How to make Fixers useful

Alright, I've been playing a fixer (now lvl43) for the last month or so, and have come to the conclusion that they lack any sort of niche in the gameworld. They are essentially a weak combat class that can open some chests when needed, can run fast, and can access the grid. Well, unlocking and disarming isn't particularly useful when there is an option to remove such things from missions (and it's useless when hunting). Running fast is ok, but all it saves you is time. I've been asked to buff groups heading out to hunt, but not to join the group. How useful is that? As for the grid, I can get from tir to newland to a bunch of places that I have no reason to go to alone, and that don't have grid terminals, so I'm forced to either walk for half an hour to get back, or /terminate to save myself a trip that will probably kill me anyway. Right now, I'm keeping my combat skills maxed and ignoring the others beyond treatment and first aid because it's the only way to get any xp. So what are fixers for?

Well, according to the AO manual, fixers should be the people that you go to when you want something done for you, or obtained for you. I can personally say that no-one has ever approached me about anything remotely close to that. Granted, we do have nanos that can import armour, weapons, etc from the grid, but this is only temporary, and the items dissapear after a surprisingly short period of time. I've had armour dissapear on me in the middle of a mission. It's not pretty, and it's very frustrating, especially since the information for the imported item does not tell you how much longer the item has before it vanishes.

So here is how to make the fixer a class that you can go to to get things you wouldn't normally be able to: make the items permanent once imported. Or better yet, since the imported item (be it of the armor, weapon, etc class) is random, give the fixer the option of 'buying' the item once it has been imported. That way, if the fixer has a buyer for the item, they can 'keep' it and sell it. if the wrong item is imported, then only a few credits and some nano points are lost. The cost for 'buying' the item could be about 85% of the store cost. That way, the fixer has a 15% profit margin to work with (on a 100k item, that's a mere 15k at the most-this won't break the game's economy), and selling to vending machines would result in a loss of profit. Most people, if they're smart, will know the relative price of the item and won't get taken by the fixer. This way, fixers can finally act as middle men (or women). If the fixer has access to many varieties of items, from nano crystals to weapons and armor, to medical supplies, then they become a valuable member of teams. They can obtain armor for dealing with specific kinds of damage, a useful nano for difficult combat situations, medical supplies and ammo when they run out, etc.

This benefits the fixer in other ways as well. By not having to focus so much on combat skills, they can devote some IP to tradeskills (which, although they are green, are really not a viable option right now, since, as I said earlier, combat is the only way to be a useful fixer). Then the fixer really begins to have an underground, middle-man niche. The fixer is supposed to be AO's version of a fighter-thief, but as of right now, there is no tangible, viable thief aspect. So think about implementing this idea FC. It just might save the fixer class.