I can say just by reviewing that actual proposal, that you could let a crafter be a level 80...or you could let them he a level 200...and I don't see what value that would bring to a crafter/entertainer.
They would not get any sort of mitigation for armor hindrence - because that doesn't make sense. They can still wear armor now to get protections, and tape them up to get extra health/defenses.
This essentially come down to people want to use a droid.
For those of you that don't know - the idea was floated by devs to introduce new modifiers into the RE system to allow for exotics that a crafter could use to pull out out droids X levels higher than themselves. I do think this was an interesting and easier way to implement a solution for the crafting community rather than start calculating CLs from non combat professions. I'd certainly hate to be that crafter that is lvl 80 who decides to respec into combat - and now they're pulling high end missions without any real combat skills.
I'm pro 'assisting' crafters in certain scenarios - but no amount of help should be implemented for crafters throwing harvesters on Dath or Endor - as that doesn't make much sense. At some point there is a line that shouldn't be crossed.
All good points and I agree with you. I just don't think a pure crafter who's at a skill level of 80 is going to be expecting to put harvesters on Dath or Endor. They'll be able to get better armor, call droids, and wear looted clothes.
I'm not for the "
xx higher than they are" thought process. We already have that for everyone (+5 levels). Crafters can be very low level, my master crafter is a 3. What defines a 'crafter' for the purposes of pulling a droid, wouldn't that be everyone? A level CL 3 master crafter with all his boxes checked, is the same CL as a newbie pistoleer CL 3. They could both theoretically pull level 8 droids. How would development differentiate between someone doing a lot of crafting, a new person, or someone doing crafting and a combat tree to allow the crafter to pull higher level droid based on their crafting level?
I'd certainly hate to be that crafter that is lvl 80 who decides to respec into combat - and now they're pulling high end missions without any real combat skills. - That's a valid point, but what's the drawback? A crafter surrenders a couple of skills and picks up pistoleer then gets a level 65 mission. I don't think that'll end well for him. If the crafter wanted lower missions, they'd have to surrender all crafting skills to get their skill level back down to a reasonable level. I would need to think this one through.
I definitely believe droids should be capped at 40 for
anyone that isn't a
Master in a combat class (maybe lower). (i.e. Crafters and such). The object is to let them work on Tatooine and other low / mid level worlds with a chance to survive, not drop harvesters on Dath and Endor.
My final point is that I don't just think it's droids. Certainly it isn't for me, it's also clothes. There are level 80 clothes that are useful for crafting that crafters can't wear (my master crafter is a level 3).
Good points and good discussion, thanks PhilmorALF.