Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Really liked this alt.games.starwarsgalaxies post.
Droid Engineer should've been implemented exactly like Creature
Handler...only rather than an XP grind to the top, it should be one of
droid crafting.
A Master Droid Engineer should be allowed a max of three pets out at
once totaling no more than 70LVLs. This artificial LVL 10 cap on all
droids? --needs to go away. It's SOE's laughable attempt to further
punish all non-CHers. And in doing so, they infringe upon the meat
and potatoes of an entirely different profession.
SOE also needs to give the DEs a little more to do. The Bounty Hunter
Trainer model as a playable droid pet for one. He could be the
equivalent of a rancor--the bad-ass. Also missing the droids from
Episode 1 and II...those spider-ball things and the soldier
types...maybe include varying flavors & levels of those.
The DE skill lines should follow a similar reward system to Creature
Handler. So that a player with say 4-0-0-0 could not create, control
and/or transfer one of their high level droids to just anyone.
Non-DE/Non-CH should only ever have access to LVL 10 (non-faction)
pets. Likewise Master CH should only have access to LVL 10 droids.
And Master DE should only have access to LVL 10 creatures. Unless of
course the player had skill points invested in both professions--in
which case I think the 70LVL + 3 pet max should still apply to them.
Perma-death should be for faction pets only--not ALL droids! That
doesn't even make sense. It makes more sense for a living creature to
be permanently dead than a droid that could be repaired by its master.
Follow the vitality point model for droids--please!!!
IMHO DE is by far the worst implemented and most contradictory
profession SOE has insulted the Star Wars universe with to date. I
know people that have quit over it.
If you want to see some pet diversity back in the game, by all means
BITCH ABOUT IT to SOE! We've seen when hundreds of people threaten to
close accounts, complaining about a specific aspect, SOE does
eventually address it. FWD my post if you like.
<snip>
Oh yeah...and weapons on the higher end combat droids should be as
customizable as the options available to Bioengineers.
Depending on the level/type of droid, there should be slots for Ranged
Attack, Special Attack1 and Special Attack2 in which Weapoonsmith
templates could be plugged in to the recipe at droid creation. If no
weap schematic went in, the droid would have no ranged ability and
would do only kinetic damage.
And before everyone starts bitching about how overpowered
flame-throwing/LLC wielding droids would become, let me add that this
would not effect the damage output of the droid, only the damage type
& additional range. So sure, give your droids all the expensive, uber
weapon templates you want. It won't mean a thing. Plus the droids
will never style.
Would never advocate that say the Bounty Hunter droid model or
Commando Arachnid model would be as formidable an enemy as a Player BH
or Commando--even novice versions of them.
It would be nice to have an extra perk as master such as having a second droid out (not a combat droid). But we definatly do not want to become Droid Handlers.
-norax
N0RAX wrote:
Most Droid Engineers are very much against becoming a CH clone.
It would be nice to have an extra perk as master such as having a second droid out (not a combat droid). But we definatly do not want to become Droid Handlers.
-norax
You know, I am not opposed to a CH-like scenerio where DEs ability to get more poweful droids is based on points throughout the skill tree, PROVIDED that we can still sell droids to others who meet the proper certs (perhaps in their own skill trees) and PROVIDED that when we talk about Droid Handler, we are not referring to a NEW profession separate from DE.
What I am opposed to is having to be a Master DE and Master Droid Handler.
We've been going over and over these issues. And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me that if anyone can use these droids, it should be droid engineers. Commandos and the other combat classes don't know squat about handling a droid, other than telling it what to do. We build them and we should be able to use all the droids we build, unless they are skill dependent like medical droids. Now, that said, we are a craftign class in terms of the game economy; we're the only source of droids. So we need to have a market to sell ourr goods to. Thus the need for droid certs in other classes.
Distributing CL points through out the DE tree AND through out combat classes would be nice because it gives us the ability to use the droids we make, prevents dablers, and gives us a market to sell high lvl droids to.
well turning primarily acrafting profession into a combatone would definitely make things more interesting for the droid engineer. read something about this in the upcoming 'droid invasion' expansion they're planning. what you describe doesn't sound too difficult either. sounds like they could re use all their creature handler code. and with maybe an added flag in the database, the game couldqualify whether the pet-object should be handled as a living pet vs. a droid pet.
pnz77 wrote:
well turning primarily acrafting profession into a combatone would definitely make things more interesting for the droid engineer. read something about this in the upcoming 'droid invasion' expansion they're planning. what you describe doesn't sound too difficult either. sounds like they could re use all their creature handler code. and with maybe an added flag in the database, the game couldqualify whether the pet-object should be handled as a living pet vs. a droid pet.
