Topic

Herbs: Any good? Worth the effort? Ever needed for projects?

It seemed to me that a lot of attention was given to herbs when they first appeared.  I found the seeds to be quite difficult to come by and actually bought 3 purple flowers on auction for 750 currants, not knowing what they did.  Once I finally got some seeds, I had a hard time finding open plots in the public herb gardens in which to plant them.  So I moved my house to a swamp-bog so I could have my own herb garden (and also barnacles and fireflies).  Now that I've tried out the different herbs, I have to think that they really aren't worth the effort.  Let's review:

Gandlevery: A small energy boost, could be of use to low-level Glitch, but no replacement for some good food.

Hairball: Faster walk speed, a unique buff, probably the most valuable herb for situations when you would rather walk/run through a few areas than teleport.

Purple Flower: Pretty, but has no actual benefit, essentially valueless.

Rookswort: No mood loss, I can't think of a situation when I would need this.

Rubewood: Improved chance for drops, how much? 5%? The times I have used this I have received few or no drops from typical actions.

Silvertongue: Bonus on next quest or achievement, but it is only 5%, which is hardly anything.

Yellow Crumb Flower: Double learning speed, for one minute.  I suppose if you had a huge amount of these it would be of some value, but I think donating to shrines for favor is probably more efficient.

So the herbs are of very little game value, and at this point the herbs and their seeds don't seem to have much auction value. They are already old hat even though they've only been in existence for a short while.  BUT, have they ever been needed for a project? If they became common project requirements, then their auction value would skyrocket (assuming that they would remain un-buyable from vendors) and the swamp homes would gain demand (currently, I am the only resident of my block of ten homes in Ivalo Trims).

Posted 18 months ago by reggieness Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I adore the herbs, planting  them, the colours, the thrill of seeing them grow... This game is what you make of it.... I see these negative remarks and wonder why these people bother with the game. Endless grousing....
    Each new innovation takes lots of time in development. I am SO bloody grateful to the devs as they make my day better knowing I have a game that delights me in every respect. It must be because at age 70   I am very childlike and amuse easily....I have found many like minds and a group of friends who simply adore the game and what Glitch offers in this dog eat dog  RW RL existance we have.   
    Posted 18 months ago by napabeth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I imagine that herbs will be used for other things

    Just as peat is only really used for blocks and we just donate them right now...  Crystals, fireflies, their use is all pretty limited right now.

    Herbs might be used for potions, or making food/drinks that are super-special, or who knows what!
    Posted 18 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We grouse because we love.  Much of the game has been improved over the last year and a half due to player feedback, both positive and negative.  The developers are constantly adjusting various aspects of the game (the recent improvements to stack sizes and cooking ratios spring to mind), and we are testers, not players in the traditional sense.  That line, which seemed so clear during alpha, has blurred during beta, perhaps due to the introduction of subscriptions.  Regardless, I really wish that the complaint-about-complaints posts would stop.  They create friction where there would otherwise be none, and they dissuade others from voicing opinions which might be construed as negative.

    I had looked forward to being able to grow herbs in my yard, and the fact that we can't do this in any home has caused a number of people (not me, but several testers I know) to open second accounts with homes in the bogs.  I'd really like to see some sort of indoor herb gardening introduced; even if I could only grow one flower at a time, it would be much more fun than going all the way to the bogs and hoping that the community gardens are deserted enough for planting.  I do understand the design choice there, but it is a disappointment for those of us who've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of flowers, especially because the artwork is lovely, and would be just the thing to brighten a dark cave.  It's similarly disappointing that the bog gardens can't grow vegetables, because the lack of gardens was stopping me from living there.  Now that there are finally bog gardens, I'd still be sacrificing vegetable gardening if I were to move.

    Just about everything ends up in the project templates eventually, so I'd think that something like Purple Flower, which isn't quite as hard to come by as the rest due to its shorter growing time, would be part of the projects eventually.   It would have to be a stand-alone item to donate, since, strangely, we can't actually cook with "herbs."   I'm hoping for the arrival of an easy-bake-style oven and new items like Purple Brownies. 
    Posted 18 months ago by glum pudding Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd like a butter churn or something, so that I can press Purple flowers into cheese and create Purple Cheese :). Maybe it can be like the test tube, experiment to find out.
    Posted 18 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am sure the herbs will have more use in the future (and also probably be needed for projects). When I started playing peat was almost worthless because it wasn't used to make anything useful, and whenever projects did call for it it was filled up instantly because everyone had a ton of it in their inventories. Pretty much every peat bog was always full. Then, suddenly, blocks and bricks started to be needed for every project, and now peat is much more precious.

    It seems to me that the devs are trying to specialize different aspects of the game, such as making certain trees only available in a limited number of areas. This has irritated people that are used to getting their resources more easily, but I think this is a good thing: it makes each area more special and encourages people to visit each of them to get the variety of items they need. If you could get everything you would ever need from Groddle Forest, why ever go anywhere else? The world will be constantly expanding, so the number of patches available for each tree type will inevitably grow (making them less rare). As for gardening at home: it seems that we are being constantly forced to make more and more difficult choices, and this is part of that. We are being sent a message that we can't have everything all at once (even though, as beta testers, we are used to that).

