Here are some easy tips to speed up the grind which you may or may not already know about.
Press 1 for OK, Press 2 for Cancel
This usually applies even when the option isn't denoted, like when you are trading bounty currency for something and there is no quantity slider. Instead of clicking on OK each time, press 1 to speed up the process.
Aim above the person/item you want to interact with
Helpful if there's a stack of players (or just one mounted on a T-rex) in front of that banker, vendor or gate transition.
Check old campaign stores
Especially if you've been doing the weekly legacy quests, you may have enough to trade for boxes of AD. While you are at it, visit the seal vendors in the market as they hand out AD as well, and if you are really desperate - gold bars are more readily available in Protector's Enclave now to trade on auction.
Avoid fighting if you can (now easier with the free faster mount speed)
Fighting eats up most of the time. If you can brush off the damage and don't need to interact with anything, just run past. In those instances even if the trash does catch you, its quicker to annihilate them simultaneously rather than handle each individual group. Remember you can also speed up some vertical drops by simply jumping down - and if your character can evade, you can even negate all of the damage.
Showing posts with label Gold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gold. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Neverwinter Online: Four Life Hacks
Monday, 17 June 2019
KCD: Money solves Everything
[Part of the Kingdom Come: Deliverance journal.]
To the surprise of no one at all, money can solve everything in this game! Not only can you buy better gear or better horses, you can also use it to buy things NPCs want (rather than find them), or to bribe people and pay fines. Fines?
Well, when you are seen committing a crime such as picking a lot, robbing a place, pick pocketing, or knocking people out - you get a fine (remember to surrender to the guards "G" unless you want to try killing everyone). The highest I've seen is 750g which is chump change for someone walking around with over 100k.
It's also worth noting that in Rattay, the guards have a mandate to search you randomly while in the city and will confiscate and fine you if they find stolen goods on your person. If said stolen goods are on your horse you are fine. Or, bribe him with 20g to let you carry your high value illicit goods as you please. :P
Lastly, remember to buy Saviour Shnapps - the "save game" potion. Yes, you can only save the game by drinking this or by sleeping in a bed allocated for you. These restock daily and can be found at inns, taverns, bathhouses, alchemists, and regular traders.
To the surprise of no one at all, money can solve everything in this game! Not only can you buy better gear or better horses, you can also use it to buy things NPCs want (rather than find them), or to bribe people and pay fines. Fines?
Well, when you are seen committing a crime such as picking a lot, robbing a place, pick pocketing, or knocking people out - you get a fine (remember to surrender to the guards "G" unless you want to try killing everyone). The highest I've seen is 750g which is chump change for someone walking around with over 100k.
It's also worth noting that in Rattay, the guards have a mandate to search you randomly while in the city and will confiscate and fine you if they find stolen goods on your person. If said stolen goods are on your horse you are fine. Or, bribe him with 20g to let you carry your high value illicit goods as you please. :P
The correct answer is always to pay.
Lastly, remember to buy Saviour Shnapps - the "save game" potion. Yes, you can only save the game by drinking this or by sleeping in a bed allocated for you. These restock daily and can be found at inns, taverns, bathhouses, alchemists, and regular traders.
Thursday, 7 March 2019
MMO Design: Limited Resource Design
[Part of the Design Folder]
DMDavid's Adventurer's League quick start document has many interesting ideas that I would like to see in an MMO setting. A summary of intriguing mechanics that I've altered slightly for MMO consumption:
-Players only gain gold when they level up, with higher amounts awarded for higher levels. Once a player reaches max level they can get no more gold.
-Gold can only be used to buy mundane (non magical) gear and/or services from NPC merchants. A healing potion is an example of magical gear that you cannot buy with gold.
-Players gain level through advancement points, which are gained via quest progression and not necessarily by killing monsters. They cannot be farmed. More advancement points are required to advance to higher levels.
-Monsters will only drop quest/adventure appropriate items. Not loot and not EXP in the traditional sense.
-Players also gain treasure points by leveling up, with more points awarded for higher levels. Once players reach level cap, they can gain no more treasure points.
-Treasure points are spent on NPCs who sell powerful magic equipment - like, a single use healing potion. All this magic gear is of the consumable type, that is having a fixed amount of uses and then is gone. A magic sword might have 10 swings before returning to a normal sword permanently for example. Even the cheapest magic item will require multiple levels worth of treasure points to purchase.
-Gold, treasure points and advancement points cannot be traded / bartered between players but equipment (regular and magic) can. Equipment can never be sold back to NPC merchants for their corresponding currency.
As you might appreciate, this strongly pushes players to have characters "retire" at end game - but it also might encourage multi-toons because to fight "that last boss" I need / want to send my best guy with all the best magic gear... which only happens if he is equipped by other people.
There might even be a "retire" option (so the server can save on character slots) which sets aside the old adventurer permanently but gives your new character a magic item or two from the old one, if the veteran was of high enough level - or perhaps spent enough gold in his will.
If you wanted to "hard core" it, permadeath can also be applied again using the "will" system to pass on some hard earned items. In this particular case I don't think it is required though, and death being just a time penalty (returning the player to a spawn point) is enough since the limited resource design will eventually lead the players to the end/rebirth.
Now, one caveat of such a game is that there must be more quests than levels - and that the easier quest options become "non-rewarding" once you get past a certain level to avoid people that just go after low hanging fruit.
What do you think? Would such a game interest you?
