At long last. We’ve kept you guessing (some of you got closer than others) but here they are at last: WOOD GROUSE. That’s Capercaillie for those of you inclined to show off your Scottish pronunciation and spelling ability.
So what equipment will be available? Decoys, a caller and a locator are available in the store, but they are huntable without any gear, like Turkeys. They also release with their Trophy Poses available in the store.
Where can you find them? Hirschfelden, Hemmeldal and Val-de-Bois.
Look forward to Wood Grouse Missions and competitions soon.
As always, please report any bugs to us so we can iron out any problems quickly. Even if we’re aware of them, more information can help speed things along.
Oh, one last thing, before we forget: Classic Streams are coming back! They will be back in their Thursday spot, but on occasions when our lovely and talented streamer can’t manage a Thursday, we’ll do our best to make it up to you on another day. And who will be doing them? Find out soon 😉
The moment is here at last. Fallow Deer are live on Hirschfelden, where you will find them all over the map.
Trophy Poses and Scent Spray are available, with the Reindeer Rattle now becoming a Deer Rattle that attracts Fallow bucks as well as Reindeer bulls. Look forward to the Fallow Deer Missions and competitions soon.
As always, please report any bugs to us so we can quash them quickly.
Check out this video from HooCairs to get a leg up on your hunting.
For those of you hoping we’ll tell you what’s releasing next, after this experience, we’re never doing that again. Doc was right, it’s better to maintain an air of mystery.
When we monitor our communication channels (Forum, Steam, Discord, Facebook, and others) we’re so proud of how kind and helpful our community is (another huge thanks for that!). Any new player gets proper suggestions and advice instantly. On the other hand, we felt guilty we weren’t so helpful ourselves, as Classic is quite difficult for new players. Therefore, we decided we needed to do our bit too, and we started with re-doing the Tutorials from scratch. For now, we are glad to present two brand new tutorials to you: The Basics and Tower Usage, to be followed by a few others which are in progress and will be added later. We hope it will help our new players understand the game’s hunting techniques better and grow our beloved community!
Please note that this update is bigger than usual due to some small internal changes that have caused Steam to recalculate a few extra files… We’ve done what we can to mitigate the size but unfortunately, we can’t reduce it any further.
Howdy hunters!
The time has come for a new game update! A major one this time, as a new species is being introduced to the Evergreen Hunting Reserve.
Ladies and gents, please welcome our new addition to Timbergold Trails: the Puma! (aka Mountain Lion, aka Cougar, aka Catamount etc. this animal has about 40 names in English alone!)
The majestic feline has been spotted in the mountains north-west of the reserve and sometimes in the hills south of the river. Be careful though, as occasional attacks on humans have been reported!
Together with the new cat, a few new items have arrived in the Store to help you hunt this elusive predator:
Here’s a cool video from veteran hunter and content creator HooCairs taking a first look at the new feline:
TRANSLATIONS
Last but not least, our translators have been very busy making sure theHunter Classic speaks your language, and we want to thank them for the awesome job they are doing!
On that note, we are still looking for translators for the following languages:
● French
● Danish
● Dutch
If you are interested in joining our localization team please write us an email at: [email protected]
That’s all for now folks, we’re all very excited about the new animal and we hope you are too.
Let us know what you think and as usual please give us a shout should you find any issues.
Howdy Hunters!
A new game update is live, and we want to let you know all the cool stuff you will find in it!
ANIMALS
✅ New species: Snow Goose
A new waterfowl has been introduced to the Whiterime Ridge reserve: the Snow Goose! Their name comes from their bright white feathers, however, some snow geese are actually gray/blue colored, and known as “blue morphs.” You will be able to hunt both variants, together with a much rarer one, in the snowy lands and cold skies of Whiterime Ridge.
WEAPONS
✅ New winter camo for the 20 GA Semi-Automatic Shotgun
With the introduction of Snow Geese we thought you might need a suitable camo for one of the waterfowl-hunting favourite shotguns.
