The Droid Invasion...

[Trahern Valley]

...where?

 

Yes, this will very likely be a rant. Sorry. I doubt I'll be saying anything constructive, which is why I'm doing it over here instead of over there.

 

I come here way more often than I visit the official forums, so I guess I'm one of the people who thought that seeing the battle droids from the prequels in the wallpaper meant I'd be able to build them once the publish was done. Re-arranged my droid display to make room for them, and everything. It wasn't until right before the publish that someone told me ingame that there would be no droidekas. After some initial grumbling I admitted I could see why; they would be difficult to handle when it comes to game balance. I probably wouldn't be able to make one until I mastered DE anyway.

 

After the publish, I return to find there are no battle droids whatsoever. I am told probots have been frelled, and astromechs are now your best bet for combat; which is a downright crappy bet compared to the pets of a bio-engineer/creature handler, because droids are supposed to be usable by everybody, which means they can't go above CL 10.

 

Slightly annoyed, now.

 

An astromech with a tazer is established in the movies, though of course it can't really be considered much of a combat option; it was made into comic relief involving an Ewok, for smeg's sake. And that little buzzsaw? It's a cutting tool. The best you could hope to do with it is cut a tendon before someone snaps it off.

 

The devs have been walking a tightrope, and they know they're gonna get chewed out every time they fall off. On one side lies the Star Wars content, the stuff that's supposed to make us feel that we're in that fictional universe. On the other side lies game playability, balance and so on. As far as I can tell, they've fallen off the tightrope with every publish, broken limbs lying on both sides. This time, they've slipped off the tightrope in the worst possible way anyone with testicles can fall off anything; they haven't even fallen off this time, they're just 'sitting' up there, eyes bulging, squeeking quietly as that throbbing pain spreads from their crotch outward.

 

You know, I was going to go into detail about this and that, but right now I just can't be bothered. Maybe later.

 

Disappointus maximus.

[DarkCrawler]

Yeah, I thought that we could have battle droids too...

[Trahern Valley]

Okay, I think I've recovered form the disappointment and cynicism and the violent raping of another profession that probably will be improved only after I drop it. So...

 

As I understand it, the issue the devs are having with the prequel combat droids is that they are supposed to be tougher than CL10, which is the limit for any player. They want to figure out a way for us to have to spend skill points to have the ability to control these tougher droids. I believe that the main contention here is that DE is a crafting class, and should not involve the ability to control tougher droids; much like BEs do not have the ability to control the tougher pets they grow in a test tube, or whatever.

 

First off, I would like to suggest that the ep1 combat droid shouldn't be all that tough. Their advantage was cheap manufature leading to strength in numbers; and the way game pets work, noone will ever be allowed to control a squad of these things. Nerfing the probot would be fine (and in keeping with the SW universe; let's face it, it's only supposed to take a coupla pistol shots before blowing up) if we had a droid that WAS worth it's weight in a fight. The Trade Federation battle droid should be where the Probot is...or was, before publish 7, or the original nerf, or whatever.

 

Ep2 battle droids are bigger, tougher and better armed (no pun intended). Droidekas are downright scary. By ep4 droids this capable of combat are illegal, or so I'm told, so they should go on the list with spice and sliced equipment. But who should be able to actually control these droids? If it wasn't for the sake of game balance, the answer would be everyone, if they can get their hands on them. Which would be easy because DEs would not be prosocuted for making illegal droids, so they could get rich without any worries as soon as everyone can get the droideka of their dreams.

 

Hm. If everyone had a pet droideka, would that not be balance?

 

There's a side issue I could delve into here, that smugglers (and someday DEs that make illegal droids) should be spanked by the authorities when someone gets caught using stuff they sliced, brewed or built. Otherwise the empire is only treating the symptom instead of the sickness, and we all know how fed up we are with our Real Life governments about that kind of thing.

 

Another point on that subject: high-ranking imp players getting off lightly so easily does seem unfair. Perhaps faction rank should depend on how much fp you have. If you get killed and drop below 200 fp, you get kicked out of the faction. Rank should work the same way, because the way it works now, you can't get demoted no matter how often the opposing faction beats you down. We all know how fond Darth Vader is of 'rewarding' failure. The only problem with this system would be that buying faction stuff would demote you...

 

Back on topic now. BEs and CHs are closely linked because they both deal in pets. A player with both professions could be thought of as a professional pet owner. They don't just go out into the wilderness and tame baby somethings. They don't just spend all their time in the lab toying with genetic samples. Imagine what improvements you could make in each profession if you were also familiar with the other, from a Real Life point of view. A master at both professions could be the only ones to have THE best pets in the game.

 

Droids are different. Given their widespread use, it's only fair that everyone should be able to have them, and things should get 'stickier' when it comes to combat droids (so in that regard, it is fair to say that the devs are making an effort to do it right). The SW universe is a highly technological one, but in SWG CHs are common. A part of this could be considered due to the fact that the game is a lot more planet-based, but when it comes down to it you wouldn't expect to walk out of a starport to come face to face with a rancor scratching his butt...

 

Okay, I've just made myself laugh too hard, and I've lost my train of thought. I'll post more when I get it back. I'm sure there's a point or two I've yet to make.

[McCusto]

Yeah, I Really Wanted A Droid Who Said "Roger,Roger" Once You Give Him A Command

[Cosmos Jack]

I thought we were getting real Combat Droids too. I was thinking R2-D2 with a zapper. I agree with pretty much everything you said. I'm fairly disgusted in the game myself. It is a good idea, with no balance, and no direction. A Star Wars themed MMORPG and not a Star Wars MMORPG. With all the things that are wrong in this game did you really think they would get droids right?

 

I was on during one of these Droid attacks. lol I thought Battle Droids were goofy and relatively week. The ones in game are supper powerful and take 30 some people to take out. When I got the game I didn't think I would be getting attacked by big mean frogs and oversized spiders that's EQ crap.

 

When I get some time I will post some of my ideas for the game not that they will ever be used. Just to see what people think. They don't have a thread for Gen SWG discusion for some odd resion or amybe I just don't se it.

[reelguy227]

trahern valley ,what exactly do all the droids yu can create as a DE do?what do protocol droids do ?astromechs?binary load lifters?surgical droids?do the surgical droids look like the one that healed luke in the empire strikes back?thanks, sorry for the 20 questions i just am seeing if i really want to be DE.

 

Reelguy227