Bio Engineer Archive
Thread: Publish 12/16 Bugs and issues
Page 11 of 11
Ackeko
Sun Jan 25, 2004 10:53 pm
#131
Not gonna read 7 pages of the same complaints.
I am however, going to explain something to everyone.
I was one of (not the first) but one of the first master BE's after launch. I spent months documenting DNA, sources, and results. I have 3 full legal size note pads sitting next to me on my desk dealing with creature stats and cloning.
After 3 notepads, and countless weeks/months of work, I determined that it wasn't worth my time to try and further document the system. I was unable to come up with anything concrete, and the total lack of any documentation was more than frustrating. It is rediculous. I don't work for SOE. They work for me.
I stopped playing my BE character. I went to another server for 2 months while they tried to 'fix' our proffesion. I came back after the patch, made about 50 pets, and quit again. For this reason: NO DOCUMENTATION!! I was a master of my proffesion and I was back at SQUARE
Pick a class, and class that makes anything. Even scout. In the schematic, you are told that stat 'x' will have 'x'% impact on your final product. You can look at your resources, and decide that resource 'a' is better suited to making a better product than resource 'b'. As a BE, i dont get that for clones. I get it in tisuues, but not in clones.
Second - I want to show you something:
Schematic for UberGun:
Requires:
25 Steel
15 Chem
5 Polymer
Dmg: OQ 50% UT 50%
Speed: OQ 50% Cond 50%
I go out, collect the resources and I accidentally collect3 types of steel. (Hey, i'm an idiot, sue me)
I look at the steel and I have this:
Kirkium Steel with these stats
OQ 700
UT 700
Cond 700
Titanium Steel with these stats
OQ 700
UT 700
Cond 700
SoeisiumSteel with these stats
OQ 700
UT 700
Cond 700
Now, I have been told by the weaponsmith Dev, that not all resources are created equal. That better steel, collected from a better spot, will make better guns, and lesser steel, from a lesser spot will make lesser guns.
So how do I decide which is best? they all have the same stats. I remember that architects can tell the 'quality' of a resource. So I have to go find one, and ask him. I ask him, and he says, 'I don't really remember', so I take him to the spots where I got them, and have him look. He tells me that the Soeisium is the least of the 3, and the titanium is the best.
So I go back to my lab, and make a gun.
I get an UberGun with these stats:
Dmg: 100-200
Speed 2.0
I say eh, not bad, so I make another one, with the same materials.
I get an UberGun with these stats:
Dmg: 200-250
Speed 3.0
I say... hmmmmm
So I make another one:
I get an UberGun with these stats:
Dmg: 150-175
Speed 1.5
Now I am beyond perplexed. I go to the message boards and read that it somehow matters which resources I put into the crafting tool first. So I go beat my head against a wall for a while, pound out which order to put the stuff in, and finally get a gun that I can make consistently:
an UberGun with these stats:
Dmg: 150-200
Speed 2.3
So, I make about 10 of em, and put em on my vendor. Except no one buys em. Why? Because most people cannot use an UberGun with those stats. They know that if the stats were different, they could use it, but they aren't so they can't. So I go back to the lab, burn 4-5 hours a day for 3 weeks, write everything down and still can't figure out what I am doing wrong.
Back to the message boards. I find out that someone has descovered that my stats on my resources are too high. So, now I must find new resources. so on and so forth...
However, if I had just a tiny bit of info... I wouldn't have to waste my time (THAT I AM PAYING FOR) trying to learn the 'rules'
Next point: Certs, ease of use, and CL
Buy items from the following:
Architect: Anyone can use all products, no matter how wonderful.
Armorsmith: Anyone can use all products, no matter how wonderful.
Tailor: Anyone can use all products, no matter how wonderful.
Weaponsmith: Anyone can use all products, no matter how wonderful, as long as you are certed. If a weaponsmith could make a 400-700dmg 1.0 speed CDEF pistol, anyone could use it.
Smuggler: Anyone can use all spice, no matter how wonderful.Rest of crafted items are smuggler specific.
DE: Anyone can use all products (Except BH droids), no matter how wonderful.
Doctor/Medic: Anyone can use all products, no matter how wonderful as long as they have the correct Med use skill. And that can be experimented on. FYI ~ better resources yield a lower Med use rating off the bat.
Combat medic: Only combat medics can use. Also has a Ease of Use experimentation option to lower CM med use lvl.
Ranger/Scout: Class specific items.
BE: Blindly making pets with no real idea of outcome unless duplicating the wild. Only exception is those who spend countless hours/days/weeks trying to figure out the system.
Why this is relevant:
BE is an interdendant class. We make no class specific items. Our items are meant to be sold.
Ackeko
Sun Jan 25, 2004 11:17 pm
#132
woops... stupid tab button.
Like I was saying: We are meant to sell our pets. Yet here we are, as always, trying to guess what we are sposed to do. Trying to guess how to make our wares. Trying to guess what happened when we used the same material to make 3 pets and got 3 wildly different results.
Guess... guess... guess. Can anyone prove to me that we can't make 'invalid' pets anymore? If there was documentation, I missed it, and sorry. But I'm willing to guess that there wasn't.
I am grinding holos with another toon. I have swore up and down that the minute I pull 'you must master BE' on a holo, I am quitting. This proffesion is that messed up.
For those of you who werent BE from the start, this is what you have to look forward too:
History of BE proffesion:
Launch
Master can make 30+ pets. 1/3-1/2 of which are 'bugged' and cannot be tamed by anyone.
Pets we can make (even at master level) cannot compete with wild pets. Its not even close.
Tissue line requires materials that aren't in the game.
Tissue line requires that most items be made in a factory. Which they cannot.
Patch 1, ~4 months after launch: We can now use factories - with that patch, came a nerf. Half the items in the tissue line had wildly different stats then prepatch, when they were worthless anyways.
Patch 2 ~2 months later: A total redesign of the cloning tree, the pets that can be used, the method of crafting, the process of crafting, and the ability to make 'invalid' pets.
Patch 3 ~3-4 weeks later: A nerf to invalid pets, not the ability to make them.
Patch 4 ~??? Who knows... maybe a total redesign? Maybe another nerf?
My point is: BE is a class that will forever be broken. There will never be documentation. There never has been. Our Dev is either very over-worked, or is totally incompetent. We have never been told anything from day one. We /bug things. We ask for clarification. We ask for a HINT. A FREAKING HINT!! as to how this is supposed to work. We get nada.
We strive to be part of the community. To contribute to the game. To have a class that is fun to play and doesn't require me going out, and doing 100+ hours of my own documentation to figure out how it works. NO other class has that problem. Every other class, crafter or combat, is cut and dry. (Small exception - smugglers have yet to be told if the quality of their tools affects slicing. A debate that could be answered in 30 seconds by anyone at SOE who gave a **edit**.)
Joe rifleman doesn't need to do 100+ hours of ducumentation to see what his specials do. They are listed there for him to read before he ever gets them. Sally weaponsmith gets told exactly what resources are needed to make any weapon, and is also told what stats on those resources are important.
If you hand me 2 types of copper with similar statsandtell me which stat is more important. I can tell you without a doubt which one is better. If you hand me 2 dna samples with similar numbers from animals that aren't right next to me, I don't have a CLUE which one is 'better' (better = makes a bigger pet).
For all of you 'you should take the time to figure it out ppl' - ill tell you what, we'll add some rules to the game that only apply to you. If you break em, we'll ban you from the game. If you don't, hey, no big deal. Sound like fun?
Oh... want to know what the rules are......?
Go figure it out.
Page 11 of 11