Stone of Change possibilities

[Mandinga]

Stone of Change

Shroud Ingredients: 3 to 1 exchange rate

Add an Alchemist that sells magical potions that you place into the Stone of Change along with 3 ingredients that are the same size of your potion to receive one ingredient that matches the potion.

Example: Purchase a large potion of Devil Juice from Bob the Alchemist. Place the potion and three large ingredients into the Stone of change and out pops a Large Devil Scale.

Possible prices for the potions
Large Potion: 10k plat
Medium Potion: 7.5k plat
Small Potion: 5k plat



Armor/Shield Designs:

Add an Armorer that has a list of designs that is available in the random loot table to purchase. Place the design and your armor or shield into the Stone of Change and out pops your armor with the new design.

Example: Talk to Bob the Armorer, Hi Bob I need a new design for my full plate and he gives you the list for Full Plate you select design 13. Place the design and your Full Plate into the Stone of Change and out pops your Full Plate with the new design.

Possible Design price: 50k plat

Problems:
We have no way of knowing what designs are what but I’m sure we could have a list posted with pictures in a week or two. The amount of designs would involve a little bit of dialog unless you placed an armorer for each type of Armor and Shield.


These would help keep people happy and serve as a plat sink.
Mandinga

[SqtYork]

I agree with the 3:1 trade in like the relics in GH.
I can give or take the changing appearance of items.

[BuzzSaw]

50k Plat for a new skin is silly.

MAYBE 1K. plat at the most.
Buzz

[Missing_Minds]

50k Plat for a new skin is silly.

MAYBE 1K. plat at the most.
Buzz

While the suggested price is high... I'd drop that much down for it in a heart beat if I found something I liked.

Don't forget, portable hole cost. 10k plat.

[Gennerik]

While the suggested price is high... I'd drop that much down for it in a heart beat if I found something I liked.

Don't forget, portable hole cost. 10k plat.

But good luck getting low-level characters that much unless they get money from an external source. Armor look changing shouldn't be used as a money sink. If available, it should be more about allowing players to customize their look over trying to drop the money in the economy.

[Missing_Minds]

But good luck getting low-level characters that much unless they get money from an external source. Armor look changing shouldn't be used as a money sink. If available, it should be more about allowing players to customize their look over trying to drop the money in the economy.

Low level characters have other things to worry about beyond looks quite honestly.

Changing one's armor isn't a "need", it is a luxury. So if it has a high price tag, so be it. Kind of like those $500 shoes. They aren't a need, so there is a high price there. All I'm saying is if the price is cheep so be it. If the price is high, so be it.

Just because something exists doesn't mean everyone should have one, but I do believe that if you put for the effort, it should be there for those that do.

[Gennerik]

Low level characters have other things to worry about beyond looks quite honestly.

Changing one's armor isn't a "need", it is a luxury. So if it has a high price tag, so be it. Kind of like those $500 shoes. They aren't a need, so there is a high price there. All I'm saying is if the price is cheep so be it. If the price is high, so be it.

Just because something exists doesn't mean everyone should have one, but I do believe that if you put for the effort, it should be there for those that do.

But at the same time, it would be nice to allow players to actually get a look that they are happy with. I'd probably only allow basic armor sets to be done this way (so more unique armors are still unique), but there is no reason for a suit of 4000gp armor to cost 100000gp just to get a new look.

It's the same idea with the new foods that they introduced. Why is a meal going to cost 500+gp? That's half of a magical item right there, for crying out loud. While I can understand trying to remove some money from the economy, there's no point to make things absurd, which is exactly what making armor graphics changing expensive would be. If anything, it should be dependent on the cost of the armor (but still less than you could sell the armor for). I'm sorry, but suspending your disbelief is hard when artificial means are used that break common sense just to remove money from the economy.

[Grimtooth333]

I like the ideas but don't like the plat sink parts... the costs should be less than the original items worked with.

