Artisan Archive
Thread: A Galaxy of Adventure Awaits; crafters need not apply.
Why aren’t there more adventures for non-combat professions to engage in?
Theme parks only offer missions for combat professions to engage in. There are no backdoors for players in other professions. The only way to see Jabba’s court is by taking combat missions. Why couldn’t a chef win an audience into the inner chambers by charming his way through the crimelord’s stomach? Or an entertainer to see that sanctum through dancing? The rebels don’t need medics and doctors to heal injured operatives, or perform a mission of mercy in Liea’s footsteps? Or have a need for technicians to maintain their communications gear or find spare parts?
And the crafting missions can really hardly be called crafting at all. The ones I’ve done have you simply collect pre made parts from NPCs then hit the combine button. Crafting is not just combining parts. To make these missions more appealing a schematic should be issued to the player, the player is then tasked to build the device within specific specification. The player then should gather the resources, assemble the item and experiment on it to get the final device within the parameters the mission giver demanded.
I chose not to pick up a blaster, but that doesn’t mean the only place I want to visit in the galaxy is the bazaar terminal.
Give this guy a bump!
It would be SOO cool if the theme parks gave you stuff to do based on what skill tree you had chosen. Like a marksman gets a shooting mission, but an artisan gets something like that deadeye decoder thing from act II, where he has to go hunt for the components. A dancer has to go dance for some minor character, a medic has to craft a special drug, a... well you get the idea. All these missions should come from the same mission giver. And which one you get depends on which skill tree you have developed farthest.
I agree about the crafting missions too. Those temporary schematics should use the same resources/ components as regular crafting. Do you realize how frustrating it is to have to abort a crafting mission because of a critical failure? If they didn't require the "special" parts, you could just try crafting it again, until you got it right.
The solution to the crafter quest is simple...Puzzles. Those who enjoy the "hack and slash" of combat quests won't normally sit still for "thinking" quests, but those who can sit for hours and simply grind out item after item have the patience to work on puzzles.
Just as some crafters fight, so too will some fighters be willing to engage in a different sort of quest. I think the big problem comes down to coding. Lets face it. The "go here and kill this" quest is really easy to fit into this system and has been here for a long, long time. Puzzle quests are more difficult, but not impossible.
And Dev's....the Krayt Skull quest is not a puzzle quest, although it was very difficult to figure out just how to complete it, given that we had no clues. Something has to be done to include non-combat quests intothis game to satisfy those of us who grow tired of the deliver-escort-kill monotony of the current crop of quests.
I used to whine about this sort of thing - so much so that if I had some cheese....a party we would be having 
.
So I learn't all about the joys of nice light armour (mine is an ultra-light composite with 70% resists), picked up a 2H sword and introduced myself to some Master "I'll pay you 8k to buff me" Doctors and the delight of mind enhancing food.
Now I hunt all the time, get slaughtered doing NSs' on Dath, and can take on most beasties by myself (buffed or unbuffed) and lived to harvest their goodies. I have even PvP'edin a group and survived!!!
Not bad for a Master Architect, Master Artisan, brawler 0/0/4/0, scout 3/0/3/1, Medic 0/0/1/0 and Politican 0/1/0/1.
Very few Artisans in past or present ever get/got a chance to "go on adventures". I think it's realistic to some degree.
As the devs have stated many times in the past... "Fun trumps realism."
Or you could use all those credits you've been making and hire someone to get the stuff for you.
It's not about trinket collection. It's about being locked out of content.
GreySeven gets it. There are no puzzle games. There are no treasure hunts. There is nothing to explore. There is nothing to do but fight, whether it be mobs or the game mechanics.
Dues Ex was considered groundbreaking because players could solve problems using a variety of skills. They could roll in and fight everything in sight, or they could sneak past enemies, or they could even hack the system to get around problems. What options do non-combat players have in SWG?
Picking up combat skills isn't really an option, its an ultimatum. Either do this one thing or you can never ever see anytyhing other than your crafting station.
Could someone point me to one area where combatants are locked out of because they lack crafting or non-hostile problem solving skills?
Puck_Starfire wrote:
Well I agree. But.... that's what crafters do. They sit in their workshop and craft and sell their goods. Very few Artisans in past or present ever get/got a chance to "go on adventures". I think it's realistic to some degree. I just have a gripe with, as you said, Artisan missions having combat targets.
I have my Artisan-type, and then I have my Combat-type. Between the two characters I see a good portion of the Star Wars Universe.
MacGuyver might be a good role-model for "action crafters". He always had to build something to get out of trouble, and he was far more likely to blast open a door than hurt any person.
It would take some thought and effort for SOE to come up with better crafting-related challenges, but it could be done.
Example: I want to see Jabba, but I don't fight. I talk to various guards along the way, and each one wants some special item (bribe)to let me pass... Guard #1 wants a Metal Staff. #2 wants a brand new backpack (condition 1000). #3 wants a wind power generator. Yeah, I could go to the bazaar and buy each item, or I can just make it on the spot if I have the right crafting skills. If the bribes are random items rather than a predictible list, it's easy for crafters to get through but hard for someone to shop ahead.
Certain quests could be themed for elite professions (i.e. somoene needs an Imperial Guard Uniform to sneak into the Emperor's Retreat -- tailor quest), others just require basic knowledge of the crafting system (i.e. you are given a schematic and must assemble it, achieve a certain % quality, and you are not given the raw materials/parts but must make them or buy them).
Anyway, it can be done. It takes a new way of thinking about missions, but the examples brought up all fit within existing crafting and questsystems, yet add a bit more of a dynamic element to challenge a crafter.
Well, it is a Multiplayer game. You could always, like ask some of the other players to help you out. Group and such-like stuff.