Weaponsmith Archive

Thread: How to make non-master Weaponsmiths successful and compete in the trade

Stonecloud
Fri Mar 05, 2004 12:12 pm
#1

Ok folks. I thought long and hard about this issue, after reading many posts in the past on how theup and comingweaponsmith could make their mark as they worked up the profession, without just grinding the entire way through the profession to master to be able to make a decent weapon.


It's simple really, and i cant see why the devs havent thought of this. As a weaponsmith starts, they get the following weapons:


D18 Pistol

DLT20 Rifle

Metal Staff

Sword


Plus they get various sub components needed to make such weapons. (someone gonna mention the blaster rifle barrel issue i bet soon so you cant make a dlt20 at novice... i know i know) If your certified to own the schematic, give the full 10 points of experimentation. Yes, a novice weaponsmith with the ability to experiment on the above mentioned weapons to a full 10 points, as well as the sub components they also have schematics for.


As they gain skill boxes, they'll be able to of course obtain new schematics. Say they pick up Firearms crafting 1, they get the following:


DH17 Carbine

DLT20a Rifle

Scout Blaster


Now of course, the novice weaponsmith can make these weapons, with 10 points of experimentation. As they gain rank in the field, they will unlock various schematics. While some weapons will still require Master Weaponsmith to be able to produce, Some could specialize in just swords and melee weapons, others could specialize in munitions crafting and not have to worry about beinga master weaponsmith to produce most types of grenades and mines. And of course, if the novice weaponsmith has thier SEAS, they can gain access to the other 2 experimentation points as they gain schematics to use them.


I think this could also free up skill points to the casual player. Say a Commando wishes to make Thier own grenades (dunno why they ever took this away from commandos in beta) All they need to do is go up the Munitions tree. You could see People specializing more and more in grenade shops and such, at a fraction of the cost of full master weaponsmith in skill points. And what does a master weaponsmith have in the grenade department at master? Just the imperial Detonator. And i'm sure if any grenade speciality shops came to me, asking for me to make a schematic for them to produce this grenade, i'd just ask them to bring the required sub components of thiers, and resources, and they have those as well for sale.


Swordsmiths would pop up, Gunsmiths would pop up, Explosive manufacturers would pop up, and these titles would actually MEAN something to the player community. My only issue currently is figuring out how to rework the techniques line. Perhaps moving the OPTIONAL items that are involved in the crafting processes there like scopes and stocks, and the ability to use the new loot drop enhancers in the sub components. Basically a rating would be involved for items like krayt tissue, Nym's caps/feeders/vibro motors, Acklay Venom, Acklay bones, gorax bone shards etc. Depending on the quality of the enhancer, it could have a rating, requiring the smith to have obtained a certain level of the technique line to be able to craft the item into thier sub components. We've seen the base 30/.-3 krayt tissues and such, give that a rating of 1, require techniques 1 to be able to put it into a power handler. Say you have an exceptional tissue with 155/.-89 that would require Techniques 3... etc etc. And of course, this rating would have to be listed on the dropped items as well, just like a the new weapons like the Tenloss DXR6-b say at the bottom that it requires counter sniping 2 to be able to use.


This same exact Plan could work with armorsmithing as well, you'd see people specializing in chitin, tantel, mabari, ubese, padded more. Yeah i know it's not as great as the master level composite. But it needs fixing as well so the novice armorsmith can compete in a world already full of masters.


This idea if implemented is better than any proposed experimentation change that we've heard so far. It benefits everyone. The Master smith can be a little more relaxed and not have to build the lower end weapons, while the up and coming weaponsmiths gain a name for themselves while selling a competitive weapon.


Myrrax Hellfyre

-CSA- Master Weaponsmith

Starsider

Stonecloud
Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:31 pm
#2

feel so unloved, not a single comment after a few hours
Xieflow
Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:35 pm
#3

because non-masters should not be able to compete with masters.

Dabblers aren't really wanted...

I mean, it's the reason why SOE did the major CH nerf : To make a difference between masters and non-masters
Gorba_JinDar
Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:41 pm
#4






Xieflow wrote:
because non-masters should not be able to compete with masters.

Dabblers aren't really wanted...

