Droid Engineer Archive

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BlueMorgoth wrote:
Do go ranting that SOE forced this onto you because quite clearly they did not, it was your choice to go that way, not theirs. They gave you enough rope to hang yourself, but you tied the knot and jumped off the platform. Don't blame them for your own personal choices.

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SOE selected the high level of depenency on MA components. I did not.

I'm not quite sure how to characterize the rest of your comment so I won't. I think it speaks for itself as does you own choice to go with Master Artisan after two months of going without it.

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neshura wrote:

Sure, you end up divorced, out on the street, eyes bleary and red, gut inflated with stale cheetos and Tang (beer would mess with your math skills and reflexes). Luckily, even if your car is impounded, you can still war-walk for wireless, and if you planned ahead, power your laptop with a solar panel.

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Hahahah! Stale Cheetoh and Tang breath! I have found its hard to manage components when a too relaxed frame of mind.

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BlueMorgoth wrote:

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I think it speaks for itself as does you own choice to go with Master Artisan after two months of going without it.

So, please tell me why I picked up MA after going without it for so long. You'll be completely wrong about it I guarantee. It had nothing whatsoever to do with DE requirements.

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I'm sure you have your reasons, BlueMorgoth. But I'm not gonna make it personal.

The fact remains that many Droid Engineers take Master Artisan due to the heavy reliance of the DE profession on MA components. This fact, in turn, weakens the argument for a separate Droid Handler profession. We already have enough pre-requisites to making and using our droids.

Why does someone come along about once a month and think that they can solve it with yet another consensus thread?

THE HORSE IS DEAD. STOP BEATING IT ALREADY.

This issue is far too devisive. It is not possible to arrive at a consensus. Re-hashing the same old arguments every 3-4 weeks is not productive and does not help.

I'm so tired of this topic that I no longer care. The devs will either ruin the game for me in which case I'll cancel my accounts, or they won't in which case I'll keep playing and enjoying making droids.

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Kollos wrote:

This issue is far too devisive. It is not possible to arrive at a consensus. Re-hashing the same old arguments every 3-4 weeks is not productive and does not help.

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I agree. The issue of whether or nor DEs should have DE-only droids is divisive and we should just agree to disagree on this one.My personalbelief is that most people want to see some manner of DE-only perk.

The majority of DEs want to be able to use all the droids they can make, except for profession-specific droids like BH droids and the medical abilties of medical droids (unless they have those skills).

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Kollos wrote:

Why does someone come along about once a month and think that they can solve it with yet another consensus thread?

THE HORSE IS DEAD. STOP BEATING IT ALREADY.

This issue is far too devisive. It is not possible to arrive at a consensus. Re-hashing the same old arguments every 3-4 weeks is not productive and does not help.

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This reminds me of that old Star Trek episode with the two half black/half white guys whose races were constantly fighting each other, to the point where it ended up being these two guys alone on a deserted planet fighting with each other ad infinitum. The DE forum is doomed to suffer the same fate if this continues.

In the end is really doesn't matter what we think, as larger and/or behind the scenes issues concerning gameplay balance will always trump popular wants. We all want a lot of things - more content, space combat, Wookie fur jackets, Ewok catapults - but that doesn't mean they'll be arriving in a galaxy near you anytime soon.

Hello all DE's, this is my first time posting here. I am not a master DE, though have been working at it for some time. I'm not a holocron DE nor was my intention to ever be a "flavor of the month" taste sampler. I simply like the little quirky buggers. My suggestion to this whole mess is as follows:

All current droids can still be used by anyone and they should all be cl10 or below. Oh by the way, they should all actually do something!

Combat droids (I'm not sure which kinds there will be exactly, I'll use droidekas for example) are above level 10. Droidekas should be cl15. Adv Droidekas cl20. Novice DE gives +5 max cl. Master DE gives a further +5.

This way those who wish to use combat droids need to follow a tech tree (though simple enough engineering I - novice DE) and the ability to use these droids does not come free to everyone. Devout DE's then can still have something of their own, a little perkfor their hard work. This would also stem an enormous influx of new power-player DE's to ruin our market. As only novice DE's, they can produce nothing worth selling and novice DE would be all I really think they would be willing to invest the skill points in. To ensure this, Adv. Droidekas wouldhave very small bonuses when compared to the standard combat droid. This helps since MA / MDE's have significantly fewer skill points to invest in combat skills, but does not produce enough desire for power gamers to go all the way to Master.

This would also make an entirely separate or hybrid profession of Droid Handler unnecessary. Tossing Droid Handler in I think would be another slap in the face to an already struggling community of gamers. Having to be MA / MDEandMDH would make DE's only combat activity watching droidekas rolling around killing womp rats from a distance. While this would be cool to watch, I would still like to carry a blaster at my side just in case. Also for pvp, being all three of these as so many of us would be forced to become, would make us pathetic compared to anyone with decent combat skills. Imagine a MA / MDE / MDH against a BH / CH. The BH hits you, not your pesky droids, with fire knockdown, sics a couple gurrecks on you and you are dead in 4 seconds. Meanwhile your expensive combat droids are now easy kills, and with permadeath, well...yeah.I admitthis case is extreme, but I think it serves its purpose.

