Doctor Archive

Estevan... in principle I agree with you... but I think the root of the problem is the ablity for a non-Master to make any money in this profession with the already low prices Doctors charge for buffs...

Most Docs I know charge 1K per stat... usually a discount if you get all six.

I'm not a Master Doctor... I can't make Enhance D's (And noone wants ANYTHING else... either super buff or they keep looking till they find someone who can)... so I have to buy them...

The cheapest I've found is 28ish charge 800ish power 9500ish durationfor 8K... Though that particular supplier can barely keep themselves stocked...

Most of the time it'll cost me an average of 500 credits per charge for an Enhance D from the Master Doctors on my server. So in order for me to make a reasonable profit... I *have* to charge the same basic rates that most Master's do... even though my rolls won't be as good as theirs...

I would like to see the cost that Masters charge go up to around 2K per stat.... but I doubt that'll ever happen (even though combat players can EASILY afford it) because Doctors will always undercut until the prices get as low as the market will bear.... and thus the price is set.

So while I understand your concern and sentiment.. I'm still going to charge the same basic prices as long as the cost of the meds are where they are at for a non-Master.

Dr. Fesa Thralkii

The problem is in your selling buffs at all when you're delivering by far inferior performance at the same price as Masters.You should not be able to sustain your business because at those prices customers are expecting fair value, which you can't deliver. It all adds up to little more than a swindle unless you advertise up front your range and duration, which most sub-Masters don't in my experience. In fact these sub-Masters count on the wide range of uncertainty to hide their incompetence.

What I'm promoting is the elimination or major reduction in variance in the amount buffed, which would lead to customers instantly knowing the true quality of the product they received. This should drive the charlatans out of business fast.

Well, honestly, they can charge whatever they want. My customers know that my buffs average around 1900 points and only under very rare circumstances do they ever fall below 1000 (and even then it's not by much). If they were to buy a buff from someone else (a non-master) and that person happened to get great rolls and buff for 1800+ on all of them, what's the big deal?

However, if that non-master buffed them for 600 just once, my customers would know immediately (as I'm sure many would) that the person isn't as competent as they claim.

Certainly, those people wouldn't return to that doctor for repeat business. And, odd as it may seem, many of the enhancements I perform ARE repeat business. I've had customers track me clear across the galaxy to get enhancements from me. People tend to find a doctor that they like and they stick with them. It gives them a sense of security - and it should.

The con artists may be causing a problem now, but it won't last long. As they continue their con, people will catch on. Customers will start asking for the power of your enhancements before they pay, or for money-back guarantees, as had been mentioned.

The freedom that has been experienced (and the trust from the customers) is partly because few people actually understand whata buff is all about. If this behavior continues, I think you'll find a lot more people paying a lot more attention to what a good buff is.

Actually, I am not a master Doc, but I can buff as well as one with my +15 Wound Duster and +15 Wound Pants, so there is no reason I can't charge as much as you for the buffs without it being a "con".I still can't make substat D's, but then again, I don't sell buffs unless people specifically ask me for them when they see the title. I charge 1K per stat, they can pay it or not.

Although in all fairness to myself, I do tell them up front that I only have D's for Action and Health. If I'm the only doc around though, they pay what I want or they go buffless. Free market, supply and demand and all that. People can seeyour title and make a decision. They can ask for the money back for under 1K buff guarantee if they want.

On a slight sidenote: I agree that we need to mitigate the buff range to a more realistic and representative one, but so did a majority of this board. We were given 3 options, no range, reduce range,and keep it the same. We voted for reduce range at which point the Dev came back and said "No, that's to hard, it's current range or no range at all." Therefore proving that the Dev's DO LISTEN to us about stuff like this, they just don't think we know what's best for our profession, don't care, or their Project Manager has them scheduled out to work on what color the Dewbacks tail should reflect while mounted and swimming rather than issues we consider important. Either way, this is a minor misuse of that problem that I doubt will pull the devs over to what we wanted in the first place, making this a useless gripe.

I'm not a master doc yet, though I am headed there. And I buff people for free just for the xp since I make my own D/C buffs (Master Chemist).

But I've thought about perhaps charging a small fee for my buffs, just to offset the expenses for my harvesters. How would a "pretender" like me go about this? Most people I buff give me a nice tip, which I am quite happy with. What kind of pricing scaledo non-MD'shave?

When I was doings buffs at 2-4-4-1 for other people I would charge varying on the success of the buff.

This may burst your bubble, but I have wound clothes as well and you cannot match me buffing, although you may buff as well as a Master with no wound clothes. Not with substat C's though . However, I have no problem with people who are up front about what they are selling and I am glad to hear you fall into that category. That is the kind of differentiation that needs to be more clear to the public.

As for it being a minor gripe, perhaps, but not useless. It calls to attention all the swindlers inside the doctor profession that give the rest of us a bad name. This is topical in these forums, so don't add your input to these threads if you think it's useless.

Honestly Ballistic, you can ask for whatever you want, but I ask for 1K for everything over 1000 and 500 for everything under in most situations and I have never had anyone have a problem with that pricing at all.

Didn't mean for that to come out sounding condecending to you Arc. Just angry that they didn't do what we voted on.

Dang, I knew those crafty master docs would eventually find some clothes too ;-) Oh well. If I didn't have to harvest my own Herbie meat because nobody seems to sell it on Chilastra, I would drop scout and join you master types too.... Probably will so the holocrons won't eventually tell me Master Doctor....

that's why all docs need to advertise their Enhance pack stats, just like we do on our stims. People see the power on the stim and can decide if they want yours or find better. That's why I always advertise my enhances as Enhance D 876 power (895 action) with 124 total wound treatment. I hit for 2000-3000+ buffs usually, although low is 1000. But having such high kits and wound treatment means I usually dont hit under 2k, so I have now started charging 1k for 1000-1999 buff, and 2k for 2000-3000+ buffs. The lower level docs can do all 6 for 5k, it just provides a pricing model that allows me to sell mine for higher

so what exactly is the difference?

if i am 2-4-4-0 and i use the same buff as a master doc...how much better will the master doc buff be?

and what is this clothing + about? what skill is it that increases the buffs...

thanks for the info...if would help to share this type of info so people can understand exactly what the issue is...

Your Wound Treatment ability is a modifier that adds to your ability to use Enhancements or Wound packs...

At Advanced Wound Treatment you have a +35 rating. This is the skill that lets you buff. A Master Surgeon (Master Wound Treatment) will have +75, and a Master Doctor +100.

Anyone can add a maximum of +25 to their wound treatment with Bioengineered clothing or Skill Tapes (but don't be fooled by buying a ton of bioengineered clothing... it caps out at +25 extra to your ability).

Sooooo.... the maximum Wound Treatment you can have is +125. So someone with +125 is going to perform markedly better than someone with +75 at just having Master Surgeon.

great info thanks! hmmm, i am not master doc, but i have wound treatment at 100...guess i am wearing something and did not even know it!

also, i guess i will go back and buy that clothing i saw...i was not sure if it was worth it because i did not know i could go over 100

so, now has anybody tested to see what the difference really is? so right now i sit at 100 and a master doc has clothes that get them to 125, we use the same buff Ds...difference is? totally random? i assume under this exact situation, i could have several buffs that were actually better than the master docs since the buffs vary so much...

again thanks for sharing this specific useful info!