I mean, it's the reason why SOE did the major CH nerf : To make a difference between masters and non-masters






Agreed. If they want to compete they can spend the time and money like the rest of us pre-holo weaponsmiths did. A novice weaponsmith shouldn't be able to compete, hence the title distinction of "Novice" and "Master."


Gorba





Gorba Jin-Dar
Master Bounty Hunter/ Master Pistoleer
Fear The Pickle!!!
Mosdl
Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:44 pm
#5

I'm working my way up WS, made my 2nd firearms box yesterday (have one exp. box), and have sold pretty much all I have cratfted, which has been d18's, dl44's and friends. There is a lower-weapon market, which you can make money off. Nobody seems to believe me I even managed to sell some on my vendor, which mainly stocks resources.



---
Mosdl
Master Shipwright, Master Artisan on Ahazi

Tatooine: Mos Oasis, Tatooine (4810 4062)
Bestine: -5233 3256 (900 meters outside of Theed)
p4Samwise
Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:47 pm
#6

I agree with you in general principle, Stonecloud. Unfortunately, you'll never get support from the weaponsmith community on this.


The problem, as I see it, is that all the current weaponsmiths have already done the grind to master (or given it up, because it's so completely unviable at non-master levels). Now that they've achieved master, many of them want to be sure that everyone else on the way up has things as difficult as they did. That's my theory, anyway. It's the same reason there's hazing. It's a cycle of violence. A novice being able to craft so much as a scout blaster that has some snowball's chance in hell of even approaching what a "master" can do would just rock the boat too much.


I had a thread a while back suggesting a system whereby novices could craft a very small number of items with a full 10 experimentation points, and even that was shot down, by and large.


I do like the idea of putting all the optional components and enhancements in the Techniques line - I never really liked that there was a whole branch of the skill tree devoted to increasing your experimentation points, since it meant that you had to grind that tree before you could really craft anything worthwhile. Being able to craft cheaper but still serviceable items without the Techniques tree is very appealing, and the Techniques tree would still be worthwhile because anyone who wanted to be at the top of their trade would want to be able to use those enhancements.


The one thing I'd change: give the novice 9 experimentation points, give the master the full 10. That would leave the master undisputedly at the top of the heap, but it'd still give novices a snowball's chance in hell, at least, instead of that pitiful 1 or 2 points they get now.


(Then combine that with my crackpot UXP idea and the profession would actually be fun to advance in! WOW!)



"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria

Blue glowie.
p4Samwise
Fri Mar 05, 2004 4:05 pm
#7






Xieflow wrote:

Dabblers aren't really wanted...




So we have this wonderfully complex skill system that lets us pick and choose and customize our characters with an almost infinite variation of different skills... and then we should completely cripple anyone who wants to take one branch of a skill tree but not the other? Why bother having a tree at all? Why not just a single line? :rolleyes:


Of course masters should be BETTER than dabblers and rule the market for the most part, but "dabbling" should still be a viable and fun playstyle. After all, I can "dabble" in Rifleman and shoot a rifle - not as well as a Master Sharpshooter, but much muchbetter than a Master Marksman! Why can't I "dabble" in Weaponsmith and craft laser rifles that are much much better than a Master Artisan's CDEF rifles but not quite as good as a Master Weaponsmith's T21 rifles?

Message Edited by p4Samwise on 03-05-2004 03:05 PM



"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria

Blue glowie.
Xieflow
Fri Mar 05, 2004 4:19 pm
#8

Hey, dabblers don't matter to me, I was posting SOEs. stance.

However, I would like to point out you can EASILY dabble Weaponsmith if you do it right.

C12 grenades sell, no matter *WHAT* the quality.

The Bazaar is a great way to sell low end weapons to the general public (especially with the 6k limit now)

But, remember, a master *should* be better than a dabbler. By far.

The main problem is, how easy credits are to come by. I started a new character on Bria a while back. You know the deal, no credits, a knife, and a melon (started as a brawler). Worked my way up 2 blocks of Unarmed, then decided I wanted to go rifle. Bought a DLT Rifle off the bazaar (there you go : New weaponsmith making a sale), and then went about doing missions until I had the 15,000 credits for a master weaponsmith laser rifle. Took me a few days at doing 2 missions a day. Not too tough to save up the credits.

