Before I start let me just say I am not a whale, nor did I get in “early”. I just started investing/playing into DFK around two weeks ago. So while I am sure some people have thought about what I am going to write in this article, allow me to help put it out there for those who haven’t.
PLEASE NOTE: This is going to be for the hardcore DFK nerds, and will be a long article. So if you are new to DFK and don’t understand some of these things, please refer to external resources to learn.
Many people reference a famous (in DFK Discord terms) Hubert statement when they say that the profession gene doesn’t matter that much because it is only a small part of the game.
While I agree, it is indeed only a small part of what is to be a huge game, I also think that people took what Hubert said and blew it out of proportion. We already know that the profession gene gives you a 28% increase in amount of questing you can do (5 stamina spent vs 7, or 1 stamina per 10 mins vs 12 for gardening/mining). While some people say class/subclass matters more (for PvP or PvE purposes) and to not focus much on the profession gene, I would beg to differ. I think the profession gene not only matters for better questing, but it matters in all facets of the game, and I will give you a few examples.
Let me start by saying this, a knight/knight is still better than a knight/wizard. A Knight/knight with str/end boost is still better than a knight/knight with int/wis boost. A mythic knight/knight with int/wis boost is still better than a rare knight/knight with str/end boost due to rarity base stat increases. Also, I am not arguing that a warrior with a fishing bonus is better than a ninja with a mining bonus. They both have shit profession bonuses, but if you want to use the ninja, use him for fishing, and use the warrior for mining. Each character STILL has their best profession in regard to their character main class, and stats.
Profession Bonus valuation between generations.
Simply put, there are two different types of heroes in this game. Gen0 heroes, and every other hero that exists. Why do I say this? Because not only does every single hero come from a gen 0 hero, but gen 0 heroes are the fundamental building block of this entire game. Without gen0s, who knows what kind of game this would be. Due to the fundamental difference between a gen0 and all other heroes (advanced/elite/exalted classes), gen0s are not the end-all nor the be-all of how this game is going to play. But one would be ignorant to think that just because something works well now, it’s always going to work great later. This is the case with most games. As a game economy gets bigger, certain things scale, and certain things do not. Games that do well, are balanced, and masterfully crafted to make it very VERY hard to pick a clear winner in any category.
This is where the players decide what becomes more valuable, after it becomes clear how to value part of a game. Those who learn to value things correctly first, win early, and they win big.
I will present to you the value framework that leads me to believe that owning a gen0 that does not have it’s respective classes profession gene/bonus, is not only 28% less valuable, but even more than that (which we are kind of seeing already). There are two variables that lead me to this conclusion: Boosted Summons & Stamina Potions.
We already know exactly how boosted summons will work, but we currently are in the dark about stamina potions. We know stamina potions help you do more quests, but we currently don’t know how. I think there are really only two ways a stamina potion could work. 1. Consume a Stamina potion to instantly recover x amount of stamina. 2. Consume a Stamina potion to increase your stamina recovery rate by x percent (or spend x percent less stamina on a quest). I personally think option 2 is the only choice worth choosing due the main element this game is centered around: time.
The devs have made it clear this is a time-based game, not an instant gratification game that you can complete in 3 hours and go about your day. Time is an investment in and of itself. With that being said, if you could recover stamina instantly, the profession gene becomes quite irrelevant in the cases of fishing and foraging. You could just instantly recharge your stamina, and the only difference between having the profession gene vs not, would just mean you’d have to spend a little more on stamina potions. This would not make much economic sense. So, for the sake of this article, let’s just assume that the stamina potion once taken, will let you do either:
A. Spend half the stamina on your quest, so you quest 2x as much within the same time frame
B. Recover your stamina at twice the rate of normal (1 every 10 instead of 20)
With this being considered, the stamina potion would likely become the most valuable potion in the game until more uses for other potions came about. So now (given a few assumptions), not only does a gen0 with the correct profession gene bonus allow you to spend 28% less stamina, but it will now allow you to either recover it 100% faster, or spend 50% less once a stamina potion is consumed. In regards to gardening/mining, while it may take you 250 minutes to max out 25 stamina with the correct profession, it would take you 300 minutes to max out stamina for the wrong profession. Now if we say you can recover stamina 50% faster, let’s do a quick math and loop it through about 5 times. Also let’s assume you only get 100 xp per total 25 stamina spent and get an increase of 0.2 to your profession bonus.
