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Re: Tweets VIII: Knocks Me Off My Tweet

I might not know who Rauye "the Ruby" Rhineseer is, but if I get around to seeing their description and they aren't a lucidian lucador, I will be very disappointed.

Jolanthe

Re: Economy Proposal 2.0

Once upon a time, it was just as common for a full room to die as an empty room during dormancy. I think we got it changed so a full room is less likely to die - but the chances of death for a room with 5 or 10 isn't that much different. You shouldn't be harvesting during dormancy at all (or the month before) if you want them to survive.

However, they are supposed to also:

1) Have a higher chance of growing back the next month, and

2) If a room is full, have a higher chance of "spreading" to nearby rooms.

This is why bigger areas, unless intentionally stripped, tend to recover. Swamps suffer from being small and also constantly harvested, which ends up with them not having as much chance to thrive.

Xenthos

Re: Economy Proposal 2.0

I haven't read the entirety of these related threads, so sorry in advance if this has already been addressed, but considering the potential influx of new Herbs users post-change, it may be beneficial to take a look at some of the mechanics to avoid confusion/misunderstandings.

Because Herbs relies on a shared pool of resources, players are naturally very concerned when that pool is depleted, either accidentally or maliciously. However, there are circumstances that can be beyond an herbalist's control that lead to depletion. Specifically, demesne effects and dormancy each contribute to the decay of plants in a room. The only way to prevent this decay, from what I understand, is the GUARD ability in the NATURE skill, although the description implies that this only protects against dormancy, not demesne effects. Either way, this can result in rooms being completely depleted of herbs, and because of the way the LASTHARVEST skill works, the person listed there will most certainly take the blame. This problem is especially prevalent on Astral, where people constantly put up melds for bashing and sometimes forget about them, and I imagine it will only be exacerbated when more herbalists enter the fray.

One possible solution is to clear an individual's name from LASTHARVEST if the plants in the room are destroyed because of natural or unnatural decay. This would absolve said person of blame, but I could see people intentionally harvesting down to 1 herb and letting the plants die naturally, with no one the wiser.

An alternative would be to note the amount of plants that were left in the room when the person had finished harvesting, so that if they do leave less than 5 plants in a room, they can be clearly held responsible.

As for solving the depletion issue, I'm less certain of the ideal fix. I think a start might be to allow all herbalists to use a version of Nature's Guard ability, and if it doesn't already work against meld effects, I think it should strongly be considered allowing it to do so, because melds are way more difficult to predict than dormant periods.

I think that it's possible there will in general be scarcity issues when the new changes roll out, but my fears could totally be unfounded! Again, sorry if I've retread ground that's already been covered earlier in these threads, but thank you for your consideration all the same.

Calioliahali

Re: What's your TA name / All-Star Fantasy Ascension Draft?

(yes, I'm necro-ing this thread. :P)

That said... Eff y'all. Bob. My ascendant name is Bob.

All joking aside, I'd most likely choose one that's either Tongan or Hawaiian in origin. Like the name I originally was going to name this character: Kauanoeanuhea. >.>

Alarin

Re: Announce Post #3134: May Auctions!

28   WON        7305/    7305 Staff of Illusions                Xenthos       0
29   WON        7705/    7705 Sandals of the Wanderer           Zagreus       0
30   WON       16005/   16005 Master Bubblix                    Galaphyrae    0
31   WON        6005/    6005 Divine Rune of Superior Mettle    Romaan        0
32   WON        2205/    2205 Cement Socks                      Zagreus       0
33   WON        2005/    2005 Shears of Atropos                 Ashnezharr    0
34   WON        9005/    9005 Drums of Kiakoda                  Barrin        0
36   WON        3505/    3505 Survivalist's Chalice             Faragan       0
37   WON        9005/    9005 Boots of Shanth                   Shango        0
38   WON        5005/    5005 Book of the Dead                  Qistrel       0
39   WON        8551/    8551 Rune of Solid Mass                Lisuarte      0
40   WON        6015/    6015 Amulet of Resurrection            Galaphyrae    0
41   WON        4005/    4005 Anomalous Puzzle Hyperpyramid     Xenthos       0
42   WON        3594/    3594 Sempiternal Libram                Tridemon      0
43   WON        1605/    1605 Vellum Starchart                  Azula         0
44   WON        1353/    1353 Gnomish Scentomatic               Qillilitli    0
45   WON        7405/    7405 Piercing Eye                      Zagreus       0
46   WON        2155/    2155 Silvery Cap                       Gurashi       0
47   WON        4010/    4010 Rune of the Eternal Sigil         Steingrim     0
48   WON        2005/    2005 Great Rune of Charisma            Ayisdra       0
49   WON         705/     705 Chaos Hamster                     Steingrim     0
50   WON        1005/    1005 Custom Emote                      Tikki         0
51   WON        1805/    1805 Custom Demigod Entrance/Exit      Tonatiuh      0
52   WON        1085/    1085 Custom Teleport Message           Tonatiuh      0
53   WON        1105/    1105 Custom Hair or Beard Curio        Tonatiuh      0

Zagreus

Economy Proposal 2.0

In this overview, we'll focus on the differences and new additions found in this revised proposal, rather than post the entire proposal again and have you root around for the changes. What we are proposing has an impact on some details of the old proposal and we are still reviewing what remains necessary and what might be no longer needed. Generally though, it is safe to assume that whatever is not mentioned here is still the same as in the original proposal because the broad strokes are the same - new commodity gathering skills, shop changes, npc shops, mechanical trade benefits going away, etc.

