Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: What would you do to improve our profession?
Page 1 of 6
Drashk
Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:06 pm
#1
Straker_Atrella posted athread recently that opened up a discussion that has brought up a couple of great points about our profession.
As Droid Engineers, we have seen a number of changes over the last 16 months, most of them beneficial in some way. We have a well defined role as being a support profession that has it's hand in many aspects of the game and affects many different professions.
As stated in the title, What would you do to improve our profession?
Do we need a slight make over, or a complete overhaul? If you had the chance to influence the evolution of our profession, what road would you take us down?
A couple of things before I turn this one lose -
- Please refrain from flaming other peoples ideas. Everyone should have the chance to say their peace. Don't make have GarVa lock the thread.
- Try to make your suggestions as thorough as possible. The more feedback that you can offer, the more information that can be shared with the DEVs.
- Keep in mind how your suggestions would affect other professions.
- Keep it realistic. Stay within the 'confines' of the game.
- Don't change the skill point requirement of Droid Engineer, to justify 'having it all'. Skill point costs can go down without causing problems. It doesn't work the other way around.
- Don't hesitate to rehash old ideas. The gamehas/is/willevolved/evolving/evolve.
With the above mentioned guide lines, post away.
Message Edited by Drashk on 10-23-2004 11:08 PM
Straker_Atrella
Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:46 pm
#2
Ok me first 
Many of you know how I feel already.
I used to really think that we needed a Decay system for our ground Droids in orderto give us a recurring revenue.
Then JTL happened and got me thinking. Docs, AS's, WS's and everybody else got locked out of space. The only real Space profession is shipwright. Why not give DE the "love" that it needs in the space game.
Think about why making Space our domain then giving Droid Decay for example. If we totally revamped the Ground droid game, and Droids started to decay. There would probably be a great deal of resentment from Droid users. Space is new, people arn't "dug in" yet with how things are. It would go over a lot better.
Sure not everybody will play totally in space, but just about everybody will use it to travel.
So I say forget Droid Decay and the ground game, leave it as is. Add a STRONG space Market onto our existing ground game and we are good.
Here is how you do it.
1. You need a Droid or FC to use Hyperspace (modified, I like Drashks idea.)
2. Droids or FC's wear out when a ship dies, or they can be targetted.
3. FC's have some meat to them. Some more resources, Advanced Droid brains, Sensors, or Microsensors, already in game things. Ideally experimentation would matter as well.
4.Make FC's able to hold 5 modules (equaling an ADV R3 with a data pad.)
5. Add new module types. Such as a Reactor Management Module, Shield Management Module, Imperial Communication Module, IFF module, and many more. Basically a module for each type of Pilot "program." You can still do each of the programs without a module, just not as well. Since you coudl only have 5 modules, you would need to specialize. Maybe even have 2 droids or FC's to swap around.
6. Make it so on these new Modules Resource Quality and Exp matter. Give a few things to experiment on. The better the Module, the better the Program works.
Now you have a product that everybody needs (Droids and FC's,) and it will wear out. Plus you have a strong high end market with the "Augmentation Modules."
We still have our current Droid ground Market, plus a strong Market in space. This is a market that only shipwrights have a part of.
It would go along with our "Droids are different" mindset.
Message Edited by Straker_Atrella on 10-23-2004 11:49 PM
Message Edited by Straker_Atrella on 10-24-2004 12:43 AM
hamhamthe3rd
Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:14 am
#3
i think we need more things that appeal to the combat professions, everything is already geared towards them anyway. buffs are now pretty much standard and everyone goes alone into battle. give us something that will make them say wow. i dont care if it costs a ridiculous amount of resources to make, or cost a"player lot" to own, let us make something they could be very happy to group with.OR if you want us to be in more demand, make our droids true killers, give us something similar to a super battle droid,remove their ham, replace it with a single bar and require that it takes a DE to repair that bar. similar to swoops and garages or stats and image designers. will they be too powerful? who knows but im surea middleground could bereached and makethem tempting to all who see them.i wouldlike to see a bodyguard type of droid for players without ANY combatand when they break, make them come to us.this would be the next best thing to decay, something im not comfortable with totally. plus a droidIS a complex machine. when your car breaks you take it to the shop, yeah maybe not 100% of the time, to see a professional dont you? same should be for droids to some degree. maybe some type of special decay that lowers effectiveness that only DE can repair/remove.
i know that wont happen so i want droids that last longer in combat. dont want them to knock out rancors by themselves but i do want them to survive multiple battles. allow them to have ham in the 10k range and allow us to experiment on kinetic resistance or just out right give them more of it. i just feel things built of solid metal should be harder to damage from certain types of damage.
Cario
Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:46 am
#4
I agree that we need a beefier combat droid. Also it would be nice to have differnt combat modes for them. Such as aggressive, which the droid will chase the target till it is no more. Guard the droid will attack but not chase a fleeing target. It would be nice to program my combat droid with some patrol points around my town while I'm running between factories and such, for it to attack any aggressive creatues within its patrol.
