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JakeRivers

Stop Decay of Reports inside the Almanac

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I see no reason why the pages need to decay when inside the book, I think making this a container to start with was rather silly but it is what it is.

 

 

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24 minutes ago, JakeRivers said:

I see no reason why

 

There's your mistake, and it's the same mistake I make all the time. 

 

Wogic.  It does not have to make sense, or make our game experience better.

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When it was added I thought it's like recipe book for cooking.. and pages/ink(dye) was just the way to get the info added.. to a list of things you know... like with cooking.. just to be more immersive.. paper/ink..

This is...:wacko:

 

--edit

7 minutes ago, Wurmhole said:

does the almanac even do anything that WA doesn't do for us?  Just curious if there is some advantage to using one and carrying the weight.  Not read up on them at all yet

nope, afaik, just another skill to grind, and have a ingame tracking for events

Edited by Finnn

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does the almanac even do anything that WA doesn't do for us?  Just curious if there is some advantage to using one and carrying the weight.  Not read up on them at all yet

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Yep, he's got a point.  Dang you, and your logical questions.  :lol:

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+1 to the OP, My almanac reports have 0 dmg so far and I've never taken the almanac out of inventory since making it on day 1 of the patch that enabled them. Still seems odd the reports would take dmg to me.

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It is not in my inventory, this is something I only care to check on occasion, not every day.

 

If it was not so bloody heavy I would certainly leave it in my inventory, but its like carrying around an extra weapon that you don't use.

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+1

 

Almanac folders and pages shouldn't decay! 

 

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Lovely, the Almanac is so huge it will not fit in my overloaded LMC, I am not moving other items out to make room for a few pages. 

 

This has made the almanac truly useless as I will be reduced to using a merchant or alt for storing it, as I am not going to lug this massive book around with me all day long.

Edited by JakeRivers
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I think that the almanac is a case of a long needed item but with an implementation that went a bit wrong. Lets start with the basics. Who is this item for? Yeah, it is a novelty and I guess that every Wurmian has one by now and updates regularly, but for how long? Experienced players doesn't really need it. People know when harvest seasons start, even medium forestry skill levels give the ability to see if something is harvestable with a simple mouseover and there is always someone notifying chat channels about what is in season.

 

The almanac is not for us. It is a newbie item. Harvest seasons and information about the game is something that can help him getting to know what is what and what it is for. In that context, we need to expand it to cover info on crops and other stuff like the trees, herbs etc. It could be a new player's guide to wurm's nature skills. A cheap medium ql almanac could be invaluable in a newbie's hands. We could start putting them to merchants near starter towns and even have a small market traffic with them.

 

The main problem in that target audience for the almanac is price and familiarity. There must be cheap low ql almanacs newbies can afford but first they must become familiar with their existence and use. If they don't know what it is they will never buy it. So, lets introduce a starter item named “worn almanac” that every new toon gets. It could be a full almanac but it will decay rather fast (even in inventory). I think that the desired lifetime for that object could be roughly the same with the starter buffs they get. So they will have it for a couple of weeks, both learning about the game and familiarizing themselves with almanac's usefulness. When they expire, they will probably buy a better one or try to build their own.

 

So, after I provided my reasoning, let me go back to the topic of this thread, decay of pages. If there is a market for almanacs, then they should decay to keep some demand up. And we could probably use different levels of decay. Almanacs should decay faster in the inventory. It makes sense (and keeps a market for different ql of almanacs alive). Carry a book with you whenever you go and compare it with the same book somewhere in your house. Even placed somewhere in your deed, they should decay at normal rate though.

 

But that is still a nuisance for older players. After a while they will simply get tired of replacing decayed pages. Well, we already have their proper place. Make bookshelves proper containers and let us store them in there (along with any future books we get). A book in a bookshelf should take no damage (or greatly reduced decay). So, I can have my high ql almanac in there for every day reference and even care to update it with better ql reports.

 

PS. I would also like to place an almanac in my guest house (something like a small inn) so please have a permission setting for the bookshelf that allows someone to read the almanac in there without being able to take it.

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if Almanac pages did not decay while inside the almanac, much like items inside a bsb don't decay... wouldn't that be a good thing as the served would not need to poll those pages any longer?  I thought that was one of the reasons behind bulk storage.

 

+1 to Erlindur's suggestions above.

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+1, decay of loose pages seems reasonable but decay of pages bound into a book is just bizarre.  Some of my reports already have 5 damage on them.  These are items with an initial Q of 60, stored inside a book, that inside a chest, inside a house, on deed with full upkeep.  I am pretty sure I wrote those reports on paper rather than slabs of raw meat.   Even the cheapest, most acidic paper takes years to brown.  I own paperback books more than 30 years old, of the cheapest construction, with perhaps "10 damage" on them.

