Candyliciousness!

Estarra

Let me know what you think of the promotional candy! Every present has a free 6-pack (6 uses) of candy, and if you get candy as the actual present gift, they come in 12 packs (12 uses).

To recap:

• Mints - each use makes your breath minty fresh for a 10% ego damage bonus while influencing (1 hour/use)
• Gumball - each use has a 10% chance of creating a shield during denizen combat (1 hour/use)
• Fireball - each use has a 10% of releasing a fire breath attack during denizen combat (1 hour/use)
• Rock Candy - each use gives a moderate rooting bonus (1 hour/use)
• Licorice Stick - each use gives a 3/13 health buff (1 hour/use)
• Jelly Babies - each use gives a 3/13 mana buff (1 hour/use)
• Cream Chews - each use gives a 3/13 ego buff (1 hour/use)
• Wax Lips - each use gives a 25% experience buff (1 hour/use)
• Red Lollipop - each use gives a 5/5 balance buff (1 minute/use)
• Blue Lollipop - each use gives a 5/5 equilibrium buff (1 minute/use)

I've been hesitant about adding consumable artifacts, but I was convinced to give it a try. Are there other candy powers that you think would be popular? I was actually considering some very interesting powers from consumable artifacts in other IRE games but was advised that they'd be OP in Lusternia ... but I'm willing to be swayed! Feel free to weigh in!

Portius

Question: Do mints only effect ego damage from ego drain attacks/debating, or also in NPC influence?

Eldanien

My perception is that the promo before the last was awesome, the last promo was lesser but still quite good, and this one is severely underwhelming.  Consumable artifacts that cannot be traded or sold means many of them are not suited well for a given character's needs and there's no means of addressing that perception.  Too... anything temporary is inherently less valuable than something permanent, unless that temporary effect is HUGE and worth holding onto to turn the tide at a critical moment.  Overall, I don't get the sense that these effects or sufficiently huge to merit substitution for permanent benefits (bonus credits, wondercrystals, et cetera).

And presents, all in all, also have the reputation for being underwhelming.  This last part I can't comment on, though I tend to prefer promos to involve much less (as in zero) random chance.  In the same vein, I'm not overly fond of Wakabidrome tickets due to the random nature.

But then, I'm not the type to buy lottery tickets.  I want to know what it is I'm getting for my dollar.

edit: So that this doesn't come off as a whinefest, I should add that the items I got from presents - when traded in - resulted in more credits' worth of bound credits and bound dingbats than I would have gotten from a similar purchase with the previous promo.  That could have been luck, I don't know.  I haven't mathed out my mean anticipated credit value for a given present.  For me and my needs, the difference happened to be a net plus.  But for many situations, unbound credits gained from the previous promo (or acquired by selling wondercrystals from the promo before that) would be far superior.

Xenthos

Basically everyone I've heard talking about them (including myself) has been very dubious about the things.  "Artifacts" that go away after a couple of uses seem... not all that useful to me (unless they are made to be something like Golden Lips that you can buy on an as-needed basis for a few credits at least).

However, for people who've complained that the promotion seems lacking, I've been pointing out that it's really a present promotion with bonus consumables on top (and present bonuses are usually pretty appealing).  When you look at it that way it's not so bad!

Enyalida

Randomness makes these a lot less desirable.

Consumables are pretty good if you can purchase and trade them freely or can dependably buy the ones you'll use, and  if you get multiple uses of a good effect each time. The other IREs have had pretty successful sales of things like multiple use, weak golden lips (wax lips), except you got just those and could combine them as you saw fit. 

The balance and eq candies are very strong, and the wax lips are how golden lips should work (purchase lips that give you 24 hours of xp boost in 1 hour increments you can use as you want). The health boost candy is good too... the rest of them would be trade-aways. 

EDIT: 10% increased damage doesn't really mean anything in the context of influencing, that much wouldn't be enough to reduce the number of influences each npc takes, so you don't end up getting... any benefit at all. Fireball is a lot better, because you can transfer the extra damage over with damageshift potentially, but it's the same kind of issue. The shield effect is nice, but when really needed it'll only absorb a single attack from one enemy very infrequently (Assuming it's 10% of the time you make an attack), and if that's making a difference in your bashing - you probably shouldn't be bashing where you are. All in all, were I buying into this promotion for candies, I'd be happy to receive the health or rooting candy, VERY happy to get a 5/5 eq/bal candy, and bummed that I didn't get one of those previous candies if I got anything else. 

Enyalida

I'm curious what the other IRE consumables were that were noted as being too op though. A 10% balance/eq boost for a minute with no opportunity cost is pretty strong. 

Falaeron

These candies would all be useless to me because they'd fall into the "too good to use" category for me.

Estarra

We can make candy tradeable/sellable if that would make them more popular.

Here's some ideas that I thought would be popular:

• Gummy Worms - When you CHAIN , or CHAIN WITH , the target will not be able to move more than one room away from you. However, there's a catch - you, too, will find yourself unable to move from your target by more than one room. Think of the possibilities! This effect fades after 60 seconds, and each chain can be used 12 times before crumbling away.
• Licorice Rope - ATTACH TO , and then you can PULL ROPE ON to teleport to that person from anywhere. This is a one use item and will last 60 minutes. Good for allies and enemies. This will work through monolith and other movement prevention items and effects. Shackles will stop it.
• Wacky Taffy - SHACKLE . Player cannot move by any means until death. This is a one use item and will last for 5 minutes. Nothing can move you, not even an entity.

(This is from Imperian where I'm told they were not OP even though they seemed pretty powerful to me. We didn't develop the idea enough to fully Lusternia-ize them as I was advised that they would be OP for us.)

