Scent Hound Reviews

[Sqwertle]

Well it's been over a month since the hound was released, and there aren't any actual review threads yet. I think it'd be nice to have the dogs in the "Store item reviews" subforum since they are after all store items but that's just me. Maybe we can have a review thread here to help out anyone interested in getting it (especially with the new bundle that includes a scent hound and the just released .223 semi-auto rifle).

So for all owners:

1) Are you happy with your scent hound?

2) Does it add to the immersiveness?

3) How often do you bring it out to hunt?

4) Complaints about it?

And maybe a rating out of 10. Peace

[stancomputerhunter]

I have a hard time with the scent hound. We will be walking along, say in Hirsch, and a Wild Boar will call. If I'm by myself, here is generally the sequence I go through.
1. Identify, direction, distance.
2. Depending on distance, quickly map out a strategy if I am interested in this one. Where to call from, where to hide. Sometimes plan to just go right at it carefully, etc.

If I have the dog.
1. Check where the dog is. Do I have to call him to me so I can get him to stay, etc. If I do the other things first, chance he will spook the prey depending on distance. If he doesn't follow 'stay' command, I have to do it all over again. And now I have lost my attention on the prey. And since calls don't show the direction the animal is moving, or not moving, I've just put myself at a distinct disadvantage by having to deal with the dog first. I'd like to see the dog automatically 'stay' as soon as there is a call. If I had a hunting dog, he would be trained to do that.

Maybe others have a better way. Let me know, please.

Happiness Index: 10, he's a cool guy.

Immersion Index: 10, it's nice to have a dog along.

How often is he out? Not much, sometimes If I'm near a tent I will bring him out to track a wounded animal, then put him back.

Overall Rating: 5

[Muglug]

1) Are you happy with your scent hound? Yes

2) Does it add to the immersiveness? Its ok

3) How often do you bring it out to hunt? Not as much as I would like to because of question (4).

4) Complaints about it? All sounds way to loud and way to frequent.

And maybe a rating out of 10. 5/10 low rating again because of question (4) other wise would of been 9/10

[maros.kuzar]

1) Are you happy with your scent hound? Yes, I am It is not perfect (see number 4), but he is fun and good companion. 9/10

2) Does it add to the immersiveness? Definitely. 10/10

3) How often do you bring it out to hunt? Not that much. I prefer MP games, and dog for some reason won't spawn in MP for me.

4) Complaints about it?
- He won't spawn in MP if I am a guest, but spawns if I am host.
- Walking sounds is also something that should be fixed: YOu often hear it doubled, while one sound is louder than other, so you can't judge how far he is from you just by sound.
- Not really a complaint, but as stan described, it takes a lot more actions to do when hunting with him. Sometimes it is overwhelming.
- Also not a complaint, but more of a tip: when you want to bring previous point to the next level, bring the dog to your bow hunt.


Overall: 9/10, very fun, adds to the immersion, but has some cons that can be annoying to some players

[Tuck_SFA]

1) Are you happy with your scent hound? Yes

2) Does it add to the immersive-ness? Yes

3) How often do you bring it out to hunt? 99% of the time.

4) Complaints about it?
When going prone to shoot, Sniffy tends to walk right in front of me causing me to shift my position or crouch, issue stay command then go prone again. Wish she would park herself on the side instead of worrying about issuing Stay command before going prone.
Sniffy is level 26. Maybe coincidence, but directly after achieving a new level, she tends to get amnesia for a period of time.
The bug when issuing a Stay command and no icon shows in the lower left. Have to give an alternate command (J key), then Stay command will give an icon. Of course, with no icon showing, she will not recognize the command and many times I've given the Stay command expecting her to obey, only to find her following me and then realize there is no icon, requiring a retrace of my steps and a new set of commands to get her where I want her to be. A bit of a hassle.

Overall: 9/10 and like that she can go find an animal on her own while I go off following other calls/tracks. GPS is awesome for this.

[Sqwertle]

Great reviews so far

[Ydunn]

1) Are you happy with your scent hound?

Yes

2) Does it add to the immersiveness?

Yes, although some things do brake immersiveness from time to time (sound, fiddling around with keys to manage the dog)

3) How often do you bring it out to hunt?

Pretty much always except when I'm hunting small game (they pretty much always drop right away so there is little tracking involved).

4) Complaints about it?

