Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Droids: Where we were and where we’re going.
OrionsByte wrote:
Kilarny wrote:
Can a Doctor reach the full potential of his class without the extra 10% bonus a high-quality medical droid provides?
Better remove that ability, and those mobile crafting stations that make travelling crafters possible are also a bad idea. Droids already exist to enhance the existing abilities and classes...I think, OrionsByte, that you should not advocate the "no checkers" concept. Are you sure you play a Droid Engineer?
You make a good point, but please don't stoop to insults and sarcasm. It just doesn't need to happen.
So maybe I'm taking my point too far, but like I said, I'm just trying to look at things the way the DEVs will be looking at them, and I'm trying to prepare this community for the inevitable "no" on some of our wishlist modules. I'll leave it at that and withdraw from the discussion, cede the point, and move on.
Are you willing to do the same, or would you like to take some more shots at my dedication to the profession?
Actually having given it a little more thought, I think the medical module still fits in to my hypothesis. A 110% medical rating means a doctor can heal 10% more efficiently than a doctor in a medical center. However, the end result is the same. Thus, a doctor without a droid is just as good as a doctor with a droid. In other words, if you walk up to two doctors and one has a droid and the other doesn't, you're not going to care who heals you because the end result is the same.
Now, if that 110% medical module meant that the doctors buffs were also 10% more effective, that would be a completely different story. If this were the case, given the same choice between doctors, you'd choose the doc with a droid every time. Now, the doctor with a droid is better than the doctor without.
So let's look at the slicing module in this same context. If the slicing module gave even a small bonus to the efficiency of slicing, then given a choice between a smuggle with a droid and a smuggler without, you're going to go to the one with a droid because your weapons or armor will turn out better. Now, a smuggler with a droid is better than a smuggler without a droid.
A slicing module that boosts the failure/sucess rate might be a different story, but since Master Smugglers have a 100% success rate (right?) it would become worthless to them at that point.
Now if all this makes me sound like I'm against the DE profession becoming a better, active, viable part of this game, than I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. I'd just rather see us all devote our time and energy in to modules that will actually make it in to the game rather than ones that will just piss us off when they say, "No."
Kilarny wrote:
Can a Doctor reach the full potential of his class without the extra 10% bonus a high-quality medical droid provides?
Better remove that ability, and those mobile crafting stations that make travelling crafters possible are also a bad idea. Droids already exist to enhance the existing abilities and classes...I think, OrionsByte, that you should not advocate the "no checkers" concept. Are you sure you play a Droid Engineer?
I see your point - I just don't like the idea of basically-useless droids. That would mean there are 2 professions that basically don't do anything useful - Image Designers and Droid Engineers (sorry all you ID fans but I don't see the point to the ID profession). I don't WANT to be a useless profession, I want to make droids that CAN give an advantage, no matter how small.
I'm really not sure why there are two of these threads, one in the DE board and one here. I'm violating the implied copyright of Mr. Doughbacca aka TheRealTK421 aka The SnideMaster by grabbing this good idea of his and reposting it here. 
This idea would take some work but if you have a clever codesmith doing the graphics programming it shouldn't be a problem.
Kilarny
TheRealTK421wrote:
Heya, all...
I wanted to throw out to you a bit of my larger-scheme thinking on a possible DE future.
Some of the future utility droid modules like a good first step. There's been a ton of excellent new (and revived) ideas on the DE boards lately. It's a great place again (I hope you'll agree).
When I consider new modules, one of the things that I tend to fall back on is...."How is this fun? How does this feature make SWG more immersive...like I'm IN Star Wars?"
"Is a new module that an Entertainer use to do effects fun and Star-Warsy?" Yea...sorta. I guess I can see that.
"Is a new module that can help Merchants (in whatever fashion it eventually shows up)?" Okay...that's more helpful than fun...but that's cool. I can dig it as long as it actually IS practically worthwhile to own and use.
When I started thinking about what being a DE in SWG would be like (well before beta), I imagined things ("modules", if you want) which would be possible:
- I could build an Entertainment "HoloCapture/HoloDisplay"module, usable by Entertainer's to make 'Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope'-stylerecording oftheir performances and save them toDatadisks. However, it doesn't have to end there. It could also be used to 'record' events to send any kind of action or spatial chat by a player (otherwise, how'd Leia program that message so fast? Was she a Master Entertainer?)
