Artisan Archive
Thread: Top 5 issues revisited
Well, after reading what everyone has said here and on some other threads here is what I propose:
#1) NO, I repeat, NO Miner profession. We have little enough skillpoints to spread around as it is so that crafters can have some basic combat and not depend on a combat class to go surveying with you.
#2) Certs for harvesters:
Hmmm, this is a little tough because as a crafter who also wants some combat skills (namely fencer) I want the ability to wear any armor (currently in the gqame) and there are rumours that SOE wants to introduce certs for armor. I personally think that certs for armor ALREADY IN THE GAME are not cool. Now, for the new armors they want to introduce (Mandallorian and others), that's fine - restrict who can use them with certs. Just don't penalize the people who are already playing the game and depend on decent armor to survive while scouting/surveying for resources. With that note on the record, here is what I propose for harvester certs and lot sizes...
Personal Harvester : Anyone (let's face it, BER4 is not going to kill the profession, I don't think ten BER4s would either)
Medium Harvester : Novice Artisan or Survey I (since we need lots of resources)
Heavy Harvester : Survey IV (I had considered Master Artisan but that is harsh for WS/AS/Arc who don't keep Master Artisan and Survey IV is a nice expenditure of points to get the cert)
+1 Lots : Novice Artisan
+2 Lots : Survey II
+3 Lots : Survey IV
+4 Lots : Master Artisan
+4/+5 Lots : Novice Elite Crafting Profession (since almost every Master Artisan is also a Merchant/Weaponsmith/Droid Engineer/Armorsmith/Architect/Chef or Tailor)
These lots are not cumulative (ie at Novice [elite crafting profession] you do not have 15 extra lots). At Novice [elite crafting profession] you _would_ have +4 (if not Master Artisan) or +5 lots for harvesters only.
The reason I would not tie the extra lots or harvesters into the Engineering skill tree is that Engineering is not a sacrifice for four of the crafting professions but Survey is a sacrifice in points for all of them (if you weren't going to survey your own resources anyway).
This would give crafters of all venues extra lots, the ability to utilize better harvesters, some job security, and (in a slight way) maybe even extra storage space by using your initial 10 lots for a little more storage (houses/factories).
Crimsonsplat wrote:
Agreed. Posted in the question thread, I'm in favor of certs for the harvesters. Been here only a week, already 3/1/2/4 Artesian and realized it's just not possible without the Marksman 2/2/2/2 and Scout 2/1/2/1 + Medic 1/1/1/2 I've accumulated also. Realized I'm up agaisnt a wall at this point becasue even if I make a house and plop down some personal mineral extractors, I have nowhere TO put them; every Pistoleer on the planet has beaten me to the good spots, and will be able to follow the migrations before I get home from work.
Or, I demand that Artesians be able to shoot up all the NPC's and monsters in the game so the scouts, pikemen, and pistoleers can't get any xp/resoruces. Whatever works.
Ok, a few more days have passed, and I've added few skills, since I've been busy mining enough to put down my first "resource accumulators." I now have 3 wind generators (BER 4, 3, 2) and 2 personal mineral extractors going (BER3, 2) ... but they're spreadout on opposite sides of Bestine, since that's where I found the resources. Over 4km apart, in fact. This leads me to long (andslightly dangerous) trips to move power around and empty the hoppers. And somewhere in here--tonight--I'm going to have to fit the missions to keep everything fed with credits.I'm buying no resources and accepting no gifts; I'm bootstrapping on a thin margin, which required a series of overnight macro sampling sessions, making the first pair of generator/harvesters, and then quick runs to move/accumulate the resources for the next stage.
If I have a question here, I guess it's "how common is this physical spread?" I'm forseeing spending significant amounts of time traveling between planets, looking for the best places to snag high quality resources, then moving power, emptying hoppers, etc. I actually don'tmind this, I'm enjoying SWG's crafting system far, far more then EQ's, even though I can make very few items, comparatively. I just want to make sure I'm not doing something stupid when I should see the "obvious" solution. (yes, eventually when skills get up there, I figure on a larger single power plant, as I said, I'm bootstrapping.)
