Artisan Archive

I did just complain about an artisan problem, namely surveying and being told 89% resource only to sample and be told that the density is too low.

However, concerning the nerf to sampling.....

Everyone is saying "I am going to quit and play a combat role"

Well this lead me to a wonderous conclusion....

Combat types are not generally seen going at it alone. They always take a group...even if that "group" is only two people. The reason? It make the task of taking on the more powerful enemies much easier.

Would this concept not work with artisans as well? Sure you want top dollar for your items... Of course if you pair up or group this is going to mean that you make less off of each individual item, but could also (if done with some planning) equal much larger gross sales.

I had the honor of meeting a gentleman and his guild on tatooine who had his own little town complete with lackeys to do his bidding. THEY were all helping each other gather resources. THEY also had all the latest gear and though I cannot say for sure, I imagine many credits to share with each other.

Lemme tell you why this is horrible. AC2 Devs modified the game where it has become a "Forced group" type of game. You have to group to do anything worthwile in the game. Forcing people to join PA's, especially crafting PA's will kill the game just like it has for AC2, granted it has other problems but thats one of the biggest ones.

The devs have said from day one, that the game will be playable and enjoyable for the casual game. Fun and enjoyable for the guy who barely gets 3-5 hours a week in. Now imagine only being able to /sample for resources about twice a minute. Well there's ur problem, u need a harvester. Ok no wait u need a power harvester first. Oh wait, you need credits to pay for solar harvester. Oh wait, you need to doXXX amount of"FedEx" missions to be able to pay for this structure for the entire week since you wont be able to get back on untill next weekend. Oh wait, you realise youve been doing fedex missions for 3 days now. Oh wait your wife has left you for doing nothing but playing a delivery guy for the past 3 days. Oh wait, your boss called 27 hours ago to say your fired.

Over exaguration is my ability, but you get what im saying about how impossible it is for the casual gamer.

Oh yeah by the way u somehow have to spend the next weekend gathering resources. Since u dont have anymore time after that u have to wait till next weekend to do your fedex missions. Oh wait ur structures are gon ebecause u didnt pay rent. FORCLOSURE FOR YOU! You give up and cancel your account! Oh wait, u should have done that on day one when u realised how silly the system is

I hate this. It sucks. There's so many freaking bugs in the game and you nerf Artisans?!?! For example, did you fix the freaking runtime error? NO! Instead harvesters, which have been buggy and expensive and problematic due to Houdini mineral movements now ALSO stop when they hit 99%! It also takes longer to sample... now my chances of getting whacked on are greater as it takes a longer time to get the same amount of ore when I manually sample.

Do you prohibit scouts from killing a creature more than once a minute, or anything similar? Of course not! I agree that forced grouping is bad too for a variety of reasons; we are west coasters on an east coast server (because the W. Coast servers were down for extra time after launch), so when we play it's not even like there's lots of people ON. We also like to be loners to some degree; makes organizing things easier, and there's less people to quibble with. I have seen master medics, a master surgeon, a master artisan or two... I have seen LOTS of people who have gone through their respective trees fairly quickly... I suspect this is because people have been macroing while AFK. Or was it you didn't want too many people to have houses or kick ass armor early on and they do?

Regardless, this SUCKS. Artisan was already hard, esp. being a droid person, making mouse droids at 140xp a pop to get to 48k for next level... it's not been EASY and esp. at lower levels you don't make much money! Why was this worth it? Have I said already how STUPID this is?

Galatea

It's been said, but I'll say it again, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Sure, those who flew through their brackets are runnin around in Chitlin Armor with their Jawa Ion Cannons...great times. I mean, I'm almost to Master Artisan myself, but I'm also goin in on rifleman and scout...sooo, in order for me to get to AT LEAST novice weaponsmith, this means that I have to collect 70,000 crafting XP and I can't get there because I can't collect bone or hide. The larger animals take too much firepower for what they're worth and there aren't enough of them at that(to put down the idea of a group). Yeah, now there is a monopoly, the rich get more rich because they can sell stuff for more money (because it is tough for them to collect), and we (even as artisans ourselves) have to buy their overpriced goods cause we can't harvest enough to make our own. Slick move, I must say...UNNNHHH DONKEY-PUNCH!!!

I don't see these problems myself.

On the NERF: Well upon sampling I did notice a much slower rate and higher action cost...however I also noticed a much higher yield per sample. No more 2-3 units. On average with a 60% or above density I am getting 7-10 units. The action cost is understandable as most Artisans I saw pre-"nerf" had health equivalent to brawlers....and that just doesnt make sense. if you train in artisan and a combat role, you have to expect some compromise...prior to this there was no compromise.

