Decays

[Gnua]

how about nolimit slow decay 4 piece class sets?

[Homard]

Quote: Malthros
But in that system, you finish playing, log for several days, log back on, and all that good stuff you had is now gone and you're back to square one.

/quote

OK, so it is.  What difference does it make.  Go out and play and find more EQ.  I don't see anything wrong with EQ decaying after a week.  I do see a problem with EQ hoarded for the wipe by a few select people who do it *every* wipe.  Why?  So you can control an old text game?  Maybe so, and I'm not arguing that competition is healthy for the mud as that's where it's origins lie and that's what brings people back.  I'm arguing that more good gear that has short timers will bring back competition.  Fight for the gear if it's on a short timer.  Go load more...it'll be there instead of in the vault.  The mentality that one group (or maybe two groups) need to dominate all the great EQ on the mud and that anyone who isn't "elite" doesn't deserve to have any is silly.  It's like a bunch of toddlers fighting over the digger in the sandbox and it drives tons of potential players away once they learn what they're in for.  Why not try giving anyone who can do a zone a chance at the spoils of that zone.  It's hard to do the higher zones as a non-elite player.  Gear makes it a bit easier.  Gear that can be re-acquired makes it easier again because the fear of a non-CR death isn't so bad any more.

Tweaks based on time 'in play' for items would be great, but I expect would take a fair bit of doing for the already overworked and underpaid IMMs.  Putting items in play is always a good thing.

I understand more EQ with faster timers is scary for big clans as it threatens total control.  But with where the mud is now, why not give it a whirl.  We've all seen where big clan control gets us.  Stagnation.

Also, I like the idea of nolimit slow decay class sets as a baseline for anyone to start from if they can pop them.

[Hoodoo]

If I knew that the old Nate style of item control (memorized/triggered decay timers,  destruction and reloading 12 hours before decay because corrupt imms passed all the info) wasn't a thing anymore, and reliable lim1-2 item conteol through the wipe wasn't possible (At no point in time while Nate played was it possible to load the awl/emmy short), this game might seems more fun. However, in the past, it was to the imm's benefit to not make significant changes to a system which aided only those with imm-based knowledge.

This needed changing years ago. Do it now, please. Only people who have cheated info prosper under the current regime.

Honestly, the root of many problems in this game could be described thusly.

[gulca]

If I knew that the old Nate style of item control (memorized/triggered decay timers,  destruction and reloading 12 hours before decay because corrupt imms passed all the info) wasn't a thing anymore, and reliable lim1-2 item conteol through the wipe wasn't possible (At no point in time while Nate played was it possible to load the awl/emmy short), this game might seems more fun. However, in the past, it was to the imm's benefit to not make significant changes to a system which aided only those with imm-based knowledge.

This needed changing years ago. Do it now, please. Only people who have cheated info prosper under the current regime.

Honestly, the root of many problems in this game could be described thusly.

There are many ways to tackle this problem if it's a problem at all.

First solution,  going back to the zone where the equipment was loaded will add more decay timer. Either do it at the final boss  or rank mobs.

2nd solution.  HAve the same pcs normally load. Go to a special merchant add decay timer by combining them to existing eq.

3rd solution.  Have no rent version of the equipment load all the time. It can be a little more brittle.

4th solution. For set pieces,  instead of drop specific item, have it come in parts. And instead of random item like those Boro pieces, you need specific number of parts for specific items of the set. Make it like 2 tiers of part. First tier is the lower basic set. The higher tier parts can be used in both lower set and higher set.

[Chisul]

How about items gained from PK get an automatic decay refresh? Oh wait...

I know, add a deposit option upon rent. Items paid for with triple or quadruple the coin cost decay at a slower rate. Sure, big money gets to keep the goodies, but if they are deep rented there is a risk of deadbeat.

Or, items decay at a certain rate of nonuse. Make it really high and call it rust. That rust value is buffered by use
 The more you use an item the slower it rusts. If something simply isn't being used it goes away. The more you use it, the longer it lasts.

Add a set bonus. Once the set is complete, it decays at half the rate. Bits and pieces decay as normal, but once the set is achieved it decays much slower.

[Gnua]

if it decays, someone else pops it.  if it doesnt decay then i never popped it in the first place because i only got to pop it because someone else decayed it.  while i dont like the decay either, i also believe that i've gotten to see more gear than i usually do because stuff is actually in zones now rather than deeprented.

i dont know what the solution is but simple changes away from the current decay system feel like we'd be exchanging one problem for another.

[Tajs]

#decaysystemsux
#playersmatter

[Alecto]

I feel like decay should be tiered based on where we are in the wipe.
Early wipe I have no problem with the current decay rate, keep limited items in play every 2 weeks or so: to the victors go the spoils.
About 3 months in, when the game slows down and grouping is harder, reduce rent decay by about 50%, items now last about 3 weeks
About 6 months in, when only the lifers are playing, reduce it another 50%, limited items last about 4 weeks.
This would require 2 manual changes by the administrators each wipe, but I think it would reduce the complaints on both sides considerably.

