Chef Archive

Forgive me for not having read through all the suggestions but the first page seems to be variations on the same theme, so my eyes are starting to glaze over. However, I didn't see the thing that's been bouncing around in my head for awhile now, so I will add it here:

Make the time it takes to get hungry again not muchlonger than the buff itself, and contingent upon the duration of the buff.

I'm a pistoleer, too, so besides making the food I consume it, and it seems really weird to me to have to wait quite awhile after the effects of my buffs have expired to be able to buff myself up again. In fact, having to wait to consume another one is almost like having a "downer," and NOT having a downer is what is supposed to set us apart from spice. Now, of course being returned to "regular" for a few extra minutes is far from retching one's guts out and having all your secondary stats go down, but it still is a disadvantage. If I'm in PVP and I'm drinking Tatooine Sunburns, I want it to continue to give me an advantage over my opponent, not have to wait until I get thirsty again to take a sip or two.

(Don't be confused, I'm not advocating being able to drink forever and ever with no limits, but when the benefits expire, the "fullness" should expire as well.)

I know this is just a game, but if we compare it to real life, it doesn't even make any sense. If I eat a hamburger, I'm not going to be in some sort of weakened state before I'm able to eat another one ... I know the analogy is not very strong there, but if you think about it, it doens't really make sense. Especially for shorter duration food, you run out of the buff way before you can eat another one.

Just my two cents.

--Arakknya Phobos

I really am suprised that I keep hearing all these things about increasing the buff amount for like primary stats, and, to an extent, primary stats. Dr.'s can buff the living crap out of you if you ask nicely or know one, and, since they last an hour, it is possible to use them in battle. SO, primary stat buffing is, IMO, covered by Dr's.

Secondary stats is iffy, since the only other items that cover this is spice, and there's the dreaded downtime of them, so I say keep them, they can be fun.

What I think needs to happen is the Skill buffing. It really needs to happen. It's unique, it's needed, it's not broken if controlled correctly, and we might be able to mass produce and sell more than like 3 or 4 items. But the game still needs buffs to cover secondary stats.

SO, why don't we just combine them? Example:

The NEW Tattooine Sunburn unexp-----

Str +750, Stam +750, 10-15min

Combat Skills +10, Run/Walk +10, Defense (melee & ranged) +10,10-15 min

Now, as a fighting class, which would you rather have? A HUGE bonus for a short time, a la old Sunburn, or basically a medium bonus, and (skill-wise) a temporary extra skill level so you can hit better? I think both of them compare the same way, except maybe I made the new one a little crazy, and, speaking as a commando, I'd rather have the new one. +10 to my D??? sign me up!

Now, if we took this formula and ran with it, the chefs could be great and respected! Alchoholic drinks that could give you a berserk rage wile still being able to use special attacks and a strength bonus! A cake that not only boosts your con, will, and quick, but gives you a momentary burst run! A confection that raises all you secondaries, and also beefs up a combat skill, or entertaining skill, or camping, or whatever (obviously master level for that one)! It could be a golden era! We could get tells for something other than Glucose or Sunburns! God save the Queen!

"if all foods lasted longer, then our prices would go up"

i totally disagree with people on the thread who maintain that food prices will go up if duration will go up. remember, our prices are largely based on the demand for our product. if it takes more time for a buff to go away, then it will not be used as much. people will only buy 5 sunbruns for a trip to dathomir or whatever. look at what happened to architect... now that houses are just sitting there, no one has a use for them.

so just to reiterate we dont need longer duration, just buffs that make sense for their skill tree level.

thanks for your time

The whole reason we want longer durations and bigger buffs is because as master level, grinding throguh all that xp, we have NOTHING at all, aspide from perhaps sunburns, that compares to a doctor. Name something else chefs do besides buff. Now name something else doctors do besides buff. Now tell me why doctor buffs deserve to be better than ours.

As for food buffing skills, its the most rediculous idea I've ever heard and I hope its not even considered by the Devs.

******
....When you start talking about 1000+ HAM buffs, and 500+ sub-stats buffs you start steping on the toes of docter enhancements and smugglers spices.

*******


Way I see it, we are a class that does buffs.....and well...thats it.

How can we be stepping on the toes of some class that has only one line (in the case of Doctor part of a line) devoted to it.

If any class is getting it's toes "stepped on", it is us.

All the buffs work together, so there is plenty of room on the dance floor for all our toes.

Dahn

AKA Rant Boy (for today anyways)

Don't take this as a personel attack, many people share your opinion, and have posted simular things. I just choose your to respond to.

Just a quick FYI:

Doctor buffs DO buff secondary stats.

