The Hardships of Logging. Buffs, Reversions, General Enjoyment Increases.

[Dennis]

Hello fellow players,

I hope this message finds you well. I have spent a little time logging and woodcutting in the game, and I agree with the statements that some areas that could use improvement.

Improvements in logging can be implemented through various methods, including:

• Introducing a resource tracker on partially chopped logs to keep track of the available resources in each partially chopped log.

• Improving the duration of activity: Introduce ways to reduce the amount of time it takes to process wood, such as by allowing players to use multiple tools at once; or by allowing players to automate some steps in the process through advanced tools or abilities. Another solution could be to streamline the logging process to make it more efficient, reducing the time spent on a single project and improving the overall player experience.

• Reducing item bloat: Implement a way to condense the intermediate products generated during the process, such as by reducing the weight of branches so we can make larger bundles . Alternatively, allow players to stack/store the different types of produce from woodcutting in a special PULLable container that registers all the product from the process as a numerical stored value that can be RETRIEVEd from.

• Additionally, it would be great to have a more intuitive and streamlined process for transforming raw logs into usable products, such as hewn timbers, planks, and blocks. Currently, the process can be confusing, especially for newer players. To make the experience more enjoyable, it would be helpful to have more information and feedback throughout the process. For example, a command or measuring tool held in hand that could be used on a targetted tree or log to give an estimate on how many of the next-step product can be made from it. A specific tree, the number of logs, or a specific log the number of blocks or split logs or timbers similar to the recipe system.

• It would also be beneficial to have more interactive elements to woodfelling and construction, such as quicktime events that can speed up the process of felling or project building to add more excitement and engagement to the process. This can also make the experience feel more rewarding and give players a sense of accomplishment after successfully completing a felling project or building project.

[Firerose]

Could we have overall more straight, usuable branches, and fewer crooked? I know in RL more are probably crooked than straight, but for game purposes, they don't serve a purpose, other than for donating for firewood, using it for your own fires or campfire bundles.
I'm not suggesting we have 13 bundles of 33 straight branches. That's entirely too many, even if it would make sense for massive and large trees.
I'll be curious what your numbers will be when they're changed.

[Firerose]

I think number of logs is an easier way to go than having to track and juggle multiple different classes of log.

Except this basically is an IRL punishment for biting off more than you can chew because each extra log costs you ten minutes to carve, and that much time or more to haul away. Cleaning up the logs after felling a massive tree is an endeavor of multiple hours, your reward for... completing an endeavor of even more hours, lol

I agree with this and Staz's other post. I can see how that would be extremely frustrating.
Also, number of logs is a start, but it doesn't need to be the only way, and, while my knowledge of coding and how much processing time it would take to wade through all the tasks required of the game, it doesn't seem like that big of an addition or complication. I'm not good at crunching numbers. I wish I were, because maybe I could give clear examples of what I mean.

[Lexx416]

I think this change is probably overall better for the game than it's hurtful - I think it just comes across as "bad", because of a few different factors (most of which relate to the partially-finished state of Crafting overall, and how that impacts some crafts much more than others).

I had decided I wanted my berserker to be a miner - both because he was a Mason, and because it made sense for him to make ingots out of the stone he didn't use for carving (plus he could make his own metal bits and bobs for construction, with the right molds). However, the reality of the situation was that even if he sold his unprocessed ore-bearing stone to the Metalworking Union at Union Prices, it was more profitable by a little more than 5 times to just process every chunk of stone into goblets.

That's kind of super Not Good, but if we just raise the amount of riln that Primary Industry/Gathering like Mining and Woodcutting produces, that just ends up increasing the prices of everything else that those professions feed into. It's a very tricky, complicated problem that doesn't (I think) have a very cut and dry or easy solution. Mining is a bit easier to problem solve for (you can reward specialization/higher mining skill with things OTHER than the metal you're looking for), but it's a lot trickier with woodcutting.

Coppicing would be (in my head) the ideal way to make sure Woodcutting stays relevant and useful - but as things currently stand, you can effectively forage infinite straight branches if you just have enough time, which results in something that historically provided a great deal of value (specialized knowledge of guiding tree growth to produce consistently straight branches) being not valuable at all. The flip side of that is, if you remove foraged straight branches from the game and required people to either know how to coppice or fell an entire tree, that would also have the effect of basically making Bushcraft impossible (or, making it more difficult than it already is) and be pretty punitive towards entirely new PCs.

I don't really have too many ideas (that I think are very good) for making Woodcutting be more valuable than it is unfortunately. Maybe making it so that different tree-types did have different values, and making those different tree-types either be unfellable without the appropriate level of woodcutting or produce something like an "uneven log" that doesn't work for crafts if you don't have sufficient woodcutting (to represent specialized knowledge of dealing with different graints/etc. - I don't know how true to life that is though). But that also doesn't feel super great, so I'm not really sure if that is the answer either.

I do think construction (which was called out here) could be better, if constructed items took durability damage and required repairs or replacements. Maybe there could be particularly valuable side-goods that could be produced from logging - a chance, if you have a sufficiently high woodcutting skill, to find rare fungi or lichens that are used in cooking and medicine for instance, or ways to collect sap, etc.