Smuggler Archive
Thread: Slicing Costs
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PaulyX
Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:28 am
#1
Doctors buff people for 3 1/2 hours for 15-20k a pop. Essentially making 5-10k per buff every 3 hours. In one hour of buffing they can make quite a killing and depending on how many buffs they have or if they make their own buff packs the profit can increase.
Yet Slicers will charge 2-5k to slice a weapon where the immediate result is the same as a buff for the lifetime of the weapon. That lifetime could be a few weeks or more.
Amazing how stupid we smugglers are considering that it is so obvious that the slice should be worth more.
Kal_Serrak
Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:17 pm
#2
Its the literal 'pandora's box' of the smuggler's profession - slicing, its costs and effects. For the sake of being a broken record, I'll bring up the 'illegality' issue - if its not illegal to be a smuggler, then we're not smugglers.
Doctor's Buffs are gamebreaking, and have been so since implementation - infact, any buff over 200 is game breaking in its own way. Don't go comparing smuggling costs to basically a 'free PvE ticket' or a 'requirement to PvP' - its not proper.
Also, 'smugglers' and 'having tons of credits' usually never end up being in the same sentence. To Smuggle is to search for the Big Score. Until then, we take penny-assed delivery missions for the local crime lords, acquiring obviously illegal goods, and performing "below the Imperial radar' services.
Nothing of which is cheap, or will become cheap when it becomes illegal to do so. I can already see a x10 raise in my prices should it mean that I can't enter Coronet or Theed, or if it puts my name in the #1 slot in the Bounty Hunter Hit List.
RandoQuin
Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:45 pm
#3
going back to costomers complaining about say a 6-10k per slice...they can earn that back then some with just one mission. especially when everyone does the solo group b.s.
Fat_Morbo
Mon Sep 20, 2004 4:55 pm
#4
At 5k a slice you should be making a good profit (approx 100k per 25 items sliced), but the problem is... even chargint that much I still don't feel like it's worth it. You can get money so much easier, and slicing is so boring/tedious, you have to pay close attention to you don't jam the weapon/armor and the complaining from customers is awful....
YamadaMan
Tue Sep 21, 2004 12:20 am
#5
from my experience, if you want to make money slicing weapons, then open a sliced weapons shop. don't bother slicing for public, if you raise your price, then they'll see someone else, but if you can guarantee a 30ish% damage sliced T21 on your vendor (not by xploiting, simply slicing crates of weapons and putting em for sale), then you'll make 100k out of that T21.
to keep the example of the T21, I usually buy by 25' crates, and it takes 4 or 5 sales to get my whole cash back, so 20 weapons sales are 100% benefits. and there's no "u screwed my x millions worth weapon, su(ker !" whinings anymore for 5k/slice.
people ask me to slice stuff, I answer that I got no tools with me, wich is true, I never take tools with me when I'm not stocking my vendors.
believe me, don't bother with the public, run your shop and look at the millions rushing in your account each time you log in.
to keep the example of the T21, I usually buy by 25' crates, and it takes 4 or 5 sales to get my whole cash back, so 20 weapons sales are 100% benefits. and there's no "u screwed my x millions worth weapon, su(ker !" whinings anymore for 5k/slice.
people ask me to slice stuff, I answer that I got no tools with me, wich is true, I never take tools with me when I'm not stocking my vendors.
believe me, don't bother with the public, run your shop and look at the millions rushing in your account each time you log in.
Hoenir
Tue Sep 21, 2004 12:53 am
#6
heh
I don't slice for the public either, just because of their attitudes about the quality of the slices and the cost of the slicing.
In fact, it took me 6 months after mastering smuggler before I capped out slicing XP 
but the rare occasions make up for it, like back before buffs were improved, someone came to me and said "are you still master smuggler?" (they knew me from in town). I said yea, and they asked me to slice a suit of 80% kinetic ubese. Most of the slices went effective ("oh well, I have to get buffs to wear it anyhow") and then out of the blue he tipped me 50k...
rogue_eight
Tue Sep 21, 2004 5:59 am
#7
I'm of the mind that I don't slice as my main source of income (that's not to say that I don't charge for my time and skills - especially when people come to me when I'm doing something else.) I do it because I love the smuggler profession and I want to play a game where I interact with other players, not play some online solo game with a chat-room function.
I picked up smuggler because I'm hooked on the whole vibe of the character. However, until some real smuggler content is introduced into the game, whether it be missions or whatever, then the smuggler part of my character will never be where I turn when I really need cash - but it's definitely where I look first for some good roleplaying interaction!
It doesn't really satisfy my smuggler side, but I can make more money in a group of friends hunting and selling resources than slicing. I dare say that if I upped my price from 5k then I'd make a lot more, but I slice for the fun interaction and a little profit, not just profit.
