Scout Archive
Thread: Compilation of Scouting XP Techniques
My apologies for the "Silak'Dar" post. Was typing in a different field and "Enter"d accidentally, also cannot seem to find an edit post option. But with that aside, I thought it might be good to compile some techniques into a small guide for scouts trying to progress.
Disclaimer: This guide was written by a Trandoshan with Exploration IV and Hunting IV progressing toward Novice Creature Handler. I currently have explored and hunted upon Talus, Corellia, and Tatooine. As such, creatures listed in this guide may not be found in your area.
Silak'Dar's Guide to Scouting XP
So, you want to be a scout and you're wondering, once you pay your 100 credit fee to become a novice, how you gain the experience. Trapping and Survival are easy to decipher, but Exploration and Hunting are slightly more difficult. The following is a list of techniques you can use, from novice to master. If you have information you'd like to see added to this game, please post in the thread and I will include it, crediting the technique to you.
The Novice Scout
Whether you started your character as a scout or have decided to pick up the profession from a Scout trainer, the Scout tree now opens up to you. You'll notice, like the other trees, it has four different skill branches, each having four tiers. The only two this guide covers however are the Exploration and Hunting branches, which require Scouting xp to advance in.
It is recommended that you have picked up Novice Brawler or Marksman before you progress much further. If you're still young yet (your character was just created) pick up a fighting profession and head off into the wilderness near the city you chose to start at. Attack and kill white and blue cons. Once they are dead, pull up their radial menu and mouse over to "Harvest Resource". Select one of the options it gives you (Meat, Hide, or Bone) Hide and bone are recommended since you can construct your camps and traps with them.
Unfortunately this is going to be the boring part of your training. Kill what doesn't kill you and harvest it. You should find yourself advancing in your weapon of choice. Once you've filled up about two boxes of it, a new method opens up for you: Destroy Missions.
Destroy Missions can be accessed in cities by using Mission Terminals. Find one or two you like and Accept them. (You can refresh the terminal if need be. I recommend paralope if you're on Corellia or Talus) A waypoint will be set leading you toward the lair you must destroy. On your way, keep an eye out for creatures that con well to you so that you can get a bit more xp from harvesting them. Once you reach the lair, kill the creatures outside of it and harvest. Now, sit for a few moments. Eventually more creatures will spawn. Kill those, harvest, and repeat. There will come a point when they will stop spawning on their own, so you now have to trigger them. Target the lair, attack it, then peace to stop attacking. Wait for the triggered spawn and kill what appears. Repeat, hitting the lair only once or twice and then waiting for the spawn until it is destroyed. This is a tedious method, and missions can be done much quicker by just tearing into the lair, but it will grant you the maximum amount of Scout xp.
The Intermediate Scout
By now you've gained enough Scout xp to fill up Exploration/Hunting I. You must return to a Scout Trainer and train one or the other (Exploration is recommended) and pay the fee. Or, alternately you can learn the skill via apprenticeship from a more experienced scout. This is the desired method and one can usually find a friendly scout to lend their teachings. (Master Scout requires apprenticeship experience, so many scouts will be more than happy to train you)
Destroy Missions will still be your main target. As you gain more power, find more difficult destroy missions to complete and use the method above to get the most Scouting xp per mission. You'll find that you'll have enough to train again and some cash in your bank. (Spend it on a weapon upgrade if you haven't already. Vibro Knuckles for Unarmed Combatists will drastically increase your damage output)
Once you have 5,000 Scouting xp, train in Exploration II for the ability Mask Scent. Do NOT rely on Mask Scent for your scouting xp. It used to be a viable option, but no longer is. However, it can aid you quite well when used properly.
Unfortunately, Destroy Missions are still your best option. But now you have an added resource. Select missions with aggressive creatures (diseased vrelts are a good example, and they're easy to kill) that are far away from the city. Head out and when you see a red triangle on your radar, face its direction and select the target (F9 on my keyboard). If it is not a humanoid NPC, bring up Mask Scent (hotkey it for easy access) and approach. One of two things will happen once you get within about a 70m radius: Your scent will be detected and the mask will break, setting the refresh timer for 60 seconds, or you will succesfully go undetected and gain Scouting xp. If it is a creature you can kill, attack it (Mask Scent won't drop until detected, clicked off, or until it wears off) and kill it for harvesting rights as well. Mask Scent xp may be meager for creatures you can kill, but consider this: The creature that gives you 49 xp per harvest now gives you over 70 xp because your Mask Scent fooled it. Note: Click off your Mask Scent when you see yellow triangles. It is my experience that all non aggressive creatures tend to break it.
