I knew you ******** us on the wings... UPDATED

[Aaron Kain]

marshmallowcreampie

Slaves To Substance

Alchemy is a ridiculous feature.

It's not a ridiculous feature, it's actually a very good one, it was just very, very, very poorly implemented.

i agree. Alchemy itself is not a ridicolous feature. it's just the way it's used on here is poorly implemented. I have accounts and other stuff on other games, whether they be online or on a gamesystem, and alchemy on those is not something that's completely ludicrous. instead, it's something that even though it will take time, is achievable with concentration and some skill. i know this might be a bad example, but alchemy on kingdom hearts is a great, working function, not to mention that it's *gasp* ACTUALLY ACHIEVABLE. on here, it's just a huge waste, unless the developers, or whoever, stop laying on their asses, get up, and work.

[Lemonade-Skittles]

Aaron Kain

marshmallowcreampie

Slaves To Substance

Alchemy is a ridiculous feature.

It's not a ridiculous feature, it's actually a very good one, it was just very, very, very poorly implemented.

i agree. Alchemy itself is not a ridicolous feature. it's just the way it's used on here is poorly implemented. I have accounts and other stuff on other games, whether they be online or on a gamesystem, and alchemy on those is not something that's completely ludicrous. instead, it's something that even though it will take time, is achievable with concentration and some skill. i know this might be a bad example, but alchemy on kingdom hearts is a great, working function, not to mention that it's *gasp* ACTUALLY ACHIEVABLE. on here, it's just a huge waste, unless the developers, or whoever, stop laying on their asses, get up, and work.

Yeah, I think a lot of what's missing from Gaia's alchemy is just the feasibility of using it.

In games, there are two types of items to craft; items that already exist and items that are new.

When you craft an item that already exists, in usually costs less... currency to produce than buying it directly would, though it does take some effort and a bit of luck to mine the ingredients for it.

When you craft an item that doesn't exist, it usually costs a bit more than the similar items in the stores, but only because it's better than the items in the stores by a noticeable bit. Again, the components can be farmed with effort and a bit of luck.

Instead, Gaia has a system where it costs more to craft an existing item than it would to just buy it, and not just because components are ridiculously expensive, but because some of the other items needed are that expensive.

Add to that the fact that components are randomly dropped at nearly equal rates from the boxes. Say there are 100 different components. Of those, less than 25% of them are super useful in a variety of formulas, where the other 75% are nearly worthless because there aren't any interesting formulas that require them.

Perhaps formulas could be placed in Bifrost that allow us to take some of these worthless components and craft them into the more useful ones? That would be wonderful.

[MistressMinako]

My biggest issue with Alchemy right now... and I hope maybe Narumi can comment on this, is the logistics of fixing the system.

There are tons of little fiddly bits that need attention, EACH formula SHOULD be examined and its cost-to-benefit ratio should be considered using item trends (which you so helpfully have already provided for yourself using the graphs in the Marketplace). Many formulas should have their costs reduced in the number of multiples of components required. One-time grants should all be reactivated and STAY reactivated if you're going to require them in ANY formula.

The list of things that should be done goes on, now for my real issue: I wonder if Gaia actually has the ability to give Alchemy the attention it needs. All we have seen from the staff so far are band-aid fixes that don't actually affect the process of Alchemy, there exists just some vague notion that an easier to craft cache will somehow right the entire system (and we have seen that is not the case).

What makes me angry the most about this system, is how little regard I think it shows for the customer base. The staff's ability to pay their bills and buy their food, in a large part, runs off the money made though pixel items, and advertising gained by people visiting the site. If you run off your consumer base, then there simply is no more Gaia. This is a very real threat as anyone can observe the dropping numbers of users signed onto the site.

I'm frustrated. I just can't see why a company would want to shoot themselves in the foot like this, pushing out a half-broken product and just telling their customers to take the a**-reaming that said shoddy product implies. I know Gaia can do better than this, and this is why, when I hear about the artists complaining about the worth of their items, I wonder if Gaia really has banked on a few artists to run the company into the ground.

Alchemy is not kind to old members, it is certainly not inviting to new members. It promotes economic stratification based on how much real-life money you can pump into a single account. It encourages lying, cheating, misuse of site features and generally being an a*****e. Why in the hell do you want this feature on your site, Gaia? Why are you doing this to yourself?

[Something Invisible]

marshmallowcreampie

Slaves To Substance

Alchemy is a ridiculous feature.

It's not a ridiculous feature, it's actually a very good one, it was just very, very, very poorly implemented.

Which makes it ridiculous.
I'll never get into alchemy. I'm not going to play into Gaia's goldsink just for some lame items. It cost me 1.3m to make this taco and people are selling it for 700k. Waste of money.

[Kai Merha]

Slaves To Substance

marshmallowcreampie

Slaves To Substance

Alchemy is a ridiculous feature.

It's not a ridiculous feature, it's actually a very good one, it was just very, very, very poorly implemented.