Enyalida

Yes, those are op, but it is Imperian. Combat and combat expectations are totally different there. Aetolia has had some nice consumable item promotions over the years, stuff that isn't outright insane on the face. 

Eldanien

Yes please to the sellable.

Regarding those three candies, they really are SO CRAZY OP.  But then, with the limited quantities that will get introduced and if you made those particular ones 1- or 2-shot rather than 6- or 12- shot, that's a pretty decent wow factor.  If those happened, however, I would ask that they are implicitly disabled during Ascension events.

Enyalida

My impression was not that you get (say) a red lollipop with 6-12 uses, but rather you get a box with 6-12 candies at random. So you might get two red lollipops, a gumball, and the rest fireballs or whatever. 

Making them sellable will help, but it'll still suck to get all mints and gumballs, and you might not be able to recoup the value from candies if you're unlucky. 

Scanlan

Having come from Aetolia, we had chocolates there which you got in boxes of chocolates or cryptic chests/giftbags depending on the promotion.

These chocolates gave boosts to health/mana, crit chance, +1 to all stats or XP boost and are highly desireable, the mints which were XP boost usually sold in auction house for around 30 credits

The difference is they lasted for 12 hours of Login time, where these ones are only an hour? I believe.

Gero

Estarra said:

We can make candy tradeable/sellable if that would make them more popular.

Here's some ideas that I thought would be popular:

• Gummy Worms - When you CHAIN , or CHAIN WITH , the target will not be able to move more than one room away from you. However, there's a catch - you, too, will find yourself unable to move from your target by more than one room. Think of the possibilities! This effect fades after 60 seconds, and each chain can be used 12 times before crumbling away.
• Licorice Rope - ATTACH TO , and then you can PULL ROPE ON to teleport to that person from anywhere. This is a one use item and will last 60 minutes. Good for allies and enemies. This will work through monolith and other movement prevention items and effects. Shackles will stop it.
• Wacky Taffy - SHACKLE . Player cannot move by any means until death. This is a one use item and will last for 5 minutes. Nothing can move you, not even an entity.

(This is from Imperian where I'm told they were not OP even though they seemed pretty powerful to me. We didn't develop the idea enough to fully Lusternia-ize them as I was advised that they would be OP for us.)

No to all of these.

Twytch

The combat meta in Imperian is vastly, vastly different from the meta here in Lusternia. They don't have experience loss on death, they don't have crucial area-control aspects like demesnes. These things, especially the Chain and the Shackle, would be hilariously overpowered in Lusternia.

Estarra

Oh, sorry, the candies come in packs of 12 of the same type. So its like 12 mints or 12 licorices, etc.

Enyalida

Ah right. So you could get a 6 pack of... just mints. That would suck.

EDIT: Especially if your present gives you... gold. It's a double gamble. 

Estarra

BTW, still open to other candy ideas!

Falaeron

Will these candies remain in the gift table for presents after the promo is over?

Alaksanteri

I'm really not into this promotion or the candies at all. I would have probably preferred anything entirely different than this.

Shaddus

Do these candies have a tradein? Are they tradeable? Can they be riftable?

Portius

Agree that they would be more appealing if it was less random. Maybe break them up into groups (Health/mana/ego, balance/equilibrium, mint/gumball/fireball) and give a random one from each group? Not necessarily increasing the number of candies per present, just changing the distribution. Reduces the risk of getting something that you have no use for.

For additions, consider doing an esteem boost candy to go with the XP boost.

Alaksanteri

Plus, I see that a few of them basically act as ikons if consumed, but only last one hour instead of 24, making of ikons the best pick over candies.

Estarra

The candies will stay as possible items in presents, I believe. There's no trade-n value but we are going to make them transferable so you can sell them. They are not riftable.

Enyalida

Actually, lasting an hour is a dramatic improvement over an effect that lasts 24 hours, if you get them for at least 1/20th or so of the cost. Most people don't do anything for 24 hour stretches (except breathe etc.), being able to choose to consume an effect only when you know you'll use it is more cost efficient. 

Of course, ikons are basically free, but they're better because of that, not the duration. 

Tarkenton

If I was spending money (which I'm not anymore ) I'd still pass on this promotion. Temporary buffs in addition to meh presents isn't enough to even possibly entice me.

Falaeron

Bring back wondercrystals!

Enyalida

I really liked aethergoop, especially with some way to get enough for one reskin (but not really any artifacts) if you're active during that month. 

Vivet

I like presents, and the candies seem cute on the side... but I don't think I'd ever spend actual CR on the candies otherwise. Not my thing. 

I'd prefer the lollipops to be like, 1/5 for an hour instead. A minute for a 5/5 sounds cool, but they'd just fall into the "never used/too good to use" category. Each time I'd get in a situation where I might consider it, it'd probably become too late too quick. :P

Gero

Estarra said:

The candies will stay as possible items in presents, I believe. There's no trade-n value but we are going to make them transferable so you can sell them. They are not riftable.

Can we maybe instead have a candy store where we can buy the candy after the event is over? Another gold sink would be nice.

Scanlan

Gero said:

Estarra said:

The candies will stay as possible items in presents, I believe. There's no trade-n value but we are going to make them transferable so you can sell them. They are not riftable.

Can we maybe instead have a candy store where we can buy the candy after the event is over? Another gold sink would be nice.

Can this candyshop be ran by a skunk furrikin named Fifty Sovereigns......

Lerad

Yeah, I also fall into the camp where I would save up any candies I got for "THAT ONE IMPORTANT DAY." and end up never using them.

Besides that, the effects are a little lacklustre but probably just nice for our meta. The three Imperian ones would not be a good idea here.