W/ Profession Gene:
1: 250 mins for full reward, + 100 xp, wait 125 mins (consumed stamina potion) to go again
2: 250 mins for a full reward, +100 xp, wait 125 mins.
3. 250 mins full reward, +100 xp, wait 125 mins.
4. 250 mins, +100 xp, wait 125 mins.
5. 250 min, 100 xp, wait 125.
So overall, we have spent a total of 1875 minutes for a total of 500xp, and now went from a 0 to a 1 in profession score. Keep in mind that profession score is 2/3 of the weighting when it comes to rewards. Now let’s see what a no-profession hero can do in the same time.
Without Profession Gene:
- 300 mins for full rewards, + 100 xp, wait 125 mins
- 300 mins full reward, +100 xp, wait 125 mins
- 300 mins full reward, +100 xp, wait 125 mins
- 300 mins full reward, +100 xp, wait 125 mins
- 300 mins into your full reward, +100 xp, wait 125 mins
So essentially every 5 quests, a profession hero spends 1875 minutes, while a non-profession hero spends 2125 mins. Now it doesn’t seem like much now, but what about in 50 quests? What about in 100, 200, 500? In 500 quests (assuming every say 20 quests is a level up), then that is an extra 5 levels alone. This could mean an extra 50 stat points. This could mean this profession hero is doing level 5 quests gaining much better rewards while you still have to do 100 more quests which may take an extra 2 weeks, or 4 weeks. Who knows. The point is this: When playing any MMORPG, or any game with quests, items, etc… The early bird gets the worm, period. It doesn’t matter if your stats are better, when you are competing against a person who has already completed what you prepared for, 10 days before you were eligible to even attempt it.
Boosted Summons
Now that we have stamina potions considered, let’s talk about the value of the stamina potion + profession bonus + boosted summons. This is where the actual advantage / value comes into play here. Every character will require the same amount of xp to go from level 1 to level 100, each increasing their stats accordingly. Once you hit level 5, you can begin “boosting” your summons. You have a set of 9 different levels of “boosts”, each step being added every 5 levels. So on level 5, you add +1 to the highest stat of your summoning hero, to the summoned hero. So if both gen0s are boosted, this means +2 to the total number of stats. Congrats, you can now have a common who has more/similar base stats than an uncommon once you have two gen0s that are at least level 5. Once you hit level 45, you can add all 9 boosts to a summon.
Let’s assume you have a gen0 warrior miner with str / end / vit as the 3 highest stats and a gen0 knight miner with end / str / vit as the 3 highest stats and want to make a boosted pally miner. With both your warrior and knight as level 45, this newly boosted pally miner would include:
Warrior boost:
(+1 to str, +1% primary str boost, +2% secondary str boost)
(+1 to end, +1% primary, +2% secondary)
(+1 to vit, +1% primary, +2% secondary)
Knight boost:
(+1 to end, +1% primary end boost, +2% secondary end boost)
(+1 to str, +1% primary, +2% secondary)
(+1 to vit, +1% primary, +2% secondary)
So your pally miner would now have:
+2 str, +2 end, +2 vit, and +2% to each primary bonus, and +4% to each secondary bonus.
So basically your pally miner would have what is currently a purple boost, on all 3 of the biggest tankiest stats in the game. Pretty OP right? Now, imagine if you got a rare, or even legendary pally miner with those stats. Even more OP right? NOW, imagine if you got a legendary pally miner with those stats AND it had the correct profession? EVEN MORE OP, RIGHT?!
