Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

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J_Birdman
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Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by J_Birdman »

Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad. One of the best looking reserves, with lots of neat features and animals, yet it's not the TGT we got when it was first introduced.(now sans those bugs of course) I did some looking through old posts, namely the Status and Game Updates/threads around the time of release for TGT/wolves..

Aug. 11, 2016 SU: TGT first teased http://news.thehunter.com/status-update-184/

Oct. 19, 2016 SU: TGT released http://news.thehunter.com/status-update-194/
Beautiful, rustic, and diverse in both terrain and animals. For me, the overall best reserve in the EHR.

Oct. 26, 2016 GU: Bug Fix in Progress; "Bighorn sheep call is not triggered frequently enough" http://news.thehunter.com/game-update-123/

Oct. 28, 2016 SU: Grey Wolves teased and Bug Fix; "Increased the chance of bighorn sheeps to start fighting which will increase the amount of clues on your HunterMate." http://news.thehunter.com/status-update-195/
I do not believe I've ever received a bighorn sheep call on my huntermate. They look fantastic and I want to hunt them much more than I do. They exist in some truly horrific/challenging terrain and are crazy hard to put glass on. Their ungodly loud footsteps at first seems like a blessing because "Omg I know they're near", until you get close enough and/or around several of them and you can't see anything more than 15m away and it becomes impossible to tell which direction they're in let alone how far. I think we really need some kind of help here, and would love if the bighorn sheep were made like the alpine ibex in their calling. I believe their ridiculously loud and unrealistic movement sounds straight up need to be lowered.

Nov. 24, 2016 SU: Dead carcasses teased http://news.thehunter.com/status-update-198/
I think these things are nasty. I get the intent, opening up the stand hunting method for wolves, but the implementation is marred in my opinion. There's far too many of them, they look trashy, grizzlies aren't attracted to them, and the crows which were later added to them are too noisy and likewise too frequent. When I say nasty/trashy I mean they look rotten and diseased laying all over the landscape, and would much rather see them torn apart as one might expect to see in the wild. Seeing them around gives me such an ill feeling, like the whole place is infected or something. They don't look fed upon, they look bitten and abandoned for good reason. With so many predatory/scavenging animals around they should instead be torn apart and be a rarity to discover rather than in the overabundance that I believe them to be. What would be really cool is if, after they are fed upon, they simply disappear off the map. I understand that decreasing the carcass population may affect those stand hunters both able($) and lucky enough to find carcass spots with good trees(so few for hanging tree stands on) nearby, but having so many of them laying around plus looking the way they do is an immediate immersion breaker. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if grizzlies were able to feed on them too, especially seeing how badly they were later nerfed/wimpified. Grizzlies should certainly be drawn to them able to feed, with bears in general being one of the largest and most opportunistic eaters on the planet. That's common sense.

Dec. 7th, 2016 SU: Grey Wolves released http://news.thehunter.com/grey-wolf-game-design-notes/
I don't remember if the chasing mechanic started out as bad as it is now, but now it's just crazy how much they chase and thus ruin the hunting in general. This is arguably one of the most difficult reserves to track in, if not the most. This over-chasing mechanic, even just in itself minus the other issues, has really put me off the map I once loved. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many wolves to begin with, or if they didn't exist in just about every area of the map except the mountains.(please don't add them to the mountains lol) As they now stand, I can pretty confidently claim that I could encounter wolf-sign within five minutes real-time of walking upon spawning at any of my seven current spawn points spread out across the map. I cannot find EW ever stating that the wolves would be low in spawn quantity(like they just have with the lynx, for example), but I'm seeing plenty of chatter/hopeful suggestions about it from players in these threads I'm looking through. I do remember that I was always hoping they'd be low in number and therefore more special to encounter. I would love the wolf population being lowered, and less spread out over the map, and their chasing mechanic far less triggered.

Jan. 18, 2017 GU: Bug Fix; "Wolf searching for carcass (fixed a timer)" http://news.thehunter.com/game-update-130/
This is interesting. I wish this timer was adjusted so they'd spend more time looking(smelling) for carcasses and less time searching for live animals to chase. This is in tune with reality too, predatory/scavenger animals as intelligent as wolves and bears know the difference between an easy meal and a hard one.

Jan. 19, 2017 SU: Crows added around carcasses http://news.thehunter.com/status-update-205/

Oct. 26, 2017 SU: Halloween and werewolves come to TGT. http://news.thehunter.com/status-update-240/
I don't understand what this was doing in the world's most realistic hunting game. It's kind of neat seeing a reserve set up all Halloween style, but werewolves and shutting down normal TGT hunting? I know it was popular, but it completely destroyed normal hunting in TGT for a whole week, and I know I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy it. If this event has been green-lit again for this year, could it please just be something like all of the "spooky decorations" being visible under normal daylight/conditions and have just 24hrs of the werewolves on the 31st? Halloween only lasts 24hrs, after all. It would be cool for everyone if we could press a toggle key to switch between normal light/conditions and "spooky time", kind of like how the tinted sunglasses work.

