Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: Retirement is where every Master Craftsperson is headed
RNK ... The point is the game mechanics are askew. Im not alone on this. You were a master weaponcrafter with a store? Not that it diminishes your opinion either way....you just reach a volume in the upper tiers that cannot be handled, and I was wondering if you experienced that. I did and the game became a job. I didn't buy SWG so I could have another one of those.Or be informaed that I didnt provide a smile everytime I got interupted from doing something else in the game other than craft for others.
I was out hunting once, and some user demanded that I return to the store and craft his "L33t" weapon because he didn't have time to wait. This person eventually started insulting my "poor business practice" because I didnt fufill the child need asap. He could still be insulting me for all I know, I put him on ignore. Bad customer service? I dont care. Im playing a game. The money isn't real.
Additionaly, The people working on crafting should be prepared for the profession in the "end game". I'm not telling them not to be weaponsmiths, just letting themknow what its going to be like whenthey get to the top of the profession. This is a testimony from someone who's been there.
Dac_MerShanna wrote:
(Just a note: There’s a lot of chance when it comes to crafting. Not every crafted piece is perfect. Id like to tell some marksman "You missed that tusken raider! Everyone else hit it, you’re the worse marksman in the group. Here look at the log! Joe_marksman hit it for 600! And right above that you missed! You stink.")
Ahahahahahahaha, this is the funniest post I've seen here all day.
Anyway, Dac_MerShanna is right. You must have an above-and-beyond level of tolerance for humanity to be a Master Weaponsmith. Everyone is stupid. Everyone. Be sure you realize that every single player out there is going to be an idiot, and that you will be constantly under assault, from uneducated attempts to argue with you about your business, to pricing, to competition, to other Master Weaponsmiths being idiots, to explaining vendor bugs, gun bugs, damage types, armor ratings, why is $foo better than $bar, why do I not carry X, why can't I "just go make it", why can't I look harder for the resources, why this, why that, I want, I need, give me, it just goes on and on.
When you get that title, you will never again get a break to sit down, have a drink, and not answer the stupidest of questions, not for ten minutes. You will become the most jaded, irritable, cynical, dark person and will never understand how you became a part of mankind.
This situation happens to me about, oh, nine times an hour:
I move to a new location, all of 50m away from my old house, both houses plainly visible from each of their porches, even at the lowest draw distance. I have a very large mailing list of some 100 players who requested to receive new updates, so the first thing I do is immediately inform them all of the move, and tell them to update their waypoints.
So, I fully stock my vendor, make sure it's registered, and then have a seat on the porch of my new home to take a break.
"ace"
...
"ace"
"What?"
"where is ur vendor ur house is empty"
I stop a moment to take in the situation. This is a player on my mailing list, who has received an e-mail notification of the move, waypoint included. I am sitting all of 3 inches away from a brightly colored sign reading, "Weaponry By Ace". There is a clearly visible label on the overlay map, that every player standing in front of me, in front of my new house, can see.
"Inside my new house. Open your map and you can see right where it's at."
"i was in ur house there is no vendor there"
"Open your map."
"I AM TELLING U THERE IS NO VENDOR THERE"
/sigh
I stand up, directing the player to the door entrance two inches behind me.
"o"
...
"thx"
Although I've only been a master weaponcrafter for 2 weeks I can see myself becoming at least semi-retired in the near future. The biggest problem I have is that weapon performance doesn't seem to scale correctly as you move up the skill tree. Trying to explain to people why the elite carbine or dx2 pistol that they been dreaming about has stats that aren't any better than those on theircurrent weapon is just no fun. You can tell them about AR rating or damage type but that's a big time suck and I'm not even sure if it's all true. I don't like it when people who have never seen a tangle pistol are questioning my ability (like it really takes any) as a weaponcrafter when the see the statistics on the weapon.
I like it when people walk away feeling like they got a great weapon at a good price - not when the leave scratching their head wondering if they just got ripped off by some fast talking salesman. Maybe Sony will fix some of these problems in the next big patch. If not I'm not sure there's much long term satisfaction in this profession. The customers will become more demanding and you'll no ability to satisfy them.