DMDavid's Adventurer's League quick start document has many interesting ideas that I would like to see in an MMO setting. A summary of intriguing mechanics that I've altered slightly for MMO consumption:
-Players only gain gold when they level up, with higher amounts awarded for higher levels. Once a player reaches max level they can get no more gold.
-Gold can only be used to buy mundane (non magical) gear and/or services from NPC merchants. A healing potion is an example of magical gear that you cannot buy with gold.
-Players gain level through advancement points, which are gained via quest progression and not necessarily by killing monsters. They cannot be farmed. More advancement points are required to advance to higher levels.
-Monsters will only drop quest/adventure appropriate items. Not loot and not EXP in the traditional sense.
-Players also gain treasure points by leveling up, with more points awarded for higher levels. Once players reach level cap, they can gain no more treasure points.
-Treasure points are spent on NPCs who sell powerful magic equipment - like, a single use healing potion. All this magic gear is of the consumable type, that is having a fixed amount of uses and then is gone. A magic sword might have 10 swings before returning to a normal sword permanently for example. Even the cheapest magic item will require multiple levels worth of treasure points to purchase.
-Gold, treasure points and advancement points cannot be traded / bartered between players but equipment (regular and magic) can. Equipment can never be sold back to NPC merchants for their corresponding currency.
As you might appreciate, this strongly pushes players to have characters "retire" at end game - but it also might encourage multi-toons because to fight "that last boss" I need / want to send my best guy with all the best magic gear... which only happens if he is equipped by other people.
There might even be a "retire" option (so the server can save on character slots) which sets aside the old adventurer permanently but gives your new character a magic item or two from the old one, if the veteran was of high enough level - or perhaps spent enough gold in his will.
If you wanted to "hard core" it, permadeath can also be applied again using the "will" system to pass on some hard earned items. In this particular case I don't think it is required though, and death being just a time penalty (returning the player to a spawn point) is enough since the limited resource design will eventually lead the players to the end/rebirth.
Now, one caveat of such a game is that there must be more quests than levels - and that the easier quest options become "non-rewarding" once you get past a certain level to avoid people that just go after low hanging fruit.
What do you think? Would such a game interest you?
Thursday, 22 November 2018
Neverwinter Online: Gold Bars Tip
While I am reserving my thoughts for the latest module, The Heart of Fire, and the workshop / profession changes that came with it for a later time, I did want to share this tiny thing that is probably old news to many but for me it's totally new!
At the Driftwood Tavern in Protector's Enclave, you can buy a treasure item called "Gold Bar" which trades at a 1:1 ratio for a gold coin (regular currency). Why is this of any use? Because you can then sell the bars at the auction house to make Astral Diamonds!
That gave me a small windfall for enchantment upgrades, so for those with extra gold lying around, it might do the same for you. :) As to why the tavern sells gold bars, it is a mystery! I'll just put it down to money laundering.
At the Driftwood Tavern in Protector's Enclave, you can buy a treasure item called "Gold Bar" which trades at a 1:1 ratio for a gold coin (regular currency). Why is this of any use? Because you can then sell the bars at the auction house to make Astral Diamonds!
That gave me a small windfall for enchantment upgrades, so for those with extra gold lying around, it might do the same for you. :) As to why the tavern sells gold bars, it is a mystery! I'll just put it down to money laundering.
Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Skyrim: The Settling Dust
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
With Miraak gone, Frea would now fill her dead shaman dad's shoes and protect her village. Sero and I also informed Neloth of what transpired and like any decent wizard, he already knew. His apprentice Talvas was up to shenanigans though, having summoned an uncontrollable ash atronarch which slew Neloth's steward before we could intervene. The wizard tasked us with hiring a replacement.
On our way back to Raven Rock we stopped by Ralis' dig to find that progress has been impeded by draugr. Typical. While Sero went in to clear it out, I gave another 2000 gold for him to find replacement labor. We then did a much bigger detour as I remembered we had a key to some long lost pirate treasure and found the burial site of Deathbrand. This guy was buried in style, with piles of gold and treasure in the antechamber.
Apart from the expected draugr we also had to deal with Deathbrand's angry ghost (because, why not). I wish I could say he was a decent fighter, but apparently you can slice the necks of ghosts? We cleared out that lair and returned to Raven Rock. For his services and for surviving the majority of Solstheim, I split the treasure with Teldryn Sero - giving him all of Deathbrand's gear too. I felt he was skilled enough now to be an adventuring hero in his own right, something that is rare for an NPC to attain if you've been following this journal from the start. :P
With Miraak gone, Frea would now fill her dead shaman dad's shoes and protect her village. Sero and I also informed Neloth of what transpired and like any decent wizard, he already knew. His apprentice Talvas was up to shenanigans though, having summoned an uncontrollable ash atronarch which slew Neloth's steward before we could intervene. The wizard tasked us with hiring a replacement.
On our way back to Raven Rock we stopped by Ralis' dig to find that progress has been impeded by draugr. Typical. While Sero went in to clear it out, I gave another 2000 gold for him to find replacement labor. We then did a much bigger detour as I remembered we had a key to some long lost pirate treasure and found the burial site of Deathbrand. This guy was buried in style, with piles of gold and treasure in the antechamber.
Now that's more like it!
Apart from the expected draugr we also had to deal with Deathbrand's angry ghost (because, why not). I wish I could say he was a decent fighter, but apparently you can slice the necks of ghosts? We cleared out that lair and returned to Raven Rock. For his services and for surviving the majority of Solstheim, I split the treasure with Teldryn Sero - giving him all of Deathbrand's gear too. I felt he was skilled enough now to be an adventuring hero in his own right, something that is rare for an NPC to attain if you've been following this journal from the start. :P
So many things wrong with this picture.
