Tslat
commented
2 years ago Much appreciated thoughtful feedback, I'll keep all of this in mind as I continue to refine/improve the skills
The only thing I'll touch note on is the fact that the majority of AoA's crops are.. useless, more or less This is known.. it's just tough finding space for them in such a crowded game But I'll get them there eventually, which should hopefully help with the skill's viability overall
Chubblezap
Describe/name the existing feature this suggestion relates to Farming Skill progression and related content
I've been playing through the 1.16.5 Alpha build, and in my small group I've decided to be the Farming specialist among other things. Having just recently levelled all the way to 100 and started by first cycle, I felt it might be a good idea to give some feedback on the current state of the skill, specifically things I think could be improved on.
1) Most of the crops themselves don't feel very useful. This is probably something pretty well-acknowledged by now, and something I imagine will be alleviated in the future, but it still needs to be said. The large majority of crops that AoA adds feel extremely low-impact, or in a few cases are actively detrimental to the player. While I ended up with a 9x9 farm of nearly every seed I could find, I can safely say around 80% of these were built purely for personal achievement and just having more crops to harvest rather than any functional use. Those that I actually did find useful were Rosidons, Floracle Sticks and Heart Fruit; though Heart Fruit was primarily used as fuel for food-based machines that didn't care about the self-damage (though this is a unique trait that I feel should stay!). All of these had an immediate, repeatedly-and-consistently-useful effect. All of the others had effects that were too short-lived and/or niche to make use of; a single second of night vision or jump boost is hardly anything to write home about, let alone in the quantities a single farm will make. I'd propose that the majority of crops be repurposed as crafting ingredients, my first thought being food as the mod currently lacks a variety of good renewable food options (maybe a "lunar salad" made from the 3 Lunalus crops, etc?), and the second being ingredients in the unused Alchemy skill, though this may be planned already. Regardless, more meaningful uses for the crops would make farming them feel more rewarding. Similar could be said for the few passive, breedable mobs that exist throughout the mod. Note: I didn't grow any of the unobtainable crops (eye bulb, green manure, thorny plant) and never found mystic mushrooms, so i can't comment on them.
2) Some of the mastery skills seem flawed in one way or another. Harvest Replant feels fairly strange as a whole, given that when you break a plant via left click (as you have to do to level Farming, rightclick "gentle" harvesting grants no exp), you'll almost certainly immediately break the replanted crop even if it procs. This is also an issue with how Magic Marangs function, with those being even more punishing as a broken immature Marang doesn't even drop itself. Hoes having AoE crop breaking would be a welcome addition (and help solve the above problem), however as of writing this it seems that breaking any amount of crops with a hoe grants less exp than if they were harvested individually, which makes it not worth using, though i wonder how much of this is a result of a conflict with mods like Quark that add similar functions rather than a flaw in the ability itself. I actually love the idea of bonemealing farmland to boost crop yields, though it feels tedious to refertilize an entire 9x9 field even if the bones themselves aren't too difficult to come by thanks to the Skeletal tools, which led to not bothering most of the time. Maybe give the bonemeal a radius at higher levels, or make the boost last longer than one crop cycle. Finally, Dryads don't currently serve much purpose and last an annoyingly short time to fish out the right hoe from my inventory, though I imagine these are fairly WIP since the Dryad's Blessing isn't implemented either. The rest of the skills range from decent/interesting to good, so no issues there.
3) Related to both of the above, it doesn't feel like I've actually gained much other than self-satisfaction from progressing the skill, particularly the later tiers. Level 66 grants the ability to turn grass into mycelium, but beyond that point strictly unlocks the ability to plant Trilliad Seeds, which actively hurt you, and three unimplemented items. I'd even argue the last significantly impactful ability is Breeding Bonus at rank 35, as neither Harvest Replant or Hoe Area Harvest feel nearly as powerful. It doesn't feel like I've gotten any better at farming in the same way Hauling rewards scale, or Imbuing enchantments become more and more powerful, for example. Level requirements could be given to things like crop accelerators, easier seed planting, better types of farmland, things that interact with/sort farm animals, better crop yields, or other tools and devices that actually make farming better as you progress to have a similar kind of scaling improvement feeling. It could even tie into weapons like the Gardener and the Chilli Chugger. But as it stands, a 9x9 wheat farm experience will be almost exactly the same for someone at level 1 or level 100.
Overall, the actual level-to-level exp scaling felt fine and I was able to reach level 100 in what I thought was a good amount of time and effort without it feeling like it was too overbearing. Slower than Hauling (a more 'focused' skill) but faster than Acrobatics or Innervation (more 'passive' skills), which is a great place for it to be. However, the rewards for actually training the skill mostly feel inconsequential, and in some cases unfinished (and granted, probably are), and most of the crops don't feel particularly useful, even those with level requirements; all of these with exceptions scattered here and there.
As a small, somewhat unrelated footnote, there's currently no way to actually leverage the 50% skill exp bonus on the mastery helmets, as they automatically unequip when you cycle and your level is set back to 0. Possibly make them equippable on the first cycle and beyond as an alternative requirement?