Smuggler Archive

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Jast_Arkenstone wrote:

Caylin,

I read one of your pre-correspondent posts about putting smugglers on bh terminals based on crimes committed withthugs and stuff emailing the smuggler to warn him of danger based on his smuggler skill. That rocked and I was wondering if anyone is biting on that idea?

No word as of yet. I gavethem the links to ideas like that, but when attempting to go into further detail, and there is alot of detail to that, they don't yet have the time to work it all out. So I haven't heard anything about it yet.

I also wanted to comment on the philosophy of imposing harsher penalties for smuggling contraband to make the smuggler more useful. I believe this kind of philosophy will create a small bonus for one faction in the game (smugglers) while at the same time creating a lot of frustration for a lot of players (everyone getting stuff confiscated and receiving harsher penalties). This equals a net gain in frustration for the SWG product.

Well, the goods are illegal, so... I could see why there should be frustration when using them don't you agree?

What I'm saying is if you create a morepositive way insteadfor the smugglersto benefit, it will create a net gain in entertainment value for everyone. What if instead of harsher penalties for items smuggled, there were items that required smuggling that created bonuses for players over what could be acquired normally. I believe if this is adhered to in game design it makes for a much much better game. Let me give you an example:

Perhaps a certain type of reactive gas used in weaponsmithing is highly corrosive and lethal to certain species, but by the same token its reactive properties make it 'the shiznit' for weaponcrafting,and thus the Empire bans it at say a Talus starport. Let us further assume that Talus is the only planet where this gas EVER appears. Smugglers would be required to move this gas off planet to weaponsmiths not located on Talus through their skills. IF a non smuggler tries to smuggle it off planet,perhaps there is the same small factional penalty and fines that there are now, but the item is held in a special Customs container/office, with NO way to move the gas off planet without help of a smuggler since it is easily detectable with the standard starport chemical sniffers used to block the transport of hazardous materials. This would also open up futher opportunities for smugglers to break into saidCustoms office/holding areathrough slicing/bribing/killing guards and getting the gas for a player at a later date as well.

When creating new items there is a chance the new item could be considered unworthy of the time/money and effort involved to get it. What are they going to do to the resource that will make it better? Heck I'm sitting on a bunch of 1000 cond, 980 oq copper right now. It would have to be some resource to make it worth smuggling over the stuff already out there.

Perhaps the Customs officer at the Talus starport can be further distracted by a pretty Twi'lek dancer as well, influencing some score or stathe has to prevent being bribed...hey cross class content! Perhaps he can be Jedi mind tricked to influence the score too. It still requires a smuggler to slice the chemical sniffer and avoid alarms though...

Hehe that would be interesting

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Regards the confiscation issue maybe a 5% decay for illegal items on each scan rather than taking the item or a percentage of spice removed say 10 or 20%.

But please give us experimentation even if only for downer duration.

And the ability for a master to choose the sliced attribute.

Caylin,

Hehe, yeah I noticed that too, I have enough xp to get novice in all the crafting professions. That's a good idea.
After all we are building slicing tools, not just something general. The more we make the tools we should begin to understand how they work, thereby explaining how it would come to developing Slicing XP as opposed to just general crafting.

Well, I don't know if it's a bug, so much as it is by design. One that I like actually.

One of the big reasons I love smuggler is that you can't just macro grind your way through slicing. If we put slicing xp on the creation of our tools, that would be possible. I want to avoid that personally...

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Smuggler_Caylin wrote:

Well, I don't know if it's a bug, so much as it is by design. One that I like actually.

One of the big reasons I love smuggler is that you can't just macro grind your way through slicing. If we put slicing xp on the creation of our tools, that would be possible. I want to avoid that personally...

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I seconded that. The having to slice locked containers and terminal til you get to weapon really keeps down the number of people who don't want to be really smugglers. If you could grind smuggler that easily the number of smugglers would greatly increase!

