Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Where do YOU want to see our profession
Greetings, and thank you for reading this post.
First of all, allow me to introduce myself. I am Tobrom from the Bria server, and a proud member of the guild "True Fellowship." I have played SWG since the day it went live, and I have spent probly 80% of that time as a Master Droid Engineer. I will make NO claim to being the best and most experienced DE on mine or any server... but I think I can provide you with a bit of dialog on the questions you are asking.
First of all, I will tell you that the DE profession is NOT in need of a complete overhaul. And droid "decay" is not the answer either... it's hard enough to try to stir up demand for our products, and all droid decay is going to do is drive people away.
What DE needs is a review of the Modules. The system is good. But Modules need to be more diverse, provide better benefits, and in my opinion, be interchangeable after the droid has been crafted. I realize that is a huge change as compared to changing the effectiveness of some modules, but let's face it... with the system as it is, it's the Modules that make the droid.
First off, and what I consider to be the biggest problem, is the lack of demand for the DE products. As a player, I have to ask myself the real core question:
"If I am not a DE myself, what would make me want to purchase a droid?"
With that being said, I'm going to give you a few ideas for module improvements and/or new modules that I believe would quite possibly turn a head or two in the galaxy:
Entertainer Modules. Now, understand, that if I'm an entertainer, I'm in the buffing business. Just the same way Docs were always in the buffing business. Docs get a bonus to their buffs when they are using a droid with what?? (class answer in unison please...) a medical module installed in the droid, preferrably with a 110 medical rating. Why, then, do entertainers not get any benefit on their buffs when using a droid with entertainer modules installed? It could be something as simple as the duration of the buff... but SOMETHING other than "fog" would be nice for entertainers, and it doesn't have to be something so dramatic that it drifts into the "game balance" debate.
Playback Module. Would it really kill the game to allow more than one of these in a droid to be playing back at once? You ask any musician and they will tell you that there would be nothing cooler than having an advanced R3 that they can have loaded with 6 playback modules and conduct themselves a little "one-man-band" in their local player city cantina because... and let's face it, how many player cities really do have more than one or two master musicians that actively play in their cantinas? I've seen it once or twice, where a cantina in a player city would have an active "band" playing when you walked in on a Friday Night... but that is incredibly rare.
Repair Module. Okay, this is my idea here... scrap this useless piece of tin. What we need here is a series of new modules that repair specific items, mostly geared towards POB ships. "Plasma Conduit Repair Module" for example. What do I see when I watch my DVD's of Episodes 4-6? R2 fixing that clunky old Falcon. There will be people who will throw the "game balance" flag out and say "hey, that makes a POB ship solo-able"... but anyone who actually owns a POB ship will tell you how untrue that is. And the droid iteself can take damage when repairing conduits if it makes the "game balance gods" happy.
Vehicle Repair Module. Where is it? Why don't we have it? When are we going to get it? Why don't we have it yet? Where has it been? When is it coming? Why don't we have it yet? Ask anybody... this is something that everyone wants!!!!
The Crafting Modules. Something that would be nice here is if the crafting station modules actually had a rating like the ones you put in your house. Doesn't have to be something as high as the 40's like on a house one, but something.
One other note... the Power Droid. Does a power droid really ever need a battery? Do we absolutely HAVE to require that a power droid be "charged" like other droids?
I want to see the droids in the game be just as involved as they are in the movies. In the movies, the droids take care of all the mundane tasks and free up people to do other things with their time. They repair ships. They repair vehicles. That itself would be a very nice start.
Thank you for your time, and have a happy day :-)
Tobrom
Master DE, Master Artisan, Master SW, Master Rebel Pilot
* Where do YOU want to see the Droid Engineer profession going?
It is my belief that droids should be an enhancer to the other professions in the games. If you're a healer, there should be a droid should enhance some of your healing abilities (e.g. increases damage and wound healing abilities). A fighter? A droid that enhances your combat capability ( e.g. increases ranged accuracy ). A crafter? A droid that enhances your ability to craft. etc. etc.
Like other enhancers, a droid should have additional cost for the additional benefit. In addition, the benefits ( and recurring costs ) need to be small enough that every profession doesn't have to have a droid to function ( e.g. the former doc buffs problem ), but significant enough that some portion of the profession finds it desirable and worthwhile to have the droid.
It is my belief that droid engineers should stay as relatively custom-build crafters, as opposed to mass production. There needs to be enough change that the DE market can be viable for a DE to stay in business, but not so much that droids become either a commodity item or so lucrative that it's the main venue gold-diggers.
Not sure what you're exactly asking here. The SWG developers should see droids as one of the things that give a "star-wars" flavor to the game, which is a good thing. The community should see droids as valuable -- but not essential -- products, and DEs as the providers of these products as they need them.