Which makes it ridiculous.
I'll never get into alchemy. I'm not going to play into Gaia's goldsink just for some lame items. It cost me 1.3m to make this taco and people are selling it for 700k. Waste of money.

Another problem is, it's not even a goldsink. Not a very good one. How much gold was actually sunk making that taco? 2% off whatever you bought on the MP and whatever the cost of crafting was...a pittance compared to the amount of gold it left in the system.

[Opera Phantomess]

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade. Masquerade!

ninja

Hide your face so the world will never find you.

[Rya Dracosin]

Slaves To Substance

marshmallowcreampie

Slaves To Substance

Alchemy is a ridiculous feature.

It's not a ridiculous feature, it's actually a very good one, it was just very, very, very poorly implemented.

Which makes it ridiculous.
I'll never get into alchemy. I'm not going to play into Gaia's goldsink just for some lame items. It cost me 1.3m to make this taco and people are selling it for 700k. Waste of money.

And they say making your own tacos is cheaper than going out to eat...that's some pricy taco o-o looks good though...

And yeah, what you put in should at least AT LEAST be what you get out of it. At the very least, If i put in 2 million, I want to see 2 million in returns, one way or another.

[Ceaen]

Kai Merha

Another problem is, it's not even a goldsink. Not a very good one. How much gold was actually sunk making that taco? 2% off whatever you bought on the MP and whatever the cost of crafting was...a pittance compared to the amount of gold it left in the system.

If they wanted it work as a goldsink, then what they should do is reduce the number of components/items needed to complete a formula, and increase the cost to actually use the formula. Or heaven-forbid, make components available in the alchemy shop for gold.

[Something Invisible]

Rya Dracosin

Slaves To Substance

marshmallowcreampie

Slaves To Substance

Alchemy is a ridiculous feature.

It's not a ridiculous feature, it's actually a very good one, it was just very, very, very poorly implemented.

Which makes it ridiculous.
I'll never get into alchemy. I'm not going to play into Gaia's goldsink just for some lame items. It cost me 1.3m to make this taco and people are selling it for 700k. Waste of money.

And they say making your own tacos is cheaper than going out to eat...that's some pricy taco o-o looks good though...

And yeah, what you put in should at least AT LEAST be what you get out of it. At the very least, If i put in 2 million, I want to see 2 million in returns, one way or another.

exactly.

[Mitsumi-chan]

Ceaen

Kai Merha

Another problem is, it's not even a goldsink. Not a very good one. How much gold was actually sunk making that taco? 2% off whatever you bought on the MP and whatever the cost of crafting was...a pittance compared to the amount of gold it left in the system.

If they wanted it work as a goldsink, then what they should do is reduce the number of components/items needed to complete a formula, and increase the cost to actually use the formula. Or heaven-forbid, make components available in the alchemy shop for gold.

To be honest, I don't see why this isn't done for level 1 formulas.

[Ceaen]

Mitsumi-chan

Ceaen

Kai Merha

Another problem is, it's not even a goldsink. Not a very good one. How much gold was actually sunk making that taco? 2% off whatever you bought on the MP and whatever the cost of crafting was...a pittance compared to the amount of gold it left in the system.

If they wanted it work as a goldsink, then what they should do is reduce the number of components/items needed to complete a formula, and increase the cost to actually use the formula. Or heaven-forbid, make components available in the alchemy shop for gold.

To be honest, I don't see why this isn't done for level 1 formulas.

It really should be done for level 1. It's the lowest level and should be easily accessible to ALL Gaians, including newbies. But the components are so expensive that level 1 isn't even feasible for many Gaians who've been around for years.

Also, the very few components that are in the shop seem to be completely useless. I looked through all of the formulas in the shop, and only 4 of the shop components are even used in any of the formulas, and 3 are used for the same formula(s) [it's technically 3 formulas, but it's just one item with 3 different colors).

[___chiiedord]

Slaves To Substance

marshmallowcreampie

Slaves To Substance

Alchemy is a ridiculous feature.

It's not a ridiculous feature, it's actually a very good one, it was just very, very, very poorly implemented.

Which makes it ridiculous.
I'll never get into alchemy. I'm not going to play into Gaia's goldsink just for some lame items. It cost me 1.3m to make this taco and people are selling it for 700k. Waste of money.

Exactly. It's the inaccessibility/unusability of Alchemy that makes it ridiculous and unappealing. I don't care about its future potential as a feature, because as of right now I can't do s**t with it. If it is a feature that the majority of users can't utilize, then it is a bad feature.

And, on another note, I'm totally sad now, because I really want that taco emo

[O.T.L.]

Legal bump.

[Kain-Senpai]

-legal-

[Razumi Yazura]

Related or not, it looks like the game servers have been having errors recently. Fish don't always save to inventories. Trash from Towns appear to be glitching out and not saving for some people as well.

This may or may not effect the production of Philosopher's cache even more if it starts to happen to enough people. That could get pretty messy if it continues to persist.