Pistoleer Archive
Thread: Testing the Combat Balance Sandbox Server [THANKS TO ALL APPLICANTS]
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Randonb
Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:54 pm
#1
[Thanks to everyone who showed interest.]
As you may have heard, the correspondents have each been asked to pick 5 players from the communities they represent to help test the Sandbox server for the Combat Balance. Here is where you can post your interest and why you should be selected. So far Wesbelden and atat9619 have expressed interest, but I haven't made any decisions yet.
You'll be selected on a number of factors, some more important than others:
- Date of first Pistoleer post (post history tells all)
- Whether you have mastered the profession
- Past conduct in the community
- Past activity on TC
- Quality of application post
Good luck!
One more thing: please let me know if you have applied through another correspondent, so that I can coordinate with them and we don't end up both selecting you.
EDIT: I don't really care what was in your first post here. It's just a verifiable way to show approximately how long you've been with us, for those who don't post much and I'm not very familiar with. Honestly I expect your first post here to be pretty.. dumb. 
This could very well be the least important category, but seniority would break a tie. Nothing to get bent out of shape about.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that this will require a second full download of the game and patcher (launchpad). If you don't have the disk space, it will be a problem. I think SWG is almost 2 gigs, but that might just be because I have Test Center installed as well. Sorry if you can't do it. At least hard drives are cheap, and you can get 2 installed simultaneously so you don't have to mess with reformatting or anything. I think most people have 80 gig hard drives these days anyway. 
Message Edited by Randonb on 09-14-2004 10:54 PM
biwan:
Bridonar
Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:12 pm
#2
I would LOVE to be able to help test the sandbox server, but I am starting school in a mere two weeks, and therefore I would barely be able to do any testing at all, so I am not going to apply for a position. Just wanted to wish good luck to Randonb and those 5 peoplelucky enough to be selected as testers on the sandbox. I have been a pistoleer since I started playing the game last october, so I really would like to see some postive change, and I'm sure you guys can do it 
Duedroth
Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:19 pm
#3
Randon I'd love to help you out. I know that as one of the most broken professions, Pistoleers who go over to the SandBox need to have their heads on straight. I've been a pistoleer since the beginning of the game, but only mastered it in December (maybe January, hard to remember). I was away from the game (finished my BA and didn't take the game) from September to mid-November.
I started playing the game when it released, and have been playing without ever cancelling my subsrciptions the entire time, except for the period of time previously mentioned.
I am a Master Pistoleer/Master Smuggler/Teras Kasi Master. I have not applied to any other correspondents, although I may with Smuggler.
I am currently unemployed, but am looking for a job, so my play time will be cut down when that actually happens.
Thanks Randon!
EDIT: Caylin's not taking open applications for smuggler sandboxing, but I sent in a request to be added to the TK sandbox. I'm a triple master, and love each profession, but am a pistoleer at heart.
I started playing the game when it released, and have been playing without ever cancelling my subsrciptions the entire time, except for the period of time previously mentioned.
I am a Master Pistoleer/Master Smuggler/Teras Kasi Master. I have not applied to any other correspondents, although I may with Smuggler.
I am currently unemployed, but am looking for a job, so my play time will be cut down when that actually happens.
Thanks Randon!
EDIT: Caylin's not taking open applications for smuggler sandboxing, but I sent in a request to be added to the TK sandbox. I'm a triple master, and love each profession, but am a pistoleer at heart.
Message Edited by Duedroth on 08-19-2004 05:50 AM
NagromNniuq
Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:20 pm
#4
I would like to help out. I have never posted on the pistoleer forums. I don't know why, I just reported all bugs and read. I have had pistoleer since basically when I first started in January. Pistoleer commando was my template that I worked towards from the begining. I have mastered over 10 professions but always came back to pistoleer and commando. My template is Master Pistoleer/Commando 0040/TKA 4414. I have used it to good ends and with commando have made it work quite well IMO. I have lost few fights in PvP and can take almost anything short of a SBD in PvE. I have been highly dissapointed in how pistoleer is layed out as a profession and the amount of broken specials and ones that seem to be missing or stolen. I put a lot of time into the game (4 hours + a day). Please consider me, but I will be happy and play my pistoleer either way. I am also a big fan of the commando profession and will be applying there too. Thanks!
