I spent a fair amount of time side-tracked again based on recent discussions to run over the balance of all the food items in Gluttony. The end result, of course, is that some foods became 'buffed' to compete with the incentive to spam Bajgiels etc. etc.
I personally do not 'mind' the Gluttony system. I do not love it, but it does feel 'right' that I have an incentive to make different foods on different situations and I consider it 1000% better than the original system of "Just eat 10,000 Pumpkins". That being said, I've found that different players seem to hate it for different reasons, and the overall consensus just seems to be that it is no good. So as with the current trend of things I'm curious on a set of options that have been suggested by players in the top tiers of play.
Just let me spam thousands of the same food over and over without having to deal with the plethora of stupid recipes.
This is the only option I am not considering to be honest. If the recipes are stupid because they are too hard to make, then I am certainly open to changing those recipes. However, the idea that players want to make, and eat, one thing in Salem thus eliminating any point to adding new foodgroups, foods, recipes and crafting content is just not on the table. I like making new things, and I like the theoretical incentive of each new thing making the game more dynamic. Things that boil down to 'let me spam the same thing over and over are just going to be ignored.
Just copy the Inspirational System
I find it odd that players complain about the wealth of 'options' in the food space but nobody complains about the 'addition' of new hard to make inspirationals. "Spamming" the same inspirational has penalties, spamming the same food had penalties. I'm not sure how to reflect on that. I recently found myself spamming some inspirationals too many times out of lazyness, and will be adjusting that so its more punitive. But it was suggested to me that this was an extremely, simple, intuitive, and clean way to take gluttony. Gut the entire system, and simply make the F&F buff exaggerate based on how many times you gluttony the exact same thing. No food groups, no restores, no penalties, no variable ingredients. I hate the idea that all the work that went into that system would be removed, but a part of me does wonder if it should die, and in this way.
Just remove Gluttony Altogether
There are then players who say Cravings are now just 'better'. Concord was an experiment on how balanced growth would be without an emphasis on gluttony and its fairly conclusive that the game is far more balanced with ONLY cravings. There are players in the top 10% humours on Concord who have largely ignored the Gluttony system. This would come with two things. #1 Cravings would then have to get expanded on as the primary and 'only' way of advancement. Would feasting sets do things similar to wine? Would tables and the number of people eating at them raise the biles of everybody else at the table so you sync your cravings? Would we have to add 'spices' to our foods to make them more potent when craving or make the subsequent craving come sooner. That system has a lot going for it, but it was never designed to be the primary system.
Keep the system and remove restores
Restores are a key problem. Not everything in Salem must have a 'counter' way to get around it. If restores are removed then all food groups immediately become relevant for long sessions. Some argue the simplest solution is to just abandon restores and view the landscape.
Keep at it, you'll get it eventually
Is there a non-vocal majority who is satisfied with the system? Now would be the time to either post here or PM. Because some players certainly love the 'gluttony game'. But those players seem few and far between and most players who did like the idea of it seem to have become disenfranchised when all their work into learning how to make complex sessions got over-run by the players who learned ways to get similar effects with spamming.
I did not honestly have Gluttony on the road map for this year but I do plan to make some sweeping changes in the systems I don't love. Combat and Witch Craft were more frustrating to me, but since Gluttony keep rearing its ugly head in all corners of the forum I'm open to adding it and prioritizing it. I'm just a bit sad with so much time spent on a system that may(?) be a sinking ship? Also one final note. Should this get reworked the 'balance' of providence will be out of shift. What will NOT happen is players being left and unachievable powers. What will also not happen is a complete 'lack' of respect for the progress made under old systems due to mechanic adjustments so I would not consider a full wipe or a hard reset of all players to a specific bile. There is a reason that most of the time I break things I try to add at least a silver lining as a nod to players who are affected. Salvaging the stuff in your mines before I nerfed mines for example. But here, the solution would most likely look like a universal nerf-bat to humors. Impossible to say to what effect. But the idea owuld be that if in the new system it took X hours to get 1000 humours. Then I would make best estimates on how far one would get with X hours into the 'old' system. And adjust all players down by that ratio. 400 blood falls to 100 blood. 2000 blood falls to 500 blood. Etc. etc. so that those characters are still 'OP" but are of course adjusted to within reasonable reach of the 'new' baseline players will have access to. Its not a threat, but it is a warning to be careful what you wish for.