Smuggler Archive
Thread: Smuggler from a Grinder
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IWAssassin
Sat Sep 04, 2004 11:03 pm
#1
I do hate the word Grinder, as my goal is to Master every profession not grind it, but its a shorter way of saying it.
In my quest to master everything I chose my third prodession to be Smuggler. It was smuggler or Pistoleer and I thought Smuggler would be an interesting change of pace. So I mastered it. First of course I went up the Pistols tree. Seemed logical to me at any rate. Feign Death I found was nifty, but quite useless, as you're only really going to use it when you probably dont have enough HAM to use it anyway. So up the tree three more slots. No bonuses to pistol usage [not good, Im still using my Scout Blaster!] The specials. Well put simply by the end of the Smuggler Tree I was still using Healthshot1 as the most useful special in my inventory. Higher raw DPS, a nice bleed effect, and acceptable HAM costs. So one tree utterly useless.
Next I started working my way up Underworld Connections. Why not? Interesting that the way to get connections is to shoot people. As a good law abiding Imperial I just shot everyone who might BE a member of the underworld. Okay aside from being suprised that my connections are helping me, not having a bounty on me after that I looked to see what I got.
Languages. I always DID want to learn the Twi'lek Head-tail language after all, so many players converse in it. The ability to sell faction points. Well aside from the fact that Im not a traitor [and the rebel wont even talk to me], there is the simple fact that I'll earn a LOT more running Janta missions than I will running Imperial missions AND selling my FP. Or I can BUY FP. Noting of course how utterly useless all FP rewards are at the current time. So that tree was utterly useless. Fine, moving on.
Spices. Just what I always wanted! To own my own drug cartell! Okay all the novice spices are crap. To be expected. Cant give the stuff away, and cant consume it yourself fast enough [not that you'd want to] so despite all my desires to not Grind anything, I caved in and ground. No matter what way I did it it'd be grinding as *I* wouldnt use the spice normally. So on up the tree. And up, and up. Spices 3 and still nothing I could give away, and nothing I myself would use [I dont even use Muon Gold]. So I got spices 4. And then remembered the whole time that I hadnt cared the LEAST about my resources. Nothing to care about. I hadnt experimented ONCE. Nothing to experiment on. This is the ONLY crafting tree I can think of where resources and experimentation dont matter at all. Something I found particularly odd when I realized I had used around 11,000 units of Scaley Hide on a spice that was supposedly composed of dry leaves.
Okay so I slice. Not exactly something smugglers are known for. Hotwiring sure. Tinkering? Absolutely. Slicing however is the Star Wars term for Hacking. Slicers have better things to do than Smuggle. They might be EMPLOYED by Smugglers but thats about the extent of it. Mislabelling of profession aside. I slice open 20 Containers for level 1. Then go to terminals. Yay! A pay increase for slicing the terminal. Of course only for the first page of results, and as any hunter can tell you the missions you want are NEVER on the first page. Add to this the fact that you can only slice a terminal every 120 seconds and I found it absolutely useless. The XP was abysmal too. So I bought 39 more containers [the only profession I know of which RELIES on rare loot drops that also happen to be USELESS. Even Jedi dont NEED a lightsaber].
39 containers and nothing but crap later I can slice weapons. Did I note that the mini-game to slice gets tired after the second slice? Did I mention its a recipe for disaster, having missliced no less than 5 items during my grind due to mis-clicks? Okay so I find I have weapons that are giving 250xp a slice, and I only need a mere 75,000xp to master! 300 weapons. Done by someone who doesnt even rate the title Slicer? You'll never find any buisness, and I use up a weapon less than once a month. Again no legitimate way to master this so I go out and buy 300 Clamps, 300 WUKs, and 300 Survival Knives.
Since my point is to not grind, I actually read the text on the mini-game the first time. An Imperial Electronic Anti-Tampering Device. Interesting. On a survival knife which is just a sharpened piece of metal, even according to the weapon description. What idiot weaponsmith installed an electonic anti-tampering device in my BUTTER KNIFE?