Sunday, 28 August 2016
Skyrim: After the Fact
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Continuing East, Sero and I came across an archeologist named Ralis who believed he had found the tomb of Ahzidal, but since it was covered in ash was looking for a financial backer to help him dig it up. Since gold is not something I'm short of, I gave him the 1,000 pieces he needed to get started then continued on the hunt for the source of ash spawn.
Apparently they were coming from some run down fort, and their general had some foreign ore keeping him alive (much like a briar heart). A few backstabs later and we were reporting our success back at Raven Rock, but our task wasn't finished. The guard captain suspected that a rival house had spies in town and so I got to teach Sero about breaking, entering and snooping. Or at least tried to.
A mother, daughter pair were the prime suspects so while I cautiously snuck into their house like a shadow, Sero pulled out his sword and gutted them both. Fortunately we found proof that they were indeed guilty after the fact, as well as a location where their main force was waiting. The local councilman was nice enough to sent two guardsmen ahead but by the time we got there they had already been killed by the inhabitants of the place: Morag Tong assassins. They had some interesting traps in there, but nothing that posed any trouble for me or my bodyguard and soon they were the ones either getting backstabbed or ragdolled across the halls.
Back outside, we noticed the sun stone nearby we decided to free that too. Again Sero almost died but was ultimately successful against the lurker, saving one of the enthralled people. I think he's getting the hang of this.
Continuing East, Sero and I came across an archeologist named Ralis who believed he had found the tomb of Ahzidal, but since it was covered in ash was looking for a financial backer to help him dig it up. Since gold is not something I'm short of, I gave him the 1,000 pieces he needed to get started then continued on the hunt for the source of ash spawn.
Apparently they were coming from some run down fort, and their general had some foreign ore keeping him alive (much like a briar heart). A few backstabs later and we were reporting our success back at Raven Rock, but our task wasn't finished. The guard captain suspected that a rival house had spies in town and so I got to teach Sero about breaking, entering and snooping. Or at least tried to.
He just couldn't control himself.
A mother, daughter pair were the prime suspects so while I cautiously snuck into their house like a shadow, Sero pulled out his sword and gutted them both. Fortunately we found proof that they were indeed guilty after the fact, as well as a location where their main force was waiting. The local councilman was nice enough to sent two guardsmen ahead but by the time we got there they had already been killed by the inhabitants of the place: Morag Tong assassins. They had some interesting traps in there, but nothing that posed any trouble for me or my bodyguard and soon they were the ones either getting backstabbed or ragdolled across the halls.
And you call yourselves assassins...
Back outside, we noticed the sun stone nearby we decided to free that too. Again Sero almost died but was ultimately successful against the lurker, saving one of the enthralled people. I think he's getting the hang of this.
Friday, 17 June 2016
Skyrim: Out of the Ordinary
Adventures in Skyrim - spoilers ahead! You can follow the rest of the story here!
Our trip to Markarth was cut short by the fact that all the guards still were after me for slaying that wandering vamp in the streets (whose body was still lying there I might add, all these years later). Fortunately the Arbiter's helm also came with a special ability: Megaphoning his deep decree and scaring everyone away for a good amount of time. I used this to collect all the stuff in my home in that city and with Guomundr and Red Shadow's help (horsey), transported it all to Solitude.
In hind sight I should really just pay off the guards. That's what all this gold is for right? Anyway, once there I again studiously worked on blacksmithing, finding I could craft a most powerful weapon...
I soon received word from Njada that strange things were being seen on the Eastern border of the region, so I left Captain Guomundr there to watch over my stash in Solitude (the guy earned a break), and instead recruited Captain Gamli, Captain Ghoragdag and the Hunter to scout out the snowy, mountainous area. And boy did we find something out of the ordinary.
Our trip to Markarth was cut short by the fact that all the guards still were after me for slaying that wandering vamp in the streets (whose body was still lying there I might add, all these years later). Fortunately the Arbiter's helm also came with a special ability: Megaphoning his deep decree and scaring everyone away for a good amount of time. I used this to collect all the stuff in my home in that city and with Guomundr and Red Shadow's help (horsey), transported it all to Solitude.
In hind sight I should really just pay off the guards. That's what all this gold is for right? Anyway, once there I again studiously worked on blacksmithing, finding I could craft a most powerful weapon...
Totally not overpowered...
I soon received word from Njada that strange things were being seen on the Eastern border of the region, so I left Captain Guomundr there to watch over my stash in Solitude (the guy earned a break), and instead recruited Captain Gamli, Captain Ghoragdag and the Hunter to scout out the snowy, mountainous area. And boy did we find something out of the ordinary.
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
NBI 2015: Poetry Slam - PIXEL MONEY!
Here is my entry to this year's NBI poetry slam (which you only have a few days left to join in)! The topic this year is "Gold" and I thought this piece rightly shows just what most MMO players (myself included) are actually doing, be it intentional or not. I apologize now for the adult language and non-standard rhyme format. :P
-PIXEL MONEY-
Shiny coins, gold and wealth,
in game its better than health,
cause all life is cheap and free:
You just want that pixel money!
You can buy armor and pots,
home decor, weapons, lots!
Show off your bling if thats your thing!
Make your pixel money sing!
It's also pretty easy to get:
find a mob that ain't a threat,
kill it dead, make your hand red,
you'll get that pixel money yet!
