Image Designer Archive

Ok, so I’ve been away for about a year and I’d just like to know when it became so easy to level an ID? When I left I had a character that I was working through ID and it was a chore. There was the continual problem of running out of mind unless you had spice or food of some sort to buff you. But it wasn’t a bad thing really, it should take awhile. Now it’s ridiculously easy! I can go from entertainer ID IV to Master ID in under 2 hrs!!! And I never have to worry about running out of mind as long as I stay sitting. Before it didn’t matter whether you sat or not, you’d run out of mind. What’s up with that? Now I’m all for an easy climb and I really like the ID (having the option to change your char’s look at anytime to suit your whim is nice!) but there is such a thing as too easy. I haven’t looked through the forums yet to see if this is an ongoing issue or not and I’m sorry if this “lets the cat out of the bag” so to speak but damn, 2 hrs??? ID is now by far the easiest profession to master! Now granted this is with the double XP we were getting till today but its also just working on myself so is basically the same as regular advancement when working with another person. And even at the regular xp while working on myself… 4 hrs??? Is this a known issue, is it the way SOE wants it? Could someone please enlighten me?

actually awhile back before the ID window was put in you could master ID afk with macros faster then you can now.

Then stats migs allowed for grinding so long as you were in salon, and no no timers means with a dummy a couple hrs from nov ent to master id..

I do not think anyone really sees it as a problem.

The only thing it could be used for is Mastering ID { once respec finishes running}

Oh you know it takes less points to Master now to right? each box was lowered 1 point, so 16 points less then any other master.

Under the old system that you describe it got to the "2 hour grind" or less because of the enormous power of brandy. I agree that the mind pool limitation was a good way to halt progression, but food/spice rendered the mind pool no longer a gating factor.

You also missed the horrible grind involving the timers. It was a boring chore, universally agreed to be the worst grind in the entire game. Once you started an ID session, there was an artificial timer counting down to try to gate progression. Needless to say, this was vastly unpopular because, unlike all other professions, where you could group, take spice, get buffs, or otherwise speed up your xp, there was absolutely no way to speed up the artificial timer process.

Another annoying part was that it was nearly impossible to "multitask" and you were forced to stare at that screen while the timer ticked down. With the mind-depletion, when an ID's mind pool ran out, he or she could simply do something else while it replenished. For example, he or she could craft or dance - the necessary downtime was downtime that could be spent on something productive, instead of downtime spent being bored staring at a timer.

In conclusion, I agree that it is too easy to master ID. But we've seen the alternative the devs came up with (the timers) and it's a FAR more unpleasant situation. I think ID's are reluctant to bring up this problem at this time, since we're justifiably afraid that the cure may be worse than the disease.

I don't mind terribly the short grind, because ID is very unique in one way in particular: it's actually something you're either good at or you're not. With weaponsmith or armorsmith or chef, anyone can collect the enhancing skill tapes, the best resources, the best crafting stations, etc. and be uber. But us... we either have an eye for it or we don't. If we do, we have people beating down our door 24/7. If we don't... well, we don't get many return customers. That really says a lot about us, IMO.

Yep, experience means a lot.

Example: someone asks me "blah blah lip color blah blah pink blah blah"

So I choose a lip color that I think suits in the color that the person wants. At this point either of two things happen:

1) Omg it's perfect, I don't want to see anything else!

2) Naw, let's try something lighter/darker (we go through 40 colors) THERE STOP! (it's the first color I chose, but I just nod and smile, and say "oh you're right, that does look better")

Very occasionally someone doesn't like what I'm doing, but usually that's because the person said "pink" and meant "purple".

Getting it right on the first try is something that only comes after a LOT of practice. Every time I think that "anyone can do ID" I have an experience like that where the customer walks away saying "that was EXACTLY what I wanted" or "that other ID never showed me this!"

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NJ62 wrote:
Yep, experience means a lot.

Example: someone asks me "blah blah lip color blah blah pink blah blah"

So I choose a lip color that I think suits in the color that the person wants. At this point either of two things happen:

1) Omg it's perfect, I don't want to see anything else!

2) Naw, let's try something lighter/darker (we go through 40 colors) THERE STOP! (it's the first color I chose, but I just nod and smile, and say "oh you're right, that does look better")

Very occasionally someone doesn't like what I'm doing, but usually that's because the person said "pink" and meant "purple".

Getting it right on the first try is something that only comes after a LOT of practice. Every time I think that "anyone can do ID" I have an experience like that where the customer walks away saying "that was EXACTLY what I wanted" or "that other ID never showed me this!"

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Yes, I agree. While anyone can become an ID, only those who have RL color sense and talentcan be a GOOD ID. A good ID also needs to be able to understand whata customermeans when they saythey wanta particular color. I have noticed that different people think of different colors in different ways.

As an example: Awhile back, I created a Rodian on a strange server and took her to an ID to get customized. Now I had made a Rodian in the colors I wanted for this one before, so I asked the ID to give me "red" skin. Well, the ID told me that "Rodians don't get red skin" so I told her to get as close to red as possible... so she found a color that came close to the color I wanted and I accepted her work.

Now with double xp week, I decided to log in with that character and ground her to be a Master ID and took a look at the colors available for a Rodian's skin... and found the shade I had wanted in the first place (the color the ID I had gone to had picked was a bit too purple). The odd thing is, the color I wanted was on the opposite side of the pallette from the color that ID had given me.

Isn't it funny how two colors that are so similar can be spatially so far apart on the palette? It's an art form just jumping between the "greens" when a customer wants green something or other.