Doc Foxglove, PFU's page

A few comments to the topic. (In case anyone still interested).

-yes, it is possible to play solo. But be aware that the game is deliberately designed to 'force' cooperation.

-the world is huge, and there are parts of the map where the only people you are likely to meet are solo gatherers not interested in trouble.

-auction houses (some, not all) are getting decently stocked. It is possible to get equipment (or raw materials) without knowing any crafters or being in a guild.

-after a month so, you will want to use higher level skills than can be offered in the npc settlements. The upcoming faction system will give a way to get this without joining a settlement. In the meantime, there are settlements (such as the University) who will be happy to host anyone as long as you are not making trouble .

-the best part of tabletop gaming is playing with the right people. Same with MMOs - and the current PFO community is very friendly. So if you enjoy the solo game, chances are it will get even better.

I'll be online. Don't know exactly when and how long, but i'll be there and see history being made!

@piece about Hoffman. it's true, at least most of it. Except the bit about myself 'keeping classes going' - that credit too should go to the lecturers and faculty.

Hi and welcome.
I see you've already met some important folks in the community and their advice is good! But I'll repeat once more to hammer the point home:

-get on mumble. The golarion mumble first, but the largest groups also run their own mumble/teamspeak servers. Unfortunately many new players don't get how useful this is and run around alone with the same questions instead of teaming up and sharing.

-get on GW forums. New player subforum (and settlement subforums) for introductions, but don't be afraid of the other subforums.

-simply say hi in general chat. There are a lot of nice players willing to help out new people (even if they are fighting on opposite sides of a war).

Some players I would suggest to be featured (please feel free to add your choices and apology if you didn't make the list)

I didn't dare start that list in public, but I admit I have beeen thinking about many of the same names.

But rather than a "A-list", it might be also interesting to look at different Bartle archetypes and demographics. (Thod already covers politician and RPer to some degree, but there are others)

-a busy guild leader
-a dedicated crafter/trader/economy player
-a focused PvEer (achiever or explorer)
-a focused PvPer (killer)
-a politician/diplomat
-a RPer or other socializer

-a grandmother? (i know at least one)
-someone in a far-away location/timezone (?)
-a random new player togeher with an alpha backer (more relevant when the game is more mature)

grats on attaining the Improved Celebrity +1 feat, Thod!

Lisa, your blogs are as always wery welcome reading.
Looking forward to other player spotlights. After all, the community is the best asset of PFO!

I would not expect so, since PFO isn't a Paizo product but a licensed 3rd party product.

(On the other hand, Paizo are free to change their policies).

Thod is right in everything here :-)

Mining skill / rock nodes is the default way of getting iron and coal. Iron (and copper) is common in mountain and coal in highlands, but you could stumble on a hex that has the nonstandard resource.
You don't need special training for these (but you need Miner 7 to unlock the Tier 2 metals).

Scavenging skill / trash nodes is the other way to find iron and coal. Again, no skill training is needed to get Tier 1 goods, but you will mostly find things that are not coal or iron.

You need lvl 7 to unlock Tier 2 materials, but since T2 crafting still needs T1 materials some players have deliberately -not- trained rank 7 in order to get more T1 goods. Devs have basically said this will change so that training higher skill is always good.

In any case, the effect of training ranks 1-6 is faster gathering of nodes (that long slow animation becomes singificantly shorter by ranks 3-4) and higher chance of getting more materials per node.

..and welcome to the game indeed. You are invited to join golarion.mumble.com and ask your questions in voice chat - the time to get an answer is significantly lower than on forums :-)

I hope someone will record this - at least the highlights.

He just wanted to finish what he'd started with the guide before making a clean break.

Aye. He did an amazing job, and when he had to leave he did so in a very tidy way.

If someone wants to take over his work with the guide and tables, he was very willing to hand that over. (And that someone would become a minor community hero).

I suspect the settlement chapter on his guide never materialized because several settlements never replied. If there is interest, I'm sure I can contact him to get his data - but getting updated writeups from the settlements would naturally be much better.

