Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Crafting Nerf Un-nerfed
Ogge_the_Lizard wrote:
To bad it isn't gonna get changed until Wednesday... I was gonna start making factory runs of the new stuff but now it seems I should wait.
Given that we have only seen actualy effectiveness on experimentation AFTER the nerf was on test, I would hate to find out that our droids are back to their old HAM pool possibilities, in addition to losing their armor, because of the removal of the crafting system.
Don't get me wrong, I feel that the new system would have had a negative impact on the economy in the long run overall, but if it was what allowed our product to have variances then there is something else to be looked at by the Devs before the system is removed on Wednessday.
But I have no clue how this change could look like.
I think the proposal that they are now backing out of would have made it harder for a new crafter to break into the market. The masters that have been around and have stocks of High Quality resources, along with experimentation tapes, etc. would be far less effected by the nerf than the new crafter using mediocre resources. This "nerf" really would have widened the gap, not narrowed it.
spearbearer wrote:
The good news for me is that the Devs listened to their customers (for whatever reason), the bad news is that the crafting/resource/experimentation system REALLY needs some work to allow low-level crafter (or/and the casual gamer) to compete with Master Crafter (or/and Hard-Core gamer) in some way.
But I have no clue how this change could look like.
Message Edited by duncje on 03-15-2004 04:30 PM
Actually, do what JustG suggested - try out the changes.
Compare the ones you make tomorrow with the ones you make the next day.
You see, the reason I think most people found the changes bad wasn't so much the nerf itself - if they want to reduce weapon power, they are going to do so in another way even if they don't nerf the construction - it was the fact that the nerf would utterly flip the entire live economy.
If it is true, and overall we would create crappier items, then every item in the game becomes a Pre-nerf. Every single existing item in-game up until now. The market would have made Hologrinding seem quaint by comparison. Pre-nerf FWG's go for a million bucks a whack - multiply that by EVERY WEAPON/ARMOR/FOOD in the game!
However, this all hinges on one notion : that items made under the new system would be inherently worse.
That's why tomorrow's "experiment", if you will, is necessary - for the actual live player-base to be able to try it out.
Who knows - we could be wrong.
So go in and try out the crafting system as much as possible, so we can all have a working knowledge to discuss this in the future.
Audio
duncje wrote:
I think the proposal that they are now backing out of would have made it harder for a new crafter to break into the market. The masters that have been around and have stocks of High Quality resources, along with experimentation tapes, etc. would be far less effected by the nerf than the new crafter using mediocre resources. This "nerf" really would have widened the gap, not narrowed it.
spearbearer wrote:
The good news for me is that the Devs listened to their customers (for whatever reason), the bad news is that the crafting/resource/experimentation system REALLY needs some work to allow low-level crafter (or/and the casual gamer) to compete with Master Crafter (or/and Hard-Core gamer) in some way.
But I have no clue how this change could look like.
Message Edited by duncje on 03-15-2004 04:30 PM
/agree
Masters would ahve needed uber resources AND +25 experimentation skill tapes. That would have made thigns WORST for new crafters trying to enter the market. Entrenched monopolies could have out spent the new comers for these items.
spearbearer wrote:
The good news for me is that the Devs listened to their customers (for whatever reason), the bad news is that the crafting/resource/experimentation system REALLY needs some work to allow low-level crafter (or/and the casual gamer) to compete with Master Crafter (or/and Hard-Core gamer) in some way.
But I have no clue how this change could look like.
Agreed, but this system was not going to accomplish this either. The end result would have been large numbers of "Pre-Nerf" items created before it went live, in addition to the fact that many of the "hard-core" master crafters have been stockpiling rare resources for months already, giving them a further edge over the casual/low-level crafter who doesn't have access to those stockpiles of resources.
Lets face it, the hard-core gamers are the ones with 12+ harvesters going, in addition to 5+ factories and their house(s). Something that most other crafters could not compete with in terms of production capacity and resource stockpiling.
But that still leaves the Devs (and us) with the problem how to balance the crafting system so it's fair for everyone. Anybody got a link to some clever ideas?
spearbearer wrote:
I guess I have to really spend a few hours tomorrow and see how the crafting changes would have looked like.
But that still leaves the Devs (and us) with the problem how to balance the crafting system so it's fair for everyone. Anybody got a link to some clever ideas?
The problem I see is this: There SHOULD be an advantage to being a Master other than a nifty title and a few more things to make. A Master's product SHOULD be better than a novice's product if they used the same resources.
However, there SHOULD also be products that a Novice can make that are saleable to the general public that are not rendered obsolete by there also being Master crafters around, and these products should be DESIREABLE by the public in general.
spearbearer wrote:
I guess I have to really spend a few hours tomorrow and see how the crafting changes would have looked like.
But that still leaves the Devs (and us) with the problem how to balance the crafting system so it's fair for everyone. Anybody got a link to some clever ideas?
I really don't think the problem ismaking the crafting system fairbut simply getting your name out there. Once people buy weapons from a weaponsmith that stays well stocked, they are likely to go back. They know where the shop is and know the vendor will be stocked.
How many times have you pulled up vendors on the overhead map, only to go and find them empty? This is the main reason people won't try somebody new. It's a waste of time to meander all over the galaxy looking for a stocked vendor. Now, if you have the option of taking a shot in the dark to see if a "new guy" stocked his vendor, or going to a tried and true "veteran" that keeps the vendor stocked, where will you go?
I think a vast improvement to the Merchant profession would help new crafters greatly. Something along the lines of being able to see what's on a vendor before you have to travel to it. I'd try many more weaponsmiths, if I only knew they had what I wanted in stock.
Just my 2 credits.