The Scout
By now, you can truly call yourself a Scout as you use Mask Scent to explore hazardous areas of the terrain. You've progressed in your profession and are slowly learning the ropes of the Master Scout. But what else is there to do to gain that extra experienced needed to complete your Exploration and Hunting trees and beyond? Unfortunately, not much at this time. The best advice I can give, once you've trained Exploration up to III or IV, is to wander around far from cities looking for lairs of aggressive creatures. Mask your scent and approach. Go /prone for extra protection and crawl around. With patience you can get experience for every creature that is up at the lair. If you can kill them, attack and harvest, then wait for respawn, making sure Mask Scent is up. Every animal that spawns will do a scent check, and if it does not detect you, you get more Scout xp. Continue until they stop spawning and hit the lair once, waiting for spawns. This will net you both Mask Scent and Harvesting Scout xp, as much as you can get from the lair.
The Grouping Scout
Grouping can be both a blessing a curse for a Scout. Many, many people have picked up Novice Scout and want the chance to harvest creatures as much as you do. If you group, be sure it's with fair people who will take turns Harvesting. If you happen to be the only one that needs Scouting xp in the group, you will find the rewards to be great as you take town creatures that can give 150+ Scouting xp per kill.
The Scout and Population Control
Babies, while not granting any weapon or combat xp, give the same Scouting xp as their parent creature. Most babies will be green to you, and it is rare that you will find them not by their parents. However, on occasion I have found some wandering babies that happened to con dark or light blue. These indicate their parents are most likely red to you, at the very least a high yellow. Kill them and Harvest for a very nice bit of xp.
The Road to Elite Professions and Master Scout
Creature Handlers, Bounty Hunters, Bio Engineers, Squad Leaders, and Rangers all require Scouting xp to advance to their trees. The road to these is long and hard. You can kill and harvest and kill and harvest, and yes, eventually you will gain the needed Scout xp to fill up the boxes, but if you truly want the real awe inspiring experience of being a Scout, go out into the wild and explore. Use your techniques and abilities to aid you, and to aid others along the way. I cannot say this enough: Don't monitor your xp gain by the little meter. Close it and try not to open your skills window after every other kill. Have fun with your profession and you will gain all the needed xp faster than you realize.
Going to compile some hard data for Mask Scent / Harvest here. This was done today after accepting aggressive creature missions from Corellia. One for diseased vrelt, the other for crazed durni.
Diseased Vrelt = 59 xp per harvest. (Dark blue con)
Crazed durni = 78 xp per harvest. (I believe that was it.. high 70s, sorry for lack of precision. White con)
Using the slow killing method of letting creatures spawn, I get from 12-20 a lair. Let's say average 15 mobs from one lair (could be more if you are extremely patient) That's 885 for the Vrelts and 1170 for Durni for a total of 2055 for a mission run.
Now, using Mask Scent before killing, and keeping it up for -everything- that spawns. 28 xp for Vrelt, 44 for Durni. Gives you a total of 87 xp per Vrelt and 122 per Durni. Using the previously stated lair average, Vrelts give 1305 and Durni give 1830 for a total of 3135.
As you can see, the difference is significant. You get 1080 more xp per mission run (taking two missions) with aggressive mobs by just using Mask Scent around the lair. The patience is definitely rewarded. 
Just wanted to add some hard data so that you can see how effective the methods in this guide are and decide whether or not you wish to use them.
i say the best best best way to get scout xp, is to join a group going to endor, and harvest as much as you can. i got nearly 10,000 exp after killing 20 mobs or so.
gotta love the /harvest macro
yah, sure going to endor with a small group of mature players, yes you get scouting xp, but if you go on a giant group were 75% of the people wan to harvest too, only the ninjas or the very lucky will get to harvest, the rest of us slowpokes or riflemen have to do it solo.
no flame intended
sorry to hear that...
works like a charm for me
i guess im am special.
i disclaimed that fact in the post....
i do need some low level scouts to test it though - id be interested in seeing exactly how you went about the process for consistencies sake..
if you could elaborate on your process - id definitely be interested.
DarkElru wrote:i disclaimed that fact in the post....
i do need some low level scouts to test it though - id be interested in seeing exactly how you went about the process for consistencies sake..
if you could elaborate on your process - id definitely be interested.
So, you say "sit, and attack" - what exactly do you mean. Sorry, but I'm unclear on this point.
Thanks for the clarification...
Seems to be some confusion.
Here are my steps.
1.) Buy a probot.
(i never group with my probot)
2.) find any mob.
3.) get about 75-90 k range.
4.) maskscent.
5.) command your probot to attack the mob. My droid goes out about 45-50 k range away from me.
6.) The mob will aggro your probot and proceed to get into melee range. This effectively causes the mob to breach your maskscent radius WITHOUT YOU being its primary target (*thats important). (probot was 50 k away from you - which means the mob will have to get inside of your 60k maskscent radius to get at the probot.)
7.) you have gained 300 scouting XP
8.) Use method of choice for disposal of the mob.
9.) death - harvest - camp if necessary to respawn your probot.
10.) Repeat
Like i said earlier i need some lower tier scouts to try this method - as my being a master scout may or may not have had something to do with my success.