Droid Engineer Archive

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AudioOrgana wrote:

LOL, is this the same Green Marine that has been promising he's been working on the Smugglers since 2003?

I'm sure you know more about him than I do, but all I've ever seen out of him when it comes to things regarding profession issues this is talk-talk and results fail to materialize in game. I do realize that this is likely due to management decisions out of his control, but I just don't hold this "awe" of him that others seem to instill.

I don't start to believe anything until I see it in patch notes, and then I don't really believe it until I actually see it working in-game.

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GM is a coding god. Seriously. I've worked with him personally on small number of changes that he has made on Test Center, over the last year +. Out of every single DEV and QA that I have ever been in contact with, Green Marine is the only person that I wish could be physically cloned.

When GM says that he will get something done itbecomesonly a question of when he can be scheduled the time, in between the plethra of different projects that he always seems to be working on. Hes the guy that the team seems to turn to when they need something done straight away.

Audio-
You bring up a great point. I wish we had seen that smuggler revamp/whatever, but my guess is (and of course this is just a guess) that they saw this coming, and decided the smugglers were going to be part of the CU, and without fully knowing what they would need to do to smugglers to prepare for the CU, they didnt want to give you a 1 over before the upheaval, because it would all have to be retooled later anyway. I do hope, for the game's sake, that it has not been forgotten, but as players all we can do is hope and keep reminding them what's important to us.

Straker-
You're right about those kind of statements. They learned a while ago to be careful with what they say, so that when the community holds them to their words (which we do so well) they have to make sure they try not to contradict themselves.
They've already lost so much credibility by telling us things, then changing their minds, and to us, it looks like lying. Since we're paying them, we assume they are lying, though they very well may be. They're probably going to deny it anyway.
There have been issues in the past we all remember, and I bet calling them on what they've said in the past has added a whole ton of headaches to their bureacracy levels.... (Have to get such-and-such release approved etc) ...I spent enough time working for a state agency to know that I dont want to work for the state but large companies are just as bad sometimes.
My point is, I dont think they're trying to make a conspiracy, just trying to cover their backsides while talking about bad news. Yes they should be more honest. Why arent they? Probably because we bite.

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AudioOrgana wrote:

They either wreck something, or never do it at all.

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In relation to the questions/answers we have from the Dev breakfast, this should be the 'take-away':

They can tell us all day long that they like the idea of having higher-end combat droids to help pure crafters/non-comms, but they are words full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.



I seem to remember a time when they've spoken of...

• Smuggler revamp


• GCW revamp


• SL revamp


• Changing crafting experimentation (The 1-day change to crafting, associated with a DE revamp and pulled back due to ill-informed public outcry)


• Getting rid of lot swapping


• A Droid Commander profession (post-JTL)


• Etc.

What's key here is that any answer we get from them, while nice and well-intentioned, is just that.........air.

There's a difference between "We'd like to __________" and "We are going to __________ (we already have time scheduled for it and some code working in-house)".

A huge difference.




/bow

Respectfully,

Message Edited by TheRealTK421 on 04-24-2005 06:56 AM

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TheRealTK421 wrote:

<
I seem to remember a time when they've spoken of...

• Smuggler revamp
• GCW revamp
• SL revamp
• Changing crafting experimentation (The 1-day change to crafting, associated with a DE revamp and pulled back due to ill-informed public outcry)
• Getting rid of lot swapping
• A Droid Commander profession (post-JTL)
• Etc.

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Let's not forget :

"Unattended Macroing Is Going Away" - Oh really? As I said at the time, it was simply a PR move to post that (it was posted within 12 hours of the announcement of the CURB being pushed back again).

The Hutt Casino - Which I was personally dying for, some interesting FLIM RELATED content

Global Vendor Search - They said they needed to make some "changes" and they went and implemented it anyway. They were NEVER going to give us instant delivery, that was simply to make them like nice guys for saying they'd take that back (and it was casually mentioned by a Dev as a "new" decision hours after it was posted - yeah right.)

