Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: 10-ish Questions for TH
- Low Hanging Fruit - Something that the DEVs would like to work on, but due to time constraints it is considered of a 'lower priority' due to other profession needs. 6 - 12 months
- In Concept - An idea that the DEVs are currently looking into, but no code has been written yet to facilitate the idea. Concept ideas are on the drawing board and production time will soon be set aside to look into addressing the matter. 6 - 9 months.
- In Development - An idea that is currently in production and the Developers have startedcoding to address the issue. 3 -6 months
- On Internal Server - Code that is currently making its first test run on the internal server and is going through the first set of Q A tests and should be on the Test Center in the next 1 - 2 Publishes. 2 - 4 months.
1) Droid Experimentation - The current experimentation system has little to no effect on our final product. Studies have shown that experimentation on chassis specific parts - Droid Brains, Arms, Sensors, Etc with high Mechanism Quality Ratings - may actually lower the end success rate. HAM and damage values provide less than a 1% increase from failed to amazing results. What steps are being taken to bring our crating system in line with other crafting professions?
2) Droid Power Levels - A droid currently consumes 1 battery charge approximately every 25 minutes. This has a major negative impact on droid sales and has lowered the over all usage of Combat Droids and medical droids. Top this with the fact that there is no way to tell the status of a droids power level until a command is issued. Are there any plans to increase the length of time that a droid charge lasts? Are there plans to include a 'power meter' either in the datapad or added to the HAM bar?
3) Droid Customization - Droid Customization is a major annoyance to Droid Engineers and owners due to the limited number of calls - 20 currently - that it takes for the customization to fade. Many people become alarmed by the System Message that is displayed the first time that they call their brand new droid - from deed form - or after the 20 calls. Are there plans to increase the 20 call limit and can the System Message be changed to something a little less alarming such as 'Your Droids paint customization has faded...' ?
4) Multiple Droids out - Droid Engineers are forced to find other PCs - typically other DEs - in order to repair the wound damage of our own droids. Will Droid Engineers have the ability to call out more than 1 non-combat droid?
5) More Stored Droids - DE are limited to 5 stored droids - like anyone else - which greatly reduces a DEs ability to display what droids that they can craft to the 5 currently stored in the datapad. Many Droid Engineers are known to run 'build-to-order' operations and don't run a 'traditional' shop. Tailors, Armorsmiths, and Weaponsmiths all have the ability to display thier wares, by equiping the item, for their customers to see. Can DE be given the ablity to store additional non-combat droids?
6) Advanced Droid Chassis - All droids are broken down into Basic and Advanced models. 7 out of the 12 Droid models that a DE can build have an Advanced Droid Chassis. All 7 types can be found being used as player building decor on any server. Many people wish to for the ability to display each and every varity of droid available to a DE and are put off that the Power Droid, Treadwell, DZ-70, R5, and MSE are not included in the line up. Can these 5 droids, and any future droids, be given an Advanced Droid Chassis, so that they can be displayed, or can the deed system be changed so that the finished product can be displayed?
7) Utility Module - There currently are only 8 different utility modules that are included in the game. These modules define what a droid can and can not do. Out of the 8 different modules, 4 are geared towards the 4 different crafting types. 1 module is specific to a single profession. 2 modules have limited usage due to their design - Data Storage and Repair modules. This leaves 1 module, Item Storage, as the only 'true' general function module that can be useful to all PCs. What are some of the utility functions currently being considered at this time?
8) Droid Functionality - Currently the only droids that have inherent functions are the Probot, DZ-70, and the Power Droid. Droids such as the Binary Load Lifter, Surgical Droid, and LE Repair Droid all have names that imply an inherent use, yet none of them do. Are there plans to to include inherent features for some, if not all, of our current droids? (IE BLLs w/ bonus storage, Surgical Droids w/ an included medical rating, LE repair droids that can repair anything.)
9) Combat Modules - With the up coming addition of combat modules, scheduled for Publish 7, many people have voiced concerns on how they will be introduced and what impact they will have on current droids. The following questions have been asked about this single issue.
- Will Combat Modules increase the HAM of a droid, as well as the damage output?
- What Droids, out of the current 12 basic types, will have access to the Combat modules?
- Will there be different types of combat for each droid - Melee, Ranged, or both.
- Will current combat dorids - the Probot and DZ-70 - lose combat functions unless a combat module is installed? (Post patch built droids)
- Will current combat droids have increased combat abilities, if combat modules can be installed?
10) Bug Fixes - Since pre-launch, many of the same bugs have been listed in the Centralized Droid Issues thread stickied at the top of this forum. Can we get a list of the bugs that should be fixed in Publish 7 & 8 and any other bug fixes that are in the works?
I agree, but I'll save that one for the next round of Q&A, since I just E-mailed the list to try and speed up the Answers. I have my suspicions that the no build weekend a few months back might be related to the DEVs trying to add in this function, but thats only my view on it.Looking at it from a Development stand point, it would be easier to change the customization fade message and the number of calls between fade then it would be to change the system to handle the chassis colors. Again, this is just my point of view on it.
Malitevv wrote:
That issue to me, is even bigger than the paint job decay issue, because it leaves many newbie players thinking droids just have random colors and that they can't even be painted at all.
Drashk wrote:
Sorry that it took so long for me to get this list posted
What in the nine flaming hells is a "Roger Roger" droid?!?
Virtanis wrote:
Good work Drashk... of course, I would have liked some mention of the repair pack... but overall, it's a great list. 9/10
However, without working repair methods for combat capable droids (for white HAM damage, not wounds), I find it hard to believe that combat folk will choose them since they can't be healed.
My other honorable mention is naming droids with personality chips, by the way...it'd be nice to see that get fixed.
Otherwise, an exemplary list of concerns that fully address a majority of current problems.
/bow
Respectfully,
Alacrity wrote:
Good set of questions, Drashk. Good to have you back.
What in the nine flaming hells is a "Roger Roger" droid?!?
http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid/battledroid/
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