We've all heard the advice: you want to make good money, get out of Crossing. My empath did just that. When he went down for the Shard fest, he decided he liked the city, and that he would stay. Since then, he's made far less money than in the time he spent in Crossing. Sure, there are more "good" tippers, but there are plenty of bad ones. He's been stiffed a few times. There are also fewer people in that area, so the number of patients per hour is much lower. Really, though, I haven't collected any data on this, and it could just be that he's spent a lot more time hunting and powerwalking rather than healing.

So, I propose a study. I'm going to take my empath to popular healing spots in several different cities. I'll count up how much he makes per healing session, and record how many patients he healed and how long the healing session lasted (from start until free of wounds). This will allow me to calculate average tip per patient, and average income per hour. I'll post the results on these boards. I'd love for anyone else who wants (particularly those on the islands) to do the same. For the sake of uniformity, here are the rules I'll be using:

1. You must heal every patient who asks (if you're in a place with lots of empaths, every patient who asks when it's your turn to heal. don't want to be stealing patients from other empaths).
2. You must accept every tip offered.
3. Gems should be stored separate from whatever other gems you have on you, and appraised at the local gem shop at the end of the session.
4. All boxes must be opened and the contents appraised (gems at gem shop, pawnables at pawn shop).
5. All skins/bundles must be appraised at the local tanner.
6. Record non-value tip items, such as food (for the sake of our amusement).
7. Gweths: don't advertise that you're healing on the gweth. If someone asks if there are any empaths available, gweth to tell them that you are, and your location, but nothing more.
8. If a patient asks what you prefer as a tip, say money.
9. Record the number of people who stiff you.
10. Record the approximate time of day in the Eastern time zone when you are healing (for example, morning, early afternoon, late night). Use exact hours if you want.
11. Do whatever you want with your profits once you're done recording them. If you are an empath who doesn't normally take tips, I encourage you to participate in the study anyway and give the profits away to novices.

I'd like to eventually do a similar study on how patients react to being asked for payment in advance in various locations, but it's probably best to tackle these things one at a time.

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I did this a few years ago.

My conclusion?

Everyone sucks, everywhere. It doesn't matter where you go, the majority of people will pay poorly.

I suggest adding something to the list, though. Ask patients where they usually hunt or where they got their wounds. Worth a shot.

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Rev. Reene, player of a few

Reene: hey you should play this with me
Zairius: last time I fell for that line
Zairius: I ended up in DR

If I can get my tush in gear this weekend I'll try the Theren area. Its been a while since I've been up there, but I remember there being quite a few good tippers up that way.

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Hawaiian Word of the Week: Smart

Akamai (Ah kah my)

Probably the best tips I ever made, and had the best time, was in Shard. If I wasn't tied down with RP events and what not happening around Zoluren, I would probably move to Shard.

~Villya

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"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."
-H. L. Mencken

The thing is you don't have to "just get out of Crossing". Really, I think there are too many factors involved to be realistically tested. That doesn't mean you can't do it for fun, but the results you get are not going to be reliable.

For example, other facters that play in are is your title on/what title are you using. If three empaths are sitting around, one with an obvious empath title(and only an empath title-excepting the thief here or there, like battle empath, healer, ect....) and another has no title on and another is wearing a title which could or could not be an empath(ie one of the survival titles), I guarentee the empath with the empath title up will get more healing done because they'll get most of the people who whisper requests.

Alertness is also a factor. It counts for nothing if you sit at a spot for hours but are in and out at the computer. If you miss requests, people start acknowleging that you are not actively healing... this is people who come in fresh asking to be healed, as well as the people in the room who are in who sometimes bring in business for you from the gweth. Also, if you are at the computer, but just don't "hear" them, that's along the same lines.

Cliques matter. To me places like Shard and the islands are very clique focused. You can set up shop, so to speak, at an acknowledged healing area, but get few customers if people a) don't know you're actually healing b) don't know you're there c) have their own empath. Naturally a and b are linked, people will use healing areas if they know an empath is healing, but if they're hunting in an area where 90% of the time there is no empath, most people aren't gonna come around in the hopes that the empath is there, they'll go to other options.

Time/crowd. Sometimes you'll be in an area where you should get good tips, but you just don't get them because a certain crowd is currently hunting who doesn't tip well or they would, but it's a time where they don't figure an empath is around. Also, you can step in at a time where an empath who is known to heal is on duty, naturally more people will whisper requests to that empath than ask outloud since they know that empath and don't know you. And you also run into times where an area is flooded by empaths and it's pointless to even try healing for money since the patients will be spread too thinly if all are healing. And there are just times when no one is around and other times where you're flooded with people.

Empath reputation in the area. This is a critical factor, I think, in Haven and to an extent Crossing. If other empaths in the area are known for not accepting tips or "rude" behavior, that is going to make getting patients that tip you harder.

~ Player of Lyathe

>>Cliques matter. To me places like Shard and the islands are very clique focused.<<

Shard and the islands are like that due to the fact that not many Empaths are found during normal times. On Ratha for instance I usually gweth for an Empath before I even ask for a healing, just to see if there is one around. On the flip side, those Empaths that heal my other character reguarly know that I tip them very well, since they are usually the only ones on the islands. In both places, they treat their Empaths very well, because its hard to come by one.


~Villya

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"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."
-H. L. Mencken

Aye, I'm not sure why or what caused it but Ratha just isn't what it used to be.

It's the changing times I guess, just like Crossing isn't what it used to be.

:\

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-Clemency
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"Put your head up to my heart, hear me live and follow suit, this will all be over soon, it's gonna hurt a little." -Emberghost

>Bah, am I the only one that's seen a significant drop in the quality of interaction in Ratha?