    That being said, I think vases to put flowers in as decoration would be a wonderful addition to the game. These could then be displayed anywhere, even in regions where the herbs can't grow. And Purple Brownies sounds like an excellent idea :).
    Posted 18 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The situation where you need no mood loss is reviving animals after a rook attack.  It's extremely easy to go from full mood to zero after reviving animals, hence the name rookswort.  Sadly, it is bugged at this time and doesn't work.

    My concern with rookswort's zero mood loss is that poisoning trees also incurs a mood loss and was tweaked to give a bigger mood loss so as to prevent widespread poisoning by one player. So... once rookswort gets fixed, will I be able to use it to poison every tree I find as long as the buff lasts?

    I disagree that the herbs are useless or weak, and I'll be sad the day we need them for projects since every time we need things for projects the prices skyrocket on auction (yes, I know, 'get over it'), which seems more like playing monopoly than playing a game of giant imagination.
    Posted 18 months ago by zeeberk Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Shepard, I posted about the same type idea in the idea forums under "crafting"! I think it'd be lovely to be able to take flowers to friends. Sadly, no one much gave feedback on my ideas, so I thought they must be foolish. Glad to see someone else has same thoughts :)
    Posted 18 months ago by NutMeg Botwin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, I agree that the herbs are a big 'meh'. I've used them all multiple times, multiple locations with little or no noticeable effects.
    Yes, I'm sure the devs have 'big plans' for them in the future. I'm sure that every single aspect of the game has plans for future greatness, but for now I have to dispense with the dev-worship and call it as I see it: herb fail.
    Posted 18 months ago by serfer0 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree that the herbs are of little value, especially given the effort required to gather a stock.

    I spent a LOT of time in the community herb gardens during the last test. I had a good time in there, met a lot of nice people, shared the love, saw a lot of very pretty herbs. But herb harvesting is insanely slow, even when you're working across 40 plots. You harvest a plot and get 1, maybe 2, sprigs. You shuck the seeds from that sprig and get 1, maybe 2, seeds. Many times we'd harvest a plot and all we'd get was one seed to go back and repeat the action.

    After I'd spent about 2 hours in there, I actually went and read up on what the darn things were going to do for me LOL. A purple screen? Whoo-hoo. That's fun. Once (actually it gave me a good laugh, but I'm not sure I'd do it again). A +24 energy boost? Hmmmm. As things are, I think I might keep some Silvertongue and Rubeweed around but it's not something I'd worry about. The others give benefits no better than a quick drink or snack.

    I know that some people will want to specialize in herb growing (I've only got H1 at the moment - maybe H2 would improve things) and others will want to specialize in cooking. And I agree that the herb artwork is really beautiful - I've lost many a community herb because I've stopped to admire the flower and someone else has claimed it LOL. But, for now, I think the effort involved in accumulating them outweighs the benefits.

    And I LOLed at Glum's Purple Brownies :-)
    Posted 18 months ago by Snazzlefrazz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Snazzlefrazz: You DO get much better flower and seed yields with Herbalism 2. But yeah, right now they aren't terribly exciting overall.
    Posted 18 months ago by RM Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Rookswort sounds like it'd be especially handy when making stinky cheese.

    For me I don't think growing the Yellow Crumb Flowers are worth it for learning faster, unless you have Herbalism. The growing time is just too much.

    I don't really have anything else to say about the herbs and flowers except that they're pretty.
    Posted 18 months ago by Liridona Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Stacking for herbs is really piddly, which makes using them even less enticing.  As much as purple might be fun, it's not particularly useful (unless you're looking for a way to make working on a project more 'interesting').  I haven't looked at the Yellow Crumb flowers yet (especially since I ain't learning nuthing), but for people seriously into power learning and who need just a little more of a speed boost, I can see them possibly being useful.  Much like I'd use Pungent Sunrises, munching a yellow crumb flower might be something I'd do on occasion as well.  (And before someone says that donating to shrines is much faster etc., I use PSs primarily *after* maxing out on shrine donations.  You don't have many options at that point beyond PSs and time quoins and now yellow crumb flowers.)

    Personally, I found Rookswort really useful when it came to clean up detail after a rook attack.  I know zeebert's mentioned it's bugged at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it worked for me when I tried it.  My mood was quite happy happy joy joy, but my energy was looking pretty pathetic at the end of cleanup.  (Which is saying something given how large my energy [and mood] tank is at the moment.)  :)  Unfortunately, I can understand zee's concern when it comes to Rookswort and tree poisoning.  Combine that with the removal of poisoner's guilt if you plant something after poisoning a tree, and it's a griefer's wonder herb for eradicating one tree type from an area.  :/

    Still, I should take a look and see what the other herbs do next test.  I`m especially curious about Silvertongue and how it works.  Depending on what qualifies as an 'achievement', it might be interesting...  :D
    Posted 18 months ago by Marebito Subscriber! | Permalink