Squad Leader Archive
Thread: Making Squad Leaders Sought After.
I haven't posted much as you can see by my name, most of what I would have to say has been said, but I do lurk around this forum. No, don't bother looking for me, you won't find me.
Want Squad Leaders to be useful and sought after? How about this for a new skill:
HealMind, GroupHealMind.
Make these abilities in the Leadership tree. A novice squadleader gets the ability of heal mind. He can target a specific individual in his group and /healmind. "Private Snuffy, pull your head out and get back in the game. We need you to heal these guys up, ignore the blood and do your job!" and Snuffy gets some mind back and is able to heal. This would of course cost the Squad Leader some action pool as he has to take the time to address Snuffy.
At Leadership III the Squad Leader would gain the ability to heal the mind pool of the whole group by giving an inspirational speach /grouphealmind. "For the Emperor and our comrades who gave there life on the Death Star! Let them have it men!" For which there would also be an action pool cost.
These ideas were of course stolen from other posts I read here and compiled into my own presentation. They should be easy to impliment for the programers since there is already code written for the healing of the action and health pools, that code could be adapted for use in these commands. The ammount of mind healed would be determined by the characters leadership, A novice SL would get +10 leadership, Leadership I would be +10 leadership, and this would also make the +10 leadership that a human gets mean something. Better mind heals for being a human!
Mind healing is badly needed in SWG. Especially for the galactic civil war. How many of you have participated in the GCW, either willingly, or unwillingly? Resident's of Bestine know what I am talking about. What is the #1 killer in PvP? Eyeshot. A level II bounty hunter pistol abillity. It targets the mind pool and causes blindness. Doctors can't help you if you are incapped because of your mind, combat medics can't help you, medics can't help you, and they are allin more dangerfrom itthancombat classes because their ability to healuses a lot of mind. Enter the Squad leader. "I can help you keep your head in the game. I can inspire you to keep fighting despite your pain and loss and fear. I will lend you my strength when you feel you cannot go on. I am a Squad Leader and you can count on me."
Squad Leader by choice, despite all the bad publicity. Oh, and thanks for all the information...despite all the whining that happens on this board there is some really good info and good ideas here.
TK-933 "I am a Squad Leader, and you can count on me."
I think SL's should not be able to HEAL mind wounds, as that would take away from the only thing entertainers do.
I think SL's should be alble to give a mind BUFF, making it heal faster, and cost less per action taken. that was entertainers and SLs can work TOGETHER.
mind buff is going to entertaners from what i hear
what SL need is thing that help a group in combate, things like fortifications and bunkers and things like that. also someone talked aobut SLs unlocking specal ablities for other classes, there are a million things we could do we just need to think of something
but we are leaders, not healers and buffers, our skills should stick to support and not healing
OmegusNeo wrote:
what SL need is thing that help a group in combate, things like fortifications and bunkers and things like that. also someone talked aobut SLs unlocking specal ablities for other classes, there are a million things we could do we just need to think of something
but we are leaders, not healers and buffers, our skills should stick to support and not healing
I disagree. I want to lead hunts, not camping trips. I dont care about constructable bunkers - those are only good for defense. The class that should do that is "Combat Engineer" or something. I don't know of any military where the guy calling the shots is the same guy setting up sandbags and turrets.
BUT I usually don't try shoot the idea down. If people post it in constructive threads (and they have) I'll ignore it (and I have).
You can't say "we are not healers and buffers," because, well, duh! We aren't anything.
There are a million things that would improve SL. ALL OF THEM WOULD CHANGE THE ROLE WE CURRENTLY PLAY. Because our current role is virtually Nothing. Nada. Zilch. When I join a group, craftsmen in the group say "I love running fast" and then I spam the screen. If our current direction is "Craftsman-accelerating Screen-spammers," then its safe to say we have no definable feel for the class as is. And everybody has different ideas about what it should be.
