natural resources, spawning, respawning and detecting

[Pakarro]

I found the corresponding bug report in flyspray turns into some animated discussion. As it is worth discussing, maybe the discussion should take place in the forums....

1) Should minerals be visible or have some effect to show where they are?
2) is the same thing good for harvesting, as it is?
2a) in case of harvesting (and gems): are the respawn rates too high?
3) How about the idea to make a spell to find minerals or plants or...

I think: don't make fast changes. For me, one of the basic things in ps is the necessity to communicate. So, if you want to find iron, and cannot find it on your own, that is good. Go and ask your fellow players!

My favorite scenario (mining and harvesting) would be moving (depleted and freshly discovered) sites. Depending on experience, one can find new resources (marks for resources visible depending on mining or harvesting rank). In this scenario, a higher grade spell (brown?) would make sense to allow mages into the resource finding business. This scenario would enhance the need for communication, and thus would be in tune with the (for me primary) branding feature of ps.

As always, this depends on my personal interpretation of what ps is about, and may be wide off the mark for others

 

[LigH]

You mean the later comments on PS#5820...

1) IMHO: Especially newcomers will appreciate it; so far the only chance to find mines was hearsay from other characters, except for a few coarse directions in quests.

2) IMHO: Plants / plant parts should appear now and then, as they use to fall off to the surface on their own (windfall); fish would probably catch air sometimes; but ores and minerals will possibly not appear above the surface on their own regularly...
2a) It has been stated several times that the current respawn rate is higher than desired; though, IMHO, providing resources by activity only would make crafting a lot more annoying than it already is (much too realistic for a game)

3) Briefly discussed with Venalan earlier; no matter if it requires a spell (in a low realm) or not, a subtle visual hint is most probably appreciated, and particle effect sources would have specific advantages (e.g. are not targetable) and disadvantages (may not appear in lower graphic effect levels).

[apyj13]

What about for minerals if you has some sort of a system message like when you're attacked by mob that says something along the lines of "you see unusual rocks nearby" when you're within a certain range of the mine in addition to some sort of visual cue.  That way even if you had your graphics set low, you'd still get some sort of indication that you were near a mine. 

[MishkaL1138]

What about for minerals if you has some sort of a system message like when you're attacked by mob that says something along the lines of "you see unusual rocks nearby" when you're within a certain range of the mine in addition to some sort of visual cue.  That way even if you had your graphics set low, you'd still get some sort of indication that you were near a mine.

I think this is the greatest idea any player has ever given regarding this topic.

[Sadie]

 
  me too, Mishkal

 

[MishkaL1138]

Now THIS is what Planeshift needs.

EDIT: Behold my Photoshop skills.

[LigH]

Naaah ... why should a miner tell any competitor about his richest mines, and give away his fortune? I rather agree to more subtle hints.

[Pakarro]

Still, I'd rather have the necessity to trade or buy the position of good sites from experienced miners or surveyor mages .
Creates more communication and less solo play. And we all love to show newbies around, and to make some tria from the more experienced players.
Now, if the position changes in a monthly (or similar) rate, we can search again. In exchange, mining could be faster

[Daevaorn]

I also think that apyj13's idea is a great way to resolve the graphics issue with the particle proposal, which I still think is very desirable if subtle enough.

It will not remove the need for guidance by experienced miners who know the locations of mines, as most newbies are not willing to roam through the wilderness and find everything on their own anyway. They have a quest to get iron or coal and want to follow that normally. So nothing will really change but for those few who -want- to explore. That's not "solo play" but a character trait and occupation that we should accomodate. And then they will have the opportunity to find mines without having to apply a more than tedious "walk two steps & try to dig" method.

As for the changing locations of mines ... I don't see how time control for that would add to realism - on the contrary. On the other hand depletion after a certain amount of ores mined there would be a much better choice. But then there would be the issue of algorithmicly determining potential new locations. So I think this is a very long-term project that we can separate entirely from any short- to mid-term changes that we want to achieve with this discussion, like the visual cues and possible detection spells.

[Eonwind]

2a) in case of harvesting (and gems): are the respawn rates too high?

Just a few words regarding this point: the respawn rates now is really too fast since it's possible to collect 200k trias worth of plants in less than 20 minutes, this is a bit over the top and it completely defeat the purpose of a skill like harvesting but not only, it also makes useless any player willing to offer services to collect plants for crafters.
Of course the objective is not to forbid  to /pickup a reasonable amount of plants.

[bilbous]

maybe you could have fewer on the ground and instead of them disappearing when /pickup is used go from a stack of 1 to a stack of 0. they could be placed at the cardinal points of the patch10% of the way in from the boundary. By having them in fixed positions you eliminate the problem of spawning underground or in the sky. This would also allow people to determine the best place to /harvest.