Jan. 31, 2018 GU: Change; "Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears should now go into a watching/listening state when the player comes within close proximity. Before, this state was skipped and bears proceeded to flee immediately. This fix results in them becoming less spooky." and "Tweaked Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears to be slightly more aggressive than Brown and Black Bears." http://news.thehunter.com/game-update-158/
The Great Grizzly Debate. I think I've tipped my hand on this, they're wimpy, not fun to hunt, and extra difficult to stalk close/bow hunt. We can't run up to them and shoot them in the face and that's logical and great. We can't walk to catch up to them because they're too skittish and run away from the sound.(it's not the scent tipping them off if your face is to the wind and you're using scent-elim and it's not sight tipping them off if they're moving away from you) We can't crouch-walk to catch up because they roam too fast/make very infrequent pauses in their roaming/the duration of those pauses are too short. We can't lure because they have no attractants, and if/when we do manage to catch up to within decent bow range, they usually flee. The grizzlie's fight-or-flight behavior has been bounced back and forth, by both the error in their AI(the one polar bears suffered too) and forum opinion, alike. I'm for both realism and fun, and think the game generally achieves it, but there has to be some kind of better middle ground for the grizzlies right? After all, why give them that sweet stand-and-threaten pose if they're not gonna use it! :)

If changing those specific roam speed/fight/flight parts of their AI isn't a feasible option, due to programming and/or forum opinion reasons, then as I mentioned before I would be all for having the carcasses act as a natural attractant for them along with the wolves. I would even still be in favor of decreasing the carcass population, making those moments extra special. Rotting carcasses act like a blaring loud dinner bell for miles around IRL. They could act this way in the game too. If the range and power of the carcass attraction were increased, this could both detract from wolves chasing every dang prey animal in sight while at the same time offering a bit more fun to bow hunting the grizzlies. It would be even cooler if we could witness the bears push wolves off a carcass, like we see large bears push small bears off the feeders. What would be even cooler yet would be to see two or more grizzlies at a carcass standing off on each other before the lesser one(s) move away, lol. Carcass population decreased, better looking, with a larger and stronger attraction, with grizzlies being attracted as well ..that's my vote.

Overall, looking back at all this stuff, it's very easy to see the care, love, and pride that EW took into creating TGT. The weeks and weeks of hype was real and for good reason. The current TGT has left many with such a bad taste in their mouth that they have forsaken hunting there altogether, and I would love to see this reserve brought back into greatness. Thanks, happy hunting.
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RidgeBack69
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by RidgeBack69 »

100% agreed. I am for sure one of those that has stopped hunting TgT unless I am forced to for a mission or competition.
I had it maxed out with tents, stand, towers and tripods. But when Picabeen bay was released instead of buying new equipment for the reserve like I would have done in the past I just removed all equipment from TgT and used it there. I only have 2 tents on TgT now.

The state of the game as it stands has me thinking of not renewing my membership as a matter of fact it expired yesterday for the first time since I started playing this game and I may not renew.
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BCKidd
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by BCKidd »

Very good post, well worth the read. Things have been slowly dilapidating and I certainly hope another look by the Devs and EW in general is taken- not only for TgT but the entire EHR. Although, I continue to enjoy the game, I do believe things need to turn around. No more this that or the other thing, until such time theHunter Classic is polished up. The question is tho' how would EW continue to make $$- if they didn't add things... I don't know, but I do know there are players of this game that have left due to the erosion and state the game is in. We can only hope that things change and they change for the better. ;) Peace.

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007aln
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by 007aln »

Bighorns definitely do make fighting calls, if you hunt them carefully you will hear/see them fighting. True they don't have rock knocking sounds, but you don't really need them IMO. Just climb to high points and glass. If using a gun I don't find it very hard. I agree the footsteps are unrealistically loud but when hunting them with recurve, no camo or scent elim etc. I find it helps.

I agree that grizzlies should have some attraction to carcasses. Grizzlies love carcasses. The carcasses could look better and consumed vs diseased but not a biggie to me. I like the crows.

The big issue with wolves IMO is abundance. As I said in the other thread, I'd like to see their abundance reduced and black bears and a handful of moose (maybe bison and whitetail too) added in their stead. The reduced abundance might mitigate the negative effects of chasing. I certainly don't want to see a bunch of elk and wolves milling around together lol.

I thought Halloween was cool.

I like the grizzlies. I also usually hunt them with my recurve, no camo no scent elim. Sows are easy enough to get. Big boars are more skittish but still huntable with a bow. For one that is really on the move I try to give it space while I get in front of it, then crawl toward it, but I have good luck catching up to them from behind while crouching too. I find they change direction a lot. When you start hearing bear noises you have to do a lot of crawling (though you can get away with some crouching still, esp. with a sow).

Hunting this way I get attacked all the time. Often with hardly any warning since I"m so close - just a roar or two and then the fatal charge. They also often attack after getting shot with a bow at close range.

