While I think we don't have enough people yet to actively have someone around for each trade at all times, we don't need people running around with two trades each. It really makes us rely on each other (Unlike Druids/Sentinels of other IRE) and when we eventually do reach a higher number of players it'll be pretty much overkill to have two trades per person.

Edited for Richter's understanding.

Don't we already rely on each other now? How would getting an extra tradeskill make us rely on people more? We don't have npc's that sell things, other than Bob. I'm confused!

Uh, wakie wakies, Richter. He means that having one trade skill each makes us rely on one another.

Edit: don't just read the middle line next time, k?

He means that it makes us rely on eachother now.

Why did you only quote a portion of the sentence? I'll edit the above too just so other people don't throw a fit.

More trade skills one person can't have = more interaction between players = good!

There's not one of these trade skills that's not a luxury. Even food you can procure from Bob if you're desperate, right?

Sure, everyone thinks they need a steady supply of potion refills, but last I checked I was ranked 137th, and I still haven't used a single potion for anything but proofing clothes.

Even if your personal goals (and lack of trascendent healing skill) demand you stock up on potions and herbs, if stocking up on potions and herbs becomes difficult, that's just another facet of the game.

Getting everything you want whenever you want = instant gratification = boring boring boring!!

How do you bash without health potions? Or influence without bromide?

EDIT: Actually, I can see influencing without bromide, though it would be quite painful in terms of the time you have to spend meditating.

You could just quest, I guess. That doesn't really prove anything, though. Just because one person doesn't mind questing for everything (and let's face it, 130th ranked isn't exactly that great) doesn't mean that everyone else can do without potions.

As I see it, if the right people are around it's ok getting what you need. Then again if it's sold in a shop it can be found, unless the shop is someplace you shouldn't be.. Even if the right people are around they aren't always going to do what you want them to do.. So really, I suppose you'd say it's a situational type of thing..

Not as you get higher (in terms of level for the meditate percentage + every other regen), but.. I see your point. Maybe I'd level faster if I drank bromide too. Meh.. wonder if I'll reach 75 with these same mobs.

In fact, if even a handful more people tried to use that same technique to advance, it'd stop working for all of them.

I voted no, but only because there's never someone around when I need them. I want refills? No alchemists. I want enchantments? No enchanters. It seems when I need something, every tradesman logs off.

On the other hand, some trades could use less people in them. As a former Jeweller, I was fighting day and night against competitors that always seemed to undercut my prices. It was frustrating and was one of the reasons I got out of it. I currently have no trade skill.

I took up poisons yesterday.
Lets see if I make some money out of it. If not, well, then I can still feel special because I am one of the last few poisonists out there.

My point isn't that 130th is great, but rather that I'm accomplishing a heckuva lot more than nothing. And if you believe you've got to be in the top 100 to be "playing the game", then you've got a very distorted perspective of multiplayer online gaming.

And for the record, that ain't from questing. I do some off and on, but the vast majority of my experience comes from bashing.

e.g.: I know that moose aren't big game by the standards of the people who like to live on astral, but they aren't exactly novice food, and I can circle the mountains at speed, taking down moose after moose (and rockeater after rockeater) without once pausing for breath or quaffing a potion. 90% of the time I don't even need to use my healing abilities on myself. Perhaps you consider that a poor example because they don't cause afflictions, but the affliction-inducing monsters aren't that much worse for a trans healer who knows what to expect.

My point remains: the game is what it is, and the arts of the skilled tradesmen are bonuses, not essentials. We can easily have too many skilled in a certain trade, but it's dreadfully hard to have too few.

I think you have nymph. Do you use it? That's only an option for two guilds. Just curious.

Yeah. But I could say the same thing about non-stop trashing the crabs in the Celest sewers, who're slightly less tough, but come in swarms and break bones in addition to being naturally aggressive (and completely resistent to nymphs).

When they do swarm, I may stop a moment to heal, and on rare ocassions meditate, but generally not.

I've got some advantages for bashing that most players don't, but I chose them carefully, and worked for them.

I personally think that you should be able to learn more than one trade IF you don't belong to any guild and don't have guild class skills.

Maybe something like this.

You can have 2 Trade Skills if you decide to give up 2 of your three class skills.
You can have 3 Trade Skills if you don't have any class-based skills.

This would allow for artisans, a defacto group of players who just want to apply trades without bashing or being involved in PvP or the other combative elements of the game.

Having no class skills is a huge drawback in terms of things like leveling, so that could be the reward of taking the harder path. Or a sort of retirement reward of sorts.

Maybe 3 is too much. Who knows. I don't think it's out of line to have somebody be a cook and a tailor, for instance, if he or she doesn't belong to a guild.

Personally, I'd rather see trade skills limited entirely to some sort of merchant archetype (giving the non-combatants an advantage that way) than see any one character allowed multiple trade skills.

I'd create two tiers for tradeskills.

1. Cooking, Artisan, Bookbinding, Arts and perhaps Tailoring.
2. The rest.

That way you could get one from each tier. Made so you can't choose two which compliment each other too much.

But I'm fine with the system as it is too.