When to linger

Share your feedback about COGG.
Post Reply
User avatar
nobody
Posts: 501
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:43 am
Contact:

When to linger

Post by nobody »

Looking over the skill and class data today has given me some good time to reflect on my time playing a physicker (they're well represented in both sets) and I realized I should probably share some of my thoughts and insights, because the data and my own experience seem to line up with a conclusion that physickers might have it too easy. That might be an unpopular opinion, and I could be wrong, but let me present my experiences.
  • Physickers are great at being non-combatants, I don't have to worry about fighting if I don't want to because (at least for now) there isn't a need to go anywhere dangerous.
  • Physickers specialist skills are: medical. That's all. If I maxed out medical I'd still have a boatload of skill points to throw into whatever hobby I want, I could be a decent combatant, explorer, or craftsman.
  • Physickers don't actually need much medical. Based on the data, I think they often do raise it above 100, but abilities don't require it, and don't benefit from it, aside from reduced roundtime for tending and bandaging, and duration for therapy which benefits other people, but not the physicker. In a kind of perverse way, the physicker is better off if their therapies don't last longer.
  • Physicker work is a service rather than a good, so physickers don't really need to worry about market flooding, it never constrains their work.
  • Scholars and locksmiths have tasks now, and there are general tasks, but physicker work is better XP than any of them because there isn't any cool down.
  • Infirmaries provide all the goods for physicker work, so one ability and no gear is sufficient to start making riln. Physickers can provide their own materials by having hillant unguent, needle, thread and maybe bandages, but if they do that they get paid more riln, suggesting that the infirmary is indeed taking a cut from their earnings when they're using infirmary supplies.
  • Because physickers don't require any supplies, aside from periodic trips to the library for abilities or training, they never have to leave town.
  • Doing physicker work is very grindy, but it also feels RP-appropriate. When I'm grinding away in the infirmary, I feel like a physicker, I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
I started off being a 'vanilla scholar' planning to wait for alchemist to be a thing, until I read on the BBS that resets were already a thing, that included guild and class choice and all the skills, and that alchemists and artisans are slated for 'phase 2'. Given all that, I decided I'd probably like playing a physicker in the interim and I'd give it a go, and I've loved it. But with not having to leave to gather materials, and no substantial cool down period, I've tended to just linger in the infirmaries tending forever. With characters that have used crafting skills, my goal is often to optimize XP rather than riln, so I'd stop when my bucket is full and leave the supplies for when I need more XP, but again, physickers need no supplies, so I can optimize riln and just throw away XP because my bucket is already full - it's fine, my bucket is always full. It also has no energy cost, so I don't need to rest and I don't need to leave for food. It makes a long grind very, very sustainable, and while I'd thought I might be relatively alone in enjoying that, I think the LARGE chunk of the XP on the physicker row of the demographic data suggests I'm not as alone as I thought. Especially so in light of the afore mentioned fact that grinding in the infirmary FEELS like decent solo RP, I'm doing the thing that makes me a physicker. Arcanists rarely get to feel that way as they're not finished. My treasure hunter gets to feel that way twice a day when I go hunting for boxes. My physicker feels that way nearly constantly, and it's a good feeling. It has made for an excellent class for learning the game with, as I've not struggled much to level up after learning the ropes and I've had skill points to spare for whatever I want to dabble in, but seeing the data makes me think, maybe I do have it too easy and that's feedback that's important too.

So, when should a PC be encouraged to linger in one spot? If I could shelve books all day in the library and fill my bucket doing it, my arcanist would. It's a delightful task but the XP/cool down match up says go do other things instead and then when your bucket is full, let it glide down more slowly by having a jolly time shelving books. I haven't checked the XP/cool down trade off for the locksmithing task but I hope to do so soon, but I expect to find the same. In truth, I suspect that task rewards and cool downs are designed intentionally to cool down slowly enough that all the XP burns away and then some before you can do it again so that people go do other things. Maybe other classes should have it as nice as physickers do, but I suspect game design intent should shift physickers to be in line with everyone else. Replace medical certification with infirmary tasks to heal some number of patients and then it cools off and you can do it again later. I wouldn't like that as much, but I have it too good. Or maybe add an energy cost with tending, suturing, and soothing - people are exhausting to deal with after all. If the energy cost is high enough, physickers will need to do their own cool downs. And they'd have to leave for food eventually. Maybe reduce XP from tending (etc) so that you are emptying your bucket most of the time instead of filling it. Anyway, there it is - if you're finding your grind too hard, play a physicker to learn the game, it's delightful.
Keleran
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:22 pm

Re: When to linger

Post by Keleran »

At one time we had to use our own supplies to tend people in the infirmary, but that was changed to what it is now, and at a reduced income earned by working in the infirmaries using it's supplies. I had quite a few contacts to get thread and bandages so I could do work at the infirmaries. I don't mind using my own medical supplies if that were to change back.

To clarify, do you mean physickers have it easy with filling the experience bucket and experience gains, or that we tend to not go into combat faced with imminent danger, so life is easy when you stay in town? From what I have seen I gain more experience bringing down one NPC at my combat skill level then I do healing one NPC in the infirmary. Also, there is the trade off. Many skills I want to do with this character are not yet ready, or might not be around for long, so it leaves me with points to use. Keleran is getting into combat, but will not be as effective a most other guilds that are designed for it. He will have no access to special abilities for combat, so the plan is to be a "combat medic" with a ranged attack for support, and some skill to be able to climb and swim where needed.

I would like to see, depending on the medical skill of the physicker, more serious injuries you would have to treat per NPC assigned to you. That would directly increase the round time you would have for treatment, and being able to continue working.
User avatar
nobody
Posts: 501
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2020 7:43 am
Contact:

Re: When to linger

Post by nobody »

Keleran wrote: Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:20 pmTo clarify, do you mean physickers have it easy with filling the experience bucket and experience gains, or that we tend to not go into combat faced with imminent danger, so life is easy when you stay in town?
I meant that they have it easy in a number of ways:
  • filling their bucket, particularly because they can go one place and not really ever have to leave
  • earning a bit of riln
  • having to leave town at all to get supplies
  • having minimal living expenses as nutrition only decreases with energy loss
  • and having such minimal skill commitments that they can dabble a lot
Granted, when supplies are just thread and bandages they still wouldn't be leaving town if they had to provide them, that's either buy from the market or a direct supplier, or walk down to the farm area and collect it. But it's easy in a lot of ways.

Edit to add:
Keleran wrote: Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:20 pm From what I have seen I gain more experience bringing down one NPC at my combat skill level then I do healing one NPC in the infirmary.
Different skills fill the buckets at different rates, but everybody's buckets drain at the same rate. If your bucket is always full, it's only the xp drip that matters, not how fast the bucket fills.
Post Reply