This isn't short or sweet, but hopefully will be inspiring

[________RasputinMagi]

Okay, here goes.

I play an Engineer in AO and I would like to make a few suggestions and comments on various topics here. Hopefully someone important will reaad this and acknowledge my ideas, maybe even implement them? Who knows. If anyone reading this likes any of my ideas, by all means, spam-mail FC with them, and hopefully we'll see some results. Let's not forget that this game is for US. It wasn't made by FC so THEY could have their own game, it was made so that WE have something to enjoy. We don't pay for this thing to become frustrated with things that don't work or are buggy. That being said, let's dive into this thing.

I recently sent FC a feedback message about a few problems and suggestions I have, playing an Engineer. Some of them are general, some are class specific. I would like to start off by talking about the 14.2 Overequip patch.

- While people exploit and abuse the overequipping feature of AO, and I would like to see this put to a stop, I don't think the overequipping patch is a good idea. It's going to make a lot of people very VERY angry, and will probably drive more that 1/4th of the players away, mainly those who focus on 3 classes. Traders, Engineers, and Soldiers. The thing that makes a Trader a good class is the ability to overequip. Without shotguns that are way over their level, they have little to no fighting ability at all. Wrangles are going to become a very pointless ability, as nobody is going to need/want them after about 40th level. Soldiers will be nerfed beyond beleif.. Onec again, soldiers are hard to play because they don't get many light colored nano-skills. Yes, they have useful nano's, but it's hard to advance for them. I know 100th level soldiers who I've offered QL 50 nano's to and they've told me "My skills aren't high enough to use that yet". Soldiers only have weapons and armour. If you take away the ability to get really kickbutt equipment, you take away their effectiveness as well. Now to my favorite class, Engineer. I don't know if anyone has noticed this yet, but the Engineer himself is a defenseless character. They have no nano's that assist them in any way. Yes, they may have the best AC nano's in the game, but who cares? AC doesn't seem to really do all that much in the long run. I'm level 92, and today I went to fight Rhinomen for Monster parts so I could try and gather up a little bit of cash. It was going great until I was attacked.... My bot couldn't kill it fast enough before I died, and that's sick... Espcially since it only takes a couple hits for my bot to take one down. Granted, he was busy with 3 or 4 others.. But that raises the point, what do I do if my bot is busy with another mob and I get aggroed? The answer is... NOTHING. You die! Hey, you wanted to be an Engineer, live with the consequences! Nonononono, that's completely unfair. Especially with the aggro problem FC thrust on us. Now they FC wants to take away the ability to Overbuff for high level bots? I've spoken with at least 5 Engi's who say they're quitting when 14.2 rolls around.

I will now talk about the Engineer himself, since this is where most of my experience lies.

