All the extra effort we though with cooking at a Stove is frankly wasted time compared to a Campfire. What we get for our time is better Thirst and Hunger restoration which rarely feels worth it.
With the rework coming to armour, attributes and probably potions, now is the perfect time to rework foods as well.
Anything just slapped in the campfire could just be a stomach filler item, and stove cooked meals could give an hour or two long bonus. Some examples;
Basic Flat Health/Stam buff
SlowFlat Health/Stam Regen (flat as to not scale exponentially with perks/light armour)
Hour Long temp adjustments (cancel early by consuming opposite effect food/drink)
I would prefer hunger/thirst drain rate reductions, we already have warpaints, potions, and fish for buffs, id rather not add another layer on grind cakes personally, but if each tier in food added less drain on the meter i may make an exception since its anoying on long journeys to stop hunt and wait by the fire for it to cook a stack
Maybe shorten decay time on food stacks to make high tier cooking more worth it
I understand what you mean about extra grind, so Ill clarify this as either a different way to get some of those buffs or an exclusive pool (like warpaints).
With 3.0’s attribute change, we have to assume potion buffs to attributes are changing to suit anyway. Theres every chance this would just slot right in naturally.
Craft some high grade food from the stove and then tell us if it still matches food from the campfire. You have to experiment because some of the tags are off.
This one change is one of the most baffling ones I’ve seen in this game.
80% of the recipes have the same or a similar effect when consumed. Other than for feeding some pets that require a recipe from one of these books (greater wolf and pork rinds) I see no reason to go out and hunt for the recipes all over the world anymore. If your pet/thrall doesn’t need it, why bother?
and don’t get me started on the recipes themselves, some of these recipes are not as simple as toss x amount of random ingredients into the fire and presto! … some require food that decays fast like eggs, or require extra steps in order to get like salt or dry berries… why go through all that effort now? other than flavor/rp ?
I agree with OP, all these recipes obtained from the books should offer some benefit other than sating hunger/thirst since the healing is out of the question.
It is something that I suggest not long ago too. Food should give buffs like alcohol in Siptah. However they are not useless as they are right now for me, I mostly heal with food than anything else still, 3 perks on vitality combined with pork feast is a really good healing system, especially in places like unnamed city. Pork feast is not grindy at all, it just needs a serious visit for leaving agent seeds and the rest is just matter of good programming. In a session of 4 hours gaming I use about 20 meals, a couple of potions and a couple of bandages for healing. No mater the place I farm bosses. The only exile land dungeon I might need more potions is the wine cellar.
Now the neccecity of too many recipes, must exist, there are a lot proper meals that restore a lot hunger and hp , especially the religion meals, but yet I believe that a black rhino head should offer more than one plate.
Buffs on food however exists already!!!
The special fishes, the rhino head soup, the mystery meat soup and the meal you buy on Buccaneers Bay (I don’t remember the name right now).
Last but not least, the bread needs more love!!!