Farming Discussion: Why isn't anyone farming anymore?

[Lun]

Howdy, y'all! Here to continue a discussion we started on CLOK CHAT regarding the state of farming.

12:28:45 [CHAT - Delightful GameMaster Lassyn deserves a meal fit for a king]: Exactly. There's also the balance of farming
being a really really good way of making riln and people not wanting to let druids just be insta-wealthy.
12:28:45 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: I still miss old days of farming
12:28:50 [CHAT - Delightful GameMaster Lassyn deserves a meal fit for a king]: Sorry, druids.
12:28:56 [CHAT - Delightful GameMaster Lassyn deserves a meal fit for a king]: What old days?
12:29:23 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: I think it didn't used to take as long to grow crops
12:29:43 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: but then they rolled out nerfs because farming was easy riln
12:29:56 [CHAT - Mr. Artus Arzaria likes grilled gm for dinner]: mm, just realized how old i am on clok..
12:30:16 [CHAT - Delightful GameMaster Lassyn deserves a meal fit for a king]: Yeah. Would love to see some folk farming again.
12:30:37 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: The problem is that to farm now, you have to be able to dedicate days to
farming
12:30:43 [CHAT - Mr. Artus Arzaria likes grilled gm for dinner]: i really wanna see some seeds or plantable stuff being
produced along with harvestable crops, at least occasionally
12:30:55 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: And if you miss a day, or show up too late, either the crops wither away
and die or people will steal them.
12:31:08 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: Kiyaani brought up a few good points on the forum!
12:31:22 [CHAT - Delightful GameMaster Lassyn deserves a meal fit for a king]: That's true.
12:32:20 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: Privately rented fields would be nice, but it doesn't really fall in
line with the "the towns own no part of the wilderness" thing, and there's no space in the towns for that either
12:33:13 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: But probably the biggest thing holding me back from farming is the time
needed to wait for it to grow. If it grew in 1 day, I'd be cool with sitting around and babying it and waiting for it to grow,
and I would actually find that fun
12:33:41 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: But having to check every hour for 3 days straight for one field of
crops gets tiring.
12:33:43 [CHAT - Mr. Artus Arzaria likes grilled gm for dinner]: farming is mostly a waste for me, unless i'm on vide
12:33:45 [CHAT - Delightful GameMaster Lassyn deserves a meal fit for a king]: Hmmm. Good point.
12:34:11 [CHAT - Mr. Artus Arzaria likes grilled gm for dinner]: agree with kaolun
12:34:53 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: We used to have PCs that farmed a lot, usually artisans since they're
noncombatants
12:35:06 [CHAT - Mr. Artus Arzaria likes grilled gm for dinner]: sona, for example
12:35:09 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: But they were always plagued with "Oh god I didn't log in for a day and
now all of my crops are ruined"
12:35:18 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: or "I logged on an hour late and half my crops were stolen"
12:35:48 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: I feel like it become more frustrating than rewarding to them, which is
bad for the health of a game mechanic.
12:35:48 [CHAT - Naru Naru Narukami]: sounds sucks, hehehe
12:36:02 [CHAT - Mr. Artus Arzaria likes grilled gm for dinner]: man i wish there was such thing as farm security, whatever it
could be
12:36:40 [CHAT - potato Hunter Kaolun is all "oooog"]: I'll post about this, since it's actually something I'm interested in
seeing discussion on! I know my option isn't the end all-be-all.

So, what do you guys think? I know that farming was brought in line with other methods of earning riln, but the state that it's in now is simply "It's too troublesome, I'm not even going to bother. My crops take too long to grow and it's easy to mess it up."

I haven't given farming much testing since changes in crop growth, and the recent weed revamp was brought around, but what changes would you like to see in farming that would make you want to pick it up again?

I'd like it if crop growth timers were shorter again, because a lot of players can't dedicate several days to watching over their fields. Either work, school, or other things will "crop" up and the field will get overrun. Or, optionally, weeds could instead lower crop yield, or simply freeze crop growth until they're removed, rather than outright wilting and destroying crops.

On preventing theft: In the past, there was talk of an herb that would punish thieving players, but I never saw or heard anything of it since.

Other suggestions: Bring down the value of crops while bringing down the growth time. This way, the "riln per hour" for each crop stays the same, but players don't have to worry about the threat of not being available to watch over their crops.

Farming Skill level, or an ability will unlock new descriptions for crops: Higher farming will give you knowledge on crops, so you know approximately how long each plant will take before it fruits. (Looking at your plots will give you an estimated time before growth)

[sona]

shorter growth cycles, theft prevention would make farming more enticing. Heck, I'd be super excited if we seen advancements on this system, but the core system of farming needs to be more enticing than "ugh, farming." It's not even necessarily a riln thing. Farming is a great RP option, many rural folks should have at least some farming experience as a farm hand, or having grown up on a farm in this game setting I would think (not everyone came from a prestigious combat family, university of Grum, or the magical equivalent?).

suggestion:
reduce yield, reduce growth time significantly. Could also have two field/plot sizes, where small, personal size crop yields would grow, closer to a garden size, as well as larger bulk size farmer plots that would take longer and yield more - you would of course still need to strike the balance between the two.

things in farming that I'd be excited to see and love to see:
-Apiaries for honey
-Greenhouses (apiaries during winter months, small crops, ability to grow year round)
-Farm Ranches (Cows, Pigs, Chickens, Ducks, Sheep, etc)

[Vitello]

Water hauling initially kept me from farming with Shad or Corvus alts. Honestly the sheer amount of investment of time and other factors just makes it unpractical.

[Jirato]

I'm still looking into the yield, growth times, weeds, and theft. I kind of like them where they are and don't think they're that impractical, but I will look into it and consider it.

As for water hauling, it's now possible to heave water barrels by yourself, until we can get a more appropriate/permanent solution in place. Sacrificing a bit of realism for the sake of game here. I think it's an OK compromise for now. I didn't realize the current state it was in until just now.

[jilliana]

My two cents:

It takes literally at least an hour minimum just to get enough plots for a decent crop. In the meantime, the trowels are breaking down. Those aren't so bad, but when you couple those with the fact that it takes days to get a decent crop...and it all gets stolen. No thanks! If the weed problem weren't so bad, one could go to their farm once a day and be able to maintain it at a distance where the least people travel.

It would be nice to be able to buy the same things one farms at a shop somewhere for riln. I don't mind supporting the NPC farmer trying to support his family. Keth had some nice fruits and the like but they're no longer found in the game.