Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Everybody be nice to Thunderheart, I don't want him to be angry while he decides our fate
If you are still compiling then there is still hope... 
Try these ideas out...I believe they fix a lot of the problems with both the Droid-Engineer Profession and the non-CH Pet Nerf (NOTE: Yes this post is mostly about droids, I just add some general pet ideas to show you the relation of the whole pet scheme---the forest, not just the trees).
(1) All players start by being limited to one droid/creature (as proposed by you).
(2) Add Droidekas to the game - STOP...don't move on yet...hear me out.
There are three major problems with droids now...(1) No function differences between droids, (2) droids need more functions--they aren't useful for combat, and merely serve as movable med centers/crafting stations, and (3) they never wear out, thereby killing the future demand.
Now, in the "Creature Nerf Pt. 3" Thread, you mentioned that you are considering bumping probots' stats a little to compensate a bit for the creature nerf. This is a bad idea. Why? Everyone already buys ONLY one droid...a probot. Why? Probots do everything that every other droids can do because they take the same modules as the others. You are simply reinforcing players tendency to buy ONLY probots, and those probots to be the ONLY droid the player ever buys.
You also mentioned making DE only combat droids. This is also a bad idea. Most Droid Engineers have posted in response to this saying that they are crafters, and want combat droids to sell to OTHERS to preserve a market, not just to use themselves. They have continually asked for combat droids to sell to others, not to become another CH class.
Instead, do this: Put Droidekas into the game as craftable droids (as Droid engineers have been asking for). Give them slots for ONLY 2 modules (1) an armor module; (2) a weapon type module. Give them a low vitality (25-50) so they wear out somewhat quickly. Make 8 different types of weapon modules, each with a different damage type (acid, energy, stun, etc). Give Droidekas 1500 HAM,medium or heavyarmor, and whatever resistances bestowed by the armor module. Make them usable by all players.
Now, if you look at the above proposal you will notice several things: (1) It encourages people to buy multiple droids--a droideka for combat situations, another for crafting and healing--because droidekas can have ONLY combat functions; (2) the droideka is not any more unbalancing than the probot--it has only slightly more ham, and it wears out quickly; (3) droidekas can have substantial weakness--the player chooses a damage type that might be highly resisted by the mob; and (4) it starts on the path of droid specialization--one of the things DEs have been asking for.
(3) Give certain classes the ability to call a second Droid. DE's should get to call a second droid of any type. Doctors and Combat Medics should get the ability to call an extra droid with a medical module. Weaponsmiths, Armorsmiths, Chefs, etc. should get the ability to call an extra droid with a crafting station module.
Alternatively, you could limit certain professions to droid types...ex: artisans can only call a second droid if it is an R2 or treadwell; Doctors can only call a second surgical droid. This would keep the classes from calling a second combat droid with a medical/crafting module and abusing the system.
NOTE: All the the classes I have listed are elite professions...the second droid should ONLY be given to elite professions.
(4) Implement the functionality ideas you listed in your first droid post.
(5) For Faction pets, every player starts with the ability to call ZERO faction pets. There are 15-16 ranks that players can advance through. IN ADDITION TO the 1 creature/droid all players can call, give players the ability to call an extra 1 faction solder after 5 ranks, 2 faction solders after 10 ranks, and 3 faction soldiers at Colonel (highest rank for both rebal and imp). AT-ST's might be limited to one per player at Colonel, but I am not suggesting any limits.
(6) For creatures, creature handlers get to control 1 to 2 extra creatures (ONLY, not droids or faction pets) based on their advancement.
(7) NO MATTER WHAT, no player can EVER control more than 3 pets (as in droids, creatures, OR faction pets) at a time. All of the previous numbers are modified by this standard.
Now, I believe this comprehensive plan addresses all problems possible with droids and pets.
Players don't want to be limited to ONLY one pet. They aren't, but have to earn the right to have more than one.
Players don't like that the game has arguably turned into poke*** with all the creatures, but love droids and have asked for more droid usefulness. They get it.
Devs want some limits on pet use to prevent unbalancing. Players are limited to one droid/creature, with exceptions in certain classes. Further limits could be used to limit players to only one combat droid (limits on droid types). Faction pets (already nerfed to only be useful against factional targets) have to be earned, and are further limited by the 3 pet max rule.
Droid engineeers want diversity of functions in droids. They get it.
Droid engineers want players to be able to handle multiple droids to better sales. All players now have a reason to buy multiple droids, further boosted by the fact that certain players get to call a second droid.
Droid engineers want repair/decay needs. Combat droids (Droidekas) break down and need to be replaced.
All players love droids and want more of them. Now they have a reason to buy them.
Everyone is happy, don't you think?
Greets ...
Ahh geez guys ... haven't you gotten the picture of what TH's job is yet?
