Smuggler Archive

This is a post from my other thread about the state of the smuggler profession, nut as always I feel a new thread will get this post more attention. Post your replies here. I want to see what other people think about this idea.

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Oh and while I'm at it. Remember Double Slicing? (yes i mentioned it) Why take it out of the game? Why take something so wrong and ILLEGAL out of the game? I think it made a smuggler more worthwhile if anything. Yes im admitting i HAVE double sliced! Who cares? Not like they're going to ban me for it. Anyway....If a smuggler is suppose to be a master of the underworld and master of the truly shady things then why remove something that made the smuggler profession interesting. Keep double slicing in the game and IF you are caught with a double sliced weapon (due to INCREASED smuggling checks by Imperial forces then i say you get a 1500 faction point deduction. I also think that everyone who mentions the **edit** about Spice...AMEN you are absolutely correct. Give us something that wont be overshadowed by what a doctor/chef/dancer can do to your stats. GIVE US AN EQUALLY LARGE PIECE IN THE MARKET!

If i am not mistaken the smuggler has no market value whatsoever. People charging as little as 1000 credits per SLICE! I, for one, have had enough being taken advantage of. I cannot constantly walk thru coronet, theed or any other highly populated area in ANY sort of peace anymore because im a known smuggler and repeatedly get asked to slice things. So, my response to the increased demand for slicing (which there will always be a need for slicing) is to charge the same abnormally high prices that doctors charge for a buff. F.uck the standard 100 credits per % increase rule. I'm sitting here wasting my resources on clamps, upgrade kits, and knives and people expect me to provied my service for the cheapest possible price? HELL NO. Im here to make a profit just as much as the next guy. I charge.....*GASP* 10k per slice. Thats right, its a flat rate and if ANYONE has a problem i tell them to get out of my face.

In my honest opinion 10k per slice is NOT too high. Ponder this:

A doctor buffs fo 3 hours 30 minutes on average and charges you anywhere from 10-15k for these buffs.
-That comes out (highest price scenario) to roughly 4500 credits an hour. (Strange how nobody complains about that)


Now Ponder this:

You approach a smuggler and ask him to slice 1 weapon and a suit of armor.
-That comes out to 10 Items all together.
-Seeing as slicing is smething people cannot live without, EVERYONE needs their crap sliced.
-Those 10 items at 10k a piece represent 100k in the smugglers pocket.

Most of you may complain, whine, **edit**, and moan that its too much to charge. Put this into perspective, people. You just paid 15k for 3 and a half hours of fun. But you refuse to pay 100k for armor and a weapon that will arguably last you ALOT longer then 3+ hours (unless u go to a the DWB). If you are a normal player you should get a few days to a week out of ur armor and 3 or 4 days out of a weapon. The way I charge, that works out to about 2.5k per item per day. Or 25k per 10 items per day. If you play for 6 hours a day youve already beat out the average price of what yould pay for buffs.

It amazes me how people can complain because we try to make it as smugglers but when a doc in coronet starport charges 25k for a set of buffs due to the dwindiling number of doctors in the game, you will be more then willing to fork that money over without question. No wonder the economy in this game is so f.ucked up.

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ColonelRechna wrote:
If you are a normal player you should get a few days to a week out of ur armor and 3 or 4 days out of a weapon.

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3-4 days to a week out of a new weapon? Seriously, how often do you people play??? Christ, if I buy a weapon I'm good for months. My last pistol lasted me for five weeks and I feel like I've been playing too much lately.

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ColonelRechna wrote:
If a smuggler is suppose to be a master of the underworld and master of the truly shady things then why remove something that made the smuggler profession interesting.

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In my honest opinion 10k per slice is NOT too high.

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TheWok wrote:

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ColonelRechna wrote:
If a smuggler is suppose to be a master of the underworld and master of the truly shady things then why remove something that made the smuggler profession interesting.

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In my honest opinion 10k per slice is NOT too high.

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Agree with the second point, but not with the first. We, as smugglers, do represent the underworld of the galaxy, but we must play with the same rules as everyone else. Double slicing was an exploit, plain and simple. By double slicing, you were not being a smuggler, you were exploiting a bug in the code. YOU are not a smuggler, but your character is. While a smuggler may exploit a security flaw in someone's computer system in order to slice info, that doesn't at all translate to you, the player, exploiting a bug in the code of the game.

