Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: DEs Unite: A compromise for the DE/Crafter and DE/CH camps
Talking to several other DEs last night gave me an epihany...
Almost all of us think there should be new droid combat models (Droideka, Battle Droid. etc.)
Most of us think that combat droids (at least some of them) shouldbe sellable to non-DE because we need droids to sell.
Some of us think every player should be able to use every combat droid.
Some of us think there should be different combat droids with a system of certifications to restrict use. This would be complicated to implement, and devs can't seem to do any fixes to us without breaking us already.
Some of us think that DEs should get really powerful DE-only droids, giving us a combat edge. This does nothing to help us sell droids.
I thought of a perfect compromise between the positions:
Implement combat droids usuable by ALL players, but limit non-DEs to one combat droid, and allow advanced DEs (to prevent dabbling) to have 2 of the combat droids.
I believe that the simplest solution to the combat droid issue will best received by the devs, and this is a simple compromise.
At most, we will probably be lucky to get a Droideka, let alone multiple new combat droids.
This plan involves no complicated certs. We get combat droids to sell. DEs get a distinct combat advantage because we get double the droid handling power of any other class.
I really don't like the idea of a high-end droid that only DEs can use, because that droid would most likely be the coolest one, and the one that players would buy from us like crazy.
However, if you give everyone combat droids, and you allow us to simply use more of them at once, EVERYONE is happy.
What do you think?
Quote:
At most, we will probably be lucky to get a Droideka, let alone multiple new combat droids.
I forgot the second sentence to this...it should read:
At most, we will probably be lucky to get a Droideka, let alone multiple new combat droids. If you make a DE-only combat droid the choice will be limited to:
(1) Only DEs can use the new droid...we have nothing new to sell
(2) Everyone can use the droid...some DEs want to exhibit their expertise.
Either way...there are mad DEs.
I think I would prefer to see combat droids of about CL10 sellable and usable by all, with a larger droid available to DE or anyone with a Master Elite tag.
Before that I would like basic functions working as they should be plus a raft of wider modules to assist other crafters (like survey, scout, tracking, etc)
Nevad
Novice DE, Kettemoor
/clap
I would be happy as a MDE to be able to call out 2 combat droids.
The DE/CH model already is the best possible solution given the situation. Alot of you pure crafters are forgetting that the droids that only master DE's can make will be controllable by DE dabblers. Thus there will be a market for even DE only combat droids.
droid certifications would limit noobies with super powerful droids
Daker-Naritus wrote:
So all players should suffer because your friends gave you the game on a silver platter? I think you are well in the minority buddy.
As a matter of fact, I am directly refuting your previous statement with my own personal experience. And until you can provide hard numbers to the contrary, you are in no position to say I am in the minority of anything.
You also could have spent that money on resources off the bazaar, and spent an evening grinding artisan....bingo, you are a DE and can handle the same droids you are saying noobs shouldn't handle. There is no difference...you would still be a noob after those few hours, and would still have a combat droid.
And if I was a powergaming noob, it wouldn't be worth my time to work all the way up to DE. I'd just buy the **edit** thing and be done with it. Yet again, your arguement is fallicitious on its face. If Joe Newbie wants to spend 100K worth of his friend's money to buy the resources to craft his way to DE and make a probot or what-have-you, then he'll have more cred in my book than someone who just buys one and uses it like a metal pet.
In other MMORGS the practice you are describing is called power-leveling. IMHO, its cheating, but it's not my right to judge. Just realize that your experience is not typical, and is not representative of how the game should be structured.
And yet you judge anyway.. how quaint. Your opinion has been noted.
As a matter of fact, I worked my butt off to make DE and the credits I had I used to buy materials after I couldn't find what I needed. I had Survey maxed before any of my other artisan skills, which should tell you how long I've spent out in the hinterlands looking for stuff or setting up extractors. But all of this is irrelevant to the point, which is that if I wanted that probot I would have had it. That I didn't buy it and I worked my way up to DE (and I did work my way up) is more a personal choice.
And since my experience is not typical, I should say that unless you have the numbers to back your experience up you aren't in position to say that yours is typical. If you think all of these PA's spring fully formed from the ground, then I think perhaps an re-evaluation of the facts is in order.
People have friends. Friends help each other out so that they can play on a level field. It happens. And letting people buy probots and whatnot so that they can use them as big, blaster carrying metal pets irks me. But hey, what do I know? I mean, I'm just a DE...