I'm not sure we become a combat profession just because we can use all the droids we can make, except for skill-based droids like medical droids. We do become a crappy profession, though, if we're called droid engineers and we can't use all of our non-skill based droids. Crappy Droid Engineer. Has a certain ring to it. 
I agree that think there's prolly lots of code that can be re-used.
Sodan-droiddreamer wrote:
Commandos and the other combat classes don't know squat about handling a droid, other than telling it what to do.
Uh, besides building a droid, what else is there to do besides tell it what to do? Dip it in an oil bath now and then? Take it in for service? The idea of droid handling is stupid. They're autonomous. C-3PO, R2-D2, and numerous other droids perform for an awfully long time without input.
I agree. That's why I think DEs should be able to use all the droids they make if they have the skills to match.
BoberFett wrote:
Uh, besides building a droid, what else is there to do besides tell it what to do? Dip it in an oil bath now and then? Take it in for service? The idea of droid handling is stupid. They're autonomous. C-3PO, R2-D2, and numerous other droids perform for an awfully long time without input.
Im apposed to becomeing a CH clone, Droids are not "dumb" creatures, althougha BLL fits that discription, DE's are creating a autonomous machine which will (with proper maitence) out live its creator. Also Droids are Charters too, ask any group of people "What is the names of Luke's Droids?" and you will get a corius of C-3PO and R2-D2 but ask "What was the name of Luke's or Han's Tautun?" and all you will get is dead silence.
Droids are special, they have personalitys, likes and dis-likes, and they can evolve beyond there orignal programing, a wrinx will allways be a wrinx but a Driod can become its own person, for example, LOM-4 became a bounty hunter along with IG-88, or Q9-x2 who started as a basic astormech and modified IT's self to be more efficent.
So to close this rant I will say "Don't make me a DE/CH!" Give me a protocall droid that wailes about the odds of sucess so I can yell back "Never tell me the odds!" Give me a droid that will do something helpful for me without me telling it to.
Not sure I follow the backlash of comments arguing in favor of DE remaining a worthless profession.
If DE did become a CH clone, there'd be no one holding a gun to your head shouting, "now go fight". Your DE XP would be made crafting--not in combat. Besides, I know lots of Doctors, even Combat Medics, that never leave the Med Center. SOE could make droids so temperamental that they literally exploded the moment you called them. And the "demand" for them would still never approach that of weapon or armor smith.
Pets add variety to the game. And pets in combat, are a riot. They enhance the sense of role-play and make this AO/EQ rip-off a little more interesting.
In closing...go with vitality points for droids...and yes, to re usable CH code for the Droid Engineer patch.
caa421 wrote:
Not sure I follow the backlash of comments arguing in favor of DE remaining a worthless profession.
If DE did become a CH clone, there'd be no one holding a gun to your head shouting, "now go fight". Your DE XP would be made crafting--not in combat. Besides, I know lots of Doctors, even Combat Medics, that never leave the Med Center. SOE could make droids so temperamental that they literally exploded the moment you called them. And the "demand" for them would still never approach that of weapon or armor smith.
I don't understand how giving us useful droids to build makes DE worthless. What people are arguing about is whether or not DE is a crafting profession or combat profession.
Aaaahhh, im not a droid anything, im a master bounty hunter, to me, i think a master droid eng should be able to use any droid that can be made in the star wars world, if they introduce combat droids, then the droid eng should be able to use them all. Even if they make combat class droids, say like a master bounty hunter droid, master commando droid , what ever, I know its the old argument about the master weapon smith, he can make all the weapons but when he equips say a flamethrower and he isnt certified to use it then it does like no dmg, i see a big differance between the DE and the weapon smith, look at it like this, say the best swordsmaker in the world makes the most magnifacint sword the world has ever seen....doesnt mean he was the skills to weild it in combat, being the best swordsmaker in the world just means you know metals and crafting , with the droid eng every electronic part, every computer chip, every switch, button, wire he tests, before the final product , the droid its self would ever be sold to any one it would have to be tested in combat situations, the droid eng would know exaactly what buttons to push, what commands to be given, exactly what any droid he builds would be capable of doing in any situation, combat or other wise. Its just to complex a machine for him not to know how to use it right. As it is now, star wars gallaxies is missing two things that make star wars ...well, star wars.....ships and of course droids, the few droids they have now are really bad, this is star wars, it should be azz high in droids. I know they have screwed the DE over time and again, i think its time to make the DE what he really should be, and thats a major player in this game.
Amen! Nef01. I agree droid engineers should be able to use every droid to the best of it's abilities. Not having DE's able to use all the droids would be like having a Car engineer unable to drive.