Armorsmith Archive

Let me start off by saying this isn’t about being a Jedi. I came to SWG from UO strictly for the thought of a great Crafting System. I tried Everquest and DAOC but a game that promised a True Crafting system was what I was looking for. A Player Crafted Game with a vast resource system and a Usage based System was more then I could take. I was accepted into Beta and had my Account the first day it went live. I spent a short time as an Architect to make our PA Hall and then started in on Armor. On Bloodfin I’m currently one of the Top Armorsmith around. No one can make higher and only a few can make as good. I never wanted to be Jedi and at the time of the Hologrind there was never any talk of a FS Crafting tree. And the thought of Gimping my Armorsmith by Hologrinding never appelead to me. I had a huge Guild and Customer base that counted on me for Armor.

When you announced a FS Crafting tree it was too late to consider the Hologrind. But in my Goal to be the best Crafter possible in the game, I really want to get the FS Crafting tree. It was also stated back in the early part of the game that even a Casual player would have a chance of getting FS. I believe there was also a time Stamp generated with your Holo Professions and if you reached that time before you still got the FS. But with the current system in place it’s not even Realistic to Stay a True Crafter and get the FS Crafting tree. The Current figures for me to get just the 4 FS Crafting Blocks would be 6000 Full sets of Composite and at my Current price that would be 2.5 Billion Credits worth of Armor I would have to Hand Craft to get. I have probably made as much if not more Armor then anyone on Bloodfin and I don’t believe I have even made that much in the year I been in the game. Much less doing this all by hand and not in my Factory.

I do understand the problems with this. If the usage System was put back in people would simply dump huge amounts of items and this would hurt the economy. If the Crafting System FS conversion was lowered a lot of people would simply grind their way to Jedi. Even if I was to try and grind my way up I’m still looking at well over a year to do this. So much for a Casual gamer having a chance.

There has to be some answers that would work for the True Crafter and the Casual gamer.

1 Have a time based System that would Lower the required FS points needed with time. Currently it takes 7,350,000 FS Exp to get all 6 Boxes. If this was reduced 10% Every Month down to a 10% Bottom line. If this started 2 Months after they started a person at one year would only need 73,500,000 to get FS. This would at Least make it so Casual gamers would have a chance.

2 Make items at Master level give alot more Exp. People couldn’t simply Grind Ubese Shirts to get FS. Armorsmith would be able to get more Exp for Composite. If someone wanted to Craft Grind their way to Jedi they would at least have to get Master Armorsmith and grind Composite to get anywhere.

I do feel for with Fighters with the huge amount of Exp they need to get but I would
Rather get out and Fight then to stand in my House Grinding one Item for Months on end.

Al'anis
Jaxom

/agree

The thing that upsets me it that if I just palyed the game and sold armor like I have done - I will NEVER become force sensitive.

The only way I can see me working further up the force sensitive tree's is to go to my second profession and make swoop bikes....

I agree too

I actually did 2 of my holo professions, I used the Holo's i got as the x-mass gift. It took me over 2 months to do my first one, which was smuggler, and another month to do to my second one which was chef.

I dont consider myself a hologrinder because it took me so long to master them, Ive seen hologrinders do a profession in 2 or 3 days from novice to master.

A guildie gave me a 3rd holocron, which I opened and it said 'Master Bounty Hunter'. Im not a pvp type so this didnt appeal to me too much, I checked the skill point cost and discovered I would have to give up Armorsmith to master BH. Like you I loved MY CHOSEN profession and didnt want to give it up, and like you I had a loyal customer base and a guild i supplied armor to.

Now Patch 10

I got 'glowie' and went to the village expecting to get 2 of the free unlocks, for the two professions that I did for my holo. I was going to get 2 of the force crafting trees. Much to my surprise I got ZERO free unlocks, checked the forums here and indeed it was no bug.

I have also played since release, and did beta as well. I did many of the 'content' things in the game, player events, socialized ect. The holocrons I did were GIVEN to me by the game, so it could be argued it was a 'content' quest. My reward for my time PLAYING the game, not grinding, is nothing.

Add to the fact that after 13+ months of being a master armorsmith the cap on armor xp is 120k. That 120k of armor xp transfered to all of 24k of force crafting xp. Which is less than half than the 50k of force crafting xp needed to make Novice Force Crafting.

Kino

Corbantis

I think the thing that bothers me most is Fighters get to play thier game. They get to travel around, group with freinds, shop for Armor, Run Missions and other wise socialize. I am a Armorsmith and merchant. Its toaly unrealistic to think about even doing the 4 FS Branches. I would have to lock myself in my house and Grind out 72,000 Pieces of Armor. I cant just Play an Armorsmith and ever hope of getting there. I dont get to travel, Group with other or doing anything other then Click away.

I have a 2nd account and i have only taken him out a few times and already got my first box in his FS tree. I have Made and Sol a ton of Armor and Im not even half way through my first block.

It just isnt right to punish the Crafters because of grinders that would simply grind thier way through Branches to get thier unlocks.

Another idea might be to give more Exp for the Lenght of time your Master at Something Like Armorsmith. For example someone grinds thier way to Master Armorsmith they would get 4k exp for a set of Composite. But someone that has been Master Armorsmith for 6 Months might get 10x that much.

Al'anis
Jaxom

The really big problem is the capped exp if they hadn't capped exp at 120k as it is I'd easily have ten times that stored up (when I mastered AS I capped in exp bout four days later with just playing around with composite) It really is a huge problem and I guess it's gonna take us years to master our fs section. Which really is wrong. Plain, simple, wrong.

