Armorsmith Archive
Thread: Final Draft: State of the Armorsmith Profesion March 13th 2005
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Okram2k
Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:20 pm
#1
State of the Armorsmith Profession: March 13th, 2005
Currently, the armorsmith profession is in an odd state, we are enjoying a very profitable and enjoyable existance, yet we have a very uncertain future. With a looming complete rehaul of combat in the future via the Combat Upgrade, and being told that armor, which is a very important part of combat, will be rehauled during the combat upgrade, we are very uncertain about our place in the post Combat Upgrade world. And with a very tight non disclosure agreement, those that have been invited to the combat upgrade testing cannot tell what information they have seen, although repeated reports from Team Armadillo are very excited and happy with upcoming changes, many are still both extremly curious and uncertain where to take their buisness.
Outside of Combat upgrade concerns, the armorsmith profession has continued to grow, developing better and stronger armor for players. There has always been, and continues to be, a concern about the difficulty of entering the Armor market. It is very difficult for a young armorsmith who is inexperienced, and not yet able to aquire many high quality resources to compete toe-to-toe with those who have been playing the profession for a year or longer. One still has to realize that just like every other profession, the person who invests the most time, credits, and effort into their profession will become the best in the server. Aquiring Armor Experimentation tapes, although very expensive, has become a right of passage for experienced armorsmiths, and has become the expected norm for achieving high quality status.
Armor crafting in my opinion has grown to be one of the best balanced crafting profesions. Long factory times, however anoying they are, and our need for organics in all armor keeps our production rates in check, and keeps one person from controlling an entire market without a huge amount of effort. Also, because of the high decay rate of armor, and the large quantities of players that use it, there is a very large demand for armor produced by the combat community. The combination of the two makes it near imposible for a single person, or even a small group of people to completly control the armor market on even the smallest servers. This greatly benifits those entering the market, as they can fill in the gaps left by those who have been in the market for a long time, and slowly work up the ranks as their products increase in quality over time.
Over the last few months, we have also seens several key issues of ours resolved. Primarily is the continued debate over light saber resistances, especially if they are a bug or not. This issue severly heated up after anti-decay kits where introduced and inserted into PSGs, which where designed for only short use. Although the issue has been somewhat cleared up by development that PSGs are supposed to have LS resistance, there is still worry from the jedi community that sliced PSGs have become too powerful, this is also felt by the fener community who's primary PvP weapon is the stun baton, which is completly shut out by the same PSGs much more worse than a Jedi's Light Saber. It is, however, believed that this issue will be further resolved in the combat upgrade.
We have also had an issue with RIS components not dropping. For a time span of about a month, all RIS loots where completly dried up, creating a small and anoying dry spell on many servers for RIS production. Luckily this issue has been fixed, and although at first the drop rates where slightly too much, it apears in the last patch that drop rates have been put back into line in order to keep RIS a rare and exotic armor type that a few select elite armorsmiths have been able to make a very nice and enjoyable buisness out of producing.
With the combat upgrade coming closer and closer, I have decided it would be best, rather than create a top 5 issues, we make a top 5 combat upgrade concerns list. Especially considering many things may be changing about armor in the future, and what is an issue now has a high probability of being addressed in the combat upgrade, I figured it would be best to collect our top concerns about combat upgrade.
1: Resources and components in the Combat Upgrade
This is most likely at the forefront of every armorsmiths mind. A crafter's value is determined greatly by their resources, and we do not want years of aquiring resources to completly have gone to waist if there are drastic changes to armor in the combat upgrade. We hope that if we can produce good quality composite now, we should be able to make just as good quality composite after the combat upgrade. If I can make good padded armor now, I should be able to make good padded armor in the combat upgrade. Same for all types of armors. Also, a big worry is armor components, both crafted and looted. Depending on how much the system changes, there is big worry about how good exceptional looted components will be changed and used after the combat upgrade. And the same goes for player crafted components. It would be a virtual nightmare if thousands of resources you invested into components before combat upgrade are no longer used in the combat upgrade. If the new system does in fact require a component change of any sort, at least a warning of two weeks or more is possible to give us a heads up to hold off on producing components, or even better introduce the components before the launch of the combat upgrade so that we can have them ready to go when the combat upgrade comes.
