Scout Archive
Thread: DEVS Here's what's WRONG with scouts...
Yeha...come to think of it, what CAN I do as a master scout that a novice scout can't. I now feel unneeded.
Noone needs me to harvest meat,hide or bone...they can harvest it themselves as a novice.
They don't need my tents.
I really don't know who I am anymore.
I can run REAL fast though! Seriously! I have a brawler Zabbrak on another server so when mines down I go fiddle with him...and OMFG he is SSOOOOO slow running thru the woods. So if being a fast runner is important I'm your man! err...Bothan.
Oh wait..there will be vehicles soon...forget the fast running part...
That's OK I'm a creature handler too!
OH wait...everyone thinks the CH is too powerful and they're probably gonna Nerf that proffession too.
OH WELL I GUESS ITS BACK TO AMERICAS ARMY FOR ME!
Just for the record:
I want to say that I'm not gathering xp for my Novice Creature Handler skill. So far I've soloed completely. I did not use the /mask scent exploit because I simply was not aware of it. At this point in time, I think the only thing that scouts really need fixing is the mask scent ability. I don't think that scout was meant to be played as a pure profession. granted Master Scout and on to ranger perhaps. I've been playing as a scout/engineer with novice marksman thrown in and getting Rifle Specialist. I've worked out my strategy for my future professions and I will have more than enough skill points to get Master Creature Handler, Master Architect and have some left over to keep my Rifle Specialist skill. With this combination I've been able to be very self sufficient. I work up my crafting skills by making traps and camps and I gain scouting xp by gathering hides/bones for crafting. On top of that I use traps and my range weapon ability to kill (solo). I'm not bottom feeding either, i'm just playing a scout. Traps are useful, scouts are useful and soloable. We can be very self sufficient if we purchase a combat skill early on. Soon I"ll be supplementing my combat with a pet as a creature handler, i'm stoked. I think that because your play style is different than some of us others that that may give you cause to complain. But not everyone feels the same way.
on a last note; yes, mask scent is broken.... bad. Fix it, fix it now, fix it before it's too late.
Semi broke mask scent??? try Destroyed it. at level three you shoudl be able to use the freaking ability you have with out it going off and never getting a stinking thing for it. Two days ago i could run by greater womprats and even pet them, half the time i enjoy touching the creatures more then killing them. now i can't get close enough as it fails and then i ahve to wait 60 seconds. By then i get trashed by every freaking red con'ed animal i was trying to walk past if i can't burst run my arse out of there in time. it's a shame when you can't walk through the wilderness unnoticed by it's beasts. but yeah your a scout.....
the only scout class i know of that is about as effective is boyscouts.
and like it's said there is more insentive to hunt alone as a scout because you get no experience in your skills otherwise. Oh well besides the camping exp that they will certainly end up removing as well. And now everyone hunts hides and bone that has any novice scouting ability even if they do not intend to be a scout or master the craft.. they simply don;t want to pay us to do what we can do to make any money.
I have managed to work out an efficient system with some other scouts that i hunt with from time to time. One throws traps the other two work on their marksmen skills.
then one harvests and gets the rewards then you switch roles. but this is slow going and no where near as fast as spending the time solo hunting small game that mass produce.
ultimately this leaves me jonesing for the great fun hunting parties for Wild Torton. Or Nudfuh
I love hunting the big game with some small hunting parties but when it is so costly and none of them want to stay because they want to go back to the city it leaves you to fend for yourself on small game again.
with maskscent broken as it has been now by the devs... it hurts us scouts tremendiously to try and utilize a skill that we should be able to use naturally. I had to wait to use it and wait to use it and wait to use it until i found kreetls on tattoine. If they detected me at least i could defend myself. Now i'm stuck with something that has worked 1 time sicne the new patch and it has left me dead several times.
Why not change the name scout to BOY/GIRL SCOUT.
because no scout can enjoy themselves wandering the other planets wilderness alone now with relative safety. Now they are pretty much running food. I would love for them to fix this skill but i too was mislead as to what this class offered i would imagine it would have offered other options too since we are supposed to be able to find resources as well. Like it would be nice to have the natural ability with sey advanced survival to find Water sources.... or other rich organic sources. unfortunately i'm left fending for avian bone 4units....
leathery-hide 4 units.
if i am lucky and have a powerfull enough gun and enough Marksmen skills i can use high powered rifles and get more xp. for marksmen skill tree. then maybe aquire some Hides or bone for 18 units. if i hunt with someone else i am strictly at their mercy to what i gather.
soloing it is lame for constantly being abel to hunt the same small animal.
how about scouts as they advance in hunting are capabale of tackling harder game more easily. but then that would be exploited too in large numbers i am sure.
the devlopers have the answers not me.
please fix the maskscent skill i would liek to have a skill i can always use that is from my own skill tree not one i have to wonder if it will work today or not. not liek brawlers have to worry about never using berserk.. it might fail and they have to wait 60 sec for it to work again.