EQUIPMENT
✅ 3 Snow Goose Static Decoys
Static decoys for Snow Goose come in three flavors to increase realism: Feeder, Sentry and Active.
✅ Snow Goose “Flapping-Wings” Decoy
This type of decoy mimics the wing movement of a real Snow Goose.
✅ Snow Goose Flag Lure
This flag features the characteristic black and white color pattern of a Snow Goose and can be used at long range to attract geese with motion resembling a goose flapping its wings.
✅ Snow Goose Long Range Caller
This caller is used to increase the probability of birds breaking off from high flying flocks, and attempting to land, as they fly over an area.
✅ Snow Goose Short Range Caller
This caller produces all the honks, clucks and feeding cackles needed to attract the birds that have already broken off a flock.
LARGE EQUIPMENT
✅ Waterfowl Blind – Arctic Winter Real Vegetation Camouflage
Especially designed for waterfowl hunting this blind comes decorated with foliage and vegetation from boreal forests and provides excellent visual reduction in subartic environments.
VIDEO
Last but not least, check out this cool video from Master Hunter HooCairs showcasing the Snow Goose and the new items!
As the new release is finally live, we want to let you know all the new stuff you will find in it.
New turkey
An old time theHunter’s favorite, the turkey, has been given a complete redesign to give both toms and hens a more realistic look.
The redesign includes all 5 color variations:
Common
Melanistic
Grey
Leucistic
Albino
12 GA Blaser F3 Game O-U Shotgun – Forest Camo
To help you hunt the new turkey in his natural environment a new camo has been created for this popular shotgun.
Three New “Real Vegetation” Waterfowl BlindsThese newly designed waterfowl blinds are decorated with vegetation from the surrounding environment to achieve a more realistic camouflage. Each blind can accommodate 4 hunters (or 3 hunters and 2 dogs) as opposed as the 3 hunters capacity of the existing waterfowl blinds.
The new waterfowl blinds comes in three flavors:
Summer Swamp
Fall Field
Tropical Forest
Please note that these blinds will not replace the existing ones, both types will be available in the store.
Antlers improvements
Rusa deer and Sambar deer antlers have been reworked (angles, scale, position of main beams and tines) to achieve a more realistic look.
We are aware there’s still room for improvement for these antlers and this is something we will continue to focus on in the next release.
Quality of life: Ability to rotate blinds
It is now possible to rotate the position where a blind will be deployed using MOUSE 2. This feature has been added for ALL types of blinds.
Bugfixes: .22 LR Ammo bug
Fixed the .22LR ammo bug. It is now possible to kill turkeys and rabbits with one shot.
Bugfixes: Blaser F3 Crooked Barrel Rib
While we were at it we also fixed the crooked barrel rib for all Blaser F3 models (Standard, Custom Grade V and Forest Camo)
As mentioned by Alena last week, it’s now me (Graham, Community Manager) who’ll be penning Status Updates for the foreseeable future. You shouldn’t see much of a change, it should still be the same great content, just perhaps with a slightly British twist here and there! 😉
With that out of the way, let’s get into it!
Bobcats, bobcats, and more bobcats!
Did I mention bobcats? So yes, it’s been quite a theme for us these past weeks. Since our reveal stream last Thursday we’ve been really thrilled to see all of the excitement around our latest addition to theHunter Classic, the whole team has been busy beavering away putting the final touches in place for release.
Seeing as today is the big day when you all get to hunt the bobcat for the first time, it would only make sense that our bobcat-fever continues with this status update!
For those of you who didn’t catch it yet, the bobcats can be found prowling in the Loggers’ Point, Whitehart Island, Rougarou Bayou, and Settler Creeks hunting reserves. You can find more details on their behaviour and gameplay in the Release notes from Patrick and Alena below.
Bobcat Release Notes
A feline in theHunter – finally!
