Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: The Truth About Weaponsmithing
This is a post I placed in my server's forums that several requested I place here:
Now that I have retired, I can write what I am sure will be a very unpopular, but interesting peek into the world of weaponsmithing.
RESOURCES
This is the key to the weaponsmithing game. He who has the best stuff makes the best guns. PERIOD. It's a lot of stuff we have to collect and it changes daily. Fail to make a scout blaster with advanced components with good stats and it's over. A weaponsmith must collect riduclous amounts of every resource their scematics need and must scrap the old stuff when something even slightly better comes out. Nightmare. What's worse is once we get out of our basements and start really doing some good sales, we need to hire resource dealers to mine this for us.
A smart weaponsmith will put 25 resource dealers on their friends list. I strongly suggest that when you send email to your resource dealers asking for resources that you send them individual emails or make it look like it's just going to justthem. Why? because (sorry guys) most resource dealers (not all) are not real businessmen and will not fill your order. This is ok, as for the most part none of us are real businesspeople. Their job is very boring and believe me you will have to get on them for the stuff you think you will need a lot of.
Did you seethat reactive gas I just sold for 21 cpu? Guess how many people I asked to mine it for me.15. Guess how many delivered. One. I spent 500K on heavy gas processors and mined the rest myself. Ostrine carbonate ore. Same thing. This fact is the only reason I give Thoax ANY slack in the 5 million units at 5 cpu scandal. Sometimes it takes a ridculous slap in the face like thisto make it happen.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
This is the key to your business. This macro got me a lot of repeat business:
/tt Add me to your friends list. Refer me to your friends and I will give you a discount on future orders; /thank;
The key is not to be a jerk to the people that are completely disrepectful, rude and selfish. These are the kinds of people that will go out end tell all their friends lies just to not do business with you. I have heard horrible stories about each weaponsmith that are simply not true.
For me that wasn't so easy. I am quick to speak my mind and am not going to get pushed around by some 13 year old that is angry with his single parent and taking it out on me. Also, I was a magnet for it.
KEEP WEAPONS STOCKED. If I had made every gun, I would have made so much more money than I had. Before T21's came out, I pretty much only made the laser rifle. If I had stocked jawas, dlts, tuskens, etc in rifles alone, I would have made a fortune more than I did. Run out of weapons and you risk losing a customer and all of their future referrals to a reputation of never being in stock.
TELLS
I can't begin to decribe what tell hell is like. MOST customers will send you 5 tells before they get to their point. A million creidt a day crafter gets 6 tells from different people the same time on a pretty regular basis. Most people still don't know what the best carbine is and what the difference is between them. It is absolutely amazing to me. I swore the basic weapon questions would reduce as time went on, and it has, but not much. I still get 20 tells a minute sometimes and I have been retired for 2 weeks+.
Tandis said he was always in tell hell and told star-shine and I that we must use the /reply command a lot. That command does not work for a busy crafter. You can't reply to the first 5of the last6 people that just sent you a tell, and you have to respond to the first 5.
CONCLUSION
My partnership with Vortex was a godsend to me. He made half the weapons, I made the other half and both of us still kept making more and more money as time went on. I reccomend this highly to weaponsmiths struggling to compete with the big guys (and gal). Twice the customer service. Your partner picks up the slack when you just can't handle the tells anymore and two people hounding down resource dealers is much better than one.
Sorry to anyone I may have indirectly offended by this. Not all customers are tards and not all resource dealers are lazy. A lot of people dabble in resources for a little extra cash and everyone needs weapons and wants them now.
Good read, must be a really tough job with only credits as the compensation. There is a point of diminishing turns too, so credits aren't even that satisfying.
How much did you end up making through all that hassle though?
If you are going to be a weaponsmith, then you are going to have to be a weaponsmith and nothing else. I'm very glad it is that way. It's a proffession that is in no way limited by game skill mastery. The more personal effort you put in the better WS you will be. Those that keep themselves on the cutting edge, really do enjoy the advantages and can not be threatened by new comers to the field. It's an excellent balance.
cyberrico wrote:
TELLS
I can't begin to decribe what tell hell is like. MOST customers will send you 5 tells before they get to their point. A million creidt a day crafter gets 6 tells from different people the same time on a pretty regular basis. Most people still don't know what the best carbine is and what the difference is between them. It is absolutely amazing to me. I swore the basic weapon questions would reduce as time went on, and it has, but not much. I still get 20 tells a minute sometimes and I have been retired for 2 weeks+.
Tandis said he was always in tell hell and told star-shine and I that we must use the /reply command a lot. That command does not work for a busy crafter. You can't reply to the first 5of the last6 people that just sent you a tell, and you have to respond to the first 5.
Warning learn frommy mistake: Weaponsmith+Politician starting a city=super Tell Hell.
Great post. These are things everyone should know.
Jounville Blackferne
I am a 3 month old son, a wife that works, i teach and have a few friends that play online at the same times i do. I love the game, have faith the bugs will get worked out, and it's fun to dream in star wars terms all the time.