Please use this link as a droid reference: http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid
I think that the purpose of a droid and what it can actually do in the game is what will promote a Star Warsy feel and stabilizethe DE profession. But there is something missing and that is graphic immersion which in my opinion co exists with functionality.
- For example take a R2 unit which is packed with all sorts of tool-tipped appendages that make him a great starship mechanic and computer interface specialist. We dont ever get to see those devices or use them in SWG. Why?
- Protocols droids serve no purpose. They need playability. An example would be Mr. C3PO. He translates.
- Content- make sure it fits with the Star wars Universe- here is an example from just that universe below. Much of the anti-droid sentiment existing in the galaxy is unwarranted bigotry, but even pro-droid activists will find it hard to defend the rights of droids bearing arms. The memory of droid armies is still fresh in many minds, and the legions of mechanized troops used by the Trade Federation and other corporate interests paved the way for legislation that eventually did away with the soulless infantry. Relics from that era still exist, such as the battered chrome war droid known as IG-88. The tall, cylinder-headed and heavily-armed mechanical bounty hunter responded to Darth Vader's call to capture the Millennium Falcon during the events surrounding the Battle of Hoth. Another issue is
Playability
- Droids can fix harvestors. Allow droids like WED Treadwell located at http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid/wedtreadwell/index.html to be able to affect the status payment for a harvestor by fixing the harvestor. This would act as a payment. These droids would become quite common and would help the DE market.
- Med droids- these work great.
- Assasin Droids: Perhaps the oddest being that could ever become a bounty hunter is a protocol droid. Yet it happened in the case of 4-LOM. This droid answered the call sent out by Darth Vader to capture the Millennium Falcon after the Battle of Hoth. 4-LOM is a humanoid droid, with a matte-black finish that is scarred and pitted. It has an insect-like face with large, compound photoreceptors. 4-LOM carries a massive blaster rifle.
- Assasin droids could be made to accompany Bounty Hunters. They could also be used as militia in cities and player cities as well as for space pirates.
- Serv-O-Droid:Type:Communications / business droid /Affiliation: Criminal . A sun-addled humanoid droid found in the streets of Mos Eisley, this particular mechanical has been spotted vacantly meandering through the corridors of the port city. Here is the criminal droid that many are looking for.
- Dark troopers: The dark troopers were first unleashed shortly after the Battle of Yavin, on the unsuspecting Alliance installation of Tak Base. The Empire launched the droids via hyperspace capsules, in a fashion similar to the distribution of deep space probe droids. The inhuman soldiers tore through all resistance, and devastated the Rebel outpost on the planet Talay.
- Have the dark troopers made only by DE's loyal to the Empire.
- FX-7\med droid: The sturdy FX-7 medical assistant droid aids both live and droid doctors in medical procedures. The FX-7 is a cylindrical droid, with a number of retractable appendages. Here we have a possibility to add this droid to medical centers as well as player battlefield med centers.
- Imperial V Mark Sentry Droids; Seen hovering alongside Imperial desert stormtrooper patrols in the dusty corridors of Mos Eisley were these small, sleek probe droids. They are carried by miniature repulsorlifts and their bulbous bodies are packed with sophisticated sensor technology. These could be used for spying.
- Combat droids: There is tons of content to choose from. where is that IG model that used to be on corellia?
But what is missing is how do we actually see the functionality without graphic immersion? And what do our droids actually do? There is no graphic funtionality with the current templates of right click and options. Graphic funtionality is missing in SWG\DE-Ditch the templates man!
Message Edited by Ablon on 07-01-2005 12:39 PM
Message Edited by Ablon on 07-01-2005 12:40 PM
Message Edited by Ablon on 07-01-2005 12:41 PM
I really enjoy being a Droid Engineer and making droids but it seems to be a virtually unused area of the game. Heres a few things that I can think of / that bug me.
Droid Storage:
Needs to go higher than 10 items. If I make a droid with a storage rating of 28 I expect it to hold 28 items... not 10.
Droid Speeds:
Some of these droids need to move a bit faster, they really lumber along. MSE droids should be faster too so they're more applicable to BH's hunting Jedi's.
Droid Modules:
Some of the descriptions are a little out of date and/or need to describe what they do a bit more. I nearly went mad a while back trying to work out what module I was supposed to use to make a flight command droid (which seems obvious now
).Chassis:
Want more chassis, Droidekas, battle droids etc (sp?).
Droid Engineer:
Be nice to have a combat level and actually be able to command more than one droid - maybe be a weaker cross-breed version of bio-engineer & creature handler - if you know what I mean: make 'pets' and control them in viable combat situations. Also why is it only Smugglers and Bounty Hunters that can use the /detonate command on bomb droids... why can't I?! <--- just me wishing.