If SOE put back in double-slicing, how would that be any different than regular slicing? You'd be playing according to the rules. The "shadiness" is gone if double slicing is put into the game as an actual mechanic.

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Point well taken.

About double slicing, what I simply mean that there was a chance of getting caught that gave the end user a sense that he was ACTUALLY doing something illegal (which he was) all im saying is give the more experienced smuggler (via skill tapes and sea's) a chance to slice the weapon more then once. It would make the weapon a highly modified weapon and highly illegal and would gove the user/slicer/owner of the weapon a visibility rating but would also produce a HIGH end weapon that would be worth carrying and trying to avoid authorities over. We can debbate this issue down to fine points all we want, but all im saying is that when Double Slicing was there it created a sense of "smuggling".

I know ur saying that the end user is not the ACTUAL smuggler, but then again the other professions give you a sense you are ACTUALLY doing something related to their profession. IE: Bount Hunter...you get the sense that youre hunting down a mark for a reward. Or Hell i'll make it even simpler then that. Smuggling is the ONLY profession where the title of the profession has nothing to do with EXACTLY what he does.

When was the last time any one of us actually "smuggled" something? Slicing a weapon 2 times and having to carry that around with the chance that you might get caught adds a sense of suspense that comes along with being a smuggler. Smugglers need to have a high risk/reward factor in order for the profession to thrive in this game. All I am suggesting is putting in a "chance" (SMUGGLERS LUCK) tree into the smuggler profession or mix it in with the underworld. Make the Smugglers Luck skill increas as you advance through the boxes of smuggler.

As it stands right now theres very very little risk in what a smuggler does, and even less risk in what a slicer does. This could maybe work in conjunction with the smuggler mission terminals. Lets say you take a mission and the orders are to slice an order of weapons requested by your client. Lets say that your client will give you 25k credits if you bring him the entire order sliced and in tact. Now lets say that if you are lucky enough to slice the weapons and modify them more (increasing your visibility by +50/100) then once, then he will double your payout. The way this would work is you slice the weapon the first time. After the first slice you go to slice it a second time. Upon entering the second slicing window you would be met with either one of 2 messages.

1st Message:

Due to your exceptional modification ability you were able to regain access to the weapons main wiring systems.

2nd Message:

Unfortunately you attempt to slice the weapon again and are met with a series of malfunctions, the weapon has been rendered useless.

Upon receipt of the first message you will have to GUESS which wire to cut. If you guess wrong then you receive message 2.

If you receive message 2 at ANY time during the slice the mission becomes a failure and the smugglers visibility would increase by +25/100. Upon failure, a bounty will be placed on the smugglers head. This bounty would appear as a bounty on the player mission terms. If a mission is not taken on the smugglers head in a reasonable amount of time either one of two things can happen, a NPC bounty hunter comes after your toon, or you disappear off the BH terminals.

This would acheive balance in the slicing sytems.

Now you might be asking what happens when you succeed in double slicing?

What would happen is the smuggler would be knowingly carrying a highly illegal and modified weapon. This would be counteracted by smuggling searches on ALL storage (backpacks/droids) areas the person might be accessing to hide the items. Smuggling searches would be increased to be conducted 1000% more often then usual. The reason being is the Empire wants to ensure the fact that they are thorough on searches as to keep the smuggling rings down to a minimum.

Im bound to hear sumone complain that the person who gets their weapons sliced/double sliced shopuld receive a lesser penalty, which is true. I think that the person who becomes the final owner (if not the smuggler, himself) should be subject to increased visibility but by a small +10/100 visibility rating.

I think that this idea would woork in our current system. I've heard such BS in this forum about how we should be able to slice our swoops/landspeeders/speederbikes. You're all excited about that now but when EVERY person comes to you to get their vehicle sliced then come back to the boards and complain that we need a new revamp. I think slicing is fine the way it is right now. The only problem is that we need to, as master smugglers, be able to have a choice as to what stat we can slice. We also need to consider my above idea as well. Im POLEADING with caylin and the devfs to take a look at this proposal and let me know what can be done with this.

Please Post Your Responses i want to know what you think

sounds like another solid plan, that will again get either ignored.. or... Implemented, then Nerfed to the lowest pits of hades... but hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity, no?

/bump

DO NOT LET THIS ONE DIE!

/bump