Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: I cancelled my account because of DE, but...
Then I just started it right back up again. The community is good, and there's a lot of fun to be had. But DE just isn't cutting it for me. The further I grind up the DE tree, the less rewarding it gets. And there are no changes in sight.
So I switched servers and created a new character. A scout. Two days in and already I'm having a much more exciting and adventurous Star Wars life. He doesn't make anything but camps and traps, he's self sufficient, and best of all-- people need his services. He's heading toward Ranger, which will make him an invaluable part of any hunt or cross-planet voyage, and it looks like the scout and ranger developers are actually doing something to improve these professions.
As much as I love droid engineering, I'm taking a breather from it until it becomes a viable profession. As it stands now, it's not so much a profession as a chore. So to all of you who are frustrated with DE, give something else a shot. You might like it.
Veezor
I got to Master Droid Engineer/Master Artisan/Master Merchant with a bit of marksman skill and medic skill.
Then I cancelled my account. Droids don't sell because few people want them when their features and functionality are so limited. What people probably want is a decent combat droid to help them hunt - one that is comparable in its own way to a CH Pet - and probably better than the pets that a non-CH can use to some degree. There is room for so much improvement in this class that at least you can rest confident that it can't get much worse....
I have given up and returned to DAOC and I am having a much better time. Hopefully when SWG gets a bit more mature - and gets some decent game design added - my character might still exist and I can try seeing what its like to play an artisan who can make something that is in demand. Right now I feel guilty if I sell a user a droid because I don't know if they are ever going to be fixed - or if the features I advertised the droid as having will continue to be valid and functional in the future.
Thank you to the folks that helped me out and to those who *did* buy my droids
Jhonto - Naboo/Tarquinnas
Sneeve, I don't know what you are talking about, but I'm a millionaire now from selling mydroids... and I still have 3 boxes left till I'm Master!Maybe you just need to work harder at selling them. Don't just expect people to buy droids from you because you have them, put some personality into it....
Mr. Moo
I'm in the same boat as Mr_Moo. I sepnd at least 2 hours a day talking to clients and I have droid sales that bring in at least 100k a day. Of course I have a really bad habit of spending the income on upgrades and the best resources that I can find, to stock pile them in hopes of a better day. Yes, I suppliment my income with other items in my shop, but my main stay of sales comes from droid sales. At any given time, I have at least 20-50 Droids on my vendor at all times andI have to restock quite a few droids about 2 times a week.
Droids, unlike weapons and armor, do not sell themselves. You have to spend time goign out of your way to sell you droids. You must educate the public on their usefulness. The Probot, that is so often whined about, is one of my best sellers, because I've helped to let people understand what role the Probot should play. I give demonstrations of how a Probot can tank Sqill and many other aggro MOBs, while I stand back and take out said MOBs, and then tell the prospective customer how much more XP I just earned, since I did most of the damage.
Ok, so I feel like a used car salesmen sometimes, but I have spent a good amount of time earning peoples trust in my product and it shows.
If they were to bring back the prenerf probot and make it so that it can only get incapacitated twice or five times, then DEs would have very good business.
They also need to fix data modules too. We need some way to organize all of our waypoints.
DE's already have a great business.
I dont sell droids actively, I jsut run aorund with my tag on and get quesitons all the time, most end in sales. People jsut need to be taught what they can do is all. I was close to a million yesterday, but picked up some sweet furntiure and a fusion generator (post patch) and that put me back some, but hey, I always have walk around money and haven't been hurting for money in a long, LONG time.
I think soneone earlier in this thread hit the needle on the head when they said it is about the selling and educaiton (to paraphrase)
Whoa 100k a day, you guys must have it good over on Shadowfire 
I spend alot of time in front of people when I'm not grinding. I try to educate as many people as I can on Tarquinas. So many people have no idea about droids except a few things they hear people repeat. So spread the news. It's the only way people will know.
I can't brag of that many sales. Any pointers a successful saleman has for the rest of us would be greatly appreciated. I even send thank you mails with my shop waypoint to allsales on my vendors or the bazaar. Sales still just trickle in.
One good source of sales I've found is architects. They're kind of in the same boat we are sometimes - it doesn't matter what you make or have on you when you're selling, people always want something you don't have with you. So make up a few low cost R models with furniture/struct stations and a data or item module and explain how easy it would be for them to load up on crates of components and resources and build-on-demand, right on the spot, exactly what the customer asks for, right in front of their eyes.
