Droid Engineer Archive

Well, I don't know if my little voice has much impact, but I must say that the existing "plan" for DE's seems inadequate. I think the "Plan" needs to address the dozens of bugs and issues that are currently killing the DE profession.This profession is not working "as designed", and that needs to be addressed FIRST, before mouse-bombs or other bizarre stuff.

It seems to methat issues fall into three groups: smallbug fixes, easy changes, and big changes. For now, we need to get the bugs fixed on a weekly basis. On the monthly "big" patches we can try to get one or two big changes pushed through. I know the Dev team already is supposed to be working on these bugs on a weekly basis, but there have been NO results from that effort. So, I felt it would be help to prune the list of to-do's to just things that are easily accomplished and will get the most "bang-for-the-buck".

So, for the next couple weeks, I'd like to see the following minor bugs fixed for DE's:
* Show modules installed in examinewindowofthe deed, the droid itself, and from the datapad.
* Show what command the droid is currentlyexecuting in the droid examine window.
* Change "Tame" to "Activate" if its fora droid in the datapad.
* Don't allow multiple crafting modules in a droid- so make crafting modules a different type of module with its own slot, and only one slot per droid.
* LE Repair droids are only droids with a repair module, and it needs to work. Or, make repair modules work in all droids that currently can use them. Prefer that just LE Repair droids are only droids with repair.
* Item storage does not work on Surgical Droids- fix or remove.
* Droid armor not working as designed. Seems to stop working after a few hits. 40% cap seems low.
* Droids that can converse can't be named. If this is as-designed, it should be changed as it makes the droidhard to control. In the movies, protocol droids had names like C3PO! duh.
* Heard reports that seeker droids can be used more than designed (should be 10 uses?).
* Heard crediblereports that R2'srandomly change color once in a while.

The following are functionality changes that should be easy to implement:
* Partially Un-nerf Probots. They were over-nerfed in my opinion. Probots worked great, andcould fill a desperate need for combat droids. Just un-nerf them to approximately the same stats as a medium sized tamable creature.
* Allow DE's to reset a droid, i.e. clear its name and put it back in the form of a deed.
* Add option on droid radial menu to show its current power level, or number of minutes ofpower remaining.
* Change power levels of droids to last 30 minutes instead of 20 (or maybe longer?).
* Change paint-job counter to allow 100 uses instead of 20 before new paint is needed (or maybe more?).
* DE's can have have more than one droid out at a time, and more than 5 in the datapad.
* Loosen restrictions on droid names (use same restrictionsas houses?)
* Make droid customization kits work on droid vendors- change colors of droid vendors.
* Add "Return to me" option on droids so that a droid that is out and working will return to its player/owner without having to be stored and recalled. Can return from far distances on same planet.
* Item storage increase. Max 10 items seems rediculously small- perhaps max at20 or 50?
* Waypoints andSchematics can be stored on droids, nothing else. Nerfed several months ago,not sure why(perhaps mission exploits?) but just limit thetypes of data items towaypoints and schematics (no missions or other droids/pets)and we will be happy as clams.
* Droid Sockets: seems like somebody short-cutted the process here by opening up 2 general sockets and making anything fit in them.However, so many combinations don't work that this seems a poor design. Medical modulesaren't additive, mutliple crafting modules don't work, some item storage modules don't work with other modules, etc. So, redesign sockets, orat least provide data in assembly process on final results (i.e. final functionality ratings with selected modules).
* Improvements on droids following players. If its in follow mode, it should always be in 50m radius of player, and should "jump" if it gets hung up.

Long-term changes, would like to see progress monthly:
* Droideka's. Everyone wants these, no exceptions. Droideka's could solve problems where artisan classes cannot complete quests because ofno fighting skills.
* BLL's and/or Mouse droids can deliver stuff to other players or to a waypoint. Set it, load it, send it off. Maybe BLL's could deliver inventory items, and mouse droids can do schematics or data pad stuff.
* Droid experimentation. Perhaps make battery usage based on experimation, or something similar. This topic has been unaddressed since Beta, so its time to fix it!
* Make power droids do something useful. Currently, there is little use for them.
* Improve conversation abilities of droids that can converse. They don't say much right now.

As for Mouse-Bombs, well, If I had the choice I would say that those are much less important than fixing the existing bugs and issues. What we need to do isfocus on makingthis profession work as designed.

Lastly, I'd like to say that droids, as a concept,are meant to be useful for every profession.Unfortunatly, at presentthis is not the casewith possible exception of doctors, and for artisans they can be mobile crafting stations.If droids could aid their masters in some way for every single profession, then everyone would think droids are cool again. As it is, they are "lame".SW is so droid-oriented (like2 of the most beloved characters in the movies were droids!), that this situation seems really wrong. For melee classes and fighters, their skills or damage or some part of what they do should be improved by having their droid present. In the SW universe, a droid alertsyou to incoming attacks or hidden dangers, and canalways provide some form of assistance to its master, no matter the profession or situation. This would be the ultimate long term goal for DE's.

This list was drawn from many other posts, and I'm sure there are important things I missed. Those other people poured many hours of work into compiling lists of bugs and issues, and mostly I just grouped them in to short and long term goals. So, thank them for their hard work, and keep up the pressure to make DE's a respectible profession again!

The above was cross-posted on the SWGcraft.com DE forums as well.

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Tree - Tempest Server, Novice DE, Novice Smuggler, Master Merchant, Master Artisan.
Tree-Aucob Enterprises on Naboo, -5400 x 3300 sellingHarvesters, Houses,Powerups, WUK's, Seekers, Artisan Supplies, Stims and 39 rating crafting stations!