Message Edited by NagromNniuq on 08-18-2004 11:24 PM
BeWary
Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:38 pm
#5
I'd also like to throw my hat into the ring. In 4 days it will have been 1 year since my first post on the pistoleer forums, a response to a joke thread about the BH/Pistoleer wars or yore. Times have changed and sadly we haven't.
Scrolling up thru some of my older posts I realize we are still dealing with alot of the same issues we were then. Thats just not right. We have an oppurtunity to be equally represented with every other prof in this testing, and with all due credit to Ran, I feel sometimes we are lost in the shuffle of the "glory" proffs.
At one point in time I was extremely active on this board, one of the more vocal proponents of the "pure" pistoleer build as a viable combat template. Pistoleer/doc was my first template of choice, and after hologrinding and managing to hang onto a little pistoleer the whole way thru, I promptly rebuilt myself as one.
I was active on TC2 for the testing of Patch9 in the Jedi role, and was fortunate enough to have a shot a TCValcyn for the time it was around.
I have mastered this proffesion 4 times in total, always being pulled away by the allure of all the things we do not have, mostly becasue we have had no answers as to when the things we have will be fixed. But always being drawn back to my first love, the blaster. This is our chance to see and directly affect what is to come. Lets not blow it with "twirly moves" and holsters, lets get some of the dignity and respect we had when DA2 was an AOE kd, and pistoleers really were scary.
I'm not a glass is half full/half empty kind of guy, I'm more a " what did they do to my glass when I wasn't looking" kind of a guy. That mindset can't hurt us.
Scrolling up thru some of my older posts I realize we are still dealing with alot of the same issues we were then. Thats just not right. We have an oppurtunity to be equally represented with every other prof in this testing, and with all due credit to Ran, I feel sometimes we are lost in the shuffle of the "glory" proffs.
At one point in time I was extremely active on this board, one of the more vocal proponents of the "pure" pistoleer build as a viable combat template. Pistoleer/doc was my first template of choice, and after hologrinding and managing to hang onto a little pistoleer the whole way thru, I promptly rebuilt myself as one.
I was active on TC2 for the testing of Patch9 in the Jedi role, and was fortunate enough to have a shot a TCValcyn for the time it was around.
I have mastered this proffesion 4 times in total, always being pulled away by the allure of all the things we do not have, mostly becasue we have had no answers as to when the things we have will be fixed. But always being drawn back to my first love, the blaster. This is our chance to see and directly affect what is to come. Lets not blow it with "twirly moves" and holsters, lets get some of the dignity and respect we had when DA2 was an AOE kd, and pistoleers really were scary.
I'm not a glass is half full/half empty kind of guy, I'm more a " what did they do to my glass when I wasn't looking" kind of a guy. That mindset can't hurt us.
TheOxygen
Thu Aug 19, 2004 2:35 am
#6
I'd like to nominate Rem Koolhas from Lowca. He's been a pistoleer for a long long time, is very involved with many technical aspects of the games (has found many bugs, etc that SOE has taken it's sweet time to fix) and also designed the weapon speed calculator that is requested and reposted very often on several of the profession forums. He would honestly be the ideal tester for such purposes as you seek out.
--Iaan K'Vork
Lowca
MetallicaJunkie
Thu Aug 19, 2004 6:03 am
#7
Correspondent plus 5 players? hmmm. Sounds a little too thought out for the devs, I can see the thinking here. Statistically speaking 6 guys can't test out EVERY eventuality so a lot of things can slip through the net unnoticed, they're trying to avoid what happened with TC2 and the jedi revamp where every jedi complained about the other jedi being too powerful while the BH found he can no longer hit a jedi at all.