Yup - its not made by a bank,
and it always smells very rank
the truth hits you with each scoop:
you're collecting critter poop!
They have bags you say?
Does that brighten your day?
What about those rats, spiders and bats?
Tentacled aliens or giant gnats?
You've found gold in them too
But have never before gone "Eww",
Cause you want what they've got
and you want awhole lot!
GET THAT PIXEL MONEY!
Rob that critter for PIXEL MONEY!
Reach into that corpse for PIXEL MONEY!
Up to your elbows in PIXEL MONEY!
Fill your bags with PIXEL MONEY!
Test it with your teeth! PIXEL MONEY!
Shower your friends with PIXEL MONEY!
Tell everyone about your PIXEL MONEY!
Cause he who has the most wins!
PIXEL MONEY!
-PIXEL MONEY-
Shiny coins, gold and wealth,
in game its better than health,
cause all life is cheap and free:
You just want that pixel money!
You can buy armor and pots,
home decor, weapons, lots!
Show off your bling if thats your thing!
Make your pixel money sing!
It's also pretty easy to get:
find a mob that ain't a threat,
kill it dead, make your hand red,
you'll get that pixel money yet!
Yup - its not made by a bank,
and it always smells very rank
the truth hits you with each scoop:
you're collecting critter poop!
They have bags you say?
Does that brighten your day?
What about those rats, spiders and bats?
Tentacled aliens or giant gnats?
You've found gold in them too
But have never before gone "Eww",
Cause you want what they've got
and you want awhole lot!
GET THAT PIXEL MONEY!
Rob that critter for PIXEL MONEY!
Reach into that corpse for PIXEL MONEY!
Up to your elbows in PIXEL MONEY!
Fill your bags with PIXEL MONEY!
Test it with your teeth! PIXEL MONEY!
Shower your friends with PIXEL MONEY!
Tell everyone about your PIXEL MONEY!
Cause he who has the most wins!
PIXEL MONEY!
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
NBI: Join the 2015 Poetry Slam!
In keeping with tradition of the past NBIs, I'm inviting all the NBI participants from newbies to vets alike to participate in this year's official NBI Poetry Slam! Yes, our usual host, Syl of MMOGypsy is sadly unavailable this time around but hopefully seeing all your entries will encourage her swift return! :)
Rules:
-This Poetry Slam ends on May 30, 2015 as it gives me the last day of the NBI to post up a link to all your entries! Just like all previous Poetry Slams, there are only winners in this competition. ;)
-All entries can be as long or short as you like. Free verse, classic rhyme, limericks, haikus, screenshot poetry, song lyrics, abstract poetry, all are fair game. Unleash your creativity! Then put it up as a post in your blog and either post links of your contributions in the comments below or at the NBI 2015 Poetry Slam thread on the forums. While you only need one entry to participate, you are free to put up as many as you like, just be sure to link all of them.
-The topic for this year is: "Gold (or whatever gaming currency you like)!" How you get it, spend it, want it, hate it, throw it away, use it as decoration... anything. Real world currencies are also valid as long as it still pertains to it's use in-game, buying games, paying subscriptions, etc.
-Try avoid using the Spandau Ballet song. :P
I look forward to reading all your entries!
Other current NBI activities:
-Moderate Peril's offer for you (newbie NBIs) to guest post on his site is still available! Don't be shy!
-Gaming Event Setup Discussion! Have your say in both the forums and on Izzy's blog!
-Talkback Challenge #1: How did Gamergate Affect you?
-J3w3l's Gaming Grudge Match: This week is Agar.io.
Consume and be consumed by horribly named (PKs) cells in this competitive game!
-Murf's Screenshot Safari!
-Jeromai's Impromptu Writing Prompts (found at the bottom of the post)!
[Technique Demonstration for NBI Newbies: I won't be updating my blog for a few days so this post remains at the "top" to try get more exposure.]
Monday, 15 December 2014
MMO Design: Gold Denial
[Part of my MMO Design Folder.]
You might recall me mentioning I'd do a post about "Gold Denial" (stop players from gaining gold) a short while back, which is an alternative to a "Gold Sink" (make players spend gold on x) but I was having trouble thinking up of a valid way to do this while still letting players feel they are "improving". Fortunately for me, Cryptic has already answered that question in Neverwinter Online with the introduction of Artifact Equipment. Let's go over the basics first for those who don't play.
In that game, killing enemies gives you items and a pretty small amount of coinage. Selling said items were what really brought in your gold, especially the higher tiered, rarer gear - the rarest of which actually is more profitable to be sold for other currencies on the player market. Like Diablo, some equipment has gem slots where you can enhance various traits or damage, depending on the gem. You can also enhance the gem quality by feeding it other gems to make it stronger and to make the progress meter break through to the next "level" you need special items that cost quite a bit and face an ever increasing chance of destroying them the higher the level is.
Since gems are just commonly dropped by bad guys though you could just be patient getting them and selling the excess gear for money. With Tiamat's arrival, players now have access to potentially powerful Artifact Equipment which doesn't eat gems to advance - it eats other equipment! Specifically it eats other "identified" equipment, since most things that drop are unidentified (and you sell them that way) this also diminishes the stacks and stacks of ID scrolls (another common drop) people are carrying.
