Chef Archive
Thread: Chef Correspondent Report
3. Progression of Schematics. Ideally, what should happen is that as we move up the skill tree, we should be getting schematics for better products. Novice chef should make a better products than domestic arts IV, mixology I should have better schematics than novice chef, mixology II should have better schematics than mixology I, and up the tree we go. This does not seem to be the case. At Domestic Arts IV, I can make a dustcrepe that does +45 stamina lasting 270 seconds for 15 resources. At Novice Chef we get Wastril Bread that does +30 stamina lasting 270 seconds for 35 resources. And this is before the experimentation points we get with domestic arts. Yes, we get experimentation points in the chef tree, but that is a huge grind to get them. Another good example is at Novice Artisan I can make a bofa treat for +35 action lasting 95 seconds for 11 resources. In mixology III you get Antakarian Fire Dancer which does +20 action lasting 80 seconds for 60 resources. And the very best schematic in the tree, Tattooine Sunburn, is in Mixology II instead of Master Chef. We need to have these schematics balanced, and there needs to be better schematics as we move up the tree as a reward for our efforts. Right now, with experimentation included, Domestic Arts IV is outselling Chefs with better products. Schematics need to be balanced so that they get better as they move up.
I like the second draft much better.
We might replace the bit about harvesters with the idea of an on-screen representation of the buffs. Maybe a new GUI window, and then knock that down as #5. Someone else already elaborated on that idea. It's a bit of a frill, but I'm sure either medics or architects will be listing flora harvs in their own list.
Unless they're both counting on us to do it. 
Ah much better!
The first title before the paragraph begins highlights the issue of the paragraph, much better!
Short and Sweet:
1. Chefs should be the BEST at food and item buffs, almost acting like support mages. This class needs to move towards this.
2. Foods should stack more, allow ALL foods to stack to a certain point...maybe 10 or even just 5.
3. After Novice Chef each level should have foods which give STRONGER and LONGER buffs. Simple. One step up = one step up in buffs.
4. Decrease Factory costs! Chefs have a tough enough time right now making money!
5. Increase the NEED for food. Make it that pets must have food. Give a REASON players NEED food. There has to be a NEED for any profession to make it successful.
Thanks.
Heya guys
SirVimes-- All's I can say is it's too bad they get new corrospondents each month
SirVimes wrote:
4. Medium and Heavy floral harvesters. This is actually a bug for the architects, but it hits the chefs pretty hard. Architects cannot make medium and heavy floral harvesters because the schematics are bugged, so we are forced to rely only on the personal harvesters.
I'm a master architect going novice chef. While trying to make a pair of heavy flora harvesters today, I ran in to this problem.
To offer a lil precision,in the hopes that the devs pickup on this onejust that much faster--
Architects can't make Harvesting Mechanisms, an essential and unique component to medium and heavy flora harvesters. The schematic shows up in our datapads just fine, along with it's resource costs. However, when we select it in our crafting kits, we get an endless "Downloading Item Blueprint Data from your Datapad". We never reach step 1 of the item creation. Therefor, we obviously can't make Harvesting Mechanisms, which leaves the creation ofmedium and heavy flora harvesters gated.
Mainly wasn't sure if you guys all knew exactly what the problem is, so I thought I'd pop in with it.
Xukan
Master architect(retired), Novice chef
Scylla
SirVimes: Remember, the devs chose you because they probably thought that you were best capable of choosing issues without being overly passionate about them, while holding a strong interest to them. In the end the choice should be yours. I trust your judgement and think you can do a good job, and am ready to help with what little I can.
For those that think the xp rate of chefs is slower, it's not any slower then other elite artisan professions. A lot of them have multiple masters/server, because they are professions that attract powerlevellers. All the elite artisan professions need between 28K-55K for the first skill box, and get 2xp/res. They're also generally grinding parts that give no uxp, or making weapons/whatever by factory(so no uxp there either). There's more masters because a) there's way more of them playing and b) there's a lot more powerlevellers among them.
