Chef Archive
Thread: Chef Correspondent Revamp Report #3
Developers,
Thank you very much for the hard work. After the changes that went in last week, most of the chefs who were against the changes have become cautiously optimistic. Instead of crying nerf they are now saying, "Hmmm, this might work!"
Of course, give us a small glass and we will take a barrel. There are a few more issues that we have, but notice how short the list is now and most of them are technical bugs.
First, though, I would like you to take a look at this website. Saark5 has done a great job of testing out additives and containers, and has done a really great job of organizing the information.
http://whitestar.digital-mercenaries.com/swg/chef.html
1 Saark5 brings up a very good point here: "It is obvious that the revamp is supposed to encourage if not enforce a synergy with BE's. Based off the above analysis, BE based Blue Milk will be far superior to regular Blue Milk even at a glance to anyone looking at the stats. The question remains if there will still be a market for non-BE foods, and I think that depends on how much demand food will get with the revamp compared to now." On top of that, there is some concern that the additives require too much domestic meat, which is not only rare but desirable for a lot of professions. Doctors, BEs and Chefs all require Domestic meat. We fear that because of this, additives will be very rare and very expensive. This is fine for medium and heavy additives, but I do think that light aditives should be fairly inexpensive and, more importantly, be able to mass produce them easily. One thing I am not sure you developers ever fully understand is how much quantity chefs have to produce to keep up with orders and to keep all their factories and harvesters running. Light additives should be able to keep up with this supply fairly well, because there is some question of how well this stuff will sell without at least light attives. Reduce the meat requirements on light additives should do the trick. Also, I think it is fair to point out that many chefs don't agree with me and think that all additives should be rare.
2. While we appreciate the fact that you increased the multiplier for containers, we are still concerned the benefit of large glasses and above is not worth the resources going into it. Again, as Saark5 said (Hey, when you are right you are right): "The large glass is too expensive in resources. I can get the BE supplement for the same cost as getting the resources to make the glass. One is FAR superior to the other. You also can make 40 uses across 10 small blue milks for the same container resources as 6 for one large blue milk. I think large glasses should be 30 resources not 100. It would still be more costly than small glasses as far as resources, but would be cheaper than BE supplements and might still regarded as useful for people concerned about inventory space."
3. Bug: Barrels are not giving any multipliers on quantity.
4. Bug: You cannot experiment on Caf's flavor.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=csystems&message.id=5326
And the fact that the BE items that boost flavor require milk is an absolute killer. Even with the new milk-gathering system, you'll never see the 2000 necessary to make a single crate of 50 items. And if you do you can bet that the price would be several times what you could get for the resulting crate...
Here's my list:
1) There are recipes that still require other recipes as components:
Vegesparine requires veghash
Cavaellin Creams require Pastebread
Sweesonberry Rolls require Pastebread
This only creates confusion, since the quality of components does not affect the Final Product (or does it?). The Pastebread could be changed to Sweet Cake mix without changing to resource/level/Complexity requirements dramtically. Veghash require Soypro, so it's a 2 step process. Perhaps replacing it with 4 Protato would be a good trade-off.
2) There are a few recipes that don't list Quantity:
Deneelian Fizz Pudding
Thakitillo
T'illa-T'iil
I don't know if this is a bug, or intentional due to the strength of the buffs. If it's a bug, I guess I should /bug it. If it's intentional, then remove the Quantity reuirements and experimentation.
3) Caf lists Flavor under "Misc" not "Experimental Flavor", which could be why there is no flavor experimentation.
4) Chandad buffs 7-12 Surveying for 12-24 minutes. Novice Artisans get 20 Surveying, level 1 have 40, and Survey 4 (100) gives the maximum range. I don't know where this buff will ever be useful. I think it should either be increased to 14-24 (to make it moderately useful) or allow someone who couldn't normally survey to survey (to make it a top seller).
