Destructive in the long run, maybe?

I'm a little concerned about all the 'magic goodies' being sold. What I mean is, yes... it's awesome that we, the players, get to participate somewhat in the development of SoA. It's awesome that 'shiny's' are available to buy and the revenue contributes to development.

My concern, however, is that the goodies will also present long term difficulties in the game. As in WoW, Perfect World and other online games, an economy will be created within the game. Having a few 'magic skinning knives' or other such tools might be detrimental to that economy in the long run.

For example; suppose that out here in the real world, someone in Alaska discovers gold... but that gold strike is massive. Gold in the quantity of plain old rock. Millions of tons. Overnight, gold is eliminated entirely as a source of wealth, the price of it drops from the current $1248/oz to $20/oz.

In a similar vein (ha!) having us, the early members of SoA, cranking out super-duper leather goods or whatever while new comers have little hope of ever competing regardless of how much time/effort they put into it because they didn't buy the magic skinning knife at start up 5 or ten years ago... well, that's not good.

Effort should be rewarded. Serving other gamers within the game should be rewarded. If there is no hope of ever competing with the old timers... why should anyone bother?

Ultima online was popular not only because it was the first of its kind but also because it had a functioning economy in the game. Certainly adventuring was a major part of the attraction but I think it would be a mistake not to appreciate how important the economic system was.

Thanks for your time!

 

I understand your concern. We don't know enough about the crafting system, to really make any real judgement on it yet. It does state underneath the tools that similar tools can be created in game, just without the indestructibility. Portalarium is not made up of a bunch of amateur game developers, they have been around for quite some time. I have faith in that they know what they are doing. I don't think the tools of prosperity are going to offer any sort of significant advantage in the long run.

 

Welcome to the forums. These tools aren't the best in the game. You can craft better and the same quality. These don't degrade over time and look a bit prettier. . In the end though when you fell a dragon and want to upgrade your armor I'd bet you'll be wanting even better tools, work bench & skill.

 

I'm not sure that's going to happen. The only extra benefit of the Properity tools is that they don't break/run out of charges/etc. In game, I'm sure there will be levels of quality to tools that make it a choice between using a tool that breaks easily but nets you higher quality or a higher amount of a resource vs the Propserity Tool which doesn't break, but only nets you the average amount/quality.

That I think will be the big difference to avoid the scenario you put forward. Sure the Prosperity Tools don;t break, but you're going to need a crafted tool made ingame that DOES break to net the maximum benefit of using said tool.

 

The equivalent items to the "prosperity" items will be available in game via crafters who make them. The only difference between in game items made by crafters and what you can buy in the add on store is the ones in the add in store don't need repair. We don't know what repair costs will be but usually it's not a real big difference, more of a convenience.

 

Thank you all for the comments and I'm glad I'm not the only one who has considered this aspect. Yes, I'm certain the developers are all very smart but, historically speaking.... smart people have done some astonishingly stupid things from time to time. While it may annoy them greatly to be questioned by half-wits like myself, the fact remains that no village idiot anywhere ever launched a holocaust.

I've put quite a lot of money into the development of SoA and others have put in a great deal more. I hope SoA will drive the competition into massive inferiority complex's and give us homeless UO addicts a new home!

 

[quote="I hope SoA will drive the competition into massive inferiority complex's and give us homeless UO addicts a new home![/quote]

Many of us are hoping for the same thing.

 

Just to let you know. The Prosperity Items, are not even the top end crafting tools. There will be in game made tools that are better than these, they will just break.

 

These Prosperity items are high level, but not the best in the game. The only unique perk is that they never need repair. All other stats on these items will be similar, if not better, on even higher level crafted tools in-game. In the long run people will want the higher level tools even if they do need to be repaired.

But in the short term or for lower level crafters that can't yet make or afford the uber tools, these Prosperity tools are definitely worth it. But I also think these tools should only be $5 so that even more backers are enticed to get them.

 

While the prosperity tools are indestructible and buff one element of what they do (they increase the quality of the harvested resource, increase the speed of harvesting, and increase the ability to make better quality items - these are all stated things in the store, by the way) it is yet to be seen what impact they will have on the crafting system as we have no context as of yet.

Hopefully they will just be conveniences. We shall see.

 

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In case anyone has missed it, the are indestructible and don't need repair.

 

Wow.... How did I miss that!

 

Bunch of very helpful smart people in that post. Some of them even smile!

 

Gold has other properties other than looking pretty, electronics for one, so in this case the benefits may actually outweigh the negatives . Seriously though, if done right they should at least give a little boost to a fledging economy in the beginning, so far we're seeing tools for gathering, ie the inner ring of the crafting sigil, and indeed some such as mining hint at needing a face mask too (will they add this to the Prosperity line?).

We shall see I guess, hopefully they won't get a decimal point in the wrong place (a little nod to Office Space here) lo.

Hmmm, this thread leads onto another question....