Smuggler Archive

Hi,

You have probably heard this a few times already but these questions are hot topics in my guild. 1) If pistols are no longer going to be a requirement for smuggler, will we be compensated when the revamp happens?. I need master to effect speed slices and getting pistols is an unfortunate side effort now. 2) I also have commando 0-4-0-0 as my ranged attack, dropped master as flame is the only viable skill tree in that onion. And I was planning on using parts of master smuggler for my close in work, will I still be able to accomplish this?. And once again, having to level pistols for nothing is a major dissapointment. I will not leave the game because of this but for the many of us who are not holo grinders, this leaves us kinda flat...

jaspercrunch

medic, scout, commando, smuggler, artisan

leutenant for the empire, City of Riverland, Dantooine,Eclipse.

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GreenMarine wrote:

No more broken promises.

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Message Edited by Joslo on 06-07-2004 11:10 AM

Ok people, I was at Fan Fest with FishBrains and all I can say is this:

1. GreenMarine really really really wants to get to us...it's unfortunate his skills were taken from Smuggler and put into JtL, but you know, that's life. He is one of the best people they have and I can't blame SOE for dragging him to JtL. I can guarantee you that our revamp is going to be amazing, after hearing all the ideas and all the *cough*pointedquestions*cough* we all asked GreenMarine. I swear in the Hybrid Profspanel I thought FishBrains was gonna jump him.

2. He means it when he says no more broken promises...which might mean no more set dates/publishes for the Revamp, but I'd rather take a Doom 3 perspective on the revamp...when we ask when, the devs answer "When it's perfect." Just me there though, I know lots of us want it NOW NOW NOW. Space will tide you over, I promise you that.

3. I have a photo of GreenMarine that I'll be posting links to soon, to prove his existence. I have to get my camera developed, and considering the fact that I got insanely drunk on Saturday night, I'm actually a little afraid of what's on that camera.

4. FishBrains seriously took GM aside for quite a while, and I SAW GM's plans for revamp, he promised me that there would be a first draft of the proposal here very soon; however, remember that he is assigned to SPACE, and can't do much with us right now. He is making an effort though, and that speaks worlds to me. I remember telling him, "You know? All Smugglers want is to feel like we're at least being heard. We never see you guys on our boards unless it's to tell us we're getting FUBARd again." I was also commended by at least 4 devs on an idea I mentioned about BH terms and risking being on there as well to take a chance to slice a Jedi off the terms. I'm sure we'll be seeing that idea pop up. I'm still trying for a pouch full of sand though to throw in people's eyes, but that one's a little more wishful thinking...

5. Please believe people...I am in contact with a few devs on a personal basis, and they know we need love. Just hold on, ok? Smuggler's going to be the coolest profession in the galaxy if we just let them do their job, and we do ours...posting our ideas and being passionate about the profession we love. I'm posting this in both threads GM posted in, so more people see it, so I apologize if you have read it already.

Much Love and Respect toMy FellowSmugglers

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TygerBlueEyes wrote:

Uhm...so why drop the pistol? IS unarmed going too? Is smuggler going to be a non-combat class?

So very long ago...a Dev made a statement about adding unarmed moves to dirty fighting. So is dirty fighting out now?

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From what I gathered from fishbrains' post in his FF report thread, the XP will change so it will no longer be pistol-specific. Thus opening the door to see more Rifle / Smuggler or Carbine / Smuggler combos that would also be able to use the DF specials. The question then becomes what sort of XP to use? The most likely option is to just make it use general Combat XP...which is a pain in the butt to level...but it still makes the most sense.

Also, if the pistol-specific XP is going away, does this mean the Unarmed-specific XP would also be replaced? Maybe the prereqs could be made to be one Brawler tree and one Marksman tree. This would allow for more diversity in Smuggler / XXXXX templates...instead of your typical Pistoleer/Smuggler/TKA templates...

Guys,

I was hanging out with Fish and GreenMarine during most of the interactions. In otherwords I was the one who kept him in productive versus flaming mode towards the developers. It was not an easy task. Actually his guildies took turns, and I think I got the worse of the interactions.

GreenMarine is a really cool guy. He did take notes to take back to the other developers, since he has been working on the JTL expansion. He really has a long list of excelent Idea's and concepts. What I had found almost humerous was that even after fishbrains went through items that needed to be addressed he hung out with us for some drinks on Saturday night.