Duergar, scum of the underdark!
Take a drow and add to it all the undesirable characteristics of a dwarf, and you're getting close. Ugly, sadistic, lying, cheating lot they are. And slavers! The scrolls say they descended from those dwarves who heard Torag's prophecy and decided to do the exact opposite - digging down instead of down, then making a pact with the dark smith when they realized their stupidity.

Until now at least.

She looks up at the messenger
"That's very ...disturbing news. Thank you. We need to spread the message to all the major settlements if they don't already know. Especially Forgeholm, I believe they will be particularly ...um.. agitated by this news."

AoE bombs and slowing - sounds like different tactics will be needed. Are underdark humanoids knowledge:local?

I'm happy to announce the following very special lecture:

Sat 18th, 2PM EST on PFU mumble.

Lecturer: Cheatle, guide writer extraordinaire with encyclopeadic knowledge.

Theme: Golarion lore.

Why attend: The Pathfinder setting is among the greatest things about PFO. But many players who have come from other MMOs don't recognize names like River Kingdoms, Ustalav, Mosswater, Broken Men, Emerald Spire, Adabar, Gorum, Desna or even Pharasma.
Getting the overview of the backstory and how our map connects to the rest of the Pathfinder world will open your eyes to the depth of the setting and help you spot the little easter eggs.

so, the recipe for having fun start with loading up with T2 recipes/expendables and running from settlement to settlement.

Let the games begin...

(and I can absolutely see how that could lead to a discussion of alignment)

Interesting indeed. Burns through wood, metal and ..glass? Really? The goons probably just broke the bottles but it has to be analysed anyway. And apparantly a strong sedative effect as well. What a rogue kit that stuff could make!

"Barman, about 400ml of - I mean a tankard of your purest Emerald, please"

Now, let's see how this thing works again, I used to pull this off so smoothly back in the days.

sleight of hand: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

She sips her drink with her back turned to the room, the hood of her cloak up. She squirms a little in her seat, but eventually the drink is drained.

Right, now to find a lab before the stuff burns through the leather. That would be very painful.

So, I hear that the University is moving. Tell me about the move.

(sorry for being late, and thanks to Fanndis for covering it)

Exec summary:

1) PFU is moving to the site east of Thornkeep where Kindleburn once was (north of where Kindleburn is now). ETA 16th/next patch.

2) Escalation raids will change focus from Ogg to one of the 3 monster hexes near the new site. The move will also change proximity to certain resources and trade hubs.

3) No structural changes to PFU because of the move.
It is still a player-run, independent, neutral entity that follows the same rules as other settlements. We just happen to have an awesome community that sees the value of a university and supports it.

for those DT crafters that haven't killed 1000 desperate goblins: Bonedancers give adventuring achievements that you need (to equip better crafter armor). Just a thought.

The amazing PFU student benefits are slightly different from those in more normal guilds:

1) You don't actually have to join the PFU company to take advantage of classes and events, hang around in the mumble, trade with us, etc.

2) And if you join, we will soon enough try to pass you along to another company and ultimately kick you out for staying too long.

Seriously: there are some very good reasons to enroll as a student.
But the big idea is that it's something you do first and for a limited time until you know your way around the game mechanics and the political landscape - at which time you should choose a side and join the settlement game.

Namely Foxglove (among others) have agreed to assassinate Hoffman (or anyone else in the Dean position) should the power be abused.

I think my wording was 'undermine and sabotage'. But literal character assassination could also work.

Recruits for sale! Some assembly still required, sold as is without any guarantees.

Seriously, you are all welcome to approach PFU students to recruit them - preferably in clever ways. And don't expect them to fall for go for the first offer they see.

We're not kicking anyone until next month, but some very fine people have already moved on to other guilds. While I'm proud of the PFU number growth, i'm actually more happy about seeing that troughput: Swapping a player with decent skills for a total newb is actually a win-win according to our philosophy.

