Dewbacks. Wide areas of no wild spawn, when there used to be a lot of wild spawns on that planet. I have added it to the issue list and /bugged it ingame, please could you check the situation on your servers?

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Drecki wrote:

I would like to add something, which is gamebreaking at the moment, at least on my server. I don't know if you experience the same on your servers:

Wild spawns on Talus are almost non-existent. You can drive for 5000m without seeing ONE wild spawn. Similar situation on Tatooine: The only creatures I could find, driving from Mos Eisley to Fort Tusken, were low level bugs, rills and Cu Pas. No Banthas, no Dewbacks. Wide areas of no wild spawn, when there used to be a lot of wild spawns on that planet. I have added it to the issue list and /bugged it ingame, please could you check the situation on your servers?

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/agree and QFE.

On Flurry we have the same issue- you can find lots of CL1s and CL2s right outside of the big cities on Tat and Talus, but if you venture anywhere else on the planet, it's devoid of life. This IS gamebreaking, especially since inour profession we end up spending many hours MORE searching dead planets to try and find a tamable. From what I understand it has to do with the population of players and where they are (for example, this is hardly an issue on the "grind planet" of Dantooine or Dathomir) but it's ridiculous and definitely needs to be addressed and fixed. We need life on other planets, too. The statments I bolded above are what concerns me as well. Thanks for wording it best!

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Ko-aIri wrote:
While I do agree that the XP requirement is fairly extensive, especially for the highest level pets, I'm not sure I agree with prioritizing XP rates at the moment, and here's why (to hit your major points):

1. Pets generally get the best XP gain when NOT grouped while you level them. So if you're in a "grinder group" you don't have to worry about the spot in the group being dedicated to the pet. As long as the pet isn't drawing aggro (which is shouldn't as long as you're a CL 80 combatant), most creatures you'd grind on won't even attack the pet so the group (for health monitoring and level bonus) isn't necessary.

This isn't necessarily true. Pets get the Best XP when fighting creatures that are at/above their level. So with a CL 80 grind group it can be beneficial to group with them. As to the pet not drawing agro, my CL 69 Pet with Aggression L3 can/has/will draw aggression, and I can't see the pets health dropping. Also happens when I work with any of my pets with an AOE attack.

2. Focus. If you're out grinding, grind. If you see that awesome rare baby, sure at that point stop the group and go grab it, but for the most part if you want to level a pet, stick to that. You pretty much have to decide if you're taming or training so to speak on your trip out, otherwise you'll do neither well.

Very True. I never tame when I'm out to grind or I find that I'm only taming :-)

3. It seems learning a pet's abilities is connected directly to the number of kills it makes, NOT how much XP it earns. So you can (if you really wanted to) AFK yard trash around starter cities to learn your pet's abilities. Thus, XP rate of gain is not at all relevant to you learning a new skill, it's only relevant to making a pet gain ability slots/points. If you're trying to learn Thick Skin (L3) off your CL 68 pet, you'll be just as likely to do so by killing 400 wild chubas as you will 400 mission-generated pikets.

While I agree that kills is the trigger, I don't believe it's tied to a specific kill number. I also believe that this chance to learn the skill goes up when the pet is leveled. I would love to see an answer from SOE on this. Also I don't AFK, and don't intend to start. I don't think this is a very good answer to learning specials.

4. If we reduce the XP requirements to level pets, then the very highest level pets will be that much easier to "cap out." While this may look good on the surface, it may bring the nerf bat down on Creature Handler (yet again) if it turns out a CL 70 pet with a full set of skills and abilities is very powerful and the profession becomes the FOTM profession again. If the XP requirements stay higher, more power is justified and it is less likely to become a widespread problem IMHO.

I agree, well sort of :-) I'm just think there should be a better way.

5. Plus, and I empathize with your limited playtime, but I have been able to join up with Dantooine grinder groups and roll over my high-level pet's XP 5-6 times in one two-hour block. And I can only play at most 3 or so hours a night a couple days a week in the past month. The problem is, you can't ever make it work for everybody. If you make it extremely "casual-play" friendly and dramatically reduce the XP requirements, then the "powergrinders" cap out that much sooner.