2: RIS and other exceptional armor
RIS armor is an extremly prestigous and luxery armor, that many players have set their life time goal to collecting an entire suit to themselves. This expensive and vastly time consuming endevor should not be ruined because of possible changes to the armor system. If anything, allow people to wear it decorativly when they feel like "pimping" the local starport. While at the same time, it is hoped that some of the amazing pieces of RIS that some armorsmiths have managed to make should still be legendarily good post Combat Upgrade. Some armorsmiths managing to make perfect resist, and perfect encumberance RIS, ought to have such excellent armor post combat upgrade. At the same time, there is further worry about other types of armors crafted with exceptional loot resources. For example, a piece of composite made with an exceptional Night Sister Shard that has almost no encumberance, or super high base composite. We hope all of these will be just as good in the combat upgrade world as they are now when compared to other armors.
3: Factional Armors
We are very excited about Factional Armor in the combat upgrade, but we are worried about their implementation. The demand for factional armor is going to be extremly high when they are relased, we expect a large number of people to want it, and we will need to be able to provide it en mass. We are conserded if it will be a single use schematic like the current looted furniture schematics that cannot be made in factories, or if they will be like Imperial Protoype Personal Shield Generators where we recieve a 5 use factory enabled schematic that will allow us to equip our fellow faction members with the armor they need to be victourous on the battle field.
4: Encumberances post Combat Upgrade
Encumberance currently has a back seat status to many armorsmtihs. Although it is still a valuable aspect of armor, reaching resistances has become more important then reaching lower encumberance most of the time. Especially with the vast availabilty of Buffs to all players for a relativly low price, many do not even take encumberance into acount. Some of us are looking for an official word of what direction armor will be going post Combat Upgrade so we can start preparing for it now. If lighter armor is going to be the primary demand, then we could begin working on ways to decrease encumberance, if heavy armor is still going to be king we can keep moving forward with heavy armors. Similarily, we would love for devs to look into the encumberance experimentation lines during the crafting process, as they continue to be the least fruitful when it comes to amount reduced per experimentation. In the current system, you get far more results for points put into increasing resistances then you do for putting points into decreasing HAM encumberance and increasing conditions.
5: PSGs in the Combat Upgrade
PSGs are in a very odd role currently. They add a second layer of armor of protection that blocks a very limited number of attacks. They are very handy for high end PvE or in PvP but they are very short lived. Unless a player uses an anti-decay kit inside a PSG, one usually only lasts a few attacks. And while this high rate of decay is theoretically very benificial to the armorsmith, very few players find it worth while to invest in PSGs. Further their buggy nature of having shifting stats, and sometimes not even blocking damage unless you unequip and re-equip one. Also, some of us have asked if it is possible for a graphical representation to tell other players that someone is equiped with a PSG, which can be very handy when trying to sum up your opponent in PvP
Currently, the armorsmith profession is in an odd state, we are enjoying a very profitable and enjoyable existance, yet we have a very uncertain future. With a looming complete rehaul of combat in the future via the Combat Upgrade, and being told that armor, which is a very important part of combat, will be rehauled during the combat upgrade, we are very uncertain about our place in the post Combat Upgrade world. And with a very tight non disclosure agreement, those that have been invited to the combat upgrade testing cannot tell what information they have seen, although repeated reports from Team Armadillo are very excited and happy with upcoming changes, many are still both extremly curious and uncertain where to take their buisness.
Outside of Combat upgrade concerns, the armorsmith profession has continued to grow, developing better and stronger armor for players. There has always been, and continues to be, a concern about the difficulty of entering the Armor market. It is very difficult for a young armorsmith who is inexperienced, and not yet able to aquire many high quality resources to compete toe-to-toe with those who have been playing the profession for a year or longer. One still has to realize that just like every other profession, the person who invests the most time, credits, and effort into their profession will become the best in the server. Aquiring Armor Experimentation tapes, although very expensive, has become a right of passage for experienced armorsmiths, and has become the expected norm for achieving high quality status.
Armor crafting in my opinion has grown to be one of the best balanced crafting profesions. Long factory times, however anoying they are, and our need for organics in all armor keeps our production rates in check, and keeps one person from controlling an entire market without a huge amount of effort. Also, because of the high decay rate of armor, and the large quantities of players that use it, there is a very large demand for armor produced by the combat community. The combination of the two makes it near imposible for a single person, or even a small group of people to completly control the armor market on even the smallest servers. This greatly benifits those entering the market, as they can fill in the gaps left by those who have been in the market for a long time, and slowly work up the ranks as their products increase in quality over time.
