A clod of elemental clay.

Ernam

Antonius said:

With a 300 credit tradein value, I'd personally just look at it as a 15% credit bonus on my purchase of 2k, on top of all the other bonuses that you get along the way.

I read it the same way.  300cr is better than the option of having a 3% chance that I get something useful for 30 minutes.

Also worth pointing out that people buying 2000cr credits at a time tend to already have a lot of artefacts, and the relative value of this artefact drops rapidly the more artefacts you already have.

Nemutaur

I wish it would be an on demand artie for 30 mins every 25 hours. That way I could turn it into a Veil when I want to hunt someone down or a lvl3 crit pendant when I want to hunt better, or maybe lvl2 Wings for more exits for 30 mins.

Obvious exceptions to this would have to be grimoire, reinc dagger, some weapons etc...but anything else should go.

Amarillys

I want one...

Austere

I just wonder what the odds of it becoming a vial or pipe are.  On demand really does sound amazing,  or even a way to lock it on whatever you choose so it does not have to be so random.  I wanted this,  but the more I think about how terrible my ire luck is,  I dunno.  Had enough disappointment from grab bags.  I don't need that let down once a day. 

Addama

Like Ernam said, somebody buying 2000 credits probably already has things like rings, Buckawns, SoA, etc and would only benefit from a very small number of the 179 possible iterations.

For example, consider that 60 of the 179 possible artefacts (so 1/3rd) are artefact weapons, with the vast majority being useless to me.

Herose

Should give it the ability to remember the last form it took.  Then you can either try to sculpt something new or re-form it into the previous form.  If you get really lucky and it becomes a Veil you could now use a Veil for 30 minutes out of the day!  That would be awesome.

Amarillys

You guys realise it's not just an artefact 30 mins a day, right? It's guaranteed an artefact 30 mins a day, and every 30 mins after you get to reform it into a new one! (With reduced chance it will work, but that's not saying it -won't- work!)

Ernam

Yeah, but regardless of what it lands on, it disappears 30 minutes later.  Pretty useless even if you get something you can use.

Would rather have Jera any day.

Amarillys

But you could PLAY with EVERYTHING! Or give it away for that thirty minutes! Hey, I just got a hammer of forging, who wants to use this? Oh, hello newbie, I see you could use a circlet of will (no idea if that's a thing), well, you're in luck! I just made this! Sup, sexy? Wanna use my sword of +2 charisma for the next twenty-five minutes until it turns back into a useless lump? Ya know ya do!

Addama

Yeah okay I'm going to pay 2000 credits for an artefact that only benefits me like 3% of the time and the other 97% of the time I can hand it off to somebody else who might be able to use it.

Flawless logic there, Amarillys.

Amarillys

No, you're going to pay for two thousand credits because you're going to pay for two thousand credits. You're going to do it now because if you pay for two thousand credits now you get... three race tickets, a hundred credits off an artefact, a mayan crown, fifty credits off a customization, a permanent tattoo, fifty credits off an arte-pet, and a neat tool that you can use sometimes, let others play with sometimes, or sell for another three hundred credits. 

Sod off.

Ernam

It doesn't cost 2000cr, it's essentially "free".

Amarillys

For the record, with a tradein value of 300cr, the arte costs you 450cr. 

ETA: Further for the record, that's buy 2000 credits, get about eight hundred extra credits for just doing it now! Gods, if you don't have the money to buy 2000cr, this isn't for you. If you have the money but have been waiting for a good time to buy, this is a pretty good time to buy! I wish I had the money for this. I'm flat broke but I would pay this in a heartbeat for the amount of awesome I can see here. 

Ernam

It's an artefact that's given to you for free, along with a lot of other free things that come with the promotion.

To my knowledge, you cannot purchase it.  Not sure if that'll always be the case, but currently, it only presumably has a tradein value for those who simply don't want / can't use it.

Amarillys

Ah crap, I messed up. The leash is worth way more than 25cr. Sorry! Take everything I just said and add a crap ton more to how you guys are complaining about nonsense.

