Scout Archive

Guys,

When my hard drive crashed last weekend, it took my beloved Scout "list" with it. I spent a little while today and reconstructed everything. I'm posting it here so you can review it and see if I missed anything.

Please let me know, as I want to get this sent into the Devs ASAP. Thanks!

B

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The infamous “Scout List”

Green, I have done my best to clear off any Ranger issues from my Scout list (there were quite a few, actually), and to make this as brief and to the point as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me to request more information. I recognize that you are working on other priorities, but I want to make sure that this list is posted as a good faith effort on behalf of the Scouts.

Thanks for your continued hard work for our profession.

Skill Modifier Requests and Suggestions

Burst run efficiency – Modify the burst run efficiency so that in addition to it requiring less HAM costs, it also allows a Scout to run further (longer duration), and recover from being “tired” in less time (tiered based on Exploration level). This makes the skill more useful, and more attractive for prospective Scouts.

Clarification on Camouflage and Mask Scent modifiers – There have been many questions regarding the change over with the introduction of the conceal kits. Many Scouts believe that the Camo modifier was useful against creatures AND NPCs whether or not they were using Mask Scent (under the old rules). I am of the impression that Camo was strictly the modifier that governed the calculation on a successful Mask Scent. Clarification on this would be appreciated.

Bothan Mask Scent modifier – The Bothans have asked me to remind you that they want to continue to have a modifier to their Mask Scent skill. I believe it was planned for a +5 Mask Scent and +15 Camo modifier for Bothans, but this +5 to Mask Scent hasn’t been implemented.

Terrain Negotiation changes – There has been a lot of concern amongst the Scout community regarding our Terrain Negotiation modifier, especially once mounts and vehicles come out. The request here is that either now, or when the vehicle expansion goes live, that the Terrain Negotiation skill provide us with the same benefit over open (non-hilly) ground. This gives us a slight benefit to help compensate for the loss of the skills usefulness when speeders are readily available.

Skill and XP Requests and Suggestions

Forage to give minimal Survival XP – This continues to be a frequent request. We recognize the concern that this could turn into an exploit, but the Scouts

Forage to give better buffs – In an effort to separate out the craftable food buffs, provided by the Chefs, and as part of some requests of the Scouts, convert the foragable buffs provided by food away from the temporary stat boosters and make them small “herbal healers”. Taking one type heals you mind by a small amount, another heals your action or health. They should be of moderate strength, perhaps roughly equivalent to a Stim-B. This shouldn’t alarm the Medics, however, as food is governed by the “stomach” cap, so Stims will always be more useful. I think this will make forage more useful.

Mask Scent message – Currently, if your Scout XP is capped, you do not get a message that Mask Scent has been successful (this is the XP message for Scouts who still need the XP). There was a request that there be a message saying “You have successfully snuck past <X> creature,” or something to affect. Is this the equivalent to the “you are being stalked” message that were in the Ranger changes? If so – ignore this.

Experimentation Points in General – Give Scouts one experimentation point per level of Survival and Trapping for use on experimenting on Camps and Traps, respectively. The idea behind this is that as Scouts increase in their knowledge of these tools, they should be able to come up with ideas that make their tools more useful and worthwhile. These experimentation points should ONLY work on Camp and Traps (and fishing poles if that is implemented…see the New Schematics section) and should ONLY be useable by Scouts.

Experimentation on Camps – Allow Camps to be experimented on, with experimentation being able to: Increase the XP caps by some percentage (capped at +10%); Increase the healing rates by some percentage (capped at +10%); Increase the Repel Creature radius by some number of meters (capped at 10m). And, of course, have experimentation levels based on the quality of the materials.

Experimentation on Traps – Allow Traps to be experimented on, with experimentation being able to: Increase the XP granted by a successful hit (capped at +10%); Increase the damage/effect times by some percentage (capped at +10%); Increase the distance a trap can be thrown from (capped at +14m – makes them inline with weapon max distances); Increase the number of traps per stack (capped at +50% of current stack level). And of course, have experimentation levels based on the quality of the materials.

New Schematics

Fishing poles – Allow Scouts to construct fishing poles as part of our camp/trap schematics, and have the crafting give minimal Survival XP. As Fishing is now a part of the overall Survival XP strategy for Scouts, it seems reasonable to allow non-artisan scouts to make their own poles. This also adds an additional sink for scout harvestable materials.

Fishing nets – We are frequently requested to provide fish for BEs who use fish in some of their craftable items. However, the current system is not conducive to allowing us to catch multiple fish at one time. The Scouts have suggested that we be given the ability to make a “fishing net” that can catch multiple fish at once, but provides minimal or no XP as a balance (the idea here being that catching a fish with a net is easier than with a pole). In addition, you could create different types of nets – say “active” nets that you use like a fishing pole, and “passive” nets, that work like a miniature fish harvester, but decay over time (and if not checked regularly and replaced, can be destroyed – losing all the fish). This also adds an additional sink for scout harvestable materials.

