Image Designer Archive
Thread: Some suggestions from an outsider
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Necrolyte07
Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:24 am
#1
Whenever I pass by one of those huts that you guys are forced to hang out in (I think they're called Salons...), I always feel sorry for you guys for having to be cooped up in there in order to get some xp.
I have a few proposals about how to do stuff in your profession, and would like to hear what you have to say about them, since they would be effecting you after all.
First of all, I think that there shouldbe something like a Bodyform Kit which would allow any player to customize their character's appearance. There should be a toggle on it that states whether they want to be restricted to only the options that were available at the start of the game, when creating the character, or to have access to the basic features and some more advanced features that's available to more skilled Image Designers.
After the player has created his/her "new" character in the kit, the settings are stored onto the player's DataPad. The player then brings the data on the DataPad to an Image designer and the setting are immideately used as the settings for the Image Designer. If the Image Designer doesn't have the skill to do a particular alteration, the player and the Image Designer can use the current system of choosing what settings can be used in place of the missing features. The kit should also allow them to instead generate a copy of the player as his/her character currently is. That way people can switch among different looks for their character, and can revert to how they used to look if they decide they don't like the new settings.
Each kit can only be used once, so multiple sets of data would require the player to buy multiple kits. These kits would be crafted by Image Desingers using a Generic Crafting Kit. The Image Desingers can sell these kits on the baazar or whatever in order to earn some extra cash.
The reason for me posting this is because I started up a second character a while ago and ended up not creating my character to look exactly the way that I wanted to. I went to an Image Designer and he wasn't able to do the changes as I had envisioned them. I ended up deleting my character and making another one myself with the changes made (I barely got any xp, fyi...).
I also think that there should be a Crafting Station of sorts for Image Designers. It would look like the cage thing that would be found in the Salon. This way Image Designers can set one up in their homes and turn their houses into Salons. The Salons themselves would be more of a formal meeting place like a Canteena or a Medical Center, where a player can go to look for an Image Designer. I'm not sure if having the Crafting Stations set up around towns (like normal crafting stations are)would be such a good idea, but it might.
I also think that you should have an Image Designer module to droids so that you can do some Image Designer abilities in the field. I'm thinking that you can only do the simpler stuff like stat migration, changing hair style/color, changing lip/eye color, etc. Basically the tasks that don't require a slider. That way someone in a camp can get a quick change done while in the field, and get back to hunting or whatever faster. The things with the sliders would take too long and break the Image Designer droid, making it more useful thana Salon.
So the options available to an Image Desinger would be as follows:
- Players can customize their own characters and bring the data to you to create, similar to how stat migration currently works
- Image Desiners can craft Bodyform Kits in order to make some additional money
- Players can come to Image Designers with a desire to change their character's appearance with no idea what the end result would look like, allowing Image Designers to actmore as stylists
- Image Desingers can turn their houses into Salons
- Image Desiners can do limited alterations in the field and in camps with the use of droids.
This should allow you to get out a bit more, and give you some more independance, mobility, and freedom. Hope you guys like the ideas; tell me what you think.
Vorpaks
Mon Aug 23, 2004 8:57 am
#2
Incoming! 
These are very interesting ideas, and some of them I think have been mentioned before so you are not alone. However, there are two points which many IDs will point out:
1. We don't like being treated like terminals. Migrating stats makes a lot of IDs feel like they are just NPCs that flip a switch - and many players see us this way. Having players create a body image and then come to an ID to get it "turned on" would be very similar. The tailors have a similar complaint. They do not like limited use schematics that combat professions can pick up as loot, because the combat professions begin to see the tailor as the thing standing between them and their finished loot. They often don't want to pay, since they believe the tailor did very little "work."
2. Many IDs don't want to be crafters. I am not one of them - I love crafting - but many IDs feel that if they wanted to craft they would have gone into a crafting profession. Adding in a crafting system would make many IDs feel that they either have to do something they don't like and didn't expect to do in their profession, or miss out on new content.
I am sorry you had a bad ID experience. I myself am very finicky about my appearance... which is why I became an ID.
IDing requires a lot of skill and part of that skill is knowing how to turn what the customer says into the design they actually like/want. It can be a intense process. The best way to get the look you want is to find an ID who is willing to chat with you before hand and really find out what you want and WHY you want it.
Right now the only things tents provide is the ability to stat migrate and a reduction of the timer times. An ID can do any other change no matter where they are. I've even done changes in the middle of a major kreetle offensive.
