Mechanics VS Roleplay - Which should win?

Jaeger

Hey everyone, just looking to solicit some opinions. Currently looking at Tradeskills for my character and tossing up between Herbalism and Apothecary. My problem is Herbalism is the one I want for mechanical reasons (anabiotics always seem in short supply in shops so would be nice to be able to make my own) but Apothecary is what I feel would suit what I want my character to grow into (lone hunter, use every part of the animal kind of thing).

What are your feelings on it? Have you had to make a similair sort of decision before?

Aishia

Since both are just "Gameplay" it's probably best to pick the one you think you'll enjoy having the most or get the most fun out of it. Some people find utility more satisfying, and there's nothing really keeping you from roleplaying cutting open animals. Same thing if you feel like adding the TECHNICALITY of being able to root around in dead animals will make your immersion more complete and thats what you value more, well, u know.

Rhyot

So, in my opinion, Apothecary is absolutely annoying because you have to go around to specific areas and kill specific mobs. While these mobs are not difficult to kill, it is very time consuming. I tend to pay people to kill corpses for me and I'll just harvest the corpses that way.

Herbalism is far easier than Apothecary because you can go to just specific areas and harvest whatever herbs you need. And because you intend to be a hunter, you're going to go through far more anabiotic than you will elixirs, but elixirs are far easier to find/buy than herbs.


I took up Apothecary simply because I'm an avid hunter and tend to kill most things in one shot anyway, and Coribhell took up Herbalism. But I still find Apothecary absolutely annoying.

Kelliara

Jaeger said:

Hey everyone, just looking to solicit some opinions. Currently looking at Tradeskills for my character and tossing up between Herbalism and Apothecary. My problem is Herbalism is the one I want for mechanical reasons (anabiotics always seem in short supply in shops so would be nice to be able to make my own) but Apothecary is what I feel would suit what I want my character to grow into (lone hunter, use every part of the animal kind of thing).

What are your feelings on it? Have you had to make a similair sort of decision before?

It's 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

Both are needed almost constantly, and you'll still need to rely on someone else for the other. At the end of the day it's not really going to make a huge difference except to what you spend your time doing to get curatives (murdering and cutting apart critters, or picking flowers), and slightly changing the way you RP things.

There are plenty of both on either side of the Divide, so pick whichever one tickles your fancy the most, for whichever reason you consider the most valuable.

Ishin

Mechanics will always trump roleplay simply by virtue of being mechanics.

Jaeger

@Aishia That's fair. I do prefer it when mechanics and RP can be in harmony.

@Rhyot That was exactly what I was afraid of. In terms of sheer cost, for 1500 sips of health it costs me 240 gold (8 gold per 50 sip refill, 1500 capacity for fluidcache). The cost for the same amount of anabiotics is 12,000 (8 gold per pill 1500 pills) and that is assuming that I can get both at the cheapest I can find them in shops AND that I can even find them in shops.

Sarita

For what it's worth, you can still harvest organs from corpse (the old reanimation ones) if you have a scalpel. None of these carry over to the apothecary skill, but some people still use them in various ways for other craft skills, like cooking, bones for corsets, etc. That is something you could use to support your character's RP even if you do choose herbalism for practical reasons.

Kalak

I generally prefer roleplay however it may gimp me or put me at a disadvantage. For example, I never got fishing for my character believes that Mages has better things to do then fishing, despite OOCly I always knew how it could be lucrative from gold-generating perspective.

Herbalism will appear more advantageous on the outset mechanically due to anabiotic being an ace in the hole, but you should ask yourself whether you also want to RP the skillset too. You see your character on a table mixing herbs and minerals for some slop or pill for one reason or another /OR/ you see your character slicing mugyik testicles into pieces and using them in his next revolutionary elixir?

After you portray your character in your mind's eye, the answer will come to you swiftly.

Teani

I agree with Kalak. Go for whatever you feel suits your character. My own could have gone either way, but ultimately her love for exploration made the decision to become a Herbalist more realistic, since it would allow her to be out and about more, searching areas for useful plants. She's not an avid hunter either, so Apothecary wasn't quite in line with her personality.

Jaeger

Convenience won out in the end. Thematically I think I would have preferred apothecary, but both work for my character and having a full cache of anabiotics while I hunt soothes my RP misgivings.

Aishia

Usually best to just go with whatever will help you play the game better, whether that's thru RP or utility. GOOD CHOICE I SAY.