Smuggler Archive

I'm going to start off by saying that I admit that I'm rather biased in my opinions and at times have a 'my way or the highway' attitude. However, I know good ideas when I see them, and when I see what I feel is a bad idea, I may come off a bit harsh. I'd like to apologize to anyone I may have offended now, before I go any further.

Now, for starters, I'm just as ticked off as anyone here with the state of the Smuggler profession. I find it downright dispicable that the Devs consider the "Jawa Fortress Junk Sales" content for us, and the so-called Imperial Crackdown is a let down, at best. I know the Devs have plans to change all of that, but honestly, the wait is starting to get to me.

It seems we can all agree that Underworld and Spices are in the most need of love, and as far as I can tell, would be EXTREMELY easy to fix if they'd take the time out of their busy schedule to do it. Adding the Force Sensitive Vehicle Control, Persuasion and Luck is ridiculous... these are things that the Smuggler community as a whole has been begging for, for months. Although I think the luck should come in another form for us, or maybe a larger form beyond what it is for the FS, such as a chance for a lucky hit (Critical Strike style).

Underworld would be as simple as adding the previously mentioned FS skills, perhaps slightly modified for us, and decreasing the cost/increasing the cap of Faction Points we can buy. I would like to see languages changed somehow, but they may be so deeply entrenched in the game that it would be difficult to change it now, I don't know.

Spices would probably take longer, at least for planning and balancing. I was very disappointed when I got the game and found not a single spice I recognized, no Glitterstim, no death sticks, no andris orcarsunum (the last twomentioned in the Han Solo Trilogy). I don't even bother with spice right now, it's too much trouble for no return. Spice experimentation I think is a good idea, I'm sure that could be done with reasonable results. I know there are some people out there that feel another profession should make spice and we move it,however, like languages, at this point it seems they're too well entrenched in the game to change, once again, I may be wrong.

Dirty Fighting and Slicing seem to be our only saving grace, but they could be better. We can't hit a thing with Dirty Fighting unless we dabble in Pistoleer or Bounty Hunter, not to mention the 4 Unarmed combat skill boxes that we get no use from unless we go for Teras Kasi. I've always pictured a smuggler as being able to blast their way out of a sticky situation, but also able to do some dirty street fighting too, but we get nothing. My personal picks for Smuggler "street fighting skills" are the obvious Low Blow (Dirty Fighting III: Low Blow, duh), a kick to the groin that is not only a knockdown, but also has a chance to dizzy the opponent, for obvious reasons.ASucker Punch (Dirty Fighting II: Panic Shot)that would delay the enemy and a powerful "Right Hook" (Dirty Fighting IV: Last Ditch)for lack ofthe term that I was going to say that escapes me at the moment. Those three moves, in my opinion, coincide with their pistol counterparts, however, I can see where this would lead to problems with Teras Kasi dabblers.I'm not a fan of the "sand in the eyes" move I heard mentioned before though, but like I said, these are my opinions. And of course, fix Feign Death so that you aren't jumped by NPC's 250m away...

As for Slicing, I am sick of the experimentation idea that people are kicking around. I do not have the time, nor do I wish to spend the effort looking for the best resources, if I wanted to be an artisan, I'd be a Weaponsmith or something. The ONLY thing that might possibly be experimented on should be the Weapon and Armor Upgrade Kits, which are not directly in our hands, and even then, it leads to nothing but trouble from what I can see. Jacked up prices would ensue and anyone not using a 99% tool would be left out to dry. I do think that the "pick-o-slice" idea is alright, but in my opinion it should be a Master Smuggler skill and require a tool. The tool could be the Flow Analyzer Node, since nobody uses it, I see no reason why it couldn't just be moved to Master Smuggler (and only useable my a Master Smuggler, mind you) to give a chance (75-80%) to pick what attribute is sliced. I would also be for raising the minimum percentage increase to 20% at Master, since that seems to be everyone's cut-off on a "good" slice.

I know this is a rather longwinded post, but this is what I feel should be done with the profession. Feel free to disagree or add your own comments, I'm not close minded enough to think these are the only options.I know there are some people that absolutely disagree with me on the experimentation thing and probably more and they have every right to do so, but please try to keep this clean, we're all trying to better our profession and flaming ideas isn't going to get us anywhere.