Tailor Archive
Thread: The Big Tailor Issues (LONG)
1) Decay. As a Master Tailor, my sales are already starting to decline, simply because people only need so many outfits. The idea of "Decay by Death" is totally flawed as a final solution. People will just wear cheap (or no) clothes to hunt, and no one in their right mind will wear the most expensive items when there's a risk of death. So decay on death will make a big boost to the market for Artisan-level items, but do nothing for the real problem.
Items must decay over time, preferably when in use. It has to happen, no matter whether some people dislike it. Make it nice and gradual, add an email when the item 'poofs', and make well-made items last a good long time. But without decay, Tailoring will die as a profession.
2) Uniqueness. Right now, there is virtually no difference between the actual goods that any two Tailors of the same skill can make. All Master Tailors may as well be clones. Decay + Durability would be a big help in this area, but that's not a very "fun" difference.
One big improvement would be for every high-level item in the game to require at least one unique reqource, like the SpecOps and BountyHunter packs that require specific metals. It sounds like they're planning to add new clothes fairly soon, and if each of those items required a rare resource, it would greatly help differentiate Tailors, as each would have a few items that the others do not. It also gives reasons for Tailors to explore and seek out those materials, and allows for some real supply n demand to occur, with some items becoming very rare.
Another possibility would be to link Colors to the quality of resources + experimentation. Want those bright colors? You need a high quality item in order to have them available. Use cheap materials w/o experimentation, and you only have the washed out colors to choose from. Sockets should also be the result of resource quality and experimentation, not just a number pulled out of a hat.
3) Fix the small issues. It's depressing when easy-to-fix but truly annoying bugs just sit in the game for many weeks. Necklaces have been invisible in every interface window for a long, long time, when it's a simple database entry that stops them from being visible (the camera is mis-set). Items that can't be colored properly shouldn't take weeks to be corrected. The big issues may get all the attention, but running into a bunch of issues that one guy could fix in a few minutes, really wears you down as a player.
4) Allow all colors on every item. I understand the reasoning behind limited palettes for certain materials. But it sucks. It's not fun for the tailor who has to explain which items can't be matched by color, and which items simply can't have any bright colors. It REALLY sucks for the customer, who has no idea what colors can be on ANYTHING, since it's different for almost any item. And a LOT of people simply cannot have the outfit they want, because the colors aren't possible. This is a case where the realism of whether you can dye hide bright blue needs to go out the window for fun. And is it really unrealistic to think that a culture with droids and spaceships MIGHT have figured out how to make a blue trenchcoat?
5) Make the bonuses work. There has been zero progress on this issue since launch, which is totally unacceptable. This could be a huge factor in making Tailors more unique. The Bio-Engineer cloths need to be working properly, and I'd also suggest allowing Bio-Engineers to make the Attachments for socketed items (or to greatly increase the types of stats BE cloths can enhance). Once decay is in, tracking down attachments as loot will be a real pain, but if BEs could make them, it would greatly enhance the BE and Tailor professions, and give players more fun by increasing their options for clothing.
That's my list. The main thing in common between all 5 items is that none of them require new systems or major code changes; all are based on systems that already exist (or used to exist) in the game already. I'm hoping to see at least a few of these issues addressed by the time the next big monthly update arrives, since each time I log in w/ no progress made, I tend to get frustrated a bit easier, and log off a bit sooner...
I like the game, and I understand that there's a lot of issues affecting a lot of different classes. I also do other things: hunt, socialize, explore a bit, etc... but Master Tailor consumes a lot of my time, and a lot of my skill points. If I get so frustrated with my main skill that I don't want to do it any more, I'm not going to give back the points and pick a new profession, I'm going to give back the account and pick a new game.
Any thoughts?
Is hilarious.
NatiraSun wrote:
And is it really unrealistic to think that a culture with droids and spaceships MIGHT have figured out how to make a blue trenchcoat?
A+ post. Really well stated!
Great post. As a game designer myself I understand the problems that are going on. I also understand that you don't put a product out if your not ready to go.
It's starting to look painfully obvious that I am in some sort of Beta. Like the person who posted this said I will not start over I will simply choose another game.
Most of the bugs that people have reported are still here. I do not understand how your team is not fixing these and insteads choose to play around with game mechanics.
To say that you want one global solution is pretty weak. Ever class has its own wants and needs. Hell the way I see the game as being designed people are mixing and matching skills. So you have people that are jack-of-all-trades. I wonder how all of these changes are affecting them?
Where are all of your designers in all of this? Is there even a single designer dedicated to each proffession? These classes appear way to big for one individule to handle.....
I understand but your not paying me to test your product...I am paying you!!!
Categories would definitely fall under #3, since it doesn't even require a programmer, just someone for data-entry. The Armorcrafter issue is one I forgot, since I don't do it, but it's also ridiculous that it hasn't been fixed by now...Mokusoh - I don't think we need to be the fashion police. If someone wants an all bright red outfit, why must their gloves and shoes be a rusty brown? Why can't someone have a blue cloak if they want? If someone mixes orange, purple, and yellow, that's their choice, just as it will be everyone else's choice to ridicule them mercilessly.
