Doctor Archive

1-2 credits per point of wounds healed, 1k, whichever is more, as a master doc this is almost worth it to me, and all but the morons accept the charge.

Right now, the guys who tip are basically paying for the freeloaders who don't. I'll never ask up front for money to heal, it's just not in my nature, and at master doc it doesn't usually take more than 6-8 heals to get someone to full health using B and C packs, which are cheap. If I feel like healing people's wounds for a while, I'll head to a medical center and heal away. If I feel like doing something else, i'll walk out. Some people tip. Some people tip very generously. Most don't or can't, but say thanks.

On the other hand, I won't heal anyone with a stupid character name. I can't stop you fromcalling your wookie Jewbacca or Liquidpoop, but I can ignore you as much as I like, even if you're bleeding to deathone meterfrom my doctor.

I've discovered a high correlation between people who give their characters l33t names, people who don't say "please" when they ask for healing, and people who will fire away with obscenities when you say "sorry, no". Knobs.

The problem, as I see it, is that many players of SWG come from other MMORPG's where healing is completely "magic" or "mana" based. Sure, those healing classes had to buy the, "spells", but once those are learned, there is an infinite supply of them. By placing an emphasis on Medicine, the designers of this game have taken the power away from us Medics/Doctors who are primarily healing minded and placed it into the hands of the adventurous crafter. Sure, we get bonuses from our skills, but hardly an adequate compensation when any unqualified person can buy one of my Wound B's and heal like a Master Medic (Wound Cs, thankfully, prevent this). Conseqquently, we are doubly handicapped. First, by the design of our galaxy that allows anyone to buy materials to heal, and second, by the ignorance of our fellow inhabitants to the actual cost involved in making the medicine that is now so widely available. It must be our job to educate people. Though, like charging for healing, it has a fatal flaw, I think the solution (for now) is to raise the price of our meds. Doing so makes players realize the value of the medicine we need. That is not to say we need charge our bretheren the same amount; give the medics a price break--flood the market with crap wound a's and b's with low prices, but make the good stuff even more expensive.

Like many of you, I started in a different class before coming over to the medical side. Why? Because during the first week of play, I got annoyed with all the players with full black bars screaming/yelling/shouting, "Aren't there any d*mn medics in this game?!?" There were no wound packs for sale, no resources to buy, no people to train me--in Tyrena, I was the 3rd person to hit Novice Doctor on Tarq (as far as I can tell). You better believe I expected people to tip. And yet they didn't, so I stopped going to the med center. I left (IRL) for 2 weeks, only to come back to a galaxy full of Novice/Master Doctors, Bazaars full of stims, and rude players who scoffed at the idea of tipping me for my services. Why do I bother continuing? Because I enjoy helping people. People know me, and thank me for walking into clinics or coming out of my way to help them. But sadly, this isn't adequate compensation for healing SirKillEmAll (sorry if one actually exists)from his unfortuante cloning mishap that left him completely wounded, yet with all of his gear and matching bad attitude.

Two solutions that could be implemented (I'll post this elsewhere to our SOE liason if you think it's a good idea or have your own ammendments):

1)Fees induced at all medical centers for entry. Master Professions are Charged More. Master Medics are exempt. Newbie exemption in effect: you must have at least 3 tier 2 skills in order to be charged (or it could be tied to the normal death newbie exemption--3 deaths usually=playing for a while and has money). Money is distributed to medics who have checked in with the newly formed "clerk protocol droid"--basically, a medic group is formed and collected fees are autosplit. This would add incentive to being in Med Centers to heal wounds.

2)Medic only Bazaar terminals. The BH's have them, why not us?

Til then, educate your patients on the costs of medical care. Show people the difference between Good wound c's and bad wound a's. Talk to your patients while you heal them. The more the word gets out, the more people will appreciate us.

Aartox

Master Surgeon

Tyrena/Tarquinas

^^^^^Meh, just read the other thread on income concerns--I'm old news ^^^^

Maybe we should boycott. I am tried of this discussion on the thread. I agree with imyta_dvda about the other professions getting money and xp for their missions and medics get only money or only medic xp. The combat professions don't have harvestors, resources, and meds to pay for. I have yet to meet a combat professional who needed money to but the next great weapon. So mabybe we need boycott and see just how long the combat professions last in the field without a medic to heal them. Combat would grind to a halt.

Ogolave
Master Medic/Doctor

Ok, I have to put my 2 creds in here. I am still climbing the ranks of doctor but I really never expect a tip. My goal when I heal is to get rid of the meds I have so I can make more. yes it is nice to get a tip and some people tip well but my standard answer to people who ask "how much do I owe you" is nothing. I agree with the many people who are saying just do destroy missions. I have made quite a bit of money just on missions and will soon buy a large house. This brings me to other ways people help us docs. I have been given 10k discounts on droids and 20-30k discounts on housing from people. I really think Doctors should get out more and most do. So I would say I am against any standard price or union, which I wouldn't join.

Well,

As a Master Doc, I stopped healing for free sometime around mid-way to master. I realized that the xp sitting in a MC was crap compared to expense. Just get a load of stims and head to the Tuscan camp. I have a macro that I hit ONCE if I have time and inclination to heal.. .I walk into the MC, and it goes something like this...

" I am a Master Doctor for Hire. Once we negotiate a fee, and payment is rendered, you will have my full attention untill ALL your physical wounds are healed. I only use the best experimented quality Wound E kits, and can have you on your way from completely black HAM bars in less than two minutes..... /tell if interested..."

I stand there for maybe one minute, if I don't get a tell, I leave... I turn the cheek on the flames about "heal me you %#$#$% cheap doctor !! " no payment, no heals, and I have about a 1-2k credit minimum, depending on their damage...

We must charge for healing... Armorcrafters don't give me armor for free, weaponcrafters don't give me weapons for free, artisans don't give me buildings and harvesters for free... I barely make ends meet, and I run the factory 23/7 making stim B/C crates for sale.

Honestly, we all need to charge up front for healing. I also charge for my uber buffs, the comps aren't cheap...

Jun Horde, Master Doctor, Tarqinas

Yes, medics should definitely be paid for their services. However, if you are nice to people, they will 80% of the time tip you. medic // doctor is a very social profession, and thats why its cool. for all of the people who dont tip me, i just blacklist them and tell the rest of the hospital staff not to heal them, and i say it in hearing range just so they can see it. you would be surprised how many come running back to tip and giving me some lame excuse.. i advise you try it, its highly entertaining and pays off.

Like most of you I don't get tipped everytime...but what I do have is a macro spelling out that if you tip you get preferred treatment and will be out of here in under two minutes.

I have asked for payment upfront but only from players that I have blacklisted because they badmouth medics for asking for tips, mouth off about the wait times, offer to tip but either don't or leave a insulting amount, etc....you all know what I mean..you've already encountered them... other than these types there is no real reason to ask for payment upfront since the patient has no clue what your abilities are or what quality of meds your using...

Being socal and polite is the best approach to a tip...ask them how they were wounded...get envolved in their encounter...let them think you believe them to be great adventures...whatever it takes...make them feel good and they will tip, better yet, they will start to actively /tell you in the game for house calls and compensate you well for it... a little sugar goes a long way....

But whatever you do, inform the naive newbie medics that healing for the sake of xp is wrong and will only prevent them from advancing in their profession, components and training is very very expesive,...even if you only go to PC trainers...they just think that since they get xp, thats reward enough..let them know how much they are hurting themselves and hopefully things will work out.

Things got better in beta because all the medical professions banded together and actually REFUSED to heal anyone..even their own PA mates...for a two week period..after that everyone stopped gripping about tipping medics...