Arcane catalyst

I am about to decide to drop 40,000 arcane catalyst into the new refuse bin. Any advice? I usually wait till the last minute to do something like this and then regret it when something changes shortly thereafter allowing me to use the object I finally booted. It would be so nice to get my bank and character finally cleaned up.

 

It would be nice if it were actually useful for something other than a quest turn-in.

 

Were this a single player game sure, but with there being folks hording thousands of every item from rusty spoons to lich skulls, adding new functions to items is a recipe for breaking whatever system the new functions touch while also encouraging more people to horde.

 

Well, it is not hording IMO if one can only turn in 18 a day. Anything over that which you earn by game playing time only piles up with no recourse. One day folks may realize that game time is the most important aspect, not restriction to that activity. That's why I think that reasonable minds will realize that and make some accommodation to keep players interested and active in SOTA.

 

What possibly *should* be happening, is that only 18 Arcane Catalyst can drop a day for a player. After you have 18 of them in your inventory, they no longer drop. Thus, you would no longer be getting a giant pile of these.

 

Yes.

 

I think that collecting more than 18 a day is exactly what makes it hoarding. I get that the mechanics of the game make it easy to do and hard to avoid for Arcane catalyst, but that's because the original release let you turn in as many as you could collect.

The issue is that if the devs provide a windfall for those with a hoard of arcane catalysts, the expectation is that other hoards will pay out eventually, maybe a recipe to turn rusty cutlery into silver dinnerware, maybe emerald borers into actual emeralds, and so hoarding increases strangling the economy further, if such is possible.

 

I can envision 18 a day for the shield and a little cash. Then next level perhaps 180 for added experience. Next level would be 1800 arcane catalyst for a deco object that can be traded. Next would be 18000 for a pretty neat deco object, trade or not and so on. This would keep people so inclined to keep coming back, running around town and just being in game.

I am a solo player, so cannot speak to the group thing. Obviously a limited progressive award would not work if all ten people earned 18 catalyst for perhaps just standing around and raking it in. However, per my argument, at least they are signed on and contribute to play activity. Perhaps the deco stuff could be contingent on actual player kills rather than the group kills even when in a group?

 

Actually this is a good point IMO. But isn't that how mining or collecting any resource just that way? How many people mine all day right now to produce ingots for sale? As long as there is a sink for the ingots, re: crafting necessity and losses, there would be no mining going on. The key is to make the collection activity a goal to be proud of or lucrative. In the arcane catalyst example, the 180 target is somewhat a hoarding goal, but does not affect the economy. The next level at 1800 is economic, as the item can be traded albeit with diminishing returns over time. The next level at 18000 is 1000 times the effort and results in what will probably be an enduring, non flooding recognition of a person's dedication. Who will be the first to turn in 180000? You can bet there will be quite a few players willing to put in the game time and just being around to put that feather in their cap (as long as the reward never ends up in the store as a heritage or some such offering).

 

Possibly also add them to the daily mats turn in. Still going to be a long time to get through 40,000 of them, though.

 

In a competitive leaderboard sense, that works, but outside of leaderboard chasers and the big-number-good crowd, you are going to need something more to appeal. What's the impact of thousands of these being turned in? What's the impact of them not being turned in? What if they are looted in the Vale and turned in at Ardoris? How does you POT factor into this? All questions that fall outside of the generic fantasy MMORPG handbook and don't sell medieval Barbie dream homes.

 

That’s a great idea.

 

I still think a new useful potion made from arcane catalyst would be pretty sweet.

[edit] Or just have an NPC that will buy them for a small amount of gold each.

 

Until it turns out you have to fight a wave battle full of frost giants on Suutak's platform to get the recipe.

 

Probably.

 

Don't forget to add Elven Mages to cast Torpid Torment and Pirate Mages to cast a 12 sec long mez.
All of SotA's best features condensed in one!

 

Yeah, mesmerize is especially punishing for anyone using Shield of Air.

 

I think it's annoying and the mages will spam it in a way there's no counter other than turning the game off.

 

Back on topic: being stuck with thousands of a "rare and valuable" material such as arcane catalyst just to realize it's useless makes the game feel silly.

 

You never know what it could be used for. Perhaps they add storage chests to exchange it for a reward. Perhaps it has some very arcane, probably catalystic properties that can later be explored when the right formula has been found. Nothing is truly useless. However it might be that you are a bit lacking as a wizard of reknown if you haven´t found out what it is really to be usable for... Flubber perhaps?