Or a Dr. fails healing someone and has to wait 60 sec before he can try again or actually instead of healing does damage to them.
no scout skills are the only ones that consistantly fail no matter what skill level you are at.
you throw a trap it fails..... maskscent, it too failes. you camp..... if you liek sitting there for 20 minutes to try and get points while your building traps or what not.... and the trap building FAILS
just once i want to see an entertainer actually be unable to heal someone by dancing.. the message read
"you dance soo poorly (play so poorly) that Bezabu Netra has taken mind damage."
and they have to stop dancing or playing for 60 sec.
the Dr or Novice medicactually does damage instead of heal you or his Stim pack fails.
how about a marksman's gun actually explodes or backfired doing hem some damage and damaging the weapon?
or they are less accurate for 60 sec.
it's not balanced.
Zesa
Dont have any idea what you are doing wrong but im not having any prob at all.As a matter of fact ive not even grouped yet and ive been here from launch date.
Are you aware that player made weapons are available and offer more killing power?You are upping your skills with a noobie pistol and rifle?No wonder it is taking you forever.I have not used my noob pistol since i got to intermediate.I mean really the class isnt broken it seems like you are just being a bit lazy and not thinking about what you are doing.Use your traps!!Ive already gotten to trap4 and it helps to use them to run and gun!!I am soloing red mobs for chrisakes.Everytime i kill a red i get atleast 600 xp in pistol.If you are not using traps then you dont need to be a scout it is a solo profession bottom line.Ill tell ya right now once i get pistol specialist im getting carbine but it would not be possible without traps.I see a lot of players using rifles etc.I think most go for sheer fire power but when a red is attacking you out of nowhere can you immobilize it and burst run out of there?
I can.
You arenot truly embracing the scout class noone said it would be easy.
1) Scouts have ONE means of getting xp in the Exploration and Hunting branches – harvesting.
2) Multiple scouts in a group do not complement each other in any way – instead, they are the ONLY class that COMPETES for xp. If you get a ninja /harvest(er) in your group, they take it all for themselves. This (and the poor overall scout xp yield) forces many scouts to solo.
3) /maskscent needs to be an xp-yielding skill, as this was obviously it’s intended purpose. If scouts are not given the requisite ‘DPS’ skills by any branch in the scout profession, there MUST be a viable xp yielding alternative to killing creatures. Reconsider the repercussions of the /maskscent nerf, and either reduce the xp yield or somehow increase the risk in the ‘problem areas’. It used to both give xp and serve as a means for one to hide themselves from aggressive creatures. Now it does neither.
4) When in a group, harvesting xp MUST somehow be split among the scouts in a group. Many scouts on this board agree that it should be done so according to the players’ Hunting skills – as is (indirectly) done with any ‘DPS’ profession. The xp splitting code exists, put it to use.
5) Successful use of traps should yield SOME kind of xp. As-is there is no reason to use them over Marksman or Brawler skills whatsoever.
6) The xp yield from harvesting does not follow the same curve as other professions. Mobs who give great Marksman and Brawler xp give squat for Scout xp…. This encourages slumming, where there is zero risk (but significant rewards for those who wish to grind the ‘easy’ way.) I understand that the requirements for scout skills are far lower than other professions, but the xp gained just doesn’t jive. It’s advantageous for Marksmen and Brawlers to kill higher cons as they get skills in their respective classes. Conversely, it’s both easier and more effective for scouts to kill the lowest possible xp-giving mobs to gain scout xp.
All I’m asking for here is for the devs to look at these issues. They are obviously problem areas that need to be addressed in the process of balancing classes. As-is, there’s little reason to pursue non-essential scout branches on your way to your intended Elite/Hybrid professions. As for me, I will soon be done with scouting forever, as I will be a novice Creature Hander in a matter of hours… =\
-pooka
Using traps does yeild xp. It would be nice to add some scouting xp to it rather than just the trapping xp, but as it is, you do in fact get a form of xp from trapping.