However, right now, as a weaponsmith, I've only been doing high end expensive orders (Krayt weapons, limited use schematics, etc, basically no order under 100,000 credits in value)
Gorba_JinDar
Fri Mar 05, 2004 4:42 pm
#9


Thats pretty week that somebody one starred me for a realistic post. Novice weaponsmiths can compete. You can make low level weapons. With all of the holo grinding, there is a market for low end weapons that many masters don't stock. In addition you can always sell crates of weapons to smugglers who are grinding the slicing tree. Let's look at the original post in a different way. According to this train of thought, if I start a a car company tomorrow I should be thrown some sort of bone to compete with Porsche because I can't compete with their quality.


How absolutely ludicrous is this. Porsche is by far a superior product and has earned that distinction over time through advertising, customer loyalty, R&D, etc. If I want to compete with Porsche I need to make a similar product and work at least twice as hard. If you don't want to deal with being inferior to a master, then find a different profession. Though i'm sure i'll get one starred for this as well; one star me if my content sucks, not if my opinion is different than yours.


Gorba






Gorba Jin-Dar
Master Bounty Hunter/ Master Pistoleer
Fear The Pickle!!!
p4Samwise
Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:40 pm
#10

It's possible to put a lot of "work" into being a weaponsmith without necessarily filling every skill box. Many master weaponsmiths have simply macro-ground the entire profession and maybe bought some decent resources, while those non-master weaponsmiths that choose not to grindwill struggle for months, carefully harvest the very best resources they can find, and still make weapons that are far inferior to those produced by the macro-grinders with mediocre resources (what good are 1000-quality resources if you only have one experimentation point to use?).



"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria

Blue glowie.
ImaTwilek
Fri Mar 05, 2004 10:17 pm
#11

This has gotten ridiculous. I will never accept that a nov weaponsmith or a "dabbler' can even come close to the level of weapons a master can make, or divide the schematics and what not. No ones forced youto become a master, but if you want to make weapons at that level, then earn it. What difference does it make on how you get there? Macro grind, warhead grind, whatever. The true masters will emerge out of the fly by nighters, and it will reflect in the products they make. This is an insult to theDEDICATED players. 90% of players never take into account that crafters are the only type of players that actually give back to the galaxy. That fancy shmancyweapon your weilding was made by someone who DEDICATED his time, credits, and skill pointsso that you can run around having a frag fest to your next level.


Ideas like this will spawn things like "why not let everyone be able to hunt jedi?" Yeah, so that BH's who mastered scout, and marksman and what ever level in BH you need to be able hunt them, can feel jacked, because there are players who dont feel the neccessity to dedicate themselves. I'm glad the CH pokemon era is done with, this was suppose to be a Star Wars game, right?


You want to compete in the trade, then do so on the bazaar(low end market), because your odds are better there.



I didn't come here to win, I came here to fight!
Ahazi: Lelan 2 3 4
HanseSOE wrote:
For those who cry nerf...
The technical term for this is "systems balancing", prior to release. After release, it's still balancing, but changes can be considered nerfs or enhancements.
Since you don't have it yet, if you cry nerf, I'll make sure your name is on the list to spew chicken feathers as your characters talk.
Stonecloud
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:25 am
#12






ImaTwilek wrote:

This has gotten ridiculous. I will never accept that a nov weaponsmith or a "dabbler' can even come close to the level of weapons a master can make, or divide the schematics and what not. No ones forced youto become a master, but if you want to make weapons at that level, then earn it. What difference does it make on how you get there? Macro grind, warhead grind, whatever. The true masters will emerge out of the fly by nighters, and it will reflect in the products they make. This is an insult to theDEDICATED players. 90% of players never take into account that crafters are the only type of players that actually give back to the galaxy. That fancy shmancyweapon your weilding was made by someone who DEDICATED his time, credits, and skill pointsso that you can run around having a frag fest to your next level.


Hmm someone is a bit disgruntled i see...


Ideas like this will spawn things like "why not let everyone be able to hunt jedi?" Yeah, so that BH's who mastered scout, and marksman and what ever level in BH you need to be able hunt them, can feel jacked, because there are players who dont feel the neccessity to dedicate themselves. I'm glad the CH pokemon era is done with, this was suppose to be a Star Wars game, right?


