Qixter
Hey folks,
We're going to be making a large change to the ring system that will be popular with some folks and unpopular with others.
This announcement is a warning to let you prepare for the change a bit before it occurs on Monday.
Having the rings on the Marketplace has been a bold experiment for our MMO. I don't think there is another MMO that has ever allowed the skills that players get to be sold on the open marketplace. Perhaps there are reasons why that hasn't been done before. Here are the issues:
The Problems
===================
* The Marketplace is getting flooded with rings. Reducing drop rates isn't cool because then it will seem like you never get a ring (and that would only slow down the flooding of the marketplace situation anyway). Limiting the wearing of rings to a specific Total Charge level (or some other metric) also doesn't work because, again, it only slows down the rate at which rings get dumped into the Marketplace. The end-result is the same....it just takes longer to get there.
* Ring prices are getting depressed down to the point where it won't be long before it's just plain dumb for a newbie not to buy all 40 rings on the first day of playing...which removes a big lure for playing in the first place and makes the game less fun because ring rewards become almost meaningless.
The Solution
===================
* Any equipped ring is now "attuned" to you, the player. It can be used only by you.
* All ring loot drops and quest reward rings will also be attuned to you.
* Any rings that you have gathered previous to Monday's changes will NOT be attuned. Those rings can still be sold on the Marketplace or traded to other players.
* If you do purchase a ring from the Marketplace, or receive one as a trade from another player, the act of *equipping* that ring will attune it to its new owner, and it cannot be traded any longer. NOTE: If you don't equip the ring, you can turn it around and sell it again later.
Additional Notable Mentions
=====================
* One of the things we liked about a flexible ring trading system was that it made it possible for players to "down-level" to play with their newbie friends. We don't want to lose that, so we will be adding a "down-leveling" system that allows you to voluntarily depress your overall CL. This will not only be useful for playing with your newb friends, but it also allows easier access to low-level collection/kill quests that you may have missed earlier.
* The other thing we like about a flexible trading system is that it made it easy to customize your character by buying the rings that you couldn't find within the game. To compensate for this lack, we will be adding more NPCs that grant ring choices to you when you finish their quest chains. Instead of only five such opportunities within the game (as currently implemented), there will be between 10-15 such opportunties, some of them quite early in the game, so that you can "craft" your character as you go. We're also considering adding a "ring swap" system so that you can change out your rings (with some slight penalty) so that you can change your mind even after getting all the way up to CL10.0.
SO...this weekend is your last chance to go into a ring-farming frenzy. The rings that you gather this weekend will still be marketable and tradable. Get 'em while they're hot!
-- Q.
(This thread is left intentionally unlocked so that responses and discussion can occur here. I'll be watching this thread periodically throughout the day and answering any interesting comments on the front page so that everyone can see the discussion summarized.)
We're going to be making a large change to the ring system that will be popular with some folks and unpopular with others.
This announcement is a warning to let you prepare for the change a bit before it occurs on Monday.
Having the rings on the Marketplace has been a bold experiment for our MMO. I don't think there is another MMO that has ever allowed the skills that players get to be sold on the open marketplace. Perhaps there are reasons why that hasn't been done before. Here are the issues:
The Problems
===================
* The Marketplace is getting flooded with rings. Reducing drop rates isn't cool because then it will seem like you never get a ring (and that would only slow down the flooding of the marketplace situation anyway). Limiting the wearing of rings to a specific Total Charge level (or some other metric) also doesn't work because, again, it only slows down the rate at which rings get dumped into the Marketplace. The end-result is the same....it just takes longer to get there.
* Ring prices are getting depressed down to the point where it won't be long before it's just plain dumb for a newbie not to buy all 40 rings on the first day of playing...which removes a big lure for playing in the first place and makes the game less fun because ring rewards become almost meaningless.
The Solution
===================
* Any equipped ring is now "attuned" to you, the player. It can be used only by you.
* All ring loot drops and quest reward rings will also be attuned to you.
* Any rings that you have gathered previous to Monday's changes will NOT be attuned. Those rings can still be sold on the Marketplace or traded to other players.
* If you do purchase a ring from the Marketplace, or receive one as a trade from another player, the act of *equipping* that ring will attune it to its new owner, and it cannot be traded any longer. NOTE: If you don't equip the ring, you can turn it around and sell it again later.
Additional Notable Mentions
=====================
* One of the things we liked about a flexible ring trading system was that it made it possible for players to "down-level" to play with their newbie friends. We don't want to lose that, so we will be adding a "down-leveling" system that allows you to voluntarily depress your overall CL. This will not only be useful for playing with your newb friends, but it also allows easier access to low-level collection/kill quests that you may have missed earlier.
* The other thing we like about a flexible trading system is that it made it easy to customize your character by buying the rings that you couldn't find within the game. To compensate for this lack, we will be adding more NPCs that grant ring choices to you when you finish their quest chains. Instead of only five such opportunities within the game (as currently implemented), there will be between 10-15 such opportunties, some of them quite early in the game, so that you can "craft" your character as you go. We're also considering adding a "ring swap" system so that you can change out your rings (with some slight penalty) so that you can change your mind even after getting all the way up to CL10.0.
SO...this weekend is your last chance to go into a ring-farming frenzy. The rings that you gather this weekend will still be marketable and tradable. Get 'em while they're hot!
-- Q.
(This thread is left intentionally unlocked so that responses and discussion can occur here. I'll be watching this thread periodically throughout the day and answering any interesting comments on the front page so that everyone can see the discussion summarized.)
