Squad Leader Archive

Hmm, those are fantastic ideas.

(BTW, I'm starting to think /boostmorale is a pretty neat skill as is, but I'm still a week or so from getting it...)

Now having played with the first skill of all four trees I will say I have to agree. The fail rate is enough to make you not want to use the skills. On average i fail 3 times before a succesfull rally. Which means I start the fight with 1/4 mind bar. Steady Aim just seems like a waste and again fails 3/4 times. Other than that I have not been able to get to the other skills to give them a go.

I definitely feel we need some more skills and really love the ideas mentioned here. By the way, best place I have found for SL exp is right outside Wayfar at the Tusken camp. Can usually get a 20 man group in minutes and the exp is great.

I loved all of your comments....Being a fellow squad leader myself,I say go with it....we are an elite group of men that have a chance to take a group out and have fun with it...is'nt that the point? Sure we all have complaints about the proffession....but its still alot better than most of the others out there....WE LEAD!!! People respect us and listen to us! I am proud to be a squad leader and would not change it.If we can help others and have fun at the same time its better than perfect! I am on rori on the server tarquinas....I have nothing but great men and women out here...I for one could care less about how bad our abilities are...thank you men and ladies....I wish you the best in your journeys ahead...give me a call if ya wanna....

Arias Giancola

SQUAD LEADER

I am a noob at SWG. Was not selected in beta and am just working on character development. However, I have well over 1000 hours of EQ time leading raidsthat range in size from a handful to 50+ with the mean being about 30.

I think the whole concept of a squad leader bites. Any class of character can sucessfully lead a group/raid. In fact, the developers of SWG should try and encourage as many different classes to step up and take on a leaderhips role as possible. To imply that someone who is part of a SL class is inherently better at leading a group then any other class is rediculous and should be openly discouraged. This is probably why the class has poor abilities. Some of the developers realize this and are passively aggressivly neglecting it. The only thing SLhave worthwhile that I can see is the mobility line, and I read in another post that post 50, mobility doesn't really grant a significant benefit. The rest of the benefits are marginal at best.

I think if they wanted to improve the class they need to first remove the group leadership requirement for experience and group benefits. All great leaders are great followers. A SL who cant play a support role is not worth having in a group. If I assemble a team to take something out and a SL comes up and asks to join and then lead, I will tell him to take a hike. Its that simple. Being a SL might turn into the surest way to not get into a group.

The more fundamental question the developers need to answer before they can fix this class is how do they see the development of the group/raid experience in SWG? Theyhave a great theme,graphics engine, and skill progression concept. However,if they do not develop a highly enticing group experience this game will go by the wayside quickly. MMORG is about grouping and if it turns into a soloist dream world, it will not be able to compete against the horde of consul games out there. So far the groups I have been part of (Not lead) have been zerg heaven, and its not been worth the effort to setup a strike force to take anything serious out yet. The benefits are just not there, although that might change as the game progresses. Solo experience or Tuskin Raider camp is the best use of my play time right now.

Once you have a solid group/raid experience concept, what role does a squad leader play? Right now, it appears to be mainly a support role which is fine. Several suggestions have already been made, but I likemass group: camo andmask scent. The mobility line, of course. Then an offensive and defensive line of group attributes that are measurable (Or reduces cost to use abilities, etc...). This class absolutely has to have at least one'bread and butter' type of special ability that providesa key advantage to a group's succes that isnot being serviced by the other classes. Right now, I don't see a lot of value in any of the special abilities. Not when you compare them towarning shot and suppression fire. Basic marksman skills that far outway any benefits provided by the SL class. The disparity only increases when you consider TK knockdown, CH pets, Riflemen dammage,Medic Heals, BH abilities, etc...

Right now I plan on being a master TK with the SL mobility line. The rest is a waste of skill points as far as I am concerned.

Duncaen Starstriker

Starsider Server

Shuyunh, you're very wrong. Just because everyone is good at something doesn't mean that they can be good leaders at it. Leadership is a skill/talent. Of course no leader is omniscient thus they have advisors and specialists in certain fields. Many times these specialists cannot see beyond the scope of their specialty. It is the job of the leader to find the common ground and most efficinet path to the most desired solution.

Seriously here's two situations. You're in a line in a shopping store and you start to cough. In one situation the guy behind you says 'I think you should go get that looked at'. Whereas in situation two someone goes 'Excuse me, I'm a student of medicine taking taking the <insert test here>. I know I'm not supposed to because I"m not a doctor yet, but I'm troubled by your cough. I reccomend that you go see someone for it. If you wish, I'm inturning in a specialist who's very good with this kind of work and I can refer you to him. Here's his card and..." Now who is the one your'e going to listen to? Chances are your'e going to say to yoruself 'take a hike bub' to the first one. But of course you don't know if he is a doctor, you just disregarded him becasue he doesn't have the authority and pressense of the second. For all you know he could be a leader in the field but really shy.

I agree with most everything you said Volatris ... most professions in the game need a revamping, and Holocron already announced that Commando is being revamped, followed by TK Artist.

Obviously, Squad Leader is one of those that needs several fixes, first to the existing abilities and then perhaps adding a couple more possibilities.

Good post Vol.

I do, however, disagree on one point. In the post from the devs, I do like the idea of being able to assing position withinthegroup (i.e frontline, support, ranged) and then combining this with the offensive and defensive stances. This opens up a whole new world of tactics to SLs and will reward players who can actually think in a tense situation, properly organize their group, and respond to threats. In other words, it will reward players who can lead. Learning how to use more abilities, whether passive or active, has little to do with being a leader in a tactical situation. However organizing your group and figuring out which abilites work best with which positions and in which circumstances will require a good deal more thought than merely mashing a buttonto grant bonuses.

There is one other thing I would like to see added to the list:

• Increase SLs' limit of faction pets or decreasethe limitofthe other professions.

I prefer the latter. I think the other professions should be limited to at most 1 faction pet. Either that or increase SL's limit to 4 or 5. It detracts from our profession when any other profession can lead a squad of NPCs. Doing this will help compensate for our decreased combat capabilities, and it may help balance the PvP situation. It makes no sense that a BH has any skill in commanding a group of 3 AT-STs. I would even favor limiting access to higher level pets to SLs, but that might make our profession a little too dependent on the faction system, which I know some players don't care about.

Thanks for your attention,

LordPIB

Albron Moonshade; Squad Leader/Pistoleer/Medic; Bria

Im a squad leader and I could cry at how underpowered they are atm, then soe says we will give you abilities you as a player can do, making the skill worthless you need what? Novice marksman Novice scout (15+15) then it's 3 trees at 14 skill points each so thats 30 + 14 + 14 + 14 = 72 skill points just to get to novice squad leader....then it's like 135 skill points to be a master squad leader.... so your thinking it's going to be pretty powerful seeing as it take over half your skill points to reach it....nope doesnt do alot.....Id suggest cutting the need to go up the camping tree in scouting off the requirments.

Squad Leaders need some DRASTIC increases in abilty considering the effort gone in and the points spent.

Im so close to master squad leader i could cry an i ould laugh at being stupid enough to do it......

Dancer

4 - 3 - 4 - 4 Squad Leader

Commisar

Field Commander

Tactician

and something else....

Soon to be Master Squad Leader ..... now you can all laugh at my stupidity or congratualte me on my determination.