Droid Engineer Archive

But how would you feel if one guy suddenly started selling them for 5,000 or less?

Go ahead. It's not my place to tell them what to do.

This is a pointless argument, the people who don't care about the DE profession are going to continue to sell at low prices and basically give away the droids. Those who actually give a **edit** and look at this as a form of RP and not just "another game to play" will continue to sell at reasonable prices and try to make our profession flourish.

I care a lot about the DE profession. I sell at prices that I feel are fair.

Neither side is going to give in, because both feel that they are right and no amount of arguing will make someone care about something that doesn't matter to them. Why should they care if they ruin the game for all the other DE trying to RP and run a business? Answer...they shouldn't in their view, it's their game, they pay their money, they should get to play however they want...other players be damned.

Ruin the game for all other DE's? See, now we're back into the histrionic territory. Come on. No one DE can possibly supply all of the droids for a server. Don't like someone's prices? Don't sell at those prices. Your choice.

It's sad, it's pathetic and those who keep saying "I only do it to provide competition" are full of crap. Just making the droids and selling at slightly lower prices provides competition without fostering the idea that DE are useless and the droids should basically be free.

Droids shouldn't be free. And, I flame the idiots who ask me to make them free. I didn't hand out 63 surgical ADV to medics because I just through it would nifty ... I did it because I knew how poor they were, how much they helped the community as a whole, and I was thrilled to make Master DE. I can't count the number of times I've come back from a survey run on Lok or Rori only to have a medic tend my wounds for a half-hour. I wanted to pay them all back.

I make droids because I love to. I make enough money to get ahead and save for a swoop bike and a space freighter when the come out, someday.

Personally I attribute the terrible pricing to tha advanced state of the game. I dont want to sound long in the tooth , but it was that long ago that all artisans had to rely on sampling themselves for reosurces, then maybe after a week or two you could afford to buy and maintain some personal extractors. The gradual progression continues through mediums (this includes the low number of architects making larger extractors, so there was higher price and much higher demand), and everntually to heavies and where we are now.

I feel fortunate to have been sure that droid engineering is what I've wanted to do since release, and I got to pay my dues and grow along with the maturation of the economy. I know I'm probably not the only one that was able to sell everything they made as they climbed the skill tree, and those entrepeneurs of us that originally helped shape the economy and neverfell back on'grinding', find it offensive when some PA or other sponsored player youve never seen or heard of emerges from a guild hall's dungeon with a master de tag, and no clue on how to operate or sell a droid.

No question grinding has become the norm, and is most likely a necessity now to be at all marketable in the flood of new masters. The deluge of heavy harvesters and easy money, combined with PA's just wanting to round out their artisan representation has led to alot of these pricing problems, and know-nothing masters.\

To the current crop of grinders: do some homework and ask several of the masters on your server about pricing schemes etc. You'll save yourself alot of grief, and avoid the possible scorn thats obvioously directed at others who have entered the marketplace with 10k and probably make a couple of friends in the process

Hi i'm the edit button, and I'm on permanant holiday!

Anyways, to finish up, dont burst onto the scene like an idiot practically giving droids away just to get your name out and if you do, dont be suprised when other de's that earned what they worked for dont respect you. People that have had things handed to them garner little respect, which in my estimation seems just just about right.

There are a few up-and commers thatI know on Bloofin that are grinding for certain.. but theyre also asking about prices and functionality, and when they hit master I'll be glad to see someone that knows a little something about the profession and economy hit the scene for once.

Good luck!

-Chans K'uwno (Master Droid Engineer, Bloodfin)

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CapnSteve wrote:
Even bounty hunter's would think 250 is too low, especially now that you can use them multiple times (or is that just probe droids?). In a few bounty hunter posts on this board when the vendor terminals were first removed, I think 700-800 was agreed upon as a good price.

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I'll wade in here - I'm not a DE (yet) but I do a brisk droid trade - the reason I can do this is because too many DE's sell too low (usually on the bazaar) I'll buy the whole lot and then make a killing on them at 'normal' price - I'm also intersted in preserving as much of the value of the droid market as possible (especially low end) as possible for when I become a DE.

