Apothecary and Cultivation QoL proposal

[Koryu199X]

I've probably talked enough in game and over forums for too long now. Today I feel I should perhaps share my thoughts and ideas on changes and improvements that could be made to both Apothecary and Cultivator trade skills. Firstly some changes I welcome but I feel that so much more could be offered and certainly I feel that both skills are done in a mind numbing and frankly unrewarding way that perhaps it's time for a change.
Firstly I want both skills to be more hands on but still allow players to pvp. In addition, there needs to be more emphasis on knowledge and knowing things. But this knowledge needs to lead to greater rewards for the player. What I propose is a number of steps and progressive changes over the course of a long period of time.

Lets start with Cultivation

QoL 1

Is hopefully a simple one. When growing plants each plant has a specific requirement. Just like in real life a cabbage likes alkaline soil and a blueberry likes acidic soil I would like to suggest we implement similar changes here. Goldweed for instance should grow in arid soil whereas Marshroot should grow in a peat or bog soil. If you meet the needs of the plants you guarantee success. Thus we reward a players learning or at least reading of a guide that might be published about it.

QoL 2

Bags of soil. Rather than buying a one shot pile of soil players can find NPC's that offer a quest or advice relating to plant soil preferences. You do the quest and you can fill a bag with a soil that similar to the charge liniment seeds lasts maybe 200 charges. Same with nutrients and so on. This links back to QoL point one and hopefully with the idea of rewarding in game learning.

QoL 3

By meeting the plant needs critical success doesn't just mean lots of a plant you've grown, it means a blue or a purple. This would be an enhanced version offering stronger effects.

QoL 4

Harvesting. If you have a herb or are growing mushrooms you don't just get one crop. I would like to see as in real life a skilled gardener can get multiple harvests from their herbs etc. Yes there should be one shot plants but some should also have a more perennial nature. This could be controlled by the player skill level, the higher the level the more they can do. And by having an additional phase where players can harvest or trim they could collect from the plant. Again here there would be the chance of a blue or purple providing you keep meeting the plants needs. Depending on the plant though some might require you waiting until it goes to flowering to collect or harvest what you need. The last stage would be going to seed which could mean a plant self seeds and starts again or you collect the seeds and replant later.

Apothecary

Looking at apothecary we can ask one question. And that is which game had the best system, my answer is simple. Morrowind. Though I would rather avoid the levels of insanity that you can achieve I feel taking a leaf out of the Morrowind book would be a good start.

QoL 1

The higher your apothecary skill the more properties of a plant you can identify.

QoL 2

Lets change what some of the plants do. Lets provide an opportunity to hand craft liniments. Lets have 2 slots for a potions effect and 3 slots for stabilising that potion. To enable this I would divide potions into instants, defensive buffs and then offensive buffs. Therefore a potion might provide an initial heal and then a smaller heal over time. This would perhaps not be a strong as say having just a pure heal or heal over time but could provide some interesting effects and offer some creativity for the players. Linking back to Cultivating QoL 3 by having blue or purple that would enable players to really play with their potions. Perhaps only one purple Goldweed would be needed instead of two thus opening up opportunities for really experimenting.

QoL 3

Making apothecary a minigame. Using the ram meter when brewing a potion and the player needing to hit the sweet spot could be an option. Also the higher the apothecary skill the easier this would be.

Qol 4

Linking to the previous QoL adding more apothecary equipment to the game and using this to enhance the minigame I'm talking about players could refine potion ingredients which if done right would make there potions better thus rewarding the players for making an effort. Similar to Morowind having players actually use a mortar and pestle then an alembic or a calcinator each with something akin to the ram meter where they have to get it right might be a way forwards. But again ensuring the rewards are there for the work.

Lastly Butchering I only have one suggestion here.

QoL 1

After a player kills a mob they have a similar meter like the ram and their character goes into the butchering animation like the Orc in Karak Eight peaks. As they are butchering the meter fills up and they need to get the sweet spot. If successful they get a random apothecary ingredient and like with cultivating they could get a critical success. If all goes well they go again. Each time though the margins get smaller to represent them butchering the entire animal corpse. Again a high skill in Butchery makes this easier.

Those are my thoughts please let me know.

[Martok]

The crafting system here is a time-sink, and it is meant to be. Ergo a certain percentage of the player-base can and do make a lot of gold by selling product because a larger percentage of the player-base has no desire to invest the time necessary to make it all themselves. Seriously doubt anything will ever be done to alter that system.

Appreciate your effort, sincerely. We will talk about the subject during the next Tothmonra Podcast.