Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: About DE only combat droids. My 2 credits.
If I'm not mistaken, the CL16 is a left over from the Pre-Nerf days, meaning that a Prenerf Probot is CL16 and not the current Probot.
But there wont be a Droid Handler class ... nor will there be Droid Certifications for awhile.
If you'd like to see DE only combat droids would that not be a Droid Certification? I agree with everything else you said but why would DE only droids be any easier to implement than say Master Combat Profession droid certification?
My opinion is that we should be able to use the droids we make in addition toselling useful droids thatsupportthe other professions. If quality combat droids were available to masters of elite combat professions you wouldnt combat types dabbling in DE just for the extra power,as seen with CH. It would encourage sales,vitalize the DE profession, and discourage dabbler's who have an extraincentive to master their respective combat profession.
Have the Droid Handler/Certification ideas been decided upon?
No nothing has been decided when it comes to the Droid Handler/Droid certifications but the length of time it would take to impliment those would mean we wont see them anytime soon.
By Droid Certifications I mean for other classes ... i.e. Master Smuggler gets this droid ...etc.
Anyhow, I am glad everyone has an idea on this. That means we will haev some good discussion and by the time something is implimented, and IF theylisten to us we will have a good solution.
One thing I should say is ... if you dont want a DE only combat droid, just dont use one? I know it sounds simplistic but again there will be a certain maximum level of combat droid available to the general public. regardless if we get a better one or not.
So the pure crafters dont have to use one. And those that do wantone get one. Heck how can you go wrong there? Everyone is happy then ... simplistic I know but it makes sense to me. Maybe I should get some sleep and then post 
By the way .. there is NO way our current Probot is CL16. The pre-nerf was CL16. I have various other toons, some with CL10 to 15 pets and the CL 10 pets would chew up a probot of today.
Jaerle wrote:
For once I disagree with you. A CL40 droid? I know that's just a random number, but that is just going to open the floodgates on people coming to the profession just for that droid.
Jaerle, the 'floodgates' are already open, or haven't you noticed the influx of new Novices that are playing the 'Holocron says....' game.
Sintrosi, if you get the chance, can youcheck your PM box, or head over to this thread
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=35920
Its a bit on the lengthy side, so be warned.
Holocrons do not mean the floodgates are open. Besides, the holocronDE's master then move on.
Choosing not to use the combat droid is not the issue. It's changing the nature of the class from a crafting class to one that is more combat oriented. I think that's a bad idea.
From what you said in your post, does this mean that they are going to add the combat droids before they fix our current bugs? (i.e. the repair droid that cannot repair, the droid colors still fading even on new droids, the BLL that has no use, etc, etc)
I'd rather they fix our glaring bugs first. Like giving our droids functionality, etc based on the chassis type. I don't think they should waste their time on combat droids in leiu of fixing our bugs.
Sintrosi wrote:
By the way .. there is NO way our current Probot is CL16. The pre-nerf was CL16. I have various other toons, some with CL10 to 15 pets and the CL 10 pets would chew up a probot of today.
There isn't?? Strange cause my Probot I crafted 1-2 weeks ago (not advanced it's a basic one) has CL16. If this is only me I must be bugged.
Sintrosi wrote:
One thing I should say is ... if you dont want a DE only combat droid, just dont use one? I know it sounds simplistic but again there will be a certain maximum level of combat droid available to the general public. regardless if we get a better one or not.
So the pure crafters dont have to use one. And those that do wantone get one. Heck how can you go wrong there?
How can you go wrong? I'm a Droid Engineer, a CRAFTER. I make things to sell to others. I have enough competition from other CRAFTERS who want to sell product, the last thing I need is competition and lost sales to people who only take up DE to get the cool new DE-only Droid.
Let's face it, if the potential new DE-only Droid isn't strong enough to be desireable, all the DE's that called for it will be ticked off and whine even more. If it is as or more desireable than an equivelant CH pet then those looking for power will gring DE instead of CH,a hell of alot easier and less skill points to boot. So those of us who wish to Craft and Sell Droids will have our markets affected by those who mainly wish to Use them....this is not the way to work a crafting profession.
And another thing, to those of you that keep pressing this "greed" button, get off it. There is nothing wrong with desiring fewer competitors. Even less wrong with wanting those competitors to actually be crafters, and not someone just looking for extra support when they go on high paying missions. If there's a greedy side to this argument, it's not the merchant side...
Ogge_the_Lizard wrote:
There isn't?? Strange cause my Probot I crafted 1-2 weeks ago (not advanced it's a basic one) has CL16. If this is only me I must be bugged.
Sintrosi is refering to the fact that the CL16 that is being displayed is not the actual level of the Probot. The Pre-nerf Probot was a CL16 with around 3200 HAM, which is in line with non-CH CL15 pets.
Jaerle, do you honestly believe that hundreds of people are going to use up 92 Skill points (what it wouldrequire to gain Master DE, Novice Artisan, and the Engineeringtree)in order to gain 1 or maybe 2 Droids just so that they can call 1 Droid that is slightly better than any of the other droids that they could get by becoming a Novice Elite Combat Class?
I wrote:
Jaerle, do you honestly believe that hundreds of people are going to use up 92 Skill points (what it wouldrequire to gain Master DE, Novice Artisan, and the Engineeringtree)in order to gain 1 or maybe 2 Droids just so that they can call 1 Droid that is slightly better than any of the other droids that they could get by becoming a Novice Elite Combat Class?
It should have read....
Jaerle, do you honestly believe that hundreds of people are going to use up 92 Skill points (what it wouldrequire to gain Master DE, Novice Artisan, and the Engineeringtree)in order to gain 1 or maybe 2 Droids that you can call, so that you can have 1 MDE-only Droid that is slightly better than any of the other droids that they could get by becoming a Novice Elite Combat Class?
