Aural Earring - Lets change it, finally!

Melodie

I included an example (that you didn't quote) that is actually the inspiration of the OP and the way I phrased it. Consider it a clarification, if you like.

Otherwise all I can really say is: I understand what you're saying, but I disagree that encouraging this concept in the face of the little you get out of it vs. losing out without it (roleplay paid for with $70) is a good thing.

Aerek

Klendathu said:

My point still stands, you don't have to be deaf all the time, and there is an artefact to counter it if you chose to buy it. It's no different to any of the other "convenience" artefacts, it means you can do something people without the artefact can't.

Your point stands, but your point doesn't add anything to the game. You're arguing for the status quo, but there is no valid argument as to why things should be that way. There's no game balance nor mechanical reason that deafness/Mindseye should allow says and yells, but block shouts. It's just a holdover from the early days, where Sarapis or someone else thought it would be a cool bit of "realism", or maybe they thought deafness wouldn't be used often, but in modern times it serves no purpose except to limit people who would like to communicate that way, and annoy people who wish they could hear things happening on the world stage.

"Convenience" artefacts offer just that: convenience. But hearing other players attempt to interact with you isn't convenience, that's straight-up participation, and you shouldn't need artefacts to participate in the game. I have missed countless RP opportunities because I remain combat-prepped most of the time, some of them directed specifically at me and I just never knew. As you say, I could  def up deafness each I might fight or go hunting, and drop it each time the threat passes or hunting trip ends, but in addition to the waste and hassle involved there, there's just no justifiable reason I should have to.

It'd be like if blindness stopped you from seeing emotes for no particular reason. It's just a pointless limitation on interaction, and the game needs all the interaction it can get.

Silas

I agree with Aerek: make blindness stop emotes and introduce vision spectacles for 150cr. Maybe 300cr since emotes are used a lot more than shouts.

Let's see it, @Tecton, @Makarios.

Halos

Klendathu said:

There's no real need for people not actively engaging in combat to be deaf all the time, 

Dost thou even RP whilst raiding/defending, brother?

Gunsou Klendathu Eula, Shadow of the Storm (male Elder Blue Dragon).

He is 319 years old, having been born on the 19th of Chronos, 350 years after the fall of the 

Seleucarian Empire.

He is ranked 15th in Achaea.

He is the 35th ranked combatant with a rating of 100.

He is an extremely credible character.

He is not known for acts of infamy.

He is a member of the Quisalis Mark.

He is a Consul in Ashtan.

Nvm.

Jonathin

Artefact earrings being the solution to hearing shouts while deaf when there is so much other magic in the world feels gimmicky.

Kandra

I realise it was brought up sarcastically, but a blindness equivalent to the earring really would be rather convenient. The mindseye is really annoying to maintain and someone who had both of those artefacts wouldn't need to bother with it.

Melodie

I would be perfectly okay with changing the aural earring to... some other witty, clever thing that is basically a perma mindseye but in some item form (aka it doesn't take up a tattoo slot, which the perma tattoo would be 100 credits), while reworking mindseye to include shouts for us plebs.

I'd suggest it not being an earring, but I'm not feeling any inspiration to what it would be in its new form.

Klendathu

Halos said:

Klendathu said:

There's no real need for people not actively engaging in combat to be deaf all the time, 

Dost thou even RP whilst raiding/defending, brother?

Gunsou Klendathu Eula, Shadow of the Storm (male Elder Blue Dragon).

He is a Consul in Ashtan.

Nvm.

-slowclap-

Seeing as I cannot recall ever having had any kind of interaction with you previously, either IG or out, I will have to assume that your racism (can't find a more appropriate -ism) is borne, at best, of ignorance.

Aerek

An Earring of Awareness that took the place of a Mindseye would be a fantastic convenience artefact that would replace the Aural Earring's unnecessary function and be still be something that I would buy. Hell, unstrippable, no-tattoo-slot Mindseye is pretty powerful; you could double the price of it and the folks that already had one would be getting a steal.

Sena

Aerek said:

Hell, unstrippable, no-tattoo-slot Mindseye is pretty powerful; you could double the price of it and the folks that already had one would be getting a steal.

Unstrippable, slotless mindseye that you can turn on and off instantly whenever you want, for convenient trueblind. It would be a great anti-serpent artefact (do druids/sentinels still use gaze/glare at all? If so, it would help there too) in addition to the convenience.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason there's no sight equivalent of Aural Earrings.

Kyrra

I'm baffled that people willing to waste thousands of credits on a text-based house that does little more than provide an environment and ambiance to roleplay in won't pay 150cr just to hear shouts while deaf so you can roleplay more.

