Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Possibility tl;dr (I did it again sorry)
Page 1 of 1
JediKnightMark
Fri Mar 19, 2004 7:11 pm
#1
I thought this up while reading a post regarding DEs having to sell to other DEs if we were just handed super high level droids that only we could control. People argued that it would be stupid and no DE would buy a droid from another DE, a troll voiced something stupid and then someone else said this another said that and so on and soforth....
Anyways, this got me thinking that the only reason why this would not work would be because as it is, Droid Engineer is one of the only crafting profession of it's kind. Think about it. Every other crafting profession can either 1) crafting items that are highly useful that everyone can use equally well(tailor, chef, architect, armorsmith, smuggler, Image designer) OR they can craft an equally useful item that people train in entirely different professions in order to obtain certifications for said items (weaponsmiths, Creature handlers [sort of]).
This is all pretty obvious to you all, of course but bear with me. The only professions that don't fit these categories that craft items are Medics, musicians and scouts. Scouts can craft camps (well, not anymore I don't think) and traps that only another scout would use and anyone who can use them can also make them just as well, so there is not demand. Musicians can make instruments but (other than a careful staggering of schematics and certs) only another musician would ever use it. Finally, medics craft medicines that only people within the medic profession can utilize, and while I know many people have novice medic for this purpose only, that's 15 skillpoints that could be put towards an entire tree of an elite instead.
So where does DE fit in? The problem is not that we can make an item that everyone can use, since that's really a plus for sales. The problem is that it's only marginally effective for the general population, because like we said before to make it uber would unbalance a lot of stuff and we don't want to do that.
So the solution is to make it a hybrid. Instead of having 1 or2professions that is the direct market for our wares (such as the weaponsmith: marksman and brawler + elites/hybrids) or making everything we make universally useable (such as spices or most clothes)we do a little of both.
With the introduction of pub8 and entertainer modules (whatever they happen to do in the end), would it be so hard to have a specific model of droid for basically every profession with the certifications for said droid placed somewhere in said profession's "onion"? (As well as in the DEs, or not as well. whatever works best). This way we wouldn't have to worry about unbalancing things by giving everyone access because they would have to have access to the profession in the first place and be trained in whatever skillbox the certification was in before they could use the droid. Or, we could make it so that to use the droid effectively the cert would be required, just like weapon certifcations are atm.
This solution would both give us all a huge market as well as give us new models of droidsthat some of us (ahem) have written extensive threads on the possiblities. http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=droid_engineer&message.id=65612(oopshow's that get there?) This would obviously make droids highly effective, preserve balance as well as create a demand, thus saving our profession from extinction.
Message Edited by JediKnightMark on 03-19-2004 09:11 PM
JediKnightMark
Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:32 pm
#2
wow nobody has anything to say? I'm a little suprised. Maybe I should have used 75-pt pink font and just screamed something like "Give me droidekas". prolly would have gotten more attention. Oh well. Live and learn
Btw, in the statement above, the URL I slipped into the post are some examples of droid types for which certifications could be granted in the method I previously discussed, in case anyone was wondering.
Message Edited by JediKnightMark on 03-19-2004 11:50 PM
Jenden
Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:12 pm
#3
I think some kind of droid for every profession is a great idea. I think we've probably come up with something for everybody at some point or another, I know there's a list around here somewhere. I also know that the devs have the list (or at least, it was given to them). My hope is that even if we don't get much more in publish 8 than is already listed, they just try and get out at least 1 new module for a profession in each publish. granted some of the modules would take a decent amount of time, I don't think one a month would be too much to ask for.
Shian_Tavkin
Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:27 pm
#4
JediKnightMark wrote:
<snip>
With the introduction of pub8 and entertainer modules (whatever they happen to do in the end), would it be so hard to have a specific model of droid for basically every profession with the certifications for said droid placed somewhere in said profession's "onion"? (As well as in the DEs, or not as well. whatever works best). This way we wouldn't have to worry about unbalancing things by giving everyone access because they would have to have access to the profession in the first place and be trained in whatever skillbox the certification was in before they could use the droid. Or, we could make it so that to use the droid effectively the cert would be required, just like weapon certifcations are atm.
<snip>
What you say is not unresonable, except that additional abilities have to cost skillpoints. This is apparently true for utility as well as combat.
In addition, we have been told that no utility droid is going to be allowed to 'enhance' a player characters earned skills, so its getting difficult to see how any utility droid can fit in with what you suggest (or more to the point fit in with the boundaries SOE is setting)...worrying though that may be to us all. Of course the current Med droid now doesn't fit in to this scheme, and I see Medics already arguing that a med droid should be capped at 100% not 110%. That is also very worrying.
I don't know what to think for the future now, its a tough one to come up with anything that fits the allowable criteria.
Jenden
Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:35 pm
#5
I think the trick is to think a bit more outside the box. what they said they wouldn't do is just simple skill buffs... thats fine, those are boring. I remember someone talking about a droid for marksmen that would would scan all the weapons in your inventory, compare it against your target, and give you the results of which would work best (and maybe even some kind of hotkey option to switch to that weapon). While this may not be vital, I know it would save some time and thought for anyone out doing some hunting. How about a slicing droid for smugglers that could give them a second shot at a slice. The droid manages to repair the item enough that the smuggler can try it again (only usable once per item). I know they've said they want to put harvester/structure maintenance modules in, but it will take a good deal of time. We've mentioned delivery modules countless times (implementation may get tricky do to AI pathing problems). These are the kinds of things that create a unique market for droids, and don't buff someone's skills.