Some people want mental healers and buffing. Some want a faction-pet handler. Some want a bunker engineer. Some want a bard-like class. Some want to be player puppeteers. Some want ability enhancers/unlockers for other classes. Some want to be waypointand personell organizers. Most want some combination of these abilities.
And when SOE finally, FINALLY gives us some luv, some people will walk away from SL. Some of the hardcore "I'm sticking with SL until the end!" people WILL up and leave the class (or the game), because SOE is absolutely not going to give us ALL our way, and thus some people are going to feel cheated or that the class isn't what they want it to be. We can't ALL be pleased by the changes. We won't.
So when somebody suggests an idea, don't shoot it down solely becauseits not the role we have. If its not the role you want, then voice that but still note the merits of the idea (bunkers could add a lot to the GCW and the way squads work.) Or try to find problems with it that aren't associated with role (rangers will feel cheated.)
I know its a rant. I apologize. I'm just tired of people saying "thats not what we do" when we don't do anything.
bunkers are not used for camping trips, if youve read any of our threads about them, we have discused using them for large scale PvP combate and yes they are mainly for defencive purposes, but if implemented correctly it could be one of hte best aditions that we could get. turrents and mine fields are for the combat engineers, if they ever get added into the game, i have not heard the devs mention anything about them in several months.
in one of our old threads, someone that claimed to be a RL millitary platoon leader said he is required to how to build fortifications, and while he may not be the one that sets them up every single time he still has to be able to instuct his soliders on how to set these things up. plus it give our learning of scouting survival some purpose
We all have different views of what SL SHOULD be. We can all come up with reasons why our idea of the SL makes the most sense (ie.- Mind Buffs represent good leaders, SLs need to know fortifications, SLs would command bigger groups with their organizational skills, etc. etc. etc.) None (or at least few) of the ideas out there have no merit. Its a matter of preference.
The point is that in your current debate about what SL should ebcome, its irrelevant to say that you're opposed to changes that would change our role. All of the idea on the table would change our role, because this class is so pathetically under-developed that we have no role to keep. You cannot preserve something that doesnt exist.
I'm not saying we should buff minds or heal mind WOUNDS, that is the job of entertainers, they heal our wounds and get rid of our battle fatigue and help us unwind, what I am saying is we should be able to heal mind DAMAGE. I don't get to play much, but when I do, I play with my Imperial Guild friends and we defend a lot of Imperial faction bases. I've been hunted down in Bestine by rebels while doing faction missions to build up my faction standing. And you know what has killed me and what I saw in the one huge PvP battle I fought in? My entire squad lying incapped from MIND DAMAGE! I see mind damage as battle shock, not bleeding from your head, which seems tobe the way it is portrayed in the game, and what is the one person who can put a soldier back on his feet when he is confused and tired and unsure of what his actions should be? His squad leader! Yes, as a squad leader you should know about fortifications, and moving your squad through dificult terrain, breaching obsacles and mine fields, which reminds me of another passive ability a squad leader should give to the squad, a reduced chance of being hit by a mine when passing through a mine field. Anyway, my point is...the squad leader should be able to heal MIND DAMAGE and bring his troops back from the edge of mental colapse to be effective at fighting again.
But alas the point is moot asMIND DAMAGEhealing is being given to combat medics.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=combat_medic&message.id=14178
TK-933
"I am a squad leader. You may wonder what I do, so do I."
Squad Leaders having the abiity to heal mind damage is a great idea that just makes good sense from a roleplaying point of view. However, without any explanation as to why, the profession that already dominates the mind pool with their ability to cast an Area of Effect DoT Mind disease: The Combat Medic. Has inexplicably been given the ability to /healmind. This ability has already gone active on Test Center, appears in the Test Center patch notes, and is scheduled to go Live with the Player Cities & Mounts patch next week.
Sorry folks. Squad Leader got **edit**ed again.
A leader does two things. He/she calls the shots, and he inspires those under him/her to work more efficiently, harder, and with each other, to achieve desired results. A squad leader does these same things, but within the confines of a small group of soldiers.