I bought my aural earring to hear shouts and like most of my artifacts, I bought it because I don't want to bother with things decaying or needing to be re-enchanted. There's already in in-game solution which has been mentioned several times - remove deafness if you want to hear shouts. It might be an inconvenience for you but it's an inconvenience to me to change something that I personally see nothing wrong with.

I was also under the impression that the enchantments allowed shouts to be heard since mindseye tattoos allow you to hear while deaf.

Mindseye (Tattoos)                            Known: Yes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Syntax:            TOUCH MINDSEYE

                   

Extra Information: Inks: 2 Blue inks

                   1 Green ink

Works on/against:  Self

Details:

This will allow you to see and hear most things while deaf and blind.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melodie

Sena said:

Aerek said:

Hell, unstrippable, no-tattoo-slot Mindseye is pretty powerful; you could double the price of it and the folks that already had one would be getting a steal.

Unstrippable, slotless mindseye that you can turn on and off instantly whenever you want, for convenient trueblind. It would be a great anti-serpent artefact (do druids/sentinels still use gaze/glare at all? If so, it would help there too) in addition to the convenience.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason there's no sight equivalent of Aural Earrings.

Yeah, I can see where this would be an issue. Uncertain if the amount of buff in the artefact (in this form) would be acceptable. Will leave that to the combative experts.

Aegoth

I, as a magi, support the notion of encouraging people not to keep deafness up. Please please please continue to integrate this ideal into a standardized normative behaviour for our small community. Kyrra and Klendathu will have my eternal thanks

Nim

Given the theme of discussion is "let's make the artefact interesting and useful in a way that isn't an obvious (and ugly) money grab artefact," how is it at all an inconvenience to you, @Kyrra?

Ulrike

Kyrra said:

It might be an inconvenience for you but it's an inconvenience to me to change something that I personally see nothing wrong with.

...so?

Kandra

Melodie said:

Sena said:

Aerek said:

Hell, unstrippable, no-tattoo-slot Mindseye is pretty powerful; you could double the price of it and the folks that already had one would be getting a steal.

Unstrippable, slotless mindseye that you can turn on and off instantly whenever you want, for convenient trueblind. It would be a great anti-serpent artefact (do druids/sentinels still use gaze/glare at all? If so, it would help there too) in addition to the convenience.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason there's no sight equivalent of Aural Earrings.

Yeah, I can see where this would be an issue. Uncertain if the amount of buff in the artefact (in this form) would be acceptable. Will leave that to the combative experts.

So give it a balance to wear it like armour used to have. Then it's no different than touching mindseye.

Kyrra

@Nim, it's well known that you're anti-artefacts and refuse to buy them, or contribute back anything toward the game that you're freely playing.

It's a basic fact that without deafness up, you can hear shouts just fine. It's a perk that you lose when you put deafness up. Instead of altering an artefact that has nothing wrong with it, why don't people fix the enchantments to actually do something useful on a temporary basis and leave the artefacts for people that don't mind paying for a permanent convenience.

Sena

Kandra said:

So give it a balance to wear it like armour used to have. Then it's no different than touching mindseye.

The main benefit is being able to remove it at all, not just being able to wear/remove it instantly. Even if it took 2 seconds of balance to remove, that would still be a significant bonus against serpents (since being blind without mindseye prevents hypnosis, forcing the serpent to cure your blindness before they can hypnotise you).

The ability to RELAX MINDSEYE was added once, and it barely lasted a day before it was washed away in a flood of serpent tears.

Aerek

Sena said:

Aerek said:

Hell, unstrippable, no-tattoo-slot Mindseye is pretty powerful; you could double the price of it and the folks that already had one would be getting a steal.

Unstrippable, slotless mindseye that you can turn on and off instantly whenever you want, for convenient trueblind. It would be a great anti-serpent artefact (do druids/sentinels still use gaze/glare at all? If so, it would help there too) in addition to the convenience.

I'm pretty sure that's the reason there's no sight equivalent of Aural Earrings.

Honestly the blind-no-mindseye "defenses" against certain skills have never made much sense to me from a mechanical standpoint. You can't actually play the game wandering around blind without mindseye, and it's been established that you're not supposed to be able to use blindness without mindseye as a pratical defense against Hypnosis and so forth, so why does those skills' dependency on blindness/mindseye still exist? What would be lost by removing that weird loophole? It's obvious we're not supposed to abuse it, so why not just close it?

Kyrra said:

I'm baffled that people willing to waste thousands of credits on a text-based house that does little more than provide an environment and ambiance to roleplay in won't pay 150cr just to hear shouts while deaf so you can roleplay more.

Because there's no justifiable reason for it to be necessary. I didn't realize that Aural Earrings were the mark of the monied, job-creating elite. I hope my country club membership and seats at the conservative party fundraisers aren't in jeopardy.

