Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Get rid of Droid Batteries
Gavvot
Thu Jun 10, 2004 4:26 am
#27
After thinking more, I finally came to those conclusion :
Batteries aren't the problem, recharging the droid all the time is the problem.
So, Batteries should stay, but used differently.
Link the decay with the battery usage is a good idea. And does make sence.
Batteries aren't the problem, recharging the droid all the time is the problem.
So, Batteries should stay, but used differently.
Link the decay with the battery usage is a good idea. And does make sence.
MissileToad
Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:35 am
#28
Interesting idea. As long as it was a moderate decay rate and nothing too speedy I think it could work out great.
Straker_Atrella
Thu Jun 10, 2004 1:49 pm
#29
GrafvonSoden wrote:
I for one, dont want to see batteries removed. But the hassle could be lessened. Maybe when the frame is made, experimentation could go into how many batteries the droid could hold at one time. If we could stick in 4 batteies, then the hassle would be lessened, without removing a source of income for Artisans. I sell several crates of 4 use batteries everyday, and dont want to lose it. And no matter how good my droids are, I'm not selling many, so you'd be damaging my income by completely removing batteries.
Grafvon, think about this. How many Artisans are on your server? How many DE's? I would place money that there are probably 3 times (at least) many Master Artisans as Droid engineers. This means that even though you may sell some batteries far far more people are either making batteries for themselves, or buying them elsewhere, like the Bazaar.
So while it may seem that you would lose money if Droid Batteries were removed, it's 100% the opposite. If this idea was implemented, you would no longer sell batteries, but you would sell Droids. Far far more Droids then you do now. No longer could people keep their Droids running forever with self made batteries, they would be forced to go to a Droid Engineer.
Straker
Straker_Atrella
Thu Jun 10, 2004 2:16 pm
#30
TK, heh I know I'm a pain. I appreciate the Battery Poll, yet it seems like people really are misunderstanding things.
They think your proposing leaving Droids with no power, or that they will lose battery sales. (shrug) maybe a little more information is needed to let them see this would possibly be GOOD for Droid engineers.
TheRealTK421
Thu Jun 10, 2004 2:44 pm
#31
I'm sure they don't think this.
Straker_Atrella wrote:
They think your proposing leaving Droids with no power...
If they do, how do they expect droids to work?!?
I'm gonna leave it as is for now...but I'll try to rework an updated version after a bit. That cool?
Note: Yea, yea...I know. "Try not."
/bow
Respectfully,
Straker_Atrella
Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:12 am
#32
Heh yea, that's cool. But if you read some of the responses, some people actually do think that.
JeCy
Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:15 am
#33
not with ya on the battery thing, everyone is always trying to take stuff away from the artisans,, they get no love at all
batteries, i would love a battery tray where you could put in a crate and they could be set to auto recharge or manual to keep that little R2 from eating trhough crates of batteries.
another option owuld be to give batteries even longer life but in return make um take more resorces.. i sell batteries for 100c per battery 4 charge, or 2500 a crate, i have a nice profit margin on them.i dont see why everything in game needs to be big profit,.,. its a battery made with what ever or and metal ya have lying around.. its not rocket science. last time i checked any shmoe with a basic knowlege of chemistry can maeka battery soo it makes total since a ws, armor, master art could make um
as for a droid completly dy'in no way,, people get very attached to there droids.. to have to go out and get new ones every month would be rediculus even for me and i make um.. what im supose to go transfer 100+ schems, and a full storage every month soo de's can make a buck? Could add decay where they would need to be taken back and repaired for a small fee, but completely disable a droid would be very very bad, you wouldnt sell more. people would just say forget it im not even gonna bother.. docs wont be buying sweet R'2s they will be picking up mouse with surgical and forget the rest.. a hunter isnt gonna go out and spend 100k a month on a new droid, they already got armor, weapons, food, meds to worry about. This was a big issue with tailors way back when. They all complained that they would go outta bussiness when exp and decay was not implimented, well 9 months down the road all the tailors i know there bussiness is just as good or better than it was in august.
I recently go outta making armor, got tired of making the same thing,, do you make composite???mastered back in jan,, started making um after the last patches on a big production., i sell about 15-20 a week make maybe 400-500k a week selling droids,,,i know i dont want that same person coming back in a month saying can you make that same droid again he died.People will get tired of certain droids and want to get a new one all on there own. change classes and need a differnt set of droids. no need to force someone to get newones they will do that all on there own when they are ready, and be much happier customers.
Batteries are like power ups,, it keeps the people coming back to your store and looking at what you have this time who knows maybe they will decide to buy a new droid to keep there other one company
Je'Cy Dax
Straker_Atrella
Fri Jun 11, 2004 2:01 pm
#34
Good post Jecy, it made me sit back and think.
