Discussion of increasing # of rent slots
One perennial player request is an increase in the # of rent slots. It is true that the # of slots has not increased since we have added new slots, and that even before then, the inability to carry all of the gear one might logically want to use in a single outing was a common complaint. Typical admin response in the past has been that we want players to pick and choose. I have to wonder, though, if perhaps it's not reasonable to revisit the issue, particularly given the increase in the # of slots players are equipping.
One proposal on the in-game discussion board particularly struck me: charging a mud-cash fee for extra rental slots above 35, while retaining an absolute cap of either 40 or 45. Cut and pasted: rent would be charged if a person rents over 35 items, "something like 100k/slot/day. you get max slots (35)+ n remorts as a max. you are charged the fee for as long as you remain over the normal max."
I really like this idea as a way to let players make real use of gold, which is something we've been implementing various measures to do ever since eliminating normal rent. It would also retain the advantage of being optional (ie, players don't *have* to rent over 35 items, and thereby have to pay rent, unless they specifically wish to do so), thereby not imposing unduly on infrequent players or cash-poor newbies.
In short, I'd like to see a discussion of this potential feature on the whiteboard for this blueprint. I'm opening it for discussion for 2 weeks, at which point I'll decide whether or not it's worth asking AP to code it in.
Thanks in advance for your participation.
Whiteboard
Kailyn: Starting discussion 5-17-2010. Discussion to close 5-25-2010. (Yes, I did say 2 weeks above -- but then I realized I'll no longer be here on the 30th, so I need to close it out before leaving for our family summer vacation.) Please do not erase anyone else's comments here -- simply add a blank line to separate your section, then your name, and then your own comments.
Silverking: The idea of paying for extra rent slots is a good one, although I think 25k gold per day is more reasonable (we need to keep the cost in the realm of what a new player could afford). Additionally, what would happen if you ran out of money and could no longer pay the daily fee? Would the items be deleted from your inventory? Or could they be held in some sort of pawn shop where you could purchase your items back for their item cost plus interest within 30 days or something before they're destroyed?
Chad: Let them have their items... as many as they want. The first 20 items free, then charge a rental fee based on the value of the items they have in their inventory. Have it start as a small percentage and then scale upwards from there. Casual players and new players won't have a huge number of items they "have" to rent, and the values of those items would probably be less than the value of the nice top end gear of some of the more seasoned players. At some point the costs associated with the extra rent slots will balance with the inconvenience and (pretty negligable) risk of dropping stuff for a holder to pick up and rent. This option would allow people the option of renting out large numbers of items on one character to stack up piles of sac gear, but make it expensive to hold things in this manner for extended periods.
Rox: I think this charging at the tiered level is a good idea but should start at higher number of items like 30 items since newbies will walk into donation room to pick up eq. In addition, I also think that anyone who decides to idle out should be made to pay the same. If the char doesn't have gold, then their items can be redeemed at the pawn shop per SK's idea above. I know many would rather pay than to drop items like myself if cost of doing so is not too overbearing.....God knows I've crashed dropped a few items. This gives folks with too much crap an option. Thanks for giving this a consideration.
Jam - I like the idea but in this form: (int) remorts/2 is the total number of slots one gets above the normal 35? Easily calculated and no mess to contend with charging etc. If you must charge, start charging again for remorts 1M/remort so Jam's next remort would cost 22M. I like simple...
Kailyn - I definitely think there should be a charge, and a significant one, since a) it's optional and b) we need more uses for gold in the game. Starting charging at 31 items makes sense since 30 items have been free (well, essentially free) thus far, so doing it that way wouldn't change anything for those users who don't want to pay for rent. We already had a warning system in place to let people know if they had run out of rent money, so I'd think that would cover players who run out of rent, letting them know they'll lose their gear if they enter before having someone send them more money; if that's not sufficient, though, I'm fine with SK's way-to-
Kailyn -- This topic turned out to have far more possible solutions than I had initially considered, and AP has his plate quite full enough already -- ie, not ready to code something for this yet, regardless of what we decide -- so I'm leaving discussion of this point open for another month. Please weigh in if you like! (Same rules apply as before -- please don't delete anyone else's comments, just add your own to the bottom so everyone can see the entire discussion.)
Destiny-
The additional costs per remort are almost a double edged sword. First, I can understand increasing the cost of a remort, but if this system is added please note that if we shoot the moon no one will want to remort. If the cost is increased say, 100k / remort on top of the 1m gold I feel that this would be acceptable. But wasn't the requirement of additional sac needed put in place to make remorting a higher # of times more difficult. If we start increasing the cost of remorts I would think the requirement of sac should decrease. I have also thought of having the SAC option negated by paying more gold for the remort. Essentially you pay for your lack of sacrifice gear.
--I would also like to introduce the idea of actually paying, or buying permanent extra rent slots with a 1 time fee. Example: If you would like to have 40 slots instead of 35, you pay 1m for the 36th, 2m for the 37th, ... up to 40 which would cost you a grand total of 16m to add the total of 5 additional slots.
Jam-
How about a -5 damage modifier to chars that negative balances, this way you never will loose eq, still get charged, and there is an incentive to pay the balance?
