Chef Archive

ok, just curious as to what other chef opinions are on this new "holo grind"...its supposed to be more fun, but somehow I'm just not seeing it...at all (ok, that phase 1 crafting quest was actually quite fun, but unfortunately there were only 4 puzzles...woulda loved to have been able to do more...whether there was a reward for it or not).

some requests when posting opinions...

1) what are you going for: jedi character/second character/just some ability mods
2) how much food/drink do you craft manually as part of your normal business?
3) are the rewards worth the grind recquired? (please answer only if you have to grind out the FS craft exp)
4) any suggestions as to how to change something so the grind is less mind numbing?

for me it would be:

1) just some ability mods
2) almost none...maybe an average of 2 or 3 pieces of food/drink a day for tests
3) definately not...although the quest rewards are worth doing the quests

it would take me well over 3 years to even get the novice box for crafting mastery at a normal rate (no grinding) from just food crafting. compare with the combat grind where it'd take less time playing at a normal rate to get nearly all 6 lines needed for the exit quest.

since all crafters are in a rather unique position where they are forced to drastically alter their play style if they hope to get even 1 line in under a decade...I think the way exp is granted should be altered...

my suggestion is this:

have current exp grants remain the same...but add in an additional modifier...grant exp after every used point in experimentation....maybe 30% of the exp practicing would yield every time the "run experiment" button is used...it wouldn't really make grinding much faster (it might...but hey the devs haven't done anything about "breaking" the spawns in the geo cave merc room...so this just evens things out a bit)...since most crafters primarily make schematics...it would allow for crafters to go about their normal business and still get the exp they need at a more reasonable rate...1 line per decade isn't at all reasonable...but it shouldn't be easy to the point where 1 line only takes a few hours or so to get.

1) I will not be going for the crafting lines just because the bonuses are almost useless. I've heard force experimentation will not stack on top of the research bonus. The +5 and ability to craft anywhere just isn't enough incentive.

2) In5 months of being a chef(possibly more) I have a total of 180k experience in chef crafting and about 16k BE crafting. At this rate I would get a branch filled in like 30 years or more.

I've thought hard about some way of making it a lot more fair for crafting profs but every solution I come up with has issues with it.

I do believe factories do give exp when making food. You must be logged in and it must be your factory to get exp though. This may have changed though as I have not tested this since around publish 5 or 6.

I believe a solution must be based on new ways of getting exp. The exp requirements can't be brought down because then it just shortens the grind and people get the exp too fast. I don't know if this is an issue with the devs or not. People are already gated by the phase time.

Possibly the addition of a much more widespread usage exp should be implemented.

a) Every single use gets granted exp(not just end of the stack)

b) Food made in a factory must be included

c) Components will grant no exp for this(Although I'm not sure it could be well exploited or not)

d) I'm not sure on use of your own products. Because of the filling aspect on food I just can't see it being exploited much

The same could be done for doctors. Armorsmiths need a huge increase of usage exp when armor degrades. Same with weaponsmiths. Tailors all I can think of is usage exp for trim/cloth and other components. DE, same thing with tailors. Usage exp on all the artisan and DE components they use. Possibly some exp given to the DE when a new battery is used on a droid they made. BE would be usage exp on pet stims and tissues.

There are problems with this approach though. Whenever factory made items are granted the same exp as regular made items there is the possibility for grinding. Tailor for example, all you would need is the syth cloth schematic and made huge amounts of some shirt that uses it. Armorsmith, if segments were included in usage exp, just make mabari segments and then mabari gloves over and over and over in a factory. There is just no effort involved there.

I think the issue comes in because it is possible to do a craft every 3-5 seconds. The only issue really is your connection speed and computer. This isn't the same with combat. You have to either get missions or find creatures. There is some timesink built in already. For crafting, a choice needs to be made on whether or not the FS lines are for people that want to grind(does nothing to help the game or profession) or for people that play the different aspects of the game and get exp that way.

And I just thought of another possibility. Drastically increase the experience based on the number of exp points used(10 point cap). It would have to be like 5-20 times to make any sort of difference.