Droid Engineer Archive

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Drashk wrote:
The forums had a little hiccup early this morning, while I was puttering around on the forums.My titleshould be back to normal soon.

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burgerking wrote:

Wonder if it would be possible to add one thing to this excellent list?

I sell the majority of my droids through a vendor and as such once in a while somebody buys a droid they subsequently cannot use. It would be great to be able to list for sale on a vendor a called droid, or maybe to re-deed a used droid that was in perfect condition so I could take these unwanted droids back?

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this is a great idea also

excellent post

Ok. I'm going to march down the list of suggestions and comments that everyone has made so far.A couple of things to keep in mind about this this list -

1. The top 5 Short Term Issues were more of less put in order according to the Top 5 Poll a few months back. Anything after the first 5 are in mostly random order of need.


2. This list was put together after digging around the DE forum over the last few months. I tried to include as many relevant issues that have been mentioned in this time frame.


3. TheIssues Threadsare submitted to the DEVs approximately once per quarter. The DEVs do take the time to go over responses made to the community version of the thread and take note of the responses made here. Even though an Issue may not be listed here, Issues do get brought up through other channels.
   
   
   

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   Jjiaah wrote:

In regard to #14. Unless I am mistaken early on in the game (beta and shortly after) waypoints were allowed to be stored in datapads. However, people were exploiting this by moving mission waypoints over to the droid, and thus taking 100's of missions at a time. Instead of fixing the problem, them made datapads only able to hold manufacturing schematics instead.

I doubt they will ever do the work to do a proper fix, as it has already been "addressed".

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A few months after the Mission Issue was fixed, the Datapad had a revamp. This revamp changed the data on Pets, Droids, Faction Perks, Mission waypoints, Location Waypoints, and POI waypoints.

See the JtL Centralized Droid Issues Thread for more information. (Sorry to the folks that do not have JtL access.)

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burgerking wrote:

I sell the majority of my droids through a vendor and as such once in a while somebody buys a droid they subsequently cannot use. It would be great to be able to list for sale on a vendor a called droid, or maybe to re-deed a used droid that was in perfect condition so I could take these unwanted droids back?

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psikobunny wrote:

Deed display- The droid deed should display any particular skills needed to use the droid's functions. (barkers list ads4, stimpacks list the medic skill needed, scout droids, etc) I see this as pretty important, possibly fitting in around 7 or 8 on the list?

Bugged sounds- Since their introduction using repair kits has been accompanied by the "eating" noise for pets at times. Recently I have noticed my Probot has begun "spitting" instead ofzapping as well. *sigh*

PS- I think in the original schematic revamp, didnt we break out Droid Combat modules from Droid Service modules? I think Combat, Detonation, and Scout Trap (this functions like and attack, and makes the droid aggressive instead of cowardly, as I recall) should be broken out, and then, any future modules will have a home too. *hope*

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If I get the chance to chat up with a few certain people, I'll make the suggestion of adding Module prerequisites to the droid deed.

The Droid Sound/Visual Bughas just recently been pointed out to me.I've added it to the Centralized Droid Issues thread, but need some more information on thisIssue.

As for the Schematic listing, I didn't seperate theCombat, Scout Trap and Detonation Modulesduesince they areall considered Service Modules. Thelist is brokendown in a way to help assist new Droid Engineers. Spliting the 'Combat-type' Modules from the standard Service Modules may lead more people to the misconception that only this type of module can be installed in a Combat-Capable Module Socket Cluster, even more so then we currently see.

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YodaMac wrote:

My only concern is your suggested "decay" of droids. Perhaps I don't know enough about it yet, but this scares me. I'm not happy with being FORCED to replace my very own droids whether I want to or not. I'm personally attached to my "creations". They are not mere tools like blasters and armor. They are my Plastic Pals, and I know many of my customers feel the same way. (Go ahead and call me crazy, my droids do too. )

Second, I'm not happy with being FORCED to craft the same droids over and over as my customers come back to me with a "dead" droid and need him replaced. Let's face it, crafting can sometimes be a little monotonous (gasp!)so let's not make it any more so.

