Did pointer mechanics change?

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henryclay
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Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by henryclay »

Howdy Folks, Have the pointer mechanics changed or is it just me but I have noticed that it has become much tougher for me to spot rabbits after the dog points in their direction. I was able to effectively stand behind the dog or take a few steps forward before I would spot the rabbit but now it very hit and miss, seems like I am creeping forward for ages before I spot it or or it scampers. Might test it out further when I get home from work.
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xOEDragonx
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by xOEDragonx »

One of the dog skills unique to the pointer is "Detection Accuracy." The higher this skill's level is, the farther away the dog can point a target animal from. My guess is your dog hit level 36 and moved up to level 2 of this particular skill and you're noticing the dog is pointing game from farther out.

I believe the idea behind this skill is that if a dog can point from farther away, there's a better chance of you not spooking the animal since you'll know where it is sooner, plus you don't have to follow the slow trailing of the dog for as long. So in that regard, pointing from farther away is "better."

In my personal opinion, this is an awful skill. A pointer that points small game and birds from 40m away at max level feels useless. It would force the player to actually look for the game which will probably result in more unexpected flushes than sneaky stalks. Perhaps this skill is more beneficial with bigger game like deer, but even then, a deer 40m away can still be hard to find in tall grass or thick brush. So instead of more accurately telling you where the animal is as it levels up, like a pointer should, the pointing becomes more vague with a higher level dog. If it were up to me, this skill would work the opposite way. The higher level your dog, the closer it'd be able to get to a target animal to point without spooking it, thus making it easier for you to pinpoint animals as your dog gains experience and levels up.

This skill cannot be avoided unfortunately. As your dog levels up, this skill will also continue to level up. At skill level 1 (Dog level 1-35), your dog points game from 20m away, at level 2 (Dog level 36-48) from 30m away and at level 3 (Dog level 49-50) from 40m away. A max level dog will always point all game from 40m away, unfortunately.

You can read more about the dog levels and skills on the wiki HERE
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jimbobjoe555
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by jimbobjoe555 »

I experienced the same problem with the pointer a week ago. I was hunting cottontail and doing very well. When the dog leveled up, the distance increased to 30 metres and even at that it became much tougher. Id hate to see what it would be like when the dog points at 40 meters. I don't think Ill find out because its just not fun at 30 metres.

Do the developers read these forums? I emailed them last week to ask if maybe this problem might be fixed in a future update but I got the feeling they were not aware of it being an issue. That said, maybe it's not an issue for most people? Would be interesting to hear from other users if they would prefer 20 or 40 metres.
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TheSheWolf
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by TheSheWolf »

It's not a "problem" to be "fixed"--it's a "feature." BUT, I agree, it seems like you'd want the dog closer instead of farther, and that's something that's actually been brought up quite a few times.

I think that, when it was released, there was a chance the dog would spook prey but that was removed? I may be misremembering.

It would be nice to see the pointer point from closer, rather than farther, especially at higher levels.
muledeer
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by muledeer »

when i press the v key i only see the dog control and the outline of the dog ... then you could make the outline of the animal visible. now you can see exactly where the animal is and what kind of animal it is
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TheSheWolf
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by TheSheWolf »

That's a really good idea!
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MaxVe
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by MaxVe »

The forty meters are in fact excessive and constitute a problem, when i go to partridges as soon as the dog falls to a halt i recall him passing by then I continue for a twenty/thirty meters and i again give the command "search" at which point the dog points to me more acceptably where the partridge itself is located, it is evident that this characteristic should be absolutely correct but there is another aspect that in my opinion does not work and does not even conform to the behavior of the dog in reality and that is the extreme slowness with the which approaches the prey once it has smelled it, guys it just doesn't exist this is not how dogs work, you cannot go on your knees for a hundred and more meters each time, in reality the dog when it senses the scent of the wild slows down to "pull over" but not in this extreme way, this makes the use of the pointing dog a really bad experience, i don't like to walk kilometers in procession and it shouldn't be like that...
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xOEDragonx
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by xOEDragonx »

MaxVe wrote:but there is another aspect that in my opinion does not work and does not even conform to the behavior of the dog in reality and that is the extreme slowness with the which approaches the prey once it has smelled it, guys it just doesn't exist this is not how dogs work, you cannot go on your knees for a hundred and more meters each time, in reality the dog when it senses the scent of the wild slows down to "pull over" but not in this extreme way, this makes the use of the pointing dog a really bad experience, i don't like to walk kilometers in procession and it shouldn't be like that...
While I agree this is entirely unrealistic, this is a feature I don't mind because if the dog did sprint up to everything it could point, it would seem far too "OP." The argument can already be made that the dog is a cheap way of hunting since it can detect so many different kinds of animals from a good distance away. At high levels the dog can even be sent out to detect new prey every 30 seconds. Just imagine how over powered it would be and how effortless hunting would be if not only it could point most animals, but could locate them for you in a minute or less every single time. You could kill every target animal on the map ridiculously fast that way. The slow speed of a pointer that has detected prey is the one buffer this dog has from being essentially an aimbot in a videogame, so I don't mind the handicap too much even if it is unrealistic.
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MaxVe
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by MaxVe »

Well...i don't agree (then it seems to me that you don't need the dog because you don't go hunting partridges) but i respect the opinions of others...
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khavy
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Re: Did pointer mechanics change?

Post by khavy »

The dog will sadly get whorse... the more it lvls the further it points...50 meters at the end!
Splendid for small critters in grass!
Its years a lot of us ask to reverse this thing ( and speed it up atleast to normal walk speed)
No chance! :(
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