Help Trading

[Lindros]

Hey i'd pay to get my zodiac back, I didn't know you could examine it and see how low it was

Ehm, how many times have you dusted it?

If I am not wrong, you can recover the game a handful of times now, cant you?

[Rhynox]

Yeah, from the obelisk in Calathin. The note must have scrolled up from the boards already, but you can (however, if you keep dusting it you will eventually lose it forever).

[Maizara]

Oh!

[Bromen]

I stop kissing the gem whenever I see fine cracks.

[Earth]

In my mind, an effective money sink is something that should be like a vampires thirst for blood: you can satiate it for a while, but the hunger always returns eventually (like a parking meter). Also, think of something that charges you all kinds of individual fees for service like airlines in the US now. They not only charge for the original ticket, but also another fee for taxes, another for each checked bag, another if you are obese, etc.

**added note: Anything like this you do may throw certain things out of balance because players already have huge bank accounts, but in the long run, it can be a money drain, which may even out the economy a bit.

Some ideas that I can think of right away all for different situations:

1. For those guilds that don't have a reliable rack (mercs, glads, etc) or for those who are guildless altogether or hoard eq...

How about a rack guard that will keep one or more items for you and give them only to you (for a price)?
Higher quality = higher price
Larger # of items = higher price
Longer time = higher price

In order for this to be really effective, you would need to put a time limit where you have to pay the guard again, else you would lose your item forever or perhaps someone else could pay even more to retrieve it. Here is an example:

I have a crystal axe. I "rack it", and I have to pay a base price of 10 plats to save it. If I want to save it exclusively for myself for a certain amount I pay more for the reservation:

1 hour = 1 pc
2 hour = 3 pc
4 hour = 9 pc
8 hour = 15 pc
12 hour = 25 pc

With 12 hours max, I have to return to the game again to reserve it longer (like a parking meter), but if you really want to stem abuse here, you can double the fee each time.

1 hour = 2 pc
2 hour = 6 pc
4 hour = 19 pc
8 hour = 30 pc
12 hour = 50 pc

Then if you wanted to claim the item, you have to pay the base price again (10 pc + some fee). The only thing here is that you have to balance the need for a money sink, with the need to stem abuse of the racks.

2. You can do various things with shopkeepers as well. Again, the parking meter analogy fits here.

Pay an herbalist a fee to try and "look" for a particular herb.
Pay a roving shopkeeper an amount to go to/stay in a place where there are no shops near by. In this case, each player should have an individual contract with the shopkeeper that you have to pay even before you can use him/her.
Pay a smith to set up temporary shop in a particular area without a smith.
etc.

I'm out of time currently to write any more of my ideas? Any others with thoughts ideas?

[Lindros]

In my mind, an effective money sink is something that should be like a vampires thirst for blood: you can satiate it for a while, but the hunger always returns eventually (like a parking meter). Also, think of something that charges you all kinds of individual fees for service like airlines in the US now. They not only charge for the original ticket, but also another fee for taxes, another for each checked bag, another if you are obese, etc.

**added note: Anything like this you do may throw certain things out of balance because players already have huge bank accounts, but in the long run, it can be a money drain, which may even out the economy a bit.

Some ideas that I can think of right away all for different situations:

1. For those guilds that don't have a reliable rack (mercs, glads, etc) or for those who are guildless altogether or hoard eq...

How about a rack guard that will keep one or more items for you and give them only to you (for a price)?
Higher quality = higher price
Larger # of items = higher price
Longer time = higher price

In order for this to be really effective, you would need to put a time limit where you have to pay the guard again, else you would lose your item forever or perhaps someone else could pay even more to retrieve it. Here is an example:

I have a crystal axe. I "rack it", and I have to pay a base price of 10 plats to save it. If I want to save it exclusively for myself for a certain amount I pay more for the reservation:

1 hour = 1 pc
2 hour = 3 pc
4 hour = 9 pc
8 hour = 15 pc
12 hour = 25 pc

With 12 hours max, I have to return to the game again to reserve it longer (like a parking meter), but if you really want to stem abuse here, you can double the fee each time.

1 hour = 2 pc
2 hour = 6 pc
4 hour = 19 pc
8 hour = 30 pc
12 hour = 50 pc

Then if you wanted to claim the item, you have to pay the base price again (10 pc + some fee). The only thing here is that you have to balance the need for a money sink, with the need to stem abuse of the racks.

2. You can do various things with shopkeepers as well. Again, the parking meter analogy fits here.

Pay an herbalist a fee to try and "look" for a particular herb.
Pay a roving shopkeeper an amount to go to/stay in a place where there are no shops near by. In this case, each player should have an individual contract with the shopkeeper that you have to pay even before you can use him/her.
Pay a smith to set up temporary shop in a particular area without a smith.
etc.

I'm out of time currently to write any more of my ideas? Any others with thoughts ideas?

While I find your ideas intresting, I think with the bank accounts many players have today, putting in a couple of
hundred plats to save your gear would not be a "cost" to most people. And I expect it would get seriously abused!
If it was to be introduced, all limitations on magic equipment would have to be removed, but if they actually removed
the limitations and just made say shadow-elves drop a runie every 30th kill or something, people would still get their
hands on magic eq, just not supereasy.

Hell I can make 200-300pc in an hour if the right areas are alive.


Not to mentioned, many of the bank accounts of today have been created through cheating/scripting.

[Rhynox]

But you can't raise the prices too much, or only people with big accounts will be able to pay for them. I believe the auction place is a really nice place to sink money. For example, right after Armageddon random pieces of magical equipment (non saving) are put to sell by the system itself. They don't even need to be known equipments, but instead special prepared equipment (for example, a multicolor dragonscale, a Reorx's Redhammer, etc) that never save and can help people without luck during the first week days.

[Aristos]

I agree with you, Lindros. I think the biggest problem is not the ease in which players can earn money, but the scarcity of reasons/need to spend it.

Designing money sinks that matter to players is a big and important challenge. Any suggestions?

G.

Yeah, sponsor a newbie like me

[Arcon]

Yeah, sponsor a newbie like me

You're in the RMC you are the one that should sponsor people.

[Aristos]

Yeah, sponsor a newbie like me

You're in the RMC you are the one that should sponsor people.

Only because a helpful myth bought me the purse so I wouldn't lose the coins I do have when I die.