Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Answers for the list of Droid Engineer Questions.
Williben wrote:
Th,
On Probots. The entire reason they quit selling was because they were nerfed into being weaker than pets. If your goal is to make them no stronger than a level 10 pet to appease ceatue handlers, then you are just wasting valuable developer time to make a change that will not help. NOBODY will be wanting, or buying, a lvl 10 probot that cannot even fight a diseased bocatt.
The Probot would roughly equal the current non-CH creatures available to everyone.
Other combat droids (supposedly coming in Jan or Feb) would be higher level droids comparable to higher level CH creatures.
It's an option if you don't have CH or whatever the droid-usage skills turn out to be.
hmm about the combatdroids and sales issue, there are people who want to have strong de only droids and people who want to sell their droids. there are no people (atleast no sain) that want to sell all droids and dont want anything they cannot salebut use. there only complaining about not enough stuff to sell and not about to much stuff they can use.
the best solution would be to give more droids and stuff and a few DE only droids so both sides should be happy.
a class specific ingame survey would be usefull on such issues. its not usefull to get infos from a few representants on the boards and a few people from other classes posting in the class forum. people that say i play this class everything is fine please nerf the class; are definitly not playing this class and there are alot of em.
As far as DEs being the only dependant/most dependant class, please do research before staking claims like that. Armorsmiths have 46 items that are dependant on items from either Tailor or MA. Every piece of armor we make (except the mabari belt, ubese shirt and bandolier) and all 3 varieties of PSGs require either Tailor cloth or MA parts. So not only do we have more dependancies, they're more difficult to meet.Picking up MA is no sweat for someone with Eng IV and Survey IV already. Picking up Tailor for the cloth and MA for PSG subcomponents? That's a lot of wasted skill points. I think the dependancies are fine, I'm happy supporting MAs and Tailors for my subcomponents, it's really not a big deal, it adds to the social aspect of the game, keeping up relationships with suppliers.
- Rorrak
Slythetove wrote:
Thunderheart wrote:The power upgrade for Probots will be pushed out to live in the next publish. Basically, they follow pet rules. After the publish, Probots can be created to the exact same as a Level 10 Pet (keeping in line with the new pet rules. If probots were more powerful, then it would devalue the CH pets…)
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This part bothers me. Making probots the "exact same as a level 10 pet" would be a big drop down in power from where they are now by my estimations. Also, CH pets SHOULD be less valuable than droids to NON creature handlers.I'm sorry, but it's true. People want to use droids, but when the CH pet alternative is equally (or more as it is now) viable they are reluctant to do so because of the other inherent issues with droids.
not sure how this can means drop in power. i mean froma a damge delt stand point the probot does less damage than lvl 10 pets and a slow refire rate to top it off
On Interdependies...
I love the fact that interdependies are being looked at and going to be tweaked. Some things I would like to see are this...
Control units and sensors going to Novice DE
- this would be a giant boost to the DEs just starting out...instead of grinding MSEs they have a sellable product.
Droid Armor modules going to Armorsmiths
- instead of having the 25% or 40% resists, they can be added with layers, durability, etc. so not all armor is exactly the same. Better resources and experimentation = better droid armor
Weapons going to Weaponsmiths
Power Cores and other delicate machinery from Architects going to DEs - We have the patience and expertise to create these items...architects should be making buildings!
I like the idea of interdepencies, gives crafters a slight challenge while sparking friendships and long lasting business deals.
xRavX wrote:
Power Cores and other delicate machinery from Architects going to DEs - We have the patience and expertise to create these items...architects should be making buildings!
I like the idea of interdepencies, gives crafters a slight challenge while sparking friendships and long lasting business deals.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!!!!!!!!
power cores are monsters to craft ....you have to have generator turbines to make them...and 2 kinds of those chips
generator turbines are resource whores....
ill say it again...a droid engineer that makes a droid that only a droid engineer can use is a pretty crappy droid engineer. the concept of your entire profession is to make a tool that anyone can use with very little training. it is your job to take prewritten software and build hardware that the software controls, and abstract the use of both to a person without the skill to do either down to a level they can handle.
if you make a droid a nonDE cant use, then you suck as a DE...its pretty logical really.
im a programmer in real life, whether im writing programs to drive robots, or a program to play mp3s...it doesnt do me any damned good to write a peice of software that only i understand, and doing so makes me a bad programmer.
you dont see cars that only automechanics can drive now do ya? 
fluidscrrcom wrote:you dont see cars that only automechanics can drive now do ya?
*chuckle* Kinda! Most mechanics I know seem to have cars that only they can keep running!
Thunderheart wrote:
Well, I've gotten clear communications from the DE community that you guys want to BUILD the combat droids but want to sell them. There is a lot of division here and I will need you guys to work with Sintrosi to get me a clear idea of what you want.
I DO hear that you want to be able to build more powerful combat droids and I will look into it, but keep in mind that the big combat balance going on is going to effect current cause and effect in combat and combat droid effectiveness will play a role in that change.
Thunderheart -
The need to limit the pet capacity of players is recognized by the DE community. On the one hand, we want to be able to make higher, more powerful droids. On the other, we know that you need to limit the firepower of players.
