Architect Archive
Thread: An open letter to development on behalf of the architect profession
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Manaman
Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:29 am
#1
We of the Architect profession have some concerns and some questions.
I would like to start by saying that the architect profession is not the most profitable one. Most of us are not here for the credits. We are in it becuase we have a deep love of the star wars universe. We were not the ones watching Luke swing his lightsaber. We were the ones watchnig him stare out over the desert with the twin suns behind him. We were the ones who reveled in the different creatures and sets that were produced. We decorate to give others a higher feeling of content. We make houses so people can store the furniture we make. We create harvestors so other professions can craft the things they want to make, that give them a sense of accomplishment in the SW universe. We love it and through our craft share that love with games community.
But recently we feel blind. We feel we have a few issues that rob us of the warm feeling we once got.
1. Lack of communication
It has been MONTHS since we saw a dev post in our forums, and over a year since a dev posted anything constructive. While we understand that there are other pressing issues with the game that may (or may not) require developments full attention, we would like to remind development that we too are players of this game. And while we understand that there are more pressing issues, it does not excuse the complete lack of communication. The same issues are brought up in this forum over and over again and not once have we seen a response from a member of development.
2. Lack of focus in the upcoming revamp
We are the only profession that truely exists outside of combat. We create nothing factional or anything that can be used in combat. Even merchants at least sell items to be used in combat. As such the limited times months ago when we were told to "wait until the combat rebalance" as a way of placating us does not do. We would like to know if ANY of the issues we have brought up will be addressed in the CURB. We know there is an expansion in the works, as well as a smuggler revamp. We know that the time of the dev's is limited. But again, while we understand this, we would still like a little light shed on our role in the upcomming game restructure.
3. Dashed hopes
A few times things and ideas have been presented to this part of the community and then simply never acted upon. Why has nothing been done with the furniture colorization? What ever happened to the Hutt clubs? These ideas were presented to us through our correspondant, and then never acted upon by members of development, regardless of the fact that the response was overwhelmingly in favor of these additions. Why has no action been taken, and when will we ever see the results of our hopes?
4. Critical items still not functioning correctly
OMUs still not coming out in crates. Broken experimentation on certain harvs. Lack of decay on furniture. These things are viewed by our profession as things that effect us on a daily basis. And for months we have begged for them to be fixed and have seen NO response from members of development. We have waited long, and we have waited patiently, and we can continue to do so as long as we know that our cries are heard and that something IS planned. But again, we see and hear nothing.
This post is an attempt to glean some insight. We understand that certain things come first. But we as members of this community have hopes and feelings, and we are tired of being broken hearted by a profession that we love and honor. We humbly ask for a response to these items, and for a little attention to our needs, as we currently see nothing that gives us a sense of hope for the future.
Again, we love what we do, we do not do it for the credits. We do not do it because its the "hot profession template". We do this because we enjoy it. All we ask is for you to recognise us as a legitimate part of the SWG society and as such allow us to grow and help us with what we view are serious problems within this part of the community.
I have been an architect since a week after game launch. Some of the PA halls I made that first few days are still laid down now and are the centers of major cities on bloodfin. I take pride in that over the uber loot someone else gets or the super rancor someone killed. Please help us to retain this warm feeling. We grow cold in the dark.
-Oldman Rakon
Master Architect, Bloodfin Server.
Message Edited by Manaman on 03-28-2005 11:31 PM
TK42I
Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:51 am
#3
Thank you Manaman for so eloquently describing the feelings of manywho practiceour profession.I would not want to play SWG without beingprimarily an Architect and as a profession it fits my playstyle better than anything I could find in most MMO's. I hope that those who prioritize the development requirementswill take notice of ourpoliterequest for some information on where we fit in the future of Star Wars Galaxies with so many changes coming to other areas of the game.
Thank you.
Message Edited by TK42I on 03-29-2005 09:52 AM
Crimsonsplat
Tue Mar 29, 2005 8:35 am
#4
I'm not sure if I should /sign like a petition or what... so
/sign
And then I'll add my own .02 credits. Architect is a difficult profession. There are two types of players in it: those who think it's cool to make stuff, and those who just feel called to it. The latter are the ones that stick. The others wander off to more profitable fields, like Chef or Weaponsmith.
1. We're the only crafters whose items never wear out.
2. We're the only crafters whose items are identical in all essentials: noone makes a better house, or a different color of chair. (poss. exception of shipwright, I don't have JTL).
3. We'reone of the few crafters to whom resource quality is nearly irrelevant.
4. We need more resourcesthan any two of the other professions (again, shipwright possibly excluded). This means:
4.a. Architects need more storage room. I'm small potatoes and having a hard time with 2 houses and 5 factories.
4.b Architects are the likeliest crafter to be swapping lots.
5. As noted above, we have absolutely no role in combat whatsoever, let alone the GCW. NONE.
So we face unique challenges, the biggest of which has been mentioned over and over and over: there is absolutely no recurring income whatsoever. I've been back as an architect since 2/1/05: seven weeks.