") Chandad buffs 7-12 Surveying for 12-24 minutes. Novice Artisans get 20 Surveying, level 1 have 40, and Survey 4 (100) gives the maximum range. I don't know where this buff will ever be useful. I think it should either be increased to 14-24 (to make it moderately useful) or allow someone who couldn't normally survey to survey (to make it a top seller"
In the same vein, the items that provide a buff to musician/dancer wound healing ought to either be eliminated entirely or their effects changed to something useful. Entertainers will not go out of their way to buy food to heal people that don't pay them faster-just ask how many entertainers who are in it to BE entertainers how many articles of clothing they own that's made with myoflex cloth. A marginally more useful buff would be one that adds to the dancing skill itself, since there are at least some dancers who hate falling and don't want to have to equip a weapon of some type to prevent it. A dance skill boost would lessen fall rate and actually might sell once in a blue moon. As is, Carmelized Pkneb and Corellian Ale might as well have no effect at all. If they're going to include something like that, could we get Antakarrian Fire Dancer back instead? At least it has a cool name. 
(Writing as a former entertainer who wouldn't bother with those foods even if someone gave them to me, as they'd take up stomach space that could be used for either a stat boost or for the buff time reducer).
Quantity is still listed as something which can be experimented on, but has no effect. Either allow us to have multiple uses per stack or remove quanitity experimentation.
- Malikor, Master Chef - TestCenter
SaarK5 wrote:
Ormachek recipe :
Quantity is still listed as something which can be experimented on, but has no effect. Either allow us to have multiple uses per stack or remove quanitity experimentation.
- Malikor, Master Chef - TestCenter
Ooh, that reminds me:
Last night, when I checked, Ormachek does not have a food additive slot.
If that is too unbalancing, please change them to something useful.
Apart from the few bugs and issues listed above by others, I am optimistic for this patch.
The only worrying aspect, is the reliance on BE's to make high amounts of additives, as we have a massice turnover - I can make 1000 Angerian Fishaks, taking DAYS to produce, and sell out in an hour
Velvet-dancer wrote:
In the same vein, the items that provide a buff to musician/dancer wound healing ought to either be eliminated entirely or their effects changed to something useful...
Well, entertainers only get 5 Wound Healing per level, so a 7-12 modifier is 1-3 levels. And new entertainers can't always afford BE enhanced clothing. BUT, I agree that these recipes are messed up. I think the artisan food (Caramelized Pkneb) should boost Wound Healing(Dancing) and Wound Healing (Musician). Artisans are a novice profession, and should be able to make food for other novice professions. Corellian Ale, which is in the chef tree, and requires specific resources (Corellian only) should be reserved for something a little more substantial.
I don't think I made my point very well, sorry Ezran, though you are exactly right that a recipe requiring a planet specific resource should be reserved for something more beefy and that it's odd that an artisan recipe is buffing an advanced profession skill. The point is, quite honestly, it doesn't matter to entertainers how quickly the person heals. Healing faster gets the person out of the cantina quicker, which means he is no longer there for the entertainer to interact with; it goes against the socializing which is the whole intent behind the profession. I can tell you flat out, that entertainers that actually want to be there, will NOT be using this food. I think SirVimes got the same answer when he asked on the dancer board if dancers would be interested in a food that added to wound healing-a resounding 'NO'. You're (not you specifically) expecting people,who normally don't even get paid for their service, to buy a consumable item that provides no benefit to the person buying and eating it. People don't tip better because they got healed a bit quicker, you're lucky if your presence gets acknowledged, much less paid for your service. 
Honestly, when was the last time you noticed and commented on how quickly an entertainer healed your wounds?
Furthermore, wounds heal fairly quickly even while the entertainer is still in the novice tree. *Battle fatigue* is the one that heals slower; novice entertainers don't receive any bonus to fatigue healing until they're either novice dancer/musician. A more useful buff would be one that added to battle fatigue healing for someone who doesn't have novice dance/music yet. It still wouldn't sell but at least we could say it's marginally useful. 
If the devs insist on a boost that provides zero benefit to the user, maybe Carmelized Pkneb could add to both music/dance wound healing and Corellian Ale could be reserved for something that merits its requirement for a planet specific resource.
In any case, I won't disrupt this thread further with these points. Heck, maybe I'll be surprised and customers will start feeding this stuff to entertainers!