Green really does understand your plight as smugglers and is going to work on raising some of thse issues with the developers that are going to be working on your revamp. One thing that I cannot stress enough was their desire to give Smugglers what they deserve, and that is a whole patch that is devoted tothe Smuggler profession, versus doing a semi patch with a couple of fixes just for Smugglers.

I am actually jealous as I saw more interaction towards a Smuggler revamp than I saw of information towards helping to at least fix the Bounty Hunters.

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Geevo wrote:

If I could, I would 5-star you.

If you level your Smuggler on Intrepid, let me know ... I will get you anything you need to expedite it. I will take you out for combat XP, get you locked containers...anything you need.

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Hey I have an Idea.

Why not have him e-mail you a picture of his butt so you can print it out and kiss it for a while.

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GreenMarine wrote:

Green,

Please don't take this the wrong way. From my prior dealing with you you've always been upfront and try to do what you say. However I would like to make some comments.

Why should I, or anyone else in the Smuggler community, continue to pay for this game?

Because:

1. At its core, SWG is still a fun game. The next few publishes are focused on fixing major elements of what makes the game frustrating. Eliminating hologrinding, improving the Jedi experience, balancing combat, and introducing new GCW features. All of this promises to improve the overall SWG experience.Hologrinding should never have occured in the first place. It was a predictable result from a poorly implemented and thought out system. Improving the Jedi experience I'm sure is good for the Jedi. Balancing combat? How can that be done when not all the combat professions are even working. Nor will they be in the revamp. Also why all the secrecy surrounding it? Why is no information about this new system that has been talked about in very general terms for almost six moths being released? As for the new content. It's all geared toward the high end powerplayers, some things for the casual player or mid level player would be nice. Also some things for those that solo.


2. JTL is coming. Jump to Lightspeed is adding a completely new experience to the game. It's a lot of fun and its very different. Great. But we aren't playing JTL yet. We are playing Empire Divided. Why should Smugglers be waiting for after a add on to be able to play a profession that was in the game they purchased a year ago?


3. Smugglers will get a revamp. I can't say when. If I did, and we missed it, you'd kill me. A revamp will happen. This isn't much different than what Smugglers have been told in the past. Just this time you are admitting that you have no idea when. While in the past they were promised specific time frames that came and went. How much longer do Smugglers have to be patient? A month? A year? Two years?


4. No more smuggler B.S. No more announcing a date and not delivering. We're going to put together a plan for smuggler and post it here so you guys can review it. We'll have a plan determined before we start writing the code so you know whats going to happen to your profession. Great. Wish you would do that kind of planning with other professions. Also with the combat rebalance. Is it to late to get something like that? BTW by not announcing a date there is no worry you would miss it or breaking that promise. It was a very lawyerly answer.


5. Because we will do a lot of stuff you asked for. Better spices. Spice experimentation. No more pistol requirement. A lot more new stuff as well. Great to hear. However some of that stuff could have been put in awhile back to help tide things over. It wasn't.
   

If they do answer, another question I would have would be... why should I, or any other member of the Smuggler community, believe you this time after so many broken promises?

1. No more broken promises. I had some very frank discussions with several smugglers at Fan Fest. I KNOW you guys are frustrated. We aren't going to string you along. There will be a revamp. It might happen after JTL, but it will happen. There will be a public plan for the revamp ahead of time (possibly soon) that you guys can start tweaking for implementation. You are stringing Smugglers along however. You are stating you will make all these changes but at the same time you can't give a time frame. We both know why you don't want to give a time frame. It's because you are being honest when you say you don't want to give one then break that promise. However you are also stuck in a catch 22 because of it. By not giving a time frame it appears it's being pushed back again and that Smugglers are being strung along once again. You're stuck because of the prior broken promiseswhich resultsin a low level of credibility. I don't envy you trying to bridge this gap.


2. I take this profession very seriously. I know its flaws. I'm going to level up a new smuggler character, myself. It's very important to me that Smuggler is improved and turned into a fun, rewarding profession. I hope you do this on a live server. Go thru the grind like everyone else. I also hope you start from complete sratch. No extra money, no free gear. Just be newbie. Here is how your day will be. Run some low level mission to get the Unarmed and Pistol. Buy a set of VK for the Unarmed grind. Once you can afford it, get a set of Composite armor. Find a Master Smuggler to slice it and hope for a good slice on encumberance. Please remember that the Smuggler has no control over the amount of the slice or what attribute.

