A License to Print Money

[ValariusK]

Hey, I appreciate the kindness that SSG has shown over the whole Covid thing to my family, especially my wife and kids, who have benefited from the free access.

I'd like to suggest some ways that SSG can basically print money, and, the best thing, these ways are likely to upset very few people and won't represent power creep.

There is a ton of money laying on the table in terms of cosmetics. Not just stuff like cosmetic armor and weapons and the like, but real magical cosmetics.
What's a magical cosmetic?
Imagine one that makes you look like a human even though you're a half-elf or half-orc. The whole 9 yards, features and animations. Under the hood you still have half-elf or half orc enhancements/stats etc, but you animate and otherwise appear like you're a human (and can pick appearance within the constellation of human face/hair/etc options).

Now right now you have the wish for XXX memories, which lets you play one race and get the past life of another, but what about people who have no beef with the mechanics of a race, but just don't like the looks of it? There are lots of those. I bet they'd be willing to buy such 'skins'. There are probably even folks who'd pay for a halfling 'skin' to get 'short people IPS' (IPS works better when your character model is short.

Another option that my daughters have suggested---why not sell the ability to be a polar bear instead of a dire bear. Same stats, just a different look (they like polar bears and I bet a lot of other people do too, considering how prominent they are in pop culture).

Yet another suggestion. Make garment bags that hold like 100 garments, and make the garment bags cheap. Why? Because then people will be way more willing to buy new cosmetics. You can let your art team have fun and make lots of new cosmetics---as in at least a dozen new ones every update and a few each patch.

Let's face it, Eberron is a pervasive magic world. I bet people in that setting use magical cosmetics of this sort all the time. There are lots of people that really like certain looks and really don't like others. In a world full of illusion and transmutation magic, these are just potential customers knocking at your door.

[Annex]

All these ideas were suggested many times in the past.

More cosmetic items: To my knowledge, no representative of Standing Stone Games ever explained why cosmetic items are largely ignored in DDO. The Lord of the Rings Online receives a constant stream of new, high quality cosmetic items. About two years ago, Lynnabel made many old cosmetic armors and items available again via Aelonwy in the Hall of Heroes. (Yay!) Cloaks were added about two years ago. Mounts, arguably a cosmetic item, were added about 6 months ago.

Mirror of Appearance Glamering: I have suggested this many times. A bunch of players typically come around and pan the idea. For some reason, the idea of a half-orc looking like a human upsets them. To my knowledge, no representative of Standing Stone Games ever commented on the idea, one way or the other.

Different Skins for Animal Forms: This suggestion comes up every so often. Maybe three years ago, the developers added tattoo patterns to animal forms. The Lord of the Rings Online includes bear companions with many skins including Polar Bear. Both DDO and The Lord of the Rings Online have Tundra Cub pets. Since the Feywild expansion includes Shifters, we may see something related to this suggestion soonish.

Cosmetic Item Storage: This gets suggested every two to four weeks. Cordovan has stated, on multiple occasions, that 'the system' treats cosmetic items like magical items so creating specific storage for cosmetic items is problematic. That means development costs exceed projected returns. Players constantly ask for more storage of all kinds. Hopefully, someone at Standing Stone Games figures out a cheap way past some of these hurdles.

Unfortunately, players at live events rarely ask the developers good questions about cosmetic items and storage. We know very little about their thinking with regards such suggestions.

[Lorianna]

I would love more cosmetic items like that. For instance, I don't like how big and bulky half-orcs/PDK's are, and I'd love to look smaller and more human/elf-sized. A cosmetic item that would allow me to have my PDK FvS look like an elf would be lovely, and I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

Similarly, I really want to make a tiefling paladin, but I want to have her worship Helm, for the bastard sword proficiency, to take advantage of THF. But in order to make a Tiefling Scoundrel into a paladin, I'd have to spend around $50 on hearts of wood. A +1 to get rid of the bard level, then buy an alignment change, then +5 HoWs to change her over into a paladin. It would take a ton of money and time, and all because the FR gods have different (and better) mechanics than a lot of the Eberron ones. I'd much rather just whip up a non-tiefling iconic into a paladin, then use a +1 to change over. Or even just stick with the level of fighter with a PDK and go 18/2, and then slap a "tiefling cosmetic" on her to make her look like one. Because I want a tiefling paladin of Helm.

Racial cosmetics would be awesome.
Wild shape cosmetics would be awesome. Imagine being able to change bear form into OWLBEAR form or something. How cool would that be?

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

I'd like to have a docent which gives my Warforged One a so much more un-bulky look,
or a docent that turns Warforged Ones into female looking ones.