R-Model Droids:
Not just for droid engineer but can there be a way of shutting these things up from beeping ALL the time, gets annoying with one of these chirping away at you every 15 seconds. Want a mute command.
Numbers in names (for droids only)
Can't see why we can't call droids with names such as "R4-B9" but yet I can happily call my droid "Annoying-Beeping-B*****d" (without the stars). Maybe droids should be given a random name when they are made ready by their owner, instead of coming out as "an R2 unit" or something.
Droids at Cl 30
Considering you can only have one droid out at a time, what good is this to anyone? Droids of this level are only any use to crafters who need protection/lairs removed on fairly tame planets. Droids have always been rubbish for combat apart from the ones that blow up.
EDIT (more to add):
Droids in the GCW
I think if droids were useful/needed in the GCW we'd see a much better market. For example if you needed a Droid to slice a base - also they'd be a chance the droid could overload and become incapacitated while the slicing of the base is taking place.
And could build droids with Ion-Based detonation modules for aiding in taking out turrets (same effect as detonation modules but more effective against turrets but doesnt hurt players/npcs), DE's would also be able to build in a mix of the two modules; ion and normal.
Smuggler Profession
If smugglers would need a droid to assist them in slicing - hence DE's would be able to build in "Slicing Modules" into their droids. Naturally these slicing modules would be illegal in themselves.
Droids on POB ships
Aside from the flight computer/droid running the commands; droids inside POB ships should be able to carry out repairs to armour and prehaps reload missile launchers while the vessel is still in flight <- something us players can't do.
Repair Droids or Modules
Actually provide repair bonuses? Maybe have specific repair modules, ie: "Clothing Repair +15". Also road-side assistance modules where droids would be able to repair some (but not all) damage done to vehicles.
EDITED AGAIN (more and more to add
)Shield Unit
I spotted this noted down earlier in this thread. Basically the ability to add in a PSG module into a droid - which I thought was fantastic and definately should be put in
Droid Programming
I tried to find this the other day but I was looking for the / command for programming. For example I would like to do:
/programDroid attack
/say a
I was trying to do a macro to set up some of my BH bomb-droids.
Droid Combat Programs
Would like to see a system where droids could be programmed with skills (which would work like tricks on creatures). Basically this would be implented in similar way to the droid command chips for JTL: you get a friend with combat skills to program a chip with the special attack you want your droid to have then you permantely(?) install the skill into the droid.
Have noticed people posting a few similar things which is cool not know I'm not alone and sorry for not really answering the 3 main questions at hand - instead I've just randomly ranted on
Message Edited by Catman-Does on 07-13-2005 04:15 PM
so that prospective buyers can find out what droid options they have and what droid is best for them. Or even have something like a guild notice board, now that would be cool. This may require associating a droid to a structure instead of a PC.I reached the point now, where i say: No, this threadname is wrong! I dont want to see our profession going anywhere!
I just want to get our Pub21 Bugs fixed and
I want them to care a bit of the DE, as soon as they change other professions.
Thats all...
If they do that consequently, Im a happy Twi'lek
Jenden wrote:
Ok, I've decided to ask this question to both you guys and the devs. Need to get a good feel from you guys so K know that I'm not heading off in the wrong direction fighting for things no one cares about, and a feel from the devs so I know whats possible. So please answer these questions as simply as possible. Keep all discussions out of this thread, just state your opinion and move on.
* Where do YOU want to see the Droid Engineer profession going?
* Why do you think anyone should want to BE a Droid Engineer?
* What contribution to SWG do YOU want to see Droid Engineers making?
* What should make Droid Engineers important to SWG?
Message Edited by Jenden on 04-05-200512:39 PM
- First, I want to see the profession actually have the components do what they are supposed to do. They all have descriptions, they should be able to program some functionality in so that for example a well created motive module would allow the droid to move faster than a droid made with a badly crafted motive module. Similar with sensor modules and the ability to target items. Have each chassis have an innate ability that will encourage the use of that droid for that particular use as in BLL droid for heavy storage compared to the normal 10 item limitation of a storage module, after all they are designed for moving heavy items around.
- I cannot say why any one else SHOULD want to be a DE but the reason I do is because it is one crafting occupation I actually enjoy doing and I've tried them all.
- There seems to be tons of ideas floating around where a droid could be used to aid someone in completing a task. As in, now the lowly crafter can defend themselves against those attacks that are level 30 or below thanks to the new level 30 droids. How about creating a structure power module to accompany the structure maintenance module. Make them work as a team to go to each of your structures (no need for you to recall their locations) .. Insert power into a storage module of some manner and send them out to wherever.. Heck why not go further and allow the lowly crafter to send a droid out to place a harvester down on a planet etc.