And leaving PFU to go die in a war move on to the settlement game will never prevent anyone from joining PFU classes or events, so it's not like there's a huge downside for the students in leaving. Just, you know, we want them to make the right choice the first time.

Chiming in here a few days too late (sorry - easter vacation with no functional internet). In Doc Fox's typical bullet points:

1) I support the informed crowdforging. Since pvp is a big part of the game design, we should understand how it works.

2) I support teaching new players pvp.

3) While I have no interest in initiating pvp at this stage of the game, I have an interest in surviving. And later on I will have an interest in defending outposts and settlements.

4) I still won't come to your classes, because timezones suck.

My self described claims for my characters have run from mediocre PvPer to I may be one of the worst PvPers in the land.

I'd fight you for that title if I thought I could win.

We suspect the terrible rating is for when you try to plant the fish and harvest crops from it.

@devs: do you expect that seneschals will be on par level with the other skills in-game? I'm sure a few people actually have alts with xp saved for just that purpose, but probably not every settlement.

We are working on a regular PFU talks/event schedule. Below is the current skeleton, pending some confirmations.

I am very happy to announce both TEO and Golgotha as regular contributers (in addition to Aeonian league who have pulled much of the weight until now).
We are however always looking for more people to contribute.

Current skeleton. *Not final* Default times are 9 PM EST, but changes depending on individual lecturer. Some classes will be EU-friendly times.

MON: PvP. Instructors from Golgatha/EoX (!)
TUE: Economy and crafting. Profs Thannon, myself and others
WED: Dev chats/game design. Keepside chats etc hosted by Dean Hoffman
THU: Game mechanics. Prof.Duffy's series on builds and combat tactics
FRI: Q &A. 'New player hotline' staffed by PFU, but also a good time for veterans to hang out in mumble and discuss latest patch/blog/test server news and speculation.
SAT: Game mechanics(?) Instructors from TEO/EBA.
SUN: Adventuring. Escalations and exploration with PFU staff.

My current main goal is not so much to teach uber skills, but that "no player should quit in frustration", whether due to steep learning curve or not being able to find the right group to play with. That said, some of our regular and guest teachers are pretty uber.

Comments, requests and offers welcome. I will post on GW/New player help when things are (more) final.

@ G&S,

It is a bug, as you can't access personal vaults in other PC settlements. That was supposed to apply only to company vaults.

Also, you can't access training facilities is other PC settlements.

Clarification: I could acess the actual trainers, but not the crafting buildings.

Personally, I'd prefer company banks by default working in all settlements but access auto-denied to feuding/warring companies (and long term giving settlements the option to restrict banking right)

They also said that the Crafting stuff is a Counter.

You earn Influence for every item you Craft or Refine.

That's very good news and makes lots of sense.

There are lots of little creases, but Torks comments a la "sure the system can be gamed, but that's not a problem" apply.

@devs:
I posted a question in the GW forum:
Is influence a 'currency' that you earn and spend, or is it a 'limit' for how much you can hold?

EDIT: nevermind. The GW blog discussion thread seems pretty clear that influence is allocated and not spent.

@Tyncale: my understanding is that each level of crafting achievements is a one-off achievement for 0.33 points.

-sample specialist crafter with 2x T1+3 and 2x T2+2 achievements = 4.67 influe and 44 crafting achievement points
-sample generalist crafter with 10x T1+0 achievements = 3.33 influence and 10 crafting achievement points.

Re. the calculator my first understanding was that the value is -per action-, ie per mob killed (and counts for both mob achievement and weapon achievement). However this gives 0.33+0.33 achievement *per kill* for the first 10 of each type, which sonds like a lot.

Max level 10 gives factor of 10^1.5 =32, meaning the most hardcore goblin killers get influence at 1/32 the rate of the noobs. Which is still not bad IMO.

Based on my current understanding, doing low-level escalations is by far the fastest way to ramp up influence.

