Okay. I'm a Magnagorean, named Fualkner. I'm just a peaceful furrikin who would like to harvest herbs, NOT RIP-HARVEST. I replant. All the time.

But wait! I'm peacefully harvesting in Serenwilde, and I get jumped and get thrown out. I could go to Glom, but they don't like people in their forests.


So now I'm screwed. I have no place to harvest galingale, chervil, marjoram, OR coltsfoot, not to mention a few others that grow there too. So how do I harvest these? Can someone give me the okay to harvest? Is there a hidden forest I don't know about? Hmm? HMM?

Oh, we'll throw you out too if you didn't get prior permission and hear the terms of the tithe. You can blame Revan for that one.

There's an itty-bitty forest outside of the communes, but that doesn't really help you.

You tried contacting someone ICly and requesting specific permission to enter the forest for harvesting? Maybe even negotiate a certain amount of herbs or time limit or something? Perhaps even a 'as long as you're escorted' kind of deal? Was this an individual taking exception to you being in the Seren or was it someone acting on official policy?

Well, Iola just came out of the bushes, like, 3 days ago and shouted "GET OUTTA MY FOREST!" I'd done nothing wrong, I'd killed nothing, never harvested to extiction, I'm not an enemy, never even gave a Serenwilde the Eyebrow. And yet... thrown out.

I could try a negotiation, but I need names. People that have a bit of power in Seren and Glom.

I'd be willing to replant 15% of what I harvest, if that's nessessary, or donate it. Whateva.

Well, besides the obvious of HELP (forest) to find the names you need, you can always ask around to see if anyone has connections in the forest or knows who you should talk to. Then send them a letter or something. There's so much IC fun potential here. I mean, yeah, kind of annoying that you're stuck as far as harvesting goes, but think of the other sorts of fun this opens up.

Faulkner, you were most likely kicked out because Mags had been raiding recently, so we weren't really letting them just wander our forest as they want.

Yes, I figured it out after I got thrown out. I'll attempt writing a letter. Noola, you have a good point. This could be fun... or very, very annoying. Well, here goes!

Go go IC fun!

Even if it's annoying, it'll still be fun, I bet.

People do get touchy when there's been raids though, don't they? Can't blame them, of course, but it comes as a bit of a surprise when you didn't even realize there had been raids, doesn't it?

Well, yah. I'm too weak to go on them, and I guess I wasn't around. Also, I didn't read the newspost until after Iola bit my face off.

Here is where you differ from everyone else.

You don't think trying to negotiate and bargin your way into a difficult situation created by the violence of others sounds at least a little fun?

ICly, it's roleplaying. Serenwilde people don't like Magnagorans much.

OOCly, you don't lose a lot. Trade skills which aren't alchemy or enchantment give crappy gold anyway. The only person to make a fortune on herbs (Iasmos) would receive an even larger fortune if he spent that time hunting or questing.

EDIT: Noola, to quote Firefly, "You're a lunatic".
No offense, but I just have yet to find any other person cheering when they get into trouble.

I think you're dead wrong about herbs. I made a good amount of money off herbs and changing to bookbinding was a terrible move from a personal benefit perspective.

I take that as a compliment. Cause, I figure you can either focus on the annoying aspect of something like this (the difficulty in harvesting and the seeming unfairness of being 'punished' for something someone else did) and be annoyed and angry and upset over it - or you can find all the ways that this creates fun roleplay opportunities and pursue them.

Be annoyed and angry... have fun... be annoyed and angry... have fun. Not a tough choice, IMO.

Maybe you'll be able to work something out and be able to harvest, or maybe you won't but either way, you'll have more fun trying than sitting around being angry cause of a snag in your character's life.

That's how I veiw it anyway.

And that's not to say that I think that people shouldn't rant about things that annoy them, but after you've blown off your steam, isn't it more fun to try to work around/through the issue than to sit there and feel bitter about it?

Hmm, yeah. Kind of right, but you have to admit that...

Hey, look over there! Distraction ninjas!

You're so awesome.

Plenty of people make money with herbs, if they put the time in. I'll admit I don't do anywhere near as much time now, so I don't earn as much with it (if I was still heavily into herbs, I'd easily have doubled my current total)-- but especially if you're a lower level and can't hunt some of the better gold things (hi, creatures that I like to hunt but Exeryte/Synl get mad if they're mentioned on the forums) and have a lot of free time, it's okay gold-wise, with less risk.

I've made about 3,167,920 gold from herbs so far. Bit more than that, since sometimes my system crashes without having saved the total, but I'd call that "a small fortune." Of course, I've spent all of it on stuff, but hey.

The issue of course is that, firstly, income from harvesting isn't a sure thing, you need someone to sell to before you get any money, and even if there's a buyer the chances are high you'll have competition from other herbalists (because there are a lot of them). At the same time, basic, fairly easy bashing around the basin, even ones that don't have a turn-in-for-gold aspect, will probably get you more gold-per-time-spent than harvesting will (except for really expensive herbs like sparkles). Bashing and questing also give you experience, so overall they're much more useful.

That said, herbalism has three main advantages to speak of. The first has been mentioned, and that is that lower-leveled characters can participate in it without having to train for hours for the high health needed for stronger foes. Not the best reason, since bashing in that time instead would quickly raise them to a level where hunting would give more gold again. The second reason is more convincing, and that is that herbalism requires little concentration on the player's part. I know that for a long time I had an herbalist who I would play pretty much in the background while doing homework and things like that, only looking up when I received a tell or finished harvesting a room so I could move on. Although I would like to point out that auto-harvesting is a crime, and should never be done. Anyways, the third reason is also compelling, and that is that competition for hunting and questing areas is very heavy, and as such it can be much more consistent to go harvesting. Still, though, many herbs can be hard to find, or will be harvested down already when you arrive. Thus, it's not fail-safe either. If you're still reading, I apologize for the diatribe, I just thought I should clear this up for everyone.

Also, even more on topic, the small forest that was mentioned (outside of Seren and Glom) is very rarely harvested in, so in all likelihood the rooms will be full of herbs in the 40-60 amounts. Very worthwhile, especially since there are swamp rooms connected for those rare herbs you're always looking for. Give it a try if you know where it is.

...And I'm done.

You mean this?

Not very seriously. They do protest, but I think it's all in good fun-- and it's not like anyone believes their protests.