Taking away from Artisans....ok flame away, I don't have a problem with that, even though myDE is one as well. Artisan is a Novice profession, a stepping stone, to higher crafting classes. There will always be a need for Artisans with because of vehicles, and repair kits. How many people just Master Entertainer, Marksman, Brawler, without moving onto something else?Maybe a few, but I would wager not many. Novice professions are stepping stones. There are people who "grind" Artisan in a day. Make large factory runs of Vehicles, Repair kits, Batteries, and other things.
I agree with you about batteries getting peopleback to your vendor, that is a good thing, Yet it is even easier for them to just pick up a crate from the Bazaar. Always plenty on there.
Attachment to Droids I understand, no people don't want to replace their Droids, I really don't have an answer to that. If your that attached to them, I guess you could convince yourself that your new Droid is the old one, after renaming him. This would actually give people the incentive to buy the same Droid maybe. Hell I'm attached to my Krayet T21 and will hate to replace it, but I will be forced too.
Let's talk about money. Last night with my fighting character, in 1 buff session I made 1 MILLION credits running missions, and missions only. That is 1 Million credits in 3 hours. So fighting people have plenty of access to cash, so do Docs, Entertainers, Scouts, and Crafters, pretty much anybody who uses a Droid has the ability to make plenty of cash. Paying an extra 50-70k a month isn't going to really put a hurting on anybody. If you use your droid less, it wont even be that often.
If I can make 1 million in 3 hours, why do I care about Droid sales? Good question. It's not so much a cash thing as a balance thing. Some classes make their money by "Servicing People," Docs, Musicians, Dancers, and Image Designers. They spend their time in game working with people, and giving Services, making quite a bit of money as well. Others are Crafters, Weaponsmiths, Armorsmiths, Tailors, Architects, and Droid Engineers spend their in game time making items. These items are often sold while they are not online. Now here is where the fairness kicks in. Of all the crafters, Tailors and Droid engineers are the only ones without really repeat business. Yet even Tailors can make a lot of money just supplying the componants to Armorsmiths. Droid Engineers take more parts, just as many (if not more) resources then the other crafting professions, yet we have no true repeat business. It's not a money issue really, it's just more of a balance issue. To be honest, Architect and Tailor could use a little love as well.
Droid repair instead of replacement. While this may fix the "attachment" problems have with replacing droids, hre is my problem with it. Your moving DE from a Crafting profession to a Service profession. A DE's big money wont be from selling Droids it will be fixing them. If I wanted to make my money standing around all day, I would use the other half of my DE who is a Master Musician and sell Mind Buffs.
For those who endorse "Droid Repair" as a way for DE's to make money, think about this REALLY REALLY hard. You will be competing with people who grind Droid Engineer, yet never make a Droid, never Harvest a resource, yet stand in Coronet all day spamming and fixing Droids. With less overhead they will charge half of what you do. If you need some type of Repair kits to fix them, then they will only make those. Do you really want people with a Master Droid Engineer tag who say "I don't make Droids, I just fix them," to be making more money then the actual person who makes them? It will happen.
For all of the reasons above, this is why I think Droid Decay is good and Droids should eventually need replaced. Since there are combat and non-combat Droids, Battery power seems the easiest way to be fair to both. My origional idea of removing Batteries and adding the Battery Core was not really due to any animosity towards Droid batteries, it was because if you are going to Nerf, give love as well. People will be inconvienianced by buying new Droids, by removing the need for Batteries at the same time, you lessen the blow.
/bow
Straker
Betatoxin
Fri Jun 11, 2004 3:47 pm
#35
For crying out loud I cannot believe this got stickied.
1) Batteries are not a pain. There is no difference whatsoever from recharging a droid and healing a pet. In fact they are substantially easier in my experience. I have a MCH and after every battle with high end mobs you have to heal, feed and sometimes recall your pets (to get rid of poison and disease). This is part of the effort required to have pets. Droid batteries are the exact same thing and if anything are easier than wet pets. Droids cannot be poisoned, bled or diseased and if you have a tank with repair modules they only take one quick right menu selection.
2) Droid engineers have had a long bone to pick with master artisans because they require their master level items to make droids. As such they are hardly the best group to go around saying what a master artisan should or should have as a product. Just look at this weeks question, more complaints about interdependencies between these professions. Well guess what, if anything there are less interdependencies than originally intended and new high end content should expect more even if the DE's get cut a little slack for perhaps bearing the burden of a profession that is working as originally designed.