- To make DE important we would have to make it worthwhile for the droid to be got. So far BH droids and astromechs are about the only main seller on vendors. We need to make it worthwhile again to purchase other droids over non droid usage. If you buy this droid you will receive 3 x the experience etc . You get my drift. Allow people to choose .. but make it so that they would be rewarded if they did choose. Ooh Oooh .. and how about the ability to package up a droid set which would include the droid itself and various tools for the user to use when they need. At the moment back packs are cool but you can't view inside it until its bought.
sorry im off topic.....i was reading the thread from oldest to newest
The Storage modules need sorting as I stated before, if I have 6 storage modules rated at 10 each and shove them in a droid it should hold 60 items.
There are several modules that just don't stack anymore and if you can stick more than one of the same type of module in a droid then it should stack.
Stacking combat modules should effect CL, stick one combat module in a droid and it goes straight to CL 30
Should work in a sliding scale imo.Stimpack disperse module... can it take better stims please?! Stim A's no one bothers with those for longer than a week.
As mentioned before: How about a repair module that helps you repair your weapons and armour? Also one that helps repair JTL ship items. This would be useful to players in the field.
Masters of Elite professions should be able to call 2 CL 30 droids, this would also make the repair droid and power droid a little more useful.
If a droid chassis gives a bonus to a stat then it needs to show up in the stats and construction process. No one should have to come looking up stuff on the forums to find out what does what - I've found so much mystery in this profession and I keep finding new stuff everytime I dig around this forum
Combat droids, combat droids, combat droids!!
Want to make those battle droids and droidekas from the films! Would be cool if you could give them a normal player weapon made by a weaponsmith to use instead of just plugging in combat modules.Would really like to see: Vehicle repair module, should repair a small amount of vehicle health (so it doesn't negate city garages) also has a recharge peroid so it's only usable every x amount of hours - this recharge rate and damage fixed would depend on the quality of the module & droid.
How about some after-market droid power-ups? Would work like normal weapon power ups, ie limited uses. However these would cover an array of different skills from repair to combat.
Survey & Harvester Module - give the player a boost to surveying and also allows the droid to sample for resources. Get a droid with one of these modules to interact with a harvester will temporarily boost the extraction rate of the harvester.
Edit: More to add
Droid Upgrade Module
Each chassis should have a "Upgrade Module". This would be an after market thing allowing players to tinker and tweak their droids to their needs and would work in a similar way to pearls in a lightsaber.
You have your droid called out and there's an option off the second menu: "Open Upgrade Module". Each droid being able to take up to 6 Upgrade Modules.
Mainly Upgrade Modules would be made DE's from looted schematics; In effect Upgrade Modules would be skill tapes for droids and some would provide extra abilities. For example there could be a "storage +5" upgrade module as well taking (extending on my previous idea in my post before this one) Droid Combat Programs - where elite professions are able to program a droid with a skill such as "knockdown attack". The player would be able to remove these modules at anytime (when the player/droid is not in combat) they would also have decay on them - which should be linked to the droid decay (if and when we ever have that).
Message Edited by Catman-Does on 08-22-2005 01:01 PM
* Where do YOU want to see the Droid Engineer profession going?
Generally speaking, I would like to see it continue "going" the direction it has already taken since launch. More functionality for more professions - though just short of an actual "robo-killer droid." I want to see droids continue to be a unique item in the gameandnot become crated, mass-produced, limited use, grind objects like so many other combat-related items. This is strongly tied to why anyone would want to BE a Droid Engineer (below).
* Why do you think anyone should want to BE a Droid Engineer?
Droids are Star Wars!
* What contribution to SWG do YOU want to see Droid Engineers making?
As stated above, I want to continue to see droids have ever-expanding functionality for an ever-broadening player base of professions. DE's should continue to be the "go to" guys for this very unique product, and ALL of it's accessories as well. Adding in more droid-related "content" (see below) would further add to the DE's usefullness and status in the galaxy.
* What should make Droid Engineers important to SWG?
Adding in quests that "require" a certain type of droid, would encourage even more players to get and use droids as well, and droid-related quests would be of interest to DE's as well. More droid-related "content" (quests, NPCs, crafting missions, etc) would help DE's become a bigger part of the communityas well. Above all, DE's should be known for providing top-quality long-time companions for players throughout the galaxy. Adding in the ability for players to return to the DE and "refurbish" or "reprogram" their existing droid would help build that player-droid relationship over time. Quests the player completes gives them access to a new module schematic or "droid enhancement" that they could then take to a DE for installation and upgrading of their favorite plastic pal. Encouraging that "ownership" increases the DE's importance many times over what providing cheap-crated-disposable bots would. Keep that in mind.
Message Edited by YodaMac on 08-22-2005 12:07 PM
