Scout Archive
Thread: Feedback on the scout correspondent issues
Here's some responses from the designer in charge of Scouts...
1. Maskscent.The top issue on the list is the mask scent command.
"The maskscent nerf continues to be the biggest beef within the
Scouting community. Most of the members don’t have a problem with the timer,
but they do have a problem with what is perceived as an extremely high
frequency of failure rate."
The following changes to mask scent are under development:
- There is no longer a camouflage skill mod for scouts. This skill mod has been changed to "Mask Scent" and now goes from 0 to 100 over the course of the scout profession's exploration tree and master box.
- Mask scent will only break against aggro and stalking creatures.
- The base equation for mask scent has changed. You are now much much more likely to successfully mask scent against a creature. The base chance to succeed has been improved by as much as 40%. This is the most significant change to the entire system. You should now be able to run past groups of monsters with a high chance of not being attacked.
- The chance to successfully mask scent is now modified by your posture and locomotion. If you are prone (moving or not), you get a 15% bonus. If you are running, you get a 10% penalty. If you are walking, you get a 5% penalty.
- The chance to successfully mask scent is also modified by the level of the creature compared to your Mask Scent skill mod. A scout with Exploration II will have a hard time sneaking past a Rancor, but a master scout will hardly ever fail. Scouts with Exploration IV, with the intention of using Mask Scent for Creature Handling will also have good success rates against tough creatures (although the Master Scout will always be better).
- XP rewards for mask scent have been lowered because success has increased. Since you are more likely to get XP you won't get as much on any one attempt.
- The AI now evaluates mask scent differently. Staying in close proximity to a creature for an extended period of time or moving through a large herd of creatures will increase the likelyhood of mask scent failing.
There has been some discussion as to what the intent of mask scent is. The core intent of mask scent is to enable scout players to explore the world with reduced risk of combat. The secondary intent is to enable new kinds of gameplay that involve sneaking up to a dangerous creature (like taming and possibly other things to be introduced later).
Rangers will retain the Camouflage skill mod and will, eventually, get new abilities that harness it.
These changes should improve usability of mask scent quite a bit.
2. Camping XP.
The second issue was concerns about the advancement rate in Wilderness Survival.
The amount of time it takes to successfully negotiate the wilderness survival tree is frustrating to some Scouts, especially those who intend to go Squad Leader or other professions that require it.
The following changes are in development to help with this problem:
- Camps now accumulate Wilderness Survival xp rewards faster. You won't have to stay in a camp quite as long to get xp out of the camp.
- Camp and trap crafting now rewards Wilderness Survival xp.
- Fishing now grants Wilderness Survival xp. You get this xp for catching fish, not trash or loot. The xp reward is also slightly random, proportional with the size of fish you catch.
These changes should give a few alternate ways to gain Wilderness Survival xp and speed up the xp gain from using camps. If the advancement is still slow after these changes go in, we can look at further improvements.
3. Group Harvesting.
The third issue were concerns about Scouts being discouraged from grouping, because of harvesting rights.
Being a scout in a group is almost impossible because of the limitations of the "one kill, one harvest" problem. [...] But just to reiterate, you’ve got a lot of Scouts (myself included) who eschew joining groups because they aren’t going to gain any XP from harvesting.
The following changes are in development to help with this problem:
- Each scout in a group that has loot permissions for a corpse may harvest from that corpse. Corpses harvested in this way yield 60% their normal resources and XP. Leaving the group and then harvesting still yields only 60%.
The goal is to give scouts motivaton to group and remove barriers from grouping. Since groups naturally kill targets faster than soloing (at least organized groups do hehe), the 40% penalty should be made up for easily.
This is will probably result in an increase the resources available in the game market. We know that selling resources is an important method of making money as a scout. We will be monitoring the impacts on the market and, if necessary, we will modify the cost of crafting items that use organic resources to increase the demand for those resources.
4. Foraging and Fishing.
The fourth problem was that fishing and foraging are underutilized.
The fishing side of this is being addressed by letting fishing give Wilderness Survival XP. Hopefully this will incentivise scouts to try out fishing. We might also make Chef recipes use more fish so that there is a market for the fish resources.
There isn't a solution for foraging in development right now. I'd like to make foraging more useful and have some ideas on how to do it, but its fairly low priority compared to fixing problems with other professions.
5. Incentives for Exploring.
The fifth issue was asking for more incentives to explore and scout territory.
I'm working on ideas for how to implement some game systems that would encourage exploration. Some of the ideas like a odometer or "fog or war" that you uncover are probably not going to happen because of various technical considerations. That doesn't mean you should stop making suggestions. For the time being though, other issues have to take a higher priority.
Pet Issue - Monkey Making Opportunities
DeltaXi65's pet issue was the problem with scout's not having any monkey making opportunities. (?) The design team feels that simian crafting is more in the realm of the Bio-Engineer. It's unlikely scouts will be able to make a monkey any time soon.
HOWEVER. We are trying to work out some new ways for scouts to make MONEY.
This is not something that will show up really short term, but it is something we are thinking about. Chances are it will go hand in hand with a system for exploration (what better incentive to explore than cash).
Now--we're going to be working on these issues more over the coming week, so discussion on this material is not only welcome, but encouraged! We want to make sure that we're making changes that make sense to you. So post away, we'll be reading...
Simians must be added to the scout profession. This is your last warning.
- XP rewards for mask scent have been lowered because success has increased. Since you are more likely to get XP you won't get as much on any one attempt.
- I haven't got xp for maskscent since the patch,,,zero, nada, nil. NONE.
And I went and made Master Scout two days ago whereas I really should have waited for this pile of GOLD!!
My favorite profession just got better
/cant wait to see row upon row of young scouts fishing outside Coronet to max their survival xp
Hee hee
/sign petition to give Delta a Simian Badge.
Rangers will retain the Camouflage skill mod and will, eventually, get new abilities that harness it.br>
.
Admittedly, these changes sound great for scouts (I mean, I'm a Master Scout as well, so I'll benefit).
This gives me higher hopes for some good Ranger changes, since as of now, Scouts are just as good as Rangers.
Thanks and sorry for being reactionary and hasty.
PLEASE tell me this is the SCOUT reply and not the RANGER REPLY TOO...
If it is then you Didn't READ OUR NUMBER ONE ISSUE...
Rangers need to be considered a class and not Master Scout X2
Posting one line of feedback for Rangers in the scout report does not = Ranger Reply.
- Zarn
Thanks and sorry for being reactionary and hasty
Dude. Compared to every other board on these forums, your post was calm and precise
Don't worry about it!I still can't believe how mature everyone is on the scout boards. We deserve an award.
And Delta still needs a Simian Badge.