Gossiping ladies
honeyed wine from Kyonin
imminent haikus

Do you take all kinds of art, or just written stuff? The stealthy redhead will probably only contribute with songs, but I'd love to see visual art as well (even screenshots if they are interesting).

I'll try to provide PFU class schedule, but obviously we are not planning these things months in advance. I'll confer with the faculty and hopefully provide a generic scehdule.

re: recruiting, I expect whatever was written for Sspitfire guide would work well in the Gossip as well.

to specify: in next patch bandits don't get improved stats (that we know of), but changes to AI make them use their attacks much smarter. A first test by two very veteran players on the test server had them wiped by an encounter that would be trivial on the live server.

Get your bandit killer achievements cheaply today!

Nice - now PFU can offer heraldry tutorials ;-)

..or at least tell new players how the icon corresponds to AoE shape.

Everyone was cooperative and civil and we addressed some of the things many players were probably wondering about.

Excellent to hear! Since I tend to miss 3AM events: can anyone give a short summary of any agreements or official policy statements given?

I'll probably listen to the whole thing anyway once Pino uploads a link, but an executive summary would be good for anyone not deep into the politics (yet).

I'm not going to presume to suggest rules for PFU, but might I suggest a course?

If you are volunteering to teach it - absolutely!

I'm sending you a PM with contact info.

The faculty is under no obligation to take any advice that comes out of this conversation and the community is under no obligation to see the university in the light in which it's faculty want it to be seen.

very true.

As a general rule, when people quote the least important part of what I say and use it to make a point that has nothing to do with the point I was making, it bothers me.

Cal, sorry if my silly quoting bothered you - absolutely not intended to be a charicature of either side, but rather of the 'typical internet argument', which I worried it was starting to turn into. In light of your response, I think I see how you may have interpreted it. Ouch.

And I think I came late in any case, and that Grip and yourself have agreed to disagree on the issue (except for the RL parallel where you fully agree). Sorry again. No reason to reply to this.

so..

what was the thread topic again?

great news!

If the politics debate stretches the capacity then there's a proven need. If not, we may not need more bang.

I see the value in having several groups on the same mumble server. Others may see the value in secrecy, but at current population levels and without settlement warfare, the benefits for trade, diplomacy and socializing strongly favour 'the one mumble', at least for all the small/independent groups.

And realize, I do not think PFU should give up ANY of its sovereignty unless ...

I think there are two ways of seeing PFU at the moment, which explains some of the discussion around this:

1: as some kind of joint venture (or quasi game feature) that represents the whole community, and that subsequently all settlements should have a share in.

2: as a completely independent self-governed entity, but reliant on broad support to succeed with its mission.

The 2nd one is the correct picture. Less like UN, more like Red Cross.

Ah, yes. "I'm just going to ignore what you're saying and restate the same argument (....)"

As a general rule, when people don't understand my argument, it's because they are too stupid to get it. Conversely, if I don't understand their argument, it's because they are too stupid to explain it properly - or just plain wrong.

The best way to get invested in the PFU is of course to teach classes and/or hang around in mumble and answer questions. It sends the message that you are both highly competent and contributor to the community. Case in point: Guurzak's DOT lecture.
Since the PFU mumble now uses [company] tags, whatever impression you make there will reflect on your company and not just on you personally. Even hanging out deafened/muted in the AFK room can help promote the brand.

The other great way to be invested in PFU is simply to recruit graduates. If in a year's time all the major alliances have their share of PFU alumni, then the value should be fairly well proven.

You are welcome to recruit students from day 1. We heavily stress the importance of joining a settlement, but also strongly urge them to take their time and get to know the people before joining one. Incidentally, we have started to see the first students leave PFU and making very informed decisions about where to go.

If the university mumble becomes swarmed with politicking and agressive recruiting, we'll have to deal with it. So far it is completely safe for newbs to enter, which is the way we want it.

aussiedwarf wrote:

I will [REDACTED] if I am ever able to get the site to automatically update tower and population information.

We need API to do that.

I suspect they are some way off.

