REWARDS REVAMPED↴
I have mentioned this in a few different places, but this is making it official: as of January 1st, the currently AC Rewards system will be replaced with the prices and descriptions below! Unfortunately, some of these are the unfun kind of price changes - specifically, the costs of learning new spells are increasing by 10-30 pts in some places. This is because of how the "points economy" has worked out in recent months. The game has generally been more active, and plots have been getting more intense, which means there have been more frequent opportunities to gain points. As such, they are being adjusted so that certain degrees of power remain as rare to achieve as they were meant to be from the beginning.
This also means, of course, that in some cases I can be less stingy about what I allow within certain categories of magic, because I can be certain that the power was well earned and won't be over saturated. Several of the things I've changed overall have made rewards a little bit less reliant on IC context, though that is definitely still important.
I have also reworked the way that change related rewards work entirely, meaning that now you can buy Rare Changes without asking for them ICly - of course, in exchange, they are now about double the price. With that extra expense, however, it gives you the freedom to decide what event triggers the Rare Change. If the prices seem right, that's because Rare Changes are and will continue to be something that is meant to be prestigious, and so making it too easy would defeat the point.
Lastly, I've added a section for how buying roles in certain plots with AC points works. These can only be bought when a plot specifically offers them, but I've given a price estimate and an idea of what those prices would get you for anyone who wants to be prepared.
Feel free to give your thoughts or ask questions down below. Obviously, raising some of the prices isn't something that most will be actively enthusiastic about, but from the mod perspective I do think they are necessary to keep things from getting unwieldy, especially or characters that have already been accumulating power for the last year. If you see any major problems, however, I am definitely open to discussing them.
FAVOURS↴
► 20PT FAVOUR (SMALL): The ringmaster will provide you with a small favour in exchange for your built up good karma. These are things that are useful to you but do not cost her a significant amount of effort, like allowing you to borrow one of her belongings or assigning you a few cinder spirits to do your bidding for a while. These requests are judged on a case to case basis.
► 60PT FAVOUR (BIG): Any favour granted by the ringmaster that will require a significant amount of her time, such as teaching you a new skill or building something that you would personally find useful into the carnival's architecture. These favours are flexible in content, but will be judged on a case to case basis.
► 70PT 77PT REBIRTH (ONE USE): The only method through which a character can come back to life in Lost Carnival, is if they have previously made a deal with the ringmaster that will allow her to capture their spirit and resurrect their body. This cannot be bought after you have already died, as keeping your soul from departing requires a small ritual set up and commitment put in place before the death occurs. Once she has prepared said ritual, it will lay dormant indefinitely until your character happens to die, at which point she will be able to resurrect them in her own special way. This is only good for one use and will have to be bought again afterwards. Going through the resurrection will very likely result in a character developing a Rare Change.
► (NEW) 40PT ALTERATION: Your character asks the Ringmaster to alter one of their existing changes. It basically has to be an alteration on something your character already has - for instance, you can't change hooves to horns, but you could change what kind of horns your character has, if those horns already exist. This has to be by request, though, because changes don't generally shift without a trigger. If you have a good trigger in mind you can ask, but there is no guarantee of approval. If your character was born with horns but wants different horns this can also apply.
► 40PT 60PT CHANGE (UNCOMMON): Your character acquires a new uncommon change of any kind, triggered by whatever circumstances make sense. This can be because you asked the Ringmaster, or because of any other situation where your character has been exposed to a lot of magical energies. The Ringmaster will sometimes give out uncommon changes for free but only if she has a reason she is really enthusiastic about, so this is a good way to fast track that experience.
► 60PT 100PT CHANGE (RARE): Your character acquires a new rare change of any kind, triggered by whatever circumstances make sense. This can be because you asked the Ringmaster, or because of any other situation where your character has been exposed to a lot of magical energies. There should generally be a good idea for a trigger behind getting a rare, but we will be more flexible about it.
MAGIC↴
► 40PT SPELL (SIMPLE): The ringmaster will teach you a single, simple spell that you will be able to use as much as your magical stamina allows. Previous magical knowledge is not necessarily required. For characters already experienced with magic, they won't necessarily have to go through the ringmaster to do this, and buying this reward will just be considered OOC permission to have the character figure it out, either instinctually or with active effort. Simple spells are basic cantrips, such as creating a light for yourself, lighting candles with your fingers, filling glasses with water magically, and other basic things.
► 80PT 90PT SPELL (COMPLEX): The same as above, except more complex and useful. This can be just about anything, though the cost of a spell may be adjusted if you are asking for something really flexible or significant. It is possible that a character could learn this themselves if they have a magical background, but please ask the mods before assuming. Otherwise, this will have to be taught by the ringmaster or other senior staff of the carnival. A complex spell basically amounts to having a new, flexible magical ability. A complex spell can grow out of a simple spell, and if you've already purchased the simple version of a technique you can pay off the rest of the 90pts to upgrade it to complex without having to start fresh.
► 100PT 120PT SPELL (DEADLY): The cost to be taught any spell that has the primary function of murder or warfare. The ringmaster doesn't teach this kind of thing to just anyone and, again, will refuse to do so if your character has proven to be worrisome. A complex spell can be upgraded to deadly by paying off the difference in points.
► 130PT 160PT MAGIC (AREA OF STUDY): This is a reward only available to characters with a history of magical study or research, or characters who are putting considerable effort into learning while in game. This represents a general understanding of a broader category of fae magic, as opposed to individual spells which gives a relatively specific ability. Those who have purchased a magical area of study can experiment within the confines of their subject, and create new spells related to the topic with enough effort.
