Alchemy Risk Vs Reward

[MaximumOverDrive]

Alright, while I know there has been many discussions on the OPness of Alchemy and it's functions, I agree it was once OP (As I've been doing alchemy for a very long time), by what I've seen from some of the creations of various prominent alchemists. It has been nerfed various times, weakened here, weakened there, and despite the amount of weakening there has been the issue of individuals spamming the creation of certain particularly strong items and spreading them out to the point where it seems more like an extra loot bin, instead of an actual cool system.

I think the answer to this was... Well not well thought out. Yes weakening many items even MORE will definitely make it where people don't feel spam-creating things are worth it, but it also makes it utterly not worth it to do at all. For example, I've honestly been something of a failure at alchemy for a long time, I never discovered the awesome strong creations that came with the dedication and risk. Recently however, I've had a large boost of luck, and I've managed to make sense of a lot of things I didn't before.

The path to getting to that point involved a lot of dieing, setbacks, costs, and time, and when I finally did reach that point the rewards were.. Well to be honest quite pathetic. Risking perma, tons of death, and costs for reagents and such to discover something that you would be safer just going out adventuring to find, or just better not having at all just seems like a huge buzzkill.

The answer to the spam-creation I think should have been increased creation cooldowns, maybe make them very high so even if they tried to spam-create such things, the amount they could produce is so low it doesn't have much of an impact, and really if you couldn't create that many you would likely keep them for yourself instead of handing them out to a bunch of others. Just weakening the items to the point where they are no longer worth it seems a waste of a good system, and it really encourages me to quit alchemy (even though prior to these changes, I've been doing alchemy since chapter 2!! Hoping to find these things, and never could till now).

I'm just suggesting to boost the items back up, and instead give them a lot higher cooldown, or at least balancing the power with the risk, whether that be reducing the risk, or giving the items a light boost in power to make up for the risks of getting to that point in the first place.

~NecroDude~

[Kotenku]

Correct forum or not, I think this is a good point. I believe it should be within the capabilities of characters to craft reasonably powerful items. That said, the alchemy system could definitely use some tweaking in terms of balance.

Where alchemy stands on the difficulty spectrum, it appears to be so difficult that only the most dedicated players can actually make headway with the system, and the result seems to be boring characters who do nothing but alchemy. (That is, at least, the complaint I hear all the time).
Balancing the system is a process that by necessity must take years - make a tweak, wait months to see how it pans out - repeat, so I certainly understand why it's still an issue after this long...

I'd certainly be in favor of multiplying the cooldowns on good recipes by a considerable amount. Strong alchemical recipes seem to me like they should be the process of week and month-long rituals, rather than something doable in about five minutes every other week.

I can't speak to whether the rewards should be made more powerful, so I won't.

[I love cats]

Honestly after making a certain item with alchemy.....It is quite clear and obvious there has been a serious downgrade. I have previously seen a version of an item I have made and it was way more powerful and did not do alignment restrictions. It had been a very useful item in the past that is now seriously downgraded. Yet in spite of this downgrade the DC on this particular item is very obscenely high! Its imposible to not feel kinda bummed knowing other alchemists that made the same item you did before the nerf got something way more powerful

[MaximumOverDrive]

Its a strong point that alchemy is highly dangerous because it holds awesome reward, but requires a lot of dedication, and persistance, as your death rate as an alchemist is almost gaurenteed to be 50% higher. The problem with all this nerfing is that its now starting to become not worth it, the items are pretty weak when compared to what was required to get to the point of making them, and even worse, yes many are showing alignment restrictions now, so a part of them you cant even use. Now personally, i dont mind alignment restrictions, heck class restrictions, or specialization requirements... But at least make the items power worthy to the risk and time it took to discover them.

[Reylathi]

What about introducing another random factor, so that a particular recipe only creates the item it's supposed to create a certain % of the time? Rather than adjusting cooldown or item power to find the perfect game balance, I imagine it'd be a lot easier to just adjust this randomizing figure.

[Charnelist]

^ Please, please, PLEASE no. I have a hard enough time figuring out new recipes anyways. I don't want to try the same one so many times just to be sure it really doesn't make anything. :(

[manyscruples]

Just remove it all together.

[OuterSanctum]

Hate to thread necro this but...oh my god.  Please do not weight-nerf.  Weight nerf is the absolute worst thing I've seen so far.  Finally being able to make something cool, just to realize it's been nerfed and now weighs too much so I can never carry it around.

The #1 most frustrating thing about alchemy is the encumbrance.  I figured non-zero strength and almost no equipment would leave 80 pounds for stuff - yet I'm always encumbered.

Please for the love of god, either remove weight nerfs or don't do it anymore!

[Kinslayer988]

Many of us have watched alchemy and herbalism in all of its glory over the years and have seen it in times of chaos and times of order. It has been distinctly powered down to fit the power level of this chapter. I do believe that it should provide distinct rewards however, and would approve of a boost.

What many people do not account for is the fact that alchemy and herbalism not only gets people IG, but it gets them to go outside main hubs to get the ingredients they need.