Cyndarinused Flamethrower! It was super effective.
For the record, a shield rune is not necessary for casters. Firstly, it is defensive and warrior weaponry runes are all offensive. Secondly, you can compete at the higher tiers without it. I've never had one.
The tam definitely, if it were cheaper it'd be on my list of things to buy.
I don't know if the prism could be cheaper but the prime room at least feels like it could be expanded a bit, there seems like there's a bit of a disconnect where the artifact seems like it's half a pvp tool and half a convenience tool (but the convenience doesn't feel that great when I can demesne, or milestone, or pathfind, or snort spores...)
For the record, a shield rune is not necessary for casters. Firstly, it is defensive and warrior weaponry runes are all offensive. Secondly, you can compete at the higher tiers without it. I've never had one.
-Great Rune of Planar Mastery at 475cr. This costs more than transing Planar would be and does not carry near the same benefit. I'd drop the price considerably to maybe 100cr, if that.
-Crystal Ball at 200cr. Another artifact that reveals information that's not worth 200cr. If it also tracked enemies logging in, maybe, but that's borderline stalker-ish.
-Scrying Mirror at 400cr. Considering most combatants have a Cloaking Gem and the Cloaking Gem > Scrying Mirror, and this is primarily used to scope for people to fight on outer planes, this is overpriced and unlikely to really be useful. If it got added an actual Scry spell plus the price dropped some, maybe.
-Astrolabe at 300cr. Astro-tracking systems renders this artifact obsolete. I'd drop to maybe 75cr to match the other class-specific arties (motes, cards, etc.).
-Alchemist's Pocketwatch at 245cr. With how plentiful salt and sulfur are, this is never an issue that you'd willingly pay 245cr to never have to stock it.
-Scorpion Cocktail at 250cr. While great flavor-wise, a 15 minute cooldown for a distance, one-time room-affliction skill is not worth 250cr. If that cooldown were altogether removed or the effect be a constant passive for said 15 minutes, maybe.
-Viridian Poisoner's Charm at 250cr. 30% chance to see if someone was successfully poisoned is too low a percentage to justify the cost. I'd recommend bumping up to 100% and I can see the price on this item actually rising - it'd be useful for combatants then.
-Wand of Relocation at 625cr. Drop to 350cr to match other bard-specific skills and maybe.
-Beastmaster Whistle at 450cr. Might as well just BEAST DISMISS and BEAST SUMMON for free. I'd drop that price considerably down.
-Beastmaster Whips at 500cr each. Divinus/excorable breath every 10s limited by beast mana is not worth 500cr each.
As far as dingbat artifacts go...:
-Bottle of Clarramore's Worst at 200dbs (Jeremiah). I'd drop to 150dbs to balance the scent nose at least.
-Panic Button at 75dbs (Gargle). Limit on once an RL day for a gag skill is never going to inspire serious buying consideration.
-Gnomish Jetpack at 125dbs (Gargle). Once an RL hour to hover for 15 minutes is not that great. I've not known anyone willing to just stay flying for that long, and if they would, they'd just learn to fly naturally.
-Aviator/Diver Goggles at 350/200dbs (Gargle) is steep. I'd drop to 100dbs for a watching effect for either.
-Inspector's Magnifying Glass at 300dbs (Gargle) as well shows information that's not worth that cost.
-Scythe at 500dbs (Gnafia). Great for a taunting mechanic, but might as well just offer the corpse at that point. I'd drop to maybe 200dbs.
Because I have a number of auction items, more comments:
On the alchemist pocketwatch: I am a bit surprise this came out as a normal artifact seeing as I have the original two that were in two different auctions, to my knowledge, (I wanted the first and got the second because I won the auction when I was trying to up the bid to what I payed the first time)
On the aviator and diver goggles. 100db is more in line for their lack of usefulness. They do not tell you the direction a person enters/exit, just that they did (they just say something like 'X flies above' and 'X flies beyond', for the aviator ones anyways I haven't actually used the diver ones, for the enter/exit message. ) and they do show if someone is flying in the room (this look has something like 'flies here' at the end)
Just scanning over this thread and hammering the ones I agree with most.
- The severing scythe is grossly overpriced. If you have no interest in peening, then it's only useful at all if you have stealth-using allies.
- Figurine rune was priced for auctions, and didn't even function how it was expected it would.
- I don't think I actually know anyone who's gotten the level 2 regen runes? In most situations, you just need the level 1 to bump up your regen to the max. The second tier is far too costly for that bother.
- Elemental rings are something I might keep if I get them in a present, otherwise I am highly unlikely to buy one. I have occasionally bought the water one for characters doing lots of quests in the seas. The others are too limited in scope.
