Creature Handler Archive

Last night I was very pleasantly surprised when my CL58 desert gurreck
charger taught me his skill (Hamstring L2... now I need L1...) without
having gained a level at all. He has 16k exp, out of 300k or so needed to
roll over, and has definitely not rolled over yet. He has been used quite a
bit, though, from helping to slay 3 Gorax (alongside a Jedi friend... I do
NOT have that sort of template to guarding a cu-pa I leveled to
mountability on ragtags for a friend. As such, he does have alot of kills
under his belt, though the majority were just 1xp for him while helping the
cu-pa or other low levels I had out at the same time. I believe the exp
that triggered this was also a 1xp kill, as I was on Naboo at the time and
there isn't much just wandering around with the proper CL for his purposes.

Given this, I would cautiously hazard that every time a pet earns exp it has
a chance to teach you it's skill (however tiny - maybe a 1% chance, maybe
less), and the variation we're seeing in terms of the number of levels may
reflect more the efficiency of the CH at picking good targets for max
exp/kill rather when the underlying mechanic used in determining when a
skill may be passed on from pet to CH. If this is true, killing lots of
small stuff with a pet you only want the special from may be a more useful
approach than it'd seem if you think you must level the pet 3-5 times, at
least for those of us light on other combat skills in our templates.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Ketu Sringa

Message Edited by Ketu_Sringa on 08-23-2005 11:46 AM

+--------------------------------------->
| Ketu Sringa   //  MCH/MBE/Ranger0030      /) /)     "Fade away
|                                          ( o o )     into the
| near LOST City, Naboo                     = x =      ethereal 
| Lowca                                    m     m     grey..."
+-------------------------------->       ***(=======-

---

Drashk wrote:

From the sticky

As you can see, its not an exact science yet. For Low CL pets (CL1 - CL 20), it typically takes 3 - 6 Maturity Levels. CL20 and above pets typically pass on their Ability between 0 and 4 Maturity Levels. The learning process will not usually occur when the pet gains a Maturity Level. This event can occur after any MOB is taken down.

Message Edited by Drashk on 08-23-2005 12:30 PM

---

Yes, I'm familiar with the stickies, and I'm unsurprised that this happened independent of the petactively gaining a maturity level

The information in the sticky uses maturity levels gained as a measure of time until the pet passes along an ability. Mypost differs from this in that I believe it would be better stated (given my observations and those of others [I wish I have Skuzz's luck!]) that the number of maturity levels gained doesn't matter (or at least is a false measurement of time passed...), but instead the number of KILLS is the critical factor. While the highlighted portion could be read as that, thepreceeding lines give overmuch emphasis IMO to the number of maturity levels gained, especially in that it states that a lower level pet usually requires 3 maturity levels at minimum.

Looking at posts made by others I believe that is the wisdom many glean from that part of the sticky: they should try togain exp forthe pets they are trying to learna skill from as efficiently as possible so that they can reach the magic sweet spot at which a kill could cause them to learn the skill.

In actuality, I suspect that if you took your CL15-20 out killing yard trash (or grouped with it to kill things your level) you'd see the same 0+maturity leveldistribution claimed in the sticky for higher level pets, as the kills-to-exp ratio would be much higher than if you had them out killing stuff at or above their CL in order to gain maximum xp/kill.

The difference in approach applies primarily to pets you are merely putting up with til they fork over their secrets, at which point they'll be returned to their parents or unceremoniously put out of your datapad right then and there. Trying for max exp/kill with such pets just might be delaying the process (in terms of pure time elapsed, as the individual fights would take longer) compared to just getting the most notches in their collar in the shortest period regardless of their exp or maturity level.

For pets you plan to keep,both methods arelikely to work equally well unless you are just really eager to learn their special and willing to put their maturity (and slot development) on the back burner.

I hope that clears up what I was trying to get across. I'll test it more with low level pets tonight just to confirm.

Ketu

+--------------------------------------->
| Ketu Sringa   //  MCH/MBE/Ranger0030      /) /)     "Fade away
|                                          ( o o )     into the
| near LOST City, Naboo                     = x =      ethereal 
| Lowca                                    m     m     grey..."
+-------------------------------->       ***(=======-

I've not had a huge amount of time to continue with the testing lately, due to trying to get the DE city on Test Center up and running.

The intial testing pointed more towards XP gain, then the number of kills. This may have been changed or may have been from interpritation.

Sorry if there was misunderstanding there. Glad we could clarify the info a bit.

Message Edited by Drashk on 08-23-2005 01:47 PM

Message Edited by Joker9125 on 08-23-2005 07:39 PM

The sticky isn't very accurate. I know exactly how it works, and I'll tell you all how.

Learning your pets ability is based on kills only. It makes a kill, it has a chance to teach you it. XP is not factored into the equation at all.How do I know? Very simple.

You know the Nuna spawn outside Mos Eisley? Take your pet there, create a macro to auto target, and send your pet in to attack. Usually one hit kills, for 1xp (unless your pet is CL10 or below). From experience, L1 abilities take anywhere from 200 - 300 kills, L2 up to 600 and L3 up to 1000. Sometimes it goes much quicker, even for the high level ones.

Why the Nuna's? There are two spawn points there. If you just attack one, after a few mins or so, they will constantly spawn. Non stop killing. Grab a drink, watch a little TV, come back in 20 mins and you should have learned it

Message Edited by Xiao-an on 08-23-2005 08:31 PM

From the sticky

As you can see, its not an exact science yet. For Low CL pets (CL1 - CL 20), it typically takes 3 - 6 Maturity Levels. CL20 and above pets typically pass on their Ability between 0 and 4 Maturity Levels. The learning process will not usually occur when the pet gains a Maturity Level. This event can occur after any MOB is taken down.

Message Edited by Drashk on 08-23-2005 12:30 PM