Please tell me that was sarcasm?

Nope- it's not our forest, it's Lady Viravain's. We exist to serve and spread it, not to rule/command it.

Hmm, serving the wyrdforest... ok, I suppose that could make sense. Whew.

I thought you meant you serve Nature/Spirits/etc, as in Serenwilde's harmony philosophy.

It had better make sense. Remember, we don't matter, only the Glomdoring matters.

I didn't mind not being able to take Totems and hunting. It fit perfectly with my character. I don't trust spirits and gods and whatnot.

Of course, the situation just happened to fit what I was looking for. I understand that my character is probably in the minority.

Damn, so much interesting debate... TAKE IT IN GAME!!!!!

It can really be understood both ways.

Personally, my problem is that I really want to take totems, but my personal RP is to take all spirits equally, and that works better with hunting. The usefullness of hunting is really, really limited, especially with the current limitations on the skillset.

If the skills were more viable, I'd probabbly push the RP aspect of it more.

Limitations?

Willpower+mana+power+not allowed to wield weapons+commodities+location limits(i.e. above ground, underground, mounted, etc etc). Any two of those would be fine, all combined together makes it too costly.

Almost all of hunting appears to be made for people who have yet to aquire weapons.

Willpower is used by unite. What else?

ninjaed... see above.

Unite is also the only continously usefull skill.

First off, Unite is ridiculously useful. It should have a major drawback. Shinza once helped me complete the sea quest in minutes. We tracked to the sea horse, tracked back to Lanikai, tracked to clam, tracked to ball of light in Sea of Despair, etc.

Furthermore, the abilities substitute commodities for power. That's pretty good. While some traps are expensive, they also last for like a in-game year unless someone else removes them.

The other complaints are pretty insignifcant. Omg! You can't be mounted while digging a pit. That's terrible /sarcasm.

Unite is two power, 400 mana and 800 willpower. The mana cost is nothing, the power cost is annoying and the willpower cost is stupid. And to clarify: Shinza used seek (about 400 willpower) and unite to help you. She didn't use track because you can't track to items or denizens. Yes, unite is useful, as long as you don't need to use it for more than a few things or don't mind meditating for at least an hour to regain willpower. Unite isn't much good for much else though, especially for a skill next to trans.

I can see myself using two skills from Hunting on a consistent basis: SnakeCharm, to get snakes for snake pits, and Pathfinding, because that can be useful. The rest is useless.

Not quite sure what daganev is talking about, with traps. There are some good ones but they don't make up for the problems the rest of the skillset has.

I'm sorta tired of this catchcry being applied to silly situations.

Besides, debating in game is really rather pointless. I had to create an alternate character just to argue with myself.

800 willpower? That's nothing. That gives you a good 20 unites or so with decent intelligence + decent level minus passive regeneration of willpower. You talk about it as if you can only unite once or twice.

Furthermore, unite is f-ing amazing for escape demesne summon/wisp traps. I remember Alger continually getting out and while he couldn't do it forever, he did it like 10+ times in one village.

And finally, you just haven't expertimented with the skillset (like most people) to understand the value. Snake pits are insane so insane that I've seen a great deal of people just die to them. With Icarus, I was screwed if I fell into a snake pit. I literally died before I could get out of the damn thing every single time because I couldn't deal with the hardcore damage + snakes.

Dart traps are also pretty nasty. 25 paralyse completely owns anyone without trans resilience. Furthermore for people who do, it still borders on near constant paralyse for some huge initial wounding. On people who tank better, 25 charbydon will load them up - the single best afflict ability available to warriors.

I've tried. As I told you, I'm really tired of the conversation just being between the two of us, and nobody else really cares enough about it apparently.

I'm well aware of how many times I can unite. The majority of the time, though, when using it I will need to seek first, so it evens out at about 1200 total willpower each time. That's why it's fine, for a few things - or, like you said, 20 - if, like I said, you don't mind meditating for at least an hour to regain it. I think I got back around 17k willpower while meditating in a regen room with campfires going the majority of the time. This is all with a decent level and decent intelligence. I'm not denying it's a useful skill, but I am denying it doesn't have any major drawbacks and isn't as good as you make it out to be.

I miss Alger, he needs to come back.

I'm also well aware of how good some traps. I never said traps weren't good. Darts are fantastic, as long as the person can't move (ie, I'm in the room with them and can hinder effectively) and snake pits are dangerous. I said they don't make up for the problems the rest of the skillset currently has.

Edit: I don't appreciate alarms suddenly not working one day with no explanation as to why. How exactly am I supposed to know if someone hits my traps?

Traps are Amazing in the arena, and bloody useless outside of it.

If you want I can go through every skill and explain whats wrong with it, but that would require a whole other thread, and a desire on the part of the admin to make it a better skillset (which they do not want to do)

In every RPG game, "pets" always seem to use the 'coolness' factor to limit thier mechanical apeal. (random example, I've been trying a hunter in WoW and its much more effective to have good arrows then goot pet abilities.. Same thing as a Ranger in GW)

I could do the same thing with Crow or Stag. What's your point? Anyone can complain; however, there have been people (ie. Icarus) who has proven how truly amazing traps can be. They can be as fundamental in a village outcome as a demesne (in fact, I hear that was the case in Southgard once Grom started laying down pits).

Hardly.. As soon as you have people to combat traps and people who are aware of traps they will become useless. Novelty always works, but that doesn't mean its truly affective.

Traps can be turned against you, demenses can't, and if there is a tracker on each team, its very easy to bypass traps.

However, like I said.. the uses to tracking are very minimal in very specific situations. The only thing Hunting/Tracking needs to change are the costs of using the skill, not an overhaul. Ofcourse with large RP behind keeping the skillset down, its never really going to be worth it.

Back on topic....

It is intersting that there are only dogs for hunting companions, and that hunting companions can not become mounts.

If you are are that in the room next to you is a snake pit, you can't combat that. You can either enter the room and fall into the pit -or- you can not enter the room. In most cases, this is fairly substantial as one major compotent of traps is the ability to hold/manipulate terrain.

Traps cannot be "turned against you" in any ease sense. Dart traps, for example, must be disarmed. There is no turning it against you. In the case of pits, if someone falls into a pit and escapes, they can reconceal it - taking control of it. To this, I believe they have to first fall into it. In a practical situation if you are in a room, someone can't walk in and reconceal it without first falling into it thus giving you the chance to attack.

And the idea of mounts for tracking clashes with the skillset. You cannot seek out prey with a pony.