Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: About DE only combat droids. My 2 credits.
For once I feel like I have a better understanding of the DE-only combat droid. Sin, you've made it make sense 
Personally, I still don't care if we get a DE-only or not. But to have one would be a distinguishing feature. It actually wouldn't have to be a combat type, although that seems to be the primary wish for that wing of DE. I figure it's time to just sit back and wait to see what SOE wants to do now.
Woo ... I love good debate. Keep it coming 
And remember ... even if we are on opposite sides of the fence on this. I still represent you all as a whole and will not be pushing my own agenda unless it coincides with a majority.
Hopefully we will have a poll up soon today, if its possible.
Well I am sure we could come up with a solution for this. If we only have one "uber" droid at Master level, and this droid is less powerful than a Master CH pet by 10 or 20 CL points, then the Elite Dewds would still stick with CH ... thats alot of skill points to spend to get to Master DE for a Droid not as powerful as a CH gets as a non-Master ...
If they did that, we'll see lots of people getting to DE just so they can use the 'uber' combat droid. Just like it's happening with Creature Handlers, many people touching it just to use a Mauler or Greater Sludge Panther.
I guess my question is this Sin...
What is wrong with havingthe top combat droid beCL15?
None. But I think the Droids we can sell should be CL15. Stronger than non-CH organic pets so SWG starts moving a little toward Start wars and gets away from peek-a-chu. Our droid maybe CL20? Heck I dunno how powerful ours should be. Good enough to where I can be of use on a group, but low enough to where the elite dewds stay with CH or another profession.
Also, the CL16 rating on your probot is a bug. They were rated at CL16 BEFORE the nerf. When they could kick butt a little. I have a pre-nerf still and just checked it to be sure.
TheRealTK421, you cant go. You rpvide too much input for teh community. First AmbassadorFrito and now you? Naw, I will use my delussional powers and make sure they dont let you cancel your account 
But seriously, I understand where you are coming from. We are a long ways from being fixed. I havent logged in my DE in over three weeks. (except a few times on TC to test some things)
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So regardless if we, as DEs , get powerful combat droids that only we can use, this will have no effect on Combat Droids we can sell. This is not a black and white issue. If SOE gives us a DE combat droid or two only we can use, you can be sure that we will still get Combat Droids that we can sell to customersl.
One other comment Sin,
The big issuein pets right nowis poke***. Players have been complaining because everyone and their mother's brother has a gurreck, beetle, etc. The devs' solution has been to nerf the usuable CL of non-CH creatures (to CL10; that of a Chuba), thereby avoiding the heat of totally of cutting them out of the game, while making them so worthless that few will use them anymore.
Now, most players agree that droids are very Star Warsy (not poke***), and that they would like to see more droids in game. We now stand in a unique position...we can (a) push to fill the gap left by the poke*** nerf, or (b) ask for DE-only droids.
I think this IS a "black and white" issue, that DOES effect what we can sell to other players.Totally ignore power for a second. We have one sellable combat droid, the probot. Many advocate that we need more appropriate and diverse combat droid options for our customers (especially considering that the probot is a scout droid, not a combat droid). However, thereare a certain number of new combat droids that devs are willing to implement within their time constraints. Let's call that number X.
If we get powerful combat droids that only we can use it DOES affect what we can sell to others because it reduces X. If we get only 2 new chassis, one is unsellable. If we get only 1 new chassis, it is unsellable. CL is irrelevant now, because creature CLs wer nerfed. Anything CL10 or above is an improvement that players will buy. So, by limiting the number of options we can offer by making one of those few new chassis DE-only, you ARE affecting what we can sell.
What we really need is the following:
(1) 1 to 2 new combat droids that EVERYONE can use, up to CL15. I use the number 2 because we need a little diversity...make onegood damage with low armor, make one medium damage with high armor. Give us options to sell.
(2) Limit the new combat droid(s) to ONLY an armor module and maybe a data/storage module. (NOTE: this gives players a reason to buy more than just a probot that can take all modules).
(3) Give DEs the ability to handle 2 of the combat droids (CL30 total) for an added perk that adds badge of distinction. By doing so we are not depriving ourselves of sellable chassis, but are giving ourselves an advantage.
Oh another thing: Don't let devs give you that CL15 BS when it comes to combat droids. All players can currently use faction points to buy faction soldiers that are usuable in PvE (just like droids) and are way over CL20 (not including AT-ST's whichare something likeCL125). There is no logical reason that any player should not be able to choose a good droid over a faction pet. If they want to limit combat droids, make them take rare resources to build so that they are very expensive. Make them decay fast so we sell a bunch of them and they are expensive. Otherwise, there is no reason for it.
Sintrosi wrote:
Well I am sure we could come up with a solution for this. If we only have one "uber" droid at Master level, and this droid is less powerful than a Master CH pet by 10 or 20 CL points, then the Elite Dewds would still stick with CH ... thats alot of skill points to spend to get to Master DE for a Droid not as powerful as a CH gets as a non-Master ...