On the plus side though, this means that a currently unpopular profession such as ours and pikemen will get equal representation and won't be lost under the cries of previously uber professions as they approach this fabled "balance" I guess the devs must find it easier to listen to 6 guys than a whole community, and that logic I can see and agree with...
As for the tester spots, I myself probably have the free time and know enough about our profession and others to test the state of balance, but I promised myself a long time ago that when the sandbox opens I would not get involved, but at the time I thought it was going to be a lot more open, with only 5 spots per profession, I can see myself applying to break that promise. It would also give me a chance to meet the correspondents of former professions and see them at work.
First pistoleer post - don't remember, may have been around the time of the DE-10 hitting TC, I'm not normally a forum kind of guy, but my first few posts here changed that and I've been posting ever since.
Mastered pistoleer? -twice, first time with BH pistols 4, then again as a pure pistoleer. I've played every offensive template with it also.
Past conduct - personally, I think I've been a bit harsh on our profession and the guys asking for things I see to stupid, dual wield, holsters, twirly moves as examples, what this profession needs is fixing, and those requests don't fix us, just hurt us more, even here describing my conduct I'm a little too vocal, which pistoleers are gonna need for dev feedback in the sandbox.As for overall conduct, you tell me.
Past Activity on TC - I'll be honest, never been there. I stick to my own thing in live, but I do plenty combat testing and such there and I have published some of my findings here.
Quality of Application Post - when beginning this post I didn't fully intend to apply, I was somewhat undecided. There are many out there just as qualified and more so than I to test this thing, but if they don't show, consider me.
I second the nomination of Rem Koolhas, I've read his page on the speed calculations and it's top notch stuff. He is one of the few I took inspiration from to test my own combat theories and I for one would be glad to have him on our test team, if he's willing...
Randonb
Thu Aug 19, 2004 9:11 am
#8
TheOxygen wrote:
I'd like to nominate Rem Koolhas from Lowca. He's been a pistoleer for a long long time, is very involved with many technical aspects of the games (has found many bugs, etc that SOE has taken it's sweet time to fix) and also designed the weapon speed calculator that is requested and reposted very often on several of the profession forums. He would honestly be the ideal tester for such purposes as you seek out.
--Iaan K'Vork
Lowca
His board name is RemKoolhaas. I'm sure if he's interested, he'll apply. You could send him a message about your nomination, of course.
Thanks for the applications so far, everybody! I'm not sure how long I'll leave it open. Probably until the posting slows down to where I can be reasonably sure that everyone who wants to has posted, or until I get 5 people that I definitely want to select.
McJesus
Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:10 pm
#9
I would like to apply.
I'll be honest. I'm not sure when my first post on this forum was, or what it was about. I dont often post here. I generally browse through the forums, but am extremely active on the intrepid forums (I'm a member of UPS, the only ingame delivery company). My post with UPS makes me one of the most trusted men on my server, and if you were to ask any forum-going Intrepid member, they'd know what I was talking about. If you'd like to double check all that, we have our price guide stickied on our forum. 
However, I've been a master pistoleer for a good 5 months now. My char build is Master Pistoleer/Smuggler/TKM.
I don't go to test center, mostly because I'm ingame (intrepid) for at least 6-7 hours a day. I go on TC to try out a few things, if they perk my interest.
Since that's out of the way, let me share WHY I'd like to be on the sandbox.
Pistoleer, IMHO, is vastly underpowered. While our defense mods are decent, they in no way make up for our low damage output. The vast amount of broken specials (pointblankarea2, multitargetshot, and the disarming shots, which dont disarm anything) need to be fixed, and pistoleer needs to be a extremely deadly profession. Our lack of medium and heavy armor piercing, I believe, is amongour biggest weakness. Against high end mobs (which unfortuantely includes most content) we simply become ineffective.