[Hoyt]

How about remove most item limits and decay timers with a few exceptions: haste items/limit damage items/dragon slaying weapons/and gear that loads on the top tier end mobs... other than that who cares.

Make all sets 2 tiers, and have 1 limited item on each set that gives the the max bonus for 1st tier.  Have a second tier to reward the effort put in to collect pieces of a set.

At this point in our lives we play the game for enjoyment and a little bit of an escape... having to put more than 2 hours in a day to just keep a char geared to play is more time than most of us have.   

I just know even with the gear that i have on my chars now isn't elite but is still decent.. is kinda lame to log back in on a Monday to 4 of 5 pieces of gear gone because I spent the weekend hanging with the family instead of zoning. And because i didn't log back on right away when it decayed in rent is most likely gone to someone else's secondary character. so i don't even have a chance to keep the set i am comfortable collecting. 

I just don't want a "second job" spent on a game i play for enjoyment.

[Willoe]

So...I've been waiting and reading peoples thoughts to my original post. It seems to be to be pretty much a consensus that something needs to be done with decays. I have a few suggestions that I'm curious to gauge peoples thoughts:

-Class Sets - Where have they gone? Random pieces loading but sets themselves have seemed to vanish. This could be a good solution to make them either really long timers or no_decay all together. Make pieces load all over the place and make sets more or less unlimited. This would allow for those people who are plagued by decays to have something "decent" to log in to and play without chasing constant decays.

-Limits on Gear - I understand that this is my opinion and obviously not everyone will share it but this is one of the main reasons I stopped playing this wipe. This multiplied by trying to repop gear for an entire clan just burned me out to where I have very little desire to play or to return until something is done...I personally find few things more annoying than logging on in the morning with 0 decays, coming back at night after work to like 2-3, only to find someone ran a zone and already repopped the item I lost without me even having a chance to maintain it. That being said, kudos and awesome for the person that got it, and the gear stays in circulation, however it makes trying to maintain a set frustrating as hell. Suggestion to solve this and allow for the current decay timers to more or less stay the same, is to simply remove limits on most items all together. Lower %'s on items, make them unlimited, and now everyone has a chance to get an item when they run a zone. Nobody would than be "losing" items to one another, if you want to keep an item you simply have to have the patience to repop it, not a big deal. At this point in the game, who cares if everyone and their mom has wrist dams/ring dams/neck heals etc. Now for the dragon orbs/nobashes/game changing items, obviously probably need a different strategy, but for everything else, who cares? This will also allow ALL clans to have characters strong enough to run any zone in the game. No more power vacuums, no more bickering over most decays. No more people bitching about their decays:D

I have a few more ideas I'll post later but wife is giving me the evil eye as we are trying to leave*snicker*. Curious to capture peoples thoughts.

Ilya

[Gnua]

For me a character needs the following to be playable (i.e. i dont want them in my group if they dont have this):  nocharm, det invis, autofly.

for a det invis, they seem limited but soloable under level 15.  and at level 26+ an unlimited high load one can be easily popped solo.

for autofly the limited ones seem soloable around level 15 and at level 26+ a high load high limit held one can be popped.  fly decays + frag + needing to drop the held to recall tend to make people by the rank or medal though (maybe removing the grouping penalty for the medal might help - i would join someone's group if it would help them rank their medal faster and i know there are people who would do the same for me but we avoid each other when medal ranking because the presence of group members slows down the medal ranks).  an unlimited nodecay worn autofly in a bmobs tier fight could fill this niche.

for nocharm i see some easy frag ones in the wm often.  my usual gotos in the higher zones seem to be somewhat limited and having a nolimit always load version in an even higher zone might fill this niche.  people are tending towards irda because of this problem.  the rank seems somewhat unpopular probably because of legendary rank pressure and already having bought fly. and so i often deliberately bring groups to celestial temple for them to die to sky scout volley and tornado before asking the non-irda to buy nocharm.

[kanu]

Just adding my two cents - a major reason I quit completely rather than just cutting my time back severely when I became busy back in the Spring is that it is not possible to play this game for an hour a week and not spend that entire hour trying to load a couple of items so that you can play. Maybe there are some no_decay 4d4 or 3d5 swords out there, but there's not much interesting one can do with shop equipment solo.

[Malthros]

(maybe removing the grouping penalty for the medal might help - i would join someone's group if it would help them rank their medal faster and i know there are people who would do the same for me but we avoid each other when medal ranking because the presence of group members slows down the medal ranks).

God yes. Motes would still be annoying to collect but having to solo a medal is annoying as hell. It’s too useful if an item to force people to solo considering not all classes are equal when it comes to soloing.