Opinion on Mastery of Skills

[Pariah]

So, normally my characters are like 2 days played an killed by a wild creature/player/templar.  That tends to be my normal life cycle.

However, when I do one of the randos that goes longer, I tend to find that I start noticing minor annoyances with their skill trees, mostly in crafting regards.

So for example, let's use the Brew skill.  Most save a few subclasses top out at Advanced (low-mid-high) no idea but it stops moving at Advanced.

I play TONS of stalkers, and using that as an example, I can make cures on my stalkers, but normally suck horribly at it.  Best to my knowledge there is no brew boosting tools to buy either, so where I can get away with advanced Fletchery by use of X and Y tool to make it pretty reliable, I find I lose lots of materials just trying to brew X cure or make Y thing.

So it got me thinking, has there ever been a thought to removing caps on certain crafts?  It just doesn't make sense to me that someone who's alive for IG years and does brewing (for example) all the time will never figure out how to master it.

I used to understand that mastery was gated because of Mastercrafting, but I believe there are now two gates to that isn't there?  You have to be a master AND have a guild/subguild that is allowed to master craft correct or am I reading it wrong?

So there would really be no negative to allow stalkers to get master brew in my opinion if they can work up to that level.  Crafting when done realistically doesn't take tons of time to advance, but when you hit that glass ceiling it's noticeable.  Particularly when you get a rash of bad RNG rolls and break hundred or thousands of coin in materials over and over.

So I guess my question is, why is the "Master" rank prohibited to a few class/subclasses in crafts?  A vast majority of things I made on my character I don't actually sell to shops in stores so I don't think I really effect the economy at all, but I do understand there are folks who will literally make three of each thing that sells and do the shop route around Allanak and beyond just to amass huges amounts of coin.

Just something I've been thinking of as I break things over and over at my advanced crafts.

[mansa]

This isn't really a question about general skills, but about CRAFTING skills


#1 - There are +BREW items.


#2 - I believe there are +CRAFTINGSKILL items for every craft skill in the game.

#3 - The game works in that there are specific NPCs that exchange GOODS for OBSIDIAN COINS.  That's the major way OBSIDIAN COINS are generated in the game economy. 
(You don't go around killing scrabs and gith and finding coins from their corpses)   The other way obsidian coins are generated in the game are from CLAN QUARTERMASTER NPCs that will distribute out a stipend to certain clan ranks.

You can kill scrabs and gith and generate items from their corpses, that you then can either exchange THOSE items for obsidian coins, or craft those items into NEW items that can generate a higher value of obsidian coins.

Crafting is the fastest and easiest way to generate the highest amount of coins in the game.

#4 - We're playing a game that is based off of dice rolls, and there's always a chance that your dice roll will fail. 



So, if I were to summarize what I think your problem is:
I fail my craft items frequently.  Is the frequency too high?

[Halcyon]

Not venturing an opinion on the rest of your post, but crafts are very dependent on a stat each.   

There are tools for brewing.   There are also workshops that may or might not give a mod to brewing for pcs of the right clans and rank.

Basically, if you are tanking the wrong stat and dont have one of the brew tools, start there first.

[Pariah]

I'll have to check out mortar and pestles again.  Last time I assessed them they showed up useless like a broom.  A normal household implement.

Or are some tools not showing the "this is useful in x" message?

[mansa]

Or are some tools not showing the "this is useful in x" message?

Correct.

[X-D]

#2 - I believe there are +CRAFTINGSKILL items for every craft skill in the game.

I know of at least one that does not...but I am sure that is by design.

[Pariah]

Not a craft skill really, but the man or woman who makes cut resistant poisoners gloves will become a millionaire over night.

[Patuk]

My friend, skills that do not go up to master belong to EVERY class in the game. Why is this a special case?

[Pariah]

I just feel like craft skills specifically are unrealistic that I could be doing X craft for YEARS and still suck because of a guild choice.

But yes I suppose I do see this could be argued for fighting skills too etc.

Maybe a better way to handle it wouldn't be hard capping it but slowing progression after you hit an arbitrary mark.  Say normal up to advanced, then instead of learning from every failure, maybe ever ten failures.  That way the person who puts the time in can become better than their glass ceiling.

[Patuk]

Say normal up to advanced, then instead of learning from every failure, maybe ever ten failures.

It's a craft skill. A stalker with advanced brew is at the point where getting ten fails isn't meaningfully harder than getting one is; it'll just be more tedious. Tedious things are bad. Intruding on the domain of heavy crafters is also bad.

[Brokkr]

For crafting?

For one, certain recipes are gated by skill level.  So if you can only get your cooking to advanced, you might not be able to craft that master level steak, ever.

In terms of economic competitiveness, those with more of a talent for it will break less stuff/make more money.

So, yes, you are like...a junior gymnast.  Not Simone Biles.  So no matter what you do, ever, you won't do gymnastics like Simone Biles. It doesn't matter how much time/practice you put into it.  The classes/subclasses represent those potentials.

[Pariah]

...
So, yes, you are like...a junior gymnast.  Not Simone Biles.  So no matter what you do, ever, you won't do gymnastics like Simone Biles. It doesn't matter how much time/practice you put into it.  The classes/subclasses represent those potentials.

Hurtful.  But I understand.

[Lotion]

I've heard that "ordinary household implement" tools actually boost brew. I'm not sure if it's all of them or only appropriate ones, but if staff catch you pumping out master level cures with various high quality inappropriate once I don't know if they'd take too kindly to it.

[Brokkr]

Those messages have entirely to do with which type of of tool it is.  Outside of some very specific ones where the code imparts skill bonuses, such as sunslits or climbing gear, the fact that it is a tool doesn't have anything to do with whether there are bonuses or not on the item.  Bonuses are applied directly, manually to an item outside of those and there is no way to tell what they are via assess.