Cantina Message Board.General Discussion

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Author	Message / Information
Ryquin Quote \| Reply \|	Item decay posted on: 4/7/2003 3:10:13 PM Am I the only one surprised that they are going with real-time item decay? I understand the reasoning for it, but I have the same issue with this that I had with house-renewal in UO. Every now and then I travel without computer access for a month or so, I don't like the idea of comming back and nothing in my inventory being usable because it's all decayed so much.
MaurMA Quote \| Reply \|	Item decay replied on: 4/8/2003 8:26:16 AM There should be something like a vacation mode, or preserving items but for a minimum of X RL days, where X would stop people from abusing that, as in "i need that gizmo right now but silly me i have it in preserving mode for another 5 days at least" or something.
Blade Überflogger Quote \| Reply \|	Item decay replied on: 4/8/2003 9:05:28 AM I'm sure it will be hotly debated for awhile, either way.
Ryquin Quote \| Reply \|	Item decay replied on: 4/8/2003 12:22:41 PM Well, I don't plan to "hotly" debate it. I mainly just want to increase the traffic on this board... lol.
Keaggan Rogue Jedi Knight Quote \| Reply \|	Item decay replied on: 4/8/2003 3:23:43 PM For the most part we aren't too rash nor do we squabble over the meanings of words. Also the level maturity is much higher here than other boards. That can hurt and help us when it comes to traffic ------ The interesting thing about item decay is that without it the game economy would suffer. SWG dev have the tough job of balancing what type and the amount of each resource sinks. One thing they need to take into account is the needs of 95% of the players of the needs of the other 5%. They have also stated that they this balancing needs to take into account the casual player. But what is that elusive number of real world days that an item has to live? Well, that is one reason why we have beta. Remember that beta tests theories. The devs theorize that the “metal staff” would last 300 real world hours. That is about 12.5 days or just under two weeks. So, the questions they ask themselves is that long enough for this particular item? How does it compare to other items? Does this time need to be extended or shortened? Perhaps though you problem is with the fact that items decay at all. If so how would you control the hoarding people do? What ideas do you have on maintaining a healthy economy if people do not need to new items? Keaggan, Rogue Jedi Knight Spatial Fear
Ryquin Quote \| Reply \|	Item decay replied on: 4/8/2003 4:54:47 PM No no, I approve whole-heartedly with item decay for the VAST majority of items. I was just surprised they chose to use real time. I do think it should be reasonable according to the item. Furniture, for example, should decay very slowly if at all (after all, I have a wooden rocking-chair that's over 100 years old). Weapons, on the other hand, should need frequent maintenance or replacement.
JediKnightMark Quote \| Reply \| This message was updated on 4/9/2003 8:27:18 PM by JediKnightMark	Item decay replied on: 4/9/2003 8:20:01 PM I think MaurMA has a really good idea. I also think that yes, the in-game economy demands real-time decay or it will go straight to hell very quickly. Perhaps item decay could be determined by how often one logs on? Something like -50% item decay if you don't log on every day? Of course then I coudl totally see casual players being paid by hardcores to hold stuff for them, which would screw things up. Or would it? It'd prolly be bad. Anyways, I def think that items should have different rates of decay as well as there being relatively cheap items that work with player skills to maintain the item. Also, I would hope that an item kept in a house would not decay as fast as an item kept on an avatar, since the avatar is out in the elements, and the inside of the house is not. Finally, I can't remember where I heard this, but the idea of turning an item into a "trophy item" with no use or value other than having the item for display purposes, IMHO, is a great one.
ShadowCat Resident Hottie Quote \| Reply \|	Item decay replied on: 4/14/2003 10:52:58 AM I don't mind having to deal with item decay myself, but seeing as how I'm going to be one of those "casual" players I do have some level of reservation on it all. I'm just having these horrid little flashbacks of when they tried to implement item and house decay on UO. Lost a house for the simple fact I had not logged on with that character in a few weeks. The up side to all this is that they are deciding to try it out now before SWG goes gold. I say if they are going to put it in then, by all means, do it during beta and not when most players have a good stock of items going already.
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