In the grand scheme of things, gen0s were never made for PvP. That is not their utility, nor is it their purpose. They have one purpose: To create the very best heroes in the game. So with that in mind, forget saying your gen 0 will be better in PvP or PvE, that doesn’t matter. What really matters, is how fast you can level him up so you can start boosting summons. That is the ONLY thing that matters when it comes to gen0s. THIS is why the profession gene really matters. Let me give you the scenario that will happen in this game (with linear leveling assumptions to keep things simple):
You will have a level 72 gen0 with the perfect class/subclass combo but with a shit profession gene that has awesome stats, that can only pump out heroes with shit profession genes. This means you are going to be pumping out heroes with boosts that are going to be 2nd-3rd tier compared to gen0s that have already reached level 100, and are max boosting their summons. And not only that, but those heroes that the level 100 gen0 summoned with max boosts are going to be starting on the same ground as the level 72 gen0 boosted heroes. So who’s heroes are going to be worth more? The level 72 gen0's? Or the level 100 gen0's? Now you could say “yeah but just wait until the good stat / subclass / shit profession gen0 hits level 100”, but you also have to consider this: It is also going to be pumping out heroes with shit profession genes too, so even when that gen0 hits level 100 and can max summon, the other gen0 can already have produced a legendary paladin/archer miner that is already level 28 that shits all over the level 1 paladin/warrior with a fishing bonus. Not just that either, the cycle then repeats if you want to reach level 100 for that paladin to start boosting summons as well. So no matter what way you want to put it, the profession gene/bonus is simply… better. Not having the correct professsion gene is like driving a v6 mustang. I mean yeah sure, it’s a “mustang” but it’s not like it can do anything against a v8. You might as well not even try, because you’re not going to win anyway. I see many people freaking out about gen-0 floors dropping when jewel price goes up, and well… As a floor gen-0, they weren’t really that good anyway, were they? You’re buying a floor gen-0, so you can summon what? Floor gen 1 heroes. These floor gen 1 heroes can do what? Summon floor gen 2 heroes? You see my point?
When considering non gen-0 heroes
In the most IDEAL scenario, let’s say you want a boosted dreadknight of the highest level. Due to the dreads best stats, you want to maximize str/end/vit for PvP. Well, this means you’re going to need a lvl 100 dragoon and a lvl 100 sage. Ideally like stated, you would want both the dragoon and sage to be miners simply because you want the dreadknight to have a mining profession. Why do you want the DK to have a mining profession? Because if you DO happen to get a boosted dreadknight, do you want him to be a fisher? Are you going to sit on the sidelines and watch the dreadknights with a mining profession beat you to level 100? Are you going to let their stats beat yours because they can reach levels faster than you? This same strategy works for pve as well. This same logic also works for the entire class tree. You want the matching profession because you don’t want to level up a warrior forager & knight forager to level 100, just to level up a foraging paladin to level 100, to level up a foraging dragoon to level 100, just to level up a foraging dreadknight to level 100. That 28% isn’t much right now, but it becomes ENORMOUS in the longer term. If you spend 6 months playing the game with a hero with a profession gene, it’s going to take the other person an entire month or more just to catch up to where you are, if you decided to just stop playing the game entirely. So let’s say it does take 6 months to reach level 100 for your gen0, or even for another character. Do you think it’s only worth a 28% premium, to know that other players are going to need to spend an extra entire month, while you are free to explore any other opportunity this game has to offer before the rest of the crowd can? Time is important, time spent in crypto, is even more important.
So you tell me, what’s the big deal about the profession gene anyway?
Please note: This is not meant to be an extremely in-depth scientifically studied peer-reviewed article. This is just me ranting about how I believe the game may play out. There are many variables and other things that will come into play that I have absolute zero idea about. I am not a game dev, I do not know all the scenarios here, nor do I have the power to sway the game however I like. This may turn out completely and utterly wrong sooner than later, so prepare for that reality. Also I may have completely fucked up my quick maths somewhere, so if you believe I made a mistake, please @ me on twitter.