If not for successive total resource changes on lowca and **edit**loads of downtime I'd now be 3/4 to master chef. I started the game 2 weeks after release(but did play in beta), and admit to basically grinding and powerlevelling. Most chefs dont powerlevel(it takes a hell of a lot of time running missions to get the money to support harvesters/buy factories and whatnot topowerlevel). That's why chef xp SEEMS slower than other elite artisan xp. I suggest to those who haven't played another artisan profession to try anything but architect or armorsmith and see how useful they are. Architect and armorsmith are both good standards for a starting usefulness for a crafter profession, and other novice elite's should be pumped up to that level IMHO. Architects also have the slight advantage a fair amount of people will offer to give them the resources to make something so that they can get a significant reduction, which gives them a handy xp advantage. Finally, large PA's see it as very advantageous to powerlevel their architects and weaponsmiths. Chef's aren't as important to them. It's not the game system that's making less high level chefs, compared to other professions. It's the players
First, thank you for accepting this position. I'm sure you'll be a lot of help to us all. Now, regarding your letter to the Devs:
(Caveat: please don't take any of this as mean-spirited criticism. I am really, really, only trying to help us all out. This is my first post on this board, as I can actually see this is atopic where speaking up can make a real difference.)
Regarding the letter, I would take out a good deal of the 'flavor' text. For example, 'borked', and the like. The people these problems will be foisted off onto probably don't want to read a big rambling paragraph about your Bothan auntie with the gout, or whatever. Just set up the points, and knock them down. This will get more done for us than a thousand posts on this forum. Think about how you feel when you get an idiotic /tell ('LOL fud iS GoD GimE sum 4 My PeT!11!!!')- now, imagine yourself a continually-harped-on Dev or CSR person.
How you present yourself is important - Just like how some people don't put up their 'Master' titles because they don't want to be bothered that much, Devs and CSRs probably don't post on the forums all that much because after a while, five thousand fanboys posting nasty things can get to you.
I feel the number one issue should be in Properly scaling the bonuses of the foods to the skill levels needed. Each box should either have all-around better stats than the previous box, or affect a new stat that hasn't been affected. A simplified example: Box I of SampleChefSkill has two foods - one that helps Str, one that helps Sta, and one that helps Qui. Box II should have a more powerful Str food, or perhaps aFoc-raising food, as the Chef doesn't have one yet. Better skills should mean better results in food, hands down. Give Chefs a reason to climb the trees.
Regarding the factories - although you said 'majority rules', the majority of people who play Chefs want Lightsaber Cake at Novice. ^_^ Remember that we should be a balanced class, with drawbacks. Factories, in my opinion, should only be there to create identical ingredients for use in recipes. Chefs are not mass-producers, and, as stated before, Factories are not for XP. We aren't Lean Cuisine - Chef is a class taken by those who want to interact with people. You can bring ingredients to make every Chef and DA dish around with you, and still have a significant number of slots open to hold the food as you make it. Trust me.
Regarding the 'make our bonuses more powerful / longer than spice bonuses' - after a certain time period, the Spice buffs don't have drawbacks at all. The reason? The user is out of the fight and safely away from combat when the downside catches up to them. I'd mention this in your letter, as the common Spice-seller's arguement against the balance is that 'Spice has a downside'. Don't let that retort shut your arguement down, prepare for it. Spice should have stronger 'buffs' than food, but only for a short short while- but since that is another profession, don't hang yourself up on it. Mentioning other classes will make your letter look whiny - only ask for self-contained things.
Lastly, the Milk/Eggs problem. I am assuming that is will be no small feat for them to balance in and put Milk and Egg farms, or harvesting, in the game. Rather than ask for that, why not ask for a stopgap? Remove Milk and Eggs from the Ingredients List. Simple fix, and they can be put in later.
I hope this helps, if not, I'm sorry. Either way, congrats on the position, may you do great good for us all with it.
-Aleksander Blake
Master Chef, Doeba Guerfel, Corellia, Tarquinas
> Factories, in my opinion, should only be there to create identical ingredients for use in recipes.