Taraus

Blujixapug said:

@tecton what are the chances of it turning into a wand of ultranova pls?



i assume less than the 0.55866% if they were weighted equally

  ugh, if it had the chance to generate me a Dr. Sloth's Personal Bath Buddy, would be all over it

Aerek

A lot of people here must be supremely disappointed with the "free gifts" they get from those mail-in offers. You're buying the 2000 credits to have 2000 credits, folks. The added bonus for buying 2000 credits does not need to be a game-changing item that grants permanent access to broken artefacts of Christmas Past, or reliable access to other artefacts that you haven't bought yet. It's a novelty item, a freebie, the toy you get in your Happy Meal; all it's supposed to do is be amusing. Instead of trying to buff it into the latest and greatest gizmo for the upper crust,  you should take your new 2000 credits and spend them on whatever artefact that you wish the clod would turn into.

Arador

Actually I think a nice way to make this artefact awesome is to allow it to be sculpted into a specific artefact that last 30 minutes per RL day. Same rules apply, you can not sculpt it into something with a lasting effect like a gem of transmutation or a collar.

But one a day you can sculpt it into any other artefact. Would be awesome. You could test weapons, or maybe have a 30 minute veil or a 30 minute hunting bonus through a pendant.

The time is incredibly short so it is not exactly OP.

Caladbolg

Arador said:

Actually I think a nice way to make this artefact awesome is to allow it to be sculpted into a specific artefact that last 30 minutes per RL day. Same rules apply, you can not sculpt it into something with a lasting effect like a gem of transmutation or a collar.

But one a day you can sculpt it into any other artefact. Would be awesome. You could test weapons, or maybe have a 30 minute veil or a 30 minute hunting bonus through a pendant.

The time is incredibly short so it is not exactly OP.

When I saw the news post I thought it actually did this and I was like OH I CAN HAVE A VEIL 30 MINUTES A DAY (So in other words I only really want a veil to find people with veils, because I don't really mind if people can't find me.) and then was like wait no, I -JUST- payed off that credit card that almost bankrupted me, I can't do this.

Then I thought about it and I was like wait, my truck is payed up until february so technically I -could- do it and then finish paying off the credit card in a few months by not paying my truck payment.

And then I stopped my self again, choosing to do the right thing and be an adult about it.

And then I read this and im like thank god I choose to be an adult.

I mean, don't get me wrong I think it's a cool nifty thing since it's free. but how many of us really have 600 irl bucks just sitting there after bills and everything else especially with christmas coming up.

Now on the other hand if promotions like this lasted a few months at a time instead of just one month then I could see more people being willing to spend the money to get it knowing they just have to buy 2k over the few months instead of all at once.


---
And for above, Achaea is not pay to play. but these servers do cost irl money employee's cost irl money and this is a company. Profit and expansion is something that has to come in from somewhere. Complaining about needing to spend money on a game that is basically kept up by the money you spend isn't a good argument.

Kinda like going to a grocery store and complaining that the store only paid 3 dollars for the 3.39 milk you just paid for

Aerek

Arador said:

Actually I think a nice way to make this artefact awesome is to allow it to be sculpted into a specific artefact that last 30 minutes per RL day. Same rules apply, you can not sculpt it into something with a lasting effect like a gem of transmutation or a collar.

But one a day you can sculpt it into any other artefact. Would be awesome. You could test weapons, or maybe have a 30 minute veil or a 30 minute hunting bonus through a pendant.

The time is incredibly short so it is not exactly OP.

I think you're really underselling how powerful that capability would be. Any artefact you want for 30 minutes is a huge bonus in any short-term combat situation.

Raiding or getting raided? That means your choice of a free Veil to locate enemies, a free Lupine to shoot with, an Intellect Crown or one of the new Mindprint artefacts if you're a monk, perhaps a free set of Earrings?

Dueling over a contract? It means free lvl 3 Gauntlets against someone who can't tank your damage, or a free lvl 3 belt against someone who's damage you can't tank, or a free Ring of Flying against an Occultist, or a free Lyre against the classes that suck against Lyres, or a free Staff of Illusion against any prone-finishers.

It would become a Swiss Army knife artefact that you could use to completely change the course of most 1v1 fights, and easily influence any group fight scenario. Shit, I would take out a loan just to get one if that was the case.

Arador

Once per real life day. For 30 minutes. Most raids last longer than that. Plus for guys that fight a lot, it is a nice little bonus you can use here and there but I do not think people log in for 30 minutes, fight and then leave.

Also remember you can already do something like this by borrowing artefacts from people. If I recall correctly respawn times are similar depending on what time you borrowed them.

I can go and borrow enough artefacts to be serverely stronger than I usually am and if that person is online and not in need of them I can do it over and over for the whole day. This is 1 artefact for 30 minutes, once a day.

