Development Wishlist

[Chance]

As requested.

PvE
Event Characters: There should be an option when creating a character to mark them as an EC, and you get a list of classes (bandit, monster, rogue magi, giant, etc etc). As an EC your name is marked red in the small description, and you start with some bonuses. After you die as an EC, your corpse can be 'harvested' for set items, mostly resources & exclusive dev materials.

An admin can add/edit existing EC classes. Their name, description, base sprite, spells they begin with, resources they drop on death, etc. New EC types might be added to support an ongoing world arc.
DM Points - These can be gained as an EC, and spent in the in-game DM shop. You gain more points as an EC if you forge rivalries with characters (repeat dangerous encounters). All automated and logged! This is also how you unlock new EC classes (by purchasing them).

• Guild Command - Sigil: A guild leader can customize a sigil/badge, much like the medic badges you see people flashing. Name, description, and they upload a 32x32 sprite.
  
• Guild Command - Flag: This spawns a standing flag for a coin cost. You set a description (which displays when someone moves within 3 tiles of it) and can upload a 24x24 sprite which will appear on the flag. You can also choose a 'base' color for the flag/poll. 
  

Map

• Farming: Allow characters to till land once more. Tie in the farming stat to this / make it more of a focus. 
  
• Tents: Characters should be able to place down moving homes that they can customize the interior of. Can have more expensive variations of this, such as caravans. (Could expand this to small houses, too, but make them unmovable/destroyable with fair effort). Some of the less offensive elements of Spires sandbox atmosphere, essentially.
  
• Billboards: Similar to the old system, able to craft these which characters can place notices on for a fee. 
  
• Signs: Should be able to craft a sign + give it a description for 50 wood. Destroyable with effort.
  

Chat Tab - Event: When a message is placed on a billboard, it appears in this chat tab, including the XYZ location. Additionally, this could be used for city-wide narrations and IC announcements. High level classes of ECs should be able to post messages directly to the event tab to organize world events. Link these messages to a Discord channel that's posted automatically for viewing, too.

Archetype - Support: An ability that allows you to support a character while off to the side. A minor heal with a 60s cooldown that you can cast on someone despite not being involved in the RPB, with a flashy IC messages & a sparkle/chime effect. Other variations of the ability (maybe a tree?) for buffs/debuffs. A role for those who prefer to aid rather than fight in 1v1s etc.

Biographies: There should be a private sub-forum where players fill out a form and post a biography for their character. They can bump it / ask for reviews (log checks carried out in-game). There should be a currency, such as 'Influence Points', that reward them and allow them to purchase new things, whether that's developing a crafting recipe or purchasing a hidden spell.
Additionally, this should be a place for direct communication between the admin team and players. If someone sees them do something cool, maybe they want to comment/make a suggestion.
I believe there should also be a minor modifier in play that increases Activity Point gain, but not to the same level as okay/good mods. It should be a passive that costs RPP and grants stats, maybe three different tiers that can be offered by reviewers for exceptional play. As is you're only going to breach 220+ if you play the game for 16+ hours a day for several months, but we should be rewarding quality rather than quantity.

[Tattles]

An application/hidden spell acquisition overhaul has been in the works and discussed somewhat. This is not finalized nor perfect by any means, but it's something of what was mentioned above with the 'Influence Points'. Feel free to leave thoughts about it.

Introduction:: Hidden spells have routinely been a symbol of characters who exemplify good writing, development, and longevity. However, what these spells heavily rely on and correlate to is the direct influence a single character has on the overall plot of the game. A character with lower tier hiddens likely affects a handful of players everyday, while a character with high tier hiddens shapes and shakes the entire playerbase on a nearly daily basis. Other character roleplay about characters like this when they aren’t present, new PCs spawn in with their backstory shaped by them, and more. These characters are often the characters directly in the spotlight, whether they take on a hero or a villain’s role, they are the ones that hold a presence that cannot be ignored. They are the proactive members of the ongoing story, and from intermediates to exalted spells, they are rewarded as they should be, generally speaking.

Influence Points: These ‘points’ are used as a sort of currency to ‘purchase’ hiddens spells directly from the wiki with administration input if needed. Each available hidden has a set price, one that is most notably marked by their tier (Intermediate - Master - Exalted).

How to Gain IP: Influence Points are acquired via affecting the plot of the game directly. Larger shows of ‘influence’ are granted a greater amount of these points and value. These scenes are usually public and draw attention to themselves, though something that might be more private can gain the attention of a Judgement moderator via an ahelp before it has ended.