Aesry is deserted as always, but snoblins has been pretty packed/swarmy. Forced me into Frostweavers to avoid the crowd. Still a lack of conversation, no one has even asked me to heal them, although I attribute that to people understanding this makes me grumpy and 2-3 slavemps in hiding at the fissure at all times (which suits me fine).

~Purehand

>> Why do you thing that Eoworfinia and others raised such objections to the Trader's guild being rebuilt?

Because it's a convenient scapegoat that can be used to direct attention away from the fact that a lot of Rathans (yes old time ones too) just aren't as cool or roleplay-centric as they think or try to make others think they are.

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Rev. Reene, player of a few

Niaura asks, "wat happen?"
>
You say to Niaura, "Someone set you up the bomb."

I saw absolutely no prejudice or outspokenness regarding the most vocal trader I know of on the islands during my recent visit. In fact she seemed pretty popular.

And the problems with Ratha have been going on for much longer than the guild has been opened...on the line of two or three years, if not before that. Like I said, is it possible that the self-proclaimed true Rathans are not nearly as cool or nice as they believe themselves to be?

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Rev. Reene, player of a few

Niaura asks, "wat happen?"
>
You say to Niaura, "Someone set you up the bomb."

<<For me, coolness is not what made Ratha such a great place--it was the sense of community and the fact that someone always had your back, even if they were a relative stranger. Someone once told me that the average age of players with islander characters was higher than most areas. There certainly seemed to be a greater sense of maturity there than in other places my characters have lived. But that is certainly a thing of the past. Throw in the arrival of Celesi and Blixxer, and the high-circle islanders not being there to drive them out as they might have done a year or two ago, and Ratha certainly ISN'T what it used to be.

I never really understood why people seemed to love the island and hate the Crossing. Sure, the gweth gets noisy, but the ratio of people who are actually helpful to sleeping/scripting players and snerts seems pretty equal. Crossing just has more people, which makes it much easier for a stranger (me) to find help. I didn't like Ratha, only because it was so at night.

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Malkien the Barbarian has already been to the moon: that's why there are no signs of life there.
Apis the Cleric's tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

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Aesry is the best pebble in the pond anyway.

~Purehand, How am I not hungover?

>Crossing just has more people, which makes it much easier for a stranger (me) to find help.

I think it depends on your guild. My rangers have fared well in Crossing (oddly enough) because of the helpfulness of that guild specifically to youngsters. My traders and empaths, on the other hand, couldn't get away from the DCrossing fast enough. The traders couldn't make a living with all the thieves and the empaths couldn't find enough patients with the patience to wait long enough to be healed for them to train (and THEN they were hit by thieves and in one case randomly killed by a complete stranger). So they all headed out to the provinces where their services were infinitely more valuable to the inhabitants.

On a more personal note, the one thing I hate about Crossing is the anonymity of it, paired with the insistence of people in sticking their noses where they don't belong. Ask a serious question on the gweth and for every genuine answer, you get five making fun of you for asking or otherwise criticizing you. Sometimes this is a general annoyance. Other times, it's deadly. I once asked how bad pale death spirits were and if my 15th circle ranger would be able to handle them. I was told by three separate people, without contradiction, that she should be able to handle one.

Death was almost instantaneous, of course, and when she fell in this little populated area, none of the jokesters made any attempt to help her. She had zero chance of being able to get back to her grave to get her stuff, so my friends were on gweth asking for assistance. _90 or so_ minutes later, Roboson finally came to my rescue (he was not one of the those who told her she could handle them) by which time she was a dangerous color.

She moved to Therengia the next day and now won't go to Crossing even to circle. She occasionally runs through it on her way somewhere else, but that's it.

Player of Silvanne, Maiamo Heruaminen Khandrishen

>These two things might be related.

Sorry, feeling dense this morning. Which two things in particular?


Player of Silvanne, Maiamo Heruaminen Khandrishen

>Flirtatious outgoing behavior and being targetted by thieves.

Seriously doubt that's it since my mute character and my withdrawn one get hit just as often as the empath does.

Player of Silvanne, Maiamo Heruaminen Khandrishen

>> She was asking for it?

I make a point of stealing from people that make a point of being outspoken, attention-seeking or obnoxious. Flirtatious women fall into that category.

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Rev. Reene, player of a few

Niaura asks, "wat happen?"
>
You say to Niaura, "Someone set you up the bomb."

No one steals from me in Crossing. Sniff.

Ice Patch - Because bludgeoning immobile things to death is fun.

Lots more stuff coming 'Soon'!

http://www.zairius.com

Supreme Bunny Overlord Zairius

>> Why that should make them more attractive marks to a thief is beyond me unless the thief has a problem with a woman showing wit or humor.

It is possible that a thief doesn't see it as wit or humor, rather a woman trying to gain attention from people for one reason or another (thus annoyance). Some reasons are less scrupulous than others and essentially amount to thievery in their own right. Three cheers for exploitation and manipulation.

The point was that if you draw attention to yourself you shouldn't be surprised if people, well, pay attention.

I will say that my thieving character has a much bigger problem with the conduct of most women than I do. I say if it's all in good fun then whatever, but I've also seen it get to the point of being destructive plenty of times as well. Like with certain ex-Empaths. Ahem.

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Rev. Reene, player of a few

Niaura asks, "wat happen?"
>
You say to Niaura, "Someone set you up the bomb."

>> Also, do flirtatious men fall into the same category?

Yes.

Though funnily enough I also play such a character (flirtatious male).

Your RP choice is your RP choice, just know that not everyone is going to react to it in the same fashion.

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Rev. Reene, player of a few

Niaura asks, "wat happen?"
>
You say to Niaura, "Someone set you up the bomb."