Artisan Archive
Thread: Artisan #1 Issue
Mep, how many times did you try crafting? Not that I don't believe you, but I've never heard of a bugged crafting tool. Sure, I've had clumps of critical fails and experimentation fails, but with the number of items I've crafted, that's just the laws of probability at work.
(And speaking of not being an easy fix, something that occasional would be hard just to *find*, much less fix... from my estimation, anyway)
OK, I am going to wait until Monday to turn in our #1 issue, and give the discussion a chance to develop. I want a real consensus here if possible. I'd rather be late and do it right, than be on time and have the devs thinking our #1 issue is trivial.
SO...
1. What is your number one issue with artisan? One sentence only.
2. Then a short explanation of the problem as you see it.
3. And proposed fix for the problem.
Nothing is off limits. Speak your mind. You MUST be specific, generalities like "so-and-so sucks" just confuse the issues.
I want to have this nailed down by Sunday, so I can post my reply to the question here for final approval.
Debate away.
Bianca Minola
In answer the crafting tool question, it was about 5 times, with very similar results. It has happened before and you need to just quit crafting when you get bugged, else waste resources and time. Either that or it is working correctly then and getting no crit fails and successful experimentation time after time is the bugged state. Either way, things are bugged. I think the best example is the weaponsmith gridinghundreds ofbarrels and found newer tools, but lesser quality worked best.
This is my personal #1 issue, as good part of my business is tools and stations. I don't expect it to be fixed soon, but I would like for it to be addressed and for how the system is suppose to work.
Whateffects dobetter tools, be it crafting or repair, have on the success of crit failing or experimentation?
The no sampling after shift is a good one though and I would be happy if that was number 1 as well because: as there is no game work around, unlike the waypoint.It affects all crafters, ieglobal is scope, and is specific to artisans, the surveyers.
Meplorium wrote:
This is my personal #1 issue, as good part of my business is tools and stations. I don't expect it to be fixed soon, but I would like for it to be addressed and for how the system is suppose to work.
Whateffects dobetter tools, be it crafting or repair, have on the success of crit failing or experimentation?
I'd love to know the answer to that question too, but I have to say we probably have a slim-to-none chance of finding out. Quick story:
Back in my early days, I was advancing up Artisan and Medic. I eventually became capable of building Stimpack-Ds, and after getting a friend to toss me a few factory-made parts, gave it a shot. It never came up on my crafting tool. I could see it in my datapad: "Requires specialized crafting tool and crafting station". I was using my food/chem tool and standing at a food/chem station. It was the early days after release, and none of the other Medics around seemed to know what the problem was. I submitted CS tickets, and received no response. Finally, after days of searching for answers, I discovered that it required a *private* crafting station. Sure, nowadays that seems pretty obvious to people, but at the time no one I knew had really heard of that. I added a comment to my ticket saying that I figured it out, and it would be nice if they would make that a little clearer, at least on the schematic. I finally got a response, which was basically this: "We want the players to figure it out on their own."
Moral of the story: thisseems to be the mentality of the designers. I'm not at all saying this is a bad thing... I think that's one of the things that make a game fun. The only problem is that some of things we're apparently supposed to figure out (like the impact of tool/station effectiveness on crafting success) can appear buggy sometimes, and it's difficult to motivate yourself to explore something thoroughly when the back of your mind is telling you it's probably not working right anyway.
Bottom line: I doubt you'll get anyone to confirm or deny anything about this issue. We're on our own.
1. Survey missions use Combat XP as a baseline for the difficulty and reward of the mission.
2. How many Surveyors shoot at the ground and hope they find resources, Uncle Jed? How many crafters absolutely love combat to the point of wanting to throw away 24+ skill credits on SURVEY MISSIONS instead of crafting skills?
3. Change the reward determiner from combat xp to surveying xp. Make Survey 4 cap at the 1800cr missions just like carbine 4, or any other level 4 mission would. Remove the code where the survey terminal determines the difficulty of the mission from theweapon you're holding.
And I can only post One issue here, I'll put up a general artisan complaint with all of the issues next week.
Bianca Minola
My #1 Issue: The Inability to Sample Resources just after a Shift. This not only affects sampling, but survey missions as well - if the resource just shifted, you cannot use it to satisfy a survey mission. For a lot of Artisans, Survey Missions are our #1 or #2 source of extra income, and on resource-shift-days, they can be very difficult to do if you can't use half of the resources out there.
My #2 Issue would be the waypoint sticking thing.
Meplorium wrote:
If you become a master artisan and even an architect building the high end crafting stations you'll begin to understand the problem here. Crit failures is something that is followed closely by architects as experimentation is followed closely by weaponsmiths and doctors. There are numerious posts about the crit failure rate and experimental effectiveness bases on tool quality, maybe not in this forum though. This is an issue that affects may professions, but it belongs here as artisans make these tools.