I believe that should I make it onto (into?) the sandbox, that I would influence and contribute to our profession becoming great. Hopefully, we will get the dl-44 to be more like the de-10 (slower, inaccurate, but high damage, with medium-heavy armor piercing), we will get guns like the tangle pistol just straight up removed, specials like disarmingshot to do what they are supposed to, and maybe, just maybe, make bodyshot3 better than healthshot2.
Pistoleer should be a fast, short range profession who deals low-medium damage. Hopefully, we will gain the ability to tank (pistol toughness, anyone?), which will vastly increase our effectiveness, and eliminate our secondary role in combat.
May the force be with you
Message Edited by McJesus on 08-19-2004 12:13 AM
Pug
Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:19 pm
#10
I wish I could be involved. I've been a Pistoleer since launch! But I'm getting married in < 3 weeks, so I have no time.
Good luck. I'm very excited for more news.
Gehn45
Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:36 pm
#11
Hi Randonb,
I would like to be apart of the new combat balance and help give pistoleer the attention that it needs to continue to be a fun and rewarding profession. I am a mature, involved player.
Mastered The Profession?
I have had Master pistoleer for 4-5 months. I also have master tka and the dirty fighting row in smuggler. I have previously had bh pistols combined with my master pistoleer skills. I am very familiarmany of the different combinations of pistoleer templates.(pro's and con's of each)One characteristic that might set me appart from other applicants is my experience in fighting unbuffed.I pvp and pve unbuffed often. I also have experience in all the other ranged professions as well. This knowledge will help me better with theunderstanding of the changes made in the sandbox(knowing the other side of the fence)
Community
In the Gorath community Ihave helped many other players level pistoleer and give tips and pointers. My previous guild was mostly pistoleers that I tought the basics of how to fight with pistols in pvp and the mechanics of specials and "numbers behind the scene"(ex: pistol speed) I have also extended my reach in the newbie area and have taught many of them the basics of the game. Whom many still stay in contact with me if hey ever have any questions.
Communication
I believe to have the most success in this sandbox we will need to have a way of communication. If selected, I could supply a ventrilio server that we could use when we are testing. Voice chat helps speed up the communication tremendiously.I have very good communication skills to help share newly tested data with my fellow testers.
Conclusion
All in all I have made a few posts on the pistoleer forums. About half are questions while the others are answers/opinions. I have been testing patch10 on testcenter2 and very occassionaly on tc2 pre Patch10. When I was on it I was a tka. When playing swg I play close attention to the combat logs post fight. I also do regular testing of different ways to use pistols with other profession with friends.
Thanks for your time,
Gehn Artillus
Message Edited by Gehn45 on 08-19-2004 05:37 PM
RemKoolhaas
Thu Aug 19, 2004 6:53 pm
#12
Thank you TheOxygen and MetallicaJunkie for recommending me. Randonb, do you have a timeframe from the devs on when the sandbox will be taking place (and for approximately how long)? My free time varies based upon the month.
Message Edited by RemKoolhaas on 08-19-2004 09:54 PM
Tantuine
Thu Aug 19, 2004 7:04 pm
#13
Randonb,
Hello. I would like to throw my name into the ring.
My first pistoleer forum post was made on 7/11/03, the same day I bought this game and registered for the forums.
I have actually mastered pistoleer twice. I was in beta 3 and was a pistoleer, though not a master. I stuck with pistols when I bought the game and mastered it the first time. Then, I dropped it eventually to do my holocron grind or CM, Brawler, and SL. Then went back and mastered pistoleer again. I could have done something else in the hopes of unlocking but I liked pistoleer so I stuck with it, broken as it was.
I haven't been very active in the pistoleer forum community recently fora few reasons but the main one is, everything that is broken now, has been broken for so long that there really wasn't anything new to talk about or **edit** about.
I haven't done any TC2 testing.
I have plenty of room on my HD for another full d/l of the game and a cable modem so that shouldn't be much of a problem.
Anything else you'd like to know, send me a pm.
Message Edited by Tantuine on 08-19-2004 10:15 PM
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