Scout packs – This is a common suggestion (and one that I know is an issue with other professions, and may not be plausible). As Scouts, our primary mon(k)ey making opportunity is through the selling of harvestable materials. As this material varies by type, planet and creature, it is common for us to get extremely bogged down with our materials. It has been suggested that Scouts be able to craft special packs that allow for the holding of Scout harvestable materials only, with certification provided in the Hunting line, and that take up less space in our inventory (say, each item counts as .5 items if its in a hunting bag). At hunting 1, you get a “Basic Hunting Bag”, that lets you hold say, 30 stacks of harvestable materials, up through Master Scout, where you’d get an “Elite Hunting Bag” that lets you hold, say 90 harvestable materials. I understand the database concerns that something like this could cause, so I don’t expect this to get implemented.

General Suggestions

Exploration logs – Setup special signposts or “log books” at the special “unique” static POIs so that Scouts, Rangers and others can post their names to it as having “explored” that area – and perhaps even leave messages for those who follow them. This is based on RL logs that are in many locations in hard to reach wilderness areas, such as along the Appalachian trail.

Remove traps from radar – Currently a little white box shows up on your radar when traps are thrown and landed. It clutters up the screen and makes it difficult to use the radar to find your critters, especially in tall grass, etc. It would be great to remove the traps from the radar.

Harvested/Unharvested Creature Notification – There has been number of requests for a means to determine if a Scout has already harvested a creature without having to verify it using the radial menu. The request is to have unharvested corpses be in “bold” and when they are harvested to go back to normal. Perhaps a “white” and then “gray” would work, as well.

Binoculars – There was a request to allow a craftable (perhaps not by Scouts) item that allows Scouts to increase their visual radius beyond 64-80 meters. These would be similar to the binoculars seen in Episode 1 (Darth Maul) and Episode 4 (Luke Skywalker) and would provide “range to target” info, and allow you to examine the creature as well. Perhaps these could be certified in the Explore tree, with better binoculars providing more information or longer ranges. I don’t know what the game mechanic limitations could be, so this could be another impossible idea.

Traps on CH Pets – We can’t use traps on CH pets. This has been brought up before, but in an effort to make the list complete, I’m bringing it up again. The Scouts want to be able to use traps on CH pets.

Bug Fixes

(Each bug fix has my opinion of the priority of the bug based on the number of complaints and the perceived interest of the complainers. These are grouped in “low”, “medium”, and “high” priorities. Low means something that has been mentioned, but most do not care. Medium means something that has been mentioned frequently, but has not evoked large amounts of anger or constant requests for updates. High means something that is being constantly requested/questioned and is causing players to drop skills or quit playing the profession all together.)

Forage – There continues to be a bug that does not allow for Scouts to harvest more than two items at once, nor can they harvest any of the “rare” items. Each time this occurs they get a message saying that “some items have been discarded due to your inventory being full,” despite having empty inventories. This has been going on for quite a while now. This is a medium priority bug for the Scouts.

Pet / Non-Scout Group Harvesting – There are continued requests to fix this issue so that Scouts hunting with pets or non-scouts are not penalized with having their harvests reduced by 40%. There is a work around (not grouping your pets) that seems to work, although I know this was not what you intended. This is a medium priority bug for the Scouts.

Traps – There is a bug that is believed to occur when you are throwing the last trap of a stack that results in the trap hitting the target, but no XP or failure notification is broadcast. It appears to primarily happen when firing the last trap of a stack only. This is a medium priority bug for the Scouts.

Mask Scent - A general review to confirm that mask scent is working properly is requested. You already know most of this stuff, as I posted this as the #1 Scout concern when requested by Q earlier last week.

These are GREAT Delta. I haven't been over here in a while, and this was a fantastic surprise.

Burst Run Efficiency: Personally this is how I alwasy thought it would be for our bonuses. The lower HAM realy isn't that big of a perk.

Terrain Negotiation: Love it, this would make me feel better about being a Scout when vehicles come out. Gives us something more unique, rewarding, and has no realy balance problems.

Forage: We all agree this is a usless, not really thought out skill. This is the best idea I have heard yet for Forage.

Experimentation: also really good ideas, and only fair since crafters get to experiment. And we should not have to use public tools to do it. Maybe not from the Noobie General Crafting Tool, but at least from a crafted General Crafting Tool. Thus adding another item we are dependant on from another profession.

