Reduce the skill grind

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Knut
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Reduce the skill grind

Post by Knut »

As getting up to speed skillwise with new animals is a gruesome tedious grind that's neither adding to the fun nor realistic, I suggest a change.

It feels extremely weird to track Rocky Mountain Elk and not be able to discriminate (well, theoretically ;) ) the call of a male and a female, while I can tell for Roosevelt Elk, how many eyelashes the animal I am currently tracking has. The two types (and no, they're not species) are way too similar and hunting them in game also feels way too similar for it to be fun to start from scratch. It actually never feels like fun, but in this particular case it's annoyingly un-fun. The grind to get to a skill where gender is distinguishable from the tracks is the worst part of any new game species being introduced.


Therefore I suggest the following:

For subtypes of one species (e.g. Grizzly/Brown Bear, Elk types, but also Ptarmigans):
As long as the skill for a related type of animal is higher than the current one, a 50% bonus will be applied to the increase of tracking and spotting skills

For related species (e.g. Blacktail, Whitetail & Mule deer, all bears, but also Red Deer and Elk):
As long as the skill for a related species is higher than the current one, a 20% bonus will be applied to the increase of tracking and spotting skills

For species falling into one family (e.g. deer, canines, goats):
As long as the skill for a type of animal within the family is higher than the current one, a 10% bonus will be applied to the increase of tracking and spotting skills


This makes for a realistic experience (if I know how to track Elk I will have minor issues to adjust to tracking Red deer IRL), reduces tedious grind aspects of the game while still leaves room that getting to know a new species is a task and adventure in itself.
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'" ― Isaac Asimov
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TheSheWolf
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Re: Reduce the skill grind

Post by TheSheWolf »

This is a great idea! I really like it.

It's a bit silly that some tracks can't be told, and calls, whereas with Ibex apparently you can tell the rock-clatter of a male from that of a female--or the HunterMate can tell you that the call you're hearin is from the tracks you're following (or not). The idea I can identify how old the track of a Roosevelt Elk is, what gender animal, what direction, etc, but can't tell jack from a RME is silly. Your proposed change doesn't seem overpowered, it wouldn't nullify the grind people have already done by just combining, and it's more realistic.

I hope they implement it!
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caledonianblues
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Re: Reduce the skill grind

Post by caledonianblues »

I believe the developers looked at consolidating tracking and spotting skills by species type and concluded that it was a massive amount of work. Don't quote me on that, but I'm fairly certain this is the case.

I do agree though, it would be nice to have animal-related skills grouped.
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Sherab86
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Re: Reduce the skill grind

Post by Sherab86 »

I agree strongly!

However that's funny, because when I proposed to make common skills for Wild Boars and Feral Hogs (actualy same species) I were smashed to the grand. ;P But maybe total uniffication was too much to stand for community. ;)

I realy like your idea, Knut. :)
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L3M182
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Re: Reduce the skill grind

Post by L3M182 »

couldn't agree more with this. in-fact i had the almost identical suggestion a few months back. we simply have too many species and it is a from scratch grind with even subspecies. i think somthing along these lines is a must now to get players feeling like they are advancing in the game.

http://forum.thehunter.com/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=76309
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Knut
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Re: Reduce the skill grind

Post by Knut »

^^That's indeed basically the same suggestion. My scan of the forums skipped over that one, otherwise I'd have added my thoughts there...^^

caledonianblues wrote:I believe the developers looked at consolidating tracking and spotting skills by species type and concluded that it was a massive amount of work. Don't quote me on that, but I'm fairly certain this is the case.
I can imagine that joined skills are complicated, but in this case, it'd more or less just be a simple IF command operation that would need to be added. If that's an extremely tricky thing to do, then the code is truly a mess and I am glad that I have no clue about these things :D
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'" ― Isaac Asimov
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caledonianblues
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Re: Reduce the skill grind

Post by caledonianblues »

Knut wrote:I can imagine that joined skills are complicated, but in this case, it'd more or less just be a simple IF command operation that would need to be added. If that's an extremely tricky thing to do, then the code is truly a mess and I am glad that I have no clue about these things :D
Nothing is that simpe in theHunter, ever. Which is sad, because if it was much more would be possible. Alas, a lot of things never make it beyond the idea phase because implementation is just financially impractical.
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jeff1963
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Re: Reduce the skill grind

Post by jeff1963 »

Jesus Knut where ya been? I see you're right back at it, and I couldn't agree more, this skill kanundrum drives me knutts across species and firearms alike.
Thanks, ~Jeff

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