Really does depend on the level of the droid. When you factor in their armor they are quite good at taking damage even at their current level.
I have no concept of what CL40 means really, but it seems substantially higher than what even the prenerf Probots were, and when you tack on the armor, which they have to fix some day, you have quite a powerful droid.
Do I see hundreds?I have no idea, but if people can get a droid that is similar in strength to the CH pet, why wouldn't they choose the droid route? Takes fewer skill points to climb to MDE.
This really is speculation until we know a) will they give us the exclusive droid and b) the level of said droid.
Ockale_MDE wrote:
How can you go wrong? I'm a Droid Engineer, a CRAFTER. I make things to sell to others. I have enough competition from other CRAFTERS who want to sell product, the last thing I need is competition and lost sales to people who only take up DE to get the cool new DE-only Droid.
Let's face it, if the potential new DE-only Droid isn't strong enough to be desireable, all the DE's that called for it will be ticked off and whine even more. If it is as or more desireable than an equivelant CH pet then those looking for power will gring DE instead of CH,a hell of alot easier and less skill points to boot. So those of us who wish to Craft and Sell Droids will have our markets affected by those who mainly wish to Use them....this is not the way to work a crafting profession.
I have a big issue with this arguement. Do you see a huge amount of Weaponsmiths or Armorsmiths that flock to those professions just so that they can make their own weapons? Yes, there aren't any WS or AS only items (yet), but do you see this happening now? I think that manykeep missing the point of what is being said byquite a fewof the DE-only side of the arguement. I don't speak for everyone here, but a good number of us are asking for a Combat Droid at MDE that is slightly better than want anyone else will be able to use, if they have a cert from one of the Elite combat Classes.
I'll use the example of the concept idea that I composed on this thread;
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/messageboard.id=droid_engineer&message.id=35920
Droideka - The Ultimate in combat droids, the Droideka, or Destroyer, would make a great addition to the DEs repertoire of droids. Acquired at Blueprints IV, the suggested stats for the Droideka are as follows; 1200 to 2500 HAM, 75 to 200 damage, and a maximum armor rating of Medium 75% Armor. Due to the extreme dedication, this module of the Droideka doesn't have any room to spare on Service Modules.
Advanced Droideka - To satisfy those that want a better combat droid that only Droid Engineers can use, may I present the Advanced Droideka. Available at Master Droid Engineer and only useable by Master Droid Engineers, this will ensure that only those that have dedicated themselves to the profession will be able to use them. The suggested stats are as follows; 1500 to 3000 HAM, 85 to 225 damage, and a maximum rating of Medium 80% Armor. Besides the upgraded HAM, damage, and armor, three other features make the Advanced Droideka a worthy prize to any Master DE. 1) 3 Droid Service Module slots 2) Optional Shielding, which could either increase the armors maximum value to Heavy 20% or max out the Medium armors resistances to 100% 3) A slightly larger appearance than the basic module.
I appoligize for throwing in the cut and paste link to my thread again on this thread, but I've already had a few comments from a few different soruces, including PMs, that like what it is that I wrote out, but haven't yet posted their thoughts on the thread yet. I'm trying to get some more feed back from people so that I can try and compose a new concept thread. By doing this, we DE can work together to try and creat a plan to give to the DEVs and show them how its done. I know that Sintrosi does a wonderful job, as does Gorantoth, but I am trying to help out as well and the only way that I can do this is with some feed back from those that care to take the time to read a 4 page monster.
Personally, I agree with Sintrosi completely.
Let's face it, if the potential new DE-only Droid isn't strong enough to be desireable, all the DE's that called for it will be ticked off and whine even more.
Well, if it was another DZ70 that can be incapped in one hit by a durni, then that would indeed be bad. But I believe that it's safe enough to assume that if the combat droids that are generally available are competetive with the non-CH pets, then any combat droid that's DE-only will probably bea little bit better, and that will be fine by me.
If it is as or more desireable than an equivelant CH pet then those looking for power will gring DE instead of CH,a hell of alot easier and less skill points to boot.
What do you mean by 'equivalent'? Of the same CL? That's actually pretty meaningless. The only 'equivalence' that will matter to the real powergamers is how many skill points they need to invest in order to be able to use it, and ifthe best CH pet that becomes usable for the same investment in skill points is better than the DE-only combat droid, then the power gamers will remain Creature Handlers. Anyone who grinds DE just in order to get the special combat droid will be doing it because they really like droids, and I don't see anything wrong with that.
So those of us who wish to Craft and Sell Droids will have our markets affected by those who mainly wish to Use them....
But if a DE-only combat droid is implemented sensibly, that won't be an issue.
And another thing...
Nowhere is it set in stone that Droid Engineer is a pure crafting profession and not a combat/crafting hybrid. A lot of people have the impression that it is, and that SOE originally intended this to be the case, but I'm not so sure. Given the current state of the DE code, I'm not sure that it's even possible to accurately guess what they wanted us to be... But in my mind, Droid Engineering is all about versatility.
Nor is it written anywhere that there must be risk involved in any endeavour that gives a character greater combat potential. That's the sort of narrow thinking that made me leave Anarchy Online, where Funcom promised their players that there would be non-combat related missions for people who just wanted to build things, but eventually theyrefused to put them in because they simply could not get their heads around the idea that there could be reward without danger of character death.Intelligently played, doing combat missions and gaining combat experience is completely safe. The only thing that any character invests to gain any skill is time.
Anyway, I guess I'm going to get flamed now, so I'll leave it there...