Promo Powers!

Estarra

Everyone seems to have an opinion on what our promotion items should be. So I'm curious what your ideas would be. Keep in mind that historically players seem to like PVP items more than RP items. I know there's some controversy over that but, hey, we want to stay in business!

(Please keep this constructive. We're looking for ideas, not debates on the merits of PVP versus RP items or commentary on past promotional items.)

Portius

I like collectibles that are transferable to other people for things other than the other collectibles.

Like, say you released promo dolls with whatever power on them. If you can trade them to other players for credits/gold/anything else, great. If you can only trade them for other promo dolls, not so great.

Regardless of the powers attached to them, make things collectible.

Luce

Maybe limited-use versions of some of the well-received promotional items? Like a smoke bomb that functions like the teleport-y aspect of the Crowns of Mastery, letting you pop to an area immediately and consuming it in the process?

It might be interesting/silly to have an item that functions as a 'hot potato'. Activate it and it deals steady, low damage to whoever is holding it until it resets, and make it bounce back to whoever if they drop it like the bouncing vials. (in other words, you have to give or throw it, can't just drop it.)

Yarith

Not gonna lie, the gnewpie promotion was pretty good. and might have been my ideal.

Vivet

Yarith said:

Not gonna lie, the gnewpie promotion was pretty good. and might have been my ideal.

As someone who initially reacted poorly to that promo, I still have every single gnewpie I got and wouldn't mind the chance at finally getting a king.

Elryn

Generally, I like promotions that offer the chance to acquire permanent things - one-time consumables aren't generally incentives that I go for (unless that consumable has a chance of converting to something permanent). For example, I like the idea of things like the wonder crystal items that you can aim to grow and enhance over a long period of playing.

If it has to be little consumables to go into packages, can I suggest something that may be completely infeasible?

Chaote's Motes - eat these to swap to a random set of guild skills for a couple of hours at the same skill level as your current ones. The combination has to be a real possibility (ie, you can't end up with pyromancy and aquamancy simultaneously), and they would come in flavours so you don't have to risk getting something that's too RP-averse (ie, one for Hallifax archetypes, one for Serenwilde, etc). Just something fun to try other skills without the expense/risk of changing guilds.

Even better, make it so that if you collect a full set of them (or just enough), you can turn them into something that goes towards a permanent artifact. Like they fuse into a wonder crystal, or into a peppermint/coal piece, or whatever works.

Edit: Hmm, actually, maybe getting a full set of skills from another guild is a bit much... as fun as it might be, it would be hard to explain in RP terms. Okay, I take that part back. Ahem.

Ciaran

I think a market that hasn't yet been tapped is utility.  You can make the daily life easier for players without buffing their PK powers, and lots of people would buy them.

A few ideas:
Bard/Scholar periscope - lets you see how many bards / scholars are currently wandering the basin.
A gnomish bell - dings whenever you enter a room that has something you can interact with in it (push/pull/turn)
Manifestation radar - scans if there are any manifestations in your local area
Curios, that when complete function like the hermit tarot (they could be little cute couples, when you leave one in one location, you can use the other's love to reunite them)

Other people that grind more than me probably have better utility ideas for things that they'd be willing to pay for to make their life a lot easier.

Edit: Random other idea - An arti that lets you describe what you're wearing just like it's part of your description.  Hides worn objects.  Describe outfit <text>

Deichtine

Ciaran said:

I think a market that hasn't yet been tapped is utility.  You can make the daily life easier for players without buffing their PK powers, and lots of people would buy them.

Hermit tarot all. Things like this?

Phoebus

Just...Please chill out on the wonder items. There are plenty of them for now, seriously. Every time I see a new wonder item announced, I die a little inside. They're ludicrously expensive, limited time only artifacts that have a tendency to lock down benefits that should have been made into regular artifacts instead, but now probably never will because then the cashgrab shiny item of the month wouldn't be as unique and special.

A wonder crystal promo that doesn't introduce another must-have superitem is fine. Promos that offer chances at things that were offered in the past, without introducing something new at the same time, would be a welcome sight. Or, promotions that don't directly sell you something new, but do offer incentives to buy credits.

For instance, lotteries. What happened to lotteries? And what about artifact bandits? I loved those. I bought some artifacts I wouldn't have otherwise been interested in after I got to try them during an artifact bandit promo. Is this the kind of promotion that is never coming back?

I guess my point is, I really don't like this approach. "Promo powers." It doesn't always have to be a new power. New powers in promotions should be special, so when they pop up you're excited and want it, but they're way too frequent and instead it's just frustrating to someone like me. And of course PVP promos sell well, people need the new thing or they put themselves at risk of being left on the wrong side of this ever-widening promotional item gap between big spenders and regular players. There's only so far you can push that before it hurts more than it helps. And honestly, I feel like it's already hurting.

