Smartphone APP (Iphone / Android / Windows Phone) to manage Crew

[ColonelKer-Nal]

Minmaxers are not the ones playing all the time. They're the ones doing most with least amount of effort.

 

All I'm saying here is that giving easy to abuse tools for people bent on gaining unfair advantage is a bad idea.

 

And I'm telling you that since you need admin rights on a Windows box to even sneeze people will have a much easier time grabbing packet sniffers or other tools to help with automation.

 

But Windows, OSX, *Nix or whatever, if people want it done it will get done. So please don't screw me because of the 1%.

 

Incorporating Guild Chat to IRC or something else would be nice or the ability to talk with people, sure why not. Managing your computer with Remote Access of any sort, fine, sure. An outside App that lets you manage in-game activities without actually logging in? I smell abuse.

 

And that Windows point? I don't really see how it's easier in Windows or as a matter of fact, in any OS. Problem with automation usually comes when you have to parse information, being in game is a matter of packet sniffing or visual cues, with an App like that, it's willingly sent to you in an easy format.

 

And running a mobile app is different from logging into my PC remotely to accomplish the same thing how? Seriously, Team Viewer and other PC control apps are readily available for Android, and probably iOS as well.

 

Like I said earlier, it would be nice to be able to do it, but in the end, you don't really need to have the ability.

How about you just concentrate on the other tasks your "life" needs you to instead of worrying will your imaginary crafting skill go up soon enough. But I guess that goes the other way around too, why do I care if someone is ahead of me.

 

I'm too old to be grinding my whole day, but I still hold the idea dear that hard work should pay off. If it requires me being around, then it does.

 

How about I'm I'm getting my oil changed with 5 people ahead of me and I'm cooling my heals for an hour? I'd like to chill a bit while I'm there. Why do you care?

 

And 10,000 other scenarios where I'm wasting an hour of my life, planned or unplanned. What harm is it if I manage my crew skills?

 

And lets say someone DOES automate their crew skills. What happens then? The market gets flooded. Supply and demand drive prices down. This is a GOOD thing.

[kronii]

And running a mobile app is different from logging into my PC remotely to accomplish the same thing how? Seriously, Team Viewer and other PC control apps are readily available for Android, and probably iOS as well.

 

If you could log into the game itself with your phone, then it would be the same thing. If it's only an App, they're sending you only the info you need for your App. Which is pretty much "When **** is is done, who is ready for next round?". How easy is that to parse?

 

And 10,000 other scenarios where I'm wasting an hour of my life, planned or unplanned. What harm is it if I manage my crew skills?

 

No harm, log in to the game and play! OH wait, you use that program to click "Send Companion" for few secs and off you go again, sitting in your car.

 

And lets say someone DOES automate their crew skills. What happens then? The market gets flooded. Supply and demand drive prices down. This is a GOOD thing.

 

Well, what's the point of the system if it's automated? Why not just sell stuff from vendors? No need for Apps or Pesky Crews to interfere with The Grind.

 

Then to compete with others in price... Since it's about time & effort when it comes to supply, at some point it's just not worth doing it if it's not totally automated, and I doubt "Hand Made"-tag will make your goods in SWTOR sell any higher..

 

Just like with any other MMO, the more time you spend in game playing the game yourself, the more reward you should get.

 

All you're trying to here is make the game easier for YOU so you would benefit and catch up to those actually playing the game and spend time in there. Let's just add a "Training Room" for your ship where you can log out and gain exp while actually not playing. Every level you'd have to go and actually do something to actually level.

[Stomptrooper]

I dislike this idea and will try to present reasond arguments for not allowing this.

 

1) If you are off line doing the activities you suggest with others then you shouldnt be diverting your attention from them to play a game in any way I find it rude.

 

2) I think this will play into "Gold Sellers" hands if you are only sending your companions away to do missions you arnt able to make credits by playing so it will be a money sink. Some will look for short cuts to get credits to continue, I want no "Gold Sellers" in this game and would not like any normal gameplay aspect to encourage them.