Basically, this lets you have a little droid 'videocam' that would capture and playback. If this could be tied in tightly to Entertainers, that's cool. This imagery is, to me, very much the kind of thing that people that think "Star Wars" equate with what was really "fun" about it. It's the kind of thing that I think would be a great kick. Practical? Maybe not directly. Yucky on the Art Dept? Very likely, yes. Star Warsy and fun? Absolutely.
To me, this has "player-created content via events, etc.", and maybe more (via factionable tie-ins) written all over it.
- These disks could be traded (user XP to the Entertainer, if played) and sold in any number of ways (including vending via the new Merchant vendor/barker droid module).
- These disks could also contact text/email, which my droids could store in their Datapad storage device. Note: I would think that player created disks would need to take up a higher number of Datapad storage slots.
- These disks could (and likely would) be encrypted by Slicers (with the help of my droids)...and maybe 'hacked' by other Slicers (again, with the help of my droids).
- My droid could be sent as a "Messenger" (autonomously), such that you could effectively be two places at once.
- My droid's could be made such that they would be needed when conversing with the local populace. My poor Protocol (translator) droid is starting to get rust, andsort of forlorn, from not having ever done any translation. I think he's only up to like 4 forms of communication. Gee, those Protocols are a testy bunch...
Okay...so, all of those types of things are what I think of droids sometimes doing for those we see in the movies and/or read about. But, there's a few issues...
Why would we need droids to DO any of these things? True...it is primarily a roleplay, player-content bunch of changes. None of this really is "useful" to anyone in the game, as far as character enhancement or getting an edge....
Or is it?
Some of the kinds of droid changes that I'm suggesting, I believe, might later be well-fed with quest content upcoming via the Jedi Revamp. It is **very** possible for the Devs to build an infrastructure of droid module features that can be leverage into truly completed content down the line (as it is 'switched on').
By this, I mean that the droid utility modules that are being concerned should be considered with an eye towards how they can fit together to form a large whole. A more dynamic system.
Okay, well...that's my random rambling for tonight. I'm on the clock now.
/emote straps on his DE goggles and grabs his can of Wookiee Air Freshner...
Kilarny wrote:
OrionsByte wrote:
Now if all this makes me sound like I'm against the DE profession becoming a better, active, viable part of this game, than I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. I'd just rather see us all devote our time and energy in to modules that will actually make it in to the game rather than ones that will just piss us off when they say, "No."
OrionsByte:
I see your point - I just don't like the idea of basically-useless droids. That would mean there are 2 professions that basically don't do anything useful - Image Designers and Droid Engineers (sorry all you ID fans but I don't see the point to the ID profession). I don't WANT to be a useless profession, I want to make droids that CAN give an advantage, no matter how small.
Seems like most other professions have checkers and can get their pieces "Kinged." I just want the same thing for my profession - right now a Chef is more useful than a Droid Engineer, and I'm sorry but that's just wrong.
Kilarny
I don't want to see useless droids or modules either... what I'm saying is that we need to look at droids that can be useful without crippling any professions in the process. There are a whole list of very interesting combat-utility droids in this thread:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=66268
Kilarny wrote:
P.S. 1) I though[t] that Docs got a 10% addition to buffs when using a 110 medical droid
2) No intention to insult - just stunned disbelief at your position. Obviously, you DO play a DE.
On the doctor's forum there is a thread where they are comparing buff averages:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=doctor&message.id=28608&page=1
In this thread, if you look at it, you'll notice that the results are all over the board whether they have a 110 med droid or not. In addition, in the first reply to this thread,
Cry4Dawn wrote:
I have a 110 Droid but it doesnt seem to matter med center or droid. Droids DO NOT give you an increase in buffs its a proven fact.. Its only for wound healing just like clothes are the same way. THEY DO NOT boost your buff ratings...
For the record, my position is not that we shouldn't get cool new droids and modules and make our profession worthwhile. My position is that the modules everyone is talking about have a low probability of being implemented. Granted, that's just my opinion, but still...
What tends to happen with DEs is we don't receive enough DEV communication and our imaginations run rampant without any thing to leash them back in (not that that's really a bad thing). We debate and discuss all these things for days, weeks, months, whatever, and eventually the community comes to a concensus. Then a DEV or two finally step in and say, "No, sorry, that won't work because of X." The community goes ballistic.
