U78 New Event Preview: Sterling's Remnant Rush

[Svirfneblin]

Does the mimic Sterling have a brother named Shannon that does trade-ins for commendations of valor and Heart Seeds? if so I’d like to meet him that would be very Sharpe.

 

[Phoenicis]

It's the latter. You can make up to 10 trades with Sterling per month, he'll reset his count every month.

This is actually a very good question - Sterling is a very omniscient mimic who knows who you are across servers. The count and cost are preserved on your account, so if you use 4 attempts on Moonsea, yes, Cormyr will start at trade #5.

These contradict each other.

In the first quote, the implication is you can talk to the mimic ten times, and pay him ten times each time you talk to him.

In the second, the express statement is each time you talk to him, the cost goes up.

A little clarity please? 100 trades (talk ten times, pay ten times per conversation) or 10 trades (talk ten times, pay once per conversation).

 

[Dendrix Deathblade]

These contradict each other.

In the first quote, the implication is you can talk to the mimic ten times, and pay him ten times each time you talk to him.

In the second, the express statement is each time you talk to him, the cost goes up.

A little clarity please? 100 trades (talk ten times, pay ten times per conversation) or 10 trades (talk ten times, pay once per conversation).

it's really really simple. I'm amazed you don't seem to be able to understand it it.
You can do 10 trades a month on your account.

 

[pirotessa]

Been having some discussions on this, and I'm going to be doing the remnant gathering on a new account to see how it feels. The intent is to keep the lower end entries achievable while scaling up the higher end, so those who need to gain remnants can still get a number of things out of it while generally playing.

Please do so you can see how great of a quality of life improvement "auto-pickup" for remnants would be without having to use a 3rd party application .

 

[Phoenicis]

it's really really simple. I'm amazed you don't seem to be able to understand it it.
You can do 10 trades a month on your account.

Read the comments she replied to please.

Then come back and tell me there isn't room for confusion.

I'll wait.

(actually, I won't. I'm about to be on the road for a while)

 

[rabidfox]

A little clarity please? 100 trades (talk ten times, pay ten times per conversation) or 10 trades (talk ten times, pay once per conversation).

10 trades. Each time you trade, it costs more REMs to get another reward. Once you hit 10, you can't do again until the next month; the costs also resets back to the start each month. I'm not certain if the "monthly reset" is based off when you 1st trade (like way chest ransacks are 7 days from opening) or a set date like the 1st of each month.

Please do so you can see how great of a quality of life improvement "auto-pickup" for remnants would be without having to use a 3rd party application .

The monkey paw wish fix is that they just ban people using the 3rd party application and we still have to manually pick them up.

 

[mikarddo]

The top-end progressive remnant turn-in requirements are a bit over the top and should be adjusted downwards:

* Max turn-ins each month over the course of a year is 2,332,800 remnants.
* Even if you "only" do 9 trade-ins per month, it's still a staggering 1,132,800 remnants for the year. (100k each for the 10th turn-in)
* 8x per month is 732,800 remnants for the year. (50k each for the 9th turn-in)

I think the numbers are perfect. Everyone will get something and while the rich will get more its not a lot more. Absolutely brilliant design imho.

 

[droid327]

I think the numbers are perfect. Everyone will get something and while the rich will get more its not a lot more. Absolutely brilliant design imho.

This

The communist bloc will push for every trade to stay 100 rems so everyone can be guaranteed 120 rolls

The robber barons will push for the cap to keep going up to 15 or 20 so they can get even more rewards

The fair compromise is to have an exponential curve, where the rich can get a few more rolls, but end up paying dozens of times more for it

 

[Psych]

I think the numbers are perfect. Everyone will get something and while the rich will get more its not a lot more. Absolutely brilliant design imho.

Well you are welcome to your opinion of course, I think its baked down to this.

You can think the average player should be able to hit all turn ins, or they should not. I think they should, most events in games are ran on this premise, every event since I've been back has been based on this, why should this be any different? Especially with a jackpot, where there will be more than one story where someone doesn't gets the thing they need. Everyone should hit all spins, more active hardcore players should get there faster. Really everyone should get everything they want from this, if they put in some effort, thats how I think events should be ran.

So yeh, please do look at rem gathering, for people who play 2-3hrs a day.

 

[Oliphant]

Speaking to the obvious, but a consequence of using MR currency for this event is the accumulation potential is mostly in the past.

 

[droid327]

why should this be any different?

Because one of the presumable goals of the event is to suck the excess remnants out of the economy

If you cap participation at whatever the average Joe can afford, then the Scrooge MacDucks are still going to be swimming in silos full of remnants

If you have a static price high enough to move the needle, then you price out non-whales from getting much or anything

So an accelerating price curve is the only model that can accommodate both ends of the spectrum

The only thing I might add is letting whales buy up to 2 additional rolls (with the costs increasing proportionally) per month. Then you clear out the rem economy even more, and can make a little revenue to help keep the lights on too, without it being too P2W

 

[Oliphant]

Sounds like we can make 10 trades per month with 10 attempts per trade, cost escalating per attempt. Seems to imply most would want to make 10 trades, but not max out on attempts per trade.