Cats have been the most requested species in theHunter since a long, long time ago. They have been consistently high on the wishlist in last three player surveys in which we asked what species you would like to see added next. You can see the results below (click to enlarge, please note that other options are removed for everyone’s peace of mind ;)):
Player survey 2015
Player survey 2016
Player survey 2017
The main obstacle on the feline’s thorny path to the EHR has been the complexity of the animations and, to an even larger extent, the client code. We wanted to make an intelligent and graceful cat species that would do justice to the real world counterparts. The climbing trees function has been the main reason why cats have been moved down the priority list; to spare you a long technical explanation, it would require tons of time and resources to make it possible. However, when we voiced this in the community forum, the overwhelming reaction was that people would rather have a cat that doesn’t climb trees, as opposed to no cat at all. Back then, scratching our heads, we started considering adding it for real. Once we decided that there should be cats in theHunter Classic, the natural choice was the bobcat. They fit nicely in our older North American maps, and in addition to that, they are not the most famous for their tree climbing skills.
What’s new about this species?
Our bobcats are exceptionally smart and watchful animals, with extremely sharp eyes and a keen sense of smell. Remember Turkeys? Forget about them. Bobcats will have them for breakfast (alas, not literally) when it comes to wariness. This will make hunting them challenging, but not impossible. Luckily, we have plenty of lures and gear for them, more on this below.
As if this was not enough, compared to other species, the bobcat population is rather scarce, and they prefer their own company to that of their kin, moving exclusively solo. So, bagging one will feel like a real accomplishment!
Bobcats feature a completely new type of behaviour. They sprint, and they are lightning-fast run, capable of speeds that the red kangaroos of Bushrangers Run, our swiftest species to date, can only dream about. Another curious new behaviour we introduced is “hunting”. If you are lucky, you might spot bobcats jumping around trying to catch mice. It’s fascinating to watch.
And of course, animations. If you have a chance, while in your tree stand, spare a minute and watch a bobcat moving with your binos, it’s real work of art.
How can I hunt them?
Together with bobcats, we are also introducing a new type of lure. The electronic caller, “Shockwave”. Right now it only works for bobcats but later on we are planning to add sounds for more animals, for those that it makes sense. The electronic caller is a powerful piece of equipment, imitating the high-pitched sound of distressed mouse, it attracts cats from far away, which then sneak up towards the prey. A tree-stand / tripod combined with an electronic caller is a perfect set-up for hunting them, and for your convenience we’ve also added the possibility to activate the caller remotely. Your reaction speed needs to be spot on though; being such an intelligent species, after a while a bobcat realizes that the electronic caller is a trap and if you are too slow with your finger on the trigger, you might only see the black tip of its tail.
Motion predator decoys and our good old Predator “Jackrabbit” Caller also have a chance of attracting bobcats, although again, due to the intelligence of this magnificent creature, you are unlikely to receive the same consistent results as you are used to with coyotes and foxes. You simply have to try and see what works best for you.
On a side note
With the introduction of bobcats, we took the opportunity to bring our coyotes and wolves closer to real life scale, as they have been notoriously large. After today’s patch they will feature a smaller size and, hence, scoring, which is why today we are starting the new season!
Get Yourself a Prize-Winning Kitty
In tandem with the bobcat release there is of course a special mission set with a unique trophy to get your hands on! We suggest registering and getting your hunt underway as soon as possible, these missions will only be live until the end of September!
HooCairs About Bobcats?
Ummm…Hoocair does? Join him as he gets a very special first look at the bobcat, and demonstrates his hunting expertise across the various reserves the bobcat calls home.
There’s some great tips to be found inside!
Safety First! Account Security and You.
There have been a few issues cropping up recently that our support team has dealt with, we thought it would be good to refresh you all on some “good to knows” with regards to account security.
Never give your password to anyone, including us! No member of Expansive Worlds/Avalanche Studios will ever ask you for your password and you do not need to send it when contacting us.
With the above in mind, we’re unable to investigate rouge sibling purchases or ‘friends’ messing around in multiplayer games. So please, only use your account yourself.