So I posted this opinion of mine not to get people angry with me (which I'm sure they are or will be) and not to prevent DE from becoming a really cool profession (which I hope someday it will be) but just to brace people against the inevitable. We're not going to get all the modules we're asking for, and I'm trying to shed some light ahead of time about what the reasons against them might be.
So everyone, keep posting your ideas, but try to think about the "big picture" and how it affects the game overall.
OrionsByte wrote:
So everyone, keep posting your ideas, but try to think about the "big picture" and how it affects the game overall.
Yeah, except I want the "big picture" to include droids that DO have an effect on gameplay. This might mean, yes, that you "have to have" a droid to be the most effective you can be. That's not "crippling" a profession - sure some of the ideas presented would reduce the need for other professions. That doesn't mean they are bad or unworkable ideas.
After all, let's look (again) at the list of things you "need" to be an effective PvPer:
Weapons
Armor
Chef Foods
Smuggler's Spices
Tailor & Bio-Engineer clothing with stat bonuses
Doctor Buffs
Entertainer Buffs
That covers all the crafting classes except Architect (if factories and Player Cities are not checkers, I'll eat my Mabari Armorweave helmet).
What do Droid Engineer and Image Designer have in common? They are both classes that you never "need" in order to maximize your gameplay in SWG. DEs add some convenience itemsbut the most useful thing we make is storage droids. When you get right down to it, SOE might as well stick all the droid skills into the Artisan tree, add lipstick and hair dye craftable items,then remove the ID and DE professions completely!
You go "prepare for the inevitable." I'll continue to be an agitator, thanks very much.Make the profession useful or delete it!
ya well what about the bh droids will they ever work on player jedi?
FIX THE TEN ITEM STORAGE MODULE BUG IN THE SURGICAL DROIDS PLEASE, PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE.
R3/ Duct tape/ Bazooka, the scariest fighting machine.
To everyone asking about new blueprints and new chassis for combat droids.
Personally, I feel that droids should have more uses than they do. Some uses a droid should have include :
1. Tending harvestors and factories - Sometimes I hate running back and forth to my factory and I can't have my factory convieniently placed next to my house. It would be nice if you could program a droid with waypoints and send it off to do that task for you. In the movies, Luke and Owen bought C-3PO and R2D2 for the sole purpose of tending their moisture vaporators. Why can't that be so in the game?
2. Advanced combat droids - It is obvious that droids are more than just little companions like R2D2. I believe one droid from the books and fictionis IG-88 or something like that. That droid was notorious for its bounty hunter skills and was feared throughout the galaxy. Droid destroyers and battle droids were used heavily in the Clone War. Give droids the same combat abilities as players. Allow them to be equipped with the same weaponry as players. Make them componential so that new features can be added to them such as reinforced armor or the such. Make them programmable with fighting styles. Even be bold enough to allow them to have their own combat experience.
3. Pilots - With the expansion pack, sometimes you may not want to drive your ship on a long trip to Yavin4 but certain qualities about space require that you can't be on autopilot. Pilot droids could react to the sudden changes in outer space like solar flares and asteroids and steer the ship clear of danger. This is an early idea, lol.
4. Harvesting and Manufacturing Droids - If droids can't run and do the errands of maintaining a factory or harvestor, why not let them be the actual harvetor or factory themselves. A portable harvestor would come in handy whenever I need some minor resource and I don't want to place a medium harvestor to get it. Maybe these droids could have large extraction rates so that they would become useful in high concentration spots that are on a hill side you can't build on.Maybe these droids could have a setup time and maintenance fee for being used in this way.
5. City Army Droids - To bring a new dynamic to the game, why not allow cities to raise armies of NPC's and make some kind of droid general profession to command them. City droid armies would add a new dynamic to the game and to the galatic civil war. It would also raise city participation for those cityless guilds that might feel left out of the action. Perhaps you can evenallow faction alignedNPC's into the army. This general in command would be able to issue unit wide orders such as formation, style of tactics, where to go, and who to attack. These armies however should not come easy and should be hard to maintain like any army. In this way, huge cities will havea difficult time maintaining a huge army that smaller cities couldn't compete with keeping the game slightly fair. (I don't see why it should be when life isn't and neither would the Galatic Civil War be fair if it was real. People grow up, lol.)