I have not had a single repeat customer buy from stock in that time! I've had threethat made special orders after buying stock, but no one has needed replacement houses, lights, candles, chairs, city halls, guild halls, etc.
Furthermore, dead cities choke off new development. I do get the occasional purchase of a City Hall, but when I check back with the purchaser later to see if they want any items for their city, they complain that they can't advance in rank because they are capped, but every other city ahead of them is "dead." Since they can't advance, they don't need my wares.
Lack of a GCW role is anti-immersive. I am a civilian. I see no reason to be anything BUT a civilan. As such,I can freely travel the galaxy without being hassled by either side (except for stupid probe droids and stormtrooper checks). The war is utterly irrelevant to my business, and my business is utterly irrelevant to the war -- I have no % in joining it. So I watch theoccasional jedi fight in Theed, or someone factioning by killing ST's in Bestine, (/yawn), and have NO reason to care who wins, who loses, who dies, and who lives.
In short, what I'm saying is, the players (and any devs) who sneer at the idea of architects complaining when "there's nothing wrong with them" are fundamentally and completly wrong. In the broader meta-game, NO ONE is more broken than the architect. Even tailors can supply rebel and imperial clothing.
Where's the Star Wars? For us, it simply does not exist.
Proposed solutions:
1. Architects make part or all of the fortifications used in the GCW. I'm not sure we should make all even though I'd like it and consider it consistant.Problem: the combat classes will have a tizzy if they have to pay faction points to a recruiter to buy the schematic, and then pay us lots of cash, just to see the base we built them go boom.
2. Institute a method to remove "dead' housing. The empire condems and bulldozes their house/harvester/factory if the account is closed for 3 or more months. If they show up later (i.e.: renew their account), the Empire willmake a cash reimbursement (just like the newbie tutorial, only bigger). If you don't care about the roleplaying aspect of it, just record everything they own to an archive (hello?everything in the game is nothing but data!), delete it from the worldand if they return to the game, charge them to restore it from the backup. I prefer deletion and cash reimbursment of course... See Crazy Elizor for your replacment housing today!
3. Add a few more housing styles. Even adding 1-2 per expansion (I HOPE we're getting some with ROTW) would be great. Especially since Shipwrights, Armorsmiths, and Weaponsmiths are getting plenty of new content, eh? (I sure hope Chefs and Tailors aren't being ignored. Since we're high-margin low-volume sellers, new items are more important to us than anyone.
4. Add more existing furniture as craftables. Not these one-shot schematics, but things we can make many to sell. The Type two plants.All three plants in the Theed spaceport. The pretty rug I found in a house in Bestine. Odds and ends decorating various houses in the game.
5. Work out a way to put furniture on roofs & patios. This one's been kicked around for months, but no one ever seems to solve the problems with it. If you can drop the special flags, decorations, and lottery droids in the world now, why can't we create a specialized "outdoor furniture deed." One of the ideas I saw kicked around by the devs was to limit them to pre-set "packages" such as the "Tatooine Large House Package #3" or the "Small Generic Front Walk Package #1." As long as we build them.. heck yes!
6. Make candles and lamps truly burn out. (and fix the stupid "last one out of the crate is dead" bug). They should probably have their life span increased by about 50% though, to keep from really annoying people. I just thinkplayers ought to have to keep replacement lights the way I have to keep bulbs for my RL house.
7. Minor fixes we've asked for in the past, you know like crating OMU's!! Ok, that's not a metagame fix, but it would be nice. Low priority compared to any of the rest in this list though.
8. Furniture colorization. You brought it up, now carry through.'Nuff said.
9. Ever consider quests that you have to be a factioned crafter to do? No, I mean BIG quests, Correllian Corvette complexity. Granted, they're easier to think up for some classes than others... Assemble this for us.... good work....now go to such-and-such base on Corellia, the colonel thereneeds you to design a new type of turret mechanism...good work...now build us this, here's the schematic (takes a bunch of stuff & a factory run)...good work... here's another task but, uh, it's sensitive andwe're hiring because the enemyis hiring bounty hunters to go after our regular staff but we're sure you'll be safe, as an outsider they won't know of you, nothing to worry about..... (meanwhile, your name pops up on a BH terminal somewhere.....)
)
Psh
Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:25 am
#12
that was a GREAT letter, in my oppnion that letter represents much of what is wrong with this game, and without being mean, hateful or just plain starwars angry=). im an up and coming arch with an alt and can already see the problems i will have to deal with. thanks for voicing that mate.
Borris/ivan Tempest
vap0r1
Thu Mar 31, 2005 5:11 am
#13
/sign
all i can really say is my biggest peave is the lack of ability to put things on my roof or patios look on a guild hall for instance you got all that space and cant do anything with it?! also i got a question but why is there a 2nd balcony on naboian large just above the front door that we cant get to?
all i can really say is my biggest peave is the lack of ability to put things on my roof or patios look on a guild hall for instance you got all that space and cant do anything with it?! also i got a question but why is there a 2nd balcony on naboian large just above the front door that we cant get to?
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