Those bartenders who "listen to players conversations and recite bits later" as NPC content - a minor feature, but the kicker is when Hayden actually said in an interview was already-in game (he made a big deal of how cool it was when it never made it live - he didn't know that apparently)

All those droid changes that were promised way back in Sintrosi's time (The DE Plan) that was mysteriously deleted a few months later - though they didn't clean up the discussion thread where we talked about it, LOL, just the plan. Whomever was sent to clean up that mess so we couldn't reference it again missed that.

When was the last time you went Fishing? I bet that the majority of players in the game today don't even know it's possible. Why? You can't make a ton of credits doing it, and the interface was never finished - it's still a MUD style TEXT game.

Been gambling lately in that seedy hotel? Why not? See above note regarding Fishing...



Unfortunately, because certain newer members of the red-name club are so delete-happy (I believe they like to call it "archiving" LOL) we can't go back and see a lot of the posts at this point, but I know there is a ton more that was promised and has disapeared just as easily as the wind blows the sands of Tatooine.

The whole "it's an MMO, things change" excuse dosen't cut it over...and over...and over. It's like watching a car accident right now - disturbing but you can't just look away. It really isn't hyperbole to say "they are changing this into an EQ2 or WOW clone". Everything that made SWG fun and unique except for the Star Wars graphics is disapearing and I don't see how it can really recover.

The player economy is barely on life support, and the hyper-realistic business simulation became a simpe sortable spreadsheet with one factor - price; the new faction system has made what was realistic (but definately needed some tweaking) has given way to bands of Imperials slaughtering NPC Rebels right in front of player Rebels and they can't do a thing to help. Gee that's the way to make the GCW come alive...I mean, yes, TEF really needed some fixing - but to hear the people who said "it hasn't worked for a year and a half it's time to go!" failed to note that they never TRIED to fix it, they just took it away.

It all adds up to one thing after another piled on top of yet another that, when taken together, is just mind blowing. As I said long, long ago in what FEELS like a galaxy far, far away - you can't keep putting stories on a building who's foundation was never completed as they ignored so many problems that have become part of the culture they are so ubiquitous.

It seems that instead of working with the foundation that had many, many good and unique points they have decided to just wipe it out and start again with a whole new game.

Problem is, I don't think I care for the game they now want to redesign SWG as. Other MMO's bore me - and the pretty Star Wars graphics are not enough to keep me interested if this decent into mediocrity continues.

That makes me really sad.

AO

Message Edited by AudioOrgana on 04-24-2005 09:54 AM

In all fairness about the smuggler revamp, he also said that the new slicing system would be going to live "very soon" as he was almost done coding it, though the actual smuggling quest type content would be a little longer since he started on slicing first.

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Fishbreath wrote:

AO wrote:

I don't start to believe anything until I see it in patch notes, and then I don't really believe it until I actually see it working in-game.

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I've spent alot of time reading the forums lately, not just MY professions, and not just MY galaxy.......I've come to a similar conclusion.

Dev notes, press releases and the like have rarely, if ever,painted a picture for what actually happens when something goes "live".......everything I read now, I take with a "grain of salt"........it makes for an "entertaining" read.......as far as I'm concerned it's all opinion, conjecture, and wishes.

When it's all said and done, nothing really matters until it goes "live", because no one knows what will finally make it to "live".

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Atan wrote:

Even the best combat droids wont help much, as long as they cant keep up with a vehicle.

And that they get the first aggro isnt so sure, too.

One lair of aggro creatures spawning just under you and bang you are dead, as they wont increase your CL.

And if they do it would be better to just give crafters and ent. a CL too.

I really dont like the idea to give real combat droids to (almost) everyone! They are supposed to be illegal and outlawed, but right, lets give them to everyone...

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I don't really like the idea of crafters being certed for combat droids either, however its the best solution I've been able to come up with. I think it could work if they added in some new code for a "bodyguard" class droid that was specifically designed to keep crafters alive.

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AudioOrgana wrote:

Unfortunately, because certain newer members of the red-name club are so delete-happy (I believe they like to call it "archiving" LOL) we can't go back and see a lot of the posts at this point, but I know there is a ton more that was promised and has disapeared just as easily as the wind blows the sands of Tatooine.

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