If they did that, we'll see lots of people getting to DE just so they can use the 'uber' combat droid. Just like it's happening with Creature Handlers, many people touching it just to use a Mauler or Greater Sludge Panther.
Put tighter restrictions on the DE-only combat droid. Something more than just Master DE. My suggestion was to make a requirement for master Artisan as well. This will reduce the available skill points for combat skills and thereby reduce the number people who take the class just to hunt with the droid. With tighter restrictions we can ask for a higher CL droid.
If CH's can have a rancor, why shouldn't we be able to make something like an AT-ST? Not that I think we should, but if these things exist in the game as pets why should we be happy with a CL 15-25 combat droid as our maximum?
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Our droid maybe CL20? Heck I dunno how powerful ours should be. Good enough to where I can be of use on a group, but low enough to where the elite dewds stay with CH or another profession.
You didn't comment on my CL15 + CL15 = CL30 thing...don't you think this is a good compromise?
Sintrosi wrote:
TheRealTK421, you cant go.
Actually, you have NO idea how close I've been (lately) to simply disappearing into thin air. I decided to stick around to give TH and the Devs the benefit of the doubt.
Thus far, that hasn't been working out too well.
You provide too much input for the community.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. And...I never really even got'warmed up', with regard to providing serious, in-depth input. If you thought I was good now...you shoulda seen what I woulda done with a Dev team that was responsive.
First AmbassadorFrito and now you?
Yeah...and don't think that there aren't other MDEs very close to where I am right now. I have the very, very intense feeling that the DE profession is going to start to shrink very quickly. The recent roundof (more) information gathering is simply too insulting to bear, to be honest.
Naw, I will use my delussional powers and make sure they dont let you cancel your account
...."Hey! Why is my 'Cancel' button gone?!?"
But seriously, I understand where you are coming from. We are a long ways from being fixed. I havent logged in my DE in over three weeks. (except a few times on TC to test some things)
I understand we are a long way from being "fixed". However, in my view, we have yet to even see the Devs 'pick up a tool' and start the process of actually "fixing".
Since I suspect you can give some idea, exactly how long am I supposed to wait?
2 weeks?
A month?
3 months?
Been there...done that.
I'm tired of paying for the current (weak) implementation of this profession. Period.
If (and only if) I thought that the team was 'all over us', I might feel differently. Nothing that they have done in the past couple of weeks has given me ANY reason to feel good about our future.
And...yes...that includes the so-called 'plan' and TH's attempt at "attention".
Perhaps you should pop over to the Correspondent-only forums and let them know that a massive hemmorage of long-time (and constructively-minded) DEs is about to take place.
/bow
Respectfully,
May I make a suggestion?
Make Bounty Hunter your "droid handler" profession (in addition to allowing DEs to have the same droid-handling capabilities.) Have a customer base for your new combat droids!
Reason being?
It is currently a necessity for Bounty Hunters to become Creature Handlers in order for them to take down their bounties. In addition, due to a lack of defensive capabilities and skill-points with which to buy medical skills they are further dependant on pets to take down their marks.
What does this all mean? The elite profession that requires 217 skill points to master (Bounty Hunter)is not being mastered for the above mentioned reasons. If the necessity of being a CH were taken out of the picture then more points would be free for the BH to become a more well-rounded class in medical and defensive skills. It also thematically makes sense for the Bounty Hunters, as solo professionals, to rely on technology to take care of business (as can be backed up by their current reliance on tech for tracking purposes and the very existence of their "Investigation" skill branch.)
Is this that much to ask? Will it make Bounty Hunters "uber" or undermine the DE profession? I don't think so, as among the elite combat classes Commandos, Rifleman, Carbiniers, and Pistoleers still have the skill points to spare on Creature Handling and yes, even Droid Engineering.
My two cents,
Enough! Let's vote already!
Last I checked, this game belonged to Lucas & Sony. I pay them to immerse myself in it for entertainment purposes. Solving all the inter-professional dependencies FOR THEM regarding this silly tirade is pointless!
They only asked us simple questions regarding what we wanted to see.. they did not, under any circumstances, ask us to be pretentious managers to re-design their game for them.
I'll vote in the poll.. I agree with Sintrosi.. I want a DE-only droid to play with.. and I'm not interested in trying to balance every other profession in the game by over-engineering our wishlist.
Thank you, and goodnight!
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Good enough to where I can be of use on a group
Oh, and I disagree with this too by the way...
All of us have 158 skill points after mastering DE to spend on "being of use to a group." Some of us choose to spend extra those points on other artisan skills, some of us (like me) spend them becoming a commando/pistoleer/medic (very good in a group).
I think asking for any change to DE based on a desire for combat power is misplaced. IMHO, if we ask for any change that does not (1) increase the functionality of the droids we sell, or (2) help us sell droids (ex: decay), we are wasting our time. There are tons of combat classes...we don't need any more. There is one class that can make droids, and it is severly gimped. There are WAY too few droids in game, and the "make" aspect of the equation needs to be fixed before we add CH part 2 to the game.