Droid Engineer Archive

---

JediAvenger wrote:

Yeah but they will NEVER allow droids to be as powerful as creatures because anyone can use them. That is the reason they "nerfed" the probots. This will allow droids an avenue to get as powerful as a creature.

JediAvenger

---

Except of course that a cowardly gurrek that anyone can own (non-ch) has more HAM and damage than the old pre-nerf probots.

Crafters like myself should be able to buy expensive (50-100K) battle droids that can protect us from the dangers of the wilds. Will that allow us to go toe to toe with combat types? Not if they can also own said droids, then their own skills and combat abilities will tip the balance, both in PvE and PvP.

I mean you can get access to some of the most powerful weapons in the game with only 4 bubbles of pistol skill in marksmen, surely as a master architect, master artisan I can get 1 droid to protect me.

---

Oaker wrote:

The reality of it is, anyone can use a machine. Not anyone can control a beast. (*EDIT* WRONG!! Anyone CAN control a beast. One that is as powerful as the pre-nerf Probot! They are called CL15 creatures!)

One takes training, while the other can be accomplished by simple pre-programming and reading the manual. (*EDIT* So what you're saying is because you have a skill in Taming and DE dont, CH are better equipped to use pets? WRONG!! The DE has skills also. How do you think the droid got built! It takes exactly ZERO skill for ANY character in the gameto use a droid AND A CL15 PET!!)

Just because someone can drive, or operate a computer, does not mean they can train animals. (*EDIT* just because someone can drive, or use a computer doesn't mean they can BUILD THE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS THAT MAKE THE COMPUTER)

There are very clear and distinct differences between the two. (*EDIT* To you maybe)

If droids needed training skills to use, you all would be even farther hurt by it. (*EDIT* This would imply that droids actually DID something and that would be GREAT for us!)

Now making the machine is a entirely other issue and not anyone can do that. (*EDIT* Thank you!)

---

All I want if for droids to be useful. I would welcome a certification system, even if it meant that I couldn't use most of the droids I make. Look, at this point, I would welcome ANY attention DE get! I'm not worried too much about more nerfing. We're about as nerfed as we can get! If they're nerfing, at least that means they are paying attention to us!

You know what the saddest thing of all is:

When it happens (and I believe it will happen fairly soon), and we get some fixes in, I believe that you will find a mass of people fawning and blubbering to the Devs...

"Thank You, Oh thank you! You are SO wonderful, you are the BEST developers that have ever lived! I'm just so happy that you are here!"

...and other such crap! When instead, we should be up in arms even MORE!

"Why the f**k did it take you so long, and why the F**K did you IGNORE us for so long!! How DARE you NOT apoplogize to all of us for the apathy you have shown to a substantial number of PAYING customers!"

/endrant

Please lets not confuse the issue with AT-ST's. That's entirelya different subjectand there is another forum for that, this is about DE.

Reality? This isn't about reality this is about class balance and making the DE class more viable within a working framework that SOE can relate to. If we wanted reality we wouldNOT have Sludge Panthers, Elephants, Flying Rocs, Mutant Rats, and Giant Spiders biting, spitting, farting, and dying for their owners.

-JediAvenger-

Certifications is a BAD idea. I like the original posters idea. Just like only a MCH can control lvl 50 creatures, only MDE's should be able to maintain and control a lvl 50 battle droid.

This fixes a couple issues. NOT everyone will be able to use such powerful droids, DE's wouldnt be limitedin their own droid's usefulness such as with a certification system and It allows the DE versitility creating highbrid Combat/DE toons.

I believe very few want to be truely 100% crafter. Since there is one char alowed per server, opening up more versitility in combat/craft combos is a big plus.

Okay, if we're going to have a certification system how about instead of basing it on your level in an existing or proposed class, base it on your experience in the SWG universe? Assign points to each box within a skill, then use that total to restrict droid usage.

What I mean is instead of saying "A markman of X rank can control Y droid", make it so "A charactor with X points worth of skillboxes can control Y robot".