This way players still get that feeling of improvement, yet at the same time have their gold income potentially cut down to almost zero. For awhile at least. A long while. Max rank for each artifact item is 60 which counts needs a total of 4,645,200 refinement points to reach. The most common gear gives around 100 points when consumed. Given that people can and will have multiple artifact items (cloak, belt, main hand, off-hand, etc) this acts as an awesome gold prevention method - which coupled by the gold sink that is Tiamat herself (on potions and injury kits) is good design, in my book anyway.
What do you think? Should this sort of system be introduced into more games?
You might recall me mentioning I'd do a post about "Gold Denial" (stop players from gaining gold) a short while back, which is an alternative to a "Gold Sink" (make players spend gold on x) but I was having trouble thinking up of a valid way to do this while still letting players feel they are "improving". Fortunately for me, Cryptic has already answered that question in Neverwinter Online with the introduction of Artifact Equipment. Let's go over the basics first for those who don't play.
In that game, killing enemies gives you items and a pretty small amount of coinage. Selling said items were what really brought in your gold, especially the higher tiered, rarer gear - the rarest of which actually is more profitable to be sold for other currencies on the player market. Like Diablo, some equipment has gem slots where you can enhance various traits or damage, depending on the gem. You can also enhance the gem quality by feeding it other gems to make it stronger and to make the progress meter break through to the next "level" you need special items that cost quite a bit and face an ever increasing chance of destroying them the higher the level is.
Since gems are just commonly dropped by bad guys though you could just be patient getting them and selling the excess gear for money. With Tiamat's arrival, players now have access to potentially powerful Artifact Equipment which doesn't eat gems to advance - it eats other equipment! Specifically it eats other "identified" equipment, since most things that drop are unidentified (and you sell them that way) this also diminishes the stacks and stacks of ID scrolls (another common drop) people are carrying.
This way players still get that feeling of improvement, yet at the same time have their gold income potentially cut down to almost zero. For awhile at least. A long while. Max rank for each artifact item is 60 which counts needs a total of 4,645,200 refinement points to reach. The most common gear gives around 100 points when consumed. Given that people can and will have multiple artifact items (cloak, belt, main hand, off-hand, etc) this acts as an awesome gold prevention method - which coupled by the gold sink that is Tiamat herself (on potions and injury kits) is good design, in my book anyway.
What do you think? Should this sort of system be introduced into more games?
Friday, 28 November 2014
MMOs: Cosmetic "Tax" Gold Sinks
[Added to my MMO Design Folder.]
Getting gold out of the game is always a challenge for MMOs, given the amount generated by often times simply killing critters. Or killing critters and then selling their junk to NPCs who never run out of gold to hand out (outside of some early shards of Ultima Online from personal experience). While I put aside the "gold denial" topic for another time, you are probably familiar with the usual gold sinks already present such as fast travel, goods only purchasable from NPCs (often consumables), and maybe even death tax (which seems to be phasing out).
Well, while playing Vindictus I struck upon a silly notion. Cosmetic gold sinks! "That's not new," I hear you say. Yes you can already buy haircuts or name changes or dye to color your clothes, but all of those are one off purchases, at least until you decide to change your look, name, or attire which isn't all that often in MMOs.
Gear that eventually goes *poof* or simply deteriorates to being worthless stat-wise has never been popular when I've brought it up here before but what about gear that frays, rusts, discolors, tears and chips? Even if it is the same powerful item it once was, would you still be ok wearing it if there were growing splotches of flashing pink and green? Or if all your armor slowly turned into a turd brown color with sploches of yellow, full of scratches, ding marks and holes?
Hair is a good one too. Just let it grow every x days spent in-game and the longer you don't tidy it up via NPC barber then the longer and more unkempt it goes. Male characters would have facial hair growing as well. I suppose you could opt to be bald at the start though. Leave it long enough and maybe flies even start buzzing around.
Would this simply lead to a world of bald and/or shaggily bearded hobos running around with rusty looking weapons or do you think people would pay to keep their character looking "good" (keeping in mind that regardless of looks, no stats/usability changes for players)? What do you think?
Getting gold out of the game is always a challenge for MMOs, given the amount generated by often times simply killing critters. Or killing critters and then selling their junk to NPCs who never run out of gold to hand out (outside of some early shards of Ultima Online from personal experience). While I put aside the "gold denial" topic for another time, you are probably familiar with the usual gold sinks already present such as fast travel, goods only purchasable from NPCs (often consumables), and maybe even death tax (which seems to be phasing out).
Well, while playing Vindictus I struck upon a silly notion. Cosmetic gold sinks! "That's not new," I hear you say. Yes you can already buy haircuts or name changes or dye to color your clothes, but all of those are one off purchases, at least until you decide to change your look, name, or attire which isn't all that often in MMOs.
Gear that eventually goes *poof* or simply deteriorates to being worthless stat-wise has never been popular when I've brought it up here before but what about gear that frays, rusts, discolors, tears and chips? Even if it is the same powerful item it once was, would you still be ok wearing it if there were growing splotches of flashing pink and green? Or if all your armor slowly turned into a turd brown color with sploches of yellow, full of scratches, ding marks and holes?
Hair is a good one too. Just let it grow every x days spent in-game and the longer you don't tidy it up via NPC barber then the longer and more unkempt it goes. Male characters would have facial hair growing as well. I suppose you could opt to be bald at the start though. Leave it long enough and maybe flies even start buzzing around.
Would this simply lead to a world of bald and/or shaggily bearded hobos running around with rusty looking weapons or do you think people would pay to keep their character looking "good" (keeping in mind that regardless of looks, no stats/usability changes for players)? What do you think?
