Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Considering DE as a crafter profession.
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Infje
Mon Jul 04, 2005 5:44 pm
#1
Hello there!
I've had a quick read (it IS late and I've been grinding too much the last 10 days) through the stickies, and although it answers all questions directly related to the crafting I still would likesome opinions.
I've never had a crafter before, always combat oriented chars. Going for a crafter seemed interesting.
I am certainly not a tailor, as/ws are too cliché, architect is not my thing, but droids.. sound.. interesting.
How do DE's generally fare in the galaxy that we know?
1. Does a DE make any money at all? I'm not bothered about getting rich, but making a bit of profit here and there would be nice.
2. Is there abig enough market for a DE to sell the droids to. How many people still buy droids these days, and keep buying droids?
3. There seems to be a decent variety of droids you can build and add your own touch to. Is this true? Is there enough variety in the profession to keep it interesting?
Basically I am hoping someone could give me some thoughts on the above questions, and perhaps an overal view of the profession?
Thanks in advance!
RasalTheWise
Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:32 pm
#2
Welp, let's see if I can give you some feedback:
1) Rich is relative, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that. I tend to float around 5-25m sitting in my bank at any given time. And I have a good shop location and have been well established on my server. But I am also working off one vendor and tend to run my shop as a "mom-and-pop" operation.
2) The main problem with the droid market (I'm sure others will agree) is that it doesn't fully cater to the combat classes. Not like weaponsmiths and armorsmiths. Therefore your market is limited. You will find that bounty hunters are your main source of income, from seekers, probes and bomb droids.
3) Before the CU nerfed Doctors, I made my own "signature" medical droid. It has all the basic needs of the doc, and was inexpensive. I'm not saying that no other DE came up with my model, but I knew with a certain amount of confidence that when I saw a Doc outside Coronet and had an R4 droid alongside him, that was my model. What I'm trying to say is yes, there is enough variety of chassis and modules that it makes things interesting.
Ooh, and my name just turned purple! Don't I feel special!
1) Rich is relative, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that. I tend to float around 5-25m sitting in my bank at any given time. And I have a good shop location and have been well established on my server. But I am also working off one vendor and tend to run my shop as a "mom-and-pop" operation.
2) The main problem with the droid market (I'm sure others will agree) is that it doesn't fully cater to the combat classes. Not like weaponsmiths and armorsmiths. Therefore your market is limited. You will find that bounty hunters are your main source of income, from seekers, probes and bomb droids.
3) Before the CU nerfed Doctors, I made my own "signature" medical droid. It has all the basic needs of the doc, and was inexpensive. I'm not saying that no other DE came up with my model, but I knew with a certain amount of confidence that when I saw a Doc outside Coronet and had an R4 droid alongside him, that was my model. What I'm trying to say is yes, there is enough variety of chassis and modules that it makes things interesting.
Ooh, and my name just turned purple! Don't I feel special!
Message Edited by RasalTheWise on 07-04-2005 10:33 PM
Kejid
Mon Jul 04, 2005 10:38 pm
#3
Hello,
1) I've only been playing about a month and a half and been master for only a couple of weeks and I just hit 1 million creds in the bank. I haven't spent a ton of money but my items may total another million in value. So, yes you can make money as a DE but you need to work hard and keep up with the bugs.
2) I can't make Bounty Hunter droids and space droids fast enough it seems. Almost every other time I am in a popular city I get a request for a custom droid. So I am keeping busy.
3) I'll leave this to someone who has been working with droids longer than I.
- Kejid T'Kel
YuriaTayde
Tue Jul 05, 2005 1:50 am
#4
I'm not a DE (SERIOUSLY considered it once and now I'm considering it again!) but I am a customer and a newbie so hear what I have to say.
Stock your shops, make custom on request, whatever you people do, but one thing you should not forget to do is to drop a dozen of them off on the bazaar once in awhile. That's an "instant shopping mall" no matter where I am I can plug into one of those and I browse everything, much easier then unignoring all those spammers and writting down shop coords then traveling down to see that they got nothing but picante sauce. You can advertize your shop by writing it on your droids too, that's how I find places, very convinient, wish more people did it this way =3 /thumbsup
Yoda-5499
Tue Jul 05, 2005 4:22 am
#5
Quick answers:
1. If you make the right stuff at the right price, yes, you can get money. I'm not in it for the money, I like crafting droids but everything time I get an order, BH droids com up somewhere in the conversation. That was a hint.
