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Shop of Wonders Items for Younger Chars
Simple, give newer players a chance to buy old Shop of Wonders items, coinciding with crown sales. I realize this can be "gamed" to some degree (if you want to call it that), but only if you're going to build a new char and spend a billion credits on it anyway.
So, I am an older player who did get a shot at all Mayan Crown items, and I love my platinum whistle, for example. I would be very sad if I were a newer player and found out that I *might* be able to get one by slogging through trying to assemble one through pieces (when they're available), putting up ads, constantly asking on market, and ultimately probably paying far too much for what *is* a neat little perk, but even when I paid 7 crowns for mine, I thought that was a lot for a neat little doohickey. I honestly hate the business model of Shop of Wonders anyway, but one of the worst things about it is that for new players, it does end up being "well, I'm a few centuries old, and I got mine"! This would just give those new chars a shot at some of those neat little perks, but doesn't really interfere with the (in my opinion awful but oh well) Shop of Wonders business model overall.
So, I am an older player who did get a shot at all Mayan Crown items, and I love my platinum whistle, for example. I would be very sad if I were a newer player and found out that I *might* be able to get one by slogging through trying to assemble one through pieces (when they're available), putting up ads, constantly asking on market, and ultimately probably paying far too much for what *is* a neat little perk, but even when I paid 7 crowns for mine, I thought that was a lot for a neat little doohickey. I honestly hate the business model of Shop of Wonders anyway, but one of the worst things about it is that for new players, it does end up being "well, I'm a few centuries old, and I got mine"! This would just give those new chars a shot at some of those neat little perks, but doesn't really interfere with the (in my opinion awful but oh well) Shop of Wonders business model overall.
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I too have a platinum whistle, but I went through the hassle of getting all the parts and possibly "paying too much"
Are you asking that discontinued items should be made available to newly created characters (and nobody else) during crown sales?
That doesn't seem much fairer than the status quo, really. Why should someone who was around but unable to get an item when it was available (e.g. due to dormancy or not being able to afford it at the time) get no chance at getting the item again, but someone playing a new character will?
And if you don't make that distinction, that basically just means that the discontinuation of items is rescinded to begin with.
As much as it may suck not being able to get a particular item because it's no longer available, there are reasons for this. One reason is that some of the discontinued items were OP. The other is that only keeping items for sale for a while keeps them something special and valuable.
One problem with normal arties is that the longer they are available, the more people have them, and before long, they become part of the expected equipment of players (particularly combatants), leading to a status quo where nobody has something special again, but you have to pay good money to not be sub-par.
If you like it or not, the incentive to buy arties is scarcity. If it was just about adding conveniences for everyone, it would be better to ask for the game mechanics to change so that the artie effects apply to everyone. Wanting Achaea to have arties implies wanting functionalities being limited to a selection of players.
→My Mudlet Scripts
→My Mudlet Scripts
Edit: Just reread your previous post and realised you're suggesting it would last close to a RL year, so that does make it more likely that some newbies could take advantage of it.
→My Mudlet Scripts
Seriously though, if you're new, getting SoW items should be the furthest thing from your mind, and I guarantee you for a large majority of people actually new to Achaea, it is. They're more concerned with avoiding waterboarding by the Kobolds, being able to eat on a regular basis, crossing a river without drowning, and so on and so forth.
It sounds more like you want cheaper SoW prices, whether for your or an alt. There are plenty of 'neat' things that new players can obtain early on (helloooo, Blademaster swords? Seriously, Waking Krakens. I rest my case).
I like that there are a set of items which are unique and have that "limited, one time offer" sort of stipulation, and that you can't outright buy them with credits.
By definition, SoW items are just supposed to be nifty little perks, and while their run lasts, they're pretty much a regular item. I knew some players might be against this, but I'm a little taken aback by the all or nothing view some of you are taking on the idea of fairness here. Most of the time, you make things as fair as you can, given the situation, and I really do think it would be nice to provide newer players with the same shot at getting those nifty little perks that some of us had. I'd be even happier if the current SoW business model were totally scrapped, but I know there's about zero chance of that.