Deichtine

Wonderitems are a pain because you cant just buy the crystals. I mean I'd happily buy 1000 credits to buy a wondercorn but its frustrating that I cant get the crystals like I can get other stuff.

Which turns me off bothering with wondercorn items.

Goop and dingbats are kinda similar but goop generation in game is so high that theres plenty of ways to buy it and convert it to dingbats but with wondercrystals they are just so dam rare.

If your putting in more wonder items we could do with a better way to generate them or craft them.

Like maybe use 3000 goop to form a wonder crystal?

Deichtine

Also as a note if your putting in stuff thats pvp related, that's fine and cool but can you put a bit of thought into it or at least use your squad of volunteer workers to get some feedback on them first. I said this before but with some promo stuff it goes in, its silly overpowered, it gets nerfed so quick afterwards, like the chaos disc.

Its a big discouragement for a consumer to have such uncertainty with promos. What I buy could change tomorrow. Just get a little bit of feedback and plan it out a bit more before you throw stuff in. It'll save having to scramble for fixes later on.

Drakius

Veyils said:

Also as a note if your putting in stuff thats pvp related, that's fine and cool but can you put a bit of thought into it or at least use your squad of volunteer workers to get some feedback on them first. I said this before but with some promo stuff it goes in, its silly overpowered, it gets nerfed so quick afterwards, like the chaos disc.

Its a big discouragement for a consumer to have such uncertainty with promos. What I buy could change tomorrow. Just get a little bit of feedback and plan it out a bit more before you throw stuff in. It'll save having to scramble for fixes later on.

wew

I have to second the taking time to test, we had a promo a few months ago that was yanked back rather quickly because it was misvalued.

But then again we do have an incredibly busy admin team that do not have the time to work out all the bugs before release. (Just look at the bugs we find in skills.)

Yes pls to long thought going into these, and testing.

Deichtine

Typing on the phone sorry for not being 100% accurate, plus the nature of language is communication, as long as the sentence can be understood it does the job.

Karlach

I regret never investing in Gnewpies, also echoing Phoebus I'd love a way to attain extra wonder crystals for items I never was around to construct.

In terms of new items that don't break the game entirely, would happily buy artifacts that counter the fortress meta. The option to remove traps (but not replace them) or break a meld (but not make your own) so that you aren't reliant on x/y/z guild being around to play counter.

I know certain people may scream blue murder at the concept of non mages/druids breaking meld but the talk of fortress meta has been going on for a while, and there's a general consensus to clear various effect.

Heck, even have a blanket "revert room to default and wipe everything " artifact with limited charges per IG month would be a surefire seller.

Yarith

I think most people could get behind a room breaker if it was a fully channeled, interrupt-by-sprawl,blind,entangle 5-6 second channel which strips shields while attempting.

Deichtine

Karlach said:

I regret never investing in Gnewpies, also echoing Phoebus I'd love a way to attain extra wonder crystals for items I never was around to construct.

In terms of new items that don't break the game entirely, would happily buy artifacts that counter the fortress meta. The option to remove traps (but not replace them) or break a meld (but not make your own) so that you aren't reliant on x/y/z guild being around to play counter.

I know certain people may scream blue murder at the concept of non mages/druids breaking meld but the talk of fortress meta has been going on for a while, and there's a general consensus to clear various effect.

Heck, even have a blanket "revert room to default and wipe everything " artifact with limited charges per IG month would be a surefire seller.

They should be skills not artifacts.

Traps and trip traps should be a skill in environment and like Yariths post a Non mage channel to break a meld would be ok but it should be in a skill set every has access to.

Shouldn't be locked into artifacts should be skill based.

Karlach

Veyils said:

Shouldn't be locked into artifacts should be skill based.

You realise a lot of artifacts are skills someone else has, right?

This would be disarming traps for non trackers, or break for non mage/druid. The only unique non existing skill I suggested is the "wipe the room" which I doubt will ever be a skill.

Deichtine

Karlach said:

Veyils said:

Shouldn't be locked into artifacts should be skill based.

You realise a lot of artifacts are skills someone else has, right?

This would be disarming traps for non trackers, or break for non mage/druid. The only unique non existing skill I suggested is the "wipe the room" which I doubt will ever be a skill.

Ya but theres good reasons to give tripping to everyone etc. Can move that topic to another thread though if you want so as to not spam this one.

Karlach

Veyils said:

Karlach said:

Veyils said:

Shouldn't be locked into artifacts should be skill based.

You realise a lot of artifacts are skills someone else has, right?

This would be disarming traps for non trackers, or break for non mage/druid. The only unique non existing skill I suggested is the "wipe the room" which I doubt will ever be a skill.

Ya but theres good reasons to give tripping to everyone etc. Can move that topic to another thread though if you want so as to not spam this one.

This isn't tripping though, this is disarming.

Also no, let's not have a 6 second channel that can be broken by effects that a meld can hit you with, that defeats the whole point. It essentially breaks the meld in that room akin to a forcecast, the only difference is they don't have someone who can put the meld up for them, so the area can be remelded over by the person who was broken.

