Crystals replaced later?

[CadRipper]

I also have to agree with Skizzik and Kada. Now the world of PS is quite advanced and stable, frequent DB wipe-outs would give the dedicated players a feeling of constant \"early development stage\" and unstability.

And like others, I think it would be nice to have something permanent in the game, that could be bought with the crystals. Of course, I know there is already enough work for the dev team, so better keep it simple  

Just another idea, that could work for now or in the far future : I think I\'m not wrong saying that most people would want a way to be easily recognized in-game. So I would tentatively suggest the possibility for them to \"buy\" a texture for their character, like personal clothes. Special items would require 3d modeling, so let\'s put that aside.

For instance, as the texture size should be quite small, it could be designed by the buyer and uploaded to the server and then downloaded to other clients on demand (i.e. when the character has to be rendered). Of course we have to hope nobody will make it provocative or aggressive, but I don\'t think dedicated players would. I also realize this implies additional coding, but am I wrong or is this a feature you would implement anyway ?

Or this could be a set of pre-defined textures, that would be downloaded along with the client at next update.

By the way, I suppose DB wipe-out means crystals and weapons ?  8o

[Caldazar]

Originally posted by Kada-El

Originally posted by paxx
but how would people feel if they could purchase in crystals an avatar for their forum name?or some other semi permanent thing?

I\'m sure lots of people would go for the avatar idea - personally I like the fact that they are only available to devs, it makes it makes them instantly recognisable on the forum.

Something permanent that we could take from version to version would be great though. The only ideas I am coming up with so far revolve around in-game things and hence means more work for developers - not ideal

I dony like the idea of buying avatars. Like kada said, they should be for the crew only.
Perhaps they could get a street named after them?

Caldazars road.. dont you all like the sound of that?


CadRipper: That means that EVERY character will be erased... right?

[CadRipper]

Perhaps they could get a street named after them?

Caldazars road.. dont you all like the sound of that?

CadRipper: That means that EVERY character will be erased... right?

Street names, sounds like a good idea. But you would need to add signposts then. At least, it would be simpler to describe people the way to the tavern or to the library  

And no, it would not be necessary to erase every character, since the texture name is only an item stored into the database. The only difficult part is to allow every client to download it on-demand (dynamically) in the first case, thus implying a modification on both the server and the client.

In the second case, no modification would be required but clothes/textures wouldn\'t be personalized, a little like the clothes you can buy in Project Entropia (I hate to mention this name but...).

[Yann]

What about houses for long time fans ?  

[tygerwilde]

I was thinkin along those lines yann. perma houses for peeps who buy them with millenium blue crystals? maybe even in-city homes? something real nice like that

but then again, there would be a lot of peeps who joined later that would think it wasn\'t fair to them, that they miss out just cause they never saw anything about this game, god, the only reason I saw this is cause I did a google search for free mmo\'s and this was the first name on the list

[statik]

Heres my two cents:

There are good things and bad things that come with a DB flush.

One of the good things is that players are \'forced\' into trying new characters (Unless of course, they choose the same exact settings), which would in turn help identify bugs and holes.

On the other hand, how many players would actually stick around for a year, creating a new character every two weeks. The lack of character bonding that the player should have, will result in a loss of  players. People dont play a game to debug. They play a game for enjoyment. Creating a new player only to have him deleted the next week, is almost an irritating thought.

Over all, I think players should keep what they have worked for. I wonder; What if we were to enable a idle time for user accts. The players who obviously are spending time with their characters, will not connect to find them missing. Those however, who did not connect to the server for x amount of time in y amount of time [ie. Player had to connect for aprox. ten minutes in the period of three months time], would find their players missing upon connection.

This would server two strong points, first the DB would likely shed a lot of its \'one timer\' players. The players who give up on the game, in its infancy. Meanwhile, keeping the players who put time and effort into the game.

Perhaps I was not clear on some things, so please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this.

[Skain]

As for the reward system why not give all members and regulars now some kind of veteran item, like an arm sash (like the ones jewish wear too represent a death)

http://artist.theotaku.com/pictures/topaz/vegetacrossarmsshade.jpg

^like the one on this picture mary drew.