 

Generally I like the almanac mechanic and would enjoy more of the same. Animal husbandry, butchering, mining/prospecting, astronomy, mapmaking; you  name the subject and I will be right there with ink, paper, and pen to make a book for it. 

 

Just please remove or greatly reduce damage on bound pages.

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3 hours ago, Erlindur said:

Experienced players doesn't really need it. People know when harvest seasons start

 

 

This is where you are wrong, the almanac is rather handy if you are keeping an eye out for a select harvest or just all the harvests. There is a good app out there for this, but I do like the idea of the 'ingame app', there was no reason though to make it cumbersome.

 

Also these are not just for the veteran's, any one with just the most basic of skills can make there own almanac.

Edited by JakeRivers

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One more thing ... since the almanac is a container it must be empty to be sold on a merchant.  What's that?  Merchant.  It's a ... never mind.

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12 hours ago, JakeRivers said:

 

 

This is where you are wrong, the almanac is rather handy if you are keeping an eye out for a select harvest or just all the harvests. There is a good app out there for this, but I do like the idea of the 'ingame app', there was no reason though to make it cumbersome.

 

Also these are not just for the veteran's, any one with just the most basic of skills can make there own almanac.

 

I'm not saying it is useless, I say that it is not really needed. It is a nice quality of life improvement item but if the hassle of replacing pages becomes a burden, people will neglect them and abandon them. But besides the convenient “what is on harvest today” functionality we all like, there is more work in it that goes to waste to veterans. Take today's lemon report.

 

Quote

The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout Wurm.  The juice, pulp and rind (zest) are all used in cooking and baking, and the juice also has useful alchemical properties.  The juice of the lemon is about 5% to 6% citric acid, which gives a distinctive sour taste; this makes it a key ingredient in drinks and foods such as lemonade.

 

It contains nice info, not for you and me but for a newbie. “OK, I have a lemon, now what? What is its use?” Sure he can ask at CA but a new player cannot simply ask about every little thing he encounters. The report fills this void. It is used for cooking, making drinks and has alchemical properties. “OK I will try it in cooking and maybe later I will check about alchemy. Nice, the game has alchemy, didn't know that”.

 

Such a use goes to waste as things are now. Sure there is no skill requirements to build one but look at it from a complete noob's perspective. First it doesn't even know this thing exist. Then, think about all the little items you used to make your almanac but the average newbie doesn't not even know their existence and function. You know lots of noobs running around with pens and paper presses?

 

6 hours ago, Gaffer said:

One more thing ... since the almanac is a container it must be empty to be sold on a merchant.  What's that?  Merchant.  It's a ... never mind.

 

That could be a problem. I can see the need to make it a container (code wise) or else you would need a new separate object entry for every (filled) almanac. On the other hand, I fail to see any reason not to consider it as a new type of container that would be able to put into a merchant with all its contents.

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Some of the earliest types of "books" were loose-leaf pages in a box. Binding techniques arose some time later.

 

Then there's scrolls and scrollcases.

 

Far as the OP goes, the decay when in inventory and for such high ql, does seem a tad excessive.

Edited by Klaa

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16 hours ago, Gaffer said:

 Even the cheapest, most acidic paper takes years to brown.  I own paperback books more than 30 years old, of the cheapest construction, with perhaps "10 damage" on them.

 

 

roflmao, i have a few rl books with "10 damage" on them too :P

 

+1 be nice if the almanac was like a magic chest for paper only, oh and maybe 1 reed pen could go in there, like a pen slot / folder thingamajig.

 

 

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just reduce the weight of the almanac to 0.25 or 0.5, problem solved.  2kg is excessive.

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1 hour ago, Wonka said:

just reduce the weight of the almanac to 0.25 or 0.5, problem solved.  2kg is excessive.

Considering the materials used to make it..... excessive is an understatment.

 

1 String 0.20kgs, 1 piece of paper 0.01kgs, 2 strips of leather 0.03kgs each = 2.00kgs... I hope whoever did that math pays someone else to do their taxes.

 

It should be 0.30kgs + contents (0.01kgs * 20 pages) = 0.50 kgs for a complete almanac. I think we'd all be happy with that.

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2 hours ago, Wonka said:

just reduce the weight of the almanac to 0.25 or 0.5, problem solved.  2kg is excessive.

 

+1 to this. 

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3 hours ago, lawurm said:

 

roflmao, i have a few rl books with "10 damage" on them too :P

 

+1 be nice if the almanac was like a magic chest for paper only, oh and maybe 1 reed pen could go in there, like a pen slot / folder thingamajig.

 

 

 

Like that idea, should have a inkwell too!

 

My water skin been full of ink since this feature came out. ;)

 

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3 hours ago, lawurm said:

 

+1 be nice if the almanac was like a magic chest for paper only, oh and maybe 1 reed pen could go in there, like a pen slot / folder thingamajig.

 

+1

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If we had bookshelves we could store stuff in, I'd support no decay in those.

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