Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Is being a DE a waste of time?
Ever since I started SWG last month, I always said to myself that I'd want to be a droid engineer. But I read the 101 reason not to be a DE, or all the complaints about no dev support and how only bounty hunters take advantage of droids. Are droids totally useless? They are cute little things to "call" once in awhile, not to mention you can rename their names to "Come to my store at -13213 30491" ...
And at the price we are forced to sell them (to make profit of course), not everyone can afford them, and sometimes the customer wants a very specific droid: "Can you make me droid that does lots of damage?" "Can you make a droid that can repair stuff?" "Can I have a 3PO droid?" ... etc ...
Anyways, my point is, I'm a 0-0-1-3 DE, it took me hours to get to that. Am I wasting my time? The only place where I've been successful at selling my droids were at the bazaar. Instant Sales only, Auctions just run out and I end up losing 20 credits per failed sale.
Should I just aim at being a Bounty Hunter droid seller? Should I wait for the Space expansion to be released cause droids MIGHT be a major factor needed for X-Wings and the likes? Orwill Ijust end up comiting suicide within a few months after becoming a Master Droid Engineer only finding out that droids aren't as cool and usefull as I thought they would be?
I don't mind building droids, I always wanted one. All I want to know is that is there a purpose for Droid Engineers in Star Wars Galaxies? Or we're just there cause no Star Wars saga is a Star Wars saga without droids around?
I would say that droid engineers are most definately not a waste of time. just about any decent craftsman needs a droid, any medic needs a droid, bounty hunters need droids, any mid-level marksman's need droids, most people want a droid just because they like droids, and I believe they will soon be getting even more functionality (soon being a relative statement). Droids are some of the most versatile things in the game as far as what they can be used for you see all of these posts such as the 101 reasons not to bea DE and you have to remember that it is only the minority that complains. While I think the profession could use a little work, it is nowhere near as bad as some others (smugglers being probably one of the worst). As far as most people not able to pay for droids at the price you sell them at to make money, not sure what you sell them for but when you factory about 3cpu for resources (and that is easy to find on the bazaar) the production cost for any droid (except maybe the load lifter and power droid) is under 10k or so (depending on modules and whatnot). when I started DE I sold my mouse droids for 400credits, sold every single one I needed to make BP1, and made a good profit while I was at it. If you want more reasons to be a DE (or good uses for droids), let me know, I can provide plenty.
Jenden Morn - Master DE - Mos Espa, Tarquinas
Owner, Operator, and Founder of DarkStar Inc.
I'd have to say they are. I mean, all I do is let the factory flood the market with 100 cheap, top of the line, advanced droids every week. I still make money off of it, but in my opinion, DE ruined the whole crafter line for me. I don't think I will ever be able to make another crafter ever again, the grind through DE was such a letdown. My droids for master DE were either useless, or just duplicating what any other droid could do. In my opinion, if there is roughly a master DE for every couple of cities on your server, don't bother picking it up... Any droid that can be made can be used by you anyways.
I don't say this to eliminate the competition... I say this as a public service announcement.
What you learn here is that there's no clear answer. Some people enjoy the profession, others are horrified by it. I think no one will argue that we're the most broken crafting profession, with BE's being very close in comparison....
So right now, I'd say we're not balanced in a positive way. We're not where we need to be, and if you go the DE route there's a very good chance you'll be disappointed. But there have been those who enjoy it.....so it's a gamble. What you see isn't necessarily what you get.
Alright, I think I've got my confidense back (sorta) into droid engineering. It's just that people seem to want specific droids. Mainly something that attacks or can help their crafting. That makes most droids out there sorta useless... I can agree that MSE droids did sell at some point, but lately they just end up being expired auctions. No demand in MSE droids?
Either way. I'm not 100% convinced that I should relay all my income entirely on Droids. You have to combine other stuff such as selling surveyed materials, or selling stuff you can make with a Generic Crafting tool.
Anyways, thanks guys, I'm sticking to my DE!
DieHarrdd wrote:
at this time,
YES !!!!!!!!!
To ellaborate, Obtaining Master Droid Engineer would require about asolid week of arduous labor obtaining resources, and wasting them on /practice (at best) -or producing 1-slot resource containers you can store in your data-pad. Once you reach your first step (blue-prints is THE only way to advance more rapidly), you can produce slightly different but equally useless droids.
Glory + fame to producing probots? Nay I say. No one buys them any more.
***EQUAL TIME for the contrary***
Start now, progress through til master. Then (as well as assuming that this should ever take place) when Droideka's and other advanced droids should become available, you need only search for the rare / non-existant resources with which to build them. BUT, you would at least have the ability to.
Recommendation: "Re-roll" as an architect to build future city-structures. It's *very* easy, and moderately enjoyable to build something someone wants to buy - because they can use it.
it is not a waste of time but it is definitely the worst option for crafting profession.
Basically, we can only start selling our things really after we have advanced at least 5 boxes into the profession. Before that is only grinding.
Second, there is no returning customers. Once a medic gets a good medic/crafting droid he'll never come back, and if he's smart, he'll just buy the best from the beginning (i.e. they don't 'grow out' of their droids like people outgrow their weapons)
Third, we are cannibals. If the customer is smart he'll only buy the droid from a master DE or similar, their droids cost the same and are 400% better than what others can make.
Fourth, we waste more time explaining how a droid works than making them. Everything is so counterintuitive that I don't blame the customers. I mean, a 'surgical droid' that doesn't help medics. A repair droid that can't repair, etc.
You're already in the DE profession, so guess go ahead with it, maybe you'll like it. Every would-be DE that asks me about the profession I always try to let them know the truth and suggest they choose another more rewarding or complete profession.
I guess there is a certain income to Droid Engineering in SWG. But does everyone own a Droid yet? I don't see that many people pull'em out except Bounty Hunters. Maybe we just gotta push the sales even more and givea reason why everyone should own a droid.
But I hope SOE will do something about Droid engineers. Cause like you said, if the player is smart, why would he buy a droid from a Novice DE when he can pay the same price for a droid from a Master DE which is 400% better. This really hurts the droid market big time. Actually, not really, not everyone is aware of this...
But I'm still convinced that Droids will have to play a major role of vehicules and spaceships when the "Space" expansion is released someday. Cause from my knowledge, you need a droid in an X-Wing for Auto-pilot, navigation support and extra options. Droids become the CPU and/or brain of the spaceship.
having experienced many of the SWG 'logics' it wouldn't surprise me if cowardly gurrecks were usable as copilots instead of R2s