 

3) This would disadvantage people who dont have smart phones or who do but dont have unlimited data.

 

I'm for keeping the game in game, this is just my view and I have nothing againsed yours

[Korass]

Ive been wanting this ever since i heard of crew skills, never saw a forum for it till now though, i think this would be great! After playing last night, this is all i can think of while i sit at work. Of course since i cannot have my Ipad here at work i would need to buy a Smartphone just for the app! Worth it? I think so!

 

Even though it has been mentioned it would be a waste for early levels, it can still be used, i only got my professions to 20s accept synth, i got to 40, so i could spend time now at work shoring up those lower crew skills and have a nice inv of matts for my schematics.

 

In terms of cost, i think it was touched on, your CS take money, there is no needed nerf i think for app users, as you will be spending money without making it, because you are not questing while using the app (exception goes to slicing coming home to a nice inv full of lock boxes is cool, but also very high demand on your inv space.)

 

Regards!

[Heley]

I know all this talk about automation is a hot topic, but I would have thought a mobile app is a reason not to automate. For example if you go to work, but don't want to fall behind for any reason you maybe tempted to set up a bot/macro etc that automatically sends crew on tasks.

 

If you have an app so that you can do small tasks whilst you're at work, you're not going to worry so much.

 

From BW's point of view it keeps people invested in the game.

 

I still don't think it gives unfair advantages becauses of the reasons I've already given and I'm prepared to stick to my guns on that.

 

That being said I do also see others concerns?

 

Let's not forget that crafting is essentially a mini game in all MMO's. It's just become very deeply imbedded into them. I don't think the ability to engage in this mini game remotely should be over analysed too much. It simply expands the game and allows more possibilities.

 

An outside App that lets you manage in-game activities without actually logging in? I smell abuse.

 

I'm not quite sure how you came to this conclusion. The whole idea behind this topic is to encourage BW to create the app. Although I hate referencing WoW, Blizzard did it and it hardly opened up opportunities for abuse.

 

You should not be allowed to affect your game characters/crews while not in the game

its just not the way the crew skills should be used. The idea is to PLAY the game not use apps to give you an advantage over others than cant

 

As already mentioned, it's not enabling anyone to do anything they can't already do using remote desktop apps. Can you call RDP an exploit? Hardly. You will also notice that many of the people who do have access to these apps, myself included, are openly supporting a HTML option for others who don't have this access.

 

I think that people are misinterpreting the reasoning behind wanting this.mits not to gain advantages, or to get one up on anyone, it is simply a way to enjoy the game when it wouldn't otherwise be possible, and to brighten up everyone's day a little when they reverse engineer their belt and discover a recipe for a shiny purple version!

[Korass]

 

Well, what's the point of the system if it's automated? Why not just sell stuff from vendors? No need for Apps or Pesky Crews to interfere with The Grind.

 

Then to compete with others in price... Since it's about time & effort when it comes to supply, at some point it's just not worth doing it if it's not totally automated, and I doubt "Hand Made"-tag will make your goods in SWTOR sell any higher..

 

This is almost a good point. But the thing that needs to be remembered is there is still a need to farm for matts, there is still a need to get high end Mats, this still gives an edge to the crafting system over jsut vendors. That i can choose to supply Mats, or get my own or just craft.

 

But to get to the core of your argument, your question is valid even if there is no app, why have professions at all? Just vendor items.

 

The answer is because people want them, so they are there, people want an app, i would like to see the same logic.

[kronii]

I know all this talk about automation is a hot topic, but I would have thought a mobile app is a reason not to automate. For example if you go to work, but don't want to fall behind for any reason you maybe tempted to set up a bot/macro etc that automatically sends crew on tasks.

 

Automation is against EULA at any form so reason not to only applies to Honest People. Who really wouldn't do it in the first place. But again, shouldn't you fall behind if you're not playing? What makes you think you should get to be on par with others who spent more time playing...

 

From BW's point of view it keeps people invested in the game.

 

I'm not quite sure how you came to this conclusion. The whole idea behind this topic is to encourage BW to create the app. Although I hate referencing WoW, Blizzard did it and it hardly opened up opportunities for abuse.

