Best Of

This thread is meant to review an emergent economic issue within Lusternia and to try to look at it in a disconnected fashion removed from player emotion and biases. It might not be fully successful to that end, but I think it is worth the time investment to try.

Root issue: bodoru is very scarce, though mindoru and suporu are both present and mostly still at the same prices they have always been. This might seem befuddling unless one takes a close look at all of the beastmastery skills and which are the most popular, and which require what reagent. Bodoru has a strong use bias compared to its sibling reagents.

Reagents have effectively flooded the market since times where Wheel Spins and presents yielded loads of extra riftables. We are finally entering a window where it seems like the majority of the excess bodoru that was flooded into the game as a result of that has been used up or locked away by inactivity.

The formula for bodoru is 10 chervil, 10 colewort, and 1 mistletoe per piece. This is being established so we can better consider our next point: herb prices. This is what pricing looks like in the aetherplex right now -



This is relevant to consider if you're not in a position to try to make or sell bodoru by harvesting all your own herbs first. If you need to rely on other people to harvest for you, you might be up against this sort of price scheming by which to plot your purchases. This undeniably will result in the price of bodoru skyrocketing relative to the other reagents all on its own, before factoring in potential increases to ensure the alchemist isn't merely breaking even.

Herbs are one of the few "commodities" in the game that are really only limited by player time investment. Even if herbs are horribly mismanaged and picked to oblivion, we are now at a point where many players could arguably sacrifice loads of essence to reclaim herbs with Nature's Gift if absolutely necessary. There is no waiting on villages to produce significant quantities. In that regard, watching the bodoru situation as it unfolds and develops might provide a lot of insight on player behaviours and choice, and provide interesting reflections on what we might do or consider for the economic overhaul that is in demand. And while it might be more individually profitable to keep details to ourselves, I think it might be interesting to share our thoughts on herb prices relative to reagents and so forth as it develops - on what we really believe is worthwhile or of proper value, or what could or should otherwise be done to promote more market activity.

Or, if nothing else, it's just kind of nice to point out for the administration and let them know I think this is worth keeping an eye on.

I learned last night from someone that some people consider entire huge groups of players ( e. g. alliances / cities ) toxic because of the deeds of a few individuals. You can sadly find those in all org units. Such behaviour is not okay and I don't condone it. I just want to say, we're all playing a game together, so let's not be at each others throats all the time ooc? You're all pretty great, after all (I'll say those rumours did upset me a lot, being told that the entire orgunit your char belongs to is considered toxic by people stings).

Jolanthe said:

I can't remember by who or when, but at some point it was suggested that a five minute rule was a good wait period to go by: If you're fishing for divine interaction via mob and you don't get any response in five minutes, that's a good indication to move on. Would the proposed five minute rule still be considered solid in this current era?

Absolutely. Five minutes gives us plenty of time to grab the mob, briefly skim the mob's notes if we need to before we roleplay, and to type up a reply and hit enter. I think everyone in Havens has faced the curse of a drive-by "hello" where the player leaves before we can even finish typing for the NPC!

Aeldra said:

One thing, that I think I asked a long time ago, but am curious for the answer of todays divine is

1. how do you see prayers and how do you feel like they should be used?

Also a new, seperate question:

2. What's your favorite pet-peeve with us mere mortals?

1. When I released Lantra, there was a brief period of time where her prayers weren't set up correctly (Those of you who skim the changelogs may have noticed). Imagine my surprise to discover there were several "prayers" I had no idea about, many from players I hadn't realized wanted to talk to Lantra in the first place! Prayers open up opportunities for Divine to interact with you without worrying that we're stepping in where we aren't wanted. They also give us clear insights into how you want to approach us and why. I'd say any reason you want to contact a Divine is a good reason to send a prayer. Think of them as IC emails to your local deity.  

2a. "Pet peeve" isn't the term I'd use, but I notice how players view Divine visibility is not always the most accurate metric of our activity. When someone is "visible" and roleplaying, that represents only one part of an admin's online time. The other part is spent doing "invisible" labor such as handling reviews, bugs, and issues, or building new quests and areas (something I especially enjoy!). There's always a competing desire for players to regularly see Divine "visibly" and also for players to enjoy all the things that come from Divine doing invisible labor. Striking a balance between the two is something I notice every admin struggles with from time to time. Especially when our offline life gets busy.

2b. Now an actual pet peeve: please share your RP logs more! We love seeing them! It's so much fun seeing the cool things everyone is up to, especially in the orgs that we interact less with personally. Bonus points when we get to see what the other Divine are doing (and steal their ideas, shh).