Some ways to gain IP and their hypothetical values:
-For the ‘average’ character-
Normal raid fight - 1 IP
Raid fight + A captured opponent - 2 IP
Public Address - 1 IP
Significant Fight - 1-3 IP
Community Teaching - 1 IP

-For Leader characters-
Acquiring Leadership - 1 IP
Lead a raid/battle - 1 IP
Leader’s Speech - 1 IP
Conduct a Faction Meeting - 1 IP


Gaining IP can also happen outside of the game itself and instead for appropriate influence on the forums themselves:

State of Esshar Posts - 1 IP
Significant IC Post - 1-3 IP
Impressive Biography Post - 1 IP
Many of these examples have ‘significant’ or ‘impressive’ additives to them, meaning these will still be up to Judgement Team discretion to be discussed and voted on in terms of not only whether or not the scene/post deserves something, but also the ‘value’ of it.

The values can also exceed what is suggested here, especially for impactful moments that garner a lot of roleply and attention. In rare cases, it might not be unheard of for a prominent character to earn enough points from a single scene to spend on a hidden spell.





Pros:

• This system reduces the need for a full examination of dozens of applications every month.
  
• This system relieves the player of the task of saving, re-writing, summarizing, and organizing their application for a hidden spell. Instead, there is a far more immediate gratification granted where the points accumulate toward a specified goal.
  
• This system incentivises active and influential/public roleplay where it urges a character to act outside of their solo story or immediate circle for greater reward.
  

Cons/Fixes

• Personal or not as publicized yet still well written scenes might go unnoticed:
  
• Fix - Any player can ahelp before they make a post or begin what they might believe to be an influential scene for administration supervision. They can also send it directly to an admin for review if needed once it has ended.
  

• Any character can stockpile points.
  
• Fix - With each hidden, the individual cost for each subsequent spell rises exponentially. This can be adjusted as administration sees fit, even going as far as to make it virtually impossible to acquire x amount of hiddens without taking the proverbial carrot away.
  

• This system incentivises spamming the forums with IC posts or characters doing routine roleplays such as weekly meetings or daily ‘speeches’
  
• Fix - Given administration discretion, if someone is churning out unnecessary amounts of IC threads/in-game posts, a player trying to take advantage of the system like this can be told via feedback to slow down and put more care into their writing.
  

Notable Examples for sources of IP:


Nebula’s Reveal - https://pastebin.com/NWLy1nc1

The Royal Wedding - https://pastebin.com/F9k5JS5K

Confrontation in Alabastre - https://pastebin.com/rjnGjn3N

Framing Nysea (A Family Warning) - https://chronicles-of-esshar.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3182

[Chance]

...

Just adding that in our discussions we mostly agreed that IP would be granted in reviews/log checks, but individual moments (which the player could point out) would be focused on, such as what was outlined above. The soft cap for IP would be around 10, which might be enough for say, a master hidden and a passive.

[Nerdlord57]

I actually really like the idea of these IP Points as I've always been sorta nervous about the idea of applying for hiddens. The idea of getting some feedback in the form of these points will personally help me feel like the direction I'm taking my character is a positive one and is building and adding to rp as a whole, instead of sitting around and being like "man if I don't get a hidden I won't be up to snuff to actually try and make change". At least that's how I used to see it in Spires.

I also feel like this system will sort of make the idea of getting hiddens less daunting to new players who wish to see what the cool magic does.

[Lammy]

I would like to get more information on passives and what the future of intermediates would be.

[Chance]

I would like to get more information on passives and what the future of intermediates would be.

most intermediates could probably be public, and if they're too good for that, lifted up to master class tier

[Logan]

I'll post here since I was just talking to Tattles about it.

I think your idea of it being forum based is the best for this to work, Chance. Make a journal subsection of the forums, and let people post pastebins and short summary of their important scenes as they happen. People already doing this with word / discord / other programs anyway as they prepare for apps anyway.

Admins can check the journals, give feedback, dev assistance, and reward IP as they go.

[Milly]

Might I also suggest that if an admin looks over these posts and go, "Oh, this person would do really well (IC wise, not mechanical wise) with [x hidden] - that perhaps they suggest it?

[Simple]

I definitely support the proposed system and as both a player/application judge believe it would make things a lot simpler. A subsection of the forum devoted to these sort of biography/journal posts where a player can actively update and keep us informed with the happenings of their character. I've always preferred story oriented applications as opposed to 'danger fight fight' with one or two practical training logs.

I also think it would help me get more acquainted with each character as a whole rather than have to rely on hearsay and what I've personally witnessed on my own character. Being able to keep up with them throughout their life, making suggestions and giving influence points where deserved. I feel its the sort of revamp we need, not that the traditional system is bad.

It's worked before, but I feel we've all started to get tired with the amount of work that goes into compiling those logs/the tediousness of making an application itself.

[Method T]

I love this idea, but please do not reward having a capture in a raid fight over a non-captured raid fight.

I'd rather not want to see people getting grimy over the idea of capping for the sake of 'Boosting' their IP.

The rest seems cool though.