Low level characters have other things to worry about beyond looks quite honestly.

Changing one's armor isn't a "need", it is a luxury.

I will respectfully beg to differ on this... to some the looks matter more.

[Geonis]

Okay, from what I see, the majority agree customizing the look of armor and shields is a good thing. The difference here is some think low-levels should be able to afford it, while some think it is a good plat sink.

Why not both.


Make the cost = (item bonus)^2 x 1kpp

The item bonus is in the top right corner when viewing the details. This makes low level armor start off at 1kpp (for +1 armor) to re-skin, while upping the plat sink at higher levels.

[BurningDownTheHouse]

Okay, from what I see, the majority agree customizing the look of armor and shields is a good thing. The difference here is some think low-levels should be able to afford it, while some think it is a good plat sink.

Why not both.


Make the cost = (item bonus)^2 x 1kpp

The item bonus is in the top right corner when viewing the details. This makes low level armor start off at 1kpp (for +1 armor) to re-skin, while upping the plat sink at higher levels.

A new players plat will be much better spent buying suplies (think of how many clw pots you can buy for 1kpp).

I the formula should depend on the characters level, not the level of the armor.

[Grimtooth333]

A new players plat will be much better spent buying suplies (think of how many clw pots you can buy for 1kpp).

I the formula should depend on the characters level, not the level of the armor.

Agreed... not everyone has tons of plat around and they have a right to look as they want too. Is it a luxury, yes it is, but it also helps retain players by keeping the costs reasonable for all.

[Mandinga]

I suggested a possible higher price for a few reasons.

1. Most low level toons will be changing armor rather quickly up until at least level 8 so most casual gamers won't care what their armor looks like.
2. It is not based on a loot drop, imagine if they added a loot drop required for the change and how much plat people would ask for it.
3. Plat sink..Though we really don't know what the ratio of plat coming into the game versus plat going out is but judging by recent prices for items there seems to be a surplus. Some people say this will result in more plat farmers, more spam and so on but people who buy plat will still buy plat and people who don't wont.

Mandinga

[Gennerik]

The problem is that there are two realms of money. There's the people with over 1 million plat, where plat sinks on this level put it out of reach for other people, and there's the people tha thave about 200K at any given point, where anything on this level doesn't affect the rich people.

Having the cost of fashion changes be over 8x (810000gp for a +9 item) the cost of the item is ridiculous, and puts the ability out of the range of the common person. So you might as well make it reasonable so everyone gets to enjoy customizing their character.

It should not cost more than how much the 0 haggle character could sell the item for. I think it's a fair cost for something that changes how you look.

[Tryp]

Low level characters have other things to worry about beyond looks quite honestly.

Agreed. At lower lvls you're generally going through equipment so fast as you lvl that it really wouldn't be worth it. This is an idea geared more towards characters that have been capped for 2+ years and have nothing better to do than find/trade for new items based on the styles they want because they already have the best of the best function-wise. At this lvl, 50k plat is a drop in the bucket.

I would love to see something like this implemented in the game, can think of several ways to do it. Stone of change is good. I know a lot are tired of favor grinding, but this might be a way to slip in some new content - a favor line that opens up a blacksmith...or hell..even a barber. Is there no barber's guild in Stormreach for God's sake?

Remember, it's not WHAT you can do, but how cool you look while you're doing it.

[Deathseeker]

Aside from the debate over the prices, I totally agree with both of your suggestions and think they'd be great additions to the game.

The ability to change the look of your armor, while maybe not that important to a lot of people, would be REALLY big for a certain set of players. In some respects, this ability alone has City of Heroes the game that it is. If DDO is focusing on expanding the player base, this is really a fantastic idea.

[Olgren]

Just deal with what you got. You don't like the look of your armor? Suck it up.
If you need a plat sink look to your nearest cleric.

[Grimtooth333]

Just deal with what you got. You don't like the look of your armor? Suck it up.

While you may feel that way rest assured others feel just the opposite.