Another Idea

We all understand if you make Grinding Easier then people will use this to grind for the FS. When people grind they simply buy the cheapest resources and click in the practice mode and grind away. Experamentation isnt even used and quality of resources dont mater.

What if you could add in Bonuses for Quality of Resources and a Bonus for Experamenting. A 12 Point Crafter with top level resources could get up to 10x the Exp per item. This would stop grinders getting up to a cretain level to get the item they want to grind and grind away. Maybe the Bonus wouldnt even kick in till you got 50% or higher.

Fighters can get better Armor and Weapons and get buffs and even group to get higher level MOBs and more exp. At this time True Crafters have no way to get more EXP on items period.

Al'anis
Jaxom

Actually, most fighters have finally twigged to the grenades =combat xp. I was an explosives weaponsmith, on one of my chars. She gave it up, (went back bioengineer) and patch 10 comes along, sighhh. With combat xp being 3-1, you'll soon find many lairs going BOOM. That same 3000 weapons xp you used to get fom something? Now nets 3000 combat xp from grenades. It's always been like this, but people are beginning to see it as the new workaround for grinding. Sighhhh, too bad crafting grenades doesn't give that huge boost.

Newmoon Tirgwystraff
Resident of Mr. Ploppy's Turtle-Flavored Ice Cream Kingdom
" English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammer. "

/applaud alanis

Call me either a martyr or an overzealot, but I personally would like the option to becomea particular TYPE of Force-wielder. From a character's standpoint, wouldn't I have the opportunity to decide how to best use my newfound Force Sensitivity? Why would it be a foregone conclusion that I would end up a Lightsaber-wielding warrior? I personally, within the garb of my little toon Eln, would rather sit with the great masters of armor crafting and learn to perfect my trade. I want to have Mol Ni'mai yell at me and throw my segment across the room in disgust and make me do it again, better this time. I want the legendary designer who first touched Mandalorian armor to describe the metallurgy to me.

So... What about being able to "forfeit" any combat skills in order to either gain or decrease (even halve?) the FS XP requirements for the crafting trees?

If I'm willing to opt-out of ever being one of the Next Generation of Jedi Knights, can't I be content as a character to use my force attunement to help my already-chosen profession?

I'm with a great many of you out there. I'm not interested in being the one on Kettemoor who doles out the most damage per hit. I couldn't care less about how many other Jedi's cloned heads I have hanging from my wall. Just doesn't interest me. If it did, I think I'd be bored out of my skull like so many others who depend on rigorous combat within this economy-driven society of ours. I'd much rather work my tail off to get some more experimentation points, or be able to use the Force to lighten the encumbrances on my Kashyyykian Hunting sets.

So... Devs... buddies... pals... compadres... How about giving us a chance to choose a different path? Right now, I can see the fork at the end of the road: I can be a Light Side of the Force Jedi or a Dark Side of the Force Jedi. Well, the world's just not about binary logic or duality, it's about spectrum and choice, and I'd like my little Eln to have the choice not to be a crazy saber-wielding kill machine and rather dump all of that time, skill, energy, and knowledge into what he does now, only doing it better.

Just a thought.

The Squid Kid: Lt. Col. Eln Ackom, Alliance Ace Pilot
Pilot of the X-wing "Kierkegaard," the B-wing "Nietzsche," and the Nova "Occam's Razor"
(Home and Dojo: Dantooine -1180 2280)

When SWG came along it was exciting to the People who liked to craft. The idea of a Player Econamy were all Items were player made was a Dream come true. Then came the HoloGrind and the Quest for Jedi. Craftning became only a way to get Jedi. Very few people took the time to realy Learn and understand the Profesions they were Grinding through and simply droped them to move on to the next. Now the Hologrind is gone leaving the true Crafter out in the Cold. They cant give us Credit for the things we make because people will start grinding again just to get through the FS trees and Get thier Jedi.

I still think we should be judged on the Quality of our Items not on the Quanity. Just like fighter can move up to Bigger and Badder things for more Exp we should be able to make better Quality items and get more credit for them. Simply buying cheap resources and clicking in Practice mode is Not beign a Crafter. We spend alot of time tracking and buying High Quality Resources for our items and the Exp we get for them should reflect this. Also the extra time Experimenting on Items should count for something. I cant Grind items as fast when Im actualy trying to make a High Quality item.

Al'anis
Jaxom

Tess (Ainwyn) Dle'kkar
12 point, RIS certified, Master Armorsmith
Wild Side Armor
Rogues Landing, Corellia (4404,2619)
Kettemoor
http://www.rogueslanding.com/wildside/

HermS:- Ex-Armoursmith & Pikeyman

Waypoint:- Dantooine (Doomsville) -5059 4486

Well this is just plain sad.

All this week I have made my Armor by Hand. Im running 12 Vendors Spread out across 3 Planets. I have made over 10 mil and Spent 80 Mil on new resources.

I Havnt even made a small Dent in my First FS Box

I have actualy got more FS Exp from Merchant then I have from Armorsmith. The time it takes to Experamint on all my Armor just kills any chance I have on getting anywere. I either have to give up on getting any FS Boxs or Quit supplying my Coustomers with Armor and Spend all my time just grinding.

They just have to figure a way to give us Exp for Experaminting on Items. It has to be Exp on Quality not Quanity.

Al'anis
Jaxom