The most annoying thing is definitely the sound it makes, it's too loud. The other thing is that the dog needs a lot of micromanagement. I would like the dog to automatically go down and stay when I pick up a call, because as stated earlier by someone else, I want to be able to address the call, assess the situation, pick a nice position to answer the call ... I don't want to worry what the dog is doing and getting him to lay down and stay before I can do other things. The dog is supposed to help me, not the other way around.

[halcyonskys]

Half review and half question.

My review so far.
My Sophie is now level 13.
The good:
Graphically appealing, good job on animations.
Sound seems pretty legit with the noisy slobbering dog I use to have in real life. lol.
So, from a role playing point of view or just immersion, it helps some if your feeling lonely I guess.

Now the bad ive had with it.
It always stands in front of me. To 'park it' I have to turn around and face the other direction, then wait a moment for it run out in front of me again before I use the stay command, then turn back around.
I wish it stayed to my side (heel) or just behind me (as I taught mine to do in real life).
It should only be out in front when its tracking.
One of the main reasons you do not let a dog lead you is your giving it dominance over you. By having it stay at your side or behind you, you are teaching it that your the alpha and should be obeyed.
In real life when I see someone being dragged around by a dog in front of them, I feel they are poor dog owners.

Its tracking is horrible. So far at least.
I understand it levels to 50 but at 13 I guess I had expectations better than what I'm seeing.
It loses the track very easily and often. It has a hard time finding them.
Now the problem I have with this, is I'm able to track still way better than the dog.
Currently id be better off not even having it with me. ITs noisy, micro management, and doesn't track nearly as well as i can personally (making it currently useless to me).

So my rating as the dog current is right now out of ten? Id say about 3 or 4 (id say 1 but I like what it looks and sounds like). IF it can actually get to a point where its useful to me, id give it a 8.

I always see the tracks before she does at the moment. Then she still loses them and I have to repeat 'track blood' 2 or 3 times. Sometimes after that I give up and just track it myself.
You would think the dog would almost from the get go, have a keener sense than me for a wounded or dead animal. lol.

My other problem is I usually drop everything in one shot with my bows, much less with a rifle, so unless I miss intentionally they don't get a chance to level up.
I'm feeling this might make that lvl 50 attainment very aggravating to me at some point to grind.
At the very least , in my opinion, they need to make the xp attainment less of a grind (especially if its going to continue to suck at lever levels). I'm not going to sit their and press sit stand over and over that's for damn sure.

That's my question I spose... has anyone leveled theirs very high to where its become useful or beneficial?
Ive had some other folks ive played with that have told me they don't use theirs anymore or gave up leveling it because it seemed useless or taking way to long to get xp.
At least the retrievers are useful at a low level. So far these don't seem to be.
So now I'm wondering if I should keep trying or not because that's a bit discouraging. Any thoughts?

Pros:
Great animations and models.
Great sound effects.

Cons:
Grind of xp is slower than snot.
At any lower level tracking is worthless atm. High level. I don't know, and may not ever know. lol.
Stands in front of you.

[Tuck_SFA]

It always stands in front of me. To 'park it' I have to turn around and face the other direction, then wait a moment for it run out in front of me again before I use the stay command, then turn back around.
I wish it stayed to my side (heel) or just behind me (as I taught mine to do in real life).
It should only be out in front when its tracking.
One of the main reasons you do not let a dog lead you is your giving it dominance over you. By having it stay at your side or behind you, you are teaching it that your the alpha and should be obeyed.
In real life when I see someone being dragged around by a dog in front of them, I feel they are poor dog owners.

Its tracking is horrible. So far at least.

That's my question I spose... has anyone leveled theirs very high to where its become useful or beneficial?

You couldn't have said it better...about the dog being in front of you. I don't take it out when doing comps for this very reason. 2nd huge reason is massive time consuming micromanagement.

Sniffy is Level 28. She completes almost 100% of the tracking to the dead animal. The only times she stops is when I haven't waited long enough to allow the animal to die or when the animal is only wounded. When I have waited long enough and she stops tracking, it just lets me know the animal requires another shot (bullet).

Hang in there for awhile, however; grinding and micromanagement is starting to wear me down. Aggravation level is rising and satisfaction is decreasing.

[waiora]

Liked it initially but quickly packed it away and forgot about it.

Standing there and giving it a fetch command 20 times.... honestly?