Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Droid Handler class: How we got there, and why it's our fault
WarHero
I agree, it is complicated, but I know that Drashk and other of the MDE's here have been trying to give at least a beginning set of certification guidelines. Lord knows it could well take months for the Devs even to implement something like this, but I would rather just drop DE at all and go on to some other game entirely if they just drop in a new DH class.
Maybe i'll go back to playing GO.
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
Ackis wrote:
The problem is TH was at the meeting last night. We voted no on that. We voted yes on certs. He's posted a blatent lie.
You know I find this little top secret dev communication game a bit tedius (and I don't direct this at you Ackis). Why were'nt we informed of this? Tranperancy gave way to opacity and I'm certain I don't like the result.
Given how much secrecy there has been lately, I am beginning to wonder if a minority of DEs has had sway with the devs via a PM or email campaign to the apparent detriment of the rest if us.
It wasnt top secret, the meeting date was posted in the forums for a couple weeks at least. All you had to do was show up.
Can you even imagine a DH skill tree? Talk about a vast wasteland. It'll be more empty than merchant.
There better be some **edit** impressive droids to justify 68 skill points.
If they go ahead with this inane plan, they better drop Master Artisan as a requirement to DE.
I wonder if they'll have a trade in program for MDE to MDH
oh, and theres no reason they cant have droid certification be successful, and easier to implement.
That being said once this patch goes live I will likely only be a DE long enough to make the best combat droids of each class I can and at least a few crates of each then I will dump the profession and never look back.
I would ideally love to make AND use droids but if I have to make the choice then I will chose to use them.
And no I will not be a source of income to droid engineers as I will make sure I am well supplied before I make the switch. Infact I find it unlikely that many de will make any cash on this as most droid handlers will likely be former droid engineers doing the same thing as I am.
Kaide
WarHero1016 wrote:
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
Ackis wrote:
The problem is TH was at the meeting last night. We voted no on that. We voted yes on certs. He's posted a blatent lie.
You know I find this little top secret dev communication game a bit tedius (and I don't direct this at you Ackis). Why were'nt we informed of this? Tranperancy gave way to opacity and I'm certain I don't like the result.
Given how much secrecy there has been lately, I am beginning to wonder if a minority of DEs has had sway with the devs via a PM or email campaign to the apparent detriment of the rest if us.
It wasnt top secret, the meeting date was posted in the forums for a couple weeks at least. All you had to do was show up.
Dude...don't flame until you read... he said "top secret dev communication"...as in the TH has been feeding the devs misinformation behind our backs without paying any attention to anything DEs were saying.
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
Ackis wrote:
The problem is TH was at the meeting last night. We voted no on that. We voted yes on certs. He's posted a blatent lie.
You know I find this little top secret dev communication game a bit tedius (and I don't direct this at you Ackis). Why were'nt we informed of this? Tranperancy gave way to opacity and I'm certain I don't like the result.
Given how much secrecy there has been lately, I am beginning to wonder if a minority of DEs has had sway with the devs via a PM or email campaign to the apparent detriment of the rest if us.
Yeah, but who would those minority of DEs have been? I can't think of any of the well-known DEA members across any of the servers who would have been pushing for this particular "solution" - it's just not what any of us have wanted.
This sounds like it is just the best compromise that they could think of - it allows them to add new combat droids for the people who want them without having to re-wire Droid Engineer from the ground up to support them in a balanced manner.
/shrug
Daker-Naritus wrote:
OrionsByte wrote:
3. Stronger combat droids with certifications. This seemed to have community support, but no one could agree on what a "fair" cert system would be. Add the fact that however it was implemented it would be exploited, and I think it's safe to say the DEVs didn't see this as an option either.
Not quite.TH never asked DEs or their correspondant to try to reach a concensus. In the mean time, Drashk has succeeded inidentifying a solution that I think most DEs agree with (at least 65%), and this could have been done much sooner if TH didn't have his head in the sand.