Shian_Tavkin wrote:
What you say is not unresonable, except that additional abilities have to cost skillpoints. This is apparently true for utility as well as combat.
In addition, we have been told that no utility droid is going to be allowed to 'enhance' a player characters earned skills, so its getting difficult to see how any utility droid can fit in with what you suggest (or more to the point fit in with the boundaries SOE is setting)...worrying though that may be to us all. Of course the current Med droid now doesn't fit in to this scheme, and I see Medics already arguing that a med droid should be capped at 100% not 110%. That is also very worrying.
I don't know what to think for the future now, its a tough one to come up with anything that fits the allowable criteria.
JediKnightMark
Sat Mar 20, 2004 11:16 am
#6
Shian_Tavkin wrote:
What you say is not unresonable, except that additional abilities have to cost skillpoints. This is apparently true for utility as well as combat.
In addition, we have been told that no utility droid is going to be allowed to 'enhance' a player characters earned skills, so its getting difficult to see how any utility droid can fit in with what you suggest (or more to the point fit in with the boundaries SOE is setting)...worrying though that may be to us all. Of course the current Med droid now doesn't fit in to this scheme, and I see Medics already arguing that a med droid should be capped at 100% not 110%. That is also very worrying.
I don't know what to think for the future now, its a tough one to come up with anything that fits the allowable criteria.
See, I don't think additional abilities do have to cost skillpoints, especially when everyone is getting essentially the same ability: to control 1 or two droids that's function augments their profession. Master Artisans got the ability to craft vehicles to their profession w/o the need to spend more skillpoints. In fact, most major publishes added abilities to professions w/o the need to spend more skillpoints.
Yes, we have been told that, but that's not the way it should be in my eyes. We have been told a lot of things that have not come to pass and it's getting tiresome. This proposal could be the eventual goal of droids within the game and I hope it does turn out this way eventually. While it is definitely too much for publish 8, and the architecture of the idea's design would require EVERYONE getting their respective droid certs all at once let we unbalance things, I hope to see something like this down the road(even if I'm no longer a DE at that time)
Jenden wrote:
I remember someone talking about a droid for marksmen that would would scan all the weapons in your inventory, compare it against your target, and give you the results of which would work best (and maybe even some kind of hotkey option to switch to that weapon). While this may not be vital, I know it would save some time and thought for anyone out doing some hunting. How about a slicing droid for smugglers that could give them a second shot at a slice. The droid manages to repair the item enough that the smuggler can try it again (only usable once per item). I know they've said they want to put harvester/structure maintenance modules in, but it will take a good deal of time. We've mentioned delivery modules countless times (implementation may get tricky do to AI pathing problems). These are the kinds of things that create a unique market for droids, and don't buff someone's skills.
This is exactly the sort of thing I am talking about. These sorts of perks would be a great boost.
Message Edited by JediKnightMark on 03-20-2004 01:18 PM
TheRealTK421
Sat Mar 20, 2004 3:17 pm
#7
/bow
Jenden wrote:
I think the trick is to think a bit more outside the box.
Indeed. I've done a search on modules and this sort of thing. I see most of the same basic ideas put up over and over...the really obvious stuff. Some of them are variants on the same idea (I've seen like 6 different ideas or more on 'delivery' droids). After awhile, the possibilities get a lot harder to find and think up.
what they said they wouldn't do is just simple skill buffs... thats fine, those are boring. I remember someone talking about a droid for marksmen that would would scan all the weapons in your inventory, compare it against your target, and give you the results of which would work best (and maybe even some kind of hotkey option to switch to that weapon).
If we play the 'what would I say to this if I were a Dev'-game...
That's the kind of thing they want the players to have to do themselves...in a way, it's part of the 'game' that you play by choosing Marksman or some ranged profession. I've seen quite a few variants of ideas to link droids to weaponry in some way. Hard to say if that's doable though, right now...
While this may not be vital, I know it would save some time and thought for anyone out doing some hunting. How about a slicing droid for smugglers that could give them a second shot at a slice.
Maybe..but with a larger HAM hit (maybe a chance of taking a wound of some sort, like one gets when they sample for radioactive materials). Any new 'checker' that gets placed always has to be offset somewhere by taking some other checker away. It's always risk vs. reward. Perhaps there'd be a higher chance of the item being slicedgetting destroyed. If we can find ideas that fit that model, they have a much greater possibility of being doable in the Devs' eyes.
The droid manages to repair the item enough that the smuggler can try it again (only usable once per item). I know they've said they want to put harvester/structure maintenance modules in, but it will take a good deal of time.
Yea, I'm looking at this pretty hard right now. I have a good idea (I think) on how it could go down such that it would still be very useful and also be technologically feasible. However, this basic idea of a harvester/structure module of some kind is very likely require a lot of work. That's true.
We've mentioned delivery modules countless times (implementation may get tricky do to AI pathing problems).
Yes...also a very popular idea. And, as you stated, difficult to do (I think).
These are the kinds of things that create a unique market for droids, and don't buff someone's skills.
Yea, in a way, I'd think it almost harder to find truly useful profession-specific modules. We might do well to think of utility modules that would be more universally useful.
The basic concept of a 'jukebox module' (in whatever form or variant it might take) is an example. It applies to everyone. /shrug
Respectfully,
Page 1 of 1