I would love a droid that would allow me to do stat migrations in the field though. The idea has been slightly frowned on by the powers that be because it would make the tents obsolete.
Most IDs will have a salon. Before the tents the way you contacted an ID was to make an appointment through email, just like you would at a RL salon. S/he would give you the waypoint to his or her salon and you would meet there for a session. Some even offer drinks and snacks. It is a very cool experience.
These are very interesting ideas, and some of them I think have been mentioned before so you are not alone. However, there are two points which many IDs will point out:
1. We don't like being treated like terminals. Migrating stats makes a lot of IDs feel like they are just NPCs that flip a switch - and many players see us this way. Having players create a body image and then come to an ID to get it "turned on" would be very similar. The tailors have a similar complaint. They do not like limited use schematics that combat professions can pick up as loot, because the combat professions begin to see the tailor as the thing standing between them and their finished loot. They often don't want to pay, since they believe the tailor did very little "work."
2. Many IDs don't want to be crafters. I am not one of them - I love crafting - but many IDs feel that if they wanted to craft they would have gone into a crafting profession. Adding in a crafting system would make many IDs feel that they either have to do something they don't like and didn't expect to do in their profession, or miss out on new content.
I am sorry you had a bad ID experience. I myself am very finicky about my appearance... which is why I became an ID.
IDing requires a lot of skill and part of that skill is knowing how to turn what the customer says into the design they actually like/want. It can be a intense process. The best way to get the look you want is to find an ID who is willing to chat with you before hand and really find out what you want and WHY you want it.Right now the only things tents provide is the ability to stat migrate and a reduction of the timer times. An ID can do any other change no matter where they are. I've even done changes in the middle of a major kreetle offensive.
I would love a droid that would allow me to do stat migrations in the field though. The idea has been slightly frowned on by the powers that be because it would make the tents obsolete. Most IDs will have a salon. Before the tents the way you contacted an ID was to make an appointment through email, just like you would at a RL salon. S/he would give you the waypoint to his or her salon and you would meet there for a session. Some even offer drinks and snacks. It is a very cool experience.
Necrolyte07
Mon Aug 23, 2004 9:31 am
#3
Yah, I noticed that you guys are treated like terminals or npc's too. The thing is though, If I already know what I want, then why not let me do it? What I did with the character I mentioned was I restarted the process of creating a character from scratch, but didn't go past the "Image Design" step of the character screation screens. What I did was count how many bars each slider had and wrote them down. I then went to an Image Designer and read off thenumberof bars that each slot had. He didn't get the bar count right and my character looked weird; he said that counting the bars was too hard.
For things like stat migration, or using a datapad template from one of the kits I suggested, we could just go up to a terminal in the salon and do it there. As far as xp is concerned, anyone in the salon at the time of the action could get some xp (just a suggestion). That way people who are just like "hurry up and migrate my stats" can just go to the terminal, allowing you to focus your time on real customers who what your assitance in redoing their character's appearance.
Also, with the kits, I just suggested that Image Designers craft it so you guys could get some money; I have no clue how you earn credtis because all the Image Designers do stuff for free. Artisans could easily make the kits, either as a Novice or Master Artisan, or somewhere along the Domestic Arts tree.
I was just thinking of things that would benefit both designers and non-designers; your opinions would have more weight with the devs than mine, but I was just putting some ideas out along with some conerns from a non-Image Designer's point of view.
Syzygy-Gorath
Mon Aug 23, 2004 10:06 am
#4
Necrolyte07 wrote:
Yah, I noticed that you guys are treated like terminals or npc's too. The thing is though, If I already know what I want, then why not let me do it? What I did with the character I mentioned was I restarted the process of creating a character from scratch, but didn't go past the "Image Design" step of the character screation screens. What I did was count how many bars each slider had and wrote them down. I then went to an Image Designer and read off thenumberof bars that each slot had. He didn't get the bar count right and my character looked weird; he said that counting the bars was too hard.
Something else to keep in mind, the number of clicks per bar changes as you change the width of the window, so even had he counted clicks it wouldn't have worked right. As to the if I already know query, you can. Grind out ID and do it yourself. It should only take you about a week if you're lucky. (Yes, I know that last bit was harsh, I'm sorry, but would you even consider telling a doc that you should be able to heal your own wounds because you "already know what you want"?)