 

The BW point is exactly the point why Blizz did that, AH thingie, I'm not really familiar with that game. Keep people playing when they can't, feeding the addiction. And since it was AH, which is not about gaining Exp, makes is different. Moot.

 

As already mentioned, it's not enabling anyone to do anything they can't already do using remote desktop apps. Can you call RDP an exploit? Hardly. You will also notice that many of the people who do have access to these apps, myself included, are openly supporting a HTML option for others who don't have this access.

 

I think that people are misinterpreting the reasoning behind wanting this.mits not to gain advantages, or to get one up on anyone, it is simply a way to enjoy the game when it wouldn't otherwise be possible, and to brighten up everyone's day a little when they reverse engineer their belt and discover a recipe for a shiny purple version!

 

Yeah, that would really cheer you up at work when The Boss is giving you Pressure. Nice thought. Would make me smile

 

But like I said, RDP is not even remotely the same thing since you're actually logging in and PLAYING which is inherently different than sending a series of commands. What else can your App do besides "Send" and changing who goes where? Nothing. Make a game client for your phone, that would be nice! I'd go all in for that.

 

Look, in a game where time really does matter... Like Planetarion, Tick-based Browser Strategy, I'm all for Apps and Remote Connection. But in a game where the amount of reward is measured in /played, well... No. If you ain't ingame, you ain't playing.

 

No matter how good your intentions are, you're taking away the PLAY from PLAYING, you're creating a Reaction Game where you watch the damn clock in your office to see when you can add more Missions to queue... Not that you don't stare at the damn round thingie all the time anyway...

[kronii]

This is almost a good point. But the thing that needs to be remembered is there is still a need to farm for matts, there is still a need to get high end Mats, this still gives an edge to the crafting system over jsut vendors. That i can choose to supply Mats, or get my own or just craft.

 

But to get to the core of your argument, your question is valid even if there is no app, why have professions at all? Just vendor items.

 

The answer is because people want them, so they are there, people want an app, i would like to see the same logic.

 

Automating Gather/Mission would be the main thing in for profit, leveling a Craft would be a one time deal.

 

People want many things, that doesn't make it right or even good for the people.

[Akairen]

Everyone that has an Iphone likes his idea. . . people without one will simply fall behind

[Korass]

Automating Gather/Mission would be the main thing in for profit, leveling a Craft would be a one time deal.

 

People want many things, that doesn't make it right or even good for the people.

 

i would agree with this is we were talking something like politics, or government. But when it comes to a game. People should get what they want. Specially if BW wants to keep profits up and subs.

 

You dont make a product no one likes, you dont make addons/new content no one likes. You progress the game based on what the people who pay you 15$ a month want. in this case, an App

[kronii]

i would agree with this is we were talking something like politics, or government. But when it comes to a game. People should get what they want. Specially if BW wants to keep profits up and subs.

 

You dont make a product no one likes, you dont make addons/new content no one likes. You progress the game based on what the people who pay you 15$ a month want. in this case, an App

 

Well where's my damn Early Access then? I WANNA!

[ChimDeathmonkey]

IT was not an app, but in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, they had a Facebook game. When you played the Facebook game, you could send your apprentices on missions to level them up and get rewards. Whatever XP they got would also carry over to the console game. So when sitting at say work or school, you still could be interacting with the main game.

 

The concept was awesome, and I think it is quite possible to incorporate something similar here. Not a Facebook version, but the idea of sending out your companions would keep people interested in their game when not at their main PC.

[Xobie]

The credit issue is not an issue, slicing will cover costs and ALL tradeskill missions are designed to be more cost effective than the mission itself, even if it not directly translated into credits.

 

What is the difference of sitting on your spaceship in game and sending companions off to missions or doing it from a phone app? Well, from Bioware's perspective, the apps aren't using up server bandwidth of players being logged in. This seems like a no-brainer to me, in order to advance their game without really using any resources or using resources most efficiently. Not to mention how easy it would to put adds into the app and draw in some additional income, or charge a fee to use it, either way it's good for SWTOR.

