I assume we are supposed to LOSE an Earnest of Payment. Journalists, at least in my case, are gaining said payments and so can repeat the reward work. This in effect makes it a 7 Echo per action Storylet, well in excess of other sources of income. I have 4 Earnests of Payment. This doesn’t seem right.
[quote=friendshipranger]Watcher Rewards:
1 x Antique mystery
3 x A Sworn Statement
8 x Dubious Testimony (.50)
1 x 100 Moon Pearls
Connected: Constables and Connected: Great Game
edited by friendshipranger on 1/16/2013[/quote]
Connected: Great Game rose by 3-5 points for me, so I’d assume Constables rose by the same quantity. Also, Watcher costs 1 Blackmail Material, if you have 1.
[quote=singularityshot]I assume we are supposed to LOSE an Earnest of Payment. Journalists, at least in my case, are gaining said payments and so can repeat the reward work. This in effect makes it a 7 Echo per action Storylet, well in excess of other sources of income. I have 4 Earnests of Payment. This doesn’t seem right.[/quote]Yeah, I’m pretty sure that this is a bug. A very profitable bug.
Just to be clear, I am also a Journalist. And yeah, you gain an Earnest of Payment each time you get the payment, thus letting you do it again and again.
Just a few more details on the journalist’s rewards…
Connected: Bohemian: (20cp, 4cp per action)
10 x Dubious Testimony: (50 pence each, 5 Echos total)
3 x Sworn Statement: (2.5 Echos each, 7.5 Echos total)
1 x Blackmail Material (12.5 Echos)
1 x An Earnest of Payment (not saleable)
2 x Night on the Town (2.5 Echos each, 5 Echos total)
500 x Nevercold Brass Sliver (1 pence each, 5 Echos total)
So 35 echos in total, 7 echos (and four change points) per action.
While I can hardly complain about the remuneration, I find it quite disheartening that the most efficient way of ‘making it’ in London beneath is now finding steady employment rather than living by your wits and the occasional odd job. In a very real sense, the bazaar has just won.
On an unrelated note, while I love the journalism flavor, I will most likely change occupations at the first opportunity to either the criminals occupation, or the constables one.
Is it just me or does the Watcher one actually give you MUCH less in rewards than the others?
I came out making 12.5 Echoes for 5 actions, and losing a Blackmail Material.
Ratcatchers nets you 35+Echoes for 5.
Trickester nets you more as well.
Journalist seems to be bugged (giving extra of the trigger item).
Now I’m seriously regretting taking Watcher, since it costs you enough that it’s barely worth it.
Has anyone reported the Journalist bug please?
[quote=bjorntfh]Is it just me or does the Watcher one actually give you MUCH less in rewards than the others?
I came out making 12.5 Echoes for 5 actions, and losing a Blackmail Material.
Ratcatchers nets you 35+Echoes for 5.
Trickester nets you more as well.
Journalist seems to be bugged (giving extra of the trigger item).
Now I’m seriously regretting taking Watcher, since it costs you enough that it’s barely worth it.[/quote]
I can’t imagine that isn’t a bug. Losing Blackmail material, I mean. I ASSUME you are supposed to gain it.
I reported both bugs already.
Also, gaining it would put it on par with the other Professions (net of 37.5 Echoes for 5 Actions), rather than 12.5 Echoes.
[quote=MidnightVoyager][quote=bjorntfh]Is it just me or does the Watcher one actually give you MUCH less in rewards than the others?
I came out making 12.5 Echoes for 5 actions, and losing a Blackmail Material.
Ratcatchers nets you 35+Echoes for 5.
Trickester nets you more as well.
Journalist seems to be bugged (giving extra of the trigger item).
Now I’m seriously regretting taking Watcher, since it costs you enough that it’s barely worth it.[/quote]
I can’t imagine that isn’t a bug. Losing Blackmail material, I mean. I ASSUME you are supposed to gain it.[/quote]
I noticed that also, as I have a subsidiary character with a different Profession. Unless the new items Watchers get (Dubious Testimony, Sworn Statements) turn out to unlock useful or interesting stories, I shall be changing Professions again.
Thank you kindly.
Yes, it is a bug, you’re supposed to GET a Blackmail Material.
If you send a bug report Alexis will give you a link that gives 2 Blackmail Material (she said she put in a fix, but apparently it didn’t take. She’s fixing it now).
