Server Economy & Gold

[aaron22]

how about something like dungeon keys. special keys that open special chests in certain dungeons. high level player would have a hard time turning down a dungeon key like that.

You've essentually rediscovered EA loot boxes. Congrats. "Pay 100 bones and receive broken bottle today".

i do not know what that is, but that is why group discussion is good.

[Dagesh]

- Components for certain magic. That's a touchy subject. Things like teleport, named summons, or epic spells, however seem like they'd be good fits for this. They arent balance-ruining if they become less common. Teleport (and the summon system) already require gold. Why not change that up some?

Component pouches aren't hard to implement. Instead of requiring all sorts of different ingredients, one could simply have charges on the pouch and charges are used up based on spell level. Maybe players could gather ingredients to replenish pouch charges. If a mage doesn't want to wait to re-charge a pouch, just buy a new one. Perhaps allow players to craft new pouches as well.

- Warding of guild properties. We have ward spells in game, just not in use, but these could easily be made to require some sort of input and/or maintenance components.

I was thinking about this one when I mentioned the painting that needs a touch-up. Instead of wards, though, I was thinking of some kind of political capture the flag/tug of war. Factions could have something shiny that attracts the attention of nobles or whoever. This provides some kind of political weight (not too much but in an even match up, it could tip the scales). This would need maintaining with something that needs gathering/continual refining. *shrugs*

Perhaps a mechanic that allows for the use of diplomacy/perform/intimidate/bluff or the like to persuade NPCs toward supporting a certain action? I don't know. That could be boring, but somehow skills should be used.

Depends on the PC. Lowbies would have low skills for this but higher level PCs that have little gold might be very interested and there will be a niche that would love to put skills to use, I'm sure.

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Either way, it's this kind of brainstorming that I think will lead to some great stuff.

[aaron22]

IMHO the only way you are gonna get gold from high level gold rich toons is to offer them something that can:

1) make getting more easier/faster/better (large demographic)
2) give them something that makes them unique individuals that no one else or only the very rich could have. (very small demographic)
3) make them needed by others to do things they really want done. (variable demographic)


while not in the very small demographic of the AC81/Karond super rich, i have millions in gold and multiple times that in items. so this is what I would go for.

edit: and i would not ever ever pay for a level up to 30 or 20 or anything like that. that would be a HUGE waste. nope wait... HUGE waste!

[Steve]

What I am trying to figure out is this, what kinds of services could a gold light player provide that aren't gear? What could we make of value that might be time consuming, sure, but perhaps a low level could do and someone could get better at as they go as well?

I think you answered this yourself (in another post in this thread): IG and IC time, doing "work" for the gold heavy Character.

If I had 1 million coin, I have a number of Characters that would be very happy IC to hire others to find/acquire/make things for him. Actually, I've done this a few times using Items as rewards, and it worked very well (both from an IC and OOC perspective).

I'm never really heavy on Coin—the only time I've had a million coin, I spent it in less than a week!

But that's me, and that is where my Character(s) are in RP. They would hire out aspects of RP, at every avenue.

But that said, hiring gold light Characters to "do your bidding" or as mercs is a RL time consuming process, in itself. You have to be able to PAY OUT, as well.

Valefort has done this a number of times, hell...I think quite a few sailors joined up on the Whistling Wanderess crew because he was an honest form of getting reliable gold!

It's funny, because now that I write this out, PCs hiring other PCs for merc work is one of the rarer Forum RP posts you see around here. Maybe it is because there are few things a gold heavy PC thinks they can "purchase" through hiring out, that they cannot just get/do themselves, over time.

As well, maybe a bit more defining what is gold light and gold heavy? Most of my toons have about 50k in their individual pockets. 50k can't really buy one much excellent gear, but it is necessary in order to purchase the constant need of consumables, if you adventure, and to have on hand in case that nice piece of Gear comes onto the Consignment shop for MUCH cheaper than it should be posted for.

But 50k is not enough to really offer another PC for any real work, I think. These days, 50k could be acquired in about what, 3 days grinding?

The overall (non)economy of BGTSCC is totally screwed up. It is both infinite, and yet, not enough. There are things on the Server that you simply can't purchase, though exist. There are things you might want to purchase, but will never find.

How do you buy willingness, I guess in the real question I have? If I would offer another PC 100k coin, in order to do something of some effort, would anyone actually jump on that? I guess it's reason to give it a try...*starts thinking....*

Might have to take a loan out from AC81 though!!!

[aaron22]

i have tried to hire players in the past. i have found it to be a terrible experience for all involved. i have been the hired as well. that went a little better, but i think the people contributing to the RP where just better and understood the big and small picture better.

the RP has to have some degree of "lining up" or one of the two sides has to tailor their RP to suit the arrangement to a degree. or obviously be good enough to meet in the middle. if both sides are too "stuck in their ways" and they cannot line up, then it will just be a waste of time and effort.

the example of vale and his crew are good for the whole lining up. they wanted to be hired and he wanted to hire them. that is gonna work and everyone was happy. this is how EB has stayed successful as well. the two sides line up.

while i will not say i will never try that again, i am unlikely to again. it most likely will not work in my current situation.

[NegInfinity]

i have tried to hire players in the past. i have found it to be a terrible experience for all involved. i have been the hired as well. that went a little better, but i think the people contributing to the RP where just better and understood the big and small picture better.

I had somewhat positive experience with hiring, but that's mostly because I had squishy characters in those times. For example there was a dude that for all practical purposes was a golem for hire - this guy was fun, but I forgot what he was even called. One other time I needed a group of guards to deal with potentially troublesome story event, so I paid a group of 5 or so people, and they got to participate in a ritual of sorts. That was fun too.

The thing is... hiring people like that is not going to generate a lot of money flow. In many cases it is easier to just chat people up, and cost of hiring is often quite symbolical.

One other potential gold sink is assassin guild. But those have quite some time to set up.