Hmm this is the weaponsmith forum, not the "yay nerf CH forum" or the whining forum...


You want to compete in the trade, then do so on the bazaar(low end market), because your odds are better there.





My Ideas were basically for the good of the class. The current system totally blows, It's either your a master or i dont want it mentally needs to stop. I AM a Master Weaponsmith, i have BEEN a Master weaponsmith since a few weeks after release. I REMEMBER when people wanted my weapons no matter where on the tree i went first. some people were praising me for stopping techniques just to learn firearms 1 i beleive it was to make a scout blaster for them...


THESE were the days i was happiest in the trade. People didnt care if it was from a master or not. because... ANY crafted weapon was better than what you got off a meatlump, or one of the thugs in nashal on talus. This is what the class SHOULD BE. Not a class where a newbie has to spend countless hours,resourcesand credits grinding the profession to master before they can make thier first sales.


I have had what i'm told is the best shop on the server for almost a year now... And i STILL take time to help the younger smiths out. Heck, i've been known to throw a couple old 100k stacks of an old resource thats out dated at a newbie who was seriously wanting to be a weaponsmith to help them out. And i've even sat down and taught a few of the young smiths how to craft a quality weapon, how to spend what points they have, how to change the weapons around to customize them to the users preferences. Now thats taking on an apprentice for real. One of my first apprentices, is my partner today. Found him just hitting master, and we combined our shops, resources, lots the works with complete trust in each other. And today OUR shop has perty much the best reputation on the server. If you want it, we got it.


Thing is the young weaponsmith stands no chance against me. Again the young smith is also going to have a poorer resource selection than the older, more Senior smiths. Their weapons still wont be near as good as a masters for that very reason. Maybe we need a server wipe for some of the people bashing this, to have them relive the days as when you grinded up, you were taking orders, making weapons, and making credits to SUPPORT yourself through the process. We had it rough back in the day, maybe some people need a wakeup call of what used to be.


So instead of flaming me, claiming a novice will never be better than a master is completely in your eyes. Are you worried an up and coming smith is going to beat you with the resources on the server he pulled out of the ground today with artisan sampling to make 1 weapon? Or are you going to look at your stack of6 month old resources that what he pulled up today cant hold a torch to... Be positive guys, what can we do to make the system work?!


Myrrax Hellfyre


-CSA- Master Wookiee Weaponsmith


Starsider


Xieflow
Sat Mar 06, 2004 12:37 am
#13

Here's how it is : Many players have millions of credits. They want the BEST WEAPONS. Some will pay an extra 300,000 credits for a weapon with just ten or fifteen more damage, need be.

Also, a non-master weapon should *NEVER* be better than a master weapon, plain and simple. *I* was willing to invest the time, effort, credits, and skill points into making master, and if you aren't willing to, you shouldn't be able to compete.

Look at it this way. If you are a Master Rifleman, and you dueled a Novice Rifleman a few times (or even a 4-4-0-0 Rifleman, or about "halfway") on "equal ground" (both buffed with similar weapons and armor, and both of equal skill), you would be ANGRY if you didn't win at least 90% of those duels. You spent more time working up, you spent more skill points, etc, YOU should be better.

And, if you feel you "can't afford" to grind weaponsmith, remember, selling weapons on the bazaar is a GREAT way to make cash, (make sure you put them on the bazaar in "new player cities" like Bestine. Selling C12 grenades is an EXCEPTIONAL way of making cash (quality rarely matters on these, and they can go anywhere from 8,000 credits a crate to 20,000 credits a crate). Selling Weapon Upgrade Kits is another great way to make cash (quality on these does *NOT* matter).

Also, another thing to point out. The TECHNIQUES TREE is very good. If you *DO* want to dabble in Weaponsmith, just make sure you've at least got all 4 technique blocks. 7 experimentation points *WILL* get you quite far, and I'm sure you could make a modest living on this, especially if you maintain a wellstocked vendor. Remember, convience is often more important to players than stats or price to most non-master fighters, because they are going to wear that weapon out quickly anyways. In fact, the only thing you *won't* be selling as a seven block weaponsmith are the big custom orders (Krayt weapons, Scythes, etc)

Also, if you are a seven point weaponsmith with great resources, you will easily "outrank" a master weaponsmith with ok resources.
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