Thread by @DFKnous

[1] In my thread on picking your first #DefiKingdoms hero, I noted that I often suggest certain foragers to new players.

Why foraging? What about fishing, gardening, or mining?

Well, fishing IS largely comparable to foraging. But the others are not. Let's discuss professions...

[2] The #DFK roadmap is long, and profession is just a "small piece of the puzzle" (to quote a @DefiKingdoms dev.) But profession quests are probably the first thing you'll do with your new hero.

You'll do them for at least two reasons: "loot" and "xp." What are these?

$JEWEL

[3] As this helpful @Samichpunch article explains, heroes have a "level," a "profession skill level," and an xp bar that reflects one's progress toward the next level.

This is a LEVEL 2 hero with a .5 score in gardening and 1371 xp toward level 3.

medium.com/@Samichpunch/b…

#DFK

[4] The only efficient way for that hero to reach a higher level is to do profession quests. Each time it does, the hero will gain xp and (possibly) items, and (occasionally) boosts to its profession skill.

Here is the outcome of an unusually good gardening quest (with no LP):

[5] Notice that this gardening quest has yielded +144 xp, one "milkweed" (useful for making potions -- more on this later), one "Shvas rune" (necessary to "level up" heroes), and a small amount of $JEWEL.

The JEWEL amount would be larger IF the hero's owner had an LP position:

[6] But these heroes are higher-level heroes with high stats and profession skill levels. As many players learn quickly, one's early quests tend not to bring in so much loot (and if one has no LP, gardening quests will never bring in much $JEWEL.)

Sometimes, a hero ONLY gets xp:

[7] That quest was not a failure, though, because xp is arguably the most valuable thing a quest can yield... besides pet eggs, of course:



Finding your first egg will be exciting, but it can take months. In the meantime, accumulate xp and other items...

[8] One difference between gardening and foraging is that gardening quests take much longer (though it's "passive time" on your part) and currently yield fewer items than foraging.

This might change: these profession quests are only "Level 0." But foraging is quick and easy:

[9] People tend to like the sheer number of items they accumulate from foraging quests, which can be kept or sold to the Marketplace Vendor for gold (which can itself be kept or sold to the Marketplace Trader for $JEWEL.)

People tend NOT to like the long duration of gardening.

[10] Mining is like Gardening in that the quests are longer than Foraging and Fishing. It's also like Gardening in that returns depend partly on your LP activity -- Gardening on your current LP, and Mining on your locked $JEWEL. This can be unappealing to players without either.

[11] Yes, it's true that you can mine for gold instead of locked $JEWEL, and that you can obtain items from Gardening that are quite useful. The "long" professions also yield runes for leveling up. But many people find it easier to do Foraging and Fishing than the other two.

[12] One thing you should almost never do is quest outside a hero's profession (the one in green on the back of the card.) @Samichpunch explains why here: medium.com/@Samichpunch/p…. I would add that it gradually hurts a hero's value.

Buy a hero whose profession you will quest in.

[13] In any event, as noted earlier, one of the main things you're getting from quests is XP. #DefiKingdoms heroes certainly find items that can be sold, but the main asset is usually THE HERO ITSELF. Because high-level, high-stat heroes are worth much more, xp matters. A lot...

[14] So while I won't go so far as to say that a hero's profession is irrelevant, I WILL say that I view Level 0 profession quests mainly as a means to gain the xp necessary to level up my heroes, increasing their stats and utility for the main features to come (and their value.)

[15] And because Level 0 professions are, in my view, primarily a vehicle for gaining xp to level up your heroes, it ultimately doesn't matter TOO much which profession a hero has -- AS LONG AS you actually quest in that profession.

A fishing darkknight is no less a darkknight.

[16] Of course, it's conceivable that a thief fisher will be a better investment than a darkknight fisher, despite the thief being a basic class and the darkknight being an advanced class. Many people are fixated on class-prof "match" (though I expect that to change, gradually.)

[17] But if you're buying a #DefiKingdoms hero for the long term, not for flipping (and, as with houses, this isn't as quick and easy as it looks), you want the CLASS more than the profession.

And we can already start to see why, with #TrainingQuests (to be discussed later)...