Aug 3, 2011

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Zlatto’s Bazaar: What Defines A Successful Crafting Economy?

Zlatto’s Bazaar is the one-third Wall Street, one-third criminal empire and one-half gossip rag. You need to keep up on the Bazaar if for no other reason than to keep an eye on your competitors. Don’t be a Ho-tah and visit often – I’ve got stuff I gotta sell.  Your comments are encouraged, especially if they make me credits…

It seemed to me that creating some discussion around how we all view the components of a thriving crafting economy could be a good start on the road to finding ways for us to be successful in the SW:TOR economy itself. Not to mention, it will give me insight on which of you all have a corporata mindset.

Where do I start? Well I’m an avid reader of blogs about MMOs in general, and when looking for deep thoughts on concepts I sometimes turn to Tobold. The principle I will be discussing was inspired from a larger blog post by Tobold posted back in 2009 on MMO economies. I call it the Tobold Principle.

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Jul 13, 2011

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Zlatto's Bazaar: Open For Business

Zlatto’s Bazaar is the one-third Wall Street, one-third criminal empire and one-half gossip rag. You need to keep up on the Bazaar if for no other reason than to keep an eye on your competitors. Don’t be a Ho-tah and visit often.  Your comments are encouraged, especially if they make me credits…

One might ask “Why would anyone want to be writing a column about the non-combat side of SW:TOR?”

I mean, what use could there be in generating discussions about something that we can’t yet get specifics on?  To make credits of course! A Toydarian won’t even break wind without some sort of monetary compensation. [funny side note: since we generate a lighter than air gas to help us in our flight, when I see a human child walking by with a floating balloon I know one of my brethren is making some money.]

Where was I? Oh yeah…

The collective addiction to SW:TOR on Ask A Jedi has drawn me to impose upon Lethality for some web space to start some re-occurring chatter about Crew Skills, SW:TOR economics and the desire to create credits.  It is only a matter of time before those who have spent time playing will share their ideas and concepts, so why shouldn’t we all profit?

When I see bits shared like the quote below, I smell credits to be made (I mean, come on, with a snout like mine you know I smell opportunity easily.) The quote below I poached from Swtorcrafter’s interview on Crew Skills (this guy is going to be an economic dynamo, I look forward stealing a lot of ideas and concepts from him):

Damion Schubert: “We try to make it so that hardcore crafters do bring something to the server that they’re on that casual crafters can’t. What we want is the casual crafter is mostly interested in crafting for himself and crafting for his companion characters, but other than that he is not really doing much other than that. And the dedicated crafters, they have access – through special means we haven’t talked about yet – in order to pursue recipes that are very rare on their entire server. We actually think it’s good and exciting and interesting to be the only guy on a shard that can make these kind of pants.”

I cannot wait to hear how we will accomplish these achievements.

Will the SW:TOR system be a WoW-like means to an end where only gold farmers and high end raiders make a profit? Or something closer to EvE and pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies where any player interested in crafting can truly find their place in a game that is interesting, challenging, and fun?

The comments and opinions of those who follow this site have value, and I look forward to cashing in on all of them.

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Apr 28, 2011

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FSS 2011: Damion Schubert Video Q&A

Earlier this week at the Fan Site Summit, each site in attendance got to list their top 3 preferences for a one-on-one Q&A session with one of the developers working on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™

Lucky for us, we got our first choice!

Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert originally answered a few questions on the Crew Skills system for us back in February, and due to the response and feedback from all of our readers, we really wanted to do a followup!

During our interview at the Fan Site Summit, some of the topics we covered included:

  • The Archeology gathering skill
  • Crafting stats to improve your chance to crate
  • Breaking items down into components to gain resources
  • Design inspiration for crafted items
  • More than one companion on a mission?
  • Rare resources vs. obscure crafting locations
  • Quality of items
  • Boss loot tables
  • … and more!

Here at Ask A Jedi, we couldn’t be more excited for the Crew Skills system. We think it’s a truly innovative way to satisfy players who are dedicated to crafting activities in MMOs, while at the same time works for players who want some of the benefits without some of the traditional tedium. And think of the possibilities for expanding this system in the future!

Thanks to Damion for the time this week at the Fan Site Summit!

Enjoy the interview and please let us know your thoughts on the Crew Skills system below!

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Feb 8, 2011

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Crew Skills Q&A With Damion Schubert

Crew Skills are BioWare’s implementation for harvesting and crafting in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, but they’re really much more than that. From off-line crafting to diplomacy missions – not to mention companions who can do most of the work for you – this system is unlike any that you’ve seen in other MMORPGs.

Recently, Damion Schubert, Lead Systems Designer for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ was nice enough to take some time for a little Crew Skills Q&A with Ask A Jedi to help expand our understanding of the system!

Ask A Jedi: How and when is the player first introduced to Crew Skills? Is it via narrative, or visiting a trainer at a certain level?

Damion Schubert: The Crew Skills trainers all like to hang out on the capital worlds, where the player can encounter them.  Each trainer will give the player a description of the Crew Skill they teach, along with the benefits they provide, so the player knows which Crew Skills may be most beneficial to their play style.

Ask A Jedi: How are the various Crew Skills Missions obtained? For example, are they auto-populated? Found in the wild? NPC Trainer? All of the above?

Damion Schubert: Most Crew Skills missions are drawn from a random pool for the player to choose from, and that pool refreshes from time to time.  However, some missions are unlocked by rare objects you might find in the world.  These missions are one-off, but tend to offer more substantial rewards.

Time to get busy.

Time to get busy.

Ask A Jedi: Artifice is one of the revealed Crafting skills, and is mentioned as the production of Jedi and Sith artifacts. Is this Crafting skill available only to Force users? Are any other Crew Skills limited to certain classes?

Damion Schubert: Nope!  There are no limits in that regard. It is the player’s call as to whether they want to choose a skill that might not be directly beneficial to their character.

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Dec 15, 2010

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Jedi Classes – Hands-On Roundup!

Although Ask A Jedi was unable to be a part of all of the hands-on festivities that surrounded the EA Winter Showcase, we want to be able to bring you all of the great coverage that is breaking today around the web!

Is there one we missed somewhere? Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll add it to the list!

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