 

I wonder how this app would manage inventory. If I go on vacation for a month in another country; I can probably log a bunch of missions during that time and fill out whatever bank space I have. So, 1. Would we also have access to the GTN?, 2. Is it just going to mail items that don't fit into bag space? Having access to the GTN will open up for abuse from people like myself that like to work the market, and gold farmers, so it might not be a good thing, even it sounds like the natural thing.

 

Ultimately, I think it is a good idea, but it is not a decision that should be taken lightly. Like addons, once we go down this path then it might lead to somewhere that we don't want to go and we can't just turn around and go back. I think that is why Bioware has failed to do many of the things that people want, only time will tell of the real demand after launch. After the unrelenting mass QQ then Bioware will eventually decide to do it: addons, custom UI. Fads are easily dismissed though.

 

Currently, I think there are more pressing issues to address than mobile tradeskills, and I just dont see Bioware opening up their game to 3rd party programs.

[Korass]

Well where's my damn Early Access then? I WANNA!

 

Haha, yeah to the point i like that. People wanted EGA, and they delivered with extra 2 days, just think of it this way, you will potentially get more EGA then you would have before. Unless you Rush Pre ordered way late. this is super off topic.

 

 

I just like the app as a working student. Levels the playing field with those that do not need to work, or cannot, and those who do not go to school.

 

Had this been during High school or JR college No problem! Bring on the Hours of play time!

But i think the biggest point i can make is that MMO are not the usual player base. All walks of life come to play them. From Children all the way up to my retired grandparents. I feel like an app like this is the best way to make all things equal when it comes to Crew Skills.

 

My vote is yes.

[Korass]

The credit issue is not an issue, slicing will cover costs and ALL tradeskill missions are designed to be more cost effective than the mission itself, even if it not directly translated into credits.

 

What is the difference of sitting on your spaceship in game and sending companions off to missions or doing it from a phone app? Well, from Bioware's perspective, the apps aren't using up server bandwidth of players being logged in. This seems like a no-brainer to me, in order to advance their game without really using any resources or using resources most efficiently. Not to mention how easy it would to put adds into the app and draw in some additional income, or charge a fee to use it, either way it's good for SWTOR.

 

I wonder how this app would manage inventory. If I go on vacation for a month in another country; I can probably log a bunch of missions during that time and fill out whatever bank space I have. So, 1. Would we also have access to the GTN?, 2. Is it just going to mail items that don't fit into bag space? Having access to the GTN will open up for abuse from people like myself that like to work the market, and gold farmers, so it might not be a good thing, even it sounds like the natural thing.

 

Ultimately, I think it is a good idea, but it is not a decision that should be taken lightly. Like addons, once we go down this path then it might lead to somewhere that we don't want to go and we can't just turn around and go back. I think that is why Bioware has failed to do many of the things that people want, only time will tell of the real demand after launch. After the unrelenting mass QQ then Bioware will eventually decide to do it: addons, custom UI. Fads are easily dismissed though.

 

Currently, I think there are more pressing issues to address than mobile tradeskills, and I just dont see Bioware opening up their game to 3rd party programs.

 

To answer your questions about inventory space, when you do a crew skills and your character gets back from a missions, you accept the MAtts or moeny or whatever by accepting the Mission reward as if completed a quest. As for actual crafting i would assume if you craft to much then you SOL, Unless they add the ability to have overflow go into the Bank.

 

Edit: To clarify, when your gone they will show up as a Pending quest to accept the rewards.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Korass

[Baelor]

I would not be surprised to see a smartphone app hit the market for SWTOR, especially because of Erik Olsen's participation in the "Full Immersion: Taking Your Game Everywhere" panel at Game Developers Conference Online earlier this year.

http://www.darthhater.com/articles/swtor-news/16558-gdc-online-2011-day-1-live-blog-coverage/page-3

 

For those unaware, Mr. Olsen is a Senior Web Producer for BioWare Austin on the game.

