Creature Handler Archive

Several years ago I heard about a game that was like everquest but based on Star Wars. I became immediately giddy and tried to find as much information as possible. Eventually a web site opened up and the forums were born. Caella, Triforcer, Bajeezus, and Thunderheart are some of the names I can think of off the top of my head that posted often and tried to ponder on what would make the game good and (sometimes fiercely) argued against things they thought were bad. People thought the Developers were gods and passages from the jedi archive were quoted like the Bible.

When the game neared release, a profession list was dispersed I planned a character template consisting of Creature handler and Teras Kasi. The game came out and this is what I did. Creature Handler was the first profession Imastered and I have never dropped it. I have developed a strange bond with the creatures I have tamed, that loyally fought by my side even when the odds were against them, from my first pet ( a capper spineflap baby) to my last (a second mantigrue screecher).

In the beginning creature handler was one of the only working professions. In fact it worked too well, so they limited the number of pets out and the max pet levels. Before vehicles came out, everyone had pets and the masses screamed because it didn't look starwarsy enough with all the creatures and no vehicles. This was the beginning of the hatred of creature handlers. The developers listened to the outcry and developed a plan to lower the number of creature handlers. They did a reworking of the tree to discourage dabblers and said this would benefit all master creature handlers and was not a nerf. At the same time, they rolled out the plan for a 'combat balance'. Creature handlers (creatures) would get changed first in a four part balance; weapons, HAM, and other things would follow. We would be out of balance for a few months, but then everything would be ok.

In effect, CH was nerfed beyond understanding. All pets lost medium armor. Light armor was removed from almost all pets that people had. CL was raised on some pets to keep multiple pets from being pulled at once. Resistances were lowered.

To add to this, Bio Engineer was re-worked with the ability to make uber pets for non creature handlers and creature handlers. Now, creature handlers could not use their pets as a combat profession and the ability to sell pets diminished to nothing. Without a second profession CH was useless.

With all of this I stood by this profession, and this game, because I liked being a creature handler. It was what I paid for every month. Besides, a few months was not long to wait.

Well a few months turned into 4 months, then 6 months. Then, the announcement was made that the change would be next year. Well, when you shorten a leg on a four-legged table you need to either shorten the otherthree legs or lengthen the one- or the table is very unstable.

I went to the place where I started the game and tookscreenshots of mypets. I will miss the friends I made and the pets I tamed but I will not pay for a service that has not been delivered. Jump to lightspeed looks amazing but I can't see paying a subscription to a space shooter. If the ground game worked it would be a great bonus.

For those of you who don't know what you are missing, I am truly glad that you are able to enjoy this game. I wish you all luck. My subscription ends September 7.

/salute

Tivo Tenook (Lowca)
- Master CH/Master Rifleman
- SWG player since 7/6/03
- Rebel Alliance 2nd Lieutenant
- 87 Badges
*Official JTL Protester*

Hate to see ya go bro, gonna miss seeing all the *who was that masked man* sigs, but you have to do what you have to do, if it ain't fun, then why play.

/salute

Walle Deabi - Shortest Master Creature Handler on Shadowfire

"Yes, my spelling and grammer sucks, but I never claimed to be an English Major." -Wallach1

I hate seeing people go who actually made the game more fun for the rest of us.

Zexipher Evant
Teras Kasi Master, Master Brawler, Novice Creature Handler
Lost Souls, Corbantis
Souls Shop of Wonders, -2116, 1094, Perdition, Corellia

That was a sad story. I'm a master creature handler and master bio-engineer. I guess that makes me my own worst enemy but I love my army of evil eopies. Its bitter sweet that you took screenshots of your animals. It shows how much you care for them.

I couldn't agree more that without some other skill creature handler is completely worthless unless you only want to PvE animal lairs.

SOE is fixated on making money. JTL is the dominant factor for them at this point. If they took half as much interest in the customers they already have instead of the new customers they hope to get this game would be everything we all wish it was.

Good luck to you.

Buboopadoo
HOBO Embezzler
A Simple Resource Dealer

A Developer's answer to everything:
"I can't promise to try, but I'll try to try"

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double post

Bowler. Just incase you forgot. They do inactive character wipes for characters inactive for 6 months now(I think thats right)...

I understand where you are coming from. I started day 2 of live and I remember what it was like. I also that resentment CH's had to endure from other players and I remember the first great strike of teh nerf bat, andyou are right, they have been promising a lot to us and I hate to say it, but I'm starting to regret I came back. I'm not going to whine because everything isnt perfect, that would be completly unresonable, however, the fact that they are putting the JTL release before the basic in game fixes gets my hackles up. I was an EQ player too, for over 5 years, only this year i cancled my account because of a similar trend there that we see here. Its not the DEVs, its SOE. People threatened to boycott Omens of War, the newest EQ expansion due to lack of QA (quality control) and similar issues we are going through now here in SWG. I'm thinking I may not buy JTL afterall. As much as I was looking forward to it, I dont think I want to hand money over to a company who is providing unsatisfactory services. I'm going to give SOE a little more time personally, only because I feel we do have a better DEV team now then we did last year and we are seeing changes. Let see how long it lasts though.

Rifleman/Ranger/C.Handler

<GoW of Bloodfin>