Only purchase your memberships and em$ directly through us from the launcher or through Steam or Paymentwall, we’re unable to assist with any other purchases. We will never ask for your payment details, or ask you to make a payment directly to us, everything goes through our store:
Any issues with purchases from third party retailers has to go back through the retailer, we have no control over them.
Any e-mails you may get from an unofficial address are most likely a scam and shouldn’t be trusted. Our special offers always require you to log into your account and make your purchase that way, we will never ask you to make a payment directly to us through PayPal.
And finally, If you have any issues at all, please feel free to contact us at Customer Support or post on the official forums for community advice!
After many years of service and having been applied to countless thousands of hours of the most realistic hunting experience, our once brilliant Hunter Score system has lost its appeal for many players. The reasons are numerous, the most brought up being the amount of weapon variations which we’ve added over years, each carrying its own achievements, further influencing the Hunter Score figures. Another one is that it has become somewhat of a never-ending and demotivating task to increase one’s Hunter Score, with the Achievements bars being set so high.
The challenge to redesign a system with such a huge amount of data, affecting every single player we’ve ever had, hasn’t been an easy one, and what we’re releasing today has gone through many iterations. Our main goal with the new system was to find a balance between preserving what you’ve already achieved in the EHR while adding additional levels to the Hunter Score which would eliminate the problem of weapon variations, making the system more compelling for beginner hunters (imagine joining the game and looking at the achievement progress bars of top players) while still attractive for players with many years of EHR hunting under their belt. As much as we would like to introduce even deeper identifiers of one’s hunting skills and the breadth of one’s gameplay (such as, we wanted to add Hunter Score points for completing missions, harvesting rare animals, competition trophies, harvest value etc.) this has proven to be a huge task for us, at least for the time being given our resources and other projects in the pipeline. In the new improved system, we’ve removed “Exploration” from counting towards your Hunter Score, as this is one of the most controversial categories. Instead we replaced it with another category (which some might find as controversial). That new category is “Collectables”, inspired by community feedback relating to mushrooms and other treasures being meaningless.
Long story short, after months of hard work we are proud to present you with the new Hunter Score. In a nutshell:
1.Achievements. Our Achievement system will remain untouched in terms of numbers and thresholds. However, it will represent nothing more than in-game achievements. As usual, you will receive an in-game pop-up and hopefully a sense of gratification after reaching achievement milestones, but this progression will have no direct impact on your Hunter Score. Achievements will become a means of gauging your own progression, competing against yourself to become a better hunter, but not something to compare yourself against others in game.
To add an additional edge to the Achievement system, we are introducing two new features: Achievement Collector Badges. They are available in five different categories, named after EHR animals and ranked by their hunting difficulty. Those badges will be awarded to you after you’ve reached a certain percentage of Achievement points available and will be displayed on your profile, under your profile picture. Badges are dynamic, which means that if the amount of Achievement points becomes higher, they get recalculated.
Achievement Master Header images. Those are the available in six different variations for each of the Achievement categories. You unlock them by reaching certain levels in becoming a Species, Weapons or Exploration Master. Unlike Achievement Collector Badges, once unlocked, images remain available to you forever, even if there are more species and weapons introduced later. You can pick the image you want to display on your profile within the Profile Settings menu. If you don’t choose any, the most recently earned head image will be displayed by default.
Species Master
Level 1 – 1 harvest for every species of animals
Level 2 – 25 harvests for every species of animal.
Level 3 – 100 harvests for every species of animal.
Level 4 – 250 harvests for every species of animal.
Level 5 – 500 harvests for every species of animal.
Level 6 – 1000 harvests for every species of animal.
Weapon Master
Level 1 – 1 harvest using all unique weapons with separate Achievements.
Level 2 – 25 harvests using all unique weapons with separate Achievements.
Level 3 – 100 harvests using all unique weapons with separate Achievements.
Level 4 – 250 harvests using all unique weapons with separate Achievements.
Level 5 – 500 harvests using all unique weapons with separate Achievements.
