Re: Lets Sink that Dapper
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:33 am
Q250 mats on NPC's:
Yay! This one alone would make a huge difference. All of a sudden, you could dig materials for the sole purpose of creating items to put for sale, and use the revenue to buy your way out of digging grind mats.
If we can only get the crafters lusting for money, that should be enough to ensure that plenty of gear will be available from NPC traders at all times, in turn making dappers that much more important to any non-crafter as well.
Better gear from NPC's:
NO! I find it absolutely essential that crafters are kept in the loop for anyone wanting good gear. The problem is that crafters don't care about raising dappers. They would if they could get Q250 mats from NPC's though.
Novelty stuff for room/GH:
Personally, I wouldn't give a rats ass about this, and frankly, I don't think it would actually *work* as a money sink. Those few people that would care about getting this stuff would still only buy it when they have enough dappers to not care about the amount payed for this. Isn't that the point, you might ask? No - a dapper sink should continuously encourage the player to keep on raising more and more dappers. I doubt more than 5% of the Ryzom population would feel this way about novelties. Cute feature, but ineffective to solve the problem.
Upkeep:
Actually, upkeep already exists on mektoubs, disguised as food. I think this is an excellent way of handling upkeep, as you never actually lose your packer, but only a large part of its functionality. However, the prices need serious adjustment for this to be effective. I personally don't think it would be a problem if it's nearly impossible for anyone below, say, level 150 to keep his mount. It's a luxury, not a necessity, and if we want to fix the dapper, that will mean cutting back on newb luxuries. Besides, you can still HAVE your packers, you just can't travel with them (regularly).
Upkeep on houses/GH's raises a bunch of issues. This is the only mentioned idea that doesn't just encourage making dappers, but forces you to make dappers at a certain rate, and you might very well be screwed if you accidentally run out while buying grind mats. The consequences of losing your flat or GH if you mess up is too great, and it's too likely to happen.
Decrease NPC payment:
No. Price adjustments (in general) will change the scale, it won't fix the issue. Just because I now have half the cash I did before, it doesn't mean that I suddently have something to spend it on.
Increase TP Price:
Not a bad idea. Indeed, TP pricing shouldn't be raised all over, but instead differentiated according to difficulty of area. A newb who treks to every land has earned the right to at least port to their capitals without paying through the nose for it. The Prime Roots are intended to be hard to reach though, and raising 12K isn't hard at all. Raise these prices at least 10-fold, possibly more.
Increase Tool Price:
Basic tools, no. Crafters who put themselves in a tight spot shouldn't be forced to sell back raw mats for hours just to get a tool. HOWEVER... let's say you could spend 10 mill to get an OP Tool that would work for like, 10 crafts total... would you consider buying one of these (if no, turn the price down a little)? Would OP owners feel unjustly robbed of their special luxuries (if yes, turn the price up a notch)?
Increase cost of sap crystals:
Erm, no. If we start relating dappers and sap like this, then let's put a dapper cost on casting spells in general... (this suggestion intended to suck)
Bribes for TP:
No. Not from a lore viewpoint, not from a mechanics viewpoint. Kami ports requiring Kami fame is a rather fundamental game mechanism IMO, and I'd hate to see that one lost. Even though we're trying to make the dapper more useful, we shouldn't allow it to completely replace a well-working mechanism. These bribes would have to be incredibly expensive if it should remain worth the while raising your fame.
IF anything, introduce a new set of portals, run by a neutral trading organization. This should cater some to the neutrals and their eternal issues about not being properly recognized. However, this faction should have far fewer ports than Kami and Kara, and, since they're running ports for profit, and not as a service to their allies, they'd be charging through the nose (seriously, like, 1mill each or something), effectively working somewhat like a bribing mechanism.
Yay! This one alone would make a huge difference. All of a sudden, you could dig materials for the sole purpose of creating items to put for sale, and use the revenue to buy your way out of digging grind mats.
If we can only get the crafters lusting for money, that should be enough to ensure that plenty of gear will be available from NPC traders at all times, in turn making dappers that much more important to any non-crafter as well.
Better gear from NPC's:
NO! I find it absolutely essential that crafters are kept in the loop for anyone wanting good gear. The problem is that crafters don't care about raising dappers. They would if they could get Q250 mats from NPC's though.
Novelty stuff for room/GH:
Personally, I wouldn't give a rats ass about this, and frankly, I don't think it would actually *work* as a money sink. Those few people that would care about getting this stuff would still only buy it when they have enough dappers to not care about the amount payed for this. Isn't that the point, you might ask? No - a dapper sink should continuously encourage the player to keep on raising more and more dappers. I doubt more than 5% of the Ryzom population would feel this way about novelties. Cute feature, but ineffective to solve the problem.
Upkeep:
Actually, upkeep already exists on mektoubs, disguised as food. I think this is an excellent way of handling upkeep, as you never actually lose your packer, but only a large part of its functionality. However, the prices need serious adjustment for this to be effective. I personally don't think it would be a problem if it's nearly impossible for anyone below, say, level 150 to keep his mount. It's a luxury, not a necessity, and if we want to fix the dapper, that will mean cutting back on newb luxuries. Besides, you can still HAVE your packers, you just can't travel with them (regularly).
Upkeep on houses/GH's raises a bunch of issues. This is the only mentioned idea that doesn't just encourage making dappers, but forces you to make dappers at a certain rate, and you might very well be screwed if you accidentally run out while buying grind mats. The consequences of losing your flat or GH if you mess up is too great, and it's too likely to happen.
Decrease NPC payment:
No. Price adjustments (in general) will change the scale, it won't fix the issue. Just because I now have half the cash I did before, it doesn't mean that I suddently have something to spend it on.
Increase TP Price:
Not a bad idea. Indeed, TP pricing shouldn't be raised all over, but instead differentiated according to difficulty of area. A newb who treks to every land has earned the right to at least port to their capitals without paying through the nose for it. The Prime Roots are intended to be hard to reach though, and raising 12K isn't hard at all. Raise these prices at least 10-fold, possibly more.
Increase Tool Price:
Basic tools, no. Crafters who put themselves in a tight spot shouldn't be forced to sell back raw mats for hours just to get a tool. HOWEVER... let's say you could spend 10 mill to get an OP Tool that would work for like, 10 crafts total... would you consider buying one of these (if no, turn the price down a little)? Would OP owners feel unjustly robbed of their special luxuries (if yes, turn the price up a notch)?
Increase cost of sap crystals:
Erm, no. If we start relating dappers and sap like this, then let's put a dapper cost on casting spells in general... (this suggestion intended to suck)
Bribes for TP:
No. Not from a lore viewpoint, not from a mechanics viewpoint. Kami ports requiring Kami fame is a rather fundamental game mechanism IMO, and I'd hate to see that one lost. Even though we're trying to make the dapper more useful, we shouldn't allow it to completely replace a well-working mechanism. These bribes would have to be incredibly expensive if it should remain worth the while raising your fame.
IF anything, introduce a new set of portals, run by a neutral trading organization. This should cater some to the neutrals and their eternal issues about not being properly recognized. However, this faction should have far fewer ports than Kami and Kara, and, since they're running ports for profit, and not as a service to their allies, they'd be charging through the nose (seriously, like, 1mill each or something), effectively working somewhat like a bribing mechanism.