Klendathu

There's no reason that you can justify doesn't mean there's no reason others can't justify. No-one's forcing anyone to buy aural earrings, no-ones's forcing anyone to remain deaf, etc. Melodie sees an issue, I don't. Difference of opinion.

Shirszae

In other words, yes please.

Saeva

Kyrra said:

I'm baffled that people willing to waste thousands of credits on a text-based house that does little more than provide an environment and ambiance to roleplay in won't pay 150cr just to hear shouts while deaf so you can roleplay more.

I bought my aural earring to hear shouts and like most of my artifacts, I bought it because I don't want to bother with things decaying or needing to be re-enchanted. There's already in in-game solution which has been mentioned several times - remove deafness if you want to hear shouts. It might be an inconvenience for you but it's an inconvenience to me to change something that I personally see nothing wrong with.

I was also under the impression that the enchantments allowed shouts to be heard since mindseye tattoos allow you to hear while deaf.

Mindseye (Tattoos)                            Known: Yes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Syntax:            TOUCH MINDSEYE

                   

Extra Information: Inks: 2 Blue inks

                   1 Green ink

Works on/against:  Self

Details:

This will allow you to see and hear most things while deaf and blind.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel like you're 100% missing the point of this thread. Yeah, we're very aware that mindeye and the enchanted earring give you an ability to hear MOST things while deaf. But expecting anyone to be undeaf is honestly pretty stupid in a game that is so combat focused (yeah I am super aware it's not all combat, but it's a huge part of the gameworld regardless of how some people may play) that you're able to partake in SOME but not ALL of the hearing benefits.
You demonstrated -really- well that people would still buy the earring, even if the enchanted earring allowed you to hear shouts. Why? Because like I said, people will still buy an artefact of an enchantment so that they don't have to worry about decay and re-enchantments. Just like resistance rings etc etc!

Also, Silas, some of us have plenty of money. But there's also a principle to the matter. It's stupid that anyone, for any reason, is excluded from gamewide interactions unless they invest credits specifically. Not everyone doesn't buy things because they are plebs scrounging through trashcans and couch cushions for a little treasure! Sometimes we don't want to spend money on things that are unreasonable! This isn't like some special privilege... it's literally just hearing what the hell people are saying.
And so we make threads to raise problems in hope that the admin will reexamine the situation and perhaps make a positive change. Hm.

Saeva

Also, just to clarify, I'm not saying you are stupid, Kyrra, just saying that it's a stupid mechanic in my personal opinion, and I think a lot of people agree with that sentiment.

Florentino

No one's stopping you from spending your money willy-nilly like a nincompoop. But basic game functionality (RP via shouts) shouldn't be inaccessible or have overly onerous requirements (which going without deafness is). 

Kyrra/Klendathu clearly aren't going to quit the game over a change in functionality in their useless convenience artefacts, but seeing some awesome RP shout might be the reason a newer midbie who (like every other midbie in the game has been told to be blind/deaf at all times because it's an important defense) decides to stay and check it out further. Do it.

Amarillys

Florentino said:

every other midbie in the game has been told to be blind/deaf at all times because it's an important defense

This is my first time being told this...

Jhui

for a temporary fix, someone can relay shouts to a clan, army, or city channel if you have someone with aural earrings and wanna toss them a trigger.

At least until the boss chimes in.

Eld

Jhui said:

for a temporary fix, someone can relay shouts to a clan, army, or city channel if you have someone with aural earrings and wanna toss them a trigger.

At least until the boss chimes in.

This is basically all I use at least one OOC clan for these days (though in the form of listening to chatter and asking who shouted what, rather than people automatically relaying them). Triggering repeating shouts to CT would probably get, um, shouted down in most cities.

Klendathu

The same argument could be applied to a lot of artefacts, hanging the "it's ruining our RP" banner on it doesn't change that.

Shirszae

It does when you people haven't mustered a single valid counter-point. Your collective objections could well be surmised as, "We like it this way because it shows how much more rich we are than the common peasants."

Klendathu

Shirszae said:

It does when you people haven't mustered a single valid counter-point. Your collective objections could well be surmised as, "We like it this way because it shows how much more rich we are than the common peasants."

Using the same type of logic, the arguments for changing could be surmised as "We don't want to pay for this, so change it". There's a cost to having the deafness defence, it's missing out on shouts. If you don't want that ongoing cost, buy the artefact. That's my argument, not some facile attempt to lord it over anyone. To me, being able to hear shouts when deaf was worth the investment of 150 cr. To others, paying 1250 credits for a single point of strength (level 3 gauntlets vs level 2) is worth the investment.

Reductio ad absurdum: My character should be stronger, My character works out every day. It's ruining my character's RP not being stronger. I shouldn't have to pay for it. It's not fair.