Sorry but I completely disagree. In order to make a profit we need to makea LOT of food. Whereas an armorsmith or architect needs to just make a few quality items. The only way tomake, and store, enough food is with a factory.
I have no problem with the fantasy of mass producing genericfood in a factory, then making a few custom high quality orders for select customers with my best ingredients. And I think such a thing is necessary to turn a profit.
Silly me - I never actually put up my 'Top 5'. Here we go. Also, folks, remember when posting that you should pick issues that are important, not ones that are merely important to you. Keep it professional, and you'll get results.
#1: Properly scale the potentcies of foods to the skills need to make them (this includes the 'Why does DA4 beat Nocie Chef' arguement, as well as the 'Why get Mixology 3 and 4' arguement)
#2: Raise the overall potencies of higher-level/higher-ingredient-quantity foods
#3: Allow Domestic Arts Food crafting as Novice Chef XP
#4: Remove/fix Milk/Eggs
#5: Allow Food/Drink its own Bazaar category (oh, and post the stat bonuses it gives on the main window, but the bazaar needs that for everything, which is a major overhaul)
There are a few other issues to this profession, but one thing at a time is the way to go.
-Aleksander Blake
Master Chef, Doeba Guerfel, Corellia, Tarquinas
As I read above, I see that my stance on factories isn't exactly universally loved. ^_^
Regarding that - I don't see how 'making a lot of food' is needed to make a profit. High quality foods make a profit, grinding out cheap Growch is small bills, in my opinion. Make lesser, high quality foods, and sell it to those who can afford it. Mass-sales only really work for resources, as mass-selling food only gluts the market. There is no money being made on mass-porduced Bazaar-sold CDEFs anymore, as a million Weaponsmiths are doing it. The same can be said for bricks of food.
You *are* a Weaponsmith - you are crafting powerful characters for people, if only for a short time. If people aren't paying you well for your food, find better ingredients, spend more XP in Experimentation, or, and this is most important, find more intelligent customers. The masses aren't going to buy food - they don't need to.
The high level fighters, though, make a lot of money, and already have the best weapons. You are where their money should be going.
If *anyone* wants to make all the money they'll ever need in SWG, all tehy need to do is mine/harvest the most popular resources (Wind Energy/Steel/Aluminum/Fiberplast/Ore) and sell them on the market, or dish them out in large quantites to the other crafters. You'll make all the money you'll everneed. Rather than selling your Chef'ed stuff, trade it for cool items. A weaponsmith/armorer who already has 1.5 million credits doesn't care about money - he or she cares about being even more a ninja than they already are. As a Chef, your job is to keep the highest-level fighters at above-highest condition - after you get the best gear, the only way to do any better is to stuff your face. ^_^
Even the best foods are only gonna last 4-5 minutes, at least in the lines I can make (sorry I'm not master chef yet so I don't know). Any fighter is gonna fight a lot longer than that - selling him a nice expensive stack of hand produced food is not gonna keep him going for the long run. You can have your nice french bistro with the tiny pretty portions, but I want the option to run a McDonald's thank you.
I'm not so keen on the extremely long times, because that means it would also have to take a long time to digest...
Not being able to digest quickly means i f you wanted someting else by then...you couldn't cause you're full.
Okay, SirVimes, I just read your second report...and I'm extremely impressed! It's a 1000% improvement over the first one, and it does a great job of clearly presenting most Chef problems--especially #1, thank goodness you added that in there! Now the developers should really get the point when we say "Our food sucks."
Your order is pretty good, however, I would consider switching 2 with 3. I think the fact that even a TAILOR with Domestic Arts can make just as powerful food as a CHEF with Domestic Arts isa pretty big profession-killer.Personally, I'd put this as #2, and stick the factory problem as #3.
As for #4, I'm not sure about. I wish there was something better to put in there, but I guess that's fine too.
Overall, GREAT JOB. It's good to see that our Chef representative is taking an active role in the community and is putting his full effort into his reports.