Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Answers for the list of Droid Engineer Questions.
Now, droids while it should take great skills to build them. Once programed to obey a person, they should be handleable by that person. So, in essence tho it should take a MDE to build a high level combat droid, the MDE should be able to program that droid for anyone.
That is what the game designers need to differentiate. If you keep marrying the droids to the bio pets then the DEs are SOL. MCHs should be proud of their accomplishment. DEs should have a market other than crafting station droids.
It is StarWars, want to handle a graul? Become a MCH. Want to have droid, just plop the cash.
Thunderheart,
I recall reading that you sat down to discuss Gorantoth's Bug/Concern list with the Dev/Programmer who works on Droids. I know you've stated that there is a timetable for combat droids and whatnot, but might we get some idea when some of the bugs in that list are getting fixed? I'd *love* to have a Power droid that does not run out of power.
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"If probots were more powerful, then it would devalue the CH pets…"
And anything that devalues the CH is certainly right out, otherwise they might no longer be the most powerful and prominent profession in the game by far.
Seriously, probots will have to be more powerful than creatures because they suffer permadeath and are not as generally cool as creatures. Under the current system, and much moreso with the new BE changes, a probot that is as powerful as a cl 10 creature will be just as unused as if it were a cl 1. A few RPers will use them because they are more SW, but otherwise they would be a waste of money for a player.
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"I know it doesn’t seem like a priority, but it is and its getting more prominent."
A general comment: saying that something is a priority doesn't say anything. Is it a high or low priority? 1-10. This sentence itself shows that it has long been a priority but not a 'prominent' one and therefore nothing has been done about it. "Priority" used in the context that you tend you use it just becomes meaningless jargon.
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"I work closely with Sintrosi and I have the utmost confidence in his ability to bring me the best information and to help guide discussions."
Let me once again suggest that the profession program be expanded to include two from each profession. There are some great professionals, like Sintrosi, but others suddenly disappear and take weeks or months to replace. Others get rl busy and suddenly have to tune down their activities for a little while. Others don't tend to do much in certain aspects of their profession and therefore are less knowledgeable and vocal about those problems. Two for each doubles the odds of every player to have a representative getting things done for them at any given time. Win-win.
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"16.) What was SOE's reasoning behind droid permadeath? What was the reason(s) why droid permadeath was eventually lifted?
Droid turnover. For example, if combat droids never took damage, then you would sell far less than if they took damage. Of course, you haven’t seen this yet, because the droids in the game are basic utility droids. Once combat capable droids are in the game and there are repair kits and the like, all of the things attached to this question should go away."
Why are the philosophies between creatures and droids always opposite? The concept of creature permadeath was introduced and then abandoned because CHs correctly argued that it would destroy creature turnover as people would not pay for a disposable pet, instead they were given the vitality system. Yet you persist in claiming that droid permadeath helps in droid turnover. I'm glad you are getting over this and introducing a vitality-like system for droids, but you have to see that this has been one of the most blatant instances of favoring one class over another in the history of MMOs (which, my friend, is really saying something!).
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"19.) Can we add our names to a droid once its tamed? a "Crafted by" tage?
We added this to the feature request list as a result of our discussion"
Add this to the BE list also, if it is not already there. It was in the requests to Keldarin a couple of months ago and he said that he would look into it but that it would be very complicated. Since both BE creatures and droids are created in deeds by crafting and then are 'tamed' by themselves or others, I would hope the same fix could be applied to both.
One issue I have hoped would be better clarified is if we could implement base skill level restrictions of Droid use. In short anyone can use a Droid, yet the restrictions would be based off of the skill bars of the individual not if they have some DE skills.
This would restrict new players from obtaining overly powerful Droids, yet they could have the strongest per their skill bars.
Please don’t carbon copy us from the CH template, this is Star Wars, everyone should be able to operate a Droid regardless of their skill profession.
Hey Thunderheart,
If you need any droid questions answered while on Test Center, just let me know, if Sintrosi's not aroundto answer your questions. I've made TC my home now and have already hit Master DE status, for the second time. Anything that can help you to help the community is a good thing in my book 
I have to say that im generally disappointed by TH responses. It seems to show a lack of knowlegde about DE. There needs to be clear differences between each droid (Mouse droid should NOT equal R3 in any case... it should be that wild of a continuum).
Combat droids are absolutely necessary. This would revitalize DE's like no other.
Ive been given hope, then I feel partially deflated. I want to craft SOME type of battle droid other than a probot. IG series, droideka, whatever. Do it. Even the Roger Roger droids from episode 1, whatever the heck they are called.
And, hey, i have seen the clear domed R3's, and guess what... they are no better than mouse droids.
they look cool although, i forgot about that.
Let us know what is happening, what the time table is, not some non-answer answers. Like, hey were thinking about it, we thought about it, we thought we knew what you thought, and thought you knew what we thought.
