The Squadleader Revamp

Niim

I remember being both mad and happy with the changes they made. They removed some stuff I really liked, but at the same time they added some really neat stuff. The month after the revamp I had the funniest time with my SL in the CU. A lot of old guildmates who quit the game after the CU was coming back, and our guild was having those big hunts again. As the only master SL in the guild(about 100 members) it felt good to enhance my mates in combat. I loved that short time, after the SL revamp and before the nightmare NGE.

 

Sure it all got more about buffing,debuffing and less about leading the squad, but I kind of liked it anyway. So what did you think of the SL revamp?

 

Here is the publish notes:

 

"Publish 24

October 19, 2005

Headlines:

Squad Leader enhancements: Publish 24 will be bringing you significant changes and enhancements to the Squad Leader profession. The goal of these enhancements is to maintain the essence of the Squad Leader skills, leadership and group enhancement, while making the profession more robust and entertaining to play.

 

Squad Leader Enhancements

Publish 24 will be bringing you significant changes and enhancements to the Squad Leader profession. The goal of these enhancements is to maintain the essence of the Squad Leader skills, leadership and group enhancement, while making the profession more robust and entertaining to play.

 

Here's just a few of the things that we've changed:

• Squad Leaders no longer need to be the group leader to benefit the group.
• Multiple Squad Leaders can combine their skills for greater group enhancement.
• New group buffs that give Squad Leaders more control and flexibility for how they enhance the group.
• All passive abilities changed to more easily used and understood active abilities.
• New group waypoint ability

 

 

The changes and enhancements are all intended to better allow a Squad Leader to enhance and lead their group. Lots of new abilities have been added and most of the existing abilities have been changed. The most useful of the existing abilities have stayed the same though their names may have been changed to keep things a bit more cohesive. The Squad Leader skill set concentrates solely on group enhancing abilities, while they do include a full set of combat skill mods (defense, accuracy and speed) a Squad Leader is still strongly encouraged to pick up another combat profession skill set to flesh out their combat abilities.

 

All the passive abilities of the Squad Leader have been removed and changed to active buff abilities. This will make it easier to understand exactly what benefit is taking affect when. Also Squad Leader's no longer need to be the group leader for their abilities to take affect. This allows them more flexibility to benefit the group even when they are not the "official" leader as well as allowing multiple Squad Leaders in a group to combine their abilities.

 

Squad Leader New Group Buffs

The buff system has been enhanced to allow group buffs. The core of the Squad Leader abilities are based on these new group buffs. Any group buff that a Squad Leader has active will automatically take affect on all the members of the group. The Squad Leader group buffs have been designed so only one buff can be in effect at a time so care will need to be taken by the Squad Leader to make sure the most important enhancement is active when it is most needed. Multiple Squad Leaders can have different group buffs active and they will all stack.

 

• Steady Aim (Strategy I) - Enhances group accuracy.
• Call to Arms (Strategy III) - Enhances group armor ratings.
• Volley Fire (Strategy IV) - Gives group members the chance to bypass enemy armor.
• Tactics (Tactics I) - Enhances group defenses.
• Blaze of Glory (Tactics III) - Gives or enhances the chance to score a critical hit.
• Double Time (Tactics IV) - Reduces cooldown times for group members.
• Boost Morale (Leadership IV) - Enhances group Action/Mind regeneration.
• Form Up (Mobility II) - Enhances group movement speed.
• Retreat! (Mobility III) - Significantly enhances group movement speed for a short duration. Prevents all other combat actions.
• Charge! (Mobility IV) - Significantly enhances group movement speed for a short duration. Places the Squad Leader at heightened risk by reducing their defenses.

 

Squad Leader New Individual Buffs

In addition to the ability to enhance overall group performance a Squad Leader can choose to place their attention towards a single group member to give them even greater benefits than the general group enhancements. Like the group buffs these enhancements are designed to only allow one to be in effect at any one time though multiple Squad Leaders can combine their abilities for increased enhancement.

 

• Toughen (Tactics II) - Increases the armor rating of a single group member.
• High Yield (Strategy II) - Increases the damage output of a single group member.
• Verbal Assault (Leadership II) - Increases the amount of aggro generated by a single group member.
• Combat Feint (Leadership III) - Decreases the amount of aggro generated by a single group member.

 

New Squad Leader Abilities

Finally a few completely new abilities have been added to the Squad Leader repertoire to flesh out their combat utility plus a couple of the original Squad Leader abilities have remained while others have had their names or effects changed slightly.

• Group System Message (Novice SL) - Sends an on screen system message to all group members. (Same as previously.)
• Called Shot (Novice SL) - Significantly increases the accuracy and damage of the next attack to the designated target. Only works for one attack and then must be reapplied. The accuracy and damage bonus increases as the Squad Leader learns more skills.
• Rally Point () - Creates a waypoint for all group members. (Functions similar to the /waypoint command.)
• Paint Target (Leadership I) - Increases the accuracy and damage for all attacks to the painted target in the next 20 seconds (Same as old Volley Fire.)
• Second Chance (Master Squad Leader) - Equalizes all damage and wounds across all group members in the area. This ability has a very long recharge time."

 

Sandbox

You had 15 days, not a month.

NGE hit us November 15, 2005

Niim

Originally posted by Sandbox


You had 15 days, not a month.

NGE hit us November 15, 2005

A month, 15 days. The post still is true, it was a great time. So beside nitpicking, what did you think about the revamp?

Sandbox

I thought squad leader became overpowered, but that's the usual SOE style, no middle way, always overpowering things or full nerf.

It was not meant as nitpicking, I was very serious, since the last 14 days of the month you mentioned as great, was the worst days for most people that loved SWG.

The NGE is serious shit around here

 

Niim

Originally posted by Sandbox


I thought squad leader became overpowered, but that's the usual SOE style, no middle way, always overpowering things or full nerf.
I agree that the SL was feeling quite overpowered after the revamp. From years of pretty much nothing added to the profession to being fotm, thats SOE style alright. In a weird way I liked to be fotm for once after getting nothing for so long, but in the long run Im pretty sure SOE would had screwed us up again.
It was not meant as nitpicking, I was very serious, since the last 14 days of the month you mentioned as great, was the worst days for most people that loved SWG.
Like I said in my post, I had a great time playing my SL those days yes. With NGE in the horizon, was it a bad time in SWG for us who loved the game? Sure it was. I quit shortly after the NGE, that was how bad it was.
The NGE is serious shit around here
Nah I let it go a long time ago, was just curious what other player thought of the revamp of SL and asked a pretty straight forward question about it. And you didnt add much to it in your first answer, but now you have, thank you Sandbox!
 

 

I-s-k-akaJO

Originally posted by Sandbox


You had 15 days, not a month.

NGE hit us November 15, 2005

 

A day that will live in IN*********MY

 

HOW BOUT THAT RANGER REVAMP AND PET STUFF IN LAVA LAND??