So it'd work something like this:

Basic class(ie artisan, marksman):

Tier 1 - 1 point
Tier 2 - 2 points
etc

Elite class(ie weaponsmith, fencer)

Tier 1 - 5 points
Tier 2 - 6 points
etc

Utility Droids - any charactor can use them

Combat droids:
DZ70 cert (up the DZ70 HAM to 300) - 0 points
Probot - 12 points
Roger, Roger droid - 50 points
Droideka - 148 points


This way, all beginners can have a basic combat droid. Any class with all 4 skill trees at tier 2, or class with tier 4 in one skill and tier 2 in other, or any of the combinations could have a probot. The Roger,Roger droid would go to someone who's mastered a basic class or multiskilled a lot. The droideka would go to an elite master or someone who multiclassed but is working on their elite skills.

There's enough flexibility in this to mess around with the numbers and add more droids in the gaps in future expansions as well.

Looks like my ideal is being considered by SOE...

-JediAvenger-

"The most successful Advanced Artisan class is the Weapons smith - that can use close to none of his weapons due to certifications UNLESS he has a skill in a weapon class."

The weapons that a weaponsmith creates do not have brains. They do not think for themselves. They require a PC to pull the trigger. Droids have brains. They think for themselves. They are separate entities. It makes 0 sense to tie the use of a droid to a PC. The only skill involved in 'using' a droid is being able to communicate with it, keep it powered, and keep it in good repair. This is a totally different scenario than that of the weapon smith. Guns don't come with brains. Droids do. Anyone who can program that brain (Droid Engineers in particular) should be quite effective in getting the droid to perform his bidding.

-Raystonn

If this happens I'm done, bar none.

Not a threat, or anything else - just the simple truth.

As a DE I have to have Master Artisan, and have so few points left over; and as much as I support BE's, I don't want to be that type of profession.

Droid Engineer is just about the only SWG profession that interests me as a full-time thing; I simply won't stay if I cannot make my droids and use them too.

Audio

JediAvenger, are you a Droid Engineer?

You dont sound like one. A DE who has made it through the grind wouldnt want to Nerf what little we have.

How would you like your chosen profession ripped out from under you because some non-commited nutcase decided to flaunt his not-so-great idea simply because the Dev's are considering it.

So this would make one profession dependant on DE, and screw DE's out of the other 90% of potential clients. They are about to do the exact opposite of what needs to be done to the DE profession. It's hard enough to make a living selling to the general population, and I don't see it getting any easier with only ONE profession as the client base, and this would also mean that you're telling me that someone who builds something from scratch doesn't know how to use it??? Give me a **edit**ing break! I can see how a BE maybe couldn't control everything he/she makes since the creatures have a mind and have animal instincts, but with a droid you tell it what to do and it does it. Especially when you MAKE the brain that goes into it.

Logically, how can a Droid Handler be more adept to handle Droids than their creators?

DE does not equal BE. Simply because they are based on 2 different types of life. A Bio Engineer can produce some Mammoth King of Destruction, because it is sentient and independant, a Creature Handler would have to come in and become it's brain controller.

Droids are hardly sentient, everypeice ofDataof information is grafted onto some sort of electronic device.

Controlling these Droids would take a different type of skill to control. (Not NO SKILL, DIFFERENT)

Now if Bio Engineers can fundementally control how big or small an animals brain is and dictate how the animal thinks, maybe we can see a relation. So far, they can only clone I beleive. It'd be nice if I could get some Chibi Rancor as a pet. But, they dont have the skills to do it (yet).

When I say Different Skill to control... I mean a Generic Different Skill, something that can be had by all.

Absolutely Not! We don't need another profession when just about all the existing ones are broken.

And as a DE, I'd like to have some friggin skill points left for a little combat skill. Just to do DE, I've already got to master two professions, DE and Artisan. That leaves me with just barely enough to do 1/2 of marksman and still be able to master pistoleer. I dont want or need another profession thrown into the mix that forces me to become a pure non-combatant.

Combat Droid is a WEAPON! So certify it like a weapon. Give certifications to the Droid Engineers and ALL of the combat professions. That is a very simple and quick to implement solution that leaves the DEV's more time to fix the existing professions. I don't want them off building another profession instead of fixing the existing ones.