Droid Engineer Archive

Thread: Droid Module Focus (Merchant Barker): Information, discussion and bug-reporting (04/23/04)

TheRealTK421
Fri Apr 16, 2004 11:22 am
#27






Javac wrote:
From the TC update notes:

- Changed the skill requirement for the merchant barker to Advertising IV
- Increased the time between merchant barks to 60s.

Time increase good, but why the skill requirement increase?





I just updated the original post to reflect these changes.


/bow

Respectfully,




TheRealTK421 a.k.a. "Doughbacca"
SWG DE Correspondent
Co-Founding member of Ahazi DENet & SWG DEA (Droid Engineer Association)
"I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. ...I'm certainly not. And I'm sick and tired of being told that I am."


Tarne_Monter
Fri Apr 16, 2004 1:33 pm
#28



Javac wrote:
From the TC update notes:

- Changed the skill requirement for the merchant barker to Advertising IV
- Increased the time between merchant barks to 60s.

Time increase good, but why the skill requirement increase?




I believe the skill requirement increase is to lessen the starport spam that people keep complaining about.



Tarne Monter from Elderhome, Naboo, Ahazi
Vendor "Tarne's Droids" in the Merchant Tent at 5680 4451 Naboo
Master Droid Engineer and Master Artisan
Smuggler 0/2/0/0

Kadaara, Naboo, TC
Marksman 0/0/3/0
Malitevv
Fri Apr 16, 2004 2:42 pm
#29

This is interesting and hopefully useful. I still think they should implement it somewhat differently, but oh well. I'd prefer if the droid simply didn't bark at all, but instead had an option in the "merchant"item in the radial menuthat let the merchant give the droid a 64-128 character sub-title for it's name that would float over the droid at all times, but onlyforplayersthat arenearby. This would draw a player's attention to the droid without spamming. Then the long message that is recorded should be 255 - 512 characters in length and should only show up when a player examines of converses with the droid.


Modeling the droids functionality to mimic almost exactly the behavior of spammers seems to me to be unwise and very limiting. But we will see.





---------------------------------------------------------------------
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

T.S. Eliot
LonelyGhost
Fri Apr 16, 2004 3:38 pm
#30

Yes, I would prefer to have the droid "bark" only a short phrase (32-64 long) every 90-120 seconds, then *IF* the player *WANTS* more info, they find and /examine the droid. And in the examine window is a huge area to type up all kinds of info. Price lists, step-by-step instructions, contact info, etc...



Crys Akkori - Merchant Engineer
Veteren of SIN, IO, and XC - A Founder of Jaxian Bay
Elder DE, Architect, Artisan, Chef, Merchant

Vendor on Naboo at -7547 4635 (Fly in to Theed)

Crafters do have decay on resources. As we use it it GOES AWAY. And when it's gone, we have to get more. - Elekae
TlEDestroyer
Fri Apr 16, 2004 6:39 pm
#31

I think that many people are missing an entirely different use for this Droid.

The Role-Play Value.

The ability to leave a droid in a different place than you the character is located, speak and give a waypoint is extremely useful in creating events and role-playing missions. For example. Lets say a person wanted to set up a race across a planet. Let us say the Race Starts in Bela Vista on Corellia. The Droid is standing in an empty area of Coronet, speaking very questionable phrases every 60 seconds. In order for the racers to know the second way point, they must converse with this droid. The way point would then lead them to Doaba Guerfel.

In the hands of a creative mind, this module can do wonders. It will also create another need for higher level merchants to be around. The possibilities for hosting Role-playing events are endless with the use of this droid. If someone understands what I am trying to explain here, maybe they would be so kind as to bring this over to the Event disucssion forum. I am not the most eloquent writer and I am sure someone would be able to explain the possibilities of this new module better than I can.



Namahs Salohcin
______________________________________
Shaman Enterprises
These are the droids you are looking for!
Naufragus
Fri Apr 16, 2004 9:14 pm
#32

better yet.....


the merchant droids SHOULD have gotten the holograms the dancers got and project a little ad...it could be as simple as a picture of a gun if you where selling guns


maybe as you moved up the skill tree you could get animations or more elaborate holograms....


little holo billboards


this is much more clever and less intrusive than spam....


neshura
Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:15 pm
#33

**** Effectiveness (Auto-Repair Power and Quality): 50/50% Conductivity and OQ ****

QUESTION:

What does Auto-Repair Power and Quality have to do with Merchant Barking? Is that some feature of merchant barking, or a typo in the post or the schematic?

