Material Modification : Metals

[Etherdrifter 2,516]

Currently wurm's economy is not doing so well, there is not a lot of choice for consumers or items geared towards different playstyles (wandering vs sedentary)

 

There are many factors to this but a major one is that once you find a high QL iron vein on wurm you have all you need for crafting.  Other materials (steel excepted) are not used save for their novelty value, they offer no benefit in terms of function.  This suggestion is aimed at changing that, balancing out metals a little better to make copper, tin, gold and silver more desirable and thus encourage the trade of these materials (as well as encouraging players to buy those lovely rods or explore).

 

Changes To Iron (Aimed At Unenchanted items)

Reduce vein spawn rate

Reduce durability of high QL Iron Items (Low QL seems ok, but high QL iron items last forever)

50% enchant penalty

Increase the rate of enchantment decay by 100% (double speed enchant decay)

 

Changes To Steel (High tier items)

Scale steel durability buff to balance with iron durability reduction (be nice to keep it the same so steel items are super durable)

30% enchant penalty

10% weight reduction

 

Changes To Tin (Minor Enchanted Items)

Increase vein spawn rate

Reduce durability (80% of new iron)

10% bonus to skillchecks when imping/creating

30% enchant penalty

 

Changes To Copper (Enchanted items)

Increase vein spawn rate

Reduce durability (70% of new iron)

10% enchant bonus

10% bonus to skillchecks when imping/creating

10% weight increase

 

Changes To Bronze (Midground between durability and enchantability)

Reduce durability (90% of new iron)

No enchant bonus/penalty

 

Changes To Silver (High tier enchantments)

Reduce Durability (50% of new iron)

10% enchant bonus

50% enchant decay rate (half speed)

50% weight increase

 

Changes to Gold (High tier enchantments)

Reduce durability (25% of new iron)

25% enchant bonus

0% enchant decay rate (gold enchants never decay)

100% weight increase

 

The above changes will alter just how much various items are worth and will cause a shuffle in market values.  Yes it will make things harder for those of us who have invested in enchanted tools/items, but better now than later.

 

Side Note : (almost all of my enchanted tools are iron and as a fo priest I can't really make enchanted tools so I would put myself in the "hard hit" group)

[zigozag 918]

Yes to more flexibility and more use of different metals.

NO to all the changes you are proposing.

 

-1

[Odynn 2,248]

current market only sell due to the decay on enchants and the items rarity. we have way too much end crafters and way too little buyers (unless bulks).

 

those changes wouldn't help the market at all sadly.

 

-1

[Aaron_IRL 256]

-1

[MrGARY 12,421]

once again, no to making wurm more mindnumbing just for some "economy"

[Zerocool 139]

-1

Would be fine in a new game, little late along in this one for this kind of a change to be meaningful. Also, any change that at first results in a nerf to existing content is going to be received poorly, even if you have improved the top potential.

 

Was hoping for craftable augments to attach to existing items when I opened this.

Edited January 24, 2016 by Zerocool

[Jaz 2,665]

-1 can't balance out currently existing items.  Better way is new uses for the metals, first good steps are like dioptras, god colossi and ballistas. For example what about tin foil hats as spell protection?

[Depends 220]

On 1/23/2016 at 11:45 AM, Etherdrifter said:

Currently wurm's economy is not doing so well

 

Wurm's economy has never been doing well.

 

I would like to see new uses for different metals though. Being able to make tools and weapons from some of the other ores would make things easier for some people.

[Wulfgarr 810]

Did i -1 this or not, oh well, -1 anyways.

[griper 535]

-1 to faster enhancement decay

But new alloys (made of the current metals) could be refreshing.

 

[Niki 2,278]

-1

your suggestion is extremely unbalanced i'm afraid

Edited January 25, 2016 by Niki

[Etherdrifter 2,516]

Actually it is impossible to predict balance in this issue unless it is tested.

 

Mostly I feel people just think this would be an inconvenience, something that would make them less independent and more dependent on trade with their neighbours.

 

Still, something does need doing, currently there is no real demand for the abundant (and ever growing) supply and I can think of no other solution than to make iron less desirable as a material.

 

The only market that is thriving is the PvP goods market and only then because such items are deliberately kept rare

[Audrel 2,223]

It's not merchants online. The economy is secondary, if that. A player eventually gets to a point where they can adequately imp their own stuff and many get a priest to enchant their own also, or they have made friends that freely trade their abilities back and forth. You might start out market-dependent, but in a couple of years you are self-sufficient and the market is the place to get bulk that you just don't want to spend the clicks on.

 

Also, this will only drive prices up and hurt the market even more than it is. What little I do buy from time to time would not be bought if I had to pay more for it. 

[Zerocool 139]

5 hours ago, Etherdrifter said:

Actually it is impossible to predict balance in this issue unless it is tested.

 

Sure I can. And you should try. You don't implement changes without...OK OK normal devs don't implement changes that impact their revenue model without considering the consequences first.

 

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Mostly I feel people just think this would be an inconvenience, something that would make them less independent and more dependent on trade with their neighbours.

 

Assuming you are recalculating existing enchantments, you are taking value away from existing players and giving nothing in return. You will never be received well by doing this. If you don't recalculate enchantments, you are taking value away from future casts and you are encouraging resale of legacy enchanted items. Why?

 

Worse being you suggest punishing new players trying to start a deed. Reducing vein frequency has an annoying degree of impact on existing players, but little more. Lots of established deeds, lots of undeeded caves, lots of easy to access iron. Even if you drop spawn frequency that isn't going to impact your primary trading market. If you hurt anyone, you hurt the optimistic guy who plopped a deed in the forest and is trying to make it work from scratch.

 

All this and I haven't even left changes to iron!

 

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Still, something does need doing, currently there is no real demand for the abundant (and ever growing) supply and I can think of no other solution than to make iron less desirable as a material.

 

You will never reduce abundance in this game without removing the capacity to obtain an item completely or almost completely. You took the supply and demand structure and dashed in the wrong direction. If you had been in here suggesting customizations that could be crafted and sold, you would've had the start to a good idea. You will never discourage the guy who mines hundreds of tiles for entertainment, but you might annoy him. Annoying someone is no promise of a future sale, ask Ubisoft.

 

Hell, even if you had come in and proposed buffs to other metals and omitted your iron shenanigans you would be better off. You would be boring, but you would be better off.

 

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The only market that is thriving is the PvP goods market and only then because such items are deliberately kept rare

 

What are you even talking about? The only thing I can even begin to guess at is rares and dragon armor. The dragons that produce the material for armor spawn at a heavily reduced rate over the average animal, so....you don't like your own suggestion? Rares are random. There is no predictability to their market as a result. You should love this.

[Evilreaper 262]

terrible idea

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

the only metal changes we need is that ALL items should be made of ANY type of metal

 

the problem with the market is account sales, nobody quits wurm, they just sell-out   and all the 90+ crafters who have long quit the game, their toons are still crafting today, even right now, they are pumping out 90+ ql items to sell thus drastically reducing the value of items under 90ql to nearly 0.... the ONLY way to fix the economy is to raise skillcaps and ql caps to 200... or remove the ability to sell accounts.