We actually had Ryan pop into the university mumble and asked him just about that. He said... umm.. ask Cheatle for details, but the gist of it was that there's all kinds of data security issues that makes this tricky. So yes, not near future. But some day.

Re: geographic names - maybe we need a separate thread to collect those, but we should talk to Lisa and Ryan first. Some names already exist in Paizo canon, GW might be using some of their own, and the 'geography buff' gives some naming rights. And of course there are names like 'Zombie Kitten Mountain' that are already so well established they should make it to the map even if the official name is something else.

Bump

This absolutely deserves a bump!

-all new players should know about this because of (many reasons including) PFU classes and helpline.

-all old players should know about this because of (many reasons including) Dev Keepside Chats and other community events.

-and all new companies should know about it and ask Cal nicely for their own room.

Nice work!

I will certainly start sugesting this map to new players.

1: does the map somehow update automatically from game files, or do you need to update manually? Tower ownership and populations are going to change continually. Knowing whether the map is up to date or not could make a difference for how we use it.

2: suggestion for future: some hexes are starting to have names. Possibly 'geography buff' means GW may come and overrule us, but I'd like to see names on the map (well, in the hex info window) both for navigation and for lore/RP. Named hexes include at least two montains (firstlight and lastlight) and some other exploration achievement hexes (like the spiral thingie in SE), some mountain passes (Keeper's pass, Echo pass, others), and Thod's towers. Monster home hexes with permanent escalations could also be named.

...until said time as you no longer seem politically neutral, you no longer provide a benefit to the community, what you take exceeds what you have requested here, or I need something that only you hold

For the record, I've promised Hoffmann I will undermine and betray him if he ever tries making PFU into a competitive political power. The only ulterior motive we share is that we want the population to grow fast, but we also want to shape their expectations and playstyles so they fit with the current community spirit (and teach them elementary skills so the world won't be swarmed with hordes of clueless generalists).

About that last point though... please ask nicely for a trade before waging war?

I have to express a slight disappointment I will have to leave our grounds to practice being jumped in PvP. Nice work, Boss!

No you don't, actually. Just request a univeristy event called "hunting Rynnik" with some very basic rules, and I'm sure we can help you out.

potential questions:

- would you encourage all groups to join a major alliance? how many power blocks do you see as optimal for the game as a whole (not just for your settlement specifically)?

- (in a few months) will you welcome/allow new groups to build settlements close to yours, or do you claim the empty settlement spots within your borders?

Even though I'm taking part, my money is on Cheatle.

Sorry, the minimum bet on Cheatle is ten thousand coal.

Foxglove received the sending spell:
"Fighting Ogg. Empyreans and Golgathans too. Come quickly"

What!? But I'm on an expedition! And... um who is fighting whom? Surely we can't be fighting all three of those, or they should tell us to flee, not come. And why can't they learn to send a full 25 words of information? Oh well. I suppose I gotta run. Oh Desna, lighten my feet and show me the shortcuts!

She made the run with almost no stops to sample interesting minerals and plants on the way, and just a quick detour into Riverbank to deposit her findings.

There's definitely fewer ogre now, and signs of fighting. I think they must have gone.. oh look at that - coriandrum sativum, but someone stepped on it. What a shame, but there should be more nearby, for example just behind that... oh right, fighting Ogg. Don't lose focus! Ok.. multiple plate boot tracks, broken arrowshafts, a pair of huge dead ogres - yep, looks like I'm getting close.

When she met up with the group, it was clear these were elite adventurers and needed no help at all with dispatching ogres. No, what Hoffmann actually wanted was just someone from the faculty to travel with the group:

"Oh.. so that we can claim part of the glory?"
- "No, to observe how rivals or strangers will work together against a common threat. Political research, if you will. And, you know, to break up and infighting that might start"
"Break up fights? you are crazy Hoffmann! I'm a civilian and these guys..."
- "Nah, just start lecturing about the flowers they are stepping on and they'll cooperate to shut you up in a second. Or fall alseep. Either works."