- Manse commodity farms (and even gnewpies!) have basically made the minting machine obsolete. Gold bars can be easily obtained for less than 100 sovereigns, and anyone who can afford to buy a minting machine probably has so much gold they have no need to turn gold bars into sovereigns. It's still a neat artifact, but it should either have as many uses per month as the smelting furnace (100 as opposed to 10), have a steep price reduction, or both.
o a peculiar flobbergobble mushroom (500cr) - Unlocks access to the Gnome race
o an extremely smelly flobbergobble mushroom (500cr) - Unlocks access to the Fink race
Becoming a fink and gnome (Provided you don't have a cameo) literally costs as much as buying your own cameo. People could, if they wanted, just buy the cameo and find some other RP to do instead of giving the gnomes and finks the time they deserve, just because of the price. Maybe it's just me, but I'd love these things to be half the price.
I know this doesn't matter at all, but the Font (for offering) is so much cheaper in other IRE games, it's pitiful. Further, I believe one of the games actually lets you attune your offering object at a shrine to offer to that god instead of whoever you're a follower of.
These guys have basically said the same things I'd say, but I'd also like to throw in the Forging Mallet. It was worth 400 credits when it was loanable. As it is right now, I'd say 300ish.
Clan slots for 25 could be cheaper, but that's just me.
Any of the divine items could be cheaper as well, especially the one that helps with the influencing essence given. It's nice, but I can promise you that if I bought one (and I have), it wouldn't be for what it actually does. It'd be just to have one and complete the collection.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
So here's a few ideas for artifacts which might convince some people to buy these things.
Convert Fesix Packs to runes, so players can attach them to their favorite packs.
Allow Runes of Dominion to stack.
Add a rune to attach to boots/sandals to give permanent waterwalking or waterwalking when rubbed. Also makes footwear resetting.
Make Summer/Winter Bane runes cheaper, even if they are reduced in effectiveness. If these were made cheap enough, I'd buy them just to perm clothing.
Change racehats to runes to attach to our own hats. Or, if this isn't acceptable, allow racehats to be TAPped to make them invisible in our appearance.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
Yeah...the rune of dominion shouldn't stack, the rest are okay, but we already have the surfboard for waterwalk.
You really don't think people should be able to enemy more than 40-50 at once?
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
I'd just enemy the entirety of Celest, Serenwilde, and Hallifax, then when someone forces me to unenemy all, I can just mash one alias to enemy every person who existed. And in empty Lusternia, where orgs number only up to 20, that's not a very big list anyway.
Obviously we just need to be able to ENEMY CELEST/UNENEMY GLOMDORING or that sort of thing. As someone who primarily plays bards or melders, I'd buy stackable RoD's if they were somewhat cheaper.
Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
For the record, a shield rune is not necessary for casters. Firstly, it is defensive and warrior weaponry runes are all offensive. Secondly, you can compete at the higher tiers without it. I've never had one.
Well, technically neither are lvl 3 runes then!
Well I mean I'm trying to compare apples to apples. Shield runes are defensive arties that help against 2 archetypes. Magic runes and weaponry runes are both offensive arties that help against everyone. Magic runes are stuck on a brooch and you can switch caster classes all willy nilly. Warrior runes are twice the cost and have adiitional costs to switch specs or to monk. I'd like to see them normalized.
If I remember right, I bought the warrior package in the arti package sale which were level twos, and upgraded them with credit winnings from other things and cumulative returns from the monthly membership thing. I don't think I would have ever bought them at their regular price otherwise.
That package was the first real purchase I made, and consequently also contributed to me lasting on Ushaara for as long as I have. I have since gone on to spend more than I should have on a text-based game, (including getting the exorbitant Pliers) and over the years have built up enough of an auction escrow to make me wince.
Like most everyone else, I would say reduce the cost of warrior runes (to perhaps the arti package price equivalent), and allow affixing the warrior runes to a standard or monk sash/tabard so that Pliers aren't required to change specs. @Xenthos fleshed out a similar or better idea a while back I think.
Also could scrap level 1 warrior runes since they make your weapons worse and I don't know anyone who has ever bought them.
So go, go, two tier warrior rune system with rescaled pricing!
With the overhaul, there is a great opportunity to tune warriors so that the runes don't create a huge power gap, and the runes absolutly should be simplified/priced down.
There is a downside to decreasing the credit price of these random utility artifacts that no one really needs and most people don't even want. Namely, when we get them from presents, their trade-in value is going to be lower.
There is a downside to decreasing the credit price of these random utility artifacts that no one really needs and most people don't even want. Namely, when we get them from presents, their trade-in value is going to be lower.