Thanks,

-neshura
Kaldeth
Sun Apr 18, 2004 1:25 am
#34

The barker module is a nice idea and a useful one for the merchant, but as long as it will 'bark' in vicinity it will not lower the spam. They (SOE) increased the skill requirements so 'dabblers' wouldn't use it, but those that sit/stand/prone outside any starport/cantina/hospital or other location today spamming will keep doing it. The only difference I see is that the merchant that have the skill to use the droid and are spamming today, gets to do it in a greater area with this new droid. Not saying all merchants will keep barking but some will.



********************************
Member of The Power Empire (TPE)

"Droid Invasion? More like Droid Evasion"
TheRealTK421
Sun Apr 18, 2004 11:28 am
#35






neshura wrote:
**** Effectiveness (Auto-Repair Power and Quality): 50/50% Conductivity and OQ ****

QUESTION:

What does Auto-Repair Power and Quality have to do with Merchant Barking? Is that some feature of merchant barking, or a typo in the post or the schematic?

Thanks,

-neshura




It's a typo in the post(from late night copying/pasting). I'll update/fix this in a bit.


/bow

Respectfully,







TheRealTK421 a.k.a. "Doughbacca"
SWG DE Correspondent
Co-Founding member of Ahazi DENet & SWG DEA (Droid Engineer Association)
"I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. ...I'm certainly not. And I'm sick and tired of being told that I am."


SaarK5
Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:39 pm
#36

Is it possible to make a slight upgrade to this module? I think it would really be useful to mayors if they could place heralds for their city that would not require them to be online. Would it be possible for a mayor to get 1-3 city slots to place permanent droids w/ this module?

I know it's late in the process for this, but people continually ask me the same questions...and it'd be nice to put that information on the droid since we don't seem to have city Bulletin Boards in game.



-------------------------------------------------

Malikor Briseh, Master Chef - TestCenter
Breath of the Dragon Pub - Dragon's Call, Tatooine

Iron Chef TestCenter - Smallest Filling Award
kalmank
Sun Apr 18, 2004 6:01 pm
#37

If a Merchant programs the droid and gives it to a non-merchant, will it still bark or just give the wp? Also does experimentation affect the merchant barker module?


Thanks,

Isildur



* Isildur Sennen *
* Rummicub *
-- Intrepid --

Offer any items I win to my vendor near Coronet, at: -38 -5535
Morturr
Sun Apr 18, 2004 6:40 pm
#38






kalmank wrote:

If a Merchant programs the droid and gives it to a non-merchant, will it still bark or just give the wp?


No - if the owner does not have the skill, it will just give them the option to retrieve the waypoint like everyone else.


Also does experimentation affect the merchant barker module?


Nope


Thanks,

Isildur









_________________________________________________
-SWG Warcry News Reporter
http://swg.warcry.com/

TC Characters:
Omac - Omec - Omuc - Omyc
R0ZM4N
Mon Apr 19, 2004 3:57 am
#39






TlEDestroyer wrote:
I think that many people are missing an entirely different use for this Droid.

The Role-Play Value.

The ability to leave a droid in a different place than you the character is located, speak and give a waypoint is extremely useful in creating events and role-playing missions. For example. Lets say a person wanted to set up a race across a planet. Let us say the Race Starts in Bela Vista on Corellia. The Droid is standing in an empty area of Coronet, speaking very questionable phrases every 60 seconds. In order for the racers to know the second way point, they must converse with this droid. The way point would then lead them to Doaba Guerfel.

In the hands of a creative mind, this module can do wonders. It will also create another need for higher level merchants to be around. The possibilities for hosting Role-playing events are endless with the use of this droid. If someone understands what I am trying to explain here, maybe they would be so kind as to bring this over to the Event disucssion forum. I am not the most eloquent writer and I am sure someone would be able to explain the possibilities of this new module better than I can.




Beautifully spotted Tie


A few friends and I are already setting up some rather sexy player run quests based around this and a couple of players ‘dressing up’… I’m anticipating a few forum threads on how to complete the ‘DE doppelganger’ mission on Naboo tehehe


Kisses


Cass






...From the desk of Colonel Cass L'Arcana...
Imperial Armed Forces | Distinction & Honour
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