I truly think I am not underselling it.

Arador

Also on the subject of free. Yes it technically is but you also have to see it in the greater scheme of promotional freebies. They are designed to encourage you to spend more than you normally would have. Same as the "spend $500 or more in our store and we'll throw in this handy set of socket wrenches". It is encouraging you to spend more than you probably would have. Sure you still get all the stuff you bought but saying it is 100% free is not entirely accurate from an marketing/economics perspective.

Sure some people would have spent that anyway and for them it really is a freebie.

Caladbolg

@Aerek Personally I think that none of that matters because you can buy all of that anyways. earrings likely wouldn't work with it. and I doubt class artifacts would.

For instance the veil thing, you just bought 2k credits and got this as a bonus you could honestly just use the 2k to get the veil and use this to get a mind torc or lyre (Because honestly 30 minute lyre would be awesome you don't need to use it -that- much)

Wand of reflections would likely be the most abused version of this though, op Artifact you can only use once an hour? Yeah let's make that my 30 minute artifact.

Not to mention the viability of a citymate/friend/whatever being like man I wonder if a mind torc would work with this combo im thinking of. Oh here I haven't used my 30 minute artie today go ahead and try it!

Plus honestly, if your using it for something like a lyre, and you start saying man I need that lyre but it's not up your eventually going to cave in and buy one.

And really it would be especially nice for those artifacts like mana rings, when your like man I don't need to worry about mana but OH NO A RANDOM PRIEST HAS APPEARED! boosh, got a mana ring!


(And borrowing artifacts and this 30 minute thing would basically be the same although this might work for artifact weapons which would be slightly different)

Aerek

You're correct, and if you spend those credits on those things, you get those bonuses. That's fine, that's the point; you pay for the perk. The difference is that the clod, with that proposed ability, would give you all those things, when you needed them, without having to buy them. In any 1v1 duel, you'd get to cherry-pick the best artefact in existence that could help you with that specific opponent, and 30 minutes is longer than 95% all the duels you'll ever fight, so that's not a balancing factor in that case, at all.

It's less of a big deal in raids, but even if it doesn't last the -whole- raid, if you don't think a free Lupine bow, free Veil, etc on demand isn't a big deal, even for just 30 minutes, I'm not sure we're playing the same game. I can't begin to tell you how often I want a Veil just for raid situations. I don't need one normally, I just need it to find folks in my city. So I can buy this 2000 credits, spend those on things I actually want, but then have a Veil/Staff/Wings/all the other arties I want but would never buy on-demand once a day? Sign me up.

It's one artefact, that is all the artefacts, whenever you need them for a specific purpose. Something like that should cost 2000 or more credits, not be a freebie on top of your 2000 credits.

Klendathu

I'm not sure if people are missing the point, but the artefact you mold is random

Bluef

179 possibilities. 30 minutes (per day?). Someone call in Sena to run he stats on the likelihood of getting anything worthwhile (even though it's a freebie and basically doesn't cost anything beyond the semi-embarassing fact that you probably just made an OOC purchase of another 2,000 credits to get it) #richbitches

Addama

Again, 60 of those 179 possibilities are artefact weapons.

Sena

Bluef said:

179 possibilities. 30 minutes (per day?). Someone call in Sena to run he stats on the likelihood of getting anything worthwhile

It's a minimum of 30 minutes, and I don't know how the chance of success diminishes after that, or what happens if you fail (do you have to wait another 30 minutes to try again, or is it a smaller delay, or can you try again immediately until the success chance reaches 0?).

I also don't know how many of those 179 possibilities would be considered useful (and that will vary from person to person, depending on their class/artefacts/preferences).

If we assume it diminishes in a way that gives a certain maximum number of attempts per day before the chance of success reaches 0, and a failure means you have to wait 30 minutes to try again, then the probability (p) of getting something useful at least once throughout the day is p=1-(1-n/179)^a, where n is the number of useful artefacts it can become and a is the number of attempts per day (I don't have any idea what either value is). The average time (in minutes) required to get something useful is 30/p.

Ernam

Seriously just wish every promotion was just Mayan Crowns or % bonus.

Giftbags, Talismans, stuff like this, and pretty much everything else, just makes me want to not buy credits.

Addama

Giftbags were pretty sweet, to be honest.  Sure I'd end up with a pile of shit I never needed (why are they only ever full of concoction vials?) but one time I got 28 humgii tickets.  That alone was a pretty nice bonus.