Bah!
Droid_Engineer_Rho wrote:
Icarus-6 wrote:
Droid_Engineer_Rho wrote:
Ummm, Thunderheart?
The R5 is the LOWEST of the astromechs.
The progression, from worst to best is:
R5,R4,R2,R3
Just so you don't answer as if 'High level item' = 'Low level item' too much :-)
I believe Thunderheart's point is that even with only a single 'step' of difference (MSE to R5) the best made lower droid should not be as good as the best made higher droid, but that it is also possible to make a great lower droid and a really crummy higher droid.
This doesn't necessarily involve capping the modules a droid can hold. A droid with two modules will be more useful than a droid with one, either having a higher rating due to stacking or else having a second function. Even in the case of the MSE and R5 where they both have one module slot you could argue that the R5 is a better droid, having more HAM.
That said, I would still like to see caps put onto modules. I dislike the idea of an MSE with a 110 medical rating and the ability to hold a million units of resources. It just seems a bit silly.
Unfortunately, as of right now, an R5 droid is precisely equal to an MSE droid in every way but cosmetically. At least an R3 can natively hold more modules than those two lower level droids. I disagree with the assertion that the best R5 must be better than the best MSE on this basis. Now the best R3 being better than the best MSE, yes, certainly. It's a six-slot droid, whereas an advanced MSE or advanced R5, like an advanced treadwell, or a basic surgical, or what have you, is a two-slot droid.
Did that make sense? I think when I read TH's reply, it sounded like he was trying to increase the steps between droids in order to magnify the apparent difference... Perhaps I misread his intention. It seems to me that there doesn't NEED to be a big difference between MSEs and R5s, they're both cheapies.
In your post it seemed like you were accusing him of making a mistake and in assuming that the R5 was many steps above the MSE. I was just stating that I think he knew what he was saying and was picking to droids that were very close to one another.
As for the differences between the R5 and the MSE, I'm pretty sure an R5 has more HAM, technically making it the better droid, but I agree and would like to see more separation. Since an MSE can't have less than one module and since they don't want to increase the module count across the board for the others, I really do wish we saw some sort of cap, at least for the MSE. Let the R droids function like normal, just cap MSE's at a rating of 4 or something like that.
I don't expect him to know all things droid, he's never played the class... To me, it's not an accusation, just a correction.
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4.) What does mechanism rating mean for crafting stations, and is there a correlation with the rating on architect made crafting stations? If so, could you give us a hint on how it correlates?
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as a master archticect, i have no clue what they mean either...higher is better but i really have seen no difference between a 14 and a 30...seems mostly dependent on the materials used to craft the item and your skill level..but no one has any clue how this really works and what the ratings mean
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6.) When will the probot be upgraded as per Thunderhearts statement of last week?
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The power upgrade for Probots will be pushed out to live in the next publish. Basically, they follow pet rules. After the publish, Probots can be created to the exact same as a Level 10 Pet (keeping in line with the new pet rules. If probots were more powerful, then it would devalue the CH pets…)
CH pets SHOULD be devalued...CH's need to be moved to a much lower rung on the SWG ladder...their basic fuction should be taming mounts or gathering DNA for BE's. It is time for the reign of CH to come to an end. No more grauls and rancors hanging out in the starport
I think it is absurd that i have some low level pet to use that is more powerful than my probot.
My probot basically has the firepower of noob CDEF pistol.
I truly believe that DROIDS should be way more powerful than most CH pets. Anything that gets rid of all the Pokeman crap is step in the right direction for the game
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15.) Will the normal Protocol (not ADV) and the BLLs ever have a function in the game?
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Yes. We want to make humanoid droids have combat capability in the second round of upgrades to the DE’s. We also want to give Protocol droids a role in missions and in getting players to cool and interesting parts in the game world…(personal heralds of a sort). That’s going to take some serious design time though.
Well the REAL problem is that it takes 2 seconds to learn every language there is. Protocal droids are supposed to be translators for us. A suggestion would be to rework the lanquage skills and wipe everyones..make some NPCs only speak Rodese or whatever. then there would actually be a need for protocol droids.
You could also allow them to "talk" to our harvestors and maybe get a better rate out of them
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20.) Can we please name droids "R2D2"? You know what I mean - the name filter .. I think Lucas Arts would ok this?
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We want to add this sort of thing, but it would be way down the list…there are lots of other important things we need to tackle first.
Like that wouldnt take 5 minutes to change the filter?
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21.) Why are Droid Engineers dependant on Master Artisan components directly or indirectly (subcomponents of components) for at least 41 of the items in the Droid Engineering lines, but no other crafting profession even begins to approach this level of dependency?
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We agree. In the not too distant future, either all dependencies are going up or your dependencies are going down. Its way too early to talk about which way that’s going to go at this point in time…
Master Artisan is just a dumb profession all the way around and IMO just needs to be removed...just give all the chips to the DEs instead of just trying to create a make-work program for a needless profession
TH,
Thunderheart Wrote: Btw, have you seen the clear domed R2 units? Very cool!