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=8176761&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=B4E7&locale=en_US&srchid=daaf9687-d484-4ebe-81d4-45a8b6a67dfc-1&srchindex=1&srchtotal=1&goback=%2Efps_PBCK_erik+olsen_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*2_*1_Y_*1_*1_*1_false_1_R_*1_*51_*1_*51_true_CC%2CN%2CG%2CI%2CPC%2CED%2CL%2CFG%2CTE%2CFA%2CSE%2CP%2CCS%2CF%2CDR_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_162717_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2_*2&pvs=ps&trk=pp_profile_name_link

[ColonelKer-Nal]

If you could log into the game itself with your phone, then it would be the same thing. If it's only an App, they're sending you only the info you need for your App. Which is pretty much "When **** is is done, who is ready for next round?". How easy is that to parse?

 

 

 

No harm, log in to the game and play! OH wait, you use that program to click "Send Companion" for few secs and off you go again, sitting in your car.

 

 

 

Well, what's the point of the system if it's automated? Why not just sell stuff from vendors? No need for Apps or Pesky Crews to interfere with The Grind.

 

Then to compete with others in price... Since it's about time & effort when it comes to supply, at some point it's just not worth doing it if it's not totally automated, and I doubt "Hand Made"-tag will make your goods in SWTOR sell any higher..

 

Just like with any other MMO, the more time you spend in game playing the game yourself, the more reward you should get.

 

All you're trying to here is make the game easier for YOU so you would benefit and catch up to those actually playing the game and spend time in there. Let's just add a "Training Room" for your ship where you can log out and gain exp while actually not playing. Every level you'd have to go and actually do something to actually level.

 

Look, the bottom line is that people who want to automate this will do so. I won't be one of them.

 

Also, how exactly does this differ from me remoting into my gaming PC from work and queuing up crafting missions as my crew finish the last ones?

 

Given that your arguments have some veracity (a point which do not concede), there are 10,000 other ways to accomplish the same ends. So why punish the rest of us?

[SofaKingWeTatDid]

Do IT!

[fodigg]

/signed. I want this.

[RSXelrate]

+1 I'd love this capability.

[Thurgrayden]

I think this would be an incredible idea.

 

And, taking a step back a minute, it doesn't give tablet/smartphone users a bigger advantage than they already have just by owning such a device.

 

I'm currently at work, using an App called splashtop streamer to use my pc at home and send my crew (all one of them!) on missions and crafting. I couldn't possibly hope to pvp using it because of lag, but for managing my crew it is perfect. Similarly anyone can do the same from a laptop with an RDP connection set up.

 

An app that facilitates this wouldn't give me anything I don't already have, it just makes it more enjoyable and less fiddley.

 

I wouldn't say I'm getting an advantage over others just because I'm not sat in front of my PC doing it?

 

 

 

I was wondering if anyone would mention Splashtop... That's been my plan all along. As soon as I'm in the game, start leaving the computer turned on when I go to work, and use Splashtop to remote in from my office and send my companions out on Crew Missions.

 

If an app for this is ever created, I'd probably pick it up unless the limitations they impose to counter the accessability are too strict....then I'd just stick with Splashtop.

[ColonelKer-Nal]

I was wondering if anyone would mention Splashtop... That's been my plan all along. As soon as I'm in the game, start leaving the computer turned on when I go to work, and use Splashtop to remote in from my office and send my companions out on Crew Missions.

 

If an app for this is ever created, I'd probably pick it up unless the limitations they impose to counter the accessability are too strict....then I'd just stick with Splashtop.

 

Splashtop, TeamViewer, RDP, VNC, the list of apps that could be used for this is literally endless.

 

I work 3rd shift and it's almost always glacially slow. Yeah, I'll be doing this one way or another.

[Thurgrayden]

I work 7am - 4pm, but I'm in tech support, and you KNOW how we are...

 

 

If you've ever had to call for support and had a very long wait time, this is why.

[iain_b]

If it's free, I like it.

 

If I have to pay for it, on top of my regular subscription than no thanks.

[JCDIP]

I love the idea, it should bring gaming to a whole new level.