All along people have been talking about balance saying (1) we don't want uber droids, because that would be unbalancing, and (2) the reasonably powered combat droids need to have SOME kind of cert system to keep them out of the hands of noobs. No there hasn't been a concensus on what that cert system should be, but which makes more sense:
(a) take DE's suggestion and take a couple ofdays to come up with a concensus as to who should have the certs, or
(b) spend 6 months developing a new Droid Hander profession that no one asked for or wants
You make a good point, and perhaps I misspoke. However, I stick to my observation that an over-arching droid certification system would be difficult toimplement and easy to take advantage of. If you spread out the certifications to different professions, it's too easy for people who are novices in several professions to gain the ability to use high-level droids (i.e fencer+pistoleer= uber dodge). If you concentrate the certs in one or two skill trees, you've essentially created a DH class anyway. Certainly the idea merits some focused discussion, but I don't think it will ever be seriously considered by the DEVs.
OrionsByte wrote:
3. Stronger combat droids with certifications. This seemed to have community support, but no one could agree on what a "fair" cert system would be. Add the fact that however it was implemented it would be exploited, and I think it's safe to say the DEVs didn't see this as an option either.
4. Stronger combat droids with a new class to use them. By process of elimination, the winner.
I disagree, slightly, but I am not going to flame you for it. 
I think 3 was viable, despite the lack of accord in the forums. (When have the forums ever produced a consensus?)
Option 4 was chosen not through process of elimination but because it had been done with success to the CH’s. It was the old, "Go with what worked in the past" solution.
To be fair, there are about a million things that need doing on SWG, I can’t really blame the devs for taking the trusty option 4 instead spending a lot of time tinkering around with option 3.
WarHero1016 wrote:
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
Ackis wrote:
The problem is TH was at the meeting last night. We voted no on that. We voted yes on certs. He's posted a blatent lie.
You know I find this little top secret dev communication game a bit tedius (and I don't direct this at you Ackis). Why were'nt we informed of this? Tranperancy gave way to opacity and I'm certain I don't like the result.
Given how much secrecy there has been lately, I am beginning to wonder if a minority of DEs has had sway with the devs via a PM or email campaign to the apparent detriment of the rest if us.
It wasnt top secret, the meeting date was posted in the forums for a couple weeks at least. All you had to do was show up.
You're on a roll today, man. I mean TH's presence. I myself announced the meeting to most DEs on my server. I am very much in the know about things since I care to educate myself and participate. I'm just wondering why some DEs are privy to more information than others.
We all moaned about how the meeting could have been better. One way would have been for us to know there was a dev presense at the meeting, even if no name was announced. I think the tenor or the meeting would have been much improved then.
Ok all I have heard any one say is that we are screwed Droid Handlers are what is going to happen get over it. To that I say NO WAY.
For them to implement "Droid Handlers"what skill tree? It will not be artisan, what then Medic? Entertainer?
Creature Handlers are scout class, while Bio engineers are medic class. To make Droid Engineers you would have to put them under Brawler or Marksman and guess what which one gets it or is this going to be an impossible class like Bounty Hunter where you can not do anything else, but BH.
My whole gripe with this is that when I started playing I went DE because I wanted to build and USE droids. now SOE is saying that my INVESTMENT in my character was wasted. They need to take thier heads out of thier rear ends and listen to us. We asked for fixes for our creations and now they want to give use something for some other class to use.
SOE has already told us that weapons and combat are next to get the Nerf beating, put combat droids in and take the flak (like they always do) when they change the system later.
Kollos wrote:
Yeah, but who would those minority of DEs have been? I can't think of any of the well-known DEA members across any of the servers who would have been pushing for this particular "solution" - it's just not what any of us have wanted.
I'm not accusing anyone, just pointing out that not all DEs have been privy to the communications with the devs. Not sure if this rotten result springs from that, but it certainly would be lamentable. Let's just ask it now:
Who among us PM'd, emailed or otherwise told TH that DH is the solution that DEs want?
I am in favor of inclusiveness. Why are we blathering here if others can just dial the devs direct?
Jenden wrote:
One thing I want to comment on is everyone that is complaining that they "want to build AND use droids". This is fine, and I don't think they're going to change that. The only difference is there will be MORE droids that not everyone can use. So, the only thing left to argue about is that you can't use the exteremely powerful combat droids (which I don't think you'd have gotten to use without taking up new skills no matter how they did it).
/agree