Scout Archive
Thread: Feedback on the scout correspondent issues
Ara,
Read the rest of the responses - we don't know what's up with the Bothan racial modifier. We're hoping it gets cleared up in the Ranger post.
B
DeltaXi65 wrote:
Anteraan,
That's a good point you bring up - and it's not limited to CHs. Anyone with a droid, faction personnell or non-CH pet will have the same issue.
And frankly, anything that makes the CHs antsy generally makes me happy.
B
PS - The Bothan thing should be adjusted. I'll add that to my new list.
This is what you get for telling me to read the other posts, more posts. As a Master Scout, I agree with you. As a master CH, i'm gonna have my pets incap you. And, as a master medic, frankly, I'll heal your sorry butt anyway.
ok im anuther one that would like to see us finly be abel to make some $$ with our profetion, origenaly i went scout for the movement bounus but then i fell in love with this "finacially challenged profetion" so i (along with meny others who have ben here from the start) would love to see some $$ for our eforts, i like the map idea but i would like to add to it , maps not only shuld contian the baisic map feechers ie points of intrest , dungens, and the likes , but i thingc that it would be way more marketible if a scout who also had a high servay (like 3 to 4) could make regonal resorce maps , i thingc that this would have great market posibilitys.
now switching gears a bit , i would also like to disply my trophy catch (fish, animal heads, wepons) , i thinc that taxidurmy could be a viable ability also along with wepon rack desiner (sorry caint spell) also display case's perhaps.it would also be cool to be able to throw some books around the house . (so im going a littel to far, "wen you dream you might as well dream")
If I am not alowed to make a monkey, there is no point in playing anymore. I want to have a dancing monkey what is so hard about that?!!?
This issue needs to be delt with immediately!
Incentive for exploration:
My pet suggestion is a cartography tool/skill/ability of some sort. In the current incarnation of the game, combining the scout skills with surveying, it would be nice to allow scouts to make resource maps of broad areas or something. Maybe even seperate from the survey tree, but still being able collect location data fairly quikcly while running through areas of the world. I don't want to supercede the survey tree, but early on I had the image of a prospector being part of the scout/explorer character. Perhaps the mechanic could be just being able to scout-survey an area and know what the highest 1-5 resources concentrations (maybewith a minimum)are in the area. No specific numbers, and no specific waypoints. Just create an overlay on the planetary map, and say "this 16x16km grid west of theed has wind, carbonate ore, reactive gas all above 60% concentration," or something like that.
Another idea using some sort of cartography would be to disclose the general spawn levels of an area, and list what critters(partial lists, of course) are on the spawn table for that area. Or, maybe make it types of critters, specifically refering to what is harvestable off of them (wooly hides, avian meat, etc.)
-Mohenjo
Peg,
Thanks for the "responding to bugs we haven't seen" yet comment. Bravo. 
Here's a response to your previous post.
"Delta, I think you missed the point of fishing. XP is wonderful, and Camp XP is no doubt the holy grail of XP, but you don't go fishing for XP. You may combat for XP, you may craft weapon powerups for XP, you may even dance for XP, however, when we (hopefully not just me) fish, we fish for the fish. Which leads me to my biggest beef with fish (heh), that there is nothing to do with the fish."
There are plenty of things to do with the fish. When you filet them, you can use the "fish" you get as an organic. You can use the chum bait as bait (although you are right and it doesn't work that well). Daria and I use the fish for decoration in our house. We've got them on the walls, hanging in mid-air - it's very cool to see.
The point about fishing giving XP is so that there is a point to it, besides the "cool" factor. And I hope that the Devs add some things to the Chef column (A tuna melt, maybe? ) that uses fish. But that's something for their report, not ours.
Fishing from a camp is a cool idea, but I'm not going to bug them about it when there are more fundamental issues out there that need to be addressed. We can fish, we can camp, now we get XP from both. Doing them both at the same time ... well, that's just being greedy.