Gold Generation

The intention behind removing gold drops was to nudge players towards focusing on making gold from trades rather than from bashing. We have often heard complaints that it is much faster and easier to go hunt rather than make money through trade. We have hoped to move gold generation to quests and corpse turn-ins (and buff both), and, of course, trades. A not insignificant part of the reason was also the ease with which it would allow us to control the flow of gold into the economy.

Instead, we will retain gold drops (through hunting and influencing), aim to control all inputs better, and seek alternative/easier means of making money from trade (more on that later). That means that down the line gold drops might be lessened but definitely not removed altogether. Where needed, quests and turn-ins might still be adjusted too. We have pretty extensive data gathering systems in place for commodities, gold, and goop, and will be monitoring the situation.

Trade Proficiencies

The largest point of contention in the original proposal were trade proficiencies. We have taken a good long look at your arguments, at how you use trades, and at how our proposal could combine the needs of the economy with the needs of our players. A lot of you want to be creative and enjoy that side of trade skills not for profit but for the outlet it offers. Meanwhile, others pursue trades for utility and gold - usually found much more readily in the non-creative trade skills.

Because of that, we have decided to split trade skills into two categories:

Artisan - Bookbinding, Tailoring, Cooking, Forging, Jewellery, Tattoos, Artisan (pending a new name to better reflect the skill)

Mercantile - Enchantment, Alchemy, Herbs, Poisons, Agriculture, Prospecting

Artisan skills will remain as is in terms of skillflexing and how they are obtained (lessons) - you will be able to pursue creative outlets without the burden of proficiencies. In terms of numbers, you will be able to have up to three Artisan skills active at once (through the usual means) and will inherently have one slot to begin with.

There is a trade-off to this change for Artisan skills though and that trade-off is that they will be less self-reliant and adjusted to focus on creativity. They will lose some of the abilities added over time that aimed to make them more desirable and profitable. Those abilities include things such as Bookbinders making their own vellum or Cooks making wafers. We are still working on the final list of those changes but believe that Arts will be affected as well (losing tints) and all aethercrafting (buttons, scarves, candy) will be removed too. All of those abilities will be moved to Mercantile skills to increase interdependence.

Mercantile skills themselves will switch to the proficiency system proposed before and require no lesson investment. Everyone will inherently have one Mercantile slot and that is all they will ever be able to have active. There are no locks in this proposal so if you want to switch your Mercantile skill, you will lose all proficiency in it. But worry not, proficiency will be gained daily by performing at least one skill action to get max daily proficiency - no grind necessary. The purpose of proficiency, as before, is to encourage specialisation and thus more interaction between various trades.

As we will still provide necessities and commodities in NPC shops, but at increased cost, we expect that those not wishing to engage will still be able to find whatever they may need, while those engaging in the economy will be able to easily undercut those shops and thus make a profit. In addition, everyone being able to have a guaranteed Mercantile slot means that everyone will be able to participate in the gathering of basic materials (comms, herbs, etc) and providing combat and utility staples. Altogether, this will significantly increase the pool of people being able to provide those services through not requiring a lesson investment and high proficiency will ensure it will not be as much of a slog as it currently is.

Quick notes:

- proficiency will have 5 levels at the following percentages: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%

- trade skills will still be losing perks and trans items that might influence someone's choice to pick up that trade skill over another

- trade artifacts will get a look at but mostly ones tied to Mercantile skills

- class locks for trade skills will still be removed

- proficiency will primarily influence speed/commodities/success at a Mercantile skill

- you will still be able to use lessons to boost daily proficiency gain if you fancy doing so

Brewmeister

Due to the changes outlined above, we have decided to keep Brewmeister as a branch of Alchemy but will be removing all design-based skills from the specialisation. Cartel-based drinks will be solely the domain of Cooks while Brewmeisters will retain the creation of intermediate commodities used by others, abilities such as Absinthe and Magicink, and likely gain new abilities that were previously related to aethercrafting (in reskinned forms where necessary).

Finding Crafters

Our player population not being immense, you often run into trouble getting something made if you do not have the trade skill yourself or do not possess artifacts that would allow you to switch easily. At the root of the problem is not so much (or at least, not only) lack of players as one's inability to time availability with that of the other person. When it comes to cartels, you are even in a worse situation as you cannot induct someone without them being online.