3) Droid batteries are not the reason people do not get droids. People use droids if they are useful, if they are not useful they do not use them. Just like every other pet droids require maintenance.
Barker droids could last longer on a charge sure, a small battery storage area could be added as a module, fine. However removing batteries is not a good idea, no matter how much DE's hate their dependence on the artisan profession.
Imagine how the shiprights are going to feel when their ships require an astromech droid...
1) Batteries are not a pain. There is no difference whatsoever from recharging a droid and healing a pet. In fact they are substantially easier in my experience. I have a MCH and after every battle with high end mobs you have to heal, feed and sometimes recall your pets (to get rid of poison and disease). This is part of the effort required to have pets. Droid batteries are the exact same thing and if anything are easier than wet pets. Droids cannot be poisoned, bled or diseased and if you have a tank with repair modules they only take one quick right menu selection.
2) Droid engineers have had a long bone to pick with master artisans because they require their master level items to make droids. As such they are hardly the best group to go around saying what a master artisan should or should have as a product. Just look at this weeks question, more complaints about interdependencies between these professions. Well guess what, if anything there are less interdependencies than originally intended and new high end content should expect more even if the DE's get cut a little slack for perhaps bearing the burden of a profession that is working as originally designed.
3) Droid batteries are not the reason people do not get droids. People use droids if they are useful, if they are not useful they do not use them. Just like every other pet droids require maintenance.
Barker droids could last longer on a charge sure, a small battery storage area could be added as a module, fine. However removing batteries is not a good idea, no matter how much DE's hate their dependence on the artisan profession.
Imagine how the shiprights are going to feel when their ships require an astromech droid...
Straker_Atrella
Fri Jun 11, 2004 4:06 pm
#36
I wonder if people actually read ENTIRE posts before they post. Seems like they just look at the title then post.
This post is more about Droid Decay then simply removing batteries. Yes if this idea was implemented, batteries would be gone, yet that would actually be to make up for the addition of Droid Decay.
Nobody is comparing CH pets and Droids. Each have their strengths and weaknesses. Yes living Pets may be more trouble, but they are also far far more powerfull then a Droid. I also bet that Pets wear out faster then a Droid does.
Please read the entire post and you wil lsee this has nothing to do with nerfing our dependancy on Artisans.
Malitevv
Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:13 pm
#37
The problem I see with what you are saying straker is how does one define use? You point out that weapons decay faster if they are used more. That is correct. And if droids are going to decay it makes sense that they decay faster if they are used more. But use is not clearly defined. Does simply having the droid out mean it is being used?? If so, then the idea is horrible.
For example: walking around with my gun in my hand does not cause the gun to decay. Wearing my armor does not cause my armor to decay. Wearing my clothes does not cause my clothes to decay. But removing batteries and replacing them with a slow decay mechanism means that having my droid out and doing nothing with it will cause my droid to decay. That is fundamentally different than the way decay works on armor and weapons. In my opinion, having my droid out and not doing anything with it is no different than wearing my armor and should not cause my droid to decay.
Many people like to walk around with their droids out simply because it looks cool or adds to their idea of immersion.That aspect ofgame play will be ruined if simply having the droid out is the decay mechanism. And when compared against how weapon and armor decay works, it is far more aggressive and places restrictions on droid usage that does not exist for any other item in the game.
Message Edited by Malitevv on 06-11-2004 05:15 PM
Message Edited by Malitevv on 06-11-2004 05:15 PM
Straker_Atrella
Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:24 pm
#38
Malitevv, I agree that may be a problem for people who just walk around with their droids.
However, even though a Droid is just standing there next to the Doctor, and the Doctor is doing med stuff, the droid is being "used." Even though in game it may not appear so, but the Droid must be doing something. Same thing with crafting, the Droid is doing something.
Droids are different from Armor and Weapons because they have passive uses. Those passive uses will eventually wear a droid out.
If your concerned about your Droid just walking around behind you for look, think about this. How often do you put batteries in your Droid? Now how long would it before you did that 1,000 times? Yes if you just walked around with your Droid, you may need a new one every 6 months. How much Food, Armor, and Weapons will you have gone through in 6 months?
/bow
Malitevv
Fri Jun 11, 2004 5:27 pm
#39
You assume that repair has to mean interaction between myself and the customer. It doesn't. It could be an item that I sell which the customer can use himself to repair the droid. There are many different ways that could be implemented that don't turn us into a service profession. I can't think of a good one though that wouldn't bea lot of rework for the profession though.
Straker_Atrella wrote:
....
For those who endorse "Droid Repair" as a way for DE's to make money, think about this REALLY REALLY hard....