Monday, 24 November 2014
Vindictus
For the past month I've been playing the free to play action MMO "Vindictus" a fair bit and obviously find it quite cool. That said it I also see that it has its fair share of problems. The town hubs really serve as the main MMO aspect of the game, where players can interact and pick up quests. All the action itself is packed away into segmented instances hosted by the party leader, so two parties adventuring in the same place will never meet by chance for example.
You will also be stuck with whatever class restrictions you chose at the start. For instance, I made a Kai (bow wielder), and while I can customize his appearance to be slightly more unique, I am restricted to bows as my primary weapon and can never use weapons or armor of the other classes. As expected, the story is quite linear too and the side quests while being optional and grindy, are really optimal places to get EXP and gold from. While most battles are repeatable, none of the quests are. Much like the action, the story starts pretty slow but ramps up very nicely as you go through the game.
The combat itself is one of the big highlights for me, specifically the numerous boss fights. Really, none of the regular mobs have caused me any problems but the bosses require some good timing, concentration and on the later ones (season 2) some light planning. These are made more awesome by the fantastic sound track in the game. I like that they opted to not play any background music while actually running a mission and only to turn on the awesomeness once you reach a boss.
I do take issue that they put mandatory raids as part of the main story which is a bit of a downer since I absolutely hate the whole notion of raids to begin with. These also serve as pseudo walls to my enjoyment as it is very dependent on other people taking part. Given that the story is the my main reason for playing it, having stupid blocks like this only serve to drive players like me away. There's also a very tangible "pay to win" factor in the game in that people with NX cash can pay to be revived (or to revive the entire party) within mission.
I think Mabinogi (to which it is related) also beats it in one aspect: the "Life" part. The question of "after you finish the story, what is there to do" leaves a bit of a blank for me in Vindictus. It's the reverse in Mabinogi, where there seems to always be too much to do! Anyway, Vindictus is my "flavor" at the moment so you can expect more posts related to it coming up!
You will also be stuck with whatever class restrictions you chose at the start. For instance, I made a Kai (bow wielder), and while I can customize his appearance to be slightly more unique, I am restricted to bows as my primary weapon and can never use weapons or armor of the other classes. As expected, the story is quite linear too and the side quests while being optional and grindy, are really optimal places to get EXP and gold from. While most battles are repeatable, none of the quests are. Much like the action, the story starts pretty slow but ramps up very nicely as you go through the game.
The combat itself is one of the big highlights for me, specifically the numerous boss fights. Really, none of the regular mobs have caused me any problems but the bosses require some good timing, concentration and on the later ones (season 2) some light planning. These are made more awesome by the fantastic sound track in the game. I like that they opted to not play any background music while actually running a mission and only to turn on the awesomeness once you reach a boss.
You can find the music under Vindictus/en-US/sound/bgm/
I do take issue that they put mandatory raids as part of the main story which is a bit of a downer since I absolutely hate the whole notion of raids to begin with. These also serve as pseudo walls to my enjoyment as it is very dependent on other people taking part. Given that the story is the my main reason for playing it, having stupid blocks like this only serve to drive players like me away. There's also a very tangible "pay to win" factor in the game in that people with NX cash can pay to be revived (or to revive the entire party) within mission.
I think Mabinogi (to which it is related) also beats it in one aspect: the "Life" part. The question of "after you finish the story, what is there to do" leaves a bit of a blank for me in Vindictus. It's the reverse in Mabinogi, where there seems to always be too much to do! Anyway, Vindictus is my "flavor" at the moment so you can expect more posts related to it coming up!
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Neverwinter: The Pull of Dungeons and Dragons
Finally got around to trying out Neverwinter Online last week and promptly trained up my dude to level 20 in short order. This was partially because I was helping my other brother level as well, and because I wanted to reach level 15 which is the unlock point for the Foundry (player quest editor), but more on that later. The game is heavy on combat and plays a lot like a mixture of Guildwars 2 and Diablo 3 with graphics level somewhere inbetween the two.
You can have parties of 5 (ala GW2) and each have an active companion NPC (bringing it up to 10) one of whom you get for free at level 16. Enemies special attacks are indicated by red warning markers on the ground which you can actively dodge if you have enough stamina (again ala GW2), and the number of combat skills you will have will out number the few usable slots available meaning you'll need to pick before getting into combat (a lot like D3). There's no real free roaming travel but instead instanced zones of interest where adventures take place.
There are a TON of currency items which I don't particularly like, but at least this time you get a free bag to contain them all unlike GW2. Apart from gold you have grindable seals, cash shop currency and god coins which you literally have to pray (in game) everyday for. Each day you miss a prayer, you lose some of them. Ofcourse all of them buy wierd and wonderful things not necessarily shared by the other. It's picturesque and is rather fun to play, though making a decent looking character can be kinda challenging.
What really hooked me though is the Foundry. Here players can create their OWN quests and campaigns which can be published for the rest of the online community to play (after it passes the playtester moderation I would assume). They are accessed through job boards or via Harper NPCs in the main game responsible for handing out quests in each particular region which I think is pretty cool.
The creation tools are VERY simple and easy to use, making the old Neverwinter Nights editor looks like complex programming too. However with that ease comes quite a bit of restriction, some due to abusers and some simply because. For example enemies and loot are autoscaled to the people playing it, which is pretty handy until you want to throw in something obscenely strong or drop a specific helmet. Also given its nature the quests you can create are pretty linear and not as free flowing as the ones you could make in NWN, at least not without a bit of work. Obviously it's nowhere close to the freedom of a table top environment.
