Scout Archive
Thread: Feedback on the scout correspondent issues
Sesh,
Let me address your points.
"I also haven't seen any scouting xp for scent mask whatsoever since the last patch."
No one has. See my above post.
"Ok, so I'll lose Camo and gain Mask Scent, and that will climb from the exploration tree (and max at 100 as a master scout).
As asked before, will Bothans gain a skillmod to 'mask scent' to go with their camoflage and cover bonuses?"
If it's been asked before, why are you asking it again? 
Let the Devs address this in the Ranger report.
"What will this ranger Camo skill (the new one) DO? What's it good for, how will it be different from mask scent? Saying you plan to have other skills built off of it later's fine, but profession enhancements aren't what we're talking about, it's (in theory) a core ability of the very-much-not-a-combat profession called "Ranger".
Will Bothans continue to get a camo skill modifier?"
This is a Ranger question, wait for the Ranger report. If it doesn't show up there, ask it again.
"Will the BE crafted enhancements that cover camo currently be altered to mask scent? Will they ever work?
See the above for cover modifying tissue enhancements."
This is a BE question. Ask it over there.
"And will new BE enhancements cover this camo skill (assuming the current ones are re-pointed to mask scent, being scent neutralizers), or will the ones that enhance cover be modified?"
See above.
Guys - I know you are trying to be helpful. I really, really appreciate it. But PLEASE - read the other posts before chiming in. There are a lot of good ideas that are getting buried under "I too cannot use maskscent" posts.
I'm going to do the known issues post now.
B
If you change camouflage and maskscent, don't forget to change the BE item that currently modifies camouflage.
I was a Ranger with 3rd level of exploration but I dropped that with the patch...the new traps in the ranger class aren't worth it (stick with glow wire mesh's, the only one that is useful). Sure, the camps are cooler but aren't worth the skill points. The harvest line has always seemed useless to me, I don't get more exp for having a higher level harvest that I've noticed. And now, I can crawl faster than a scout? Ummm, yeah. I can crawl faster than a master scout...that's my advantage as a Ranger? No thanks. The only advantage I felt I had was the mask scent. I could sneak through almost anything. Now I can do it a as a Master scout? What the heck is a point of a Ranger then. Book says we can track...but we can't. I have dropped all points in Ranger and am headed in another direction now. Crawling faster is great at winning bets but that's about it.
Sem,
Welcome to the boards.
Question - why are you posting a Ranger post here?
Hopefully the Devs will get the Ranger list out soon. We know there are problems with that profession, and we all (most of us Master Scouts will move on to Rangering - at least the ones most active here) want to have it fixed too.
B
Someone thought it would be a good idea to be able to fish and camp at the same time. I thought so as well, several weeks ago. Unfortunately, the way camps deploy, you can't get close enough to the water to cast and stay within the camp radius (if pitching a camp on an island, the island will actually expand to accommodate the camp size). So, an increase the size of the camp "zone" would allow you to camp and fish.
For harvesting, add a command to auto-split hides and the associated experience gained from the harvest. Then, it wouldn't matter who does the harvest - all scouts in the group would get the exp and the resources. Functionality to opt out individuals in the group would also be nice so it wouldn't be an all-or-nothing selection.
The idea about being able to carry more stuff with increasing levels of skill was a good one. Also easy to extend into the Ranger line. Perhaps you could add "Ranger packs" of differing levels to the tailoring skills. Allow advanced scouts/rangers to have "certs" for pack use. (Tailors get to sell more stuff.. scouts/rangers get to carry more.. win-win for both classes) One issue with foraging items and fishing is the amount of space they take. Add in traps of several flavors, a camp, a few stims, and harvested resources and you are maxed out. I find myself constantly in the +80% load limit. The proposed changes are only going to make this worse.
Foraging could be more like an EQ style. At advanced levels, you don't just get food, you can get items. Perhaps add "spices" to the flora that can be harvested. Also, could add food that works similarly to the Chef foods. At ranger levels, you could have a chance to find something that really buffs up your stats. Since the chance to occur is pretty low, it wouldn't impact the chef profession. How about adding exp for a successful forage. Something along the lines of the pre-patch mask-scent. Base of a dozen points, scaled up with proficiency.
One issue with the current food that is foraged. You eat it... your pool goes up, but you have to wait for the pool to "heal" to get the added advantage. The timer is so short on most foraged foods that you don't get much, if any, chance to actually use the extra HAM pool from the effect, i.e., there's no reason to even eat what you gather.
For terrain navigation (maybe this should be ranger-only) add a skill that acts like burst-run. However, add a drain to the Action pool. This would give high level folks an option of having a get-out-of-jail ability outside of burst. If not that, add an ability to increase the burst run speed at the cost of the action pool. Some critters run at burst speed (plains cat for example). I should be able to out maneuver them at the higher levels.
Add a "fishing net" to the scout tool use abilities. Your average schmo can play with hook, line and sinker. An experienced scout should be able to cast a net and get a dramatically better haul. Also, add an ability to "scan" for fish concentrations. If I have to fish, I should be better than the average bear at discerning where to get the biggest catch.
Machs N'Ihx
Kettemoor
Now I'm excited about what they'll have to say about Docs. . .If a lowly noob profession like scout gets so much money-making oppertunity, imagine what an elite class like doc will get!!
