Doctor Archive

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vortexala wrote:

I prefer the current schematics and resource stat requirements over a homogenized 'spice' type of crafting line.

The issue here is that we are just like a weaponsmith or an armoursmith in that our high end items have specific(and sometimes named) resources that we must obtain. Where we differ is that, for a Weaponsmith and an Armoursmith, Novice artisan is a pre-requsite. They already spent the 15 skill points for Novice artisan because, from there, they move to their respective Elite Crafting professions. Whereas we, the Science Professions, are all based from the Novice Medic.

We have the same issues, as a doc, that an elite crafter(save Architect) has for resources. Yet we are denied the same base survey skill that they themselves enjoy.

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Zalor,

Trust me I know there are plenty of bugs out there that need fixing. My speeder was destroyed while I was incapped by Pikets. HELLO.....

I digress.....There are issues that is why when they say they will look at it, I am thinking it will be awhile.

Thanks again for all your work.

/cheers

It might not matter what i think, but i would love to get survey, im sick of the price gouging of Lokian Wild Wheat, at least make it a Master Medic ability, since Combat Medics need it too. Besides, the devs did something similar with giving CMs Terrain Negotiation.

/shrug

Maybe this should be a Medic issue? Give some form of basic surveying (same level as Novice Artisan) at Master Medic? That would kill a few birds:

1) Since Master Medic is a pre-req of both Doctor and Combat Medic then both classes will benefit (and both are asking for it)

2) I don't think alot of people would object to a Novice skill being given to a Master class. I don't know of anyone who Mastered Medic that didn't end up becoming a Doctor or Combat Medic, so dabblers won't benefit from this (and thereby saving 15 points). Most people pick Medic either for StimBs at Novice or go all the way for one for Doc/CM.

3)With the sudden influx of Holocron Grinders SOE should really address how we're going to really be hurt. On my server of Radiant we're already seeing price gouging for ANYTHING with an OQ of 500+ because of the Grinders buying anything and everything they can--Herbivore meat for 50 cpu, Avian for 35+ cpu!!. They don't know nor do they care who uses Dolovite Iron as long as its Iron they need, its Iron they'll buy. The rest of the true crafting professions (and even scout-based hybrid crafters) can all survey/harvest their own stuff, except us (and smugglers where OQ doesn't mean anything). This will SERIOUSLY hurt/hamper us.

I seriously hope for once SOE can plan ahead and not make our lives miserable from one of their major decisions..

I can't even find any avian meat for sale anymore! The price is everything is just going through the roof. I'm going to have to stop buffing people or jack up the price of my buffs.

Why are we the only profession that have to travel to almost every planet for specific planet resource requirement? I know Weaponsmith need a wide variety of resources, but they don't need all the Planet specific resource like we do. We must be the #3 crafting class behind Weaponsmith and Armorsmith.

I'd like to chime in for what it's worth. I just got my Master Doctor about two weeks ago and in the last week I have had the WORST gaming experience since I started playing SWG. The problem that I have been having is with the crafting of Enhance Packs and the resource requirements. I'm also a Master Swordsman, so I only have enough points to get Artisan and the first box of Survey or Scout and the first box of Scouting. This causes a great deal of hardship in that I have to drop one for the other depending on what type of resources I need. I have spent more of my game time in the last week surveying and planet hopping that I have anything else, only to realize that I will NEVER recoup the cost of making Enhance Packs that I will use to raise credits to buy the resources that I am unable to find. This mind-numbing loop leads to my next issue, which is a serious lack of credit making potential.

The ONLY way that I can get credits is to run missions, because I can't hardly find people to pay for my services with the wild variations in buffs. I'm embarrassed to ask someone to pay for buffs when I might get a buff for 700 one round and then get one for 3000 the next. Something has to be done to allow for doctors to get credits for healing wounds and buffing outside of tipping, because that is a rarity in it's self. As an elite class, I feel completely worthless.

Kabnle

Kettemoor

First of all, I applaud Zalror yet again (even though it's his last official act ) in getting this to us.

That being said, I only have a little to say on the first two issues since those seem to warrant the most discussion

On master doc benefits...gimme! Seriously, I'd love to see some if not most of these make it in, though I shudder at how long it would take (as in, space expansion time = disinterest in doctor). Top on my list would be consolidated wound packs, AoE poison/disease cures, immunity/resist packs, and cure fire (this one preferably in master medic).

On surveying/harvesting (please forgive me if I restate something someone has already said, but if you have, kudos to you ), I agree in giving doctors some limited surveying and harvesting ability because of course, we actually need the things we harvest to be proficient in our profession.

Instead of the old, dead, defunct, whatever else you want to call it /medicalforage ability, why not transform it into a /medicalharvest ability? As in, medics (and hence doctors) would only be able to harvest meat, the only resource we use anyways. We would not cut into scout/rangers in competition for resources that most of the other crafting classes need (wooly hide, bones, you name it). To make it even more palatable, I'd say if you want to make this ability really limited, then reduce the amount of meat (where it might be) needed in the various schematics.

Furthermore, I'd say also add a /medicalsurvey ability to both Doctor and Combat Medic's (their resource reqs make meshudder -_- )"Knowledge" line. To give us more independence yet still make us somewhat reliant on artisans, I would like to propose a sort of 'disposable' surveying device thatartisans can make but only Doc/CMs can use. The specifics would have to be worked out obviously, but I'd say something like 5-8 uses and only needing 25-50 resourcecs to make to be fair.