I'm going to try doing this with my face to face droid constructionalso - custom droids, made to order, while you wait.
And if you can share with us noncombat types how to tank squill with a post-nerf probot, I might be able to sell a few of those too.
I have been averaging 60 to 80k a day in tarquinas and thats just running around and people seeing my tag!.
I dont know what happen to the first poster..
I agree that a large variety on a vendor is really good toward business. I ALMOST never sell a droid by order. About 99% of my droid sales come from people just buying droids on my vendor. They'll buy whatever I put up there. I sell about 50 - 100K per day in droid sales. The key is to have a large selection. The customer needs to believe that he won't waste his time when he comes to your shop, and that he'll leave with what he wants, (even if he doesn't know what he wants).
umm
I opperate on Bloodfin, outside of Bestine
I have a medium house and 2 small storage houses, I also use 50 spots from each of2 houses a friend of mine owns.
I have build my teritory like a tick.. everything surrounds me and never moves...
11 solar harvestors, 1 fusion ( for when radioactive is there ) 4 factories, 8 heavy mineral, 2 medium mineral, and 19 assorted smalls of different types.
I use my vendor for battery sales.. seeker sales.. and arakyd sales.. and for the occasional customer who orders a droid via my email responce, who requests it to be on the vendor during a time where I wouldnt normally be on ( yes they pay extra for this service )
I bring in 180k to 360k a day as an average, 99% of my work is custom , with the customer, after a genral email to get a feel for what he or she is looking for, and in person.. or they can go to the last on the list.
I take the time to answer every question they have about droids.. and sell my surplus ore to arch's for 2.5cu ( last sale was 400k ) now you could say my empire is based on having friends giving me lots.. but I need to make the cash daily to keep them running, and with power to run in them.
some of my lots have dissapeared with a heavy harvestor attached to it by people quiting.. and others even tho the player has quit playing, they are still paying for the account to stay active... for the day the game might be fun for them, and entrust me to keep their house paid for in their absence, in exchange for the lot or 3 they donated to me.
I also find that I am no where near the most expensive de on the server.. simply fair prices.. and alot of knowledge, and if that doesnt sell them a droid.. maby the jawa beer helps.
Gveedo <-TR> Bugfin yadda master yaadda lotrs of useless skill points spent on stuff that doesnt matter .. ect ect.. bang..
Well for starters, my prices are a bit lower that I have seen them on other servers. The following is a list of all the droids that I craft and the price that I offer them at.....
Adv Probot 13k
Adv Probot with crafting package 15k
Adv Surcgical Droid with crafting package 15k
Adv R2 with crafting package 15k
Adv R3 with crafting package 20k
Adv Protocol Droid with crafting package 20k
Adv Power Droid with crafting package 25k
Adv BLL 35k
All Droids come standard with Medium 40% Armor
The Crafting packages are either 2 level 4 Item storage and Crafting station or Level 6 Medical and Chem station.
One thing that has really worked for me is the pricing system. Its straight and simple and takes so much less time when pricing on a vendor. One thing that has really been great for my sales is the set up of my shop. I'd post some screen shots of my shop setup, but I remapped my keyboard and haven't been able to get the screen shot function to work. I get at least 1 tell a day from random window shoppers that want to tell me how great my shop looks. I lucked out and helped an Architect grind his way up to master, by selling me harvesters and he built me a Tatooine PA Hall for resource cost, since I supplied the wall modules already built. The location of my shop also really helps. My shop is located on a small hilltop just south of Bestine in the path between Anchorhead and Bestine. I don't know how it is on other servers, but this is a choice spot that I stumbled upon, shortly after a friends house disappeared, a few weeks after he did. If you ever get the chance, throw down the /waypoint in my sig and vist the place. It is a great location, since the only thing that can be built on this small hill are my Tatooine PA, and3 of my factories. People constantly stop to look, just because its sitting up there by itself, with nothing blocking the entrance.