 

[droid327]

Sounds like we can make 10 trades per month with 10 attempts per trade, cost escalating per attempt. Seems to imply most would want to make 10 trades, but not max out on attempts per trade.

What? Why are you setting "attempts" as a subset of "trades"?

You can make 10 trades per month, per account, not server-specific. There is no "attempt", you just make the trade. Each trade costs more than the previous.

Speaking to the obvious, but a consequence of using MR currency for this event is the accumulation potential is mostly in the past.

Yes thats the whole point. Its a way to clean house without being punitive

 

[Psych]

Because one of the presumable goals of the event is to suck the excess remnants out of the economy

If you cap participation at whatever the average Joe can afford, then the Scrooge MacDucks are still going to be swimming in silos full of remnants

If you have a static price high enough to move the needle, then you price out non-whales from getting much or anything

So an accelerating price curve is the only model that can accommodate both ends of the spectrum

The only thing I might add is letting whales buy up to 2 additional rolls (with the costs increasing proportionally) per month. Then you clear out the rem economy even more, and can make a little revenue to help keep the lights on too, without it being too P2W

So wait, the MR economy is a big issue?

 

[Synalon]

it's really really simple. I'm amazed you don't seem to be able to understand it it.
You can do 10 trades a month on your account.

What? Why are you setting "attempts" as a subset of "trades"?

You can make 10 trades per month, per account, not server-specific. There is no "attempt", you just make the trade. Each trade costs more than the previous.

I feel for the devs having to accept that even the most clear and simple of communications will be astonishingly misunderstood by a portion of the playerbase.

 

[droid327]

So wait, the MR economy is a big issue?

I seem to remember them stating before that they're limited in how much they can add to be purchased for MRs because anything they offer will just be immediately bought up by players with huge hoards, and not actually drive new gameplay or create any engagement/sense of accomplishment. You gotta remember they're not in the business of creating a video game, they're in the business of getting people to play the video game regularly - and that's 100% about the psychology of gaming.

If they can clear out the economy, then they can look at expanding what the regular MR vendor offers, because it will represent an actual tradeoff again, and give players a continued play-reward loop after the event

Of course they havent actually said that was the intent directly, but the system they've set up for this event does seem specifically designed to accomplish that

 

[Psych]

I seem to remember them stating before that they're limited in how much they can add to be purchased for MRs because anything they offer will just be immediately bought up by players with huge hoards, and not actually drive new gameplay or create any engagement/sense of accomplishment. You gotta remember they're not in the business of creating a video game, they're in the business of getting people to play the video game regularly - and that's 100% about the psychology of gaming.

If they can clear out the economy, then they can look at expanding what the regular MR vendor offers, because it will represent an actual tradeoff again, and give players a continued play-reward loop after the event

Of course they havent actually said that was the intent directly, but the system they've set up for this event does seem specifically designed to accomplish that

Welp, I guess I hope it helps.

 

[Phoenicis]

So you can get one trade per month, but 10 chances at what the trade will be?

Or you get 10 trades, and each time you can spend up to 10 times to get the trade you want (for a total of 100 possible spends)?

It's the latter. You can make up to 10 trades with Sterling per month, he'll reset his count every month.

I had assumed it was ten per account per month, but this reply makes it as clear as mud (unusual for Celestra), and the reason I asked for clarification.

 

[Oliphant]

What? Why are you setting "attempts" as a subset of "trades"?

You can make 10 trades per month, per account, not server-specific. There is no "attempt", you just make the trade. Each trade costs more than the previous.



Yes thats the whole point. Its a way to clean house without being punitive

Why so incredulous when I literally (previously) asked the exact question to clarify it?

 

[mikarddo]

Well you are welcome to your opinion of course, I think its baked down to this.

You can think the average player should be able to hit all turn ins, or they should not. I think they should, most events in games are ran on this premise, every event since I've been back has been based on this, why should this be any different? Especially with a jackpot, where there will be more than one story where someone doesn't gets the thing they need. Everyone should hit all spins, more active hardcore players should get there faster. Really everyone should get everything they want from this, if they put in some effort, thats how I think events should be ran.

So yeh, please do look at rem gathering, for people who play 2-3hrs a day.

And you are obviously also welcome to your opinion even if we disagree completely.

I play less than 2-3 hours a day.

Wanting everyone to be able to get the full 10 rewards each month makes the event pointless. Gains without effort is never the way to do things.

I stand by my view. The design is brilliant. Pretty much noone will get 10 rewards each month. Almost everyone will be able to get atleast 4 rewards. That means a spread between those doing a larger effort and those not doing so (I am in the latter, mind), but the difference is small.

Thats unlike most other reward systems where those doing an effort easily get 10-50 times more reward or the freebie systems where everyone gets everything for free.