Some examples

Seekers droids sub-500cr. I'll buy the lot and sellhigher (I'll come downfor bulk). This isnt so commonin the last few days- I guess the DE's who were doing this have worked out theres some money to be made here especially in light of multiple uses (I have sold loads of these, BH's buy in bulk and I've lost sales through not having enough -your low volume undercutter wont have much market here)

Basic Probots 3k - I thought I was seeing things when I saw these on the Bazaar, nerf or not, perma-death or not these things are worth more than 3k. So far I've bought probably 30 (and a good 20 will be from the same supplier) off the bazaar at this price and I sell for much higher. Granted they dont sell quick (**edit** you perma-death) but once perma-death is a memory I expect people tobuy again (perma-death seems to be the only thing stopping people) and I still have lots of room to be haggled down.

Anything with a med module in it - Some of the prices I've seen these go for have been rediculous (while I can understand pricing MSE's with med modules low you have to price on the droids abilities, not the droid itself or you'll kill any higher droid market).

Now I may sound like I'm complaining - I'm not really, these people allow me to make a living and quite a healthy profit. They get their money quick, but they dont get their name out and they dont get half the cash they could if they put their minds to it (and they wont get their usage xp half as fast as they are expecting once it gets fixed).

There needs to be space for merchant in the game and I understand if these people dont want the hassle of selling the goods themselves (it is time consuming) but I wish they'd take the opportunity to seek out a merchant rather than just dump the stuff on the bazaar, it would save us both time and I'd be able to save them making stuff that just wont sell (such as anything with a data module once the pet storage nerf goes though) and get my hands on the stuff my customers have been asking for and I cant supply (because I'm not a DE)

Long story short - if youre not happy with an undercutter, go buy all their stock :-). They wont be able to satisfy demand, you'll be able to satisfy more demand in short order (thus justifyingyourhigher price) and you'll have some room to haggle a discount and still make a profit (assuming your overheads wont let you go that low normally). I make more droid sales (especially BH droids) hawking on the street than I do from my vendor - so if you got the stock, your more likely to get the sale than a cheaper guy for whom you have to wait.

Jonas,

I'm glad you understand my viewpoint better. The majority of my attitude when playing can be summed up as: "I'm in this game to have fun. And, I hope you're having fun, too."

/sigh

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MadCat0911 wrote:
Well, my attitude is pretty much the same thing as in real life. The world's pretty much a place where people use other people to their advantage, or have to step on them to get ahead. Everyone's out for themselves.... In the end, it all comes down to greed, in life, and in this game. And yes, it may be sad that people only care about themselves, but how many people truly care about others over themselves?

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MadCat, your perspective on life needs changing. At the end of your short life, and it IS short, even if you live 100 years, what will you have to show for it with this worldview? Some people in this world are only out to use others, but not everybody. Most people struggle with greed in their lives at one time or another; some are very greedy, but I know many people who are generous, with their time, their money, and their talents and skills.

Why be generous in this world? For me, one reason: I believe God created me and gave me amazing gifts, to be used for good, to benefit his other children, to benefit YOU, because he cares for you as he does for me, and he wants us to show kindness and generosity with one another. When your perspective changes and you understand why you exist and how wonderfully you have been created, by a brilliant, loving God who knows you inside and out, then you will begin to understand the true meaning of life.

I'll probably be banned or something for mentioning God in these forums, but guess what? This game itself, and the fun that people have playing it and interacting with each other, is another place where people can either follow God by loving their neighbor, or turn away from him and cheat people, defraud them, slander them, etc.

As in this game, as in real life, you choose whom you serve.

Peace, my friend. We'll see whether they leave this post up....

I do not believe in God, but I do believe in respect. You can not love without first respecting yourself. You can not grow without the passion that emotions such as love provide.

I am sorry to say, madcat, but the attitude you have developed in your life is the dirrect result of a world view marketed to you and our parents over the course of the last century. Placate the people and 'manufacture consent', as Nome Chompsky so aptly put it.