Straker_Atrella
Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:11 am
#5
I won't go against you guys saying we need a beefier combat droid, it's probably true. Yet at the same time, it looks like they are actuall trying to scale BACK peoples combat power, hence the combat revamp.
So if they added more powerfull droids that were open to everybody, we would get stronger,
Now possibly, what you guys are saying could happen if the Droid Commander profession was made. In that case, we would have an extra Droid market there.
TheRealTK421
Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:38 am
#6
1. Decay
2. Bigger, better combat products
3. Looted/quested Droid/DE _________.
2. Bigger, better combat products
3. Looted/quested Droid/DE _________.
4. Better (more immersive) droid AI/intelligence or personalities.
These alone will take some time to pull off but I think they would have a good-sized, positiveimpact on our profession.
/bow
Respectfully,
Fobok
Sun Oct 24, 2004 6:06 am
#7
Sorry, first, have to say it:
Give novice Droid engineers one more chassis! If I have to make 343 droids to get to the first skill box, let me at least make 171 of a different kind. Doesn't need to be any more useful than a mouse droid, just something that looks and sounds different. Maybe something like a P2.
Ok, now that that's out of my system... my experience is very limited so far, seeing as I'm still a novice. First, on one hand, I like that the flight computers don't need experimentation. It means there's something a novice has a chance to sell. On the other, seeing as I do need to make so many items to level up, the fact that they can sell for so cheap means that I'm doing missions to pay for harvesters. Maybe go with rarer materials, but keep the lack of experimentation.
Second, agreed, we need some kind of decay on the droids. And, make astromechs/flight computersrequired for hyperspace travel.
Third, relating to the second, make our droids valuable for something. One idea, though only for masters I'd say, is to expand a more expensive resource-hunting droid moduleto actually give you a waypoint. I'm sure droids with such a useful module would sell incredibly well. As long as it's kept with rare resources and limited uses, this would probably be a good source of income for masters.
Anyway, it's 9am and I haven't slept yet, so I think I'm going to end this sleep-deprived rambling before I embarass myself too much.
duncje
Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:25 am
#8
In my mind, it all comes down to necessity. Droids need to made absolutely necessary (to high level players)for some facet of the game. Necessity (to the highest level players) drives the economy in this game. Armor, weapons, buffs, resources, loot items used in making new armor, weaps, etc., that is what sells and sells for a lot.
On top of the necessity, we need decay. What good is necessity if you can buy one droid and use it forever?
I don't think an entire revamp of the profession is needed (although the modular design of spacecraft would have been perfect for droids). We just need a couple of necessary items that will drive people to buy droids.
Edit: The "need a droid/FC for hyperspace" is a perfect opportunity. Plus it follows Star Wars canon, as humans alone cannot make the complex calculations to perform a hyperspace jump without smacking into something at light speed.
Message Edited by duncje on 10-24-2004 08:34 AM
bmeenan
Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:30 am
#9
I'd like to see an interface exactly like the starship interface where you swap out and replace droid modules. With this in mind, I'd put forward that chassis should not decay but that modules do. This opens up a lot of possabilities for us.
Edited to add ... I was looking through some old posts I made on beta and found this one that seems to apply so I'm copying a part of it here (it's from the all things droid related thread):
Droids are crucial and so very key to giving this game the "feel" of Star Wars. In the movies, it was R2D2 and C3P0 that have remained constant throughout; everything else has always changed. In SWG, they provide (at least to me) a true sense of emersion in the SW Universe.
What I've done in my gaming here is give my droids personas. No matter what character, galaxy, or role I'm playing at the time, the same droid is always there doing it's droid thing, with my personal SW saga sort of pivoting around it. Considering this, why do I have to "destroy" my beloved droid when all I want to do is take out that medical module and add in a trap-throwing module or whatever else.
(What I end up doing right now - as a DE it's convenient - is just making myself variations of the same droid with different features and giving it the same name over and over.)
Anyway, something to consider.
Edited to add ... I was looking through some old posts I made on beta and found this one that seems to apply so I'm copying a part of it here (it's from the all things droid related thread):
Droids are crucial and so very key to giving this game the "feel" of Star Wars. In the movies, it was R2D2 and C3P0 that have remained constant throughout; everything else has always changed. In SWG, they provide (at least to me) a true sense of emersion in the SW Universe.
What I've done in my gaming here is give my droids personas. No matter what character, galaxy, or role I'm playing at the time, the same droid is always there doing it's droid thing, with my personal SW saga sort of pivoting around it. Considering this, why do I have to "destroy" my beloved droid when all I want to do is take out that medical module and add in a trap-throwing module or whatever else.
(What I end up doing right now - as a DE it's convenient - is just making myself variations of the same droid with different features and giving it the same name over and over.)
Anyway, something to consider.
Message Edited by bmeenan on 10-24-2004 10:41 AM
Nodo_Wavinglight
Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:08 am
#10
1. Give the Master DE a combat droid... i.e. BattleBot or Droideka (already in game)
As most of us have NO combat skills, it would allow us to actually join the combat players on hunts.
