Scout Archive
Thread: Scout. What we need to be more than a speed bump on the way to Creature Handler.
Well I made Master Scout a couple of days back (after making Novice Creature Handler) and I've had a little while to take a deep breath and think about what I've learned about the Profession.
As the title of this post indicates I'm not terribly impressed about what the game designers have done. The truth be told, if I hand't wanted that plus 20 to Camouflage to be more effective with Maskscent, I probably wouldn't have even bothered Mastering Scout. We get a few nice skills and, unlike some people who haven't really worked with them, I think the whole Traps branch of the Profession is superb and needs no work at all (more traps of course but that can wait until the expansions
).
The other3 branches though? Ifit wasn't necessary for Creature Handler I would have skipped Hunting all together. The "to hit" bonus against creatures is nice but I could live without it. Bonuses to harvesting resources from animals? Again, nice, but why spend skill points when I could just kill more creatures while I'm practicing my weapon skill.
Explore is useful but mainly for the boosts to Camouflage. The slope movement bonus has been helpful a couple of times when I'd used up burst run and needed to lose some pursuers but I think I could live without it if I had to. I'd still have taken Explore for the Camouflage but I'd grit my teeth and curse the gaming gods for making me do the grind.
Wilderness Survival? What were they thinking. There's nothing I can really do in the Level 4 camp that I can't in the Basic Camp I get as a novice. Sure it repels aggressive creatures but most animals in this game are in pretty static positions. Don't camp too near them and there's no problem.
The main thing these 3 branches (especially Explore and Hunting) seem to be lacking is any of the little treats other professions get as they work their way up a branch. No special attacks to experiment with or new and different items to build.
What I'd like to see is some things added to Scout to make it interesting in and of itself, rather than just being a chore, something you had to grind through to get to Creature Handler.
For Explore I'd like to see the ability to make Ghillie suits. In the real world a Ghillie suit is a set of clothes covered with rags and scraps of burlaps to make the wearer harder to see. It was orginally used by Scottish hunting guides calledghillies but is the basic camouflage tool of the military sniper. For the game the suits would boost your Camouflage skills but would wear out after a couple of minutes and would only be usable if you wear crawling or lieing still in the prone position.
For Wilderness Survival I'd like to see "hunting blinds". These would be like camps except thatthey'd give no healing bonuses and you could fire from them. They'd give an even larger bonus to your Camouflage skills than the Ghillie suits but only if you remained motionless. Once you left themor were detected byan animal they woulddisappear just like the camps. You'd set themup then "use" them just like with a bench or chair. One person could use the Level 1 hunting blind, 2 people the Level 3 hunting blind and up to five could use the Master Scout blind.
ForHunting my suggestion is the most radical and would have the Creture Handlers foaming at the mouth. I'd suggest that, notionally, Bio-Engineers have rediscovered the dna of an exotic, historicalanimal called the "dog". Because of it's highly developed domesctication it could be used as a pet by non-Creature Handlers, specifically the Scout. You'd only get basic commands like Attack and Follow and they'd be very weak at the levels you could use them. Say a 100 hit point 10 damage Terrier at Level 1 Hunting working up your way to Hound at Level 3 Hunting anda Mastiff as Master Scout. Scouts wouldn't be allowed to use any other creatures until they got to Creature Handler and the dogs would bemore of a damage over time in the fight as opposed to a tank.
That's my two cents. Anyboyd else have any ideas or suggestions?
"Democracy is the worst form of government... until you consider the alternatives."
Winston Churchill.
I think that they should divide it up. There are way to do it, but I do not have time to explain.
.
Silverjohn,
My two credits worth is that your two cents are well spent! You've put forth three really excellent ideas to improve Scouting. I want a Gillie suit. It makes soooo much sense. Hunting blinds would work really well and a dog or two would make an excellent addition. I differ only from you notion that"they'd be very weak at the levels you could use them." By the time you reach the top of the skill tree those dogs ought to strike terror into the hearts of those they oppose.
Grey
Very interesting ideas.
I particularly like the one about the low-level Scout pets. Here's the reason:
One of the things that is very appealing about the skill-based system is that you get to pick what your character wants to do, and get good at it by actually doing that thing. You get better at it, and more options and techniques, but you should fundamentally be able to get good at your characters final goals by actually doing the things in that profession. It's a great idea, since it usually avoids the "I have to doXXX to level up so I can finally do what I want to." mindset. (It doesn't avoid the "I have to do YYY to get good enough at my profession to be worthwhile" mindset, but it's a step up.)
This is true of the combat, medical, and crafter professions, and it also applies to the Ranger (Scout2.0). Creature handlers, however, don't get to tame anything until their advanced profession. The scout skills help, of course, but the essence of the profession is not available until you finally get to train Novice. That makes the Scout tree a bit of a pre-req grind for future CHs.
I'm fine with it taking a lot of effort to reach the advanced professions. I just really like the development of the other classes and wish the Scout tree gave CHs something similar. I think your 'dog' idea does that really well.
I like your ideas. I really do not like the “double time” on Explore and Hunt with XP. Feels like I have restarted Hunt III after getting Explore III trained.
I like the camo suite idea. This will secure a place for us on the battlefield for sure. I also like the “dog” idea. I play a Hunter in DAOC and really like the melee pet while I do ranged attack. SWG devs please look at SilverJohn’s suggestions.
Good Hunting!
As for Ghillie suits, they should really be for snipers, although camouflage clothing would be nice.
I like the hunting blind idea. Tree stands would be even better.
A taxodermy/trophy option would be neat to add decor to our homes.
Great ideas.
I agree, hunting and exploration needs to be seperated somehow. You should aquire hunting XP by hunting and killing animals or fishing. The whole scout tree is a bit messed up in that Wilderness survival is only by using camps. Trapping by using traps, which is the only branch that makes sense. General scouting XP should be broken out somehow to encompass fishing.
To be realistic, a hunting blind would be nice if the mobs actually roamed the land. Like in real life a hunter sets up his blind and sits and waits until a deer, moose, elk, squirrel, etc walks by. The creatures in SWG do not roam, the mill about their little areas near their lairs, but that's it. It's not very practical to see your prey, walk within firing distance set up a blind and then shoot. That's like me seeing a deer 250 yards away during bow season. Can't get a shot from that far, so I close to within 50-60 yards and set up a blind or put my tree stand up? Nah, that ain't right. Although, I do realeize the differences between real hunting and hunting in SWG.
Camo clothing that acts as a mask scent would be nice. You'd have to carry different outfits based on the enviromenyt you're in. tan camo for Tatooine, green camo for Naboo, Endor, Corellia, etc. Make it harder for the creatures to detect you, giving you a 2 or 3 shot advantage when hunting.
At lower levels, we should be able to customize our camps. Create camps that heal better or other camps that boost any crafting done inside - that sort of thing - let us tweak them to suit different situations.
On the ghillie suits and hunting blinds, I really like those ideas. It would be nice if those could be distributed and sold - perhaps a bit of apprenticeship teaching when they're first used to show that we've taught the person how to use them correctly - and then continued exp as they're used. Make these able to be doused in power-ups that boost their camouflage? While we don't want anyone and their grandmother able to be as stealthy outdoors as us (and I think their durability should be very, very low), this would be a nice boost to our skills.