All spells should require reagents

You can't be serious....

Why, exactly, do you think that 100% LRC suits happened to begin with ?
Nm - It was popular demand from all of us burdened by the requirements.

So please don't take us back there all over again.
It was tiresome then, it'll be just as tiresome now....

I presently spend more on regs than I do on food AND repair kits.
Hell, I spend more on regs than I do on a Row lot's taxes every day...

There is no compelling reason as to why Levels 1 or 2 should ever require reagents...

 

Absolutely NO idea where you're coming from there, @Baron Drocis Fondorlatos , but on a daily basis, I spend far FAR more on my reagents than I do on Repair kits or COTO's.

So, your statement is factually incorrect.

Oh, and btw... I am a Blades tank wearing Chainmail - if you're curious.

 

no. just no.

 

This thread is so delightfully toxic, I'm proud of you guys

Thats what happens when you make a game where everyone can be a mage... while clearly everyone can't ! had to say it

 

Imho all "classes" should have about the same maintenance cost for fighting, because all of them should be about equally powerful.

 

um.. EA..

It was so burdensome on the population that people were literally recalling across the street cause they were too impatient or lazy to walk to the next shop over or gating (a high level spell) everywhere they went. You could scarcely go into any dungeon without seeing high level magic summons. Yeah it must have been SOO hard on magic users who made up a huge if not overwhelming majority and still managed to treat magic like an every day convenience. And yet somehow the game thrived during those years.

Dumbing a game down rarely.. if ever is beneficial for the long term health of the game.

That is an economic problem.. not a magic problem. Let's not confuse the issue for something it's not. If reagents cost what they should you wouldn't be complaining and if they were as available as they should be "tiresome" would be your only argument. Cost and availability are easy to tweak.

 

I guess then if you want to make it truly realistic, then remove the '% chance to use reagents' and make all spells use the full quantity, every time.

 

Rather than starting a new thread and annoying @Berek

It seems the number 1 argument against all spells requiring reagents is an economic one.. not one based on the magic system itself. Reagents are just too darn expensive. Or at least it seems to feel that way. Part of that in my perspective is a single tier currency that started off already heavily inflated. There is no respect for what should be the value of gold.. As an example, I recently saw a single meal on a vendor for 1,600 GOLD. One thousand.. six hundred.. GOLD.... for one meal.

Now no matter what happens to the magic system (if anything).. the prices of reagents and their relative availability needs tweaking in favor of the players. Garlic for example.. a VERY common ingredient not just as a reagent but also in alchemy AND cooking.. should never (imo) cost more than 2 or 3 coin.. especially if that coin is made of GOLD..

Now back to the topic.. if you asked most people around here what purpose reagents serve in the magic system they'd probably say 'power'.. but this is a Richard Garriott game.. so that would be wrong. Since the early beginnings of magic upon which the current system is based.. reagents provide the properties through which a spell takes shape. Sulfurous Ash for example was required for spells that produced light or flame.. because that was the properly that reagent imbued the magical energy with. The same was true of all reagents, that was why they were required.

Now, we have a bunch of spells.. relatively effective spells.. with nothing to give them form.

If the only objections to all spells requiring reagents is cost, availability and 'it's tiresome'.. the first two are solved through economy. Low level spells should only require cheap and available reagents. High level spells can and should require rarer, more expensive ones. Low level spells, mages shouldn't have to think much about.. but the requirement should still be there if for no other reason than to balance power. High level spells mages should have to think about how and when to use them.

The final objection.. convenience.... is something to be balanced with difficulty. Convenience for it's own sake can ruin a game. If everything in the game were so easy it wouldn't hold anyone's attention for long.

 

That's how earlier incarnations of the magic system used to be.. it's easier to pull off in single player. There have been other viable suggestions to stretch out reagent use.. from overall size and potency to refinement. Either or both would make magic much more interesting.. at least in my opinion.

 

You sir, and some of the others.. need to start multi quoting in 1 post.

It also occured to me reading this that availibility is going to change drasticly once loot tables get some love.

 

And that changes the end result how? Same amount of content either way..

 

1 notification in a watched thread. not 50

 

I want more notifications like this, makes my hopes go up

Bowen, great post 100%

 

agree

 

So, how does increasing requirements for using lower level spells change the "grind" that you speak of ?

 

As the problem with the grind is entirely unrelated.. so is the solution. What encourages the grind?

1: The economy.. number 1 issue. The need to accumulate an already inflated currency to meet artificially elevated prices.

Prices NEED to come down.. unfortunately that also means tighter regulation on gold faucets.. it's a downward spiral to balance but the good news is that spiral can hit rock bottom and that's a good place to start.

Convert 'gold' to bronze coin 1 to 1 and go multi-tier.. it's an illusion I know but perception of value plays a part. Right now, gold is perceived to be worth very little.. and so prices are high because players are both greedy and want to feel like their wealth is wealth..

2: XP and power. Unlike Ultimas where mobs don't come in various levels of difficulty. Players want to feel they can overcome the world.. and PvPers especially are competitive.. so.. XP = power.. grind = XP.

Unfortunately, I think we're stuck with this one.

 

I think he was rather just using an example to illustrate the disconnect... not sure I understand why you take the issue so passionately ?

Regs are part of ultima and although being the mages is not the "coolest" most convenient form of adventuring, usually they are also part of some greather things OR they shall be more powerful than warriors.

JUST like in fantasy books, just like in movies, just like in our inner garden

Equality is not equity.

I just think yes garlic is more common than mandrake, but then you can grow both in huge fields... so technically we're not going in the right direction with this hypothesis.

 

Priceless... *bows*

 

But then again Bowen, BDF, is a freakin baron, and mr. Powerleveler, is a freakin beast... they should not handle bronze coins should they ?

 

We're NOT !!! Thats what I've been dying to tell you guys... *coughing fit* ok, I'm calm. no worries ^^