Artisan Archive

Hi,

I just learned Engineering IV, and I'm trying to decide what I should do next. The choices of course are Architect, Armorsmith, Droid Engineer, or Weaponsmith. They all sound interesting to me, and I can't decide! Of course I can dabble in all of them, but I can't master them all.

I'm wondering if anybody else is having trouble with this choice.

I'm at the same stage, so I've been talking to some of the high level artisans about the choices. I've had some rather lengthy conversations with people representing the different specializations, and I've come to some preliminary conclusions. Here are the specialties in their order of "usefulness":

Weaponsmith

Armorsmith

Droid Engineer

Architect

By "usefulness", I'm speaking of the market demand for their products. IMO, there is absolutely no incentive for working your way up to the top levels of a profession if you can't see the products you create used and appreciated. Let's take them one at a time:

Weaponsmith: There is a demand for extremely high quality weapons. The biggest demand is for the highest level weapons, like LLC's and T21's. However, with the rate of decay, this demand is a finite resource. Soon the combat classes will be maxed, and the demand will slow to a trickle. This is caused by the rate at which weapons decay. Another factor is that no new weapons are being added to the database. Low level weapons of high quality will be needed, but in very small numbers (by people who are "re-rolling" their character and working their way up a combat skill tree).

Armorsmith: While there is some demand for armor, it is not as high as for weapons. The main reason is that the types of armors in the database are extremely limited. When you combine this with the fact that the best armor is purchased with faction points rather than crafted, it makes Armorsmith almost (almost) a superfulous profession. The one saving factor is that Armor does degrade when it absorbs damage. So the armor that we can make, while unattractive and very limited, will probably be somewhat in demand.

Droid Engineer: I don't know much about this profession, basically only what I've read and learned from DE's in the game. But they don't really make anything that is needed or useful to the rest of the player-base, according to them. I'll defer to an experienced DE to describe more fully to you the advantages and disadvantages of specializing in what *should* be one of the more interesting professions.

Architect: Houses don't degrade, and new people aren't entering the game in any numbers. House sales are extremely slow, as well as factory sales (factories have huge bugs at the moment). Every Master Architect I talked to said the same thing: they haven't built a Guild Hall in weeks. Houses don't really provide anything needful to the player base as a whole. In other MMO games where there is player housing, the housing is not only "cool", but it actually serves a function in the game world. The main function in other games is item storage. However, storage in SWG takes place at banks. When you combine this with the high maintenance cost, housing is not as attractive as it could be.

I know the picture I've painted is pretty dreary and depressing. I wish it weren't so. However, climbing the artisan tree right now is basically an act of faith: faith that the developers will eventually make the changes required for crafting to be a viable and interesting profession. Everyone has ideas how they could do this, but I'm not going to go into that here. Simply read this and other forums, and you will see it discussed in great detail.

I will say this much, however. In my opinion, the main reason why crafting doesn't shine the way it should is that the player population is more or less static. Without an influx of new players, and with item degradation either extemely slow or nonexistent, the crafting profession is going to be pale, indeed. Another factor is that the limited customer base is being shared by powercrafters that have already achieved the highest rank in their specialty. As an example, there are now NINE master architects on Tatooine alonein the Kauri galaxy. The few structures they will sell are not enough to keep even one occupied full-time.

Other games I have played had a "buffer" to help crafters over these rough spots: Multiple characters on a single server. With the ability to create alternate characters, the existing player base had the capability to create it's own influx of new players. This is a great boon to a struggling economy like SWG's. However, for whatever reason, the developers have decided we only get one character.

The crafting mechanics in this game is superb. The developers just need to make what we craft useful and needed.

My $.02

Quick fire anwers

Weaponsmith - always going to be a demand since all stuff will degrade to nothing over time. Also resource shifts (and nerf/boosts) can suddenly alter the desirability of a wepon.

Armoursmith - again always going to be a demand for the same reasons

Architect - The problem with alot of Architect products is that they are'big ticket' items so not the kind of thing a player will buy lots of. Plus since its possible for a player to use his structures indefinately theres little potential for repeat business - while furtniture is lower price its also not a necessity. But you only need a few sales to make some big bucks

Droid Engineers - Droids are very broken right now, what few markets exist are not available until you level up through the skill tree which means more grinding at a loss. While there is the potential here if the devs get their fingers out dont expect this to happen anytime soon. Also DE's have suffered several nerfs since release reducing them further in whatmarket opportunities they have. I really wounld go here right now unless you like to suffer

Having said all of this, its worth pointing out that since pretty much all servers will have masters of every elite professions (which established reputations) its not going to be very easy to break into any of these markets - the existing masters have the skills, the equipment, the suppliest and the experience to produce anything in the tree - while alot of masters wont make low level items on principle it only takes one to make competition tough.

You need to play smart, check pricing, check quality and possibly locate somewhere where there isnt any competition - no point undercutting if your stuffs only half as good as theirs