Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Sintrosi, TH's questions put us back to square 1. We need your help.
Thunderheart :
Main Question is, can you get us "the answers to the Known Droid Issues" from the DEV(s).
We jealously remeber the great Question andAnswer Post for theCHs. We want the same and yes we can wait to get it. We just want to hear that this will come. If we can discuss and getfeedback we cankeep our wishes high. Else DEs like the otehr Players will run through your fingers like sand.
Youppl know that with next year SWG is not about enhancing the game with new features its about getting the old players back you lost...(i presume the count is above 50%if i look at my friendlist =(
Candolar, I think that is just mean-spirited. What you are saying is that Thunderheart's job is not a valid job. That because he is not "A Dev" what he says doesn't matter. You are probably the same sort of person that doesn't think the man who picks up your garbage after you throw it on the curb is some stupid guy who couldn't get a real job. This sort of post enrages me.
Why do you suppose they hired him on? Because they had an extra chair in the office?
Fearghal the B.F.W
The Fattest Wookie on Bria.
Thunderheart, polls are an excellent idea. I've been reading the threads myself and we're kinda all over the map on which direction we want to go.
Thanks again for your hard work. Its nice to know we are finally being heard. Also, I apologize for the flak we've been giving you. Keep up the hard work bro. Eventually with the efforts of you and Sintrosi we'll be a viable class.
I did wanted to offend TH or the DEVs Sorry if i did.
Friends of me work for a Game Company and i can imagine the Problems and Frustrations they go through. But of course we are frustrated too for paying for SWG.
Its just frustration that we dont get any answers to those hand full of Question which we have since month now
TH keep up the good work...remeber the Forum is a Prianha Bowl and you feed us. When u put your arm to deep... =)
Pooka wrote:
For goodness sake people, leave ol' Thunderheart alone.
We actually get response now, something we haven't had since launch.
And what do you people do?
Attack him from left and right with smug comments and a pesky attitude.
Lighten up and HELP HIM OUT instead.
Not that hard to do now is it?!
Exactly. Who would keep comming back to a thread if all the posts are negative? Sure, it's part of his job, but he still might unconciously avoid certain places where there could be a wealth of information because the threads are seen as containing mostly off topic and irrelevent information(ie: insults and trolls)
Madrox wrote:
Exactly. Who would keep comming back to a thread if all the posts are negative? Sure, it's part of his job, but he still might unconciously avoid certain places where there could be a wealth of information because the threads are seen as containing mostly off topic and irrelevent information(ie: insults and trolls)
There is a "wealth of information" already stickied at the top of the forums. Even if you did a shotgun-search through old posts in the forums, you'd find a wealth of information.I don't want lip service,Idon't want to be "felt out",I don't want empty promises or grandiose schemes. Give us fixes to the problems we already have and not new toys to think about!! I think most DE's want something that looks like this =
"H. Droid deeds shouldn't be tossed into the misc area of the bazaar. They're deed versions of entities. Give droids a proper home so that people can actually find them with ease."
- Fixed, in next publish
"I. EXPLOIT: Cluster modules not only fit into cluster module sockets, they fit into service module sockets. This allows cluster modules to fit into cluster modules ad infinitum. This has the added effect that cluster module slots are now pointless and allows any number of modules to be placed in any droid. Clusters should only fit in cluster sockets. Otherwise you're further exploiting the idea that the droid frame used is irrelevant."
- This was an oversight on our part and has been fixed. Cluster modules will now only fit in XXXXXXXX droids. We're sorry about this oversight.
"J. Skills for the Droid Engineer don't reach +100 at Master. Droid Assembly and Droid Experimentation only go as high as +55. Droid Customization (currently useless) goes to +64. Other engineering professions get skill adds like assembly/customization/experimentation at novice. Droid Engineers get squat."
- Correct. Just as we're addressing architects in this manner, DE's will now have +100 at master. In with next publish.
"K. Repair modules do not function at all when placed in an LE Repair droid or Power droid."
- Fixed. In with next publish.
Etc... etc... etc... It angers me to no end that we're getting more and more "talk". Please just can the talk and fix what we're stuck with already. The bugs we're facing now are already too much to handle. Talk and ideas are fantastic when we're discussing "profession viability" issues (like what happens to the market once a person already has a crafting droid), since this is a very huge issue that will take some serious brainstorming. I still say that we should tackle the obvious, blatant, and persistent bugs first, then address a wishlist "plan" later.
And I'm the first to say "I'm sorry" if I get a little edgy when I seefancy plansabout exploding mouse droids while my power droid keeps spamming ***LOW POWER*** at me.