Arkham,
Answer one question, yes or no: Do you think it is the typical experience of every SWG that as soon as they log on, another players walks up, says "Hi I want to be your friend," and tipsthem 25k credits whichthey can then immediately go out and spend on a probot?
If you answer no, you are wrong. I would argue that the average player plays and gains experience in-game, makes some friends, and eventually gets the money to buy a droid after experiencing the game for a while, whether through their friends or through earning it.
You can continue to try to convince me that your assertion is the norm. Anyone can see that it is not. Maybe the difference in out opinions is that I actually bought the game the day it came out and there were no wealthy players to grant me my 25k droid stipend. Whatever.
One thing is clear:
I have obviously been playing the game much longer than you have, and I am not using that fact to take anything away from you or to limit your gaming experience.
Similarally, what right do you have to say "That player is a noob and doesn't deserve to have a friend buy him a droid(even though my friends provided for me)."
I see this often, and wonder if people really understand what it is they're saying. CL10 would be weaker than the current probot. Somewhere closer to the current DZ70. Now show of hands, how many people sell or use the DZ?
Ruthus wrote:
I think I would prefer to see combat droids of about CL10 sellable and usable by all, with a larger droid available to DE or anyone with a Master Elite tag.
Before that I would like basic functions working as they should be plus a raft of wider modules to assist other crafters (like survey, scout, tracking, etc)
Nevad
Novice DE, Kettemoor
Quote:
I see this often, and wonder if people really understand what it is they're saying. CL10 would be weaker than the current probot. Somewhere closer to the current DZ70. Now show of hands, how many people sell or use the DZ?
I bought an advancedDZ70 once...before I became a DE, but after the droid perma-death nerf. Someone sold it to me telling me it was one of 2 attack droids, and a good bang for the buck. The guy seemed desparate so I obliged.
I wondered why I never saw those droids (only probots) until I sent it out to sick a chuba...BAM, bot went down. 
This is the second thread in which you have fabricated statistics to reinforce your narrow view of the profession. Please, in the absence of official polls, refrain from using words like "most," "all," or "minority." I have personally financed 2 newbies from day 1 by supplying them with credits and equipment. At this point, I would assume that people who are entering this game now are:
1) alternate accounts who have access to the original players money
2) friends of current players who have been talked into playing (and thus, again, have access to the established character's funds)
3) people who enter blindly
Now, since I have no official statistics, I'm not going to fabricate a number to bolster my point. Possibilities 1 & 2 have access to money and equipment. Added to this are the millions of duped credits for auction on ebay that are accessible to anyone with a little extra cash. The fact that this is against the EULA is beside the point. It's a reality. I've run into 2 andom people who admit to being new in the game and having funded themselves from ebay credits.
Do not presume to speak for everyone and do presume that your opinions are are more valid than anyone else's. What it boils down to is that they are just that, opinions.... uninformed opinions.
Now will you please stop starting threads that distract from THs thread where the real progress is going down.
Issac,
Stop being a troll...
(1) I counted up responses to TH's thread before responding to this. There were barely any DEs who said they didn't want new combat droids (only 3 or 4). Roughly onefourth said they wanted combat droids to be usable by all. Rougly onefourth said they wanted a 2-tiered combat droid system with certifcations. Roughly onefourth said "I want to me a CH...gimme DE-only droids, and limit everyone else to the current droids." And, roughly one fourth just didn't say anything one way or the other.
If you re-read my original post, you will see that I said (1) Almost all DEs want new comabt droids (true), (2) some said everyone can use (true), (3) some said split system (true), and (4) some said DE-only (true).
If you don't believe me, you can stop being a jackass and practice what you preach...read the thread and disprove me.
(2) I don't care how long anyone has been playing, everyone should have droids. There is no reason they shoudn't. (a) If a noob has a droid kill something for them, they get no experience for that kill. (b) Noobs can no longer take high dollar missions because of all the mission nerfs, so combat droids don't help them there either as the only way they can advance is to become experienced so that the game lets them get harder missions. (c) The movies let poor farmers have droids, why can't poor noobs?
(3) I wasn't starting this thread to "distract from THs thread" I was proposing this as a solution to DEs that I thought was good. If you don't like it, propose an alternative. There's no reason to be an angry troll and a jerk just because I proposed an idea.