Slightly amused I spend several hours slicing weapons nobody wants, not even me, then destroying them, all so I can say I mastered smuggler? And did I master it? Theres a point among most Artisan professions that mastering an artisan profession is about more than getting 18 skill boxes. Its about learning your materials, stockpiling you're materials, learning how to best experiment, spending time getting better at experimenting. Things that take time, not grinding to learn. And I found smuggler had NONE of that. In all honesty five minutes with a helper monkey and I would get a smuggler that is just as good as someone with an IQ of 240, who spends 23 hours a day online, and mastered smuggler on day 2 of release.
The experience has made me earn a VERY well deserved respect for ALL of you who have stuck with the smuggler profession. A profession HIGHLY in demand, yet underpaid, rediculously boring, and in my own personal opinion not worth the skill points unless you're an artisan who wants to slice your own armor or weapons. I applaud each and every one of you, and say now that you shall forever hold a place in my heart, and sympathy for your toils. Here's to all of you, in hopes that some year SOE might finally take you guys seriously!
In my quest to master everything I chose my third prodession to be Smuggler. It was smuggler or Pistoleer and I thought Smuggler would be an interesting change of pace. So I mastered it. First of course I went up the Pistols tree. Seemed logical to me at any rate. Feign Death I found was nifty, but quite useless, as you're only really going to use it when you probably dont have enough HAM to use it anyway. So up the tree three more slots. No bonuses to pistol usage [not good, Im still using my Scout Blaster!] The specials. Well put simply by the end of the Smuggler Tree I was still using Healthshot1 as the most useful special in my inventory. Higher raw DPS, a nice bleed effect, and acceptable HAM costs. So one tree utterly useless.
Next I started working my way up Underworld Connections. Why not? Interesting that the way to get connections is to shoot people. As a good law abiding Imperial I just shot everyone who might BE a member of the underworld. Okay aside from being suprised that my connections are helping me, not having a bounty on me after that I looked to see what I got.
Languages. I always DID want to learn the Twi'lek Head-tail language after all, so many players converse in it. The ability to sell faction points. Well aside from the fact that Im not a traitor [and the rebel wont even talk to me], there is the simple fact that I'll earn a LOT more running Janta missions than I will running Imperial missions AND selling my FP. Or I can BUY FP. Noting of course how utterly useless all FP rewards are at the current time. So that tree was utterly useless. Fine, moving on.
Spices. Just what I always wanted! To own my own drug cartell! Okay all the novice spices are crap. To be expected. Cant give the stuff away, and cant consume it yourself fast enough [not that you'd want to] so despite all my desires to not Grind anything, I caved in and ground. No matter what way I did it it'd be grinding as *I* wouldnt use the spice normally. So on up the tree. And up, and up. Spices 3 and still nothing I could give away, and nothing I myself would use [I dont even use Muon Gold]. So I got spices 4. And then remembered the whole time that I hadnt cared the LEAST about my resources. Nothing to care about. I hadnt experimented ONCE. Nothing to experiment on. This is the ONLY crafting tree I can think of where resources and experimentation dont matter at all. Something I found particularly odd when I realized I had used around 11,000 units of Scaley Hide on a spice that was supposedly composed of dry leaves.
Okay so I slice. Not exactly something smugglers are known for. Hotwiring sure. Tinkering? Absolutely. Slicing however is the Star Wars term for Hacking. Slicers have better things to do than Smuggle. They might be EMPLOYED by Smugglers but thats about the extent of it. Mislabelling of profession aside. I slice open 20 Containers for level 1. Then go to terminals. Yay! A pay increase for slicing the terminal. Of course only for the first page of results, and as any hunter can tell you the missions you want are NEVER on the first page. Add to this the fact that you can only slice a terminal every 120 seconds and I found it absolutely useless. The XP was abysmal too. So I bought 39 more containers [the only profession I know of which RELIES on rare loot drops that also happen to be USELESS. Even Jedi dont NEED a lightsaber].
39 containers and nothing but crap later I can slice weapons. Did I note that the mini-game to slice gets tired after the second slice? Did I mention its a recipe for disaster, having missliced no less than 5 items during my grind due to mis-clicks? Okay so I find I have weapons that are giving 250xp a slice, and I only need a mere 75,000xp to master! 300 weapons. Done by someone who doesnt even rate the title Slicer? You'll never find any buisness, and I use up a weapon less than once a month. Again no legitimate way to master this so I go out and buy 300 Clamps, 300 WUKs, and 300 Survival Knives.
