Development Cycle Archive
Thread: On Mandalorian Armor
Mandalorian Armor should be something very hard to make. But it should also be something not everyone can wear. I've always thought that high-level armors should be certifications given on master of a specific profession. Mandalorian armor should be a certification that Bounty Hunters get. This would be a special gift to those that dedicate themselves to the Bounty Hunter profession, be craftable by Armorsmiths, and keep it as rare as possible (since no one is going to master Bounty Hunter just for Mandalorian Armor unless it's lighter than Composite).
Combining the certification idea with your dungeon would make sure that existing products would not become obsolete suddenly, keep the armor to the class of people typically assigned in canon to wearing this armor, and set up a nice precident that mastering X profession comes with goodies other than +5 Ranged Defense.
Of course, the armor would be completely unwearable by anyone not certified in it, and the other armors can be certified from the get go or added in at specific levels (say, Composite given at the Novice elite combat professions).
I'm not an armoursmith and I am a wookiee so I have zero vested interests in Mandalorian armour. I just wanted to chime in, as a crafter, about all these 'curse these crafters who charge out the butt for stuff'.
Have you ever looked at the prices people charge for rare components? If this new armour requires rare loots, you can bet the combat classes who loot this want bucketloads of money for it - perhaps they want to 'gouge' the 'ultra rich' crafters. This in turn drives the final product price up, which stands to reason. It's a vicious circle.
I cringe when people ask me to make krayt weapons, and ask me to furthermore procure the tissues independently. Why? Because I know I will have to pay through the nose for them. Which in turn will affect the final price. Which the customer than blanches at and slots it as another example of crafter greediness. Do you think I want to tell someone asking for a krayt enhanced laser rifle they'll need to spend around 400k on materials *alone*? Do you think I pull this number out of my hat? I'd like to be able to offer reasonable prices but I cannot with how the market is. Like it as not, combat classes are every bit as responsible for determining high prices for such items.
The geonosian stuff has been a veritable nightmare. However if people bring me schematics and componentsI am happy to build a prototype or two out of the schematic for nothing in exchange for the rest of the schematic. I'm sure most crafters will accomodate in this fashion. The problem arises when people wish to buy outright a finished product, i.e. not provide the schematic or any loot components. These have to be bought; they will be priced extortionately and the final price is thusly derived from there.
So next time you cuss out a 'greedy' crafter for trying to extort you when you ask for a difficult product requiring several loots and you can't provide these yourself - ask yourself where the crafter had to get these. Odds are it's a combat classer wishing to 'cash in'. You look at the price of krayt pearls for example.
If I was an armoursmith and someone brought all the rare loots, the schematic, even if it's single use, I'd base my price off the other materials *alone*. When people bring me krayt tissues, I charge only the cost of the gun they want made as I have them priced on my vendor - so just purely my materials. If asked for one outright without providing anything, I'd have to buy the schematic and buy all the loots. The price of which is out of my control. And on top of that I"d have to be sure it was purely for their use and not for reselling. Nothing I dislike more than being as accomodating as possible to have them turn around and extort someone else.
Bottom line - extortion is universal and not exclusive to crafters.
Awesome !
But, will it have shifting stats like RIS has since it was released ?
Some Concept Art for the Mandalorian / Death Watch Armor.
http://www.duffzone.co.uk/framegrab_script.php?img=eabf19/01042004193716.jpg
=P
I agree with an above poster in that you cater to the armorsmiths way too much and they are the wealthiest players because of it. It is almost a necessity to wear armor as the wookie community has discovered. Armor not only gets a usage decay but a death penalty decay as well. If anything, only give armorsmiths a component schematic that has to be combined with other components made from the other crafting professions. That way the other crafting professions can benefit from this equally.