Personally, I would like DE to stay primarily a crafting class. However, I also know that many DE's feel strongly that they should be able to use ANY droid that they make. With this said, though, I dread DE becomming a CH clone with the need to spend tens of thousands to maintain hoppers.
The answer to this problem, I beleive is a certification system that spans all the classes. Droid Cert Points could be awarded as follows, for example:
- One point for each bubble, per level of bubble, in the non-combat starter professions (artisan, entertainer, medic scout).
- Two points for each bubble, per level of bubble, in the combat starter professions (brawler, marksman).
- Three points for each bubble, per level of bubble, in the non-combat elite and hybred professions (e.g., doctor, dancer, but excluding droid engineer).
- Four points for each bubble, per level of bubble, in the combat elite and hybred professions (e.g., Carbonier, bounty hunter, but excluding squad leader).
- Five points for each bubble, per level of bubble, in the droid engineer and squad leader skill trees.
Obviously, these values could be tweaked, but you get the general idea.
Then, use the aquired points to give a droid certification level. The higher the level, the higher the droid that you could control.
This sytem would allow EVERYONE some access to droids. It would make the DE's happy, because they get a lot of points. A pure combat person would also earn the right to have some really nice droids. Even a pure entertainer/artisan who has "been around the block" would be able to have at least limited access to some of the nicer combat droids.
I know that this idea, and similar certification ideas have been prsented before, but thought I'd send this your way in this thread for consideration.
I fail to see what CH pets have to do with droids...
they are TWO seperate things...
CH skills should have NOTHING, NOTHING, i repeat NOTHING to do with droids and faction pets for that matter. faction pets should be goverened by your faction rank
its time to totally gut CH
What they clearly need to do in that regard is make it so that there is more than one type of pet. Hopefully that won't be too hard for them to do eventually.
The code that tracks the number of pets you have out clearly makes no distinction between the CH, DE, and faction pets.
It sounds like this is going to be temporary. I sure hope it is. It's ridiculous seeing CH's running around with two AT-STs! Seeing DE's run around with two AT-ST's isn't going to be any better. 
Lets put things in perspective. Star Wars is about Droids. Star Wars Galaxies is not. This is our most fundamental problem, it is the most glaring omission, it is the most frustrating constant in a paradigm where Creatures and Combat are the determining factors for every other system in the game.
The problem is NOT that we don't make enough credits. This is a symptom of an enemic strategy concerning droids up until this point and well into the immediate future. Droids don't have presence in this game, have not for a long time, and will not ever, unless the developers are willing to pump the Droid Engineering profession full of steroids. This is a GCW issue. This is a "Star Warsy Feel" issue. This is not just a DE issue. Giving our Humanoid Droids weapons is putting a hot-pink band-aid on a gaping wound.
Repeatedly, the reason given for our continuing lack of viability is that droids touch every system in the game. That we have to be balanced with everything else. Is this new information? Because if it touches every system in the game, every other profession, then isn't that a basic platform issue? Isn't that something that should have been at the same priority level as cities, mounts, and vehicles?
Swiss Army knives.... Thunderheart has used this analogy more than once. I think it is appropriate for how droids currently are. You get them out of your pocket to open a bottle of wine or remove a splinter, then you put them back in your pocket until they are needed again. Oh, and you need to spend weeks learning how to use a corkscrew first. That doesn't sound like sentient robotic entities that basically require a restraining bolt in order to enslave them to do your wishes. That doesn't sound like Droids that think, act, and have a will of thier own. You want Swiss Army knives, well, I want Droids, like in the movies.
Admit it. You don't know exactly what to do at this point regarding Droids.
JustG reported to us the following:
Hi. We ARE focussing on Droid Engineers. I am not sure what is happening in the next publish, but January will see low and mid-level combat droids, and February will see some serious high level ones.
We are still hashing out our schedule for the next four months, but I am going to take a gamble and post as much of it as I can after I have signoff from everyone involved.
Thanks, DE's, for your patience. I hope we can make it up to you.
- g
Now, Thunderheart gives us this info:
The power upgrade for Probots will be pushed out to live in the next publish. Basically, they follow pet rules. After the publish, Probots can be created to the exact same as a Level 10 Pet (keeping in line with the new pet rules. If probots were more powerful, then it would devalue the CH pets…)
They should be more desirable now and get you some more Droid Sales.
Which information is correct? Because they do conflict. If Probots are the pinnacle of what we can create, then what do we have to look forward to in combat droids?
Reports from Test Center are that Probots are almost identical to what they are on live, but the CL is now 10 instead of 16. I suppose that since they were not nerfed any further, they warrant a "power upgrade" moniker. They also require batteries that do not last very long, and there is no way of telling how much power the droid has. This means when you give it the command to attack, sometimes you are without your droid backup because it was out of power. I have lost a number of sales simply because Creature Pets don't require batteries. Batteries should either be powerups, or if they are required at all, droids should have a monitor for battery power and the batteries should last longer. And until the time comes when we can heal them, they are still one-shot deals. You use them for one battle and store them. Heaven forbid you don't have novice scout to call them back out 45 minutes later.
I appreciate your effort to answer our questions. I really do. However, in order to answer, you must first understand the question. In almost every response, you do not have the full breadth and depth of understanding required to ask the developers the correct questions, or to get the answers that are sought.
Droids are what needs the attention. Not just the ones who make those droids.