Hopefully this makes some sense

I'd like to add though, with Master Doc and a Master in any other single weapons profession (ie Pistoleer or TKA), one does have enough points for Novice in Scout or Artisan, which one could then just switch between (100c isn't that much of a deal hopefully once you master two elite professions) to one's content. This of course though might not be true for people that want to diversify in their professions yet still want to master doctor...or maybe even master doc/master combat medic (obviously not enough skill points to master another profession though in this case.)

Anyways, my reasoning for my roundabout rambling is that if survey/harvest abilities were indeed added to Doc line, it would make investing in Novice Scout/Novice Artisan worthless for most people except for something that lots of Master Docs probably do...sell meds.

I dunno how much, if at all, having a vendor was an issue for others, but in the least, if Master Doc( or CM) are not given a vendor to be able to manage, then can there at least be the ability for other non-merchants to *manage* vendors that merchants have placed in buildings owned or administrated by that doctor (or CM)? Unless of course this ability is already here and working...which makes this entire post pretty stupid

One whole controversy that lies in the survey/harvest issue is that most in those classes do not see one fundamental point.

All other crafters are based off the artisan tree, and therefor they already took the 15 shill point hit for novice artisan and the hit to up in survey is of no real conciquence to them

But since doctors and CM's are for obvious reasons not based off the artisan tree we have to get the skills

Why: Because these tasks are not fun and unlike a regular class interdependancies which consist of crafting objects (which you can use factories for) you have to get someone to physically take his/her character out and do a grunt job that no one likes.

Skill interdependancies accross classes are not working in the game as was intended and that is the root of the issue. Sure people like to share their skills in groups when the fun and profit is there.

Unless Artisans are willing to sell their services in this area it does not undermine the Artisan class. And in most casethey are not, and since doctors are not based off the Artisan tree like the other crafting professions we get hurt bad.

Lets face it if you were an Artisan would you prefer to craft objects to sell and using your spare time doing fun things or surveying. They make enough money selling their goods why should they do a grunt job that is a pain for another class..would you

"I'm embarrassed to ask someone to pay for buffs when I might get a buff for 700 one round and then get one for 3000 the next."

This is the number one issue for me. I have had the same D pack spit out an 843 point buff, and on the next person, a 3084 point buff. Buff packs fluctuate WAY too much. I honestly wouldn't care if the top end was lowered as long as the bottom end was raised to bring a more consistent buff.

Resistances, experimenation points, all sound nice, but fix this first, please.

Maybe you could split issue #3 into 2 parts so we can finally get some action on this relatively simple bug?

1. Self-HAM doesn't scale. Whena Master Doctor buffs himself or another the recipient of the buff does not see the change because their own HAM bar doesn't scale properly. This happens 100% of the time and can be reproduced by anyone buffing themselves anything over a couple hundred Action or Health points. Group HAM bars do scale, target HAM bars do scale, it's just the personal HAM which got overlooked when the scaling code was implemented.

2. Occasionally HAM bars get stuck, blah blah blah, can be fixed by logging quickly.

I think mixing up the bugs confused the Devs once again!!! and they don't realize the biggest issue is the easiest to fix.

Right from the start I want to make it clear that I am not, and have no plans to be, a Doctor. I have 3/2/3/4 in the Medic profession and am a Master Scout / Novice Bio-Engineer. Whatever bias that creates I want to be up-front about.

I run a medical resource supply company on Intrepid and am working on franchising to other servers. (You can go to www.darkfell.us to find out more.) I would, for obvious reasons, hate to see Dr.s be able to harvest their own resources. My question is would you really want to? The biggest buyer of resources on Intrepid are the Master Architects. They have the survey skill as a pre-req and yet find it much more convenient to buy resources than supply their own. Economies (particullarly on-line) are driven by who is willing and available to perform a task, rather than who is able to perform a task.

Think about your profitablility in Credits/Hr. I pay for 4 hours of laborto meet the needs ofeach Doc I try to keep flush with supplies. That means that, if you were to provide your own resources, you would have to spend at least4 hourssurveying and maintaining harvesters. Would the reduced cost make up for the loss in proceeds? If so, then something is "broken" and needs to be adjusted. If not, its your practices and not the system that need to be changed.

Are you charging enough? Are you active enough? Idle time and free buffs will kill your profit margin. I have never paid for a buff in my entire career, and yet there are times that I have been "ninja-buffed" by some Doc in Coronet that needed the XP. These practices should diminish as more and more players run out of skill-creds and characters stabilize. You should be able to buff several groups for a percentage of the loot from their missions and end up making more than if you had undergone the missions themselves.

Got Insurance? A guild of Docs who are scheduled for a Med-Center around the clock, providing Emergency Services could charge a weekly fee for "free" healing and buffs and priority service in peak times. Offering additional products is a great way to increase profitability.

Seeing a specialist? Division of Labor allows for the greatest profit to time ratio. A shy Doc who makes components and achatty Doc that does the actual healing could be more profitable working together than the two could independently. I know there have been many times when my crafting has slowed because I was too busy talking to a potential customer to actually fill the slots.

Barter to reduce overhead. If I can kill bigger game with the buff you grant me (or sample longer) I can cut the price on the resources I get. If you increase my productivity by 25% I can cut your cost by 25%. . . or 20% and still turn a profit. Productivity boosts apply to Destroy missions as well. Remember, a buffed group can earn more credits faster and you should be sure to get your cut.

This is much longer than I had intended it to be. . . sorry. Just remember, its a player-driven economy. Get in the driver's seat.

Tam Darkfell (Intrepid/Infinity) / Vendt Darkfell (TC)

Darkfell Delivery-- Coming soon to a server near you.