As I said, I don't know all your plans in this respect, and I'm not trying to rant or flame here... just concerned.

My suggestion (I'm full of 'em...heh) would be to see Droids become more like (NDA aside here) Starship crafting is in JtL. So that droids could be sold to customers and they could come back and buy NEW MODULES to upgrade them with. Modules most of us factory craft anyways, so no additional monotony there. Modules could wear out with use or time. And new "features" could be added to the game (upgrades from SOE to existing modules) that would require the customer to buy a new "fresh from factory crate" module to take advantage of it. Anyways, you see my point. The droid modules would be the mix-and-match ability that would encourage new purchases from customers but the droids could remain safely in your datapad.

I might also entertain some sort of "droid overhaul" tool that only DE's could use to "re-furbish" an aging droid back to "like-new" status. Again, a regular customer need for those who care about their plastic pals.

I'm probably in the minority here, but all I know is I make enough credits to keep my business going, buy more resources, power my factories, and pay my taxes. I'm not sure how much profit others are looking for because frankly, I just cant seem to find much of anything in game to spend my money on...heh. So I put it back into my droids... I think they appreciate it.

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There have been a number of discussions on the Droid Decay system and how it should be handled. Take a look at the "One [DE] Sticky To Rule Them All..." for more information.

The ability to replace existing modulescould create a lot of potential for futher Droid Engineer involvement, however it could come at aprice. Since weare able to stack different level modules, to gain the function of a Level 6 Module, the question of how muchinformation is stored about each droid has arisen. Does thedatabase recognize the difference between an Advanced modeland a Basic model? Does the database count each individual module, or does it simply look at whatfunctions the droid has?Another question that needs to be asked is 'If given the ability to swap out modules, would the ability to stack modules be removed for ease of programing?'

The DecaySystem suggestion isn't needed to increase sales. It is needed to ensure that new Droid Engineers will always have amarket. With JtL knocking on our door, Droid Engineers need a way toensure that we never hit market saturation. As it stands,there are only6 main reasons that a person needs to purchase a droid -

1. They are new to the game/galaxy and need to buya new droid.


2. A new Module or Droid Function was introduced.


3. The customer wants an upgraded droid (higher Harvest rating, combat rating, different module set up, etc..)


4. The customer is changing professions and needs a droid with a different module configuration.


5. The customer needs to replace a combat droid that has low Vitality.


6. The customer whats a different looking droid (i.e. BLL, Treadwell, Power Droid, etc..)

Out of these 6 reasons, the first 3 are what currently keep the droid market active. With JtL coming out, more people becoming Droid Engineers and the droid market will become more competitive. When the Droid Commander profession is added, more people will become Droid Engineers, shrinking the utilitydroid market even further.

Each server is different, however most servers are only able to support 5 - 10 active Master Droid Engineers. If the number of active Master Droid Engineers is increased, without some form of balancing function, such as a Decay system, the droid market will eventually become a lot smaller then it is now. Its not an issue of making credits , its an issue of making a market that allows more Droid Engineers to join our ranks.

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jefmes wrote:

OH...not exactly. The survey droids have pretty well been a flop and I still have the majority of these I crafted when they were introduced, with the exception of the curiousity sale. The functionality of these needs to be expanded so that people really WANT to use them. This could be done by reducing the requirement of seperate survey tools used for each droid instance, or by making it a module instead of a "survey droid" and let the droid "disappear" like the maintenance one does, letting it scour the galaxy. There's just much more that could be done with this one, I'd love to see it be more useful.

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I agree that the Survey Droid needs to be completely overhauled. Thank you for reminding me to add this issue to the JtL thread.

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ASHRID wrote:

I must say I was suprised to not see allowing multiple droids to be called at once on the [long term] list - I'd have thought this was still pretty important to us

In addition I note the R series has no suggested inbuilt function suggested in the list, why not have the old repair module as the R series in build function? (kinda redundant though if you can only have 1 droid out....)

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Straker_Atrella wrote:

My only disagreement is having our crafting tool organization in the top 5. I think there are some better things farther down the list.

Why isn't "Lack of Droid Decay" a top 5 issue? Yes I know it is in long term issues, but I think it should be top 5.

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