Special items

[Leeloo]

People have suggested items that can have attributes multiple times, but that requires a heck of a lot of memory, and thus won't be done.

 

And other people have suggested we need rare items, items that not everyone has. But that has been tried multiple times, but somehow people always find a way to get it anyway, so no item is really rare in the game.

 

So, how about combining the two? Make e.g. a weapon with some special attributes, and limit it to 50 total. That can be done with a fixed size array. The weapon could be a drop from some monster, BUT: It will only drop when there is unused slots in the array. Then people can enhance it with magic or whatever, and feel really 1337. But some day, it will break, thus freeing a slot in the array, and another monster will drop one.

 

This way, the rare items can be tightly controlled, and the market will never be flooded with them. The only time the count will increase is when Entropy decides that there are too few for the current number of players, and increases the size of the array.

[fred_penner]

You don't even need the array. Just count the number of this special item in all the players' inventories and if it's less than the total allowed in game, spawn a new one. And if the chances of a new one spawning are low then this scan of all players' inventories won't even happen that often.

 

One problem: what if someone gets one of these items and never plays the game again? Could happen. Should their be an "inactive time-out", so the item gets recycled if you don't use it? That would take more db space, or your array comes back into play.

 

Also, what about making the item non-storable? You'd have to carry it around all the time. It's a small but potentially annoying burden. Make it heavy, lotsa EMU. That way people who want it and can use it won't mind the cost, and it will prevent people from hoarding them.

[Leeloo]

You don't even need the array. Just count the number of this special item in all the players' inventories and if it's less than the total allowed in game, spawn a new one.

 

Erm, I think you missed the other half. The idea was to combine the "customizable weapon" suggestions with the "rare items" suggestions.

[fred_penner]

Erm, I think you missed the other half. The idea was to combine the "customizable weapon" suggestions with the "rare items" suggestions.

 

You're right. I missed that part.

 

You'd definately want some place to store the individualized info, but still not an array in volitile memory - use the db.

[Aepox]

If items are to be rare, they have to have a limited number.

[kickyourdad]

sounds like a good idea,but how many do u think this kind of item should be in the game? and what if ppl creat multi account to hoard them?

[Leeloo]

No reason for creating multiple accounts to hoard them, as I don't think they should be limited to one per person. I don't know how many should be in game, maybe Roja would be the one to decide that.

 

As for someone getting one and then leaving the game, make them oxidize and decompose over time. Maybe they could still be repaired, but if not, they would disappear by themselves. Or, if they are some kind of magic weapon, let them fade away if not used in a battle for some time. Like they had a mind of their own. That would also stop people from just keeping them in storage.

 

(Why do I suddenly get an image of the one ring leaving it's owner when he becomes useless for it's purpose?)

[teranoz]

(Why do I suddenly get an image of the one ring leaving it's owner when he becomes useless for it's purpose?)

 

Grrrrr, they sssstole it from usssss, that evil redhaired fiftssss elementesessss.