As to how many droids everyone can use, I don't know the answer. All I know is we should at least be able to repair and power up our own droids.

Theres my opinion, please continue this debate! I think there have been a lot of good ideas here, its just a matter of practicality and balance.

Kendal Raven

Intrepid

I'm just going to repeat what so many other of my fellow DEs have said here:

THE HORSE IS DEAD AND HAS BEEN BEATEN TO A BLOODY PULP.

All this combat droid guano was argued to death well over a month ago. It seems like the devs have already decided what theyre going to do and these new "combat droid" threads we seem to be getting every few days now just seem to be exercises in tedium.

Let it die!

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EricTheGreat wrote:
All this combat droid guano was argued to death well over a month ago..

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHA!!!

/agree otherwise

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neshura wrote:

The reason for having skill points is to make your game choices meaningful. If you want to go at it alone, it is simply going to be harder for you, as it should be. The skill points are there to encourage you to find reliable professionals in the game to partner with. In real life, you don't have infinite skill points. In real life, you can't go pick up master doctor in a matter of a few days, even though I think we would all want to -- look how painful it is to pay for private health insurance.

I agree that it sucks that so much of DE depends on MA, but I am here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way!

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Let's think outside the box here. I realize it is theoretically possible to not need MA. In practice, however its a must-have. The critical thought goes into profession-interdependency. TH said it himself: it's screwed up right now. We have too many interdependencies and we don't export many of our products out.

That's why its really hard to follow your path, Neshura. Not because we're not smart enough to put the points in the right place, but because we require too many MA components.

Now that MA's are gettign vehicles, hopefully this will change a bit. MA don't really get much benefits as it is.

It's durned hard to follow the path I outlined. I wasn't trying to make the argument that it was easy. What I'm countering is the constant hyperbole of "It's impossible!" and "All DEs have MA". It's a bit melodramatic.

(1) It is hard, but not impossible, to give up MA if you are a DE.
(2) Most, but not all, DEs have MA. See Rule 1.

To go CH is to play the game on the "Easy" setting.
To go DE is to play the game on the "Challenge" setting.
To go DE without MA is to play the game on the "Impossible" setting, but don't mix up the setting with the reality. You can still beat the "Impossible" setting.

Sure, you end up divorced, out on the street, eyes bleary and red, gut inflated with stale cheetos and Tang (beer would mess with your math skills and reflexes). Luckily, even if your car is impounded, you can still war-walk for wireless, and if you planned ahead, power your laptop with a solar panel.

But I don't think of myself as a powergamer, really.

MAs are not a must-have for DE. They are simply a nice-to-have. I existed without it for quite a long time as a DE - two months or more. Those that say it is a must have are lieing to themselves and to others. Yes, the dependency is high, but you can quite easily get on in the game without it. It is like everything else in this game - you have a limited number of skill points to play with. It is your decision alone about how you want to deal with it and the skills you choose to take. If you think it is required to do DE, great, but the profession does not require MA. Look at the skill tree. The profession requires Eng IV, not Master Artisan. The fact that you choose to pick up MA skills in addtion is a personal choice, not one forced onto you by the game, unlike, say, Master Medic being required to be a doctor. That is the same choice for any other profession. You don't need Merchant, nor do you need architect for power cores or armoursmith for armour segments. There are other ways of obtaining these services. If it is your choice to pick up these skills to the detriment of your combat skills, that is not my problem, or anyone elses. That is your decision alone on the compromise you chose to make. Do go ranting that SOE forced this onto you because quite clearly they did not, it was your choice to go that way, not theirs. They gave you enough rope to hang yourself, but you tied the knot and jumped off the platform. Don't blame them for your own personal choices.

I am also in the DE-crafter party. Some people havestated that if they added a new class to control droids, how can they have MA/DE and whatever the new class is going to be called? That is the easiest question of all to answer, drop MA if it is so important for you to be able to call combat droids. Everything is about choices, you want to have a droid oriented character, now just decide if your focus is on commanding them or building them. I will agree that to a degree building an item does infer a certain amount of knowledge about it, however, I do not agree with the rationale that since we make droids we should get to command a group of them. For instance: You are an engineer for the US Army, you designed the M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank, does that now mean that since you know all it parts, and all the things it can do, that you are now qualified to command them in the field? I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, and if they have, I apologize, give the ability to command multiple/higher level droids to squad leaders. Especially if they do not get anything in the way of allowing more people as retainers for them, they are supposed to be like a seargent or 2nd lieutenant in the military, and would not be high enough rank to command a battalion or regiment, probably could be high enough rank to command a couple of tanks that were sent off on some raid or something. And if we do get multiple or higher level combat droids, explain to me why this would not happen: 43 pts. in scout + 63 pt.s creature handler + 29 pts. artisan + 63 pts. droid engineer = too unbalanced even with 52 skill points left over to get combat skills.