Droid Engineer Archive

First off let me say I am neither for nor against Droid Commanders. I would love as a DE to be able to order around heavy combat droids. I also understand the Developers statements against it. I am not claiming to be in agreement with them, simply saying I understand them.

The purpose of this post is to understand the exact complaints people have against the concept. Yes, I realize there are several threads already started about this but bear with me.

What I am trying to do is distill the objections people have. I am not looking for any pro-Droid Commander comments. I understand the pros perfectly fine. I am also not looking for flames against the concept of the Droid Commander. While I am asking for no pro comments this should not be interpreted as an anti-Droid Commander thread and saying things such as 'the concept is stupid' or 'I hate the idea' while certainly heartfelt would not be constructive.

That said there are two additional related restriction; it is already obvious from all the multitude of threads that have been written that one overwhelming complaint is that many DEs don't want to build droids they cannot control. There are a variety of arguments for this position but they all boil down to this basic concept. To that end I would ask that people not post any problems they have with the concept that are related to that. It is established and seems to be the overwhelming objection and any posts of that nature will be simply rehashing old ground.

I would also ask that the idea that anyone should be able to control any droid not be brought up as an objection. It is a position that has been argued before in a fair amount of detail and I think that arguing it again is simply covering well established ground.

Uhh..

Your post is so patch 5

update man, update, read before comment.. Sheesh

---

Alleis wrote:

Uhh..

Your post is so patch 5

update man, update, read before comment.. Sheesh

---

Not really. Once we have a definite plan in place from the Devs for the control of heavy combat droids then questions like this will be academic. Until then information like this is important so that we can communicate to the Devs exactly what our concerns are with the concept, because unless the Devs change their stance on a few issues then we are going to see Droid Commanders again, even if it is just under another name.

this is my proposal, and personally it makes more sense.

I would like to outline a few simple facts;

The droid engineer knows their droids inside and out because they built them, duh! So why do droid engineers have to get another skill tree to be able to use them?

I do not agree that people should be able to have an effective combat droid as well as a pet out, everyone and their brother is going to have a droid like that and its going to look ridiculous.

To use a giant robot like the ones that are proposed should be left to those that have learned the art of creating them, the DE's.

I am 100% againstthe DC idea and hope they do not add that as it would be ridiculous.

---

Shaemiw wrote:

this is my proposal, and personally it makes more sense.

I would like to outline a few simple facts;

The droid engineer knows their droids inside and out because they built them, duh! So why do droid engineers have to get another skill tree to be able to use them?

I do not agree that people should be able to have an effective combat droid as well as a pet out, everyone and their brother is going to have a droid like that and its going to look ridiculous.

To use a giant robot like the ones that are proposed should be left to those that have learned the art of creating them, the DE's.

I am 100% againstthe DC idea and hope they do not add that as it would be ridiculous.

---

All right, except this is the argument that DEs should be able to control what they build. Ignoring any arguments about the validity of this stance I am requesting that you not argue that point simply because it is a well established point. What I am trying to find is if there are any other issues that people have.

Message Edited by Icarus-6 on 03-06-2004 01:40 PM

This is self gratuitous but I am bumping this back up from the second page so it does not get lost.

In roughly 72 hours no one has offered any argument against the Droid Commander profession beyond the concept of 'I want to be able to control what I build'.

Are there any other arguments out there or is this the only complaint we have?

Message Edited by TheWoody on 03-07-2004 06:24 PM

Well put, Woody.

And just because nobody is currently spending the engergy to debate this issue anymore doesn't mean that there arent valid reasons that it shouldn't come to pass. Here are some arguments I am going to basically cut and paste from a post I made back in January.

1. Lack of content for new profession = development time spentadding content to another class instead of DE. The Droid Engineer isn't a mature profession yet. It is premature to create another profession that relies on our goods when our goods don't work yet.
   
   
2. It trivializes the Creature Handler's skill set. There are immersive reasons why there is an entire tree devoted to taming wild creatures and making them go against their natural instincts. No such immersive reasons to have Droid Handlers. Itbecomes just a prerequisite. Extra care, time, and energy might solve this, but see above.
   
   
3. The community was against the idea, other ideas were presented, and we were largely ignored.I honestly believe thatthe DCis not the best route to take, itis the easiest route to take. The one with the least amount of thought put into it.
   
   
4. You cannot possibly remove emotion or immersion from the game and focus completely on game mechanics. Otherwise, you could slap any name you wanted on a box, call it MMORGP v.3.5, and sell gangbusters. There are things to consider that are less tangible than numbers and equations. This is one of those things. The justification for this new profession is ONLY based on "game rules and mechanics".

I could write up some more reasons, but really they would become overly-redundant. Runesabre summed it up for me. A metallic version of the CH would not be unique, and it wouldn't add anything to the Star Wars experience. There has to be a better way.

---

TheWoody wrote:

Read Runesabre's arguments against it (something along the lines of 'we decided that as it was it would be a poorly implemented copy of CH, and that at the current time we (the Devs) do not have the time or power to attempt and make it a unique profession should we have decided to continue with it.) (Not withstanding 96% of the profession was against the idea for that and many other reasons...)

---

But this argument really has been laid to rest several months ago. However, consider the waning position we are in. If you do want combat droids, I suggest you check out Sodan's threads (especially hte voting one) on this matter, as it is the last best chance of securing any of them.

Message Edited by TheWoody on 03-07-2004 06:24 PM

---

I know a lot of us were against it. I am just trying to find out why. These are the first constructive comments beyond the obvious ones.

Anyway, I have been reading Sodan's thread as well and it sounds good. With the way it has evolved I can't really see anything I would object to in it and I'll be interested to see what the Dev's have to say.

Ok. Thanks for the counterpoint and I don't mean this to sound in any way flaming but your post is completely against what is being requested.

I know this thread can be perceived as a pro-DC thread. It absolutely is not. Its intent is to identify exactly what the concerns are that people had with Droid Commander and why the concept failed, beyond the most obvious complaint about DEs wanting to be able to control the droids they build.