Another of my shops big selling points would have to be my vendors themselves. Hiring 4 is freakin awesome. I have 5 distinct vendors set up behind my elaborate counter that are well dressed in an approriate manor for their sales. First Vendor in the line, is dressed in an Aquilish dressed in a Full set of Chitin, but do to a grafix bug, he has no face what so ever. That is a bit of a novelty that a few people catch from time to time and get a kick out of. This vendor has AUKs, Weapon Power ups, and Repair tools. All of these Items are of the highest quality that I can make, most being 99% effective. The Next vendor is the BH droid vendor that I have dressed in a full set of Ubese Armor. A lot of the BHs like the look of a 'brethern' selling them the droids that they need. Then there is my 'Combat Droid Vendor' which has nothing but Adv Probots on it with Armor. The Vendor is dressed in a set of Composite armor that I picked up for a really great price, since it was one of the worst sets I have ever seen. In the middle of my vendor line, I have a massive Ithorian that holds all of my crafting and medical droids. This is the Vendor that I use for barking, since he is the best visible and freakin huge. The stands behind what looks to be a check in counter and is the focal point of the counter. The next 2 vendors are a Devorian and a Quarren, both dressed in a simular manner as to how I dress. Dress pants, nice boots, bright blue shirt, and Black Trench coat. The Devorian has all of my random items that I pick up, as well as my batteries. The Quarren is the heavy money maker right now, since I loaded it up with well over 100 40.78-41.00 Crafting stations on it. This have been selling like hot cakes, which in turn has brought in a lot of business to my Droid sales. People see the high quality Crafting stations and tool and automatically assume that the Droids are the best of the best as well. When ever someone sends me a tell about wanting a Droid that is the best that I can make, no matter the price, I tell them that every droid is the very best that I can make. This is a simlpe truth, since every single droid comes out the same.
So, you can see that my shop doesn't just offer Droids. I even have a partner who is a MDE that I trained for most of the DE tree that sells resources and does a good volume of per order sales. And recently I've added a Master Architect to the vendor list that was about to give up his Archtiect skills, but changed his mind when experimentation started working. Haveing a shop that offers more than 'just Droids' helps emensely. A lot of people just come in to see what the hubbub is about, since I have people running in and out on a pretty regular basis. The more items that you can offer that are high quality, the more people will take the tiem to look around and see what you have to offer. If you set up seperate vendors, like those that I discribed, you will have more customers peaking in to see what you have to offer. Having a shop set up that catches the eye, but is 'simple yet elegant', as my shop was called yesterday, helps a lot. When ever I walk into someones shop, the first thing that I look for is how everything is set up. If the room is pretty empty, except for the vendors, people will think right off the bat that you won't have what they are lookign for. Spending a little extra credtis to make up a window dressing to get attention is great for vendor sales.
A couple of last pointers that I feel I should give are try and create a persona for your character when dealing with others. As Drashk, I am alwasy in a semi-joval mood. I chuckle a lot and make simple jokes. The way that I am writing right now is the way that I speak in game. Verbose. The more you talk to some one as if you know what is in their best interest, the more that they usually open up to you as a customer. I have a large base of repeat sales and referals, because I took the time to 'hang out' with other 'professionals' in the game. I know quite a few of the better known Master Crafts beings and recognized names. It is of great benefit to help out these people with one of your best droids for free, or even as a trade for goods or services. A lot of the other Master Crafters have way more credits than you and will work on a bit of a barter system, since they more than likely have hit that point of not needing the credits any more. Making tasteful jokes, even poking a bit of fun at our own profession helps out.
Well, now that I've stolen this thread to give a few pointers, I'll be going now. If you ever get the urge to see my shop, head on down to Bestine. Many would agree that it is worth the time taken.
Hello this is Zearon MDE on sunrunner.. I was playing all the time but now its only every now and then like you all Iam sick of the bugs but love the game... I to run around with my tag on and talk to a lot of people that no nothing about droids and help them the most I can, and yes I have the trust of a lot of people .. I sell 60k or so in droids when Iam on for I just take E mail orders then fill them put them on my vender then e mail then and they come and pick them up.. it works well , so the game is fun and we can only get better. O and if your on sunrunner and would like to meet talk and hang out send me an e mail, I like to talk in game and have fun, selling droids just happon, and like some of you Iam not hard up for cash for I dont need it other than to pay for my harvisters factory and home.... well hang in there all this is a great game.... just have fun and dont think about the grind you will make Master some day till then just play and have fun...
Zearon MDE Sunrunner...