Start grinding Pistol XP to get Novice Smuggler. Then spend your time trying to use a Pistol with only the Marksman mods for the pistol. Decide to pick up Pistoleer to get more speed and accuracy at least to help with the grind. While grinding up Pistol XP for Smuggler and the required Pistoleer (at least if you want to be halfway competent with a pistol when using the Smuggler combat skills). Pick up some Artisan skill so you can survey for materials to gind spice. Either that or buy it from a resource vendor. In between doing this you will also need to sit in Coronet begging for Locked Containers to slice so you can get the first box in Slicing and can then start on Terminals. Don't forget to purchase crates of clamps to help with this.

You will also want to be in Coronet so you can get the required buffs to make the Pistol XP grin easier. You'll need to do this every 2-3 hours. More often if you die.

Personally I hope you don't get Smugglers on whichever server to help you. Not to be mean. But just so you can go thru the same grind and will have some of the same concerns as those Smugglers that did do these. I frequently see someone with a Novice Smuggler tag by a starport yelling that they are slicing containers for free because they need the XP to advance. Some will even pay you to let them slice it.

Once you get Master play around with it. When you get a request to slice something. Make sure you give the standard disclaimer that you have no control over what stat gets sliced and the amount of the slice can very greatly. Some people do not know this and get very irrate. I made a macro to do this as it was a lot easier.

Do a slice job for a Master AS or WS. While sending them message after each slice telling them what the slice was since it does not show up in the item.

You are one of the few Devs I have faith in. Which is why I hope you go thru the grind as I described it. Getting on a couple hours a day just to yell for locked containers or go out looking for them as loot. Knowing you can't advance until that happens. Getting your first irrate customer because you sliced their chest piece for a 17% effectiveness when they wanted a 44% encumberance. Using PanicShot and seeing just how worthless it is.

It's one thing to know the flaws. It's another to experience them day after day. Best of luck on the grind. It should be an eye opening experience for you. It was for me when I did it.

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Knapf wrote:

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Geevo wrote:

If I could, I would 5-star you.

If you level your Smuggler on Intrepid, let me know ... I will get you anything you need to expedite it. I will take you out for combat XP, get you locked containers...anything you need.

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Hey I have an Idea.

Why not have him e-mail you a picture of his butt so you can print it out and kiss it for a while.

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TheEwookieMasta wrote:

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Knapf wrote:

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Geevo wrote:

If I could, I would 5-star you.

If you level your Smuggler on Intrepid, let me know ... I will get you anything you need to expedite it. I will take you out for combat XP, get you locked containers...anything you need.

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Hey I have an Idea.

Why not have him e-mail you a picture of his butt so you can print it out and kiss it for a while.

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I'll be sure to mail you a picture of a troll then

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Sounds good.

Just make sure it's got its lips attached to Greens Butt as well

Thanks

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GreenMarine wrote:

Why should I, or anyone else in the Smuggler community, continue to pay for this game?

Because:

1. At its core, SWG is still a fun game. The next few publishes are focused on fixing major elements of what makes the game frustrating. Eliminating hologrinding, improving the Jedi experience, balancing combat, and introducing new GCW features. All of this promises to improve the overall SWG experience.


2. JTL is coming. Jump to Lightspeed is adding a completely new experience to the game. It's a lot of fun and its very different.


3. Smugglers will get a revamp. I can't say when. If I did, and we missed it, you'd kill me. A revamp will happen.


4. No more smuggler B.S. No more announcing a date and not delivering. We're going to put together a plan for smuggler and post it here so you guys can review it. We'll have a plan determined before we start writing the code so you know whats going to happen to your profession.


5. Because we will do a lot of stuff you asked for. Better spices. Spice experimentation. No more pistol requirement. A lot more new stuff as well.

Um, Greenmarine, I HOPE you ment removal of the unarmed requirement. Pistol makes sense. Han Solo used aPistol alot. But the unarmed requirement is totally bogus.

If they do answer, another question I would have would be... why should I, or any other member of the Smuggler community, believe you this time after so many broken promises?

1. No more broken promises. I had some very frank discussions with several smugglers at Fan Fest. I KNOW you guys are frustrated. We aren't going to string you along. There will be a revamp. It might happen after JTL, but it will happen. There will be a public plan for the revamp ahead of time (possibly soon) that you guys can start tweaking for implementation.


2. I take this profession very seriously. I know its flaws. I'm going to level up a new smuggler character, myself. It's very important to me that Smuggler is improved and turned into a fun, rewarding profession.

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