Smuggler Archive
Thread: Smuggler State of the profession
1) Fake ID idea- Appearing as Covert to a faction (w/o buying in) for a limited time, maybe? Long enough to get a mission, trade in some FP, or wander past an aggro, a covert detector or a minefield, unmolested (for those of us who chose a side)... similar to maskscent? Master Smugs get one similar to conceal (hide all neg and positive fact? Appear neutral? longer lasting?) this could help if you run fgactional missions, allowing declaired members to appear neutral when they accept missions, and therefore lose no FP from the opposing faction, and gain less from the faction you've joined? (see #3 below)
2) Slicing + underworld = underworld smuggling mission access? Want more money on destroy, then slice for money. Want to actually run smuggling missions? Unlock the underworld delivery missions on any standard mission terminal maybe? Actually smuggle stuff. Guarded pickup points (good use of Fake Id above) and ambushed drop points! Make money in equilivent to recon missions. This will prove particularly interesting with planet-to-planet deliveries, esp after Space Expansion. Heck, give TEFs on failed checkpoints if you want to get complex, then watchout as your Imperial buddies suddenly see (a) red (dot on their radar).
3) Reduction in negitave FP: Staying below the radar at all times is a daily part of a good smugglers life. Have Underworld offer a reduced gain and loss or just reduced loss of FP at all times? Be alot easier to walk past those Valarian thugs if they arent sure you work for Jabba. Helps play both sides of the fence.
I think all this will make for a much more playable smuggler and a far more interesting Underworld branch. I am currently 0124, and have no interest in chasing underworld untill I decide to go for Master. Please dont pull a BH investigate and "fix" it but putting Damage Mitigation in that branch! Make it interesting!
I dont know if this has been said or not, but I think smugglers should have a chance of avoiding faction scanners(or slicing, or at least have a red dot on the radar showing a faction scanner). I mean, detection is something smugglers are suppose to be good at avoiding! Smugglers work for both sides, so its common sense that they would have an idea on how to circumvent them.
This is something that would go hand in hand with the underworld branch.
Also, considering the latest fun and games, I think since smugglers slice things, we should be able to see some indication on the 'examine' panel that a peice of equipment has been sliced or not. Maybe I am blind, but I dont see any indication of it right now.
ia gree with everything said in that first post. Having looked through the proffession closely while grinding away spice and slice i found it odd that the Master title doesnt include anything really worthwhile. Same goes for Underworld. I play a rebel smuggler but only so i can slice there missions terms, get easy and quick missions with a moderate cash income and get FP's that i could then save and sell onto other rebel players and get some nice cash from em. Its not like i'm in the Rebllion for the good fight. Really thats the only perk i could find with Underworld but for me the pistol exp HAD to go into DF first thus relegating Underworld again. Only reason i would place exp into undeworld is to reach Master Smuggler and get a nice warm feeling inside lol, then i'd probly sell it 
nice post, hope that some changes are made in the 6 months i'll be away from the game 
-Jeff
\rant
Master Smuggler is worthless, don't hold your breath for any changes they are too busy nerfiing ch and be and pimping up de's for the next release. The whole smuggler experience has pretty much done nothing but piss me off. I'm dumping underworld completely it's the most useless tree in the whole game unless you are a human factioned colonel. Slicing is great but as a master I am contantly having to compete with slicers. Why should a master have to compete with someone that has potentially done 1/4 of the work. Spices bah the devs can stick their spices where the sun don't shine. Dirty Fighting yeah it's cool I guess. I like every other smuggler would rather use my tk skills. So yeah it needs a revamp doubt there will be one anytime soon or ever since the devs never address anything with smuggler. We are the **edit** profession of the game and I'm sick and tired of it.
devs you ignore us, shame shame shame on you
now get back to playing with the **edit** prof since that's all you guys seem to worry about.
/end rant
Alright San, whats going on...I read in the Tailor's forum that we are getting ready to be revamped(dont ask what i was doing there).
They are already thinking of new clothes to produce...i.e. Pirate "like" apparel eye-patches earrings etc...anyway; when will we know something?
Smuggler revamp would be dA r0cK!
Our Top-5 thread is probably the most recent...
Though, the state of the Smuggler profession is still pretty much the same as it was when this thread was concieved.
If you're looking for development ideas, there's been 2 really well thought out threads recently...
Kav's Smuggler Vision 2.0 - http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=48775
and
Smuggler Revamp v1.13 by Caylin - http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=smuggler&message.id=48758
Here's a copy / paste from the first page...since NOTHING has changed except the Spice incap thing, which is still only halfway working...