I think this is half the reason Spectacles of Clairvoyance exist as things presents give.
There is a downside to decreasing the credit price of these random utility artifacts that no one really needs and most people don't even want. Namely, when we get them from presents, their trade-in value is going to be lower.
I think this is half the reason Spectacles of Clairvoyance exist as things presents give.
Why would you trade in those Spectacles unless you already had them?
If the first thing you think upon getting an artifact is "Wow, trading this in at a 33% loss is way better than keeping and using this artifact", that artifact is probably valued too highly.
@Estarra I know many of the reductions were auction artifacts first and I don't know how many people got them after they became general artifacts, but what would be the chances of those with the artifacts that got price drops to get back the credits of the difference? Or would this fall in the whole 'you paid extra to have early access' that comes with auction artifacts?
@Estarra I know many of the reductions were auction artifacts first and I don't know how many people got them after they became general artifacts, but what would be the chances of those with the artifacts that got price drops to get back the credits of the difference? Or would this fall in the whole 'you paid extra to have early access' that comes with auction artifacts?
I really doubt that, because it would be tough to tell who got things via presents vs. actually paid for them; in this case, if you bought them, you were getting the "early access" as you put it.
Edit: That said, looking at the prices here, I'm down around 1,075 credits myself on things I actually paid for! Owch.
There is a downside to decreasing the credit price of these random utility artifacts that no one really needs and most people don't even want. Namely, when we get them from presents, their trade-in value is going to be lower.
I think this is half the reason Spectacles of Clairvoyance exist as things presents give.
Why would you trade in those Spectacles unless you already had them?
'cause I'd rather have the credits? I'm still little, and there are a lot of things more useful to me than seeing enemies entering the area? I'm almost never physically outside Hallifax these days anyway? There's a lot of credits sitting between me and stuff I'd use a lot like pipes and vials?
I guess gender bubbles might be a better example though.
Comments
On the alchemist pocketwatch: I am a bit surprise this came out as a normal artifact seeing as I have the original two that were in two different auctions, to my knowledge, (I wanted the first and got the second because I won the auction when I was trying to up the bid to what I payed the first time)
On the aviator and diver goggles. 100db is more in line for their lack of usefulness. They do not tell you the direction a person enters/exit, just that they did (they just say something like 'X flies above' and 'X flies beyond', for the aviator ones anyways I haven't actually used the diver ones, for the enter/exit message. ) and they do show if someone is flying in the room (this look has something like 'flies here' at the end)
o a peculiar flobbergobble mushroom (500cr)
- Unlocks access to the Gnome race
o an extremely smelly flobbergobble mushroom (500cr)
- Unlocks access to the Fink race
Becoming a fink and gnome (Provided you don't have a cameo) literally costs as much as buying your own cameo. People could, if they wanted, just buy the cameo and find some other RP to do instead of giving the gnomes and finks the time they deserve, just because of the price. Maybe it's just me, but I'd love these things to be half the price.
These guys have basically said the same things I'd say, but I'd also like to throw in the Forging Mallet. It was worth 400 credits when it was loanable. As it is right now, I'd say 300ish.
Clan slots for 25 could be cheaper, but that's just me.
Any of the divine items could be cheaper as well, especially the one that helps with the influencing essence given. It's nice, but I can promise you that if I bought one (and I have), it wouldn't be for what it actually does. It'd be just to have one and complete the collection.
Convert Fesix Packs to runes, so players can attach them to their favorite packs.
Allow Runes of Dominion to stack.
Add a rune to attach to boots/sandals to give permanent waterwalking or waterwalking when rubbed. Also makes footwear resetting.
Make Summer/Winter Bane runes cheaper, even if they are reduced in effectiveness. If these were made cheap enough, I'd buy them just to perm clothing.
Change racehats to runes to attach to our own hats. Or, if this isn't acceptable, allow racehats to be TAPped to make them invisible in our appearance.
That package was the first real purchase I made, and consequently also contributed to me lasting on Ushaara for as long as I have. I have since gone on to spend more than I should have on a text-based game, (including getting the exorbitant Pliers) and over the years have built up enough of an auction escrow to make me wince.
Like most everyone else, I would say reduce the cost of warrior runes (to perhaps the arti package price equivalent), and allow affixing the warrior runes to a standard or monk sash/tabard so that Pliers aren't required to change specs. @Xenthos fleshed out a similar or better idea a while back I think.
Also could scrap level 1 warrior runes since they make your weapons worse and I don't know anyone who has ever bought them.
So go, go, two tier warrior rune system with rescaled pricing!
Signature!
Edit: That said, looking at the prices here, I'm down around 1,075 credits myself on things I actually paid for! Owch.