Mind DAMAGE healing SHOULD be within the range of SL abilites IMO, because no one can heal mind damage. Entertainers heal mind wounds and battle fatigue. They cant heal damage like a stimpack heals health/action damage. SLs should get an inspirational speech to represent that portion of their job. I think that this is a great idea, and would certainly solidify the role of the SL within a group. An entire tree should be devoted to this ability. This should replace the movement tree.
The strategy and tactics trees should be altered to contain 8 separate group related special attacks/actions. Some abilities Id like to see are the following: a movement ability that provides a movement bonus to any group members that have you on /follow, a "lead from the front" ability that automatically provides your entire squad with a temp to-hit bonus every time you fire the killing shot on a target, A "hold your ground" ability that provides a melee/ranged defense bonus at the expense of limited mobility (walking speed only for the group) for a short time, a "take cover" ability that provides a higher ranged/melee defense bonus at the expense of no or incredibly limited mobility for the group, "cover fire" an ability that all members can use, typing /cover <name>. This ability automatically fires at an enemy firing at your teammate, and acts similar to suppresion fire/low blow and changes the targets posture/delays them so that your teammate can move to his new location unmolested. "volley fire" similar to how it is, "advanced volley fire" allows the SL to pick targets and do a volley fire command only to group members that have a weapon equipped that damages a specific pool, eg volleyfireH would have all pistol/unarmed group members attack your target only, letting your rifle, carbine, sword, polearm, etc get designated to attack something else so as to be more efficient. Im sure there are other options or better abilities that can be filled in here. These abilities would represent the squad leader's ability to be in charge and direct the flow of battle.
The final tree should be devoted to role designation. This would allow a SL to designate certain members who meet the designation requirements certain roles. Having a defined "role" in the group makes that member slightly more efficient at performing that role. Someone with the "point man" role could perhaps have his radar data viewable to all group members. This would be an amazing ability for a ranger with mask scent and camoflague, as it makes them ideal to gather intel prior to moving the entire group into the fight. The corpsman would perhaps see a medical cross status symbol on the group member list or above the heads of group members who request medical aid by typing /medic. The mess-hall specialist would perhaps be able to automatically distribute a bit of food to all group members, which they can eat with a simple /eat command. The chef can give his members food in combat without having to use a trade box. This makes the chef a viable combat class, providing specific buffs when they are most needed. Sniper would perhaps get a small range bonus so that he can fire from further away, this could be deadly when combined with a ranger point man. Combat Engineer (architect) could perhaps gain the ability to place the much talked about fortifications, or perhaps some unique fortifications available only with the designation, such as "field hospital" for wound healing or "mess hall" or "snipers perch" or other areas that provide the other role designates with additional bonuses. "bait" could provide a free burst run or a burst run that does not require resting before performing another burst run. Being the designated role should provide the designated group member with a small XP bonus as well. I think that coming up with a dozen roles that you can gain throughout the 4 skill boxes 2-4 at a time with perhaps a few additional ones at novice/master would be just supreme. I may call it role designation, but its essentially the same as "unlocking hidden skills" mentioned earlier, that we were promised.
I think the trees I have presented here would come quite close to pleasing everyone. It is a good mix and balance of most of what all the SLs want. If you can find a way to fit in waypoint sharing, perhaps at master or as one of the other two ability tree skill boxes, then I think youd really have a winner that is balanced with the other classes, has a clearly defined role in combat, does not step on anyone elses toes, and gives people many reasons to seek out a squad leader to be the groups leader. Interested to hear feedback.
Reeto, Novice SL on tarquinas
www.swnsu.com
i know you guys like the mind heal idea, i personaly dont but thats not the point. the point is we will not get mind buffs because that is going to be added to entertainers, and we wont get mind damage healing because that is supposed to go to Combat meds.
itws not a bad idea we just cant get it because the DEVs are giving it to other professions