They don't seek you out to eat you or anything but that's pretty realistic, although I think a significant number of grizzly attacks result from bears getting startled by people hiking, and that doesn't seem to happen. Would be cool if they were sometimes attracted to a player-killed ungulate (so you would get attacked when you tracked it).
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OrLoko
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by OrLoko »

Sad? I'm almost hairless trying to finish the mission under Timbergold Map, On top of the mountains you can get low 30 fps... depending where you are, and where you are looking...so now...try aim (with a magnification + flying target) Good lucky !

I don't think those missions/trials was done by the team(tried and complete every mission) otherwise they would notice some simple problem... and isn't my pc fault...
DD13 even thought the Ptarmigans was the ones who gives lag...and isn't...it's just the map !

It's looks like I will not able to finish this mission, because game performance + unlucky.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF BEEN "OUTDOOR PROOF" IF THE PROBLEM WAS INSIDE THE WHOLE TIME
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HawkEye81
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by HawkEye81 »

RidgeBack69 "The state of the game as it stands has me thinking of not renewing my membership" yo're not the only one who thinks like this m8 I start regretting that I buyed one year membership not too long ago, in the game or in forums many players are saying the same thing and with no results.The amount of bugs currently in the game and the lack of response and fix from the team is really bad, keep bringing new stuff to the game instead of spending that time on fixing the game and current bugs maybe will bring them more money for a moment but for a long run this game is looking really really bad, having players quiting or stop paying should be a warning sign but it seems that it has no effect because things are not changing.
Let's see for how long players will keep paying for memberships and buying new stuff regarding the current game state.
For example if I would know that the blood hound would be bugged for such a long time (around 3-4 months in total ) I wouldn't buy it.
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Tanngnjostr
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by Tanngnjostr »

HawkEye81 wrote:Let's see for how long players will keep paying for memberships and buying new stuff regarding the current game state.
As long as the game exists they will do it! At (almost) every point since I've been reading this forum, some people were insisting that the game is in a "bad state" and that they will quit, but most of them are still here.

Now before going offtopic too much (sorry J_Birdman): I never understood why a lot of players loved TGT so much. I admit that it looks beautiful, but I've never been a big fan of hunting there. Maybe I missed the "good old days" when the reserve was new - I'm always reluctant to hunt the new stuff while the hype is still on, don't ask me why. When I finally decided to have a look at TGT a few months after release, I thought it was just *meh* - and some of the reasons are probably the things that are mentioned in the OP. So yes, I think it would be a good idea to take another look at things like wolf chasing, bear AI and those crows that - for me - are in a league with ptarmigans, pheasants and roe deer barks. I think you know what I mean. ;)

Some very good suggestions by J_Birdman - if I were EW I'd really consider them.
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DutchHunter74
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by DutchHunter74 »

J_Birdman » Yesterday, 11:44 pm

Rotting carcasses act like a blaring loud dinner bell for miles around IRL. They could act this way in the game too. If the range and power of the carcass attraction were increased, this could both detract from wolves chasing every dang prey animal in sight while at the same time offering a bit more fun to bow hunting the grizzlies.
Carcass population decreased, better looking, with a larger and stronger attraction, with grizzlies being attracted as well ..that's my vote.
Good suggestion, you have my vote too!
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JimboCrow
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by JimboCrow »

Good post J_Birdman. I agree with most of your thoughts, but some things are more personal to you, and so some of my response is personal to me.

1. I completely agree there are too many wolves. They should be outnumbered by elk and mule deer by AT LEAST 4 to 1. Each species should, by now, have the correct individual population ratio as is reasonable and according to its abundance IRL. The wolves are just wrong. (Achievements and Ranks should be individual as well. The Rank for wolves should only be 250, to match reduced populations. EW could set a precedent by doing this starting with the Lynx, and then fix the rest.)
2. A carcass should be TEN TIMES more attractive than a live elk. Your assessment of this and suggestions are very good. And obviously there are too many of them. Here and there, for sure, but one every three or four hundred yards? It's ridiculous. They should be about as plentiful as towers are on WHI - maybe 20 or 30 in the whole reserve. Crows would then serve their intended purpose as a beacon, instead of just being an annoyance. And definitely, carcasses should also attract grizzlies: this makes so much sense on so many levels.
3. I disagree that grizzlies are wimpy, they are actually quite good now. There are still too many of them for my liking but they are easily hunted with a bow, without being bovine like before. Polar bears are ok too. You can't catch up to them quickly, but if you keep following silently they will eventually turn around. It shouldn't be too easy. (OK, so maybe throw down the odd moose carcass. ;) )
4. Bighorn rockslides should be represented on the HunterMate just as ibex are. That single small change would make a big improvement and go a long way to helping everyone hunt them more successfully, and so more often. And as for the loud footsteps, for me they sort of make up for the lack of a 'warning peep.' I don't have a problem with them, I kind of like it.

Thanks for your genuine concerns and thoughtful post J_B. I sincerely hope TK and Graham will bring it up at the next meeting.

Jimbo
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TreeKiwi
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Re: Timbergold Trails Makes Me Sad

Post by TreeKiwi »

Just as a note, I like this post. Its got good constructive feedback in it.

I am checking it regularly and it has some good ideas in it. Like always though, no promises ;)
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