It's a fairly simply ... his job is to gather the info from the community ... present it to the Dev's ... and then present the Dev's info back to us ... rinse and repeat.
In some way's he is our "voice" inside the business of gaming making ... his job is to *know* what our concerns are ... and to make sure the are properly *presented* to the game designers who then make decisions or allowances.
The way it will work is that there are 10's of thousands of community members ... they report to the 34ish player correspondents ... whom then report to TH ... whom then reports to the various devs. Although TH is currently involved with the community at large, and rightly so, it's obvious his focus is on the PC's, and rightly so.
This is a word to the wise ... start to work with your PC's ... they have the inside track ... they have private boards to ask questions and raise flags ... work the system and the system will work for you.
Just remember 2 rules:
1) Don't piss of the people that are helping you.
2) See rule 1
Hero_DarkJedi wrote:
Just remember 2 rules:
1) Don't piss of the people that are helping you.
2) See rule 1
Err... In business, the two rules are more:
1) Don't piss off the people that arepaying you.
2) See rule 1
My two cents 
There is always hope
If you are still compiling then there is still hope...
Hero_DarkJedi wrote:
Greets ...
Ahh geez guys ... haven't you gotten the picture of what TH's job is yet?
It's a fairly simply ... his job is to gather the info from the community ... present it to the Dev's ... and then present the Dev's info back to us ... rinse and repeat.
In some way's he is our "voice" inside the business of gaming making ... his job is to *know* what our concerns are ... and to make sure the are properly *presented* to the game designers who then make decisions or allowances.
The way it will work is that there are 10's of thousands of community members ... they report to the 34ish player correspondents ... whom then report to TH ... whom then reports to the various devs. Although TH is currently involved with the community at large, and rightly so, it's obvious his focus is on the PC's, and rightly so.
This is a word to the wise ... start to work with your PC's ... they have the inside track ... they have private boards to ask questions and raise flags ... work the system and the system will work for you.
Just remember 2 rules:
1) Don't piss of the people that are helping you.
2) See rule 1
Thats great advice
Droidekas...more Droidekas...and even more Droidekas...I want to see a Droidekas in every persons datapad! these are by far my favorite droid! 100 vitality too and if you can't do the diff type dmg modules (acid, elec, blast etc)...how about a pistol, carbine, rifle versions....
make diff level Droidekas...the lvl 10 everybody version... a higher lvl version for (insert novice class here), and a higher lvl for (insert master class here)...
work the system and the system will work for you.Just remember 2 rules:
1) Don't piss of the people that are helping you.
2) See rule 1
Thats great advice
If the responses here result in a broken profession not being fixed then how are all the thousands of players that don't read the boards (who manage to get a large number of pleas made for their sake like, "please don't listen to rabble here") served by childish response to customer anger?
lol i hope thunderheart is mad at SOE for making him their new liar!
Lets see it went from 3 days ago saying ya ill have yours and the CH info! to just the CH info, then ill have your stuff tomorrow!, then ill have your info all ready its the first thing on my list! and now we find out he is still gathering info, and said he was talking to our correspondent but when in reality she has already left for vacation this morning.
And we also got told to be patient even tho we have patiently waited for 5+ months for fixes.
I know if my job made me look like a liar to thousands of people i would not be happy at all with my employeer.
And how is the community served by us yelling at the middle man and calling him childish?
Look, you guys who are screaming at TH, have you ever worked a job?
You like it when someone comes up to you with problem, and it's because someone in another department screwed up, and you really can't do much to help but you want to try and help ... Do YOU like it when the customer screams at you anyway?
If your anser is anything but "Gee I didn't think of it that way, good point.." then you probabbly don't have a soul.
C'mon guys, yes our profession isn't a priority, and yes I'd love it fixed, but come on, cut this guy some slack. Your just yelling at him because you have no power in this situation, he's responding, and you want to get your fustrations out by belittling someone you know is listening.
Think of it this way...after months of getting NO developer attention and no love, we get some small bugfixes, a plan (however vague) and multiple posts on our boards by red names. Why can we not see this as positive change, instead we're screaming "it's not enough, more more MORE!" things take time guys, and we are heraded in the right direction. Let's be respectful, helpful, and not show these guys that we don't DESERVE attention.
hero here is another rule for you. dont piss on someone for asking a question. when you ask a simple question and you get slapped in the face it leads to a lot of bad feelings. this is even more true if the person who is asking the question is a paying customer and they are being civil and not being unreasonable in what they are asking for.
Harvester bugged? It wasn't that way when it was created so it's not an Archi-prof issue.
Character stats broken? It's not a problem of a specific profession.
There is no reason SWG cant/wont PUBLISH A MASTER KNOWN ISSUES LIST and keep it current.
You can use the PCs for funnelling items to the list, but the player community deserves to know if SWG is even aware of what's broken (yes broken, I'm not including 'balance' issues which are a constantly moving target.)