(NEW) STORY↴
► 10PT PLOT OPPORTUNITY (MINOR): Some plots will have a limited quantity of slots in which certain actions can be taken, such as a limited quantity of NPCs that can be defeated or killed (where claiming a kill would carry some level of prestige) or a limited number of players that can go on a certain quest. 10 pts will be the typical entrance fee for something like this, if there is more demand than there is supply. The cost will not always be exactly 10 pts, but that's a good ballpark so that you know what to expect.
► 30PT PLOT OPPORTUNITY (MODERATE): Some plots will offer a limited number of slots for special roles in a story, usually where the selected characters are given additional authority, power, or plot hooks. The specifics will depend on the event, but the buy in for these moderate roles will generally be around 30 pts. Remember, you can't just request this reward without prompting. These are only here to give an idea of how reward points may be spent during plots.
► 60PT PLOT OPPORTUNITY (MAJOR): If a plot has a few select roles available that can accommodate only a small group of characters, in which those characters are given a position of particular authority, power, or relevance, the opportunity will sometimes he offered for around 60 pts. More often than not, these positions are determined by in game actions, but in cases where the specific individuals given a role are subject to a degree of random chance, reward points can be spent to claim OOC dibs. Again, this reward can only be purchased alongside plots that introduce the opportunity, and in the case of major roles the mods retain the right to refuse you if your recent activity suggests you are not available enough to take the role. |
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livinglot2017-12-08 01:13 pm
⇨ QUESTIONS (YOU CAN ASK MORE BELOW)
No! If you bought a Deadly Spell at the 100 pt level, and you want to buy an Area of Magic in January, you will only have to pay the 40 pt difference between levels instead of the 60 pt difference between what you initially paid and the new cost.
Will I be able to use the AC at the end of this month for purchases with the old price scheme?
No, AC tends to wrap up about a 3rd of the way into January, so all purchases with those points will be under the new price scheme. If you have anything you want to buy with this price scheme, it will have to be with what points you have from the AC we just finished.
What happened to the item regains and rewards?
Those are all staying the same so I didn't include them in this post.
Will you raise the reward point cap on activity submissions?
Not at the moment, but we'll see.
no subject
I love the addition of the "modification" tier, though!
no subject
Rare changes were almost never asked for previously to begin with, and most of them come along with a free associated super power. (IE, breathing fire, flying, whatever powers come from having horse legs). You get quite a bit of bang for your buck.
If it were purely going by my desires I would probably not give out rare changes outside of events at all - but since I know there is demand for it, I am allowing people to buy it with points as opposed earning it via direct IC actions. So I guess I see it as the difference between being given nothing and being given something for people whose characters would never ask for it on their own.
If the price was much cheaper, a lot of people would be snapping this up, since the IC limitations were the only reason they weren't before. Which is ultimately more people than I want to be doing that, at risk of making it lose all its luster.
no subject
Editing to clarify bc yeah, the transformation aspect is one of the big draws of the game and I TOTALLY GET and agree with wanting to keep the rare changes actually rare. On the other hand with the increase in cost on uncommon changes in particular, I worry that this makes things a lot harder for new/less active players. So I'm just curious to know if events will provide more of an opportunity where bonus AC will not.
IDK if I'm making sense or not hahaha let me know if not, I'll try to clarify.
no subject
I've never had a single person buy an uncommon change by the former rules so I am really not sure where the concern is stemming from, have I missed something?
no subject
(...)There's been about 8 opportunities for uncommon changes (if not more) since the start of the game
OK! I will gladly take your word on that, I've not kept super close watch on how frequently it happens with each event because getting changes has never been an issue for me personally.
I haven't said anything about NOT continuing to do that?
I didn't mean to imply that you did, and I'm not sure what I said above that implied you'd be stopping altogether, but, my apologies for the misunderstanding?
there's always been the option to ask RM for an uncommon change for 40 pts, and the only difference here is that I'm making it so you can pay for an uncommon (without having to wait for a relevant event) without needing a reason for your character to ask for it ICly.
Well you also increased the cost by 20 points, is the point that I'm concerned about, which... 20 points can be a big deal for some people. BUT, more to the point...
I've never had a single person buy an uncommon change by the former rules so I am really not sure where the concern is stemming from
I had no idea that no one had ever used the option, lol, but again, you're the mod so you obviously know more about that than I do. The concern is stemming purely from voicing fears for newbies who might come in with plans to try to have their characters undergo certain changes eventually, who might be worried that this rules change will make it prohibitively difficult to do the fun stuff with their characters that they want to. BUT, I didn't realize how under-utilized the uncommon change reward tier was, so, that's kind of moot I guess!
SO basically my concern just boils. Boiled? down to wondering on behalf of new folx if it is still going to be feasible for people to get some fun transformation stuff in on a regular basis without having to claim a ton of bonus AC. Which it sounds like it will be.
no subject
But yeah, rare and uncommon changes have only been bought once or twice since the start of the game with the old system - and the only one I can specifically remember was requested by me a couple months ago. I'm not actually sure if anyone else has ever actually pursued it prior to then. So this option mostly just exists for if you have a very specific uncommon change request that hasn't come up in events.
As for the rare changes, as I noted in the mod plurk, I've changed the cost of 120 pts to 100 pts.
no subject
Less of a steep increase on the rare changes sounds like a good idea. My other suggestion was going to be like, increase the cost of rare changes based on how many changes that character has already taken via rewards (mostly to keep people from stacking up on them, if that was the major concern), but now that I have a better grip on the motivation behind the changes that's probably a less practical solution.