Underworld (the most boring / useless skill tree in Smuggler)
1a. +100 Lanuage comprehension: We gain the ability to understand every language in the game, as well as being able to read what Twi-lek are saying with their lekku.
Problem: Every newbie in the game gains the ability to understand every language within the first 5 minutes of play time, except the lekku thing. This equates to Smugglers learning exactly ONE new language that everyone else doesn't have.
1b. 10% faction discount: It's a 10%-Off sale at your faction recruiter on everything from armor to infantry.
Problem: Doesn't do a thing for you if you're not PvPing or involved in the GCW. Also, if your side is losing the GCW, the "losing faction" discount overrides your smuggler discount, basically making this worthless.
2. You're only worth half of what you would noramally be worth in factional PvP. And you only lose half of what you're worth in faction points if you die in factional PvP.
Problem: Again, useless if you don't participate in the GCW.
3. Sell faction points to the opposing recruiter for cash.
Problem: Again, only useful for GCW participants.
4. Buy faction points from your faction recruiter for cash. This became somewhat more useful with the implementation of /delegatefaction.
Problem: Can only buy faction if you have less than 500 faction points. Also, the exchange rate is huge -- 10000 creds=125 points.
(This would be a great money sink if we could buy larger amounts of faction for less...maybe 50 creds per faction point...since more players would come to Smugglers to get quick and easy faction point increases they would pay US,WE would in-turn pay the recruiter...voila instant money sink...also maybe give Smugglers some way to achieve closer to a 1:1 /delegatefaction ratio.)
Slicing (Our most useful tree, though still in need of some work)
Novice: Containers: Unlock them and get a useless gift...or nothing at all.
Problem: Pain in the butt to find, though they have been dropping a little more freely lately.
1. Terminals: Increased mission payouts.
Problem: Only the first page of payouts is increased. Very rarely do I get 2 missions going in the same direction. And it's a bigger pain if I'm grouped, since I have to hope for a mission going in the same direction as the rest of the group.
2. Weapons: Increase speed or damage on any weapon.
Problem: Not really a whole lot to say about this one, since the Slice 2 / 4 reversal got fixed.
3. Armor: Added ability to increase base effectiveness or reduce encumberance on armor.
Problem: Again, not a whole lot to say.
4. Weapons (advanced): Increased percentages on weapon slices from Slice 2.
Problem: None
OVERALL Slice Problems: Tool quality has no impact on the quality of the slice. There are endless debates in the Smuggler forum about what to do to achieve better results, yet the overwhelming concensus is that there's nothing we CAN do. Also, there is no way to choose the attribute that is sliced. Bounty Hunters almost always want damage slices, while Riflemen almost always want speed, yet there is no way I can guarantee either.
Dirty Fighting (Our combat tree): IT ALL WORKS!! *hopes it doesn't get broken again*
1. Feign Death: Gives the appearance of an incapacitated or "dead" state.
Problem (or maybe not): In PvP, Smuggler feigning death can still be targeted and attacked (shot, bled, poisoned, set on fire, etc.) by opponent(s), causing "black rot" in the HAM bars (sometimes down to 1, 1, 1). Smuggler is either forced to lay there until opponent(s) get bored, or stand up and take the DB, which totally defeats the purpose of Feign Death.
Problem: Since the November publish, with the increased chance for creatures to reacquire agro, it appears the AI sensativity is WAY too high. Many players are reporting being re-agroed from 150-200m+ after a FD or incap, regardless of terrain or line of sight. This makes FD slightly less useful as an "escape" move.
2. Panic Shot: 10 second delay to all targets in a 45-degree cone. 30 second timer.
3. Low Blow: Ranged Knockdown on a separate 30 second timer.
4. Last Ditch: High cost, high delay, high damage.
Other than the PvP Feign Death thing, not really a whole lot wrong with the DF tree.
Spices:
OVERALL: Boosts to stats depending on what spice you take.
Problems: No experimentation, material quality makes no difference. EVERY Smuggler makes the exact same spice, no matter what they use to make it. Ongoing stat bug that forces spice users to either die or log out for a period of time in order to get their secondary stats to reset after a "downer". The high-end (and best selling) spices, Neutron Pixie and Muon Gold, now incapacitate players when the downer kicks in, making them less desirable for players to use, and thus taking away a source of income for Smugglers who choose to deal in Spices.
**Several patch notes have included fixes for secondary stats sticking in the downer, yet some players still report this as an issue. Same goes for downers incapping players...some do, some don't.
