Squad Leader Archive
Thread: Inspiring a Squad Leader
Our profession received precisely nothing from the Combat Upgrade (despite our being at the alleged "center" of their pretty little chart) aside from some added defenses to our boxes that truly encourages people to merely dabble in our profession than actually "embrace" it for what it is.
To us, theyhave merely encouraged othersto pillage something that we have dedicated our characters to for so long, so that they can eek out a few extra points of Melee and Ranged defense. We did, however, receive a nerf. Previously, we could remove Dizzy and Stun states in PVP settings (which was one of the only things we were actually useful for), but in their infinite wisdom the Devs decided to render us all the more impotent and pointless by removing our ability to do so.
We are the abused child huddled in the dark corner. We are bitter.
We are neglected. We have been promised a Squad Leader upgrade for overa year and not received so much as a "peep" from the Devs about it. By all rights, we should abandon this Profession entirely, but for some reason there are a few of us left who stubbornly refuse to let our Profession go, despite the fact that it has effectively flatlined on the operating table. I would safely say that we are the rarest of all Professions left in the game.
Though I have no idea if the coding would even allow for this, I would want to see something that would target our skills and abilities. Reduce our warm up timers, or reduce the duration of our excrutiatingly long "cool downs." Perhaps reduce the amount of Action and Mind that certain special abilities drain, but do not actually change the regeneration rate of these primary statistics.
If special abilities were directly targeted for increased effectiveness, perhaps something that would increase the duration of our "Retreat!" group burst runs, so that our allies can sprint for longer periods of time.
Give a numeric benefit to the effectiveness of Steady Aim, Rally,or Volley Fire.
Aye... i hope the entertainer is able to recover, currently it mostly got promises and a few tiny gadgets and looks likehaving a high risk to follow in our footsteps.
Since the Combat Upgrade, I've seen a heavy decline in the number of Entertainers, and I know how difficult it is for you guys to generate any sort of revenue for your characters, now. I wish you and yours all the best at getting them to rectify these issues, and succeeding where we have not for so long.
Message Edited by Sylow on 07-12-2005 02:01 PM
Squadleaders' boost morale has stronger effects.
Another suggestion is look at the pure combat professions and I don't mean like Doctor or BE. IMO BE's are in a lab all day manipulating DNA and what not. Doctor's, should be in Medical Centers putting finishing touches on what a Combat Medic has done. I'm talking about Swordsman/Fencer (possibly) and more about Rifleman/Carbineer/Pistoleer as well as the Hybrid Commando/Smuggler/BH professions. Look at their appeal and see what they have and modify it for SL. Such as BH's SpyNet. Make a Rebel/Imperial SpyNet type that hands out Faction missions for those in their faction. For the Factionless, have them talk to someone else or something.
I really hate giving my ideas, just because we are looking like we're not getting a revamp. Now if this gets us a revamp then I will post more and not the Uber type suggestions that I have seen a plethora of because not any one particular profession should be uber. The CU has forced us all (for good or for bad) to group, that means that each profession has it's benefits to the group. Pistoleers with their Root for example. Dancers/Musicians for their BF healing and the medical professions for healing and stim creation. Crafters for their crafts. Personally, I am here to have fun, to meet people and to enjoy what has been given to us. I am not here to be the Uber person because I have such a low self esteem that I have to ruin everyone elses fun.
I just enjoy the Star Wars universe and it's a way for me to be in there. In fact, because of what I am here for, I have met a good friend that I enjoy roleplaying with and that's mostly what I log in for is to see her and see what happens next in our characters lives. Heck, I am FS and even that takes a backseat to our roleplay. I have no urge to be Jedi, it's just a next step into how the character is, due to how I have been playing him with her. Though I will admit that at first, going Jedi was what I was here for partially, but as time wore on and I furthered myself in the Squad Leader line, that I have appreciated Squad Leader and take the profession seriously and why my posts as of late have been very little. Again because I'm not interested in being uber. And if going Jedi takes away from me being MSL it will be a sad day for me. Squad Leader can and is a fun and enjoyable profession and one that should be respected within the game. Especially at Master.
There, that's my dollars worth.
Message Edited by AlienEntity on 07-12-2005 12:48 PM
More examples, less seriousness:
Battle Fatigue - Giving entertainers a purpose in the game will inspire anyone (RE the BF removal in the next publish)
Self-sacrifice - Knowing that your actions will prevent other professions from sharing the fate of your own, priceless.
Dignity - Showing all other professions that yours is the only one that carries a sense of dignity in every person that has it.
The OP was asking for ways that the entertainers can give Insperation buffs that we could benefit from. Asking for a reduction in timers by being buffed by the entertainers etc etc all fall under that request. So, yes some of the last 6 posts did address the OP, yours however comes off as a flame and appears that you thought the post was about actually inspiring us as a profesison (when the post was about things that the entertainers could have that would buff us like the current XP bonus/FP bonus/crafting bonus buffs they already give).
As for the examples you gave....you lost me. How can those be things that the entertainers could buff us for that would allow us to do our jobs better?
(Don't worry, I missread it when I did my first post as well. :smileywink
Wystery wrote:
Did any of the last 6 posts have to do with inspiring a squad leader? We have too many posts of how abused and neglected and tired we all are. Anyone worth telling this to already knows it. Especially the devs. Just try to help out any way you can, even if it means responding to the original post about something that may or may not make sense.