Erann
Mon Aug 23, 2004 1:05 pm
#5
preech preech!
The tent is a prison. but it's only a stat migration prison.
I run around everywheres with my MID tag up. I'm noticed.. not many careto show it in public but it's getting me people asking me ID questions. which 90% is you need to go to coronet or theed for stats, It's amazing the amount of people that advoid the large super npc cities due to lag. To that I suggest to them make it worth my time to go to moreina or verendi or bestine and I'll go. which opens up the other poroblem about people wanting it for free.. they choke when I put 10K in the demand window.. I'm like your other option is to ask a novice grinder to do it... and waste an hour looking. I'm generous at 10K.. someone suggested 20K.. I might try that for a week.I'm over 500 statmigrations now... I'm just now getting out of the tent.. I'm 1/3 done jabbas and I completed Nyms quests n the weekend.
TechnoCan
Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:42 pm
#6
Erann wrote:
preech preech!
The tent is a prison. but it's only a stat migration prison.
I run around everywheres with my MID tag up. I'm noticed.. not many careto show it in public but it's getting me people asking me ID questions. which 90% is you need to go to coronet or theed for stats, It's amazing the amount of people that advoid the large super npc cities due to lag. To that I suggest to them make it worth my time to go to moreina or verendi or bestine and I'll go. which opens up the other poroblem about people wanting it for free.. they choke when I put 10K in the demand window.. I'm like your other option is to ask a novice grinder to do it... and waste an hour looking. I'm generous at 10K.. someone suggested 20K.. I might try that for a week.I'm over 500 statmigrations now... I'm just now getting out of the tent.. I'm 1/3 done jabbas and I completed Nyms quests n the weekend.
As I allways say: Our Prison of Style
May the Force be with you all!
TechnoCan
ToppDog
Mon Aug 23, 2004 9:25 pm
#7
Necrolyte07 wrote:
Yah, I noticed that you guys are treated like terminals or npc's too. The thing is though, If I already know what I want, then why not let me do it? What I did with the character I mentioned was I restarted the process of creating a character from scratch, but didn't go past the "Image Design" step of the character screation screens. What I did was count how many bars each slider had and wrote them down. I then went to an Image Designer and read off thenumberof bars that each slot had. He didn't get the bar count right and my character looked weird; he said that counting the bars was too hard.
For things like stat migration, or using a datapad template from one of the kits I suggested, we could just go up to a terminal in the salon and do it there. As far as xp is concerned, anyone in the salon at the time of the action could get some xp (just a suggestion). That way people who are just like "hurry up and migrate my stats" can just go to the terminal, allowing you to focus your time on real customers who what your assitance in redoing their character's appearance.
Also, with the kits, I just suggested that Image Designers craft it so you guys could get some money; I have no clue how you earn credtis because all the Image Designers do stuff for free. Artisans could easily make the kits, either as a Novice or Master Artisan, or somewhere along the Domestic Arts tree.
I was just thinking of things that would benefit both designers and non-designers; your opinions would have more weight with the devs than mine, but I was just putting some ideas out along with some conerns from a non-Image Designer's point of view.
Just so you are aware, this was not the fault of the ID that tried to help you. The amount of clicks in the bars during the char creation screen do not equal the same number of clicks in the bars in-game. Not only that, but the amount of clicks in the in-game UI can also differ depending on whether or not the UI has been resized, etc.
A long time ago many of us ID's talked the devs into attaching numbers to every single click so we would be able to know exactly what a customers settings were. A jaw setting at 223 was the same on every server...& players & ID's alike could write that info down & reuse it later, or on another char, etc.
This was the best thing the devs ever did for our profession...but with the last mini-publish they took it away with no good explanation as to why.
Erann
Tue Aug 24, 2004 8:19 am
#8
they took t away because it could provide a path to discovering the macro used for image design changes.
Rrowann
Tue Aug 24, 2004 10:14 pm
#9
Necrolyte07 wrote:
The thing is though, If I already know what I want, then why not let me do it?
When I decided I wanted a purple and black set of the Wookiee Hunter Armor, they wanted me to be an Armorsmith before I could make it!
Seriously, I know it's frustrating when you have an idea of what you want and to not be able to get it done by someone else. Communication is tough over something as aesthetic as a toon's appearance. But that's why some people find an ID they're on par with and love them like mad, like people have favorite Weaponsmiths or Armorsmiths.
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