Priorities!!!!!!
Virtanis wrote:
Madrox wrote:
Exactly. Who would keep comming back to a thread if all the posts are negative? Sure, it's part of his job, but he still might unconciously avoid certain places where there could be a wealth of information because the threads are seen as containing mostly off topic and irrelevent information(ie: insults and trolls)There is a "wealth of information" already stickied at the top of the forums. Even if you did a shotgun-search through old posts in the forums, you'd find a wealth of information. I don't want lip service, I don't want to be "felt out", I don't want empty promises or grandiose schemes. Give us fixes to the problems we already have and not new toys to think about!! I think most DE's want something that looks like this =
"H. Droid deeds shouldn't be tossed into the misc area of the bazaar. They're deed versions of entities. Give droids a proper home so that people can actually find them with ease."
- Fixed, in next publish
"I. EXPLOIT: Cluster modules not only fit into cluster module sockets, they fit into service module sockets. This allows cluster modules to fit into cluster modules ad infinitum. This has the added effect that cluster module slots are now pointless and allows any number of modules to be placed in any droid. Clusters should only fit in cluster sockets. Otherwise you're further exploiting the idea that the droid frame used is irrelevant."- This was an oversight on our part and has been fixed. Cluster modules will now only fit in XXXXXXXX droids. We're sorry about this oversight.
"J. Skills for the Droid Engineer don't reach +100 at Master. Droid Assembly and Droid Experimentation only go as high as +55. Droid Customization (currently useless) goes to +64. Other engineering professions get skill adds like assembly/customization/experimentation at novice. Droid Engineers get squat."- Correct. Just as we're addressing architects in this manner, DE's will now have +100 at master. In with next publish.
"K. Repair modules do not function at all when placed in an LE Repair droid or Power droid."- Fixed. In with next publish.
Etc... etc... etc... It angers me to no end that we're getting more and more "talk". Please just can the talk and fix what we're stuck with already. The bugs we're facing now are already too much to handle. Talk and ideas are fantastic when we're discussing "profession viability" issues (like what happens to the market once a person already has a crafting droid), since this is a very huge issue that will take some serious brainstorming. I still say that we should tackle the obvious, blatant, and persistent bugs first, then address a wishlist "plan" later.
And I'm the first to say "I'm sorry" if I get a little edgy when I see fancy plans about exploding mouse droids while my power droid keeps spamming ***LOW POWER*** at me.
Priorities!!!!!!
Ahhh, see- and this is where I think a big gap in 'expectations' and reality comes in. Sure, they could(easily?) look up this info for themselves and they possibly already know some of it, but does it hurt to say it one more time- especially now when you know someone's listening? Do a copy/paste.
Another thing, your post cofirms what my earlier post said EXACTLY. Droid Engineers want the "broken things fixed"[duh devs!], but the way THEY are looking to fix you is by making the things you produce more appealing to your buyers. Because if you have things to make and sell, then you'll be useful. Which works in one way, but does not address what is already wrong with DE's just what is missing. BIG DIFFERENCE DEVS!
So when they say "Exploding MSE Droids", you are thinking "But what about +experimentation" which is where I think Thunderheart/the Dev team failed on their "Plan".
The "Plan" included all content fixes & omitted any bug fixes(if any) that might come. Thus enraging the Droid Engineers further as nobody knows(and still doesn't) if current issues are known and are going to be fixed. Because, as DE's see it, if they have limited experimentation, broken repair modules, and non-working cluster modules then what's the point of adding different blasters or healing abilities?
Thunderheart should let the DE's know what the current level of known bugs are, since you cannot get to one hurdle before you cross the first one. And just like I said before, DE's are more knowledgeable on what is broken - but not all of them are necissarily market forcasters able to predict what their client base will want.
Virtanis-
Okay, that was a little harsh, but OMG that was funny!
I love Dilbert.
Candolar wrote:Here is the problem guys: "Assistant Community Relations Manager"
If you have come from EQ, you prolly recognize this name "ABASHI" If you do, then you know the problem in a nutshell. The "Assistant Community Relations Manager" is nothing more than a forum flunkie, they exist to talk to us on forums and thats it. What we need is someone to go into the LIVE team meeting, state the actual problems with DE's. The LIVE team manager will sit up, say "Is this true?" and the programmers will mutter things like "Well, yeah at the moment it is" THe LIVE team manager will then assign someone the task of fixing the bugs and such. THATS how it really gets done. All the /bug submissions and forum frolics will not do a darn thing at all.
