Medic Archive

I know some Medics feel that since they are giving up their time and resources to heal wounds they deserve to be paid while others feel the XP gained is enough reward. I always tip the medics that heal me, but if they ask for credits up front, I usually pass. It would also seem that a Medic who charges up front would gain xp alot slowed especially when there are other nearby medics healing for free. I think it would be best to just heal for free, chat, be friendly, and hope for a tip. If someone has a particularly large amount of wounds than maybe it would be okay to make them pay some upfront than again some medics will just see a largely wounded individual as an xp factory.

So the question is, will you charge for healing?

I don't plan on charging, but then most of my time will be spent with my guildmates, who are a decent and mature group of gamers. If I'm in a pickup group or just hanging around a little by cities, I figure I get the exp out of healing, so why not do it for free? Of course, I will have Artisan so gathering resources won't be a big deal either.

Besides, if I charge for healing, I worry that the Marksman will start charging to kill the critter gnawing on my leg.

Charlatan

wannabee Doctor/Droid Engineer

Let's put it this way: I won't heal without payment, which pretty much means I won't be healing wounds much in med centers. Whenever I tried healing for tips during beta I ended up going broke, so I decided it wasn't a viable strategy. When I tried charging for healing I got no takers. I found that combat healing was a much more effective strategy: income from loot and destroy missions paid my stimpack expenses and the xp rolled in a little faster (especially because there were so few wounded to heal in the med centers).

Personally, I think it's a little ridiculous that people won't pay medics. Medics have the same expenses as everyone else (training, travel, maintenance) in addition to resource expenses, but they don't have an income source. Combat types get loot and mission income, artisans sell their crafted wares, why should medics work for free?

Even though unlike other games, healing costs us in both time (getting resources) and Money. Having played many other games as a healer I just can't bring myself to charge. I do hope that most players realize our costs and tip us well, I'm sure the ones that do realize that will get better service too.

In beta we were really appreciated and the kind words from the patients just made you feel good. I'm nervous to see how we are treated from the newbies just arriving. I expect it to be a fun and rewarding experiance. I just hope we don't end up begging for cash in the streets hehe.

- Stogey -

Chilastra

Experienced beta players will understand the amount of resources required to actually heal up those black bars they have and will tip. Inexperienced players will almost always just ask for healing and not tip. During beta I would heal over 1000 stat damage on people and they would tip my 50 credits. You cannot expect to survive on tips. If you wish to actually charge for healing there is going to have to be a system implemented. Otherwise, people will just simply find the next person to heal them.

Mektos B'Try

I'm wondering if medics will have a better chance with rp'ers...I'm thinking of playing on starsider (the unofficial rp server) to see if it works. It might be easier to reason with someone IC (in character) to get paid...but who knows for sure...

While I don't think I will ever charge for actually healing, I do agree that people should show their thanks by tipping for wound healings in the med centers. I would never expectt anybody to tip me in a camp if I'm in a group. At the same time, I have no problem asking for some free material to craft medpacks from people who are harvesting resources. It seems to work out.

If you go to a med center, you should expect that people there will charge you, but this may not be effective given that somebody will almost always charge for free. So, at the very least, you should always tip in the medcenter because usually the medics hanging out there are not earning any other income. I think 1/wound would be acheaptip, 2/wound adecent tip, and 3/wound a great tip (for those of you who don't know how many wounds you have--hit CTRL-C). Just my opinion on the tipping rate, so maybe somebody who spent a lot of time in the medcenters has a better idea.

Now, for all the medics, I would suggest if you're not getting much money, craft some stims and wound packs and put them up for sale at the bazaar. I think any player can heal themself with a stimpack, so you're not limited to just medics as your customer base. Woundpacks go over well for those who want to heal, but may not have enough resources to keep crafting. If you're going out in a big group, and you realize you are really short on resources to craft, I think the bazaar would be a great place to stock up on meds. So if you're going to put them up for sale...I would suggest maybe starting at 50/stimpack and 75/woundpack for the basic kits, but I'm sure the market will determine what people are willing to pay for these items. Again, maybe somebody with more experience in selling their meds at the bazaar will be able to chime in here with a good rate.

I think medics should get something in return, In beta I would give medics hides (or any organics I had.) They do get xp from healing but they also need organics for making stimpacks...

Let's just get this out of the way right now. The "you get experience" answer is not a valid answer. It just shows you are ignorant and looking for a cop out. If your going to use that debate use it on all people. This includes the guy you get your gun from, the guy you get your armor from, the guy you get your cloths from, the guy you get your house from...etc. They would laugh in your face if you tried pulling that. Frankly right now medic is just an offshoot of the artisan profession anyway and I fail to see the difference.

Once I start leveling up to Doc again I'll be charging. Not when using A meds but when I hit B meds and above I'll probably be charging 1 credit per wound. I'd rather not have to charge because it can be a pain in the butt sometimes but within the current system if your not bank rolled by a PA or some friends you will find it very tough to constantly heal for free. Groups I never charge though. That's a completely different story. Sure you go thru resources even quicker then in the hospital but your part of a group and it's your niche in the group. Plus almost every group I was in toward the end of beta would take destroy missions to offset the costs plus I would get tips here and there. People just love the master combat medic in their group.

Medics should all charge for healing.

This is no fantasy healer, SWG medics need resources, items are consumable and they go away faster than you would know.

I will tip a medic as much as how much I would charge in the end of beta, please also remember (you non medic people) that medics not only need organics, but inorganics as well. For reference, a wound pack Btakes about 70ish resources each, which is 4 times more than the A packs. Tip them, and tip them well.

I will post my stock 'loyal opposition' reply and then shut up:
Charging for healing will not work. Not only will you make yourself the target of great verbal abuse but unless you are out ALL by yourself (where I've found tips are great anyway), there will always be someone else there willing to heal for free for the xp. Maybe they have harvesters, maybe they have a PA supplying them, maybe they are just desperate the reach Doctor or Combat Medic. Either way, they will be there ready to undercut your price.

Medics need to continue communicating to the devs that healing needs to be cheaper instead of fighting a losing battle to get paid. Holo made a MAJOR breakthrough near the end of beta when he realized and verbalized that players are playing the Medic in a way differently than envisioned and the game mechanics needed to be adjusted accordingly. We need to build on that.

Even if you got everyone who reads these boards to try and charge, you would still only reach ca. 25% of the SWG playerbase. Take your tips, ask for resources (it was not uncommon on my outlying planet for artisans to hand me a couple of thousand resources they weren't going to use), and try and win over more to our cause.

Scorus

Here's my problem. I DESPERATELY need the creds, but I just can't bring myself to charge people **edit** of a lot of fun. I like the idea of running a clinic - treating wounded players as they come in from the battlefeild - but unfortunately, I can't see that being feasible right now.

Ugh, the freaking messageboard ate my post. I'm not going to bother typing it up again.

The jist of it is, no, I will not be flat out charging for healing. This is more for roleplay reasons than gameplay reasons. I do recogonize there is a problem with the way my character will be played. I am going to have a really hard time paying for my training the way this is going.

I can only hope that at some point, I'll be able to run a little clinic where I can heal adventurers withouth wondering where my next cred is coming from. I don't think I should have to fight or craft in order to advance my skills, but I don't think I'll get my wish.