Those are R3s TH. Much to learn you yet have, our young Padawan! Stay you must, to complete your training 
Thunderheart Wrote: Well, I've gotten clear communications from the DE community that you guys want to BUILD the combat droids but want to sell them. There is a lot of division here and I will need you guys to work with Sintrosi to get me a clear idea of what you want.
Put your designer hat on for a moment and consider the two possibilities and their consequences:
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Combat droids can be DE only. This would have the net effect of turning a crafting class rooted in Artisan Eng from crafters of "swiss army knives" to crafters and operators of combat droids. People would pick up DE for the purpose of crafting and operating combat droids, trivializing the utility product of the class and shifting the focus of DE from crafting to combat. The DE product market would experience no growth whatsoever. In fact, it would shrink somewhat because of a sudden influx of the new "03s" er DEs. -
Combat droids can be saleable items, with a certification system controlling who uses them. The DE market would expand since there's a new product to sell. People would enter DE to sell combat droids instead of operate them, which is why you want people to enter a crafting class anyway - to sell things.
Some DEs want to be de facto users of the combat droids they craft ("I made it, I should understand how to use it"). The stated alternative for making combat droids saleable, the Droid Handler profession, is tough to swallow for this lot. With the successful DE already having spent skill points on MDE and MA as well as incidentals like Merchant and some survival level combat skills, why should they have to spend yet another 63 some odd skill points on a droid related profession just to use what they can make?
On the other hand, the only other pet crafting profession in the game (BEs) works exactly this way. A BE can craft pets, but unless they attain CH, they cannot use them. If you give DEs the ability to use and craft a combat capable pet, don't you throw the BEs way off balance (after all that recent hard work to give them a real purpose with the BE cloning system)? Don't you also shaft the CH, who now has a higher dependancy on the BEs after the latest publish goes live?
Sure, I'd like to be able to use the combat droids I craft as an MDE too. That'd be great. BUT I recognize the fact that it'd be appalingly unfair to the other classes to give us our cake and let us eat it too. Bring on the combat droids. Bring on the DH class.
I KNOW this doesn't belong here
I Know I'm bad for posting it, and moreover I know I was ignorant before, but something happened on Chimaera tonight that opened my eyes, and then made me weep for DE
Yes I have been DE before, but mad as it seems, I made a new one on Chimaera. I met a guy called Mijan who was a new player, but was ahead of me in DE. We helped each other I hope.
Mijan Mastered - good luck I thought....and then
Tonight I hear he has dropped DE, not because he doesnt like crafting, or because we are broken..no its because he could no longer stand the spam from people wanting a droid to be USEFUL and having to tell them just what a droid can actually do. remember people, these are mostly new players. Disappointed doesn't even come close. Where is the 'battle droid' they cry. What else do they do?...nuff said
It's depressing enough so far....but read on
He's going CH..not bad in itself, I believed (silly me) that CH took effort......NOT SO
He will Master CH by use of AFK macros.... I could hardly believe it, but once explained I can see its how it's done.....so next time I see a Master CH I will have the ..appropriate..amount of respect. Roughly what I have for AFK dancers.
Not only that he will have Master CH in a day or two - with NO COSTS..sorry bout the caps but I had no idea it was that easy.
My point in all this?
Devs are sooooo worried to balance everything so CH is not hurt in any way, shape or form. My point is that if it is so very simple to climb the CH tree, why are WE held back because of them, and BE and BH and ...the list goes on
Thunderheart, if you are still reading this thread, please take note. I know Designer_Dragon (from Ultima Online)is Holocron one and the same, and that the team is heavily influenced by Ultima Tamer desires that were not met, so they moved on.
But please - please dont set our standards of droids against a profession that can be mastered in no time at all. It costs an arm and a leg to get to Master DE...shouldn't that be worth a little benefit?
Please stop pussyfooting around and just go ahead and make droids better than creatures.... this isn't UO
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I feel better, but I have no hopes it will make any difference
TH you are an honest man, you show your true face and do your best-----this we know, but your ignorance on the whole droid issue is ...well...dangerous.
Enough of balancing everything against CH please, let balance be un-biased. Biased balance is fraud.
Respectfully
Shian_Tavkin wrote:
Devs are sooooo worried to balance everything so CH is not hurt in any way, shape or form. My point is that if it is so very simple to climb the CH tree, why are WE held back because of them, and BE and BH and ...the list goes on
The problem I think is a wrongness of focus. Droids shouldn't have to be balanced against creatures because the two types of pets serve different functions. Droids are tools, whereas creatures are for combat.
As for Thunderhead, I'd love it if he looked over at another thread where we were discussing how droids can touch more professions and serve as better tools for a wider variety of characters:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=41746