Isis
I plan to avoid at least some of the "master weaponsmith burnout" by continuing to use the Swordsmith title even after they get there.
For the day and a half where I was using the "Expert Weaponsmith" title I was getting all sorts of tells about carbines, etc.
As soon asI switched to Weaponsmith, I was ONLY getting tells about melee weapons, and I was getting more tells than before.
And business is noticeably UP as a result. I was used to making batches of 5 weapons at a time and having them last a couple of days... now I make 5 two-handed curved swords before I go to bed and they're all bought by the time I wake up.
DToxWeaponsInc wrote:
Hehehehe...the trick here is specialization. I specialize in Melee weapons. I get 10 million tells a day, "Can you make me a Laser Rifle?", "Can I get an EE3 from you?", "Hey, how about a Tangle Pistol?"
My AFK response: "I deal in Melee weapons only."
Heh, half the time when I need a break, my AFK response is just, "No."
"u make guns"
"AFK auto-response: No."
This really is a most depressing post, and although I agree with a lot of the content as a whole, I have to say why dont you just go off planet for a few days and do a little hunting and such..I know what it is like by the way, day in day out tell hell, using my AFK as a response to 90% of my custom base as the tells just come in too fast.
The presure placed on the weapon smith really is pretty phenominal, so if your going up that way, and your good at what you do, be prepaired for it.
As for the bugs, lets hpoe they are sorted out soon. This may increase the number of tell you get but at least there will be some advancement as master 
So, Ace - in reply to your really funny post (and it's funny because, I'm sure, it's too true)...
Does this mean that you will stay a Master Weaponsmith for the 'long haul'?
I'm curious because I just got Fire 1 + 2 experimentals and money is still an issue for me (I understand that at my 3rd experimental it'll be better)...
I'm reading all of the people who grinded or sold TONS of stuff up their way to Master - and that's really kool - congrats. But for us who aren't that dedicated, or whatever, we don't have a chance in *edit*.
If, however, all of you masters start to retire...that's good news to us 'newbs' 
Thanks for a very informative thread.
Star Lin
I have been private now for just over one week and I'll say to you I love it. I had some crazy tell action going on as everyone else and to be honest this was the one and only factor that made me go private. I now craft once or twice a week fill some orders for friends and pa members and go about my business of enjoying the game. Only having to run 6-7 medium harvs verse getting the "crew" together once a week to place 40 or more harvs to stay up with demand is the second blessing. Being able to actually enjoy what I craft I would have to say is priceless.
Of all the odd tells I had gotten since the game had started only one real funny stuck in my mind.
(Random Clueless Retard) says Hi, I here your a great weaponsmith and was wondering what your stats for a laser rifle were and price.
I respond with the stats and price and the person on other end of tell is very excited.
(RCR) says, wow that is just great what planet are you located on?
I send out an email stating which planet I'm on, which city it is near and included a waypoint to vendor.
I tell him to check his email.
(RCR) Ok i got the waypoint, what planet are you on and near what city?
I tell him once again to read the email all the information is there....
(RCR) Why is your shop so far from town? Why do all you crafters make it so hard on us to get the merchandise? Why can't you just put them on bazaar so its easy for me? Are you some kind of **edit** on a power trip that you need to place your house so far from town?
At this point I find it amusing since my house at that time was only 1500 m from kadaara. I respond in kind and answered all his questions only for him to get very verbally abusive through tells. So much emotion over where I placed my house. This was the first big indication as far as tells that told me that maybe its time to not deal with the public anymore. Credits are a non-issue in game. There is no reason to get so many and weaponsmithing really felt like a job rather than being a game at least for me. I will always craft weapons for the joy of seeing how great something can come out, but I will never deal with the masses again. Since going private I have almost completed master smuggler, several boxes in pistoleer, will hit master seargent as a rebel today, and actually have time to spend with friends hunting and exploring.
