Make some items store-only

[Berendol]

I have another idea that may create a real reason for higher level players to spend money.

What if certain items were not available as drops, but only through a store (or several stores, if multi-towns are implemented) with a medium-size inventory rollover?

For example... Restore Mana potions, Enlightenment, etc. should be removed from the black market AND the dungeon, and made available only through a new high-level alchemist's store. Perhaps the journey to the store should be difficult for low-level players, and the items made more expensive.

Well, lemme have it, I'm sure this one's gonna rankle some of you

[Ashi]

It seems to me that this is where high level players already spend their money. They often spend tens of thousands at the black market to prepare for one dive, and many players buy rare potions at premium from the players that find them as drops.

If multiple towns come into play, however, Black Market-versions of the traditional shops are a great idea. Advanced players already offer large rewards for the chance to buy potions of Life, *Healing*, Experience, and sometimes Restore Mana. The only problem is that the game would lose a significant amount of challenge if people could buy the rare items they want at any time rather than wait on someone to find it and try to strike a bargain.

[Warrior]

I don't think it'd be right to make any items in the game store-only, the dungeon is endless and it'd make no sense if not everything in the world wasn't available there. However, as possibly suggested in another post about *Healing* potions, I think some objects could be made to appear in the black market in slightly larger numbers, like 1d3 or something at least. It takes months and months and months to be able to find enough potions of Life and/or *Healing* to be able to deal with Morgoth. Usually. And that may be right or wrong, but it sure does slow down the game a good bit.
But I also agree with Ashi, Black Market versions of the traditional shops would be a great idea. I think it'd be reaaaaaaaally exciting if those would just appear randomly way out in the wilderness. Screw multiple towns, search the wastelands and the vast oceans and maybe you'll find one of the ancient super alchemists...

[Fink]

I'm kind of torn on this idea as well. On one hand, I agree that we have to be careful of removing content from the dugneon - after all, loot is the reward for diving. Each item we remove from the dungeon is one less reward, and thus reason, for diving.

However, I admit that the idea of specialist black-market shops is intriguing. For example, I, as a mage, use Staves of the Magi frequently (I always carry one with me, and collect them as best I can). It would be neat if these would show up in the specialist black market shop for, say, a million-to-two-million AU a pop. Imagine if potions of life showed up in the theoretical specialist BM as going for maybe 10 million a potion.

It's tough tho. You don't want to make them too readily available. But if you don't, you can introduce waiting-grind, as you endlessly sit at the shop, waiting for some to spawn.

To be honest, when topics such as these come up, my gameplay spidey-sense starts tingling, and makes me wonder if there are underlying causes of the issues here, and that we are focusing too much on effect, and maybe not enough on cause.

However, in the end, if we in the future tune things carefully to assume that high end players have these expensive items present, then it can create its own excuse for selling them. For example, if you said "hm, CCW's are just too easy to get." One response might be "ok, have them no longer stocked in town reliably." But, you could instead say "ok, let's just tune up monsters damage and fear/blindness/etc casting a bit, to where we are effectively assuming the player uses them, and will have to keep buying them."

Of course, as you see, that's exactly the situation we have now. In that light, I guess we need to keep in mind the other half of the equation when we think about cranking up the rate at which some items appear in the game, and adjust accordingly.

[Warrior]

Many of these threads are kinda starting to mix with eachother. But anyway, like I said in my latest post to the "Re: Some item selling prices are too high" thread, I think specialist black-market shops, supershops, would be a good way to "solve" the "problem" with high level characters having too much cash and not enough to spend it on - WITHOUT ending up with "punishing" the rich players for being rich by forcing them to pay a tax that really doesn't do anything for anyone. Maybe house prices should just be increased instead.

Store-only items is a baaaad thing I think. But allowing high-end items to appear in special random wilderness shops would be good.

And... I guess all the monsters and all the items, basically everything in the game should be looked at and carefully considered and adjusted if needed.