Since my point is to not grind, I actually read the text on the mini-game the first time. An Imperial Electronic Anti-Tampering Device. Interesting. On a survival knife which is just a sharpened piece of metal, even according to the weapon description. What idiot weaponsmith installed an electonic anti-tampering device in my BUTTER KNIFE?
Slightly amused I spend several hours slicing weapons nobody wants, not even me, then destroying them, all so I can say I mastered smuggler? And did I master it? Theres a point among most Artisan professions that mastering an artisan profession is about more than getting 18 skill boxes. Its about learning your materials, stockpiling you're materials, learning how to best experiment, spending time getting better at experimenting. Things that take time, not grinding to learn. And I found smuggler had NONE of that. In all honesty five minutes with a helper monkey and I would get a smuggler that is just as good as someone with an IQ of 240, who spends 23 hours a day online, and mastered smuggler on day 2 of release.
The experience has made me earn a VERY well deserved respect for ALL of you who have stuck with the smuggler profession. A profession HIGHLY in demand, yet underpaid, rediculously boring, and in my own personal opinion not worth the skill points unless you're an artisan who wants to slice your own armor or weapons. I applaud each and every one of you, and say now that you shall forever hold a place in my heart, and sympathy for your toils. Here's to all of you, in hopes that some year SOE might finally take you guys seriously!
Cymreig
Sun Sep 05, 2004 5:31 am
#2
Well as a grinder you will never be able to enjoy a profession and everyone will give you that same empty feeling. Develop your skills within the profession and within the limitations and you will be a lot happier. STOP GRINDING AND START PLAYING.
MujtahiD
Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:10 am
#3
Think that was his intent, but he went on to explain why he had no choice but to grind anyway, due to lack of experimentation and so on.
I feel your pain, assassin.
IWAssassin
Sun Sep 05, 2004 2:30 pm
#4
A Valid point a grinder will never enjoy a profession. This is why I try to say my goal is to MASTER everything, not to Grind it.
But with smuggler I found there was little choice in the matter, there was nothing to master in the first place. Nothing to have fun with, because as I said I could teach a monkey to be a master smuggler, its just the state of the profession due to not recieving enough attention from developers.
I can tell you honestly Ive had some fun with every single profession I have ever mastered [Rifleman, Marksman, Carbineer, Medic, Dancer, Doctor, Scout] Except Smuggler. Even Dancer, okay I admit I macroed the whole thing, but did so in order to talk with the other dancers and customers while dancing. Never AFK-ground any of it.
Thus I have to give my hats off to those of you who DO find it fun even in its current state, and those who stick with it in hopes one day it will be better. I myself found nothing redeeming in the whole thing, so for you to find something you enjoy I am thoroughly amazed, and salute you for it.
And yes often there is more than just Mastering and Dropping, even if you truely do master not just grind. Rifleman is my current example. My intent was to master and drop. I found I had so much fun with it once I reached master [all hail +95 rifle speed!] that I just couldnt give it up quite yet. I didnt find any of that with Smuggler, and frankly it saddens me because it's a profession with so much potential to be very cool, even without ever smuggling anything (:
But with smuggler I found there was little choice in the matter, there was nothing to master in the first place. Nothing to have fun with, because as I said I could teach a monkey to be a master smuggler, its just the state of the profession due to not recieving enough attention from developers.
I can tell you honestly Ive had some fun with every single profession I have ever mastered [Rifleman, Marksman, Carbineer, Medic, Dancer, Doctor, Scout] Except Smuggler. Even Dancer, okay I admit I macroed the whole thing, but did so in order to talk with the other dancers and customers while dancing. Never AFK-ground any of it.
Thus I have to give my hats off to those of you who DO find it fun even in its current state, and those who stick with it in hopes one day it will be better. I myself found nothing redeeming in the whole thing, so for you to find something you enjoy I am thoroughly amazed, and salute you for it.
And yes often there is more than just Mastering and Dropping, even if you truely do master not just grind. Rifleman is my current example. My intent was to master and drop. I found I had so much fun with it once I reached master [all hail +95 rifle speed!] that I just couldnt give it up quite yet. I didnt find any of that with Smuggler, and frankly it saddens me because it's a profession with so much potential to be very cool, even without ever smuggling anything (:
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