Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: Is this a good idea or a bad idea
First off, the certifications should be quest based and not random loot. Sure you might be send to lok to kill and rear mob, that do not spawn as part of the quest, but one you have to bump in to randomly (and why not give a badge for it at the same time "have killer uber mob 1").
This would make profession theme parks, to make the certifications rear the quests just had to be though.
This should also go for weapon smiths. We should also gain the schematics for the new weapon in the same faction, but once learned it would be presently (like RIS armour).
These quests should not be about killing stuff, it could be something as simple as using a computer in a dungeon to download the schematic or something more complex like randomly running in to a hermit on tatoine that can teach you how to make a kinetic tusken rifle.
Secondly the quests should first be able to be undertaken when the proper skills have been obtained. It should even be impossible for thoughts not qualified to se that that this was the right place to complete a quest. So if anyone other then a WS ran in to the hermit, they would just get the random thinhs NPC's say.
I think I was clear in the original post. That looting a cert. Would auto download to your character. Even if say it were a pistoleer cert and you were a master doctor. Personally I would wonder if it would be fair if everytime a person that played for six months changed a profession he would have to go through all the quests again.
Also I wonder if static quests are all that great to begin with. A good version of chance would be to stumble upon a npc in distress, and once you complete the quest that npc goes elsewhere to be rediscovered. The advantages are obvious you curtail the ebay market. The player gets to improve their character, and even the uber weapons get curtailed. A weaponsmith can make a thousand of a gun, but how valuable is it if only a hundred person on a server could use it.
Personally I am thinking aint this game getting a little beyond camping. If this is the only way to get ahead how fun can it be. It would be nice for actual long time work to add up to more then a bloated bank account. Even the certs that would add non combat content might be a blast. Add new angles to professions that have gotten stale.
Heck think about the real bonus in something like this. We have what twenty or so dungeonesque locations in the galaxy. Some that nobody goes to. What if you had to go through blueleaf temple to get at a cert for a better gaffi stick, or go through fort tusken to learn a new meditation technique. Instead of thirty people liveing in the geonosian cave. Gasp groups going any number of these dungeons.
I have seen many people posting comments about how they dislike the looted schematic idea but you are right, not much seems to be being done about it. We need to keep this issue alive. Hash together a well thought out plan and then get opinions on it. Happens all the time over on the DE and smuggler boards that I follow. Weaponsmiths do not seem to be as active though.
Maybe I will post an "official" Ideas to Replace Looted Schematics thread. Might be a way of consolidating things.
I think I was clear in the original post. That looting a cert. Would auto download to your character. Even if say it were a pistoleer cert and you were a master doctor. Personally I would wonder if it would be fair if everytime a person that played for six months changed a profession he would have to go through all the quests again.
If you say was a commando and dropped it for pikeman you would not have to redo the commando quests, but you might have to do the new pikeman quests. For hologrinders this would not matter much, but for thoughts that intend to stay in a profession it would provide future goals.
There are also a lot of problem with loot certifications.
What if a group kills a mob and loots it then who get the certification, the looter?
What if the looter already have it, is it then waited or given to someone else?
What about loot sharing, how does certification count and what if the person that end up getting it do not wand it?
And if it was given to the entire group, would the dead and out of range people count and would it not make the certifications to common?
No matter what the solution to these questions there would be a lot of complaints. Loot certification might sound good to a solo camper but to anyone who go in groups it will be a nightmare.
Also I wonder if static quests are all that great to begin with. A good version of chance would be to stumble upon a npc in distress, and once you complete the quest that npc goes elsewhere to be rediscovered. The advantages are obvious you curtail the ebay market. The player gets to improve their character, and even the uber weapons get curtailed. A weaponsmith can make a thousand of a gun, but how valuable is it if only a hundred person on a server could use it.
If the certifications are quest based, then all thoughts problems wound come up. Whoever has the quest active when the special mob is killed can get the cert. Toughs who do not have the quest active do not get the certification.
And the mobs could be like the giant peko peko albatross, something that do not spawn in missions, but have to found in the wild (to prevent camping of the spawn points).
The eBay market would still be cut off, the ones that wand that special weapon to use that know one else have, could still get it, they just have to complete an insanely difficult quest. On that they could not complete while camping the spawn in a dungeon, one that they could not even complete by taking missions.
And it did not have to be a 1 step mission, if it had 4 or 5 steps and very different kind then it could perhaps take them as much as a month to get that certification.
There is not going to be anything special is a heavy swordsman/doctor can go to a dungeon can camp the spawn until he get a certification, and then move on the next dungeon to get the next certification.
And once he have all the loot certifications he can train the professions he wand.
The persons that wand something special wand it to be very difficult to obtain, the fewer that have it the more valuable it is to them. A series of difficult quest could be the perfect solution for them.
Now if only say 100 people on a server had the certification for say the berserker rifle, then it would not be in stock of many weaponsmith. However, it might be a weapon that thoughts 100 would ask for when they had enhancers, and the few local smiths that had more then one of these 100 and customers might make them as well.
Personally I am thinking aint this game getting a little beyond camping. If this is the only way to get ahead how fun can it be. It would be nice for actual long time work to add up to more then a bloated bank account. Even the certs that would add non combat content might be a blast. Add new angles to professions that have gotten stale.
On this we agree, but a loot certification would only generate more camping.
Heck think about the real bonus in something like this. We have what twenty or so dungeonesque locations in the galaxy. Some that nobody goes to. What if you had to go through blueleaf temple to get at a cert for a better gaffi stick, or go through fort tusken to learn a new meditation technique. Instead of thirty people liveing in the geonosian cave. Gasp groups going any number of these dungeons.
Again I agree, but if they just camped fort tusken until they learned the technique, and the wend on to the temple to get the graffi stick cert, and so on, it would not be much different from what it is now.
I like the idea of special earned certifications, but I think calling them 'loot' certs is a little bit confusing. I think this works best if it is instead a reward for a quest/mission rather than a dropped 'loot'. However, I don't thinkthis this system should be a complete replacement for looted schematics.
One other thing that I hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet: what do you think the combat professions will think of this idea. It can't be forced onto the combat professions just because we WS like it. I think a lot of combat players like getting physical loot that they can either use for themselves or sell to earn money. If this system is forced on them, they may very well come to resent WS for taking away their loot and a means of making money. "Greedy weaponsmiths found another way to gouge us for more money" is what many of them may think about it.
With the current system we may charge a lot for Scythe blades, Sonic blasters and Disruptor rifles, but the combat profs can earn a lot of money selling the schematics and components for these items to us as well.
Just something else to consider.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
Message Edited by EdOWar on 04-22-2004 09:42 AM
Weaponsmith's will always be accused of being greedy. That is because thoughts accusing us do not se what we do as being of any value.
"After we are there to supply them with the weapon, they cannot do without, and we do not take any risk so why should we profit on it."
They will always think like that, no mater what. Implementing a system that weaponsmiths find fun is better for all others, as the more fun it is to be a weaponsmith the more weaponsmiths will be in the profession to have fun.
If a profession is not fun, then you will get lousy customer service from the few that take it on. Prices will sky rocked and the ones to start the profession will do so only to make tons of credit.