"It seems people have also forgot the purpose of Mask Scent. It's an incredibly useful ability that all too many people take for granted. Only a couple of people on this board seem happy that you can now Mask Scent rather successfully, even against Rancors. I definitely consider that good news. Why do I need XP as an added bonus?"
I agree. But having more than one way to get XP - particularly the kind that is used by two trees (Hunting/Exploring) is just a good idea. I don't mind it the way it is now, but many people do. I can't just represent my own playing style here (not to sound defensive).
"...The narrow-minded people will be happy that they now have more hide, but this is going to flood the market and lower hide prices across the board. Not to mention that anybody can pick up Novice Scout for 15pts and 100creds, then they can harvest any creature while they group. It's good in theory, but needs some work."
This is why its taken so long to implement. The Devs are fully aware of the possible impact of this change and I know for a fact they've had a couple of email flamewars about it internally. This is why we are already beginning to see minor modifications that will result in greater hide/bone consumption. Camp caps have been cut in half. Which means that it takes effectively twice as much hide and bone to craft enough camps to reach Master Scout. That's a good drain. If the hide and bone gets out of hand, they can jack up the amount needed for traps, med packs, armor, etc. without a negative impact on the other professions because the increased supply will still keep up with demand. I wonder if they've got an economist on the payroll?
"...Artisans generally have to have a lot of resources on them as well, but they can store them in their house or Safety Deoposit when they aren't crafting. Harvesting is a huge thing for scouts, so it's pointless to not carry our stacks of resource with us, or else new stacks will be made and then we'll just double our stacks!"
These still stack. I've got a pack back in the house full of meat that I keep adding to. Other than that, your comments here I agree with 100%.
"...In terms of foraging, XP addition is alright, but I don't think necessary. This is another example of ignoring the intrinsic reward of the ability. Personally, I think they should drop the planned XP reward and just make foraging just a little more detailed, such as allowing you to forage for a particular category (food buff, bait...) or perhaps follow through with the unseen rare-items or multiple-finds-at-once ideas that don't appear to be implemented."
My goal here was to make an underutilized skill more utilized. I like foraging, and I do it primarily for the bait. It would be nice to get a bit of a reward for doing it - like the crafters do. But the real issue here is exploitability, and that's where I'm most concerned. The idea that if forage gave XP, some scummy CH may use it to blast through scouting (I know - they don't need survival, I'm just kidding) keeps me up nights.
"Tracking is definitely an ability I would like to see. It doesn't have to be a constant real-time thing, since that would be a huge serverload."
Ditto.
"Lastly, I think Steph3k had a very interesting idea in terms of Scouts creating maps. I think having a map is a very important tool that everybody should have access to immediately, so maybe scouts shouldn't make the most basic maps, but it's a good idea we could build on."
My idea for this is to limit it to Dungeons. We'd be able to make maps for a Dungeon to sell, but not general maps fo the worlds. That is something that in a Star Wars universe would be expected - they can clone me, but I have to buy a map? But having a map to a Dungeon makes sense.
Your post wasn't that long, Peg. I've written some humdingers in my day. Thanks for the good Scout thinking.
B
Tracking would be great. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that the game mechanics won't allow anything really useful. That's mainly because of the "dynamic spawn" feature of the game. I'm not sure how you could track to something that's not even on the map yet. As far as using a "concentration" based search, I suppose if the game used a similar mechanism for mob spawn points as they currently use for the minerals and such, something could be done to guide you to an area where you would most likely find spawns. There again, from my experience with maintaining harvesters in the, the marauders that spawn today are likely to be something like hermit spiders the next. While this may indicate that the game has maps for agro/non-agro spawns, it appears to be a random selection from a table as to the actual type of creature that gets generated.
So, how 'bout it Delta? You have the "skinny" on how random creature generation actually occurs? Or is this idea destinedfor the dust bin due to the technical complexities involved?