Group Harvest XP. I think that you don't necessarily need to automatically make it so that xp in a group with multiple scouts is shared across those scouts. I mean if you have one guy that is harvesting and he's the only one, why should another scout get a free ride on xp? in the same instance there needs to be a way to help qualm the ninja harvest. I think there should be a /splitharvest command. like splitting loot/credits it will split scouting xp. you then have the choice when grouping to tell other scouts they need to turn on /splitharvest so as to share xp. if one person refuses to do that and is ninja harvesting, kick him out. That's the best solution I can come up with. The split should also split the harvested resources as well as the xp. Another option would be that perhaps all the scouts in teh group can harvest from a kill. once you harvest a kill the corpse isn't harvestable. But you could make it so that if a group of multiple scouts kills a creature they could all harvest it once. This would be easy to implement and would encourage grouping as people would yeild a greater amount of resources in a group. 3 scouts, 3 times the harvest.
Two things for scouts.
1. Un-nerf the Maskscent....What I mean is make it work effectivly but give extremly low to zero exp. (I would rather it worked than give exp)
2. Boost exp, when it takes nearly double the hours of some professions to obtain master status, then something is wrong.
I'm VERY well aware that there are better weapons out there. I am also a Pistol specialist with a 31-59dmg, 3.3 delay CDEF. When bottom feeding, I kill about half of my targets with a single /bodyshot2. The problem I have is - without the Marksman skills, I would be TOTALLY ineffective should I choose not to use traps.
FlavorX,
If scouts aren't 'expected' to solo, where does the scouting xp come from? Certainly not from grouping. You mention that scouts aren't expected to be as self sufficient as other professions - WHY NOT? Other starting professions ARE self sufficient - why should scouts be shafted into putting points into un-wanted abilities just to 'get by?' Medics aren't expected to get novice artisan to craft stimpaks. Marksmen aren't expected to get Brawler. Entertainers aren't expected to get...well...anything else. They may very well WANT these skills, but they are not REQUIRED.
PerdanListallagon,
This is what I have a problem with: 300 scouting, 10k creature, 25k pistol, and 8k trapping in a single play session is GROSSLY unfair. I think the group xp problem should be the #2 priority after fixing /maskscent.
Starraider,
Yes, scouts evolve into some interesting classes. However, at the moment scout skills stand for VERY LITTLE on their own. You NEED another profession to kill the mobs, PERIOD. Trapping alone won't kill a 'tough' con. Harvesting will not kill the mob. With /maskscent so nerfed, there is no alternative to killing - and what do we have to show for it? I have 3k bones in my inventory, and no skills that help me with CH whatsoever (until /maskscent is fixed.)
DeltaXi65,
What's stylistic about being FORCED to kill for xp? What if I wanted to sneak around and get xp that way? They call that an exploit - so explain to me exactly how being forced to play a certain way (by having one's skills nerfed) is a 'stylistic' problem.
-pooka
Have you guys noticed the new messages that appear when you group scout?
It says "[Group] Charlie has harvested the animal for 22 bone blah blah" or something like that.
So at least the ninja can be called out and perhaps kicked from the group.
And I guess if you consider Scout as a stepping stone to Elite proffesions then it's not so bad. But again, a master scout doesn't seem so much better than a novice scout.
I need to play other classes before I judge the balance. So if scouts can't make a living as scouts because they are a "stepping stone to Elite proffesions" are the other starting proffessions equally as useless if Elite proffessions aren't pursued?
If you have 2 or more scouts in a group, and one is /harvesting more than the others, the other(s) are getting screwed. Period. You cannot leave it up to the players to split it themselves, as someone will always get screwed.
> I mean if you have one guy that is harvesting and he's the only one,
> why should another scout get a free ride on xp?
Your right. I suppose they should nerf group weapon xp, such that the one that did the most damage gets it all. After all, why should the inexperienced Marksman and Brawlers get a free ride either? For that matter, why not just make it so I (as a Pistol Specialist) can KS an entire group by out-damaging them - and steal all of their xp too...
This is rediculous - this would be FAR from a 'free ride'. The fact is, all post-death xp and loot code is COMPLETELY unfinished. Where is the autosplit of credits? The code is in place for missions to encourage grouping. However, as several have mentioned on this board, you get in a PA group and there goes ALL loot along with the scout xp. Everquest had FAR better looting code FOUR YEARS AGO. You can't leave it up to honesty or the players. "Um, sorry guys, no credits on this one" - it's so easy to lie. "Who harvested? It wasn't me...." There's nothing to stop ninja-looters - nor is there even a way to know WHO DID IT.
-pooka
-pooka
read my above post...they seem to have patched it, when, I don't know, maybe a day or 2 ago
p00ka wrote:
- it's so easy to lie. "Who harvested? It wasn't me...." There's nothing to stop ninja-looters - nor is there even a way to know WHO DID IT.
-pooka