Over the last few months, we have also seens several key issues of ours resolved. Primarily is the continued debate over light saber resistances, especially if they are a bug or not. This issue severly heated up after anti-decay kits where introduced and inserted into PSGs, which where designed for only short use. Although the issue has been somewhat cleared up by development that PSGs are supposed to have LS resistance, there is still worry from the jedi community that sliced PSGs have become too powerful, this is also felt by the fener community who's primary PvP weapon is the stun baton, which is completly shut out by the same PSGs much more worse than a Jedi's Light Saber. It is, however, believed that this issue will be further resolved in the combat upgrade.
We have also had an issue with RIS components not dropping. For a time span of about a month, all RIS loots where completly dried up, creating a small and anoying dry spell on many servers for RIS production. Luckily this issue has been fixed, and although at first the drop rates where slightly too much, it apears in the last patch that drop rates have been put back into line in order to keep RIS a rare and exotic armor type that a few select elite armorsmiths have been able to make a very nice and enjoyable buisness out of producing.
With the combat upgrade coming closer and closer, I have decided it would be best, rather than create a top 5 issues, we make a top 5 combat upgrade concerns list. Especially considering many things may be changing about armor in the future, and what is an issue now has a high probability of being addressed in the combat upgrade, I figured it would be best to collect our top concerns about combat upgrade.
1: Resources and components in the Combat Upgrade
This is most likely at the forefront of every armorsmiths mind. A crafter's value is determined greatly by their resources, and we do not want years of aquiring resources to completly have gone to waist if there are drastic changes to armor in the combat upgrade. We hope that if we can produce good quality composite now, we should be able to make just as good quality composite after the combat upgrade. If I can make good padded armor now, I should be able to make good padded armor in the combat upgrade. Same for all types of armors. Also, a big worry is armor components, both crafted and looted. Depending on how much the system changes, there is big worry about how good exceptional looted components will be changed and used after the combat upgrade. And the same goes for player crafted components. It would be a virtual nightmare if thousands of resources you invested into components before combat upgrade are no longer used in the combat upgrade. If the new system does in fact require a component change of any sort, at least a warning of two weeks or more is possible to give us a heads up to hold off on producing components, or even better introduce the components before the launch of the combat upgrade so that we can have them ready to go when the combat upgrade comes.
2: RIS and other exceptional armor
RIS armor is an extremly prestigous and luxery armor, that many players have set their life time goal to collecting an entire suit to themselves. This expensive and vastly time consuming endevor should not be ruined because of possible changes to the armor system. If anything, allow people to wear it decorativly when they feel like "pimping" the local starport. While at the same time, it is hoped that some of the amazing pieces of RIS that some armorsmiths have managed to make should still be legendarily good post Combat Upgrade. Some armorsmiths managing to make perfect resist, and perfect encumberance RIS, ought to have such excellent armor post combat upgrade. At the same time, there is further worry about other types of armors crafted with exceptional loot resources. For example, a piece of composite made with an exceptional Night Sister Shard that has almost no encumberance, or super high base composite. We hope all of these will be just as good in the combat upgrade world as they are now when compared to other armors.
3: Factional Armors
We are very excited about Factional Armor in the combat upgrade, but we are worried about their implementation. The demand for factional armor is going to be extremly high when they are relased, we expect a large number of people to want it, and we will need to be able to provide it en mass. We are conserded if it will be a single use schematic like the current looted furniture schematics that cannot be made in factories, or if they will be like Imperial Protoype Personal Shield Generators where we recieve a 5 use factory enabled schematic that will allow us to equip our fellow faction members with the armor they need to be victourous on the battle field.
4: Encumberances post Combat Upgrade
Encumberance currently has a back seat status to many armorsmtihs. Although it is still a valuable aspect of armor, reaching resistances has become more important then reaching lower encumberance most of the time. Especially with the vast availabilty of Buffs to all players for a relativly low price, many do not even take encumberance into acount. Some of us are looking for an official word of what direction armor will be going post Combat Upgrade so we can start preparing for it now. If lighter armor is going to be the primary demand, then we could begin working on ways to decrease encumberance, if heavy armor is still going to be king we can keep moving forward with heavy armors. Similarily, we would love for devs to look into the encumberance experimentation lines during the crafting process, as they continue to be the least fruitful when it comes to amount reduced per experimentation. In the current system, you get far more results for points put into increasing resistances then you do for putting points into decreasing HAM encumberance and increasing conditions.
