Nope, IMO. Most thieve’s cache’s are from thieves that cannot harvest their items in the future. some are still owned, but most aren’t. Over 10% of newgate prisoners die (usually of face-loss) every year, and over 50% of the ones going in will be unable to gather their items when they make it out, if they don’t wind up perma-dead or worse. being sent to prison is the worst of the four menaces, even for us, after all.
Dumping corpses in the sea is a good way to increase drownie population, if they don’t just become zee-monster food. edited by Grenem on 2/2/2016
Late comment: Shepherd here, and I am honestly baffled by the ‘punishment’ characterization. Not saying a supposed reward can’t feel like a punishment, such as the card added to the deck at the end of The Gift, but in this case, I think the reward is hefty for some people. So long as you’re willing to grind enough for the final option on the Shepherd card, and hold it in your hand until your menaces get sky-high, then it can work out well for you.
Plus, the RP bonus of permanent availability of 15 Magnanimous.
In my case, I use Soul Shepherd regularly for the following reasons:
[ul][li]Nightmares: Seeking Curios to grind Eyeless Skulls (granted Nightmares are the menace I almost never use Soul Shepherd to erase)
[/li][li]Scandal: Regularly playing the decadent evening card and spending Nights on the Town to gain Making Waves.
[/li][li]Suspicion: Playing several cards that grant Favours: Criminals.[/li][li]Wounds: Grinding Scholar of the Correspondence at high levels. Repeatedly selling out devils to Urchins to grind for the Orphanage. Unwrapping a lot of Boxed Cats. (I feel like I’m forgetting something because I can’t grind SotC right now, and I temporarily hit Wounds 8 just today, but maybe the devils just set me on fire a lot – and it was actually a cat that put me overboard)
[/li][/ul]All this presumes that, like me, you’re not playing efficiently with regards to profit. No 5-card hand? No interest in playing those menacing cards long-term? Looking for profit maximization? Trying to clean up your deck? Then yeah, I recommend Spirifer. At the very least, Shepherd adds an extra card to your deck; and if you also draw the menace cure cards by letting your menaces build up, leading to even more deck clutter.
But that’s still not a question of "punishment" so much as a question of playstyle.
Yes, it’s a niche playstyle, but let’s be honest, so is profit maximization! (Just a much more common playstyle amongst forum posters… but I should probably also note that I do maximize profit enough to have bought an Overgoat after a bit over one year of play.)
EDIT: There is a question of whether the Shepherd card will get nerfed once the changover to Favours goes through. Right now, the wodge of connections you’re given helps offset some of the profit loss; not enough to make it a profitable grind, but enough to be worthwhile when combined with the Menace nuke. But a change to Favours could change that too. We’ll see. edited by thedeadlymoose on 2/2/2016
The whole “punishment” thing was just me being bitter because it felt like players taking a more moral path were constantly punished by the game by losing out on content/getting crappier rewards while people who play downright evil characters are NEVER punished by the game and always get the best rewards. It wasn’t referring to the Shepherd card specifically.
That said, I still think it’s a crappy reward, since, other than nightmares, my menaces rarely rise above 3 (there are lots of menace reducing cards in the deck as it is) and my connections to those particular factions are already quite high (if you play as a moral character, that tends to happen anyway). It’s just a bunch of stuff I don’t need, and that can easily be acquired elsewhere. It’s MONEY I need, since the moral choice is often the more expensive or less lucrative one.
Whenever that soul collector’s card comes up, I just tell him to f— off and discard it. I honestly wish there were an option to throw my chamber pot at him :P
I’ve been a Shepherd for a long time and even saved a good soldier’s wife’s soul some time ago.
However, as an endgame character I have no use for connections or menace reductions and the Shepherd card started to become a little annoying.
I’ve switched to Spirifer recently. I don’t regret it since it provides the best reliable grind in the game. The only thing I hate is all this Devils connection you must have to effectively spirify (at least 10 to grind souls, gets raised every time you sell souls), since it opens up at least 3 unwanted opportunity cards I’ve previously avoided.
On a side note: Being a Shepherd lets you get 15 Magnanimous easily. Being a Spirifier lets you get 15 Heartless easily. I’m currently lucky to have both.
True! But I discard all those menace reducing cards instead of the Shepherd card. Then I cash in all those connections at the Shuttered Palace; the actions to do so pay out 2.4 echoes each, or more for Society in Court. The grind isn’t 2.4epa overall of course. But like I said, it’s an ameliorating thing. Doesn’t really apply to you if menaces are not an issue.
(I also totally forgot that Spirifer’s downside is having Connected Hell be a necessity, leading to deck clutter. I don’t get this comparative advantage of Shepherd because I have Hell higher anyway as an RP thing due to Devil companion/s. EDIT: Nevermind, it’s not a downside at all if you use Sara’s method below.) edited by thedeadlymoose on 2/3/2016
You can always cash in the Connected:Hell for additional Brass while you aren’t actively collecting souls, at least. Then once you’re ready for another round of collecting souls you just turn in a few thousand you saved from the last session and you’re good to go.