If everyone really wants me to bump this up the priority list and work to get it changed, I will of course do so, but I'm trying to play devil's advocate here and see it from all angles. I'm open to discussion, as I said the Top 5 list is a draft right now so I will be happy to adjusted if I misread the importance of this issue.

And Milteck... Elites are likely gone for good, Keldarin said this system is designed to replace the need for such pets. I think the idea was that rare skills and the fact that you can tailor a pet to your specifications was supposed to be sufficient replacement. What I'd honestly like to see are some elite skills that are very rare and hard to find that we could find on pets, to have something other than the rare babies to chase again.

That would be good, but I think that the system right now can be very frustrating when trying to find certian specials. At least in the past when we saw a Great Plains Stalker, we knew it was a great plains stalker. I was a little bit frustrated in a few of my last tames. I tamed a GPS, Ikopi Stag, and Stoneskin Hanadak. All three didn't have specials, and the only one that I would say was easy to get was the Ikopi Stag. I would suggest that there be a real good chance to get an "Elite" special on these rare type of babies. As it is, I'm glad to have my rares, but the tames would have been much more rewarding if they had had a special.

It also brings up a good point. Try to go out to the Swamp Stalker hot spots and see what kind of MOBs you see. Naboo west of Keren is virtually dead. I think the same is true on a lot of other planets/servers. If you aren't in an area that has a lot of people/traffic, you will see very few if any spawns. Good luck getting some creatures! I don't think this makes the top 5, but should be looked at.

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Amethyst-Moonshadow wrote:

From what I understand it has to do with the population of players and where they are (for example, this is hardly an issue on the "grind planet" of Dantooine or Dathomir)

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Thanks for confirming it's happening on the same planets on your server as well. I thought the same, it would have something to do with population, but actually on FarStar the No. 1 grinding planet is Tatooine. There are 2 player cities + Mos Eisley + Bestine, where you can always find lots of players, hunting groups and so on. It used to be on Dantooine and Dathomir, but it has changed completely. While there are less hunting groups on Dantooine, there as lots of wild spawns. Same goes for Dathomir.

Just a few weeks ago I wasn't able to go with my level 1 crafter toon to my factories just outside of our city on Talus. There were wild spawns almost everywhere and Talus is sure not one of the most populated planets on FarStar

I think the issue must be a different one in that case.

@Seiryuu

Of course it's not aCH specific issue, but it affects us more than anybody else. When we can't find a baby Dewback or Bantha, we can't sell any to our customers. Rangers/BE/Scouts canuse mission lairs, we can't.

BTW, can anybody on other servers confirm (or not confirm) the situation on Talus/Tatooine?

The list was spot on at least up to 2 weeks ago.

I went ingame for the first time in 2 weeks and walked, not rode 5km across an empty Naboo looking for babies. 2 weeks ago I couldn't ride 100m without bumping into another wild spawn. Now nothing. (Server=Radiant).

Well almost nothing. I found2 wild spawn with 2 Kaadu and 1 baby. I went to tame the baby and it despawned. So did the 2 adults. The lair was still there but not the Kaadu. I went 500m away and back and they were there again. They then despawned as I approached. I gave up and continued my search.

I only found spawns when I got within 1000m of Theed starport.

This is not good.

-Indene-

P.S. As a miner I think this is great as I can place and tend harvesters without much fear of being eaten by the wildlife.

Message Edited by Indene on 09-07-2005 06:56 PM

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Of course it's not a CH specific issue, but it affects us more than anybody else. When we can't find a baby Dewback or Bantha, we can't sell any to our customers. Rangers/BE/Scouts can use mission lairs, we can't.

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Amethyst-Moonshadow wrote:

Something I've heard and cannot confirm, but thought it might be good to bring up/ask here...

Pets not grouped with you give jedi in the group visibility. Is this true?

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Message Edited by Drecki on 09-09-2005 02:02 AM