There are alot of people that I think would enjoy this type of attention and tells but it jsut wasn't for me. Logging in to 20 tells and have them stream till I logged off was not fun. Now I still get a random tell here and there and I take the time to explain that I am not making weapons anymore, most people understand some are still clueless that this is just a game and its meant to be fun. I wish all the upcoming weaponsmiths alot of joy with the profession cause it is there, yet you don't need to deal with the public to get that joy in my opinion. =)
Lucky
DToxWeaponsInc wrote:
Get over it. You're not that special. Attaining Master Weaponsmith is possible without the factory exploit. If you're that concerned, get off your lazy arse,and grind up. I did.
I don't think I get what you mean. I didn't use the factory exploit. I know that attaining master is possible with grinding 1700 DL20's. Are you calling me lazy because I don't want to double click an average of 7 times across 8500 combines? I reserve the right to be lazy when something that is supposed to be fun requires you to participate in such an asinine activity. I'm not a teenager with nothing to do other that grind away at SWG.
To everyone who has contributed to this thread:
Thanks for the laughs and the advice. It's been a real eye-opener.
I'm one of a few Novice Weaponsmiths on Tempest. Most of us have worked through the weekend to get there and are starting to reach Int/Adv Firearms. And as business is picking up, I'm finding more and more of the people I see described in this thread. I've about come to the decision to not try and make Master Weaponsmith at all, to simply be proud of my (eventual)Gunsmith title, make some good operating capital, then find something else to do. Maybe an import/export business, or something. =)
At any rate, to those who have gone before, thanks for the wisdom. Even before getting into this profession, I wondered if this kind of burnout would be the case, and it seems to be quite normal across the board. I think I'll just kick back and enjoy making guns for a while and branch out from there.
Much obliged.
Dtox Wrote
"You can make Master Weaponsmith in 3 or 4 days if you work REALLY hard at it. No, you aren't going to do it while self-sufficient...but you can do it nonetheless.
Not all of the Masters are Beta-babies. You don't have to have a sneak preview to put 2 and 2 together. "Hmmm...let's see...how do I get past Artisan? Ummmm...OH! I can craft something. Uh-hyuck...so what to craft? OH!! Look, Chem. Surveyors give me 60 XP, and I only need Metal!" "Oh, how do I get past Novice Weaponsmith??? Oooooh...Projectile Rifle Barrel gives me 80 XP and only takes Steel! WOW!" How stupid do you really think people are?"
Dtox - the thing is, I started on day 1. I've read beta reports and such but I had never experienced it.
Now, 30 or 40 some-odd days after release I have learned this on my own, and from further readings.
But on day 1, heck, even week 1, I was still running around, absolutely clueless, killing things, trying to understand components, trying to understand crafting, general and otherwise, trying to figure out why tab and assist doesn't always work, etc...
I'm NOT saying that it's not possible, powergamers will ALWAYS be around - which is fine. And I'm a tad bit more casual (although you wouldn't know that if you ask my Fiancee)... It's just that if you familiar with the system in the beginning (or in beta or whatever) then you can leverage yourself to be in a better position when it finally is released.
Maybe it's beta-envy (who me?) but, were you in beta? The first week that you started, were you a master? (maybe you were due to the fact that the exp curve was less...or maybe I'm just slow)
But, I do agree with you on the Harvester issue - it should run as it whittles down in power/maintenance. Don't run at peak efficiency - but still run a little bit...
Star Lin - ShadowFire.
Good point, sadly this goes for every profession, at master level there is just nothing left to do. I made master combat medics a few weeks ago on sunrunner, since then ive been in the cantina chatting. No more exp from healing people, no need for combat exp because my template is where i want it to be. No faction points from PvE battlegorinds because i heal and dont shoot, no fun from themeparks because they suck! nothing to use the cash i made on because i have all the topcrafted things i need. So im a social profession with no social skills. Even PvP isent funny because i get jumped by 284 people as soon as i throw a lightbulp.
I started an artisan on another server to spend the time untill my subscription runs out doing something else than glaring at entertainers listening to the SWG1 theme.