Smuggler Archive
Thread: Auto pull history judge for yourself
While this is a pain in the a$$, it's not gamebreaking. They'll get it fixed soon enough. In the meanwhile, enjoy the taste of launch. Now you know how we ground it out in the beginning.
Hello everyone. Like all of you, I have been following this autopull change with some interest as it seems its another negative done to us, rather than using the available manpower at SOE and Lucasarts to make positive changes to our much abused profession. I decided to go back and review the meager posts from the powers that be on this issue, and really comb through them to see if we've been misled or if we've misread something in what they said. Take a look at the posts in question, and see what you think.
The first hint of this change was posted in the patch 9 notes about 6 weeks ago. The following was posted, and caused us all some confusion:
Profession: Smuggler - you will no longer be able to slice an item by using a tool in a crate. You will have to remove it from the crate first.
At first, we all believed that this was an attempt to fix the issue we've had with autopulling precision laser knives, and losing 9 charges upon pulling them from a factory crate. Pulling Armor Upgrade Kits and Weapon Upgrade Kits did not change from the previous methods used to slice. However, the knife problem was still there, so we believed that this fix, whatever it was, did not work as intended.
5 weeks pass, and we all played the game as was our usual. When patch 10 hit test center, it was discovered that the above note had become true - we could no longer auto pull WUK's and AUK's from factory crates. This is a minor inconvenience, but for large slicing orders it can have a real impact on time and fun factor. This change was not mentioned in the patch 10 literature, and so faithful smugglers on Test Center filed bug reports and posted in the feedback threads daily in an effort to get it fixed.
There seemed to be some light at the end of the tunnel, when in a Stratics Chat session, Thunderheart announced some information regarding this issue when asked a direct question from an attendee:
[18:48] <TH> The autopulling from crates was the result of a change to a different part of the system. I have support from the team to change it back. its just a matter of time now. Sorry for the inconvenience and yes we do love smugglers
We as a body were somewhat relieved, as this post indicated to us that they were aware of the problem and were working to fix it. We continued to monitor the situation as time passed, getting more and more nervous as it appeared that the issue was not getting resolved, until finally on patch day, or worse fears were realized and this change live, and without documentation in the patch notes it was a part of.
Many smugglers seemed to be outraged at this, some threatened to quit the game, the profession, or public slicing all together. Some decided to raise prices to compensate for the added time, and many spirited debates ensued about the seriousness of this alteration. No official word had been posted, despite the repeated posts of smugglers in the feedback threads, and attempts from Caylin, the smuggler correspondent, to get answers from the developers in the channels he has available to him.
Finally, this post appeared:
Thunderheart wrote:
Vlherg wrote:Any hint as to whether slicing tools will again autopull from crates in the near future
The best hint I have is that I'm working with Blair to get it added into a P10 minipublish
So it seems that we are now waiting for a minipublish, which could be two to four weeks away. However, in the meager responses we have received regarding this issue, from Thunderheart as luck would have it, there has been no lies or deceit.
Or has there?
Note that the patch 9 note clearly states that this change is going into effect. It did not go in with patch 9, however. This patch note has the air of deliberateness and knowledge aforethought.
When thunderheart makes his stratics chat statement, he clearly states that it was a result of a change to another system. This statement makes the change seem to be one of an unintended consequence, rather than a deliberate alteration of a methodology. He also stated that the team supports changing it back and it was merely a matter of time. This implies quick action, although it does not specifically say a date or time that this will be fixed.
Finally, thunderheart says that he has a hint that he is working with Blair to get the change added to a minipublish. Read that carefully. It means that the fix we all want is not yet slated for any developer time, and he is working to get it included on the schedule for a patch 10 minipublish.
In conclusion, this highly touted and visible issue that they have accidentally planned since patch 9 and will be changing in a matter of time,has yet to get any time in the post patch 10 schedule to fix.
Personally, its my belief that if Thunderheart is as successful in getting this on a patch 10 minipublish as JustG was in getting the panic shot change "looked at again", we're stuck with this for a very long time.
But hey, draw your own conclusions.