As for my own interest, I have all of the Shop of Wonders items I could ever want, and it's extremely unlikely that I'd want or need them on alt (especially the ones that are currently unavailable, neat as they are). Just to be crystal clear, I have exactly one alt, which languishes unplayed for the foreseeable future. While I do intend to do something with her someday, it probably won't be soon, and I'd be incredibly easy to exclude from this idea because she's registered/credits purchased with all of the same information Jules is.
It's almost like saying item customisations should be 10 credits per, because then 'new players' would be able to afford them. If you want nice things beyond what's readily available in the generic variety, you gotta save up and pay for them. This isn't the Oprah show where everyone gets a free artefact. We're talking some really interesting and unique items in the SoW.
When I started out I saw some of the SoW items and thought, "Wow...I'd like to have something like that one day." One day being after I learned my skills and properly equipped myself. Guess what....I ended up getting it, just had to work a little for it.
This notion that SoW items need to be cheaper or more easily available because it would be 'fair' really just sounds like it's for other reasons. 'Fair' is not a concept which has an inherent place when it comes to discussing high (and sometimes questionable) value items available for acquisition. I really don't see how it's -not- fair considering they could simply make all such items available only through quarterly auctions, in which only the person with the most gold (Eff you, @Cresil) gets the item. Instead, they're available to anyone who can pony up the Crowns for them, and that sounds pretty fair to me.
"Hey, you're new, so we're going to offer you and only other new people the opportunity to buy this nifty little whatchamacallit, for the low, low price of 3 Mayan Crowns. That's roughly 150 credits, kiddo. What a deal! What a steal! This is a one time offer available only now. Whaddya say, sport? Oh, you can't afford it because you spent all your gold on equipment and vials? Well that's too bad!"
Right...'fair'.
Edit: In hindsight, I should have just stole Trey's idea and went with: "This idea is bad and you should feel bad." Good luck.
I'd love a (insert desirable antique item of your choice) but you can't get them any more. (Model T Ford?)
No, but for srsly, I would love a trader's satchel (or a hundred. Can I have a hundred?), a crafter's portfolio (or 5), that nifty obfuscated vial, DEFINITELY A SCEPTRE, and maybe a pretty birdy?
But I can't. Why? It was a once in a lifetime deal and Ama was born too late for it. Does that suck? Yeah, a little. Is it unfair? No. Not really. No more than it's unfair I can't ever get any of the promo pets that were around, or the waterskin thing I heard about, or who knows what other promo item that happened at some point. Why? Because that's just how things work. What do I get? I get lesson packs that the older adventurers didn't have when they were tots. I get experienced people around to guide me that they didn't have. I get some amazing people to roleplay with. I get the rennaisance. I get the new trade skills. I get motherfucking multi-class, damn it. Do they older people get this? Yes. But they have had to wait years and years for things they didn't even know they wanted. I have to wait months. AND I get a say in some of it. So eff you, trader satchels and pretty birdies. I'm too cool for you! Not having you? That's a sign I'm privileged enough to be dealing with the exact people who are around right now teaching me the exact things I have learned and getting the exact RPs I have found. And that? That's worth it.
(Seriously, though, if someone could give me a time machine so I can get either those apple stocks and/or the trader's satchels, I would be happy.)
This can probably be resolved by refluffing old SoW items with household-level effects. Those letter things are a great way of doing this, refluffing those on a regular basis would be great. Some things are a bit harder to refluff, but I think it'd be cool if there were a subset of SoW items (or maybe even just miscellaneous mostly-for-fun-or-minor-utility artefacts) that changed over time, but could also be customized for extra or something.
I agree with the spirit of what @Jules wants, since honestly I prefer most SoW items over artefacts. Cool flavor effects with ideally minimal gameplay benefits? That's my kind of artefact. Making it a double hassle for me to actually get them? Ew.
The implementation, on the other hand, is flawed for reasons people have already stated. Since there's a lot of repeating going on in this thread as well, I'll join in on the fun!
How do you define a newbie? How do you balance this to achieve the desired amount of fairness? Why would a new player necessarily care about getting a SoW item, over more important things like lessons? Is it necessarily fair to players who might have bought it just for a perceived (albeit, unless I'm mistaken, not necessarily guaranteed) scarcity to suddenly reduce said scarcity? etc.