I sometimes think that if you're just after cash as a way to fuel your other character/game desires, then maybe Smuggler isn't for you? Or maybe the player base as a whole should have a profound change of attitude to the pricing of slicing so that we can get by using our smuggler skills as they are available to us at the moment?
Maybe we should really be playing characters where we can make money and enjoy playing that character at the same time. I know it's a little idealistic, and, as I've already said, it's not entirely how I play at the moment due to lack of smuggler content, but if they ever fix that, then it's smuggler all the way for me. I'll run missions, smuggle people/spice/weapons/whatever as much as I can to make my rep and fortune that way – because that's what I've always wanted to do since I bought the game.
I realise that this is a bit of a random, rambling stream of consciousness, but what I'm trying to say is this:
I want to be a smuggler first and rich second... Hopefully one day the two will be directly compatable through some new interactive game content.
I picked up smuggler because I'm hooked on the whole vibe of the character. However, until some real smuggler content is introduced into the game, whether it be missions or whatever, then the smuggler part of my character will never be where I turn when I really need cash - but it's definitely where I look first for some good roleplaying interaction!
It doesn't really satisfy my smuggler side, but I can make more money in a group of friends hunting and selling resources than slicing. I dare say that if I upped my price from 5k then I'd make a lot more, but I slice for the fun interaction and a little profit, not just profit.
I sometimes think that if you're just after cash as a way to fuel your other character/game desires, then maybe Smuggler isn't for you? Or maybe the player base as a whole should have a profound change of attitude to the pricing of slicing so that we can get by using our smuggler skills as they are available to us at the moment?
Maybe we should really be playing characters where we can make money and enjoy playing that character at the same time. I know it's a little idealistic, and, as I've already said, it's not entirely how I play at the moment due to lack of smuggler content, but if they ever fix that, then it's smuggler all the way for me. I'll run missions, smuggle people/spice/weapons/whatever as much as I can to make my rep and fortune that way – because that's what I've always wanted to do since I bought the game.
I realise that this is a bit of a random, rambling stream of consciousness, but what I'm trying to say is this:
I want to be a smuggler first and rich second... Hopefully one day the two will be directly compatable through some new interactive game content.
PaulyX
Tue Sep 21, 2004 9:10 am
#8
I too stopped slicing publicly. I wear Master Smuggler over my head and if people ask me for a slice my top answers have been -
1) No, I am a crappy smuggler
2) No, I do not have the tools required
3) 50k per slice non-negotiable.
Depending on the mood I am in.
Korrack
Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:23 am
#9
My last two slicing experiences:
1. I had a guy stop me in Coronet asking me to slice his full suit of composite armor. I said "50k for the complete set", he then said "Oh, I don't have THAT much to pay for slicing". I turned around and walked in the other direction.
2. Guy stopped me in Theed asking me, "Can you slice my weapon? How much?". I said "Sure, it will be 10k". He started to laugh and said "I only paid 10k for this weapon, I'm not paying 10k more JUST for a slice". I purchased my shuttle ticket and left.
I'm thinking of upping my price to 25k per slice,just for having to deal with the 9/10 people who I end up not slicing for.
Aurorem
Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:25 am
#10
Slicing isn't a main source of income for myself either, but on Flurry, I charge around 12k per slice, and people haven't given me crap about it.
-Aurorem Farseer - Master Smuggler - Flurry
SlickDevlin
Tue Sep 21, 2004 11:27 am
#11
Where you slicing at on Flurry? Cracktown? I am a MS on Flurry as well and I charge 12kand almost EVERYBODY complains.
SlickDevlin
Tue Sep 21, 2004 1:06 pm
#12
That kind of statistical information looks great onscreen but the rubber just does not meet the road friend.
Here are the flaws with that line of thinking:
1.) Buffs are viewed as a necessity whereas slicing is an optional luxury.
2.) You can buff the same player unlimited times (so long as the 3 hrs has expired), you can only slice a weapon once.
3.) The Doc has control over the effectiveness of their buff, the Smuggler does not.
4.) Buffing has no potential negative effects whereas slicing does.
So taking into account this information you can see that the Docs are in a Bull Market, whereas the Smugglers are
in a Bear Market.
Also, I have rarely ever seen anybody complain about the price of a buff, where I have seen PLENTY of people whine about slicing prices even when they are told up front.
It just sucks to deal with the general public the way it currently is.
Korrack
Tue Sep 21, 2004 1:09 pm
#13
Doctors can sit in Coronet and buff continually non stop until they run out of buff packs. Smugglers can sit in Coronet and slice a bunch of containers, a couple of weapons and maybe a suit of armor in a day. Doctors buffs last a couple of hours, the slice lasts as long as the weapon does. People do not require slicing as often as they require buffing. You are comparing apples to oranges.
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