Latest Patch 09/10/2011

[Once]

Hey guys,

I know I also posted this in the Code Changes forum, but it looks like you guys can't actually reply there. I'd like to try a bit more open feedback mechanism so please vote and reply with your thoughts below. The only rules are to keep it constructive. Feel free to call out flaws in the system as much as you want, but let's not have holy wars over features in these please.

Please also only vote after you try the system. You can change your vote if you end up changing your mind after getting used to it. Your feedback here will help shape future code decisions. That said, update below:


Artifact Detectors (help detector for more information)
Tweaks to Newbie Life (they start with 3 heals and aren't affected by encumberance until 1st remort)
Typo fix on DevineKnight (DivineKnight)
Added Spell Damage after cast (player request)
Fixed a bug with spell damage and battleprompt
Basic code clean up to Ethos
New "Champion" code to replace BBV (help champion for more information)

[Jaros]

It's been suggested that the cost of detector high should be more like 1000 TP.  I think that's probably about right considering you can save up that many over however many days, turn up your detector and then wait for guaranteed zone location.

[Prometheus]

Or tweak the levels to add a medium which would be the 15 to 30 drain and change high to 100 to 250. I don't really know how easy it is to get tps or to farm tps. If it is then we will need to crank up the cost.

Prometheus.

[Kvetch]

I think the TP's are easy to get only because once you know how, you can just rinse and repeat to keep getting tp's.  Not that I really know *how* to get TP's, that's just what the grapevine tells me.

[Prometheus]

Then add another level called ultra high which costs both tp and tokens or something and it might give you a pretty decent area of the artifact load.

Prometheus

[Virisin]

Let's not let it get too convoluted here. Multiple currencies to pay for one thing is complicated and a silly way of using our currencies. It's bad enough we already have to use gold + tradepoints because gold is so ruined, so let's make sure we use tradepoints properly:

Most trades give roughly 3-12 tradepoints per item taken from a faraway land to a collector. I forget how much logging or farming gives but they are extremely easy and definitely newbie friendly ways of gathering tradepoints. A newbie farming or me gathering more lucrative tradepoint opportunities, we could both make 100 tradepoints in a successful hour of trading no problem. I think a good amount would be something like:

10 tradepoints to be told an artifact has loaded.
100 tradepoints to be told the dimension an artifact has loaded in.
1000 tradepoints to be told the zone and dimension an artifact has loaded in.

Let's remember that artifacts should be rare, we don't just want a simple way of obtaining them.

And to Kvetch and Dia especially who always preach the newbie crusade: I understand, but remember that as easy as we make it for newbies, it becomes at least twice as easy for oldbies, and to be honest I don't really see artifacts as a newbie feature anyway. However, it is definitely easy for a newbie to gather tradepoints, and I imagine the majority of the playerbase when gathering tradepoints do it the same way newbies would, via farming or lumberjacking.

[Virisin]

I would almost say 100, 1000, 10000 as the costs for low, medium, high.

Tokens are the rewards we give for 'questing'.

Tradepoints are the rewards we give for repetitive, easy tasks, like trading. Some of these tasks are further away or more time consuming than other tasks, but they're all still repetitive, easy tasks.

I know players that have had 100,000 tradepoints, and a majority from lumberjacking alone. Because while I might be able to go out and gather tradepoints faster than Kvetch could with my knowledge of some of the faraway places, it's still just a trip through a zone gathering items, they will run out and the zone will need to repop. Lumberjacking is more consistent and pretty much goes forever. Tradepoints are great in that they are not aimed at any demographic of the playerbase. There are simply different speeds we can gather them.

[Kvetch]

Anyone could get TP's faster than me... I'd get distracted by the butterflies...

[Once]

One item of note here:  You will be billed regardless of whether you like the arti or not. What I mean by this is you may be after the deep blue eyes, but may have to suffer 10 lacy garters, blood fly stings, etc loading before your blue eyes pop. It's not a case of once the detector pops the item you've got an arti. There's going to be a lot of misses you're paying for, so make sure you're working those into your cost calculations/suggestions.

[Tor]

Farming for trade points... 100 per hour?

Copied from the in game farming help;

"On the North Wall Road, north of Olde Yorke in the Medieval Dimension there are 8 different fields, each for growing a different crop. Just go to one of the fields and start by typing PLOW. From there on it should hopefully be self-instructive.
*
Like in real life, farming is pretty time consuming, but also rather safe. There is only one small drawback; each field only yields once per reboot and player. If you try it again too soon, you'll have a crop-failure.Farming gives you some exp points and you can sell the crops to different shop keepers and inns in Olde Yorke, who will pay you, mostly in money."

Is this help file correct? Can someone that has farmed, and remembers how many tp they could / can earn during the time between reboots, much less an hour supply some input here?

[Molly]

Why don't you test it yourself and report the result here?

[Tor]

Gee, Molly... How did I not see that coming? 

[Jaros]

One item of note here:  You will be billed regardless of whether you like the arti or not. What I mean by this is you may be after the deep blue eyes, but may have to suffer 10 lacy garters, blood fly stings, etc loading before your blue eyes pop. It's not a case of once the detector pops the item you've got an arti. There's going to be a lot of misses you're paying for, so make sure you're working those into your cost calculations/suggestions.

Artifacts should ALL be valuable and hard to find, not pick and choose.

I don't like the idea of a guaranteed artifact at all.  I think if it is, it should be at the costs Viri mentions, otherwise you should be paying constantly to run it whether an arti pops for you or not.

[Tor]

Farming for Trade Points

Farming the eight fields north of Olde Yorke and then following the trading steps to maximize the value of the crops I raised 12 Trade points and 9000 coins in approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes.

After over 2 hours since I harvested a crop, I cannot grow another. It will go through all the steps, but about harvest time, "The crop is burned black, useless and dead!" From the help files I expect this to continue for me until the mud is rebooted.

[Virisin]

Wow that is surprisingly little for farming. But it IS the easiest way to get tradepoints. Try lumberjacking.