Book Cover Questions

Reading the Instructions for R41, it seems that book covers will be handled using the pattern system.

This is quite confusing, and I hope someone can answer these questions:

1) Where do the patterns for books come from? For weapons/armor they come from the add-on store or salvage. Is this working in QA?
2) Are the patterns loot drops?
3) Why is the Blank Hospitaler Book created with a recipe? It would seem that this would be the easiest way to implement covers, like basic signs. Many of the symbols are on sale already.
4) Can you apply patterns to already published books?
5) If patterns are rare in salvage like weapons, how will you ever get enough to use them effectively? If they are in the add-on store - will you have to continually spend a fortune to use them?
6) What happens with the printing press when you copy a book with a particular cover? Does the new book have the same pattern? If not, #5.
7) Will the basic book still have the Kiln cover or will that be changed to something plain?

For situations like selling books, if patterns are hard to come by, they probably won't be used. When I make copies of books, I do them 5/10/20 or even more at a time. Having to have a pattern for each one to use a consistent cover would be impossible under the current way patterns are implemented.

My preference would be to use recipes, exactly like the Hospitaler Book. However, the 50gp price tag per symbol would have to be taken into account in book pricing.

I'm hoping a consideration was made here for the "book economy". And I'm hoping someone has answers to these questions.
@Berek @DarkStarr

 

1. You get them from salvaging them from books
2. Not yet but eventually maybe
3. Because we haven't moved it yet and it was created before patterns
4. Yes
5. They are less rare than gear patterns
6. Hmm. We didn't test that yet! Testing now
7. Yes

Big answer was we chose to use patterns because otherwise we would be adding 60+ recipes versus one new recipe.

 

Thanks for the answers! We will work with it and see what we can do... will let you know how it goes.

 

At least I have an alternative to creating pulp (as opposed to using scrap wood).
It also looks like I will need to raise my tailoring salvage skill if I want to get these pattern drops.

 

Time to go raiding for books!

 

It appears that some books are not salvageable.
Everything shown in both my backpack and the crafting menu are not salvageable.

 

Also books retrieved from wishing wells.

 

I will be checking a bit more closely, but I suspect it's certain book covers that cant be salvaged. I wonder if all the patterns are in yet?

 

Also possible they just missed setting proper flags on a few books.

 

I just get water out of mine

 

Right click the well, and it will give you an option to toss a coin.

 

Ive pretty much identified the few covers that cant be salvaged although I don't know what to call them. I can only identify them visually.

 

Hmmm. So far, I've salvaged well over 500 books, getting my tailoring salvage over 50, and not one single pattern drop. I'm wondering just how 'less rare' these drops will be?

 

Thanks for posting the info Alexander. That is my experience too. In QA, I thought that it was different and that all the game books were salvageable. I salvaged some and never got a pattern.

I'm still going to wonder why we can't have one recipe for a "book cover" like the recipes for weapons and armor (they allow for different types of materials). It would be: 1 blank book + 1 symbol. The symbols would all be sold on the crafting vendor - like some are now. If it is too many items - put them on a special vendor somewhere in the world. Whether you have 60 symbols/60 patterns doesn't seem to be much of a difference, plus you don't need to do all the tweaking with the salvage mechanic for books. Just let it give pulp.

So my wish list here:

1) Blank Book with truly blank cover (not Kiln cover) just a solid dull color.
2) 1 Recipe for a Book Cover which is: Blank Book + Symbol.
3) Symbols sold on a vendor as they are now - only one in the world is just fine if they are too many items to replicate on all crafting vendors.
4) Symbol price lower than the current 50gp per book.
5) Any book can still be salvaged for pulp.

It's hard for me to say because I don't know the internal design of the recipe vs. pattern system, but would this be any more difficult? Don't weapons/armor appear different and have different names based on the different materials used? Also, the planned system has the quirky behavior that we need to "mine" books, and it sounds like quite a few at that.

With where it seems the current design is headed, cover designs will only be used sparingly for special, small amount projects. I can't see using them all the time in our publishing work, and I'm dreading adding another grindy mining activity to the current ones I already need to do.

@DarkStarr, @Berek

 

During early post-release testing I submitted a bug report regarding unsalvageable books, and not getting a single pattern from around 600 lbs weight of books that I "borrowed" from the Tower of the Shuttered Eye. In my view the system as it currently stands is unusable.

Specifically:
1. It is difficult/impossible to get a pattern from salvage. (I have not yet succeeded.)
2. Because I couldn't get a pattern, I still don't know if copying a book that has a pattern applied also copies the pattern. (If not, then I definitely won't bother using patterns.)

Seriously, books are not weapons or suits of armour. You don't apply a single pattern every month or so. Publishing books with patterns applied could mean applying dozens of patterns in a single sitting. If we can't get those dozens of patterns from salvage, or afford to buy dozens of patterns from vendors, then they won't be used.

I strongly endorse Vyrin's wish list above.

 

I salvaged a good amount of books, not a single pattern!
I had maybe 1/3 of the book not salvageable, value 1

I won't salvage more until I hear some fixes about that.i
Burning books for nothing is something what we don't need in this virtual world

 

Could you pretty please quantity how 'less rare' this percentage is?

Even working with @Alley Oop on this did not reveal any book cover and everyone's feedback seems to indicate that it's not working or your expectation of it working is not equal to ours.

Thank you.

 

I hate relying on salvage for the only way to get patterns. We already have all of the symbols available on crafting merchants. Why can't we just create a cover pattern using tradeskills? Who would ever go rip apart thousands of books in order to keep one of the covers to put on another book?

 

It's a rather cheap source of wood pulp

This is not to say it's what I expect in a book making process, but it is a positive upside for book, scroll and sheet music making.

 

The functionality of adding covers is a positive. The wanton destruction of items necessary to do so at this stage is not. Seems like this will just lead to more stolen NPC books in order to get any amount of usable covers.