On the money it takes to run a harvester: This is not a problem. Save some money, you don't HAVE to do any missions at all. Resources hard to come by? Sell what you make for more money then. Earn money by training...take another profession etc etc

The resource density too low on a 90% survey is a problem but they are working on it.

After playing with my artisan last night all night...I can say I am in favor of these changes.

No they don't prohibit scouts from killing more than 1 time per minute.....but they do take damage and if they fight anything worthwhile they will need to rest to recover conbat wounds, and battle fatigue is a limiting factor also....let us not forget wounds.

The only possible benefit to the Artisan nerf is that it will probably drive people out of that skill tree. There have been way too many people crafting in the game since its inception.

Of course I agree that now people like myself who were on there way to Master Artisan are going to suffer the most, since the players lucky enough to have made it that far before the nerfing will begin to dominate the markets for crafted goods, but at least I might finally be able to sell something.

Speaking of selling something, for any of you people that cliam you don't need to run delivery missions at all to get the credits to run the way-too-expensive harvesters, who claim that you can make all of your credits selling stuff, I ask this (and I really do want an answer): What are you selling? How much are you selling it for? And where are you selling it? Please provide specific details because I firmly believe that anyone at my level or lower in Artisan development cannot make a living selling items. I've got Eng IV, Dom II, Bus II and Survey IV and nothing I have the ability to craft sells on the bazzar (except for bone armour, and I don't have very reliable access to the resources for that).

The people that are already up there did not sell anything as an artisan. They did what I plan to do. They made their harvesters and did delievery missions to fund them and grinded like all hell to get to elite professions. I don't consider myself a power gamer. I am at Eng IV and Survey IV and I plan on making novice DE in 5 days or playing maybe 2-3 hours per day and only running a mineral harvester and a wind generator. That's not so tough now that you break it down. I looked at 28k GCXP before and I was intimidated but since I've broken it down I've realized that it's not that bad at all. I am in favor of these recent changes and I am by no means one of the rich ones or one that has people feeding themresources or anything like that.

I know fighters have to rest and all that... but so do I (while sampling). They not only increased the sampling rate, but GREATLY increased the amount of energy it takes to sample. If they had to change stuff so that things slow down, it sounds like they knew it in beta, why leave it there and then take it away and HORRIBLY nerf us? This is what I can think of (off the top of my head), that they did:

To reclaim harvester you need 3000 instead of 1500 credits (you lose these when you actually reclaim the harvesters)

rate of energy consumption seems to be 25 (?) units per hour (for harvesters). It used to be you put energy in to restart a harvester, which I agree was low, but the new rate is extreme

Change resources about every 24 hours (so you could have just put money in the harvester and then poof they change the resource so all your harvester does is burn money & power)

changed sampling to once every 25 seconds

changed energy spent per sampling event from like 160 to 272.

harvesters need to be at 100% inegrity or they shut down (and still spend power/credits to just sit there)


This is a LOT to change in basically one patch. If you gimped harvesters, and you INSISTED on changing the sampling to 25 seconds, could you have left the cost the same? I swear I sample like 10 times and I have to rest! This is hard to do when creatures are around...

my two frustrated credits worth...

I actually LIKE the change to manual sampling. Before, it took 164 action from me each round, and by the time the next round came, I had 'regenerated' 150 of it. So I could survey for approx 23 minutes non-stop. Now, it takes 272 action each round, but by the time the next round comes along, I'm fully regenerated. Now, I can infinitely sample while crafting No more macros, no more running out of action. I usually sample while AT the keyboard chatting or crafting, so the effect to me is minimal. I've never needed a harvester, since I'm doing two things at once.

My answer to RNickerson's Post

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Speaking of selling something, for any of you people that cliam you don't need to run delivery missions at all to get the credits to run the way-too-expensive harvesters, who claim that you can make all of your credits selling stuff, I ask this (and I really do want an answer): What are you selling? How much are you selling it for? And where are you selling it? Please provide specific details because I firmly believe that anyone at my level or lower in Artisan development cannot make a living selling items. I've got Eng IV, Dom II, Bus II and Survey IV and nothing I have the ability to craft sells on the bazzar (except for bone armour, and I don't have very reliable access to the resources for that).

