Scout Archive

Every profession has issues at the moment. There are numerous threads on every profession board about how broken (or unbalanced) the classes are. With the recent nerfing of the mask scent “exploits”, you have created a rather sticky situation with scouts.

First off, with the exception of scouts, EVERY starting profession in the game is self-sufficient, and serves the needs of others either directly (by grouping with others and providing DPS and/or other services) or indirectly (by crafting items, or providing other services in-town.)

Entertainers, for example, can dance and play their way through to a couple of elite professions with no requisite skills from any other profession.

Every skill level within the Artisan tree either draws from it's other branches (as Engineering draws from Surveying,) or stands alone on it’s own branch.

Medics also get somewhat dependant skills, but the emphasis is not as obvious as that of the Artisan. A Medic could conceivably

The Brawler and Marksmen trees are both totally linear. Each branch is totally independent, and (in most branches) leads to a different Elite or Hybrid profession.

Now, let’s look at the Scout profession… The description from the online manual states:

> The Scout is an explorer who is capable of locating valuable resources,
> moving over difficult terrain more quickly, and trapping creatures. Perhaps
> the most balanced and versatile of all the professions, Scouts are well suited
> to hit-and-run combat and long-distance treks.

> Starting Skill: Novice Scout. Ensures that the Scout can build basic camps
> and extract organic resources ( from slain creatures)

Explorer? Not anymore. I assume the mask scent issues will be ‘fixed’ soon (you fix the “bad before the good” right?) There is no question that mask scent no longer working as originally intended – and it was broken to prevent further exploits in high level areas. But just listen to the Creature Handlers – this affects them more than anyone (and it’s killing them…) Fix it ASAP.

What about “locating valuable resources?” Exactly what resources can Scouts locate that others cannot? Other than the “organic resources” from “slain creatures” there are none. This is beside the fact that everyone in the game has novice scout for harvesting the exact same "organic resources" (bone, meat, and hides) that a master scout can harvest. Oh, that and the ability to make basic camps. Many see these as the only attractive skills within the scout tree, and it’s given away at novice. For most solo players, there’s little reason to pursue the profession any further.

So, exactly how is a Scout “balanced?” They do TWO things - make camps and harvest, right? What about “versatile?” They have no Brawler or Marksman skills (beyond their pathetic newbie weapon,) and they lack the ability to heal wounds and fatigue. I suppose it’s arguable whether or not camps would be considered a “support” function – particularly when there are 2 or 3 scouts in an 8 person hunting group. Either way – by himself, a “pure” Scout is not “versatile” at all.

So how exactly is a scout expected to earn scouting xp in a group? By competing with other scouts for the harvest rights? Consider this… Medics get xp independently – and 2 medics in a group can heal more damage, or more players at once. Entertainers get EVEN MORE xp with their group bonus – and group members can /listen AND /watch at the same time, improving their effectiveness. The 'DPS' professions get xp according to the amount of damage done. And what do scouts get? Squat - they TAKE TURNS getting xp. The more scouts in the group – the worse it is. In the best possible scenario, the scout xp earned by a scout is DIVIDED EVENLY by the number of members (by taking turns) regardless of their skill level. So, it is advantageous for one scout to turn away another, knowing that it would only decrease his cut of the xp. This is worsened by the fact that NOVICE scouts get this ability – so of course ANY (and nearly EVERY) player who wants a few bones or hides is going to put themselves in the line. Does it make sense for a scout to group for lower level encounters? No not at all. This seems particularly easy to fix - there is ALREADY an xp splitting mechanism in place. Why not us the same technique for splitting scout xp?

So, we’re obviously not cut out for groups… I suppose I could just solo my way through to Master right? WRONG - not without adding some kind of melee skills…. Unlike every other profession, scouts find it very difficult to level without having some other professions to make it possible. You cannot stay ahead of the xp curve with a newbie CDEF pistol and no skills. Sure, you kill a few Kreetles, harvest, and DING! Intermediate skills open up. But it won’t last. This is the ONLY profession that depends on another in this way – EVERY other profession that’s tied to KILLING stuff gets the abilities to do so. You can’t harvest a living mob. Scouts NEED some kind of class-defining melee abilities and/or weapons to offset this. Perhaps traps can be made more effective; as for me I have NEVER used them, and (like many others) have relied on my abilities as a Marksman to do 100% of my damage.

I’m hoping that there are positive changes in the pipeline for mask scent – obviously this was intended on being an xp–giving skill for scouts (otherwise, it would never have given xp in the first place.) Scouts COULD go through life harvesting for 100% of their xp, but since Exploration is tied to the same kind of scout xp, it seems obvious that scout xp gains (from successful use of mask scent) are appropriate, SOMEHOW. Just fix it soon, we have jack for options right now.

