Droid Engineer Archive

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AudioOrgana wrote:

DE's are better off than architects - look at the resources for a small house and then the resources for a droid and then compare prices.

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IntoTheGarbage wrote:

That has not been my experience, at least not on my server. If I walk around with my MDE tag on, I will be lucky if I get one or two requests all night. When I wear my M Arch tag, I get one or two requests per hour.

Mind you I do not spam. These are unsolicited requests.

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AudioOrgana wrote:

Just like anything in SWG, there are ways to make money and ways to not make money as a DE.

I have really never had a problem making money with droids - although my experience may be unique, I can't wear my MDE title in a major city without selling more droids than I have time to make (which is why it's off most of the time these days and I generally only do vendor sales).

If you are looking to make 100's of millions, that's the weaponsmith/armorsmith and now chef domain.

DE's are better off than architects - look at the resources for a small house and then the resources for a droid and then compare prices.

I find that a lot of people get worried about competition and get caught up in price wars - and that tends to be the financial downfall. If you are a reliable DE that people know they can come to and get a quality product, even if they have to pay a bit more than they would down the street, they will come. I also don't get caught up with "CPU" price schemes - I think many DE's cut themselves short with that as well.

It's less about units of resources as it is complexity, factory time, sub-components - but the real way to make money is to find the threshold for your server of what people will pay for the value of having a crafting or medical station follow them around. Doctors sitting for hours on end at Starports making 6-10K every minute and a half buffing people can afford to make a decent chunk of change for a fully-equipped droid. 50K sounds a bit much, doesn't it, until you realize that they could conceivably make that much using your droid in 10-15 minutes, a half-hour if you count the cost of making their packs. Same for a WS - 50K for a crafting droid again, seems a lot - until you realize that that's about 1 weapon sold for most Masters.

This doesn't mean that you can't sell for less to noobies (they will remember you, trust me), or that you should raise your prices across the board - while you likely will never see WS/AS/Chef profits as a DE, if you aren't making more money than you are putting out (unless you buy million credit SEA's at auction) you are selling yourself short.

Audio

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Ok I agree with what you say here, and if I'm honest I too have zero problem selling droids, just put up the Tag and away we go.

I just wanted to comment on that last snippet about SEA's because these things worry me hugely. Ok, so you have Mastered DE, and set up your business (however you want it to run, bigtime/smalltime doesn't matter). In theory you are making product every bit as good as the next MDE, which is fine because it's all based on skills ..right? Sadly not.

The introduction of SEA's reminds me of why I stopped playing a Blacksmith in Ultima. Loot drops just killed it for me. If you didn't have the magic hammer, suddenly you were virtually out of business, because you could no longer make the best gear there could be, and nobody would buy less than best.

Up till now, this has hardly affected DE in game, because the crafting and experimentation has been as it has been, but come Pub7 and the crafting changes, those SEA's will suddenly start to matter big time.

Now, as has been said above, WS and AS can make big bucks every day, in a market where the system forces return customers (decay sees to that). So, most of them can afford the silly prices for the best SEA's

Not so with DE. I have x million in the bank too, but it's not really enough (at least on my server) to afford those SEA's that the new crafting system is going to require us to have.

My point? Dunno really...more just a comment while talking of profitability I guess. Things are changing.

Hmm, I guess I'm glad I'm not starting out in DE now, and I do surely feel for the new players who will be facing this full on.

As a relatively new Master DE (one month..) I must say the market is very poor.

I can generally sell my droids to PA mates no problem (partly due to out PA's policy of 50% discount)..

I wear my MDE tag all the time, and to date have had 2 tells about droids..

I have a vendor in our city (which admitedly isnt in the best location for trade) - and I sell maybe a droid a day ??

No-one is buying probots anymore, due ot the upcoming release...

Personally I will be concentrating on making crates and crates of repiar/reconstruction kits post Publish 7 - AT LAST WE WILL HAVE A CONSUMABLE TO SELL..

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Shian_Tavkin wrote:

Ok I agree with what you say here, and if I'm honest I too have zero problem selling droids, just put up the Tag and away we go.

I just wanted to comment on that last snippet about SEA's because these things worry me hugely. Ok, so you have Mastered DE, and set up your business (however you want it to run, bigtime/smalltime doesn't matter). In theory you are making product every bit as good as the next MDE, which is fine because it's all based on skills ..right? Sadly not.

The introduction of SEA's reminds me of why I stopped playing a Blacksmith in Ultima. Loot drops just killed it for me. If you didn't have the magic hammer, suddenly you were virtually out of business, because you could no longer make the best gear there could be, and nobody would buy less than best.

Up till now, this has hardly affected DE in game, because the crafting and experimentation has been as it has been, but come Pub7 and the crafting changes, those SEA's will suddenly start to matter big time.

Now, as has been said above, WS and AS can make big bucks every day, in a market where the system forces return customers (decay sees to that). So, most of them can afford the silly prices for the best SEA's

Not so with DE. I have x million in the bank too, but it's not really enough (at least on my server) to afford those SEA's that the new crafting system is going to require us to have.

My point? Dunno really...more just a comment while talking of profitability I guess. Things are changing.

Hmm, I guess I'm glad I'm not starting out in DE now, and I do surely feel for the new players who will be facing this full on.

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The main problem with DE is that you have very little else to do..

To be a very sucsessful DE.. You really need Master DE, Master Artisan, and at least 3-0-0-0 in Merchant (planetary advertising)

This only leaves 92 Points free for other skilsl (combat / medic etc.)

You cant get a master combat profession, and still be a MA, MDE, NM...

There are NO droid crafting related quests, or loot components to add into your drodis (That I know of - and please I would LOVE to be proved wrong with this...)

I am forever sitting around in the game twiddling my thumbs waiting for my damn factories to finish their runs so I can move on to the next component...

I suppose the major resource requirements of publish 7 are actually a good thing, as alot of my time will now be used planet hopping trying to find these rare resources..

My tip... Take up entertainer as well so you can perform in your local cantina while waiting for your harveys to finish !!!

As a Novice it is rather difficultI didn't start to make money until I found out how to do Survey Missions. While I was waiting for shuttles I would grind resources. But once you get up to 3/3/0/4. You can make the best sellers R2s with 2 lvl 4 Med, 2 lvl 4 Item and Food/Chem Station. But up until then you can always sell Probes and Seekers to BH. Again not much money there but at least you can make enough to buy a factory, which it turn will fund the rest of your life as a DE

Where would you reccomend the best place to sell Seeker droids? Just give a shout out at the starport or stick 'em on the Bazaar?

As you may have guessed I dont have the option of putting up a vendor yet, Also what sort of price do you guys recommend for 10 shot Seeker droid and does experimentation increase the number on the Seeker droids?