I'm going to try very hard to do this on one account, with loaned lots from my friends if necessary. (if the Certs for harvesters go through, that plan might go south quickly!)
Given that I've got to spend tonight doing missions to raisemore maintenance money, and that my skills are currently 3/2/1/4 (qualified for 3/2/2/4 now), what should my next logical move be? I suppose that hinges on answering the question of what is my goal? And I'm not sure of the answer. I thought of weapon and armorsmith, but apparently neither is fiscally sensible. Chef and Tailor don't really thrill me though. I like (virtual) dirt and grease more than flour and thread! Vehicles are a crapshoot, depending on changes everyone wants from SOE. The revised DE looks kind of cool, but I dont' know if there's a market for it. I'd like to be ready to "cash in" if that's possible, after Publish 10 and the end of Hologrinding. (or is that 9?)
And for the sake of arguiing how maybe artisan would be too wealthy.
Any crafting profession who requires the resources will be able to harvest them. It just will be the combat/scout/politician/medic classes that wouldnt be able to harvest using harvestors. Guilds wont be able to stack up 1000 harvestors to supply them with endless supplies. IT would make the ecomony 10% more reliable on each other(No more or no less) and woudlnt make artisans or crafting professions any more wealthy then they are supposed to be since the only people who NEED resources are the professions who would be able to harvest them.
So again anyone who argues otherwise is someone who is epxloiting the current system to an overneeded advantage with being drowned in resources.
Technical wise this would not be hard to accomplish. IT would not put an enormous or even challenging strain on the development team. It is something they could realistically give us which will make the artisans and crafters happier and wont eat up into their dev cycle hopefully too much.
Lets push for it now. Lets not falter. And lets not take no for an answer. WE do this we may see it as early as publish 9 next month or sooner ir maybe a little later.
For those people with harvestors now they can redeed them into sellable form so they dont lose them and can be placed again if they decide to skill up in artisan or pass them along to someone who was.
And as a bonus people will be able to place more minefields and houses and city perks since they wont be tied down with harvestors =) They can leave that up to the true mining profession.
EpiFett wrote:
I believe it is Imperative that we look for improvements to our class ONLY to the Master skill-box.
The rest of our class is pretty versatile.
Engineering line: Weapon Powerups / Beginner Armor
Domestic Arts line: Beginner Food / Beginner Clothing
Business Line: Beginner Merchant (1st vendor)
Surveying Line: Beginning Survey Techniques
When we get to our Master Box however,
There is nothing that is special to Master Artisan other than Vehicles, and they arent even that experimentable.
Our class becomes nothing more than a 'conveniance' to other elite classes.
Master Box:
Control Unit: Archetect: 4 Schematics Droid Engineer: 2 Schematics Weaponsmith: 4 Schematics
Electronics GP Module: Archetect: 4 Schematics Droid Engineer: 14 Schematics
Electronics Memory Module: Archetect: 2 Schematics Droid Engineer: 15 Schematics
Energy Distributor: Archetect: 1 Schematics Armorsmith: 4 Schematics
Micro Sensor Suite: Archetect: 4 Schematics Droid Engineer: 3 Schematics
Power Conditioner: Archetect: 1 Schematics Armorsmith: 3 Schematics Weaponsmith: 1 Schematics
Totals:
Droid Engineer: 34 Schematics
Archetect: 16 Schematics
Armorsmith: 7 Schematics
Weaponsmith: 5 Schematics
Master Artisan: 4 Schematics (ONLY reward for attaining Master skillbox???)
Swoop
Speeder
X34
Color Kit
I would like to see:
Control Unit: Drop to Engineering 4
Electronics GP Module: Drop to Engineering 4
Electronics Memory Module: Drop to Engineering 4
Energy Distributor: Drop to Engineering 4
Micro Sensor Suite: Stay in Master Box
Power Conditioner: Drop to Engineering 4
Artisan Assembly +20
Artisan Experimentation +20
Surveying +75
(Survey Skill 175 = 512m Survey Range +Resource Identification in UI)
(Survey Skill 200 = 1024m Survey Range) (+25 from Skill Tapes)
Message Edited by EpiFett on 02-22-2004 11:42 AM