Hasn't stopped me though! Well, it has kinda. I've stopped playing the ingame adventures to start making one of my own - I'll let you know how it goes! :D
You can have parties of 5 (ala GW2) and each have an active companion NPC (bringing it up to 10) one of whom you get for free at level 16. Enemies special attacks are indicated by red warning markers on the ground which you can actively dodge if you have enough stamina (again ala GW2), and the number of combat skills you will have will out number the few usable slots available meaning you'll need to pick before getting into combat (a lot like D3). There's no real free roaming travel but instead instanced zones of interest where adventures take place.
There are a TON of currency items which I don't particularly like, but at least this time you get a free bag to contain them all unlike GW2. Apart from gold you have grindable seals, cash shop currency and god coins which you literally have to pray (in game) everyday for. Each day you miss a prayer, you lose some of them. Ofcourse all of them buy wierd and wonderful things not necessarily shared by the other. It's picturesque and is rather fun to play, though making a decent looking character can be kinda challenging.
There's a reason it's a silhouette.
What really hooked me though is the Foundry. Here players can create their OWN quests and campaigns which can be published for the rest of the online community to play (after it passes the playtester moderation I would assume). They are accessed through job boards or via Harper NPCs in the main game responsible for handing out quests in each particular region which I think is pretty cool.
The creation tools are VERY simple and easy to use, making the old Neverwinter Nights editor looks like complex programming too. However with that ease comes quite a bit of restriction, some due to abusers and some simply because. For example enemies and loot are autoscaled to the people playing it, which is pretty handy until you want to throw in something obscenely strong or drop a specific helmet. Also given its nature the quests you can create are pretty linear and not as free flowing as the ones you could make in NWN, at least not without a bit of work. Obviously it's nowhere close to the freedom of a table top environment.
Hasn't stopped me though! Well, it has kinda. I've stopped playing the ingame adventures to start making one of my own - I'll let you know how it goes! :D
Monday, 16 July 2012
If I were a Rich Man
My sixth Mabinogi lesson! To find what other classes are available please see the binding post. :)
You are Gold!
Gold is the main currency in Erinn and it will come to you from all the previous methods[link] (other than aging and rebirth) as well as from slaying critters and opening treasure chests. Note that your Luck stat can affect how much gold appears in both those cases. You can also make gold by selling goods to other players - it will require a paid account to setup a shop in town, but it is free if you are advertising via party sign or the trade forums on your chosen server.
Fomor Scrolls and Hunting Quests
Collecting 10 fomor scrolls can earn you some extra gold, as can hunting quests that are available from a few npcs - though those tend to eat up a bit of space. Scrolls that you should always collect are: mimic, skeleton wolf, and metal skeleton (while doing g1 anyway). There are many others, but which to collect depends where you most often hunt.
Ferghus
Cheap repair can save you a ton of gold later, even better is if you use gear that is cheap to repair especially when starting out. Wooden blades are very good for this purpose and pretty easy to come by so you won't mind if Ferghus breaks them from time to time. ;)
Farming
Another way to make a decent profit is by renting a farm at Taillteann. Blatt the farmer has 90 plots per channel (remember where yours is) on offer which cost 30,000 gold to rent for a week plus 500 gold for whatever type of seed you decide to grow. I suggest tomatoes for your first run as they are the easiest to manage and even if you somehow stuff it up by performing very few actions (of the 10 you are allowed to do per real day) you should still at least double your investment. When I was doing it I was making around 220,000 per week, and that was with a lot of competition (less people are farming these days). Given that your bank account funds are shared between your characters it is an idea to have one of your mules tending to it once every 20/30/40 minutes (depending on your last action) while you continue to build your main for the majority of your play time, rather than having him constantly hop back to the farm to "poke" it himself.
Currency of the L33t
While fomors carry gold it is not actually their main currency - they use it to distract a large, gold eating monster you will encounter a few times in the game. Instead, they trade with Ducats and now that some of them are "good", will happily trade them with you too! They can be used to buy some pretty nice things but the catch is, unlike gold - it cannot be traded amongst players and can, as of this post, be earned in one of two ways. For a newbie though I do not recommend either till you are confident in your combat ability.
Merchanting
Moving goods from between trading posts is the main method of earning ducats. As a bonus you also get gold and exp for successful runs. Your first few thousand ducats are often best spent purchasing cargo carrying options from the travel ogre as they will always pay themselves off rather quickly. The main problem with this is that while doing this you become a target for bandits and, given that you will be at 50% combat efficiency when moving goods and will almost always face a multi-aggro situation, it could be a painful experience. I recommend moving as a group to at least have support especially when bringing elephant-loads of goods. Some people even offer their services as caravan guards - a good idea on some routes. Remember too that trade between Dunbarton, Cobh, Belvast and Scathach Beach will yield zero profit so you can't rely on the safety blanket there.
Bandit Hunting
This is for veteran players only - the bandits they will be facing will always be of veteran or master level and the bandit bosses themselves are quite overpowered (stronger than some generation bosses) and can only be faced one on one. Best to avoid this until you are sure you can take them on.
Secrets to NX
Not really in-game currency but Nexon Cash is sometimes the only way to get useful things such as pets or spirit weapon repair potions. If you are a cheapskate like me and don't want to spend real money getting NX there are still other ways available to you. Obviously being "gifted" NX by someone else is nice, but Nexon often offers free methods to earn NX via watching trailers, filling out surveys, winning competitions, and random lucky picks. Keep your eyes open on their main page and forums for these opportunities.