TH, I know your job is hard, but unless your the guy that goes in those weekly meetings, your wasting our time....
Um, he is
Great first post though!Anyways, there are two distinct parts to the DE profession and I think just focusing on what the DE's want will only get them half fixed. You should try asking the rest of the players(ie: their buyers) what THEY want from DE's. As we've even seen earlier in this thread DE's sometimes tend to focus on "bug fixes" and "fix our skills". Of course- that's what every profession wants! But in the terms of "What do you guys as DE's want your droids to do?" they might not know because they aren't necissarily the ones using(or wanting) all of their droids. Asking DE's more questions like "How difficult is it to skill up?","How should we lessen the Master Artisan requirements?", "What should we put in this skill box?", "What steps need more simplifiying?" will probably get more useful responses instead of "What do you want the droid to DO?" as that is where the customer comes in, not the DE.
As a BUYER here are some of my views, most probably agree with what DE's say
-Gotta have different/more droid chassis, especially for combat. Not necisarily Droidikas(if it's a story issue) but something more that floaty little droids. IG-88 type models or anything "humanoid" is better- strap a gun to a Protocol Droid for all I care. This is ESPECIALLY important being a Rebel, as Probe Droids are associated with the Empire(and now in-game with Bounty Hunters).
-The short/medium/long range blasters sound *great* to me. Even add more(melee droids anyone!?!). Any kind of customization I can give to my droid to make it better suit my needs and make it feel more like mine is great.
-Armor, same as above. Might possibly make it so there are trade-off's between armor and weapons for balance reasons. Also, as above, giving droids melee weapons & armor gives us another option for a "tank" like character- might balance well with a ranged profession etc.
-Droid names, GOTTA fix that. Some people like giving their droids regular names, some want model names. Even possibly have it so when a droid is made it comes with a "default" model name assigned to it ("R4-K7", "C-93D") based on chassis perhaps, and later they could teach it a more 'human' name if they want.
-Damage. Obviously droids must take some kind of damage. Perma-death is defiately out. I dont even particularly like the idea of needing droid batteries. Droids should just have a condition(like armor and weapons) that wears out over time/use/damage that only DE's can repair, but with each repair the max condition goes down until they cannot be repaired anymore. Also, just like armor, effectiveness goes down as condition drops.
-Medical droids. Might wanna ask the Medical professions and not the DE's. If droids can heal, maybe they have a limit of Master Medic and can't go into the Doctor skills any. Maybe they should be even better "crafting stations", like automatically foraging medical supplies or automatically produce stims and such after given resources -like a "mini-moblile factory".
Maybe the Medical droids would just serve as "an extra set of hands", where the droids medical skills would reflect the owner's medical skills. Kind of like the medic having to "teach" the droid how to do the things he does. This is another way that droids wouldn't replace healers as the only "good" droid healers would only be the the presence of good REAL healers- any non-healer owning a medical droid might just have a Novice Medic Droid that would be there only for downtime or whathave you
-Harvester Droids, go ask the surveyors. They probably want droids to help them survey more, again- an extra set of hands. Probably to transport more material(though resources aren't weight based now).
The point is this ISN'T like your Creature Handler changes. CH's are the one using the creatures, so they probably have a better grasp on what changes to the creatures might do. DE's don't rely on what their droids *DO*, they really rely on people buying their droids for what they do.
So exploding Mouse Droids might seem stupid to a DE, but some customer might think they're cool(maybe just have them shoot fireworks). Anyways, as you can see Im trying to let you know that as with some other professions you can't just sit here and poll ideas from once source. All crafter professions are different in that they have a market to sell to, and that is who the crafter has to satisfy.
Try polling the rest of the community and see if you come up with the answers to the questions you have.
"Candolar, I think that is just mean-spirited. What you are saying is that Thunderheart's job is not a valid job. "
Untrue, his job is very valid, very needed. He is a great ear for passing TO us information as he gets it. I am not belittling his job, in fact, if so offered, I would not want it!
The point is that unless an actual DEV says something, or hears about a problem, the problem is lost. If TH actually goes into the LIVE meetings, then there is a decent hope that something might be done. I dont actually know, he might be a DEV but only have an odd tagline on the forums. THe chain of command is kinds weird at Verant, your never quite sure where the buck stops....
We actually get response now, something we haven't had since launch.
And what do you people do?
Attack him from left and right with smug comments and a pesky attitude.
Lighten up and HELP HIM OUT instead.
Not that hard to do now is it?!