Squad Leader Archive
Thread: What's Really Wrong
I've been thinking about what's really wrong with Squad Leader recently. And I've been trying to compare it to other Professions that have had problems or difficulties. I mean, we all know that we're not the only Profession that has had difficulties. Commandos are kind of hosed, still. For a while Bio Engineers were an utter waste of skill points. Back in the Beta Days, the only Elite Brawler profession that was even worth bothering with was Teras Kasi Artist. I'm not saying any of these things are perfect now, but they were fixed and are still being improved upon.
But there's a fundamental way that their problems differed from ours. For their professions, the issues were either that their abilities were unbalanced or else their skills did not work as they were supposed to. Neither of those are the core issue for Squad Leader. The real problem with Squad Leader is that there are skills that, even if they DID work correctly, would be utterly useless. I mean, let's look at the complete list of skills that the Squad Leader has that are useful.
Group Terrain Negotiation and System Message. That's it. Everything else either doesn't worth or wouldn't be useful or, in most cases, both. And even System Message is pushing its luck being on this list. I think if there were actual useful skills in the Squad Leader tree no one would want it. As it is it means that a Novice Squad Leader has no group buff to give out, which is absurd. The Novice Squad Leader needs more than a special way to /tell. But compared to what else is out there, System Message seems like a great idea. Speaking of which, here's the big list. I know it's not the first, but it's my two cents, and
SKILL: System Message. Good only in comparison to the rest of the norfed skilled Squad Leaders have at their disposal. This skill needs to NOT be the only skill a Novice Squad Leader gets. Some peope use it, some people ignore it. FIX: Make it more noticable (colors, sound) or replace it. A good replacement might be one that allows the Squad Leader to see all of the mission Waypoints anyone on his team has on his own map. That way he could quickly move his group from mission to mission. You know. . . lead the squad?
SKILL: Group Terrain Negotiation: The first dose of this is actually useful, since not everyone in the group (especially healers) will have Scout skills. It keeps the group together, so it's one of the few I would genuinely keep. FIX: None.
SKILL: Group Burst Run Efficiency: Hardly useful at all. The HAM reduction of Burst Run isn't worth the Skill Points as far as I am concerned. I've never said to myself, "Thank the Maker I had Burst Run Efficiency!" FIX: Either toss it out or give it a different effect. Maybe it could extend the duration of Burst Run or reduce the "Tired Time" between runs. Even then it's hardly a must-have skill.
SKILL: Steady Aim. This skill would be moderately useful if it worked as it was supposed to, far more often than it does. But even then misses are not so terribly common that Steady Aim would help out that much. FIX: Either replace it with another skill (one that increases attack rate perhaps) or else allow Steady Aim to negate range penalties. So you'd have a good chance to point blank with long-range shots. That way it would be worth casting when getting clustered by MOBs. Though I think increasing the attack rate would be a better buff for the group.
SKILL: Volley Fire. This skill at least has potential. Right now the fact that it is very out of synch and it forces everyone to use their default shot makes it a waste of your HAM, a waste of your turn, and a waste of everyone else's time. FIX: Let everyone fire with their most juiced skill on a Volley Fire. If everyone were throwing out Headshot3 and Bodyshot3 and Legshot3 on a Volley fire, all in one turn, it might have en effect. Or better yet, change this skill to one that uses up a chunk of the Squad Leader's HAM, but allows your group to use their Specials with greatly reduced HAM costs for X number of seconds. That'd be worth it when trying to take down high-impact targets.
SKILL: Form Up. A real stinker here. Even if it worked right and could be used often, it wouldn't be worth the bother. It doesn't work on Pets, you have to be standing, and you can't use it if you yourself are Stunned or Dizzy. This is another skill that requires the Squad Leader to NOT be actively fighting, even though that's the only way to earn Squad Leader experience. FIX: Let it take away all DOTs from all party members. Let the Squad Leader cast it even if they have DOTs. If you really want to make it useful, let it remove or at least reduce Bleed Damage.