- I'd like to start with fighting ability. I understand that people fight effectively with Engi's all the time. However, those same people have little to no tradeskill ability. There's a balance as an Engineer, you can either have the ability to defend yourself in a fight by blowing IP into Body Development and Weaponskills, or you can go the RP route and pick up Tradeskills. I happen to be more interested in the RP route. So I picked up tradeskills. Little did I know when I started, that would make it impossible to defend myself later on. I figured the AC's would defend me long enough for my bot to fight off what it was killing before it could move to my opponent and pull it off me. Two major flaws in this plan, I am discovering, is 1) AC doesn't work for a crap, and 2) Mobs tend to ignore pets now. What Engineers need is an effective way to defend themselves if they do choose to go Tradeskills. Now, I'm not a big PvP'er.. In fact I hate the idea. I like that there are certain area's where people can fight each other as far as poitical skirmishes go.. But PvP'ers hang out there and make life miserable for those of us who want to play the game... But I'll talk about PvP in a minute here. I'd like to see more Engi's go the Tradeskill route, and to encourage that I think, to satisfy both of these desires, that Engineers should get Cration nano's, liek MP. The difference is that instead of going off weaponskills like the MP creations, the Engi Creations would go off Tradeskills. These Creations could be Battle Suits, Specialized Weapons, or whatever. But it would be something that gives the Tradekill Engi an Edge in the case he/she is attacked. This will also help balance out the Overequipping patch, since we Engi's will have to rely more on ourselves than our bots. Currently, many of us are unable to defend ourselves. We rely 100% on our bots, and FC is taking that away. Right now, there is an Aggro Problem.. MOBs completely ignore the bot. I dunno about other people, but when I'm in a mission and a MOB is attacking me.. There's nothing I can do to shake them on to my bot. I used to be able to run out of the room and that would do the trick.. But now they just keep hitting me through the wall. I've tried using the Taunting-trimmer, but that doesn't seem to work. Engi's need to become more self-reliant. Now, I know FC is slowly working their way through each of the classes, tweaking and fixing little problems.. But while they satisfy the Agents and Adventurers (I'm not saying the classes don't need fixing, I know they do, especially Agents) We Engineers are becomming more and more useless and defenseless. It's getting to the point where we need to group with people to level, but nobody wants us in their grooups because we die to much and can't fight. Another Engi thing that sucks is Slayerdroid Transferrance. The +300 to MA is nice and all, but it's not that useful. When I heard of the spell, I expected it to increase HP's and AC by a LOT, and maybe increase your damage somehow. But, unless you increase Martial Arts at all, that +300 is worthless. Instead of a +300 MA, it should have it's own damage scale. Say, something like 200 - 500 (300). Something like that, maybe more (For Slayerdroid). But, I also think that there should be more transferrance spells, high level still, low level Engi's don't need to turn into Automotauns. Another quick note, ENGI HEAL SPELLS SHOULD GO OFF OF MATT MET, NOT BIO MET. Matt met is for changing matter, Bio Met is for organic matter, Bots are machines, not living beings, therefore Matt Met is more appropriate. Besides, Bio Met just plain costs too much.

Now let's discuss PvP a little.

- I've already stated that I dislike PvP. But there are others who the only reason they play AO is for the PvP. Well, great. There's a place for both of us, it just hasn't been carved out yet. When I joined AO I was more interested in the fighting aspects of the game, advancing levels and increasing my skills so I could do really cool things. Still wasn't into PvP back then. But as I played the game more, I realized there was a chance for some really neat and fun Roleplaying experiences. Now... PvP and Roleplaying, to me, are two completely seperate animals. To be able to PvP effectively, you must advance your skills completely differently from someone who want's a more RP stance to their character. Once again, I choose Engi's. A PvP Engi will put a lot of points into weaponskills and stats, to give them more HP's and the ability to deal out damage as well as the bot. To them, the bot is just another source of damage, they're basically playing a soldier with a twist. An RP Engineer will put points into Tradeskills to fill out the characters history. My character comes from a really nasty planet, where fighting to survive was necissary. However, dispite his large physique, he never liked fighting. He made fighting robots and gadgets to defend himself. Now, from a RP perspective, it would be silly of me to put points into weaponskills, because the character doesn't like fighting himself, so why would he train in weilding weapons? I don't advance my Body Development, because I need the extra points to go into Tradeskills to reflect his technologically based history. Where does this leave me? I'm a defenseless character with only my bot to defend me and fight for me. Now, in a PvP standpoint, I don't stand a chance. 2 or 3 hits from someone even close to my level will kill me, because I can't send my bot for them unless I know they are hostile, and the only defense I have is AC, which is useless unless their minimum damage is 1 or 2. So, when I'm running a mission through a 25% zone, and some kid who wants his new title is running around in there, he's going to take full advantage of that. Root me, and frag me. This annoys me, and I have less fun. I've been thanked for the "Easy Kill" multiple times, and it not only insults me, but makes me wish there was no such thing as PvP at all. But, because of the way AO is set up, it has to be in there. So, what's the solution? There has to be a compromise. I say, let people decide if they want to take part in PvP or not. Let people have a PvP On/Off flag. Something that allows them to attack other players, and other players to attack them. For those of us who are more interested in the RP portion of the game, they can keep the PvP On/Off flag in the Off position. Obviously there will be certain situations where the PvP On/Off flag will always be On, such as certain Omni vs. Clan skirmishes, or certain Events, but for the most part, I want that choice.