Once you get into the advance professions you'll see the problem with the tools.
Actually, I've been playing as an Artisan since about a week after launch. I've been a Master Architect and Master Artisan for probably close to two months now (and have made my share of 40+ effectiveness crafting stations), and I've never seen anything that looks like a "buggy" crafting tool. What you're saying about critcal failure rate related to tool effectiveness is an entirely different issue. What I gathered from your first post was that you thought your tool was bugged because you got several bad results in a row. I'm just saying you can't really prove that's a bug... it could just be chance. Which is why I asked how many times you tried. If you came out with 20 critical failures in a row, then you might be on to something.
Ok, sorry... bringing it back on topic:
1. What is your number one issue with artisan? One sentence only.
I can't sample resources for several hours after they've shifted into the galaxy.
2. Then a short explanation of the problem as you see it.
Those of us who keep track of the best resources available like to find the good stuff ASAP to get a good buildable spot and squeeze all we can out of them. We lose valuable time when we can't even identify the good resources without having a harvester of the appropriate type placed where the new resource happens to exist.
3. And proposed fix for the problem.
Heh... well, I doubt they'll let me see the code...
1. Harvester notifications when harvesting stops, for whatever reason (no power, no funds, resource shift).
2. Pretty much self-explanatory.
3. Should be easy to fix. The code is already in place to notify players on a specific harvester condition (condition dropping to <50%).
This seems like a gripe that the developers could look at and say : "hey, here's something we can do to make this profession happy...and it doesn't really require that much work." That means we might see a solution in the very near future.
I agree with almost all of the other complaints posted here (especially the waypoint bug), I just don't think they offer a chance of being fixed in the near term.
#1: Unpredictable Resource Shifts
#2: I logged in Sunday, 9/21 on Sunrunner, which is the usual day for resource shifts and, as expected, they had shifted. Wind and solar power had all but disappeared...61% solar was all I could find after hours of surveying...and that in a location that was virtually inaccessible...but I did find 80% radiocative, so I acquired 4 fusion generators. I waited until AFTER the morning server reboot MONDAY before placing the very expensive generators. Logging in Monday evening discovered another resource shift, with only 30% of a different radioactive under the generators, and 18k cr to redeed them. But that was the good news...of my remaining medium harvestors, 14 of 21 also had their resources shift (I have borrowed lots from several friends, and these had been reset to new resources on Sunday) and all had maximum resources under them ranging from a high of 42% to a low (max resource) of 21%. It would have taken 69k cr to redeed them all. In disgust, I logged off after surveying the damage [no pun intended] done by the 2nd resource shift in 24 hours. I have not logged my character on since andI am watching the boards to see if a fix is going implemented for this by October 10.I do not plan on logging my character back on before then. Since my account renews on 10/11, I will terminate the account on 10/10 if there is no fix or serious promise of one by that date.
#3: Add a skill at Surveying IV, or anywhere, that allows the surveyer to determine the amount of time left until the resource runs out. Failing that, eliminate or reduce redeeding costs to an acceptable level, AND send emails whenever a harvestor stops running for any reason (especially resource shift).
To be perfectly honest, I now realize that I had been dreading logging in each day to (1) see if resources have shifted and (2) make the daily rounds to all of my harvestors, which took up the bulk of my playing time. I've actually found myself much happier NOT playing the last week than I had been "playing." Isn't this supposed to be a game? Aren't games supposed to be fun? I've found that daily harvestor runs ARE NOT FUN, yet required because of the unpredictable resource shifts.
Master Artisan, 0/1/4/4 Architect
1) I would go with the waypoint bug as being very annoying.
2) Resource shifts and notices I'd give a close 2nd. Some kind of message telling me my harvester had turned off at the very least would help me not run all over the place all the time wondering.
3) For more casual players who can't track resources 24/7 A system to at least let a surveyor know how long a resource has been on a planet woudl help a lot. I don't know when I get to Corellia how long something has been there. Nothing more annoying the putting down a harvester and have the resources shift a few hours later.
Hmmm..... #1 issue.
Inability to effeciently find and evaluate new resources before the server resets.
This is actually 2 problems. Each has an inconvenient and undesirable workaround. The first is the waypoint bug, the second being the inability to hand sample.
Don't know how involved fixing the waypoint bug will be. I believe they've been chasing it for a while now. As to the second part, I know it would NOT break many people's hearts if resources shifted DURING the server reset. Just do the resource shift during the first part of that cycle, before whatever it is the clears it.
As an aside, if we could get an explanation (no fix necessary unless it's broken) of what higher quality survey & crafting tools are supposed to do, it would be greatly appreciated. (From nothing & having the expiramentation yanked like on clothes, to a reduction of crits that may or may not be in place, to whatever.) Similarly, expiramenting on "hopper size" for harvesters (hopper size & efficiency for power generators) doesn't seem to have any effect either....
Tar'Ra