Oh, and speaking of the xp grind, the xp curve for harvesting seem WAY off. The math that calculates Marksman/Brawler xp seems fine – newbie mobs return 79-90 weapon xp per kill, and 39-42 scout xp when harvested. However, when you get to higher level mobs, such as Womp Rats and other “tougher” solo-able cons, the weapon xp is approximately 300 per kill. Why in the world is it only 80ish for scout xp??? This is broken, why wouldn’t a higher con give a proportionately high amount of harvest xp – as it does weapon xp? I started my future Creature/Bio Engineer toon after the mask scent “exploit” was “fixed” – so I have harvested 100% of my scout xp. It *SUCKS*. The xp curve problem has (unfortunately) driven me to slumming every newbie area on Tatooine that has a high re-spawn rate. I got all 70k worth of Pistol Specialist on NEWBIE mobs in about 6 hours, in order to keep my scout xp flowing in a similarly high rate. Until this is fixed, newbie areas provide (by far) the most scout xp per hour. It’s not much per kill, but at 200 kills or so per hour (for a total of about 8k scout xp) it goes a lot faster than killing prey that’s actually challenging. Of course, this totally violates the “risk vs. reward” concept – plus I’m sure it annoys the crap out of every newbie I encounter. Is it really a good idea to have someone like me running around slumming in newbie friendly areas, killing mobs in one shot?

I REALLY hope you guys fix this class… It could be as much fun (stand alone) as any other profession, but only if given the right tools to do the job. Balance has to come into play at some point, and I hope that the Scouts get their day soon…

Until then, may the grind be with you....

-pooka

Er...got ahead of myself. 5th paragraph should read:

Medics also get somewhat dependant skills, but the emphasis is not as obvious as that of the Artisan. A Medic could conceivably go through his career with zero Organic Chemistry skill.

Very good post.. Also VERY true..

They could at least make our "traps" (cos they are really more like bombs..) eventually kill critters.. Why not make it so that we get traps that act like dot's? Or at least can kill a creature.. Would be possible to actually be a "pure" scout then.. But as of now the traps are merely worthless, although i use them all the time to get the trapping xp..

No pistol skills makes no kills.. And killing newbie mobs is not too kewl. I am soon to be pistoleer, so i can kill critters with my scout gun, but that was something i "had" to do to keep up actually killing mobs to be able to loot them for minor scouting xp.

Traps are nothing but effect grenades, you throw them and they give your target some sort of effect, such as dizzy or paralized, or weak against melle.

I think scouts should get traps that you set up in the wild, leave for aw hile, and come back later. Whenyou come back to check on them there's a chance a creature might be inside of one. This would be ideal for creature handlers as well. THen the scout could open the cage and kill the thing, and get some harvsting xp.

Atleast thenw e would have some decent trapes.

How can you say traps are useless? Granted if you are playing a pure, solo'ing scout(which I don't think the devs are exepcting most people will do) they don't do much. Otherwise they're great! You can easily take their mind or health down to nothing with a couple traps, or you can stop a charging creature in it's tracks.

And another thing, you have enough skill points to be a Master Ranger, AND Master Creature Handler with enough left over to get a handfull of boxes in Pistoleer!

Scouts aredesigned to be self-sufficent, but that doesn't mean you don't need ANY other skills.

Yes, but the whole role of a scout in everything I read is that he is supposed to be a loner out on his own taming the wilderness. That was what the character was designed for, so the Devs should think that a scout would be off on his own.

umm i sold all my bones and hides to a armorsmith cause he desperately needed that stuff to make his armor. So yea there is value to our resources. I sold 1000 bones and 1000 hides to him at 5 credits per unit.. a cool 10k...

now i am one of his main suppliers or we trade for some armor pieces he makes..

Last night was the first time i ever grouped for hunting.. I had my pet out.. we were off killing greater desert womp rats, some rontos, some swarming dew backs and such.. But everyone in the group had harvest skill so i got about 300 scouting, 10k creature, 25k pistol, and 8k trapping.. seems a little off.. specially since my pet was doing most of the work..

I agree with FlavorX about the traps.With the right combo of traps I can take some creatures out with just one or two shots from my pistol. I have very little Marksman skills and I'm almost a Master Scout. But on the reverse side I can understand the main complaint. There isnt much for Scouts to do and advance XP besides kill critters.

Ilori Da'Faye

Corellia, Flurry Server

"Yes, but the whole role of a scout in everything I read is that he is supposed to be a loner out on his own taming the wilderness. That was what the character was designed for, so the Devs should think that a scout would be off on his own. "

And getting marksman skills are keeping you from being a loner? Look at it this way, once you get CH you can drop marskman.

I agree with Vegan.

I like being a Scout, even as novice (II and III levels). I would like to see a better masksent and really make explore make you move much faster (on flat and rough ground).

This gives us a place on the battlefield. A "run and gun" eyes on the battlefield for the battle group.

Good hunting brother and sister scouts....

Well, we should maybe stay realistic, and hope that they fix /maskscent. As for Scouts ever being useful against other players in the "run and gun" capacity...in a word: No. The ability to have an advantage at all over other PvPers is always used as an exploit, and any ability likethat would just get ruined faster than you could say "SPAM!"