I'm sure there are other issues I'm forgetting, but that's all I can think of right now. Please, if you like any of these ideas, Spam FC with them! Make them pay attention! My one E-mail won't do any good, but 10,000? They'd have to listen then. Thank you!

[Provisioner]

Originally posted by RasputinMagi
Without shotguns that are way over their level, they [Traders] have little to no fighting ability at all.

Really? Almost to 113, been a MA trader since being born, several months ago. I'm certainly not uber, but I have fun, solo, team, and level.

Provisioner

[________RasputinMagi]

Look, I didn't say that to suggest that I'm a know it all on the subject. I'm just saying that the conventional means of being a trader is going Shotgun. I'm sure you can be effective in other ways too, I'm not trying to be an @$$hole about it. It's just the way I see it. I've played a couple Traders, and in my experience the only way I was able to be effective was to go Shotgun. Then again, like I stated before, I'm more into the roleplaying aspects, and I take a lot of tradeskills. If I were to go a different weapon route, I doubt I would have the IP to put into the tradeskills I would like to have. As it Is I'm having a hard time allocating enough IP to the things I need to be RP effective and be Effective as far as actually playing the game and fighting goes. I'm a little dissappointed to see someone react like this to my post, and a little insulted that you are treating me so as well. For future readers, bon't flame me because you disagree with my point of view. Flame me because an Idea is bad, but be reasonable about it. Don't just flame me to point out a slight flaw and throw it in my face, please!

[Provisioner]

Alrighty, prepare for a quick flame:

RasputinMagi, when you post to a public forum, everything you write can and will be challenged. You asked for comments and suggestions, but that's just not possible if you don't have all the facts. I have both a high-level engineer and a fairly high-level trader. I know the rules, for the most part, and was simply challenging your information (you obviously have never tried unique templates before).

I will not continue to post to your thread (productively, anyway - I may still pop in here from time to time to prove you haven't a clue).

Provisioner

[________RasputinMagi]

Fine, You know what.. I have an opinion, and you have an opinion. You obviously don't like or agree with my opinion, and you think I don't have a clue. That's your perrogative. Like I said, I don't mind a flame, as long as it's constructive. But you simply seem to want to shoot me down. I don't appreciate that at all. Again I stress, if you don't like my opinion to the point where you're just going to give me pointless critisism and shoot me down, PLEASE DON'T POST. If you have fun with the game in the manner you play it, that's great! I'm happy for you! My post isn't for you in that case! My post is for the people who do have a problem with the game, and maybe that they are experiencing some of the same problems I am. You don't have those problems, so please let it drop. I'm jus trying to take a standpoint here, maybe I'm missing certain information, I'll admit that, but my post is based on my experiences. Anyway, I appreciate you trying to make me look stupid. Thank you, it was humbling, but you've made your point. Enough is enough. At this point it just seems like you are trying to stir things up. Whatever.

[__________Thehardway]

Hmmm. I understand you concers yet I know quite a few Engi's who do quite well focusing on the trade side of things.
They also use the right trimmers to keep aggro from them.

They seem to have very little trouble soloing. If anything I have always been very jealous of the Engi solo capabilities.

[________RasputinMagi]

Don't get me wrong, Engi's do solo very well. In fact I solo'ed almost my whole way to 92nd level. It's just that with the recent breaking of aggro, I've come to notice just how defenseless the character himself actually is. Now FC is going to make it so that we can't overbuff too much or our pets stop listening to us. Without a bot to do adequate damage before the character drops it's going to be much more frustrating if we get attacked. As for trimmers, they've never seemed to work for me, and I know a few others who've given up on them entirely for the same reason. Of course, if they fix aggro there won't be as much of a problem anymore. But the fact will still remain that there are certain elements of the class that don't flow the way the template should. Anyway, I don't really know how to make my side more clear... Either you agree or you disagree.

[_____________Wenzell]

Actually FC alread has a plan to improve eng fighting ability, its called "Kamikaze Bot".
Unfortunately, it was extremely buggy in test server, and now that FC is busy with fixing OE and stuff, doubt it will be implmented anytime soon.