This week I got my fourth Earnest of Payment, and went through that storylet without trading in my accumulated four professional perks for a trade secret. Does this mean that I won’t get a new professional perk next week because there is a maximum limit of four professional perks? Or might I be able to spend the four that I have before getting a new professional perk by going through the reward storylet?
I’m guessing not. I’m guessing that I somehow get the professional perk when I get the storylet, not when I go through the reward option. Because I’m pretty sure I had a single professional perk when I first explored those options, and I couldn’t have had that if I receive the professional perk only after accepting the payment, now could I?
I had somehow failed to notice/remember the maximum of four, and I’d also forgotten about the Proper Order In Which To Click On Things. And now I feel stupid. And I also feel set up by a system that first encourages me to save up four, and then punishes me by withholding rewards if I forget that I have saved up exactly four. And I have no idea why professional perks can’t be used as any other item to be spent whenever by clicking on them. Because that would make a lot of sense to me.
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Losing the stat boost from a training profession because you’ve forgot to take off gear that’s brought you over 70 is an awful feeling too. Either checking the unmodified stat (is that possible?) or even just locking the option at 70+ on those would be nice.
On the other hand, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t get a stat boost, does it? I haven’t played the early parts of the game since the boosts were introduced, and I can’t help but wonder if the beginning of the game now goes too fast - I enjoyed the slow levelling up.
The very early game does go a bit fast, but as soon as the stats hit 50-60 it starts to take some time to get them up, and it’s only at 70 where you’d need to lower the stats to get the bonus. So that does seem quite painful. More painful than losing a professional perk, I’d say.
The benefit of the game going by modified rather than base levels is of course that we can use the Talkative Rattus Faber to get the bonus until the stat is at 95-100. But I think that the game would be better if there was less opportunity/necessity to fiddle with numbers. As long as the game keeps telling me that my numbers aren’t high enough, I’ll keep doing what I can to push up those numbers, in every way and in every situation.
And I just noticed where my reminder for the total number of professional perks was hidden: It was in the message page/tab, which never shows me when I have new messages, so I rarely check it. A few days ago there was another message thingie up in the StoryNexus menu bar, which always showed ‘new’ messages, even when they were old. So I learned to not pay attention to that one.
Technically, going from 60 to 70 is just as much of a grind as those last ten levels from the cap. At even lower levels the boost might advance you past more stories, but at those levels there’s not as much risk of being item boosted past the level 70 cap on the training profession rewards.
More importantly though, having made exactly this mistake, it just doesn’t feel good to cash in a payment and then realize you’ve missed half your reward. Losing out because you forgot you’re capped is not fun, even if what you’re losing might be questionable.
I know this is an old thread, but I have a couple profession questions, so thought it would be appropriate to post here.
First, are Perks still capped at four?
Second, what do Trade Secrets do? Would it be worth saving up for them?
And third, do Earnests of Payment stack, or do you just get one until you claim it?
At this point in my game, the levels do go fast with the help of professions, but I consider it useful for keeping all the attributes around the same level. I don’t think I’ve lost out on that much content, either. It’s nice to have a broader range of opportunity cards minus some tedious grinding.
Do the Trade Secrets have a cap? I’ve started a writing project but haven’t gotten very far. I don’t think my skills are high enough yet to make improving the thing worthwhile.
What do you mean about the Payment expiring? It vanishes if unclaimed?
You can only ever have 1 Earnest of Payment at once, so if you don’t use one then it’s wasted the next time Time the Healer comes around. Trade Secrets have no cap, although you can’t accumulate them very quickly. edited by Spacemarine9 on 7/17/2014
Aha. Then there isn’t too much worry about being away for a while, is there? Or is Making Waves a concern? I thought I read it doesn’t really matter for newcomers.
Making Waves/Notability doesn’t matter until you are a Person of Some Importance, and is relatively optional even then. You don’t have to play the fame game, although it is required for some nice things.
And as far as taking extended breaks, you won’t accumulate more than one weekly payment and professional perk if away for multiple weeks, but that’s hardly a crippling blow if you need time away for some reason.
It’s good to know I won’t be forced into maintaining a reputation/popularity. That aspect of the game really doesn’t interest me aside from getting the luxuries like transport.
Speaking of, is Polythreme worth going to yet for me? Or can it wait until I have a ship? Wouldn’t want to pay to go there only to find I’m stranded with nothing to do.
And thank you to everyone who is patiently answering my myriad questions. :) I’m sure you people get these all the time.
BTW, Mordaine, I see why you’re fascinated by the Clay Men now. Of course, it’s my destiny to love all the minor factions.
Polythreme is best saved until you can zail there yourself. Even with persuasive in the 120s, I ended up with 13 scandal by the end of my trip. Granted, I had 7.5 at the beginning, and spent a lot of time on the carousel, but still. If you don’t have a ship yet, chances are, your stats aren’t high enough to succeed much.
Polythreme is most interesting much later when you have your own ship. It’s a long journey, and is most likely to have things of personal interest once you are a POSI and thus can own your own ship (You can be POSI with no Notability, so it doesn’t force you into that grind.)
You are on the Nemeean path if I recall correctly. If so, you will at one point have to zail to Venderbight and beyond for your Ambition. I’d explore other interesting parts such as Polythreme and the Iron Republic at that time. Douubly so if you are hunting down the full story of Jack of Smiles, as a small portion will need you to travel abroad to investigate certain discrepancies in the tale.
And I am delighted that you’ve enjoyed the Clay content. They are wonderful people in their own way, and learning more about them made my visit to Polythreme worth the unusual structure of the area’s stories.
I don’t know if you’ve become entangled in the affairs of a missing heiress or not, but regardless of how you feel about that storyline, the access to the Clay Quarters it allows is worth it.
Yep. I chose Nemesis for Ambition. Good storyline so far.
I think I bought my way into the Clay Quarters. I seem to remember losing moon-pearls.
The Heiress story was pretty horrific no matter how you look at it. On the one hand, I couldn’t muster much sympathy for the Heiress and on the other, the unfinished man was downright scary. But I felt like I had no really good choices, and that was satisfying on one level. There was the sense no matter what I did, I’d feel guilty, and I liked that.
Good thing I asked about Polythreme. It’ll be something to look forward to for sure.