Mach N'ihx
Master Scout/Novice Ranger - Kettemoor
Mona,
Because it's easily exploitable with a forage macro.
If we can figure a way around it, I'm sure they'd be interested to hear it.
B
Great job, devs.
I almost wish I had waited to start my scout training until after these changes are made instead of two months ago...but not really 
I'm glad to have all my scout training behind me.
One concern though:
I know getting scout xp from harvesting can be really tough to do in groups. This is a big reason why I often avoided hunting in groups for a while.
However, there are really good groups out there with nice, thoughtful people who will letyou take turns harvesting. They sometimes even helpyou out if you are close to leveling by letting you harvest everything. This is something players can work out on their own, without the need for it to be determined by the game system. If the people in your groups don't cooperate with you getting the experience you need to advance,ask them nicely if they can, and if they say no, go find a new group.
I see a big problem with the design of the automatic 60% harvesting in groups with multiple scouts.
Ineededto become a master scout in order to become a bounty hunter.Now that I have all the scout xp I need, I never need to harvest again. I don't want somone I'm hunting with who needs the xp to get jipped 40%xpjust because Im with them, when I have no intention of harvesting.
However, now that I'm considering selling harvested stuff, I've started harvesting again.
Butif I'm with someone who needs the xp, I don't.
So, here's my solution:
Maybe let grouped scoutshave the option to "opt out" of being able to harvest.
If Itype /noharvest or /nh or press a No Harvest hotkey or something like that, I am not able to harvest and the person(s) I'm huntingcan still harvest and get the full 100%.
To avoid problems, maybe those who are "harvesting disabled" could have an icon next to their name that shows they can't harvest.
And another thing I'm not happy about: I was under the impression that getting Master Scout would unlock the secret Master Monkey Maker profession. 
R2DADROID,
I don't think it's quite as big a problem as it seems at first glance. Obviously, this will slow down guild based power-leveling for scouts. They won't be able to join large hunts for tough creatures and still get full scout XP as if they were solo. Still, this isn't as bad as it sounds. On average, a scout will get more XP per kill, even with a 40% reduction, when hunting in a group for high level creatures as opposed to hunting lower level mobs solo.
Also, if you happen to have multiple scouts in the group who actually need the XP and/or harvest, you are actually getting more out of that creature then it would normally yield. With each scout being able to receive 60% of the resources from a single creature, it quickly adds up to some crazy numbers. Take a group of 20 scouts wanting resources for example. If 20 Scouts harvested a single creature that normally yielded70 Hide, the group would've accumulated840 Hide as a group. All of that from a single creature! I would assume all of it would be stackable as well (same resource stats).
Of course, maybe that isn't such a good thing for the economy. Heh, maybe there is a big problem with it.
I have a question. I breezed through the pages, but didn't read them line by line so this may have been already asked and I apologize if it has.
Is the sharing of scout XP optional in groups? I run with two of my friends very often, and though they both have scouting (one's a master), I'm the only one who really needs it for XP for Ranger. I'd hate to have only a percentage of the xp and a percentage wasted on the other two.
thanks
In summary, group harvesting really needs to be a zero sum game that can be turned on and off by the group leader.
Last,
It's always your choice to join a group with three scouts or to be the only one in the group who is scouting. Either way, you'll still get your hide and bone. And 60% of a critter that you couldn't solo is better than 100% of a smaller critter that you can.
We all need to start getting it into our heads now that the Devs are going to nerf every single combat profession until it is impossible for us to solo a red-conned creature. When that happens, we'll all be happy that the 60% thing is in place.
There are plenty of ways to make massive amounts of hide and bone that don't involve grouping. Making grouping a little easier for a Scout (nota Ranger) who needs the XP more than the hide and bone iwas the goal here - and I think this is the best way to solve the problem.
There are a significantly larger number of people who are harmed by the one-scout-one-harvest system currently in place than will be harmed by the 60% rule.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - even if it's you and me, bro.
B