My kingdom for a Horse
I cannot stress enough how useful having a pet is. If/when you get your hands on some NX they are perhaps the first thing to spend on. Make sure you research first into what you need! Do you need to speed up transportation? Need more inventory space? Or just want something that can kick butt? Most people go for a mount first. I went with a minibear because I didn't mind to jog everywhere nor need lots of space. Regardless of what you get, you should train / level up your pet ASAP. Fastest way would probably be with help at the black mongeese again, but remember you should be playing -as- the pet yourself to reap the most benefits (with or without help). While playing as your pet you will also no longer see enemy skills. This is good training for you (the gamer) too, to read your opponents without relying on that bubble.
Furthermore once you start using your pet in combat you should optimize its AI to better suit its role. Not a coder? Don't worry, there are many kits already setup out there for you to cut and paste - just have to find them. This is the one I use and in one on one melee, my bear now rarely loses so I can just send it off and not worry about it as it will take care of itself. For the record, it still does more damage than my higher level thunder dragon. ;p
You are Gold!
Gold is the main currency in Erinn and it will come to you from all the previous methods[link] (other than aging and rebirth) as well as from slaying critters and opening treasure chests. Note that your Luck stat can affect how much gold appears in both those cases. You can also make gold by selling goods to other players - it will require a paid account to setup a shop in town, but it is free if you are advertising via party sign or the trade forums on your chosen server.
Fomor Scrolls and Hunting Quests
Collecting 10 fomor scrolls can earn you some extra gold, as can hunting quests that are available from a few npcs - though those tend to eat up a bit of space. Scrolls that you should always collect are: mimic, skeleton wolf, and metal skeleton (while doing g1 anyway). There are many others, but which to collect depends where you most often hunt.
Ferghus
Cheap repair can save you a ton of gold later, even better is if you use gear that is cheap to repair especially when starting out. Wooden blades are very good for this purpose and pretty easy to come by so you won't mind if Ferghus breaks them from time to time. ;)
Farming
Another way to make a decent profit is by renting a farm at Taillteann. Blatt the farmer has 90 plots per channel (remember where yours is) on offer which cost 30,000 gold to rent for a week plus 500 gold for whatever type of seed you decide to grow. I suggest tomatoes for your first run as they are the easiest to manage and even if you somehow stuff it up by performing very few actions (of the 10 you are allowed to do per real day) you should still at least double your investment. When I was doing it I was making around 220,000 per week, and that was with a lot of competition (less people are farming these days). Given that your bank account funds are shared between your characters it is an idea to have one of your mules tending to it once every 20/30/40 minutes (depending on your last action) while you continue to build your main for the majority of your play time, rather than having him constantly hop back to the farm to "poke" it himself.
Currency of the L33t
While fomors carry gold it is not actually their main currency - they use it to distract a large, gold eating monster you will encounter a few times in the game. Instead, they trade with Ducats and now that some of them are "good", will happily trade them with you too! They can be used to buy some pretty nice things but the catch is, unlike gold - it cannot be traded amongst players and can, as of this post, be earned in one of two ways. For a newbie though I do not recommend either till you are confident in your combat ability.
Merchanting
Moving goods from between trading posts is the main method of earning ducats. As a bonus you also get gold and exp for successful runs. Your first few thousand ducats are often best spent purchasing cargo carrying options from the travel ogre as they will always pay themselves off rather quickly. The main problem with this is that while doing this you become a target for bandits and, given that you will be at 50% combat efficiency when moving goods and will almost always face a multi-aggro situation, it could be a painful experience. I recommend moving as a group to at least have support especially when bringing elephant-loads of goods. Some people even offer their services as caravan guards - a good idea on some routes. Remember too that trade between Dunbarton, Cobh, Belvast and Scathach Beach will yield zero profit so you can't rely on the safety blanket there.
Bandit Hunting
This is for veteran players only - the bandits they will be facing will always be of veteran or master level and the bandit bosses themselves are quite overpowered (stronger than some generation bosses) and can only be faced one on one. Best to avoid this until you are sure you can take them on.
Secrets to NX
Not really in-game currency but Nexon Cash is sometimes the only way to get useful things such as pets or spirit weapon repair potions. If you are a cheapskate like me and don't want to spend real money getting NX there are still other ways available to you. Obviously being "gifted" NX by someone else is nice, but Nexon often offers free methods to earn NX via watching trailers, filling out surveys, winning competitions, and random lucky picks. Keep your eyes open on their main page and forums for these opportunities.
My kingdom for a Horse
I cannot stress enough how useful having a pet is. If/when you get your hands on some NX they are perhaps the first thing to spend on. Make sure you research first into what you need! Do you need to speed up transportation? Need more inventory space? Or just want something that can kick butt? Most people go for a mount first. I went with a minibear because I didn't mind to jog everywhere nor need lots of space. Regardless of what you get, you should train / level up your pet ASAP. Fastest way would probably be with help at the black mongeese again, but remember you should be playing -as- the pet yourself to reap the most benefits (with or without help). While playing as your pet you will also no longer see enemy skills. This is good training for you (the gamer) too, to read your opponents without relying on that bubble.
Furthermore once you start using your pet in combat you should optimize its AI to better suit its role. Not a coder? Don't worry, there are many kits already setup out there for you to cut and paste - just have to find them. This is the one I use and in one on one melee, my bear now rarely loses so I can just send it off and not worry about it as it will take care of itself. For the record, it still does more damage than my higher level thunder dragon. ;p
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