2.Read sentance above. Bounty Hunters and possibly entertainers are your target range of consumers. Merchants buy my barker droids and I get orders for combat droids to assist in large scale assaults. Advertise and everyone wants a droid. But I would say BH droids are at the top.
3.This is varity in crafting, but I think some of the modules and abilities are bugged to the point of uselessness. If those are fixed, you have a wide range of possibilities. If not, you have enough so it doesn't get boring.
1. If you make the right stuff at the right price, yes, you can get money. I'm not in it for the money, I like crafting droids but everything time I get an order, BH droids com up somewhere in the conversation. That was a hint.
2.Read sentance above. Bounty Hunters and possibly entertainers are your target range of consumers. Merchants buy my barker droids and I get orders for combat droids to assist in large scale assaults. Advertise and everyone wants a droid. But I would say BH droids are at the top.
3.This is varity in crafting, but I think some of the modules and abilities are bugged to the point of uselessness. If those are fixed, you have a wide range of possibilities. If not, you have enough so it doesn't get boring.
JodoKai
Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:28 am
#7
If you do, make sure you have enough points to go Master Artisan too.
Personally I'd stay away from DE as it's a totally useless profession, but then again I'm bitter after being a DE for the last year and a half.
Infje
Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:15 am
#8
Well, WS/AS don't really attract me and Architect doesn't sound fantastic either. Bio engineer is completely out of the question.
DE just sounds interesting, making droids in various configurations and all that fun stuff.
After5CST
Wed Jul 06, 2005 11:34 am
#9
Note Jodokal's warning about Master Artisan.
My wife built a DE a few weeks ago, and was largely unable to find some components she couldn't make ( Memory Modules & GP Modules ). In the end, rather than her giving up her beloved CM abilities, I dropped by BH skills and switched to a hybrid MDoc / MArtisan just to fill her needs and give me a crack at surveying ( I'm weird : I found that I actually like surveying ).
If you're going to bea DE, it has been our experience that you either need to be or know a Master Artisan for GP / Mem Modules, as they're required in lots of various droid recipes. Either that, or grind out MA, build a boatload of modules, and then drop MA to grind DE.
We've enjoyed the adventure into crafting, and she likes DE. It hasn't made us a dime outside of Arakyds yet ( except for a weird battery order yesterday : strange but true ), but it is fun enough and provides a pleasant variety from PvE hunting.
Infje
Wed Jul 06, 2005 4:36 pm
#10
Sounds good. I will mainly be focussing on BH droids and perhaps some med droids. Maybe the entertainer profession will see a use again at some point and they'll need entertainer droids?
I'm not too bothered about the money, I have 2 toons that make some money as it stands. I'd just like this DE to be self-sufficient in terms of, at least breaking even to a slight profit as opposed to having to subsidize it with my other toons.
Thanks for the insight. 
RasalTheWise
Wed Jul 06, 2005 5:04 pm
#11
JodoKai wrote:If you do, make sure you have enough points to go Master Artisan too.Personally I'd stay away from DE as it's a totally useless profession, but then again I'm bitter after being a DE for the last year and a half.
*coughcough*
TROLL!
lol
JodoKai is right. I would say 90% of the DE's out there are MA's because of our heavy reliance on it's components.
Arturun
Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:20 pm
#12
Yes, this extreme dependency upon Master Artisans is one of the most frustrating parts of Droid Engineer, that and all the tiny little parts (yes they can be fun, but a hassle if you need to rush through an order). I am grinding towards Master Artisan, but I also have Rifleman, and some scout in addition to my DE.
To answer the original questions:
1) Yes, DE can make money, and pretty nicely so, if your prices are right. Droid costs are measured in the thousands, sometimes 10k's, and the cost to make is not quite that, usually.
2) I get orders for droids decently often. Yet when one considers the fact that I avoid the most crowded cities (cnet, theed, MO, Eisley, etc), have no vendors (yes, shocking isn't it?), and am only 3213 DE, I get quite a lot of orders. I would also have to agree that Bounty Hunters are your most frequent customers, until they hit MBH. Then they can use the same seeker over and over again.
3) As for variety, it's average. My color palette (at 3213DE) could use some work, and there is only one texture style per droid (wouldn't that be nice? more texture options), and many modules are obsolete. Has anyone noticed the sheer number of repair-related components? I mean, come on, how many of those can actually have a useful purpose?
Just my 2 cents...er..maybe my 10 cents looking back at that
-Arturun
Infje
Sun Jul 10, 2005 2:31 am
#13
I do appreciate and read all the feedback.
Currently grinding the MA bit as we speak..
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