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I apologize that this is repetitious with my post on a previous thread. I have been concentrating on weapons with some bone armor. I am pretty much where you are with Eng, Dom, etc.. I make CDEF pistols, carbines and rifles. I throw some bone armor in there as well. I am an artisan, scout, marksman and HAVE to take a break from mining and crafting every now and then. I shoot up some stuff, harvest some bone and hide and make and sell bone armor.

I sell my CDEF's for about 100 creds each. I sell about 90% of what I make and put on the bazzaar. I am getting ahead of the game. I am probably banking about 1000 credits a day. Nothing big, but I am getting ahead.

That being said, I will only put on the bazaar for sale, what is the VERY BEST of what I can make at any given level. For those metals that work best for weapons, I survey and sample EVERY type on my planet after a given rotation of resources. Same thing with Petros. Then I examine them for their qualities and only mine the two (metal + petro for CDEF) that will make the best weapons. I then customize everything I make with experimentation. NO EXCEPTIONS. If the max damage that I can make with experimentation is 55 (actually what I can do is higher) then I will only sell those that make it. If a gun comes out at 54, it is destroyed. I don't put anything up on the bazzaar that I would not carry and shoot myself. NO EXCEPTIONS.

When I advance a level and get more experimentation points, I have gone to the bazaar, taken everything off that is currently posted there and destroyed it myself.

After the most recent crafting nerf, I would say that 1-2 out of 5 weapons I make can make my personal "cuts". Since I am a hunter as well, I check the bazaar each day for weapons that I might buy (which I am "certified" to use) that might make me a better hunter. Frankly, the quality of weapons overall is pretty poor. I know the base stats for CDEF's for each level of engineering. Most of what is on the bazaar is made without the best components and with little effort in experimentation. Probably takes too much time and effort for someone powering through.

Am I behind the curve of power levelers? Yep. Is my product better than theirs. I am pretty sure of it. Especially from what I see on the market.

Take the time to make quality. It WILL sell.

I said it before and I will say it again. If you can gather more resources sampling than by using a harvester then there was something wrong.Look up the definitionof sampling in the dictionaryand you will probably get an idea of how the developers view it. Sampling should be used to gather a small amount of a material/resource for testing. It is not for gathering a large amount of materials and resources. If you want to gather a large amount of resources then use a harvester. If macro sampling gathers more materials than a harvester, then why buy or use a harvester?

Also, if its more effective to use a disposableharvester instead of a fully maintained one then why maintain a harvester?

These problems/bugs/exploits werefixed and I am glad. The only reason some people are complaining is because they got used to things being so easy. A lot of people skilled up to the elite professions by grinding and taking advantage of these bugs while others actually tried to sell items and paid maintenance on our harvesters. Those of us trying to sell our wares had to deal with people who gave away equipment or flooded the market. This fix is also a fix to theeconomy. Nowarchitects can sell some of the high end harvesters. Its now worth it for a merchant to lower his maintenance cost by learning the Efficiency line. Surveyors can now make a living selling resources to other artisans. Artisans can now justify charging more for their goods.

I made master artisan by doing a few missions to get enough credits to buy the resources I needed. It was a lot quicker than sampling and its not like missions are difficult. I would sell some items in the bazaar and destroy the rest. When I had enough for harvesters, I would do enough missions to cover my expenses (maintenance, practice, etc)while selling bone armor and other items. I hit master artisan without having tosample 24/7 or use exploding harvesters.

The artisan profession and its elite branches are not cheap or easy but they can be rewarding. Think about all the times you sell something and a customer comes back to you saying "That (item name) is awesome. I'm going to recommend you to my friends." If you don't think hearing something like that is worth the extra effort or you can't handle being an artisan now that the "Easy Mode" has been disabled then you need to look into a different profession.

What I am selling:

29-60 CDEF weapons, 750 credits on the bazaar, have no problem selling them.

Bone Armor - Sells good, prices ranging from 800 - 1750 credits, depending on the piece and on the quality. More than enough to pay for my 4 harvesters.

Clothing - From Head Wraps (200 credits) to Weighted Wookie Pullovers (1000 credits). I don't make as much clothing as I should, but on a percentage basis, clothing sells better than even armor or weapons (meaning that if I make 20 clothing items, the at least 15 of them will sell and sell soon).

I have never run delivery missions for cash. If I am going from one town to another to run errands, then I WILL pick up delivery missions, cause its free money, but I have never spent a night running missions just to make cash. I haven't had to.

The only grind I did was for the last 2000 points I needed to get Master Artisan, everything else has been gotten through Crafting and UXP.

-=Hallie Starshine=-