I would just like to have what was promised before Pub 8 and that was we would get a BATTLEBOT at Master much like a CH has pets that ONLY a CH can use.
2. Clearer reason for a specific Model
Seems like all we are doing these days are Adv R3, after all they can fit the most mods
3. Decay will not go over with the populous, so how about wounds or BF? of course call it something droidy. It forces the Combat guys to see an Entertainer, now with Pilots they should have to see a DE for their droid
4. MAKE THE Binary Load Lifter worth building !!! This thing should hold a mod to let Miners manage Harvesters... Pickup the resources.
JTL is adding alot for us to do, so I think that there will be plenty of business... CRATES of UNPROGRAMMED anyone 
Jenden
Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:20 am
#11
I'd say two major things need to be done (with a few other minor changes):
First and foremost decay. It needs to happen. This is decay for both combat and non-combat droids. This has been suggested in a lot of different ways, I'm a fan of the idea that every time you recharge the droid it takes some minor decay hit, and once it decays enough it stops working. The only thing I believe really needs to be included is the ability to completely refurbish a droid. Some people like their old droids and don't want to have to see them go. A way to refurbish the droid (at pretty much the same cost as a whole new droid) or even just a way to save the "personality" chip (all the commands, the name, and anything else that has been customized).
Droid Commander... This would solve the problem of not having a required market, it would let us make the big bad combat droids, it could easily introduce an area where resource quality/experimentation were critical, and I think a lot of people would enjoy the profession. I know there are a lot of suggestions for a Droid Commander profession out there, I'm a fan of the full 4 tree profession with requirements of engineering 4 and ranged support 4.
Flight computers or astromechs need to be required to go to hyperspace... The only species in the galaxy capable of making hyperspace calculations in their heads are the Givin, and last I checked we don't have any of them.
Chassis differentiation... I'd like to see a reason for people to get Treadwell's, LE's, Protocols, BLL's, etc other than just because of the way they look.
Message Edited by Jenden on 10-24-2004 08:23 AM
GnomeAd
Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:46 am
#12
I think our profession can be broken down into three different areas. Combat droids, support droids and RP support. Each of these areas are impacted for different reasons.
Combat droids are doubly cursed. Until the devs fix the current exploit issues with BE pets, our role in providing combat support is going to be limited. Why should someone buy a combat droid when they can get a much better BE pet? The other problem facing combat droid sales is the prolification of buffs. With the high quality buffs and enhancementsavailable today, why would anyone need a support "tank"? Calling and storing pets and droids while running missions is a huge pain. It's just not worth it when you're buffed. Even my Master CH doesn't use pets for grinding missions when he's buffed. It's faster without them. The good news is that I think both of these issues will be fixed during the "combat revamp". Hopefully after we get this accomplished, we will be seeing a drastic increase in sales of combat droids.
Support droids are currently our saving grace. These are the backbone of DE sales and should continue to be in the future. Crafting droids, storage droids, harvesting droids and medical droids are great. I'd like to see some more variety, but I think we've got quite a bit of help with this category during the droid publishes. The one thing I'd really like to see in this category is a "slicing" module for smugglers. With the upcoming smuggler revamp, I think we've got a good chance of getting this. We just need to bring it to RT's attention and have him and GM see what they can do about it.
Role playing is another big seller for our droids. Let's face it, droids are one of the most Star Warsy thing about SWG. The problem is that compared to animal pets, droids are pretty much worthless in this category. Pets do tricks, have special emotes and just generally seem more "real" than droids. I'd like to see the devs provide us with droid "emotes" much like they have with pets. Not only will this drive our sales for the RP category, but it will increase our sales across the board by giving them a "cool" factor that will drive player interest.
Currently, I'm actually reasonably optimistic for the future of DEs in this game. A lot of our issues, like the combat droid problems, are actually on the devs "schedule" and will most likely be fixed in a short amount of time. The item on my list that I think will take the most development time is the droid "emotes". This is going to be a biggie, but I think it's probably the most important. I think it's also something the RT would be interested in as well. After all, what would be more fun that having your protocol droids respond to different actions in line with their personality chips? Or having he Astromechs beep crankily at you for doing something wrong? Now that, to me, is Star Wars!
rushy68
Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:54 am
#13
i would make a few changes....
1.) Put ina decay rate for the droids... make the customers have to come back like with armor and weapons
2.) Make droid batteries DE created... another reason y they need to come to us 
3.) Make experimenting in the sub componants actually matter....(this Awill put in ALOT more variety in our droids and ALOT more variety in our smiths )
)4.)I would like to see most of the droid models have a special ability without the modules installed, like the repair droid can heal wounds
5.) Maybe a few more models to have fun with
6.) i didn't get into beta so i can't post anything about the space game.. and ATM i'm outta ideas on the ground game... i'll probably post again when i'm more awake
Page 1 of 6