WOOT!!
Ave,
You're reading into this with the wrong attitude.
"so am I understanding that there is now no difference in the Mask scent ability from master scout to master ranger?"
What you should be understanding is that Maskscent will be a Scout skill, and the Rangers will be getting a new skill to compliment this, based on their "camo" modifier. We'll read more, I'm sure, when the Ranger post comes out.
B
Machs,
Good post. Let me go over it with what I know.
"Someone thought it would be a good idea to be able to fish and camp at the same time. I thought so as well, several weeks ago. Unfortunately, the way camps deploy, you can't get close enough to the water to cast and stay within the camp radius (if pitching a camp on an island, the island will actually expand to accommodate the camp size). So, an increase the size of the camp "zone" would allow you to camp and fish."
There's really no need to be camping and fishing at the same time any more. Now that fishing grants survival XP, to be able to do both would be double dipping, which we really don't need to be doing. There are other ways to pass the time in a camp. And as it seems that setting this up is not going to be easy (the island expanding thing leads me to think there's some underlying code that will make this hard to implement), I say we write this one off and be thankful we can get XP from fishing at all.
"For harvesting, add a command to auto-split hides and the associated experience gained from the harvest. Then, it wouldn't matter who does the harvest - all scouts in the group would get the exp and the resources. Functionality to opt out individuals in the group would also be nice so it wouldn't be an all-or-nothing selection."
This was what I suggested as an alternative to the current one-scout-one-harvest rule. However, I like this way better - it doesn't give scout XP to non-scouts, and it doesn't give hide/bone/meat to non-scouts. That way none of the XP is wasted. In the long run, it's better for us. Since nearly everyone has Scout as a basic skill, only those who want the XP/harvest get it.
"The idea about being able to carry more stuff with increasing levels of skill was a good one. Also easy to extend into the Ranger line. Perhaps you could add "Ranger packs" of differing levels to the tailoring skills. Allow advanced scouts/rangers to have "certs" for pack use. (Tailors get to sell more stuff.. scouts/rangers get to carry more.. win-win for both classes) One issue with foraging items and fishing is the amount of space they take. Add in traps of several flavors, a camp, a few stims, and harvested resources and you are maxed out. I find myself constantly in the +80% load limit. The proposed changes are only going to make this worse."
This is a good idea.
"Foraging could be more like an EQ style. At advanced levels, you don't just get food, you can get items. Perhaps add "spices" to the flora that can be harvested. Also, could add food that works similarly to the Chef foods. At ranger levels, you could have a chance to find something that really buffs up your stats. Since the chance to occur is pretty low, it wouldn't impact the chef profession. How about adding exp for a successful forage. Something along the lines of the pre-patch mask-scent. Base of a dozen points, scaled up with proficiency."
This isalso a good idea, but theproblem with granting XP toforage is the macroing issues. We've all probably tried the camp macro, andwhile I think survival takes a long time, it needs to take a long time.Like I said, those who are most concerned with getting through the Scout tree fast are the CHs andBHs and I like making them suffer.
"One issue with the current food that is foraged. You eat it... your pool goes up, but you have to wait for the pool to "heal" to get the added advantage. The timer is so short on most foraged foods that you don't get much, if any, chance to actually use the extra HAM pool from the effect, i.e., there's no reason to even eat what you gather."
Insta-food bonuses would be good. I agree.
"For terrain navigation (maybe this should be ranger-only) add a skill that acts like burst-run. However, add a drain to the Action pool. This would give high level folks an option of having a get-out-of-jail ability outside of burst. If not that, add an ability to increase the burst run speed at the cost of the action pool. Some critters run at burst speed (plains cat for example). I should be able to out maneuver them at the higher levels."
This, along with the ability to /stoprun to cut back on your "tired" time would be great.
"Add a "fishing net" to the scout tool use abilities. Your average schmo can play with hook, line and sinker. An experienced scout should be able to cast a net and get a dramatically better haul. Also, add an ability to "scan" for fish concentrations. If I have to fish, I should be better than the average bear at discerning where to get the biggest catch."
This is part of my "static" traps idea.
Great post - you've obviously been lurking a long time here. Hope to hear more from you.
B
Isn't this going to to extremely unbalance the game? ..If everyone can harvest, but only get 60% resources/exp that is. Get a group of 20 people, kill 1 kimo, and 12k Hides just entered the market. This is going to totally flood the market and make organics worthless. Or is it just me?
The other changes sound great though.
Aseikin
"I don't think most scouts understand the money they can make by harvesting good materials from creatures. No, average materials aren't going to be good money, but if you find that a particular creature is giving up high quality scaly hide, for instance, then you could make a killing. Take some exploration and/or destroy missions for that creature then go kill and harvest as many as you can and sell the scaly hide to the BEs and armormakers that need it."
Agreed completely. Scouts can make tons of money this way. I know because I've done it on Eclipse, and I'm doing it again with an alt in another galaxy.
Lots of good ideas here to choose from - I don't care if I get xp for maskscent any more running thru all the beasties and watch them not see you is too much fun. Hitting novice Ranger was a good thing.
We do need a way to make some credits though - 75k to 100k for a medium hunting lodge is way too much of a differential.