To aid you in this we would like to add Craft Orders, parchments made by Bookbinders. Someone in a cartel (owner, trademaster, member) would be able to fill out a craft order for something specific from that cartel, give it or mail it to a crafter (perhaps someone advertising as crafting by mail), and the crafter would be able to make the design without you online and without being in the cartel. Only one of it and only for you as it would be automatically sent to you on being made.

The same mechanic preventing stocking of patterns that the cartel owner flags as private would be used here as well. If something is private, it can neither be stocked in a shop, nor made a craft order for. If feasible code-wise, we would like to extend that lack of necessity for someone to be in your cartel in order to make something for you from the cartel to in-person craft requests as well. Inducting just to oust, requiring people to have/find a free clan slot to join just to make you something, etc, it is all an unnecessary tedium.

Making Money from Trade

The unsung heroes of artisan/creative trade skills are the designers and they don't always have an easy time capitalising on that talent. Because of that, we'll be adding design royalties which will work as an upfront fee - kind of like gold outlay in Bookbinding. The fee would be charged on the item being crafted which means that royalties would come from designs being made by players and by denizens (for players). They would then be sent to the designer (designedby required) annually or perhaps wired to their bank account.

We don't have all of the specifics sketched out just yet but the overview is that public design royalties would be a fixed fee - either standard, regardless of the type of the design/trade, for example 50-100 gold - or a unique fee, each pattern having its own. We don't have a decision on that yet and are weighing the pros and cons. Meanwhile, for cartel designs, the owner of the cartel would be able to set a fixed fee for the entire cartel (or no fee). For cartels, the fee could perhaps be divided up between the cartel's owner (player or organisation) and the designer, if they are not the same person.

Final Thoughts

Moving forward, we await your feedback while we start dividing up the entire project into stages. Stages will determine roll-out order and as we sit down to work on a given stage, we'll be able to provide you with a lot of the specifics that the proposal is currently missing. There will be forewarning before each stage goes live and time for you to provide feedback and help with testing.

Uilani

Re: Economy Proposal 2.0

Uilani said:

@Sulwh That's incorrect. Right now you can have up to 4 trade skills through the means of: starting slot, Second Trade demipower, Beauteous Thought demipower, Endowment. 4th slot right now requires an Endowment, and 4th slot will still require an Endowment afterwards. The difference is now you get 1 extra slot free upfront but it must go towards a Mercantile skill.

There is, however, a huge difference between artisanal and mercantile skills. As someone that does trades for a creative outlet, and not as a source of income, mercantile skills have no value for me. The "free" mercantile skill slot does not count as a creative skill slot because you are unable to use it for Bookbinding, Tailoring, Cooking, Forging, Jewellery, Tattoos, Artisan.

Currently, with SecondTrade and BeauteousThought, I would be able to be a bookbinder, a jeweler, and a chef. After the change, I would no longer be able to be all 3 without needing a 2000 credit artifact.

Sulwh

Re: Economy Proposal 2.0

Sulwh said:

Orael mentioned on discord that "Beauteousthought is still on the block to be refunded and change".
There should be a way to get the proposed three tradeskills without forcing someone to either grind for over 3 real life months or spend $500 (4% of the US poverty line or half of the average Philippine monthly wage) for a 2000 credit Endowment of the Arts.

Just to make sure we're clear here:

Everyone will get one merchantile trade and one artisan trade slot inherently. So where right now, you only get one for free, you'll now be starting off two. Yes, it's specific to certain trades but you still get two.

You then have the ability to add up to two more artisan trades with second trade skill and the endowment of arts. Additionally, since proficiency won't be applying to artisan trades, you can freely skillflex between them as you will.

You can still have up to four trades, you're just limited on which trades you can select for each slot. Requiring an endowment to achieve that is how it currently works. The biggest difference is that everyone gets two trade slots inherently where currently you get one.

Orael

A Second Ascension

I'd been thinking.... Now that we have demigod levels, someone is eventually going to hit the level 200 mark (I'm thinking either @Zagreus, @Xenthos, or @Steingrim are going to hit that before I do, but I'm damn well gonna try getting there first), maybe we can have new perks added with a "second Ascension" that actually becomes a world announcement. New demigod powers, including being able to have one's own demi-realm with further powers that allow you to add stuff to it. Maybe also having the ability to somehow generate a small amount of essence according to size of realm/added things, similar to the yearly essence system already in place. Just an idea from a crazy RL panda just waking from a nap, lol. Let me know your thoughts and, as always, try to keep it civil and cordial.

Alarin

Re: Announce Post #3135: New Auction Artifacts

I officially have no idea what I want to focus my bids on anymore - I'll take one of everything pls

Jolanthe