Truthfully I don’t see why people see the profession as such as big deal. If I can be a consulting detective/spy/poet/academic/mastercriminal/socialite/zailor, why can’t I also be a rat catcher or campaigner on the side as well? I just see this as one more addition my already busy schedule. Being a watcher is still just being a spy or detective, except with a new item. I’ve hunted rats in the past, I own a newspaper so I am a journalist. This professions can mean whatever you want them to. For me this is just a fun new addition.
I’m not terribly concerned about Watcher given I didn’t lose anything and I’m currently hoarding Antique Mysteries for the Beth. But I do wonder if this automatic payout of echoes has some kind of catch. I mean, let’s take ratcatcher. 35 echoes, divided by 5 that’s 7 echoes per action. Sounds awesome, right? But if there’s seven days in a week, that signals to me some kind of time commitment or task we’re going to have set upon during the week to even things out, so to speak. I mean, if in terms of lore this explains what your character is doing all day besides odd jobs and being a jack-of-all-badassery, that would be a reasonable prediction.
edited by friendshipranger on 1/16/2013
Yeah, I’d just bought a room at the Beth yesterday myself, so now I’m working on the Lofty Tower.
Still, it’s a nice reward if you ask me.
I would have reported the bug, only with these things (new content/undiscovered secrets) it can be hard to tell if it is a bug or a feature. When something doesn’t work, it’s clear cut. This clearly ‘works’, only it doesn’t ‘feel’ right. Same thing when I discovered the missing reward on the Mourning Candles: the mechanism is there and works fine, so there was a chance in this case that there was no material reward and the reward of lore was the only reward. I have reported a clear cut bug in the past (Legal documents were going for a song when their requirements changed: you didn’t need all the correspondance plaques, just one), but when in doubt I use the forums so as to get a collective opinion on things that ‘feel’ wrong but arn’t neccessarily bugs.
[quote=MaskedGentleman][quote=Abraham Bounty]
While I can hardly complain about the remuneration, I find it quite disheartening that the most efficient way of ‘making it’ in London beneath is now finding steady employment rather than living by your wits and the occasional odd job. In a very real sense, the bazaar has just won.
[/quote]
Truthfully I don’t see why people see the profession as such as big deal. If I can be a consulting detective/spy/poet/academic/mastercriminal/socialite/zailor, why can’t I also be a rat catcher or campaigner on the side as well? I just see this as one more addition my already busy schedule. Being a watcher is still just being a spy or detective, except with a new item. I’ve hunted rats in the past, I own a newspaper so I am a journalist. This professions can mean whatever you want them to. For me this is just a fun new addition.[/quote]
When you first came to London, you were totally on your own. You owed, and were owed, nothing by or to anybody. Then, because (wo)man, rubbery; clay; or otherwise, is a social creature, you forged relationships. You formed bonds with the different factions, but always as allies. Always as equal partners. You were subservient to no one. Not even the masters could command you, the most they could do is make lucrative suggestions.
And you prospered (or not, games by definition can be lost after all). In fact, in many cases you became ‘the boss’ to more than a few people. To more than a few groups of people.
Now though, you seem to be expected to make a career out of something and no longer work on merely an ad hoc basis, where all parties involved realize that your employment is temporary and can be dissolved at any time.
How adventurous.
Looks like at least one bug has been fixed.
Which is interesting as I had more than one An Earnest of Payment before, but it took them all away. Still, it’s not like I earned them.
A difference of opinion it seems. You can still leave your profession whenever you choose making it as temporary and dissoluble as ever. You make it seem like as a journalist you would be reporting to someone else instead of selling your stories to the highest bidder, making you a desirable asset rather than another worker. The best watcher in the city who every faction is fighting to have on their side. Enforcer I admit makes you seem like you work for someone, but you can still be the hired hand who the underworld turns to when the stakes are too high.
I see the chance to be a campaigner as very adventurous, someone who can make a profound social impact on the slums of the Neath. A rat-catcher as a way for a Vake hunter to keep their skills sharpened, especially when you consider that some rats are the size of dogs and some shoot back. And I doubt a trickster is beholden to anyone but themselves.
Ultimately I see this as a matter of interpretation. I see the professions as a chance to be an entrepreneur rather than a day laborer. I do hope that you will enjoy the new content and while I doubt I have convinced you, I hope I might have offered a new outlook on the possibilities offered to us.