More examples, less seriousness:
Battle Fatigue - Giving entertainers a purpose in the game will inspire anyone (RE the BF removal in the next publish)
Self-sacrifice - Knowing that your actions will prevent other professions from sharing the fate of your own, priceless.
Dignity - Showing all other professions that yours is the only one that carries a sense of dignity in every person that has it.
!
Sylow wrote:
Squadleaders' boost morale has stronger effects.
Uh, stronger? This implies that it currently already does something, except distributing wounds?
I gave a logical solution for inspiration versus another skill description.....it's not my fault! (that boost morale doesn't do anything)
Sylow:
Ah ha, an idealist. To be honest with you, I have no idea how anyone out there can deny the utter disarray that this Profession is in right now. Where as I won't claim that we are "better off" or "worse off" than our other neglected "sibling," Ranger, we are quite obviously below everyone else on the totem pole. If you feel that I have overexaggerated what we "received" from the Combat Upgrade, I believe you have very little idea of what I am talking about. Despite how broken Squad Leader was before the CU, we were still able to make a difference in Player versus Player combat. Now, while I agree wholeheartedly with the philosophy of the Combat Upgrade eliminating the "spamming game" where everyone rushes for the "I win button," that was unfortunately the only significant impact that we were capable of making, pre-CU. Spamming Form Up and Retreat to give our allies greater mobility and keep them from the jaws of the previously unconquerable "Dizzy KD." In comparison, we have been "nerfed" in our effectiveness. Meanwhile, I look upon the other previously neglected children such as Smuggler and, especially, Carbineer and I see the sorts of differences and changes that should have been included in our adjustment. We have been promised a revamp for over a year, and not received anything. To the best of my knowledge, the "Squad Leader Revamp" thread that was started by the Devs last May or so (2004)never even received a single SOE employee's response. Denial will not help us in ever fixing our Profession, Sylow. You need to embrace the horror for precisely what it is rather than give the illusion that SOE can keep ignoring us due to some saying "oh, things aren't too bad."
Regarding the PVP statement, I have tested it. Unlike many, I was always a PVP Squad Leader first and foremost. While I have noticed some "unusual behavior" on the part of Form Up and Rally in PVP, such as clearing states "some of the time," I have *absolutely* witnessed times in open PVP environments where the ability does precisely nothing, for extremely long durations. Now, do I know "precisely" what the root of that is? No, of course not. However, corroborating that with the patch message we received blatantly stating from the Devs that it was their intention to remove Form Up's effectiveness in a PVP environment, I have some very strong guesses.
You clearly misunderstood my metaphor, as well, friend. "Bitter" does not exactly connotate hiding in a corner. The analogy of the corner was merely meant to demonstrate the fact that we have made precisely nothing so far as "headway" can be concerned in well over a year, now. I have no idea how long you have been a Squad Leader, but I get the impression that you may still be one of those who is in the "golden dawn" of the Profession, rather than one who has seen its deterioration and fall into relative ruin. Mind you, I do not begrudge you that fact, if it is indeed the case. Sure, we would be happy with some basic fixes. The only problem is, they have been promised for over a year. Not a single thing that I can think of has been done, in that time, other than stealth nerfs.
Regarding Retreat, it absolutely could benefit from a longer timer. Previously, we were able to keep our group running at full burst-run speed non-stop across an entire planet, and that was one of the few things that actually made us moderately effective in our "broken" state before the CU. Now, would my opinion on that change if there were other tweaking done? Certainly. But at the current moment, Retreat has definitely been relatively "nerfed" from its prior level of effectiveness. Nothing has been done to fix this loss of effectiveness, and unlike TKM,it's pretty hard to justify that "we needed to be taken down a few notches." That is an undeniable fact.
I'll agree with you regarding the numeric modification of Steady Aim, et cetera. However, I think Steady Aim is a rather pitiful ability, in its present state. It does not make a contribution that anyone in the group even notices, and to be honest I really cannot tell whether or not Volley Fire is even working. Obviously it's difficult to judge, but I think both of these need to be pronounced to some extent. If a healer heals me, I know it. If a Jedi pulls a lightsaber and starts whacking away at an enemy, I know it. If my talented Carbineer is laying down states and keeping enemies rooted and snared, I know it. The effectiveness of Squad Leader's abilities needs to be increased to such an extent that everyone in the group *knows* what was just done, and the reward needs to be balanced to the sacrifice of such a huge timer and in some cases an astronomical expenditure of substat points.
Finally,I do want to say that despite the tone this thread might have appeared to have, I am not trying to flame you. I simply disagree with your sentiments.
Let's ask for boost morale to take all teh wounds on the players in the group, and instead of evening them out...they all pile on ourselves! That would be a good boost to morale. Just think of how much they would all laugh when we blackbar ourselves to save the group!
KardenTyrell wrote:
Sylow wrote:
Squadleaders' boost morale has stronger effects.
Uh, stronger? This implies that it currently already does something, except distributing wounds?
I gave a logical solution for inspiration versus another skill description.....it's not my fault! (that boost morale doesn't do anything)
No I am not being serious. 
It would boost morale though.