I wanted to be a weaponsmith from the first day i bought the game, which was a week after release. I grinded slowly, helped my friends when i could, let them help me all the time with $$$ as i didnt have the time to run missions and grind at the same time.
After a about 2 months as a master now, i have still not seen any ostrine ore for advanced handlers, probably the most important piece in weaponsmith crafting. I got tired of trying to mine all of the resources myself, nearly dropped the class, then decided i was going to narrow my focus. Pistols. Thats it. I make a few basics like VK, WUKs, beginner rifles or carbines for the bazaar, and make a crate or 2 of something else when one of my friends needs it, but im only stocking pistols. I don't have time for the rest and as i am working in pistoleer, i will have firsthand info about what i need. I would encourage anyone who does not want to get overwhelmed to focus, let someone else make the other stuff, not worry about making more $$$ than you could ever spend, but enjoy the class, the game, and still be profitable in the long run.
Just a little perspective, from a WS still going strong, well in between the bottles and diapers i guess...
-Rambis
Being a EE in RL I found the crafting plan in SWG very appealing. So much so that I became a pure crafter, and an Independant one to boot (I have no guild) It took me from launch day to 1 month ago to gain all of my skills. I am still adjusting my minor skill a little but for the most part I've mastered what I set out to
Master Artisan, Master WeaponSmith, Master Droid Engy, Minor Archy 4/4/4/0
The poster of this thread said one thing that rings very, very true. Minerals, you will be harvesting newer versions everytime they spawn. If you do not have thousands of different types of the same mineral your going to be one poor WC.
Also let me reinforce something---If you happen to have an Ostrine shift on your server stack harvesters deep and wide on it. You will not find an other mineral more rare than Ostrine.
Arkkyle
Master Artisan
Master Weaponsmith
Master Droid Engy
Minor Archy 4/4/4/0
Ostrine is important, but Corbantis has had four types of Ostrine in the last month (including some great OQ977 that just shifted in a couple of days ago). What we desparately need is some Diatium copper. Corbantis hasn't had any Diatium in nearly four months, and what's left from the last shift sells in the hundreds of credits-per-unit, which I can't even come close to affording. I'm close to master WS, but the way I see it I won't be able to open shop until Diatium shifts in. Hopefully that will be in the next week or two...
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
This is a good post and happens to be 100% true. Leads to what you saw at the bottom of his page next to his name..... (retired).
We have three master WSin my shop, we all stay as busy as we want and only make the best.Ihave not burned out solely becauseIdiscontinued the production of all custom weapons and repairs and just do schematic and factory work. I put krayt weapons up on my vendors when I make them, I dont sit and burnall my time in my shop likeI did the first few months of the game.I paythe highest ratios to keep me on the top of the list to all the suppliers so my orders get filled first. I buy every top resource on the market for nearly double the ratio anyone else is willing to pay.
Istay AFKnearly 100% of the time with an /afk message that gives them the waypoint to my shop and what im buying at what price/ratios. I am part of a top knotch PA that supports me 100% and I go out and do other things regularly other than smith including extensive PvP. Almost every single weaponsmith that started at server launch like me is burned out and gone with very few exceptions on my server. Im still having a blast.
Silva Dor'Dali
Master Weaponsmith
Resident Anchorhead Insurgent Democracy (RAID)
Mos Quito, Tatooine (soon to open)
Anchorhead, Tatooine (-200,-5100)
Sunrunner Has not seen Ostrine since server launch.
Arkkyle
Master Artisan
Master Weaponsmith
Master Droid Engy
Minor Archy 4/3/2/0
Ryde wrote:
Also let me reinforce something---If you happen to have an Ostrine shift on your server stack harvesters deep and wide on it. You will not find an other mineral more rare than Ostrine.
In principle, I agree with you, there's always some resource that just never appears. It is not always, however, Ostrine carbonate ore.
Tempest has had at least three ostrine spawns since server launch, one of which was exceptional. Our particular bugaboo has been those silly byrothsis gems, which spawned at server birth and never again....
And always expect the following questions frequently:
Do you make powerups?
Can you repair my gun?
What are the stats on your [weapon name]?
I find it easy just to make an e-mail with weapon stats, and forward it to anyone that asks.
Well, that is some true post indeed.
I´m a pure crafter, too, but I´m not pushing it. Other WS on Radiant
stand at Theed Starport shouting their newest gun-stats almost 24/7,
while I decided to go easy. I´m a Master for over 2 month, and I still have
a rather peaceful live. My Vendors are rather well stocked, the shop is earning
me all I need - what more could I want ? 100 mil ? 200 ? 500 maybe ?
There is still no big use for cash in SWG, and maybe there will never be any.
Being a pure crafter, I don´t eat up Krayt Guns and Nightsister Armor, so where
should Ispend all that cash ?
As long as you don´t have the personal goal to be the top-notch-all-know-me-and-love-me WS,
you´ll have a better live going easy.
P.S.: Radiant hasn´t seen Rainbow Gems since Launch - every server has it´s curse 