SKILL: Boost Morale. This would be vaguely useful if it worked on Damage. But as it works on Wounds, the only use I could possibly come up with is to decrease the amount of time you have to spend in Camps. But anyone who is far enough along to have Boost Morale is likely to have a Doctor or two in the group, so Health and Action Wounds will go away quickly anyhow. And in the time it takes to heal a decent sized group, even a mid-range Entertainer can heal up the Mind Wounds. FIX: Either make it spread out Damage or allow the Squad Leader to reduce Battle Fatigue at Camps. You can make it a time-delay skill as not to remove town runs entirely. This makes more sense logically, is still a Camp-related skill and might actually be worth the skill points.
SKILL: Rally. This one would actually be kind of useful if it worked, though I have never seen ANY proof that it works. A temporary buff (that needs to last longer) that increases Defenses is a welcome skill to have. Though maybe instead of having such a short time limit on it, it should last until the group takes X amount of damage. FIX: Make this skill WORK and increase the duration of the bonus.
SKILL: Retreat. If my group is getting hammered so hard that I need Retreat, then I won't have enough HAM for retreat. And the odds of the entire group knowing how and where to retreat in the midst of getting their teeth kicked in are nominal at best. This skill is not useful in theory or in practice, and also seems kind of silly. FIX: Get rid of it in favor of a useful skill. If you want a skill for when your Squad is in trouble, how about a skill that gives all shots the change to scare off MOBs (similar to WarningShot). It's an effect that's already in the game and it would give a hurting party a chance to escape.
So that's my rundown. I'd also like to suggest a few skills. Apologies if these have come up before, I am not copying anything I have read here in the past few days. If you see something you've already written, well, great minds think alike and all that jazz. Some of them I may have hinted to above. So be it.
Urgency: Increases the attack speedfor all group members. This one is self-explanitory, and I can't imagine ANYONE complaining about it.
Trick Shot: Allows group members to use specialtyattacks without cost to their HAM. It would have to be worth the cost to your own HAM to cast it, so should either have a moderate cost (say, the cost of 3-5 specialattacks of your own) or it should have a longer duration.
Embolden: All attacks have a chance to scare MOBs off. Obviously a PvE skill, it would be a lifesaver when trying to retreat.
Raise Spirits: When in camp, this skill reduces X% of the group's Battle Fatigue. 60 minute recharge before casting again. This would give the Squad Leader a UNIQUE ability in the game that could allow a Squad to work more efficiently in the field.
Mobilize: Removes all DOTs from your group (pets included) at a cost to self. This one is basically a replcement for Form Up, but one that might be useful in some way, shape or form.
Mission Paramters: Passive skill that makes the ACTIVE waypoints from anyone's datapad show up on the Squad Leader's map. This skill would cut mission run times in half, at least. That alone would be enough to welcome a Squad Leader to your group.
There is one final suggestion that I want to make. This one may be a bit radical. . . but I think it's fundamental to the Squad Leader Profession. The primary method for earning Squead Leader XP is currently doing damage while leading a group. And yet whenever you use one of your skills, you decrease the amount of damage you are actually able to do. So my final suggestion has to do with Squad XP and how you earn it.
Scenario 1: Reduce the amount of Squad XP you can earn by doing damage, but add a Squad XP award for using your skills in combat. In other words, you get Squad XP when you cast, say, /rally and then the Squad does damage. So in other words, you make Squad XP for all of the damage your group deals while they are buffed by you.
Scenario 2: You add more than one type of Squad XP, much like Scouting or Marksman has more than one type of XP. For example, two of the trees could use Leadership XP (which you get the same way you get Squad Leader XP now) and another two of the trees could use Teamwork XP (which you get in the above mentioned example).
Either of these Scenarios are meant to encourage Squad Leaders to do more than spam their most poweful attacks. They provide a reward for using skills wisely and leading the squad to victory, as opposed to being an XP hog.
I've put in far more than my two cents by now. . . let me know if anyone even reads to the end of this monsterous thing.
I read it, and I think this is a good consensus of what many of us feel about the profession right now. Your third paragraph pretty much sums it up, lol.
I like your concept of team experience.I had postedearlier that we should have SL mission terminals to gain team experience. The SL missions would require a group of PC's to complete them and would progressively get more complex and difficult as you progressed up the tree. Getting group experience is not that hard. You just have to be the leader of the group. Clearing out complex missions would be much more interesting and hopefully more rewarding as well.