2020-08-16 23:04
#0
I know we've got some new event content coming with the new tool. I'm looking forward to playing that content. Very much so actually.
But I also wanted to offer some stuff that perhaps could be implemented permanently that seems like it shouldn't be hard to do, and that (importantly) might afford gameplay options for customers always hungry for an answer to the question "what shall I do tonight.
(I know that "seems" is a funny word here -- it's crazy easy to be wrong about what's easy to do and what's hard to do. But seems is all I got so that's what I'm going with. I wanted to think of things that were just "stuff to do" that could always be there and that wouldn't require you to invent much if anything.
Craftable Paladin Swords
This game has surprisingly few options for two-handed swordsmanship weapons that look like swords. The Paladin Sword is too slow to be unbalancing if it were craftable. It'll be a nice niche weapon. The artifact versions of these swords have something special that won't just go away if you made craftable variants. It's cool to have something named for one of the most-recognizable fantasy archetypes.
Permanent Sand Sifting
I don't recall when it was exactly but during a certain storyline some years back you could use a "sifting tray" on sands in Central Ilshenar and have a (very) rare chance at a fragment of an artifact. Get enough fragments and you could reconstruct deco-only items associated with the Meer and Juka. You could turn these in for loyalty with the Meer and Juka but I bet if this were implemented on a permanent basis, you'd get some folks doing this even without the turn-in element. The items were just cool deco.
Now if you basically like the idea and want to go a little crazy, you could have this mechanic available in many facets and have similar deco artifacts associated with the history and lore of that facet. (Rename, rehue, presto!) Feel free to have a loyalty turn-in on these other places too but I submit that some folks will do it just for deco and to have something to sell. (And, importantly, because it's there and it's something to do.) And the rarity was pretty high so it's hard to imagine a glut of these new items, especially if folks knew there was no rush to do it, that the content would still be there in a few months, a few years, etc. (Also, Hell, periodically add to or take away from the list and you have content forever.)
At present, the sifting still works but there's no way to get the sifters anymore so you're stuck with what you have. So if you want to re-implement it just in Ilshenar, just have a way to get the sifters.
Non-timed Samples of Purified Blood
Samples of Purified Blood are available from the Purifying Blood Elementals in Ilshenar. They are timed, because they were part of a quest (it was part of the "The Awakening" storyline that led to the return of Blackthorn and his eventual accession to the throne). That quest is done. Now, the samples now would be really cool deco -- but they're still timed. Increase the rarity if you must.
Permanent Treasures of Tokuno
Really, why not. The most-desirable of the minor artifacts either have charges (the musical instruments, the dyes) or are super rare drops (mempo), so it's hard to imagine this content ever not having a purpose, or ever being unbalancing.
Non-timed Peerless Keys
I've always thought that the timers should be removed from most of the Peerless keys. That way they can be used as deco and/or can be sold (like the Doom Gold Skulls are). And/or can be kept in reserve for when one can put a party together. The current week-long timer is a great improvement over the much shorter (in hours) timer of prior years but it still creates a certain amount of unnecessary time pressure. These bosses aren't endgame content anymore, they are just more powerful evil monsters inhabiting the world that need to be put down periodically, lest they become a threat to the general populace -- and of course a means by which adventurers played by us players can find cool things and increase our reputations.
Currently-Existing Items as Craftables
We have items that exist in-game (candles, cheese, and soap come to mind -- further off the beaten path you have stuff like the Skull with Candle or "tall" Candle) that arguably should be craftable by players, and differentiated from their NPC-made or findable counterparts by the existence of a "crafted" flag and/or a maker's mark. (The NPC version thus retains its distinctiveness -- either more or less impressive to have, depending on the item.) The purpose of this would be for deco, raising the associated skill used to make it, RP, what have you.
Food for thought.