Doctor Archive

Well I was of mixed emotions when I heard they were nerfing creature handling for dabblers.

Until I read that I will no longer be able to have my medical droid out at the same time as my pet.

So more datapad swapping and camp kits to get around that... I can't help but wonder if the devs are just trying to irritate people or what?

I'm not sure this is such a bad thing, we may have to take a hit for the team on this one. For those that haven't read the forum posts elsewhere, I understand that non CHs, and indeed everyone except CH masters, can only call one of any kind of pet at a time (creature, droid or faction pet). Master CHs will be able to call two creatures.

The thing is, we've seen people running around with pets as if this was some right, so Docs, Medics and CMs could have a tank to hide behind in battle. There have been wars raging on the forum about how Starwarsy SWG is. To my mind, everyone running around with 2 or 3 pets out deviated a little from what I have seen and read about the SW extended universe.

So, we can no longer call creatures at the same time as our med droids, that's true. The thing is, should medics be using pets to hide behind, or should we be relying on other players? A medic of any kind is never going to last in a fight (well, maybe a TK/medic). I don't think the restriction on pets is perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think it's a total nerf.

I'm probably most put out that I won't be able to ride a mount and have a droid follow me, but maybe a better answer would be to just relax the restrictions on when a droid can be pulled. Again, this is something that was hinted at in the DE post.

I think, whilst this is a bit aggravating, it might force better thought out hunting parties. The balance to the CH tree means that medics might have more player damage to heal as less pets will be out, and we'll be even more vital to a party than before (I hope). Meanwhile, everyone will be clamouring for the Master CHs so they can pull tanks for the group.

So, make your choice - your brackaset or your 2-1B...

I don't mind this so much. My opinion: it's preparing the way for true combat droids. They just don't want people to have a combat droid and a good non-CH pet out at the same time.

I just noticed the Month stated in this post. Was there an indicator this would actually make it into the November Publish? It's not on Test now and I don't think they really have a lot of tine to get it there for the November Publish. I would think the earliest this would fall into place woudl be December, but you never know.

I'm not to fond of the idea, though. I mean it's ok in principal to prevent multiple combat pets being out, but prevention of non-combat pets would make this a pretty painful thing. Is there really a huge problem with someone buffing their pet in the field that we absolutely have to have a camp or find a house to do it? Worse, that we would have to rely on the level of our Scout/Ranger friend who set up that camp as to how good out buff would be? (Camps have heal modifieers, for those who may not have known.)

I think this may be an unintended consequence of this policy that they may jsut not have realized. I am trying to get more info on the Corre forum, though, about all the med droid related stuff, inluding this part that came in from that CH thread.

I am happy to see this happen. I tried hiding behind a pet, and found that I had no fun. My little kitty is just there as a pet, and my droid as a droid. Since pets get stuck so much as server boundries, I just swear them off most of the time.

When pets first showed up, the rate of injured players dropped precipitously. Where once wound healing was easy, it literally became HARD to find wounded players. When pets become more rare, medics and doctors should have more roles to play in the game, rather than just be glorified vets.

I hope.

Dr. Vema Gara

We just won't have much of a chance at defending ourselves...

Well I know it may not seem like much of a nerf now (because combat droids are so useless)... but I don't see why they have to prevent both a droid and pet from being out at the same time.

I can understand if it's restricted to 1 pet or 1 COMBAT droid.

But why a non-combat droid? It's not like you have to control and order it around in a fight.

Zarlor... you might suggest to the devs to limit this restriction to 1 petor 1 combat droid. Seriously, this is not fun and just makes the game more frustrating and irritating.

(How am I supposed to give up Novice Scout if I need a camp to pull out a droid?!)

As the proposed changes seem to make Master CH more appealing to achieve, maybe the devs could consider a benefit for Master Doc (and maybe Master CM?) for pulling a med specific (non combat) droid anywhere? This might give Master Doc something a bit special as a reward for the med grind, and tie in with the proposed DE changes.

This could be a benefit for any of the Master Elite Crafters - crafting droids pulled anywhere, rather than having the ridiculous 'you have to be in a city/outside a private residence/outside of this building/in a camp/in your own house' nonsense.

Or let's go crazy and do away with pet storage on a datapad. Force CHs to have stables/zoos, and get everyone to tie their brackasets up outside the cantina...

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Soren_dVinn wrote:

(How am I supposed to give up Novice Scout if I need a camp to pull out a droid?!)

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THAT, right there, is the MAJOR flaw in this "nerf." I didn't mind it so much until I read that...

Its silly that you can't 3 Faction Personel out though. I saw it as my squad. My retinue as an Imperial Officer. And what about the 3 that I am tons of other people already have? They just sit there as wasted FP? They sure like to screw people out of FP dont they?

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Slimjim_Iapkre wrote:

I don't mind this so much. My opinion: it's preparing the way for true combat droids. They just don't want people to have a combat droid and a good non-CH pet out at the same time.

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Yeah, but it seemed that the cool combat droids to come would only be for DE's to use...

I don't think a medical droid (any non-combat droid for that matter) should count the same as a combat pet (Creature or Faction)

Ovid Delsis

I rely heavily on primarily my pet (and sometimes, my droid) in combat situations, even in groups with Commandos and Master Creature Handlers, simply because unless I need something to take the heat off of me when I'm getting slapped around. Getting hit in my Health or Action pools is no big deal, but when the mind pool starts getting attacked, it reduces my ability to contribute to the party - and sometimes, overall party survival rate. Warning shot doesn't always get a monster off of you... and when I am in a party the only reason I even have my pet & droid out (I don't generally carry a med droid during combat, or at least... I don't use wound healing during combat, so it's no big deal to me) is as shields against attack. Admittably, I can take on creatures that would /con instant death with them around, even to the point where I can take on multiple amounts of them as long as they are attacking my pet... .

I may not fully understand the full effect of this, but as long as I can use a non-CH pet, I guess I'm pretty much fine. It would be nice if we actually could use a real combat droid... even a pre-nerf Probot can be bested by a good pet, and pets can be healed.... I mean... if there're Droidekas on Lok running around kicking our butts, why can't we use Droidekas? They can't be a "lost technology" if they're there.

And with this whole other issue of losing 3% item item condition when we get incapacitated or die... then it ends up with Medics getting screwed item-wise if we are unable to protect ourselves, and having to replace what could be rather expensive items with our cash flow so dependent on the combat classes... .

[/END WHINING>

Here's my only problem with this.

I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BUFF MY PET.

There's a major problem there, since they are going to make non-CH pets lvl 10 insted of lvl 15. No more Rock bettle or Mountian Krevol. No more Light Armor pets, I'm going to need to be able to buff that pet up just to keep him alive.

This makes master rangers more important in the game and begins to level the playing field some. Whena master rangers open their "big" camps you can register with the location and actually preform better than with even a highend medical droid.