Even if we are no more than blobs of gew with the ability to interact with our enviroment, we can interact with it and we do have feelings and we do have the ability to create for ourselves a world desgned of our choosing. This is why, years ago, I came up with my online name 'falacy'. Spelled with only one l to further explify how shallow and meaninless we make our precious time on this planet; the word fallacy looks better with only one l.

You do not need to be an 'idealist' or an 'ist' at all to believe that this world we live in is a terrible place. I see it every day, (including today when my best friend called me after being fired from her job, where she worked really hard, never stole, had a positive attitude, never called in sick at all, and constantly helped her fellow employees learn new task, for no reason at all. They just said, 'you don't work here anymroe'... assholes) where good, sincere people get treated like dirt and nobody seems to care. I care and understand that this world is not mine to change and that the most I can do unselfishly is help people help themselves, but I am only one person. I can not help everyone and you know what, I'm not even sure if I'll be able to help my best friend and I'm the closest thing she has to a family. Who's going to help us now that some jerk abruptly took away her source of income, after telling her the week before that she was doing great? No one, I am afraid. And why? Because so many people have been taught to believe that the way the world works is to stomp on everyone you can to make money. So help me God, I will kill every last human being on this planet if my friend commits sucicide because a person who shares madcat's point of view on the word took away her confidence and punished her for doing her best and being a good person. Why would I say such a thing? Well, if most of you people feel this way about life than you quite honestly do not deserve to be in eachothers company. It's not possible to lock all you up, so all I could do is kill us all and hope that what ever came after us would learn from our mistakes.

What this has to do with dorids, I do not know, but thanks for letting me get it off my chest...

Someone Else's Pricing:

• Advanced R2 - 20000c


• food/crafting module - FREE


• medical VI module - 6000c


• armor VI module - 10000c


• data VI module - 6000c


• storage VI module - 8000c

GRAND TOTAL 50000c

My pricing (note, I use data-4 and store-4 modules because the materials required to make data-6 and store-6 don't exist on Bloodfin ... except Beyrllius copper because it is heavily duped):

• Advanced R2 - 20000c


• food/crafting module - FREE


• medical VI module - FREE


• armor VI module - FREE


• data IV module -FREE


• storage IV module - FREE

GRAND TOTAL 20000c

How does my pricing affect other Droid Engineers? It provides them with competition and potentially causes them to lose sales.

Do I have any regrets over this? No. I'm having fun making droids (which is why I joined this game) and am doing quite well financially.

To those of you who complain about other peoples' prices, get over it. Someone will nearly always undercut you, someone will nearly always charge more than you. That's life. And, that's business.

I'm not a producer, I'm probably your customer. Let me say this. On one of my typical missions, I might burn through something to the tune of 5 or6 arakyd probe droids (this is to locate a mission that is time/cost effective) and about 5-10 seeker droids. This is per SINGLE mission. At my current rate, I'm pacing myself to do about 5 missions per day at a minimum. This means ideally I'd be looking to burn through about 25-30 probe droids and 25-50 seeker droids.

That being said, we have two different pricing models here that I can choose from. If someone charges me say 800 credits per probe droid and 500 per seeker I'd be looking at daily expenses from 32500 on the absolute low end, to 49000 on the high end. My take from doing 5missions is about 50k (that's at 10k-10.7k per mission). That being said, once you factor in the cost of travel for the missions - I'm basically losing money for doing my job.

Look, its your board and your profession and I sure as hell am not going to tell you how you should price your wares. Its not my place to do so, but from the consumer perspective here I'm presented with three choices:

1.) Find a supplier who can provide me with what I need at a price I can afford

2.) Take it up the hoop and lose money

3.) Say 'screw it' and avoid training the investigation line and doing bounties all together and just train the combat aspects of bounty hunter.

I can tell you right now, a good majority of hunters are choosing option 3. Personally speaking, I'm stuck with option 2 right now because I don't do my job for the money. At the same time I'm having a hard enough time finding someone who actually will supply the droids in large enough quantities that I'm pretty much ready to just take it up the hoop financially. Anyhow, I hope this helps your collective perspectives on the issue.

Have a nice day.