"It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark
Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your heart"

Bah! As if that could ever be the start of a popular song. Gotta come up with something better, or Coach will be all smug next week.

She snaps out of her thoughts and looks around her room. I was just going to say something to Hoffmann before I got distracted.. oh yes

"Umm, Hoff? If you think we should respond to the call of... Hoff? You there?"
Rats! They left without me. Again. But I was going to.. I mean, right after I'd finished.. Oh well. They'll come back. At least some of them.

(sorry, sick today, no shape to play)

You should all be aware of Pathfinder University by now(*)

So far we've managed to overdeliver on the promise of one event every day, but keeping that up requires some effort.

In short: we need some help from the community. 1-2 nights per week we have slots open for one-shot guest lecturers.

(Big thanks to Pino, Cheatle and Midnight for being our first three).

WHY BE A GUEST LECTURER (lots of good reasons)

1) You will promote yourself and your company, both with the actual attendees and with everyone checking the forums. You get to impress new potential recruits. You might get labeled "plays well in game communities". To very loosely quote Ryan: it's players like you doing stuff like that which makes this game great.

2) It is extremely "meaningful interaction". Helping other players enjoy the game more makes you feel all good inside (and helps your ego grow in some cases). And preparing a lecture usually has you realize things you weren't concious of before, so you learn some yourself too.

WHAT SHOULD YOU TEACH (plx somebody choose pvp)

1) Well, anything that is not obvious to everyone else (and there's tons of stuff not obvious to newcomers). Anything you think new players should know. Stuff you know better than most players. Stuff you are passionate about.

2) We got PvE, game mechanics and economy well covered by our regular lecturers, but are short on actual PvP expertise - which is a critical part of the game.

How to volunteer
Post right here, send me or Hoffmann a PM on these forums, or contact us in-game (golarion mumble is a good place to look). If you also PM a email adress, we can get the ball rolling fast. Feel free to suggest a topic/title, or we'll work with you.

-thanks for your time

(*) if you don't knwo PFU, come to my Introductory class friday 9PM GMT!

Of course I know where my gatherers are on wednesday nights:
on Golarion mumble, listening to dev Keepsite Chat at 8PM EST.

And if they are anywhere else, I'm surely not going to reveal it in this thread.

(huh? hijacking threads? me?)

One of the students came rushing into her room without even knocking:
"Professor, the Emerald Lodge is gathering an army against the Bonedancers!"

She looked up from her scroll and arched an eyebrow. "And why should that excite us?"

He stopped in his tracks, his enthusiasm giving way to confusion. "Well, they are a threat to travellers and civilians, and getting rid of them must surerly be a good act. Also, they Emerald lodge will reward all who participate."

Her eyebrow rose another notch. Disappointment. "So in your opinion we are either crusaders or mercenaries but you don't know which one?"

Flustered, his brain finally caught up. She was testing him - again. He took a deep breath and considered his arguments.
"We are indeed a learning institution and not taking sides in politics and warfare. But in my opinion we are also presented with an opportunity here. With several opportunities, in fact. One: a chance to observe and practice various military tactics in the field - we are always told experience is a cruical part of the learning. Two: an unprecedented chance to study Bonedancer magic, which I'm sure we know preciously little about. Three: um... students of healing would also get some ..ahem.. valuable field experience. Four: diplomacy and politics students... well, trying to get all these settlements to cooperate, i'm sure that will be interesting to analyse. Five: all of this can be done in a manner that is economically sustainable, with potential for extra dividends, as well as a favorable risk/reward ratio..."
He broke off, seeing her satisfied smile. "Should I go on, or is there sufficient reason for excitement yet?"

She chuckled, before turning her attention back down on her scroll. "Excitement is hardly the goal here. But if you write a summary of you points I will bring them to the Grandmaster's attention. Is half an hour sufficient for the task?"

On his way out, he noticed the scroll she was reading had the Emerald Lodge seal on it. Dang, she already knew. How come they can be so quick to know and yet so slow to make up their minds?