Yeah, we are the Princes of the Underground, we should be few and far between. And I agree, having it give slicing xp would make it too easy.

i would like to see speed slices taken away until all profession speeds are fixed. currently, a weapon with a speed slice is only useful to a novice. i was discussing this with a commrade today who was slicing 50 enhanced weapons. 35 were speed sliced, rendering these weapons virtually useless. in many cases, this makes an enhanced weapon WORSE than a non-enhanced weapon. profession speeds need to be increased to the point that a speed slice on a 2.8 speed pistol for a Bounty Hunter would actaully make a difference. After that, the slicer needs to be given the option of enhancing speed or damage output. now people would actually have a use for speed slices, because it may give a better DPS to the weapon than a dmg slice would. Regardless, theer needs to be something done about slicing. it is every bit as erratic as doc buffs used to be. it can be fixed without overpowering...

spices... this used to be a money maker. now it is worthless. food buffs are now the best thing south of a doctor. buff stats need to be enhanced. muon needs to be extended in duration to match pixie. spices also need to stack as long as they aren't on the same stat. i.e. a muon and pixie at the same time. maybe even create the ability to hybrid spices. and bring some experimentation into it for crying out loud.

smuggler has been unloved since launch. it's time you step up and show the enduring underworld they are not forgotten.

With the upcoming combat revamp, I have a feeling speed slices will mean a great deal more than they do now.

wow i've been gone from galaxies since October and nothing has changed... sad... why'd I reactivate? Oh yeah... space game...

*sigh*

then a balance needs to be made. 50 weapons sliced, 35 speed and 15 dmg is not a balance. there has been a significant increase in speed slices on sunrunner since patch 7 and we are all very pizzed about it.

if there are certain things people might want a speed slice for, then make it an option. speed or dmg. let's get away from this luck of the draw crap.

further, a master needs a base. a master smuggler should never have to tolerate a slice of less than 20%. i got more 20%+ slices after slicing two than i have at master, speed or otherwise. also, make them uniform. if armour can be sliced to 40%, then so should weapons.

the fact is, a master smuggler slicing a weapon or piece of armour already has in mind what it is he is looking for. speed, dmg, effec, or encumb. put an ability to choose in the master box. again, they changed the buff system for docs to get away from the luck of the draw, now they need to do the equivilent for smugglers. the ability to choose is the right thing to do, because a master would know his intended effect.

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Mor-Dan wrote:
then a balance needs to be made. 50 weapons sliced, 35 speed and 15 dmg is not a balance. there has been a significant increase in speed slices on sunrunner since patch 7 and we are all very pizzed about it.

if there are certain things people might want a speed slice for, then make it an option. speed or dmg. let's get away from this luck of the draw crap.

further, a master needs a base. a master smuggler should never have to tolerate a slice of less than 20%. i got more 20%+ slices after slicing two than i have at master, speed or otherwise. also, make them uniform. if armour can be sliced to 40%, then so should weapons.

the fact is, a master smuggler slicing a weapon or piece of armour already has in mind what it is he is looking for. speed, dmg, effec, or encumb. put an ability to choose in the master box. again, they changed the buff system for docs to get away from the luck of the draw, now they need to do the equivilent for smugglers. the ability to choose is the right thing to do, because a master would know his intended effect.

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/agree

The speed value stated on a weapon should be the CAP! Think of it as the MINIMUM time required to fire or reload it. So a pistol with speed of 1.5 could not be fired any faster that every 1 and a half second. To get to the problem with experience in a certain weapon: Just make a speed and acuracy penalty for everyone until they climb to the master box of a profession which renders the penatlty to zero. This way weapons would always be in the right spd to damage relation (as originally intended by the DEVs). THEN speed slices would make a LOT OF SENSE and be especially wished for by slow speed weapon classes such as RIFLEMEN whereas PISTOLEERS would still prefer a damage slice...

Hey DEVS I hope this resembles a bit what you want to do in the combat balance publish (no 10)!!!