Doctor buffs can give up to 2500(though that high is rare... normally 500-2000) for 1-3 hours, to health, strength, constitution, action, quickness, and stamina. They cant touch mind.

I've said my piece in this discussion so I'll just leave this post as an informative one.

Someone restrain me before I strangle Kilwen. With every post like this my hatred for doctors and their supports grows. The hate is swelling in me now.

i'm relatively new and havent thought about it a ton, but i believe what i'm thinking makes sense:

the buffs last nowhere close to as long as it takes for one's stomach to empty. this is theoretically the same as eating something and then having to completely digest it before eating again (as opposed to what we really do, which is eat, wait till it leaves our stomachs into our intestines, and then eat some more). i think the buffs should last just as long as, if not longer than, the amount of time it takes to empty the stomach

the buffs are not strong, nor do they last long. i think they need to be stronger and last longer. also, i think that if someone is on a good diet, they should have an overall better stat pool. for example, something like a dessert or fatty food could have stats that are a little better, but then a -10 or so on a stat for 5-6 hours. so if you were able to eat 4 per hour (these numbers chosen arbitrarily, and are not really my opinion, i'm just using them for demonstration), and you ate them for 5 hours (the amount of time for the negative effects to start wearing out) then by the 6th hour you would have -200 on a stat.... so eating cake for an hour straight migh tnot be too bad, but for 3 hours it would be rough on the character's health. in the same respect, i think going without eating should be detrimental. of course, i think this idea is a little more detailed but the important part to get from it is that the buffs need to be stronger and longer lasting. the other things like long-term eating effects are just an afterthought.

they definitely need to be stronger and last longer. especially considering how much harder it is to be chef than some of the other crafting professions. the goal is to make food more desirable. nobody wants food, so it's really tough to be a chef.

the progress of the chef tree doesnt make any sense. it's a pretty significant issue which needs to be taken care of asap!

i havent found any milk yet. when i do, i sure hope it is a mega-buff since it's so rare.

xp is really difficult to get. this wouldn't be a problem, but the rewards of grinding chef xp only to get buffs that are equal to or worse than dom arts buffs is depressing and has made me want to throw the CDs into the trash can more than once.

btw people are saying buffs need to last 2x longer? i dont know about you but when i eat something good in real life i feel better for a lot longer than 10-20 minutes. i feel good for several hours. i'm not saying buffs should last that long, but they need to last more than 10 minutes.

food buffs aren't holding much ground at all against spice, and they have almost nothing on doctor buffs. i dunno if doc buffs are gonna get nerfed, or what, but chef buffs need to at least be a little closer to dr buffs. (i know food is more versatile but it doesnt last close to as long nor does it have such a strong effect...)

Chef buffs staying "in your system" longer than the effects last, is part of the design for them. It means you have to plan when to use them, and can't be buffed non-stop. I see no major issue with that.

I wouldn't actually want a buff to last 20 minutes, if in turn that'd mean that it'd keep me full for 30-40. I'm happy with them lasting from 5-15 minutes. The buffs I have major issues with are stuff like flameout, which last for 3 minutes, but buff health for 1400... It takes most of those 3 minutes to just regen that health! So long as the duration is long enough for the buff to take full effect, and last out a medium-length fight, its good enough. Doctor buffs should be a long-term solution for the whole day, while chef buffs should be strong buffs for a single fight. Smuggler buffs should go on top of that as an added extra for those wanting the very maximum.

Is there a reason we even have to have Duration on buffs? Why not auto feed? What if you have the product in your inventory and it is used at the rate of the duration? I think the main reason most people don't use food buffs is because of it being a pain to keep track of your food and drink. Why could there not be something crafted by a Master Chef that is like a 2 slot container. The player drops the food and drink of choice into the container and you auto eat the items. This would make food more attractive to everyone. You would not have to really change the food the way it is now and it would not affect sells but it would boost them!

I've really been trying to think of how to make "Cheffing" worthwhile... without ruining the balance of the game.

1) Separate food from drinks.

Food items wouldneed to be eaten while in a camp, in a building, in a city, etc.

Drink items could be consumed at any time.

This would both establish a separation as you have with Stimpacks vs Wound Packs for Doctors. It would also set the stage for setting levels of buffs. Instead of just getting one "type" of food per block, you would get new drinks, new meals and new desserts each step along the trees. This would enhance the need for scouts as well - something they'd be happy to hear.