Level 6 – 1000 harvests using all unique weapons with separate Achievements.
Steam achievements. We are finally bringing out these bad boys! Steam achievements will mirror our existing achievements per animal, unique weapon as well exploration and total harvests. To unlock an animal or weapon achievement, you need 250 harvests per animal / weapon (except duck, geese and mallards, those have 1000 harvests). Exploration and total harvests have different levels, please check all the details on our Steam page.
2. Ranks. Ranks are the new sheriffs in town, i.e. they will count towards your Hunter Score. Ranks come in three categories. These categories are Species, Weapons and Collectables. Species and Weapons are grouped in the same way as our Skills system, so all species have their own Ranks and all unique weapons have their own too. Weapon variations, such as the three different Plinkingtons, are grouped together and harvests with any of the three of them will count towards the same Rank.
Example:
The “.22 Plinkington” comes in three color variations; “The .22 Plinkington Blue Marble”, “The .22 Plinkington Winter Camo” and the “The .22 Plinkington Wood”. All of these count toward the same Rank and no matter which gun a player uses, all kills count towards the one Plinkington Rank which in turn counts toward the Hunter Rank. What it looks like in the old system: 22 Plinkington “Blue Marble” has 100 kills .22 Plinkington “Winter Camo” has 50 kills .22 Plinkington “Wood” has 50 kills … would look like this in the new system: .22 Plinkington has 200 kills
Collectables have three Ranks: Common mushrooms, Rare mushrooms and Treasures.
Each kill per Rank adds you one Hunter Score point. All Ranks are currently limited to a maximum of 500 points, aimed to make the system as accessible as possible. Please note that we will monitor the performance of the new system in the first months and will adjust the bar if we deem it necessary to do so.
That’s it! You can now go to your profile, check your new Hunter Score and new place on the Hunter Score Rank Leaderboard (please note the Hunter Score recalculation will take some time), Achievement badge and headers images. Have a look and let us know what you think!
Wolves are one of the most successful predator species in the world. These iconic animals have been long sought-after residents of the EHR and today, we are thrilled to finally bring them to theHunter. They are by far the most complex species in terms of AI and animation, that we’ve ever introduced, and probably will ever introduce. The crown jewel of theHunter animal kingdom if you like. We can’t wait to hear what you think!
Wolves are highly social animals, which is the key to their success in the wild. This is reflected in theHunter by means of our new group behaviour, new hunting behaviour and the calls they make.
Pack behaviour
A wolf pack in theHunter has a three-level hierarchy, which is visible in their unique animations. Each pack has one or two Alphas, a bunch of Betas making up the bulk of the group, as well as Omegas. In addition, there is always one lone wolf at the bottom of the hierarchy. When you pick up a howling call on your HunterMate, it will always be the Alpha of the pack.
Chasing behaviour
Wolves are top of the food chain predators, and they will be chasing some animals that get too close to them. So, next time you are stalking a group of Mule Deer, decide to take a shot and raise your rifle, don’t be baffled if you see the deer spooking and running away. A couple of moments later you will surely see a pack of wolves running after them.
Carcasses and feeding
Where there are wolves, you might come across carcasses of dead animals which wolves usually prey on. Those carcasses are spawned randomly and act as bait sites, so don’t be surprised when you see a group of hungry wolves nibbling on their downed prey, all according to their group hierarchy. Stay a minute and watch them while they are it, it is truly fascinating!
Howling
Wolves use howls to signal stray members of their pack or to ward off rival packs. So, a wolf will not just howl randomly for the fun of it. It is also not likely that a lone wolf will howl on its own as it would then reveal that it has no pack around to help protect it. Your HunterMate will register a call if the howling pack is within its pick-up radius, but howling can be heard far beyond that.
Hunting methods
Grey Wolves are hunted by spot and stalk methods or by waiting by a carcass in wolf territory. They can be lured closer with a special “Calf Elk” Caller which also has a chance of attracting Rocky Mountain Elk cows.