[Fallen Angel]

No, something in game would be wiped anyway - there will DEFINATELY have to be more than one db wipe throughout this games testing right? So even if you declared you had some crystals and you purchased a \'vetran item\' like you stated and they inserted it to your new character name after the db wipe another db wipe would occur later anyway - so then item would have to move AGAIN (i just see way too much hassle with devs doing that - out of game rewards seem SO much better)

The main reason I\'m posting right now is not to argue with you fellow forum guys but to ask the admins/devs this:

In your opinion which would you like better: an out of game reward like an avatar etc.
OR
an in-game reward like a house/street named after them.

PS.By the way everyone if when you created your character did not see the BUILDER or ARCHITECT occupation people that choose to take these jobs can build houses for you for a price OR You can purchase a house in the beta or alpha stages from an NPC or out of game system.

Thoughts please...

[Jagua]

Two ideas, both in the hopes of keeping it easy for devs but still noticable for gamers.

Amulet: A simple, non-intrusive, visible to everyone over the clothes or armor amulet.  Some other type of trinket whose likeness would not be used for anything else (i.e. no other amulets would exist in-game except for these recognition amulets).

Plaque: Put a plaque on the statue in town that says something along the lines of: \"This statue dedicated to the hard work and effort of those who came before.\"  The names could then be listed in columns of all who existed before the wipe.  Provides visibility to all who come afterward as well as equality in reward for all who came before.  Could be listed alphabetically or chronologically by first-login date.

Thanks for listening.

[Drilixer]

I still don\'t think anyone deserves a reward... the reward for the game should be that you are allowed to even play it, that it is free, and that you are allowed to participate/contribute to it...

We have to remember that there are MANY games where none of those standards are met!

[Isgrimnur]

In addition you have also got to remember that there are a lot of people who do not play in-game much but are extremely active in the forums and guilds and make a contribution to the game in that way.

How would these people be rewarded??

[Jagua]

I wanted to clear up confusion and I can only speak for myself but....

I was simply trying to provide ideas for the developers in case they decide to give out an award.

They don\'t have to do anything....it\'s up to them.  I just tried to help give ideas in case they do.

Oh btw...congrats Drilixer on your forum status \"emperor\" from \"King\"...just happened to notice.

[deos]

Depending on complexity and time involved to individually add someone back into the database, I think the dev team should keep a back up of everyone once they do decide to wipe the DB. Than, anyone who has not logged in in over a month is automatically removed from the list of ppl to add. If there are stilll waaaaay too many ppl to add than they should decide on a number of players to add based on a time limit and than add only the top players based on how many total hours/mins they have been \"active\". If this isnt possible due to players just simply staying logged in 24/7 than they should take the top whatever ppl who have the most money.

[Skizzik]

I just thought up of this:
Maybe someone could code something as a \'bank\', where you can store your items. It would be a lot like the merchant page. Each player would have \'bank account\' (no numbers involved, just username and password). Here each player could deposit items, simply by filling out the fields of items they want to deposit. They would also be able to withdraw items through a withdrawalpage (spelling?). If all bank accounts with a contents would be stored in a separate database, this database could \'survive\' through a dbase wipe.
Ofcourse, to keep this bank database clean, empty bankaccounts (whenever a player withdraws all items on his account) should be removed from the database; they could be restored whenever the player decides to deposit anything.

Maybe if an automatic wipe would occur (without prior notice) all items in all players\' inventories could automatically be transferred to the bank, perhaps with the exception of people with a very low-worth inventory (one-timers that never returned).

Just my 2 cents,
Skizzik

[Moogie]

I like the idea and was just about to agree with you, Skiz... but then I realised it means giving us regular players an unfair advantage over new people who decided not to start playing untill Crystal Blue.

I know it sucks that all the time you\'ve spent gathering crystals and buying weapons would go to waste, but I also wouldn\'t like to hear cries of \"You got to keep your weapons? Great, now it\'ll take me a month just to get to where you\'ve started at.\"

However, I would still like to see some kind of aknowledgment (sp?) to the dedicated PlaneShifters. It shouldn\'t be a reward...