You can make a truly garish and hideous outfit with the current coloring system, in fact it's easier since many of those limited palettes are stock full of nasty colors. All the limitations do is make it harder to make -what people want-, which is my entire goal as a Tailor.There are already a number of items that require rare components (packs, some boots, a Twilek hat). These items are harder to make, and more rare than other items. Expanding on that system would be a wonderful way to differentiate tailors, and give us more to do and think about. It would also diminish the problems with prices dropping extremely low, since rarity lowers supply. I think tailoring can be all the things you mentioned, plus a whole lot more. I'd like it for more of my profession to be about something other than clicking buttons on the crafting device. I've had people try to sell me resources, and it would actually have been more interesting if I needed something, but gathering the resources a tailor needs is so easy that there is no need to interact with anyone else, or travel, or seek the resources out. Instead you just step out on your front porch every few days. I consider that a negative. To me, hunting down rare resources would be fun. Harvesting common resources is boring.
Everyone try imagining this: You log on. Time to fill some orders. Instead of clicking the exact same buttons as every other tailor, you get to decide whether to experiment for more colors, more sockets, or greater durability. Now it's time to harvest resources. Instead of just dropping harvesters on any old resource, you get to evaluate whether a better quality resource is worth travelling further for, whether you should harvest the mediocre resource you just found, or keep looking. Instead of finding everything you need within walking distance, you get to hunt for rare resources, perhaps by travelling to other worlds, or watching the bazaar, or talking to the contacts you've made among the resource traders.
THAT is a game I would greatly enjoy playing. And the best part is that all of that stuff is already in the game, it just a few last bits of code to tie it all together. And it's all optional. Tailors that don't want to be bothered with hunting down rare or high-quality resources, don't have to. They can still make most items, with decent quality. But the more devoted tailors can set themselves apart through being able to make rare items, having more colors, more sockets, and higher durability. Some tailors will have some of those things, and a few will have all of them. Variety is key to making the game interesting, and allowing us to feel our characters are unique.
Great post, you nailed all bigger problems with this profession.
I hope Holocron and the dev's reads this post and follow the advices,
the new decay system is totaly unacceptable.
I've decided to quit tailor unless they start to listen to us.
NatiraSun wrote:
...
1) Decay. As a Master Tailor, my sales are already starting to decline, simply because people only need so many outfits. The idea of "Decay by Death" is totally flawed as a final solution. People will just wear cheap (or no) clothes to hunt, and no one in their right mind will wear the most expensive items when there's a risk of death. So decay on death will make a big boost to the market for Artisan-level items, but do nothing for the real problem.
...
Most likely there was written already a lot about this topic. I just want to add a little sidenote or two.
"Decay by death" would lead to what was practice on the PvP server of EQ, when your killer could loot your equipment. When facing death, players would quickly put their stuff into bags.
As far as I understand, when item-decay is put into game for clothing, that will only affect newly crafted items. So that would not solve the problem at all, since almost everyone has already a set of "undestroyable" clothing. I would guess, that the prices for "pre-nerfed" items will skyrocket, the prices for new clothing will dramatically drop. A disturbance in the force! 
My suggestion for a solution. Leave item-decay for clothing out of game, but instead implement tons schematics for fancy, sexy and the ohso often wanteddangerous/smugglerish looking clothing. Oh, and for hats, masks and hooded cloaks, too.
Doh,I just noticed a grammar error in my post. Sorry. I am no native English speaker.
/em wonders why the heck there is no "edit" button.
Wonderful post, well written and hits most of our major issues. On number 3, the 'small issues' being fixed, might help to expand and list out those items with the problem palettes. Pocketed Shorts, Luxurious Gown, etc, which no longer allow us to changethe major part of their fabric color.
One more item I'd like to see myself, not as large as those 5 or the armorsmith bug, is an update to the categories for clothing. Move the wookie clothes to the Wookie Garb category, move the rest of the gloves out of the Misc category to Handwear, and then name the Misc category 'Skirts'. And move wearable containers to the clothing category..you'd be surprised how many customers tell me they can't find my backpacks on the vendor. There are several others that need moving around slightly, but that's the big hits. This whole piece actually could fit under your topic 3. This would finally allow me to get rid of my "Wookie" vendor, so that wookies can quickly scan for their items and non wookies won't mistakenly buy wookie only gear.
Allow for a wider selection of colors in order to make it match better, yes, but not any color on any item.
Designing an outfit for someone is not about making every single item be the same color, it's about making colors work together. I believe the reason that SOE made it so that not every item can have the same shade of...black, for instance, is to reflect that the clothes are supposed to be made out of various materials that reflect the light differently.
Our uniqueness as tailors shouldn't come from managing to get hold of certain resources since once a resource is found somewhere it spreds easily across the whole galaxy.
No, it should be a question of how we use color, what we can convince our customers that they look good in, how much more durable we have managed to make our items during experimentation and how good we are at utilising biocomponents.
Apart from the parts where I disagreed with your post it was great!
What I'd like to see is an additional few items of clothing added in each monthly update. Just a few new items for people to want and for us to create, would go a long way towards keeping things fresh.
But I don't want new schematics unless the fundamental problems that can make tailoring a boring and monotonous profession are first fixed. The good news is that none of them require major system overhauls or new features to work. The bad news is that we've seen little progress on any of them.
Just a few new colors in the "drab leather pallette" would be plenty i suppose. Maybe a sort of washed out navy blue, a lighter but brighter blue, a simple (not bright or obnoxious) red, and a decent plum purple.
Those colors would match up to brighter outfits and not clash with wookiees.
Oh and the "big leather pallette" could use all of the colors it doesnt have above and a proper green that doesnt look like puke.
