Smuggler Archive

Important note, this is a repost from another thread that seems to have gotten off topic, none of my comments are aimed towards anyone in particular on a personal level or otherwise....but please do read

okay after reading through all the new slicing talk all I can say is...are you out of your mind? seriously? let's look at a few examples here..first was the xp change, which I thought was wholly unimaginative, pistol for slicing and combat xp for spices? seriously thats just not the slightest bit immersive even from and XP standpoint...the xp worked just fine for 2 years, and you can say that yes smuggler got new bonuses...but so did Doctor, and they don't require any combat or weapons xp...Secondly making a Master Smuggler rely on loot drops to do his job is the most ridiculous notion in the long line of ridiculous notions in this game no matter how neat you make it sound. Do armor smiths have to rely on loot drops to do their job? or any other class? no..no they don't.

Being a master Smuggler and NOT being capable of doing your own slicing without having to go kill some thugs or super powered NPC's somewhere just makes no sense, is hardly immersive and to me show's poor thinking capability. Have you tried playing JUST a master smuggler? not a dual class..just the Smuggler by itself..Avatar Platform and DWB?? not likely...most anyone especially the crafter smugglers can attest to this one

Slicing was perfectly fine they way it was...permanent power ups you say? sure as long as the weapon stays intact and doesn't fall apart when being repaired...which requires then anew weapon and new slices. I don't see how slicing could possibly be such an issue as to turn it into a loot hunt...from a role playing standpoint how could you even RP that? you can't.

If slicing bothers you so much then put a limit on it, say X number of online hours/days dependant on Slicer skill before the slice ceases to work and the weapon reverts back to normal? thats just an idea off the top of my head now but honestly a loot system for slicing is a very sad and very poor example for class improvement. It's bad enough the whole 're-vamp' thats been promised for two years has been admittedly canned, but to turn a weak stand alone class into something that requires high level groups and mobs to function in what is really a minimal aspect of the game is litterally the point of absurdity. It's no wonder everyone is respecing to BH these days. The other classes are being made no fun to play. I liked the clamp and slicing tool system, even after the "balance" in which through extensive testing the numbers just never add up (note for you programmers...10% of 1010 is not 12) it was still fun.

Rounding up a group to go to the DWB to get high level components to do a good slice? not fun for me, or for my friends who are likely to die alot, get decay ect ect...Now before the people all for loot about better weapons and armor jump on this let me point out something...this is Star Wars! not Everquest 2..I think any loot to make something in your own trade is bloody ridiculous, weapon smiths, or armorsmiths...oddly enough out of all the crafting profs there are they are the only two before now who have needed loot drops..BUT they don't need them to turn out top quality items....Smugglers will...

This is a MMORPG...to me looting stuff to slice is hardly Roleplaying at all..and surely defeats the promise at launch that "This will not be a loot game" as for some other idea's as to a system..hmm..here's another off the top of my head! Jabba's Themepark that most did at launch could surely use some tweaking, smuggler based missions out of there at a selected difficulty level in which the smuggler would recieve a limited use schematic for slicing equipment...the quality would be based on the mission difficulty...now that sounds like fun to me, and fun rp events for guilds...you could even make it a factional thing, give the same thing to Nym's place, give Borvo the Hutt some love, Valerian too...random generated missions with dificulty (maybe like BH in a sense) with a schematic as reward..it's really not that hard...and to avoid just grinding missions over and over and over, lets make it only a set number a day, and instead of a 'terminal' lets make it an NPC. Hard to do? not at all!! such an NPC exists on Kashyyyk as we speak, the Imperial bounty official who offers some bounties and sometimes he doesn't (is it a x number daily thing? ) ((example mission ideas)) Take out some rogue slicers for Jabba, Deliver some spice for Valerian to a buyer and get jumped by a mob or two on the way..you have the tools for this use them!

Or perhaps escorted frieghters in space carrying electronic equipment..we have this great JTL expansion let's use it! again quality could be dependant on the tier level of the frieghter you hi-jack (ie dock and steal cargo from) such convoy's could be random spawns that traverse a system at any given time with a fighter escort. I grin at the idea of loading up a YT with a bunch of friends and going out to play pirate...we are smugglers no? pirates? thieves brigands ect ect? let the smugglers play that role! maybe combine the two...put some content and RP back into the MMORPG!! looting is a sad fallback for unimaginative minds. Don't revert to it for everything!

Anyway food for thought, and crossing the fingers that the loot thing gets canned and something FUN get's implemented. I know you guys have a full plate and probably get alot of flack for this and that, but this is a case where I think you need to listen to the players this time. Content and new ideas are right there, not only in my post but in others..do consider them.

Vrond Novawolf