2) Mimic Other Class Skill Trees

Have a line that adjusts the +Assemble +Experiment skills (Cooking). Beyond that look at three types of buffs - Skill Enhancing, Stat Enhancing, Healing. (before all you doctors go screaming that chefs should not heal, don't go there unless you want to lose the ability to buff stats... two words for you: CHICKEN SOUP) I'm not asking for a LOT of healing power - but perhaps a lingering ability that might cure 1 random wound every 30-60 seconds or maybe knock battle fatigue down a point every minute or so.

This way someone who isn't able to devote points to make Cullinary Master (Sounds better than Master Chef) could actually take the time to chase up the tree for what they want. Those who chase +Assembly/+Experiment will be making the highest effectiveness pools of the bunch.

Now... each tree should consist of 4 notches that mimic Armor/Weaponsmith/Med Crafting

Step 1: Basic items with smaller effects that require simple ingredients, and 'cooking components' to be used in larger food item combines.
Step 2: Entry level combine items, a few more recipes that take up more resources or have more specific requirements (IE: Wheat as opposed to Cereal) to make.
Step 3: Advanced Cooking Components (highly distilled alcohol, iron-reinforced dough) to enhance the effectiveness of recipies that combine components with ingredients (similar to using Advanced Components in Weapons and Medicines). Recipes that require more specific items (Cereal from certain planets, etc). Items here should be rather powerful and effective as should their durations.
Step 4: Top-notch performing foods that are really difficult to track all the components and subcomponents for.

3) Buff Strength and Duration

By using a model similar to Weapon/Armor/Medicines as far as power and effectiveness of crafted items, you would get an idea as to the overall strength of the created foods. Should you make the more complex foods with advanced components, you would obviously provide a greater benefit.

Food would have a "Food power" to go along with the "Heal power" in medicines. It would be directly related to the effectiveness of the food. Work to power up the food power and you'll get better baseline results - and then can experiment to improve either Effectiveness (Buffs), Duration (Time), or Quantity the way it is now - which is a good setup.

Someone suggested a sort of "Point System" (not a Weight Watchers point system) for food - and that seemed like a very good idea / baseline to work with - let's flush that out a bit better! Perhaps by taking a good look at the Doctor Buffs (ingredients/complexity needed to construct them) we can get a better idea as to the effect of meals/drinks.

However, without a doubt I feel Chefs NEED to be able to produce buffs that are not only as strong as those given by Smugglers and Doctors - but BETTER than them, as it is the PRIMARY focus of this profession. Smugglers improve weapons/armors in the game. Doctors Heal and Resurrect players during combat. Chefs will also need to be able to find a steady source of income to maintain the number of harvesters to pick up all the different ingredients that they need to construct their items - by making their items have a true, real, tangible value - you give them a real chance to be a viable profession.

4) Enhance "Role Playing" Capabilities

This is really the most impossible and unncessary to implement. But Chefs should be allowed to place Food & Drinks on tables and other furniture in buildings they have admin rights on to "Serve" players by simply clicking on the item once it has been placed, selecting administrator rights to the item and allowing the player they to whome have "served" to pick it up for consumption.

A well-served meal for a large group of players could become quite and event and an enjoyable aspect to the game.

I'm sure I'll still come up with other ideas and tweak this a bit more... but it does require a rather massive overhaul of the Chef Profession - which would NOT be easily done considering the resulting impact on players in the game, what they can / cannot do at this time - but I think after the initial HORROR of their whoel career being changed, if done right, the Chefs would be VERY happy with the end result.

Anyone else like any of these ideas?

--Mikka
Master Musician / Master Entertainer

I don't mind that doctors buffs can last longer or give more HAM then chefs.. Afterall Docs aren't easily found, nor is the buffing convient. The chef's food and drink is convient and easily accessable.. From my observation the only areas I see that truely need looked into are:

1) Step progression in food recipes. It's insane that some artisan recipes are better then novie chef's The higher you go in the skill tree the better the food and drink go.. NO exceptions.

2) Duration could be longer on the buffs.. My biggest gripe as a chef and player is that it's a pain in the neck to keep up with "when can I buff".. Currently it takes approx 20 minutes to go from full to empty..The current state of things is that you may drink one buff that last 6 minutes, but it wll be 10 minutes or so before you can consume more.. What needs to be done is that Buffs need to extended, and the hunger meter needs to be extended as well.. In addition the buffs need to be identical to the hunger meter.. If I take a buff that last 30 minutes, then it will take exactly 30 minutes before my hunger allows me to consume more.. To keep this from being exploited as much as possible, make the hunger meter 1 hour tops.. I would make it so that NO one single buff could last more then 30 minutes.. So in theory you could take 2 of the best 30 minute buffs and no more, and then wait .. lol