How did you grind (social) knowledge?

[Tartempion]

I know people have already talked about it here, but I would like to know how you approached this. I am grinding for the platinum and I feel like I'm hitting a wall with social knowledge.

To make it short, I finished the main story and (at least for what I'm aware of) all side stories. I have all achievements except "Jack of All Trades", and it feels just annoying for no reason. I read this great guide, which helped me gain the last 5 Combat Knowledge points I was missing quickly (in 2 hours), but Social Knowledge is another deal... How did you do it?

[Tartempion]

Warning: boring maths here. Skip if you don't care.

So, from the tests I've been running, it looks like talking for the first time gives 2 points, giving a gift with a positive reaction (no matter the friendship increase) gives 5 points, and doing a commission gives 10 points.

I'm currently Social Level 27, so I need 13200 Social points to get to max level. Which means, assuming I talk and give something everyday to the entire village + 4 commissions daily => 40+48*7=376 daily points => 40 in-game days. Which doesn't look so bad saying it like that, but I always miss villagers every day since they are scattered all around the map...

[towly]

before the horde arrives to tell you that EVERYTHING IS FINE and starts to talk about swinwear let me say : good luck to your grind you are correct it is annoying for no reason

my best tip is put on a nice relaxing show to watch on your second monitor and start on the grind

[Bobucles]

There is a free social skill point from doing a late game quest. Hats_____ are involved.

[Tartempion]

Originally posted by Bobucles:

There is a free social skill point from doing a late game quest. Hats_____ are involved.

Yeah, already took it, finished the main story last week. But thanks for pointing it out.

[House Gnome]

So, I'm suuuuper dragging my feet this play through (on purpose). 70 hours in, Day 16 of Spring 2. My character is level 41, I'm almost 5 star on my workshop and I'm JUST NOW working on the quest to fix up the train station for the Musa visit. Typically by now I'd be one or two BIG quests from ending Act II. I've always had Logan out of jail and working toward romance prior to his birthday on Year 2, not happening this year

While I've not been grinding the social tree, per say, I have been upping my talking/gifting/sparring significantly, to the point that I'm friends or higher with all NPCs except Pebbles and Andy (both buddy) and am good friend with the majority of town. Normally, I don't get Pebbles any higher than buddy by end of game and he is almost friend right now. My social skills tree sits at level 18 and just over 1/2 way to 19. I don't think I've ever run credits with more than 25/26 points in social. It's a soul-sucking grind.

[BuzzGunnerGirl]

I social grind by a) chatting and b) playing the card game. Even if I lose all three hands, I still gain +5 points. I usually average +10 points that way.

[Tartempion]

Originally posted by BuzzGunnerGirl:

I social grind by a) chatting and b) playing the card game. Even if I lose all three hands, I still gain +5 points. I usually average +10 points that way.

I'm pretty sure playing Critters doesn't give any social knowledge points (they do give relationship points though, maybe you're talking about that?)

[House Gnome]

Critters does not give you social knowledge credit, just relationship credit, so you are leveling friendship with that person but not increasing your overall social skill.

[Stella Bella]

Honestly im waiting for a (hopeful) update where they make it easier because I cannot stand the thought of just grinding the social knowledge out....

[Tartempion]

I. Dit. It. Never again... Lost in total 30 additional hours IRL after completing main story running around like an idiot and gifting water to everyone in town... That doesn't really fit my description of "a game" and "having fun". If you're desperate for this, the best pieces of advice I can give you are:

1. Get "Reputation Knowledge" and "Commissions and Contracting Knowledge" Lvl 1 asap.
   
2. Do 4 commissions daily (3 if you're missing the perk).
   
3. Run after people and gift/talk to each one once. It doesn't matter what you're gifting, even spamming the same gift offers the same value. I recommend Water with a 20+ Super Dew Collectors setup or Stone Trough if you have too much stone.
   
4. If you're tired of running, pick someone and spam photos with him
   
5. Marrying someone is a decent option as your children will give you the same number of social points daily from talking & gifting. And they don't leave the house when todlers so you don't have to "find" them... They will require you helping them with their needs throughout the day though. Your choice.

The rest of the game is cool though, and the main story surprised me (positively) a few times, especially (Warning: end game main story plot) the Duvos invasion arc and the Miguel redemption arc. I heard there's also a Yan redemption arc, but he's so annoying I left him in jail until oblivion. It's sad my playtime ends on such a bitter note.

[House Gnome]

Man, good on you. I've resigned myself to never maxing this skill out because it's such a grind. Sorry it left a sour taste, but honestly it would for me also. It's NOT a fun mechanic at all.

[SimuLord]

I got the achievement in Early Access when there were only like 10 levels to the skill at the time. I couldn't rightly imagine maxing it now.

(edit: That character from the start of EA has like 400 hours of playtime so I was also able to leverage that. I just looked and his skill tree is, in fact, fully complete. After almost 3 full playthroughs' worth of hours played, most of which was freeplay grinding for fun in between major updates.)

[Eisvogel]

From a new player experience.... so far it doesn't seem like a grind to me.... I am only at day 14 or 15 of the first month..... but i feel my social exp goes up quite easily .... only comparable to gathering (currently both are at lvl 10... way over combat and production)..... so i don't know how much it will change as the game keeps going.... but from my perspective its growing quite rapidly.... i am usually talking and gifting every day to everyone i come across .... i think chatting to the non interaction characters also counts as a talk point (i mean people like Fei or the other workers)..... not super sure about this but i think when i check social xp it had went up after only chatting to those guys

Hope it helps and you can get the plat!

[House Gnome]

Originally posted by Eisvogel:

From a new player experience.... so far it doesn't seem like a grind to me.... I am only at day 14 or 15 of the first month..... but i feel my social exp goes up quite easily .... only comparable to gathering (currently both are at lvl 10... way over combat and production)..... so i don't know how much it will change as the game keeps going.... but from my perspective its growing quite rapidly.... i am usually talking and gifting every day to everyone i come across .... i think chatting to the non interaction characters also counts as a talk point (i mean people like Fei or the other workers)..... not super sure about this but i think when i check social xp it had went up after only chatting to those guys

Hope it helps and you can get the plat!

Take a look at how many social points you need for your next level. I'm at level 26 and need 1060 points to get to level 27. The number of points you need increases each level, the number of points you earn per interaction is static. It gets much, much worse.

[jdhlsc169]

Originally posted by Tartempion:

I know people have already talked about it here, but I would like to know how you approached this. I am grinding for the platinum and I feel like I'm hitting a wall with social knowledge.

To make it short, I finished the main story and (at least for what I'm aware of) all side stories. I have all achievements except "Jack of All Trades", and it feels just annoying for no reason. I read this great guide, which helped me gain the last 5 Combat Knowledge points I was missing quickly (in 2 hours), but Social Knowledge is another deal... How did you do it?

Snap picture, delete, snap picture, delete and on & on. You get points each time you snap a picture. Stand there with an NPC and snap away.