Creature Handler Archive

How is the XP calctulated???

It's pretty confusing right now for me. Some pets get more XP, even if they have a lesser level than others. Sometimes theres a huge level difference between the pets, and I almost get the same XP.

Can anyone shed some light onto this???

i'm not sure on this myself but i believe the ferocity rating has something to do with the xp (a chance observation, not hard fact). using 2 equal level pets i've noticed the mild mannered pet always seems to earn more xp then the aggressive pet.

like i said though, this is a trend i noticed, not a 'written in stone fact'.

Giordino/Tremo on corbantis
giordino/paxo on shadowfire
Tremo on bria

It always seems to me that the weaker the pet the more XP you get for the combat. Lets think about this for a second. Does a swordsman get more XP for a kill by using his survival knive instead of his scythe blade. The very thought of a lower level pet getting more XP for a kill than a higher level one is completely contradictory to the leveling process. Isn't the general idea of "leveling" up a character in a game like SWG to get better? Get better equipment, get better skills, be able to take on better missions. But for a CH, the trick is to get the suckiest pet you can survive with and go fighting.

I am a Creature Handler 1113, so I am no pro here, but this is a typical gaming night for me.

1. I look for a group but nobody wants me

2. I get on my best armor and pistol

3. I go get doctor buffs so that I can be invincible

4. I go to dantoine and takemissions to kill Piket Plains Walker lairs

5. Though I have slaved away to be able to call my coolest 25th difficulty pet.....I instead call out my Lesser Bocat (baby). I dont' even name them because when they are fully grown they are no longer valuable (AKA they cut the CH XP almost in half) I use a Bocat because he has a spit attack, and generally doesn't go into the fray.

6. I spam double-taps on the Piket until my list is full. With my doctor buffs, I need not worry about the encumberance of my armor for the special attacks, or the monster actually damaging me...so for this part I look over at the TV or at my wife's monitor (she playes Dark Age of Camelot right next to me).

7. When the Piket is nearly dead, I have my Bocat attack him a few times. When I see him hit, I have him stand down with the Stay or Follow Me command. I don't want him to actually do any damage, because then he would get aggro and get incapped by the Piket in a swipe or two. Occasionally I use my ranger abilility /rescue to get the Piket on me instead of on the nameless baby bocat.

8. When the combat is over, I get about 1k Pistol XP, 300 combat XP, and 300 Creature Handler XP.

When this same exercise is done with my favorite level 25th pet (the highest I can call at this point, but what does it matter right?) I get about 1k pistol, 300 combat, and 108 creature handler XP. Why 108 I don't know but that is what it normally is. Because it is less than half of the XP I would get, and the 25th level pet can't help me kill them twice as fast (the battles tend to go no faster than with the bocat....isn't that strange?) I just use the above method. Sounds fun don't it?

Why am I still a CH you might ask? Well I refuse to jump on the "uber" bandwagon (Teras Kasi, Swordsman, you know the drill). From the first day this game came out I have been a Creature Handler because before the game even finished installing I had read the class list in the manual and my eyes lit up for Creature Handler. Whata cool idea!! I thought to my self. Hmmmm...

Again, I don't know for sure but I agree that it' definitely related to the level/ferocity (tho i'd not noticed that before - good thinking!)

When I was leveling CH I hunted Rancors on DAth in groups. This is generally what I found during the final stages of getting master (i was 4434 at the time):

2 lvl 25GSP's - 2 x 600 xp per rancor (so 1200 total)

1 lvl 25GSP -1300 xp per rancor (i think?)

1 lvl 19 Bantha - 1420 xp per rancor

1 lvl 14 Cu Pa - 300 xp per rancor (not sure exactly...)

I have NO idea why you get less total xp for using two creatures than you would for one. Makes no sense to me.

Once I noticed I was getting better xp with my Bantha than anything else I started ONLY using that. I got the Cu Pa to try out with an even lower level pet but that didn't work.

For getting XP there was no point me using ANY of my pets that were over level 25, it just wasn't worth it. I kinda understand the logic (after all, it takes more skill to kill a rancor with a bantha than with a graul) but then it negates the purpose of having a great pet doesn't it? At least until you get to master anyway

IGN - Tran Lashaari - Master Creature Handler - Master Squad Leader - Devoted Servant of the Shrub

I've also have noticed that there seems to be a "peak" with this. If the creature is too high a level, you get low xp, if they are too low a level, you get low xp, but if it's right there in that one area, you get max xp. Using my level 25 GSP on Bull Rancors, I was getting like 600 xp, I switched to a level 17 Grand Wrix and got 1200. Why? dont' know, but it works.

Walle Deabi - Shortest Master Creature Handler on Shadowfire

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

There is a loose ratio between you pets CL and the MOB CL. It varies from planet to planet and even creature to creature. I have found that each planet seems to have a sweet spot for a CL. On Dant a CL 15 pet seems to be it. On a Picket I get the following XP: CL 25=300XP, CL 18=350XP, CL 15=500XP, and CL12=390XP. I get similar results on all the MOBS on Dant. So, I use a CL 15 Canoid Hunter to level. Your best bet is try each pet you have to see which gives the most XP.

Doesn't the fact that we can't figure this out have to be chalked up as a 'bad thing' in terms of game design? I'm in no way saying that this game is bad - I really like Galaxies, I like CH (and BH that I'm doing too) and generally enjoy the game quite a bit (see my other posts if you don't believe me.) But when I see something like this, a pretty fundamental element of the game - advancing in levels- that's a complete mystery and nondeterministic, that would seem to be bad from a design standpoint. It hasn't ruined my enjoyment of the game, but it is an additional hinderance that can't have been part of the plan.

While we're on the subject of CH XP - how the XP from taming and training determined? I know this is on our issues list (that you get nearly the same XP from taming a Rancor that you get from taming a Durni) but the fact that we have no idea how it is even generally calculated is just odd. I would almost prefer it was exactly identical for all pets (ie always getting 100), rather than seeming to have a random element that is inexplainable (getting 135xp for a Durni, 108xp for a Cu Pa, and 122xp for a Rancor.)

I personally really enjoy the taming aspect of CH. I like finding the baby - sometimes having to search for hours, sometimes just stumbling across one - sneaking up on it, and taming it while standing (or lying prone!) in a group of very dangerous high-level adults. It's a rush - but getting 100xp for that is pretty unfortunate. You should get more against dangerous mobs and on more dangerous planets (ie taming on Lok or Rori should net more than taming on Corellia.)

// Crooth Kargan
// BH
// I've been a BH since launch : no CU, no shuttles, no swoops

whats better than taming on lok is fiding gurk nests in between gurk lair missions. with my lvl 17 be dewback (i have higher lvls but use him for more xp)he gets 720xp for killing a crazed gurk destroyer and 460 for a normal gurk. nest spawns are crazy and i get 12k xp or more for each nest and its possible to get a lvl 4 skill from one buffed gurk killing spree. (140k xp)

tho me and my ch friend died once lol but we were nooby, my dewback died too, but we later found his brackaset wandering about when we went back. hehe.