Since it was requested on the list, well, here's a topic on banks! Right now they're not used much (or at all, really) because of two reasons: One, gold is completely safe even if you have it on you, and two, there's a withdrawal fee. Thus, there's really no point in keeping gold in the bank, since you'd have to withdraw it (and lose a bit of the gold) in order to use it. With that in mind, here are some solutions I've thought of, but feel free to add your own as well!
- More automation.
- Link a beast in the stable to the bank, and it'll be paid for until you go inactive (which I think happens at 30 RL days).
- Link an ad, and it'll be upkept with a fee every RL day of, say, 20 gold. Or a little more, it's not as if ads even cost any real gold anyway. Again, goes away on inactivity.
- Link a stockroom, and taxes will be paid, first from the gold on the floor and then from the gold in the bankaccount. If any gold remains on the floor, it'd be deposited automatically.
- Add a tailoring/enchantment combo to let you take gold out of the bank through a pouch. A tailor would first have to make the pouch, and an enchanter (or tinker) would then have to enchant it to magify it. Then you'd have to stand at the bank in question and create the link between the pouch and the bank.
- Remove the withdrawal fee. I doubt it'll affect anything negatively, since banks are virtually unused today anyway.
I'm sure someone will suggest an interest on the gold in the bank, and to that I'll just say: No thank you. We really don't need another gold influx into the game, it's bad enough as it is.
Anything else that can be done with banks? Suggestions and comments, please!
Comments
I do like the concept of auto-paying certain fees, though. Just like how I set up my RL bank account for automatic payments, so I can go and look at all my bills in one location (plus I can just check that one account's balance instead of having to run all over the place, as one must if they have multiple shops and pets).
NARF!
It is possible to steal still, just difficult on anyone worth stealing from. The biggest disincentive is that the community is very anti-theft and tends to frown on thievery.
That, and shops have been changed to be unrobbable.
Unless that theft is of your life.
The "hunting party to steal it back" also does not work since any good thief will have the abilities to make stealing from them nigh-impossible (and as a last resort, can always just heartstop). From an OOC "fun" standpoint, it is just better to play nice. I am occasionally fond of little bits of targeted personal things (mmm, eat a delicious centaur steak, Serenguard leaders!), but I feel there is a certain line where you need to acknowledge that the person on the other end of the internet is also playing a game and has invested possibly quite a bit in the thing you just made off with.
I return packs and weapons I find, always have and hope I always will. It will be a pretty sad day for Lusternia when we lose even that bit of restraint and comaraderie.