5: PSGs in the Combat Upgrade
PSGs are in a very odd role currently. They add a second layer of armor of protection that blocks a very limited number of attacks. They are very handy for high end PvE or in PvP but they are very short lived. Unless a player uses an anti-decay kit inside a PSG, one usually only lasts a few attacks. And while this high rate of decay is theoretically very benificial to the armorsmith, very few players find it worth while to invest in PSGs. Further their buggy nature of having shifting stats, and sometimes not even blocking damage unless you unequip and re-equip one. Also, some of us have asked if it is possible for a graphical representation to tell other players that someone is equiped with a PSG, which can be very handy when trying to sum up your opponent in PvP
Goberkain
Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:00 am
#3
Agree with all that my main concerns are as follows:
Resources for faction armor
We should be able to make faction armor without the use of schmatics, we should of been able to make this from the start.
Having a complete crafter, how are you expected to gain faction points to gain the schmatics, obviously you are going to have to buy them.
Timbo1970
Mon Mar 14, 2005 12:09 pm
#6
Just curious, is there any word on if/when theymight respond to these concerns? Or are they more just to let the developers of our concerns as a professions.
Thanks, and keep up the good work.
egoe
Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:08 pm
#7
Well, although I do appreciate the update. It looks as though there isnt much information about anything we can do to prepare for the CU. They are all very good points and thanks for raising them. But for the time being I would say it is business as usual. I dont see any way for us to get a heads up with the disclosure agreement being what it is. And I would advise anyone to not go investing time and credits into rumors. I have heard too many in the past that were completely off base. So, please keep on keeping us informed with what you can, and we will adapt where we need to when the time comes, just as most professions have had to at one point or another.
Okram2k
Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:08 pm
#8
egoe wrote:
Well, although I do appreciate the update. It looks as though there isnt much information about anything we can do to prepare for the CU. They are all very good points and thanks for raising them. But for the time being I would say it is business as usual. I dont see any way for us to get a heads up with the disclosure agreement being what it is. And I would advise anyone to not go investing time and credits into rumors. I have heard too many in the past that were completely off base. So, please keep on keeping us informed with what you can, and we will adapt where we need to when the time comes, just as most professions have had to at one point or another.
Couldn't have said it better myself
I wish I could put info about the CURB for you guys but I can't
I can tell you as soon as the NDA is lifted I plan on having guides and tons of info ready to go for you guys
MBLAST
Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:45 pm
#9
Goberkain wrote:
Agree with all that my main concerns are as follows:
Resources for faction armor
We should be able to make faction armor without the use of schmatics, we should of been able to make this from the start.
/agree
Konar-Bria
Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:49 am
#10
have they given any indication as to when the NDA will be lifted?
Gorrlynn
Fri Mar 18, 2005 9:50 pm
#11
I agree with those concerns. I am a 10pt. master armorsmith. I don't even make psg's because they are so bugged and i don't know of many players that actually use them. I would like to say that i concentrate on base quality and special protection. I realise that encumbrance is important but the time i max out base quality, i only have 2-3 points left anyway. So, i put those few points into the special protection to raise those stats. I just don't have any points left to put into encumbrance. That is just how it works out for me.
salvestrom
Sun Mar 20, 2005 10:21 pm
#12
Interesting read to someone just starting. But as a novice master the thing that is currently annoying me most is the inability to hand craft the majority of armour without relying on factory runs. I'd love to see "identical" components removed and replaced with "similiar" so I can happily spend my day crafting from scratch, layers and all, with out twiddling my thumbs waiting on factories.... Having paused a moment to think, I guess the biggest problem making such a change is that you could, in theory, put 4 entirely different segments in, say, a composite chestplate, 1 made with stun, 1 made with energy... how would the game handle that?? Bleh. Unless they reduce the requirements for multiples down to just singles, as with RIS, I guess it can't be done (RIS was the first thing I made, in some cases quite badly, but I loved it )
)Slightly more on topic - the need to become a 12pt master has not escaped me and is a daunting prospect. I don't however plan on breaking in to the market on my server, and will mostly stick to crafting for my guild.
Having paused to think some more it has occured to me that after the CU, if a larger number of armours are desirable, it's going to be a huge pain in the arse keeping the materials for it... how's that gonna work? Armoursmiths specialising in only a few types?
GARonin
Mon Mar 21, 2005 1:50 am
#13
#2 most important here...I have 6 personal suits of RIS I have completed since last July...if they nerf armor to the point where I can't wearthe armor I craftany longer (i.e. armor certs being introduced), bye bye AS...
This is a BIG concern, not just with the epic armors, but all armors..."Certifications" for any armor is going to kill crafters...Understandable that we should get encumberance reductions/mods, maybe more so than the combatants...but to not even be able to put it on ??? Dumb, dumb, dumb....No, thank you...I'll pass on that one...Wearing & showing off our armor is our best advertising ! 
Here's to hoping the devs do the 'right thing'...!
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