MASTER: 25% factional discount, 5% bonus to slicing.
Problem: No incentive for gaining this box. No additions from DF or Spices. Considering Masters still have just as much of a chance of coming up with a crappy (less than 20%) slice as someone with Slice 4, the slicing bonus is pretty much nill...making the Master Smuggler box = Underworld 5. Also, I've heard that the "losing faction" discount from the GCW overrides the Master Smuggler 25% discount as well, though I don't know this for a fact.
Suggestions:
Underworld - Take it back to the drawing board. This is supposed to be happening, but we've heard nothing about when or how this will be changed.
Slicing - Someone on the Smuggler forum suggested instituting a system where Smugglers would be able to choose the sliced attribute. It would work along the same lines as crafting experimentation, except it would be Slicing experimentation. You would recieve points as you progressed up the Slicing tree and the actual slicing interface would look like an experimentation window with Speed / Damage bars for weapons and Effectiveness / Encumb bars for armor. Want a damage slice? Use your points to "experiment" in the damage bar....you get the picture. The amount of improvement would depend on the number of points you have and how high you "experiment" on a certain attribute. (Admitedly, I wasn't fond of this idea at first, but it's kinda grown on me.)
DF - Not a whole lot to fix here. Maybe adding some unarmed moves to put our Unarmed 4 pre-req to use. Or adding some skill mods so we can get higher level missions without having to pick up skills from other professions. Currently our DF specials allow us to kill fairly high level MOBs, but we are relegated to level 10 missions unless we pick up skills from Pistoleer or another combat profession.
Spices - Get Spice experimentation fixed so Smugglers can decrease side effects, increase durations, etc. I have a +100 Spice Experimentation skill mod that does nothing at all. When you get that working, maybe add a totally new spice to the Master box, something worthy of the Master level.
Master - Use the suggestions above, and add some sort of skills to make the Master box worth having. Unlimited or increased cap on the purchase of faction points as well (in other words, make it possible to buy points above the 500 point cap)
There is also the issue of Smuggler content...mainly that there is none. Introduction of something to actually SMUGGLE would probably be a good idea. At one point in time, I was hopeful that we would be able to put our Underworld skills to use and smuggle factional items between factions. I know alot of Rebels who would have paid a ton of credits to have their own AT-ST or suit of Stormie armor. Granted, the system would have needed to be changed to allow use of factional items by members of the opposing faction, but it would have been great. And that's what Smugglers are for...to get items for people who wouldn't normally have access to them.
On a seperate note, there's trading issues:
Can we do something about the silly trade restrictions? I know alot of Smugglers would prefer to remain neutral, but this effectively decreases their potential customers by 25%.
Here's how it breaks down:
5 groups in the game: Overt Rebel, Covert Rebel, Neutral, Covert Imperial, Overt Imperial
Here's what the trade restrictions do:
Overt Rebels / Imps can trade with 2/5 of the groups -- Overts or Coverts of their same faction.
Covert Rebels / Imps trade with 4/5 of the groups -- Overts of their faction, Coverts of their faction, Neutrals, and Coverts of the opposite faction.
Neutrals can trade with 3/5 of the groups -- Coverts of either faction, other Neutrals.
My opinion: Neutrals should be able to trade with ALL groups...regardless of TEF or declared faction status. Why? ...Well...because you're NEUTRAL!
Coverts of both sides should also be able to trade with ALL factions, unless there is a TEF in effect. Why shouldn't I be able to trade with an Overt Imp? He doesn't "know" I'm a Covert Rebel unless I have a TEF on me, in which case, we'd be fighting instead of trading...
As it stands now, you benefit by being a Covert faction member because it gives you an additional group to trade with over Neutrals. The TEF flagging is just dumb. I hadcustomer a couple of nights ago who wanted some weapons sliced. He was Neutral, but since I had been running Rebel missions, the trade wouldn't go through because of my TEF. I ended up letting the guy kill me so I could clone and drop my TEF...wasn't a big deal since I was in Moenia and just had to run back across town.
I could see the TEF being a problem if it was TEFed covert trying to trade with opposing overt...but trading with neutrals or opposing coverts should be free reign. After all, they don't know I'm covert and I don't know they're covert.
Just fix trading one way or the other...PLEASE...
novakaine wrote:
Excellent post Drev, I think you nailed it down quite nicely. Spice incap takes me down every time.
Heh...I wish I could say it was something new...
But, like I said, it was just a copy / paste of a few posts I made earlier in the thread. With the exception of 1 or 2 minor fixes, Smuggler is still in the exact same state it was 4-5 months ago...