Drauzgot

I actually really like Karlach's idea, of things that combat the Fortress mentality of things. Yes, melds are important and stuff, people put a lot of effort into making them, sure, whatever - it gives us a weird battle thing where once one side starts, the other side doesn't bother because OMG, THEY HAVE A MELDER AND WE DON'T. And usually it's just about breaking it.

I wouldn't mind a channeled breaking, but I also agree that it shouldn't be able to be a channel that's broken by meld effects. A channel where you can't move is fine, whatever; give us a reason to defend that person, I don't care about that. The ability to break a meld without a melder would be a huge benefit to both sides of the game for various reasons. +1 on that idea.

And more chances to get wondercrystals. +1 on that. No more wonder items, but definitely a chance to get more wondercrystals.

Karlach

Even moving, thanks to currents, is an issue with regards to a channelled meld break.

Would just be better if it replicates the ability, only without forcecasting a terrain.

Sluelugh

I would like a steady way to get wonder crystals as well.

Yarith

Sure. While we're at it allow everyone to fugue bard songs and dismiss guardian entourages. 

In seriousness though I could get behind fancy <COLOURFUL> cosmetic things. Colours are grand.
EDIT: I think colourful and custom are the best two words for new promos.

Versalean

I hate single/limited-use items, and will never pay for them. Not because the items aren't cool, because they're usually so cool that you end up with the Megalixir Effect.

I would echo the sentiment of whoever said that promo items that can be traded IGly to other players are generally a better idea. For instance, I'm not paying for Ascension Discs only to end up with 5 of the same and not be able to trade them. However, if I could sell - or, hell, even gift! - them to org nubs, they would be sixteen hundred times more attractive.

Deichtine

No one but another melder should be able to break a meld while another melder stops them.

A 6 second channel means you can go in under protection and shield then channel to break it if you dont have any melders around to do it for you. This'll let teams with no melders be able to, if they are better than another team, slowly break up a meld and push into it without having to chase a melder deep into their meld to kill them. Idea it to be a  low./high magic skill

Everyone with environment should have the ability to trip traps for a similar reason, the trap hits you but it means a team without a traper can clear out a trapped up area after winning a fight. They dont have to sit in a fully trapped up area waiting for the enemy trapper to come back. 

In both cases a trapper/melder will do it much much better but it gives everyone the skills to contribute. I like the concept of bring the player not the class.

And its for these reasons why I think stuff like that should be skills not artifacts. They should be easily accessible and common use.

Saran

Also supporting a wondercrystal promo without a new wonderitem. Gives people a chance to catch up and those who already have them all can turn a profit by selling them to others.

Re: the fortress meta thing. aside from what's already been covered, I think promo items are a bad idea for this, I mean they're generally designed to be restricted, so anyone that can't get them in that month would miss out.  And then there's the concern of them being useless and refunds demanded if melds are deleted.


With the way races and armour are now, maybe heritages/subtypes could maybe be a thing.

Kelpie Faelings might get the Merian lvl 50 buff, maybe with Aquamancy only. Mountain Elfen switch out their Seren stuff for the Dwarf one. Doesn't just need to be the 50 bonus, of course. Maybe rarer/more expensive ones make larger differences. 

Could even sell completely new races.

Breandryn

They sold special races as a promo in Imperian and it was really popular.

Bandeon

Breandryn said:

They sold special races as a promo in Imperian and it was really popular.

That's harder to do here without gods splintering. That said, we have a -ton- of inactive Elders, and while it's great to see some come back, maybe splintering some would be cool too? I dunno.

Saran

Bandeon said:

Breandryn said:

They sold special races as a promo in Imperian and it was really popular.

That's harder to do here without gods splintering. That said, we have a -ton- of inactive Elders, and while it's great to see some come back, maybe splintering some would be cool too? I dunno.

There's potentially more races out there like the Sileni, sharded but extinct.

Could also explain the limited nature of them if they're actually not proper shards. Like maybe it's something different that lets us take on the form of what they would be if they had sharded?

Opens up a bunch, some from the Elder Wars and it might apply to Elostian and those who have died in modern times.

Shaddus

I don't know if the admin are able to check this, but it would be great if they could look at all the aethergoop items and remove the ones that people don't seem to get as often. Keep the pipes and vials (maybe add more), maybe add some complete curios for goop (maybe some new hair curios only available for goop), and so on.

More, interesting costumes would be great. So would racehats. I feel like a Sileni, Centaur, or other random racehats would make for interesting rp chances.

Karlach

There are 22 (+2 class specific) races in the game already, how many do we need?

Not to mention that with certain racial traits being impactful in combat, any new race (which would need a full set of traits) would either be underwhelming and no one would want it, or particularly strong (even if in a niche role) and it's a miss it, miss out affair.

If this was a purely cosmetic race disguise, akin to racial hats, then fair enough.