Fishing Nets: Not a bad idea

Scout Packs: This is a much neaded item. Besides the reasons you stated, we have to carry around resources just for our own crafting needs. I use traps a lot, it makes soloing possible. So I burn through resources fast in the field. With the addition of camo kits, we need to lug around even more resources. Those things cost a lot of them, and to get enough kits for a group hunting for a few hours, you need a ton of resources.

As usual, great job Delta.

Squid,

Thanks, but I can't take all the credit. 85% of these are suggestions the community brought up. I added a few things on my own, but for the most part, it's what everyone kept asking me for.

B

The sentence after:

Forage to give minimal Survival XP

seems to end abruptly

Was there anything on the original Scout list about allowing us to forage for a specific item? Like "/forage bait" or something? It seems silly for me to be digging up melons and mushrooms when all I really want is some worms to put on my hook.

jb

Love the burst run stuff. It is a pain that afterall that time, we still run the same speed, the same duration of time, and have to wait the same ammount of time.

I'd assume being a scout we'd have better cardio than an Artisian. therefore faster recovery time and fater running.

Love experimentation idea on traps. Perhaps giving tents a higher healing ability

Experimentation on traps would be great, longer duration, high hit probability and all the other goodies.

Good work.

Hey Delta,

Iam not tryingto be harsh here but if we get alot of this I am not sure why I would want to stay Ranger except for the tracking line. Not that any of these are bad I love them all, but maybe it is showing a glaring weakness of the ranger skills. Just my two cents. As always keep up the great work, you rock!

BTW thanks for coming in last Saturday and helping us clean up that Rebel scum that were camping our med center, I think I was the only one fighting back for a good long time.

Lorien,

You're right - I just realized that I forgot to finish that thought.

That section SHOULD read:

"Forage to give minimal Survival XP – This continues to be a frequent request. We recognize the concern that this could turn into an exploit, but the Scouts feel that we can combine two requests into one and solve this problem. First, allow forage to give minimal XP. In addition, as a means to make it non-macroable, have a pop-up during a forage that states what it appears you have found, and ask if you want to proceed. This could read something like "You've uncovered what appears to be . Do you wish to continue to forage?" And if you select yes, it shows up in your inventory. Select no, and it doesn't. XP is only gained if you choose to continue foraging. This way Scouts who are using forage to get bait won't have to select food items if they don't want them, and vice versa. It also gives us the ability to gain XP AND have it be non-macroable at the same time."

Sorry about that guys!

B

Wolf,

Anytime - there is nothing I can't stand more than people killing Doctors - the last thing we need is to drive our Doctors out the medical centers. They're too important to not defend.

B

I'm frequently annoyed when crafting camps and traps due to lack of experimentation and xp benefits... glad to see those included here.

Burst Run - Very good idea

Terrian Negotation - Awesome Idea. I would like to move just a tad bit faster than an lets say an Weaponsmith that has no ranks in Scout.

Experimentation Points - As an artistian in a different life, I know that those points help out a bunch. Experiment points on traps could be use to determine the effectivness of the traps (aka able to effect better, effect longer, etc)

The other points are good. But as far as Mask Scent, that would be helpful, but I am not having any problems with it use. I ran through parts of Yavin without a problem.

/ Forage to give better buffs – In an effort to separate out the craftable food buffs, provided by the Chefs, and as part of some requests of the Scouts, convert the foragable buffs provided by food away from the temporary stat boosters and make them small “herbal healers”. Taking one type heals you mind by a small amount, another heals your action or health. They should be of moderate strength, perhaps roughly equivalent to a Stim-B. This shouldn’t alarm the Medics, however, as food is governed by the “stomach” cap, so Stims will always be more useful. I think this will make forage more useful.


Personally, I like the stat boost of food - it's just that they don't last nearly long enough. Perhaps simply include the healing types of food into the foraging tables?

Love the experimentation ides.

The scout packs are another great idea. Just goes along with the annoyance factor of 2 things of bait taking up as much room as an entire crate of something else.

/ Remove traps from radar – Currently a little white box shows up on your radar when traps are thrown and landed. It clutters up the screen and makes it difficult to use the radar to find your critters, especially in tall grass, etc. It would be great to remove the traps from the radar.

If we ever get static traps (like punjii pits or deadfall traps), we might wish that we DID have them on radar.

Love the binoculars idea. Great work all-in-all, folks.

[quote]Harvested/Unharvested Creature Notification – There has been number of requests for a means to determine if a Scout has already harvested a creature without having to verify it using the radial menu. The request is to have unharvested corpses be in “bold” and when they are harvested to go back to normal. Perhaps a “white” and then “gray” would work, as well.[/quote]

How about just greatly decreasing the time that a corpse takes to decay once it has been harvested (I'm thinking like in AC, where a body would decay almost immediately once all the items had been looted off of it).